2. The invading army crossed the river at a ford called Rorke's Drift (1879), and a division of the troops suffered a great disaster, not far from there, at Isandlana. Happily, a small detachment had been left to guard the passage at the ford. The command of this post was in the hands of Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead, whose names deserve an honoured place in our memory. With a force of 104 men they made an heroic defence against a savage host of 3000 warriors, who had reddened their assegais in the blood of our countrymen, taken by surprise, at Isandlana.
3. During the fight a building used as a hospital was set on fire by the Zulus. The brave defenders gallantly repulsed every attack whilst the sick were removed. A sort of redoubt was then constructed of bags of mealies in the centre of the camp, and when hard pressed to this they retired. The vigour of the siege continued from four in the afternoon until midnight. With the first light of morning the Zulus retired, on hearing of the approach of the British main-body, leaving three hundred black corpses on the ground. Of the gallant defenders seventeen were killed and ten wounded.
4. When the British General first came in sight of Rorke's Drift and saw smoke rising from the burning hospital, he felt certain that the depot had been captured, and that Natal, at that moment, lay at the mercy of a horde of savages. But he was quickly relieved at the sight of a British flag and the sound of a British cheer, and then he learned the story of the defence of that isolated post by the undaunted resolution of a little band of heroes, by whose conduct Natal was saved from invasion and massacre.
5. After a large force had landed from England, the invasion of Zululand was renewed, and a pitched battle, fought at Ulundi, brought the war to a close. To prevent the country from falling into the hands of the Boers, Zululand was annexed to Natal, and now forms part of the British Empire. The Zulus have ever since lived in peace and contentment.
6. It also became necessary to take under our wing the country of the Bechuanas on the west of the Transvaal; for there also many of the Boers were settling and making themselves at home on their neighbour's territory. Khama, a king of the Bechuanas sent to ask for British protection. "There are three things," he wrote, "which distress me very much—war, selling people, and drink. All these I shall find in the Boers, and it is these things which destroy people to make an end of them in the country." A part of Bechuanaland was, accordingly, brought under British rule, and the remaining part under British protection.
7. The next addition to the empire in South Africa was a vast country now known as Rhodesia, a country that owes its name to Cecil Rhodes, to whose marvellous enterprise its possession is mainly due. From its fertility, climate, and mineral wealth, it now bids fair to become a flourishing British Colony.
8. It was, however, difficult at first to make a settlement here, because it was partly occupied by the warlike Matabele, a tribe akin to the dreaded Zulus. Their king, Lobengula, kept an army of 10,000 warriors, who lived only for the joy of fighting. Permission, however, was purchased from Lobengula to search for, and work, the minerals within his territory. And a pioneer force was sent to turn this permission to account (1890). Before two years had passed it became quite clear that the Matabele warriors must be crushed before any progress could be made. Thanks to our machine-guns and modern rifles, this was soon effected.
9. A decisive engagement was fought near Bulawayo, the Matabele capital. The enemy foolishly hurled themselves against our small force when some were laagered, the rest entrenched. After an hour's carnage, they began to retreat with the loss of 1000 killed and wounded. A day or two later a loud report rent the air, and huge columns of smoke were observed to rise from Bulawayo. The king had fled after ordering his magazine to be blown up. Lobengula died shortly afterwards of fever, and his kingdom was placed under British rule.
10 The patriot that secured Rhodesia for the empire, has, unhappily, had his work cut short by an early death. Much as he had done for his country he hoped to do still more. His keen disappointment finds utterance in his last words: "So little done, so much to do."