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Muviro is the most well-known Waziri warrior chief in the Tarzan saga. Although his name was mentioned as the father of Wasimbu in Tarzan the Untamed, Muviro first appeared in Tarzan and the Golden Lion. He was among the first to welcome Tarzan, Jane, and Korak home from their adventures in Pal-ul-don. “My old eyes are made young again by the sight of you,” he told them. (The reference to “old eyes” suggests that Muviro was at least middle-aged at that time. If so, he was likely already a sub-chief in the tribe when Tarzan first encountered the Waziri in West Africa seven years earlier.)

  <>Almost two years later, while Tarzan was away, Muviro chastised the Waziri warrior Keewazi for allowing the golden lion, Jad-bal-ja, to escape his cage. “You will be banished from the bungalow for a long time,” Muviro predicted. “And doubtless you will be sent to the grazing land far to the east to guard the herd there, where you will have plenty of lions for company, though they will not be as friendly as was Jad-bal-ja. It is not half what you deserve, and were the heart of the Big Bwana not filled with love for his black children — were he like other white Bwanas old Muviro has seen — you would be lashed until you could not stand, perhaps until you died.”  <>

Muviro did not appear in Burroughs’ next ape-man adventure, Tarzan and the Ant Men. He did have a role soon afterwards, however, in the author’s juvenile story, The Tarzan Twins. After Dick and Doc became lost in the jungle, Tarzan sent Muviro and 50 Waziri warriors out to search for the two boys. “What luck, Muviro?” Tarzan asked when he later dropped into the Waziri camp. The “mighty black” replied, “None, master. We have searched in all directions, but we have seen no spoor of the white boys.” Later, Tarzan and the Waziri routed a band of hostile natives to rescue Dick and Doc.  <>

Muviro next appeared in the opening lines of Tarzan and the Lost Empire, in which he is labeled a “sub-chief of the Waziri.” He was in a camp with Tarzan and a score of Waziri fighting men when Dr. von Harben’s safari found them in the jungle. After learning of the doctor’s missing son, Tarzan told Muviro to return home and have all the Waziri warriors ready should Tarzan need to send for them. “Yes, Bwana,” Muviro replied. “They all will be in readiness — all the fighting men of the Waziri. Their weapons will be at hand by day and night and fresh war-paint will be ready in every pot.” <>Several months later, the Waziri army was ready to march when Nkima appeared to guide them to Tarzan. Muviro led a horde of Waziri warriors in an assault on the lost city of Castra Sanguinarius. Approaching Tarzan, Muviro knelt at his feet and kissed his hand. “The gods of our ancestors have been good to the Waziri,” the sub-chief told his master, “otherwise we should been too late.” Tarzan and Muviro then led the Waziri warriors across the valley to rescue Erich von Harben from captivity in Castrum Mare.

<> <>Eventually, Muviro noticed that many animals were moving through the forest all around them. When Gridley asked Muviro’s assessment, the chieftain said, “I think I understand now, Bwana, and if we are ever going to escape our one chance is to cross that clearing as quickly as possible. The great cats are herding these creatures here and presently there will be such a killing as the eyes of man have never before seen. If we are not killed by the cats, we shall be trampled to death by these beasts in their efforts to escape or to fight the tigers.”  <>

Muviro and his warriors escaped into the forest, but despite their extraordinary tracking ability, the Waziri were unable to find their way back to the airship. They continued onward “completely and hopelessly” lost. Later they came upon von Horst, but lost contact with him when the German wandered off to hunt while the Waziri slept in a cave.   <>

“Muviro … and his warriors were much chagrined to think that they, the Waziri, could be lost in any forest,” Burroughs explained. Eventually, though, Tarzan found them. “You are going to see some terrible men now,” Tarzan warned the Waziri, “but do not be frightened by their appearance. Your bullets will bring them down.” Muviro responded, “When, Bwana, have you seen a Waziri frightened?” The rifle fire of Muviro’s warriors overwhelmed the attacking Horibs (snake people) within a few minutes.  <>

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Eventually, Muviro and his warriors, along with Tarzan and Gridley, returned to the outer world aboard the O-220. Muviro next appeared at the Greystokes’ African estate in Tarzan the Invincible, where he received a message from Tarzan delivered by Nkima. Responding to Tarzan’s call, Muviro, then holding the title of “war chief of the Waziri,” gathered a hundred warriors and set out on a long march to join Tarzan.

When Tarzan appeared at the rendezvous point, Muviro reported, “We have kept always a day’s march ahead of the strangers, Bwana, camping well off the trail that they might not discover our fresh camp sites and become suspicious.” That night Tarzan explained to Muviro his plans for defeating Peter Zveri’s invasion force.

After forcing the conspirators to retreat the next day, Tarzan turned his Waziri force toward Opar. “But how about the white enemies in the jungle back of us, Bwana?” asked Muviro. Tarzan explained that he first wanted to make it safe for La to regain her position as high priestess in Opar before overtaking Zveri’s fleeing force.

At Opar, Tarzan led Muviro and the Waziri in a charge up the rocky cliff leading to the city. During the assault, Tarzan spotted La and Jad-bal-ja approaching Opar. “The eyes of Tarzan are like the eyes of the eagle,” Muviro noted. “Muviro sees only a woman and a lion, but Tarzan sees La and Jad-bal-ja.” The next day, after restoring La back to power in Opar, the Waziri marched in column behind Tarzan along the back trail to Waziri country.

Muviro next appeared in Tarzan Triumphant as a member of a safari led by Tarzan in disguise as Lord Passmore. Tarzan was investigating the havoc being caused in his country by a band of shiftas.

In a thinly veiled attempt to keep his readers in the dark, Burroughs did not reveal that Tarzan and Lord Passmore were one in the same, nor did he mention Muviro by name until later. However, it was most probably Muviro that Tarzan called to his tent early in the story. Tarzan looked into the “intelligent eyes of the handsome black,” and asked, “Have you anything to report?” The native answered cryptically, “No, bwana. Neither to the east nor to the west were there signs of game.”

<>Later, Muviro was mentioned by name when Tarzan led his Waziri in an assault on the shifta stronghold. While Tarzan directed the main charge on the gates, Muviro with a small detachment of Waziri accounted for all but a few of the enemy horsemen who succeeded in leaving the village.  <>

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<>Muviro’s most extensive role in the Tarzan series came in Tarzan’s Quest. Early in the story, Muviro set events in motion when he explained to Tarzan why he had ventured into the jungle with a small search party of 10 Waziri warriors. “Buira, my daughter, has disappeared,” he said. “We have heard stories, Bwana, that fill us with terror for our girls. There is evil, there is mystery in it, Bwana. We have heard of the Kavuru. Perhaps it is they; we go to search for them. Muviro will find them. Buira was a good daughter … I will find those who stole her, and kill them.” <> 

When another warrior admitted that many of the Waziri thought that the Kavuru were demons, a defiant Muviro responded, “Men or demons, I shall find them and kill them.” Muviro’s determination was strengthened by the presence of Tarzan. “Now that the big Bwana is with me,” he declared, “my mind is happy again, for I know that Buira will be found and returned to me, and that those who took her will be punished.” <>

Tarzan and Muviro’s plans to search for the Kavuru village were interrupted by the sound of an airplane in the clouds overhead. When Tarzan confirmed that the sound signified that there were men up above the clouds, Muviro observed, “I do not think that the gods intended that men should fly like birds. If they had, they would have given them wings.”

<>Tarzan decided to travel ahead to investigate, promising to send Nkima to guide Muviro and his warriors if needed. Muviro led his band of 10 warriors steadily westward along a winding jungle trail. When an excited Nkima appeared to them, Muviro, fearing something had happened to Tarzan, led the Waziri in a trot following Nkima’s lead.   <>Coming to the Bukena village, Muviro advanced slowly toward the palisade, giving the sign of peace. “I am Muviro, chief of the Waziri,” he announced. “We have come here to meet our big chief, Tarzan of the Apes, or to get word of him. Has he been here?” When the Bukena chief responded that he knew nothing of Tarzan, an impatient Muviro declared, “You are not speaking true words. Little Nkima, the monkey, is Tarzan’s friend. He brought us here, and he would not have done so had Tarzan not been here.”

<>Muviro and his men were allowed to enter the village but were soon drugged with native beer and imprisoned in a hut. The Bukena planned to eat the hearts of the Waziri when the moon was full two nights later. When the 10 captives regained consciousness, Muviro took responsibility for the group’s capture. “I knew that the chief lied to me,” he said. “I should have been more careful. I should not have drunk his beer or allowed you to.

”<>In the hut, the Waziri discussed their plight. “If only one of us can loosen his bonds, we may die as Waziri should — fighting,” avowed Muviro. When another warrior expressed hope that Tarzan would rescue them, Muviro responded, “I think that Udalo has killed him, and eaten his heart; and if that is so, I am ready to die, too; for I do not care to live if the big bwana is dead.” As night fell, Burroughs noted that, “Muviro was chagrined to think that he had been led into such a trap. He was ashamed of himself, and he felt that only death could atone for his great fault.” Tarzan did return, however, to free his Waziri from captivity. Together they moved slowly northward in search of the Kavuru stronghold.  <>Later, after an amused Muviro watched Nkima play with a messenger stick, the chief observed, “He thinks now he is a great witch-doctor among the monkeys.”  <>As Tarzan and the Waziri traveled farther and farther from their homeland, several of the warriors began to feel they were “chasing a myth.”

Burroughs explained that, “even Muviro was commencing to doubt that it had been a Kavuru who had been responsible for the disappearance of Buira, for why should these strange men go so far afield when they could find young girls much closer to their mysterious village.” <>When a note left in the jungle confirmed that the plane carrying Jane had crashed nearby, Tarzan left the Waziri to search for his wife. He instructed Muviro to lead his warriors northward until they discovered the Kavuru village. If they could not enter the village to rescue Buira, they were to wait there for Tarzan. Muviro indicated that he understood Tarzan’s instructions, but when the Waziri found the Kavuru village, the Waziri chief ignored Tarzan’s directive to wait for him. Despite being outnumbered ten to one, Muviro ordered his men to spread out in a thin line and advance on the enemy. Only Muviro and one other warrior survived to retreat safely. Muviro confessed to his one remaining warrior that they should have waited for Tarzan. “If he had been here, this would not have happened.” <>When Tarzan finally arrived, Muviro and Balando “came running to drop to their knees before him.” Sorrowfully, they told him what had happened. “Then you think it’s impossible to gain entrance to the village?” Tarzan asked. “We are too few, Bwana,” Muviro replied. Tarzan then spoke calmly to restore Muviro’s resolve. “But if Buira still lives, she is there,” he reminded him. “Would you turn back now, Muviro?” The Waziri chief responded, simply, “Muviro follows where Tarzan leads.” The small group soon entered the Kavuru village and freed many captive girls, including Jane and Muviro’s daughter.

The “Headman of the Waziri”

  <>Muviro next appeared in Tarzan the Magnificent, where he held the title “headman of the Waziri.” He was leading a reconnaissance party of a dozen warriors near the Greystoke compound, when he spotted two white men nearby. Muviro advanced and halted his warriors a dozen paces from the strangers. The chief then stepped closer and asked in “good English,” “What are the bwanas doing in this country? Are you hunting?”

When Stanley Wood explained that he and fellow American Robert van Eyk were lost, Muviro said he would take them to Tarzan. “You don’t mean to tell me there really is a Tarzan?” Wood responded. “Who ever tells you there isn’t does not speak true words,” Muviro responded. An hour later he delivered the two men to Tarzan at the Greystoke bungalow.  <>Later in the story, after the Kaji Queen Gonfala had been abducted from Wood and van Eyk’s care, Tarzan sent the two men back to his home while he went in search of Gonfala. As days passed with no word from Tarzan, Wood pleaded with Muviro to provide him with an escort so he could search for Gonfala. Muviro finally allowed Wood to leave with a half dozen Waziri warriors as an escort.   <>

After Wood and the Waziri tracked Gonfala to the lost city of Athne, the American decided to send the warriors home and enter the city alone. “If you meet Tarzan, or he’s back home, he’ll know what to do,” Wood instructed. “If you don’t see him, Muviro will have to use his own judgment.” Tarzan had not come home, and Muviro decided to take a hundred warriors in search of “their beloved Bwana.” A short march from Athne, they came upon Tarzan, Wood, Gonfala, and the villains Spike and Troll. Muviro and the Waziri escorted Tarzan and the others back to the ape-man’s own country.  <>Muviro’s eighth and final appearance in the Tarzan saga came in Burroughs’ short story, Tarzan and the Champion.

In the story, Tarzan left his home to investigate an invasion in a remote part of his domain by the Babangos, a cannibal tribe. “Behind him,” explained Burroughs, “moving more slowly, came a band of his own white-plumed Waziri warriors, led by Muviro, their famous chief.”  <>As the Waziri crossed a plain, Nkima rode on the “broad, brown shoulder of Muviro, chief of the white-plumed Waziri.” As an aside, Burroughs added, “From the shoulder of Muviro, as from the shoulder of Tarzan, Nkima could tell the world to go to hell; and he did.”   <>When Muviro spotted a slow-moving lorry, he stepped in front of truck and held up his hand. “Where have you come from?” he asked. The driver, Melton, told Muviro how his two

friends, Mullargan and Marks, had been captured by the Babangos. Concerned that Tarzan might have been killed or captured by the cannibals, Muviro led his warriors away at a trot toward the spot where Melton had seen the Babangos.

  <>Tarzan had already freed himself and the two Americans from the Babangos by the time Muviro’s troops arrived. Muviro is last seen in the Tarzan saga leading his hundred Waziri warriors in pursuit of the Babangos “to punish them and drive them from the country.”

An Aggressive War Chief to the End

<>Described successively in the Tarzan saga as a “sub-chief,” “war chief,” “headman,” and finally as the “famous chief” of the Waziri, Muviro advanced to supremacy among the tribe second only to Tarzan, the Waziri king. Tarzan obviously trusted Muviro to organize and lead Waziri military operations. On occasions when Tarzan personally led the Waziri warriors in battle, Muviro served as a field commander under Tarzan’s overall command. Some instances include when Tarzan led Muviro and his warriors on a charge up rocky terrain at Opar to restore La to her throne in Tarzan the Invincible and the assault on the shifta camp in Tarzan Triumphant.

  <>In his absence, though, Tarzan trusted Muviro to use his judgment in the use of Waziri armed force. He did so most impressively when, on his own initiative, Muviro led 100 warriors on a mission to find their missing king in Tarzan the Magnificent. An “experienced tracker,” Muviro led his force through nearly impassable mountainous country to within a “short march” of the hidden lost city of Athne, where Tarzan had been held captive.

  <>When acting independent of Tarzan’s orders, however, Muviro’s judgment didn’t always prove as sound as that of his commander. An example, in Tarzan’s Quest, is when Muviro ignored his king’s orders and led a charge that resulted in his small band of warriors nearly being wiped out. When Tarzan arrived on scene, however, he did not criticize Muviro for his decision. 

Instead, throughout Burroughs’ Tarzan saga, the Waziri king continued to trust Muviro’s leadership on the battlefield. The final image of Muviro in a Burroughs Tarzan adventure finds him leading a force of Waziri warriors in Tarzan and the Champion in pursuit of cannibals. The old war chief of the Waziri remained a loyal and aggressive field general to the end.

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