152 THE REGION OF THE BARUE 



visited. The Mungari post is a well-constructed 

 quadrilateral stockade of considerable strength, 

 surrounded by a glacis and ditch of sufficient width 

 and depth, and mounting two Hotchkiss quick- 

 firing guns. It contains quarters for the native 

 troops, with accommodation for the officers and 

 non-commissioned officers. There are, in addition, 

 stabling and quartermaster's stores. Surrounding 

 the small fortress is a wide stretch of well-kept, 

 open ground, and, five or six hundred yards away, 

 the nicely arranged, well-built residence of the 

 Capitao-mdr, and the shops of the small " banyan " 

 trading community. Through Mungari runs the 

 main road from Tete to Macequece (pronounced 

 Massikess) on the Rhodesian frontier, a week-long 

 journey, with a good road and plenty of water all 

 the way. This is really the only road through the 

 Baru^, if one except the native-made paths which 

 my expedition followed when I visited the district 

 in 1907. It is, however, the middle portion of this 

 fine, neglected area which claims the greatest 

 attention. Here the rainfall is heaviest, and the wide 

 district of which this elevated plateau land consists 

 becomes, therefore, a distributing centre for such 

 slight irrigation as the low-lying expanses receive. 

 These latter retain the water through the winter 

 months in the sandy stream beds, where the 

 precious fluid is often only hidden from view by 

 a few inches of moist sand. Marshes, of course, 

 there are none, and wells are not abundant. 

 Personally, judging from the appearances which 

 presented themselves, I should be inclined to 

 estimate the average rainfall at about 40 inches, 



