N

atives and

Indians

I— The Zulus

Sy J. Stuart

CHAPTER XIX

HE Zulus, an important branch of the Bantu family, live chiefly in Zululand and Natal. The tribes, from which the nation was subsequently formed, appear to have come down to Zululand from the north, possibly Central Africa, upwards of 400 years ago. Their habits, customs, and ceremonies are, in many respects, extraordinarily like those of the ancient Jews, so much so as to give rise to a strong presumption that, at one time, they were intimately connected with that race.

They speak a euphonious language, said by philologists to be a member of the so-called Agglutinative or Turanian group, by agglutination being meant : "A method of formation whereby a modification of meaning or of relation is given to a word through a significant element or elements attached to it or contained in it." *

Their career as a nation began about the year 1815, when Tshaka set about to weld the various tribes of Zululand into one people — a task accomplished before he was assassinated in 1828. Politically-speaking, however, the Zulus ceased long ago to be an independent nation, the main causes being, firstly, their clashing with the Boers in 1838-39 when, owing to the defeat of Dingana and his being driven northwards after the battle of Blood River, Mpande crossed into Natal with the greater portion of the people and formally gave his allegiance to the Boers — thereby, as the Zulus themselves say "snapping the cord of their nationality" — and, secondly, the Zulu War of 1879. when the Imperial Government defeated and captured Cetshwayo and, in place of one. appointed thirteen separate chiefs to preside over the people, these again, in later years, being increased to over a hundred.

Diet, of Philos, and Pysch. Baldwin, I. 25.