Born: Unknown, Angola
Died: Unknown
Country most active: Angola
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from “Female Warriors: Memorials of Female Valour and Heroism, from the Mythological Ages to the Present Era,” by Ellen C. Clayton (Mrs. Needham), published in 1879 and shared online by Project Gutenberg.
The Jagas, at all times feared on account of their ruthless ferocity and cruelty, rose to the height of their glory under King Zimbo, who has been styled the “Napoleon of Africa.” Donji, one of Zimbo’s captains, was governor of Matamba; his wife, Mussusa, was a warrior like himself, and they trained their daughter, Tembandumba, to the same mode of life. After the death of Zimbo, his vast empire, like that of Alexander, was divided amongst his captains; and Donji, more skilful than the rest, conquered many of the surrounding states. After his death, Mussasa, who possessed military talent equal to her husband,—tarnished though it was by gross cruelty—continued to fight and to conquer the neighbouring chiefs.
Tembandumba received the education of a soldier. Trained, while yet a child, to the use of arms, she took naturally the trade of war. As a girl she accompanied her mother on all her campaigns; fighting side by side at the head of their troops, Mussasa and her daughter were always foremost in battle and last in a retreat. The valour and prudence of Tembandumba soon became so well known that her mother gave her the command of half the army. But when she had gained a few victories, the Amazon was not disposed to remain longer in a subordinate position. Throwing aside the authority of her mother, she assumed the title of Queen of the Jagas; and drew up a code of laws so extravagantly savage and bloodthirsty that only for the high respect, or rather terror, in which the young girl was held,—even her subjects would have rebelled.
It was the ambition of Tembandumba to revive the Amazonian empire which had once existed on the African continent. In pursuance of this object, she declared war on the whole race of man; all the male children were to be slain by their mothers, and made into ointment called “Magiga Samba,” which when smeared over the human body would render the latter invulnerable. The adult males throughout her dominions were to be converted into food for the women; and to prevent the tender hearts of the women causing them to evade these laws, she commanded that every other food, animal or vegetable, should be destroyed. Had her statutes been obeyed to the letter, Western Africa would soon have been a hideous wilderness, devoid of human habitations, birds, beasts, trees, plants, or even grass.
Having promulgated these laws, together with many others of minor importance, in a speech delivered before a select committee of her female subjects, she concluded by seizing her own child, who was feeding at her breast, and hurling it into a large mortar, where she beat it to a jelly. Throwing this into a large pot, she compounded an oleaginous preparation with leaves, roots and oils, which she rubbed all over her body, telling her subjects to follow the example. Such quantities of “Magiga Samba” were manufactured that travellers declare there are still some pots of it to be found among the Jagas. But after the first burst of enthusiasm was over, maternal love prevailed, and Tembandumba, after vainly endeavouring, by the appointment of inspectors, to enforce obedience, was obliged to repeal the law, and permit children taken in war to be substituted to make the precious ointment.
For many years this female devil reigned triumphantly; she kept the Jagas so constantly engrossed by martial glory, they had no time to sigh for liberty. Kingdom after kingdom fell before her legions; wherever she turned her footsteps, a track of desolation remained to mark her progress.
But Tembandumba, after all, was not above the weaknesses common to her sex; all her passions were exaggerated, and, like many another heroine, she owed her final overthrow to the God of Love. As a rule she caused her husbands to be treated as Schahriar, in the Arabian Nights, used his wives; but at last she fell really in love with Culemba, a private in the army. Culemba was young, strong, and decidedly good-looking—for a negro. He possessed insinuating manners, and succeeded for a time in gaining some influence over the Queen. But in time she wearied of him, as she had grown tired of her former lovers. Culemba, knowing by experience that she had an unpleasant fancy for dining off her lovers, was determined to be beforehand with her. He was a cruel, ambitious man,—equally crafty as Tembandumba. He invited the Queen to a sumptuous banquet; such an invitation being the highest compliment one Jaga could pay to another. The entertainment was magnificent, the wine delicious; but while drinking a bumper of Lisbon wine from the skull of an old enemy, the Queen of the Jagas fell down dead.
Culemba was—of course—inconsolable. With difficulty could he be prevented from slaying himself on the corpse. The funeral was conducted with all the splendour customary at the interment of a native African sovereign; the dead queen was buried in a large vault excavated on the top of a high hill. The corpse was placed in a commanding attitude on a throne, surrounded by skins, stuffs, mats, ostrich feathers, and all her favourite dishes and liquors.