548 WHITE MOUNTAIN— THE MOZUMA. Chap. XXVn. 



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 speaking 

 with men who had been accustomed to plains, and knew nothing 

 of Yery high mountains. When I inquired what the white sub- 

 stance was, they at once replied it was a kind of rock. I expected 

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

 were led to go to the north-east. 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 south-east, and land- 

 scapes which permit the eye to range over twenty 1 * or thirty 

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

 refreshing sights to those who had travelled for months together, 

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

 rank herbage of the great valley. 



The Mozuma, or river of Dila, was the first watercourse which 

 indicated that we were now on the slopes towards 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 

 indicating 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 

 hieroglyphics of this country, worn millstones, 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 balls 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 



