The first 3 pieces that HRH ever wrote

all published in 1877: THE TRANSVAAL, A ZULU WAR DANCE, and A VISIT TO CHIEF SECOCOENI

HRH wrote an article titled ABOUT FICTION

published in February 1887 in The Contemporary Review, Volume LI (51)

HRH wrote a letter to the London Times  about piracy

THE FATE OF SWAZILAND  published in The New Review  January 1890

THE MATABELE  published in The Pall Mall Gazette  newspaper Monday, 23 October 1893

THE MATABELE. 

BY H. RIDER HAGGARD. 

THE Matabele people are of Zulu origin, although their blood is to-day much mixed by intermarriage with women captured from the Mashona and other tribes. At the beginning of this century a king named Chaka reigned in Zululand, to whom it is necessary to refer in order to make clear the history of the Matabele. Chaka, by the force of his genius, built up the Zulu nation, which before his day consisted only of scattered tribes. These tribes he conquered one by one, enrolling in his regiments every able-bodied man who remained alive, till at length he commanded an army of about a hundred thousand soldiers. With this army he swept the surrounding country, till he reduced to a desert vast expanses of South-eastern Africa that until his day had supported a teeming population. Thus, at the end of the last century, Natal was very thickly peopled ; but when it was occupied by white men, after Chaka had raided it, its inhabitants consisted of a few thousand individuals living in caves and holes in the earth, and supporting a miserable existence by digging for roots or by devouring any human beings that they were able to catch. Chaka's military system, the parent of that of the Matabele, was the most thorough-going and the sternest that the world has seen. He armed his troops with the short stabbing assegai in place of the throwing spears formerly in use, and woe to the man who came out of the battle without his weapon, for that man was instantly put to death. Indeed, there was but one punishment for the Zulu warrior-death. If he married without the king's leave he and his bride were killed by the king's order; if he showed cowardice or even hesitation in fight he was killed; if he offended against the iron laws of discipline he was killed; if he was badly wounded or grew too old to be of further service he was killed to put him out of the way; and if he was suspected of witchcraft he was killed, together with his wives and children. Thus it will be seen that when the risks of constant warfare were added to those of the king's wrath, the chances were that the Zulu of the day of Chaka and Dingaan would not die a natural death. Nor, indeed, did he desire to do so. Cruel as it was, Chaka's law attained its end, for rarely, indeed, did any forces of his turn their backs upon the enemy. Sometimes they were annihilated by superior numbers; but they were not defeated, for they held it better to die with honour on the spears of the foe than with ignominy beneath the club of the executioner. Once, indeed, a regiment of Chaka's retreated in action after suffering terrible losses. On its return to the king's kraal Chaka mustered what was left of that regiment, about 2,000 men, and with them their wives and children. Then he addressed them, branding them with the name of cowards, and at a signal other regiments who were in waiting rushed in and slaughtered them every one. 

THE FLIGHT FROM ZULULAND. 

After this sanguinary object lesson it Was natural that an impi Which had been so unfortunate as to meet with disaster upon its mission of conquest should shun the presence of its king and judge. Thus it came about that when Lobengula's father, Umzilikaze, or Mosilikatze the Lion, one of Chaka's generals and head indunas, failed in conquering the tribes against whom he had been despatched, he took counsel with those under his command, and instead of returning to Zululand struck away north across the country that is now known as-the Transvaal, to found a people of his own in the far interior. His impi travelled slowly, and as it went it slaughtered, often out of mere wantonness, thousands and tens of thousands of peaceful Basutos, who were quite unable to withstand the trained onslaught of the Zulu regiments. At length it reached the neighbourhood of the Zambesi, and established itself in the country that it now inhabits. Here Umzilikaze, or Mosilikatze, set up his kingdom, beyond the reach of the arms of Chaka and Dingaan, and to him in the course of years succeeded his son Lobengula, who is now an old man. Zulus themselves, these kings took the Zulu system as their model both in matters social and military. They lived and live by war and for it, directing the thoughts and ambitions of their subjects not to the cultivation of the soil and other useful pursuits, but to the joy of blood- shed and the reward of stolen cattle. Their wars, indeed, are but a poor imitation of the desperate conflicts in which they were engaged under the rule of Chaka, consisting as they do for the most part of raids upon the industrious and peaceful Mashona and other almost defenseless tribes. Still, they have sufficed to slake the national lust for slaughter, and to prepare Mashonaland and other districts to receive the white man by exterminating the greater part of their aboriginal inhabitants. The retreat of the Matabele from Zululand was too hurried to allow of their being accompanied by women sufficient for their wants, and the supply has been recruited by captives taken in war, with the result that to-day only a small proportion of the nation are Zulus of pure blood. 

"SMELLING OUT." 

The Zulu customs are still adhered to by them, however; thus "smelling out " is largely practised. This is the course of a " smelling out." Somebody dies, or perhaps the king or one of his wives suffers from mysterious pains, or a child is born deformed, or a murrain breaks out among the Royal oxen. The witch doctors and doctresses are consulted, and declare the evil to be the work of an "umtagati," or wizard. Then they proceed to name the wizard who, by art magic, has contrived the ill in question, and who, oddly enough, very often happens to be a man rich in cattle of whom the king or chief is anxious to be rid. The circle is formed, the doctors and doctresses, bedizened in skins and bones, go through their antics and ceremonies, calling on the shades of their forefathers, and consulting the spirits by means of bones, which they throw like dice, till at length the name of the guilty person is miraculously revealed to them. Perhaps he is sitting there in the circle before them safe in his innocency, and believing himself to be a trusted servant and soldier of the king, when the isanusi creeps up to him and touches himh with 'the fateful wand, denouncing him as the man whose spirit thought the evil thing. From the touch of that wand there is no appeal, and for the most part the victim dies within the hour. He is led away, and his neck is twisted or his brains are dashed out, and his name becomes a hissing and a reproach. That same day also the king's slayers start for the 'kraal of the murdered man, where he may have five or six wives and fifteen or twenty children, together with dependants and slaves. At night, when folk sleep heavily, they surround it and put in the fire. The victims rush out to fall upon the assegai or be cast back living into the flames. And so with the death of all ends the very common tragedy of a " smelling out." 

"WE'VE A LITTLE ACCOUNT WITH LO BEN." 

Lobengula is a despot of the stamp of Chaka, but with an utter lack of Chaka's genius. In this he differs from his father, Mosililkatze, who was a man of great ability, and piloted his followers through many a danger. Lobengula, on the contrary, has done nothing for the Matabele people; indeed, they have distinctly deteriorated since he came to the throne. He has the bloodthirstiness and the wanton cruelty of the great Zulu chiefs ; but he lacks their initiative and resource. It is even doubtful if he retains an effective hold upon the nation. For some years it has been obvious to all observers of South African affairs that Lobengula must be reckoned with sooner or later. His continued existence as a force in the affairs of men is an insult that civilization cannot tolerate. Even his cruelties are not picturesque, they are pitiful. We can admire a Chaka breaking his way to greatness through hordes of foes, but a Lobengula butchering Mashona women in a cave excites contempt. Is one despot occupying a little patch of country to be allowed to overshadow all the land? Most right-thinking men will answer " No." The hour of retribution has come upon him at the hand of the Chartered Company, and as he has sown so he must reap. Here is no question of an unjust war. The Company would have been glad enough to let Lobengula be if he would have let them be. The war has been forced upon them and not upon him; for could an English colony be expected to sit still and see their unoffending servants massacred beneath the Walls of their settlements, knowing the while that a like fate might at any moment fall upon themselves? The Company has borne and forborne, till at length it became clear that either it must break up, and its great work be brought to nothing, or Lobengula and his impis must be removed to some more suitable sphere. Not unnaturally it has selected the latter alternative, and there are few Englishmen who will blame its choice. 

THE TERMS OF THE CONFLICT. 

As to the course of the war it would be both difficult and foolish to prophesy, th6ugh of its ultimate issue there can be no doubt. The black mail cannot stand before the white, and the assegai is no match for the rifle. Were this campaign being undertaken by English troops the country would have grave cause for anxiety, since with all their remarkable qualities, as the Zulu and Boer wars have taught us, British regiments are not suited to struggles of this nature. But in the present instance Lobengula's impis, amounting perhaps to fifteen -or seventeen thousand spears, are to be engaged by some twelve hundred white men and a body of three or four thousand of Khama's people, our native allies. The odds seem heavy at first sight, but it must be remembered that these white volunteers and police are for the most part colonists, or men who have imbibed colonial traditions, who can ride and shoot to perfection, and thoroughly understand the conditions of the country and of native warfare and character. Whatever happens, it is not probable that their commanders will make any such mistake as that which led to the disaster at Isandhlwana. It must be remembered also that a struggle of a similar nature has been fought out and won fifty-five years ago, and that the odds were then far heavier against the white men. On December 16, 1838, the flower of Dingaan's army of unconquered Zulus, numbering 20,000 men or more, attacked a commando of Boers at Blood River. There were from four to five hundred Boers in this commando, and they were armed with muzzle-loading "roers," or elephant guns. The issue of this battle of the Blood River cannot be told better than in the words of Pieter Bezindenhont, who took part in it: -- "Then Pretorius went as general with four hundred men. I was one of them. Then we had the battle on a Sunday at Blood River, where we killed 3,500 Kafirs. We had formed an encampment with our waggons. Between the waggons we had fastened long ladders, and skins of oxen were stretched over the wheels. At the back of each waggon there were little heaps of gunpowder and bullets; and when the battle was fought and the Kaffirs in thousands were no further than ten paces from us, we had scarcely time to throw a handful of powder into the gun, and then slip a bullet down the barrel, without a moment even to drive it home with the ramrod. Of that fight nothing remains in my memory except shouting and tumult and lamentation, and a sea of black faces, and a dense smoke that rose straight as a plumb line upwards from the ground." In this battle, which lasted for five hours, the Boers lost no men, and had only two wounded. The Chartered Company cannot hope for such great good fortune, and doubtless men must die before Lobengula is subdued and takes flight beyond the Zambesi. Yet should the Matabele impis adhere to the military methods of their forefathers and attack in masses in the open, there is no reason to fear any great loss, seeing that machine guns and Martinis are more deadly than were the "roers" of the emigrant farmers, and that the men behind them will be as brave and fight as desperately for life and home. The task of the Company will be far more difficult if the captains of the impis should chance to have learned wisdom from the lessons of the Zulu war, or from the lips of white advisers, and elect to await attack in wooded or steep and broken ground. Then the war may be a long one, and costly in men and money. These issues, however, are "in the hand of To-morrow," and we at home can only hope for the best. It would be foolish to underrate the difficulties and dangers of the war that has been begun, but it is equally foolish to exaggerate them. Meanwhile, let us remember that it is a just war, The Company is where it is by the permission of Lobengula, granted for value received, though, in truth, he has no claim to the territory that it occupies, and it fights not for purposes of aggression, but to protect its vassals from outrage and murder, to secure its own safety in the pursuit of its peaceful avocations, to break up a bloody and odious tyranny, and to advance the cause of civilization in Africa. 

IN THE TRANSVAAL OF 1877  published in Harper's Round Table, April 20, 1897

AN INCIDENT OF AFRICAN HISTORY  published in The Windsor Magazine, December 1900

LOST ON THE VELD  published in The Windsor Magazine, December 1902

MR. H. RIDER HAGGARD ON THE ZULUS  published in The Illustrated London News, 19 May 1906

THE REAL "KING SOLOMON'S MINES"  published in Cassell's Magazine, June 1907

Also see http://tambent.com/2025/09/04/the-real-king-solomons-mines-by-h-rider-haggard-1907/

The Zulus: the Finest Savage Race in the World  

published in The Pall Mall Magazine, June 1908

A JOURNEY THROUGH ZULULAND

published in The Windsor Magazine, December 1916

THE HILL OF DEATH

published in The Windsor Magazine, December 1919