Chap. IV. BETUBN TO THE SHIEE. 87 



CHAPTER IV. 



Up the Shire again, August, 1 S59 — Mount Morambala — Hot fountain — 

 Chase by a buffalo — Nyanja Paugouo, or Little Lake — Nyanja Mukulu, or 

 C4reat Lake — Ancient Portuguese geographical knowledge unavailable — 

 Chikanda-kadze — Accident from unsuitability of steamer — Hippopotamus 

 traps — Mosquitoes — Elephants — View of the Shire marshes — Birds — 

 Palm wine, or Sura — Salt-making — Brackish soil and superior cotton — 

 Dakanamoio Island — A loving hornbill — Chibisa — Child sold into 

 slavery. 



About the middle of August, after cutting wood at Sha- 

 moara, we again steamed up the Shire, with the inten- 

 tion of becoming better acquainted with the people, and 

 making another and longer journey on foot to the north 

 of Lake Shirwa, in search of Lake Nyassa, of which 

 we had already received some information, under the 

 name Nyinyesi (the stars). The Shire is much nar- 

 rower than the Zambesi, but deeper, and more easily 

 navigated. It drains a low, and exceedingly fertile valley 

 of from fifteen to twenty miles in breadth. Eanges of 

 wooded hills bound this valley on both sides. For the first 

 twenty miles the hills on the left bank are close to the 

 river; then comes Morambala, whose name means "the lofty 

 watch-tower," a detached mountain 500 yards from the river's 

 brink, which rises, with steep sides on the west, to 4000 feet in 

 height, and is about seven miles in length. It is wooded 

 up to the very top, and very beautiful. The southern end, 

 seen from a distance, has a fine gradual slope, and looks 

 as if it might be of easy ascent ; but the side which faces 

 the Shire is steep and rocky, especially in the upper half. 



