The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-11-14
CHAPTER |.
THE BOY CHAKA PRoPHEs1Es,

You ask me, my father, to tell you the
tale of Umslopogaas, who was named
Bulalio the Slaughterer, and of his love
for NADIA, the most beautiful of Zulu
women It is long, but if live to tell
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 not
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. 4
am Mopo who slew Chaka the king.
slew him with Dingaan and Umhlangana
the princess 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 say5 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 aloft forever waiting for the world
to perish But l., 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! ah!
Why do tell you this? What has it
to do with the loves of Umslopogaas and
NADIA the Lily? will tell you. | slew
Chaka for the sake of my sister, Baleka,
the mother of Umslopogaas. and UNI
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 Zulnland
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 l? Nay, know not.
Very, very old. Had Chaka lived he
would have been as old as |. This
would have made him nearly hundred
years old, an age rarely attained by a
native. The writer remembers talking
to an aged Zulu woman, however, who
told him that she was married when
Chaka was king. None are living
whom l 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
VI CAo AduSeul UTlDe. we were not 6
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 Mopos tribe
consisted OF about nine thousand souls]
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 ope1
country. The Beers, whom we called
the Amaboona, are there now, they tel
me. My father, Makedama, was chiej
of the tribe, and his kraal was built O,
the crest OF a hill; but was not the sor
of his chief wife. One evening. when
was still little, standing as high as {
mans elbow only, went out with m,
mother below the cattle kraal to see tn,
cows driven in My mother was yer,
fond of these cows, and there was on,
with white face that would follow he1
} about. Sic ,,aigled ny little sister Ba
leka riding Oh her hip Baleka was
baby then talked till we met thu
lads dlisll4o the COWS. My lnotlle,