The Soil Is Fertile, But The Village,
Being In A State Of Ruin, And Having Several Pools Of Stagnant Water,
Is Very Unhealthy.
The bottom rock is the akose of Brongniart,
or granitic grit, and several conical hills of trap have burst
Through it.
One standing about half a mile west of the village is called Baramuana,
which has another behind it; hence the name, which means "carry a child
on the back". It is 300 or 400 feet high, and on the top
lie two dismounted cannon, which were used to frighten away the Landeens,
who, in one attack upon Senna, killed 150 of the inhabitants. The prospect
from Baramuana is very fine; below, on the eastward, lies the Zambesi,
with the village of Senna; and some twenty or thirty miles beyond
stands the lofty mountain Morumbala, probably 3000 or 4000 feet high.
It is of an oblong shape, and from its physiognomy, which can be
distinctly seen when the sun is in the west, is evidently igneous.
On the northern end there is a hot sulphurous fountain,
which my Portuguese friends refused to allow me to visit, because the mountain
is well peopled, and the mountaineers are at present not friendly
with the Portuguese. They have plenty of garden-ground and running water
on its summit. My friends at Senna declined the responsibility
of taking me into danger. To the north of Morumbala we have a fine view
of the mountains of the Maganja; they here come close to the river,
and terminate in Morumbala. Many of them are conical, and the Shire
is reported to flow among them, and to run on the Senna side of Morumbala
before joining the Zambesi. On seeing the confluence afterward,
close to a low range of hills beyond Morumbala, I felt inclined
to doubt the report, as the Shire must then flow parallel with the Zambesi,
from which Morumbala seems distant only twenty or thirty miles.
All around to the southeast the country is flat, and covered with forest,
but near Senna a number of little abrupt conical hills diversify the scenery.
To the west and north the country is also flat forest, which gives it
a sombre appearance; but just in the haze of the horizon southwest by south,
there rises a mountain range equal in height to Morumbala,
and called Nyamonga. In a clear day another range beyond this may be seen,
which is Gorongozo, once a station of the Jesuits. Gorongozo is famed
for its clear cold waters and healthiness, and there are some inscriptions
engraved on large square slabs on the top of the mountain,
which have probably been the work of the fathers. As this lies
in the direction of a district between Manica and Sofala,
which has been conjectured to be the Ophir of King Solomon,
the idea that first sprang up in my mind was, that these monuments
might be more ancient than the Portuguese; but, on questioning some persons
who had seen them, I found that they were in Roman characters,
and did not deserve a journey of six days to see them.
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