348 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



was mentioned as one of the great evils of society. The same 

 absurdity prevails on the West Coast, and there it is said that 

 the men acquiesce from ideas of purity. 



The beasts of burden which had been bitten by the tsetse fly 

 continued to droop and die, while one of the camels was beaten to 

 death by the Sepoys, who proved to be the most worthless and 

 irresponsible people Livingstone had ever met with. Their con- 

 duct was so bad, and they were so lazy and worthless, that he 

 was finally obliged to discharge and send them back. 



HORRIBLE SCENES. 



' THEY were now nearing Lake Nyassa, a fact which became 

 evident from the number of slave parties that were met on the 

 route, whose tallow marks showed that they came from the region 

 of the Lake. Livingstone's journal shows the following entry 

 on June 19th : " We passed a woman tied by the neck to a tree, 

 and dead. The people of the country explained that she had 

 been unable to keep up with the other slaves in a gang, and her 

 master had determined that she should not become the property 

 of any one else if she recovered after resting for a time. I may 

 mention here that we saw others tied up in a similar manner, and 

 one lying in the path shot or stabbed, for she was in a pool of 

 blood. The explanation we got invariably was that the Arab 

 who owned these victims was enraged at losing his money by the 

 slaves becoming unable to march, and vented his spleen by mur- 

 dering them. A poor little boy with prolapsus ani was carried 

 yesterday by his mother many a weary mile, lying over her right 

 shoulder the only position he could find ease in ; an infant at 

 the breast occupied the left arm, and on her head were carried 

 two baskets. The mother's love was seen in binding up the part 

 when we halted, while the coarseness of low civilization was 

 evinced in the laugh with which some black brutes looked at the 

 sufferer." 



HABITS OF THE NATIVES. 



THE natives about Metaba are more intelligent than those found 

 farther east on the Rovuma, and their appearance is not at aJ 1 



