512 THE HONEY-GUIDE BIRD. 



that the artist had made it from his imagination, and not 

 from sight. 



December 2, 1855. — We remained near a small hill, 

 called Maundo, where we began to be frequently invited 

 by the honey-guide (Cuculus indicator).' Wishing to 

 ascertain the truth of the native assertion that this bird 

 is a deceiver, and by its call sometimes leads to a wild 

 beast and not to honey, I inquired, if any of my men 

 had ever been led by this friendly little bird to anything 

 else, than what its name implies. Only one of the 114 

 could say he had been led to an elephant instead of a hive, 

 like myself with the black rhinoceros mentioned before. 

 I am quite convinced that the majority of people who 

 commit themselves to its guidance are led to honey, and 

 to it alone. 



On the 3rd we crossed the river Mozuma, or river of 

 Dila, having travelled through a beautifully undulating 

 pastoral country. To the south, and a little east of this, 

 stands the hill Taba Cheu, or " White Mountain," from 

 a mass of white rock, probably dolomite, on its top. But 

 none of the hills are of any great altitude. When I heard 

 this mountain described at Linyanti, I thought the glisten- 

 ing substance might be snow, and my informants were 

 so loud in their assertions of its exceeding great altitude, 

 that I was startled with the idea ; but I had quite forgotten 

 that I was speaking with men who had been accustomed 

 to plains, and knew nothing of very high mountains. 

 When I inquired what the white substance was, they at 

 once replied it was a kind of rock. I expected to have 

 come nearer to it, and would have ascended it ; but we 

 were led to go to the north-east. Yet I doubt not that 

 the native testimony of its being stone, is true. The 

 distant ranges of hills which line the banks of the Zambesi 

 on the south-east, and landscapes which permit the eye 

 to range over twenty or thirty miles at a time, with short 

 grass under our feet, were especially refreshing sights to 

 those who had travelled for months together, over the 

 confined views of the flat forest, and among the tangled 

 rank herbage of the great valley. 



The Mozuma, or river of Dila, was the first watercourse 

 which indicated that we were now on the slopes towards 

 the eastern coast. It contained no flowing water, but 

 revealed in its banks what gave me great pleasure at the 

 time ; pieces of lignite, possibly indicating the existence 



