The Whole Of This Vast Valley
Has Been Removed By Denudation, For Pieces Of The Plateau
Which Once Filled The
Now vacant space stand in it, and present
the same structure of red horizontal strata of equal altitudes
with those
Of the acclivity which we are now about to ascend.
One of these insulated masses, named Kasala, bore E.S.E. from the place
where we made our exit from the valley, and about ten miles W.S.W.
from the village of Cassange. It is remarkable for its perpendicular sides;
even the natives find it extremely difficult, almost impossible, to reach
its summit, though there is the temptation of marabou-nests and feathers,
which are highly prized. There is a small lake reported to exist
on its southern end, and, during the rainy season, a sort of natural moat
is formed around the bottom. What an acquisition this would have been
in feudal times in England! There is land sufficient
for considerable cultivation on the top, with almost perpendicular sides
more than a thousand feet in height.
We had not yet got a clear idea of the nature of Tala Mungongo.
A gentleman of Cassange described it as a range of very high mountains,
which it would take four hours to climb; so, though the rain and grass
had wetted us miserably, and I was suffering from an attack of fever
got while observing by night for the position of Cassange,
I eagerly commenced the ascent. The path was steep and slippery;
deep gorges appear on each side of it, leaving but a narrow path along
certain spurs of the sierra for the traveler; but we accomplished the ascent
in an hour, and when there, found we had just got on to a table-land
similar to that we had left before we entered the great Quango valley.
We had come among lofty trees again.
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