Chap. IX. mosquitoes. 257 



We hastened from this sickly spot, trying to take the 

 attentions of the mosquitoes as hints to seek more pleasant 

 quarters on the healthy shores of Lake Nyassa ; and when 

 we sailed into it, on the 2nd September, we felt refreshed 

 by the greater coolness of the air off this large body of 

 water. The depth was the first point of interest. This 

 is indicated by the colour of the water, which, on a belt 

 along the shore, varying from a quarter to half a mile in 

 breadth, is light green, and this is met by the deep blue or 

 indigo tint of the Indian Ocean, which is the colour of the 

 great body of Nyassa. We found the Upper Shire from 

 nine to fifteen feet in depth ; but skirting the western side 

 of the lake about a mile from the shore the water deepened 

 from nine to fifteen fathoms ; then, as we rounded the 

 grand mountainous promontory, which we named Cape 

 Maclear, after our excellent friend the Astronomer Eoyal 

 at the Cape of Good Hope, we could get no bottom with 

 our lead-line of thirty-five fathoms. We pulled along the 

 western shore, which was a succession of bays, and found 

 that where the bottom was sandy near the beach, and to 

 a mile out, the depth varied from six to fourteen fathoms. 

 In a rocky bay about latitude 11° 40' we had soundings at 

 100 fathoms, though outside the same bay we found none 

 with a fishing-line of 116 fathoms ; but this cast was un- 

 satisfactory, as the line broke in coming up. According 

 to our present knowledge, a ship could anchor only near 

 the shore. 



Looking back to the southern end of Lake Nj-assa, the 

 arm from which the Shire flows was found to be about 

 thirty miles long and from ten to twelve broad. Bound- 

 ing Cape Maclear, and looking to the south-west, we have 

 another arm, which stretches some eighteen miles south- 

 ward, and is from six to twelve miles in breadth. These 

 arms give the southern end a forked appearance, and with 

 the help of a little imagination it may be likened to the 



