532 HIIXS AND VIIXAGES. 



and from the point of the nose to the root of the tail 

 10 feet 6. They seem quarrelsome, for both males and 

 females are found covered with scars, and young males are 

 often killed by the elder ones ; we met an instance of this 

 near the falls. 



We came to a great many little villages among the hills, 

 as if the inhabitants had reason to hide themselves from 

 the observation of their enemies. While detained cutting 

 up the hippopotamus, I ascended a hill called Mabue 

 asula (stones smell badly), and though not the highest in 

 sight, it was certainly not ioo feet lower than the most 

 elevated. The boiling point of water showed it to be 

 about 900 feet above the river, which was of the level of 

 Linyanti. These hills seemed to my men of prodigious 

 altitude, for they had been accustomed to ant-hills only. 

 The mention of mountains that pierced the clouds, made 

 them draw in their breath and hold their hands to their 

 mouths. And when I told them that their previous 

 description of Tabacheu had led me to expect something 

 of the sort, I found that the idea of a cloud-capped 

 mountain had never entered into their heads. The moun- 

 tains certainly look high, from having abrupt sides. But 

 I had recognised the fact by the point of ebullition of 

 water, that they are of a considerably lower altitude than 

 the top of the ridge we had left. They constitute in fact 

 a sort of low fringe on the outside of the eastern ridge, 

 exactly as the (apparently) high mountains of Angola 

 (Golungo Alto) form an outer low fringe to the western 

 ridge. I was much struck by the similarity of confor- 

 mation and nature of the rocks on both sides of the 

 continent. But there is a difference in the structure of the 

 subtending ridges. 



We can see from this hill five distinct ranges, of which 

 Bolengo is the most westerly, and Komanga is the most 

 easterly. The second is named Sekonkamena, and the 

 third Funze. Very many conical hills appear among 

 them, and they are generally covered with trees. On 

 their tops we have beautiful white quartz rocks, and some 

 have a capping of dolomite. On the west of the second 

 range we nave great masses of kyanite or disthene, and 

 on the flanks of the third and fourth a great deal of 

 specular iron-ore which is magnetic, and rounded pieces 

 of black iron-ore, also strongly magnetic, and containing a 

 very large percentage of the metal. The sides of these 



