t each other in peace. Sometimes the head of the
slain is taken and buried in an ant-hill, till all the flesh is gone; and
the lower jaw is then worn as a trophy by the slayer; but this we never
saw, and the foregoing information was obtained only through an
interpreter.

We left the Zambesi at the mouth of the Zungwe or Mozama or Dela rivulet,
up which we proceeded, first in a westerly and then in a north-westerly
direction. The Zungwe at this time had no water in its sandy channel for
the first eight or ten miles. Willows, however, grow on the banks, and
water soon began to appear in the hollows; and a few miles further up it
was a fine flowing stream deliciously cold. As in many other streams
from Chicova to near Sinamane shale and coal crop out in the bank; and
here the large roots of stigmaria or its allied plants were found. We
followed the course of the Zungwe to the foot of the Batoka highlands, up
whose steep and rugged sides of red and white quartz we climbed till we
attained an altitude of upwards of 3000 feet. Here, on the cool and
bracing heights, the exhilaration of mind and body was delightful, as we
looked back at the hollow beneath covered with a hot sultry glare, not
unpleasant now that we were in the mild radiance above. We had a noble
view of the great valley in which the Zambesi flows. The cultivated
portions are so small in comparison to the rest of the landscape that the
valley appears nearly all forest, with a few grassy glades. We spent the
night of the 28th July high above the level of the sea, by the rivulet
Tyotyo, near Tabacheu or Chirebuechina, names both signifying white
mountain; in the morning hoar frost covered the ground, and thin ice was
on the pools. Skirting the southern flank of Tabacheu, we soon passed
from the hills on to the portion of the vast table-land called Mataba,
and looking back saw all the way across the Zambesi valley to the lofty
ridge some thirty miles off, which, coming from the Mashona, a country in
the S.E., runs to the N.W. to join the ridge at the angle of which are
the Victoria Falls, and then bends far to the N.E. from the same point.
Only a few years since these extensive highlands were peopled by the
Batoka; numerous herds of cattle furnished abundance of milk, and the
rich soil amply repaid the labour of the husbandman; now large herds of
buffaloes, zebras, and antelopes fatten on the excellent pasture; and on
that land, which formerly supported mu