Second Visit to the Mazoe Valley. 295 



CHAPTER XIX. 



ON THE ROAD HOME. 



Second visit to the mines in the Mazoe Valley — Good-bye to 

 Fort Salisbury — Bad roads — The officials of the Chartered 

 Company — Fort Victoria once more — Climate and weather 

 in Mashonaland — Gold discoveries ronnd Fort Victoria — 

 My faithful savage " Tiriki " — We telegraph home from 

 Fort Victoria— Long's Mine — The Lundi Eiver — Bad 

 roads again — Death of a " salted horse " — The journey to 

 Fort Tali a record "trek." 



Before leaving Fort Salisbury I made, in the 

 company of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, an excursion to the 

 Mazoe Valley. We accomplished the distance of 

 thirty miles to the abode of the mining com- 

 missioner in the course of the day. The road 

 going north passes at the foot of Mount Hampden 

 about twelve miles from Fort Salisbury. Mount 

 Hampden is an isolated kopje a thousand yards or 

 so in leno-th, and some five hundred feet hio-h. 

 This " celebrated eminence " left behind, the road 

 quits the plain and descends into broken and pic- 

 turesque country, where hills are covered with tree 

 and bush, putting the traveller in mind of the low- 

 lands of Bavaria. Following the valley of the 

 Mazoe river for some distance, we arrived at the 

 " Alice and Susanna " reefs, situated on the right of 

 the road about one hundred feet up the hillside^ 

 Here the quartz reef, which is being worked by a 



