WARS IN ZULULAND.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXVII, Issue 1362, 28 May 1895, Page 7

WARS IN ZULULAND.

HOW CHAKA MADE HIS PEOPLE A NATION OF WARRIORS. He Was an African Conqueror Modeled Upon Napoleon and Transmitted His Spirit to tiio Savages Who Still Defy European xVrmies. [Copyright, 1893, by American Press Association. Book rights reserved.] HOULD the savages of southern Africa,with whom tho English are igain imbroiled in a war about territorial boundaries, prove true to their race traditions, they will give Britannia no little trouble before the coveted goldfields are open to white men. The Matabeles were once numbered among the Zulus, that nation of wild tribes founded by the terrible Chaka, who aspired to be and was an African Napoleon. Chaka was the son of a Zulu chief and received the training of a princely warrior. He heard tales of Napoleon's remarkable career and took the adventurous Corsican for his hero and model. On the death of his father Chaka usurped the kingdom by deposing his brother, united the tribe of the Umtetwas to the Zulus and at once began a warfare of unbridled conquest and rapine. The whole male Zulu population was conscripted for active service. A band of 15,000 picked warriors was formed to constitute the royal guard, and they were ready to march at an hour's notice a distance of 40 or 50 miles without a halt to execute the king's decree and "eat up" a town, a chief or a tribe without warning. The main army was organized into regiments or impis, and the troops were drilled in a thorough system of maneuvers new to African soldiers. Many fortified kraals were built as permanent camps for the regiments, and in a short time Chaka was absolute monarch of a vast and invincible military power. The surrounding country was gradually subjugated and the tribes were either wiped out by wholesale slaughter or incorporated with the Zulus. Chaka's rule over those who submitted to his power was the most rigid and cruel that can be imagined. In his army the penalty of defeat was death, and sometimes whole regiments, including the wives and children of the soldiers, were massacred by the king's slayers because they failed to win a victory. In one of these military massacres the wives of two brothers of the king were slain, and out of revenge Chaka was killed by the blow of an ax in the hands of one of the brothers. Three of Chaka's brothers reigned after him. The last one died in 1872 and left his kingdom to Cetewayo, who inherited the savage gifts of his Uncle Chaka and soon turned the Zulu spears upon the English. The Matabele people had long since revolted from Chaka's domination and established a counterpart to the Zulu kingdom in the country they now defend as their own. Cetewayo's realm and army were small as compared with Chaka's, but were modeled upon the great original. The Zulu youth were drafted at the age of 15, and after one year's active training became attached to one of the military kraals. The standing army numbered about 50,000 warriors and was composed of 33 regiments, each having peculiar dress and ornaments. The regiments were divided into right and left wings, each wing having eight or ten companies. Their drill was a system of simple evolutions to prepare them for rushing attack in crescent formation, the flanks or "horns" being intended to inclose the enemy until his lines should be completely surrounded. The Zulu weapons were originally Kaffir spears and hunting rifles or muskets. Cetewayo, however, commanded each soldier to procure a breechloading rifle from the white traders. The discipline of the army was exceedingly rigid, the usual punishment being death, and the the absolute lords of the lives and persons of followers. Cetewayo's war originated in a dispute about the boundaries of the Transvaal. During the year 1878 the king sent frequent notices to Europeans to quit the lands bordering on the line established by treaties, and an army of 15,000 Britons under Lord Chelmsford was massed in Natal to invade Zululand. The army crossed the dividing line of Tugela river in four columns, the second and third, under Colonels Durnford and Gwyn, constituting the center. Those two columns numbered 7,000 men and were led by Lord Chelmsford in person. On the 21st of January, 1879, the troops with Lord Chelmsford made an advance camp at Isandhlwana 10 miles beyond the river crossing at Rorke's Drift. Rorke's Drift, which naturally called for a reserve detachment strongly posted on the Natal side to cover a retreat, was left with a feeble garrison of 139 men. Isandhlwana was a supply camp and contained 102 wagons, 1,400 oxen. 2 cannon, 400 shell, 1,200 rifles, with cartridges, and £OO,OOO worth of com-

missary stores. The garrison of that important post, was reduced by detachment for scouting and raiding to about 600 European soldiers and an equal number of natives. The camp was pitched at the side of an abrupt hill, with the wagons near the shelter of the wall and the troops in front of them. ! Early on the 22d Lord Chelmsford and Colonel Gwyn, with the major part of the force, penetrated the Zulu country still farther, leaving Isandhlvvana and Rorke's Drift in fancied security behind them. Xulus were met with on the route, but they retired without accepting battle, and drawing the column a distance of 19 miles from Tsandhhvana by 13 o'clock noon. Meanwhile a message from camp reached General Chelmsford at 9 a. in., stating that Zulus were in sight on the hills around Isandhlwana. At 4 p. in., seven, boors

later, a second .and last direct message from camp reached the general, stating that Isandhlwana was in possession of the Zulus. Chelmsford's whole force iramed iately marched to the rescue, reached camp at dark, and found it. occupied, not by savages, but by long, silent lines of dead British soldiers. It was two or three hours after the geueral's party left camp before Zulu warriors appeared at Isandhlwana. Several bodies of them were in sight at 8 o'clock, when the warning above noted was dispatched to the general. Colonel Durnford, the commandant, at once sent out strong scouting parties and rode to the front himself at the head of a squadron of mounted men. The Zulus were met in immense force on the front and left, and Durnford fell back slowly, fighting at every step, until within 800 yards of the right of the line of battle, covering the tents and wagons. At that point he made a desperate stand, and a thousand dead Zulus were afterward found on a slope and gully in front of the position. Durn ford's gallant fight outside the camp gave the various scouting detachments time to return to the lines, and when all were united the force stood in a semicircle, with backs to the steep wall-like hillside. Tho Zulus swarmed in all directions, for they numbered fully 20,000 of Cetewayo's best impis. At 1:30 p. m. they succeeded in breaking through the left of the British line and rushing among the guns and wagons. The gunners and camp followei-s quickly broke for the rear, and the savages mingled in the rout, stabbing and slashing right and left with their assegais and short swords. The fugitives who got back to tbe Natal side of the river carried tbe last news from Isandhlwana ever heard from European lips. Those who remained to fight met a fate like Custer's braves at Little Big Horn, for the Zulu, like the redskin, takes no prisoners. The last act of Colonel Durnford within the knowledge of surviving comrades was to ride to the right of the line when the left broke and rally the soldiers to cover the retreat. His body was found in the midst of a group of brave men who had fought around him, and at his feet lay a Zulu chief covered with his shield. Zulu warriors preserved the story of the colonel's last desperate stand. At first he formed a line of about 100 infantry and mounted men, and these fought until their ammunition was exhausted, when many were cut down by Zulu assegais. The survivors drew their revolvers and formed squares, one after another, until there was but a handful of boy carbineers remaining. These took position back to back beside their colonel, who carried a wounded arm in a sling and was easily marked by the Zulus. The savages literally overwhelmed them and cut down the last of them with assegais. The 14

young carbineers lay side by side fclose to their dead leader. The Zulus kept up the work of slaughter until 30 British officers and over 600 soldiers had fallen. The petty garrison at Rorke's Drift was alarmed about 3 o'clock by a Natal officer and a carbineer, who rode in at high speed on the Isandhlwana road and were taken across the river in a pont. They told the story of disaster while crossing, and one hastened on to the next station, the other joining the defense at Rorke's Drift. Two old mission buildings at Rorke's Drift were changed into blockhouses by loopholing the walls and barricading them with mealie bags and wagons. Biscuit boxes were piled up in rows for an intrenchment, and before the work was finished 500 or 600 Zulus dashed along the river bank from some crossing place above and charged wildly against the old mission walls. They were met at 50 yards by a fearful direct and cross fire. The savages fell in scores, but new men took the places of the fallen and in a short time the brave defenders were driven back from their slender barricades, the buildings were on fire and the garrison was surrounded, with no other shelter than scattered piles of mealie bags. The savages circled around the field until midnight, but were repulsed in every attempt they made to charge through the defenses. They numbered about 3,000 men and left 350 dead on the ground. Fifteen of the heroic garrison were killed and 10 wounded. Lord Chelmsford abandoned the scene of massacre at Isandhlwana in the night, before his soldiers looked upon the demoralizing spectacle, and fell back to Rorke's Drift. He had been clearly outgeneraled by savage strategy, but the horrible slaughter endured by Cetewayo's impis so appalled the hearts of his people that the army fled from the battlefield after gathering their spoils and scattered to their own kraals in defiance of the king. George L. Kilmer. Singing Sands. An examination of the phenomenal sands which emit sounds of a sonorous character and are familiarly known as singing sands has given rise to various theories as to the cause of the peculiarity —that, however, of equality or of the inequality in the size of the grains being now rejected. In the eastern part of Massachusetts is a locality where this kind of sand is found, which does not present the supposed cellular structure associated with such a sound, nor does effervescence of air between moistened surfaces apply to this •case. Sonorous mineral, such as clinks tone, is not present, and there is no evidence of electrical phenomena being concerned. The conclusion arrived at is that the sand, instead of being, as ordinarily, composed of rounded particles, is made up of grains with flat and angular surfaces. In the case referred to, a plane surface of feldspar is apparent in many of the grains—the supposition being that a certain proportion of quartz and feldspar grains is probably adapted to give the sound, while .less or more of the component would fail •of the result. In one of the islands of the Hebrides a sand of this sort is found which is largely calcareous. Its constitution is a mixture of large and small grains, and the larger ones are of rounded quartz. Many •angular fragments of quartz are also contained, and 3 or 4 per cent of the whole are ? >dark granules of chert.—New York Sun.