The Historiographical Development of the Concept “mfecane” and ...

language, which by 1825 he understood, the genuine African voice never came
through. The reason for this is that information was filtered through Isaacs’
memory of what he thought he heard at the time, which in turn was constructed
into a narrative by the ghost-writer. However, contemporary and modern
readers saw it as the first, long, eyewitness narrative by a colonist who lived in
Natal and knew Shaka, the Zulu elite and state.
Although two modes of writing occur in the book, most of it is written as a
chronological narrative of events from 1825 to 1831. However, it is interspersed
with topical chapters on early Zulu history and Shaka the monster, on the
ethnographic description of the northern Nguni-speaking peoples and on the
advantages of British settlement in Natal. 97 This structure ensured that the end
product is complicated, internally incoherent and full of contradictions. An
example of this can be seen on page 103 of Volume 1, where Isaacs stated that
Shaka had ‘strong filial affection towards his parents’, whereas a hundred pages
later one reads, ‘he displayed no filial affection’ for his mother. 98
The best known part of Isaacs’ book is Chapter XVIII in the first volume, which
deals ostensibly with Zulu history, but in such a way that it is essentially an
extended “character assassination” of Shaka and his people. 99 Choice phrases
condemning Shaka, such as ‘I am not aware that history, either ancient or
modern, can produce so horrible and detestable a savage’, 100 are liberally
scattered throughout the chapter. It was this chapter which was replicated in
works throughout the rest of the century and beyond. Du Buisson thought that,
‘between them, Fynn and Isaacs did such a thorough job of character
assassination of the Zulu king that it has dominated the world’s perception of
the Zulu people every since’. 101 The collusion between the two is best
demonstrated by a quote by Isaacs in a letter to Fynn,
97 Isaacs, Travels and Adventures, I, Ch. XVIII, 262-286. II, Chs. XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, 225-278.
98 Ibid., I, 103, 203. Wylie, 'Autobiography as Alibi’, 77. Wylie, Savage Delight, Ch 4, 83-104.
99 Isaacs, Travels and Adventures, I, Ch. XVIII, 262-286.
100 Ibid., I, 271.
101 L. du Buisson, The White Man Cometh (Johannesburg, 1987), 6.
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