176 
THE KILIMA-HJARO EXPEDITION. 
bloody to appal tlie most callous nature. The weapons 
which had effected the greatest slaughter in the skir¬ 
mish had been the great shovel-bladed spears made 
after the fashion of the Masai. Though Mandara 
boasted so much of his guns, yet in the hands of these 
untrained savages, who have no idea of aim, they were 
almost innocuous weapons, whereas the spears used 
hand to hand inflicted horrible wounds. Here were 
corpses disembowelled by a lunge and a twist of the 
spear. Others had their backs literally carved open 
down the spine. Most of the severed heads had pro¬ 
bably been chopped off by the short Roman swords 
which the Caga soldiers carry. Hereabouts was 
quite a typical field of carnage. In many places the 
ground was pappy with oozing blood. In others little 
pools of gore were coagulating and caking under the 
fierce sunlight. The tall blades of the trampled grass 
were flecked and splashed with brown drops of the 
dried fluid. The place looked and smelt like a 
shambles. Already the many hideous creatures that 
make their living out of scenes of slaughter were 
swarming forth, emboldened with the scent of blood. 
Great green flies buzzed over the stark bodies of the 
slain, ants swarmed in myriads round the flakes of gore, 
while, strange contrast! lovely butterflies, blue and 
black, gold and black, metallic green and saffron yellow, 
paused intoxicated on the blood-soaked ground, greedily 
sucking up the thickening, frothy liquid with the 
enjoyment of ghouls. The neighbouring trees and 
bushes were dotted with vultures and crows, only 
waiting our departure to fling themselves on the feast. 
With a saddened and disgusted feeling I left this 
scene, almost loathing friends and foes alike. Why, 
in the midst of such superb scenery, with smiling 
