It has been stated on apparently good authority that the destruction of a royal or military kraal was considered by the Zulus as scarcely any loss, and that the rebuilding of such was a matter of the greatest ease. This is a totally erroneous view, as all the kraals belonging to Cetywayo and his great chiefs which had been destroyed were most formidable as regards defence, and must have taken great time and trouble to construct. All these kraals of the kings, princes, and principal chiefs are protected with high wooden stockades, pierced here and there with low entrances, large enough to admit only one person at a time. The isigodhlo, or inner enclosure, where the chief huts are situated, is guarded by zigzags of the same description of stockade work very strongly put together. There are altogether about forty military villages or kraals scattered through the country, of from 400 to 3000 huts each, in which for a portion of the year the troops are quartered, averaging 2000 men in each. There are, however, other military kraals not fortified, and used only as barracks. These consist of a dry stake and wattle fence, generally oval in form and about five feet high. Inside this fence are the huts of the men in single, double, or treble rows, according to the size of the kraal, while inside the huts is another fence similar to the one outside, and the central space is invariably the cattle-pen. The king's kraal at Ulundi (afterwards destroyed) was 800 yards in diameter, and had a normal garrison of 5000 men. The Umhlabatini plains, upon which it was situated, are fifteen by twenty miles in extent, and completely shut in by hills studded with thick bush. The White Umvolosi runs through this plain, in which were also established the other kraals forming the headquarters of regiments. These, too, were subsequently destroyed. Here in these kraals the principal regiments were wont to assemble annually at the great national military festival held in honour of the king, which is now a tradition of the past. Some years ago, when Cetywayo was full of ambition in regard to his military power, and anxious in every manner to consolidate it, he had a new magazine or depôt of arms built at the junction of the Black and White Umvolosi rivers. This magazine and kraal is called Amanzekanze, and is surrounded by a dense bush. The Amanzekanze kraal had, up to this time, held the reputation of being impregnable, and its approaches, it was said, were so difficult that they could only be forced at immense loss. The name of the kraal, Amanzekanze, translated is "Let the enemy come now." Coming now to the farming and domestic kraals, it may without fear of contradiction be asserted, after minute and careful inquiries, that no single instance can be adduced in which her Majesty's troops ever attacked or molested such unless first attacked and fired upon.