Beyond
it we came among the upland vegetation - rhododendrons, proteas, the
masuko, and molompi.
At the foot of the hill, Kasuko-suko, we found
the River Bua running north to join the Kaombe. We had to go a mile
out of our way for a ford; the stream is deep enough in parts for
hippopotami. The various streams not previously noticed, crossed in
this journey, had before this led us to the conclusion, independently
of the testimony of the natives, that no large river ran into the
north end of the Lake. No such affluent was needed to account for
the Shire's perennial flow.
On September 15th we reached the top of the ascent which, from its
many ups and downs, had often made us puff and blow as if broken-
winded. The water of the streams we crossed was deliciously cold,
and now that we had gained the summit at Ndonda, where the boiling-
point of water showed an altitude of 3440 feet above the sea, the air
was delightful. Looking back we had a magnificent view of the Lake,
but the haze prevented our seeing beyond the sea horizon. The scene
was beautiful, but it was impossible to dissociate the lovely
landscape whose hills and dales had so sorely tried our legs and
lungs, from the sad fact that this was part of the great slave route
now actually in use. By this road many "Ten thousands" have here
seen "the Sea," "the Sea," but with sinking hearts; for the universal
idea among the captive gangs is, that they are going to be fattened
and eaten by the whites. They cannot of course be so much shocked as
we should be - their sensibilities are far from fine, their feelings
are more obtuse than ours - in fact, "the live eels are used to being
skinned," perhaps they rather like it. We who are not philosophic,
blessed the Providence which at Thermopylae in ancient days rolled
back the tide of Eastern conquest from the West, and so guided the
course of events that light and liberty and gospel truth spread to
our distant isle, and emancipating our race freed them from the fear
of ever again having to climb fatiguing heights and descend wearisome
hollows in a slave-gang, as we suppose they did when the fair English
youths were exposed for sale at Rome.
Looking westwards we perceived that, what from below had the
appearance of mountains, was only the edge of a table-land which,
though at first undulating, soon became smooth, and sloped towards
the centre of the country. To the south a prominent mountain called
Chipata, and to the south-west another named Ngalla, by which the Bua
is said to rise, gave character to the landscape. In the north,
masses of hills prevented our seeing more than eight or ten miles.
The air which was so exhilarating to Europeans had an opposite effect
on five men who had been born and reared in the malaria of the Delta
of the Zambesi.
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