the country. During
their period of service they were denied contact with women and subjected
to intense discipline. They were employed on public works for the state, but
their most conspicuous duties were military. In warfare, their standard
tactic was to encircle the enemy and then, in close combat, to cause havoc
with short stabbing spears. They celebrated a victory by seizing booty,
principally in cattle, and, sometimes, by massacring women and children.
Survivors were incorporated into the Zulu kingdom under chiefs whose
tenure depended on their loyalty.
In earlier times, there had been no standing armies, women and children
were seldom killed, and defeated chiefdoms were rarely incorporated.
Men, women, and children had lived in their homesteads throughout their
lives and "hadforfeited only a relatively modest amount of their produce to
their chiefs. Under Shaka, grain and cattle flowed.in larger quantities to the
royal residence and the regimental barracks; and, with a high proportion of
their mature men absent, women had greater responsibility for rural pro-
duction and for managing the homestead ..
To foster loyalty to the state, Shaka and his councillors drew on the
customary Nguni festivals. They assembled the entire army at the royal