The Mlanje Plateau. 17 



these places for a change. The cold during June and July 

 can be bitter on either of these plateaux, and natives taken 

 there should certainly be provided with a blanket, for cold 

 generally crumples up a native, although he can usually 

 stand any amount of heat. 



The scenery on the Mlanje Plateau is very beautiful and 

 many cedar wood forests will be seen, and there are also 

 many clear streams of pure, cold water. Any visitor to 

 Nyasaland, or even people who settle there, should make a 

 journey to this plateau, for the climate and vegetation are 

 quite different from any other that will be experienced or 

 seen in the country. The plateau has, besides the cedar 

 forests, many beautiful heaths, and the air is cool and crisp 

 and quite exhilarating after the atmosphere of the plains. 



In this chapter I intend to give some account of my 

 experience of game in Central Angoniland, so I will now 

 begin to do so. 



While my huts were building I often went for a walk 

 into the surrounding bush, and my favourite time was about 

 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun began to lose its 

 power and sink in the west. The only disadvantage about 

 the afternoon shoot is that game killed has to be left out for 

 the night, especially if it is a large bodied beast, and from the 

 European point of view this does not improve the meat for 

 the table, but natives do not mind it in the least. 



I have often wondered how many miles I have walked 

 through rough bush and along native paths in Central 

 Africa. Having lived in the country for ten years, I must 

 surely have covered quite 20,000 miles on foot. I have 

 never kept a record of the distance covered, although in my 

 old diaries, most of which are at home, I have kept notes of 

 most of the game I have shot, and of all my many journeys 

 after game. 



When living in some lonely hut or house, very few days 

 pass that I do not go out into the bush with my rifle. Life 

 in such a place, far from civilisation and libraries, would be 

 intolerably slow if one did not spend the time in this way. 

 It is interesting to take notes of the game, and for a couple 



c 



