deadly arrows at sight o f a canoe; and each
tribe, with rage and hate in its heart, remains
a lo o f from the other. “ Verily, the dark places
o f the earth are full o f the habitations o f
cruelty.”
Oh for the hour when a band o f philanthropic
capitalists shall vow to rescue these beautiful
lands, and supply the means to enable the Gospel
messengers to come and quench the murderous
hate with which man beholds man in the beautiful
lands around L ak e V ic to ria !
I descended from the lo fty height, the summit
o f Musira Island, b y another way, which disclosed
to me the character o f the ro ck y island, and e x posed
to my view the precipitous walls o f shale,
rifted and indented b y ages o f atmospheric influences,
that surround the island upon all sides
but the western. A fte r great difficulty I succeeded
in getting upon the top o f a portion o f
an upper ledge that had fallen on the northeast
corner and now formed a separate projection
about 30 feet high. In a cavernous
recess upon the summit o f it, I discovered s ix
human bodies in a state o f decomposition, half
covered with grass and debris o f rock. One
o f the skulls showed the mark o f a hatchet,
which made me suspect that a trag edy had
occurred here but a short time before. No
doubt the horrible event to o k place on the island
on the ground occupied b y our camp, for
there was no other spot where such a deed
could have been wrought, and probably the
victims were taken in canoes, and deposited in
this hidden recess, that strangers might not be
alarmed at the sight o f the bodies, or o f such
evidence o f violence as the hatchet-cleft skull.
Probably, also, these strangers were murdered
for their cargo o f coffee or o f butter b y the
natives o f the mainland, or b y a later arrival o f
strangers like my own Waganda, who because
o f their numerical superiority had begun their
molestation and robbery o f the coffee-traders,
without other cause than that they were strong
and the traders weak.
Ab ou t 5 p.m., having long before returned to
camp, I saw on the horizon Magassa’s fleet o f
canoes, and counted fourteen. I despatched
Safeni and some o f the Waganda in a canoe to
the small islands we passed just before reaching
Makongo, begging Magassa to hasten and join
me early next morning, as We were short o f
provisions, and starvation would ensue i f we
Were delayed in our vo y a g e . Safeni returned
about 9. p.m., with a request from Magassa that
I would g o on as early as I wished, and a
promise that he would follow me to Camp.
I waited, however, fo r Magassa until 10 a.m.,
and as A lice Island^-which Sentum andSentageya
advised me was the best place to touch at in
order to make a short course ior Usukuma—