THE MATABELE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4858, 25 January 1894, Page 1

THE MATABELE.

. • The text of the paper tlsat matabele- was read by Mr Archibald land B. Colquhoun before a special general meeting of Fellows of tbe Royal Colonial Institute, proves to be of exceptional interest. Mr Colquhoun, speaking as one having the authority of experience, and aa a close and shrewd observer, waß able to throw many aide-lights upon the country and the people that have of late bo much engrossed the attention of the civilised world. Matabeleland is the western Bection of the elevated plateau comprehensively known as Mashonaland. The total area of this plateau is about 180,000 square miles, and it lies between the Limpopo and Sabi rivers on' the south, the Zambesi on the north, and the Portuguese territories on the eaßt. Here, at an elevation of between four and five thousand feet above the sea level, in a well-watered land, and in a climate delightfully tempered by the south-eastern breeze from the Indian Ocean, the fruitß and vegetables of Northern Europe may be successfully grown, and "it has been proved that wheat, oats, barley and vegetables each as potatoes, onions, cauliflowers, cabbages, carrots, &c," can be readily produced. There is exceedingly good grazing ground, cattle and horses thrive, and European womon and children find the conditions conducive to perfect health. Moreover, it v a land of gold, and the gold of that land is good. " Bight through the royal town of Buluwayo runs an immense reef carrying visible gold. Close alongside Umvotcha (the country residence of Lo Bengula) is another great reef, also unable to hide the gold imprisoned within its bosom. Two miles to the north- eaßt of Ike old capital is yet another grand quartz reef with visible gold." Ignorant natives, with the rudest appliances, and practically no knowledge of gold-working, wash large quantities of gold from the surface soil, and over an area of several hundred square miles gold is to be found in evevy stream.

The father of Lo Bengula, lo bkngciiA. the present King of the Matftbcle, waa Umziligazi, who in 1840 carried the flood of conqneat throughout the great plateau, ultimately settling down in that parb now known as Matabeleland. When in 1868 Umziligazi wa3 gathered nnto his fathers, Lo Bengula for some unexplained reason declined the accession, and it waa not until two yeara later that he sufficiently overcame his modesty or his reluctance and accepted the kingly crown. And it is a crown of many thorns, for although the dusky monarch may have autocratic power, and have in hia grasp the disposal of human life, he ia nevertheless in a galling environment. His power is " the military," and he haa to say and to do pretty much as the military may will. Hampered in action, moving always with cautious steps, "The Defender," " The Great Elephant," "The Eater of Men," "The Stabber of the Sun"— for Lo Bengula ia all these things rolled into one — the old man's lot ia not altogether and at all times a happy one. Once, he was not Icsb active than powerfully built. Now, at the age of three-score yeara, hia nearly twenty atone of obeßity is a fleshly weariness. "The descriptions of Lo Bengula'a personal appearance range between tbat of a moat truculent and bloodthirsty savage, with a 'deadly cruel' look in the eyes, and a pleasant, mild-mannered old gentleman, with a gentle, winning childlike Bmile." But the smile that is childlike and bland does not seem, in Lo Bengula'a case, to be at all healthy for those who experience it. For the rest, " there is no doubt as to his great intelligciA. he goes to the bottom of a question, never being diverted from it; hia memory ia great, he hears reports from all quarters, decides difficult questions of law, judges criminals, and settles details of liis enormous cattle business. A favourite seat ia the waggon-box ; at other times a veritable bath-chair, given to him by some English admirer. In his cattle kraal, with his body wrapped in a coloured blanket, and feet swathed in dirty flannel bandages, in the midst of dirt and diecomfort, and anrrounded by skulls of slaughtered bullocks and mangy pariah dogs, the king was frequently to be seen." Such ia the unlovely picture.

The much - married old £0 man haa more than eighty bekgula's Queens, chief est of whom is 'queens. Loskay. Her massive form, on the occasion of a war dance in 1890, waa partly clothed in a coloured cotton sheet, while from her waißt hung a black goatskin kilt. The head was encircled with a coil of pink beads, the neck with tin, braes and iron chains, and on her arms and ankles were more beade. Here ia a bit of Mr Colquhoun'a picturesque description which lady readers will no doubt enjoy s — " On the occasion of ! the 'Queen's dance' the black fur kilt waa j replaced by a heavy, beautifully worked and parti-coloured bead apron ; massive coils of beads encircled arms, legs, throat and head, folda of gaudy cotton clothed the loins, while a bright orange handkerchief covered the shoulders, and dozens of blue jays' feathera were fixed singly into the hair. Each queen carries on the top of the head a small circular button of plaited grass, coloured bright red, and kept in place by weaving the hair into it. The dance was led by tbe chief queen, followed in single file by about twenty others, hopping slowly, with a bighly grotesque step, resembling bo many brilliant butterflies fluttering and sparkling in the sunlight." They are corpulent, all the eighty cf them, and this characteristic is accounted for by the fact that the royal ladies are also the royal beer-makers, and that they themselveß consume enormous quantities of the beverage.

The capital of M&tabelebumtwayo. land, the royal city, seems to have been singularly well located. It « built upon a ridge on the northern side oE the Buluwayo river, the position commanding an unintenupted view o£ the surrounding country. Bulu■wfiyo me ana " the one that 5s slain," or "the place of killing," and hfl3 on occasions innumerable been a veritable shambles. Qi aichitectural pretension thera is none. The city is merely an assemblage of kraals "la the cenhe is the king's waggon ; round it hia wives' circular huta, built of sun drfotj bi ickg and roofed with

reeds. Inside the kraal i 3 a smaller divisura called the f buck-kraal/ into which his flocks of goats and sheep were driven at night, during the day being sacred to hia Majesty and the scene of his incantations. Hound the central group of huts is an open apace about four hundred yards wide, outßide which are the quarters of the : warriors — about four thousand in number— and their families. The stockade, several mileß in length, encloses all."

Mr Colquhoun does not the Beem to have formed a very matabele high opinion of the Mata"RTAßßiors. bele warriors, and, indeed, he came to the conclusion, long before the little war that has recently been waged, that the whole fabric might easily be shaken and broken. The reason is not far to seek. Zulu in origin and in methods of warfare, the Matabele have sadly degenerated, partly by the incorporation of conquered and inferior tribes, and partly by the habit, that haa grown upon them of living largely upon the fighting reputation of the long ago past! No industries for the men, the assegai being their one means for life and death, and so long as there are men to be killed and cattle to be cap* tared the Matabele are content. They are moved to warfare, in common with the king, by the devices of the wizards and medicine men, and these, as Mr Colquhoun points out, have been the undoing' of Lo Bengula; (or whilst the old king would fain have "" dwelt in comparatively peaceful indolence, he haa had a war forced upon him, and it haa spelled disaster. As to the future, the opinion formed by Mr Colquhoun ia this: Once the military " caste " ia broken up, the more peaceable and industrious — some of whom haveenjoyed regular pay for industrial pursuits in the Transvaal and in Maahonaland— will quickly settle down. There is much mining to be done in the not distant future, and the prosperity of the country must be dependent upon efficient transport and sufficient labour. What has happened in the Johannesberg and Kimberley districts may be repeated in Matabslelaud.