The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-12-09

from the interior of the continent. Had
he been white, he would go down tc
history side by side with Cromwell and
! Napoleon. He overran and completely
subjugated every tribe in Southern
Africa. His name is still spoken with
| deep. reverence by the Zulus and with
| trembling awe by the other natives.
Chaka was extremely liberal to bravery
among his followers and ineXorable to
! coWardice. When he ordered his war
riorS to charge, no matter against what
| odds, there was no choice but TO press
onward. There was chance of life,
however small, in advancing, but re-
treat meant certain death; If the wav-
ering Zulu was not Immediately
speared by the warrior behind him, he
would most inevitably meet death by
command of his king after the battle.
For showing the white feather, Chaka
has been known to order whole g egi-
ment to execution at the hands of their
comrades. This enforced intrepidity
made the Zulus perfect fire-eaters, and
their repeated successes so intfmidated
the tribes they had not engaged with
that most of them surrendered at dis
cretion A Zulu fights with a hide
shields and assegais, having in his
possession perhaps twelve of the lat
ter. which he throws in such rapid
succession from opposite directions
springing with wonderful agility from
side to side as he throws, that the air
seems literally full of the quivering.
spears. These are the formidable enc
mics who threatened to deVastate the
Transvaal, when England, taking pity
on the Beers, took the country under
her protecting wing in 1877; these are
the foes from whom England forever
relieved the Beers by the great Zulu
war of 1859 and those are the Beers
who are now showing their deep-seat-
ed gratitude to England for the favor.
Ambition of the Black.
In these days of advancing civiliza-
ton, the African native is not content
with his shield and assegai he has seen
so much terrific execution done by the
white mans rifle, that he ardently as
pires to become the pOssessor of one.
Having realized this ambition he is apt
to consider himself invincible until. at
some critical moment, he suddenly
awakens to the fact that he is not near
~ as. awe-inspiring with the much
coveted gun as he fondly imagined. /
lived among the Pondes Ga tribe Of ut
terly barbareus African natives) once
for twelve months and can speak on
this point from personal observation.
In that country a trader was not per-
mitted to sell guns or ammunition 70
the natives and any guns brought into
the country were liable to be confis-
Gated by the British authorities at St.
Johns river Inscriptions traders,
however, eVaded the custom house in
spection by many ingenious methods.
1 remember one in particular, which
was very successful for a long time.
The owner of a small steamer plying
between Port Durham, Natal and st.
Johns river was in partnership with
trader in Pondoland and this trader
was strongly suspected of gun-running,
but the strictest scrutiny of the officials
failed to detect the means employed in
until, accidentally, they
that the smoke stack of the
steamer, which was unusually large
for vessel that size, was lined with
muskets intended for Pondo trade.
The guns sold to these Pondos were |
usually old flint-lock muskets, at which !
an early Pilgrim Father would have |
turned up his nose. After a Pondo had !
found means to purchase one, he would |
go to a locksmith, who eked out his !
existence in the country by doing odd |
jobs and the lockslnith would replace |
the flint lock with a percussion cap |
nipple Then the Pondo's soul would |
indeed swell within him. He was now |
the equal of any living man and he re- /
CURED neither angels nor ministers of |
grace to defend him. II never seemed |
to occur to him that practice was nee /
essary TO make the weapon useful in |
his hands and if it had he could not
afford to waste good money on powder
and lead just to shoot at a target. He
would put the gun carefully away in his
hut and when the next native hunting
party was organized he would join his
companions proudly brandishlng his
death-dealing instrument to the uncon-
cealed envy of the other less fortunate
hunters. When he loaded his gun, he
loaded to kill. A handful of powder
and double handful of. slugs were
surely enough to wipe out of existence
anything that ever Wore a hide When
an antelope appeared the Pondo would
eXcitedly point his gun-perhaps in the
direction of the buck, perhaps not
SHUT his eyes and pull the trigger. At
this juncture it was always safest for
the bystander to be in the rear Of the
dusky hunter. The usual result was
that the game scampered off unhurt,
while the astonished Pondo ruefully
picked himself up some twenty feet
from the spot where he. fired and while
sasplng for wind, felt carefully if all
his limbs We're still in position. Some
times the gun would burst and bowl
over few of the bystanders. If this i
happened TO a chief, he would swear
some one had an EVIL eye" on him and
would employ a witch doctor to dis