A small village peeps out about lialfway up the mountain;
it has a pure and bracing atmosphere; and is perched above
mosquito range. The people on the summit have a very
different climate and vegetation, from those of the plains;
but they have to spend a g re a t! portion of their existence
amidst white fleecy clouds, which, in the rainy season,
rest daily on the top of their favourite mountain. We were
kindly treated by these mountaineers on our first ascent;
before our second they were nearly all swept away by
Mariano. Dr. Kirk found upwards of thirty species of ferns
on this and other mountains, and even good-sized tree-ferns;
though scarcely a single kind is to be met with on the plains.
Lemon and orange trees grew wild, and pineapples had been
planted by the people. Many large hombills, hawks, monkeys,
antelopes, and rhinoceroses found a home and food among the
great trees round its base. A hot fountain boils up on the
plain near the north end. I t bubbles out of the earth, clear
as crystal, at two points, or eyes, a few yards apart from each
other, and sends off a fine flowing stream of hot water. The
temperature was found to be 174° Fahr., and it boiled an egg
in about the usual time. Our guide threw in a small branch
to show us how speedily the Madse-awira (boiling water) could
kill the leaves. Unlucky lizards and insects did not seem to
understand the nature of a hot-spring, as many of their
remains were lying at the bottom. A large beetle had
alighted on the water, and been killed before it had time to
fold its wings. An incrustation, smelling -of sulphur, has
been deposited by the water on the stones. About a hundred
feet from the eye of the fountain the mud is as hot as can be
borne by the body. In taking a bath there, it makes the
skin perfectly clean, and none of the mud adheres: it is
strange that the Portuguese do not resort to it for the
numerous cutaneous diseases, with which they aré so often
afflicted.
A few clumps of the palm and acacia trees appear west
of Morambala, on the rich plain forming the tongue of land
between the rivers Shire and Zambesi. This is a good place
for all sorts of game. The Zambesi canóe-men were afraid
to sleep on it from the idea of lions being there ; they preferred
to pass the' night on an island. Some black men,
who accompanied us as volunteer workmen from Shupanga,
called out one evening that a lion stood on the bank. I t
was very dark, and we could only see two sparkling lights,
said to be the lion’s eyes looking at us ; for here, as
elsewhere, they have a theory that the lion’s eyes always
flash fire at night. Not being fireflies—as they did not move
when a shot was fired in their direction—they were probably
glowworms.
Beyond Morambala the Shire comes winding through an
extensive marsh. For many miles to the north a broad
sea of fresh green grass extends, and is so level, that it might
be used for taking the meridian altitude of the sun. Ten
or fifteen .miles north of Morambala, stands the dome-shaped
mountain Makanga, or Chi-kanda ; several others with
granitic-looking peaks stretch away to the north, and form
the eastern boundary of the valley; another range, but of
metamorphic rocks, commencing opposite Senna, bounds thè
valley on the west. After steaming through a portion of
this marsh, we came to a broad belt of palm, and pther
trees, crossing the fine plain on the right bank. Marks of
large game were abundant. Elephants had been feeding
on the palm nuts, which have a pleasant fruity taste, and
are used as food by man. Two pythons were observed coiled
together among the branches of a large tree, and were both