FIENDISH OUTRAGES IN CENTRAL AFRICA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1778, 28 February 1888, Page 3

FIENDISH OUTRAGES IN CENTRAL AFRICA.

[Per Press Association.]

Mozambique, February, 26. Intelligence has been receivea here that a terrible outrage has been committed by a strong well-armed body of Arabs, who attacked and overpowered number of native villages on the southwestern shore of Lake Nyassa. The natives were attacked suddenly, and many were struck down and mercilessly slaughtered on the spot, others fled to the water and sought a hiding-place m the reeds which fringe the shores of the lake. The work of massacre and rapine , being over m the villages the Arab marauders turned their attention to the fugitives hiding m the rushes. Being unable to reach them from the land the Arabs set fire to the reeds, and the unhappy villagers had to choose between being burned to death or devoured by the crocodiles which infest the waters of the Lake on the one hand, and running the gauntlet between the spears of their enemies on the other hand. Many were seized by alligators, and drawn beneath the waters, whilst those who fled from these monsters and the flames were ruthlessly speared by the Arabs as they left the water. Inflamed by passion the Arabs next turned their attention to the different missions estab lished by the Free Church of Scotland along the shores of the lakes known collectively as Livingstonia. The mission houses were attacked and plundered, but it is stated that Europeans engaged m mission work escaped without suffering bodily harm.