2 Mr. C, F. ISI. fSwyiinerton on the 



past year to wander further afield than for some seasons 

 previously, and through a very varied countiy. My trips 

 comprised a journey in September to Northern Melsetter, 

 with the attempted ascent of one of the higher peaks of the 

 Chimanimani (an undertaking which I was prevented by the 

 weather from completing), two stays in the lower Jihu, and 

 a four-hundred-mile tramp across the low veld to Beira and 

 back (as shown in the map, Plate I.). This included a visit 

 to the famous Lando/phia-iorests of the Madanda, whence 

 the Mozambique Company draws a large proportion of its 

 annual rubber-output. From an ornithological point of 

 view, the trip was, on the whole, disappointing. It was 

 undertaken at about the worst time of the year for travelling, 

 and the heat was so stifling that I hardly ever completed 

 a march without two or three of my natives, who were all 

 picked men, falling out, and having to be brought on at the 

 end of the day with relief in the shape of water and assistance. 

 Forced marches were usually necessary ; for not only was 

 my time limited, but the road lay for the most part at some 

 distance from the river, and water, which was obtained 

 largely from stagnant pools in dry river-beds or from holes 

 dug in the sand, w'as exceedingly scarce. Consequently, 

 on reaching the day's destination, I often felt utterly fagged, 

 and it required quite an effort of will to label and dissect 

 the specimens and to write up the diary for the day, while, 

 near the river, this difficulty was increased by the swarms 

 of mosquitoes (chiefly Anopheles) which assailed us per- 

 sistently throughout the evening. We travelled for the most 

 part through scattered bush composed largely of two species 

 of Combretum and an Acacia (probably A. catechu), of which 

 the thorns were a great source of trouble to my bare-footed 

 carriers; while Albizzia umara and the '^Mukwakwa'^ — a 

 fine Strychnos, the fruits of which enter largely into the food 

 of the local natives — wei'e in parts hardly less common. 

 Towards the coast again these and the other commoner 

 species of the open woods become intermingled, sometimes 

 with Palmyra-palms, at other times (especially along the 

 river and on the fertile soil east of the Idundaj with 



