362 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



scissor-like instrument at his neck for cropping ears. On saying 

 to him that his was nasty work, he smiled, and so did many who 

 were not sure of their ears a moment ; many men of respecta- 

 bility show that at some former time they have been thus pun- 

 ished. Casembe's chief wife passes frequently to her plantation 

 carried by six, or more commonly by twelve men, in a sort of 

 palanquin : she has European features, but light-brown complex- 

 ion. A number of men run before her, brandishing swords and 

 battle-axes, and one beats a hollow instrument, giving warning to 

 passengers to clear the way ; she has two enormous pipes ready 

 filled for smoking. She is very attentive to her agriculture ; 

 cassava is the chief product, but they also raise sweet-potatoes, 

 maize, sorghum, millet, ground-nuts and cotton. The people 

 seem more savage than any I have yet seen ; they strike each 

 other barbarously from mere wantonness, but they are civil 

 enough to me." 



THE TROGLODYTES. 



LIVINGSTONE took leave of Casembe on December 22d, and on 

 January 1st, after a severe journey through dreadful bogs, 

 reached Moero Lake, which lies in a basin surrounded by the 

 Eua Mountains. Its shape is almost circular, with a diameter of 

 about fifty miles. Numerous villages line its shores, and large 

 game, such as buffaloes, elephants, zebras, lions and leopards, 

 abound. 



In the vicinity of Moero are found that singular race or species 

 known as Troglodytes, which, like the bat, are impossible of 

 classification. They live in underground houses along the Rua 

 Mountain sides for twenty miles or so. In some ca'ses the door- 

 ways are level with the adjacent country, while a ladder is used 

 in reaching others. Generally these habitations are caves, a 

 singularly large number of which are found in the Rua Moun- 

 tains, but not a few are artificial excavations. 



Livingstone had left Casembe with the assurance of his guides 

 that they should reach Ujiji within a month, but the rains were 

 so incessant that traveling was nearly impossible for several 

 months, and necessitated a stay in the vicinity of Lake Moero 



