296 REPORT—1905. 
the northern part of the Kalahari region, on the verge of which we now 
found ourselves. 
It had been our intention to return from Deka to Victoria Falls by 
the old traders’ road past Pandamatenka and Gasuma; but as the Bush- 
men reported that the exceptionally dry season had exhausted the waters 
of Gasuma Vley this plan became impracticable, and we therefore turned 
north-eastward and pursued a course roughly parallel to the Deka River 
for a distance of about 55 miles to the Wankie Coal Mine and Railway 
Station, which we reached on August 4. We suddenly passed off the 
basalts on to the sandstones and shales associated with the Wankie Coal 
Measures after crossing the Deka six miles west of Wankie ; and I there- 
fore remained for four days ionger in this district to investigate its 
geological structure more closely, profiting greatly during my stay from 
the guidance and kind hospitality of Mr. J. M. Kearney, the manager of 
the mine. 
My camping work, rendered possible through the unstinted assistance 
generously afforded by the British South Africa Company and its officers, 
terminated at this point, after having extended over 600 miles of actual 
trekking. 
Then returning by railway to Victoria Falls I spent a few more days 
in examining the head of the gorge and its surroundings ; and left there 
finally on August 18 in order to join the meeting of the Association in 
Johannesburg, where a preliminary report of my investigation was pre- 
sented. ! 
The material collected during the journeys above outlined includes a 
large number of geological specimens, ancient stone implements, and some 
recent fresh-water shells. As much of this material still remains to be 
worked out, and as it is intended subsequently to prepare a fuller account 
of the scientific results, it will suffice for the present to give only a brief 
forecast of these results. 
Geographical and Physiographical Features.—The only maps of the 
region at present available are merely sketch maps pieced together from 
travellers’ scanty records ; and even for the country south of the Zambesi, 
about the head-waters of the Matetsi and Deka Rivers, which has been 
frequently traversed, the best existing map is very inaccurate; while for 
the course of the Zambesi itself and the country to the north of it 
between Victoria Falls and Wankie’s Drift the mapping is frankly hypo- 
thetical. 
After entering the Batoka Gorge below the Falls the Zambesi, with 
many sudden curves and sharp-angled bends, pursues on the whole a 
southerly or south-south-easterly course for 10 or 12 miles. Then turning 
eastward it appears to follow an average easterly course for about 
20 miles, though with some remarkable windings that have as yet been only 
upproximately traced. Its twisting channel afterwards begins to screw 
northward, with an average east-north-easterly direction, and apparently 
continues in this general course for nearly thirty miles, to a little beyond 
the confluence of its northern tributary, the Ungwesi. It then swings 
round, still with many sharp windings, to an east-south-east and south- 
easterly direction, in which it continues to Wankie’s Drift (see sketch 
map). Its general course between Victoria Falls and Wankie’s is thus 
* An abstract of this report has been published in Wature, vol. lxxiii. pp. 111-114 
(November 30, 1905). : ; ‘ 
