from the point, it
must have interfered with her power of lifting water.

In estimating the amount of food necessary for these and other large
animals, sufficient attention has not been paid to the kinds chosen. The
elephant, for instance, is a most dainty feeder, and particularly fond
of certain sweet-tasted trees and fruits. He chooses the mohonono, the
mimosa, and other trees which contain much saccharine matter, mucilage,
and gum. He may be seen putting his head to a lofty palmyra, and swaying
it to and fro to shake off the seeds; he then picks them up singly
and eats them. Or he may be seen standing by the masuka and other
fruit-trees patiently picking off the sweet fruits one by one. He also
digs up bulbs and tubers, but none of these are thoroughly digested.
Bruce remarked upon the undigested bits of wood seen in their droppings,
and he must have observed, too, that neither leaves nor seeds are
changed by passing through the alimentary canal. The woody fibre of
roots and branches is dropped in the state of tow, the nutritious
matter alone having been extracted. This capability of removing all
the nourishment, and the selection of those kinds of food which contain
great quantities of mucilage and gum, accounts for the fact that
herds of elephants produce but small effect upon the vegetation of
a country--quality being more requisite than quantity. The amount of
internal fat found in them makes them much prized by the inhabitants,
who are all very fond of it, both for food and ointment.

After leaving the elephant valley we passed through a very beautiful
country, but thinly inhabited by man. The underlying rock is trap, and
dikes of talcose gneiss. The trap is often seen tilted on its edge, or
dipping a little either to the north or south. The strike is generally
to the northeast, the direction we are going. About Losito we found
the trap had given place to hornblende schist, mica schist, and various
schorly rocks. We had now come into the region in which the appearance
of the rocks conveys the impression of a great force having acted along
the bed of the Zambesi. Indeed, I was led to the belief from seeing the
manner in which the rocks have been thrust away on both sides from
its bed, that the power which formed the crack of the falls had given
direction to the river below, and opened a bed for it all the way from
the falls to beyond the gorge of Lupata.

Passing the rivulet Losito, and through the ranges of h