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.
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