520 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



01 merely an exceptional freak. They spoke without embarrass- 

 ment about the whole matter, and I was informed that they con- 

 stantly buy the dead of the Osheba tribe, who, m return, buy 

 theirs. They also buy the dead of other families in their own 

 tribes, and, besides this, get the bodies of a great many slaves 

 from the Mbichos and Mbondemos, for which they readily give 

 ivory, at the rate of a small tusk for a body." 



THE IRON- WORKERS. 



IRON ore.is found in considerable quantities throughout the Fan 

 country, cropping out at the surface. They do not dig into .lie 

 ground for it, but gather what lies about. To get the iron they 

 build a huge pile of wood, place on this a considerable quantity of 

 the ore broken up, then comes more wood, and then fire is applied 

 to the whole heap. As it burns away wood is thrown on contin- 

 ually, till at last they perceive, by certain signs, that they have 

 made the iron fluid. All is then permitted to cool, and they have 

 now cast iron. To make this malleable and give it temper, they 

 put it through a most tedious series of heatings and hammerings, 

 till at last they turn out a very superior article of iron and steel, 

 much better than that which is brought to them from Europe. 

 It is a fact that, to make their best knives and arrow-heads, they 

 will not use the European or American iron, but prefer their 

 own. And many of their knives and swords are really very finely 

 made, and, for a rude race, beautifully ornamented by scroll- 

 work on the blades. 



CHAPTEE XXIX. 



ADVENTURE WITH AN ENORMOUS SERPENT. 



AFTER stopping for several days in the Fan country, Du 

 Ohaillu took leave of the cannibal king, who had really treated 

 him in a most friendly manner, and proceeded to Cape Lopez to 

 inspect the Portuguese slave-pens, which are nearly always 

 crowded with poor black unfortunates. Some dreadful scenes 



