St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1893-05-13
CHAPTER [.
THE BOY cnAKA PRoPHEsIEs.

THE BOY CHAKA PROPHEsIES.
You ask me, my father, to tell you tht
tale Of Umslopogaas, who was named
Bulalio the Slaughterer, and of his love
for NADIA, the most beautiful of Zulr
women. It is long, but if | live to tel
it, it shall be told
You think that am an old, old witch
doctor named Zweete. So all men have
thought for many years; but that is moi
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.
| Aye! see tired and strong, red with the
| blood of two kings Hearken, my faith
er; bend your ear to me and hearken. ]
am Mopo-ah! | 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. Chaka, 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.
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. slew
him with the princes, but Dingaan | and
one other slew alone.
"What do you say? 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 aioft forever waiting for the world
to perish. But [, also was on the
Ghost mountain. In those days my feet
still could travel fast, and vengeance
would not let me sleep. | Travelled by
day, and by night | found him. and
another, we killed him-ah! ali!
Why do tell you this? What has it
to do with the loves of Umslopogaas and
NADIA the Lily? | will tell you. l slew
Chaka for the sake Of my sister, Baleka,
the mother of Umslopogaas. / and Um-
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 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 |? Nay, / know not.
Very, very old. Had Chaka lived he
would have been as old as l. [This
would have made him nearly hundred
years old, an age rarely attained by
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 boy. am
so old that must hasten The grass
withers and the winter comes. Yes,
while speak the winter nips my heart.
Before the zulus were people-for /
will begin at the beginning 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 soulsl;
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 beautiful open
country. The Beers, whom we called
the Alnaboona, are there now, they tell
me. My father, Makedama, was chief
of the tribe, and his kraal was built on
the crest of a hill; but was not the son
of his chief wife. One evening, when /
was still little, standing as high as
mans elbow only, | went out with my
mother below the cattle kraal to see the
cows driven in. My mother was very
fond of these cows, and there was one
with white face that would follow her
about She carried my little sister Ba-
leka riding on her hip. Baleka was
baby then. We walked till we met the
iaUS -OrlVIQg III the COWS, MY uOEQGr
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
her and the cow grazed. Presently we
saw 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 a 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.
Greeting to you" said the woman
"Greetingr answered my mother.
"What do you seeky'
f'Food and q hut to sleep in" said the
woman. 81 have travelled far"
How are you named, and what is
your people?' asked my mother.
my name is Unandi; am the wife
of Senzangacona, of the Zulu tribe,
said the woman.