14'J ^:ativks of Africa in the iGth century. 



end. However, there was an evident earnestness in those men of 

 old, and their faith gave them strength and hope in their terrible 

 jonrneys. 



The same can certainly be said of the Jesuit Fathers who 

 undertook to convert the Kalanga tribe, located thirty leagues to 

 the South-West of Inhambane, and who wrote the letters to 

 which T alluded. A son of the Chief of tb.at tribe had gene to 

 Alozambique. and, after having been received with great honours, 

 he had been converted there and baptised. He therefore asked 

 the Portuguese to send missionaries to his home. The request 

 Avas agreed to, and (ioncalo da Silveira, a nobleman of Portu- 

 gal, started in 1560, from Goa, with another brother, Andre 

 r'ernandez. to found the mission. They had great success; at 

 least, they thought they had, because in the seven weeks of their 

 stay at Otongwe, the capital of the chief Gamba, they baptized 

 450 persons, the chief, his sons, his wives, etc. GonQalo, leaving 

 tlu- kraal after these few weeks, was most enthusiastic and hope- 

 ful. Alas ! The good Fathers had considered as true conversion 

 what was merely external adhesion to a doctrine very imperfectly 

 understood. Fernandez, who had remained on the spot, very soon 

 ncrticed it. d1ie lUack GhristieUis did not abandon a single one of 

 their superstitions, and, when warned by their missionary that 

 the old animistic ])ractices were inconsistent with their new faith, 

 the Chief and his men rebuked him, 'left him all by himself, even 

 threatened him. and the mission ended miserably after two years, 

 leaving absolutely no trace. We shall see directly what customs 

 and ideas Fernandez discovered amongst these strange converts. 



Part II. — What the.se Documents Teach Us ahout the 

 Natives of SorTii-EAST Africa. 



I. The iia)i>.-'s of the sixteenth eentury tribes eoinpared zcHh those 



of to-day. 



First of all, what were the tribes inhabiting the South-East 

 Coast of Africa in th( se times? According to Dr. Theal : 



Tn all the region traversed by the crews of the wrecked ships, not .1 

 single tribe is mentioned of the same name as any one still existing now ; 



and the Cape historiographer adds: 



Tt would serve no useful purpose to give the names of the tribes 

 round Dclagoa Bay and further north, as placed on record by the Portu- 

 guese writers, for, even if these names were accurate at tlie time, the 

 comnnmities that bore them have long since ceased to exist and never liid 

 anytliing to merit a place in history. 



I am sorry to contradict the distinguished gentleman to 

 whom we owe so much excellent work on South African history, 

 but these assertions do not correspond to the facts. For conveni- 

 ence of discussion, let us consider first the Delagoa tribes, the"> 

 those South of the Bay, and, thirdly, those North of Delagoa. 



