A Thousand Miles in a Machilla 



morning sunlight ; besides one or two tugs, there 

 was a small ocean-going steamer and several stern- 

 wheelers for use on the river. 



The settlement is on the right bank, and 

 built more or less on a sandspit ; the left bank is 

 marshy, overgrown with reeds, and is a veritable 

 hot-bed of mosquitoes; in strong north winds they 

 are blown over the river in myriads. The British 

 concession is railed off from the Portuguese part of 

 the town, and here all goods for Nyasaland are 

 landed without having to pay duty to the Portuguese 

 authorities. Sentries are posted all round, and it 

 is impossible to leave the British portion with 

 even a small parcel under the arm without being 

 challenged. The Portuguese town is neat and 

 well kept, and as the Government insists on the 

 galvanized houses being painted green and the roofs 

 red, the place has a more cheerful appearance than 

 is often the case in our small Colonial towns. 



It was at Chinde we heard the word ''machilla" 

 for the first time, and the word was as strange to 

 our ears as the thing to our eyes. It consists of a 

 hammock covered with a canopy, which is swung 

 either on one long pole or on two parallel poles, 

 and is carried by four men on their shoulders ; 

 single-pole machillas are light and usually used 

 for short distances, but double-poled machilfes are 

 better and safer for long distances, as there is much 

 less risk of a fall. Machilla travelling is a decidedly 

 lazy means of progression, but is well suited to the 

 climate, and has been universally adopted wherever 

 transport animals are impossible on account of '' fly." 



4 



