Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-09-28
= Coming War in South Africa.

The Matabele of South Africa have
never been defeated in battle. War
and ptllage are their business, ard they
mink themselves invincible. On the
eve OF war with the Imperial British
south Africa Company, they proclaim
that one Matabele warrior can defeat
four Englishmen. When the tyrant
who rules them was told by mission
airy that .'God is greater than you"
the thundetous response ssyou lie, was
shouted back by the regiments around
the King. They have yet to test their
vaior and strength in a struggle with
white men, and are likely to emerge
from the conflict with diminished ideas
of their Importance.
The cause Of the trouble is that King
Lobengula, thong he ceded to the char
tered company the rich gold fields of
Mashonaland. has resolved to assert
his alleged right to plumber and en-
slave the natives of that district as his
father did before him. Since the ces-
sion of Mashonaland the terrorized
natives have had a respite; but only on
July last. while a missionary was
holding services almost under the
shadow of Fort Victoria. an impi or
native regiment of the Matabele fell
upon the unsuspecting settlement, mas
sacred the helpless people without
mercy, burned their huts, and ran off
with their women and grain. When
asked to explain his conduct the King
replied tina. he had relinquished no
right to do as he pleased with his vas
sails, and when he wanted slaves or cat
tie, he should raid the Mashonas
whether the British liked it or not.
Since then he has established two i'm
pis in Mashonalan6, has driven his
cattle into the central part of Mata-
beleland, sure sign that he means
mischief; and the British are prepar-
ing for the struggle which they know
is coming.
Some years ago Montagu Kerr, the
first white man to cross Mashonaland,
described the misery OF its people. He
found their huts perched on the hill
tops and the narrow pathways to them
barricaded. They were constatts look
ing for the coming of the enemy whom
they were powerless to resist: They
were an abject, broken-hearted people,
weakened, physically and intellectual
ly, by the pressure of constant terror.
They welcomed the coming of the
whites as blessing from heaven, and
had begun to walk erect in hope and
confidence, to till the ground, and sell
their produce to the newcomers, when
the old peril was so unexpectedly re-
newed last summer.
The Matabele arc of Zubu origin
though not pure Zulus. In the half
century since their fathers left Zuzu-
land a large admixture of foreign blood
has come into the tribe through mar
rage with the women they have cap
tured. They are to-day the most pow
erful native nation in South Africa.
There only law is the Kings will. Most
of the able bodied men are in the army,
and every regiment can be called to-
gether at moments notice. Every
young man is ironically called ga girl"
until he has bathed his assegai in hui
man blood, Their forays for many
years were carried far north toward
the Zambesi, and west through Bechu
analand; but their most hapless victims
were the Mashonas. who, though once
powerful people and spread over a
large territory, have been nearly ex-
terminated.
The world was surprised. three
years ago, when Lobengula at last
consented to admit white colonists to
Mashonaland. The subsidy offered
him was tempting, and he swallowed
thos3 4St and let the white men in. Be
fore the day that miners thronged into
Mashonaland in crowds, only a favored
hunter was now and then admitted to
the Kings domains, and handful of
missionaries, who had knocked at the
doors for years, were the only perma-
,nent white residents. The King had
followed the example of his father, who
said to the envoy sent by the Trans
vaal Republic to ask that miners be
admitted to the country: load up
your wagons with these stones you say
contain gold, and go. But don't you
bring any Dutch women here. or any
cattle. sheep, or goats. l won't have
you building houses in my country"
Four thousand of THE whites are there
now. and they are going to stay. OF
course the raiding and massacre of
natives of Mashonaland, the part of
Matabeleland that is now under civil
lied rule. will not be tolerated. flo
bengula persists in his foolhardy
course, he will get a lesson that will de-
stroy his prestige in the eyes of his
people. and there will be one despot
the less in AFRICAN Y San.
De- Col~rA