A DELICIOUS FRUIT. 57 1 



dark, it resembles a porcupine in miniature. If one 

 touches it, the hairs run into the pores of the skin, and 

 remain there, giving sharp pricks. There are others 

 which have a similar means of defence ; and when the 

 hand is drawn across them, as in passing a bush on 

 which they happen to be, the contact resembles the sting- 

 ing of nettles. From the great number of caterpillars 

 seen, we have a considerable variety of butterflies. One 

 particular kind flies more like a swallow than a butterfly. 

 They are not remarkable for the gaudiness of their colours. 



In passing along we crossed the hills Vungue or 

 Mvungwe, which we found to be composed of various 

 eruptive rocks. At one part we have breccia of altered 

 marl or slate in quartz, and various amygdaloids. It is 

 curious to observe the different forms which silica assumes. 

 We have it in claystone porphyry here, in minute round 

 globules, no larger than turnip-seed, dotted thickly over 

 the matrix ; or crystallised round the walls of cavities, 

 once filled with air, or other elastic fluid ; or it may appear 

 in similar cavities as tufts of yellow asbestos, or as red, 

 yellow, or green crystals, or in laminae so arranged as to 

 appear like fossil wood. Vungue forms the watershed 

 between those sand rivulets which run to the N.E). and 

 others which flow southward, as the Kapopo, Ue, and 

 Due, which run into the Luia. 



We found that many elephants had been feeding on 

 the fruit called Mokoronga. This is a black-coloured plum, 

 having purple juice. We all ate it in large quantities, as 

 we found it delicious. The only defect it has, is the great 

 size of the seed in comparison with the pulp. This is the 

 chief fault of all uncultivated wild fruits. The Moko- 

 ronga exists throughout this part of the country most 

 abundantly, and the natives eagerly devour it, as it is said 

 to be perfectly wholesome, or, as they express it, " It is 

 pure fat," and fat is by them considered the best of food. 

 Though only a little larger than a cherry, we found that 

 the elephants had stood picking them off patiently by 

 the hour. We observed the footprints of a black rhinoceros 

 {Rhinoceros bicornis, Linn.) and her calf. We saw other 

 footprints among the hills of Semalembue, but the black 

 rhinoceros is remarkably scarce in all the country north 

 of the Zambesi. The white rhinoceros (Rhinoceros simus of 

 Burchell), or Mohohu of the Bechuanas, is quite extinct 

 here, and will soon become unknown in the country to 



