xxxn THE LORD OF THE RIVER 285 



and taking him (as we could see from the commo- 

 tion beneath the surface of the stream) to the other 

 side of the river. 



The hand and arm of the woman who had been 

 seized by the reptile were badly bitten, so I dressed 

 and disinfected the wounds to prevent blood-poison- 

 ing setting in, and after repeating this operation for 

 several days the girl was practically quite well again. 

 Strangely enough, on her recovery, she came to me 

 and, to my intense surprise, asked me for a present 

 because I had cured her, a demand which greatly 

 amused me, for, thinking in -European fashion, I, 

 somehow, dimly felt that, if the question of presents 

 entered into the affair, I should be the recipient 

 instead of the donor. 



One would naturally think that her experience 

 would have taught this girl a lesson, but, in illustra- 

 tion of my remark about the absolute carelessness 

 of natives, less than six months after this occurrence, 

 she and another woman were dragged into the river 

 and devoured by crocodiles at the very same place. 



On another occasion, I shot a very large croco- 

 dile on the Upper Shire River, and my men, on 

 opening up the reptile's stomach, made a gruesome 

 find in the shape of several native brass bangles, 

 which had doubtless once adorned the arm of some 

 hapless girl whom the brute had seized while she 

 was bathing or drawing water. 



