THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 549 



a captain in the army of the great King Zinibo, of the Jaga 

 tribe, had a daughter by his wife Mussasa, whom he named Tem- 

 bandumba. On the death of King Zimbo his empire was divided 

 into petty principalities among his officers, one of which was 

 governed by Donji. He having also died, his wife Mussasa con- 

 tinued his enterprises and conquests. She was a skillful warrior 

 and extremely cruel and bloodthirsty. She gave her daughter 

 the education of a warrior; and these two women, at the head 

 of their army, were always the first to charge the enemy and 

 the last to retreat. Mussasa was so struck with her daughter's 



O 



courage, wisdom, and endurance, that she gave her command of 

 half the troops. Tembandumba, having gained several victories, 

 and now confident of her superior genius, no longer deigned to 

 listen to her mother's advice. A lioness in war, she became a 

 tigress in passion ; savage in her wantonness at once voluptuous 

 and bloodthirsty she admitted a crowd of lovers to her arms, 

 and killed them with the cruelest tortures as soon as her lusts 

 were satisfied . Her mother having remonstrated with her respect- 

 ing these excesses, she openly rebelled, and proclaimed herself 

 queen of the Jagas. Following now in the footsteps of the great 

 Zimbo, she determined to turn the world into a wilderness. She 

 would kill all the animals, burn all the forests, and destroy all 

 vegetable food, so that the only sustenance of her subjects should 

 be the flesh of man, and his blood their drink. 



In a furious harangue to Amazon warriors she commanded 

 that all male children, all twins, and all infants whose upper 

 teeth appeared before their lower ones, should be killed by their 

 own mothers. From their bodies an ointment should be made 

 in the way which she would show. The female children should 

 be reared and instructed in war ; and male prisoners, before being 

 killed and eaten, should be used for purposes of procreation, so 

 that there might be no future lack of female warriors. Having 

 concluded her harangue, this young woman seized her own child, 

 which was feeding at her breast, flung him into a mortar, and 

 pounded him to a pulp. She threw this into a large earthen pot, 

 adding roots, leaves, and oils, and made the whole into an oint- 



