THE EASTERN COAST. 
fend the fort. The Portuguese being then con- 
ducted into a narrow pass, were suddenly attacked 
by the natives, who were posted on all the neigh- 
bouring heights. The situation was so disadvan- 
tageous, as to render skill and valour of no avail ; 
and very few of the party escaped. The fort, hav- 
ing then no garrison adequate to defend it, was at- 
tacked, carried, and all the troops put to the sword. 
This was not the only reverse which the Portu- 
guese sustained. They had a series of terrible 
wars to sustain, from an inroad of the Mumbos or 
Zimbas, a tribe described as resembling the Gia- 
gas ; as eating human flesh, destroying their new- 
born infants, and living in a continual state of wan- 
dering and plunder. Being conducted with equal 
valour and skill by their king Muzimbas, they cut 
off repeated expeditions sent against them from 
Mosambique. At length Muzimbas was totally 
defeated in an attack against Mombaca. Upon the 
whole, the Portuguese appear to have been mere- 
ly able to maintain, with difficulty, a chain of forts 
along the Zambese, for the protection of their trade 
with the district in which the gold mines are situated. 
In 1720, Captain Hamilton sailed along the east- 
ern coast of Africa. At that time Mombaca and 
Patta had been wrested from the Portuguese, and 
were in the power of the Arabs of Muskat. Mo- 
sambique was, as it has always been, the principal 
4 
