802 KEPOET — 1887. 



Having examined tlie ancient granite quarries at tlie first cataract, wliieh supplied 

 deep red, rose, and dark grey stone, whieh was quarried by metal wedges, and not 

 wood (as is generally supposed), the author started from Keneli with a small cara- 

 van and supplies calculated to last three weeks. Passing the remains of several 

 Eoman stations, the author, on the fifth day, reached an excellent well in the 

 charming Wadi Kitar, hemmed in on three sides by precipitous mountains. Soon 

 after leaving this valley he crossed the watershed (2,400 feet above the Nile), and 

 then travelled along the flank of the immense porphyry mountain of Gebel 

 Dukhan as far as an old Roman station with an old fort. The morning after his 

 arrival the author ascended to the top of a pass (.3,100 feet), without having found 

 even a fragment of porphyry ; but espying, by the aid of a good field-glass, porphyry 

 colouring on the opposite mountain he resolved to go tbere, and bis delight knew 

 no bounds when he found the ground tbere strewn with pieces of the most sump- 

 tuous porphyry, and discovered a pitched way or slide, 16 feet wide, down which 

 the blocks were lowered. Further examination led him to the locality where the 

 Romans had extracted their grandest masses, and he found that these quarries had 

 yielded not only the usual spotted variety but also the brecciated sorts and green- 

 greys. The great quarry was at an altitude of 3,650 feet above the sea, and a road 

 led dov/n to it to an ancient town with workshops. A path led hence to the 

 old town in the valley, further up which are the ruins of a Eoman temple. The 

 blocks were formerly carried to the Nile, a distance of 96 miles, but they will in 

 future be conveyed by a gentle incline to the lied Sea, which is about 26 miles 

 distant. On his return to Cairo the author secured a concession to rework the 

 quarries, the terms of which have since been ratified. 



8. On the Bed Sea Traded Bij A. B. Wtlde. 



9. Mataheleland and the Country between the Zambezi, and the Limpopo. 

 By Captain C. E. Hatnes, E.E. 



This region has been famous from a very earlj^ age for its productive gold 

 mines. They were being worked when the Portuguese first arrived in the country, 

 and some of the mines still exist, but the slave trade and the inroad of the 

 Matabele power have reduced all native industries to a very indeterminate 

 quantity. 



The Matabele are the near kinsmen of the Zulu, and have nearly identical 

 customs. Both wear that unique head-dress, the gum-ring, their badge of manhood. 

 The Matabele were driven out of Zululand about the beginning of the century, and 

 under their chief Umselikazi they became a terror to all the Bechuana tribes living- 

 north of the Vaal river. Attacked by the Voortrek Boers, and by the Zulus imder 

 Panda, they were forced to retire north of the Limpopo, and finally settled down 

 in the midst of the Makalaka and Mashona tribes. About the same period the 

 Gaza kingdom was established by Manikuza, one of Chaka's generals, to the east of 

 the Sabi river. This tribe, under the government of Umzila, proved itself a fast 

 ally of the Matabele. 



The invasion of the Matabele has caused the annihilation or disruption of the 

 tribes with whom they came into conflict. There are only fragments of the 

 aboriginal people now, who still carry on in a furtive manner some of their old 

 industries, such as gold digging, iron working, and weaving. 



The climate of Mataheleland resembles that of the Transvaal, and the high 

 veldt which ranges from the Nata river to the vicinity of the Zambezi near Tete, is 

 well fitted for European settlers, and promises to become a prosperous agricultui'al 

 region, with numerous local markets at hand in the mining districts. Care should 

 be taken to protect the forests there. Their wholesale destruction has already 

 begim. The Gaza country and the low veldt is not so salubrious, and, generally 

 speaking, the Zambezi valley is malarious. 



' This paper will be published in the Journal of the Manchester Geographical 

 Society. 



