406 HILL KASALA. 



cheap, but it was generally made dear enough, until I refused to 

 allow him to come near the place where we were bargaining. But 

 he took us safely down to Ambaca, and I was glad to see, on my 

 return to Cassange, that he was promoted to be sergeant-major of 

 a company of militia. 



Having left Cassange on the 21st, we passed across the remain- 

 ing portion of this excessively fertile valley to the foot of Tala 

 Mungongo. We crossed a fine little stream called the Lui on the 

 22d, and another named the Luare on the 24th, then slept at the 

 bottom of the height, which is from a thousand to fifteen hundred 

 feet. The clouds came floating along the valley, and broke against 

 the sides of the ascent, and the dripping rain on the tall grass 

 made the slaps in the face it gave, when the hand or a stick was 

 not held up before it, any thing but agreeable. This edge of the 

 valley is exactly like the other ; jutting spurs and denies give the 

 red ascent the same serrated appearance as that which we de- 

 scended from the highlands of Londa. The whole of this vast 

 valley has been removed by denudation, for pieces of the plateau 

 which once filled the now vacant space stand in it, and present 

 the same structure of red horizontal strata of equal altitudes with 

 those of the acclivity which we are now about to ascend. One 

 of these insulated masses, named Kasala, bore E.S.E. from the 

 place where we made our exit from the valley, and about ten 

 miles W.S.W. from the village of Cassange. It is remarkable 

 for its perpendicular sides ; even the natives find it extremely 

 difficult, almost impossible, to reach its summit, though there is 

 the temptation of marabou-nests and feathers, which are highly 

 prized. There is a small lake reported to exist on its southern 

 end, and, during the rainy season, a sort of natural moat is formed 

 around the bottom. What an acquisition this would have been in 

 feudal times in England ! There is land sufficient for considera- 

 ble cultivation on the top, with almost perpendicular sides more 

 than a thousand feet in height. 



We had not yet got a clear idea of the nature of Tala Mun- 

 gongo. A gentleman of Cassange described it as a range of very 

 high mountains, which it would take four hours to climb ; so, 

 though the rain and grass had wetted us miserably, and I was suf- 

 fering from an attack of fever got while observing by night for the 

 position of Cassange, I eagerly commenced the ascent. The path 



