SOUTHERN AFRICA. 91 



To his savage propensities^ Chaka added the most extraor- 

 dinaiy caprices and sing'ular whims ; he lay on his belly to 

 eat his meals^ and compelled his chiefs to do the same in 

 token of their dignity^ and it was his custom to bathe every 

 morning- in public at the head of his ki'aal^ first anointing' his 

 body with bruised beef, and then with an ung-uent of sheep's- 

 tail fat^ or native butter. Though not a cannibal^ he was a 

 savage in the truest sense of the word^ and inherited no 

 redeeming quality. In war an insatiable and exterminating' 

 fiend, in peace an unrelenting' and sang'uinary despot ', he 

 kept his people in awe by his monstrous executions, and was 

 unrestrained in his vicious career because they were ignorant 

 of their power. Ever thirsting for the blood of his subjects, 

 the base dissembler could stand unmoved, and blandly smile, 

 while he feasted on the execution of his atrocious decrees ; 

 or he could assume an expression of deep sorrow at the ne- 

 cessity which had called him to issue them. The world has 

 been scourged by monsters. Rome had her Nero, the Huns 

 their Attila, and Syracuse her Dionysius, the East has like- 

 wise produced her tj'rants ', but Chaka immeasurably eclipsed 

 them all. In sanguinary executions, and in refined cruelties, 

 he outstripped all who have gone before him in any country. 

 He was a monster — a compound of vice and ferocity — with- 

 out one virtue to redeem his name from the infamy to which 

 history has consigned it. 



