Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-03
4 HnIu War Dance.

When the principal favorites had danced
themselves into apparent helplessness the
leaders drew the whole body of blacks on
into two camps, about 100 yards apart. Now
commenced war dance of even more vio-
lent character than the first. for it was
proposed that there shoulr De mimic bat
tie here on the spot. The joke was a bit
ghastly to me- as 1 recalled that this same
harbor town of Lorenzo Marquee had been
more than once threatened with extinction
by possibly the same blacks who to-day
were brandishinS their clubs in sham war.
But it was well done. and the better for
the fact that every black present threw
himself into his rart. with a fervor that
made my illusion almost complete They
approached one another with demonstra-
tion of great hatred; making huge springs
into the air, which no doubt were intended
by way of intimidation; they sang to-
gether the same Zulu war cry which rang
through the ranks of Cetewayo's warriors.
and at one time carried disaster among
English regulars. There could not have
been more than 700 in this fight. but with
all the gyrations of their arms and heads
and legs and sticks 1 could have almost
sworn that thousands were engaged.
The battle looked as though 1t might
have furnished inspiration to Zulu Ho-
mer. Blows fell with painful suddenness;
eyes glared with mock frenzy; passes were
made which suggested violent death Then
while the great body of warriors was en-
gagged in this furious scuffle, one champion
would challenge another from the opposite
ranks, and the two would engage in q
spirited duel according to the rule Of Zulu
chivalry using the right hand stick as u
broadsword. and the left hand one by the
way of n shield. Their eyes blazed with
excitement; the foam dripped from the
corners of their voluble lips; their bodies
Quivered with a frenzy that seemed real,
or else as it was such frenzy as only
great actors could have simulated. The
shouts that burst from them and the saw
agery they were enacting were equally
calculated to recall the wrongs they had
suffered at the hands of the Portuguese
and the wars in which they had shared
only few months gone by.
Yet, in the midst of such fury of mind
and action, not once did 1 see blow dealt
in malice; not once did catch n resentfuI
look. Now and then on the naked head
came a crack that would have split CO.
coanut: but. so far from revoking angry
retaliation, it was met by a grin of good
nature and a redoubled zeal in warding-
Finally both sides became exhausted in
the prolonged conflict, and they retired,
as by mutual consent, TO rub their sore
limbs and laugh over their little triumphs.
When they has rested little they gave
us an entertainment that closed and crown
ed the whole affair. The white overseer
knew who among the natives were the
champions of Zulu fighting, and he coaxed
some of them to challenge the rest to sin
gle combat. So we had now some fencing
more exciting to watch than even that
which we had previously witnessed. For
in the grand fight the matching was the
result of accident. and each fought with
an eye solely to general effect. Now,
however, the champions were carefully se-
lected, and the duel was matched by the
assembled armies. Nothing on the floor
of any fencing club has ever held me so
interested as this series OF gladiatorial du-
els on the sandy beach of Delagoa bay.
1t is difficult to tell what most L admired
the surprising workmanship, or the splen-
did display of muscular agility, or the ex-
quisite good breeding of the knights en-
gagged. or the wildly interested ring OF
spectators; it was all of it admirably
strange. single of its kind, and withal typi-
cal of the black race before it had been
degraded by i'll treatment.-Poultney Big
Glow, in Harper's Magazine for January.