Each individual chief adopts a song composed specially in his honour, and which is ever afterwards associated with him. In Madikanè’s song there is an undertone of sadness, as well as a finish, which, in view of the fact that his mother was probably a white woman, might almost lead one to think that it had a civilised source. Possibly it may be a sort of reflection of some melody of her childhood which the mother had been heard singing. It is as follows:—
These are the words:
“An assegai thrown among the Zulus, plays. You are a young animal to the Zulus.”
Madikanè’s peculiar appearance is apparently again referred to in the foregoing.
The next is the song which was dedicated to the present chief, Makaula, upon his accession:
The words are:—
“All the chiefs opposed Makaula by name; they said he would never be a chief. He is the youngest of all the chiefs. Orange River” (with the last syllable repeated several times).
Makaula succeeded to the chieftainship when quite a boy, upon the death of his father, ’Ncapai, who was killed in a war with the Pondos in 1845. The mention of the Orange River has reference to the fact of the Bacas having wandered to its inhospitable source after being driven southward before the spears of Tshaka.