Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/286

 224 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. might be greatly enlarged were it made to comprise the channels of the two neighbouring rivers, the Gorongozi on the north and the Gabulu on the south, both of which might be regarded as belonging to the same hydrographic system. During the dry season the main branches are converted into arms of the sea, the mano-roves everywhere fringing both banks bearing abundant evidence to the saline properties of the water circulating through the delta. The Buzi, which reaches the Indian Ocean a little to the north of Sofala, is a far less copious stream than the Sabi. Nevertheless it has been ascended for over 60 miles from its mouth by craft of light draft. Still farther north flows the Pungue, or Aruangua, which in its lower reaches is navigable for vessels drawing 6 or 7 feet. But several other watercourses, which are fed by rivulets having their sources in the uplands, fail to reach the sea, their mouths being everywhere closed by sandbanks. The great " ^lozambique Current," which flows from the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and the mainland southwards in the direction of the Antarctic waters, here impinges on the seaboard at the point where it projects farthest seawards. This headland, indicated from a distance by a blackish little island, takes the appropriate Portuguese name of Cabo das Correntes, for the stream, which at this place skirts the coast, sets steadily towards the south-south-west at a velocity ranging from Ij to over 2 miles an hour. But as farther south a counter-current is developed along the Amatonga coast east of Delagoa Bay and the St. Lucia lagoons, in the same way a backwater sets towards the equator north of Cape Correntes. This is clearly shown by the form of the tongues of sand and adjacent islets, all of which are here disposed in the direction of the north or north-north- east — that is, in the opposite direction to the great current flowing farther off the land in the Mozambique Channel. In the shallow waters separating the mainland from its fringe of islands, and especially near Barazuto, the natives fish for pearl oysters, which they open by exposing them to the action of heat, thereby injuring and diminishing the market value of the gems. Polyps are also at work along the Gazaland seaboard, where at certain points the navigation is endangered by the coral reefs. Here also most of the islands rest on a foundation of coral banks, although now covered with dunes, which give them a hilly aspect. Climate. — Flora,: — Fauna. The climate of Gazaland varies greatly between the low-lying zone of coast- lands and the terraces of the interior. The winds, which blow nearly always from the sea, whether from the north-east, the east, the south-east, or the south, bring scarcely any moisture to the plains of the coast region. Even the heavy rain- bearing clouds which sweep inland during the wet season — that is, when the sun approaches the zenith, from November to March — do not break till they strike against the heights rising above the tablelands and terraces of the interior. It seldom rains while the normal south-east current prevails, but when the wind