in answer to my prayer, or, perchance, it
was a madness born of my sorrows. For, my father, it seemed to me that I
stood upon the bank of a great and wide river. It was gloomy there, the
light lay low upon the face of the river, but far away on the farther
side was a glow like the glow of a stormy dawn, and in the glow I saw a
mighty bed of reeds that swayed about in the breath of dawn, and out of
the reeds came men and women and children, by hundreds and thousands,
and plunged into the waters of the river and were buffeted about by
them. Now, my father, all the people that I saw in the water were black
people, and all those who were torn out of the reeds were black--they
were none of them white like your people, my father, for this vision was
a vision of the Zulu race, who alone are "torn out of the reeds." Now,
I saw that of those who swam in the river some passed over very quickly
and some stood still, as it were, still in the water--as in life,
my father, some die soon and some live for many years. And I saw the
countless faces of those in the water, among them were many that I knew.
There, my father, I saw the face of Chaka, and near him was my own face;
there, too, I saw the face of Dingaan, the prince, his brother, and the
face of the boy Umslopogaas and the face of Nada, my daughter, and then
for the first time I knew that Umslopogaas was not dead, but only lost.

Now I turned in my vision, and looked at that bank of the river on which
I stood. Then I saw that behind the bank was a cliff, mighty and black,
and in the cliff were doors of ivory, and through them came light and
the sound of laughter; there were other doors also, black as though
fashioned of coal, and through them came darkness and the sounds of
groans. I saw also that in front of the doors was set a seat, and on the
seat was the figure of a glorious woman. 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