Zulu Folk And Praise Poetry

Below are Zulu folk or tribal poems. The first time I read Zulu traditional poems they reminded me of the Ngoni people's poems. The Ngoni original language called ngoni is actually in most respects closer to Zulu than other Nguni languages. See Songs of the Ngoni people for ngoni poems and see the striking similarities in structure and words. The ngoni left Zululand and Swaziland during Shaka Zulu's mfecane and now reside in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania.

Author(s): H. I. E. Dhlomo

Source: English in Africa, Vol. 4, No. 2, Literary Theory and Criticism of H. I. E. Dhlomo(Sep., 1977), pp. 43-59

Published by: Institute for the Study of English in Africa, Rhodes University

I

Life is rhythm. Our birth and death, the very throb of our hearts, the arts of sightand hearing, observe this law of rhythm. In Nature, the coming and the going of theseasons, of migratory birds, of hibernating creatues, of ocean tides and of plants and the heavenly bodies, tell the same story.

In this paper we shall consider Zulu folk or tribal poetry; the poetry of our forefathers,of the soil and the soul of the country ; poetry composed by humble men who,according to western standards and ways, were ignorant, uncultured, wild men. I shall claim and do claim that their compositions were real and essential poetry for they observe with sure and artistic instinct this universal law of rhythm. But poetry, one ofthe highest achievements of the human soul and heart, is more than that. It must employ a measured rhythmic language, poetic diction, show contemplative and creative imagination, and use images, sounds and thoughts that arouse and sublimate the emotions.

II

Classification

We have a rich and varied store of this folk material. It adorns the folk tales, accompanies the dances, and is connected with many war and peacetime observances. Unfortunately it has not been systematically collected and preserved, and is dying out with the disintegration of tribal society. I would suggest that these tribal compositions be collected into one volume prefaced with a critical essay on their nature, classification and quality. My own findings lead me to classify Zulu folk poetry as follows.

1 - Semi-narrative, biographic praise poems.

These include :

(a) Poems of persons.

UMsimude!

Owavela ngesiluba,

Phakathi kwamaNgisi nama-Qadasi.

Inkonjan' edukel' ezulwini;

UNowelamuva wa-OShaka.

(b) Poems on Animals and Birds.

Qebuluka-qebu!

Hlabazihlangana!

Phondo luyingewishi,

Mathifiza njengesidunu

Sembazo.

Ndlela zimnyama kobahlabayo,

Njengo-Mphamephuce;

Bolokodlela, nkunzi emdwayidwa;

Makhonya kusobele amavaka.

(On a bull).

Ungqwashi lobomvu!

Ungqengendlela!

Isithuthukazi esinamakhizana ekhanda!

Uhuye!

(On a bird).

(c) Poems on Things.

Lind' amazibuko,

Thabisa amashinga.

(On a stick).

(Guardsman of the river fords,

Joy of adventurers reckless!)

2 - Nature Poems.

These are included in, and form part and parcel of, the laudatory poems to persons. (Where the writer finds an existing translation, he uses that, and where he doesn't he gives the original Zulu and his own translation below.)

The greenness which kisses that of a gall bladder!

Butterfly ofPhunga, tinted with circling spots,

As if made by the twilight from the shadow of mountains,

In the dusk of the evening, when the wizards are abroad.

3 - War Songs.

(i)

Oye oyeye!                                                                      

Khethani amagwala,                                                         

UNomahlul'ingonyama wadla.                                           

(ii)

Asihambe sihlaslele,                                                       

Inkani iphelile;                                                                

Wavizwa ngobani                                                           

Ukuthi inkani iphelile?                                                      

Ivevi!                                                                             

Wavizwa ngobani                                                           

Ukuth ' inkan'iphelile ?                                                   

(iii)

Siyayishisa indlu kaQolwane,                                       

Kasenzi manga, kasenzi manga.                                   

Wazonda, wazonda!                                                    

Oyeyiva wo!

Siyayishisa indlu kaQolwane.                                       

(iv)

Waqeda izizwe.                                                        

Uyakuhlaselaphi na?                                                 

Hho! Hho! Eya ehhe!                                               

Wahlula abafo,                                                        

Wahlula izizwe.                                                       

Chorus

Waqedaqed' izizwe!

Uyakuhlaselaphi na?

E! Uyakuhlaselaphi na?

Wahlul' amakhosi,

Waqedaqed' iziwe!

Uhlaselaphi na?

Uhlaselaphi na?

E! E! E!

(Oye oyeye! seek out the cowards, the lion conqueror strikes. Come, let's march into battle; no more the time for boastful arguments. What, sayest thou the time for boastful arguments is over? Begone! Who told the news that wranglings have ceased? The house of Qolwana set we on fire. We make no jokes, no lies tell we. He is full of hate, full of hate. Oyeyiya wo! Come, see us set aflame the house of Qolwana; On whom will you make war, if you wipe out all the nations thus? . . . you who defeat the foes and conquer the nations. If you wipe out the nations thus, on whom will you make war. Yea, what will you do? You have subdued the kings; you have iped out the nations. Where and what next, Conqueror?)

 

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Shosholoza Song Lyrics and video

Below are the lyrics  and video of the famous South African Zulu song 'Shosholoza'.  According to wikipedia the song is originally a Ndebele song from Zimbabwe.


Shosholoza, shosholoza (Moving fast, moving strong)
Ku lezontaba (Through those mountains)
Stimela sphuma eSouth Africa (Train from South Africa)
Wenu yabaleka (You are leaving)
Wenu yabaleka (You are leaving)
Ku lezontaba (Through those mountains)
Stimela siphum' eSouth Africa (Train from South Africa) 

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Some Zulu Customs And Traditions 1911

Author: L H Samuelson

Source: Journal of the Royal African Society, Vol. 10, No. 38 (Jan., 1911), pp. 191-199

BY the courtesy of the author, we are enabled to publish in the Journal some extracts from a forthcoming work on "Zulu Customs and Folklore," by Miss L. M. Samuelson, of Durban, Natal. Miss Samuelson is the daughter of a Norwegian missionary who was stationed for many years in Zululand,and the sister of Mr. S. O. Samuelson, till recently Under-Secretary for Native Affairs in Natal. Having lived among the Zulus from childhood, she is exceptionally familiar with their language and customs, and the book she is about to publish promises to be of unusual interest.

UKUKALEL 'AMABELE.(Praying for the Corn.)

I think that a description of an old Zulu custom which is now slowly dying out may be found interesting. It is generally observed at the season when the mealies and mabele (kafir corn) are coming into flower.

The Zulus believe that there is a certain Princess in Heaven, who bears the name of Nomkubulwana (Heavenly Princess), and who occasionally visits their cornfields, and causes them to bear abundantly. For this princess they very often set apart a small piece of cultivated land as a present, setting little pots of beer in it for her to drink when she goes on her rounds. They often sprinkle the mealies and mabele with some of the beer, for luck to the harvest.

There is one day appointed specially for girls, when they go out fasting on to the hills, and spend the whole day weeping, fasting, and praying, as they think that the more they fast and weep, the more likely they are to be pitied by the princess. On that day they have to wear men's clothing (umutsha) made of skins, and all men and boys are to keep out of their way, neither speaking to them nor looking at them.

They start very early, as by sunrise they must be by the riverside, ready to begin praying and weeping.¹

Digging deep holes in the sand, they make two or three little girls sit in them, and fill them in again, till nothing but their heads is left showing above ground. There they must remain, weeping and praying for some time. Girls about six years old are generally chosen for this purpose, as they cry the most (rather from fright than anything else), and so are most likely to catch the ear of the heavenly princess.

When the older girls think the poor little things have done their fair share, they help them out and let them run home.

The big girls then go to the mountains and weep; after that to their gardens, round which they walk screaming to the heavenly princess to have pity on them and give them a good harvest.

After this they sprinkle the gardens with beer, and set little pots of it here and there for the princess. About sunset the ceremonies are over, and they all go back to the river to bathe, after which they return to their homes and break their fast.

Any girls refusing to join with the others on Nomkubulwana's day, would lose caste, unless prevented by illness. Ofcourse Christian girls are not expected to join, this being an entirely heathen rite.

The Rainbow, Lightning and Eclipses.

The Zulus believe in a glorious being whom they call the Queen of Heaven, of great and wondrous beauty, and the rainbow is supposed to be an emanation of her glory. This "Queen of Heaven " (Inkosikazi) is a different person from the Heavenly Princess, to whom the young girls pray regularly once a year, as described above.²

Some believe that there is a gorgeously coloured animal at the point where the rainbow appears to come in contact with the earth, and that it would cause the death of any who caught sight of it.³

The natives, as a rule, are very superstitious about the lightning; if it has struck anything they say "the heavens

did it," they dare not speak of it by name. A person killed by lightning is buried without ceremony, and there is no mourning for him; a tree which has been struck may not be used for fuel; the flesh of any animal so killed is not to be eaten; huts which have been injured by lightning are abandoned, and very often the whole kraal is removed. Persons living in such a kraal may not visit their friends, nor may their friends visit them, until they have been purified and pronounced clean by the doctor. They are not allowed to dispose of their cattle until they also have been attended to by the doctor, even the milk is considered unclean, and people abstain from drinking it.

An eclipse or an earthquake foretells a great calamity, and natives are terrified whenever an eclipse takes place. The defeat of the Usutu by Uzibebu a few days after an earthquake, which was felt all through Zululand in 1887, naturally confirmed them in the belief that it is an evil omen.

Rain Doctors.

In common with other backward races the Zulus have faith in the power of the rain-doctors to make, or to draw, rain, and also to prevent it from falling. The Zulu kings generally kept rain doctors, but as when these men did not make enough rain to please their royal masters, they were in danger of being fined or even put to death, they were obliged to invent a good many excuses for their failures. The most common was, that they felt sure somebody was practising witchcraft, that is to say, putting pegs dipped in medicine into the ground, or tying knots in the grass on the mountain-tops and sprinkling them with medicines; either of which proceedings would stop the rain. Then the king would send messengers round the country commanding his subjects to find out where pegs had been driven in, or knots tied in the grass, and the owner of the kraal in whose neighbourhood this was found to have been done was liable to be killed or fined, at the king's discretion.

In a dry season people were constantly in fear of this happening, for they knew that any who wished to injure them would drive in pegs near their kraals and then report them to the king for having done it.

Cetshwayo once had a rain-doctor of whom he thought a great deal; but one year when there was a terrible drought he lost faith in him, and then someone accused him to the king of having wilfully prevented the rain from falling. Ofcourse this made his majesty furiously angry, and he ordered the unfortunate man to be killed and thrown into the river,together with his hut and everything he possessed. No sooner was this order carried out than the rain fell in torrents. Such is the story told by the natives, but I cannot vouch for the truth of it.⁴

The Zulus used to consider the Basuto rain-doctors the best of any, and the king sometimes engaged some of them to come to Zululand when rain was wanted. One year a large number of them arrived, laden with roots and other medicines,from Basutoland. Some carried calabashes filled with liquids, which were rolled about on the ground at the cattle kraal, to bring thunder, and bundles containing charms to bring lightning and rain were stuck upright in the ground. These performances went on for some weeks, until at last the rain came, and the Zulus were satisfied that it was caused by the hard work of the Basuto doctors. These men were kept well supplied with beef and beer all the time they were in the country, and handsome presents were given them, when they left it to return to their own land.

Ukuqwanjiswa Kwempi. (The doctoring of an army.)

This was a most important ceremony among the Zulus while they were still under their own rulers. The natives of Zululand, as all who know anything of their history will admit, were the bravest and most warlike of the coloured races, and were always ready to fight for their king and country. They never shirked their duty as soldiers, they were all trained to arms from boyhood, and felt it a disgrace not to go out against the foe whenever called upon to do so.

The ceremony of Ukuqwamba was invariably performed when there was to be war, and was supposed to make the men both brave and invulnerable.

A proclamation went forth to all the men, in the word "Maihlome" (Let them arm), and in a very short time the whole manhood of the nation mobilised and proceeded, fully equipped for war, to the chief kraal of the sovereign, encamping within a short distance. No women were permitted to come near; all supplies of food or other necessaries being brought by men or boys specially deputed for this service. The army, having assembled at its rendezvous, was then formed into a crescent, and the national war-doctor marched up in all his war-paint, when a very wild black bull was brought in, seized by some warriors selected for the occasion, and held down by them, while the doctor killed it by a blow with his axe on the nape of the neck. Meanwhile a large fire was lighted, and kept up while the beast was being flayed. Then its flesh was cut into long narrow strips, which were roughly roasted in the fire under the superintendence of the doctor, rubbed with a powder made of various roots and herbs and portions of the skins of lions and other fierce animals, and tossed up into the air among the soldiers, who had to catch them in their mouths, bite off a piece, and pass the rest on, till everyone had had a mouthful. Any piece which might chance to fall on the ground was left there.

The doctor's attendants now brought him vessels full of a liquid composed of various medicines pounded and mixed with water, and the doctor sprinkled the warriors with it, shouting the while "Umabope kabope, Umabope kabope"(let the Mabope tie up, that is, concentrate the strength of the army).⁵ All were now ready, and without farther delay set out to fight. The "tshela " (tela) or sprinkling was repeated in case of a reverse, but not the killing of a bull.⁶

The whole body was now drawn up in a crescent, representing the two horns of a bull about to thrust at the enemy, while the central part represented the face of the bull, which would drive them away.

The war-doctor brings with him all the things required for carrying out the rites I have described, namely, an axe with a sharp point, a knife, the different medicines, and the sprinkler. This should be made of the tail of the gnu, or if this cannot be obtained, the tail of a black bull is used. All these things the doctor keeps in his own possession, carefully wrapped up in a mat.

The whole of these ceremonies were gone through just before the Zulu War of 1879, and in addition to this the fighting men partook of a medicinal charm which was to repel the enemy (Intelezi yempi).

We must not forget the women-folk who were left behind. Married women always wear a skirt made of ox-hide, the hair having been scraped off. In ordinary life, the upper edge of this is rolled outward, round the hips, but during war, they turn the roll inside. The young girls throw ashes over their bodies, a sign of mourning, as wearing sack-cloth and ashes was among the Hebrews. The old women take their brooms and run along the roads sweeping with them, thus indicating that they would make a clean sweep of their enemies in all directions. This they call Ukutshaluza.

Women also drink similar medicines to those taken by the men, but the preparation of them is somewhat different. A big fire is lighted outside the kraal, and a pot containing a number of roots possessing magical properties is put on, and left to simmer slowly till next morning, when the fresh milk of a cow is added, to whiten it. This is supposed to bring good luck. When it is ready, all the women and children sit round the pot, dip their fingers in it, and lick off the mixture. This is the Ukuncinda, or ceremony of sucking. After this, a cow is slaughtered for them to eat. Then they begin to sweep, smear the floors of their huts with cow-dung,and make all tidy. This is evidently to prepare for the return of the soldiers. Beer is made, and snuff ground, and all the snuff-boxes filled up, so that nothing shall be wanting.

The Zulus "fight and die"; there is no turning back, no retreating-for that only means death in the end, an inglorious death instead of a glorious one. Any who turned back would be killed by order of the king or chief. This was the law of the country in war-time.

When attacking, the whole body of men made one big rush forward, shouting their clan name or war-cry, "Usutu!" or "Mandhlakazi!"⁷ &c., as the case might be.

On camping out for the night a watchword was always agreed upon, unknown, of course, to the enemy, and to every passer-by they cried "Who goes there? " their own people, on giving the word, being allowed to go safely on their way. This, of course, is the same procedure as would be followed among other nationalities.

Inkatha.

Before giving a description of an Inkatha I must explain that it is not at all the same thing as the ordinary grass pad for supporting burthens on the head which goes by that name.⁸ The inkatha now described is a larger thing, made of certain fibres which are very strong and binding. The doctor specially deputed to make it knows exactly what fibres to use. He makes it in secret, sprinkles it with various concoctions, and finally winds the skin of a python round it, as this reptile is considered the most powerful of animals, coiling itself round its prey and squeezing it to death, as it does.When the Inkatha is finished all the full-grown men as well as the principal women of the tribe are summoned, and are sprinkled and given powders of various dried herbs to swallow. The men then go down to a river and drink certain mixtures, bathe in the river, and return to the kraal where the Inkatha is made. They are then sprinkled a second time, and return to their homes.

After this the Inkatha is handed over by the doctor to the chief's principal wife, and entrusted to her and to two or three others, to be withdrawn from the common gaze. It is taken great care of and passed on from generation to generation as part of the chief's regalia. The Inkatha is looked upon as the good spirit of the tribe, binding all together in one, and attracting back any deserter.

The king or chief uses it on all great occasions--more especially on those of a civil nature. For instance, when a new chief is taking up the reins of government, the Inkatha is brought out of its hiding-place, a circle is formed by the tribe, and it is placed on the ground in the centre. The new chief then, holding his father's weapons, stands on the Inkata while he is being proclaimed by his people. After this it is carefully put away again.

In case of the king being taken ill the doctor seats him on the Inkatha while he is "treating" him (elapa). It is also used in a variety of other royal ceremonies, and is looked upon as more sacred than the English Crown. It is, in fact, the guardian spirit or totem of a Zulu tribe. Yet, strange to say, the Courts are so ignorant of native laws and customs that nothing was known to the Judges of the Native High Court as to the existence of the Inkata, in a very important case⁹ recently tried there, when it was what might be termed the very essence of the case, and gross injustice resulted from this ignorance.

L. H. SAMUELSON.

Footnote

1. Cf. an account-of this custom (umtshopi) in Colenso's Zulu Dictionary, p. 614. A similar observance, intended to avert disease, is described by Mrs. Hugh Lancaster Carbutt, in the (South African) Folk-Lore Journal for January, 1880 (Vol. II. p. 12), as follows: "Among the charms to prevent sickness from visiting a kraal, is the umkuba or custom of the girls herding the cattle for a day. [Umkuba means "custom," it is not the name of this particular rite.] No special season of the year is set apart for this custom. It is merely enacted when diseases are known to be prevalent. On such an occasion, all the girls and unmarried women of a kraal rise early in the morning, dress themselves entirely in their brothers' skins [i.e. skin kilts-umutsha], and taking their knobkerries and sticks, open the cattle-pen or kraal, and drive the cattle away from the vicinity of the homestead, none of these soi-disantherds returning home, or going near a kraal, until sunset, when they bring the cattle back. No one of the opposite sex dare go near the girls on this day, or speak to them."-We have reproduced the passage in full, as the periodical which contains it is now very scarce. It should be noted that at ordinary times it would be contrary to custom-indeed, highly improper, if not sacrilegious-for any woman or girl to approach the cattle-kraal, to say nothing of herding the cattle. The idea is, no doubt, to compel the assistance of the Unseen by some flagrant outrage on decency, actual or threatened.--ED.
2. The rainbow is called utingo lwenkosikazi, " the Queen's bow." See Callaway, Nursery Tales and Traditions of the Zulus, p. 193. Utingo, however, is not "a bow " in our sense (at any rate not in current Zulu speech) but a bent stick or wattle, used in making the framework of a hut. It is difficult to ascertain anything about this inkosikazi; but we believe the Zulu women sometimes hold dances in her honour on the hills.Mr. Dudley Kidd (The Essential Kafir, p. 112) seems to have confused her with Nomkubulwana, who, as Miss Samuelson expressly tells us, is not the same person. It is not clear whether she is identical with the mysterious being called " Inkosazana," of whom the late Bishop Callaway says : " The following superstition ... appears to be the relic of some very old worship" (Religious System of the Amasulu, p. 253).She was supposed to appear, or rather to be heard speaking (for she was never seen) in lonely places, and predicted the future, or gave directions which had to be obeyed by the people. "It is she who introduces many fashions among black men. She orders the children to be weaned earlier than usual. . . . Sometimes she orders much beer to be made and poured out on the mountain. And all the tribes make beer, each chief and his tribe; the beer is poured on the mountain; and they thus free themselves from blame. . . . I never heard that they pray to her for anything, for she does not dwell with men, but in the forest, and is unexpectedly met with by a man who has gone out about his own affairs, and he brings back her message."-ED.
3. The Congo people believe the rainbow to be a snake (chama) as do the Yorubas(Oshumare). See Mr. Dennett's,At the Back of the Black Man's Mind (p. 142), and Nigerian Studies (p. 21),--ED,
4. This story scarcely seems to be consistent with Cetshwayo's character, He was certainly a sceptic as regards witchcraft,--ED,
5. Umabope is explained in Colenso's Dictionary( p. 333)as "a climbing plant with red roots, bits of which are much worn about the neck." A note adds :--" The root is chewed by Zulus when going to battle, the induna giving the word 'Lumani(bite) umabope!' which they do for a few minutes and then spit it out again, saying' Nang' umabope' (here is the umabope). The notion is that the foe will be bound in consequence to commit some foolish act." (The verb bopa means," tie.")
6. The nearest translation that can be given in English of the word Ukuqwambawould be "Talisman," and "Ukuqwanjiswa kwempi" may be rendered " The consecration of an army."
7. Usutu is the name of the royal clan to which Cetshwayo belonged-Mandhlakazi being the house of Zibebu.-ED.
8. The word seems to be almost universal in the Bantu languages :-Nyanja, nkata; Luganda, enkata; Swahili, kata ; Suto, khare. What is most curious is that, so far away as the Gold Coast we find an indication of ceremonial usages connected with this article. See this JOURNAL for July, 1908, p. 407. The Fanti word for it is ekar, which may be a merely accidental resemblance, or may point to a fundamental identity of roots in the West African and the Bantu languages.Possibly the root idea of -kata is " something coiled or rolled up," and this may be the only connection between the head-pad and the charm. The Baronga (Delagoa Bay) have a similar tribal talisman called mhamba which is a set of balls, each containing the nail-parings and hair of a deceased chief, kneaded up with the dung of the cattle slaughtered at his funeral, and, no doubt, some kind of pitch to give it consistency. These balls are then enclosed in plaited leather thongs. The custom of thus preserving relics of dead chiefs is found elsewhere : the Cambridge Ethnological Museum possesses a set of the "regalia" of Unyoro, which would come under the same category.--ED.
9.  Rex v. Tshingumusi, Mbopeyana and Mbombo. 1909.

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Lizulu : Inkosi yamakhosi Gomani's Market 1938

Excerpt From Margaret Read's,Native standards of living and African culture change,: Illustrated by examples from the Ngoni highlands of Nyasaland, (International Institute of African languages and cultures), 1938

With our main problem of the standard of living in view it is necessary to set certain limits to this discussion of the market of the Paramount Chief Gomani. I shall therefore begin with a survey of the present methods of trading in this area and their relation to the former types of distribution, referring to the factor of price as an incentive to marketing. I shall then describe the market at Lizulu in terms of the area served, the people concerned, and the goods exchanged; and discuss the relationship of the Paramount Chief Gomani to this institution which he created. Finally, I shall endeavour to show how the market reflects the standard of living in this area and how it has proved to be an important link between political development and the welfare of the people.

Types of trading in this area. We saw how in the pre-European days the large-scale economy of the Ngoni meant that the aristocrats, who were also the wealthy, were continually accumulating goods and redistributing them, thus achieving a certain equalisation of consumption at least of necessities. Artisans made goods to order for the 'big houses' and received rewards of food and clothing. A certain amount of inter-village trading of 'industries' went on at the same time,especially after the Ngoni had brought some peace to the land and made communications safe Today the existence of scarcity and surplus is met by trade, of which there are three main forms. There is village or inter-village trading, which as we saw, can include both a hawking of goods or going directly to the producer. Few days pass in a village, especially if remote from a market when some kind of trading transaction does not take place. The villages on the sides of the main road maintain a constant sale of fruit, flour, other food-stuffs, and until recently beer,¹ to the passers-by. The traffic on these main roads is very heavy at all times of year, and this roadside trading is a marked feature of the district. Formerly travellers would have been entertained by the 'big houses'. Today men returning from the south and therefore supposedly wealthy, are expected to buy their provisions.² Now and then I have seen men from the north going south with only a small quantity of flour in a goatskin packet being fed in roadside villages, on the plea that once they get into Portuguese East Africa they will have a very thin time.

The third form of trading today takes place in the markets. There are regular produce markets at the European Bomas, occasional, small markets at cross-roads, but none in this area to compare in size or importance with that held weekly at the Paramount Chief's village of Lizulu.There are also organised seasonal markets for the buying of cotton and tobacco, but none of these takes place in the Ngoni Highlands.

All the transactions, whether in the villages, at the roadsides, or in the markets, may be either by barter or cash sale. The interaction of economic and social interests is seen clearly in the way in which the prices of goods are settled. They are seldom, if ever, determined on strictly economic lines, that is, solely by the operation of supply and demand. In the Paramount Chief's market prices are regulated by his authority according to the seasonal variations of supplies. In village trading there is a socially accepted equivalence of goods for goods, as, for example a cooking pot or a basket for the amount of maize it will hold. Bargaining and arguing often take place but sooner or later the social factor comes into play, and the buyer and seller arrive at an agreement by which neither feels defrauded and both are content. The economic motive of gain in the form of a definite reward is clearly the incentive for selling anything. Equally the reputation for generosity is a social asset, as it was in former days. Any kind of goods which can be measured by a little more or less such as beans or maize must always be measured on the generous side. If there is no evidence of generosity the other partner in the transaction will say, 'Ha! you Indian trader ', which is equivalent to skinflint and cheat.I have watched scores of these transactions both in the villages and in the market. Nowhere could it be said that there is a purely commercial attitude' about trading. If the seller is a clever talker with ready wit he may coax the buyer into giving a little more but equally this advantage may be on the side of the buyer. Buyers and sellers both frequently exhibit a disdainfully aloof attitude towards the goods, and it is certainly true that some individuals dislike the necessity of trading while others find in it an oulet for wit. Cheating and profiteering are regarded as anti-social acts, and a person with such a reputation is avoided.³ These forms of trade and the motives which influence buyers and sellers we will now consider in common with the market at Lizulu.

Description of the Market. The village of Lizulu is on the main road running north and south through Nyasaland. Dominating the village is the Paramount Chief's long brick house in its tree shaded courtyard, and beyond it the new circular court house designed and built by himself. From this court house you can count a dozen villages perched on the sides of the hills. To the south side of the village is the market-place flanked by three Indian stores on the main road on one side and on the other by a few huts to accommodate travellers arriving over night.

If you walk into the market about 8 a.m. on a Saturday, in the month of October, you find it already humming with activity. On the side nearest the main road are the sellers from Portuguese East Africa chiefly women with maize, vegetables, and other food-stuffs. On the far side,⁴ round the ant-hill where the men like to congregate⁵,are the people from the lake shore country, mostly men, with building materials' such as bamboo and bark rope, and with village industries such as reed mats, baskets of bamboo and palm fibre, wooden spoons and hoe handles. Here are the fish sellers, also men and boys, with smoke dried and fresh fish which they have carried up the two escarpments from the lake during the night. Round the trees in the centre is the 'meat stall', where butchers are cutting up the carcasses each on its skin, arranging small portions for sale, and hanging large pieces on the trees. In little groups, arranged according to their wares over all the remaining space, are the women selling grain vegetables, fruit and pots, chiefly in small quantities taken from their own storehouses or gardens. In and out, stepping round the sellers and their wares,now bending down to talk, now sitting to drive a bargain walk the buyers and the onlookers, clustering most thickly round the butchers' section, which attracts people as much as flies. Here will be found the men who are cattle owners and have slaughtered a beast to provide them with needed cash. They generally use a 'butcher' to cut up and sell the meat. He gives the money at the end to the owner, who pays him 2s 6d.for his services.

As the market fills up the buzz of conversation gets louder and deeper, and in the little knots of people talking everywhere, it is hard to sort out the buyers from the Sellers. The Indian stores on the edge of the market are thronged with would-be purchasers, choosing, fingering, talking price, watching the salesman measure the cloth, going to the tailor on the veranda to get it made up. The whole scene is one of great activity, cheerful bargaining, orderliness, and good burnout. Quarrels and angry voices and fights are unknown. 'Is it not the Chief's market? And must we not respect him.'

In a changing scene such as this it is not easy to count heads, but there are generally 500-600 people at any one time in the market-place during the cold weather, more in the hot weather, and fewer in the rains. The area served is roughly 15 miles east and 15 miles west 10 north and 10 south from Lizulu. People come from the villages below the escarpment to the east and from the Portuguese lands to the west thus focusing in one centre all the Ngoni country with its diverse climatic areas.

Kinds of goods sold, the regulation of prices, and collection of market dues Of the goods brought to the market one quarter perhaps are village industries, three quarters food-stuffs. The scarcity of building materials in the Highlands makes a ready sale for bamboo and bark rope especially in the house building season after the harvest. There is always a steady demand for baskets, mats, wooden spoons, and small sieves. This supply is greater in the cold weather 'because the men like to sit round their lire in the talking place making these things'. Baskets for carrying maize are plentiful just before the harvest, and wooden hoe handles just before the rains when the hoeing season begins.

On most market days, except in the rains, one to three beasts are disposed of and one to two pigs. The meat sells for about 25s. to 30s.per beast and 5s. to 6s. per pig. The amount of fish brought in varies, but it is always quickly sold out, and the total, in 1d. lots, is about 10s. to 15s. worth

The food-stuffs, other than meat and fish, consist of maize and millet, 'relishes', that is, peas, beans, and ground-nuts; quantities of greens called 'turnip'; European vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, and cabbages; sweet potatoes, yams, and cassava; and sugar cane and fruit according to the seasons, mangoes, pawpaws, bananas, peaches, &c. The people In the low level country always have yams and bananas, and those from the Portuguese country maize and beans. Hence a scarcity of staple food like maize in one area will be met by supplies from another, and the same is true of standard relishes like beans.

The unit of price in terms of money is 1d., kobidi. Most portions of vegetables, fruit, cereals, meat, and fish are arranged in pennyworths.The price for bananas, for example varies from 8 a 1d. to 15 a 1d., for yams from 4 to 8; sweet potatoes from 6 to 12. These seasonal variations in prices are regulated by the Paramount Chief on information given him about shortage and supplies in different parts of his territory.As prices are fixed by his authority, there is no haggling over price only over the amount put into the given measure. A woman selling millet at 1d. a basinful will be urged by a buyer to put more in until the basin is heaped up and running over. Protesting all the time she will go on adding minute handfuls as the buyer says, 'Tiye, Tiye! (come on! come on!), until the cloth round the basin has a circle of overflowing millet. The woman gathers it up and hands it over with a sigh and a laugh, and the onlookers say, 'She has a good heart. She is not a 'mwenye', the derogatory name given to Indian traders.

In and out through the people goes a little man with a grizzled head and a khaki uniform followed by a lad with a sack. Into the sack go an odd banana, a yam or two, handfuls of maize, bits of sugar cane, small fish, while the official collects a penny here and there from the craftsmen, and 1s 9d. per beast from each butcher. This is the 'customs officer', collecting the Chief's dues from all the sellers at a fixed rate x which they give willingly. The Chief gets a considerable amount of foodstuffs from this 'custom', which are put away in his storehouses,and a few shillings a week in cash dues.

Other facilities Provided at Lizulu. When people come to Lizulu to buy and sell they find other facilities there. The Paramount Chief's office in his new court house has a postal section where stamps can be bought and letters sent and received. Permits for selling beer, and marriage certificates, both introduced by him, can be bought here. Friday, the day before the market is court day, that is, the day for the Appeal Court at the Paramount Chief's, and for the ordinary court at the near-by village of the Sub-Native Authority. News and gossip from the rest of Nyasaland and from farther south is exchanged when the mail lorries arrive with their load of passengers. The Paramount Chief, his wife his officials, and the Sub-Native Authority and his officials, walk in and out of the market, and are accessible for greetings and petitions. Normally the Chief can only be approached through his izinduna, and his wife through her attendant women. The ordinary people who seldom have cause to seek them out are gratified at being able to see and greet the Paramount Chief and they speak warmly of his condescension at walking among them thus freely.

Paramount Chief and his market. The Paramount Chief is 'owner' of the market in the same sense in which he is called the 'owner' of the country. It is a recognition that the market depends on him because he set it up, he regulates it, and he receives custom from it as he receives tribute from the country. It takes place in his village, where people come also for court cases and for dances,and at New Year and on other occasions. Thus the people associate the residence of the Paramount Chief with legal assistance, economic facilities for exchange, and social recreation. Ngoni tradition of the correct relationship between the Paramount Chief and his people.

The market further shows an important transition of the economic function of the Paramount Chief in former days to a new form today. We saw how in pre-European days the Paramount Chief had a monopoly of ivory which he traded to the Arabs for cloth and then distributed the cloth to his relatives and officials; and that he showed the same type of generosity in giving away war loot. This role of distributor of goods which were highly valued was allied to that of provider of food and meat and beer, and he was thus regarded as the one who satisfied the needs of his people. Having no Arab cloth or war loot to distribute in these days, the Paramount Chief organised a market where by exchange of goods people could satisfy their needs. The reciprocal relationship between Chief and people shown in the old days by tribute and military service on the one hand and gifts and food on the other has also its counterpart today. The people at the market pay custom and keep the peace and accept his ruling of prices. The Chief gives facilities for exchange, fixes a just price and walks about among them The personal relationship between the Chief and people is thus based on the old ideas, but take shape in new forms

This analysis of the market shows, as did the institutions of cattle keeping and agriculture that economic activities are closely related to political and social organisation. It is, moreover, a proof in modern form of the organising ability of the Ngoni leaders to meet the needs of their people. We shall now summarise the chief ways in organization of the market is related to raising the standard of living in the area served by it.

The market and standard of living: Even without the data of a quantitative assessment of food eaten, it is evident from observation that the existence of the market both equalises consumption and increases it. Local scarcity of essential foods such as beans is met by exchange in the market, and the display of foods like meat, fish, fruit,and vegetables is an inducement to purchase them. A great many households in the neighbourhood of the market buy a small regular amount of meat and fish every week It is common to meet women setting out in the early morning with a basket of grain or beans on their head and to see them returning about noon with the same basket full of a bundle of entrails, some sun-dried fish, and perhaps some bananas or mangoes. Whether those purchases represent an actual increase of the quantity of food consumed, or only more variety, that is, less porridge but a better relish it is very dicult to say. But the 'lure of the shop window ' in the display of varied foods in the market certainly excites the ambition to have a more varied diet.

The steady demand at fixed prices for food-stuffs, and especially for 'industries', acts as a direct stimulus to production. Some of the semi-educated youths lounging about the villages jeer at such spare-time occupations. 'A man's work', they say, _ is to earn wages, not to make things.' At the same time the incentive of profit is a strong one, and a maker of good baskets can get from 3s. to 5s. a week in the market. The profits from sales represent an added purchasing power and hence the possibilities of an increase in the standard of living

We can therefore conclude that the market does affect the standard of living by equalising consumption in that area, and that it is also instrumental in raising the standard of living by stimulating production. The part played in the market by the Paramount Chief shows how economic progress and political development can be allied. The Paramount Chief is using his old power for new ends, or rather for a new method suited to changing conditions, thus promoting the welfare of his people. Hence we do not find in the market and its working any of the tension or instability or resistance shown in attempts to improve agriculture and cattle keeping. In this institution the old and the new are in unison and not in conflict.

Footnotes

1. The sale of beer on the rosin roads was prohibited because it to too many motor accidents. There is now a 3- mile limit which is somewhat elastic in its interpretation.
2. It is getting quite usual to find eating-houses at the chief stopping-places where tea and scones and more solid food can be bought.
3. on the other hand, in the cotton and tobacco markets it is considered quite justifiable to cheat the European traders, who are invariably looked upon as profiteers.
4. The sellers coming from a distance take up sites in the market place nearest the place at which they arrive, i.e. those from the west on the western side , and so on.
5. In old days chiefs sat on an ant-hill with their officials below them.

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Maseko Ngoni: Cattle As Security For Religious Ritual

by Margaret Read, 1938.

In this last respect which is least apparent to the European, as he seldom, if ever, sees ritual performed in times of sickness or of general calamity, such as drought, and the Ngoni are reluctant to tell outsiders about their religious rites. I was fortunate enough to be in a village where an important old lady was taken ill. The diviner was consulted announced that prayer must be made to the spirits of the great chiefs from whom the old lady was descended. In a deathly silence, in the dim light before dawn, a few men and a few cattle were gathered by the kraal. The prayer rang out to the spirits:

O thou Gumede!

O thou Mputa!

O thou great chief!

Here is your beast.

That your child may be healed

Look on what is yours.

May you remain well^{1
And your child recover.
We do not know,
We do not know.
If you say that she will die,
She is yours, this child of yours.
It is your affair2}
As for us, we long that your child may recover
If she dies, this child of yours,
We can only speak your names
We cry to you for her.

^{Beasts and men faced south-east, in the direction whence the ancestors came. The chosen beast was watched while the prayer proceeded. It pawned the ground with its feet, and finally lay down with its back to the south east. The spirits had 'refused'; they had turned their backs, and would not help because they saw someone with a white face, of the tribe who snatched the ngoni cattle long ago3. But following day (when the white person was securely hidden the same ritual was followed, and during the prayer the beast urinated. That was a sign of the spirits being willing to accept a sacrifice. They  had answered through the cattle. the beast was killed with one thrust of a spear, falling as it dies facing south east. In the house of the sick woman where the ritual vessels to the spirits were kept meat was offered in those vessels to the spirits, and they were praised and asked to accept it.}

The meat and the sick woman were sprinkled with the juice of the gall bladder. That evening , when the spirits had "tasted" the meat, it was cooked and eaten by the invalid and her relatives and other important people.


This rite which I saw and have described here in outline was closely parallel to other sacrifices in times of sickness and drought. The grouping  of a few great people by the kraal where everyone else stayed  silent in their houses and not even a dog barked nor donkey brayed; the signs of response or refusal by the spirits; the form of prayer; the killing , the offering of meat to the spirits, and the final eating; the use of ritual vessels whose presence in the hut⁴ signified the guardianship of the spirits-all of these are repeated in every form of supplication to the spirits.


All the aristocratic Ngoni, are buried in the skin of a beast newly killed on the day of the burial. Thus the dead bodies are finally associated with a dead beast whose flesh is eaten by the mourners, and the spirits of the dead speak to their living descendants through the living cattle. This is the basis of the statement that cattle are and essential link between the dead and the living.


Nearly a hundred years have passed since the Ngoni first came into the area after crossing the Zambezi and losing all their beasts save two in the tsetse fly belt⁵. But the horror of the time, when it seemed there would be no more cattle to be the ritual link between them and the Spirits, is vivid still, and old men speak of it with bated breath even though it is only tradition to them. Until they followed Sosola's doubtful lead⁶ and crossed the Lake to Songea they had to use sheep for ritual purposes. Inspite of the fact that sheep than and now play an important part in the Ngoni ritual, they were inferior to cattle. It was only the shadowy hope of renewing their herds if they trekked farther which tore them temporarily from Domwe, the country they had set their hearts on, and impelled them towards still further travels and hardships for another quarter century. For they were uneasy lest the Spirits to whom they they always said, 'Heres is your beast' would ignore  the silly sheep, and failing to see their cattle, might turn their backs on their descendants forever⁷.


Herein, I think, lies the determined resistance of most of the Ngoni to take up land and settlements where no cattle can live. Other tribes may be able to invoke their ancestral spirits forund their graves or by some tree or mountain sacred to the Spirits. The Ngoni, perhaps because of their wanderings, have no such links with any particular places in the land and they declare the sites of graves are unimportant because they bear no relation to the habitation of the Spirits and the ritual for making prayers⁸. It is definitely by means of cattle that the ritual must be performed which can assure the help of the spirits. I have been in areas where the Ngoni have lost all their cattle through tsetsefly. There they show uneasiness and suscipicion, which can be partly accounted for by the loss of this security in religious ritual. Forced to use the despised goat, they descend to the level of the conquered tribes. Morever, the loss of security and consequent fear of witchcraft can be seen in their turning desperately to all kinds of magical resources scorned by the real Ngoni⁹.




Footnotes

1. Muhlale kahle, the usual greeting.
2. Indaba yakho
3. Reference to the removal by the British troops of about half the herds after the Ngoni war of 1896.
4. It was the privilege of the 'big woman' to 'guard the spirits' by keeping in their huts the ritual vessels for sacrifing. Thus these 'big houses' which were the huts for economic organisation were also the focus points for religious ritual
5. This is the accepted tradition.
6. Sosola , a Chewa chief, was anxious to move the Ngoni out of his area, so he sent them a parcel of dung, saying 'there is more where this came from.' Actually it was buffalo dung, but the Ngoni took the bait and crossed southern end of Lake Nyasa not finding any cattle, however, until they reached Songea.
7. This is the substance of my conversation on this subject with accredited informants.
8. These Ngoni cremate their paramount Chief and other notables, men and women, are buried on the edge of the cattle kraal.
9. "For we know that these things [i.e. witchcraft and magic] cannot cause the life of man to fail nor can they preserve it but they are all worthless and therefore to be despised (From a Ngoni text on magic used by the conquered tribes)

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Ngoni Rebellion 1898 -1899

 In the late 19th Century Britain began to probe into Central Africa, both from the Indian Ocean through Portuguese East Africa and northwards from Southern Rhodesia. The motives for entering the region around Lake Nyasa, (declared the British Central African Protectorate in 1891 but later called Nyasaland and now named Malawi), were a mixture of public concern about the ruthless practices of Arab slavers as exposed by Doctor David Livingstone and other Scots Missionaries, and more pragmatic reasons of trade and commerce. In those days the British government frequently saved overseas costs by licensing trading companies to explore and develop new territories. These trading companies often possessed rather different principles and priorities than those of Doctor Livingstone, and very often local Chiefs and their tribes were taken advantage of by unscrupulous traders. In British Central Africa the African Lakes Corporation, an organization headquartered in Glasgow, was the dominant trading concern from 1884 until the Protectorate was declared in 1891.

Living in an area of Northern Rhodesian land lying just west from the border and approximately level with the southern end of Lake Malawi was a tribe of Zulu descent that had migrated northwards from southern Africa. This tribe, the Angoni, had established and maintained itself here by conquest as its military skills and organization were superior to those possessed by its neighbours. Angoni warriors were organized into regiments and they carried a heavy stabbing spear, smaller throwing spears, a club or axe and an oval hide shield for protection. Angoni villages were not fortified but were located in hilly sites that were difficult to

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Marriage and Family in the Dedza District of Nyasaland

Author: Lucy P. Mair

Source: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol.81, No. 1/2 (1951), pp. 103-119
Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and

INTRODUCTION

The Dedza District of Nyasaland has a population of 140,000. Within it seven Native Authorities are recognised, two Ngoni, three Cewa and two Yao. As will readily be imagined, members of the three tribes are not neatly sorted out into the appropriate Native Authority areas. The Ngoni are inextricably intermingled with the Cewa, with whom they intermarried from the time of their arrival as conquering invaders in the latter's territory; for practical purposes they are distinguishable from them today only by the fact that they follow the rule of patrilineal succession. In Dedza District a Ngoni village is one in which a considerable proportion of the men claim to be Ngoni; some can still make good the claim on the ground that they were born before the Ngoni left Domwe, in Portuguese East Africa, at the turn of the century. The Cewa were invaded also by the Yao, and the present boundaries of Yao and Cewa are those laid down when the territories of " Principal Headmen" were defined in 1924. There are groups of Yao villages unider Cewa chiefs and vice versa. Within a mile or two of the court-house of the Cewa N. A. Kaphuka there are a group of Yao and a group of Bisa villages, both established before the days of effective British occupation. Today there is some immigration into Dedza of Ngoni from the densely populated neighbouring District of Ncheu; some of these obtain land from Cewa chiefs. One might expect the result to be a bewildering variety of family structures and marriage laws. In fact, however, in this district of mixed population a more or less homogeneous custom appears to have evolved.

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The Origins of The Majimaji Rebellion

By A. R. W. Crosse-Upcott
Source: Man, Vol. 60 (May, 1960), pp. 71-73
Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable

Several theories have been advanced to explain the sinister and dramatic Majimaji rebellion of 1905, which engulfed the entire southern half of the Deutsch-Ostafrika territory, then barely a decade old. Yet, none of those that have come to my notice seems to me to ring altogether true. For a start, the official German hypothesis of a planned conspiracy has been effectively demolished by R. M. Bell's excellent account (1950) of the nuclear outbreak; and indeed, common sense alone would render such a notion suspect, in view of the prevailing aftermath of a chaotic slaving and tribal-war era.

Maji maji Rebellion impi 

The associated claim that Islamic elements were behind the revolt has more cogency, but here again my own researches on the spot show little more than connivance or subordinate participation on the part of local Muslims. True, the Ngindo instigators of the trouble embraced the Mohammedan faith along with the magic water (from which the movement derived its name 'Majimaji' or 'Water-water' in Kiswahili); but, even though by a paradox it is Islam which has persisted among the Ngindo tribe, initially the pagan Majimaji cult seems to have had the upper hand. The intriguing question of the degree to which Islam can be made responsible for the revolt is one which I intend to discuss in a separate essay.

Maji Maji 'rebels'

Another explanation, that of J. H. Driberg (1931), holds that Nubian mercenaries from the Sudan imported the idea of immunity from rifle fire conferred by mystic water. Whilst this is possible, the evidence that I shall bring in support of an indigenous water cult anterior to the German occupation makes it unlikely that the Nubians should have contributed much to the Majimaji unrest. If anything, their contribution would have been to arouse discontent through provocation, as they won evil fame for  atrocities against the native population. This introduces the controversial hobby horse of German oppression, roundly condemned by Bell. Whilst I would not seek to defend the regime I am undecided about the alleged intolerable conditions in the area in question, namely Liwale, if only because the German personnel were too few in number and insufficiently mobile to mount a thoroughgoing reign of terror. Granted, the authorities were not popular; but this alone can scarcely account for the widespread and violent Majimaji reaction. In this connexion the Ngindo, who are by no means unintelligent, seem to have been well aware of the probable outcome of German defeat, that is, Ngoni resurgence; raiders of the Ngoni tribe, thought to be of Zulu extraction, had pulverized the region from Lake Nyasa right to the coast for more than a generation before the Germans took over. And there can be few who would opt for Ngoni frightfulness in preference to German discipline. However, the wizards who preached the Majimaji cause seemingly met this objection by promising to send wild beasts to drive any invaders back!

Almost half-a-century before the Majimaji cataclysm, the explorer Sir Richard Burton ascended the Rufiji valley on his way to the interior. Not many marches inland from the coast he made the following observation:

Certain 'hill tribes . . . have a place visited even by distant Wazaramo pilgrims. It is described as a cave where a P'hepo or disembodied spirit of a man, in fact a ghost, produces a terrible subterranean  sound, called by the people Kurero or Bokero; it arises probably from the flow of water underground. In a pool in the cave, women bathe for the blessing of issue, and men sacrifice sheep and goats to obtain fruitful seasons

and success in war' (Burton, I857, p. 88).

Now, Bokero is the title commonly assigned to the originator of the Majimaji cult. In and around Liwale I myself always encountered the variant Bokera, but one has good authority (Bell) for the pronunciation Bokero. Eye witnesses of the rebellion speak of bogus seances held in a cave by this same Bokero, who was in addition associated with a pool called Ndagalala, said to be situated at the confluence of the Lihenge and Ngarambi rivers, some distance north of Liwale (Liwale District Book). People were attracted thither by the rumour that their ancestors, whose spoken answers to questions would be boomed through tunnels in the cavernourso ck,were to be seen reflected in the pool's surface. Actually Bokero is a term loosely applied to several witch-doctors who achieved prominence in launching the Majimaji campaign; and the primary Bokero's real name was Kinjiketire Ngwale. He was hung by the Germans in the early stages of the revolt.

Maji Maji prisoners

The hill tribes to which Burton referred in his journal appear to have been the 'Waruguru' (Burton), otherwise known as Lugurua, group inhabiting the mountains of Uluguru well to the north of the Rufiji. I have no first-hand knowledge of these mountains having seen them only from a distance  but people familiar with the area tell me that they are without caves of any size. A comprehensive article on Luguru religious beliefs (Scheerder

and Tastevin) contains no allusion whatever to any cave; and a German s oldier-official who spent years in Uluguru before the turn of the century, though he dwells on the 'wonderful mountains (' Von Prince), mentions neither cave nor shrine.The apparently complete absence of written corroboration or factual proof to bear out Burton's story leads me to suspect hat he may have been mistaken as to the scene of this earlier cult. His informants may have been speaking from hearsay probably through an interpreter and there is every likelihood that inaccuracies might occur. My own supposition is that, hearing of the mountainous surrounding of the sacred pool, Burton guessed the known Luguru range to be the locality his informants meant; whereas he would have no knowledge of the unexplored country lying to the south of the Rufiji. Neither Burton, who had already tried to do so without success nor any other explorer excepting the ill-fated Roscher and Von der Decken, had managed to penetrate the hinterland of Kilwa, to the south, owing to the hostility of the slave-traders. So nothing was known about mountains or any other geographical features southwards.

In point of fact, the Matumbi region not far south of the Rufiji contains both caves and mountains. An article on the geology of the Rufiji basin (Stockley) includes a significant discussion of caves in the Mtumbei valley,a bout 30 miles inland from the port of Samanga. According to this source the principal cave thereabout Nsangoma, runs to truly gigantic size. A Roman Catholic priest from the nearby Kipatimu mission, Father Ambrosius Mayer,  visited Nangoma shortly after its discoveryby the authorities in 1910. He estimated that 5,000 people could have camped unseen in its 'enormousv estibule(' ibid.) where he found the traces of numerous earth fires. This then, would seem to account for the local reports of villages mysteriously deserted during the Majimaji operations.  Another feature of Nangoma cave which Father Ambrosius noticed makes the analogy with Burton's account startling namely' an unruffled still pool of water which appeared to be of considerable depth'( ibid.). A. successor at the Kipatimu mission, Father Hilmar, who contributes a section on this subject to form part of Stockley's article, observes: 'the natives state that this stream never dries up even in the driest dry season.' Further he specifically declares that the Majimaji subversion 'originated from this place,' though unfortunately without giving details or citing the grounds for his assertion.

One cannot therefore be certain that the rebellion did have its genesis at Nangoma. Nevertheless from the foregoing, a strong presumption  exists that the original magic water, or perhaps simply the idea of magic water, emanated from it. Also, the evidence from Ngindo survivors of the revolt points consistently to Ngarambi (Ruhingo), like Mtumbei a part of Matumbiland, as the heartland focus of Majimaji propaganda; note that the Ndagalala pool at Ngarambi, mentioned earlier,  is stated to be surmounted by a hill called Bwengi (Liwale District Book). Inevitably, some confusion has arisen in the recounting of these almost legendary events, but all the versions volunteered to me by local inhabitants agree in placing the origin in that general vicinity. For instance Ngameya, the witch-doctor who assumed Bokero's mantle and wielded the greatest influence during the victorious phase of the militant cult, operated in the Kitope area of Matumbiland. An old map of the Rufiji (Beardall) marks 'Kitopi Hill' no great distance inland from Samanga, i.e. to the east of present-day Kitope; and one is tempted to think that this individual lived fairly near to Nangoma cave and had access to it; certainly the home of Bokero himself, to whom Ngameya was related by marriage, lay close by at Ngarambi. Once the Majimaji conflict had broken out in earnest, Ngameya transferred his headquarters to another hill farther to the west, Nandanga; and it was to Nandanga that almost all the 'pilgrims' whom I interviewed went in search of 'the water.' Minority opinion favours a source on the Rufiji river itself at Mpanga (Bell), not far from which a water spirit called Nyangumi (literally 'whale' in Kiswahili) was thought to haunt the Pangani rapids. It is curious that Bokero's younger brother, Njugumaina Ngwale, should have adopted the title 'Nyangumi' (ibid.), and that one authority should have regarded Nyangumi as the prime mover in the revolt . . . the people allegedly believed that 'a great medicine man lived in the Rufiji river in the form of a water monster, and that this supernaturalc reaturec ould dispense medicine' (Sayers). Evidently, like the other sources of magic water, Mpanga has its characteristic hill; for Beardall (1881), surveying the Rufiji for the Sultan of Zanzibar in i 88o, claims to have climbed it.The truth may be that, as the revolt developed, the distributing centres for magic water multiplied and spread far afield; thus in central Liwale it is said that a container filled initially at Ngarambi could be replenished anywhere in Ngindoland. Moreover, Ngindo cynics of today invariably ascribe the entire rebellion to the greed of the witch-doctors, intent on amassing more and more wealth from the lucrative fees charged for the magic water!

Hence the birthplace of the revolt can be taken to be somewhere in the Matumbi area immediately south of the Rufiji river, most probably at Nangoma cave itself. Furthermore the historical material which I quote indicates the probable existence of a water cult at Nangoma at least half-a-century before the Majimaji upheaval. My tentative reconstruction of the cult's evolution is this. For a lengthy period, perhaps even for centuries, the awesome setting of Nangoma had given rise to mystical beliefs associated with water. Though widely known, as the allusion to 'distant Wazaramo pilgrims' shows (Burton; the Zaramo then occupied the Dar es Salaam coast and its nearby hinterland, much as they do now), the water's magical properties seem to have been mainly peaceable until the opening years of the present century; Burton does mention success in war as one of its attributes, but the sort of irregular skirmishing of the time between minor tribal segments, set against a background of sporadic and disruptive slave raiding, lacked the systematic character of true warfare; in Burton's day the wholesale pillage and slaughter of the Ngoni raids from the west had yet to impinge seriously on the coastal belt. Whilst the German occupation put an end to this instability, considerable tensions remained unresolved. The rancour of the Islamic coast, expressed in the formidable Bushiri rising of 1888 which had all but annihilated the German chartered company and had prompted direct imperial intervention, still lingered; and the authorities had been obliged to put down a whole series of local outbreaks in the turbulent interior, notably in the desperately fought Hehe campaign of 1890 to I894. Any general appeal to violence would therefore have found support in a number of apparently disparate quarters.

Just such a general appeal to violence, as yet latent, existed ready-made at Nangoma. Though the first reported incidents in the Majimaji rebellion occurred at Samanga and Kibata, in the vicinity of Nangoma (Bell), not a few of my Ngindo informants consider that the water cult had next to no warlike content before the advent of Abdalla Mpanda, the most ferocious of the rebel leaders in Liwale, who is alleged by them to have twisted a largely neutral panacea in to a 'war of liberation,' using the threat of reporting the local headmen to Liwale boma for failing to give warning of the impending onslaught. Whilst this is manifestly an exaggeration, there are grounds for believing that the movement was not in the least aggressive in its inception; it is noteworthy that according to Bell's chronology Kinjiketire   Ngwale, the prototype Bokero, was already in his grave ten days before Liwale boma foundered. Rather, it was only by degrees, and aided by bureaucratic inaction on the part of the imperial German government, that the revolutionary elements gained the upper hand. Perhaps the shift of Ngameya's base to Nandanga hill marked the decisive swing to a belligerent policy; for it was from this centre that for the first time the Majimaji  armies' took the  field. Henceforth the contagion of Majimaji defiance spread rapidly, until the feeble detonation of Nangoma was lost in the vast explosion of war.

References

Beardall, W., 'Exploration of the Rufiji,' Proc. R. Geog. Soc., 188I, pp. 640ff.

Bell, R. M., 'The Majimaji Rebellion in the Liwale District,' Tanganyika N .  R., No. 28 (1950), pp. 38-57.

Burton, Sir R. F., The Lake Regions of Central Africa, Vol. I.

Driberg, J. H., 'Yakan,' J. R. Anthrop. Inst., Vol. LXI (193I), 413-20.

Liwale District Book (Official).

Sayers, G. F., Handbook of Tanganyika (1930).

Scheerder and Tastevin, Revd. Fathers, 'Les Wa lu guru,' Anthropos,Vol. XLV, Parts I-3, pp. 241ff.

Stockley, G. M., 'The Geology of the Rufiji District,' Tanganyika N. & R., No. i6, pp. 21-24.

Von Prince, T., Gegen Araber und Negern.

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