We were now in the immediate neighbourhood of Mount Wedza, the highest point in Mashonaland, with an elevation of over 6,000 feet above sea level. It is for the most part a dark forest-clad ridge, and it is from here that the natives of Gambidji’s country get the iron ore which they smelt in their furnaces and convert into tools and weapons. The villages in this district are entirely given up to the smelting business, and outside the kraals usually are erected two or more furnaces. They are still in the Stone Age here, using for anvils and hammers pieces of hard diorite. One of these villages where we halted for a while was, to our astonishment, called Smet. Not believing our ears, we asked again and again, and got the same reply. The only solution to this strange nomenclature seems to be, that they either got the name from some Dutch trader or from some enterprising Makalanga who had been down to work in the Kimberley mines. For long these natives have been in the habit of doing this, tramping all the way from the Zambesi to the diamond-fields, and not returning thence until they have acquired enough wealth to buy a wife or two and settle themselves in life. A man from Smet, who was going to ’Mtigeza’s kraal, volunteered to act as our guide. He carried with him three large iron hoes which he had made, and for which he expected to get a goat at the kraal. Gambidji’s country is very extensive, extending nominally from the Sabi to a ridge which we crossed before reaching ’Mtigeza’s, and most of the iron-smelting villages recognise his sovereignty. Two chiefs of the name of ’Mtigeza live around Mount Wedza, both claiming to be the descendants of the old ’Mtigeza stock. Our ’Mtigeza was a queer little old man, almost in his dotage, but considered very powerful by his neighbours, and this was evidenced by the villages being more in the open, and not seeking protection from rocky heights. His fortress is a curious one, situated on an extensive plateau 4,800 feet above the sea level, with disjointed low masses of rocks dotted about. Around the central mass of rocks is ’Mtigeza’s head kraal, surrounded by palisades, and the rock itself is strongly fortified, with all the approaches walled up, and for us Europeans it was by no means easy to reach the summit by means of holes through which we could hardly squeeze, and slits in the rock through which we could only pass sideways. On the top is a circular fort built of rough stones and mortar, and the boast of the people here is that the Matabele have never been able to take their stronghold. From the fort we had a good bird’s-eye view over ’Mtigeza’s realm; there are a number of encircling villages built on similar masses of rock, about half a mile or more distant. These are governed by the old man’s sons.