The White Chief of the Caffres

by Alfred W. Drayson

“Smart work,” said one of the officers, who seemed rather to enjoy the excitement; “I don’t think I ever ran so far before.” Another officer said, “I tell you what it is, youngster, you are well up in this kind of work.”

As we rowed down the bay I heard a voice shouting from one of the islands in the bay, and asking what number of Zulus there were. I told the Caffre about five hundred.

I now asked the officers to stop the boat, because near the head of the bay I saw some dust rising, and I suspected that this was caused by some of Umnini’s warriors who had been assembled to resist any attack the Zulus might make. The rapidity with which these people could arm and assemble was very great. From a distant kraal men would arm and run towards the point of danger. As they passed the various kraals on the way they would be joined by the warriors from these kraals, and as every full-grown man was a warrior, the army soon swelled to a considerable size. I should have liked to join Umnini’s people in what I expected would be an attack on the Zulus, but I did not like to take the officers with me, and they said they would not allow me to leave them; so we kept the boat in deep water, and beyond where an assagy could be cast on to the boat. The Zulus, who had followed us down to the water, had concealed themselves in the bush as soon as we had secured our retreat; but they now evidently had some knowledge of the approach of Umnini’s men, as they were moving rapidly through the bush, and calling to one another. The distance from the head of the bay to where the Zulus had followed us was not very far, and I knew that the rapidity with which the Caffres moved would soon enable them to attack the Zulus. The latter, however, either thought the numbers of their enemies too great, or else they did not wish to fight, as there was nothing to fight for, no cattle being near enough for the Zulus to carry off, even if they gained the victory; so they retreated rapidly towards the Umganie river, followed by Umninis people.

I knew that, from the summit of some tall trees on the shore of the bay near the bluff, a view could be obtained of the coast even beyond the Umganie; so I suggested to the officers that we pulled down the bay, and ascended the high land, so as to obtain a view of what was taking place. We soon reached the shore beneath the bluff, and ascending it found that we could see both the Zulus and Umnini’s Caffres. The Zulus, finding that they would be overtaken before they could cross the river, had faced about, and, standing shoulder to shoulder, were awaiting the attack of their pursuers. The battle soon commenced, by a shower of assagies being thrown by the Natal Caffres; then a charge was made, and for a time we could see nothing but a struggling mass of black warriors. Then the tide of battle evidently turned in favour of Umnini’s men; for the Zulus were flying in the direction of the river, followed by the Natal Caffres. In savage warfare, it is in the retreat that the greater number of men are killed: the pursuer has the advantage of casting his assagy at an enemy who can neither dodge nor protect himself by his shield. The number of Zulus who were slain during this retreat was very great—we could see man after man struck down and assagied; and the officers became quite excited, and exclaimed that these niggers fought like tigers. I told them of some of the battles I had been in, against the Zulus, and of some of the dodges we had practised. They said they wished they had some two hundred blue-jackets with them, and they would have given a good account of these Zulus. I told them that the cutlasses used by the sailors would be of no use against an assagy; that a Zulu would send his assagy through a man at twenty or thirty yards’ distance, and that a man armed with a sword would be unable to do anything with it at that distance. Then, again, when the Zulus rushed in on an enemy, it was possible to shoot down several of them, but those not shot would stab with their assagies, before the men armed with guns could reload.

Having seen the defeat and the slaughter of a large number of the Zulus, the officers decided to pull off to the ship, and report to the captain what had occurred. There was luckily very little surf on the bar, and we pulled over what there was without shipping much water in our boat. On reaching the ship, the officers gave an account to the captain of what had occurred, and were very full of praise for my skill and coolness in having saved them from the Zulus; for they agreed that, had they been left to themselves, they never could have reached the boats, as the Zulus would have surrounded them, and though they might have shot several, yet they could not have loaded quickly enough to prevent their enemy from closing in on them. The officers gave a very good account of the fight they had seen between Umnini’s Caffres and the Zulus; and if any doubt had remained in the mind of the captain about these two tribes being at enmity with each other, this fight would have placed the matter on the side of certainty.

On the morning following the day on which we had escaped from the Zulus, the captain sent for me to his cabin. On my entrance I found him sitting near a writing-table on which were various papers; he told me to sit down, as he wanted to ask me several questions. He then produced a map of the coast of South Africa, and pointed to Natal Bay, the Umlass river, and other places; and then asked if I could tell him exactly where the ship in which I had been wrecked had gone on shore. I estimated the distance from the Umzimvubu river, and with a pencil marked the spot.

I then described to him the country inland, as far as I had been, and pointed out that several small streams were not put down in the map.

After we had talked about these matters, the captain said, “Now tell me more about yourself, who you are, and all that.”

I gave the captain a history of my early days in India, and then explained to him that I was on my way home to England to be educated by my uncle, who was reported to be very rich, when our ship was wrecked. When I told him the name of my father, he looked in a large book, and then asked me my fathers Christian name. At first I could not recall it, but after a little thought I said it was William Mark.