EQUATORIAL LakEs). - Chobi, Ma-Kwakwa, Ma-Gwanza, .M a-Longwa, Ba-Hlengwe, Bila-Kulu, Ma-Ndonda, Gwa-Tevi, Ma-Kna, MaNgwangwara, Ma-Tambwe, Ma-Wa, Wa-Hiyao (Yao or Ajawa), Ma-Ganya, Wa-Swaheli, Wa-Segua, Wa-Sambara, WaZaramo, Wa-Kamba, Wa-Nika, Wa-Pokomo.

The pedigree and affinity of the Zulus, that is, the northern branch of the Zulu-Kaffre group, are given under KAFFRARIA. Here it will suffice to add that since the establishment of the Zulu military ascendency early in the 19th centnry various Zulu hordes have successively invaded and overrun a great part of southeast Africa, as far as and even beyond the Lake Nyassa district. Throughout these regions they are variously known as Ma-Zitu, Ma-Ravi, Mad`srgone (Umgone), Matebele (Ama-Ndebeli), Ma-Viti, and Aba-Zanzi. Such is the terror inspired by these fierce warriors that many of the conquered tribes, such as the Wa-Nindi of :Mozambique, have adopted the very name of their conquerors or oppressors. Hence the impression that the true Zulus are far more numerous north of the Limpopo than has ever been the case. In most places they have already become extinct or absorbed in the surrounding populations. But they still hold their ground as the ruling element in the region between the Limpopo and the lower Zambesi, which from them takes the name of Matebeleland, and which, like Zululand itself, has recently (1888) become a British protectorate.

Laws and Customs. - The Zulus possess an elaborate system of laws regulating the inheritance of personal property (which consists chiefly of cattle), the complexity arising from the practice of polygamy and the exchange of cattle made upon marriage. The giving of cattle in the latter case is generally referred to as a barter and sale of the bride, from which indeed it is not easily distinguishable. But it is regarded in a different light by the natives themselves. The kraal is under the immediate rule of its headman, who is a patriarch responsible for the good behaviour of all its members. Over the headman, whose authority may extend to more than one kraal, is the tribal chief. The exercise by some of the principal chiefs, during the reigns of mPanda and his son, of the power of life and death could not always be controlled by the central authority. Several of the Zulu customs resemble those of the Jews, such as the Feast of First Fruits, held upon the ripening of the maize, when the whole nation gathers at the king's kraal, and the custom of raising up seed to a deceased brother. By the custom of 'ninthlonipa a woman carefully avoids the utterance of any word which occurs in the names of the principal members of her husband's family : e.g., if she have a brother-in-law named uNkomo, she would not use the Zulu for "cow," inkonw, but would invent some other word for it. The employment of " witch doctors " for "smelling out" criminals or abatagati (usually translated "wizards," but meaning evildoers of any kind, such as poisoners) is still common in Zululand, as in neighbouring countries, although it was discouraged by Cetshwayo, who established "kraals of refuge" for the reception of persons rescued by him from condemnation as abatagati.

Population. - No means exist for estimating the present population of Zululand. The country was at the time of the late war regarded as less densely inhabited than the colony of Natal. The Zulu army. was estimated to contain twenty-three regiments, of 40,400 Men 111 all, and, although the enrolment was voluntary, it may be assumed that it comprised nearly all the able-bodied men of the nation. In addition to the heavy mortality sustained by the Zulus in the war many lives have been lost in subsequent conflicts in which they have engaged amongst themselves.

History. - The earliest record of contact between Europeans and the Zulu race is probably the account of the wreck of the " Doddington " in 1756. The survivors met with hospitable treatment at the bands of the natives of Natal, and afterwards proceeded up the coast to St Lucia Bay, where they landed. They describe the natives as "very proud and haughty, and not so accommodating as those lately left." They differed from the other natives in the superior neatness of their method of preparing their food, and were more cleanly in their persons, bathing every morning, apparently as an act of devotion. Their chief pride seemed to be to keep their hair in order. It is added that they watched strictly over their women.

In 1780 the Zulu tribe inhabited the valley of the White Umfolosi river under the chieftainship of Senzangakona. At that time the Zulus numbered some few- thousands only, being subject to the parammint chief Dingiswayo, who ruled over the mTetwa tribe, which inhabited the country to the north-east of the Tugela. llingiswayo is represented as having been very much in advance of other chiefs in those parts in enlightenment and intelligence. He opened up a trade with the Portuguese, bartering ivory and oxen for beads and brass. He was also very warlike, and introduced a strict military organization among his people, by means of which he obtained the ascendency over neighbouring tribes, including that of the Zulus. 'Upon the death of Senzangakona at the beginning of the 19th century he was succeeded by a son named Tshaka, who had served as an officer in the army of Dingiswayo, whose favour he won through his force of character and talents. Dingiswayo having been killed in battle, the mnTetwa tribe sought the protection of Tshaka, who lost no time in further developing the new military organization, and very soon became master of nearly the whole of south-eastern Africa from the Limpopo to Cape Colony, including the settlement of Natal, Basutoland, a large part of the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal Republic. The terror of the Zulu arms was, moreover, carried far into the interior through the revolt of a Zulu chief, Mzilikazi (Moselekatse), who conquered a vast territory towards the north-west.

Tshaka's strict discipline and mode of attack, in which the long missile weapon of the other tribes was replaced by a short stabbing assegai, was such that nothing in the mode of warfare of those opposed to him could withstand him. Ile overran the district of Natal with his armies in 1820 ; but crowds of the northern tribes driven before his onslaught passed through the country about 1812.

In 1825 an English naval officer, Lieutenant Farewell, visited Tshaka with the object of obtaining leave to establish a settlement in what is now the district of Natal. He found the king at Umgtmgindhlovu, "surrounded by a large number of chiefs, and about 8000 or 9000 armed men, observing a state and ceremony in our introduction that we little expected." The king showed his visitor much friendliness, making him a grant of land in that neighbourhood. Lieutenant Farewell took formal possession of the territory he had received, which lie described as nearly depopulated and not containing more than 300 or 400 inhabitants, on 27th August 1825. The Zulu monarch, being anxious to open a political connexion with the Cape and English Governments, entrusted in 1828 one of his principal chiefs, Sotobi, and a companion to the care of Lieutenant King, to be conducted on an embassage to Cape Town, Sotohi being commissioned to proceed to the king of England. From causes which are not now certainly known these people were not allowed to proceed beyond Port Elizabeth, and were soon sent back to Zululand. On 23(1 September 1828 Tshaka was murdered by his brother, Mhlangana, and a few days afterwards MIdangana was killed by another brother, Dingane. Tshaka's reign had involved an immense sacrifice of human life, but he had set before himself the aim of establishing a great kingdom, and, having succeeded in that, his home rule had been relieved by acts of generosity and statesmanship.

What is recorded of. Dinganc's reign shows him in the light of a bloodthirsty and cruel monster without a redeeming feature. The attempts made by the emigrant Dutch Boers under Piet Retief to establish friendly relations with him, and obtain a cession of the district of Natal, ended in time massacre of the whole party of seventy of their leading men at the king's kraal (February 1838), and of all members of their families left behind in Natal who could not be collected into fortified camps. Two unsuccessful attempts were made to avenge the deaths of the emigrant Boers. A Dutch command under Pieter Uys invaded the Zulu country, but was compelled to retreat, leaving their loader behind them, while a considerable force, composed of English settlers, Boers, and natives, entered Zululand at the mouth of the Tugela, and was completely annihilated, after inflicting very great loss on the Zulus. A detachment of the Zulu army on this occasion entered Natal and compelled the settlers at the port to take refuge on hoard a ship. After a further attack by Dingane the emigrant Boers and settlers again invaded Zululand in December 1838, and after a severe engagement defeated the Zulu army with great slaughter on the banks of the Blood river, which owes its name to the results of the victory. In 1840 the Boors agreed to support Dingane's brother mPande in rebellion against him. The movement was completely successful, several of Dingane's regiments going over to mPande. Dingane passed into Swaziland in advance of his retreating forces, and was there murdered, while mPande was crowned king of Zululand by the Boers, who received in exchange for their services the much-coveted district of Natal. During the next sixteen years of mPande's reign nothing occurred to disturb the peaceful relations between the Zulus and the Natal Government. In1856 a civil war broke out between two of mPande's sons, Cetshwayo and Umbulazi, who were rival claimants for the succession. A bloody battle was fought between them on the banks of the Tugela in December 1856, in which Umbulazi and many of his followers were slain. The Zulu country continued, however, excited and disturbed, until the Government of Natal in 1861 obtained the formal nomination of a successor to mPande ; and Cetshwayo was appointed. mPande died in October 1872, but practically the government of Zululand had been in Cetshwayo's hands since the victory of 1856, owing both to political circumstances and the failing health of his father. In 1873 the Zulu nation appealed to the Natal Government to preside over the installation of Cetshwayo' as king ; and this request was acceded to. The rule of mPande was in earlier years a severe one, the executions ordered by him being so numerous in 1859 as to evoke remonstrances from Cetshwayo, who warned the king that he would drive all the people over into Natal. In 1856 and for some years afterwards a considerable exodus of refugees did take place into the colony, lust by 1871 the tide appeared to be turning the other way. In 1854 the native population in Natal was reckoned at from 100,000 to 120,000. By 1873, owing largely to the influx of refugees from Zululand, it had risen to 282,783 ; but five years later it had not increased to more than 290,035, some hundreds of heads of families having returned to Zululand.

The encroachments of the Transvaal Boers upon the borders of Zululand having for many years exposed the British Government to urgent appeals on the part of the Zulus for its intervention, a second attempt was made by the Government of Natal, and this time with success, to induce the Boers to submit the boundary disputes between them and their neighbours to arbitration. A commission was appointed, composed of three British officers, who in June 1878 pronounced a decision substantially in favour of the Zulus. But the high commissioner, Sir Bartle Frere, had determined upon measures for re-modelling the Zulu nation with a view to the confederation of the South African colonies and states. The invasion of Zululand took place in January 1879, and the war was ended by the capture of the king at the enci of August. Cetshwayo having been conveyed to Cape Town, the Zulu country was portioned out among eleven Zulu chiefs, a white adventurer, and a Basuto chief who had done good service in the war. This arrangement was productive of much bloodshed and disturbance, and in 1882 the British Government determined to restore Cetshwayo again to power. In the meantime, however, the deepest blood feuds had been engendered between the chiefs Zibelm and Hamu on the one side and the neighbouring tribes who supported the ex-king and his family on the other. These people suffered severely at the hands of the two chiefs, who were assisted by a hand of white freebooters. Zibehu, having created a formidable force of well-armed and trained warriors, was left in independence on the borders of Cetshwayo's territory, while the latter was restrained by the conditions of his restoration from any military enterprise or defensive measures. A collision very soon took place ; but in the conflicts that followed Zibelm's forces were victorious, and on 22d July 1883, led by a troop of mounted whites, be made a sudden descent upon Cuts]) wayo's kraal at Ulundi, which he destroyed, massacring such of the inmates of both sexes as could not save themselves by flight. The king escaped, though wounded, into the Reserve, which had been placed under British rule ; there he died in 1884. Ile left a Son, Dinuzuln, who sought the assistance of some of the Transvaal ifoen against Zi helm, whom be defeated and drove into the Reserve. These Boers, not a large number, claimed as a stipulated reward for their services the cession of the greater part, and the more valuable part, of central Zululand. The Government of Natal has recently attempted to mediate on behalf of the Zulus and hiss accepted on their behalf, in spite of their protests, a line which roughly divides central Znhtland into two equal independent Of these the north- western has been created into the ndependent Boer state already mentioned. The rest of central Zululand is administered, with the Reserve, as a British protectorate.

See John Chase, A Reprint of Authentic Documents relating to NaNI (Grahamstown, 1843); Saxe Bannister, Hum«ne Policy (London, 1830), and authorities collected in Appendix ; Delegorgne, Voyage de Afrique Australe (Paris, 847); Allen Francis Gardiner, Narrative of a Journey to the ZooN Country (London, 1836); Leslie, Among the Zulus (Edinburgh, 1875); Bishop Colenso, Extracts from the Blue Roods or Digest 'sport Zulu Affairs (in the British Museum), Cetsh wayo's Dutchman (London, 1880) ; FrAlleeS Col en so, The Ruin of Zululand (London, 1884); R. N. Cast, Sketch of the Modern Languages of Africa (London, 1883). See also authorities cited under NATAL. (F. E. C.-A. U. K.)