GEOGRAPHY OF THE MARITIME REGION. 



103 



humus, here and there coated with, or varied by, clean 

 white sand, and in some parts are seams of reddish loam. 

 Fresh -water shells are scattered over the surface, and 

 land-crabs burrow in the looser earths where stone 

 seldom appears. Black cattle are unknown in the mari- 

 time region, but poultry, sheep, and goats are plentiful : 

 near the jungle they are protected from the leopards or 

 ounces by large wooden huts, like cages, raised on piles 

 for cleanliness. 



As a rule, the fluviatile valleys resemble in most 

 points the physical features of the coast and island of 

 Zanzibar : the general aspect of the country, however — . 

 the expression of its climate — undergoes some modifi- 

 cations. Near the sea, the basin is a broad winding 

 line, traversed by the serpentine river, whose bed is 

 now too deep for change. About the middle ex- 

 panse stony ridges and rocky hills crop out from the 

 rolling ground, and the head of the valley is a Ioav con- 

 tinuous plain. In many places, especially near the 

 estuary, river-terraces, like road embankments, here con- 

 verging, there diverging, indicate by lines and strews of 

 water-worn pebbles and sea-shells the secular uprise of 

 the country and the declension of the stream to its present 

 level. These raised seabeaches at a distance appear 

 crowned with dwarf rounded cones which, overgrown - 

 with lofty trees, are favourite sites for settlements. In 

 the lower lands the jungle and the cultivation are of the 

 rankest and most gigantic description, the effect of a 

 damp, hot region, where atmospheric pressure is exces- 

 sive. The grass, especially that produced by the black 

 soils in the swamps and marshes, rises to the height of 

 12 — 13 feet, and serves to conceal runaway slaves and 

 malefactors : the stalks vary in thickness from a goose- 

 quill to a man's finger. The larger growths, which are 



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