These facts prove the genuine political activity of at least one great European power, and offer a precedent to England, which, in one respect at least, she would do well to copy. Her title-deeds, and those of certain districts in which she is concerned, are not in such perfect order as to justify the apathy which exists at present, and her interests in the country are now too serious to be the prey of unchallenged ambitions, or left at the mercy of any casual turn of the wheel of politics.
Thanks, partly, to the recent seizure by Portugal of the little Zambesi steamer belonging to the African Lakes company—on the plea that vessels trading on Portuguese waters must be owned by Portuguese subjects, and fly the Portuguese flag—and to influential deputations to head-quarters on the part of the various Missions, the Foreign Office is beginning to be alive to the state of affairs in East Central Africa. The annexation of Matabeleland will be a chief item on the programme with which it is hoped the Government will shortly surprise us; but, what is of greater significance, it will probably include a declaration of the Zambesi as an open river, and the abolition or serious restriction of the present customs tariff. Important as these things are, however, they affect but slightly the two supreme English interests in East Central Africa—the suppression of the slave-trade and the various missionary and industrial enterprises. The most eager among the supporters of these higher interests have never ventured to press upon Government anything so pronounced as that England should declare a Protectorate over the Upper Shiré and Nyassa districts; but they do contend, and with every reason, for the delimitation of part of this region as a "Sphere of British Influence."
Granting even that the shadowy claims of Germany and Portugal to the eastern shore of Lake Nyassa are to be respected, there remain the whole western coast of the Lake, and the regions of the Upper Shiré which are reached directly from the waters of the Zambesi without trespassing on the soil of any nation. These regions are not even claimed at present by any one, while by every right of discovery and occupation—by every right, in fact, except that of formal acknowledgment—they are already British. It will be an oversight most culpable and inexcusable if this great theatre of British missionary and trading activity should be allowed to be picked up by any passing traveller, or become the property of whatever European power had sufficient effrontery at this late day to wave its flag over it. The thriving settlements, the schools and churches, the roads and trading-stations, of Western Nyassa-land are English. And yet it is neither asked that they should be claimed by England, annexed by England, nor protected by England. Those whose inspirations and whose lives have created this oasis in the desert, plead only that no intruder now should be allowed to undo their labor or idly reap its fruits. Here is one spot, at least, on the Dark Continent, which is being kept pure and clean. It is now within the power of the English Government to mark it off before the world as henceforth sacred ground. To-morrow, it may be too late.
X.
A METEOROLOGICAL NOTE.
The Lake Nyassa region of Africa knows only two seasons—the rainy and the dry. The former begins with great regularity on the opening days of December, and closes towards the end of April; while during the dry season, which follows for the next six months, the sun is almost never darkened with a cloud. At Blantyre, on the Shiré Highlands, the rainfall averages fifty inches; at Bandawé, on Lake Nyassa, a register of eighty-six inches is counted a somewhat dryish season.
The barometer in tropical countries is much more conservative of change than in northern latitudes, and the annual variation at Lake Nyassa is only about half an inch—or from 28.20 inches in November to 28.70 inches in June. The diurnal variation, according to Mr. Stewart, is rarely more than twenty-hundredths of an inch.
The average temperature for the year at Blantyre, where the elevation is about three thousand feet above sea-level, is 50° Fahr., but the mercury has been known to stand ten degrees lower, and on one exceptional occasion it fell 2° below freezing point. At Lake Nyassa, half the height of Blantyre, 85° Fahr. is a common figure for mid-day in the hottest month (November) in the year, while the average night-temperature of the coldest month (May) is about 60°. The lowest registered temperature on the Lake has been 54°, and the highest—though this is extremely rare—100° Fahr. When the Livingstonia Mission occupied the promontory of Cape Maclear, at the southern end of Nyassa, in 1880, one of the then staff, Mr. Harkess, had the energy to keep a systematic record of the temperature, and I am indebted to his notebook for the following table. The figures represent observations taken at 6 A.M., 12 noon, and 6 P.M. A dash indicates that the observation was omitted for the hour corresponding. The wet bulb reads on an average 10 degrees lower.
TABLE OF TEMPERATURES AT LAKE NYASSA.
May June July Aug. Sept.
1 70 62 64 67 68
80 75 73 74 79
75 76 74 73 75
2 -- 60 64 68 69
77 78 74 -- 79
-- 73 -- 74 75
3 67 65 62 65 66
76 78 74 -- 75
76 74 70 -- 74
4 68½ 64 -- 62 71
79 71 73 -- 77
78 70 -- -- 79
5 68 64 63 76 --
79 74 -- -- --
76 74 71 -- --
6 -- 64 64 70 65
75½ 77 72 77 81
75 76 74 -- 77
7 66 67 64 61 72
79 78 71 79 80
75 75 71 -- 77
8 65 66 64 -- 70
74 74 -- -- 80
74 74 71 -- 81
9 -- 68 65 62 70
77 76 75 79 81
-- 73 73 -- 77
10 67 68 66 61 --
75 75 -- 81 80
74 73 71 -- 77
11 69 66 -- 62 70
75 76 76 79 79
-- 75 73 -- 79
12 -- 66 69 65 --
75 75 77 81 --
71 72 -- 76 --
13 65 -- 70 72
76 73 80 79
74 -- 77 78
14 67 63 68 71
73 74 77 81
71 -- 75 78
15 68 64 -- 66 72
76 74 -- -- 75
75 72 76 -- 77
16 71 64 68 67 --
77 74 79 75 79
75 70 78 73 77
17 68 64 65 -- --
78 74 77 -- --
77 72 -- 76 76
18 72 71 68 68 73
80 74 75 75 78
78 72 76 72 77
19 65 64 69 -- --
74 -- 77 75 --
76 77 79 74 --
20 63 -- 67 68 75
74 76 76 -- 82
76 74 74 75 80
21 67 65 64 64 71
75 72 75 -- 85
75 68 75 75 78
22 70 63 67 -- 72
75 66 75 78 81
-- 65 76 75 79
23 58 65 -- 70
67 77 79 82
70 74 77 78
24 -- 62 64 68 73
76 -- 76 69 82
76 -- 74 66 81
25 67 61 66 63 74
77 -- 74 75 --
75 -- 75 71 78
26 67 63 67 64 --
75 75 79 72 --
75 -- 76 73 --
27 69 -- 65 65 73
77 72 74 77 84
74 -- 71 77 82
28 70 -- 65 70 73
78 72 76 79 81
77 -- 74 78 79
29 68 63 65 -- 68
80 71 72 76 82
77 72 75 -- 80
30 -- 64 63 67 74
75 74 78 79 82
76 -- 75 77 80
31 67 65 66
74 76 79
74 76 83