SCENES ON THE EOVUMA. 411 



of lurid flames bursting forth, roaring, crackling and exploding, 

 leap wildly far above the tall reeds. Out rush the terrified 

 animals, and amid the smoke are seen the excited hunters danc- 

 ing about with frantic gesticulations, and hurling stick, spear 

 and arrow at their burned-out victims. Kites hover over the 

 smoke, ready to pounce on the mantis and locusts as they spring 

 from the fire. Small crows and hundreds of swallows are on 

 eager wing, darting into the smoke and out again, seizing fugi- 

 tive flies. Scores of insects, in their haste to escape from the 

 fire, jump into the river, and the active fish enjoy a rare feast. 



Great quantities of excellent honey are collected along the 

 river by bark hives placed for the bees on high trees which line 

 the banks. A few pieces of coal were also picked up. And 

 there was little doubt that, but for the slave-trade, which finds 

 one of its principal outlets eastward through this section, the 

 people would be easily led to higher grades of being. And it 

 was equally evident that they occupied a country which would 

 repay with its offerings all the attention which friendly nations 

 might bestow on its benighted occupants. But the Rovuma is 

 less promising as an avenue to the interior than the Shire or 

 the Zambesi, and the expedition was constrained to give up^the 

 hope of reaching the lake by that route, and returned again to 

 the Zambesi to battle again with the ills they knew. 



They ascended the Shire in January, 1863, and passed along 

 amidst the dreadful traces of the recent ravages of Mariano, who 

 was again in the field as " the great Portuguese slave agent." 

 Dead bodies floated past them daily, and in the mornings the 

 paddles had to be cleared of the corpses caught by the floats 

 during the night. For scores of miles the entire population of 

 the valley had been swept avvay by the inhuman agent of a 

 government called civilized, called Christian. It made the 

 heart ache to see the wide-spread desolation ; the river banks, 

 once so populous, all silent ; the villages burned down, and an 

 oppressive stillness reigning where formerly crowds of eager 

 sellers appeared with the various products of their industry. 

 Here and there might be seen on the bank a small, dreary, 

 deserted shed, where had sat, day after day, a starving fisher- 

 man, until the rising waters drove the fish from their wonted 

 haunts, and left him to die. Tingane had been defeated ; his 

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