PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA

[s. 609] : A colony of Portugal, lying along the east coast of Africa for Poor, Daniel Potrlbo a distance of nearly 1,000 miles, extending from the Rovuma River and the borders of German East Africa on the north to Am at on gal and on the south, and reaching back to Lake Nyasa,. Matabililand, and the Transvaal on the west. The total area is about 297,750 square miles; the population about 1,500,000. It comprises three districts: Mozambique, Zambesia, and Louren50 Marques, to which, however, must be added the district of Inhambane, formed when the administrative conce ion to the Inhambane Company failed in 1889, and the Gaza region, which constitutes a military district. Two trading companies, the Nyasa and the Mozambique Companies, administer certain regions under a royal Moz am charter that confers sovereign powers. bique, Beira, Inhambane, and Louren50 Marques The Delagoa are the most important towns. Bay railway, touching the coast at Lourengo Marques, has a length in the colony of 57 miles, and extends to Pretor i a. The Beira railway extends in the colony 222 miles, and is continued in British territory to Bulawayo. Telegraphs, with a mileage of 1,850 miles, connect the principal towns and communicate with the The country far from the British systems. coast and from navigable rivers is still largely unexplored by white men. The climate is subject to sudden changes, but the mean annual temperature is high, and, with moderate care, danger to health is avoided. The whole region is intersected by numerous rivers, and is very fertile, but the tsetse fly is, in some districts, very Valuable timbers are found in the destructive. forests. The mineral resources (gold, copper, iron and coal) are of exceptional importance. The Chind6 River, 45 miles south of Quaqua, is a mouth of the Zambesi, and furnishes a channel three fathoms deep and 500 yards wide, with An ordinary steamer can thus Formerly goods, pa directly into the river. after several days’ journey up the Quaqua, had to be carried eight miles over a swampy depre ion to the Zambesi, where they were transferred to the small Zambesi steamers. The Tongas (a name applied in a collective sense to the tribes originally inhabiting the southern part of this territory, Their are a peaceful and industrious people. language has been reduced to writmg, and a hymn-book and the whole New Testament have been translated. The Zulu language is spoken by a great maj ority of the people. There are two other extensively spoken languages the Isisena, spoken from the Sabi to the Buzi, the Isinhlwenga south of the Sabi. North of the Buzi the Sena language is spoken by a people who only occaRoman Catholic Mi ions sionally use the Zulu. have long existed in the colony, and of Protestant Mi ionary Societies the SPG, the Free Methodists of America, and the Swi Romande Mi ion have stations in the southern coast regions. good anchorage. — Monteiro (Rose), Delagoa Bay, Its Natives and Natural HisWorsfield (W. B.), Portuguese Nyaasatory London, 1891 land, London, 1899.; PORVENIR. See Limon. 609