uru occupied seven days, as I did not work the men
at the oar, but it might be done in four; we returned to the bar in two
and a half days.

"There is another mouth of the Zambesi seven miles to the westward of
Luabo, which was visited by the 'Castor's pinnace'; and I was assured by
Lieutenant Hoskins that the bar was better than the one I visited."

The conclusions of Captain Parker are strengthened by those of Lieut. A.
H. H. Hoskins, who was on the coast at the same time, and also visited
this spot. Having applied to my friend for his deliberate opinion on the
subject, he promptly furnished the following note in January last:

"The Zambesi appears to have five principal mouths, of which the Luabo
is the most southern and most navigable; Cumana, and two whose names
I do not know, not having myself visited it, lying between it and the
Quilimane, and the rise and fall at spring tides on the bar of the Luabo
is 22 feet; and as, in the passage, there is NEVER less than four feet
(I having crossed it at dead low-water--springs), this would give an
average depth sufficient for any commercial purposes. The rise and fall
is six feet greater, the passages narrow and more defined, consequently
deeper and more easily found than that of the Quilimane River. The river
above the bar is very tortuous, but deep; and it is observable that the
influence of the tide is felt much higher in this branch than in the
others; for whereas in the Catrina and Cumana I have obtained drinkable
water a very short distance from the mouth, in the Luabo I have ascended
seventy miles without finding the saltness perceptibly diminished. This
would facilitate navigation, and I have no hesitation in saying that
little difficulty would be experienced in conveying a steam-vessel of
the size and capabilities of the gunboat I lately commanded as high as
the branching off of the Quilimane River (Mazaro), which, in the dry
season, is observed many yards above the Luabo (main stream); though
I have been told by the Portuguese that the freshes which come down in
December and March fill it temporarily. These freshes deepen the river
considerably at that time of the year, and freshen the water many miles
from the coast. The population of the delta, except in the immediate
neighborhood of the Portuguese, appeared to be very sparse. Antelopes
and hippopotami were plentiful; the former tame and easily shot. I
inquired frequently of both natives and Portuguese if