150 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



several trips there I have been unfortunate in not seeing 

 any. It is probably the best district for lions in Nyasaland, 

 and a good many have been killed there. In the rainy 

 season, when the lions find the game difficult to catch, they 

 often enter the township of Chiromo, and some grim 

 tragedies have taken place there, many natives having been 

 seized and killed, in some cases almost at the doors of the 

 white inhabitants. 



It was a great relief to get away from the plains by 

 climbing the steep path at the top of the Cholo range, and 

 I remember the lovely views of the game country stretching 

 away in the blue distance, with many a grass fire sending 

 up clouds of black smoke, which sometimes hung in the air, 

 forming great long bars across the horizon. 



The buffaloes leave the marsh in the rainy season and go 

 to the top of the range, doubtless for coolness, and to get 

 away from the flies, and perhaps, also, for a change of food. 

 I noticed a good deal of old spoor on the plateau. 



Again let me change the scene to the eastern border of 

 Nyasaland, which is a very broken country, full of high hills 

 and small ranges. I had gone to a place near Mausi Hill 

 to get specimens of eland and sable antelopes to send to 

 a South African museum, and I had passed along the valley 

 of the Tuchila River to get there. The country was 

 covered with big thorn trees, the stems of which often have 

 a sickly appearance, as some are yellow, others an ochre, 

 and many a nasty green colour. 



Besides these large trees the vegetation is full of small 

 thorns and sharp grass, which soon make a pair of 

 bare legs very ugly, and some of these deep scratches are 

 apt to fester, unless a man's blood is in good order. 



The Tuchila Plains, as this place is often called, used to 

 be a fine game country in the old days, and elephants were 

 once abundant there ; but constant persecution has made 

 them trek to safer regions. When I got round the base of 

 Machemba Hill, which has several other large single hills in 

 close proximity, such as Nchesie, I came, after trudging for 

 a few miles, to a small stream called Nandeu. Here the 



