The Yaos believe themselves to be descended from the same stock as the Anyanja, Anguru, and Awisa, while they count the Angoni as a different race, and do not profess to know whence they came. These four tribes, therefore, must have kept together till a much later period than that at which the Zulus separated from the main stock of the Bantu. The Yaos imagined the tribes with whom they acknowledged kinship to have started with them from Kapirimtiya, and gone in different directions.

The story of how Mtanga improved the Yao country in the beginning by moulding it into hills and valleys, seems to bear out the opinion that the mountainous region of Unangu was the early home of the race; but how long they lived there, before the raids of the Magwangwara sent them forth on their wanderings, is hard to say. Dr. M’Call Theal says: ‘There is not a single tribe in South Africa to-day that bears the same title, has the same relative power, and occupies the same ground as its ancestors three hundred years ago. The people we call Mashona are indeed descended from the Makalanga of the early Portuguese days, and they preserve their old name and part of their old country; but the contrast ... is striking.’

The more one studies the wars and migrations of the Bantu tribes, the more one is reminded of the state of things in our own island between (roughly speaking) 500 and 1000 A.D. We are apt to forget the length of time over which this process extended, and that though the Bantu, so far as we can tell, began it later, there seems no valid reason why it should not, in their case, have a similar termination. However, as we have to do with facts, not speculations, it seems futile to discuss a point which only posterity will have an opportunity of deciding.

The Makalanga speak much the same language as the various tribes comprehended under the general name of Anyanja, and may, at one time, have formed a homogeneous body with them. The kingdom of the Makalanga, as described by the Portuguese writers, would almost seem to have been something more than an ordinary African state; but their way of describing everything, so to speak, in terms of Europe, is somewhat misleading. Probably it was not unlike the ‘empire’ of Undi at a later date and fell to pieces much in the same way. These decentralised agricultural tribes either fell victims to internal quarrels, or to aggressive action on the part of some warlike neighbour—or, very possibly, to both together.

It is not known when the Zulus moved southward into the territory they now occupy, and where they must have been settled for some generations before the beginning of the nineteenth century, as the graves of at least four kings (some say eight), of earlier date than that epoch, are still to be seen at Mahlabatini, in the valley of the White Umfolozi. In 1687 they, and tribes allied to them, seem to have been in peaceful occupation of Natal and Zululand, living so close together that migration on a large scale was impossible. Yet, about the same time, the Amaxosa, or ‘Cape Kafirs,’ who are very closely related to them, seem to have been pressing on to the south; and they reached the Great Fish River soon after the beginning of the eighteenth century. However this may be, the Zulu king Senzagakona had, about 1800, risen to a position of some importance, though still subject to Dingiswayo, chief of the Umtetwas in Natal. His son, Tshaka, succeeded in 1810, and, after Dingiswayo’s death, assumed a paramount position, his career resembling that of Napoleon, or rather (since he may be said to have consolidated, if not erected, a nation), Theodoric or Charlemagne. But what chiefly concerns us here is the northward migration of the Zulus which took place in his time. Umziligazi, one of his captains, quarrelled with him and fled, taking his clan with him. These are the people now known as the Matabele, having settled in the early thirties between the Limpopo and Zambezi.

Another chief, Manukosi, seceded about 1819, and invaded the country about Delagoa Bay, gradually subduing the Tonga tribes. This branch of the Zulus is called Gaza; their last king, Gungunyana (Manukosi’s grandson), was deposed by the Portuguese in 1896.

The Angoni (Abanguni) were originally the tribe of Zwide, the son of Yanga. He, too, rebelled against Tshaka (about 1820), and was defeated; his people fled north—the only direction open to them—under Zwangendaba, and, according to a native account, came first into the Tonga country, where they fought with the people, and took many captives, then into the Basuto country (meaning probably the Bapedi of the Eastern Transvaal), where they did the same, and thence to the Karanga (Makalanga) country. Here they were overtaken by Ngaba, one of Tshaka’s captains, with whom they fought two battles, and then fled, crossing the Zambezi in 1825. The date is fixed by the tradition of an eclipse, known to have occurred in that year; and in the terror of that mysterious darkness, so inexplicable to the native mind, Zwangendaba’s son, Mombera, was prematurely born. This is the Mombera whose funeral was described in an earlier chapter. He was a man of great shrewdness and force of character, and remained to the last, in spite of some passing misunderstandings, a staunch friend to Dr. Laws and the Livingstonia missionaries. He refused to be a party to sending his own or his people’s children to school on the ground that they would soon become wiser than their parents, and so learn to despise them. If the missionaries liked to try their hand at teaching the grown men, they were welcome to do so; and Mombera, not content with this negative permission, took reading lessons himself, with praiseworthy assiduity. Unfortunately, he began too late in life, and though he mastered the alphabet quickly enough, he failed, in spite of all his efforts, to grasp the principle of combining letters into syllables. He would not, however, allow the blackboard used by his instructor (the Rev. J. A. Smith, now of Mlanje) to remain at his kraal, for fear of magic.

A curious tradition about the crossing of the Zambezi was given by the Ntumbi head-men, who said that, when the Angoni reached the river and found no canoes to take them over, their chief, Chetusa, struck the water with his staff, and it divided to let them pass. Then he struck it again, and it returned to its place. It is only fair to add, that this account was written down by one of the Blantyre teachers, and, if not unconsciously coloured by him, may possibly contain an echo of his own narratives. On the other hand, he had been but a short time in contact with them, and these older and more responsible men, while well up in the traditions of their own people, were less likely to have been impressed by ‘the stories of the white men.’

This account then goes on to state that they went north, and came ‘to Magomero,’ and fought two days with the Atonga, ‘who dwell there to this day’; and the Atonga ‘clasped their feet,’ i.e. submitted, and acknowledged them as chiefs. The name of Magomero is given by the Blantyre people to the Konde country at the north end of the Lake, as well as to the place of that name, near to Lake Chilwa. As the word seems to mean ‘the slopes,’ it may be of frequent occurrence. They then passed round the north end of the Lake, and turned south again. Harry Kambwiri’s written account says nothing of this, but it is evidently to be understood, as the next fact mentioned is that they crossed the Rovuma. Crossing the Lichilingo, and another stream called the Luli, they came to Mwalija’s, where there were cattle, and intended to push on thence to the Lujenda, but ‘found a desert without water,’—so they returned, lifted Mwalija’s cattle, and struck off south-westward, wishing to return whence they came. They reached the Shiré at Matope (the regular crossing-place, a few miles north of the Cataracts), and wished to settle there; but one Sosola cheated them into going on by showing them a basket of cow-dung, and saying that cattle had passed by, but were now in the Chipeta country. The raiders’ instinct at once rose to the bait, and they crossed to Mponda’s, and went on north-westward to Mount Chirobwe. Finally, they settled near Domwe Mountain, somewhat to the north of it, and while there fought with Mpezeni, son of Zwangendaba, and defeated him. ‘Mpezeni’s people ran away,’ and this must have been when they settled in the old Undi country (near the present Fort Jameson), where Mpezeni died a few years ago.

It is interesting to note that, in 1903, Madzimavi, a son of Mpezeni’s, but not the one chosen as his successor, applied to the Native Commissioner for permission to take the name of Zwangendaba (Sungandawa, as spelt in the official document), on the ground that his grandfather’s spirit had appeared to him in a dream, and ordered him to do so. His request was refused, after discussion with the principal chiefs, a majority of whom seemed to be of the opinion that such a step on Madzimavi’s part was only preliminary to declaring himself independent, if not ousting his brother altogether.

Champiti, the Ntumbi head-man, who seemed to be between forty and fifty years of age, a tall, thin man, of a type common both among the Mashona of the south and the Wahima of Uganda, said that his father came from the south and crossed the Zambezi, with many of his people. They passed by the district where he was then living, ‘but none of them died by the way,’ and went on to the north, and round the top of the Lake. This might very well be, even if Champiti’s father had been grown up in 1825—and he need not have been, as it seems to have been a wholesale migration of families. Or he might have been impressed as a mat-carrier for the army; every Zulu warrior was attended by several of these boys, usually under ten years old. Champiti himself was born somewhere on the northward march. He mentioned passing through a country called Bena, up in the north, where the people ‘had no clothes and howled like dogs’; they had cattle there with long horns—the length of the walking-stick he carried (about four feet). The Wabena, at the present day, live in German East Africa, some sixty or seventy miles to the north of Lake Nyasa, though in accordance with Dr. Theal’s principle, stated above, they may have been anywhere in the middle of last century. But the absence of clothes, and the possession of long-horned cattle—if not the howling like dogs—would equally well fit the Wankonde.

Coming south again, Champiti’s people lived at Matengo, wherever that may have been, till he was the age of a small boy whom he pointed out to me—say, at a rough guess, eleven or twelve. Pembereka and Kaboa, whom I have had occasion to mention more than once, accompanied the party when they left Matengo, after which they passed Zomba, Lake Chilwa, and Blantyre, and ‘crossed a big river with a great deal of sand in it’—evidently the Shiré at, or above, Lake Malombe. After this they seem to have settled pretty much where we found them.

The above is sufficient to show that the ‘Angoni’ are a very mixed multitude; there were probably no Zulus in this particular band; and we find in another account that Chiwere, one of the leading chiefs, was a Senga, who detached himself from the main body because his people, being regarded as a subject race, had been ‘treated badly’ by the Zulus. And, while those who crossed the Shiré from the east brought some new elements back with them, they left some of their own forces behind in the shape of those ‘Magwangwara,’ who have been thorns in the sides of Yaos and Anyanja ever since.

Other bands, under different names, penetrated still farther north, some of them even reaching Lake Victoria.

The date of the crossing referred to is fixed at 1867, or soon after, by the late Mr. E. D. Young, who, reaching Chibisa’s with the Livingstone Search Expedition, in August of that year, found that the ‘Mazitu’ were encamped on the hills at Magomero. They had taken the place formerly occupied by the Yaos in the estimation of the Anyanja, and the former foes united to oppose them. The Makololo, too, began to regard them as a serious danger, and expelled their old adversary, Mankokwe, from his position near Tyolo, lest he should make common cause with the Angoni. The latter were at this time occupying the left, or eastern, bank of the Shiré, and negotiating with the Anyanja to be ferried across, while the Machinga Yaos were in possession of the right bank, from the Cataracts to the Lake.

The Angoni are variously known as Mazitu, Mavitu (Maviti), and, in more northern regions, as Magwangwara, Wamachonde, and Ruga-Ruga.

From this time forward, Chekusi’s Angoni raided Yaos and Anyanja impartially for some years. The former fled to the hill-tops, the latter to islands in the Shiré. When the invaders retired, they came from their hiding-places and cultivated their gardens in the plains, but only to have their crops swept off by fresh raids, as soon as they were ripe, and (as we have previously mentioned) their women and children carried off as slaves beyond the river. These raids occurred with unfailing regularity, till the settlement of the Mission party at Blantyre in 1876. There was an alarm in July 1877, but the invasion did not take place, probably owing to the presence of the Europeans.

The last of these raids took place in 1884, but was brought to a peaceable conclusion. The Rev. D. C. Scott, accompanied by Mrs. Scott and Dr. Peden, visited Chekusi’s kraal and succeeded in coming to a friendly understanding with that chief; and thenceforth the only Angoni hosts to cross the river were gangs of porters, or of men seeking work on the plantations. Chekusi died subsequent to the proclamation of the British Protectorate in 1891; his son was executed by the British administration after the ‘rising’ of 1896; and Mandala, whose village, after the delimitation of 1901 was found to be in Portuguese territory, was taken prisoner and died on the march to Tete. Mpezeni’s son and successor is a minor, and Mombera has been succeeded by a chief who has but little real authority, so that the prestige of these Zulu clans is now a thing of the past.

We have already seen how the Makololo came to be settled on the Shiré.

The Tambuka, or Tumbuka, according to their own account, ‘came from the north,’ where they were one tribe, ruled over by one chief, named Chikulamayembe. This was in some indefinite time long ago, before the Angoni had come. When they separated, they were living on the Rukuru river, where it flows through a natural arch of rock. Here ‘they worshipped a hill called Chikangombe; there is there a hot spring which they worshipped also.’ They split up and went in different directions, living much as the Mang’anja of the Shiré Highlands did before they were displaced by invaders. ‘They lived separately. One said, “I am chief,” and another said so also. They did not build big villages, but small ones of a few huts, containing their slaves, wives, and others.’ When they elected a chief, they anointed him with lion’s fat. ‘Chikulamayembe’ seems to mean ‘giver of hoes,’ and this chief was so called ‘because they saw his kindness and bounty to the poor. When a person had no hoe, he came to the chief and asked one, and he got it.’ Hoes are used as money by some tribes—as by those of the Upper Congo, and formerly by the Baronga of Delagoa Bay.

Chikulamayembe’s people moved on from the Rukuru to the hill Zabula, which appears to have been regarded with superstitious awe. ‘The old people of the tribe thought this hill could give rain.’ Here another separation took place, and, soon after, they were attacked by the Angoni. ‘The Tambuka had many cattle and goats,’ says the native account, ‘but the Ngoni hearing that they had cattle came and fought with them. The Ngoni killed the Tambuka, took their cattle, and sent them to their chief Zwangendaba. Thus the Tambuka failed to withstand the Ngoni, through their living apart and being scattered.’ For a time the invaders carried all before them; then they met with a temporary check, being defeated by three Tambuka chiefs in succession. The last of these, Chigamuka, inflicted such a crushing blow on them that, ‘to-day, if a Tambuka reminds a Ngoni of Chigamuka, the latter will strike him, because the Ngoni died and were beaten there.’

They recovered, however, after a time, and resumed their career of conquest. ‘To-day,’ said Dr. Steele’s informant, in 1893, ‘they are the masters of the Tambuka, Tonga, Chewa, Bisa, and Senga. There is no chief of the Tambuka, but the Ngoni alone. The records of these wars and migrations are necessarily very imperfect. They serve, however, to explain the great mixture of types which attentive observation shows us in most tribes of the Bantu race. Probably, if we may judge by analogy from similar processes in the past, the ultimate result will be the building up of several distinct nationalities, each with a well-marked type of its own, and institutions modified by so much of European culture as they can receive and assimilate. But such speculation belongs to the future. Our business here is only with the present, and our attempt has been to give some notion of these people as they now are, or (in cases where they have been influenced by contact with Europeans) as they were until lately.