216 GORONGUE OR GOLONGWE. CHAP. VIII. 



enough, after a large bullet had passed right through the 

 heart, to allow firm adherent clots to be formed in the two 

 holes. 



One day's journey above Sinamane's, a mass of moun- 

 tain called Gorongue, or Golongwe, is said to cross the 

 river, and the rent through which the river passes is, by 

 native report, quite fearful to behold. The country round 

 it is so rocky, that our companions dreaded the fatigue, 

 and were not much to blame, if, as is probably the case, 

 the way be worse than that over which we travelled. 

 As we trudged along over the black slag-like rocks, the 

 almost leafless trees affording no shade, the heat was quite 

 as great as Europeans could bear. It was 102° in the 

 shade, and a thermometer placed under the tongue or 

 armpit showed that our blood was 99 - 5°, or 1-5° hotter 

 than that of the natives, which stood at 98°. Our shoes, 

 however, enable us to pass over the hot burning soil better 

 than they can. Many of those who wear sandals have 

 corns on the sides of the feet, and on the heels, where the 

 straps pass. We have seen instances, too, where neither 

 sandals nor shoes were worn, of corns on the soles of the 

 feet. It is, moreover, not at all uncommon to see toes 

 cocked up, as if pressed out of their proper places ; at 

 home, we should have unhesitatingly ascribed this to 

 the vicious fashions perversely followed by our shoe- 

 makers. 



On the 5th, after crossing some hills, we rested at the 

 village of Simariango. The bellows of the blacksmith 

 here were somewhat different from the common goatskin 

 bags, and more like those seen in Madagascar. They con- 

 sisted of two wooden vessels, like a lady's bandbox of small 

 dimensions, the upper ends of which were covered with 

 leather, and looked something like the heads of drums, 

 except that the leather bagged in the centre. They were 

 fitted with long nozzles, through which the air was driven 



