70 KEBRABASA SURVEY COMPLETED. CHAP. II. once recognized; one point of view on the talus of Mount Morumbwa was not more than 700 or 800 yards distant from the other, and they then completed the survey of Kebrabasa from end to end. They did not attempt to return by the way they came, but scaled the slope of the mountain on the north. It took them three hours' hard labor in cutting their way up through the dense thornbush which covered the ascent. The face of the slope was often about an angle of 70°, yet their guide Shokumbenla, whose hard, horny soles, resembling those of elephants, showed that he was accustomed to this rough and hot work, carried a pot of water for them nearly all the way up. They slept that night at a well in a tufaceous rock on the N.W. of Chipereziwa, and never was sleep more sweet. CHAP. III. NATIVE MUSICIANS. 73 CHAPTER III. Return from Kebrabasa.-Native Musicians and their Instruments.-Ignorance at Tette.-Changes produced by Rain after the hot Season.-Christmas in tropical Dress.-Opinions modified by early Associations in Northern Climes.-The Seasons at Tette.-Cotton-seed not needed.-African Fever. Quinine not a Preventive of.-The best Precaution and Remedy."Warburgh's Drops."-Expedition turns from Kebrabasa toward the River Shire in January, 1859.-Reported Barrier to Navigation.-First Intercourse with unknown People.-Navigation of Shire.-Progress prevented by Murchison's Cataracts.-Return to Tette.-Second Trip up the Shire in March, 1859.-Chibisa.-Nyanja Mukulu.-Maniac Guides.-Discover Lake Shirwa on the 18th of April, 1859.—Mountains.-Return to the Vessel.— Severe case of Fever.-Return to Tette on the 23d of June.-Vessel found to be built of unstable Materials.-At Kongone in August. A BAND of native musicians came to our camp one evening on our way down, and treated us with their wild and not unpleasant music on the marimba, an instrument formed of bars of hard wood of varying breadth and thickness, laid on different-sized hollow calabashes, and tuned to give the notes: a few pieces of cloth pleased them, and they passed on. As our companion had told us, the people were perfectly willing to sell us provisions on our way back. When we arrived at Tette the commandant informed us that, shortly after we had left, the river rose a foot and became turbid; and on seeing this, a native Portuguese came to him with a grave countenance, and said, "That Englishman is doing something to the river." This, we regret to say, is a fair sample of the ignorance and superstition common to the native-born, and, unfortunately, sometimes shared in even by 74 DELIGHTFUL EFFECTS OF RAIN. CHAP. III. men reared in Portugal. While we were at Tette, a captain of infantry was sent prisoner to Mozamhique for administering the muave, or ordeal, and for putting the suspected person to death on that evidence alone. At the end of the hot season every thing is dry and dusty; the atmosphere is loaded with blue haze, and very sultry. After the rains begin, the face of the country changes with surprising rapidity for the better. Though we have not the moist hot-house-like atmosphere of the West Coast, fresh green herbage quickly springs up over the hills and dales so lately parched and brown. The air becomes cleared of the smoky-looking haze, and one sees to great distances with ease; the landscape is bathed in a perfect flood of light, and a delightful sense of freshness is given from every thing in the morning before the glare of noon overpowers the eye. On asking one of the Bechuanas once what he understood by the word used for "holiness" (boitsépho), he answered, "When copious showers have descended during the night, and all the earth, and leaves, and cattle are washed clean, and the sun, rising, shows a drop of dew on every blade of grass, and the air breathes fresh, that is holiness." The young foliage of several trees, more especially on the highlands, comes out brown, pale red, or pink, like the hues of autumnal leaves in England, and as the leaves increase in size they change to a pleasant fresh light green; bright white, scarlet, pink, and yellow flowers are every where; and some few of dark crimson, like those of the kigelia, give warmth of coloring to Nature's garden. Many trees, such as the scarlet erythrina, attract the eye by the beauty of their blossoms. The white, full bloom of the baobab, coming at times before the rains, and the small and delicate flowers of other trees, grouped into rich clusters, |