The scenery is grand in many parts; bold massive granite rocks standing out far above the surrounding country give a wildness to the landscape. The Lobolo mountain is the eastern termination of this watershed on the south of the Zambese river, in the Banyai region, a lofty range broken up into many spurs and detached hills, thickly populated, 4210 feet above the sea-level. The Leputa, which is a continuation of the Lobolo, takes a south-west course, through which the Umvuli flows, and several tributaries of the river Panyame, that flows into the Zambese a few miles below the old Jesuit mission station Zumbo, on the north bank of the river. The watershed from the Lobolo mountain takes a south course to 18 degrees 10 minutes South latitude, at an elevation of 4650 feet, continuing in the same course for sixty miles, where the altitude reaches 4780 feet; then turns south-west for 180 miles to Gubuluwayo, the king’s kraal, where it is 4800 feet above sea-level. This military station is in 20 degrees 19 minutes South latitude, 28 degrees 50 minutes East longitude. At this point the watershed is much broken up, taking a westerly course under the name of Matoppo range for 100 miles, at an elevation of 4500 feet, to Umsuaze kraal, where it considerably diminishes in height to 3700 feet. To the south of this station it rises to 3700 feet, where it takes a southern course, leaving the great brak pan Makarakara some twenty miles on the right, and passing east of it; then in a south-west direction to Kaikai in the Kalahara desert, where it joins the central watershed of South Central Africa. The country on the north for some considerable distance continues high table-land. At Sebenane kraal, near the source of the Natu river, it is 3600 feet, and on the Amatza river, thirty miles to the east, the elevation is 3800 feet. At Bobe, on the road to Inyatine, it is 4200 feet; at Sabaque kraal, on the river of the same name, the altitude is 3970 feet; at Maaschen kraal, on the Saturo river, it is 3850 feet; at the old gold-diggings on the Umvuli river, in 17 degrees 54 minutes South latitude, 30 degrees 15 minutes East longitude, the elevation is 3740 feet, and as the Zambese below the Victoria Falls, where the Zimboya river enters it, is 2210 feet, and continues to fall considerably down nearly to Tette, a Portuguese town on the south bank of the Zambese, above where the Mazoe enters, the fall in these rivers is not so great, and all the region between the watershed and that river is not lower in any part than 1300 feet above sea-level; so that the elevation of the watershed above the surrounding country on both sides of it is in no case more than 1700 feet, so that in travelling through the country the rise is almost imperceptible.
This northern region of Lo-Bengulu’s territory, known as Matabeleland, is thickly studded with large military kraals and villages occupied by the Mashona Kaffirs. Some of them are very powerful, so much so, that when they cause the king to be jealous of them, he sends an impi (army) composed of some of his bravest warriors, who make an attack on the station at night when all are fast asleep, and kill every soul except the very young, whom they bring back with them, together with the captured cattle and other booty to the king, which disposes of any anxiety he may have on the score of a rival to his authority.
Ancient gold-diggings and old forts are found in every locality, more particularly in the north and north-east direction towards the Zambese, some of them very extensive, and appear to have been worked for years. Most of the rivers contain gold-dust in their sandy beds, and many of the natives of the present time collect it for their head Indunas, and sell it to the Portuguese at Tette on the Zambese river, a considerable village with beautiful gardens and fruit of every description in perfection. It is now nearly twenty years since the well known elephant-hunter, Mr Hartly, when out hunting in the Mashona country, on the Umvuli river, discovered those ancient gold-diggings now so well known to most travellers who have penetrated so far in as the Northern Gold-Fields, and a hill near is known as Hartly Hill.
More recently they have been visited by Sir John Swinbourne in 1869, but at present nothing can be done to develop the country, from the insecurity of the present state of affairs in the territory. My impression is that gold is spread over the whole country, both in alluvial and in quartz. Reefs of this rock are seen in every direction, bordered by rich deposits of clay, shale, and other rocks, indicative of gold being close at hand. There are several small hills of igneous rocks to be met with, also metamorphic schists and other deposits that have no uniformity in their distribution over the country, which gives better hopes of rich gold deposits being discovered. At the present time no one is allowed in, even to prospect. No traveller enters the country without special permission from the king, and he must be accompanied by several Matabele warriors, professedly as guides and for protection, but absolutely as spies, to see what the white man is up to, and if found looking about on the ground or picking up any stones, he is quickly ordered out of the country, as in the case of St. Vincent Erskine, who was sent for by the king, because he was staying for a day or two at the site of an ancient mine.
It is a region full of interest in every sense of the word. To the mineralogist, geologist, botanist, naturalist, hunter, and others in search of the beauties of nature, this region offers as fine a field as any portion of the world. It is also of great interest to antiquaries, as being the supposed kingdom of the Queen of Sheba, and not without substantial foundation; for do we not find, in every turn we take, ruins of strongholds and extensive remains of gold-workings, the labour of former people who once occupied this land? Scenery more picturesque, grand, and wild cannot be found. Animals, the largest in the world, abound, and of every variety. To the horticulturist a new field is open for discovery.
Flowers and many beautiful trees rarely to be met with elsewhere, grow in great profusion; amongst them the grand old baobab, that has defied winds and storms. Palms grace the country with their presence; mapani, euphorbias, aloes, cacti of every variety and beauty, with crimson flowers, mahogany, ebony, mimosas, acacias, and the beautiful matchabela, the tints of which are of a lovely crimson when springing into leaf, and when they are fully blown turn to a rich green; then again, the leghondi, with its golden yellow leaves, and others equally beautiful but unknown, make up a landscape lovely to look upon. When they fringe the river-banks, beneath which the crocodile and hippopotamus are amusing themselves, and the water-fowl and cranes are busy seeking food, with the birds of rich plumage passing from tree to tree, as pretty a landscape is made up as can be desired, backed, as all the foreground is, by gigantic castellated granite hills and quaint rocks standing out as if representing some animals, so lifelike are their outlines. When first I looked upon one representing a wolf, I could scarcely believe it was so formed by nature. As a field for agriculture none can surpass it. Corn of every kind grows to perfection. Coffee, tea, cotton, indigo, all kinds of spices, india-rubber trees, oranges, and lemons, are found wild; vegetables of all sorts, sweet potato, and many other kinds of plants.
The climate is healthy away from the coast region, and water is plentiful; and, if in our hands, the land would support millions where it now keeps alive thousands of natives; and as a region for the cultivation of the cotton-plant it is the finest I may say in the world, for the cotton, which is indigenous without any cultivation, is superior to the cultivated cotton grown in America. Twenty-five thousand square miles of ground could with little trouble and expense produce as much as the British merchants require, and of superior quality. I forwarded samples to the Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, in 1875, and I also left with Sir Bartle Frere, then Governor of South Africa, similar samples in 1877. As a rice-producing country, I know of no better. The Mashonas cultivate it on a small scale, and bring it to Gubuluwayo for sale to the traders and hunters on the station. The grain is larger than that which is brought to England, and less quantity is required for cooking. I have used it for years when opportunity allowed for getting it from the natives.
The missionary stations in this country are at Inyatine, where the Rev. Mr Sykes has for many years been doing duty. The late Rev. Mr Thomas formerly lived there, but he afterwards removed down to Shiloh. The former is sixty miles north of Gubuluwayo, the latter about thirty miles in a north-west direction. Hopefountain is four miles to the north of this military station, where the Rev. Mr Thompson formerly lived; afterwards the Rev. Messrs Elms and Elliott, all of whom are under the London Missionary Society.
Inyati, afterwards altered to Inyatine, was the first royal residence of the dreaded Umselekatze, who ruled his people with a rod of iron, and kept an army of over 8000 warriors, and could bring more into the field if required. He was a king who knew how to rule his people; a splendid warrior himself, he took care that his troops should be so likewise. He died in 1869, and at his death there was a dispute as to who should be his successor. Kuruman, his son by a royal wife, was supposed to be living in Natal, instead of being killed by order of his father; but on inquiry it was stated he had been killed.
Lo-Bengulu, on the 25th January, 1870, was proclaimed king with groat rejoicings. Warriors to the number of 10,000 assembled at the king’s kraal, dressed in full war costume, a helmet of black ostrich feathers, capes and epaulets of the same, strips of cat-skins for their kilts, and other ornamentations on their legs. Armed with short stabbing assagais and shields of oxhide, they formed a circle some twenty deep, paying homage to their new king, singing his praises, keeping time with their feet, and going through various performances, after which a great slaughter of oxen took place, with feasting and Kaffir beer, terminating the day’s proceedings. He has reigned up to the present time without any disturbance amongst his people.