DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0277
202
W. S. Ferguson
their former masters. Should they succeed in killing and in taking captive, they at once
occupy the position of their former owners, and on a second war have their boy to carry
their food and water. Should they not succeed in killing man, woman, or little child,
their position is still one of dishonour. They are not men. . . .The Matebele soldier-
town has nothing domestic about it; it is not a town, but barracks. The voice of the
infant, the song of the mother, are almost unknown there. Only after some signal service
does the chief bestow, as a great reward to the soldier, a captive girl to be his wife”.
The method of recruiting among the Zulus being as above described, it is clear that
the number of regiments and ekandas varied at different times. Thus on one occasion
Isaacs21 notes that Chaka had collected twelve regiments with white shields and seven-
teen regiments with black, all warriors with wounds. These, the King claimed, were but
half of his soldiers.22 For Dingaan’s reign we have a list of twenty-six regiments.23 Din-
gaan, says Gardiner,24 had from “fourteen to sixteen large ekandas, and several of a smaller
size”. Two lists for Panda’s (Mpande’s) time, one for ca. 1854 and the other for ca. 1872,25
contain each the names of fourteen regiments, the “boys” in the first list being the
veterans or the superannuated in the second. On occasion (1841), however, Panda could
assemble twenty-five regiments at his capital, the appearance of regiments with “red,
blue (?), yellow, white and red, and white and black shields” disclosing the presence of
the third class, or reserves,26 of which we shall come to speak in a moment. At the battle
of Ulundi (1879), in Cetshwayo’s (Cetywayo’s) reign, there were present, according.to a
Zulu prisoner,27 thirteen, or perhaps fourteen, regiments.28 These figures tell their own
21 Isaacs, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 140. Arbousset, op. cit., p. 270, describes a trick by which the Zulu kings multi-
plied for the benefit of strangers the number of their soldiers.
22 The reserves were absent. Isaacs here allows 1,000 men to a regiment. If we give it 700 and accept Chaka’s
claim, his total force would be about 40,000.
23 Arbousset, op. cit., p. 285. This list was derived from a native named Rasebouai, who had served for four
years in the “ serail ” of Dingaan. Thirteen of the twenty-six regiments included in it were made up, says Arbousset
(op. cit., p. 287), of “soldats eprouves” called emetlopes, “whites”, and the others of emeniamas, “blacks”. The
shields of the former were white “ou bien bigarres”; those of the latter were black or red. In this list, accordingly,
those who did not belong to the ekandas were included. Vide infra p. 204.
24 Gardiner, op. cit., p. 92.
25 Shooter, op. cit., p. 338; Gibson, op. cit., p. 110.
28 Delegorgue, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 400 sq.
27 C. Norris-Newman, In Zululand with the British in 1879, London, 1880, p. 320 sq. I have not been able
to make out what the eight corps were to which the regiments are assigned in this list. One of them, however, Um-
lambongwenga, is apparently a regiment of younger “men ” in Shooter’s list. I note that in four of the five lists there
is a Duguza regiment. For an explanation of several of the names see Arbousset, op. cit., p. 292 sqq. Several names
of Chaka’s regiments are found in Bishop Colenso, Zulu-English Dictionary, passim.
28 It is worth noting perhaps, that there were thirteen regiments in Moselekatze’s army in 1888; A. R.
Colquhoun, Matabeleland, London, [1892], p. 37.
W. S. Ferguson
their former masters. Should they succeed in killing and in taking captive, they at once
occupy the position of their former owners, and on a second war have their boy to carry
their food and water. Should they not succeed in killing man, woman, or little child,
their position is still one of dishonour. They are not men. . . .The Matebele soldier-
town has nothing domestic about it; it is not a town, but barracks. The voice of the
infant, the song of the mother, are almost unknown there. Only after some signal service
does the chief bestow, as a great reward to the soldier, a captive girl to be his wife”.
The method of recruiting among the Zulus being as above described, it is clear that
the number of regiments and ekandas varied at different times. Thus on one occasion
Isaacs21 notes that Chaka had collected twelve regiments with white shields and seven-
teen regiments with black, all warriors with wounds. These, the King claimed, were but
half of his soldiers.22 For Dingaan’s reign we have a list of twenty-six regiments.23 Din-
gaan, says Gardiner,24 had from “fourteen to sixteen large ekandas, and several of a smaller
size”. Two lists for Panda’s (Mpande’s) time, one for ca. 1854 and the other for ca. 1872,25
contain each the names of fourteen regiments, the “boys” in the first list being the
veterans or the superannuated in the second. On occasion (1841), however, Panda could
assemble twenty-five regiments at his capital, the appearance of regiments with “red,
blue (?), yellow, white and red, and white and black shields” disclosing the presence of
the third class, or reserves,26 of which we shall come to speak in a moment. At the battle
of Ulundi (1879), in Cetshwayo’s (Cetywayo’s) reign, there were present, according.to a
Zulu prisoner,27 thirteen, or perhaps fourteen, regiments.28 These figures tell their own
21 Isaacs, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 140. Arbousset, op. cit., p. 270, describes a trick by which the Zulu kings multi-
plied for the benefit of strangers the number of their soldiers.
22 The reserves were absent. Isaacs here allows 1,000 men to a regiment. If we give it 700 and accept Chaka’s
claim, his total force would be about 40,000.
23 Arbousset, op. cit., p. 285. This list was derived from a native named Rasebouai, who had served for four
years in the “ serail ” of Dingaan. Thirteen of the twenty-six regiments included in it were made up, says Arbousset
(op. cit., p. 287), of “soldats eprouves” called emetlopes, “whites”, and the others of emeniamas, “blacks”. The
shields of the former were white “ou bien bigarres”; those of the latter were black or red. In this list, accordingly,
those who did not belong to the ekandas were included. Vide infra p. 204.
24 Gardiner, op. cit., p. 92.
25 Shooter, op. cit., p. 338; Gibson, op. cit., p. 110.
28 Delegorgue, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 400 sq.
27 C. Norris-Newman, In Zululand with the British in 1879, London, 1880, p. 320 sq. I have not been able
to make out what the eight corps were to which the regiments are assigned in this list. One of them, however, Um-
lambongwenga, is apparently a regiment of younger “men ” in Shooter’s list. I note that in four of the five lists there
is a Duguza regiment. For an explanation of several of the names see Arbousset, op. cit., p. 292 sqq. Several names
of Chaka’s regiments are found in Bishop Colenso, Zulu-English Dictionary, passim.
28 It is worth noting perhaps, that there were thirteen regiments in Moselekatze’s army in 1888; A. R.
Colquhoun, Matabeleland, London, [1892], p. 37.