We Once Saw Opposite Tette Young
Crocodiles In December, Swimming Beside An Island In Company With An
Old One.
The yolk of the egg is nearly as white as the real white.
In taste they resemble hen's eggs with perhaps a smack of custard,
and would be as highly relished by whites as by blacks, were it not
for their unsavoury origin in men-eaters.
Hunting the Senze (Aulacodus Swindernianus), an animal the size of a
large cat, but in shape more like a pig, was the chief business of
men and boys as we passed the reedy banks and low islands. They set
fire to a mass of reeds, and, armed with sticks, spears, bows and
arrows, stand in groups guarding the outlets through which the seared
Senze may run from the approaching flames. Dark dense volumes of
impenetrable smoke now roll over on the lee side of the islet, and
shroud the hunters. At times vast sheets of lurid flames bursting
forth, roaring, crackling and exploding, leap wildly far above the
tall reeds. Out rush the terrified animals, and amid the smoke are
seen the excited hunters dancing about with frantic gesticulations,
and hurling stick, spear, and arrow at their burned out victims.
Kites hover over the smoke, ready to pounce on the mantis and locusts
as they spring from the fire. Small crows and hundreds of swallows
are on eager wing, darting into the smoke and out again, seizing
fugitive flies. Scores of insects, in their haste to escape from the
fire, jump into the river, and the active fish enjoy a rare feast.
We returned to the "Pioneer" on the 9th of October, having been away
one month. The ship's company had used distilled water, a condenser
having been sent out from England; and there had not been a single
case of sickness on board since we left, though there were so many
cases of fever the few days she lay in the same spot last year. Our
boat party drank the water of the river, and the three white sailors,
who had never been in an African river before, had some slight
attacks of fever.
CHAPTER XII.
Return to the Zambesi - Bishop Mackenzie's grave - Frightful scenes
with crocodiles - Death of Mr. Thornton - African poisons - Recall of
the Expedition.
We put to sea on the 18th of October, and, again touching at Johanna,
obtained a crew of Johanna men and some oxen, and sailed for the
Zambesi; but our fuel failing before we reached it, and the wind
being contrary, we ran into Quillimane for wood.
Quillimane must have been built solely for the sake of carrying on
the slave-trade, for no man in his senses would ever have dreamed of
placing a village on such a low, muddy, fever-haunted, and mosquito-
swarming site, had it not been for the facilities it afforded for
slaving. The bar may at springs and floods be easily crossed by
sailing-vessels, but, being far from the land, it is always dangerous
for boats.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 198 of 263
Words from 102787 to 103292
of 136856
