Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/128

 94 SOUTU AND EAST AFfilCA. Delagoa Bay. Far more important in every respect is the northern inlet of Delagoa Bay, which, opening northwards, presents good anchorage in over 60 feet of water, easily accessible to the largest vessels through a well-sheltered passage running some distance iuland. Hence the British Government for some time disputed the possession of this valuable harbour of refuge with the Portuguese, wlio relied on their long-established claims to its exclusive ownership. England asserted her right especially to occupy the island of Inyak, which forms a northern extension of the peninsula of like name at the entrance of the bay. Nevertheless the President of the French Republic, to whom the question had been referred for arbitration in the year 1875, decided in favour of Portugal, assigning to her the free disposition of all the lands encircling the bay, which cannot fail to become the commercial outlet for the produce of all the inland states. Between the St. Lucia and Delagoa inlets, the form of the sandy coast as well as that of the lagoons disposed in the same direction, together with the course of all the rivers which here trend northwards, all seems to point at the action of a marine current steadily setting in the direction from south to north along this seaboard. Such a current would be opposed to that flowing south- wards from Mozambique, while its action on the sandy coast would be mucli promoted by the heavy seas rolling in from the Indian Ocean under the influeucj of the south-east trade-winds. In this way may have been formed the outer coast-line formed by a long succession of sandy tongues, all skirting the east side of the shallow coast lagoons and running parallel with the true continental shore- line. North of Delagoa Bay the altered conditions must give rise to the opposite phenomenon. Here the marine current sets southwards, while the Manissa River, instead of flowing in a straight line seawards, is deflected along its lower course in a line parallel with the coast itself. It thus flows for a considerable distance towards the south before mingling its waters with those of the bay. Several other rivers converge towards the same basin. From the south comes the Maputa, which is formed by numerous watercourses which have their rise in the interior of the Zulu and Swazi territoiies. From the west descend the Tembi and Um-Bolozi, reaching the estuary in a united stream at the point where is situated the town of Louren90 Marques. Lastly frcm the north ccmes the copious current of the already mentioned Manissa. Thanks to the high tides and ' the natural depth of their channels, all these affluents of the baj' are accessible to shipping for some distance inland. The Manissa, that is, the King George River of the English settlers, was ascended for 130 miles from its mouth by Hilliard, who nowhere found it less than 3J feet deep. Hence this watercourse would afford easy access to the auriferous regions of the inteiior, but for the marshy tracts, which occur at many points along its course, and which render the climate extremely malarious. The Manissa was long supposed to be the lower course of the Limpopo, which rises towards the west of the Transvaal republic. But its