A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries: And of the Discovery of Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864Livingstone, David
History
A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries: And of the Discovery of Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864
Livingstone, David
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Africa, Central -- Discovery and exploration
Pangola is the child or vassal of Mpende. Sandia and Mpende are the only
independent chiefs from Kebrabasa to Zumbo, and belong to the tribe
Manganja. The country north of the mountains here in sight from the
Zambesi is called Senga, and its inhabitants Asenga, or Basenga, but all
appear to be of the same family as the rest of the Manganja and Maravi.
Formerly all the Manganja were united under the government of their great
chief, Undi, whose empire extended from Lake Shirwa to the River Loangwa;
but after Undi's death it fell to pieces, and a large portion of it on
the Zambesi was absorbed by their powerful southern neighbours the
Banyai. This has been the inevitable fate of every African empire from
time immemorial. A chief of more than ordinary ability arises and,
subduing all his less powerful neighbours, founds a kingdom, which he
governs more or less wisely till he dies. His successor not having the
talents of the conqueror cannot retain the dominion, and some of the
abler under-chiefs set up for themselves, and, in a few years, the
remembrance only of the empire remains. This, which may be considered as
the normal state of African society, gives rise to frequent and
desolating wars, and the people long in vain for a power able to make all
dwell in peace. In this light, a European colony would be considered by
the natives as an inestimable boon to intertropical Africa. Thousands of
industrious natives would gladly settle round it, and engage in that
peaceful pursuit of agriculture and trade of which they are so fond, and,
undistracted by wars or rumours of wars, might listen to the purifying
and ennobling truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Manganja on the
Zambesi, like their countrymen on the Shire, are fond of agriculture;
and, in addition to the usual varieties of food, cultivate tobacco and
cotton in quantities more than equal to their wants. To the question,
"Would they work for Europeans?" an affirmative answer may be given, if
the Europeans belong to the class which can pay a reasonable price for
labour, and not to that of adventurers who want employment for
themselves. All were particularly well clothed from Sandia's to
Pangola's; and it was noticed that all the cloth was of native
manufacture, the product of their own looms. In Senga a great deal of
iron is obtained from the ore and manufactured very cleverly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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