Since then Lobengula has not bseu disturbed in tho

1 ] chieftainship, and the only rows there 0 I have been when the raids have been made c on the neighbouring vassal tribe.-?." 1 STRENGTH OF TH3 HATABEIiE ABM-. t "How many regiments do you think c ! Lobengula could muster ?"— " At the time j i I was there I should Eay he could muster ! eighty thousand men. What he could do now I don't know, i don't suppose his | warriors have decreased in number. You I j soe in the periodical raids they capture .. ' youngsters of other tribes, and these a j youngsters being brought up in Matabsle a j kraals, come in time to forget their l i. original parentage and consider themselves j j Matabeles. When a new regiment is made 4 j up, if a youngßter originally: captured has 3 i shown himself to be plucky, he is drafted j, j into it, and is looked upon and "virtually I; j becomes one of the nation. From each. j j kraal tho induna brings up one or two j regiments. There are, or were, forty or _ fifty induaas, and each induna. vies with. the others in seeing how many men he can \ bring up, because 'the more he can bring _ the greater induna he is. considered." j "Of what number would a regiment v. consist ?"— A thousand or, a couple of [ thousand men." r. MATABELS STYLE 03? 371-HTING. "Are there any natural strongholds -in the country to which the Matabele would take in case of attack ?" — "The Matabele believes, like the Zulu— he is practically a Zulu — in. open fighting, a fair rush for it. All the kraals are situated in the open. i Now the Makalakas and the Mashonas ( - have all strongholds to which they retire _ \ from the Matabele raids, and the Matabeles ' 1 attack these strongholds -and drive them > j out, like hunting rats. All the subsidiary _■■{ tribes are frightened of the Matabeles. .j That is just the difference between the j.-! Matabele people and the subject tribes. ,| The Matabeles live in the open ; the ;| subject tribes occupy the strongholds, of ■; whioh there are plenty in the country." ... 