706 JESUIT STATION. 



miles beyond stands the lofty mountain Morumbala, probably 

 3000 or 4000 feet high. It is of an oblong shape, and from its 

 physiognomy, which can be distinctly seen when the sun is in 

 the west, is evidently igneous. On the northern end there is a 

 hot sulphurous fountain, which my Portuguese friends refused 

 to allow me to visit, because the mountain is well peopled, and 

 the mountaineers are at present not friendly with the Portu- 

 guese. They have plenty of garden-ground and running water 

 on its summit. My friends at Senna declined the responsibility 

 of taking me into danger. To the north of Morumbala we have 

 a fine view of the mountains of the Maganja ; they here come 

 close to the river, and terminate in Morumbala. Many of them 

 are conical, and the Shire is reported to flow among them, and 

 to run on the Senna side of Morumbala before joining the 

 Zambesi. On seeing the confluence afterward, close to a low 

 range of hills beyond Morumbala, I felt inclined to doubt the 

 report, as the Shire must then flow parallel with the Zambesi, 

 from which Morumbala seems distant only twenty or thirty- 

 miles. All around to the southeast the country is flat, and cov- 

 ered with forest, but near Senna a number of little abrupt conical 

 hills diversify the scenery. To the west and north the country 

 is also flat forest, which gives it a sombre appearance ; but just 

 in the haze of the horizon southwest by south, there rises a 

 mountain range equal in height to Morumbala, and called Nya- 

 monga. In a clear day another range beyond this may be seen, 

 which is Gorongozo, once a station of the Jesuits. Gorongozo 

 is famed for its clear cold waters and healthiness, and there are 

 some inscriptions engraved on large square slabs on the top of 

 the mountain, which have probably been the work of the fathers. 

 As this lies in the direction of a district between Manica and 

 Sofala, which has been conjectured to be the Ophir of King Solo- 

 mon, the idea that first sprang up in my mind was, that these 

 monuments might be more ancient than the Portuguese ; but, on 

 questioning some persons who had seen them, I found that they 

 were in Homan characters, and did not deserve a journey of six 

 days to see them. 



Manica lies three days northwest of Gorongozo, and is the 

 best gold country known in Eastern Africa. The only evidence 

 the Portuguese have of its being the ancient Ophir is, that at 



