586 RUINS OF STONE HOUSES. Chap. XXIX. 



came to the confluence, though they carried off all the cattle of 

 Mburuma. The guides confirmed this by saying that the Bazunga 

 were not attacked, but fled in alarm on the approach of the enemy. 

 Tliis mango-tree he knew by its proper name, and we found seven 

 others and several tamarinds, and were informed that the chief 

 Mburunia sends men annually to gather the fruit, but, like many 

 Africans whom I have known, has not had patience to propagate 

 more trees. I gave them some little presents for themselves, a 

 handkerchief and a few beads, and they were highly pleased with 

 a cloth of red baize for Mburuma, winch Sekeletu had given me to 

 purchase a canoe. We were thankful to part good friends. 



Next morning we passed along the bottom of the range, called 

 Mazanzwe, and found the ruins of eight or ten stone houses. 

 They all faced the river, and were high enough up the flanks 

 of the lull Mazanzwe to command a pleasant view of the broad 

 Zambesi. These establishments had all been built on one plan — 

 a house on one side of a large court, surrounded by a wall ; both 

 houses and walls had been built of soft gray sandstone cemented 

 together with mud. The work had been performed by slaves 

 ignorant of building, for the stones were not often placed so as to 

 cover the seams below. Hence you frequently find the joinings 

 forming one seam from the top to the bottom. Much mortar or 

 clay had been used to cover defects, and now trees of the fig 

 family grow upon the walls, and clasp them with then roots. 

 When the clay is moistened, masses of the walls come down 

 by wholesale. Some of the rafters and beams had fallen in, but 

 were entire, and there were some trees in the middle of the 

 houses as large as a man's body. On the opposite or south bank 

 of the Zambesi, we saw the remains of a wall on a height which 

 was probably a fort, and the church stood at a central point, 

 formed by the right bank of the Loangwa and the left of the 

 Zambesi. 



The situation of Zumbo was admirably well chosen as a site 

 for commerce. Looking backwards we see a mass of high, dark 

 mountains, covered with trees ; behind us rises the fine high 

 hill Mazanzwe, which stretches away northwards along the left 

 bank of the Loangwa; to the S.E. lies an open country with 

 a small round hill in the distance called Tofulo. The mer- 

 chants, as they sat beneath the verandahs in front of their 



