626 
PUESUED BY NATIVES. 
Chap. XXX. 
hills west of Zumbo, it looks as if a current had dashed along from 
the south-east in the line in which the pot-holes now appear, and 
if the current was deflected, by those hills, towards the Maravi 
country, north of Tete, it may have hollowed the rounded water- 
worn caverns, in which these people store their corn, and also 
hide themselves from their enemies. I could detect no terraces 
on the land, but, if I am right in my supposition, the form of 
tliis part of the continent must once have resembled the curves 
or indentations seen on the southern extremity of the American 
continent. In the indentation to the S.E., S., S. W., and W. of 
this, lie the principal gold-washings ; and the line of the current, 
supposing it to have struck against the hills of Mburuma, shows 
the washings in the N. and N.E. of Tete. 
We were tolerably successful in avoiding the villages, and slept 
one night on the flanks of the Ixill Zimika, where a great number 
of deep pot-holes afforded an abundant supply of good rain-water. 
Here, for the first time, we saw liills with bare, smooth, rocky tops, 
and we crossed over broad dykes of gneiss and syenitic porphyry: 
the directions in which they lay were N. and S. As we were now 
near to Tete, we were congratulating ourselves on having avoided 
those who would only have plagued us; but next morning some 
men saw us, and ran off to inform the neighbouring vfllages of 
our passing. A party immediately pursued us, and, as they 
knew we were within caU of Katolosa (Monomotapa), they threat¬ 
ened to send information to that chief of our offence, in passing 
tlirough the country without leave. We were obhged to give 
them two small tusks, for, had they told Katolosa of our supposed 
offence, we should in all probability have lost the whole. We 
then went through a very rough stony country without any path. 
Being pretty weU tired out in the evening of the 2nd of March, 
I remained at about eight miles distance from Tete, Tette, or 
Nyungwe. My men asked me to go on; I felt too fatigued to 
proceed, but sent forward to the Commandant the letters of 
recommendation with which I had been favoured in Angola by 
the Bishop and others, and lay down to rest. Our food having 
been exhausted, my men had been subsisting for some time on 
roots and honey. About two o’clock in the morning of the 3rd 
we were aroused by two officers and a company of soldiers, who 
had been sent with the materials for a civilized brealdast and a 
