Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 160
(Figure 11) will be discussed in the early context of Ghwa'a, since they were sometimes seen
by our oral sources as the Wandala link to the Tur tradition.
The Tur tradition deriving from Mbra across the Gwoza hills
The first mention of 'Tur' is on Moisel's map, but in the wrong place. 1 He puts it just next to
'Kurane' (Korana), which is too far north. I have shown in the previous chapter, that although
Mathews does not mention warfare among the Vaghagaya, or between them and the Gudule,
he speaks of Gudule and Hembe as the notoriously smallest groups while he refers to the
Mughuze as those which were growing in number. Mathews does however mention
population pressure as a reason why people left 'Fitire' (Tur).
Figure 9 below shows the different connections between the groups, in the form of a lineage
tree of Tur traditions across the Gwoza hills which I composed from oral data. The Kwiyaka
and Tasa are not included, but only Wasa, since Wasa was the ancestor of the ethnic group
'Paduka' (Podoko) who left for the Mora hills. Because Kwiyaka and Tasa were more like
associated descent groups to those of Dghweɗe or 'Dofede', they are included later in a
dedicated lineage tree (Figure 12) in the chapter about the Dghweɗe house of Mbra.
Mathews (ibid) points out correctly that the Chikiɗe once settled in 'Johode' (Ghwa'a), and we
see below that both the Chikiɗe and the Chinene trace their Tur tradition via Irira (spelled
'Tetire' by Mathews). We also see that Irira and Boho appear as co-descendants or 'brothers'
and that Boho was the founding ancestor of Guduf and Gava. This was also recognised by
Renate Lukas (1989). We remember that today the Chikiɗe speak Guduf, while the Chinene
speak Cene, which is a hybrid language of Guduf and Glavda.
Figure 9: The Tur tradition deriving from Mbra across the Gwoza hills
Fitire (Tur)
|
Mbra/Ngra
____________________________|____________________________
|
|
|
|
Wasa
Dghweɗe/Dofede
Mandara
Dingida/Dangwa
|
___|___
|
____________|________
Paduka
|
|
Katala/Khachala |
|
Ngara
Ghweshe/Ghwasa
Irira/Irare/Lire/Tetire
Boho/Bughe
__|____
|
______|_______
____|____
|
|
Zadva (Zelidva)
|
|
|
|
Thakara Mughuze-Ruwa
Chikiɗe
Chinene
Guduf
Gava
Our tree starts with Fitire as a place, followed by Mbra/Ngra as mythical ancestor. Mathews
never mentions Mbra, but refers at one point to 'Ngra' by connecting it as a place of origin of
the 'Ngoshi' (Gvoko), who he says came from 'Tur'. He however does not recognise 'Fitire' as
being the same as Tur, and speaks instead of a geographical tradition of origin from 'the
south'. However, my research shows that most Gwoza hill groups who connect themselves to
Fitire (Tur) as their tradition of origin from the south, name Mbra as their common ancestor.
It was my oral sources from Kwalika and Gvoko who pointed out that Mbra meant the same
as Ngra, and that the latter meant 'first man' and was not an actual name. They further
explained that one would for example say Gvoko-Ngra or Dghweɗe-Ngra, and that this meant
Moisel puts 'Turu' around where the Tur heights are found, and we can only speculate as to whether
Glaunig lists 'Tur' a second time near 'Kurane' during his visit to the Gwoza hills in 1904, where he
might have heard about the Tur tradition the year after he crossed the heights of Tur.
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