304 GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. Chap. XXIIL 



We passed on through forests abounding in climbing- plants, 

 many of which are so extremely tough as to require the use 

 of a hatchet ; the carriers are frequently obliged to cut them 

 with their teeth, for no amount of tugging will make them 

 break. The paths in all these forests are so zigzag that thirty 

 miles along them does not exceed half that amount in direct 

 distance. On the 7th of May we reached the river Moamba 

 (lat. 9°38'S., long. 20° 13' 34" E.), a stream thirty yards wide, 

 and, like the Quila, Loange, Chikapa, and Loajima, containing 

 both alligators and hippopotami. Here, as on the slopes 

 down to the Quilo and Chikapa, we had an opportunity of 

 viewing the geological structure of the country, — a capping of 

 ferruginous conglomerate lying upon a pale -red hardened 

 sandstone, and this upon a trap-like whinstone, while lowest 

 of all lies a coarse-grained sandstone containing a few pebbles, 

 and occasionally a white calcareous rock or banks of loose 

 round quartz pebbles. The slopes from the level country 

 above increase in length as wo advance eastward, and are 

 dotted with circular bogs, surrounded by clumps of straight, 

 lofty, evergreen trees. Several of these bogs pour forth a 

 solution of iron, which exhibits on its surface the prismatic 

 colours. The level plateaus between the rivers, both east and 

 west of the Moamba, were less woody than the river glens, 

 the trees on them being scraggy and scattered. Occasionally 

 large open spaces occur with scarcely a bush, and on these 

 dreary intervals it was impossible not to be painfully struck 

 with the absence of animal life. Not a bird was to be 

 seen, except now and then a tomtit, some of the Sylmadcc and 

 Drymoica, and a black bird (Dicrurus Ludwigii, Smith) common 

 throughout the country. We were gladdened by the voice of 

 birds only near the rivers, and even there they were neither 

 numerous nor varied. The Senegal longclaw, however, main- 

 tained its place, and was the largest bird we saw, and we once 

 came on a butcher-bird in a trap. Small animals are rare, as 

 they have been hunted almost to extermination, and of insects 

 ants alone abounded. Few common flies were to be seen, nor 

 were we ever troubled by mosquitoes. The want of life in 

 the scenery made me long for the banks of the Zambesi, with 

 its herds of graceful antelopes, dark buffaloes, and sleek 

 elands. 



