Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/251

 AMATONOAI.AND. 198 now these warlike tribes live only on the proud memory of their past heroic deeds and conquests, porhups dimly conscious that these very glories, after bringing about the destruction of their military jjowcr, render the people themselves less capable than others of turning to peaceful ways, and thus successfully continuing the struggle for existence. Constituted of so many discordant elements, the Zulu nation was distinguished from the other brunches of the Kafir race nuiinly by its warlike institutions and the military ardour engendered by hereditary training. IJut being the descendants of picked men, they are generally a handsome people, tall, vigorous, active, of dignified carriage, and skilful at all bodily exercises. They possess such natural grace that all costumes alike become them. At the same time they are fully conscious, if not a little proud, of their physical advantages, which they endeavour to heighten by the elegant fold of their flowing toga, by adorning ai-ms. legs, and breast with rings and pearls, and decking the head with plumes and flowers. The married men are fond of disposing the hair in the form of a coronet, stiffening it with gum and a mixture of clay and ochre. Of a kindly cheerful disposition, they seem to harbour no rancorous feeling against their white conquerors ; but on the other hand, they never forget or forgive a personal wrong. Formerly the characteristic fetishes were the assegai and warrior's shield. Travellers of the past generation describe with a sort of awe the military dances and processions, when the fierce Zulu men of war, adorned with the horns and tails of oxen, defiled before their king, the while singing the tidings from the battle- field, the " news of the assegai." But the obligation to dwell in peace under the threat of still more potent fetishes, the gun and rifle of the white man, will doubt- less tend to modify their superstitions and soften their tribal usages. Although still for the most part refractory to the glad tidings of the gospel, they will gradually cease to recognise the souls of their forefathers in the familiar snakes gliding abuut amid their dwellings. Like their kinsmen in Natal, the Zulus of the region bej^ond the Tugela are already exchanging the sword for the plough, while the hitherto neglect e<l industrial arts have begun to make some progress in their village communities. The blacksmith's trade, however, was always held in honour, and the native metallurgists were long acquainted with the process of making a more durable iron than that imported by the English, while their jewellers had learnt to work the copper obtained by them from the Portuguese of Louren^o Marques. Amatongaland and Swaziland. North of Zululand proper stretches the narrow domain of the peaceful Amatonga (Ama-Tonga) nation, whose name recalls their former subjection to the Zulu con- querors. Being farther removed from the Natal frontier, and dwelling in seclu- sion along the shores of Lake St. Lucia and the coast lagoons, these agricultural tribes had hitherto kept more aloof from European influences. They were also protected from intrusion by the malarious climate of the low-lying coastlands inhabited by them. Nevertheless the ubiquitous German trader, Liideritz, after 110— A?