The Coolidge examiner., 1932-07-08

Oeduty FdTiOT.
and, moreover, acquired the services
of a white man, who, returning
northward with him, taught that
drill to Dingiswayo's people. In turn,
the sight of drilled Bantus infected
the imagination of one Chaka, and
thereupon this potential Napoleon
of the Amazulu proceeded to weld
his tribe into a truly terrible fight
ing machine. The great OXhide
shield, the short stabbing spear, the
outspread crescent formation that
closed its deadly horns about the
enemy-such were his ladder rungs
to conquest. Moreover, he organ
lied not only his warriors, but his
maidens, marrying them off by regi-
ments, male and female, when the
valor of the former had been
proved.
Spartan measures prevailed. Cow
ards in the fighting line were exc
cuted in patches after the action.
Because one girl regiment defied
the military marriage system, it was
promptly massacred. And Spartan
example triumphed. At the behest
of this black dictator an entire regi-
ment would unhesitatingly hurl it.
self over cliff. His Amazulu be-
came all-conquering, and he that
bloody "Chaka the Terrible" who
would, for instance, kill off eleven
wives because they annoyed him.
Rather a clancy host, this, for
white men to visit! Yet in 1923
a certain adventurous Lieut.. F. G.
Farewell and some of his Cape
friends actually bobbed up in
Chaka's court. What a sensation
these advance statesmen of white CIV
ilization created may be gagged by
the fact that one Of them, Henry F.
Flynn, was at first supposed by the
Zulus to be some sort Of sea mon
ster. And he, being Irish, no doubt
coyly admitted it, with "Sure, me
names Flynn, and haven't fishes
fms"
In the end, Chaka was so i'm
pressed by his guests ability to kill
distant beasts with tube of thun-
der and lightning" that he granted
the concession-seekerst trading rights
and a generous slice of territory.
And thus "Point Flynn" and Fort
Farewell" began appearing on rough
maps of the site where today stands
the charming seaport of Durham.
Durham Is Very New.
How Durham emerged from the
wilderness you may comprehend
from its pioneers who not long ago
hunted buck in what are now city
parks. Only last year Hubert the
Hippo emerged from somewhere up
north and came slOuching through
Durban's streets in search of the
ideal river of his dreams. Hubert's
prowlings through Natal pervaded
the news columns and inspired bed
time stories for many week.
Moreover, in the suburbs beyond the
Ungeni river young Durbanites may
visit the little gray monkey folk,
where, amid aboreal freedom, they
will drop earthward to eat bananas
from ones hand.
In 1928 Chaka was assasinated
by his half-brother, Dingaan. Zulu
hegemony continued under the lat
ter, who HINGED it in his great kraal,
where, crouching on the floor of an
ant heap mixed with blood, his sat
elites would gruesomely apostro-
phize him as Thou vultureI Thou
the bird that eateth other birdsr'
voortrekker Piet Relief and his
comrades presented themselves at
Dingaans court, asking for a ces-
sion Of lands. There, having been
diSarmed on a treacherous preteXt,
they were executed to the last man.
This affair, together with subse-
quent massacres of the Boer set
tiers, showed that the white mans
existence in Natal hung on a
thread. Promptly concentrating a
well-organized commando, Andres
Pretorius met the Zulu kings 10000
warriors and crushed them at the
Battle of Blood River in 1888.
But now, with the English at Port
Natal and the victorious Dutch
forming a republic at Pietermaritz-
burg, an interraclal clash became in
evitable. The Dutch stole a march
on the English and surrounded their
encampment on the spot where the
Old Fort now stands. A few years
later the province was annexed by
the British.