IMPRESSIONS AND SCENES OF MOZAMBIQUE 813 



I^ORDING A BRANCH OF THE SLUGGISH, MIRY RIVER NEAR THE ZAMBESI 



The "mashila" or hammock poles are raised from the shoulders to the heads of the 

 carriers to avoid wetting the passenger, A lion devoured a native on the further bank shortly- 

 after our party had passed. 



At Quesico we had the good fortune 

 to ^witness a batuque, or ball, lasting 

 nearly three days, at which about 3,000 

 fine specimens, mostly adults, were pres- 

 ent. To describe the weird minor music 

 of the marimbas, or huge xylophones, the 

 blood-freezing death chants, the thrilling 

 war songs, the ''expression" dances of 

 both women and men, and rites and divi- 

 nation ceremonies which the witch doc- 

 tors were induced to show us would 

 require much space. Many of these 

 things could not have been seen by 

 strange white men except that the com- 

 mandante. Lieutenant Alves, the authority 

 on all M'chopis [Mtyopi] matters, had 

 the full canfidence of the chiefs ; and, 

 besides, there were other more material 

 inducements in the shape of feasts and 

 presents. 



At Inharrime, near Inhambane, we saw 

 another grand batuque, with 3,500 Lan- 



dims, M'chopis, and Bitongas. Here 200 

 native ''pianos" kept up an incessant din 

 for 36 hours. The "tunes" varied with 

 the tribes. The Portuguese national air 

 was executed pretty well by several of 

 the bands, who had picked it up from 

 obscure sources. 



Each key of a marimba has suspended 

 loosely beneath it a hollow gourd as a 

 resonator. All but the smallest of these 

 resonators have one or two apertures 

 covered with the stretched membrane 

 from a bat's wing. The membrane itself 

 is protected by an artificial rim of wax, 

 and this membrane continues to vibrate 

 for several seconds after all sound from 

 the key and resonator has disappeared. 

 The particular orchestra shown on page 

 829 had learned to play the Portuguese 

 national air very creditably, but when 

 attempting "God Save the Queen" it be- 

 came evident that the memory of each 



