GEOGRAPHY OF THE MARITIME REGION. 101 



breadth is therefore 92 geographical miles, measured in 

 rectilinear distance, and its mean length, bounded by the 

 waters of the Kingani and the Rufiji rivers, may be as- 

 sumed at 110. The average rise is under 4 feet per 

 mile. It is divided into two basins ; that of the Kingani 

 easterly, and westward that of the Mgeta stream with 

 its many tributaries ; the former, which is the principal, 

 is called the land of Uzaramo ; the latter, which is of the 

 second order, contains the provinces of K'hutu, by the 

 Arabs pronounced Kutu, and Uziraha, a minor district. 

 The natives of the country divide it into the three low- 

 lands of Tunda, Dut'humi, and Zungomero. 



The present road runs with few and unimportant de- 

 viations along the whole length of the fluviatile valleys 

 of the Kingani and the Mgeta. Native caravans if 

 lightly laden generally accomplish the march in a fort- 

 night, one halt included. On both sides of this line, 

 whose greatest height above the sea-level was found by 

 B. P. therm, to be 830 feet, rises the rolling ground, which 

 is the general character of the country. Its undula- 

 tions present no eminences worthy of notice ; near the 

 sea they are short and steep, further inland they roll in 

 bnger waves, and everywhere they are covered with 

 abundant and luxuriant vegetation, the result of decom- 

 position upon the richest soih In parts there is an 

 appearance of park land ; bushless and scattered forests, 

 with grass rising almost to the lower branches of the 

 smaller thorns ; here and there clumps and patches of im- 

 passable shrubbery cluster round knots and knolls of 

 majestic and thickly foliaged trees. The narrow foot- 

 paths connecting the villages often plunge into dark 

 and dense tunnels formed by overarching branch and 

 bough, which delay the file of laden porters ; the mud 

 lingering long after a fall of rain in these low 



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