34 EARLY EAST AFRICA 



Captain-General of the whole of the East African 

 coast-hne from the Gulf of Aden to Cape Corrientes, 

 and lost no time in taking up the burden which his 

 predecessor, through so unimaginable a chain of un- 

 conquerable difficulties, had been forced at length 

 by death to reUnquish. He landed, therefore, at 

 Sofala, it is thought, early in 1575, and marched 

 straight through Quiteve to Manica, encountering 

 not a little resistance on his way. 



In the work of the priest Joao dos Santos 

 to which I have just somewhat copiously referred, 

 the territories through which the new Captain- 

 General forced his way were those of the king- 

 dom of Quiteve, but it is clear to us in the 

 light of our knowledge of to-day that the term 

 " kingdom " was then applied by the Portuguese to 

 any area of whose extent they were ignorant, but 

 which appeared to them, by reason of native 

 rumour or of appearances often iUusive, to be of 

 importance meriting a separate designation. In 

 any case, Quiteve was the accepted name of the 

 strip of country running from the coast to the 

 highlands of Manica, and to the Chief Quiteve, 

 whose name they had given it, Vasco Homem lost 

 no time in specifying the conditions in which he 

 might live at peace with the Portuguese — con- 

 ditions the more readily accepted seeing that his 

 column had forced its way thither in the face of 

 considerable resistance. They consisted in an 

 agreement to facilitate commerce with the new- 

 comers, keep open the highway to the coast, 

 and furnish carriers and labour for all purposes. 

 In return for these advantages, the factor at Sofaia 



