LIVING STONIA—BLANTYRE — Q UILL IMA NE. 421 
Stable task, for monotony is tlieir chief characteristic in 
the tables of my memory. 
Every morning I walked about with my rifle, wander¬ 
ing alone among the hills and along the shores of the 
lake, visiting some villages of the Nyanja. From these 
expeditions I seldom returned until night. One morn¬ 
ing, during a ramble of this description, I found a pile of 
wood stacked close to the water’s edge. Two men were 
close by basking in the burning sunshine, and I per¬ 
suaded them to come back with me. 
Mara then interpreted the intelligence that the wood 
was sold at intervals to the mission steamer. I had 
often read of this steamer which was employed to supply 
the stores of the missionaries, but at that time I could 
not imagine what she could do in that locality, which 
was certainly out of her course,while there was no one to 
supply. The men counted with their fingers, and, as 
usual, got very much mixed, one holding up the little 
finger, the other the index finger, while both squabbled 
violently about some numerical discrepancy that bothered 
them. All this trouble was in the endeavour to show 
me how long it had been since the steamer had been at 
the spot. 
By this time it was about as much as I could do to 
reach the “ look-out ” high amidst the rocks, from whence 
could be seen the tops of the houses that formed the 
village streets peeping up above a maze of faded and 
sun-parched leaves, and looking like the tops of hay-ricks. 
On every visit to the “ look-out ” 1 earnestly scanned 
with the telescope the north-eastern horizon for the long- 
hoped-for sign of smoke. Upon a day that shall not 
easily be forgotten, I gazed longingly at the far-off 
stretch of the silent inland sea lying undisturbed by 
wind-tossed waves. All at once a distant speck attracted 
my wakeful attention. It was long ere I could distin¬ 
guish the form of the object, but in time something white 
struck out from the distant blue. It was a sail ! I 
watched its appearance eagerly as it grew larger and 
larger, making my heart thump with the thoughts of 
rescue. For a long time the vessel remained in view, 
