one
side of the rivulet Nyaondo, and a great quantity of acrid steam rises
up from the ground adjacent, about 12 feet square of which is so hot
that my companions could not stand on it with their bare feet. There are
several little holes from which the water trickles, but the principal
spring is in a hole a foot in diameter, and about the same in depth.
Numbers of bubbles are constantly rising. The steam feels acrid in the
throat, but is not inflammable, as it did not burn when I held a bunch
of lighted grass over the bubbles. The mercury rises to 158 Deg. when
the thermometer is put into the water in the hole, but after a few
seconds it stands steadily at 160 Deg. Even when flowing over the stones
the water is too hot for the hand. Little fish frequently leap out of
the stream in the bed of which the fountain rises, into the hot
water, and get scalded to death. We saw a frog which had performed the
experiment, and was now cooked. The stones over which the water flows
are incrusted with a white salt, and the water has a saline taste. The
ground has been dug out near the fountain by the natives, in order to
extract the salt it contains. It is situated among rocks of syenitic
porphyry in broad dikes, and gneiss tilted on edge, and having a
strike to the N.E. There are many specimens of half-formed pumice, with
greenstone and lava. Some of the sandstone strata are dislocated by a
hornblende rock and by basalt, the sandstone nearest to the basalt being
converted into quartz.

The country around, as indeed all the district lying N. and N.W. of
Tete, is hilly, and, the hills being covered with trees, the scenery
is very picturesque. The soil of the valleys is very fruitful and well
cultivated. There would not be much difficulty in working the coal. The
Lofubu is about 60 yards broad; it flows perennially, and at its very
lowest period, which is after September, there is water about 18 inches
deep, which could be navigated in flat-bottomed boats. At the time of
my visit it was full, and the current was very strong. If the small
cataract referred to were to be avoided, the land-carriage beyond would
only be about two miles. The other seams farther up the river may,
after passing the cataract, be approached more easily than that in the
Muatize; as the seam, however, dips down into the stream, no drainage of
the mine would be required, for if water were come to it would run into
the stream. I did not visit the others, but I was i