1866.] DEPOPULATION BY THE SLAVE WARS. 97 



some say that they have heard of such things from their 

 elders. 



We passed very many sites of old villages, which are 

 easily known by the tree euphorbia planted round an 

 umbelliferous one, and the sacred fig. One species here 

 throws out strong buttresses in the manner of some man- 

 groves instead of sending down twiners which take root, 

 as is usually the case with the tropical fig. These, with 

 millstones — stones for holding the pots in cooking — and 

 upraised clay benches, which have been turned into brick 

 by fire in the destruction of the huts, show what were 

 once the " pleasant haunts of men." Ko stone implements 

 ever appear. If they existed they could not escape notice, 

 since the eyes in walking are almost always directed to 

 the ground to avoid stumbling on stones or stumps. In 

 some parts of the world stone implements are so common 

 they seem to have been often made and discarded as 

 soon as formed, possibly by getting better tools ; if, indeed, 

 the manufacture is not as modern as that found by Mr. 

 Waller. Passing some navvies in the City who were 

 digging for the foundation of a house, he observed a very 

 antique-looking vase, wet from the clay, standing on the 

 bank. He gave ten shillings for it, and subsequently, by 

 the aid of a scrubbing brush and some water, detected the 

 hieroglyphics " Copeland late Spode " on the bottom of it ! 



Here the destruction is quite recent, and has been 

 brought about by some who entertained us very hospitably 

 •on the Misinje, before we came to the confluence. The 

 woman chief, Ulenjelenje, or Njelenje, bore a part in it for 

 the supply of Arab caravans. It was the work of the 

 Masininga, a Waiyau tribe, of which her people form a 

 part. They almost depopulated the broad fertile tract, of 

 some three or four miles, between the mountain range 

 and the Lake, along which our course lay. It was weari- 

 some to see the skulls and bones scattered about every- 



VOL. T. H 



