ABSTRACT
Messengers from the Karonga boma were occasionally beaten by villagers as they attempted to remove men for military labor service. The rebellion, and Chilembwe's motives, were long remembered in Malawi specifically in the context of labor recruitment for the war. The effect, in a wartime situation, was to stimulate stronger efforts on the part of both military and civilian authorities to meet their labor demands. The utilization of women and children to meet manpower needs, however, was not the answer Protectorate officials sought for the labor problems they faced. Drawn by old loyalties in one direction and by new demands in another, Malawi's traditional leaders were not long able to function as effective military labor recruiters. The odium of militaiy labor demands and civil oppression reached a climax expressible only in the one term Malawians continue to associate with the greatest burdens of colonial rule: thangata.
