Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1888-08-22
SOME ZULU CUSTOMS.


The Ruling Ambition OF the Average
$50 South African Savage.
The Zulu is never silent when milk
Ing; not for one single instant does he
cease uttering the most peculiar sounds
ever inflicted upon mortal ears
screams, yells, shouts, whistles and
teAder pianissimo murmurs OF admira-
ton succeeding one anotheras the how
OF milk increases or diminishes, this
practice having the curious result Of
compelling any white farmer who buys
Zulu cattle for his farm to have ma
tive to milk them, as they will neither
stand still nor give their milk freely
without the usual tactical concert, of
which no European has ever been able
to produce even q colorado imitation.
Whistling is also a great item in driv-
ing cattle, or calling them from dis
lance, and the noise a Zulu can make
with his lips alone is incredible, and
half deafens any one who stands near
him. Thus, when the oxen attached
to prairie wagon are outspanned,
and have roamed away in search of
water, or fresher heritage, a Zulu
driver will stand upon the wagon seat
and give a whistle that will call them
anywhere within mile, and bring
them trooRing to the camp, where a
white man would have to ride round
and drive them in. Sometimes the
native uses artificial appliances, which
are not put into the mouth as ours are,
but are held to the bottom lip as we
hold a key when trying to clear it.
When a chief possesses many oxen
he is frequently very fastidious about
them and gathers them together in
herds of nearly all one color, red or
black being the favorite hue, Cattle
are trained to take part in the tribal
dances and reviews. These all have
the skin cut into strips as described
later, and are without horns. These
dances are organized by placing the
participants in sections, three men and
two oxen, which then dance in compa-
MES, each with their attendant oxen
in turn approaching the chief, the
oxen turning off into kraal and then
forming into line extending from TIE.
chief. This they do by themselves,
and 1t is surprising to see the perfec-
ton of their training, as, notwith-
standing the yells, shouts and fleaSzze.ll
gestures of the men, they never break
ranks or run, and, knowing their place,
60 right to it.
The Zulus manage their herds with
great skill, and the animals appear to
perfectly understand the meaning of
every separate whistle and call. This
noisy system of driving cattle was a
source of great difficulty to the English
soldiers who were detailed to recover
cattle stolen from white settlers
farm. Such of the cattle as had beer.
Zulu bred would utterly demoralize the
remainder of the herd, and the SOL
diers, not understanding, and utterly
incapable of producing the necessary
cries, would find the cattle quite I'M
manageable without them. The COW
is the unit of the Zulu currency, eight
COWS making one woman, just as one
hundred cents make one dollar, and
most of the tribal wars that have de-
vastated Southern Africa have been
caused by the desire of one chief to
steal the cattle of another.
The great ambition of Zulu is to
own as many COWS as possible, and so
become a savage millionaire; eating
beef and drinking sour milk every day
and buying wives at eight to fourteen
COWS each, according to the f1uctua-
tions of the market, using the hides of
the cattle to make all kinds of useful
things, lubricating himself with fat to
his hearts desire and decorating his
person with their flowing tails. The