A Thousand Miles in a Machilla 



flowering vetches on stiff stems, yellow dwarf 

 burrage, small white Canterbury bells in bunches, 

 and large scarlet pimpernels. In one place the 

 prevailing colour would be mauve, in another yellow, 

 and in another red. 



I was enchanted with a small plant growing 

 close to the ground — some sort of Combretum; it 

 had lovely crimson flowers, four leaf-like petals 

 joined together by a seed resembling the flower of 

 Bougainvillaea ; this plant made blood-red patches on 

 the ground. Another of the same shade of colour, 

 but altogether a different species, had red stems, 

 and in the centre of the crimson petals a green berry 

 turning to black when ripe. This, I believe, was an 

 Ochna; we saw it frequently. 



John had gone further than we expected, and 

 had pitched our camp a short distance beyond a 

 small Portuguese post, which we reached just about 

 sunset. We turned in early as there was no wood 

 to be had for our camp fire, and the altitude being 

 about five thousand feet, the air felt quite cold to us 

 after the low country. 



The following day, the 14th, we marched to 

 Dedza Boma and arrived about 10.30 a.m. The 

 altitude vv^as the same as that of the previous camp, 

 but the mountain, at the foot of which the Boma is 

 situated, runs up another two thousand feet. Mr. 

 Webb, the Resident, was away, but his head man 

 showed us where to pitch our tents. We were 

 given a delightful camping-ground in the gardens 

 attached to his house, under the shade of some 

 large trees with springy turf all around us. The 



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