[ P L ^ I R I z'^o
U M B A M B U AND UMPENGULU,
YOUNG ZULUS IN THEIR DANCING COSTUME,
THE plumed and kilted Zulu, in all the gay trappings of ftirs and beads with which he adoras himself on festi^'e
occasions, is perhaps as picturesque, if not more so, than any oOier race on the African Contiuent. The variety of
costume adopted by these people, differing in the style of skins and feathei-s and the coloui- and arrangement of the
beads mt h which they decorate their pei'sons, is usually a matter of taste amongst the individual wearers, some displaying
much more grace than others in the adjxistment of their rude ornaments.
Umbanibu, the figure ou the left, is a youug man belonging to a kraal near Umlazi, decorated, like his companion,
for a marriage-dance: a noble i>lume of eagle-feathers sunnounts his bead, which is bound round by the tail of a
tigei-cat. The skirts, composed of furs and the tails of various wild animals, remind us of the Highland kilts in
t h e i r general appearance, if we except the nature of the material, The long appendages on each side of the kilt are
formed of narrow strips of ox-hide, twisted in alternate angles. The knee and ankle tufts are the hair and taib? of
the Angora goat.
The other figure, Umpengulu, shews the back view of the di-ess, which is often handsomely worked \vith beads of
various coloiu's. lu his hair is an ivory snuff-spoon, and a black ostrich plume depends from the back of his head.
In the hands of bt>th the young men are knob-kirris,* which are used in beating time during the dance. The scene
is in a kraal near Umlazi, shewing the entrance to the cattle-fold.
On one occasion, during my visit to the Zulu country, a certain Induna having heard that a " ta;/ali man," or
w i t c h - d o c t o r , t was in the neighbourhood, "who could write him in a book and take him across the sea," set out on a
j o u r a e y of foi'ty miles to search for me, in order that 1 might take his portrait. Tliis is the only instance I have
met with amongst these people of an anxiety to be represented. Tliey almost invariably evinced a fear of an ai't they
could not clearly comprehend, and many shrunk back with dread at the idea of being painted, saying that they should
die in consequence. One little girl actually went into hysterics through fear, and 1 was obliged to pacify her witli
beads. Another subject of my pencil, himself a witch-doctor, wearing a necklace of medicine berries with a selection
of small bones and panther's whiskers, came to me on the morning following the magic operation, saying that he was very
bad in the back, and insisted on it that 1 had bewitchcd him ! I was sitting at my breakfast, under a mimosa-tree, at
the time, partaking of alternate morsels of antelope and hippopotamus flesh, cooked on the ramrod of my gun, stuck
crosswisc over the fire : old Mathlapi, " the gi-eat black one," was sitting near us; we had only one fork, and by some
accident it wounded him slightly in the foot: the burly savage immediately seized the miscreant fork, declaring that it
was his prisoner, and became his property in consequence of having scratched his foot. Remonstrance was useless, and
Mathlapi probably eats his beef with the fork at the present moment.
• II is reiuarkiible timt similar
t Tiie term applicO by lli« Zulus
n I took a ikelch ut' Mathlapi,
uiied by tlic New Hulianilers, t
my power ur represcniiiig tlic lininan (
said I was " making iiis shadow."
; cnllcd by tliem mrris.
uiitenanec, which lliey a.sp.ribed ti witibcraO, or •Icnlings witli evil spirits.
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