JOHN DUNN IN ZULULAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1183, 27 January 1880, Page 3

JOHN DUNN IN ZULULAND.

John Dunn, trader and hunter, the chief of a numerous tribe of #ulus, and the intimate friend and councillor of Cetewayo, has, by the carrent of affairs in South Africa, become a man of mark. For years buried in the obscurity of the Zulu hills, little was heard of him, and, as is usually the case when speculation about unknown people is rife, that little said was not much to his credit. Some believed he lived in Zululand to trade on Kaffir ignorance, aud to satisfy polyganiist longings j others, that he was either a deserter from a regiment, or an escaped convict, and could not live elsewhere with the same safety. Rumour, however, was wrong. The truth is that, as qnito a boy in Natal, he was left to gain his own living by trading with the natives. Having an adventnrous spirit, and being endowed with the courage and instincts of a Nimrod, he imagined Zulaland would prove a close hunting gronnd and an untried field for trade. The surmise was correct. The Zulus were only too ready to exchange oxen for guns and cartridges, jwd the country inself was a wilderness overrun by big game. I j was during a trading trip that I)unn was mixed np in a quarrel in which he took part against Cetewayo. Tho incident, which gave riso to a friendship with Cetewayo which lasted twenty years, and which Mr Duiiu says he has " never regretted," is worth recording in his own words :—": — " Years ago, when the brothers were quarrelling, I took part against Cetewayo. My party, however, were outnumbered and routed, after a terrible fight, and were flying in all directions. I was mounted on a grey horse, and had with me a sir-cham-bered revolver, with which I had j done fair execution. We were pursued to the bank of the Tugela, J which was running very high at the time, and quite impassable. There was certain death on the brink, probable death in it. ; I chose the latter. So I put my horse at the Tugela isfiiid got over safely, nnder a rain of assegais." The story was narrated modestly, but there is no doubt that the " grey horse" was ever a rallying point in the thickest of the battle. The courage which faced the foaming Tugela so won Cetewayo's heart that he sent messengers to the man who Exhibited it, seeking his friendship flfchd offering to give him land. The rest is soon told. The acquaintance that commenced in esteem soon ripened into friendship and oonfidence. Lanc(B were given to John Puun, wives weve offered bi*u, au<J

he became a great cheif and councillor in the Zulu nation. His tribe numbers 2000 men. The Unds secured to him are for use and occupation, but he has only a life interest in them. On his death they revert ' to the nation, to which they belong and not to the King. It was during the early part of his tradicg and residence in Zoluland that John Dunn carried on a lucrative trade in guns, which has been stigmatised by some people as contraband. The commerce was conducted openly ; the firearms came through Dolegoa Bay, and the qaestion is an open one. With the cattle obtained by the barter of guns, Dunn became the largest stockholder in Zululand. His wealth is computed by those who know at £40,000. At the time of the coronation of Cetewayo Mr Dunn was era. ployed by the Government in Natal to gather, and pass through Zululand to the different magistrates of the various districts of .Natal, Zulus who were required for the purpose of working on the railways and roads. The appointment was worth J2300 a-year, and the management of the undertaking, which required tact, was admirably carried oaf. John Dunn is not a tall man, but the symmetrical proportions of the figure of an athlete add height to his stature, and give one the idea of great energy and endurance. His eyes—the striking feature that emphasises a not unhandsome countenance — are of a steel-grey blue, full, penetrating, and continually changing their tint with the varyiog moods of a temper that is held under complete control. A tawny -brown beard adds to the somewhat leonine aspect of his face, which is redeemed from fierceness by the stamp of unmistakeable intelligence. His manner is that of a man whose will is law ] but his sj. oecb. has a gentleness about it, acquired, no doubt, from ! the constant use of what is really one of the most melodious languages in the world. There is a slight trace of a Scotch accent in his conversation, and a not unpleasant canniness suggestive of Scottish descent. Dunn is an unequalled shot as well as rider. He is fond of driving, and often harnesses four unbroken horses to a Cape cart, and, in order to "get them pretty quiet," as he sajs, goes " across country." It is across country ; straight up one hill-side and down another. Alarm is lost in confidence, and confidence in admiration and the matchless dexterity of a driver who in fall career unerringly steers clear of rocks and timber strewn in every direction. Report has uot nnduly magnified his powers as a whip ; but his driving is an exhibition of skill that would elict unaffected applause from the crack whips of the Four-in-hand Club. Without mishap, but with a jolting that makes dyspepsia an indefinite impossibility, he returns from bis spin up hill and down dale ; and just as the sun is setting behind the dark outline of mountains he drives through the short avenue of blue gums and yellow wood trees that leads to the front door of the only European residence in Zululand. The house is a sort of one-storied octangular-shaped cottage, built with stone walls three feet in thickness, with a few deeply embrasured windows snrmounted by a corrugated zinc roof. Round three parts of the house runs a deep verandah, which gives shade and coolness to the rooms and is often made to serve the purposes of a court for the administration of justice and the transaction of business. The rooms which aie large and lofty, are un boarded and nncarpeted. Neither the unsightliness or the discomfort of this arrangement is felt, as, by a Kaffir process of mixing earth with other material, the floors are quite smooth, hard, and level, and made to lesemble an olivegreen marble — an extremely pleasant contrast to the eye affected by the giare of the brazen sky outside. The rooms contain comfortable furniture and numberless skins — mostly trophies of the chase. One cheerful apartment is adorned by an artistic arrangement of the sportsman's favorite guns and weapons, whicliH are all specimens of the highest European workmanship, and many of them presents from men who came from England to the great hunter for the purpose of sport. Unlike men whose lives are lived al Jresco, Mr Dunn is a wide reader, and has an excellent library j of miscellaneous literature. Though books of travel and sport constitute his favorite authors, he is not above reading a good sensational novel. English journals and newspapers are always on the 1 table, especially the ' Field' and ' Sporting News.' In front of the house, there may be seen a wide-reaching amphitheatre of hills that are well wooded, and , skreatching meadows that are wellwatered, on which large herds of cattle find pasturage. The scene, tranquil as it is, is not Avaniing in animation. The presence of Kaffir kraals, and the life that surrounds them, make up a landscape that, is wild and picturesque. John Dunn has another residence further on in Zululand — a sort of Bhootingbox about seventy miles from Ulundi, the King's kraal. As a host, to guests with whom he finds himself in sympathy, Mr Dunn is charming, communicative on all topics except those of native administration and policy ; and as may be presumed of a man who has led a life of adventure, he never fails to be interesting. He has been charged with a habit of reticence amounting even to taciturnity and moroseness ; but those •who/ go judge him have probably

never seen him at the head of his table, dispensing a hospitality that has becomo proverbial ; pouring out over a pipe and a tumbler of his choicest brandy, in endless succession, story after story of native warfare, of porilous adventures and hairbreadth escapes, in all of which he has had a share.