The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

2-22 SOUTU AXD EAST AFRICA.not al)nii)tly interrupted, as it is farther south, by an uiihrokcn rocky barrier.The track lies rather across grassy or wooded district.s, which rise either almo.stimperceptibly or ^^ith a very gentle slope towards the inland plateaux. Amidthese plain.s, however, stand out a few isolated eminences or even mountain masses,such as the lofty hills round which the Sabi describes a great bond to the west andsouth, and which the Kafir ruler of Gazaland has chosen as the best site for hisroyal residence and citadel.Above this group of hills, the Ubiri of recent explorers,* rise three conspicuoussummits, the Ubiri, Sipumgambili, and Silindi 2>eaks, porphyrj', trap, and basaltcrags, with an estimated altitude of about 4,000 feet.The running waters, cuttingtheir beds deep into the living rock, have carved these heights into several distinctsections, which are in many places of difficult access, owing to their steep slopesand the tall dense herbage, not easily penetrated by the explorer. Neverthelessthe throe highest crests are clothed with forests, where progress can be made withoutmuch trouble between the trunks of the trees. According to Erskine, theupper valleys of the Biizi, which has its source in these highlands, are destinedone day to become a centre of European colonisation and culture. Here theclimate is perfectly salubrious, and here both the sugar-cane and the coffee shrubfind a congenial soil.Northwards this mountain group abuts on a red and white sandstone tablelandover 3,000 feet high, connected by a few eminences with the Sita Tonga range, whosecrests rise probably to a height of 5,000 feet. One of these crests, terminating ina sharp jjoiut, has received from the natives the expressive name of Gundi-Tnyanga,that is, "Moon-shaver." "West of the Sabi the granite hills, resting on a moreelevated plateau with a mean altitude exceeding 4,000 feet, present a far lessimposing appearance. They are, in fact, for the most part mere undulations ofthe ground with broad intervening depressions, where the waters lodge in shallowlacustrine or marshy basins.Nevertheless even here the Matoppo ridge presentsgranite domes rising to a height of 5,600 feet, whUe some of the crests are carvedinto obelisks and p3-ramids of the most eccentric outlines.Farther on the elevated ridges, whose axis continues the line of waterpartingbetween the Limpopo and Zambese affluents, are disposed beyond the sources ofthe Sabi in an oblique direction with the coastline of the Sofala district.Here thehighest chain, dominated by Mount Doe, which, according to Kuss, attains analtitude of 8,000 feet, presents the aspect less of a group of mountains than of anirregular plateau.Here is situated the Manica district, which has become famousfor its gold-fields. The granite mass stands at a mean elevation of not less than6,500 feet, while the surmounting crests are little more than low hills or gentlysloping eminences.East of the Manica uj)lands the divide between the Zambese and the smallcoast streams is nothing more than an open plain interrupted at intervals bygranite domes rising abruptly above the surface. South of this parting line ofthe waters the aspect of a frowning citadel is presented by the Gorongoza group* Browne and 0"Donnel, ScotlisU Geographical Magazine for November, 1SS7.