410 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
varied views. Cloud-capped peaks in their rough 
grandeur contrasted with yawning chasms, which were 
lost in the profound blackness of lifeless hollows. No 
sound was heard save the sweet but monotonous 
murmuring of mountain rivulets, rushing on to mingle 
their rippling waters with the larger streams which flow 
singing to the great lake. 
At length the region of rocks is jmssed. Peaks, 
caverns, chasms, and yawning canons have vanished 
from our view. We stand on the eastern slopes of the 
Manganja range, and feast our eyes upon the vast 
expanse clothed with interminable forest, lifeless to the 
view were it not that here and there vultures might be 
seen soaring high over the dreamy scene. 
Yes, ’tis the land of the rising sun ! Far away in the 
east the glistening sunbeams revealed the mirror-like 
lake flashing in lines of dazzling silver between the wood- 
land banks and the rising mists. A thrill of joy electri- 
fled my frame. At last! Hurrah for Nyassa—Nyassa, 
the great inland sea ! 
In our rear, the frowning mountains defiantly stopped 
the sunlight; in front the sylvan beauty of the voice¬ 
less forest sloped in gentle undulations on to the silver 
sands of the silent sea, which in the far distant horizon 
mingled with white downy mists. 
We are about to penetrate the stretching forest land. 
What luck awaits us, what encouragement, what barriers ? 
I became unconscious of my immediate surroundings-; my 
human troubles and disappointments are, for the time 
being, eclipsed by the extreme grandeur of the prospect 
before us. My mind wanders away over this wooded 
wonderland and anticipates naught but joy. 
I think I hear the welcome words of friends echoing 
across the quiet waters, for through the far-off’ clouds my 
thoughts speed fleetly to linger on Livingstonia’s shore, 
where stand the white brothers whom I have striven so 
hard to reach. How near everything seems to be ! But 
yet many occasions have proved that time and distance 
are not related in circumstances such as mine. Depend¬ 
ence robs me of the pleasures of calculation. 
