A Thousand Miles in a Machilla 



East Coast route from Beira. At that time the only- 

 passenger service along this coast was that of the 

 D.O.A. Line, which runs a service of excellent 

 mail-boats every three weeks. We found boats left 

 Beira on the 19th December and on the 14th 

 January; and all things considered, the former date 

 appeared to be the best. 



To get from Broken Hill to Beira — allowing for 

 two days at the Victoria Falls on the Zambesi and 

 a night or so at Salisbury or Buluwayo — would take 

 at least ten days; and as trains leave Broken Hill 

 for the south every Wednesday, the 9th December 

 was settled upon as a suitable day for our departure 

 from there. It was now the 19th October; there- 

 fore seven weeks were at our disposal. 



We might return to Nyasaland for a fortnight's 

 shoot and look for eland and elephant in the high- 

 lands near Fort Manning, and then proceed by the 

 shortest route to Broken Hill. That we did not 

 decide on this course was because the prospect of a 

 three weeks' trek through such a hot, waterless, and 

 gameless country as that between Fort Jameson 

 and Broken Hill was uninviting. 



Instead, we chose a circular route via Mpika, 

 being encouraged by the hope of meeting game in 

 the Luangwa valley and the Muchinga range.^ As 

 matters turned out, perhaps we should have done 

 better if we had chosen the first route, for we should 

 have been saved the full Rhodesian licence of ^^25, 



^ Muchinga range must not be confused with the 

 Mchinji hills, forming the boundary line between Nyasa- 

 land and North-East Rhodesia. 



130 



