These survivors ran to a mound, round which they formed a ring, and
here for a long while withstood the attack of a third regiment, until
at length they perished almost to a man, buried beneath heaps of their
slain assailants, the Usutu.
Truly they made a noble end fighting thus against tremendous odds!
As for the number who fell at this battle of Endondakusuka, Mr. Fynney,
in a pamphlet which he wrote, says that six of Umbelazi's brothers died,
"whilst it is estimated that upwards of 100,000 of the people--men,
women and children--were slain"--a high and indeed an impossible
estimate.
That curious personage named John Dunn, an Englishman who became a
Zulu chief, and who actually fought in this battle, as narrated by Mr.
Quatermain, however, puts the number much lower. What the true total was
will never be known; but Sir Melmoth Osborn told me that when he swam
his horse back across the Tugela that night it was black with bodies;
and Sir Theophilus Shepstone also told me that when he visited the scene
a day or two later the banks of the river were strewn with multitudes of
them, male and female.
It was from Mr. Fynney that I heard the story of the execution by
Cetewayo of the man who appeared before him with the ornaments of
Umbelazi, announcing that he had killed the prince with his own hand.
Of course, this tale, as Mr. Quatermain points out, bears a striking
resemblance to that recorded in the Old Testament in connection with the
death of King Saul.
It by no means follows, however, that it is therefore apocryphal;
indeed, Mr. Fynney assured me that it was quite true, although, if he
gave me his authorities, I cannot remember them after a lapse of more
than thirty years.
The exact circumstances of Umbelazi's death are unknown, but the general
report was that he died, not by the assegais of the Usutu, but of a
broken heart. Another story declares that he was drowned. His body was
never found, and it is therefore probable that it sank in the Tugela, as
is suggested in the following pages.
I have only to add that it is quite in accordance with Zulu beliefs
that a man should be haunted by the ghost of one whom he has murdered
or betrayed, or, to be more accurate, that the spirit ("umoya") should
enter into the slayer and drive him mad. Or, in such a case, that spirit
might bring misfortune upon him, his family, or his tribe.
H. RIDER HAGGARD.