140 THE REGION OF THE BARU^ 



self in a comparatively short time to the un- 

 questioned position of lord of Gorongoza and much 

 of the territory to the eastward. But Manoel 

 Antonio de Sousa was an ambitious man, and 

 possessed of an intelligence, and of an ability to 

 conceive and execute, wholly phenomenal in a 

 member of his usually indolent, emasculated race. 

 No sooner, therefore, did he feel his position in 

 Gorongoza secure, than he at once commenced to 

 develop a scheme for the subjugation and absorption 

 of the Baru^ also. With this end in view, he 

 negotiated a marriage with the Nyani * Adriana, 

 daughter of the Makombe of that period, and 

 succeeded in purchasing at the same time the 

 interest of certain of the potentate's principal 

 headmen, who secretly covenanted on all occasions 

 to champion his cause. Very shortly afterwards a 

 caravan was sent out from the adventurer's aringa 

 at Gorongoza, theoretically to convey ivory to Tete, 

 but with instructions to lose no opportunity of 

 allowing itself to be captured if any of the 

 Makombe's people displayed the least disposition 

 to take possession of it. It was naturally promptly 

 looted, and Gouveia lost no time in taking advan- 

 tage of the circumstance for the furtherance of his 

 own purposes. So strong were the representations 

 he made, that the aged Makombe, urged thereto 

 by Gouveia's friendly headmen, was at length 

 persuaded to abdicate in the half-caste's favour ; 

 despatched an embassy to him bearing a tusk of 



* The title Nyani is one applied originally to the daughters of 

 chiefs, but has now come to be applied to half-caste women^ and to 

 the wives of natives in superior positions. 



