Their Greatest Festival Is Held On The New Moon In May,
Which They Call Chuavo.
On this day all the great men of the empire,
who are very numerous, resort to court, where they run about with
javelins in their hand, as in a mock fight.
This sport lasts the whole
day, at the end of which the king withdraws, and is not seen for eight
days afterwards, during all which time the drums beat incessantly. He
then reappears on the ninth day, and orders the noble for whom he has
least affection to be slain, as a sacrifice to his ancestors, or the
Muzimos. When this is done, the drums cease, and every one goes home.
The Mumbos[396] eat human flesh, which is publicly sold in the
shambles. This may suffice for the customs of the natives in the empire
of Monomotapa, as it would be endless to recount the whole.
[Footnote 396: This savage race are said to inhabit on the north western
frontiers of Mocaranga. - E.]
After some stay at Mozambique, Barreto set out on his expedition for the
mines of Monomotapa, with men, horses, camels, and other necessaries for
war, and with proper tools for working the mines which he expected to
conquer. He sailed up the river Cuama, called Rio de los buenos
Sennales, or river of Good Signs; by the first discoverers, and came to
Sena or the fort of St Marzalis, according to the desire of father
Monclaros; whence he proceeded to the town of Inaparapala, near which
is another town belonging to the Moors, who, being always professed
enemies to the Christians, began to thwart the designs of the Portuguese
as they had formerly done in India.
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