A Fort
The above was the usual type of fort erected for keeping command of a district after its subjugation. Outside the abattis or hedge of thorn–bush a wide belt of grass was left standing, as the dark bodies of native assailants would show up well against its whiteness at night; and beyond the belt it was burnt away to prevent grass–fires coming up to the fort.
Six hundred police have been posted in the four towns and sixteen forts about the country, while two hundred of the 7th Hussars are stationed at Buluwayo.
Plumer’s Matabeleland Relief Force and the Cape Boys have been withdrawn from the country, and the local forces disbanded.
Natives are giving up their arms in good numbers, and are settling down to cultivate the lands assigned to them by the Native Commissioners. They have been told by Lord Grey that if they still have any lingering ideas of ultimately driving out the whites, they might at once dismiss such thoughts for ever; that the railway will shortly be up to Buluwayo, ready to import thousands of troops, if necessary; that certain chiefs will be reinstated as their immediate rulers; that grievances will be inquired into, and set right wherever it is possible; and that the Chief Native Commissioner (Taylor) will be the head to whom they will have to refer. This plan has been grasped by them, and agreed to after nearly two months’ havering. Rhodes, who had arranged the peace with them, they have nicknamed “Umlanulang Mkngi”—the bull who separates the fighting–bulls; and Colenbrander, his fidus Achates in the matter, they have called the “tickbird”—a bird which in this country always accompanies a bull, to relieve him of superfluous ticks.
So that throughout Rhodesia war is over, and there is no prospect of any further outbreak on the part of the people. They have had a heavy lesson, which will be further accentuated by the scarcity of food which must result for the next few months, owing to their not having sown their crops. The Chartered Company, having this in view, are making every effort to get up supplies of seed–corn and food, with which they will be able to stave off actual famine from the natives.
All that remains to be done in the immediate future is police work: in getting hold of those among the late rebels who are guilty of murders, and in getting hold of the arms that remain still undelivered. This is a matter of time, and may in some cases necessitate small armed expeditions; but there is no likelihood of any further general rising. So far, about four hundred rifles and four thousand assegais have been handed in.
The ultimate arrangements for their government are practically those explained by Lord Grey to the chiefs in the Matopos: The country will be divided into numerous districts, each under its own induna, who will be paid by the Government, and will be held responsible for the conduct of his district; each induna will have about twelve thousand people under him. Native Commissioners will be assigned to the districts, acting under the orders of the Chief Native Commissioners (one in Matabeleland and the other in Mashonaland), and the success of the scheme very much depends upon the efficiency of these officers. The greatest care will have to be taken in their selection and appointment—a point which has in some cases been overlooked in the past, with the recent direful results.
That the white settlers were not entirely overwhelmed in the first mad, blood–thirsting rush of relentless savagery is a matter for marvel; and that they contrived to hold their own for so long, until assistance came, is, as the Times has lately said, due not merely to the superior armament of the British, but to their dogged pluck and determination.
For your Englishman (and by him I mean his Colonial brother as well) is endowed by nature with the spirit of practical discipline, which is deeper than the surface veneer discipline of Continental armies. Whether it has been instilled into him by his public–school training, by his football and his “fagging,” or whether it is inbred from previous generations of stern though kindly parents, one cannot say; but, at any rate, the goodly precepts of the game remain as best of guides: “Keep in your place,” and “Play, not for yourself, but for your side.”