Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-08-04

concomltantS of civilization everywhere. l
was much surprised at the unanimlty with
which the people of Natal condemn the Chris
! TANNED kafirs' as totally worthless and dis
| honest, while those fresh from the kraals OF
! the interior, far from the march Of progress,
are trustworthy and reliable.
| The Zulus have a social system which is a
| very simple solution of the problem how to
! live with the smallest modicum of labor.
| Mr. Zulu selects the site of his kraal wherever
| the environments may please his fancy and
| appropriates as much of the soil as he cares
to cultivate. He subsists on mealies raised
| by his wives and milk supplied by his cows.
! He leads life of lordly ease and plenty until
he becomes possessed of an ambition to own
more wives. Then he sets off TO Pieterma-
ritzburg or Durban and works for a few
months until he has earned cattle enough TO
purchase the coveted concubine, when he re-
turns to the bosom of his family and resumes
the life Of an independent gentleman.
Matrimony among the Zulus is merely a
matter Of barter, the market value of the
wife being proportional to her weight Fat
females are held in high esteem, and as there
are few Zulu women OF meager proportions
the maids are soon mated. The Christian
settlers of South Africa have done nothing to
discourage the practice of polygamy. De
prived Of the ambition for wives there re-
mains to the Zulu no incentive to industry,
and native labor is considered a neceSslty TO
the development Of the country.
Although the Zulu, ike a true gentleman,
despises work he is bold and fearless fighter
and an adept IN the art of war. His courage
is marvellous. Death has DO tsrrors for him,
and he knows no nobler fate than TO die fight
ing 1t is this quality that inspires your re-
spect and admiration. You may laugh at his
simple foibles and grotesque fancies, but you
must admit that he is noble animal
But the glory of the Zulu has departed.
His rude strength has been overpowered by
the subtler arts of the Caucasian, and hence
forth his great achievements with the assigai
and the battle ak are but matters of tradi-
ton. When the great King Cetywayo was
captured and exiled by the British invaders
the power of the once mighty race was
broken, and now the whilom warriors apply
themselves TO the inglorious pursuits of peace
and pay hut tax" of 81 year to the
Natal government. The last disturbance,
raised a year ago by the paramount chief,
Dinizuiu nephew of the celebrated Getty
wayo, was quickly quelled by the British
troops, and Dinizulu, with Somkeli and three
other of his chiefs, deprived of their cattle
and sentenced to five years imprisonment
Under Cetywayo the fighting strength of
the Zulus was from %, 600 TO sc, 600, all young
men, giants in stature and strength. Besides
this the unmarried women, organized and
enrolled, formed a contingent who were the
Amazons of ZuluIand. The Umdlunkulu or
young women about the kings kraal, we$
also armed with guns and shot well.
There are in Natal 100000 Zulus and in
Zuluand about 409,0 900 They belong TO the
race of Kaffirs, of which the Amakosas and
the Bechuanas are also part. kaflir is an
Arabic word, and signifies intidel or unbe-
lever. From this and the traditions of the
tribes the Kaffirs are believed to have made
their way from the central lake region few
centuries ago.
The strongest native race In southeast At
RIGA now are the Matabeles, who live in the
highlands between the rivers LimpopO and
Zambesi. IobengIla, the king of the Mata-
beles, is a despotic monarch much given to
the accumulation of wives and the slaughter
of his enemies. He has viewed with alarm
the gradual appropriation of the neighbor-
ing territory by European settlers, and does
not propose to have his own dominions SINH
larly absorbed. 1t is well known throughout
all South Africa that any white man invades
Natabeleland at his peril, and Lobengula pc
riodically proclaims death to all intruders,
and the sentence is faithfully executed. Thus
it happens that although Matabeleland en-
braces the richest deposits Of alluvial gold TO
be found in al Africa, the country is free
from white prospect0rS.
About tie Delagoa Bay region are the
Usutus, Knobnoses and Amatongas, all Of
them inferior races. The Amatongas live
III the pestilential swamps surrounding Lau-
renco Marques, and are as black as coal and
as lean the apothecary in Hamlet" If
England can enlist these allies in support of
her proposed operations against the fever
stricken Portuguese at Delagoa Bay. she may
save vast quantities of quinine and moro
precious lives than Portuguese bullets could
DESTROY