Note 3 — I.

The notorious Zulu King Tshaka's catastrophic reign began about 1814. Great tribes were, at quick intervals between then and 1820, driven headlong into Natal, only to sweep the peaceful inhabitants of the land away with them into the Cape Colony and elsewhere. Three or four of these appalling exoduses, taking place by no means only on the south-west boundary of Zululand, soon denuded Natal, and other adjacent territories, of the greater portion of their aboriginal population. The country was transformed into a howling wilderness, overrun with lions, hyænas, and wolves; and any stray wight, who had succeeded in evading the Zulu fury and was eking out an existence on wild-roots or shell-fish, was hunted by members of his own species, so far de-humanized, within half-a-dozen years, as to have become converted into expert and voracious cannibals.