Several times Gouveia (as the natives came in time
to call him) inflicted heavy defeats on these in-
vaders, and by this means so imposed his influence
upon the surrounding tribes as to elevate him-


140 THE REGION OF THE BARUE


self in a comparatively short time to the un-
questioned position of lord of Gorongoza and much
of the territory to the eastward. But Manoel
Antonio de Sousa was an ambitious man, and
possessed of an intelligence, and of an ability to
conceive and execute, wholly phenomenal in a
member of his usually indolent, emasculated race.
