Chap. XXXH. GOEGE AND RANGE OF LUPATA. 410 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



Descent of the Zambesi. — Senna. — The Quilimane and Zambesl 

 — The Mutu. — Kilimane. — Yoyage to Mauritius, and thence 

 to England. 



We left Tete at noon on tho 22nd, and in the afternoon ar- 

 rived at the garden of Senhor A. Manoel de Gomes, son-in-law 

 and nephew of Bonga, whom the Commandant had deputed 

 to be my host. I found him extremely friendly, and able to 

 converse in a very intelligent manner. He entertained us 

 with great liberality, and next morning presented us with six 

 fowls and three goats as provisions for the journey. When we 

 parted from him we passed the stockade of Bonga, at the con- 

 fluence of the Luenya, but did not approach it, as he is said to 

 be very suspicious. The stockade itself is composed of living 

 trees, and is thus in no danger of being burnt : there are some 

 good houses within the enclosure. It was strange to see a 

 stockade menacing the whole commerce of the river in a situ- 

 ation where the guns of a vessel would have full play on it ; 

 it is a formidable affair however for those who have only 

 muskets. On one occasion, when Nyaude was attacked by 

 Kisaka, they fought for weeks ; and though Nyaude was 

 reduced to cutting up his copper anklets for balls, his enemies 

 were not able to enter the stockade. 



On the 24th we sailed only about three hours and reached a 

 small island at the western entrance of the gorge of Lupata. 

 Respecting the range, to which the gorge has given a name, 

 Portuguese writers have erroneously stated it to be so high 

 that snow lies on it during the whole year. The western side, 

 which is the most abrupt and gives the idea of the greatest 

 height, rises up perpendicularly from the water six or seven 

 hundred feet. The eastern side is much more sloping and is 

 covered with trees. It extends a considerable way into the 

 Maganja country in the north, and then bends round towards 

 the river again, terminating in the lofty mountain Morumbala, 

 opposite Senna. On the other or southern side it is straigbter, 



2 i 



