Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1879 — ZULU LAND. [ARTICLE]

ZULU LAND.

The British Disaster in South Africa. The disaster to the British expedition against the Zulu Kaffirs in South Africa will have the same effect on the hostile tribes on the northern borders of Cape Colony and Natal as would a disaster to our own troops on the Indian frontier have on the hostile Indians. Since 1811 there have been six wars against the Kaffirs, each one settling some new issue with the natives in and north of Cape Colony. The present war had its origin in the complications growing out of the war in 1877, in which the English espoused the cause of the Fingoes against the Galekas, an independent tribe. This war closed in June, 1878, but in the meantime new difficulties arose with the Zulu Kaffirs on the northern borders of the Transvaal Republic. This territory was annexed to the British colonies in 1877, and the claim of the Zulus to the land on Blood river was disputed in the new settlement of affairs. The new Zulu King protested; and, when the war of 1878 closed, it was discovered that he had endeavored, or was endeavoring, to form an alliance with the independent chief Secocoem in Pretoria, and was making arrangements to hold the lands in dispute. Lord Chelmsford, the officer in command of the native and British forces, massed his army for a campaign against the Zulus. Sir Bartie Frere, Governor of the South African colonies, had meanwhile dispatched an ultimatum to Cettewayo. the Zulu King, recognizing the justice of the Zulus’ claims to the disputed territory, but insisting on compensation for farmers who had to leave it through fear of Cetewayo, the payment of fines and surrender of certain chiefs engaged in outrages, the disbanding of the Zulu army, the establishment of a British Resident in Zululand with much power, a fair trial for all offenders, permission for missionaries to return to the country, and the freedom of Zulus to marry on coming of age. (A Zulu cannot marry under 40.) A month was given the King to make up his mind, and he promptly refused to assent to the conditions. The Zulu King had disbanded his army in December, and had ordered compensation made to settlers, but the conditions as to missionaries and change in marriage customs seems to have provoked his resentment. His reply should have been received before Jan. 11; but, as it was not, war was declared, and the British troops and native auxiliaries advanced. Cetewayo, the Zulu King, is reported the most powerful African monarch south of the equator. He roles over 10,000 square miles of territory and 300,000 people. He has an army of 40,000 men armed with breech-loading rifles, and to some of the regiments are attached batteries of artillery. The frontier corps, directly opposite to the British, was about 10,000 strong, but this could be easily reinforced. Against the Zulu army the British authorities sent an army of 15,000 men, one-third of whom W’ere British regulars. A Battle with a Tarantula in Texas. The tarantula is the desperado of the spider family; it frequently attains the size of the hand; and, with its great, glaring, black eyes and frightful claws, seldom fails to present an appearance so formidable that a sensitive lady, even if used to seeing the tarantula, will scream at the sight. The tarantula is, in fact, only a big spider, and usually makes his home in the open prairie, dwelling with his family in a nest concealed beneath the tall grass. If you tackle him in his retreat you will very soon repent your temerity, for he springs at you like a tiger, jumping to an astonishing height—sometimes three or four feet. He is one of the most poisonous of the family of the arachnae, and his bite is said to be nore fatal than that of the rattlesnake. In a settlement called Grapevine Prairie, near Fort Worth, some time ago, the sen of a farmer named Featherstone was one day occupied gathering rocks on the roadside. Upon overturning a large flat rock he was suddenly confronted by a large tarantula, the size of a man’s hand, snugly ensconced in his nest along with a number of young tarantulas. The big one was yellow and black-striped, and displayed the same inimitable color that nature bestows on the “ beautiful snake.” Seizing a large stick, Master Featherstone attacked the enemy in his stronghold, and was met with an unexpected resistance. He succeeded in breaking off one leg, or rather claw, of the devil-fish of dry land, but the tarantula, enraged, sprung upon the aggressor, and, quick as thought, with ids great black eyes glittering with fiendish ferocity, fastened himself on the boy’s hand and arm. Before he could be dislodged the tarantula had inflicted two probably fatal bites on the hand and arm, both of which subsequently swelled to three times their natural size—so virulent is the poison of this desperado of the prairies. The boy, however, succeeded in killing the tarantula.— St. Louis GlobeDemocrat.