SOUTHERN AFRICA. 81 



stouter materials being- introduced in place of tliem. The 

 superior efficac}^ of this novel equipment^ had previously 

 been established in a mock fio-ht with reeds^ Avhich took place 

 in presence of the assembled nation ; and death by impale- 

 ment was the penalty attached to the loss of the spear in 

 battle. The warriors had now no alternative but to conquer 

 or die^ and as an additional spur to their valour^ the com- 

 missariat of an invading- army was never more than barely 

 sufficient to subsist them to the scene of action. In order 

 that the youths of the rising- g-eneration mig-ht imbibe a 

 taste for military tactics, they were ordered to accompany 

 the tried warriors in the capacity of esquires 5 and having- 

 attained an a^e which rendered them capable of wielding* an 

 assag-ai with effect, they w'ere immediately supplied with 

 arms, and duly incorporated. 



AVith a view to render the troops as efficient as possible, 

 the most unnatural abstinence was enforced, under the pre- 

 text that marriag-e deprives man of his relish for war, and 

 causes his thoughts to be directed homewards, rather than 

 towards his enemy. Commerce ^^'as likewise strictly for- 

 bidden, under the belief that it would enervate the people 

 and unfit them for their military duties. Every plan, in 

 short, which ferocity and barbarity could devise, was resorted 

 to by Chaka to inspire his men with a martial spirit j and 

 under the excuse of perfecting- the model of his army, the 

 monster's unnatural propensities and insatiable thirst for 

 blood, induced him, horrible to relate, to ^veed his warriors 

 by sing-ling- out the maimed, the ag-ed, and the infirm, to 

 be put to the spear; observing-, with savag-e sag-acity, that 

 '^ such cripples were onl}^ in the way, and wdthout making- 

 him any return, did but consume his beef, which was 

 required to make young* men stout and lust}^ !" Upon the 

 occasion of this foul slaug-hter of numerous brave veterans, 

 to whose valour and devotion Chaka owed a larg'e portion 



