A Thousand Miles in a Machilla 



The morning was passed in considering our 

 plans and route, and getting everything packed and 

 in order for a move. About 2 p.m. the boys arrived. 

 There was the usual confusion consequent upon a 

 fresh start — John's wits were not at their best — 

 but by degrees all were got underway. 



We ourselves followed about 4 p.m. Almost 

 immediately after leaving the station our route ran 

 into the forest and was mostly downhill until we 

 reached the marshy course of a branch of the 

 Luatikila River. Here were puku in plenty running 

 about on the grass and in among the reeds. Dark- 

 ness was coming on, and a little anxiety as to the 

 whereabouts of our camp was natural, the distance 

 being much longer than the five miles or so we had 

 been told to expect. However, after some winding 

 about and uncertainty, we were glad to sight our 

 tents and to find them already pitched in a suitable 

 spot. Our scratch machilla teams had come along 

 very well, considering ; but John was full of com- 

 plaints. He could not understand, apparently, why 

 the majority of the porters were only temporary, 

 and kept repeating, ** Mwembe very bad boy." It 

 appeared, subsequently, that he, as well as all the 

 other Nyasaland boys, cordially disliked the VVa- 

 wembe. This antagonistic feeling is doubtless the 

 result of the constant tribal feuds and wars prior to 

 the British occupation of the country. We should 

 advise travellers following this route with a caravan, 

 composed for the most part of Wawembe,^ to secure 



^ Mwembe is used in the singular, and Awembe or 

 Wawembe in the plural for the same tribe. 



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