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THE PIONEER ADVANCE
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95
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ter some other brilliant feathers on a circlet above his breast, and see Chaka dressed for parade.1
Then
fancy the marshalling of an army of men like him, for the chieftain in
arms was one often thousand. When the leading division marched on in
review, every man was more or less closely the image of Chaka. These
picked men were his Unbala-bale or Invincibles, scarred veterans who
had never been beaten. They bore white shields marked, like their
chief's, with a black spot, and behind them followed in grade of honor
divisions with red-spotted shields, gray shields, and black shields.
Only the Invincibles had kilts of skins, the others wearing instead a
trapping of oxtails. As these fierce troops marched on before Chaka's
keen eye, the men of chief mark would bound from the ranks and show a
marvel of vaulting, darting to and fro, whirling of spears and mimicry
of fight, in which few athletes could compare with the supple Zulu.
In formation for battle Chaka curved the van of his impis
1 "Annals of Natal," pp. 90-100.
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