AMONGST THE ZULUS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 85, 24 June 1879, Page 2

AMONGST THE ZULUS.

Tlie following " yarn" appears in tho Uifcenhnga Times, which states it was obtained i'iom u Z ilu some time ago : — '' Some years since a missionary went to the King's kraa^ with a view of converting him and his people to Christianity. Uo stayed there a few d'lyg, and the king agreed to hear him ou the following Sunday . Tho Sunday arrived, the k ng gathered his people together, aridvu^o called up two of his finest regiments to hear, what message had been brought to him froni the white men. Tho missionary, hoing told that they were ready to listen to him, roso and delivered an elegant but short sermon, in which he set forth the beauties of heaven as compared with the torments of the dark regions. lie told Uic'ra if they Hrtd a good ' life, did not steal, always spoke the truth, and, above all, kept ouly one wife, they would aftor death go to tho happy huntinggrounds, whero they would never miss their game, whero thoy would never die, but bo for ever and over far happier Ihun they wero * ' ever in tlu'ir happiest moments down here j ' wheivas, on the other hand, if thoy lived a bad life, and did what he had just told them they ought not to do, thoy would be cast into a tieniendousfire.BQ large that it would scorch up the whole of the Zulu nation, though they were as numerous rb locusts^ in a lew iromonts. The chief and people p*jd great attention to all the missionary said, and when he had finished the king asked l-im to dine with him. He accepted the invitation,but during the dinner noticed the people rusbiug about iu all directions collecting wood, which they were piling up in one spot. The missionary began to feel queer ;ho thought it looked ominous ; and the Zulu who told tho stoiyjjsuid he noticed , he did not eat any mo'o, but continued to " take largo draughts of milk, as if to cool himself. At length the dinner was over, but, ' before rising, the king turned nharply round . to the now affrighted in : BsiomVry and said, • What was that you said this morning about putting the great Zulu peoplo in a great fire after they were dead ? Come this way; awl _^ I will show you what the Zulus are ; you don't know them, I can see.' Ho took him , to the pile of wood, which had by this time . reached tremendous proportions — as, big as a bay store, the Zulu said— and had it set , afire 10 all round. When it was properly in a bltize, and gave out so much heat t'jofc no one could coino near it, tho King sum-. , ■ moned the two regiments who had listened to tho sermon, and ordered thorn to charge into tho burning pile and extinguish it. Naked as thoy were, without shoes or any

covering at nil, they rushed into the burning mass like madmen, raving nnd yelling, and did not stop till liardly a vestige of the fire renamed. The King then said to the missionary, 'You have seen that. That is what we wfll do with your hell. The Zulus won't pW£ with your fires, and von had better clear out of this country at once, or I will have- a "little fire" made for you to put out.' The missionaiy iocA the hint, and left the kraal the same evening. Is it any wonder, ask people, aftt-r this, ihat G-atling guna and rocket batteries have no terror for the Zulus ? — and it is certain they have nouc. The Zulus, when ordered to attack, do attack; and though they may be mown down by thousands, still come on. until they conquer or die. It is a tradition innoug them, which Lord Chclmsford would do well to take into consideration in his future movements in Zululand." ===== (

Speak gently, speak gently; no matter how mnoh bigger and how much, broader across the shoulders than yourself the other man is, nor how cross he looks, speak gently, The bigger and broader aud Grosser — the gentlier. A wit having been asked by another person, whether ho would advise him to lend a certain friend of theirs money, said — " What ! lend him money ! You might &ivc him an emetic, and he wouldn't return it." " Keep a sweet spirit," advises a contemporary. From which we infer, says the Nomstown Herald, that ho prefers sugar in his'n. Most persons, however, keep a good article of spirit, and let their Mends sweeten il to suit themselves. There is many a man whoproys fervently not to be led into temptation, and then goo into it of his own accord, expecting the Lord to get him out. An English writer says, in his advice to , young married women, that their mother I Kve married a gardener. It might be added, says the Chicago Tribune, that the gardener, in consequence of his match, lost his situation.