Altogether the Nkandhla, with the Mome gorge as practically the key of the position, could hardly be surpassed as a place of refuge. Nor could the beauty and attractiveness of the district as a whole be easily excelled. There is a cleanness and definition as well as natural grandeur about Nature's handiwork hereabout that immediately appeal to the imagination. The purity and coolness of the air are exhilarating, so much so that one becomes oblivious to the cares of life as he wanders about the woodlands, toils up the sharp ascents, or bends over one of the many brooks to regale himself with some of the clearest crystal water to be found on the face of the globe. The Nkandhla should never become a field of war, and anyone who visits it will realize the pettiness of man's strife which, for a moment, disturbs its awe-inspiring stillness, and gentle, peaceful slumber. * * * * * The history of the tribe that lived about these forests, and especially its relationship to the royal house of Zululand, are naturally matters of greater interest. Called by some amaCube, by others amaNcube, the tribe is a Lala one,[173] closely related to that of Butelezi, to which Mnyamana, son of Ngqengelele, belonged. Mnyamana was Cetshwayo's prime minister, whilst Ngqengelele was the great Tshaka's guardian, adviser and friend. Mnyamana, subsequently to the Zulu War, became unequivocably loyal to the British Government, and, on more than one occasion, publicly dissociated himself from the acts of Cetshwayo, as well as of his successor Dinuzulu. This detachment was maintained during the Rebellion by his son Tshanibezwe, a fact which had no small influence in restraining and even checkmating Dinuzulu. The history of these sister tribes during the last thirty years is remarkable in that, whilst the Butelezi was unquestionably loyal to the Imperial Government, the amaCube was persistently sullen and disloyal. In other words, Butelezi threw in its lot once and for all with its acknowledged conquerors, in opposition to the rebellious tactics followed by Cetshwayo and Dinuzulu, whilst the amaCube declared as resolutely in favour of the royal house, though embarked on a mad career after palpably impossible goals. The year in which Sigananda's ancestors first came to settle in the neighbourhood of the forests is wrapped in obscurity. Natives have no good means of fixing time, especially in regard to events more than a century old. One of the best methods, indeed about the only one, is to ascertain the Chief's genealogical tree, the whereabouts of former Chief's graves, etc., and, from these and related facts, draw such inferences as appear reasonable. In the case of Sigananda, the known positions at Nkandhla of the graves of six of his ancestors, enable us to conclude with tolerable certainty that the first Chief died about 250 years ago.