Everything required in connection with the undertaking had to be shipped from England; the country did not assist the builders one little bit. Not an ounce of coal could be obtained locally, there was no lime, and bricks could not be made to assist in the erection of the piers. The country is even deficient in a good quality of stone suited to building purposes, so masonry work was equally out of the question. The only alternative was the utilisation of concrete. The Portland cement for this purpose, by the time it gained Port Herald, cost between five and six times the price for which it could be bought in England--in other words, the expense of carriage was from four to five times the value of the article. This applied to other material beyond cement. In fact, the transportation to such a remote district was a heavy item. The articles were dispatched to Beira, where they were transhipped into coasting steamers, and five hours later were landed at Chinde, where they were loaded upon the shallow-draught river boats and conveyed to Port Herald. [Illustration: THE IRON HORSE IN CENTRAL AFRICA Arrival of the passenger train at Port Herald on the Nyasaland Railway. Beira on the coast is reached from this point by steamer via the Shiré and Zambesi rivers.] The line follows a northerly course after leaving the southern terminus, and roughly clings to the bank of the river so far as Chiromo. Here it swings across the waterway over a bridge about 420 feet in length, to gain the valley of the Ruo River. This bridge is the outstanding feature of the railway, on account of its interesting lifting span, which is of novel and unusual design. When the railway was plotted the Government stipulated that there should be no interference with navigation on the river, although the waterway, as a highway of traffic, has fallen practically into desuetude since the railway was constructed. However, official requirements had to be met, and these demanded an opening 100 feet wide, and giving a clearance of 30 feet in height at high water. The ordinary type of draw or swing bridge, to satisfy this requisition, was quite out of the question, because the need to open the bridge is very rarely experienced, and when the demand does arise, the time occupied in the operation is of minor importance. Heavy expenditure under this heading, therefore, was not justifiable. [Illustration: THE BASCULES BEING LOWERED BY CABLES AND WINCHES FROM EITHER CLIFF-FACE] [Illustration: [_See page 302_ THE BASCULES LOWERED, SHOWING THE FRENCH ENGINEERS AT CENTRE MAKING THE CONNECTION ERECTING THE BASCULES FOR THE FAUX-NAMITI BRIDGE ON THE YUNNAN RAILWAY]