The chief laughed, and said, "The white boy will now be my head-runner.
You, Cachema, must be called `gathly,'" which meant something like
"slowly."
I was at once provided with some crane's feathers, a large
black-and-white shield, six assagies, and made one of the body-guard of
the Great Chief of the Zulus.
My life was now not as free or as pleasant as it had been among the
Umzimvubu Caffres. Here I was a sort of servant of the chief: before
this I was a chief myself. Sometimes I was days together with nothing
to do: at others I was sent long journeys to take messages from the
Great Chief to some of his principal men. I soon saw that these
journeys would give me an opportunity of escaping when I wished. But
the Zulu chief never seemed to think I should care to get away from him;
for his special body-guard were envied by all the young Zulus, because
they had plenty to eat, plenty to drink, and were able to order nearly
every other Zulu to do things.
A few days after I had been installed as runner, a great review was held
of the army that had gone against the Basutos. This army consisted of
about 5,000 men. They were armed with assagies and knob-kerries: there
was not a gun among them, and as yet they had not learnt the power of
guns; although, when they attacked us near the Umlass, they had been
defeated because we possessed some guns. Their assagies and their
numbers caused the Zulus to be usually successful in all their wars.
The review was held on some hills about a mile from the chiefs kraal.
He rode a trained ox to the scene; and I, with about thirty other men,
attended as his guard.
There were five regiments to be reviewed. Each regiment had shields
differently marked, and each of the assagies belonging to the regiment
had also a mark on it, so that, if lost, it would be known to whom it
belonged.
These Zulus were well-trained. They advanced at a run, wheeled,
reversed, dashed forward, all fell to the ground as a shower of assagies
was supposed to be hurled at them, sprang again to their feet and
charged. It was a lively scene, and one that brought out the quickness
of the Zulus to perfection. The men were then all formed in a large
circle, and two young Zulus entered this circle from opposite sides.
Each had his shield and assagies. They approached each other cautiously
and slowly, watching every movement of the other. When within about
forty yards, one man sent an assagy at his opponent. The spear flew
true to its mark; but the Zulu aimed at jumped on one side, avoiding the
sharp blade of the spear, and, running forward, cast an assagy at his
opponent. This was avoided with equal skill, whilst the lookers-on
shouted with excitement. The two men drew closer and closer to each
other; and, as they did so, they found it more difficult to avoid each
other's assagies. Both became more and more excited, and at last they
closed and grappled with one another, when the chief called to them to
stop. They were then brought to him and given a large calibash of
Itchuala (beer) to drink, and were told they had done well. Several of
these encounters took place, only one man being struck in the leg by an
assagy. A great dance completed the review, and we returned to the
kraal of the chief.
The only furniture in the huts of the Zulus was a wooden pillow or seat.
All the men preferred sitting or lounging on the ground, and I
afterwards found that sitting in a chair was really tiring till you were
accustomed to it. In the East men always lounged on cushions or low
seats, instead of sitting upright on chairs. Finding, however, some
strong canes growing near the rivers, I gathered a number of these and
made a chair for the chief, with which he was much pleased, although he
would sit on it only on rare occasions.