OCR Rendition - approximate

Relations between Civilized and Savage Life. 333 similarity of origin, and commanded by a chief, chosen by the king for his valour and devotion to his sovereign rather than for his descent or tribal connection. The system was of course not always carried out with unvarying exactness and completeness, and occasional concessions were made to local and family influence, so that the regiments became more like a local militia under command of the local chief, than a royal battalion under the centralised authority of a commander selected by the king. But the general result was effectually to substitute centralised royal authority for tribal allegiance. When and by whom the important change was made, which substituted the short stabbing Zulu pike for the assegai or light javelin, whether by Chaka or his predecessor, is not agreed. It was probably Chaka, who certainly carried to perfection the stern discipline, which, with the use of the short pike, made it the invariable duty of the Zulu " impi " to come to close quarters as speedily as possible, after their enemy was aware of their proximity, and to overwhelm him with a mob of warriors who showed no quarter, and were determined to conquer or die. There are many Zulus yet living, and in active possession of all their faculties, who were warriors in Chaka's impis before they had learnt what defeat meant. They are within reach of Sir Theophilus Shepstone, of the Hon. Chas. Brownlee, and of surviving members of the brave band of Trek Boers and Englishmen, who remember the days when under Dingaan the Zulus suffered their first repulse. If some of these gentlemen could be induced (and no men are more competent than those I have named) to take pen in hand and note down their recollections of what they have seen and heard of the half century between 1830 and 1880, they would furnish a record of great historical and military, value. How Chaka organised, armed, and dressed his battalion for parade and for the field, how he mustered and exercised them in peace, and fed and marched them in war;how they were trained to irresistible attack, regardless of wounds or certain destruction --how their conduct in action was scrutinised and conspicuous bravery was rewarded ;-how at the grim assize of the " coward's tree " cases of misconduct and failure in duty were heard and punished with instant death ;-how Chaka's system was modified by his successors, especially by the introduction of firearms,-these and all cognate topics are matters of great military importance, and an accurate record of them would furnish many a useful hint to the military reformer or organiser of the present day. Not less valuable would be the record of the experience of the Trek Boers. The history of the Bloody Sunday, of the