A ZULU WARRIOR.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 7499, 19 October 1895, Page 6 (Supplement)

A ZULU WARRIOR.

A London cable recently announced the death of John Dunn. An English paper says :—Some may ask who was John Dunn 7 Well, he was byway of being a notability during the Zulu war in '79, and when that affair terminated he became a chief in Zululand, and was recognised as such by Sir Garnet (now Lord) Wolseley. The facts of Dunn's early life are somewhat obscure, but it passes muster that he was the son of a linen draper at Saffron Walden. The good people of that town were not heavy buyers of linen goods, and satisfied their small wants at shops not owned by Dunn senior. Tho unfortunate tradesman went ' broke,' and migrated to South Africa with his family. John turned hunter, and was employed by a banker of Saffron Walden in forming a collection of skins for the Museum of that town. His wanderings led him into Cetewayo's country, and that monarch took a great fancy to Dunn. Before long he became the King's factotum, had a kraal of his own and as many wives as he could conveniently keep therein. When the war broke out tho Colenso party in Natal denounced John Dunn as a

traitor and declared him to be responsible for the King's desire to wash his spears in white men's blood. But there is evidence to prove that Dunn's influence with Cetewayo was used to its full extent in the cause of peace. When the impis were preparing to advance upon civilisation, Dunn left his kraal and wives and fled into Natal, and became one of Lord Chelmsford's most trusted and useful scouts. As a reward, he was given one of the petty chieftainships into which Zululand was divided under Lord Wolseley's so-called settlement. During the Civil War which followed, Dunn's location was comparatively quiet, though for a time he had trouble in holding his own against the turbulent and bloodthirsty Usibepu. Cetewayo's restoration, of course, brought an end to Dunn's little sovereignty, and he spent the last years of his life in Natal.