Zulu Iziqu Necklace
The iziqu is the necklace of a Zulu warrior, made of carved wooden beads strung on a cord and worn across the chest as a mark of valour. After a king recognised a man for bravery in battle, the warrior was permitted to carve and string the necklace himself, usually from the wood of the thorn tree, and each row was said to record a heroic deed; Maclean, who saw the court of Shaka in 1825, described the necklaces as orders of merit conferred by the king's own hand. The iziqu was the second-highest decoration of the Zulu army after the brass armband (ingxotha), and the carved beads could be combi