The words are:—
“Run off with your plunder, Chief!—Houti ma-e-a.”
The concluding portion is rather obscure; in fact, it has been found quite impracticable to trace its meaning. Possibly—and this is a suggestion on the part of a very old native,—it represents an attempt to reproduce the lowing of the looted cattle when being driven off.
With varying fortune Mehlomakulu waged a war which lasted for about eight years with the Amangwanè, as well as with the different expeditions which Tshaka sent against him and Matiwanè. It was a curious situation—the Hlubis and the Amangwanè locked in a deadly struggle with each other, and being attacked, together or in detail, from time to time by Tshaka. It does not appear that the notion of combining against the common enemy ever suggested itself to either the Hlubi or the ’Mangwanè chief.
After a successful raid against Matiwanè’s cattle, the following song was composed:—
The words are:—
“The Chief is pregnant with the number of cattle he has taken.—Ho, ho, ho, aha; ho, oho, ho, ho!”
At one period of their wanderings the Hlubis were driven into the mountainous, inhospitable country that lies near the source of the Orange River. The following song is connected with this episode:—