Gn,u>. XXII.] SOUTHERN AFRICA. 189 



still more conspicuous, and footsteps of the preced- 

 ing day were numerous. We paused on the moun- 

 tains to admire the stupendous depth and foimidable 

 character of the ravines and chasms, which have been 

 scooped out by the mighty torrents of water that 

 roll down during the rainy season, with fury irres's- 

 tible, uprooting ancient trees, and hurling into the 

 plain below huge masses of rock, which, once put 

 in motion, bound from ledge to ledge vnitil they 

 reach the bottom of the valley. Nearly all the rivers 

 in this part of Africa take their source in the 

 Cashan range. It divides the waters that flow to 

 the eastward into the Mozambique Sea, from those 

 that run to the westward into the Atlantic Ocean ; 

 and the country on both sides being abundantly irri- 

 gated, is far better calculated both for grazing and 

 cultivation than any part of the chstrict that we 

 found the Matabili occupying. The fear of Dingaan, 

 however, has led them to neglect it, and to establish 

 themselves in a more secure position. A gigantic 

 savage of a subordinate tribe of the Baquaina, a 

 conquered nation to the northward, here accidentally 

 joined us. He was a perfect ogre in dimensions, six 

 feet four inches high, and stout in proportion. From 

 him we learned that there was a large herd of ele- 

 phants on the opposite side of the mountains, out of 

 which he had speared a young one the day before. 

 We proceeded under his guidance, and threading a 

 pass in the mountains formed by the dry channel of 

 a ravine, through which a waggon might be brought 

 with little difficulty, sat down to breakfast by a re- 



