336 



THE RUFIJI RIVER. 



the longest island in the Southern Archipelago 

 of the Zangian Saas, and ranking after Zanzibar 

 and Pemba. The anchorage was smooth and 

 deep, allowing the largest ships to ride in safety, 

 and the abysses around it are as usual un- 

 fathomed. Pits a few hundred yards from the 

 sea supply the casks with water of a quality some- 

 what better than usual. The tree-clad island is 

 flat and sandy; its growth is by no means so 

 luxuriant as that of its greater sisters, and the 

 population appears to be scanty. We saw no 

 wild animals but a black monkey and a guinea- 

 fowl. The mean breadth of the Manche is here 

 9 miles,^ and the bottom is said to be very foul. 



Opposite Mafiyah lies the Delta of the Rufiji, 

 Lufiji, or Ufiji river, the Loffih, Luffia, or Loffia 

 of older maps, which was made by them to issue 

 from a great lake : it is a reduced copy of the Zam- 

 beze farther south, and a waterway worth explor- 

 ing, as possibly the future high road of nations 

 into Eastern Africa. The people declare that 

 boats can ascend it for a month, and larger craft 

 for a week — this appears, however, doubtful. 

 The stream, then flooding, overflowed its banks, 



^ CaptaiQ Guillain (i. Ill) says 10 miles or 100 stadia. In 

 i. 1G9 he writes ' Mafia n'est separee de la cote que par uii canal 

 de 3^ lieues, partagc encore par una petite ile intermediary.' 



