I told our Shakundas to return to their Portuguese masters on the Zambesi, as I had had enough of them, and all but one were only too glad to avail themselves of the opportunity. This one boy, as he begged to be allowed to remain with us, and as he had always been the most willing of the lot,,,,

I have seen growing in the Transvaal, even on 
farms where the trees are carefully tended and manured every 
year ; and, as the lemon-trees on the Mazoe have grown wild 
and untended in the wilderness for ages and ages, they ought 
to improve with cultivation. The natives have no tradition 
as to how the lemon-trees were introduced, but that there is a 
connection between them and the ancient gold-workings seems 
certain, for wherever lemon-trees grow, old gold-workings will 
invariably be found in the neighbourhood. They may have 
been introduced by the Portuguese two or three centuries ago, 



292 TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE IN AFRICA chap. 

or they may date back to much more ancient times, when 
South- Eastern Africa was visited by the trading peoples of 
Asia and Arabia in search of gold. 

On the following morning we walked on along the Mazoe, 
and in two hours reached its junction with the Tataguru. 
Here the Mazoe runs from the south through a gap in a high 
range of hills. The country near the junction of the Mazoe 
and Tataguru rivers we found to be literally carpeted ' with 
a profusion of wildflowers, all of the most exquisitely delicate 
shades of colour, pale mauve, pink, and lilac predominating, 
though yellow and white flowers were scattered amongst them 
too, and there was one little gem of a rich deep red. These 
flowers, though many of them were very beautiful, had nothing 
tropical in their appearance, but all looked as if they might 
grow in the open air in an English garden ; as indeed no 
doubt they would, for this country, though by its geographical 
position it is well within the tropics, is really by reason of its 
altitude a temperate country, with the climate of Southern 
Europe. 

Shortly after getting through a gap in the hills we came 
to another small tributary stream running into the Mazoe, and 
made a halt for breakfast. As we were now entirely out of 
food for ourselves and boys, and as we could see a native town 
on the side of a hill at no great distance, we sent a couple of 
our Kafirs to try to buy some meal and rice. The Mazoe 
had now become very small, little more than a deep ditch, in 
fact, and it was evident that its source could not be at any 
very great distance, so Burnett and 1 decided to leave the 
remainder of our Kafirs, who were all bad walkers, or pre- 
tended to be so, and push on to the head of the river by our- 
selves. Three hours later we stood at the actual source of 
the Mazoe. We found that as a river the Mazoe took its 
rise in two deep black pools, surrounded and overshadowed by 
thick -foliaged trees, the water being twelve or fifteen feet 
below the level of the banks. But above these pools there is 
a swamp, extending for about a mile, at the head of which 
stands a cluster of dark-leaved evergreen trees, and amongst 
these trees the actual spring of the Mazoe may be said to be. 

' End of .September 1889. 



THE SOURCES OF THE MAZOE 



293 



Into one of the deep pools I have spoken of as being the com- 
mencement of the actual river, a small rill of water, draining 
out of the marsh, falls, forming a tiny waterfall of twelve or 
fifteen feet in height. The Mazoe does not take its rise on the 
top of the high open downs of Mashunaland like the Manyami, 
the Sabi, the Sanyati, etc., but in a marsh just below the high 
level, its source being enclosed in low ridges, through which 
the water must percolate from the higher ground. After a rest 
we started back for camp, which we reached just before sun- 
down, having done over eight hours' very fast walking during 
the day. We found that our boys had bought a little rice and 
pogo meal, but having no meat we did not sit down to a very 
sumptuous repast. Since leaving Mapondera's we had seen no 
game, with the exception of a few reed-bucks, which were very 
wild and unapproachable. 




Granite Boulder, Mashunaland. 

(From a Photograph by Mr. E. A. Maund.) 



CHAPTER XVI 

Mount Hampden — Return to Inyota — Wildflowers — Journey down tlie Mazoe — 
Cross the River Inyagui — Hippopotamus shot — Rejoin Mr. Thomas at Ru- 
sambo's — Return to the Mazoe — A stockaded town — Pass Sanyara's — Burnett 
sees five lions— Reach the Ruenya — Hippopotamus shooting — A freshwater 
shark caught — Return to Tete — Interview with the Portuguese Governor — 
Portuguese hospitality — Leave Tete— Reach Vicenti— Down the Quaqua to 
Quillimani — Go on board the Courland — Return to Cape Town. 

Having traced the Mazoe to its source (in the neighbourhood 
of which I had often been in former years, without, however, 
knowing its exact position), I determined to revisit Mount 
Hampden on the Gwibi, in order to complete my compass 
surveys from the east and the west. 

Ascending the little river Dasuru, we reached the Gwibi, 
after a walk of about three and a half hours. Leaving Burnett 
and the Kafirs there, I then climbed Mount Hampden and 
took some compass bearings from trees, as the hill itself being 
rich in ironstone, no readings could be relied upon that were 
taken near the ground. Mount Hampden, . which has now 
become a household word in Mashunaland, and which in 
1 890 was named as the goal of the British South Africa 
Company's expedition to that country, had been familiar to me 
ever since 1878, and many a time in 1883, 1885, and 1887 
had I climbed its sides in order to look for ostriches, elands, 
and other game on the plains by which it is surrounded. The 
hill itself is about five hundred feet in height ; but, standing as 
it does on the eastern edge of the Mashuna plateau, and being 
all by itself in the midst of open downs, it forms an excellent 
landmark, and from its summit, which must once have been 
the site of a native town (as it is surrounded by a stone wall 
about four feet in height), a .splendid view is obtainable, extend- 



PROFUSION OF WILDFLOWERS 



295 



ing to the Umvukwi hills to the north-west, and over the 
whole of the Mazoe valley as far as Mount Inyota to the 
north-east. Most of the Kafirs know no name for this hill, 
though Inyamwenda's people call it Si-kwi, so in 1880, in a 
sketch map which I sent to the Royal Geographical Society, I 
called it Mount Hampden, naming it after that good English- 
man, John Hampden, who struggled so manfully for, and 
eventually gave his life in defence of, the liberties of his 
countrymen in those evil days when the second prince of the 
House of Stuart reigned in England. 

After leaving Mount Hampden we made for the head of 
the Umrodzi, which river we followed down to its junction 
with the Gurumapudzi ; and then passing close beneath the 
hill from which Wata and his people were driven by the 
Matabili in 1868, and crossing the Wainji and the Sawi, two 
fair-sized rivers, and several other strong running streams, got 
back to Inyota on ist October. 

In the valley of the Umrodzi, as in the valley of the 
Mazoe, I noticed a wonderful profusion of wildflowers, one 
a very lovely species that I had never seen before, and which 
I only saw along the Umrodzi for a space of about two miles, 
where, however, it was plentiful. It was not large or imposing, 
but singularly beautiful. From each little plant half-a-dozen 
long trumpet -shaped flowers about three inches in length, 
and of a delicate creamy-white colour, shot up, and from each 
of these flowers two or three long club-headed pistils of a 
dark magenta protruded, rearing themselves in their turn a 
couple of inches above the flowers. These had a most sweet and 
delicate scent, which is wanting in most flowers growing on the 
ground in South Africa. 

As I was anxious to follow the course of the Mazoe as 
much as possible on our return journey to Tete, and at the 
same time wished to get some specimens of quartz from the 
reefs on the Umkaradzi, I sent Mr. Thomas back with 
Augusto and three of our six boys by the route by which we 
had come, passing Dombo Chena, whilst Burnett and I, with 
the other three boys, struck down to the Mazoe from Tema- 
ringa's kraal. Thomas and Augusto were to wait for us at 
Rusambo's. On the 5 th of October we parted company. 



296 TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE 'IN AFRICA chap. 

Where Burnett and I struck the Mazoe we found it a good- 
sized river with large deep pools of water, and a strong running 
stream between the pools. Wc then followed the Mazoe for 
four daj'S, and found its general course to be east and west. 
VVe did not see much game along its banks, but sufficient to 
enable us to keep ourselves in meat. 

On 7th October we crossed the Inyagui, a large river flowing 
from the south, which at its junction with the Mazoe is the 
bigger river of the two. The Inyagui, or Inyagurukadzi, as it 
is sometimes called, rises near Mangwendi's village, fifty miles 
south-cast of Mount Hampden, and drains a large extent of 
country. Even at the end of the dry season it carries to the 
Mazoe a large body of swiftly-running water, which rushes over 
a pebbly bed amongst great boulders of rock, and in the rainy 
season it must become a formidable torrent, impossible to cross. 
Just below the junction of the Mazoe and the Inyagui we 
shot a very large old hippopotamus bull. We were here 
accompanied by a lot of natives, who indeed had guided us to 
the pool where wc found the hippo. Burnett and I were both 
shooting with Gibb's Metford 450-bore rifles, and between us 
had only one solid bullet, all the others being expanding. 
Burnett first fired at the hippo, and hit him in the back of the 
head, but the hollow bullet must have expanded in the muscles 
of the neck, and did not penetrate the skull. After this the 
old bull became wary, and it was some time before he gave 
another chance ; but presently, having crossed the river below 
the pool, and gone round to the other bank, I. got a good shot 
at the side of his head, and hit him with my one long .solid 
540-grain bullet somewhere about the ear. This shot partially 
stunned him, but it could not have touched his brain, or of 
course it would have killed him instantly. However, it gave 
him a very severe shock, as for some minutes after being hit 
he rolled about on the top of the water, often opening his huge 
jaws to their fullest extent, and dyeing the waves, into which 
he lashed the pool, with the blood which he blew from his 
mouth and nostrils. We thought he was dying, and did not 
fire at him again, but presently he began to recover from the 
effects of the wound, and went under water, reappearing 
almost immediately, however, but soon going down again and 



JOAO VASCON'S TOWN 



not showing himself for some time. At last he reappeared 
near Burnett, and he got a good steady shot, and put an 
expanding bullet just under his ear, and I saw by the way he 
just sank away that the bullet had reached his brain and killed 
him on the spot. It was then late in the day, so that he did 
not come up till the night, but we found him floating the next 
morning. As he was, however, as lean as a crow, and quite 
uneatable for us, we gave him to the natives just as he was, 
and continued our journey. On the following day we left the 
Mazoe and made for Chibonga's, which we reached on loth 
October, having travelled through a very dry, dreary, and 
uninteresting country. The next morning we walked over to 
Rusambo's, where we rejoined Mr. Thomas and Augusto. 

I now determined to return to the Mazoe and follow that 
river down to its junction with the Ruenya, which point I 
knew was not very far distant from Tete ; so, obtaining a guide 
from Rusambo to a village called Diwa or Zongoro, we started 
on the afternoon of 14th October, but did not reach the village 
that evening. On the following day we reached Zongoro early, 
and had breakfast there. We here met a black man named 
Joao (pronounced Jwong), who was a nephew of the Capitao 
Mor of this district. This man had been educated at Tete and 
spoke Portuguese fluently. As he was just starting for his own 
town near the junction of the Luia and Mazoe rivers, and asked 
us to accompany him, we gladly did so, and on the following 
day about noon arrived there. All this part of the country, 
lying in the angle between the Luia and Mazoe rivers, is broken 
and hilly, very dry and barren, water being very scarce and bad. 

Joao's town was well built and very strongly stockaded. 
He gave us a large roomy shed in which to sleep, and put our 
things. On our way here we passed the pit where his people 
obtained water. It was a well quite thirty feet in depth, dug 
in the bed of a dry creek, and it took us exactly fifty minutes 
to walk from this well to the village. Even at the bottom of 
the well there was very little water, and it had to be ladled out 
in cupfuls. Altogether it must have been a four or five hours' 
job for the women every day to walk to the well, get their 
pots full of water, and carry them home again. The name of 
Joao's village was Maramba. From this village we got guides 
to Sanyara's, who is a sister of Joao