THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 341 



crocodile eggs are considered even more delicious, tasting some- 

 thing like hen's eggs, with a slight flavor of custard. 



Thece is only one other animal whose habitat is near the Ro- 

 vuma that the natives make any show of hunting, viz : the seuze, 

 which in size equals our domestic cat, but in shape somewhat 

 resembles a pig or peccari. It keeps from sight in dense reeds, 

 where it feeds on succulent young vegetable growths, and perhaps 

 also on snakes and toads. The natives set fire to the reeds 

 during the dry season, and as the seuze rush out to escape a 

 scorching they are speared or shot in great numbers. 



TERRIBLE EFFECTS OF SLAVERY, 



THEY now descended the Rpvuma to their large vessel, and 

 returned to the Zambesi, hoping that by this time the Shire river 

 would be navigable for the steam launch. While proceeding up 

 the Zambesi, several natives were employed as sailors, and thou- 

 sands offered their services for a few pieces of cloth. Owing to a 

 severe drought in the country between Luputa and Kebrabosa, 

 the people were driven to the woods by hunger, where they were 

 subsisting on such wild fruits as the country afforded. Game 

 was abundant, but the natives are such poor hunters that they 

 cannot depend upon it. 



The Shire river having risen so as to promise successful navi- 

 gation, on January 10, 1863, they departed from Shupanga. 

 They had scarcely got well into the river before they became wit- 

 nesses of the dreadful atrocities being then perpetrated by a chief 

 named Mariano. He was a Portuguese slave-agent, and had 

 invaded the country, capturing slaves, burning villages, killing 

 and robbing the people. Says Livingstone : 



" Dead bodies floated past us daily, and in the mornings the 

 paddles had to be cleared of corpses, caught by the floats during 

 the night. For scores of miles the entire population of the 

 valley was swept away by this scourge, Mariano. The sight and 

 smell of dead bodies was everywhere. Many skeletons lay beside 

 the path, where in their weakness they had fallen and expired. 

 The corpse of a boy floated past the ship ; a monstrous crocodile 

 rushed at it with the speed of a greyhound, caught it, and shook 



