10^ DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE, 
Zingha continued to profess the Christian rf^lu 
gion till her death, which happened on the 17th 
December 1663, at the age of eighty-one. 
To the south of Matamba is situated an extra- 
ordinary natural phenomenon, called Maopongo, 
or the Castle of Rocks, At a distance, it appears 
to compose only one immense mass, but proves, 
on a nearer approach, to be separated by ravines 
into a great number of distinct portions. Nature 
seems here to have amused herself in mimicking 
the most varied productions' of art ; towers, stee» 
pies, porticos, arches, obelisks, mausolea, appear 
as if intermingled ; and the whole presents, at a 
little distance, the appearance of an immense and 
magnificent city. The entire mass is about 2J 
miles in circumference. Down the sides of the 
rocks descend numerous streams, some fresh, 
others salt ; the latter of which are supposed, 
probably by the mere power of imagination, to 
ebb and flow along with the sea. No description 
is given of the nature of the rock ; but the struc- 
ture seems clearly to indicate that peculiar species 
of sandstone, which produces similar appearances 
in different quarters of southern Africa, as well as 
in some parts of Europe.* 
* Dritter Sandstein of Werner. See Jameson's Geognosy, 
ch. viii. 
