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HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF AFRICA
Senegal, Second Edition, by Andrew F. Clark and Lucie Colvin Phillips. 1994.
Comoro Islands, by Martin Ottenheimer and Harriet Ottenheimer. 1994.
Uganda, by M. Louise Pirouet. 1995.
Togo, Third Edition, by Samuel Decalo. 1996.
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Equatorial Guinea, Third Edition, by Max Liniger-Goumaz. 2000.
South Africa, Second Edition, by Christopher Saunders and Nicholas Southey. 2000.
Swaziland, Second Edition, by Alan R. Booth. 2000.
Djibouti, by Daoud A. Alwan and Yohanis Mibrathu. 2000.
Liberia, Second Edition, by D. Elwood Dunn, Amos J. Beyan, and Carl Patrick Burrowes.
2001.
Zimbabwe, Third Edition, by Steven C. Rubert and R. Kent Rasmussen. 2001.
Somalia, Second Edition, by Mohamed Haji Mukhtar. 2002.
Western Sahara, Third Edition, by Anthony G. Pazzanita. 2005.
Madagascar, Second Edition, by Philip M. Allen and Maureen Covell. 2005.
Sierra Leone, New Edition, by C. Magbaily Fyle. 2005.
Burundi, Third Edition, by Ellen K. Eggers. 2007.
Republic of Cape Verde, Fourth Edition, by Richard A. Lobban Jr. and Paul Khalil
Saucier. 2007.
Zambia, Third Edition, by David J. Simon, James R. Pletcher, and Brian V. Siegel. 2008.
Mali, Fourth Edition, by Pascal James Imperato, Gavin H. Imperato, and Austin C.
Imperato. 2008.
Mauritania, Third Edition, by Anthony G. Pazzanita. 2009.
Nigeria, by Toyin Falola and Ann Genova. 2009.
Republic of Cameroon, Fourth Edition, by Mark Dike DeLancey, Rebecca Mbuh, and
Mark W. DeLancey. 2010.
Eritrea, Second Edition, by Dan Connell and Tom Killion. 2011.
Angola, Second Edition, by W. Martin James. 2011.
Malawi, Fourth Edition, by Owen J. M. Kalinga. 2012.
Niger, Fourth Edition, by Abdourahmane Idrissa and Samuel Decalo. 2012.
Republic of the Congo, Fourth Edition, by John F. Clark and Samuel Decalo. 2012.
Namibia, Second Edition, by Victor L. Tonchi, William A. Lindeke, and John J. Grotpet-
er. 2012.
Benin, Fourth Edition, by Mathurin C. Houngnikpo and Samuel Decalo. 2013.
Burkina Faso, Third Edition, by Lawrence Rupley, Lamissa Bangali, and Boureima Di-
amitani. 2013.
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Lobban. 2013.
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Tunisia, Third Edition, by Kenneth J. Perkins. 2016.
Gabon, Fourth Edition, by Douglas A. Yates. 2018.
Botswana, Fifth Edition, by Barry Morton and Jeff Ramsay. 2018.
Chad, Fourth Edition, by Mario J. Azevedo and Samuel Decalo. 2018.
Mozambique, New Edition, by Colin Darch. 2019.
Historical Dictionary of
Mozambique
New Edition
Colin Darch
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
TM
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Hatutakusahau.
Contents
Editor’s Foreword xi
Preface xiii
Map xxxi
Chronology xxxiii
Introduction 1
THE DICTIONARY 15
Bibliography 437
ix
Editor’s Foreword
Jon Woronoff
Series Editor
xi
Preface
This is a completely new book, one in which all dictionary entries were
selected by me and written completely from scratch. Despite the existence of
two previous editions of the dictionary, compiled by Professor Mário de
Azevedo and his colleagues and published in 1991 and 2003, this new ap-
proach was necessitated both by dramatic recent changes in the way Mozam-
bique as a country is seen by the rest of the world—especially by Western
countries and the international organizations on whose financial and develop-
ment aid the government has long depended—as well as by what I believe
are significant shifts in the writing of Mozambican history, especially by
Mozambican historians.
After a 16-year-long conflict between the government and rebel group
RENAMO, supported first by the Rhodesian government and then by the
South African apartheid regime, a peace agreement was negotiated in
1992–1994. This led to the adoption of a multi-party political system and the
abandonment of central economic planning. The next two decades were gen-
erally regarded as a post-conflict success story: fighting stopped, the econo-
my grew, and a series of peaceful general elections were held. But in
2012–2013, the rebel group turned opposition party RENAMO, which had
never been completely disarmed and was dissatisfied both with the imple-
mentation of the peace agreement and with its own election results, returned
to the bush and began low-level armed actions against road and rail traffic
and other targets. RENAMO eventually participated in the 2014 elections,
improving its performance but still not winning a parliamentary majority or
control of the presidency. A cease-fire came into effect in January 2017, but
pressure on the government to agree to constitutional changes that could lead
to limited forms of decentralization continued. At more or less the same time,
a major scandal broke when it was revealed in April 2016 that elements
within the state security apparatus and armed forces had secretly negotiated
massive loans with foreign banks totaling roughly US$2 billion without con-
sulting other arms of the state, such as parliament or the Finance Ministry.
The International Monetary Fund and most Western donors have subsequent-
ly cut back sharply on aid to Mozambique, and economic growth has slowed.
These situations, which are ongoing as I write this preface, can of course be
described only in outline in this dictionary, which is historical in character,
but they have placed Mozambique firmly in the international spotlight, with
all observers wondering what will happen next.
xiii
xiv • PREFACE
The other reason for a new approach, I believe, is that important new work
is being published, primarily in Portuguese and English but also in French
and other languages. The pre-colonial history of the country remains conten-
tious: the country was populated by people speaking inter-related languages
of the Bantu family and producing ceramic pottery, smelting iron, and prac-
ticing agriculture long before the arrival of the Portuguese navigators in the
late 15th century, but whether this constituted “migration” or simply a form
of expansion of technologies is still a subject of debate. At roughly the same
time that the Portuguese arrived, scattered Arab-Swahili trading towns were
founded along the northern coast, and inland the Zambezi valley constituted
a navigable route into the African interior to the powerful Monomutapa
kingdom.
Despite a colonial discourse proclaiming that there had been “500 years”
of a dominant Portuguese presence in Mozambique, for most of that time the
Portuguese, far from being the all-conquering European colonial power of
popular imagination, were simply one group among a range of African cen-
ters of power, such as the Yao states, the Maravi Empire, and the Gaza
kingdom. It was only at the end of the First World War, with the repression
of the Báruè rebellion, that “pacification” of the whole territory was
achieved. Moreover, within a few decades the Portuguese were facing an-
other armed conflict, this time against the liberation movement FRELIMO,
the Mozambique Liberation Front, founded in 1962 and launching guerrilla
warfare against the colonial power in 1964. The meta-narrative of the “armed
struggle for national liberation,” the founding myth of the Mozambican na-
tion, has come under increasingly critical scrutiny in the last two decades,
especially with the publication of multiple autobiographies, memoirs, and
interviews with now-aging participants and witnesses. This material, while
sometimes adhering to what might be called the party line on the characteris-
tics of the liberation struggle, nevertheless provides the attentive reader with
much new detail and various kinds of new evidence.
Mozambican history cannot be fully understood without reference to the
regional dynamics of southern Africa as a whole—as, indeed, regional histo-
ry requires familiarity with Mozambican events. This is true of the modern
period, when labor migration, primarily to South Africa but also to the then
Rhodesia as well as to Tanganyika, Kenya, and Zanzibar, was a dominant
feature of the political economy of colonialism, alongside the provision of
port facilities linked by rail to the hinterland. But it is also true to say that
earlier periods of the country’s history are part of larger trends, movements,
and themes in the region as a whole and at various times: the economic
influence of the Monomutapa polity in what is now Zimbabwe, Kilwa and
the coastal Arab-Swahili trading towns, and the French islands of the Indian
Ocean and the slave trade.
PREFACE • xv
I lived and worked in Mozambique from 1979 to 1987 and have returned
pretty much every year since then. Consequently, I am keenly aware of the
hubris required for a single author to attempt to produce a volume such as
this about Mozambique. Indeed, in 1993 Professor Anna Maria Gentili of the
University of Bologna wrote that the business of compiling a historical dic-
tionary is “an immense task: the author should feel completely at ease with
the documentation and literature concerning widely different periods, prob-
lems, and disciplines; he should be familiar with debates of the moment; and
he should have carried out extensive research in the field and be able to
synthesize facts without falling back on predetermined or ideological conclu-
sions.” She concluded that the task “is too onerous for the expertise of a
single person.” This warning could hardly be clearer, and in undertaking this
quixotic task I make no claim to be the idealized author that she describes.
In compiling the dictionary, I have therefore relied heavily on the expertise
and generosity of colleagues, comrades, and friends whose knowledge is
unquestionably greater than my own. Before listing and thanking the people
who have assisted me, I want first to acknowledge the enormous influence on
my intellectual and political development exercised by the late Aquino de
Bragança (1924–1986), director of the Centro de Estudos Africanos in Ma-
puto, and by Ruth First (1925–1982), research director at the same center.
Both were killed during my time in Mozambique, Ruth by a parcel bomb sent
by South African security on 17 August 1982 and Aquino in the mysterious
air disaster at Mbuzini on 19 October 1986. My former colleagues at the
Centro de Estudos Africanos and the staff, past and present, of the Arquivo
Histórico de Moçambique, including the former director, the late Inês No-
gueira da Costa, are all deserving of acknowledgment for their overall influ-
ence on my understanding of the country.
In addition, the following people have assisted me in various and often
specific ways connected to the compilation of this dictionary. In the first
place, I owe an immense debt of gratitude to Amélia Neves de Souto, who
patiently read through the entire manuscript more than once, offering de-
tailed criticism, making valuable suggestions, correcting all kinds of errors,
and pointing to inconsistencies. There is no doubt in my mind that her in-
volvement in this project has substantially improved the final outcome. In
addition, my thanks go to Aad van der Voet; Benedito Machava; Bridget
O’Laughlin; Carlos Quembo; Chris Oxtoby for help with legal questions;
Clinarete Munguambe for multiple conversations and constant support and
encouragement; David Hedges, my friend, collaborator, and host during
multiple visits to Maputo (especially for his patient help with proofreading);
Frances Christie; Franz-Wilhelm Heimer, who assisted me at the BCEA of
ISCTE-IUL during a visit to Lisbon; Frieda Draisma; Gary Littlejohn;
Jacques Depelchin; Jeanne Penvenne; João Morais for advice on archaeolog-
ical and anthropological questions; Judith Head for her sharp editorial eye
xvi • PREFACE
and intellectual comradeship; Kathleen Sheldon for valuable suggestions re-
garding gaps in coverage; Liazzat Bonate, who read the entire manuscript
and offered advice on the coverage of Islamic topics; my son-in-law, Mabu-
tho Fidel Mbhele, for help with isiZulu terms; Michel Cahen; Paolo Israel;
Paul Fauvet; Paul Jenkins; Paul Jourdan; Polly Gaster; Rui Assubuji; Salomé
Moyane; Teresa Cruz e Silva; and William Daniels. I am grateful to my
family, Agnes, the late Makanjila, Ajira, Tayamikila, and Nicholas, who
have all shared in the production of this book simply by being who they are.
In the end, though, I am naturally the one who is solely accountable for all
the errors of fact, judgment, and interpretation that this volume doubtless
contains, and which I invite users to point out to me. All our knowledge, after
all, is both temporary and provisional.
During the compilation of this dictionary, I made one research trip to
Lisbon and three or four trips to Maputo, supported by funds from South
Africa’s National Research Foundation under its Incentive Funding for Rated
Researchers program, reference IFR-13012416478, support which I grateful-
ly acknowledge.
Reader Notes
xxi
xxii • ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
AVEA Audio Visual Entrepreneurs of Africa
BCM Banco Comercial de Moçambique
BdM Banco de Moçambique
BIM Banco Internacional de Moçambique
BNU Banco Nacional Ultramarino
BPD Banco Popular de Desenvolvimento
CAIA Complexo Agro-Industrial de Angónia
CAIL Complexo Agro-Industrial do Limpopo
CARBOMOC Empresa Nacional de Carváo de Moçambique
CAZ Cooperativas Agrícolas de Zavala
CC Comité Central
CCM Conselho Cristão de Moçambique
CEA Centro de Estudos Africanos
CEI Casa de Estudantes do Império
CENE Comissão Executiva Nacional de Emergência
CFM Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique
CFMAG Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola, and
Guinea
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
CIDAC Centro de Informação e Documentação Amílcar Cabral
CIP Centro de Integridade Pública
CISLAMO Conselho Islâmico de Moçambique
CNE Comissão Nacional de Eleições
CNELEC Conselho Nacional de Electricidade
COMECON Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
CONCP Conferência das Organizações Nacionalistas das
Colónias Portuguesas
CONIMO Congresso Independente de Moçambique
CONSAS Constellation of Southern African States
CONSILMO Confederação Nacional dos Sindicatos Independentes e
Livres de Moçambique
COREMO Comité Revolucionário de Moçambique
COSERU Comité Secreto de Restauração de UDENAMO
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS • xxiii
CPHLLN Centro de Pesquisa da História da Luta de Libertação
Nacional
CPLP Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa
CUNIMO Comité para a União Nacional de Moçambique
DETA Direcção de Exploração dos Transportes Aéreos
DF Destacamento Feminino
DGS Direcção-Geral de Segurança
DHD Associação Direitos Humanos e Desenvolvimento
DINAGECA Direcção Nacional de Geografia e Cadastro
DINECA Direcção Nacional de Economia e Comercialização
Agrícola
DIRE Documento de Identificação e Residência para
Estrangeiros
DNAEA Direcção Nacional de Alfabetização e Educação de
Adultos
DNPIC Direcção Nacional de Promoção das Indústrias Culturais
DPCCN Departamento de Prevenção e Combate às Calamidades
Naturais
DUAT Direito de Uso e Aproveitamento dos Terras
EDM-EP Electricidade de Moçambique
EEC/ACP European Economic Community/African, Caribbean,
and Pacific Group of States
EMATUM Empresa Moçambicana de Atum
EMOCHÁ Empresa Moçambicana de Chá
EMOSE Empresa Moçambicana de Seguros
ENH Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos
EU European Union
FACIM Feira Agro-Pecuária, Comercial e Industrial de
Moçambique
FADM Forças Armadas de Defesa de Moçambique
FAINA Feira Agrícola e Industrial de Nampula
FDI foreign direct investment
FEN Feira-Exposição do Niassa
FEPOM Feira Popular de Manica
xxiv • ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
FLS Frontline States
FPLM Forças Populares de Libertação de Moçambique
FRAIN Frente Revolucionária Africana para a Independência
Nacional das Colónias Portuguesas
FRECOMO Frente Comum de Moçambique
FRELIMO Frente de Libertação de Moçambique
FRESAMO Frente para a Salvação de Moçambique
FUMO Frente Unida Democrática de Moçambique
FUNAE Fundo de Energia
FUNIPAMO Frente Unida Anti-Imperialista Popular Africana de
Moçambique
GALM Grémio Africano de Lourenço Marques
GD Grupo Dinamizador
GDP gross domestic product
GDR German Democratic Republic
GE Grupos Especiais
GEP Grupos Especiais Paraquedistas
GODCA Gabinete de Organização e Desenvolvimento das
Cooperativas Agrícolas
GPZ Gabinete do Plano de Desenvolvimento da Região de
Zambeze
GUMO Grupo Unido de Moçambique
GZV Gabinete das Zonas Verdes
HCB Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa
IAAF International Association of Athletics Federations
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization
ICBT informal cross-border trade
IESE Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Económicos
IFCS Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Sociais
IICM Instituto de Investigação Científica de Moçambique
ILO International Labor Organization
IMF International Monetary Fund
INA Instituto Nacional do Açúcar
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS • xxv
INAC Instituto Nacional de Audiovisual e Cinema
INC Instituto Nacional de Cinema
INDE Instituto Nacional do Desenvolvimento da Educação
INE Instituto Nacional de Estatística
INGC Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Calamidades
INP Instituto Nacional do Petroleo
ISCEF Instituto Superior de Ciências Económicas e Financeiras
ISCTEM Instituto Superior de Ciências e Tecnologia de
Moçambique
ISP Instituto Superior Pedagógico
ISPU Instituto Superior Politécnico e Universitário
ISRI Instituto Superior de Relações Internacionais
IURD Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus
JAEM Junta Autónoma de Estradas de Moçambique
LAM Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique
LDH Liga Moçambicana dos Direitos Humanos
LGBT lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
LIFEMO Liga Feminina de Moçambique
LIMA Liga dos Estudantes Moçambicanos Anti-Imperialistas
LOMACO Companhia Agro-Industrial Lonrho-Moçambique
LSM Liberation Support Movement
MAC Movimento Anti-Colonialista
MAGIC Mozambique Angola Guinea Information Centre
MANU Mozambique African National Union
MDM Movimento Democrático de Moçambique
MFA Movimento das Forças Armadas
MNR Mozambique National Resistance
MONAMO Movimento Nacionalista Moçambicano
MOTRACO Mozambique Transmission Company
MPDC Maputo Port Development Company
MPLA Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola
MPLA-PT Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola-Partido do
Trabalho
xxvi • ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
MRM Mozambique Resistance Movement
MULEIDE Associação Mulher, Lei e Desenvolvimento
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NELIMO Núcleo de Estudos de Línguas Moçambicanas
NESAM Núcleo dos Estudantes Secundários Africanos de
Moçambique
NPCM Núcleo de Promoção do Cooperativismo Moderno
OAU Organization of African Unity
OJM Organização da Juventude Moçambicana
OMM Organização da Mulher Moçambicana
ONP Organização Nacional de Professores
ONUMOZ United Nations Operation in Mozambique
OPV Organização Províncial de Voluntários
OTM Organização dos Trabalhadores de Moçambique
OTM-CS Organização dos Trabalhadores de Moçambique–Centro
Sindical
PAC Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania
PADELIMO Partido Democrático para a Libertação de Moçambique
PAIGC Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo
Verde
PALOP Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa
PAMRDC Plano de Acção Multissectorial para a Redução de
Desnutrição Crónica
PARPA Plano de Acção para a Redução da Pobreza Absoluta
PEBIMO Projecto de Escolarização Bilingue em Moçambique
PEDSA Plano Estratégico de Desenvolvimento do Sector
Agrário
PETROMOC Empresa Nacional Petroleos de Moçambique
PIDE Polícia Internacional e da Defesa do Estado
PPDD Partido para a Paz, Democracia e Desenvolvimento
PPM Polícia Popular de Moçambique
PR Presidente da República
PRE Programa de Reabilitação Económica
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS • xxvii
PRM Partido Revolucionário de Moçambique-África Livre
PRM Polícia da República de Moçambique
PROMETRA Promotion of Traditional Medicines
PVDE Polícia de Vigilância e de Defesa do Estado
RCPAT End Child Prostitution, Pornography, and Trafficking
RDA República Democrática Alemã
RENAMO Resistência Nacional Moçambicana
RM Rádio Moçambique
ROSC Fórum da Sociedade Civil para os Direitos da Criança
SAAVM Sociedade Algodoeira Africana Voluntária de
Moçambique
SADC Southern African Development Community
SADCC Southern African Development Coordination
Conference
SADF South African Defence Force
SAREC Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with
Developing Countries
SASOL South African Synthetic Oil Liquid
SERNAP Serviço Nacional Penitenciário
SIDA Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida
SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation
Agency
SMO Serviço Militar Obrigatório
SNASP Serviço Nacional de Segurança Popular
SNE Sistema Nacional de Educação
SOMAS Sociedade Moçambicana de Autores
SONAP Sociedade Nacional de Petróleo e Óleos
SONAREP Sociedade Nacional de Refinação de Petróleo
STAE Secretariado Técnico da Administração Eleitoral
TALM Teatro de Amadores de Lourenço Marques
TBARN Técnicas Básicas de Aproveitamento dos Recursos
Naturais
TCLPAC Toronto Committee for the Liberation of Portugal’s
African Colonies
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seetüchtigen Naturvölker gehen bei ihren Fahrten abends stets unter
Land; wir Europäer halten es dagegen für eine unserer ältesten und
zugleich höchsten Errungenschaften, daß wir bei unserer Seefahrt
weder auf das Wetter noch auf die Nacht Rücksicht nehmen. Von
dieser Regel bilden indessen „Rovuma“ und „Rufidyi“ eine seltene
Ausnahme; sie suchen sich bei ihren Fahrten kurz vor
Sonnenuntergang einen geschützten Schlupfwinkel und fahren erst
am nächsten Morgen beim Tagesgrauen wieder hinaus.
Auf der Fahrt von Daressalam nach Lindi und Mikindani, der
sogenannten Südtour, wie sie amtlich heißt, ist der erste Nachthafen
Simba Uranga, einer der zahlreichen Mündungsarme des großen
Rufidyiflusses. Die Einfahrt in diesen Stromarm ist nicht ohne Reiz;
schon von weitem erblickt das Auge in der grünen Mangrovenmauer,
die für das ausgedehnte Delta charakteristisch ist, eine Lücke. Durch
Bojen im richtigen Fahrwasser gehalten, fährt das kleine Schiff zwar
nicht schnell, aber doch stetig auf diese Lücke zu. Sie kommt näher
und näher, wird breiter und breiter; links und rechts dehnt sich die
weißschäumende Brandung an den endlosen Korallenriffen, die die
ganze Äquatorial-Ostküste umsäumen, ins Weite. Plötzlich hat man
das Gefühl, dem offenen Meer entflohen und im ruhigen Hafen zu
sein. Und, fürwahr, er ist stattlich genug; wohl 600, ja 800 Meter breit
fließt der Strom ruhig und majestätisch zwischen den grünen
Uferwänden dahin, und fast unabsehbar tief dringt er ins Land
hinein. Das Schiff muß, um an seinen vorgeschriebenen Liegeplatz
zu kommen, noch etwa eine Stunde stromaufwärts dampfen.
Melancholisch grüßt von rechts eine aufgelassene Sägemühle
herüber; die stattlichen Gebäude liegen verwaist, die Maschinen
rosten; das Ganze ist ein stimmungsvoller Beleg für das Trügerische
so mancher mit frohen Hoffnungen begonnenen kolonialen
Unternehmung. Im Moment des Sonnenunterganges hört die
Schiffsschraube auf zu arbeiten; der Anker rasselt hernieder, der
„Rufidyi“ macht dicht am linken Ufer fest. Er wird mit Holz geheizt,
und zwar mit Mangroveknüppeln, die hier in den Waldungen des
Deltas geschlagen und an dieser Stelle für die Übernahme an Bord
aufgestapelt werden. Das geschieht unter der Aufsicht eines
Försters, den ich leider nicht zu Gesicht bekomme, da er gerade
über Land ist. Beschaulich mag sein Dasein freilich sein, aber
beneidenswert wohl kaum; auch mitten auf dem breiten Strom
umschwirren uns bald dichte Schwärme von Moskitos. An Land,
denke ich, werden sie nicht seltener sein. Da wird der Grünrock es
wohl machen müssen wie ich in Daressalam, wo ich mich in meinem
Anopheles-Dorado, d. h. meinem zwar von herrlichen Kokospalmen
und Mangobäumen überschatteten, dafür aber wenig luftigen und
von Moskitos überreich bewohnten Zimmer, vor diesen
Mitbewohnern nur dadurch retten konnte, daß ich nach
Sonnenuntergang mitsamt meinem Arbeitstisch und meiner Lampe
stets unter einem Moskitonetz saß, das von einem Rahmen herab
an der Decke hing. Der auf diese Weise geschaffene Arbeitsraum
war zwar ungeheuer eng, aber er gab dem Insassen doch das
Gefühl der reinsten Freude, nämlich der Schadenfreude. Mochten
sich die braven Anopheles draußen auch noch so blutgierig und in
noch so dichten Schwärmen an die dichten Maschen des Netzes
heften, der intelligente Msungu, der Europäer, war vor ihnen absolut
sicher.
Viertes Kapitel.
Lehrzeit an der Küste.
Lindi, 9. Juli 1906.
Seliman Mamba.
Besonders schwere oder gesellschaftlich hervorragende
Übeltäter scheinen übrigens den Vorzug der Einzelhaft zu genießen.
In den Gesprächen der wenigen Europäer, die augenblicklich in Lindi
leben, kehrt am häufigsten der Name Seliman Mamba wieder; er hat
im Aufstande des Südbezirks so lange die Führung innegehabt, bis
man ihn schließlich erwischt hat, und nun harrt er im Lazarett von
Lindi der Vollstreckung des jüngst über ihn gesprochenen Urteils. Da
er eine ganze Reihe von Menschenleben, auch das von Europäern,
auf dem Gewissen hat, so hat er sein Schicksal wohl verdient. Als
historische Persönlichkeit, die in den Annalen unserer Kolonie
zweifellos lange weiterleben wird, war Seliman Mamba wohl der
Verewigung seiner Züge würdig, und darum habe ich ihn eines
schönen Tags im Hofe des Lazaretts photographiert. Der Mann war
sichtlich leidend und konnte die schwere Kette nur mit größter
Anstrengung mit sich tragen. Seine unmittelbar bevorstehende
Hinrichtung wird für ihn in jeder Beziehung eine Erlösung sein.
Weitaus erfreulicher als alle diese Einblicke in die Folgen des
Aufstandes sind die Ergebnisse meiner wissenschaftlichen
Beschäftigung mit meinen eigenen Leuten und den Suaheli
gewesen. Meine Wanyamwesiträger scheinen das tatenlose
Stillsitzen nicht vertragen zu können; vom zweiten Tage unseres
Aufenthalts in Lindi an belagern sie mich von morgens früh bis
abends spät mit der stummen oder auch lauten Bitte, ihnen
Beschäftigung zu geben. Das habe ich auch mit vielem Vergnügen
getan; die Leute haben zeichnen müssen, soviel sie nur wollten, und
haben auch in meinen Phonographentrichter singen dürfen, sooft
sich dazu die Gelegenheit bot. Schon jetzt zeigt sich, daß unsere
etwas abenteuerliche und vom Meergott durchaus nicht freundlich
behandelte Fahrt auf dem „Rufidyi“ wenigstens e i n versöhnendes
Ergebnis gezeitigt hat: bei meinen Leuten haben sich ihre Leiden
und die daraus entsprungene Behandlung seitens der
Schiffsmannschaft zu einem Liede verdichtet, das sie jetzt gern und
oft, mit viel Ausdauer und auch mit durchaus ansprechender
Vortragsart singen. Hier ist es:
Lied anhören
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