Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/364

 290 SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA. fours over the interwoven network of foliage and lianas. West of these thickets clothing the terraces near the coast, the inland plains, enjoying a far less abun- dant rainfall, supj^rt few vegetable growths beyond grasses and thorny mimosas. Forests properly so-called occur only on the slopes of the mountains, which inter- cept the moisture-bearing clouds rolling up from the Indian Ocean. The plants yielding copal and caoutchouc do not thrive beyond the zone of brushwood. On the other hand, the Mozambique fauna is surprisingly rich. The region of the Upper Lujenda and the plains traversed by the Rovuma below the confluence of its great tributary from tlie south, are hunting-grounds such-as are now seldom elsewhere seen in Austial Africa. The various species of antelopes, as well as the gnu, buifalo, quagga, and zebra, herd together in thousands, and are preyed upon by large numbers of lions and leopards ; hyjcnas are also very numerous. But this multitude of wild animals is entirely duo to the rareness or absence of man. IXHABITAXTS. ThE MaGWANGWARAS. Witliin a comparatively recent period the Rovuma basin was still thickly peopled ; but at present scarc(>ly a village is met for tracts 60 miles in extent below the Lujenda. They have almost everywhere been replaced by numerous ruins surrounded by now abandoned banana groves. The land has been laid waste, and now that there remains nothing more to destroy, the wild beasts have resumed possession of thcur d )main. The only aborigines, whose rare camping- grounds are still met at long intervals on the plains, are the Matambwes (Ma- Tambwe), protected by the hranches of the river, which they place between them- selves and their enemies. During the dry season they occupy the islands in the Rovuma ; but with the return of the periodical floods, which inundate their huts and fields, they retire to the elevated cliffs on the right bank. A few Matambwe are also met either as guests or as slaves amongst the powerful tribes which have given them a home or a refuge. Some groups of Manyanjas (Ma-Nyanja), timid savages akin to the Matambwes, have a few obscure settlements in the recesses of the region about the confluence. The predatory tribes by whom the ^lozambique lands have been wasted are the Magwangwaras (Ma-Gwangwara, Ma-Conguara), who dwell to the north of the Rovuma, along the north-eastern shores of Lake Nyassa, and in the region where the Rufiji has its source. With these Magwangwaras have been associated some other marauders, who are known, like the Zulu-Kafirs beyond Nyassa, by the general designation of Maviti. But they are not entitled to the name, and these pretended Maviti are really Wanindis (Wa-Nindi), who seem proud of continuing the work of the conquerors by whom their own territory was formerly wasted with fire and sword. They have adopted the warlike garb, the arms, usages, tactics, and the very name of these terrible Zulus. But in their country the traveller Porter heard of two persons only who were really of Zulu blood. Setting out from their villages to the north of the Rovuma, they tiyned the