28th July, 1866._--We proposed to start to-day, but Mataka said that
he was not ready yet: the flour had to be ground, and he had given us
no meat. He had sent plenty of cooked food almost every day. He asked
if we would slaughter the ox he would give here, or take it on; we
preferred to kill it at once. He came on the 28th with a good lot of
flour for us, and men to guide us to Nyassa, telling us that this was
Moembe, and his district extended all the way to the Lake: he would
not send us to Losewa, as that place had lately been plundered and
burned.

In general the chiefs have shown an anxiety to promote our safety. The
country is a mass of mountains. On leaving Mataka's we ascended
considerably, and about the end of the first day's march, near
Magola's village, the barometer showed our greatest altitude, about
3400 feet above the sea. There were villages of these mountaineers
everywhere, for the most part of 100 houses or more each. The springs
were made the most use of that they knew; the damp spots drained, and
the water given a free channel for use in irrigation further down:
most of these springs showed the presence of iron by the oxide oozing
out. A great many patches of peas are seen in full bearing and flower.
The trees are small, except in the hollows: there is plenty of grass
and flowers near streams and on the heights. The mountain-tops may
rise 2000 or 3000 feet above their flanks, along which we wind, going
perpetually up and down the steep ridges of which the country is but a
succession.

Looking at the geology of the district, the plateaux on each side of
the Rovuma are masses of grey sandstone, capped with masses of
ferruginous conglomerate; apparently an aqueous deposit. When we
ascend the Rovuma about sixty miles, a great many pieces and blocks of
silicified wood appear on the surface of the soil at the bottom of the
slope up the plateaux. This in Africa is a sure indication of the
presence of coal beneath, but it was not observed cropping out; the
plateaux are cut up in various directions by wadys well supplied with
grass and trees on deep and somewhat sandy soil: but at the confluence
of the Loendi highlands they appear in the far distance. In the sands
of the Loendi pieces of coal are quite common.[16]

Before reaching the confluence of the Rovuma and Loendi, or say about
ninety miles from the sea, the plateau is succeeded by a more level
country, having detached granitic masses shooting up som