XXXIV.] THE KUNGWA HILLS. Ul 



hies covered with dark vegetable humus, and seemed to be of 

 inexhaustible fertility. The country was intersected b}^ numer- 

 ous nullahs, or temporary water -courses, which all drained to 

 the Kingani. 



Manioc iJatrophd) of the sweet sort, Indian corn {Holcus 

 sorghum) — the Kaffir corn of Natal, and dourra of Egypt — 

 ground-nuts, sem-sem, and castor-oil were grown by the inhab- 

 itants. Their only live stock were goats and a few wretched 

 sheep and fowls. 



Toward Msuw\ali the country began to rise decidedly, and out- 

 crops of granite and quartz sometimes showed through the soft 

 red sandstone which formed the upper stratum. 



From Msuwah we continued on a fairly high level till we de- 

 scended into the valley of the Lugerengeri, which is one of 

 great beauty and fertility, and where sugar-cane was cultivated 

 in addition to the crops previously mentioned. 



Directly after crossing the Lugerengeri, the Kungwa hills 

 were entered — part of the range mentioned by Burton as the 

 Duthumi hills — a mass of mountainous granite and quartz ele- 

 vations of very confused shapes and forms, surrounding a fertile 

 and populous tract full of small conical hills. Their summits 

 were crowned by villages, the slopes covered with Indian and 

 Kaffir corn, and rice was cultivated in the small valleys. 



Where not under tillage, the lower levels were masses of cane- 

 grass and bamboo, growing high above the head of the traveler, 

 and only allowing occasional glimpses of the beautiful scenery 

 around. 



Emerging from this basin by a pass in the hills, the tortuous 

 valley of the Lugerengeri was again reached, and the path led 

 along between the stream and a range of hills to the soutli, the 

 sides of which were scored by numerous torrents, which in ex- 

 ceptionally rainy seasons bear desolation to the villages in their 

 course. 



The town of Simbaw^ni having been passed, the Lugerengeri 

 was again crossed, and then the- road lay close under a promon- 

 tory-like hill of granite with cliff-like sides, to the Makata plain, 

 a wide and open expanse of very slightly undulating ground 

 with numerous fan-palms in some places, and on the drier spots 

 clumps of forest-trees. The wet parts are sticky, clayey mud, 



