The handbook by Woodward was a revision of "Collections for a Handbook of the Makua" by the Rev. Chauncey Maples (afterwards Bishop of Likoma), which were published in 1879, in which he said "The Makua language is a step further from Swahili than Yao, and is on the whole more difficult to acquire upon a basis of a knowledge of Swahili. The Makuas are a very large and extensive tribe, inhabiting the country that lies at the back of Mosambique, stretching inland for several hundred miles".