THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 497 



ingly, ' Bravo, old boy ! You do it capitally !' Yet not being 

 able to reach him, I was rapidly being fascinated by him. The 

 rapid movements of the swaying spear, the steady wide-mouthed 

 grin, the big square teeth, the head poised on one side with the 

 confident pose of a practiced spear-thrower, the short brow and 

 square face, hair short and thick. Shall I ever forget him? It 

 appeared to me as if the spear partook of the same cruel, inexor- 

 ble look as the grinning savage." 



But the spell was soon broken, for the savage hurled his spear 

 with all his force and it whizzed close over Stanley's head. He 

 now ordered his men to fire, which they did with such terrible 

 accuracy that a score or more of the savages fell dead into the 

 water, their shields floating off with the current. These were 

 gathered up, and served an excellent purpose in forming breast- 

 works against future attacks. 



Day after day they were compelled to fight as they floated 

 down the stream, the savages seeming bent on securing their 

 bodies fora feast. On the first of January, as they were passing 

 a village, the war-canoes came out as usual to attack them. 

 Stanley instructed his interpreter to be mild in voice and pacific 

 in gesture, hoping to conquer these savages with kindness ; but 

 they brandished their spears and cried out, "We shall eat 

 Wajiwa meat to-day. Oho, we shall eat Wajiwa meat !" and then 

 an old chief gave some word of command, and at once 100 pad- 

 dles beat the water into foam, and the canoes darted onward. 

 But the contest was short ; one well-directed volley from the 

 guns so frightened those who were not killed that they sprang 

 into the water and swam ashore. They did not eat Wajiwa meat 

 that day. 



On arriving at a village called Kankore, Stanley was agreeably 

 surprised to find the people mild and friendly. They came to 

 his boats unarmed, as an evidence of their peaceful diposition, 

 and supplied his men with food in abundance. These people 

 were not cannibals, but, on the contrary, they regarded the hor- 

 rible man-eating customs of their neighbors with the utmost 

 loathing, and refused to have any intercourse with them. But, 

 32 



