The feathered tribe is abundant and beautiful in this section of Africa. Dr. Livingstone says: “The birds of the tropics have been described as generally wanting in power of song. I was decidedly of the opinion that this was not applicable to many parts of Londa. Here the chorus, or body of song, was not much smaller in volume than it is in England. These African birds are not wanting in song; they have only lacked poets to sing their praises, which ours have had from the time of Aristophanes downward.”
Speaking of the fruits, he says: “There are great numbers of wild grape-vines growing in this quarter; indeed, they abound everywhere along the banks of the Zambesi. They are very fine; and it occurred to me that a country which yields the wild vines so very abundantly might be a fit one for the cultivated species. We found that many elephants had been feeding on the fruit called mokoronga. This is a black-colored plum, having purple juice. We all ate it in large quantities, as we found it delicious.”
While exploring the Zambesi, Dr. Livingstone visited the hot spring of Nyamboronda, situated in the bed of a small rivulet called Nyaondo, which shows that igneous action is not yet extinct. The spring emitted water hot enough to cook a fish that might accidentally get into it.
Dr. Livingstone represents the inhabitants, throughout his long journey of more than one thousand miles, as well disposed toward strangers, and a majority of them favorable to civilization and the banishment of the slave-trade, that curse of Africa.
The population of this immense country has been estimated at from fifty to one hundred and fifty millions; but as we have no certain data from which to compute anything like a correct estimate of its inhabitants, it is difficult to arrive at a proper conclusion. Yet from all we can learn, I should judge one hundred and fifty millions is nearest to it.
Recent travellers in Africa have discovered ruins which go far to show that the early settlers built towns, and then abandoned them for more healthy locations. In September, 1871, the South African explorer, Carl Mauch, visited the ruins of an ancient and mysterious city in the highland between the Zambesi and Limpopo Rivers, long known by native report to the Portuguese, and situated in a land, which from its gold and ivory, has long been identified by some authorities, as the Ophir of Scripture. Zimbaoe lies in about lat. 20 degrees 14 seconds S.; long. 31 degrees 48 seconds E.
One portion of the ruins rises upon a granite hill about four hundred feet in relative height; the other, separated by a slight valley, lies upon a somewhat raised terrace. From the curved and zigzag form still apparent in the ruined walls which cover the whole of the western declivity of the hill, these have doubtless formed a once impregnable fortress. The whole space is densely overgrown with nettles and bushes, and some great trees have intertwined their roots with the buildings.
Without exception, the walls, some of which have still a height of thirty feet, are built of cut granite stones, generally of the size of an ordinary brick, but no mortar has been used. The thickness of the walls where they appear above ground is ten feet, tapering to seven or eight feet. In many places monolith pilasters of eight to ten feet in length, ornamented in diamond-shaped lines, stand out of the building. These are generally eight inches wide and three in thickness, cut out of a hard and close stone of greenish-black color, and having a metallic ring.
During the first hurried visit, Mauch was unable to find any traces of inscription, though carvings of unknown characters are mentioned by the early Portuguese writers. Such however, may yet be found, and a clue be thus obtained as to the age of the strange edifice. Zimbaoe is, in all probability, an ancient factory, raised in very remote antiquity by strangers to the land, to overawe the savage inhabitants of the neighboring country, and to serve as a depot for the gold and ivory which it affords. No native tribes dwelling in mud huts could ever have conceived its erection.