Where They Have Been Much Disturbed,
They Certainly Look Upon Us With Great Distrust, As The Horrid Biped
That Ruins Their Peace.
In the quietest parts of the forest
there is heard a faint but distinct hum, which tells of insect
Joy.
One may see many whisking about in the clear sunshine in patches
among the green glancing leaves; but there are invisible myriads
working with never-tiring mandibles on leaves, and stalks,
and beneath the soil. They are all brimful of enjoyment. Indeed,
the universality of organic life may be called a mantle of happy existence
encircling the world, and imparts the idea of its being caused
by the consciousness of our benignant Father's smile
on all the works of His hands.
The birds of the tropics have been described as generally wanting
in power of song. I was decidedly of opinion that this was not applicable
to many parts in Londa, though birds there are remarkably scarce.
Here the chorus, or body of song, was not much smaller in volume
than it is in England. It was not so harmonious, and sounded always
as if the birds were singing in a foreign tongue. Some resemble the lark,
and, indeed, there are several of that family; two have notes not unlike
those of the thrush. One brought the chaffinch to my mind, and another
the robin; but their songs are intermixed with several curious abrupt notes
unlike any thing English. One utters deliberately "peek, pak, pok";
another has a single note like a stroke on a violin-string.
The mokwa reza gives forth a screaming set of notes like our blackbird
when disturbed, then concludes with what the natives say
is "pula, pula" (rain, rain), but more like "weep, weep, weep". Then we have
the loud cry of francolins, the "pumpuru, pumpuru" of turtle-doves,
and the "chiken, chiken, chik, churr, churr" of the honey-guide.
Occasionally, near villages, we have a kind of mocking-bird,
imitating the calls of domestic fowls. These African birds have not been
wanting in song; they have only lacked poets to sing their praises,
which ours have had from the time of Aristophanes downward.
Ours have both a classic and a modern interest to enhance their fame.
In hot, dry weather, or at midday when the sun is fierce, all are still:
let, however, a good shower fall, and all burst forth at once into
merry lays 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 it, as it is said to be perfectly wholesome,
or, as they express it, "It is pure fat," and fat is by them considered
the best of food. Though only a little larger than a cherry, we found that
the elephants had stood picking them off patiently by the hour. We observed
the footprints of a black rhinoceros (`Rhinoceros bicornis', Linn.)
and her calf. We saw other footprints among the hills of Semalembue,
but the black rhinoceros is remarkably scarce in all the country
north of the Zambesi. The white rhinoceros (`Rhinoceros simus' of Burchell),
or Mohohu of the Bechuanas, is quite extinct here, and will soon become
unknown in the country to the south. It feeds almost entirely on grasses,
and is of a timid, unsuspecting disposition: this renders it an easy prey,
and they are slaughtered without mercy on the introduction of fire-arms.
The black possesses a more savage nature, and, like the ill-natured
in general, is never found with an ounce of fat in its body.
From its greater fierceness and wariness, it holds its place in a district
much longer than its more timid and better-conditioned neighbor.
Mr. Oswell was once stalking two of these beasts, and, as they came
slowly to him, he, knowing that there is but little chance of hitting
the small brain of this animal by a shot in the head, lay expecting
one of them to give his shoulder till he was within a few yards.
The hunter then thought that by making a rush to his side he might succeed
in escaping, but the rhinoceros, too quick for that, turned upon him,
and, though he discharged his gun close to the animal's head,
he was tossed in the air.
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