She Was Already Two Months Behind Her Time, And The
Rainy Season Was Half Over.
Then, if the party were taken to
Chibisa's, the Mission would he left without a medical attendant, in
an unhealthy region, at the beginning of the most sickly season of
the year, and without means of reaching the healthy highlands, or of
returning to the sea.
We dreaded that, in the absence of medical aid
and all knowledge of the treatment of fever, there might be a
repetition of the sorrowful fate which befell the similar non-medical
Mission at Linyanti.
On the 25th of February the "Pioneer" anchored in the mouth of the
Rovuma, which, unlike most African rivers, has a magnificent bay and
no bar. We wooded, and then waited for the Bishop till the 9th of
March, when he came in the "Lyra." On the 11th we proceeded up the
river, and saw that it had fallen four or five feet during our
detention. The scenery on the lower part of the Rovuma is superior
to that on the Zambesi, for we can see the highlands from the sea.
Eight miles from the mouth the mangroves are left behind, and a
beautiful range of well-wooded hills on each bank begins. On these
ridges the tree resembling African blackwood, of finer grain than
ebony, grows abundantly, and attains a large size. Few people were
seen, and those were of Arab breed, and did not appear to be very
well off. The current of the Rovuma was now as strong as that of the
Zambesi, but the volume of water is very much less.
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