NOTES ON THE EAST COAST BANTU OF EIGHTY YEARS AGO. 8l 



(both south of Limpopo) seem to point to the fact that in earlier 

 days the languages were identical, and that formerly the coast 

 dialects had, but have since lost, a locative case with a class prefix 

 still existing among the 'Central African Ba-Tonga. 



M. Junod tells us that the inhabitants of the coast between 

 San Lucia Bay and Inhambane consisted originally of an in- 

 digenous primitive Bantu population, who were unacquainted with 

 the use of iron. At a later date it was subjected to invasions of 

 other tribes, some from the north, others from the south. O'f 

 these, immigrating from the north, that speaking the Hlengwe 

 dialect seem to have been the tirst in the field — a rude tribe that 

 was even ignorant how to kindle fire. Pushing out the aboriginal 

 Ntimba and Chilambo, Tchpoi and Tsonga tribes, they settled on 

 the east (left) bank of the Limpopo: and from them sprang the 

 Ma-Kwakwa and Inhambane (Nyamban) clans, the Hlengvv'e of 

 ChigonTbe and the Hlengwe of Madzibe. 



Another horde, the Ba-Loyi, were evidently akin to the 

 r.a-Luyi or Lea-Luyi of Coillard : that is, the tribe variously 

 known in different dialects at Ma-Rotse. Ba-Ruyi, Aa-Lui, Aba- 

 Lozi. Ba-Lozwe and Ba-Rotse. now living in Lealuyi, the swamps 

 of the Upper Zan\besi, under their king Lewanika. Both Livin- 

 stone and Father Torrend have held the view that these Ba-Loyi 

 or Ba-Rotse are closely allied to the neighbouring Ba-Lunda or 

 Ba-Runda on physical and linguistic grounds ; while MM. Junod 

 and Coillard unite in tracing them back to the Ba-Nyai and 

 Ma-Kalanga. The Ba-Loyi of Lealuyi claim to have come 

 from the east, i.e., Mashonaland or Banyailand ; the 'branch of 

 Ba-Loyi which has come east and become a branch of the Tonga 

 group uses " Miinyai! " as the form of salutation : but it speaks 

 a Thonga dialect known as Nwalungo, and occupies a tract 

 bounded by the Olifant and Limpopo Rivers and the Longwe 

 Mountains. The adjoining Ma-Luleke clan also speak Nwalungo. 



Another East Coast tribe of Central African origin are the 

 Tembe, or. as Perestrello called them in 1554, Zembe. Like 

 the Ba-Loyi, they were of Kalanga origin, as their salutation 

 '' Nkalaiiga! " shows. Dr. Livingstone tells us* that the people 

 of Cazembe (Ka-Zembe) were IJa-Loi or Ba-Lunda, and their 

 country Bailunda, Lunda or Lui, so called by the Portuguese, 

 It seems clear, therefore, that in times past the Ba-Loyi and 

 Ba-Lunda were closely related aifd the terms interchangeable, 

 and that they were connected with Perestrello's Zembe. 



In the sixteenth century the Zembe or Tembe dwelt south 

 and west of the Limpopo and in the Lower Komati basin. At 

 a still earlier period, according to tribal traditions, they once lived 

 on the confluence of the Limipopo and the Pafuri. In 1554 the 

 kingdom of Tembe was situated north of Delagoa I Jay, between 

 it and the Limpopo River, which formed the northern boundary. 

 The successive chiefs or " Kapclas." as they were called, lived 

 until the eighteenth century in amity with, 'but independent of, 

 the Portuguese, and carried on a trade with them in ivory and 



* " Missionary Travels," p. 306. 



