gle horsemen were roving about to and fro between the fences
of the villages; here a poor native, pursued by sanguinary foes, running
for his life in wild despair; there another dragged from his place of
refuge; while a third was seen stealing by, under cover of a fence, and
soon became a mark for numerous arrows and balls. A small troop of
Shooa horsemen were collected under the shade of a tree, trying to keep
together a drove of cattle which they had taken. Accompanying another
band, the doctor at length rejoined the vizier. News had just been
received that the pagans had broken through the line of march near the
weakest point, and that the rear had been dispersed. Had these poor
pagans been led on by experienced chieftains, they would have been able
in their dense forests, where cavalry is of little use, to do an immense
deal of damage to their cowardly invaders, and might easily have
dispersed them altogether.

A large number of slaves had been caught, and in the evening a great
many more were brought in, altogether between five hundred to a
thousand. To the horror of the travellers, not less than one hundred
and seventy full-grown men were mercilessly slaughtered in cold blood,
the greater part of them being allowed to bleed to death, a leg having
been severed from the body. The unwarlike spirit and dilatory
proceedings of the army, large as it was, enabled the inhabitants of
other villages to make their escape.

The village of Demmo was next to be attacked. On reaching it, however,
a large watercourse, two miles in width, appeared before them, across
which the natives made their escape. The scene on its banks was highly
interesting, and characteristic of the equatorial regions of Africa.
Instead of the supposed lofty range of the Moon, only a few isolated
mountains had been seen, and in place of a dry desolate plateau they had
found wide and extremely fertile plains, less than one thousand feet
above the level of the sea, and intersected by innumerable broad
water-courses.

The village, which only a few moments before had been the abode of
comfort and happiness, was destroyed by fire and made desolate.
Slaughtered men, with their limbs severed from their bodies, were lying
about in all directions.

Led by a treacherous Musgu chief, the army attacked other places, till
the river Loggun put a stop to their further advance. These unfortunate
Musgus are ugly-looking fellows. Only the chiefs wear clothing