Eventually Fynn could come and go as he pleased, and he decided to explore to the south, into the amaPondo country of King Faku. Nine months later, laden with ivory, he eventually reappeared at Port Natal. A description of his arrival by Nathaniel Isaacs, a newcomer to the port and also a dedicated diarist, relates that Fynn was barefoot, wearing a crownless straw hat and clothed in skins, all his European garments having perished long since. He was also accompanied by over one hundred amaPondo followers who would not leave his side.
Much had happened at Port Natal during Fynn’s absence: other ships had called in and more trader/adventurers had landed; the Julia, on a return sailing to the Cape had vanished en route, no trace of her ever being found and James King, the former captain of theSalisbury, had travelled to England in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the Colonial Office to acquire Port Natal. The British government was, however, interested in trade and suggested that King should return to Zululand and exploit its commercial potential. With a glib tongue, King rounded up a number of speculative investors in London and, having chartered the merchant brig Mary, he set sail for the Cape, taking on board an eleven-year-old ship’s apprentice by the name of Charles Rawden Maclean, a future author, whose record of his and his companion’s adventures is arguably the most accurate and truthful of all those who set pen to paper at Port Natal.
Calling in at St Helena on the return journey to Natal, King also recruited the above-mentioned Nathaniel Isaacs, a Jewish youth of seventeen years who was bored with the social restrictions of the small island and the mundane grind of his job in his uncle’s trading store. He craved a life of adventure and would be fortunate in finding thrilling exploits aplenty awaiting him at Port Natal. But in recording his experiences – and many of them were astounding enough without need for embellishment – the truth was not sufficient and he tarnished his tales with exaggeration. A few years later, when down on his luck and contemplating the publication of his diaries, Isaacs wrote to Fynn, who was also thinking of appearing in print, suggesting that Fynn should make the Zulu monarchs ‘. . . as bloodthirsty as you can and endeavour to give an estimate of the number of people they murdered during their reign, and also describe the frivolous crimes people lose their lives for. It all tends to swell up the work and make it interesting.’ Therefore Isaacs’ descriptions, and by implication those of Fynn also, of his encounters with the Zulu people, and their kings in particular, must be regarded as suspect.
When King approached Port Natal aboard the Mary, nothing had been heard of the occupants of the bay for many months and it was believed that, like those of the Julia, they had perished. As King sailed close in, a violent storm suddenly erupted, driving theMary onto the now familiar sandbar that blocked the entrance to the harbour. Within a few moments the Mary was stuck fast and the pounding seas began their work of destruction. King, his crew and the young Nathaniel Isaacs, clung to the stricken vessel all night but luckily were rescued the next morning.
By this time most of the white inhabitants had taken native wives; they also hunted, fished and took their leisure in the sun. A bountiful and fair exchange, most of them concluded, for the loss of civilisation. One wonders what Shaka, in retrospect, must have thought of the arrangement that he had made and whether or not he regretted having the white men, ever increasing in number, on his doorstep. Shortly after Fynn returned from Pondoland for a second time, Shaka decided to get his money’s worth out of his visitors and demanded the presence of every person at the port including the new castaway traders from the Mary. They were ordered to assemble complete with their weapons. Shaka was about to go to war again and demanded the support of every man at Port Natal. There was much foot-shuffling and many attempts to plead exemption, but Shaka was adamant and, as Fynn put it, it was quickly realised:
. . . the more we showed willing the better it would be and Shaka, to underline the power he commanded over his own people and the whites alike, pointed out in so many words, that the traders at Port Natal were little better than castaways, marooned on a coast seldom visited by other ships. Furthermore, if the mood took him, he could destroy us all with no one left to tell the tale.
On his return from a successful expedition, Shaka was generous, sharing the spoils amongst all who had taken part. But those accused of cowardice were summarily executed.
But on this occasion the foray planned by Shaka was more than just a raid: it was a full-scale war of conquest and the traders, having arrived early at the main assembly point, witnessed the coming of the various regiments: Fynn’s is a unique description of the greatest army that black Africa had ever seen deploying for war – little different, in fact, to the armies of Europe that had assembled, in much the same manner, ten years earlier at Waterloo:
The whole body of men, boys and women amounted, as nearly as we could reckon, to 50,000. All proceeded in close formation, and when looked at from a distance nothing could be seen but a cloud of dust. We had not rested from the time we started, and were parched and almost perishing from thirst, when, coming to a marshy stream, about sunset, the craving to obtain water caused a general and excessive confusion. After the first regiment had passed, the whole of the swamp became nothing but mud, yet this mud was eaten and swallowed with avidity by the following regiments. Several men and boys were trampled to death; and although there was a cry of ‘shame’ raised by many, and a call to help the victims, everyone was too much occupied to attempt to extricate them.
Shaka’s army and the traders marched for a further two days when, shortly after noon, the whole force was formed into a single line across a vast plain driving before them ‘hartebeest, rhinoceros, pheasant and partridge in great numbers’.
By the following day their march had brought them close to the enemy who had taken up a position on a fortified mountain. Fynn recorded:
. . . Shaka’s forces marched slowly and with much caution, in regiments, each regiment divided into companies, till within twenty yards of the enemy, when they made a halt. Although Shaka’s troops had taken up a position so near, the enemy seemed disinclined to move, until Jacob [the interpreter] had fired at them three times. The first and second shots seemed to make no impression for they only hissed and cried in reply: ‘That is a dog.’ At the third shot, both parties, with a tremendous yell, clashed together, and continued stabbing each other for about three minutes, when both fell back a few paces.
Then the Zulus, having inflicted severe casualties on the enemy, made a final charge:
. . . the shrieks became terrific. The remnants of the enemy’s army sought shelter in an adjoining wood, out of which they were being driven. Then began the slaughter of the women and children. They were all put to death, . . . from the commencement to the close did not last more than an hour and half. The members of the hostile tribe, including women and children, could not have been less than 40,000. The number of cattle taken was estimated at 60,000.
These figures quoted by Fynn seem to have been subject to gross exaggeration – just as Isaacs had suggested they should be. The very act of exterminating 40,000 people, in as little as ninety minutes – given the means available and the probability of mass escape – is impossible. Charles MacLean, known as John Ross, the young ship’s apprentice, heard the first-hand accounts of those returning from the battle and, writing in the Nautical Magazine over thirty years later in 1853, set down his version of the battle:
The enemy fought with great obstinacy and bravery, equal in every respect to the Zulus, but the superior discipline and practice of the latter in war prevailed over the more uninitiated forces of the Sikhunyana. The latter were beaten and almost totally annihilated, no quarter being given or received. The brave fellows, even when wholly discomfited, scorned to seek safety in flight, and even the women stepped into the ranks and filled up the gaps occasioned by their falling husbands. Three thousand men and women of the enemy lay dead on the field, and of more than five thousand Zulu warriors, about half survived to witness the rising sun. To the credit of Shaka, be it said, that on hearing of the gallant defence made by the enemy, he departed from the general rules in Caffrarian warfare by proclaiming that all of the enemy who had survived and made their escape should be spared and received as his children, and worthy of becoming the companions of Zulu warriors.
The policy of adding these brave men to his band of warriors, to strengthen and promote his success in future schemes of conquest, might be considered as the primary and only motive in the savage chief for exercising this act of mercy, were it not known that courage always had been a sure passport to Shaka’s favour and esteem.
As will be seen, both accounts of the battle are similar, but the number of enemy slain range between 3,000 and 40,000 men.
So far much has been said about Zulu men but little about their women, the diarists themselves having found little to say despite the fact that all the white inhabitants – with the exception, as far we know, of Farewell and John Ross – had taken local concubines or wives. Fynn had several wives and, fathering numerous children, would create a sort of Fynn dynasty, many of his descendants – as the current Durban telephone directory will testify – living in and around the area to which he gave his name: ‘Fynnlands’. Due to the strict morality of the Zulus, the majority, if not all the traders’ native wives would have come from local, subjugated tribes, such as those who inhabited the outlying areas of Port Natal. It is, in fact, John Ross who gives us the first impression of Zulu women even if it were written thirty years after his first encounter.
No doubt the vivacious maidens were consumed with curiosity at the sight of white men. That they really believed them to be beasts born of sea monsters is doubtful as they showed no fear of them: in fact they mischievously sought to satisfy their curiosity, much to the embarrassment of the ‘umlungus’ (white men). John Ross described what must have been an embarrassing experience at the hands of the saucy maidens for a boy of eleven:
I observed as we passed along that I was an object of great curiosity to the travellers that we met, and in the villages as we passed along, and I seemed to occupy their undivided attention. A full grown white man had in a measure become familiar to them, but such a little fellow as I was at the time was a new sight for them; hence I became the lion of the party. The women and girls were particularly curious about me, and caused me often to blush from the way in which they inspected and handled me. At first I did not fancy this much, but when I became convinced of the harmlessness of their intentions, I submitted to all their curiosity with as much grace and good humour as I could command.
Whether or not most full-grown white men had indeed become so familiar to the Zulu population as no longer to excite curiosity, such was not the case with prudish seventeen-year-old Nathaniel Isaacs, who travelling to see King Shaka, was confronted near the King’s residence by a number of young ladies of the royal household wearing, as a distinction of their position, brass collars around their necks. Isaacs’ escort of warriors departed in sudden haste at the sight of these ladies as a sign of respect, and also as a wise precaution. Isaacs, however, considered himself a royal favourite and kept to the path. He described what followed:
. . . they soon accosted me in the usual manner, that is, ‘I see you, give me a pinch of snuff.’ In a humorous way they asked me innumerable questions, and said one to another, ‘Look at his hands and feet, how pretty they are, – just like ours.’ They put up my shirt sleeves, to look at my arms, and uncovered my head to examine my hair, and many other things, which their extreme curiosity urged them to inspect minutely. I tried to get away from them, but they pulled me back again, and asked how many wives I had, and many other ridiculous questions, until I got fatigued with their importunities.
It was not long before Shaka decided to go to war again, demanding the support of the traders who, far from being red soldiers, nevertheless, gave a good account of themselves. Coupled with Fynn’s tales of Britannic might, the Zulu king became increasingly curious to have closer contact with white men. Perhaps he even contemplated war to ascertain who was the mightier, his black warriors or the red soldiers of King George.