Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 17, No. 101, May, 1876Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 17, No. 101, May, 1876
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
It is inexpressibly touching to see with one's own eyes the
wonderfully deep personal devotion and affection of the Kafirs for the
kindly English gentleman who for thirty years and more has been their
real ruler and their wise and judicious friend. Not a friend to pamper
their vices and give way to their great fault of idleness, but a true
friend to protect their interests, and yet to labor incessantly for
their social advancement and for their admission into the great field
of civilized workers. The Kafirs know little and care less for all
the imposing and elaborate machinery of British rule; the queen on
her throne is but a fair and distant dream-woman to them; Sir Garnet
himself, that great inkosi, was as nobody in their eyes compared to
their own chieftain, their king of hearts, the one white man to whom
of their own free will and accord they give the royal salute whenever
they see him. I have stood in magnificent halls and seen king and
kaiser pass through crowds of bowing courtiers, but I never saw
anything which impressed me so strongly as the simultaneous springing
to the feet, the loud shout of _Bayete!_ given with the right hand
upraised (a higher form of salutation than _Inkosi!_ and only accorded
to Kafir royalty), the look, of love and rapture and satisfied
expectation in all those keen black faces, as the minister, quite
unattended, without pomp or circumstance of any sort or kind, quietly
walked into the large room and sat himself down at his desk with some
papers before him. There was no clerk, no official of any sort: no
one stood between the people and the fountain of justice. The
extraordinary simplicity of the trial which commenced was only to be
equaled by the decorum and dignity with which it was conducted. First
of all, everybody sat down upon the floor, the plaintiff and defendant
amicably side by side opposite to the minister's desk, and the other
natives, about a hundred in number, squatted in various groups. Then,
as there was evidently a slight feeling of surprise at my sitting
myself down in the only other chair--they probably considered me a
new--fashioned clerk--the minister explained that I was the wife of
another inkosi, and that I wanted to see and hear how Kafirmen
stated their case when anything went wrong with their affairs. This
explanation was perfectly satisfactory to all parties, and they
regarded me no more, but immediately set to work on the subject in
hand. A sort of _prècis_ of each case had been previously prepared
from the magistrate's report for Mr. S----'s information by his clerk,
and these documents greatly helped me to understand what was going on.
No language can be more beautiful to listen to than either the Kafir
or Zulu tongue: it is soft and liquid as Italian, with just the same
gentle accentuation on the penultimate and antepenultimate syllables.
The clicks which are made with the tongue every now and then, and
are part of the language, give it a very quaint sound, and the proper
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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