PURSUED BY NATIVES. 671 



of Zumbo, it looks as if a current had dashed along from the south- 

 east in the line in which the pot-holes now appear ; and if the cur- 

 rent was deflected by those hills toward the Maravi country, north 

 of Tete, it may have hollowed the rounded, water-worn caverns 

 in which these people store their corn, and also hide themselves 

 from their enemies. I could detect no terraces on the land, but, 

 if I am right in my supposition, the form of this part of the con- 

 tinent must once have resembled the curves or indentations seen 

 on the southern extremity of the American continent. In the 

 indentation to the S.E., S., S.W., and W. of this, lie the principal 

 gold-washings ; and the line of the current, supposing it to have 

 struck against the hills of Mburuma, shows the washings in the 

 N. and N.E. of Tete. 



We were tolerably successful in avoiding the villages, and slept 

 one night on the flanks of the hill Zimika, where a great number 

 of deep pot-holes afforded an abundant supply of good rain-water. 

 Here, for the first time, we saw hills with bare, smooth, rocky tops, 

 and we crossed over broad dikes of gneiss and syenitic porphyry: 

 the directions in which they lay were N. and S. As we were now 

 near to Tete, we were congratulating ourselves on having avoided 

 those who would only have plagued us ; but next morning some 

 men saw us, and ran off to inform the neighboring villages of our 

 passing. A party immediately pursued us, and, as they knew 

 we were within call of Katolosa (Monomotapa), they threatened 

 to send information to that chief of our offense, in passing- 

 through the country without leave. We were obliged to give 

 them two small tusks ; for, had they told Katolosa of our supposed 

 offense, we should, in all probability, have lost the whole. Wc 

 then went through a very rough, stony country without any path. 

 Being pretty well tired out in the evening of the 2d of March, 

 I remained at about eight miles distance from Tete, Tette, or 

 Nyungwe. My men asked me to go on ; I felt too fatigued to 

 proceed, but sent forward to the commandant the letters of 

 recommendation with which I had been favored in Angola by 

 the bishop and others, and lay down to rest. Our food having 

 been exhausted, my men had been subsisting for some time on 

 roots and honey. About two o'clock in the morning of the 3d 

 we were aroused by two officers and a company of soldiers, who 

 had been sent with the materials for a civilized breakfast and a 



