480 
CROCODILE EGOS. 
crocodiles in the Rovuma are hunted industriously, and 
eaten when caught. The eggs are also carefully searched 
for in the banks. The female crocodile digs a hole with 
her foot, about a foot deep, and covers her eggs in it, leav- 
ing them until the river rises over them, in about three 
months after, when she returns to help the young ones out. 
The yolk of the egg is nearly as white as the albumen. 
They taste like hen’s eggs, with perhaps a smack of custard. 
In one nest thirty-live freshly laid eggs were found. 
On the 9th of October the party returned to the Pioneer, 
having been away one month. They found that a condenser 
had been sent out from England, and the crew had been 
using the water, with a marked exception from fever in 
consequence. There was not on board a single case, though 
the year before when lying in the same spot there had 
been many. 
CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
THE CATARACTS OF THE SHIRE. 
On the 18th of October, the expedition party put to sea, 
and touching at Johanna, obtained a crew of Johanna 
men, with a supply of oxen, and then set sail for the Zam- 
besi. At the end of November, they entered the Zambesi, 
but found the water so low that they did not reach Slui- 
pango until the 19th of December. The Shire having risen, 
on the 10th of January the expedition started with the 
Lady Nyassa in tow. They found that the country had 
been desolated by Mariano, in his prosecution of slaving. 
For scores of miles the entire population had been swept 
away, and the villages burnt down. The dead bodies 
floated down the stream in such quantities, that every 
morning the floats of the paddle wheels had to be cleared 
