St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1897-01-08
A Zulu War-Dance.

When the princlpal faVoriteS had
danced themselves into apparent help
lessness the leaders drew the whole body
of blacks off into two camps, about one
hundred yards apart. Now commenced
q war dance of even more violent char.
acter than the first, for it was proposed
that there should be mimic battle here
on the spot. The joke was bit CHASTITY
to me, as recalled that this same harbor
town of Lorenzo Marquee had been more
than once threatened with extinction by
possibly the same blacks who today
were brandishing their clubs in sham
war. But it was well done, and the bet
ter for the fact that every black present
threw himself into his part with fervor
that made my illusion almost complete.
They approached one another with dem
onstrations of great hatred; making huge
springs into the air, which no doubt were
intended by way OF intimidation; they
sang together the same Zulu war-cry
which rang through the ranks of Cete-
wayos warriors and at one time carried
disaster amongst Engishregula There
could not have been more than seven
hundred in this fight, but with all the
gyrations of their arms and heads and
legs and sticks | could almost have sworn
that thousands were engaged.
The battle looked as though it 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 engaged in this furious scuffie, one
champion would challenge another from
the opposite ranks, and the two would
engage in spirited duel, according to
the rule ofZulu chivalry, using the right
hand stick as broadsword, and the left
hand one by way Of a shield. Their eyes
blazed with excitement; the foam dripped
from the corners Of their voluble lips;
their bodies quivered with frenzy that
seemed real or else it was such frenzy
as only great actors could have simulated.
The shouts that burst from them and the
bsavagery 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 | see a blow
dealt in malice; not once did l catch
resentful look. Now and then on the
naked head came crack that would have
split cocoanut but, so far from evoking
angry retaliation, it was met by grin of
good.nature and a redoubled zeal in
warding.
Finally both sides became exhausted in
the prolonged conflict, and they retired,
as by natural consent, to rub their sore
limbs and laugh over their little triumphs.
When they had rested little they gave
us an entertainment that closed and
crowned the whole affair. The white
overseer knew who among the natives
were the champions ofZulu fighting, and
he coaxed some of them to challenge the
rest to single combat. So we had now
some fencing more exciting to watch than
even that which we had previously wit
messed. For in the grand fight the match
ing was the result OF accident, and each
fought with an eye solely to general
effect. Now however, the champions
were carefully selected, and the duel was
watched by the assembled armies. Moth
ing on the floor of any fencing club has
ever held me so interested as this series of
gladiatorial duels on the sandy beach of
Delagoa Bay. 1t is difficult to tell what
most l admred-the surprising swords
manship, or the splendid display of mus
cular agility, or the exquisitegood breed
ing of the knights engaged, or the wildly
interested ring OF spectators; it was all
Of it admirably strange, single of its kind,
and withal typical of the black race be-
fore it had been degraded by i'll treat
ment.-[ From Portuguese Progress in
South Africa" by Poultney Bigelow, in
HarDer's Mapazinp for January