Chap. XXXII. JESUIT STATION. 661 



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 amongst them, and 

 to run on the Senna side of Morumbala, before joining the 

 Zambesi. On seemg the confluence afterwards, 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 south-east, the country is flat, and 

 covered 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 south-west 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 Gorong<5zo, 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 Roman characters, and did not deserve a journey of six 

 days to see them. 



Manica lies three days north-west 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 



