The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1900-06-07
A RIVER OF BLOOD.
CARNAGE THAT CRIMSONED
TUGELA'S WATERS. q
The First Battle Took Place There In
the EARLY Thirties-The Zulus and
Kafars Were Then the Prihcipals-Has
Ever Since Been stage of Slaughter

The TugeIa river in South Africa, |
where Butler and Joubert were con-
testing for the mastery, Is called the
river of blood" by the Zulus, and
frequently, too, by the Beers.
The first known battle to have oc-
Cured on its banks took place dur
ing the early '30s, between the Zulus
and Kafirs, not far from the modern
town Of Weenan. The Kaffirs were
utterly routed, the bulk of them being
killed, and the remainder were reduced
to slavery.
In 1887 another bloody battle was
fought along the Tugela between the
paramount chief of the Zulus and a
~sub-chief, Sibayo. The latter and his
followers made a stubborn stand, but
were massacred to a nan. The trav-
eler who visits the scene Of this bat
tie will be shown a large tree, where
tradition says Ditawayo, the last man
left alive, fought single-handed
against his foes, like the heroes in me-
dieval romances, Staying over a score
of warriors before he was finally
HdCKeQ the the ground.
In 1888 a party of seventy Beers I'M
der Piet Retief were massacred by the
zulus a little west of where Butler
and Joubert have been struggling for
many weary weeks. The Beers then
swept along the Tugela, killing off
Beers wherever they could, until the
number mounted into the hundreds. A
roliaf nvnnIstfAr xar+Ir IT, oI;rh o~I
partly Dutch, was sent from Cape Col
ony against the Zulus.
This force defeated the latter in two
battles, but finally ran into an ambus-
cade and was exterminated. The Zu-
lus, then led by the chief, Dlngaan,
fell upon a Boer lager of 400 men
with a force estimated at 10000. The
Beers, however, defeated them and
killed 5000 of the dusky warriors.
Save for innumerable small fights,
peace now reigned along the Tugela
until Cetewayo and Umbulazi, the two
SOM of Pande, king of the Zulus, be-
gan to quarrel over their right of sue
cession to the throne. So fierce did
their quarrel become, that it finally led
to a civil war. The nation was divid-
ed over the claims of the brothers, and
their forces met on the Tugela within
sight of the Draakensburgs, in Deem
Der, 1859. All day the struggle con-
tinued. The ground trembled with the
rush of fighting men, and the hills
echoed the shouts and the roar Of bat
tie. For hours the struggle continued
without an apparent advantage on
either side, when Cetewayo and Umbu-
lazi, who had been fighting in the
front ranks of their respective armies,
finally came face to face, and a terri
BILE duel ensued between them. Might
lily did these brothers, giants in
strength, battle together, but Umbu-
lazi was at last dispatched by an as
segai thrust, and his army, disheart-
ened at the loss Of their leader, fed
from the field. This, was of the
mightiest battles in the history OF
South Africa, and If the ghosts of war
riors linger about the field Of their
death, over 10000 who died in that
struggle are now watching the opera
lions along the Tugela.
Although Umbulazi's followers were
defeated, they did not abandon the
cause, but carried on a guerrilla wal
until 1851. During that time fifteen
fights, in which enough warriors were
engaged to warrant calling them bat.
ties, took place, and in one, which oc.
Cured during the latter part of 1860
at a spot about n hundred miles
from the mouth of the Tugela, nearl!
10000 warriors were slain, including
several of Cetewayo's most prominent
p~artisans.
The last great native battle along thu
Tugela took place between the zulus
and the Basutos, in which the former
were defeated. Thousands lost theil
lives in the defles of the Draakens
burg mountains, among which the bat
tie occurred.