e
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.
Several of the crossings had barely water enough for our ship, drawing
five feet, to pass. When we were thirty miles up the river, the water
fell suddenly seven inches in twenty-four hours. As the March flood is
the last of the season, and it appeared to be expended, it was thought
prudent to avoid the chance of a year's detention, by getting the ship
back to the sea without delay. Had the Expedition been alone, we would
have pushed up in boats, or afoot, and done what we could towards the
exploration of the river and upper end of the lake; but, though the
Mission was a private one, and entirely distinct from our own, a public
one, the objects of both being similar, we felt anxious to aid our
countrymen in their noble enterprise; and, rather than follow our own
inclination, decided to return to the Shire, see the Mission party
settled safely, and afterwards explore Lake Nyassa and the Rovuma, from
the Lake downwards. Fever broke out on board the "Pioneer," at the mouth
of the Rovuma, as we thought from our having anchored close to a creek
coming out of the mangroves; and it remained in her until we completely
isolated the engine-room from the rest of the ship. The coal-dust
rotting sent out strong effluvia, and kept up the disease for more than a
twelvemonth.

Soon after we started the fever put the "Pioneer" almost entirely into
the hands of the original Zambesi Expedition, and not long afterwards the
leader had to navigate the ocean as well as the river. The habit of
finding the geographical positions on land renders it an easy task to
steer a steamer with only three or four sails at sea; where, if one does
not run ashore, no one follows to find out an error, and where a current
affords a ready excuse for every blunder.

Touching at Mohilla, one of the Comoro Islands, on our return, we found a
mixed race of Arabs, Africans, and their conquerors,