ch I have
described in the last two chapters. It has beautiful and even striking
scenery. The soil, where the granitic rocks do not come too near the
surface, is usually fertile, and cultivation is easier than in the
regions to the south-west, because the rains are more copious. There are
many places round Fort Salisbury and on the way thence to Mtali and
Massikessi where a man might willingly settle down to spend his days, so
genial and so full of beauty is the nature around him. And as the land
is high, it is also healthy. Except in a few of the valley bottoms,
fever need not be feared, even after the rains.

From Fort Salisbury to the Indian Ocean at Beira it is a journey of
three hundred and seventy miles, of which the first one hundred and
fifty-five are in British, the rest in Portuguese, territory. Before the
railway, which now (1899) runs all the way, had been completed, this
distance required eight to ten days' travel. It may now be despatched in
a day and a half. But those who hurry through this picturesque region
behind the locomotive lose much of the charm which the journey, by far
the most attractive part of a South African tour, formerly had for the
lover of nature.

For the first forty miles south-eastward from Fort Salisbury the track
runs through a wooded country, diversified by broad stretches of
pasture. Here and there we found a European farm, marked in the distance
by the waving tops of the gum-trees, with the low wooden house festooned
by the brilliant mauve blossoms of the climbing bougainvillea, and the
garden enclosed by hedges of grenadilla, whose fruit is much eaten in
South Africa. Vegetables raised on these farms fetch enormous prices in
the town, so that a man who understands the business may count on making
more by this than he will do by "prospecting" for gold mines, or even by
floating companies. We found the grass generally fresh and green, for
some showers had fallen, and the trees, though still small, were in new
leaf with exquisite tints of red. Now and then, through gaps between the
nearer hills, there are glimpses of dim blue mountains. As one gets
farther to the south-east the hills are higher, and on either side there
rise fantastic kopjes of granite. Their tops are cleft and riven by deep
fissures, and huge detached blocks are strewn about at their base, or
perched like gigantic tables upon the tops of pillars of rock, poised so
finely that one fancies a blast of wind might ove