After being invested by the Boers, as already stated, Mpande maintained and even elaborated the Zulu military system. This system continued to exist, not only to the end of his reign in 1872, but throughout that of his son Cetshwayo, that is, until the Zulu War of 1879. * * * * * During this long period, notwithstanding that numerous immigrants arrived in Natal, nothing in the shape of regular military organization took place among the white settlers, beyond the formation, from time to time, of volunteer corps[9] (this, however, does not apply to the Boers who, between 1837 and 1843, were well organized). Lagers[10] were erected in various parts of the Colony, as well as a few magazines for arms and ammunition. Where magazines existed, rifle associations soon began to be formed. If it was never possible to determine how long it might be before trouble arose, the Government was aware that a general rising could originate only in Zululand. From the time the first colonists arrived in Natal, up to the end of the Zulu War, August, 1879, the principal arbiter of savage warfare in South Africa was the Zulu sovereign. It was to him that the whole of the tribes of Zululand--the real storm-centre of South Africa--looked, including those of Natal, who were without any hereditary King. The latter were, indeed, only too glad to place themselves under the protection of the British Government, and even actively assist against their former King in the campaign of 1879. The majority of the Natives of Natal then, and the same is still the case, consisted of people who, at various times, had fled from Zululand, fearing lest they should be put to death on some bogus charge of practising witchcraft, of infringing the very stringent and remarkable marriage regulations, or of neglecting to conform to a hundred and one instructions or directions. Ever since the days of Dingana, the King became exceedingly incensed on hearing of any of his subjects breaking away to place himself under the notoriously milder European rule south of the Tugela. Any neglect to conform to his pleasure, where, in former days, similar desires would have been carried out with alacrity and without the least demur, appeared to be no less than outrageous defiance, and, as such, punishable with the utmost rigour. The tendency of fleeing to Natal from the despotic laws, which became even more arbitrary as the possibility of infringing any of them with impunity appeared greater, grew to such formidable proportions, that special regulations were introduced in Natal to cope with the situation. Refugees, for instance, were required to indenture themselves as labourers to European house-holders, farmers, etc., for a period of three years. But, by the time Cetshwayo, long the _de facto_ ruler of Zululand, actually began to reign (October, 1872), the prestige of the Imperial Government had become so firmly established in