490 LEAVE CHASUNDU. Chap. XXIV. 



from feeling the same cravings of appetite, his companion 

 perfectly understood. 



On the third day of separation, Akosanjere, the headman 

 of this village, conducted us forward to our party who had 

 gone on to Nseze, a district to the westward. This incident 

 is mentioned, not for any interest it possesses, apart from the 

 idea of the people it conveys. We were completely separated 

 from our men for nearly three days, and had nothing where- 

 with to purchase food. The people were sorely pressed by 

 famine and war, and their hospitality, poor as it was, did 

 them great credit, and was most grateful to us. Our own 

 men had become confused and wandered, but had done their 

 utmost to find us ; on our rejoining them, the ox was slain, 

 and all, having been on short commons, rejoiced in this " day 

 of slaughter." Akosanjere was, of course, rewarded to his 

 heart's content. 



On the 26th August we left the village of Chasundu, where 

 the party had reunited, and crossed several running streams 

 of fine cold water. We had now attained a considerable 

 altitude, as was evident from the change in the vegetation ; — 

 the masuko-tree, with its large hard leaves, never met with 

 in the lowlands, was here covered with unripe fruit, — fine 

 rhododendrons, — the trees ( Ccesalpinece), with pinnated leaves, 

 from which bark cloth is made, — the molompi (Pterocarpus), 

 which, when wounded, exudes large quantities of a red juice 

 so astringent that it might answer the purposes of kino, and 

 furnishes a wood, as elastic and light as ash, from which the 

 native paddles are made. These trees, with everlasting 

 flowers shaped like daisies, and ferns, betokened an elevated 

 habitat, and the boiling-point of water showed that our 

 altitude was 2500 feet above the sea. 



As we pursued our way, we came close up to a range of 

 mountains, the most prominent peak of which is called Mvai. 



