Ngoni
The Ngoni language is spoken mostly in Malawi (where it is also called chiNgoni and kiNgoni), Tanzania (where it is called Chingoni) and Mozambique (where it is called Xingoni). Ngoni is related to Zulu.
Livingstonia Mission
The Presbyterian Free Church of Scotland Mission started work amongst people around Lake Nyasa (Malawi). In 1875, a mission station at Livingstonia, in northern Malawi, was founded by the Scottish clergyman, educationalist and explorer, Dr Robert Laws. Livingstonia was named after the famous missionary and explorer, Dr David Livingstone. Missionary work amongst the Ngoni started in 1878 by James Stewart, and then continud by James Sutherland in 1882. In September 1889, a Mission Press was set up at Livingstonia.
Walter Angus Elmslie
Translation work into Ngoni was first done by Dr Walter Angus Elmsli (1856-1935), a medical missionary from the Free Church of Scotland Mission, based at Livingstonia. He was born in Aberdeen in 1856, where he went to university. In 1884, he went to Nyasaland (Malawi) as a doctor at Njuyu in Ngoniland under their chief Mombera. In 1886, he published “Izongoma zo ‘Mlungu”, a collection of hymns and Scripture selections, which was the first printed book in the Ngoni language.
Ekwendeni Station
In 1889, Elmsli started a new mission station at Ekwendeni, in northern Malawi, among the Ngoni people. He spent most of the rest of his missionary career there. He published the Sermon on the Mount and parables from the Gospels as “Izindaba Zombuso ka Mlungu: Ukutsho entabeni nezifaniso zika Yesu Kristu”. This was the first item published by the Mission Press at Livingstonia.
In 1891, Elmsli he completed the tentative first edition of his translation of the Gospel of Mark. He produced a revised second edition in 1898, called “Ivangeli len Kosi yetu Nomsindisi u Yesu Kristu ngu Marko”. This was reprinted in 1899, 1907 and the fifth edition in 1911. These Scripture items were published at the Mission Press in Livingstonia and paid for by the National Bible Society of Scotland (now the Scottish Bible Society).
In 1891, Elmsli also produced two books on ChiNgoni grammar and history: “Introductory grammar of the Ngoni (Zulu) language, as spoken in Mombera country” and “Table of concords and paradigm of verbs of the Tumbuka language, as spoken in Mombera’s country”.
In 1897, Emsli was ordained by the Free Church of Scotland. He wrote “Among the Wild Ngoni Being Some Chapters in the History of the Livingstonia Mission in British Central Africa” which was published in 1899. He last left Nyasaland (Malawi) with his wife Jane in 1924. The Rev Dr W. A. Elmslie died in Aberdeen in Scotland in 1935.
Digital Edition
This 1898 Gospel of Mark in Ngoni was digitised with the help of MissionAssist in 2024 for the Bible Society of Malawi. It was created from an original copy of the third edition from 1899, which is held at the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) collection at Cambridge University in England.
