CHAPTER XII 
THE RAID 
At the present day (in the year 1912), there are, 
in Portuguese East Africa, vast tracts of country 
where law and order are things unknown—such as, 
for instance, the region that extends from the Mavia 
country, east of the Lujenda River (a tributary of 
the Rovuma), southwards towards British Nyassaland 
and westward to the shores of Lake Nyassa. Here, 
but in a modified degree, the same social conditions 
exist as have existed from time immemorial. One 
petty chief is continually at variance with another 
petty chief, and, save in those instances where com¬ 
mon cause is made against the hated Portuguese and 
their regime, every man’s hand is against his brother 
man. In this vast region of primeval forest, dotted 
with numerous native villages inhabited by a goodly 
population, there exist only two or three Portuguese 
bomas or forts. There are, I admit, several outposts 
(each manned by one European and a few askaris 
or native soldiers) which masquerade under the name 
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