GEOGRAPHY OF UVINZA. 



40 



the caravan. The sides of these hills, composed of 

 hornblende and gneissic rock, quartz ite, quartz-grit, 

 and ferruginous gritstone, are steep, rugged, and thick- 

 ly wooded, and one slope generally reflects the other, — 

 if muddy, muddy ; and if stony, stony. Each " hanger," 

 or wave of ground, is divided from its neighbour 

 by a soft sedgy valley, bisected by a network of stag- 

 nant pools. Here and there are nullahs, with high 

 stiff earthbanks for the passage of rain torrents. The 

 grass stands in lofty screens, and the path leads over a 

 matted mass of laid stalks which cover so closely the 

 thick mud that loaded asses do not sink ; this vegetation 

 is burned down during the hot season, and a few showers 

 bring up an emerald crop of young blades, sprouting 

 phoenix-like from the ashes of the dead. The southern 

 boundary of the valley is more regular ; in the eastern 

 parts is an almost tabular wall of rock, covered even to 

 the crest with shrub and tree. 



As is proved by the regular course of the Malagarazi 

 River, the westward decline of the country is gentle : 

 along the road, however, the two marches nearest to the 

 Tanganyika Lake appear to sink more rapidly than those 

 preceding them. The main drain receives from the north- 

 ern hill-spurs a multitude of tributaries, which convey 

 their surplus moisture into the great central reservoir. 



Under the influence of the two great productive 

 powers in nature — heat and moisture — the wondrous 

 fertility of the soil, which puts forth where uncleared a 

 rank jungle of nauseous odour, renders the climate dan- 

 gerous. The rains divide the year into two unequal 

 portions of eight and four months, namely, the wet 

 monsoon, which commences with violence in September 

 and ends in May, and the dry hot weather which rounds 

 off the year. The showers fall, as in Zanzibar, uncon- 



VOL. II. E 



