Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1898-06-06
MATABELE SAVAGES.
METHODS OF WARFARE OF 'HtoE
MERCILEss AFRICANS.

. r..,v.,s storv OF How o Thousand OF
r,.r, Annibilated wilson's Bravo Little
Band Of Thirty-fou Englishmen-'A
ming the Faces For Lobengula'
The heroic deeds Of brave men Will
always lingcr in the minds OF theli
countrymen, and any additional par.io'
p,ars that can he obtained in connection
with such deeds are always welcome
A representative of The Matapele
Times, a paper published in Bulawayo
recently succeeded in obtaining nara
tive from M'Kotchwana, one OF the war
riors of the Inguba regiment which at
tackled and annihilated Wilson 1orce
It took some time getting M'kotchwaha
to speak of the affair. He was quite
ready to talk about the crops locusts,
etc, but it was not until he was twltted
as to whether he had ever done any
thing but till the land like woman
that he spoke. ,.r
eyes, my father" he answered, u
have fought in BATTLE" and then ne re-
lated the following account OF that
grand stand of "a Englishmcn against
overwhelming hordes of an Infatuated
savage enemy:
"When the white incos Wilson came
across the big river Shanghai, " said the
native, 1--WE watched him, and although
he knew it not he was surrounded on
all sides by the remnants OF regiments
which had fought at the Bcmbesi, the
Imbezu, the Insukameni, the Nyama In
dhlovo and others. At nightfall we
missed the white majalSas, but toward
the rising of the sun Umjaan, tho great
chief, camo to us and said: Il have
heard the white warriors in the bush.
Come, let us go and kill them
"We were about 1, 900 i'll number,
and without noise we went and sur
rounded the place where the white men
had their fire. Two Of them were stand
ing up looking into the bush. Some OF
US made a little noise. One OF the white
men standing awake went and woke up
another man. I think it was their in
cos. He came and looked all round into
tho bush, and then aroused all the 9th
er 'amakiwa.' They got up, and 1 saw
they were busy getting their ammuni-
ton ready and saddling their horses.
Gas it drew near tho time for the
sun to peep over the edge of the world
we started firing at the white men.
They mounted their horses and tried to
proceed in tho direction Of the great
Shanghai. But our men shot we'll, and
horses dropped dead. 1t was a cloudy
morning, and the rain fell fine and
swiftly. There were as many 'amaki-
wa as three times the fingers on my
two hands. Most of them had on black
covers over their shoulders (capes).
"When the white warriors found they
could not go on, they shot the living
horses and stood behind them waiting
for us. We fired our guns at the white
men, but at first they did not do us
much harm, as we were we'll protected
by the trees and bushes. AS the sun
rose we noticed several of the white
warriors lying dead. Umjaan gave or
ders to rush up to the enemy. We is
sued from behind the protecting trees
and tried to run up to kill all I'Wilson
and his party, but they killed many Of
us with the little guns in their hands
and wounded more. ?"
"How many were killed and wound
ed in that first rush, M 'Kotchwana?"
Gas many as six times tho fingers on
my two hands-so many" and the old
warrior waved his hands six times.
"But how many We're killed out.
right"
$50 many" and M'Kotchwana sig
nified 40. "Then we went back behind
the trees and fired often, till many Of
the 'amakiwa' fell and few remained.
Again Umjaan said, Let us kill all that
arc left, but some of them said: No,
they arc brave warriors. Let us leave
the life i'll those who are not yet dead. ,
But the men of the Imbezu said, NO,
let us kill all the white men,
"Again we rushed against tho few
who remained standing. When they saw
us coming, they made big singing
noise and then shouted three times.
They killed more of us. was struck
near the temple and remembered no
more. My brother told me afterward
that all the white men fell fighting till
the end. They were brave men, my IA
ther.
"The next day at sunrise we took all
their clothes and skinned the face of the
biggest white 'majaka' and took it to
Lobengula, who was away one days
journey. The great chief said that was
not the skin of the leader We returned
and took yet another skin off the face
of a white chief. When Lobcngula saw
it, he was satisfied He asked whether
his Imbczu regiment had dono all the
killing When he heard that it had
not done more than others, he said,
Have l then all this time put my trust
i'll lump of dirt?' I had two sons kill
ed that day, my father" said M'Kotch-
wanna, "and my brother was shot in the
stomach. The 'amakiwa' were bravo
men; they were warriors.
Asked how he obtained possession of
the cape, M 'Kotchwana said it was on
u white soldier who was killed before
tho first rush. He fell outside the ring
of dead horses. They thought he was
not dead and kept on shooting at his
body. When the natives ran up,
M 'Kotchwana seized this cape off the
white mans body.-London Globe.
Match Ends That Won't Burn Fingers