3-011-549 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Men and women of the Manganja and Ajawa tribes, from the Zambesi Country, in Africa, 1864. Engraving from a photograph by Messrs. Lawrence, of Capetown. '...a party of clergymen, with Bishop Mackenzie at their head...found the Manganja tribe...at war with the Ajawa, a ferocious people to the northward...Bishop Mackenzie felt himself charged with the protection of the numerous fugitives and persons released from slavery...A battle took place on the 14th of August, 1861, when the Ajawas, who numbered about 1500, were easily routed by 800 men of the Manganja tribe, guided by half a dozen English gentlemen previously unaccustomed to warfare...A great number of slaves or prisoners, whom the Ajawas had taken, were here delivered out of their hands, besides many women and children, who had been left sick and starving...The little girl...clothed in a sort of frock...is Dauma...the woman seen on the right hand, with a young child...is an Ajawa, named Tuawiri, the child's name being Ngopezia. The girl with a calabash or earthen vessel on her head is Balasio, one of those who were liberated by Dr. Livingstone from a gang driven by two Arab slavedealers...all or most of these persons are now in Cape colony, and behave well as domestic servants'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.