AN ENCOUNTER BETWEEN DR ROBERT LAWS AND FELLOW MISSIONARIES WITH THE MASEKO NGONI AND CHIKUSE, PARAMOUNT CHIEF OF MASEKO NGONI IN 1878/79

Below is a scottish missionary record of their meeting with Ngoni elders and eventually with the Paramount Chief of the Maseko Ngoni then, Chikuse. Apparently the missionaries had been trying to meet Chikuse but to no avail. They believed that he had a superstitous fear of the white man. I however think that there could have been other reasons why Chikuse did not want to meet them. In any case he might have seen them as opponents in the battle for control in his sphere of influence.

I was particulary interested in the fact that the Ngoni elders spoke the ancient zulu or nguni language while most of the young warriors spoke nyanja. This is evidenced by william Koyi, the South African Xhosa missionary who conversed with some of the elders and Chikuse's mother NaMulangeni and acted as interpreter. Below is the record of the encounters:-

Into the slow, sullen movement of village existence came another agony, the swift, arrow-like Ngoni raid—a savage war-chant in the night, blazing huts, spear-thrusts, frenzied slaughter, and a rapid ebb of naked warriors laden with maize, cattle, and goats, and every boy and girl they could lay hands upon.

Read more...