NATIVES OF AFKICA IN THE i6tII C1:NTLRV. I4I 



returned to Mozanibi(iue. The (jne which came in 155.^ found 

 €ight Portuguese still living and seventeen slaves, who were 

 brought back to that town on May 25th, 1553. The narrative 

 of the terrible loss of the San Joao is well written and most 

 touching, but not being by a witness, it contains very little infor- 

 mation on the Natives, no names at all; so it is of no great use 

 for our purpose. 



2. The San Bcnto {St. Bciioif), 1554. 



The story of this wreck, on the contrary, is most interesting. 

 as it \vas written by Manuel de Mesquita Perestrello, a well 

 educated man who was one of the passengers. The shij) ccn- 

 tained about 400 persons, and 322 were rescued. 98 [^^rtuguese 

 and 224 slaves. They had managed to save a gun, twelve loads 

 of ammunition, and many spears. They came on shore at about 

 the same place as the San Joao. and also followed the road by 

 the border C)f the sea. But they had very few goods for barter, 

 and thus suffered terribly from hunger. Their captain. F. de 

 Alva res Cabral. died w^hen crossing Santa Luzia River ; they 

 wandered fourteen days round a bay, which they called Rio dos 

 Medoas de Ouro, and which must be Kosi Bay, and lost not less 

 than twenty persons during that time. A tribe of robbers 

 attacked them in these regions : some shots from the only gun 

 saved made such a wonderful im])ression that as the chronicler 

 says. 



When they heard the noise, it was as if devils had jumped on them; 

 they scattered and fled so quickly that they disappeared in a minute. 



But fighting with Natives was dangerous for them as it cut 

 short any sitpply of food they might have obtained from them. 

 A terrible famine began to decimate them. Perestrello describes 

 it in the following words : — 



Some of us were forced to eat their own hoots .... and if some- 

 one found a bone of a wild beast quite dry, as white as snow, 'tliey ate it. 

 reducing it to charcoal as if it were a real treat. All were looking at the 

 veld to see if they could discover any herb, l)one or insect .... and 

 if one of these things appeared before them, tliey all ran to take it and 

 often they quarrelled, friend with friend, relative with relative, for a locust, 

 or an insect, or a caterpillar. After having walked three days doing this, 

 we reached a hill where they were many wild onions ; though we suspected 

 tjhem of being poisonous, we took them and made our meal of them, and 

 it pleased Our Lord that they did not harm us. 



Four sailors were then sent forward to inform the captain of 

 the ship. in Delagoa Bay of the presence of this party, if per- 

 chance the ship had not yet returned to Mozambique. Dying of 

 himger they killed a native on their way and ate him. This did 

 not prepare a nice rece])tion for the party coming behind. They 

 had one day to fight in the same circum.stances as the soldiers of 

 Feonidas : — 



The Kaffirs attacked us, throwing so many assegais, at us that all the 

 air was full of a cloud of them. 



The fight lasted two hours and, if they escaped, it was only 

 owing to their gun which struck the Natives with terror and 



