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Updated: May 4, 2025
Then I undid the mat, and he looked on the child, and laughed aloud. "He might have been a king," he said, as he bade a councillor take it away. "Mopo, thou hast slain one who might have been a king. Art thou not afraid?" "No, Black One," I answered, "the child is killed by order of one who is a king." "Sit down, and let us talk," said Chaka, for his mood was idle.
By the time the English came to Port Natal, Chaka was ruling over the whole southeastern seaboard, from the Limpopo River to Cape Colony, including the Orange and Transvaal states and the whole of Natal. Chaka was killed in 1828 and was eventually succeeded by his brother Dingan, who reigned twelve years.
"Macumazahn, I am told that you are discreet, that you do not shout from the top of a hut what you hear within it. Now, hearken to me. Our country is disturbed; we do not all of us love the seed of Senzangakona, of whom the present king, Panda, is one. For instance, you may know that we Quabies for my tribe, the Amansomi, are of that race suffered at the spear of Chaka.
The Boer scouts discovered passes over the Drakensberg which gave them a readier access than they had expected into Natal. It had not recovered from the devastations of Chaka and was thinly inhabited. Settlements were made near the banks of the Tugela, while Piet Retief, after a brief visit to Durban, went on to negotiate with Dingaan at the royal kraal of Umgungundhlovu in Zululand.
For it was my duty, day by day, to choose that place where the king should sit to hear the counsel of his indunas, and give judgment on those whom he would kill, and to-day I had chosen this place. Chaka went alone from his hut to the kraal, and, for my own reasons, I accompanied him, walking after him. As we went the king glanced back at me over his shoulder, and said in a low voice:
"I gave it to both of you, O twin stars of the morning, princes of the Zulu in the dream of Chaka I gave it to both of you." Now the princes looked this way and that, and were silent, not knowing what to say, for these princes hated each other, though adversity and fear had brought them to one bed.
"Look at him, Mopo," he said, "look at the wizard who has no tears, though my mother is dead by witchcraft. See, he takes snuff to bring tears to his eyes that are dry with wickedness. Take him away, the heartless brute! Oh, take him away!" So this one also was killed, and these were but the first of thousands, for presently Chaka grew mad with wickedness, with fury, and with the lust of blood.
Betray us if you will, but I tell you that you shall not go free from this disgrace. The curse of Chaka shall fall upon you and the blade of the spear shall be the inheritance of you who are afraid to grasp its shaft. Begone!" and withered by her words and the fire of her eyes, the spokesmen of the Umpondwana crept like beaten hounds from the presence of their deserted chieftainess.
"Ill shalt thou sleep from this night forth, Chaka, till thou comest to a land where no sleep is. I have spoken." Chaka saw and heard, and of a sudden he quailed, growing afraid in his heart, and turned his head away. "Mopo, my brother," said Baleka, "let us speak together for the last time; it is the king's word." So I drew apart with Baleka, my sister, and a spear was in my hand.
On this occasion it was his wild design to settle in Zululand where Chaka, the great king, being dead, Dingaan, his brother and murderer, ruled in his place and there devote himself to the conversion of the Zulus. Indeed, it is probable that he would have carried out this plan had he not been prevented by an accident.
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