Chap. XXX. FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 625 



As we did not come near human habitations, and could only- 

 take short stages on account of the illness of one of my men, I 

 had an opportunity of observing the expedients my party resorted 

 to in order to supply their wants. Large white edible mush- 

 rooms are found on the anthills, and are very good. The 

 mokuri, a tuber which abounds in the Mopane country, they 

 discovered by percussing the ground with stones ; and another 

 tuber, about the size of a turnip, called " bonga," is found in the 

 same situations. It does not determine to the joints like the 

 mokuri, and in winter has a sensible amount of salt in it. A 

 fruit called " ndongo " by the Makololo, " dongolo " by the 

 Bambiri, resembles in appearance a small plum, which becomes 

 black when ripe, and is good food, as the seeds are small. 

 Many trees are known by tradition, and one receives curious bits 

 of information in asking about different fruits that are met with. 

 A tree named " shekabakadzi " is superior to all others for 

 making fire by friction. As its name implies, women may even 

 readily make fire by it when benighted. 



The country here is covered over with well-rounded shingle 

 and gravel of granite, gneiss, with much talc in it, mica schist, 

 and other rocks which we saw in situ between the Kafue and 

 Loangwa. There are great mounds of soft red sand slightly 

 coherent, which crumble in the hand with ease. The gravel 

 and the sand drain away the water so effectually, that the trees 

 are exposed to the heat during a portion of the year, without 

 any moisture ; hence they are not large, like those on the 

 Zambesi, and are often scrubby. The rivers are all of the sandy 

 kind, and we pass over large patches between this and Tete, 

 in which, in the dry season, no water is to be found. Close on 

 our south, the hills of Lokole rise to a considerable height, and 

 beyond them flows the Mazoe with its golden sands. The great 

 numbers of pot-holes on the sides of sandstone ridges, when 

 viewed in connection with the large banks of rolled shingle and 

 washed sand which are met with on this side of the eastern ridge, 

 may indicate that the sea in former times rolled its waves along 

 its flanks. Many of the hills between the Kafue and Loangwa, 

 have their sides of the form seen in mud banks left by the tide. 

 The pot-holes appear most abundant on low grey sandstone ridges 

 here ; and as the shingle is composed of the same rocks as the 



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