The Kraals of Ulundi Read online

  The Kraals of Ulundi

  Dedication

  Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the Zulu people, the memory of those on each side who died in the Anglo-Zulu War 1879, and the David Rattray Foundation

  In memoriam to Robert Gardner, 1949-2013

  List of Characters

  To avoid spoiling the story, further information about asterisked characters is contained in the Historical Notes at the end.

  Historical Characters

  Alderton, Assistant Commissary Thomas: 1834-1879

  Bassano, Napoléon Hugues Maret, 2nd Duc de: 1803-1898

  Behrens, Nathaniel (American showman): 1848-1913

  Bellairs, Colonel William: 1828-1913

  Biddlecombe, Detective Constable John James: 1840-1882 *

  Bland-Hunt, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert William: Royal Marines

  Brander, Captain William Maxwell: 1852-1927

  Buller, Colonel Redvers Henry: 1839-1908

  Carey, Annie Isabella: 1852-1922. Plus her children, Edith Isabella: 1872-1901, and Pelham Adolphus: 1878-1913 *

  Carey, Lieutenant/Captain Jahleel Brenton: 1847-1883 *

  Cetshwayo (tet-sway-o) kaMpande, King: 1826-1884 *

  Chelmsford, Second Baron, Lord (Frederic Augustus Thesiger): 1827-1905

  Cornelius Vijn: b. 1856 *

  Crookenden, Captain Henry Humphreys (Royal Artillery): b. 1844

  Davies, Colonel Henry Fanshawe (Grenadier Guards): 1837-1914

  Deléage, Paul: 1850-1888

  Drummond, The Honourable William Henry: 1845-1879

  Dunn, John Robert (IsiZulu name, Jantoni): 1834-1895 *

  Eugénie de Montijo, Empress of the French (María Eugenia de Palafox-Portocarrero de Guzmán y Kirkpatrick): 1826-1920 *

  Farini, The Great (William Leonard Hunt): 1838-1929 *

  Glyn, Colonel Richard Thomas (24th Foot): 1831-1900

  Grandier, Ernest (Weatherley’s Border Horse)

  Grenfell, Major Francis: 1841-1925

  Griffin, Stephen “Bill”: 1823-1903

  Grubb, Corporal Jimmy (Bettington’s Horse)

  Hackett, Major Robert (90th Foot): 1839-1893 *

  Harrison, Colonel Richard (Royal Engineers): 1837-1931

  Heseltine, Captain Gerald Altham (Royal Marines): b.1842

  Langazana, Queen: approx.1778-1884

  Le Tocq, Trooper Nicolas (Bettington’s Horse)

  Lomas, J (Royal Engineers and Orderly to the Prince Imperial)

  Longcast, Henry William (1850-1909)

  Luckhurst, Captain Alfred Henry (S.S. Clyde): b.1844

  Mkhosana kaSangqana Zungu: 1830-1914

  Mnyamana kaNgqengelele Buthelezi: approx.1809-1892

  Molyneux, Captain William: 1854-1916

  Napoléon, Prince Imperial, Eugène Louis Jean Joseph: 1856-1879

  Ntshingwayo kaMahole Khoza: (shing-way-o) 1809-1883 *

  O’Reilly, Surgeon-Major James

  Sceberras, Lieutenant-Colonel Attilio (98th Foot): 1827-1884

  Scotchburn, Miss Octavia: 1828-1885 *

  Wells, Sister Janet: 1854-1911

  Collectively: Hlabanatunga, Langalabelele and Xabanga/Tshabanga (warriors of the amaZulu involved in the killing of the Prince Imperial)

  And, collectively: Colonels Harness, Courtney and Whitehead; Majors Anstruther and Pleydell-Bouverie (the officers of Carey’s Court Martial)

  Historical Characters with Fictionalised Roles

  Klaas – a Zulu Christian convert, also known as Barnabas, and used by Cetshwayo as one of his messengers to Lord Chelmsford, the British Commander, during the king’s various attempts to negotiate a peace. He appears again as possibly one of the guards sent by Cetshwayo to oversee the release of the French captive, Ernest Grandier. *

  Shaba (Tshabanga kaNdabuko) − also Xabanga/Zabanga: the Zulu who struck the fatal blow that killed French Prince Imperial Louis Napoleon *

  Fictional Characters

  Amahle: Shaba’s sister

  Cornscope, Simeon: An associate of William McTeague

  Jupe, Pastor Jago: An associate of William McTeague

  Mandla kaSibusiso: A Zulu induna

  Maria Mestiza: McTeague’s wife

  McTeague, William (IsiZulu name, kaMtigwe)

  Mnukwa: A Zulu induna

  Mutwa: An isangoma

  Ndabuko kaMahanana: Shaba’s father

  Sibusiso, Zama’s grandfather

  Twinge, Theophilus: An associate of William McTeague

  Umdeni: Shaba’s friend

  Zama kaMandla: Daughter of Mandla kaSibusiso

  Preface

  This is a work of historical fiction: fiction in a historical setting. In this case the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879.

  The subject is enormously popular and has a huge following. It has its experts and I respect them immensely. I would not dare to tread on their expertise. I am a writer of fiction, not a historian. All the same, as a writer I believe that my setting should be as accurate as possible – up to the point at which the inventive mind, the teller of tall tales, takes over from historical knowledge. Having said that, I also believe that it is only fair to explain the main areas in which I have strayed away from the archives, and hence the historical notes I have included at the end of this book.

  Hopefully, the overall result will excite those who enjoy a ‘good read’ and give a wider understanding about this astonishing period of history to readers who, from the paucity of other historical fiction on the remaining six months of the conflict, could be forgiven for believing that it began with the disaster of Isandlwana – which took place on 22nd January 1879 and is depicted in the Burt Lancaster and Peter O’Toole movie, Zulu Dawn – and ended with the defence and Victoria Crosses of Rorke’s Drift (KwaJimu), fought on 22nd – 23rd January 1879 and immortalised in the Michael Caine blockbuster, Zulu. Finally, I hope to avoid the outright enmity of those who would know very well – without this clumsy explanation – the many times when I may have strayed dangerously from ‘the facts’. Any actual errors, of course, are all my own.

  When my story opens, the Zulus themselves had become a powerful military state only in the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century under the leadership of King Shaka. Before Shaka, they were simply one of the many clans among the Ngoni people who had been part of the Bantu migrations down the east coast of Africa for over a thousand years. And this particular clan was established in the early 1700s by a man called Zulu, son of an Ngoni chieftain, Ntombela. The word iZulu literally means ‘sky’ or ‘heaven’, so that the clan name, AmaZulu, implied both that they were the People of the Man called Zulu, and also the People of Heaven.

  By the late 1870s, the British had ambitions to create a federated dominion of South Africa. But there were two major obstacles – the independent states of the Dutch Boer settlers and the Kingdom of Zululand. A pretext was needed to begin dismantling these obstacles and, as a start, the British High Commissioner, Sir Henry Bartle-Frere, seized upon the excuse of a relatively minor border incident to present an ultimatum to the Zulu king, Cetshwayo, requiring him to disband his armies – an ultimatum that could clearly never have been met. And thus, without any authority from the Crown, the British army already in Cape Colony under Lord Chelmsford, launched an invasion of Zululand. The Anglo-Zulu War had begun.

  This novel picks up the conflict’s story at the end of March 1879, and it does so very often from a Zulu perspective – as a result of which there is a great deal of ‘language’ to cope with. So the glossary which follows may help, at least a little. Even here, however, there may be some confusion from my decision occasionally to use two spellings for the same word. The most obvious example is the name of the battlefield at Isandlwana. I have used that form whenever anybody i
s referring to the site in English. But where somebody is thinking or speaking in the Zulu language, I have used the IsiZulu spelling eSandlwana, or sometimes (and more authentically) the image that the word conjures in that tongue. IsiZulu is an exceptionally descriptive language. As it happens, the small rocky mountain near which the British were so badly defeated on 22nd January 1879 resembles, in form, a small house or grain hut, and ‘eSandlwana’ is the IsiZulu word for that thing. Hence the reason that I sometimes refer to the engagement, from a Zulu viewpoint, as the Battle of the Little House, or similar. The mountain has other descriptive names too, depending on the angle from which it is viewed – the Frog, or the Second Stomach (the reticulum of a ruminant) – and the local Zulus also know the place as the Mountain of Murmurs.

  Apart from this, I have followed the protocol that the names of people, their titles, or the names of places are non-italicised, while other IsiZulu words appear in italics.

  Lastly, the dates at the start of each chapter are, of course, given in the form with which we are most familiar, even where the chapters themselves tell the story from a Zulu perspective. But these are largely to give the reader some sense of chronology.

  David Ebsworth

  December 2013

  Glossary

  IsiZulu spellings, rough meanings and a few pronunciations in the English alphabetical order.

  AbaQulusi − (abor-kloosi) A northern tribe/clan, allied to the Zulu

  amabutho − (amah-boo-tour) Zulu regiments, sing. ibutho

  AmaFulentshi – (amah-foo-lern-sheer) The French, sing. iFulentshi

  AmaNgisi − (amah-ing-ee-see) The English

  AmaSwazi – (amah-swore-see) The Swazi people who hold the territory north of Zululand. In their own tongue they are the bakaMswati, and their language siSwati

  AmaZulu – (amah-zoo-loo) The collective name by which the Zulus knew themselves, meaning “the people of heaven”

  Baba – Father

  bhoma – A fence or palisade of interwoven thorn bush

  buchu − (boo-too) A shrub of the genus Agasthoma

  cosi – (coe-see) So be it!

  cosi, cosi, yaphela − (ya-pay-lah) And so, and so, it ended

  eHlobane − (eh-thlo-bar-nay, with the thl like Welsh Ll) A mountain, meaning “beautiful place”

  Emahlabathini – (ay-ma-thla-ba-teeny) A Zulu royal homestead and the plain on which it stands

  Emakhosini − (eh-mar-core-seen) Meaning “valley of the kings”

  Emoyeni − (eh-more-yearn-ee) Meaning “place of wind/spirit”

  eNgilandi − (en-gear-lan-dee) England

  eSandlwana – (eh-san-zwa-nah) Meaning “little hut/house” but also “second stomach of a cow”, all of which the Mountain of Isandlwana resembles

  eSiklebheni – (eh-see-care-beh-nee) A Zulu royal homestead

  giya – (ghee-yah) A dance

  Hlakanyana – (thla-kan-yar-nah) A folklore dwarf hero

  Hluhluwe – (thloo-thloo-way) A Zulu homestead, meaning “monkey thorn”

  iklwa – (ick-wah) The Zulu broad-bladed stabbing spear, commonly known by the British as an Assegai (a Dutch word)

  iBhunu − Boer

  ilobolo – (ee-law-bo-law) Dowry

  imizi – (e-me-zee) plural of umuzi, a homestead

  impi – (em-pee) Army

  impisi – (em-pee-see) Hyena, meaning “purifier”

  indlovu – (in-dlo-view) Elephant, meaning “the unstoppable one”

  induna – Leader or commander, plural izinduna

  iNgcugce – (ing-coo-say) A Zulu female regiment

  iNgobamakhosi – (in-go-bar-mah-core-see) A Zulu regiment, meaning “bender of kings”

  ingonyama − Lion, meaning “master of all flesh”

  ingxotha – A brass arm ring, awarded by the Zulus as the greatest of honours

  iNkatha yeSizwe yaKwaZulu – (in-kar-tah…yeh-seeze-weh…ya-qua-zoo-loo) The Zulu sacred grass coil, plural iziNkatha

  ikhanda – (e-carn-dah) Royal homestead containing a barracks for a royal regiment, plural amakhanda

  iNkosi – (en-core-see) Lord

  inyamayembulu – Iguana meat

  inyanga – (in-young-ah) A diviner, witch doctor capable of smelling out evil. Plural, izinyanga

  insizwa – (in-see-zoo-wah) Unmarried

  inwaba – (in-war-bah) Chameleon, meaning “lazy mover”

  iphetifokha – An invented word, that Tshabanga mis-hears for “petty-fogger”

  iphiti – (e-pee-tee) Small antelope

  isangoma – (e-sun-go-mah) A witch-doctor medium, a spirit-speaker

  isanusi – (e-sun-new-see) A herbal healer, medicine man

  ishoba – The cow-tail tufts worn as arm and leg decorations

  isicoco – The head-ring, sewn into a man’s hair to show he is married

  isidwaba – (e-see-dwer-bah) Woman’s black leather kilt

  isigodlo – (e-see-god-low) The various female members of the King’s household, and also that section of the royal enclosures in which they were quartered

  isihlangu – (e-see-thlan-goo) The larger, more traditional Zulu shield from Shaka’s time

  isijula – A throwing spear, plural izijula

  IsiZulu – The Zulu language

  Ityotyosi – (itty-otty-ossy) The river near which the Prince Imperial died

  iviyo – (e-vee-yor) A company-strength group of warriors within a regiment

  iwisa – (e-wee-sah) A hunting club, knobkerrie, meaning “bone breaker”

  izinduna – The plural of induna, a leader or commander

  izikhulu – The Zulu King’s senior advisers, his Council of Ministers

  amaphoyisa – (ama-pour-yee-sa) Meaning “the police”

  iziqu – (e-see-koh… though, actually, this last syllable is really a tock sound, made with the tongue) A necklace

  Izimu – A folklore trickster, ogre

  Jantoni – The Zulus’ name for John Robert Dunn

  Ji! – (Jee!) The most common of the Zulu war cries

  kaffir – Origins disputed but, in the 19th century, a term shared by both British and Dutch to generically denote the ethnic black peoples of southern Africa. In the 20th century, under Apartheid, it became (and remains) a particularly offensive racist insult. It would have been used widely in 1879 but appears in these pages only sparingly.

  KaMtigwe – My invented Zulu name for McTeague

  kholwa – (Corel-yah) A Christian convert, plural amakholwa

  Kraal – A Dutch word meaning “cattle enclosure” but adopted generally by the British to mean a Zulu homestead

  KwaBulawayo – A former royal homestead

  KwaJimu – (qua-jee-moo) The Zulu name for Rorke’s Drift, meaning “Jim’s place” (it was built by James Rorke)

  KwaNodwengu – (qua-no-do-wern-go) A Zulu royal homestead, close to oNdini, and the name by which the Zulus knew the Battle of Ulundi

  KwaZulu – The land of the People of Heaven

  laager − A Dutch word for a barrier created by a square or circle of wagons

  Mama – Mother

  mayile – A dance

  mbayimbayi – (um-by-um-by-ee) The Zulu nickname for British artillery, allegedly because, when King Shaka had asked for a cannon from the British, they had fobbed him off by promising one ‘by and by’

  Mfecane – (um-fair-car-nay) Scattering storm, the name given to the intense South African inter-tribal wars of the early 19th century

  Mthonjaneni − (um-torn-jar-nanny) Mountain, meaning “place of little water”

  Nguni – (n-goo-nee) The predominant race of East and Southern Africa, part of the wider Bantu group. Also, the cattle that are unique to them

  nkawu – (n-car-woo) The vervet monkey

  nkonkoni – (n-core-n-core-nee) Wildebeest, meaning “revered champion”

  nsangu – The IsiZulu word for Cannabis Sativa

  oNdini – (on-thee-nee) Cetshwayo’s royal capital, known to the British as Ulundi, meaning “the heights
”

  qaqa – (ka-ka… though, once again, this is another pair of IsiZulu click sounds) Ritual disembowelling of dead enemies

  Sekhukhuni – (say-koo-koo-nee) One who moves in the dark

  sambane – (sum-bar-neh) The ant bear or aardvark

  siyakhuleka ekhaya – (see-yah-coo-lurk e-car-yah) Once upon a time

  Sobhuza − (so-boo-zar) The name of the headman at the kraal where the Prince Imperial died

  ubhoko – (oo-bow-coh) A blocking stick, used in stick-fighting

  uDhloko – (oo-dock-oo… the middle syllable is a deep clock sound) A Zulu regiment, meaning “the savages”

  udibi – (oo-dee-bee) Zulu boy, serving adult relatives in a regiment

  udonga – Gulley, ravine

  ugwayi – (oo-go-way-ee) Narcotic snuff

  ukuhlomula – (oo-coo-thlo-moo-lah) The practise of honour-stabbing fallen enemies

  ukujoja – (oo-coo-jaw-jar) Impalement

  ukungcweka – A stick-fight

  ukusoka – (oo-coo-soccer) Circumcision

  Ulundi − see oNdini

  umabope – (oo-mah-bow-peh) Climbing plant with red roots, chopped to decorate necklaces and chewed before battle.

  uMbonambi – (oom-bow-nahm-bee) A Zulu regiment, meaning “evil omen”

  umbengo – Ritual vomit

  umbhumbluzo – (oom-boom-bloo-zo) The more modern battle shield designed by Cetshwayo

  umHholandi − Dutchman

  umemulo − Puberty

  uMgungundlovu – A former Zulu royal homestead, meaning “place of the elephant”

  umkhoka – The Buffalo Bean plant

  umnyakanya – The basket-work ball, part of a Zulu head-dress

  umnumzana − Head of a homestead or clan/family

  umquele – The padded Zulu headband

  umuthi – (um-oo-tee) magically enhanced medicine, using organic materials, to create anything from cures for head colds, poisons for hunting spears, curses against one’s enemies, to courage and protection from harm in battle

  umutsha – A calf-skin loincloth

  umuzi – A homestead, village (in Afrikaans, a kraal)

  uMvelinqangi – The Zulus’ Creator, the “One Who Came First”

  uMxapho – (um-ka-po) A Zulu regiment, meaning “the mongrels”. There’s no easy way to explain ‘x’ in IsiZulu. It’s a click at the back of the throat