NGUNI MIGRATIONS BETWEEN DELAGOA BAY AND THE ZAMBEZI, 1821-1839

Author: Gerhard Liesegang

Source: African Historical Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2 (1970), pp. 317-337

Published by: Boston University African Studies Center

The area adjacent to the Portuguese possessions of Lourenco Marques, Inhambane, Sofala, and Rios de Sena was affected after July 1821 by the wars and migrations which had started in South Africa a few years before.¹ At least four groups moved into the area under consideration; one of them, the Gaza Nguni under Sotshangane, continued to remain in possession of a part of it after 1839, when the other three had left, dominating an area where, before 1820, more than fifty independent political units had existed.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the written evidence on these migrations as contained in Portuguese sources, most of which are administrative records,² though these are not as rich as might be supposed. They hardly ever contain the names of the leaders of the migrating groups, and none of the terms applied to their followers (Mazitis, Landins, Massitis, Mabzites, Vatuas, etc.) is applied exclusively to any one group of invaders. It is therefore impossible to reconstruct migration routes on the basis of the administrative records alone. Only if we take the scraps of recorded oral tradition and personal memories,³ is

it possible to get something like a coherent picture of the movements of the different groups. An outline based on recorded oral sources is therefore given in the first part of this paper, even though this outline may sometimes fail to provide any basis for identifying the groups mentioned in contemporary records.

I The Routes of the Maseko and the Groups under Nxaba (Nqaba), Sotshangane and Zwangendaba

According to oral traditions collected among the Maseko of Southern Malawi,,⁴ Nxaba Msane, son of Mbekane, and Ngwana Maseko, son of Goqweni, emigrated together from their homeland but separated before they came into the Rowzi,⁵ area, that is, southern Mashonaland. How far or whether they really marched together is difficult to say: In an account based on oral traditions collected farther south near Lourengo Marques, Ngwana's and Nxaba's groups are mentioned as distinct units coming at different times.⁶

There is sufficient evidence to trace the route of the Maseko. They crossed the territory of the Venda in northern Transvaal,⁷ passed near the present Fort Victoria,⁸ and then touched Manyika on the present border between Mozambique and Rhodesia,⁹ They then continued to the Mbire territory southeast of Salisbury.¹⁰ By that time Nxaba, whose route is more difficult to trace,¹¹ had occupied much of the area between the Save River and the modern town of Beira.

Then Zwangendaba, who had been living together with Sotshangane near Lourenco Marques and in the Limpopo Valley for some time,¹² followed the Maseko,¹³ and defeated them in the Mbire area. This was remembered by the Maseko but apparently not by Zwangendaba's people when their traditions were recorded.,¹⁴ The Maseko got in touch with Nxaba and together they defeated Zwangendaba,¹⁵ whose group suffered heavy losses and decided to cross the Zambezi. The crossing has been dated at November 1835 on the basis of reports that it coincided with an eclipse.¹⁶

Some time afterward Sotshangane went north, crossed the Save, met Nxaba, and defeated him. The battle took place in Rhodesia near the present border with Mozambique. ¹⁷ Maseko tradition maintains that the Maseko were with Nxaba at that time,¹⁸ but other traditions do not mention them in this context.¹⁹ (One account, however, has a later encounter between Sotshangane's troops and the Maseko.²⁰) After the defeat of Nxaba the Maseko invaded Barue and the area of Tete,²¹21 while Nxaba took a different route. He must have passed near Zumbo, since D. Livingstone noted in 1856 that a certain "Mpakana" had taken cattle from "Mburuma, " the chief of the Lenje near the present Feira.²² Mpakana is a form of the name of Nxaba's father, Mbekane.

Sotshangane only stayed north of the Save River for two or three years, and then returned to the Limpopo Valley after a smallpox epidemic had decimated his troops. ²³

II

The progress made by migrating Nguni groups is recorded in contemporary reports. Apparently the first attacks made by the Nguni on chieftainships near Lourengo Marques were in July 1821. Three years later, in July 1824, they were already in the Makwakwa territory north of the Limpopo (southwest of Inhambane). Some two years later they seem to have operated close to Inhambane, and at about the same time they appeared in the hinterland of Sofala. In 1830 they got close to Manyika, and at the end of 1835 they were near Sena. In the following year there were two groups in the trading area of Tete, one north of the Zambezi, the other south of it.

As the Portuguese records deal mostly with local events the evidence is presented in three parts, starting with their southernmost possessions, Lourengo Marques and Inhambane.

III

According to the Governor of Lourenco Marques, Caetano da Costa Matozo, the troops which on the fifth of July 1821 attacked the chiefdom of Tembe with about 8000 men belonged to "Chief Inhamboza, dominating some territories south of Santa Luzia whose name I don't know."²⁴2 Name and geographical position²⁵ would indicate that these troops belonged to the Mthethwa state. This is not, however, in accord with the accepted chronology, which states that the Mthethwa king, Dingiswayo, died around 1818, his state then being taken over by Shaka.²⁶ The Ndwandwe, who were living northeast of the Mthethwa and whose kingdom was then slowly disintegrating, would fit much better. Fifteen months later, near Lourenco Marques, there were, in fact, two groups which had formerly belonged to the Ndwandwe state. They were led by Sotshangane and Zwangendaba.²⁷ But the possibility cannot be excluded that some other group might have been there before them.

Governor Matozo, whose letters form the only source, writes that the chief of Tembe fled to an island, and the enemy took the cattle and burned some houses. He states that he induced the chief of Tembe to send an embassy to the enemy in order to ask what they wanted. The answer was "that they had come to look for riches and were prepared to evacuate his territory if he sent them beads and bangles as necklaces and bracelets." The Governor gave them these from his private stock,²⁸ whereupon the enemy left Tembe and proceeded to Matola and Moamba, two chiefdoms west of Lourengo Marques. Then on 22 July some "1500 men" armed with spears and shields and led by "a son" of the "Chief Inhamboze" appeared near the Portuguese fort demanding cattle, beads, and cop- per. After some negotiations he got these articles and on the 26th bade farewell "because he wanted to return to his country."²⁹

A few days later Matozo was succeeded by another governor, who on 10 August referred to what was apparently the same group as "people from the coast of Natal, called Vatuas."³⁰ This is the first mention of a term by which the Nguni (including the Zulu and Swazi) were often referred to by Portuguese during the nineteenth century.³¹ Less than a year later Tembe and Matola were again attacked.³² This could mean that a Nguni group independent of the first invaders had come in the meantime. In October 1822 members of a British expedition under W.F.W. Owen saw Sotshangane southwest of Lourenco Marques. ³³ and in November had contacts with Zwangendaba's group which was then north of Lourengo Marques.³⁴ This suggests that Sotshangane and Zwangendaba had separate headquarters even when they were "together," as oral tradition has it.³⁵ The British also received some idea of the relations between Zwangendaba and the Ndwandwe king.³⁶ There is no contemporary record on the separation of Zwangendaba and Sotshangane. In 1838 an officer who had served in Lourengo Marques reported that one group of "Vatuas or Massuitas," which can be identified as Sotshangane's, had established its headquarters near the Limpopo in 1827.³⁷ There, in 1828, it de- feated a Zulu army sent by Shaka, and in 1834 an expedition led by the Governor of Inhambane in person.³⁸ The expedition left Inhambane on 16 October and contacted the enemy on the 2nd or 3rd of November. On the 9th of that month it was learned in Inhambane that the Governor and most of those who had accompanied him had been killed.³⁹ The Portuguese had gone considerably beyond their own territory.⁴⁰

This seems to have been the first real defeat suffered by the inhabitants of Inhambane at the hands of the Nguni. On the first encounter in 1824 the troops from Inhambane had chosen to retreat when they stumbled on the Nguni⁴¹ and later, in 1825 and 1826, they are reported to have been victorious.⁴²

In 1836 the inhabitants of Inhambane made preparations to defend their settlement against the "Massuitis."⁴³ Probably Sotshangane was moving north at the time.⁴⁴ He returned to the Limpopo Valley between June 1838 and May 1840. ⁴⁵

IV Nxaba in the Hinterland of Sofala and his Defeat by Sotshangane

It is difficult to assess the validity of some of the Portuguese sources from Sofala which construe a relationship between Sotshangane and Nxaba, making the latter either a former subject of Sotshangane or his son-in-law. The case is not as clear as that of Mzilikazi, of whom it is known that he had been subject to Shaka for a few years.⁴⁶ Most of the information on the Nguni near Sofala comes from the writings of Joao Juliao da Silva, who during the first half of the nineteenth century wrote several descriptions of the area of Sofala, which was less important economically than Inhambane. (In 1826 the population consisted of 911 slaves, 81 free Africans, 255 mulattoes, and 20 "whites.") In 1844 Silva described the Nguni invasion as follows:

In 1827⁴⁷ Muava [Nxaba], one of the potentates subject to Manicusse [Sotshangane] who was one of the Vatua kings of the coast of Natal, rebelled against the latter and retreated with those of his party into this country, ravaging everything with fire and sword as well as with unheard of cruelty. He inspired panic and terror in these people and uprooted the Landins [the present-day Tsonga, Ronga, Changana, and Tswa from the region south of the Save] in order to enlarge his army. He continued through the country of Madanda and along the course of of the aforementioned Save river to the kingdom of Quissanga: there Mutema, its king, taking advantage of his good position in the moun- tain ranges, resisted valiantly, until [Muava] managed through treason to become the peaceful ruler of the former's and the surrounding countries. There he established himself and began to discipline these peoples, arming them with assegais and shields instead of the bows and arrows which they had been using. With these peoples and some vatuas as leaders they attacked Quiteve in 1830, and, after committing all kinds of hostile actions, passed on to Manica, and went to Changamire. They took all cattle which existed in these countries to the general deposit in Quissanga; as well as the [nearly grown up] boys and girls, the first as soldiers and the second as wives, killing all the rest, even babies.⁴⁸ Some of Nxaba's attacks on Quiteve are described in letters written by people from Sofala who had been sent to Quiteve to prepare the exploration for alluvial gold in Bandire, south of the Revue River. Quiteve was raided two or three times between July and October 1830 and several times after that until 1833. The Portuguese suspected that the invaders were taking part in local politics supporting Murivane, one of the chiefs of Quiteve, against rival relatives who also wanted to become king of Quiteve.⁴⁹ This suspicion was probably not always justified as Murivane had been raided too. He may just have been the most successful of the chiefs who wanted to establish relations with Nguni. He was given a bodyguard of "vatua" (Nguni), which was possibly meant as a means of surveillance, but he fled to Sofala around 1835.⁵⁰

By 1835 the Portuguese in Sofala had lost six soldiers in Bandire through Nguni attacks and five men in Machanga north of the mouth of the Save, where a local chief had appealed for their protection.⁵¹ In July 1834 communications by land between Sofala and Quelimane were interrupted because there were "Mathaos" (Nguni soldiers) in Bangoe, the area where the town of Beira is now situated.⁵² It is possible that Nxaba had moved his headquarters to the north at that time, for in an account of the migrations of the Maseko it is stated that they met him at "Golongosi" when they appealed to him for help after their defeat by Zwangendaba. "Golongosi" probably refers to the Gorongosa mountain area northwest of Beira. After their victory over Zwangendaba (sometime around May-July 1835) Nxaba and and the Maseko are reported to have gone to "Chikwanda." This is probably the Quissanga area where Nxaba had first settled.⁵³ It is possible that Nxaba's troops were among those who advanced in the direction of Sena at the end of 1835 (see below). In October 1836 Nxaba's troops attacked Sofala. Interestingly enough, Joao Juliao da Silva, one of the eyewitnesses who described the attack several times, was not consistent as to who was responsible for the attack on Sofala. He named Nxaba twice and Sotshangane three times.⁵⁴ But since in the reports on diplomatic relations between the Portuguese in Sofala and Africans Nxaba is men- tioned twice as the initiator,⁵⁵ this seems to be the case.

One description of the attack is as follows:

In 1836 he sent them to attack this vila [a type of small town], and since we had no force to resist as they [soldiers and Africans] were already in panic and terror of the said Vatuas and Mataos (who are people from Quissanga and others who are not Vatuas by birth) because of their cruelty, their way of fighting, refusing to retreat no matter how many casualties they had, and because of their great number. As their march was rapid and they were nearly able to enter the suburbs of this vila by surprise, [we] all retreated into the small fortress, leaving everything in the houses. Those who fled into the neighbouring bush, that is, our slaves, who were in the settlements for agriculture, were all speared to death. They entered the vila, advanced, and would have arrived at the walls of the fortress if the small river In- haruquare which flows in front of the entrance had not prevented them from doing so. Others waded the river and took the cattle which had been near the fortress and which had run towards the vila at the sound of the artillery. They stole some cloth, as much as each of them could roll round his body .... They retired afterwards to the settlement of the muslims, where they passed the night.⁵⁶

According to a letter from the Governor the enemy had first (that is, on 8 October) attacked areas south of Sofala; on the following day the had already been north of it and on the 10th had attacked Sofala itself.⁵⁷ On the 11th more than twenty soldiers under Jose Marques da Costa, who had been detached to Chironde, an area near the sea north of Sofala, and who had been called back to Sofala, encountered the enemy on their march and were killed.⁵⁸ A fortnight after the attack one of the citizens of Sofala wrote to his brother-in-law in Tete:

The said Mathaos left after sacking the houses, but they did not burn the said houses. That is why we suspect that they will return another time in order to catch us all unprepared. Through news received lately we are sure that another army, which is not the same which has attacked us, is coming with that intent.⁵⁹

It may be that the inhabitants of Sofala were speculating too much about the motives of their enemies. But the information about a second army could refer to Sotshangane who must have moved to the area north of the Save at that time.

It is impossible to say why Sotshangane left Bilene. Perhaps armies of the Zulu king, Dingane, had come dangerously close;⁶⁰ perhaps he wanted to enlarge his territory; or he may have been provoked by an attack on Bilene by Nxaba mentioned by St. Vincent W. Erskine. Erskine reports that Nxaba's principal regiment had rebelled when Sotshangane arrived, being discontented because its men were not allowed to marry.⁶¹ Erskine got his information in the 1870's, but the story survived until the 1920's when one version was recorded in Bilene.⁶² and another in Malawi. The latter version makes one suspect that there were contacts between Nxaba's subjects and Sotshangane:

People got tired of Ng'awa (click) because he kept calling them out to dance ligubu (war dance) and refused to allow them to marry. They went to Paramount Chief Gassa [Sotshangane] and asked him if they might go away to find war elsewhere and gain experience.⁶³

Most other authors referring to Sotshangane's stay in "Mussapa" north of the Save do not mention this detail; neither does J.J. da Silva in 1844:

[Sotshangane] came with a powerful army, pursuing Muava [Nxaba] on the same route that one had taken, committing the same violences and cruelties. They fought in Quissanga; Muava was defeated and moved further away. It is not known where he is.

Manicusse [Sotshangane] returned to his former domicile after two years in Quissanga.⁶⁴

There seems to have been an interregnum of about two years (1839-1840) during which one of the chiefs of Quiteve threatened to attack Sofala.⁶⁵ Then, from 1841 onward, the armies of Sotshangane and his sons brought the hinterland of Sofala under their control again.⁶⁶

Next to nothing is known about the organization of Nxaba's kingdom and conquests. The possibility cannot be excluded that he sometimes relied on the subject population even for his war leaders.⁶⁷

V Nguni near and in the Rios de Sena

The Mabuzites, Mapsitis, Landins, or Batua mentioned in the Portuguese correspondence from the Zambezi area in the years 1832-1839 belonged to at least three independent groups: those under the leadership of Zwangendaba, of Nxaba, and of Magadlela (who was the regent for Ngwana Maseko's son). There is also the possibility that a body of Sotshangane's warriors was in the Gorongosa area early in 1838. But since the contemporary records do not mention any leaders, this is mere speculation.

The only group which is not difficult to identify is Zwangendaba's, which crossed the Zambezi in 1835, shortly after being defeated by Nxaba, and probably never threatened any of the larger Portuguese settlements. Even the decision to abandon Zumbo, the westernmost Portuguese outpost on the Zambezi, in 1835-1836 seems to have been based on other grounds. Zumbo is about 170 kilometers west of Cachombo, where Zwangendaba crossed the Zambezi. In July 1836 he was in the territory of the Chewa chief, Undi, and by the end of the year had reached Nsenga territory,⁶⁹ where, according to oral tradition, his headquarters remained for four years.,⁷⁰ In the beginning of 1837 one of his detachments was near Missale, where alluvial gold was washed. (This is close to the place where the frontiers of Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique meet.) "Chavatama, " belonging to the Caetano Pereira family which had been active in that area since the end of the eighteenth century, sent his elephant hunters and some "Tumbuca" and "Marave" allies, about 400 men in all, against Zwagen- daba's detachment. The ensuing fight,⁷¹ seems to have been the only one which took place between the Portuguese and Zwagendaba's people.

Another group had appeared in Manyika (Portuguese: Manica) in 1830. In June 1832 F .C. da Silva, the capitao mor of the Feira da Manica, which at that time was located a little north of present-day Macequece, writes about them in a letter:

Two years ago a nation called Mabuzites came and invaded this kingdom, robbed some cattle and retired; now they returned in three divisions and besieged the whole of Manica. The whole population retired into the mountains where we too decided to retreat in order to see what they would do. On the 31st of the last month they invaded the Feira, and when they saw that they didn't find anything, they retreated and attacked Mutasa [the chief of Manyika]. But they were not successful, as he had built a wall, distrusting this nation. There they made a speech, saying that they would return in the time after the grass fires [when the local population would have less possibilities to hide].⁷²

It is not certain that the "Mabuzites" who came in 1830 and those who came in 1832 belonged to the same group of Nguni. It is possible that the first attack was made by Nxaba and the second by the Maseko.

On 11 November 1832 the "Landins or Mapzitis" were back; the Portuguese, being armed, were not attacked, but a neighboring local chief in Manyika suffered.,⁷³ In May 1833 the Nguni lived near the borders of the chiefdom of Jindwi south of Manyika and had attacked the eastern part of Manyika, killing about twenty persons. As the path from Sena to Manyika passed through that area and extortions by the chiefs of Manyika and Barue were feared by the Portuguese, they proposed to transfer the Feira to Gorongosa, where the prazos (Portuguese crown estates) began. There "they would do as much trade as they are doing now, which is nearly none. It would also improve the prazo called Gorongosa. And once the damned news about the Mapzites or Landins and the hunger which is threatening end, one could come again to this Feira.".⁷⁴ This plan to move to Gorongosa was apparently not carried out. The last letter from "Manica" in the Lisbon archives is from 8 December 1833.⁷⁵ There are no records on developments in 1834. In June 1835 the Governor of Rios de Sena supposed that the Feira still existed, though he had not received any letters from there since he had taken over the government in December 1834.⁷⁶ It is possible that the few soldiers detached to Manyika had returned to Sena by 1 August 1835,.⁷⁷ but there were also rumors that the Portuguese suffered some losses there.⁷⁸

In the beginning of November 1835 Sena seemed to be threatened by an attack from the "enemy Batua" as Governor Carrazedo, who had come into contact with Nguni as Governor of Inhambane eleven years earlier, named them.⁷⁹ In November and December three expeditions marched against them from Sena and fought with them, but apparently there were no serious losses. A force marching from Tete to Sena was stopped on the first of December in the prazo Tambara.⁸⁰ A month later they seem to have left the area. Spies sent out by the the Governor told him that "there had been dissensions among them, with the result that those of Quiteve went to Gorongosa and their home country while the real Landins [i.e., Nguni] marched in the direction of Imbiritonga.".⁸¹

This may be an indication that those who attacked Sena had been in Quiteve, south of Sena, before. There is silence on "the group which went to Imbiritonga,".⁸² but the Gorongosa area appears to have offered some months' work for the spies sent out from Sena. At the end of January or beginning of February 1836 they reported that the "Batua" lived in some of the villages of the colons (free Africans living in prazos) who had fled.⁸³ In September they re- ported that the "enemy" had retired to Quiteve.⁸⁴ This could have been in con- nection with the attack Nxaba made on Sofala in October of that year. Thereafter there are no more reports on Nguni from Sena until September 1837.

But in November 1836 there suddenly appeared a group south of Tete which was said to have been descending the Luenya Valley. ⁸⁵ The Monomotapa Candia, who had suffered from Zwangendaba's group already, sent for help to Tete,⁸⁶ but another chief near the Luenya, the "Butonga Mupingansato," offered resistance and reported a victory. Soldiers sent out by the commander of Tete stated on 20 November:

The chief, Mupingasato, who with his troops had killed many, took their riches which they had brought with them as manxilas (cotton cloth [manufactured by Africans]), bangles, ostrich feather headdresses and some shields. Some of them had been killed before [Mupingasato took action] by an employee of the same chief and among his booty there were clothes like trousers, jabots, and coats which are believed to have belonged to those of ours who were their victims in Manica. It is believed that they are the few Landins who escaped in the war your Lordship made on them in Sena in the past year because the Butongas assured the soldiers that the clothed negroes who were their followers were from the Buria [i.e., Budja of Mtoko] nation, natives from the Muzezuro region who were dispersed by the old ones [Zwangendaba?]. The others went to Marembe, a part of Barue.⁸⁷

The administrator of the prazo Massangano south of the confluence of the Luenya and Zambezi, who had also collected news about them when it seemed his prazo was going to be attacked too, wrote on the 23rd from Tete that the battle had taken place north of the Luenya and that the Monomotapa, Candia, also had decided to pursue them and that his men had fought with the "Batuas or Landins" in "Biritonga."⁸⁸ Having returned to his prazo, the administrator collected more information, which he transmitted to the commander of Tete on December 12:

Those of the real Landins who escaped from the war when they were defeated by the chief of the Butongagem went far away. They passed through Biritonga and the region of Muzezuros going into the interior; and when the Buria people, who were the most numerous and whom they had in their company in order to train them for war, saw that they had no means of subsistence and were already dying of hunger they left them and settled in the Butongagem and joined its chiefs with their families. Most of them are with the chief Sanboe who is called Mupingasato.⁸⁹

But before the end of the month the "Batuas" were back. They took the "Zumbave of the dead emperor Nhampando, " which was only three days from Tete and north of the Ruenya, and made their "camps in the millet and peanut fields."⁹⁰ A month later Mupingasato had driven them out for a second time.⁹¹ In both cases he had probably come into contact with raiding parties and not with the headquarters itself, which may have been somewhere in northeastern Rhodesia.

The "Landins" and "Batuas" who were near Sena in the end of 1835 and near the River Luenya in 1836-1837 can only have belonged to Nxaba and/or the Maseko, who were possibly allied at that time as reported in oral tradition.⁹² The headquarters of both groups seem to have moved together until some time after Nxaba's defeat by Sotshangane.

For 1837 there is only one more reference to Nguni near the Rios de Sena stating that there were scattered groups of them in the Cheringoma area in Sep- tember.⁹³ They were apparently still there when from February to April 1838 another group, certainly the Maseko, raided the prazo of Sena.

On 22 March 1838, the Governor reported from Sena on the situation. The "enemy" was then:

At a distance of 30 leagues at a place called Pompue [i.e., near the River Pompue] north of this town with approximately 2.000 men and many small and large cattle which had been robbed in the prazos surrounding this town. . . . It is further known that there is a second army of the said Mapezitis in the prazo Cheringoma which is 42 leagues to the south of this town.⁹⁴

It is possible that this group in Cheringoma was a war party belonging to Sotshangane, but this is only a guess as it is not known how far his troop penetrated while he stayed in "Quissanga."

The Maseko who had stayed near "Pompue" had retired into the interior of Barue by August⁹⁵ but appeared in the prazo Massangano in November or shortly before that. The Governor of Rios de Sena reported this to the Governing Council in Mocambique as the following:

I want to bring to the knowledge of your lordships that on November 18 of the last year the Commander of Tete wrote me that the hostile Landins had invaded the prazo of the Nation called Chunga and Massangano, which is on the other side of the Luenya, eight leagues from that town, where they practized many hostilities, making prisoners 18 colons and killing 11, among them two slaves belonging to the Nation.

He continues with a detail which I quote though the two persons concerned were certainly not typical of those who joined the Nguni:

In the fights which they had with the colons, two negroes of the Macia [Makua] nation were made prisoners [by the colons]. When they were inquired into, they answered that they had been bought in Mogambique and had been brought to Inhambane by Vicente Thomaz dos Santos, who left them there as they were ill. From there they fled, and though they denied that they belonged to the enemy, it is suspected that they have come to be incorporated with the same, because one of them was found with an assegai. This is the one who has the mark M on the right breast. The other has been marked on the left. I shall keep them prisoner until the decision of your lordships. On Decem- ber first of the said year the mentioned Commander writes that the enemy had retreated into the interior of Barue, which is at a distance of eight or ten days' march from that town.⁹⁶

This group, which has been identified with the Maseko, attacked Tete either late in December or in the beginning of 1839 after having forded the Zambezi.⁹⁷ One source maintains that the Maseko crossed the Zambezi in 1839 for good.⁹⁸ They continued to cause alarms in Tete until 1845.⁹⁹

One year before, in 1844, emissaries of Sotshangane had levied tribute in the prazos south of Sena, apparently for the first time.¹⁰⁰

VI

J.A. Barnes has spoken of "the long march"¹⁰¹ referring to Zwangendaba's people. But the migrants could not have sustained their march without staying for one or more years at one place, from which they could send out raiding parties, accept local chiefs as vassals, cultivate fields, and increase their numbers and stock. As has been shown by quotations from the Portuguese sources, contemporaries, too, were aware of the fact that members of the subject population had been recruited into the Nguni groups.

It seems that few of the African peoples whose territories had been invaded resorted to permanent emigration and that those who did¹⁰² did not embark on the same kind of conquests as the Nguni. In most cases the Nguni were not accepted as masters without a fight. It might be asked if there was anything comparable to the "rebellions" against European domination, like the Shona rebellion of 1896 or the Maji-Maji in Tanzania. The sources which we have for the time and area under consideration do not yield anything on similar movements; even in later years south of the Zambezi there seems to have been nothing re- sembling these. The main problem was to control marginal areas.¹⁰³

In the absence of Portuguese export and import statistics the effect of the migrations on the Portuguese settlements and their trade is difficult to assess. Other documents are not reliable. For example, among the few documents from Inhambane there is a complaint made in 1825 by the inhabitants of that town that the Nguni had made conditions difficult for commerce. But this complaint was meant to justify the admission of a French ship for trading purposes, which was strictly forbidden under the existing regulations,¹⁰⁴ so there is some doubt as to whether the invasion had been a great disaster or only one of the more common minor ones as, for example, the famine of 1827-1829 which induced most in- habitants of Sena to leave temporarily and swept groups from neighboring terri- tories into the prazos which were sacked.¹⁰⁵ The official Portuguese representatives at "Manica" and Zumbo had already been evacuated once before on account of local difficulties.¹⁰⁶ Some of the trade routes leading to Inhambane had been blocked before by local chiefs.¹⁰⁷ In the same manner as these crises passed, the Nguni attacks also came to an end. In addition one must not forget that only Manyika, Sofala, and Lourenco Marques were raided in these years. Nguni armies did not closely approach either Inhambane or Sena. Once they had settled down, the Gaza Nguni helped Lourenco Marques and Inhambane to survive by using them as outlets for the ivory they were getting as tribute.

Summary

This paper describes the migration of four Nguni groups: those under the leadership of Nxaba Msane, Zwangendaba Jere, the Maseko clan, and Sotshangane Nxumayo, king of the Gaza Nguni. An outline is given of the migration routes through Mozambique, Transvaal, and Rhodesia based on oral tradition. This only deviates from accepted opinion in so far as it eliminates a battle between Sotshangane and Zwangendaba somewhere near the Save in Rhodesia around 1831. It is proposed that the basis for the supposition of this battle was the result of confused reports on a battle between Sotshangane and Nxaba five or six years later. Secondly a description of the Nguni "invasion" into territories near the Portuguese settlements on the coast and on the Zambezi is given. It is based mainly on contemporary Portuguese records. The best sources refer to Nxaba who, from about 1827 to 1836, stayed in the hinterland of Sofala which he subjected. There he was as important as Sotshangane south of the Save. In 1836 Nxaba's troops attacked Sofala. This was probably shortly before he was defeated by Sotshangane. In 1834, that is, before he had moved up to the Save, Sotshangane had won a victory over a Portuguese expedition sent against him from Inhambane, but did not attack that place. The sources from the Rios de Sena area (which includes Zumbo, Tete, Sena, and Manica) are more difficult to interpret. In none of them are the names of the leaders of the Nguni mentioned. It is clear, however, that some reports from the years 1836-1837 must refer to Zwangendaba and others from 1838 to the Maseko. The latter seem to have crossed the Zambezi in 1839. The effect of the migrations on the local African population and on the Portuguese is then discussed briefly as a final point.

Footnotes

1. See Monica Wilson and Leonard Thompson, eds., The Oxford History of South Africa, I (Oxford, 1969), chs. VIII and IX; J.D. Omer-Cooper, The Zulu Aftermath: A Nineteenth-Century Revolution in Bantu Africa (London, 1966). I want to thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for a travel grant under the auspices of the Afrika-Kartenwerk which enabled me to have a look at certain documents in Lourenco Marques in 1969. I am also indebted to Professor Omer-Cooper for his criticism on an earlier draft of this paper and to Janet Mohammad and John Torres for correcting my English.

2. Most of them are in the A.H.U. (Arquivo Hist6rico Ultramarino, Lisbon) and only a few in the A.H .M. (Arquivo Historico de Mogambique, Lourengo Marques), which has not many documents on the period before 1850. Narrative accounts of contemporaries, which contain much information for the same period in South Africa, are very rare.

3. I have only seen part of the recorded material. There is something in Salisbury and Lusaka and also in Malawi, which is not published. Oral tradition collected by D.P. Abraham in Rhodesia and in the Zambezi area might contain interesting details as well as a manuscript by Julio Santos Peixe on the history of the people of the area of Vila Pery and Dombe, which is in the administrator's office in Vila Pery. Almost no information on Nguni migrations could be obtained by me through interviews with old people from the Limpopo Valley in 1969.

4. Account by Ishmael Mwale in Margaret Read, The Ngoni of Nyasaland (Lon- don, 1956), 8-9. 5. The Rozwi, rendered as Lozi in the text, have been incorrectly identified with the Lozi on the upper Zambezi by Mwale.

6. A. Grandjean, "L'invasion des Zoulou dans le sud-est africain: une page d'histoire inedite, " Bulletin de la Societe Neuchateloise de Geographie, XI (1899), 71, 75. According to Grandjean the Maseko leader (mentioned as 'Ngoqwen," the name of Ngwana's father) was followed by Sotshangane (or Manukuse) and Zwangendaba and then by Nxaba.

7. J. Flygare (Die Zoutpansbergen en die Bawenda Natie, 1899, quoted by G.S. Preller, Dagboek van Louis Trichardt [second edition, Cape Town, 1938], xii) mentions Ngwane as a Swazi chief, who lived for more than two years in the Venda area and then was driven out by Zwangendaba. Nearly the same information is given by E . Gottschling, "The Bawenda: A Sketch of their History and Customs, "Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 35 (1905), 366. Only the names are written in a different way.

8. K.R. Robinson, "A History of the Bikita District," Nada, 34 (1957), 78-79, 85. He mentioned Ngwana as "Mucecenyani." In his diaries Carl Mauch rendered the name as "Matsetsowane" when he heard of him near Great Zimbabwe in February 1872.

9. Mentioned as "Nyika" in Mwale's account.

10. Appearing as "Chidima Mbirasweswe" in Mwale's account. "Soswe" is the title of the chief of the Mbire near Mt. Wedza.

11. He is mentioned as "Naba" in 1909 by two administrators reporting on areas close to Lourenco Marques (Francisco Ferrao, ed., Circumscripcoes de Lourengo Marques: Respostas aos quesitos feitos pelo secretario dos negocios Indigenas (Lourengo Marques, 1909), 84-85, 146, 150. Neither of them mention Ngwana Maseko. The description one of them gives of "Naba" (crossing the country in peace, etc.) is substantially the same as what Grandjean reports for Ngwana. Grandjean and Chibambo refer to a fight be- tween Sotshangane and Nxaba south of the Limpopo, but Chibambo states that hostilities had started before Zwangendaba joined Sotshangane, while Grand- jean implies that both had been together for some time and had turned back in order to defeat Nxaba near the Nkomati. Grandjean, "L'invasion, " 75; Y.M. Chibambo, My Ngoni of Nyasaland (London, 1942), 9. Hostilities between Mzilikazi and Nxaba mentioned by A.T. Bryant, Olden Times in Zulu- land and Natal (London, 1929), 424, could have taken place after this defeat. Mzilikazi was then living close to Pedi territory. It is not known which route Nxaba took from there to the area north of the Save which is about 400 kilometers away and where his activity is well documented.

12. Chibambo, Ngoni, 10; Grandjean, "L'invasion," 71, 75; Ferrao, Circum- scripcoes, 46.

13. Gottschling, "Bawenda;" Robinson, "History."

14. Compare Mwale's account and that of Chibambo, Ngoni.

15. Chibambo, Ngoni, 15-16. As Chibambo writes that Zwangendaba was in the country of Mangwendi at the time, Zwangendaba's people can be identified with the "Swazi," remembered in local tradition as having had their headquarters at a certain hill for two years. The leader who was said to have driven them out was "Mudyutkwi," probably another name for Nxaba. W. Edwards, "The Wanoe: A Short Historical Sketch," Nada, 4 (1926), 14. In a neighboring area the "maZungendaba" were remembered too. J. Chidziwa, "History of the Vashawasha," Nada, IX (1964), 24, 26.

16. See J.A. Barnes, Politics in a Changing Society (London, 1954), 3.

17. L.C. Meredith, "The Rain Spirit of Mabota Murangadzwa, Melsetter District, " Nada, 3 (1925), 79. Here Nxaba is mentioned under his clan name Msane (Musani) and Sotshangane under the name of his son, Umzila, who moved into this area twenty-five years later. The battle took place just northeast of Chipinga. Bryant mentions a battle between Sotshangane and Nxaba in the same area (Olden Times, 454, 462). He probably based his account on sources where Nxaba is confused with Zwangendaba as in S. Muhlanga, "In the Early Days, " Nada, 4 (1926), 110. An attack of Sotshangane on Zwangendaba took place some years earlier, but probably in the Limpopo Valley. (Compare Chibambo, Ngoni, 10, 12; Grandjean, "L'invasion, " 75.) When Sotshangane reached the Save, Zwangendaba had already crossed the Zambezi.

18. See Mwale in Read, Ngoni, 8-9.

19. Grandjean, "L'invasion," 76; Gomes da Costa, Gaza 1897-1898 (Lisbon, 1899), 62; Ferrao, Circumscripcoes, and sources quoted in notes 61 and 62.

20. Grandjean, "L'invasion," 76.

21. Mwale in Read, Ngoni, 8-9. Barue appears as Makombe, which was the title of its ruler.

22. I. Schapera, ed., Livingstone's African Journal 1853-56 (London, 1963), 372. In another place Livingstone mentions "Ngabe and Mpakane," 275. On Nxaba's further route and its termination see A.M. Dale and E.W. Smith, The Ila-Speaking Tribes of Northern Rhodesia (London, 1920), 31-32; and E.W. Smith, "Sebetwane and the Makololo, " African Studies, 15 (1956), 71.

23. Grandjean, "L'invasion," 77.

24. A.H.U. Cx.68, L.M. 11/7/1821, Matozo to GCG. On L.M. in this time see G. Liesegang, "Dingane's Attack on Lourengo Marques in 1833," Journal of African History, X, 4 (1969), 569.

25. N.J. van Warmelo, History of Matiwane and the Amangwane Tribe (Pretoria, 1938), 17, explains: "Nyambose, this is a common isithakazelo of the Mthethwa." As Sotshangane's warriors were called "manhambozes" (- ma- Nyamboze) in Inhambane (though not in Lourenco Marques) from about 1834 to 1856, this fact loses some of its weight. For a geographical position of the Mthethwa, see the map in Bryant, Olden Times.

26. See Wilson and Thompson, South Africa, 343-344. I am grateful to Professor Omer-Cooper for making this point.

27. See below, notes 33 and 34.

28. A.H.U. Moc. Cx.68, L.M. 11/7/1821, G. Matozo to GCG; there is a summary of this document in A. Lobato, Quatro estudos e uma evocacao para a hist6ria de Lourenco Marques (Lisbon, 1961), 100-102.

29. A.H.U. Moc. Cx. 68, L.M. 28/7/1821, G. Matozo to GCG.

30. A.H.U. Moc. Cx. 68, L.M. 10/8/1821, G.A.M. de Oliva to GCG.

31. The term is older, as already in 1730 the people near Delagoa Bay called certain groups to the southwest of them "baatwa." (Archives of the Republic of South Africa, Cape Town, C 442, Ink. Br. 1729-30, 837, report dated 2/5/1730.)

32. Lobato, Estudos, 103; A.H.U. Moc. Cx. 70, L.M. 17/6/1822, no. 7, Rocha to Governo Provizorio.

33. W.F.W. Owen, Narrative of Voyages to Explore the Shores of Africa (London, 1833), I, 93-96.

34. Ibid., 142-145.

35. See sources quoted in note 12.

36. W.F .W. Owen, 'The Bay of Delagoa," in G.M. Theal, Records of South Eastern Africa, II (reprint, Cape Town, 1964), 470.

37. C.J.A. Teixeira, "Descrip9ao dos Rios da Bahia de Louren9o Marques," Arquivo das Col6nias, II, 8 (Lisbon, 1918), 64.

38. Teixeira, "Descripcao," 64; N. Isaacs, Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa (reprint, Cape Town, 1936-37), I, 229; II, 19-21.

39. A.H.U. Morambique Diversos Cx. 2, Moc. 12/12/1834, Carrazedo to Majorchi, incl. "Copia das cartas vindas de Inhambane aos 8 de dezembro na escuna Brazileira Augusto Cezar" (copies of three private letters); A.H .U. Moc. Pasta 1, Inh. 10/4/1835, G. Matozo to Minister (Majorchi); ibid., Inh. 26/3/1835, report of the camera municipal of Inhambane; A.H.M. Cod. 2- 2-448 FA5, fol. 172v, Inh. 9/11/1834, "Termo da nomeagao do governador interino." Losses were estimated at "more than 500" or "more than 1000" in 1835 and at 280 in 1844, when the Governor General visited Inhambane. (A.H.U. Moc. P. 7, Moc. 5/2/1845, no. 18, GG Lima to Minister.) Only the porters were said to have escaped. In one of the private letters quoted above it is stated that the expedition was made in order to "get ivory and prisoners to make slaves." The report of the camera municipal only men- tions the interest of the governor in ivory.

40. The battle took place either in Zavala (A.H.M., Cod. 2-448 FA5, fol. 172) or even further away, near the Limpopo. Zavala is 120 km. SSW of Inhambane and Portuguese territory ended about 30 km. south of the town.

41. Lobato, Estudos, 111. The surprise cannot have been so great since Nguni were already known in Inhambane in August 1823. At least some of the African people were defending themselves successfully against the Nguni at the time. Owen, Narrative, I, 302.

42. A.H.U. Mog. Cx.75, Inh. 10/7/1825 and 26/7/1825, no. 2, Carrazedo to Botelho; F.G. Santana, Documentagio Avulsa Mocambicana do Arquivo Hist6rico Ultramarino, I (Lisbon, 1964), 798. These and other sources do not allow any identification of the invaders. It cannot, therefore, be excluded that Nxaba passed near Inhambane as some contemporary observers from Sofala implied.

43. A.H.M. Cod. 2-448 FA5, fol. 248 or 249, 27/7/1836; ibid., fol. 261, 7/10/1836; ibid., fols. 295-296v, 7/12/1836.

44. In 1856 Montanha, who had arrived in Inhambane in 1836, stated that the Nguni were still complaining about an attack that the Portuguese of Inhambane had made on Sotshangane "when he wanted to move north in 1836." J .de Santa Rita Montanha, "Relatorio da viagem de ida, estada e volta aos hollan- dezes," Annaes do conselho ultramarino, parte nao official, I (1854-57), 336. It is not clear in what month that attack took place and therefore pos- sible that Sotshangane was already on the move when the voortrekker van Rensburg and his party were killed near the Limpopo in about August 1836.

45. A.H.M. Gov. Geral 19: Correspondencia rec. de L.M., L.M. 31/7/1841, no. 21, G. Silveira to GG J. da Costa Xavier. Silveira states that "Chan- changane" had established himself north of Louren9o Marques during the government of C.A.P. Gamitto.

46. See Bryant, Olden Times, and W.F. Lye, "The Ndebele King South of the Limpopo River, "Journal of African History, X, 1 (1969), 87-104.

47. This date is supported by a contemporary report dated 23 February 1827, stating that there was "reliable news that the Landins called Massitis are staying in the area of Madanda near this captaincy and want to pass on." (A.H.M. Gov. Geral, 12, corresp. rec. de Sofala, G. Nunes to GCG Botelo, no. 23). Nunes had apparently received the news from messengers he had sent to Madanda in June 1826 in order to establish trade relations with local chiefs. (A.H.M. Gov. Geral, 12, corresp. rec. de Sofala, copy of a letter from G. Nunes to GCG Botelho, 12/7/1827, no. 33.)

48. A.H.U. Diversos de Mogambique, Cx. 1, "Memoria sobre Soffala-offerecida ao Illmo e Exm? Snr Rodrigo Luciano de Abreu de Lima Governador Geral da Provincia de Mocambique Por seu author Joao Juliao da Silva," Sofala, 8 August 1844, 62.

49. See letters in Macos 20, 21, and 25 from Mocambique in the A.H.U. and the "Memoria" from Joao Juliao da Silva, 47 and throughout.

50. "Memoria respectiva a Villa de Sofalla, seo continente e antiguides mais notaveis," A.H.U. Mogambique Diversos, Cx. 2, fol. llv. This "Memoria" does not bear the name of its author but was written by Joao Juliao da Silva probably in 1846-47.

51. See J.J. da Silva, "Memoria sobre Soffala" and A.H.U. Mocambique, Mago 30, Termo Sofala 13/11/1833.

52. A.H.U. Mocambique, Maco 30, Sofala 7/7/1834, G.A.C.P. Gamitto to Governo Provizorio.

53. See Mwale in Read, Ngoni. There are two areas with the name of Chikwanda or Chiguanda. One is in southwestern Rhodesia and the other in eastern Rhodesia near Chipinga not far from the headwaters of the Umsilizwe. I suppose that the Maseko tradition refers to the latter.

54. The attack was attributed to Nxaba in the "Memoria sobre Soffala" and on fol. 1 of the "Memoria respectiva." On fol. 22 of the latter and in a list of governors of Sofala from 1846 (A.H.U. Mocambique Diversos, Cx. 1, Doc. Imp. 198, fol. 9) it is attributed to Sotshangane.

55. In 1856 Sotshangane stated to an envoy from Sofala, "I have not fought with you, but it is the Chief Muava who knows what forces [or troops] you have." A.H.M. Cx. 4-75, Mago 10, Sof. 25/3/1856, Filippe da Costa Correa to G. Oliveira Rego. In October 1840 one of the chiefs of Quiteve, who had territories near the Buzi, negotiated with the people of Sofala about territories which had belonged to his father, "always under the threat that he would be- siege us and wouldn't make a short attack as the Matao Naba had done." (Copia dos Termos dos processos occorridos com o potentado Manicussi, e com os de Quiteve, A.H.U. In 1964 this document was in Mocambique, Pasta 7). As there had been no other attacks on Sofala, these remarks must refer to 1836.

56. "Memoria respectiva, " fol. 22. Another account also mentions the feather headdresses, the shields, and the military tactics of the attackers. "Sub- urbs" (suburbios) was a name for the probably relatively densely populated areas to the north of Sofala, where the inhabitants of Sofala also carried on small-scale agriculture with slaves.

57. A.H.U., Moc. Pasta 2, Junta Governativa da Prov. to Minister, no. 51, Moc. 24/12/1836, incl. G.A.C.P. Gamitto to Junta Governativa, Sofala 13/10/1836 and Termo from the same date. This is one of the documents to which footnote 1 on p. 87 of the Journal of African History, XI, 1 (1970) applies.

58. Ibid., also described in Silva's "Memorias."

59. Letter registered in Cod. 2-437 FE6, fol. 52 of the A.H.M. and published by M. Simoes Alberto in "A carta de Sofala, " Boletim da Sociedade de Estudos x de MoCambique, 28, 116 (1959),

60. Liesegang, "Dingane's Attack," 565.

61. "Five Journeys of Exploration in South Eastern Africa: From the Original Journals, Presented to the R.G.S. by Major Erskine, October 15th, 1890," typescript manuscript in the Library of the Royal Geographical Society in London; second journey, 1871-1872, chap. 13.

62. Manuscript by Rev. Makhavi of Lourenco Marques written in Tsonga and in his possession. Some passages were translated for me by Mr. Quambe.

63. Manser Bartlett papers, statement of Kautsire, in University of Malawi Library. I want to thank Dr. Ian Linden for showing me copies of this material and making available to me his paper, "The Maseko Ngoni of Malawi: Origin and Decline of a Martial Society," forthcoming.

64. "Memoria sobre Soffala."

65. See "Copia dos Termos," quoted in note 55; "Memoria respectiva," fol. 33; A.H.U. Mog. P. 4, GG J.P. Marinho to Conde de Bomfin, Moc. 16/11/1840. Omer-Cooper, Aftermath, 58, mistook this attack for one made by the Gaza Nguni.

66. "Relatorio feito a S. Exa. . . Rodrigo Luciano de Abreu Lima,"t in "Copia dos Termos," quoted in note 55.

67. In 1884 the grandson of J.J. da Silva, G.H.E. da Silva, copied among others a letter on an attack by "Mataos" on Bandire in September 1831. According to the title which he gave the letter the attackers were led by "Muraxarima [Musacharima], son of Chicomo." Marguerite Deyo, "History of the Mutam- bara Tribe," Nada, 32 (1955), 54, states that the same man, whom she calls "Charima, " was the grandson of Chikomo, chief of Garwe, which is to the west of Bandire. As J .J. da Silva supposed that all attacks on Bandire were made on Nxaba's orders it would follow that about four years after his conquest certain tasks were entrusted to men from the conquered population.

68. In August 1835 the capitao Francisco Guedes Pereira marched from Tete to Zumbo in order to dissolve the feira as had been decided before December 1834. In March 1836 he was back in Tete together with the capito -mor of the feira, Luiz Caetano Botelho. As the Nguni are never mentioned in the context, the idea behind this move seems to have been to reduce expenditure. Individual merchants may have continued in Zumbo. (A.H .U. Cod. 1470, fol. 47v-48, order no. 161, Tete 21/3/1836; Cod. 1473, fol. 48v-49, in- structions for Guedes Pereira, Tete 24/7/1835; ibid., fol. 98v-99, Carrazedo to L.C. Botelho, 9/4/1836).

69. A.H.M. Cod. 2-437 FE6, fol. 16, Comm. Cardozo to G. Carrazedo, Tete 20/7/1836; ibid., fol. 30v, Tete 21/10/1836; ibid., fol. 56, Missale 30/11/1836, Nunes to Comm. Monteiro.

70. Chibambo, Ngoni, 22.

71. A.H.M. Cod. 2-437 FE6, fol. 68, Comm. Monteiro to G. Carrazedo, Tete 20/2/1837.

72. A.H.U. Mog. Ma9o 26, Silva to G. of Rios de Sena, dated Manica 23/6/1832.

73. A.H.U. Moc. Maco 26, Sev. d'Almeida to G.F. Alves Barboza, Macequece 20/11/1832.

74. A.H.U. Moc. Maco 30, Sev. d'Almeida to G. of Rios de Sena, "Macequeca," 9/5/1833. In October the Governor consulted the government in Mocambique on this matter (A.H.U. Cod. 1469, fol. 78, letter from G. Ant. Mariano da Cunha, Tete 10/10/1833). For an account of the prazos see M.D .D. Newitt, "The Portuguese on the Zambezi: An Historical Interpretation of the Prazo System, " Journal of African History, X, 1 (1969), 67-85.

75. A.H.U. Moc. Maco 30, Sev. d'Almeida to G. Cunha, Manica 8/12/1833. On the first of the month the "Landins" were "staying in neighbouring territo- ries." Ibid., Maco 26, copy of Aguiar to Almeida, Macequega 1/12/1833.

76. A.H.U. Cod. 1473, fol. 34-35, G. Carrazedo to Comm. Sev. d'Almeida, Sena 6/6/1835.

77. At that date Gov. Carrazedo gave the order to incorporate into the garrison of Sena all the soldiers who had been detached to "the extinct feira of Manica" (A.H.U. Cod. 1470, fol. 22, order no. 74).

78. A letter from Tete (see below, text to note 87) alludes to Portuguese "victims." In 1890, C. Paiva de Andrada stated in a report that "Caiongue" (this is one of the later Maseko Ngoni chiefs) attacked the feira in 1832 and killed everybody there. Great Britain Parliamentary Papers, LVII (1890-91), Cmnd. 6495, 79. At least the date must be incorrect. Earlier rumors cannot have been quite correct either: on the 15th and 16th of September 1835 letters were sent to Carrazedo from Sena on a "catastrophe" in the feira of Manica, where traders and lacintho Pires were supposed to have become victims of the "Landins." A.H.U. Cod. 1473, fol. 57, G. Carrazedo to Governanca de Sena, Quilimane 25/9/1835. But in November 1835 Pires took part in the defense of Sena. A.H.U. Cod. 1470, fol. 33v-34v, Sena 24/11/1835, order no. 115. So at least he escaped. The court-martial of the cap]M de Manica, Jose Felgueiras Guimaraens, in the beginning of 1836 seems to have been due to some incident during the defense of Sena and was probably not connected with the events in Manica at all as has been suggested. See A.H.U. Cod. 1473, fol. 76, 12/1/1836.

79. A.H.U. Cod. 1470, fol. 32v seqq.

80. A.H.U. Cod. 1473, fol. 68, Carrazedo to P.J. Franco, Sena 1/12/1835; see also fols. 66v, 68v, 69, 72, 81.

81. A.H.U. Cod. 1470, fol. 32v seqq.

82. Only at the end of the year is this area mentioned in reports from Tete. See below, text to n. 88.

83. A.H.U. Cod. 1473, fol. 87, Carrazedo to T.R. Frechaut, Tete 26/2/1836.

84. Ibid., fol. 141v, G. Carrazedo to C.C.VazdosAnjos, Quilimane, 23/9/1836; in October Carrazedo had heard a rumor that the "Landins" had joined the in- habitants of Manyika. Ibid., fol. 145, Carrazedo to Anjos.

85. A.H.M. Cod. 2-437 FE 6, fol. 35v, Joao de Souza Nunes de Andrade to Monteiro, Massangano 11/11/1836.

86. Ibid., fol. 37, Monteiro to Carrazedo, Tete 15/11/1836. Zwangendaba's name is not mentioned, but "the losses . . . which he already suffered from the Landins passing earlier . . ." can only refer to him.

87. Ibid., fol. 40v, Monteiro to Carrazedo, Tete 21/11/1836. The nakedness of the Nguniwhich is implicit in the reference to the "clothed negroes" was con- sidered remarkable in the Transvaal, too, where it was still remembered in this century.

88. Ibid., fol. 44, Andrade to Monteiro.

89. Ibid., fol. 48v, Andrade to Monteiro, Massangano 12/12/1836.

90. Ibid., fol. 50v, Monteiro to Carrazedo, Tete 6/1/1837. "Zumbave" is a generic term for royal or chiefly residence.

91. Ibid., fol. 56 and 58v, Monteiro to C.C. Vaz dos Anjos and Carrazedo, Tete 22/1/1837.

92. Mwale in Read, Ngoni.

93. A.H.U. Cod. 1470. fol. 134-134v, order no. 410. Quilimane 15/9/1837.

94. A.H.M. Cod. 2-1749 FF5, fol. 26-26v, G.J. da Costa Xavier to Marques d'Aracaty, Sena 22/3/1838. A league is roughly an hour's march and can be anything between four and six kilometers.

95. Ibid., fol. 27, G. Xavier to Junta Governativa, Quilimane 16/8/1838.

96. Ibid., fol. 34, G. Xavier to Conselo Governativo, Quilimane 10/1/1839.

97. On December 3, 1839, the Governor, Thomaz Jose Peres, issued a proclamation in Quilimane to the inhabitants of Tete, in which he mentioned an attack on Tete by the "Mapesites, " "more or less one year ago, " when the "enemy dared to approach your walls, " 'having taken advantage of passing the Zambezi on dry foot." A.H.U. Cod. 1470, fol. 158v. On February 2, 1839, the Governor in Quilimane had ordered troops and ammunition to be sent from Sena to Tete, which must be seen in this context. A.H.M. Cod. 2-168 GF4, fol. 47.

98. M. Simoes Alberto, "Os angones, os dltimos povos invasores da Ang6nia portuguesa," Mocambique, 27 (1941), 88. Alberto does not mention the month. He refers to documents still in his private possession.

99. Alberto, "Angones," 97; see also A.H.U. Cod. 1470, fol. 166v, Quilimane 13/5/1841, referring to April 1841; Cod. 1458, fol. 16v, G. Silveira to Commander of Tete, referring to a vague report "that the Landins or Vatuas returned from the territories of the Marabes to ours" in November 1843.

100. A.H.U. Cod. 1480, fol. 15, G. Costa to A.H. Ferrao in Sena, 11/9/1844; ibid., fol. 16, Costa to Ferrao, 8/10/1844.

101. J.A. Barnes, Politics in a Changing Society (London, 1954), heading of chap. 1.

102. The Nkuna who had been living near the confluence of the Olifants and the Limpopo emigrated around 1840 or 1841 to the Transvaal after Sotshangane attacked them. The Khosa retreated some sixty or more kilometers in a southwesterly direction and the Makwakwa moved into an area closer to Inhambane in 1840. One reason for their failure to make conquests could be that there was no power vacuum which they could fill.

103. Ranger's reference to "Gungunyana, who had to face a large-scale revolt of his subject people in 1890" in T.O. Ranger, ed., Aspects of Central African History (London, 1968), 127, and Omer-Cooper's less sweeping reference to "open revolt" of the "Chopi" in 1890 (Aftermath, 61) are somewhat misleading.

104. A.H.M. Cod. 2-448, FA5, fol. 115v-1 16, Inh. 25/7/1825; see also ibid., fols. 118, 124.

105. Documents in A.H.U. Moc. Maco 7, Sena 23/10/1829 and 23/11/1829; summarized in F.G. Santana, Documentacao avulsa Mogambicana do Ar- quivo Hist6rico Ultramarino, I (Lisbon, 1964).

106. There were no Portuguese soldiers in Manyika from 1813 to 1818 and when the garrison returned in 1818 it established itself near the border and only returned to Macequece in 1831. A.H.U.Mo. Cx. 57,Bumba 15/11/1813, Rodrigues to G. of Rios de Sena; Cx. 61, Sena 13/11/1818 and Cx. 64, 21/10/1819; Mago 23, Manica 14/3/1831.

107. For example, in 1816-17 relations with the Vadonge (later called Chopi) had had been interrupted by "Cumbana," (A.H.U. Moc. Cx. 59, Inh. 5/4/1816 and Cx. 66, Inh. 20/7/1817, order no. 4) and in 1819 and again in 1823-25 communications with a large area west of Inhambane had been interrupted by "Maziva." A.H.U. Cx. 64, Inh. 18/8/1819; A.H.M. Cod. 2-448 FA5, fol. 116v.