Monomotapa

“ They were twenty thousand strong and marched without children or women," just as four hundred years later the Zulu impi marched. Again in 1602 a horde of people came from the interior called the Cabires, or cannibals. They entered the kingdom of Monomotapa, and the reigning king, being weak, was in great terror. Thus gradually the Monomotapa fell, and its power was scattered until the Kaffir-Zulu raids of our day. [31]
The Arab writer, Macoudi, in the tenth century visited the East African coast somewhere north of the equator. ”

“ The kingdom of Sofala, now called Sena by the Portuguese who monopolize its whole trade, is of great extent, being 750 leagues in circumference; but the inland parts are all subject to the Monomotapa, who is emperor of this southern part of Africa, his dominions being likewise known by the same name of Monomotapa, called by the ancients Ethiopia Inferior. This country is watered by two famous rivers, called Rio del Espiritu Santo and Cuama, the latter of which is navigable 250 leagues above its mouth. ”

“ There are other gold mines 150 leagues farther inland, but which are not so much valued.
In the interior of the country there are some buildings of wonderful structure, having inscriptions in unknown characters; but the natives know nothing respecting their origin. The natives of Monomotapa believe in one God, whom they name Mazimo, and have no idols. Witchcraft, theft, and adultery are the crimes most severely punished among them. Every man is permitted to have as many wives as he pleases or can maintain. ”

“ This confederation is exactly similar to what we observed in Londa and other parts of Africa. Katolosa is "the Emperor Monomotapa" of history, but he is a chief of no great power, and acknowledges the supremacy of Nyatewe. The Portuguese formerly honored Monomotapa with a guard, to fire off numbers of guns on the occasion of any funeral, and he was also partially subsidized. The only evidence of greatness possessed by his successor is his having about a hundred wives. When he dies a disputed succession and much fighting are expected. ”

“ When this is done, the drums cease, and every one goes home. The Mumbos [396] eat human flesh, which is publicly sold in the shambles. This may suffice for the customs of the natives in the empire of Monomotapa, as it would be endless to recount the whole.
[Footnote 396: This savage race are said to inhabit on the north western frontiers of Mocaranga.--E.]
After some stay at Mozambique, Barreto set out on his expedition for the mines of Monomotapa, with men, horses, camels, and other necessaries for war, and with proper tools for working the mines which he expected to conquer. ”

“ After the death of Barreto, a royal order was found among his papers by which Vasco Fernandez Homem was appointed his successor. By the persuasions of Monclaros, who was now disgusted with the expedition of Monomotapa, Homem returned with the troops to Mozambique, abandoning the projected conquest of the mines. At that place some judicious persons, and particularly Francisco Pinto Pimentel, urged him to resume the execution of the orders which had been given by the king to Barreto, and he determined upon resuming the enterprise for the conquest of Monomotapa ”

“ The first division, between the famous Cape of Good Hope, and the mouth of the Red Sea, contains along the coast many kingdoms of the Kafrs; as the vast dominions of the Monomotapa, who is lord of all the gold mines of Africa, with those of Sofala, Mozambique, Quiloa, Pemba, Melinda, Pate, Brava, Magadoxa, and others. In this division the Portuguese have the forts of Sofala and Mombaza, with the city and fort of Mozambique. ”

“ Clifford groaned and said:
“I promise.”
“Tell me your story, Benita da Ferreira. How came you and your people here?”
“The tribes of Monomotapa rose against our rule. They killed many of us in the lower land, yes, they killed my brother and him to whom I was affianced. The rest of us fled north to this ancient fortress, hoping thence to escape by the river, the Zambesi. The Mambo, our vassal, gave us shelter here, but the tribes besieged the walls in thousands, and burnt all the boats so that we could not fly by the water. Many times we beat them back from the wall ”

“ Various points on the eastern coast of Africa have been fixed upon, but generally the conclusion is in favour of Sofala, which I am inclined [340] to think is the correct position. João dos Sanctos tells us, as we find it in Purchas:—
“Near to Massapa is a great hill called Fura, whence may be discerned a great part of the kingdom of Monomotapa, for which cause he (the king) will not suffer the Portuguese to go thither, that they should not covet his great country and hidden mines. ”

“ Several 17th-century writers extend the “empire” to the north of the Zambezi, Bocarro giving it in all “a circumference of more than three hundred leagues.” It was “divided among petty kings and other lords with fewer vassals who are called inkosis or fumos.” According to these authors, however, including Dos Santos, the paramountcy of the monomotapa was impaired in the 17th century by a series of rebellions. His zimbabwe, wherever it may have been in earlier days, was now fixed near the Portuguese fort of Masapa, only a short distance south of the Zambezi. ”

“ In process of time this great empire was divided into three kingdoms, called Quiteve, Sabanda, and Chicanga [393] , which last is the most powerful, as possessing the mines of Manica, Butua, and others. It is believed that the negroes of Butua, in the kingdom of Chicanga, are those who bring gold to Angola, as these two countries are supposed to be only one hundred leagues distance from each other [394] . The country of Monomotapa produces rice and maize, and has plenty of cattle and poultry, the inhabitants addicting themselves to pasturage and tillage, and even cultivating gardens. ”

“ They have gone through the forest towards the Powhatan. My brother cannot see their trail, for the eyes of the palefaces are clouded, but Monakatocka sees it."
Landless turned upon him. "Will Monakatocka go with me against the Ricahecrians?"
"Monakatocka has dreamt of the village on the pleasant river where he was born. The arm of the white men cannot reach him here, in these woods, far from their wigwams and warriors and guns; it cannot pluck him back to be beaten. He toils no more in their fields. He is a real man again, a warrior of the long house, a chief of the Conestogas. ”

“ The simple Arabian stories of Sindbad the sailor and Aladdin are quite as credible as some of the stories which the first Portuguese travellers who visited the east coast of Africa tell us about the great Emperor Monomatapa and the wealth of gold in his dominions. When they first appeared on the scenes the Monomatapa was a big Kaffir chief, like Cetewayo or Lobengulu, who ruled over the gold district in which the Zimbabwe ruins are situated ”

“ At two o'clock it began to rain; in an hour it cleared off, and from the high mountain ridge we saw the Motagua River, one of the noblest in Central America, rolling majestically through the valley on our left. Descending by a wild, precipitous path, at four o'clock we reached the bank directly opposite Encuentros. It was one of the most beautiful scenes I ever beheld: all around were giant mountains, and the river, broad and deep, rolled through them with the force of a mighty torrent. ”

“ Partly walking through the stinking swamp and partly riding on the backs of well oiled natives we reached the boat, and began the homeward journey.
On the way up in the morning we had seen Moviavi men watching us from behind the trees, but now we found every vantage point occupied by fully armed Motumotuans in all their best paint and feathers. The surprise, and interest, increased when we reached the main stream and found it almost blocked by canoes full of more people from Motumotu. Two of the largest were “manned” by Amazons with a uniform of bright-red paint. ”

“ Straight away along a vague path beginning at the rear of the malocas marched the twenty-four, the two northerners bending under the weight of their packs, the pair of Brazilians sweeping the jungle with practiced eyes, the score of Mayorunas striding velvet footed, resplendent in brilliant new paint and headdresses, armed with the most powerful weapons of their tribe, and loftily conscious of the fact that they were chosen as Monitaya's best. Savage and civilized, each man was fit, alert, formidable. ”

“ The Indian arose and went his way. But as he passed Landless, suckering a plant with angry energy, he touched him, as if by accident, with his sinewy hand.
"Monakatocka never forgives an enemy," came in a sibilant whisper too low to be heard by the watchful overseer. "Monakatocka never forgets a friend. Some day he will repay."
The red-brown body slipped away through the tall weeds and clumps of alder, like the larger edition of the thing that had hung upon its shoulder. The overseer strode off down the field, sending keen glances to right and left. ”

“ On account of the many Indians who came every day to see us, and of the many farms and farm-buildings which we saw in those highlands, we knew that that tribe of Mopanes was very numerous. They all go naked like the Chols, and differ from them only in their hair, in that they do not wear it of the same length like the Chols, but cut the hair on the front part of the head and only wear it long behind. ”

“ Thereupon Mopsa whistled softly, and in a minute or two he saw, almost spanning the river, a hundred yards off, a thing like a rainbow, or a slender bridge, or still more, like one ring or coil of an enormous serpent; and presently the creature’s head shot up like a fountain, close to the boat, almost as high as a ship’s mast. It was the Craken; and when Mopsa saw it, she began to cry, and said, “We are caught in this crowd of creatures, and we cannot get away from the land of dreams. ”

“ There is another word used in Mota, never applied to the soul of man, but very illustrative of the native conceptions, and common also to Aurora, where it is used with a remarkable application; this word is nunuai. In Mota it is the abiding or recurrent impression on the senses that is called a nunuai; a man who has heard some startling scream in the course of the day has it ringing in his ears; the scream is over and the sound is gone, but the nunuai remains; a man fishing for flying-fish paddles all day alone in his canoe with a long light line fastened round his neck ”

“ We were much struck by the courteous manners of the natives here. One man, on receiving a present, bowed low and scraped the ground with his feet. There is something about these people which points distinctly to a higher form of civilisation having existed amongst them at a former time; and when one reads Dos Santos’s account of the Mocarangas of Monomatapa of his day, one cannot help feeling that they are the remnant of that higher civilisation about which the early Portuguese travellers tell us so much. ”

“ The bottom above the Falls, save a few rocks close by them, is generally sandy or of soft tufa. Every damp spot is covered with maize, pumpkins, water-melons, tobacco, and hemp. There is a pretty numerous Batoka population on both sides of the river. As we sailed slowly down, the people saluted us from the banks, by clapping their hands. A headman even hailed us, and brought a generous present of corn and pumpkins.
Moemba owns a rich island, called Mosanga, a mile in length, on which his village stands. He has the reputation of being a brave warrior, and is certainly a great talker ”

“ The Modocs were a fierce tribe of Indians who lived at the head-waters of Pit River, and the name is thought by some persons to mean “head of the river,” or “people, community,” but [251] ethnologists are of the opinion that it means “south people,” probably used by tribes living north of the Modocs. Bancroft, quoting from Steele, in Indian Affairs Report of 1864, page 121, says: “The word Modoc is a Shasta Indian word, and means all distant, stranger, or hostile Indians, and became applied to this tribe by white men in early days from hearing the Shastas refer to them by this term.” ”

“ A number of young women who have gone into the bush near their malocas to get urucu and genipapa, which they use to make the red and black body dyes, have disappeared. So have several who went to the creeks for their daily baths. Warriors who tried to trail them have found the footprints of a few men, but always lost them at water. The girls had been taken away in canoes. Even this tribe of Monitaya, which never has been attacked by night raiders because it is too strong, has not been safe from these stealthy woman stealings by daylight. ”

“ After passing through the Province of Chol, which stretches from Cahabon forty-five or fifty leagues, we came upon another tribe which is called the Mopanes, among whom Spaniards or ministers of the holy gospel had never entered, and, although the difference in language was of some embarrassment, God willed that we should find some Mopan Indians who understood the Chol language and by means of these we declared to them the purpose of our journey. ”

“ The Hodmadods of Monomatapa, though a nasty people, yet for wealth are gentlemen to these; who have no houses, and skin garments, sheep, poultry, and fruits of the earth, ostrich eggs, etc., as the Hodmadods have: and setting aside their human shape, they differ but little from brutes. They are tall, straight-bodied, and thin, with small, long limbs. ”

“ The other two rivers that complete this ancient river system are the Molapo or Mafeking, and the Kuruman. The former rises on the central watershed in the district of Molapo in Montsioa’s territory. The eye of this river is situated 26 degrees 7 minutes South latitude, 26 degrees 20 minutes East longitude, in a lovely wooded glen, 5350 feet above sea-level, and only ten miles from the main eye of the Molmane river that falls into the Limpopo basin; the watershed passing across the desert divides the two. ”