selole's hostility. 367 



press t6 raise the tribe of Mburuma against us. All the 

 women t f Selole had fled, and the few people we met ex- 

 hibited t.igns of terror. An armed party had come from 

 Mburunu, in obedience to the call ; but the head-man of 

 the company, being Mburuma's brother, suspecting that it 

 was ahoux, came to our encampment and told us the whole. 

 When wt explained our objects, he told us that Mburuma, he 

 had no doubt, would receive us well. The reason why Se- 

 lole acted in this foolish manner we afterward found to be 

 this: an Italian named Simoens, and nicknamed Siriatomba, 

 (don't eat tobacco,) had married the daughter of a chief 

 called Sekokole, living north of Tete. He armed a party 

 of fifty slaves with guns, and, ascending the river in canoes 

 some distance beyond the island Meya makaba, attacked 

 several inhabited islands beyond, securing a large number 

 of prisoners and much ivory. On his return, the different 

 chiefs — at the instigation of his father-in-law, who also did 

 not wish him to set up as chief — united, attacked and dis- 

 persed the party of Simoens, and killed him while trying 

 to escape on foot. Selole imagined that I was another 

 Italian, or, as he expressed it, " Siriatomba risen from the 

 dead." In his message to Mburuma he even said that 

 Mobala, and all thevillages beyond, were utterly destroyed 

 by our fire-arms; but the sight of Mobala himself, who had 

 come to the village of Selole, led the brother of Mburuma 

 to see at once that it was all a hoax. But for this the 

 foolish fellow Selole might have given us trouble. 



We saw many of the liberated captives of this Italian 

 among the villages here, and Sekwebu found them to bo 

 Matebele. The brother of Mburuma had a gun, which was 

 the first we had seen in coming eastward. Before wo 

 reached Mburuma, my men went to attack a troop of ele- 

 phants, as they were much in need of meat. When the 

 troop began to run, one of them fell into a hole, and before 

 he could extricate himself an opportunity was afforded for 

 all the men to throw their spears. When he rose he was 

 like a huge porcupine, for each of the seventy or eighty men 



