Yes, many have heard the names: when the
Impis roared them out as they charged in battle, I have felt the mountains shake and seen the waters quiver in their sound.
Omdat "alle rus verraad is" hou hy die
impi's hierna besig deur hulle te forseer om aangrensende grondgebiede voor die voet te plunder.
Zululand was invaded, and, despite Isandlwana, the
impis were shot down against the express wishes of the government in London because Frere feared something much worse: a Zulu invasion coinciding with a Boer rising and a Russian naval attack which would result in burning ports, razed farms, the route to India severed, and the destruction of British prestige.
There is no 'stout Cortes' fighting waves of Aztec warriors in Tlateloco; no George Armstrong Custer ranged against the might of the Sioux nation; no Araucanian warriors capturing the cream of the Spanish Army in Chile and putting them to death and no Zulu
impis at Isandhlwana, soundly defeating the best the British Army could throw against them.
On the banks of this river in 1896, the
impis of the Ndebele king, Lobengula, defeated the infamous Shangani patrol, a select party of Cecil Rhodes' pioneers, that had set out to occupy Matabeleland.
By 2.30pm, the massacre was almost over and the eclipse continued as the
impis stormed on towards Rorke's Drift.
He begins to long--ah, how he longs!--for the keen breath of the desert air; he dreams of the sight of Zulu
impis breaking on their foes like surf upon the rocks, and his heart arises in rebellion against the strict limits of the civilised life.