318 Mariano's atrocities. Chap. XII. 



Mazaro more rain had fallen, and a tolerable crop followed. 

 The people of Shupanga were collecting and drying dif- 

 ferent wild fruits, nearly all of which are far from palatable 

 to a European taste. The root of a small creeper called 

 "bise " is dug up and eaten. In appearance it is not un- 

 like the small white sweet potato, and has a little of the 

 flavour of our potato. It would be very good, if it were only 

 a little larger. From another tuber, called " ulanga," very 

 good starch can be made. A few miles from Shupanga 

 there is an abundance of large game, but the people here, 

 though fond enough of meat, are not a hunting race, and 

 seldom kill any. 



The Shire having risen, we steamed off on the 10th of 

 January, 1863, with the " Lady Nyassa" in tow. It was 

 not long before we came upon the ravages of the notorious 

 Mariano. The survivors of a small hamlet, at the foot of 

 Morambala, were in a state of starvation, having lost 

 their food by one of his marauding parties. The women 

 were in the fields collecting insects, roots, wild fruits, and 

 whatever could be eaten, in order to drag on their lives, if 

 possible, till the next crop should be ripe. Two canoes 

 passed us, that had been robbed by Mariano's band of 

 everything they had in them ; the owners were gathering 

 palm-nuts for their subsistence. They wore palm-leaf 

 aprons, as the robbers had stripped them of their clothing 

 and ornaments. Dead bodies floated past us daily, and in 

 the mornings the paddles had to be cleared of corpses, 

 caught by the floats during the night. For scores of miles 

 the entire population of the valley was swept away by 

 this scourge Mariano, who is again, as he was before, the 

 great Portuguese slave-agent. It made the heart ache to 

 see the widespread 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 



