The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

94 SOUTH AND KAST AFRICA.lJi;].A(;()ABav.Fur more impurlaiit in every rcs2:)cct is the iioitliern inlet of Delagoa Bay,which, opoiiiug northwards, preseuts good anchoriigc iu over GO feet of water,easily accessible to the largest vessels through a well-sheltered passage runningsome distance inland. Hence the British Government for some time disputed thepossession of this valuable harbour of refuge with the Portuguese, who relied ontheir long-established claims to its exclusive ownership. England asserted herright especially to occupy the island of Inyak, Avhich forms a northern extensionof the peninsula of like name at the entrance of the bay. Nevertheless thePresident of the French Republic, to whom the question had been referred forarbitration in the }-ear 1875, decided in favour of Portugal, assigning to her thefree disposition of all the lands encircling the bay, which cannot fail to becomethe commercial outlet for the produce of all the inland states.Between the St. Lucia and Delagoa inlets, the form of the sandy coast aswell as that of the lagoons disposed iu the same direction, together with thecourse of all the rivers which here trend northwards, all seems to point at theaction of a marine current steadily setting in the direction from south to northalong this seaboard. Such a current would be opposed to that flowing southwardsfrom Mozambique, v,'hile its action on the sandy coast would be muchpromoted by the heavy seas rolling iu from the Indian Ocean under the influenceof the south-east trade-winds. In this way may have been formed the outercoast-line formed by a long succession of sand}' tongues, all skirting the cast sideof the shallow coast lagoons and running parallel with the true continental shoreline.North of Delagoa Bay the altered conditions must give rise to the oppositephenomenon. Here the marine current sets southwards, while the llanissa River,instead of flowing in a straight line seawards, is deflected along its lower coursein a line parallel with the const itself. It thus flows for a considerable distancetowards the south before mingling its waters with those of the bay.Several other rivers converge towards the same basin. From the south comesthe Maputa, which is formed by numerous watercourses which have their rise inthe interior of the Zulu and Swazi territories. From the west descend the Tembiand Um-Bolozi, reaching the estuary in a united stream at the point where issituated the town of Louren^o Marques. Lastly from the north comes thecopious current of the already mentioned Manissa. Thanks to the high tides andthe natural depth of their channels, all these affluents of the bay arc accessible toshipping for some distance inland. The Manissa, that is, the King George Riverof the English settlers, was ascended for 130 miles from its mouth by Hilliard,who nowhere found it less than 83 feet deep. Hence this watercoiirse woiddafford easy access to the auriferous regions of the interior, but for the marshytracts, which occur at many points along its course, and which render the climateextremely malarious. The Manissa was long supposed to be the lower course ofthe Limpopo, \\hich rises towards the west of the Transvaal republic. But its