succession to a regular and well-directed intellect, come to them at once in a glowing and confused mass, disabling them by their force and convergence.  Listen to their genuine war-chants, unchecked and violent, as became their terrible voices!  To this day, at this distance of time, separated as they are by manners, speech, ten centuries, we seem to hear them still."[96]

This glowing description of the poetry of the primitive and hardy Saxon gives the reader an excellent idea of the vigorous, earnest, and gorgeous effusions of the African.  Panda was king of the Kaffirs.  He was considered quite a great warrior.  It took a great many isi-bongas to describe his virtues.  His chief isi-bongas was “O-Elephant.”  This was chosen to describe his strength and greatness.  Mr. Wood gives an account of the song in honor of Panda:—­

“1.  Thou brother of the Tchaks, considerate forder, 2.  A swallow which fled in the sky; 3.  A swallow with a whiskered breast; 4.  Whose cattle was ever in so huddled a crowd, 5.  They stumble for room when they ran. 6.  Thou false adorer of the valor of another, 7.  That valor thou tookest at the battle of Makonko. 8.  Of the stock of N’dabazita, ramrod of brass, 9. Survivor alone of all other rods; 10.  Others they broke and left this in the soot, 11.  Thinking to burn at some rainy cold day. 12. Thigh of the bullock of Inkakavini, 13.  Always delicious if only ’tis roasted, 14.  It will always be tasteless if boiled. 15.  The woman from Mankeba is delighted; 16.  She has seen the leopards of Jama, 17.  Fighting together between the Makonko. 18.  He passed between the Jutuma and Ihliza, 19.  The Celestial who thundered between the Makonko. 20.  I praisethee, O King! son of Jokwane, the son of Undaba, 21.  The merciless opponent of every conspiracy. 22.  Thou art an elephant, an elephant, an elephant. 23.  All glory to thee, thou monarch who art black.”

“The first isi-bonga, in line 1, alludes to the ingenuity with which Panda succeeded in crossing the river so as to escape out of the district where Dingan exercised authority.  In the second line, ‘swallow which fled in the sky’ is another allusion to the secrecy with which he managed his flight, which left no more track than the passage of a swallow through the air.  Lines 4 and 5 allude to the wealth, i.e., the abundance of cattle, possessed by Panda.  Line 6 asserts that Panda was too humble minded, and thought more of the power of Dingan than it deserved; while line 7 offers as proof of this assertion, that, when they came to fight, Panda conquered Dingan.  Lines 8 to 11 all relate to the custom of seasoning sticks by hanging them over the fireplaces in Kaffir huts.  Line 14 alludes to the fact that meat is very seldom roasted by the Kaffirs, but is almost invariably boiled, or rather stewed, in closed vessels.  In line 15 the ‘woman from Mankebe’ is