sport in Nyasaland 



would not lay too much stress on this, as it does not 

 affect those who limit their stay to a few months 

 during the best season of the year, who avoid 

 notoriously unhealthy spots, camp at a reasonable 

 distance from water, and clear the grass from the 

 neighbourhood of their tents. I will not go so far 

 as to say that we never heard a mosquito, but they 

 were few and far between, and in camp they gave 

 us no trouble. We enjoyed the best of health 

 throughout our stay in Nyasaland.^ 



The duration of the shooting season is somewhat 

 limited, and may be taken to commence about the 

 middle of August, with the burning of grass, and to 

 close, except for elephant, with the advent of the 

 heavy rains in November. We were told that it 

 was useless to attempt to shoot before the middle of 

 August; but I think we were, for several reasons, a 

 month too late, so that should we ever revisit the 

 country we would endeavour to reach Blantyre by 

 the second week of July. 



What is actually the best period of the year for 

 sport in this country is difficult to say, and opinions 

 on the subject may easily differ; it depends greatly 

 on local conditions, which are liable to alteration. 

 In some parts the season of the early rains is the 

 most favourable one; in others, that period of the 

 year when game concentrates round the village 

 gardens to feed on the crops; again, in others the 

 season immediately following the burning of the 

 grass, which, though it scatters the beasts in the 

 first instance, drives them, after a few days' interval, 



^ See p. 124. 



loi 8 



