■up
Yet even in the l&70fs the power of Umzila was said to be on the
wane; observers stated that the Kingrs forces had dwindled after the
death of Manikosi and that he no^w had at his disposal in the region
south of the Buzi River only about 2000 warriors.  Though the Tonga
were obliged to do much of the farning for the Ngoni, food supplies
were often scarce and the Ngoni were forced to move their camps and
kraals to more fertile regions.  River valleys afforded them the
guarantee of steady crops or at least the certainty of finding
settled farming populations with cattle who could be "vassalized" or
subjugated.
The influence of Umzila's raids and settlements could be found
among the Tonga and Chopi.  The Zulu headring, also worn by all male
Swazi, was adopted by some Tonga north of the Incomati by the l870fs;
this "crown" or headring x^as worn by all "Zuluized" males of age not
just royal personages.  When Gungunhana arrived in the Azores in
exile in 1896 the photographs taken of his party show the headring
on top of his head and'-*that of his uncle, Molungo.
The Ngoni avoided settlement on the coast.  There is evidence
that Ngoni superstition forbade seeing the sea or ocean.  But it is
clear that Umzila and Gungunhana's conquering raids stopped short of
the chain of lakes so close to the sea at Inharrime, Mozambique.
Though they threatened Inhambane, Sofala, and Lourenco Marques many
times, they never settled on the coast, and apparently preferred the
interior.
By I87O Umzila found that some of his young men learned that
"the English pay for labour".^ Thus began the African migration of
labor from Mozambique to the Rhodesias, and South Africa which remains so important today. As far north as the Save River in this
early period of Umzila's reign, Ngoni and others trekked south to
Natal, or to Transvaal to work in mines or on farms. The Ngoni of
Mozambique had an economic relationship with the territory under
British dominion south of them; this original connection developed
into a political one, however, as Umzila grew discontented with life
near or in Portuguese territory. Gungunhana his son inherited this
desire to migrate to Natal or to increase the British connection.
Umzila's shift of interest to the south was conditioned partly
by what happened in the north; the Goanese warlord Manuel Gouveia
was expanding Portuguese territory along the Zambesi; by 1875 he had
freed Sena from the yearly Ngoni tribute of cloth.  In 1873 Gouveia
with his army had managed to obtain a "treaty" of obedience from King
Umtassa of Manica and gradually his influence undermined the fear of
the Ngoni.  The Portuguese lionized Gouveia, made him a residente
with an army rank and subsidized his expansion Into central
Mozambique with the Portuguese flag before him.
In 1881 the Portuguese Paiva de Andrada visited Umzila's kraal*
and learned that Umtassa was a very reluctant vassal who desired
arms from the Portuguese to repel his Ngoni overlords and to secure
his own independence.  Futhermore, Umzila's hold over the tribes
near Inhambane had long been slipping; the "vassal" chiefs of
Inhambane,' due to the efforts"of the Portuguese Joao Loforte had
been gathering loyal allies to fight the Ngoni since the early
I87O's; Umzila saw his hold over the Tonga and Chopi (whom he had
5.  Frederick Elton, "A Journey from Delagoa Bay", Journal of the
Royal Gegraphical Society (Vol. 1+2, 1872), pp. 1-1+9•