TERRIBLE OUTRAGES IN CENTRAL AFRICA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1705, 1 March 1888, Page 4

TERRIBLE OUTRAGES IN CENTRAL AFRICA.

Mozambique, Feb. 26.

Intelligence has been received here that a terrible outrage has been committed by a strong, well-armed body of Arabs, who attacked and overpowered a 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 in the reeds which fringe the shores of the lake, The work of massacre and rapine being over ic the villages the Arab marauders turned their attention to the fugitives hiding in 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 burnt to death er 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 tha 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 established by the Free Church of Scotland along the shores of the lakes known collectively as LiviDgstonia. The mission houses were attacked and plundered, but it is stated that Europeans engaged in mission work escaped without suffering bodily harm.

[Lake Nyassa is a great lake in the south-east of Central Africa, 350 miles long, averaging 38 broad, It is encircled by lofty mountains rising 10,000 feet high, and known as the Livingstone Mountains, There is a Scotch settlement at Livingstonia on the South, and the settlers grow sugar and coffee. There is a small steamei- on the lake, and the settlement at latest advices seemed to be growing and prospering. There is a smaller lake, Shirwa, to the south, with an outlet to the Shire river, an effluent to the Zambesi, There are several British missions and trading settlements about these lakes. A road has been made from Nyassa to Tangayika, where there is also a steamer, and another road was in process of construction from Nyassa to Dar-es-Salam, on the Suaheli coast,]