This region is commonly known as Matabeleland, Maahona, and Makalaka country. It extends from the Limpopo river northwards to the Zambese river. The western boundary joins up to the Bechuanaland occupied by the chief Khama, and on the east by the territory belonging to the chief Umzela. The extent from north to south is 420 miles, and from east to west 340 geographical miles. The mountain range, Molopo, traverses it the whole length in a diagonal direction, from the north-east corner down to the south-west, which forms the watershed dividing the Zambese from the Limpopo basin, the northern portion of this kingdom being in the former, and the southern in the latter. The tributaries of the Limpopo take their rise from this watershed, all of them, without exception, flowing through a beautiful and well-wooded country, containing some of the most magnificent and valuable timber to be found in Africa: mahogany, ebony, and other useful woods suitable for building purposes and other work. The principal names of these rivers are the Shasha, being the southern, between the chief Khama and Lo-Bengulu, the Tati, Ramakaban, Mpakwe, Meksine, Rubi, and Nuanettie. The whole country drained by these rivers is granite, with lofty and picturesque hills covered with tropical vegetation of many flowering shrubs and trees, with the brilliant flowers everywhere peeping out between massive granite rocks, lying one upon another for several hundred feet in most grotesque forms. This gives to the landscape a peculiar and novel appearance, quite different from anything seen in the south. Many of the spurs of the Molopo range are free from bush, where the native cattle find fine grazing-land, and the gigantic baobab, palms, euphorbias, aloes of many kinds with their crimson flowers, and other tropical trees skirt the hills and mountain streams. The fallen masses of rock from the pyramidal-shaped hills strew the ground at their base, and give a peculiar and strange feature to the scenery around. This country gradually descends towards the south and east, until it reaches the Limpopo river, interrupted by many isolated hills and mountain ranges, thickly wooded; the most inaccessible points being selected by the Mashona natives for their kraals, to be secure from surprise by the Matabele warriors. The population of the eastern division of the Mashona country is mostly composed of the Mashona tribe that occupied this region previous to the invasion of the dreaded Zulu chief Moselikatze, about the year 1840, when he advanced north with his army of wild Zulus, and took possession of all the country which is now included in the Matabele kingdom. There are also several other tribes living in this district, the most numerous being the Makalakas, Bakalahara, and the Mesere Bushmen, and many of the Banyai, Makloes, Makatse, and Mantatees, that have crossed the Limpopo from the Transvaal.