taken by a fierce storm, we put up in some sheds
outside a village. There were three small cones, called
Mbara, close to us west by north ; but besides these,
to the northward, there was nothing save an uninterrupted
plain of the densest jungle leading up to the
Makumbara mountains, about ten miles distant. The
village itself was enshrouded in a dense thicket, which
was entered by the narrowest of passages, cut through
branches for security’s sake, and was further protected
by piles and stakes against the attacks of enemies.
Everybody here feels an insecurity to life and property,
which makes people wonder how they ever can be
happy. Prosperous they are not, and never will be,
until such time as enlightened men may happen to
come amongst them to teach their chiefs the art of
governing. Of all villages the most secure from
attack seem those that are situated on the river
islands, where the division of the stream affords a
natural moat, which no African art can overcome.
15 th February.—After waiting for a few hours this
morning for the rain to subside, we got under way
and made straight for Fuga. The first half of the
journey led us by well - beaten footpaths through
flat cultivated fields of sugar - cane and bananas,
tamarind - trees, papaws, and various jungle shrubs,
filling up the non-arable surface; and then began a
steep ascent by rudely-beaten zigzags, to ease the
abruptness of the hill, on which the capital is situated.
The whole face of this hill was clothed with large timber
trees, around which, here and there, entwining their
trunks, clung the delicate sarsaparilla v ine; and beneath
them flourished, as by spontaneous growth, the
universal plantain, a vegetable grown in this country
as we do corn, and, like it also, regarded as the
staff of life. At length, after a little hard toiling, we
emerged from this prodigious wooding, and found ourselves
on a naked, bold, prominent point overlooking
the whole plain we had left behind, and from which
we could clearly see its entire dimensions. To the
northward, as already said, was the Makumbara range,
a dense compact mass of solid-looking hills, much
higher than the spur we stood upon, but joining it to
the north-eastward; whilst its other extremity shot
out to the north-westward, until it seemed as though
it were suddenly cut off by the Pangani river.
Beyond the river, again, looking across the western
extremity, but farther back than it, other large hills,
bedimmed by distance, could be seen tending in a
south-westerly direction, which in all probability are
a link of the longitudinal chain, which, as our maps
will show, fringe the whole of the southern continent
of Africa.* The country directly beyond the river
valley rose into gentle undulations, but on this side all
was flat and densely wooded, save in one little spot to
* In future I shall call this fringe or mountain-chain the East Coast
Range, in contradistinction to the same hill-fomiation on the western
coast of Africa; for it must be remembered that there are three great
leading features in the geographical formation of Africa—viz., a low
exterior belt of land, or margin to the continent, varying in breadth
according to circumstances, which is succeeded by a high belt of mountains
or rugged ground, separating the lowlands from a hig^ interior
plateau, lying like a basin within the fringe of hills.