dye this substance of a reddish color, many of them put me in mind of
the ancient Egyptians. The great mass of dressed hair which they possess
reaches to the shoulders, but when they intend to travel they draw it up
to a bunch, and tie it on the top of the head. They are cleanly in their
habits.

As we did not come near human habitations, and could only take short
stages on account of the illness of one of my men, I had an opportunity
of observing the expedients my party resorted to in order to supply
their wants. Large white edible mushrooms are found on the ant-hills,
and are very good. The mokuri, a tuber which abounds in the Mopane
country, they discovered by percussing the ground with stones; and
another tuber, about the size of a turnip, called "bonga", is found
in the same situations. It does not determine to the joints like the
mokuri, and in winter has a sensible amount of salt in it. A fruit
called "ndongo" by the Makololo, "dongolo" by the Bambiri, resembles
in appearance a small plum, which becomes black when ripe, and is good
food, as the seeds are small. Many trees are known by tradition, and one
receives curious bits of information in asking about different fruits
that are met with. A tree named "shekabakadzi" is superior to all others
for making fire by friction. As its name implies, women may even readily
make fire by it when benighted.

The country here is covered over with well-rounded shingle and gravel of
granite, gneiss with much talc in it, mica schist, and other rocks which
we saw 'in situ' between the Kafue and Loangwa. There are great mounds
of soft red sand slightly coherent, which crumble in the hand with ease.
The gravel and the sand drain away the water so effectually that the
trees are exposed to the heat during a portion of the year without any
moisture; hence they are not large, like those on the Zambesi, and are
often scrubby. The rivers are all of the sandy kind, and we pass over
large patches between this and Tete in which, in the dry season, no
water is to be found. Close on our south, the hills of Lokole rise to
a considerable height, and beyond them flows the Mazoe with its golden
sands. The great numbers of pot-holes on the sides of sandstone ridges,
when viewed in connection with the large banks of rolled shingle and
washed sand which are met with on this side of the eastern ridge, may
indicate that the sea in former times rolled its waves along its flanks.
Many of the hills b