Now we had come to a spot where there is a great rift of black rock, and the name of that rift is U'Donga-lu-ka-Tatiyana.

On either side of this donga the ground slopes steeply down towards its yawning lips, and from its end a man may see the open country.

Here Chaka sat down at the end of the rift, pondering.

Presently he looked up and saw a vast multitude of men, women, and children, who wound like a snake across the plain beneath towards the kraal Gibamaxegu.
"I think, Mopo," said the king, "that by the colour of their shields, yonder should be the Langeni tribe--thine own people, Mopo." "It is my people, O King," I answered.
Then Chaka sent messengers, running swiftly, and bade them summon the Langeni people to him where he sat.

Other messengers he sent also to the kraal, whispering in their ears, but what he said I did not know then.
Now, for a while, Chaka watched the long black snake of men winding towards him across the plain till the messengers met them and the snake began to climb the slope of the hill.
"How many are these people of thine, Mopo ?" asked the king.
"I know not, O Elephant," I answered, "who have not seen them for many years.