A Thousand Miles in a Machilla 



evidenced by our shooting one at the village near 

 Chetunde Hill. 



The drawback as regards the Nyasaland sable 

 is the small size of the heads, which do not compare 

 with those to be obtained in Rhodesia, near Broken 

 Hill. We were told that forty inches was a good 

 head for the country. Three of ours were just over 

 forty inches, and one thirty-nine and a half. 

 Curiously enough, it was the oldest beast of the 

 four. 



Eland. — Eland are plentiful, but we were un- 

 fortunately unable to procure the two Sir Alfred 

 Sharpe kindly allowed us. On the Shire we saw 

 them in numbers. There were large herds round 

 every village, and the villagers were most anxious 

 for us to shoot, but the heads are heavy to carry 

 about, and as we were told that there were equally 

 large herds and better heads in the Bua district, we 

 desisted. When eventually we reached the Bua, 

 the country was getting very dry, the eland had 

 left their usual haunts and we never saw a beast : it 

 was the old story of the bird in the hand. One 

 eland we did get from Dedza Boma, but not in 

 Nyasaland, as it was one of a large herd that lived 

 just over the boundary in Portuguese territory, and 

 which must have numbered from one hundred to 

 one hundred and fifty beasts. We had hoped for 

 a thirty-inch head from Nyasaland. Alas ! we are 

 still waiting. 



Buffal04 — In days gone by these beasts were 

 very plentiful, but they were decimated by the 

 rinderpest. They are to be found, we believe, in 



io6 



