64 DELIGHTFUL EFFECTS OF RAIN. Chap. III. 



in Portugal. While we were at Tette, a Captain of Infantry- 

 was sent prisoner to Mosanibique, for administering the 

 Muave, or ordeal, and for putting the suspected person to 

 death on that evidence alone. 



At the end of the hot season everything is dry and dusty ; 

 the atmosphere is loaded with blue haze, and very sultry. 

 After the rains begin, the face of the country changes with 

 surprising rapidity for the better. Though we have not the 

 moist hothouse-like atmosphere of the west coast, fresh green 

 herbage quickly springs up over the hills and dales, so 

 lately parched and brown. The air becomes cleared of the 

 smoky-looking haze, and one sees to great distances with 

 ease ; the landscape is bathed in a perfect flood of light, and 

 a delightful sense of freshness is given from everything in the 

 morning before the glare of noon overpowers the eye. On 

 asking one of the Bechuanas once, what he understood by the 

 word used for " holiness " (boitsepho) ? he answered, " When 

 copious showers have descended during the night, and all 

 the earth and leaves and cattle are washed clean, and the 

 sun rising shows a drop of dew on every blade of grass, and 

 the ah' breathes fresh, that is holiness." The young foliage 

 of several trees, more especially on the highlands, comes out 

 brown, pale red, or pink, like the hues of autumnal leaves 

 in England ; and as the leaves increase in size they change 

 to a pleasant fresh light green; bright white, scarlet, pink, 

 and yellow flowers are everywhere; and some few of dark 

 crimson, like those of the kigelia, give warmth of colouring to 

 Nature's garden. Many trees, such as the scarlet erythrina, 

 attract the eye by the beauty of their blossoms. The white, 

 full bloom of the baobab, coming at times before the rains, 

 and the small and delicate flowers of other trees, grouped 

 into rich clusters, deck the forest. Myriads of wild bees are 



