SPORT IN MOZAMBIQUE 



to make the grease penetrate. In a short time the 

 hide becomes extremely supple ; after which it is 

 plunged into a decoction obtained by macerating 

 tamarind-bark in water. The flesh-side of the skin 

 thus acquires a fine red tinge, while the smell of the 

 preparation keeps away insects. I have seen skins 

 prepared by this method keep for years. This is, 

 however, by no means the only dyeing preparation 

 used by the natives ; I am also acquainted with two 

 black dyes, the one obtained from the seeds of a 

 mimosa, and the other from the leaves of a tree, by 

 means of which they dye black their drawers and 

 other garments. In the two latter instances the dye 

 is applied hot. 



After these events the rains seem to be slackening, 

 which determines me to undertake a trip to the Goron- 

 goza mountains, and I accordingly start with four 

 negroes. 



It is at the foot of these mountains that Luis, the 

 king of Gorongoza, established his residence. Luis 

 was a Portuguese negro, very intelligent, provided 

 with an education much superior to that of the Kafir, 

 and speaking Portuguese, which he had learnt at a 

 mission-station on the Zambezi, very well. He had 

 always a great hatred of the whites. A first expedi- 

 tion had to be sent against him so long ago as 1899, 

 to which he submitted. But at the time of the Barwe 

 war, in 1903, he thought that the time had come to 

 assert himself, and he made preparations for revolt. 



(88) 



