A Terrible Story From Lake

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 264, 16 May 1888, Page 6

A Terrible Story From Lake

A ' OK'vl -I (>M>l N I Ot t lit* ' MailtilO-k I (■uudiati at Laki N\a*— a -<*iuU to th.it |om nal a let let , dated the I'Hh oi |)u\mliei Ki-l. de-ei il)iii'_; -omo let i ihlc ah ix'itiL 1 - I) 1 * Atab- m that u'jjum. Within the pa*** Urn i \eu-thou !ia\ o, he -a\ -, in en lakini*, ])laoo in V.\-{ ami ( enttal Atii':a roit.un inoM'incm-', [io--ibi\ no! \Ol \ iall\ known, Imf whirh -huuiii onLf.i^c the; -t i ions attention ot a'l intouMeil in tho-o j lotion-, wlu tho! rlion intCK-t~- lie in the j ( onm> Iho btaii\ m the ne>\ ICn^iand oi j (.01 man ■spiuMos of iniluouco ' in EaM | Anica, 01 in an\ one <<i all o\ (lie (ham o f nn---ion- that; ha\o Ik en e-taliliihed on the uu\it laki^ ot (. Liiti.il \iiiea The^" mo\e mi nt-> .no. he think-, mo-t l)iio!!\ anil l)e-t I (L-i'iitH'd I>\ tho woHii % the i.itu Aiab in \a-ion ( )t F.a-t tentt ent i.il Ah k a Tin <ones poiult nt ile-ci il)e> 'In* di-tiiet oi ( upied I>> \N a Nkonde people, and -a\-. that no quc^ tion w,t- tai-ed i>\ tht ln-t Ai.ih >ettlt,i- in \Uoikll a- to tho n^ht of t lk \\ a Xkonde to the pi.ipii»Hoi--hip i>l the (ounti\ A- I -non, ho\\e\ot, a^ the Aiai> position in the oonnt i \ heeanie -Li on^ r enough, and guided, ni donlit, li\ tin totidile i*\ainplo late!' 1 . -ot. them in the Main oma (oiintts, then at ! ltiide l)t eanu' tai mote fiiononiu ed, and lho\ ha\en>)\\ --el t.p the ulilc-t ettlei o\ thtu mimln r a- t In*

" Sultan oi Nkomlc Country I Tnhuro ha^ 1m en evtiaet'-d, with the aid 1 nut i\ c of butehei\ ,unl c Uei initiation, I I'.mh the \\ ,i Nkoii'li c)n( I-, .mil in ea-M . -■ I \\ liL'ic tin- }'.i-> not been pml thi people ate t unit )\ ' - li din the i miiit i\ . -heltei ed at ihe pit-cm nioiiii nt l)\ 1 1 I._1 ._ li fellow 11111 1 1 1 >• -nit n at th< isti< me tun I h (nd ot tin lake jThnt> milt - dI lhe 1 iki »!uiii' ha\ebeen di \ ,l-t lU ((, and had It not Invn fol the ltMiaini'ig liiHminc <it the 1 M'jii-h at ' kanuga, and the urn ei taint \ ot (he Aiabs a- to tin; attitudt we would take, then i- no doubt !he bull !n i) would ha\<. o\Loii(h d milt h tmthi'i than it ha-, don", hi .lul\ la-t <iti filt 1 1 cal urn lxtweon an Ai ib Inllouii and -i Nkondi 1 clucl cillcd ka-ot> hi! up t) .i ( | uai 1 1 iin w Inch ka-otc \sa- --hot dead b\ ,in Aiali lutunalf.'d l>y tin Ixillinu di oiu oi then tellow-., all the W.i rsUondt fhuf- m tin- iH'i'_ r hboui hood a->-(vnil) <(I then toi ci - and pu'p.iud t<> attack M n anibo, the Ai.di \ ill.i'_jo in \\ hich the mm d(i had taken place. A wai which mij/'ib ha\c ic-ultfd in the expuUion oi the Aiab- Horn the (li-luct -icinid now imminent, but the -tiunu; milueucu of The African Lakes Comj^ny s Agent, Mi Montcith. seemed peae> . Vi i \ soon aftciuaid-, however, anotnu diihcult y ,uo-e. ,iu-t ->i\ week- ,v^n a quauol oc cuiied between some Aiabs and a natne chief called MwuiiMteti o\ oi (he jnu-cha-e oi some su', r ai ciiik 1 , .mil m tin- palti y qua) icl fhi Nkondo chioi was a^am ,sho(. iiendei/'d i'Ulous b\ tlm double ontia'^e, the \V;i - Xkoude 10-t, all cnntiol, and ;i\enL, r ('d thi;msel\c-i by .sliiu^htenn^ the Aiab iullowci s .md women, some ei^ht oi ten in numlxji , then hu\ mtr iood in Lhcir \ili.\< n c-.. Fiom lhaL hmo to this the Nkondo countiy and its pL,uj>lo ha\o boon <^i\en o\cr to thu liiihans ho v:ony rotate in the tiain of eveiy Aiab tiadcr in Cential Afiic.t. The people weie swcpl out ot one \ illa<_jo aftui 1 another in quick .succession. Until the work ot doitvuction was completed in the moi e outlying villages, the three NlconUe ohiehs, Kasingula, Kaion^a, and Malema, whose \illages immediately sin round Ihe Engli.sh station, weie loit untouched. Seeing, however, that tho English were unable to protect them, and not ci editing Arab professions of friendship, their people lied to a laiyc lagoon a few miles away, and there hid themselves with their iood in its reeds. And now there occurred a horrible instance of. Arab.

Atrocity and Trcachory. Using 1 as a protest bho killing of two or throe pooplo who had boon caught by U>o Wa-Nkondc lobbing Lhoir granaries, the Arabs massed their forces and marched for this lagoon. On arrival there, it is wild, the leaders of the party climbed into trees, the better to watch the butchery they had ordered. The reeds were then Hred, and the wretched people dying terror-stricken before the flames wcic shot and speaied as they came into the open, while others were burnt alive who remained in the reeds, and some who lied madly into the lacroon perished even more miserably, being dragged down and devoured by crocodiles, who infest it in hundreds. One old person, a woman, was indeed spared, and .she, being totally blind, and as a slave useless, had her ears snipped o'l'ancl was sent back to ' her people. This is the account as given }

I by tho people, and it is not denied by tlio 1 Arabs themselves. It is impossible* to bell with any accuracy tho numbov that have been Carried Off by the Arabs as Slavos but a largo numbor of womon and children arc known to he in their hands. That tho iato of tho majority of the former was not one of blavory only we have boo much reason to tear. A distinguished travotler, Mr •Joseph Thompson, Ims lately made the " blessings of Mahommednn rule in Ahiea" his pet theme, and, as painted its results on the natives as the happiest, to the dispar a^ement of the work of Christian missions. Fortunately, the Kn^lish public in not likely to he easily misled on such a matter, for all tra\clleis, trom Livingstone downwards, have well intormert it ot the means by which that i ulc i-s hiou^ht about, and the miseiy and desolation wrought by the slave luiutcis, whoaio tho pioneeis of that 1 ule and it> eluet piophet^ m these i onions.