150 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

150 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

lowing: "Any survivors from the Isandlwanadisaster are urgently requested to supply infor...mation respecting A-- B--, whose nameappears among the killed. Will some of hiscomrades please say,-I. How and where washe 1 2. \Vhether he escaped from the carnage tothe river, or was hemmed in with those who hadno ammunition to use and were killed by theZulus 1 3. Who saw him last, and under whatcircumstances ~ 4. Was he recognised afterdeath, and was he buried ~ 5. Was he muchmutilated, and what was the manner of hisdeath 1" Thus, as always, what was in the heartas the most important question of all was putoff to the last.

'Vith literature sucb as this nearly our soleresource, it was no wonder the time passedheavily. All day the men were in their shirt­sleeves, unloading waggons of bags of flour, bis­cuit, oats, and coal. Those not so engaged weredigging ditches or building forts. At night wasthe everlasting picket, wet, cold, and perhapsdangerous. At tattoo all had to rush intolaager, were it wet or fine, standing with fixedbayonets in silent array till the inspecting offi-

A CHANGE OF PLANS. 151

cer had gone round. That over, lights out, anda hard night's rest on the ground, broken at anhour before daybreak by the bugles, when a fresharray in the laager ensued. A dreary interval,cold, wet, sleepy, and dirty, till we managed aswill in a bucket in the welcome warmth of therising sun, and breakfast off the cold lumps ofstew left over from last night's dinner. After that,more waggons to off-load, and more ditches todig. No wonder we wanted to get on, evenagainst such terrible fellows as the Zulus. Ourawakening came at last, changing everythingthat had been arranged, and showing us that allour work of the past month was so much labourwasted.

Conference Hill was no longer to be the baseof operations: the advance was by another road;and all the piles of stores collected there, withso much trouble and expense, were to be movedto Koppie Allein, twelve miles lower down theriver. From this place the column was to crossinto Zululand, and to move, by another road tothe one previously selected, on Ulundi. Milesaway down the river we had seen an isolatedpeak, sticking up just oyer the grass-line to the

152 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

south, which was our horizon; and the recon­noitring parties had told us this was KoppieAllein-the "Lone Koppie;." but up till nowthere had been no road thither, or any, save thetroopers of Bettington's Horse, that had .pene­trated as far. Landman's Drift, lying closer,had supplied the new base with soldiers andstores; so that, on the last day of May, whenthe garrison of Conference Hill marched in,across the almost trackless veldt, it found italive with military life,-a pleasant change in­deed, after the weeks of inaction, and, of late,rainy weather, which blew our tents down, andsent us, cold and wet, to shelter under stilldamper bed-clothes.

The promised advance had already. com­menced - the 1st Brigade crossing the long­looked - at Blood river, and winding slowlyacross the grass-land beyond. The drift overthe river bore signs of having been hurriedthrough; the sides were steep and sloppy, andthe black mud in the bottom, increasing con­tinually, threatened to swallow up each succeed­ing waggon. Far on the left were the Lancers,dotted about; nearer at hand, the advancing

ACROSS THE BLOOD RIVER. 153

infantry, clearly marked by black lines drawnacross the veldt. Beyond, again, the swells ofgrass-land, then yellow, reach up for some milesto a broken ridge of flat-topped hills, grass-grownto their summit; that on the left, "the Incenci"--both the" c's" pronounced hard; that on theright, Itelezi-later on a station from whichthe heliograph flashed its messages far on to­wards the front. Between these two hills is aneck, or saddle-back, yellow with the everlast­ing grass; and on this neck our first camp waspitched, succeeded by the more permanent erec­tion, " Fort Warwick."

Nowhere was there a sign of life,-the countrywas quite deserted, save by the troops crossing.Wood's column was out of sight, ten miles fur­ther north, moving parallel with the Division.A dark object, some miles away, draws outmany field-glasses, all anxious for the much­talked-of Impi; but it turns out to be only anover-worked ox, which has wandered so far, andnow stood waiting sadly for death. Overheadthe vultures soared, in horrid expectancy oftheir meal. In the hollow formed by the riverstood groups of sentries, dark against the yellow

154 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

grass in their greatcoats. Where the camphad just rested, on the Natal side of the river,were piles of stores, in every state of disorder;ranks of waggons, packed and unpacked-theofficers in charge of their contents vainly tryingto pick out what was wanted amongst the uni­versal confusion; tents in rows, stretching every­where; ambulances lumbering about; the Lancercamp, still to be known by the lances sticking upbetween the picket-lines, their tiny pennons flut­tering gaily, as they had fluttered a hundredtimes before at Aldershot; staff officers gallop­ing wildly; mule - waggons cantering merrilydown the hill towards the drift; stray horses," knee-haltered" till their noses almost touchedtheir legs, dodging their pursuers, and refusingall attempts to catch them. In the centre ofall was a substantial laager,-a square earthenfort, strong enough, in all conscience, and pro­vided with two huge embrasures, red, and newlymade. Our present base was but the creationof yesterday.

Following the 1st Brigade, the 2d crossed thedrift-all the heavier for the rain which fellabundantly during the night-and was at last in

OUR FIRST DAY IN ZULULAND. 155

Zululand. A party of the 24th Regiment workedmanfully at the muddy drift, shouldering thewaggons, and urging the unwilling oxen across,till, after several hours, all were over, and theorder came for the advance. The dry grass wasknee - deep; dongas scored the country every­where; small bog - holes and marshy streamscrossed the track as long as it followed the low­lying meadow-land; oxen, dead or dying, weresadly plentiful. Far in front, the leading bri­gade was cautiously feeling its way; then camea huge, straggling crowd of waggons, two abreast,ten abreast, drawn out for a couple of miles ormore in single file,-a horrid foretaste of whatwas before us. But the sun shone gloriously,spirits had recovered, and the men trudgedalong through the grass as if the poorly-markedtrack across it were a turnpike-road. By theside of the column rode General Marshall, intemporary command, followed by his staff; hereand there galloped in a Basuto scout, intent onsomething nobody could understand. The broad,well-defined road to Isandlwana was crossed,and brought up many memories ; the air was fullof the cracking of huge whips,-an unpleasant

156 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

noise at the best of times, soon hated for its inces...sant continuance, under which the weary oxen,with their hides cut and seamed, winced freely.

A marshy stream, not far from the ridgewhere we were eventually halted, caused a longdelay, and it was not till the shades of nightwere falling around that the brigade climbedthe hill and took up its ground for the night.In high quarters" the battle of the laagers"had been fought as was usual in those earlydays, every one having an opinion on the sub­ject differing from every other, all equallyeffec­tive, but quite distinct, and very perplexing tous who had to remember so many different pat­terns. On this first night we had three laagers ;in the centre a huge affair, in which were ac­commodated the cavalry horses in long picket­lines, the Commissariat depot and issuing store­tents, and the oxen, the last countless as thesea - sand. On either side were two smallerlaagers, one for each brigade; inside one, LordChelmsford and his staff-General Newdigatewith his in the other. Round the outside werethe tents of the regiments and the guns of thebatteries; scattered about were the irregular

OUR FIRST CAMP. 157

troops, the Native Contingent, the lines ofmounted corps, hospital tents, cooking-fires-aheterogeneous mass, a good deal mixed, too muchscattered, and with but little method in its dis­position. Round about, farther away, could beseen the dark groups of the sentries pacing toand fro. Above ~s rose the grand Itelezi Hill,grey and indistinct in the increasing darkness,its side scored by a great ravine, a capital hid­ing-place for an enemy, and so watched accord­ingly. In the rear, as in front, the swells ofgrass-land rose interminably, alive even yet withtoiling waggons, cavalry horses returning fromwater; the background filled in with flat-toppedhills, those above Dundee, left long ago, amongstthem. Soldiers in every stage of untidinesswandered about the camp in that aimless wayso peculiar to the race. Natives fully armedwith shields and assegais continually arrived,going they never seemed to know where. Ba­suto horsemen chanted their evening hymn,standing in a circle, tbeir hats off, their handsclasped tight; close by, the General, sitting ona stone, and talking over to-morrow's doingswith some half-a-dozen of his staff.

158 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Now and then the quiet was broken in uponby a shout and the noise of many men rush­ing, and half the camp would appear crowdingfrantically after two or three figures comingtowards the General's tent. They were onlyZulus, either real 01" suspected as such, who hadcome across the patrols, and were brought in forexamination. After each wretch followed thecrowd of men, struggling and pushing, intentonly on satisfying their silly and childish curi­osity at any cost. Indeed, the state of stupidexcitement and actual nervousness to which themen had been worked up by repeated scaresand continual delays, was sad, and almost hope­less. To excite curiosity, and to take advantageof the confusion it caused, we had been told,was a common Zulu stratagem, and so had tobe repressed-almost an impossibility when un­reasoning panic has seized upon a camp full ofbeings as young and as easily led as are ourpresent-day soldiers.

We had settled down as well as was possibleamongst all these discomforts, and were sittingoutside our tents before night fell and we gotbetween the blankets, talking much, wondering

THE PRINCE KILLED. 159

much, and anticipating everything or anything,when of a sudden arose one of those undefinedrumours of ill, coming no one knew whence,no one knew how. Laughter was hushed, andmen's tongues stopped as their owners wanderedfrom tent to tent seeking out the cause. Andas the news leaked out, and it was whisperedabout that the Prince had been killed in a kraalclose by, fighting hard, it was plain on all ourfaces that a great calamity had happened.

A few irregulars had galloped in with ill newson their faces, and hot haste showing in theirponies' coats. Their story was soon told-onelong since too well known-and not a man incamp but felt that a friend and a guest hadbeen lost from among us. The poor youngPrince, two volunteers, and their native guidegone in a few minutes close to us, yet no onenear to help.

I don't think the men who returned showedmuch excitement; they took off their pouchesand thick boots, prepared their supper, andtalked all the while as if an ordinary skirmishhad taken place in which one or more had gonedown, perfectly fair and to be expected in such

160 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

times as these. Carey's name was not men­tioned; it 'Was then not known in the armygenerally that the party had been accompaniedby any officer except the Prince. All that cameafter, and made bad worse, and regrets stillmore poignant. The little group of four gather­ed by the side of a waggon, one of those forminga side of the central laager, and told their taleby bits and fragments as they were asked ques­tions by the half-dozen officers standing round.Little curiosity indeed was shown; stupor andunexpressed sorrow were predominant amongstall. Many expressions of sympathy for LordChelmsford under this new trial were heard,and freely acquiesced in. The men's tale wasshort enough. The party had been fired at sud­denly, and had bolted, leaving behind the Princeand two of their comrades. From the men'slooks and their unmilitary style altogether, littleelse could have been expected. They had notbeen sent out to fight; the same occurrence hadhappened to them before, and they had beenwithdrawn by their commander when attack­ed, as was perfectly right. What experiencethey had learned in war agreed entirely with

THE TALE TOLD. 161

their own notions as civilians. Such they were,a bit of red rag round their hats, and a bando­leer of cartridges over their shoulders, the onlymilitary part of them. All else was civilian andcolonial. To them princes were no better thaDother men, glory but an empty name, honourunknown; their day's pay, and the enjoyments-the liberal flow of " square-face" not the leastof them-which it could procure, the only objectthey had in going the campaign. Then it be­came known that an English officer had been ofthe party, and the tone of inquiries changed;now at least we should hear a tale which weneed not feel ashamed for listening to : and thefeeling of relief was heightened by one comingup and ~ying, "Carey, poor fellow, has made astatement which is all that can be desired, ex­cept that he has laid too much blame on to hisown shoulders."

It must have been close upon seven o'clockwhen the party returned, and the night wasfalling fast around, so the body must lie whereit had fallen all through it,-the rough natureof the country, only partially known as yet,utterly forbidding any midnight search. But

L

162 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

early next morning a squadron of the 17thLancers rode off, accompanied by several ofthe staff and an ambulance.

A trooper-one of those who escaped-wentas a guide; and after some eight miles along aridge commanding wide views of the surround­ing country, now all covered alike with theprevailing grass, took the party down a longand wide incline, at the bottom of which evi­dently flowed a river. Near this, to the right,the low hills drew together; there were severalpatches of mealies, dry and yellow, above theriver - bed, and between them and it a smallkraal. Others were scattered about prettyplentifully on the hillsides. Riding towardsthe kraal the Lancers were halted, and theofficers rode on to a slight depression, whichhid each horseman as he approached it. Ashout in front, and we found a trooper stand­iug in this hollow, which was a worn and grass­grown donga. Beside him lay a white ob­ject, stark and stiff; beyond, a little lowerdown, a second; and lower down still, a third-the body of the Prince, lying staring at thesky, surrounded by the poor fellows who had

FINDING THE BODY. 163

died with him. It was no time for sightsee­ing or sentiment. The body was wrapped ina blanket, and placed reverently in the ambu­lance; the other two were covered up with earth,and the sad procession rode slowly back to camp.

At first it was decided to bury his body wherethe camp was pitched, and a party was sent outto dig a grave. But other counsels soon pre­vailed, and it was given out that what remainedof Napoleon was to be sent home as soon aspossible.

A military funeral on the spot was, however,to be given, to mark the army's respect for thedead; so on the same day, in the afternoon,the troops, formed up in a hollow square, turnedout to do all that British soldiers could do inhonour of the brave, dead boy. Each wingof the square was formed by the infantry-abrigade on either-their commanders, with thestaff, in front. Facing the laager in whichthe body lay, and which was the fourth sideof the square, were the Lancers, forming thebase; in front of them, General Newdigateand his staff; the men on every side, in openorder, resting on their arms reversed.

164 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

When all was silent and correct, the funeralemerged from the laager, headed by a detach­ment of artillery marching in slow ,time withtheir carbines reversed; then the gun-carriage,drawn by six black horses, on which rested thelong, almost shapeless bundle which all knewtoo well. Over it was cast a poor tricolourflag-the best we could make out of the scantybits of coloured calico to be obtained. As pall­bearers walked six officers of the artillery, towhich corps the Prince had been attached atWoolwich; immediately in rear was the RomanCatholic chaplain; then Lord Chelmsford aschief mourner, followed by his staff.

The ground was rough with ant-heaps andholes, and the carriage jolted terribly till itwas stopped opposite the Lancers-the pipersof the 21st wailing out a sad funeral-dirge.Then the priest stepped out, dressed in his.finelace surplice and quaint three - cornered hat,and in low tones read the service, bowing con­tinually, and scattering holy water. That done,the carriage moved on round the square, thetroops presented arms, and the long shape­less bundle was taken away and left under a

THE PHOTOGRAPHER. 165

suitable guard till next morning, when it left,under escort, for England.

Among the spectators were many well-knownfaces. The correspondent of the C Figaro,' inveritable tears: his mission over, there was nolonger any interest to him in the campaign,and he went home to grieve-so he told us hewould do between his tears. Forbes and Stan­ley were close together; Fripp sketching in aquiet corner, and Melton Prior doing the sameopposite. At the most solemn moment of theservice an energetic photographer rushed inand hid under his black cloth-covered camera,after the fashion of his race. The instrumenthe has planted in the very centre of tlie square,his own appearance being ultra - photographicand repellent. In his hot haste with the platehis hat fell off, and showed very long and veryshiny hair - a feature more conspicuous thanusual in an assemblage of which every manwas cropped short.' I venture to say no oneloved that man that day, and all watchedeagerly for the last glint of the fading sun todie out before he came back. But the glowfell kindly on the bundle under the tricolour,

166 rAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

and lingered, painting the lead-coloured wheelswhich carried it with crimson; and so the mangot his picture, and went his way contented.

Just as the body left our sight, and the menwere dismissed, a rush was made in anotherdirection - the men, let loose, scampering offpell- mell towards the novel excitement. Itwas only two more spies; they might be Zulus-if our redoubted foes are poor tremblingwretches, undersized and half-starved. One ofthem, seeing me approach with a revolver slungrather prominently round my shoulder, thoughthis last hour had come, and made a beseech­ing grab at my legs. I saw them shortly afterbeing led away, followed by full half the campin a disgraceful state of curious excitement,then a common and disgusting feature of ouryoung soldiers. What became of the so-calledZulus, I never heard.

167

CHAPTER XI.

UGLY COUNTRY-NO TREES-frUR COLUMN OF ADVANCE­

"NAPOLEON'S KOP "-THE FATAL DONGA.-THE POSITION

OF THE KRAAL-THE PRINCE'S DEAD COMPANIONS-A

BURIAL SERVICE.

OUR advance was certainly very leisurely done.'Ve were to have been treated to a dash onUlundi, while in truth we crawled thither. Onthe first day we saw a short seven miles of Zulu­land, the second a trifle more, on the third weonly managed four. The oxen and the waggonsthey dragged were at the bottom of this slug­gishness; but then we had too many of them.People took too much. I saw a deal washing­stand on a waggon not far from Ulundi. It didnot belong to the regular troops-they at leastwere cut down to the utmost; it was our co­lonial friends who found baggage a necessity: inwhispers it went about that those higher in posi-

168 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

tion might have practised what they preached.Yet with however little ground covered, it wasalways the same to the troops,-" early to riseand late to bed;" in that, at least, there was noalteration. Once on the move beyond our firstcamp on the Itelezi ridge, and Natal was nolonger visible; its hills, and the remembranceof home behind them, were blotted out, andthe army at once plunged into a strange land.Yellow hills, interminable swells, isolated" kops,"were its prominent features. Desolation waswritten everywhere. A surface of dry grass,yellow with age, dotted with stony hillocks­"krantzes," as the colony calls them. Here andthere a kraal, its rounded huts like greater ant­heaps nestling together for some evil purpose.And across the whole landscape a networkof dongas, deeply scored, sharp - sided, alwayshard and cruel-the fingers of skeleton handssprawling everywhere, gripping the last rem­nants of life out of this dead land. No sign oflife, no smoke, no labourers in the mealie-fields,no villagers sitting by the wayside and gazingat the great army; dead silence - absolutelynothing more.

A TREELESS LAND. 169

There was no road, hardly any track even.As the head of the column moved, the Dlen cuta track in the yellow grass, which tossed andwaved waist-high. In front it spread itself tothe horizon as the sea; the wind bent it hitherand thither in broad ripples; elsewhere it wasas pathless as the water: in rear of the columnstretched a highway, broad, and trampled flatby the soldiers' feet.

In vain we looked on all sides for the" ex­tensive forests of large trees, amongst whichyellow wood and other valuable trees are abun­dant," promised us in our vade mecum, andsupplied to us all by the authorities. Theforests faded into unreality, as did many othernice bits of information supplied to us by anintelligent Government, until we reached thecactus - trees which line the Umvolosi, nearUlundi: in the country passed through to getso far was not a tree, or shrub a foot high, ex­cept at one spot on the Upoko river, wherestood a bush of prickly and stunted mimosa­trees, now nearly all passed away under theBritish axe.

In the brigade which led the way the regi-

170 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

ment in front moved in column of companies,with a front of some fifty yards; then followeda battery, the guns two and two, in readiness toturn to either flank; lastly, the second infantryregiment, moving as did the first. Strangely­curved lines, three or four abreast, straggledbehind, coiling down the sides of the swells,or creeping in sinuous zigzags up the oppositeside. A rope well frayed trailing after us wasa fair simile. Line upon line, coil after coil,tops the horizon in rear and wanders after us.These were the waggons on which our life de­pended in this desolate land, stretching forseveral miles amid a series of hills and ravines,in any of which, we were told, the enemy mightbe lurking.

At one place is a stream, with a block ofwaggons at the drift crossing it; the roadwaytrampled into mud, the water the consistencyof pea-soup. On the bank stands Lord Chelms­ford, working hard, much too hard, urging theungainly oxen over, and endeavouring to putsome little method into the obstinate drivers.And men passing looked at him with someastonishment, and asked one another, "Whereis the staff1"

"NAPOLEON'S KOP." 1'71

Then behind the waggons, in the far distance,grew into sight line upon line, mathematicallystraight and parallel, their component parts blackagainst the yellow grass-an array which theglasses showed to be the Lancers leading theway for the second brigade, on that day told offas the rear-guard. More of the Lancers were onadvanced duty, five miles ahead of the column,their dark forms appearing now and then asthey skirmished up th~ distant swells. MountedBasutos, as scouts, covered the flanks, now push­ing through the long grass, or cutting acrossdongas like cats, as they made a dash at somedistant kraal where there might be Zulus or" loot."

A small "kop" rose out of the valley on theright, very isolated, and interesting from itsassociations - but of yesterday as it seemed.For it was the place where the Prince sawhis first Zulus, driving them off, and ascendingafter the skirmish to the top. The day hadbeen a pleasant one, and he named the littlehill in fun et Napoleon's Kop." He could haveseen from it the place where, not many daysafter, he fought and died.

Scattered about amongst the waving grass

172 CAMPAIGNING 'IN SOUTH AFRICA.

were untidy patches of cultivation, utterlycrooked and irregular in shape, fenced roundwith stones roughly heaped up. The mealieshad been gathered, their stalks alone remaining;but the Kafir com was standing, and horses dis­appeared in marvellously quick time in ,theseparadises of forage, the long stalks and heavyheads hanging from their mouths when theyreappeared on the far side, their masters carry­ing armfuls of the same for future use.

In the far distance loomed a great flat-toppedmountain, half hidden in the 'morning mist.This was Inlhlazatsi, the monster whose fabledhorrors of bush and precipice had frightenedus out of our original route. Nearer at handis the Ingutu range, under whose shadow thePrince was killed.

On every mountain-top within sight ourvedettes crept, a mounted man in front, thethree others of the pal1iy following on foot, theirhorses led. It was indeed "feeling" for theenemy.

Then the crest of a ridge, stony in the ex­treme, is reached, and we look down a broad,grassy spur, perfectly open, and with a gentle

THE CAMP ON THE ITYOTYOZI. 173

incline towards the river Ityotyozi, about twomiles distant. On the right the hills drawcloser, their sides dotted with kraals, amid whichour mounted scouts were foraging. Mealie­patches were plentiful, and also the circles ofstones in which the cattle are kept at night.Rank grass covered the face of the land, andreached well up the men's waists as theywaded on towards the four lances which markedthe corners of the night's laager. Th~ in­fantry lying down when the river - bank wasreached, disappeared in the grass; the cavalryoff-saddled, and led their horses down to water.A few mounted men, and some stragglers onfoot, moved away a hundred yards to the right,towards a small kraal, with its stone cattle-penand wide circles of perfectly white grass, commonin Zululand. The kraal was a very mean affair,I think with only five huts, small and weather­worn; the cattle-enclosure also mean, untidy,and somewhat low. A.ll about, the grass wastall and rank, except towards the position thetroops then rested in, the future camp, the circleof white grass spoken of being there, and notgrowing to any height at any time.

174 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA..

The kraal stood in the entrance to a valley,in which the river ran, formed by the Inguturange on the left, and a lower and detachedspur on the right partly behind the huts.Towards the river, some hundred yards fromthem, the ground was level, but covered withrank grass: on the right of them the slope ofthe hill began, gradual at first, steeper aftersome hundreds of yards; and on this slope weremealie-gardens dotted, extending back up thehill, but not coming very close to the kraal.

So it was seen that the collection of wretchedhuts which composed it was surrounded onthree sides, and open only on the fourth-theside pointing to the camp, and to the way it hadmarched from the last one. But on riding alittle nearer, we came across a donga, shallowcertainly, and much worn, but still an obstacle,and so closing up the apparently open groundon the fourth side.

It was clearly not one of those cruel, perpen­dicular - sided dongas already described. Thiswas old and worn; its depth might have beenten feet; its sides sloped so as to render it per­fectly easy to cross at any part; close by, a side

AN IMPRESSIVE SIGHT. 1'75

gully ran into the main one, and made a gentlysloping road into it. Grass grew down the sidesand along the bottom. If a brook had run downit, anyone would have seen the whole a hundredtimes before at home; it ·was wider, nothingmore.

But the sight that met our eyes on that day,as we rode up to the edge, was one not seen athome, or indeed often anywhere.

In the centre stood bareheaded a group ofrough, cord-coated men, with carbines acrosstheir backs, and bandoleers studded with car­tridges round their chests. By their side was aclergyman in his surplice, reading the burial­service, and at their feet a few clods of earth,laid lengthways. The words of the service,strangely, suddenly heard, floated up from thedonga, and away across the perfect stillness,and needed no "Amen." The rough-coatedmen were doing the last act of respect to theirtwo comrades who died with the Prince, and layhardly buried under the clods. When the ser­vice was finished and the men had gone, a ser­geant of the Lancers, who had helped to placethem there, lifted one up, the size of his fist,

176 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

and there lay the white face, still in death.Lower down a foot protruded, and on the otherside a shoulder was partly bara The earth washard, and the tools to dig it only lances. Afterthe camp was pitched, the poor fellows gotdecent burial. Just in sight of these poormounds was a pile of stones laid roughly,lengthways also, pointing up the donga, tomark the spot where we found the Prince's bodyonly yesterday. Round about the ground wastrodden, with seams of darker soil; the grassand leaves were damp with blood-stains, and thestones bore splashes of the same. There wereno marks of his horse near the spot; probablyhe was struck fatally at the edge of thedonga, and falling down, knew nothing more.That the first stab was fatal, was told long after­wards by the Zulus, the man who gave it beingkilled at ffiundi; the others merely fell uponhis dead body. There was no malice in hisdeath; the Zulus knew that he was a great"Inkoss," whose death would please their king;and they killed him after their custom, and senthis sword to Cetewayo.

A worse death overtook the poor native guide

THE KRAAL. 177

chosen for the task as the most trustworthyman in the Native Contingent. He must haverun for a mile across the ground taken up twodays afterwards by the camp, and died therefighting hard, as we found his body, where itlay, pierced with assegai - wounds, the brokenweapons lying strewn about.

Some two hundred yards beyond the dongawas the kraal, the huts torn and ripped. Atthe door of one crouched one of the old womenleft behind by the Zulus at many of theirvillages, hideous and ugly beyond ,vords todescribe. The dry skin hung like parchmentfrom her bones, and she jabbered away, withmany gesticulations, boasting, as our interpretersaid, that it was her sons who killed the Prince.

"They killed your great Inkoss: they aregone now to the king's kraal to fight you whitemen. What do you come here for 1 We don'twant you. This is Zululand. Keep to yourown side I"

Lying on the floor of a hut was the Prince'sshirt, stiff with blood, and pierced with assegai­stabs.' In the cattle-enclosure the natives weretapping the ground with assegals to find out

M

1'78 CAMPAIGNIKG IN SOUTH AFRICA.

where the grain was buried. An officer wassitting on the wall sketching. A broken gourd,a hearth-brush, the embers at which the Zuluscooked their last meal, and some parched mealies,were lying about. It was hardly the place forthe last of the Napoleons to die at; it wasso mean, so poor, so abject in its dirt andpoverty. As we marched away next morning,the smoke of that hideous kraal went up tohea.ven, with that of eight others round it, firedby the Basutos as their last act in that toomemorable valley.

Long afterwards, reading the accounts of theoccurrence in the English papers, we were muchamused. One writer talked about the "riverItyotyozi cutting off retreat towards the moreopen ground." As a matter of fact, the groundon the far side of the river was the slope of theIngutu range, steep and studded with kraals;while to make for it was to ride straight intoZululand, and directly away from our camp.The river too, at that time of tne year, was thesmallest possible trickle, not an inch deep inplaces, winding over a broad bed of hard sand,between low and shelving banks. Another

ROMANTIO AOOOUNTS. 179

found the grass and grain round the kraal"formed a very close growth of a fairly uniformheight of six feet." With the exception of themealie-stalks, which were at some little distancefrom the huts, there was nothing anything likeas high near the kraal, which was barely sohigh itself, being plainly visible from any pointround.

"The Kafir probably rushed to cover at once,and was there surrounded," is a sentence whichthrew considerable doubts on the accuracy ofthe remaining portion; while the number ofZulus attacking was at first put down at fromforty to fifty,-a figure gradually coming down,until the last accounts place it as actually eight,and no more.

One thing has been omitted steadily from allaccounts. The advancing Zulus, seeing ourmen in full retreat, called after them in mock­ery, "Ah, you English cowards, you alwaysrun away I"

Some three miles further down the river,opposite the drift which we made and crossedon our onward way, Lord Chelmsford com­menced the first fort; but there it ended-the

180 C.A..MPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

fort was begun, a line of parapet was piled up,and a mountain of stores deposited, and thatwas all. It was never finished.

That afternoon Wood sent in word that hispet Impi was approaching-I am not sure ~hat

there were not two of them-and so laagering-upwas the order of the day. The waggons wereurged across the drift, and dragged into squareon the right bank close to it with feverish haste.A battle was imminent, and so we put our bestfoot foremost. A message was sent to the twocompanies left behind on the other side, as thegarrison of the contemplated fort, to rejoin atonce. The commander sent back to say thatthe stores were lying there, and he could notleave them till waggons arrived to remove them;whereupon a peremptory order was sent backtelling him to let them lie, so long as he cameover with his men. He obeyed, and manywaggon-Ioads of stores lay at anyone's mercythrough the night.

However, the Impi did not turn up-as indeedmany had suggested when the report of itsarrival came in-and we passed the night un­disturbed. It would have been a blessing in..

OUR PET IMPI. 181

deed if the Impi had appeared, and so put usout of suspense, really trying to all-the con­tinual battling against an unseen foe, eter­nally on the qui vive for a battle whichnever came.

Lord Chelmsford has been blamed unjustlyfor his extreme caution during these earlydays, when the feeling which prompted itwith him was equally shared by every officerin the camp. It is easy enough to fight anenemy in the open; but to be ever on thewatch for one unknown, unseen, is a trialwhich few can realise until they have experi­ence of its influence on men's spirits. Veryearly the next morning the cavalry turnedout in search of the Impi, followed at day­light by the guns and infantry.

The air was alive with light; sunshine satand shimmered on the white quartz-reefs whichcropped out every here and there. In front, asolitary thorn-tree was a feature in the land­scape, as being the first seen in Zululand;beyond were the mountains enclosing the Um­volosi river, bare and precipitous, seeminglyimpenetrable. The smoke of burning kraals

182 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

rose in blue columns from the valley. Groupsof Basuto horsemen crowned the hills, a strayfigure here and there separated from the rest,circling round the huts to which he had justset fire. A mile farther, and a fresh valley,shaped like a basin, lies in front; across this,and up its opposite slopes, streamed Wood'scolumn. In the centre winds a new river,the Nonchoini, soon to be dominated by theGatlings in Fort Newdigate on its banks.Along these now stretch innumerable dongas.Between them a few kraals are sending uptheir smoke to heaven. There are no othersigns of life save these in that great valley.

But hope ran high that morning as thecolumn was leisurely crossing the Nonchoini,a message coming from Lord Chelmsford infront to say that an action had commenced.At once faces brightened as General Newdi­gate, riding in front of a neat blue and whiteflag, hastened the brigade across the drift intoposition on the crest of one of the great foldswhich seemed ever to rise in front of us as wetoiled over them. Swords were loosened andtheir knots unwound, revolvers examined, and

THE AMBASSADORS. 183

every officer coming from the front anxiouslyquestioned. Some declared that they heardfiring.

Just then a group of savage-looking fellowswere brought in and halted in front of the Gen­eral. There were nine of them,-four elderlymen, with long grave faces, their heads toppedby the black ring denoting a married man;the rest younger, some mere boys, more sav­age and unkempt than the first. One trucu­lent savage had his hair tousled into littlesoppets, glistening with fat, and grimed withdirt. On his forehead was a recent assegai­wound. They sported as clothes a dirtybrown blanket apiece, and were as forbid.:ding and unpleasant a lot to look at as onecould wish for. By their side lay a bundleof dry sheepskins, which moved spasmodi­cally, and at length induced some one look­ing on to cut the bit of hide which boundthem together, when out rolled an old woman,hideously bony, and at death's door from oldage and starvation.

The old men proved to be ambassadors sentby Cetewayo to ask for terms; the young ones

184 OAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRIOA.

were the servants; the old hag no one owned.These were the messengers who went to Crea­lock on the Tugela, and were sent on to LordChelmsford as the proper person with whomto treat. They looked sulky enough, and theirevil looks did not grow more pleasant when aguard was marched up and rattled on theirbayonets with an ugly clatter.

"What do you English want here ~" theygrowled. " We don't want you; go away IWe want. to be friends with such great people.Tell us what you want, and go away I"

The fellows were subsequently put up forthe night in the laager just opposite LordChelmsford's tent, and entertained royallywith U scoff;" but their ill - looks remainedunchanged by our hospitali.ty. The' Graphic'made an excellent sketch of one or two ofthe principal men, which afterwards appearedin the paper. Small groups of officers' sur­rounded them, talking when it was possiblethrough an interpreter; but the expression oftheir faces never changed-they scowled on,and looked ready for murder and bloodshedat any moment.

A CAVALRY SKIRMISH. 185

The idea was to show them the glory of theinvading army, and then let them go to carrytheir tale home-a mistaken estimate of theZulu character altogether. They scowled at usimpertinently during their stay; were but littleimpressed by the sight of the half-grown boyswho loafed round them as English warriors; gotan excellent view of the interior arrangementsof our laager, with the position of the General'stent to an inch; and carried off our impossibleterms of peace, together with a fine fat ox as apresent. It was not a bad day's work altogether.The fight in front turned out to be a skirmishbetween our cavalry and some thousand ormore of the. villagers who lived round aboutIbabanango, and naturally objected to our de­structive propensities. It was the day poorFrith of the 17th Lancers was shot dead offhis h?rse, potted from the bushes on a hillside,in a place where no horse could go, the lastwhich cavalry should attack.

However, it was done; the correspondents, asusual, being the first to return into camp withthe news-after them, in a cloud of dust, the17th and King's Dragoon Guards. They rode

186 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

along in sections, two abreast, their pennonstorn and draggled, the men sitting erect, andthe horses not half done up. In rear came anambulance with Frith's body.

He was buried that evening in an old mealie­field, by the side of a brook below the camp,Lord Chelmsford and most of the officers attend­ing. Round his grave a single rank of Lancerspresented their lances as the body was lowered.Here, as elsewhere, were no volleys fired. Inthe dim light the uniforms were blended intoone grey mass, hardly to be distinguished onefrom another; and the service" with "OurFather U repeated reverently by the little groupof soldiers, sounded strangely solemn and peace­ful after the bustle of the camp.

187

CHAPTE R XII.

AN ALARM-OUR BCARE-FORT FUNK-FATIGUES-THE UPOKO

-A ZULU WATERING-PLACE-ZULU WJ!JALTH-ITS DAN­

GERS-NATIVE BPIEB-CATCHWAYO-PRICES-AN UGLY

LAND.

NIGHT fell as the funeral-party returned; andI was lying snugly in bed-two blankets and awaterproof sheet laid out on some charmingspecimens of quartz-having further indulgedin taking off my boots, in anticipation of a goodnight's rest, when ping J ping J ping J wentthree shots, the signal of an attack.

In an instant the drowsy camp awoke as ifby magic. The Native Contingent crowded intothe laager, buzzing like bees. Our own menraced each other, in a hurry to be first withinwelcome cover. The bugles rang out the" assem­bly," a weird sound; between the pauses wereheard the words of comuland. Flop came the

188 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

tent about my ears, and I was outside in thedarkness. The air was full of the noise of hurryand bustle. Confusion put in its own voice,and was heard. From a rift in the clouds astreak of light fell on the heads of silent menin the waggons peering out, and gave promiseof the rising moon. Here and there Hashed abayonet, pointing outwards. Inside the waggonswas a space, ten yards across, left vacant for aroadway, and within this lay the vast crowdof oxen, tied by the head, and breathing noisily.Between them, here and there, were the horses,picketed in lines, straining nervously at theirhead-ropes; the men beside their horses, in readi­ness to mount.. At that moment came a volley far down thehill where a picket had 'Qeen posted, its rattleclear and distinct in the night air. A staffofficer gallops past; and in an instant the rearface is lit up with fire, taken up all along theline of waggons. Crash go the volleys every­where, belching out flame and smoke, till thefront is one thick white cloud, pierced onlyby the sharp and vivid Hashes from the muzzles.

"Whishlu comes a bullet overhead. "Whir J"

A BIG SCARE. 189

follows another after. Crash goes a volley closeby, and the face in our front is once moreframed ,vith fire. Then the big guns in thecorner give out an answer, booming their bassnotes high above the rest. The bullets are fly­ing merrily overhead; and the soldiers, younglads half of them, with a wholesonle dread ofthe Zulus in their poor little hearts, and funkplainly 'written on their faces, crowd under thewaggons for safety, quickly to be pulled outagain by their officers in every style of undress,many with their red nightcaps still OD. Outcome the skulkers in droves, only to vanishagain round the next waggon. The fun growsfurious. Bullets sing and whiz past in flights.The smoke is stifling, and hides up everything.Half-a-dozen horses, maddened by the din, arerushing about. In the narrow pathway leftround the waggons it is impossible to movefreely, so crowded up is it with oxen and horses.Native soldiers squat in masses in the middle,and continually let off their guns in the air,keeping the butts firmly on the ground. Con­ductors blaze away into the nearest waggon­tilt. Tents lie flat, their ropes still tied to the

190 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRIOA.

pegs, sure traps for the unwary. Chaos is every­where, even in the waggons, where the menlie, firing incessantly, and paying but scantattention to the orders shouted at them.

Twenty minutes of this work, and a buglesounds the" cease fire," and the flashes die outand leave the laager dark and silent as thenight itself.

Then our General followed, and gave hiscensure pretty freely on the wretched scare;and shame sat on many a face at its recollection.Not a Zulu had been seen-the picket whocommenced the row firing at what it thoughtwas some "blacks," but might have been acloud.

It was said afterwards, by the Zulus them­selves, that there were 15,000 of them readyto attack, but gave it up on finding us sowell prepared. The tale may be true or not,.and was some small consolation to those whohelped in the fun, though hardly so to the,vounded men on our own side, shot by theircomrades, who were picked up after the firingceased.

From that day, the spot where the Beare

FORT FUNK. 191

happened was called, in memory of it, "FortFunk."

Amusing sights there were. Men in everystage of undress left their tents and boltedfor the waggons. I saw one of our parsonsstruggle out of his tent as it fell, his only dresshis shirt, a bundle of clothes in one hand, hisboots and revolver in the other, and make forthe shelter-trench, already bristling with bayon­ets. Here he missed his seat on a mealie-bag,and tumbled backwards on to the broad of hisback. But matters at such times are too seri­ous for joking, and so the occurrence gainedbut small notice.

If ever there was a war of "fatigues," theZulu war was that one. The constant loadingand unloading of waggons; the dragging theheavy machines into laager, not unfrequentlyaltered after finished at every camping-ground;the eternal digging and trenching in groundoften solid as stone itself; the tree-felling withaxes that were soft and notched, and the pilingthem into waggons horrent with thorns of pre­vious loads; the coal-getting, mealie-gathering,and last, and most distasteful of all, the collec-

192 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

tion of cow-dung, to supplement our scantysupply of fuel,-all were wearisome and ever­recurring sorts of "fatigues."

The day after our scare at Fort Funk wemoved on about nine miles, and camped onthe banks of the Upoko river, a spot the mostpicturesque yet seen. We were told that itwas a favourite resort of Cetewayo's in the hotweather, owing to the trees and constant water­supply. It is, moreover, the headquarters ofSirayo, his most devoted follower, and at thesame time one most hostile to the English­his sons having brought about proximately thepresent state of affairs by the seizure of awretched woman in Natal territory on somepretence not admitted by the Government.

The camp was pitched on a somewhat steepslope towards the river, which was little elsebut a trickle over sand and stones some half­mile distant. Beyond it was the great mass ofIbabanango,-a vast assemblage of flat-toppedhills, split in all directions by valleys, abovewhich the rounded top of the central mountainlifted up, and pointed to our onward way.The base of the hills was scored by terrible-

ISANDLWANA RELICS. 193

looking dongas, stretching in every direc~ion,

deep and impassable. Their sides were some­what thickly wooded by mimosa-bushes, kraalshid away between them. Mealie-fields wereabundant. Four waggons taken at Isandlwanastood in a kraal nearly in front of us, theirwoodwork perfect, the paint as bright a greenas the day they were lost. Near these was apatch of herbage dirtier than the ever-presentgrass-the field of mealies in which Frith wasshot.

Everywhere were caves and holes cunning­ly hidden in the sides of the dongas, andamongst them our native allies were busy.Isandlwana relics were abundant. Martini car­tridges ripped open to get at the powder; anew saddle and saddle-bags complete; rifles of24th and 80th Regiments; soldiers' valises; agunner's oil-bottle; a pair of ammunition-boots;a pearl-handled knife; a cake of soap and asponge, the last two very puzzling to the pos­sessors. In one of these burrows six ill-lookingKafirs were caught, and only just sayed theirlives, on its being proved that they were driversin our own camp. This was an event which

N

194 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

showed plainly the ease with which the Zulusobtained information of our doings: the mentaken, if not actual spies, were quite ready toturn their knowledge to account if captured bythe enemy.

On the day of our arrival at the Upoko, aman on a white horse, put down as Sirayo him­self, gathered the people of the district, thesame who on the previous day had fired on ourcavalry, and brought some thousands of themboldly down to the drift which led to our ad­vancing column. On seeing them, Lord Chelms­ford sent back for a couple of guns, which atonce opened fire on the Zulus. The first shotfell short, and did not stop them; at the secondthey hesitated; the third dropping in the middleof them, turned the whole lot, and made thembolt to a man. The last we saw of them, theywere swarming up the grassy spurs of the hillin rear of their kraals, like ants in a hurry.

The country was subsequently overhauled bythe first brigade and some cavalry, and the wholenest of them cleared away. Their kraals, afterbeingburnt, were searched for buried grain, whichis stored in holes dug here and there in the cattle-

A SU~J)AY SCENE. 195

pens. The holes are neatly made, some eightfeet in depth, shaped like jars, with a narrow"neck, the opening just large enough to admit aboy. The inside is carefully plastered, and themealies being poured in, the orifice is closedwith a flat stone, strewn with earth and manureto escape observation; and it was one of thecurious sights of the campaign to watch"Tommy Atkins" poking about gravely withhis bayonet up to the hilt in cow-dung. Ithappened to be Trinity Sunday when this wasbeing done. On the right, Buller's Horse werefeeling their way up a valley, leaving behindthem columns of smoke, the marks where kraalshad been. On the" left were the 17th advancingin troops across a ridge, flanked by the guns ofa battery, the shells bursting against the sideof the mountain in puffs of smoke; burningkraals on that side also. In front of the laager,on the slope which led to the river, beyondwhich the panorama was spread, were the troopsof the second brigade, formed into a square forchurch service. Near at hand was a smallerbody standing uncovered in front of a tent inwhich the Roman Catholic priest was praying

196 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

before a temporary altar, gay with red velvetand braBs candlesticks; while behind, again, alesser group still was chanting a hymn-Wes­leyans led by their own minister in plain clothes.

In front, fire and death; far away, greatInlhlazatsi; nearer, and to our left, Ibaban­ango, its summit just showing above the levelhill-tops at its base; then the steep-sided Isi­pezi, and the sharp peak of Alarm Hill, fromeither of which Isandlwana is plainly visible:such were our surroundings on that Sundaymorning.

Everywhere the same sea of dry grass, brokenonly by quartz-reefs and piles of boulders. Aghastly land, where life was just possible, sus­tained on milk and mealie-meal. Not a fruit­tree in the land save at the few missionaries'gardens. Even the banana, ever present, is notthere; wild-flowers here and there in patches;a few birds, songless altogether; just life, andnothing more.

The people want little more than guns, andcattle with which to purchase wives. Cloth­ing is not wanted among people who go naked.Books are useless with a nation whose language

A RICH MAN'S FATE. 197

is unwritten. 'Vealth was there almost certaindeath. The king heard of a subject who owneda hundred cattle more than the rest. Thatnight an Impi was at his kraal, and sur­rounded it. A signal was given, and the hutswere fired; the wretches Hying fro~ the flameswere met by the assegais of the soldiers, andstabbed to death. Not one escaped. Men,women, children, and live things, even the dogs,were killed; and the work was only finishedwhen the silence of death was over the accursedspot. Then the warriors returned to the kingwith the cattle they had taken, and departed totheir own kraals, only to be in turn the victimsof his will. Hence arose the custom, commonin Cetewayo's day, for the headman of a villageevery night of his life to "sleep in the grass"-in other words, to hide away from his ownhouse at nights.

Our camp on the Upoko was the scene offresh delay, and consequent discontent. Wood'scolumn, supplemented by a portion of theDivision, was sent back to Natal for moresupplies, and streamed past on its backwardroad as Lord Chelmsford moved towards that

198 CAMPAIGNING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

position. The two columns meeting presenteda remarkable and strange appearance. Regi­ments, mixed up with the everlasting waggons,moved separately; natives were everywhere;in Wood's column the bands were playingIively tunes, waking up the silence, and ren­dering matters a little less dismal: on all sideswas a vast crowd, seemingly without any ap­proach to order; yet oJ). arrival in camp everyone settled down into the place allotted.

While this force was absent, extra precautionsagainst attack were taken with the Division,it being naturally thought that the enemywould take advantage of the divided army.The laager was strongly trenched, and dyna­mite placed under the rocks which commandedit, each charge connected with a battery in thecamp.

Native spies, too, were freely used. Threeof them were induced to start on this some­what ticklish service, the preparations beingfirst a feed, when each put away some sevenpounds of beef. In the evening they wereready to start, doing so with much show, andmaking for a spot at some distance from the

NATIVE SPIES. 199

camp, where they took off what clothes theyhad, and hid them away in an ant-bear's hole.Then followed a coat of grease to preventcapture, and the preliminaries were completed.Usually they made for some hill, selecting aplace on its summit where they can hide intolerable safety, and from which the countryto be watched can be well observed. Thisfound, they stay there for a couple of days,descending the third night, and making forthe camp with any news they have gathered.Should they fall in with the Zulus, they havebeen coached up in their replies - their gunscame from Isandlwana, where they fought in theranks of the Inbube or the Udududu regiment;they have the names of the officers of these offpat, with other like general information, beingcareful to mention those corps only which arerecruited in distant parts of the country.With all their adroitness, they were apt tobe assegaied now and then when detected;the great thing in their favour being that,native -like, they are the most consummateliars. So much so are they, that it was oftenmore than doubtful whether the whole story of