1896.] FROM NYASA-LAND. 819 
and the beginning of May: it rained then almost every day, up to 
the date of my departure on or about May 12th. 
“On the Lower Shiri plains the wet season does not set in 
until later: no rain falls at Chiromo, I think, before the middle 
of November. The last day or two of October, 1894, when 
travelling by land from Chiromo to Blantyre, I came in for light 
rains on reaching the foot of the hills at the back of the Elephant 
marsh. 
“ Further north, on Lake Nyasa, the rains commence later by 
about a month or six weeks, on the mean: much, however, depends 
on locality—whether the country is plain or hilly, and, again, bare 
or forested. 
“Take for instance Deep Bay, about 10° 30’ S. lat., and roughly 
some ninety miles from the north end of the lake. Here there 
are low hills attaining a height of some 400 feet above the lake, 
and behind these again is low undulating country extending some 
twelve or fifteen miles inland, to the foot of the Nyika plateau, 
which attains on the mean a height of 7400 feet, the accepted 
altitude of Lake Nyasa being some 1600 odd feet. 
‘No rain falls at Deep Bay before the middle of November, 
sometimes not until later. In 1893 there was no rain before 
December, when there were two or three preliminary showers. 
The heavy rains did not set in until January 8, 1894. In 1895 
there were some very heavy preliminary rains in November; the 
heavy rains set in, in good earnest, with the waning moon in 
December of that year. 
‘«« The rains continue until about the middle of May, sometimes a 
week or two later; the heavy rains slack off at the end of March. 
The heaviest rains of the year are between February and March; 
after that it rains fitfully, at intervals of every two or three 
days. 
“Tn 1889 it rained all May, very heavily too during the first 
half of the month. In 1893 there were two very heavy down- 
pours on the 17th and 18th July, fully five or six weeks after the 
dry season had set in. 
“In Nyika the rains commence a good deal earlier and last 
longer. It is a very moist country indeed; the higher parts of it 
can hardly be said to have any dry season, as there are rainy mists 
all the year through. The first rains fall about the end of 
September or the beginning of October. The rainfall of these 
mountains rather resembles that of Northern Europe, Ireland 
especially: it rains thickly but lightly, and for days on end at 
times; there are not the heavy downpours which are experienced 
at lower altitudes. 
‘A hundred miles or so south of Deep Bay, at Bandawe, the 
rains set in earlier than at Deep Bay; this may be attributed to 
the fact that Bandawe is a hilly promontory, abutting from high 
mountainous country, some of the rainfall of which finds its way 
down to the lake along the neck of connecting highland. If I 
recollect rightly, I experienced a shower or two of rain when 
