WHITE MOUNTAIN.— THE MOZUMA. 587 



To the south, and a little east of this, stands the hill Taba Cheu, 

 or "White Mountain," from a mass of white rock, probably dolo- 

 mite, on its top. But none of the hills are of any great altitude. 

 "When I heard this mountain described at Linyanti I thought the 

 glistening substance might be snow, and my informants were so 

 loud in their assertions of its exceeding great altitude that I was 

 startled with the idea ; but I had quite forgotten that I was speak- 

 ing with men who had been accustomed to plains, and knew noth- 

 ing of very high mountains. When I inquired what the white 

 substance was, they at once replied it was a kind of rock. I ex- 

 pected to have come nearer to it, and would have ascended it ; but 

 we were led to go to the northeast. Yet I doubt not that the 

 native testimony of its being stone is true. The distant ranges 

 of hills which line the banks of the Zambesi on the southeast, and 

 landscapes which permit the eye to range over twenty or thirty 

 miles at a time, with short grass under our feet, were especially 

 refreshing sights to those who had traveled for months together 

 over the confined views of the flat forest, and among the tangled 

 rank herbage of the great valley. 



The Mozuma, or River of Dila, was the first water-course which 

 indicated that we were now on the slopes toward the eastern coast. 

 It contained no flowing water, but revealed in its banks what 

 gave me great pleasure at the time — pieces of lignite, possibly in- 

 dicating the existence of a mineral, namely, coal, the want of which 

 in the central country I had always deplored. Again and again 

 we came to the ruins of large towns, containing the only hiero- 

 glyphics of this country, worn mill-stones, with the round ball of 

 quartz with which the grinding was effected. Great numbers of 

 these balls were lying about, showing that the depopulation had 

 been the result of war ; for, had the people removed in peace, they 

 would have taken the bails with them. 



At the River of Dila we saw the spot where Sebituane lived, 

 and Sekwebu pointed out the heaps of bones of cattle which 

 the Makololo had been obliged to slaughter after performing 

 a march with great herds captured from the Batoka through 

 a patch of the fatal tsetse. When Sebituane saw the symptoms 

 of the poison, he gave orders to his people to eat the cattle. He 

 still had vast numbers ; and when the Matebele, crossing the 

 Zambesi opposite this part, came to attack him, he invited the 



