It is the chief ivory depot in that province, where large quantities are obtained.
He was here detained six months, suffering severely from ulcers in his feet, which prevented him putting them to the ground, and from thence it was, when again able to set out, that he discovered the course of the Lualaba, which occupied him till the year 1871.
From Nyangwe, as before mentioned, he was compelled to return eastward to Ujiji, a distance of seven hundred miles. Manyema, in the province of Ruo, lying directly to the south of it, is inhabited by heathens, each village governed by its own chief, holding little or no communication with their neighbours. The people appear to be mild and inoffensive, though perfect pagans. They posses a considerable amount of ingenuity, and manufacture a most beautiful fabric from fine grass, equal to the finest grass cloth of India.
So numerous are the elephants which range through the wilds of this region, that until the Arabs unhappily made their way into it, the people were accustomed to form their door-posts and partially to build their houses with ivory tusks. The inhabitants, who were then unacquainted with firearms, were so terrified at hearing the reports of the Arabs’ muskets and feeling their effects, that they did not attempt to defend themselves, and already great numbers had been carried off into slavery by the abominable kidnappers.
Dr Livingstone witnessed a horrible massacre committed by one of these wretches, a half-caste Arab, Tagamoyo by name, with his armed slaves, on a number of the helpless inhabitants collected in a market-place on the bank of the Lualaba. While the people, unsuspicious of danger, were assembled, to the number of two thousand, eagerly carrying on their trade, the wretch Tangamoyo suddenly appeared, and opened fire upon them. Numbers were shot down, others rushed to their canoes, and, in their terror, made off without their companions, while many, throwing themselves headlong into the water, were seized by the voracious crocodiles. Upwards of four hundred women and children were killed, while a greater number were carried off into slavery.
The doctor describes the people as of light colour, with well-formed features. Being of gentle manners, they are eagerly sought for by the Arabs, whose wives they sometimes become.
Further to the north he met with a race not darker than the Portuguese, and a remarkably handsome people, who seemed to have a peculiar aptitude for commerce.
In Ruo he discovered some rich copper mines.
On reaching Ujiji, on the 16th of October, 1871, greatly to his dismay he found that Sherrif, into whose charge he had committed his goods, had, believing him to be dead, sold the whole of them for ivory, which he had appropriated.
Thus, the doctor, already suffering fearfully from illness, found himself deprived of the means of purchasing food or paying his way back to the coast. The letters, stores, and provisions sent to him from Zanzibar had been detained on the road.