98 ST. HELENA 



urging him to give up his European habits, to cease wearing 

 clothes, and to return to the primitive costume of his 

 illustrious ancestors. Tchingana, one of his uncles, whom 

 we have been accustomed to see clothed and seated like 

 the rest, has within a month of returning to his kraal, cast 

 off the cumbersome apparel of civilization, and taken to 

 his " moucha " and " nongoma." Dinizulu is in the heart 

 of Zululand, and far away from Etshowe and officialism. 

 He is here surrounded on all sides by his faithful and still 

 savage people, and his journey thither has impressed him 

 with the fervour of the Zulu nation's attachment. Undabuka 

 is with him, and is known to be a cunning and unscrupulous 

 man. Has the leaven of civilization got hold of Dinizulu 

 to that degree as to defy natural incentives, which at 

 present are everywhere urging him to return to heathen- 

 dom, and all that it means ? 



A Supreme Test. 



The Government have fondly hoped and thought that 

 Zulu power was finally broken, that under the system of 

 petty chieftainship into which the country is divided an 

 end had been put to the concentration of power and organi- 

 zation. It may be so, but the time is at hand when that 

 belief is to stand a supreme test, and one is amazed at the 

 easy nonchalance with which everywhere his return has 

 been viewed, Dinizulu at Nongoma is allowing his 

 thoughts to run riot, and there comes back to him the time 

 when he, as a boy, single-handed, penetrated the fastnesses 

 of the enemy's camp — that enemy that had twice vanquished 

 his powerful father, and having made his plans, returned, 

 and gathering these same Usuto, led them to victory by 

 the knowledge thus gained. This was an event to be proud 

 of, which stamped him as a true descendant of a kingly 

 line : this as a boy, what ambition is in the man ? In 

 dealing with Zulu minds we are dealing with an unknown 

 and devious quantity. The whole nation awakes in a 

 night, and that first night or two is usually a bad time. 

 These things have happened before, and every one was 

 aghast. There is absolutely nothing to prevent it happen- 

 ing again. 



During the debate on the Estimates in the Natal Parlia- 



