and loving courtship. The early mornings and
the cool evenings are their favorite times for singing. There are
comparatively few with gaudy plumage, being totally unlike, in this
respect, the birds of the Brazils. The majority have decidedly a sober
dress, though collectors, having generally selected the gaudiest as the
most valuable, have conveyed the idea that the birds of the tropics for
the most part possess gorgeous plumage.

15TH. Several of my men have been bitten by spiders and other insects,
but no effect except pain has followed. A large caterpillar is
frequently seen, called lezuntabuea. It is covered with long gray hairs,
and, the body being dark, it resembles a porcupine in miniature. If one
touches it, the hairs run into the pores of the skin, and remain there,
giving sharp pricks. There are others which have a similar means of
defense; and when the hand is drawn across them, as in passing a bush on
which they happen to be, the contact resembles the stinging of nettles.
From the great number of caterpillars seen, we have a considerable
variety of butterflies. One particular kind flies more like a swallow
than a butterfly. They are not remarkable for the gaudiness of their
colors.

In passing along we crossed the hills Vungue or Mvungwe, which we found
to be composed of various eruptive rocks. At one part we have breccia of
altered marl or slate in quartz, and various amygdaloids. It is curious
to observe the different forms which silica assumes. We have it in
claystone porphyry here, in minute round globules, no larger than
turnip-seed, dotted thickly over the matrix; or crystallized round the
walls of cavities, once filled with air or other elastic fluid; or it
may appear in similar cavities as tufts of yellow asbestos, or as red,
yellow, or green crystals, or in laminae so arranged as to appear like
fossil wood. Vungue forms the watershed between those sand rivulets
which run to the N.E., and others which flow southward, as the Kapopo,
Ue, and Due, which run into the Luia.

We found that many elephants had been feeding on the fruit called
Mokoronga. This is a black-colored plum, having purple juice. We all ate
it in large quantities, as we found it delicious. The only defect it has
is the great size of the seed in comparison with the pulp. This is
the chief fault of all uncultivated wild fruits. The Mokoronga exists
throughout this part of the country most abundantly, and the natives
eagerly devour i