The trees here were very large, and planted some twenty or thirty yards apart: as there are no branches on their lower parts animals see very far.

I shot a gnu, but wandered in coming back to the party, and did not find them till it was getting dark.

Many parts of the plain are thrown up into heaps, of about the size of one's cap (probably by crabs), which now, being hard, are difficult to walk over; under the trees it is perfectly smooth.

The Mopane-tree furnishes the iron wood of the Portuguese Pao Ferro: it is pretty to travel in and look at the bright sunshine of early morning; but the leaves hang perpendicularly as the sun rises high, and afford little or no shade through the day,[38] so as the land is clayey, it becomes hard-baked thereby.
We observed that the people had placed corn-granaries at different parts of this forest, and had been careful to leave no track to them--a provision in case of further visits of Mazitu.
King-hunters[39] abound, and make the air resound with their stridulous notes, which commence with a sharp, shrill cheep, and then follows a succession of notes, which resembles a pea in a whistle.
Another bird is particularly conspicuous at present by its chattering activity, its nest consists of a bundle of fine seed-stalks of grass hung at the end of a branch, the free ends being left untrimmed, and no attempt at concealment made.

Many other birds are now active, and so many new notes are heard, that it is probable this is a richer ornithological region than the Zambesi.