$o6 BORDER TERRITORY OE MAKOIyOI/D. 



no rivers, though water stands in pools in the hollows. 

 We were now come into the country which my people all 

 magnify as a perfect paradise. Sebituane was driven 

 from it by the Matabele. It suited him exactly for cattle, 

 corn, and health. The soil is dry, and often a reddish 

 sand ; there are few trees, but fine large shady ones stand 

 dotted here and there over the country where towns 

 formerly stood. One of the big family I measured, and 

 found to be forty feet in circumference ; the heart had 

 been burned out, and some one had made a lodging in it, 

 for we saw the remains of a bed and a fire. The sight of 

 the open country, with the increased altitude we were 

 attaining, was most refreshing to the spirits. Iyarge game 

 abound. We see in the distance buffaloes, elands, harte- 

 beest, gnus, and elephants, all very tame, as no one disturbs 

 them. Iyions, which always accompany other large 

 animals, roared about us, but as it was moonlight there 

 was no danger. In the evening, while standing on a mass 

 of granite, one began to roar at me, though it was still 

 light. The temperature was pleasant, as the rains, though 

 not universal, had fallen in many places. It was very 

 cloudy, preventing observations. The temperature at 

 6 a.m. was yo°, at midday 90 , in the evening 84 . This 

 is very pleasant on the high lands, with but little moisture 

 in the air. 



The different rocks to the westward of Kaonka's, talcose 

 gneiss, and white mica schist, generally dip towards the 

 west, but at Kaonka's, large rounded masses of granite, 

 containing black mica, began to appear. The outer rind 

 of it inclines to peel off, and large crystals project on the 

 exposed surface. 



In passing through some parts where a good shower 

 of rain has fallen, the stridulous piercing notes of the cicadae 

 are perfectly deafening ; a drab-coloured cricket joins the 

 chorus with a sharp sound, which has as little modulation 

 as the drone of a Scottish bagpipe. I could not conceive 

 how so small a thing could raise such a sound ; it seemed 

 to make the ground over it thrill. When cicadse, crickets, 

 and frogs unite, their music may be heard at the distance 

 of a quarter of a mile. 



A tree attracted my attention as new, the leaves being 

 like those of an acacia, but the ends of the branches from 

 which they grew resembled closely oblong fir-cones. The 

 corn poppy was abundant, and many of the trees, flowering 



