ve a few tons of Mammoth ivory are received from
time to time from the Arctic regions and Siberia, and although of
unknown antiquity, some tusks are equal in every respect to ivory which
is obtained in the present day from elephants newly killed; this, no
doubt, is owing to the preservative effects of the ice in which the
animals have been imbedded for many thousands of years. In the year 1799
the entire carcase of a mammoth was taken from the ice, and the skeleton
and portions of the skin, still covered with reddish hair, are preserved
in the Museum of St. Petersburg: it is said that portions of the flesh
were eaten by the men who dug it out of the ice.]
_24th December, 1870._--Between twenty-five and thirty slaves have died
in the present epidemic, and many Manyuema; two yesterday at Kandawara.
The feet swell, then the hands and face, and in a day or two they drop
dead; it came from the East, and is very fatal, for few escape who take
it.
A woman was accused of stealing maize, and the chief here sent all his
people yesterday, plundered all she had in her house and garden, and
brought her husband bound in thongs till he shall pay a goat: she is
said to be innocent.
Monangoi does this by fear of the traders here; and, as the people tell
him, as soon as they are gone the vengeance he is earning by injustice
on all sides will be taken: I told the chief that his head would be cut
off as soon as the traders leave, and so it will be; and Kasessa's also.
Three men went from Katomba to Kasongo's to buy Viramba, and a man was
speared belonging to Kasongo, these three then fired into a mass of men
who collected, one killed two, another three, and so on; so now that
place is shut up from traders, and all this country will be closed as
soon as the Manyuema learn that guns are limited in their power of
killing, and especially in the hands of slaves, who cannot shoot, but
only make a noise. These Suaheli are the most cruel and bloodthirsty
missionaries in existence, and withal so impure in talk and acts,
spreading disease everywhere. The Lord sees it.
_28th December, 1870._--Moenembegg, the most intelligent of the two sons
of Moenekuss, in power, told us that a man was killed and eaten a few
miles from this yesterday: hunger was the reason assigned. On speaking
of tainted meat, he said that the Manyuema put meat in water for two
days to make it putrid and smell high. The love of high meat is the only
reason I know for th
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