ZAMBEZI, znin-lri'zi or zain-1):Vz. or ZAIV1 BESI. A large river of _Africa, the fourth in size on the continent. It rises on the bound ary between West Congo Free State in latitude 11° S., longi tude 24° E., and flows with a general southeast ward direction in a great. double curve forming the letter S (Slap: Africa, G 6), First its course lies within Portuguese West Africa, then on the boundary between that colony and the British colony of Ilhodesia, and for a short distance het \\Ten the latter and Ger man Southwest Africa, after which it traverses Iniodosia, and finally flows through Portuguese East Africa until it empties into the Mozam bique Channel in latitude 19° S. Its total length is about 1650 miles. The sources of the river are in a marshy depression of the great plateau, 5000 feet above the sea, and close to the sources of the Kassai, the great tributary of the Congo. The upper course is through a grassy plain which is annually inundated, hut after the river has reached the British boundary its valley becomes narrow, and its course broken by falls and rapids. Shortly after turning east ward into Rhodesia it plunges in the great cataract known as the Victoria Falls (q.v.) into a deep transverse rift in the basalt floor, and for the next 30 or 40 miles it rushes through a deep and narrow gorge bounded by forest-covered ridges. For the next 800 miles it is in general a navigable stream, though broken in several places by rapids as it passes through rocky gorges, and obstructed by sandbanks at low water. The last great interruption is the Kebra
basa Rapids in the Portuguese territory, 400 miles from the sea, and from that point to the delta the river is permanently navigable. The delta has an area of several thousand square miles and a coast extension of 100 miles, but the channels are shifting and obstructed by sand banks. The northernmost arm, Kwa Kwa, passes the port of Quilimane, but the central or Chinde passage is the most accessible. Among the chief tributaries of the Zambezi are the Shire, which drains Lake Nyassa, and the Kuando, which joins the main stream on the boundary of German Southwest Africa. The latter river is also believed to receive water from the Kubango (q.v.) during the wet season, in which ease the Kubango becomes the longest tributary of the Zambezi system. Although the otal navigable length of the river and its tribu taries exceeds 4000 miles, the Zambezi is of little importance as a commercial route, since the navigable portions are broken up into a large number of short stretches separated by rapids, and the river is in general so shallow and ob structed by sandbanks that at low water only small boats can pass. The upper course of the river was first explored by Livingstone in 1554 55. Consult: Proceedings of Royal Geographical ?S'ociety (London, ISM)) ; Col!lard, (in the Thresh old of Central Africa (London, 1897).