Meramana and Zomba to Liwonde 



of leaving a man at the point where the path 

 branched off. 



"Cooky" turned up fairly early, and we had 

 lunch. About 2 P.M. John appeared with some 

 of the porters, and it then transpired that the 

 remainder had missed the turn and had presumably 

 gone on towards Liwonde. A messenger was sent 

 after them, but it was a considerable time before 

 they straggled in, and even then two or three men 

 were missing; one of them was carrying the poles 

 of our tents, and as this individual was discovered 

 chatting in a village, and did not arrive until 

 after dark, he was promptly kicked out of camp, 

 as a punishment to himself and an example to 

 others. 



This was just one of the little accidents that 

 will sometimes occur in African travel, and was 

 entirely due to want of method. There was no 

 recognized leader of the caravan, no one in authority 

 told off as rear-guard, a most necessary precaution 

 to prevent straggling and dumping of loads. 

 Lastly, the porters had been allowed to go on one 

 by one so soon as they were ready, instead of start- 

 ing simultaneously in one body, the result being 

 that they straggled over miles of road and missed 

 the turn when they came to it. 



This was the only occasion on which anything 

 of the sort happened. In future no one was allowed 

 to start until all were ready, and as a rule I myself 

 remained to see that this was done. "Cooky" was 

 told to march at the head of the caravan, and 

 instructed to accommodate his pace to that of the 



35 



