We now saw that the dhow had a good breeze, and she came up along the right bank and grounded at least a mile from the spot where the mangroves ceased.  The hills, about two hundred feet high, begin about two or three miles above that, and they looked invitingly green and cool.  My companion and I went from the dhow inland, to see if the mangroves gave way, to a more walkable country, but the swamp covered over thickly with mangroves only became worse the farther we receded from the river.  The whole is flooded at high tides, and had we landed all the men we should have been laid up with fever ere we could have attained the higher land, which on the right bank bounds the line of vision, and the first part of which lies so near.  I thought I had better land on the sand belt on the left of Rovuma Bay, and then explore and get information from the natives, none of whom had as yet come near us, so I ordered the dhow to come down to the spot next day, and went on board the Penguin.  Lieutenant Garforth was excessively kind, and though this is his best time for cruising in the North, he most patiently agreed to wait and help me to land.

24th March, 1866.—­During the night it occurred to me that we should be in a mess if after exploration and information from the natives we could find no path, and when I mentioned this, Lieutenant Garforth suggested that we should proceed to Kilwa, so at 5 A.M.  I went up to the dhow with Mr. Fane, and told the captain that we were going there.  He was loud in his protestations against this, and strongly recommended the port of Mikindany, as quite near to Rovuma, Nyassa, and the country I wished to visit, besides being a good landing-place, and the finest port on the coast.  Thither we went, and on the same evening landed all our animals in Mikindany bay, which lies only twenty-five miles N. of Rovuma.  The Penguin then left.

The Rovuma is quite altered from what it was when first we visited it.  It is probable that the freshets form banks inside the mouth, which are washed out into the deep bay, and this periodical formation probably has prevented the Arabs from using the Rovuma as a port of shipment.  It is not likely that Mr. May[4] would have made a mistake if the middle were as shoal as now:  he found soundings of three fathoms or more.

[Illustration:  Dhow used for Transport of Dr. Livingstone’s Camels.]

25th March, 1866.—­I hired a house for four dollars a month and landed all our goods from the dhow.  The bay gives off a narrow channel, about 500 yards wide and 200 yards long, the middle is deep, but the sides are coral reefs and shoal:  the deep part seems about 100 yards wide.  Outside in the Bay of Mikindany there is no anchorage except on the edge of the reef where the Penguin got seven fathoms, but further in it was only two fathoms.  The inner bay is called Pemba, not Pimlea, as erroneously printed in the charts of Owen.  It is deep and quite sheltered; another of a similar round form lies somewhat to the south:  this bay may be two miles square.