She was
tall, and she alone was white, and clad in robes of white, and her
hair was like gold which is molten in the fire, and her face shone
like the midday sun. Then I saw that those who came up out of the
river stood before the woman, the water yet running from them, and
cried aloud to her.
"Hail, Inkosazana-y-Zulu! Hail, Queen of the Heavens!"
Now the figure of the glorious woman held a rod in either hand, and
the rod in her right hand was white and of ivory, and the rod in her
left hand was black and of ebony. And as those who came up before her
throne greeted her, so she pointed now with the wand of ivory in her
right hand, and now with the wand of ebony in her left hand. And with
the wand of ivory she pointed to the gates of ivory, through which
came light and laughter, and with the wand of ebony she pointed to the
gates of coal, through which came blackness and groans. And as she
pointed, so those who greeted her turned, and went, some through the
gates of light and some through the gates of blackness.
Presently, as I stood, a handful of people came up from the bank of
the river. I looked on them and knew them. There was Unandi, the
mother of Chaka, there was Anadi, my wife, and Moosa, my son, and all
my other wives and children, and those who had perished with them.
They stood before the figure of the woman, the Princess of the
Heavens, to whom the Umkulunkulu has given it to watch over the people
of the Zulu, and cried aloud, "Hail, Inkosazana-y-Zulu! Hail!"
Then she, the Inkosazana, pointed with the rod of ivory to the gates
of ivory; but still they stood before her, not moving.
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