CuAP. XXVII. 
COXFOEMATION OF COUNTKY. 
543 
to the south, and all those to which we are about to come, take 
an easterly direction. We were thus at the apex of the ridge, 
and found that, as water boiled at 202", our altitude above the 
level of the sea was over 5000 feet. Here the granite crops out 
again in great rounded masses which change the dip of the gneiss 
and mica schist rocks from the westward to the eastward. In 
crossing the western ridge, I mentioned the clay-shale or keele 
formation, a section of which we have in the valley of the 
Quango : the strata there lie nearly horizontal, but on this ridge 
the granite seems to have been the active agent of elevation, for 
the rocks, both on its east and west, abut against it. Both 
eastern and western ridges are known to be comparatively 
salubrious, and in tins respect, as well as in the general aspect 
of the country, they resemble that most healthy of all healthy 
climates, the interior of South Africa, near and adjacent to the 
Desert. This ridge has neither fountain nor marsh upon it, 
and east of the Kalomo we look upon treeless undulating plains 
covered with short grass. From a point somewhat near to 
the great falls, this ridge or oblong mound trends away to the 
N.E., and there treeless elevated plains again appear. Then 
again the ridge is said to bend away from the falls to the 
S.E., the Mashona country, or rather their mountains, appearing, 
according to Mr. Moffat, about four days east of Matlokotloko, the 
present residence of Mosilikatse. In reference to this ridge 
he makes the interesting remark, “ I observed a number of the 
Angora goat, most of them being wliite; and their long soft hair 
covering their entire bodies to the ground made them look like 
animals moving along without feet.” * 
It is impossible to say how much farther to the N. these 
subtending ridges may stretch. There is reason to believe that, 
though the same general form of country obtains, they are 
not flanked by abrupt hills between the latitude 12° S. and the 
equator. The inquiry is worthy the attention of travellers. 
As they are known to be favourable to health, the Makololo, 
who have been nearly all cut off by fevers in the vaUey, declar¬ 
ing that here they never had a headache, they may even be 
recommended as a sanatorium for those whose enterprise leads 
* Moffat’s ‘ Visit to Mosilikatse,’—Koyal Geog. Soc. Journal, vol. xxvi. p. 96. 
