The Guns Of Khutiyabasadi

He is acute enough to see that the prestige of the Matebele army is gone. Its supposed invincibleness, upon which success so largely depended, has been disproved. The fascination of their terrible shield and spear has been destroyed by the precision of the rifle. Twice in succession they have returned with fallen colours from Batauana.” – From report by the Rev. J.D. Hepburn in the aftermath of the Matebele defeat at Khutiyabasadi.

We had previously observed that the arrival in the late 19th century of lightweight, easy-to-load breechloaders encouraged Batswana to incorporate gun wielding cavalry into their military formations and tactics.