FINGO

fingo, or fengu (_ama-fengu_, "wanderers"), a bantu-negro people, allied to the zulu family, who have given their name to the district of fingoland, the s.w. portion of the transkei division of the cape province. the fingo tribes were formed from the nations broken up by chaka and his zulu; after some years of oppression by the xosa they appealed to the cape government in 1835, and were permitted by sir benjamin d'urban to settle on the banks of the great fish river. they have been always loyal to the british, and have steadily advanced in social respects. they have largely adapted themselves to western culture, wearing european clothes, supporting their schools by voluntary contributions, editing newspapers, translating english poetry, and setting their national songs to correct music. the majority call themselves christians and many of them have intermarried with europeans. (see kaffirs.) finial (a variant of "final"; lat. _finis_, end), an architectural term for the termination of a pinnacle, gable end, buttress, or canopy, consisting of a bunch of foliage, which bears a close affinity to the crockets (q.v.) running up the gables, turrets or spires, and in some cases may be formed by uniting four or more crockets together. sometimes the term is incorrectly applied to a small pinnacle of which it is only the termination (see epi).