cribable. A
little lemur was once seen to leap about from branch to branch with the
agility of a frog; it chirruped like a bird, and is not larger than a
robin red-breast. Reptiles, though numerous, seldom troubled us; only
two men suffered from stings, and that very slightly, during the entire
journey, the one supposed that he was bitten by a snake, and the other
was stung by a scorpion.

Grass-burning has begun, and is producing the blue hazy atmosphere of the
American Indian summer, which in Western Africa is called the "smokes."
Miles of fire burn on the mountain-sides in the evenings, but go out
during the night. From their height they resemble a broad zigzag line of
fire in the heavens.

We slept on the night of the 6th of July on the left bank of the Chongwe,
which comes through a gap in the hills on our right, and is twenty yards
wide. A small tribe of the Bazizulu, from the south, under Dadanga, have
recently settled here and built a village. Some of their houses are
square, and they seem to be on friendly terms with the Bakoa, who own the
country. They, like the other natives, cultivate cotton, but of a
different species from any we have yet seen in Africa, the staple being
very long, and the boll larger than what is usually met with; the seeds
cohere as in the Pernambuco kind. They brought the seed with them from
their own country, the distant mountains of which in the south, still
inhabited by their fellow-countrymen, who possess much cattle and use
shields, can be seen from this high ground. These people profess to be
children of the great paramount chief, Kwanyakarombe, who is said to be
lord of all the Bazizulu. The name of this tribe is known to
geographers, who derive their information from the Portuguese, as the
_Morusurus_, and the hills mentioned above are said to have been the
country of Changamira, the warrior-chief of history, whom no Portuguese
ever dared to approach. The Bazizulu seem, by report, to be brave
mountaineers; nearer the river, the Sidima inhabit the plains; just as on
the north side, the Babimpe live on the heights, about two days off, and
the Makoa on or near the river. The chief of the Bazizulu we were now
with was hospitable and friendly. A herd of buffaloes came trampling
through the gardens and roused up our men; a feat that roaring lions
seldom achieved.

Our course next day passed over the upper terrace and through a dense
thorn jungle. Travelling is always di