^ 
 
 5 
 
 
THE BEGINNING 
 
 OF 
 
 SOUTH AFEICAN HISTOEY, 
 
THE BEGINNING 
 
 . OF 
 
 SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE M'CALL THEAL, Litt.D„ LL.D. 
 
 POBEIGN MEMBER OP THE ROYAL ACADEMY OP SCIENCES, AMSTERDAM, CORRESPONDING 
 
 MEMBER OP THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY, LONDON, ETC., ETC., ETC., 
 
 FORMERLY KEEPER OP THE ARCHIVES OF THE CAPE COLONY, AND AT PRESENT 
 
 COLONIAL mSTORIOQRAPHER 
 
 WITH MAPS AND PLATES 
 
 LONDON 
 T. FISHEK UNWIN 
 
 PATEKNOSTEB SQUAEE 
 1902 
 
LONDON 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWKS AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 DUKK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.K., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, 
 
TS7 
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 In January 1896 I completed a small volume which was 
 published in London and Capetown with the title of The 
 Portuguese in South Africa^ and which is now out of print. 
 The preface to that volume was as follows : — 
 
 " A very few years ago, when I prepared my large History, 
 the expression * South Africa ' meant Africa south of the 
 Limpopo. Mainly through the ability of one man — the 
 Eight Honourable Cecil John Khodes — that expression to- 
 day means Africa south of the Zambesi. The event which 
 I took as an initial point — the arrival of Van Eiebeek in 
 Table Valley in April 1652 —has thus come to be incorrect 
 for that purpose, the true starting-point now being the arrival 
 of D'Anaya in Sofala in September 1505. I have therefore 
 written this volume, in order to rectify the beginning of 
 my work. 
 
 " As Bantu tribes that were not encountered by the Dutch, 
 and that differed in several respects from those south of the 
 Limpopo, came into contact with the Portuguese, it was 
 necessary to enlarge and recast the chapters in my other 
 volumes descriptive of the South African natives. I need 
 not give my authorities for what I have now written concern- 
 ing these people, for I think I can say with truth that no 
 one else has ever made such a study of this subject as 
 I have. 
 
 "The Portuguese in South Africa are not entitled to the 
 
 M765387 
 
vl Preface. 
 
 same amount of space in a history as the Dutch, for they 
 did nothing to colonise the country. I think that in this 
 little volume I have given them their just proportion. In 
 another respect also I have treated them differently, for I 
 expended many years of time in research among Dutch 
 archives, and I have obtained the greater part of my informa- 
 tion upon the Portuguese by the comparatively trifling 
 labour of reading and comparing their printed histories. I 
 should not have been justified, however, in issuing this volume 
 if I had not been able to consult the important documents 
 which the Eight Honourable C. J. Khodes caused to be copied 
 at Lisbon for his own use." 
 
 The government of the Cape Colony took a different view 
 of the relative interest of the Portuguese occupation, and 
 considered it advisable that deeper research should be made 
 into the particulars of their intercourse with the native tribes 
 south of the Zambesi in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and 
 eighteenth centuries. I therefore came to Europe in October 
 1896, and the greater portion of my time since that date has 
 been devoted to collecting Portuguese manuscripts and early 
 printed books relating to South-Eastern Africa, translating 
 them into English, and publishing the original texts and 
 the translations. Some Dutch and English manuscripts have 
 also been included. Each volume contains over five hundred 
 pages, and the ninth is now in course of preparation. The 
 series, termed Records of South- Easferii Africa, prepared and 
 printed at the cost of the Cape government, can be seen in 
 the principal public libraries of Europe and the British colonies 
 throughout the world. 
 
 The volume in the reader's hands is an abstract of the 
 documents and printed matter thus collected, with a couple 
 of additional chapters giving a brief narrative of events 
 during the nineteenth century and a chapter upon the 
 earliest inhabitants of the country. It contains about three 
 
Preface, vii 
 
 times as much matter as The Portuguese in South Africa, 
 and must therefore be regarded as a new book. As it 
 stands, it forms Volume I of my History of South Africa. 
 The second edition of Volumes II and III was published 
 in London in September 1897 under the title History of 
 South Africa under the Administration of the Dutch East 
 India Company, 1652 to 1795. Volume IV (second edition 
 in course of preparation) contains the History of the Cape 
 Colony from 1795 to 1834 ; Volume V (second edition pub- 
 lished in 1893) the History of the Cape Colony from 1834 
 to 1848, the History of Natal to 1846, and the History of 
 the Emigrant Farmers to 1854 ; and Volume VI contains 
 the History of the Republics and Native Territories from 
 1854 to 1872 (second edition in 1900). 
 
 The sources of information consulted by me when pre- 
 paring an account of the early English and Dutch voyages 
 to India were records in the India Office, London, and in 
 the Archive Office at the Hague, as well as the following 
 printed books : 
 
 The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffics, and Discoveries 
 of the English Nation, made hy Sea or over Land, to the 
 South and South-east parts of the World, by Richard Hakluyt, 
 preacher, two quarto volumes, London, 1599 ; and Purchas 
 his Pilgrimes, five large volumes, London, 1625. Hakluyt's 
 work was the means of his obtaining the curatorship of 
 the historical and geographical documents of the English 
 East India Company. After his death these papers were 
 entrusted to Purchas, by whom many of them were con- 
 densed and published in his work above named. The 
 original manuscripts have perished. The dates are according 
 to the old style. 
 
 Eerste Schipvaert der Hollanders naer Oost Indien, met vier 
 Schepen onder H heleydt van Cornelis Houtman uyt Texel ghegae7i, 
 Anno 1595. Contained in the collection of voyages known 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 as Begin ende Voortgangh van de Vereenighde Nederlantsche 
 Geoctroyeerde Oost Indische Gompagnie, printed in 1646, and 
 also published separately in quarto at Amsterdam in 1648, 
 with numerous subsequent editions. The original journals 
 kept in the different ships of this fleet are still in existence, 
 from which it is seen that the printed work is only a com- 
 pendium. At the Hague I made verbatim copies for the Cape 
 government of those portions of the original manuscripts 
 referring to South Africa, and I found that one or two 
 curious errors had been made by the compiler of the printed 
 journal. As an instance, the midshipman Frank van der 
 Does, in the ship Hollandia, when describing the Hottentots 
 states : " Haer haer opt hooft stadt oft affgeschroijt waer 
 vande zonne, ende sien daer wyt eenich gelyck een die ft' 
 die door het langhe hanghen verdroocht is." This is given 
 in the printed journal : " Het hayr op hare hoofden is als 
 't hayr van een mensche die een tijdt langh ghehanghen 
 heeft," an alteration which turns a graphic sentence into 
 nonsense. 
 
 Begin ende Voortgangh van de Vereenighde Nederlantsche 
 Geoctroyeerde Oost Indische Gompagnie, vervatende de voornaemste 
 Beysen by de Inwoonderen derselver Provincien derwaerts gedaen. 
 In two thick volumes. Printed in 1646. This work contains 
 the journals in a condensed form of the fleets under Comelis 
 Houtman, Pieter Both, Joris van 8pilbergen, and others, as 
 also the first charter of the East India Company. 
 
 Journael van de Voyagie gedaen met drie Schepen, genaemt 
 den Bam, Schaep, ende het Lam, gevaren uyt Zeelandt, van 
 der Stadt Gamp-Vere, naer d' Oost Indien, onder 't heleyt 
 van den Eeer Admirael Joris van Spilhergen, gedaen in de 
 jaren 1601, 1602, 1603 en 1604. Contained in the collec- 
 tion of voyages known as Begin ende Voortgangh van de 
 Vereenighde Nederlantsche Geoctroyeerde Oost Indische Gom- 
 pfagnie, printed in 1646, and also published separately in 
 
Preface. ix 
 
 quarto at Amsterdam in 1648, with numerous editions there- 
 after. An account of the naming of Table Bay is to be 
 found in this work. 
 
 Loffelyche Voyagie op Oost Indien met 8 Scheepen uyt Tessel 
 gevaren in H Jaer 1606 onder het heleyt van den Admirael 
 Paulus van Gaerden, haer wech genomen hehhende tusschen Mada- 
 gascar ende Ahissina deur. A pamphlet of forty-eight pages, 
 published at Amsterdam in 1646. 
 
 Beschrijvinghe va/n de tweede Voyagie ghedaen met 12 Schepen 
 naer d' Oost Indien onder den Heer Admirael Steven van der 
 Hagen, waer inne verhaelt wert het veroveren der Portugeser 
 Forten op Amhoyna ende Tydor. A pamphlet of ninety-one 
 pages, printed at Amsterdam in 1616. 
 
 de Jonge, J. K. J. : De OpJcomst van het Nederlansch Gezag in 
 Oost Indie. Verzameling van onuitgegeven Stukken uit het oudko- 
 loniaal Ar chief . Uitgegeven en bewerkt door Jhr. Mr. J. K, J, 
 de Jonge. The Hague and Amsterdam. The first part of this 
 valuable history was published in 1862, the second part in 
 1864, and the third part in 1865. These three volumes 
 embrace the general history of Dutch intercourse with the 
 East Indies from 1595 to 1610. They contain accounts of 
 the several early trading associations, of the voyages and 
 successes of the fleets sent out, of the events which led to 
 the establishment by the states-general of the great Chartered 
 East India Company, and of the progress of the Company 
 until the appointment of Peter Both as first governor-general. 
 Rather more than half of the work is composed of copies of 
 original documents of interest. The fourth part, published 
 in 1869, is devoted to Java, and with it a particular account 
 of the Eastern possessions is commenced. The history was 
 carried on as far as the tenth volume, which was published 
 in 1878, but the work was unfinished at the time of the 
 author's death in 1880. 
 
 When preparing the last two chapters of this book 1 con- 
 
X Preface. 
 
 suited a quantity of manuscript records in various places and 
 the following printed volumes : — 
 
 Prior, James : Voyage along the Eastern Coast of Africa to 
 Mozambique, Johanna, and Quiloa, in the Nisus frigate. An 
 octavo volume of one hundred and fourteen pages, published 
 at London in 1819. 
 
 Narrative of Voyages to explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia, 
 and Madagascar, performed in H.M. ships Leven and Barracouta, 
 under the direction of Captain W. F, W» Owen, B.N., by com- 
 mand of the Lords Cominissioners of the Admiralty. Two octavo 
 volumes, London, 1833. The expedition was engaged in sur- 
 veying the East African coast from Delagoa Bay northward 
 at intervals between October 1822 and September 1825. In 
 these volumes there is a good deal of information concerning 
 the Portuguese settlements. 
 
 Botelho, Sebastiao Xavier : Memoria Estatistica sobre os 
 Bominios Portuguezes na Africa Oriental. A crown octavo 
 volume of four hundred pages, published at Lisbon in 183«5. 
 The author of this book was governor and captain general of 
 Mozambique from the 20th of January 1825 to the 21st of 
 August 1829, and therefore one might reasonably expect some- 
 thing authoritative from his pen. But the historical and 
 geographical inaccuracies are so numerous as to prove that 
 his power of observation was small and his capacity for 
 research still less. The book is of very little value. The 
 only chapter in it from which I derived any information at 
 all that I could depend upon is the one containing an account 
 of the prazos of Tete and Sena. 
 
 Ensaios sobre a Statistica das Possessoes Poriuguezas na Africa 
 Occidental e Oriental, na Asia Occidental, na China, e na Oceania, 
 escriptos de ordem do Cover no de sua Magestade Fidelissima a 
 Setihora Dona Maria II, por Jose Joaquim Lopes de Lima e 
 Francisco Maria Bordalo. Three volumes were written before 
 Senhor de Lima's death, and were published at Lisbon 1814 
 
Preface. xi 
 
 to 1846, but he did not reach as far as Eastern Africa. The 
 work was then entrusted to Senhor Bordalo, who completed 
 it in three more volumes. The first of Bordalo's volumes was 
 published at Lisbon in 1859, and is devoted entirely to Eastern 
 Africa. It has been most carefully written, and as its materials 
 were drawn from original documents in the public records and 
 from other trustworthy sources, it is thoroughly reliable. The 
 author treated his subject in a judicial manner, though, as a 
 patriotic Portuguese, he was unable to detect the true causes 
 of his country's want of success in Eastern Africa. No English 
 writer could deal more severely than he with the general 
 corruption of the seventeenth century, or with the decline 
 and fall of missionary enterprise. 
 
 Livingstone, David, M.D. : A Popular Account of Missionary 
 Travels and Researches in South Africa. An octavo volume 
 of four hundred and thirty-six pages, published at London in 
 1861. 
 
 de Lacerda, D. Jose: Exame das Viage^is do JDoutor Living- 
 stone. An octavo volume of six hundred and thirty-five pages, 
 published at Lisbon in 1867. 
 
 Belagoa Bay. Correspondence respecting the claims of Her 
 Majesty's Government. A bluebook of two hundred and fifty- 
 one pages, printed at London in 1875, and presented to both 
 Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. This 
 bluebook contains all the documents and maps put in on both 
 sides when the question of the ownership of the southern and 
 eastern shores of Delagoa Bay was referred for decision to the 
 president of the French Republic. The Portuguese submitted 
 their case in their own language, with a French translation 
 in parallel columns, and the latter only appears in the English 
 bluebook. Those who desire to consult the former can do so 
 in the Portuguese yellow-books entitled, Questdo entre Portugal 
 e a Gran-Bretanha sujeita a arhitragem do Presidente da Bepub- 
 lica Francezay published at Lisbon in 1874. 
 
xii Preface. 
 
 La Hollande et la Baie-Delagoa, par M. L. van Deventer, 
 Ancien Consul General des Pays-Bas. An octavo pamphlet 
 of eighty pages, published at the Hague in 1883. There is a 
 great deal of accurate information in this pamphlet, which 
 was prepared after much research in the archives at the 
 Hague and elsewhere. 
 
 Estudos sdbre as Provincias Ultramarinas, por Joao de 
 Andrade Corvo, Socio effectivo da Academia Eeal das 
 Sciencias de Lisboa. Four octavo volumes published at 
 Lisbon, 1883 to 1887. The second volume of this carefully 
 written and reliable work treats solely of the Portuguese 
 possessions on the eastern coast of Africa, and the first and 
 third also contain useful matter upon the same country. 
 
 Manica: being a Beport addressed to the Minister of the 
 Marine and the Colonies of Portugal, By J. Paiva de Andrada, 
 Colonel of Artillery. A crown octavo pamphlet of sixty-three 
 pages, published at London in 1891. 
 
 Selous, Frederick Courteney : Travel and Adventure iti 
 South-East Africa, heing the Narrative of the last eleven years 
 spent by the Author on the Zambesi and its Tributaries, with 
 an Account of the Colonisation of Mashunaland and the Pro- 
 gress of the Gold Industry in that Country. A royal octavo 
 volume of ^ye hundred and three pages, published at London 
 in 1893. 
 
 Matabelelatid : the War, and our Position in South Africa. 
 By Archibald K. Colquhouu, First Administrator of Mashona- 
 land. A crown octavo volume of one hundred and sixty -seven 
 pages, published in London in 1894. 
 
 De Castilho, Augusto : Districto de Lourengo Marques 
 no presente e no futuro. A crown octavo volume of two 
 hundred and thirty-two pages, published at Lisbon in 1882. 
 The first ninety-four pages are occupied with a well written 
 historical and descriptive account of the station of Lourenpo 
 Marques, the remainder of the book consists of an appendix 
 
Preface. xiii 
 
 containing copies of treaties, letters and reports concerning 
 a railway to Pretoria, and Marshal Macmahon's award. 
 
 A Provincia de Mogamhique e o Bonga, Por Delfim Jose de 
 Oliveira. A pamphlet of forty-two pages, printed at Coimbra 
 in 1879. 
 
 A Expedigao da Zambezia em 1869. A pamphlet of forty- 
 eight pages, printed at Nova Goa in 1870. 
 
 Geo. M. Theal. 
 
 London, Jantmry 1902. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF SOUTH AFBICA. 
 
 Evidence aflforded by ancient shell mounds. — Stone weapons of a remote age. — 
 Ancient workshopB. — Progress in the manufacture of stone implements. — 
 Physical features of the country. — Hunger, disease, and war as factors of 
 progress. — Speculations upon the origin of the Hottentots. — Migrations of 
 the Bantu. — Areas occupied at the close of the fifteenth century by the 
 Hottentots, the Bantu, and the Bushmen. — Skull measurements of the three 
 races. — Variations in appearance of the three races. 
 
 Bushmen : Language. — Dwellings. — Food. — Weapons. — Stone implements. — 
 Clothing. — Ornaments.— Fire-sticks. — Prolificness. — Disposition. — Love of 
 liberty. — Absence of government. — Superstitions. — Low reasoning faculty. 
 — Power of mimicry. — Artistic skill. — Sense of locality. — Ordinary mode of 
 living. — Incapability of improvement. 
 
 Hottentots: Different appearance from Bushmen. — Language. — Division into 
 tribes. — Form of government. — Possession of domestic animals. — Food. — 
 Use of intoxicants. — Clothing. — Ornaments. — Dwellings. — Weapons. — 
 Knowledge of metallurgy. — Manufactures. — Degraded mode of life of 
 impoverished clans. — Superstitions. — Religion. — Disposition. — Marriage 
 customs. — Imaginative powers.— Pastimes. — Capability of improvement. 
 
 Pagel 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE BANTU TRIBES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 Knowledge of the Bantu derivable from Portuguese sources. — ^Area occupied by 
 the Bantu at the beginning of the sixteenth century. — Origin of the title 
 Bantu. — Tribal variations. — Features. — Mixture of blood. — Comparative 
 freedom from disease. — Destruction of deformed children. — Longevity. — 
 Language. — Form of government. — Privileges of members of ruling families. 
 — Law of succession to the chieftainship. — Method of formation of new 
 tribes. — Standard of virtue. — Form of oath. — Revenue of the chiefs. — 
 
xvi Contents. 
 
 Charges upon the government. — Nature of religion. — Instance of the effect 
 of rehgion. — Belief in spirits. — Method of interment of deceased chiefs. — 
 Treatment of widows of deceased chiefs. — Origin of the belief in Qamata. — 
 Belief in the appearance of the spirits of the dead in the form of different 
 animals. — Origin of tribal titles. — Superstitions. — Instances of effect of the 
 belitf in wattr spirits.^Belief in the existence of people living under the 
 water. — Instance of the effect of this belief. — Story of the chameleon and 
 the little lizard. — Legend of the origin of men and animals. — Festivities on 
 the appearance of a new moon. — Duties of tribal priests. — Effect of religion 
 on government. — ^Belief in witchcraft. — ^Rainmakers. — Herbalists. — Belief 
 in charms. — Revolting cruelty to animals. — Use of the daula. — Receptacle 
 for charms .. .. Page 29 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE BANTU — (continued). 
 
 System of traditional law. — Communal responsibility. — Form of legal proceed- 
 ings. — Modes of punishment. — Trials for witchcraft. — Great destruction of 
 life caused by such trials. — Instance of effect of the belief in witchcraft. — 
 Dreadful punishment of relatives of persons pronounced guilty of dealing in 
 witchcraft. — Trial by ordeal. — Method of reckoning time. — Traditional 
 history. — Imperfection of such history. — Characteristics of folklore. — 
 Cause of such tales giving pleasure. — Specimens of proverbs. — Poetry. — 
 War chants. — Musical instruments. — Official praisers of chiefs. — Dynastic 
 names. — Method of giving names to individuals. — Practice of circumcision. 
 — Horrible customs connected with this practice. — Corresponding rites for 
 females. — Ceremonies connected therewith. — ^Practice of polygamy. — Posi- 
 tion of women. — Method of contracting marriage. — Marriage festivities. 
 — Restrictions with regard to the relationship of the man and the woman. — 
 Practice with regard to childless women. — Instance of its observance. — 
 Reasons for marriage giving cause to much litigation. — Slight regard paid 
 to chastity of females. — Polyandrous marriages. — Custom of hlonipa. — 
 Respect of women for their husbands* male relatives in the ascending line. 
 
 Page 56 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE BANTU — {continued). 
 
 Agricultural industry. — ^Method ^f making beer. — Use of wild hemp for 
 smoking. — Method of preserving grain. — Products of gardens. — Animal 
 food. — Method of capturing game. — Insect food. — Hospitality. — Canni- 
 balism. — Land tenure. — Law of trespass. — Sites of kraals. — Huts. — 
 Domestic cattle. — Law of descent of property. — Weapons of war. — 
 Military training. — Clothing. — Ornaments. — Modes of dressing the hair. — 
 Head rests. — Iron manufactures. — Smelting furnaces. — Extent of the 
 
Contents. xvii 
 
 blacksmith's art. — Manufactures of copper. — Manufactures of wood. — 
 Canoes. — Glue vases. — Preparation of skins for clothing. — Collection of gold. 
 — ^Manufacture of earthenware. — Basketwork. — Use of stone. — Habits of 
 the men. — Cattle stealing. — Disregard of truth. — Deceptive powers. — 
 Comparison of the coast tribes with those of the interior. — Freedom from 
 care. — Ordinary life of women. — Amusements of children. — Outdoor games. 
 — Indoor games. — Toys. — The nodiwu. — Method of keeping birds from 
 gardens. — Forms of greeting. — Condition of the Bantu at present. — 
 Intellectual power of children. — Occasional ability of individuals. — 
 Instances of ability. — Want of mechanical genius. — Strong conservatism of 
 the mass of the people .. .. .. .. .. .. Page 78 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ASIATIC IMMIGRANTS IN SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 Appearance of Asiatics in South Africa in remote times. — Erection of numerous 
 massive stone buildings. — The temple of Great Zimbabwe. — Comparative 
 civilisation of its builders. — Their religion. — Articles found in the ruins. — 
 Extensive gold-mining operations of the Asiatic intruders. — Use of African 
 slaves as labourers. — Irrigation works. — Length of the ancient Asiatic 
 occupation. — Fusion of Asiatic and African blood. — Disappearance of the 
 Asiatics from tradition. — Origin of the Emozaidi. — Foundation of Maga- 
 dosho and Brava by Arabs. — Discovery and occupation of Sofala. — Arrival 
 of a party of Persians. — Foundation of Kilwa. — Description of Kilwa. — 
 Quarrels between the different Asiatic settlers. — Conquest of Sofala by 
 Kilwa. — Great power of Kilwa. — Usurpation of the government of Kilwa 
 by the emir Abraham. — Independence of Sofala under the sheik Isuf. — 
 Commerce of the Asiatic settlements. — Utility of the cocoa palm. — Style of 
 vessel in use. — Method of navigation to India. — Articles obtained from 
 India, Persia, and Arabia. — Commerce with the Bantu. — Taxes on trade. — 
 Extent of government by the Asiatics. — Description of the Asiatic colonists. 
 — Description of the mixed breeds. — Description of Magadosho, Brava, 
 Melinde, Mombasa, Pemba, Zanzibar, Mafia, Kilwa, Mozambique, the 
 Zambesi river, Sofala, and Inhambane in 1500. — Cause of Cape Correntes 
 being the limit of navigation by the Asiatics .. .. .. Page 101 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DISCOVERY OF AN OCEAN ROUTE TO INDIA. 
 
 Importance of the discovery of an ocean route to India. — Position of the 
 Mohamedan states at the time. — Previous routes of eastern commerce. — 
 Geographical knowledge before this event. — Devotion of Prince Henrique 
 of Portugal to maritime discovery. — Early exploration by the Portuguese. 
 — Voyages of Diogo Cam. — Expedition under Bartholomeu Dias. — Visit to 
 Angra Pequena. — First entry of European ships into the Indian ocean. — 
 
 h 
 
xviii Contents. 
 
 Visit to Angra dos Vaqueiros, Agoada de Sao Bras, and the islet of Santa 
 Cruz. — Eeturn of the expedition from the mouth of the river Infante. — 
 Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope. — Journey to Aden of Affonso de 
 Paiva and Joao Pires. — Visit of Joao Pires to India and Sofala. — Expedi- 
 tion under Vasco da Gama. — Visit to Saint Helena Bay. — First intercourse 
 between Europeans and Hottentots. — Adventure of Femao Veloso. — Visit 
 to Agoada da Sao Bras. — Naming of Natal. — Intercourse with Bantu at the 
 mouth of the Limpopo. — Visit to the river Kilimane. — Arrival at Mozam- 
 bique. — Events at this island. — Visit to Mombasa. — Friendly reception at 
 Melinde. — Arrival of Da Gama at Calicut. — Events during the return 
 passage to Portugal .. .. .. .. .. .. Page 123 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SUCCEEDING VOYAGES AND CONQUESTS. 
 
 Departure from the Tagus of a fleet under Pedro Alvares Cabral. — Discovery of 
 South America. — Loss of four ships in a tornado. — Death of Bartholomeu 
 Dias. — Arrival of Cabral at Mozambique. — Visit to Kilwa. — Events at this 
 place. — Visit to Melmde. — Events during the return passage. — Visit of 
 Sancho de Toar to Sofala. — New titles assumed by the king of Portugal. — 
 Voyajje of Joao da Nova. — Erection of a place of worship at Agoada de 
 Sao Bras. — Discovery of the island of Saint Helena. — Second voyage of 
 Dom Vasco da Gama. — Visit to Sofala. — Events at Kilwa. — Barbarous 
 treatment of the crew of a captured vessel. — Departure of a squadron 
 under Antonio de Saldanha. — First visit to Table Bay. — Naming of Table 
 Mountain. — Cruise of Buy Lourenco Ravasco. — Voyage of Lopo Scares 
 d'Albergaria. — First shipwreck on the South African coast. — Extension of 
 Portuguese authority in the East. — Appointment of Dom Francisco 
 d' Almeida as viceroy. — Storming and sacking of Kilwa. — Erection at 
 Kilwa of the first Portuguese fort in the East. — Settlement of the govern- 
 ment of Kilwa. — Storming and sacking of Mombasa. — Friendly intercourse 
 with Melinde. — Voyage of Tristao da Cunha. — Destruction of the town of 
 Oja. — Storming and sacking of Brava. — Predominance of the Portuguese 
 on the eastern coast of Africa. — Destruction of a great Mohamedan fleet 
 off Diu. — Succession of Affonso d'Alboquerque to Dom Francisco 
 d' Almeida.— Slaughter of Dom Francisco d' Almeida and sixty-four others 
 in a skirmish with Hottentots near Table Valley. — Names given by the 
 Portuguese to places on the South African coast . . .. ' .. Page 151 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 OCCUPATION OF SOFALA AND MOZAMBIQUE, 
 
 Exags;erAted rumours concerning the gold of Sofala. — Expedition under Pedro 
 d'Anaya. — Occurrence at Flesh Bay. — Shipwreck on the East African 
 
Contents. xix 
 
 coast. — Arrival of the expedition at Sofala. — Interview of Pedro d'Anaya 
 with the sheik Isuf. — Feuds among the Moliamedans. — Erection of a fort at 
 Sofala. — Barbarous conduct of Francisco d'Anaya. — Deaths from fever at 
 Sofala. — Attack upon the fort. — Repulse of the assailants. — Death of the 
 sheik Isuf. — Subjection of the Mohamedans. — Death of Pedro d'Anaya. — 
 Voyage of Cyde Barbudo and Pedro Quaresma. — Account of affairs at 
 Kilwa. — Regulations respecting trade. — Voyage of Vasco Gomes d'Abreu. — 
 Occupation of Mozambique. — Great mortality at Mozambique. — Loss at 
 sea of four ships under Vasco Gomes d'Abreu. — Events at Kilwa. — 
 Abandonment of Kilwa by the Portuguese. — ^Decadence of Kilwa. — Manner 
 of conducting trade at Sofala. — Information given by Diogo d'Alca9ova. — 
 Report of Duarte de Lemos. — Clandestine traffic of the Mohamedans. 
 — Report of Pedro Vaz Scares. — Treatment of the Mohamedans. — 
 Amount of the gold trade. — Dealings with Bantu chiefs. — Unsuccessful 
 attempt to form a station on the Zambesi. — Report of Francisco de Brito. — 
 War between Bantu tribes. — Amount of the ivory trade. — Second attempt 
 to form a station on the Zambesi. — Method of obtaining pearls at the 
 Bazarut a islands .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Page 182 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 INTERCOURSE OF THE PORTUGUESE WITH THE BANTU. 
 
 Position of the Makalanga. — Position of the Batonga. — Origin of the title 
 Monomotapa. — Description of the Makalanga. — Meaning of the word 
 Zimbabwe. — Division of the Kalanga tribe into two sections. — Origin of 
 the Tshikanga chieftainship. — Dealings of the Portuguese with chiefs of 
 clans. — Establishment of the outpost Sena on the Zambesi. — Foundation of 
 Tete. — Foundation of Kilimane. — Exploration of Delagoa Bay by Loureufo 
 Marques and Antonio Caldeira. — Opening of trade at Delagoa Bay and at 
 Inhambane. — Amount of the ivory trade. — Condition of the Portuguese in 
 South-Eastern Africa. — Prevalence of rapacity and corruption. — War with 
 the Turks. — Siege of Diu by the pasha Soleiman. — Heroic defence by the 
 Portuguese under Antonio da Silveira. — Construction of Fort Sao Sebastiao 
 at Mozambique. — Formation of the Company of Jesus. — Account of Dom 
 Goncalo da Silveira. — Attempt by the Jesuits to establish a mission in 
 South x\frica. — Arrival of the missionaries at Otongwe near Inhambane. — 
 Baptism of the chief Gamba and many others. — Journey of Dom Gonfalo 
 da Silveira to the kraal of the Monomotapa. — Separation of the Kiteve 
 chieftainship from that of the Monomotapa. — Baptism of the Monomotapa 
 and many of his people. — Enmity of the Mohamedans to the missionary. 
 — Murder of Dom Goncalo da Silveira. — Account of the mission at 
 Otongwe. — Abandonment of the mission . . .. .. .. Page 211 
 
XX Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DISASTROUS EXPEDITIONS UNDER BARRETO AND HOMEM. 
 
 Accession of Dom Sebastiao to the throne of Portugal. — Scheme of a vast 
 African empire. — Speculations concerning the gold mines of South Africa. 
 — Decision of the table of conscience. — Division of India into three govern- 
 ments. — Appointment of Francisco Barreto as commander of an expedition 
 to South Africa. — Departure of the expedition. — Events on the passage. — 
 Arrival at Mozambique. — Abandonment of the captaincy of Mozambique 
 by Pedro Barreto. — Condition of Mozambique. — Visit of Francisco Barreto 
 to the northern ports. — Events at Mozambique after his return. — Arrival 
 of the expedition at Sena. — Condition of the expeditionary force. — Disaster 
 from sickness at Sena. — Barbarous treatment of the Mohamedans there. 
 — Communication with the Monomotapa. — Advance of the expedition up 
 the Zambesi. — Attack upon the tribe under Mongasi. — Successive victorious 
 encounters. — Distress from sickness and want of provisions. — Necessity 
 of retreating to Sena. — Treacherous conduct of Antonio Pereira Brandao. 
 — Satisfactory arrangements with the Monomotapa. — Construction of a 
 fort at Sena. — Visit of Francisco Barreto to Mozambique. — Return of 
 Barreto to Sena with reinforcements. — Dreadful mortality at Sena. — 
 Death of Francisco Barreto.— Succession of Vasco Fernandes Homem to 
 the chief command. — Retirement to Mozambique of the remnant of the 
 expeditionary force. — Renewed attempt to invade the country by way of 
 Sofala. — Defeat of the Kiteve tribe. — March of the expedition to Masikesi. 
 — Arrangements with the Tshikanga and the Kiteve. — Loss of two hundred 
 men on the Zambesi. — Abandonment of the scheme of conquest. — ^Reversion 
 to the old system of government . . . . . . . . . . Page 232 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 EVENTS TO THE CLOSE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Death of King Sebastiao. — Immediate decline of Portugal. — Causes of her 
 decline in ix)wer. — Union of Portugal and Spain under one king. — 
 Establishment by the Dominicans of missions in South Africa. — Resi- 
 dence of the friar Joao dos Santos at Sofala. — Description of Sofala. — 
 Condition of the Mohamedans. — Productions of Sofala. — Account of a 
 Portuguese chief. — Manner of conducting the coasting trade. — Dealings 
 with the Kiteve. — "Wars among the Bantu. — ^Description of Sena. — Mode 
 of xwi^^iit of officials. — Dealings with the Monomotapa. — Description of 
 Tete. — Account of Bantu subjects of Tete. — Description of the trading 
 stations Masapa, Luanze, and Bukoto. — Account of the Sedanda tribe. — 
 Ignorance of the Portuguese of the country west of the Monomotapa*s 
 territory. — ^Manufactures of the Bantu. — Route of ships between Portugal 
 
Contents, xxi 
 
 imd India. — Appearance on the Zambesi of a horde of ferocious savages. — 
 Separation of the horde into sections. — March of one section to the shore 
 of the Indian sea. — Great damage done by it to Mozambique, Kilwa, and 
 Mombasa. — Defeat of a section of the horde by the captain of Tete. — 
 Practice of cannibalism by the Mumbos and the Mazimba. — Destruction of 
 a Mumbo clan by the captain of Tete. — War between a clan of the 
 Mazimba and the Portuguese of Sena. — March of the people of Tete to 
 the assistance of Sena. — Complete destruction of the Portuguese of Tete. — 
 Murder of the friar Nicolau do Rosario. — Defeat of the people of Sena. 
 — Unsuccessful attempt of the captain of Mozambique to subdue the 
 enemy. — Unsatisfactory terms of peace. — Methods of carrying on trade 
 during the sixteenth century .. .. .. .. .. Page 255 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE DERIVED FROM SHIPWRECKS. 
 
 Loss of the galleon Bao Joao near the mouth of the Umzimvubu river. — 
 Journey of the wrecked people to Delagoa Bay. — Friendly conduct of the 
 Inyaka. — Fate of Manuel de Sousa Sepulveda, his wife Dona Leonor, and 
 many others on the northern bank of the Espirito Santo. — Arrival of a 
 few survivors at Mozambique. — Loss of the Sao Bento at the mouth of 
 the Umtata river. — Terrible journey through an almost iminhabited 
 country. — Arrival at Delagoa Bay. — Sufferings from hunger there. — 
 Rescue of a few survivors. — xiccount of the passage of Francisco Barreto 
 from India to Europe. — Survey of the South African coast by Manuel de 
 Mesquita Perestrello. — Naming of Saint Sebastian's Bay, Saint Francis 
 Bay, and Point Delgada. — Wreck of the Santiago in the Mozambique 
 channel. — Account of the commerce of the delta of the Zambesi. — ^Wreck 
 of the Sao Thome off the eastern coast. — Pitiful scene on the departure of 
 a boat. — Devotion to duty of the friar Nicolau do Rosario. — ^Arrival at 
 Delagoa Bay of the people in the boat. — Sufferings of the people at Delagoa 
 Bay. — Plunder of the trading pangayo by the natives. — Journey of some 
 of the people to Sofala. — Wreck of the Santo Alberto near the mouth of 
 the Umtata. — Account of the natives at the place of the wreck. — Remark- 
 able journey to Delagoa Bay. — Dealings with the natives on the way. — 
 Account of the Bantu tribes south of Delagoa Bay. — Insignificance of the 
 clans south of Natal .. .. .. .. .. .. Page 277 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 APPEARANCE OP RIVALS IN THE EASTERN SEAS. 
 
 Infirmity of Portugal under the Castilian kings. — Early voyages of the French 
 to the eastern seas. — Residence of the Jesuit father Thomas Stephens in 
 
xxii Contents. 
 
 India. — Note upon the book of Sir John Mandeville. — Voyage of Sir 
 Francis Drake round the world. — Adventures of several Englishmen in 
 India. — Voyage of Thomas Candish. — Visit of English ships to Table Bay. 
 — Attempts of the Dutch to discover a north-east passage to India. — 
 Account of Jan Huyghen van Linschoten. — Kesidence of Linschoten in 
 India. — Value of his published writings. — Description of Mozambique. — 
 First voyage of a Dutch fleet to India. — Formation of several companies in 
 the Netherlands to trade with India. — Account by John Davis of the 
 variation of the magnetic needle at the Cape of Good Hoi>e. — Naming of 
 Mossel Bay, Flesh Bay, and Fish Bay by Paulus van Caerden. — Naming 
 of Table Bay by Joris van Spilbergen. — Naming of Dassen Island by Sir 
 Edward Michelbume. — Union of the different trading associations in the 
 Netherlands into one great Company. — Charter of the United Netherlands 
 East India Company. — Capital of the Company. — Advantages to the State 
 from the formation of the Company. — Subsequent modifications of the 
 constitution of the Company. — Departure of its first fleets. — Success of the 
 Company in obtaining territory at the expense of the Portuguese. — 
 Enormous dividends paid to the shareholders .. .. .. Page 302 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE DUTCH AND ENGLISH. 
 
 Desire of the Dutch to obtain possession of the eastern coast of Africa. — Siege 
 of Mozambique by Steven van der Hagen. — Invasion of the territory of the 
 Monomotapa by the Cabires. — Defeat of the Portuguese in the war with 
 the Cabires. — Failure of Van der Hagen to get possession of Fort Sao 
 Sebastiao. — Siege of Mozambique by Paulus van Caerden. — Successful 
 defence of Fort Sao Sebastiao by Dom Estevao d'Ataide. — Destruction of 
 the town and the plantations on the mainland by the Dutch. — Partial 
 repair of the damages by the Portuguese. — Siege of Mozambique by Pieter 
 Willemszoon Verhoeff. — Gallant conduct of Dom Estevao d'Ataide. — Cap- 
 ture of the ship Bom Jesus. — Abandonment of the siege. — Commercial 
 progress of the Dutch. — Use made of Table Bay by the Dutch. — Visit 
 to Table Bay of the first fleet fitted out by the English p]ast India 
 Company. — Voyage of Sir Edward Michelburne. — Last voyage of Captain 
 John Davis. — Use made of Table Bay by the English. — Proclamation of 
 British sovereignty over South Africa by Captains Shillinge and Fitz- 
 herbert. — Attempted alliance between the English and Dutch East India 
 Companies. — Occurrences with Hottentots on the shores of Table Bay. — 
 Account of the Hottentot Cory. — Landing of English convicts on the 
 shores of Table Bay. — Objects of this measure. — ^Visit of Sir Thomas Eoe 
 to Table Valley. — Neglect of South Africa by the English at this time. 
 
 Page 321 
 
Contents. xxlii 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FBUITLESS SEARCH FOR SILVER MINES. 
 
 Pompous instructions issued by King Philippe II. — Ptich specimens of silver 
 ore sent to Lisbon from Mozambique. — War between the chief Tshunzo 
 and the Monomotapa. — Character of the Monomotapa Gasilusere. — Assist- 
 ance given by the Portuguese of Tete and Sena to the Monomotapa. — 
 Success in war of the chief Matuzianye. — Account of Diogo Simoes 
 Madeira. — Cession of mines to the king of Portugal by Gasilusere. — 
 Continuation of the war between Gasilusere and Matuzianye. — Dependence 
 of the Monomotapa upon Diogo Madeira. — Arrival of Dom Nuno Alvares 
 Pereira at Tete as head of an expedition in search of the silver mines. — 
 Defeat and death of Matuzianye. — Arrival of Dom Estevao d'Ataide as 
 successor of Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira. — Changed attitude of the Maka- 
 langa towards the Europeans. — War between the Portuguese and the 
 Monomotapa. — Eecall and death of Dom Estevao d'Ataide. — Proceedings 
 of Diogo Madeira. — Conquest of the tribe under the chief Tshombe. — 
 Conclusion of peace with the Monomotapa. — Occupation of Chicova. — 
 Journey of Gaspar Bocarro from Chicova to Kilwa. — Arrival of the friar 
 Joao dos Santos at Chicova. — Deplorable condition of the garrison of 
 Chicova. — Arrival of the commissioner Francisco da Fonseca Pinto. — 
 Abandonment of Chicova. — Arrival of Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira as 
 commander in chief. — Failure to discover silver mines. — Keversion to the 
 old form of government. — Appointment of an ecclesiastical administrator. 
 — Occurrences at Sofala .. .. .. .. .. .. Page 341 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 EVENTS OF INTEREST FROM 1628 TO 1652. 
 
 Hostility of the Monomotapa Kapranzine to the Europeans. — Murder of an 
 envoy. — Attack upon Masapa and Luanze. — Elevation by the Europeans 
 of Manuza as Monomotapa. — Defeat of Kapranzine. — Declaration by 
 Manuza of vassalage to the king of Portugal. — Baptism of Manuza. — 
 Successful raid by Kapranzine. — Murder of two Dominican friars. — 
 Arrival of the captain of Mozambique with an army. — Conquest of 
 Manika. — Defeat and flight of Kapranzine. — Establishment of new trading 
 stations. — Great extension of mission work by the Dominicans. — Search 
 for mines. — Absurd letters from the king. — Construction of a stockade at 
 Kilimane. — Report upon the country by Pedro Barreto de Rezende. — 
 Description of Sofala, Sena, and Tete. — Account of the Dominican and 
 Jesuit missions. — Condition of the Mohamedans. — Account of the adminis- 
 tration of justice. — Wreck of the ship Sao Qon^alo at Plettenberg's Bay. 
 
xi V Contents. 
 
 — Wreck of the ship Nosm Senhora de Belem on the coast of Pondoland. — 
 Accession of the duke of Bragan9a to the throne of Portugal. — Truce 
 between Portugal and the Netherlands. — Opening of the slave trade with 
 Brazil. — Baptism of the Kiteve. — Dealings with an English ship at Mozam- 
 bique. — Death of the Monomotapa Manuza. — Baptism of his successor. — 
 Formation of a Dutch settlement in Table Valley .. .. Page 365 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 WEAKNESS OP PORTUGUESE RULE IN SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 Successive sovereigns of Portugal. — Close connection between Portugal and 
 England. — Disintegration of the Bantu tribes between the Zambesi and 
 Sabi rivers. — Acquisition of great prazos by individual Portuguese. — 
 Position of the prazo holders. — War between some of the prazo holders 
 and the Monomotapa. — Murder of the Monomotapa. — Appointment of his 
 successor by the Portuguese. — System of female prazo holders. — Description 
 of Sena, Tete, and Sofala in 1667. — Trading stations in the country. — 
 Administration of justice. — Number of places of worship. — General cor- 
 ruption and oppression. — Views of the Jesuit father Manuel Barreto. — 
 Different systems of carrying on trade. — Revolt of the Mohamedans to the 
 north. — Attack upon Mozambique. — Restoration of comparative order by 
 Dom Pedro d' Almeida. — Establishment of free trade. — Schemes of colonisa- 
 tion. — Ruinous competition of Indian traders. — General discontent in the 
 country. — Abolition of free trade. — Establishment of a chartered trading 
 company. — Dissolution of the company. — Resumption of commerce by the 
 royal treasury. — Account of the Jesuit missions in the country. — Estab- 
 lishment by the Jesuits of a seminary at Sena. — Care of the hospital at 
 Mozambique by the order of Saint John of God. — Causes of the decline 
 of the Dominican order. — Activity of the commissary friar Francisco da 
 Trindade. — Destruction of stations. — Extent of territory traversed by 
 missionaries. — Trouble caused by pirate ships and by illicit traders. — 
 Abandonment by the Portuguese of the trade at Delagoa Bay ., Page 387 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 EVENTS DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Condition of the Portuguese government at home. — Ability of the marquis of 
 Pombal. — Perpetual wars among the Bantu. — Instances of wars between 
 the Portuguese and the Bantu. — Attempt to support the Monomotapa. — 
 Events connected with the friar Constantino do Rosario, son of the Mono- 
 motapa. — Corruption in commercial affairs. — Reasons of the court at Lisbon 
 for trying to preserve the Afiican trade, — Occupation of Delagoa Bay by 
 
Contents. xxv 
 
 the Dutch from 1721 to 1730. — Trade with foreigners at Mozambique. — 
 Change in the character of the commerce. — Attempts of the Dutch to carry 
 on commerce at Inhambane. — Construction by the Portuguese of a fort at 
 Inhambane. — Description of Inhambane in 1771. — Introduction of municipal 
 government. — Treatment of the Mohamedans. — Decline of the Dominican 
 order. — Number of missionaries in the country. — Expulsion of the Jesuits 
 from the Portuguese dominions. — Suppression of the Company of Jesus. — 
 Withdrawal of the Dominicans from South-Eastern Africa. — Establishment 
 of secular priests in the country. — Extinction of Christianity among the 
 Bantu. — Number of professing Christians in the country at the beginning 
 of the nineteenth century. — Failure of an attempt to introduce colonists 
 from India. — Neglect of Delagoa Bay. — Attempt of an Austrian Company 
 to occupy Delagoa Bay. — Erection of a fort at Louren^o Marques by the 
 Portuguese. — Destruction of the fort by the French. — Use made of Delagoa 
 Bay by English and American whaling ships. — Condition of the country 
 at the close of the eighteenth century. — Exploration of the territory to the 
 westward .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Page 408- 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE LOWEST POINT OP PORTUGUESE AUTHOBITY. 
 
 Condition of Portugal during the first half of the nineteenth century. — State of 
 affairs in South-Eastern Africa. — Progress of the slave trade. — Events at 
 Delagoa Bay. — Establishment by the Portuguese of a Whale Fishing" 
 Company. — Visit of an English surveying expedition to Delagoa Bay. — 
 Particulars concerning the cession of territory to Great Britain. — Changes 
 in the old names of rivers. — Captain Oweu's description of Portuguese East 
 Africa. — Particulars concerning the slave trade. — Visit of Commodore 
 Nourse to Delagoa Bay. — Account by the reverend Mr. Threlfall of occur- 
 rences after Commodore Nourse's departure. — Exterminating wars of the 
 Abagaza. — Destruction of Lourenco Marques. — Career of the Angoni. — 
 Destruction of Inhambane and Sofala. — Description of Sena. — Partial 
 destruction of Sena. — Dreadful havoc among the Bantu. — Reoccupation of 
 the Portuguese stations. — Further attacks upon Inhambane and Lourenco 
 Marques. — Census of Louren9o Marques in 1878. — Occupation of Chiloane- 
 and Santa Carolina. — Continuation of the slave trade. — Laws regarding; 
 other commerce. — Creation of a council for the province of Mozambique.^ 
 — Improvement of the courts of justice. — Reoccupation of Zumbo. — 
 Crossing of the continent in both directions between Tete and Loandat 
 by two native traders. — Account of the exploring expedition under Major 
 Monteiro. — Crossing of the continent from Zanzibar to Angola by thiee 
 Arab traders. — Account of the chief Sebetuane. — Crossing of the continent 
 by the reverend Dr. Livingstone .. .. .• .. .. Page 429 
 
xxvi Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 REVIVAL OF ACTIVITY IN TOBTUGUESE SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 Effect upon tlie importance of Delagoa Bay of the occupation of tlie interior by 
 Europeans. — Declaration of British sovereignty over the islands Inyaka and 
 Elephant. — Account of the civil war in the Gaza tribe. — Conduct of the 
 chief Umzila towards the Portuguese. — Conclusion of a treaty bet^veen the 
 Portuguese and the South African Republic. — Submission to arbitration of 
 Great Britaia's claim to the southern and eastern shores of Delagoa Bay 
 — Adverse decision of the president of the French Republic. — Construction 
 of a railway from LoureD90 Marques to the interior. — Present condition of 
 Lourenco Marques. — Foundation of the town of Beira. — Particulars con- 
 cerning the dispute between Great Britain and Portugal as to the possession 
 of the interior. — Occupation of Rhodesia by the British South Africa 
 Chartered Company. — Dealings with the chief Umtasa. — Services performed 
 by Gouveia. — Occurrences between British and Portuguese officials at 
 Umtasa's kraal. — Defeat of Portuguese volunteers by British police. — 
 Treaty between Great Britain and Portugal fixing a boundary and pro- 
 viding commercial facilities. — Construction of a railway from Beira inland. 
 — Description of Beira. — Account of the Mozambique Company. — Insurrec- 
 tion of Nyaude and his son Bonga. — Description of Tete.— Successful war 
 with Gungunyana. — Condition of the country at present . . Page 448 
 
 Index .. .. Page 469 
 
 Maps and Plates. 
 
 Map showing the territory occupied by different races in 
 
 South Africa in 1500 .. .. .. .. .. To face page 100 
 
 -Chart of the eastern coast of Africa frequented by Mohamedans 
 
 in 1500 „ „ 122 
 
 Photograph of Manuel de Mesquita Perestrello's map of the 
 
 South African coast in 1576 „ „ 290 
 
 Photograph of a plan of Sofala in 1634 by Pedro Barreto de 
 
 Rezende .. .. .. .. .. .. .. „ „ 374 
 
 Photograph of a picture of the baptism of the Monomotapa in 
 
 1652 „ „ 386 
 
 Map of Portuguese South Africa in 1902 „ „ 462 
 
THE BEGINNING 
 
 OP 
 
 SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 In the present condition of geological knowledge it is impossible 
 to determine whether South Africa has been the home of human 
 beings for as long a time as Europe, but it is certain that men 
 have roamed over its surface from an exceedingly remote period. 
 The ancient shell mounds along the coast are usually regarded 
 as furnishing one proof of this fact. The first of these that 
 was examined was a heap formerly to be seen in a cave at 
 Mossel Bay, but one much larger has of late years been dis- 
 covered on the left bank of a tributary of the Buffalo river at 
 East London. Its discovery was due to the opening of a quarry, 
 for it had the semblance of a natural mound, being covered with 
 a deep layer of vegetable soil, in which trees were growing ; and 
 this appearance it had presented as far back as could be traced. 
 Upon examination — which was very thorough, as some forty-two 
 thousand cubic yards of it were removed to fill a lagoon — it was 
 found to consist of a mass one hundred and fifty feet long and 
 forty feet deep, composed of oyster, mussel, and other shells, 
 mixed with bones of animals of various kinds, ashes, and pieces 
 of coarse pottery. No stone implements were obtained in it, but 
 stones showing the action of fire were common. 
 
 B 
 
2 History of South Africa, 
 
 The most ancient shell heaps that have yet been discovered, 
 however, may have had their origin at a time not vastly remote, 
 though beyond doubt a great many centuries must have passed 
 away since such a one as that at East London began to be formed. 
 Much older are various stone implements shaped by human 
 hands, which have been found in situations where they must 
 have lain undisturbed for an incalculable length of time. They 
 have been picked up, for instance, in gravel washed by a stream 
 into a recess when its bed of hard rock was more than forty feet 
 higher than it is at present; in a stratum that once was the 
 muddy bottom of a pond, but is now the crown of a hill, and 
 where they must have been deposited before the commencement 
 of the wearing down of the ravine that separates the hill from a 
 long slope beyond it ; and at great depths in eeolian rock, where 
 bones of animals and shells are also found.* 
 
 None of the spearheads, scrapers, knives, or choppers for 
 cracking bones were ground or polished, as chipping comprised all 
 the labour that was bestowed upon them. They were the products 
 of the skill of man in the lowest stage of his existence. Workshops 
 where they were manufactured have been discovered in various 
 places, and to some of these the raw material, or unchipped stone, 
 must have been brought from a considerable distance. The 
 artisans may have lived there permanently, or, what is more 
 probable, some superstition may have been connected with the 
 localities. At these factories a quantity of stone from which 
 flakes have been struck, some raw material, a very few finished 
 articles, and a great many broken ones usually lie wholly or 
 partially hidden by drift sand or mould, and it is generally by 
 accident that they are discovered. 
 
 The most ancient implements were almost as skilfully made 
 as those in use for similar purposes by one section of the in- 
 habitants — the Bushmen — when Europeans first visited the 
 country, but during the long period that must have elapsed the 
 inventive faculty of man had not been entirely idle. One imple- 
 
 * See the paper on The Antiquity of Man in South Africa^ by George R. 
 McKay, Esqre., in the pamj^hlet No. 2 of BeJangrijJce Bistorische Dohumenten 
 published by me in Capetown in 1896 
 
Early Inhabitants. 3 
 
 ment at least, and that one requiring more skill, time, and 
 patience to prepare it than were needed in forming any of the 
 others, liad been brouglit into general use. The spherical per- 
 forated stone, which is not found in any of the oldest deposits, 
 shows a considerable advance in art upon the chipped lance head 
 of the early river gravel washings. Still, progress, though thus 
 measurable, was exceedingly slow during the countless centuries 
 that had passed away. In the earliest stages of man's develop- 
 ment three causes must have operated in forcing him to think : 
 hunger, disease, and war. These were the elementary factors of 
 civilisation. In favourable localities in other parts of the world 
 commerce, as a powerful factor, came at a later period, but in 
 South Africa that stage was not easily arrived at. 
 
 This is not surprising if the physical condition of the country 
 be considered. The land rises from the ocean level in terraces 
 or steps, until a vast interior plain is reached. Deep gorges have 
 been worn by the action of water, in some places internal forces 
 have caused elevations, in other places depressions, and every- 
 where along the margins of the terraces distortions may be 
 seen. There are no navigable rivers, and the coast is bold and 
 unbroken. The steep fronts of the terraces, which from the 
 lower side appear to be mountain ranges, and the absence of 
 running water in dry seasons over large surfaces tended like- 
 wise to prevent intercourse, not only with the outer world, but 
 between the different parts of the country. The rude people 
 were left to themselves, without that stimulus to improvement 
 which contact with strangers gives. There was no necessity to 
 exert the mind to provide clothing or habitations, for the climate 
 is mild, and even on the elevated interior plain, though the 
 nights in winter are sharp and cold, snow never lies long on the 
 ground. Like the wild animals, man on occasions of severe 
 weather could find some temporary shelter. 
 
 Hunger must have forced him to think, to plan the destruction 
 of game, to search for edible plants, and to reject those that were 
 noxious ; but after becoming acquainted with the flora in his 
 locality and with the use of poison in the chase, that factor would 
 lose much of its potency. The cultivation of the ground or the 
 
 B 2 
 
4 History of Sotith Africa, 
 
 domestication of animals could no more enter the mind of a savage 
 in the early pal?eolithic stage than into that of a child learning to 
 walk. Disease would compel him to think, but only in an in- 
 finitesimal degree when compared with a modern European, for 
 his ailments were few and were in general attributed to witchcraft. 
 War would be a more powerful factor in obliging him to exercise 
 his mind, and to it probably was due the gradual though tardy 
 improvement in his weapons by the selection of harder stone and 
 by fashioning them more carefully. But slow indeed was the 
 progress in cultivation from the hunter who used the roughly 
 formed spear-head of shale found in the seolian conglomerate to 
 the Bushman who shot his bone-tipped arrow at an antelope only 
 a century ago. 
 
 At length, however, another class of human beings appeared 
 on the western and southern coasts. Where they came from no 
 one can say, nor how they reached South Africa. Completely 
 isolated, few in number, in many respects differing greatly from 
 Bushmen while in others closely resembling those people, their 
 presence here is as yet an unsolved mystery. That their occupa- 
 tion is only modern is, however, tolerably certain : that is the 
 time that has elapsed since their arrival is but short compared with 
 the long period that Bushmen have been living in the country. 
 
 The highest authority upon the Hottentot language, the late 
 Dr. Bleek, was of opinion that these people were of North African 
 origin, and their speech decidedly favours that view. It is 
 possible that in some very remote age and in some locality 
 beyond the equator, a section of the Bushman race was forced 
 to adopt a different language, to mingle its blood with that of 
 conquerors, and to live under circumstances favourable to im- 
 provement ; and that in course of time one of its offshoots made 
 its way intact to the southern shore. But as the obstacles in the 
 way of such a migration appear to be almost insurmountable, it 
 has been suggested by some writers as more likely that a party of 
 intruding males of light brown or yellow colour, driven down 
 from the north in such vessels as were in use three or four 
 thousand years ago, took to themselves women of Bushman 
 blood, and thus gave origin to the people whom Europeans term 
 
Early Inhabitants. 5 
 
 Hottentots. The difficulties to be met by this supposition seem 
 to be as great as those presented by the other, for instance under 
 it the possession of oxen and sheep by the Hottentots cannot be 
 accounted for; so that the question remains as yet entirely 
 speculative. 
 
 At a period still later than the advent of the Hottentots, a 
 gradual pressure of the Bantu tribes of Central Africa into the 
 southern part of the continent began to take place. When they 
 crossed the Zambesi cannot be determined, but probably it was 
 earlier than the commencement of the Christian era by many 
 hundreds of years. They did not extend beyond the Limpopo, 
 however, until a much later date. The legends of all the tribes 
 south of that river, none of which can be more than a few 
 centuries old, point to a distant northern origin, and in some 
 instances particulars are given which prove the traditions to be in 
 that respect correct. For instance, the Barolong antiquaries assert 
 that their ancestors, in the time of a chief whose name is still 
 preserved, migrated from a country where there were great lakes 
 and where at one time of the year shadows were cast towards the 
 north. 
 
 Towards the close of the fifteenth century of our era, when 
 Europeans first had communication with natives of South Africa, 
 the belt of land comprising the lowest and the second terrace 
 along the western coast from about twenty or thirty miles above 
 Walfish Bay southward to the Cape of Good Hope, and thence 
 eastward to the Umtamvuna river, was occupied — though thinly — 
 by Hottentot tribes. The same people were to be found about the 
 lower courses of the Vaal and Modder rivers and along the banks 
 of the Orange from the junction of the Vaal to the sea. They 
 were not known either on the eastern side of the continent or else- 
 where in the interior. 
 
 The Bantu at that time occupied the choicest parts of the 
 country north of a straight line from a point a little above Walfish 
 Bay through the head waters of the Vaal river to the second range 
 of mountains from the Indian ocean, and extended south of that 
 line along the eastern coast as far as the Umtamvuna river. They 
 were not to be found in the remaining portion of Soutli Africa. 
 
6 History of SotUh Africa. 
 
 Bushmen roamed over the entire country south of the Zambesi 
 from sea to sea, and were the only inhabitants of the rugged 
 mountains and arid plains between the Hottentot and Bantu 
 borders. As they could hold their own fairly well against the 
 Hottentots, they were more numerous along the western and 
 southern coasts than along the eastern, where the Bantu had 
 better means of exterminating them. 
 
 The skull measurements show great differences in the three 
 races, though the number — especially of Hottentot skulls — care- 
 fully examined by competent men is as yet too small for an 
 average to be laid down with absolute precision. 
 
 What is termed the horizontal cephalic index, that is the 
 proportion of the breadth of a skull to its length, is given by 
 Professor — now Sir William — Flbwer, conservator of the museum 
 of the Eoyal College of Surgeons of England, from thirteen Bantu 
 specimens as 73 to 100. The highest in this series is 76*8, and 
 the lowest 68 '4 Dr. Gustaf Fritsch, from thirteen specimens, 
 gives the average as 72 to 100. The highest in this series is 78, 
 and the lowest 64*3. M. Paul Broca, the French authority, gives 
 the average of his measurements as 72. Thus the Bantu are 
 dolichocephali, that is people whose skulls average in breadth 
 less than three-fourths of their length. The average horizontal 
 cephalic index of white people is 78*7. 
 
 Of Hottentots, only four that are certainly genuine specimens 
 are given in Professor Flower's volume. The average horizontal 
 cephalic index of these is 72*7, the highest being 75, and the 
 lowest 70 • 3. Dr. Fritsch had also only four skulls which were 
 certainly those of Hottentots. The average horizontal cephalic 
 index of these he found to be 72*6, the highest being 77, and the 
 lowest 65*9. M. Broca gives this index from his measurements 
 as 72. The Hottentots are thus certainly true dolichocephali. 
 
 Of genuine Bushman skulls, Professor Flower gives the 
 measurements of five. The average horizontal cephalic index is 
 76-6, the highest being 78*4, and the lowest 75*7. The late 
 Dr. George KoUeston, professor of anatomy in the University of 
 Oxford, in an appendix to Oates' Matabeleland, gives the measure- 
 ments of six Bushman skulls in the museum of the university. 
 
Early Inhabitants. 7 
 
 The average horizontal cephalic index he found to be 75*7, the 
 highest being 81, and the lowest 70. Dr. Fritsch measured five 
 Bushman skulls, and found the average horizontal cephalic index 
 74-2, the highest being 78*5, and the lowest 69-5. M. Broca 
 found the average of his measurements as low as 72, but it is 
 doubtful whether his specimens were not Hottentot skulls. It 
 would appear that the Bushmen are on the border line separating 
 the dolichocephalic from the mesaticephalic races, the breadth of 
 skulls of the latter averaging between three-fourths and four-fifths 
 of the lencrth. 
 
 o 
 
 The cranial capacity, or size of the brain of each, is given by- 
 Professor Flower as: Bantu 1485, Hottentot 1407, and Bushman 
 1288 cubic centimetres. The average brain of a European is 1497 
 cubic centimetres in size. Dr. EoUeston found the average 
 cranial capacity of his six Bushman specimens as low as 1195 
 cubic centimetres, and all other recorded measurements place these 
 people among the extreme microcephalic or small-skulled races. 
 The Hottentots in this classification are mesocephali, a name 
 applied to races whose average cranial capacity is between 1350 
 and 1450 cubic centimetres, and the Bantu, like Europeans, are 
 megacephali or large-skulled. 
 
 The alveolar index, index of prognathism, or the slope of a line 
 from the top of the forehead to the point in the upper jaw between 
 the insertion of the front teeth, is an important characteristic. 
 According to the angle which this line makes with the horizontal 
 plane of the skull, races are classified as orthognathous, mesog- 
 nathous, or prognathous. In this classification the Bushman 
 comes nearest the European, his face being much more vertical 
 than that of either of the others. Between the Hottentots and 
 the Bantu there is scarcely any difference. 
 
 A marked feature of the Bushman skull is the smaUness of 
 the lower jaw and the want of prominence of the chin. In this 
 respect he is among the least advanced of all races. The lower 
 jaw of the Hottentot is much better formed, but is not by any 
 means as massive as that of a member of the Bantu family or a 
 European. The skulls of these South African races also differ 
 from each other and from those of Europeans in many particulars 
 
8 History of South Africa. 
 
 which axe only intelligible to professional anatomists. This 
 subject can be studied in special works, and it is not necessary 
 therefore to enter more deeply into it here. 
 
 The greatest differences between the three divisions of people 
 who lived in South Africa in ancient times are now believed 
 to be in the constitution of their minds, but early observers did 
 not detect these. The variations which they noticed were chiefly 
 the following : 
 
 Bushmen : frame dwarfish,* colour yellowish brown, face 
 fox-like in outline, eyes small and deeply sunk, head dotted over 
 with little knots of twisted hair not much larger than pepper- 
 corns, ears without lobes, stomach protuberant, back exceedingly 
 hollow, limbs slender ; weapons bow and poisoned arrow ; pursuits 
 those of a hunter; government none but parental; habitations 
 caverns or mats spread over branches of trees ; domestic animal 
 the dog ; demeanour that of perfect independence ; language 
 abounding in clicks and in deep guttural sounds. 
 
 Hottentots : frame slight but sometimes tall, better formed 
 than Bushmen, but back hollow, head scantily covered with little 
 tufts of short crisped hair, cheeks hollow, nose flat, eyes far apart 
 and often to appearance set obliquely, hands and feet small, 
 colour yellow to olive; weapons assagai, knobkerie, bow and 
 poisoned arrow, shield ; pursuits pastoral and to a very limited 
 extent metallurgic; government feeble; habitations slender 
 frames of wood covered with skins or reed mats; domestic 
 animals ox, sheep, and dog; demeanour inconstant, marked by 
 levity ; language abounding in clicks. 
 
 Bantu : frame of those on the coast generally robust and as 
 well formed as that of Europeans, of those in the interior some- 
 what weaker, head covered closely with crispy hair, cheeks full, 
 nose usually flat but occasionally prominent, hands and feet large, 
 colour brown to deep black ; weapons assagai, knobkerie, shield, 
 and among the northern tribes battle-axe and bow and arrow ; 
 
 * Occasionally among the Maearwa, or Bushmen of the Betshuana country, 
 individuals over five feet and a half in height are found, but these are to a 
 certainty mixed breeds. They show Bantu blood in their darker colour as well 
 as in their general form and size. 
 
Description of the Bushmen, 9 
 
 pursuits agricultural, pastoral, and metallurgic ; government 
 firmly constituted, with perfect system of laws ; habitations 
 strong framework of wood covered with thatch ; domestic animals 
 ox, goat, sheep, dog, barnyard poultry; demeanour ceremonious, 
 grave, respectful to superiors in rank ; language musical, words 
 abounding in vowels and inflected to produce harmony in 
 sound. 
 
 THE BUSHMEN, TERMED BY THE HOTTENTOTS SANA, BY THE 
 BANTU ABATWA. 
 
 The pigmy hunters, who were the oldest inhabitants of South 
 Africa, received from the first European colonists the name of 
 Bushmen, on account of their preference for places abounding 
 in bushes, where they had a wonderful faculty of concealing 
 themselves, owing to the colour of their skins being almost the 
 same as that of the soil. They were members of a race that 
 in early ages was spread over the whole continent south of the 
 Sahara, and of which remnants still exist on both sides of the 
 equator. 
 
 Their language has not been examined very carefully, except 
 by the late Dr. Bleek and by Miss L. Lloyd, whose researches 
 have only partly been published. It is known, however, to be 
 low in order as a means of expressing any but the simplest ideas, 
 and to be divided into a great number of dialects, some of which 
 vary as widely as English from German. Many of its apparent 
 roots are polysyllabic, but there is a doubt whether some of 
 these are not really composites. It is so irregular in its con- 
 struction that the plural of nouns is often formed by reduplica- 
 tion, as if we should say " dog dog " instead of " dogs," and some- 
 times a plural idea is expressed by a word which has nothing in 
 common with the one which expresses the singular. Yet there 
 is an instance of a dual form in the first personal pronoun. In 
 none of the dialects has any word for a numeral higher than three 
 been discovered, from that number up to ten being indicated by 
 showing fingers, and all beyond being termed a great many. Dr. 
 Eleek and Miss Lloyd found that the language could be repre- 
 
lo History of South Africa. 
 
 sented in writing, though to the ear it sounds like a continuous 
 clattering combined with hoarse sounds proceeding from the 
 depths of the throat. 
 
 The Bushmen inhabited the deserts, which they possessed 
 undisturbed by invasions of other races, and the mountains in 
 those parts that were occupied by Hottentots and Bantu, against 
 whom they carried on incessant war. 
 
 A cave with its opening protected by a few branches of trees, 
 or the centre of a small circle of bushes over which mats or skins 
 of wild animals were stretched, was the best dwelling that they 
 aspired to possess. Failing either of these, they scooped a hole 
 in the ground, placed a few sticks or stones round it, an^ spread 
 a mat or a skin above to serve as a roof. A little grass at the 
 bottom of the hole formed a bed, and though it was not much 
 larger than the nest of an ostrich, a whole family could manage 
 to lie down in it. 
 
 The ordinary food of these people consisted of roots, berries, 
 wild plants, locusts, larvse of ants — now commonly called Bush- 
 man rice by European colonists, — reptiles, birds, and mammalia 
 of all kinds. No chance of plundering the pastoral tribes of 
 domestic cattle was allowed to escape them. They were capable 
 of remaining a long time without food,* and could then gorge 
 immense quantities of meat without any ill effects. They were 
 careless of the future, and were happy if the wants of the moment 
 were supplied. Thus, when a large animal was killed, no trouble 
 was taken to preserve a portion of its flesh, but the time was 
 spent in alternate gorging and sleeping until not a particle of 
 carrion was left. When a drove of domestic cattle was stolen, 
 several were slaughtered at once and their carcasses shared with 
 birds of prey, while if their recapture was considered possible, 
 every animal was hamstrung or killed. Such wanton destruction 
 caused them to be detested by the other dwellers in the land, by 
 whom they were regarded simply as wild animals. Even in the 
 
 * Dr. Alfred llillier, who has made a special study of these people, is of 
 opinion that this is at least partly due to the great quantity of adipose matter 
 stored up in their protuberant hips, which is most observable when they have 
 abundance of food. 
 
Description of the Bushmen, 1 1 
 
 last years of the nineteenth century missionaries have only with 
 much difficulty been able to persuade the most intelligent Bantu 
 that Bushmen had rights as human beings, which it behoved them 
 to respect. 
 
 Their weapons were bows and arrows. The bows were 
 nothing more than pieces of saplings or branches of trees about 
 four feet in length, scraped down a little, and strung with a 
 thong of raw hide or a cord formed by twisting together the 
 sinews of animals. The arrows were from twenty to thirty 
 inches in length, made of reeds pointed generally with bone, 
 but sometimes with sharp stone flakes, and with triangular iron 
 heads whenever these were taken from Hottentot enemies. The 
 arrowhead and the lashing by which it was secured to the reed 
 were coated with a deadly poison, so that the slightest wound 
 caused death. The arrows were carried in a quiver usually made 
 of the bark of a species of euphorbia, which is still called by 
 Europeans in South Africa the kokerboom or quiver tree. They 
 were formidable solely on account of the poison, as they could 
 not be projected with accuracy to any great distance, and had but 
 little force. In after years the colonists considered their clothing 
 ample protection at fifty yards' distance. The Bushmen made pits 
 for entrapping game, and also poisoned pools of water, so that 
 any animal that drank perished. 
 
 They used stone flakes for various purposes, but took no 
 trouble to polish them or give them a neat appearance. Their 
 knives, scrapers, and awls for piercing skins were commonly made 
 of horn or bone. I'here was a stone implement, however, which 
 was in general use. It was a little spherical boulder, from three 
 to six inches in diameter, such as may be picked up in abundance 
 in many parts of the country, through the centre of which the 
 Bushman drilled a hole large enough to receive a digging-stick, 
 to which it gave weight. With the tools at his disposal, this 
 must have required much time and patience, so that in his eyes 
 a stone when drilled undoubtedly had a very high value. On it 
 he depended for food in seasons of drought, when all the game 
 had fled from his part of the country. Drilled stones from an 
 inch to three inches in diameter have occasionally been found in 
 
12 History of South Africa. 
 
 tracts of country once inhabited by Bushmen, but from which 
 those savages have long since disappeared. None so small as 
 these have been noticed in use in recent times. It is conjectured 
 that they were intended as amulets. 
 
 There is no record of a European having ever seen a Bushman 
 manufacturing stone implements, and no one appears to have 
 made inquiry into the matter until it was too late to derive any 
 information from the people themselves. When they were first 
 met, they had such implements in use, and wherever they lived 
 such implements are still to be found, hence it is assumed that 
 they made them. 
 
 In many other parts of the world perforated stones are plenti- 
 ful, but most of them differ in some respects from those drilled 
 by the Bushmen, which were all of one type. In the Antiquarian 
 Museum at Edinburgh there is a very fine collection of such 
 stones found in Scotland. There are small ones evidently used 
 in comparatively recent times as weights for nets and in spinning, 
 there are enormously large ones also of not very ancient manu- 
 facture, and there are many four or five inches in diameter, the 
 usual size of the Bushman implement. Some are elegantly 
 ornamented, showing the use of tools of metal. Others have 
 holes the same size throughout, leading to a similar conclusion. 
 Those that have holes narrowing from both sides towards the 
 centre, like all the Bushman stones, are usually flat at top and 
 bottom, not globular in form. The Bushman for some unknown 
 reason preferred an approximate sphere, thus any observant eye 
 with a series of each in view would at once detect that they wore 
 made by different classes of workmen. 
 
 A few chipped flakes and other weapons of stone much larger 
 than those ordinarily used by Bushmen have been picked up in 
 South Africa in situations where it is supposed they cannot have 
 been left by individuals of the stronger Hottentot race, and these 
 have given rise to an opinion that the country may once have 
 been occupied by more robust savages. Traditional stories have 
 been gathered from Bushmen themselves, in which they speak of 
 an older race. But weapons made by Hottentots for their own 
 use could have been taken from them and removed to a great 
 
Description of the Bushmen. 13 
 
 distance by their puny enemies, and the traditions probably refer 
 to the supplanting of one horde by another in a particular locality. 
 There is no other evidence that the Bushmen were not the earliest 
 inhabitants of South Africa, and this seems altogether too slight 
 a foundation to build a theory upon. 
 
 People in a low condition of society do not use clothing for 
 purposes of modesty, but to protect themselves against inclement 
 weather. And as the Bushmen were hardly affected by any 
 degree of either heat or cold that is experienced in this country, 
 whether on the plains in midsummer or on the mountains in 
 midwinter, the raiment of the males was usually scanty, and in 
 the chase was throwa entirely aside. At the best it consisted 
 merely of the skin of an animal wrapped round the person. 
 Adult females wore a little apron, and fastened a skin over their 
 shoulders in such a way that an infant could be carried on their 
 backs. Both sexes used belts, which in times of scarcity they 
 tightened to assuage the pangs of hunger, and whenever they had 
 the means they rubbed their bodies with grease and clay or 
 soot, which made them even more ugly than they were by 
 nature. 
 
 When the men expected to meet an enemy, they fastened 
 their arrows in an erect position round their heads, in order to 
 appear as formidable as possible. But they never exposed them- 
 selves unnecessarily to danger, and tried always to attack from 
 an ambush or a place that would give them the advantage of 
 striking the first blow before their adversaries were aware of their 
 presence. A poisoned arrow, shot from a little scrub in which 
 a Bushman was lying concealed, often ended the career of an 
 unwary Hottentot traveller. 
 
 The Bushmen wore few ornaments, not because they were 
 careless about decorating their persons, but because it was difficult 
 to obtain anything for the purpose. They were without metal, 
 and in the vast interior, as they knew nothing of commerce, they 
 could not obtain sea-shells. Yet some of them contrived to make 
 necklaces, which were worn by the men and women, not by the 
 children. They cut little circular disks of tortoise and ostrich 
 egg shells, drilled holes in them, and strung them on thongs. It 
 
14 History of South Africa. 
 
 requires some reflection to realise the amount of patient labour 
 expended upon a single ornament of this kind, manufactured 
 with stone and bone implements. In other cases they made 
 grooves round the teeth of animals, and then strung a number 
 together. 
 
 A consideration of how much value such a simple implement 
 as a tinder-box would have had to these people may aid in 
 enabling a European to comprehend the life that they led. They 
 knew how to procure fire by twirling a piece of wood round 
 rapidly in the socket of another piece, but the preparation of the 
 apparatus took much time, and a considerable amount of labour 
 was needed to produce a flame. Under these circumstances, it 
 was a task of the women to preserve a fire when once made, and 
 as they moved their habitations to a large animal when it was 
 killed, instead of trying to carry the meat away, this was often 
 a difficult matter. Sometimes it necessitated carrying a burning 
 stick fifteen or twenty miles, or when it was nearly consumed, 
 kindling a fire for the sole purpose of getting another brand to 
 go on with. No small amount of labour would therefore have 
 been saved by the possession of a flint and a piece of steel. 
 
 These wild people lived in small societies, often consisting of 
 only a couple of families. The early Dutch colonists observed 
 that they were amazingly prolific, a circumstance that is not 
 surprising if one reflects that they were much less subject to 
 disease than Europeans, and that every woman without excep- 
 tion bore children. Still, living as they did in a state of constant 
 strife not only with the other races but among themselves, their 
 numbers were kept small, for a very large proportion of them died 
 by violence. 
 
 They were vindictive, passionate, and cruel in the extreme, 
 though after the colonisation of the country Europeans often 
 observed that many of those who lived temporarily on farms 
 were not insensible to acts of kindness, and were even capable 
 of feeling gratitude. In this respect they were like those wild 
 animals that in a state of restraint show attachment to their 
 keepers. Human life, even that of their nearest kindred, was 
 sacrificed on very slight provocation. They did not understand 
 
Description of the Bushmen. 15 
 
 what quarter in battle meant, and as they never spared an enemy 
 who was in their power, when themselves surrounded so that all 
 hope of escape was gone, they fought till their last man fell. 
 
 Their manner of living was such as to develop only qualities 
 essential to hunters. In keenness of vision and fleetness of foot 
 they were surpassed by no people on earth, they could travel 
 immense distances without taking rest, and yet their frames 
 were so feeble as to be incapable of protracted labour. 
 
 They possessed an intense love of liberty and of their wild 
 wandering way of life. Hereditary chieftainship was not recog- 
 nised by them. It sometimes happened that the bravest or most 
 expert of a party became a leader in predatory excursions, but 
 his authority did not extend to the exercise of judicial con- 
 trol. Each man was independent of every other. Even parental 
 authority was commonly disregarded by a youth as soon as he 
 could provide for his own wants. 
 
 They were firm believers in charms and witchcraft, and were 
 always in dread of violating some custom — as for instance 
 avoiding casting a shadow upon dying game — which they 
 believed would cause disaster. A Bushman would not make 
 a hole in the sandy bed of a river in order to obtain water, 
 without first offering a little piece of meat, or some larvre of 
 ants, or an arrow if he had nothing else, to propitiate the spirit 
 of the stream. And so with every act of his life, something had 
 to be done or avoided to avert evil. 
 
 Their reasoning power was very low. They understood the 
 habits of wild animals better than anything else, yet they be- 
 lieved the different species of game could converse with each 
 other, and that there were animals and human beings who could 
 exchange their forms at will, for instance that there were girls 
 who could change themselves into lions, and baboons that could 
 put on the appearance of men. The moon, according to the 
 ideas of some of them, was a living thing, according to the notions 
 of others it was a piece of hide which a man threw into the sky. 
 In the same way the stars were once human beings, or they were 
 pieces of food hurled into the air. As well might one attempt 
 to get reasons for their fancies from European children five or six 
 
1 6 History of South Africa. 
 
 years of age as from Busllmen : the reflective faculties of one were 
 as fully developed as of the other. 
 
 Dr. Bleek and Miss Lloyd obtained from several individuals 
 prayers to the moon and to stars. But everything connected with 
 their religion — that is their dread of something outside of and 
 more powerful than themselves — was vague and uncertain. They 
 could give no explanation whatever about it, and indeed they did 
 not all hold the same opinions on the subject. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive of a human being in a more degraded 
 condition than that of a Bushman. In some respects, however, he 
 showed considerable ability, and there was certainly an enormous 
 gulf between him and the highest of the brute creation. He 
 possessed extraordinary powers of mimicry. Enclosed in a frame- 
 work covered with the skin of an ostrich, he was in the habit of 
 stalking game, and, by carefully keeping his prey to windward, 
 was able to approach within shooting distance, when the poison 
 of his arrow completed the task. He could imitate the peculi- 
 arities of individuals of other races with whom he came in contact, 
 and was fond of creating mirth by exhibiting them in the drollest 
 manner. 
 
 He was also an artist. On the walls of caves and the sheltered 
 sides of great rocks he drew rude pictures in profile of the animals 
 with which he was acquainted. The tints were made with 
 different kinds of ochre having considerable capability of with- 
 standing the decay of time, and they were mixed with grease, so 
 that they penetrated the rock more or less deeply according to its 
 porousness. There are caves on the margins of rivers containing 
 paintings which have been exposed to the action of water during 
 occasional floods for at least a hundred years, and the colours are 
 yet unfaded where the rock has not crumbled away. 
 
 In point of artistic merit, however, the paintings were seldom 
 superior to the drawings on slates of European children eight or 
 nine years of age, though there were occasional instances of game 
 being delineated not only in a fairly correct but in a graceful 
 manner, showing that some of the workmen possessed more skill 
 than others. In none of them was any knowledge of perspective 
 or of shading displayed. Two colours were sometimes used, as, 
 
Description of the Btishmen. ij 
 
 for instance, the head or legs of an animal might be white, and 
 the remainder of the body brown, but each colour was evenly laid 
 on as far as it went. In short, the paintings might have been 
 mistaken for the work of children, but for the impressions of the 
 hands often accompanying them, and the scenes being chiefly 
 those of the chase. 
 
 In some places, where the face of the rock was very dark, 
 the Bushman drew an outline of a figure, and then chipped away 
 the surface within it. The labour required for such a task, with- 
 out metallic implements, must ha^'e been great, and the workman 
 was undoubtedly possessed of much patience. He was a sculptor 
 in the elementary stage of the art. 
 
 These wild people possessed too a faculty — it might almost be 
 termed an additional sense — of which Europeans are destitute. 
 They could make their way in a straight line to any place where 
 they had been before. Even a child of nine or ten years of age, 
 removed from its parents to a distance of over a hundred miles 
 and without opportunity of observing the features of the country 
 traversed, could months later return unerringly. They could give 
 no explanation of the means by which they accomplished a task 
 seemingly so difficult. Many of the inferior animals, however, 
 have this faculty, as notably the dove, so that it is not surprising 
 to find the lowest type of man in possession of it. 
 
 If the stone, horn, and bone implements and the shell beads 
 already mentioned be excluded, the Bushmen had little knowledge 
 of manufactures. They had not advanced beyond the stage of 
 making the coarsest kind of pottery, and even this was extremely 
 limited in use. Add to it rush mats and net bags of fibres, in 
 which their women carried ostrich Qgg shells filled with water, 
 and the list is exhausted. 
 
 The life led by these savages was in truth a wretched one, 
 judged from a European standard. They had no contact with 
 people beyond their own little communities, except in war, for 
 they were without a conception of commerce. If a pestilence had 
 swept them all from the face of the earth, nothing more would 
 have been left to mark where they had once been than the drilled 
 stones, rudely shaped arrowheads, rough pottery, rock paintings, 
 and crude sculptures. Their pleasures were hardly superior to 
 
 c 
 
1 8 History of South Africa, 
 
 those of dumb animals. They had a musical instrument like a 
 bow, with a piece of quill attached to the string, but the sounds 
 produced from it by strong inhalations and exhalations of the 
 breath could hardly be termed harmonious. Their dancing was 
 a mere quivering of the body and stamping of the feet. The 
 games that they practised were chiefly — if not entirely — imitation 
 hunts, in which some or all of them represented animals. In this 
 pastime they displayed much cleverness, whether they acted as 
 men or as lions in pursuit of antelopes. But it was not often 
 that they engaged in play, for the effort to sustain existence was 
 with them severe and almost constant. 
 
 At early dawn the Bushman rose from his mat or bed of grass 
 in a cavern on the side of a hill, and scanned the valley or plain 
 below in search of game. If any living thing was within range 
 of his far-seeing eye, he grasped his bow and quiver of arrows, 
 and with his dog set off in pursuit. His wife — he had but one, 
 for he was a strict monogamist — and his children followed, carry- 
 ing fire and collecting bulbs and anything else that was edible on 
 the way. They could pursue his track unerringly by indications 
 that would escape the keenest European eye: a broken twig, a 
 freshly turned stone, or bent blades of grass being sufficient to 
 guide them in the right direction. At nightfall, if they were 
 fortunate, they collected about the body of an antelope, and there 
 they remained till nothing that could be consumed was left. And 
 so from day to day and year to year life passed on, without 
 anything of an intellectual nature to ennoble it. 
 
 It can now be asserted in positive language that these people 
 were incapable of adopting European civilisation. During the 
 first half of the nineteenth century agents of various missionary 
 societies made strenuous efforts for their improvement, and often 
 believed they had in some cases succeeded and in others were in 
 a fair way towards success. Men more devoted to their work 
 than many of these missionaries have never existed, and it would 
 be unjust to accuse them of wilfully misstating the result of their 
 teaching, but the very excess of their zeal and their dwelling 
 constantly upon the expression that the whole human race is of 
 one blood, without reflecting that different branches of the race 
 even in Europe are incapable of thinking alike led them to distort 
 
Description of the Bushmen. ig 
 
 what they saw and heard, so that their reports are commonly 
 misleading. In these reports Bushmen were represented as 
 having become civilised and Christian. But no one else ever 
 saw those transformed savages, and no trace of them exists at 
 the present day. The wild people in the missionary writings are 
 described as offshoots of a higher stock, degraded by oppression 
 or neglect, and needing only instruction and gentle treatment to 
 elevate them again. Some of the reasoning in favour of this 
 theory is highly acute, but it is not borne out by the deeper 
 investigations of our day. 
 
 Apart from missionary teaching also many persons tried 
 during long years to induce families of Bushmen to abandon 
 their savage habits, and there were even experiments in providing 
 groups of them with domestic cattle, in order to encourage a 
 pastoral life, but all were without success. To this day there 
 has not been a single instance of a Bushman of pure blood having 
 permanently adopted the habits of a white man, though a few 
 mixed breeds are to be found among the least skilful class of 
 labourers in some parts of the country. Even fchese are generally 
 too feeble in body to endure anything like severe toil, and unless 
 they intermingle with blacks — as in the instance of the degraded 
 Batlapin tribe — quickly decrease in number. Those of unmixed 
 blood could not exist in presence of a high civilisation, but 
 dwindled away rapidly, and have now nearly died out altogether. 
 It would seem that for them progress was possible in no other way 
 than by exceedingly slow development and blending their blood 
 in successive stages with races always a little more advanced. 
 
 THE HOTTENTOTS, TERMED BY THE BANTU AMALAWU. 
 
 The Hottentots termed themselves Khoikhoi, men of men, as 
 they prided themselves upon their superiority over the other race 
 with which they were best acquainted, and in fact they were 
 considerably more advanced towards civilisation than the Bush- 
 men, though a stranger at first sight might not have seen much 
 difference in personal appearance between the two. A little 
 observation, however, would have shown that the Bushmen were 
 not only smaller and uglier, but that their faces were broader, 
 
20 History of South Africa, 
 
 their eyes not nearly as full and bright, their lobeless ears rounder 
 in shape, and their chins less prominent. Their wild expression 
 also was not observed in the Hottentot face. 
 
 The investigations of the late Dr. Bleek have shown that the 
 languages of these two classes of people were not only different 
 in the words, but that they varied in construction. That spoken 
 by the Hottentots was free of deep guttural sounds, and though it 
 was accompanied by much clapping of the tongue, the clicks were 
 not so numerous as in Bushman speech. It was inflected by 
 means of affixes only, which placed it in contrast with the Bantu 
 language, as this was inflected chiefly by prefixes. It had three 
 numbers, singular, dual, and plural. Its system of notation was 
 decimal, and was perfect at least up to a hundred. Some words 
 were composites, but most were monosyllables, as were all the 
 roots. The liquid consonant I was wanting. There were many 
 dialects, but these did not vary more than the forms of English 
 spoken in different counties. 
 
 No difficulty has been experienced by European missionaries 
 in reducing this language to writing, and some religious literature 
 has been printed in it. Words to express ideas unknown before 
 were formed from well-known roots according to its grammatical 
 structure, and were at once understood by every one. This is 
 sufficient to show that it was of a high order. It is now, however, 
 rapidly dying out, as the descendants of the people who once 
 used it have long since learned to converse in Dutch, and by force 
 of circumstances nearly all have forgotten their ancestral speech. 
 
 The Hottentots were divided into a number of tribes, each of 
 which was usually composed of several clans loosely joined 
 together. The tribes were frequently at war with each other. 
 Every clan had its own hereditary chief, whose authority, how- 
 ever, was very limited, as his subjects were impatient of control. 
 The succession was from father to son, and in the absence of a 
 son to brother or nephew. The several heads of clans recognised 
 the supremacy in rank of one of their number, who was accounted 
 the paramount chief of the tribe, but unless he happened to be a 
 man of more force of character than the others, he exercised no 
 real power over them. The petty rulers were commonly jealous 
 of each other, so that they could only unite in cases of extreme 
 
Description of the Hottentots. 2 1 
 
 danger to all. The government was thus particularly frail, and 
 a very slight shock was sufficient to break any combination of 
 the people into fragments. 
 
 The principal property of the Hottentots consisted of horned 
 cattle and sheep. They had great skill in training oxen to obey 
 certain calls, as well as to carry burdens, and bulls were taught 
 not only to assist in guarding the herds from robbers and beasts of 
 prey, but to aid in war by charging the enemy on the field of 
 battle. The milk of their cows was the chief article of their diet. 
 They did not kill homed cattle for food, except on occasions of 
 feasting, but they ate all that died a natural death. Tlie ox of the 
 Hottentot was an inferior animal to that of Europe. He was a 
 gaunt, bony creature, with immense horns and long legs, but he 
 was hardy and well adapted to supply the wants of his owner. 
 He served instead of a horse for riding purposes, being guided by 
 a riem or thong of raw hide attached to a piece of wood passed 
 through the cartilage of his nose. The sheep were covered with 
 hair instead of wool, were of various colours, and had long lapping 
 ears and tails six or seven pounds in weight. The milk as well as 
 the flesh was used for food. Children were taught to suck the 
 ewes, and often derived their whole sustenance from this source. 
 The only other domestic animal was the dog. He was an ugly 
 creature, his body being shaped like that of a jackal, and the hair 
 on his spine being turned forward ; but he was a faithful, service- 
 able animal of his kind. 
 
 In addition to milk and the meat of oxen and sheep, of which 
 they rejected no part except the gall, the food of the Hottentots 
 consisted of the flesh of game obtained in the chase, locusts, and 
 various kinds of wild plants and fruits. Agriculture, even in its 
 simplest forms, was not practised by them. They knew how to 
 make an intoxicating drink of honey, of which large quantities 
 were to be had in the season of flowers, and this they used to 
 excess while it lasted. Another powerful intoxicant with which 
 they were acquainted was dacha, a species of wild hemp, and 
 whenever this was procurable they smoked it with a pipe made 
 of the horn of an antelope. That its effects were pernicious was 
 admitted by themselves, still they could not refrain from making 
 use of it. 
 
21 History of South Africa, 
 
 Their women were better clothed than those of the Bushmen, 
 but the men were usually satisfied with very little covering, and 
 had no sense of shame in appearing altogether naked. The dress 
 of both sexes was made of skins, commonly prepared with the 
 hair on. When removed from the animal, the skin was cleansed 
 of any fleshy matter adhering to it, was then stretched and dried, 
 and was afterwards rubbed with grease till it became soft and 
 pliable. The ordinary costume of a man was merely a piece of 
 jackal skin suspended in front, and a little slip of prepared hide 
 behind. In cold weather he wrapped himself in a kaross or 
 mantle of furs sewed together with sinews. The women wore at 
 all times a headdress of fur, an apron, and a wrapper or a girdle of 
 leather strings suspended from the w^aist. In cold weather, or 
 when carrying infants on their backs, they added a scanty kaross. 
 Children wore no clothing whatever. Eound their legs the 
 females sewed strips of raw hide like rings, which, when dry, 
 rattled against each other and made a noise when they moved. 
 
 Both sexes ornamented their heads with copper trinkets, and 
 hung round their necks strings of shells, leopards' teeth, or any 
 other glittering objects they could obtain. Ivory armlets were 
 worn by the men. From earliest infancy their bodies were 
 smeared with grease and rubbed over with clay, soot, or powdered 
 buchu, and to this partly may be attributed the stench of their 
 persons. The coat of grease and clay was not intended for 
 ornament alone. It protected them from the weather and from 
 the vermin that infested their huts and clothing. 
 
 Their dwellings were oval or circular frames of light undressed 
 w^ood, sometimes covered with skins, but usually with mats made 
 of rushes. They were not more than five feet in height, and had 
 but one small opening through which the inmates crawled. In 
 cold weather a fire was made in a cavity in the centre. The huts 
 of a kraal were arranged in the form of a circle, the space enclosed 
 being used as a fold for cattle. They could be taken to pieces, 
 placed on pack-oxen, removed to a distance, and set up again, 
 with very little labour and no waste. 
 
 The weapons used by the Hottentots in war and the chase 
 were bows and arrows, sticks with clubbed heads, and assagais. 
 They usually covered the head of the arrow with poison, so that 
 
Description of the Hottentots, 23 
 
 a wound from one, however slight, was mortal. The assagai could 
 be hurled with precision to a distance of thirty yards. The 
 knobkerie, or clubbed stick, was almost as formidable a weapon. 
 It was rather stouter than an ordinary walking cane, and had a 
 round head two or three inches in diameter. Boys were trained 
 to throw this with so accurate an aim as to hit a bird on the wing 
 at twenty or thirty yards distance. It was projected in such a 
 manner as to bring the heavy knob into contact with the object 
 aimed at, and antelopes as large as goats had their legs broken or 
 were killed outright with it. The bow was a weapon of little 
 force, and the arrows would have been harmless to large game if 
 they had not been poisoned. 
 
 The Hottentots were acquainted with the art of smelting iron, 
 but were too indolent to turn their knowledge to much account. 
 Only a few assagai and arrow heads were made of that metal. 
 Horn and bone were ready at hand, were easily worked, and were 
 commonly used to point weapons. Stone was also employed by 
 some of the tribes for this purpose, but not to any great extent, 
 though weights for digging sticks were formed of it by them 
 as by the Bushmen. Masses of almost solid copper were obtained 
 in Namaqualand, and this metal was spread over the neighbouring 
 country by means of barter and war, but was not used for any 
 other purpose than that of making ornaments for the person. 
 
 In the districts that they occupied a very few polished imple- 
 ments of shale have been found in situations where they must 
 have lain a considerable time. They consist of arrow heads whose 
 points have been ground, and disks like quoits with sharp edges, 
 which are supposed to have been held in the hand and used in 
 combat. No European has ever seen such implements in the 
 possession of a Hottentot, or ever heard them spoken of, and any 
 remarks concerning them can only be founded on conjecture. 
 But few as is the number of such ground stones as yet discovered 
 they are evidence that there was a time when individuals — if not 
 tribes, — not Bantu, in South Africa were in the neolithic stage of 
 progress, though it is possible that iron may have been in use at 
 the same period. 
 
 The Hottentots manufactured earthenware pots for cooking 
 purposes, which, though in general clumsily shaped and coarse in 
 
24 History of South Africa. 
 
 appearance, were capable of withstanding intense heat. Milk was 
 kept in skin bags or in large bowls made by hollowing out blocks 
 of wood. Ostrich %gg shells and ox horns were used for carrying 
 water and other domestic purposes. 
 
 Some small and weak clans of Hottentots who had lost their 
 cattle in war or by disease lived along the shore, and depended for 
 existence upon the produce of the sea. They had neither boats 
 nor hooks, but they managed to catch fish by throwing spears 
 from rocks standing out in deep water and by making stone walls 
 across gullies in order to enclose considerable spaces which were 
 nearly dry at low tide. Shell-fish also formed a portion of their 
 food, and occasionally a dead whale would drift ashore and furnish 
 them with a feast. Shell and ash heaps made by these people 
 bearing signs of being quite modern, that is dating back only 
 hundreds, not thousands of years, are found in many places along 
 the coast from Walfish Bay to Natal. 
 
 The heaps contain ordinary Hottentot implements, in rare 
 instances human skeletons, and generally bones of animals 
 obtained in the chase, always broken in order that the marrow 
 might be extracted. The perforated stone weights found in them 
 are usually of the shape of compressed spheres, nearly resembling 
 in form those of Scotland referred to on a previous page, which 
 has given rise to the supposition that those made by Hottentots 
 were always of a distinct type from those made by Bushmen. 
 This is, however, not certain,* though only spherical weights are 
 picked up in South Africa in tracts of country that were ex- 
 clusively occupied by Bushmen, and compressed spheres are 
 common wherever Hottentots lived, where also there are a few 
 stones that have first been perforated and then chipped into a 
 convenient shape for use. The coarse earthenware pots that are 
 found in these recent shell heaps frequently have a number of 
 holes neatly drilled in them, sometimes near the bottom, in order 
 to make them serve as strainers. 
 
 Hottentots were found living in the manner here indicated 
 when Europeans first came to the country, and on the coast of 
 Namaqualand there were some existing in a similar state after 
 
 * In the British Museum there is a round flat perforated stone found in 
 Central Africa, which cannot have been pi^jjufactured by Hottentots, 
 
Description of the Hottentots, 25 
 
 the middle of the nineteenth century. As far as food, clothing, 
 and lodging were concerned, they were in no better condition than 
 Bushmen, but there was always the hope before them of acquiring 
 cattle by a successful raid, in which case they would at once 
 revert to the ordinary mode of living of their race. 
 
 The whole of the recent shell heaps on the South African 
 coast, however, were not made by impoverished Hottentots. 
 Some were made by Bushmen, as is proved by the paintings 
 on rocks overhanging the deposits, and these may be taken as 
 forming a connected series with the most ancient mounds. There 
 must also have been mixed breeds along the coast in former 
 times, as there are to-day in the territory about the lower Vaal 
 river, and some of the remains may be due to them. These 
 mixed breeds arose from the union of Hottentot men with cap- 
 tured Bushwomen, for though the races were constantly at war, 
 young females were generally spared by the less savage of 
 the two. 
 
 The Hottentots were a superstitious people, who placed great 
 faith in the efficacy of charms to ward off evil. They believed 
 that certain occurrences foreboded good or ill luck, that a mantis 
 alighting on a hut brought prosperity with it, and many other 
 absurdities of a like nature. They lived in dread of ghosts and 
 evil spirits. They invoked blessings from the moon, to whose 
 praise they sang and danced when it appeared as new. They also 
 invoked blessings from dead ancestors, to whose shades sacrifices 
 were offered by priests on important occasions, and they implored 
 protection and favour from a mythical hero named Heitsi-eibib, 
 who was believed to have died and risen again many times, and 
 whose worship consisted in throwing a bit of wood or an addi- 
 tional stone upon a cairn. Cairns of considerable size raised 
 in this manner are to be found at the present day within territory 
 occupied by Bantu tribes, showing, like many other indica- 
 tions, that the Hottentots once occupied a larger area than when 
 Europeans became acquainted with them. They made offerings 
 also to a powerful evil spirit, with a view of averting his wrath. 
 Their system of religion could not be explained by themselves, 
 what they understood being little more than that the customs 
 connected with it had come down to them from their ancestors. 
 
 D 
 
26 History of South Africa. 
 
 They had not the faintest expectation of their own resurrection, 
 or conception of a heaven and a hell. 
 
 A more improvident, unstable, thoughtless people never 
 existed. Those among them who had cattle were without care 
 or grief, and usually spent the greater part of the day in sleeping. 
 They delighted, however, in dancing to music, which they pro- 
 duced from reeds. Active in this exercise and in hunting, in all 
 other respects they were extremely indolent. Their filthiness 
 of person, clothing, and habitation was disgusting. They enjoyed 
 eating food that would have turned the stomach of the least 
 delicate of Europeans, for the sense of smelling with them — as 
 with all people of a low type — was extremely dull. Still they 
 were not without good qualities. Their tempers were in general 
 mild, and their hospitality to peaceable strangers as well as to 
 people of their own clan was unbounded. 
 
 They were in the habit of abandoning aged and helpless 
 persons as well as sickly and deformed children, whom they 
 allowed to perish of hunger. But they regarded this as mercy, 
 not as cruelty. Better that a helpless wretch or a cripple should 
 give up life at once than linger on in misery. For the same 
 reason, when a woman giving suck died, the child was buried 
 with its parent. 
 
 The Hottentots were polygamous in the sense that their 
 customs admitted of a wealthy man having more wives than one, 
 but the practice was by no means general. There were many 
 kraals in which there was not a single case of polygamy. It was 
 customary with some, perhaps with all, to take wives not from 
 their own but from another clan. The marriage customs required 
 that cattle should be given by the bridegroom to the nearest rela- 
 tives of the bride, but temporary unions were common, and indeed 
 a system almost as bad as that of free love prevailed, for chastity 
 on both sides was very lightly regarded. 
 
 The women were more nearly the equals of the men, and were 
 permitted to exercise much greater freedom of speech in domestic 
 disputes, than among most savages. They were mistresses within 
 the huts. The stores of milk were under their control, not under 
 that of their husbands, as was the case with the Bantu tribes. 
 The men tended the cattle, but their daughters milked the cows. 
 
Description of the Hottentots. 27 
 
 Among some — not all — of the Hottentot clans there was a 
 custom which, though described by many early observers, has 
 within the nineteenth century without sufficient investigation 
 been regarded by most writers as so utterly incredible that they 
 have not noticed it. Yet it is practised at the present day by 
 people who are certainly not of Hottentot blood, but who must 
 have derived their language as well as many of their customs from 
 Hottentot conquerors in times long gone by. It stands to them 
 in the same relation that circumcision does to many Bantu clans, 
 that is among them a youth cannot enter the society of men or 
 take to liimself a wife until he has become a monoTch {^lovopyii). 
 A custom so extraordinary shows what force habit and supersti- 
 tion have among savages. 
 
 With all their degrading habits, the Hottentots possessed largo 
 powers of imagination. They speculated upon objects in nature 
 in a way that no Bantu ever did, and their ideas on these subjects, 
 though seemingly absurd, at least bore evidence of a disposition to 
 think. They were excellent story-tellers. Seated round fires of 
 an evening, they told tales of the doings of men and of animals — 
 usually the baboon or the jackal — which produced boundless 
 mirth. These stories generally contained coarse and obscene 
 expressions, or what Europeans would regard as such, but their 
 sense of delicacy in these matters was naturally low. 
 
 The evening with them, as probably with all bai*barians, was 
 the time for enjoyment. What could be more cheerful than the 
 dance in the bright moonlight ' or listening to a merry tale by a 
 fire under a starry sky ? Then the young men tried their 
 strength in wrestling matches, or in lifting one another from 
 the ground, while the young women looked on and applauded 
 the successful competitors. Then, too, they played games which, 
 though apparently suited to the capacities of little children only, 
 afforded them much amusement. The commonest of these games 
 was adopted by the Bantu on the eastern border when they 
 conquered the Hottentots there, and is performed by adults 
 among tliem to-day, though the people with whom it originated 
 have long since forgotten it. 
 
 It was played by two persons or any number exceeding two. 
 The players sat on the ground, and each had a pebble so small 
 
 £ 
 
28 History of South Africa. 
 
 that it could easily be concealed in a folded hand. If there were 
 many players they formed themselves into sides or parties, but 
 when they were few in number one played against the rest. This 
 one concealed the pebble in either of Ms hands, and then threw 
 both arms out against his opponent, at the same time calling that 
 he met or that he evaded. His opponent threw his arms out in 
 the same manner, so that his right hand was opposite the first 
 player's left, and his left opposite the first player's right. The 
 clenched hands were then opened, and if the pebbles were found 
 to meet, the first player won if he had called out that he met, or 
 lost if he had called out that he evaded. When there were many 
 players, one after another was beaten until only two were left. 
 These two then played against each other, when the one who 
 was beaten was laughed at and the winner was applauded. In 
 playing, the arms were thrown out very quickly, and the words 
 were rapidly uttered, so that a stranger to the game might have 
 fancied there was neither order nor rule observed. Young men and 
 boys often spent whole nights in this childish amusement, which 
 had the same hold upon them as dice upon some Europeans. 
 
 Probably, if intellectual enjoyment be excluded, the Hottentots 
 were among the happiest people in existence. They generally 
 lived until old age without serious illness. They did not allow 
 possible future troubles to disturb them, and a sufficiency of food 
 was all that was needed to make them as merry and light-hearted 
 as children at play. 
 
 They were capable of adopting the habits of Europeans, though 
 the process required to be so gradual that the training of two 
 centuries and a half has been very far from sufficient to complete 
 it. They have learned to cultivate the ground, to use the same 
 food as white people, to wear European clothing, and to act as 
 rough handicraftsmen, but there is no instance of one of them 
 having ever attained a position that required either much intel- 
 lectual power or much mechanical skill. Since they came in 
 contact with Europeans and African slaves, however, their blood 
 has been so mixed that, except in Great Namaqu aland and along 
 the lower banks of the Orange river, very few pure Hottentots are 
 in existence now, and every successive generation sees the number 
 become smaller. 
 
Description of the Bantu. 
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE BANTU TRIBES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 Observations made during the sixteenth century by Portuguese 
 missionaries and travellers in South Africa throw much light 
 upon the origin of several customs which to more recent ob- 
 servers of Bantu habits have always been obscure. With the 
 Hottentots or Bushmen the Portuguese rarely came in contact, 
 and of these people they give no information of any value. But 
 with sections of the Bantu they lived in as close intimacy as 
 Dutchmen or Englishmen have ever done, they learned the 
 language of those people, studied their customs, and several of 
 the best informed recorded what they observed. They tell of no 
 golden age of peace and happiness disturbed by the intrusion of 
 white men, but of almost constant strife and cruelty and misery. 
 From them we learn that long before the time of Tshaka despots 
 as clever and as ruthless as he spread desolation over wide tracts 
 of land, that cannibalism as practised in the Lesuto and in 
 Natal during the early years of the nineteenth century was no 
 new custom with sections of the Bantu race. Much besides can 
 be learned from their writings, so that any description of the 
 black tribes south of the Zambesi published in English ten years 
 ago can now be considerably amplified. 
 
 South of Cape Negro, the western coast of Africa, being 
 without harbours until Walfish Bay is reached, was never 
 examined with any care by the Portuguese. It is therefore 
 impossible to state with any pretension to accuracy how far 
 the Hottentot race extended along that shore at the beginning 
 of the sixteenth century, or where it was in contact with the 
 widely dissimilar black people of the north. All that can be 
 
 E 2 
 
30 History of South Africa, 
 
 said with certainty is that the border line was some distance 
 north of Walfish Bay, and that in the territory now known as 
 Damaraland at some previous period a desperate struggle had 
 taken place between the two peoples, in which at least one black 
 tribe had been conquered and reduced to the lowest state of 
 servitude by the Hottentots. But what became of the con- 
 querors is a mystery that cannot be solved by any evidence now 
 in being. They may have been exterminated, or they may have 
 been driven south, by some powerful Bantu ruler. In tradition 
 they are not known, but their existence at a remote period so 
 far north is certain, as they stamped their language and some of 
 their strangest customs upon the people whom they subjugated 
 there. 
 
 On the eastern coast the dividing line between the two races 
 was not far south of the present colony of Natal, fifty years later 
 it was the TJmzimvubu river. 
 
 In the centre of the country it is most unlikely that the black 
 tribes had then reached the Yaal river, but here there is no 
 other evidence than tradition of a migratory movement from the 
 north at some unknown period, and no native tradition that can 
 be verified extends so far into the past. 
 
 It will thus be as close an approximation to the actual C(m- 
 dition of things as it is now possible to arrive at, if it be said 
 that north of a line drawn from a point about five and twenty 
 or thirty miles above Walfish Bay on the Atlantic shore to the 
 upper waters of the Yaal river, and thence curving to the mouth 
 of the Umtamvuna, the country was occupied in the year 1500 
 by the swarthy race now termed Bantu. A few Bushmen were 
 intermixed with them in the wildest parts, but not a Hottentot 
 lived north of that line. 
 
 These black people, together with their kindred who possessed 
 a vast extent of Africa north of the Zambesi, are now usually 
 termed the Bantu, in accordance with a proposal of the late 
 Dr. Bleek. They had no word except tribal names to distin- 
 guish themselves from other races, ntu * in their language 
 
 * In the dialect of the Tembu, Pondo, Zulu, and other coast tribes : um-ntu 
 a person, plural aba-ntu people ; diminutive um-ntwana a child, plural aba- 
 
Description of the Bantu. 31 
 
 ttieaning a human being or person of any colour or country ; but 
 ethnologists felt the want of a specific designation for them, and 
 adopted this as a convenient one. In the division of mankind 
 thus named are included all those Africans who use a language 
 which is inflected principally by means of prefixes, and which in 
 the construction of sentences follows certain rules depending 
 upon harmony of sound.* 
 
 Tribes occupying for many generations the greater portion of 
 a country of such extent as Africa south of the Zambesi, and not 
 having much intercourse with each other, naturally developed 
 differences, and there were circumstances connected with the 
 Bantu which increased the tendency towards variation. First 
 there was the lilonipa custom, by which women were obliged 
 constantly to invent new words, so that each dialect underwent 
 gradual dissimilar changes. Next, and more important still, 
 was an influx of Asiatics at some remote time, who mixed their 
 blood with that of the people on the eastern side of the country, 
 and brought about great improvements in their mental condition. 
 
 In a general description, such as this, it will be sufficient to 
 classify the tribes in three groups, though it should be remem- 
 bered that there are many trifling differences between the 
 various branches of each of these. In the first group can be 
 placed the tribes along the eastern coast south of the ^'abi river, 
 and those which in recent times have made their way from that 
 
 ntwana children ; abstract derivative ubu-ntu the qualities of human beings, 
 diminutive ubu-ntwana the qualities of children. In the Herero dialect: 
 omu-ndu a person, plural ova~ndu people. In the dialect of the Basuto: 
 mo-tho a person, plural ha-tJto persons. The pronunciation, however, is nearly 
 the same, the h in batho being sounded only as an aspirate, and the o as oo, 
 baat-hoo. 
 
 * This definition is of course only a general one, and must be subject to 
 exceptions, because races cannot be grouped by means of language alone. Thus 
 the people called Berg Damaras, who have already been referred to and who 
 live in the tract of country along the western coast north of Walfish Bay, are 
 Bantu by blood, though they speak a Hottentot dialect, and resemble Bushmen 
 in their habits. After their subjugation in remote times, they were forced to 
 adopt the language of their conquerors. This may also have been the case 
 with triks in other parts of the continent. 
 
32 History of South Africa, 
 
 part of the country into the highlands of the interior. The best 
 known of these are the Amaxosa, the Abatembu, the Amam- 
 pondo, the Amabaca, the Abambo (now broken into numerous 
 fragments), the Amazulu, the Amaswazi, the Amatonga, the 
 Magwamba, the Matshangana, and the Matabele. This group 
 can be termed the coast tribes, though some members of it are 
 now far from the sea. 
 
 The second group can include the tribes that at the beginning 
 of the nineteenth century occupied the great interior plain and 
 came down to the ocean between the Zambesi and Sabi rivers. 
 It will include among many others the Batlapin, the Batlaro, 
 the Barolong, the Bahurutsi, the Bangwaketsi, the Bakwena, the 
 Bamangwato, all the sections of the Makalanga, and the whole 
 of the Basuto, north and south. This group can be termed the 
 interior tribes. 
 
 The third will comprise all the Bantu living between the 
 Kalahari and the Atlantic ocean, such as the Ovaherero, the 
 Ovampo, and others. These have no mixture of Asiatic blood. 
 They are blacker in colour, coarser in appearance, and duller in 
 intellect than the others, if an average is taken. The dialects 
 spoken by them are also more primitive. This group has only 
 recently come into contact with Europeans, and has taken no 
 part in South African history. The feuds between its different 
 members, if they could be accurately traced, would be of no 
 interest, and no lessons could be drawn from them. It will be 
 sufficient therefore to say of these western tribes that their 
 language, religion, laws, mode of living, and customs generally 
 were similar to those of their kindred of the interior and the 
 eastern coast, but were in many respects lower in order. 
 
 The individuals who composed the first and second named 
 groups varied in colour from deep bronze to black. Some had 
 features of the lowest negro type : thick projecting lips, broad 
 flat noses, and narrow foreheads; while others had prominent and 
 in rare instances even aquiline noses, well developed foreheads, 
 and lips but little thicker than those of Europeans. Among the 
 eastern tribes these extremes could sometimes be noticed in the 
 same family, but the great majority of the people were of a type 
 
Description of the Bantu, 33 
 
 higher than a mean between the two. They were of mixed blood, 
 and the branches of the ancestral stock differed considerably, as 
 one was African and the other Asiatic. 
 
 Those who occupied' the land along the south-eastern coast 
 were in general large without being corpulent, strong, muscular, 
 erect in bearing, and with all their limbs in perfect symmetry. 
 Many of them were haughty in demeanour, and possessed a large 
 amount of vanity. The men were usually handsomer than the 
 women, owing to the girls being often stunted in growth and 
 hardened in limb by carrying burdens on their heads and toiling 
 in gardens at an early age. The people of the interior were in 
 general somewhat smaller than those of the coast, though they 
 were far from being diminutive specimens of the human race. 
 
 Though at times the Bantu presented the appearance of a 
 peaceable, good-natured, indolent people, they were subject to 
 outbursts of great excitement, when the most savage passions 
 had free play. The man who spent a great part of his life 
 gossiping in idleness, not knowing what it was to toil for bread, 
 was hardly recognisable when, plumed and adorned with military 
 trappings, he had worked himself into frenzy with the war dance. 
 The period of excitement was, however, short. In the same way 
 their outbursts of grief were violent, but were soon succeeded by 
 cheerfulness. 
 
 They were subject to few diseases, and were capable of under- 
 going without harm privations and sufferings which the hardiest 
 Europeans would have sunk under. Occasionally there were 
 seasons of famine caused by prolonged drought, when whole 
 tribes were reduced to exist upon nothing else than wild roots, 
 bulbs, mimosa gum, and whatever else unaided nature provided. 
 At such times they became emaciated, but as long as they could 
 procure even the most wretched food they did not actually die, 
 as white people would have done under similar circumstances. 
 Nor did pestilence follow want of sustenance to the same extent 
 as with us. 
 
 One cause of their being a strong healthy people was that no 
 weak or deformed children were allowed to live long. There was 
 no law which required an end to be put to the existence of such 
 
34 History of South Africa, 
 
 infants, but it always happened that they died when very young, 
 and public opinion was opposed to any inquiry into the mode of 
 their death. Every one, even the parents, believed that it was 
 better they should not live, and so they perished from neglect. 
 But owing to the prevalence of this custom in preceding 
 generations, the number of weaklings born was very small 
 indeed. For some reason an exception was occasionally made in 
 the case of albinos, who, though regarded as monstrosities, were 
 not always destroyed in childhood. These hideous individuals, 
 with features like others of their race, were of a pale sickly 
 colour, and had weak pinkish eyes and hair almost white. Very 
 few, however, were to be seen in any tribe, and in some none 
 at all. 
 
 Under natural conditions the Bantu were a longer-lived people 
 than Europeans. The friar Dos Santos found several women at 
 Sofala who perfectly remembered events that had taken place 
 eighty years before, and modern observers in other parts of the 
 country have noticed the same circumstance. A man of this 
 race placed beside a white colonist of the same age invariably 
 looks the younger of the two, and in any tribe individuals 
 can be found with personal knowledge extending over the 
 ordinary span of life in Europe or America. They were probably 
 the most prolific people on the face of the earth. All the 
 females were married at an early age, very few women were 
 childless, and in most of the tribes provision was even made 
 by custom for widows to add to the families of their dead 
 husbands. In some parts the brothers of the deceased took 
 them, in others male companions were selected for them by their 
 late husband's friends, in each case the children born thereafter 
 being regarded as those of the dead man. 
 
 The language spoken by the Bantu was of a high order, subject 
 to strict grammatical rules, and adequate for the expression of 
 any ideas whatever. Its construction, however, was very different 
 from that of the languages of Europe. It was broken up into 
 many dialects, so that individuals from the western coast, from 
 the interior, and from the eastern coast could not understand 
 each other, though the great majority of the words used by all 
 
Description of the Bantu, 35 
 
 were formed from the same roots. In the south-eastern dialects 
 the English sound of the letter r was wanting, while in some of 
 the others the sound of our ? was never heard. In all there were 
 combinations of consonants which it was very difficult for 
 strangers of mature years to master. 
 
 There were clicks in only a few dialects of the language spoken 
 by the Bantu family. These were derived in the south from 
 Hottentot, and elsewhere probably from Bushman sources. They 
 were introduced by females who were spared when the hordes to 
 which they belonged were conquered, as is evident not only from 
 tradition, but from the words in which they occur being chiefly 
 those pertaining to the occupations of women. There is this 
 peculiarity in the language, that some of the dialects spoken 
 on the coasts of lower Guinea and the Indian ocean bear a 
 closer resemblance to each other than to those between them. 
 Tribes from one of these coasts seem to have been scattered and 
 forced across the continent by violent convulsions in some long- 
 forgotten time. 
 
 The form of government varied from that of a pure despotism, 
 established by a successful military ruler, to a patriarchal system 
 of a simple order. In the former everything centred in the 
 person of one individual, at whose word the lives of any of his 
 subjects were instantly sacrificed, who was the owner of all the 
 property of the tribe, and who appointed officials at his pleasure. 
 He was served by attendants in the most abject attitudes, could 
 only be approached by a subject unarmed and crouching, and 
 arrogated to himself a form of address due to a deity. He was 
 an absolute ruler in every respect, and by his will alone his 
 subjects were guided, though to retain such power for any length 
 of time it was necessary for him not to counteract any strong 
 desire of the warriors of his tribe. This purely despotic form of 
 government was rarely found among the people of the interior, 
 who were in general more peaceably disposed than those of the 
 coast. It ended as a rule when a man of feeble intellect succeeded 
 the one who established it. 
 
 The more common system, the one indeed that may be termed 
 normal except when interfered with by a chief possessing great 
 
36 History of South Africa, 
 
 military genius, was of a milder character. Under it a tribe was 
 composed of a number of sections which may be termed clans, 
 each under its own chief, but all acknowledging the supreme 
 authority of one particular individual. Sometimes the heads of 
 the clans were members of the family of the paramount chief, 
 more or less distantly connected with him by blood, in which case 
 the tribe was a compact body, every individual in it having a 
 common interest with every other; but it often happened that 
 clans broken in war, though retaining their own chiefs, were 
 adopted as vassals by a powerful ruler, and in these cases the 
 cohesion of the different sections, owing to the object of their 
 worship being different, to jealousy, and to rival views, was much 
 less firm. 
 
 Among the interior tribes, owing to the misconduct or incom- 
 petency of individual chiefs, this system sometimes broke down, 
 when a condition of greater freedom resulted. Here the common 
 people acquired sufficient power to make their wishes respected 
 to some extent, and nothing of importance was undertaken with- 
 out a general assembly of the men of the tribe being first held, 
 when each one was at liberty to express his views. But even in 
 these cases the opinion of a member of the ruling family was 
 regarded as of vastly greater weight than that of a commoner. 
 Merit was of small account against privilege of blood in the 
 estimation of any branch of the Bantu race. 
 
 Among the tribes under the normal system of government 
 the rule of the paramount chief in times of peace was hardly felt 
 beyond his own kraal. Each clan possessed all the machinery of 
 administration, and in general it was only in cases of serious 
 quarrels between them or of appeals from judicial decisions that 
 the tribal head used his authority. In war, however, he issued 
 commands to all, and on important occasions he summoned the 
 minor chiefs to aid him with advice. 
 
 The members of the ruling families, even to the most distant 
 branches, were of aristocratic rank, and enjoyed many privileges. 
 Their persons were inviolable, and an indignity offered to one 
 of them was considered a crime of the gravest nature. Even the 
 customs of the people were set aside in favour of the chiefs of 
 
Description of the Bantu. 37 
 
 highest rank. A common man of the coast tribes, for instance, 
 could not marry certain relatives by blood, no matter how distant, 
 but a great chief could, though connections nearer than fourth 
 or fifth cousins were very rare. Such a marriage was strictly 
 forbidden to a commoner, but was allowed in the chiefs case, in 
 order to obtain a woman of suitable birth to be the mother of the 
 heir in the great line. 
 
 Portuguese writers relate that the principal chiefs in the terri- 
 tory between the Sabi and Zambesi rivers took their own sisters 
 and daughters as their wives of highest rank, but perhaps this 
 statement arose from their attaching the European meaning to 
 the words sister and daughter, which when used by people of the 
 Bantu race applied equally to cousins and nieces on the father's 
 side. No marriages with sisters or daughters in the European 
 sense is permitted at the present day, but with cousins — sisters 
 in the Bantu sense — they are common among the interior 
 tribes.* 
 
 With regard to the common people, the theory of the universal 
 
 * The following words in the Xosa dialect will further illustrate the difference 
 between European and Bantu ideas as lo relationship. Bawo is the wcrd used 
 in addressing father, father's brother, or father's half-brother. Little children 
 say Tata. But there are three different words for father, according as a person 
 is speaking of his own father or uncle, of the father or uncle of the person he is 
 speaking to, or of the father or uncle of the person he is speaking of. Speaking 
 of my father, hawo is the woi'd used ; of your father, uyililo ; of his father, uyise. 
 Ma is the word used in addressing mother, any wife of father, or the sister of 
 any of these. The one we should term mother can only be distinguished from 
 the others, when speaking of her, by describing her as uma warn hanye, i.e. my 
 real mother; or uma ondizalayo, i.e. the mother who bore me. Speaking of 
 my mother, ma is the word used ; of your mother, unyoho ; of his or her 
 mother, unina. Malume is the brother of any one called mother. A paternal 
 aunt is addressed as dadehohawOy i.e. sister of my father, showing a distinction 
 between relatives on the paternal and maternal side. Mnakwetu is the word 
 used by females in addressing a brother, half-brother, or male cousin. Males 
 when addressing any of these relations older than themselves, use the word 
 mhuluwa; and when addressing one younger than themselves, say mninawe. 
 A sister and a female cousin are alike termed odade wetUy our sister — the 
 pronoun being always used in the plural form ; — though sometimes the word 
 mza, an abbreviation of umzalwana, i.e. of our family, is applied to a cousin 
 on the mother's side by females older than the one addressed. Mtakam^ is 
 an endearing form of expression, meaning child of my mother. 
 
38 History of South Africa, 
 
 Bantu law was that they were the property of the rulers, conse 
 quently an offence against any of their persons was atoned fc 
 by a fine to the chief. Murder and assaults were punished i 
 this manner. When a man died, his nearest relative was require 
 to report the circumstance to the head of the clan, and to tak 
 a present of some kind with him as consolation for the los 
 sustained. 
 
 But while the government of all the tribes was thus in theor 
 despotic, the power of the chiefs in those which were not unde 
 military rule was usually more or less restrained. In each cla: 
 there was a body of councillors — commonly hereditary — whos 
 advice could not always be disregarded. A great deal depend e< 
 upon the personal character of the chief. If he was a man c 
 resolute will, the councillors were powerless ; if he was wea 
 they possessed not only influence, but often real authorit\ 
 Then there was a custom that a fugitive from one clan wa 
 entitled to protection by the chief of another with which he tool 
 refuge, so that an arbitrary or unpopular ruler was in constan 
 danger of losing his followers. This custom was an effectua 
 check upon gross and unrestrained tyranny. 
 
 The law of succession to the government favoured the for 
 mation of new tribes. The first wives of a paramount chief wer 
 usually the daughters of some of his father's principal retainers 
 but as he grew older and increased in power his alliance wa 
 courted by great families, and thus it generally happened tha 
 his consort of highest rank was taken when he was of advancec 
 age. Usually she was the daughter of a neighbouring ruler anc 
 was selected for him by the councillors of the tribe, who providec 
 the cattle required by her relatives. She was termed the grea 
 wife, and her eldest son was the principal heir. 
 
 Another of his wives was invested at an earlier period of his 
 life, by the advice of his councillors and friends, with the title o 
 wife of the right hand, and to her eldest son some of his father's 
 retainers were given, with whom he formed a new clan. Tht 
 government of this was entrusted to him as soon as he was fuli 
 grown, so that while his brother was still a child he had oppor- 
 tunities of increasing his power. If he was the abler ruler of the 
 
Description of the Bantu, 39 
 
 two, a quarrel between them arose almost to a certainty as soon 
 as the great heir reached manhood and was also invested with a 
 separate command. If peace was maintained, upon the death of 
 his father the son of the right hand acknowledged his brother as 
 superior in rank, but neither paid him tribute nor admitted his 
 right to interfere in the internal government of the new clan. 
 
 In some of the tribes three sons of every chief divided their 
 father's adherents among them. In the latter case the third 
 heir was termed the representative of the ancients or the son of 
 the left hand. 
 
 In this manner new tribes, entirely independent of the old 
 ones from which they sprang, were frequently formed. This was 
 especially the case when the adjacent territory was thinly occu- 
 pied by a weak people like the Hottentots, affording means for 
 the ruler of lower rank without difficulty to remove to a distance 
 from his brother. The disintegrating process was to some extent 
 checked by frequent tribal wars and feuds, which forced chiefs 
 of the same family to make common cause with each other, but 
 whenever there was comparative peace it was in active operation, 
 and so a steady and rapid expansion of the Bantu race towards 
 the south was effected. 
 
 With the limitations that have been mentioned, in the life of 
 the people the chief was everything, his wishes were the guide 
 of their conduct, his orders were implicitly obeyed, the best of 
 all they had was at his disposal. To every one else they could 
 tell the grossest falsehoods without disgrace, but to him they 
 told the simple truth, and that in language which could not bear 
 two meanings. They could not even partake of the crops in 
 their own gardens until he gave them leave to do so. In this 
 case, when the millet was ripe the chief appointed a day for a 
 general assembly of the people at his residence, that was known 
 as the great place ; he then went through certain rites, among 
 which was the offering of a small quantity of the fresh grain to 
 the spirits of his ancestors, either by laying it on their graves or 
 by casting it into a stream, after which ceremony he gave the 
 people permission to gather and eat. 
 
 Every people has its own standard of virtue, which if it does 
 
40 History of South Africa. 
 
 not live up to, it at least respects. The Bantu had theirs, which 
 consisted in fidelity to the chief. A man might be a thorough 
 scoundrel according to European ideas, cruel, lascivious, in- 
 temperate, mean : all this mattered nothing if he was devoted 
 to his chief, in which case in the estimation of his tribe he 
 was virtuous. There was a reason for this, as will presently 
 be seen. 
 
 The most solemn oath that a man could take was by either 
 sojne great legendary ruler or the one then living, though he 
 did not regard even that as binding if he believed that by 
 speaking falsely the interest of the chief would be advanced. 
 Portuguese writers state that the people near the Zambesi swore 
 hxj Mamho, which was rather one of the titles of the head of a 
 great tribe than his proper name, but the individual or his line 
 of ancestors was meant. At present the form of oath varies 
 slightly in different places, the most common expression being 
 I call to witness or J point to, as Ki supa lea MaJcatshane, the 
 usual oath of a Mosuto, 1 point to Makatshane. 
 
 The amount of taxes paid by the people for the maintenance 
 of government was not fixed, as it is in European states. The 
 ordinary revenue of a chief was derived from confiscations of 
 property, fines, and presents, besides which his gardens, that were 
 usually large, were cultivated by the labour of his people. The 
 right of the ruler to the personal service of his subjects was 
 everywhere recognised, and it extended even to his requiring 
 them to serve others for his benefit. The Portuguese engaged 
 carriers from a chief, who took a considerable portion of their 
 earnings, just as the tribal heads at present send their young 
 men to a distance to work for them. Men who would not think 
 of assisting in the cultivation of their own gardens went willingly, 
 when called upon to do so, to labour in those of their chief. The 
 breast of every animal killed, which was regarded as the choicest 
 meat, was sent to him as his right, and certain furs were his 
 alone. When he felt so disposed, he made a tour through his 
 tribe, when each kraal visited provided food for him and his 
 attendants, and if he was in need, made him a present of cattle. 
 The oxen, often from fifty to a hundred, needed to procure his 
 
Description of the Bantu. 41 
 
 principal wife — who was to be the mother of the future ruler — 
 were contributed by his retainers. 
 
 In some of the tribes the chief might be said to be the owner 
 of everything. Cattle taken in war were his property, and 
 though the cows were distributed among the people, who had 
 the use of the milk, he could demand their restoration at any 
 time. All trade with strangers passed through his hands, and 
 he kept as much of the gains as he chose. Though this system 
 was confined to the military tribes, even in those less highly 
 organised it was usual for the chiefs to exact heavy dues upon 
 commercial transactions between their subjects and others. 
 When, for instance, the first fairs were established by the British 
 authorities on the Xosa border, the chiefs fixed the quantity of 
 beads or other merchandise to be received for every ox or tusk 
 of ivory, and commonly took about half for themselves, without 
 the people raising any objection. 
 
 The charges upon the government, except in the case of the 
 military tribes, were limited to the cost of entertainment of 
 attendants and visitors, and of presents to favourites or for services 
 performed. There were no salaries to be paid, and no public 
 works to be provided for. In all the country from the Zambesi 
 to the southern coast there was not so much as a road, nothing 
 better than a footpath, which, though leading towards a fixed 
 point, wound round every obstacle in the way, great or small, 
 for no one cared to remove even a puny boulder to obtain a more 
 direct line. Many of these footpaths were worn deep by constant 
 use for years, but they were never repaired. The simplest bridge 
 over a stream was unknown, nor was there any other public 
 work, if barricades of stones in the approaches to hill tops are 
 excepted. 
 
 The religion of the Bantu was based upon the supposition of 
 the existence of spirits that could interfere with the afikirs of 
 this world. These spirits were those of their ancestors and their 
 deceased chiefs, the greatest of whom had control over lightning. 
 When the spirits became offended or hungry they sent a plague 
 or disaster until sacrifices were offered and their wrath or hunger 
 was appeased. The head of a family of commoners on such an 
 
42 History of South Africa. 
 
 occasion killed an animal, and all ate of the meat, as the hungry 
 ghost was supposed to be satisfied with the smell. In case of 
 the chief or the community at large being affected, the sacrifice 
 was performed with much ceremony by the tribal priest, an 
 individual of great influence, who had as other duties to ward off 
 from the ruler the malevolent attacks of wizards and to prepare 
 charms or administer medicine that would make the warriors who 
 conducted themselves properly invulnerable in battle. 
 
 An instance may be given to illustrate the operation of this 
 religion. Upon the death of Gwanya, a chief of great celebrity 
 in the Pondomisi tribe, he was buried in a deep pool of the Tina 
 river. The body was fastened to a log of wood, which was sunk 
 in the water and then covered with stones. The sixth in the 
 direct line of descent from this chief, Umhlonhlo by name, to 
 save himself from destruction by an enemy became a British 
 subject at his own request, but in October 1880 treacherously 
 murdered three English ofiicials, and went into rebellion, which 
 resulted in his being obliged afterwards to take shelter in Basuto- 
 land. In 1891 one of Umhlonhlo's sons ventured into the district 
 where his father had lived, and there committed an assault, for 
 which he was arrested and sent before a colonial court to be 
 tried. It was a time of intense heat and severe drought, which 
 the tribe declared were caused by the spirit of Gwanya, who in 
 this manner was expressing displeasure at the treatment accorded 
 to his descendant. A.s a peace-offering therefore, cattle were 
 killed on the banks of the pool containing his grave, and the 
 flesh was thrown into the water, together with new dishes full of 
 beer. The prisoner was sentenced to pay a fine, which was at 
 once collected by the people for him. A few days later rain fell 
 in copious showers, which of course confirmed the belief of the 
 tribe that what was right had been done, and that the spirit of 
 Gwanya was appeased. 
 
 The Bantu had no idea of reward or punishment in a world to 
 come for acts committed in this life, and thus there was no other 
 restraint of religion upon their actions than was connected with 
 loyalty to their chiefs dead and living. Except when compelled 
 by circumstances to do so, they thought as little as possible of 
 
Description of the Bantu, 43 
 
 their own after fate, and seldom allowed reflection of any kind to 
 disturb them. 
 
 A belief in the existence of spirits would seem to have as its 
 consequence a belief in some special place where they resided, 
 but the Bantu power of reasoning in such matters did not extend 
 so far. Their minds in this respect were like those of little 
 children, who are content to credit marvellous things told to 
 them, without attempting to investigate any of the particulars. 
 It is only since European ideas have been disseminated among 
 them that such a question has arisen, and that one has said the 
 spirits resided in the sky, another that their place of abode was a 
 cavern under the earth. They acted as if the ghosts of the dead 
 remained at or near their habitations when in life, and they were 
 constantly fearful of meeting them at night. In all parts of the 
 country there were localities, usually wild or secluded glens, 
 which had the reputation of being haunted, and where no one 
 would venture to appear alone after dusk. This might be said, 
 however, of almost every part of Europe as well, so that in it the 
 Bantu did not differ from the most highly civilised section of 
 mankind. 
 
 No man of this race, upon being told of the existence of a 
 single supreme God, ever denies the assertion, and among many 
 of the tribes there is even a name for such a Being, as, for 
 instance, the word Umkulunkulu, the G-reat Great One, used by 
 the Hlubis and others. From this it has been assumed by some 
 investigators that the Bantu are really monotheists, and that the 
 spirits of their ancestors are regarded merely as mediators or 
 intercessors. But such a conclusion is incorrect. The Great 
 Great One was once a man, they all assert, and before our con- 
 ception of a deity became known to them, he was the most 
 powerful of the ancient chiefs, to whom tradition assigned 
 supernatural knowledge and skill. 
 
 When a person was killed by lightning no lamentation was 
 made, as it would have been considered rebellion to mourn for 
 one whom the great chief had sent for. In cases of death 
 within a kraal the relatives and friends of the deceased often 
 exhibited the most passionate symptoms of grief, which, how- 
 
44 History of South Africa. 
 
 ever, seldom lasted long, though they generally shaved their 
 heads as a sign of mourning. There was an idea that something 
 connected with death attached to the personal effects of the 
 deceased, on which account whatever had belonged to him that 
 could not be placed in the grave, his clothing, mats, head 
 rest, &o , was destroyed by fire. The hut in which he had lived 
 was also burned, and no other was allowed to be built on the 
 spot. If he had been the chief, the whole kraal was removed to 
 another site. Those who touched the corpse or any of the dead 
 man's effects were obliged to go through certain ceremonies, and 
 then to bathe in running water before they could associate again 
 with their companions. Except in cases of persons of rank, 
 however, very few^ deaths occurred within kraals. As soon as it 
 was seen that any one's end was near, the invalid was carried to 
 a distance and left to die alone, in order to avert the danger 
 of the presence of the dreaded something that could not be 
 explained. 
 
 If it happened that a common person died within a kraal, the 
 corpse was dragged to a distance, and there left to be devoured 
 by beasts of prey ; but chiefs and great men were interred with 
 much ceremony. A grave was dug, in which the body was 
 placed in a sitting posture, and by it were laid the weapons of 
 war and ornaments used in life. When the grave was closed, 
 such expressions as these were used: Eemember us from the 
 place where you are, you have gone to a high abode, cause us to 
 prosper. To prevent desecration of any kind, watchers were 
 then appointed to guard the grave, who for many months never 
 left its neighbourhood. In some instances it was enclosed with 
 a fence large enough to form a fold, within which selected oxen 
 were confined at night. These cattle were thenceforward regarded 
 as sacred, were well cared for, and allowed to die a natural 
 death. The watchers of the grave also were privileged men ever 
 afterwards. 
 
 Before the interment of the paramount chief of a powerful 
 tribe, especially of a great military ruler, a number of his 
 attendants were killed, and their bodies were placed around his 
 in the grave in such a way as to keep it from contact with the 
 
Description of the Bantu. 45 
 
 earth. The object was to provide him with servants in the spirit 
 world. His principal wives either took poison voluntarily or 
 were killed, to serve him as companions. If he had a favourite 
 dog, ox, or other animal, that was also slaughtered, to give him 
 pleasure. It does not follow that such animals were regarded as 
 immortal, but there was something unexplainable connected with 
 them that the dead chief could enjoy, just as there was with his 
 assagais and his metal bracelets. Afterwards, especially when 
 drought occurred or any disaster overtook the people, sacrifices 
 were offered at the grave, and prayers were made to him for 
 assistance. When a number of chiefs had thus been interred, a 
 tacit selection was made of the one who had been the wisest and 
 most powerful in his day, and the others were neglected and 
 gradually forgotten except by the antiquaries who preserved 
 their names. 
 
 The custom of slaughtering wives and attendants upon the 
 death of a great chief was not observed by the less important 
 tribes, nor upon the death of mere chiefs of clans or of other 
 individuals of position ; but a practice carried out to the present 
 day shows that it must at one time have been general. When a 
 man of what may be termed aristocratic rank died his widows 
 betook themselves to forests or lonely places, where they lived 
 in seclusion as best they could for a month or longer, according 
 to the time of mourning customary among their people. During 
 this period no one even spoke to them, and when, as sometimes — 
 but not always — happened, they were supplied with food, it was 
 done by leaving a little millet in a place near their haunts 
 where they would probably find it. Death from exposure and 
 starvation was frequently the result of this custom. At the end 
 of the time of mourning the emaciated creatures returned to 
 their kraals, when ceremonies of purification were observed, their 
 clothing and ornaments were burned, and their relatives supplied 
 them with the new articles that they needed. This method of 
 mourning must have been developed from the practice of 
 slaughtering such wives of a man of rank as could not make 
 their escape when he died, in order that they might accompany 
 him to the land of spirits. 
 
 F 2 
 
46 History of South Africa. 
 
 The tribe adjoining the Hottentot border on the south-east 
 had a dim belief in the existence of a powerful being, whom they 
 termed Qamata, and to whom they sometimes prayed, though 
 they never offered sacrifices to him. In a time of great danger 
 one of them would exclaim : " Qamata help me," and when the 
 danger was over he would attribute his deliverance to the same 
 being. But of Qamata nothing more was known than that he 
 was high and mighty, and that though at times he helped 
 individuals, in general he did not interfere with the destinies of 
 men. Kecent investigations have shown that this belief did not 
 extend far among the Bantu tribes, and it is now supposed to 
 have been acquired from the Hottentots. Not that the 
 Hottentots venerated a deity thus designated, but that a know- 
 ledge of some other object of worship than their own ancestral 
 shades having been obtained through Hottentot females whom 
 they took to themselves, this name was given to the unknown 
 divinity. 
 
 The Bantu believed that the spirits of the dead visited their 
 friends and descendants in the form of animals. Each tribe 
 regarded some particular animal as the one selected by the 
 ghosts of its kindred, and therefore looked upon it as sacred. 
 The lion was thus held in veneration by one tribe, the crocodile 
 by another, the python by a third, the bluebuck by a fourth, and 
 so on. When a division of a tribe took place, each section 
 retained the same ancestral animal, and thus a simple method is 
 afforded of ascertaining the wide dispersion of various com- 
 munities of former times. For instance, at the present day a 
 species of snake is held by people as far south as tlie mouth of 
 the Fish river and by others near the Zambesi to be the form in 
 which their dead appear. 
 
 This belief caused even such destructive animals as the lion 
 and the crocodile to be protected from harm in certain parts of 
 the country. It was not indeed believed that every lion or every 
 crocodile was a disguised spirit, but then any one might be, and 
 so none were molested unless under peculiar circumstances, when 
 it was clearly apparent that the animal was an aggressor and 
 therefore not related to the tribe. Even then, if it could be 
 
Description of the Bantu. 47 
 
 driven away it was not killed. A Xosa of the present time will 
 leave his hut if an ancestral snake enters it, permitting the 
 reptile to keep possession, and will shudder at the thought of 
 any one hurting it. The animal thus respected by one tribe was, 
 however, disregarded and killed without scruple by all others. 
 
 The great majority of the people of the interior have now lost 
 the ancient belief, but they still hold in veneration the animal 
 that their ancestors regarded as a possible embodied spirit. 
 Most of them take their tribal titles from it, thus the Bakwena 
 are the crocodiles, the Bataung the lions, the Baphuti the little 
 blue antelopes. Each terms the animal whose name it bears its 
 sihoho, and not only will not kill it or eat its flesh, but will not 
 touch its skin or come in contact with it in any way if that can 
 be avoided. When one stranger meets another and desires to 
 know something about him, he asks " to what do you dance ? " 
 and the name of the animal is given in reply. Dos Santos, a 
 Portuguese writer who had excellent opportunities of observation, 
 states that on certain occasions, which must have been frequent, 
 men imitated the actions of their siboko ; but that custom has 
 now almost died out, at least among the southern tribes. 
 
 The people along the south-eastern coast, though separated 
 into distinct communities absolutely independent of each other 
 from a time as far back as their tradition reaches, are of common 
 tribal origin. They all regard the same species of snake as the 
 form in which their ancestral shades appear. Further, their 
 tribal titles, with few exceptions, are derived from the chief who 
 left the parent stock, thus the Amahlubi are the people of Hlubi, 
 the Abatembu the people of Tembu, the Amaxosa the people of 
 Xosa, Hlubi, Tembu, and Xosa being the chiefs under whom 
 they acquired independence. The exceptions are derived from 
 some peculiarity of the people, but in these cases the titles were 
 originally nicknames given by strangers and afterwards adopted 
 by the tribes themselves. 
 
 Nearer than the spirits of deceased chiefs or of their own 
 ancestors was a whole host of hobgoblins, water sprites, and 
 malevolent demons, who met the Bantu turn which way they 
 would. There was no beautiful fairyland for them, for all the 
 
48 History of South Africa. 
 
 beings who haunted the mountains, the plains, and the rivers 
 were ministers of evil. The most feared of these was a large 
 bird that made love to women and incited those who returned its 
 affection to cause the death of those who did not, and a little 
 mischievous imp who was also amorously inclined. Many 
 instances could be gathered from the records of magistrates' 
 courts in recent years of demented women having admitted their 
 acquaintance with these fabulous creatures, as well as of whole 
 communities living in terror of them. 
 
 The water spirits were believed to be addicted to claiming 
 human victims, though they were sometimes willing to accept an 
 ox as a ransom. How this belief works practically may be 
 illustrated by facts which have come under the writer's 
 cognizance. 
 
 In the summer of 1875 a party of girls went to bathe in a 
 tributary of the Keiskama river. There was a deep hole in the 
 stream, into which one of them got, and she was drowned. The 
 others ran home as fast as they could, and there related that 
 their companion had been lured from their side by a spirit 
 calling her. She was with them, they said, in a shallow part, 
 when suddenly she stood upright and exclaimed " It is calling." 
 She then walked straight into the deep place, and would not 
 allow any of them to touch her. One of them heard her saying 
 ** Go and tell my father and my mother that it took me." Upon 
 this, the father collected his cattle as quickly as possible, and 
 went to the stream. The animals were driven into the water, 
 and the man stood on the bank imploring the spirit to take the 
 choicest of them and restore his daughter. 
 
 On another occasion a man was trying to cross one of the fords 
 of a river when it was in flood. He was carried away by the 
 current, but succeeded in getting safely to land some quarter of 
 a mile farther down. Eight or ten stout fellows saw him carried 
 off his feet, but not one made the slightest effort to help him. 
 On the contrary, they all rushed away frantically, shouting to 
 the herd boys on the hill sides to drive down the cattle. The 
 escape of the man from the power of the spirit was afterwards 
 attributed to his being in possession of a powerful charm. 
 
Description of the Bantu. 49 
 
 Besides these spirits, according to the belief of the Bantu, 
 there are people living under the water, pretty much as those do 
 who are in the upper air. They have houses and furniture, and 
 even cattle, all of their domestic animals being, however, of a 
 dark colour. They are wiser than other people, and from them 
 the witchfinders are supposed to obtain the knowledge of their 
 art. This is not a fancy of children, but the implicit belief of 
 grown-up men and women at the present day. As an instance, 
 in July 1881 a woman came to the writer of this chapter, who 
 was then acting as magistrate of a district in the Cape Colony 
 inhabited by Bantu, and asked for assistance. A child had died 
 in her kraal, and the witchfinder had pointed her out as the 
 person who had caused its death. Her husband was absent, and 
 the result of her being ^melt out was that no one would enter her 
 hut, share food with her, or so much as speak to her. If she was 
 in a path every one fled out of her way, and even her own 
 children avoided her. Being under British jurisdiction she 
 could not be otherwise punished, but such treatment as this 
 would of itself, in course of time, have made her insane. She 
 denied most emphatically having been concerned in the death 
 of the child, though she did not doubt that some one had 
 caused it by means of witchcraft. The witchfinder was sent for, 
 and, as the matter was considered an important one, a larger 
 number of people than usual appeared at the investigation. On 
 putting the ordinary tests to the witchfinder he failed to meet 
 them, and when he was compelled, reluctantly, to admit that he 
 had never held converse with the people under the water, it was 
 easy to convince the bystanders that he was only an impostor. 
 
 Of the origin of life or of the visible universe the Bantu never 
 thought, nor had any one of them ever formed a theory upon the 
 subject. There was indeed a story told in all the tribes of the 
 cause of death, but it is in itself an apt illustration of their want 
 of reasoning power in such matters. The chameleon, so the 
 tale was told, was sent to say that men were to live for ever. 
 After he had gone a long time the little lizard was sent to say 
 that men were to die. The lizard, being fleet of foot, arrived first 
 at his journey's end, and thus death was introduced. But in 
 
50 History of Sotith Africa. 
 
 whom the power lay of forming these decisions, and of sending 
 the animals with the messages, they did not trouble themselves 
 to inquire, nor did it strike them that the narrative was incom- 
 plete without this information until Europeans questioned them 
 concerning it. 
 
 Some of the eastern Bantu had a legend that men and animals 
 formerly existed in caverns in the bowels of the earth, but at 
 length found their way to the surface through an opening in a 
 marsh overgrown with reeds. They always pointed to the north 
 as the direction in which this marsh lay. The Ovaherero on the 
 western coast believe that human beings and every kind of 
 animal sprang from a particular kind of large tree in their 
 country, to which on that account they pay such respect that 
 they will not even lop a twig from it, wherever it may be 
 growing. For this reason it is now commonly called by the 
 Europeans in the country the Damara mother tree, Dam up, 
 corrupted by the Dutch colonists into Damara, being the 
 Hottentot name of the black people living north of Walfish Bay. 
 But this belief is probably of Hottentot, not of Bantu origin, for 
 the clans that hold it have strangely mixed up the worship of 
 Heitsi-eibib with that of their own ancestral shades. This must 
 have arisen from the predominance of the Hottentot race in 
 remote times in the country now occupied by the Ovaherero. 
 
 Dos Santos states that the people of his time in the Zambesi 
 basin observed certain fixed days as holy, and abstained from 
 labour upon them ; but this custom was certainly not universal, 
 and very likely the friar was mistaken. At any rate modern 
 observers in that part of the country as well as in the south 
 have noticed that no days or seasons are considered more sacred 
 than others, though there are times marked by particular events 
 when it is considered unlucky to undertake any enterprise, and 
 even movements in war are delayed on such occasions. 
 
 Still it must be observed that, tliough no days were considered 
 holier than others, or were specially dedicated to religious 
 observances, with the Bantu, as probably with all uncivilised 
 people, the time of a new moon was one of special rejoicing. 
 Next to the apparent course of the sun through the sky, the 
 
Description of the Bantu. 51 
 
 changes of the moon are those which to every one are most 
 striking. This is particularly so in a country like South Africa, 
 where a moonlit evening, when the winds are lulled and the air 
 is deliciously fresh and cool, is to Europeans the pleasantest part 
 of the twenty-four hours, far more so to people who knew of no 
 other artificial light than that of burning wood. It is no wonder 
 therefore that the new moon was hailed with shouts of joy, that 
 its praises were chanted in set words, and that among some of the 
 tribes dances and other ceremonies took place in its honour. 
 With all this, however, the moon was not regarded as a deity, 
 nor was the evening of rejoicing considered more holy tlian any 
 other. After the crops were gathered, many of the tribes were 
 accustomed to offer special sacrifices to the spirits of their dead 
 chiefs, though there was no fixed day in every year set apart for 
 the purpose, and indeed they did not even know how to reckon 
 time as we do. A chief who considered that his people, male or 
 female, needed rest, might issue an order that no work was to be 
 done on a particular day, but that did not cause it to be regarded 
 as holy. 
 
 Each ruling family had an individual connected with it, one 
 of whose duties can properly be described as that of a priest, for 
 it was he who in times of calamity sacrificed cattle for the tribe 
 to the spirits of the dead chiefs. Another of his duties was by 
 means of charms and incantations to ward off evil influence of 
 every kind from the reigning ruler. When a community was 
 broken in war and compelled to become a vassal clan of some 
 other tribe, it retained its priest until by time or circumstances 
 a thorough incorporation took place. That was a process, 
 however, not usually completed until several generations had 
 passed away. 
 
 As a factor in the government of a Bantu tribe religion was 
 more powerful than in any European state, for the fear of offend- 
 ing the spirits of the deceased chiefs, and so bringing evil upon 
 themselves, kept the clans loyal to their head. He was the 
 representative, the descendant in the great line, of those whose 
 wrath they appeased by sacrifices. A tribe all of whose clans 
 were governed by offshoots of the family of the paramount chief 
 
52 History of South Africa. 
 
 was thus immensely stronger in war than one of equal size made 
 up of clans thrown together by chance. In the one case the 
 religious head was the same as the political, in the other they 
 were separated. 
 
 The belief in witchcraft was deep-seated and universal. The 
 tlieory was that certain evil-disposed persons obtained power from 
 the demons to bewitch others, and so to cause sickness, death, or 
 disaster of some kind. They were believed often to use snakes, 
 baboons, and other animals as their messengers. They could 
 only be discovered by individuals who went through a very 
 severe novitiate, and to whom the necessary knowledge was 
 imparted by people who lived under water. Undoubtedly some 
 of the witchfinders were impostors ; but many of them were 
 really monomaniacs, and had the firmest conviction in their 
 ability to do what they professed. 
 
 Occasionally a person believed that he had received revela- 
 tions from the spirit world. If his statements were credited, 
 his power at once became enormous, and his commands were 
 implicitly obeyed. Crafty chiefs sometimes made use of such 
 deranged beings for the purpose of exciting the people to war, 
 or of inducing them to approve of measures which would otherwise 
 have been unpopular. 
 
 There were individuals who professed to be able to make rain, 
 and whose services were frequently called into use when any part 
 of the country suffered from drought. If it happened soon 
 afterwards that rain fell they received credit for it, and were 
 amply rewarded, while if the drought continued they asserted 
 that some unknown powerful wizard was working against them, 
 a statement that was in most cases believed. Sometimes, how- 
 ever, the chief and people lost faith in them, when they were 
 pronounced guilty of imposture, and were tied hand and foot and 
 thrown over a precipice or into a stream. 
 
 There were also persons who were skilful in the use of herbs 
 as remedies for diseases, and who were well acquainted with 
 different kinds of poison. This knowledge was transmitted in 
 certain families from father to son, and was kept profoundly 
 secret from the mass of the peoDle. Some of their medicines were 
 
Description of the Bantu. 53 
 
 beyond doubt of great efticacy, such as those used for the cure of 
 dysentery, for causing virulent sores to heal, and to counteract 
 snake bites.* But with these, and classified as of equal value, 
 they professed to have medicines that would cause love from a 
 woman, favour from a chief, &c. The writer of this was once so 
 fortunate as to come into possession of the whole stock in trade 
 of a famous Xosa herbalist. Each article in it was afterwards 
 submitted to different practitioners, under exceptionally favour- 
 able circumstances for eliciting information, when most of them 
 were at once recognised and their uses pronounced. Some 
 were cures for various diseases, one was a love philter, and one 
 was a piece of wood which was to be burned and the smoke 
 inhaled, when the person using it would find favour in the eyes 
 of his superior. But there were several whose use no one would 
 divulge, their properties being regarded as secrets upon the 
 strictest maintenance of which the fortunes of the herbalist 
 families depended. In every case, in addition to the medicine, 
 charms were made use of, and the one was as much relied upon 
 as the other by the people at large. 
 
 It often happened that the three ofiices of witchfinder, rain- 
 maker, and herbalist were combined in the same person, but this 
 was not always the case, and the occupations were distinct. 
 When practising, these individuals attired themselves fantasti- 
 cally, being painted with various colours, and having the tails of 
 wild animals suspended around them. 
 
 Charms were largely depended upon to preserve the wearers 
 against accident or to produce good luck. They were merely 
 bits of wood or bone, which were hung about the neck, and were 
 
 * A valuable pamphlet, in which the botanical, native, and colonial names, 
 and the uses of a great many of these medicinal plants are given, was not long 
 ago prepared and published by the late Andrew Smith, Esqre., M.A., for many 
 years a teacher in the higher department of the Lovedale Missionary Institution, 
 who expended a great deal of time and thought in the investigation of this 
 subject. My friend the reverend Dr. VV. A. Soga, a medical missionary with 
 the Bomvanas in the district of Elliotdale, informed me a few years ago that a 
 remedy for one form of cancer was certainly known to some herbalists of his 
 acquaintance, but though he had long been endeavouring to acquire their secret, 
 he had been unable to do so. 
 
54 History of South Africa, 
 
 regarded just as lucky pennies and fortunate days are by some 
 silly Europeans. But the belief was firm in charms and medi- 
 cines which gave to an assagai the property of hitting the mark, 
 to an individual the property of winning favour, and such like. 
 The issue of warlike operations was divined by revolting cruelties 
 practised on animals. At the commencement of hostilities, and 
 often before an engagement, two bulls were selected to represent 
 the opposing parties. These were then skinned alive, and 
 success was foretold to the combatant represented by the one 
 that lived longest. By some means, however, each band of 
 warriors was made to believe that the result denoted victory to 
 its side. While this was taking place pieces of flesh were cut 
 from other living bulls, which the warriors devoured raw, in the 
 supposition that by this means their courage in battle would be 
 increased. Cruelty of so dreadful a kind shocked no heart 
 among the spectators, for the Bantu in general were utterly 
 indifferent to the sufferings of animals, except favourites such as 
 a man's own race-ox or his pet dog. 
 
 The tribes of the interior were more superstitious than those of 
 the coast, as thej^ were guided in nearly all their actions by the 
 position in which some pieces of bone or wood of the character of 
 dice fell when they were cast on the ground. The largest made 
 of wood were oblong tablets, about six inches in length, two 
 inches in width, and five-eighths of an inch in thickness, but 
 usually those of wood, and almost invariably those of bone, were 
 smaller, the commonest being about two inches and a half long, 
 an inch wide, and an eighth of an inch in thickness. On each 
 tablet a different pattern was carved, and each had a significa- 
 tion different from the others. Sometimes instead of tablets 
 pieces of bone or of ivory carved in various shapes were used, in 
 the manufacture of which a great deal of patient labour was 
 expended. The usual number employed was five, but more were 
 sometimes found in a set. If an ox strayed the doMla was 
 thrown to ascertain in what direction it had gone, if a hunt was 
 to take place it whs consulted to indicate in what quarter game 
 was most readily to be found, in short it was resorted to in every 
 case of doubt. Each individual carried with him a set of these 
 
Description of the Bantu, 55 
 
 mystic articles strung on a thong, to be used whenever required. 
 This superstitious practice, just as it was described more than 
 three hundred years ago by the friar Dos Santos, is still prevalent 
 and firmly believed in. 
 
 With many of the tribes there was a custom upon the 
 accession of a chief to kill the commoner with the largest head 
 among the people, in order that his skull might be used by the 
 priest as a receptacle for the charms against witchcraft employed 
 in the protection of the ruler. Such a receptacle was regarded 
 as requisite for that particular purpose. Only a generation ago 
 a man was killed with this object by a -section of the Xosa tribe 
 that was not then under British rule, but that had been to some 
 extent for many years under European influence. The writer 
 has heard his grandchildren speak of the event without the 
 slightest feeling of horror, with as much indifference, in fact, as 
 if they were relating any ordinary occurrence. 
 
56 History of South Africa. 
 
 CHAPTER Iir. 
 
 Description of the Bantu (continued). 
 
 The Bantu had a system of common law and perfectly orga- 
 nised tribunals of justice, which, however, were sometimes set 
 aside by the great military tribes. Their laws came down from 
 a time to which even tradition did not reach, and those which 
 related to ordinary matters were so well known to every member 
 of the community that trials were mere investigations into 
 statements and proofs of occurrences. When complicated cases 
 arose, precedents were sought for, antiquaries were referred to, 
 and celebrated jurists even in other tribes were consulted. If 
 all these means of ascertaining the law failed, and the chief 
 before whom the case was being tried was not a man of generally 
 recognised ability, it often happened that no judgment was 
 given, for fear of establishing a faulty precedent. From the 
 decisions of the minor chiefs there was a right of appeal to the 
 head of the tribe. 
 
 The law held every one accused of crime guilty, unless he 
 could prove himself innocent. It made the head of a family 
 responsible for the conduct of all its branches, the kraal col- 
 lectively in the same manner for each resident in it, and the clan 
 for each of its sub- divisions. Thus if the skin of a stolen ox was 
 found in a kraal, or if the footmarks of the animal were traced to 
 it, the whole of the residents were liable to be fined. There was 
 no such thing as a man's professing ignorance of his neighbour's 
 doings : the law required him to know all about them, or it made 
 him suifer for neglecting a duty which it held he owed to the 
 community. Every individual was not only in theory but in 
 practice a policeman. 
 
Description of the Bantu. 57 
 
 A lawsuit among these people was commonly attended by all 
 the men of the kraal where it took place. Nothing was more 
 congenial than to sit and listen to the efforts of the querists to 
 elicit the truth, or for the ablest among them to assist in the in- 
 vestigation. The trial took place in the open air. The person 
 charged with crime or the defendant in a civil suit underwent a 
 rigorous examination, and anything like warning him against 
 criminating himself was held to be perversion of justice. 
 
 The accuser or plaintiff or a friend prosecuted, and a friend of 
 the individual on trial conducted the defence ; the councillors, 
 who acted as assessors, or any individual of recognised legal 
 ability who happened to be present, put any questions they 
 chose ; and the mass of spectators observed the utmost silence 
 and decorum. At the conclusion of the trial, the councillors 
 expressed their opinions, and the chief then pronounced 
 judgment. 
 
 There were only two modes of punishment, fines and death, 
 except in cases where an individual was charged with having 
 dealt in witchcraft, when torture, often of a horrible kind, was 
 practised. In this class of trials every one was actuated by fear, 
 and was in a state of strong excitement, so that the formalities 
 required on other occasious were dispensed with. The whole 
 clan was assembled and seated in a circle, the witchfinder, who 
 was fantastically painted and attired, went through certain in- 
 cantations ; and when all were worked into a state of frenzy he 
 pointed to some individual as the one who had by bewitchment 
 caused death or sickness among the people, murrain among cattle, 
 blight in crops, or some other disaster. The result to the person 
 so pointed out was confiscation of property and torture, often 
 causing death. The number of persons who perished on charges 
 of dealing in witchcraft was very great. The victims were 
 usually old women, men of property, persons of eccentric habits, 
 or individuals obnoxious to the chief. Any person in advance of 
 his fellows was specially liable to suspicion, so that progress of 
 any kind towards what we should term higher civilisation was 
 made exceedingly difficult by this belief. 
 
 No one except the chief was exempt, however, from being 
 
58 History of South Africa. 
 
 charged with dealing in witchcraft. The cruelties practised upon 
 the unfortunate individuals believed to be guilty were often 
 horrible, but a single instance, which occurred in July 1892, will 
 be sufficient to exemplify them. A wife of the Pondo chief 
 Sigcawu being ill, a witchiinder was directed to point out the 
 person who caused the malady. He declared that Ma Matiwane, 
 sister of the Pondomisi chief Umhlonhlo and widow of Sigcawu's 
 father, was the guilty person, and that she had a lizard and a 
 mole as her servants in the evil work. By order of Sigcawu, a 
 number of young men then seized Ma Matiwane, stripped her 
 naked, fastened her wrists and ankles to pegs driven in the 
 ground, and covered her with ants irritated by pouring water 
 over them. She suffered this torture for a long time without 
 confessing, so they loosed her, saying that her medicines were 
 too strong for the ants. They then lashed her arms to a pole 
 placed along her shoulders, and taking her by the feet and the 
 ends of the pole, they held her over a fire. Under this torture 
 she confessed that she was guilty, but as she could not produce 
 the lizard and the mole, she was roasted again three times within 
 two days. No European could have survived such a burning ; 
 but she was ultimately rescued by an agent of the Cape govern- 
 ment, and recovered. This woman had taken care of Sigcawu 
 after the death of his own mother, yet on the mere word of a 
 witchfinder she was thus horribly tortured. And instances of 
 this kind were common events in the olden times. 
 
 Frequently, when a great calamity had occurred, or the life of 
 a chief was believed to be in danger, not only the individual 
 pointed out by the witchfinder, but his or her whole family was 
 exterminated, and even entire kraals were sometimes wiped out 
 of existence on such occasions. So strong was the belief in 
 witchcraft and in the power of witchfinders to detect those guilty 
 of practising it that instances were not rare of persons accused 
 admitting that the charge against them must be correct and that 
 they ought to suffer death, because some evil emanation over 
 which they had no control must have gone forth from their 
 bodies and caused the disaster, though they had done nothing 
 directly to produce it. 
 
Description of the Bantu. 59 
 
 The Bantu were seeu in the most favourable light at ordinary 
 lawsuits before the chiefs and councillors, and in the most 
 unfavourable light at trials for the discovery of wizards and 
 witches. In the one case men were found conducting themselves 
 with the strictest gravity and propriety, in the other case the 
 same people were seen as a panic-stricken horde, deaf to all 
 reason, and ready to perform most atrocious acts of cruelty, even 
 upon persons who just previously were their companions. 
 
 The sentences pronounced in ordinary cases were often such 
 as would have seemed unjust to Europeans, but that was because 
 our standard of comparative crime is not the same as theirs, and 
 because with us there is supposed to be no difference of punish- 
 ment according to the rank of the criminal. With them the 
 ruling families in all their branches had the privilege of doing 
 many things with impunity that commoners were severely 
 punished for. Bribery was not unknown, but in courts as open 
 as theirs, and where there was the utmost freedom of enquiry, it 
 could not be practised to any great extent. When a case was 
 talked out, every one present was usually acquainted with its 
 minutest details. 
 
 Among the northern tribes trial by ordeal was resorted to in 
 cases where personal or circumstantial evidence was wanting, and 
 in appeal from decisions of witchfinders. The form of ordeal 
 varied. In some instances the accused person was required to 
 lick or to pick up a piece of red hot iron, and if he was burnt he 
 was condemned as guilty. In other cases he drank the poisonous 
 juice of a certain herb, and if it had effect upon him he was 
 doomed to immediate death. In others again he was forced to 
 drink a huge basin of hot water mixed with a bitter emetic, and 
 if he could not retain it the charge against him was regarded 
 as proved. Yet so confident were innocent persons that no 
 harm would come to them from the iron, the poison, or the 
 emetic, that they accepted the ordeal with alacrity. Among 
 the southern tribes this practice was not common, though it was 
 well known. 
 
 The Bantu knew of no other periods in reckoning time than 
 the day and the lunar month, and could describe events only as 
 
 G 
 
6o History of South Africa. 
 
 happening before or after some remarkable occurrence, such as 
 the death of a chief, a season of famine, or an unusually heavy 
 flood. The rising of the Pleiades shortly after sunset was regarded 
 as indicating the planting season. To this constellation, as well 
 as to several of the prominent stars and planets, they gave 
 expressive names. They formed no theories concerning the 
 nature of the heavenly bodies and their motions, and were not 
 given to thinking of such things. In later times, if questioned 
 by a European, they might venture to remark that the sky was 
 smoke which had risen from fires, but in sucli cases it would be 
 evident that the effort to find a solution to a query of this kind 
 was new to them. 
 
 They had no knowledge of letters or of any signs by which 
 ideas could be expressed. There were old men who professed to 
 be acquainted with the deeds of the past, and who imparted their 
 knowledge to the young, but their accounts of distant times 
 seldom corresponded in details. They touched very lightly 
 upon defeats sustained by their own tribe, but dilated upon all 
 its victories. In the traditions of each independent community 
 a particular chief, usually the second or third in descent from 
 the founder, was invariably represented as having conferred 
 extraordinary benefits upon his people. He was the inventor of 
 iron weapons, the one who decorated them with copper orna- 
 ments, and who taught them to use millet for food. Thus 
 among the Barolong at the present day all this is attributed to 
 Noto, son of Morolong ; among the Amaxosa to Tshawe, great- 
 grandson of Xosa ; among the Abatetwa to Umyambosi, son of 
 Umtetwa. Now it is absolutely certain that long before the 
 time of Morolong, Xosa, and Umtetwa, who founded these 
 modern tribes, iron, copper, and millet were in general use by all 
 sections of the Bantu. But in praise of chiefs who probably 
 gained some important victory, or under whose rule there was 
 unusual prosperity, whatever the succeeding generations could 
 think of as being great improvements was ascribed to their 
 wisdom, and has been handed down as tribal history from one 
 antiquary to another. Thus these narratives convey incorrect 
 impressions, and little is beyond question except the genealogies 
 
Description of the Bantu. 6i 
 
 of the great chiefs, which have been carefully preserved for ten 
 or twelve generations. 
 
 Their folklore was neither of a moral character, nor did it 
 convey any useful lessons. The actors in it were animals which 
 spoke as human beings, persons who were bewitched and com- 
 pelled to appear as beasts, individuals with magical powers, 
 fantastic creatures, imps, cannibals, young chiefs, girls, etc., etc. 
 There was nothing that led to elevation of thought in any of 
 these stories, though one idea, that might easily be mistaken on 
 a first view for a good one, pervades many of them : the 
 superiority of brain power to physical force. But on looking 
 deeper it is found that brain power was always interpreted as low 
 cunning ; it was wiliness, not greatness of mind, that won in the 
 strife against the stupid strong. Such an idea was in full 
 accord with the life of the people, and it may have been on this 
 account that the tales were so much liked. Where force was 
 directed as mercilessly as it is among brutes, it was necessary for 
 the weak to scheme against the strong. The little boy, who lived 
 in constant terror of larger ones, the woman, who was the drudge, 
 not the companion, of her husband, the petty clan, that felt the 
 exactions of a powerful neighbour, all were obliged to scheme, 
 and no people on earth ever learned the art of deception more 
 thoroughly than the Bantu. Thus these traditional tales, which 
 came down from a remote time, — as they were found with little 
 variation among tribes that could have had no intercourse with 
 each other for many centuries, — gave a large amount of pleasure 
 to those among whom they passed current, though to European 
 minds there was nothing amusing or interesting in them. 
 
 Many of the proverbs .in common use, on the contrary, con- 
 veyed excellent practical lessons of prudence and wisdom. The 
 following are a few of those collected by the writer when 
 residing with the Xosas, and they might be extended to fill 
 many pages : — 
 
 A brand burns him who stirs it up, equivalent to our English 
 one Let sleeping dogs lie. 
 
 Like the marriage feast of Mapasa, used to denote anything 
 unusually grand. The marriage festivities of one of the ancients, 
 
 G 2 
 
62 History of South Africa. 
 
 Mapasa by name, are said to have been carried on for a whole 
 year. 
 
 Misfortune of soup made of shanks and feet, applied to any 
 person who never does well, but is always getting into trouble. 
 The kind of soup spoken of is very lightly esteemed. 
 
 One fly does not provide for another, a saying of the industrious 
 to the idle, meaning that each should work for himself as the 
 flies do. 
 
 Bakuba is far away, no person ever reached it. Bakuba is an 
 ideal country. This proverb is used as a warning against undue 
 ambition, or as advice to be content with that which is within 
 reach. It is equivalent to our English saying It is no use 
 building castles in the air. 
 
 They have slaughtered at Kukwane, where much meat is 
 obtainable, xiccording to tradition, there was once a very rich 
 chief who lived at Kukwane, and who entertained strangers in a 
 more liberal manner than any who went before or who came after 
 him. This proverb is used to such persons as ask too much 
 from others, as if to say : It was only at Kukwane that such 
 expectations were realised. 
 
 It is not every one who is a son of Gaika. Gaika was at the 
 beginning of the nineteenth century the most powerful chief 
 west of the Kei. This proverb signifies that all are not equally 
 fortunate. 
 
 He has drunk the juice of the flower of the wild aloe. Said of 
 a dull, sleepy person. This juice when drunk has a stupefying 
 effect, and benumbs the limbs so as to make them powerless for 
 a time. 
 
 The walls have come into collision, said of any dispute between 
 persons of consequence. 
 
 A person who will not take advice gets knowledge when 
 trouble overtakes him. 
 
 You have cast away your own for that which you are not sure 
 of, equivalent to the English proverb A bird in tlie hand is 
 worth two in the bush. 
 
 He is a buck of an endless forest, a saying applied to a 
 shiftless person, one who never continues long in any occupation. 
 
Description of the Bantu. 63 
 
 You are lighting a fire in the wind, said to any one who 
 favours strangers in preference to relatives, or to their dis- 
 advantage. 
 
 There is no beast that does not roar in its den, meaning that a 
 man recognises no superior in his own establishment. Equivalent 
 to Every cock crows on his own dunghill. 
 
 A dog of the wind, a saying applied to any one who has no 
 settled plan of living. 
 
 I, the adhesive grass, will stick fast to you. This proverb is 
 used as a warning to any one to avoid a bad habit or an unworthy 
 companion that cannot easily be got rid of. 
 
 The sun never sets without fresh news. 
 
 They are people of experience who do not sleep at a strange 
 place, said in praise of one who is smart in going a message, or 
 who performs any duty at a distance quickly. 
 
 The land is dead, a saying which implies that war has 
 commenced. 
 
 One does not become great by claiming greatness, used to 
 incite any one to the performance of noble deeds. It means that 
 a man's actions, not his talk and boasting, are what people judge 
 of his greatness by. 
 
 It is the foot of a baboon, a saying denoting a treacherous 
 person. 
 
 He has gone in pursuit of the (fabulous) birds of the sea, a 
 saying applied to one whose ambitious aspirations are not likely 
 to be realised. 
 
 You are creeping on your knees to the fireplace. Used as a 
 warning to any one who is following a course that must lead to 
 ruin. It is as if one said : You are like an infant crawling 
 towards the fire circle in the middle of the hut, who is sure to 
 get burnt. 
 
 It has stuck fast by one of the front legs. This saying is used 
 when any one has committed himself to a matter of importance. 
 An animal cannot extricate itself easily when fast by one of its 
 front legs. 
 
 It dies and rises like the moon. Said of any question that 
 springs up again after it is supposed to be settled. 
 
64 History of South Africa. 
 
 There is no plant that comes into flower and does not wither. 
 Descriptive of the life of man. 
 
 The crab has stuck fast between the stones at the entrance of 
 its hole. Said of any one who is involved in difficulties of his 
 own creation, or of one who raises an argument and is beaten 
 in it. 
 
 To-morrow is also a day. Said to any one who is in undue 
 haste or who is impatient in the execution of a task. It is the 
 proverb most acted upon by men of the Bantu race. 
 
 Of poetry they had a fairly rich store, but there was nothing 
 particularly grand in it. It was chanted by individual men on 
 special occasions, and consisted chiefly of adulation of the chiefs, 
 deeds of war, and actions of animals. Thus a favourite ox might 
 have a chant in its praise. The war chants, in certain parts of 
 which the whole of the men present joined, were certainly 
 impressive, but those in ordinary use were monotonous and dis- 
 agreeable to a European ear. All were distinguished by a note 
 of sadness. These people, though their voices were rich and 
 melodious, had no conception of such vocal music as we are 
 accustomed to : they had neither rhymic hymn, nor song, nor 
 glee. Their musical instruments were of the rudest kind, mostly 
 calculated to make noise rather than melody, those in ordinary 
 use being capable of producing only a monotonous thrumming 
 sound. The best consisted merely of pieces of wood or iron for 
 keys, with calabashes attached to them, arranged on stretched 
 strings, and struck with a small round-headed cane, or of thin 
 iron keys fastened over a gourd or hollow block of wood, and 
 touched by the hand. Of these there were several kinds, but all 
 were constructed on the same principle. 
 
 Every chief of highest rank in the military tribes was attended 
 by individuals whose duty was to act as official praisers. These 
 persons were attired in the most fantastic costumes, thus one 
 might have his head and every part of his body covered with the 
 skin of a lion, another with that of a leopard, and so on. On 
 any appearance of the chief, they shouted in a kind of chant a 
 poem in which greatness of every kind was attributed to him, 
 using such terms as great elephant, great despoiler, great 
 
Description of the Bantu. 65 
 
 ravisher, great conqueror, aud great soothsayer. Very often at 
 the same time drums were beaten and horns were sounded, 
 making a din gratifying to the Bantu ear, but intolerable to that 
 of a European. The chiefs of tribes in the ordinary condition 
 had also their official praisers, who were, however, more modest 
 in their words, and whose chants were seldom accompanied by 
 such a deafening noise of discordant instruments. 
 
 The heads of the independent communities along the eastern 
 coast from the Zambesi river to Kosi Bay had dynastic names, 
 which they assumed upon succeeding to the chieftainship, and 
 by which they were afterwards known, just as all the rulers of 
 ancient Egypt were termed Pharaoh. Thus the paramount 
 chiefs of the tribe that occupied the south-eastern shore of 
 Delagoa Bay took the name Nyaka, those of the adjoining tribe 
 to the westward Kapela, those of the tribe living along the lower 
 course of the Limpopo river Manisa, and those of the great 
 Makalanga tribe, that occupied the eastern part of what is now 
 Rhodesia and the adjacent territory to the sea, Mnamatapa. 
 Each of these dynastic names originally had a special significa- 
 tion, and was derived from some occurrence connected with the 
 founder of the ruling family or one of the most distinguished of 
 his descendants. The custom applied only to paramount chiefs. 
 South of Kosi Bay dynastic names were not used, owing probably 
 to the manner in which the tribes were formed and their recent 
 origin. 
 
 The names given to children at birth were often changed at 
 a later age, especially in the case of chiefs who performed any 
 noteworthy act, or with a view to flattery, a custom that makes 
 research into their history somewhat diificult. It frequently 
 happened also that a chief was known to his own people by one 
 name, and to neighbouring tribes by another very different. In 
 our own day there are many instances of this custom. Thus a 
 chief of a Barolong clan, Montsiwa as his own people call him, 
 is termed Seyangkabo (meaning intruder in a bad sense) by some 
 of his immediate neighbours, and Motshele oa Maaka (the 
 fountain of lies) by others. Some of the names given to notable 
 persons were very expressive, and of these also there are many 
 
66 History of South Africa. 
 
 instances at present. Thus Sigcawu (the great spider), the 
 paramount Xosa chief, was so named on account of his supposed 
 cleverness, Dalindyebo (creator of wealth, from roots uku dala to 
 create and indyebo riches), the paramount Tembu chief, on 
 account of his having been born during an exceedingly abundant 
 harvest, Ngonyama (the lion), a Gaika chief, on account of his 
 personal bravery, Uzwinye (one word, from roots izwi a word and 
 nye one), the reverend Mr. Hargreaves, on account of his con- 
 stantly recommending peace. When a woman is married, her 
 husband's parents give her a new name, by which she is known 
 to his family afterwards. Upon the birth of her first child, 
 whether son or daughter, she is usually called by every one else 
 after the name given to the infant. Ma * *, the mother of * *. 
 
 When about fifteen or sixteen years of age boys in nearly all 
 the tribes were circumcised. The rite was purely civil. By it a 
 youth was enabled to emerge from the society of women and 
 children, and was admitted to the privileges of manhood. Its 
 performance was attended with many ceremonies, some of a 
 harmless, others to European ideas of a criminal nature. At a 
 certain period in every year, unless it was a time of calamity or 
 the chief had a son not yet ready, all the youths of a clan who were 
 old enough were circumcised. Thereafter for a couple of months 
 or longer they lived by themselves, and were distinguished by 
 wearing a peculiar head-dress and a girdle of long grass about 
 the loins, besides having their bodies covered with white clay. 
 During this period they had license to steal freely from their 
 relatives, provided they could do so without being caught in the 
 act. After returning to their homes, they were brought before 
 the old men of the tribe, who lectured them upon the duties and 
 responsibilities which they had taken upon themselves. Presents 
 of cattle and weapons were afterwards made by their friends to 
 give them a start in life, and they could then indulge in 
 immorality without let or hindrance from their elders. 
 
 In case a scion of the ruling house was growing up, tlie per- 
 formance of the rite of circumcision was generally allowed to 
 stand over for a year or two, so that he might have a large 
 number of companions. These were all supposed to be bound to 
 
Description of the Bantu, 67 
 
 him by a very strong tie. In after years they were to be his 
 councillors and attendants, and in case of danger were to form 
 his bodyguard. In modern times no instance has been known of 
 any one who was circumcised at the same time as a chief after- 
 wards proving unfaithful to him, but numerous instances have 
 come under the notice of Europeans where such persons have 
 sacrificed their lives for him. 
 
 With some — if not all — of the interior tribes at the time of 
 circumcision the youths were formed into guilds with passwords. 
 The members of these guilds were bound never to give evidence 
 against each other. The rites of initiation were kept as secret as 
 possible, but certain horrible customs connected with them were 
 known. One of these was the infusion of courage, intelligence, 
 and other qualities. Whenever an enemy who had acted bravely 
 was killed, his liver, which was considered the seat of intelligence, 
 the skin of his forehead, which was considered the seat of perse- 
 verance, and other members, each of which was supposed to be 
 the seat of some desirable quality, were cut from his body and 
 baked to cinders. The ashes were preserved in the horn of a 
 bull, and during the circumcision ceremonies were mixed with 
 other ingredients into a kind of paste and administered by the 
 tribal priest to the youths, the idea being that the qualities which 
 they represented were communicated to those who swallowed 
 them. This custom, together with that of using other parts of 
 the remains of their enemies for bewitching purposes, led theui 
 to mutilate the bodies of all who fell into their hands iu war, a 
 practice which infuriated those whose friends were thus treated, 
 and often provoked retaliation of a terrible kind. 
 
 Females who arrived at the age of puberty were introduced 
 into the state of womanliood by peculiar ceremonies, which 
 tended to extinguish virtuous feelings within them. Originally, 
 however, among the coast tribes the very worst of the observances 
 on these occasions was a test of discipline. The object of the 
 education of the males was to make them capable of self-restraint. 
 They were required to control themselves so that no trace of 
 their emotions sliould appear on their faces, tliey were not to 
 wince when undergoing the most severe punishment. In olden 
 
68 History of South Africa, 
 
 times a further test was applied, which has now degenerated into 
 the most abominable licentiousness. It will be sufficient to say 
 that the young women who attended the revels on these occasions 
 were allowed to select temporary companions of the other sex, 
 and if they declined to do so, the chief distributed them at 
 his pleasure. As the first edition of this chapter was being 
 prepared, a chief, who was regarded as being more advanced 
 towards civilisation than most of his people, came into legal 
 collision with the European authorities for distributing a large 
 number of girls in this manner in a district within the Cape 
 Colony. 
 
 But degrading as this rite was among the Bantu of the coast, 
 among some of those of the interior it was even more vile. All 
 that the most depraved imagination could devise to rouse the 
 lowest passions of the young females was practised, A description 
 is impossible. 
 
 The other ceremonies observed on this occasion varied among 
 the tribes, but an account of those of the Amaxosa at the present 
 day will give a general idea of all. When a girl of this tribe 
 arrives at the age of puberty, messengers are sent by her father 
 to all the neighbouring kraals to invite the young women to 
 attend the " ntonjane." The girl in the meantime is kept 
 secluded in the hut of an aunt, or other female relative, and her 
 father does not see her. Soon parties are seen coming from all 
 sides, singing as they march. The first that arrive halt in front 
 of the cattle kraal, where they are joined by those who come 
 later. When the girls are all assembled, the father selects an ox 
 to be slaughtered, and the meat is cooked for a feast. The 
 women then dress the girls for the dance, and when this is done 
 they are ranged in rows in front of the cattle kraal. They are 
 almost naked, having on only a girdle round the waist, and an 
 apron, called cacawe, made for the occasion out of the leaves of a 
 certain plant. In their hands they hold assagais, using them as 
 walking sticks. 
 
 When all is ready, four of the girls step out of the front row 
 and dance, the rest singing ; and when these are tired four others 
 step out, and so on, until all the girls present have danced. The 
 
Description of the Bantu. 69 
 
 spectators then applaud the best dancer, or if they do not at once 
 fix upon the same person, the girls dance until all present agree. 
 The girls then give room to the men and women that in the 
 mean time have arrived, who form themselves in lines in the same 
 manner, and dance until it is decided which of them surpass the 
 others. The dancing is continued until sunset, when the men 
 and women return home, leaving the party of girls, called the 
 jaka, who remain overnight. Next day dancing is resumed in 
 the same order, the guests usually arriving very early in the 
 morning. 
 
 If the girl's father is a rich man three oxen are slaughtered, 
 and the ntonjane is kept up for twelve days. On the thirteenth 
 day the young woman comes out of the hut where she has all 
 the time been living apart from her family. If the girl is a 
 chiefs daughter the ntonjane is kept up for twenty-four days. 
 All the councillors send oxen to be slaughtered, that there may 
 be plenty for the guests to eat. 
 
 The following ceremony takes place on the occasion of a chiefs 
 daughter coming out of the house in which she was concealed 
 during the twenty-four days : — - 
 
 A son of her father's chief councillor puts on his head the two 
 wings of a blue crane (the indwe), which are regarded as an 
 emblem of bravery only to be worn on this occasion and by 
 veterans in times of war. He goes into the hut where she is, and 
 when he comes out she follows him. They march towards the 
 kraal where the dancing took place, the girl's mother, the jaka 
 or party of young women, the girl's father, and his councillors, 
 forming a procession. More cattle are slaughtered for the indwe, 
 and then dancing is renewed, after which the girl drinks milk for 
 the first time since the day when she was concealed in the hut. 
 Large skin bags containing milk are sent from different kraals to 
 the place where the ntonjane is held. Some milk is put into a 
 small vessel made of rushes, a little of it is poured on the fire- 
 place, the aunt or other female relative in whose charge the girl 
 was takes the first mouthful, then she gives the milk to the girl^ 
 who, after having drunk, is taken to her mother's house. The 
 people then disperse, and the ntonjane is over. 
 
70 History of South Africa. 
 
 This ceremony acts as an advertisement to people far and wide 
 that the girl can now be applied for in marriage. 
 
 The Bantu were polygamists, and women occupied a lower 
 position than men in their society. Marriage was an arrange- 
 ment, without any religious ceremony, by which in return for a 
 girl cattle were transferred to her relatives by the husband or 
 his friends. It did not make of a woman a slave who could be 
 sold from hand to hand, nor did it give her husband power to 
 maim her. In its best aspect this method of marriage was a 
 protection to a woman against ill usage. If her husband maimed 
 her, or treated her with undue severity, she could return to her 
 father or guardian, who was allowed in such cases to retain both 
 the woman and the cattle. In its worst aspect it permitted a 
 parent or guardian to give a girl in marriage to the man who 
 offered most for her, without the slightest reference to her 
 inclinations. A woman was a drudge, upon whom the cultivation 
 of the ground and other severe labour fell, she could inherit 
 nothing, and she was liable to moderate castigation from her 
 husband, such as a parent is at liberty to inflict upon a child, 
 without protection from the law. Wealth was estimated by the 
 number of wives and cattle that a man possessed, and the one 
 was always made use of to increase the other. The husband was 
 head or lord of the establishment, and the wives were required to 
 provide all the food except meat and milk. Each had a hut of 
 her own, which she and her children occupied, and the husband 
 used his caprice as to which of them he associated with at any 
 time. 
 
 Though the transfer of cattle alone made a marriage binding, 
 it was customary to engage in festivities in connection with it. 
 Those ordinarily observed in the Xosa tribe at the present day 
 are fairly typical of all. Among these people the whole of the 
 marriage ceremonies are included in the term umdudOf a word 
 derived from the verb uku duda, which means to dance by 
 springing up and down, as uku xentsa means to dance by moving 
 the upper parts of the body. The dance at a marriage is con- 
 sidered of more importance than any of the others, and is therefore 
 frequently practised until skill in its performance is attained. 
 
Description of the Bantu. 71 
 
 The marriage of a young woman is arranged by her father or 
 guardian, and she is not legally supposed to be consulted in the 
 choice of a husband. In point of fact, however, matches arising 
 from mutual love are not uncommon. In such cases, if any 
 difficulties are raised by the guardians on either side, the young 
 people do not scruple to run away together, after which their 
 relatives usually come to an arrangement. Yet instances are not 
 wanting of girls being compelled against their wishes to marry 
 old m.en, who have already perhaps five or six wives. In practice 
 the umdudo is often deferred to a convenient season, but the 
 woman is considered not less a wife, and lier children not less 
 legal, provided always that the transfer of cattle has taken place 
 according to agreement. 
 
 Marriage proposals may come from the father or guardian of 
 the young woman, or they may first be made by the man himself 
 or the relatives of the man who wishes to take a wife. The 
 father of a young man frequently selects a bride for him, and 
 intimates his wish by sending a messenger to make proposals to 
 the girl's father or guardian. In this case the messenger takes 
 some cattle with him, when, if the advances are favourably 
 received, an assagai is sent back, after which the relatives of the 
 young people discuss and finally arrange the terms of the 
 marriage. If the proposal comes from the girl's father, he sends 
 an assagai, which is accepted if the suit is agreeable, or returned 
 if it is not. 
 
 When the preliminary arrangements are concluded, unless, as 
 sometimes happens, it is considered expedient to permit the 
 marriage at once to take place, but to postpone the festivities to 
 a more convenient season, a bridal procession is formed at the 
 young woman's kraal, to escort her to her future home. It 
 consists of her relatives and all the young people of both sexes 
 who can get away. It leaves at such a time as to arrive at its 
 destination after dark, and endeavours to reach the place without 
 attracting notice. The bridal party takes with it a cow, given by 
 the bride's father or guardian to confer fortune upon her, and 
 hence called the inqahwe. This cow is afterwards well taken care 
 of by the husband. The party has also an ox provided by the 
 
72 History of South Africa. 
 
 same person, as his contribution towards the marriage feast. On 
 the following morning at daylight the ox is killed, when a portion 
 of the meat is taken by the bride's party, and the remainder is 
 left for the people of the kraal. The bridegroom's friends then 
 send messengers to invite the people of the neighbouihood to the 
 feast, and as soon as these arrive the dancing commences. 
 
 In the dance the men stand in lines three, four, or more rows 
 in depth, according to their number, and at a little distance 
 behind the women stand in the same order. The men stand with 
 their heads erect and their arms locked together. They are 
 nearly naked, but wear ornaments of brass around their waists. 
 The trappings of the war dance are altogether wanting. The 
 women are, however, in full dress, for their part consists only in 
 singing. When all are ready, a man who has been selected for 
 the purpose commences to sing, the others immediately join in, 
 and at a certain note the whole of the men rise together from the 
 ground. The dance consists merely in springing straight up and 
 coming down with a quivering of the body ; but when the men 
 warm to it, it gives them great satisfaction. The song is very 
 monotonous, the same note occurring at every rise from the 
 ground. This dancing, with intervals of rest and feasting, 
 continues as long as the bridegroom's relatives supply oxen for 
 slaughter. A day suffices for a poor man, but a rich man's 
 marriage festivities may last a week or upwards. 
 
 On the closing day the bridegroom and his friends march from 
 one hut, while the bride and her party march from another, so as 
 to meet in front of the entrance to the cattle kraal. The bride 
 carries an assagai in her hand, which she throws so as to stick in 
 the ground inside the kraal in an upright position. This is the 
 last of the ceremonies, and the guests immediately begin to dis- 
 perse, each man taking home the milk-sack which he had brought 
 with him. In olden times ox-racing usually took place on the 
 closing day, but this custom has of late years fallen into neglect. 
 
 There were different restrictions with regard to the females 
 whom a man was at liberty to marry. No man of any coast tribe 
 would marry a girl whose relationship by blood to himself on his 
 father's side could be traced, no matter how distantly connected 
 
Description of the Bantu, 73 
 
 they might be. So scrupulous was he in this respect that he 
 would not even marry a girl who belonged to another tribe, if 
 she had the same family name as himself, though the relationship 
 could not be traced. A man, for instance, whose family title 
 was the Amanywabe, might belong to the Dushane clan of the 
 Xosa tribe. Among the Tembus, the Pondos, the Zulus, and 
 many other distinct communities, are people with this same 
 family title. They cannot trace any relationship with each other, 
 but wherever they are found they have ceremonies peculiar to 
 themselves. Thus the customs observed at the birth of a child 
 are exactly the same in every part of the country among people 
 of the same family title, though they may never have heard of 
 each other, while neighbours of the same clan, but of different 
 family titles, have these customs altogether dissimilar. This 
 indicates that the tribes and clans of the present day are com- 
 binations of others that were dispersed before their traditional 
 history commenced. No marriage between the Amanywabe is 
 permissible. 
 
 In some tribes, as at present in the Pondos, Tembus, and 
 Xosas, the same rule was applied to relatives by blood on the 
 mother's side also. Children take the family title of the father, 
 and can thus marry those of the same family title as the mother, 
 provided their blood relationship cannot be traced. Every man 
 of a coast tribe regarded himself as the protector of those females 
 whom we would call his cousins, second cousins, third cousins, 
 and so forth, on the father's side, while some had a similar feeling 
 towards the same relatives on the mother's side as well, and 
 classified them all as sisters. Immorality with one of them would 
 have been considered incestuous, something horrible, something 
 unutterably disgraceful. Of old it was punished by the death 
 of the male, and even now a heavy fine is inflicted upon him, 
 while the guilt of the female must be atoned by a sacrifice per- 
 formed with due ceremony by the tribal priest, or it is believed 
 a curse will rest upon her and her issue. 
 
 Of late years this feeling has become less operative than 
 formerly among those Bantu of the coast belt who have long 
 been in contact with Europeans, still immorality between persons 
 
74 History of Sotith Africa, 
 
 related to each other as above described is extremely rare. It 
 is still more so among those who have learned little or nothing 
 from white men. Shortly after the annexation of Pondoland to 
 the Cape Colony the principal chief of the western division of 
 that territory instituted an inquiry into one such case, which he 
 reported to a magistrate, and wished the usual punishment to be 
 inflicted. The common ancestor was found on investigation to 
 be seven generations back, still in public opinion the crime was 
 enormous. 
 
 In contrast to this prohibition the native of the interior almost 
 as a rule married the daughter of his father's brother, in order, 
 as he said, to keep property from being lost to his family. This 
 custom more than anything else created a disgust and contempt 
 for them by the people of the coast, who term such intermarriages 
 the union of dogs, and attribute to them the insanity and idiocy 
 which in recent times has become prevalent among the inland 
 tribes.* 
 
 In no section of the Bantu was there any restriction in regard to 
 marrying a wife's blood relatives. Thus a man might marry two 
 sisters, though not at the same time, and of course two brothers 
 might marry two sisters. Sometimes it happened that a man and 
 his wife could not agree and that he could bring some substantial 
 charge against lier, when, if she had a young unmarried sister, 
 an arrangement was usually made by which she returned to her 
 parents and her sister took her place, on the husband's making 
 a small addition to the cattle that had been transferred on the 
 first occasion. 
 
 This was also the case when, as sometimes happened, a woman 
 was childless. Such a person finds little favour in Bantu society, 
 so that on becoming a mother a wife who has been married some 
 
 * Among the tribes within the Cape Coh>ny at the present time the differences 
 are as follows : — 
 
 Xosas, Tembus, and Pondos : many no relative hy blood, however distant, on 
 either father's or mother's side. 
 
 Hlubis and others commonly called Fingos : may marry the daughter of 
 mother's brother and other relatives on that side, but not on father's side. 
 
 Basuto, Batlaro, Batlapin, and Barolong : very frequently marry cousins on 
 father's side, and know of no restrictions beyond actual sisters. 
 
Description of the Bantu, 75 
 
 time may say from the bottom of her heart, with Elizabeth of 
 old, that "her reproach is taken away from among men." A 
 childless woman is usually exchanged for a marriageable sister, 
 but the husband is required first to perform a ceremony which 
 can be illustrated by a case tried before the writer when act- 
 ing as a border magistrate in 1881. A sued B to recover the 
 value ol a heifer supplied to him two years before under these 
 circumstances. B's wife, who was distantly related to A, had 
 been married more than a year without bearing a child. B 
 thereupon applied to him for a heifer, the hair of the tail of 
 which was needed by the doctor of the clan to make a charm to 
 put round the woman's neck. He had supplied one for the 
 purpose, and now wanted payment for it. The defence was that 
 A, being the woman's nearest relative who had cattle, was bound 
 to furnish a heifer for the purpose. The hair of the tail was 
 needed, the doctor had made a charm of it and hung it round 
 the woman's neck, and she had thereafter given birth to a son. 
 The heifer could not be returned after being so used. In this 
 case, if the plaintiff had been so nearly related to defendant's 
 wife as to have participated in the benefit of the cattle given by 
 her husband for her, he could not have justified his claim under 
 Bantu law ; but as he was very distantly connected, he got judg- 
 ment. The feeling entertained by the spectators in court in this 
 instance was that B had acted very ungratefully towards A, who 
 had not even been present at the woman's marriage feast, but 
 who had cheerfully acted in conformity with the custom which 
 requires that a charm must be made out of the hair of the tail 
 of a heifer belonging to a relative of a childless wife, in order to 
 cause her to bear children. 
 
 Far the greater number of lawsuits among the Bantu arose 
 from their marriage customs. The cattle to be transferred to the 
 family of a woman were seldom or never fully paid until long 
 after the union, and in the meantime if the husband died disputes 
 were almost sure to arise as to what family the widow and her 
 children belonged, whether she had a right to return to her 
 parents, if so whether she could take any of her offspring with 
 her, and so on. The nearest relative of the deceased man had 
 
 H 
 
76 History of South Africa, 
 
 it in his power to settle the matter at once by paying the cattle 
 still due, but he did not always follow that course. If there were 
 any daughters, an arrangement was possible that of the cattle to 
 be received for them when they should marry the number due on 
 account of the mother should be paid. But even in this case 
 disputes were sure to arise. One party would fix the number 
 very differently from the other, and then the case would have to 
 be tried, when every little particular from first to last was 
 entered into, and the utmost patience was needed before a decision 
 could be arrived at. Sometimes these cases depended upon the 
 payment or non-payment of cattle three generations back, for in 
 Bantu opinion if a grandmother had not been fully incorporated 
 into the family of her husband, that is if the full number of cattle 
 had not been transferred for her, the position of her descendants 
 was doubtful, two distinct families having claims upon them. In 
 their expressive way of speaking, such cases did not die. 
 
 Chastity in married life was exceedingly rare among the coast 
 tribes. By custom every wife of a polygamist had a lover, and 
 no woman sank in the esteem of her companions on this becoming 
 publicly known. The law allowed the husband a fine from the 
 male offender, and permitted him to chastise the woman, provided 
 he did not maim her; but in the opinion of the females the 
 offence was venial and was not attended with disgrace. Favoured 
 guests had female companions — who were, however, generally 
 widows — allotted to them. Still, chastity had a value in the 
 estimation of the men, as was proved by the care with which the 
 harems of a few of the most powerful chiefs were guarded. It 
 might be thought that the framework of society would fall to 
 pieces if domestic life were more immoral than this, but in point 
 of fact a kraal on the coast was a scene of purity when compared 
 with one in some parts of the interior. 
 
 There it was a common occurrence for a chief to secure the 
 services and adherence of a young man by the loan of one of his 
 inferior wives either temporarily or permanently. In either case 
 the children belonged to the chief, who was regarded by the law 
 as their father. Another revolting custom among them was that 
 of polyandrous marriages. A man who had not the requisite 
 
Description of the Bantu. 77 
 
 number of cattle to procure a wife, and whose father was too poor 
 to help him, obtained assistance from a wealthy individual on 
 condition of having joint marital rights. 
 
 In some of the tribes women were obliged to invent for many 
 purposes different words from those used by every one around 
 them, and it sometimes happened that these newly formed words 
 supplanted the old ones. This arose from a custom which pro- 
 hibited females from pronouncing the names of any of their 
 husband's male relatives in the ascending line, or any words 
 whatever in which the principal syllables of such names occurred. 
 If a traveller came to a kraal and happened to ask a woman who 
 was its headman, if that individual was her husband's father or 
 uncle or elder brother she could not reply, but was obliged to call 
 some one else to give the required information. The violation of 
 this custom was considered as showing a want of respect for 
 connections by marriage. Women avoided meeting their 
 husband's male relatives in the ascending line, whenever it was 
 possible to do so, and never sat down in their presence. 
 
 H 2 
 
78 History of South Africa. 
 
 CHAPTEK IV. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE BANTU (continued). 
 
 The Bantu were agriculturists. Millet of several varieties, all 
 now called by Europeans kaifir-corn, was the grain exclusively- 
 grown. They raised large quantities of this, which they used 
 either boiled or bruised into paste from which a very insipid kind 
 of bread was made. In good seasons much millet was converted 
 into beer. It was steeped in water until it began to sprout, then 
 dried in the sun, and afterwards partly crushed in wooden 
 mortars made by hollowing the end of a block of wood about 
 three feet high. Two women, standing by the mortar, stamped 
 the contents with heavy wooden pestles, keeping time with the 
 strokes and usually lightening their labour by chanting some 
 meaningless words. The malt was then boiled, and leaven mixed 
 with it to cause it to ferment. Sometimes a bitter root was 
 added to flavour it. It could be made so weak as to form a 
 harmless and refreshing beverage, or so strong as to be 
 intoxicating. In the latter case unmalted corn was crushed and 
 mixed with water, which was then boiled, and malt was added 
 afterwards until it was almost as thick as gruel, and to a 
 European palate would have been nauseating. Millet beer was 
 largely consumed at feasts of all kinds. It was used as soon as 
 it ceased fermenting, for it speedily became sour. Some women 
 were reputed to be able to make it much better than others, and 
 on that account their services were largely in demand. In some 
 parts of the country an intoxicating drink was also made from 
 honey, which was plentiful in the season of flowers. 
 
 More pernicious was the custom of smoking the dried leaves of 
 wild hemp, which had the effect of producing violent coughing, 
 
Description of the Bantu. 79 
 
 followed by stupefaction. The usual pipe was a horn, but 
 sometimes the smoke was inhaled through a clay tube made on 
 the surface of the ground, and sometimes it was drawn through a 
 vessel partly filled with water. A number of men would sit 
 round the smoking apparatus, and each in turn make use of it 
 until all were helpless. Another means of intoxication was 
 afforded by the same leaves of the wild hemp, which, when dried 
 and reduced to powder, were mixed with water and drunk. The 
 practice, however, either of smoking or drinking bangue was 
 confined to a small section of each community, and the baneful 
 plant was only obtainable at certain seasons of the year. In the 
 form of snuff the stalks as well as the leaves and fibres, dried 
 and beaten into powder, could be preserved, and were more 
 generally used. 
 
 Among the coast tribes a supply of grain sufficient to last 
 until the next season was preserved from the attacks of weevil 
 by burying it in air-tight pits excavated beneath the cattle-folds. 
 When kept for a long time in these granaries, the grain lost the 
 power of germinating, and acquired a rank taste and smell, but 
 it was in that condition none the less agreeable to the Bantu 
 palate. The interior tribes preserved their grain either in huge 
 earthenware crocks or in enormous baskets, which were perfectly 
 watertight, and which could be exposed to the air without 
 damage to their contents. 
 
 Different kinds of gourds, a cane containing saccharine matter 
 in large quantities, and a sort of ground nut were the other 
 products of their gardens. In the country between the lower 
 Zambesi and Sabi rivers rice and various foreign vegetables had 
 been introduced by the Arabs long before the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century, but the cultivation of these had not extended 
 to the interior or the southern tribes. Everywhere wild bulbs 
 and plants, the pith of certain shrubs, and different kinds of 
 indigenous fruit formed no inconsiderable part of the vegetable 
 diet of the people. Children at a very early age were taught to 
 look for edible plants, and soon acquired such extensive know- 
 ledge in this respect that they were able to support themselves 
 easily where Europeans would have perished. 
 
8o History of South Africa, 
 
 As food they had also milk and occasionally flesh, though 
 domestic cattle were seldom slaughtered except for sacrifices and 
 feasts. The flesh of all that otherwise died was, however, eaten 
 without hesitation. Milk was kept in skin bags, where it 
 fermented and acquired a sharp acid taste. As it was drawn off 
 for use by the master of the household, who was the only one 
 permitted to touch the bag, new milk was added, for it was only 
 in the fermented state that it was used. Amasi, or fermented 
 milk, was exceedingly nutritious, and at the present day is 
 relished by most Europeans. In warm weather, especially, it is 
 a pleasant and wholesome beverage. The art of making butter 
 and cheese was unknown. 
 
 Fish was consumed only by the tribes living along the large 
 rivers in the interior and those on the eastern coast from Delagoa 
 Bay northward. South of Delagoa Bay it was not used, except 
 by offshoots from the northern tribes that had settled at a few 
 places along the sea shore, possibly because in ancient times it 
 may have been regarded as connected with the snake in whose 
 form the ancestral spirits appeared. This, however, is mere 
 conjecture, as the people themselves at the present day can 
 give no other reason for not eating fish than that their fathers 
 did not do so. 
 
 Occasionally large quantities of meat were obtained by means 
 of the chase. The chief would select a day, and give instructions 
 for all his people to assist in the hunt. A tract of country many 
 square miles in extent would then be surrounded, and the game 
 would be driven towards a large and deep pit, with a strong 
 hedge extending some distance on each side of it. The pit was 
 made in such a way that no animal forced into it by pressure 
 of the herd behind could escape until it was full. By the war- 
 like tribes the pit was often disdained as a means of capturing 
 such game as antelopes and zebras, and they preferred gradually 
 to contract the circle of hunters and drive the animals towards 
 the centre, killing with their assagais all that could not break 
 through the ring. After one of these hunts feasting was con- 
 tinued until not a particle of meat was left, as the palates of the 
 people did not reject what Europeans would regard as carrion. 
 
Description of the Bantu. 8i 
 
 Very large animals, such as the elephant, the hippopotamus, 
 and the rhinoceros were generally captured either by means of 
 snares that caused a heavily weighted spear to fall upon them as 
 they passed under a tree, or by means of carefully covered pits 
 with sharp stakes in them, made in the beaten tracks of the 
 animals towards water. Sometimes, however, men were found 
 sufficiently courageous to lie in ambush beside the paths and 
 hamstring the animals as they went by, when their destruction 
 was easy. North of the Sabi river the tusks of the elephant and 
 the hippopotamus were always saleable to the Mohamedan 
 traders along the coast, and everywhere among the Bantu ivory 
 arm rings were esteemed as ornaments. The flesh of all these 
 animals was much prized, especially that of the hippopotamus. 
 
 Another occasional article of food was dried locusts. Swarms 
 of these destructive creatures sometimes appeared, when every 
 one engaged in capturing and preserving them, the legs, when 
 dried, being regarded as not only nutritious, but pleasant to the 
 taste. By the people of the interior a species of caterpillar was 
 considered a special dainty, and the little field mouse was 
 eagerly sought for as another. Boys before being circumcised 
 were permitted to eat any kind of meat, even wild cats and other 
 carnivora, but after that ceremony was performed the flesh of 
 animals of prey was usually rejected. 
 
 Ordinarily two meals were eaten every day : a slight breakfast 
 in the morning, and a substantial repast at sunset. Anyone 
 passing by at that time, friend or stranger, provided only that 
 he was not inferior in rank, sat down without invitation or 
 ceremony, and shared in the meal. So great was the hospitality 
 of the people to equals and superiors that food could almost have 
 been termed common property. 
 
 When reduced to great extremity of want by the ravages of 
 enemies, sections of the Bantu sometimes resorted to cannibalism, 
 bat the horrible practice was by no means common. Portuguese 
 writers indeed mention tribes whose habitual food was human 
 flesh, still everything related concerning them shows that they 
 were war-stricken hordes driven from their ancestral homes and 
 wandering about with their hands against every man and every 
 
82 History of South Africa, 
 
 man's hands against them. In just the same manner in the 
 early years of the nineteenth century parties of absolutely 
 destitute people in the Lesuto and in Natal, driven into the 
 forests and mountains by the devastations of Tshaka, preyed 
 upon their fellows, whom they pursued as game ; but as soon as 
 a condition of comparative peace was restored, most of them 
 returned to their normal way of living. A few indeed, who had 
 acquired a taste for human flesh, though they were held in 
 execration by all others, continued to exist as cannibals until 
 they died out or were exterminated. It must have been the 
 same in olden times with the tribes along the Zambesi of whom 
 information is given by Dos Santos and other Portuguese 
 writers : it was the direst necessity, not by any means their own 
 choice, that led them to adopt a mode of maintaining life so 
 different from that of their race in general. They may have 
 continued longer in that condition than those in the south in 
 the days of Tshaka, but it is certain that no tribe depended 
 permanently upon human flesh for its subsistence. 
 
 The Bantu had an admirable system of land tenure. The 
 chief apportioned to each head of a family sufficient ground for 
 a garden according to his needs, and it remained in that indi- 
 vidual's possession as long as it was cultivated. He could even 
 remove for years, with the consent of the chief, and resume occu- 
 pation upon his return. He could not lend, much less alienate 
 it. But if he ceased to make use of it, or went away for a long 
 time without the chief's permission, he lost his right. Under 
 the same conditions he had possession of the ground upon which 
 his huts stood, and of a yard about them. All other ground was 
 common pasture, but the chief had power to direct that portions 
 of it should be used in particular seasons only. No taxes of any 
 kind were paid for land, air, or water. 
 
 The gardens were not enclosed by hedges or fences, and they 
 were very irregular in outline, as were also the different 
 cultivated plots within them, for the eyes of the women were 
 indifferent as to straight rows of plants. If the crops were 
 damaged by cattle at night, the owner of the cattle was required 
 by law to make good the loss, because he should have seen that 
 
Description of the Bantu, 83 
 
 his herds were either confined in a fold or guarded on a pasture 
 so distant that they could do no harm. But if the damage was 
 done in the daytime there was no redress, because some member 
 of the family of the owner of the garden was then supposed to be 
 watching it. So sensible and practical was the common law of 
 these people. 
 
 Kraals were usually built in situations commanding an exten- 
 sive view of the surrounding country, and always on ground with 
 good natural drainage. The brow of a hill, with a clear flowing 
 stream at its base and fertile garden ground beyond, was the site 
 most favoured. Sanitary arrangements, even of the simplest 
 kind, were unknown and uncared for, as the sense of smell was 
 much duller with these people than with Europeans, and an 
 impure atmosphere did not affect their health. Their supersti- 
 tion too required them to remove their residences whenever a 
 man of importance died, so that kraals seldom remained many 
 years on the same site. 
 
 Clans exposed to sudden attack by powerful enemies had 
 naturally little or no choice in selecting sites for kraals. They 
 were under the necessity of constructing their habitations in the 
 best possible defensive position, which was usually the crown of 
 a steep hill difficult of approach. Such hills are found in different 
 parts of the country, often with sides so precipitous that the top 
 can be reached by only one or two paths. When these were 
 barricaded with rough stone walls, the space above became a 
 fortress, impregnable or nearly so. Such sites for kraals were, 
 however, only resorted to as a last means of defence, on account 
 of the occupants being cut off from gardens and pasture for 
 their cattle as well as from easy access to water. Along the 
 Zambesi some clans lived in stockaded enclosures, but these were 
 unknown farther south. 
 
 The huts of the tribes along the coast were shaped like domes 
 or beehives, and were formed of strong frames, thatched with 
 reeds or grass. They were proof against rain or wind. The 
 largest were about twenty-five feet in diameter, and seven or 
 eight feet in height at the centre. They were entered by a low, 
 narrow aperture, which was the only opening in the structure. A 
 
84 History of South Africa. 
 
 hard and smooth floor was made of antheaps, moistened with 
 water and then kneaded with a round stone. When this had 
 set, it was painted with a mixture of cowdung and water, which 
 was the material used afterwards for keeping it in good order. 
 In the centre of the floor a fireplace was made, by raising a band 
 an inch or two in height and three or four feet in diameter, and 
 slightly hollowing the enclosed space. Many women bestowed 
 a great deal of attention upon their fire-circles, often enclosing 
 them with three bands, a large one in the centre and a smaller 
 one on each side of it, differently coloured, and resembling a coil 
 of large rope lying between concentric coils of less thickness. 
 Against the wall of the hut were ranged various utensils in 
 common use, the space around the fire-circle being reserved for 
 sleeping on. Here in the evening mats were spread, upon which 
 the inmates lay down to rest, each one's feet being towards the 
 centre. Above their heads the roof was glossy with soot, and 
 vermin swarmed on every side. It was only in cold or stormy 
 weather that huts were occupied during the day, for the people 
 spent the greater portion of their waking hours in the open air. 
 
 The habitations of the people of the interior were much better 
 than those of the people of the coast. With them the hut had 
 perpendicular walls, and consisted of a central circular room, 
 with three or four small apartments outside, each being a 
 segment of a circle. It was surrounded with an enclosed court- 
 yard, but was destitute of chimney or window. On the coast no 
 effort was made to secure privacy. 
 
 Horned cattle constituted the principal wealth of the Bantu, 
 and formed a convenient medium of exchange throughout the 
 country. Great care was taken of them, and much skill was 
 exhibited in their training. They were taught to obey signals, 
 as, for instance, to run home upon a certain call or whistle being 
 given. Every man of note had his racing oxen, and prided 
 himself upon their good qualities as much as an English squire 
 did upon his blood horses. The horns of the animals were 
 trained into the most fantastic shapes, and were often divided 
 into two, three, or more parts, which was effected by slitting 
 them as soon as they appeared on the young animal. The 
 
Description of the Bantu. 85 
 
 intelligence displayed by some of these oxen was as wonderful as 
 the patience and skill shown by their trainers. They were 
 taught to lie down at an order, to run in a circle, or to dance in 
 rows. Ox racing was connected with all kinds of festivities. 
 The care of cattle was considered the most honourable employ- 
 ment, and fell entirely to the men. They milked the cows, took 
 sole charge of the dairy, and would not permit a woman so much 
 as to touch a milksack. 
 
 The other domestic animals were goats, dogs, and barnyard 
 poultry everywhere, and in the north sheep of tlie large-tailed 
 hair-covered breed. 
 
 The descent of property was regulated in the same manner as 
 the succession to the chieftainship, and disputes could not easily 
 arise concerning it. Every head of cattle a man acquired was 
 immediately assigned to a particular branch of his family, that is 
 either to the house of his great wife, to that of his wife of the 
 right hand, or to that of his wife of the left hand. If he had 
 more wives than three, the remainder were in a subordinate 
 position in one or other of these houses. When he died, the 
 eldest son of each of the three principal wives inherited every- 
 thing that belonged to his mother's house. But the distribution 
 of wealth was more equal than in any European society, for each 
 married man had a plot of garden ground, and younger brothers 
 had a recognised claim upon the heirs of their father for assist- 
 ance in setting them up in life. 
 
 The Bantu of the coast were more warlike in disposition and 
 braver in the field than those of the interior. The universal 
 weapons of offence were wooden clubs with heavy heads and 
 assagais or javelins, and shields made of ox-hide were carried, 
 which varied in size and pattern among the tribes. The assagai 
 was a slender wooden shaft or rod, with a long, thin, iron head, 
 having both edges sharp, attached to it. Poising this first in his 
 uplifted hand, and imparting to it a quivering motion, the 
 warrior hurled it forth with great force and accuracy of aim. 
 The club was used at close quarters, and could also be thrown to 
 a considerable distance. Boys were trained from an early age to 
 the use of both these weapons. To those above named the 
 
86 History of South Africa. 
 
 northern tribes added the battle axe and bow and arrow, which, 
 though known to, were not used by the men of the south. 
 
 In the most warlike of the Bantu communities the men were 
 formed into regiments, and were trained to act in concert and to 
 go through various simple military evolutions, but in the others 
 the warrior knew nothing but the use of his weapons. With 
 these a battle was a series of individual eno:ao:ements, in which 
 it sometimes happened that a man would challenge a noted 
 adversary by name, and a duel would take place in presence of 
 the others on both sides as mere spectators. In such cases the 
 victor was presented by his chief with a crane's feather to be 
 worn on his head, and he was thereafter a man of note among 
 his people. A classification thus arose of the plumed and the 
 unplumed in the following of a chief, though the former did 
 not thereby become leaders or officers, that distinction being 
 reserved exclusively for members of the ruling house. It was 
 a custom for a man to be marked, usually with a scar from a 
 gash or a brand, for every adversary slain, and warriors prided 
 themselves relatively upon the number of these. 
 
 Among the military tribes reviews in presence of the chiefs 
 and mock combats were of frequent occurrence. The warriors 
 were in full dress on such occasions, with their kilts of animals' 
 tails around them, and their ornaments on their persons. Every- 
 thing was conducted with as much order and ceremony as were 
 observed by our own ancestors in their tournaments. At the 
 command of the chief one regiment would be pitted against 
 another, and each would attack, retreat, skirmish, and go through 
 all the evolutions of a real battle until the weaker side became 
 exhausted, when the other was pronounced the conqueror. Or 
 it might be a general skirmish of the whole army against an 
 imaginary enemy, or an attack upon a hill supposed to be 
 fortified, or simply a march of the regiments past the com- 
 mander in chief. Sometimes oxen were brought to take part in 
 the manoeuvres and to prove the skill of their trainers. A feast 
 and a dance invariably followed, but often jealousies had been 
 roused by the events of the day which led afterwards to engage- 
 ments in real earnest between different regiments. 
 
Description of the Bantu, 87 
 
 The dress of the people between the lower Zambesi and Sabi 
 rivers at the beginning of the sixteenth century was partly 
 composed of skins of animals and partly of cloth either obtained 
 in barter or manufactured by themselves of wild cotton or the 
 fibres of a certain bark. The home made cloth was coarse but 
 strong, and was woven in the simplest manner in squares large 
 enough to be fastened round the loins. The art of weaving, 
 though not much more difficult than mat making, was not 
 practised by all the clans, but by certain of them who traded 
 with their productions. At a much earlier date the Arabs and 
 Persians had introduced Indian calico, and squares of this 
 material, obtained in exchange for ivory and gold, were in 
 common use in that part of the country. 
 
 Elsewhere the ordinary dress of men when the air was chilly 
 was composed of skins of wild animals formed into a square 
 mantle the size of a large blanket, which they wrapped about 
 their persons. The skin of the leopard was reserved for chiefs 
 and their principal councillors, but any other could be used by 
 common people. Married women wore a leather wrapper like a 
 petticoat at all times, and big girls at least an apron of leather 
 strings, usually much more. In warm weather men and little 
 children commonly went quite naked. 
 
 They were fond of decorating their persons with ornaments, 
 such as necklaces of shells and teeth of animals, arm-rings of 
 copper and ivory, head bands, etc. They rubbed themselves 
 from head to foot with fat and red ochre, which made them look 
 like polished bronze. Their clothing was greased and coloured 
 in the same manner. 
 
 Many of them worked lines and simple patterns on different 
 parts of their bodies — chiefly the breasts, shoulders, cheeks, and 
 stomachs — by raising the skin in little knobs with a sharp iron 
 awl and burning it, a process that to European eyes disfigured 
 them much more than tattooing would have done, but which 
 they regarded as ornamental. Each community that adhered to 
 this custom favoured a form of cicatrice different from that of its 
 neighbours, but there were numerous tribes that were without 
 such markings. So with the front teeth : some clans filed them 
 
88 History of South Africa. 
 
 to a point, a few removed the two upper, but most allowed them 
 to remain in their natural state. The hideous boring and 
 plugging the lips and cheeks, so common north of the Zambesi, 
 was not practised south of that river. 
 
 More attention was bestowed upon the hair than upon any 
 other part of the body. Each tribe had its own fashion of 
 wearing it, so that at first sight the nationality of an individual 
 was known. Some worked it with wax and strings into imitations 
 of horns, others into arches, others into circles, and so on. This 
 necessitated the use of a peculiar head rest when sleeping, to 
 prevent the hair from becoming disordered. The rest was made 
 of a single piece of wood, according to the fancy of its owner. 
 Some were eighteen inches long, two or three inches wide, and 
 as many deep, with a slightly concave surface. Others were 
 only six to eight inches long, four to eight inches high, and two 
 to three inches wide, with a deep concave surface for the head 
 to lie in. Some of these were beautifully carved out of a block 
 of hard \vood, and were highly polished by being frequently 
 rubbed with grease. In no other manufacture of wood was so 
 much ingenuity displayed in designing patterns. An elaborate 
 head rest used by a chief, for instance, might be a carved band 
 supported by two, three, four, or even six columns standing on 
 an oval or oblong base, each column fluted or otherwise decorated, 
 and the base covered with little knobs or marked with a herring 
 bone pattern. Or it might be of almost any conceivable design 
 between that and a plain block of wood of the requisite shape. 
 It was never more than three or four inches wide, because it was 
 necessary for the head to project beyond it, in order that the 
 horns or other forms into which the woolly hair was trained 
 might remain undisturbed. 
 
 Their manufactures, however, were not of a very high order 
 when judged by a European standard of the present day. 
 Foremost among them must be reckoned metallic wares, which 
 included implements of war and husbandry and ornaments for the 
 person. In many parts of the country iron ore was abundant, and 
 this they smelted in a simple manner. Forming a furnace of clay 
 or a boulder with a hollow surface, out of which a groove was 
 
I 
 
 Description of the Bantu, 89 
 
 made to allow the liquid metal to escape, and into which a hole 
 was pierced for the purpose of introducing a current of air, they 
 piled up a heap of charcoal and virgin ore, which they afterwards 
 covered in such a way as to prevent the escape of heat. The 
 bellows by which air was introduced were made of skins drawn 
 from the animal with as little cutting as possible. These were 
 inflated by opening the ends, which were then closed, when the 
 air was pressed through horns of large antelopes tightly fixed at 
 the other extremities. Two skins were worked by one man, 
 using his hands alternately, and thus a continuous current was 
 kept up. The molten iron, escaping from the crude yet efiec- 
 tive furnace, ran into clay moulds prepared to receive it, which 
 were as nearly as possible of the same dimensions as the 
 implements they wished to make. These were never of great 
 size, the largest being the picl^s or heavy hoes required for 
 gardening. 
 
 The smith, using a boulder for an anvil and a hammer of 
 stone, next proceeded to shape the lump of metal into an assagai 
 head, an axe, a pick, or whatever was wanted. The occupation 
 of the worker in iron was hereditary in certain families, and was 
 carried on with a good deal of mystery, the common belief being 
 that it was necessary to employ charms unknown to those not 
 initiated. But the arts of the founder and the blacksmith had 
 not advanced beyond the elementary stage. Instead of an 
 opening for inserting a handle in the hoe, it terminated in a 
 spike which was driven into a hole burnt through the knob of 
 a heavy shaft of wood. The assagai was everywhere in use, and 
 in addition the interior tribes made crescent-shaped battle-axes, 
 which were fastened to handles in the same manner as the hoes. 
 On these implements of war they bestowed all their skill, and 
 really produced neatly finished articles. They worked the metal 
 cold, and were unable to weld two pieces together. 
 
 Knives, or more properly daggers, for the ends were pointed 
 and both edges were sharp, were also made of iron. The handles, 
 which were of wood, bone, horn, or even occasionally of ivory, 
 were frequently ornamented, as were also the sheaths of wood 
 or bone in which they were carried. The amount of labour 
 
90 History of South Africa. 
 
 required to make one of these implements and its sheath was 
 very considerable, so that its value relatively to other articles 
 was high, and it was not every man who was so fortunate as to 
 possess a knife. It was carried about by means of a thong round 
 the neck, and lay on the chest a little lower than the charms 
 and strings of teeth and other ornaments, so that it was always 
 ready for use. It was not regarded as a weapon of war, and 
 indeed was unfit for much real service in combat. 
 
 Copper was found in several parts of the country, and was 
 distributed over it by means of barter. It was used only for 
 making such ornaments for the person as large beads, earrings, 
 and armlets. Much less skill was employed in working this 
 metal than in manufacturing iron implements, the articles pro- 
 duced being of a very rough kind, not to be compared in point 
 of finish with a battle-axe or an assagai. The armlet was a mere 
 bar bent until its ends met, and the earring was of no better 
 workmanship. The beads were nothing more than drilled lumps 
 of metal globular in shape, and were strung with bits of wood 
 and teeth of animals on a thong. The neater ornaments of 
 copper and brass wire now in use, and exhibited in various 
 museums as specimens of Bantu industry, are of modern date, 
 made of materials obtained from Europeans. 
 
 In the manufacture of wooden articles, such as spoons, bowls, 
 fighting-sticks, mortars, etc., they were tolerably expert. Each 
 article was made of a single block of wood, requiring much time 
 and patience to complete it, and upon it was frequently carved 
 some simple pattern or the figure of an animal. Standing on 
 the handle of a spoon might be seen a lizard, an ox, or an 
 elephant, though always stiff in attitude, encircling the fighting 
 stick might be seen two or three snakes with spots burnt upon 
 them to make them resemble the living reptiles. 
 
 The tribes bordering on some of the rivers of the interior and 
 along the eastern coast north of Delagoa Bay were able to con- 
 struct canoes out of the trunk of a single tree, and knew how to 
 propel them with paddles, but this simple art was not practised 
 elsewhere. No means for crossing a swollen river, other than 
 carrying a stone under each arm if the water was not too deep, 
 
Description of the Bantu. 9 1 
 
 had been devised by the Bantu of the coast below Delagoa Bay, 
 and ocean navigation was of course unthought of. 
 
 A product of some ingenuity was a little vase used for various 
 purposes. It was made of the scrapings of skins, which when 
 soft were spread over clay moulds, and when dry became solid 
 cases. The clay was then taken out with an isilanda, or large 
 iron pin which every man carried about with him to extract 
 thorns from his feet, and the vessel was ready for use. Some 
 were in the shape of animals, others of gourds, or whatever else 
 the moulders desired. Usually while the gluey matter was still 
 soft it was creased, or raised in ridges, or pricked all over with a 
 sharp piece of wood, which greatly improved its appearance. 
 Some of these articles, especially those in the form of European 
 vases or decanters, were really extremely neat and pretty. 
 
 Skins for clothing, when the fur was preserved, were prepared 
 by scraping them carefully and then thumping them with the 
 hand and rubbing them for a length of time with a very smooth 
 stone, by which means they were made nearly as soft and pliable 
 as cloth. The interior tribes excelled in the art of dressing 
 skins, and were able to make beautiful fur robes, which they 
 stitched with sinews by the help of an awl. When the hair was 
 removed from skins to make wrappers for women the process of 
 preparing them was different. They were steeped in water, 
 scraped on both sides, then dried, and afterwards beaten and 
 rubbed with grease till they were soft. Finally they were 
 cut into shape and sewed with sinews to the required size, 
 when the wrapper was coloured with red ochre and was ready 
 for use. 
 
 In one comparatively small district of South Africa, — the 
 territory between the lower courses of the Zambesi and Sabi 
 rivers, — men were sometimes engaged in an occupation altogether 
 unknown to their kindred elsewhere. This was the collection of 
 gold. The chiefs were induced by the Mohamedan traders of 
 the coast to employ bands of their subjects in searching for the 
 precious metal, principally by alluvial washing in the rainy 
 season, though sometimes by mining and extracting quartz from 
 reefs by the aid of fire. The quartz when brought to the surface 
 
 I 
 
92 History of South Africa. 
 
 was crushed, and the gold was then obtained by washing. This 
 gold was inferior to the other in quality, and was known by a 
 different name. According to Dos Santos the diggers were 
 termed botonghi, which is evidently an approximation to the 
 Sekalanga word for gatherers, from the root uku huta, to collect 
 or gather. This industry must have come down from very 
 remote times, when it was practised to a much greater extent 
 than at the beginning of the sixteenth century. 
 
 The industries above mentioned were confined to males, but in 
 other departments the women were equally skilful. Earthen- 
 ware vessels containing from half a pint to fifty gallons were 
 constructed by them, some of which were almost as perfect 
 in form as if they had been turned on a wheel. Though they 
 were frequently not more than an eighth of an inch in thickness, 
 they were so finely tempered that the most intense heat did not 
 damage them. These vessels were used for beer pots, grain jars, 
 and cooking utensils. The potter's art has now become nearly 
 if not wholly lost by the Bantu of South Africa, owing to the 
 cheapness of importations from abroad. The women have found 
 by experience that with much less labour they can earn sufficient 
 money to purchase earthenware crocks, iron pots, and wooden 
 kegs, and so contact with civilisation has had the effect in this 
 respect of diminishing their former skill. 
 
 Baskets for holding corn, rush mats for sleeping on, small 
 mats used like plates to serve food on, and grass bags were made 
 by the women. The bags were so carefully and strongly woven 
 that they were used to hold water or any other liquid. In 
 general none of these articles were dyed, nor was any attempt 
 made to ornament them, though by a few of the people of the 
 interior simple patterns were worked with materials of different 
 colour. 
 
 Of the use of stone for building purposes, the coast tribes 
 knew nothing, and the interior tribes very little. None of them 
 ever dressed a block, but the cattle-folds, which along the coast 
 were constructed of branches of trees, in parts of the interior 
 were made of round stones roughly laid together to form a wall. 
 The quern, or hand mill for grinding corn, which was in common 
 
Description of the Bantu. 93 
 
 use, consisted of untriinmed stones, one flat or hollow and the 
 other round or oval. 
 
 When not engaged in the industries that have been mentioned, 
 the men were habitual idlers. A great portion of their time was 
 passed in visiting and gossip, of which they were exceedingly- 
 fond. They spent days together engaged in small talk, and were 
 perfect masters of that kind of argument which consists in 
 parrying a question by putting another. Though not pilferers, 
 they were inveterate cattle thieves. According to their ideas, 
 cattle stealing except from people of their own clan was not so 
 much a crime as a civil offence, and no disgrace was attached to 
 it, though if it was proved against a man the law compelled him 
 to make ample restitution. But any one detected in the act of 
 lifting cattle might be killed with impunity by the owner, and 
 a chief punished with death any of his subjects Avhose conduct as 
 a robber from other clans had a tendency to involve his own 
 people in war. 
 
 The interior tribes were the more advanced in skill in such 
 handicrafts as were common to them all. Their males sometimes 
 aided the females in agriculture, though the hardest and most 
 constant labour was by them also left to the women. But with 
 these exceptions, all comparisons between the tribes must be 
 favourable to those of the coast. The Bantu of the interior were 
 smaller in stature and less handsome in appearance than the 
 splendidly formed men who lived on the terraces facing the 
 sea. In all that is comprised in the word manliness they were 
 vastly lower. 
 
 Truth is not a virtue of barbarian life. In general if a man 
 could extricate himself from a dijBficulty, escape punishment, or 
 gain any other advantage by telling a falsehood, and did not do 
 so, he was regarded as a fool. Many of the chiefs of the coast 
 tribes, however, prided themselves on adhering faithfully to 
 their promises ; but the word of an interior chief was seldom 
 worth anything. 
 
 The deceptive power of all these people was great. But there 
 was one member which the coast native could not entirely 
 control, and while with a countenance otherwise devoid of 
 
 I 2 
 
94 History of South .Africa. 
 
 expression he related the grossest falsehood or the most tragic 
 event, his lively eye often betrayed the passions he was feeling. 
 When falsehood was brought home to him unanswerably, he 
 cast his glances to the ground or around him, but did not meet 
 the eye of the man he had been attempting to deceive. The 
 native of the interior, on the contrary, had no conception what- 
 ever of shame attached to falsehood, and his comparatively 
 listless eye was seldom allowed to betray him. 
 
 The native of the coast was brave in the field : his inland 
 kinsman was in general an arrant coward. The one was modest 
 when speaking of his exploits, the other was an intolerable 
 boaster. The difference between them in this respect was great 
 and was shown in many ways, but a single illustration from an 
 occurrence of the present generation will give an idea of it. 
 Faku, son of Gungushe, chief of the Pondos, by no means the 
 best specimen of a coast native, once wished to show his regard 
 for a white man who was residing with him. He collected a 
 large herd of cattle, which he presented with this expression : 
 " You have no food to eat, and we desire to show our good 
 will towards you, take this basket of corn from the children of 
 Gungushe." An inland chief about the same time presented a 
 half-starved old goat to his guest, with the expression " Behold 
 an ox ! "* 
 
 Among the coast tribes the institution of slavery did not exist, 
 but there could be no more heartless slave-owners in the world 
 (han some of the people of the interior. Their bondsmen were 
 the descendants of those who had been scattered by war, and 
 
 * This was unquestionably the case when Europeans first came into contact 
 with the different tribes and placed on record the peculiarities of each, but it is 
 not so in all instances at the present day. The chief of our time who possesses 
 the highest moral qualities of any in South Africa is Kharaa, ruler of the 
 Bamangwato. Bathoen, chief of the Bangwaketsi, and Sebele, chief of the 
 Bakwena, are also superior to most of the other Bantu rulers. All of these are 
 heads of interior tribes. It is not only from the observations of others, but 
 from personal experience, that the writer of these pages is able to state that the 
 chiefs here named are capable of acting with such generosity and good feeling as 
 would do credit to any European. But they are exceptions to the general rule, 
 and unfortunately few of their followers come up to their standard. 
 
Description of the Bantu. 95 
 
 who had lost everything but life. They could not own so much 
 as the skin of an antelope, and upon any caprice of their masters 
 they were put to death with as little compunction as if they 
 were vermin. 
 
 In a state of society in which women were drudges performing 
 all the severest labour, in which a man carrying only an assagai 
 and a knobbed stick walked in front of his wives and daughters 
 all bearing heavy burdens on their heads, it might be supposed 
 that the females were unhappy. Such a supposition, however, 
 would be erroneous. Freedom from care to anything like the 
 extent that is common to most individuals of our own race 
 tended to make Bantu females as well as males far happier on 
 the whole than white people. 
 
 The women were quite as cheerful as the men, and knew as 
 well as Europeans how to make their influence felt. In times of 
 peace, after working in her garden a great part of the day, 
 towards evening a woman collected a bundle of sticks, and with 
 it on her head and a child on her back, trudged homeward. 
 Having made a fire, she then proceeded to grind some soaked 
 millet upon a quern, humming a monotonous tune as she worked 
 the stone. When sufficient was ground, it was made into a roll, 
 and placed in the hot ashes to bake. Meantime curdled milk 
 was drawn by the head of the household from the skin bags in 
 which it was kept, and the bags were refilled with milk just 
 taken from the cows. The men made a hearty meal of the milk 
 and the bread, with sometimes the flesh of game and different 
 vegetable products, and after they had finished the women and 
 children partook of what was left. Then the men gathered 
 round the fire and chatted together, and the young people sat 
 and listened to the stories told by some old woman till the time 
 for sleep arrived. Different games were also played occasionally, 
 but as the only artificial light was that of burning wood, they 
 were usually carried on in the daytime. 
 
 At a very early age boys commenced trials of skill against 
 each other in throwing knobbed sticks and imitation assagais. 
 They enjoyed this exercise in little groups, those of the same 
 age keeping together, for there was no greater tyrant in the 
 
96 History of South Africa, 
 
 world than a big lad over his younger fellows. Commencing 
 with an ant-heap at a distance often or fifteen yards for a target, 
 they gradually became so perfect that they could hit an object a 
 foot square twice or even three times as far off. The knobbed 
 stick and the imitation assagai were thrown in different ways, the 
 object with the first being to inflict a heavy blow upon the mark 
 aimed at, while that with the last was to pierce it. This exercise 
 strengthened the muscles of the arms and gave expansion to the 
 chest. The result was that when the boys were grown up they 
 were able to use their weapons without any further training. 
 When practising, they kept up a continual noise, and if an 
 unusually successful hit was made the thrower uttered a cry of 
 exultation. 
 
 Boys above the age of nine or ten years were fond of sham 
 fighting with sticks. They stood in couples, each with a foot 
 advanced to meet that of his antagonist, and with a cudgel 
 elevated in the right hand. Each fixed his eye upon the eye of 
 his opponent, and sought to ward off blows as well as to inflict 
 them. In these contests pretty hard strokes were sometimes 
 given and received with the utmost good humour. 
 
 A game of which they were very fond was an imitation hunt. 
 In this, one of them represented a wild animal of some kind, a 
 second acted as a hunter, and the others took the part of dogs in 
 pursuit. A space was marked off, within which the one chased 
 was allowed to take breath, when he was said to be in the bush. 
 He tried to imitate as closely as possible the animal he was 
 representing. Thus if he was an antelope he simply ran, but if 
 he was a lion he stood and fought. 
 
 The calves of the kraal were under the care of the boys, and a 
 good deal of time was passed in training them to run and to obey 
 signals made by whistling. The boys mounted them when they 
 were eighteen months or two years old, and raced about upon 
 their backs. When the boys were engaged in any sport, one 
 of the number was selected by lot to tend the calves. As 
 many blades of grass as there were boys were taken, and a 
 knot was made on the end of one of them. The biggest boy 
 held the blades between the fingers and thuml* of his closed 
 
Description of the Bantu. 97 
 
 hand, and whoever drew the blade with the knot had to act 
 as herd. 
 
 They had also a simple game called hide and look for, exactly 
 like our own. As a training for the eye and hand nothing could 
 be better than their method of playing with little round pebbles. 
 Each boy had a certain number, which he threw into the air one 
 after another, catching them on his hand by turns as they fell, 
 and throwing them up again before any touched the ground. 
 He who could keep the whole longest in the air was the winner. 
 Or they would try who could keep the greatest number in the 
 air at once. 
 
 If they chanced to be disinclined for active exercise, they 
 amused themselves by moulding clay into little images of cattle, 
 or by making puzzles with strings. Some of them were skilful 
 in forming knots with thongs and pieces of wood, which taxed 
 the ingenuity of others to undo. The cleverest of them some- 
 times practised tricks of deception with pebbles. They were so 
 sharp that although one was sure that he actually saw the pebble 
 taken into the right hand, that hand when opened would be 
 found empty, and it would be contained in the left, or perhaps it 
 would be exhibited somewhere else. 
 
 The above comprised the common outdoor sports of boys up to 
 the age of fourteen or fifteen years. At that time of life thej 
 usually began to practise the different dances which they would be 
 required to take part in when they became men. These dances 
 differed from one another almost as much as those practised by 
 Europeans. 
 
 The commonest indoor game of the extreme southern tribes at 
 the present time is the iceya^ but this is of Hottentot origin, so 
 need not be described here. A game of Bantu children every- 
 where was the imfumba. One of the players took a pebble or 
 any other small substance in his hands, and pretended to place 
 it in the hands of the others, who were seated in a circle around 
 him. He might really give it to one of them, or he might keep 
 it himself. One after another then guessed in whose possession 
 it was. A variation of this game was played by men in rows of 
 holes in the ground, but it was much more complicated. 
 
93 History of South Africa. 
 
 Another common indoor game of children was called eu7nbulele. 
 Three or four little ones stood with their closed hands on top of 
 each other, so as to form a column. They sang cumbulele, cum- 
 hulele, pangalala, and at the last la they drew their hands back 
 sharply, each one pinching with his thumb nail the hand above. 
 
 Toys as playthings were few in number, and were almost con- 
 fined to clay oxen, wooden darts, bows and arrows, and the 
 nodiwu. This was a piece of wood about six or eight inches long, 
 an inch and a half or two inches wide, and an eighth or a 
 quarter of an inch thick in the middle. Towards the edges it 
 was bevelled off, so that the surface was convex, or consisted of 
 two inclined planes. At one end it had a thong attached to it 
 by which it was whirled rapidly round. The other end of the 
 thong was usually fastened to a small round piece of wood used 
 as a handle. The nodiwu, when whirled round, gave forth a 
 noise that could be heard at a considerable distance. Besides 
 the use which it was put to by the lads, when a little child was 
 crying inside a hut, its mother or nurse would sometimes get a 
 boy to make a noise with it outside, and then induce the child to 
 be still by pretending that a monster was coming to devour it. 
 There was a kind of superstition connected with the nodiwu, 
 that playing with it invited a gale of wind. Men would, on that 
 account, often prevent boys from using it when they desired 
 calm weather for any purpose. It was much in evidence when 
 the millet crops were ripening, and women and children were 
 engaged from early dawn until darkness set in keeping the birds 
 away. Little stages were then erected in the gardens, and on 
 the appearance of a flock of finches each watcher shouted, 
 clapped hands, whirled a nodiwu, or otherwise made as much 
 noise as possible. 
 
 The form of greeting when people met varied greatly among 
 the tribes. In the north clapping hands was the commonest 
 form, accompanied by prostration of an inferior before a superior. 
 " I see you " was the expression used by others on the coast. 
 Among some of the interior tribes one person on meeting another 
 asked the question " what are you eating ? " and received as a 
 conventional reply " nothing at all." In the south, on meeting 
 
Description of the Bantu. 99 
 
 a chief the salulatioD was ah ! There was no general custom 
 observed in this respect by all the branches of the race. 
 
 This was the condition of the Bantu at the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century, when Europeans became acquainted with a 
 section of the race, and it is the condition of the great majority 
 of them to-day, except where their customs have been modified 
 by the authority or influence of white people. The opinion of 
 those who have most to do with them now — four hundred years 
 after their first contact with Caucasian civilisation — is that an 
 occasional individual is capable of rising to a high standard, but 
 that the great mass shows little aptitude for European culture. 
 In mission schools children of early age are found to keep pace 
 with those of white parents. In some respects, indeed, they are 
 the higher of the two. Deprived of all extraneous aid, a Bantu 
 child is able to devise means for supporting life at a much 
 earlier age than a European child. But while the European 
 youth is still developing his powers, the Bantu youth in most 
 instances is found unable to make further progress. His intellect 
 has become sluggish, and he exhibits a decided repugnance, if 
 not an incapacity, to learn anything more. The growth of his 
 mind, which at first promised so much, has ceased just at that 
 stage when the mind of the European begins to display the 
 greatest vigour. 
 
 Numerous individuals, however, have emerged from the mass, 
 and have shown abilities of no mean order. A score of ministers 
 of religion might now be named as earnest, intelligent, and 
 devoted to their calling as average Europeans. Masters of 
 primary schools, clerks, and interpreters, fairly well qualified for 
 their duties, are by no means rare. One individual of this race 
 has translated Bunyan's Pilgrinis Progress into the dialect of the 
 Xosa tribe, and the translation is as faithful and expressive as 
 any that have been made in the languages of Europe. Plaintive 
 tunes, such as the converts at mission stations love to sing, 
 have been composed by another for a considerable number of 
 hymns and songs in the same dialect. Still another edits a 
 newspaper, and shows that he has an intelligent grasp of political 
 questions. 
 
lOO History of South Africa. 
 
 As mechanics they do not succeed so well, though an indi- 
 vidual here and there shows an aptitude for working with iron. 
 No one among them has invented or improved a useful imple- 
 ment since white men first became acquainted with them. And 
 the strong desire of much the greater number is to live as closely- 
 like their ancestors as the altered circumstances of the country 
 will permit, to make use of a few of the white man's simplest 
 conveniences and of his protection against their enemies, but to 
 avoid his habits and shut out his ideas. Compared with 
 Europeans, their adults are commonly children in imagination 
 and in simplicity of belief, though not unfrequently one may 
 have the mental faculties of a full-grown man. 
 

 ^^^l-.«. ^.^ 
 
 
 ¥^: 
 
 i^^J 
 
 op* 
 
 .» /?' 
 
 ^^; 
 
 Anqn^eqitena 
 
 
 •er^ -^ > 
 
 ^zV V ^k 
 
 VtBa 
 
 lane 
 
 itamvuna, Rivir 
 
 ^SSS -Bantu 
 
 I Cape of Good Hop ( 
 
 Blank' Bushmen,. 
 
 ipftA^Ullias 
 
 15° Lon* E of Gr 
 
 TERRITORY OCCUPIED BY DIFFERENT RACES IN SOUTH AFRICA IN 1500, 
 AS ACCURATELY AS CAN BE ASCERTAINED. 
 
 [Must be Regarded as only Approximate.] 
 
Astatic Immigrants. loi 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ASIATIC IMMIGEANTS IN SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 At some unknown period in the past, probably many 
 centuries before the commencement of the Christian era, people 
 more civilised than the Bantu, but still very far from reaching 
 the level of modern Europeans, made their appearance on 
 the central tableland of Africa south of the Zambesi. They 
 were Asiatics, but of what nationality is uncertain. It is 
 indeed possible, if not probable, that they came from the 
 great commercial city of Tyre on the eastern shore of the 
 Mediterranean sea, and that in holy scripture there is an 
 account of them. The conditions mentioned of those fleets 
 that went down the Red sea to Ophir in the time of Solomon 
 are perfectly applicable to voyages to the mouths of the 
 Zambesi or to Sofala, and the articles — gold, silver, precious 
 stones, almug trees, ivory, apes, and peacocks — with which 
 they returned are all found in South -Eastern Africa, if by 
 almug trees ebony or some other very hard wood is meant, 
 by precious stones pearls, and by peacocks the bustards that 
 to-day are called wilde pauwen (wild peacocks) by the Dutch 
 colonists.* 
 
 Mr. J. Theodore Bent, an eminent archaeologist, who spent 
 a portion of the year 1891 in examining the ruins of massive 
 buildings in the country, came to the opinion, however, that 
 
 * The name of the bird given in the Bible is said, however, to be of Tamil 
 origin, and to be used for the peacock (pavo cristatus) at the present day in 
 Ceylon. This appears to be the greatest impediment to the supposition that the 
 Ophir of scripture is the Rhodesia of to-day, unless there was intercourse 
 between Eastern Africa and Southern India in those early times, in which 
 case an African bird might have received from strangers a Dravidian name. 
 
102 History of South Africa. 
 
 the men who constructed them were probably Sabaeans from 
 Southern Arabia.* Be that as it may, the intruders must have 
 come down in vessels to some part of the coast, and then 
 gone inland, for no traces of them have been found north of 
 the Zambesi. 
 
 They erected buildings of dressed stone without cement or 
 mortar, some of considerable size, the ruins of which excite the 
 wonder of all who see them. From their position and form 
 there can be no doubt that most of the buildings were con- 
 structed as forts, by means of which the foreigners could 
 dominate the earlier inhabitants of the country. At least one, 
 however, is pronounced by Mr. Bent to have been exclusively 
 a temple, and several others appear to have been combined 
 fortresses and places of worship. The temple at the place now 
 termed the Great Zimbabwe, in latitude %f 16' 30" south, 
 longitude 31° 10' 10" east, fourteen miles from the present 
 township of Victoria, was elliptical in form, two hundred and 
 eighty feet in its greatest length, and was built of granite 
 blocks dressed to about double the size of ordinary bricks. 
 The greatest height of the wall still standing is thirty-five 
 feet, and its thickness varies from sixteen feet two inches to 
 five feet. The only ornamentation consists of two courses of 
 stone laid in oblique positions in contrary directions along a 
 fourth part of the wall, but in some other structures courses 
 of outer stones were laid about two inches apart for the same 
 purpose. These ornamentations are always on the south-eastern 
 faces of the buildings, and lines drawn from the centres of 
 the structures through the entrances point to the sun rising 
 or setting at the time of the solstices. 
 
 The labour required for the erection of such a building as 
 the temple at Great Zimbabwe, or of the fortress on the hill 
 beside it, would be enormous at the present day; what then 
 must it have been at a time when mechanical appliances such 
 as are now in common use were unknown ? But this was 
 
 * See his very interesting volume The Ruined Cities of Mashonalandy with a 
 Chapter on the Orientation and Mensuration of the Temples hy B. M. W. Swan^ 
 published in London in 1892, with several subsequent editions. 
 
Asiatic Immigrants. 103 
 
 only one of a very large number of sites similarly, though not 
 so massively, built upon over the whole extent of country 
 between the Zambesi and Limpopo rivers. 
 
 The civilisation of the builders was not of a high order, 
 however, for these structures were not perfectly regular in 
 form, nor were any of the walls absolutely perpendicular or 
 of equal thickness throughout. The architects were not suffici- 
 ently refined to appreciate mathematical correctness of shape 
 or finish. The masonry in some of the buildings, which are 
 believed to be the oldest, was much superior to that in others, 
 the courses being far more regular. This shows that decadence 
 took place, which is easily accounted for by the supposition, 
 amounting almost to a certainty, that a mixture of blood with 
 that of the Bantu was in progress from the outset. 
 
 A large solid tower in the temple at Great Zimbabwe, 
 supposed to have been a phallus when perfect, and numerous 
 stone phalli found in the ruins show the nature of at least one 
 branch of the religion of the intruders, while from peculiarities 
 in the buildings sidereal worship is supposed to have formed 
 another. There is no trace of either of these systems in the 
 religion of the Bantu now, from which circumstance it might 
 be concluded that the blood of the Asiatic immigrants does 
 not flow in the veins of the present inhabitants of the country, 
 if it was not certain that ancestor worship has in another instance 
 to be related elsewhere entirely driven out a foreign creed 
 adopted for a time by a section of the people. 
 
 Figures of birds and other animals, rudely carved in a soap- 
 stone which when quarried was almost as soft as moistened clay 
 but which hardened upon exposure to the air, exhibit the 
 extent of the knowledge possessed by these people of the art 
 of sculpture. Smelting furnaces, an ingot mould, crucibles, 
 fragments of soapstone bowls, bits of excellent pottery, and 
 beads, tacks, and thin plates of gold have been found in the 
 soil at the ruins. The thin plates or leaves of gold in little 
 squares of uniform size w^re intended to overlay wood, perhaps 
 the ceilings and ornaments of grand buildings in the ancient 
 world, and the wedge shaped tacks were for fastening them on. 
 
I04 History of South Africa, 
 
 The object of the intrusion of the Asiatics was to obtain 
 gold, and for this purpose they carried on mining operations 
 over an immense tract of country. They were sufficiently 
 skilful to be able to sink pits and run underground galleries 
 along reefs, but they were obliged to cease operations when 
 water was reached, as they had no means except buckets and 
 human labour for keeping the excavations dry. The quantity 
 of a reef that could be removed depended thus entirely upon 
 its position, and where drainage was good considerable depths 
 were reached. 
 
 With the appliances at their disposal there was only one way 
 in which this kind of mining could be carried on profitably, 
 for a vast amount of labour needed to be expended in bringing 
 the gold bearing rock to the surface of the ground, there 
 crushing it to powder, and then washing the dust to obtain 
 less than an ounce of metal from a ton of quartz, though the 
 value of that metal relatively to other articles must then have 
 been very much greater than it is now. With the Bantu popu- 
 lation reduced to a condition of slavery, the men employed 
 in extracting and crushing ore and the women in raising food, 
 it was possible to make gold mining profitable, and it may be 
 taken for certain that this was the condition of things in those 
 far-off times in the territory called Eastern Khodesia to-day. 
 
 As little as possible was left by the enterprising immigrants 
 to chance. Dry seasons were guarded against by a system of 
 irrigation pronounced by competent authorities from its remains 
 to have been almost as perfect as could be devised at the 
 present day, so that abundance of grain could always be relied 
 upon, for here, as everywhere else in the country, only water 
 was needed to make the soil as productive as any in the world. 
 x\t first sight it might seem that to conserve it nothing more 
 was necessary than to construct dams across the courses of 
 streams, but so violent were the floods in the rainy season 
 that unless the dams were immensely strong they would certainly 
 be swept away. Under such circumstances artificial reservoirs 
 were requisite, into which water could be led when the streams 
 were full, and from which it could be drawn into furrows for 
 
Asiatic Immigrants, 105 
 
 irrigating purposes when dry weather set in. Such reservoirs 
 required skill and much labour to construct and afterwards to 
 preserve in order. This part of Africa must therefore have 
 presented a scene of industry in building, mining, and cultiva- 
 tion of the soil that is not easy to picture by those who know 
 it at the beginning of the twentieth century of the Christian 
 era. It is possible, however, that the whole of the vast territory 
 from the Zambesi to the Limpopo was not occupied at the 
 same time, but that sections of it were successively brought 
 under the dominion of the Asiatic rulers. 
 
 How long a connection was kept open between the country 
 from which the strangers came and that into which they had 
 made their way there are no means of determining, but from 
 the vast extent of their building and mining operations it 
 seems likely to have extended over many centuries. From 
 the first the intruders, being unaccompanied by females of their 
 own race, would have taken to themselves harems of native 
 women, and thus gradually a considerable class of mixed breeds 
 must have arisen. These, as in all such cases, would have 
 been lower in intellect, enterprise, and morality than their 
 fathers, but they would have been unable to form a perfectly 
 separate caste, because connection with one or other of the 
 races from which they sprang was needed to create a balance 
 of blood on one side, without which they must have died out. 
 Half-breeds of negroes and Europeans or negroes and Asiatics 
 are incapable of producing offspring among themselves alone 
 for many generations. The males most likely would ally 
 themselves with the Bantu, and the females with the ruling 
 people, as is usual at present under similar conditions farther 
 north on the coast. At last something occurred to prevent 
 the arrival of any more foreigners, communication by sea with 
 the country they had come from ceased, and then a complete 
 fusion of blood between those in South Africa and the Bantu 
 took place. This is of course largely conjectural, but everything 
 that can be observed in connection with the subject points in 
 that direction. 
 
 Gold mining was not carried on to any large extent after 
 
io6 History of South Africa. 
 
 the cessation of intercourse with the country from which the 
 promoters of it had come, but the art was never entirely lost, 
 and quartz crushing continued on a small scale down to the 
 beginning of the nineteenth century. Far the greater portion 
 of the valuable metal obtained during the traditional and 
 historical period, however, has been obtained from alluvial 
 washing. When the massive buildings were abandoned, material 
 accumulated within their walls, in which at length great trees 
 sprang up and helped to complete the ruin. The pits by which 
 the mines were reached became filled, and the irrigation 
 works were all but completely obliterated. The Bantu, 
 though improved by the mixture of foreign blood, when left 
 to themselves without control or guidance reverted to their 
 normal condition. 
 
 At the beginning of the sixteenth century, when South- 
 Eastern Africa was first visited by the Portuguese, all traditions 
 concerning the ancient builders and miners had died out, and 
 other Asiatics who had arrived at a much later period were in 
 possession of the trade of the country, though not of its soil, 
 or of dominion over its inhabitants. From the Moors, as they 
 termed these people, the Portuguese learned of the existence 
 of extensive ruins inland, which they do not appear at any 
 time to have visited themselves, for the descriptions given by 
 their writers are very far from being correct. Thus the temple 
 at Great Zimbabwe, according to their accounts, was a square 
 building, not circular as it really is, and they stated that there 
 was an inscription over one of its doors which no Arabic scholar 
 could decipher, whereas not only is there no such inscription 
 now, but no indication of a stone having been removed on 
 which one could have been displayed at any time. 
 
 The Asiatics who were found trading and occupying various 
 stations along the coast were Arabs and Persians, and as they 
 possessed a literature and preserved records of their original 
 settlements and subsequent transactions, the Portuguese writers 
 into whose hands these records came were able to give a very 
 clear account, not only of their condition in the early years 
 of the sixteenth century, but of their previous history and 
 
Asiatic Immtgranis. 1O7 
 
 dealings with the Bantu inhabitants. That history was as 
 follows : — 
 
 A certain man named Zaide, great-grandson of Ali, nephew 
 and son-in-law of Mohamed, maintained religious opinions that 
 were not in accordance with the koran as interpreted by the 
 Arabian teachers, and was therefore banished from his home. 
 With his adherents, who from him were termed the Emozaidi, 
 he passed over to the African coast, and formed some temporary 
 settlements of no great importance along it. These people 
 were of a roving disposition, and gradually moved southward, 
 avoiding conflicts with the natives but incorporating many 
 of them, until in course of time they became hardly distinguish- 
 able from Africans except by the profession of a form of the 
 Mohamedau creed and a somewhat higher way of living. The 
 trading instinct of the Arabs led them, however, to carry on 
 a petty commerce in gold and probably in other productions ol 
 the country. How far south the Emozaidi eventually wandered 
 cannot be ascertained with precision, but some of them 
 appear to have reached the equator before the next stream of 
 immigration set in. 
 
 This was from Central Arabia, and consisted of a number 
 of families driven out by the oppression of a neighbouring 
 sheik. In three vessels they crossed over to the African coast, 
 and founded first the town of Magadosho, and subsequently 
 that of Brava, both not far north of the equator. In time 
 Magadosho became a place of importance, various subordinate 
 settlements were made to the southward, and its trade grew 
 to large proportions. The Emozaidi, who were regarded as 
 heretics by these later immigrants, would not submit to their 
 authority, and were driven inland and forced into still closer 
 connection than before with the natives of Africa. They became 
 the wandering traders of the interior, the people who collected 
 the products of the country and conveyed them to the coast 
 for sale. 
 
 A vessel belonging to Magadosho, having been driven from 
 her course by a storm, put into the port of Sofala, where her 
 crew learned that gold was to be obtained in trade. This led 
 
 K 
 
io8 History of South Africa. 
 
 to a small settlement of Arabs at that place, and to a knowledge 
 of the coast as far as Cape Correntes. 
 
 Rather more than seventy years elapsed after the founding 
 of Magadosho and Brava when, towards the close of the fourth 
 century of the Mohamedan era, that is about the time of the 
 Norman conquest of England, another band of strangers settled 
 on the East African seaboard. A ruler of Shiraz in Persia died, 
 leaving seven sons, one of whom, named Ali, was despised by 
 his brothers on account of his mother having been an Abyssinian 
 slave. He was a man of energy and ability, however, so to 
 avoid insult and wrong he resolved to remove to some distant 
 land. With his family and a few followers he embarked in 
 two vessels at the island of Ormuz, and sailed to Magadosho. 
 The Persians and the Arabs were alike followers of the creed 
 of Mohamed, and professed to hold the koran as their guide, 
 but they formed rival sects, and at that time regarded each 
 other with great bitterness. Ali could not settle at or near 
 Magadosho therefore, so he steered down the coast in search 
 of a place where he could build a town of his own, free of the 
 control of every one else. 
 
 Such a place he found at Kilwa, the Quiloa of the Portuguese. 
 The island was occupied by blacks, but they were willing to 
 sell their right to it, which Ali purchased for a quantity of 
 cloth, when they removed to the mainland. He then formed 
 a settlement, and constructed fortifications sufficiently strong 
 for defence against the African natives and the Arabs higher 
 up the coast who were unfriendly towards him. Whether the 
 island had a name before is not known : he called it Kilwa. 
 Admirably situated for commerce, the settlement attracted 
 immigrants and grew rapidly, so that even in All's lifetime 
 it was able to send out a colony to occupy the island of Mafia 
 not far to the northward. Successively different settlements 
 were formed or those founded by the Arabs were conquered, 
 until in course of time Kilwa, notwithstanding various civil 
 wars, became not only the most important commercial station, 
 but the ruling town on the East African coast. 
 
 At first the houses were built of wood and clay, but these 
 
Asiatic Immigrants. 109 
 
 were afterwards replaced by others of stone and mortar, with 
 flat roofs or terraces which could be used for the same purposes 
 as stoeps in the Cape Colony in our day. The streets between 
 the rows of houses were very narrow, mere alleys in fact, but 
 in the outskirts were large gardens planted with various kinds 
 of vegetables, in which grew also palms and different trees 
 of the orange species. In front of the town, close to the 
 harbour, was the residence of the ruler, which was built to serve 
 also as a fortress, and was ornamented with towers and turrets. 
 The mosques were adorned with minarets, so that, as looked 
 upon from the sea, Kilwa presented the appearance of a beautiful 
 and stately eastern town. 
 
 There were now three distinct communities of Asiatic origin 
 on the East African coast : the Emozaidi, deemed by both 
 the others to be heretics, the orthodox Arabs, holding one 
 form of the Mohamedan faith, and the Persians, holding another. 
 They were all at variance, and strife between them was constant. 
 This is the key to their easy conquest by the Portuguese in 
 later times. They termed the Bantu inhabitants of the main- 
 land Kaffirs, that is infidels, an epithet adopted by modern 
 Europeans and still in use. None of them, however, scrupled 
 to take women of that race into their harems, and thus at 
 all their settlements the number of mixed breeds was large. 
 At the commencement of the sixteenth century the majority 
 of those who called themselves Arabs, including the descendants 
 of the Persian immigrants, were undistinguishable in colour 
 and features from the ordinary Bantu. It followed that while 
 those in whom the Asiatic blood was predominant were strict 
 Mohamedans, the others were almost indifferent in matters 
 concerning that religion. 
 
 Sofala was wrested from Magadosho by the people of Kilwa 
 in the time of Soleiman, ninth successor of Ali, and with it 
 a trade in ivory and gold was secured which greatly enriched 
 the conquerors and enabled them to extend their power. In 
 the zenith of its prosperity Kilwa was mistress of Melinde 
 and Sofala on the mainland, the islands of Mombasa, Pemba, 
 Zanzibar, Mafia, Comoro, Mozambique, and many others of less 
 
 K 2 
 
no History of South Africa, 
 
 note, various stations on the coast of Madagascar, and numerous 
 small trading posts along the African shore as far south as 
 Cape Correntes, beyond which no vessel in those times ever 
 passed. But owing to internal strife and perpetual feuds amoug 
 the different communities, all of these places except Mozambique 
 were lost before the beginning of the sixteenth century, and 
 each of the others had become a petty but sovereign state. 
 
 The forty-third ruler of Kilwa after Ali was named Abraham,* 
 and it was he who held the government when the Portuguese 
 arrived on the coast. He did not rule, however, by right of 
 descent, but had seized the supreme authority under pretence 
 of keeping it in trust for an absent heir. On this account he 
 was conceded no higher title than that of Emir. When he 
 thus usurped the administration of Kilwa a man named Isuf f 
 was governor of Sofala, having received that appointment many 
 years before. This Isuf was held in high esteem for ability 
 and valour, and as he did not choose to acknowledge Emir 
 Abraham as a superior, he made himself independent and 
 opened his port to the trade of Melinde and other towns on 
 the coast. 
 
 The Asiatic communities on the African seaboard existed 
 almost entirely by commerce. Except at Pemba, Zanzibar, 
 and one or two other places they did not carry on agriculture 
 to any large extent, though they introduced various fruit-trees 
 and the cultivation of rice and probably a few foreign vegetables 
 among the Bantu. The small islands were not adapted for 
 the growth of grain, and the supplies of food needed by the 
 inhabitants of such towns as Kilwa and Mombasa could be 
 obtained without difficulty in exchange for such wares as they 
 had to barter. One product of the ground, however, they paid 
 particular attention to. That was the cocoa palm, without 
 which they could not have existed as they did. From its fruit 
 they obtained not only an agreeable article of diet, but a fibre 
 of the greatest utility ; from its leaves material for mats and 
 thatching; and from its trunk timber for the habitations of 
 
 * Habrahemo according to Barros, Abraemo according to De Goes. 
 
 t y9uf according to Barros, ^ul'e accordiug to Castanheda and De Goes. 
 
Asiatic Immigrants. 1 1 1 
 
 the poorer classes, masts and spars for their vessels, and wood 
 for a great variety of other purposes. There was no part of 
 this valuable tree of which some use could not be made. 
 
 They built vessels adapted for the navigation of the upper 
 part of the Indian sea, where the monsoons blow regularly at 
 different periods of the year from the east and from the west, 
 though in them they could not venture on such stormy waters 
 as those south of Cape Correntes. In these vessels no iron 
 was used, the planks being fastened to the timbers with wooden 
 treenails, and all the parts sewed or bound together with cord 
 of coir. As they did not use saws, the planks were formed by 
 splitting the trunks of trees down the centre, and then trimming 
 each block with an axe, a tedious and clumsy process, in which 
 much timber was lost. The sails were of close and strong 
 matting, and the standing and running gear alike was made 
 of coir. The largest of these vessels — now called dows — were 
 used for crossing over to the coasts of Arabia, Persia, and 
 Hindostan; those next in size — which were called pangayos 
 by the first Europeans who saw them — for the most important 
 part of the home trade; and the smallest — termed zambucos 
 and luzios — for communicating between the settlements, con- 
 veying cargoes up and down the mouths of the Zambesi, and 
 other purposes where heavy tonnage was not needed. The 
 zambucos and luzios, indeed, were nothing more than large 
 boats, half decked, and commonly provided with awnings. 
 In shallow places, as in rivers, they were propelled with poles. 
 
 The pilots, called malemos, who conducted the vessels to 
 foreign ports, were remarkably expert. Steering across to the 
 coast of Hindostan, for instance, they seldom failed to make 
 the land within a very few miles of the place they were bound 
 to. They determined the latitude by means of measuring 
 the angular altitude of certain stars when on the meridian, 
 for which purpose they used an instrument which they regarded 
 as superior to that by which the first Portuguese navigators in 
 those seas found their way. Of any other method of determin- 
 ing longitudes than by dead reckoning, however, they were 
 as ignorant as all the rest of the world at that time. 
 
112 History of South Africa, 
 
 The commerce carried on by these people with distant lands 
 was indeed small when compared with that which passed from 
 India either up the Persian gulf and thence by caravans to 
 the shore of the Mediterranean, or up the Ked sea, then over- 
 land to Cairo, and down the Nile to Alexandria, where the 
 produce of the East was obtained by the Venetians to be dis- 
 tributed over Europe ; but for Africa it was considerable, and 
 it was not subject to much fluctuation. 
 
 From India they obtained silks, spices, and other articles 
 of luxury for the use of their own people of pure or. nearly 
 pure Asiatic blood, and cotton cloth and beads for trade with 
 the Bantu ; from Arabia and Persia rich fabrics, dates, scimitars, 
 large sheathed daggers, and various other kinds of merchandise. 
 Every man, no matter how black, who claimed to be a Mohame- 
 dan, wore at least a turban and a loin cloth, and carried a 
 weapon of some kind on his person. The men of rank and 
 wealth, who were of lighter colour, dressed in gorgeous robes 
 of velvet, silk, or cotton, had sandals on their feet, and at 
 their sides ornamented scimitars of finely tempered steel. The 
 women naturally were clothed more or less richly according 
 to the position of their parents and husbands, and they Vr-ere 
 particularly fond of trinkets. Every article of dress or adorn- 
 ment, all glassware, the best of the furniture of every description, 
 the choicest weapons, and various luxuries of diet were imported 
 from abroad. 
 
 With pieces of calico to be used as loin-cloths, beads, and 
 ornaments of trifling value, the traders went among the Bantu 
 on the mainland. Ingratiating themselves with the chiefs 
 by means of presents, they induced those despots to send out 
 men, here to hunt elephants, there to wash the soil for gold, 
 and so forth. Time was to them of less importance than to 
 Europeans, and their mode of living was so nearly like that of 
 the native Africans that they could reside or travel about 
 without discomfort where white men could hardly have existed. 
 Thus the trade that they carried on was much greater in 
 quantity than that of their Portuguese successors, though its 
 exact amount cannot be ascertained. Upon their wares they 
 
Asiatic Immigrants. 1 1 3 
 
 obtained enormous profits. They received in exchange gold, 
 ivory, pearls from the oyster beds at the Bazaruta islands, strips 
 of hippopotamus hide, gum, and ambergris washed up on the 
 coast, with which they carried on their foreign commerce ; and 
 millet, rice, cattle, poultry, and honey, which they needed for 
 home consumption. 
 
 Commerce was open to any one who chose to engage in it, 
 but practically was confined to the pure Asiatics, who employed 
 the mixed breeds as their agents in conducting the inland 
 barter, working the vessels, and performing the rough labour 
 of every kind. The governments, Arab, Persian, and Bantu 
 alike, derived a revenue from the trade that to-day seems 
 extortionate. When an elephant was killed, the tusk next the 
 ground belonged to the chief, and when the upper one was 
 sold he took about half the proceeds. On all other articles 
 disposed of by his subjects, his share was about the same 
 proportion, besides which the traders on the other side were 
 obliged to make him large presents before commencing to 
 barter. When Mombasa after the independence of Isuf was 
 able to trade with Sofala, an export duty of rather over fifty 
 per cent was levied on the merchandise for the benefit of the 
 government of that town. At Kilwa any one desiring to trade 
 with Sofala was obliged to pay about seventy per cent of the 
 value of the goods before leaving the port, and on arrival at 
 his destination one-seventh of what was left. Upon his return 
 he paid a duty of five per cent of the gold he had acquired. 
 The duty on ivory brought to Kilwa was very heavy, so that 
 in fact the government obtained a large proportion of the 
 profits on commerce. 
 
 On the islands the governments of the Asiatics were not 
 only independentj but all other authority was excluded, and 
 on some of them fortifications were erected, as well as mosques 
 and houses of stone. But on the mainland south of Kilwa, it 
 was different. Here the mixed breeds were permitted by 
 Bantu chiefs to reside for purposes of trade, but they were 
 by no means lords of the country. The sheiks ruled their 
 own people, but no others, like native clans which are often 
 
1 14 History of Sotith Africa. 
 
 found intermingled, whose idea of government is tribal rather 
 than territorial. They were obliged to make the Bantu rulers 
 large presents every year for the privilege of living and trading 
 in the country, which presents may be regarded rather as rent 
 for the ground and license fees than as tribute. Under these 
 circumstances they did not construct any buildings of stone. 
 
 The pure Asiatic settlers on the African coast were grave 
 and dignified, though courteous in demeanour. They were as 
 hospitable as any people in the world, but they were attached 
 to their ancestral customs, and keenly resented anything like 
 an affront. They were enterprising, thougli so conservative 
 in their ideas that they were incapable of making what Euro- 
 peans would term rapid progress in civilisation. As superstitious 
 as their Bantu neighbours, they especially regarded dreams as 
 figuratively foreshowing events, and he was regarded as wise 
 who pretended to be able to interpret them. The tombs of 
 men celebrated for piety were places of ordinary pilgrimage, 
 but every one endeavoured when in the prime of life to visit 
 the city of Mecca in Arabia, thereby to obtain the highly 
 honoured title of hadji. 
 
 The mixed breeds, who formed the great bulk of the nominally 
 Mohamedan population, had all the superstitions of both the 
 races from which they were descended. They would not venture 
 to sea on a coasting voyage if one among them had an adverse 
 dream, or without making an offering, if only of a shred of 
 calico or a piece of coir cord, at the tomb of some holy man. 
 They believed that the winds could be charmed to rise or fall, 
 that the pangayos were subject to bewitchment, that even the 
 creatures of the sea could be laid under spells. They lived 
 in short in the atmosphere of the Arabian Nights^ darkened by 
 the gloom of Bantu fear of malignant sorcery. 
 
 Coming down the eastern coast of Africa in the year 1500, 
 the principal Mohamedan settlements and trading stations were 
 in geographical order as follows : — 
 
 Magadosho,* in latitude 2° 2' north of the equator. The 
 
 * Variously spelt in books and on charts at present as well as in olden times 
 Magadoxo, Magadaxo, Magadosho, Mogdishu, and Mukdeesha. 
 
I 
 
 Asiatic Immigrants. 115 
 
 town was on the coast of the mainland, partly built upon an 
 eminence rising to a height of about forty feet above a sandy 
 plain. It contained several mosques and many stone houses 
 with flat roofs. In front, at no great distance from the shore 
 and parallel with it, was a coral reef four or five miles in length, 
 which protected the channel within from the fury of the sea. 
 At low spring tides the water in the channel was only two 
 fathoms in depth, but that was sufficient for the dows used in 
 the Indian trade. There was no other port. 
 
 Brava, in latitude 1° 7' north, was also built on the coast of 
 the mainland. It stood on an eminence about a hundred feet 
 above the beach, and was enclosed with a wall. The town was 
 well built, and was governed as an aristocratic republic, the 
 only one of the kind on the coast. The port somewhat resembled 
 that of Magadosho, being a channel along the shore partly 
 protected by islets and reefs, but was more exposed to heavy 
 rollers from the sea. 
 
 Melinde,* in latitude 3° 15' south of the equator, situated on 
 the coast of the mainland, was also a well-built town. Adjoining 
 it was an extensive and fertile plain, covered with beautiful 
 gardens and groves, in which flourished fruit trees of various 
 kinds, principally orange and lemon. To gain this advantage 
 the town was built some distance from the nearest anchorage, 
 which itself was far from safe, being a roadstead protected to 
 some extent by a reef, but made dangerous by numerous 
 shoals. It possessed, however, in a narrow rocky peninsula 
 extending into the sea an excellent natural pier for landing 
 cargo from boats. 
 
 Mombasa, on a coral island about three miles long by two 
 broad, was situated in the estuary of the Barrette river, in lati- 
 tude 4° 4' south. The island was like a huge fortress, standing 
 from forty to sixty feet out of the water and presenting steep 
 cliff's of madrepore on the seaward side. It possessed one of the 
 best natural harbours in the world, easily accessible at all times. 
 On each side the passage between the island and the banks of 
 the estuary was broad and deep, though winding, and when in 
 * Variously spelt Melinde, Melinda, Maleenda, and Malindi, 
 
ii6 History of South Africa. 
 
 them or in the fine sheet of water to which they led a vessel was 
 perfectly sheltered. This sheet of water could only be reached 
 by large vessels through the northern strait, because a sub- 
 merged reef stretched across the inner end of the other, and 
 at low tide formed a ford to the mainland. The town was built 
 along the steep shore of the northern passage, not far from the 
 sea, and was next to Kilwa the most celebrated on the coast. 
 The houses were of stone, so well constructed that the first 
 Europeans who saw them compared them favourably with 
 residences in Spain. Mombasa, owing to its excellent site and 
 to the prevalence of sea breezes, was less troubled with fever 
 than any other settlement on that part of the coast. 
 
 Pemba, a coral island, rising in the highest part to three 
 hundred feet above the level of the sea, was thirty-eight miles 
 in extreme length by thirteen in width. It was about eighteen 
 miles from the mainland, with a clear passage for ships inside, 
 though coral reefs abounded near the shore. The island was 
 fertile, and produced large quantities of provisions, particularly 
 rice, for exportation. The principal Arab settlement on it was 
 in latitude 5° 25' south. 
 
 Zanzibar, not far south of Pemba, was an island similar in 
 every respect, though larger, being forty-seven miles in extreme 
 length by twenty miles in breadth. It rose to a height of four 
 hundred and forty feet above the level of the sea. The principal 
 Arab town, from which the island took its name, was on the 
 western side, in latitude 6° 3' south. The anchorage in front 
 of it was good and capacious, and there were many secure 
 harbours among the islets and reefs in the channel between it 
 and the mainland. Here were built the greater number of the 
 vessels used in the Indian and the coasting trade, and from 
 the island considerable quantities of provisions were exported. 
 
 Mafia,* a coral island rising abruptly from a great depth of 
 water, lay about nine miles from the mainland. This island 
 was about twenty- seven miles in length by nine in extreme 
 breadth, between 7° 38' and 8° south latitude. It was of much 
 less importance than either Zanzibar or Pemba. 
 * Written also Monfia and Monfeea, 
 
Astatic Immigrants. 1 1 7 
 
 Kilwa, a low coral island, rather over four miles in length, 
 by two in breadth, rising on the northern side to forty-five feet 
 above the sea level, was set like an arrow in a drawn bow in 
 the estuary of the Mavudyi river. It lay in latitude 8"" 57' 
 south. With the sea in front, a strait on each side, and a sheet 
 of water extending ten or twelve miles beyond its inner 
 extremity, it was a very strong position. As at IMombasa, the 
 southern strait was crossed at its far end by a reef, along which 
 access to the mainland could be had at low water. This strait 
 was interspersed with islets, and made a capacious harbour, 
 admirably adapted for shipping, but that on the northern side 
 of the island was difficult to navigate on account of its containing 
 numerous reefs and sand banks. 
 
 Passing south of Cape Delgado, in latitude 10° 40', a chain 
 of coral islets and reefs parallel to the coast at a distance of 
 eight to thirteen miles, and extending one hundred and seven- 
 teen miles along it, was to be seen. The principal islet was 
 termed Kerimba, or Querimba, and from it the whole group 
 was named. Next in importance was Ibo. Most of the others 
 were uninhabited, being mere rocks rising from the sea. Along 
 the strait within were numerous harbours for ships. 
 
 The northern extremity of the Mozambique channel has now 
 been reached, and halfway across it lay the Comoro islands, all 
 of volcanic origin. The principal of these were named Comoro, 
 Johanna, Mohilla, and Mayotta, but there were many smaller in 
 size. These islands were also possessed by the Arabs, who made 
 use of them as convenient stopping places on their way to the 
 great Island of the Moon, which we term Madagascar. 
 
 Keeping down the African coast, an inlet about five miles 
 and a half across and six in depth was reached, in latitude 15° 
 south. Into its inner end ran three streamlets, but of inconsider- 
 able size. Lying across the centre of the mouth of the inlet, 
 within a line joining its two outer points, was a low coral island, 
 about a mile and a half in length and four hundred yards in 
 breadth, named Mozambique. About three miles farther out 
 in the sea were two others, similar in formation, then unin- 
 habited, one of which is now called Saint George and the other 
 
ii8 History of So7it/i Africa. 
 
 Saint Jago. Behind Mozambique was a spacious harbour, easily 
 accessible and perfectly sheltered. At long intervals indeed a 
 furious cyclone would sweep over it and cause great destruction, 
 but the same could be said of any part of that coast and sea. 
 Such a position as the island of Mozambique could not escape 
 the observation of the Mohamedans, though it had not the 
 advantages of Kilwa or Mombasa. The island itself produced 
 nothing, not even drinking water. On the northern shore of 
 the inlet, since termed Cabaceira, the ground was fertile, but it 
 was exposed to irruptions of the Bantu inhabitants, who were 
 generally hostile. So Mozambique never rose to be more than 
 a dependency of Kilwa, a mere halfway station for vessels bound 
 up or down the coast. Its Mohamedan occupants had their 
 gardens and cocoa nut groves on the mainland, but could not 
 always depend upon gathering their produce. 
 
 The Angosha* islands lay off the mouth of the Angosha river, 
 between latitude 16° and 16° 40' south. The river was three 
 miles wide at the bar, and could be ascended by boats nearly one 
 hundred and fifty miles, which circumstance gave to the six 
 coral islets off its entrance a value they would not have had in 
 another position. There was a good roadstead between the bar 
 of the river and the island Mafamede, which was a mere crown 
 of sand on a coral reef seven or eight feet above sea level. 
 
 The Primeiras islands were nothing more than a row of coral 
 hummocks extending northward from latitude 17° 18' in a line 
 parallel with the coast. In the channel between them and the 
 mainland there were places where a pangayo could find shelter. 
 
 At Mozambique the direction of the coast line had changed 
 from nearly north and south to north-east and south-west, and 
 the aspect of the land had altered also. Thence to Cape 
 Correntes as far as the eye could reach nothing was visible but 
 a low flat tract, bordered along the sea by sand hills from fifty 
 to six hundred feet high, with here and there a dark-coloured 
 rock. In latitude 18° south the mouth of the Kilimane, or 
 Quilimane, river was reached. This was the northernmost of 
 the several outlets of the great river Zambesi, which therefore 
 * Spelt also Angoxa, Angozha, and Angoche. 
 
Asiatic Immigrants, 119 
 
 bounded the delta on that side. The other large outlets were 
 the Luabo and the Kuama, but there were many smaller ones, 
 a distance of a hundred miles separating the extreme southern 
 from the extreme northern mouth, while the inland extremity 
 of the delta, where the river began to fork, was over fifty miles 
 in a straight line from the sea. In later years this whole tract 
 of land and water was termed by the Portuguese the Rivers of 
 Kuama, the largest of the islands in the delta bearing that name. 
 
 If an accurate survey of the delta and its streams had been 
 made in any one year, in the next it would have been imperfect, 
 and in a decade misleading, for two causes were constantly 
 operating to alter the features of land and water. In the rainy 
 season the Zambesi, which stretched nearly across the continent, 
 poured down a flood bearing sand, soil, and gravel, which spread 
 over great areas, blocked up old channels, tore away huge frag- 
 ments of islands, and opened new passages in every direction. 
 When the flood subsided, former landmarks were gone, and 
 where vessels had sailed the year before sandflats alone were 
 seen. The Kilimane arm in the year 1500 was the best entrance 
 into the Zambesi during six months of the year, in 1900 its 
 upper course is many feet higher than the bed of the great river 
 farther inland, of which it is no longer regarded as an outlet. 
 The other cause of change was the mangrove. This tree, with 
 its gloomy dark-green foliage, grew only on the confines of land 
 and water, where it spread out its roots like gigantic snakes, 
 intertwining and retaining in their folds the ooze and slime that 
 would otherwise have been borne away. Sand was blown up by 
 the wind or deposited when the currents were gentle, vegetable 
 mould accumulated, the inner line of the swamp became soil on 
 which grass and herbs could grow, and the mangrove spread 
 farther out to reclaim ever more and more land from the shallow 
 water. So the floods washed away and reformed, and the 
 mangrove bound together and extended, in the ever varying 
 scene. 
 
 How far up the Zambesi the Mohamedans were accustomed to 
 go cannot be ascertained with precision. They had a small 
 settlement on its southern bank where the Portuguese village of 
 
I20 History of South Africa. 
 
 Sena now stands, about one hundred and forty miles from the 
 sea, but it is doubtful whether they had any fixed post farther 
 inland, though travelling traders probably penetrated the 
 country to a great distance. About two hundred and thirty- 
 five miles from the sea the great river passed through the 
 Lupata gorge, a narrow cleft in the range that separates the 
 interior plain from the coast belt, where the rapids were so strong 
 that they may not have cared to go beyond them with their 
 boats, though the Portuguese afterwards navigated the stream 
 up to the Kebrabasa rapids, about twenty miles above Tete, or 
 three hundred and twenty miles from the sea. 
 
 At the mouth of the Pungwe river, where Beira now stands, 
 there was a very small Mohamedan trading settlement, perhaps 
 not a permanent one, and only at best an outpost of Sofala. 
 
 Sofala, the most important station south of Kilwa, was in 
 latitude 20° 10'. It was at the mouth of an estuary a mile and 
 three quarters wide from the northern bank to an island named 
 Inyansata, between which and the southern bank there was only 
 a narrow and shallow stream when the tide was low. Across 
 the entrance of the estuary was a shifting bar of sand, which 
 prevented large vessels from crossing, and inside there were so 
 many shoals that navigation was at all times dangerous. The 
 land to a great distance was low and swampy, and the banks of 
 the estuary were fringed with belts of mangrove, so that the 
 place was a hotbed of fever and dysentery. Farther in the 
 interior the stream was of no great size, but it was always 
 bringing down material to add to the deposits of sand and mud 
 above the bar. The sole redeeming feature was a high rise of 
 tide, often nearly twenty feet at full moon, so that when the 
 wind was fair it was accessible for any vessels then used in the 
 Indian trade. Along the coast was a great shoal or bank like a 
 submerged terrace, extending far into the sea, upon which the 
 waves ran so high at times and the currents were so strong that 
 the locality was greatly dreaded by the mariners of olden days. 
 But all these drawbacks were disregarded in view of the fact that 
 gold was to be obtained here in exchange for merchandise of 
 little value. 
 
Astatic Immigrants. 121 
 
 At Sofala there were two villages : one close to the sea, on a 
 sand flat forming the north-eastern point, contained about four 
 hundred inhabitants ; the other, a couple of miles higher up the 
 bank of the estuary, also contained about four hundred residents. 
 The sheik lived in the last named. His dwelling house was 
 consti-ucted of poles planted in the ground, between which 
 wattles were woven and then plastered with clay. It was 
 thatched, and contained several apartments, one of considerable 
 size which could be used as a hall of state. The floor, like that 
 of Bantu huts, was made of antheaps moistened and stamped. 
 It was covered with mats, and the room occupied by the sheik 
 was hung with silk, but was poorly furnished according to 
 modern European ideas. This was the grandest dwelling house 
 in Africa south of the Zambesi, indeed the only one of its size 
 and form, in the first year of the sixteenth century. 
 
 The island of Chiloane* lay partly in the mouth of the 
 Ingomiamo river, in latitude 20° 37' south. The island was 
 about six miles long by three wide, but a great part of it was a 
 mangrove swamp. The channel into the Ingomiamo on the 
 northern side of the island, now called Port Singune, was used as 
 a harbour by an occasional pangayo or zambuco that put in 
 to trade. 
 
 The Bazaruta islands were of much greater importance, for 
 there were the pearl-oyster beds which yielded gems as much 
 coveted by the Arabs and Persians as by the people of Europe 
 and India. There were five islands in this group, stretching 
 over thirty miles along the coast northward from the cape now 
 called Saint Sebastian, which is in latitude 22° 5' south. The 
 principal island, from which the group takes its name, is 
 eighteen miles in length. 
 
 The last place to the southward frequented by the Moha- 
 medans was the river Nyambana, or Inhambane, the mouth of 
 which is in latitude 23° 45' south. They had a small settlement 
 where the Portuguese village now stands, fourteen miles by the 
 channel, though only eight in a direct line, above the bar. The 
 river was easy of access, and formed an excellent harbour. It 
 * Variously spelt Chiluan, Chilwan, Chuluwan, Kiloane, &c. 
 
122 History of Soitth Africa, 
 
 was navigable for boats about five miles farther up than the 
 settlement, which formed a good centre for collecting ivory, an 
 article always in demand in India. This place was reputed to be 
 the healthiest on the whole coast. 
 
 Beyond Cape Correntes, in latitude 24° 4' south, the Arabs 
 and Persians did not venture in their coir-sewn vessels. Here 
 the Mozambique current, from which the cape has its present 
 name, ran southward with great velocity, usually from one to 
 three miles an hour, according to the force and direction of the 
 wind, but often much faster. The cape had the reputation also 
 of being a place of storms, where the regular monsoons of the 
 north could no longer be depended upon, and where violent 
 gusts from every quarter would almost surely destroy the 
 mariners who should be so foolhardy as to brave them. The 
 vivid Arab imagination further pictured danger of another Jiind, 
 for this was the chosen home of those mermaids — believed in 
 also by the Greeks of old — who lured unfortunate men to their 
 doom. So Cape Correntes, with its real and fictitious perils, was 
 the terminus of Mohamedan enterprise to the south, though 
 there were men in Kilwa who sometimes wondered what was 
 beyond it and half made up their minds to go over land and see. 
 
35" Long [ of G 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India. 1 2 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DISCOVERY OF AN OCEAN ROUTE TO INDIA. 
 
 The discovery of an ocean route from Europe to India, 
 followed by the establishment of the Portuguese as the pre- 
 ponderating power in the East, is one of the greatest events 
 in the history of the world. It is not too much to say that 
 every state of Central and Western Europe was affected by 
 it. The time was critical, for the Turks were then menacing 
 Christendom, and if they had secured a monopoly of the 
 Indian trade their wealth and strength would have been so 
 augmented that it is doubtful whether they might not have 
 succeeded in entering Vienna in 1529. As yet the Moslem 
 power was divided, for Egypt was still under the Mameluke 
 rulers, and the greater portion of the Indian products that 
 found their way to Europe was obtained by the Venetians at 
 Alexandria. To that city they were conveyed in boats down 
 the Nile from Cairo, after being carried by camels from the 
 shore of the Red sea, whither they were brought by ships 
 from the coast of Malabar. From this traffic Alexandria had 
 thriven greatly, and from it too Venice, — whose citizens dis- 
 tributed over Europe the silk and cotton fabrics, pepper, and 
 spices of the East, — had become wealthy and powerful. That 
 portion of the Indian merchandise which was brought over- 
 land by caravans from the Persian gulf to the Mediterranean 
 coast was under the control of the Turks, and a few years 
 later, when in 1517 the sultan Selim overthrew the Mamelukes 
 and made Egypt a province of his dominions, the whole would 
 have been theirs if the Portuguese had not just in time fore- 
 stalled them. 
 
 L 
 
124 History of South Afi^ca. 
 
 In the early years of the fifteenth century the Christian 
 nations were little acquainted with distant countries, America 
 and Australia were entirely unknown, Eastern Asia was very 
 imperfectly laid down on the maps, and the greater part of 
 Africa had never been explored. This continent might have 
 terminated north of the equator, for anything that the most 
 learned men in Europe knew to the contrary. The Portuguese 
 were at this time the most adventurous seamen of the world, 
 and they were the first to attempt to discover an ocean high- 
 way round Africa to the East. Under direction of a justly 
 celebrated prince of their royal family, Henrique by name — 
 known to us as Henry the Navigator — fleets were fitted out 
 which gradually crept down the western coast until the shores 
 of Senegambia were reached. In 1434 Cape Bojador was 
 passed for the first time, in 1441 Cape Blanco was seen by 
 Europeans, and in 1445 Cape Verde was rounded by Diniz 
 Dias. 
 
 Then, until after the death of Prince Henrique — 13th of 
 November 1460 — discovery practically ceased. The lucrative 
 slave trade occupied the minds of the sea captains, and ships 
 freighted with negroes taken captive in raids, or purchased from 
 conquering chiefs, frequently entered the harbours of Portugal. 
 The commerce in human flesh was regarded as highly meritorious, 
 because it brought heathens to a knowledge of Christianity. 
 But never has a mistake or a crime led to more disastrous 
 results, for to the introduction of negroes as labourers in the 
 southern provinces of Portugal the decline of the kingdom in 
 power and importance is mainly due. 
 
 The exploring expeditions which Prince Henrique never ceased 
 to encourage, but which the greed of those who were in his 
 service had turned into slave hunting voyages, were resumed 
 after his death. In 1461 the coast of the present republic 
 of Liberia was reached, and in 1471 the equator was crossed. 
 King Joao II, who ascended the throne in 1481, was as 
 resolute as his grand-uncle the Navigator in endeavouring to 
 discover an ocean road to India. He had not indeed any idea 
 of the great consequences that would follow, his object being 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India. 125 
 
 simply to divert the eastern trade from Venice to Lisbon, 
 which would be effected if an unbroken sea route could be 
 found. In 1484 he sent out a fleet under Diogo Cam, which 
 reached the mouth of the Congo, and in the following year 
 the same officer made a greater advance than any previous 
 explorer could boast of, for he pushed on southward as far 
 as Cape Cross, where the marble pillar which he set up to 
 mark the extent of his voyage remained standing more than 
 four hundred years. 
 
 Tlie next expedition sent in the same direction solved the 
 secret concerning the extent of the African continent. It was 
 under the chief command of an officer named Bartholomeu 
 Dias, of whose previous career unfortunately nothing can now 
 be ascertained except that he was a gentleman of the king's 
 household and receiver of customs at Lisbon when the appoint- 
 ment was conferred upon him, and that he had at some 
 former time taken part in exploring the coast. At the end 
 of August 1486 he sailed from the Tagus with two vessels 
 of about fifty tons each, according to the Portuguese measure- 
 ment of the time, though they would probably be rated much 
 higher now. He had also a small storeship with him, for 
 previous expeditions had often been obliged to turn back from 
 want of food. 
 
 The officers who were to serve under him were carefully 
 selected, and were skilful in their professions. They were: — 
 Leitao (probably a nickname) sailing master and Pedro d'Alan- 
 quer pilot of the flag ship; Joao Infante captain, Joao Grego 
 sailing master, and Alvaro Martins pilot of the Sao Pantaleao ; 
 and Pedro Dias, brother of the commodore, captain, Joao A Ives 
 sailing master, and eJoao de Santiago pilot of the storeship. On 
 board the squadron were four negresses —convicts —from the 
 coast of Guinea, who were to be set ashore at different places 
 to make discoveries and report to the next white men they 
 should see. This was a common practice at the time, the 
 persons selected being criminals under sentence of death, who 
 were glad to escape immediate execution by risking anything 
 that might befal them in an unknown and barbarous country. 
 
126 History of South Africa. 
 
 In this instance women were chosen, as it was considered 
 likely they would be protected by the natives. It was hoped 
 that through their means a powerful Christian prince called 
 Prester John, who was believed to reside in the interior, might 
 come to learn of the greatness of the Portuguese monarchy 
 and that efforts were being made to reach him, so that he 
 might send messengers to the coast to communicate with the 
 explorers. King Joao and his courtiers believed that if this 
 mythical Prester John could but be found, he would point 
 out the way to India. 
 
 Dias, like all preceding explorers, kept close to the coast 
 on his way southward. Somewhere near the equator he left 
 the storeship with nine men to look after her, and then con- 
 tinued his course until he reached an inlet or small harbour 
 with a group of islets at its entrance, the one now called 
 Angra Pequena or Little Bay, but which he named Angra 
 dos Ilheos, the Bay of the Islets. The latitude was believed 
 to be 24° S., but in reality it was 26^°, so imperfect were 
 the means then known for determining it. There he cast 
 anchor, and for the first time Christian men trod the soil of 
 Africa south of the tropic. 
 
 A more desolate place than that on which the weary seamen 
 landed could hardly be, and no mention is made by the early 
 Portuguese historians of any sign of human life being observed 
 as far as the explorers wandered. Unfortunately the original 
 journal or log-book of the expedition has long since disappeared, 
 so that much that would be intensely interesting now can 
 never be known. But this is certain, that refreshment there 
 could have been none, except fish and the eggs and flesh of 
 sea-fowl that made their nests on the islets. It was no place 
 in which to tarry long. Before he left, Dias set up a marble 
 cross some six or seven feet in height, on an eminence that 
 he named Serra Parda^ the Grey Mountain, as a token that 
 he had taken possession of the country for his king. For 
 more than three hundred years that cross stood there above 
 the dreary waste, just as the brave Portuguese explorer erected 
 it. The place where it stood so long is called Pedestal Point. 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India. 127 
 
 Here one of the negresses was left, almost certainly to perish, 
 when the expedition moved onward. 
 
 From Angra Pequena Dias tried to keep the land in sight, 
 but as it was the season of the southeast winds, which were 
 contrary, he could not make rapid progress. At length by 
 repeatedly tacking he reached an inlet to which he gave the 
 name Angra das Voltas, the Bay of the Turnings. There is 
 a curve in the land in the position indicated, 29° S., but the 
 latitudes given are not to be depended upon, and the expedi- 
 tion may have been far from it and farther still from the 
 point at the mouth of the Orange river called by modern 
 geographers Cape Voltas, in remembrance of that event. At 
 Angra das Voltas, wherever it was, Dias remained five days, 
 as the weather was unfavourable for sailing, and before he 
 left another of the negresses was set on shore. 
 
 After making sail again heavy weather was encountered and 
 a boisterous sea, such as ships often experience in that part 
 of the ocean, and which is caused by the cold Antarctic current 
 being slightly deflected by some means from its usual course 
 and striking the hot Mozambique current at a right angle off 
 the Cape of Good Hope. Very miserable Dias and his com- 
 panions must have been in their tiny vessels among the 
 tremendous billows, with the sails close reefed, and hardly a 
 hope of escape from being lost. But after thirteen days the 
 weather moderated, and then they steered eastward, expecting 
 soon to see the coast again. For several days they sailed in 
 this direction, but as no land appeared Dias concluded that 
 he must have passed the extremity of the coB*tinent. It was 
 so, for on turning to the north he reached the shore at an 
 inlet which he named Angra dos Vaqueiros, the bay of the 
 Herdsmen, on account of the numerous droves of cattle which 
 he saw grazing on its shores. Its position cannot be fixed 
 with certainty, for the common belief that it was the one now 
 known as Flesh Bay is mere conjecture. The natives gazed 
 with astonishment upon the strange apparition coming over the 
 sea, and then fled inland with their cattle, so that it was 
 not found possible to have any intercourse with the wild people. 
 
128 History of South Africa. 
 
 They did the same at another bay which he put into, and 
 which he named the Watering Place of Sao Bras, but whether 
 this was on the outward or homeward passage is uncertain, 
 the event being only incidentally alluded to by one of the 
 early historians. In any case no information concerning the 
 inhabitants of the South African coast, except that they had 
 domestic cattle in their possession, was obtained by this ex- 
 pedition. 
 
 How long Dias remained at Angra dos Vaqueiros is not 
 known, but his vessels, good sea-boats as they had proved 
 to be, must have needed some refitting, so he was probably 
 there several days at least. He and his ofi&cers were in 
 high spirits, as, unless they were in another deep bay like 
 the gulf of Guinea, they had solved the question of a sea 
 route to India. As far as their eyes could reach, the shore 
 stretched east and west, so, sailing again, they continued along 
 it until they came to an uninhabited islet in latitude 33f° S. 
 This islet is in Algoa Bay as now termed — the Bahia da Lagoa 
 of the Portuguese after the middle of the sixteenth century, — 
 and still bears in the French form of St. Croix the name Ilheo 
 da Santa Cruz, the islet of the Holy Cross, which he gave it 
 on account of the pillar bearing a cross and the arms of 
 Portugal which he erected upon it. 
 
 Dias visited the mainland, where he observed two native 
 women gathering shellfish, who were left unmolested, as the 
 king had issued instructions that no cause of offence should be 
 given to the inhabitants of any countries discovered. Here the 
 last of the negresses was set ashore, as one had died on the 
 passage. The coast was examined some distance to the east- 
 ward, and to a prominent rock upon it the name Penedo das 
 Pontes, the Eock of the Fountains, was given by some of the 
 people, because two springs of water were found there. 
 
 Here the seamen protested against going farther. They 
 complained that their supply of food was running short, and 
 the storeship was far behind, so that there was danger of 
 perishing from hunger. They thought they had surely done 
 sufficient in one voyage, for they were fourteen hundred miles 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India, 129 
 
 beyond the terminus of the preceding expedition, and no one 
 had ever taken such tidings to Portugal as they would carry 
 back. Further, from the trending of the coast it was evident 
 there must be some great headland behind them, and therefore 
 they were of opinion it would be better to turn about and 
 look for it. One can hardly blame them for their protest, 
 considering the fatigue and peril they had gone through and 
 the wretchedly uncomfortable life they must have been leading. 
 
 Dias, after hearing these statements, took the officers and 
 some of the princii)al seamen on shore, where he administered 
 an oath to them, after which he asked their opinion as to 
 what was the best course to pursue for the service of the 
 king. They replied with one voice, to return home, where- 
 upon he caused them to sign a document to that effect. He 
 then begged of them to continue only two or three days' 
 sail farther, and promised that if they should find nothing 
 within that time to encourage them to proceed on an easterly 
 course, he would put about. The crews consented, but in the 
 time agreed upon they advanced only to the mouth of a 
 river to which the commander gave the name Infante, owing 
 to Joao Infante, captain of the Sao FantaUao, being the first 
 to leap ashore. The river was either the Kowie, the Fish, or 
 the Keiskama, as known to us. Its mouth was stated to be 
 twenty-five leagues from the islet of the Cross, and to be in 
 latitude 32f ° S., which was very incorrect. 
 
 But now, notwithstanding this error, there should have been 
 no doubt in any mind that they had reached the end of the 
 southern seaboard, which in a distance of five hundred miles 
 does not vary ninety miles in latitude. The coast before them 
 trended away to the north-east in a bold, clear line, free of 
 the haze that almost always hung over the western shore 
 And down it, only a short distance from the land, flowed a 
 swift ocean current many degrees warmer than the water on 
 either side, and revealing itself even to a careless eye by its 
 deeper blue. That current could only come from a heated sea 
 in the north, and so they might have known that the easterly 
 side of Africa had surely been reached. 
 
 *M % 
 
1 30 History of South Africa, 
 
 Whether the explorers observed these signs the Portuguese 
 writers who recorded their deeds do not inform us, but from 
 the river Infante the expedition turned back. At Santa Cruz 
 Dias landed again, and bade farewell to the cross which he 
 had set up there with as much sorrow as if he was parting 
 with a son banished for life. In returning, the great headland 
 was discovered, to which the commander gave the name Cabo 
 Tormentoso — the Stormy Cape— afterwards changed by the king 
 to Cabo de Boa Esperanca — Cape of Good Hope — owing to the 
 fair prospect which he could now entertain of India being at 
 last reached by this route. What particular part of the 
 peninsula Dias landed upon is unknown, but somewhere upon 
 it he set up another of the marble pillars he had brought from 
 Portugal, to which he gave the name Sao Philippe. The country 
 about it he did not explore, as his provisions were so scanty 
 that he was anxious to get away. Keeping along the coast, 
 after nine months' absence the storeship was rejoined, when 
 only three men were found on board of her, and of these, 
 one, Fernao Cola9a by name, died of joy upon seeing his 
 countrymen again. The other six had been murdered by 
 negroes with whom they were trading. 
 
 Having replenished his stock of provisions, Dias set fire to 
 the storeship, as she was in need of refitting and he had not 
 men to work her; and then sailed to Prince's Island in the 
 bight of Biafra, where he found some Portuguese in distress. 
 A gentleman of the king's household, named Duarte Pacheco, 
 had been sent to explore the rivers on that part of the coast, 
 but had lost his vessel, and was then lying ill at the island 
 with part of the crew who had escaped from the wreck. Dias 
 took them all on board, and, pursuing his course in a north- 
 westerly direction, touched at a river where trade was carried 
 on and also at the fort of Sao Jorge da Mina, an established 
 Portuguese factory, of which Joao Foga^a was then commander. 
 Here he took charge of the gold that had been collected, after 
 which he proceeded on his way to Lisbon, where he arrived 
 in December 1487, sixteen months and seventeen days from 
 the time of his setting out. 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India. 1 3 1 
 
 No other dates than those mentioned are given by the 
 early Portuguese historians, thus the exact time of the dis- 
 covery of the Cape of Good Hope and the coast onward to 
 the mouth of the Infante river is doubtful, and it can only 
 be stated as having occurred in the early months of 1487. 
 The voyage surely was a memorable one, and nothing but 
 regret can be expressed that more of its details cannot be 
 recovered. Of the three pillars set up by Dias, two — those 
 of the Holy Cross and Sao Philippe — disappeared, no one has 
 ever been able to ascertain when or how; that of Sao Thiago 
 at Angra Pequena remained where it was placed until 
 it was broken down by some unknown vandals in the 
 nineteenth century. 
 
 Meantime the king sent two men named Affonso de Paiva, 
 of Castelbranco, and Joao Pires, of Covilhao, in another direc- 
 tion to search for Prester John. For this purpose they left 
 Santarem on the 7th of May 1487, and, being well provided 
 with money, they proceeded first to Naples, then to the island 
 of Ehodes, and thence to Alexandria. They were both con- 
 versant with the Arabic language, and had no difficulty in 
 passing for Moors. At Alexandria they were detained some 
 time by illness, but upon recovering they proceeded to Cairo, 
 and thence in the disguise of merchants to Tor, Suakin, and 
 Aden. Here they separated, Affonso de Paiva having resolved 
 to visit Abyssinia to ascertain if the monarch of that country 
 was not the potentate they were in search of, and Joao Pires 
 taking passage in a vessel bound to Cananor on the Malabar 
 coast. They arranged, however, to meet again in Cairo at a 
 time fixed upon. 
 
 Joao Pires reached Cananor in safety, and went down the 
 coast as far as Calicut, after which he proceeded upwards to 
 Goa. Here he embarked in a vessel bound to Sofala, and 
 having visited that port, he returned to Aden, and at the time 
 appointed was back in Cairo, where he learned that Affonso 
 de Paiva had died not long before. At Cairo he found two 
 Portuguese Jews, Eabbi Habrao, of Beja, and Josepe, a shoe- 
 maker of Lamego. Josepe had been in Bagdad, on the 
 
132 History of South Africa, 
 
 Euphrates, some years previously, and had there heard of 
 Ormuz, at the mouth of the Persian gulf, and of its being the 
 warehouse of the Indian trade and the point of departure for 
 caravans to Aleppo and Damascus. He had returned to 
 Portugal and informed the king of what he had learned, who 
 thereupon sent him and Habrao with letters of instruction to 
 Affonso de Paiva and Joao Pires, directing them if they had 
 not already found Prester John, to proceed to Ormuz and 
 gather information there. 
 
 Upon receiving this order Joao Pires drew up an account 
 of what he had seen and learned in India and on the 
 African coast, which ho gave to Josepe to convey to the 
 king, and taking Habrao with him, he proceeded to Aden 
 and thence to Ormuz. From Ormuz Habrao set out with a 
 caravan for Aleppo on his way back to Portugal with a 
 duplicate of the narrative sent to the king by Josepe. 
 None of the early Portuguese historians who had access to 
 the records of the country ever saw this narrative, so that 
 probably neither of the Jews lived to deliver his charge. 
 Not a single date is given in the early accounts of this 
 journey, except that of the departure from Santarem, which 
 De Goes fixes as May 148G and Castanheda and De Barros 
 as the 7th of May 1487. There is no trace of any know- 
 ledge in Portugal of the commerce of Sofala before the 
 return of Vasco da Gama in 1499, but as such a journey 
 as that described must in the fifteenth century have occupied 
 several years, it is just possible that Josepe or Habrao 
 reached Lisbon after that date. 
 
 Joao Pires went from Ormuz by way of Aden to Abys- 
 sinia, where he was well received by the ruler of that 
 country. Here, after all his wanderings he found a home, 
 for as he was not permitted to leave again, he married and 
 had children, living upon property given to him by the 
 government. In 1515 Dom Eodrigo de Lima arrived in 
 Abyssinia as ambassador of the king of Portugal, and found 
 him still alive. With the embassy was a priest, Francisco 
 Alvares by name, who wrote an account of the mission and 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India. 133 
 
 of the statement made to Mm by Joao Pires, and also gave 
 such information on his return home as enabled the Portu- 
 guese historians to place on record the above details. As 
 far as actual result in increase of geographical knowledge is 
 concerned, this expedition therefore effected nothing. 
 
 Upon the return of Dias to Portugal with information 
 that he had discovered the southern extremity of Africa and 
 found an open sea stretching away to the eastward from 
 the farthest point he had reached, King Joao II resolved to 
 send another expedition to follow up the grand pathway of 
 exploration which now offered so fair a prospect of an ocean 
 route to India being found at last. But at that time things 
 were not done as quickly as now, and there was besides 
 much else to occupy the monarch's attention. The outlay 
 too would be considerable, as ships would have to be built 
 specially to withstand the stormy seas off the Cape of Good 
 Hope, and the kingdom was then by no means wealthy. 
 Orders, however, were given to the chief huntsman, Joao de 
 Braganja, to collect the necessary timber, and by the year 
 1494 it was ready at Lisbon. Whether anything further 
 was done towards the construction of the vessels before the 
 death of the king, which took place at Alvor on the 25 th 
 of October 1495, is not certain ; but probably some progress 
 had been made, as a commander in chief of the intended 
 expedition was selected in the person of Estevao da Gama, 
 chief alcaide of the town of Sinis. 
 
 King Joao II having no legitimate son, was succeeded by 
 his first cousin Dom Manuel, duke of Beja, who possessed 
 a full measure of that fondness for prosecuting maritime 
 discoveries which for three-quarters of a century had dis- 
 tinguished the princes of Portugal. Within a year of his 
 accession the subject of making another attempt to reach 
 India by sea was mooted at several general councils held 
 at New Montemor, but met with strong opposition. There 
 were those who urged that Portugal was not strong enough 
 to conquer and keep possession of such a distant country 
 should it be reached, that too much public treasure had 
 
134 History of South Africa, 
 
 already been thrown away in fitting out exploring ships, 
 that no adequate return had yet been made, and that even 
 if a route to India should be opened, it would only bring 
 powerful rivals into the field at least to share its commerce. 
 Those of the nobles, however, who were anxious to please 
 the king favoured the design, and at length it was resolved 
 to send out another expedition. 
 
 Accordingly under direction of Bartholomeu Dias two ships 
 were built with the timber that was ready, his experience 
 enabling him to point out where they required special 
 strengthening. Very clumsy indeed they would be considered 
 now, with their bluff bows like the breast of a duck, broad 
 square sterns, lofty poops and forecastles, low waists, and 
 great length of beam ; but they were staunch sea boats, 
 capable of receiving without damage the buffeting of the 
 furious waves they were intended to encounter. The larger 
 of the two, named the ^ao Gabriel, was rated as of one 
 hundred and twenty tons, and the smaller, named the Sao 
 Rafael, as of one hundred; but a Portuguese ton of that 
 period, as has already been observed, was probably much 
 larger than an English ton of our times, and from their 
 build they would be able to carry a great deal more than 
 their registered capacity would denote. They w^ere fitted with 
 three masts, the fore and main each carrying two square 
 sails, and the mizen a lateen projecting far over the stern. 
 Under the bowsprit, the outer end of which was so greatly 
 elevated that it was almost like a fourth mast, was a square 
 spritsail, which completed the spread of canvas. Jibs and 
 staysails there were none, nor anything but a flag above the 
 topsail yards. Such was the build and rig of vessels from 
 which the graceful barques of our times have been evolved. 
 To accompany these ships a stout caravel was purchased from 
 a man named Berrio, whose name it bore. A storeship of 
 two hundred tons burden was also purchased by the king 
 from one Ayres Correa, of Lisbon, so that a supply of pro- 
 visions sulB&cient for three years might be taken by the 
 expedition. 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India. 135 
 
 Spare spars, sails, and rigging were placed on board the 
 ships, as also samples of various kinds of merchandise and 
 many articles that could be used for presentation to such 
 potentates as might be found. In all respects the fleet was 
 thus as well fitted out as was possible at that period. 
 When all was ready the vessels dropped down the Tagus 
 to Eastello and anchored in front of Belem, with a caravel 
 under command of Bartholomeu Dias, which was to accom- 
 pany them to the Cape Verde islands, and after seeing them 
 on their course in safety, proceed to Sao Jorge da Mina. 
 
 Estevao da Gama was now dead, so King Manuel offered 
 the chief command of the expedition to his eldest son 
 Paulo da Gama. He, however, respectfully declined on ac- 
 count of a complaint from which he was suffering, and 
 asked to have the second place, in which the responsibility 
 would be less, and that his younger brother Vasco might 
 be appointed commander in chief. The king consented, and 
 in January 1497 summoned Vasco da Gama to Estremoz, 
 where he was then residing, and conferred the highest post 
 in the expedition upon him. 
 
 Vasco da Gama is the hero of Portugal, because he was 
 successful in reaching India, and because his exploits were 
 the theme of the famous poem of Luis de Camoes. And 
 if intrepidity, energy, perseverance under difficulties, and 
 intense application to duty are the qualities that constitute 
 greatness, he was beyond question one of the foremost that 
 ever lived. But he was far from being a lovable man. 
 Cold, harsh, stern, severe in punishing, fearful when in a 
 passion, he was obeyed not from affection, but because of 
 his commanding spirit. Perhaps if he had been as tender- 
 hearted and humane as his brother Paulo he would not 
 have succeeded in the great enterprise entrusted to him, 
 where what was needed was an iron will. He was a man 
 of medium height, at this time unmarried, and about thirty- 
 seven years of age. He had served the late king at sea 
 with much credit to himself, and was experienced in nautical 
 matters. 
 
136 History of South Africa. 
 
 Shortly before setting sail the king presented to him a 
 silken banner, having on it a cross of the order of Christ, 
 when he made the usual homage and swore to execute the 
 trust confided to him to the best of his ability. All being 
 ready for sea, and only waiting for a fair wind, he and 
 the other officers repaired to the hermitage of our Lady of 
 Bethlehem, where they passed some time in devotion. On 
 the morning of Saturday the 8th of July 1497, not quite 
 five years after Columbus sailed from Palos to discover a 
 new continent in the west, the wind was favourable, so 
 they prepared to leave. At the hermitage a procession was 
 formed of friars and priests from Lisbon, a large number 
 of people from the city, and Vasco da Gama and his 
 companions carrying tapers; and chanting a litany, they 
 proceeded to the shore where the boats were in waiting. 
 All knelt down while the vicar of the hermitage pro- 
 nounced an absolution, and then with the echo of these 
 closing rites of religion in their ears Da Gama and his 
 associates embarked. The sails were unfurled, and the five 
 vessels stood away. As was afterwards ascertained, it w^as 
 not the proper time of the year to set out, but nothing 
 was then known of the periodical monsoons in the Indian 
 sea or of the prevailing summer and winter winds off the 
 African coast. 
 
 On board the Bao Gabriel, which was the flagship, was 
 Vasco da Gama himself, and with him as sailing master 
 was Gonpalo Alvares, and as chief pilot Pedro d'Alanquer, 
 who had been with Bartholomeu Dias to the river Infante. 
 Diogo Dias, a brother of Bartholomeu, accompanied him as 
 secretary. Of the Bao Rafael Paulo da Gama was captain, 
 Joao de Coimbra was pilot, and Joao de Sa secretary. Of the 
 Berrio Nicolau Coelho was captain, Pedro Escolar was pilot, 
 and Alvaro de Braga secretary. Of the storeship Gonpalo 
 Nunes was captain. The number of men on board the four 
 vessels is given by Castanheda as one hundred and forty- eight 
 and by Barros as about one hundred and seventy, between 
 soldiers and sailors. The discrepancy may be accounted for by 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India. 137 
 
 the officers not being included by the first writer. A friar of 
 the Holy Trinity, named Pedro de Cobilhoes, accompanied the 
 expedition as chaplain, and a number of criminals were sent 
 with it to be put on shore in remote and dangerous places to 
 gather information. Probably the criminals were not included 
 in either of the numbers given above. 
 
 The Cape Verde islands were appointed as a rendezvous in 
 case the vessels should be separated by any accident, and this 
 actually happened in a storm after passing the Canaries, but 
 eight days later they came together again, and on the 28th of 
 July cast anchor off Santa Maria in the island of Santiago. 
 Here they remained seven days taking in water and repairing 
 the damages sustained in the storm. On Thursday the 3rd 
 of August they again set sail, and soon afterwards Bartholomeu 
 Dias bade Da Gama farewell, and steered towards Sao Jorge 
 da Mina. 
 
 All preceding expeditions in this direction had kept close to 
 the coast, thereby losing much time; but Da Gama adopted 
 a bolder plan. The longitude of the Cape of Good Hope being 
 unknown, he could not steer directly for it, but by keeping 
 almost due south he could run down his latitude, and then if 
 necessary steer eastward where the degrees of the smaller 
 circle were shorter. Holding this course during the months 
 of August, September, and October, during which time they 
 were often in peril from boisterous weather, but always 
 managed to keep together, the four vessels turned eastward 
 when it was believed they were in or near the latitude of the 
 Cape, and on Saturday the 4th of November the South African 
 coast was first seen. They ran in close, but as it did not 
 offer a fitting place for anchoring, they stood off again, and 
 continued sailing along it until Tuesday the 7th, when they 
 discovered a deep curve which would provide sufficient shelter. 
 The pilot Pedro d'Alanquer did not know the place, not 
 having seen it in his earlier voyage, but they dropped their 
 anchors in it, and gave it the name St. Helena Bay, which it 
 still bears. It is about one hundred and twenty English miles 
 north of the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
138 History of South Africa, 
 
 Here Da Gama went on shore, but found the land sterile 
 and apparently uninhabited. He was in want of water, and 
 as none could be discovered, he sent Nicolau Coelho in a boat 
 along the coast to seek for the mouth of a stream. At a 
 distance of about seventeen miles from the ships — reckoning 
 four English miles and a quarter to a Portuguese league — 
 Coelho came to the outlet of a river, to which the name Sao 
 Thiago was given. It is now known as the Berg. Here they 
 procured water, fuel, and the flesh of seals, there being a great 
 number of these animals on the shore. 
 
 To ascertain the position of the place Da Gama took a 
 wooden instrument for measuring the angle of the sun's 
 altitude to land, where it could be fixed more steadily on a 
 tripod than on board ship. It would be interesting to know 
 just what kind of instrument this was, but that cannot be 
 ascertained. Barros terms it a wooden astrolabe, — which it 
 can hardly have been, — and says that he has described it in 
 his Geography, a book now unfortunately lost. Probably it 
 was a kind of cross staff, several varieties of which were in 
 common use at a little later date, but this is only conjecture. 
 A method of using the brass astrolabe at sea had been devised 
 in 1480 by two physicians of King Joao II, one of whom 
 was a Jew, in association with the astronomer Martin Behaim, 
 of Nuremberg, and tables of the sun's declination had been 
 drawn up for the purpose. But the astrolabe, beautiful an 
 instrument as it was,* gave very imperfect results, except in 
 calm weather and when the angle observed was large. A 
 century and a quarter later the celebrated navigator John 
 Davis described its utility at sea as small in comparison with 
 that of the cross staff. Da Gama had several brass astrolabes 
 with him, but he placed no reliance upon them, and so with 
 this wooden instrument, whatever it was, he went on shore to 
 make observations. While he was thus engaged, some of his 
 people observed two natives who appeared to be gathering herbs 
 
 * There is a very fine collection from different countries in the British 
 Museum, that institution of which every Englishman has such just reason 
 to be proud. 
 
Discovery of an Oceayi Rotite to India. 139 
 
 and honey at the foot of a hill, as each had a firebrand with 
 him. Surrounding them quietly and stealthily, one was cap- 
 tured, who appeared greatly terrified on being made a prisoner 
 by such strange beings as Europeans must have been to him. 
 
 He was taken to Da Gama, who was desirous of gathering 
 as much information about the country as possible, and 
 particularly of ascertaining how far distant was the Cape of 
 Good Hope ; but no one in the fleet could understand a word 
 of what he said. He was kept on board ship that night, and 
 ate and drank freely of the food that was set before him. 
 Two boys, one of whom was a negro, were placed with him 
 as companions, but could only communicate with him by 
 signs. The next day he was provided with one or two articles 
 of clothing, and some trinkets were given to him, after which 
 he was set at liberty. This kind of treatment made such a 
 favourable impression upon him and his countrymen that it 
 was not long before a party of fifteen or twenty made an 
 appearance. Vasco da Gama pleased them greatly with 
 presents of pewter rings, little bells, beads, and other articles 
 of trifling value, but he could obtain by signs no information 
 of any kind from them, nor did they show the slightest 
 knowledge or appreciation of the samples of gold, silver, 
 pearls, and spices which he exhibited to them. 
 
 In the description given of these people there is but one 
 observation that shows they were Hottentots of the beach- 
 ranger class, not Bushmen, which is that* among their weapons 
 were assagais or shafts of wood pointed with bone or horn, 
 which they used as lances or darts. They were small in 
 stature, ill favoured in countenance, and darkish in colour. 
 Their dress was a kaross of skin. When speaking they used 
 so many gestures that they appeared to be rolling or staggering 
 about. Their food consisted of wild roots, seals, whales that 
 washed up on the coast, seabirds, and every kind of land 
 animal or bird that they could capture. They had no domestic 
 animal but the dog. This description would apply to Bushmen 
 as well as to beachranger Hottentots, if the weapon had 
 not been mentioned, and perhaps the kaross, which is said to 
 
140 History of South Africa, 
 
 have been worn like a French cloak, and was probably there- 
 fore composed of several skins sewed together, whereas the 
 Bushman was satisfied with one. 
 
 A friendly intercourse having been kept up with these 
 savages for a couple of days, a soldier named Fernao Veloso 
 requested leave to accompany them to their place of residence 
 when they were preparing to return to it. This was granted, 
 with the object of his obtaining some knowledge of the style 
 of their habitations and of the condition of the country about 
 their kraal, which was believed to be at a distance of about 
 eight or nine miles. On the way a seal was captured and 
 eaten, and then Yeloso, though the most arrant braggart of 
 his exploits and his bravery in the whole fleet, became 
 suspicious of some evil design against himself. There is no 
 proof of treachery of any kind on the part of the Hottentots, 
 but when people cannot understand each other distrust arises 
 easily. Veloso began to retrace his steps in great haste, and 
 was followed by the Hottentots, who could certainly easily 
 have overtaken him if they had wished to do so. That they 
 did not is a strong indication that they were acting from 
 curiosity rather than enmity. 
 
 Nicolau Coelho was in a boat near the shore when Veloso 
 w^as seen running towards the embarking place, shouting loudly 
 for help; but he and the others with him rather enjoyed the 
 spectacle, on account of the man's boastful disposition. Da 
 Gama was seated at table at his evening meal when through 
 the window of the cabin he saw a commotion on shore, and 
 immediately got into a boat and was rowed towards the beach 
 to ascertain what was the matter. Some of the officers of 
 the Bao Gabriel and of the other vessels followed. On the 
 first boat reaching the shore, two of the natives went towards 
 it, but were driven back with their faces covered with blood. 
 Then followed a skirmish, in which Vasco da Gama himself, 
 Gonpalo Alvares, and two sailors were slightly wounded with 
 the stones, assagais, and arrows showered upon them by the 
 Hottentots. The white men, on their part, made use of their 
 crossbows, and believed they caused some execution with 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India. 141 
 
 them. Though in all the Portuguese accounts the natives 
 are charged with treachery, the whole affair appears to have 
 arisen through a mistake, as Fernao Veloso remained uninjured, 
 and was taken safely on board. 
 
 In this bay of St. Helena crayfish were found in great 
 abundance, which must have proved a very welcome relief to 
 men so long confined to salted provisions. Some fish were 
 also secured with the hook, and a whale was captured, which 
 nearly cost the lives of Paulo da Gama and a boat's crew. 
 They had fastened the harpoon line to an immovable thwart 
 of the boat, and the whale in its struggles would have pulled 
 them gunwale under and swamped them if it had not 
 fortunately for them grounded in shallow water. 
 
 On the morning of Thursday the 16th of November Da 
 Gama set sail from St. Helena Bay. At this time of the 
 year the wind is usually dead ahead for vessels on his course, 
 but on this occasion it was blowing from the south-south-west, 
 so that he was able to run along the coast with his yards 
 sharply braced. On Saturday afternoon he saw the Cape of 
 Good Hope, but thought it prudent to stand away on the 
 other tack for the night, and therefore did not double it 
 until Monday the 20th. All on board were in high spirits 
 and made merry as well as they could, for instead of the 
 stormy seas they had expected to encounter here, the weather 
 was so fine that they could keep close to the land on their 
 eastward course, and had sight of people and cattle upon it. 
 
 On Sunday the 26th of November the fleet reached the 
 watering place of Sao Bras, now Mossel Bay. Here, after 
 they had been several days at anchor, a number of natives 
 appeared, some — men and women — riding on pack oxen. They 
 were very friendly, for on Da Gama's going on shore they 
 received with much pleasure the bawbles which he presented 
 to them, and exchanged some of their ivory armrings for 
 scarlet caps. Afterwards more arrived, bringing a few sheep, 
 which were obtained in barter. The Portuguese listened with 
 pleasure to the tunes which these Hottentots played with 
 reeds, their usual way of entertaining strangers. Treachery, 
 
142 History of South Africa, 
 
 however, was suspected, and quarrels arose, so after a while 
 Da Gama moved from his first anchorage to another to get 
 away from the wild people, but they followed him along the 
 shore, upon which he fired at them to frighten them, when 
 they fled inland. 
 
 The little island in the bay was found covered with seals 
 and penguins. While at anchor here Da Gama set up on the 
 high southern point a pillar having on it a cross and the 
 arms of Portugal, but the natives Invoke it down before he left. 
 Everything was now removed from the storeship to the other 
 vessels, and she was then burned, as there was no further need 
 for her. Having taken in water, on Friday the 8th of December, 
 after a detention of thirteen days, the Bao Gabriel, Sao Rafael, 
 and Berrio sailed from the watering place of Sao Bras, and 
 proceeded on their course eastward. 
 
 Shortly afterwards a storm arose, which caused great terror 
 to the seamen, but the wind was from the westward, so they 
 ran before it under short canvas until the 16th of December, 
 when they found themselves at the low rocks now called the 
 Bird islands, on the eastern side of Algoa Bay. Here the wind 
 became light and variable, and after attaining a point consider- 
 ably beyond the river Infante, the current carried them back 
 again as far as the isle of the Cross. On the 20th, however, 
 a westerly breeze set in, which enabled them to make good 
 progress once more. They kept close to the land, and observed 
 that it constantly improved in appearance, the trees becoming 
 higher, and the cattle on the pastures more numerous. The 
 green hills and forest-clad mountains formed indeed a striking 
 contrast to the sterile waste they had seen at St. Helena Bay. 
 On the 25th of December the charming country in sight was 
 named by Da Gama Natal, in memory of the day when 
 Christian men first saw it. It is uncertain what part of the 
 coast he was then sailing along, the only indication— and that 
 a very imperfect one, namely the distance run — given by any 
 early Portuguese writer placing it a little north of the Umzim- 
 kulu. 
 
 Wherever it was, from this point for some reason Da Gama 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India. 1 43 
 
 stood out to sea, and was not in sight of the coast again until 
 the 6th of January 1498, when he reached the mouth of a 
 stream to which he gave the name Eio dos Eeys, or Kiver of 
 the Kings, the day being the festival of the wise men or kings 
 of the Roman calendar. By others, however, it was termed 
 the Copper river, on account of the quantity of that metal 
 found in -use by the natives, and it was subsequently known by 
 both names. It was the Limpopo of our day. 
 
 It was observed from the ships that the people on shore 
 were black and of large stature, so a man named Martin 
 Affonso, who could speak several of the Bantu dialects of the 
 western coast, was sent with a companion to gather information. 
 He found them very friendly, and was soon able to understand 
 a little of what they said to him, for he was quick of percep- 
 tion and many words in use there and on the coast of Guinea 
 are almost identical. Having ascertained this. Da Gama sent 
 the chief a present of some red clothing and a copper bracelet, 
 and so favourably disposed was every one that Martin Affonso 
 and his companion remained on shore that night and were 
 hospitably entertained. The next day a return present, con- 
 sisting of a number of hens, was sent on board by the chief, 
 and a friendly intercourse was thereupon estabKshed which 
 remained unbroken until the Portuguese left. The article most 
 in demand by these Bantu was linen cloth, for which they 
 were willing to give a high price in copper. Owing to the 
 manner in which he was treated, and to the provisions — chiefly 
 millet — which he obtained in barter. Da Gama gave to the 
 country the name Land of the Good People. Having taken in 
 water, he set two of the convicts on shore to collect informa- 
 tion to give him upon his return, and on the 15th of January 
 sailed again. 
 
 He now kept away from the coast, fearing that he might be 
 drawn by the currents into some deep bay from which it would 
 be difficult to get out again, and saw nothing more of it until the 
 24th, when he arrived at the mouth of the Kilimane or Quili- 
 mane river. This he entered, and sailing up it he observed 
 that the natives on its southern bank wore loin cloths and 
 
 N 
 
144 History of South Africa, 
 
 that they used canoes with mat sails. Some of them came on 
 board the ships fearlessly, as if they were accustomed to see 
 such objects, and several could speak a few words of Arabic, 
 though they were not able to carry on a conversation in that 
 language. Three days after the ships anchored a couple of 
 chiefs came on board, one of whom wore a silken turban and 
 the other a green satin cap. Among the people also were 
 some lighter in colour than the others, who seemed to be partly 
 of foreign blood. To the Portuguese these were evidences not 
 to be mistaken of intercourse with more civilised men, so they 
 gave to the stream the name Eiver of Good Omens. 
 
 Finding the inhabitants friendly and disposed to barter, 
 though Martin Affonso could not understand their dialect. Da 
 Gama resolved to stay here some time and refit his ships. 
 They were accordingly hove down, cleaned, recaulked, and 
 generally put in better condition than before. During this time, 
 however, scurvy appeared among the people in a very bad form, 
 and many died, while others suffered from fever. In this 
 distress the humanity of Paulo da Gama was displayed in his 
 visiting and comforting the sick, night and day, and liberally 
 distributing among them the delicacies he had provided for his 
 own use. The ships being ready, a pillar, bearing the name 
 Sao Eafael, was set up, and two convicts were left behind 
 when the fleet sailed, which was on the 24th of February. 
 The Sao Bafael grounded on the bar when going out, but 
 fortunately floated off unharmed with the rising tide. 
 
 Keeping well away from the land. Da Gama continued on 
 his course until the afternoon of the 1st of March, when some 
 islands were seen, and on the following morning seven or eight 
 zambucos or small undecked sailing vessels were observed 
 coming from one of them towards him. The anchors were 
 immediately dropped, as the fleet was close to the island of 
 St. George where the water was not deep, and soon the sound 
 of kettle-drums was heard and the little vessels were alongside. 
 The men in them were dark coloured, but were clothed with 
 striped calico, and had silken turbans on their heads and 
 scimitars and daggers at their sides. They entered the ships 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India. 145 
 
 fearlessly, taking the Portuguese to be Mohamedans like them- 
 selves, and began to converse in Arabic, which language was 
 familiar to one of the sailors named Fernao Martins. After 
 being entertained at table, they stated that the island from 
 which they came was named Mozambique, that it was subject 
 to Kilwa, and was a place of considerable trade with India and 
 with Sofala lower down the coast, where gold was obtained. 
 They offered to pilot the ships into the harbour, but Da Gama 
 thought it better not to go there until he was better informed 
 of the condition of things. 
 
 After his visitors had taken their departure, however, he sent 
 Nicolau Coelho in the caravel to Mozambique, who reached the 
 harbour safely, though by keeping too close to the island he 
 struck lightly on a reef and unshipped his rudder. Meantime 
 the men who had been aboard the Portuguese ships had reported 
 to the governor what they had seen and that they believed the 
 strangers to be Turks, so with a large retinue he went on 
 board the caravel. His name was Zakoeja. He was a tall 
 slender man of middle age, dressed in a white cotton robe 
 covered with an open velvet tunic, his silken turban was richly 
 embroidered with gold thread, and he had velvet sandals on his 
 feet. At his side was a jewelled scimitar, and in his belt a 
 handsome dagger. He was well received and entertained by 
 Nicolau Coelho, but as there was no interpreter on board he did 
 not stay long. 
 
 After this the other two ships came to the anchorage, when 
 Zakoeja with a number of attendants paid a visit to Vasco da 
 Gama, and was received with as much state as possible. A 
 long conversation was held through the medium of Femao 
 Martins as interpreter, presents were interchanged, and the 
 governor promised to supply two pilots to conduct the ships to 
 India, which was what Da Gama most of all desired. The 
 governor afterwards brought two pilots on board, who were paid 
 in advance, and remained in the ship. A trade in provisions 
 was opened, and the intercourse between the different peoples 
 was of the most friendly kind. The particulars of the commerce 
 fc carried on with the countries along the shores of the Indian 
 
 p 
 
1 46 History of South Africa, 
 
 ocean were ascertained, and much that aroused the cupidity of 
 the Portuguese was learned of Sofala, the famous gold port to 
 the south. 
 
 So far all had gone well. But now the Mohamedans came 
 to discover that their visitors were Christians, and immediately 
 everything was changed. The wars of many centuries carried 
 on between the adherents of the two creeds had created a 
 feeling of the deepest animosity between them, and wherever 
 they met — except under very peculiar circumstances — they 
 regarded each other as natural foes. Even here in the Indian 
 sea, where the only Christians hitherto seen were a few humble 
 Nestorian traders, this was the case. One of the pilots deserted, 
 and the attitude of the people on shore was so altered that 
 Da Gama, fearing his ships might be secretly set on fire, 
 removed to the island of St. George. Here a pillar bearing 
 that name was set up, and beside it an altar where the first 
 religious service of the combined crews was held since their 
 departure from Lisbon. 
 
 Da Gama and Nicolau Coelho then left St. George in 
 boats to demand the absconding pilot at Mozambique, but on 
 the way met a number of zambucos, and a skirmish followed 
 in which the Portuguese were victors, though after beating off 
 their opponents they thought it best to return to their ships. 
 The fleet then set sail, but the wind was so light and variable 
 and the current so strong that no progress could be made, and 
 after several days the anchors were again dropped at the island 
 of St. George. Here an Arab came on board with his little 
 son, and offered his services in case of need as a pilot to 
 Melinde, as he said he wished to return to his own country, 
 and this place was on the way. His offer was accepted, and 
 he remained in the Bao Gah%el. 
 
 By this time the water was getting short, so Da Gama 
 resolved to return to Mozambique to replenish his casks, as 
 the pilot furnished by Zakoeja promised to show him a 
 spring at a convenient place on the mainland. The night 
 after coming to the harbour the boats were sent out, but the 
 place could not be found until the next day, and then it was 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India, 147 
 
 necessary to use force to get possession of it. In the confusion 
 the pilot made his escape. Enraged with the opposition shown 
 and the insults received, Da Gama now determined to inflict 
 punishment upon his adversaries, which he felt confident his 
 superior weapons would enable him to do. Accordingly he 
 attacked the village on the island with his boats, destroyed a 
 palisade intended for defence, and killed several people, among 
 whom was the first pilot that absconded. A few days later 
 he bombarded the village from his ships, and did as much 
 damage as was in his power, which brought the Mohamedans 
 to solicit peace. An agreement, professedly of good will on 
 both sides, was then entered into, and a pilot declared to be 
 competent to conduct the fleet to India was provided by 
 Zakoeja, under whose guidance on the 1st of April the voyage 
 was resumed. 
 
 About two hundred and fifty miles north of Mozambique 
 the new pilot took the vessels among some islets, where they 
 were in danger of being wrecked, and as this was believed to 
 be an act of treachery on his part. Da Gama caused him to 
 be soundly flogged. On this account the islets received the 
 name Do Apoutado, that is Of the Scourged. Kilwa was the 
 port the captain-general wished to visit next, as he had been 
 told that many of its inhabitants were Christians, but owing 
 to the strong current he was unable to put into it, and there- 
 fore steered for Mombasa farther on. On the way the Bao 
 Rafael grounded on a shoal, and at low water lay high and 
 dry, where she was visited by some people from the coast; 
 but when the tide rose she floated off uninjured. 
 
 On the 7th of April the fleet arrived off Mombasa. Da 
 Gama would not enter the inner harbour at first, though he 
 received pressing invitations to do so, but he sent two convicts 
 on shore, apparently to convey presents to the sheik, really as 
 spies to make observations. They were watched so closely, 
 however, that they could gather very little information. The 
 messages that passed to and fro were friendly in words, but 
 both parties were evidently on their guard against treachery, 
 and only a limited number of visitors at a time — and those 
 
14^ History of South Africa. 
 
 unarmed — were allowed on board the ships. After some days 
 Da Gama, to allay suspicion, promised to go in, but in doing 
 so his ship drifted towards a shoal, and such a clamour was 
 made in letting the anchor go that some visitors to the 
 different vessels became alarmed and jumped overboard. The 
 pilot supplied by Zakoeja did this also, and was picked up 
 and conveyed to land by a boat that was close by at the time. 
 This was regarded by the Portuguese as clear proof of intended 
 treachery, and a very strict watch was kept and no visitors 
 were allowed on board again as long as the fleet remained 
 there. 
 
 As soon as he could get away Da Gama set sail for 
 Melinde, under guidance of the Arab who had come with him 
 from St. George. On the passage he captured a zambuco, and 
 learned from the men in her that the ruler of Melinde would 
 most likely give him a welcome reception, and that there were 
 three or four Indian trading vessels then in his port. The 
 antagonism between the people of that place and those of 
 Mombasa was indeed so inveterate that the enemy of one 
 would to a certainty be regarded as a friend by the other. 
 Upon his arrival at the port, which was at some distance from 
 the town, communication was opened with the ruler, and so 
 satisfactory were the assurances given on both sides that a 
 meeting was arranged to take place on the water. 
 
 This was conducted with as much state as possible, the boats 
 being decorated with flags and awnings, and trumpets and 
 other instruments being sounded. A long conversation between 
 Da Gama and the ruler of Melinde was followed by a pledge 
 of peace and friendship between them, which was never after- 
 wards broken. In token of this agreement a pillar, named 
 Espirito Santo, with the ruler's consent was set up in the 
 town. By this time nearly half the Portuguese who left 
 Lisbon were dead, and many of the others were ill and weak ; 
 but the refreshments obtained at Melinde and the strong con- 
 fidence now felt that their voyage would terminate favourably 
 did much towards the restoration of health and vigour. The 
 Indian vessels in the port were manned partly by Hindoos 
 
Discovery of an Ocean Route to India. 149 
 
 and partly by Mohamedans. Among these strangers was one 
 named Cana, a native of Guzerat, who was a skilful pilot, and 
 whose services Da Gama secured to conduct him to India. 
 
 Leaving Melinde on the 24th of April, twenty-two days later 
 the fleet made the land a few miles below Calicut, and the 
 object for which the Portuguese had striven so long and so 
 bravely was attained. Of the occurrences which followed in 
 Hindostan it is unnecessary to treat in this narrative, which 
 has to deal with Africa al6n6. On his return passage Da 
 Gama touched again at Melinde, where he was received in the 
 same friendly manner as before, and where he remained five 
 days to obtain refreshments, during which time several of his 
 men died. An ambassador from the ruler of the town to the 
 king of Portugal accompanied him when- he left. Proceeding 
 on his way homeward, the ^ao Rafael struck on the same 
 shoal where she had grounded on the outward passage, and 
 could not be got off again. Da Gama did not regret this much, 
 as after dividing her crew between the Sao Gabriel and the 
 Berrio, there were barely sufficient men to work these two 
 vessels, so many having died. 
 
 He touched at the island of St. George, where divine worship 
 was held, and also at the watering place of Sao Bras ; and 
 doubled the Cape of Good Hope on the 20th of March 1499. 
 Near the Cape Verde islands the two vessels parted in a storm, 
 and the Berrio was the first to reach the Tagus, on the 10th 
 of July 1499, two years and two days after she had sailed 
 away from it. The Sao Gabriel touched at the island of 
 Santiago, where, as she was in urgent need of repairs, Joao de 
 Sa was instructed to have them made and take her home, and 
 Yasco da Gama hu-ed a caravel in which to proceed at once. 
 His brother Paulo da Gama was very ill with consumption, 
 and he wished to get him to Portugal as speedily as possible. 
 But the invalid grew worse on the way, so the caravel put in 
 at Terceira, where he died. Having interred his remains in 
 the monastery of St. Francis, Vasco da Gama proceeded to 
 Lisbon, which he reached on the 29 th of August, and after 
 making his devotions at the hermitage of our Lady of Bethlehem, 
 
150 History of South Africa. 
 
 was received in the city with every possible demonstration of 
 joy, though of all the company that sailed with him only fifty - 
 five men saw their homes again. 
 
 The ocean highway to the rich lands of the East had now 
 at last been traversed from end to end, and great was the 
 satisfaction of King Manuel, his courtiers, and his people. It 
 was indeed something to rejoice over, though at this distance 
 of time the exploit of Da Gama does not seem much more 
 meritorious than that of Dias. The earlier navigator had 
 uncertainty always before him, yet he traced fully fourteen 
 hundred miles of previously unknown coast, and he doubled 
 the southern cape. From the river Infante to the Quilimane 
 Da Gama sailed over twelve hundred miles of unexplored sea, 
 but he had more, larger, and better equipped ships. At the 
 Quilimane he saw proofs that by keeping steadfastly on his 
 course he must succeed in reaching his goal, so that from this 
 point onward he could have been disturbed by no fear of 
 finding some insurmountable physical barrier in his way. But 
 it is only the final winner of a race who receives the prize, and 
 so honours were heaped upon him, and his name was made to 
 occupy a large and proud place in the history of Portugal, 
 while Dias was left almost unnoticed and very inadequately 
 rewarded. As a foretaste of favours to come. Da Gama had 
 at once the title of Dom conferred upon him, with a small 
 pension and the privilege of trading annually in Indian wares 
 to a certain amount. 
 
Succeeding Voyages and Conquests. 151 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 SUCCEEDING VOYAGES AND CONQUESTS. 
 
 The condition of affairs on the shores of the Indian sea, as 
 reported by Vasco da Gama, was such that it was evident a 
 display of force would be necessary to carry on trade, as the 
 Mohamedans were nearly everywhere hostile. The whole king- 
 dom of Portugal, however, was as resolute as the monarch 
 himself in the determination to secure the eastern commerce, 
 so that no difficulty was experienced in getting together what 
 was believed in those days to be a very strong armament. 
 And indeed, though a modern gunboat could in less than 
 half an hour send to the bottom the whole of the fleet that 
 King Manuel despatched on this occasion, the Mohamedans 
 on the Indian ocean — even if they could have combined — 
 had nothing fit to oppose it. The approximate time at which 
 the different monsoons set in was now known, and to take 
 advantage of them it was necessary that ships should leave 
 Lisbon in February or March. Preparations were therefore 
 made with all possible haste, and in the first week of March 
 1500 thirteen ships of different sizes, fitted out in the best 
 manner, lay at anchor at Eastello ready for sea. Twelve 
 hundred picked men, between soldiers and sailors, were on 
 board, and an able officer, Pedro Alvares Cabral by name, 
 was in chief command, with another named Sancho de Toar 
 as next in authority. 
 
 The instructions of the king were that where they came 
 peace and friendship were to be offered to the inhabitants 
 on condition of their accepting the Christian faith and 
 engaging in commerce, but if these terms were refused, relent- 
 
152 History of South Africa, 
 
 less war was to be made upon them. Eight friars of the 
 order of St. Francis were sent in the fleet to make the 
 tenets of the Christian religion known, in addition to whom 
 there were eight chaplains in the ships, and a vicar for a 
 fortress which was intended to be built and garrisoned at 
 Calicut. The reports that Da Gama had received of the gold 
 trade of Sofala had caused a belief of its great value, and 
 therefore a factory was to be established at that place, of 
 which Bartholomeu Dias was sent out in command of one 
 of the ships to take charge. 
 
 On Sunday the 8th of March the officers and principal 
 people of the fleet attended divine worship in the hermitage 
 of our Lady of Bethlehem, when the king delivered a banner 
 to Cabral, and upon the conclusion of the service a proces- 
 sion was formed to conduct them to the river side, where they 
 embarked. On the following morning sail was set, and the 
 Tagus was left behind. Of those who had been with Da 
 Gama, Nicolau Coelho, who commanded a ship, and Joao de 
 Sa are the only ones known to have sailed with Cabral. 
 
 On the passage to the Cape Verde islands a storm was 
 encountered, in which one of the ships got separated from 
 the others, and therefore returned to Lisbon. Keeping far 
 to the westward to avoid the calms usually met with on 
 the coast of Guinea, on the 24th of April to his great sur- 
 prise Cabral discovered a country unknown before, the main- 
 land of South America. There, at a harbour on the coast 
 of Brazil, he took in water and set ashore two convicts. 
 Having despatched one of his vessels to Portugal with tidings 
 of the discovery, on the 3rd of May he sailed again. On 
 the 24th of this month a violent tornado was encountered, 
 which was preceded by a calm, and the wind suddenly struck 
 the ships with terrific force. It at once became dark as 
 night, the raging of the tempest drowned all other sounds, 
 and the sea rose in such tremendous billows that the sailors 
 regarded themselves as lost. When the tornado ceased four 
 vessels had disappeared, never to be seen again. One was 
 that of which Bartholomeu Dias was captain and thus the 
 
Succeeding Voyages and Conquests. 153 
 
 discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope found a grave in the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 The remaining seven vessels were scattered in the storm. 
 One, which was commanded by Pedro Dias, a brother of 
 Bartholomeu, got as far as Magadosho, but had by that time 
 lost so many of her crew that she put about, and returned 
 to Lisbon, which port she reached with only six men on 
 board. By the 16th of July the other six were together 
 again beyond the shoals of Sofala, but had received so 
 much damage in the tornado and in almost constant stormy 
 weather that followed it as to be more like wrecks than 
 sea-going ships. 
 
 Here two zambucos were seen, and one was captured, the 
 other escaping to the shore. The prisoners stated that they 
 had been trading at Sofala for gold, and were on their 
 return passage to Melinde, their captain being the sheik 
 Foteima, uncle of the ruler of that town. Upon hearing 
 this, Cabral immediately liberated them, and restored the 
 zambuco to the old sheik, whom he treated with the greatest 
 courtesy on account of the alliance with the place to which 
 he belonged. Then continuing his course, on the 20th of 
 July he cast anchor in the harbour of Mozambique. The 
 people of that island, remembering what had been done by 
 a fleet only half as strong as the one now in their waters, 
 professed the most sincere friendship, and did what they 
 could to assist the Portuguese. Here Cabral refitted his ships, 
 and then, having obtained a good pilot, sailed for Kilwa. 
 
 Upon his arrival at this port he sent a message to Emir 
 Abraham by Affonso Furtado that he liad letters for him 
 from the king of Portugal, and as he was forbidden by his 
 instructions to go on shore he desired that a place and 
 time of meeting should be arranged. A tone of superiority 
 was thus assumed from the first, which must have been 
 exceedingly irritating to a man who had been accustomed 
 to be treated as an independent sovereign. Probably had he 
 known the position of the messenger he would have felt 
 doubly indignant, for Affonso Furtado had been sent out as 
 
1 54 History of South Africa, 
 
 secretary of the factory which Bartholomeu Dias was to have 
 established at Sofala, the most valuable of the ancient 
 dependencies of Kilwa. There could not be a really friendly 
 feeling towards the strangers, but the emir dissembled, ex- 
 pressed his pleasure at their arrival, and arranged to meet 
 Cabral on the water. Some sheep and other provisions were 
 sent as a present to the flagship, and a counter present was 
 sent on shore. 
 
 With all the pomp and state that both parties could 
 display the boats came alongside each other at the time 
 fixed upon, the letter from the king of Portugal was delivered, 
 and an apparently friendly conversation was held. But when 
 Cabral requested the emir to adopt the Christian faith and 
 to surrender part of his claim to the gold trade of Sofala, 
 he evaded giving an immediate reply, and proposed that 
 Affonso Furtado should be sent ashore again to conclude an 
 agreement of peace and amity. With this understanding 
 Cabral parted from him, but when Furtado landed on the 
 following day he found preparations for defence being made 
 on every side, and the tone of the emir was entirely changed. 
 It was evident that rather than submit to the demands of 
 the Portuguese he had resolved to resist them with arms, 
 and as CabraFs force was so reduced that he did not wish 
 to commence hostilities here, the fleet set sail again. From 
 this time onward Abraham was regarded as an enemy, and 
 was made to appear as a treacherous tyrant. 
 
 Cabral proceeded from Kilwa to Melinde, where he was 
 received with real demonstrations of satisfaction, as the ruler 
 of that place relied upon Portuguese support in his feud 
 with Mombasa. In consequence every thing in his power was 
 done to assist the fleet, and he professed himself the servant 
 of King Manuel in such terms that even the most exacting 
 of the European officers was satisfied. The envoy that he 
 had sent with Da Gama to Lisbon returned with Cabral, 
 and a present of considerable value was delivered from the 
 king. Two convicts, named Joao Machado and Luis de 
 Moura, were set ashore well equipped for a journey into 
 
Succeeding Voyages and Conquests. 155 
 
 the interior, and were directed to endeavour to reach Prester 
 John. On the 7th of August Cabral set sail for the Malabar 
 coast, having with him two pilots of Guzerat engaged in 
 Melinde. 
 
 On his return passage, the ship commanded by Sancho 
 de Toar was wrecked on the coast near Melinde, and when 
 her crew was rescued she was set on fire, as nothing could 
 be saved from her. The sheik of Mombasa, however, after- 
 wards recovered her guns, which he mounted on fortifications 
 in his town. Cabral arrived thus at Mozambique with only- 
 five of the thirteen ships with which he sailed from Lisbon. 
 Here he caused them to be cleaned and refitted, and then 
 gave the smallest of them to Sancho de Toar with instruc- 
 tions to proceed to Sofala and make himself acquainted with 
 the condition of that place. With the remaining four vessels 
 he sailed from Mozambique, but one, under command of 
 Pedro d'Ataide, was separated from him in a storm, and 
 was obliged to put into the watering place of Sao Bras to 
 refit. With three ships therefore Cabral doubled the Cape 
 of Good Hope on the 22nd of May 1501, and reached Lisbon 
 on the 31st of July. 
 
 Of the visit of Sancho de Toar to Sofala very little infor- 
 mation is given by Portuguese writers who had access to 
 the journal of the voyage, and the other early accounts are 
 most conflicting. One of these is by a pilot in Cabral's 
 fleet, whose name is unknown, and who could only have 
 acquired his knowledge from hearsay. It is to the following 
 effect : — 
 
 De Toar found several Arab vessels at Sofala, from one 
 of which he took an officer, whom he kept as a hostage 
 for an Asiatic Christian sent ashore to make enquiries. 
 After waiting two or three days without liis messenger re- 
 turning, he set sail for Portugal, and reached Lisbon the 
 day after the captain general. From information given by 
 his captive, added to his own observations, De Toar learned 
 that the Mohamedan settlement was not large, and that the 
 gold was obtained from natives of the interior in exchange 
 
156 History of South Africa. 
 
 for merchandise, but of the condition of the country and 
 the details of the trade he remained in ignorance. 
 
 In the Legends of India Gaspar Correa gives what appears 
 to be a much more complete account. But with respect to 
 events previous to the government of Affonso d'Alboquerque 
 this writer was a novelist rather than a historian, and though 
 the first part of his work possesses great value as a reflection 
 of his times, neither his statements nor his dates are to be 
 relied upon. He did to some extent, in short, for the early 
 history of the Portuguese in India what Sir Walter Scott did 
 for the history of Scotland, though his Legends fall far short 
 of the Heart of Midlothian or the Fair Maid of Perth as a 
 vivid picture of national life. Correa's account, condensed, is 
 as follows: 
 
 Sancho de Toar took with him from Mozambique an ex- 
 perienced pilot and a competent Arabic interpreter. He had 
 also as passengers several Mohamedan traders, whom he 
 received on board in order to learn their manner of con- 
 ducting the gold barter. He crossed the bar of the river 
 safely, and anchored before the lower village, when the 
 traders proceeded to visit the sheik Isuf, each one taking 
 a present with him. They informed the sheik who the 
 stranger was and that he desired a conference, upon which 
 Isuf at once consented, and sent a ring from his finger to 
 Sancho de Toar as a pledge of safety. The Portuguese captain 
 then landed with ten attendants carrying a present of con- 
 siderable value, and was received with much cordiality. His 
 object, he stated, w^as to ascertain whether the sheik was 
 willing to carry on trade with people of his nationality in 
 the same manner as with others, and if vessels laden with 
 merchandise might be sent for that purpose to his port. 
 Isuf replied that he was very willing it should be so, pro- 
 vided the Portuguese kept good faith and acted as friends. 
 He then made a counter present of gold for the captain 
 general and one for De Toar himself, and sent a quantity 
 of provisions on board the vessel. Ail trade, it was observed, 
 passed through the sheik. The merchants displayed their 
 
Succeeding Voyages and Conquests. 157 
 
 goods before him, and when approved of he delivered to 
 them gold in payment to the amount of twelve or fifteen 
 times the cost price. Having obtained complete information 
 concerning the place and its commerce, Sancho de Toar set 
 sail from Sofala, and reached Lisbon within a few hours 
 after the arrival of the other ships of the fleet. 
 
 There was naturally a feeling of sorrow for the loss of 
 life sustained in Cabral's voyage, but otherwise the monarch 
 and his people were very well satisfied with what had been 
 accomplished. The king considered himself justified now in 
 adding to his other titles that of Lord of the Navigation, 
 Conquest, and Trade of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India, 
 which title was confirmed to him in 1502 by Pope Alex- 
 ander YI. 
 
 Before the return of Cabral, on the 5th of May 1501 
 the third Indian fleet, consisting of four ships, sailed under 
 command of Joao da Nova, principal magistrate of the city 
 of Lisbon. At this time the eastern trade was not entirely 
 monopolised by the government, and two of these ships were 
 owned and fitted out by private individuals who had obtained 
 licenses for that purpose from the king. On the passage out 
 the island of Ascension — at first called Conception — was dis- 
 covered, and on the 7th of July the fleet came to anchor 
 at the watering place of Sao Bras. 
 
 Here in an old shoe fastened to a tree was found a 
 letter written by Pedro d'Ataide, giving an account of Cabral's 
 voyage to the time when he separated from that commander. 
 From it Da Nova learned that the intended factory at 
 Sofala had not been established on account of the loss at 
 sea of Bartholomeu Dias and his ship, and that a fort had 
 not been built at Calicut, where hostility had been encoun- 
 tered and the factor Aires Con-ea and a number of other 
 Portuguese had been murdered, but that mercantile houses 
 with Portuguese officials had been opened at Cochin and 
 Cananor, which were peaceful and safe ports to enter. The 
 latter part of this intelligence gave much satisfaction. On 
 a knoll beyond the beach the chief captain caused a chapel. 
 
158 History of South Africa. 
 
 or hermitage as it was termed, to be built of stone, as a 
 place for divine worship. It was dedicated to Saint Bras. 
 This was the first Christian place of worship erected in South 
 Africa, and though it was small and must have been very 
 roughly constructed, the walls were so strong that more than 
 half a century later they were standing to the height of 
 three or four feet. While this work was going on some 
 cattle were obtained in barter from the Hottentots and the 
 ships were supplied with water, and when it was completed 
 the fleet sailed again. Da Nova touched at Mozambique, 
 Kilwa, and Melinde, but nothing occurred at either of these 
 places that needs mention. On his return passage he dis- 
 covered and named the island of St. Helena, where he took 
 in water, and on the 11th of September 1502 he cast anchor 
 again in the Tagus. 
 
 A great advance was now made by King Manuel towards 
 the establishment of his authority in the eastern seas by 
 stationing a fleet of war there permanently. It consisted of 
 five ships, and was placed under command of Vicente Sodre, 
 who was a brother of Vasco da Gama's mother. His instruc- 
 tions were to protect the two factories at Cochin and Cananor, 
 and in the summer months to guard the strait of Bab el 
 Mandeb and prevent the entrance or egress of Aiab and 
 Egyptian vessels. So small a force at first sight appears 
 altogether inadequate for the duty imposed upon it, but its 
 insignificance vanishes on remembering that its opponents were 
 not armed for battle. A Portuguese ship could discharge 
 cannon at them, very clumsy indeed, but still capable of 
 sinking them, and was herself perfectly safe if she could 
 keep their boats from boarding her. Her crew were accus- 
 tomed to war, and were full of religious zeal, believing that 
 the Almighty was on their side in the contest with infidels. 
 Deeds that to us look like piracy and murder were to them 
 heroic and glorious acts, for they were living in an age of 
 cruelty, when the meaning of the word mercy was almost 
 unknown, and clemency to enemies of another creed was rarely 
 practised. The Moslem trading vessels, running before the 
 
I 
 
 Sticceeding Voyages and Conquests. 159 
 
 monsoon from the coast of India with rich cargoes, were 
 regarded by them as prizes given into their hands by the 
 Most High. 
 
 The enormous profit upon the eastern merchandise, notwith- 
 standing the length of the voyages and the loss of so many 
 ships and men, induced the king to send out in 1502 a larger 
 number of trading ships than had ever gone before. The chief 
 command was offered to Pedro Alvares Cabral, but he made so 
 many objections to the nearly independent authority given to 
 Vicente Sodre that the offer was withdrawn, and Dom Vasco 
 da Gama, who had now the title of Admiral of the Eastern 
 Seas conferred upon him, was selected for the post. On the 
 10th of February 1502 the fleet set sail from the Tagus. It 
 consisted of the five ships commanded by Vicente Sodre, who 
 was second in authority and next in succession in case of the 
 death of the admiral, and ten others that were intended to 
 return with cargoes. Still other five were being equipped, but 
 were not then ready for sea, and did not sail until the 1st of 
 April. They were commanded by Estevao da Gama, first 
 cousin of the admiral, under whose orders he was to place 
 himself upon his arrival in India. 
 
 Da Gama took in water at a port near Cape Verde, where 
 he remained six days, and sailed again on the 7th of March. 
 After encountering several storms in which some of his ships 
 received much damage, he reached Cape Correntes with all 
 except one commanded by Antonio do Campo, that was some- 
 where behind. Here he sent Vicente Sodre on to Mozambique 
 with the ten largest vessels, and with the four smallest he 
 steered for Sofala, in accordance with instructions from the 
 king. He crossed the bar and anchored in front of the lower 
 village, where he exchanged courtesies and presents with the 
 sheik Isuf and confirmed the agreement of friendship with 
 him, but did not obtain much gold in barter. Here he re- 
 mained twenty-five days, making himself acquainted with the 
 locality and the particulars of the interior trade. When 
 leaving, one of his vessels struck on the bar and was lost, but 
 her crew and cargo were saved. 
 
 o 
 
i6o History of South Africa, 
 
 Upon his arrival at Mozambique fifteen days after Vicente 
 Sodre, he found a caravel that had been taken out in pieces 
 on board the other ships nearly ready for sea. She was named 
 the Pomposa, and had been designed by the king to guard the 
 coast between the island and Sofala and carry on a trade in 
 gold, but after what he had seen the admiral resolved to take 
 her to India. A gentleman named Joao Serrao was appointed 
 to command her. Zakoeja was then dead, and a much more 
 friendly or perhaps more timid governor filled his place, so 
 everything went on smoothly at Mozambique, where Da Gama 
 remained four days, and then set sail for Kilwa. 
 
 This port he reached on the 12th of July, and entered it 
 amidst a roar of artillery, as he had resolved to reduce the 
 emir Abraham to submission owing to what had happened to 
 Pedro Alvares Cabral. Upon his threatening to put the town 
 to fire and sword if that potentate would not meet him, the 
 emir with some attendants went off in zambucos, when Da 
 Gama caused him to be seized, and informed him that he 
 must become a vassal of Portugal and pay a yearly tribute of 
 two thousand maticals of gold, about £893 15s. English sterling 
 money, or he would be detained as a prisoner and taken to 
 India. With this alternative before him, Abraham professed to 
 be submissive, and an agreement was entered into in compli- 
 ance with Da Gama's terms. A hostage was given to the 
 admiral in the person of one Mohamed Ankoni, a man of rank 
 n the town, and the emir was then permitted to return to 
 land. But the tribute for the first year was not sent off as 
 promised, so Mohamed Ankoni, knowing that Abraham would 
 be rather pleased than otherwise with his detention or death, 
 owing to jealousy and ill will entertained towards him, paid 
 it himself to recover his freedom. The transaction does not 
 seem very conclusive now, but Da Gama was satisfied with it, 
 and Kilwa was thereafter considered a vassal state of Portugal. 
 
 Shortly after this the squadron under Estevao da Gama 
 joined the admiral. It had been becalmed off Sofala, and lay 
 at anchor outside the bar there from the 15th to the 17th of 
 July, but did not attempt to enter the river, though smoke 
 
Succeeding Voyages and Conquests, i6i 
 
 signals to do so were made from the shore. From Kilwa the 
 admiral proceeded towards Melinde, but could not reach that 
 port owing to the currents, so anchored at a distance of about 
 thirty-four miles from it and by means of a messenger ex- 
 changed greetings with its friendly ruler. Thence he set sail 
 for India, which he reached safely with the entire fleet except 
 the ship commanded by Antonio do Campo, that did not cross 
 over until the next favourable monsoon. 
 
 On the passage a large vessel, named the Meri, was fallen 
 in with. She belonged to the Mameluke ruler of Egypt, and 
 had a rich cargo of spices and other merchandise taken in at 
 Calicut, with which and a number of pilgrims — including over 
 fifty women and children — she was proceeding to the Eed sea. 
 There were two hundred and sixty men on board. She was 
 captured without resistance, but when her cargo was being 
 removed the Mohamedans tried to recover her. The result was 
 that Da Guma caused her to be set on fire, and of all on 
 board only twenty children were taken off, who were after- 
 wards baptized and placed in a convent in Lisbon. All the 
 others died by the sword or by fire. 
 
 On his return passage Da Gama touched only at Mozam- 
 bique, where he took in water and refreshments. He reached 
 Lisbon on the 1st of September 1503, and the tribute from 
 Kilwa, the first from any state bordering on the Indian ocean, 
 was received by the king with much gratification. It was 
 presented to the monastery of Belem, to be devoted to the 
 service of religion. 
 
 In 1503 three squadrons, each of three ships, were sent out, 
 respectively under Francisco d'Alboquerque, Affonso d'Albo- 
 querque, and Antonio de Saldanha. The transactions of the 
 first two at any part of the African coast were too unimportant 
 to need mention here. The last named was instructed to 
 cruise for some time off the entrance to the Eed sea, and 
 destroy all the Arab commerce that he could before proceeding 
 to India. The captains who sailed under his flag were Diogo 
 Fernandes Pereira and Euy Louren^o Eavasco, but before 
 reaching the Cape of Good Hope the three ships separated 
 
 2 
 
l62 History of South Africa. 
 
 from each other, and as the commodore did not know where 
 he was, he entered a deep bay and cast anchor. Before him 
 rose a great mass of rock, nearly three thousand six hundred 
 feet in height, with its top making a level line more than a 
 mile and a half in length on the sky. This grand mountain 
 was flanked at either end with less lofty peaks, supported by 
 buttresses projecting towards the shore. The recess was a 
 capacious valley, down the centre of which flowed a streamlet 
 of clear sweet water that fell into the bay just abreast of the 
 ship at anchor. 
 
 The valley seemed to be without people, but after a while 
 some Hottentots made their appearance, from whom a cow 
 and two sheep were purchased. The natives were suspicious 
 of the strangers, however, for on another occasion some two 
 hundred of them suddenly attacked a party of Portuguese 
 who had gone on shore, and Saldanha himself received a 
 slight wound. Before this affray the commodore, who was 
 in the full vigour of early life and fllled with that love of 
 adventure which distinguished his countrymen in those days 
 of their glory, had climbed to the top of the great flat 
 rock, to which he gave the name Table Mountain, the ravine 
 in its face pointing out the place of ascent then, as it does 
 to-day. From its summit he could see the sheet of water 
 now known as False Bay, and on the isthmus connecting 
 the Cape peninsula with the mainland some lakelets were 
 visible. These he mistook for the mouth of a large river 
 emptying into the head of False Bay, and thereafter for over 
 a hundred and eighty years such a stream appeared on the 
 maps of South Africa as coursing down from a great distance 
 in the interior, though after a time it was made to enter 
 the sea far to the eastward. From the top of Table Mountain 
 Saldanha could also see the Cape of Good Hope, and so, 
 having found out where he was, he pursued his voyage with 
 the first fair wind. The bay in which he had anchored was 
 thenceforth called after him Agoada de Saldanha, the watering 
 place of Saldanha, until a century later it received its present 
 name of Table Bay. 
 
Succeeding Voyages and Conquests, 163 
 
 The ship commanded by Diogo Fernandes Pereira was 
 separated from the other two in a storm off Cape Verde, 
 and did not again fall in with either of them on the outward 
 passage. She made prizes of a few Arab vessels on the East 
 African coast, and then proceeded to the island of Socotra, 
 where she was obliged to remain until the favourable monsoon 
 of 1504 set in, when she went on to India. 
 
 Kuy Lourenpo Kavasco parted from Saldanha in a storm 
 after leaving the island of St. Thomas, for, instead of keeping 
 out of the gulf of Guinea, they were hugging the African 
 coast. He was ahead of the commodore, and continued on 
 his course round the Cape of Good Hope until he reached 
 Mozambique, where he took in refreshments, and then pro- 
 ceeded to Kalwa. At this place he waited twenty days for 
 the flag ship, and then, as she did not appear, he went on 
 to Zanzibar. In a cruise of two months off that island he 
 captured and either destroyed or held to ransom a great 
 number of Arab vessels. Eavasco, who was utterly fearless, 
 even ventured to drop anchor before the town of Zanzibar, 
 where he attacked a large force collected for its defence, and 
 won a battle in which among others the heir to the govern- 
 ment of the island was killed. The ruler then begged for 
 peace, and agreed to pay a yearly tribute of one hundred 
 maticals of gold — £44 13s. 9c?. — and thirty sheep to the king 
 of Portugal. 
 
 Kavasco next went to the assistance of the friendly town 
 of Melinde, which was threatened by a Mombasan army. 
 While thus engaged he captured some vessels in which he 
 found the principal members of the government of Brava, 
 whom he compelled to ransom their persons and to agree 
 that their town should pay a yearly tribute of £223 85. ^d. 
 Here he was joined by Saldanha, who had also taken several 
 prizes, and whose arrival brought the sheik of Mombasa to 
 terms. He consented to make peace with Melinde, but his 
 own independence was not subverted. The two Portuguese 
 ships then set sail for the Arabian coast, where they did 
 considerable damage, after which they proceeded to India. 
 
164 History of South Africa, 
 
 In 1504 a fleet of thirteen ships was sent from Portugal 
 to India under command of Lopo Soares d'Albergaria. It 
 touched at Mozambique and Melinde on the outward passage, 
 at both of which places it received good entertainment. 
 When returning to Portugal with cargoes of great value, 
 partly taken from captured prizes, Lopo Soares touched at 
 Kilwa, and demanded from the emir Abraham the tribute 
 then due. The emir refused to pay it, and no attempt was 
 made to force him to do so. At Mozambique the fleet 
 remained twelve days taking in provisions and water, as this 
 island had now become the favourite refreshing place of the 
 Portuguese whether outward or homeward bound. From 
 Mozambique the two fastest sailing ships, under command of 
 Pedro de Mendonpa and Lopo d'Abreu, were sent in advance 
 to Lisbon with a report of the condition of affairs in India, 
 but the one under Pedro de Mendonpa ran ashore at night 
 some distance west of the watering place of Sao Bras, and 
 was lost with all her crew. Lopo Soares reached the Tagus 
 again on the 22nd of July 1505, after the most successful 
 voyage yet made. 
 
 And now a great step forward in the extension of Portuguese 
 authority in the East was resolved upon by King Manuel. 
 This was the construction and garrisoning of forts at Quilon, 
 Cochin, Cananor, Anjediva, Kilwa, and Sofala, and the main- 
 tenance of two armed fleets, one to keep the seas from Cape 
 Guardafui to the gulf of Cambay, the other from the gulf 
 of Cambay to Cape Comorin, which would give him absolute 
 control of the whole commerce of Western India and Eastern 
 Africa. Such a design seems almost audacious for a little 
 country like Portugal to attempt to carry out, but the people 
 were full of energy, and the enormous profit on eastern 
 produce gave promise of boundless wealth. Lisbon was rapidly 
 becoming the storehouse from which all Western Europe was 
 supplied with spices and Indian wares of every kind. These 
 were not distributed in the places of consumption by the 
 Portuguese, who were unequal to that additional task, and so 
 the beautiful Tagus was visited by ships of many nations, 
 
Succeeding Voyages and Conquests. 165 
 
 whose merchants drew their supplies from the gi*eat warehouses 
 on its banks. The glory of Venice had not yet quite departed, 
 but every year her traffic was becoming less and less. 
 
 To encourage men to enlist as soldiers for service in India, 
 they were offered a share in the pepper trade. Their regular 
 pay was fifteen shillings and four pence a month, with food or 
 seven sliillings and eight pence a month maintenance money; 
 but each one received in India every year in addition three 
 hundred and thirty pounds avoirdupois of pepper, which he was 
 permitted to send home in the king's ships to be sold on his 
 account. Officers of all ranks and the sailors in the fleets were 
 paid in the same way, each one receiving a certain quantity of 
 pepper according to the importance of his duties. At that 
 time gold and silver had a very much higher purchasing power 
 than they have at present, thus, according to Barros, pepper 
 brought wholesale in Lisbon only about three pence halfpenny 
 a pound when sold for coin, but if bartered for European 
 goods or provisions it produced many times as much as it 
 would to-day. 
 
 To carry out the king's design a great fleet was made ready, 
 in which fifteen hundred soldiers were embarked. A large 
 number of noblemen and gentlemen, appointed to various 
 situations which they were to hold for three years, were also 
 on board, and everything that would be needed for the object 
 in view had been carefully provided. A capable officer, named 
 Tristao da Cunha, was selected as head of the expedition, but 
 when all was in readiness for leaving he was seized with an 
 illness which for a time deprived him of sight, so he was 
 obliged to retire from the command. The vacant post was 
 then offered to Dom Francisco d' Almeida, and accepted by 
 him. 
 
 This nobleman was a son of the first count of Abrantes and 
 brother of the bishop of Coimbra. He was a man of valour, 
 who had distinguished himself in various positions, and who 
 was generally esteemed for his probity and generosity. The 
 instructions issued to him provided that he should be styled 
 chief captain and governor until the several fortresses were 
 
1 66 History of South Africa. 
 
 built, after which he was to take the title of viceroy; he was 
 directed what ships he was to send back with cargoes, and 
 what others he was to keep to guard the coasts ; he was to 
 treat with justice and kindness all who should act towards him 
 in a friendly manner, but was to wage relentless war against 
 the Mohamedans who should oppose him ; and he was especially 
 to favour all converts to Christianity. 
 
 As commander of the fortress which was to be built at 
 Sofala, a gentleman named Pedro d'Anaya was appointed, who 
 was to go out as captain of one of the ships. Another 
 gentleman, named Pedro Ferreira Fogapa, was in the same way 
 sent out to be captain of the fortress to be built at Kilwa. 
 But the ship in which Pedro d'Anaya was to sail sank one 
 night in the river, which caused an alteration in the plan 
 regarding Sofala. Instead of going there first, the chief captain 
 was to commence the erection of fortresses at Kilwa, and as 
 soon as other ships could be made ready Pedro d'Anaya was 
 to be sent with them to the coveted gold port, still, however, 
 in a subordinate position. 
 
 On the 25th of March 1505 Dom Francisco d'Almeida set 
 sail from Bel em. Never before had so many people assembled 
 to take part in the religious observances usual on such 
 occasions and to bid farewell to those who were leaving, for 
 never had so many men of rank and position gone with such 
 an expedition before. The fleet consisted of twenty-one ships, 
 of which eleven were to return with cargoes, and the others to 
 remain in the Indian sea. The materials for constructing 
 several caravels were also on board. Well fitted out as the 
 sliips were, the crews were largely composed of landsmen, and 
 in one in particular there was not a sailor who on leaving 
 knew how to manage the helm. 
 
 On the 6th of April the fleet arrived at Cape Verde, and 
 after taking in water at some harbours on that coast, left on 
 the 15th. As some of the ships were very slow sailers, seven 
 of them were here formed into a separate squadron, the 
 command of which was given to Manuel Pafanha, and with 
 the remaining fourteen Dom Francisco tried to push on more 
 
Succeeding Voyages and Conquests. 167 
 
 quickly. On the 5th of May in a heavy sea the ship com- 
 manded by Pedro Ferreira Foga9a was observed to be sinking, 
 and her crew were hardly rescued when she went down with 
 nearly everything on board. The Cape of Good Hope was 
 doubled on the 26th of June, but the fleet had gone so far 
 south to avoid danger that the cold was very severe and 
 the decks of the ships were covered with snow. Turning 
 now to the north-eastward, without touching anywhere on the 
 way himself, but sending two ships under Gonpalo de Paiva 
 and Fernao Bermudes to Mozambique for information, Dom 
 Francisco d'Almeida reached Kilwa on the 22nd of July. 
 His squadron was intact, except the vessels detached and one, 
 of which Joao Serrao was captain, that had parted from him 
 in a gale. 
 
 Joao da Nova, who was going out to command the fleet 
 of war that was to guard the sea from the gulf of Cambay to 
 Cape Comorin, was at once sent ashore to arrange with the 
 emir Abraham for a meeting. Some fruit was taken on board 
 the flagship as a present when she dropped anchor, but no 
 other show of welcome was made, nor was the Portuguese 
 flag that the admiral Dom Vasco da Gama had left there 
 exhibited as a sign of dependency. The emir promised Joao 
 da Nova to meet Dom Francisco on the water the following 
 morning, but when the time came and the gaily decorated 
 Portuguese boats were there in readiness, he sent word that 
 a black cat had crossed his path on rising, which was an 
 omen that no agreement made that day would be lasting, 
 and therefore he wished to postpone the interview. Shortly 
 after this, however, he fled to the mainland with a few 
 attendants, but left about fifteen hundred men capable of 
 bearing arms in the town, though there was nothing like a 
 spirit of union among them. 
 
 Thereupon Dom Francisco resolved to take forcible possession 
 of the place. To do this, at early dawn in the morning of the 
 24th he landed at the head of three hundred men at one point, 
 and his son Dom Lourenpo d' Almeida with two hundred at 
 another, when each marched towards the residence of the emir. 
 
 k 
 
1 68 History of South Africa, 
 
 Hardly any resistance was ofifered, except in one of the narrow 
 streets, for instead of attempting to defend the town most of 
 the inhabitants followed their ruler to the mainland with as 
 much of their movable property as they could carry away. 
 The residence of the emir, which was in a commanding 
 position, was thus easily secured, after which the Franciscan 
 friars in the fleet landed and set up a cross, before which the 
 canticle Te Deum Laiidamus was chanted, and when this was 
 concluded the place was given up to plunder. A great 
 quantity of calico, spices, and other Indian produce, as well 
 as ivory, ambergris, and African provisions, was collected and 
 stored in a well guarded building close to the beach. 
 
 No time was lost in selecting a site for a fort, as the emir's 
 residence was in a good position and could be altered and 
 strengthened to serve the purpose. The adjoining buildings 
 were cleared away to leave a large open space on three sides, 
 and their materials were used for the necessary additions to 
 the walls and for the construction of towers. On the fourth 
 side the fort was so close to the shore of the harbour that at 
 high water the waves beat against it. In twenty days the 
 work was completed and cannon were mounted on the walls, 
 as every one in the fleet, the commander himself included, 
 joined with alacrity in the task of carrying stones and earth, 
 and lightened the labour with jests and meixy songs. The 
 structure was named Sao Thiago, after the patron saint of 
 the Iberian peninsula, on whose festival the work was 
 commenced. 
 
 Meantime the form of the future government of Kilwa was 
 taken into consideration. Dom Francisco d' Almeida resolved 
 to leave everything as it was, except by changing the person 
 at the head of the administration, and to permit the inhabi- 
 tants of the town to return and resume possession of their 
 houses in peace and security, provided they would accept the 
 new ruler appointed by him. The emir Abraham, being a 
 usurper, had no strong hold upon the affections of the people, 
 and they consented readily to his being displaced. Between 
 him and Mohamed Ankoni, who has been mentioned before, 
 
Sticceeding Voyages and Conquests. 169 
 
 there was a deep feeling of enmity, which had caused 
 Mohamed to be regarded by the Portuguese as their firm 
 friend, as he professed to be. This was the man selected by 
 Dom Francisco, with the consent of a council of his officers, to 
 take the place of the deposed emir. He was not connected in 
 any way with the family that had ruled Kilwa for centuries, 
 but that was not regarded as of any importance, since he was 
 to owe his position solely to the favour of the Portuguese. 
 
 Accordingly Mohamed Ankoni was offered the title of king, 
 which he accepted, and he was crowned and proclaimed with 
 much ceremony. He was about sixty years of age, and had 
 sons who might succeed him, but for some reason or other 
 — possibly to gain favour with the people— he stipulated that 
 on his death the heir of the last legitimate ruler, the youth 
 who had been kept out of his inheritance by the emir 
 Abraham, should take his place. To this Dom Francisco 
 agreed, attributing the proposal to the new Izings goodness 
 of disposition. Mohamed Ankoni made oath to pay the 
 tribute imposed by Dom Vasco da Gama fully and regu- 
 larly, and in all respects to act as a loyal and faithful vassal 
 of Portugal. In this manner the difficulty of government, 
 which the conquerors were too few in number to take upon 
 themselves, was satisfactorily overcome. 
 
 Pedro Ferreira Fogaja was installed as captain of the fortress, 
 with Francisco Coutinho as magistrate, and Fernao Cotrim as 
 factor to conduct trade. Various other officials were appointed, 
 and with the soldiers one hundred and fifty men in all were 
 stationed in the fort Sao Thiago as a garrison. Instructions 
 were given that a small vessel which was being constructed of 
 timber brought from Lisbon and the caravel under command of 
 Gonpalo Vaz de Goes, then in the squadron under Manuel 
 Pafanha, should be kept to guard the coast as far down as 
 Sofala, making Kilwa their home station and base of opera- 
 tions. Thus was commenced the Portuguese dominion on the 
 coast of Eastern Africa, and in the Indian sea as well, for 
 Fort Sao Thiago was the first stronghold built and garrisoned 
 anywhere beyond Angola. 
 
1 70 History of South Africa. 
 
 While these events were taking place the strayed ship under 
 Joao Serrao arrived, and also the two under Gonyalo de Paiva 
 and Fernao Bermudes that had been sent to Mozambique to 
 obtain information. These brought letters from Lopo Soares 
 that had been left at that island, containing an account of the 
 condition of affairs in India and of his successful voyage, 
 which gave much satisfaction to Dom Francisco and those 
 with him. Nothing more now remaining to be done at Kilwa, 
 on the 8th of August the fleet set sail, and in the evening 
 of the 13th cast anchor outside the bar of Mombasa. 
 
 Gonpalo de Paiva's vessel was a small one, and he was 
 therefore sent on the following morning to take soundings 
 before the other ships should attempt to enter the harbour. 
 When doing this he was fired upon from a battery on the 
 shore, on which were mounted the guns recovered from 
 Sancho de Toar's ship that had been lost when returning 
 from India with Pedro Alvares Cabral, and a ball from one 
 of them went through his vessel from stem to stern, without, 
 however, harming any one on board. He returned the fire 
 with his artillery so effectually that the magazine of the 
 battery exploded, when the guns were silenced, and the men 
 who worked them fled into the town. The soundings were 
 then completed, and it was ascertained that the fleet could 
 enter without danger. 
 
 Thereupon Dom Francisco d' Almeida stood into the harbour 
 and anchored his ships in two divisions before different parts 
 of the town. When this was done a message was sent to the 
 ruler by a pilot brought from Kilwa, offering peace and 
 friendship on condition of his becoming a vassal of Portugal 
 and paying tribute, otherwise war would be waged against 
 him. The messenger was not even allowed to land, but some 
 men from the shore — among whom was a Portuguese renegade 
 — called out to him to inform the captain general that the 
 warriors of Mombasa were not like the hens of Kilwa to 
 be frightened at the sound of artillery, as he would find if 
 he attempted to enter the town. From an inhabitant of 
 the place who was taken prisoner by some boats that were 
 
Succeeding Voyages and Conquests. 171 
 
 sent up the strait, it was learned also that as soon as the 
 attack on Kilwa became known preparations for defence were 
 hurried on, and that in addition to the Mohamedan residents 
 over fifteen hundred Kaffir archers were in the town and more 
 were hourly expected. 
 
 An attempt to bombard the place was then made, but 
 without any effect, as the artillery of those days was not 
 sufficiently powerful to cause damage at such a distance. An 
 endeavour to set fire to some vessels from India that were 
 anchored in the strait was also a failure, and in making it the 
 captain Joao Serrao was severely wounded and two others 
 were killed with poisoned arrows. Dom Francisco next pre- 
 tended to be preparing to attack the town in a particular 
 place opposite his main squadron, and even sent his son Dom 
 Louren90 with a strong party on shore there as if to try to 
 set it on fire, but with orders to retreat to his boats without 
 hard fighting. Dom Louren90 carried out these instructions, 
 but lost two men killed and many wounded in doing so. By 
 this means the captain general drew the whole strength of the 
 enemy to guard and protect that side, and was enabled to 
 carry out the plan of operations he had formed. 
 
 Before dawn of the morning following this ruse nearly 
 the whole Portuguese force, after having received absolution 
 from the priests, left the ships in boats to attack Mombasa. 
 One division, under Dom Lourenpo, went straight ashore to 
 the front of the town, where the skirmish had taken place, 
 and for a time was believed by the defenders to constitute 
 the whole body of assailants. Another, but much smaller 
 division, rowed up the strait to the vessels from India, to 
 sound trumpets and make as much noise as possible, in order 
 to draw the attention of the enemy to that point. This, how- 
 ever, was only a feint, for the principal attacking force, under 
 the captain general in person, leaving the smaller squadron 
 which was anchored off the inner end of the town, landed 
 round a point, and fell upon the place from behind. 
 
 The plan succeeded, though the defenders made a desperate 
 resistance, especially in the narrow streets, which were so steep 
 
172 History of Sotith Africa. 
 
 that huge boulders could be rolled down them, aud where 
 arrows w^ere discharged from the windows and stones hurled 
 from the flat roofs until the Portuguese made their way up 
 and got possession of those terraces. The residence of the 
 ruler was the point aimed at, and there Dom Francisco and 
 his son, after a severe combat in the open space in front, met 
 and found the building abandoned. The townspeople and their 
 Kafhr auxiliaries now strove to flee to a palm grove at some 
 distance, but were shot down with the firelocks and crossbows 
 of the victors and pierced with their lances until it was 
 believed that over fifteen hundred had perished. Fully a 
 thousand, mostly women and children, were made prisoners. 
 Mombasa was then given over to be plundered, and when the 
 spoil was secured was set on fire and as much of it as was 
 possible was destroyed. Only five or six Portuguese had lost 
 their lives, but more than seventy had been wounded, some 
 very severely. 
 
 Still, notwithstanding his heavy punishment of a people 
 whose chief offence was refusing to surrender their inde- 
 pendence, Dom Francisco d' Almeida was for his day a humane 
 man. None of those revolting mutilations and barbarities 
 practised by the great Affonso d'Alboquerque on similar occa- 
 sions, and which must ever stain the memory of his name, 
 were inflicted upon the captives who, trembling with fear, 
 were brought before the victorious captain general. He selected 
 two hundred to be retained in bondage, and set the others at 
 liberty. This was regarded as magnanimity in the early years 
 of the sixteenth century, and particularly so when dealing 
 with Mohamedans. 
 
 The caravel commanded by Gon^alo Vaz de Goes was laden 
 with calico, part of the spoil, and sent to Mozambique to be 
 ready for the trade of Sofala when a fortress should be erected 
 there, after which the remainder of the fleet was towed over 
 the bar and waited outside until a fair wind enabled it to 
 proceed farther up the coast. No garrison was left to occupy 
 Mombasa, so the inhabitants resumed possession of the ruins 
 as soon as the Christians retired. 
 
I 
 
 Succeeding Voyages and Conquests. 173 
 
 It was the intention of Dom Francisco d' Almeida to put 
 into Melinde next, to greet the friendly ruler of that town, 
 but the currents carried him beyond it, so he anchored in a 
 bay about twenty-five miles farther on, where he found two 
 of the ships of the squadron under Manuel Papanha. From 
 this place messengers were sent to Melinde with a present 
 from King Manuel to the ruler, to which the captain general 
 added a considerable quantity of the spoils of Mombasa. The 
 destruction of this place occasioned great satisfaction at 
 Melinde, and complimentary messages to Dom Francisco with 
 a supply of refreshments for his ships were sent in return. 
 On the 27th of 4ugust the fleet again set sail, and with a 
 fair wind crossed over to Anjediva, where a fort was built 
 and garrisoned, after which the captain general took the title 
 of viceroy. The whole of the squadron under Manuel Pafanha 
 had previously joined him, except one ship, commanded by 
 Lopo Sanches, which it was afterwards ascertained had been 
 wrecked near Cape Correntes, and another, under Lucas 
 d'Affonseca, that remained at Mozambique until the next 
 favourable monsoon. 
 
 On the 6th of March 1506 two fleets left Lisbon together 
 for India. One, consisting of nine ships, was commanded by 
 Tristao da Cunha, and the other, of five ships, was under 
 Affonso d'Alboquerque. On the passage the islands of Tristao 
 da Cunha were discovered and part of the coast of Madagascar 
 was explored, Mozambique was touched at, and Melinde was 
 visited. There was a feud at this time between the sheik of 
 Melinde and the town of Oja, which was about seventy miles 
 distant. Oja was on the coast of the mainland, and contained 
 many well built stone houses, with a wall to protect it on the 
 inner side ; but it was without a harbour. To please the friend 
 of Portugal, Tristao da Cunha undertook to reduce it. He 
 sailed to the place, and having anchored in the roadstead, sent 
 a message ashore demanding an interview with the ruler and 
 submission to the crown of Portugal. To this he received 
 a reply that the sheik of Oja would acknowledge no superior 
 except the sultan of Egypt, who was the caliph in succession 
 
 I 
 
174 History of South Africa. 
 
 to the prophet Mohamed, and without whose permission he 
 could have no dealings with strangers who were acting as 
 enemies. The next day the Portuguese landed in two divi- 
 sions, under Tristao da Cunha and Affonso d'Alboquerque, and 
 without much difficulty defeated the inhabitants and killed the 
 sheik. The town was then plundered and set on fire, when 
 the flames spread so quickly that several soldiers who were 
 still seeking spoil lost their lives. 
 
 The fleet then proceeded to Lamu, a town of no great im- 
 portance about sixty miles farther on. The sheik of this place 
 was so terrified by the fate of his neighbour that he at once 
 offered to submit and pay a yearly tribute of £268 2s. ^d. To 
 this the Portuguese officers agreed, when the amount for that 
 year was at once delivered, together with a quantity of pro- 
 visions, so no damage was done to the town or its people. 
 
 Brava, one of the strongest cities on the coast, was next 
 aimed at. Some of the principal men of this place had been 
 captured in trading vessels by Euy Louren9o Eavasco in 1503 
 and had been obliged to consent that it should become 
 tributary to Portugal, but upon their return home this agree- 
 ment was repudiated by the government, and every effi^rt had 
 since been made to prepare against attack. Upon the arrival 
 of the fleet under Tristao da Cunha and Affonso d'Alboquerque, 
 Diogo Fernandes Pereira, captain of the ship Cerne, was sent 
 ashore to make the customary demand. The reply that he 
 received was significant, though it was not in words : he was 
 conducted to a spot where over six thousand armed men 
 marched past before him. But most of these wamors were 
 negroes, whose weapons were assagais and bows and aiTOws, so 
 the display by no means intimidated the Portuguese. 
 
 At dawn the next morning Tristao da Cunha and Affonso 
 d'Alboquerque landed at the head of their soldiers and sailors, 
 and after a desperate resistance, in which forty-two Portuguese 
 were killed and over sixty wounded, Brava was taken. The 
 spoil was immense. Shocking barbarities were committed by 
 some of the soldiers, who even cut off the hands of the Arab 
 women to get the silver armrings which they wore. But such 
 
Sticceeding Voyages and Conquests, 175 
 
 cruelties were not approved by every one, and some among 
 those who regarded the butchery of defenceless Mohamedans as 
 meritorious did not doubt that the loss of a boatload of goods 
 and the drowning of a number of soldiers was a manifestation 
 of God's wrath upon the evil doers for their excesses in muti- 
 lating the unfortunate females. After Brava was plundered it 
 was given to the flames, and was left a smouldering mass 
 of ruins. 
 
 This was by no means an end of the Portuguese conquests 
 on the eastern coast of Africa, but formidable military opposi- 
 tion to their predominance, after the fall of Kilwa, Mombasa, 
 and Brava, was with good reason regarded as no longer to be 
 feared, and it was believed that a few armed caravels would 
 be sufficient to control or destroy the commerce of the whole 
 of the Mohamedan settlements south of Magadosho. 
 
 The danger to the European adventurers thus lay elsewhere. 
 They had as opponents the ruler of Calicut, the whole of the 
 Moslem population on the coast of India, and those of the 
 coasts of Persia and Arabia. To the aid of these came the 
 sultan of Egypt, who was stirred to action by religious zeal 
 and by the loss of the lucrative commerce that had once 
 passed through his dominions. He fitted out a great war 
 fleet on the shores of the Bed sea, which he placed under 
 command of a native of Kurdistan, named Hocem and entitled 
 emir, an able naval officer, and sent it to India to operate 
 against the Portuguese. On board this fleet were fifteen 
 hundred soldiers, belonging to all the nationalities of the 
 Levant. 
 
 Dom Louren90 d'Almeida, who was in command of a 
 squadron of considerable strength, was at anchor in the 
 harbour of Chaul when the emir Hocem sailed in and attacked 
 him. He defended himself successfully until a fleet from 
 Diu arrived also, when the opposing force became so dispro- 
 portionate to his own that no hope was left except that 
 of escape. Most of his ships managed to get away, but his 
 own grounded, and after a desperate combat was taken when 
 nearly every man on board was either dead or wounded. TIiq 
 
 V 
 
176 History of South Africa. 
 
 young commander — he was not twenty-one years of age — was 
 among the dead. During the action one of his legs was badly 
 hurt by a cannon ball, but he had it hastily bandaged, and 
 then took a seat by the mainmast of his ship and continued to 
 issue orders until he was struck in the breast by another ball, 
 when he fell back dead. 
 
 For a short time the Egyptian flag was supreme, but the 
 viceroy collected all his ships of war, and with a much 
 stronger force than his gallant son had commanded, he sailed 
 from Cananor against his foe. On the 2nd of February 1509 
 a great naval battle was fought off Diu, which ended in the 
 complete destruction of the Mohamedan fleet. Thereafter the 
 supremacy of the Portuguese in the Indian ocean was assured, 
 for until the appearance of other Europeans there they never 
 again had an enemy so powerful at sea to contend with, 
 though in 1538 the sultan of Turkey sent a strong fleet 
 against them. And now for nearly a century the commerce of 
 the East was as much a monopoly of the monarchs of Portugal 
 as it had previously been of the Mohamedans. 
 
 On the 5th of November 1509 Affonso d'Alboquerque succeeded 
 the viceroy Dom Francisco d'Almeida, but had the title only 
 of governor and captain general. The transfer of power was 
 delayed as long as possible, and was at last made most un- 
 willingly; perhaps it would not have been made even then, 
 for many officers of note supported the viceroy in resisting 
 D'Alboquerque's claims, but the arrival of a powerful fleet 
 under the marshal Dom Fernando Coutinho with positive 
 orders from the king left no choice in the matter. Between 
 the political opinions of these two high officials there was a 
 great difference. Dom Francisco d'Almeida favoured the main- 
 tenance of a powerful fleet to command the sea, and was 
 opposed to the establishment of many fortresses on land, as 
 too heavy a burden for the little kingdom of Portugal to 
 bear. Affonso d'Alboquerque was imbued with imperialistic 
 ideas: he desired a great territorial dominion, which he be- 
 lieved could be easily maintained, owing to the rivalries and 
 feuds among the various nationalities in the East, In 1510 
 
\ 
 
 Succeeding Voyages and Co7iquests, 177 
 
 he reduced Goa to submission and made it the capital of 
 Portuguese India, of which the coast of Africa formed part. 
 
 Dom Francisco d' Almeida sailed from Cochin on the 19th 
 of November 1509 in the ship Garga, of which Diogo d'Unhos 
 was master, with the Belem, commanded by Jorge de Mello 
 Pereira, and the Santa Cruz, commanded by Louren^o de 
 Brito, in his company. On board these vessels were also the 
 high officials who had served under him in India, whose 
 appointments, having been for three years only, were now 
 filled by others. Having touched at Cananor to take in some 
 spices, he made Mozambique next, where he was detained 
 twenty-four days, while a leak in the Belem was being 
 repaired. Continuing his passage with favourable weather, he 
 doubled the Cape of Good Hope safely, which gave him much 
 satisfaction. It was an age of superstition, and certain in- 
 dividuals in Cochin had predicted that he would never get so 
 far on his way home, which had caused him some uneasiness, 
 but his mind was now relieved and he thanked God that 
 their utterances had proved false. 
 
 As the ships were in want of water they put into Table 
 Bay, where a party of men went on shore with empty casks 
 to fill them. Some Hottentots were found on the beach, from 
 whom a few head of cattle were obtained in barter for pieces 
 of calico and iron, and the trade was conducted in such a 
 friendly manner that twelve or thirteen Portuguese subsequently 
 requested and obtained leave to accompany the natives to their 
 kraal, which was at a distance of three or four miles, probably 
 on or near the site of the present village of Mowbray. At 
 the kraal they were well treated, and some cattle were bartered, 
 but on the way back a quarrel arose, from what cause it is 
 impossible to say, as the accounts given by the early Portuguese 
 historians are conflicting in this respect, though there is little 
 doubt that it had its origin in a misunderstanding. At any 
 rate a servant of D' Almeida and one of Jorge de Mello 
 Pereira, with some others, were severely handled in the fray, 
 and on their return presented themselves before their masters 
 with their faces covered with blood. 
 
 Y 2 
 
178 History of South Africa, 
 
 At once a clamour for vengeance was raised by most of the 
 officers, though Lourenpo de Brito, Jorge de Mello Pereira, and 
 Martim Coelho were of opinion that no notice should be 
 taken of the matter, as very likely their own people were at 
 fault ; but the others maintained that it was necessary to imbue 
 the natives with respect for Europeans, and prevailed upon the 
 late viceroy to consent to an attack upon the Hottentot kraal. 
 Accordingly before dawn of the morning of the 1st of March 
 1510 about a hundred and fifty men embarked in the boats 
 and were rowed to the head of the bay, where they landed on 
 the sandy beach not far from the site of the present Fort 
 Craig. A few were armed with crossbows, but most of them 
 with only swords and lances, and they were led by D'Almeida 
 in person, though he went somewhat unwillingly. As he left 
 his ship he exclaimed : " Where are you taking sixty years ? " 
 that being his age at the time. Diogo d'Unhos, master of the 
 Garga, was left in charge of the boats, with instructions to 
 wait where he was until the return of the party. 
 
 The Portuguese reached the kraal without difficulty, and 
 seized the cattle and some children, when the Hottentots, 
 about a hundred and seventy in number, attacked them with 
 stones and assagais of fire hardened wood, against which their 
 weapons proved useless, so they were obliged to retreat in 
 disorder towards the boats. The Hottentots followed them, and 
 increased their confusion by whistling the oxen in between to 
 act as a protection and hurling assagais from behind with 
 deadly effect. Many were killed on the way to the beach, 
 and those who arrived there were dismayed to find that owing 
 to a breeze that had set in Diogo d'Unhos had returned to the 
 ships with the boats. On the sandy shore of the bay, too 
 fatigued to attempt to escape by running towards the watering 
 place where they could more easily be taken off, — as many of 
 the soldiers were doing, — Dom Francisco d' Almeida and several 
 others of high rank stood at the mercy of the incensed 
 Hottentots. The royal standard was committed to the care of 
 Jorge de Mello Pereira, who, however, was unable to save it, 
 and just after handing it to him the late viceroy, already 
 
Succeeding Voyages and Conquests. 179 
 
 wounded with sticks and stones, fell pierced in the throat with 
 an assagai. 
 
 By this time there had perished the captains Pedro Barreto de 
 Magalhaes, Lourenfo de Brito, Manuel Telles, Martim Coelho, 
 Antonio do Campo, Francisco Coutinho, Pedro Teixeira, Femao 
 Pereira, and Gaspar d' Almeida. Diogo Pires, who had been 
 Dom Lourenfo d'Almeida's tutor, was at a little distance when 
 he heard that Dom Francisco had been slain. Desiring to die 
 by his side, he made his way to the corpse, and fell as he had 
 wished. The slaughter still went on, but the boats were 
 hastening towards the shore, and presently those who survived 
 were rescued, many of them having waded out till up to their 
 necks in water. On the shore and along the path to the 
 Hottentot kraal lay sixty-five corpses, among them twelve of 
 men of high rank or position, and hardly any who escaped 
 were unwounded. 
 
 In the evening of the same day, as the Hottentots had 
 returned to their kraal, Jorge de Mello Pereira landed with 
 Diogo d'Unhos and a party of men to bury the dead. The 
 corpses had been stripped of clothing, and that of Dom 
 Francisco d' Almeida had been cut open. Those lying on the 
 shore were hastily interred, but the others were not sought, 
 as time was wanting and to move inland was considered 
 dangerous. Early on the following morning the three ships set 
 sail for Portugal. 
 
 In 1512 Christovao de Brito, when returning homeward, put 
 into the watering place of Saldanha to visit the grave of his 
 brother, who had fallen with D'Almeida. Diogo d'Unhos was 
 then master of his ship, and he pointed out the place where the 
 bodies were buried. De Brito raised a mound of earth and 
 stones over it, and placed a wooden cross at the top, the only 
 monument that it was in his power to erect in the time at 
 his disposal. It would be interesting to know the exact site, 
 but the description of the locality given by the Portuguese 
 writers is so defective that it cannot be fixed more accurately 
 than as being close to the sandy beach near the mouth of 
 Salt Eiver. 
 
1 80 History of South Africa. 
 
 By this time many of the prominent capes and some of the 
 bays on the coast had been named by Portuguese captains, but 
 these cannot all be identified now. There were then no means 
 known for determining longitudes, and the instrument commonly 
 used for measuring vertical angles required to be firmly fixed 
 on shore, so that the latitudes given by seamen who did not 
 land to take observations were usually very incorrect. On this 
 account it cannot be stated with certainty, for instance, whether 
 the river Infante was the present Kowie, Fish, or Keiskama, 
 for its inland course as laid down on the maps was purely 
 imaginary. And so with many other names. Still a consider- 
 able number can be determined with exactitude, and remain in 
 use to the present day, though generally in an English form. 
 Such are the following : St. Helena Bay, Table Mountain, Cape of 
 Good Hope, False Bay, Cape Agulhas, Natal, St. Lucia Bay, Cape 
 Correntes, and Cape St. Sebastian. Besides these, a good many 
 corrupted Portuguese words are found on most modern maps 
 of South Africa, but they do not always represent names given 
 by the Portuguese to the places indicated. 
 
 ^o^e.— There is great difficulty in correctly converting Portuguese money 
 of the sixteenth century into its English equivalent of the present day, 
 "because the real (plural reis), in which accounts were usually kept, has been 
 constantly changing in value. At the time of the discovery of the sea route 
 to India it was worth a little more than an English farthing, at the present 
 moment it is valued at lesK than one-twentieth of a penny. Thus to express 
 a certain number of reis at any given time in modern sovereigns and 
 shillings, it is necessary to know what was indicated by a real at that 
 particular time. The rate of exchange, if that could be ascertained, would 
 not suffice, because English coin in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 
 was never worth its face value abroad, on account of its being so generally 
 clipped. Another difficulty when dealing with South-Eastern Africa arises 
 from the fact that hardly any coined money was in circulation, the matical, 
 mitical, or mithkal as variously written, which was a certain quantity in 
 weight of fine rough gold, being the standard of exchange. This matical 
 differed from that of India, where it represented about seventy-three grains, 
 while at Mozambique and Sofala, according to Antonio Nunes, who prepared 
 tables of money, weights, and measures in 1554, it was taken to represent 
 four hundred and sixty-seven reis. Barros also gives five hundred maticals 
 as equal to five hundred and eighty-four cruzados of four hundred reis each. 
 
Succeeding Voyages and Conquests. i8i 
 
 The curator of the com department of the British Museum did me the 
 great favour of accurately weighing a number of Portuguese gold coins of 
 the reigns of Manuel, Joao III, and Sebastiao, and giving me their value in 
 reis at the time of issue, the purity of the metal being about the same as 
 that of the present English sovereign. The coins of Manuel and Joao III 
 were slightly worn, and showed one real to weigh * 108 of a grain Troy. One of 
 Sebastiao was in perfect condition, and weighed "118 of a grain Troy to the real. 
 Another of the same monarch, slightly worn, gave 'IISS of a grain Troy to 
 the real. The present English sovereign weighs 123*27447 grains Troy, and 
 is therefore equal in intrinsic value to nearly 1044 "7 reis at the time that 
 Castanheda, Barros, and De Goes wrote. On this basis I have converted the 
 real during the part of the sixteenth century preceding the death of King 
 Sebastiao into English money at the rate of '2297 of a penny, and have 
 valued the matical at eight shillings and eleven pence farthing. I know 
 of no better way of dealing with this question, still it may be as well for 
 the reader to consider the sums mentioned as only approximately correct. 
 Of course this matter has no bearing whatever upon the relative value of 
 gold to other commodities in the early years of the sixteenth century and the 
 present time. 
 
 The late Sir Henry Yule by a different method from that here followed 
 found the value of the real at different times to be: 
 
 At the beginning of the 16th century . '2680?. 
 
 At the beginning of the 17th century . 'IGOc?. 
 
 At the beginning of the 19th century . '060^. to "OSGc?. 
 
 In 1886 -OGOc^. 
 
 He also gives the value of the coin called Sao Thome, of one thousand 
 reis, struck by Garcia de Sa in the mint at Goa when he was governor 
 general of India in 1548-9, as £1 2s. 4c?., or one real equal to 'W6d. 
 
 See Hohson-Johson : being a Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Words 
 and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms ; Etymological^ Historical^ Geographical, 
 and Discursive. By Col. Henry Yule, B.E., C.B., LL.D., aud the late 
 Arthur Coke Burnell, Ph.D., CLE. An octavo volume of 870 + xlviii 
 pages, London, 1886. Article Pardao, page 837. 
 
 For information upon the real see also the Vocahulario Portuguez e 
 Latino, by Padre D. Kaphael Bluteau. Lisboa, 1720. Article Seal. 
 
 Another, and still greater, difficulty in giving values arises from the fact 
 that the Portuguese historians are not in all cases in agreement as to 
 amounts. Thus Castanheda and De Goes state that the tribute to be paid 
 yearly by the ruler of Kilwa was two thousand maticals of gold, while 
 Barros states that it was five hundred. In such cases there is no other 
 course to adopt than to decide by the balance of evidence, the weight due 
 to the testimony of each narrator, and the probability as to which is correct. 
 In this instance I give the preference to De Goes on account of his position 
 as Keeper of the Archives. 
 
1 82 History of South Africa. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OCCUPATION OF SOFALA AND MOZAMBIQUE. 
 
 From the date of Vasco da Gama's return from his first voyage 
 to India rumours concernmg the gold of Sofala had fascinated 
 the minds of all classes of men in Portugal. Those rumours 
 greatly exaggerated the quantity of the precious metal actually 
 obtainable, and all the difficulties of acquiring it were lost 
 sight of. It was believed that nothing needed to be done except 
 to replace the Mohamedans with Christian traders, when 
 enormous wealth would flow into the national treasury. Dif- 
 ferent efforts, as has been related, were made from time to 
 time not only to acquire accurate information, but also to get 
 possession of the gold trade; and Sancho de Toar and Da 
 Gama himself on their visits to Sofala had obtained much 
 knowledge, though before 1505 all attempts to secure the 
 commerce of that place had failed. 
 
 Dom Francisco d'Almeida was to have erected a fortress 
 there, but Pedro d'Anaya, who had been selected as its captain 
 by the king, lost the ship in which he was to have sailed by 
 her sinking in the Tagus, and was thus unable to accompany 
 the fleet. After its departure the original design was enlarged, 
 and it was determined to make ready a squadron of six ships 
 with which he should proceed to Sofala. When the fortress 
 was completed three of these were to be sent on to India, 
 and the other three, under Francisco d'Anaya as commodore, 
 were to be kept to guard the African coast. On board these 
 ships everything was laden that could be needed for the 
 equipment of the fortress, as well as a stock of merchandise 
 for the purpose of barter, and on the 18th of May 1505 they 
 
Occupation of Sofala and Mozambique. i{^3 
 
 sailed from the Tagus. Pedro d'Anaya was in command of the 
 Banto Espirito, the largest in the squadron. The other captains 
 were his son Francisco d'Anaya, Pedro Barreto de Magalhaes, 
 Joao Leite, Joao de Queiroz, and Manuel Fernandes, the last 
 of whom was appointed factor at Sofala. 
 
 On the passage, when off Sierra Leone, Joao Leite, while en- 
 deavouring to harpoon a fish, fell overboard and was drowned. 
 The crew then elected Jorge Mendes to be their captain. In 
 heavy weather some of the ships got separated from the 
 commodore, who ran so far south to make sure of passing 
 the Cape of Good Hope with a westerly wind that the men 
 could not work the sails on account of the cold, but he was 
 soon in warm latitudes again, and early in September arrived 
 off the bar of Sofala with the ships commanded by his son 
 and Manuel Fernandes. There he anchored, and awaited the 
 appearance of the remainder of his squadron before entering 
 the river. 
 
 The next to arrive were the Santo Antonio, under command 
 of Jorge Mendes, and the Sao Paulo, of which Joao de Queiroz 
 was captain when she left Portugal. They brought word that 
 De Queiroz, after parting from the others in a storm, put 
 into a curve on the South African coast then named Bahia 
 das Vacas, now Flesh Bay,* and being in want of meat, pro- 
 ceeded two or three miles inland with twenty of his people in 
 search of cattle. Antonio do Campo, when returning from 
 India, had touched at the same place, and though treated in a 
 friendly manner by the natives, had seized several of them and 
 
 * Joao de Barros states that this took place at the present Delagoa Bay, which 
 he terms Rio da Lagoa, and fixes its position as about two hundred and fifty- 
 miles south of Cape Correntes. Damiao de Goes and Fernao Lopes de Castanheda 
 state that it took place at the Bahia das Vacas. Manuel de Mesquita Perestrello, 
 in the report of his survey of the South African coast, also gives this as the 
 scene of the occurrence. It is possible that Barros may have fallen into an error 
 through there being then a bay named A lagoa on the southern seaboard, as may 
 be seen in the Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis of Duarte Pacheco, written before the 
 death of King Manuel, in which its position is given as fifteen leagues east 
 of the watering-place of Sao Bras, that is the locality of the present Plettenberg's 
 Bay. The description of the Bahia Alagoa of Pacheco also answers to Pletten- 
 berg's Bay. 
 
184 History of South Africa. 
 
 carried them away, so that De Queiroz found them hostile. 
 They attacked him, and in a skirmish he and fifteen of his 
 party, including the sailing master and the pilot of his ship, 
 were killed. Only the secretary, Antao de Ga, who was badly 
 wounded, and four others escaped. There was no one left who 
 could navigate the ship, but fortunately she fell in with the 
 ^anto Antonio, and Jorge Mendes sent on board his sailing 
 master and as captain a gentleman named Joao Vaz d'Almada, 
 who conducted her to Sofala. 
 
 The last to arrive was the ship commanded by Pedro Barreto 
 de Magalhaes. She anchored near Cape Saint Sebastian, and 
 as her pilot was unacquainted with the shoal of Sofala and 
 would not venture upon it, Antonio de Magalhaes, brother of 
 the captain, was sent in a boat to seek assistance from any 
 vessel that might have reached her destination. On the way 
 he put into a river, where he found five half famished Portu- 
 guese, who had a doleful story to tell. 
 
 They had belonged to the ship of Lopo Sanches, which 
 had sailed from the Tagus with Dom Francisco d' Almeida. 
 South of Cape Correntes stormy weather was encountered, and 
 the ship became so leaky that she could not be kept afloat, so 
 she was run ashore to save the lives of her people. An abun- 
 dance of provisions was saved, and also ample material to build 
 a caravel, but discord arose and the authority of Lopo Sanches 
 was completely disregarded. After a time sixty men set out 
 to travel overland to Sofala, where they hoped to find a 
 Portuguese fort in course of erection, and the others remained 
 at the wreck constructing a caravel. Of these last nothing was 
 ever heard again. Those marching overland suffered so terribly 
 from hunger that they became scattered, and most of them 
 perished. The five found by Antonio de Magalhaes had been 
 living for twenty days upon raw crabs alone. They were taken 
 into the boat, and conveyed to the flag ship anchored outside 
 the bar of Sofala. 
 
 Pedro d'Anaya at once sent the vessel under Joao Vaz 
 d'Almada with the pilot of the Sao Joao, Francisco d'Anaya's 
 ship, to the assistance of Pedro Barreto de Magalhaes, with 
 
Occupation of Sofala and Mozambique, 185 
 
 whose arrival some days later the squadron was complete. He 
 then made arrangements for entering the river. The two largest 
 ships were left outside, and with the four smallest he crossed 
 the bar and cast anchor in front of the lower Mohamedan 
 village. The real condition of things there at the time seems 
 to have been unknown to him. In point of fact, the true 
 owner of the land was a Bantu chief, and the Mohamedans 
 were living at the port on sufferance and payment of tribute 
 in the form of yearly presents, but he regarded Isuf as the 
 sovereign proprietor whose consent alone was necessary to enable 
 him to build a fort without the use of arms. 
 
 As soon as he had dropped anchor some of the principal 
 inhabitants went on board, and desired to know the object of his 
 visit, to which he replied that he wished to have a conference 
 with the sheik. To this they at first raised many objections, 
 such as the distance to his residence, the great age and infirmity 
 of the sheik, and the impossibility of the ships going farther 
 up the narrow river ; but at last they consented, and went in 
 advance to prepare for the captain's reception. D'Anaya 
 followed them with a large number of armed attendants, in 
 boats decorated with flags and with trumpeters sounding their 
 instruments. 
 
 Having arrived at the upper village, he landed and proceeded 
 to the sheik's residence, where he was courteously received. In 
 the large hall were gathered the leading men of the place, 
 clothed from the waist downward with calico wrappers, with 
 silken turbans on their heads, and scimitars with ornamented 
 ivory handles at their sides. In a recess hung with cloth of 
 silk at the upper end of the hall, Isuf, a man of large stature, 
 but infirm, blind, and about seventy years of age, reclined on 
 a cushioned coueh, or as it would be termed in South Africa 
 a katel, made by stretching thongs of hide across a frame of 
 wood. He was more richly dressed than the others, and frail 
 as he was, had still a stately and commanding appearance. 
 D'Anaya, leaving his soldiers in the courtyard, which was en- 
 closed with a thick thorny hedge, with the officers entered the 
 hall. The men there, who were seated on low three-legged 
 
1 86 History of South Africa. 
 
 stools, rose and bowed to salute him, and he passed through to 
 the couch of the sheik. 
 
 The people of Sofala had heard of the occurrences at Kilwa 
 and Mombasa, and were divided in opinion as to how they 
 should act. Mengo Musaf, a son-in-law of Isuf, was at the 
 head of a party that wanted to resist the Christians by force, 
 but another party was filled with fear, and the old sheik 
 thought it wiser to rely upon the effects of the climate rather 
 than upon arms. He therefore greeted D'Anaya apparently in 
 a most friendly manner, and when the captain spoke to him 
 of the advantages to be gained by the establishment of a 
 Portuguese fort and trading station, and by his coming under 
 the protection of the king of Portugal, taking care to draw 
 his attention to the fact that his villages had often been 
 pillaged by Bantu clans in the neighbourhood, he professed to 
 agree with what was said, and gave his consent to the erection 
 of the proposed buildings. He stated that he was a friend of 
 Europeans, and as a proof twenty Portuguese whom he had 
 rescued from starvation were brought forward by his order and 
 restored to the society of their countrymen. They were the 
 only remaining survivors of the sixty who had left the wrecked 
 ship of Lopo Sanches, and who had gone through almost in- 
 credible suffering in their overland journey. 
 
 There were feuds between nearly all the Mohamedan settle- 
 ments on the coast, and not only that, but in each of them 
 there were jealousies among the principal inhabitants, which 
 made them an easy prey to the Portuguese. It was so at 
 Sofala. At this place there was living a man named Acote, 
 an Abyssinian by birth, who had been made a captive when 
 he was only ten years of age, and who had embraced the 
 Mohamedan faith from necessity rather than choice. He had 
 come to occupy a position of influence, and was at the head 
 of a party at variance with Mengo " Musaf, Isuf s son-in-law. 
 As the one advocated armed resistance to the Portuguese, the 
 other acted as their friend, and now Acote offered his services 
 to the Christians. Through him D'Anaya engaged a number 
 of Bantu who were at Sofala, and on the 21st of September 
 
Occupation of Sofala and Mozambique. 187 
 
 1505 set about building a fort on a sand-flat on the northern 
 bank of the river near its mouth. It was in the form of a 
 square, large enough to contain barracks for the garrison, store- 
 houses, a warehouse for goods, and quarters for the officers. 
 No stone was procurable near at hand, so a moat, a hundred 
 and twenty paces long on each side, was dug, and the earth 
 taken out was formed into a wall, which was supported by 
 stakes and beams of mangrove wood. The structure was thus 
 of the roughest description, but it was regarded as sufficiently 
 strong for defence until time and favourable circumstances 
 would permit of something better taking its place. 
 
 After three months' labour the fort and the buildings within 
 it were completed. The heaviest work, such as carrying wood 
 from the mangrove swamps, was performed by the blacks, 
 though on one occasion they were induced by Mengo Musaf 
 to desert for several days. Acote continued to assist, and the 
 Portuguese, who were spared as much as possible from severe 
 toil, were not as yet stricken with much sickness. In the 
 mean time the vessel commanded by Gonpalo Vaz de Goes, 
 which Dom Francisco d' Almeida had sent from Mombasa with 
 a cargo of calico, part of the spoil of that town, arrived in the 
 river. Her lading together with the stores and merchandise 
 brought from Portugal was then taken on shore, and the three 
 largest ships were made ready to proceed to India. Goufalo 
 Alvares, previously chief pilot, was appointed captain of the 
 8anto Espirito, and sailed with Joao Vaz d'Almada and Pedro 
 Barreto de Magalhaes, the latter acting as commodore. They 
 were to report themselves to the viceroy, under whose direc- 
 tions they were to take in cargoes of pepper and return to 
 Lisbon. On crossing the bar of Sofala the commodore's boat 
 was lost with most of the men in her and the chest of money 
 intended for the purchase of the pepper, and in leaving Kilwa, 
 where he put in, he had the further misfortune of losing his 
 ship. 
 
 A few days after the departure of this squadron Francisco 
 d'Anaya was sent with the Sao Joao and the Sao Paulo to 
 cruize along the coast, and with him the vessel under 
 
1 88 History of South Africa, 
 
 Gonpalo Vaz de Goes and the remaining one that had come 
 from Portugal went to Mozambique. On his passage north- 
 ward he captured a ship from India laden with calico, and 
 having sixty Mohamedans on board. This ship was subse- 
 quently wrecked, when he caused all the prisoners to be put 
 to death, through fear of their rising against him. A zambuco 
 laden with ivory also fell into his hands, and her crew shared 
 the fate of the others. But his ruthless barbarity was soon 
 checked. Both the Sao Joao and the Sao Paulo were lost, one 
 at Mozambique and the other a little farther north, and the 
 commodore, on arriving at Kilwa in the captured zambuco, 
 was put under arrest by Pedro Ferreira Fogafa on a charge 
 of carelessness in the king's service. He was permitted, how- 
 ever, soon afterwards to proceed to India to be tried there. 
 
 At Sofala fever, which had not been very prevalent at 
 first, now began to spread to an alarming extent, and at the 
 close of the year the greater number of the men composing 
 the garrison were laid up with it. A more wretched condition 
 than that in which they were, on the border of a mangrove 
 swamp, in a hot and pestilential atmosphere, drinking the 
 impure water of wells, and cut off from all companionship, 
 can hardly be imagined. Their mental and bodily suffering 
 must have been so great that death, which was stalking 
 among them, would be regarded as a relief. Trade was 
 carried on, for the factor Manuel Fernandes seemed to be 
 fever proof, but the quantity of gold obtained in barter was 
 small compared with their earlier expectations or those of the 
 king. They had not even the satisfaction therefore of knowing 
 that their suffering was productive of pecuniary profit to the 
 treasury of their country. 
 
 While they were in this state, early in January 1506 Acote 
 informed Pedro d'Anaya that the faction of Mengo Musaf 
 with Isuf s concurrence had come to a determination to wait 
 no longer for fever to do its work, but to drive away the 
 Christians at once ; and as they were afraid to make war 
 themselves, they had persuaded a Bantu clan to assist them in 
 attacking the fort. That they had good cause to oppose the 
 
Occupation of Sofala and Mozambique. 189 
 
 Portuguese, who were striving to wrest the commerce of the 
 country from them, is evident. But perhaps there was another 
 and stronger reason for their openly assuming a hostile 
 attitude. In the Legends of India Gaspar Correa states that 
 the treatment of the people of the country by the Christians 
 was the cause of it, and on such a question his evidence is 
 certainly of great weight. He says they were treated worse 
 than slaves, and though the captain Pedro d'Anaya punished 
 some of the offenders when complaints were made to him, the 
 disorderly conduct of the soldiers went on increasing until at 
 length it caused hostilities. By none of the historians, it is 
 true, is there any reference made to immoral or overbearing 
 behaviour by the white men, but they were not given to finding 
 fault in such matters when only Mohamedans or heathens 
 were affected. 
 
 There was a Bantu clan in the neighbourhood of Sofala, 
 under a chief named Mokonde, who was induced by the 
 prospect of plunder to ally himself with the Mohamedans. 
 The two parties joined, and advanced against the fort, armed 
 with scimitars, assagais, and bows and arrows. There were at 
 the time only thirty-five Portuguese capable of bearing arms 
 inside, and even most of these were weak with fever; but 
 Acote had come to their assistance with about a hundred men, 
 and they were enclosed within walls on which artillery was 
 mounted. The assailants filled the moat with wood, and then 
 endeavoured to scale the wall, at the same time pouring in a 
 shower of arrows and assagais. Some of these weapons were 
 burning, the object being to set fire to the roofs of the 
 buildings, but Pedro d'Anaya had provided against this by 
 removing the thatch from the houses that were most exposed 
 and laying in a good supply of water. Very little harm was 
 done therefore beyond wounding a few of Acote's people. On 
 the other side the defenders with their artillery and crossbows 
 caused such execution that the enemy, finding their efforts 
 useless to break down or get over the wall, after a time 
 began to withdraw discomfited. Pedro d'Anaya with fifteen of 
 the healthiest Portuguese and some of Acote's followers then 
 
190 History of South Africa. 
 
 sallied out and attacked them with swords and lances, putting 
 them completely to flight. 
 
 During three days, however, they frequently renewed the 
 attack, though always with the same result. Their camping 
 ground was a palm grove at no great distance, within easy 
 range of the artillery, where some damage was caused to them 
 not only by the balls but by splinters of wood from shattered 
 trees. D'Anaya had two powerful dogs, which were of such 
 use in keeping watch by day and night and attacking the 
 enemy in sallies that he attributed his preservation largely to 
 them. In the end the Bantu, upon whom the principal part 
 of the fighting fell, were suddenly seized with a conviction 
 that the Mohamedans had brought them there purposely to 
 ensure their destruction, and under this impression they fled 
 homeward, plundering Isuf s village on their way. 
 
 That evening Pedro d'Anaya mustered as many men as he 
 could, and in a large boat that he had went up the river. 
 His spies had informed him that Isufs residence was poorly 
 guarded, as no attack was expected from the fo]*t on account 
 of the sickness there. He proceeded straight to it, and met 
 little resistance as he forced his way in; but the old sheik, 
 though blind, seized an assagai from a bundle that he always 
 kept beside him, and hurled it in the direction of the 
 advancing footsteps. The captain was slightly wounded by it 
 in the neck, but in another instant Isufs head was rolHng on 
 the ground, severed from his body by the sword of Manuel 
 Fernandes. With it as a trophy the Portuguese returned to 
 the fort, where it was set up on the point of a lance upon 
 the wall to strike awe into those who had been his subjects. 
 
 On the morning following this daring raid the slain sheik's 
 sons raised as large a force as they could and attacked the 
 fort again. But their efforts were fruitless, as they could not 
 get over the wall, and the defenders kept up a deadly fire 
 upon them, by which many were killed and wounded. Even 
 the sick assisted with their crossbows, danger acting upon 
 them more powerfully than medicine. Having failed in this 
 attempt, the Mohamedans began to quarrel among themselves 
 
Occupation of Sofala and Mozambique. igi 
 
 as to who should be their ruler, and they actually applied to 
 the Portuguese to settle the question. Both Damiao de Goes 
 and Fernao Lopes de Castanheda state that Pedro d*Anaya 
 made Acote sheik, in return for the services performed by 
 him, and the friar Joao dos Santos confirms this account and 
 relates that in 1586 he found people still living at Sofala 
 who remembered the building of the fort and the events that 
 followed it. But Joao de Barros says that through Acote' s 
 influence a son of Isuf named Soleiman was made sheik, and 
 that he lived at peace with the Portuguese and in obedience 
 to them until 1507, when he was deposed by Vasco Gomes 
 d'Abreu, captain of Sofala, who selected one of his brothers 
 to succeed him. This brother and some of the principal 
 Mohamedans of the place, it is added, were subsequently 
 banished, as their presence was considered prejudicial to 
 Portuguese interests, and they all died in exile. 
 
 Such conflicting statements make it difficult to arrive at the 
 truth, and there are no original documents relating to the 
 transaction to refer to. Very likely, however, Acote was made 
 sheik of the Emozaidi, as he is stated to have been of that 
 sect, and Soleiman sheik of the other Mohamedans; and as 
 the nominal authority of the sons of Isuf was lost so soon 
 afterwards, their names were speedily forgotten. However this 
 may be, Portuguese supremacy was so firmly established that 
 the Mohamedans never again ventured to dispute it. 
 
 A few days after these occurrences Pedro d'Anaya was 
 stricken with fever, of which he died. It was a custom at a 
 later date for every officer in command of a remote and 
 secluded station to carry with him a sealed letter from the 
 king, in which temporary successors were named in rotation, 
 so that in case of his death or disability some one would be 
 legally in charge until a new appointment could be made. 
 There being no one at Sofala with such authority, the factor 
 Manuel Fernandes, who was the highest in rank of the 
 officials at the fort, assumed the vacant position. He was a 
 man of great energy, and with only the few sick and en- 
 feebled soldiers under his comm.and he managed to build a 
 
 Q 
 
192 History of South Africa, 
 
 strong stone tower at one of the corners of the fort. Carved 
 and dressed blocks for doors and windows had been brought 
 from Portugal, so only the plain work had to be done, but 
 the execution of this was regarded as so meritorious under the 
 circumstances that the king granted him as a reward a coat of 
 arms with a tower emblazoned on it surmounted by a sheik's 
 head, in remembrance of his having killed Isuf. 
 
 A few months after Pedro d'Anaya left Lisbon a ship and a 
 caravel were fitted out to take supplies to Sofala and also to 
 search along the South African coast for the crew of Pedro de 
 Mendonfa's wrecked vessel and for one in which Francisco 
 d'Alboquerque had sailed from India and that had not since 
 been heard of. Cyde Barbudo was in command of the ship, 
 with authority as commodore, and Pedro Quaresma was in 
 command of the caravel. The principal pilot had acted in the 
 same capacity under Lopo d'Abreu, and had seen Pedro de 
 Mendonpa's ship in the position where she was supposed to 
 have been lost, consequently he knew what part of the coast 
 should be examined. 
 
 These vessels left the Tagus on the 19th of November 1505, 
 and ran down to thirty-seven degrees and a half south 
 latitude, when they turned to the north-east expecting to make 
 the land beyond the Cape of Good Hope, but so far out were 
 they in their calculations that they reached the western coast 
 more than eight hundred miles north of Table Bay. Even at 
 the beginning of the sixteenth century there were few such 
 instances of error in navigation. Steering again to the south, 
 on the 18th of April 1506 they cast anchor at the watering 
 place of Saldanha, where they remained eight days. Cyde 
 Barbudo now removed to the caravel, taking his pilot with 
 him, in order to examine the coast, and Pedro Quaresma 
 assumed command of the ship. After sailing from Table Bay 
 they counted the pillars, as the expression then was, that is 
 they kept so close to the land during daylight that they could 
 see everything along it, and on the 2nd of May they reached 
 the watering place of Sao Bras, which they recognised by the 
 hermitage built there by Joao da Nova. 
 
Occupation of Sofala and Mozambique. 193 
 
 As they had passed the coast some distance to the westward 
 by night, Cyde Barbudo now tried to run back along it in 
 the caravel, but was unable to do so owing to a strong head 
 wind. He therefore again dropped anchor in Mossel Bay, and 
 sent a convict and a ship's boy to search along the shore. 
 After travelling three days along the beach they returned, and 
 stated that they had found a man's skeleton and part of a 
 mast, beyond which no information was ever obtained con- 
 cerning the lost ship of Pedro de Mendonya. Her crew must 
 have perished, like many others in later years, in a land 
 inhabited only by barbarians. It was never known either 
 what was the fate of Francisco d'Alboquerque and those with 
 him, whether they went down at sea, or were wrecked on 
 some desolate coast and died there. 
 
 On the 16th of May the two vessels left the watering place 
 of Sao Bras, and keeping close to the shore whenever possible, 
 on the 10th of June Cyde Barbudo arrived at Sofala and 
 Pedro Quaresma on the following day. They found the 
 fortress in the last stage of distress. The captain Pedro 
 d'Anaya, as has been already related, had died of fever, as had 
 also the magistrate and seventy-six of the soldiers, and the 
 provisions were nearly exhausted. Cyde Barbudo reinforced 
 the garrison and replenished the stores, and then sailed for 
 India, leaving Pedro Quaresma in the caravel to assist Manuel 
 Fernandes. This vessel was afterwards employed for a time in 
 plying between Sofala, Mozambique, and Kilwa, taking pro- 
 visions and goods from one place to another as they were 
 needed. 
 
 On his passage to India Cyde Barbudo touched at Kilwa, 
 where he found matters in a state of confusion. King Manuel 
 had issued instructions prohibiting barter by private persons 
 with Kaffirs for gold, in order to secure the whole trade for 
 the royal treasury, and Pedro Ferreira Fogapa had fitted out a 
 couple of small vessels to assist in suppressing the traffic that 
 had thus become illegal. Among other prizes made by them 
 was one on board of which was a son of the sheik of a small 
 settlement near Kilwa, and as he was a relation of the former 
 
 Q 2 
 
t94 History of South Africa. 
 
 emir Abraham, the Portuguese captain kept him and his family 
 prisoners. Mohamed Ankoni, who wished to gain the goodwill 
 of his neighbours, hereupon ransomed the young sheik at his 
 own expense, made him presents of rich clothing, and sent 
 him and his family to their home. The young man's father 
 was profuse in expressions of gratitude, and invited Mohamed 
 to visit him, suggesting marriages between their children. The 
 king of Kilwa accepted the invitation, and was murdered while 
 he was lying asleep in the zambuco in which he went. The 
 treacherous sheik, by whose order the deed was committed, 
 excused himself by saying that the duty of avenging the emir 
 Abraham, whose blood relative he was, was more binding upon 
 him than gratitude for a favour conferred by such a man as 
 Mohamed Ankoni. 
 
 At once there was a dispute as to the succession. A few of 
 the inhabitants of Kilwa and most of the Portuguese officers 
 were in favour of Hadji Hocem, son of Mohamed Ankoni; but 
 Pedro Ferreira Fogapa and the great majority of the Mohamedan 
 people desired that Micante, the legitimate heir of the ancient 
 rulers, should be appointed. The dispute aroused strong feeling 
 on both sides. The cessation of commerce caused by King 
 Manuel's order and the capture of their vessels under any pre- 
 tence by the Portuguese threatened ruin to the mercantile 
 class, so that from one cause or the other large numbers of 
 people were leaving the town with the intention of settling 
 somewhere else, and it appeared as if Kilwa would soon be 
 uninhabited. This was the condition of things when Cyde 
 Barbudo put into the harbour, and which he reported to the 
 viceroy as soon as he arrived in India. 
 
 Dom Francisco d' Almeida immediately appointed a new staff 
 of officials for Sofala. He selected Nuno Yaz Pereira, a man 
 of generally recognised ability, to be captain, and gave him in 
 addition large powers as commissioner to settle afiPairs at 
 Kilwa. Ruy de Brito Patalim accompanied him as chief 
 alcaide of the fortress, and Antonio Eaposo and Sancho Sanches 
 as notaries. A number of gentlemen without office, who were 
 attached by friendship to the new captain, also went with him. 
 
Occupation of Sofala and Mozambiqtie. 195 
 
 Among these were Luis Mendes de Vasconcellos, Antonio de 
 Sousa, and Fernao Magalhaes who afterwards entered the ser- 
 vice of Castile and discovered the strait which still bears his 
 name. Francisco d'Anaya at the same time returned to Sofala 
 to look after the property left by his father. In order that 
 Pereira might appear in a manner befitting his dignity, the 
 viceroy sent two ships under his flag, the one in which he 
 sailed himself and another commanded by his nephew. 
 
 At the end of November 1506 he reached Melinde, where 
 the Portuguese were always well received. The dependent 
 position of the ruler of that town is shown, however, by his 
 receiving as a favour on this occasion permission to send under 
 forty pounds weight of Indian beads to Sofala to be exchanged 
 for gold. At Melinde Nuno Vaz Pereira learned all particulars 
 of the condition of things at Kilwa. He saw at once that 
 King Manuel's order regarding trade was causing the depopula- 
 tion of the two places on the coast — Sofala and Kilwa — where 
 it could be enforced, owing to the presence of Portuguese 
 garrisons ; and that elsewhere it was having little effect beyond 
 exasperating the Mohamedans. In their light zambucos the 
 people of all the other settlements could run close along the 
 shore, and enter the rivers, particularly the Zambesi, where 
 they could carry on commerce without fear of capture. It 
 appeared to him that if the ocean was so guarded that supplies 
 of goods could not be obtained by sea from India, the traffic 
 would be diverted into a route mainly overland: it could not 
 be destroyed by any force which Portugal could furnish. On 
 the other hand, by permitting private trade the people of 
 Kilwa would remain there, and the king's treasury would be 
 benefited, for they would purchase goods wholesale at the 
 Portuguese factory and pay for them in gold, ivory, and other 
 produce of the country. Nuno Vaz Pereira therefore took upon 
 himself the responsibility of suspending the king's order as far 
 as Kilwa was concerned, and announced that its people might 
 carry on trade again in exactly the same manner as in the 
 time of the emir Abraham until further instructions should be 
 received from Lisbon, 
 
196 History of Sotitk Africa. 
 
 This course of action had the desired effect. In the middle 
 of December the commissioner arrived at Kilwa, and with him 
 were more than twenty zambucos filled with emigrants returning 
 to their homes. He caused Micante and Hadji Hocem to 
 appear before him and state their cases, and with them he 
 summoned all the principal men of the town to express their 
 opinions and wishes. The general voice was in favour of 
 Micante, but to make it plain that the Portuguese had the 
 right of appointing any one they chose, as Hadji Hocem pro- 
 duced the patent granted by Dom Francisco d' Almeida to his 
 father, decision was given in his favour, and he was proclaimed 
 hing of Kilwa. The inhabitants, who were elated with the 
 privilege of being able to carry on trade again, submitted 
 without open remonstrance, though they were by no means 
 satisfied. 
 
 Nuno Vaz Pereira, after thus arranging matters at Kilwa, 
 appointed his friend Luis Mendes de Vasconcellos to a vacant 
 office in the fortress, and then sailed for Sofala, where he took 
 over the captaincy from Manuel Fernandes. This officer, feeling 
 aggrieved that after his display of so much zeal and energy he 
 had not received the fixed appointment to the first position in 
 the place, declined to resume the duty of factor, and proceeded 
 to India when the ships that brought Pereira returned. 
 
 In the mean time intelligence of the death^f Pedro d'Anaya 
 had reached Lisbon, and the king, not knowing that the viceroy 
 had sent a successor, appointed Vasco Gomes d'Abreu captain 
 of Sofala. Ever since the first voyage of Vasco da Gam a the 
 island of Mozambique had been used as a place of refreshment 
 by the Indian fleets both in going and returning, but as yet 
 no establishment of any kind had been formed there. Sofala 
 was not adapted for a port of call, being dangerous to approach 
 with large vessels, and not having sufficient depth of water on 
 the bar to enable them to enter the inner harbour. It was 
 considered advisable therefore to form such an establishment at 
 Mozambique that the fleets should always be able to obtain 
 whatever they needed, that if they were obliged to wait on 
 the coast for a change of monsoon they might have a good and 
 
Occupation of Sofala a?id Mozambtqtie. 197 
 
 easily accessible port to lay at anchor in, aocl that a properly 
 furnished hospital might be ready for the reception of scurvy 
 stricken soldiers and sailors arriving from Europe. For these 
 purposes Vasco Gomes d'Abreu was instracted by the king to 
 erect the necessary buildings, and a competent staff was pro- 
 vided to perform the duties. It was not intended that Mozam- 
 bique should be a separate government, but a dependency of 
 Sofala, one captain having command of both places. He was 
 to reside at the island, whenever possible, during the months 
 in which the Indian fleets usually arrived there, and during 
 the remainder of the year at Sofala, leaving a subordinate 
 officer at each place to carry out his orders during his absence. 
 Duarte de Mello was appointed factor of the new establish- 
 ment, and Euy Varella notary. 
 
 Vasco Gomes d'Abreu sailed from the Tagus on the 20th of 
 April 1507 as commodore of seven ships. The one in which 
 he sailed and four others, commanded respectively by Lopo 
 Cabreira, Pedro Louren9o, Euy Gonpalves de Valadares, and 
 Joao Chanoca, were to remain as a fleet of war to guard the 
 African coast south of Melinde and suppress the ocean traffic 
 of the Mohamedans, and the other two, under Martim Coelho 
 and Diogo de Mello, were to join the naval force commanded 
 by Affonso d'Alboquerque on the coast of Arabia. At Cape 
 Verde Joao Chanoca's ship ran on shore at night and was lost, 
 but the people on board got safely to land, and after being 
 plundered by the negroes, were rescued by the commodore. 
 
 The new captain amved at Sofala on the 8th of September 
 1507, and the government was immediately transferred to him 
 by Nuno Vaz Pereira, who embarked in the ship under Ptuy 
 Gonpalves de Valadares, that was to be sent on to Mozam- 
 bique. On the 19th she and the vessels under Martim Coelho 
 and Diogo de Mello sailed, and soon afterwards fell in with a 
 ship under command of Jorge de Mello Pereira that had left 
 Portugal for India before them. The greater number of her 
 crew were helpless with scurvy, so they kept her in company 
 and gave her as much assistance as they could. On the 24th 
 of October they all reached Mozambique, where they found 
 
198 History of South Africa, 
 
 they could go no farther until the change of the monsoon, and 
 there they were joined in a few days by three other ships on 
 the way to India, commanded by Fernao Soares, Filippe de 
 Castro, and Henrique Nunes de Liao. Duarte de Mello and 
 the other officers appointed by the king to the Mozambique 
 establishment had been sent on with Euy Gonpalves de Vala- 
 dares to prepare stone for the buildings to be erected, and 
 Vasco Gomes d'Abreu sent with them the plans that had been 
 prepared in Portugal and letters to the commanders of any 
 ships that might be there, requesting them to assist in the 
 work, as it was for the service of the king, and he would be 
 unable for some time to leave Sofala to direct it in person. 
 
 One and all, the captains of the various ships at anchor in 
 the harbour entered with enthusiasm into the matter. The 
 stone was soon quarried, lime was prepared, and then, as 
 Vasco Gomes d'Abreu did not make his appearance, they set 
 about building. They had plans of all that was to be done, 
 and the parts of the structures that required skilled workman- 
 ship or foreign materials had been brought from Portugal, so 
 that rapid progress could be made. They first erected a large 
 and comfortable hospital with its necessary appurtenances, 
 which would have been of the greatest advantage if the climate 
 of the island had not been so unhealthy that serious illness 
 was almost invariably followed by speedy death. Men afflicted 
 with scurvy, however, arriving there during the least insalubri- 
 ous months, might hope to escape the deadly fever and dysen- 
 tery, and to recover from that complaint. And scurvy, it must 
 be remembered, was in those days of long voyages and no 
 other diet than salted provisions the disease most dreaded by 
 Europeans frequenting the eastern seas. 
 
 A church, dedicated to Saint Gabriel, was the building next 
 taken in hand. It is said by the early historians to have been 
 large and well finished and ornamented, but it is probable that 
 most of the ornamentation was done at a later date, and that 
 little more than the walls and roof was completed at this time. 
 A large space around it was enclosed for a cemetery, and here 
 the graves were soon more numerous than in any other church- 
 
Occupation of Sofala and Mozambique. 199 
 
 yard of the Portuguese out of Europe, so great was the 
 mortality among the sick landed from the outward bound 
 Indian fleets, notwithstanding the care and attention bestowed 
 upon them in the hospital. 
 
 Lastly a fort, with magazines and quarters for the officials 
 and the garrison, was commenced. The fort was on the site 
 of the present residence of the governor, and was notliing more 
 than a square two-storied building, though it answered the 
 purpose for which it was intended for more than half a century. 
 The warehouses were large, as the king had resolved to make 
 Mozambique a depot from which goods should be distributed 
 to all parts of the African coast, and to which the gold, ivory, 
 ambergris, wax, gum, and other products of the continent 
 should be sent to be forwarded to India or Europe. Here also 
 were to be stored everything needed for the repair of damaged 
 ships and supplies of provisions for such as should be in want 
 of them. These buildings were commenced in 1507 by the 
 men of the ships detained in the harbour by the unfavourable 
 monsoon, and were completed after their departure by those 
 stationed on the island, with such assistance as could be 
 obtained from fleets that called. 
 
 Thus the island of Mozambique, which to-day is the principal 
 seat of government of the Portuguese on the eastern coast of 
 Africa, was taken in possession without any opposition on the 
 part of its Mohamedan occupants. Vasco Gomes d'Abreu, to 
 whom the task of forming the establishment there was en- 
 trusted, never saw the work that had been done. After 
 strengthening the garrison of Sofala and landing supplies of 
 provisions, he erected a new hall and improved the buildings in 
 the fort, and while this was being done a caravel of forty tons 
 burden was put together, the timber for which had been 
 brought from Portugal ready prepared. Then having generally 
 arranged matters at that place, he left the chief alcaide Euy 
 de Brito Patalim in command during his absence, and set sail 
 with the three ships of his squadron and the caravel. Whether 
 he intended to proceed to Mozambique or to cruise along the 
 coast was not known, and some persons even suspected that he 
 
200 History of So7ith Africa, 
 
 designed to explore the island of Madagascar, where it was 
 rumoured that valuable spices were to be found. Some time 
 after he set out the fringe of one of those terrible cyclones 
 that occasionally cause widespread destruction in the islands of 
 the Indian sea passed over Sofala, and it was supposed that he 
 perished in it. Nothing but a broken mainmast, which drifted 
 on shore at Kilwa, was ever seen of any of the three ships or 
 the caravel again. 
 
 Euy de Brito Patalim remained in command until September 
 1509, when Antonio de Saldanha, whom the king appointed 
 captain of Sofala and Mozambique when the death of Vasco 
 Gomes d'Abreu was no longer doubtful, arrived at the gold 
 port and took over the government. At the same time Duarte 
 Teixeira assumed duty there as factor. It had been ascertained 
 by experience that goods of European manufacture were not in 
 demand by the Bantu, so that henceforward only Indian wares 
 — chiefly calico and beads — were sent to Sofala to be bartered 
 for gold and ivory. The calico was of a coarse but strong 
 kind, and was sold in pieces usually termed squares, though 
 they were about four yards in length and one in width, to be 
 used as loin cloths. The beads were of various sorts, as the 
 fashion in colour and size was constantly changing. These 
 articles and some others in smaller quantities were brought 
 from India to Mozambique in Portuguese ships, and were there 
 stored in the king's warehouses until requisitions were sent from 
 Sofala, Kilwa, and other trading stations, to which they were 
 forwarded in the caravels employed on the coast. 
 
 Kilwa did not long remain a garrison town. Hadji Hocem, 
 who had been made its hing by Nuno Vaz Pereira, turned 
 his whole thought to avenging the death of his father, and by 
 means of large gifts obtained the assistance of a powerful 
 Bantu tribe under a chief with the high-sounding name of 
 Muuhamonge, that is Lord of all. This chief with a strong 
 army marched by land, while Hadji Hocem with as many 
 Mohamedans as he could muster by devotion, pay, or force 
 proceeded by sea, and together they attacked the settlement of 
 the treacherous sheik and completely destroyed it. Munhamonge 
 
Occupation of Sofala and Mozamdiqne. 201 
 
 and his followers were rewarded with most of the captives and 
 the spoil, and Hadji Hocem was satisfied with revenge, though 
 the sheik himself escaped. 
 
 Everywhere on the coast the Mohamedans were indignant 
 that a man who had gained the distinction of being a hadji by 
 making a pilgrimage to Mecca should have called in the aid 
 of Kaffirs against people of his own faith, and should have left 
 disciples of the koran as slaves in the hands of infidels. This 
 indignation was increased by the haughty attitude assumed by 
 Hocem, who, relying upon Portuguese protection, wrote to the 
 different sheiks in the country in a tone of superiority, and by 
 the heavy taxation which he imposed upon his subjects to 
 make good the personal losses he had sustained by his gifts 
 to Munhamonge. To all Mohamedans, subjects and strangers 
 alike, he became an object of detestation. The friendly ruler 
 of Melinde and the vassal ruler of Zanzibar, who was believed 
 to be thoroughly loyal to King Manuel, wrote to the viceroy 
 that if he wished for peace in the land he should deprive 
 Hocem of power, and Dom Francisco d'Almeida, to put an 
 end to the disturbance, instructed Pedro Ferreira Fogapa to 
 depose the king of Kilwa and substitute another. This was 
 accordingly carried into effect. Hadji Hocem, who feared 
 assassination if he remained in his native town, merely begged 
 to be sent to Mombasa, and there shortly afterwards he ended 
 his days in extreme poverty and distress. 
 
 The vacant situation was first offered to the fugitive emir 
 Abraham, whose acceptance of it would have satisfied every 
 one ; but he distrusted the Portuguese so much that he declined 
 the overture. It was then given to Micante, the former rival 
 of Hadji Hocem. This man's habits were those of a licentious 
 drunkard, and he soon became as much despised by the 
 Portuguese as hated by his subjects on account of his cruelty 
 and his lawless amours. The consequence was that numbers of 
 the people of Kilwa abandoned the place and joined Abraham, 
 who was living at some distance on the mainland. 
 
 The three years term of office of Pedro Ferreira Fogafa 
 having expired, he was succeeded by Francisco Pereira Pestana 
 
202 History of South Africa. 
 
 as captain of Kilwa. This officer found affairs in great 
 disorder, and depression ruling among the people owing to 
 the trading regulations that were again being enforced by order 
 of King Manuel. Foreign commerce by sea was entirely cut 
 off, and intercourse with the Bantu was restricted as much as 
 possible, because the king and his advisers feared that Mohame- 
 dan influence might prevent the reception of Christianity by 
 these people. Nuno Vaz Pereira's opinion that the treasury 
 would not suffer by allowing the inhabitants of Kilwa to barter 
 gold as in olden times might be correct, but the pious king 
 had the propagation of the Christian faith also at heart, and 
 could not permit it to be endangered. And so the largest, 
 best built, and most famous town on the East African coast, 
 the town that once had dominion from Melinde to Cape 
 Correntes, was dwindling away to an insignificant village. 
 
 Things were in this condition when Micante declared war 
 against Abraham, of whom he was extremely jealous. The emir 
 had a strong body of followers, and he obtained powerful Bantu 
 allies, with whom he not only drove back the army sent 
 against him, but made a descent upon Kilwa in his turn. 
 There were at the time only forty Portuguese soldiers in the 
 fort capable of bearing arms, all the others being ill with 
 fever. The healthy men went to Micante's assistance, but were 
 defeated in an engagement, and several of them were killed, 
 though the fort was not taken. After this there were many 
 incursions on both sides, in one of which Abraham's party 
 suffered heavy losses as they were crossing the strait between 
 the island and the mainland, and one of his nephews was made 
 prisoner. Still nothing decisive occurred, and hostilities went 
 on with no other result than destruction of property and loss 
 of life. Micante indeed gained some respect from the Por- 
 tuguese by his personal valour, and he was as submissive to 
 them as could be desired, but otherwise there was little or no 
 improvement in his conduct. 
 
 When information of this reached King Manuel he deter- 
 mined to withdraw the garrison from Kilwa, which was no 
 longer a place of any importance either for strategic or 
 
Occupation of Sofala and Mozambique. 20% 
 
 commercial purposes. Affonso d'Alboquerque was then governor 
 general of India, and cared nothing about the retention of a 
 stronghold established by Dom Francisco d' Almeida, so took no 
 steps to change the king's decision. Orders were issued to 
 Francisco Pereira Pestana to dismantle the fort, remove the 
 king's property of every kind to ships provided for the purpose, 
 and retire to Socotra with the men under his command. As 
 Micante was entirely dependent upon the Portuguese, this 
 order deprived him of all power and influence. He fled to 
 Querimba, where he died in poverty and obscurity. Negotia- 
 tions were opened with the emir Abraham, who at first 
 suspected treachery, but when the Portuguese had embarked 
 and were ready to set sail he consented to an interview on the 
 water with Francisco Pereira Pestana, and was recognised by 
 him as ruler of Kilwa in vassalage to King Manuel. Abraham 
 accepted the position, and kept his agreement faithfully as long 
 as he lived. The fugitives from the town returned, and order 
 was restored under the emir's prudent management, but the 
 importance and glory of the place were gone for ever. Under 
 the stringent commercial regulations that were in force it sank 
 almost out of sight within a very few years. Thus the first 
 fort built and occupied by the Portuguese on the border of the 
 Indian sea was the first abandoned by them, and that while 
 they were still in the full career of conquest and under the 
 direction in the east of the great Affonso d'Alboquerque. 
 
 Sofala was now the station where it was hoped the greatest 
 profit from trade would be gained, as it was the port from 
 which the Mohamedans had sent away all the gold and much 
 of the ivory obtained in South-Eastern Africa. But the 
 Portuguese were as yet without experience of the only way of 
 obtaining these articles, and imagined that if they could 
 prevent the former itinerant dealers from going inland and 
 could keep up a good supply of merchandise in their factory, 
 everything that the country produced would be brought to 
 them for sale at their own prices. The Mohamedan mixed 
 breeds, living like Kaffirs and caring little whether they were 
 one month or twelve on an expedition, travelled about the 
 
204 History of South Africa, 
 
 country with a few slaves carrying their wares, and if gold 
 and ivory were not at hand, were content to wait till they 
 were collected, all the time tempting the natives by a display 
 of articles that they coveted most. The Portuguese, on the 
 contrary, sat still and waited for what never came. 
 
 Among the officers who accompanied Pedro d'Anaya when 
 he went to build the fortress and establish the factory was one 
 named Diogo d'Alcapova, who remained there long enough to 
 learn the condition of affairs in the country, but as he suffered 
 much from fever, was sent to India by an early opportunity. 
 He professed to have made a special study of the gold barter, 
 and sent to the king a long report upon it, which is still 
 in existence. In it he stated that in former times from four 
 hundred and forty-six thousand eight hundred and seventy-five 
 to five hundred and eighty thousand nine hundred and thirty- 
 seven pounds sterling worth of gold was exported from Sofala 
 every year. This was probably far beyond the real quantity, 
 for considering the relative value of gold to other merchandise 
 then and now, such an amount w^ould have represented a 
 trade much greater than the appearance of Sofala when first 
 visited by Europeans would warrant one in believing it 
 possible to have been carried on there. That little or none 
 was brought to the Portuguese factory while he was resident 
 in it he attributed to wars between different sections of 
 Bantu, which made the country unsafe to travel in. Peace 
 was not concluded between tlie different factions, he thought, 
 because the Mohamedan rulers of Kilwa and Sofala, who 
 could bring it about, were unwilling to do so, as they did 
 not wish the Christians to obtain the profits of the trade. 
 
 In September 1508 Duarte de Lemos, an officer of ability 
 who was then in charge of a ship, wrote to the king from 
 Mozambique that only £894 to £1341 worth of gold had 
 been obtained at Sofala from the departure of Vasco Gomes 
 d'Abreu to that time. He believed that it was plentiful in 
 the country, and there was an abundance of merchandise in 
 the factory, still it was not brought for barter. In his opinion 
 the reason was that the Mohamedans along the coast south of 
 
Occupation of Sofala and Mozambique. 205 
 
 Mozambique were all engaged in a smuggling trade, which 
 could not be prevented, as they conveyed the gold and their 
 goods in little boats and fishing canoes that it was not possible 
 for the caravels guarding the sea to capture. Merchants from 
 Arabia and Persia resorted to secluded places, and maintained 
 this clandestine trade, providing the retail dealers with goods 
 and receiving the gold from them in return. Even in Mozam- 
 bique he believed there were some merchants from the north 
 engaged in this traffic, so detrimental to the king's treasury. 
 Certain it was that they purchased from the crews of ships 
 arriving there calico which the men had for sale on their own 
 account, and which they obtained for a mere trifle. There was 
 but one remedy for the evil in his opinion, and that was to 
 expel every Mohamedan from the whole country south of 
 Mozambique. Sofala, he was assured, was not an unhealthy 
 place, for during the preceding year not a single individual 
 had fallen ill there. The only article of European manufac- 
 ture that could be used in commerce in the coimtry was 
 Flemish linen, which would need to be broad enough to be 
 used for loin cloths. 
 
 That a considerable trade was carried on by the Mohame- 
 dans with the Bantu in defiance of the Portuguese is highly 
 probable, but that it amounted to a very large sum in gold 
 yearly is not at all likely. The difficulty of getting goods 
 into the country must have prevented that. The Mohamedans 
 had always lived by commerce, and no doubt were shrewd 
 and wary dealers, they knew the country and its people and 
 could easily escape observation by the Christians, but without 
 a source of supply, now that their ships were destroyed and 
 their connection with India entirely cut off, they could not 
 traffic to the extent the Portuguese believed they were doing. 
 Possibly they may have dealt in a very small way in native 
 made cloth, but even that would have necessitated their 
 possession of beads and bangles, which they could only obtain 
 at great risk by means of zambucos coming down from the 
 north. According to Duarte Barbosa they were reduced to 
 such straits that they began to cultivate cotton and manu- 
 
2o6 History of South Africa. 
 
 facture loin-cloths themselves, but this, if correct at all, can 
 only have been on a very limited scale. 
 
 In October 1512 Antonio de Saldanha, who had then served 
 the full term of three years as captain of Sofala, was 
 succeeded in that office by Simao de Miranda de Azevedo, 
 with whom came as factor a very intelligent man named 
 Pedro Yaz Scares. When the captain was absent on his 
 periodical visits to Mozambique, the factor acted as com- 
 mandant of the fort, and in that capacity on the 30th of 
 June 1513 he wrote to the king a long and interesting 
 report upon the condition of things there, which, unlike most 
 of the documents of that period, has fortunately escaped 
 destruction. Before this report was written a slight change 
 had taken place in respect to commercial transactions with 
 Mohamedans. From those at Sofala gold was now bartered 
 in exchange for merchandise, though they could only obtain 
 it by going inland and dealing with the Bantu, thus to that 
 extent at least the earlier regulations had been relaxed. 
 Mohamedans were also employed by the Christians in various 
 capacities, though only to a limited extent, and under cir- 
 cumstances where no other persons could perform the same 
 service. 
 
 Scares reported that during the eight months of his residence 
 at Sofala he had only obtained in barter gold to the value of 
 from £2905 to £3128, the greater part of which was procured 
 from the Mohamedan residents. Kaffirs or native traders 
 from the interior he had seen so seldom that from them 
 he had not bartered £223 worth. The country was in a 
 state of perfect peace, and every one was free to come 
 and go in security, for the captain had made agreements to 
 that effect with numerous Bantu chiefs and was paying 
 them fixed subsidies every six moons to keep the trading 
 routes open. There was gold in various parts of the country, 
 but no one possessed a sufficient quantity to make it worth 
 his while to bring it to Sofala for sale, therefore the Mohame- 
 dans went inland with merchandise and established fairs at 
 suitable places. These Mohamedans secretly prejudiced the 
 
Occupation of Sofala and Mozambique. 207 
 
 Christians in the eyes of the Bantu, whom they discouraged 
 from proceeding to the factory by telling them that goods 
 were dearer there than in the interior as offered for sale by 
 them. The gold that was procured was mostly in very 
 small pieces like little beads, only a trifling proportion being 
 melted into nuggets. 
 
 The receipts of the factory were not more than sufficient to 
 cover the cost of its maintenance and that of the caravels 
 employed on the coast below Mozambique, and on one occasion 
 the captain was even obliged to make use of the property of 
 deceased persons to meet current expenses. Scares was of 
 opinion that under these circumstances retrenchment was advis- 
 able, as a smaller and less expensive establishment would 
 serve the purpose now that the land was at peace and the 
 Portuguese perfectly secure. The Mohamedans at the islands 
 of Angosha and on the lower banks of the Zambesi, he 
 asserted, drew away the greater portion of the trade, on 
 which account they ought to be expelled, when matters would 
 improve. 
 
 The captain Simao de Miranda de Azevedo had endeavoured 
 to establish a trading station on the Zambesi and explore the 
 river upward, and for that purpose had sent an embassy to a 
 Bantu chief residing on a large island between two mouths of 
 the stream to propose friendship and alliance with him. A 
 favourable reply was received, upon which a caravel was 
 despatched to the river with a quantity of merchandise and 
 a factor and secretary. Some respectable Mohamedans of 
 Sofala were engaged to go in her to be the means of com- 
 munication with the chief, to whom presents of some value 
 were forwarded. Upon her arrival the resident Mohamedans 
 induced the chief to ask that her captain with the factor and 
 secretary should visit him to ratify his agreement with the 
 Portuguese, and when they with a bombardier who acted as 
 interpreter went on shore for the purpose without suspicion 
 of danger, all were immediately murdered. The Sofala 
 Mohamedans, who were on land at the time, swam off to 
 the caravel, which was soon afterwards attacked by a number 
 
2o8 History of South Africa, 
 
 of zambucos containing men armed with bows and arrows. 
 Her crew defended themselves with their crossbows and bombs, 
 and were fortunate enough to be able to cut their cables and 
 escape. 
 
 Scares reported that a considerable quantity of ivory was 
 procurable, and that a very large profit was to be made on it. 
 Since his arrival he had bartered for articles of trifling value 
 about three tons, which had been sent to India to meet the 
 cost of merchandise that had been applied for. 
 
 Of the affairs of Sofala during the time that Christovao de 
 Tavora was captain, that is from 1515, when he succeeded 
 Francisco Marecos who acted for a few months after the death 
 of Simao de Miranda de Azevedo, to 1518, when Sancho de Toar 
 assumed the command, nothing is known. The original reports 
 are no longer in existence, and the early historians are silent 
 about the place, from which, however, it may be assumed that 
 nothing of consequence occurred. Sancho de Toar, the same 
 of&cer who was sent by Pedro Alvares Cabral to gather infor- 
 mation about the locality and the gold trade, became captain 
 of Sofala in September 1518, and at the same time Francisco 
 de Brito took over the duties of factor. In circumstances 
 similar to those under which Pedro Vaz Scares reported to 
 King Manuel six years earlier, De Brito on the 8th of August 
 1519 addressed to the same monarch a long letter, which is 
 still preserved in the archives at Lisbon. 
 
 At that time trade and even communication with the in- 
 terior was cut off, owing to internecine wars among Bantu 
 clans or tribes. A powerful chief named Inyamunda, who 
 resided at no great distance from Sofala, was engaged in 
 hostilities with the Monomotapa, the people of Manica, and 
 others farther inland; and the trading routes were closed, as 
 travellers were liable to be robbed and murdered. At the 
 factory therefore the outlay was as usual, while there was 
 hardly any income, a condition of things which was very 
 dispiriting to the officials. A vessel from India bringing 
 merchandise for Sofala had arrived at Chiloane, an island about 
 thirty-five miles distant, and had discharged her cargo, con- 
 
Occtipation of Sofala and Mozambique. 209 
 
 sisting of calico of different qualities, beads, pieces of tin, and 
 small coins. The cost price of these articles is stated by the 
 factor, and also the price at which they were bartered in 
 Sofala when any trade was being done, from w^hich it is seen 
 that the smallest profit on any thing was four hundred per 
 cent, and that on some things it rose to two thousand eight 
 hundred per cent. The pieces of tin and the coins that were 
 not required to pay salaries were evidently disposed of as 
 ornaments, for money was not in use by the Bantu, all 
 transactions with them beiag by barter. During the eleven 
 months that De Brito had been factor he had obtained gold 
 to the value of a little over £358 and eight tons and a 
 quarter of ivory, of which the cost is not given. 
 
 Sancho de Toar had resolved to establish a trading outpost 
 on the southern bank of the Zambesi about thirty-five miles 
 above its mouth, and for that purpose had caused a square 
 timber tower to be constructed, which could be taken to pieces 
 and conveyed in caravels to its destination, there to be put 
 together again. The completion of the plan had been delayed, 
 however, as one of the caravels had recently been wrecked at 
 Chiloane, and another, which had been built at Mozambique to 
 assist in guarding the coast, had been lost on the bar when 
 bringing a cargo of millet for the use of the fort. She had 
 not long previously taken a prize, but had left part of the 
 spoil at Mozambique, and the remainder was on board w^hen 
 she was wrecked. This had happened only a few days before 
 the letter was written. Sancho de Toar had immediately 
 resolved to have another caravel built, as well as a smaller 
 vessel to be stationed at the Cuama mouth of the Zambesi to 
 prevent the entrance of zambucos with merchandise for the 
 Mohamedan traders. Francisco de Brito's chief desire was to 
 get away from a place where neither honour nor profit was to 
 be had, and he earnestly begged the king to transfer him to 
 some other post in India. 
 
 In neither of the reports from the factors of Sofala which 
 are still in existence is any mention made of ambergris or 
 pearls, though Duarte Barbosa, who wrote about the same time, 
 
2IO History of South Africa, 
 
 states that both were articles of trade among the Mohamedans. 
 Probably the Portuguese had not yet an opportunity to obtain 
 them in barter, as they could so easily be concealed and 
 removed from place to place. The pearls, obtained at the 
 Bazaruta islands, were said to be greatly damaged and dis- 
 coloured by the method used in extracting them, which was by 
 placing the oysters in embers until the flesh was dried away. 
 The pearl fishers were nearly all Mohamedans or slaves, as the 
 Bantu did not engage in the occupation unless compelled to 
 do so by extreme want. 
 
 With the report of Francisco de Brito, the substance of 
 which has been given, direct and indirect information alike 
 ceases concerning Sofala until some time after the death 
 of King Manuel the Fortunate, which took place on the 13th 
 of December 1521, and the accession of his son, Joao III, to 
 the throne of Portugal. That matters there remained without 
 much change as successive captains and factors came and went 
 and the graves of the victims of malarial fever and dysentery 
 grew ever more numerous is, however, certain, for the next 
 clear view given by either historian, chronicler, or manu- 
 script records reveals a state of things differing little from 
 that described. 
 
Intercourse with the Bantu. 
 
 211 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 INTERCOURSE OF THE PORTUGUESE WITH THE BANTU. 
 
 When the European fort and trading station at Sofala was 
 formed in 1505 the predominant people in the country between 
 the rivers Sabi and Zambesi were the Mokaranga as termed by 
 the Portuguese, or Makalanga as pronounced by themselves, a 
 word which means the people of the sun. This tribe occupied 
 territory extending from the shore of the Indian ocean to the 
 interior of the continent far to the west, but just how far it is 
 impossible to say. Along the southern bank of the Zambesi and 
 scattered here and there on the sea coast were clans who were 
 not Makalanga by blood, and who were independent of each 
 other. South of the Sabi river lived a tribe named the Batonga, 
 whose outposts extended beyond Cape Correntes. 
 
 There are people of this name in various parts of South Africa 
 still, but it does not follow that they are descended from the 
 Batonga of the sixteenth century. The country has often been 
 swept by war since that time, and of the ancient communities 
 many have been absolutely destroyed, while others have been 
 dispersed and reorganised quite differently. There is not a 
 single tribe in South Africa to-day that bears the same title, has 
 the same relative power, and occupies the same ground, as its 
 ancestors three hundred years ago. The people we call 
 Mashona are indeed descended from the Makalanga of early 
 Portuguese days, and they preserve their old name and part of 
 their old country, but the contrast between their condition and 
 that of the tribe in the period of its greatness is striking. 
 Discord, subjection, and merciless treatment from conquerors 
 have destroyed most of what was good in their forefathers. 
 
212 History of South A/iHca. 
 
 This tribe — the Makalanga — was the one with which the 
 Portuguese had most to do. Its paramount chief was called by 
 them the monomotapa, which word, their writers state, meant 
 emperor, but in reality it was only one of the hereditary titles 
 originally given by the official praisers to the great chief, and 
 meant either master of the mountain or master of the mines. 
 The Portuguese were not very careful in the orthography of 
 Bantu names, and in those early days they had not discovered 
 the rules which govern the construction of the language, so that 
 probably monomotapa does not represent the exact sound as 
 spoken by the natives, though most likely it approximates 
 closely to it. About the first part of the word there is no 
 uncertainty. In one of the existing dialects inong means master 
 or chief, in another omuhona has the same meaning. The plural 
 of mong is beng, and one of the Portuguese writers gives the 
 word as henomotapay evidently from having heard it used by 
 natives in a plural form. Another Portuguese writer, in relating 
 the exploits of the chief Munhamonge, says that word meant 
 master of the world, and his statement is perfectly correct. 
 Thus monomotapa (more likely mnamatapa) meant chief of 
 something, but what that something was is not so certain. 
 
 It seems on analysing it to be chief of the mountain, and 
 there are other reasons for believing that to be its correct 
 signification. The great place, or residence of the monomotapa, 
 was close to the mountain Fura, which he would never permit 
 a Portuguese to ascend, probably from some superstition con- 
 nected with it, though they believed it was because he did not 
 wish them to have a view over as much of his country as could 
 be seen from its top. The natives, when going to the great 
 place, most likely used the expression going to the mountain, 
 for the Portuguese soon began to employ the words a serra in 
 that sense, without specially defining what mountain was meant. 
 In our own time one of the titles given by the official praisers 
 to the Basuto chief Moshesh was chief of the mountain, owing 
 to his possession of Thaba Bosigo, and the Kalanga chief 
 probably had his title of monomotapa from his possession 
 of Fura."^ 
 
Intercourse with the Bantu. 213 
 
 But there is another possible explanation of the word, which 
 would give it a much more romantic origin. It may have 
 meant chief of the mines, for the termination, slightly altered 
 in form, in one of the Bantu dialects signifies a large hole in 
 the ground. In this case the title may have come down from 
 a very remote period, and may have originated with the ancient 
 gold-workers who mixed their blood with the ancestors of the 
 Kalanga people. This is just possible, but it is so unlikely that 
 it is almost safe to translate the word monomotapa, manamotapa, 
 majiomotapaf — as different Portuguese writers spelt it, — chief of 
 the mountain. In any case it signified the paramount or great 
 chief of the Kalanga tribe, and was applied to all who in 
 succession held that office. 
 
 Some interest is attached to this word Monomotapa, inas- 
 much as it was placed on maps of the day as if it was the 
 name of a territory, not the title of a ruler, and soon it was 
 applied to the entire region from the Zambesi to the mouth of 
 the Fish river. Geographers, who knew nothing of the country, 
 wrote the word upon their charts, and one copied another until 
 the belief became general that a people far advanced in civilisa- 
 tion, and governed by a mighty emperor, occupied the whole of 
 South-Eastern Africa. 
 
 Then towns were marked on the chart, and rivers were traced 
 upon it, and men of the highest standing in science lent their 
 names to the fraud, believing it to be true, until a standard map 
 of the middle of the seventeenth century was as misleading as 
 it was possible to make it. Keaders of Portuguese histories 
 must have known this, but no one rectified the error, because 
 no one could substitute what was really correct. And even in 
 recent years educated men have asked what has become of the 
 mysterious empire of Monomotapa, a question that can be so 
 easily answered by reading the books of De Barros, De Couto, 
 and Dos Santos, and analysing the Sekalanga words which they 
 repeat. Such an empire never existed. The foundation upon 
 which imagination constructed it was nothing more than a 
 Bantu tribe. The error arose mainly from the use of the words 
 emperor, king, and prince to represent African chiefs, a mistake, 
 
 s 2 
 
2 1 4 History of South Africa. 
 
 however, which was not confined to the Portuguese, for it per- 
 vades a good deal of English literature of the nineteenth 
 century, where it has done infinitely more to mislead readers 
 than those expressions ever did in times gone by. 
 
 The Kalanga tribe was larger and occupied a much greater 
 extent of territory than any now existing in South Africa. It 
 was held together by the same means as the others, that is princi- 
 pally by the religious awe with which the paramount chief was 
 regarded, as representing in his person the mighty spirits that 
 were feared and worshipped. There was always the danger of 
 a disputed succession, however, when it might not be certain 
 which of two or more individuals was nearest to the line of 
 descent and therefore the one to whom fealty was due. How 
 long the tribe had existed before the Portuguese became 
 acquainted with it, and whether it had attained its greatness 
 by growth or by conquest, cannot be ascertained, but very 
 shortly afterwards it was broken into several independent 
 communities. 
 
 The tribe belonged to that section of the Bantu family which 
 in general occupies the interior of the country. It was divided 
 into a great number of clans, each under its own chief, and 
 though all of these acknowledged the monomotapa as their 
 superior in rank, the distant clans, even with the religious 
 bond of union in full force, were very loosely connected with the 
 central government. Thus those near the coast were found by 
 the Portuguese making war on their own account, and acting 
 otherwise in a manner that among Europeans would be regarded 
 as indicating perfect independence. There was one peculiar 
 custom, however, that prevented them from forgetting their 
 dependence upon the paramount chief, a custom that most likely 
 had a foreign origin. Every year at a certain stage of the crops 
 a command was sent throughout the country that when the next 
 new moon appeared all the fires were to be put out, and they 
 could only be lit again from the spreading of one kindled by 
 the monomotapa himself. 
 
 The Makalanga had developed their religious system and 
 their industries more' highly than any of the other tribes of 
 
Intercourse with the Bantu. 215 
 
 Southern or Eastern Africa. Of all the Bantu they had the 
 largest proportion of Asiatic blood in their veins, which will 
 account for their mental and mechanical superiority. Almost 
 at first sight the Europeans observed that they were in every 
 respect more intelligent than the blacker tribes along the 
 Mozambique coast. But they were neither so robust nor so 
 courageous as many of their neighbours. Like their near 
 kindred the Basuto and Bapedi of to-day, they were capable of 
 making a vigorous defence in mountain strongholds, but were 
 disinclined to carry on aggressive warfare, and could not stand 
 against an equal number of men of a coast tribe in the open 
 field. Their language was regarded by the Christians as being 
 pleasanter than Arabic to the ear. The residence of each 
 important chief was called his Zimbabwe, which the Portuguese 
 writers say meant the place where the court was held, though 
 the buildings were merely thatched huts with wattled walls 
 covered with clay. The word was equivalent to "the great 
 place " as now used, though the roots from which it was derived 
 are not absolutely certain. 
 
 When the Portuguese in 1505 first came in close contact with 
 the Makalanga, the tribe had been engaged in civil war for 
 twelve or thirteen years, and was in a very unsettled condition 
 A monomotapa, Mokomba by name, had made a favourite of the 
 chief Tshikanga, one of his distant relatives, who was hereditary 
 head of the powerful clan which occupied the district of Manika. 
 Some other chiefs became jealous of the privileges conferred 
 upon this man, and took advantage of his absence on one 
 occasion to instil in the monomotapa's mind that he was a 
 sorcerer and was compassing the death of his benefactor. There- 
 upon the monomotapa sent him some poison to drink, but 
 instead of obeying, he made an oifer of a large number of cattle 
 for his life. The offer was declined, and then in despair he 
 collected his followers, made a quick march to the great place, 
 surprised Mokomba, and killed him. 
 
 Tshikanga then assumed the government of the tribe. He 
 endeavoured to exterminate the family of his predecessor, and 
 actually put twenty-one of Mokomba's children to death. 
 
2 1 6 History of South Africa, 
 
 Only one young man escaped. After four years' exile, this 
 one, whose name is variously given as Kesarinuto or Kesarimyo, 
 returned and collected a force which defeated the usurping 
 monomotapa's army. Tshikanga then took the field himself, 
 adherents gathered on both sides, and a battle was fought 
 which continued for three days and a half. On the fourth 
 day Tshikanga was killed, when his army dispersed, and 
 Kesarimyo became monomotapa. But Tolwa, Tshikanga's son, 
 would not. submit, and with his ancestral clan kept possession 
 of the Manika district, and carried on the war. To this 
 circumstance the Portuguese attributed the small quantity 
 of gold that was brought to Sofala for sale. In course of time 
 the war was reduced to a permanent feud, Tolwa's clan became 
 an independent tribe, and Manika was lost to the monomotapa 
 for ever. 
 
 For many years after their occupation of Sofala the Portu- 
 guese lived on fairly good terms with the Makalanga, and after 
 the failure to drive them from the fort in Isuf's time no attempt 
 was made to expel them from the country. They paid subsidies 
 in the form of presents to the nearest chiefs of note, and so 
 secured their good will and freedom for trade. These presents 
 usually consisted of beads, bangles, pieces of coarse calico, and 
 other inexpensive articles, so that the value of the whole was 
 trifling. In return the chiefs sent a tusk or two of ivory, which 
 was often worth as much as what they received. 
 
 But even after the employment of the Mohamedans as agents 
 to collect gold and ivory, the amount of commerce carried on 
 was very far short of the earlier anticipations of the Europeans. 
 Their next effort to increase it was by stationing individuals at 
 outposts on the Zambesi, which at first were quite unprotected, 
 and existed entirely by the favour of the people in whose lands 
 they were situated. After various ineffectual attempts by other 
 officials, in 1531 Vicente Pegado, the ablest and most enterpris- 
 ing of all the early captains of Mozambique and Sofala, who had 
 then resided a year in the country, succeeded in establishing 
 a fair at the place afterwards known as Sena, where there was a 
 small Mohamedan village. The particulars of this event are 
 
Intercourse with the Bantu. 217 
 
 not now on record in manuscript that can be found, and the 
 historians of the time were so deeply engrossed with the 
 stirring deeds of their countrymen in India that they altogether 
 neglected 'transactions of comparatively little importance in 
 South Africa, but no imagination is needed to understand how 
 it must have taken place. The Bantu would certainly not 
 object to the presence of unarmed traders, and the Mohamedans, 
 who at an earlier date would have acted either as open or secret 
 enemies, were then in a condition of dependence upon the 
 Portuguese. The contraband trade, as the Europeans termed it, 
 had been almost completely suppressed. There was but one 
 place where foreign merchandise could be obtained, and that was 
 the king's warehouse at Sofala. The factor there, acting under 
 instructions from his government, fixed the price of everything 
 and required an enormous profit on whatever he bought or sold, 
 but a portion of the retail bartering with the Bantu was again 
 in the hands of those who had once enjoyed a monopoly of it. 
 So the Mohamedans at Sena would not object to getting their 
 supplies at home, instead of going to Sofala for them, and 
 besides it was to their interest not to offend their employers. 
 Thus the fair or trading-post of Sena came into existence, and 
 the quantity of ivory and gold obtained was so much increased 
 that the captain Vicente Pegado was rewarded for his exertions 
 by being retained in office for the unusual term of eight years. 
 
 The exact date of the formation of a similar outstation at Tete 
 cannot be ascertained, but it was not long after the establish- 
 ment of the fair farther down the river. At both these places 
 for many years white men lived in the same precarious manner 
 as the first English traders in the Xosa country three centuries 
 later. Favoured by the chief one day, abused and robbed by 
 him the next, nothing but the prospect of considerable gain 
 could induce any others than missionaries to exist in such a 
 condition. Those at Sena and Tete were of the class tliat 
 accommodates itself readily to barbarian habits, and in morals 
 at least were little above the Bantu with whom they associated. 
 
 In 1544 the factory of Quilimane was founded on the northern 
 bank of the river of Good Tokens, about fifteen miles from the 
 
2 1 8 History of South Africa. 
 
 sea. The object was partly to carry on commerce with the 
 Bantu in the neighbourhood, but principally to command the 
 route to the interior by that stream, which was then more used 
 during several months of the year than the other outlets of the 
 Zambesi. The station is still in existence, but as it is beyond 
 the territorial limits dealt with in this narrative, it will not be 
 referred to again. 
 
 In the same year the captain of Sofala and Mozambique sent 
 two men named Louren^o Marques and Antonio Caldeira in a 
 pangayo on an exploring voyage to the southward. They 
 inspected the lower course of the Limpopo river, and ascertained 
 that copper in considerable quantities was to be obtained there 
 from the natives. They then examined the great bay which 
 before that time had been obscurely known as Da Lagoa. Three 
 large rivers flowing from different directions, — known now to 
 British geographers as the Maputa, the English, and the Manisa, 
 — discharge their waters into this bay, and it was believed that 
 the central one of these, or rather the central one of the streams 
 now called the Tembe, the Umbelosi, and the Matola, which 
 have as their estuary the English river, had its source in a great 
 lake far in the interior, hence the Umbelosi and the English 
 were named Eio da Lagoa, and the bay Bahia da Lagoa. 
 
 On the banks of the Umbelosi the explorers saw a great 
 number of elephants, and purchased tusks of ivory from the 
 natives at the rate of a few beads for each. In the neighbour- 
 hood of the Maputa river, which they next visited, elephants 
 were also seen, and ivory was plentiful. The chief of the tribe 
 that occupied the country between this river and the sea, whose 
 hereditary title was Inyaka, was very friendly to his European 
 visitors. Though quite black, he was a fine looking old man, 
 with a white beard, and as Marques and Caldeira fancied his 
 features bore some resemblance to those of Garcia de Sa, then 
 captain of Malacca, who was subsequently — 1548-9 — captain 
 general and governor of India, and one of whose daughters, Dona 
 Leonor, wife of Manuel de Sousa de Sepulveda, in 1552 perished 
 in a most pitiable manner on the shore of this very bay, they 
 gave him that official's name. We shall meet him again^ 
 
Intercourse with the Bantu. 219 
 
 particularly in the account of the wreck of the galleon 8ao JoaOy 
 and shall find that his friendship for white people was not a mere 
 passing whim. 
 
 The inspection of the country around the bay was followed by 
 a change of names. The Umbelosi — with its estuary the English 
 river — was thereafter termed by the Portuguese Kio de Lourenfo 
 Marques, though geographers of other nations continued to call 
 it the river De Lagoa, until the restoration in recent years of its 
 Bantu name. The bay — previously Bahia da Lagoa — now took 
 the name among the Portuguese of Bahia de Lourenfo Marques, 
 though to all other Europeans it remained known as Delagoa 
 Bay, and it is still so called. 
 
 In 1546 King Joao III issued instructions that Lourenpo 
 Marques should be provided with a suitable vessel to complete 
 the exploration of the coast and to open up a trade with the 
 residents on the shores of the great inlet. This was done, and 
 thereafter a pangayo was usually sent every year or every second 
 year from IMozambique to obtain ivory. While they were 
 engaged in bartering by means of boats manned by mixed breeds 
 or Mohamedans that went up the different rivers, the traders 
 resided on one of the islands Inyaka — so called by the 
 Portuguese from the title of the chief Garcia de Sa, — Elephant, 
 or Shefina, where some rough huts were built for their accommo- 
 dation, and as soon as all the tusks that had been collected by 
 the natives were purchased, they returned to Mozambique. No 
 permanent factory or fort was built at this place until a much 
 later date. Louren9o Marques probably remained some years in 
 charge of the trade at the bay which bore his name, as in 1557, 
 in reward for his services there, he was appointed intendant 
 at Cochin. 
 
 At Inhambane, or Nyambana as termed by the natives, which 
 is about two hundred and thirty miles farther up the coast, a 
 similar trade was carried on from this time forward by means of 
 a pangayo sent every year or two from Mozambique. Temporary 
 huts were erected on the site of the present village, off which 
 the pangayo lay at anchor until the traders were ready to return. 
 Neither here nor at Delagoa Bay, any more than at Sena or Tete, 
 
220 History of South Africa. 
 
 did the Portuguese authorities attempt to exercise the slightest 
 control over the Bantu inhabitants. Their object at all these 
 places was simply and solely to carry on commerce, and not by 
 any means to involve themselves in difficulties. At times 
 indeed the traders were subject to gross ill treatment from 
 barbarous chiefs, which they were obliged to endure patiently, 
 without any effort being made to retaliate or redress their 
 wrongs. 
 
 After trade at these places was opened, from thirty to thirty- 
 six tons of ivory were usually collected at Mozambique and sent 
 from that island to India every year until 1551, when only a 
 little more than five tons was obtained. The quantity subse- 
 quently rose again, but fluctuated greatly according to the 
 condition of the country as regarded peace or war. 
 
 The Portuguese, whether soldiers or traders, were in South 
 Africa so circumstanced that they degenerated rapidly. A Euro- 
 pean female was very rarely seen, and nearly every white man 
 consorted with native women. Fever, when it did not kill them 
 outright, deprived them of energy, and there was nothing to 
 stimulate them to exertion. Cut off from all society but that of 
 barbarians, often until towards the close of the sixteenth century 
 without the ministrations of the church, sunk in sloth, and 
 suffering from excessive heat and deadly malaria, no lives led 
 by Europeans anywhere could be more miserable than theirs. 
 
 The natives termed them Bazunga, — singular Mozunga, — and 
 were generally well disposed towards them. Individual white 
 men often gained the confidence of cliiefs, and exercised great 
 influence over them. Instances were not wanting of such 
 persons abandoning their former associates, and going to reside 
 permanently either on tracts of land presented to them, where 
 they became petty rulers, or at native kraals, where they held 
 authority of some kind under the chiefs. Thereafter they were 
 regarded as renegades, though their mode of living was little 
 worse than that of many of their countrymen at the fort and 
 trading stations. 
 
 This was the condition of affairs in South-Eastern Africa 
 during the reign of King Joao III, a period far less glorious in 
 
Intercourse zvith the Bantu. 221 
 
 the history of Portugal than that in which his father Manuel the 
 Fortunate sat upon the throne. To outward appearance the 
 country exhibited every mark of prosperity, and its commerce 
 and wealth were the wonder of Europe, but the zenith of its 
 greatness was passed before the sixteenth century had run half 
 its course. The king had many sons, but all died in childhood 
 except the youngest, Dom Joao, who married the infanta Joana, 
 daughter of the emperor Charles V. He died in early manhood, 
 on the 2nd of January 1554, eighteen days before his widow 
 gave birth to a boy, who received the name Sebastiao. On the 
 16th of June 1557 this child of little more than three years of 
 age became by his grandfather's death sovereign of Portugal, 
 and as his mother had retired to Spain, his grandmother, Dona 
 Catharina, daughter of Philippe I of Castile and widow of the 
 deceased monarch, became regent of the kingdom. 
 
 Corruption had by this time become so general among the 
 Portuguese in India that even a virtuous viceroy such as Dom 
 Joao de Castro was powerless to check it. They retained indeed 
 the daring spirit of their fathers, so that military prowess was 
 conspicuous still, but beyond that avarice liad become their 
 ruling passion. To collect wealth, whether honestly or dis- 
 honestly hardly mattered, had become the great object of their 
 lives, and as power was theirs, under such circumstances good 
 government was impossible. Even at this early period the 
 rapacity of the officials was preparing Portuguese India for the 
 fate that overtook it as soon as a rival European power dealt it a 
 puny blow. Eastern Africa was included in India, and if a 
 course of spoliation was not practised there, the reason was that 
 no weak peoples other than the Mohamedans existed sufficiently 
 wealthy to be despoiled. 
 
 Before 1545 Mozambique had been without other protection 
 than the sliijht defensive works constructed when the island was 
 first occupied. In that year Dom Joao de Castro put in there 
 on his way to Goa to assume the government of India, and was 
 struck with the weakness of a place of such importance. In his 
 opinion the position of the so-called fort was not only bad in a 
 military point of view, but was insanitary as well. He selected 
 
222 History of South Africa, 
 
 another site, gathered some materials, and during his short stay 
 constructed a small outwork for temporary use. Upon his 
 report of the condition of the island reaching Lisbon, the king 
 gave order for larger and better defensive works to be built, but 
 the death of the eminent viceroy followed soon afterwards, and 
 the matter was then allow^ed to fall out of sight. 
 
 The power that Portugal had to contend with now in the 
 eastern seas was the Grand Turk, in the zenith of his pride, and 
 aided always openly or secretly by one or other Mohamedan 
 state. To put a fleet upon the waters of the Indian ocean, every 
 part of the material, wood, iron, cordage, and canvas, had to be 
 conveyed up the Nile to Cairo, and thence on the backs of 
 camels to the shipyards of Suez, a seemingly impossible task. 
 Yet that it could be done had been proved by the sultan 
 Soleiman II in 1527, and still more conspicuously in 1538. On 
 the 22nd of June of this year the faithless and ferocious pasha 
 Soleiman, who had governed Egypt for the sultan at Constanti- 
 nople, sailed from Suez with a great fleet built of materials so 
 transported from European Turkey, having with him a powerful 
 force of janizaries. His siege of the fort of Diu — 4th September 
 to 5th November 1538 — and its heroic defence by Antonio da 
 Silveira with only six hundred men, most of whom lost their 
 lives before Soleiman withdrew discomlited to commit suicide 
 rather than be put to death by his master for having failed in 
 the enterprise, must be regarded as among the most memorable 
 events in the history of India. This Antonio da Silveira who, 
 with only forty men left capable of bearing arms, with his 
 ammunition exhausted and his provisions consumed, saw from 
 his battered and half destroyed fort the remnant of the Turkish 
 fleet sail away, had been captain of Sofala and Mozambique from 
 1524 to 1527, but had there no opportunity of distinguishing 
 himself in any way. 
 
 From the time of the pasha Soleiman's defeat onward Turkish 
 subjects in smaller force were encountered, sometimes in one 
 place, sometimes in another, allied with Indian princes ; and it 
 was apprehended that an attempt to secure the eastern com- 
 merce might a^ain be made by them with a very powerful 
 
Intercourse with the Bantu, 223 
 
 armament. To be prepared for such an occurrence, in 1558 
 among other measures the regent Dona Catharina resolved to 
 construct a fortress of the first class at Mozambique, and to make 
 the island the residence of the highest official in authority on 
 the African coast. Previously there had been no permanent 
 garrison, and the captain had resided during the greater part of 
 the year at Sofala, which was regarded as the more important 
 place of the two. Henceforth each was to have a captain, but 
 the one at Sofala was to be subordinate to the one at Mozam- 
 bique. 
 
 To plan the new fortress, an engineer architect was sent out 
 who was a nephew of the archbishop of Braga, and had learned 
 his profession in Flanders. He selected as the best site the 
 eastern extremity of the island, off which ships passed to and 
 from the anchorage, and there on the margin of the sea he 
 laid the foundations of the massive walls that afterwards arose. 
 The fortress was quadrilateral in form, with a bastion at each 
 angle, and was so large that from eighty to a hundred guns 
 could be mounted on its ramparts. The whole structure was 
 termed Fort Sao Sebastiao, but the outwork at each angle had 
 its own name, the one first passed when coming in from sea 
 being called Nossa Senhora, the one nearest the anchorage Sao 
 Joao, the landward one on the inner side of the island Sao 
 Gabriel, and the landward one on the outer side Santo Antonio. 
 The walls were of great height, which subsequent experience 
 proved to be disadvantageous. A work of such magnitude, 
 though the heaviest labour was performed by slaves, required 
 many skilled artisans, and could only be slowly carried on. 
 The political condition of Portugal also retarded progress, so 
 that the sixteenth century was nearly ended before the walls 
 and the numerous buildings they enclosed were fully finished. 
 The want of fresh water was at first regarded as its principal 
 defect, but this was remedied in course of time by the construc- 
 tion of enormous cisterns, which contained an ample supply to 
 last from one rainy season to another. 
 
 After laying out the fortress at Mozambique and preparing 
 plans for carrying on the work, the architect proceeded to 
 
2 24 History of South Africa, 
 
 Daman to perform a similar duty there. After that was done he 
 returned to Europe and entered a religious order, when he was 
 favoured by Philippe II of Spain, and from his designs parts of 
 the Escurial were constructed. Thus in Fort Sao Sebastiao 
 there exists a specimen of the highest skill of the sixteenth 
 century. 
 
 The conversion of the heathen to Christianity was from the 
 very beginning of the Portuguese explorations and settlements 
 in Africa and India kept constantly in view by the king and by 
 the authorities of the Koman catholic church, but the far East 
 offered the most promising field to the Franciscans, Dominicans, 
 and other long established religious orders, and there were no 
 men to spare for the enlightenment of the barbarous tribes 
 between the Zambesi and the bay of Lourenfo Marques. The 
 whole territory east of the Cape of Good Hope to Japan had 
 formed a single see since March 1539, when Dom Joao d'Albo- 
 querque assumed duty at Goa as first bishop of India. But even 
 the Portuguese themselves were neglected in Africa, for the 
 garrison of Sofala was seldom provided with a chaplain, and 
 Sena and Tete were left altogether without one. 
 
 On the 27th of September 1540, however, a bull was issued by 
 Pope Paul III, approving of the order founded by Ignatius 
 Loyola, and the Company of Jesus, the greatest and most 
 zealous of all the missionary associations of the Koman catholic 
 church, came into existence. Within seven months, on the 
 7th of April 1541, the celebrated Francisco Xavier sailed from 
 Lisbon for India, and he was soon followed by others into 
 various parts of the heathen world. The first college of the 
 order was founded at Coimbra by Joao III of Portugal in 1542, 
 and speedily attracted within its walls many of the most religious 
 and most energetic of the youth of the kingdom. Into this 
 college in 1543 a young man of noble parentage, named Gonfalo 
 da Silveira, a native of Almeirim on the Tagus, sought admis- 
 sion for the purpose of completing his education. Shortly after- 
 wards he entered the order, and in 1556 was sent to Goa. 
 There he became conspicuous for his zeal and general ability, 
 and it was mainly owing to his exertions that the magnificent 
 
Intercourse with the Bantu. 225 
 
 church of Sao Thome was built in the capital of Portuguese 
 India. 
 
 On one of the voyages of the little vessel that went occa- 
 sionally from Mozambique to Inhambane to purchase ivory, a 
 son of a chief of some importance was induced to return in her. 
 It was the custom to treat such persons with much attention, in 
 order to secure their friendship, and the young chief was greatly 
 pleased with the favours that he received. In course of time he 
 professed his belief in Christianity, and was baptized with all 
 the pomp that was possible in the church of Sao Gabriel, the 
 captain of Sofala and Mozambique being one of his godfathers. 
 When the vessel made her next voyage he returned to Inham- 
 bane, and induced his father to send a request to the Portuguese 
 captain that he might be supplied with missionaries. This 
 request was forwarded to Goa, where it was referred to the 
 provincial of the Jesuits, with the result that the fathers Gon^alo 
 da Silveira and Andre Fernandes, with the lay brother Andre 
 da Costa, were directed to proceed to South-Eastern Africa, and 
 attempt to convert the natives there to Christianity. Dom 
 Gonjalo was the head of the party, and was entrusted by the 
 viceroy Dom Constantino de Bragan9a with friendly messages 
 and presents for the chief who had made the application and for 
 the paramount ruler of the Makalanga tribe. 
 
 On the 2nd of January 1560 the missionaries sailed from 
 Chaul, and after a pleasant passage reached Mozambique on the 
 4th of February, where they found a trading vessel nearly ready 
 to sail for Inhambane. She was only a zambuco, with so little 
 accommodation that, as one of them wrote, they could neither lie 
 down comfortably, stand erect, or exercise their legs in her, but 
 on the 12th of February they embarked, together with two 
 Portuguese — one of whom was to be their guide — and a native 
 who was well acquainted with the coast. The zambuco was to 
 touch at Sofala on the way. At this place they arrived after a 
 passage of twenty-seven days, and here they secured the service 
 of a halfbreed born at the fort, named Joao Kaposo, who spoke 
 Portuguese and Sekalanga with equal fluency, and who was a 
 handy man in other respects, as he had travelled much in the 
 
2 26 History of South Africa. 
 
 country. After five days' stay at Sofala, the zambuco sailed 
 again, and eight days later reached Inhambane, where five 
 Portuguese were found trading for ivory. 
 
 Dom Gonpalo and the lay brother were suffering severely from 
 fever, and landed in such a debilitated condition that for a time 
 their lives were despaired of. Their countrymen, however, took 
 such care of them that shortly they began to mend, and as soon 
 as they were out of danger the father Andre Fernandes was sent 
 in advance to the kraal of the chief who had applied for mis- 
 sionaries, to announce their arrival and to request that carriers 
 might be provided to convey the others in hammocks. The 
 distance of the kraal from Inhambane is stated to have been 
 thirty leagues, but as the father Andre Fernandes and those with 
 him traversed it on foot in three days and a half, it can hardly 
 have been so far. The name of the place is given by the mis- 
 sionaries as Otongwe, and of the chief as Gamba. He was the 
 head of a clan of Makalanga that had been driven from its own 
 country in a war with its neighbours, and had taken refuge in 
 territory occupied by the Batonga, where it had acquired a right 
 of possession by force of arms. This condition of things at once 
 accounts for its desire to secure the friendship of the Portuguese. 
 Father Andre Fernandes and Joao Raposo, who was with him, 
 were provided with a hut to live in, and carriers were despatched 
 who brought up the others seventeen days later. Dom Gonpalo 
 and Andre da Costa arrived so weak that they could hardly 
 stand, but the father soon became stronger, and the lay brother 
 was sent back to the coast for a time to recuperate. 
 
 Shortly after their arrival the mission party — the first in 
 South Africa — witnessed a striking instance of the nature of the 
 heathenism they had come to destroy. A son of the chief had 
 just died, and the witchfinder had pointed out an individual as 
 guilty of having caused his death by treading in his footprints, 
 whereupon the man accused was tortured and killed. They 
 found, too, people in the last stages of sickness abandoned by 
 every one, even their nearest relatives, who feared that death — 
 the invisible destroyer-^might seize them as well as the decrepit, 
 if they were close at hand when he came. 
 
Intercourse with the Bantu, 21*] 
 
 Having delivered the complimentary message of the viceroy 
 and his present, the missionaries were very well treated. Huts 
 were given to them to live in, and they were supplied with 
 abundance of food. They commenced therefore without delay to 
 exhort the people to become Christians. There is a custom of 
 the Bantu, with which they were of course unacquainted, not to 
 dispute with honoured guests, but to profess agreement with 
 whatever is stated. This is regarded by those people as polite- 
 ness, and it is carried to such an absurd extent that it is often 
 diflficult to obtain correct information from them. Thus if one 
 asks a man, is it far to such a place ? politeness requires him to 
 reply it is far, though it may be close by. The questioner, by 
 using the word far, is supposed to be under the impression that it 
 is at a distance, and it would be rudeness to correct him. They 
 express their thanks for whatever is told to them, whether the 
 intelligence is pleasing or not, and whether they believe it or not. 
 Then, too, no one of them ever denies the existence of a Supreme 
 Being, but admits it without hesitation as soon as he is told of it, 
 though he may not once have thought of the subject before. 
 
 The missionaries must have been deceived by these habits of 
 the people, for they were convinced that their words had taken 
 deep root, and within a very short time they baptized about four 
 hundred individuals at the kraal, including the chief and his 
 family. The chief received the name Constantino, his principal 
 wife Isabel, and his sons and councillors the names of leading 
 Portuguese nobles. It is not easy to analyse the thoughts of 
 those uncultivated barbarians, but certainly what they under- 
 stood by this ceremony must have been something very dififerent 
 from what the missionaries understood by it. 
 
 After a sojourn of only seven weeks at Otongwe, Dom Gonjalo 
 da Silveira returned to Inhambane, leaving behind him the other 
 members of the mission and what he believed to be an infant 
 Christian community. The little vessel had taken in the cargo 
 obtained in barter, and the Portuguese traders, who were ready 
 to go on board, were waiting for him. The missionary embarked 
 with them, the sails were set, and he proceeded to Mozambique 
 to prepare for a visit to the Monomotapa. 
 
 T 
 
2 28 History of South Africa, 
 
 Having made his arrangements with the assistance of the 
 captain Pantaleao de Sa, on the 18th of September 1560 he left 
 the island again with the Kalanga country as his destination. 
 He was accompanied by six Portuguese, one of whom, Antonio 
 Dias by name, was a competent interpreter. The zambuco in 
 which he was a passenger touched at the mouth of the Kilimano, 
 and then proceeded to the Cuama, up which she made her way 
 to Sena. From ten to fifteen Portuguese and a few Indian 
 Christians were found at this place, living in the most dissolute 
 manner. There was no resident clergyman, so during the two 
 months that he remained here waiting for a reply to a message 
 that he sent to the Monomotapa, he pursued his calling and 
 induced some of his countrymen to amend their habits, besides 
 which he baptized about five hundred natives, mostly servants 
 and slaves of the Europeans. At Sena he was joined by a 
 Portuguese resident of Tete, named Gomes Coelho, who was 
 living on terms of friendship with the paramount Kalanga chief, 
 and who was conversant with his language. 
 
 At length a reply was received from the Monomotapa, inviting 
 the missionary to visit him, so he and his attendants set out over 
 land for Tete, sending their luggage and other goods up the 
 river in boats. At Tete a stay was made only sufficiently long 
 to engage more native carriers, and the party then proceeded 
 onward, forming quite a little caravan. Gomes Coelho 
 remained at the river to attend to any forwarding business 
 that was to be done, as he had ascertained that his presence 
 with Dom Gon^alo would not be needed. The road was long, 
 and food became so scarce that they were glad to get any kind 
 of edible wild plants, but on the 26th of December they reached 
 their destination in safety. 
 
 At the kraal of the great chief there was living at this time a 
 Portuguese adventurer named Antonio Caiado, one of a class of 
 men met with then as now, who, while retaining affection for the 
 country of their birth, can make themselves perfectly at home 
 among barbarians. Caiado had ingratiated himself with the 
 Monomotapa, and was a councillor of rank and principal military 
 authority in the tribe. He was deputed by the chief to wait 
 
Intercourse with the Bantti. 229 
 
 upon the strangers, to bid them welcome as messengers from 
 the viceroy of India, and to ofier their leader a present of gold 
 dust, cattle, and female slaves, as a token of friendship. The 
 missionary declined the present, but in such a way as not to give 
 offence, and shortly afterwards the great chief admitted him to 
 an interview. He was received with all possible honour as an 
 ambassador from the viceroy, who, from accounts of previous 
 Portuguese visitors to the great place, was believed to be a 
 potentate of enormous wealth and power. The message of 
 friendship and the present which he brought gave great satisfac- 
 tion. Food and huts for himself and his retinue were offered 
 and accepted with thanks, but the African chief was surprised 
 when the missionary, so unlike all other white men he had met, 
 courteously declined to accept the gold and female companions 
 pressed upon him. 
 
 The same mistake was made here as at Gamba's kraal, the 
 missionary addressed the chief and his assembled people through 
 an interpreter, they professed to believe what he said, and 
 allowed themselves to be baptized. This took place within a 
 month from the date of his arrival. The Monomotapa was a 
 mere youth, and one of his half brothers, Tshepute by name, 
 was in revolt against him. The insurgent had taken the title of 
 Kiteve, and was in possession of a broad tract of territory along 
 the coast from Sofala to the Tendankulu river, in which he was 
 quite independent. Under these circumstances it was evidently 
 the interest of the Monomotapa and his adherents to do nothing 
 to offend any one who offered him friendship, especially one who 
 represented a powerful, though distant ruler. Looking at the 
 matter in this light, there is nothing strange in what occurred. 
 The Monomotapa received at his baptism the name Sebastiao, 
 and his mother at hers Maria. Some three hundred of his 
 councillors, attendants, and followers were baptized with him. 
 
 The chief evidently thought his visitors would not make a 
 long stay, and he was very willing to entertain them for a few 
 weeks and please them to the best of his ability, but shortly 
 after his baptism he began to get weary of their presence. He 
 had no intention whatever of abandoning any of the customs of 
 
 T 2 
 
230 History of South Africa, 
 
 his race, and was irritated when the missionary urged him to do 
 so. Some Mohamedan refugees from Mozambique, who were 
 staying with him, took advaatage of his growing coldness to 
 persuade him that Silveira was a mighty sorcerer. They 
 reminded him of the loss of the presents which the officials of 
 Sofala had made to his predecessors, and that Dom Gon9alo had 
 been in Tshepute's country, from which they inferred that he 
 had left people behind him there and had come in advance as a 
 spy to ascertain the condition of the land and bewitch the people 
 in it. In the end they so worked upon his credulity and his 
 fear that he resolved if the missionary would not leave to put 
 him to death, with which resolution Dom Gonjalo was made 
 acquainted. He, however, declined to remove, and took no other 
 precautions than to give some articles that he regarded as sacred 
 to Caiado, with an injunction to preserve them from injury. In 
 the belief that he was making converts he was willing to face 
 death, and presently he baptized fifty individuals who expressed 
 a desire to become Christians, probably for the sake of the beads 
 and pieces of calico that he distributed among them. This was 
 regarded by the Monomotapa as a defiance of his authority, and 
 in his wrath he issued orders to a party of men, who strangled 
 the missionary during the night of the 16th of March 1561 and 
 cast his dead body into the river Monsengense. The newly 
 baptized narrowly escaped the same fate. 
 
 A drought of some duration occurred not long afterwards, and 
 was followed by a great plague of locusts. Caiado and other 
 Portuguese now persuaded the chief that these evils were con- 
 sequences of the murder of Silveira, so he caused the principal 
 Mohamedans who had poisoned his mind towards the missionary 
 to be put to death. 
 
 Father Andre Fernandes and the lay brother Andre da Costa 
 had been left by Dom Gonpalo at Gamba's kraal Otongwe. 
 Whether the lay brother died or left the country is unknown : 
 in numerous letters written by Father Fernandes at a little later 
 date neither he nor Joao Kaposo is mentioned, and the father 
 refers to himself as being quite alone. It was truly a wretched 
 condition for a European to be in, especially as it soon became 
 
Intercourse with the Bantu. 231 
 
 evident ttiat the supposed converts wero altogether indisposed 
 to lay aside their old customs or to submit to ecclesiastical 
 discipline. They would not abandon polygamy, or the belief in 
 charms, or the practice of divination, or punishment of persons 
 charged with dealing in witchcraft, and were greatly offended 
 with the preaching of the missionary against their habits. They 
 had a custom also — which still exists — that when a man died his 
 brothers should take his widows and raise up a family for him, 
 and this the missionary denounced to their great annoyance. 
 At length matters reached a climax. There was a drought in 
 the country, and the chief Gamba, who was also the rainmaker 
 of his clan, went through the ordinary ceremonies to obtain a 
 downpour. For doing this Father Fernandes openly and fear- 
 lessly rebuked him before his people, with the result that 
 whatever influence he had before was now at an end. He had 
 nothing left to buy food with, and at times was nearly starved. 
 Neglected, often fever-stricken, regarded as a wizard to be 
 avoided, after a residence of over two years at Otongwe he 
 received instructions from his provincial to return to Goa, and 
 so he left a country in which under the circumstances then 
 existing he must have perished had he remained longer, without 
 a chance of doiug any good. Making his way as best he could 
 to Inhambane, he proceeded to Mozambique in the trading 
 vessel, and there embarked in a ship which conveyed him in 
 an extremely debilitated condition to the convent of his order 
 in Goa. 
 
 Thus ended the first mission to the Bantu of South Africa. It 
 is possible that some traces of the doctrine of the teachers may 
 have remained, for instance a belief in the existence of the 
 devil ; but as far as the introduction of Christian morals is con- 
 cerned the mission had no result whatever. Without something 
 beyond natural agency it could not have been otherwise among 
 people such as the Makalanga at that time, whose race instinct 
 was exceedingly strcng, and whose political and social system 
 was based upon ideas utterly antagonistic to those of Europeans. 
 
232 History of South Africa. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DISASTROUS EXPEDITIONS UNDER BARRETO AND HOMEM. 
 
 Dona Catharina acted as regent of Portugal until 1562, 
 when she retired and the cardinal Dom Henrique, younger 
 brother of King Joao III, took her place. While he was 
 head of the government nothing worthy of mention occurred 
 in South-Eastern Africa. It was his intention to station at 
 Mozambique an ecclesiastical administrator, with authority 
 almost equal to that of a bishop, and a bull was obtained 
 from the pope for the purpose. The archbishop of Goa gave 
 his consent to the separation from his diocese of the territory 
 from the Cape of Good Hope to Melinde. The licentiate 
 Manuel Coutinho, one of the royal chaplains, received the 
 appointment, with a salary of about 80Z. a year from the 
 1st of April 1563. But something occurred to prevent the 
 plan being carried into execution, and it was not revived 
 until half a century later. 
 
 In 1568 Dom Sebastiao, though only in his fifteenth year, 
 was declared to be of age, and was crowned king of Portugal, 
 then an absolute monarchy. His was a strange character : 
 gloomy, but adventurous to the last degree, deeply religious 
 according to the standard of his time, but wilful and vain, 
 brave as any warrior who ever held lance in hand, but rash 
 as the most imprudent of those crusaders whom in many 
 respects he greatly resembled. He had hardly assumed the 
 reins of government when he resolved to create a vast 
 dominion in Africa south of the Zambesi, a dominion which 
 in wealth and importance would rival that of Castile in the 
 countries subjected to that crown by the daring of Cortes and 
 Pizarro. 
 
Disastrous Military Expeditions. 233 
 
 Ever since the establishment of the trading station at 
 Sofala a quantity of gold had been obtained yearly in com- 
 merce, but that quantity was so small as to be disappointing. 
 Compared with the wealth which flowed into Spain from 
 Mexico and Peru it was almost as nothing. Yet the belief 
 was general in Portugal that the mines of South Africa were 
 as rich as those of America, and that if possession of them 
 was taken, boundless wealth would be obtained. 
 
 Were not these the mines from which the queen of Sheba 
 got the gold which she presented to King Solomon? said 
 the Portuguese enthusiasts. Was not Masapa the ancient 
 Ophir? Why even then the Kalanga Kaffirs called the 
 mountain close to the residence of their great chief Fura, 
 and the Arabs called it Aufur, what was that but a corrup- 
 tion of Ophir ? There, at Abasia, close to Masapa and to 
 the mountain Fura, was a mine so rich that there were 
 seldom years in which nuggets worth four thousand cruzados 
 (1904/. 13s. 4d) * were not taken from it. Then there were 
 the mines of Manika and far distant Butua, worked only by 
 Bantu, who neither knew how to dig nor had the necessary 
 tools. Only by washing river sand and soil in pools after 
 heavy rains, these barbarians obtained all the gold that was 
 purchased at Sofala and the smaller stations : what would 
 not be got if civilised Europeans owned the territory? For 
 it was to be borne in mind that the Bantu were extremely 
 indolent, that when any one of them obtained sufficient gold 
 to supply his immediate wants, he troubled himself about 
 washing the soil no longer. 
 
 All this and more of the same nature was exciting the 
 minds of the people of Portugal, and was reflected in the 
 glowing pages of their writers. It was therefore a highly 
 popular enterprise that the boy king was about to embark 
 upon, one in which he could employ the best men and much 
 
 * The weight of the cruzado of King Sebastiao is given to nic by the curator 
 of the coin department of the British Museum as 58 '7 grains Troy, and its 
 purity as practically the same as that of English gold. I have therefore 
 estimated it at 114 •28c^. 
 
234' History of South Africa. 
 
 of the wealth of the country without a murmur from any one. 
 Before the necessary preparations were made, however, the 
 pious sovereign submitted to a board termed the table of 
 conscience the question whether aggressive warfare against 
 the native ruler of the coveted territory would be lawful and 
 just. The reply must have been foreseen, but it would relieve 
 the monarch of personal moral responsibility in the eyes of 
 Christendom, probably even in his own, if his learned advisers 
 favoured his views. 
 
 The board of conscience consisted of seven individuals, who 
 took the circumstances of the case into consideration, and on 
 the 23rd of January 1569 pronounced their opinion. They 
 declared that as the Monomotapa and his predecessors had 
 been guilty of killing and robbing their own innocent subjects 
 as well as several Portuguese traders, that one of them had 
 ordered the father Dom Gon^alo da Silveira, a peaceful 
 missionary, to be murdered, that by them two Portuguese 
 ambassadors from the captain of Sofala had been robbed and 
 detained as prisoners, that they sheltered in their dominions 
 many Moors, the enemies of the Christian faith and instigators 
 of evil, and that apostolic bulls were in existence conceding 
 to the king all the commerce of the country from Cape Nun 
 to India upon condition of his causing the gospel to be 
 preached there, it would be right and proper to demand in 
 moderate terms that the African ruler should receive and 
 protect Christian missionaries, expel the Moors, cease tyran- 
 nical conduct towards his subjects, carry on commerce in a 
 friendly manner, and make sufficient compensation for all 
 damage done and expenses incurred ; and upon his failing 
 to do so war might justly be made upon him. It would 
 certainly be difficult to find better reasons for hostilities than 
 those here given, if the true object had not been something 
 very different. 
 
 The next step was the division of India into three govern- 
 ments. Complaints were unceasing that in places distant from 
 Goa it was almost impossible to carry on business properly, 
 owing to the length of time required to obtain orders and 
 
Disastrous Military Expeditions. 235 
 
 instructions, and it was evident that war on an extensive 
 scale could not be conducted successfully in Eastern Africa 
 if the general in command should be in any way hampered. 
 The whole sphere of Portuguese influence in the East was 
 therefore separated into three sections : the first extending 
 from Cape Correntes to Cape Guardafui, the second from 
 Cape Guardafui to Pegu, and the third from Pegu to China. 
 As head of the first and commander in chief of the expedition 
 about to be sent out the king's choice fell upon Francisco 
 Barreto, an officer of experience in war, who had been governor 
 general of India from 1555 to 1558, and who was then in 
 chief command of the royal galleys. The appointment was a 
 popular one, for Barreto had the reputation of being not only 
 brave and skilful, but the most generous cavalier of his day. 
 He was instructed to enrol a thousand soldiers, and was 
 supplied with a hundred thousand cruzados (47,616Z. 13s. ^d.) 
 in ready money, with a promise of an equal sum in gold and 
 a reinforcement of five hundred men every year until the 
 conquest should be completed. All Lisbon was in a state of 
 excitement when this became known, and so great was the 
 enthusiasm with which the project was regarded that from 
 every side cadets of the best families pressed forward and 
 offered their services. The recruiting offices were so crowded 
 that only the very best men were selected, and those who 
 were rejected would have sufficed for another expedition. 
 
 Three ships were engaged to take the troops to Mozambique. 
 One of these — the Bamha — was a famous Indiaman, and the 
 largest in the king's service. In addition to the crew, six 
 hundred soldiers, of whom more than half were of gentle 
 blood and two hundred were court attendants, embarked with 
 Barreto in this ship. In each of the others two hundred 
 soldiers embarked. One was commanded by Vasco Fernandes 
 Homem, the other by Lourenpo Carvalho. The viceroy at 
 Goa was instructed to forward supplies of provisions and 
 military stores to Mozambique, and to procure horses, asses, 
 and camels at Ormuz for the use of the expedition. A 
 hundred negroes were sent out to take care of the animals 
 
236 History of South Africa. 
 
 when they arrived. To accompany the expedition four 
 fathers of the Society of Jesus were selected, one of whom — 
 Francisco Monclaros by name — wrote an account of it which 
 is still in existence. 
 
 On the 16th of April 1569 the expedition, that was supposed 
 to have a brilliant career before it, sailed from Belem amidst 
 the roar of artillery and a great sound of trumpets. Almost 
 immediately the first trouble was encountered, in the form of 
 a gale which caused so much damage to the ship commanded 
 by Lourenfo Carvalho that she was obliged to return to 
 Lisbon, where she was condemned. The other two took 
 seventy-seven days to reach the equator, and then separated, 
 Vasco Fernandes Homem proceeding to Mozambique, where he 
 arrived in August, and the captain general steering for the bay 
 of All Saints on the coast of Brazil to procure water and 
 refreshments. The B,ainlia dropped anchor in this bay on the 
 4th of August, and remained until the end of January 1570, 
 waiting for the favourable monsoon. During this time sixty 
 of the soldiers died, but as many others were obtained in their 
 stead. 
 
 At the bay of All Saints Francisco Barreto received 
 information of a destructive plague tliat had broken out in 
 Lisbon, and that his wife, Dona Beatriz d'Ataide, had died 
 of it only two days after his departure. Having sailed again, 
 the Cape of Good Hope was passed in safety, but on the 
 banks of Agulhas a storm was encountered which drove the 
 ship so far back that she was thirty-six days in recovering 
 her position. In consequence of this, Mozambique was not 
 reached until the 16th of May 1570, where Yasco Fernandes 
 Homem was found with his men all ill and having lost many 
 by death, among them his own son Antonio Mascarenhas. 
 None of the requisite supplies or animals had yet arrived 
 from India. Pedro Barreto, a nephew of the commander in 
 chief, had been captain of Sofala and Mozambique, but upon 
 hearing of the new arrangement in a fit of jealousy had 
 thrown up his appointment and embarked in a ship returning 
 to Europe. This is the man whose shabby treatment of Luis 
 
Disastrous Military Expeditions, 237 
 
 de CamCies has blackened his name for ever in Portuguese 
 history. He died on the passage to Lisbon. His affairs in 
 Africa were wound up by his agent, from whom Vasco 
 Fernandes Homem, who assumed the government, demanded 
 the proceeds of his property, amounting to about thirty-three 
 thousand pounds sterling. This money was transferred to 
 Francisco Barreto upon his arrival, who made use of it in 
 defraying some of the expenses of the expedition. 
 
 The town of Mozambique at this time contained about a 
 hundred Portuguese residents and two hundred Indians and 
 Kaffirs. The Mohamedan village on the island was in a 
 ruinous condition. The construction of Fort Sao Sebastiao 
 was progressing, and some heavy artillery brought out in the 
 Bainha was landed to be mounted on its walls. 
 
 Francisco Barreto appointed Lourenfo Godinho captain of 
 Mozambique provisionally, and in October sent Vasco Fernandes 
 Homem with three hundred soldiers to the ports along the 
 coast to the northward to obtain provisions and then take 
 possession of the Comoro islands. A few weeks later he 
 followed himself in pangayos with the remainder of his force 
 who were in health, and overtook Homem at Kilwa, which 
 was then a place of very little importance. From Kilwa he 
 proceeded to Mafia, and after a stay there of two or three 
 days, to Zanzibar. At this island some Kaffirs who were in 
 insurrection were reduced to order. After this Barreto visited 
 Mombasa, Melinde, Cambo, and Pate. At the place last 
 named the inhabitants were more hostile to the Portuguese 
 than at any other settlement on the coast, and on that 
 account it was intended to destroy the town ; but it was 
 found almost deserted, and the few people left in it begged 
 for mercy and were spared on paying five thousand seven 
 hundred and fourteen pounds sterling, partly in gold and 
 partly in cloth and provisions. They avenged themselves 
 after the expedition sailed, however, by robbing and murdering 
 several Portuguese traders. As many of the soldiers had died 
 along the coast and others were very ill, Barreto here 
 abandoned his design against the Comoro islands, and from 
 
238 History of South Africa. 
 
 Pate returned to Mozambique with the tribute money and 
 provisions he had obtained. 
 
 Upon his arrival at the island he found a small vessel 
 under command of Manuel de Mesquita Perestrello, that had 
 been sent from Portugal to his assistance. The Bainha was 
 lying a wreck on the coast of the mainland, having been 
 driven from her anchors in a hurricane, but her cargo had 
 previously been taken on shore. Two ships which the viceroy 
 Dom Luis d'Ataide had sent from India with munitions of 
 war, stores of different kinds, horses, and other animals for 
 the use of the expedition, had just made their appearance. 
 With these, however, Barreto received information that a 
 powerful hostile force was besieging Chaul, so he called a 
 council of his officers and put the question to them whether 
 it would not be more advantageous to the king's service to 
 defer the xifrican conquest for a time, and proceed to the 
 relief of that place. The council was of opinion that they 
 should first force the enemy to raise the siege of Chaul, and 
 then return and take possession of the gold mines, so pre- 
 parations for that purpose were at once commenced. 
 
 Before Barreto could sail for Chaul, Dom Antonio de 
 Noronha, the newly appointed viceroy of India from Cape 
 Guardafui to Pegu, arrived at Mozambique with a fleet of 
 five ships having on board two hundred soldiers to reinforce 
 the African expedition. His appearance put a different aspect 
 upon affairs. He was very ill when ]ie reached the island, 
 but after a few days he recovered sufficiently to be present at 
 a general council, which was attended by a large number of 
 officers of high rank and more than twenty fathers of the 
 Society of Jesus and the order of Saint Dominic, wlien it was 
 unanimously resolved that the African expedition should at 
 once be proceeded with. With one exception, the members 
 of the council were of opinion that Sofala should be made 
 the base of operations, the father Francisco Monclaros alone 
 holding that the route should be up the Zambesi to a certain 
 point, and then straight to the mountain where the paramount 
 chief of the Kalanga tribe resided, in order to punish that 
 
Disastrous Military Expeditions. 239 
 
 despot for the murder of the missionary Dom Gonpalo da 
 Silveira. 
 
 Barreto accepted the decision of the majority of the 
 council, and commenced to send his stores to Sofala in small 
 vessels, but after a time his miud misgave him. He had 
 been specially commanded by the king on all occasions of 
 importance to follow the advice of Father Monclaros, who 
 was in high favour at court. After another consultation with 
 him, the captain general suddenly recalled the pangayos from 
 Sofala, and in November 1571 left Mozambique for Sena with 
 twenty-two vessels of different sizes conveying his army and 
 stores. Two years and seven months had passed away since 
 he sailed from Lisbon, many of the men who had embarked 
 there in high hope of glory and wealth were no more, and 
 most of those who remained alive were enfeebled by the long 
 sojourn on that unhealthy coast. It is creditable to them 
 that at last, when the time of action appeared to have arrived, 
 they were still found eager to press forward. 
 
 On the way down the coast the flotilla put into several 
 ports before reaching the Quilimane, where Barreto procured 
 a number of luzios or large boats ; but finding that mouth 
 of the Zambesi not then navigable into the main stream, he 
 proceeded to the Luabo. At Quilimane only two or three 
 Portuguese were residing. The Bantu chief, whose name was 
 Mongalo, had a distinct remembrance of Vasco da Gama's 
 visit seventy-five years before. 
 
 Sixteen days were required to ascend the river from the 
 bar of the Luabo to Sena. Sometimes the sails were set, at 
 other times the vessels were towed by boats, and where the 
 current was very strong warping was resorted to. Barreto 
 resolved to make Sena his base of proceedings. Ten Portu- 
 guese traders were living there in wattled huts, but there 
 was no fort or substantial building of any kind. The troops 
 were landed, and were found to number over seven hundred 
 arquebusiers, exclusive of officers, slaves, and camp attendants 
 of every description. Their supply of provisions was ample. 
 They had horses to draw the artillery and mount a respectable 
 
240 History of South Africa. 
 
 company, a number of asses to carry skin water-bags, and 
 some camels for heavy transport. As far as war material was 
 concerned, the expedition was as well equipped as it could 
 be. But this first campaign of Europeans against Bantu in 
 Southern Africa was opened under exceptional difficulties, for 
 the locality was the sickly Zambesi valley, and the time was 
 the hottest of the year. 
 
 Agents were at once sent out to purchase oxen, and the 
 work of building a fort was commenced without delay. Stone 
 for the purpose was drawn to the site selected by cattle 
 trained to the yoke, the first ever so employed in South 
 Africa, which caused great astonishment to the Bantu specta- 
 tors. The beginning of trouble was occasioned by thirst. The 
 river, owing to heavy falls of rain along its upper course, was 
 so muddy and dirty that its water could not be used without 
 letting it settle, and the only vessels available for this purpose 
 were a few calabashes. Then sickness broke out, and men, 
 horses, and oxen began to die, owing, as the captain general 
 supposed, to the impurities which they drank. Father ]V[on- 
 claros, however, was of a different opinion. He believed that 
 the Mohamedans who resided at Sena were poisoning the 
 grass to cause the animals to perish, and were even practising 
 the same malevolence towards the men, when opportunities 
 occurred, by putting some deadly substance secretly in the 
 food. He urged Barreto to expel them, who declined to do 
 so, and to ascertain whether purer water could not be obtained, 
 caused a well to be dug. The excavation was made, and 
 stone was being brought to build a wall round it, when one 
 Manhoesa, a man of mixed Arab and Bantu blood, went to 
 Barreto privately and told him that there was a plot to put 
 poison in it. 
 
 The Mohamedan residents of the place were traders who 
 purchased goods from the Portuguese and paid for them in 
 gold and ivory. Some of them owned many slaves, whom 
 they employed as carriers in their bartering expeditions and 
 agents in pushing their traffic far into the interior. They 
 were governed by their own sheik, and were quite inde- 
 
Disastrous Military Expeditions. 241 
 
 pendent of other control. Most of them conhl speak the 
 Portuguese language sufficiently well to be understood, and 
 after the expedition arrived professed to entertain friendship 
 for the members of it, though at heart it was impossible for 
 the two races at that time to be really well disposed towards 
 each other. Apart from the wide gulf which religion caused, 
 the Christians had come to destroy the commerce with the 
 Bantu by which these mongrel Arabs lived, how could there 
 then be friendship between them? 
 
 Barreto believed Manhoesa's statement, and caused the 
 well to be filled up. The horses were now dying off at an 
 alarming rate, — ^just as would happen to-day, for in that 
 locality they cannot long exist, — and upon the bodies being 
 opened, the appearance of the lungs convinced the Portuguese 
 that they had been poisoned. The grooms were arrested, and 
 as they protested that they were innocent, the captain general 
 commanded them to be put to the torture. Under this 
 ordeal some of them declared that they had been bribed by 
 a Moorish priest to kill the horses, and that he had supplied 
 them with poison for the purpose. 
 
 Upon this evidence Barreto ordered his soldiers to attack 
 the Mohamedans suddenly and put them to the sword. The 
 country around was thereupon scoured to a considerable 
 distance, and all the adult males were killed except seventeen, 
 who were brought to the camp as prisoners. Their property 
 of every kind was seized, most of which was divided among 
 the soldiers as booty, though gold to the value of over 6700Z. 
 was reserved for the service of the king. The prisoners were 
 tried, and were sentenced to death. They were exhorted to 
 embrace Christianity, in order to save their souls, but all 
 rejected the proposal except one, who was baptized with the 
 name Louren90, and was accompanied to the scaffold by a 
 priest carrying a crucifix. This one was hanged, some were 
 impaled, some were blown from the mouths of mortars, and 
 the others were put to death in various ways with exquisite 
 torture. Of the whole adult male Mohamedan population 
 of Sena and its neighbourhood only Manhoesa was left alive. 
 
242 History of South Africa, 
 
 Such dreadful barbarity inflicted upon people innocent of 
 the crime with which they were charged was regarded by 
 Father Monclaros as a simple act of justice, and he recorded 
 the horrible event without the slightest recognition of the 
 infamy attached to it. 
 
 Shortly after he reached Sena Barreto sent Miguel Bernardes, 
 an old resident in the country, to the Monomotapa; but he 
 was drowned on the way by the overturning of his canoe in 
 the river. Another was then despatched on the same errand. 
 A messenger went in advance to ascertain whether he would 
 be received in a manner becoming the representative of the 
 king of Portugal, because in that capacity he would not be at 
 liberty to lay aside his arms, to prostrate himself upon the 
 ground, and to kneel when addressing the chief, as was the 
 ordinary custom when natives or strangers presented them- 
 selves. Some Mohamedans were at the great place when the 
 messenger arrived, and they tried to induce the Monomotapa 
 not to see the envoy except in the usual manner. They 
 informed him that the Portuguese were powerful sorcerers, 
 who, if permitted to have their own way, might bewitch and 
 even kill him by their glances and their words. The chief 
 was alarmed by their statements and therefore hesitated for 
 some days, but in the end he promised that the envoy might 
 present himself in the Portuguese manner, and would be 
 received with friendship. 
 
 Barreto's agent then proceeded to the Monomotapa's kraal. 
 He had several attendants with him, and before him went ser- 
 vants carrying a chair and a carpet. The carpet was spread 
 on the ground in front of the place where the Monomotapa 
 was reclining with his councillors and great men half 
 surrounding him, the chair was placed upon it, and the 
 Portuguese official, richly dressed and armed, took his seat 
 in it, his attendants, also armed, standing on each side and 
 at his back. The European subordinate and the greatest of 
 all the South African chiefs were there in conference, and 
 the European, by virtue of his blood, assumed and was 
 conceded the higher position of the two. 
 
Disastrous Military Expeditions. 243 
 
 After some complimentary remarks from each, the envoy, ^ 
 
 through his interpreter, introduced the subject of his mission, 
 which he said was to obtain the grant of a right of way to 
 the gold mines of Manika and Butua, and to form an 
 alliance against the chief Mongasi — (variously written by the 
 Portuguese Omigos, Mongas, and Monge), — the hereditary 
 enemy of the Makalanga. The real object of Barreto's expe- 
 dition, the seizure of the gold mines in the Kalanga country 
 itself, was kept concealed. The Monomotapa, as a matter of 
 course, was charmed with the proposal of assistance against 
 his enemy. The tribe of which Mongasi was the head 
 occupied the right bank of the Zambesi at and above the 
 Lupata gorge, and during several preceding years had com- 
 mitted great ravages upon its neighbours. Its territory was 
 small compared with that over which the Kalanga clans were 
 spread, but its men were brave and fond of war, and to the 
 Portuguese it was not certain which of the two was really 
 the more powerful, Mongasi or the Monomotapa himself. The 
 condition of things indeed was somewhat similar to that in 
 the same country three centuries later, except that Mongasi 
 and his fighting men were in power far below Lobengula and 
 the Matabele bands. The chief had given the Portuguese 
 cause for enmity by robbing and killing several traders, and 
 on one occasion sending a party to Tete who, finding no 
 white men there at the time, murdered about seventy of their 
 female slaves and children. 
 
 The Monomotapa was so pleased that he readily agreed to 
 everything that the envoy proposed. He offered to send a 
 great army to assist against Mongasi, and he said that a 
 way through his territory to the mines beyond would be open 
 to the Portuguese at all times. This was very satisfactory 
 from Barreto's point of view, though he did not avail himself 
 of the offer of assistance, as he wished to avoid any com- 
 plications that might arise from it. 
 
 After a detention of seven months at Sena, the return 
 of the envoy enabled the captain general to proceed towards 
 his destination. The fort which he had nearly completed, 
 
 u 
 
244 History of South Africa. 
 
 named Sao Marpal, gave the Portuguese at least one strong 
 position on the great river, though the country about it was 
 not subdued, and the Bantu were left in absolute inde- 
 pendence there. He had lost by fever at that unhealthy 
 place a great many of those who had accompanied him from 
 Portugal with such high hope, among them his own son 
 Buy Nunes Barreto, and of the men who were left some were 
 barely able to walk. At the end of July 1572 he set out. 
 A flotilla of boats containing provisions and stores of all 
 kinds ascended the river, and along the bank marched the 
 army accompanied by twenty-five waggons drawn by oxen, 
 and the camels, asses, and a few horses that had recently 
 arrived from India. The troops, about six hundred and fifty 
 in number, including eighty Indians and mixed breeds, 
 were divided into five companies, commanded respectively by 
 Barreto himself, Antonio de Mello, Thome de Sousa, Jeronymo 
 d'Aguiar, and Jeronymo d'Andrada. Yasco Fernandes Ilomem, 
 who had the rank of colonel, filled an office corresponding to 
 that of quarter master general. Over two thousand slaves 
 and camp attendants were with the army. 
 
 A whole month was occupied in marching from Sena to the 
 confluence of the Mazoe and the Zambesi above the Lupata 
 gorge. Frequently a soldier became too ill to walk, and he 
 was then placed on a waggon until nightfall, when the 
 camp was pitched on the margin of the river and he was 
 transferred to one of the boats. The expedition was now to 
 ascend the Mazoe to Mongasi's great place, so near its mouth 
 Barreto formed a camp on a small island, and left there his 
 sick with the boats and all the superfluous baggage and 
 stores, for there was no possibility of proceeding with a 
 heavily encumbered column. An officer named Euy de Mello, 
 who had been wounded by a buffalo, was placed in charge of 
 this camp. On the northern, or Bororo side of the Zambesi, 
 there was a tribe of considerable strength living under a 
 chief named Tshombe, who was an enemy of Mongasi and 
 therefore as soon as he ascertained the object of the expedi- 
 tion professed to be a friend of the Portuguese. He supplied 
 
Disastrous Military Expeditions. 245 
 
 two hundred men to assist in carrying the baggage and to 
 act as guides. 
 
 With his force now reduced to five hundred and sixty 
 arquebusiers, twenty-three horsemen, and a few gunners with 
 five or six pieces of artillery, Bar re to turned away almost 
 due south from the Zambesi. In this direction the column 
 marched ten days, the men and animals suffering greatly at 
 times from want of water. How the slaves and camp 
 attendants fared is not mentioned by either De Couto or 
 Father Monclaros, but the soldiers lived chiefly on scanty 
 rations of beef, which they grilled on embers or by holding 
 it on rods before a fire, though often they were so exhausted 
 with the heat and fatigue that they were unable to eat 
 anything at all. Their spirits revived, however, when on the 
 eleventh day they came in sight of Mongasi's army, which 
 was so large that the hillsides and valleys looked black with 
 men. 
 
 Barreto immediately arranged his soldiers in a strong 
 position resting on a hill, and awaited an attack, but none 
 was made that day. All night the troops were under arms, 
 getting what sleep they could without moving from their 
 places, but that was little, for the natives at no great distance 
 were shouting continuously and making a great noise with 
 their war-drums. At dawn the sergeant-major, Pedro de 
 Castro, was sent out with eighty picked men to try and 
 draw the enemy on. This manoeuvre succeeded. The natives 
 rushed forward in a dense mass, led by an old female witch- 
 finder with a calabash full of charms, which she threw into 
 the air in the belief that they would cause the Portuguese to 
 become blind and palsied. So implicitly did the warriors 
 of Mongasi rely upon these charms, that they carried riems 
 to bind the Europeans who should not be killed. Barreto 
 ordered one of his best shots to try to pick the old sorceress 
 off, and she fell dead under his fire. The natives, who 
 believed that she was immortal, were checked for an instant, 
 but presently brandishing their weapons with great shouts, 
 they came charging on. 
 
 u 2 
 
246 History of South Africa. 
 
 Then, with a cry of Sao Thiago from the Portuguese, a 
 storm of balls from cannons and arquebuses and unwieldy 
 firelocks was poured into the dense mass, which was shattered 
 and broken. Barreto now in his turn charged, when the 
 enemy took to flight, but in the pursuit several Portuguese 
 were wounded with arrows. Fearing that his men might get 
 scattered, the general caused the recall to be sounded almost 
 at once, so that within a few minutes from its commence- 
 ment the action was over. 
 
 The horsemen were then sent out to inspect the country in 
 front. They returned presently with intelligence that there 
 was a large kraal close by, belonging to Kapote, one of 
 Mongasi's sub-chiefs, so the general resolved to set it on fire 
 as soon as the men were a little rested and had broken their 
 fast. About ten o'clock the expedition reached the kraal, 
 which was nearly surrounded by patches of forest, and it was 
 burned, but immediately afterwards the natives were seen 
 approaching. There was just time to form a kind of breast- 
 work at the sides of the field guns with stakes and bushes 
 when Mongasi's army, arranged in the form of a crescent 
 with its horns extended to surround the position, was upon 
 the invading band. It was received as before with a heavy 
 fire, which was kept back until the leading rank iwas within 
 a few feet, and which struck down the files far towards the 
 rear. The smoke which rolled over the Europeans and hid 
 them from sight was regarded by the Bantu with superstitious 
 fear, it seemed to them as if their opponents were under 
 supernatural protection, and so they fled once more. They 
 were followed some distance, and a great many were killed, 
 among whom was the chief Kapote, but the Portuguese also 
 suffered severely in the pursuit, for when Barreto's force 
 came together again it was found that more than sixty men 
 were wounded, some indeed only slightly but not a few 
 mortally, and two were dead. Of the enemy it was believed 
 that over six thousand had perished since dawn that morning, 
 though very probably this estimate was much in excess 
 of the actual number. 
 
Disastrous Military Expeditions. 247 
 
 The progress of the expedition was now delayed by the 
 necessity of establishing a hospital. Fortunately the site of 
 the captured kraal was a good one, and water was plentiful 
 close by. But at daylight on the sixth day after their 
 arrival the natives attacked them again. On this occasion 
 the Europeans were protected with palisades, which the Bantu 
 were unable to pass, though they continued their efforts to 
 force an entrance until an hour after noon. Their losses 
 under these circumstances must have been very heavy, and 
 they were so disheartened that they accepted their defeat as 
 decisive and sent a messenger to beg for peace. 
 
 Barreto's position at this time was one of great difficulty. 
 He was encumbered with sick and wounded men, the objective 
 point of his expedition was far away, his supply of ammu- 
 nition was small, and his slaughter cattle were reduced to a 
 very limited number. Yet he spoke to Mongasi's messenger 
 in a haughty tone, and replied that he would think over the 
 matter: the chief might send again after a couple of days, 
 and he would then decide. A present of fifty head of cattle 
 and as many sheep, a little gold, and a couple of tusks of 
 ivory, was sent to him, and he gave in return some iron 
 hoes, but no terms of peace were arranged. The animals 
 were of the greatest service, so small w^as his stock of food. 
 
 In less than a week from this time a council of war was 
 held, when there was but one opinion, that the only hope of 
 safety was in retreating without delay. The expedition there- 
 fore turned back towards the Zambesi, and so great were the 
 sufferings of the men for want of food on the way that they 
 searched for roots and wild plants to keep them alive. At 
 length, at the end of September, the bank of the river was 
 reached, and a canoe was obtained, with which a letter was 
 sent to Kuy de Mello, who was in command of the camp on 
 the island. That officer immediately despatched six boat 
 loads of millet and other provisions, and thus the exhausted 
 soldiers and camp attendants were saved. They had not 
 penetrated the country farther than forty-five miles in a 
 straight line from the river. 
 
248 History of South Africa, 
 
 There were more than two hundred men either wounded 
 or too ill to be of any service, and the losses by death had 
 been large, so Barreto resolved to return to Sena, where a 
 reinforcement of eighty soldiers who had recently arrived was 
 awaiting him. The sick were sent down the river in boats 
 affcer the remainder of the expedition had crossed to the 
 Bororo side with the animals and baggage, and the waggons, 
 now useless, had been burned. On the march provisions were 
 obtained from the natives, who were subjects of Tshombe, and 
 two kraals hostile to that chief were destroyed. 
 
 A few days after crossing the river Barreto received 
 information that his presence was urgently needed at 
 Mozambique. When he sailed from that island he left there 
 as captain a man eighty years of age, named Antonio Pereira 
 Brandao, and assigned to Lourenjo Godinho the office of 
 factor. Brandao was under the deepest obligation to him. 
 In the Maluccas he had committed crimes for which he was 
 tried and condemned to confiscation of all his property and 
 banishment to Africa for life. He threw himself upon the 
 compassion of Barreto, who obtained permission from the king 
 to take him with the expedition, and made him captain of 
 Mozambique purposely that he might acquire some property 
 to bestow upon his daughter. In return he acted with such 
 treachery towards his benefactor that he planned the detention 
 of supplies forwarded from Goa, in order to ruin him. 
 
 Upon learning this Barreto left Yasco Fernandes Homem 
 in command of the retreating force, and proceeded down the 
 river in a luzio. At Sena he found an embassy from the 
 Monomotapa, who brought a message expressing good will 
 and desiring friendship with the king of Portugal and com- 
 merce with the white people. The captain general mentioned 
 three conditions as requisite to a compact between them : 
 first that the Moharaedans should be expelled from the 
 country, secondly that Christian missionaries should be 
 received, and thirdly that a number of gold mines should 
 be ceded. He added that if these conditions were agreed to, 
 upon his return from Mozambique he would deal with other 
 
Disastrous Military Expeditions. 249 
 
 obstacles in the way of friendly commerce as he had dealt 
 with Mongasi. The principal man in the embassy replied 
 that the conditions were acceptable, and it was then arranged 
 that some Portuguese should return with the party to learn 
 from the Monomotapa himself whether he would agree to 
 them. 
 
 For this purpose Barreto appointed three gentlemen named 
 Francisco de Magalhaes, Francisco Rafaxo, and Gaspar Borges, 
 whom he sent in company with the Kalanga embassy on its 
 return home with a valuable present of cloth and other articles 
 to the Monomotapa. It was afterwards learned that Francisco 
 de Magalhaes died on the journey, and that the two others 
 were very well received. The Monomotapa, as was natural 
 under the circumstances, was profuse in friendly sentiments. 
 He promised to expel the Mohamedans from his country, to 
 receive Christian missionaries with friendship, and to give 
 some gold mines to the Portuguese to work ; but probably he 
 had no intention of literally carrying out the first and the 
 last of these concessions. He sent back a present of gold, 
 though it was of trifling value compared with what he had 
 received. 
 
 As soon as the remnant of the army reached Sena the 
 captain general instructed Vasco Fernandes Homem to com- 
 plete the construction of Fort Sao Marpal and the necessary 
 buildings connected with it, and then with Father Monclaros 
 and a few attendants he proceeded to the mouth of the Luabo 
 and embarked in a pangayo for Mozambique. Shortly after 
 his arrival at that island a ship arrived from India with 
 stores for the expedition, and in her came Joao da Silva, a 
 natural son of Barreto, who delivered to his father a number 
 of defamatory letters which Antonio Pereira Brandao had 
 written concerning him to the king, and which Dom Jorge 
 de Menezes, his relative by marriage, had intercepted. With 
 this new proof of Brandao's treachery in his possession the 
 captain general dismissed him from office, but was too 
 generous to punish him further. Lourenpo Godinho was 
 appointed captain of Mozambique in his stead. 
 
250 History of South Africa. 
 
 With his son, all the recruits he could obtain, a good 
 supply of ammunition and other material of war, and a large 
 quantity of calico with which to purchase provisions and 
 meet other expenses, on the 3rd of March 1573 Francisco 
 Barreto sailed again from Mozambique with a fleet of pan- 
 gayos, intending to invade Manika from Sena. But misfortune 
 still pursued him. Contrary winds were encountered, w^hich 
 compelled him to put into several ports, and two of the 
 pangayos, laden with ammunition and provisions, were lost. 
 At Quilimane intelligence was received of fearful mortality 
 among the troops at Sena. The captains Jeronymo d'Aguiar 
 and Antonio de Mello with all the inferior officers of the 
 several companies and most of the soldiers had died, and 
 Vasco Fernandes Homem and the Jesuit fathers were very ill. 
 All hope of being able to invade Manika was thus lost, but 
 Barreto felt that it w^ould be disgraceful to abandon his 
 people in such a time of distress, and so he pressed forward. 
 On the 1st of JMay he left the mouth of the river, and on 
 the 15th arrived at Sena. 
 
 At the landing place about fifty soldiers, all that were 
 able to stand, were waiting to receive hirii with banners dis- 
 played, but there was not an officer with them until Vasco 
 Fernandes Homem was brought down in a state of great 
 debility. The captain general and the priest passed on to the 
 hospital, where the sick tried to welcome them, but only one 
 man was able to discharge an arquebus. The sole remaining 
 physician was dying. It was a pitiful sight, this terrible end 
 of an expedition entered upon with such enthusiasm and such 
 unbounded hope of success. 
 
 Some of the sick improved in health owing to the medical 
 comforts Barreto had brought with him, but the whole of the 
 recruits just arrived were struck down almost at once. The 
 captain general, eight days after he reached Sena, had an 
 angry altercation with Father Monclaros, in which the priest 
 reproached him for not having abandoned the enterprise long 
 before and told him that God would bring him to account for 
 all the lives lost. Immediately after this the unfortunate 
 
Disastrous Military Expeditions. 251 
 
 commander took to his bed, and after a brief period of 
 exhaustion died in great distress of mind, though apparently 
 free of fever. In India and in his native country he had 
 been regarded as a man of high ability, but South Africa 
 destroyed his reputation, like that of many others since. He 
 was buried in the newly erected church within the fort Sao 
 Mar^al, but his remains and those of his son Kuy Nunes 
 Barreto were subsequently removed to Portugal, where by 
 order of the king a pompous state funeral was accorded to 
 them. His natural son, Joao da Silva, was taken by his 
 servants from Sena to Mozambique, prostrate with illness, 
 and died there. He had been wealthy, but his father had 
 borrowed all he possessed for the use of the army, as he had 
 done from many others, so that Francisco Barreto's executors 
 found that he not only left no property, but that he was 
 responsible for a hundred and twenty thousand cruzados 
 (57,140Z.) thus raised. 
 
 Upon opening the first of the sealed orders of succession 
 which had been given by the king to the late captain 
 general, the name of Pedro Barreto was found; but he had 
 long been dead. The second order of succession was then 
 opened, which contained the name of Vasco Fernaudes 
 Homem, who thereupon assumed the title of governor and 
 captain general of the African coast from Cape Guardafui to 
 Cape Correntes. Acting upon the advice of Father Monclaros, 
 the new governor retired to Mozambique as speedily as pos- 
 sible, taking with him all the material of war and men except 
 sufficient for a small garrison that he left in Fort Sao Mar^al 
 at Sena. 
 
 Shortly after he reached the island, an officer named 
 Francisco Pinto Pimentel, who was his cousin, arrived there 
 from India on his way home. This officer expressed the 
 utmost astonishment at his having abandoned an enterprise 
 which the king had resolved should be carried out, and for 
 which reinforcements were even then being sent from Portugal. 
 In his opinion it was gross dereliction of duty, and he re- 
 minded his relative that a high official had not long before 
 
252 History of South Africa. 
 
 lost his head for an act which might be regarded as similar. 
 The advice of Father Monclaros, he said, would not serve as 
 an excuse, because a priest could not be supposed to be a 
 guide in military matters. The father had already embarked 
 in a ship returning to Lisbon, so Pimentel's reasoning was 
 not counteracted by his influence. 
 
 The captain general therefore resolved to resume the 
 effort to get possession of the gold mines, and to make his 
 base of operations the port that had been recommended by 
 the council of officers and clergy in 1571. As many recruits 
 as could be obtained from ships that called were added to 
 the remnant of Barreto's force and the fresh soldiers just 
 arrived from Europe, a flotilla of coasting vessels was collected, 
 provisions were procured, and an army of some strength, well 
 provided with munitions of war, was conveyed to Sofala. The 
 date of its arrival cannot be given, as no Portuguese 
 chronicler or historian mentions it, and the original manuscript 
 of Father Monclaros terminates with the death of Francisco 
 Barreto. The Kiteve and Tshikanga tribes were found to be 
 at variance with each other, a circumstance that was favourable 
 to the captain general's views. As soon as his soldiers were 
 on shore, who mustered five hundred in number, exclusive of 
 attendants and camp followers, he sent presents to the Kiteve 
 chief, and requested a free passage to the Tshikanga territory, 
 but met with a refusal. The Bantu rulers always objected 
 to intercourse between white people and the tribes beyond 
 their own, because they feared to lose their toll on the 
 commerce which passed through their territories, and they 
 were also apprehensive of strangers forming an alliance with 
 their enemies. 
 
 Homem made no scruple in marching forward without the 
 chiefs permission, and when the Kiteves attempted to oppose 
 him with arms, a discharge of his artillery and arquebuses 
 immediately scattered them. They had not the mettle of the 
 gallant warriors of Mongasi. After several defeats the whole 
 tribe fled into a rugged tract of country, taking their cattle 
 with them, and leaving no grain that the invaders could find. 
 
Disastrous Military Expeditions. 253 
 
 Homem marched on to their Zimbabwe, which consisted of 
 thatched huts, to which he set fire. Two days later he 
 reached Tshikanga's territory. There he met men bringing 
 a present from the chief, who was delighted at the overthrow 
 of his enemy, and who gave him a warm welcome. 
 
 The Portuguese force went on to the great place, where a 
 camp was formed, the utmost good feeling being shown on 
 both sides. After a short rest Homem and some of his 
 principal men visited the mines, but were greatly disap- 
 pointed. They had expected to find the precious metal in 
 such abundance that they could take away loads of it, instead 
 of which a number of naked blacks carrying baskets of earth 
 from a deep cavity were seen, with some others washing the 
 earth in wooden troughs and after long and patient toil 
 extracting a few grains of gold. They at once concluded that 
 it could be of no advantage for them to hold the country. 
 An agreement was therefore made with the Tshikanga chief 
 that he should do everything in his power to facilitate com- 
 merce with his people, and for that purpose should allow 
 Portuguese traders or their agents to enter his country at any 
 time, in return for which the captain of the fort of Sofala 
 was to make him a yearly present of two hundred rolls of 
 cotton cloth. 
 
 The expedition went no farther in the Manika country, the 
 point reached being the place now known as Masikesi, or 
 somewhere near it. As soon as his people were refreshed, 
 Homem set out again for the coast, without attempting to 
 penetrate to the territory of the Monomotapa. On the way 
 messengers from the Kiteve chief met him, and begged for 
 peace, so an agreement was made with them similar in terms 
 to the one concluded with the owner of Manika. 
 
 It was at this time believed that silver was plentiful 
 somewhere on the southern bank of the Zambesi above Tete, 
 — the exact locality was uncertain, — and as the native tribes 
 in that direction were too weak to ofifer much resistance, the 
 captain general resolved to go in search of it and endeavour 
 to retrieve the pecuniary losses he and his predecessor had 
 
2 54 History of South Africa. 
 
 sustained. Accordingly he proceeded by sea from Sofala to 
 the Zambesi, and having ascended that river to Sena he 
 disembarked and marched upward along it. At first the 
 natives were friendly and he had no difficulty in adding to 
 his supply of provisions, but after a time he found that as he 
 advanced they abandoned their kraals and fled, so he built a 
 fort of wood and earth, in which he stationed a garrison of two 
 hundred men under Antonio Cardoso d'Almeida, and with 
 the remainder of the force he returned to Mozambique. 
 
 The natives now went back to their kraals, but kept away 
 from the fort. After a time provisions began to fail, so 
 D'Almeida sent out a raiding party that secured a quantity of 
 millet and a few cattle. Some of the natives after this asked 
 for peace, and terms were agreed upon, but when a band of 
 soldiers left the fort to explore the country, it was attacked, 
 and only a few men got back again. The place was then 
 surrounded, and the siege was maintained until the provisions 
 were exhausted, when the Portuguese tried to cut their way 
 out, but were all killed. 
 
 Thus ended the expeditions under Francisco Barreto and 
 Vasco Fernandes Homem, undertaken to get possession of the 
 mineral wealth of Soufch-Eastern Africa. Nothing more disas- 
 trous had happened to the Portuguese since their first 
 appearance in Indian waters. The original army and all the 
 reinforcements sent from Lisbon had perished, excepting a 
 few score of worn out and fever stricken men who reached 
 Mozambique in the last stage of despondency. To compensate 
 for the large expenditure that had been incurred, there was 
 nothing more than the fort Sao Mar9al at Sena and the few 
 buildings within it. The extent of the disaster was realised 
 by the king, and after a short and uneventful term of office 
 by Dom Fernando de Monroy, who succeeded Vasco Fernandes 
 Homem, an end was put to the captain generalship of Eastern 
 Africa, which thereupon reverted to its former position as a 
 dependency of the viceroyalty of India. 
 
Events to the Close of the Sixteenth Century. 255 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 EVENTS TO THE CLOSE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 On the 4th of August 1578 the great tragedy took place of 
 the death of King Sebastiao in battle with the Moors of 
 Northern Africa, and the total destruction of the army which 
 he commanded in person, the entire force of Portugal. At 
 once the little kingdom lost the proud position she had 
 occupied among the nations of Europe, and thereafter was 
 regarded as of trifling importance. The country had been 
 drained of men, and was completely exhausted. It must be 
 remembered that she never was in as favourable a condition 
 for conducting enterprises requiring large numbers of sailors 
 and soldiers as the Netherlands were at a later date. She 
 had no great reservoir of thews and muscles to draw from as 
 Holland had in the German states. Spain was behind her, as 
 the German states were behind the Netherlands, but Spain 
 found employment for all her sons in Mexico and Peru. 
 Portugal had to depend upon her own people. She was 
 colonising Brazil and Madeira too, and occupying forts and 
 factories on the western coast of Africa as well as on the 
 shores of the eastern seas. Of the hosts of men— the very 
 best of her blood — that went to India and Africa, few ever 
 returned. They perished of fevers or other diseases, or they 
 lost their lives in wars and shipwrecks, or they made homes 
 for themselves far from their native land. 
 
 To procure labourers to till the soil of her southern 
 provinces slaves were introduced from Africa. In 1441 Antao 
 Gonpalves and Nuno Tristao brought the first home with 
 them, and then the doom of the kingdom was sealed, l^g 
 
256 History of South Africa. 
 
 other Europeans have ever treated negroes so mildly as the 
 Portuguese, or been so ready to mix with them on equal 
 terms. But even in Estremadura, Alemtejo, and the Algarves 
 it was impossible for the European without losing self respect 
 to labour side by side with the African, and so all of the 
 most enterprising of the peasant class moved away. The 
 slaves, on embracing Christianity, had various privileges con- 
 ferred upon them, and their blood became mixed with that 
 of the least energetic of the peasantry, until a new and 
 degenerate stock, frivolous, inconstant, incapable of improve- 
 ment, was formed. In the northern provinces Entre Douro 
 e Minho and Tras os Montes a pure European race remained, 
 fit not only to conquer, but to hold dominion in distant 
 lands, though too small in proportion to the entire popula- 
 tion of the country to control its destinies. There to the 
 present day are to be met men capable of doing anything 
 that other Europeans can do, but to find the true descendants 
 of the Portuguese heroes of the sixteenth century, one must 
 not look among the lower classes of the southern and larger 
 part of the country now. 
 
 Further, corruption of the grossest kind was prevalent in 
 the administration everywhere. The great ofiices, including 
 the captaincies of the factories and forts in the distant 
 dependencies, were purchased from the favourites of the king, 
 though they were said to be granted on account of meri- 
 torious services. Keversions were secured in advance, often 
 several in succession, and there were even instances of 
 individuals acquiring the reversion of captaincies for nnnamed 
 persons. Such offices were held for three years, and the 
 men who obtained them did their utmost to make fortunes 
 within that period. TJiey were like the Munomotapa of the 
 Kalanga tribe, no one could approach them to ask a favour 
 or to conduct business without a bribe in his hand, every 
 commercial transaction paid them a toll. They had not 
 yet sunk in the deep sloth that characterised them at a later 
 date, but they lived in a style of luxury undreamed of in 
 earlier days. 
 
Events to the Close of the Sixteenth Century. 257 
 
 The exact manner in which Dom Sebastiao met his death 
 was never known. Many of the common people refused to 
 believe that he had been slain : he was hidden away, they 
 asserted, and in God's good time would return and restore the 
 kingdom to its former glory. Many generations passed away 
 before this strange conviction ceased to be held, and all the 
 time, in expectation of some great supernatural occurrence in 
 their favour, the nation allowed matters to take their course 
 without making a supreme effort to rectify them. The 
 cardinal Dom Henrique, an imbecile old man, ascended the 
 throne, but he died on the 31st of January 1580, and with 
 him the famous dynasty of Avis, that had ruled Portugal so 
 long and so gloriously, became extinct in the direct male 
 line. 
 
 The duchess of Bragan^a as the nearest heir in blood 
 might have succeeded, her title being unquestionably clear, but 
 the spirit of the nation was gone, and the duke, her husband, 
 did not choose to maintain her right against Philippe II of 
 Spain, who based his pretensions to the Portuguese throne 
 on his being descended on his mother's side from a younger 
 branch of the late royal family. Dom Antonio, prior of 
 Crato, an illegitimate son of the duke of Beja, second son of 
 Manuel the Fortunate, however, seized the vacant crown, but 
 in April 1581, as the whole people did not rally round him, 
 was easily expelled by a Spanish army commanded by the 
 duke of Alva. Philippe II then added Portugal to his 
 dominions, nominally as an independent kingdom with all its 
 governmental machinery intact as before, really as a subor- 
 dinate country, whose remaining resources, such as they were, 
 he drew upon for his wars in the Netherlands. To outward 
 appearance the little state might seem to occupy a more 
 impregnable position after such a close union with her power- 
 ful neighbour, but it was not so in reality. The enemies of 
 Spain now became her enemies also, her factories and fleets 
 were exposed to attack, and she received no assistance in 
 defending them. The period of her greatness had for ever 
 passed away. 
 
258 History of South Africa. 
 
 The establishment of missions among the Bantu by the 
 Dominicans was the most important occurrence in South- 
 Eastern Africa at this period. In 1577 Dom Luis d'Ataide, 
 when on his way to Goa to assume duty as viceroy, found 
 at Mozambique two friars of this order, named Jeronymo de 
 Couto and Pedro Usus Maris, who had come from India and 
 were preparing to proceed to Madagascar to labour among 
 the natives of that island. The viceroy induced them to 
 remain where they were, and provided them with means to 
 build a convent, in which six or seven of the brethren after- 
 wards usually resided. This was the centre from which their 
 missions were gradually extended in Eastern Africa. South 
 of the Zambesi, Sofala, Sena, and Tete were occupied within 
 the next few years. 
 
 The missionaries found the Europeans and mixed breeds at 
 these places without the ministrations of chaplains, and sadly 
 ignorant in matters spiritual. In the church within the 
 fortress at Sena, for instance, the friars were shocked to see 
 a picture of the Roman matron Lucre ti a, which had been 
 suspended over a shrine in the belief that it was a portrait 
 of Saint Catherine, and they observed with much surprise 
 that no one made any distinction between fast and feast 
 days. 
 
 They turned their attention therefore first to the nominal 
 Christians, and succeeded in effecting some improvement in 
 the condition of that class of the inhabitants, most of whom, 
 however, continued to live in a way that ministers of religion 
 could not approve of. They next applied themselves to the 
 conversion of the Bantu, but did not meet with the success 
 which they hoped for, though they baptized a good many 
 individuals. It was hardly possible for them to make converts 
 except among those who lived about the forts as dependents 
 of the white people, and who were certainly not the best 
 specimens of their race. The condition of the tribes was then 
 such that anything like improvement was well nigh impossible. 
 Wars and raids were constant, for an individual to abandon 
 the faith and customs of his forefathers was regarded as 
 
Events to the Close of the Sixteenth Century. 259 
 
 treason to his chief, and sensuality had attractions too strong 
 to be set aside. Away from the forts the missionaries were 
 compelled to endure hardships and privations of every kind, 
 hunger, thirst, exposure to heat, fatigue, and fever ; but the 
 initial part of their duty, as they understood it, was to suffer 
 without complaint. 
 
 In 1585 Dom Joao Gayo Ribeiro, bishop of Malacca, wrote 
 to the cardinal archduke Albert of Austria, who then governed 
 Portugal for the king, requesting him to obtain a reinforce- 
 ment of missionaries for the islands of Solor and Timur, 
 where Christianity was believed to be making rapid progress. 
 He addressed a similar letter to the provincial of the 
 Dominicans, and this, when made public, created such enthu- 
 siasm that a considerable number of friars at once volunteered 
 for service in India. Among them was one named Joao dos 
 Santos, to whom we are indebted for a minute and excellent 
 account of South-Eastern Africa and its people. Dos Santos 
 sailed from Lisbon with thirteen others of the same order on 
 the 13th of April 1586, and on the 13th of August of that 
 year reached Mozambique, where he received instructions 
 from his superior to proceed to Sofala to assist the friar Joao 
 Madeira, who was stationed there. Accordingly he set out in 
 the first pangayo that sailed, and after touching at the islands 
 of Angosha and the rivers Quilimane, Old Cuama, and Luabo 
 on the way, reached his destination on the 5th of December. 
 Two others of the party, the friars Jeronymo Lopes and Joao 
 Frausto, went to Sena and Tete, where they remained three 
 years and a half. When Dos Santos took up his abode at 
 Sofala Garcia de Mello was captain of the station, subject to 
 the control of the captain of Mozambique. 
 
 The fort built by Pedro d'Anaya had before this time been 
 reconstructed of stone, and nothing of the original walls 
 remained, but the tower erected by Manuel Fernandes was 
 still standing. The form of the first structure — that of a 
 square — was preserved, and a circular bastion had been added 
 at each of the corners. The buildings within the walls were 
 a church, warehouses to contain goods and stores, offices, and 
 
26o '* History q/ Sotith Africa. 
 
 residences for all the officials and people engaged in trade. 
 There was also a large cistern in which rain was collected, as 
 the water obtained in wells was not considered good. With 
 the exception of a bombardier, a master gunner, and six 
 assistants, the fort was without other garrison than the 
 European residents of the place and their servants. 
 
 Close by was a village containing six hundred inhabitants 
 professing Christianity. These were mixed breeds and negro 
 slaves or others employed by the Portuguese, who in case of 
 necessity would have been called upon to assist in defending 
 the station. In this village there was a chapel, and while 
 Dos Santos resided there a second place of devotion was built 
 in it, as well as another some distance outside. The friar 
 himself went with a party of men to an island in the Pungwe 
 river to cut the timber needed in their construction and to 
 repair and strengthen the church within the fort. The dwell- 
 ing houses in the village were tiny structures of wattles and 
 mud covered with thatch, not much larger or better than the 
 huts of Bantu. 
 
 Farther away was a hamlet occupied by about a hundred 
 Mohamedans, very poor and humble, the descendants of those 
 who had acknowledged Isuf as their lord. There was still one 
 among them termed a sheik, but he was without any real 
 authority. So entirely dependent were these Mohamedans 
 upon the Portuguese, and so subject to control, that they 
 were obliged to pay tithes of their garden produce to the 
 Dominican fathers, just as the residents in the neighbouring 
 Christian village. A few individuals of their creed were 
 scattered about the country, but all were in the same abject 
 condition as those at Sofala. 
 
 The gardens cultivated by the inhabitants produced a 
 variety of vegetables, such as yams, sweet potatoes, cabbages, 
 melons, cucumbers, beans, and onions, in addition to millet, 
 rice, sugar canes, and sesame, the last of which was grown to 
 express the oil. Sugar was not made, but the juicy pith of 
 the cane was esteemed as an article of diet. Fruit too was 
 plentiful. The most common kinds were pomegranates, 
 
Events to the Close of the Sixteenth Century. 261 
 
 oranges, limes, pineapples, bananas — usually called Indian 
 figs, — and cocoa nuts. There were even groves of lime trees 
 that had been allowed to become wild, the fruit of which any- 
 one who chose could gather. The principal flesh consumed 
 by the Europeans was that of barnyard poultry, as in some 
 parts of South-Eastern Africa at the present day, although 
 horned cattle, goats, and pigs were plentiful. Venison of 
 various kinds was abundant, and fish of good quality was 
 always obtainable. Everything here enumerated could be 
 had at trifling cost in barter for beads and squares of calico, 
 which were used instead of coin, so that the cost of living in 
 a simple manner was very small ; but wines and imported pro- 
 visions were exceedingly dear. The matical of gold was the 
 common standard of value in commercial transactions between 
 Europeans. 
 
 Four leagues above the fort there was in the river an island 
 named Maroupe, about eight leagues in length by a league 
 and a half in breadth. The greater part of this island had 
 been given by the Kiteve to a Portuguese named Kodrigo 
 Lobo, whom he regarded as his particular friend. But it was 
 in no way a dependency of the European establishment at 
 the mouth of the stream, for Lobo, though he still maintained 
 intercourse with his countrymen, ruled there as a vassal of 
 the Bantu overlord, just as a Kalanga sub-chief would have 
 done. He lived in a more luxurious style than any white 
 man at Sofala, had a harem of native women, and was attended 
 upon by numerous slaves. His descendants are to be found 
 in the country at the present day, and still call themselves 
 Portuguese, though they are not distinguishable from Bantu 
 in features or colour. 
 
 Sofala was never visited now by a ship direct from Portugal 
 or India, its imports coming from Mozambique and its exports 
 going to that island. The coasting trade was carried on with 
 pangayos and luzios manned by black men who claimed to be 
 Mohamedans, but really knew and cared very little about 
 religion, though they were excessively superstitious and paid 
 much attention to forms. The master, a mate, and a super- 
 
 X 2 
 
262 History of South Africa. 
 
 cargo were commonly the only Europeans on board, and it 
 sometimes happened that even these were mixed breeds. 
 
 Every year the Kiteve sent to the fort at Sofala for the 
 cloth that was due to him under the agreement made by 
 Vasco Fernandes llomem. It consisted of two hundred rolls, 
 not mere squares, for each piece was w^orth more than a 
 cruzado. It was necessary also, in order to maintain friend- 
 ship wdth the powerful chief, to make presents of beads and 
 calico of some value to his messengers, as they were selected 
 by him with that expectation. This made commerce within 
 his territory free, but any one passing through it to that of 
 his neighbour the Tshikanga, in order to trade there, was 
 obliged to pay him one piece of cloth out of every twenty. 
 There was almost constant war between the four independent 
 Kalanga chiefs, the Monomotapa, Tshikanga, Kiteve, and 
 Sedanda, which of course had a disturbing effect upon 
 commerce. 
 
 Sena was at this time really a place of greater importance 
 than Sofala, though it did not rank so high as a govern- 
 mental station. The salaries paid to its officials amounted to 
 little more than £500 a year, while those paid at Sofala 
 exceeded £1100. This, however, gives nothing upon which to 
 form an opinion of the value of an office at either place, as 
 incomes were regarded as derivable from perquisites, not from 
 pay. A few years later it was ascertained that one individual, i 
 whose salary during his term of office amounted to £850, had \ 
 realised a fortune of not less than £57,000, — an enormous 
 sum for that period. This was of course a very exceptional 
 case, but probably there were few who did not in some way 
 receive their nominal salaries many times over. 
 
 Sena was the emporium of the trade of the Zambesi basin. 
 Goods were brought here from Mozambique and stored in the 
 warehouse within the fort until they were sent up the river 
 to Tete in luzios, or up the Shire to the head waters of 
 navigation, thence to be conveyed by carriers in different 
 directions, or to the territory of the Tshikanga to be bartered 
 for gold. The fort was not yet fully completed, but several 
 
Events to the Close of the Sixteenth Centtiry. 263 
 
 pieces of artillery were mounted on its walls. It contained a 
 church, the factory with its storehouses, the residences of the 
 captain and other officials, and the public offices. No soldiers 
 were maintained here, the resident Portuguese and their 
 dependents being regarded as sufficiently strong to defend the 
 place if it should be attacked. The officials were appointed 
 by the captain of Mozambique. In the village just outside 
 the fort there were about fifty Portuguese residents and over 
 seven hundred and fifty Indians, mixed breeds, and blacks. 
 At this time slaves were not exported from the Zambesi, but 
 captives were purchased from tribes that were at war, and were 
 kept for service at all the stations. The blacks residing at 
 Sena were of this class. 
 
 Every three years an embassy from the Monomotapa visited 
 Sena to receive calico and beads of the value of three 
 thousand cruzados, which each captain of Mozambique on 
 assuming office was obliged to pay for the privilege of 
 trading in the great chiefs territory during the term of his 
 government. The embassy was conducted with much state, 
 having at its head men of rank who acted in the capacities 
 so well known to those who have dealings with Bantu, as 
 eyes, ears, and mouth of the chief. A Portuguese returned 
 with it, to deliver the calico and beads formally, so that 
 everything might be carried out in a manner satisfactory to 
 both parties. The Monomotapa had a very simple way of 
 enforcing this payment. If it was not made when due he 
 ordered an em'pata, that is a seizure and confiscation of every- 
 thing belonging to Portuguese in his country, and stopped all 
 commerce. The goods so seized were never restored, though 
 trade was resumed when merchandise to the full value of 
 three thousand cruzados was forwarded to him. This system 
 prevented payment by promises or running up accounts, 
 which might otherwise have come into practice. 
 
 Up at the terminus of the river navigation by the 
 Portuguese, one hundred and eighty miles from Sena, on 
 the Botonga or southern bank of the stream, on ground five 
 hundred feet above the level of the sea, stood Tete, the base 
 
264 History of South Africa, 
 
 of the trade with the interior. It contained a fort built of 
 stone, with seven or eight pieces of artillery on its walls, 
 which enclosed a chapel, dedicated to Sao Thiago, warehouses, 
 offices, and other buildings. In the village adjoining it 
 resided about forty Portuguese and some five hundred and 
 fifty Indians, half breeds, and blacks professing Christianity, 
 of the same class as those at Sofala and Sena. There was 
 no garrison of soldiers, the fort being intended for the 
 resident Europeans and their dependents to retire into in case 
 of being attacked. The captain or head of the establishment 
 was appointed by the captain of Mozambique and was subject 
 to his authority. 
 
 Within a circuit of three or four leagues from Tete there 
 were eleven kraals of Bantu, that could muster among them 
 more than two thousand men capable of bearing arms. They 
 had been conquered by the JMonomotapa some time before, 
 and by him presented to the captain of Tete, who acted as 
 their supreme ruler. So perfectly subject were they to him 
 that they brought all cases of importance to him to be tried, 
 and he appointed their headmen and could call out their 
 warriors for service whenever he chose. They were the only 
 Bantu south of the Zambesi, except the slaves and servants 
 of the Europeans at the different stations, who were under 
 Portuguese authority. 
 
 From Tete goods were conveyed on the backs of native 
 carriers who travelled in caravans to three stations in the 
 Kalanga territory, named Masapa, Luanze, and Bukoto, at 
 each of which a Portuguese who had charge of the local 
 barter resided with some assistants. The most important of 
 these stations, or places of fairs as they were called, was 
 Masapa, on the river Manzovo — now Mazoe, — about one 
 hundred and fifty miles by footpath from Tete, and near 
 the mountain Fura. The principal Portuguese resident at 
 Masapa, though selected for the post by the European 
 inhabitants of the country conjointly with the Kalanga ruler, 
 held the office of chief under the Monomotapa, by whom he 
 was vested with power, even of death, over the Bantu 
 
Events to the Close of the Sixteenth Century. 265 
 
 residents at the station. No white man or native trader 
 acting for one could pass Masapa without permission from the 
 Portuguese chief or the Monomotapa himself, and the chief 
 acted as agent for the Monomotapa in receiving and forward- 
 ing to him one-twentieth of all the goods brought into that 
 part of the country to be bartered for gold and ivory. This 
 appointment he held for life. So far he was simply a Kaffir 
 chief, and his domestic establishment was that of one. But 
 he was also a Portuguese official. He held a commission 
 from the viceroy of India giving him considerable authority 
 over the Portuguese who went to Masapa for purposes of 
 trade, and he was the medium through whom all communica- 
 tions with the Monomotapa passed. He had the title of 
 Capitao das Portas — Captain of the Gates, — on account of his 
 peculiar position. 
 
 Luanze was about one hundred and five miles almost due 
 south of Tete, between two rivulets which united below it and 
 then flowed into the Mazoe. The principal Portuguese resident 
 here was also a sub-chief of the Monomotapa, who placed the 
 Bantu living at the station under his authority. He held a 
 commission from the viceroy, making him head of the 
 Portuguese frequenting the place ; but he was not such an 
 important personage as the Captain of the Gates. 
 
 Bukoto was about thirty miles from Masapa, thirty-nine 
 from Luanze, and one hundred and twenty from Tete. It 
 was situated just above the junction of two streamlets, and 
 was the least important of the three places of fairs, with 
 nothing particular to note about it. At none of them had the 
 Portuguese any authority whatever over the natives except 
 such as was derived from the Monomotapa, who permitted the 
 trading stations to be established in his country on account of 
 the benefit which he derived from them. By doing so he did 
 not consider that he had diminished his right of sovereignty, 
 and the exercise of authority by the captains over men of 
 their own race, by virtue of power derived from the viceroy of 
 India, was in full accordance with Bantu ideas of government 
 being tribal rather than territorial. 
 
266 History of South Africa. 
 
 The Monomotapa of the time when Dos Santos resided at 
 Sofala, who bore also the title Mambo, was well disposed 
 towards the Portuguese. He gave the Dominicans leave to 
 establish missions in his country, and they had already put 
 up little structures for places of prayer at Masapa, Luanze, 
 and Bukoto. They had not as yet, however, men to occupy 
 these places permanently, but the friar who resided at Tete 
 occasionally visited them. The white people never made a 
 request from Mambo without accompanying it with a present 
 — usually a piece of coloured calico — for himself and some- 
 thing of equal value for his principal wife, their special 
 pleader, whose name was Ma Zarira. This was the custom 
 of the country, for no native could obtain an audience unless 
 he presented an ox, a goat, or something else according to 
 his means. 
 
 In describing the country Dos Santos mentions several king- 
 doms bordering on the territory of the Monomotapa, but in 
 reality these were nothing more than tracts of land inhabited 
 by native tribes under independent chiefs. The kingdom of 
 Sedanda was one of those which he named. This was the 
 territory lying between Sofala and the Sabi river, occupied by 
 a tribe of the same blood as the Makalanga, under a chief who 
 bore the hereditary title of Sedanda. One of the Sedandas in 
 Dos Santos' time committed suicide, on account of his being 
 afflicted with leprosy. Of the region west of the Monomotapa's 
 territory the Portuguese knew nothing except from vague 
 native reports, for no one of them or of the wandering 
 Mohamedans had ever visited it. It would be useless there- 
 fore to repeat the names of the so-called kingdoms given by 
 the Dominican friar. Of the longitudes of places he had of 
 course no knowledge. He believed Angola could not be very 
 far distant, and he states that a blanket brought overland 
 from that country by native traders ^\as purchased by a 
 Portuguese at Manika and shown to him at Sofala as a 
 curiosity. It is just possible that the blanket was carried 
 across the continent, but it is much more likely that the 
 friar was deceived as to the place from which it came. At 
 
Events to the Close of the Sixteenth Century. 267 
 
 that time the head waters of the Zambesi were quite unknown, 
 though the Portuguese were fairly well acquainted with the 
 principal features of the great lake region, through accounts 
 obtained from Mohamedan traders as well as from natives. 
 Owing to this circumstance their maps of East Central Africa 
 were tolerably correct, while those of South Africa were utterly 
 misleading. 
 
 Dos Santos states that copper and iron were plentiful in the 
 country. The iron was regarded as of superior quality, so 
 much so that a quantity was once sent to India to make 
 guns of. Though the smelting furnaces were of the crudest 
 description, implements of tliis metal manufactured by them- 
 selves were used by tlie Makalanga in great abundance, just 
 as a few years ago among the Bapedi farther south, where 
 waggon loads could be collected at a single kraal. He 
 mentions also the manufacture by some of the natives of 
 machiras, or loin cloths, from cotton which grew wild along 
 the banks of the Zambesi. 
 
 As yet no attempt had been made to colonise any part of 
 Africa south of the Zambesi on one coast and Benguela on 
 the other. Commerce and the conversion of the heathen were 
 the sole objects of the Portuguese who visited the country, 
 and indeed they had no surplus population with which to 
 form settlements in it. They did not touch at any part of 
 the coast between Benguela and Delagoa Bay when they 
 could avoid doing so, because there was no trade of any 
 kind to be carried on there and because after the slaughter 
 of Dom Francisco d' Almeida and his people on the shore 
 of Table Bay the Hottentots were regarded as the most 
 ferocious of savages, with whom it was well to have as little 
 intercourse as possible. They would have been pleased had 
 they found a port somewhere on the southern shore that their 
 ships could have taken shelter in when returning from India 
 to Lisbon during the time of the westerly gales, but they 
 always tried to pass by in the summer season and to make 
 the run from Mozambique to the island of Saint Helena 
 without a break. 
 
268 History of South Africa. 
 
 Some years before the arrival of Dos Santos at Sofala a 
 dreadful wave of war and destruction rolled over the country 
 north of the lower Zambesi. A horde of savages made their 
 appearance from a distant part of the continent, probably — 
 judging from the few words of their language that have been 
 preserved — from some locality on or near the western coast, 
 and laid the whole territory along their course utterly waste. 
 Theirs was just such another march as that of the horde 
 under Ma Ktati, which passed over the country from the 
 upper Caledon to the border of the Kalahari desert in the 
 early years of the nineteenth century, leaving nothing behind 
 it, where a thickly populated land had been, but ashes and 
 skeletons of men and animals. And just as the horde under 
 Ma Ntati broke into fragments and perished, so did this 
 which appeared on the Zambesi opposite Tete in 1570. 
 
 Finding that stream a barrier which it could not cross 
 intact, one large section turned to the north-east, and finally 
 reached the shore of the Indian sea, along which it committed 
 the most frightful ravages. The island of Mozambique could 
 not be attacked, but its inhabitants suffered severely from the 
 famine caused by the devastation of the mainland. A body 
 of about forty Portuguese, under the captain Nuno Velho 
 Pereira, with as many slaves as could be collected, endeavoured 
 to protect the plantations at Cabaceira, but nearly the whole 
 of them perished in the attempt, and their bodies were eaten 
 by the savages on the shore. Only Nuno Velho Pereira and 
 two or three other Europeans managed to escape. Thus the 
 greater number of the inhabitants of the island were cut off, 
 and those who remained were in the direst straits for want 
 of food until supplies reached them by sea. This happened 
 in the year 1585. What remained of ancient Kilwa was 
 wiped out of existence, Mombasa was nearly destroyed, and 
 the progress of the cannibal horde was only stopped at 
 Melinde, where Mattheus Mendes de Vasconcellos, head of 
 the factory, with thirty Portuguese, and three thousand Bantu 
 warriors aided the Mohamedan ruler in inflicting a defeat 
 upon them in which they were nearly exterminated. 
 
Events to the Close of the Sixteenth Century, 269 
 
 Shortly after the first appearance of the great horde on 
 the Bororo or northern bank of the Zambesi, a small party 
 managed to cross the river, and appeared in the neighbour- 
 hood of Tete, but Jeronymo d'Andrade, captain of that 
 station, had no difficulty in driving them back, as the savages 
 were so amazed at the effects of the fire from a few arque- 
 buses, which they attributed to witchcraft, that they fled 
 without resistance. 
 
 Not long after this event another and much larger band, 
 consisting of ten or twelve thousand men under a chief 
 named Sonza, by some means got across the river, and 
 attacked a clan that was friendly to the Portuguese, killing 
 every living thing and destroying whatever they came across. 
 Jeronymo d'Andrade got together a force of about a hundred 
 Portuguese, and with some four thousand Batonga allies took 
 the field against Sonza. On his approach some of the 
 invaders constructed a rough lager or enclosure of bushes 
 and earth, within which they attempted to defend themselves, 
 but as they were still exposed to the fire of arquebuses they 
 were speedily driven out and dispersed. They and the others 
 of their party were then hunted until it was believed about 
 five thousand had been killed. The remainder of the band 
 escaped, and joined the horde that was laying waste the country 
 towards the coast of Mozambique. 
 
 In 1592 two sections of these savages remained on the 
 northern bank of the lower Zambesi. One was called by the 
 Portuguese the Mumbos, the other was the far-dreaded 
 Mazimba. Dos Santos says that both were cannibals, and 
 there is no reason to doubt his assertion, for traditions con- 
 cerning the Mazimba are still current all over Southern 
 Africa, in which they are represented as ogres or inhuman 
 monsters, and their name is used generally to imply eaters of 
 human flesh. But in all probability they had adopted that 
 custom from want of other food, and would have abandoned 
 it gradually if they had obtained domestic cattle and could 
 have cultivated gardens. The men were much stronger and 
 more robust than Makalanga. They carried immense shields 
 
270 History of South Africa. 
 
 made of ox hide, and were variously armed with assagais, 
 battle-axes, and bows and arrows. 
 
 One of the chiefs of the Mumbos, named Kwizura, with 
 about six hundred warriors, attacked a clan friendly to the 
 Portuguese at Tshikarongo, north of the Zambesi, ten leagues 
 from Tete. The clan fled after sustaining severe losses, and 
 applied to Pedro Fernandes de Chaves, captain of Tete, for 
 assistance. The captain thereupon summoned his eleven sub- 
 chiefs, who at once joined him with their men, and with these 
 and the resident Portuguese he crossed the river and marched 
 against Kwizura, who was found in a cliumbo or lager of 
 stakes and earth which he had constructed. Together with 
 the followers of the dispossessed chief the attacking force 
 was so strong tliat it was able to surround the chumbo and 
 storm it, when Kwizura and every one of his warriors fell. 
 The courtyard of the hut in which the Mumbo chief had 
 lived was found paved with the skulls of those he had killed 
 and eaten. After resting a few days, the people of Tete 
 returned to their homes, taking with them as slaves Kwizura's 
 women and children. Such was the style of warfare on the 
 Zambesi at tiie close of the sixteenth century. 
 
 Dos Santos was at Tete just before this event. After a 
 residence of three years and a half at Sofala, during which 
 time they baptized seventeen hundred individuals, most of 
 whom must have been Bantu, he and bis associate the friar 
 Joao Madeira had been summoned to Mozambique by their 
 provincial to labour in another field, and had left Sofala in 
 July 1590 and travelled overland to the Zambesi in order 
 to obtain a passage in a pangayo. But on their arrival they 
 found no vessel would be leaving that year, so they arranged 
 that Joao Madeira should remain at Sena and Dos Santos 
 should proceed up the river to Tete to do duty for the priest 
 there, who was prostrate with illness. He arrived at Tete in 
 September 1590, and remained at that place until May 1591, 
 when he went down to the mouth of the Zambesi, and with 
 the father Joao Madeira proceeded to Mozambique. He was 
 then sent to the island of Querimba, but in April 1594 ^^as 
 
Events to the Close of the Sixteenth Century. 271 
 
 instructed to proceed to Sofala again on a special mission. 
 In consequence of this he went to Mozambique, and when 
 the favourable monsoon set in took passage in a pangayo 
 bound to Delagoa Bay, which was to touch at Sofala on the 
 passage. Five days after leaving Mozambique he reached liis 
 destination. The pangayo proceeded to Delagoa Bay, where 
 her officers employed themselves in bartering ivory for nearly 
 a year. She was about to return to Mozambique when some 
 Bantu fell upon her captain Manuel Malheiro and another 
 officer, murdered them, and plundered the hut in which they 
 had lived and the vessel. One white man remained alive, 
 who succeeded in getting away with the empty pangayo and 
 her Mohamedan crew. To such perils were the Portuguese 
 exposed at the distant trading places on the coast. 
 
 On the 16th of April 1595 Dos Santos once more left 
 Sofala for Mozambique, from which place he went to India, 
 and then to Portugal, where his volume Etliiopia Oriental was 
 printed in the Dominican convent at Evora in 1609. But 
 his career in Africa was not yet ended, and we shall meet 
 him again on the Zambesi in another chapter. His successor 
 at Tete was the friar Nicolau do Rosario, of the same order, 
 a man of great devotion, who had suffered much in the 
 wreck of the ship 8ao Thome in 1589. 
 
 Before the destruction of Kwizura's l)and, while Dos Santos 
 was still on the river, a powerful chief of the Mazimba, named 
 Tondo, attacked some people who were on very friendly terms 
 with the Portuguese and who lived on the northern bank of 
 the Zambesi opposite Sena, dispossessed them of their land 
 and killed and ate many of them. In 1592 these fugitives 
 applied to Andre de Santiago, captain of Sena, for aid, and 
 he, desiring to emulate the action of Pedro Fernandes de 
 Chaves, collected as large a force as he could, Portuguese, 
 mixed breeds, slaves, and friendly Bantu, and with two cannon 
 taken from the walls of his fort crossed the river to attack 
 the Mazimba, who were entrenched in a chumbo of unusual 
 height and strength. Finding his force unequal to the 
 enterprise he had undertaken, the captain of Sena formed a 
 
272 History of South Africa. 
 
 camp on the bank of a rivulet flowing into the Zambesi, and 
 sent to Tete for assistance. 
 
 Pedro Fernandes de Chaves responded by calling out his 
 Bantu retainers and nearly all the Portuguese and half-breeds 
 of Tete, with whom he crossed the Zambesi and marched down 
 its northern bank towards the locality of tlie war. The 
 Dominican friar Nicolau do Kosario accompanied the force 
 as chaplain. When within a few miles of their destination 
 the Portuguese and principal half-breeds, totally unsuspicious 
 of danger, entered a thicket through which the path passed. 
 They were half a league in advance of their Bantu auxiliaries, 
 and, as was their usual way of travelling, were in palanquins 
 and hammocks borne by their slaves, with other attendants 
 carrying their arquebuses, when they were suddenly attacked 
 by a band of Mazimba. Every man of them was killed on 
 the spot except the friar, who was badly wounded and seized 
 as a prisoner. He was taken to the chumbo and bound to a 
 tree, where he was made a target for the arrows of his 
 captors till death came to his relief. The Bantu auxiliaries, 
 upon ascertaining what had happened, returned with all haste 
 to Tete. 
 
 On the following morning the Mazimba appeared in triumph 
 before Andre de Santiago's camp, with a man beating upon the 
 drum taken from the Portuguese. Their chief was dressed in 
 the murdered friar's robes, and the head of Pedro Fernandes 
 de Chaves was carried aloft on the point of an assagai. The 
 spoil taken in the thicket was exhibited in bravado, and 
 with it the limbs of those who had fallen, which were 
 destined to supply a feast for the cannibal band. The 
 captain of Sena and his men looked at the cruel Mazimba 
 with horror and dismay. That night they attempted to 
 retreat, but on the bank of the Zambesi the enemy fell 
 upon them, and after a stout resistance killed Andre de 
 Santiago and many of his followers. The two captains, the 
 priest of Tete, and a hundred and thirty white men and 
 mixed breeds had now perished. The Portuguese power and 
 influence on the Zambesi was almost annihilated. 
 
Events to the Close of the Sixteenth Centtcry, 273 
 
 While these events were taking place Dom Pedro de Sousa 
 succeeded Louren9o de Brito as captain of Mozambique. At 
 a later date he became very unpopular as a governor, being 
 tyrannical in his conduct and permitting his son Dom 
 Francisco to conduct himself as a brawler without reproof. 
 For this he was punished by order of the king, but at the 
 time to which this narrative has reached he was new to his 
 office and therefore untried. He resolved to recover the 
 position that had been lost on the Zambesi, and for this 
 purpose he enlisted as many Europeans as were obtainable, 
 and with them, seventy-five or eighty soldiers drawn from 
 the garrison of the fort, and a good supply of artillery and 
 other munitions of war, in 1593 he sailed for Sena. Here he 
 formed a camp, and enlisted white men, mixed breeds, and 
 Bantu, until he had a force under his command of about two 
 hundred arquebusiers and fifteen hundred blacks armed in 
 the native manner. 
 
 With these he crossed the river and attacked Tondo's 
 stronghold, into which he tried to open an entrance with his 
 cannon, but failed. Then he endeavoured to take the chumbo 
 by storm, but when his men were crowded together close to 
 it, the Mazimba shot their arrows, hurled their barbed 
 assagais, and threw boiling water and burning fat upon them, 
 until they fell back discomfited. Next he began to form 
 huge wicker work frames to be filled with earth, from the 
 tops of which arquebusiers could keep the wall of the chumbo 
 clear with their fire while men below were breaking it down, 
 but before they could be completed the people he had 
 engaged at Sena, who had now been two months in the 
 field, clamoured to be allowed to return home, fearing, as 
 they said, that their wives and children were in danger. 
 Dom Pedro was obliged to accede to their demand, and 
 commenced to retreat. While he was leaving his camp the 
 Mazimba attacked him, and after killing many of his men, 
 took his artillery and the greater part of his baggage. He 
 and the remnant of his army escaped to Sena with difficulty, 
 and from that place he returned to Mozambique, leaving 
 
274 History of South Africa. 
 
 matters along the great river in a worse condition than 
 ever before. 
 
 Tondo, however, made an offer of peace to the people of 
 Sena, on condition that they shonld not interfere again in 
 matters that only concerned Bantu tribes. The Mazimba, 
 they were informed, had no desire to quarrel with white 
 people, and had acted in self-defence throughout the war. 
 The few traders at Sena were only too pleased to accept the 
 proposal and resume their ordinary manner of living, thougli 
 they had thereafter to submit to many insults and exactions 
 from the victorious tribe. In 1597 some cannon and a 
 quantity of ammunition and other supplies needed in war were 
 sent from India by the viceroy, and the forts at Sena and 
 Tete were equipped so that the inhabitants could find safety 
 within them in case of attack. Gradually also men came to 
 these stations to replace those who had been killed, so that 
 in the time of Nuno da Cunha, who followed Jeronymo de 
 Azevedo, Dom Pedro de Sousa's successor as captain of Mozam- 
 bique, the villages recovered their earlier appearance. 
 
 The methods of carrying on trade in the country varied at 
 different periods during the sixteenth century. hX first it was 
 conducted by factors appointed by the king, who sent out 
 agents to sell goods supplied by the royal treasury, into 
 which the proceeds were paid. After a time, however, the 
 principal officials, whose salaries were very small, were allowed 
 a share of the commerce, which was strictly defined. Thus, 
 in 1559 the viceroy gave permission to Pantaleao de Sa, 
 captain of Sofala and Mozambique, to purchase and send to 
 India twenty-four tons * of ivory every year for sale on his 
 own account. In 1562 Fernao Martins Freire d'Andrade, 
 captain of Sofala and Mozambique, was granted by royal 
 authority a monopoly of the commerce of the coast in pitch 
 
 * One hundred bars. The bar was a varying weight on the East African 
 coast. At Mozambique it was equal to 229*6 kilogrammes of our time ; on the 
 Zambesi to 293*8 kilogrammes; at Sofala, if of ivory 239-8 kilogrammes, if of 
 other merchandise 247*9 kilogrammes. Under these circumstances it is impos- 
 sible in many instances to reduce these weights to English tons with absolute 
 accuracy. 
 
Events to the Close of the Sixteenth Century. 275 
 
 and coir, one-twentietli of the proceeds of the ivory barter 
 upon his contributing one-twentieth of the capital employed 
 in it, and was further to have a two-hundredth part of the 
 profits on all other trade within the territory south of the 
 Zambesi; and the factors and notaries were to have another 
 two-hundredth part divided amongst them. The trade was 
 still to be conducted for the royal treasury, and the captain 
 was to send requisitions to Goa for the merchandise needed 
 to carry it on. 
 
 In 1585 Dum Jorge de Menezes, chief ensign of Portugal, 
 succeeded Nuno Velho Pereira as captain of Mozambique. On 
 his appointment the viceroy Dom Duarte de Menezes granted 
 him a monopoly of the trade of Inhambane and of the whole 
 coast south of Delagoa Bay, and subsequently farmed out 
 to him the entire commerce of the country south of the 
 Zambesi for fifty thousand cruzados a year. But in addition 
 to this he was to maintain the forts in good order and to pay 
 all the officials and expenses of government of every kind, 
 according to a list which was drawn up. On the expiration 
 of his term of office he was to undergo a trial, and was to 
 prove that these conditions had been faithfully observed and 
 that all public buildings were in the same state as when he 
 took them over. 
 
 This system had the advantage of adding something to the 
 royal treasury, and of extending commerce more than ever 
 before. When the experiment was made Sofala was yielding 
 nothing except the profit on a small quantity of ivory, 
 insufficient to meet the trifling cost of the maintenance of 
 the station : four years later elephants' tusks weighing twenty- 
 three tons were collected there yearly. Greater profit was 
 gained from ivory than from any other article of commerce 
 in Eastern Africa at this time. Taking one year with another, 
 a quantity weighing nearly one hundred thousand avoirdupois 
 pounds was sent annually to India by the captains while 
 they had a monopoly of the trade. Gold came next, but the 
 quantity obtained cannot be even approximately stated. 
 Ambergris followed, and then in order pearls, gum, and wax. 
 
 Y 
 
276 History of South Africa. 
 
 The system made the whole of the Portuguese inhabitants 
 of the country dependents of the captain of Mozambique, but 
 their position was quite as bad before. The most that can 
 be said in favour of it is that the law protected them in 
 person and property, and that after 1548 no sentence of 
 death could be carried into execution until it was confirmed 
 by the supreme court of India. 
 
 In 1591 the government at Lisbon ordered the trade to be 
 carried on again by the king's treasury, but two years later 
 another experiment was made. This was to allow the captain 
 of Mozambique a monopoly of the commerce in ivory, 
 ambergris, and coir, and one-fiftieth of all the gold col- 
 lected ; and to throw open the trade in gold and other 
 articles to all Portuguese subjects. Customs duties at the 
 rate of six per cent upon goods imported and of twenty 
 per cent upon gold exported were to be paid. This plan 
 was in operation only two years when it was abandoned, and 
 the system of farming out the whole of the commerce of the 
 country south of the Zambesi to the captain of Mozambique 
 was again resorted to. In 1596 Nuno da Cunha was 
 appointed to that oiSfice, when the viceroy entered into a 
 contract with him to pay forty thousand pardaos, or £9,600,* 
 a year for his monopoly, to which the king added that he 
 must also pay customs duties on merchandise imported. 
 
 North of the Zambesi the inhabitants of Mozambique were 
 allowed to trade, as the policy of the government was to 
 encourage them, in order to strengthen the means of defence 
 of the fort. The jurisdiction of the captain at the close 
 of the sixteenth century extended to all the stations and 
 trading places from the island of Inyaka to Cape Delgado. 
 
 * Reckoning the pardao at three hundred and sixty reis, and the real as at 
 this time equal to 0'16c?. But it is very doubtful what the word jmrdao really 
 signified in the contract. In another document I have found it used as an 
 equivalent for cruzado, and in still another as equivalent to a xerafin of three 
 hundred reis. If the gold coin of the name was meant, the amount would 
 be about £14,000. It is not possible to give the exact equivalent, as unless, 
 where expressly stated as of gold, the pardao of the accounts, like the real, 
 was an imaginary coin, representing different values not only at different times 
 but at different places at the same time. 
 
Knoivledge derived from Shipwrecks, 277 
 
 CHAPTEK XII. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE DERIVED FROM SHIPWRECKS. 
 
 Of the Bantu tribes along the seaboard north of the Bashee 
 a good deal of knowledge was obtained during the sixteenth 
 century by the crews of wrecked ships, some of whom under- 
 went almost incredible suffering before their restoration to the 
 society of civilised men. By order of King Sebastiao a flying 
 survey of the coast between the Cape of Good Hope and 
 Cape Correntes was also made during the years 1575 and 1576, 
 by which much information was supposed to have been 
 gained. 
 
 Occasionally vessels disappeared after leaving Portugal or 
 India, and were never heard of again. Some of these were 
 probably lost on the African shore, though of this there is no 
 certainty except in one instance, when part of a stranded ship 
 was found at the mouth of the river now known as the Saint 
 Lucia, but without a trace of any one that had sailed in her. 
 Particulars, however, have been preserved of the loss succes- 
 sively of the ^ao Joao, the 8ao Bento, the Santiago, the 8do 
 Thome, and the Saiito Alberto, from each of which some of 
 the crew escaped, and after much intercourse with the natives 
 succeeded in reaching Mozambique. 
 
 The Sao Joao was a great galleon laden with a very valuable 
 cargo, which left Cochin on the 3rd of February 1552 to 
 return to Portugal. She had about two hundred and twenty 
 Portuguese and nearly four hundred slaves on board, and, as 
 was usual at that time, an officer of high rank who was 
 going home was captain in command. The master of the 
 ship directed the working, and the pilot pointed out the 
 
 Y 2 
 
273 History of South Africa. 
 
 course, but the captain gave iostructious in such matters as 
 what ports they were to put into and when they were to sail ; 
 he also preserved discipline and exercised general control. 
 The captain of the Bao Joao — Manuel de Sousa Sepulveda by 
 name — was accompanied by his wife, Dona Leonor, a young 
 and amiable lady of noble blood, his two little sons, and a 
 large train of attendants and slaves, male and female. 
 
 On the 12th of May, when only seventy-five miles from 
 the Cape of Good Hope, the galleon encountered a violent 
 gale from the west-north-west, and soon a very heavy sea was 
 running, as is usually the case when the wind and the Agulhas 
 current oppose each other. Some sails had been lost in a 
 storm on the equator, and there were no others on board than 
 those in use, which were old and worn. On this account it 
 was not considered prudent to attempt to lie to, and so the 
 ship was put before the wind under her fore and main courses. 
 After some days the gale veered to another quarter, shifting 
 at last to the west-south- west^ when the tremendous seas 
 caused the ship to labour so heavily that she lost her masts 
 and rudder. Those on board feared every moment that she 
 would go down. An attempt was made, however, to set up 
 jury masts, to fix a new rudder, and with some cloth that was 
 on board converted into a substitute for sails to endeavour to 
 reach Mozambique. But the new rudder, being too small, 
 proved useless, and the galleon like a helpless log was driven 
 towards the coast, from which there were no means of keeping 
 her. On the 8th of June she was close to the land a little 
 to the eastward of the mouth of the Umzimvubu, very near if 
 not exactly off the spot where the English ship Grosvenor 
 was lost two hundred and thirty years later. There, as the 
 weather had moderated, the bower anchors were dropped, 
 between which the galleon lay at a distance of two crossbow 
 shots from the shore, almost waterlogged. 
 
 ' The captain now resolved to land the people and as much 
 "pTovisions and other necessaries as possible, to construct a 
 temporary fort, and with materials taken from the ship to 
 "build a small caravel that could be sent to Sofala for aid. 
 
Knowledge derived from Shipwrecks. 279 
 
 There was no hope of saving the cargo, but he thought of 
 getting out some calico with which to obtain food in barter 
 from the natives of the country, if that should be needed. 
 Only two boats were left, of which one was little larger than 
 a skiff. In these the captain, his family, and about seventy 
 others were conveyed to the shore. But on the third day the 
 wind freshened and caused a heavy swell, both the boats w^re 
 dashed to pieces on the rocks, and the seaward cable of the 
 galleon parting, she was driven on shore and within a few 
 hours broke into fragments. Over a hundred men and women 
 were lost in the surf, and many of those who reached the land 
 alive were badly bruised. 
 
 All hope of getting timber to build a caravel was now lost, 
 and only a small quantity of food was secured. As soon there- 
 fore as the bruised people were sufficiently recovered to travel, 
 the whole party set out to try to walk along the shore to the 
 river of Lourenpo Marques. To that place a small vessel was 
 sent nearly every year from Mozambique to barter ivory, and 
 the only faint chance of preserving their lives that remained 
 to the shipwrecked people was to reach the river and find the 
 trading party. They had seen some Kaffirs on the hills close 
 by, and had heard those barbarians shouting to each other, but 
 had not been able to obtain any information or provisions from 
 them. 
 
 On the 7th of July they left the scene of the wreck. At the 
 end of a month they were only ninety miles from it, for they 
 had been obliged to make many detours in order to cross the 
 rivers. Their sufferings from thirst were at times greater than 
 from cold, hunger, and weariness combined. Of all the party 
 Dona Leonor was the most cheerful, bidding the others take 
 heart, and talking of the better days that were to come. They 
 eked out their little supply of food with wild plants, oysters, 
 and musselsj and sometimes they found quite an abundance of 
 fish in pools among the rocks at low tide. 
 
 And now every day two or three fell behind exhausted, and 
 perished. To add to their troubles, bands of Kaffirs hovered 
 about them, and on several occasions they were attacked, though 
 
28o History of South Afrii 
 
 tea. 
 
 as they had a few firelocks and some ammunition, they were 
 easily able to drive their assailants back. At the end of three 
 months those who were in advance reached the territory of the 
 old Inyaka, whom Lourenpo Marques and Antonio Caldeira had 
 named Garcia de Sa, and whose principal kraal was on the 
 right bank of the Umfusi river, which flows into Delagoa Bay. 
 This chief received them in a friendly manner, supplied them 
 with food and lodging, and sent his men to search for those 
 who were straggling on behind. In return, he asked for assist- 
 ance against a chief living about twenty miles to the southward, 
 with whom he was at war. De Sousa sent an officer and twenty 
 men to help him, with whose aid he won a victory and got 
 possession of all his opponent's cattle. 
 
 Garcia de Sa wished the white people to remain with him, 
 and he warned them against a tribe that lived in front, but as 
 soon as they were well rested and had recovered their strength, 
 they resolved to push on. They crossed the Maputa in canoes 
 furnished by the friendly chief, and five days later reached the 
 Espirito Santo, where they learned from some natives, through 
 the interpretation of a female slave from Sofala who had picked 
 up a little of the dialect, that a vessel from Mozambique, 
 having men like themselves on board, had been there, but 
 was then a long time gone. Manuel de Sousa now became 
 partly demented, and his brave wife, Dona Leonor, who had 
 borne all the hardships of the journey so cheerfully, was 
 plunged by this new misfortune into the greatest distress. 
 
 With what object is not stated, but for some reason they 
 still pressed on northward. They were reduced to one hundred 
 and twenty souls, all told, when they crossed the Espirito Santo 
 or river of Lourenpo Marques in canoes supplied by the natives 
 at the price of a few nails, and entered the territory of the 
 chief of whom Garcia de Sa had warned them. His kraal was 
 about three miles farther on. He professed to receive them 
 with favour, and for a few days supplied them with provisions, 
 but at length informed them that they must entrust him with 
 the care of their arms while they were in his country, as that 
 was one of his laws. Dona Leonor objected to this, but the 
 
Knowledge derived from Shipwrecks. 281 
 
 males of the party complied with the chiefs demand, in the 
 belief that by doing so they would secure his friendship. As 
 soon as they were in a defenceless condition he caused them 
 to be separated, under pretence of distributing them among 
 different kraals where they would be provided with food, but 
 kept the captain with his family and about twenty others at 
 his own residence. 
 
 Those who dispersed were immediately stripped of their cloth- 
 ing and driven away to perish. Then the captain was robbed 
 of a quantity of precious stones — worth several thousand pounds 
 — as well as some gold that he had with him, and he and his 
 family and attendants were ordered to leave the kraal. They 
 wandered about for two days, without meeting any of their 
 late associates in misery, when some natives fell upon them 
 and stripped them naked. Dona Leonor, who fought like a 
 tigress while the savages were tearing her garments from her, 
 sat down on the ground with her two little boys, her half 
 demented husband, and a few faithful female slaves beside her. 
 The white men of the party, who could do nothing to relieve 
 such anguish as hers, went on in search of wild plants with 
 which to prolong their lives. Shortly afterwards one of the 
 boys died of hunger, when the father scraped a hole in the 
 sand and buried the body. The next day he went to seek 
 some roots or berries for his starving wife, and on his return 
 found her and the other child dead and the slave women wail- 
 ing loudly. They buried the mother and child in the sand, 
 after which the sorely afflicted nobleman disappeared in a 
 thicket, and was never seen again. 
 
 Eight Portuguese, fourteen male slaves, and three of the 
 female slaves who were with Dona Leonor when she died, 
 managed to preserve their lives. Some of them wandered to a 
 distance of fifty miles from the scene of the last disaster. At 
 length a trading vessel put into the bay in search of ivory, 
 and her captain, hearing of the unfortunate people, rescued 
 them by offering for each one a trifling reward in beads. 
 
 They reached Mozambique on the 25th of May 1553. Diogo 
 de Mesquita, who was then captain of that island and the 
 
282 History of South Africa. 
 
 stations soutli of the Zambesi, sent a little vessel to search 
 along the coast, but no trace of any of the lost people could 
 be found. 
 
 The Sao Bento was one of a fleet of five ships sent by King 
 Joao the third to India in March 1553. Among those who 
 sailed in her on her outward passage was Luis de Camoes, 
 whose name still lives as that of the prince of Portuguese 
 poets. She was one of the largest vessels of her time, and 
 was commanded by Fernao Alvares Cabral, who was commo- 
 dore of the squadron. Having reached her destination in 
 safety, she took in a return cargo, and sailed from Cochin on 
 the 1st of February 1554. On the passage stormy weather 
 with a very heavy sea was encountered, in which the ship 
 sustained great damage, and when she reached the African 
 coast it was feared every moment that she would go to the 
 bottom. On the 21st of April she struck upon a rocky ledge 
 on the western side of the mouth of the Umtata,* and in a 
 few minutes broke into fragments. 
 
 Forty- four Portuguese and over a hundred slaves lost their 
 lives in trying to reach the shore, and two hundred and 
 twenty-four slaves and ninety-nine Portuguese, many of them 
 severely bruised, managed to get to land. Among the latter 
 was Manuel de Castro, one of the few survivors of the crew 
 of the Sao Joao, who died, however, a few hours later from 
 injuries received during the breaking up of the ship. A 
 small quantity of provisions was washed ashore with the 
 debris of the cargo, but it was so much damaged with salt 
 water that it could not long remain fit for use. 
 
 * Termed the Infante in the account of the wreck given by one of tlje 
 officers who was saved, but there is ample evidence in this document and in 
 another by the same officer that the Umtata was the scene of the disaster. 
 On that wild and little frequented coast the mouth of any considerable stream 
 south of the Umzimvubu would be set down as the Infante by a Portuguese 
 who saw it. He would know there was a large river of that name somewhere 
 between the Umzimvubu and the islet of the Cross, and he would not know 
 there were many others. Ihe crew of the Sao Bento passed over no stream 
 of any importance before they reached the Umzimvubu, the Sho Christovao 
 as they termed it. 
 
I 
 
 Knowledge derived from SJiipivrecks. 283 
 
 After this was collected and a temporary shelter was made of 
 carpets and silks, a general consultation took place as to what 
 was best to be done. Some thought it advisable to try to 
 march overland to the Watering Place of Saldanha, but this 
 was overruled by the majority, because of the fierceness of the 
 natives in that direction, as had been proved by the slaughter 
 of the viceroy D'Almeida and so many of his companions, and 
 further because vessels very seldom called there and conse- 
 quently, even if they should arrive with life, most probably 
 all would perish before relief appeared. Others were of opinion 
 that they should remain where they were and endeavour to 
 construct some kind of craft that could be sent to Sofala for 
 aid, but this too was overruled, as the supply of food would 
 soon be exhausted and they had no proper materials for build- 
 ing a boat. There was then but one other plan. Before they 
 left India Lourenfo Marques was preparing for a voyage to 
 the river which bore his name, in order to trade for ivory, and 
 their only hope of life was to make their way northward and 
 reach him before his departure, which would be some time in 
 June, or, if that should fail, to push on to Sofala. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 27th of April they set out, each one 
 heavily laden with food, pieces of calico, and nails or other 
 iron for barter. A ship's boy and a female slave, who were too 
 severely hurt to live long, were of necessity left behind. They 
 had seen a few naked natives at the place of the wreck, but 
 there were no huts or any indications of kraals in the neigh- 
 bourhood, so after crossing the river they directed their course 
 inland, towards the north-east, in hope of finding people from 
 whom they could obtain guides and provisions in exchange for 
 iron. But for four days they were disappointed, and when on 
 the fifth day of their march they came to a kraal of about 
 twenty huts, its inhabitants were found to be living on wild 
 roots and plants, so that no food was to be had from them. 
 
 Finding the country almost uninhabited, a little later they 
 resolved to turn towards the shore, where they could at least 
 obtain shellfish, and where they believed the rivers could be 
 more easily crossed than inland, as all had bars of sand at 
 
284 History of South Africa. 
 
 their mouths. Before they reached the Umzimvubu several 
 of the weakest of the party became utterly exhausted, and were 
 abandoned on the w<ay. The passage of this river was accom- 
 plished with the greatest difficulty, and on the following day, 
 the thirteenth of the journey, the sea was reached at the place 
 where the Bao Joao was lost. Some of her timbers were still to 
 be seen, and in a deserted kraal in the neighbourhood pieces 
 of chinaware and other articles used by Europeans were 
 found. 
 
 After this, keeping along the shore, they found a good 
 supply of mussels and oysters, and considered the beach much 
 better for travelling over than the rough mountains and 
 valleys inland. The country was inhabited, but the natives 
 were hostile, bands of them constantly hovering about, ready 
 to attack loiterers. Five days after leaving the Umzimvubu 
 they reached the Umtamvuna, which they crossed on rafts, 
 after a skirmish with the natives. Four days later they were 
 on the right bank of the Umzimkulu. Here the people were 
 very friendly, singing and clapping their hands as they came 
 forward to see the strangers, and bringing food to sell for 
 little pieces of iron. It was the first they had been able to 
 purchase since they set out on their journey twenty-two days 
 before. Here was found a young man from Bengal who had 
 been left behind by Manuel de Sousa's party, but as he could 
 not speak Portuguese he was of little or no service. He 
 declined to leave the connections he had formed, and when 
 Cabral went on two Portuguese and about thirty slaves 
 remained with him and the friendly natives. 
 
 Three days march farther brought them to the Umkomanzi, 
 which they crossed at a ford pointed out by some Kaffirs, 
 whose friendship they requited by endeavouring to make prize 
 of a large basket of millet. This brought on a skirmish, 
 which ended, however, in their opponents being compelled to 
 retire. At the Umkomanzi they were joined by a young man 
 named Gaspar, a Moor by birth, who was left behind by 
 Manuel de Sousa. He had acquired the native language, but 
 was glad of an opportunity to get away from the country. 
 
Knowledge derived from Shipwrecks. 285 
 
 and so went on with them and made himself useful as an 
 interpreter. 
 
 At the end of another three days they were at a place 
 which they called the mouth of the Pescaria, and which, from 
 the description given, was in all probability the inlet on 
 which the present city of Durban is situated. They were not 
 the first white men, however, that saw it, for Manuel de Sousa 
 had passed round its shores, and of his party a Portuguese 
 named Kodrigo Tristao, a young man from Malabar, and two 
 slaves were then living there. The natives were very friendly, 
 and brought such a quantity of provisions, including goats, 
 to sell for iron, that they easily supplied themselves with as 
 much as they could consume and carry away. Rodrigo Tristao 
 went on with them, but the Indian and the slaves preferred 
 to remain where they were. 
 
 They were six days marching to the Tugela, which they 
 termed the Saint Lucia, stopping on the journey only to 
 purchase a cow and to take the needful rest, though they 
 suffered greatly from thirst. The river was crossed on rafts, 
 but the captain Fernao Alvares Cabral and another white 
 man were overturned in the current and lost their lives. 
 Francisco Pires, the boatswain, was then chosen to lead the 
 party, and after resting a day they moved on. 
 
 South of the Tugela they had suffered much from hunger, 
 thirst, and fatigue, but they had managed to move forward 
 about eight miles a day in a direct line, perhaps actually 
 walking thirteen or fourteen. They were now entering a 
 district much more difficult to travel in, owing to the swamps 
 and sheets of shallow water that abounded in it, the want of 
 shellfish on the sandy coast, and the poverty of the natives, 
 most of whom were hostile. Their iron for barter was nearly 
 exhausted, and only on a very few occasions were they able to 
 purchase a little food. One day's hardships resembled those 
 of the next : struggling through marshes, fainting with hunger, 
 skirmishing with natives, their number decreased rapidly. To 
 such a condition were they reduced that some of them cooked 
 and ate human flesh. At length, on the 7th of July fifty-six 
 
286 History of South Africa. 
 
 Portuguese and six slaves, reduced almost to skeletons and 
 covered with rags, reached the kraal of the Inyaka, Garcia de 
 Sa, on the south-eastern shore of Delagoa Bay. 
 
 Here they were at first well received, but from the avidity 
 with which the Portuguese ivory traders the year before had 
 purchased the gold and jewels taken from Manuel de Sousa 
 the chief had learned how valuable these things were, and 
 presently he required the unfortunate men to give him every- 
 thing they had in exchange for food. When they had done 
 this they found that there was at the time such a scanty 
 supply of provisions in the country that the chief, with the 
 best intentions, could not furnish sufficient to keep them 
 alive, and thus they were little better off than before. I'rom 
 their faulty chart they believed the river of Lourenpo Marques 
 to be still eighteen leagues distant, but they were so destitute 
 and exhausted that they could go no farther. Hunger, sickness, 
 ravenous animals, and vermin had to be contended with, and 
 to add to their distress the interpreter Gaspar, who had 
 ingratiated himself with the chief, treated them with the 
 utmost cruelty and scorn. 
 
 Then they scattered about in different kraals, and were 
 everywhere treated with such indignity and suffered such 
 misery that the living envied those who died. At last, on 
 the 3rd of November a sail appeared in the bay, to the 
 inexpressible joy of the few who still survived. It was the 
 trading vessel from Mozambique, commanded by Bastiao de 
 Lemos, who received his almost expiring countrymen with 
 every mark of kindness, and did what he could to restore them 
 to health and vigour. From him they learned that the cause 
 of Lourenpo Marques not having visited that part of the coast 
 during the preceding season was his having suffered shipwreck 
 on the passage. 
 
 Four months and a half the little vessel remained in the 
 bay, her crew trading for ivory with the different chiefs in 
 reach of their boats. On the 20th of March 1555 with the 
 first westerly wind of the season she sailed for Mozambique, 
 taking with her Rodrigo Tristao, of the 8ao Joao, and twenty 
 
Knowledge derived from Shipwrecks, 287 
 
 Portuguese and four slaves, of the Bao Bento. Of the three 
 hundred and twenty individuals who set out from the mouth 
 of the Umtata, all the others had either perished or were left 
 behind at native kraals on the line of march. 
 
 A few years later Francisco Barreto, shortly after being 
 governor-general of India, narrowly escaped shipwreck on the 
 African coast. Upon the arrival of his successor, the viceroy 
 Dom Constantino de Braganpa, on the 20th of January 1559 
 he left Goa in the ship Aguia to return to Portugal. Very 
 heavy weather was encountered off the southern, shore, and the 
 ship was so disabled that it was with difficulty she could be 
 kept afloat. Barreto then resolved to get as far back towards 
 Mozambique as possible, to keep close to the land on the 
 way, and to run the hulk aground in the last extremity. 
 Fortunately, however, he was not obliged to resort to this 
 extreme measure, for the wind was favourable and the island 
 was reached without further disaster. 
 
 The Aguia was unladen and repaired at Mozambique, and 
 on the 17th of November she set sail once more. She had 
 not proceeded far when she again sprang a leak, and soon 
 afterwards a westerly gale was encountered which lasted three 
 days. The pilot, who was a veteran in the service, declared 
 that such an occurrence at that time of the year had never 
 been known before, and as all on board looked upon it as a 
 warning from God not to persevere in the voyage, the ship's 
 head was again turned towards Mozambique. 
 
 Barreto now abandoned the Aguia and proceeded to India 
 in a little vessel, in which he nearly perished of thirst on the 
 passage. After some delay at Goa he embarked in the home- 
 ward bound ship Sao Giao, and without further mishap reached 
 Lisbon in June 1561, twenty-nine months after he first set 
 out to return to that city. 
 
 Owing to this occurrence and others of a similar nature, 
 King Sebastiao issued instructions to Manuel de Mesquita 
 Perestrello, one of the surviving officers of the 8do Bento, to 
 survey the African coast from Cape Correntes to the Cape of 
 Good Hope, and ascertain if there were any harbours in which 
 
288 History of South Africa. 
 
 ships could winter if necessary and at all times find shelter 
 during those gales from the westward that caused the heavy 
 sea. For this purpose the experienced seaman left Mozambique 
 in a small vessel on the 22nd of November 1575. No method 
 of determining longitudes was then known, and the instrument 
 used for ascertaining the sun's altitude at noon was so clumsy 
 that observations made with it on shipboard were almost always 
 incorrect. Some of the latitudes of points on the coast given 
 by Manuel de Mesquita are more than fifty miles from their 
 true position, and in his report, which was intended to be a 
 guide for navigators, he lays down as a rule that the 
 topography of the different places visited must alone bo 
 depended upon. 
 
 His survey therefore was nothing more than an inspection 
 from the deck of his vessel of the shore from about the Kowie 
 river westward, but soundings were taken, the compass bear- 
 ings of the points of the bays from the anchorages within them 
 were ascertained, and sketches — some of them almost grotesque 
 — of the scenery at each one were made. Distances were laid 
 down merely by guess. As far as the coast between the Bird 
 islands and Delagoa Bay was concerned he depended upon his 
 overland journey twenty-one years before, and as he mistook 
 the Umtata for the river now known as the Fish, his observa- 
 tions upon that part of the seaboard were most inaccurate. Thus 
 he estimated the mouth of the Umzimvubu — by him called 
 the Sao Christovao — as only about twenty-eight English miles 
 from that of the Fish, and in his chart also he lays it do\\n 
 in that position. Here he actually made an error of fully one 
 hundred and sixty English miles. 
 
 The best shelter along the whole coast, according to him, was 
 to be found within the curve of the land at the mouth of the 
 Breede river, to which as a compliment to the king he gave 
 the name Saint Sebastian's Bay. There, he reported, a vessel 
 would be protected from all winds except those from east- 
 north-east to south-east. An east wind was blowing when he 
 was there, to which he attributed the heavy surf on the bar 
 at the mouth of the Breede river, but he thought that during 
 
Knowledge derived from Shipwrecks. 289 
 
 the westerly monsoon the passage would be smooth, and then 
 a whole fleet might enter the inner harbour and be perfectly 
 landlocked. The place abounded with fish, and plenty of fresh 
 water was to be had. 
 
 Next in importance he regarded the Watering Place of Saint 
 Bras, now called Mossel Bay. He described it as sheltered 
 from all winds except those from north-east to south-east by 
 east, and as having good holding ground for anchors. The 
 islet in it he foimd covered with seals and penguins. Of the 
 hermitage built there more than half a century earlier, and 
 dedicated to Saint Bras, nothing now remained but portions of 
 the walls three or four feet in height. On the highest point 
 of the western cape on the 7th of January 1576 he set up 
 a wooden cross, and attached to it a sealed tube containing a 
 record of the event. 
 
 Fermosa Bay — now Plettenberg's Bay — and the bay which 
 he named Saint Francis he also regarded as good ports for the 
 purpose needed, both being sheltered from all winds excepting 
 those from the north-east to the south, having good ground for 
 anchoring, and plenty of fresh water within reach. Of the 
 bay Da Lagoa — now Algoa — he thought less highly, though 
 he was of opinion that shelter could be found near the islet 
 of the Cross. 
 
 His latitudes and distances are so incorrect that it is impos- 
 sible to state with precision the limits of his land of Natal, 
 but he seems to have regarded the coast from about the Kei 
 to the Umkomanzi as coming under that designation. He de- 
 scribed it as being without ports or rivers into which large 
 ships could enter. Of the inlet termed in modern times the 
 bay of Natal he makes no mention whatever, though his Point 
 Pescaria is most probably the present Bluff. 
 
 The bay into which the rivers Maputa, Santo Espirito, and 
 Mauisa flow he was able to describe more accurately than any 
 other on the south-eastern coast, owing to his residence on its 
 shores in former years. The old Inyaka Garcia de Sa, who 
 had assisted the wrecked people of the Sao Joao and the 
 Sao BentOy was still alive in 1576. 
 
290 History of South Africa. 
 
 Of the remaining part of the survey it is needless to state 
 anything more than that it was in all respects so defective 
 that it could not have been of use to vessels frequenting the 
 coast, if there had been any such. Manuel de Mesquita's 
 report marks the highest point of knowledge of the African 
 shore south of Delagoa Bay acquired by the Portuguese before 
 they were superseded in the eastern traffic by the Dutch, but 
 for any other purpose it is valueless. Saint Sebastian's Bay, 
 Saint Francis Bay, and Point Delgada still retain the names 
 which he gave to them, and it is interesting to remember that 
 the first of these serves to connect South Africa with the young 
 and gallant king who disappeared in battle with the Moors at 
 El-Kasr el-Kebir, but who, in the belief of the lower classes of 
 the Portuguese for generations, was one day to reappear and 
 restore his country to its former glory.* 
 
 The narrative of the wreck of the ship Santiago throws hardly 
 any special light upon the condition of the natives, but from 
 it some particulars concerning the trade of the Portuguese 
 along the lower Zambesi are to be obtained. The Santiago 
 sailed from Lisbon for Goa on the 1st of April 1585, with 
 more than four hundred and fifty souls on board, and in the 
 night of the 18th of August struck upon a shoal in the 
 Mozambique channel, where she went to pieces. Five or six 
 rafts were made, and on these and in two small boats some of 
 the people tried to get to the African coast. One raft and the 
 two boats succeeded in reaching the shore between the Luabo 
 and the Quilimane mouths, the people on the other rafts were 
 either drowned or perished from starvation. 
 
 The commerce of the delta of the Zambesi and of the terri- 
 
 * The names on Perestrello's chart are the following : Cabo de Boa Esperanya, 
 Cabo Falso, Cabo das Agulhas, Cabo do Infante, Bahia de S. Sebastiao, Cabo das 
 Vacas, Cabo de S. Bras, Agoada de S. Bras, Cabo Talhado, Bahia de S. Caterina, 
 Cabo das Baxas, Ponta Delgada, Bahia Feimosa, Cabo das Serras, Bahia de 
 S. Francisco, Cabo do Arrecife, Ilba da Cruz, Bahia da Lagoa, Ilheos Chaos, 
 Ponta do Padrao, Bio do Infante, Rio de S, Christovao, Primeira Ponta do Natal, 
 Ponta do Meio, Ponta Derradeira, Ponta de Pescavia, Ponta de S. Lucia, Bio de 
 S. Lucia, Eio dos Medaos do Ouro, Ponta dos Fumos, Terra dos Fumos, Bahia 
 de Louren9o Marques, Eio do Santo Espiiito, Rio do Manica, and liio do Ouro. 
 

 
 
 M 
 
 ^x/ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 fT""" 7. 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 s..^\ .^-HiW 
 
 \ 
 \ 
 
 /- 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 K^ VM \ ^ 
 
 ^: 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 W 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 Z,/^ 
 
 
 \ 
 
 PHOTOGRAPH OF PERESTRELLO'S CHART. 
 
Knowledge derived from Shipwrecks. 291 
 
 tory bordering upon it to the south was at this time to a 
 small extent in the hands of Arab mixed breeds, who professed 
 to be vassals of the Portuguese. The principal man among 
 them was one Muinha Sedaca, who was wealthy and had a 
 large establishment. He showed much kindness to those of the 
 wrecked people who landed near his residence, and assisted 
 them to reach a place of safety. 
 
 The chief commerce, however, was in the hands of a Portu- 
 guese named Francisco Brochado, who had acquired great 
 influence and power in the country. He was a man of good 
 family, and had settled on the Zambesi thirty years before. He 
 had two great establishments, consisting entirely of slaves, one 
 at Quilimane, the other on the Luabo, and at each he resided 
 during a portion of the year. His generosity to his wrecked 
 countrymen was unbounded, and by him they were clothed and 
 otherwise cared for until they could embark at Quilimane for 
 Mozambique. 
 
 Francisco Brochado held the title of an office from the Portu- 
 guese government, but his power was not due to that : it was 
 owing solely to the influence which a resolute, active, and able 
 man had acquired over a community of barbarians. It was 
 entirely personal. Portuguese rule existed at Quilimane, and, 
 above the delta, at Sena, but except at those stations native 
 chiefs governed their followers, and knew nothing of foreign 
 supremacy beyond the influence which Brochado had gained 
 among them. He had leased from the captain of Sofala and 
 Mozambique a monopoly of the commerce of the delta, and all 
 the boats on the rivers — excepting a few small ones owned by 
 the Arab mixed breeds — were in his service. The profits were 
 commonly enormous, but the trade was fluctuating and subject 
 to many reverses. 
 
 In January 1589 the ship ^ao Thome sailed from Cochin for 
 Portugal. No vessel so richly laden had left the Indian seas 
 for many years, but so widespread was corruption among the 
 officials of all classes that she was very insufficiently furnished 
 for the passage. Her captain was a man of little ability, named 
 Estevao da Veiga. There were many passengers on board, 
 
292 History of South Africa. 
 
 among whom were Dom Paul de Lima and his lady Dona 
 Beatrice, Bernardim de Carvalto, Gregorio Botelho and his 
 daughter Dona Mariana, who was proceeding to Portugal to 
 rejoin her husband Guterre de Monroy, Dona Joanna de 
 Mendonja, widow of Gonpalo Gomes d'Azevedo, who had her 
 only child, a little girl not two years of age, with her, 
 and Diogo de Couto, who had been wrecked before in the 
 Santiago. 
 
 The officers were desirous of reaching the island of St. 
 Helena before any of the other vessels which left Cochin at 
 the same time, so they crowded on sail until the ship sprang 
 a leak off the southern point of Madagascar. The leak was 
 partly stopped, and the ship continued on her course until the 
 12th of March, when a south-westerly wind was encountered, 
 and the water began anew to gain rapidly on the pumps. An 
 effort was then made to reach Mozambique, pumping and 
 baling were carried on incessantly, and the ship was lightened 
 as much as possible, but a few days later it was seen that she 
 could not float many hours longer. 
 
 There was a very large boat on the deck, which was now got 
 into the water. A scramble took place, each man striving to 
 fight his way into it, so that by the time it got clear of the 
 ship it contained no fewer than one hundred and nine indi- 
 viduals. The three ladies were among the number, but the 
 agony of the widow De Mendon^a was intense, for her child 
 was in the sinking ship, and its nurse would not give it up 
 unless she too were rescued. This was not possible, for already 
 the boat was so overcrowded that to lighten her twelve men 
 were thrown out and drowned. 
 
 There was a Dominican friar, Nicolau of the Rosary by 
 name, on board the Bao Thome, and those in the boat shouted 
 to him to jump overboard and swim to them, when they would 
 pick him up, but he would not leave the ship until he had 
 attended to the spiritual needs of those who were about to die. 
 When that was done, he sprang into the sea, swam to the 
 boat, and was taken in. 
 
 At ten in the morning the ship was seen to go down. Early 
 
Knowledge derived from Shipwrecks. 293 
 
 next clay, the 22nd of March, the boat reached the coast of 
 the territory now called Tongaland, which was then occupied 
 by the Makomata tribe. Some sailors landed, and found a 
 kraal not far off, where they were treated in a friendly 
 manner. The officers now resolved to proceed along the coast 
 to the river of Lourenpo Marques, but as the wind freshened 
 they were unable to carry out that design in the boat, which 
 would certainly have foundered. They therefore ran her 
 ashore, and burned her to get nails to trade with, after which 
 they set out to march overland. They were in all ninety- 
 eight souls, and they had five guns with ammunition, as many 
 swords, and a little food. 
 
 On their journey they encountered many natives, a few 
 hostile, but the greater number friendly, and they were able 
 to exchange their nails for hens, goats, fish, and bruised 
 millet, so that they did not suffer much from hunger before 
 their arrival at the kraal of the Inyaka chief, who was son 
 and successor of Garcia de Sa. This chief treated them as 
 well as he could, but his resources were insufficient for the 
 maintenance of so many persons thrown thus suddenly upon 
 him. He therefore proposed that they should take up their 
 abode on Elephant Island, then called Setimuro, where he 
 would send them as much food as he could collect until the 
 arrival of the trading vessel from Mozambique in the follow- 
 ing year. The one of this season had sailed only a few days 
 before. 
 
 The wrecked people fell in with this proposal, and were 
 conducted to Elephant Island, which was uninhabited. It was 
 on that account used as their principal station by the Portu- 
 guese ivory traders when they visited the bay. The huts 
 which they had put up provided accommodation for the cast- 
 aways, and they had left there two native boats that could 
 be turned to account. The want of food, which the Inyaka 
 could not supply in sufficient quantity, here after a short time 
 became so pressing that the party resolved to attempt to push 
 on to Sofala as their only hope of life. 
 
 On the 18th of April sixty of them set out in the two 
 
 z 2 
 
294 History of South Africa. 
 
 boats for the northern shore of the bay, after arranging that 
 a few sailors should return for the others, thirty-six in number, 
 who were left behind. One of the boats safely reached the 
 mouth of the Manisa, where its crew were informed that at 
 tlie kraal of the chief, twelve leagues up the stream, there 
 were some Portuguese. They therefore went up the river, and 
 found Jeronymo Leitao, the master of the trading vessel that 
 had left Elephant Island about a month before, with his com- 
 panions. He informed them that he had put into the Limpopo, 
 where he had been robbed of his vessel and cargo, and had 
 then travelled overland to the kraal of Manisa, who had 
 treated him kindly. The chief received the people of the 
 boat in a friendly manner, and provided for their wants. 
 
 The other boat got into the surf, and was run ashore near 
 the mouth of the Limpopo, where she was of necessity aban- 
 doned. Her crew then set out to march northward. j\Iost of 
 the natives on the way gave them assistance, but their suffer- 
 ings were so great from hunger, thirst, fatigue, and fever, that 
 nearly half of them perished. The survivors passed through 
 Gamba's country and Inhambane, and a little farther on found 
 a Portuguese trader with a boat. He took them across to the 
 island of Bazaruta, which was then occupied by Arabs of 
 mixed blood, who treated them very well. There was also a 
 native of Sofala living on the island, and this man procured 
 a small vessel, in which they completed their journey to the 
 Portuguese station, where their troubles ended. 
 
 Meantime fever attacked the Europeans at Manisa's kraal 
 and those left on Elephant Island, so that it was some time 
 before the latter could be taken across to their friends. Manisa 
 was able to provide them all with food, so they did not 
 attempt to go farther. Jeronymo Leitao, who was accustomed 
 to deal with natives, had sent messengers overland to Sofala, 
 to inform the captain there of what had occurred. That 
 officer, on receiving the intelligence, at once sent a small 
 pangayo with necessary articles, and as at that season of the 
 year she could not sail to the river Manisa, her cargo was 
 landed at Inhambane and then forwarded overland by native 
 
Knowledge derived front Shipwrecks, 295 
 
 carriers. Before this assistance arrived, Dom Paul de Lima, 
 Bernardim de Carvalho, and many other males of the party- 
 had died, but the three ladies were still living. They re- 
 mained at Manisa's kraal until the change of the monsoon 
 permitted a pangayo to be sent for them, in which they 
 went to Mozambique, and there embarked in a ship bound 
 to Goa. 
 
 On the 21st of January 1598 the ship Banto Alberto sailed 
 from Cochin for Lisbon. She was commanded by the captain 
 Juliao de Faria Cerveira, and had as pilot a man of experience 
 named Kodrigo Miguels. Among those on board were Dona 
 Isabella Pereira, daughter of Francisco Pereira, an officer at 
 Goa, and widow of Diogo de Mello Coutinho, who had been 
 captain of Ceylon, Dona Lniza, daughter of that lady, a girl 
 sixteen years of age, Nuno Velho Pereira, recently captain of 
 Mozambique, and two friars. There were many other passengers, 
 some of them gentlemen of position. 
 
 In latitude 10° S. the ship sprang a leak, and could not 
 afterwards be freed of water. On the 21st of March the African 
 coast was in sight, in latitude 31J° according to observations 
 with the astrolabe, and here the leak increased greatly. The 
 ship was lightened as much as possible, the pumps were kept 
 constantly at work, and baling was resorted to, but the water 
 in the hold continued to rise. In order therefore to save the 
 lives of those on board, as there was no hope of being able to 
 keep afloat much longer, the Santo Alberto was run ashore. 
 Between nine and ten o'clock in the morning of the 24th of 
 March she struck about three or four hundred yards from the 
 beach. One hundred and twenty-five Portuguese, including 
 the two ladies, and one hundred and sixty slaves got safely 
 to land, and twenty-eight Portuguese and thirty-four slaves 
 were drowned. 
 
 Fortunately a quantity of stores of different kinds, arms, 
 ammunition, bales of calico, pieces of metal, beads, an astrolabe, 
 some writing paper, and other articles were saved from the 
 wreck. The pilot believed the latitude of the place to be 324° 
 S., but that was certainly an error, because there was only one 
 
2g6 History of Sotith Africa. 
 
 large river between it and the Umzimvubu, and if it had 
 been correct the Bashee and the Umtata must have been 
 crossed. The Portuguese maps were still so defective that the 
 position of all but very prominent places upon them was 
 uncertain. The wrecked crew of the 8anio Alberto believed 
 the remarkable rock now known as the Hole in the Wall, 
 close to which they were, to be the Penedo das Fontes of 
 Dias, and the first river beyond, which was the Umtata of our 
 day, to be the Kio do Infante of that explorer. From this 
 time onward until their arrival at Delagoa Bay, to which place 
 they resolved to proceed, the pilot kept a journal, in which 
 he noted the distances travelled, the direction, occasionally the 
 latitude, particulars concerning barter, observations upon the 
 natives, and other matters of interest. Many Bantu words 
 given in this journal are easily made out, and from the obser- 
 vations recorded the route of the party can be laid down 
 nearly — if not quite — accurately on a modern map.* 
 
 The wrecked people commenced their journey from the 
 streamlet Mpako, about ten miles west of the mouth of the 
 Umtata. The great rock, which then, according to the journal, 
 bore the name Tizombe, is now called Zikali. Nuno Velho 
 Pereira, being a man of rank and experience, was elected 
 leader, and Antonio Godinho, who had for a long time traded 
 at stations in the Zambesi valley, took charge of the barter, 
 on which the very lives of the travellers depended. Arrange- 
 ments were made for the journey similar to those of a trading 
 caravan. Calico, beads, and pieces of metal were done up in 
 packs to be carried by the slaves, and the arms and provisions 
 were borne by the Portuguese. 
 
 While these preparations were in progress, on the 27th of 
 March a native chief with sixty followers made his appear- 
 ance. His name, as recorded, was Luspance. Calling out 
 Nanhata ! Nanhata ! in a friendly tone, the band came for- 
 
 * I am indebted for assistance in tracing this route to Walter Stanford, 
 Esquire, C.M.G., recently chief magistrate of Griqualand East. This gentleman 
 is thoroughly acquainted with the territory, which I have not had an opportunity 
 of examining. 
 
t 
 
 Knowledge derived from Shipwrecks. 297 
 
 ward, when the chief presented two large sheep with heavy 
 tails like those of Ormus. Among the slaves was one who 
 could make himself understood by Luspance, and who spoke 
 also the language of the Bantu of Mozambique. Another 
 slave spoke the last-named language and also Portuguese, so 
 that through two intermediary interpreters the Europeans 
 could make their wants known. And throughout one of the 
 most remarkable journeys ever made in South Africa slaves 
 of the party could always converse with the natives, a circum- 
 stance which tended greatly towards the safety of all. 
 
 Luspance is described as a man of good stature, light in 
 colour, of a cheerful countenance, and about forty- five years of 
 age. He and his people wore karosses of oxhide made soft by 
 rubbing and greasing, and they had sandals on their feet. 
 They could run with great speed. In their hands they carried 
 sticks with jackals' tails attached to them, and the chief had 
 as an ornament a piece of copper suspended from his left ear. 
 They were husbandmen and graziers. Their grain was millet 
 of the size of peppercorns, which was ground between two 
 stones, and of which they also made beer. Their wealth con- 
 sisted of cattle, whose milk was one of their ordinary articles 
 of diet. Their huts were round and low, were covered with 
 reed mats, and were not proof against rain. They had pots 
 made of clay, used assagais in war and the chase, and kept 
 dogs. They were without any form of worship, but were cir- 
 cumcised, as were nearly all the natives south of the twenty- 
 ninth parallel of latitude. They were very sensual, each man 
 having as many wives as he chose. Gold and silver were 
 esteemed by them as of little value, but for very small pieces 
 of iron or copper they were willing to sell oxen or sheep. 
 Their language was a dialect of that in use by all the people 
 of Kaffraria, and their chief, like the petty rulers in the 
 country to the north, was termed an Inkosi. 
 
 From this description it is evident that Luspance's clan was 
 of mixed Bantu and Hottentot blood, the former, however, 
 prevailing, and that in 1593 the condition of things along the 
 Umtata was similar to that along the Fish river two centuries 
 
298 History of South Africa. 
 
 later, when the incorporation of the Gonaquas in the Xosa 
 tribe had recently taken place. 
 
 On the 3rd of April the travellers commenced their march. 
 Luspance sold them two cows and two sheep, and went with 
 them himself as a guide as far as the Umtata. A negro boy, 
 one of whose legs had been broken in getting to land, was 
 left behind with the friendly natives. On the afternoon of 
 the next day they crossed the Umtata, which they believed 
 to be the Infante, and then Luspance bade them farewell, 
 after directing a guide whose name is given as Inhancosa — 
 (evidently Nyana wenkosi, i.e. son of the chief) — to conduct 
 them onward. 
 
 On the 5th they obtained eight cows in barter, on the 7th 
 they passed a field of millet, of which they purchased some, 
 and on the 9th they reached a little kraal that was in posses- 
 sion of a hundred head of horned cattle and a hundred and 
 twenty sheep of the large-tailed breed. The chief presented 
 calabashes of milk, and sold them four cows for pieces of 
 copper worth as many pence. A little farther on they reached 
 a kraal ufnder a chief named Ubabu, who was a brother of their 
 guide. He was a man of middling stature, not very black in 
 colour, with an open cheerful countenance. He entertained 
 the strangers with a dance, in which about sixty men took 
 part, the women clapping their hands and singing in time. 
 Though Ubabu had about two hundred head of large cattle 
 and as many sheep, he would not part with any except at 
 prices which the Portuguese regarded as extortionate, but he 
 was very pleased to accept of the presents they made him. 
 
 Soon after leaving his kraal some natives were seen with 
 beads of Indian manufacture hanging from their ears, which 
 the journalist conjectured must have been brought down from 
 the trading station at Delagoa Bay, though it is much more 
 likely that they were obtained from the wreck of the Bao Joao 
 or the Sao Bento. Progress was slow, often little more than a 
 league in a day being covered, but on the 14th the caravan 
 reached the Umzimvubu at the ford now known as the Etyeni, 
 where the passage of the stream was safely made. 
 
Knowledge derived from Shipwrecks. 299 
 
 After crossing this river, the largest in Kaffraria, the tone 
 of the journal changes. The travellers found themselves now 
 in a more thickly populated country, and the inhabitants were 
 blacker in colour. They had not proceeded far when a chief 
 named Vibo, who was much more powerful than any they had 
 seen before, and who is described as being very black and 
 about eighty years of age, came to meet them. After that 
 chiefs in possession of kraals of considerable size were 
 found at intervals along their whole line of march, except 
 when they were on the high plateau from which rises the 
 Drakensberg. They had no difficulty in purchasing as many 
 horned cattle, sheep, hens, gourds, and millet cakes, and as 
 much millet and milk as they needed. For the millet cakes, 
 probably on account of their being so different from European 
 bread, they used the native name isinkwa, which the journalist 
 wrote sincoa. The gleeful exclamation Halala! Halala! they 
 mistook for a form of greeting, but they were correct in believ- 
 ing that the word manga (properly isimanga) referred to the 
 sea, though literally it means a wonder. 
 
 They passed over the high ground behind the present 
 mission station Palmerton, along by the Ingele mountain, 
 ^ which they called Moxangala, and on the 3rd of May saw the 
 P Drakensberg to the northward and north-eastward covered 
 with snow. This part of the country, being too cold in the 
 winter season to be pleasant for Bantu, they found uninhabited. 
 Turning now towards the lowlands, on the 13th of May they 
 crossed a beautiful river which they called the Mutaiigalo, 
 the Umzimkulu of our day. 
 
 The present colony of Natal they found thickly peopled. 
 By this time they were inured to travel, the weather was in 
 all respects favourable, and they could usually obtain com- 
 petent guides, so they made much longer stages than at first. 
 It took them only sixteen days to go over the ground from 
 the Umzimkulu to the Tugela — the Uchugel they termed it, — 
 which stream they crossed on the 29th of May. 
 
 Continuing at this rapid rate, they reached Delagoa Bay 
 1^ on the 30th of June, having marched as they computed three 
 
300 History of South Africa. 
 
 hundred leagues in eighty-eight days. From the Mpako to 
 the Espirito Santo a straight line measures only one hundred 
 and fifty leagues, but they thought the various turns in the 
 footpaths had doubled that distance. They had nineteen head 
 of cattle when they reached the bay. On the journey they 
 had been compelled to abandon nine Europeans who were 
 worn out with sickness and fatigue, and they lost ninety-five 
 slaves, mostly by desertion. This wonderful success was due 
 to its being the best time of the year for travelling, to their 
 being so strong and so well armed that no natives dared to 
 attack them, to their being provided with means to purchase 
 food, and to their having slaves who could make themselves 
 understood by the Bantu along the route. 
 
 At Delagoa Bay they found the trading vessel 'Nossa Senhora 
 da Salvagao nearly ready to return to Mozambique. She 
 was not large enough to contain them all, but her mixed-breed 
 Moslem sailors, who had their wives with them, consented for 
 liberal payment to remain behind, and thus she was lightened 
 of forty-five individuals. It was the custom of these people, 
 instead of receiving wages, to be allowed to trade in millet, 
 honey, and anything else except ivory or ambergris on their 
 own account, and therefore they would have little difficulty in 
 providing for themselves on shore. From them the chief 
 captain purchased an ample supply of millet for food on the 
 passage. Twenty-eight Portuguese soldiers and sailors resolved 
 to travel overland to Sofala, but only two of this party reached 
 their destination ; the others perished on the way in conflicts 
 brought on by their own misconduct. Eighty- eight Portu- 
 guese, including the two ladies, and sixty-four slaves embarked 
 in the trading vessel, which sailed on the 22nd of July, and 
 reached Mozambique in safety on the 6th of August. 
 
 In all the region traversed by the crews of these wrecked 
 ships not a single tribe is mentioned of the same name as any 
 now existing. The people were all of the Bantu race as far 
 south as the Umzimvubu, spoke dialects of the same language, 
 had the same customs, but were not grouped as at present. 
 South of the Umzimvubu there was a mixture of Bantu and 
 
Knowledge derived from Shipwrecks. 301 
 
 Hottentot blood, but how far the former extended in this 
 diluted form cannot be ascertained. Probably not far, as the 
 country was very sparsely populated. It is noticeable also 
 that the whole of the high plateau from which the Drakens- 
 berg rises was without inhabitants at least as far north as the 
 present colony of Natal. 
 
 It would serve no useful purpose to give the names of the 
 tribes about Delagoa Bay and farther northward, as placed on 
 record by the Portuguese writers, for even if those names were 
 accurate at the time, the communities that bore them have 
 long since ceased to exist, and never did anything to merit 
 a place in history. Along the coast south of Delagoa Bay 
 only four tribes of importance are mentioned. The first was 
 that of the Inyaka, occupying the island now known by that 
 name and the territory between the Maputa river and the 
 sea. Joining them on the south were the Makomata, under a 
 chief called Viragune by the Portuguese, whose kraals were 
 scattered over the country from the coast ninety miles inland. 
 Then came the Makalapapa, who lived about the St. Lucia 
 lagoon. South of them was a tribe termed the Vambe by the 
 Portuguese, which was to a certainty the Abambo of Hlubi, 
 Zizi, and other traditions, from whom Natal is still called Embo 
 by the Bantu. 
 
 All the paramount chiefs of these tribes were termed kings 
 by the Portuguese, and the territories in which they lived 
 were described as kingdoms. In the same way the heads of 
 kraals were designated nobles. Phraseology of this kind, so 
 liable to lead readers into error, ended, however, with the so- 
 called Yambe kingdom, as farther south there were no tribes 
 of any importance, no chiefs with more than three or four 
 kraals under their control, and to these a high-sounding title 
 could not be given. The Pondo, Pondomisi, Tembu, and Xosa 
 tribes of our day were either not yet in existence as separate 
 communities, or were little insignificant clans too feeble to 
 attract notice. 
 
302 History of South AfHca. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 APPEARANCE OP RIVALS IN THE EA.STERN SEAS. 
 
 The debt which the world owes to the Portuguese for 
 weakening the Mohamedan power and thus preventing the 
 subjugation of a larger portion of Eastern Europe than was 
 actually overrun by the Turks should not be forgotten, but 
 long before the close of the sixteenth century they had 
 ceased to be participants in the great progressive movement 
 of the Caucasian race. Upon a conquering nation rests an 
 enormous responsibility : no smaller than that of benefiting 
 the world at large. Was Portugal doing this in her eastern 
 possessions to such an extent as to make her displacement 
 there a matter deserving universal regret ? Probably her 
 own people would reply that she was, for every nation 
 regards its own acts as better than those of others ; but 
 beyond her borders the answer unquestionably would be 
 that she was not. Rapacity, cruelty, corruption, have all 
 been laid to her charge at this period, and not without 
 sufficient reason. But apart from these vices, her weakness 
 under the Castilian kings was such that she was incapable 
 of doing any good. When an individual is too infirm and 
 decrepit to manage his affairs, a robust man takes his place, 
 and so it is with States. The weak one may cry out that 
 might is not right, but such a cry finds a very feeble echo. 
 India was not held by the Portuguese under the only inde- 
 feasible tenure : that of making the best use of it ; and thus 
 it could be seized by a stronger power without Christian 
 nations feeling that a wrong was being done. 
 
 Before recounting in brief the commencement of the Dutch 
 
Appeanuice of Rivals in the Eastern Seas. 303 
 
 conquests, a glance may be given to the acts of other 
 nations, and especially to those of our own countrymen, in 
 the eastern seas at an earlier date. 
 
 The French were the first to follow the Portuguese round 
 the Cape of Good Hope to India. As early as 1507 a corsair 
 of that nation, named Mondragon, made his appearance in the 
 Mozambique channel * with two armed vessels, and plundered 
 a ship under command of Job Queimado. He also captured 
 and robbed another Indiaman nearer home. On the 18th of 
 January 1509 a fleet commanded by Duarte Pacheco fell in 
 with him off Cape Finisterre, and after a warm engagement 
 sank one of his ships and captured the other. Mondragon 
 was taken a prisoner to Lisbon, where he found means of 
 making his peace with the king, and he was then permitted 
 to return to France. 
 
 Twenty years later three ships, fitted out by a merchant 
 named Jean Ango, sailed from Dieppe for India. The 
 accounts of this expedition are so conflicting that it is impos- 
 sible to relate the occurrences attending it with absolute 
 accuracy. It is certain, however, that one of the ships never 
 reached her destination. Another was wrecked on the coast 
 of Sumatra, where her crew were all murdered. The third 
 reached Diu in July 1527. She had a crew of forty French- 
 men, but was commanded by a Portuguese named Estevao 
 Dias, nicknamed Brigas, who had fled from his native country 
 on account of misdeeds committed there, and had taken 
 service with the strangers. The ruler of Diu regarded this 
 ship with great hostility, and as he was unable to seize her 
 openly, he practised deceit to get her crew within his power. 
 Professing friendship, he gave Dias permission to trade in his 
 territory, but took advantage of the first opportunity to arrest 
 him and his crew. They were handed over as captives to the 
 paramount Mohamedan ruler, and were obliged to embrace 
 
 * The particulars of this event cannot be ascertained, and it would even 
 be doubtful whether Mondragon really rounded the Cape of Good Hope if it 
 ■were not expressly stated in a summary of the directions issued by the king 
 for his capture, that it took place " no canal de Mocambic^uei^" 
 
304 History of South Africa. 
 
 his creed to preserve their lives. They were then taken into 
 his service and remained in India. 
 
 Early in 1529 two ships commanded by Jean and Kaoul 
 Parmentier, fitted out partly by Jean Ango, partly by 
 merchants of Rouen, sailed from Dieppe. In October of the 
 same year they reached Sumatra, but on account of great 
 loss of life from sickness, on the 22nd of January 1530 they 
 turned homeward. As they avoided the Portuguese settle- 
 ments, nothing was known at Goa of their proceedings except 
 what was told by a sailor who was left behind at Madagascar 
 and was afterwards found there, This expedition was almost 
 as unsuccessful as the preceding one. On their return passage 
 the ships were greatly damaged in violent storms, and they 
 reached Europe with difficulty. 
 
 From that time until 1601 there is no trace of a French 
 vessel having passed the Cape of Good Hope. In May of 
 this year the Gorhin and Croissant, two ships fitted out by 
 Messrs. Laval and Vitre, Bretagne merchants, sailed from St. 
 Male. They reached the Maldives safely, but there the Corhin 
 was lost in July 1602, and her commander was unable to 
 return to France until ten years had gone by. The Croissant 
 was lost on the Spanish coast on her homeward passage. 
 
 On the 1st of June 1604 a French East India Company 
 was established on paper, but it did not get further. In 
 1615 it was reorganised, and in 1617 the first successful 
 expedition to India under the French flag sailed from a port 
 in Normandy. From that date onward ships of this nation 
 were frequently seen in the eastern seas. But the French 
 made no attempt to form a settlement in South Africa, and 
 their only connection with this country was that towards 
 the middle of the seventeenth century a vessel was sent 
 occasionally from Rochelle to collect a cargo of sealskins 
 and oil at the islands in and near the present Saldanha 
 Bay. 
 
 The English were the next to appear in Indian waters. A 
 few individuals of this nation may have served in Portuguese 
 ships, and among the missionaries, especially of the Society of 
 
Appearance of Rivals in the Eastern Seas. 305 
 
 Jesus, who went out to convert the heathen, it is not unlikely 
 that there were several. One at least, Thomas Stephens by 
 name, was rector of the Jesuit college at Salsette. A letter 
 written by him from Goa in 1579, and printed in the second 
 volume of Hakluyt*s work, is the earliest account extant of an 
 English voyager to that part of the world.* It contains no 
 information of importance. 
 
 The famous sea captain Francis Drake, of Tavistock in 
 Devon, sailed from Plymouth on the 13th of December 1577, 
 with the intention of exploring the Pacific ocean. His fleet 
 consisted of five vessels, carrying in all one hundred and 
 sixty-four men. His own ship, named the Pelican, was of 
 one hundred and twenty tons burden. The others were the 
 Elizabeth, eighty tons, the Marigold, thirty tons, a pinnace of 
 twelve tons, and a storeship of fifty tons burden. The last 
 named was set on fire as soon as her cargo was transferred 
 to the others, the pinnace was abandoned, the Marigold was 
 lost in a storm, the Elizabeth, after reaching the Pacific, turned 
 back through the straits of Magellan, and the Pelican alone 
 continued the voyage. She was the first English ship that 
 sailed round the world. Captain Drake reached England 
 again on the 3rd of November 1580, and soon afterwards was 
 made a knight by Queen Elizabeth on board his ship. The 
 Pelican did not touch at any part of the South African 
 
 * I do not mention Sir John Mandeville in the text, because modem 
 criticism has proved that what he states concerning India in his book The 
 Voiage and trauayle of syr John Maundeuille, knight^ which (reateth of the 
 way toward Hierusalem, and of maruayles of Jnde, with other Hands and 
 Countryes was compiled from earlier foreign wi iters, though his work was 
 regarded as genuine and trustworthy by Englishmen until recently. Nothing 
 is known of him from contemporary records, and it is even regarded as 
 possible that Mandeville was a pseudonym. In his book he states that he was 
 born at St. Albans, and travelled in the east as far as China between the 
 years 1322 and 1357. It is now believed that he really visited Palestine, 
 and his account of that country is considered as partly based on personal 
 observation, but the remainder of the volume is spurious. The original was 
 written in French. See the Encyclopedia Britannica, article Mandeville. Of 
 the numerous copies of the book, in many languages, in the library of the 
 British Museum, the earliest was printed in 1480, 
 
3o6 History of South Africa, 
 
 coast, but there is the following paragraph in the account of 
 the voyage: — 
 
 "We ran hard aboard the Cape, finding the report of the 
 Portuguese to be most false, who affirm that it is the most 
 dangerous cape of the world, never without intolerable storms 
 and present danger to travellers who come near the same. 
 This cape is a most stately thing, and the fairest cape we saw 
 in the whole circumference of the earth, and we passed by it 
 on the 18th of June." 
 
 In 1583 four English traders in precious stones, acting 
 partly on their own account and partly as agents for 
 merchants in London, made their way by the Tigris and the 
 Persian gulf to Ormuz, where at that time people of various 
 nationalities were engaged in commerce. John Newbery, the 
 leader of the party, had been there before. The others were 
 named Ealph Fitch, William Leades, and James Story. 
 Shortly after their arrival at Ormuz they were arrested by 
 the Portuguese authorities on the double charge of being 
 heretics and spies of the prior Dom Antonio, who was a 
 claimant to the throne of Portugal, and under these pretences 
 they were sent prisoners to Goa. There they managed to 
 clear themselves of the first of the charges. Story entered a 
 convent, and the others, on finding bail not to leave the city, 
 were set at liberty in December 1584, mainly through the 
 instrumentality of the Jesuit father Stephens and Jan 
 Huyghen van Linschoten, of whom more will be related in 
 the following pages. Four months afterwards, being in fear of 
 ill-treatment, they managed to make their escape from Goa. 
 After a time they separated, and Fitch went on a tour through 
 India, visiting many places before his return to England in 
 1591. An account of his travels is extant in Hakluyt's collec- 
 tion, but there is not much information in it, and it had no 
 effect upon subsequent ^events. 
 
 Thomas Candish sailed from Plymouth on the 21st of July 
 1586, with three ships — the Desire, of one hundred and twenty 
 tons, the Content, of sixty tons, and the Hugh Gallant, of forty 
 tons — carrying in all one hundred and twenty-three souls. 
 
Appearance of Rivals in the Eastern Seas. 307 
 
 After sailing round the globe, he arrived again in Plymouth 
 on the 9th of September 1588, having passed the Cape of 
 Good Hope on the 16th of May. 
 
 The first English ships that put into a harbour on the 
 South African coast were the Penelope, Merchant Royal, and 
 Edward Bonaventure, which sailed from Plymouth for India 
 on tlie lOtli of April 1591, under command of Admiral George 
 Eaymond. This fleet put into the Watering Place of Saldanha 
 at the end of July. The crews, who were suffering from 
 scurvy, were at once sent on shore, where they obtained fresh 
 food by shooting wild fowl and gathering mussels and other 
 shell-fish along the rocky beach. Some natives had been seen 
 when the ships sailed in, but they appeared terrified, and 
 at once moved inland. Admiral Eaymond visited Robben 
 Island, where he found seals and penguins in great numbers. 
 One day some hunters caught a native, whom they treated 
 kindly, making him many presents and endeavouring to show 
 him by signs that they were in want of cattle. They then let 
 him go, and eight days afterwards he returned with thirty or 
 forty others, bringing forty oxen and as many sheep. Trade 
 was at once commenced, the price of an ox being two knives, 
 that of a sheep one knife. So many men had died of scurvy 
 that it was considered advisable to send the Merchant Royal 
 back to England weak handed. The Penelope, with one 
 hundred and one men, and the Edward Bonaventure, with 
 ninety-seven men, sailed for India on the 8th of September. 
 On the 12th a gale was encountered, and that night those in 
 the Edivard Bonaventure, whereof was captain James Lancaster 
 — who was afterwards famous as an advocate of Arctic explora- 
 tion, and whose name was given by Bylot and Baffin to the 
 sound which terminated their discoveries in 1616 — saw a 
 great sea break over the admiral's ship, which put out her 
 lights. After that she was never seen or heard of again. 
 
 The appearance of these rivals in the Indian seas caused 
 much concern in Spain and Portugal. There was as yet no 
 apprehension of the loss of the sources of the spice trade, 
 but it was regarded as probable that English ships would lie 
 
 2 A 
 
3o8 History of South Africa. 
 
 in wait at Saint Helena for richly laden vessels homeward 
 bound, so in 1593 the king directed the viceroy to instruct 
 the captains not to touch at that island. 
 
 It was not by Englishmen, however, though they visited 
 India at this early period, but by the Dutch, that the 
 Portuguese power in the East was overthrown. That power 
 was like a great bubble, but it required pricking to make it 
 burst, and our countrymen did not often come in contact 
 with it. Sir Francis Drake indeed, who was utterly fearless, 
 went wherever he chose, and opened fire upon all who 
 attempted to interfere with him, but his successors, whose 
 object was profit in trade, were naturally more cautious. The 
 Indies were large, and so they avoided the Portuguese 
 fortresses, and did what business they could with native 
 rulers and people. 
 
 The merchants of the Netherlands had been accustomed to 
 obtain at Lisbon the supplies of Indian products which they 
 required for home consumption and for the large European 
 trade which they carried on, but after 1580, when Portugal 
 came under the dominion of Philippe II of Spain, they were 
 shut out of that market. They then determined to open up 
 direct communication with the East, and for that purpose 
 made several gallant but fruitless efforts to find a passage 
 along the northern shores of Europe and Asia. When the 
 first of these had failed, and while the result of the second 
 was still unknown, some merchants of Amsterdam fitted out a 
 fleet of four vessels, which in the year 1595 sailed to India 
 by way of the Cape of Good Hope. Before this date, how- 
 ever, a few Netherlanders had visited the eastern seas in the 
 Portuguese service, and among them was one in particular 
 whose writings had great influence at that period and for 
 more than half a century afterwards. 
 
 Jan Huyghen van Linschoten was born at Haarlem, in the 
 province of Holland. He received a good general education, 
 but from an early age he gave himself up with ardour to the 
 special study of geography and history, and eagerly read such 
 books of travel as were within his reach. In 1579 he 
 
Appearance of Rivals in the Eastern Seas, 309 
 
 obtained permission from his parents, who were then residing 
 at Enkhuizen, to proceed to Seville, where his two elder 
 brothers were pushing their fortunes. He was at Seville 
 when the cardinal king Henrique of Portugal died, leaving 
 the succession to the throne in dispute. The duke of Alva 
 with a strong Spanish army won it for his master, and shortly 
 afterwards Linschoten removed to Lisbon, where he was a 
 clerk in a merchant's office when Philippe made his triumphal 
 entry and when Alva died. 
 
 Two years later he entered the service of a Dominican friar, 
 by name Vicente da Fonseca, who had been appointed by 
 Philippe primate of India, the see of Goa having been raised 
 to an archbishopric in 1557. In April 1583, with his employer 
 he sailed from Lisbon, and after touching at Mozambique — 
 where he remained from the 5th to the 20th of August, 
 diligently seeking information on that part of the world — he 
 arrived at Goa in September of the same year. He remained 
 in India until January 1589. When returning to Europe 
 in the ship Bania Cruz from Cochin, he passed through a 
 quantity of wreckage from the ill-fated Sao Thome, which had 
 sailed from the same port five days before he left, and he 
 visited several islands in the Atlantic, at one of which — 
 Terceira — he was detained a long time. He reached Lisbon 
 again in January 1592, and eight months later rejoined his 
 family at Enkhuizen, after an absence of nearly thirteen 
 years. From this date his name is inseparably connected 
 with those of the gallant spirits who braved the perils of the 
 polar seas in the effort to find a north-eastern passage 
 to China. 
 
 Early in 1595 the first of Linschoten's books was 
 published, in which an account is given of the sailing direc- 
 tions followed by the Portuguese in their navigation of the 
 eastern waters, drawn from the treatises of their most 
 experienced pilots. This work shows the highest knowledge 
 of navigation that Europeans had then acquired. They had 
 still no better instrument for determining latitudes than the 
 astrolabe and the cross staff, and no means whatever for ascer- 
 
 2 A 2 
 
3IO History of South Africa. 
 
 tainiiig longitudes. The vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope 
 was known by the appearance of seabirds called Cape pigeons 
 and the great drifting plants that are yet to be seen any 
 day on the shores of the Cape peninsula. The different kinds 
 of ground that adhered to the tallow of the sounding leads 
 to some extent indicated the position, as did also the varia- 
 tion of the magnetic needle, but whether a ship was fifty or a 
 hundred miles from any given point could not be ascertained 
 by either of these means. When close to the shore, however, 
 the position was known by the appearance of the land, the 
 form of the hills and mountains, and the patches of sand and 
 thicket, all of which had been carefully delineated and laid 
 down in the sailing directions. 
 
 Linschoten's first book was followed in 1596 by a descrip- 
 tion of the Indies, and by several geographical treatises 
 drawn from Portuguese sources, all profusely illustrated with 
 maps and plates. Of Mozambique an ample account was 
 given from personal observation and inquiry. Dom Pedro 
 de Castro had just been succeeded as captain by Nuno Velho 
 Pereira, who informed the archbishop that in his three years 
 term of office he would realise a fortune of about nine tons 
 of gold, or £75,000 sterling, derived chiefly from the trade in 
 the precious metal carried on at Sofala and in the territory 
 of the Monomotapa. Fort Sao Sebastiao had then no other 
 garrison than the servants and attendants of the captain, in 
 addition to whom there were only forty or at most fifty 
 Portuguese and half-breed male residents on the island 
 capable of assisting in its defence. There were three or four 
 hundred huts occupied by negroes, some of whom were 
 professed Christians, others Mohamedans, and still others 
 heathens. The exports to India were gold, ivory, ambergris, 
 ebony, and slaves. African slaves, being much stronger in 
 body than the natives of Hindostan, were used to perform 
 the hardest and coarsest work in the eastern possessions of 
 Portugal, and — though Linschoten does not state this — they 
 were employed in considerable numbers in the trading ships 
 to relieve the European seamen from the heavy labour of 
 
Appearance of Rivals in the Eastern Seas. 3 1 1 
 
 pumping, hauling, stowing and unstowing cargo, cleansing, 
 and so forth. These slaves were chiefly procured from the 
 lands to the northward, and very few, if any of them, were 
 natives of the country south of the Zambesi. 
 
 It serves to show how carefully and minutely Linschoten 
 elicited information at Mozambique, that he mentions a 
 harbour on the coast which is not named by any of the 
 Portuguese writers of the time except Dos Santos, whose 
 book was not then published, and who only refers to it 
 incidentally, though it is now known to be the best port 
 between Inhambane and the Zambesi. This is Beira, as at 
 present termed, then known to the sailors of the pangayos 
 that traded to the southward as Porto Bango. Linschoten 
 gives its latitude as 19J°, half a degree north of Sofala. He 
 mentions also Delagoa Bay, that is the present Algoa Bay, 
 and gives its latitude as 33^°. He describes the monsoons 
 of the Indian ocean, and states that ships from Portugal 
 availed themselves of these periodical winds by waiting at 
 Mozambique until the 1st of August, and never leaving after 
 the middle of September, thus securing a safe and easy 
 passage to the coast of Hindostan. 
 
 He frequently refers to the gold of Sofala and the country 
 of the Monomotapa, of which he had heard just such reports 
 as Vasco da Gama had eagerly listened to eighty-six years 
 before. Yet he did not magnify the importance of these 
 rumours as the Portuguese had done, though it was mainly 
 from his writings that his countrymen became possessed of 
 that spirit of cupidity which induced them a few years later 
 to make strenuous efforts to become masters of South-Eastern 
 Africa. 
 
 Linschoten's treatises were collected and published in a 
 single large volume, and the work was at once received as a 
 text-book, a position which its merits entitled it to occupy. 
 k The most defective portion of the whole is that referring to 
 South Africa : and for this reason, that it was then impossible 
 to get any correct information about the interior of the con- 
 tinent below the Zambesi west of the part frequented by the 
 
312 History of South Africa, 
 
 Portuguese. Linschoten himself saw no more of it than a 
 fleeting glimpse of False Cape afforded on liis outward passage, 
 and his description was of necessity based upon the faulty- 
 maps of the geographers of his time, so that it was full of 
 errors. But his account of India and of the way to reach its 
 several ports was so correct that it could serve the purpose of 
 a guide-book, and his treatise on the mode of navigation by 
 the Portuguese was thus used by the commander of the first 
 Dutch fleet that appeared in the eastern seas. 
 
 The four vessels which left Texel on the 2nd of April 
 1595 were under the general direction of an officer named 
 Cornells Houtman. In the afternoon of tlie 2nd of August 
 the Cape of Good Hope was seen, and next day, after passing 
 Agulhas, the fleet kept close to the land, the little Duifke 
 sailing in front and looking for a harbour. On the 4th the 
 bay called by the Portuguese Agoada de Sao Bras was dis- 
 covered, and as the Duifke found good holding ground in 
 nine or ten fathoms of water, the Mauritius, HoUandia, and 
 Amsterdam entered and dropped their anchors. 
 
 Here the fleet remained until the 11th, when sail was again 
 set for the East. During the interval a supply of fresh water 
 was taken in, and some oxen and sheep were purchased from 
 the natives for knives, old tools, and pieces of iron. The 
 Europeans were surprised to find the sheep covered with hair 
 instead of wool, and with enormous tails of pure fat. No 
 women or habitations were seen. The appearance of the 
 Hottentots, their clothing, their assagais, their method of 
 making a fire by twirling a piece of wood rapidly round in 
 the socket of another piece, their filthiness in eating, and 
 the clicking of their language, are all correctly described ; 
 but it was surmised that they were cannibals, because they 
 were observed to eat the half-raw intestines of animals, and 
 a fable commonly believed in Europe was repeated concerning 
 their mutilation in a peculiar manner of the bodies of con- 
 quered enemies. The intercourse with the few natives seen 
 was friendly, though at times each suspected the other of 
 evil intentions. 
 
Appearance of Rivals in the Eastern Seas. 3 1 3 
 
 A chart of the inlet was made,* from which it is seen to 
 be the one now called Mossel Bay. A little island in it 
 was covered with seals and penguins, some of each of which 
 were killed and eaten. The variation of the compass was 
 observed to be so trifling that the needle might be said to 
 point to the north. 
 
 From the Watering Place of Sao Bras Houtman continued 
 his voyage to India, but it is not necessary to relate 
 occurrences there. After his return to Europe several com- 
 panies were formed in different towns of the Netherlands, 
 with the object of trading to the East and wresting from 
 the Portuguese that wealth which they were then too feeble 
 to guard. 
 
 In the LeeuWy one of the ships sent out in 1598, and which 
 put into the Watering Place of Saldanha for refreshment, the 
 famous English seaman John Davis was chief pilot. He 
 wrote an account of the voyage, in which he states that the 
 Hottentots in Table Valley fell by surprise upon the men 
 who were ashore bartering cattle, and killed thirteen of them. 
 In his narrative Davis says that at Cape Agulhas the 
 magnetic needle was without variation, but in his sailing 
 directions, written after another voyage to India, he says : 
 " At False Cape there is no variation that I can find by 
 observing south from it. The variation of Cape Agulhas is 
 thirty minutes from north to west. And at the Cape of 
 Good Hope the compass is varied from north to east ^yq 
 and twenty minutes." 
 
 No fresh discoveries on the African coast were made by 
 any of the fleets sent out at this time, but to some of the 
 bays new names were given. 
 
 In December 1599 four ships fitted out by an association 
 at Amsterdam calling itself the New Brabant Company sailed 
 
 * It is attached to the original journals, now ia the archives of tlie Nether- 
 lands. I made a copy of it on ti'acing linen for the Cape government, as it 
 differs considerably from the chart in the printed condensed journal of the 
 voyage. In other respects also the compilation of the p-intcd journal has 
 been very carelessly executed. 
 
314 History of South Africa. 
 
 from Texel for the Indies, under command of Pieter Both. 
 Two of them returned early in 1601, leaving the Vereenigde 
 Landen and the Hof van Holland under charge of Paulus 
 van Caerden to follow as soon as they could obtain cargoes. 
 On the 8th of July 1601 Van Caerden put into the 
 Watering Place of Sao Bras on the South African coast, 
 for the purpose of repairing one of his ships which was 
 in a leaky condition. The commander, with twenty soldiers, 
 went a short distance inland to endeavour to find people 
 from whom he could obtain some cattle, but though 
 he came across a party of eight natives he did not succeed 
 in getting any oxen or sheep. A supply of fresh water 
 was taken in, but no refreshment except mussels could 
 be procured, on account of which Van Caerden gave 
 the inlet the name Mossel Bay, which it has ever since 
 retained. 
 
 On the 14th, the Hof van Holland having been repaired, 
 the two ships sailed, but two days later, as they were 
 making no progress against a head wind, they put into 
 another bay. Here natives were found, from whom the 
 voyagers obtained for pieces of iron as many horned cattle 
 and sheep as they could consume fresh or had salt to pre- 
 serve. For this reason the commander gave it the name 
 Flesh Bay. 
 
 On the 21st sail was set, but the Hof van Holland being 
 found leaky again, on the 23rd another bay was entered, 
 where her damages were repaired. On account of a westerly 
 gale the ships were detained here until the 30th, when 
 they sailed, but finding the wind contrary outside, they 
 returned to anchor. N"o natives were seen, but the com- 
 mander visited a river near by, where he encountered a party 
 from whom he obtained five sheep in exchange for bits of 
 iron. In the river were numerous hippopotami. Abundance 
 of fine fish having been secured here, the commander gave 
 the inlet the name Fish Bay. 
 
 On the 2nd of August the shij^s sailed, and on the 27th 
 passed the Cape of Good Hope, to the great joy of all on 
 
Appearance of Rivals in the Eastern Seas. 3 1 5 
 
 board, who had begun to fear that they would be obliged to 
 seek a port on the eastern side to winter in. 
 
 On the 5th of May 1601 a fleet of three vessels, named 
 the Ram, the Schaap, and the Lam, sailed for the Indies 
 from Vere in Zeeland, under command of Joris van Spil- 
 bergen. On the 15th of November the fleet put into St. 
 Helena Bay, where no inhabitants were seen, though many 
 fires were observed inland. The only refreshment procurable 
 was fish, which were caught in great quantities. 
 
 On the 20th Spilbergen sailed from St. Helena Bay, and 
 beating against a head wind, on the evening of the 28th he 
 anchored off an island, to which he gave the name Elizabeth. 
 Four years later Sir Edward Michelburne termed it Cony 
 Island, which name, under the Dutch form of Dassen, it 
 still bears. Seals in great numbers, sea-birds of different 
 kinds, and conies were found. At this place he remained 
 only twenty-four hours. On the 2nd of December he cast 
 anchor close to another island, which he named Cornelia. 
 It was the Robben island of the present day. Here w^ere 
 found seals and penguins in great numbers, but no conies. 
 The next day at noon Spilbergen reached the Watering 
 Place of Saldanha, the anchorage in front of Table Mountain, 
 and gave it the name Table Bay, which it still bears. 
 
 The sick were conveyed to land, where a hospital was 
 established. A few natives were met, to whom presents of 
 beads were made, and who were understood to make signs 
 that they would bring cattle for sale, but they went away 
 and did not return. Abundance of fish was obtained with a 
 seine at the mouth of a stream which Spilbergen named the 
 Jacqueline, now Salt River; but, as meat was wanted, the 
 smallest of the vessels was sent to Elizabeth Island, where a 
 great number of penguins and conies were killed and salted 
 in. The fleet remained in Table Bay until the 23rd of 
 December. When passing Cornelia Island, a couple of 
 conies were set on shore, and seven or eight sheep, which 
 had been left there by some previous voyagers, were shot, 
 and their carcases taken on board. Off the Capo of Good 
 
3i6 History of South Africa, 
 
 Hope the two French ships of which mention has been 
 made were seen. 
 
 Spilbergen kept along the coast, noticing the formation of 
 the land and the numerous streams falling into the sea, 
 but was sorely hindered in his progress by the Agulhas 
 current, which he found setting so strong to the south- 
 westward that at times he could make no way against it 
 even with the breeze in his favour. On the 17th of January 
 1602, owing to this cause, he stood off from the coast, and 
 did not see it again. 
 
 The fleets sent out by the different small companies which 
 had been formed in the chief towns of the Free Netherlands 
 gained surprising successes over the Portuguese in India, 
 but as they did not work in concert no permanent conquests 
 could be made. For this reason, as well as to prevent 
 rivalry and to conduct the Indian trade in a manner the 
 most beneficial to the people of the whole republic, the 
 states-general resolved to unite all the small trading associa- 
 tions in one great company with many privileges and large 
 powers. The charter, or terms upon which the Company 
 came into existence, was dated at the Hague on the 20th of 
 March 1602, and contained forty-six clauses, the principal 
 of which were as follow : — 
 
 All of the inhabitants of the United Netherlands had the 
 right given to them to subscribe to the capital in as small 
 or as large sums as they might choose, with this proviso, 
 that if more money should be tendered than was needed, 
 those applying for shares of over two thousand five hundred 
 pounds sterling should receive less, so that the applicants 
 for smaller shares might have allotted to them the full 
 amounts asked for. 
 
 The chambers, or offices for the transaction of business, were 
 to participate in the following proportion : that of Amsterdam 
 one-half, that of Middelburg in Zeeland one quarter, those of 
 Delft and Rotterdam, otherwise called of the Maas, together 
 one-eighth, and those of Hoorn and Enkhuizen, otherwise 
 called those of the North Quarter or sometimes those of 
 
Appearance of Rivals in the Eastern Seas. 3 1 7 
 
 North Holland and West Friesland, together the remaining 
 eighth. 
 
 The general directory was to consist of seventeen persons, 
 eight of whom were to represent the chamber of Amsterdam, 
 four that of ]Middelburg, two those of the Maas, two those 
 of the North Quarter, and the seventeenth was to be chosen 
 alternately by all of these except the chamber of Amster- 
 dam. The place of meeting of the general directory was 
 fixed at Amsterdam for six successive years, then at Middel- 
 burg for two years, then at Amsterdam again for six years, 
 and so on. 
 
 The directors of each chamber were named in the charter, 
 being the individuals who were the directors of the companies 
 previously established in those towns, and it was provided that 
 no others should be appointed until these should be reduced by 
 death or resignation : in the chamber of Amsterdam to twenty 
 persons, in that of Zeeland to twelve, and in those of Delft, 
 Kotterdam, Hoorn, and Enkhuizen each to seven. After that, 
 whenever a vacancy should occur, the remaining directors 
 were to nominate three qualified individuals, of whom the 
 states of the province in which the chamber was situated 
 were to select one. 
 
 To qualify an individual to be a director in the chambers of 
 the North Quarter it was necessary to own shares to the value 
 of £250 sterling, and double that amount to be a director 
 in any of the other chambers. The directors were to be 
 bound by oath to be faithful in the administration of the 
 duties entrusted to them, and not to favour a majority of 
 the shareholders at the expense of a minority. Directors 
 were prohibited from selling anything whatever to the Com- 
 pany without previously obtaining the sanction of the states 
 provincial or the authorities of the city in which the chamber 
 that they represented was situated. 
 
 All inhabitants of the United Provinces other than this 
 Company were prohibited from trading beyond the Straits of 
 Magellan, or to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, during 
 the period of twenty*one years, for which the charter was 
 
3i8 
 
 History of South Africa, 
 
 granted, under penalty of forfeiture of ship and cargo. Within 
 these limits the East India Company was empowered to enter 
 into treaties and make contracts in the name of the states- 
 general, to build fortresses, to appoint governors, military com- 
 manders, judges, and other necessary officers, who were all, 
 however, to take oaths of fidelity to the states-general or high 
 authorities of the Netherlands, who were not to be prevented 
 from making complaints to the states-general, and whose 
 appointments were to be reported to the states-general for 
 confirmation. 
 
 For these privileges the Company was to pay £12,500 
 sterling, which amount the states-general subscribed towards 
 the capital, for the profit and at the risk of the general 
 government of the provinces. The capital was nominally 
 furnished in the following proportions: Amsterdam one-half, 
 Zeeland one-fourth, the Maas one-eighth, and the North 
 Quarter one-eighth ; but in reality it was contributed as 
 under : — 
 
 Amsterdam .... 
 
 Zeeland .... 
 
 ' Delft 
 
 Rotterdam 
 
 ^, ^^ , - ( Hoorn 
 
 The iNorth Quarter ^ e^j^j^^j,,^ 
 
 The Maas 
 
 •I 
 
 Total working capital 
 
 The share of the stales-general 
 
 Total nominal capital 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 307,202 10 
 
 106,304: 10 
 
 38,880 3 4 
 
 14,546 16 8 
 
 22,369 3 4 
 
 47,380 3 4 
 
 536,683 6 8 
 
 12,500 
 
 549,183 6 8 
 
 The capital was divided into shares of £250 sterling each. 
 The shares, often sub-divided into fractions, were negotiable 
 like any other property, and rose or fell in value according 
 to the position of the Company at any time. 
 
 The advantage wliich the State derived from the estab- 
 lishment of this great association was apparent. The sums 
 received in payment of import dues would have been con- 
 tributed to an equal extent by individual traders. The 
 
Appearance of Rivals in the Eastern Seas. 3 1 9 
 
 amounts paid for the renewal of the charter— in 1647 the 
 Company paid £133,333 ^s. Sd. for its renewal for twenty-five 
 years, and still larger sums were paid subsequently — might 
 have been derived from trading licenses. The Company 
 frequently aided the Kepublic with loans of large amount 
 when the State was in temporary need, but loans could then 
 have been raised in the modern method whenever necessary. 
 Apart from these services, however, there was one supreme 
 advantage gained by the creation of the East India Company 
 which could not have been obtained from individual traders. 
 A powerful navy was called into existence, great armed fleets 
 working in unison and subject to the same control were 
 always ready to assist the State. What must otherwise have 
 been an element of weakness, a vast number of merchant 
 ships scattered over the ocean and ready to fall a prey to 
 an enemy's cruisers, was turned into a bulwark of strength. 
 
 In course of time several modifications took place in the 
 constitution of the Company, and the different provinces as 
 well as various cities were granted the privilege of having 
 representatives in one or other of the chambers. Thus the 
 provinces Gelderland, Utrecht, and Friesland, and the cities 
 Dordrecht, Haarlem, Leiden, and Gouda had each a repre- 
 sentative in the chamber of Amsterdam ; Groningen had a 
 representative in the chamber of Zeeland ; Overyssel one in 
 the chamber of Delft, &c. The object of this was to make 
 the Company represent the whole Eepublic. 
 
 Notwithstanding such regulations, however, the city of 
 Amsterdam soon came to exercise an immoderate influence in 
 the direction. In 1672 it was estimated that shares equal to 
 three-fourths of the whole capital were owned there, and of 
 the twenty-five directors of the local chamber, eighteen were 
 chosen by the burgomasters of the city. Fortunately, the 
 charter secured to the other chambers a stated proportion of 
 patronage and trade. 
 
 Such was the constitution of the Company which set 
 itself the task of destroying the Portuguese power in the 
 East and securing for itself the lucrative spice trade. It had 
 
 k 
 
320 History of South Africa, 
 
 no difficulty in obtaining as many men as were needed, for 
 the German states — not then as now united in one great 
 empire — formed an almost inexhaustible reservoir to draw 
 soldiers from, and the Dutch fisheries, together with Norway, 
 Sweden, and Denmark, furnished an adequate supply of 
 excellent seamen. It sent out strong and well armed fleets, 
 capable of meeting any force the enemy had to oppose them, 
 and of driving him from the open seas. The first of these 
 fleets consisted of three large ships, commanded by Sebald 
 de Weert, which sailed on the 31st of March 1602, and it 
 was followed on the 17th of June of the same year by eleven 
 large ships and a yacht, under command of Wybrand van 
 Waerwyk. 
 
 The Company soon wrested from the Portuguese their 
 choicest possessions in the East, besides acquiring other 
 valuable territory from native owners. Its dividends to the 
 shareholders were enormous, owing largely to the spoil 
 captured by its fleets. In one year they rose to seventy-five 
 per cent of the paid-up capital, and for upwards of a century 
 they averaged above twenty per cent. 
 
Proceedings of the Dutch and English, 321 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OP THE DUTCH AND ENGLISH. 
 
 Though the Dutch were soon in almost undisputed possession 
 of the valuable Spice islands, they were never able to eject the 
 Portuguese from the comparatively worthless coast of South- 
 Eastern Africa. That coast would only have been an encum- 
 brance to them, if they had secured it, for its commerce was 
 never worth much more than the cost of its maintenance until 
 the highlands of the interior were occupied by Europeans, 
 and the terrible mortality caused by its malaria would have 
 been a serious misfortune to them. It was out of their ocean 
 highway too, for they steered across south of Madagascar, 
 instead of keeping along the African shore. But they were 
 drawn on by rumours of the gold which was to be had, and 
 so they resolved to make themselves masters of Mozambique, 
 and with that island of all the Portuguese possessions sub- 
 ordinate to it. In Lisbon their intentions were suspected, 
 and in January 1601 the king issued instructions that Dom 
 Alvaro d'Abranches, Nuno da Cunha's successor as captain of 
 Mozambique, was on no account to absent himself from the 
 island, as it might at any time be attacked by either the 
 Turks or the Dutch. 
 
 On the 18th of December 1603 Steven van der Hagen left 
 Holland for India with a strong armed fleet, consisting of the 
 Vereenigde Provincien, Amsterdam, Dordrecht, Hoorn, and West 
 Friesland, each of three hundred and fifty tons burden, the 
 Gelderland and Zeelandia, each of two hundred and fifty tons^ 
 the Hof van Holland, of one hundred and eighty tons, the 
 Delft and EnJchuizen, each of one hundred and fifty tons, the 
 
 k 
 
32 2 History of Sotith Africa. 
 
 Medenhlih, of one hundred and twenty-five tons, and a despatch 
 boat named the DuifJcen, of thirty tons burden. In those days 
 such a fleet was regarded as, and actually was, a very formid- 
 able force, for though there were no ships in it of the size of 
 the great galleons of Spain and Portugal, each one was mncli 
 less unwieldy, and had its artillery better placed. There were 
 twelve hundred men on board, and the equipment cost no 
 less than £184,947 6s. Sd. 
 
 Van der Hagen arrived before Mozambique on the 17th of 
 June 1604. Fort Sao Sebastiao had not at the time its 
 ordinary garrison of one hundred soldiers, owing to a disaster 
 that had recently occurred. A great horde of barbarians, 
 called the Cabires by the Portuguese, had entered the terri- 
 tory of the Monomotapa, and were laying it waste, so the 
 captain Louren^o de Brito, by the king's order, went to the 
 assistance of the Kalanga chief, but was defeated and lost ten 
 or twelve Portuguese and part of his stores. Sebastiao de 
 Macedo was then in command at Mozambique. He sent a 
 vessel with fifty soldiers to De Brito's assistance, but on the 
 passage she was lost with all on board. None had yet 
 arrived to replace them, but the resident inhabitants of the 
 island had retired to the fort with everything of value that 
 they could remove, so Van der Hagen considered it too strong 
 to be attacked and therefore proceeded to blockade it. There 
 was a carrack at anchor, waiting for some others from Lisbon 
 to sail in company to Goa. The boats of the Dutch fleet cut 
 her out, in spite of the heavy fire of the fort upon them. 
 She had on board a quantity of ivory collected on the East 
 African coast, but nothing else of much value. 
 
 On the 30th of June a small vessel from one of the 
 factories, laden with rice and ivory, came running up to the 
 island, and was too near to escape when she discovered her 
 danger. She was turned into a tender, and named the 
 Mozambique. Then, for five weeks, the blockade continued, 
 without any noteworthy incident. On the 5th of August five 
 pangayos arrived, laden with rice and millet, and were of 
 course seized. Three days later Van der Hagen landed on 
 
Proceedings of the Dutch and English, 323 
 
 the islaud with one hundred and fifty men, but found no 
 sign of hunger, and saw that the prospect of the surrender of 
 the fort was remote. He did no other damage than setting 
 fire to a single house, and as night drew on he returned on 
 board. 
 
 He was now anxious to proceed to India, so on the 12th 
 of August he set fire to the captured carrack, and sailed, 
 leaving the Belft^ Enhhuizen, and JDuifh&n, to wait for the 
 ships expected from Lisbon. These vessels rejoined him, but 
 without having made any prizes, before he attacked the 
 Portuguese at Amboina and Tidor, and got possession of the 
 Spice islands. In this manner the first siege of Mozambique 
 was conducted, and failed. 
 
 The next attempt was in 1607. On the 29th of March 
 of that year a Dutch fleet of eight large ships — the Banda, 
 Bantam, Ceylon, Walckeren, Ter Veere, Zierihzee, China, and 
 Patane, — carrying one thousand and sixty men, commanded 
 by Paulus van Caerden, appeared before the island. The 
 Portuguese historian of this event represents that the fortress 
 was at the time badly in want of repair, that it was in- 
 sufficiently provided with cannon, and that there were no 
 artillerymen nor indeed regular soldiers of any branch of the 
 service in it, its defence being undertaken by seventy male 
 inhabitants of the town, who were the only persons on the 
 island capable of bearing arms. But this statement does not 
 agree either with the Dutch narrative or with the account 
 given by Dos Santos, from which it appears that there were 
 between soldiers and residents of the island one hundred and 
 forty-five men in the fortress. It was commanded by an 
 officer — Dom Estevao d'Ataide by name — who deserves a 
 place among the bravest of his countrymen. He divided his 
 force into four companies, to each of which he gave a bastion 
 in charge. To one, under Martim Gomes de Carvalho, was 
 committed the defence of the bastion Sao Joao, another, 
 under Antonio Monteiro Corte Keal, had a similar charge in 
 the bastion Santo Antonio, the bastion Nossa Senhora was 
 confided to the care of Andre de Alpoim de Brito, while the 
 
 2 B 
 
324 History of South Africa. 
 
 bastion Sao Gabriel, which was the one most exposed to 
 assault on the land side and where the stoutest resistance 
 would have to be made, was entrusted to the company under 
 Diogo de Carvalho. The people of the town hastily took 
 shelter within the fortress, carrying their most valuable effects 
 with them. 
 
 Van Caerden, in the Banda, led the way right under the 
 guns of Sao Sebastiao to the anchorage, where the Sofala 
 packet and two carracks were lying. A heavy fire was 
 opened on both sides, but, though the ships were slightly 
 damaged, as the ramparts were of great height and the 
 Portuguese guns could not be depressed to command the 
 Dutch position thoroughly, no one except the master of 
 the Ceylon was wounded. Two of the vessels at anchor were 
 partly burned, but all were made prizes, after their crews 
 had escaped to the shore. 
 
 On the 1st of April Van Caerden landed with seven 
 hundred men and seven heavy guns, several of them twenty- 
 eight-pounders, in order to lay siege to Fort Sao Sebastiao. 
 The Portuguese set fire to the town, in order to prevent their 
 enemy from getting possession of spoil, though in this object 
 they were unsuccessful, as a heavy fall of rain extinguished 
 the flames before much damage was done. The Dutch com- 
 mander took possession of the abandoned buildings without 
 opposition, and made the Dominican convent his headquarters, 
 lodging his people in the best houses. He commenced at 
 once making trenches in which the fortress could be ap- 
 proached by men under shelter from its fire, and on the 6th 
 his first battery was completed. The blacks, excepting the 
 able-bodied, being considered an encumbrance by both com- 
 batants, D'Ataide expelled those who were in the fort, and 
 Van Caerden caused all who were within his reach to be 
 transported to the mainland. 
 
 From the batteries, which were mere earthen mounds with 
 level surfaces, protected on the exposed sides with boxes, 
 casks, and bags filled with soil, a heavy fire was opened, by 
 which the parapet of the bastion Santo Antonio was broken 
 
Proceedings of the Dutch and English, 325 
 
 clown, but it was repaired at night by the defenders, the 
 women and others incapable of bearing arms giving assist- 
 ance in this labour. The musketeers on the walls, in return, 
 caused some loss to their opponents by shooting any who 
 exposed themselves. The Portuguese historian makes special 
 mention of one Dutch officer in a suit of white armour, who 
 went about recklessly in full view, encouraging his men, and 
 apparently regardless of danger, until he was killed by a 
 musket ball. 
 
 The trenches were at length within thirty paces of the 
 bastion Sao Gabriel, and a battery was constructed there, 
 which could not be injured by the cannon on the fortress 
 owing to their great elevation, while from it the walls could 
 be battered with twenty-eight pound shot as long as the 
 artillerymen took care not to show themselves to the mus- 
 keteers on the ramparts. The Dutch commander then pro- 
 posed a parley, and D'Ataide having consented, he demanded 
 the surrender of the fortress. He stated that the Portuguese 
 could expect no assistance from either Europe or India, as 
 the mother country was exhausted and the viceroy Dom 
 Martim Alfonso de Castro had been defeated in a naval 
 engagement, besides which nearly all the strongholds of the 
 East were lost to them. It would therefore be better to 
 capitulate while it could be done in safety than to expose 
 the lives of the garrison to the fury of men who would 
 carry the place by storm. Further, even if the walls proved 
 too massive for cannon, hunger must soon reduce the fortress, 
 as there could not be more than three months' provisions in 
 it. The Portuguese replied with taunts and bravado, and 
 defied the besiegers to do their worst. They would have no 
 other intercourse with rebels, they said, than that of arms. 
 
 During the night of the 17th some of the garrison made a 
 sortie for the purpose of destroying a drawbridge, which they 
 effected, and then retired, after having killed two men 
 according to their own account, though only having wounded 
 one according to the Dutch statement. A trench was now 
 made close up to the wall of the bastion 8ao Gabriel, and 
 
 2 B 2 
 
326 History of South Africa, 
 
 was covered with movable sliields of timber of such thickness 
 that they could not be destroyed by anything thrown upon 
 them from the ramparts. During the night of the 29th, 
 however, the garrison made a second sortie, in which they 
 killed five Hollanders and wounded many more, and on the 
 following day they succeeded in destroying the wooden 
 shields by fire. 
 
 In the meantime fever and dysentery had attacked Van 
 Caerden's people, and the prospect was becoming gloomy 
 in the extreme. The fire from the batteries and ships had 
 not damaged the walls of the fortress below the parapet, and 
 sickness was increasing so fast that the Dutch commander 
 could not wait for famine to give him the prize. He there- 
 fore resolved to raise the siege, and on the 6th of May he 
 removed his cannon. 
 
 War between nations of diiferent creeds in those days was 
 carried on in a merciless manner. On the 7th of May Van 
 Caerden wrote to Captain D'Ataide that he intended to 
 burn and destroy all the churches, convents, houses, and 
 palm groves on the island and the buildings and plantations 
 on the mainland, unless they were ransomed; but offered to 
 make terms if messengers were sent to him with that object. 
 A truce was entered into for the purpose of correspondence, 
 and six Hollanders dressed in Spanish costume went with a 
 letter to the foot of the wall, where it was fastened to a 
 string and drawn up. D'Ataide declined the proposal, how- 
 ever, and replied that he had no instructions from his 
 superiors, nor intention of his own, except to do all that was 
 possible with his weapons. He believed that if he ransomed 
 the town on this occasion, he would only expose it to similar 
 treatment every time a strong Dutch fleet should pass 
 that way. 
 
 Van Caerden then burned all the boats, canoes, and 
 houses, cut down all the cocoa-nut trees, sent a party of 
 men to the mainland, who destroyed everything of value 
 that they could reach there, and finally, just before embark- 
 ing, he set fire to the Dominican convent and the church of 
 
Proceedings of the Dutch and English. 327 
 
 Sao Gabriel. What was more to be deplored, adds the 
 Portuguese historian Barbuda, "the perfidious heretics burned 
 with abominable fury all the images that were in the 
 churches, after which they treated them with a thousand 
 barbarous indignities." The walls of the great church and 
 of some other buildings were too massive to be destroyed 
 by the flames, but everything else was utterly ruined. 
 
 On the morning of the 16th of May, before daylight, the 
 Dutch fleet set sail. As the ships were passing Fort Sao 
 Sebastiao every gun that could be got to bear was brought 
 into use on both sides, when the Zierihzee had her tiller shot 
 away, and ran aground. Her crew and the most valuable 
 effects on board were rescued, however, by the boats of the 
 rest of the fleet, though many men were wounded by the 
 fire from the fort. The wreck was given to the flames. 
 
 In the second attempt to get possession of Mozambique 
 the Dutch lost forty men, either killed by the enemy or 
 carried off by fever, and they took many sick and wounded 
 away. The Portuguese asserted that they had only thirteen 
 men killed during the siege, and they magnified their slain 
 opponents to over three hundred. 
 
 After Van Caerden sailed the Portuguese set about repairing 
 the damage that had been done. In this they were assisted 
 by the crews of three ships, under command of the newly 
 appointed viceroy Dom Jeronymo Coutinho, that called on 
 their way from Lisbon to Goa. The batteries were removed, 
 the trenches were levelled, the walls of the ruined Dominican 
 convent were broken down, and the fortress was repaired and 
 provided with a good supply of food and munitions of war. 
 Its garrison also was strengthened with one hundred soldiers 
 landed from the ships. The inhabitants of the town returned 
 to the ruins of their former habitations, and endeavoured to 
 make new homes for themselves. These efforts to retrieve 
 their disasters had hardly been made when the island was 
 attacked by another and more formidable fleet. 
 
 It consisted of the ships Geunieerde Provintien, Hollandia, 
 Amsterdam^ Roode Leenw met Pylen, Middelburg, Zeelandta, 
 
328 History of South Africa. 
 
 Delft, Botterdam, Hoorn, Are^id, Paauiv, Valk, and Griffioen, 
 carrying in all between eighteen and nineteen hundred men, 
 and was under the command of Pieter Willemszoon Verhoeff, 
 an officer who had greatly distinguished himself after Admiral 
 Heemskerk*s death in the famous battle in Gibraltar Bay. 
 Verhoeff left the Netherlands on the 22nd of December 1607, 
 and after a long stay at the island of St. Helena where he 
 waited for the westerly winds to take him past the Cape of 
 Good Hope, on the 28th of July 1608 arrived at Mozam- 
 bique. He was under the impression that Van Caerden had 
 certainly obtained possession of the fortress, and his object 
 was to lie in wait for Portuguese ships in the Channel ; but 
 he was undeceived when his signals were answered with 
 cannon balls and a flag of defiance was hoisted over the 
 ramparts. 
 
 In the port were lying four coasting vessels and a 
 carrack with a valuable cargo on board, ready to sail for 
 Goa. In endeavouring to escape, the carrack ran aground 
 under the guns of the fort, where the Dutch got possession 
 of her, and made thirty-four of the crew prisoners. These 
 were removed, but before much of the cargo could be got 
 out the Portuguese from the fortress made a gallant dash, 
 retook the carrack, and burned her to the water's edge. 
 Two of the coasters were made prizes, the other two were in 
 a position where they could not be attacked. 
 
 Within a few hours of his arrival Verhoeff landed a strong 
 force, and formed a camp on the site of the destroyed 
 Dominican convent. Next morning he commenced making 
 trenches towards the fortress, by digging ditches and filling 
 bags with earth, of which banks were then made. The Portu- 
 guese of the town had retired within the fortress in such 
 haste that they were unable to remove any of their effects, 
 and the blacks, as during the preceding siege, were now 
 sent over to the mainland to be out of the way. Some of 
 the ships were directed to cruise off the port, the others were 
 anchored out of cannon range. A regular siege of the fortress 
 was commenced. 
 
Proceedings of the Dutch and English. 329 
 
 In the mode of attack this siege differed little from 
 that by Van Oaerden, as trenches and batteries were made 
 in the same manner and almost in the same places. But 
 there were some incidents connected with it that deserve to 
 be mentioned. At its commencement an accident occurred in 
 the fortress, which nearly had disastrous consequences. A 
 soldier, through carelessness, let a lighted fuse fall in a 
 quantity of gunpowder, and by the explosion that resulted 
 several men were killed and a fire was kindled which for a 
 short time threatened the destruction of the storehouses, but 
 which was extinguished before much harm was done. 
 
 On the second day after the batteries were in full working 
 order the wall of the fortress between the bastions Santo 
 Antonio and Sao Gabriel was partly broken down, and, ac- 
 cording to the Portuguese account, a breach was opened 
 thiough which a storming party might have entered. "If," 
 says the historian Barbuda, "they had been Portuguese, no 
 doubt they would have stormed ; but as the Dutch are 
 nothing more than good artillerymen, and beyond this are 
 of no account except to be burned as desperate heretics, they 
 had not courage to rush through the ruin of the wall." That 
 this was said of men who had fought under Heemskerk leads 
 one to suspect that probably the breach was not of great 
 size, and the more so as the garrison was able to repair it 
 during the following night. It is not mentioned in the 
 Dutch account, in which the bravery of their opponents is 
 fully recognised. 
 
 On the 4th of August Verhoeff sent a trumpeter with 
 a letter demanding the surrender of the fortress. D'Ataide 
 would not even write a reply. He said that as he had 
 compelled Van Caerden to abandon the siege he hoped to 
 be able to do the same with his present opponent. The 
 captain of the bastion Sao Gabriel, however, wrote that the 
 castle had been confided by the king to the commandant, 
 who was not the kind of cat to be taken without gloves. 
 Verhoeff believed that the garrison was ill supplied with food, 
 so Ids trumpeter was well entertained, and on several occa- 
 
 I 
 
330 History of South Africa. 
 
 sions goats and pigs were driven out of the gateway in a 
 spirit of bravado. 
 
 Sorties were frequently made by the besieged, who had the 
 advantage of being able to observe from the ramparts the 
 movements of the Dutch. In one of these a soldier named 
 Moraria distinguished himself by attacking singly with his 
 lance three pikemen in armour at a distance from their 
 batteries, killing two of them, and wounding the other. 
 
 D'Ataide was made acquainted with his enemy's plans by a 
 French deserter, who claimed his protection on the ground 
 of being of the same religion. Four others subsequently 
 deserted from the Dutch camp, and were received in the 
 fortress on the same plea. Verhoeff demanded that they 
 should be surrendered to him, and threatened that if they 
 were not given up he would put to death the thirty-four 
 prisoners he had taken in the carrack. D'Ataide replied 
 that if the prisoners were thirty-four thousand he would not 
 betray men who were Catholics and who had claimed his 
 protection, but if the Portuguese captives were murdered 
 their blood would certainly be avenged. Verhoeff relates in 
 his journal that the whole of the prisoners were then brought 
 out in sight of the garrison and shot, regarding the act in 
 the spirit of the time as rather creditable than otherwise; 
 but the version of the Portuguese historian may be correct, 
 in which it is stated that six men with their hands bound 
 were shot in sight of their countrymen, and that the others, 
 though threatened, were spared. 
 
 Until the 18th of August the siege was continued. Twelve 
 hundred and fifty cannon balls had been fired against the 
 fortress, without effect as far as its reduction was concerned. 
 Thirty of Verhoeff's men had been killed and eighty were 
 lying wounded. He therefore abandoned the effort, and em- 
 barked his force, after destroying what remained of the town. 
 
 On the 21st a great galleon approached the island so close 
 that the ships in the harbour could be counted from 
 her deck, but put about the moment the Dutch flag was 
 distinguished. Verhoeff sent the ships Arend^ Griffioen, and 
 
Proceedings of the Dutch and English. 331 
 
 VaTk in pursuit, and she was soon overtaken. According to 
 the Dutch account she made hardly any resistance, but in a 
 letter to the king from her captain, Francisco de Sodre 
 Pereira, which is still preserved, he claims to have made a 
 gallant stand for the honour of his flag. The galleon was 
 poorly armed, but he says that he fought till his ammunition 
 was all expended, and even then would not consent to sur- 
 render, though the ship was so riddled with cannon balls 
 that she was in danger of going down. He preferred, he said 
 to those around him, to sink with his colours flying. The 
 purser, however, lowered the ensign without orders, and a 
 moment afterwards the Dutch, who had closed in, took 
 possession. The prize proved to be the Bom Jesus, from 
 Lisbon, which had got separated from a fleet on the way to 
 Goa, under command of the newly appointed viceroy, the 
 count De Feira. She had a crew of one hundred and eighty 
 men. The officers were detained as prisoners, the others were 
 put ashore on the island Saint George with provisions suffi- 
 cient to last them two days. 
 
 On the 23rd of August the fleet sailed from Mozambique 
 for India. There can be little question that this defeat of 
 the Dutch was more advantageous to them than victory 
 would have been, for if their design had succeeded a very 
 heavy tax upon their resources and their energy would have 
 been entailed thereafter. They did not realise this fact, how- 
 ever, and fifty-five years later another unsuccessful attempt 
 was made to acquire the coveted East African possessions. 
 
 Although Fort Sao Sebastiao after the last siege was 
 provided with a garrison of one hundred and fifty men and 
 some small armed vessels were kept on the coast to en- 
 deavour to prevent the Dutch from communicating with the 
 natives or obtaining provisions and water, their ships kept 
 the Portuguese stations in constant alarm. In the eastern 
 seas they were by this time the dominant power, and were 
 fast building up a commerce greater by far than the Portu- 
 guese had ever carried on. They distributed their spices and 
 silks over Europe, whereas their predecessors were satisfied 
 
332 History of South Africa. 
 
 with making Lisbon a market, to which purchasers of other 
 nations might come for whatever they needed. 
 
 On the 21st of November 1609 Pieter Both was appointed 
 first governor-general of Netherlands India. He left Texel 
 with the next fleet, which sailed in the following January. 
 In a great storm off the Cape his ship got separated from 
 the others, so he put into Table Bay to repair some damages 
 to the mainmast and to refresh his men. In July 1610 
 Captain Nicholas Downton called at the same port in an 
 English vessel, and found Governor-General Both's ship lying 
 at anchor and also two homeward bound Dutch ships taking 
 in train oil which had been collected at Kobben Island. 
 
 In May 1611 the Dutch skipper Isaac le Maire, after 
 whom the straits of Le Maire are named, called at Table 
 Bay. When he sailed, he left behind his son Jacob and a 
 party of seamen, who resided in Table Valley for several 
 months. Their object was to kill seals on Eobben Island, 
 and to harpoon whales, which were then very abundant in 
 South African waters in the winter season. They also tried 
 to open up a trade for skins of animals with the Hottentots. 
 
 In 1616 the assembly of seventeen resolved that its outward 
 bound fleets should always put into Table Bay to refresh the 
 crews, and from that time onward Dutch ships touched there 
 almost every season. A kind of post office was established 
 by marking the dates of arrivals and departures on stones, 
 and burying letters in places indicated. But no attempt was 
 made to explore the country, and no port south of the 
 Zambesi except Table Bay was frequented by Netherlanders, 
 so that in the middle of the century nothing more con- 
 cerning it was known than the Portuguese had placed on 
 record. 
 
 In England an East India Company was also established, 
 whose first fleet, consisting of the Dragon, of six hundred 
 tons, the Eector, of three hundred tons, the Ascension, of two 
 hundred and sixty tons, and the Susan, of two hundred and 
 forty tons burden, sailed from Torbay on the 22nd of April 
 1601. The admiral was James Lancaster, the same who had 
 
Proceedings of the Dutch and English, 333 
 
 commanded the Edward Bonaventure ten years earlier. The 
 chief pilot was John Davis, who had only returned from the 
 Indies nine months before. On the 9th of September the 
 fleet came to anchor in Table Bay, by which time the crews 
 of all except the admiral's ship were so terribly afflicted with 
 scurvy that they were unable to drop their anchors. The 
 admiral had kept his men in a tolerable state of health by 
 supplying them with a small quantity of limejuice daily. 
 After his ship was anchored he was obliged to get out his 
 boats and go to the assistance of the others. Sails were then 
 taken on shore to serve as tents, and the sick were landed 
 as soon as possible. Trade was commenced with the natives, 
 and in the course of a few days forty-two oxen and a 
 thousand sheep were obtained for pieces of iron hoop. The 
 fleet remained in Table Bay nearly seven weeks, during 
 which time most of the sick men recovered. 
 
 On the 5th of December 1604 the Tiger — a ship of two 
 hundred and forty tons — and a pinnace called the Tiger's 
 WJielp set sail from Cowes for the Indies. The expedition 
 was under command of Sir Edward Michelburne, and next to 
 him in rank was Captain John Davis. It was the last 
 voyage that this famous seaman was destined to make, for he 
 was killed in an encounter with Japanese pirates on the 27th 
 of December 1605. The journal of the voyage contains the 
 following paragraph : — 
 
 "The 3rd of April 1605 we sailed by a little island which 
 Captain John Davis took to be one that stands some five 
 or six leagues from Saldanha. Whereupon our general, 
 Sir Edward Michelburne, desirous to see the island, took 
 his skiff, accompanied by no more than the master's mate, 
 the purser, myself, and four men that did row the boat, and 
 so putting off from the ship we came on land. While we 
 were on shore they in the ship had a storm, which drove 
 them out of sight of the island ; and we were two days 
 and two nights before we could recover our ship. Upon 
 the said island is abundance of great conies and seals, 
 whereupon we called it Cony Island." 
 
334 History of South Africa. 
 
 On the Sth of April they anchored in Table Bay, where 
 they remained until the 3rd of the following month 
 refreshing themselves. 
 
 From this date onward the fleets of the English East India 
 Company made Table Bay a port of call and refreshment, 
 and usually procured in barter from the natives as many 
 cattle as they needed. In 1614 the board of directors sent a 
 ship with as many spare men as she could carry, a quantity 
 of provisions, and some naval stores to Table Bay to wait for 
 the homeward bound fleet, and, while delayed, to carry on a 
 whale and seal fishery as a means of partly meeting the 
 expense. The plan was found to answer fairly well, and it 
 was continued for several years. The relieving vessels left 
 England between October and February, in order to be at 
 the Cape in May, when the homeward bound fleets usually 
 arrived from India. If men were much needed, the victualler 
 — which was commonly an old vessel— was then abandoned, 
 otherwise an ordinary crew was left in her to capture whales, 
 or she proceeded to some port in the East, according to 
 circumstances. 
 
 The advantage of a place of refreshment in South Africa 
 was obvious, and as early as 1613 enterprising individuals 
 in the service of the East India Company drew the attention 
 of the directors to the advisability of forming a settlement 
 in Table Valley. Still earlier it was rumoured that the king 
 of Spain and Portugal had such a design in contemplation, 
 with the object of cutting off thereby the intercourse of all 
 other nations with the Indian seas, so that the strategical 
 value of the Cape was already recognised. The directors 
 discussed the matter on several occasions, but their views 
 in those days were very limited, and the scheme seemed too 
 large for them to attempt alone. 
 
 In their fleets were oflicers of a much more enterprising 
 spirit, as they were without responsibility in regard to the 
 cost of any new undertaking. In 1620 some of these pro- 
 claimed King James I sovereign of the territory extending 
 from Table Bay to the dominions of the nearest Christian 
 
Proceedings of the Dutch and English. 335 
 
 prince. The records of this event are interesting, as they 
 not only give the particulars of the proclamation and the 
 reasons that led to it, but show that there must often have 
 been a good deal of bustle in Table Valley in those days. 
 
 On the 24th of June 1620 four ships bound to Surat, under 
 command of Andrew Shillinge, put into Table Bay, and were 
 joined when entering by two others bound to Bantam, under 
 command of Humphrey Fitzherbert. The Dutch had at this 
 time the greater part of the commerce of the East in their 
 hands, and nine large ships under their flag were found at 
 anchor. The English vessel hion was also there. Com- 
 modore Fitzherbert made the acquaintance of some of the 
 Dutch oflicers, and was informed by them that they had 
 inspected the country around, as their Company intended to 
 form a settlement in Table Valley the following year. 
 Thereupon he consulted with Commodore Shillinge, who 
 agreed with him that it was advisable to try to frustrate the 
 project of the Hollanders. On the 25th the Dutch flee 
 sailed for Bantam, and the hion left at the same time, 
 but the Schiedam, from Delft, arrived and cast anchor. 
 
 On the 1st of July the principal English officers, 
 twenty-one in number, — among them the Arctic navigator 
 William Baffin, — met in council, and resolved to proclaim 
 the sovereignty of King James I over the whole country. 
 They placed on record their reasons for this decision, which 
 were, that they were of opinion a few men only would be 
 needed to keep possession of Table Valley, that a planta- 
 tion would be of great service for the refreshment of the 
 fleets, that the soil was fruitful and the climate pleasant, 
 that the natives would become willing subjects in time 
 and they hoped would also become servants of God, that 
 the whale fishery would be a source of profit, but, above all, 
 that they regarded it as more fitting for the Dutch when 
 ashore there to be subjects of the king of England than for 
 Englishmen to be subject to them or any one else. "Kule 
 Britannia" was a very strong sentiment, evidently, with that 
 party of adventurous seamen. 
 
33^ History of Soid/i Africa. 
 
 On the 3rd of July a proclamation of sovereignty was 
 read in presence of as many men of the six ships as could 
 go ashore for the purpose of taking part in the ceremony. 
 Skipper Jan Cornells Kunst, of the Schiedam, and some of 
 his officers were also present, and raised no objection. On 
 the Lion's rump, or King James's mount as Fitzherbert and 
 Shillinge named it, the flag of St. George was hoisted, and 
 was saluted, the spot being afterwards marked by a mound 
 of stones. A small flag was then given to the natives to 
 preserve and exhibit to visitors, which it was believed they 
 would do most carefully. 
 
 After going through this ceremony with the object of 
 frustrating the designs of the Dutch, the English officers 
 buried a packet of despatches beside a stone slab in the 
 valley, on which were engraved the letters V, they being 
 in perfect ignorance of the fact that those symbols denoted 
 prior possession taken for the Dutch East India Company. 
 On the 25th of July the Surat fleet sailed, and on the next 
 day Fitzherbert's two ships followed, leaving at anchor in 
 the bay only the English ship Bear, which had arrived on 
 the 10th. 
 
 The proceeding of Fitzherbert and Shillinge, which was 
 entirely unauthorised, was not confirmed by the directors of 
 the East India Company or by the government of England, 
 and nothing whatever came of it. At that time the ocean 
 commerce of England was small, and as she had just entered 
 upon the work of colonising North America, she was not 
 prepared to attempt to form a settlement in South Africa 
 also. Her king and the directors of her India Company 
 had no higher ambition than to enter into a close alliance 
 with the Dutch Company, and to secure by this means a 
 stated proportion of the trade of the East. In the Nether- 
 lands also a large and influential party was in favour of 
 either forming a federated company, or of a binding union 
 of some kind, so as to put it out of the power of the 
 Spaniards and Portuguese to harm them. From 1613 onward 
 this matter was frequently discussed on both sides of the 
 
Proceedings of the Dutch and English. 337 
 
 Channel, and delegates went backward and forward, but it 
 was almost impossible to arrange terms. 
 
 The Dutch had many fortresses which they had either 
 built or taken from the Portuguese in Java and the Spice 
 islands, and the English had none, so that the conditions 
 of the two parties were unequal. In 1617, however, the 
 kings of France and Denmark sent ships to the eastern 
 seas, and there was a possibility that one or other of them 
 might unite with Holland or England. Accordingly each 
 party was more willing than before to make concessions, 
 and on the 2nd of June 1619 a close alliance was entered 
 into. The English Company was to bear half the cost of 
 offensive and defensive operations in the Indian seas, and 
 was to have one-third of the trade of the Moluccas, Banda, 
 and Amboina, the remaining eastern commerce to be free 
 for each party to make the most of. 
 
 The rivalry, however, — bordering closely on animosity — 
 between the servants of the two Companies in distant 
 lands prevented any agreement made in Europe being 
 carried out, and though in 1623 another treaty of alliance 
 was entered into, in the following year it was dissolved. 
 Thereafter the great success of the Dutch in the East placed 
 them beyond the desire of partnership with competitors. 
 
 While these negotiations were in progress, a proposal was 
 made from Holland that a refreshment station should be 
 established in South Africa for the joint use of the fleets of 
 the two nations, and the English directors received it 
 favourably. They undertook to cause a search for a proper 
 place to be made by the next ship sent to the Cape with 
 relief for the returning fleet, and left the Dutch at liberty 
 to make a similar search in any convenient way. Accordingly 
 on the 30th of November 1619 the assembly of seventeen 
 issued instructions to the commodore of the fleet then about 
 to sail to examine the coast carefully from Saldanha Bay to 
 a hundred or a hundred and fifty miles east of the Cape of 
 Good Hope, in order that the best harbour for the purpose 
 might be selected. This was done, and an opinion was 
 
33^ History of South Africa, 
 
 pronounced in favour of Table Bay. In 1622 a portion of 
 the coast was inspected for the same purpose by Captain 
 Johnson, in the English ship Eose, but his opinion of Table 
 Bay and the other places which he visited was such that 
 he would not recommend any of them. The tenor of his 
 report mattered little, however, for with the failure of the 
 close alliance between the two companies, the design of 
 establishing a refreshment station in South Africa was 
 abandoned by both. 
 
 Perhaps the ill opinion of Table Bay formed by Captain 
 Johnson may have arisen from an occurrence that took 
 place on its shore during the previous voyage of the Uose. 
 That ship arrived in the bay on the 28th of January 1620, 
 and on the following day eight of her crew went ashore 
 with a seine to catch fish near the mouth of Salt River. 
 They never returned, but the bodies of four were afterwards 
 found and buried, and it was believed that the Hottentots 
 had either carried the other four away as prisoners or had 
 murdered them and concealed the corpses. 
 
 This was not the only occurrence of the kind, for in 
 March 1632 twenty-three men belonging to a Dutch ship 
 that put into Table Bay lost their lives in conflict with the 
 natives. The cause of these quarrels is not known with 
 certainty, but at the time it was believed they were 
 brought on by the Europeans attempting to rob the Hottentots 
 of cattle. 
 
 An experiment was once made with a view of trying to 
 secure a firm friend among the Hottentots, and impressing 
 those people with respect for the wonders of civilisation. A 
 savage named Cory was taken from the Cape to England, 
 where he was made a great deal of, and received many 
 rich and valuable presents. Sir Thomas Smythe, the governor 
 of the East India Company, was particularly kind to him, 
 and gave him among other things a complete suit of brass 
 armour. He returned to South Africa with Captain Nicholas 
 Downton in the ship 'New Year's Gift, and in June 1614 
 landed in Table Valley with all his treasures. But Captain 
 
Proceedings of the Dutch and English. 339 
 
 Downtoii, who thought that he was overflowing with grati- 
 tude, saw him no more. Cory returned to his former habits 
 of living, and instead of acting as was anticipated, taught 
 his countrymen to despise bits of copper in exchange for 
 their cattle, so that for a long time afterwards it was 
 impossible for ships that called to obtain a supply of fresh 
 meat. 
 
 It has been seen what use the Portuguese made of 
 convicts when they were exploring unknown countries, or 
 when there were duties of a particularly hazardous or 
 unpleasant nature to be performed. The English employed 
 criminals in the same manner. In January 1615 the 
 governor of the East India Company obtained permission 
 from the king to transport some men under sentence of 
 death to countries occupied by savages, where, it was 
 supposed, they would be the means of procuring supplies 
 of provisions, making discoveries, and creating trade. The 
 records in existence — unless there are documents in some 
 unknown place — furnish too scanty material for a complete 
 account of the manner in which this design was carried out. 
 Only the following can be ascertained with certainty. A few 
 days after the consent of the king was given, the sheriffs of 
 London sent seventeen men from Newgate on board ships 
 bound to the Indies, and these were voluntarily accompanied 
 by three others, who appear to have been convicted criminals, 
 but not under sentence of death. The proceeding was 
 regarded as "a very charitable deed and a means to bring 
 them to God by giving them time for repentance, to crave 
 pardon for their sins, and reconcile themselves unto His 
 favour." In June the fleet arrived in Table Bay, and nine 
 of the condemned men were set ashore with their own free 
 will. 
 
 In one of the ships of this fleet Sir Thomas Koe, English 
 envoy to the Great Mogul, was a passenger. A pillar 
 bearing an inscription of his embassy was set up in Table 
 Valley, and thirty or forty pounds weight of stone which he 
 believed to contain quicksilver and vermilion was taken 
 
 2 
 
340 History of South Africa, 
 
 away to be assayed in England, but of particulars that 
 would be much more interesting now no informatiim whatever 
 is to be had from the records of his journey. 
 
 Again, in June 1616, three condemned men were set 
 ashore in Table Valley, and a letter signed by them is 
 extant, in which they acknowledge the clemency of King 
 James in granting them their forfeited lives, and promise to 
 do his Majesty good and acceptable service. 
 
 There may have been other instances of the kind, of 
 which no record is in existence now. How the criminals 
 lived, what effect their residence had upon the native clans, 
 and how they died, must be left to conjecture. The fate 
 of only a very few is known. These made their way back to 
 England, and were there executed for fresh offences. 
 
 No further effort was made by the English at this time 
 to form a connection with the natives of South Africa, 
 though their ships continued to call at Table Bay for the 
 ^purpose of taking in water and getting such other refresh- 
 ment as was obtainable. They did not attempt to explore the 
 country or to correct the charts of its coasts, nor did they 
 frequent any of its ports except Table Bay, and very rarely 
 Mossel Bay, until a much later date. A few remarks in 
 ships' journals, and a few pages of observations and opinions 
 in a book of travels such as that of Sir Thomas Herbert, 
 from none of which can any reliable information be obtained 
 that is not also to be drawn from earlier Portuguese writers, 
 are all the contributions to a knowledge of South Africa 
 made by Englishmen during the early years of the seven- 
 teenth century. Though our countrymen were behind no 
 others in energy and daring, as Drake, Ealeigh, Gilbert, 
 Davis, Hawkins, and a host of others had proved so well, 
 not forgetting either the memorable story of the 'Revenge^ 
 which Jan Huyghen van Linschoten handed down for a 
 modern historian to write in more thrilling words, England 
 had not yet entered fully upon her destined career either 
 of discovery or of commerce, the time when " the ocean 
 wave should be her home" was still in the days to come. 
 
Fruitless Search for Silver Mines, 341 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FRUITLESS SEARCH FOR SILVER MINES. 
 
 The power of the Portuguese in the East was irrecoverably- 
 broken, and their possessions were falling one after another 
 into stronger hands, but the individual who was most affected 
 by the change could not, or did not, realise the extent of 
 his loss. That individual was Philippe, the third of Spain, 
 the second of Portugal, who among his numerous titles still 
 retained that of Lord of the Conquest, Navigation, and Com- 
 merce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India. Perhaps he did 
 not know of all the disasters that had overtaken his subjects, 
 for he heard nothing except through the ears of the duke 
 of Lerma, and that all-powerful favourite was not the man to 
 point out that his empire was crumbling away, or to suggest 
 any efficient means of preserving what still remained of it. 
 
 Accordingly in the royal orders to the viceroys of India, 
 which commenced with the phrase " I the king," instructions 
 were given in as lofty language as if Philippe was still 
 really lord of the East and in receipt of an ample revenue. 
 With regard to the coast of South-Eastern Africa, a hundred 
 and fifty — a little later raised to three hundred — soldiers were 
 to be stationed at Mozambique, the fortifications of Sofala 
 were to be thoroughly repaired and provided with a garrison, 
 forts were to be constructed at the different mouths of the 
 Zambesi to protect the entrances of that river, Tete and Sena 
 were to be made secure, and a fleet of armed vessels was to 
 be kept cruising up and down the coast, so as to make the 
 whole line impregnable. But where were the men and the 
 ships and the money to come from? That question could not 
 
 2 2 
 
342 History of South Africa, 
 
 be answered, and thus matters remained in the most wretched 
 condition imaginable. 
 
 On the 21st of March 1608 the king wrote to Dom Joao 
 Froyas Pereira, count of Feira, then viceroy of India, that 
 Sebastiao de Macedo and Dom Estevao d'Ataide, successively 
 captains of Mozambique, had sent specimens of silver ore to 
 Lisbon so rich as to yield two-thirds of their weight pure 
 metal. The exact locality where the ore was obtained was 
 unknown, but it was believed to be at Chicova, on the 
 southern bank of the Zambesi some distance above Tete. 
 The king therefore ordered the viceroy to send a force of 
 five hundred men under Sebastiao de Macedo, Dom Estevao 
 d'Ataide, or some other suitable person, to search for the 
 mines and take possession of them. In addition to the forti- 
 fications and garrisons already mentioned, four strongholds, 
 which Dom Estevao d'Ataide had represented as necessary to 
 secure the country, were to be built and occupied, namely 
 one each at Chicova, Masapa, Bukoto, and Luanze. No 
 ground except the actual mines was to be taken from the 
 natives, nor was the government of the Monomotapa over his 
 people to be interfered with in any w^ay. The general in 
 command of the expedition was to have supreme control in 
 South-Eastern Africa, and upon his arrival was to appoint 
 a new captain of Mozambique, who was to command the 
 garrison and town in subordination to him. 
 
 The time was opportune for such an enterprise, as the prin- 
 cipal Kalanga tribe had for some years been engaged in civil 
 war, and the Portuguese had acquired considerable influence 
 in the country. In 1597, when Nuno da Cunha was captain 
 of Mozambique, a powerful tribe on the border, under a chief 
 named Tshunzo, made war upon the Monomotapa, and sent 
 two strong armies into his territory. One of these, under the 
 induna Kapampo, marched as far as Masapa, but retreated on 
 learning that an immense Kalanga force under Ningomosha, 
 the Monomotapa's general in chief, was rapidly approaching. 
 In retreating, Kapampo laid the country along his line of 
 march utterly waste, so that Ningomosha was unable to follow 
 
Fruitless Search for Silver Mines, 343 
 
 him. The Monomotapa of the time, Gasilusere by name, was 
 addicted to the use of dacha, and was otherwise a cruel, pas- 
 sionate, faithless tyrant. Though Ningomosha was in no way 
 to blame for what had occurred, and was the next in rank to 
 himself in the tribe, he caused him to be put to death for 
 having failed to overtake Kapampo, and by this act raised 
 against himself a large section of the people. 
 
 The other division of Tshunzo's force,^ under the induna 
 Tshikanda, marched to within a short distance of the great 
 place, and there made peace with the Monomotapa on con- 
 dition of being permitted to retain possession of the district 
 it was then occupying. Two years later, however, the war 
 was renewed, when Tshikanda robbed some slaves who were 
 trading for their Portuguese masters, upon which the inhabit- 
 ants of Tete and Sena joined the Monomotapa against him. 
 They were seventy-five in number, and took with them about 
 two thousand Kaffir warriors, the whole force being under the 
 command of Belchior d'Araujo, captain of Tete. Tshikanda 
 was found within a lager, surrounded by about thirty thousand 
 Makalanga. He had only six hundred warriors with him, but 
 he had made as light of his opponents as a cat would of so 
 many mice, attacking them by day and night and slaughter- 
 ing many of them. The Portuguese approached the lager 
 under cover of wickerwork screens carried before them, and 
 shot so many of those within that Tshikanda offered to sur- 
 render on condition that the lives of his people should be 
 spared. The Makalanga would not agree to this, so that 
 night the besieged band attempted to cut its way through 
 them, and Tshikanda and a few of his followers escaped. At 
 dawn next morning the Portuguese entered the lager, and 
 found a considerable amoimt of spoil. They then returned 
 to their homes, after having obtained from the Monomotapa, 
 in recompense of their services, permission to carry arms 
 wherever they should travel in his country, a privilege they 
 had not enjoyed before. 
 
 The defeat of Tshikanda, instead of restoring peace to the 
 Kalanga tribe, brought on civil war, for the party that resented 
 
344 History of South Africa, 
 
 the death of Ningomosha, being no longer apprehensive of 
 danger from a foreign foe, rose in revolt against the drunken 
 and ferocious Monomotapa. They gained some successes, but 
 when a few Portuguese under the leadership of Francisco da 
 Cunha, captain of the Gates, went to the Monomotapa's aid, 
 they lost heart and fled to the territory of a chief who was 
 supposed to be friendly to their cause. This chief, however, 
 instead of receiving them as they had anticipated, seized 
 their leader, cut off his head, and sent it to the Monomotapa. 
 By this act another of the rebel commanders, a man of great 
 energy and ability, named Matuzianye, became the head of 
 the insurgents, and he carried on the war so skilfully that in 
 a few years he was master of nearly the whole country. 
 
 The Monomotapa was in a sore plight when a Portuguese 
 trader named Diogo Simoes Madeira, who had been some time 
 resident at Tete, volunteered to assist him. This man raised 
 a small company of Europeans armed with arquebuses, with 
 whose assistance the legitimate Kalanga ruler recovered a 
 large part of his territory. As a reward to his Portuguese 
 friend for such valuable service he made him a present of the 
 district of Inyabanzo adjoining the lands subject to Tete, with 
 sovereign rights over the people residing in it. Further, on 
 the 1st of August 1607, being encamped on the bank of the 
 river Mazoe, he attached his mark to a document formally 
 drawn up by the notary Miguel Nunes, in which he ceded 
 to the king of Portugal all the mines of gold, copper, iron, 
 pewter, and lead in his country, on condition that the king 
 should maintain him in his position. All silver mines he 
 granted to Diogo Madeira, who in the same document trans- 
 ferred them to the king. Under his name on the deed of 
 gift the Monomotapa with his own hand made three crosses, 
 and the document was signed as principals by Miguel Nunes 
 and Diogo Simoes Madeira. As witnesses the signatures were 
 attached of the friar Joao Lobo, vicar of Luanze, the friar 
 Manuel de Sao Vicente, chaplain of the force, and twenty-four 
 other Portuguese, in addition to the marks of several who 
 could not write. 
 
Fruitless Search for Silver Mines. 345 
 
 As a proof of good faith the Monomotapa delivered to 
 Diogo Madeira two of his sons, in order that they might be 
 educated at Tete and brought up as Christians, and he pro- 
 mised to give two of his daughters for the same purpose. 
 Shortly after this event the principal army of the insurgents 
 was defeated in a pitched battle, and the Monomotapa 
 regained possession of his great place. The Portuguese then 
 returned to Tete, taking with them the two young chiefs, — 
 the daughters were never given to them, — and the country 
 was apparently again in a condition of peace. The sons of 
 the great chief were maintained in the house of Diogo 
 ]\[adeira, and having received instruction from the Dominican 
 friars were baptized with the names Philippe and Diogo. The 
 elder of the two, Philippe, then returned to his father, but 
 Diogo remained at Tete, where he was taught to read and 
 write as well as to assist the friars in the services of the 
 church. 
 
 A year passed away, and the Monomotapa collected his 
 army again to attack the rebels who had not submitted. The 
 tribe under Mongasi had hitherto maintained neutrality, but 
 he now fell upon that chief and caused him to be killed. 
 Thereupon the Mongasis effected a junction with Matuzianye, 
 and at once the tide of success turned. The Monomotapa's 
 forces were defeated, and in a short time he was reduced to 
 the greatest straits. Matuzianye then invaded Inyabanzo, but 
 was driven back by Diogo Madeira, who built a strong lager 
 and stationed twenty arquebusiers and three hundred Kaffir 
 warriors in it. It was hardly completed when messengers 
 arrived from the Monomotapa, urgently begging for assistance. 
 The great chief had just been defeated by Matuzianye in a 
 battle in which he had been wounded himself and his eldest 
 son had been killed. Diogo IVIadeira sent out a party that 
 found the distressed fugitive, and escorted him to the lager 
 at Inyabanzo, where he remained three months under the pro- 
 tection of the Portuguese. Then he removed to Tshidima, 
 farther up the southern bank of the Zambesi, where he would 
 be within easy reach of European aid should his enemies 
 
34^ History of South Africa. 
 
 attack liim again. Surely romance furnishes nothing more 
 strange than the hereditary chief of the largest and most 
 advanced tribe of Southern Africa depending for existence 
 upon the favour of a European adventurer with barely a 
 couple of score of arquebuses at his command. 
 
 This was the state of affairs when the king's orders con- 
 cerning the search for the silver mines were issued. The 
 count of Feira, to whom they were addressed, died while they 
 were on the way out, and the friar Dom Aleixo de Menezes, 
 archbishop of Goa, was acting as governor-general of Portu- 
 guese India when they arrived. He could not carry them 
 out completely, but he did what was possible by appointing 
 Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira, an officer of energy and ability, 
 captain general of the Conquest, and giving him a hundred 
 soldiers to accompany him to South-Eastern Africa. In 
 March 1609 the captain general arrived at Tete, and at once 
 sent thirty soldiers to act as a bodyguard to the Monomo- 
 tapa. Having made the necessary arrangements, he directed 
 Diogo Madeira to proceed to Tshidima in command of the 
 remaining seventy soldiers and two thousand Kaffirs of Tete, 
 and instructed him to deliver a valuable present to the 
 Monomotapa, whom he was to persuade to accompany the 
 expedition to Chicova and point out the silver mines. The 
 Monomotapa consented to this arrangement. On the way 
 the chief of the clan that occupied Chicova met the party 
 and presented three small pieces of silver ore to the Portu- 
 guese leader, but he and his attendants disappeared imme- 
 diately afterwards, and on arriving at the place neither the 
 Monomotapa nor any one else was able to point out a mine. 
 Still it was believed that if the fugitive chief and his people 
 could be captured they would be able to do so, and therefore 
 it was resolved to suppress the insurrection as a preliminary 
 measure. 
 
 After a stay of eighteen days at Chicova the Portuguese 
 army with all the warriors the Monomotapa could collect 
 marched against Matuzianye, and in a series of engagements 
 inflicted such losses upon him that he was at length com- 
 
Fruitless Search for Silver Mines. 347 
 
 pelled to take refuge with a few followers on a strong 
 mountain. The Portuguese, however, met with some reverses 
 as well. At Bukoto they were defeated, and for a short 
 time that station was occupied by the enemy. When at 
 length Matuzianye's adherents were completely dispersed 
 Diogo Madeira left ten soldiers as a bodyguard with the 
 Monomotapa, who was then at his great place, and with the 
 remainder of his force he returned to Tete, taking with him 
 several men of rank who were directed by the chief to trans- 
 fer the silver mines to the captain general. Shortly after 
 this Matuzianye was treacherously assassinated by an agent 
 of the Monomotapa, and organised opposition to the authority 
 of the legitimate ruler entirely ceased throughout the country, 
 though some robber bands still held out in the mountains. 
 
 In the meantime Ruy Louren^o de Tavora had arrived at 
 Goa as viceroy, and had appointed Dom Estevao d'Ataide 
 captain general of the Conquest. Dom Estevao had arrived 
 at Sena, and Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira had gone down the 
 river to meet him and transfer the government. Diogo 
 Madeira therefore proceeded to Sena with the Monomotapa's 
 envoys, and introduced them to the new captain general, at 
 the same time reporting all that had occurred. But now a 
 great change took place in the attitude of the Kalanga 
 deputies. Their tribe was once more united, and they felt 
 themselves strong enough to resist the little party of Portu- 
 guese to whom they had been so submissive while Matuzianye 
 was alive and in rebellion. They therefore put on a bold 
 face, and demanded the merchandise which each new captain 
 of Mozambique had been obliged to send to the Monomotapa 
 on entering office. Dom Estevao d'Ataide made large pro- 
 mises, but gave no cloth. He sent the Kalanga deputies 
 back to Masapa with Diogo Carvalho and fifty soldiers, who 
 built a stockade or strong lager there, and occupied it as a 
 garrison. A robber band, consisting of the most determined 
 of the late rebels, was in possession of a mountain strong- 
 hold close by, so the Monomotapa sent an army to encamp 
 in the neighbourhood, in expectation that the Portuguese 
 
34^ History of South Africa. 
 
 would assist to destroy it. The robbers attacked Masapa 
 twice, and caused some loss, but Carvalbo was not to be drawn 
 from his fort. 
 
 As Dom Estevao's promises were not fulfilled, the Mono- 
 motapa grew weary of waiting for the merchandise which his 
 envoys had asked for, and ordered a general empata, or con- 
 fiscation of Portuguese property, throughout his country. 
 Several traders were killed in resisting it, and even Diogo 
 Madeira, who was on a bartering expedition at the time, 
 although he had performed such eminent services for the 
 great chief, was robbed of all his goods and barely escaped 
 with his life. Diogo Carvalho, on learning what was taking 
 place, formed an alliance with the robbers in his neighbour- 
 hood, and together with them fell upon the Kalanga camp 
 one night and created great havoc in it. He then abandoned 
 Masapa and retired to Tete, leaving no Portuguese in the 
 interior of the Monomotapa's country. 
 
 Dom Estevao d'Ataide now resolved upon war with the 
 Kalanga tribe. The force under his command, consisting of 
 only one hundred and twenty-five soldiers, was altogether 
 too puny for such an undertaking, but he hoped to obtain 
 the aid of the clans that had been recently in rebellion as 
 well as of the tribes along the Zambesi that were the heredi- 
 tary enemies of the Monomotapa. He shifted his head 
 quarters from Sena to Tete, and sent Diogo Carvalho two 
 days' journey farther up the river to build and occupy a fort 
 to be called Santo Estevao. This was just accomplished 
 when a complete break in the proceedings occurred. It was 
 reported in Lisbon that a fleet of unusual strength was about 
 to leave Holland for India, so on the 10th of October 1611 
 the king issued instructions that the captain general of the 
 Conquest was at once to reinforce the garrison of Mozam- 
 bique, which then consisted of only twenty-five soldiers. In 
 consequence of this order, in March 1612 Dom Estevao was 
 obliged to leave Tete with all his force, and seven months 
 elapsed before he could return. Diogo Madeira, who had 
 received from the viceroy the appointment of captain of Tete 
 
Fruitless Search for Silver Mines, 349 
 
 for life, remained behind with the permanent residents of the 
 place, but they, thoTigh assisted by their Bantu subjects and 
 by the people of the district of Inyabanzo, could do nothing 
 more than defend themselves against the army which the 
 Monomotapa sent to attack them. 
 
 In 1612 reinforcements of troops arrived at Mozambique 
 from Portugal, and Dom Estevao d'Ataide was enabled to 
 return to the Zambesi. But the king was becoming dissatis- 
 fied with the want of progress in conquest or discovery, and 
 he found fault with the terms on which the viceroy Ruy 
 Lourenfo de Tavora had engaged the captain general. To 
 the new viceroy, Dom Jeronymo d'Azevedo, he wrote that 
 his predecessor had no authority to promise high honours and 
 favours to Dom Estevao in the event of his being successful, 
 and he directed that the agreement with him should be 
 annulled. Dom Estevao was to proceed to India, leaving the 
 direction of military matters in the hands of Diogo Simoes 
 Madeira, who was made a member of the order of Christ 
 and was granted a small annual pension, besides being con- 
 firmed in possession of the district of Inyabanzo and promised 
 the rank of a nobleman should he succeed in discovering and 
 opening the silver mines. He was not, however, to have the 
 position of captain general of the Conquest, as Ruy de Mello 
 de Sampayo, who had a claim to the captaincy of Mozam- 
 bique under the former condition of affairs, was to have the 
 civil administration and independent command of Fort Sao 
 Sebastiao given to him with a monopoly of the commerce 
 south of the Zambesi on the usual terms. 
 
 Ruy de Mello de Sampayo was not in India when this 
 order arrived, so the viceroy appointed his own brother Dom 
 Joao d'Azevedo captain of Mozambique for one year, and 
 recalled Dom Estevao d'Ataide. Nothing of any consequence 
 had been done since his return to Tete, and in July 1613 
 Dom Estevao laid down the command and set out for India, 
 but died at Mozambique on the way, leaving property in 
 gold, ivory, &c. worth one hundred and ten thousand cruza- 
 dos, which the judge Francisco da Fonseca Pinto, who had 
 
350 History of South Africa, 
 
 been sent from India to conduct the usual examination into 
 his conduct, placed in safe keeping.* It was subsequently- 
 confiscated for the benefit of the royal treasury, and was used 
 to pay for repairing the fortifications of Mozambique. The 
 death of Dom Estevao saved him from the punishment often 
 inflicted upon the unsuccessful, whether they were guilty of 
 misconduct or not. On the 8th of March 1613 the king 
 wrote to the viceroy to have him arrested and tried for 
 furthering his own interests at Tete instead of proceeding 
 with the conquest and for having taken to the Zambesi a 
 hundred and fifty disciplined soldiers from Fort Sao Sebastiao 
 and left in their stead only forty or fifty recruits, whereas he 
 was under obligation to maintain at Mozambique two hundred 
 soldiers and to employ five hundred in the expedition in 
 search of the mines. If he was found guilty of these offences 
 he was to be sent to Portugal a prisoner in chains. This was 
 the fate designed by the king for the man who had so gal- 
 lantly defended Mozambique against the Dutch, but who had 
 failed to carry out an engagement to raise an army when 
 men were not to be had. 
 
 Diogo Madeira with the slender force under his command 
 now undertook the enterprise in which two officers of superior 
 rank and authority had failed. On the lOfch of August 1613, 
 having received transfer of the soldiers and a trifling quantity 
 of military stores, he left Sena to proceed up the river in 
 boats, but had hardly set out when he encountered opposi- 
 tion. There was a clan living close to Sena under a chief 
 named Tshombe, who during the recent disturbances had come 
 under the protection of the Portuguese, and had agreed to 
 pay as tribute a certain quantity of millet yearly. Seeing 
 the weakness of his protectors now that the civil war in the 
 country was ended, this man was disposed to assert his inde- 
 pendence, and when the new commander called upon him to 
 
 * The chronicler of these events in one place incidentally states that 
 eighteen maticals of gold were equal to nearly thirty cruzados, so that this 
 amount would represent about £29,500. Whenever the cruzado of King 
 Sebastiao is meant it is termed a cruzado d'ouro. 
 
Fruitless Search for Silver Mines. 351 
 
 pay his tribute and to surrender some fugitive slaves whom 
 he was harbouring, he refused to comply. He even attempted 
 to prevent the flotilla passing up the river until a toll was 
 paid to him, but was defeated in an engagement, and the 
 boats proceeded onward. 
 
 As it was necessary to keep open the communication by the 
 Zambesi with the sea, on his arrival at Tete Diogo Madeira 
 raised as large an army as he could to proceed against 
 Tshombe. It consisted of one hundred European and mixed 
 breed arquebusiers and six thousand Bantu warriors from the 
 lands of Tete and Inyabanzo. With these he marched down 
 the river bank and attacked his opponent, who was found 
 entrenched in a very strong lager and well] supplied with 
 means of defence. The attack failed, and all the men that 
 could be collected at Sena, consisting of forty arquebusiers 
 and three thousand Kaffirs under a friendly chief named Kwi- 
 tambo, were then summoned to assist. Again an attempt to 
 take the lager by storm was unsuccessful, so it was besieged 
 for over two months in the hope of starving the defenders. 
 In an assault on the 16th of November some advantage was 
 gained, and that night Tshombe and a few of his followers 
 made their way through the blockading force and escaped. 
 On Sunday the 17th of November the Portuguese obtained 
 possession of the lager, and secured as spoil some ivory and 
 loincloths of native manufacture, besides eight thousand adults 
 and as many children, who were made slaves. Fifty soldiers 
 were left in the lager to prevent its being reoccupied, and 
 Tshombe was pursued until nearly all of his warriors were 
 slain. The territory he had occupied was then given to Kwi- 
 tambo, who engaged to pay tribute for it, and Diogo Madeira 
 with his army returned to Tete. 
 
 Here he was gladdened by a message from the Monomo- 
 tapa that if he would pay the quantity of merchandise 
 usually given by those entering office he might take posses- 
 sion of Chicova in peace. Goods to the value of four 
 thousand cruzados were at once forwarded, and in return a 
 man of rank was sent by the Kalanga ruler to transfer the 
 
352 History of South Africa. 
 
 district supposed to contain the silver mines. Accordingly, 
 on the 15th of April 1614 Diogo Madeira left Tete with a 
 hundred soldiers, six hundred Bantu warriors, and a number 
 of slaves carrying stores, and on the 8th of May reached 
 Chicova, where he set about building a fort or stockaded 
 enclosure which he named Sao Miguel. The envoy of the 
 Monomotapa was with him, but could not point out a mine, 
 and the chief of the locality fled as soon as the object of 
 the expedition became known. On being applied to, the 
 Monomotapa sent a piece of silver ore weighing about half 
 a pound, and with it a man named Tsherema, who had found 
 it at Chicova; but Tsherema could only point out loose 
 pieces of ore, not a mine. Diogo Madeira caused him to be 
 beaten and imprisoned, but to no purpose, for he was never 
 able to show his tormentors what they so much desired to 
 see. 
 
 The northern bank of the Zambesi opposite Chicova was 
 occupied by an independent chief named Sapoe, who pro- 
 fessed to be a friend of the Portuguese. He gave them 
 permission to trade freely in his country, and offered them a 
 road through it to Tete. Diogo Madeira availed himself of 
 this, and a path was explored on the Bororo side of the 
 river past the rapids of Kebrabasa to navigable water. With 
 Sapoe's consent a stockade, named Santo Antonio, was built 
 and occupied opposite Sao Miguel, so that the ferry was 
 completely under Portuguese control. Fort Santo Estevao 
 farther down on the southern side was destroyed, as there 
 were no men to occupy it. 
 
 Being without means either to explore the country or even 
 to feed those who were with him, as no aid of any kind had 
 yet reached him from Portugal or India, on the 24th of 
 June Diogo Madeira was compelled to leave for Tete and 
 Sena, taking with him nearly the whole of his people. 
 During his absence Diogo Teixeira Barros, with forty-four 
 soldiers and some slaves, was entrusted with the defence of 
 the stockades Sao Miguel and Santo Antonio. On arriving 
 at Sena, instead of finding the assistance he was hoping for. 
 
Fruitless Search for Silver Mines. 353 
 
 Madeira received instructions from the king that he must 
 send the soldiers brought by Dom Estevao d'Ataide back to 
 Mozambique, as that island was in danger of being attacked. 
 In consequence of this order thirty were despatched in a 
 pangayo, all that could be mustered, as some had died and 
 the others were at Chicova. Nothing could illustrate better 
 than this event the exhausted condition of Portugal at the 
 time. 
 
 The captain still hoped that a supply of merchandise would 
 be sent from India to enable him to carry on his work, so 
 he resolved to keep the Monomotapa in good humour by 
 means of presents and to engage every resident along the 
 river that would enter his service. He therefore sent the 
 great chief a silken banner, a gold head ornament, and a 
 small quantity of cloth, with a complimentary message; but 
 as the whole was of trifling value it was regarded with con- 
 tempt by the Kalanga ruler, who imprisoned the men that 
 took it to him and made a demand for a number of 
 articles that he named. To obtain these Diogo Madeira was 
 obliged to compel such inhabitants of Sena as were in 
 possession of goods to sell them to him on credit without 
 any prospect of payment being ever made, and thus he 
 created enemies when he sorely needed friends. The Mono- 
 motapa, however, appeared to be appeased, and released his 
 prisoners, so Madeira set out on his return to the stockade 
 Sao Miguel with all the men and stores he had been able 
 to collect. 
 
 Meantime Barros found himself in great difficulties at 
 Chicova. He was so badly in want of food that he was 
 compelled to take it by force from the natives, which 
 naturally aroused their enmity. Then the son of the Mono- 
 motapa who had been baptized with the name of Philippe 
 having displeased his father fled to Fort Sao Miguel and 
 claimed protection. This was given to him, upon which the 
 Monomotapa sent an army to destroy the stockade. On the 
 18th of March 1615 it was attacked, but was successfully 
 defended until the 20th, when Diogo Madeira arrived at 
 
354 History of South Africa. 
 
 Santo Antonio with the reinforcements he had collected, and 
 while he was crossing the river with them the hostile army- 
 withdrew. 
 
 There was now a small band of Portuguese with a con- 
 siderable number of slaves, having provisions for only a few 
 months, in an advanced stockade in an enemy's country. A 
 line of retreat was open by crossing the river and marching 
 down its northern bank past the rapids, and then recrossing 
 to Tete. There defence for a long time was possible, as a 
 strong Bantu force could be raised from the subject clans 
 and in the district of Inyabanzo, and in case of necessity the 
 river would furnish conveyance to Sena and the sea. Under 
 these circumstances Diogo Madeira decided to remain where 
 he was until aid could reach him from Portugal or India. 
 He sent the young chief Philippe to Tete, and provided for 
 his maintenance there, as his friendship might be of 
 importance at some future time. He then made as thorough 
 a search as was possible in the vicinity of the stockade, and 
 though nothing that could be called a mine was discovered, 
 the prisoner Tsherema pointed out a place where several 
 loose pieces of rich silver ore were picked up, some weighing 
 many pounds. 
 
 To send specimens of these to Lisbon and to Goa, and 
 thus to create such an interest in the undertaking as would 
 cause sujBficient assistance to be 'sent to him, was now the 
 first object of Diogo Madeira. This was not so easy of 
 accomplishment as might be supposed. It was believed that 
 the jealousy of Euy de Mello de Sampayo, who in 1615 
 became captain of Mozambique,* would be aroused by the 
 
 * The following are the principal clauses of the contract entered into with 
 him by the government at Lisbon, dated 17th of March 1614. His three 
 years term of office was to commence on the day that he took formal 
 possession of the fortress. He was to pay anmially 40,000 xerafins of 
 300 reis each (about £7,500). All the expenses of the forts constructed for 
 the defence of the trade, including the pay of the troops necessary for that 
 T)urpose, were to be defrayed by him. The ordinary expenses of the fortress 
 of Mozambique and of the hospital at that place were to be defrsyed by 
 him, but were to be deducted from the 40,000 xerafins, and the balance 
 
¥ 
 
 Frtiitless Search for Silver Mines. 355 
 
 intelligence, and that the specimens would probably never 
 get beyond that island except as coming from him. To 
 meet this difficulty Gaspar Bocarro, a faithful friend of Diogo 
 Madeira, volunteered to go overland to some port high up 
 on the eastern coast, and thence by way of the Ked sea and 
 the Mediterranean to Portugal. He was an old inhabitant of 
 the country, and as he was wealthy he offered to perform 
 this service at his own cost and in addition to contribute two 
 thousand cruzados towards the maintenance of Fort Sao 
 Miguel during his absence. At the same time the Dominican 
 friar Francisco d' A velar offered to go to India and Portugal 
 by way of Mozambique, trusting that his habit would protect 
 him from interference on the way. 
 
 In February 1616 the two envoys set out, each taking 
 with him a quantity of silver ore and attested certiticates 
 that it had been found at Chicova. The friar reached Goa 
 in safety, and after delivering a report to the viceroy, pro- 
 ceeded to Lisbon and thence to Madrid, where the specimens 
 and documents which he produced caused great satisfaction 
 to the king and the court. 
 
 Gaspar Bocarro, who was an experienced African traveller, 
 took with him ten or twelve slaves to carry the specimens 
 of ore, a quantity of beads, some calico, and a thousand 
 bracelets of copper wire. With this merchandise he procured 
 food, guides, and porters, and so made his way without 
 difficulty from Tete to the southern extremity of Lake 
 Nyassa. He crossed the Shire — called the Nhanha in his 
 journal — in canoes close to its outflow from the lake,* and 
 
 was to be sent to Goa. He was not to be present, j^ersonally or by repre- 
 sentative, when the duty of one per cent was being levied on his mer- 
 chandise. All the usual presents to the chiefs of the interior were to be 
 sent by him, at the proper times, at his own cost. He was to take over 
 his predecessor's stock of goods. He was to have the sole right to trade 
 upon the banks of the rivers Zambesi and Sofala (the whole country south- 
 ward being included). He was authorised to seize and appropriate any 
 merchandise taken into the country without his permission. 
 
 * This journey of Gaspar Bocarro does not detract in the least degree 
 from the merit of the reverend Dr. Livingstone's discovery of Lake Nyassa. 
 
 2 D 
 
356 History of South Africa. 
 
 proceeding upward between the eastern side of Nyassa and the 
 coast, was ferried over other rivers named the Euambara and 
 the Kofuuia. Part of the country on his route was found 
 still a desert waste, as it liad been left by the Mazimba. On 
 the fifty-third day after his departure from Tete he reached 
 Kilwa, where he procured a conveyance to Mombasa. Here 
 he found it would be impossible to go . up the Red sea, on 
 account of wars then being carried on in those parts, so with 
 much regret he went to jMozambique and thence returned to 
 the Zambesi. 
 
 While the envoys were on their way Diogo Madeira tried 
 to make the best of matters at his stockades. Be dared not 
 go far from Sao Miguel, but in its vicinity more pieces of 
 silver ore were found, which were sent down to Tete and 
 exchanged for calico, so that he was able for a time to 
 obtain provisions. In January 1616 he had been joined by 
 the Dominican friar Joao dos Santos, who had petitioned to 
 be sent from India to South-Eastern Africa as soon as he 
 heard that the Monomotapa Gasilusere had consented to two 
 of his sons being educated as Christians. His experience, 
 he thought, might even be instrumental in converting the 
 Monomotapa himself. His provincial consented, and the king 
 ordered his expenses to be defrayed by the royal treasury 
 and that he should be employed on some official mission to 
 the Monomotapa that would add to his dignity and influence. 
 Dos Santos was an old man when he reached the Zambesi 
 again, and he must have been bitterly disappointed with the 
 turn affairs had taken. He was, however, as full of zeal as 
 in his younger years, and when a message reached him at 
 Sena that the departure of Francisco d'Avelar would leave 
 the defenders of the stockade Sao Miguel without a spiritual 
 
 The great missionary traveller first saw the outflow of the Shire on the 
 16th of September 1859, two hundred and forty-three years after Bocarro 
 was at the same spot. But the account given here was then buried in 
 the Portuguese archives, and was entirely unknown to any one. Besides 
 though it is easy now to follow Bocarro's route from his description of it, 
 it would have been impossible to do so before Dr. Livingstone's minute 
 description of the country was published. 
 
Fruitless Seai^ch for Silver Mines. 357 
 
 comforter, lie did not hesitate, but proceeded up the river to 
 the lonely post to minister to them and to share their 
 discomforts. 
 
 Some time before the friar Francisco d'Avelar reached 
 Goa with the specimens of silver ore, Dom Jeronymo 
 d'Azevedo had received bitter complaints from the traders 
 whose merchandise Diogo Madeira had practically seized by 
 force, and also from the residents of Mozambique concerning 
 similar conduct by the captain Kuy de Mello de Sampayo. 
 The viceroy, therefore, by the advice of the council of state, 
 appointed the judge Francisco da Fonseca Pinto a commis- 
 sioner to investigate matters in South-Eastern Africa, and 
 gave him very large powers to settle disorder of every kind. 
 He was also supplied with calico and beads for the expedition 
 under Diogo Madeira, in case he should think it proper to 
 assist that enterprise. The judge was accompanied by one 
 of his friends named Salvador Vaz da Guerra. He arrived 
 at Mozambique in March 1616, where he summarily dismissed 
 Kuy de Mello de Sampayo from office, and appointed Da 
 Guerra in his stead. He then went on to the Zambesi, and 
 arrived at Quilimane in May. 
 
 By this time the garrison of Fort Sao Miguel was reduced 
 to great distress. The summer had been so intensely hot 
 that for weeks together to touch a stone exposed to the sun's 
 rays caused the skin to blister, and sickness had prevailed 
 to an alarming extent. Most of the able-bodied slaves had 
 run away, those who remained could not venture outside the 
 stockade, and so great was the scarcity of food that if not 
 relieved the place must soon be abandoned from hunger. 
 There were only forty-four soldiers left to guard it. As soon 
 therefore as Diogo Madeira heard that a commissioner with 
 extensive powers had arrived at the rivers he wrote urging 
 that assistance should be forwarded without delay, but 
 received no reply. 
 
 Instead of sending at least some calico that food might be 
 purchased with it, the judge passed a couple of months at 
 Sena and Tete, exchanging the merchandise he had brought 
 
 2 D 2 
 
358 History of South Africa. 
 
 from India for gold and ivory. He was able to do this to 
 unusual advantage, as for two years in succession the trading 
 vessels from Mozambique had been lost, and calico and beads 
 were in great demand. He listened to all the complaints 
 against Diogo Madeira, and without a trial confiscated his 
 property at Tete and made his nephew a prisoner. On the 
 1st of August 1616 he left Tete for Chicova with a hundred 
 and fifty soldiers and two thousand Kaffirs, but when he was 
 within a day's march of Fort Sao Miguel Diogo Madeira, 
 fearing to place himself in the power of a man who had 
 acted in so hostile a manner, crossed the river to the 
 stockade Santo Antonio, though he left the soldiers behind. 
 On learning this, the judge at once returned to Tete. 
 
 All hope of retaining the position at Chicova was now 
 abandoned. The soldiers had parted with their shirts for 
 food, and were half naked as well as more than half starved. 
 Mass was said for the last time in the little structure used 
 as a church, and then Dos Santos with a heavy heart 
 stripped the altar of its ornaments and removed whatever 
 could be taken away. Some slave women and children were 
 first ferried over to Santo Antonio, the soldiers followed, and 
 last of all Diogo Madeira himself bade farewell to the 
 stockade he had held so long in hope of relief being sent to 
 him. It was the 17th of August 1616. On the 18th Santo 
 Antonio was in like manner abandoned, and the party com- 
 menced to march down the bank of the river. The soldiers 
 were so weak that two of them died before they reached the 
 ferry below the rapids. Diogo Madeira retired to his district 
 of Inyabanzo, where he remained for a time, and the others 
 w^ent to Tete. 
 
 The judge now pronounced the discovery of silver ore at 
 Chicova to be a fable, as the pieces found had probably been 
 carried there from some other place, and he induced the 
 soldiers to sign a document to that effect. Diogo Madeira 
 he proclaimed an outlaw. The Monomotapa, who had already 
 destroyed the abandoned stockade Sao Miguel, sent an army 
 against the unfortunate captain, and he was obliged to leave 
 
Frtdtless Search for Silver Mines. 359 
 
 Inyabanzo and take refuge with the chief Kwitambo near 
 Sena until the judge returned to Mozambique, when he went 
 back to Tete an utterly ruined man. The Kalanga army 
 overran Inyabanzo and the territory subject to Tete, until 
 nothing was left to the Portuguese but the fort and the 
 village adjoining it, and even these might have been lost 
 if the residents had not appeased the Monomotapa with 
 presents. 
 
 The government at Lisbon disapproved of these pro- 
 ceedings, and instructions were sent to the viceroy to cause 
 the judge Francisco da Fonseca Pinto to be tried by the 
 inquisitor general of India for his conduct, to restore Euy de 
 Mello de Sampayo to the captaincy of Mozambique for the 
 time wanting to complete his term of three years, and to 
 place Diogo Madeira again in his former position, with means 
 necessary to carry out his enterprise. In accordance with 
 these instructions, in January 1618 some calico was sent 
 from India, and when it reached Sena Diogo Madeira en- 
 deavoured to raise and equip another expedition. A few 
 soldiers arrived from Mozambique to take part in it, but 
 before anything of consequence could be done a complete 
 change was made. 
 
 It was first resolved to form a separate government of 
 South-Eastern Africa, as in the time of King Sebastiao, and 
 a new viceroy of India was appointed and left for Goa under 
 this arrangement ; but on the 10th of March 1618 the king 
 wrote to him that the plan had been abandoned. Instead 
 of it a governor of Monomotapa was appointed, who was to 
 reside at Chicova and carry out the conquest of the district 
 in which the mines were situated. Dom Nuno Alvares 
 Pereira, then commander in chief at Ceylon, was the officer 
 selected for the situation. He was to take with him the 
 seasoned troops at Mozambique, whose places were to be 
 supplied by recruits sent from Lisbon, and the viceroy was 
 directed to aid him with trustworthy officers, soldiers, sailors, 
 materials of war, and provisions, at the expense of the 
 treasury of India. Skilled miners and smelters were to be 
 
360 History of South Africa, 
 
 sent from Portugal and also from India to search the country 
 and develop its mineral wealth. Commerce was to be carried 
 on by the royal treasury, and was to be under the control of 
 Antonio de Maris Lobo, who was appointed overseer of the 
 revenue of Monomotapa. Towards defraying the cost of all 
 this, twenty-two thousand cruzados would be sent from Lisbon, 
 with which merchandise was to be purchased and sent to the 
 Zambesi, there to be used in providing for the conquest. 
 The viceroy was to furnish presents for the Monomotapa and 
 other rulers in the country. Dom Luis de Menezes, or in 
 his default Dom Alvaro da Costa, was to be appointed com- 
 mander of the garrison of Mozambique, subordinate to the 
 governor of Monomotapa, as the captain of Sofala was also 
 to be. Diogo Simoes Madeira was to be retained in favour, 
 and was to be induced to assist in carrying out the conquest. 
 
 These instructions are a fair sample of those commonly 
 sent by the king to India at this period. They were written 
 as if almost unlimited resources were at the disposal of the 
 viceroy, whereas it was frequently a matter of the greatest 
 difficulty for him to meet the most essential expenses of his 
 government. The royal orders therefore do not represent 
 what was really done, or what could possibly be done, but 
 merely what the viceroy, without any means to carry them 
 out, was directed to do. In 1618 Portuguese India had not 
 resources equal to effecting an extensive conquest in South- 
 Eastern Africa, even if it could have been done with two 
 hundred soldiers, as an enthusiastic writer, Diogo da Cunha 
 de Castelbranco, believed it might be, provided sufficient 
 calico was supplied for presents to the chiefs. 
 
 In February 1619 Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira reached Goa 
 from Ceylon, and soon afterwards sailed for Mozambique with 
 as many men and as good an equipment as the viceroy could 
 furnish him with, though both were inadequate for the task 
 he hati in hand. Pangayos were procured at the island, the 
 men and stores were transferred to them, the seasoned troops 
 in Fort Sao Sebastiao were embarked, and the expedition left 
 for the Zambesi. The details of events after its arrival 
 
Fruitless Search for Silver Mines. 361 
 
 cannot be given, as the reports and journals of occurrences 
 have disappeared, and Bocarro's chronicle does not extend so 
 far. But it succeeded no better than its predecessors, and no 
 silver mine was found nor was a square yard of ground 
 added to the Portuguese dominions by it. 
 
 In January 1620 two vessels were sent from Lisbon with 
 supplies of different kinds for the expedition, and with in- 
 structions to Dom Nuno to fortify the entrances to the 
 Zambesi, as the Dutch coveted the mines of Monomotapa and 
 might at any time endeavour to get possession of them. 
 This order could not be carried out for want of means. The 
 Dutch frequently landed at places along the coast and traded 
 with the natives, chiefly for provisions, and it was out of the 
 power of the Portuguese to prevent them doing so; but at 
 this time they made no effort to occupy any part of South- 
 Eastem Africa. 
 
 Two years later it was recognised in Portugal that the 
 expedition was a failure, and that the expense of maintaining 
 it was too great a drain upon the treasury to be continued. 
 The trade too, as conducted by the government, had resulted 
 only in loss. With the ships that left Lisbon early in 1622, 
 therefore, instructions were sent by the king to the viceroy 
 to recall Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira* to India and to desist 
 from any further attempt to effect a conquest in the Mono- 
 motapa's country. Everything was to revert to the former 
 condition, when the captains of Mozambique, under the 
 direction of the viceroy, had control of civil and military 
 affairs, and held a monopoly of commerce south of the 
 Zambesi on payment of forty thousand cruzados a year to the 
 royal treasury and keeping up the different establishments. 
 
 Nuno da Cunha was appointed captain under this system. 
 
 * This oflScer evidently thought something could be made in Africa, for a few 
 years later he petitioned the king to grant him on feudal tenure four hundred 
 leagues of coast from Inhambane towards the Cape of Good Hope, of which he 
 and his heirs should be hereditary captains. The petition was under considera- 
 tion for a time, but eventually was rejected. We shall meet him again as 
 captain of Mozambique. 
 
362 History of South Africa, 
 
 He was directed to persevere in the effort to discover the 
 silver mines, but by means of peaceful exploration and con- 
 ciliation of the Monomotapa. For this purpose not only were 
 the presents made to that ruler according to ancient custom 
 to be forwarded to him, but two horses with equipments and 
 some fine cloth were to be added. Further two Portuguese 
 who were particularly obnoxious to him were to be banished 
 from the country. The knowledge and diligence of Diogo 
 Simoes Madeira, who had conducted himself in such a 
 manner as to deserve favour, were to be made use of, and in 
 addition to the often repeated promise of the rank of a 
 nobleman was now added that of a commandery with a 
 revenue of two thousand cruzados a year if he should succeed 
 in finding the silver mines and bringing them into working 
 order. The new captain was to make enquiries about the 
 mines from which the copper used by the Makalanga was 
 obtained, and to ascertain whether they could be acquired 
 and worked to advantage. 
 
 The order that the captain of Mozambique should use 
 every effort to make these discoveries was frequently repeated 
 during the following years. Diogo Madeira persevered in the 
 endeavour, and though in 1624, owing to certain pr<^posals 
 that he made, he fell into disfavour with the viceroy, who 
 intended to have him arrested and sent out of the country, 
 the king continued to hold out tempting offers to him if he 
 should succeed. But silver mines, if any really existed along 
 the Zambesi above Tete, were never discovered by the 
 Portuguese, nor was it ascertained whether the loose pieces 
 of ore which beyond all doubt were found at Chicova were 
 there in situ or had been bj-ought from some other locality. 
 
 While everything was thus in turmoil along the Zambesi 
 the Dominicans were unable to carry on their mission work 
 among the Makalanga, but they were active at Sena and 
 Tete, and some of them accompanied the Portuguese forces 
 wherever they went. In 1605 they had been reinforced from 
 Europe, and by order of the king those who went out were 
 not permitted to return again unless under special circum- 
 
Fruitless Search for Silver Mines. 363 
 
 stances. When the first expedition under Dom Nuno Alvares 
 Pereira was sent from India by the archbishop De Menezes 
 some members of the Society of Jesus accompanied it, but the 
 Dominicans, fearing complications, objected to their rivalry. 
 The king therefore, on the 23rd of January 1610, issued 
 instructions that they alone were to labour in Africa south 
 of the Zambesi, still the Jesuits did not entirely withdraw, 
 and at a little later date they were in considerable strength 
 at Sena. For the support of the Dominicans Dom Nuno 
 Alvares Pereira made considerable grants of land, though as 
 these were still to be conquered their value was purely pro- 
 spective. From the royal treasury the missionaries received 
 such a trifling allowance that for their maintenance they 
 were chiefly dependent on alms. 
 
 The design of King Sebastiao half a century earlier con- 
 cerning the ecclesiastical government of South-Eastern Africa 
 was at this time carried into completion. On the 21st of 
 January 1612 at the request of the king Pope Paul V 
 separated the country from Cape Guardafui to the Cape of 
 Grood Hope from the archbishopric of Goa, and created the 
 office of ecclesiastical administrator for it, with powers, how- 
 ever, somewhat less than those of an ordinary bishop. The 
 friar Dom Domingos Terrado, titular bishop of Sale, was 
 appointed to the office, with a yearly salary from the royal 
 treasury of two hundred thousand reis, about £125 sterling. 
 The island of Mozambique, as the seat of the civil and 
 military government, was selected as his place of residence. 
 
 At Sofala nothing of any consequence had happened for 
 many years. Being in the territory of the Kiteve and 
 unaffected by occurrences in the Monomotapa's country, com- 
 merce could be carried on with the natives just as when the 
 friar Joao dos Santos lived there. Owing to fear of an attack 
 by the Dutch, in 1615 the fort was put into repair, and 
 thereafter fifteen or twenty soldiers were stationed in it as a 
 garrison. The pan gay o with goods from Mozambique once a 
 year formed the principal means of communication with the 
 outer world, though the little vessel that traded at Inhambane 
 
364 History of South Africa, 
 
 and Delagoa Bay every second or third year sometimes called 
 on her passage up or down the coast. In all the world 
 there could not have been a duller place of existence for 
 Europeans. 
 
 The journey of Gaspar Bocarro from Tete to Kilwa had 
 drawn the momentary attention of the king and his court to 
 the country north of the Zambesi, but no steps whatever were 
 taken to form stations in it or to open it to commerce by 
 any other means than before. An order was indeed issued 
 by the king that the captain Nuno da Cunha should endeavour 
 to ascertain whether the lake (Nyassa) would not furnish a 
 road to Abyssinia, but with that order the matter ended. 
 The Portuguese were no longer a nation of explorers. 
 
Events of Interest from 1628 to 1652. 365 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 EVENTS OF INTEREST FROM 1628 TO 1652. 
 
 The great tribe over which the Monomotapa ruled was about 
 to be involved again in civil war, and the Portuguese traders 
 at Sena and Tete were once more to acquire an influence in 
 the country altogether out of proportion to their number, 
 even if each one be regarded as a chief and his slaves as a 
 clan of followers, which was practically their position. Kapran- 
 zine, son and successor of Gasilusere, showed himself most 
 unfriendly to the Europeans. One of his near relatives, 
 whose name is given by different writers as Manuza and 
 Mavura, was possessed of much more intelligence, and had 
 incurred his extreme jealousy. This man, under the instruc- 
 tion of the Dominican friar Manuel Sardinha, showed an 
 inclination towards Christianity, and was therefore made much 
 of by the Portuguese. 
 
 In November 1628 Jeronymo de Barros, an agent of Dom 
 Nuno Alvares Pereira, who had recently assumed duty as 
 captain of Mozambique, arrived at the great place, bringing 
 with him the present which it was necessary to make to the 
 Monomotapa for the privilege of trading in his territory. 
 Whether the quantity or quality of the merchandise forming 
 the presents was such as to cause Kapranzine to be dis- 
 satisfied is uncertain, at any rate immediately after receiving 
 it he sent messengers through the country with orders that 
 upon a certain day all the Portuguese and their friends were 
 to be put to death. Andre Ferreira, the captain of the 
 Gates, who happened to be at the great place when this 
 order was issued, was informed of it by some faithful servants, 
 
366 History of South Africa. 
 
 and that night with the Bantu who were threatened he 
 managed to get away to Masapa, where the stockade con- 
 structed by Diogo Carvalho was hastily prepared for defence. 
 De Barros and his attendants were murdered, as they were 
 unable to escape. Messengers were immediately sent out by 
 Ferreira to warn the traders scattered over the country, and 
 in a very short time all the Christians and their adherents- 
 including Manuza — were collected either at Masapa or at 
 Luanze, where another rude fort was built. 
 
 The Monomotapa despatched a great force against these 
 places, but as the defenders fought desperately for their lives, 
 the assailants were beaten back. Several Europeans, however, 
 fell. Meantime the Portuguese at Sena and Tete, having 
 received intelligence of what was transpiring, assembled their 
 people and raised an additional force of Batonga, at whose 
 head they marched to Luanze to assist their countrymen. 
 The defenders of the stockade were relieved, and then by 
 advice of the friars in the camp a very decisive step was 
 taken. Manuza was proclaimed Monomotapa, the banner of 
 the cross was raised, and the army, having elected a man 
 named Manuel Gomes Serrao commander in chief, marched 
 against Kapranzine. The two forces met, and Kapranzine 
 was defeated. 
 
 The baffled Monomotapa retired deeper into the country, 
 and raised a still larger army, with which he returned and 
 twice attacked the Christian camp, but on each occasion was 
 beaten back. Then Manuza took possession of the Zimbabwe, 
 or great place, and was acknowledged as paramount chief by 
 most of the surrounding clans. 
 
 On the 24th of May 1629 a document was drawn up, in 
 which the new Kalanga ruler acknowledged himself a vassal 
 of the king of Portugal. He promised to allow the mission- 
 aries to build churches and make converts anywhere in his 
 country, to receive ambassadors without obliging them to go 
 through humiliating ceremonies, to treat the captain of 
 Masapa with great respect and to admit him to an interview 
 at any time without a present, to open his country freely to 
 
Events of Interest from 1628 to 1652. 367 
 
 commerce, to protect traders, and not to shelter fugitive 
 slaves. He undertook not to alienate gold mines to powerful 
 chiefs, to allow mines of all descriptions to be sought for and 
 worked by the Portuguese, and especially to enquire where 
 silver was to be found, to inform the captain of Masapa of 
 the places, and to allow the Portuguese to dig for it without 
 any impediment. He engaged also to expel all the Mohame- 
 dans from his country within a year, and to permit the 
 Portuguese afterwards to kill them and confiscate their pro- 
 perty. He surrendered his claim to the lands at one time 
 subject to the captain of Tete, and bound himself to send 
 three pieces of gold to every new captain of Mozambique. 
 
 The whole army was drawn up, and the document having 
 been read, Manuza was asked by the captain Serrao if he 
 agreed to these conditions. Naturally he replied that he did. 
 The friar Luis do Espirito Santo then wrote under it 
 " Manuza, Emperor of Monomotapa," to which with his own 
 hand he affixed a cross. Then followed the signatures of 
 Manuel Gomes Serrao, chief captain in the war, Friar Gonpalo 
 Ribeiro, vicar of Masapa, and sixteen other Portuguese. But 
 it matters little with what formality the document was 
 attested. It is evident that it was of very little value, for 
 its terms — whether committed to writing or merely verbal — 
 would be observed as long as Portuguese assistance was 
 needed, and not a day longer. 
 
 A little later, eight months after he had been raised to the 
 chieftainship, Manuza consented to profess Christianity openly, 
 and was baptized with as much pomp as possible by the friar 
 Luis do Espirito Santo, vicar of Tete. He received the name 
 Philippe, which Portuguese writers thereafter used when 
 mentioning him. 
 
 The government at Madrid regarded the document to 
 which he had affixed his mark as of equal validity with an 
 agreement between two European powers. In the opinion of 
 the king the time had at last arrived when the mineral 
 wealth of the Kalanga country was at his disposal, and 
 pompous orders were issued to the viceroy of India to take 
 
368 History of South Africa. 
 
 measures for the discovery and opening up of the gold, silver, 
 and copper mines. He was also to build a stronghold in the 
 best place to keep the Monomotapa in submission, and the 
 old instructions were repeated to fortify the mouths of the 
 Kilimane and the Luabo. As the Monomotapa was now a 
 vassal, the presents formerly made for the privilege of 
 carrying on commerce would no longer be required, and the 
 money thus saved, together with the amount obtained for the 
 lease of the islands of Angosha, could be used in defraying 
 the cost of the fortifications. The three pieces of gold 
 received as tribute were to be sent to the king, who would 
 make a present to the Monomotapa in return. That potentate 
 was to be invested with the order of Christ, and permission 
 was given to him to trade in cloth on his own account to the 
 value of three or four thousand maticals of gold. 
 
 These instructions were issued by the king in April 1631. 
 But matters were not yet settled in the Kalanga country, and 
 thus, even if he had possessed the means in men and money 
 to carry them out, the viceroy was unable at the time to do 
 anything. Manuza, after occupying the great place and 
 receiving the homage of a number of clans, neglected to 
 watch Kapranzine closely, and the result was a sudden 
 surprise, in which nearly the whole of the Europeans and 
 halfbreeds in the country and a great number of Bantu were 
 killed, and the friars Luis do Espirito Santo and Joao da 
 Trindade were made prisoners. The last named was badly 
 wounded, but the barbarians subjected him to torture, and 
 finally before he was quite dead threw him over a precipice 
 where he was dashed to pieces. Luis do Espirito Santo, who 
 was a native of Mozambique, was taken into Kapranzine's 
 presence, and was ordered to make the usual obeisance. This 
 he refused to do, as he said that to such homage God alone 
 was entitled. He was then bound to the trunk of a tree, and 
 stabbed with assagais till life was extinct. All the Bantu 
 who were made prisoners were likewise put to death. 
 
 Kapranzine appeared now to be master of the situation. 
 Many of the clans that had submitted to Manuza went over 
 
Events of Interest from 1628 to 1652. 369 
 
 to him, and the few Portuguese that remained — only twenty 
 at Sena, thirteen at Tete, five at one trading station, and six 
 and a Jesuit father at another — were too disheartened at the 
 moment to attempt anything. The Tshikanga also, ruler of 
 Manika, declared in favour of Kapranzine, and sent an army 
 to support him. 
 
 Diogo de Sousa e Menezes was then captain of Mozam- 
 bique, Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira having died. He called 
 out every man that could carry an arquebus, and sailed with 
 them to the Zambesi, where he raised a large force of Bantu 
 warriors from those living on the island of Luabo. Having 
 brought the disturbed districts adjoining Sena into subjection, 
 he marched to Manika, where he overthrew the unfriendly 
 Tshikanga, put him to death, and raised one of his brothers, 
 who made a profession of Christianity and was baptized, to 
 be chief as a vassal of Portugal. In the mean time the friar 
 Manuel Sardinha, a man of great force of character, had got 
 together an army of twenty thousand men, chiefly from the 
 tribes along the Zambesi who were at feud with the Maka- 
 langa, and who were willing therefore to espouse the cause 
 of Manuza. The two forces joined and marched against 
 Kapranzine. The friar who was the chronicler of these 
 occurrences relates that when they were setting out Philippe 
 — as Manuza was called — looked up and saw a resplendent 
 cross in the sky. Thereupon he sent for the father Manuel 
 Sardinha, who was not with him at the time, but who also 
 saw the cross on joining him. It was similar to that which 
 appeared before the emperor Constantino, except that there 
 were no words beneath it. 
 
 It may have been that some fleecy white clouds drifting 
 across the deep blue African sky appeared to the heated 
 imaginations of the friar and the Kalanga chief to assume 
 the form of a cross, for it is not likely that a deliberate 
 untruth was placed on record by the Dominican missionary 
 who reported this event. Be that as it may, the apparition 
 is said to have given such courage to the whole body of 
 warriors, all of whom saw it, that they marched on with the 
 
37^ History of South Africa. 
 
 greatest confidence. On the feast of Saint John the two 
 armies met, and a tremendous battle was fought, in which, 
 according to the account of the Portuguese captain, the saint 
 himself appeared and assisted the Christian cause. A 
 brilliant victory was won, the carnage being so great that no 
 fewer than thirty-five thousand of the enemy were slain. It 
 will not do to be certain about the number of the killed, but 
 the defeat of Kapranzine and his flight are assured facts. 
 
 Much booty in women, children, and cattle was obtained. 
 Kapranzine's son of highest rank, a young boy, was among 
 the prisoners. He was sent to Goa, where he was entrusted 
 by the viceroy to the Dominican fathers, by whom he was 
 baptized with the name Miguel, and educated and maintained 
 by the royal treasury. 
 
 The hostile Monomotapa, however, was not utterly over- 
 thrown. He had still the support of a very able chief named 
 Makamoasha and many others of less note, and he gave a 
 great deal of trouble before the war was ended. It must be 
 remembered that no force supplied by the Portuguese govern- 
 ment, other than a few men from Mozambique, was in the 
 field. The contest was between two members of the ruling 
 family of the Kalanga tribe for the paramount chieftainship, 
 and the weaker of the two was aided by a little band of 
 Portuguese missionaries and other residents in the country. 
 But these few white men and half-castes were able to turn 
 the scale in favour of the chief whose cause they adopted, 
 because they could obtain the service of warriors of other and 
 braver tribes who would follow them out of a desire to wash 
 their assagais in Kalanga blood, and because they could 
 procure firelocks and gunpowder. In the final battle, which 
 ended in complete victory for Manuza, as many as two 
 hundred men on his side were armed with Portuguese 
 weapons. 
 
 The Dominican friars regarded the contest as a holy war, 
 for it was certain that if Kapranzine was successful their 
 work in the Kalanga country would cease. The part taken 
 by Manuel Sardinha has been related. Another friar, Damiao 
 
Events of Interest from 1628 to 1652. 371 
 
 do Espirito Santo, was equally active in raising men, and it 
 was by a force of six thousand robust warriors brought into 
 the field by him that Philippe — or Manuza — was at length 
 firmly secured in the position of Monomotapa. The Portu- 
 guese laymen and the mixed breeds served their own 
 interests when aiding him, because by that means alone was 
 it possible for them to continue there as traders. Their 
 position at this time was better than at any previous period 
 since the first occupation of the country, for Kapranzine, 
 though in very reduced circumstances, was still alive, and 
 Manuza, being dependent on them, was obliged to bestow 
 whatever favours they chose to ask. The former trading 
 stations were reoccupied, and new ones were established at 
 Matuka, Dambarare, Chipiriviri, Umba, and Chipangura, 
 situated in different parts of the country. 
 
 The Dominican missionaries also were able to extend their 
 work greatly. A commencement was made with the erection 
 of a church at Manuza's place of residence, in recognition of 
 the help which he had received from the Almighty against 
 his opponent, and the chief himself laid the foundation stone 
 in presence of a great assembly of people. The friar Aleixo 
 dos Martyres took up his residence there, and nine others of 
 the same order came from Goa and were stationed at various 
 trading places. The vicar general, Manuel da Cruz, removed 
 from Tete to Matuka in the district of Manika, in order to 
 be in a more central position. At Luanze a neat church was 
 built, but at the other trading stations it was only possible 
 to construct buildings of wattles covered with clay. 
 
 The Dominicans were naturally affected by the prostration 
 of the wealth and power of Portugal, but they had a reserve 
 force which supported them for a time. The most intelligent 
 and energetic individuals in the kingdom, looking with 
 despair upon the apathy and feebleness that had taken hold 
 of the great mass of their countrymen, sought refuge in 
 convents, where a life of activity and usefulness was still 
 open to them. General poverty alone prevented these 
 institutions being more generally resorted to. At a little 
 
 2 E 
 
372 History of South Africa. 
 
 later date considerable numbers of Asiatics and Africans were 
 admitted into the Dominican order, under the mistaken idea 
 that they would be able to exert more influence in their 
 respective countries than Europeans could, and then a failure 
 of energy set in; but during the first half of the seventeenth 
 century most of the missionaries south of the Zambesi were 
 white men. 
 
 There were complaints against some of them that they were 
 practically traders, but as a whole they worked zealously for 
 the conversion of the Bantu, though at tim§s they suffered 
 even from want of food. Their observations upon the people 
 among whom they were living are highly interesting. They 
 state, for instance, that the Makalanga did not object to a 
 profession of Christianity, but could not be induced to follow 
 its precepts, especially in the matter of not taking more 
 wives than one. The slight regard in which chastity of 
 females was held surprised them, and they were particularly 
 astonished that the men seemed almost indifferent to the 
 misconduct of their wives. They noticed too that in war the 
 men did not scruple to shield themselves behind their 
 women, just as the Basuto often did in our own times in 
 their conflicts with the Orange Free State. Seeing these 
 things, they set their hopes chiefly upon the children, whom 
 they took great pains to instruct. 
 
 A better opportunity than ever before was now offered to 
 search for mines, and rich specimens of several metals were 
 forwarded to Lisbon. In none of the records still preserved 
 and available for use, however, is there any trace of the 
 ancient underground workings having been discovered. To 
 assist in the search a few miners were sent out at the cost of 
 Dom Philippe Mascarenhas, though he protested against the 
 charge as not being mentioned in his contract, and because 
 he was then giving as much for the monopoly of commerce 
 south of the Zambesi every year, namely forty thousand 
 pardaos, as his predecessors had given for their whole term 
 of office, besides maintaining the garrison of Mozambique, 
 defraying all other expenses connected with the administra- 
 
Events of Interest from 1628 to 1652. ^il'h 
 
 tion, and paying twenty per cent customs duties on the 
 merchandise he imported from India. 
 
 The government at Madrid was of course highly elated 
 with the prospect of wealth, and the most fantastic schemes 
 were devised for opening up the country. Colonisation even 
 was to be undertaken on a large scale. Thus, on the 24th 
 of February 1635 the king wrote to the viceroy that two 
 hundred soldiers and two hundred families of colonists would 
 be sent from Portugal that year to settle along the Zambesi, 
 and that others would follow with every fleet. They were to 
 be accompanied by physicians, surgeons, women and girls 
 from charitable institutions, and mechanics of all kinds, even 
 to a gun founder. More Dominican and Jesuit missionaries 
 would also proceed to the country, as well as some Capu- 
 chins. Two hundred mares would be sent, that horse- 
 breeding might be carried on. A large quantity of artillery 
 and other material of war would also be forwarded. On 
 reading documents like this, so absurd do they appear from 
 the condition of Portugal at the time, that one is inclined to 
 doubt whether they were really intended to be serious state 
 papers, or whether they merely represented the day dreams 
 of children. At any rate the whole scheme came to nothing. 
 At the same time the viceroy was directed to have the 
 search for mines carried on diligently, and to change the 
 method of government of South-Eastern Africa. He was to 
 appoint a governor of Monomotapa, subordinate to himself, 
 and a castellan of Mozambique, subject to the governor. The 
 system of carrying on trade was also to be altered. For a 
 long time the king and his court had been endeavouring to 
 devise some means of recovering the commerce of India from 
 the English and Dutch, and in 1629 and following years an 
 effort had been made to form a powerful Company for the 
 purpose, in which the national treasury was to be the 
 principal partici[»ant, and the cities of Portugal and India, 
 as well as individuals, were to be shareholders. There was 
 to be a chamber in Goa to manage local matters, but the 
 controlling power was to be vested in a board of directors at 
 
 2 E 2 
 
374 History of South Africa, 
 
 Lisbon. The effort to form such a Company, however, had 
 failed; and now the king instructed the viceroy to throw 
 open the commerce of South-Eastern Africa to all his subjects 
 upon payment of customs duties. This order for some 
 unknown reason was not carried into execution. 
 
 The subject of fortifications was also dealt with. In 1632, 
 owing to a report that the English were fitting out an 
 expedition to survey the East African coast, the king 
 announced that a couple of small vessels would be sent from 
 Lisbon to Sofala with men and munitions of war to protect 
 that place, and that the outgoing fleet would convey rein- 
 forcements to Mozambique. It had become a custom to 
 employ convicts in oversea service, so that by emptying the 
 prisons a few men could be had at any time. But Sofala 
 remained without a garrison, notwithstanding this announce- 
 ment. A couple of years later an engineer named Bar- 
 tholomeu Cotao was sent with a few assistants from Lisbon, 
 some Indian carpenters were despatched from Goa, and 
 at last a small fort of stakes and earth was constructed at 
 Kilimane. This was the most that could be done, but in 
 the king's letter of the 24th of February 1635 the viceroy 
 was instructed to fortify Sofala strongly and station a 
 garrison of two hundred soldiers there, and also to cause the 
 mouths of the Zambesi to be well protected with defensive 
 works. Such instructions, it must be repeated, were 
 altogether illusory. 
 
 A report upon the condition of the country at this time, 
 to be found in manuscript in the library of the British 
 Museum, is particularly interesting, from the care which was 
 taken in its preparation. It was drawn up in 1634 by order 
 of the count of Linhares, viceroy of India, by his secretary 
 Pedro Barreto de Eezende, who had visited the places he 
 describes, and it was submitted for revision to Antonio 
 Bocarro, keeper of the archives at Goa, before it was sent to 
 King Philippe III of Portugal. 
 
 Sofala is described in it as having a square fort of stone 
 thirty feet in height, with circular bastions at the corners. 
 
PHOTOGRAPH OF PLAN OF SOFALA. 
 
Events of Interest from 1628 to 1652. 375 
 
 aud nine small pieces of artillery on the walls. It was 
 without other garrison than the captain and his servants, 
 and had no stores either of provisions or materials of war. 
 In the village adjoining it three married and two single 
 Portuguese resided, who with their slaves and a few mixed 
 breeds were its only defenders in case of war. The fort and 
 village were on an island at high tide, formed by the river 
 and a broad trench, as shown in the plan accompanying 
 the description ; but at low tide the trench was dry. A 
 Dominican friar resided in the village, but there were very 
 few Christian natives. The only commerce carried on was in 
 ivory and ambergris. The Kiteve, in whose dominions the 
 fort was situated, had ten or twelve thousand warriors at his 
 command, but was in general friendly to the Portuguese, and 
 on payment of the usual quantity of merchandise allowed 
 them to trade in freedom and safety. 
 
 Sena was a much more important place, though the old 
 fort was out of repair and almost destroyed. There were 
 thirty married Portuguese and mixed breeds in the village, 
 who owned a large number of slaves, and there were no 
 fewer than four churches, with religious of the Dominican 
 order and the Company of Jesus. The principal building 
 was the factory, which was under a tiled roof. It was a 
 great warehouse, in which the goods of the captain of 
 Mozambique were stored, and where merchandise was sold 
 wholesale to the traders who traversed the country. There 
 were two dwelling houses under tiles, all the others being 
 thatched. Along the river up and down were great tracts of 
 land, occupied by fully thirty thousand natives, that had 
 been assigned to individual Portuguese, who, however, did 
 not derive much benefit from them, as most of the Bantu 
 were disobedient. This system was in accordance with feudal 
 ideas, the persons to whom the districts were assigned having 
 extensive powers wherever the natives were submissive, but 
 being themselves vassals of the captain of Sena. Among the 
 owners of districts in this way was the Dominican order, 
 whose claim was confirmed by the king in 1638. 
 
376 History of South Africa. 
 
 At Tete tliere were twenty married Portuguese residents and 
 a few lialfbreeds, all living within a kind of fort, which 
 consisted of a wall seven or eight feet high with six bastions, 
 on which a few small pieces of artillery were mounted. They 
 had many slaves under their control. Adjoining Tete were 
 lands occupied by about eight thousand Bantu, parcelled out 
 among individual Portuguese, like those connected with Sena. 
 Scattered over Manika and the country of the Monomotapa 
 were numerous so-called forts, which were really only 
 palisaded enclosures or earthen walls, occupied by traders 
 and their servants. At most of these Dominican friars also 
 resided, who occupied themselves with the conversion of the 
 Bantu. By the king's orders this field was open to them 
 alone, though the Jesuits, who occupied Kilimane and the 
 country to the northward, were permitted to have an estab- 
 lishment at Sena, and often evaded the command and 
 stationed missionaries with the Makalanga. By a royal order 
 the Dominicans were entitled to tithes in the country south 
 of the Zambesi. The Jesuits had a large estate assigned to 
 them on the island of Luabo, between two mouths of the 
 great river, which was regarded as being within their sphere 
 of action. The only soldiers in the whole country were 
 thirty men who accompanied the Monomotapa wherever he 
 went, nominally as a body-guard to protect him and add to 
 his dignity, really, it may be believed, to keep watch upon 
 his movements. 
 
 There were still a good many Mohamedans scattered about, 
 and they were regarded by the Portuguese as in general 
 irreconcilable enemies. Those on the island of Luabo were 
 said to be behaving well, but those in the Monomotapa's 
 territories had aided Kapranzine, and after his defeat were 
 reduced to abject circumstances. It had not been found 
 possible to expel them. 
 
 The only courts of law open to Portuguese subjects in the 
 country south of the Zambesi at this time were those of the 
 captains of Sofala, Sena, and Tete. These officials were 
 appointed by the captain of Mozambique, who selected them 
 
Events of Interest from 162S to 1652. 377 
 
 from the circle of his friends more to promote his interests 
 in trade and to ward off hostilities with the natives whenever 
 they could do so, than with an eye to their qualifications 
 as magistrates. Under these circumstances it cannot be 
 supposed that justice was at all times administered. There 
 was, however, a right of appeal from the sentences of the 
 captains to the judge at Mozambique, which may have 
 prevented gross abuses. 
 
 This is the picture of Portuguese South Africa given by 
 the most competent writer of his day, and certainly it differs 
 greatly from that presented by the royal despatches. 
 
 Some wrecks which took place on the South African coast 
 during these years furnish matter of sufficient interest to be 
 preserved in history. That of the Sao Joao Baptista in 1622, 
 and those of the Nossa Senhora da Atalaya and the Sacra- 
 mento in 1647, have been referred to by me at sufficient 
 length in a chapter upon the Xosa tribe in another volume; 
 but two others remain, the narratives of which may here be 
 given. 
 
 On the 4th of March 1630 the Sao Gongalo, commanded 
 by Captain Fernao Lobo de Menezes, sailed from Goa for 
 Lisbon. On the passage she became leaky, and in the 
 middle of June put into Bahia Fermosa — Plettenberg's Bay 
 as now termed — in a sinking condition, to be repaired. For 
 this purpose some of her cargo was landed, and more would 
 have been, if the officers had not shown themselves quarrel- 
 some and incompetent for their duties. Some of the crew 
 took up their residence on shore, but the greater number 
 remained on board. Fifty days after her arrival in the jbay 
 tlie ship was lying at anchor off the mouth of the Pisang 
 river when she was struck by a storm and driven ashore, 
 one hundred and thirty-three persons perishing in the wreck. 
 The captain, five friars, and about a hundred men were on 
 land at the time, and fortunately they were able to collect a 
 quantity of provisions and a good supply of carpenter's tools 
 when the storm ceased. In anticipation of being obliged to 
 jemain there until the change of the monsoon in September 
 
37^ J^i story of South Africa, 
 
 or October, they had made a garden, from which they 
 obtained such vegetables as pumpkins, melons, onions, and 
 cucumbers. From the bay they drew supplies of fish, and 
 from the Hottentots, who were very friendly, they bartered a 
 number of horned cattle and sheep for pieces of iron. They 
 were thus enabled to put by much of the rice that had been 
 landed before the wreck and such food in casks as drifted 
 ashore, while they were building two large boats in which to 
 make their escape. 
 
 The captain was old and feeble, so with his consent they 
 elected Roque Borges to be their commander. There was 
 plenty of good timber in the forest close by, and as much 
 iron as they needed was obtained from fragments of the ship. 
 For tar they used benzoin, recovered from the cargo, and 
 mixed with the oil of seals, which they killed in great 
 numbers on an islet off the mouth of the river. Having 
 plenty of food they lived in comparative comfort, and they 
 were not forgetful of the worship of God, for they built a 
 chapel in which religious services were frequently held. 
 Eight months passed away before the boats were completed 
 and ready for sea. When all was prepared for sailing the 
 friars erected a wooden cross on the site of their residence, 
 and a rude inscription was engraved on a block of sandstone, 
 recording the loss of the ship and the building of the 
 pinnaces. Part of this stone was removed some years ago 
 from the summit of a hill a little to the eastward of the 
 mouth of the Pisang river, and is now in the South African 
 Museum in Capetown. 
 
 Some of the people wished to proceed to Angola, others 
 thought it would be better to return to Mozambique, so the 
 two boats steered in opposite directions. The one reached 
 Mozambique safely, the other after a few days fell in with 
 the homeward-bound ship Santo Jgnacio Loyola, and her 
 people were received on board. But these were less fortu- 
 nate than the others, for they perished when near their 
 homes by the loss of the ship that had apparently saved 
 them. 
 
Events of Interest from 1628 to 1652. 379 
 
 The wreck of the "No^m Senhora de Belem was in many 
 respects similar to that of the Sao Gongalo. Where every- 
 one, as in Goa at that time, regarded bribery and corruption 
 as the natural means of acquiring wealth, even a ship could 
 not be sent to sea in a condition fit for a long passage. She 
 would be repaired with rotten timber, her caulking would be 
 defective, her rigging and stores would be of an inferior 
 description. Thus the Nossa Senhora de Belem, commanded 
 by Captain Joseph de Cabreyra, sailed from Goa for Lisbon 
 on the 24th of February 1635 shorthanded and quite unfit 
 for navigation in stormy seas. As usual, a large proportion 
 of those on board were negro slaves. 
 
 The ship soon became so leaky that it was with the 
 greatest difficulty she could be kept afloat, and when she 
 reached the South African coast the only hope of saving the 
 lives of those on board was in running her ashore. Some- 
 where north of the mouth of the Umzimvubu river — the exact 
 spot cannot be made out — she lay almost water-logged close 
 to the coast, when a boat was got out, and the captain landed 
 with a few men to look for a place where she could be 
 beached with the least danger. Night came on, and some 
 natives appeared, who attacked the little party, but they were 
 easily driven away. In the morning those on board, fearing 
 every moment that the ship would go down with them, waited 
 no longer for the captain's signal, but ran her ashore, and 
 fortunately for them she held together, so that no lives were 
 lost. 
 
 Two hundred and seventy-two individuals, among whom 
 were five friars, were now safe on land. For seventeen days 
 they were engaged in getting provisions, tools, and other 
 articles out of the wreck; then by an accident, either from 
 the party that had been on board during the day having left 
 a candle burning or a fire in the stove, she caught alight 
 and the whole upper part was consumed. This, however, 
 turned out to be an advantage rather than a misfortune, as 
 an abundance of nails and other iron was now easily obtained 
 from the charred timber. 
 
380 History of Sotith Africa. 
 
 There was much difference of opinion as to the best course 
 to be pursued, but at length they agreed to build a couple of 
 small vessels and try to get to Angola. There was a river 
 close by that offered a favourable site for a shipyard, and 
 plenty of timber was to be had in the neighbourhood, so on 
 the 20th of July they set about the task. Soon afterwards 
 they were cheered by the appearance of a cabra, that is the 
 son of a mulatto by a black woman, who called himself a 
 Portuguese, and in broken language told them that his name 
 was Antonio and that he had been wrecked in the Banto 
 Alberto and left there by Nuno Velho Pereira's party that 
 went to the north more than forty years before, when he was 
 a boy. He was now wealthy and a man of influence. He 
 was accompanied by a chief with a band of attendants, 
 with whom an agreement of friendship was made. Through 
 Antonio's influence and assistance no fewer than two hundred 
 and nineteen head of cattle were obtained in barter for pieces 
 of iron, which not only furnished plenty of fresh meat for the 
 time being, but abundance of biltong, or strips of dried flesh, 
 for provisioning the boats. After a time the shipwrecked 
 men suspected Antonio of hostility, and there was some 
 trouble with the natives ; but their wants had then been 
 supplied, and they were too strong to be attacked. 
 
 Six months were occupied in building and fitting out the 
 vessels, which were decked and of such beam that they could 
 carry the whole of the people. They were provisioned with 
 eighty small bags of rice and a quantity of biltong. On the 
 28th of January 1636 they sailed from the river, but found 
 the weather rough on the coast, and during the second night 
 after leaving one of them disappeared and was not seen 
 again. The other, in which was Captain De Cabreyra, put 
 into Algoa Bay on the passage, and forty-eight days after 
 leaving the river reached Bengo Bay, close to the town of Sao 
 Paulo de Loanda, with her provisions exhausted and without a 
 drop of fresh water left. There, just in time, those on board 
 were rescued from death by starvation and thirst, and soon 
 afterwards they dispersed to different parts of the world. 
 
Events of Interest from 1628 to 1652. 381 
 
 In 1640 the revolution in Portugal took place which 
 elevated the eighth duke of Bragan^a to the throne as King 
 Joao ly. Margarida, duchess of Mantua, was then governing 
 Portugal for Philippe III— the 4th of Spain, — and her court 
 was almost entirely composed of Spanish grandees, who 
 treated the Portuguese nobles with such disdain as to rouse 
 their passion. The people were discontented, and attributed 
 the poverty and distress they were suffering to the Castilian 
 yoke which lay heavy upon them. Though under the same 
 head for sixty years, they had never fraternised with the 
 Spaniards, and the loss of their most valuable eastern posses- 
 sions, which had been the result of the political union of the 
 two countries, was ever in their minds. 
 
 The time was opportune for a revolution. The Catalans 
 were in insurrection, and France could be depended upon to 
 favour anything that would weaken the power of Spain. A 
 number of Portuguese noblemen then conspired to eject the 
 hated dynasty. On the 1st of December 1640 they seized the 
 palace and forts in Lisbon and the Spanish armed ships in 
 the Tagus, and made the duchess of Mantua a prisoner. A 
 few of the Castilian officials were killed in the first moments 
 of the rising, but most of them were merely placed in safe 
 confinement. The duke of Braganpa, though timid and half 
 reluctant, had then no option but to ascend the throne, for 
 he was the legitimate heir of the ancient kings, and his life 
 would not have been worth a week's purchase if Philippe 
 should recover his authority. On the 15th of December he 
 was crowned in the cathedral of Lisbon, and the cortes, which 
 met as soon as possible, unanimously took an oath of alle- 
 giance to him on the 19th of January 1641. The whole 
 country declared in his favour, the Spanish garrisons were 
 expelled, and Portugal again took her place among the 
 nations of Europe as an independent power. War with Spain 
 followed as a matter of course, but Joao IV found powerful 
 allies among the northern rulers, his people sprang to arms, 
 and he was able to preserve the throne on which his 
 descendants sit to this day. 
 
382 History of South Africa. 
 
 In India tidings of the successful revolution were received 
 with the greatest joy. The silly orders of the Castilian 
 monarchs sent through the regency at Lisbon, and the affec- 
 tation of boundless wealth and numberless men being at the 
 disposal of the viceroy, must have disgusted the officials 
 everywhere. From the new monarch they had reason to 
 expect instructions dictated by common sense, and indeed in 
 his first letters to the viceroy he spoke plainly of his empty 
 treasury and of the necessity there would be of observing the 
 strictest economy in every part of his dominions. Then he 
 was their own countryman, and blood cements loyalty. 
 
 Among the first of foreign powers to recognise him was the 
 Kepublic of the United Netherlands, and on the 12th of 
 June 1641 a truce for ten years was concluded between the 
 two governments, in which, among other clauses, was one 
 defining the Portuguese possessions in South-Eastern Africa 
 that were thereafter to be respected by the Dutch. They 
 were Mozambique, Kilimane, the rivers of Cuama, Sena, 
 Sofala, Cape Correntes, and the adjacent rivers, by which 
 were meant Inhambane and the bay of Lourenpo Marques. 
 This truce was broken a few years later through events that 
 took place in Brazil, but while it was observed it was of 
 much importance to the new king. It gave him sympathy 
 and some practical assistance from the Dutch people in his 
 struggle with Spain, and it freed the eastern possessions that 
 were left to him from fear of attack, of which they had 
 before been apprehensive. The king indeed was led even to 
 hope that some of the ancient conquests, particularly Malacca, 
 might be restored to Portugal. Still he was not without some 
 uneasiness when he reflected upon the defenceless condition of 
 his dominions on the borders of the Indian sea, the activity 
 of the Dutch in that part of the world, and his inability to 
 afford any assistance, owing to his empty treasury. He there- 
 fore instructed the viceroy to keep a close watch upon the 
 movements of the Dutch, but to act with the greatest 
 caution, and to avoid everything that might irritate or ofiend 
 any one. 
 
Events of Interest from 1628 to 1652. 383 
 
 The measures adopted by the government of King Joao IV 
 with regard to South-Eastern Africa were not productive of 
 good, however, much as the more honest and sensible tone of 
 his despatches is to be admired. In December 1643 com- 
 merce between Portugal and India was declared free and open 
 to all his subjects, with the single exception of the trade in 
 cinnamon, which was reserved as a royal monopoly. This, to 
 Englishmen of the present day, will appear a liberal measure. 
 But there are circumstances when the admission of all per- 
 sons under the same government to equal commercial rights 
 may prove utterly ruinous to the class that ought to be 
 encouraged most, and it would have been so in this instance 
 in the country south of the Zambesi if the existing contracts 
 with the prospective captains of Mozambique had not pre- 
 vented its coming into operation for several years, and if in 
 the mean time other measures had not been adopted. This 
 will be dealt with more fully in another chapter. 
 
 In 1644 the slave trade between Mozambique and Brazil 
 was opened by individual adventurers with the king's per- 
 mission and encouragement. In these days such traffic is 
 justly regarded with the greatest horror, but during the 
 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries not a voice appears to 
 have been raised against it. It certainly was not looked upon 
 as cruel or immoral to remove negroes from an environment 
 of barbarism to a condition of subjection to Christian masters. 
 The system brought upon the lands to which the slaves were 
 taken a terrible and perpetual punishment, which ought to 
 have been foreseen, but was not, or at least was disregarded 
 in the prospect of immediate gain. The proprietors of the 
 prazos, or great estates, along the Zambesi had now a new 
 source of wealth opened to them. Hitherto they had re- 
 garded the captives obtained in war and reduced to slavery 
 as personal followers, and employed them as traders, soldiers, 
 attendants, and so forth, he who had the greatest number 
 being esteemed as the most wealthy and powerful. The 
 negroes readily fell in with this system, which appeared to 
 them natural and proper ; and in general they were found 
 
3^4 History of South Africa. 
 
 faithful. It gave them what they needed : some one to think 
 for them, some one to direct and look after them. 
 
 But after 1644 all this was changed. The Batonga and 
 Makalanga who were made captives were considered as worth 
 so many maticals of gold a head, and any that the owners 
 did not care to keep were sent to Mozambique for sale, to 
 serve in ships like the less intelligent Makua, or to be con- 
 veyed to Brazil to work on plantations, in either case to be 
 severed for life from early associations and companions. As 
 time went on the abominable traffic grew larger and larger, 
 until it became far the most important in raoney value of all 
 the commerce of the Zambesi basin. There could be no ex- 
 tension of agriculture, no mining, no progress of any kind 
 where it was so extensively carried on. 
 
 In 1644 there was a war between the Kiteve and a chief 
 named Sakandemo, in which the Portuguese took part on the 
 side of the former. The result was the defeat of Sakandemo, 
 the baptism of the Kiteve with the name Sebastiao, and his 
 promise to regard himself thereafter as a vassal of Portugal. 
 But conversions of this kind, however gratifying to the vanity 
 of the Europeans, and especially of the clergy, were of no 
 real value, and such promises of vassalage by men possessing 
 any real power were not carried into practice. 
 
 The sparseness of the European population made the pos- 
 session of the country extremely insecure, for no troops could 
 be provided to guard it. But how or where could settlers be 
 obtained ? Not in Portugal, for there were much more attrac- 
 tive places than South-Eastern Africa before the eyes of the 
 peasantry there. Not voluntarily in India, as had been 
 proved by the viceroy's invitations and tempting offers to 
 migrate having had no effect. And so they were sent invo- 
 luntarily. After the middle of the seventeenth century what 
 colonisation was effected on the banks of the Zambesi was 
 largely the result of criminals being sentenced by the supreme 
 court at Goa to become residents there. If morality before 
 this had been low, hereafter it sank to a point seldom reached 
 elsewhere by Europeans. 
 
Even ts of In teres t from 1628 io 1652. 385 
 
 At this time our countrymen began to frequent the coast, 
 as the Dutch, notwithstanding repeated orders to prevent them 
 from trading with the natives, had previously done, and 
 English adventurers soon became a source of much uneasi- 
 ness to the government at Lisbon. The first difficulty con- 
 nected with them occurred in 1650, when an English trading 
 vessel arrived at Mozambique. Alvaro de Sousa was then cap- 
 tain, and finding that he could do a profitable business with 
 the strangers, he purchased a quantity of goods from them, 
 hoping that the transaction would never be discovered. 
 When the head of the local government acted in this manner, 
 it may well be believed that the subordinate officials and the 
 residents in the village, who had the right of trading with 
 the Bantu on the mainland, were equally dishonest. The 
 matter came to the knowledge of the king, but the death of 
 Alvaro de Sousa prevented the punishment that would other- 
 wise have been inflicted upon him. Orders were again issued, 
 strictly prohibiting commercial intercourse with strangers, who 
 were to be permitted to take in fresh water and to purchase 
 necessary refreshments, but nothing more. 
 
 On the 25th of May 1652 the Monomotapa Manuza — or 
 Philippe — died. He had not renounced Christianity and had 
 always kept on the best terms with the Portuguese, acknow- 
 ledging himself a vassal of the king, protecting traders, and 
 making numerous grants of prazos to individuals. He could 
 not do otherwise while Kapranzine lived, nor while Kap- 
 ranzine's son of highest rank, the heir to the chieftainship in 
 the direct line, was practically a prisoner in G-oa. This young 
 man had entered the Dominican order, and applied himself 
 most assiduously to study, so that, according to the chronicler, 
 he was by his example the most powerful preacher in the 
 country. In 1670 the general of the order sent him the 
 diploma of Master in Theology, equivalent to Doctor of 
 Divinity, and this man, born a barbarian, heir to the most 
 important chieftainship in Southern Africa, died as vicar of 
 the convent of Santa Barbara in Goa. Fiction surely has no 
 stranger story than his. 
 
386 History of South Africa. 
 
 Manuza's successor adhered to the old Bantu faith, and in 
 consequence the Dominicans were in much distress, as their 
 work seemed likely to be thrown back seriously. Great was 
 the pleasure therefore which they felt when the new chief, 
 under the teaching of the friar Aleixo do Eosario, announced 
 his conversion, and requested to be baptized. His example 
 was followed by a multitude of the sub-chiefs and others. 
 On the 4th of August 1652 these were all received into the 
 church, the Monomotapa taking the name Domingos and his 
 great wife Luiza. The intelligence of this event created a 
 joyful sensation in Europe. At Kome the master- general of 
 the order caused special services to be held, and had an 
 account of the baptism engraved in the Latin language on a 
 bronze plate. At the Dominican convent in Lisbon there was 
 a grand thanksgiving service, which was attended by King 
 Joao IV and all his court, for the event was regarded as one 
 of the greatest triumphs of Christianity, as well as a consoli- 
 dation of Portuguese rule in South Africa. 
 
 Such an opinion, however, was altogether erroneous, for in 
 this same year, 1652, the Dutch East India Company formed 
 a settlement in Table Valley, which was destined to have a 
 vastly greater eflfect upon the southern portion of the conti- 
 nent than the Portuguese occupation of the eastern coast, that 
 had now lasted nearly a century and a half. 
 
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 BAPTISM OF THE MONOMOTAPA. 
 Photograph from a picture in the Dominican House, Rome. 
 
Weakness of Portuguese Rule in South Africa. 387 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 WEAKNESS OP PORTUGUESE RULE IN SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 King Joao IV, the first monarch of the house of Bragan^a, 
 died on the 6th of November 1656, leaving a son named 
 Affonso, only thirteen years of age, heir to the throne. The 
 queen dowager, a woman of unusual ability and force of 
 character, then became regent, and held that office until the 
 21st of June 1662, when Affonso VI became king. His sister, 
 Catherine of Braganpa, only a few weeks before had been 
 married to Charles II of England. A close connection be- 
 tween the two countries was thus commenced, which was of 
 great advantage to Portugal by giving her assistance in her 
 war with Spain, and which led some years later to important 
 commercial arrangements. For more than a quarter of a 
 century Spain strove to suppress what was termed at Madrid 
 the rebellion of the duke cf Bragan9a, but at length a series 
 of victories gained by the Portuguese with the assistance of 
 their foreign friends made the attempt hopeless, and on the 
 13th of February 1668 peace was concluded by a treaty in 
 which the independence of Portugal under the sovereigns of 
 her choice was fully recognised. The character of Affonso VI 
 was a compound of imbecility and brutality : he was one of 
 the most worthless individuals that ever sat upon a throne. 
 On the 23rd of November 1667 he was forced into retirement, 
 and his brother Dom Pedro, duke of Beja, became regent. 
 Sixteen years later Affonso died, and the regent then became 
 King Pedro II. The Portuguese regard him as one of the 
 best and most prudent of their sovereigns, though there was 
 nothing particularly brilliant or even enterprising in his 
 nature. 
 
388 History of Sotith Africa. 
 
 During the seventeenth century a general disintegration of 
 the Bantu tribes between the Zambesi and Sabi rivers was 
 taking place, and individual Portuguese who were possessed 
 of ability, though they were devoid of anything like high 
 morality, were busily engaged in forming new clans under 
 their own control. The process commenced when the legiti- 
 mate Monomotapa Kapranzine was deposed, and it was 
 furthered when the Tshikanga was defeated and slain. The 
 Batonga along the Zambesi were the first to be influenced by 
 it. They had no affection for the Makalanga rulers, nor had 
 those rulers any attachment for them, so that Portuguese who 
 performed any service for the Monomotapa could readily obtain 
 from him grants of land more extensive than the largest 
 county in England. The people on these lands as a rule sub- 
 mitted to the new head as long as he governed them in 
 accordance with their ideas, and rebelled when he did not, 
 but in the course of a few years his authority was usually 
 firmly established. He was then to all intents and purposes a 
 Kaffir chief, possessing absolute power over his people. 
 
 Father Manuel Barreto, superior of the Jesuit college at 
 Sena, reported to the viceroy in 1667 that nearly the whole 
 of the territory in the triangle formed by the river Zambesi, 
 the sea coast, and a straight line drawn from Chicova to 
 Sofala, was thus held by individual Portuguese, though many 
 of its Batonga inhabitants were in rebellion. Some of the 
 prazos, as the districts were termed, were, he said, the size 
 of kingdoms, especially those held by Antonio Lobo da Silva, 
 Manuel d'Abreu, Andre Colla90, and Manuel Paez de Pinho. 
 The last named had among his subjects the whole of the old 
 tribe of Mongasi. But Kaffir chiefs as they were, these men 
 wished to be considered Portuguese subjects, and were ambi- 
 tious of holding office and obtaining titles of distinction from 
 the crown. They professed even to hold their prazos from 
 the king under grants for three lives, on payment of quitrent 
 and performing military service with their followers when 
 called upon to do so. The whole of the quitrent, however, 
 that flowed into the royal treasury from this source 
 
Weakness of Porttiguese Rule in South Africa. 389 
 
 amounted to little more than six hundred maticals of gold, 
 or £268 2s. 6i., a year. The holders of the prazos were 
 constantly quarrelling, and afc times were even carrying on 
 war with each other, but they were always sufficiently loyal 
 to obey a call to arms from the king's representative. For 
 a long time they formed the sole military force of the 
 government. 
 
 Many of them amassed great wealth and lived in a style 
 of barbaric splendour, but they were always exposed to the 
 chances of war, for they had no protection beyond what they 
 could supply themselves. On some of the prazos large 
 buildings were erected, with lofty rooms and thick walls to 
 keep out the heat, and their proprietors were noted for the 
 most profuse hospitality to the strangers and travellers who 
 occasionally visited them. Their tables were spread with 
 vegetables and fruit of almost all varieties, grown in their 
 gardens, with the flesh of domestic and wild animals, the 
 costliest wines of Europe, and imported delicacies of every 
 description. They were waited upon by numerous slaves, 
 never moved from their premises except in a palanquin, and 
 lived altogether in luxurious ease, the condition perhaps most 
 respected by the natives around them. But such people were 
 not colonists, nor did they set an example of morality that 
 was worthy of being followed by their dependents. 
 
 After the Batonga territory was thus parcelled out, adven- 
 turers sought to get possession of prazos elsewhere, and many 
 were acquired by purchase from the Monomotapa and from 
 his subordinate chiefs. The adventurers did not scruple to 
 use threats and commit acts of violence to obtain what they 
 desired, until the Monomotapa became seriously alarmed. In 
 1663 he sent a petition to the king to provide him with a 
 bodyguard like that supplied to his predecessor, in order that 
 he might be protected from insult and wrong. The king 
 instructed the viceroy to comply with his request, but after 
 a long delay, in 1668 he replied that he could not do so for 
 want of men. The king also directed that the prazos which 
 had been obtained by violence or by purchase from those 
 
 2 F 2 
 
390 History of South Africa. 
 
 who had no right to sell them should be restored to the 
 Monomotapa, who was a Christian prince; and an officer 
 named Francisco Pires Kibeiro was sent to enforce the 
 order. But the power of the king proved too weak in 
 South-Eastern Africa to carry out a measure like this, which 
 was in conflict with the opinions of the Portuguese land- 
 holders. They would not admit that the Monomotapa was a 
 Christian in anything but name, and instead of surrendering 
 the prazos, they declared war against him. 
 
 The leader of this movement was a lawless individual 
 named Antonio Eodrigues de Lima, who had previously been 
 guilty of much misconduct. He and his associates got 
 together an array of slaves and other dependents, with 
 which they took the field. The Monomotapa assembled his 
 forces and marched to meet them, but when the armies were 
 near each other, his captains rose in rebellion, murdered him, 
 and submitted to the Portuguese, offering to admit as their 
 head any one whom the white people might choose to 
 appoint. Had he been their legitimate ruler in the right 
 line of descent they would probably have preferred to die for 
 him, but as he was in their eyes only a usurper he could 
 command neither devotion nor respect. The Portuguese 
 thereupon raised a young man of the ruling family to be 
 Monomotapa, expecting him to be a pliant tool in their 
 hands, but he proved an able chief, and found means to 
 make himself respected. To keep him in check, indeed, the 
 government was obliged to send Antonio Lobo da Silva, the 
 most powerful of all the prazo holders, to reside with him as 
 the king's representative. 
 
 A condition of things in which mere adventurers, acting 
 without authority from the nominal government, could 
 appoint and depose chiefs of tribes at their will, and could 
 establish themselves as practically independent sovereigns 
 over great tracts of country, can only be described as one of 
 anarchy. Father Manuel de Gouvea, of the Jesuit mission, 
 wrote to the prince regent in 1673 that a military force of 
 two hundred men was needed to restore order and compel 
 
Weakness of Portuguese Rule in South Africa. 391 
 
 the lawbreakers to respect the rights of others, but the reply 
 was that they could not be sent, as there were no means of 
 meeting the expense. In 1675 a plan was devised in Lisbon 
 which it was hoped might meet the difficulty. This was to 
 send out orphan girls from charitable institutions, to give 
 them prazos as dowries, and upon their marrying Portuguese 
 to appoint their husbands to civil, judicial, and military 
 offices. The eldest daughter was to inherit the estate, upon 
 condition of marrying a Portuguese born in Europe, and in 
 the same manner it was to descend to the next generation. 
 After the death of the third proprietress it was to revert to 
 the crown. 
 
 But this scheme could only be carried out on a very 
 limited scale, and in places where the natives had lost all 
 their former spirit. To acquire a prazo in the first instance 
 a man needed knowledge of Bantu habits, a strong will, 
 reckless daring, and power of governing others. He esta- 
 blished his right, and his heirs, if they were at all capable, 
 might succeed him. Certainly they never could command 
 such devotion as the ancient hereditary chiefs, because the 
 religious element of loyalty was wanting in their case, but 
 as those chiefs had been displaced, and as the government 
 of a strong man is willingly obeyed by the Bantu under 
 such circumstances, they could remain the heads of clans. 
 It was very different when a stranger, a woman too, was 
 appointed to rule over the people of a district. They would 
 not submit to such an innovation, and therefore the scheme 
 could not be applied in many instances. 
 
 The prazos went on increasing until there were no fewer 
 than eighty -five of them. In other words, there were eighty- 
 five Bantu clans under Portuguese, Goanese, or half-breed 
 chiefs, almost constantly at strife with each other. Most of 
 them had native headmen, or petty chiefs, serving under 
 them, through whom their orders were carried out. It was 
 the ancient feudal system of Europe transplanted in Africa, 
 but that system where the king was weakest and the barons 
 most turbulent. There was still a Monomotapa, a Tshikanga, 
 
392 History of South Africa, 
 
 and a Kiteve, ruling over remnants of once powerful tribes ; 
 but the individuals who held these titles were little more 
 than puppets. They were generally regarded with distrust 
 and suspicion, and the slightest offence was sufficient pretext 
 for war against them. The power of the Portuguese in South 
 Africa had never been so great before, but the power of the 
 Portuguese government had never been so small. 
 
 In his report to the viceroy in 1667 Father Manuel 
 Barreto described Sena as containing thirty houses occupied 
 by Portuguese and many others; occupied by half-breeds. It 
 was the principal place in the country, as the factory to 
 which all the traders resorted was there, and its captain had 
 greater power than any of the others, because with him 
 rested decisions of peace and war. He was appointed by the 
 captain of Mozambique. Tete contained forty houses of 
 Portuguese and mixed breeds. Sofala was almost deserted, 
 and no friar was then residing there. Its trade in gold 
 was only five hundred pastas* a year, whereas nearly three 
 thousand pastas a year were obtained at other places and 
 exported through Kilimane. In the Monomotapa's country 
 there were trading stations, with Portuguese captains, at 
 Dambarare, Ongwe, Luanze, and Chipiriviri, and a captain 
 with a considerable body of followers at the residence of the 
 chief, to keep that barbarian in check. The three captains 
 of Sena, Tete, and Sofala were still the only administrators 
 of justice in the country, but they could be tried by the 
 supreme court at Goa for pronouncing illegal sentences. 
 
 There were sixteen places of worship in the country. Of 
 these, six belonged to the Company of Jesus, one — at Sena — 
 was ministered to by a secular priest, and nine belonged to 
 the Dominicans, though they had then only six missionaries 
 in the field. The distribution of these places of worship was, 
 
 * The quantity contained in a pasta, or pasteboard case, is uncerlain. 
 Tlie word is also used to signify a thin plate of metal, but evidently that 
 is not what is meant here. Probably gold was kept in cases of a particular 
 size, and the expression at the time would convey a defiuite meaning to 
 those engaged in the trade. 
 
Weakness of Portuguese Rule in SotUh Africa. 393 
 
 nine in the lands occupied and ruled by Portuguese, two in 
 Manika, and five in the country of the Monomotapa. 
 
 Corruption must have been prevalent everywhere, for 
 Father Barreto states that even the office of ecclesiastical 
 administrator at Mozambique was purchased with money. He 
 laid oppression also to the charge of the highest officer in 
 rank in East Africa. Trading privileges with the Bantu on 
 the mainland north of the Zambesi had been granted by the 
 king to the inhabitants of the island of Mozambique, in 
 order to encourage people to settle there, but the captain 
 had deprived them of their rights that he might secure the 
 profit for himself. They were obliged to purchase mer- 
 chandise from him at his own price, instead of importing it 
 from India, and in the same way they could sell to no one 
 but him. 
 
 Father Barreto was an enthusiast, who had day dreams of a 
 great Portuguese empire in Africa, stretching from the Ked 
 sea to the Cape of Good Hope. He does not seem to have 
 been aware that the Dutch had formed a settlement in Table 
 Valley, or if he was, he ignored it as an obstacle to the 
 extension of Portuguese authority. He speaks of the 
 cruelty, rapacity, and lawlessness of the holders of the prazos 
 then in existence, and fears that the wrath of the Almighty 
 may be poured out on them for their sins. Yet he advises 
 that they should be employed in conquering their Bantu 
 neighbours, and that the system should be maintained until 
 not only the whole of the mainland south of Abyssinia, but 
 the island of Madagascar as well, was parcelled out in this 
 manner. Then, indeed, there would be an empire surpassing 
 the greatest in Asia. Then the natives could be compelled 
 to wear cotton clothing and to dig for gold, and commerce 
 would flourish and boundless wealth flow into the treasury of 
 the king. As for mission work, it should be carried on with 
 tenfold vigour. Instead of an ecclesiastical administrator, 
 there should be an archbishop at Mozambique, with two or 
 three suffragans and numerous zealous priests. Surely Cortes 
 and Pizarro were more moderate in their schemes of con- 
 
394 History of South Africa. 
 
 quest with slender resources than this Jesuit missionary at 
 Sena. 
 
 As regular troops could not be provided to defend the 
 country, the government at Lisbon was doing all that was 
 in its power to promote colonisation. In 1665 an order was 
 issued that no settler should be allowed to remove without 
 special leave, and this was afterwards stringently enforced. 
 In 1671 the prince regent instructed the viceroy to throw 
 open the commerce of the Eivers to every one as soon as 
 the contract then existing with the captain of Mozambique 
 expired, principally with the object of inducing individuals 
 to take up their residence in South-Eastern Africa, and in 
 the following year this order was repeated, March 1673 being 
 named as the date from which it was to have eifect. It was 
 anticipated that the volume of trade would be greatly in- 
 creased by private competition, because the captains fixed 
 very high prices for selling and very low ones for buying, 
 so that there was little inducement to collect gold and ivory. 
 It was thought also that a larger sum would be realised from 
 customs duties, after all expenses were met, than was paid by 
 the captain for the monopoly, and that the administration 
 could be conducted in a more satisfactory manner. 
 
 The viceroy Luis de Mendonpa Furtado, however, brought 
 forward many objections to unrestricted trade, and suggested 
 an alternative, which the prince regent left to his discretion 
 to carry out. Accordingly, in 1673 the commerce of South- 
 Eastern Africa was taken over by the state, to be carried on 
 for the benefit of the royal treasury, and to be conducted 
 under the direction of a council at Goa by a board of six 
 members at Sena. It was about as clumsy and expensive a 
 scheme as could well be devised, and it was made still more 
 cumbersome by the conferring of extensive judicial power 
 upon the board at Sena, some of whose members were 
 ecclesiastics. Under the new system all persons employed 
 received salaries, and the civil and military authority were 
 separated. An ofiScer named Joao de Sousa Freire, with the 
 title of commander in chief, was appointed head of the 
 
Weakness of Portuguese Rule in South Africa. 395 
 
 military branch of the government, with power to call out 
 the residents in the villages and the holders of prazos with 
 their retainers to perform service in war. One of his first 
 acts was to get ready a force to attack the Monomotapa if 
 the silver mines which were supposed to be known to that 
 chief were not delivered to the Portuguese. 
 
 The aspect of affairs along the whole coast was at this 
 time exceedingly gloomy. The weakness of the Portuguese 
 was so apparent that the Mohamedans took courage, and in 
 various places to the north attempted to recover their inde- 
 pendence. In 1670 they even attacked Mozambique, and 
 though they did not succeed in getting possession of Fort 
 Sao Sebastiao, they inspired great alarm everywhere. In 
 1673 Father ]\Ianuel de Gouvea, a member of the board of 
 commerce at Sena, wrote to the prince regent that without 
 five or six small armed vessels it would be impossible to 
 trade to the north ; but they were not supplied through want 
 of means. Matters at length reached such a pass that the 
 viceroy Luis de Mendonpa Furtado, finding his despatches 
 produced no effect, sent the Jesuit father Andre Furtado to 
 Lisbon to represent that all East Africa must be lost unless 
 a military and naval force to maintain Portuguese authority 
 could be provided. North of the Zambesi the sheik of Pate 
 and other petty rulers were in open rebellion, and south of 
 that river the confusion and disorder caused by the jealousies 
 and strife of the prazo holders were so great that — as one of 
 the viceroy's advisers wrote — obedience to the government 
 was regarded as a mere matter of courtesy. 
 
 The court at Lisbon was then compelled to make a 
 supreme effort. In April 1677 Dom Pedro d'Almeida was 
 appointed viceroy of India, and was directed to jjroceed to 
 Goa and take over the administration, but very shortly after- 
 wards to return to the rivers of Cuama to meet a force of 
 six hundred soldiers that would leave the Tagus in five 
 vessels in September. With these ships and men he was to 
 restore order in East Africa, punishing the sheik of Pate 
 first. During his absence from Goa the government there 
 
39^ History of South Africa. 
 
 would be carried on by a board acting with full power, so 
 that his whole time and thought might be devoted to the 
 duty specially assigned to him. He was to remain two 
 years in Africa, and then place Joao de Sousa Freire at the 
 head of the local government and proceed again to Goa. 
 The board of administration there was directed to give him 
 all the assistance possible during his absence, though he was 
 to liave no control over it. Dom Pedro carried out these 
 instructions, and though he died before everything was 
 satisfactorily arranged, he managed to bring the petty sheiks 
 of the north to submission once more and to establish 
 comparative order south of the Zambesi. 
 
 The method of conducting trade on account of the govern- 
 ment proved a complete failure. The council at Goa com- 
 menced with debt, not only for goods purchased and vessels 
 chartered, but for the payment of thirty thousand xerafins, or 
 nine million reis, to each of the prospective captains of 
 Mozambique in return for relinquishing their rights. The 
 goods it purchased in India were often bad in quality and 
 unsuited to the requirements of the Bantu. The persons 
 employed as agents were careless and indifferent, the costs 
 were great, and the returns too small to meet the salaries 
 and other expenses. Under these circumstances in March 
 1680 the prince regent issued instructions that the affairs of 
 the council were to be wound up, and that the commerce of 
 the country south of the Zambesi was to be thrown open to 
 all his subjects in Europe, Asia, Brazil, and Africa, upon 
 payment of twenty per cent of the value of imports and 
 exports as customs duties. The existing debts were to be a 
 charge upon these duties. 
 
 When this order reached Goa a council of state was 
 convened, and every member voted for suspending it until 
 representations of the consequences could be made and fresh 
 directions be given. But in February 1681 Francisco de 
 Tavora was appointed viceroy, and was instructed to throw 
 open the trade and to see that the Monomotapa was so 
 treated as to preserve his friendship. 
 
Weakness of Portuguese Rule in South Africa, 397 
 
 In September 1681 the new viceroy reached Goa. Soon 
 afterwards he laid his instructions before the council, when it 
 was decided that the prince regent's orders, issued after full 
 deliberation and advice, must be carried out, no matter what 
 the consequences might be. In November, therefore, a pro- 
 clamation to that effect was issued, and the affairs of the 
 board of commerce were placed in the hands of liquidators. 
 Custom houses were speedily thereafter opened at the African 
 ports, and every one was free to buy and to sell whatever 
 he chose. In March 1682 Caetano de Mello de Castro was 
 appointed governor and commander in chief of Mozambique 
 and the Kivers, the name by which the territory south of the 
 Zambesi and the Kilimane mouth was usually known. He 
 was allowed a salary of eight thousand cruzados a year. 
 With him were sent two or three hundred such soldiers as 
 could be raised, to enable him to defend Fort Sao Sebastiao 
 and maintain his authority elsewhere, and he was particularly 
 charged to see that the revenue was not defrauded by the 
 system of unrestricted trade. 
 
 For a long time the government at Lisbon had been 
 endeavouring to induce Portuguese men and women to settle 
 in South Africa. In 1677 the troops that were sent out were 
 accompanied by a few artisans and labourers, and by eight 
 reclaimed women from a house of mercy, some of whom took 
 up their residence at Mozambique and others on the bank of 
 the Zambesi. After their arrival all trace of them is lost, 
 but they can only have prospered in such pursuits as the 
 former residents had followed. Nowhere in the world could 
 a European labourer have been more out of place than in 
 Portuguese South Africa, and as for mechanics, half a dozen 
 masons and carpenters would have been too many for all the 
 building that was to be done. There were in Goa a number 
 of Portuguese and Eurasians sunk in the lowest depths of 
 poverty, mere mendicants in fact, and it was under the 
 consideration of the government to remove them to Africa to 
 colonise the country. Common sense prevailed, however, and 
 this most injudicious scheme was not carried out. And now 
 
39^ History of South Africa, 
 
 the same government that desired the increase of the 
 European population adopted a commercial system under 
 which the few white men in the villages and at the trading 
 stations must be driven out. 
 
 Against all the advantages that are derivable from an 
 Asiatic possession, one tremendous disadvantage ujust be set 
 down : that its inhabitants may become entitled to privileges 
 ruinous to their conquerors. In what remained of Portu- 
 guese Asia there were numerous mixed-breeds, and besides 
 these a large class of Indian traders, commonly termed 
 Canarins or Banyans. These people are among the keenest 
 traffickers in the world, whether as merchants or as pedlars, 
 and no white man can compete with them, as it costs them 
 the merest trifle to live. They add nothing to the strength 
 of a country, as they are wholly unfit to bear arms in war, 
 and they contribute little or nothing to its revenue beyond 
 what they pay in customs duties. They are the most 
 dangerous of all immigrants into a territory with a warm 
 climate, where equal rights when they are concerned can 
 only mean the speedy removal or ruin of the European. 
 
 As soon as the commerce of South-Eastern Africa was open, 
 the Canarins began to take part in it, and the inevitable 
 result quickly followed. Within six years no fewer than 
 seventeen Banyan houses of business — some of course very 
 paltry establishments — were opened on the island of Mozam- 
 bique alone, and the Portuguese trading community had 
 dwindled to fifteen individuals. Sena and Tete were 
 threatened with utter extinction as Portuguese villages, and 
 the outlying stations were rapidly being lost to white men. 
 The price of gold too had been raised by competition until 
 there was no longer a fair profit to be gained on it. 
 
 The country was involved in other troubles as well. The 
 prazo holders were discontented and sullen, foreseeing the 
 loss of their means of acquiring wealth. Some of them had 
 been obliged by the government to surrender estates obtained 
 in an improper manner, and all of them resented recent 
 legislation so keenly that they no longer troubled themselves 
 
Weakness of Porluguese Ride in South Africa. 399 
 
 to search for gold, in consequence of which the quantity 
 obtained was much less than formerly. Their turbulent and 
 violent conduct was irritating the Monomotapa, and war was 
 constantly expected. The customs dues collected were 
 insuJBScient to defray the charges of the administration, paltry 
 as these were, and no means could be devised to increase the 
 revenue. It was indeed in contemplation to collect ivory in 
 payment of overdue quitrent, and to levy a yearly poll tax 
 of a matical of gold upon every native, but a little reflection 
 showed both these schemes to be impracticable. If the prazo 
 holder would not pay his quitrent in the normal manner he 
 would not pay it in ivory, and as for the poll tax, the 
 natives would certainly flee from Portuguese jurisdiction 
 rather than submit to it. 
 
 King Pedro II took all these circumstances into considera- 
 tion, and on the 20 th of March 1690 issued orders that free 
 trade in Soutli-Eastern Africa was to cease at once. An 
 attempt was to be made to form a Company to carry it on, 
 and in the mean time the royal treasury would undertake it. 
 These orders preserved the country for the Portuguese crown, 
 but the Banyans had got a hold upon the commerce which 
 could not be entirely destroyed until 1783, when they were 
 expelled from the country south of the Zambesi. 
 
 Caetano de Mello de Castro was succeeded as governor and 
 commander in chief by Dom Miguel d'Almeida, whose term 
 of office expired in 1688. Thome de Sousa Correa, a very 
 diligent and upright man, followed, and to him was entrusted 
 the task of directing the commerce on behalf of the king. 
 This he did with such care and ability that it yielded a 
 considerable profit above all expenses, though the villages did 
 not fully regain their European inhabitants. 
 
 Several years elapsed before a Company could be formed 
 with sufficient capital to undertake the trade. Some persons 
 in India first subscribed for a number of shares, and a pro- 
 visional charter was drawn up there, which was sent to 
 Lisbon and altered by the king in council. As finally 
 arranged, its principal clauses were : that any one in Portugal 
 
400 History of South Africa. 
 
 or India could subscribe for shares ; that the royal treasury 
 was to take part in it to the value of the vessels then 
 engaged in the commerce and of the merchandise on hand ; 
 that every viceroy during his whole term of office should be 
 a shareholder to the extent of fifteen thousand xerafins, which 
 sum was to be deducted from the first payment of his salary 
 and repaid to him when received in like manner from his 
 successor; that the management of business should be 
 entrusted to a board of five directors to be selected in the 
 first instance by the viceroy from the largest shareholders, 
 and afterwards, as vacancies occurred, by the viceroy from a 
 double list of names presented to him by the remaining 
 directors; that the Company was to pay the same customs 
 duties as individual traders had paid ; that it was to pay 
 yearly to the royal treasury fifty thousand cruzados towards 
 the cost of the naval defence of India, thirty thousand 
 cruzados, being the amount formerly paid by the captains of 
 Mozambique for a monopoly of trade south of the Zambesi, 
 and three thousand cruzados, being the amount formerly paid 
 by the same official for a monopoly of the trade of the islands 
 of Angosha; that the Company was to have an absolute 
 monopoly of all the trade from Mombasa to Cape Correntes ; 
 that it should be entirely commercial in its character and 
 not interfere with the different governments ; and that the 
 charter was to hold good for twelve years, with three years 
 notice thereafter before it could be cancelled. 
 
 The chartered Company thus formed came into existence in 
 1697, but the amount of capital subscribed was too small to 
 enable it to carry on the commerce of South-Eastern Africa 
 successfully, and the obligations imposed were too heavy for 
 it to bear, so after a feeble attempt during the next three 
 years to maintain itself, in 1700 it was dissolved, and the 
 trade was again undertaken by the royal treasury. Just at 
 this time expectations of great wealth, derived from reports of 
 the richness of the pearl fisheries and from specimens of ore 
 sent to Lisbon, were cherished by the king and his court, so 
 that the failure of the Company and the reversion of the trade 
 
Weakness of Portuguese Rule in South Africa. 401 
 
 to the treasury were not regretted. King Pedro indeed be- 
 lieved for a while that the Rivers were the most valuable 
 oversea possession in his dominions. In this strain he, the 
 lord of Brazil, which had then already begun to pour its 
 wealth into the mother country, wrote of them, regretting 
 only his want of means to develop their immense resources at 
 once ; but, as on so many occasions before, high hopes regard- 
 ing South African treasures were doomed to end in bitter 
 disappointment. 
 
 The disturbed condition of the country was unfavourable to 
 the progress of mission work, though the decadence of the 
 ruling Bantu families made the conversion of the people more 
 easy than before. The Jesuits were strong in Mozambique, 
 where they had a large convent, and where they were often 
 called upon to aid the government with advice in political 
 and commercial matters. At one time even the superinten- 
 dence of the repairs of the fortress was entrusted to them by 
 the king, who believed that they would be more likely to see 
 the work carried out properly than the civil or military offi- 
 cials. At Sena they had an establishment, and here also their 
 services were requisitioned by the government for many pur- 
 poses unconnected with religion. They were the most refined 
 and most highly educated men of the day, so that they were 
 naturally regarded as the most competent to give advice in 
 all matters. Their reports are the clearest, best written, and 
 far the most interesting documents now in existence upon the 
 country. Compared with the ordinary state papers, they are 
 as polished marble to unhewn stone. 
 
 In 1697 the Jesuits established a seminary at Sena for the 
 education of the children of the Portuguese in the country 
 and the sons of native chiefs. This institution was aided by 
 the state, and wealthy traders and prazo holders contributed 
 largely to its support. At Tete they had also a mission, and 
 further several stations along the river where they were 
 favoured by prazo holders, and could thus remain notwith- 
 standing tlie claim of the Dominicans to that territory as the 
 sphere of labour assigned to them by royal order. Though 
 
402 History of South Africa. 
 
 the Jesuits were so active, they reported at a later date that 
 their work among the Bantu at these places was almost fruit- 
 less. They had no difficulty in inducing people to call them- 
 selves Christians, but they could not persuade them to change 
 their mode of living, to abandon polygamy, or to observe the 
 ordinances of the church. 
 
 The order of Saint John of God had not yet sent any of 
 its members to the Kivers, though in 1681 the hospital at 
 Mozambique was entrusted to its care. This order was 
 founded purposely to attend upon the sick, and its members 
 were trained as hospital nurses are now. Previous to this 
 date the sick sailors and soldiers at Mozambique had no 
 other attendants than slaves, who acted under direction of 
 the surgeons; but henceforward they were tenderly looked 
 after. Nearly half a century later a shipwrecked Dutch 
 traveller, named Jacob de Bucquoi, who was for several weeks 
 an inmate of this hospital, wrote of it in terms of unbounded 
 admiration. He said that no one, however rich, could be 
 cared for and tended better than the sick were there, without 
 any exception, whether they were Portuguese or strangers. 
 
 The Dominican convent at Mozambique was still the prin- 
 cipal station of that order in South-Eastern Africa, but the 
 country south of the Zambesi was the field in which most of 
 its missionaries laboured. Not long after the baptism of the 
 Monomotapa Domingos their zeal began to flag. In the time 
 of their prosperity, as is often the case with men in other 
 pursuits, the friars did not display the great qualities which 
 characterised them during the period of trial. Some of them 
 fell into habits of indolence, and others into a spirit of in- 
 difference. Clearly the introduction of foreign blood and the 
 condition of the mother country were producing their natural 
 effects. The ecclesiastical administrator at Mozambique, 
 though he had not the same control over members of reli- 
 gious associations as over secular priests, threatened to intro- 
 duce some other order, and actually proceeded to Goa with 
 that object. There, however, he was induced by the Pro- 
 vincial of the Dominicans to desist from his purpose, on 
 
Weakness of Portuguese Rule in South Africa, 403 
 
 condition that a commissary and visitor should be sent at 
 once to the country south of the Zambesi, and that some 
 active missionaries should accompany him. 
 
 Eriar Francisco da Trindade was appointed commissary, and 
 brought five associates with him. One of these, the father 
 Joao de Sao Thome, he stationed at Sofala, another, the 
 father Damaso de Santa Rosa, he stationed with the Mono- 
 motapa, the third, the father Diogo de Santa Rosa, he 
 directed to renew the work that had been abandoned at 
 Masapa, the fourth, the father Jorge de Sao Thome, he 
 directed to do the same at Ongwe, and the fifth, the father 
 Miguel dos Archanjos, he sent to the Kiteve country to 
 establish a mission. The commissary was a man of great 
 activity, and during the time that he had the oversight of 
 the mission everything went on well, fle resided first at 
 Sena, and made himself master of the Bantu dialect spoken 
 there, in which he prepared a catechism and another reli- 
 gious book termed a confessionario. He then proceeded to 
 Tete, studied the dialect used by the clans in that part of 
 the country, and translated his catechism into it. One of the 
 sons of the Monomotapa came under his influence, and was 
 baptized and trained by him. This youth was afterwards 
 sent to Goa, where he entered the Dominican order, and 
 became known as the friar Constantino do Rosario. In the 
 next chapter it will be necessary to make a better acquaintance 
 with him. 
 
 This period of activity, however, did not last long. There 
 were energetic men of the Dominican order in South Africa 
 at the close of the seventeenth century, but the spirit of 
 languor in which Portugal and her foreign possessions were 
 steeped embraced the great body of the friars also. Further 
 many of them were Asiatics and Eurasians, and a few were 
 Africans not half weaned from another creed, all quite unfit 
 to carry on mission work unless under the close supervision 
 of white men. Under these circumstances, though baptisms 
 were numerous real converts were few. In the interminable 
 feuds of the country stations were often destroyed, as Ongwe 
 
 2 G 
 
404 History of South Africa. 
 
 and Dambarare — the latter the principal gold market at the 
 time — were in 1692. In 1696 Sofala was attacked by a 
 powerful clan, which was repulsed, but a large portion of the 
 back country was closed to Europeans during the next thirty- 
 three years, and the station at the Kiteve's kraal had to be 
 abandoned. Without protection, without homes — much less 
 church buildings, — the missionaries could have done very 
 little except in the villages even if their zeal had not passed 
 away. 
 
 It is impossible to ascertain how far westward missionaries 
 had penetrated the country by this time, because they had no 
 means of determining longitudes, and no descriptions of their 
 travels are extant from which their routes can be traced. As 
 they could not erect substantial buildings there are no ruins 
 to mark the limits of their wanderings, and the old names of 
 the places where they laboured are known no more. On the 
 actual bank of the Zambesi they had reached a point as far 
 west as the present station of Zumbo, but it is exceedingly 
 improbable that they had got farther. About seventy miles 
 north-east of Buluwayo, in some ruins called by the present 
 natives Umtungala ka Mambo, which date from a time far 
 earlier than the appearance of the Portuguese in South 
 Africa, a few years ago a seal was found bearing the name 
 Bernabe de Ataide encircling the symbol I H S, but it is 
 quite as likely to have been carried there as an ornament or 
 charm by some native as to have been lost there by the mis- 
 sionary who once owned it. Neither the Dominicans nor the 
 Jesuits until our own times ever explored the country farther 
 than they did during the seventeenth century. 
 
 At this period and later when dealing with the Portuguese 
 in South Africa one is never certain whether he is recounting 
 ^the deeds of Caucasians, of Asiatics, of Africans, or of mixed 
 breeds, unless he can trace their origin, which is not always 
 possible. An individual with the name of a European grandee 
 was as likely as not to be a negro or a half-caste from Goa. 
 Who, for instance, would recognise a son of the Kiteve under 
 the name Dom Antonio Lanparote, who in 1681 applied fc 
 
Weakness of Portttguese Ride in South Africa. 405 
 
 the king for permission to remove from Goa to Africa? If 
 deeds performed are worthy of mention they should be re- 
 lated, but it would be more satisfactory if the nationality of 
 the actors could be stated as well. 
 
 Since the accession of the house of Braganpa to the throne 
 of Portugal the closest friendship with England had existed, 
 still English ships were causing much trouble and anxiety to 
 the authorities on the eastern coast of Africa, though the 
 British government was in no way responsible for what was 
 being done by them. Some of these ships were avowedly 
 pirates, similar to those that infested West Indian waters, 
 that plundered and scuttled vessels under every flag but their 
 own. Their crews were composed of ruffians of every mari- 
 time nation, though the vessels were British built, and all 
 the names of the officers that are known are English. 
 Delagoa Bay and the ports on the coast of Madagascar 
 afforded them convenient places for repairing, provisioning, 
 and otherwise fitting out for cruises in search of booty. 
 These pirates were for many years a cause of terror to navi- 
 gators in the eastern seas, though they only murdered the 
 crews of their prizes when they were apprehensive of danger 
 to themselves should their prisoners live. Sometimes a ship 
 left India, and was not heard of again for years. Such was 
 the fate of the 'Nossa Senhora da AJuda, which was captured 
 by two pirates off the African coast, when all on board were 
 put to death except one Malay boy who was kept as a slave. 
 In 1682 these same pirates put into Mozambique, where one 
 of them was wrecked, and the Malay gave information of the 
 destruction of the Indiaman and also of a vessel bound from 
 that island to Brazil with slaves, which had afterwards been 
 captured. Fort Sao Sebastiao was at the time provided with 
 a fairly strong garrison, so the rovers were seized and sent to 
 Goa for trial. 
 
 Another class was composed of ships that visited the coast 
 for trading purposes in defiance of the English East India 
 Company. They were either not provided with clearance 
 papers from any English port, or they had papers giving 
 
 2 G 'A 
 
4o6 History of South Africa. 
 
 some destination beyond the limits assigned in the East 
 India Company's charter, so that in each case they were 
 liable to be seized wherever there was sufficient force to 
 capture them. Except at Mozambique no such force existed 
 on the south-eastern coast of Africa or on the shores of 
 Madagascar, which they therefore frequented. It had been 
 the custom for nearly a century and a half to send a pangayo 
 occasionally from Mozambique to Inhambane and Delagoa 
 Bay to barter ivory from the natives, and in 1685 one left 
 for that purpose. Upon her return, Domingos Lourenpo, her 
 master, reported that at Delagoa Bay he had found five 
 English trading vessels provided with merchandise of a better 
 quality than his, and that they had bought all the ivory and 
 ambergris in the surrounding country. 
 
 On the 6th of August 1686 the governor of Mozambique, 
 Dom Miguel d'Almeida, and his council met to consider this 
 matter. The council consisted of the lieutenant-general 
 Francisco d'Aviles Kamires, the castellan Paschoal d'xibreu 
 Sarmento e Moraes, the factor Joao Machado Sacoto, the 
 rector of the Jesuit college Father Manuel Freire, the vicar 
 of the parish church Father Domingos Dias Kibeiro, and the 
 superior of the Dominican convent Friar Joao da Magda- 
 lena. The governor and council unanimously resolved not to 
 send a pangayo to Delagoa Bay that year, because most pro- 
 bably English ships would continue to frequent that port and 
 she might be robbed or insulted by them, and further because 
 there would be little or nothing to obtain in barter, as that 
 part of the country had been thoroughly cleared of its 
 marketable produce. 
 
 This resolution was communicated to Dom Bodrigo da 
 Costa, governor-general of India, who overruled it, and gave 
 directions that a pangayo should be sent to the bay again, 
 even at a pecuniary loss, in order that the English might 
 not take possession of it under the pretext that it was neg- 
 lected by the Portuguese. Our countrymen continued to 
 trade there, and from an account given by one of them, 
 Bobert Everard by name, it is seen that they set about their 
 
Weakness of Portuguese Ride in South Africa. 407 
 
 business with characteristic energy. Everard was in Delagoa 
 Bay in 1687, in the ship Bauden. They had materials ready 
 on board, and put together a small vessel, which was sent 
 up and down the coast to trade for ivory. At the bay itself 
 they obtained only two tons until some chiefs went on board, 
 whom they put in irons and detained until more was brought 
 for sale. One day a small boat arrived with three English- 
 men in her, who had formed part of the crew of a trading 
 vessel like the one they had put together. This vessel had 
 been wrecked on the coast, and the boat's crew had suffered 
 greatly from hunger before they reached the bay, for when 
 they went ashore to try to get food the natives robbed them 
 of their clothing and would give them nothing to eat. The 
 Bauden lay there at anchor three months, and then sailed for 
 Madagascar. 
 
 In 1688 Delagoa Bay was visited and roughly surveyed by 
 the Dutch galiot Noord. An English trading vessel was 
 lying there at the time, and also a Portuguese pangayo from 
 Mozambique. The English had put up a tent for trading 
 purposes on one of the islands, and the Portuguese had con- 
 structed a temporary lodge for the same purpose near the 
 mouth of the Manisa river. So matters continued until the 
 end of the century, vessels of both nations frequenting 
 the bay ; but then the Portuguese abandoned it for many 
 years. Their pangayo was seized when at anchor by a pirate 
 ship that sailed in under French colours, and was plundered 
 and destroyed, though most of her crew managed to escape 
 to the shore. Then the effort to carry on a profitless and 
 dangerous trade was given up, and the next century was far 
 advanced before the Portuguese flag was again seen anywhere 
 on the mainland south of Inhambane. 
 
4o8 History of South Africa. 
 
 CHAPTER XYIII. 
 
 EVENTS DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 During the eighteenth century the history of Portugal 
 presents hardly any subject of interest except the close com- 
 mercial connection of the country with Great Britain, the 
 growth of Brazil, and the extraordinary vigour of the 
 celebrated minister Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Mello, 
 better known in his later life as marquis of Pombal. King 
 Pedro II died on the 9th of December 1706, and was 
 succeeded by his son Joao Y, a monarch of no importance, 
 who reigned forty-four years. On his death in 1750 the 
 throne was ascended by his son Jose I. He chose as his 
 prime minister the man whose commanding intellect and 
 utter fearlessness made the country for a brief space a power- 
 ful factor in the affairs of Europe, and whose enmity to the 
 Jesuits has given him a world-wide reputation. The marquis 
 of Pombal, however, regarded Portuguese India and Eastern 
 Africa as of so little value that he did nothing to raise those 
 dependencies from their state of depression, and it is there- 
 fore unnecessary to relate his actions here. Upon the death 
 of Jose I, 24th of February 1777, and the fall of the great 
 minister from power immediately afterwards, Portugal at once 
 sank again into her former obscurity. The king, having 
 left no son, was succeeded by his daughter Maria Francisca, 
 who was married to her uncle, her father's younger brother, 
 and he was crowned with her as Pedro III. Both of them 
 were of weak mind, and after her husband's death Queen 
 Maria Francisca became so imbecile that it was necessary 
 for her son Dom Joao to carry on the government some 
 
Events during the Eighteenth Centtiry, 409 
 
 years before 1799, wlien lie assumed the title of regent. In 
 November 1807 he with his family and his demented mother 
 abandoned Portugal and sailed for Brazil in an English man- 
 of-war, just before the entry of the French army under 
 Marshal Junot into Lisbon. Such being the condition of the 
 government at home, progress in a distant dependency with 
 no special advantages was out of the question. 
 
 It may be asserted indeed that from the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century until our own times the Portuguese power 
 in South Africa was almost as unsubstantial as a shadow, and 
 that it continued to exist at all was due to the breaking up 
 of the large Bantu tribes and the perpetual wars in which 
 the petty sections were thereafter involved, when the aid of 
 a few Europeans was usually sufficient to turn the scale of 
 victory in favour of any chief whose cause they espoused. 
 Sometimes, however, Portuguese prazo holders were defeated 
 and driven from their estates, which were afterwards occupied 
 by independent Bantu chiefs. These men were generally so 
 jealous of each other that union for common defence, except 
 under extraordinary circumstances, was next to impossible. 
 The country thus presented politically as continual a change 
 as the colours and forms in a kaleidoscope, and if it were 
 possible to do so, it would be as useful to describe in minute 
 detail the varying appearances of the one as of the other. 
 A few instances may be given as specimens of the whole, 
 and a single short chapter will afford ample space for a 
 recital of all that is worth knowing of the transactions of 
 the Portuguese in South Africa during the eighteenth 
 century. 
 
 In 1701 Sena and Tete narrowly escaped destruction in a 
 general rising of the Bantu caused by the oppressive conduct 
 of the commander in chief Jose da Fonseca Coutinho. He 
 had attacked the most powerful native chief in his neigh- 
 bourhood, defeated him and put him to death, and then 
 elevated his brother to the vacant place. Having been so 
 far successful, he proceeded to conduct himself in such a 
 highhanded manner that his own people rose in revolt. Fifty 
 
4IO History of South Africa. 
 
 soldiers were sent from Mozambique to the Eivers to support 
 the king's authority, but the insurrection spread. In 1708 
 the captain Antonio Simoes Leitao was killed in battle. His 
 successor Kafael Alvares da Silva managed, however, more 
 by concession than by force, to arrange terms of peace. This 
 was hardly effected when a difficulty arose between the 
 captain of Tete and the chief of Inyabanzo, who was nomin- 
 ally a vassal of the Portuguese government. In 1710 the 
 chief overran the whole of the prazos connected with Tete, 
 added them to his own domain, and left the white men the 
 village only. 
 
 In 1717 a prazo holder named Pedro Carvalho openly 
 rebelled, and many others refused to pay their quitrents. 
 Some were at war with others, just as if they had been 
 Bantu chiefs. One of the most powerful among them, named 
 Manuel Gonpalves Guiao, pursued his opponent into Sena, 
 where he not only caused a great many negroes to be killed, 
 but destroyed and burned much property. He even 
 attempted to prevent the newly appointed captain, who 
 arrived while he was there, from entering upon his duty. 
 The government was so powerless that it did not so much 
 as endeavour to punish this ruffian, but tried instead to con- 
 ciliate him, and actually held out inducements of rank and 
 office if he would conduct himself as a dutiful subject. 
 
 In 1722, in return for assistance against his enemy, a 
 chief named Masisa affixed his mark to a document ceding a 
 tract of land about sixty-five miles in length along the coast 
 opposite the Bazaruta islands. 
 
 In 1735 a trader at Sofala, named Joao Pires, went into 
 the interior with a party of slaves carrying goods for barter. 
 On his way he met a son of the Kiteve with a band of 
 warriors marching towards the territory of a chief with whom 
 they were at war, and through whose lands Pires wished to 
 pass. The young chief stopped him, and showed such enmity 
 that the slaves fled through fear, when Pires was murdered 
 and his goods were seized. As soon as his widow heard of 
 this, with the consent of the captain of Sofala she raised an 
 
Events during the Eighteenth Century. 411 
 
 army and made war upon the Kiteve. After conquering 
 several of his sub-chiefs she directed her march towards his 
 great place, but he became terrified, and to appease her sent 
 her the head of her husband's murderer and offered to cede 
 a valuable district named Chironde to her. She accepted the 
 offer, peace was made, and the district remained Portuguese 
 territory for more than a century afterwards. 
 
 In 1753 the Portuguese of Mozambique were defeated in 
 an engagement with a native tribe on the mainland, when 
 about half of the whole military force they could muster 
 perished. This prevented them for several years from assist- 
 ing their countrymen south of the Zambesi, and in conse- 
 quence many prazos were lost in the interminable feuds of 
 that period. 
 
 In 1760 a chief named Beve, in return for assistance in a 
 war with his neighbour, ceded a large tract near Tete, which 
 had been possessed once before, but had been lost. It was 
 partitioned out again as prazos. 
 
 In 1774 the country of the Kiteve was overrun by a horde 
 from the interior, and the only Portuguese trading station 
 in it except Sofala was destroyed. 
 
 In the early years of the century by express order of the 
 king an effort was made to support the Monomotapa, and a 
 Dominican friar with a captain and twenty-four soldiers as a 
 bodyguard accompanied him wherever he went. He was now 
 always of necessity a nominal Christian, for the Portuguese 
 would not acknowledge the right of any one to fill the office 
 unless he had been baptized, and without their assistance he 
 was helpless. The name of the man who held the position 
 at this time was Pedro. But little more than the title 
 remained to him, for the old tribe was broken into frag- 
 ments, each absolutely independent of the others. The 
 succession had of late been nearly always disputed, and the 
 majority of those who claimed to be the heirs had met 
 violent deaths. A clan under a chief named Tshangamira 
 was much more powerful than the one that remained to the 
 Monomotapa. In a war between them a considerable number 
 
412 History of South Africa, 
 
 of Portuguese were made prisoners by Tshangamira, and they 
 were kept under guard for several years, until they were 
 finally ransomed by the ecclesiastical administrator of 
 Mozambique. 
 
 Under such circumstances it might reasonably be thought 
 that a cession by the Monomotapa of territory at a distance 
 from his own kraal would not have been regarded as of much 
 value. Yet the court at Lisbon attached considerable import- 
 ance to a grant of silver mines made by the Monomotapa 
 Pedro, and desired to have it confirmed by his son the friar 
 Constantino do Kosario, who was resident in India. Friar 
 Constantino had not conducted himself to the satisfaction of 
 the vicar general of his order, and in consequence had been 
 deprived of his habit and banished to Macao, but in 1709 
 by the king's instructions had been brought back to Goa 
 and taken again into his convent, where the viceroy was 
 directed to see that he was treated with every courtesy. In 
 1711 Pedro died, leaving no other son than Constantino; 
 and a brother of the deceased chief, termed by the Portu- 
 guese Dom Joao, took possession of the vacant place. 
 Thereupon the mother of the friar sent him word of what 
 had happened, and desired him to return and claim his 
 inheritance. 
 
 The king was of opinion that if Constantino was made 
 Monomotapa, great advantages would accrue to the Portu- 
 guese, as he had so long been accustomed to live as a 
 European that his fidelity could be depended upon, and the 
 silver mines, wherever they were, would be secured. He 
 therefore directed the friar Francisco da Trindade, who was 
 then in Lisbon, to proceed to Goa in the first ship that 
 sailed for that port, and to conduct his former pupil from 
 the convent of our Lady of the Kosary to Sena, where the 
 Portuguese were to receive him as the legitimate chief. He 
 was to be treated with such kindness and courtesy as to call 
 forth his lasting gratitude. Constantino, however, had no 
 desire to place himself in such a difficult and dangerous 
 position as that he was invited to strive for, and in 1713 he 
 
Events dwnng the Eighteenth Century. 413 
 
 wrote to the king that he was a professed friar of the 
 Dominican order and had abandoned all hopes of worldly 
 advancement. So he remained at Goa, and the prospect of 
 acquiring silver mines through his agency had to be given 
 up. The king made him an allowance of two hundred 
 xerafins a year from the royal treasury for his maintenance, 
 and orders were issued that he was to be treated with all 
 possible respect. 
 
 Six years later Friar Constantino do Kosario appears again 
 in the records of India. He had misconducted himself once 
 more in such a way as to incur the displeasure of the vicar 
 general, and had been threatened with imprisonment. There- 
 upon, on the 21st of April 1720, the king issued instructions 
 that he was to be sent to Lisbon, without being permitted 
 to land at Mozambique on the way. 
 
 The system of carrying on trade, though avowedly for the 
 benefit of the royal treasury, did not prevent private indivi- 
 duals from engaging in it. Such persons frequently obtained 
 licenses from the council of commerce at Goa either to traffic at 
 a particular place or in a particular article, naturally on paying 
 for the privilege as much as or more than could be gained 
 by the council's selling and buying through its own agents. 
 But fraudulent practices were so common that a large portion 
 of the commerce of South-Eastern Africa did not pass through 
 the legitimate channel at all. The governor of Mozambique 
 himself and even some of the members of the council were 
 engaged in traffic on their own account, and if these men, 
 the guardians of the king's interests, were corrupt, what could 
 be expected of their subordinates? The ivory sold in India 
 far exceeded in quantity that which passed through the 
 custom houses, yet the viceroy could devise no other remedy 
 than the sale of a monopoly again. In 1720 he made a con- 
 tract for the trade with Dom Francisco Alarfao Sotomayor, 
 the newly appointed governor of Mozambique, but the king 
 disapproved of it, and it was cancelled. 
 
 By the Portuguese court the retention of the commerce of 
 South-Eastern Africa was not regarded alone as a question 
 
414 History of South Africa. 
 
 of profit, though that was a weighty consideration, but as a 
 question of national honour. It was all that was left to them 
 of the vast trade of the East that had once been theirs. 
 The English and the Dutch had deprived them of all share 
 of the commerce of Asia, to such an extent indeed that at 
 Goa itself they had to purchase Indian wares from one or 
 the other of these. Eastern Africa alone remained, and they 
 clung to it, though their grasp was feeble. In 1700 Mombasa 
 was wrested from them. In 1725 it was recovered, but four 
 years later the blacks rose in insurrection against Alvaro 
 Caetano de Mello e Castro, the last of the Portuguese cap- 
 tains, and drove him away. A little later the Arabs acquired 
 the stronghold. Feeling its helplessness, the government at 
 Lisbon then withdrew its representatives from Zanzibar and 
 Pate, to prevent their forcible expulsion, and thereafter con- 
 fined its claims to Pemba and the coast below Cape Delgado. 
 
 From this seaboard they were threatened to be driven by 
 other nations who coveted what little trade was to be carried 
 on there. In 1721 it was brought to the notice of the king 
 that the English East India Company had resolved to form 
 an establishment at Delagoa Bay, but upon representations of 
 the rights of Portugal being made to His Britannic Majesty, 
 the design was abandoned. 
 
 In the preceding year the Dutch East India Company, 
 incited by a report of the existence of valuable gold mines 
 in the neighbourhood of the bay, resolved to take possession 
 of the place, and fitted out an expedition in Holland for 
 that purpose. In March 1721 this expedition arrived, and 
 finding no representative of Portugal, nor even any trace of 
 visits previously made by Portuguese except an aged runaway 
 slave and some ruins of a temporary trading station on one 
 of the islands, proceeded to select a site for a fort and a 
 factory. The place chosen was on the northern bank of the 
 Espirito Santo, where recently the town of Louren^o Marques 
 has been built. The Dutch were thus the first Europeans to 
 attempt to establish themselves permanently on the shores of 
 Delagoa Bay, and their fort was the first structure of the 
 
Events during the Eighteenth Century. 415 
 
 kind erected there. Though on the 12th of April 1723 the 
 king wrote to the viceroy that it was rumoured the Dutch 
 had established themselves in a port on the coast, which 
 might be that of Lourenyo Marques, and that he had resolved 
 to send a frigate to compel them to withdraw, the position 
 was retained by them, without the slightest interference or 
 remonstrance from the Portuguese, until December 1730, 
 when it was abandoned, owing to its unhealthiness and the 
 lack of material for profitable trade.* 
 
 The country around the bay was thoroughly explored by 
 them, and the various rivers were examined as far as they 
 could be ascended by boats. It was ascertained that native 
 traders travelled overland from Inhambane with goods pur- 
 chased from the Portuguese, and that ivory obtained in 
 exchange was carried back by them. Among other articles 
 brought to the fort for sale were copper and tin in small 
 quantities, and it was believed that the natives had learned 
 to mix these metals and to make bronze arm and neck 
 rings. In April 1722 three pirate ships plundered the fort, 
 and early in 1723 some English vessels visited the bay, but 
 no Portuguese appeared there at any time during the Dutch 
 occupation. 
 
 Corruption was everywhere so prevalent in Eastern Africa 
 that the orders of the king or the viceroy were disregarded 
 by the officials when they stood in the way of making money. 
 The very powder sent for defence was misappropriated by the 
 men who were entrusted with its care. The inhabitants of 
 Mozambique did not hesitate to trade with foreigners, and 
 when the king issued instructions to enforce the law most 
 strictly, it was found impossible to do anything in the 
 matter because the whole of the officials were involved in the 
 guilt. In 1725 a French frigate was allowed to take sound- 
 ings and survey the harbour of Mozambique, and the 
 
 * A fall account of the occupation by the Dutch of the fort on the 
 western shore of Delagoa Bay is given in the first volume of my History 
 of South Africa under the administration of the Dutch East India Com- 
 pany. The station was a dependency of the Cape Colony. 
 
41 6 History of South Africa. 
 
 governor, Antonio Joao cle Siqueira, gave her officers free 
 access to Fort Sao Sebastiao, entertained them, and received 
 entertainment from them on board their ship in return. For 
 this he was ordered to be arrested and tried at Goa, and the 
 instructions to the viceroy to do everything possible to keep 
 foreigners away from the coast were repeated by the king. 
 They had utterly destroyed the commerce of India, he said, 
 and that of Africa must by some means be retained. But as 
 merchandise could be purchased at a cheap rate from the 
 French and the English, who would also pay well for ivory 
 and slaves, matters went on as before. In 1747 the governor 
 of Mozambique was ascertained to have sold a number of 
 slaves to a French ship, and not only so, but to have entered 
 into a contract with her captain to supply hira with many 
 more in the following year and to have received a consider- 
 able sum of money in advance. The commerce of the coast 
 north of Mozambique was at this time entirely in French 
 hands. 
 
 The council that had the management of the African trade 
 had conducted it in such a manner that by the year 1734 it 
 was two hundred thousand cruzados in debt, and was then 
 borrowing money at the rate of thirty per cent yearly interest 
 to meet its most pressing needs. This could not continue, 
 and in 1739, when some of its members were found guilty of 
 peculation, it was abolished, and the traffic was undertaken 
 directly by the treasury, just as in the early years of the 
 sixteenth century. This system, however, lasted only until 
 the 29th of March 1755, when a royal decree was issued, 
 reserving the traffic in beads as a monopoly of the treasury 
 and throwing open all other trade to any one who chose to 
 engage in it. Thereafter the principal officials carried it on 
 almost exclusively, taking care to manage things in such a 
 way that private individuals could not compete with them. 
 
 From this time forward the character of the commerce of 
 South-Eastern Africa underwent a gradual change. Constant 
 wars almost destroyed the collection of gold and ivory, and 
 instead of these articles slaves were exported in ever increas- 
 
Events during the Eighteenth Century. 417 
 
 ing numbers. The prazos at a distance from the Zambesi 
 were successively wrested from their European holders, and 
 reverted to the condition of pure Bantu territory, so that it 
 was no longer an object for a Portuguese resident in the 
 country to have a large personal following. A few slaves for 
 domestic service were all that he needed, and so whole hordes 
 of the unhappy creatures were sold to strangers or to be con- 
 veyed to the plantations of Brazil. At the close of the 
 eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century this 
 odious traffic was at its height, and our own countrymen were 
 not the least busy of those who were taking in shiploads of 
 negroes from the barracoons at Kilimane and Luabo. 
 
 On the 19th of July 1727 a little vessel named the Victoria 
 was sent from the Dutch factory in Delagoa Bay to Inham- 
 bane to ascertain if any trade could be done there. Upon 
 her arrival no Portuguese were found, but there was evidence 
 that they were in the habit of frequenting that port, for 
 there was a church standing near the river bank, besides a 
 large house built of reeds and some empty huts. About forty 
 Mohamedans were living there, who stated that they were 
 collecting ivory and slaves in expectation of the arrival of a 
 pangayo from Mozambique. The Dutch were able to pur- 
 chase twenty-four slaves, ninety-eight pounds of ivory, two 
 ounces of ambergris, and thirty-eight pounds of wax, and were 
 about to leave when a pangayo, under command of Captain 
 Bernardo de Castro Soares, made her appearance. There was 
 an exchange of civilities between the two vessels, but nothing 
 more. The Victoria reached Delagoa Bay again on the 13th 
 of November with many of her crew down with fever. 
 
 In April 1728 she was sent once more to Inhambane to try 
 to open up a trade. Upon her arrival she found the same 
 pangayo at anchor that had been there the previous year, and 
 her captain living in a palisaded enclosure on shore. He at 
 once sent a protest against the Dutch trading in Portuguese 
 territory. The Dutch officers thereupon sought an interview 
 with him, and represented that as the Portuguese had no fort 
 or other symbol of possession of any kind at the place they 
 
41 8 History of South Africa. 
 
 regarded their right to trade as equal to his. He replied 
 that his right was based on discovery by his nation, and on 
 the Portuguese, and they alone, having traded there in the 
 past. The Dutch officers responded that if he would show 
 them clear proofs of Portuguese possession they would leave, 
 as they wished to act in a friendly manner only. He then 
 said that he had done his duty by protesting, and could not 
 prevent them from trafficking with the natives. Sixteen men 
 had deserted from the fort at Delagoa Bay some time before. 
 Upon enquiring concerning them the Dutch officers were 
 informed that thirteen of them had reached Inhambane, and 
 that the captain had provided them with some merchandise 
 to buy food and sent them on to Sofala to get rid of them. 
 After this the two parties were outwardly on very friendly 
 terms, and the Dutch had obtained forty-two slaves, six 
 hundred and seventy-three pounds of ivory, five ounces of 
 ambergris, and fifty pounds of wax, when one day they found 
 that no native would come near them. The reason was that 
 a Portuguese officer with a large band of armed blacks had 
 arrived from Sofala, and was executing dire vengeance upon 
 all who had been dealing with them. They returned therefore 
 at once to Delagoa Bay. 
 
 The Dutch, however, were persistent in their efforts to 
 secure a share at least of the commerce of South-Eastern 
 Africa, and on the 14th of September 1731 two little vessels 
 named the Snuffelaar and the Zeepost left Table Bay on another 
 venture. The Snuff elaar arrived at Inhambane on the 11th 
 of October, and found that a palisaded fort in the form of a 
 square had been built there in the preceding year, and was 
 then occupied by a few soldiers under the command of 
 Captain Joao da Fonseca Moniz. The captain received the 
 Dutch officers most civilly, and informed them that as they 
 were of a friendly nation they would be supplied with as 
 much water, fuel, and refreshments as they were in need of, 
 but that he could not permit them to carry on any trade. 
 The place, he said, yielded very little profit, and the estab- 
 lishment was maintained principally as evidence of the rights 
 
Events during the Eighteenth Century. 419 
 
 of the king. Upon being questioned as to how far those 
 rights extended, he replied from Delagoa Bay to Cape Guard- 
 afui. A priest was present during the conversation. There 
 was no Portuguese vessel in the river at the time, but on 
 the 14th of October one well armed arrived. The Snuffelaar 
 sailed on the 23rd, without having done any trade whatever, 
 but at Delagoa Bay, where the Zeepost was rejoined, twenty- 
 two slaves, thirteen hundred and seventy-six pounds of ivory, 
 and two hundred and thirteen pounds of tin were obtained. 
 From this date onward Inhambane has been permanently 
 occupied by the Portuguese, and no European power has 
 molested them there. 
 
 A description of the place in 1771 given by some wrecked 
 Dutch seamen who were hospitably treated at the fort shows 
 that the garrison consisted of a captain and thirty-six 
 soldiers, and that eight or ten private individuals were 
 residing at the place in huts little better than those of the 
 natives. They were all convicts banished to Inhambane 
 either for life or for a term of years, and were occupied in 
 collecting ivory, which was sent to Mozambique in a vessel 
 that came for it once a year.* 
 
 In 1763 municipal government was introduced into the 
 little settlements. A delegate of the governor went round, 
 and with as much ceremony as possible inaugurated the new 
 system. At Mozambique, Kilimane, and Zumbo, north of 
 the Zambesi, and at Tete, Sena, Sofala, and Inhambane, 
 south of that river, a magistrate, a prosecutor who was also 
 treasurer, a secretary, and three aldermen were elected. But 
 in most of these places municipal institutions were mere 
 names. There was not a sufficient number of people com- 
 petent to fill the offices, much less an adequate body of 
 electors. There was no revenue, nor any means of raising 
 one. The only purpose served was to make a show on paper, 
 
 * For the journey of the wrecked men see paaiphlet No. 2 of Belangrijke 
 Historische Dohumenten published by me for the Cape government in Cape- 
 town in 1896. The account of the survey of Delagoa Bay in 1688 is in the 
 same pamphlet. 
 
 2« 
 
420 History of South Africa. 
 
 for no object of utility could be gained by such parodies of 
 European town governments. 
 
 The Mohamedan population of the Portuguese stations had 
 always been treated with harshness. These people had in 
 general sunk into a servile state, and were not formidable 
 either in spirit or in number. They still carried on some of 
 the retail trade among the Bantu, they furnished crews for 
 the pangayos and luzios employed on the coast, and 
 performed other services that required more skill than that 
 of pure negroes. In 1727 the viceroy Joao de Saldanha da 
 Grama decreed that they must sell to Christians all slaves 
 brought by them from the interior within six months after 
 reaching the coast, in 1728 he prohibited them from buying 
 baptized slaves, and in 1730 he issued a final order that they 
 could only hold slaves whose fathers and grandfathers had 
 been Mohamedans, or heathen slaves if they caused them to 
 become Christians and did not attempt to pervert them, but 
 they were not to sell slaves except to Christians nor to take 
 them to any country not under Portuguese dominion. Care 
 was taken to prevent them from making converts to their 
 creed among the free Bantu. And at length, from fear that 
 they might assist their co-religionists in case of an attack by 
 the Mohamedans of the north, it was resolved to expel them 
 altogether. In 1765 they were driven from Sofala, and 
 between that year and 1769 many were compelled to remove 
 from Mozambique and the banks of the Zambesi. But as 
 they could only take shelter in other parts of the country 
 where they would be equally dangerous, they were gradually 
 allowed to return, though they were not permitted to own or 
 carry arms. 
 
 As regards mission work in South-Eastern Africa in the 
 eighteenth century, there is not much that is satisfactory to 
 be related. The Dominican order, to whom the task of 
 christianising the Bantu south of the Zambesi was mainly 
 entrusted, w^as very largely aifected by the prevailing lassi- 
 tude and decay of public spirit in the nation, and so many 
 of its members were either Asiatics, Africans, or mixed 
 
Events dtcring the Eighteenth Century. 421 
 
 breeds that little zeal could be expected from it. In 1719 
 by a royal order all the missionaries in the country who 
 were not vicars of churches or commissioners of the inqui- 
 sition were removed, as they were believed to be doing more 
 harm than good to the Christian cause. Again in 1725 
 seven of them were recalled for misconduct. The reformed 
 Franciscans were at this time permitted to collect alms in 
 the country, and had the privilege of removing two thousand 
 six hundred pounds weight of ivory from the Kivers every 
 year free of duty. This should have stimulated the 
 Dominicans to reform themselves, as it showed that others 
 might be sent to take their places, but it did not have that 
 effect. In 1728 so many complaints were made regarding 
 their manner of living that the king caused a notification to 
 be made to the superior of the order in Goa that if better 
 men were not employed in the mission field the whole of 
 those who were there would be removed, and Jesuits or 
 secular priests be sent to replace them. Beyond doubt the 
 superior did all that was in his power to correct abuses, but 
 the prevailing habits of most of the men he had to deal 
 with were not to be overcome. In 1751, according to the 
 yearly report furnished to the viceroy, the Dominicans had 
 two friars at Sena, one at Tete, one at Sofala, three at 
 different outstations south of the Zambesi, and one at Zumbo, 
 the most distant trading station in the interior, on the 
 northern bank of the great river. It was intended, however, 
 to send five others to the country in the course of the year. 
 The Jesuits were still represented at Sena, but had 
 abandoned all their other stations south of the Zambesi. 
 
 On the 1st of September 1759 the famous decree was 
 signed by King Jose I, at the instance of the marquis of 
 Pombal, by which the Jesuits were expelled from all the 
 possessions of Portugal. Their usefulness as evangelists 
 among the heathen was denied, and their property every- 
 where was confiscated. At Mozambique their house was con- 
 verted into a residence for the governor. But the minister 
 was not satisfied with this, and did not cease his antagonism 
 
 2 H 2 
 
42 2 History of South Africa. 
 
 until Pope Clement XIV issued a brief, on the 23rd of July 
 1773, which suppressed the famous order. It had then 
 nearly twenty-three thousand professed members. Banished 
 from Koman Catholic countries, and disowned by the pope, 
 the Society of Jesus continued to exist in Eussia, however, 
 until its restoration by a bull of Pope Pius YII, issued on 
 the 7th of August 1814. 
 
 In 1775 the Dominicans in South-Eastern Africa were 
 ordered to Goa, and were replaced by secular clergy, eight 
 of whom were considered sufficient for the whole coast. Of 
 these eight only three were white men, the others being 
 Asiatic mixed breeds, with a great deal of conceit but very 
 little ability. In 1749 the officials at Mozambique had 
 petitioned the king that the ecclesiastical administrator 
 might have power conferred upon him to ordain priests, in 
 which respect — and in this only — his authority was less than 
 that of a bishop. They stated that the population of the 
 island was growing, and they were of opinion that people of 
 the country, who understood the language of the Bantu 
 inhabitants, if ordained, would be more useful than strangers. 
 The petition was referred to the viceroy, the marquis of 
 Tavora, who replied in 1751 that on his passage out he had 
 been detained two months at Mozambique, and had observed 
 that the number of persons there qualified for admittance to 
 holy orders was extremely small, so he saw no reason for a 
 change. The matter was then allowed to drop. And so, 
 between wars and want of competent teachers, Christianity 
 declined in Portuguese South Africa, and among the Bantu 
 quite died out. At the beginning of the nineteenth century 
 there were only twelve hundred and seventy-seven professing 
 Christians in the whole region south of Cape Delgado, and 
 they comprised the white people and mixed breeds of both 
 sexes and all ages. In addition to these there were in the 
 different villages ^^q> hundred and eighty-nine free indi- 
 viduals who were not professing Christians, making one 
 thousand eight hundred and sixty-six persons in all. This 
 was the condition of things after an intercourse between 
 
Events during the Eighteenth Century. 423 
 
 the Caucasian and black races extending over nearly three 
 hundred years. 
 
 An attempt was made in the middle of the eighteenth 
 century to induce the Portuguese and mixed breeds of the 
 lost Asiatic settlements to colonise South Africa. Many of 
 these people had removed to Goa, where there was nothing 
 for them to do. They were offered free passages and grants 
 of land along the Zambesi, but the country had acquired 
 such an evil reputation that they declined to attempt to 
 make homes in it. In January 1753 the viceroy — the same 
 marquis of Tavora who was so soon thereafter to lose his 
 head in Lisbon for participation, real or imaginary, in the 
 conspiracy that is known by his name — reported that not a 
 single family could be persuaded to remove. 
 
 But it would not be correct to attribute such an utter 
 failure to christianise the natives and to improve the country 
 as has been described in the last few pages either wholly to 
 want of zealous teachers, or to an incapacity of the Bantu to 
 assimilate European thought, or to want of energy on the 
 part of the Portuguese. Without colonisation on a suffi- 
 ciently large scale to make the higher indisputably the 
 ruling race, no part of Africa can be brought permanently 
 within the domains of civilisation, and for settlement by 
 Caucasians the portion of the continent along the Indian 
 Ocean north of Delagoa Bay was then not at all adapted. On 
 the lower terraces facing the sea and on the banks of the 
 Zambesi fever is endemic, and white children rarely grow up. 
 On the highlands of the interior and in some localities on 
 the third terrace upward from the ocean the climate is 
 healthy, but under the conditions which existed before the 
 middle of the nineteenth century it was not possible to plant 
 colonies there. White people could only make their way 
 gradually onward from the south, and even now, though there 
 is a railroad through the fever and tsetse fly belt down to 
 the nearest coast, the southern route is preferred by nearly 
 every one. Portugal with her limited means cannot justly be 
 blamed for not doing what the wealthiest and most populous 
 
4^4 History of South Africa, 
 
 country of Europe must have failed to accomplish if an 
 attempt had been made. 
 
 During the greater part of the eighteenth century Delagoa 
 Bay was neglected by the Portuguese. In 1755 a trading 
 party from Mozambique occupied for a few weeks a site on 
 the southern bank of the Espirito Santo, just as others had 
 done on one of the islands during the preceding century, but 
 they resided there temporarily on sufferance of the native 
 chief, not at all as proprietors. 
 
 In June 1757 the Dutch ship Naarstigheid put into the bay 
 dismasted and so leaky that it was with difficulty she could 
 be kept afloat. Her crew remained there over two years 
 before they were relieved, without seeing or hearing of any 
 Portuguese. The country around was thoroughly explored, 
 and several men, while endeavouring to make their way to the 
 Cape of Good Hope, travelled beyond Port Natal. At the 
 farthest point which they reached they found some half-breeds, 
 children of two Englishmen who had been saved from a 
 wrecked ship. They also learned that a Dutch vessel had 
 recently visited Port Natal. At that time the most powerful 
 chief in the neighbourhood of the bay was a man named 
 Mangova, who was the ruler of the tribe along the Tembe 
 river, and who had the hereditary title of Kapela, just as the 
 chief of the Makalanga had the hereditary title of Monomo- 
 tapa. The tribe that occupied the island Inyaka and the 
 peninsula south of it was then in a state of vassalage 
 to him. 
 
 In 1776 an Austrian expedition, fitted out with the sanction 
 of the empress Maria Theresa by an association termed the 
 Asiatic Company of Trieste, arrived in the bay with the object 
 of establishing trading stations on its shores. The expedition 
 was commanded by an Englishman, Lieutenant Colonel William 
 Bolts, who selected sites for posts on the island of Inyaka 
 and near the mouth of the Maputa river. At the last-named 
 place a small fort was constructed, and thirteen guns were 
 mounted on it. No Portuguese were there at the time, but 
 nearly two years afterwards, when the viceroy at Goa came to 
 
Events dttring the Eighteenth Century, 425 
 
 learn of the existence of the Austrian establishment, he sent 
 a protest against its continuance, on the ground that the 
 shores of the bay were Portuguese territory. 
 
 The government at Lisbon followed up this protest by an 
 order to the viceroy to endeavour to assert his right by arms, 
 and in consequence the frigate Santa Anna was sent from 
 Goa with as strong a force as could be got together to expel 
 the Austrians. Meantime the people at the bay were stricken 
 with fever, and in a quarrel with the natives some of the 
 principal officers were killed and the station on the island of 
 Inyaka was destroyed. 
 
 On the 30th of March 1781 the Santa Anna reached her 
 destination. There were two unarmed vessels under the 
 Austrian flag in the bay when she arrived, both of which were 
 seized and sent to Goa. The few fever-stricken people at the 
 fort on the Maputa river were incapable of offering resistance. 
 The Portuguese commandant, Joachim Vicente Godinho de 
 Mira, made them prisoners, and destroyed the little building. 
 This matter caused some correspondence between the Austrian 
 and Portuguese governments, but the former did not attach 
 much importance to it, and ultimately, without any close 
 examination, the sovereignty of the latter over the territory 
 enclosing the bay was recognised. 
 
 To prevent other powers from taking possession of the place 
 on the ground of its being unoccupied, it was now considered 
 necessary to erect a small fort there, and in January 1782 the 
 captain Joaquim d'Araujo was sent with a few men from 
 Mozambique for that purpose. The captain's death, sickness 
 among the men, and the hostility of the natives prevented the 
 completion of the design, and in 1783 the acting captain, 
 Joao Henriques d'Almeida, abandoned it and returned to 
 Mozambique. In 1784 another party was sent with the same 
 object, but was wrecked at the Bazaruta islands. In 1785 
 still another expedition was made ready, and this one was 
 successful, for in 1787 a small fort was completed on the site 
 which the Dutch had occupied more than half a century earlier 
 on the northern bank of the Espirito Santo. A trading estab- 
 
426 History of South Africa. 
 
 lishment was added to it, and now, for the first time, the 
 Portuguese occupation was more than transient. 
 
 In 1794 civil war broke out in the Kapela's tribe, and Jose 
 Correia Monteiro de Mattos, commandant of the little fort, by 
 taking part with one of the combatants obtained a nominal 
 deed of cession of the whole Kapela country to Portugal. The 
 document was dated 10th of November 1794, but no steps 
 were taken to assert authority of any kind over the natives or 
 the territory. 
 
 in October 1796 two French frigates entered the bay and 
 destroyed the fort, which was then occupied by an unusually 
 strong garrison of eighty men. The Portuguese retired into 
 the back country, where they lived in the greatest discomfort 
 until May 1797, when a vessel arrived from Mozambique and 
 rescued most of them. 
 
 For some years British and American whalers had frequented 
 the bay and made of it a base of operations, just as the 
 buccaneers and illicit traders had done at the beginning of 
 the century. They did not trouble themselves about any 
 question of ownership, but came and went as suited their con- 
 venience, and trafficked with the natives without any recog- 
 nition of Portuguese authority or customs laws. In June 1798 
 the British Indiaman JAon put in there in distress, and found 
 three English and three American whaling ships at anchor. 
 Captain Sever, who commanded her, engaged the three British 
 vessels to take his cargo home, as the Lion was not seaworthy. 
 She was anchored in the river, abreast of the site of the fort, 
 which the French had levelled with the ground. Several 
 Portuguese soldiers and a few Mohamedans of the coast were 
 living in the neighbourhood, expecting a vessel from Mozam- 
 bique with the next favourable monsoon to take them away.* 
 
 * Journal of a Voyage performed in the Lion extra Indiaman j from 
 Madras to Oolumbo, and Da Lagoa Bay, on the eastern coast of Africa 
 (where the ship was condemned) in the year 1798. With some account of 
 the manners and customs of the inhabitants of Da Lagoa Day, and a 
 Vocabulary of the Language. By William White, Esq., Captain in the 73rd 
 Highland Eegiment of Foot. A quarto pamphlet of seventy pages, pub- 
 lished at London in 1800. 
 
Events during the Eighteenth Centtcry. 427 
 
 The place remained without a garrison until the 7th of June 
 1799, when the captain Louis Jose arrived with a detachment 
 of troops from Mozambique. There was war at the time among 
 the Bantu on the northern side of the Espirito Santo, so he 
 entrenched himself on the other bank, where he remained 
 about a year, when with comparative safety he was able to 
 remove to the site of the destroyed fort and rebuild it. 
 
 At the close of the eighteenth century the trading and 
 mission stations that had once existed in the interior were so 
 completely lost that no one could even point out their sites, 
 and all vestiges of the influence once exercised by the Portu- 
 guese in the Kalanga country had disappeared. The native 
 tribes of earlier days had been entirely broken up, and the 
 ancient titles had been forgotten, except that of Kiteve, which 
 remained until 1803, when the chief Fika, the last who bore 
 it, died. Tete, Sena, and a few prazos along the lower Zambesi 
 and in the neighbourhood of Sofala, with the forts at Inham- 
 bane and Lourenpo Marques comprised the Portuguese 
 dominions in South Africa, and these were held with very 
 feeble hands. Commerce was almost confined to the export of 
 slaves. Depression and decay were visible everywhere, and 
 no feature of a pleasing kind, except a slightly increased 
 knowledge of the country towards the west, is to be found at 
 this period. 
 
 From very early days there was a desire on the part of the 
 government at Lisbon to form a connection between the 
 eastern coast and Angola by means of a caravan path, but it 
 was impossible to open such a road. The tribes in the way 
 were constantly at war, they spoke different dialects, and each 
 one was ready to strip a traveller who should attempt to pass 
 through its territory. Trifling articles of merchandise, which 
 probably changed hands many times in transit, passed over at 
 long intervals from coast to coast, but no individual, white or 
 black, is known to have accomplished the journey before the 
 nineteenth century, nor was any reliable information obtained 
 concerning the upper course of the Zambesi or the territory 
 south of it. 
 
428 History of South Africa, 
 
 In May 1796 a man named Manuel Caetano Pereira, the son 
 of a Goanese and a negress, left Tete for a journey inland, 
 and upon his return reported that he had reached the 
 residence of the chief Cazembe, in about longitude 29^ east 
 of Greenwich, but the information he gave was confused and 
 could not be relied upon. He accompanied the expedition 
 of 1798, and was found to have no knowledge of value. 
 
 On the 3rd of July 1798 an expedition properly equipped 
 by the government, and commanded by Dr. Francisco Jose de 
 Lacerda e Almeida, a gentleman of scientific attainments, 
 great general ability, and much previous experience in 
 Brazilian and African travel, left Tete with the object of 
 trying to reach the western coast. Dr. Lacerda's instructions, 
 issued in the name of the queen, were that he should ascer- 
 tain the source of the Cunene river which flows into the 
 Atlantic, find out if a road for commerce could not be opened 
 between tlie two coasts, and report upon the condition of 
 the tribes on the route and the means necessary for bringing 
 them into the Christian fold. The expedition consisted of 
 fifteen to twenty Portuguese and mixed breeds, fifty so-called 
 soldiers, and a number ever varying from one to four huudred 
 slaves and native porters. Dissension among the Europeans 
 and mixed breeds was rife from the beginning of the journey, 
 and it was with great difficulty that the resolute leader 
 preserved anything like order among them. Frequent deser- 
 tion of slaves and hired porters also caused great annoyance 
 and delay. 
 
 After encountering all the difficulties of African travel 
 where the tribes are uncontrolled, the expedition arrived at 
 the kraal of Cazembe, but there the leader, worn out with 
 fever, fatigue, and annoyance, died on the 18th of October. 
 The chaplain Francisco Joao Pinto then took command. He 
 did not attempt to proceed farther, and after remaining with 
 Cazembe until July 1799, set out to return to Tete, which 
 place he reached on the 22nd of November of the same year. 
 The results of this expedition were meagre, though some 
 knowledge of the country to the north-west was obtained. 
 
The Lowest Point of Porttigttese Authority. 429 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE LOWEST POINT OF POKTUGUESE AUTHORITY. 
 
 The condition of Portugal from the time of the departure 
 of the regent Dom Joao to Brazil until 1855, when Pedro V 
 ascended the throne as a constitutional monarch, was such 
 that very little attention could be given to her African 
 possessions. AVar succeeded war, revolution followed revolu- 
 tion, councils of regency appeared and disappeared, democrats 
 and aristocrats rose in turn and fell, all was chaos and 
 confusion. This is the least interesting period of the history 
 of the mother country, and it would be the least interesting 
 period in the history of South-Eastern Africa also if the wars 
 among the Bantu had not been more destructive than ever 
 before. A rapid glance at the principal events that took 
 place is therefore all that is necessary. 
 
 While the war with France continued French cruisers and 
 privateers preyed upon the coasting trade until it was nearly 
 annihilated. The stations were garrisoned with blacks, who 
 were so poorly and so irregularly paid that they were often 
 in revolt against their officers. Even Fort Sao Sebastiao 
 seldom contained more than fifty or sixty European and 
 mixed breed soldiers, who were aided by three or four 
 hundred negroes. The walls of this fort were badly in need 
 of repair, and the guns mounted upon them were old and 
 almost useless. The governor was now, as a measure of 
 policy, made independent of the viceroy at Goa, that he 
 might have more freedom of action and greater responsibility. 
 Along the Zambesi strife and disorder were constant, and 
 in 1807 the principal officer there lost his life at the hands 
 of the natives. 
 
430 History of South Africa. 
 
 During the first half of the century the slave trade was 
 almost the only source of revenue. Vessels badly fitted out 
 and crowded with negroes to their utmost capacity sailed 
 from Kilimane and the other ports for Brazil, often arriving 
 at their destination with less than a third of the number 
 taken on board. Some of these vessels put into Table Bay 
 in distress, with hardly any provisions or water left, for their 
 owners calculated from the outset upon obtaining supplies 
 there and thus being able to transport more slaves. For a 
 time this plan succeeded, as humanity forbade the vessels 
 being sent away without food ; but when it was ascertained 
 that this was depended upon as a means of furthering the 
 trafiic, all assistance was refused. The passage had then to 
 be made without a break, so the vessels left with fewer 
 slaves and more provisions. The horrors of these voyages, 
 especially when any accident happened or when sickness 
 broke out, can hardly be overdrawn. 
 
 Events at Delagoa Bay at this period began to assume 
 greater importance than in earlier years. On the 5th of 
 April 1805 Jose Antonio Caldas, who was then captain of 
 the fort at Lourenpo Marques, obtained from a native chief a 
 deed of cession to Portugal of a considerable tract of land 
 north of the Espirito Santo, which that chief had wrested 
 from its proper owner. But the weakness of the garrison and 
 the circumstances of the time were such that no real cession 
 was intended, and the relation of the two parties to each 
 other remained as it had been before. 
 
 The English and Americans evidently made whale fishing 
 pay, so in 1817 the Portuguese formed a company to carry 
 on the same pursuit, and commenced operations at Delagoa 
 Bay. But the effort was not attended with much success, 
 for there were too many officials in proportion to the number 
 of seamen, and they did not display the same activity 
 as their competitors. Their jealousy of the English and 
 Americans, though only natural under the circumstances, led 
 them whenever an opportunity occurred to illtreat subjects of 
 the Bantu chiefs who had dealings with their rivals, until 
 
The Lowest Point of Portuguese Authority. 431 
 
 such animosity was aroused that on the 29th of June 1818 
 the superintendent of the fishery, Joao Pereira de Sousa 
 Caldas, lost his life in a quarrel with the natives. 
 
 Towards the close of 1822 an English exploring and 
 surveying expedition, under Captain William FitzWilliam 
 Owen, of the royal navy, entered Delagoa Bay. It was 
 provided with credentials from the government at Lisbon to 
 the Portuguese officials on the coast, in which they were 
 required to render all the assistance in their power, as the 
 object was purely scientific. But when Captain Owen 
 requested protection for his boats' people while they were 
 surveying the rivers, he was informed by the commandant of 
 the fort that the natives were not subject to the Portu- 
 guese government, and that he must depend upon his own 
 resources. That was the true condition of matters at the 
 time. Accordingly the English officers acted thereafter as if 
 Portuguese sovereignty did not extend beyond the range of 
 the guns of the fort, and when Mayeta, the chief of the tribe 
 along the Tembe river, was understood as offering to cede 
 his country to Great Britain, Captain Owen accepted the 
 cession. A document to that effect was drawn up and 
 formally signed and witnessed on the 8th of March 1823. 
 
 A close examination of this paper and of the reports con- 
 cerning it show, however, that the object of the chief was 
 something very different from what appears on the surface. 
 Tshaka had then commenced his murderous career in the 
 country to the south, and some clans of the great tribe after- 
 wards welded together by Manikusa had made their appear- 
 ance on the shores of Delagoa Bay, where they were causing 
 great havoc among the earlier inhabitants. It was pro- 
 tection from them that Mayeta desired, not subjection of 
 himself and his followers to foreign authority. Captain Owen 
 described the conquering clans, whom he termed Vatwahs, as a 
 martial people of free air and noble carriage, marked by 
 piercing very large holes in the lobes of their ears. They 
 were clothed with tlie skins of animals, lived chiefly on 
 animal food, used oval shields of oxhide large enough to 
 
432 History of South Africa. 
 
 cover their bodies, and carried from three to six assagais and 
 a stabbing spear. One night a band of them attacked an 
 English surveying party that was encamped in tents, so he 
 had more than a casual acquaintance with them. 
 
 The original inhabitants of the country around the bay he 
 described as a timid race, armed with assagais and spears, 
 and sometimes carrying a small shield. Many of them wore 
 hardly any clothing at all, but some were dressed in calico 
 obtained from the Portuguese and others in woollen garments 
 bartered from whalers. They possessed horned cattle, goats, 
 and barnyard poultry, and had in their gardens rice, maize, 
 millet, sweet potatoes, onions, cabbages, pumpkins, pineapples, 
 bananas, and other foreign and indigenous fruits. Most of 
 these vegetables and fruits had been introduced by Euro- 
 peans, and were cultivated by the natives not only for their 
 own use, but for disposal to the crews of whalers. Through- 
 out the country beads were used as coin : four hens could be 
 had for a penny's worth, and the labour of a man for a day 
 cost the same. With beads and calico these natives bartered 
 from others ivory and ambergris, which they disposed of to 
 Europeans at a large profit. Captain Owen estimated the 
 population of the shores of the bay south of the Manisa river 
 at one hundred thousand souls. 
 
 Into the territory of these timid agricultural and com- 
 mercial people, the ferocious Vatwahs, kinsmen of the Zulus, 
 had come like lions into a herd of antelopes, and no wonder 
 they sought protectors. The Portuguese in the fort did not, 
 and could not, help them, they even purchased from the 
 invaders the spoil gathered in murderous raids. The main 
 body of the Vatwahs was then encamped at a distance of 
 only thirty or forty miles, so the need was urgent. This was 
 the cause of the chief of Tembe affixing his mark to the 
 document that purported to be a deed of cession of his 
 country to the king of England. A native who had served 
 in a whaler and who could speak a little broken English 
 advised him to make the application, and he followed the 
 counsel. But that he did not realise what he was doing is 
 
The Lowest Point of Portugtiese Authority. 433 
 
 however, certain, and this deed of cession was of no greater 
 value, honestly considered, than the one covering the same 
 ground made to the Portuguese in November 1794. The 
 document was purely European in word and spirit, and con- 
 tained clauses that no Bantu chief in South Africa was 
 capable of understanding. 
 
 On the same day that it was signed, 8th of March 1823, 
 the British flag was hoisted on the bank of the Tembe river, 
 and was saluted with twenty-one guns. As soon as possible 
 thereafter notice was given to the captain of the Portuguese 
 fort that the tribe had become British subjects, but no autho- 
 rity of any kind was ever exercised over them, nor was the 
 least protection against their enemies given to them. They 
 were left as before to themselves, and in the terrible wave of 
 war that soon afterwards rolled over their land they were 
 almost exterminated by Manikusa without the British govern- 
 ment as much as knowing what was taking place. 
 
 On the 23rd of August 1823, Makasane, chief of the tribe 
 occupying the territory between the Maputa river and the 
 sea, that is the same tract of land that had once belonged 
 to the friendly ruler Garcia de Sa, affixed his mark to a 
 document by which he placed himself and his country under 
 the protection of Great Britain. Captain Owen's object in 
 obtaining this declaration was to secure for England the two 
 islands Inyaka and Elephant, which were regarded as more 
 healthy stations than any on the mainland, and behind 
 which there was good anchorage for ships. He wrote that 
 he considered iDelagoa Bay as a place of considerable political 
 and commercial importance. It was the only good harbour 
 on the coast south of Mozambique, over which it had many 
 advantages, as it was easy of access at all seasons of the year, 
 was free of such currents as would obstruct navigation, and 
 had a better country behind it. It was the door for commerce 
 to the vast interior, was the base of a valuable whale fishery, 
 and commanded intercourse with the entire seaboard of 
 Madagascar at all seasons of the year. From it British 
 sovereignty might be extended southward to embrace Natal 
 
434 History of South Africa, 
 
 and the whole of the coast. In the possession of a foreign 
 power it could be made ruinous to the Cape Colony and to 
 the commerce of India, either in peace or war. In peace it 
 could be made a depot for eastern productions, and in war 
 one of the finest ports in the world whence hostile expedi- 
 tions might issue at pleasure. These were the reasons 
 assigned by Captain Owen for taking the preliminary steps 
 to make the south-eastern shore of the bay an English 
 dependency. But no force was left for Makasane's protection, 
 and beyond the existence of the formal document there was 
 nothing to show that Great Britain had obtained a foothold 
 there. 
 
 Some of the names of the rivers were changed by this 
 expedition into English ones. Thus the Manisa became the 
 King George's, but the old designation of that stream near 
 its mouth survives until to-day, and the new one is now 
 seldom used, while the upper course is always known as the 
 Komati. The Da Lagoa or Lourenco Marques became the 
 Dundas, but recently the Bantu name Umbelosi has driven 
 all the others out. The estuary called the Espirito Santo 
 w-as changed into the English river, and is still frequently 
 so termed. 
 
 In October 1823 Captain Owen sent from Mozambique a 
 report to the Admiralty office upon the condition of Eastern 
 Africa at the time. He stated that there were then in that 
 harbour seven vessels taking in slaves for Eio Janeiro, one 
 of them, of six hundred tons burden, being intended to carry 
 twelve hundred. Not fewer than twenty-five thousand slaves 
 were exported from Mozambique annually. From Kilimane 
 sixteen vessels had taken during the preceding year ten 
 thousand slaves. Between Inhambane and Brazil there was 
 also direct communication, but from that port the number 
 sent away was not so large. At Delagoa Bay the traffic was 
 still less. The cost of a slave to the Portuguese at Kili- 
 mane, Inhambane, and Delagoa Bay was rarely more than 
 two or three dollars, and they were sold to the owners of the 
 ships at from twenty to thirty dollars each. These owners 
 
The Lowest Point of Portuguese Authority. 435 
 
 considered that they made a good voyage if a third of the 
 number embarked reached Rio Janeiro, where they brought 
 from one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars each. 
 Sometimes half were saved, when the gain became a strong 
 motive for more extensive speculation. 
 
 Sofala, he reported, was the most miserable of all the 
 Portuguese establishments on the coast except Lourenpo 
 Marques: it could not even furnish a boat to assist one of 
 his ships when aground. Strangers everywhere visiting the 
 stations for purposes of trade were subject to wanton in- 
 dignity and exaction. In Mozambique an English vessel, 
 even in distress, was obliged to pay five per cent of the 
 value of any goods it might be necessary to land, and 
 twenty-five per cent on everything that was sold. Inham- 
 bane was the most thriving of all the settlements, owing to 
 the exceptional ability of its captain, who encouraged 
 industry in the free natives by his example, counsel, and 
 manner of administration. 
 
 Except along the lower Zambesi the Portuguese had then 
 no dominion or authority beyond the limits of their forts and 
 factories. At Sofala, however, they professed to have recently 
 conquered with fifty men the whole of the old Kiteve 
 country as far as Manika, though when he was there he 
 found them almost shut up in their establishment by tribes 
 at war with them, and along the Zambesi it was feared that 
 some hostile chiefs might destroy Sena and Tete. 
 
 Mozambique was in such a critical state that the governor 
 found it necessary to reside within the fort. He had not 
 more than twelve or fourteen European soldiers, and only 
 eight oflScers on whom he could rely, mostly very young 
 men. In the market nothing except slaves was exposed for 
 sale, and it was with much difficulty that any other pro- 
 visions than rice and shellfish could be procured. Most of 
 the traders were Arabs so-called and Banyans. In short, 
 the whole country from Delagoa Bay northward presented a 
 lamentable picture of decay and ruin, owing to the indolence 
 and incapacity of those who claimed to be its possessors. 
 
 2 I 
 
436 History of South Africa. 
 
 Captain Owen recommended that the treaty which per- 
 mitted the Portuguese to carry on the slave trade in their 
 dominions between Cape Delgado and Delagoa Bay should 
 not be construed to include independent native territory 
 within those limits.* Nowhere south or north of the Zambesi 
 had they any dominion whatever beyond the muzzles of 
 their guns. In most parts, indeed, they were even excluded 
 by the natives. Gi-eat Britain could make treaties with the 
 independent chiefs which would destroy the slave trade, or 
 she could establish factories for commerce where she could 
 undersell the Portuguese and starve them out. Or, as 
 Delagoa Bay must be considered as of great importance to 
 
 * The following are the clauses of the treaties limiting the extent of territory 
 in which the Portuguese could carry on the slave trade : — 
 
 Article X. 
 
 His Eoyal Highness the Prince Kegent of Portugal being fully convinced of 
 the Injustice and Impolicy of the Slave Trade, and of the great disadvantages 
 which arise from the necessity of introducing and continually renewing a Foreign 
 and Factitious Population for the purpose of Labour and Industry within His 
 South American Dominions, has resolved to co-operate with His Britannic Majesty 
 in the cause of Humanity and Justice by adopting the most efficacious means 
 for bringing about a gradual abolition of the Slave Trade throughout the whole 
 of His Dominions. And actuated by this Principle His Royal Highness the 
 Prince Regent of Portugal engages that His Subjects shall not be permitted to 
 carry on the Slave Trade on any part of the Coast of Africa not actually 
 belonging to His Royal Highness's Dominions, in which that Trade has been 
 discontinued and abandoned by the Powers and States of Europe, which 
 formerly traded there, reserving however to His Own Subjects the Right of 
 purchasing and ti-ading in Slaves within the African Dominions of the Crown of 
 Portugal.— Treaty of 19th February 1810. 
 
 Article II. 
 
 The Territories in which the Traffic in Slaves continues to be permitted, under 
 the Treaty of the Twenty second of January one Thousand Eight Hundred and 
 fifteen, to the Subjects of His most Faithful Majesty, are the following: 
 1st. The Territories possessed by the Crown of Portugal upon the Coast of 
 Africa to the South of the Equator, that is to say, upon the Eastern Coast of 
 Africa, the Territory laying between Cape Delgado and the Bay of Lourenco 
 Marques, and upon the Western Coast, all that which is situated from the 
 Eighth to the Eighteenth Degree of S juth Latitude. — Treaty of 28th July 1817. 
 
The Lowest Point of Portttguese Authority. 437 
 
 the Cape Colony, an arrangement might be made with the 
 Portuguese government that it should withdraw its claims to 
 all territory south of Inhambane and abolish the slave trade 
 farther north, conditionally upon Great Britain abstaining 
 from entering into any relations with the chiefs beyond 
 Cape Correntes. 
 
 Probably a neutral party would have drawn a less gloomy 
 picture of the condition of South-Eastern Africa at this time, 
 and would have disputed Great Britain's right to do what 
 Captain Owen recommended, but there can be no question 
 as to the weakness of the Portuguese government or the 
 extent of the slave trade. 
 
 On the 3rd of November 1823 Commodore Joseph Nourse, 
 who was then in command of the British naval force on the 
 Cape station, arrived in Delagoa Bay in the Andromache. An 
 English trading vessel named the Orange Grove was lying at 
 anchor there at the time. Commodore Nourse obtained from 
 the captain of the fort a promise to abstain from interference 
 with natives trading with the English, but after the depar- 
 ture of the two ships he took a different course. The 
 reverend Mr. Threlfall, a Wesleyan missionary who had gone 
 to the bay with Captain Owen, and who remained there 
 until 1824, when he returned in ill health to Capetown in 
 the whaler Nereidy reported that immediately after the 
 departure of the Andromache and the Orange Grove the 
 Portuguese captain showed a disposition to subjugate the 
 native states, and threatened the chiefs with immediate war 
 if they would not accede to his terms. In December he 
 caused the Portuguese flag to be hoisted in Tembe, and 
 appointed three soldiers to guard it. About the same time 
 an official of the chief of Maputa ceded the south-eastern 
 territory to the Portuguese, but the chief refused to confirm 
 the cession, upon which the captain sent a company of 
 soldiers and a large number of enlisted natives of another 
 tribe against him. Makasane obtained assistance from the 
 chief of Tembe, but was defeated with a loss of many killed, 
 and his followers then dispersed. 
 
 2 I 2 
 
43 8 History of South Africa. 
 
 A good deal of skirmishing among the various tribes 
 followed, until the Portuguese and their allies were destroyed 
 by an act of treachery rather than of war. One of the chiefs 
 sent a present to the captain with a message that it was 
 intended as giving his consent to the arrangement proposed, 
 and invited him to come to the territory and hoist the 
 Portuguese flag. The captain, Lupe de Cardenas by name, 
 fell into the snare laid for him. With all the officers of the 
 garrison except Lieutenant Teixeira who was sick, forty-five 
 soldiers, and most of his native allies, he was proceeding to 
 the place arranged for hoisting the flag with due ceremony, 
 when he fell into an ambuscade and the whole party, 
 excepting three soldiers and a few of the native allies, 
 perished under the assagai. Those who escaped fled to the 
 fort, which was at once besieged, but the attacking party 
 was induced to withdraw by presents of beads. Internecine 
 strife among the various tribes followed, and this alone saved 
 the Portuguese establishment from entire annihilation. 
 
 This account, however, is not quite in accordance with the 
 official documents on the other side. According to them 
 the chiefs who had affixed their marks to the English docu- 
 ments signed a counter declaration, to the effect that they 
 were subjects of the king of Portugal, as their fathers from 
 time immemorial had been. The captain Lupe de Cardenas 
 with a junior officer and thirty-nine black soldiers then pro- 
 ceeded to hoist the Portuguese flag on the banks of the 
 Tembe river, whereupon May eta, the chief who was asserted 
 to be a subject of Portugal as his ancestors had always been, 
 attacked the party, killed Cardenas and twenty-six of his 
 men, and obliged the ensign and the remaining thirteen 
 negroes to surrender and submit to his mercy. 
 
 In this precarious manner the fort or trading station con- 
 tinued to be held until 1833, without authority of any kind 
 over the neighbouring Bantu clans being exercised. It was 
 just the other way, for the tenure under which the Portu- 
 guese occupied the ground on which they lived was one of 
 sufferance on condition of friendly behaviour towards the 
 
The Lowest Point of Portuguese Authority. 439 
 
 strongest of their neighbours. They were there at the mercy 
 of the barbarians. 
 
 With the object of trying to keep strangers away, on the 
 13 th of November 1824 a royal charter was issued in which an 
 exclusive monopoly of the commerce of the bay was granted 
 to the Fishing Company, as it was supposed its agents would 
 show a good deal of energy in the matter. This charter 
 remained in force until January 1835, when the Company 
 was dissolved. 
 
 For some years the country round Delagoa Bay had been 
 devastated by war of an exceptionally ferocious character. 
 The principal section of the tribe now known as the Abagaza 
 had broken away from the terrible destroyer Tshaka, and 
 was spreading havoc among the less highly disciplined people 
 of the north. Many of the clans were exterminated, and 
 others were reduced to the most abject condition, all their 
 property being seized, and their serviceable children of both 
 sexes being taken away to swell the ranks of their con- 
 querors. On the 22nd of October 1833 a strong body of 
 warriors of the Gaza tribe appeared before the fort on the 
 Espirito Santo. They were provided with no other weapons 
 than short-handled stabbing assagais, so they could not effect 
 an entrance, but during the night of the 27th the captain 
 Dionysio Antonio Kibeiro, seeing an opportunity to escape, 
 evacuated the place, and with his men retired to the island 
 Shefina, which lies close to the coast. On the following day 
 the Abagaza destroyed the fort, and then pursued the Portu- 
 guese to the island and captured them all. The prisoners 
 were brought back to their ruined habitation, and were there 
 put to death. 
 
 The Abagaza were under a chief named Manikusa, often 
 called Sotshangana. They routed and destroyed the tribes in 
 front until they reached the Sabi river, where they settled. 
 Shortly afterwards another horde, now known as the Angoni, 
 fleeing from Zululand, reached the Sabi by another route. 
 They and the Abagaza fought for a while, but presently they 
 resumed their march and pushed their way northward to the 
 
440 History of South Africa. 
 
 western shore of Lake Nyassa, where they became a scourge 
 to all around them. Manikusa remained behind, devastating 
 the territory from Delagoa Bay to the Zambesi, and destroying 
 the clans within it, the descendants of the tribes that three 
 centuries earlier had been governed by the Sedanda, the 
 Kiteve, and the Tshikanga, as well as the various divisions 
 of the Batonga south of the Sabi. 
 
 The captain of Inhambane was so rash as to attempt to 
 assist a friendly clan against Manikusa. Inhambane had 
 then about twenty-five Portuguese residents, all told, and the 
 garrison of the little fort Sao Joao da Boa Vista consisted of 
 about a hundred negroes. The village contained a church 
 dedicated to our Lady of the Conception, and a few houses 
 built in the European style, though none of great size, as the 
 station was inferior in importance to those on the Zambesi. 
 The result of the interference with Manikusa by the captain 
 of Inhambane was the plunder of the village and the slaughter 
 of the captain himself and all the inhabitants except ten 
 individuals who managed to escape, 3rd of November 1834. 
 
 Sofala had sunk to be a place of very little note. Its fort 
 had fallen into decay, and its best houses were built of mud. 
 Still it had a captain and a garrison of negroes. In 1836 it 
 was attacked by the Abagaza, when the fort managed to hold 
 out, but all else was plundered and destroyed. The military 
 commandant, Jose Marques da Costa, then collected the 
 friendly natives in the neighbourhood, and with them and 
 his negroes ventured to give the enemy battle, with the result 
 that every individual of his force perished. 
 
 Sena contained ten houses built in the European style, one 
 church, and a small fort. A number of native huts stood 
 close by. There were not more than twenty white inhabitants, 
 including three military officers and a priest, and in 1830 
 these had been obliged to abandon the place temporarily on 
 account of a famine. There were fifty or sixty mixed breeds 
 and sixty blacks called soldiers, but they were very little 
 in advance of the barbarians around them. The Abagaza 
 attacked the place, and after killing fifty-four of the Portu- 
 
The Lowest Point of Portuguese AntJiority, 441 
 
 guese and mixed breeds, drove the remaining inhabitants 
 of the village to the islands in the Zambesi. An arrangement 
 was then made that the traders should pay to the chief of 
 the conquering horde a certain quantity of merchandise yearly, 
 and on this condition they were allowed to return. 
 
 The government at Lisbon was unable to supply a com- 
 petent force to protect the stations while the Abagaza were 
 in the first flush of their victorious career, and could devise 
 no other expedient than to make the government of the 
 Rivers independent of that of Mozambique. In 1834 Jose 
 Gregorio Pegado was appointed military governor of Mozam- 
 bique, and Isidro Manuel de Carrezedo was sent to the 
 Rivers to do the best he could without any interference. He 
 could do nothing, as has been seen, for military force was 
 what was needed, and with his failure the former system of 
 government was reverted to. 
 
 The havoc created among the Bantu between the Zambesi 
 and the Limpopo by the Abagaza on the south, the 
 Makololo on the north-west, and the Matabele on the west, 
 was very great. Many of the ancient clans were quite 
 exterminated, and of those that remain in existence few 
 occupy the same ground that their ancestors did. In the 
 years 1852 and 1853 especially they were scattered and 
 destroyed with no more compunction than if they had been 
 vermin. The Portuguese stations were reoccupied within a 
 few years, but they were held with difficulty. In 1849 the 
 captain of Inhambane was killed, as was his successor in 1850. 
 In these years Lourenco Marques and 8ofala were attacked, 
 and narrowly escaped destruction the second time. Lourenco 
 Marques, indeed, was held under the most precarious of 
 tenures until quite recently. In 1868 it was attacked by a 
 tribe in the neighbourhood that was assisted by a European 
 renegade, and was only saved by the bravery of the captain 
 Jose Augusto de Sa e Simas. As late as 1878 there were 
 only four hundred and fifty-eight Europeans, Asiatics, and 
 mulattos combined living there. Of these, two hundred and 
 ninety-five were men, thirty-two were women, and one hundred 
 
442 History of South Africa. 
 
 and thirty-one were children. Ninety-three Portuguese, twenty- 
 eight Europeans of other nationalities, sixty-six mulattos, and 
 eighty-three Asiatics professed Christianity, and one hundred 
 and thirty-three Indians and fifty -five others did not. 
 
 The prazos south of the Zambesi were of course nearly all 
 overrun, and on the 22nd of December 1854 a decree was issued 
 by the government in Lisbon abolishing the system. The 
 decree was not enforced, however, by the local authorities, 
 except that the method of inheritance was no longer observed, 
 and a few prazos held by individuals who arrogated to them- 
 selves the rights of feudal lords and who regarded their people 
 as mere serfs, continued in existence. 
 
 There is a little island called Chiloane (Tshilwane) off the 
 coast about forty miles south of Sofala. It is nearly divided 
 into two by a sluggish creek, and is not at all an attractive 
 place, but it has a fairly good harbour, and it is secure against 
 ravages by Bantu from the mainland. Some of the half breeds 
 and others who lived among the natives in the neighbourhood 
 of the ancient gold port removed to this island, and since 1862 
 a military force has been stationed there to protect them. A 
 lighthouse has also been built on Tshingani Point on the 
 island, though the commerce of the place is very small. 
 
 In 1855 some of the refugees from the mainland went to 
 reside on the island of Santa Carolina, one of the Bazaruta 
 group, and a small garrison was stationed there as an evidence 
 that the Portuguese were the owners. 
 
 On the 10th of December 1836 a decree was issued by the 
 government at Lisbon abolishing the traffic in slaves 
 throughout the Portuguese dominions. But so far from its 
 coming into force in Eastern Africa, the marquis of Aracaty, 
 who was then governor of Mozambique, issued a proclamation 
 on the 11th of November 1837 suspending its operation, on 
 the plea of absolute necessity. This led to correspondence 
 with the British government, which had then emancipated 
 the slaves everywhere within its own dominions and was 
 exerting itself to the utmost to induce foreign nations to 
 follow its example. But the traffic continued, and when after 
 
The Lowest Point of Portttgiiese Authority. 443 
 
 a time in accordance with treaty arrangements British 
 cruisers were stationed on the coast to endeavour to suppress 
 it, they could generally be evaded by the slave vessels 
 getting away from one port while they were watching 
 another. It has only been in our own times that this traffic 
 has ceased. 
 
 The law regarding commerce by strangers was now greatly 
 modified.* In 1811 it was made legal to import goods of 
 foreign manufacture, provided they were carried in Portu- 
 guese vessels manned to the extent of three-fourths of the 
 crew by Portuguese subjects. But restrictive laws, except 
 where a government is very strong, invariably foster illicit 
 traffic, and it was so in this instance. Foreigners could not 
 be kept away. Seeing this, in 1853 the government at 
 Lisbon wisely adopted a system under which a revenue from 
 strangers would be obtained, while smuggling was made too 
 unprofitable, compared with the risk, to be carried on. 
 Under this system Portuguese goods imported into Eastern 
 Africa in Portuguese ships were charged four per cent of 
 their value as customs duty, foreign goods imported in Portu- 
 guese ships were charged eight per cent, and foreign goods 
 imported in foreign ships twelve per cent. Articles exported 
 in Portuguese ships to Portuguese ports were charged one 
 per cent of their value, in Portuguese ships to foreign ports 
 
 * According to treaty British subjects nominally had rights of trade in 
 Eastern Africa, except in certain reserved articles ; but as these included gold, 
 ivory, and of course slaves, they were practically prohibited from purchasing 
 anything else than provisions. The following is the text of the article referring 
 to East Africa in the treaty of commerce between Great Britain and Portugal : 
 
 Article XXIV. 
 
 All Trade with the Portuguese Possessions situated on the Eastern Coast of 
 the Continent of Africa (in Articles not included in the Exclusive Contracts 
 possessed by the Crown of Portugal) which may have been formerly allowed 
 to the Subjects of the Great Britain, is confirmed, and secured to them now 
 and for ever, in the same Manner as the Trade which has hitherto been 
 permitted to Portuguese Subjects in the Ports and Seas of Asia is confirmed 
 and secured to them by Virtue of the Sixth Article of the Present Treaty. — 
 Treaty of 19th February 1810. 
 
444 History of SotdJi Afinca. 
 
 three per cent, and in foreign ships to foreign ports five per 
 cent. This cannot be regarded as an unreasonable tariff for 
 that time, and though it has been modified of recent years, 
 Portuguese goods still have the advantage of differential 
 duties in their favour, which is only right in the case of a 
 remote dependency. 
 
 In 1856 the farce was enacted of creating a council for the 
 province of Mozambique, consisting of thirteen members, in 
 which Tete was allotted two representatives, and Sena, Sofala, 
 Inhambane, and Lourenpo Marques each one. At the same 
 time the term of office of the heads of the stations was 
 extended from three to five years, in order to obtain the 
 advantage of experience. Ten years later, on the 1st of 
 December 1866, a more practical decree was issued, which 
 established improved courts of justice, both inferior and 
 superior, in Eastern Africa. 
 
 Beyond Tete the whole country to the westward had long 
 been lost to the Portuguese, and with it of course the station 
 that had once been regarded as the most important for the 
 commerce of the interior and the conversion of the Bantu. 
 This was Zumbo, on the northern bank of the Zambesi, 
 nearly two hundred and fifty English miles by the stream 
 upward from Tete. Projects for the reoccupation of this 
 post had frequently been discussed, but nothing could be 
 done before 1862, when Albino Manuel Pacheco hoisted the 
 Portuguese flag there once more. The ruins of the ancient 
 church and of the house once inhabited by the captain 
 marked the site of the station. But Zumbo, though re- 
 occupied, has never attained its former importance, and only 
 five or six Europeans have since resided there at a time. Its 
 principal value to the Portuguese has been that it gave 
 them a right, acknowledged by Great Britain, to the terri- 
 tory along the river bank that distance westward, and 
 secured for them a boundary line including it when the 
 interior of the continent was divided between different 
 claimants a few years ago. 
 
 The most interesting event during this period is the pro- 
 
The Lowest Point of Portuguese Authority. 445 
 
 gress of geographical knowledge concerning South Africa, 
 and for this the world is mainly indebted to an intrepid 
 Scotch missionary. The honour of accomplishing the journey 
 across Africa for the first time, however, is due to two native 
 traders named Pedro Joao Baptista and Amaro Jose, who were 
 in the employment of Lieutenant-Colonel Francisco Honorato 
 da Costa, director of the fair of Mucary in the district of 
 Pungo Andongo. These men were entrusted with a letter to 
 the captain of Tete, and left Muropue in Angola on the 
 22nd of May 1806. One of them, Pedro Joao Baptista, was 
 sufficiently well educated to be able to keep a sort of journal, 
 but they had no instruments of any kind with them, nor were 
 they competent to make observations. On the 2nd of Febru- 
 ary 1811, four years and eight months after setting out, they 
 delivered the letter at Tete, and in May of the same year 
 left on their return journey. They reached Loanda again 
 safely, and thus accomplished the feat of crossing the continent 
 in both directions. Some knowledge of the interior far north 
 of the Zambesi was gathered from these intrepid travellers, but 
 no information whatever concerning the country or the people 
 to the south. 
 
 On the 1st of June 1831 a large expedition left Tete to 
 follow up Dr. Lacerda's exploration to the west coast. 
 Major Jose Maria Correia Monteiro was in command. Captain 
 Antonio Candido Pedroso Gamitto was next in authority and 
 also journalist, and there were no fewer than four hundred 
 and twenty blacks in different capacities. But the difficulties 
 encountered were so great that from the kraal of Cazembe 
 the expedition turned back, after despatching a letter to the 
 governor of Angola by some trustworthy black traders of the 
 party. The letter was dated 10th of March 1832, and was 
 delivered on the 25th of April 1839. Thus it was not by 
 Europeans, but by blacks, that this transit of the continent 
 was effected. 
 
 On the next occasion it was performed by three Arab 
 traders from Zanzibar, who, finding themselves far in the 
 interior in want of merchandise, pushed on to the nearest 
 
44^ History of South Africa. 
 
 coast, and reached Benguela on the 3rd of May 1852. The 
 governor of Angola offered a million reis and the honorary 
 title of captain to any one who would return to Zanzibar 
 with the traders, and describe the route between the two 
 coasts. A resident of Angola named Antonio Francisco 
 Ferreira da Silva Porto accepted the offer, but after travelling 
 a hundred and seven days he could go no farther, and 
 therefore turned back. He sent some of his people on, 
 however, who reached Mozambique safely on the 12th of 
 November 1854. 
 
 It was reserved for the reverend Dr. David Livingstone to 
 be the first white man to cross Africa from coast to coast, 
 and to be also the first to give reliable information upon 
 the interior of the country south of the upper course of the 
 Zambesi. This famous explorer proceeded northward from 
 the Cape of Good Hope along the healthy highlands of the 
 interior to Linyanti, the residence of the paramount ruler of 
 the Makololo tribe, about midway between the two oceans. 
 There he resided long enough to acquire the confidence of 
 the chief Sebetuane,* and, after the death of that renowned 
 warrior, of his son Sekeletu. In order to open a trade route 
 to the sea, the value of which these chiefs were capable of 
 appreciating, Sekeletu provided Dr. Livingstone with an 
 ample escort, and sent a quantity of ivory with the caravan 
 for sale on the coast. 
 
 Having Linyanti in the centre as a base of supply, more 
 
 * Sebetuane was born on the northern bank of the Caledon river, near 
 the territory now termed British Basutoland. In 1821 the tribes between the 
 Caledon and the Vaal were attacked by others who were fleeing from the 
 Zulu spear, and in one great body, known as the Mantati horde, they 
 crossed the Vaal and made their way westward, destroying everything in 
 their line of march. On the 26th of June 1823 they were defeated near 
 Lithako by a body of Grriqua horsemen, and they then broke into sections 
 and dispersed in different directions. Sebetuane, at the head of one strong 
 party, cut his way northward, and settled at Linyanti, on the river Chobe, 
 a tributary of the Zambesi. Here he was a terrible scourge to the clans far 
 and near. His son Sekeletu, who succeeded him, died of leprosy, and then 
 the Makololo, as the tribe formed by Sebetuane was termed, broke up. See 
 vol. iv of my History of South Africa. 
 
The Lowest Point of Portuguese AtUhority. 447 
 
 than half the difficulty of crossing the continent was done 
 away with. To that point a waggon road was open from the 
 south, and everything needed for the journey was collected 
 there with little difficulty. On the 11th of November 1853 
 the caravan left the Makololo kraal, and on the 31st of May 
 1854 arrived safely at Loanda in Angola. After resting there 
 nearly four months, on the 20th of September Dr. Livingstone 
 set out to return, but the journey back to Linyanti could 
 not be accomplished in less than a year. 
 
 It was evident that the route to the west coast was too 
 difficult to be of much use, and the explorer therefore 
 resolved to try to open up a water way by the Zambesi to 
 Kilimane. Leaving Linyanti on the 3rd of November 1855, 
 equipped and attended as before, he followed the great river 
 down to the sea, discovering on the way the magnificent 
 Victoria fall. After touching at Tete, where he left most of 
 his companions to await his return from England, he arrived 
 at Kilimane on the 20th of May 1856. Thence he pro- 
 ceeded to Europe, and four years later returned to Linyanti 
 by the same route. 
 
 Since that time the continent has frequently been crossed, 
 and soon the various details of its features were known, and 
 full information was obtained concerning the tribes that 
 occupy it. 
 
44^ history of South Africa. 
 
 CHAPTEK XX. 
 
 REVIVAL OF ACTIVITY IN PORTUGUESE SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 After 1838, when the emigrant farmers from the Cape Colony 
 began to settle on the highlands of the interior between the 
 Vaal and Limpopo rivers, the southern part of the territory 
 claimed by the Portuguese along the eastern coast acquired 
 a value it never had before. The excellent harbour at the 
 mouth of the Espirito Santo in Delagoa Bay was the nearest 
 port to the newly occupied territory, and efforts were repeatedly 
 made to open a road to it.* These did not succeed for many 
 years, owing to the prevalence of fever near the coast and to 
 the intermediate belt of land being infested with the tsetse 
 fly, but the position of the bay made it certain that in time 
 all the difficulties of establishing communication through it 
 between the South African Kepublic and the outer world 
 would be overcome. 
 
 In 1852 the independence of the farmers north of the Vaal 
 was acknowledged by Great Britain, and the importance of 
 the bay was realised in England, where the documents 
 obtained by Captain Owen in 1823 were not forgotten, though 
 no action beyond a little correspondence between the autho- 
 rities at London and Lisbon had ever been taken upon them. 
 Matters were left in abeyance, however, until the 5th of 
 November 1861, when Captain Bickford, commanding her 
 Majesty's ship Narcissus, planted the British flag on the 
 islands Inyaka and Elephant, which he proclaimed British 
 territory, and together with the adjoining roadstead he 
 
 * For a full account of these efforts, see vols, v and vi of my History 
 of South Africa, 
 
Revival of Activity, 449 
 
 declared to be annexed to the colony of Natal. This action 
 was protested against by the Portuguese, and a lengthy 
 correspondence between the two governments ensued. 
 
 Captain Bickford had hardly set sail when a man, who was 
 destined to occupy a prominent position thereafter in South- 
 Eastern Africa made his appearance at the Portuguese fort on 
 the Espirito Santo. His name was Umzila. He was a son 
 of the recently deceased chief Manikusa, and having incurred 
 the jealousy of his father he had been obliged to flee and 
 for some time had been living as a refugee in the South 
 African Eepublic* Upon the death of Manikusa, his son 
 Maweva succeeded as chief of the Abagaza, but a strong 
 party favoured Umzila, who was much the abler man of 
 the two. 
 
 On the 1st of December 1861 Umzila applied to Onofre 
 Lourenfo d'Andrada, captain of the fort on the Espirito Santo, 
 for assistance against his brother. Manikusa, his father, had 
 been a terrible scourge to the Portuguese, and Maweva, his 
 brother, bade fair to be equally hostile. He, on the contrary, 
 offered to recognise the sovereignty of the king of Portugal, 
 and to cede all the land up to the Manisa river, in return 
 for military assistance. The captain Andrada was not in a 
 position to give much help. His whole force could not have 
 stood five minutes in the open field against the weakest of 
 Maweva's regiments, but he recognised that a crisis had come, 
 and that if Umzila was unsuccessful, the Portuguese possession 
 of any part of the coast south of the Zambesi river would be 
 at an end. What Umzila needed also was not so much men 
 as arms and ammunition, and he could spare a few antiquated 
 firelocks and a quantity of gunpowder. 
 
 An arrangement was therefore entered into, and on the 
 2nd of December 1861 the cession of the territory — though it 
 was not yet in the giver's possession — was formally made. 
 All the assistance that was possible was then afforded to 
 Umzila. The war between the brothers lasted many months, 
 
 * For an account of Umzila's resi'lencc in the South African Kepublic 
 see vol. vi of iny History of South Africa. 
 
450 History of South Africa. 
 
 but at length in two battles fought on the banks of the 
 Manisa on the 17th and the 20th of August 1862 Maweva's 
 adherents were completely crushed. Umzila then became 
 undisputed chief of the Gaza tribe, and until his death ruled 
 over nearly all the Bantu in that large expanse of territory 
 marked in the maps as Gazaland, extending from the Zambesi 
 river on the north to the Manisa on the south, and from the 
 fringe of the great interior plain down to the shore of the 
 Indian' sea. Throughout his life he remembered the assistance 
 that had been given to him by the Portuguese, but did not 
 always refrain from hostile actions towards them, and certainly 
 never regarded himself as their subject. To control a tribe as 
 powerful as his, the means to compel obedience to authority 
 must be ever present, no matter what flag is supposed to wave 
 over the territory, and the Portuguese at that time had no 
 force in South-Eastern Africa that could command respect. 
 
 They were, however, beginning to improve their position, 
 which had already passed its lowest point of depression. A 
 favourable turn in their affairs was taking place in the lower 
 Zambesi valley, as will presently be related, and on the 
 Espirito Santo a much stronger and better fort than the one 
 previously existing was constructed in 1864, which was 
 strengthened three years afterwards by the addition of four 
 small batteries. A few houses were built on the adjoining 
 ground, and thereafter the site came to be generally called 
 Lourenpo Marques. 
 
 On the 29th of July 1869 a commercial treaty was con- 
 cluded between the governments of Portugal and of the South 
 African Kepublic, as the state established by the emigrant 
 farmers from the Cape Colony was called, and in it a 
 boundary line was fixed from the parallel of 26^^ 30' south 
 latitude along the highest ridge of the Lebombo mountains to 
 the centre of the lower poort of Komati, where the river of 
 that name passes through the range, thence in a straight line 
 about north by east to Pokioenskop on the northern bank of 
 the Olifants river where it passes through the mountains, 
 thence in a direction about north-west by north to the nearest 
 
 ^ 
 
Revival of Activity 451 
 
 point of the mountains of Chacundo on the Umvubu river, 
 and thence in a straight line to the junction of the Pafuri 
 and Limpopo rivers. 
 
 Such a treaty could not be regarded with indifference by 
 the British government, whose interests in South Africa were 
 likely to be seriously affected by it. Accordingly the claim 
 to the southern and eastern shore of Delagoa Bay, based on 
 the documents obtained by Captain Owen, attracted greater 
 attention, but naturally the Portuguese government refused to 
 acknowledge it. Arbitration was then decided upon, and on 
 the 25th of September 1872 a protocol was signed at Lisbon, 
 by which the contending parties agreed to submit their 
 respective claims to the decision of the president of the 
 French Eepublic. 
 
 The case for Portugal was well worked out, though many 
 mere suppositions were made to appear as incontrovertible 
 facts, and numerous papers were put in which could easily 
 have been proved to be of no weight whatever. Their records 
 and ancient histories were searched, and everything that 
 favoured their claim was brought forward, while all that 
 opposed it was carefully held back. Among their documents 
 was a treaty between Great Britain and Portugal, in which 
 the territories of the latter on the East African coast were 
 declared to extend from Cape Delgado to the bay of 
 Louren9o Marques, which they reasonably interpreted as 
 including that bay. Keal effective occupation of any part of 
 the country beyond the precincts of their fort they could not 
 prove, nor could they show the exercise of substantial control 
 over any of the native clans living in the vicinity. But their 
 discovery of the bay, their commercial dealings with the 
 tribes on its shores, the cessions on paper made to them, and 
 what more has been related in these chapters, they fully 
 proved. 
 
 The English case was less carefully prepared. It could nut 
 have been brought to appear as good as that of the Portu- 
 guese, but by a careful search in the archives of the Cape 
 Colony and in printed and manuscript volumes in the library 
 
 2 K 
 
45 2 History of South Africa, 
 
 of the British Museum, it might have been considerably 
 strengthened. An attempt was made to show that the bay 
 of Louren^o Marques mentioned in the treaty put in by the 
 Portuguese really meant the estuary of the Tembe, Umbelosi, 
 and Matola, that is the Espirito Santo or English River, and 
 not the large sheet of water of which this is only a very 
 small part, but such an interpretation was easily proved to 
 be incorrect. Some of the documents relied upon by the 
 other side were explained away, but the fact that the terri- 
 tory in dispute had for centuries been within the sphere of 
 influence of the Portuguese — though at irregular intervals and 
 to a very limited extent only — could not be disturbed. If 
 the Portuguese claim to the southern and eastern shores of 
 the bay was weak, the English claim was weaker still. 
 
 On the 24th of July 1875 Marshal Macmahon, president of 
 the French Republic, issued his award, which gave to Por- 
 tugal the territory as far south as the parallel of latitude of 
 26° 30' from the ocean to the Lebombo mountains. That 
 included the territory of Tembe, defined as bounded on 
 the north by the Espirito Santo or English river and the 
 Louren9o Marques, Dundas, or Umbelosi river, on the west 
 by the Lebombo mountains, and on the south and the east 
 by the river Maputa and the shore of Delagoa Bay. In it 
 was also comprised the territory of Maputa, between the 
 Muputa river and the sea, including the Inyaka peninsula 
 and the islands Inyaka and Elephant. 
 
 Various schemes for the construction of a railway between 
 Lourenfo Marques and the capital of the South African 
 Republic had been projected before the publication of the 
 award which secured the seaboard to Portugal, but all had 
 fallen through. On the 11th of December 1875, less than 
 five months after that event, a treaty was entered into 
 between the governments of the two countries, which pro- 
 vided for the free interchange of the products of the soil and 
 industry of the republic and the Portuguese possessions, for 
 the importation free of customs duties through the port of 
 Lourenpo Marques of a great many articles destined for the 
 
Revival of Activity. 453 
 
 republic and for the iDiportation of all other articles thus 
 destined upon payment of duty at the rate of three to six 
 per cent of their value, as also for the construction of a rail- 
 way from the harbour inland. Owing to political events in 
 South Africa this treaty could not be carried into effect for 
 some years, but it was revived ^nd ratified again on the 7th 
 of October 1882. 
 
 On the 14th of December 1883 the Portuguese government 
 granted a concession for the construction of a railway about 
 fifty-two miles in length, from Louren^o Marques to Komati 
 Poort, on the western boundary. The subsidy offered was 
 ample, still it was only in March 1887 that a Company was 
 formed in London to carry out the work. In November 1888 
 the line was opened to a point which was believed to be on 
 the Portuguese boundary, though soon afterwards it was ascer- 
 tained to be some distance short, and then, as it could not 
 be completed within the stipulated time, the government 
 took advantage of the opportunity and on the 24th of June 
 1889 confiscated the railway. This led to interference by 
 Great Britain and the United States on behalf of the share- 
 holders, but after much negotiation the Portuguese authori- 
 ties retained the line, and the amount of compensation to be 
 awarded to the Company was referred for decision to three 
 Swiss lawyers. These gentlemen did not issue their award 
 until March 1900, when they adjudged the Portuguese 
 government to pay £941,511, less than half of what the 
 claimants considered themselves entitled to. 
 
 Meantime on the republican side a railway was being con- 
 structed from the Portuguese border at Komati Poort towards 
 the heart of the country. In July 1895 this was completed 
 and joined to the southern line through the Orange Free 
 State and the Cape Colony, so that there is now complete 
 communication between Capetown and Lourenfo Marques. 
 A large proportion of the commerce of the territory between 
 the Vaal and the Limpopo finds its way to Delagoa Bay, 
 and with the development of the gold fields during recent 
 years, the traffic is as much as the line can carry. 
 
 2 K 2 
 
454 History of South Africa. 
 
 Lourenpo Marques has tlins become a place of considerable 
 importance. A town of some size has sprung up, and is 
 rapidly growing, though the death rate is exceedingly high. 
 It is believed, however, that with the drainage of a great 
 marsh adjoining it the place will become less unhealthy. 
 The means of landing and shipping goods with facility are 
 being provided, and a lighthouse at the entrance to the 
 harbour has been built. The residents of the town are of 
 various nationalities, a large proportion being English and 
 Germans. There is no commerce of any consequence with the 
 surrounding territory, which is, as of old, in possession of 
 Bantu clans, the existence of Lourenpo Marques as a town 
 being due solely and entirely to the transit of merchandise 
 and passengers between the shipping and the railway to the 
 interior. Yet it is to-day much the most important place in 
 the Portuguese possessions in South-Eastern Africa. 
 
 Next to it comes Beira, a town unknown fifteen years ago, 
 and which sprang into being as the ocean terminus of a road 
 from a settlement — not Portuguese — in the interior. Beira is 
 at the mouth of the Pungwe river, not far north of Sofala. 
 It has an excellent harbour, capacious, with good depth of 
 water, and easy of access. The Arabs had once a small 
 settlement there, but the Portuguese never occupied the 
 place in olden times, and when the Asiatics retired, it fell 
 into such decay that for more than three centuries it was 
 almost forgotten. 
 
 Owing to negotiations with Glermany and France relative 
 to the partitioning of the continent, in 1887 Portugal 
 advanced a claim to the whole territory between Angola and 
 Mozambique down to the South African Kepublic, but Great 
 Britain immediately announced that her sovereignty would 
 not be recognised in places not occupied by a sufficient force 
 to maintain order. There were no Portuguese at all at that 
 time on the highlands north of the Limpopo, nor had a 
 single individual of that nation, as far as is known, even 
 visited the clans there within the preceding century. The 
 Matabele chief Moselekatse had conquered the greater part of 
 
Revival of Activity. 455 
 
 the country in 1838 and subsequent years, had slaughtered 
 most of its inhabitants, and ruled over the others with a 
 ferocity unknown except among African tribes. The border 
 of the Matabele raids on one side was the border of the 
 Gaza raids on the other, and Lobengula, son and successor of 
 Moselekatse, was the recognised lord of the interior plateau 
 from the Limpopo to the Zambesi, acknowledging or pretend- 
 ing to acknowledge no superior. Gungunyana, son of Umzila 
 and grandson of Manikusa, was the real lord of nearly all the 
 territory between the edge of the interior plateau and the 
 sea, and though the Portuguese claimed him as a subject, he 
 was to all intents and purposes independent of control. 
 
 This condition of things was indisputable, yet the intense 
 jealousy of many Portuguese was aroused when early in 1888 
 an agreement was made by a British commissioner with 
 Lobengula, in which that chief bound himself to refrain from 
 entering into correspondence or concluding a treaty with any 
 other state or power, and the territory governed by him was 
 declared to be within the British sphere of influence. That 
 they had never occupied the country, and never could 
 occupy it, was not taken into consideration, it was the back- 
 ground of a line of coast which their navigators had first 
 discovered and along which they had military and trading 
 stations, and that was sufficient in their opinion to justify 
 their claim to it. 
 
 . Negotiations were opened between the governments of 
 Great Britain and Portugal, but while they were proceeding 
 subjects of both countries were busy securing rights from 
 native rulers. Two Portuguese — Colonel Joaquim Carlos 
 Paiva d'Andrada and Lieutenant Cordon — with some black 
 troops visited various petty chiefs, and induced them to 
 accept flags and in some instances to allow a few of the 
 so-called soldiers to be stationed at their kraals. At the 
 same time several energetic Englishmen obtained from the 
 Matabele chief various concessions, which were united in 
 tlie hands of one strong Company, to which on the 29th 
 of October 1889 a royal charter was granted. 
 
45 6 History of South Africa. 
 
 In August 1890 an agreement was entered into by the 
 governments of Great Britain and Portugal, in which the 
 eastern limits of the British South Africa Chartered Com- 
 pany's territory were defined, but it was not ratified by the 
 cortes, though it served as a basis for a temporary under- 
 standing between all the parties whose interests or whose 
 passions were involved. At this time a strong body of men, 
 fitted out by the Chartered Company, was on the way from 
 the Cape Colony to the northern territory, and on the 11th 
 of September 1890 reached the site of the present town of 
 Salisbury, where the British flag was formally hoisted and 
 the country taken in possession in the name of the Queen. 
 
 On the way up the pioneer expedition had constructed 
 forts at Tuli, Victoria, and Charter. From Charter the 
 Company's administrator, Mr. Archibald Colquhoun, with 
 Mr. Frederick Courteney Selous and a small escort, travelled 
 eastward to the kraal of Umtasa, the principal chief of the 
 Manika country. With this chief, on the 14th of September, 
 an arrangement was made, by which he placed himself under 
 the protection of the British South Africa Company, to whom 
 he granted a concession of mineral and other rights in his 
 country. He declared that he was not, and never had been, 
 under subjection or vassalage to the Portuguese government, 
 but that a trading station had with his consent been 
 established by the Mozambique Company in 1888 at a place 
 called Andrada in the Masikesi district, some twenty miles 
 to the south-east, and he knew that an agent of this 
 Company — Joao de Kezende by name — was residing there. 
 A policeman and a native interpreter were left with Umtasa 
 to represent the British South Africa Company, and Mr. 
 Colquhoun then rejoined the pioneers at Salisbury. 
 
 Mr. Selous rode over to Masikesi to visit the Portuguese 
 station, and on the way met two officers with a party of 
 black attendants, who were bearers of a protest against the 
 arrangement just made with Umtasa, and who claimed a vast 
 extent of territory to the westward as being in the dominions 
 of their sovereio:n. In that territory not a single Portuguese 
 
Revival of Activity. 457 
 
 was then resident, and there were not ten individuals of that 
 nation in the whole of Manika. 
 
 That they had a special claim upon the allegiance of 
 Umtasa, resting chiefly upon the position in which he stood 
 to a man named Grouveia, was afterwards brought forward. 
 This Gouveia, or Manuel Antonio de Sousa as he was called 
 by the Portuguese, was a native of Goa who had settled in 
 Africa shortly after the middle of the century. He was a 
 man of considerable force of character, and had performed 
 services of great importance for the crown. Having obtained 
 a prazo, he armed and trained his dependents upon it, and 
 then acted like a powerful feudal lord in mediaeval times in 
 Europe, being in matters affecting his retainers and in dis- 
 putes with his neighbours almost, if not quite, independent, 
 though in everything else acknowledging the supremacy of 
 the Portuguese government. 
 
 He went to the aid of the people of Sena, drove away 
 their Gaza oppressors, and released them from the ignominy 
 of paying tribute. He recovered much of the territory that 
 had formerly been prazos and that had been overrun by the 
 subjects of jManikusa. Services so eminent were warmly 
 acknowledged by the governor general at Mozambique and 
 by the authorities in Lisbon, and Gouveia was appointed 
 chief captain of a great district and had the honorary title 
 of colonel conferred upon him. For twenty years the body 
 of men that he commanded, consisting entirely of his black 
 dependents, was almost the only military force employed by 
 the Portuguese in South-Eastern Africa at a distance from 
 their stations. Under these circumstances war could not be 
 conducted as if the combatants were European soldiers, and 
 Gouveia's reputation among his neighbours was rather that 
 of a daring and successful freebooter than of an official of a 
 civilised government. 
 
 In 1873 the chief of the largest clan in Manika died, and 
 there was a quarrel concerning the succession. One of the 
 claimants was Umtasa, but he was defeated in battle and 
 driven away. This was just such an opportunity as Gouveia 
 
45 8 History of South Africa, 
 
 was wont to take advantage of, so he went to the aid of 
 Umtasa, whom he succeeded in establishing firmly in the 
 chieftainship as a vassal of his own. At the same time, how- 
 ever, Umtasa necessarily became a dependent of Umzila, who 
 was paramount over all the Bantu in that region. Thus he 
 had two overlords, which meant that two individuals more 
 powerful than himself claimed and exercised the right of 
 levying tribute from him and his people at any time. And 
 as both of these overlords were regarded as Portuguese 
 subjects, it followed that he also was in the same position. 
 
 In addition to this he had been invested with the office of 
 chief by the commandant of Sena, and had received the 
 appointment of sergeant-major of Manika. Further, in 
 February 1888 Colonel D'Andrada had hoisted the Portuguese 
 flag at his kraal, and had left the flag in his keeping. On 
 all these grounds, the Portuguese authorities claimed Umtasa 
 as a subject and the district occupied by his people as part 
 of the dominions of their crown. 
 
 The British South Africa Company's officers, on the other 
 hand, declined to take any notice of the Portuguese claim, 
 because it was evident Umtasa himself did not recognise it, 
 and because those who made it had no means of maintaining 
 order or protecting life and property, the essential duties of 
 sovereignty. They did not admit that Grouveia's followers 
 constituted a force such as a civilised government had a right 
 to employ. 
 
 In October a report reached Salisbury that Colonel 
 D'Andrada and Gouveia with a band of followers were on 
 the way from the east towards Umtasa's kraal. Mr. Colqu- 
 houn at once sent a few policemen to support the chief, and 
 soon afterwards increased the number to thirty and directed 
 Captain Patrick William Forbes to take command. Captain 
 Forbes arrived at Umtasa's kraal on the 5th of November, 
 and formed a temporary camp at a short distance from it. 
 He then sent a messenger to Masikesi, where Colonel 
 D'Andrada and Gouveia then were, with a protest against 
 their proceeding farther with an armed force. 
 
Revival of Activity. 459 
 
 Colonel D*Andrada had no wish to precipitate matters. He 
 was a highly educated and amiable man, who had resided 
 ten or twelve years in South Africa, where he had held 
 various offices under the government, besides being the 
 occupant of a prazo at the mouth of the Zambesi. He knew 
 perfectly well that any force which he and Gouveia could 
 bring into the field would be unable to meet the British 
 South Africa Company's police in battle. Besides he was a 
 director of the Mozambique Company, and his interests were 
 all on the side of peace. But he was also a Portuguese 
 colonel of artillery, and his pride and patriotism revolted 
 against being turned away from a place that he had more 
 than once visited before, and that he regarded as Portuguese 
 territory. His ostensible mission was to open a road to the 
 interior from the head navigable water of the Pimgwe and to 
 arrange matters in connection with the exploitation of some 
 mines, in the interests of his Company. He resolved there- 
 fore to proceed on his journey. On the 8th of November 
 Gouveia arrived at Umtasa's kraal, and was followed shortly 
 afterwards by Colonel D'Andrada and Joao de Kezende, when 
 their whole following amounted to between two and three 
 hundred men, including palanquin-bearers, carriers, and personal 
 attendants. 
 
 Captain Forbes now resolved upon decisive action. On the 
 14th of November with twelve troopers of his police he 
 entered Umtasa's kraal, and arrested Gouveia and the two 
 Portuguese gentlemen, who had just retired from an interview 
 with the chief. The natives looked on with approbation, and 
 were ready to assist if that had been necessary. Gouveia's 
 men were encamped under some trees several hundred yards 
 away, where they were surprised by the remainder of the 
 British police, and were disarmed before they could make any 
 arrangement for resistance. De Rezende was permitted to 
 return to Masikesi, but Colonel D'Andrada and Gouveia were 
 sent as prisoners to Salisbury, and left that place under 
 escort for Capetown. At Tuli, on the way, they met Dr. 
 Jameson going up to assume the administration of the 
 
460 History of South Africa, 
 
 British Chartered CoinpaDy's territory, and by him were 
 released from further restraint. From Capetown Gouveia 
 proceeded to Mozambique by steamer, and Colonel D'An- 
 drada took passage to Portugal to lay the matter before his 
 government. 
 
 After the arrest of their leader and the seizure of their 
 arms, Gouveia's men fled homeward, and to prevent the 
 Mozambique Company's trading station at Andrada in 
 Masikesi from being plundered, Captain Forbes placed a 
 temporary guard there. He then proceeded to visit various 
 native chiefs living between the Busi and Pungwe rivers, 
 with whom he entered into friendly arrangements, his object 
 being to secure a road to the coast at Beira, a place which 
 the Mozambique Company had recently made use of as a 
 harbour. 
 
 There was great excitement in Portugal when intelligence 
 of the events at Umtasa's kraal reached that country. Bands 
 of students pressed forward as volunteers to defend the 
 honour of their flag, and were sent with all haste to Beira. 
 It seemed as if the ancient spirit of the people of the little 
 kingdom had revived, and that they were ready to proceed 
 to the last extremity in an attempt to get nominal possession 
 of a territory that could be of no use whatever to them. 
 The government, however, was not so far carried away with 
 the prevailing excitement as to cease negotiations for a 
 friendly settlement with the British authorities. 
 
 Upon the arrival of the first party of volunteers at Beira, 
 they were sent forward with some negroes from Angola, under 
 command of Major Cardas Xavier, to occupy Andrada. They 
 arrived at that station on the 5th of May 1891. Not far 
 distant was a camp of the British South Africa Company's 
 police, fifty-three in number, commanded by Captain Heyman. 
 On the 11th of May a Portuguese force, consisting of 
 about a hundred Europeans and three or four hundred 
 Angola blacks, was sent out to make a reconnaissance, and 
 at two in the afternoon fell in with the English pickets, who 
 retired upon the camp. The Portuguese followed, and an 
 
Revival of Activity. 461 
 
 action was brought on, which resulted in their total defeat, 
 with a heavy loss in killed and wounded. There were no 
 casualties on the British side. Umtasa and his followers 
 watched the engagement from the top of a hill out of range 
 of the shot, and expressed great satisfaction with the result, 
 though probably they would have done the same if the 
 position of the combatants had been reversed. 
 
 The whole Portuguese force now fled precipitately to the 
 seacoast, abandoning Andrada, which the British Chartered 
 Company's men occupied on the following day. They found 
 there some stores, of which they took possession as lawful 
 spoil of war, but the most valuable part of the booty con- 
 sisted of eleven machine guns that had been left behind. 
 
 Meantime the negotiations between the two governments 
 in Europe had been brought nearly to a close, and when 
 intelligence of the collision arrived, they were quickly 
 completed. On the 11th of June 1891 a treaty was signed 
 at Lisbon, in which the boundary between the British and 
 Portuguese possessions south of the Zambesi was declared to 
 be a line starting from a point opposite the mouth of the 
 river Aroangwa or Loangwa, running directly southward as far 
 as the sixteenth parallel of south latitude, following that 
 parallel to its intersection with the thirty-first degree of 
 longitude east of Greenwich, thence running eastward direct 
 to the point where the river Mazoe is intersected by the 
 thirty-third degree of longitude east of Greenwich, following 
 that degree southward to its intersection by the parallel of 
 south latitude of 18° 30', thence following the upper part of 
 the eastern slope of the Manica plateau southward to the 
 centre of the main channel of the Sabi, following that 
 channel to its confluence with the Lunte, and thence striking 
 direct to the north-eastern point of the frontier of the South 
 African Republic. It was agreed that in tracing the frontier 
 along the slope of the plateau, n<^ territory west of longitude 
 32° 30' east of Greenwich should be comprised in the Portu- 
 guese sphere, and no territory east of longitude 33° east of 
 Greenwich should be comprised in the British sphere, except 
 
462 History of South Africa. 
 
 that the line should, if necessary, be deflected so as to leave 
 Umtasa's kraal in the British sphere and Masikesi in the 
 Portuguese sphere. 
 
 The treaty provided further that in the event of either of 
 the powers proposing to part with any territory south of the 
 Zambesi assigned to its sphere of influence, the other should 
 have a preferential right to the territory in question, or any 
 portion of it, upon similar terms. 
 
 It provided for the transit of goods across the Portuguese 
 territory during the following twenty-five years upon pay- 
 ment of a duty not exceeding three per cent of their value, 
 for the free navigation of the Zambesi, for the construction 
 of lines of telegraph, and for facilitating transit of persons 
 and goods of every description over the waterways of the 
 various rivers and over the land ways which supply means of 
 communication where the rivers are not navigable. 
 
 A very important clause provided for the immediate survey 
 and speedy construction of a railroad between the British 
 sphere of influence and the navigable water of the Pungwe 
 river, and for encouraging commerce by that route. 
 
 And now, for the first time, the Portuguese territory in 
 South Africa was properly defined on all sides, and was 
 secured from invasion by tribes beyond its border. It con- 
 tained as great an area as its owners could by any possibility 
 make beneficial use of, and as many natives as they had 
 sufficient power to control. It would not have been to their 
 advantage if the boundary had been laid down farther west- 
 ward. They could not colonise any of the land beyond it, 
 and without colonisation on a large scale an addition of 
 territory would have implied nothing more than additional 
 expense and additional responsibility. Now, with ample scope 
 for their commercial enterprise, with an assured revenue, and 
 with two flourishing seaports — Lourenpo Marques and Beira — 
 in their possession, their prospects were brighter than ever 
 before. This they owed to the settlement of other European 
 nations on the highlands away from the coast, and their 
 pride, which was wounded by seeing the vast interior of the 
 
Revival of Activity, 463 
 
 continent in other hands, might be soothed by the reflection. 
 In accordance with the terms of the treaty, a railroad has 
 been constructed between Beira and Salisbury, through 
 Umtali, the British town nearest the border. The capital 
 was furnished by the British South Africa and Mozambique 
 companies, the former contributing rather more than the 
 latter. Beira is built on a tongue of sand extending into 
 the Pungwe river. The site is the healthiest on that part 
 of the coast, but the flat country stretching away behind 
 is a hotbed of fever. The town has advanced with rapid 
 strides, and is now a place of considerable importance. 
 
 The whole of Portuguese South Africa between the Zam- 
 besi and Sabi rivers, except the district of which Tete is the 
 centre, is now ruled by the Mozambique Company. This 
 Company was formed in 1888 as a mining corporation, the 
 acquisition of the gold-fields of Manika being the inducement 
 to the shareholders to subscribe the capital. On the 11th 
 of February 1891, however, the Company obtained a royal 
 charter, which conferred upon it large administrative powers. 
 The charter was followed on the 30th of July by a royal 
 decree, and on the 28th of December of the same year by 
 the publication of statutes, which documents combined form the 
 present constitution. The Company has a monopoly of all 
 mineral and commercial rights, which it may lease in detail 
 to associations or individuals, it is under an obligation to 
 introduce a limited number of colonists, and it has taxing 
 and governing powers subject to the supreme authorities at 
 Lisbon. 
 
 The chief oflicial of the Mozambique Company in the terri- 
 tory between the Zambesi and Sabi rivers has the title of 
 governor, and resides at Beira. The country is divided into 
 districts, over each of which a commissioner, subordinate to 
 the governor, presides. The officers who administer justice 
 are appointed by the supreme government, and are not 
 subject to the Chartered Company, but to the governor- 
 general at Mozambique. There are courts at Beira, Sena, 
 Andrada, Sofala, Chiloane, Gouveia, and Chupanga. Sena 
 
464 History of South Africa. 
 
 and Sofala have not recovered their old importance, small as 
 that was, and are now insignificant places compared with Beira. 
 Andrada and Chiloane have been described. Gouveia and 
 Chupanga, recently the centres of prazos, can hardly yet be 
 dignified with the name of hamlets. The last-named — Chu- 
 panga — on the southern bank of the Zambesi, is well known to 
 English readers as the burial place of Mrs. Livingstone, wife of 
 tlie celebrated explorer, and of Mr. Kilpatrick, a member of the 
 surveying expedition under Captain Owen. It is one of the 
 most beautiful localities in a land that abounds with charming 
 scenery, but the deadly fever must for ever prevent it from 
 becoming a place of note. 
 
 The old system of giving out great tracts of country as 
 prazos has been abolished, unless the whole territory be 
 regarded as one great prazo in possession of the Chartered 
 Mozambique Company. By that Company unoccupied 
 ground is now allotted for agricultural purposes on quit-rent 
 tenure, but no area larger than five thousand English acres 
 can be held by any individual or association. Occupation 
 of ground and mining are open to people of all nationalities, 
 upon condition of their submission to the laws of the 
 country. 
 
 The tract of land between the Limpopo and Manisa rivers, 
 from the inland border to the sea, is held by another Com- 
 pany under a concession from the crown, dated 16th of 
 November 1893, but nothing of consequence has yet been 
 done to develop its resources. 
 
 Inhambane, the port of the territory between the Limpopo 
 and the Sabi, has made some progress of late years, though 
 as it is dependent upon trade with the natives only, it is 
 far less important than Lourenpo Marques or Beira. The 
 village consists of a church and a few houses and shops. 
 
 There remains the territory of which Tete is the seat of 
 government, between the Zambesi and the Anglo-Portuguese 
 border west of the Mozambique Company's district. Early 
 in the nineteenth century the greater number of the prazos 
 there were almost denuded of people, so many were sent 
 
Revival of Activity, 465 
 
 away as slaves to Brazil. Washing for gold ceased, and the 
 larger part of the territory reverted to the condition in which 
 it was when white people first saw it. The village of Tete 
 sank to be a mere depot of the ivory trade. 
 
 Thus long before 1844 Portuguese influence had been 
 declining, and in that year it was completely lost by the 
 insurrection of a Goanese half-breed named Joaquim Jose da 
 Cruz, commonly called Nyaude, who was the holder of an 
 extensive prazo. This man armed and trained some four 
 hundred black dependents, and then built a strong stockade 
 at the confluence of the Luenya with the Zambesi, from 
 which he exacted tribute upon all commerce passing up and 
 down. Two of the neighbouring chiefs were induced by the 
 authorities of Tete to attack him, but were repulsed, and 
 their people were exterminated as a warning to others. 
 
 Nyaude then sent a division of his force, under his son 
 Bonga, or as called by the Portuguese Antonio Vicente da 
 Cruz, against Tete, when the village was plundered and 
 most of the buildings burned. The church and a few houses 
 were spared, and the fort, into which the inhabitants retired, 
 was not taken. In the following year, 1854, two hundred 
 men were sent from Lisbon to suppress the revolt, but after 
 suffering from hunger, fever, and other forms of misery, 
 they were defeated by Bonga, and those who remained alive 
 were obliged to retreat. 
 
 In 1855 an amnesty was offered to Nyaude, but he 
 declined to accept it, and continued his career of robbery. 
 The unfortunate inhabitants of Tete were reduced to great 
 distress, but nothing could be done to relieve them, and no 
 shadow of Portuguese authority remained beyond the range 
 of the guns of the fort. 
 
 A few years later Nyaude died, and was succeeded by his 
 son Bonga. Efforts were made to conciliate the new chief, 
 who was appointed sergeant-major of Masangano, but he 
 would not desist from plundering far and near, nor submit 
 to control of any kind. Early in 1867 he massacred a 
 number of people, and then a force eight hundred strong 
 
466 History of South Africa, 
 
 was raised at Mozambique aud sent against him. On the 
 6th of August this force, when close to the stockade, was 
 attacked by the robber captain, and was defeated with 
 great slaughter. Two other expeditions sent against him in 
 the same year also failed. 
 
 In 1869 Portugal made another effort to recover her autho- 
 rity. A hundred artillerymen and four hundred fusileers, 
 well equipped with war material, were sent from Lisbon, and 
 were joined by three hundred and fifty soldiers from Goa and 
 as many Africans as could be enlisted and armed along the 
 Zambesi. But the campaign was so badly conducted that the 
 men were suffering from want of food before they reached 
 the scene of action, and the military movements were carried 
 on with the utmost vacillation and want of skill. Bonga's 
 stockade was bombarded with artillery for three days without 
 a breach being effected, and the army was so distributed that 
 the best section of it was surprised and annihilated. The 
 failure of the expedition was complete, and those who escaped 
 slaughter were few. 
 
 From that time until 1888 Bonga's power — the power of an 
 audacious and merciless ruffian — was supreme. Then Gouveia 
 took the matter in hand, and not the least of the services 
 which he performed for his government was the capture of 
 the stockade and the dispersion of the robber band. Arrange- 
 ments with various chiefs along the river followed, and the 
 Portuguese influence was again restored. 
 
 Tete has been rebuilt, and now contains the church which 
 was spared when the village was plundered by Bonga and 
 from twenty to thirty stone houses of European pattern, roofed 
 with red tiles. It is protected by a small garrison of black 
 troops with white officers, who occupy a quadrangular fort 
 overlooking the river. The European residents, officials in- 
 cluded, do not number more than twenty-five or thirty, for 
 the commerce of the place is small. A native town of 
 ordinary huts stands close behind the European quarter. The 
 government of Tete, as of all the Portuguese stations in 
 South Africa except those under the administration of the 
 
Revival of Activity. 467 
 
 Chartered Company, is military in form, and subordinate to 
 Mozambique. The Jesuits have recently established a mission 
 here and also at a station a few miles distant. There are 
 extensive coal fields in the neighbourhood, and it is possible 
 that, owing to them, the village may some day become a 
 thriving place. 
 
 Throughout the whole territory from the Zambesi to 
 Lourenfo Marques difficulties in controlling the Bantu have 
 been experienced, but Portugal has opened her eyes to the 
 fact that it is necessary to employ other and better forces 
 than convicts and uncivilised negroes, and she has succeeded 
 in establishing her authority fairly well. In a war with a 
 chief named Makombi in 1892 Gouveia lost his life, but his 
 opponents were subsequently vanquished. Then Umdungazwe, 
 or Gungunyana as called by the Portuguese, son and 
 successor of Umzila, gave a great deal of trouble. He 
 assumed an attitude of independence, and demanded that 
 tribute should be paid to him by the Portuguese. This led 
 to war in 1895. when Grungunyana was made a prisoner and 
 banished from South Africa. Since that event the peace of 
 the country has not been seriously disturbed. 
 
 Lines of English and German steamships now connect the 
 various harbours with Europe by way of the Ked sea, and 
 with the British settlements of Natal and the Cape Colony. 
 The commerce of the territory has made rapid progress. 
 Unfortunately a large proportion of it is in the hands of 
 Indian traders, a class of people who do not contribute to 
 the strength of a country, nor improve it in any way. But 
 in all other respects the prospects of Portuguese South 
 Africa seem brighter to-day than at any previous time since 
 Pedro d'Anaya built the first fort on the river bank of 
 Sofala. 
 
 2 L 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abagaza, Bantu tribe : escape from Tshaka and ravage the country round 
 Delagoa Bay; in 1833 destroy the Portuguese fort at Louren^o Marques 
 and murder the garrison; settle on the Sabi river and carry on war with 
 the Angoni, 439 ; plunder Inhambane and slaughter the inhabitants ; 
 destroy Sofala; attack Sena, kill most of the inhabitants, and exact 
 tribute from that post thereafter, 440 and 441. See Gungunyana, 
 Manikusa, and Umzila 
 
 Abraham, emir of Kilwa : particulars concerning, 110, 153, 154, 160, 167, 
 168, 194, 201, 202, and 203. See Kilwa 
 
 d'Abranches, Dom Alvaro : succeeds Nuno da Cunha as captain of Mozam- 
 bique, 321 
 
 d'Abreu, Manuel: is the holder of an enormous prazo, 388 
 
 d'Abreu, Vasco Gomes: is the fourth captain of Sofala, 196; on the 8th of 
 September 1507 assumes duty, 197 ; sails with four vessels from that 
 port, and is never heard of again, 199 and 200 
 
 AfEonso VI : on 21st June 1662 becomes king of Portugal ; on account of 
 his worthless character is forced into retirement on the 23rd November 
 1667, and dies sixteen years later, 387 
 
 Africa: ignorance of the limits of at the beginning of the fifteenth century, 
 124 ; the south-western coast of is never carefully examined by the 
 Portuguese, 29 
 
 Agoada de Saldanha : in 1503 is visited by Antonio de Saldanha, and is there- 
 after called by his name, 162. See Table Bay 
 
 AgDada de Sao Bras: is visited and named by Bartholomeu Dias, 128; is 
 visited by Paulus van Caerden in 1601, who changes its name to Mossel 
 Bay, 314 
 
 Agriculture: among the Bantu is mainly left to women, 93; is not much 
 practised by Asiatic settlers on the eastern coast of Africa, 110 
 
 d'Aguiar, Jeronymo: commands a company in Francisco Barreto's expedition, 
 244; dies at Sena, 250 
 
 d'Alanquer, Pedro: sails as pilot with Bartholomeu Dias, 125; and in the 
 same capacity with Vasco da Gama, 136 
 
 d'Albergaria, Lopo Scares : in 1504 sails from Lisbon in command of a fleet, 
 164 ; touches at Kilwa on return passage ; occurrences there, 164 
 
 2 L 2 
 
470 History of South Africa, 
 
 Albert of Austria, archduke : governs Portugal for the king ; in 1585 receives 
 a letter from the bishop of Malacca asking for missionaries, 259 
 
 Albinos : are sometimes allowed to live among the Bantu, 34 
 
 d'Alboquerque, AfEonso : in 1503 sails from Lisbon with a squadron for India, 
 161 ; on 6th March 1506 sails for the second time from Lisbon with a 
 fleet for India, 173; assists Tristao da Gunha in destroying Oja, making 
 Lamu tributary to Portugal, and destroying Brava, 174 and 175 ; on 
 5th November 1509 succeeds Dom Francisco d'Almeida in the government 
 of Portuguese India, 176 
 
 d'Alboquerque, Francisco : in 1503 sails with a squadron for India, 161 ; leaves 
 India to return home, and is never again heard of, 192 and 193 
 
 d'Alboquerque, Dom Joao : in March 1539 assumes duty at Goa as first 
 bishop of India, 224 
 
 d'AlcaQova, Diogo : accompanies Pedro d'Anaya to Sofala, and sends a report 
 to the king upon the trade there, 204 
 
 Algoa Bay: is not commended as a port by Manuel de Mesquita Perestrello, 
 289; is mentioned by Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, 311 
 
 Ali, son of the ruler of Shiraz : is the founder of Kilwa, 108 
 
 Alliance between the English and Dutch East India Companies : is entered 
 into in 1619 and again in 1623, but is never carried into efiect, 337 
 
 d'Almeida, Antonio Cardoso : is left by Vasco Fernandes Homem in charge 
 of a garrisoned fort on the Zambesi ; sends out a raiding party to obtain 
 millet and cattle ; is besieged by the natives until his provisions fail ; 
 tries to cut his way out, and is killed with all his men, 254 
 
 d'Almeida, Dom Francisco : particulars concerning, 165 ; on the 25th of 
 March 1505 sails from the Tagus with a large fleet for India where 
 after the erection of certain fortresses he is to assume the title of 
 viceroy, 166; on the 22nd of July reaches Kilwa, 167; on the 24th seizes 
 and sacks the town, 168 ; builds and garrisons a fort there, 168 ; and 
 establishes a government tributary to Portugal, 169; on the 13th of 
 August arrives at Mombasa, 170 ; after severe fighting takes the town 
 by storm, pillages, and burns it, 171 and 172; makes large presents to 
 the friendly ruler of Melinde, and then sails for India, 173 ; on 2nd Febru- 
 ary 1509 defeats a great Egyptian fleet off Diu, 176 ; on 5th November 
 1509 transfers the government to Afionso d'Alboquerque, 176; on 19th 
 November 1509 sails from Cochin for Portugal, 177 ; on the passage 
 puts into Table Bay, and on 1st March 1510 is killed by Hottentots, 178 
 
 d'Almeida, Joao Henriques: in 1783 abandons the fort at Louren^o Marques, 
 425 
 
 d'Almeida, Dom Louren^o : assists in the seizure of Kilwa, 167 ; assists in 
 the reduction of Mombasa, 171 ; is killed in battle with Emir Hocem in 
 the harbour of Chaul, 176 
 
 d'Almeida, Dom Miguel: succeeds Caetano de Mello de Castro as governor of 
 Mozambique, 399, 406 
 
 d'Almeida, Dom Pedro : in April 1677 is appointed viceroy of India, 396 ; 
 
 restores order on eastern coast of Africa, 396 
 Amasi, fermented milk : used as food by Bantu, 80 
 
Index. 471 
 
 American whalers: frequent Delagoa Bay, 426 
 
 Amsterdam, merchants of : in 1595 fit out fleet for India, 308 ; preponder- 
 ance of the city in the Dutch East India Company, 319 
 d'Anaya, Francisco: in 1506 commands a squadron of war on the East 
 African coast, 187; commits ruthless acts of barbarity; loses two ships 
 by wreck, 188 
 d'Anaya, Pedro : on the 18th of May 1505 sails with six ships from the 
 Tagus to build a fort at Sofala, 182 ; arrives at his destination and has 
 an interview with the sheik Isuf , 185 ; on 21st September commences 
 to build a fort, 186; repels an attack of the Mohamedans aided by a 
 Bantu clan, and firmly establishes Portuguese authority, 188 to 191 ; 
 shortly afterwards dies of fever, 191 
 Andrada, trading station : Captain Forbes places a guard at ; on 5th May 
 1891 Major Cardas Xavier with Portuguese volimteers arrives at, 460; 
 is abandoned by the Portuguese and taken possession of by the English, 
 461 
 d' Andrada, Colonel: in February 1888 hoists the Portuguese flag at Umtasa's 
 kraal; marches against that chief on hearing of his concessions to the 
 British, 458 ; is arrested by Captain Forbes and sent to Salisbury as a 
 prisoner, 459 ; is released by Dr. Jameson, and proceeds to Portugal, 460 
 d'Andrada, Jeronymo : commands a company in Francisco Barreto's expedition, 
 
 244 
 d'Andrada, Onofre Louren90, captain of fort at Louren90 Marques : aids Umzila 
 against his brother, and on 2nd December 1861 receives cession of territory, 
 449 
 d'Andrade, Fernao Martins Freire, captain of Mozambique : has certain trading 
 
 privileges, 274 and 275 
 d'Andrade, Jeronymo, captain of Tete : is successful in wars against invading 
 
 barbarians, 269 
 Ango, Jean, French merchant : sends from Dieppe three ships to India, 303 
 Angola, governor of : offers reward to any one crossing Africa to Zanzibar, 446 
 Angoni, Bantu horde: reach the Sabi river from Zululand and carry on war 
 
 with the Abagaza; proceed northward to Lake Nyassa, 439 
 Angosha : islands and river described, 118 
 Angra dos Ilheos, now Angra Pequena: discovery of by Bartholomeu Dias, 
 
 126 
 Animals : domestic, of Hottentots, 21 ; certain kinds held in respect by Bantu 
 
 tribes, 46 ; cruelty of Bantu towards, 54 ; domestic, of Bantu, 85 
 Ankoni, Mohamed : particulars concerning, 160, 169, and 194 
 Antiquity 'of man in South Africa: proofs of, 1 and 2 
 Antonio, Dom, prior of Crato : seizes the crown of Portugal, but in April 1581 
 
 is expelled by a Spanish army, 257 
 Antonio, a cabra wrecked in the Santo Alberto : account of, 380 
 Aracaty, marquis of, governor of Mozambique : on 11th November 1837 issues 
 a proclamation declaring the necessity of continuing the slave trade, 442 
 d'Araujo, Belchior, captain of Tete : successfully conducts an expedition 
 against a force of Bantu, 343 
 
472 History of South Africa, 
 
 d'Araujo, Joaquim: in 1782 is sent to Delagoa Bay to construct a fort, but 
 dies there, 425 
 
 Arbitration: of the president of the French Republic concerning the British 
 and the Portuguese claims to Delagoa Bay, 451 ; of three Swiss lawyers 
 concerning the amount to be paid by the Portuguese government for 
 confiscated railway, 453 
 
 dos Archanjos, Father Miguel: establishes a mission in the Kiteve country, 
 403 
 
 Arms: permission to carry in Monomotapa's territory granted to Portuguese, 
 343 
 
 Arquebuses: terror caused to barbarians by, 269 
 
 Asiatic Company of Trieste : attempts to establish trading stations at Delagoa 
 Bay, 424 
 
 Asiatics : settle in South-Eastern Africa at some remote time and introduce 
 great changes, 31 ; may have come from Tyre, 101 ; build temples and 
 forts, 102 ; religion of, 103 ; carry on gold mining extensively and have 
 good system of irrigation, 104; ally themselves with native women, and 
 finally become fused with the Bantu, 105; those found along the coast 
 in 1500 are Arabs and Persians, whose literature and history have been 
 preserved, 106 ; character and superstitions of, 114 
 
 Astrolabe, the: use of, 138 and 309 
 
 d'Ataide, Dona Beatria, wife of Francisco Barreto : dies of plague at Lisbon 
 two days after her husband's departure for South Africa, 236 
 
 d'Ataide, Dom Estevao, captain of Mozambique : defends Fort Sao SebastiSo 
 gallantly against the Dutch under Paulus van Caerden, 323 to 327; and 
 under Pieter Verhoeff , 328 to 331 ; sends specimens of rich silver ore to 
 Lisbon, 342 ; is appointed captain general of the Conquest and proceeds to 
 Sena, 347 ; account of his proceedings until his recall, 347 to 349 ; dies at 
 Mozambique, 349 ; conduct of the king towards him, 350 
 
 d'Ataide, Dom Luis, viceroy of India: sends horses and stores for Francisco 
 Barreto's expedition, 238 ; induces the Dominicans to establish a house 
 of their order at Mozambique, 258 
 
 d'Avelar, Father Francisco: carries specimens of silver ore from Chicova to 
 Lisbon, 355 
 
 d'Azevedo, Dom Jeronymo, viceroy of India: dealings of with South-Eastern 
 Africa, 349 and 357 
 
 d'Azevedo, Dom Joao : is appointed captain of Mozambique for one year, 349 
 
 d'Azevedo, Simao de Miranda: in October 1512 assumes duty as seventh 
 captain of Sofala, 206 
 
 Bahia Fermosa (Plettenberg's Bay) : account of the wreck of the SCw Goiigalo 
 
 in 1630 at, 377 
 
 Bangue (dacha or 'wild hemp) : use made of by the Hottentots, 21 ; by the 
 
 Bantu, 79 
 
 Bantu : pressure into South Africa of the, 5 ; area occupied in 1500 by, 5 ; 
 
 skull measurements of, 6 and 7 ; distinguishing characteristics of, 8 ; 
 
 general description of, 29; why so called by Dr. Bleek, 30; variations 
 
Index. 473 
 
 among, 31 ; personal appearance of, 32 ; cause of women being often 
 stunted in growth, 33 ; passions and diseases of, 33 ; weak or deformed 
 children allowed to die, 33 ; are long-lived and prolific, 34 ; language of, 
 34; forms of government, 35; affinity of dialects of eastern and western 
 coasts, 35 ; marriage laws, 37 ; formation of new tribes, 39 ; powers of 
 chiefs, 39 ; standard of virtue, 40 ; dues to chiefs on trade, 41 ; duties of 
 priests, 42 ; religion of, 41 c^ seq^. ; mode of interment of chiefs, 44 ; account 
 of Qamata, 46 ; respect paid to certain animals, 46 ; superstitions regarding 
 demons and water spirits, 47 ; belief in sorcery, 49 ; legend regarding the 
 origin of men and animals, 50 ; festivities on the appearance of the new 
 moon, 51 ; influence of religion on government, 51 ; belief in revelations 
 from the spirit world, 52 ; belief in rainmakers, 52 ; use of herbs as 
 medicine, 52 ; belief in charms and divinations, 53 to 55 ; laws and tribunals 
 of justice, 56 ; trials for witchcraft, 57 ; mode of reckoning time, 59 ; 
 legendary history, 60 ; folklore, 61 ; specimens of proverbs, 61 to 64 ; poetry 
 and musical instruments, 64 ; official praisers of chiefs, 64 ; dynastic titles, 
 65 ; mode of naming individuals, 65 ; practice of circumcision and corres- 
 ponding rite for females, 66 to 69 ; marriage customs, 70 to 75 ; want of 
 chastity, 76; language of women, 77; agriculture, 78; use of beer, 78; 
 use of dacha, 78 ; mode of preserving grain, 79 ; milk and flesh food, 80 
 and 81; practice of cannibalism in extreme necessity, 81; land tenure, 82; 
 description of gardens, 82 ; description of kraals and huts, 83 ; domestic 
 animals, 84 ; law of inheritance, 85 ; weapons of war, 85 ; military training, 
 86 ; clothing and ornaments, 87 ; headrests, 88 ; manufactures of iron, 88 
 and 89 ; of copper, 90 ; of wood, 90 ; of glue vases, 91 ; of skin robes, 91 ; 
 of earthenware, 92 ; of mats and baskets, 92 ; idleness of men, 93 ; disregard 
 of truth, 93 ; differences between tribes of coast and interior, 93 and 94 ; 
 cheerfulness of women, 95 ; evening occupations, 95 ; games of children, 95 
 to 98 ; toys of children, 98 ; forms of greeting, 98 ; capabilities of indi- 
 viduals, 99 ; want of mechanical aptitude, 100 ; reduction to slavery of 
 some tribes in remote times, 104 ; are termed Kaffirs or infidels by Moha- 
 medan immigrants, 109 ; first intercourse with Europeans, 143 ; consider it 
 polite to agree with honoured guests, 227 ; are baptized by Portuguese 
 missionaries in large numbers, 227, 229, 270; failure of the first mission to, 
 231 ; superstitious fear of smoke from guns, 246 ; important tribes south of 
 Delagoa Bay in 1600, 301 ; disintegration of tribes through contact with 
 Portuguese, 388 ; general fruitlessness of mission work by the Portuguese, 
 402; perpetual wars among tribes, 409, 427, 429, and 441; during the 
 eighteenth century lose all knowledge of Christianity, 422 
 
 Banyans : particulars concerning, 398 and 399 
 
 Baptism : of chief and others at Otongwe, 227 ; of the Monomotapa and 
 others by Dom Gon^alo da Silveira, 229 ; of seventeen hundred persons at 
 Sofala, 270 ; of two sons of the Monomotapa at Tete 345 ; of the Mono- 
 motapa Manuza, 367; of the Kiteve, 384; of the Monomotapa Domingos, 
 386 
 
 Baptista, Pedro Joao, native trader : crossing of Africa by, 445 
 
 Bar; varying weight of, 274 
 
474 History of South Africa. 
 
 Barbuda, Portuguese historian : references to, 327 and 329 
 Barbudo, Cyde : voyage of in 1505 and 1506, 192 and 193 
 Barreto, Father Manuel: report of, 388, 392, and 393: 
 
 Barreto, Francisco : from 1555 to 1558 is governor general of Portuguese 
 India, 235; events on passage from Goa to Lisbon, 287; particulars con- 
 cerning, 235; is appointed commander of an expedition to conquer South- 
 Eastern Africa, 235 ; on 16th April 1569 sails from Belem ; on 4th 
 August arrives at the Bay of All Saints ; in January 1570 sails again ; 
 on 16th May arrives at Mozambique, 236; visits various places on the 
 African coast, 237 ; makes ready to proceed to the relief of Chaul, but 
 on the arrival of the viceroy that purpose is changed, 238 ; in November 
 1571 leaves Mozambique for Sena, 239 ; commences building a fort at 
 Sena, 240 ; inflicts barbarous cruelties upon Mohamedans, 241 ; sends 
 envoys to the Monomotapa, 242 ; at end of July 1572 leaves Sena with 
 his army and marches up the Zambesi, 244 ; above the Lupata gorge 
 turns to the south to attack Mongasi, 245 ; gains several victories, 
 but from sickness and want of provisions is obliged to retreat, 246 
 and 247 ; returns to Sena and thence to Mozambique, 248 and 249 ; 
 on 15th May 1573 reaches Sena again with supplies, and finds nearly 
 all his soldiers had perished, 250; dies in great distress of mind, and is 
 buried in Fort Sao Mar9al, but his remains are afterwards removed 
 to Portugal, 251 
 
 Barreto, Pedro : is captain of Mozambique, but throws up his office and 
 leaves for Europe in fit of jealousy, 236; shabby treatment of Luis de 
 Camoes by, 236 ; dies on the passage to Lisbon, 237 ; is named to suc- 
 ceed his uncle Francisco Barreto, but is then long dead, 251 
 
 Barreto, Ruy Nunes, son of Francisco Barreto : dies of fever at Sena, 244 
 
 Barros, Diogo Teixeira : is commander of a stockade at Chicova, where he 
 experiences many difficulties, 352 and 353 
 
 de Barros, Jeronymo : in November 1628 goes as an envoy to the Monomo- 
 tapa, 365; by whose order he is murdered, 366 
 
 Baskets : as made by Bantu women, 92 
 
 Batonga: are foimd south of the Sabi river, 211 
 
 Bauden, English ship: in 1687 visits Delagoa Bay, 407 
 
 Bazaruta Islands : description of, 121 ; pearls obtained at, 121 ; visit of ship- 
 wrecked people to, 294; occupation by the Portuguese of, 442 
 
 Bazunga: native name for Portuguese, 220 
 
 Beads : traffic in reserved for the royal treasury, 416 
 
 Beatrice, Dona, wife of Dom Paul de Lima : is wrecked in the Sao Thom^-, 
 292 
 
 Beer : method of making by the Bantu, 78 
 
 Beira, formerly Porto Bango, at mouth of the Pungwe river : small Moha- 
 medan settlement at, 120 ; excellent harbour at, 454 ; present importance 
 of, 463 
 
 Bent, J. Theodore, archseologist : in 1891 examines ruins of buildings in 
 South-Eastern Africa, 101 
 
 Berg Damaras: description of, 31 
 
Index. 475 
 
 Berg River : is discovered by Nicolau Coelho and named Rio de Sao Thiago, 
 
 138 
 Bernardes, Miguel : is sent by Francisco Barreto as an envoy to the 
 
 Monomotapa, but is drowned on the way, 242 
 Beve, Bantu chief: in 1760 cedes a large tract of land near Tete to the 
 
 Portuguese, 411 
 Bickford, Captain: on 6th November 1861 hoists the British flag on Inyaka 
 
 and Elephant Islands, 448 
 Board of Conscience : decision of in 1569, 234 
 Bocarro, Antonio, keeper of the archives at Goa: revises a report on South- 
 
 Eastern Africa drawn up for the use of the king, 874 
 Bocarro, Gaspar : journey from Chicova to Mombasa of, 355 and 856 
 Bolts, Lieutenant Colonel William : tries to form trading stations at Delagoa 
 
 Bay for an Austrian Company, 424 
 Bom Jesus, Portuguese galleon: capture of by the Dutch, 331 
 Bone Implements : particulars concerning, 11 
 Bonga or Antonio Vicente da Cruz : insurrection against the Portuguese of, 
 
 465 and 466 
 Borges, Gaspar: is envoy from Francisco Barreto to the Monomotapa, 249 
 Both, Pieter: references to, 314 and 332 
 Botonghi : name given to gold diggers, 92 
 Brandao, Antonio Pereira, captain of Mozambique : treacherous conduct of, 
 
 248 and 249 
 Brava : is founded by Arabs, 107 ; description of in 1500, 115 ; dealings of 
 
 Ruy LoureuQo Ravasco with some members of the government of, 163 ; 
 
 in 1506 is destroyed by Tristao da Cunha and Affonso d'Alboquerque, 
 
 174 ; shocking barbarities of some of the soldiers, 174 
 de Brito, Andre de Alpoim : has command of a bastion in siege of Fort Sao 
 
 Sebastiao by the Dutch, 323 
 de Brito, Francisco : in 1519 sends a report to the king upon the trade of 
 
 Sofala, 208 
 de Brito, Lourenpo : in 1510 is killed by Hottentots near Table Valley, 179 
 de Brito, Louren^o : in 1604 is defeated in war with the Cabires, 322 
 Brochado, Francisco : establishments on the lower Zambesi of, 291 
 de Bucquoi, Jacob : account of the hospital at Mozambique by, 402 
 Bukoto, trading station : accounts of, 264, 265, and 342 
 Bulls : conceding commerce from Cape Nun to India to the kings of Portugal, 
 
 234 
 Burial of Bantu chiefs : slaughter of attendants, wives, and favourite animals 
 
 at, 44 and 45 
 Bushmen : weapons used by, 2, 4, and 11 ; area occupied by in 1500, 6 ; skull 
 
 measurements of, 6 and 7 ; distinguishing characteristics of, 8 ; Hottentot 
 
 and Bantu names for, origin of the European name, power of concealing 
 
 themselves, language, 9 ; places of abode, habitations, food, power of 
 
 endurance, careless disposition, 10 ; use of stone implements, use of 
 
 poison, 11 ; clothing, hunger belts, mode of warfare, ornaments, 13 ; 
 
 mode of procuring fire, prolificacy of, disposition of, 14 ; characteristics 
 
476 History of South Africa, 
 
 of person, love of liberty, superstitions, reasoning power, 15 ; power of 
 mimicry, artistic power, 16 ; strong sense of locality, scanty manufactures 
 of, ordinary mode of living, 17 ; musical instruments, mode of dancing, 
 games, practice of strict monogamy, incapability of adopting civilised 
 habits, 18 
 
 Cabires, horde of barbarians : invade the territory of the Monomotapa, 322 
 Cabral, Fernao Alvares : is wrecked in 1554 near the mouth of the Umtata, 
 
 282; is drowned in the Tugela, 285 
 Oabral, Pedro Alvares : on the 9th March 1500 sails from Lisbon for India 
 
 with thirteen ships, 151 ; on the 24th April discovers the coast of Brazil, 
 
 152 ; on the 20th July reaches Mozambique with only six ships, 153 ; 
 
 visits Kilwa, 153; at Melinde obtains pilots and sails for the Malabar 
 
 coast, 155 ; on the 31st July 1501 reaches Lisbon again, 155 
 de Cabreyra, Joseph : is wrecked on the coast of Pondoland, 379 ; builds a 
 
 large boat in which he reaches Angola, 380 
 van Caerden, Paulus : in 1601 names Mossel, Flesh, and Fish ba 314 ; in 
 
 1607 unsuccessfully besieges Mozambique, 323 to 327 
 Caiado, Antonio, Portuguese adventurer : account of, 228 
 Oaldas, Joao Pereira de Sousa, superintendent of whale fishery : in 1818 is 
 
 killed at Delagoa Bay by natives, 431 
 Oaldas, Jos6 Antonio, captain of Louren90 Marques : in 1805 obtains a deed 
 
 of cession to Portugal of land north of the Espirito Santo, 430 
 Caldeira, Antonio : in 1544 assists in the exploration of Delagoa Bay, 218 
 Calico, use of: is introduced to the Bantu of the eastern coast by the Arabs 
 
 and Persians, 87 
 Calicut : in May 1498 is reached by the expedition under Vasco da 
 
 Gama, 149 
 Cam, Diogo : voyages of, 125 
 
 de Camoes, Luis: shabby treatment of by Pedro Barreto, 237 
 do Campo, Antonio : seizes and carries away several Hottentots from Flesh 
 
 Bay, 183 ; is killed by Hottentots near Table Valley, 179 
 Canarins, Indian traders : account of in Eastern Africa, 398 and 399 
 Gandish, Thomas : commands the second English expedition that sails round 
 
 the world, 306 and 307 
 Cannibalism among the Bantu : references to, 29, 81, 82, 269, 271, and 272 
 Canoes : construction of by Bantu north of Delagoa Bay, 90 
 Cape Blanco : in 1441 is discovered, 124 
 Cape Bojador : in 1434 is passed, 124 
 Cape Correntes: is the southern limit of navigation by the Mohamedans 
 
 before 1500, 110 and 122 ; is acknowledged as Portuguese territory by the 
 
 Dutch in 1641, 382 
 Cape Cross : in 1485 is reached, 125 
 
 Cape of Good Hope : in 1497 is discovered by Bartholomeu Dias, 130 
 Cape Verde : in 1445 is discovered, 124 
 Captaincies : disposal of in Portugal, 256 
 Captain of the Gates: title of the chief Portuguese officer at Masapa, 265 
 
Index. 477 
 
 de Cardenas, Lupe, captain of Louren^o Marques : conduct of towards 
 
 natives, 437 ; is killed by them, 438 
 de Carrezedo, Isidro Manuel: in 1834 is appointed governor of the Rivers, 
 
 independent of Mozambique, 441 
 de Carvalho, Bernardim : is wrecked in the Sao Thomi, 292 ; dies at Manisa's 
 
 kraal, 295 
 de Carvalho, Diogo : assists in the defence of Fort Sao Sebastiao against the 
 
 Dutch, 324; builds a stockade at Masapa, 347; abandons it and retires 
 
 to Tete, 348; builds and occupies a stockade called Fort Santo Estevao 
 
 on the bank of the Zambesi above Tete, 348 
 Carvalho, Louren^o : commands a ship in the expedition under Francisco 
 
 Barreto, 235 ; but after a gale is obliged to return to Lisbon, where his 
 
 vessel is condemned, 236 
 de Carvalho, Martim Gomes: assists in the defence of Fort Sao Sebastiao 
 
 against the Dutch, 323 
 Carvalho, Pedro, prazo holder : in 1717 rebels against the government, 410 
 de Castro, Caetano de Mello : in 1682 is appointed governor of Mozambique 
 
 and the Rivers, 397 
 de Castro, Dom Joao, viceroy of India: references to, 221 
 de Castro, Manuel, survivor from the wreck of the Sao Joao'. is wrecked 
 
 again in the Sao Bento, and dies next day from injuries, 282 
 de Castro, Martim Afionso, viceroy of India : reference to, 325 
 de Castro, Pedro : is sergeant major in Francisco Barreto's expedition, 245 
 Catharina, Dona, widow of Joao III : in 1557 becomes regent of Portugal, 221 ; 
 
 orders the construction of Fort Sao Sebastiao, 223; in 1562 retires, 232 
 Cattle : are chief wealth of the Bantu, are highly prized and trained, 84 
 Cazembe, Bantu chief : visits to kraal of, 428 
 Charms: are highly regarded by the Bantu, 53 
 
 Charter of the Dutch East India Company : particulars concerning, 316 et seq. 
 Chastity : is lightly regarded by the Bantu, 76 and 372 
 de Chaves, Pedro Fernandes, captain of Tete : conquers a horde of Bantu 
 
 under the chief Kwizura, 270; is killed with many others by the 
 
 Mazimba, 272 
 Chicova : is believed to be the site of silver mines, 342 ; particulars 
 
 concerning its occupation and the search for mines, 342, 346, 351, 352, 
 
 and 353 
 Children, Bantu : games and toys of, 97 and 98 ; intelligence of at an early 
 
 age, 99 
 Chiloane Island : description of, 121 ; is occupied by the Portuguese, 442 ; 
 
 possesses a lighthouse, 442 
 Chironde, district of : is ceded by the Kiteve to the widow of Joao Pires, 411 
 Christianity : during the eighteenth century dies out among the Bantu of 
 
 Eastern Africa, 422 
 Chupanga : is the burial place of Mrs. Livingstone, 464 
 Churches: sixteen are enumerated by Father Manuel Barreto in 1667, 392 
 Cicatrices : are made by Bantu on their bodies as ornaments, 87 
 Cinnamon: royal monopoly in trade of, 383 
 
47^ History of South Africa. 
 
 Circumcision : is practised by various Bantu tribes, 66 and 297 
 
 Climate: remarks upon, 120, 240, 423, and 464 
 
 Clotb : is manufactured by some Bantu, 87 
 
 Clothing : of Hottentots, 22 ; of Bantu, 87 ; of Mohamedans on the eastern 
 
 coast, 112 
 Coal: is found near Tete, 467 
 Cocoa palm: is cultivated by the Asiatics on the African coast and made 
 
 much use of, 110 
 Coelho, Gomes, resident at Tete : mention of, 228 
 Coelho, Nicolau : is captain of a ship in the expedition under Vasco da 
 
 Gama, 136 ; reaches the Tagus again on 10th July 1499, before Da Gama, 
 
 149; commands a ship in the fleet under Pedro Alvares Cabral, 152 
 CoUago, Andr6: is the holder of a prazo of immense extent, 388 
 Colonisation : mention of projects of, 267, 373, 384, 394, 397, and 423 
 Colquhoun, Archibald : action of in 1890 with the chief Umtasa, 456 
 Commerce: particulars concerning, 41, 109, 110, 112, 113, 157, 216, 217, 219, 
 
 234, 253, 261, 262, 264, 274, 275, 276, 291, 296, 307, 310, 317, 319, 321, 
 
 331, 333, 361, 371, 373, 383, 393, 394, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 413, 416, 
 
 417, 443, 450, and 452 
 Comoro Islands : description of in 1500, 117 
 Company, English : constructs a railway from Louren<?o Marques to Komati 
 
 Poort, which is confiscated by the Portuguese government, 453 ; amount 
 
 of compensation awarded to, 453 
 Compass: variations of at False Cape, Cape Agulhas, and Cape of Good 
 
 Hope, 313 
 Congo, the : in 1484 is reached, 125 
 Convicts: use made of by the Portuguese, 125, 137, 384, and 419; and by 
 
 the English, 339 and 340 
 Copper: is used by the Bantu for ornaments, 90; is plentiful in South- 
 
 Eastern Africa, 267 
 Corbin, French ship : sails from St. Malo in May 1601, and is lost at the 
 
 Maldives in July 1602, 304 
 Correa, Thom6 de Sousa : in 1688 becomes governor of Mozambique and the 
 
 Bivers, 399 
 Oorte Eeal, Antonio Monteiro: assists in the defence of Fort Sao Sebastiao 
 
 against the Dutch, 323 
 Cory, a Hottentot : is taken to England, where he receives many presents, 
 
 338; in 1614 returns to South Africa, resumes his former habits, and 
 
 teaches his countrymen to despise bits of copper as payment for cattle, 
 
 339 
 da Costa, Andr6 : is a member of the first band of missionaries in South 
 
 Africa, 225 and 226 
 da Costa, Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Honorato : sends two native traders 
 
 from Angola to Tete, 445 
 da Costa, Jos6 Marques, captain of Sofala : in 1836 is killed in battle with 
 
 the Abagaza, 440 
 da Costa, Dom Rodrigo, governor general of India: mention of, 406 
 
Index. 479 
 
 Cotao, Bartholomeu, an engineer : constructs a stockade at Kilimane, 374 
 Cotton : grows wild on the banks of the Zambesi, from which machiras are 
 
 manufactured, 267 
 Council of Mozambique : in 1856 is created, 444 
 
 Courts of Justice: particulars concerning, 276, 376, 377, 444, and 463 
 Ooutinho, Dom Jeronymo, viceroy of India: mention of, 327 
 Coutinho, Manuel : is appointed ecclesiastical administrator of Mozambique in 
 
 1563, 232 
 de Couto, Jeronymo : is one of the founders of the Dominican establishment 
 
 at Mozambique, 258 
 Crime : communal responsibility for among the Bantu, 66 
 Criminals : see Convicts 
 Croissant, French ship : sails for India in May 1601, but is lost on the 
 
 Spanish coast on her return passage, 304 
 Cross : is set up on Cape Sao Bras by Manuel de Mesquita Perestrello in 
 
 January 1576, 289; is asserted to have been seen in the sky by the army 
 
 under the Monomotapa Manuza, 369; is erected at Plettenberg's Bay by 
 
 the wrecked crew of the Sao Gongalo, 378 
 Cruelty: practised by Bantu in divination, 54 
 da Cruz, Manuel, vicar general of the Dominicans in South Africa: mention 
 
 of, 371 
 Cruzado, gold, of King Sebastiao : weight and value of, 233 ; value of the 
 
 silver cruzado, 350 
 Cuama, delta : description of, 119 ; acknowledged in 1641 by the Dutch as 
 
 Portuguese territory, 382 
 Cunene Eiver : expedition in search of the sources of, 428 
 da Cunha, Francisco, captain of the Gates: aids the Monomotapa against 
 
 rebels, 344 
 da Cunha, Nuno : in 1596 becomes captain of Mozambique, 276 ; fills the 
 
 office a second time, 361 
 da Cunha, Tristao: on 6th March 1506 sails from Lisbon with a fleet for 
 
 India, and on the passage discovers the islands that bear his name, 173 ; 
 
 plunders and burns the town of Oja, makes Lamu tributary to Portugal, 
 
 takes Brava after a desperate resistance, and pillages and burns it, 174 
 
 and 175 
 Customs duties: particulars concerning, 113, 276, and 448 
 
 Dacha: use of by Hottentots, 21; by Bantu, 79 
 Damaraland: struggle between Bantu and Hottentots in, 30 
 Dambarare, trading and mission station : in 1692 is destroyed, 404 
 Dassen (Cony) Island: is so named by Sir Edward Michelburne, 333 
 Davis, John : is chief pilot in the Leeuw, and writes an account of the 
 voyage, 313; is chief pilot of the first fleet fitted out by the English 
 East India Company, 333; is second in rank in Sir Edward Michel- 
 burne's expedition; in December 1605 is killed by Japanese pirates, 
 333 
 Delagoa Bay : in 1544 is examined by Louren^o Marc[ues and Antonio 
 
480 History of South Africa, 
 
 Oaldeira, 218 ; is afterwards termed by the Portuguese the bay of 
 Louren^o Marques, 219; a trade, principally in ivory, is opened up by 
 vessels sent yearly from Mozambique, 219, 271, and 299; is frequented 
 by pirates, 405 ; and by illicit traders, 406 ; is visited by Robert Everard 
 in 1687, is surveyed by the Dutch in 1688, is abandoned by the Portu- 
 guese about 1700, 407 ; in 1721 is occupied by the Dutch, 414 ; and 
 retained by them until 1730, 415 ; is occupied by an Austrian Company 
 in 1776, 424; in 1781 is retaken by the Portuguese, 425; who in 1787 
 build a fort there, 425 ; which in 1796 is destroyed by the French, 426 ; 
 is frequented by English and American whalers, 426; in 1799 the fort is 
 rebuilt by the Portuguese, 427 ; occurrences connected with Captain 
 Owen's visit, 431 to 434 ; in 1833 the Portuguese establishment is 
 annihilated by the Abagaza, 439 ; is claimed by Great Britain, 451 ; but 
 is awarded to Portugal by the president of the French Republio as 
 arbitrator, 452; is now a place of much importance, 453 
 
 Delta of the Zambesi : description of, 119 
 
 Dias, Bartholomeu : in August 1486 sails from the Tagus with three small 
 vessels, 125 ; leaves his storeship near the equator, 126 ; puts into Angra 
 Pequena, 126 ; puts into Angra das Voltas, where he remains five days, 
 
 127 ; experiences stormy weather after leaving, 127 ; reaches Angra dos 
 Vaqueiros on the southern coast, 127 ; touches at Agoada de Sao Bras, 
 
 128 ; reaches the islet Santa Cruz, 128 ; lands at the mouth of the 
 Infante river, 129 ; from this point turns homeward, 130 ; discovers the 
 Cape of Good Hope, 130 ; rejoins his storeship, 130 ; at Prince's Island 
 rescues some wrecked Portuguese, 130 ; touches at Sao Jorge da Mina, 
 130 ; in December 1487 reaches Lisbon again, 130 ; superintends the 
 building of ships for another expedition, 134 ; sails as captain of a 
 caravel in company with Vasco da Gama, 135 ; leaves Da Gama's fleet 
 and proceeds to Sao Jorge da Mina, 137 ; is appointed captain of a fort 
 to be built at Sofala, and leaves Lisbon for that purpose in command of 
 a ship in the fleet under Pedro Alvares Cabral, but is lost at sea, 152 
 
 Diogo, a son of the Monomotapa : account of, 345 
 
 Disease : a factor in man's progress, 4 
 
 Divination: methods of practising among the Bantu, 54 
 
 Dominicans : establishment of missions among the Bantu by, 258 ; particulars 
 concerning their missions, 362, 363, 372, 376, 392, 402, 403, and 421 ; in 
 1775 are withdrawn from South-Eastem Africa, 422. See dos Santos. 
 
 Domingos, Monomotapa: baptism of, 386 
 
 Downton, Captain Nicholas : in 1610 visits Table Bay, 332 ; and again in 
 1614, 338 
 
 Dows: trading vessels used by the Mohamedans in the Indian ocean, 111 
 
 Drake, Sir Francis: is the first English navigator who sails round the world, 
 305 
 
 Dutch, the : in 1580 are shut out of the Lisbon market, 308 ; endeavour to 
 find a north-eastern passage to China, 308; in 1595 send first fleet to 
 India by way of the Cape of Good Hope, 312; take possession of the 
 Spice islands, 321 ; are more successful traders than the Portuguese, 331 ; 
 
Index, 481 
 
 in 1662 occupy the Cape peninsula, 386. See Delagoa Bay, Inhambane, 
 and Mozambique 
 Dutch East India Company : establishment of, 316 to 320 ; proposed alliance 
 with the English East India Company, 337 
 
 Earthenware : manufacture of by Bantu women, 92 
 
 Ecclesiastical Administrator for the country from Cape Guardafui to the Cape 
 
 of Good Hope : in 1612 the office is created, 363 ; references to, 393, 402, 
 
 and 422 
 Egypt : position of at the beginning of the sixteenth century, 123 ; in 1508 
 
 the sultan sends a great fleet under Emir Hocem to operate against the 
 
 Portuguese in India, 175; which fleet is destroyed off Diu by Dom 
 
 Francisco d' Almeida, 176 ; in 1517 Egypt becomes part of the Turkish 
 
 dominions, 123 
 Elephant Island : in 1861 the English flag is hoisted on, 448 ; it is awarded 
 
 to Portugal by arbitration, 452 
 Embo: Bantu name for Natal, 301 
 
 Emozaide, followers of Zaide : accompany him from Arabia and form settle- 
 ments on the East African coast, 465 
 Empata: general seizure of goods by order of the Monomotapa, 263 
 English : expeditions of to India, 305 et sec[. ; make no attempt to explore 
 
 South Africa, 340 ; begin to frequent the coast of East Africa as traders, 
 
 385; frequent Delagoa Bay, 405 and 426 
 English East India Company : establishment of, 332 ; use made of Table Bay 
 
 by, 334 ; project of alliance with the Dutch East India Company, 336 ; 
 
 project of establishing a joint refreshment station in South Africa, 337 
 English Kiver : the Espirito Santo, 218 
 
 Equator, the: in 1471 is first crossed by the Portuguese, 124 
 do Espirito Santo, Damiao, Dominican friar, mention of, 371 
 do Espirito Santo, Luis, Dominican friar : baptizes the Monomotapa Manuza, 
 
 367; is made prisoner by Kapranzine and is put to death, 368 
 Espirito Santo Kiver, English River, or Lourencjo Marques River : is an 
 
 excellent harbour, 448 
 Ethiopia Oriental, by Joao dos Santos : is printed in 1609 in the Dominican 
 
 convent at Evora, 271 
 Everard, Robert: in 1687 visits Delagoa Bay, 407 
 
 Factors of progress in its earliest stage, 3 and 4 
 
 Famine among Bantu : is less fatal in its effects than among Europeans, 33 
 
 de Faria Cerveira, Juliao : in 1593 is wrecked on the South African coast, 295 
 
 Feast among Bantu: description of, 68 and 70 to 72 
 
 Fermosa Bay (Plettenberg's Bay) : description of by Manuel de Mesquita 
 
 Perestrello, 289; account of the wreck of the Sao Qongalo at, 377 
 Fernandes, Father Andre : is one of the first missionaries in South-Eastern 
 
 Africa, 225 ; is stationed at a kraal named Otongwe, 226 ; undergoes 
 
 great privations and disappointments, and after two years returns to Goa, 
 
 231 
 
4^2 History of South Africa. 
 
 Femandes, Manuel : in 1506 and 1507 acts as captain of Sofala, 191 
 Ferreira, Andre, captain of the Gates : narrowly escapes being murdered by 
 
 the Monomotapa, 365 and 366 
 Festivals at appearance of the new moon: among the Hottentots, 25; among 
 
 the Bantu, 50 
 Fever : is endemic along the coast north of Delagoa Bay and on the banks 
 
 of the Zambesi, 423 
 Fika, the last Kiteve: dies in 1803, 427 
 
 Fire: mode of procuring by Bushmen, 14; is sent every year by the Mono- 
 motapa to all the kraals of his tribe, 214 
 Fish Bay : in 1601 is so named by Paulus van Caerden, 314 
 Fishery, whale and seal : after 1614 is carried on at Table Bay, 334 
 Fitch, Kalph: travels in India of, 306 
 Fitzherbert, Humphrey : in 1620 visits Table Bay and assists in proclaiming 
 
 English sovereignty over the adjacent country, 335 
 Flesh Bay : in 1601 is so named by Paulus van Caerden, 314 
 Foga(;a, Pedro Ferreira : in August 1505 is installed captain of Fort Sao 
 
 Thiago at Kilwa, 169 
 Folklore of the Bantu: description of, 61 
 da Fonseca Coutinho, Jos^ : general insurrection caused by violent conduct 
 
 of, 409 
 da Fonseca Pinto, Francisco : is sent from India to inquire into the conduct 
 
 of Dom Estevao d'Ataide, 349 and 350; is sent afterwards as com- 
 missioner to the Eivers, 357 ; conduct of in that capacity, 357 and 358 ; 
 
 is tried by the inquisitor general of India for his conduct, 359 
 da Fonseca, Vicente, archbishop of Goa: mention of, 309 
 Forbes, Captain Patrick William : proceedings of at Umtasa's kraal, 458 
 
 to 460 
 Fort Santo Antonio : construction of, 352 ; abandonment of, 358 
 Fort Santo Estevao: construction of, 348; destruction of, 352 
 Fort Sao Marcjal : is built at Sena by Francisco Barreto, 240, 244, and 249 
 Fort Sao Miguel: is built at Chicova by Diogo Madeira, 352; is held under 
 
 extreme difficulties, 353, 356, and 357 ; in August 1816 is abandoned, 
 
 358; and is destroyed by the Monomotapa, 358 
 Fort Sao Sebastiao : is built at Mozambique by order of the regent Dona 
 
 Catharina, 223; in 1604 is besieged by the Dutch under Steven van der 
 
 Hagen, 322; in 1607 by Paulus van Caerden, 323 to 327; and again in 
 
 1608 by Peter Verhoeff, 328 to 331 
 Fort Sao Tbiago, the first occupied by the Portuguese in India : in July and 
 
 August 1505 is built at Kilwa, 168 
 Franciscans, the: have the privilege of exporting a certain quantity of ivory 
 
 from the Rivers every year free of duty, 421 
 Frausto, Joao, Dominican friar: mention of, 259 
 
 Freire, Manuel, rector of the Jesuit College at. Mozambique : mention of, 406 
 French, the : early voyages to India of, 303 and 304 ; make no attempt to 
 
 form a settlement in South Africa, 304; in 1796 destroy the Portuguese 
 
 fort at Lourenpo Marques, 426 
 
^ Index. 483 
 
 French East India Company: formation of, 304 
 
 Fura, mountain: is jealously guarded by the Monomotapa, 212 
 
 Furtado, Father Andr6: mention of, 395 
 
 da Gama, Joao de Saldanha, viceroy of India: orders of, concerning slaves of 
 Mohamedans, 420 
 
 da Gama, Paulo : is offered the command of an exploring expedition, but 
 declines the responsibility, 135; is captain of a ship in the expedition 
 under his brother, 136 ; adventure of with a whale in St. Helena Bay, 141 ; 
 humane conduct of, 144 ; dies at Terceira on the homeward passage, 149 
 
 da Gama, Vasco : is appointed commander of an exploring expedition, 135 ; 
 particulars concerning, 135; on the 8th of July 1497 with four ships sails 
 from the Tagus, 136 ; takes in water at the island of Santiago, 137 ; on 
 the 4th of November comes in sight of the African coast, 137 ; on the 
 7th anchors in St. Helena Bay, 137 ; where he is slightly wounded in a 
 skirmish with Hottentots, 140; on the 16th of November sails again, 
 141 ; on the 20th doubles the Gape of Good Hope, 141 ; and on the 
 26th anchors in the bay of Sao Bras, 141 ; bums his storeship, and on 
 the 8th of December sails again, 142 ; on the 25th of December names 
 the land in sight Natal, 142 ; on the 6th of January 1498 reaches the 
 mouth of the Limpopo, 143 ; on the 15th leaves, 143 ; and on the 24th 
 enters the Kilimane river, 143 ; where he refits his ships, 144 ; on the 
 24th of February sails, and on the 2nd of March arrives at Mozambique, 
 144 ; particulars of his intercourse with the Mohamedans here, 144 et seq. ; 
 on the 1st of April sets sail from Mozambique, and on the 7th reaches 
 Mombasa, 147; next visits Melinde, where he enters into an agreement 
 of peace and friendship, 148; obtains an experienced Indian pilot, with 
 whom on the 24th of April he sets sail and twenty-two days later 
 reaches Calicut, 149; on his return passage touches at Melinde, loses one 
 of his ships on a shoal, puts in at the bay of Sao Bras, and on the 
 29th of August 1499 reaches Lisbon, 149; has the title of Dom conferred 
 upon him, 150; has the title of Admiral of the Eastern Seas conferred 
 upon him, 159; on the 10th of February 1502 sails for the second time 
 from Lisbon in command of a fleet, 159; visits Sofala, 159; puts in at 
 Kilwa, 160 ; occurrences there, 160 ; destruction of the ship Meri, 161 ; 
 on the 1st of September 1503 reaches Lisbon again, 161 
 
 Gamba: is the first Bantu chief to receive Christian missionaries, 226; is 
 baptized, 227 ; but continues his previous customs, 231 
 
 Games played by Bantu boys, 96 and 97 
 
 Gamitto, Captain Antonio Candido Peroso: in 1831 is journalist of an 
 exploring expedition, 445 
 
 Gardens of Bantu : description of, 82 
 
 Gasilusere, Monomotapa: is assisted by the Portuguese in wars against his 
 enemies, 342 et seq. ; in August 1607 cedes to the king of Portugal all 
 the mines in his country, 344 
 
 Gaspar, a Moor wrecked on the South African coast: account of, 284 and 286 
 
 Geographical knowledge at the beginning of the fifteenth century, 124 
 
 2 M 
 
484 History of South Africa. 
 
 Ghosts of dead : are greatly feared by the Bantu, 43 
 
 Girls, orphan : receive prazos as dowries, 391 
 
 Goa: in 1510 becomes the capital of Portuguese India, 177 
 
 Godinho, Antonio : is wrecked in the Santo Antonio, 296 
 
 Godinho, Louren90, captain of Mozambique : account of, 237, 248, and 
 
 249 
 Gold: collection and barter of, 91, 104, 106, 202 to 207, 209, 233, 248, 253, 
 
 276, 310, 311, 321, 398, and 399 
 de Gouvea, Father Manuel : mention of, 390 and 395 
 Gouveia (Manuel Antonio de Sousa) : services performed by, 457 ; dealings 
 
 with Umtasa, 458 ; is arrested by Captain Forbes, 459 ; is released by 
 
 Dr. Jameson, 460; disperses Bonga's robber band, 466; is killed in 1892 
 
 in war with Makombi, 467 
 Grain : manner of preserving by Bantu, 79 
 Greeting: various forms of among Bantu, 98 
 
 da Guerra, Salvador Vaz, captain of Mozambique : mention of, 357 
 Guiao, Manuel Gon9alves, prazo holder : violent conduct of, 410 
 Guilds : are formed among Bantu youths, 67 
 Gungunyana, son of Umzila : acccount of, 455 and 467 
 Gwanya, Bantu chief: mention of, 42 
 
 van der Hagen, Steven : in December 1603 leaves Holland with a strong 
 armed fleet, 321 ; in June 1604 arrives at Mozambique and commences 
 a siege of Fort Sao Sebastiao, 322; in August abandons the siege 
 and sails for India, 323; wrests the Spice islands from the Portuguese, 
 323 
 
 Hair, the : modes of dressing by the Bantu, 88 
 
 Head rests ; manufacture and use of by the Bantu, 88 
 
 Henrique, Dom, prince of Portugal: exploration promoted by, 124; on 13th 
 November 1460 dies, 124 
 
 Henrique, Cardinal Dom : in 1562 becomes regent of Portugal, 232 ; in 1578 
 becomes king of Portugal, 257; in January 1580 dies, 257 
 
 Herbalists, Bantu : remedies used by, 53 
 
 Heyman, Captain : defeats a Portuguese force at Andrada, 460 and 461 
 
 Hlonipa custom : mention of, 31 
 
 Hocem, Emir: commands a great war fleet sent by the sultan of Egypt 
 in 1508 to operate against the Portuguese in India, 175; defeats a fleet 
 under Dom Louren(?o d' Almeida in the harbour of Chaul, 176; but is 
 utterly defeated himself on the 2nd of February 1509 by Dom Francisco 
 d' Almeida off Diu, 176 
 
 Homem, Vasco Fernandes: is second in command of the expedition under 
 Francisco Barreto, 235 to 251 ; succeeds Francisco Barreto as governor 
 and captain general, 251 ; enters the Kiteve's country with an army by 
 way of Sofala and vanquishes the Kiteve's forces, 252; is welcomed in 
 the Tshikanga's territory and makes a friendly agreement with the chief, 
 253 ; makes peace with the Kiteve, 253 ; proceeds up the Zambesi and 
 then returns to Mozambique, 254 
 
Index. 485 
 
 Horn implements : particulars concerning, 11 
 
 Hospital at Mozambique : in 1681 is entrusted to the order of Saint John of 
 God, 402 
 
 Hottentots : appearance in South Africa of, 4 ; speculations on the origin of, 
 4; area occupied by in 1500, 5; skull measurements of, 6 and 7; dis- 
 tinguishing characteristics of, 8; Bantu name of, 19; term themselves 
 Khoikhoi, 19; meaning of the term, 19; different appearance from 
 Bushmen, 19; language, 20; division into tribes, 20; weakness of govern- 
 ment, 20 ; possession of horned cattle and sheep, 21 ; description of 
 domestic animals, 21 ; food, 21 ; use of intoxicants, 21 ; clothing, 22 ; 
 ornaments, 22 ; dwellings, 22 ; weapons, 22 ; use of iron and copper, 23 ; 
 manufactures, 23 ; mode of living of impoverished clans, 24 ; superstitions, 
 25 ; religion, 25 ; disposition, 26 ; musical instruments, 26 and 141 ; practice 
 of polygamy, 26 ; position of women, 26 ; custom on entering manhood, 
 27 ; powers of imagination, 27 ; amusements, 27 ; freedom from sick- 
 ness, 28 ; capability of adopting civilised habits, 28 ; are seldom met 
 with by Portuguese, 29; conquer and enslave Bantu tribes in Damara- 
 land, 30; first intercourse with Europeans, 139 and 141 ; intercourse 
 with the people of Antonio de Saldanha's ship, 162 ; conflict in 1510 
 with the Portuguese under Dom Francisco d' Almeida, 177 et seq. ; in 
 1505 kill sixteen Portuguese at Flesh Bay, 184 ; are regarded by the 
 Portuguese as ferocious savages and avoided, 267 ; in Table Valley fall 
 upon men bartering cattle and kill thirteen, 313; at the same place 
 quarrel with and kill English and Dutch seamen, 338 
 
 Houtman, Cornells, commander of the first Dutch fleet that sailed to India : 
 mention of, 312 
 
 Hunger: a factor in man's progress, 3 
 
 Hunting: method of by Bantu, 80 
 
 Huts, Bantu : description of, 83 and 84 
 
 Iceya, a Hottentot game, 27 and 97 
 
 Imfumba, a game of Bantu children, 97 
 
 Incest as regarded by the Bantu, 73 
 
 Indian commerce with Europe : routes of at the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century, 123 
 
 Indwe, the blue crane: wings of are worn by Xosa warriors as an emblem 
 of bravery, 69 
 
 Infante, river : is the farthest point reached by Bartholomeu Dias, 129 
 
 Ingomiamo River : position of, 121 
 
 Inhambane : in 1500 the Mohamedans have a small settlement at, 121 ; is 
 frequented by the Portuguese after 1544 for purposes of trade, 219; is 
 visited by the first missionaries in South Africa, 226 and 226; the Dutch 
 make efforts to open a trade at, 417 to 419; in 1730 is permanently 
 occupied by the Portuguese, 419 ; description of in 1771, 419 ; is found 
 by Captain Owen to be the most thriving of all the Portuguese settle- 
 ments, 435; is destroyed in 1834 by the Abagaza, 440; is now a small 
 trading village, 464 
 
 2 M 2 
 
486 History of South Africa. 
 
 Inyabanzo, district close to Tete : is bestowed by the Monomotapa upon 
 Diogo Simoes Madeira, 344 ; later occurrences at, 345 and 410 
 
 Inyaka, the : is chief of the tribe on the south-eastern shore of Delagoa Bay, 
 218; is friendly to the Portuguese, 218, 280, and 293 
 
 Inyaka Island : the Asiatic Company of Trieste unsuccessfully endeavour to 
 establish a trading station on, 424 ; in November 1861 the British flag is 
 hoisted on, 448 ; is awarded to Portugal by arbitration, 452 
 
 Inyansata Island : mention of, 120 
 
 Irrigation, system of: is carried out by Asiatic immigrants, 104 
 
 Iron : use of by the Hottentots, 23 ; by the Bantu, 88 and 89 ; is plentiful in 
 South-Eastern Africa, 267 
 
 Isuf, sheik of Sofala: particulars concerning, 110, 185, 188, and 190 
 
 Ivory : armrings are prized by the Bantu, 81 ; particulars of the trade in, 
 204, 208, 209, 218, 219, 220, 271, 275, 322, 406, 407, 413, and 419; the 
 Franciscans have the privilege of collecting as alms a certain quantity 
 every year and exporting it free of duty, 421 
 
 Jaka, party of girls at Ntonjane ceremony, 69 
 
 James I, king of England : in 1620 is proclaimed sovereign of the country 
 from Table Bay to the dominions of the nearest Christian prince, 334 
 and 335 
 
 Jesus, Company of : on September 27th 1540 comes into existence, 224 ; in 
 1542 founds a college at Coimbra, 224 ; account of missions in South 
 Africa, 225 to 231, 363, 376, 392, 401, 421, and 467; on the 23rd July 
 1773 the order is suppressed, 422 ; on the 7th August 1814 is restored, 422 
 
 Joao II : in 1481 ascends the throne of Portugal, 124 ; on the 25th October 
 1495 dies, 133 
 
 Joao III: in December 1521 becomes king of Portugal, 210; in June 1557 
 dies, 221 
 
 Joao IV, duke of Bragan<?a: in December 1640 becomes king of Portugal, 
 381 ; in November 1656 dies, 387 
 
 Joao V: in December 1706 becomes king of Portugal, 408; in 1750 dies, 408 
 
 Joao, Dom : in 1799 becomes regent of Portugal, 409 ; in November 1807 
 leaves Portugal for Brazil, 409 
 
 Joao, Dom : succeeds his brother Pedro as Monomotapa, 412 
 
 Johnson, Captain: inspects Table Bay in 1620, and reports unfavourably 
 upon it, 338 
 
 Jos6 I : in 1750 becomes king of Portugal, 408 ; in February 1777 dies, 408 
 
 Jose, Amaro, native trader: crosses Africa in both directions between Angola 
 and Tete, 445 
 
 Jos6, Luis : in 1800 builds fort at Louren?© Marques, 427 
 
 Josepe of Lamego : travels of, 131 
 
 Journey: of the people wrecked in the Sao Joao to Delagoa Bay, 279 et seq.; 
 of the people wrecked in the Sao Bento to Delagoa Bay, 283 et seq. ; of 
 the people wrecked in the Sao ThmnA, 293 et seq. ; of the people wrecked 
 in the Santo Alberto to Delagoa Bay, 296 et seq.', of Dr. Francisco Jose 
 de Lacerda e Almeida from Tete to the kraal of Cazembe, 428; of Major 
 
Index. 487 
 
 Jos6 Maria Correia Monteiro from Tete to the kraal of Cazembe, 445; of 
 the reverend Dr. Livingstone across the continent, 446 and 447 
 Justice : administration of by the captains of Sofala, Sena, and Tete, 376 
 and 377 
 
 Kaffirs : name, meaning infidels, given to the Bantu by the Mohamedans, 109 
 
 Kapampo, induna of Tshunzo: particulars concerning, 342 
 
 Kapela : dynastic name of the chiefs of a tribe on the southern shore of 
 Delagoa Bay, 65 and 424 ; in 1794 nominally cedes his country to Portu- 
 gal, 426; in 1823 nominally cedes his country to Great Britain, 431 
 
 Kapote, sub chief of Mongasi : particulars concerning, 246 
 
 Kapranzine, Monomotapa : account of, 365 to 370 ; account of the son of as 
 Dominican friar, 385 
 
 Kesarimyo, or Kesarinuto, Monomotapa : account of, 216 
 
 Kilimane River : description of, 118 ; in January 1498 is entered by Vasco da 
 Gama, 143 ; in 1544 a Portuguese factory is founded on the bank of, 217 ; 
 further particulars concerning, 239, 374, 382, 434, and 447 
 
 Kilwa : is occupied by Persians under Ali, 108 to 110 ; duties on commerce 
 at, 113 ; description of, 117 ; is visited by the fleet under Pedro Alvares 
 Cabral, 153 ; occurrences during the stay of the fleet, 153 and 154 ; in 1502 
 is visited by Dom Vasco da Gama, 160; transactions of Dom Vasco there, 
 160; is visited by Lopo Soares d'Albergaria in 1505 on his return passage 
 from India, 164 ; the emir refuses to pay tribute to Portugal, 164 ; in July 
 1505 is seized and plundered by Dom Francisco d' Almeida, 168; a fort 
 is built and occupied there, 168 ; and a government is established 
 tributary to Portugal, 169; events at, 193 to 196, and 200 to .203; is 
 abandoned by the Portuguese, 203 ; further particulars concerning, 237 
 and 268 
 
 Kiteve, the, chief of the tribe at Sofala : particulars concerning, 229, 252, 253, 
 261, 262, 375, 384, 410, and 411 
 
 Knives : manufacture of by Bantu, 89 
 
 Kraals, Bantu : favourite sites for, 83 
 
 Kuama : see Cuama 
 
 Kwitambo, Bantu chief : mention of, 351 
 
 Kwizura, Bantu chief: war with, 270 
 
 de Lacerda e Almeida, Dr. Francisco Jos6 : journey of, 428 
 
 Lamu: in 1506 is made tributary to Portugal by Tristao da Cunha and 
 
 Affonso d'Alboquerque, 174 
 Lan^arote, Dom Antonio, son of the Kiteve: mention of, 404 
 Lancaster, Captain James: in 1591 visits. Table Bay, 307; and again in 
 
 1601, 333 
 Land : tenure of among Bantu, 82 
 
 Latitude: imperfect means for determining, 111 and 126 
 Leades, William : travels of, 306 
 Leitao, Captain Antonio Simoes: is killed in battle, 410 
 
488 History of South Africa. 
 
 Leitao, Jeronymo : vessel under command of is captured and plundered in 
 
 the Limpopo river, 294 
 de Lemos, Bastiao : rescues crew of wrecked ship Sao Bento, 286 
 d* Lemos, Duarte : in September 1508 sends a report to the king upon the 
 
 trade of Sofala, 204 
 Leonor, Dona, wife of Manuel de Sousa Sepulveda: pitiful story of, 278 
 
 to 281 
 Leopard, skin of: is reserved for dress of men of rank among the Bantu, 87 
 Leprosy : death of the Sedanda from, 266 ; death of the chief Sekeletu 
 
 from, 446 
 Letters: are unknown to the Bantu, 60 
 de Lima, Antonio Rodrigues, prazo holder : account of, 390 
 de Lima, Dom Paul : is wrecked in the Sao Thom^,, 292 ; dies at Manisa's 
 
 kraal, 295 
 de Lima, Dom Rodrigo : in 1515 visits Abyssinia as ambassador of the king 
 
 of Portugal, 132 
 Limpopo River: in 1498 is visited by Vasco da Gama, 143; in 1544 is 
 
 explored by Louren(?o Marques, 218 ; a vessel is captured and plundered 
 
 at, 294 
 van Linschoten, Jan Huyghen : particulars concerning, 306, 308 to 312, 
 
 and 340 
 Linyanti, Makololo kraal : mention of, 446 and 447 
 TAon, British Indiaman : in 1798 puts into Delagoa Bay in distress, 426 
 Livingstone, Reverend Dr. David, missionary explorer: is the first white man 
 
 to cross Africa, 446 and 447 
 Lobengula, son of Moselekatse r makes a treaty vsdth British envoys, 455 
 Lobo, Joao, vicar of Luanze : mention of, 344 
 
 Lobo, Rodrigo : as a vassal of the Kiteve holds the island of Maroupe, 261 
 Locusts: are eaten by the Bantu, 81; plague of in the Monomotapa's terri- 
 tory, 230 
 Lopes, Jeronymo, Dominican friar : mention of, 259 
 Louren<?o, Mohamedan prisoner at Sena : fate of, 241 
 
 Louren^o Marques, town of : census of in 1878, 441 ; present condition of, 454 
 Louren<?o Marques, bay of: see Delagoa Bay 
 Louren<?o Marques, river of : is named the Dundas by Captain Owen, but is 
 
 now called the Umbelosi, 434 
 Luanze, trading and mission station : particulars concerning, 264, 265, 342, 
 
 366, and 371 
 Luiza, Dona, daughter of Dona Isabella Pereira : is wrecked in the Santo 
 
 Alberto, 295 
 Lupata, gorge of: mention of, 120 
 Luspance, Bantu chief: friendly treatment of wrecked Portuguese by, 296 to 
 
 298 
 Luzios, small vessels used in Eastern Africa, 111 
 
 de Macedo, Sebastiao, captain of Mozambique : mention of, 322 ; sends 
 specimens of rich silver ore to Lisbon, 342 
 
Index. 489 
 
 Macmahon, Marshal, president of the French Republic : on the 24th July 
 
 1875 issues award giving Portugal the territory to 26° 30' south latitude, 
 
 452 
 Madeira, Diogo Simoes: career of, 344 to 362 
 Madeira, Joao, Dominican friar : mention of, 259 and 270 
 Mafia, island of : is colonised from Kilwa, 108 ; description of, 116 ; mention 
 
 of, 237 
 Magadosho, town of : foundation of, 107 ; description of, 115 
 de Magalhaes, Francisco : is sent as envoy to the Monomotapa, but dies on 
 
 the journey, 249 
 de Magalhaes, Pedro Barreto : in 1505 accompanies Pedro d'Anaya to build a 
 
 fort at Sofala, 183 ; after the fort is built sails for India as commodore 
 
 of three ships, 187 ; loses his own ship at Kilwa, 187 ; on the 1st March 
 
 1510 is killed by Hottentots near Table Valley, 179 
 de Magdalena, Joao, Dominican friar : mention of, 406 
 le Maire, Isaac : in May 1611 visits Table Bay, and leaves men there to kill 
 
 seals and whales, 332 
 Makalanga, Bantu tribe : description of, 211, 214, 215, and 262 
 Makalapapa, Bantu tribe ; mention of, 301 
 Makamoasha, Bantu chief : mention of, 370 
 Makasane, Bantu chief : in 1823 signs a document placing himself under 
 
 British protection, 433; dealings of the Portuguese with, 437 
 Makomata, Bantu tribe : mention of, 293 and 301 
 Makombi, Bantu chief : war with, 467 
 Malemos, Mohamedan pilots : are very expert. 111 
 Malheiro, Manuel : murder of, 271 
 Ma Matiwane : torture of on charge of witchcraft, 58 
 Mambo : title of the Monomotapa, 266 
 Mandeville, Sir John : note on book of, 305 
 Mangova, Bantu chief : mention of, 424 
 Mangrove tree : description of, 119 
 
 Manhoesa, half-breed Arab at Sena : particulars concerning, 240 and 241 
 Manika: becomes independent of the Monomotapa, 216; further mention of, 
 
 233 and 253 
 Manikusa, or Sotshangana, Gaza chief: destructive career of, 439 and 440 
 Manisa, dynastic title of chief of tribe on the northern shore of Delagoa Bay : 
 
 mention of, 65 and 294 
 Manisa River : mention of, 218, 294, and 434 
 Ma Ntati : march of the destructive horde under, 268 
 
 Manuel the Fortunate : in 1495 ascends the throne of Portugal, 133 ; resolves 
 to send an expedition to follow up the discoveries of Bartholomeu Dias, 
 134; in 1501 adds to his titles that of Lord of the Navigation, Conquest, 
 and Trade of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India, 157 ; in December 1521 
 dies, 210 
 Manufactories of stone implements : particulars concerning, 2 
 Manufactures : of the Bushmen, 17 ; of the Hottentots, 22 and 23 ; of the 
 Bantu, 88 to 92 
 
49^^ History of Sotifh Africa. 
 
 Manuza: is made Monomotapa by the Portuguese, 365 to 371, and 385 
 Maputa River: mention of, 218, 280, and 424 
 
 Marecos, Francisco : acts for a short time as eighth captain of Sofala, 208 
 Mariana, Dona, wife of Guterre de Monroy : is wrecked in the Sao Tlwm^, 
 
 292 
 de Maris Lobo, Antonio : control of commerce by, 360 
 Maris, Pedro Usus, Dominican friar : mention of, 258 
 Maroupe, island of : is given by the Kiteve to Rodrigo Lobo, 261 
 Marques, Lourenpo : exploration of Delagoa Bay by, 218 ; opens up trade 
 
 there, 219 
 Marriage customs: of Bantu, 70 to 74 
 dos Martyres, Aleixo, Dominican friar : mention of, 371 
 Mascarenhas, Antonio, son of Vasco Fernandes Homem : dies at Mozambique, 
 
 236 
 Mascarenhas, Dom Philippe, captain of Mozambique : mention of, 372 
 Masapa, trading and mission station : mention of, 233, 264, 342, 347, and 366 
 Masarwa: particulars concerning the, 8 
 Mashona: are descended from the Makalanga, 211 
 Masikesi : is visited by Vasco Fernandes Homem, 253 
 Masisa, Bantu chief : in 1722 cedes a tract of land to the Portuguese, 410 
 Matical of gold: value of in English money, 181 
 
 de Mattos, Jose Correia Monteiro : obtains cession of land to Portugal, 426 
 Matuzianye : rebellion of against the Monomotapa, 344 to 347 
 Maweva, son of Manikusa : is deposed by his brother Umzila, 449 and 450 
 Mayeta, Kapela chief : cedes his territory to Great Britain, 431 ; attacks and 
 
 kills Lupe de Cardenas and a number of soldiers, 438 
 Mazimba: wars with the, 269 to 273 
 Medicines used by Bantu herbalists, 53 
 Melinde : description of, 115 ; in 1498 is visited by Vasco da Gama, 148 ; 
 
 becomes a permanent ally of Portugal, 148; is visited by the fleet under 
 
 Pedro Alvares Cabral, 154 ; in 1503 is assisted by the Portuguese in its 
 
 war with Mombasa, 163; position of in 1506, 195; further mention of, 
 
 237 and 268 
 de Mello, Antonio : is an officer in Francisco Barreto's expedition, 244 ; dies 
 
 at Sena, 250 
 de Mello e Castro, Alvaro Caetano, last Portuguese captain of Mombasa : in 
 
 1729 is driven away by rebel blacks, 414 
 de Mello, Garcia: in 1586 is captain of Sofala, 259 
 
 de Mello, Ruy : is an officer in Francisco Barreto's expedition, 244 and 247 
 de Mendoncja, Dona Joaima: is wrecked in the Sao Thomi, 292 
 de Mendon9a Furtado, Luis, viceroy of India: mention of, 394 and 395 
 de Mendon^a, Pedro: in 1505 is wrecked on the South African coast, and 
 
 perishes with the entire crew of his ship, 164 
 de Menezes, Dom Aleixo, archbishop of Goa, acting governor general of 
 
 India: mention of, 346 
 de Menezes, Dom Duarte, viceroy of India : mention of, 275 
 de Menezes, Dom Jorge, captain of Mozambique : mention of, 275 
 
Index, 49 1 
 
 de Menezes, Fernao Lobo: is wrecked at Plettenberg's Bay, 377 
 
 M&ri, the : destruction of by Dom Vasco da Gama, 161 
 
 de Mesquita, Diogo, captain of Mozambique : mention of, 281 
 
 de Mesquita Perestrello, Manuel : assists in the expedition under Francisco 
 
 Barreto, 238 ; is wrecked in the Sao Bento, 287 ; surveys the South 
 
 African coast, 287 to 290 
 Michelburne, Sir Edward : in 1605 names Dassen Island, 315 ; voyage of, 333 
 Miguel, son of the Monomotapa Kapranzine : account of, 370 
 Miguels, Rodrigo : is wrecked in the Santo Alberto, 295 ; keeps a diary of the 
 
 journey to Delagoa Bay, 296 
 Millet : is the grain used by the Bantu, 78 
 
 Mines: in 1607 are ceded by the Monomotapa to the king of Portugal, 344 
 Missions of the Jesuits and Dominicans : account of, 224 to 231, 248, 258, 
 
 259, 266, 362, 363, 371, 401, 420 et seq. 
 Mnamatapa: dynastic title of the chief of the Makalanga, 65 
 Mohamedans on the East African coast : particulars concerning, 106 to 114, 
 
 234, 240 to 242, 248, 260, 302, 367, 376, 395, and 420 
 Mokomba, Monomotapa : account of, 215 
 Mombasa: description of in 1500, 115 and 116; in 1498 is visited by Vasco 
 
 da Gama, 147; in August 1505 is taken by storm by Dom Francisco 
 
 d' Almeida, and is pillaged and burned, 172; further mention of, 237, 268, 
 
 and 414 
 Monclaros, Father Francisco : accompanies the expedition under Francisco 
 
 Barreto and writes an account of it, 236, 238, 240, 242, and 249 to 252 
 Mondragon, French corsair : account of, 303 
 Mongalo, Bantu chief at Kilimane : mention of, 239 
 
 Mongasi, enemy of the Monomotapa : war with, 243 to 247 ; destruction of, 345 
 Moniz, Joao da Fonseca, captain of Inhambane : mention of, 418 
 Monomotapa, or Mnamatapa, the : mention of, 212 to 214, 228 to 230, 234, 
 
 242, 243, 248, 249, 263 to 265, 322, 345 to 348, 351, 353, 359, 366, 368, 
 
 376, 386, 388 to 390, 392, and 411 
 de Monroy, Dom Fernando, governor and captain .general of East Africa : 
 
 mention of, 254 
 Monsoons in Indian Ocean: mention of, 311 
 Monteiro, Major Jos6 Maria Correia : journey of, 445 
 Moraria, Portuguese soldier at Mozambique : bravery of, 330 
 Moselekatse, chief of the Matabele : mention of, 454 
 Mossel Bay : receives its present name in 1601 from Paulus van Gaerden, 
 
 314 ; mention of, 312 and 340. See Agoada de Sao Bras 
 Mourning of widows of Bantu of rank, 45 
 Mozambique : description of the island, 117 ; condition of in 1498 when 
 
 visited by Vasco da Gama, 145 ; in October 1507 is occupied by the 
 
 Portuguese, 198; further particulars concerning, 221, 223, 225, 232, 235 
 
 to 239, 249 to 251, 254, 258, 259, 263, 268, 270, 273, 274, 281, 286, 287, 
 
 300, 309, 310, 321 to 328, 341, 348, 349, 353, 361, 363, 382, 384, 385, 393, 
 
 395, 398, 401, 402, 405, 406, 411, 413, 415, 422, 425, 434, and 435 
 Mozambique Company : formation and working of, 463 and 464 
 
492 History of South Africa. 
 
 Mpako River: wreck of the Santo Alberto at mouth of, 296 
 
 Muinha Sedaca, half-breed Arab : kindness of to wrecked Portuguese, 291 
 
 Mumbos, cannibal Bantu: account of, 269 
 
 Municipal government : in 1763 is introduced into South-Eastern Africa, 419 
 
 Musical instruments : of the Bushmen, 18 ; of the Hottentots, 26 and 141 ; 
 
 of the Bantu, 64 
 Mutilation by Bantu of bodies of slain enemies, 67 
 
 Naarstigheid, the, Dutch ship : in 1757 puts into Delagoa Bay in distress, 
 
 and her crew remains there two years, 424 
 Names, dynastic, of Bantu chiefs, 65; given to women on marriage and 
 
 motherhood, 66 
 Natal : is named by Vasco da Gama, 142 
 Natal, bay of: is not mentioned by Manuel de Mesquita Perestrello in his 
 
 report of his survey of the South African coast, 289 
 Navigation: imperfect knowledge of in the sixteenth century, 309 
 Necklaces used by Bushmen: description of, 13 
 Newbery, John: travels of, 306 
 
 Ningomosha, general of Monomotapa's army: account of, 342 and 343 
 Nodiwu, wooden toy used by Bantu children : description of, 98 
 Noord, the, Dutch galiot : in 1688 surveys Delagoa Bay, 407 
 de Noronha, Dom Antonio, viceroy of India: mention of, 238 
 Nossa Senhora da Ajtida, the : is captured by pirates and all her crew except 
 
 one boy are put to death, 405 
 Nossa Senhora de Belem, the : in 1635 is wrecked near the mouth of the 
 
 Umzimvubu river, 379 
 Noto, son of Morolong: is credited by the Barolong tribe as the inventor of 
 
 iron weapons, the maker of copper ornaments, and the introducer of 
 
 millet as food, 60 
 Nourse, Commodore Joseph : proceedings in Delagoa Bay of, 437 
 da Nova, Joao : on the 5th of May 1501 sails from Lisbon for India in 
 
 command of a fleet, 157; at the bay of Sao Bras finds an account of 
 
 Cabral's voyage, 157; is appointed commander of a fleet of war, and in 
 
 1505 accompanies Dom Francisco d' Almeida to India, 167 
 Ntonjane ceremonies : account of, 68 and 69 
 Nunes, Miguel, notary: draws up the document ceding the mines in the 
 
 Monomotapa's country to Portugal, 344 
 Nyaka: dynastic title of the chiefs of a tribe on the south-eastern shore of 
 
 Delagoa Bay, 65 
 Nyambana: see Inhambane 
 Nyassa, Lake : in 1616 is visited by Gaspar Bocarro, 355 ; Dr. Livingstone's 
 
 discovery of, 355 
 Nyaude, or Joaquim Jose da Cruz, prazo holder: insurrection and violent 
 
 conduct of, 465 
 
 Oath : form of among Bantu, 40 
 
 Ocean road to India : importance of the discovery of, 123 
 
Index. 493 
 
 Oja, town of: in 1506 is destroyed by Tristao da Cunha and Affonso 
 
 d'Alboquerque, 174 
 Ophir: productions of found in South-Eastern Africa, 101 
 Opinion given in 1569 by the bo^,rd of conscience to King Sebastiao, 234 
 Ordeal : trial by among Bantu, 59 
 
 Ornaments : worn by Bushmen, 13 ; by Hottentots, 22 ; by Bantu, 87 
 Otongwe: the first mission in South Africa is commenced at, 226, 227, 
 
 and 231 
 Owen, Captain William FitzWilliam: proceedings at Delagoa Bay of, 431 
 
 to 434 
 
 Pacheco, Albino Manuel : in 1862 hoists the Portuguese flag at Zumbo, 444 
 Pacheco, Duarte : is wrecked at Prince's Island, and is rescued by 
 Bartholomeu Dias, 130 ; in 1509 captures the French corsair 
 Mondragon, 303 
 de Paiva, Affonso: travels of, 131 
 Pangayos, trading vessels : description of. 111 
 Pardao : uncertain value of, 276 
 Parmentier, Jean and Raoul : voyage of, 304 
 
 Patalim, Ruy de Brito : acts for some time as fifth captain of Sofala, 199 
 Pate: mention of, 237, 395, and 414 
 
 Paul V, Pope : in 1642 separates South-Eastern Africa from the arch- 
 bishopric of Goa and creates the office of ecclesiastical administrator for 
 it, 363 
 Pearls : are found at the Bazaruta islands, 121, 210, and 400 
 Pedro II, king of Portugal : mention of, 387, 399, 401, and 408 
 Pedro III, king of Portugal : mention of, 408 
 Pedro V, king of Portugal : mention of, 429 
 Pedro, Monomotapa : carries on war with Tshangamira, 411 ; grants silver 
 
 mines to the Portuguese, 412 ; in 1711 dies, 412 ; 
 Pegado, Jose Gregorio, military governor of Mozambique : mention of, 441 
 Pegado, Vicente, captain of Sofala : mention of, 216 and 217 
 Pemba, island of: description of, 116 
 Pepper trade : particulars concerning, 165 
 Pereira, Francisco de Sodre, captain of the Bmi Jesus: is captured by the 
 
 Dutch, 331 
 Pereira, Dona Isabella: is wrecked in the Santo Alberto, 295 
 Pereira, Dom Joao Froyas, viceroy of India : mention of, 342 
 Pereira, Dom Nuno Alvares: proceedings of in South Africa, 346 and 347, 
 
 359 to 361, and 363 
 Pereira, Manuel Caetano : journey of, 428 
 Pereira, Nuno Velho: is captain of Mozambique, 268; is wrecked in the 
 
 Santo Alberto, 295 and 296; is again captain of Mozambique, 310^ 
 Pereira, Nuno Vaz: is the third captain of Sofala, 194 
 Perforated stones: particulars concerning, 11, 12, and 24 
 
 Pestana, Francisco Pereira : succeeds Pedro Ferreira Poga(?a as captain of 
 Kilwa, 201 ; is instructed to abandon that place, and does so, 203 
 
494 History of South Africa. 
 
 Philippe II, king of Spain: in 1581 adds Portugal to his dominions, 
 257 
 
 Philippe II of Portugal, III of Spain : mention of, 341 and 342 
 
 Philippe, Monomotapa : see Manuza 
 
 Philippe, son of Monomotapa : mention of, 345 and 353 
 
 Physical description of South Africa, 3 
 
 Pillars set up by Bartholomeu Dias : Sao Thiago at Angra Pequena, 126 ; 
 Santa Cruz at the island of that name, 128; Sao Philippe on the Cape 
 peninsula, 130 
 
 de Pinho, Manuel Paez, prazo holder : mention of, 388 
 
 Pinto, Francisco Joao: is chaplain of Dr. Lacerda's expedition and takes 
 command after that gentleman's death, 428 
 
 Pirates : frequent Delagoa Bay, 405 
 
 Pires, Francisco : is wrecked in the Sao Bento^ 285 
 
 Pires, Joao, of Covilhao : in May 1487 leaves Santarem and proceeds by vpay 
 of Alexandria, Cairo, and Aden to Cananor, Calicut, and Goa, crosses 
 over to Sofala on the African coast, and then returns to Cairo, 131 ; 
 with Eabbi Habrao proceeds to Ormuz, and thence by way of Aden to 
 Abyssinia, where he spends the remainder of his life, 132 
 
 Pires, Joao, trader at Sofala : in 1735 is robbed and murdered by a son of 
 the Kiteve, 410; his widow makes war upon the Kiteve, and obtains the 
 district of Chironde, 411 
 
 Plettenberg's Bay : see Bahia Fermosa 
 
 Poetry, Bantu: description of, 64 
 
 Poison: mention of, 45, 215, and 241 
 
 Porto, Antonio Francisco Ferreira da Silva: journey of, 446 
 
 Port Singune: mention of, 121 
 
 Portugal: causes of the decline of after the death of King Sebastiao, 255 and 
 256 ; in 1581 becomes part of the Spanish dominions, 257 ; in 1640 
 recovers her independence, 381 ; is closely allied with England afterwards, 
 387 
 
 Portuguese, the : in the fifteenth century are the most adventurous seamen 
 in the world, 124 ; in 1487 discover the southern limit of Africa, 127 to 
 130 ; in 1498 reach India, 149 ; in September 1505 commence at Sofala 
 the European occupation of South Africa, 187 ; rapidly degenerate in 
 Africa and India, 220 and 221 ; further particulars concerning, 302, 382, 
 392, 405, 409, 427, and 431; territory in South Africa finally defined, 
 462 ; present condition of in South Africa, 467 
 
 Prazos, or great estates held under feudal tenure : particulars concerning, 383, 
 388, 389, 391, 393, and 442 
 
 Presents : Bantu system of, 113, 216, 247, 249, 262, 264, and 353 
 
 Prester John: references to, 126, 132, and 155 
 
 Priests, Bantu : duties of, 42 and 51 
 
 Primeiras Islands : description of, 118 
 
 Property: distribution and inheritance of among the Bantu, 85 
 
 Proverbs : specimens of Xosa, 61 to 64 
 
 Punishment for crimes by Bantu, 57 
 
Index. 495 
 
 Qamata : belief in, 46 
 
 Quaresma, Pedro: voyage in 1505 and 1506 of, 192 and 193 
 
 Queimado, Job : ship commanded by is plundered by the French corsair 
 
 Mondragon, 303 
 de Queiroz, Joao: in 1505 is killed by Hottentots at Flesh Bay, 184 
 Querimba Islands: description of, 117 
 Querns used by Bantu, 92 
 Quilimane : see Kilimane 
 Quiloa: see Kilwa 
 Quitrents for prazos: are very small, 388 and 389 
 
 Kabbi Habrao, of Beja : travels of, 131 
 
 Eafaxo, Francisco : goes as envoy to the Monomotapa, 249 
 
 Rainmakers among the Bantu, 52 
 
 Railway from Louren(?o Marques inland : account of, 453 ; from Beira to 
 
 Salisbury, 463 
 Ramires, Francisco d'Aviles, lieutenant general at Mozambique : mention of, 
 
 406 
 Raposo, Joao: assists in. the first mission of the Jesuits, 225 and 226 
 Ravasco, Ruy Louren^o: daring cruise on the East African coast of, 163 
 Raymond, Admiral George : in 1591 visits Table Bay, 307 ; is lost off the 
 
 coast, 307 
 Real (plural reis) : note upon the value of in English money, 180 
 Religion : of the Bushmen, 16 ; of Hottentots, 25 ; of Bantu, 41 and 61 ; of 
 
 early Asiatic immigrants, 103 
 Report on the condition of South-Eastern Africa drawn up in 1634 by Pedro 
 
 Barreto de Rezende, 374 
 Revenue : schemes for increasing, 399 
 Reviews, military : held among Bantu, 86 
 de Rezende, Joao, agent of the Mozambique Company : particulars concerning, 
 
 456 and 459 
 de Rezende, Pedro Barreto : report of, 374 
 Ribeiro, Dionysio Antonio, captain of the fort at Louren^o Marques : murder 
 
 of by the Abagaza, 439 
 Ribeiro, Father Domingos Dias: mention of, 406 
 Ribeiro, Francisco Pires : is sent as commissioner to South-Eastern Africa, 
 
 390 
 Ribeiro, Gon^alo, Dominican friar : mention of, 367 
 Ribeiro, Dom Joao Gayo, bishop of Malacca: mention of, 259 
 Robben Island : in 1591 is visited by Admiral Raymond, 307 ; is named 
 
 Cornelia Island by Joris van Spilbergen, 315 
 Roe, Sir Thomas, English envoy to the Great Mogul: visits Table Valley, 
 
 339 
 do Rosario, Aleixo, Dominican friar: mention of, 386 
 do Rosario, Constantino, Dominican friar, son of the Monomotapa: particulars 
 
 concerning, 403, 412, and 413 
 do Rosario, Nicolau, Dominican friar : displays great devotion to duty in 
 
49 6 History of South Africa. 
 
 the wreck of the Sao TTiorne, 292 ; succeeds Father Joao dos Santos at 
 Tete, 271 ; is murdered by the Mazimba, 272 
 Kuins in Rhodesia : imperfect architecture of, 103 
 
 de Sa, Garcia, captain of Malacca, father of Dona Leonor who perished at 
 
 Delagoa Bay : mention of, 218 
 de Sa, Garcia, Inyaka so named by the Portuguese : mention of, 218, 283, 
 
 286, and 289 
 de Sd, Pantaleao, captain of Sofala : mention of, 274 
 
 de Sa e Simas, Jos6 Augusto, captain of Louren^o Marques : mention of, 441 
 Sabseans: are considered by Mr. Bent to be the probable builders of the forts 
 
 and temples in Rhodesia, 102 
 Sabi River : in former times was the boundary between the Makalanga and 
 
 Batonga tribes, 211 ; is reached by the Abagaza and Angoni from Zulu- 
 land, who fight with each other there, 439 
 Sacoto, Joao Machado, factor at Mozambique : mention of, 406 
 Sacrifices offered by Bantu at graves of chiefs, 45 
 
 Saint Francis, bay of : description of by Manuel de Mesquita Perestrello, 289 
 Saint George, island of : position of, 117 
 
 Saint Helena, island of: in 1502 is discovered by Joao da Nova, 158 
 Saint Helena Bay : in November 1497 is discovered and named by Vasco da 
 
 Gama, 137 
 Saint Jago, island of : description of, 118 
 Saint John of God, order of : in 1681 takes charge of the hospital at 
 
 Mozambique, 402 
 Saint Sebastian's Bay: description of by Manuel de Mesquita Perestrello, 288 
 Sakandemo, Bantu chief: war between the Kiteve and, 384 
 Salaries of officials, 262 and 397 
 de Saldanha, Antonio : in 1503 sails from Lisbon with a squadron for India, 
 
 161; puts into the port now known as Table Bay, 162; transactions 
 
 there, 162; in September 1509 assumes duty as sixth captain of 
 
 Sofala, 200 
 Saldanha, Agoada de : see Table Bay 
 Salisbury, town of : on the 11th September 1890 the British flag is hoisted 
 
 at, 456 
 Salt River: is named the Jacqueline by Joris van Spilbergen, 315 
 de Sampayo, Ruy de Mello, captain of Mozambique: particulars concerning, 
 
 349, 354, 357, and 359 
 Sanches, Lopo: in 1505 is wrecked near Cape Correntes, when most of the 
 
 crew of his ship perish, 173 ; account of the wreck, 184 and 186 
 Sanitation: is entirely neglected by the Bantu, 83 
 
 Santa Barbara, convent of, in Goa : Kapranzine's son dies as vicar of, 385 
 Santa Carolina, island of: in 1855 is occupied by refugees from the 
 
 mainland, 442 
 Santa Cruz, islet of: is visited by Bartholomeu Dias, 128 
 de Santa Rosa, Damaso, Dominican friar : mention of, 403 
 de Santa Rosa, Diogo, Dominican friar : mention of, 403 
 
Index. 49 7 
 
 Santiago : wreck of the, 290 
 
 de Santiago, Andr6, captain of Sena : carries on war with the Mazimba, 271 ; 
 
 is killed with many of his people, 272 
 Santo Alberto: wreck of the, 295 
 Santo ■ Ignacio Loyola, the ; rescues a boat with people of the wrecked ship 
 
 Sao Goncalo, and is lost near home, 378 
 dos Santos, Joao, Dominican friar : particulars concerning, 34, 259, 260, 266, 
 
 270, 271, 356, and 358 
 Sao Bento : wreck of the, 282 
 Sao Bras, Agoada de : is visited by Bartholomeu Dias, 128 ; and by Vasco da 
 
 Gama, 141; in 1501 Joao da Nova builds the first place of worship in 
 
 South Africa on its shore, 157; is described by INIanuel de Mesquita 
 
 Perestrello, 289. See Mossel Bay 
 Sao Gabriel, church of, at Mozambique: is set on fire by the Dutch, 327 
 Sao Gongalo: wreck of the, 377 
 Sao Joao : wreck of the, 277 
 Sao Thiago : church at Tete dedicated to, 264 
 Sao Thome: wreck of the, 291 
 
 de Sao Thom6, Joao, Dominican friar : mention of, 403 - 
 de Sao Thom6, Jorge, Dominican friar : mention of, 403 
 de Sao Vicente, Manuel, Dominican friar: mention of, 344 
 Sapoe, Bantu chief: aids the Portuguese, 352 
 Sarmento e Moraes, Paschoal d'Abreu, castellan of Mozambique : mention 
 
 of, 406 
 Sardinha, Manuel, Dominican friar : mention of, 365 and 369 
 Sculpture by Asiatic immigrants : remains of, 103 
 Seals: are found in abundance on the South African coast, 142, 316, 
 
 and 378 
 Sebastiao, Dom : on the 16th of June 1557 succeeds to the throne of 
 
 Portugal at three years of age, 221 ; in 1568 is declared of age and is 
 
 crowned king of Portugal, 232 ; resolves to create a vast dominion in 
 
 South-Eastern Africa, 232 ; submits to a board of conscience the question 
 
 of lawfulness of warfare against the Monomotapa, 234 ; on the 4th of 
 
 August 1578 dies in battle with the Moors of North Africa, 255 
 Sebetuane, Makololo chief : mention of, 446 
 Sedanda : dynastic title of chiefs of the tribe living between Sofala and the 
 
 Sabi river, 266 
 Sekeletu, Makololo chief: mention of, 446 
 Selous, Frederick Courteney : visit to Umtasa's kraal of, 456 
 Sena, town of: particulars concerning, 120, 216, 228, 239, 244, 248, 250, 261, 
 
 262, 263, 273, 274, 362, 363, 375, 382, 392, 394, 401, 440, and 441 
 Serrao, Manuel Gomes : is commander in chief in the war against Kapran- 
 
 zine, 366 
 Shell mounds: description of, 1, 24, and 25 
 Shillinge, Andrew: in 1620 proclaims sovereignty of King James I over 
 
 South Africa, 335 
 Ships of the time of Vasco da Gama : description of, 134 
 
49^ History of South Africa, 
 
 Siboko : animal esteemed by a Bantu tribe, 47 
 
 Siege of Mozambique by the Dutch: the first, 322; the second, 323; the 
 third, 328 
 
 da Silva, Antonio Lobo, prazo holder: mention of, 388 and 390 
 
 da Silva, Joao, son of Francisco Barreto : mention of, 249 and 251 
 
 da Silveira, Antonio, captain of Sofala from 1524 to 1527 : gallant defence of 
 Diu in 1538 by, 222 
 
 da Silveira, Dom Gon9alo, leader of the first mission party in South Africa : 
 account of, 224 to 230 
 
 Silver : specimens of ore and search for mines of : 253, 342, 346, 352, 354, 
 355, 359, 361, 362, 372, and 412 
 
 Sinews of animals: are used as thread by the Bantu, 91 
 
 de Siqueira, Antonio Joao, governor of Mozambique : mention of, 416 
 
 Skins : methods of dressing by the Bantu, 91 
 
 Skull measurements of Bantu, Hottentots, and Bushmen, 6 and 7 
 
 Skulls, human: are used by Bantu to hold charms against witchcraft, 55; 
 the courtyard of Kwizura's hut is found paved with, 270 
 
 Slaves: particulars concerning, 94, 256, 297, 310, 311, 389, and 420 
 
 Slave trade, the : effect upon Portugal of, 124 ; particulars concerning, 255, 
 383, 416, 417, 430, 434, 436, 442, and 443 
 
 Smell : dull sense of among Bantu, 83 
 
 Smith, Andrew, M.A. : book of on medicinal plants used by Bantu, 53 
 
 Smoking wild hemp : is practised by Bantu, 79 
 
 Smythe, Sir Thomas, governor of the English East India Company : mention 
 of, 338 
 
 Snuffelaar, the : visit to Inhambane of, 418 
 
 Scares, Bernardo de Castro: protests against the Dutch trading at Inham- 
 bane, 417 
 
 Scares, Pedro Vaz : in June 1513 sends a report to the king upon the trade 
 of Sofala, 206 
 
 Sodre, Vicente : in 1502 sails from Lisbon for India as commander of a fleet 
 of war, 158 
 
 Sofala: under the Mohamedans, 107 to 110; description of in 1500, 120 and 
 121 ; is visited by Joao Pires, of Covilhao, 131 ; accounts of the wealth 
 of received by Vasco da Gama, 145 and 146; is visited by Sancho de 
 Toar, 155 ; is visited by Dom Vasco da Gama, 159 ; condition of in 1505, 
 185; on 21st September 1505 Pedro d'Anaya commences to build a fort, 
 186 ; condition of the Portuguese garrison in 1506, 188 ; the fort is 
 attacked by the Mohamedans aided by a Bantu clan, 189 ; who are 
 vanquished, when Portuguese authority is firmly established, 190 and 
 191; further particulars concerning, 193, 200, 203 et seq., 211, 216, 225, 
 233, 239, 252, 259 to 261, 270, 294, 295, 341, 363, 374, 375, 382, 392, 404, 
 420, 435, and 440 
 
 Soleiman, ninth ruler of Kilwa : takes Sofala from Magadosho and secures the 
 trade in ivory and gold, 109 
 
 Soleiman, Turkish governor of Egypt : siege of Diu by, 222 
 
 Songs of Bantu : description of, 64 
 
Index. 499 
 
 Souza, Bantu chief; war with, 269 
 
 Sotomayor, Dom Francisco AlarQao, governor of Mozambique : mention of 
 
 413 
 Sotshangana: see Manikusa 
 
 de Sousa, Alvaro, captain of Mozambique: mention of, 385 
 de Sousa e Menezes, Diogo, captain of iMozambique : mention of, 369 
 de Sousa Freire, Joao, military commander : mention of, 394 to 396 
 de Sousa Sepulveda, Manuel: miserable fate of in the wreck of the Sdo JoCio, 
 
 278 to 281 
 de Sousa, Dom Pedro, captain of Mozambique : mention of, 273 
 de Sousa, Thom6 : is an officer in Francisco Barreto's expedition, 244 
 South Africa Chartered Company: formation of, 455; boundary with the 
 
 Portuguese settled, 461 
 South African Republic: independence of acknowledged by Great Britain in 
 
 1852, 448; boundary with the Portuguese settled, 450 
 Spice Islands : in 1604 are taken from the Portuguese by the Dutch, 323 
 van Spilbergen, Joris : in 1601 gives Table Bay its present name, 315 
 St. Croix, islet of, in Algoa Bay: see Santa Cruz 
 Stephens, Thomas, rector of the Jesuit college at Salsette : mention of, 305 
 
 and 306 
 Stone : is little used for building by the Bantu, 92 
 Stone implements of great age : particulars concerning, 2, 3, 13, and 23 
 Story, James : travels of, 306 
 Superstitions of Mohamedans on the eastern coast of Africa, 114 
 
 Table 'Bay: is so named by Joris van Spilbergen, 315; is soon afterwards 
 much frequented by English and Dutch ships, 332 to 335, and 340. See 
 Agoada de Saldanha 
 Table Mountain: in 1503 is so named by Antonio de Saldanha, 162 
 Table Valley : slaughter of Dom Francisco d' Almeida and his people near, 
 267 ; proposed settlement in, 334 ; English and Dutch killed by Hottentots 
 in, 338 ; English criminals left in, 339 ; settlement formed in by Dutch 
 East India Company, 386 
 de Tavora, Christovao : in 1515 assumes duty as ninth captain of Sofala, 208 
 de Tavora, Francisco, viceroy of India : mention of, 396 
 Tavora, marquis of, viceroy of India: mention of, 422 and 423 
 de Tavora, Buy LoureuQo, viceroy of India: mention of, 347 
 Tembe River : position of, 218 : the British flag is hoisted on the bank of, 
 
 433; the Portuguese flag is hoisted on the bank of, 437 
 Terrado, Dom Domingos, titular bishop of Sale: is appointed first ecclesias- 
 tical administrator of South-Eastern Africa, 363 
 Tete : establishment of trading station at, 217 ; further particulars concerning, 
 243, 263, 264, 270, 271, 345, 346, 348, 376, 392, 410, 428, 445, 465, 466, 
 and 467 
 Threlfall, Rev. Mr., Wesleyan missionary at Delagoa Bay : account of, 437 
 Time : method of computing by Bantu, 59 and 60 
 Tizombe, or Zikali, prominent rock on the coast : mention of, 296 
 
 2 N 
 
500 History of South Africa. 
 
 de Toar, Sancho : is second in command of the fleet under Pedro Alvares 
 
 Cabral, 151 ; visits Sofala, 155 ; in September 1518 becomes tenth captain 
 
 of Sofala, 208 
 Tolwa, Bantu chief: mention of, 216 
 Tondo, Bantu chief: war with, 271, 273, and 274 
 Torture of Ma Matiwane on charge of witchcraft : account of, 58 
 Tower in temple of Great Zimbabwe : is supposed to have been a phallus, 
 
 103 
 Toys of Bantu children : description of, 98 
 Trade: see Commerce 
 Treaties between Great Britain and Portugal : mention of, 436, 451, 461, and 
 
 462 
 Trials, judicial : method of holding among Bantu, 57 
 da Trindade, Francisco, Dominican friar : mention of, 403 and 412 
 da Trindade, Joao, Dominican friar: murder of, 368 
 Tristao, Nuno : in 1441 brings first slaves from West Africa to Portugal, 
 
 255 
 Tristao, Rodrigo : is wrecked in the Sao Jodo, remains in Kaffraria, and 
 
 leaves with the wrecked crew of the Sao Bento, 285 and 286 
 Truth : is lightly esteemed by the Bantu, 93 
 Tshaka, Zulu chief : mention of, 439 
 
 Tshangamira, Bantu chief : makes war with the Monomotapa, 411 and 412 
 Tshawe, great grandson of Xosa : is credited by the Amaxosa as the inventor 
 
 of iron weapons, the maker of copper ornaments, and the introducer of 
 
 millet as food, 60 
 Tshepute, the first Kiteve : account of, 229 
 
 Tsherema: dealings of Diogo Simoes Madeira with, 352 and 354 
 Tshikanda, Bantu sub-chief : dealings with, 343 
 Tshikanga, dynastic title of the rulers of Manika : origin of, 215 and 216 ; 
 
 particulars concerning, 252, 253, and 369 
 Tshombe, Bantu chief : particulars concerning, 244, 248, 350, and 351 
 Tshunzo, Bantu chief: carries on war with the Monomotapa, 342 
 Turks, the : position of at the beginning of the sixteenth century, 123 ; carry 
 
 on war with the Portuguese in the eastern seas, 222 
 Tyre : Asiatic immigrants into Africa possibly from, 101 
 
 Ubabu, Bantu chief: mention of, 298 
 
 Umbelosi River: discovery of, 218 and 219 
 
 Umdungazwe, son and successor of Umzila: demands tribute from the 
 
 Portuguese, but is made prisoner and banished from South-Eastern Africa, 
 
 467 
 Umhlonhlo, Bantu chief: mention of, 42 
 
 Umkulunkulu: Bantu name for a great spirit once human, 43 
 Umtasa, Bantu chief : dealings with, 456 and 458 
 Umtamvuna River : in 1500 is the dividing line between Hottentots and 
 
 Bantu, 30 
 Umyambosi, son of Umtetwa: is credited by the Abatetwa as the inventor of 
 
Index. 501 
 
 iron weapons, the maker of copper ornaments, and the introducer of 
 millet as food, 60 
 Umzila, son of Manikusa : account of, 449 and 450 
 
 Vambe, Bantu tribe : mention of, 301 
 
 da Vasconcellos, Mattheus Mendes, factor at Melinde: mention of, 268 
 
 Vases: are made by Bantu from scrapings of skins, 91 
 
 Vatwahs (Abagaza) : mention of, 431 and 432 
 
 Veloso, Fernao : adventure of with Hottentots at Saint Helena Bay, 140 
 
 Venice : position of at the beginning of the sixteenth century, 123 
 
 Verhoeff , Pieter Willemszoon : siege of Mozambique by, 328 to 331 
 
 Vessels, Mohamedan trading: description of. 111 
 
 Vibo, Bantu chief: mention of, 299 
 
 Victoria, Dutch vessel : voyages to Inhambane of, 417 
 
 Victoria Falls on the Zambesi : are discovered by the reverend Dr^ 
 
 Livingstone, 447 
 Viragune, Bantu chief : mention of, 301 
 
 van Waerwyk, Wybrand : mention of, 320 
 
 Water spirits : are believed in by Bantu, 48 
 
 War: a factor in man's progress, 4 
 
 Weapons: of Bushmen, 11; of Hottentots, 22 and 23; of Bantu, 85, 86^ 
 
 and 89 
 de Weert, Sebald : mention of, 320 
 
 Whales: in the winter are abundant in South African waters, 332 
 Whaling : carried on by English, Americans, and Portuguese at Delagoa. 
 
 Bay, 426 and 430 
 Widows of men of rank : treatment by Bantu of, 45 
 Witchcraft : belief in by Bantu, 52, 57, 58, 226, 242, and 245 
 Witchfinders : mention of, 49 and 58 
 Wives of Bantu : particulars concerning, 38 
 Women : position among the Hottentots of, 26 ; among the Bantu of, 70, 
 
 74, 77, 92, 93, and 95 
 Wood: articles made by the Bantu of, 90 
 Wrecks : of the Sao Joclo, 277, of the Sao Bento, 282 ; of the Santiago, 290 ; 
 
 of the Sao Thomi, 291 ; of the Santo Alberto, 295 ; of the Sao Gongalo, 
 
 377 ; of the Nossa Senhora de Bclcm, 379 
 
 Xavier, Major Cardas : is in command of Portuguese volunteers in 1891 in. 
 the action with British police, 460 
 
 Zaide, a descendant of Mohamed: settles with his followers in Eastern 
 
 Africa, 107 
 Zakoeja, sheik of Mozambique in 1498 : particulars concerning, 145 
 Zambesi Biver : description of the delta of, 119 ; commerce of the delta, 291 ; 
 the river is followed by Dr. Livingstone from the heart of the continent 
 to the sea, 447 ; the free navigation of is secured by treaty, 462 
 
502 History of South Africa. 
 
 ^ambucos, trading vessels : description of, 111 
 
 ^lanzibar, island of: description of, 116; is made tributary to Portugal by 
 
 Buy Louren^o Bavasco, 163; insurrection quelled at, 237; withdrawal of 
 
 Portuguese from, 414 
 Zimbabwe: place of residence of a Bantu chief, 215 
 Zimbabwe, Great: description of, 102 and 106 
 JZimbas (Mazimba), cannibal horde : account of, 268 
 -Zumbo, trading and mission station: particulars concerning, 404 and 444 
 
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