tna:PieceReference=co1069p108

The Angoni were relative newcomers to Nyasaland (British Central Africa, originally). I think they originated from Zululand, via Matabeleland.

In the early 19thC the internecine Zulu wars in South Africa led to the northward flight of large groups of Nguni (the linguistic family to which the Zulus belong). One of these groups settled in what became Matabeleland in southern Zimbabwe under the leadership of Mzilikazi, but many others continued north across the Zambezi under chief Zwangendaba in 1835. Some of the latter settled in what is now eastern Zambia and central Malawi, but many went still farther north. Although one group travelled as far as the area south of Lake Victoria, the greatest number settled near the southern shores of Lake Tanganyika. After the death of Zwangendaba in the late 1840s quarrels broke out and two groups broke away and moved back southward, one to the west and one to the east of Lake Malawi, where they laid waste to the lake shores.

The Mandala Company was founded in 1878 and the main Mandala House - which still stands was built in 1882. So it looks as if this temporary structure was erected between those dates. see www.societyofmalawi.org/mandalahouse.html

This photo was almost certainly taken in 1886 by Consul Hawes so the building of Mandala House in 1882 did not see the immediate demolition of the temporary structure.

As Mandala House, photo 108-39, was the manager's house and this bulding was the store and European clerks' quarters there seems no reason why the two couldn't have existed at the same time.

Mount Sochi (or Soche) is near Blantyre in southern Malawi