282 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D 



the stones were so hot the hand could not be held on them a moment, though 

 we were in danger of being dashed down into the crevices by letting go for 

 an instant. The reflection from the rocks felt exactly like the breath of a 

 furnace. I felt sure that if I had come down this way in 1856 instead of 

 through the level Shidima country, I should have perished before reaching 

 Tete ; for now, with but a fortnight's exposure, and an examination of about 

 30 miles, we all returned as lean and haggard as if we had been recovering 

 from serious illness. One of the Makololo came up to us in the afternoon, 

 and seeing farther progress to be impracticable, we were returning, when we 

 met the rest of the party. After sleeping among the hot rocks, where no 

 covering is necessary, we next day induced the guides and Makololo to go on 

 through the spurs from the mountain, along whose flank we were toiling, until 

 they became perpendicular cliffs, requiring a great deal of dangerous climbing 

 to get past ; in the afternoon we were rewarded by the sight of a cataract 

 called Morumbua, the only one we had seen deserving the name ; on both 

 sides there are perpendicular walls of rock, along the face of which no towing- 

 line could be carried. The inaccessible sides are 500 or 600 feet high. The 

 cataract itself presents a fall (as nearly as we could guess at a distance of 500 

 yards) of 30 feet, and the water comes down at an angle of 30°. When the 

 river is full it is at least 80 feet higher than when we saw it, and no cataract 

 is visible at the place we saw the broken water. We stood in a pot-hole and 

 dropped down a measuring-tape 53 feet to the level of the water. In flood 

 the river at that same pot-hole is at least 30 feet deep. We witnessed on our 

 return the effect of a three feet rise, in rendering a cataract already mentioned, 

 of five feet, nearly level. It is quite a moderate computation to say the perpen- 

 dicular rise among the hills is 80 feet. This, while it obliterates some rapids, will, 

 in all probability, give rise to others ; and the disparity of statement among the 

 natives may partially be accounted for by their having seen the river at different 

 stages of flood. Resolving to return and examine the whole when the river is 

 in full flood in February, we commenced the ascent of the high mountain 

 behind us, and were three hours in cutting our way through the tangled forest 

 which covers it and all the mountains here. The rains are unusally late this 

 year, but the trees had put on fresh leaves, and rendered the scenery of a 

 lively light-green appearance. Looking northwards from the heights we 

 reached, we saw an endless succession of high hills, chiefly of the conical form. 

 This district may be called the beginning of the really healthy region. We 

 slept for a fortnight in the open air, and seldom put on a blanket till towards 

 morning ; nor did we use quinine : yet all returned in good health, and 

 have remained so. 



" We have ascertained nothing to invalidate the opinion which I have 

 expressed, that the highlands beyond this are healthy, and fit for the residence 

 of Europeans. The only ailments the party has been subject to, with the 



