THE MOKORONGA. 391 



dark, ii resembles a porcupine in miniature. If one touches 

 it, the hairs run into the pores of the skin, and remain 

 there, giving sharp pricks. There are others which have 

 a similar means of defence; and when the hand is drawn 

 across them, as in passing a bush on which they happen to 

 be, the contact resembles the stinging of nettles. From 

 the great number of caterpillars seen, we bave a consider- 

 able variety of butterflies. One particular kind flies more 

 like a swallow than a butterfly. They are not remarkable 

 for the gaudiness of their colors. 



In passing along, we crossed the hills Yungue or Mvung- 

 we, which we found to be composed of various eruptive 

 rocks. At one part we have breccia of altered marl or slate 

 in quartz, and various amygdaloids. It is curious to observe 

 the different forms which silica assumes. We have it in clay- 

 etone porphyry here, no larger than turnip-seed, dotted 

 thickly over the matrix; or crystallized round the walls of 

 cavities once filled with air or other elastic fluid; or it may 

 appear in similar cavities as tufts of yellow asbestos, or as 

 red, yellow, or green crystals, or in laminae so arranged as to 

 appear like fossil wood. Yungue forms the watershed be- 

 tween those sand-rivulets which run to the JN\E., and others 

 which flow southward, as the Kapopo, Ue, and Due, which 

 run into the Luia. 



We found that many elephants had been feeding on the 

 fruit called mokoronga. This is a black-colored plum, 

 having purple juice. We all ate it in large quantities, as 

 we found it delicious. The only defect it has is the great 

 size of the seed in comparison with the pulp. This is the 

 chief fault of all uncultivated wild fruits. The moko- 

 ronga exists throughout this part of the country most 

 abundantly, and the natives eagerly devour it, as it is said 

 to be perfectly wholesome, or, as they express it, "It is 

 pure fat," and fat is by them considered the best of food. 

 Though only a little larger than a cherry, we found that the 

 elephants had stood picking them off patiently by the hour. 

 We observed the footprints of a black rhinoceros (Rhino- 



