WOMAN SEIZED BY A CROCODILE. 319 



In one of the Kebrabasa Rapids, Dr. Kirk's canoe was swamped, the 

 occupants scrambling ashore with difficulty ; but unfortunately a chronometer, 

 a barometer, his notes of the journey, and botanical drawings of the fruit 

 trees in the interior, were lost. The river was very low and crocodiles were 

 numerous. On one occasion, as they were dragging the dead body of a 

 hippopotamus behind one of the canoes, these reptiles rose in such numbers 

 and tugged so hard at the huge carcase that they had to cut it adrift to save 

 the canoe from being swamped. On another occasion, one of these monsters 

 seized a water-bok, which had been wounded by a shot, and dragged it into 

 the river. The poor animal made a desperate resistance and succeeded in 

 freeing itself, when another crocodile gave chase, but a ball aimed at it drove 

 it to the bottom. At many places in the interior stockades were erected to 

 preserve the women fi-om the attacks of crocodiles while taking water from the 

 river. At Tete and Senna, where many slave women were seized by croco- 

 diles, no such precautions were taken (even although Livingstone offered a 

 subscription towards the expense). The lives of slaves were too valueless to 

 occasion either thought or trouble for their preservation to men otherwise 

 humane. 



After the accident to Dr. Kirk's canoe, the party passed the remainder of 

 the rapids on foot, through a rough and trying countxy, which greatly fatigued 

 the whole party ; one of the two donkeys they had with them died from 

 sheer exhaustion. Although the natives are very partial to the flesh of the 

 zebra and the quagga, which are a sort of second cousins to the donkey, they 

 would not eat its flesh. They said, " It would be like eating man himself, 

 because the donkey lives with man, and is his bosom companion." 



The party arrived safely at Tete on the 23rd of November, after an 

 absence of a little over six months. The two English sailors had enjoyed 

 excellent health, and behaved themselves admirably during the absence of the 

 party. Their gardening operations turned out a failure. A hippopotamus 

 had paid the garden a visit and eaten up all the vegetables, and the sheep 

 they had ate up the cotton when it was in flower, the crocodiles devoured 

 the sheep left with them, and two monkeys they purchased ate the eggs of 

 the fowls, and in turn the natives relieved them of all care of the latter by 

 landing on the island during the night and stealing them. They were more 

 successful in bargaining with the natives for food ; their purchases were all 

 made on board the steamer, and when more was demanded than the market 

 price, they brought a chameleon out of the cabin, an animal of which the 

 natives have a mortal dread, and thus settled the matter at once, by clearing 

 the deck of the exorbitant traders. 



One night they were roused by hearing shrieks of distress, and on rowing 

 to the spot found a woman in the jaws of a crocodile. Rescuing her with the 

 loss of a leg below the knee, they took her on board, gave her a -bottle of rum, 



