Meramana and Zomba to Liwonde 



in the mines. He was discharged at Fort Jameson, 

 as he proved not strong enough for his work. 

 We offered him a job as porter, but this he 

 declined, the position being too derogatory after 

 that of a gun-bearer. I believe he worked his 

 way on, however, with the help of the Labour 

 Department. 



The other gun-bearer, an ugly, thick-lipped 

 negro, nicknamed ** Black Hat," from the black fez 

 he wore, was strong enough, and also an elephant- 

 hunter — at least, he never ceased talking about 

 his exploits. But as regards other game he was 

 either very little use or too lazy to exert himself 

 greatly. As he was of a sulky disposition, and 

 did not get on with Saidi, we dismissed him at 

 Lilongwe. 



Sir Alfred Sharpe returned on the last day of 

 our stay, and as we had the pleasure of seeing him 

 and hearing his views, we left Zomba well equipped 

 as regards information. 



Everything being ready, we assembled our 

 caravan early on the morning of the 29th, and 

 started it off about 9 a.m. on its march to the 

 Domasi river, about twelve miles from Zomba, on 

 the Liwonde road. We said ** good-bye" to our 

 kind hosts about 3 p.m., feeling that we were now 

 starting in earnest on our travels, and then set off 

 after our caravan. 



The road was good and so was our pace, for 

 we were continuously descending at a moderate 

 gradient. The scenery was very pretty : to the 

 eastward the hills rose in tiers one above the other ; 



33 



