A Thousand Miles in a Machilia 



to the great delight of the boys, who scrambled out 

 and dragged it on board. After carefully skinning 

 the reptile, they proceeded to cut it up, cook, and 

 eat it; it contained a number of eggs, which they 

 no doubt also ate ; the flesh of a crocodile is very 

 white, and considered by African natives a great 

 delicacy. The usual method of making a fire on 

 board a native boat is to place a small brazier on 

 a few stones or bricks over a box of sand. 



On the freight barges lashed to either side of 

 our steamer a number of native passengers travelled ; 

 they were for the most part dressed in European 

 clothes, and were returning to their homes from the 

 Transvaal mines. It was interesting to watch their 

 manner of life the cooking, washing, and sorting 

 of clothes, etc. ; the majority owned common tin 

 boxes, yellow, red, or blue, in which their worldly 

 goods were locked up. One of these boxes is the 

 first thing a native employed at the mines purchases 

 with his wages; he then fills it as occasion offers 

 with the commonest of cotton shirts and shoddy 

 clothing, which it is to be hoped he discards in his 

 home, as it is entirely unsuited to the climate and 

 life. The packing and unpacking of these precious 

 boxes appeared to be a great delight, as also the 

 exhibition of their contents to the admiring gaze of 

 friends. They usually sat about in groups; some- 

 times one among them would spell out of a book, 

 and all seemed much interested in what was read. 



Recruiting for the mines in this district has ot 

 late been abandoned, it having been found that 

 the inhabitants of the low country bordering the 



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