THE SILVER MINES OF CHICOVA 29 



actually carried ropes wherewith to bind their 

 enemies when they should be overthrown. With 

 loud cries of " San Thiago," the Portuguese poured 

 in a voUey from their matchlocks and cannon, which 

 so stupefied the natives that, believing all the devils 

 in hell had thrown in their lot with these pale- 

 faced invaders, they promptly flung away their arms 

 and fled. Many villages were burned, and the 

 savage destruction of life was very great, but when 

 Barreto's officers came to call their muster rolls it 

 was found that his own losses amounted to over 

 sixty men. 



In spite of this, however, the Captain-General 

 now continued on up the river in quest of the 

 legendary silver mines of Chicova, and what befeU 

 this iU-fated attempt is best described by the monk 

 Joao dos Santos, whose enthralling description of 

 the Zambezia of that far distant day was published 

 in Portugal in 1609. I translate a portion of 

 Chapter XIV. which, conserving so far as possible 

 the quaint phrasing of the period, reads as 

 follows : 



" In the country which borders the kingdom of 

 the Monomotapa towards the inland region looking 

 to the north-east, is the kingdom of Chicova 

 greatly renowned for its mines of fine silver which 

 foUow the course of the Zambezi. After the 

 journey of the Governor, Francisco Barreto, which 

 I have herein set down, he passed up the rivers of 

 Cuama [the Zambezi — Trans.] with all his people 

 to lay hands upon the mines of Chicova. On the 

 way he made war upon the Mongas beneath the hills 

 of Lupata. These he conquered, as I have shown 



