Meramana and Zomba to Liwonde 



I reached Meramana, the usual stopping-place, 



well ahead of A , about i P.M. We had a 



letter of introduction to Mr. Livingstone Bruce, a 

 grandson of the famous missionary, so I proceeded 

 to his house, which is charmingly situated, with a 

 delightful view over well-wooded hills. 



I was received by a small native boy aged about 

 ten, dressed in white clothes and a red fez. He 

 had all the dignity of a butler, and amused me by 

 the lordly way he signed to my rickshaw men to 



wait round the corner. A joined me in about 



half-an-hour, and Mr. Bruce, who was out when 

 I arrived, returned soon afterwards, and received 

 us most kindly. 



In the evening he showed us over his plantation, 

 which had been originally established by Living- 

 stone as a mission station in the 'fifties. 



There was a considerable area under cotton, a 

 recently-planted coffee plantation, and quantities of 

 pawspaws and pineapples. Some of the fruit trees 

 planted by the early settlers are still flourishing. 



Cotton does well, the raw material being carded 

 by machinery at the station before export via the 

 Zambesi; the ripe crop was being gathered at the 

 time of our visit. Coffee was not, however, ready, 

 the shrubs taking three years to mature. Our host 

 hoped it would do well, but there is always the risk 

 of disease. 



There was also a prize bull to be admired and 

 a large herd of cattle, which are herded at night in 

 a substantial zareba, strongly palisaded with tree- 

 trunks as a protection against lions, which are not 



29 



