DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0290
The Zulus and the Spartans
215
The beer was levied on the civil villages in the midst of which the ekandas lay, and the
grain from which it was made was either grown on the king’s fields at the ekandas, or
was taken in lieu of taxes for the support of the military establishment.89 The main
charge for the army, however, was the meat it consumed. This was provided from the
king’s herds, for the protection of which, in one sense, the ekandas were built and the
military system devised. “Six, eight, and sometimes ten or twelve” cattle90 were
slaughtered daily at a single ekanda in Dingaan’s time. “The evening meal”, says
Gardiner,91 “is the most characteristic, and which, from the situation of my hut near one
of their feeding places,92 I had the most frequent opportunities of witnessing. Every
regiment is divided into sections, and over each of them is an officer appointed, whose par-
ticular charge are the shields and the distribution of meat, of which he is the carver. The
beer is always drunk in the area included within the inner fence, and often in the presence
of the king; but, for the supper, every section is separately collected in some convenient
spot in that quarter, within the fences. The meat is generally stewed in a large black
earthen bowl, with a smaller one inverted, and cemented round the top 93 to prevent the
steam from escaping.... It is usually dark before their repasts are ready, when the meat
is brought upon a mat about two feet square, and placed upon the ground, round which
the whole party thickly crowd in a dense circle, often two or three deep. The carver
then, with an assegai head upon a short stick, which constitutes his knife, apportions
rations to every second or third man, who, in his turn, divides it with his collateral neigh-
bours, by the joint effort of their teeth; the recipient being always privileged to the first
bite. So positive is the labour which is necessary before they can venture to swallow these
tough morsels, that the operation is distinctly audible at a considerable distance; and
when the whole is devoured (for the word ‘eat’ is too mild an expression for the opera-
tion, which is over in a few minutes) the whole body becomes a convenient napkin, and
is plentifully besmeared with the fat and grease which adhere to their hands and lips,
while the most thrifty take this opportunity of reburnishing the brass which encircles
their throat and arms.”
*
* *
I
Such then were the main features of the Zulu military regime and ekanda life. Its
consequences for the physique and bearing of the people were profound. “Les Ama-
89 Delegorgue, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 238 sq.
90 Gardiner, op. cit., p. 51.
91 Ibid., p. 55, sq.
92 Cf. the Spartan syssitia. The section may be computed at from twenty to thirty men. For an equally
vivid and realistic account of the Matebele syssitia see Mackenzie, op. cit., p. 322 sq.
93 With cow-dung among the Matebele, Mackenzie, op. cit., p. 321.
215
The beer was levied on the civil villages in the midst of which the ekandas lay, and the
grain from which it was made was either grown on the king’s fields at the ekandas, or
was taken in lieu of taxes for the support of the military establishment.89 The main
charge for the army, however, was the meat it consumed. This was provided from the
king’s herds, for the protection of which, in one sense, the ekandas were built and the
military system devised. “Six, eight, and sometimes ten or twelve” cattle90 were
slaughtered daily at a single ekanda in Dingaan’s time. “The evening meal”, says
Gardiner,91 “is the most characteristic, and which, from the situation of my hut near one
of their feeding places,92 I had the most frequent opportunities of witnessing. Every
regiment is divided into sections, and over each of them is an officer appointed, whose par-
ticular charge are the shields and the distribution of meat, of which he is the carver. The
beer is always drunk in the area included within the inner fence, and often in the presence
of the king; but, for the supper, every section is separately collected in some convenient
spot in that quarter, within the fences. The meat is generally stewed in a large black
earthen bowl, with a smaller one inverted, and cemented round the top 93 to prevent the
steam from escaping.... It is usually dark before their repasts are ready, when the meat
is brought upon a mat about two feet square, and placed upon the ground, round which
the whole party thickly crowd in a dense circle, often two or three deep. The carver
then, with an assegai head upon a short stick, which constitutes his knife, apportions
rations to every second or third man, who, in his turn, divides it with his collateral neigh-
bours, by the joint effort of their teeth; the recipient being always privileged to the first
bite. So positive is the labour which is necessary before they can venture to swallow these
tough morsels, that the operation is distinctly audible at a considerable distance; and
when the whole is devoured (for the word ‘eat’ is too mild an expression for the opera-
tion, which is over in a few minutes) the whole body becomes a convenient napkin, and
is plentifully besmeared with the fat and grease which adhere to their hands and lips,
while the most thrifty take this opportunity of reburnishing the brass which encircles
their throat and arms.”
*
* *
I
Such then were the main features of the Zulu military regime and ekanda life. Its
consequences for the physique and bearing of the people were profound. “Les Ama-
89 Delegorgue, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 238 sq.
90 Gardiner, op. cit., p. 51.
91 Ibid., p. 55, sq.
92 Cf. the Spartan syssitia. The section may be computed at from twenty to thirty men. For an equally
vivid and realistic account of the Matebele syssitia see Mackenzie, op. cit., p. 322 sq.
93 With cow-dung among the Matebele, Mackenzie, op. cit., p. 321.