but under the control of
Machin, chief of Manica, and was made up of a mixed race, being partly
of the blood of the Makoapa, who owned Knobneusen as their chief, partly
of that of a fierce and treacherous race called Banyai.

This native kraal of Busi is pleasantly situated. To the northward, far
away in the distance, a lofty hill called "Morumbala," near whose base
flows the "Zambesi," while to the southward the mountains of Nyamonga
and Gorongoza stretch away into the horizon. Thick forests of trees,
many of them of tropical growth, sweep around, while the plains are rich
in luxuriant vegetation. The cedar, the ebony palmyra, mohonono,
mashuka, acacia, mashanga, and the dwarf custard-apple, grow abundantly,
while a bright red bean, called the mosika, together with maize, is much
cultivated. Iron is found and worked on the hill-sides, after a very
homely fashion, while coal actually crops up out of the ground, and is
picked out by the women, who use only a hoe.

The copper and brass ornaments are procured, in the way of trade, from
the Portuguese of the Zambesi; but gold is plentiful and its value
known, the women washing it out of the ground in quantities, sometimes
even finding it in pure nuggets. All this seemed strongly to confirm
the missionary's firm belief that in this neighbourhood was once found
and exported gold, cedar, and other riches. Elephants were numerous in
the forests, and the ivory was sold to the Portuguese. It was to a
grand elephant hunt the head of the tribe had been called, and, with the
exception of the brave and his escort of fifty warriors who had
accompanied the white men, none but the women remained in the kraal.

A week passed by, and at its expiration the shouts of the men, and the
shrill screams of the women, heralded the return of the head warrior
Umhleswa, and told that the hunt had been a successful one.

Volume 1, Chapter X.

THE RUINED CITIES OF ZULU LAND.

The morning after the chief's arrival there was a great commotion in the
kraal. Men ran to and fro, there was shouting and much talking, and at
last, followed by his warriors, the chief Umhleswa came down from the
council enclosure, and taking his way among the huts, halted at the
entrance of that which had been assigned to the white men. Umhleswa
found them seated under the tree which overshadowed their home, and,
whatever he might think of them, his own appearance was in no way
prepossessing. Under the middle he