VALLEY OF THE QUANGO. 22/ 



giving it a serrated appearance. Both the top and sides 

 of the sierra are covered with trees; but large patches 

 of the more perpendicular parts are bare, and exhibit the 

 red soil which is general over the region we have now 

 entered. 



The hollow affords a section of this part of the country; 

 and we find that the uppermost stratum is the ferruginous 

 conglomerate already mentioned. The matrix is rust of 

 iron, (or hydrous peroxide of iron and hematite,) and in it 

 are embedded water- worn pebbles of sandstone and quartz. 

 As this is the rock underlying the soil of a large part of Londa, 

 its formation must have preceded the work of denudation by 

 an arm of the sea which washed away the enormous mass 

 of matter required before the vallej' - of Cassange could as- 

 sume its present form. The strata under the conglomerate 

 are all of red clay shale of different degrees of hardness, 

 the most indurated being at the bottom. This red clay 

 shale is named " keele" in Scotland, and has always been 

 considered as an indication of gold ; but the only thing we 

 discovered was that it had given rise to a very slippery 

 clay soil, so different from that which we had just left that 

 Mashauana, who always prided himself on being an adept 

 at balancing himself in the canoe on water, and so sure of 

 foot on land that he could afford to express contempt for 

 any one less gifted, came down in a very sudden and un- 

 dignified manner, to the delight of all whom he had pre- 

 viously scolded for falling. 



Sunday, April 2. — "We rested beside a small stream, and 

 our hunger being now very severe, from having lived on 

 manioc alone since leaving Ionga Panza's, we slaughtered 

 one of our four remaining oxen. We could get neither 

 meal nor manioc, but should have been comfortable had not 

 the Bashinje chief Sansawe pestered us for the customary 

 present. The native traders informed us that a display of 

 force was often necessary before they could pass this man. 



Sansawe, the chief of a portion of the Bashinje, having 

 sent the usual formal demand for a man, an ox, or a tusk, 



