WAR-DRUM AT SHIRAMBA. 421 



When we parted from him, we passed the stockade of 

 Bonga at the confluence of the Luenya, but did not go 

 near it, as he is said to be very suspicious. The Portuguese 

 advised me not to take any obseiwation, as the instruments 

 might awaken fears in Bonga's mind, but Manoel said L 

 might do so if I wished : his garden, however, being above 

 the confluence, could not avail as a geographical point 

 There are some good houses in the stockade. The trees of 

 which it is composed seemed to me to be living, and could 

 not be burned. It was strange to see a stockade menacing 

 the whole commerce of the river in a situation where the 

 guns of a vessel would have full play on it ; but it is a 

 formidable affair for those who have only muskets. On 

 one occasion, when Nyaude was attacked by Kisaka, they 

 fought for weeks; and, though Nyaude was reduced to 

 cutting up his copper anklets for balls, his enemies were 

 not able to enter the stockade. 



"We sailed on quickly with the current of the river, and 

 found that it spread out to more than two miles in breadth : 

 it is, however, full of islands, which are generally covered 

 with reeds, and which previous to the war were inhabited 

 and yielded vast quantities of grain. We usually landed 

 to cook breakfast, and then went on quickly. 



Next day we landed at Shiramba for breakfast, having 

 sailed eight and a half hours from Lupata. This was once 

 the residence of a Portuguese brigadier, who spent large 

 sums of money in embellishing his house and gardens : 

 these we found in entire ruin, as his half-caste son had 

 destroyed all, and then rebelled against the Portuguese, 

 but with less success than either Nyaude or Kisaka, for he 

 had been seized and sent a prisoner to Mozambique a short 

 time before our visit. All the southern shore has been 

 ravaged by the CaffVes, who are here named Landeens; 

 and most of the inhabitants who remain acknowledge the 

 authority of Bonga and not of the Portuguese. When at 

 breakfast, the people of Shiramba commenced, beating the 

 drum of war. Lieutenant Miranda, who was well ao 



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