248 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
we came to an unfinished powder magazine, and on the 
left lay a dried-up swamp, full of the footprints of 
elephants; the animals themselves, however, had of 
course disappeared on the arrival of men. In previous 
years, troops of them probably haunted the site of the 
present settlement. 
On the hills near by are carefully-constructed stone 
walls of a considerable age, which were thrown up at 
the expense of a vast amount of trouble by the 
Machonas, now driven into the north by the Matabeles, 
as a protection against the sudden inroads of their 
enemies. These walls cannot fail to excite astonish¬ 
ment in a country where the largest buildings erected 
by the natives consist of clay, grass, and branches. 
Swinburne’s people told us that the Matabele country 
was in a very unsettled state, owing to the death of 
the notorious old chief Mosilikatze; so I got the 
outposts under old Monyama, a chief of secondary 
rank, to ask if I might pass through their land, sending 
the customary present for the acting chief or regent, 
wdioever he might be. 
Under the most favourable circumstances I could 
not expect an answer in less than a fortnight, which 
I did not regret, as rest was absolutely necessary for 
my exhausted oxen. We therefore resumed our ordi¬ 
nary occupations when on a halt; Hiibner testing 
rocks, I taking astronomical observations. When 
Hiibner and I arrived, Baines, with Hartley, the 
elephant hunter, who knew the Matabele “ Indunas ” 
well, and was highly esteemed by them, had already 
been allowed to penetrate into their country, and Sir 
John Swinburne was on the fruitless errand already 
alluded to. 
We soon made friends with the settlers on the Tati, 
who included adventurers from every part of the world. 
Work was carried on as energetically as possible, not 
only all day but also all night. Most of the miners 
were sturdy, athletic, weather-beaten fellows, who still 
hoped, by perseverance and labour, to bring hidden 
treasures to light. Even in Africa gold is an element 
