It seemed that the Mazitu were a large people who could muster from five to seven thousand spears.

Their tradition was that they came from the south and were of the same stock as the Zulus, of whom they had heard vaguely.

Indeed, many of their customs, to say nothing of their language, resembled those of that country.

Their military organisation, however, was not so thorough, and in other ways they struck me as a lower race.

In one particular, it is true, that of their houses, they were more advanced, for these, as we saw in the many kraals that we passed, were better built, with doorways through which one could walk upright, instead of the Kaffir bee-holes.
We slept in one of these houses on our march, and should have found it very comfortable had it not been for the innumerable fleas which at length drove us out into the courtyard.