In Trying To Form An Opinion Of The Climate, It
Must Be Recollected That Much Of The Fever, From Which We Suffered,
Was Caused By Sleeping On These Wet Cushions.
Many of the botanical
specimens, laboriously collected and carefully prepared by Dr. Kirk,
were destroyed, or double work imposed, by their accidentally falling
into wet places in the cabin.
About the middle of August, after cutting wood at Shamoara, we again
steamed up the Shire, with the intention of becoming better
acquainted with the people, and making another and longer journey on
foot to the north of Lake Shirwa, in search of Lake Nyassa, of which
we had already received some information, under the name Nyinyesi
(the stars). The Shire is much narrower than the Zambesi, but
deeper, and more easily navigated. It drains a low and exceedingly
fertile valley of from fifteen to twenty miles in breadth. Ranges of
wooded hills bound this valley on both sides. For the first twenty
miles the hills on the left bank are close to the river; then comes
Morambala, a detached mountain 500 yards from the river's brink,
which rises, with steep sides on the west, to 4000 feet in height,
and is about seven miles in length. It is wooded up to the very top,
and very beautiful. The southern end, seen from a distance, has a
fine gradual slope, and looks as if it might be of easy ascent; but
the side which faces the Shire is steep and rocky, especially in the
upper half. A small village peeps out about halfway up the mountain;
it has a pure and bracing atmosphere; and is perched above mosquito
range. The people on the summit have a very different climate and
vegetation from those of the plains; but they have to spend a great
portion of their existence amidst white fleecy clouds, which, in the
rainy season, rest daily on the top of their favourite mountain. We
were kindly treated by these mountaineers on our first ascent; before
our second they were nearly all swept away by Mariano. Dr. Kirk
found upwards of thirty species of ferns on this and other mountains,
and even good-sized tree-ferns; though scarcely a single kind is to
be met with on the plains. Lemon and orange trees grew wild, and
pineapples had been planted by the people. Many large hornbills,
hawks, monkeys, antelopes, and rhinoceroses found a home and food
among the great trees round its base. A hot fountain boils up on the
plain near the north end. It bubbles out of the earth, clear as
crystal, at two points, or eyes, a few yards apart from each other,
and sends off a fine flowing stream of hot water. The temperature
was found to be 174 degrees Fahr., and it boiled an egg in about the
usual time. Our guide threw in a small branch to show us how
speedily the Madse-awira (boiling water) could kill the leaves.
Unlucky lizards and insects did not seem to understand the nature of
a hot-spring, as many of their remains were lying at the bottom. A
large beetle had alighted on the water, and been killed before it had
time to fold its wings. An incrustation, smelling of sulphur, has
been deposited by the water on the stones. About a hundred feet from
the eye of the fountain the mud is as hot as can be borne by the
body. In taking a bath there, it makes the skin perfectly clean, and
none of the mud adheres: it is strange that the Portuguese do not
resort to it for the numerous cutaneous diseases with which they are
so often afflicted.
A few clumps of the palm and acacia trees appear west of Morambala,
on the rich plain forming the tongue of land between the rivers Shire
and Zambesi. This is a good place for all sorts of game. The
Zambesi canoe-men were afraid to sleep on it from the idea of lions
being there; they preferred to pass the night on an island. Some
black men, who accompanied us as volunteer workmen from Shupanga,
called out one evening that a lion stood on the bank. It was very
dark, and we could only see two sparkling lights, said to be the
lion's eyes looking at us; for here, as elsewhere, they have a theory
that the lion's eyes always flash fire at night. Not being
fireflies - as they did not move when a shot was fired in their
direction - they were probably glowworms.
Beyond Morambala the Shire comes winding through an extensive marsh.
For many miles to the north a broad sea of fresh green grass extends,
and is so level, that it might be used for taking the meridian
altitude of the sun. Ten or fifteen miles north of Morambala, stands
the dome-shaped mountain Makanga, or Chi-kanda; several others with
granitic-looking peaks stretch away to the north, and form the
eastern boundary of the valley; another range, but of metamorphic
rocks, commencing opposite Senna, bounds the valley on the west.
After streaming through a portion of this marsh, we came to a broad
belt of palm and other trees, crossing the fine plain on the right
bank. Marks of large game were abundant. Elephants had been feeding
on the palm nuts, which have a pleasant fruity taste, and are used as
food by man. Two pythons were observed coiled together among the
branches of a large tree, and were both shot. The larger of the two,
a female, was ten feet long. They are harmless, and said to be good
eating. The Makololo having set fire to the grass where they were
cutting wood, a solitary buffalo rushed out of the conflagration, and
made a furious charge at an active young fellow named Mantlanyane.
Never did his fleet limbs serve him better than during the few
seconds of his fearful flight before the maddened animal. When he
reached the bank, and sprang into the river, the infuriated beast was
scarcely six feet behind him.
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