32 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on the 
productive, comes the “Jihu”—a term applied both to a 
grass and to the rich red soil on which it commonly grows, 
but more especially to the whole district lymg to the 
south of Chirinda, which belongs entirely to this type of 
country. It is covered with dense grass-jungle, rising to 
ten feet or more in height, bound together in an impene- 
trable mass by a thorny Smilax, the stinging Velvet-Bean 
(Mucuna), yams of more than one species, and other 
kinds of rank growth, interspersed with thorn-trees, or, in 
parts, with “ Tshianga,” “ Mubhungu,” and other com- 
paratively large trees of the Brachystegia type cf growth, 
which form fine open woods and are swarming with birds. 
Mount Shinguné bounds the Jihu on the south, falling 
abruptly 1000 or 1500 feet to the Umswirezi, which here 
winds sluggishly through the centre of a broad flat valley, 
exceedingly fertile in a good rainy season, but lable to 
drought. In consequence of this and of the great power of 
the sun, it is comparatively bare, the grass, though long, not 
attaining the rank growth of the “ Jihu,” and the bush 
where it occurs being of a rather stunted character. The 
Umswirezi itself, however, and the permanent streams 
entering it from the hiils are marked by lines of magnificent 
Adinas, Khayas, and other fine trees, which, at the time of 
my visit, in the commencement of November, were full of 
birds. 
It was in these flats, at the foot of Shingune, that 
Gungunyana, grandson of Mauikusa and the last of the 
Gaza kings, held his court in traditional Zulu style for many 
years previous to his capture in 1896 by the Portuguese. 
Many of the more striking birds were in these by-gone 
days reserved exclusively for the use of the chief and his 
wives, and death was the penalty for any infringement of 
this rule. 
The fact that the Aba-gaza, or Manguai, as they are here 
more commonly entitled, settled in this part of the country, 
and recognised the native chiefs, instead of using it as a 
mere raiding ground, has resulted in the adoption, south of 
the Lusitu River, of their language, Singuni or Zulu, and 
