Chap. XIII. tracks of animals. 347 



river towards the foot of Mount Zomba. Here we had a 

 view of its most imposing side, the west, with the plateau 

 some 3000 feet high, stretching away to its south, and 

 Mounts Chiradzuru and Mochiru towering aloft to the 

 sky. From that goodly highland station, it was once 

 hoped by the noble Mackenzie, who, for largeness of heart 

 and loving disposition, really deserved to be called the 

 " Bishop of Central Africa," that light and liberty would 

 spread to all the interior. We still think it may be a 

 centre for civilizing influences ; for any one descending 

 from these cool heights, and stepping into a boat on the 

 Upper Shire, can sail three hundred miles without a check 

 into the heart of Africa. 



We passed through a tract of country covered with 

 mopane trees, where the hard baked soil refused to let the 

 usual thick crops of grass grow ; and here we came upon 

 very many tracks of buifaloes, elephants, antelopes, and 

 the spoor of one lion. An ox we drove along with us, as 

 provision for the way, was sorely bitten by the tsetse. 

 The effect of the bite was, as usual, quite apparent two 

 days afterwards, in the general flaccidity of the muscles, 

 the drooping ears, and looks of illness. It always excited 

 our wonder that we, who were frequently much bitten too 

 by the same insects, felt no harm from their attacks. 

 Man shares the immunity of the wild animals. 



Finding a few people on the evening of the 20th of 

 August, who were supporting a wretched existence on 

 tamarinds and mice, we ascertained that there was no 

 hope of our being able to buy food anywhere nearer than 

 the Lakelet Pamalombe, where the Ajawa chief, Kairlka, 

 was now living ; but that plenty could be found with the 

 Maravi female chief, Xyango. We turned away north- 

 westwards, and struck the stream Eibve-ribve, or Eivi- 

 rivi, which rises in the Maravi range, and flows into the 

 Shire. 



