Fingo

Fingo (Finyu, Ama-Fingo), the collective name of a number of broken Kafir tribes, dispersed at the beginning of the present century by Chaka, founder of the Zulu military power in south-east Africa. In response to their appeal for protection from their Zulu-Kafir persecutors many were removed by the English Government in 1835 to the district now known as Fingoland between the Kei and Bashi rivers east and west. Here most of them have been converted by the Protestant missionaries; they are industrious agriculturists and stock-breeders, doing a considerable export trade in farm produce with Cape Colony. All the children attend the missionary schools regularly, and many display some talent for literature and music. The Ama-Fingo, that is, "Mendicants," "Suppliants" (from fenguza - to seek 'service) are increasing in numbers, having advanced from 74,000 in 1875 to over 90,000 in 1891.