A Thousand Miles in a Machilla 



is not good enough to know if this is really the 

 case. 



On the 29th we marched across to the point 

 where the Diampwe river crosses the Dedza- 

 Lilongwe high road, and found the distance much 

 longer than we had expected. The country was 

 level and fairly open, with large areas of marshy 

 looking grass lands. While at breakfast, we were 

 suddenly told that elephants were in sight, and, 

 running up to the top of a small hill on the side of 

 which we were sitting, we saw a large herd about 

 two miles off walking quietly along, and had a fine 

 view of them through our glasses. There were 

 about fifty in all, mostly cows and calves, with at 

 least two fine old bulls amongst them, one enorm- 

 ous looking beast towering above the others. 

 They were down wind of us, and the way in which 

 every trunk suddenly went up sniffing the air 

 showed us that they were not long in getting notice 

 of our whereabouts ; but I suppose the distance that 

 separated us was too great to give cause for alarm, 

 for they continued to move steadily forward without 

 changing their direction. The exaggerated way in 

 which the small calves, running alorig with their 

 mothers, sniffed the air in imitation of their 



elders was very quaint. Our men wanted A to 



follow the herd, and were very disappointed at his 

 declining to do so; it was useless, however, for the 

 beasts had got our wind and were on the edge of the 

 Dedza- Lilongwe high road, the boundary of the 

 Reserve, which we w r ere not allowed to enter. We 

 heard later that they remained on the road during 



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