from feeling the same cravings of appetite, h is. companion
perfectly understood.
On the third day of separation, Akosanjere, the headman
of this village, conducted us forward to our party who had
gone on to Nseze, a district to the westward. This incident
is mentioned, not for any interest it possesses, apart from the
idea of the people it conveys. We were completely separated
from our men for nearly three days, and had nothing wherewith
to purchase food. The people were sorely pressed by
famine and war, and their hospitality, poor as it was, did
them great credit, and was most grateful to us. Our own
men had become confused and wandered, but had done their
utmost to find us; on our rejoining them, the ox was slain,
and all, having been on short commons, rejoiced in this “ day
of slaughter. Akosanjere was, of course, rewarded to his
hearts content.
On the 26th August we left the village of Chasundu, where
the party had reunited, and crossed several running streams
of fine cold water. We had now attained a considerable
altitude, as was evident from the change in the vegetation
the masuko-tree, with its large hard leaves, never met with
in the lowlands, was here covered with unripe fruit,—fine
rhododendrons,—the trees (Ccemlpimce), with pinnated leaves,
from which bark cloth is made,'—the molompi (Pteroearpus),
which, when wounded, exudes large quantities of a red juice
so astringent that it might answer the purposes of kino, and
furnishes a wood, as elastic and light as ash, from which the
native paddles are made. These trees, with everlasting
flowers shaped like daisies, and ferns, betokened an elevated
habitat, and the boiling-point of water showed that our
altitude was 2500 feet above the sea.
As we pursued our way, we came close up to a range of
mountains, the most prominent peak of which is called Mvai.
This is a great, bare, rounded block of granite shooting up
from the rest of the chain. It and several other masses of
rock are of a light grey colour, with white' patches, as if of
lichens; the sides and summits are generally thinly covered
with rather scraggy trees. There are several other prominent
peaks—one, for instance, still further north, called
Chirobve. Each has a name, but we could never ascertain
that there was an appellation which applied to the whole.
This fact, and our wish to commemorate the name of Dr.
Kirk, induced us afterwards, when we could not discover a
particular peak mentioned to us formerly as Molomo-ao-
koku, or Cock’s-bill, to call the whole chain from the west of
the Cataracts up to the north end of the Lake, “ Kirks Range.”
The part we slept at opposite Mvai was named Paudio, and
was evidently a continuation of the district of one of our
stations on the Shire, at which observations for latitude were
formerly taken.
Leaving Paudio, we had Kirk’s Range close on our left
and at least 3000 feet above us, and probably not less than
5000 feet above the sea. Ear to our right extended a
long green wooded country rising gradually up to a ridge,
ornamented with several detached mountains, which bounded
the Shire Talley. In front, northwards, lay a valley as rich
and lovely as we ever saw anywhere, terminating at the
mountains, which, stretched away some thirty miles beyond
our range of vision and ended at Cape Maclear. The
groups of trees had never been subjected to the landscape
gardener’s a rt; but had been cut down mercilessly, just as
suited the convenience of the cultivator; yet the various
combinations of open forest, sloping woodland, grassy lawns,
and massive clumps of dark green foliage along the running
streams, formed as beautiful a landscape as could be seen
on the Thames. This valley is named Goa or Gova, and as