Word: impy
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Skipping one last stone across the Rio Grande, I started inland across flat, marshy country where clumps of sable palms stand out like the befeathered scouts from a Zulu impi. Matamoros, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, and Brownsville, in Texas, are the first of a score or more twin towns strung along the frontier. The poverty that prowls much of the country's southern border like a hungry coyote sits back on its haunches and howls in Brownsville. "This is the poorest part of the U.S.," says Tony Zavaleta, a Brownsville sociologist. "We have whole suburbs without electricity, sewerage...
...very tip of the ravine, the trooper reined his mount in horrified astonishment. Spread out below him were the Zulu impi, or horde: 20,000 warriors crouched silent as death, carpeting the floor of the valley for more than a mile. The South African sun danced on long hide shields, glinted off a few musket barrels and a forest of assegais, the double-edged spears that sliced a man's belly to let his evil spirit...
Five miles to the west, at Isandhlwana, a mixed command of 1,800 Redcoats, Boers and native Kaffirs braced for the oncoming attack. The impi covered the distance at a dead run. Swiftly the classic Zulu charge overwhelmed the garrison. The two "horns" raced out to either flank; their mission was to lock in the enemy flesh. The "loins" encircled the rear. The "chest," or main body, rolled like a tidal wave over the British line. By sunset, it was all over. The victorious impi vanished, leaving more than 2,000 of their own dead. But at Isandhlwana...
...under a rapacious and cruel tribal chieftain, who was called Shaka after his unseemly birth.* Viewing South Africa's teeming, disputatious tribes, Shaka had a vision of the strength that unity could bring, and he set out in 1817 to unify by conquest. Within a year, his modest impi of 350 warriors had swollen to 2,000. In ten years, an army of 50,000 enforced Shaka's will over a domain the size of Nevada...
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