numbers, bad repelled the furious onslaught, turning the
fate of the fight, and changing doom for victory. He
passed on, and pointing to the skull-crowned posts, which
stood like grim sentinels at the portals of the town, he
said:
“ Look, do you See those two heads? They were cut
from the bodies of the son and the brother-in-law of the
chief who attacked us. They fell to our guns on that
memorable day. Ah, lando de ladróes! [they are a set of
robbers.] Those Makorikori scoundrels dare not come
down to this town or to Kanjemba’s town on the north of
their country.”
Hearing the name of a tribe with which I was familiar,
I asked the name of the chief, and thought of the strange
events which accompanied my wanderings, when he immediately
replied:
“ Arre! Chuzul”
“ Only eighteen months ago,” Senhor Eubero continued,
“ Chuzu killed two Portuguese traders, who went into his
country quite peaceably. They were surrounded, and very
few of the boys even got away.”
When I told him what my experience had been, he
exclaimed, in astonishment:
“ Well, you did have a lucky escape I”
Days past, and my longing to leave Chibmga became
stronger and stronger. One afternoon Senhor Rubero called
to me, as I was returning from making some observations
of altitudes; he said:
“ In the morning your men will be ready. I have paid
them all, thirteen in number.”
I was not long in settling accounts with him, and all was
then in readiness.
The payment of the illustrious Senhor was a very amusing
performance. The attributes of a keen business man seemed
to be born with him, and were seen in every quick glance
and anxiously scrutinising gaze with which he accompanied
his astutely primitive bargaining. He turned the
golden sovereigns many times in his hands, gloating
over the chips from the Mammon of the civilised world; for
he had evinced not a little curiosity to see some specimens
of the English currency, expressing doubts as to its value
in reis.
When the time for final settlement arrived, he had
fixed to his own satisfaction the relative value of the
coins, by the addition of a cypher or two. As he worked
at the mysterious form of calculation peculiar to the people
of the Zambesi basin, a pang of anxiety passed through
me. The paper looked like an ancient Chinese MS., when
he passed it over, happily with the words “ dezanove libras,”
which, in reis on the paper, looked like an indefinite
quantity of pounds.
My stock of provisions was decidedly light, for the king
said that six days would see us in Tette, and that it was
unnecessary to take much with us. Six days! According
to my reckoning, that would be at the rate of about
twenty miles a day, very good travelling indeed; just about,
a half more than I could expect from the Kaffirs, or even
from myself, for I was almost bare-footed. An estimate of
travel in Africa is like an estimate for building a house
in London. You should always begin by doubling the
numerals.
This country is about 1,300 feet above the sea. I t may
be described as a vast forest, extending northward from
the foothills of the Makomwe mountains to the Zambesi.
The vegetation is as varied and luxuriant as it is abundant.
The immense jungles comprise mimosa, acacias, aloes, palms,
VOL. II . c