it
seemed to me that at least twenty thousand warriors might easily have
been housed there. And the great space in the centre, _hau_! so great
was it that I thought our own great kraal, Kwa'zingwenya, would find
room to stand within that huge circle alone, could it be placed there.
But one thing was curious, and that was a stockade of upright logs,
which encircled the outside fence, leaving a broad space between,
through which an _impi_ might march in columns.

We arrived at about mid-day, and as we filed in through the lower gate
our _impi_ began to sing a triumph-song in honour of the King:

"Ruler of the World, thy people turn to thee!
Father of nations, thy children creep beneath thy shadow!
Pursuer of the disobedient, thy scourges return to thee red;
Red with the blood of those who have fallen beneath thy glance.
Thy glance withers, O Stabber of the Sun; O Divider of the Stars.
Before it nations are consumed and creep away to die!"

Thus sang they in praise of Dingane, and two regiments within the centre
space, drawn up under arms, took up the song, strophe by strophe!
clashing together their war shields as they sang.

Now, as we entered, the King himself came forth from the _isigodhlo_,
preceded by the _izimbonga_, running and roaring, and trumpeting and
hissing, as they shouted aloud the royal titles--and so long, indeed,
were these, and so many, that I thought they would last until sundown.
But at length they desisted, and the thunder of the "_Bayete_!" went up
with a roar as from the voice of one, as every warrior tossed aloft his
unarmed right hand, hailing the King.

I had seen this all my life when Umzilikazi appeared in state; but,
somehow, here it seemed to impress me as it had never before done. The
vastness of this great place, Nkunkundhlovu, "The Rumble of the
Elephant," the perfect order and splendid array of the regiments under
arms, and, above all, the knowledge that here was the fountain-head of
the pure-blooded race of Zulu--the parent stock, the ruler and eater-up
of all nations, feared even by the white people, of whom just then we
were more than beginning to hear--all this told upon me, and great as
our new nation was, it was only great by reason of distance and strategy
when compared with this. And now, _Nkose_, you will understand with
what curiosity I gazed upon him to whom all nations did _konza_--the
mighty Dingane, slayer of Tshaka the Terrible, and who now sat in that