. British Central Africa; an attempt to give some account of a portion of the territories under British influence north of the Zambezi. Natural history. THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS 177 result is that its waters are quite unfit for drinking purposes. A few of the settlers have wells, but all of these except two seem to produce slightly brackish unwholesome water. Away to the north of Blantyre arises another very fine stream, the Likubula. This is rather too much below the level of Blantyre to make it easy to convey the water to the township. The simplest expedient would seem to be the purification of
. British Central Africa; an attempt to give some account of a portion of the territories under British influence north of the Zambezi. Natural history. THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS 177 result is that its waters are quite unfit for drinking purposes. A few of the settlers have wells, but all of these except two seem to produce slightly brackish unwholesome water. Away to the north of Blantyre arises another very fine stream, the Likubula. This is rather too much below the level of Blantyre to make it easy to convey the water to the township. The simplest expedient would seem to be the purification of the Mudi. " But if the Mudi be at present unwholesome its banks are charming for the foliage of the trees and the loveliness of the wild flowers. I would notice specially one crimson lily which gives a succession of flowers for many months of the year. " And yet how extraordinary people are in regard to wild flowers ! I remember when I had just been admiring these red lilies on the Mudi's banks I went to dinner with one of the married couples in Blantyre, and the lady of the house apologised to me for the bareness of the table, complaining that her garden as yet produced no flowers. Yet she had only got to send one of the servants out to the banks of the stream and to the adjoining fields and she could have decked her table with red lilies, mauve, orange, and white ground-orchids, and blue bean flowers in a way which would excite anyone's envy at home. " My reference to ' married couples' reminds me to tell you that a good many of the men settled here are married and their wives seem to stand the climate as well as if not even better than their husbands, because, I imagine, they are exposed less to the sun and do not have so much outdoor work. Although it is not consistent with the duties of the planter still it is borne in on my mind that the healthiest life in Central Africa is an indoor life. People who keep very much to the house and do not go out or go far
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
