NATIVES OF AFRICA IN THE i6tII CENTURY. I47 



As regards tlie tribes round Delagoa Bay, with which I am 

 hest acquainted, the situation was ahnost exactly the same in 1550 

 as it was before the Gungunyana war. We possess three descrip- 

 tions of the Bay, descriptions containing names : the first, of 

 Perestrello (Hist, trag.-mar. I, p. 130) ; the second, of Diogo de 

 Couto (IV", p. 100); the third, of Lavaniha (V, p. 82). Tliey 

 mention five chiefs inhabiting the borders of the Bay, two on the 

 Southern side, and three on the Northern side — A^umo, Lebombo 

 and Manhica. Let us consider these names. 



The name of 'Mnhaca " (Nyaka), the old friend of the 

 Portuguese, is well known up to this day, being applied especially 

 to the island which lies to the East of the Bay. In former times, 

 the kingdom of this Chief extended much further South. He is 

 one of those who were deprived of their dominion by the growth 

 of the AJaputju clan, to which we shall refer directly. The 

 Alaputju defeated Mutlhobotahomu, the descendant of Nyaka, 

 but this tribe still exists, though it has lost its independence, and 

 "those of Nyaka" (ba-ka-Nyaka) still greet each other by say- 

 ing: ^'Shoz^-on, iV3'fl/?a '" ;" I greet you, Nyaka." 



Zembe is evidentljrthe actual Tciiibc\ a clan which has played 

 a great part in the history of the Bay, especially in the Anglo- 

 Portuguese contest about the possession of the country. (See 

 the Memoirs concerning the arbitration of President MacMahon, 

 in 1873). Why the old Portuguese writers spell Zembe instead of 

 Tembe I cannot explain. This is probably a mistake made b}' 

 Perestrello, and adopted later on by Lavaniia.^'^ 



The name " Tembe " applies in a special way to the ancient 

 Chief who is considered as having founded the royal family, but 

 also to all his descendants, by whom it is used as a kin<l of family 

 name; it has also become the name of the river Tembe, called 

 by the Natives Mi-Tembe (z>iz., daughter of Tembe, as rivers are 

 considered as feminine by these tribes.f 



On the Northern side we find mentioned Ruino (I, p, 130; 

 IV, p. 102), or ruiiio {l\\ p. lo^), or Fiiiiio (V, p. 83). evi- 

 dently ^NJpfumo, the most celebrated of the Delagoa little king- 

 doms, which ceased to exist as an independent clan after the war 

 of 1894. Mena Lebombo is probably Pibombo, who was one of 

 the first invaders of the Nondwane country on the VA^stern 

 border of the estuary of the Nkomati. This word Meiia, put !>y 

 Perestrello before Lebombo. means: I, myself. The chronicler 

 may have heard that Chief tell his name by saying: '^ Hi uicna 

 Lebombo " ; " I am Lebombo "' ; and he believed this Alcna to be 

 a part of the name. Lebombo was first located in the Lebombo 

 hills. 



Manhica is well known up' to this day, and the " ba-ka- 



* Diogo de Couto does not mention this name. 

 t" The Life of a South African Tribe," II, p. 301. 

 B 



