THE OPIIIR OF SOLOMON. 619 



Portuguese. They have plenty of garden-ground and 

 running water on its summit. My friends at Senna de- 

 clined the responsibility of taking me into danger. To 

 the north of Morumbala we have a fine view of the moun- 

 tains of the Maganja ; they here come close to the river 

 and terminate in Morumbala. Many of them are conical, 

 and the Shire is reported to flow amongst them, and to 

 run on the Senna side of Morumbala, before joining the 

 Zambesi. On seeing the confluence afterwards, close to a 

 low range of hills, beyond Morumbala, I felt inclined to 

 doubt the report, as the Shire must then flow parallel 

 with the Zambesi, from which Morumbala seems distant 

 only twenty or thirty miles. All around to the south- 

 east, the country is flat, and covered with forest, but near 

 Senna a number of little abrupt conical hills diversify the 

 scenery. To the west and north the country is also flat 

 forest, which gives it a sombre appearance ; but just in 

 the haze of the horizon, south-west by south, there rises a 

 mountain range equal in height to Morumbala, and called 

 Nyamonga. In a clear day, another range bej^ond this 

 may be seen, which is Gorongdzo, once a station of the 

 Jesuits. Gorongozo is famed for its clear cold waters and 

 healthiness, and there are some inscriptions engraved on 

 large square slabs on the top of the mountain, which have 

 probably been the work of the fathers. As this lies in the 

 direction of a district between Manica and Sofala, which 

 has been conjectured to be the Ophir of King Solomon, 

 the idea that first sprang up in my mind was, that these 

 monuments might be more ancient than the Portuguese ; 

 but on questioning some persons who had seen them, I 

 found that they were in Roman characters, and did not 

 deserve a journey of six days to see them. 



Manica lies three days north-west of Gorongozo, and is 

 the best gold country known in Eastern Africa. The only 

 evidence the Portuguese have of its being the ancient 

 Ophir, is, that at Sofala, its nearest port, pieces of wrought 

 gold have been dug up near the fort, and in the gardens. 

 They also report the existence of hewn stones in the neigh- 

 bourhood, but these cannot have been abundant, for all 

 the stones of the fort of Sofala are said to have been 

 brought from Portugal. Natives whom I met in the 

 country of Sekeletu, from Manica, or Manoa, as they call 

 it, state that there are several caves in the country, and 

 walls of hewn stone, which they believe to have been made 



