João Furtado de Mendonça, 1594-1602.
D. Jeronymo was on the point of hurrying up with reinforcements when João Furtado de Mendonça arrived at Luandu (August 1st, 1594). He brought with him, not only four hundred men with thirty horses, but also twelve European women,439 the first ever seen in Luandu, in whose honour the town was decorated.
One of the most memorable events of his governorship was a campaign which he conducted up the river Mbengu. Starting at the worst time of the year (in March, 1496), he quickly lost two hundred men by fever. Having brought up fresh recruits from Luandu, he avenged himself for a disaster brought about by his own ignorance, by an exceptional severity in his treatment of the “rebels,” many of whom were blown from guns. This expedition kept the field for several years, and proceeded as far as Ngazi (Ingasia), the chief of which district was called Ngombe—the bullock.440
Meanwhile, João de Velloria,441 the captain-major, had severely punished the rebellious sobas of Lamba. Masanganu was once more blockaded by the King Ngola (1597), until relieved by Balthasar Rebello de Aragão. On again descending the Kwanza, he built a presidio in the territory of the chief Muchima, in Kisama (1559).442