² I am indebted to Mr A. Rita-Ferreira of the Portuguese Administration in Moçambique for providing me with information on the Zimba.Google Scholar

³ Cf. Murray, S. S., A Handbook of Nyasaland (London: Crown Agents for the Colonies, 1932), 68;Google ScholarHodgson, A. G. O., ‘Notes on the Achewa and Angoni of the Dowa District of the Nyasaland Protectorate’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 63, 1933, 123–66 at 127; andGoogle ScholarRattray, R. S., Some Folklore Stories and Songs in Chinyanja (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1907), viii.Google Scholar

⁴ These estimates are based on the following sources: Nyasaland Protectorate, Report on the Census of 1945 (Zomba: Government Printer, 1954), Table 1, and a letter, dated 20.2.55, from the Chief Secretary of the Nyasaland Government; Northern Rhodesia, river,6 they speak Eastern Province, Annual Report on Native Affairs, igs, appended tables—on file at Fort Jameson; Anuário da Provincia de Moçambique (Lourenço Marques: A. W. Bayly and Co. Ltd., 380 Edição, 1952–1953), 28–9;Google ScholarSantos, J. R. Dos Júnior, Algumas Tribos do Distrito de Tete (Pôrto: República Portuguesa, Ministério das Colonias, 1944), 21 and maps on 104 and between 18 and 19;Google ScholarRita-Ferreira, António,Agrupamento e Caracterização Étnica dos Indigenas de Moçambique (Lisboa: Ministério do Ultramar, Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, 1958), 63 and 523, and private communication from Mr Rita-Ferrera; and letter, dated 1.3.54 from the East African Statistical Department. My total of about one and a half million ‘Nyanja-speakers’ differs from that ofGoogle ScholarAtkins, Guy, ‘The Nyanja Speaking Population of Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia (a Statistical Estimate)’, African Studies, 9, 1950, 35–9, because it refers to a slightly later date and includes Tanganyika and Portuguese territory, and because it excludes the Fort Jameson ŋgoni (who speak Nseŋga, not Nyanja) and the Ceŵa subjects of non-Ceêa chiefs, e.g. the 10,000 Ceŵa in Petauke district, Northern Rhodesia.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵ The reason why Maravi and Maraves were written with a v is probably because the ŵ in the modern rendering, Malaŵi, is a sound closely resembling a v and not unlike a b. L and r, both representing the same, flapped consonant, are used interchangeably in the official orthography (but not Atkins's, which recommends l only) and have been so used at least since the Monteiro expedition of 1831–2 (seeGoogle ScholarGamitto, A. C. P., O Muata Cazembe (Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional, 1854), passim; this magnificent early nineteenth-century ethnography has recently been translated under the title of King Kazembe by Ian Cunnison and published in Lisbon by the Junta de Investigações do Ultramar (1960), as nos. 42 and 43 of Estudos de Ciências Políticas e Sociais).Google Scholar

⁶ Cf. Poole, E. H. Lane, Native Tribes of the Eastern Province of Northern Rhodesia (Lusaka: Government Printer,3rd ed., 1949), 39–40;Google ScholarWinterbottom, J. M., ‘Outline Histories of Two Northern Rhodesian Tribes’, Human Problems in British Central Africa, 9, 1950, 14–25, at 24. andGoogle ScholarBruwer, J., ‘Note on Maravi Origin and Migration’, African Studies, 9, 1950, 32–4, at 33. Dr Raymond Apthorpe (private communication) does not agree with the view, originating in Lane Poole and expressed in the works Just cited, that the Nseŋga are descended from the Malaŵi. Note: In the sections of this paper dealing with traditional history, I rely, though not entirely, on secondary sources such as the ones cited—for two main reasons. Firstly, authors on whom I depend all preceded me in the field and most of them had contacts with the Ceŵa extending over many years. Secondly, with the spread of literacy and the popularity of Nthara's vernacular historyCrossRefGoogle Scholar (Nthara, Samuel Yosia, Mbiri ya Acewa (Zomba: Nyasaland Education Department, 1945)), it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain accounts of traditional history that are independent of what has been recorded.Google Scholar

⁷ This location, described to me by Chief Mkanda Mateyo, corresponds roughly with the one given by Nthara, Mbiriya Acewa, 4, andGoogle ScholarRangeley, W. H. J., ‘Mbona—the Rain Maker’, Nyasaland Journal, 6, 1953, 8–27, at 9.Google Scholar

⁸ Referred to as Kaphiri-Ntiwa by Rangeley, W. H. J., ‘Two Nyasaland Rain Shrines’, Nyasaland Journal, 5, 1952, 31–40, at 50; as Kaphirinthiwa byGoogle ScholarStegmann, J. J., ‘Die Godsbegrip van die Acawa [sic]’, Die Koningsbode [Cape Town], 44, 1933, 255–6 and 368–70, at 256; and as Kapirimbuja byGoogle ScholarMurray, A. C., Ons Nyasa-Akker (Stellenbosch: ProEcclesia Drukkery, 1931), 49.Google Scholar

⁹ Hamilton, R. A., ‘Oral Tradition: Central Africa’, in History and Archaeology in Africa (ed. by Hamilton, R. A.) (London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 1955), 21.Google Scholar

¹⁰ For details, see Hodgson, ‘Notes on the Achewa and Angoni of the Dowa District of the Nyasaland Protectorate’, 127; Nthara, Mbiri ya Acewa, 4; Winterbottom, ‘Outline Histories of Two Northern Rhodesian Tribes’, 21; and Bruwer, ‘Note on Maravi Origin and Migration’, 33.Google Scholar

¹¹ The title of ‘Caronga’ is bestowed even on Mkanda by the Pombeiros who travelled from Angola to Tete in 1811 (‘Journey of the Pombeiros, Baptista, P. J., and José, Amaro’, trans. byGoogle ScholarBeadle, B. A. in Lands of Cazembe (London: John Murray for the Royal Geographical Society, 1873), 195).Google Scholar

¹² Since, among the Ceŵa, succession to headmanship and chieftainship involves name-inheritance as well.Google Scholar

¹³ Cf. Duly, A. W. R., ‘The Lower Shire District’, Nyasaland Journal, 1, 1948, 11–44, at 17. De Lacerda e Almeida refers to Undi (Unde) as the ‘Morave Emperor’ (‘Lacerda's Journey to Cazembe in 1798’, trans. and annotated by R. F. Burton in Lands of Cazembe, 66).Google Scholar

¹⁴ For this information I am indebted to Chief Cimwala Catham'thumba, the present-day descendant of Undi's lieutenant, who, disliking Portuguese rule, relinquished his sub-paramountcy in Moçambique, and, in 1953, when I visited him, was living as an ordinary village headman in the country of his traditional subordinate, Kathumba. For a discussion of the Kafula,Google Scholar see Clark, J. D., ‘A Note on the Pre-Bantu Inhabitants of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland’, The Northern Rhodesian Journal, 11, 1950, 42–52.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Nthara, Mbiri ya Acewa, 4–10.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Northern Rhodesia, East Luangwa District, District Note Book, II (kept at Fort Jameson), appended diagram entitled ‘Devolution of Northern Rhodesian Chewa Chieftainships’ (undated and unsigned).Google Scholar

¹⁷ This assumption, on which I have no definite information, may be read into Winter-bottom, ‘Outline Histories of Two Northern Rhodesian Tribes’, 23–4; and Poole, E. H. Lane, Native Tribes of the Eastern Province of Northern Rhodesia, 28; but not into Nthara, Mbiri ya Acewa, 4–10.Google Scholar

¹⁸ For some of the accounts of Mwase Kasuŋgu's ascendancy, see Lane Poole, loc. cit.; Nthara, ibid. II; Winterbottom, loc. cit.; and Bruwer, J., ‘Die Rasse onder Wie Ons Kerk Arbei’, Die Basuin [Bloemfontein], instalments from 8, 2, 1937, 14–15, until 9, 5, 1938, 6, at 8, 4, 1937, 18.Google Scholar

¹⁹ I am grateful to MrThomson, T. D. of the Nyasaland Administration for allowing me to read and here to cite his unpublished notes on the constitution of Mwase's Ceêa.Google Scholar

²⁰ Mbiri ya Acewa, 4–5.Google Scholar

²¹ I am grateful to MrThomson, H. H. of the Northern Rhodesia Administration for allowing me to read and here to cite his unpublished notes on the Mbaŋombe chieftainship.Google Scholar

²² My inquiries do not confirm Winterbottom on this point (cf. ‘Outline Histories of Two Northern Rhodesian Tribes’, 22).Google Scholar

²³ Lands of Cazembe, 76 (Burton's translation).Google Scholar

²⁴ O Muata Cazembe, 44.Google Scholar

²⁵ Axelson, Eric, South-East Africa 1488–1530 (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1940), 182–3 et passim;Google ScholarTheal, George M'Call, The Portuguese in South Africa (London: T. S. Unwin, 1896) 133, It is possible that the writings of medieval Arabian geographers have references to tribal dispositions in this area, since it would appear from those cited by Axelson in his first chapter that the Arabs knew of Sena (Siouna, Seyouna) as early as the twelfth century, and had probably penetrated as far as the Quebrabasa rapids (50 to 60 miles above Tete) by about the beginning of the fourteenth century. In a letter, however, Dr Axelson tells me that he doubts whether the works he cites in his book have more information about the Zambezi tribes.Google Scholar

²⁶ Santos, Joāo dos, Ethiopia Oriental (1609),Google Scholar trans. in George, M'Call Theal, Records of South-East Africa (in 9 vols.) (London: Wm Clowes and Sons Ltd, for the Government of the Cape Colony, 1898–1903), 7, 290ff.Google Scholar

²⁷ Agrupamento e Caracterizaçāo Étnica dos Indígenas de Moçambique, 63–4 and 123.Google Scholar

²⁸ See chap. 145 of ‘Extracts from the Decade Written by Antonio Bocarro’ in Theal, , Records of South-East Africa, 3, 415–19 (Theal's translation).Google Scholar

²⁹ For a careful reconstruction of Gaspar Bocarro's journey and a discussion of this passage, see Hamilton, R. A., ‘The Route of Gaspar Bocarro from Tete to Kilwa in 1616’, Nyasaland Journal, 7, 2, 1954, 7–14, especially at 10.Google Scholar

³⁰ Rangeley, W. H. J., ‘Bocarro's Journey, Nyasaland Journal, 7, 2, 15–23, especially at 18.Google Scholar

³¹ ‘Report upon the State and Conquest of the Rivers of Cuama’ (1667), trans. in Theal, , Records of South-East Africa, 3, 463–95 and 502–8.Google Scholar

³² Ibid. 475 and 480

³³ Ibid. 480.

³⁴ Ibid. 480–1.

³⁵ Ibid. 480.

³⁶ The possibility that their unity was exaggerated in early Portuguese records is considered by Rita-Ferreira, Agrupamento e Caracterizaçāo Étnica dos Indigenas de Moçambique, 61.Google Scholar

³⁷ Burton, ‘Lacerda's Journey to Cazembe in 1798’ in Lands of Cazembe, 61–2. Miandu (plur., milandu) is the Nyanja for ‘a meeting for discussion of some claim or right, lawsuit or quarrel’ (Dictionary of the Nyanja Language (ed. by Alexander Hetherwick), London: Lutterworth Press for United Society for Christian Literature, 1929).Google Scholar

³⁸ Burton, ibid. 49.

³⁹ O Muata Cazembe, 44.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Loc. cit.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Ibid. 4 105ff. and 123.

⁴² Ibid. chaps. 2 and 4. especially at 148.

⁴³ David, and Livingstone, Charles, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1866), 217.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Genthe, Hugo, ‘A Trip to Mpezeni's’, British Central Africa Gazette (1 Aug. 1897).Google Scholar

⁴⁵ On the basis of ŋgoni traditions, notably that they waded across and that there was an eclipse of the sun on the day of the crossing, Lane Poole established that this occurred in November 1835, giving the date as 19th. Barnes corrected it to 20th.Google ScholarCf. Poole, E. H. Lane, ‘The Date of the Crossing of the Zambezi by the ŋgoni’, Journal of the African Society, 29, 1929–1930, 290–2; andGoogle ScholarBarnes, J. A., Politics in a Changing Society (Cape Town: Oxford University Press for Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, 1954), 3.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Lane Poole, ibid. 290, quoted by kind permission of the Editor of the Journal of the Royal African Society.

⁴⁷ See Foà, Édouard, Du Cap au Lac Nyassa (Paris: Plon-Nourrit et Cie), 2nd ed., 1901, 277ff.;Google ScholarRangeley, W. H. J., ‘Some Old Cewa Fortresses in the Kotakota District’, Nyasaland Journal, 4, 1951, 54–7; ‘W.H.M.’, ‘The Achewa’,Google ScholarBritish Central Africa Gazette, 15 Dec. 1896; ‘W.D.L.’, ‘Machemba–Primitive Citadels’, Nyasaland Journal, 3, 2, July 1950, 34–7; and R. Codrington, ‘The Central Angoniland District of the British Central African Protectorate’, Geographical Journal, II, 1898, 502–22, at 558.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Codrington, R., ‘Central Angoniland (Extracts from a Report)’, British Central Africa Gazette, 15 Sept. 1896.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Cf. Stigand, C. H., ‘Notes on the Tribes in the Neighbourhood of Fort Manning, Nyasaland’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 34, 1909, 35–43, at 35–7; andGoogle ScholarThomson, T. D., Preliminary Notes on the Constitution of Mwase's Chewa (unpublished MS. cited by kind permission of the author).Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Codrington, ibid. 518.

⁵¹ Foà(Du Cap au Lac Nyassa, 277ff.) arrived at Undi's capital while an ŋgoni raid on Mount Mbazi was in progress.Google Scholar

⁵² Deare, George Russell (‘A Durban Man’), ‘Eighteen Months with the Last of the Slave Raiders’ and other titles, [Natal] Week-End Advertiser (Durban), 6 04 to 11 05 1929, describes (in the instalment of 4 May) how he visited Undi and Cimwala in 1897, finding them independent of the ŋgoni, which is in accordance with present Northern Rhodesian Ceêa traditions.Google Scholar

⁵³ Lane Poole, Native Tribes of the Eastern Province of Northern Rhodesia, chap. I and Appendix I.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Cf. Barnes, Politics in a Changing Society, 30.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Northern Rhodesia, East Luangwa District, District Note Book, I (kept at Fort Jameson): Notes of a meeting between the Magistrates and Chiefs on 28 June 1913.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Rhodesia, Northern, East Luangwa Distrist, Annual Report, 1912–1913, on file at Fort Jameson.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ For a detailed account of the origin of the North Charterland Concession, see Barnes, Politics in a Changing Society, 73–8, andGoogle ScholarFraser, R. H., ‘Land Settlement in the Eastern Province of Northern Rhodesia’, Human Problems in British Central Africa, 3, 1945, 45–9.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ United Kingdom, Statutory Rules and Orders, The North-Eastern Rhodesia Order in Council, 1900.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ United Kingdom, Statutory Rules and Orders, The Northern Rhodesia Order in Council, 1911.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ United Kingdom, Statutory Rules and Orders, The Northern Rhodesia (Crown Lands and Native Reserves) Order in Council, 1928, preamble.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Ibid.

⁶² United Kingdom, Statutory Rules and Orders, The Northern Rhodesia (Native Trust Land) Order in Council, 1947.Google Scholar

⁶³ Because on succession to an office a person inherits not only his predecessor's name but also his genealogical position, the relationship between two persons, such as two chiefs or two headmen, becomes a ‘perpetual’ relationship between their successorsGoogle Scholar (cf. Cunnison, I., Kinship and Local Organization on the Luapula, Communications from the Rhodes Livingstone Institute, no. 5, Livingstone, 1950, 14–15).Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Northern Rhodesia, Laws, Native Authorities Ordinance, no. 32 of 1929; Native Authority Ordinance, no. 9 of 1936; and Native Courts Ordinance, no. 10 of 1936.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ For details, see Barnes, Politics in a Changing Society, IIIff.Google Scholar

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⁶⁷ Recommendation from the District Commissioner, Fort Jameson, to the Provincial Commissioner, Eastern Province, dated 4 July 1934, recording Chief Kaŵaza's [i.e. Songani's] service in this capacity from 1914 [sic] to 1934—on file at Fort Jameson.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Northern Rhodesia, East Luangwa District, District Note Book, I (kept at Fort Jameson): Notes of a meeting between the Magistrate and Chiefs on 28 June 1913.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Northern Rhodesia, East Luangwa Province, Annual Report for Fort Jameson District, 1921–1922, on file at Fort Jameson.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Northern Rhodesia, Department of Native Affairs, Annual Report on African Affairs, 1937, 73.Google Scholar

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⁷² I am grateful to Mr A. St J. Sugg, District Commissioner of Fort Jameson district at the time of my third field trip, for letting me know the outcome of this movement.Google Scholar