NARRATIVE OF CETYWAYO'S WANDERINGS AFTER ULUNDI, TAKEN FROM HIS OWN LIPS.
The following account of Cetywayo's movements after the battle of Ulundi is of great interest as having been taken directly from his lips since he has been confined in Capetown:—
"Cetywayo was not present at Ulundi; he was then at the kraal of a chief called Umbonambi, which is situated about three miles north of Kwamizekanze. One of Cetywayo's brothers, Uziwetu, in company with Vijn, the captured German trader, had posted himself on the summit of the Uncungi hill, and thus witnessed the conflict. Men, also, had been placed on the look-out, and they brought the news of his army's defeat to Cetywayo, who, at once crossing the neck of the Ntabankulu mountains, retreated into the bush beyond, where he was joined by Umnyama and other chiefs. Vijn and Uziwetu came to the king on the following day, but after a short interview withdrew to Uziwetu's kraal of Ematina. Cetywayo then retired to Ekushu Maileni, a kraal belonging to Umnyama, his prime minister, which is on the banks of the river Isiqmeshi. Arriving here three days after the engagement, he received news of the retreat of the English army; this determined him to remain where he was; so he lived in this kraal for nearly three weeks.
"When information of Sir Garnet Wolseley's advance was brought to him, Cetywayo despatched three chiefs to meet the General, and tell him that the king was getting together his cattle, and would send them on to Sir Garnet by his minister Umnyama, who was then personally engaged in collecting the royal herds. These messengers, having fallen in with a detachment of Clarke's column, were directed by them to Entonjaneni, where they met Sir Garnet on his arrival. Vijn, in the meantime, had, by the king's command, gone to Fort Victoria bearing a similar message, with this addition, that after the cattle had been received by the English commander he would give himself up. During Vijn's absence Cetywayo moved on to Zonymana's kraal; here he was rejoined by Vijn, who told him that the English were thoroughly determined to capture him. Hereupon he sent Vijn a second time to Sir Garnet, with no definite proposals, but merely a complaint that he could not give himself up to any of the patrols, as he was apprehensive that he would be killed out of hand. And there was some ground for this fear, as Dabulamanzi had sent a message warning him that the English meant to put him to death, and so he had better not yield himself up until the cattle had been received and Umnyama made terms for him with the English commander. The three first messengers, after leaving Entonjaneni, fell in with Umnyama and the cattle near Ulundi, whither they betook themselves, in company with that chieftain, instead of returning to Cetywayo.
"The morning following that on which Vijn had been despatched on his second embassy the king moved on to the river Mona, and slept that night in a kraal upon its bank. On the next morning, having crossed the stream, he was ascending the hill that rose on the other side when a messenger from his brother Uziwetu came to tell him that soldiers on horseback had just visited Zonymana's kraal. He therefore concealed himself in the bush, and in no long time beheld the white men's scouts on the opposite hill; thereupon he descended the ravine into the Mona bush. The same evening he travelled as far as the Black Umvolosi, and slept there. On the following day they had scarcely finished killing and skinning a couple of oxen when scouts came in to say the white horsemen were coming through the bush. The king then bade all the women to escape as best they could, whilst he, going out of the bush, concealed himself in the long grass on the top of a mound just above the drift, whence he could clearly watch the patrol as they passed, and, indeed, could hear them speak and laugh. As soon as they had passed, he and the five or six followers, who were now all the retainers that remained with him, journeyed further up the Black Umvolosi, and lived for some days in various kraals. Remaining for three days in the same kraal, he was joined by one of his wives. Finding the troops still on the trail, he now struck off across country into the Ingome forest, where news reached him that Umnyama had, instead of making terms for him, promised Sir Garnet Wolseley to use his best endeavours to capture the king and to deliver him up should he be found in any of the kraals of his (Umnyama's) district. Cetywayo was much grieved at this, and exclaimed, 'Why does Umnyama do this? Why does he act treacherously towards me? Why does he not send a message to tell me to deliver myself up?' He then moved on to the kraal of the Ingome, where four more women rejoined him. Here he was taken by Lord Gifford and Major Marter, and conducted by them back to Ulundi. On the way one of the women escaped into the bush."
NOTE II.
FATE OF CETYWAYO AND FINAL SETTLEMENT OF ZULULAND.
Cetywayo was first taken to Sir Garnet Wolseley at Ulundi, and thence by that General's orders was conveyed, under an escort commanded by Captain Poole, R.A., to Capetown, where he still remains in an honourable captivity, treated with all the respect and indulgence due to his position.
After Cetywayo's capture no further opposition of any sort was encountered in Zululand, but the chiefs and people immediately assented to the terms of peace proposed by Sir Garnet, by which the country was split up into thirteen districts, each subject to its own chief, while supreme over all these was placed a British resident. Native laws and customs were to be respected, and European immigration was forbidden. Mr. Wheelwright, for some considerable time a magistrate of Natal, was appointed the first resident.