"Another source tells us that Lobengula had five pots full of first -water diamonds. That is five gallons of diamonds, enough to rock the monopoly of De Beers" central diamond-selling organization.
"Yet another verbal history talks of the ritual khambisile that Lobengula held for his indunas, his tribal counsellors.
Khombisile is the Sindebele word for a showing, or putting on display," Peter explained to the white man, and then went on. "In the privacy of his great hut, the king would strip naked and his wives would anoint his bloated body with thick beef grease. "Then they would stick diamonds onto the grease, until his entire body was covered in a mosaic of precious stones, a living sculpture covered with a hundred million pounds' worth of diamonds.
"So that is the answer to your question, gentlemen.
Lobengula probably had more diamonds than have ever been assembled in one place at one time, other than in the vaults of De Beers" central selling organization in London.
"While this was happening, Rhodes, the richest man in the world, sitting in Kimberley and obsessed with the concept of empire, looked northwards and dreamed. Such was the strength of his obsession that he began to speak of my north". In the end, he took it as he had done the diamond diggings of Kimberley a little at a time. He sent his envoys to negotiate with Lobengula. a concession to prospect and exploit the minerals of his domains, which included the land of the'Mashona.
"From the white queen in England, Rhodes obtained approval for the formation of a Royal Charter Company, and then he sent a private army of hard and ruthless men to occupy these concessions. Lobengula had not expected anything like this. A few, men digging little holes, yes, but not an army of brutal adventurers.
"The white men "Firstly, Lobengula* tested to no avail.
pro pressed him harder and harder, until they forced him to a fatal error of judgement. Lobengula, feeling his very existence threatened, assembled his imp is in a warlike display.
This was the provocation for which Rhodes and his henchmen had worked and planned. They fell upon Lobengula in a savage and merciless campaign. They machine-gunned his famous imp is and shattered the Matabele nation. Then they galloped to Lobengula's kraal at GuBulawayo. However, Lobengula, that wily thief and coward, had already fled northwards, taking with him his wives, his herds, what remained of his fighting imp is and his diamonds.
"A small force of white men pursued him for part of the way, until they ran into a Matabele ambush and were slaughtered to a man. More white men would have followed Lobengula, but the rains came and turned the veld to mud and the rivers to torrents. So Lobengula escaped with his treasure. He wandered on northwards without a goal, until the will to go on deserted him.
"In a wild and lonely place, he called Gandang, his half brother to him. He entrusted to him the care of the nation, and, coward to the very end, ordered his witch doctor to prepare a poisonous potion and drank it down.
"Gandang sat his body upright in a cave. Around his body he placed all Lobengula's possessions: his assegais and regimental plumes and furs, his sleeping-mat and head stool his guns and knives and beer-pots and his diaMOnds. Lobengula's corpse was wrapped in a sitting osition in the green skin of a leopard and at his feet were placed the five gallon beer-pots of diamonds. Then the entrance to the cave was carefully sealed and disguised, and Gandang led the Matabele nation back to become the slaves of Rhodes and his Royal Charter Company.
"You ask when this occurred? It was in the rainy season of the year 1894. Not long ago barely ninety years ago. IN_ "You ask where? The answer is very close to where we now sit. Probably within twenty miles, of us. Lobengula travelled directly northwards from GuBulawayo and had almost reached the Zambezi river before he despaired and committed suicide.
"You ask if any living man knows the exact location of the treasure cave? The answer is yes!" Peter Fungabera stopped, and then exclaimed, "Oh, do forgive me, my dear Tungata, I have neglected to offer you File 342 any refreshment." He called for another glass, and when it came, filled it with water and ice and, with his own hands, carried it to Tungata.
Tungata held the glass in both hands and drank with careful control, a sip at a time.
"Now, where was ! Peter Fungabera returned to his chair behind the desk.
"You were telling us about the cave," the white man with the pale eyes could not resist.
"Ah, yes, of course. Well, it seems that before Lobengula died, he charged this half-brother of his, Gandang, with the guardianship of the diamonds. He is supposed to have told him, "There will come a day when my people will need these diamonds. You and your son and his sons will keep this treasure until that day."
"So the secret was passed on in the Kumalo family, the so-called royal family of the Matabele. When a chosen son reached his manhood he was taken by his father or his grandfather on a pilgrimage." Tungata. was so reduced by his ordeal that he felt weak and feverish, his mind-floated and the iced water in his empty stomach seemed to drug him, so that fantasy became mixed with reality, and the memory of his own pilgrimage to Lobengula's tomb was so vivid that he seemed to be reliving it as he listened to Peter Fungabera's voice.
It had been during his-first year as an undergraduate at the University of Rhodelia. He had gone home to spend the long vacation with his grandfather. Gideon Kumalo was the assistant headmaster at Khami Mission School, just outside the town of Bulawayo.