The Population Of The Delta,
Except In The Immediate Neighborhood Of The Portuguese,
Appeared To Be Very Sparse.
Antelopes and hippopotami were plentiful;
the former tame and easily shot.
I inquired frequently
of both natives and Portuguese if slavers were in the habit of entering there
to ship their cargoes, but could not ascertain that they have ever done so
in any except the Quilimane. With common precaution the rivers
are not unhealthy; for, during the whole time I was employed in them
(off and on during eighteen months), in open boats and at all times
of the year, frequently absent from the ship for a month or six weeks
at a time, I had not, in my boat's crew of fourteen men, more than two,
and those mild, cases of fever. Too much importance can not be ascribed
to the use of quinine, to which I attribute our comparative immunity,
and with which our judicious commander, Commodore Wyvill,
kept us amply supplied. I hope these few remarks may be of some little use
in confirming your views of the utility of that magnificent river.
A. H. H. Hoskins."
It ought to be remembered that the testimony of these gentlemen
is all the more valuable, because they visited the river when the water
was at its lowest, and the surface of the Zambesi was not, as it was now,
on a level with and flowing into the Mutu, but sixteen feet beneath its bed.
The Mutu, at the point of departure, was only ten or twelve yards broad,
shallow, and filled with aquatic plants.
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