Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/281

DELAOOA BAY. 219 age. The neighbouring bay is capacious enough for hundreds of the very largest vessels, which may here ride at anchor with perfect safety in depths ranging from 40 to 120 feet. The entrance, some 12 miles wide and over 50 feet deep, is largo enough to give access to a whole fleet. The railway has its terminus to the south of the town, on the very beach, which is soon to be protected by a sea-wall lined with landing-stages. The line runs from this point mainly in a north-westerly direction to the Manissa, crossing this river at the spot where it escapes through a rocky gorge from the Lobombo Hills, the most advanced border range of the plateau and western limit of the Portuguese territory. In 1887 the railway had already reached this place, 55 miles from the coast, but to reach the plateau it will have to ascend the escarpment by a gradient of considerably over an inch in the yard. The land routes followed by the emigrants with their cattle between the Transvaal and the rivers flowing to the port of Louren^'O Marques have the serious disadvantage of having to traverse a low-lying tract, usually infested by the deadly tsetse fly. Occasionally this dangerous zone has been crossed without disaster ; but travellers and traders have not unfrcqucntly had to abandon their chattels in the marshy bottom lands, after losing all their draught animals in the attempt to get over this tsetse and fever-stricken district. The reclaimed lands on the outskirts of Lourenco Marques produce the sugar-cane and tropical fruits, and here are also some coffee plantations. Large numbers of turtles are captured in the neighbouring waters. Each successive decade witnesses a considerable increase in the trade of Delagoa Bay, in which some Marseilles merchants, and Banyans from Diu, on the west coast of India, have a larger share than the Portuguese dealers. The exports consist mainly of hides and mineral ores, the imports of brandy and war material. But the total value of the exchanges still falls much below £100,000, although the transit dues levied on goods destined for the Transvaal is only three per cent, at the Portuguese custom house. The trade in ivory has ceased ; while, since the year 1845, no more slaves have been forwarded through this outlet. On the other hand, the voluntary emigration of the natives towards Natal has assumed con- siderable importance. The agent stationed at Lourenco Marques sends presents to the tribal chiefs, who in return give a certain number of young men permission to go abroad on the condition of coming back in a few years with their earnings. The territory stretching south of Delagoa Bay is inhabited by the Amatonga people, who belong to the same group as those occupying the shores of the St. Lucia lagoons and backwaters, and who even recognise the same tribal chiefs, notwithstanding the arbitrary frontiers traced by diplomatists. In this southern district of Delagoa Bay no European settlements have yet been made. Here the shore, fringed with dunes, is dangerous to shipping, while the mouths both of the Manissa (Nkomati) and Limpopo are of difficult access. Nevertheless here reside a few Banyan dealers, who chiefly import brandies, and whose factories on both rivers are accessible to light craft. The Limpopo factory is situated at Manj'oba, a kraal standing at the head of the navigation of the river, 80 miles from the coast. The influence of the tides is felt as far up as this point. In exchange for