A ROCKY COUNTRY. 181 



appeared quite familiar with the name, and all knew that their sovereign was 

 anxious to see me. The messenger must have been a swift one, as the Mata- 

 bele made his appearance in an hour and a half with several attendants. He 

 saluted with rather an awkward, but hearty shake of the hand. He assured 

 me, again and again, of the delight Moselekatse would have on hearing of 

 my long looked-for arrival. On mentioning the names of some Matabele I 

 knew, and inquiring about their welfare, he snapped his fingers apparently 

 with great satisfaction, as this was an additional proof that I was the veritable 

 Moffat, for, as I afterwards learned, if he had taken a counterfeit Moffat to 

 his master, his days would have been numbered in a few seconds. He said 

 he would send messengers to head-quarters to request that persons should be 

 sent who knew me ; that he had seen me when he was a boy, but I had then 

 a long black beard. We started again for the village where he was residing 

 pro tempore to collect taxes, which we reached the same evening. 



"Mr. Edwards and I took our guns and walked out to the woody heights 

 and cornfields lately harvested, to seek pheasants and guinea fowls. We were 

 struck with the beauty and fertility of the country. We also found hundreds 

 of acres of new ground prepared for next year's sowing. The trees were hewn 

 down and the branches laid round the bottom of the trunks to be burned when 

 sufficiently dry. The ground is all made up in ridges about 15 in. high, and 

 from 4 to 6 ft. apart, so as to allow the water to run off. The grain is sown on 

 the tops of the ridges, where it appears to grow luxuriantly. The whole 

 country, as far as the eye can reach, is very mountainous, and these mostly 

 isolated, and frequently composed of enormous blocks and boulders. Blocks 

 may be seen 30 or 40 ft., standing on one end on the top, and sometimes on 

 the brow of hills, which the slightest touch of an earthquake would bring 

 thundering down hundreds of feet. Though these mountains are rugged, 

 they look fine, being partially or nearly wholly covered with trees, many of 

 which are evergreens, or in leaf nearly the whole year. Trees may be seen, 

 chiefly of the ficus tribe, growing on the solid granite rock, and with trunks 

 running up perpendicular walls of a great height, and adhering so close to the 

 rocks, and being of the same colour, it requires a near approach to convince 

 one that they are not parts of the rock itself. A fine field for the botanist as 

 well as the geologist ! I saw some trees and shrubs entirely new to me, but, 

 not being in flower at the time, could not tell to what genus they belonged. 

 Granite of various grain predominates ; indeed the foundations of the whole 

 country appear to be granitic, with enormous blocks of quartz, which is also 

 found filling up large rents and furrows in the solid rock ; also slaty gneiss 

 and pieces of basalt in the bottoms of rivers, as if washed down from higher 

 places. It would appear as if grain might be cultivated anywhere, even at 

 the tops of hills, where the soil is frequently very rich. Though rain has 

 not fallen for months I found some places quite damp, and the ddbris of the 



