. The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in central Africa. arks ofhaving once supported a prodigious iron-smelting and grain-growing population. The clay pipes which are put on thenozzles of their bellows and inserted into the furnace aremet with everywhere—often vitrified. Then the ridges onwhich they planted maize, beans, cassava, and sorghum,and which they find necessary to drain off the too abundantmoisture of the rains, still remain unlevelled to attest theindustry of the former inhabitants; the soil being clayey,resists for a long time the influence of the weather. Theseridges are very
. The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in central Africa. arks ofhaving once supported a prodigious iron-smelting and grain-growing population. The clay pipes which are put on thenozzles of their bellows and inserted into the furnace aremet with everywhere—often vitrified. Then the ridges onwhich they planted maize, beans, cassava, and sorghum,and which they find necessary to drain off the too abundantmoisture of the rains, still remain unlevelled to attest theindustry of the former inhabitants; the soil being clayey,resists for a long time the influence of the weather. Theseridges are very regular, for in crossing the old fields, as thepath often compels us to do, one foot treads regularly onthe ridge, and the other in the hollow, for a considerabledistance. Pieces of broken pots, with their rims ornamentedwith very good imitations of basket-work, attest that thelady potters of old followed the example given them bytheir still more ancient mothers,—their designs are rude,but better than we can make them without referring to Imitation of basket-work in Pottery. No want of water has here acted to drive the peopleaway, as has been the case further south. It is a perpetualsuccession of ridge and valley, with a running stream or 80 LIVINGSTONES LAST JOURNALS. [Chap. III. oozing bog, where ridge is separated from ridge : the ridgesbecome steeper and narrower as we approach Matakas. I counted fifteen running burns of from one to ten yardswide in one days march of about six hours; being in a hillyor rather mountainous region, they flow rapidly and haveplenty of water-power. In July any mere torrent ceases toflow, but these were brawling burns with water too cold(61°) for us to bathe in whose pores were all open by therelaxing regions nearer the coast. The sound, so un-African,of gushing water dashing over rocks was quite familiar toour ears. This district, which rises up west of Matakas to 3400feet above the sea, catches a great deal of the moisturebr
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Keywords: ., bookauthorhoracewa, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1874
