MESURIL. 
39 
the priest's dress in which he celebrates mass into a habit of 
ceremony for their chief. This occurred about three years ago, 
and most clearly evinces the very weak and precarious state of 
this settlement. 
The only force on an adequate scale which the Portuguese 
have to oppose these marauders, is derived from the alliance of 
certain tribes on the coast, who speak the same language as the 
Makooa, but who early fell under the jurisdiction of the Arabs. 
These were conquered by the Portuguese soon after the settlement 
of the colony, and were bound to render military service, besides 
the payment of a tribute in kind, which is now often commuted 
by the trifling present of a few limes. These tribes are ruled by 
chiefs, styled Sheiks, whose appointment depends on the Governor 
of Mosambique. Several of them are very powerful, and have 
extensive jurisdiction, but their support is not much to be relied 
upon, from their rarely acting in unison. 
The principal chiefs among these are the Sheiks of Quintangone, 
St. Cul, and the Sovereign of Sereima. The latter was at this time 
a queen, and much attached to the Portuguese, being then on a 
visit at Mosambique : she commands a large district, and can bring 
fifteen hundred men into the field. The Sheik of Quintangone 
is still more powerful ; his district lies north of Mosambique, 
and he is said to command four or five thousand men capable of 
bearing arms. His predecessor was for a long time at enmity with 
the Portuguese, and frequently committed great ravages in the 
peninsula of Caba9eiro, which he entered by way of Soue Souah. 
At length he fell into the hands of a Portuguese detachment, and 
>^as, by the order of the ruling governor, shot olF from the mouth 
