The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-07-08
2:O9 Sd.

for NADIA, the most beautiful OF Zulu
women. 1t is long, but if | live to tell
it, it shall be told.
You think that l am an old, old witch
doctor named Zweete. So all men have
thought for many years; but that is not
my name. None have known it, and
though | now live under the law of the
white man, and the Great Queen is my
chieftainess, an assegai yet might find
this heart did any know my name.
Look on this hand, my father-no, not
that which is withered with fire; look
on this right hand of mine. You see it,
though | who am blind cannot. But
still, within me | see it as once it was.
Ayel see it red and strong, red with the
blood of two kings Hearken, my faith
er; bend your ear to me and hearken.
am Mopo-ahl l felt you start; you
start as the regiment of the Bees started
when Mopo walked before their ranks,
and from the assegai in his hand the
blood of Chaka dropped slowly to the
earth. TChaka, the Zulu Napoleon, was
one of the greatest geniuses and most
wicked men who ever lived. He was
killed in the year 1928, having slaugh-
tered more than million human beings.
am Mopo who slew Chaka the king. i
slew him with Dingaan and Umhlangana
the princes; but the wound was mine that
his life crept out of, and but for me he
would never have been slain. l slew
him with the princes, but Dingaan l and
one other slew alone.
"What do you say2 Dingaan died by
the Tongola?"
Yes, yes, he died, but not there. He
died on the Ghost mountain. He lies on
the breast of the old Stone Witch, who
sits aloft forever waiting for the world
to perish. But l, | also was on the
| Ghost mountain. In those days my feet
still could travel fast, and vengeance
would not let me sleep. l Travelled by
day, and by night l found him. and
another, we killed hin-ahi ahl
Why do tell you this? What has it
to do with the loves of Umslopogaas and
NADIA the Lily2 | will tell you. | slew
Chaka for the sake of my sister, Baleka,
the mother of Umslopogaas and UNI
slopogaas slew Dingaan for the sake of
NADIA. who was my daughter.
Yonder, beneath us, at the burying
place of kings. there is hole. In that
hole lie the bones of Chaka, the king who
died for Baleka. Far away in Zululand
there is d cleft upon the Ghost noun
tam. At the foot of that cleft lie the
bones of Dingaan, the king who died for
NADIA.
How old am 1? Nay, l know not.
Very, very old Had Chaka lived he
would have been as old as |. This
would have made him nearly a hundred
years old, an age rarely attained by a
native The writer remembers talking
| to an aged Zulu woman, however, who
| told him that she was married when
Chaka was king.l None are living
whom knew when was a boy. | am
so old that l must hasten. The grass
| withers and the winter comes. Yes,
| while l speak the winter nips my heart
Before the Zulus were people-for !
will begin at the beginning-I was born
of the Langeni tribe. We were not a
| large tribe. Afterward all our able
| bodied men numbered one full regiment
in Chaka's army 1.-THE full Zulu regiment
would number between two and three
thousand men; probably Mopo's tribe
! consisted of about nine thousand souls];
but the men were brave. Now they are
all dead. That people Is no more. How
it went will tell you by and by.
Our tribe lived in a beautiful open
country. The Beers, whom we called
the Amaboona, are there now, they tell
me. My father, Makedama, was chief
of the tribe, and his kraal was built ON
the crest of hill; but l was not the son
of his chief wife. One evening, when /
was still little, standing as high as a
mans elbow only, went out with my
l,o1o 41n oil fn Gea he
cows driven in. Ny mother was very
| fond of these COWS, and there was one
with a white face that would follow her
about. She carried my little sister Ba-
| leka riding on her hip. Baleka was a
baby then. We walked till we met the
lads driving in the cows My mother
called the white faced COW and gave it
mealie leaves which she had brought
with her. Then the lads went on with
the cattle, but the white faced cow
stopped by mother. She said that she
would bring it to the kraal when she
came home.
My mother sat down on the grass and
nursed her baby, while played around
.er and the COW grazed. Presently we
,tw q woman walking toward us across
the plain. She walked like one who is
very tired. On her back was bundle
of mats, and she led by the hand boy
of about my own age, but bigger and
stronger than l. We waited q long while,
till at last the woman came up to us and
sank down ON the veldt, for she was
very weary. We saw by the way her
hair was dressed that she was not of our
tribe
Correcting to your said the woman.
"GreetingI". answered my mother.
"What do you seekT'
Food and hut to sleep in" said the
woman. 81 have travelled far"
GLOW are you named, and what is
your people?" asked my mother.
"My name is Unandi; l am the wife
of Senzangacona, of the Zulu tribe"
said the woman.
Now, there has been war between our
people and the Zulu people, and Senzan-
gacona had killed some of our warriors
and taken many of our cattle. So when
my mother heard the speech of Unandi
she sprang up in anger. "You dare to
come here and ask for food and shelter,
wife of dog of Zulur' she cried; ''be
gone, or will call the girls to whip you
out of our country"
me woman, who was very handsome,
waited till my mother had finished her
angry words, then looked up and spoke
slowly: There is a COW by you with
milk dropping from its udder; will you
not even give me and my boy a gourd of
milk" and she took gourd from her
bundle and held it toward us.
Il will not" said my mother.
1--WE are thirsty with long travel; will
You not, then, give US cup of water?
We have found none for many hours"
81 will not, wife of dog; go seek wa
ter for yourselfr'
The womGn's eyes filed with tears,
but the boy folded his arms on his
breast and scowled. He was a very
handsome boy, with bright black eyes;
but when he scowled his eyes were like
tho sky before a thunderstorm.
Mother" he said, i've are not want
ed here any more than we We're wanted
yonder," and he nodded toward the
country where the Zulu people lived.
Let us be going to Dingiswayo; the
TTutafxva T1aOY,la will -