Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/337

I MATEBELELAND. 266 not 80 much a nation as a military host. At first a mere detachment of Zulus, themselves a heterogeneous horde brought together from every tribe, the Matebele band recruited itself under the terrible Mussclckatsi from the young men of all the enslaved or exterminated races attacked during their marauding expeditions. In 186 (, when the missionary Mackenzie visited the Matebele king, nearly all the veterans whom he saw in the army were.Aba-Zanzi, that is, Kafirs originally from Natal and Zululand. The warriors in the prime of life were members of the various Hcchunna tribes reduced by Musselekatsi during his ten years' residence in the region which is now known as the Transvaal. Lastly, the younger soldiers were Makalakas and Mashonas, originally from the Limpopo and Zambese water- parting which now constitutes the Matebele kingdom. All these warriors had begun their career as captives. At first their only duties were to tend the royal herds ; then they followed the troops to the wars some- what in the capacity of sutlers or conveyers of arms and provisions, on some expedition calculated to test their courage and endurance, liut once accustomed in this way to the sight of blood they became warriors in their turn, slaying men and women, as their own kindred had been slain. Until their assegais had " drunk blood " they were held as aliens and slaves, and the meat thrown to them was first rubbed in sand ; they were not reckoned as men till their first victims had fallen. Like Chaka's Zulus, they were forbidden to marry or to bring up a family, for the ranks of the all-conquering host had to be recruited exclusively from prisoners of war. A violent death alone was held in honour ; the sick and ailing were put away and placed in charge of a medicine man, by whom they were either restored to the camp after recovery, or else when dead thrown into the bush ; those enfeebled by age were stoned. Thus trained to pursue their human quarry, the Matebeles had become extremely skilful at their trade of butchers. According to the king's " great law," they could never retreat before any odds, and cases occurred of whole regiments allowing themselves to be massacred rather than yield even to overwhelming numbers. At the bidding of their master, warriors armed only with the assegai fearlessly attacked a lion or a buffalo, and often captured it alive. Proud of their wounds, proud of their m trtial deeds, the Matebeles were abject slaves in the presence of their sovereign, whom they hailed with shouts of " Great King ! Ruler of Men ! " Yet, by a strange contrast, this very chief, whose most glorious title was that of " Cannibal," was personally of an extremely sensitive nature. He disliked the sight of suffering, and in his presence the herdsmen had to lay aside the lash, guiding their droves with large branches or encouraging them with kindness. Such a system could be kept together only by constantly renewed campaigns. The army itself could procure supplies only by pillage, recruits only from the captured in battle, although their country was one of the most fertile in the world. War being their exclusive purfeuit, the Matebeles did not even await their ruler's orders to fly to arms ; they often set out spontaneously to plunder the surrounding lands, killing the men, carrying off the women, children, and cattle. All traditions