9.
The inhabitants of a small village in the District of Manica e
Sofala organised a batuque.  A batuque is an African fiesta in which
the African dance.  In many batuques their dances and songs express
their revolt, accuse their oppressors and proclaim their wish for
liberty. Until tho beginning of the armed struggle that was the only
way for our people to express their feelings;  their guarantee of impunity rested in the fact that the Portuguese do not know the African
languages, and the batuques are usually held in isolated places not
known by the colonialists.
A batuque was therefore organised by the population of this
small village.
At a certain moment v/hen the batuque had already begun, a Portuguese trader, who was passing casually by car, approached, attracted
by the light of the fire and by the rythmn of the drums. He left his
car and approached, prepared to "appreciate" that "dance of savages"
as all colonialists qualify our cultural manifestations. With a smile
of paternalistic superiority, he folded his arms and watched.
The Mozambicans did not like this intrusion. They did not like
the air of superiority of the Portuguese trader. They did not like
the presence of the Portuguese man who represented what they hated most
deeply and that against which at that very moment thoy were demonstrating.
They did not stop dancing, but slowly the dancers moved around to
encircle the trader. The trader noted their movement. He became un--
easy, but not much, however, bocauso, after all, he was the White Man,
the Boss, the Senhor. Never, he thought, would the black man dare to
take any aggressive action against a white man.
The chief of the village made a sign.  The dance stopped. The
drums were quiet. There was a heavy, threatening silence. Walking
with slow, grave steps to the Portuguese man, the chief told him in
Chindao,  "Muzungo, wakavia cotamba ngoma.  Pangoma veses vanotamba.
Vanotamba!"  ("White Man, you came to a batuque. At a batuque everyone has to dance. Dance!";
The trader did not understand. He felt that it was an order, but
he did not know v/hat he was being ordered to do. He thought they were
sending him away, and he tried to find a way through the Mozambicans
who encircled him. But they closed in, and he found himself prisoner
in the middle of a crowd of hostile faces.
"Vanotamba, maputuges!"  ("Dance, Portuguese Man!"), the chief
repeated.  Seeing that the trader had not understood, he told the
drummers to begin, and pointing to the trader's feet, he repeated
"Vanotamba!"
Then the Portuguese trader understood. He became aggitated and
looked around anxiously for some help. But the other colonialists
wsre far away and they could not come to help him.