84 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY 



on the high, rocky face of the mountain is cut by 

 deep ravines, doubtless produced by similar causes. 

 In the midst of the second curve the shore forma- 

 tion to the south is that of a vast semi-circular 

 amphitheatre, from whose sides and bottom spring 

 more or less conical rocky peaks, their sides and 

 heads glittering through the leafy covering with 

 picturesque broken masses of granite. The aridness 

 of the weather-beaten rock, which would soon 

 become monotonous and unwelcome, is atoned for 

 by the rich umbrageous effect of its clothing of 

 greenery, whose variegated verdure is enhanced by 

 the pale clayey soil one sees in the gaps between 

 the trees. On the right bank at this point, within 

 a distance of some three miles, by possibly as 

 many back from the water, no less than thirteen 

 rocky peaks similar to Panzu'ngoma may be 

 counted, with a lovely belt of tropical vegetation 

 surrounding their bases ; the effect given being in 

 turn that of sapphire-blue water, pale yellow grass 

 and reeds giving on to the deep greenery of the 

 tree belts and undergrowth, with the dark im- 

 penetrable shadows beneath ; beyond and above 

 the pale red of the clayey surface flecked by grey, 

 sunlit granite, and fringes of feathery palm trees. 

 The water here is much clearer, and freer from 

 organic matter than one finds it lower down the 

 river. 



At the western extremity, and seventeen miles 

 from the bluff at Bandar where we entered it, we 

 pass in midstream the small granite Mozambique 

 Island, and emerge from the Lupata Gorge. At 

 the point of exit, huge cliffs of porphyritic formation 



