The country between
Tette and Panda Mokua, where navigation ends, is well wooded and
hilly on both banks.
Panda Mokua is a hill two miles below the
rapids, capped with dolomite containing copper ore.
Conspicuous among the trees, for its gigantic size, and bark coloured
exactly like Egyptian syenite, is the burly Baobab. It often makes
the other trees of the forest look like mere bushes in comparison. A
hollow one, already mentioned, is 74 feet in circumference, another
was 84, and some have been found on the West Coast which measure 100
feet. The lofty range of Kebrabasa, consisting chiefly of conical
hills, covered with scraggy trees, crosses the Zambesi, and confines
it within a narrow, rough, and rocky dell of about a quarter of a
mile in breadth; over this, which may be called the flood-bed of the
river, large masses of rock are huddled in indescribable confusion.
The drawing, for the use of which, and of others, our thanks are due
to Lord Russell, conveys but a faint idea of the scene, inasmuch as
the hills which confine the river do not appear in the sketch. The
chief rock is syenite, some portions of which have a beautiful blue
tinge like lapis lazuli diffused through them; others are grey.
Blocks of granite also abound, of a pinkish tinge; and these with
metamorphic rocks, contorted, twisted, and thrown into every
conceivable position, afford a picture of dislocation or
unconformability which would gladden a geological lecturer's heart;
but at high flood this rough channel is all smoothed over, and it
then conforms well with the river below it, which is half a mile
wide.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 45 of 505
Words from 12111 to 12394
of 136856
