Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/468

 the top of the masonry; but as we were bound to recommence our journey in about two hours and a half, I had no opportunity of making a deliberate survey, or of commencing any excavations which might throw more light upon the subject. We had only time that evening to go a little farther, and the gathering twilight brought us to a halt on the left-hand shore of the river, which we crossed.

After traversing as many as twelve tributaries of the rocky Shasha, we crossed the sandy Shasha, which is connected with its fellow-stream, finding the scenery at the point where we quitted the river as beautiful as any in the whole West Matabele country. The abundance and variety of plants were truly marvellous; and on the slopes where the stems of the euphorbias were mouldering, I found numerous scolopendra, two kinds of scorpions, some lizards, and many sorts of insects. Since I had entered the Makalaka country I had had no return of fever; and although I was still very weak, I persevered in my naturalist’s pursuits, finding that the enjoyment refreshed me and more than compensated for a little extra fatigue. In many places the river was sandy, but not unfrequently the bed was of granite, that formed a sort of basin, or opened in a channel, by which the water threaded its way to the south, to lose itself in the marshes of the valley. The next stream at which we arrived was the Tati, and its bed was not only sandy, but so deep, and the banks so steep, that we had very considerable difficulty in getting across.

Two days later we found ourselves pushing our way along the right-hand bank of the Rhamakoban,