UNYAMWEZI A GREAT EMPIRE. 



5 



sued, and finally the old empire fell into the hands of a 

 rabble of petty chiefs. Their wild computation would 

 point to an epoch of 150 years ago — a date by no means 

 improbable. 



These glimmerings of light thrown by African tradi- 

 tion illustrate the accounts given by the early Portu- 

 guese concerning the extent and the civilisation of the 

 Unyamwezi empire. Moreover, African travellers in the 

 seventeenth century concur in asserting that, between 

 250 and 300 years ago, there was an outpouring of the 

 barbarians from the heart of ./Ethiopia and from the 

 shores of the Central Lake towards the eastern and 

 southern coasts of the peninsula, a general waving and 

 wandering of tribes which caused great ethnological 

 and geographical confusion, public demoralisation, dis- 

 memberment of races, and change, confusion, and cor- 

 ruption of tongues. About this period it is supposed 

 the kingdom of Mtanda, the first Kazembe, was es- 

 tablished. The Kafirs of the Cape also date their migra- 

 tion from the northern regions to the banks of the Kei 

 about a century and a half ago. 



In these days Unyamwezi has returned to the political 

 status of Eastern Africa in the time of the Periplus. It 

 is broken up into petty divisions, each ruled by its 

 own tyrant ; his authority never extends beyond five 

 marches ; moreover, the minor chiefs of the different 

 districts are virtually independent of their suzerains. 

 One language is spoken throughout the land of the 

 Moon, but the dialectic differences are such that the 

 tribes in the east with difficulty understand their 

 brethren in the west. The principal provinces are — 

 Utakama to the extreme north, Usukuma on the south, 

 — in Kinyamwezi sukuma means the north, takama the 

 south, kiya the east, and mwere the west, — Unyan- 



B 3 



