"It is clear that it is our best policy to march against the enemy
before he advances. Let not our towns be the seat of war; let not our
houses be stained with bloodshed; let the blood of the enemy be spilt at
a distance from our wives and children. Yet some of you talk ignorantly;
your words are the words of children or of men confounded. I am left
almost alone; my two brothers have abandoned me; they have taken wives
from another nation, and allow their wives to direct them; their wives
are their kings!" Then turning towards his younger brothers, he
imprecated a curse upon them if they should follow the example of their
elder brethren. Again addressing the people, he said, "you walk over my
head while I sleep, but you now see that the wise Mocooas respect me.
Had they not been our friends, we must have fled ere now before the
enemy." Turning to Wleeloqua, the eighth speaker, he said, "I hear you,
my father; I understand you, my father; your words are true and good for
the ear. It is good that we be instructed by the Macooas. May evil
overtake the disobedient! May they be broken in pieces! Be silent, ye
women!" (addressing them,) "ye who plague your husbands, who steal their
goods, and give them to others, be silent; and hinder not your husbands
and children by your evil words. Be silent, ye kidney-eaters,[1]
(turning towards the old men,) ye who are fit for nothing but to prowl
about whenever an ox is killed. If our cattle are carried off, where
will you get kidneys?"
[1] The Bechnanas imagine that none who eat of the kidneys of
the ox will have any offspring; on this account, no one, except
the aged, will taste-them. Hence the contemptuous term of
"kidney-eaters," synonymous with dotard.
Then addressing the warriors, he said, "there are many of you who do not
deserve to eat out of a broken pot; ye stubborn and stupid men! consider
what you have heard, and obey without murmuring. Hearken! I command you,
ye chiefs of the Matclhapees, Matclhoroos, Myrees, Barolongs, and
Bamacootas, that ye proclaim through all your clans the proceedings of
this day, and let none be ignorant. And again I say, ye warriors,
prepare for the day of battle; let your shields be strong, your quivers
full of arrows, and your battle-axes sharp as hunger." Turning a second
time towards the old men and women, he said, "prevent not the warrior
from going forth to battle, by your timid counsels. No! rouse up the
warrior to glory, and he shall return to you with honourable scars;
fresh marks of valour shall cover his thigh;[2] and then we shall renew
the war-song and dance, and rehearse the story of our achievements."
[2] The warriors receive a new scar on the thigh for every
enemy they kill in battle.
* * * * *