THE KINGDOM OF THE ZULU 37
Zulu mean that they held power subject to the king and that ultimately, at the time when the Zulu nation was being created and consolidated, Shaka or his succeeding brothers made their ancestors into chiefs, or allowed them to continue their rule in a particular area. The kings either recognized existing chiefs or sent some man with a following to colonize an uninhabited area. One of the important ways in which a man obtained political status was by royal birth, as described in the preceding section. Other men were the heads of the remnants of tribes which had been independent before Shaka's conquest and there were clan-heads to whom, in the years after the initial wars had scattered their people, their followers returned. The kings on occasion also rewarded personal body-servants, brave warriors, and learned councillors by putting them in charge of districts. But usually the chiefs were princes or the heads of clans. The lineal heads of certain clans had no political power; other clans were represented by chiefs in various parts of Zululand. It was even expedient for the kings to recognize clan-heads as chiefs since kinship affiliation was still a principle uniting people and cognizance had to be takeii of the groups thus formed.
From the earliest times political officers had been succeeded by their sons and under the kings this rule continued to be recognized. Zulu still say that an induna or chief had his position because he was given it by the king; but if he died his heir, unless hopelessly incompetent, should succeed him. And, failing the heir, the king (or chief) should appoint a close rektive to act as regent and the position return to the main line if possible. Zulu say the heir has a right to be appointed, but it depends on the king's will; yet it is recognized that if the heir is passed over he and his followers may cause trouble. For example, I heard an important chief discussing with two of his brothers the appointment of a successor to a recently deceased induna of the X----- clan. The brothers were
against a descendant being appointed, as they held that the dead man had intrigued with the local magistrate to be recognized as independent. The chief replied that there was no proof that his sons would act in that way because he had; in any case, the area
was thickly populated by the X----- people and he asked his
brother how they would like it if a stranger were put in control of their own area? He concluded: 'If we do that, we shall have trouble with the X------people.5 (I need scarcely note that the