136 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



With all its wealth of fauna and flora, the Luangwa 

 Valley cannot be called a health resort, especially in the 

 rains, when the country is flooded and damp, and I was 

 often ill with malarial fever there, as well as undergoing a 

 severe attack of blackwater fever. 



In October and November, just before the rains, the 

 heat was terrific at times, and hot winds used to sweep 

 along, which seemed to frizzle one up. These siroccos 

 used to burn my face, and I have often had to shield it with 

 the brim of my old felt hat. 



Then, just before the break of the rains the sky used to 

 turn a molten bronze colour, and the air was sultry and 

 oppressive. As the sun sank in the west it used to tip the 

 peaks and ridges of the Machinga Mountains with the 

 most beautiful colours, and I can never forget some of the 

 sunsets I witnessed there, for they were lovely beyond the 

 power of writing to describe or paint to portray. There 

 is not much game high up on the Machinga range, with 

 the exception of a good many rhinos and a few bushbuck 

 and duiker. The higher peaks are the habitat of klip- 

 springers ; and elephants and buffalo have their chosen 

 tracks from the Luangwa Valley to other haunts west of 

 the range. 



When thunder and lightning used to come, how the 

 peals of thunder would echo among the clefts and ravines 

 of the range, and the lightning appeared to run along the 

 rockier parts. I expect the ground there is full of ironstone 

 in places ; in the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa, 

 the same thing occurs. 



While shooting on the Luangwa River in 1908, I found 

 the spoor of a big herd of elephants on November 16. 

 After my men and myself had followed the tracks for 

 about four miles, we came on the herd, which consisted of 

 quite thirty animals. Most of them were standing in 

 some thick bush, although a few were moving about just 

 outside it, in a patch of thick grass which had not been 

 burned. Between myself and the elephants was a slight 

 hollow, which at the bottom showed the sandy bed of a 



