Assagai

“ Here in Kaffirland, the bridegroom that would be arrays himself in his best, with leopard-tail isinene and umucha, or front and back aprons, necklaces on his neck, bracelets on his arms, a multiplicity of feathers in his head-ring, and then armed with his shield and assagais, his heart palpitating, according to his confidence, respecting the success of his visit, he repairs to his beloved one’s home, and, sitting down among her friends, explains his wishes, and enumerates how many cows and skins he is willing to give for the lady of his choice. ”

“ Now, as I explored the summit of the mountain, I did so warily, and not showing myself over-much at the edge, for it might well be that some of our enemies had escaped and called together others of the tribe, if others there were, and these, catching sight of me from beneath, might well waylay and kill me by whatever way I might manage to descend. Also I proceeded cautiously, with my broad-bladed, short-hafted assegai in my right hand and my large war-shield in readiness in my left, and thus was prepared for any enemy who might spring up, as it were, out of the ground. ”

“ Give me the chance, Father!’
“‘You must make the chance, Untúswa; you must make it for yourself. But I say again, because you are my chief runner and my faithful servant, I will do more for you than I would for many, O son of Ntelani. Perform some act bolder than any act I have ever heard tell of, and you shall be allowed to tunga. Not only that, but I will give you this umkonto (The broad-bladed, short-handled assegai) which I hold in my hand, and with it you shall lead my armies to battle. ”

“ In the same time again there would not have been one left, when Umzilikazi, waving his great shield, cried, in tones of thunder, to give them a truce.
“‘Yield, Gungana!’ he cried to the induna in command. ‘Yield, men of Tshaka! To fight on is death; to return to the king is death. We go to find a new kingdom. Join us—for it is better to live than to die.’
“‘Thou sayest truly, son of Matyobane,’ replied Gungana, after a moment of hesitation. Many, too, were there in that body who in their hearts favoured Umzilikazi, and were tired of the hard rule of Tshaka. ”

“ In a military sense they all possess bravery, skill in ambush, and resourcefulness in attack or defence. The assegai is certainly a manly weapon in many respects, as well as a deadly one. It required physical strength, skill and courage in assault, and marked powers of endurance in the long marches which they have so often undertaken to surprise a foe or raid a kraal, to attack a British force or a Dutch commando. The southern tribes—Zulus, Pondos, Tembus and Kosas—have been perhaps the fiercest and strongest warriors, but the Matabele of the north ran them pretty close. ”

“ Know, then, that the Elephant, whose tread shaketh the world, has heard much of these Basutu izanusi, who learn their magic in dark caves of the mountains—has often wished to converse with them and test their skill. Here is one of them at last, and go to the King he shall. I would not give much for the life of the man who slays him.’
“Standing over the old witch-doctor with my assegai in my hand confronting that riotous, roaring crowd, flushed with victory and bloodshed, I know not how things might have gone even then. ”

“ Amongst the stronger and more uncommon of the assegais are those belonging to the chieftains, and serving as insignia of their office; they vary from five feet to six and a half feet in length, a third part of which is iron; the shafts are the most substantial that are made north of the Zambesi, and are generally carved or ornamented with indented lines or circles.
The assegai that is used for hand-to-hand fights is a most formidable weapon, especially as wielded by the Matabele. It has a kind of gutter running along the blade; the neck is formed of embossed rings ”

“ Come, we will help you kill it.’ And, poising his assegai, he sprang forward to the old Mosutu witch-doctor.
(Mosutu and Basutu. Basutu is a plural word, and denotes the tribe, or more than one member of it. The singular is Mosutu.)
“‘Stand! Stand back!’ I thundered. ‘This is not a man to kill. He must be taken to the King.’
“‘To the King! Ha, ha! The King does not want to see the faces of such withered old images. You are mad, Untúswa.’
“‘Mad or sane, this man shall be taken to the King,’ I answered.
“‘Ha! Since when has Untúswa, the umfane been made an induna?’ they jeered. ”

“ However, when we came near the country of the Basutu we got fighting enough, for these people were brave, and though they would not meet us in the open, would retire to their cliff dwellings and hill forts and resist us fiercely, studding the approaches to their strongholds with assegai points to cut our feet and legs to pieces as we drew near, or rolling down showers of rocks upon us, so that we must flee or be crushed. This sort of fighting was not to our tastes, and we would taunt them and call them cowards for skulking behind rocks instead of coming forth to meet us in the open, man to man ”

“ Take my weapons, men—I disarm.’ And I threw my assegais and shield on the ground beyond reach, and stood waiting.
“They surrounded me at once. Nangeza, who had been helping to kill the Baputi, stood by, also cool, brave, and fearless.
“‘You have made more trouble by slaying Njalo-njalo,’ said Ngubu discontentedly. ‘Whau, Untúswa! It is on us the King’s wrath will fall.’
“‘The King’s wrath never yet fell upon anybody who slew a coward, for he loves not such,’ I answered. ‘And now, Ngubu, being unarmed, I need no bonds. I have done with hope. ”

“ My news, however, caused Nangeza to clap her hands delightedly.
“‘You are indeed a man, Untúswa!’ she cried. ‘Keep well within the favour of the King. One day you will be an induna. Who knows? One day you may command the whole army in battle.’
“‘Why not propose that one day I may reign as King?’ I said banteringly. ‘The one is as likely as the other.’
“‘Well, what then? Even that may be,’ was her cool reply. ‘A man who is brave and cautious may climb to any height; and did not the King promise you his dark-handled assegai? ”

“ In the evening Umzilikazi sent for me. I found him alone in his hut, and as I sat opposite him it seemed as though I were once more the inceku and shield-bearer, and that the dread ordeal which had terminated in the winning of my head-ring and the King’s Assegai had been all a dream.
“What think you, Untúswa?” said the King at first. “Is it for good or for ill that we leave Ekupumuleni, ‘The Place of Rest,’ and depart for this new land?”
“It is for good, Great Great One. The land is better one than this. There is more room in it for a new nation to become mighty and rich.” ”

“ At night we would creep into some crevice or hole in the rocks, but it was seldom we dared make a fire, lest its light should be seen afar. Sometimes, however, we would find a deep cleft where the light would be screened by the rock in front, and then we would rejoice in the warmth while we roasted our game at the comforting blaze, for the mountain—side abounded in several species of small buck, which I had no difficulty in obtaining at any time with assegai or knobstick. ”

“ Many of the men even brought their guns, and showing Lord Gifford how expert they were in their use, were allowed to carry and employ them, instead of the original native weapon. The Jantjis, like the Kaffirs first, and then the Zulus, are beginning to find out that the assegai is not a match for a gun; consequently, as they have money, they procure a tolerably large number of them. Like most of the Zulu tribes, they build wickerwork huts, and thatch these with the long tambookie grass. These huts are, as usual, arranged in a circle, and thus form a village, or, as we should say, a kraal. ”

“ Go now forth from among us until the moon is full, and speak to no man the while, and the man or woman who speaks to thee shall die. Then it may be that what thou hast done shall be put away. Depart, for he who has done what thou hast done must not mix with his fellows for awhile, lest they make too light of a most weighty matter. Go.’
“So singing aloud the praises of the King, I took up the dark-handled spear and went forth, and built a hut within sight of Ekupumuleni, and in that hut I dwelt alone ”

“ The Batonga will tell you that the assegai is the weapon of the man and the hoe of the woman. As one sees the men always armed with assegais, so the women generally carry a hoe; nor is it always just an ordinary hoe for digging. Her husband sometimes procures for her a dainty little hoe, having the handle beautifully ornamented with fine woven wire. This has no other use than to be carried with her as she goes on a journey or to a wailing, and she is very proud of it and nothing will induce her to part with it. ”

“ If these enthusiastic savages came far enough, they would tempt some of our men to dance out and meet them. This would mean a killing. There would be some rapid blows with the knob-kerries, accompanied by the hollow thud when the shields caught the strokes, and finally one blow would go home and the victim would drop. Like a flash would come the stab of the assegai and there would be a dead man on the ground!
[344] Our indunas knew this better than I did, and they walked up and down before their excited warriors watching for the first man to break ranks. ”

“ In their war with the English many of the Zulus were armed with muzzle-loading guns and rifles of the worst description, of which they could make little use, for few of them were trained to handle fire-arms. A much more terrible weapon in their hands, and one that did nearly all the execution at Isandhlwana, was the broad-bladed short-shafted stabbing assegai. This shape of spear was introduced by the great king Chaka, and if a warrior cast it at an enemy, or oven chanced to lose it in a fight, he was killed when the fray was over. ”

“ Seizing them by the ankles, I tugged with all my might.
“‘Come forth,’ I growled, for I was holding my assegai in my mouth to leave both hands free. ‘Come forth, and taste blade over again. Ha! killing is the only thing good to live for, after all. Come forth!’
“Jerking out these words, I threw the corpses aside as one might throw faggots from a stack of firewood. Then another tug, and I found I was holding by the legs the body of an old man, wrinkled and white-bearded. Beyond a gash or two in the chest, he seemed unwounded, but his head was covered with blood. ”

“ He points at the individual whom he has decided to incriminate saying, “you [33] took the assegai with the crack in the handle which you mended with a thong of goat hide in the spring last year, and digging in front of the hut of the sick person, buried something (previously and in secret placed there by the Isanuse) , by which you bewitched the child.” This knowledge of details fills the spectators with dread and wonder at the powers of the “doctor” and convinces his friends, who know that he has an assegai, so mended, of his guilt. ”

“ The best weapons for war are made in Karagwah.
The kikuki, assegai, or javelin, is much used by the Warori and other fighting tribes, who enter action with a sheaf of those weapons. Nowhere, however, did the East African appear possessed of the dexterity described [303] by travellers amongst the southern races. The assegai resembles the spear in all points, except that the head is often barbed, and it is more lightly timbered; the shaft is rarely more than four feet in length, and it tapers to the thinness of a man’s little finger. ”

“ By the time a man could have counted fifty from the moment the fighting had ceased not one who had inhabited that kraal, even to the last dog, was left alive.
“‘Hau!’ cried Gungana, the second induna in command of our impi, as he stood gazing upon a heap of the slaughtered women, among whom were several who were young and pleasant to look upon. ‘Hau! I think we have made too much of a mouthful of the King’s enemies. Now, some of these would have been better alive than dead, for of girls among us we have none too many. ”

“ So Isilwana was seized and dragged forth by the executioners, to find, beneath their knobsticks, the same death which he had been the cause of bringing upon others, and while the remainder of the izanusi lay on their faces groaning, in dread lest the same fate should overtake themselves, all the people loudly acclaimed the justice of the King. I, however, great as my faith in Masuka was, began to fear greatly lest his múti also should prove unavailing, in which case the people would certainly cry for his death with such accord that Umzilikazi could hardly refuse compliance ”

“ The old men took snuff and listened, and saw that the words were wise. To remain was certain death; to fly would mean possible safety and wealth. The young men listened and gripped their weapons. The prospect of conquering out a new kingdom, of the enemies we should meet and slay—this it was that fired our blood. Besides, we would have gone through flame at the bidding of our chief, who had led us so often to victory. Moreover, it was darkly whispered that the iron yoke of Tshaka, in the matter of earlier marriage being permitted, and such-like, would be relaxed. ”

“ A powerful induna has no more lives than an ordinary warrior, and the life of this one is between two deaths—that dealt out by the King’s enemies, and that by the King’s soldier whose bravery thou hast stolen, and whose bride thou wouldst fain steal also. Be careful, Gungana, be careful!’ Thus, with the fire of vengeance in my heart, I marched forth with the impi, and re-echoing in full chorus the fierce notes of the battle-song which the girls had led, we left Ekupumuleni far behind us, taking our way on and on into the enshrouding mist. ”