A HEALTHY REGION 147 



of black warrior ants, which ate her alive on the 

 outskirts of the village. 



On the south-east side of the Baru(^, low down 

 towards the western foothills of Gorongoza 

 mountain, and where it is watered by a number 

 of streams which fall into the Pungwe River, the 

 country is fertile, thickly populated, and rich in 

 native crops. It must be, moreover, extraordinarily 

 healthy, as there is here no marsh land, properly 

 speaking, or stagnant water to propagate the 

 malarial mosquito. The whole region is covered 

 with forest, varying in density and luxuriance of 

 growth with the elevation, and consequent poverty 

 or richness of soil. Thus on the plateau, and in 

 the higher altitudes, the soil, which is nothing 

 more than disintegrated granite debris, the 

 weathering through the ages of the vast rocks 

 which here abound held together by a modicum of 

 organic matter, produces nothing more impressive 

 than stunted acacias, small baobabs, clumps of 

 euphorbias and feathery bamboos, with an under- 

 growth of dwarf iron-wood and protece ; whilst 

 down on the banks of the low-lying stream-beds 

 some few forest trees of great size and undoubted 

 value may be noted. 



From Mungari, for twenty or thirty miles, 

 the Barue is possessed of only a few isolated 

 mountainous features such as M'sunga and one 

 or two unimportant hills. The forest, however, 

 opposes a tiresome limit to one's range of vision, 

 except on the summit of some elevated ridge or 

 shoulder ; but Inyangone once passed, and the 

 bold rocky escarpment of Sajawd reached, the view 



