330 EXCITEMENT AT MAZARO. 



stretched off to the left, and in front blue hills rise dimly far in 

 the distance. There is at Mazaro the mouth of a little creek, a 

 few yards wide, flowing down with considerable fall into the 

 river, its entrance almost concealed by the tall grass which 

 grows up in its bed, which is the only explanation of a state- 

 ment to be found in a map published in 1851 by the Portu- 

 guese " Minister of Marine and the Colonies," that " at Mazaro 

 the Zambesi is one mile wide and flows to Quilimane." The 

 Zambesi is nowhere nearer to Quilimane than it is at Mazaro. 



This little post was in great excitement when Livingstone and 

 party arrived. There had been a serious battle raging between 

 the Portuguese and the people of a half-caste chief named 

 Mariano, a notoriously inhuman man, who has by his rebellion 

 and outrageous barbarities thoroughly incensed the Portuguese. 

 The scene of action was enveloped in a dense fog, which pre- 

 vented the party from hearing or seeing anything of the battle 

 until they were on the ground. They had already established 

 friendly relations with both parties to this quarrel, and were 

 measurably protected by the charm which attaches to the Eng- 

 lish name. Dr. Livingstone landed without the least hesitation 

 to salute some of his old friends, and found himself in the sick- 

 ening smell and confronting the horrible spectacle of mutilated 

 bodies of the slain. 



The governor was very ill of fever at the time, and Dr. Liv- 

 ingstone was appealed to to take him across the river to Shu- 

 panga ; he tried in vain to get somebody to assist him to the 

 boat with the sick man, but no one would volunteer for so 

 dangerous an undertaking, and the generous visitor would not 

 think of leaving another in such danger, so he entered the hut 

 alone, and, with considerable difficulty, at length succeeded in 

 dragging his excellency to the ship. 



The Portuguese are even weaker in actual war than they 

 would seem to be if one should make an estimate of their forces 

 in times of peace, from the fact that many of those whom they 

 must depend on for military service are their native slaves, who 

 besides entertaining no special love for their masters have fre- 

 quently a wholesome regard for their own safety, and are not 

 valiantly averse to securing that blessing in flight. At Mazaro 

 the Portuguese were on double duty ; while some stood fighting 



