EVIDENCE OF ANTIOUITY. 499 



the oxen by night. On coming to the villages under 

 Marimba, on old man, we crossed the Unguesi, a rivulet 

 which, like the L,ekone, runs backward. It falls into the 

 Leeambye a little above the commencement of the rapids. 

 The stratified gneiss, which is the underlying rock of 

 much of this part of the country, dips towards the centre 

 of the continent, but the strata are often so much elevated 

 as to appear nearly on their edges. Rocks of augitic trap 

 are found in various positions on it ; the general strike is 

 north and south, but when the gneiss was first seen, near 

 to the basalt of the falls, it was easterly and westerly, and 

 the dip towards the north, as if the eruptive force of the 

 basalt had placed it in that position. 



We passed the remains of a very large town, which, from 

 the only evidence of antiquity afforded by ruins in this 

 country, must have been inhabited for a long period ; the 

 millstones of gneiss, trap, and quartz, were worn down, 

 two and a half inches perpendicularly. The ivory grave- 

 stones soon rot away. Those of Moyara's father, who 

 must have died not more than a dozen years ago, were 

 crumbling into powder ; and we found this to be generally 

 the case all over the Batoka country. The region around 

 is pretty well covered with forest ; but there is abundance 

 of open pasturage, and as we are ascending in altitude we 

 find the grass to be short, and altogether unlike the 

 tangled herbage of the Barotse valley. 



It is remarkable that we now meet with the same trees 

 we saw in descending towards the west coast. A kind of. 

 sterculia, which is the most common tree at L,oanda, and 

 the baobab, flourish here ; and the tree called moshuka, 

 which we found near Tala Mungongo, was now yielding 

 its fruit, which resembles small apples. The people 

 brought it to us in large quantities : it tastes like a pear, 

 but has a harsh rind, and four large seeds within. We 

 found prodigious quantities of this fruit as we went 

 along. The tree attains the height of 15 or 20 feet, and 

 has leaves, hard and glossy, as large as one's hand. The 

 tree itself is never found on the lowlands, but is 

 mentioned with approbation at the end of the work of 

 Bowdich. My men almost lived upon the fruit for many 

 days. 



The rains had fallen only partially : in many parts the 

 soil was quite dry and the leaves drooped mournfully, 

 but the fruit-trees are unaffected by a drought, except 



