CH. xvii MALINGANIRO AND HIS IVORY 177 



ganiro had accumulated a large quantity of 

 ivory ; for, apart from the fact that most of his men 

 were elephant hunters, he had acquired a con- 

 siderable portion of his stock of that precious com- 

 modity by plundering the villages on the lake shore. 

 This knowledge was sufficient to rouse the cupidity 

 of the Portuguese, but Fate required another piece 

 in order to play the strangely malign little game that 

 it had in its mind, and that piece was at hand. 

 There lived at Matengula a thorough scoundrel, one 

 Abdullah Nkwanda, a negro with a considerable 

 admixture of Arab blood in his veins, who, for some 

 years, had been trading in a small way in this part 

 of the country, and he and the Portuguese were not 

 long in putting their heads together and evolving a 

 plan worthy of the occasion and the booty at stake. 



Getting permission from Malinganiro, Abdullah 

 took up a stock of goods to the chiefs head village 

 and announced his intention, were he properly 

 treated, of making his home there. Malinganiro 

 was delighted with the idea, and by way of giving 

 an assurance of his friendliness towards the new- 

 comer, sent Abdullah Nkwanda one of his 

 daughters. 



It did not take Abdullah long to satisfy himself 

 that Malinganiro really had plenty of ivory, and, 

 what was more important, was willing to dispose of 

 it, and the only difficulty that stood in the way of 



N 



