{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_46501/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_46501","id":"gutenberg_46501","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46501","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore -- South Africa -- Zululand","Tales -- South Africa -- Zululand","Zulu (African people) -- Folklore"],"text":"SOME ZULU CUSTOMS AND FOLK-LORE\n\n\n                                   BY\n\n                            L. H. SAMUELSON\n                               (NOMLETI)\n\n\n\n\n                                 LONDON\n                      THE CHURCH PRINTING COMPANY\n                     BURLEIGH STREET, STRAND, W.C.\n\n\n\n\n                                PREFACE\n\n\nIt is hoped that the following short stories, which the writer has\nendeavoured to tell in the simplest language, will give some idea of\nthe inner feelings and belief of a people whose individuality is,\ndespite the number of years we have been in contact with them, little\nknown to the large majority of us. Even among those well versed in the\nlanguage and the practical or legal customs of the natives, there are\nfew who are acquainted with the undercurrents of thought, and the many\ntraditions and superstitions, which are accepted without question by\nthe Zulus, and which form an essential part of the mental life of all\namong them who have not had their ideas modified to some extent by\nEuropean teaching, and which continue to have a strong hold upon the\nlarger number even of those who have had the advantages of some kind of\neducation at the hands of the missionaries and other teachers. The\ncommon estimate of the African native is that he is a being with no\nideas above his cattle and his physical wants; but a more intimate\nacquaintance with their life, such as the writer had from being amongst\nthem for many years at her father\u2019s mission station in Zululand, will\nreveal that the native has an ideal life of his own. This, it is true,\nis in many instances of a crude and savage character; yet it rises a\nlittle, if only a little, above what is \u201cof the earth, earthly,\u201d and,\nthough it may possibly provoke a smile on account of its crudeness or\nsimplicity, it will at times strike a chord of sympathy as a touch of\nnature\u2014as an aspiration, however feeble, to penetrate beyond the veil\nwhich hides the unseen world from human eyes.\n\nThose who have made the folklore of savage or half-civilized peoples\ntheir study cannot fail to be struck with the strange analogy between\nsome of the superstitions of the Zulus and those of many other nations.\nVague and undefined as some of their native ideas are, there is still a\nbelief in the existence of a spirit world around them by which their\nlives are affected, and a groping after a knowledge of influences\nbeyond human power, which direct the destinies of mortal man, and of\nmysterious forces which can be brought into play by men peculiarly\ngifted. In their custom of sacrificing to the spirits, to induce them\nto restore the health of a patient, and their belief in the powers of\nwizards, we find them under the thraldom of the same superstitions\nwhich have become familiar to us in so many and such diverse\ndirections\u2014from the ancient Greeks to the modern spiritualists\u2014and\nwhich have at times played so great a part in the history of the world.\nTheir belief in the \u201cspirits of their fathers\u201d watching over them is\nsimilar to the idea underlying Chinese ancestral worship, and the\nwizard\u2019s powers of killing or injuring do not differ in essentials from\nthe so-called spirit healing of enlightened America or the working of\nthe \u201cevil eye\u201d still believed in by the ignorant among the peasantry of\nItaly. If, therefore, in reading of the Zulu superstitions we are\nprovoked at times to smile, it must be rather at the form than at the\nsubstance. The superstitions are the same that have ever existed, and\nthat, despite all our advancement, still find adherents among civilized\ncommunities, though among these they are expressed in more delicate\nlanguage and acted upon in less savage ways. With the large mass of\nEuropeans such superstitions, thanks to modern enlightenment, are taken\nat their true value; but so long as there are among ourselves people\nwho believe in planchettes, we cannot quite afford to look with\nsupercilious contempt upon the African who believes in wizards. And\nthere is one point of view in which a knowledge of what he believes is\nof material importance. To him, these superstitions are realities. He\naccepts them as facts of which he has to take account, and which will\nbe acted upon by the society in which his lot is cast. To estimate his\ntrue character, and form any accurate idea of the manner in which his\nmind will work, some knowledge not only of his customs but also of his\nsocial habits and beliefs is thus essential.\n\nThe author therefore trusts that the present small work may prove not\nonly of some scholastic value, but may also be of practical use to the\nmissionary, the administrator, and, indeed, to all who come into\ncontact with the little understood \u201cNative,\u201d or who are interested in\nhis progress and well-being.\n\n\n_The Author of these sketches is deeply indebted to Miss A. Werner for\nthe pains she took to introduce a few of them, through the \u201cJournal of\nthe African Society,\u201d to the notice of many of those gentlemen who,\nhaving held the highest positions in South Africa, or been in supreme\npower over the Zulu Nation, know how important it is that those who\nhold the destinies of this interesting people in their hands should\nunderstand as much as possible of the bias of their minds and the\nsprings of their conduct. But for their generous expression of this\nopinion, it is doubtful whether this little volume would ever have\nstruggled to the light. To them she is profoundly grateful, as she is\nalso to those whose ready support has enabled her to bring her venture\nto a successful issue. She wishes also to acknowledge the valuable\nassistance received from the ex-President of the Folk-lore Society and\nthe Secretaries of the Royal Colonial Institute and the African\nSociety._\n\n\n\n\n                                CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                    PAGE\n\n                A Zulu Wedding                         1\n\n                How Twins were Treated                 7\n\n                \u201cSending Home,\u201d I.                    11\n\n                \u201cSending Home,\u201d II.                   13\n\n                Departed Spirits                      18\n\n                Sacrificing to Spirits                20\n\n                The Death of a Chief                  24\n\n                Inkata                                27\n\n                The Zulu Annual Feast                 30\n\n                The Doctoring of an Army              39\n\n                Finding out Wizards                   44\n\n                A Fire Extinguisher                   47\n\n                Rain Doctors                          48\n\n                Rainbow, Lightning, and Eclipses      50\n\n                Praying for the Corn                  53\n\n                Old Wives\u2019 Tales                      56\n\n                King Mpande\u2019s Snake Charmer           62\n\n                How Death came into the World         66\n\n                The Zulu\u2019s Choicest Bit of Meat       68\n\n                A Friendly Way of Obtaining Food      69\n\n                Peacemaking over a Pinch of Snuff     71\n\n                Rules of a Zulu Hunt                  75\n\n                Bongoza\u2019s Smartness                   77\n\n                Zulu Labyrinths and War Game          81\n\n\n  _NOTE._\u2014The valuable footnotes signed \u201cED.\u201d are taken by\n  permission from Miss Werner\u2019s Paper in the \u201cJournal of the African\n  Society.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                    SOME ZULU CUSTOMS AND FOLK-LORE\n\n\n\n\n                                UMTIMBA\n                            (A ZULU WEDDING)\n\n\nThere is much ceremony connected with a heathen Zulu wedding. A month\nor more before the time the bridegroom-elect has to compose a song to\nbe sung by him and his party. Then he invites all the young men in the\nneighbourhood to come and learn it; he also composes a tune to suit it,\nwhich they all have to practise singing together, whilst dancing and\nman\u0153uvring about, beating time with their feet. All his sisters, with\ntheir friends, join in as well. The song is generally made up of a very\nfew words, something like a round in three or four parts. Here is one,\nfor example:\u2014\n\n  \u201cKusiqingile. Sesipiwe amabosho.\u201d (We are in a fix. We are now\n  supplied with cartridges.)\n\nI was once present at a wedding where the following was sung: \u201cWen\n\u2018obem\u2019 ugwai, Kauseikuza ini?\u201d (You who take snuff. Will you never\ndie?) This was the bridegroom\u2019s song. He had managed to set it to quite\na nice tune, and it went with a swing, the men keeping time beautifully\nwith their feet, and flourishing their sticks in the air.\n\nThe bride-elect, too, has to go through the same preparations a month\nbeforehand. She composes her song, and makes a tune for it, then all\nher friends have to come and learn it. The afternoons are generally set\napart for this, and nice moonlight nights, when they can keep it up\ntill the small hours of the morning. The words of the song may be:\n\u201cYek\u2019 ubugontshi! Ngashiy\u2019 umame.\u201d (What trouble! I left mother.) Or,\n\u201cKuya ngotando. Ngishiy\u2019abakwetu.\u201d (It is my choice. I left my people.)\nAfter the day has been fixed for the Umtimba and everything is ready\nfor it, the father sends two cows on ahead the day before, to be put\nfor the bride in the cattle kraal of her future home. This is a sign\nthat she will be leaving her home in the afternoon with her \u201cudwendwe\u201d\n(bridesmaids and party); and a hut is then prepared at once to receive\nthem when they arrive in the evening\u2014the eve of her wedding day. When\nthe udwendwe reaches the kraal, a great noise of singing and clapping\nof hands is heard, this being the signal of their arrival. Most girls\ncarry small stones in their hands so as to make a louder noise.\nClapping at the gate, they are met by someone who invites them to\nenter, and leads the way to the hut prepared for them. In this hut they\nsit up all night, singing and talking, until about dawn, when they make\na move towards a bush, chosen in the neighbourhood, where they settle\ndown to breakfast. In this place they spend the greater part of the\nforenoon, cooking and feasting, Meat and beer is sent to them from the\nbride\u2019s future home. At about 8 in the morning the first messenger is\nsent by the bridegroom to invite the bride to come up; but he doesn\u2019t\nreturn, nor is he expected to do otherwise than remain there, for this\nis a part of the marriage ceremony. The bridegroom again sends another\nmessenger with the same message; he also remains, and others are sent\nagain soon after. This goes on till there are about forty or fifty men\nsent off to fetch the bride and party. Lastly a beast is sent down, and\nthat makes the bride think it is about time she prepared to move. She\nthen begins to put on her bridal ornaments which consist chiefly of a\nnew skin skirt, made of an ox-hide, well greased and perfumed with\n\u201camaka,\u201d white ox tails on her arms and wrists, white and green beads\n(buma) round her neck, waist and ankles, sakabula feathers (Umnyakanya)\non her head\u2014a veil of beads (Invakaza) over her face, and a knife or\nan assagai in her hand, to flourish about whilst dancing. When the\nbridesmaids have finished assisting her they put on their finery; then\nthey surround the bride and screen her with mats, so that no one can\npossibly see her before she appears before her future husband, whose\npart it is to see her first. She is thus carefully hidden all the way,\nbut now and then she puts up her knife just to show whereabouts in the\ncrowd she is. The bridegroom is generally found seated with some of his\nbest friends on the ground in the cattle kraal or outside it, and the\nbride is brought before him in this fashion. When very near, the crowd\nfalls back and the maids are allowed to come forward with their\nscreened-up treasure, which is unveiled before him by drawing aside the\nmats. She kneels down and whispers the usual few words into his\nears, which are: \u201cSengifikile. Ungipate kahle. Ungilahle nami\nsengiyakukulahla.\u201d (I have now come. You\u2019ll treat me well. You\u2019ll bury\nme and I\u2019ll bury you.) To which he answers: \u201cKulungile pelanawe\nungipate kahle.\u201d (Agreed. You treat me well too.) After this the maids\nhave their say (pela nawe), warning him to treat her kindly and\nlovingly or he may live to suffer for it, &c. They may say anything to\nhim at this time. Then the old women come forward dancing in and out\namongst the girls. They carry a mealie cob stuck on the point of an\nassagai. This they flourish about in the air for luck and prosperity.\nWhile this is going on the bridegroom and party hurry off to deck\nthemselves out in their finery. This is always done after the bride has\narrived. He wears a grand umutsha (kilt), made of cowhide and skin of\nan intsimangu (monkey), also white ox tails round his legs and arms,\nisaka (head ornament) of sakabula (long-tailed finch) feathers on his\nhead, and he carries a knobkerrie and courting shield in his hand. If\nhe is an ikehla (man with ring on his head) he has to wear a neat\nlittle isiqova (tuft) on his forehead, made of pretty feathers, and a\nlonger one at the back of his head.\n\nWhen the bridegroom comes forward again with all his escort the dancing\nbegins in earnest. His song is then rendered for the admiration of the\nbridal party and visitors. They go on dancing and singing it till they\nare fairly exhausted; then they sit down and rest, while the bride,\nassisted by her maids, goes through her song in all its charming\nvariations, the old women man\u0153uvring in and out of the crowd with the\nmost graceful movements imaginable. When the bride has finished her\npart, the bridegroom comes in again with his, and they sing and dance\ntogether until dusk, when all the people return to their homes. Beer\nonly is provided on that day\u2014nothing else.\n\nThe next day the wedding feast takes place; this is called \u201cUkuqolisca\u201d\n(breakfast or reception). Only relations and invited guests join in\nthis. The bride on this day gives away all her girlish ornaments of\nbeads, &c., to her sisters and her husband\u2019s sisters. She puts all the\nnecklaces in a vessel and pours water over them, then takes them out,\none by one, and throws them on the girls. This is the way she gives\nthem away.\n\nOn the third day the final part of the ceremony takes place. The bride\nhas to try to run back to her home, with a child on her back belonging\nto her new home, for there are often several families in one kraal. If\nshe is a good runner and manages to get there without being caught she\nwins a cow; but this is a very difficult thing to do, for she is\ncarefully watched, and the weight of the child on her back is a great\nhindrance. If she is lucky enough to win the prize her husband has to\ngive it, to bring her back again, and that adds to the number of the\nlobola (dowry) cattle.\n\n\n\n\n                         HOW TWINS WERE TREATED\n\n\nZulus used to consider it unlucky to have twins, and worse still to\nhave triplets. The latter were always thought to be monkeys, and killed\nas soon as they were born. Only one of the former was allowed to live.\nSometimes parents found it difficult to decide which one to keep,\nalthough the rule was to kill the younger of the two. The greatest\ndifficulty arose when the youngest one happened to be a girl; for by\nkilling her a fortune was lost\u2014it meant losing ten or twenty head of\ncattle.\n\nOnce a Zulu woman was in a difficulty of this kind. She had two lovely\nblack babes, and loved both dearly, so she made up her mind to break\nthe rule and keep them. But she and her husband suffered severely for\nit. They were continually reminded of having dared to break the rule of\ntheir country, and at last, when the twins were ten years old, and\nlooked handsome and promising, their superstitious and envious\nneighbours threatened to report it to King Mpande. The parents\u2019 hearts\nsank within them, so they decided to take the boy to a mission station\nnear, and offer him to \u201cThe Great-great-one,\u201d meaning God. He was\naccepted and taught. In time he became a Christian. His parents often\nwent to see him, and his sister brought him presents of mealies and\nsweet potatoes. Five or six years went by, but still the fact that the\nold man had spared his son was not forgotten. At last the threat was\ncarried out. He was reported at headquarters, and accused of being a\nwizard as well, because he was lucky in whatever he undertook. He and\nhis five wives were very industrious; they always planted large patches\nof mealies, Kafir corn (mabele), pumpkins, and sweet potatoes, so that\nthey often had plenty of food and to spare when others were hard up.\nThey were given to hospitality, and always pleased to help those in\nneed, so it seemed rather strange that they had enemies. They had ten\nnice young daughters who could sing and dance well, and about the same\nnumber of sons, who were good hunters and kept them supplied with game.\nThe chief men of that district were very jealous of this wealthy old\nfarmer, and advised the king to do away with him and take his property.\nThe king gave his consent, and almost immediately a band of men were\ntold off to go and kill him, and to bring back his cattle and\ndaughters. A company of the famous old \u201cNdhlondhlo\u201d regiment set off,\nwell armed with assagais, knobkerries, and shields. As they went along\nthey flourished their weapons in the air with great pride. It was a\ngood two days\u2019 journey they had to take, to this place in the thorn\ncountry. They arrived there about the middle of the second night and\nhalting a few yards away, surrounded the kraal and lay down to rest in\nthe high grass till dawn. As soon as it was light they got up and\nclosed in round the kraal. The two men who were best acquainted with\nthe owner, and who had often visited him, went up to the chief hut to\ninquire if he was stirring, for they said they were out hunting rather\nearly, and would be grateful for a pinch of snuff to freshen them up a\nlittle. The kind old man, desirous to please as usual, opened the door\nof his hut at once and came out with his snuff-box. While he was in the\nact of giving them some, a volley was discharged at him, and he fell\ndown dead on the spot. Women and children came running out in confusion\nfrom all the other huts to see what was the matter; then two of the\nchief women were also killed. The other three were left to bury their\nhusband, which they were soon made to do, being ordered to carry him\noff and throw him into a donga. The mealie pits were opened and\ndestroyed. Then two fine beasts were butchered for breakfast. The men\nhad rather more than they could eat, so they invited the girls to make\na good meal, for they had a two days\u2019 journey before them to the king\u2019s\nkraal. The girls answered, \u201cYou invite us to eat while our parents\u2019\nblood is still fresh on the ground! We will not eat. Would that we\ncould die too, and escape being made slaves to the king who has ruined\nour happy home. Oh! ye spirits of our ancestors, pity us and take us\nout of this cruel misery!\u201d\n\nThe twin boy, having heard in the early hours of the morning the fate\nof his people, hid in a cupboard at the mission house. He was called\nfor, but he was nowhere to be found. The mission house was searched\nthrough and through, but fortunately no one thought he might be in the\ncupboard. When they had satisfied themselves that he was not there,\nthey went off with the girls. It was pitiful to hear their cries. The\nmen had no mercy, but went along joking and praising themselves for\nhaving managed so remarkably well. Such was life in Zululand before the\nZulu war!\n\nSoon after this affair another Zulu woman had twin girls, and the\nparents, having learnt a sad lesson, determined to observe the custom\nof their country. The younger one was killed, although she looked the\nhealthier and finer. She was left to starve to death in a cold corner\nof the hut, while the other one was cuddled up and kept warm and fed.\nStrange to say, the chosen one pined and died a fortnight later, and\nthe mother regretted not having kept the younger.\n\nThis custom is no longer observed. It is now considered lucky to have\ntwins, especially if they are girls; for it means twenty head of cattle\nfor the family at her marriage.\n\n\n\n\n                              \u201cUKUGODUSA\u201d\n                             (SENDING HOME)\n\n\nThere are many, no doubt, who know of the old cruel Zulu custom of\n\u201cUkugodusa\u201d (sending home), _i.e._, doing away with the aged people. If\na man was too old and feeble to go to the king\u2019s kraal occasionally,\nand join his regiment whenever called out, the king would pick out a\ntroop of men and say, \u201cHamba niye kum\u2019godusa\u201d\u2014meaning \u201cgo and send him\nhome.\u201d Then this troop of men would travel miles away to the man\u2019s\nkraal, taking good care to get there by night, and to surround it, so\nas to pounce upon the poor old fellow as soon as he came out of his hut\nin the morning, and take him away to bury alive or otherwise kill him.\nThe victim simply had to go away obediently, knowing it was the king\u2019s\norder, as well as the custom of his country. So all Zulu men, old and\nyoung, used to make a point of meeting at the king\u2019s kraal, \u201cKomkulu\u201d\n(at the great one\u2019s), especially at Christmas time, to show that they\nwere still of service. If through illness they had to stay at home, and\nit could be proved that they were indisposed, the king excused them;\nbut they were most careful not to let it happen again.\n\nWhen women became helpless, and needed looking after, they, too, had to\nbe \u201csent home,\u201d and that was done by their own people. Even their own\nsons would order it to be done, and assist in the cruel performance.\nHere is one example of it. Once, two sons, wanting to get rid of their\naged mother, tempted her out for a long walk to some dongas (dry\nwatercourses with deep holes in the banks). (Zulu.) They took her to\nthe deepest one and pushed her into it. The poor old creature hurt her\nankle very badly, and could not get out again. She was in that donga\ntwo days and two nights, without food or a drop of water to drink.\nMaddened by hunger she made a despairing effort to scramble out, and\nfortunately managed it at last. Once on the level she found some wild\nberries and fruit, of which she made a good meal. This gave her a\nlittle strength to decide on her next move. Not daring to venture\nanywhere near her home again, she took a long journey to a mission\nstation, and there begged to be taken in. The missionary and his family\nwere very good to her, and gave her a home and taught her. In time she\nbecame a Christian, and it was most touching to hear her saying her\nprayers early in the morning. She prayed most earnestly for her sons\nwho had forsaken her.\n\nAnother old woman was daily threatened to be \u201csent home,\u201d but a certain\nmissionary\u2019s wife and daughters who used to visit the kraal begged that\nshe should be spared. They took her some covering occasionally, for she\nwas helpless and often would sleep too near the fireplace and burn her\nblankets. Years went on in this way, until the missionary family had to\ntake a trip to Durban to get supplies for the year. Then the mischief\nwas done. On their return, great was their distress at finding the old\nwoman no more. Her people had taken her to a very deep ant-bear hole\nand made her go in. Before obeying she meekly asked for a last pinch of\nsnuff, which they could not deny her. She sat down to take her snuff,\nthen stepped into the ant-bear hole. They filled it up with earth and\nburied her alive.\n\n\u201cUkugodusa,\u201d one is thankful to know, is out of date now, as well as\nillegal.\n\n\n\n\n   ANOTHER INSTANCE IN WHICH THE \u201cUKUGODUSA\u201d CUSTOM WAS CARRIED OUT.\n\n\nI feel that it would, perhaps, be wise to give one more proof to show\nthat the above was a real custom amongst the Zulus, even as lately as\nin the days of King Cetshwayo. A poor old woman named Madokodo was\nanother victim, besides Mfoto whom I mentioned before. Sometime in the\nbeginning of 1869 Madokodo, on account of her old age, was thrown into\na donga, or pit, by one of her sons and his friends, to get her out of\nthe way, or send her home (godusa), as this was called. The poor old\nbody was not in her second childhood (as Mfoto was), but was healthy\nand strong. She was in this pit for a few days, trying to get out, but\nkept falling back again. When night came she was in terror of the\nwolves and tigers which were prowling about the place; but she knew\nthere was a Great God above, and she prayed for His protection. At last\nshe managed to scrape a few holes in the donga with her finger nails,\nand made steps to climb up by, and the Great Almighty (Usomandhla) gave\nher strength to get out. Then she went to a great friend of hers, who\nfed her and kept her in a secret corner of her kraal until she got over\nher shock and became strong again. Madokodo then went to one of her\nother sons by night, and he was much pleased as well as surprised to\nsee his mother alive; but, fearing the elder and cruel brother might\nfind her and try to carry out this cruel custom again, he thought it\nbest not to keep her with him long, so he proposed taking her to a\nmission station and giving her to the missionary. The mother agreed to\nthis, and the two went off together, travelling a good many miles till\nthey reached St. Paul\u2019s Mission Station, the missionary there being my\nfather, Rev. S. M. Samuelson. Arriving at the door of our house, poor\nold Madokodo, lame and footsore, called out in a pleading voice,\n\u201cNgitola Baba,\u201d \u201cNgitola Nkosi Yame!\u201d which means, \u201cAdopt me, Father,\u201d\n\u201cAdopt me, my Master.\u201d My father inquired into the matter, and all was\nrelated, her loving son supporting her. Nothing could be done but to\nsave the poor old soul from future trouble, and to try to win her for\nChrist\u2019s Kingdom. My father took her under his care on August 13th,\n1869, and the son took leave of his mother and returned home again.\nMadokodo slept in the kitchen, and my mother took great interest in\nher, for she was very intelligent, industrious and tidy. After a while\nMadokodo expressed a wish to join the Catechumen class, and be prepared\nfor Baptism. She was very earnest; for early in the morning, just about\nsunrise, we children heard her deep, pleading voice in prayer whilst we\nwere still in our beds, \u201cBaba wami Opezulu, ovele wa ngibheka,\nosangibhekile namanje, ngitola Mdali wami, tola nabanta bami, utetelele\nnalo ongilahlileyo!\u201d (My Father above, Thou Who hast taken care of me\nfrom the very first, and Who art still caring for me, adopt me, my\nCreator, adopt also my children, and forgive the one who has thrown me\naway.\u201d) Then she would always finish with \u201cThe Lord\u2019s Prayer,\u201d which\nshe had by then learnt. At the end of eight months she was baptized,\nand received the name Eva. She was, I believe, the first old woman who\nbecame a Christian at St. Paul\u2019s, and she was very happy after that,\nand helped in the mission work by setting an excellent example to the\nyounger converts. News of the aged woman\u2019s conversion and baptism\nspread all over the country like wildfire, for Zulus, as a rule, are\ngreat news carriers. Her wicked son heard of it, for he had hoped she\nhad reached her destination long ago, as he had \u201csent her home.\u201d The\nmiddle-aged people bore her a grudge on account of her having become a\nChristian at her age, and, fearing others might do the same, clubbed\ntogether and made plans to get her out of the way; so they accused her\nof witchcraft and reported her to King Cetshwayo. Eva at this time had\nhad someone to help to build her a small hut, and she was cutting some\nhigh grass (tambootie) near a certain kraal, with which to thatch it.\nMeanwhile, illness (influenza colds) breaking out at this kraal, poor\nold Eva was accused of having caused this. The King, through his Prime\nMinister, Mnyamana, granted permission to have her killed. On the 4th\nof June, 1870 (Trinity Sunday), as we were just coming out of church,\nwe were surprised by a large party of men (thirty in number) meeting us\noutside the church door, armed with assagais and knobkerries, with a\ndemand from the King that Eva should be handed over to them to be\nkilled! Eva ran to her protector (my father), calling out, \u201cSave me,\nsave me!\u201d and caught hold of him round the waist, and the men pulling\nher away by force nearly tore his coat tails off. Then my younger\nbrother Robert (R. C. Samuelson) interfered, and took hold of the\nwoman, calling out, \u201cMuyeke bo!\u201d (leave her); then one man, indignant\nwith this interference, lifted up his knobkerrie over Robert\u2019s head,\nshouting: \u201cNgase ngiliqumuze ikanda kona manje\u201d (I will break your\nskull this moment); then, of course, the poor woman had to go. She was\ndriven by these thirty men six miles into the thorn country to a river\ncalled Idango, near the Umhlatuzi river. We sat on the mountain,\nall of us, watching the long procession, Eva leading, the row of\ncruel humanity following in a long string. We watched and prayed\nbroken-hearted, for we all loved poor old Eva; but it was a comfort to\nknow she was a Christian! At last when we could see them no more we\nreturned home, too dispirited to dine that day. In the evening someone\ntold us she had met her fate bravely. As she went along she prayed to\nbe received in the Heavenly Home of rest, where all unkindness and\ncruelty will end! At Idango river they drove her to a very big pond,\nwhere crocodiles were often seen; there they lifted up their kerries to\nbrain her. She then said, \u201cNgogoduka _impela_ namhla!\u201d (\u201cI will, of a\nsurety (indeed), go home to-day!\u201d) They then killed her and threw her\ninto the pond for the crocodiles to eat.\n\nSuch was life in Zululand before the Zulu war. And yet on the whole\nthings had, in a way, improved since Tshaka\u2019s and Dingane\u2019s days. The\nlife of a missionary with his family was not at all an enviable one,\nalthough the natives had great respect for them, knowing as they did\nthat they lived in their country as friends and messengers of the\nGospel. They liked the missionary, although they objected to his\nreligion.\n\n\n\n\n                            DEPARTED SPIRITS\n\n\nThe Zulus have a belief in the re-embodiment of departed spirits. Of\nthis I remember having a practical illustration when, as a child, I was\ntravelling about their country with my mother. We were about to visit a\nchief named Mqayikana. His kraal was close to the road, and as we were\npassing it we saw a nasty looking green snake. I picked up a stone and\nthrew it at the reptile. In a moment a number of natives ran up and,\nseeing the snake, called out: \u201cLeave it alone. It is the spirit of\nMqayikana\u2019s father which has come to visit us. We killed a fat beast as\nan offering to it to-day, and prayed that it might come and taste the\nmeat. For our chief Mqayikana is very ill, and we want to induce his\nfather not to call him away just yet.\u201d I was young, and possibly a\nlittle indiscreet in those days, and replied: \u201cNonsense! The snake is\nan accursed creature, and ought never to be spared,\u201d and I threw\nanother stone at it, just bruising its tail. \u201cStop! Stop! or you will\nsuffer for it. As it is, your white skin alone has saved you. If you\nhad been black you would never eat corn any more. You would have to die\nthe death!\u201d Seeing that the men were in earnest and really excited, I\nthought it best to leave the snake alone. Had I not done so I might\nhave been smelt out as a witch later on if anything had happened to\nMqayikana. We sent the chief a small peace-offering in the shape of a\npacket of sugar, apologising for my unintentional rudeness to his\nfather\u2019s ghost, and I am glad to say he proved himself not only\nforgiving but friendly, sending us a fine sheep, and even inviting us\nto come and take a pinch of snuff with him\u2014a token of friendship among\nthe Zulus; but we, perhaps not imprudently, begged to be excused.\n\n\n\n\n                          UKUHLABIS\u2019 AMADHLOZI\n                        (SACRIFICING TO SPIRITS)\n\n\nThe heathen Zulus still keep up this custom, chiefly in times of\nillness and death. The phrase means slaughtering cattle for departed\nancestors, whose spirits appear in the form of a certain snake, which\nthey hold sacred. It is called \u201cInyandezulu\u201d, and its colour is green\nwith brown under the belly. No native in old days would have dared to\nkill this snake, for he would have been punished by death. If any one\nis taken seriously ill at a kraal, the doctor, who is sent for\nimmediately, after having examined his patient orders the relations to\nmake a sacrifice to the \u201cAmadhlozi\u201d(spirits), and pray for the recovery\nof the invalid. Then a beast has to be chosen from the herd for the\npurpose, or a sheep or goat from the flock. While the animal is being\nslaughtered, the chief man calls on the \u201cAmadhlozi\u201d, saying, \u201cWatch\nover us, O ye spirits of our fathers, I implore! Take not this our\nchild away from us yet. Here we are slaughtering this for you. Come\ninto the hut to-night and feast on it, I pray. Then let your anger be\nturned from us, and let us keep our child. Oh! look on us with pity,\nand hear us!\u201d After that the slaughtered animal is cut up in pieces and\nhung up in a hut; even the blood is put there in an earthen vessel. A\ndish of water is also taken in and placed on the floor, and a snuff box\nfull of snuff beside it. They firmly believe that the \u201cIdhlozi\u201d comes\nin at night, has a wash, a pinch of snuff, and a taste of the meat and\nblood, and then returns into its hole again in a more forgiving mood.\nWhen the hut is entered in the morning nothing is seen of the\n\u201cIdhlozi\u201d, not even any marks on the meat to show that it has tasted it\nat all, still they firmly believe the hut has been visited. The \u201cusu\u201d\n(paunch) is then taken out and given to the doctor for medical use. He\nhas it boiled together with herbs and medicines, then he steams his\npatient with the mixture, and administers some of it inwardly. The\n\u201cinsonyama\u201d (right flank) is then cooked for the invalid, and he has to\nhave a piece of it to eat every day as long as it is good. It is hung\nup in his hut, and there it hangs till it is quite high. It is looked\nupon as a charm. The rest of the meat can be eaten by the members of\nthe kraal after it has been kept over night in the hut for the\n\u201cIdhlozi\u201d (spirit). Another beast has to be killed for the doctor\u2019s\nspecial use while attending his patient. If the patient dies, an\n\u201cUmtakati\u201d (wizard) is blamed for it, and an \u201cUngoma\u201d (witch doctor) is\nat once engaged to find him out. The doctor has nothing to do with\nthat. He receives his fee and goes home. Soon after he leaves, the\nburial takes place privately. No outsiders are allowed to be present.\nThe corpse is made to sit up, and tied in this posture. It is taken out\nto the grave, which is dug outside the hut, and seated in it. A stone\nis placed on the head to steady it, and all the deceased\u2019s possessions,\nclothing, mats, blankets, etc., are brought out and put into the\ngrave\u2014no one dares to keep any of them, for they are superstitious\nabout it, believing that to use them would cause more deaths. There is\nno ceremony over the grave. Soon after it has been filled in, a mass of\nthorny bushes is stuck over it to keep \u201cAbatakati\u201d (wizards) from\ntaking the body out to use in killing others. People then come in great\nnumbers all round the kraal, crying out as loud as they can, \u201cMaye\nbabo! wafa wen \u2019owakiti\u201d (\u201cWoe, father! you died, you of our house\u201d).\nThey don\u2019t speak to the mourners that day, but return home after having\nhad a good cry. All the relations who were at the funeral hurry off to\nthe river soon after it is over to have a bathe. When they return,\nanother beast is killed as a sacrifice to the \u201cIdhlozi\u201d, with earnest\nprayers for the safety of the rest of the family. While it is being\nkept in the hut for \u201cIdhlozi\u201d to taste, all the members of that kraal\nhave to chew medicines before partaking of anything, even a pinch of\nsnuff. These medicines are used as a preventive against death.\n\nThe natives mourn in this way. They throw aside all their ornaments for\nat least two months. They also have their heads shaved. They do not, as\na rule, go out visiting during the two months of mourning, and they are\nnot expected to go to dances or any festivities. They keep at home\nquietly. Absent relatives are all expected to come home for a couple of\ndays to take medicine, and the comforting doctor comes with some of a\nsoothing character. After ten days are over, visitors may come to\n\u201ckala\u201d (sympathize). They come quietly into the house of mourning, and\nsit down mute with their heads bent low for some time, and with arms\ncrossed over the shoulders. At last a feeble voice is heard to say\n\u201cSanibona\u201d (\u201cWe see you\u201d): they answer, \u201cHaw! sikubona ngapi ufelwe\nnje. Siya kala wena wakiti!\u201d (Oh! how do we see you having lost. We\nsympathize with you\u201d). The visitors sit about an hour or two in the\nsame position, quietly, as no conversation is permitted on such an\noccasion. They then go out without saying a word of farewell, only\ncasting sad looks towards the mourners. During the two months of\nmourning a smelling Doctor is engaged to find out the witch or wizard,\nand the way this is done will be seen in the \u201cIngoboco\u201d (Chief Witch\nDoctor) story. Any one not calling to \u201ckala\u201d after the tenth day is at\nonce suspected as \u201cUmtakati.\u201d So all make a point of showing\nthemselves. Still the majority of them go out of kindness, for they do\npossess true and sympathizing hearts.\n\n\n\n\n   CUSTOMS AND USAGES AT THE DEATH OF A ZULU CHIEF OR HEAD OF A KRAAL\n\n\nAs soon as a man holding the position of chief, or head of a kraal, is\ndead, the corpse is placed in a sitting posture with the back to the\ncentral post of his hut, the limbs being doubled up and tied together.\nA messenger is then sent out to call all the wives and friends of the\ndeceased, and they, being collected in one place, set up a loud\nwailing, sufficient one would say to \u201cwaken the dead.\u201d The next thing\nis to separate the cows from their calves, so that they also make a\nmost deafening noise, the calves lowing for their mothers, the cows\nlowing for their calves.\n\nThe first outburst of grief having subsided, the sons and friends\nproceed to dig the grave. The eldest son begins first, as, according to\nnative belief, the ground will then soften and yield more easily to the\nother diggers. He then hands on the hoe, which is the digging tool most\ngenerally used, to the son who is next in importance to himself, and so\nit is passed on in rotation till the grave is ready. The eldest son\n(inkosana), after doing his part, takes the barbed assagai which\nbelonged to his father as head of the house, and stands holding it with\nthe point to the ground until the work of digging is finished. A barbed\nassagai is handed down from generation to generation in native\nfamilies, the holder being always the chief or head of the family or\nthe acknowledged heir and successor, and in cases of disputed\nsuccession it is of the greatest importance to ascertain who held the\nassagai at the grave, and who began the digging, as well as who is the\npresent possessor of the assagai.\n\nAfter the hole has been dug stones are placed in the grave for the body\nto be seated on, and it is set there by one of the sons of the chief\nwife, the man whose right it is to do this holding an important\nposition on the right-hand side of the kraal.\n\nWhen the grave has been filled in, the relations and friends go through\nthe \u201cukugeza\u201d or cleansing ceremony, taking a small portion of a powder\nmade of three kinds of bitter roots. Through the taking of this powder\nit is supposed that death will be averted from the friends of the\ndeceased, and that any ill effects which might arise from his death\nwill be prevented. After this they all go down to the river and bathe,\nand the wailing is over.\n\nThey then go into mourning for periods of time which vary from a few\nweeks to a whole year, according to the rank of the person mourned.\n\nThe wife, children, and nearest relations show their mourning by\nallowing their hair to grow long. When the appointed time is over all\nthe family and friends are again assembled and, the doctor being in\nattendance, a goat is killed, this being essential in the latest stage\nof the ceremonies. A decoction of bitter roots is made, and the gall of\nthe goat emptied into it. The whole is then worked up into a froth,\nwhilst the spirit of the dead man is called upon to take care of his\nchildren and to supply all their needs. Some of the mixture is\nsprinkled upon those who are present, the young people cut their hair\nshort, and the old ones shave their heads; a bathe in the river\nfollows, and the mourning is over.\n\nWhen the head of a kraal dies, the whole kraal is removed to a fresh\nsite. It must, however, remain for a year if he was a king or an\nhereditary chief, because in that case he would be buried there, and\nhis grave must be carefully guarded against witches for that space of\ntime.\n\nThe graves of the kings in the Zulu country have always been watched, a\nkraal being erected near for the purpose. Should it happen that the\ninkosikazi (chief wife) has had no male issue, the head of the family\ncan, on the marriage of his eldest daughter, use the ukulobola cattle\nreceived for her to buy a wife for himself or for some of his sons, and\nthus raise up male issue to be heirs to such head man\u2019s principal house.\n\n\n\n\n                                 INKATA\n\n\nBefore giving a description of an Inkata I must explain that it is not\nat all the same thing as the ordinary grass pad for supporting burthens\non the head which goes by that name.[1] The Inkata now described is a\nlarger thing, made of certain fibres which are very strong and binding.\nThe doctor specially deputed to make it knows exactly what fibres to\nuse. He makes it in secret, sprinkles it with various concoctions, and\nfinally winds the skin of a python round it, as this reptile is\nconsidered the most powerful of animals, coiling itself round its prey\nand squeezing it to death, as it does. When the Inkata is finished all\nthe full-grown men as well as the principal women of the tribe are\nsummoned, and are sprinkled and given powders of various dried herbs to\nswallow. The men then go down to a river and drink certain mixtures,\nbathe in the river, and return to the kraal where the Inkata is made.\nThey are then sprinkled a second time, and return to their homes.\n\nAfter this the Inkata is handed over by the doctor to the chief\u2019s\nprincipal wife, and entrusted to her and to two or three others, to be\nwithdrawn from the common gaze. It is taken great care of and passed on\nfrom generation to generation as part of the chief\u2019s regalia. The\nInkata is looked upon as the good spirit of the tribe, binding all\ntogether in one, and attracting back any deserter.\n\nThe king or chief uses it on all great occasions\u2014more especially on\nthose of a civil nature. For instance, when a new chief is taking up\nthe reins of government, the Inkata is brought out of its hiding-place,\na circle is formed by the tribe, and it is placed on the ground in the\ncentre. The new chief then, holding his father\u2019s weapons, stands on the\nInkata while he is being proclaimed by his people. After this it is\ncarefully put away again.\n\nIn case of the king being taken ill the doctor seats him on the Inkata\nwhile he is \u201ctreating\u201d him (elapa). It is also used in a variety of\nother royal ceremonies, and is looked upon as more sacred than the\nEnglish Crown. It is, in fact, the guardian spirit or totem of a Zulu\ntribe. Yet, strange to say, it appears that nothing was known to the\nJudges of the Native High Court as to the existence of the Inkata, in a\nvery important case[2] not long since tried there, when it was what\nmight be termed the very essence of the case, and possibly injustice\nresulted from this ignorance of native laws and customs.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n  The word seems to be almost universal in the Bantu\n  languages:\u2014Nyanja, nkata; Luganda, enkata; Swahili, kata; Suto,\n  khare. What is most curious is that, so far away as the Gold Coast we\n  find an indication of ceremonial usages connected with this article.\n  See the Journal of the African Society for July, 1908, p. 407. The\n  Fanti word for it is ekar, which may be a merely accidental\n  resemblance, or may point to a fundamental identity of roots in the\n  West African and the Bantu languages.\n\n  Possibly the root idea of-kata is \u201csomething coiled or rolled up,\u201d\n  and this may be the only connection between the head-pad and the\n  charm. The Baronga (Delagoa Bay) have a similar tribal talisman\n  called mhamba, which is a set of balls, each containing the\n  nail-parings and hair of a deceased chief, kneaded up with the dung\n  of the cattle slaughtered at his funeral, and no doubt some kind of\n  pitch to give it consistency. These balls are then enclosed in\n  plaited leather thongs. The custom of thus preserving relics of dead\n  chiefs is found elsewhere: the Cambridge Ethnological Museum\n  possesses a set of the \u201cregalia\u201d of Unyoro, which would come under\n  the same category.\u2014ED.\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n  Rex _v._ Tshingumusi, Mbopeyana, and Mbombo. 1909.\n\n\n\n\n                         THE ZULU ANNUAL FEAST\n\n\nThis feast was always arranged to take place at about Christmas time.\nMen of all ages were requested to go; even young boys had to appear at\nit from all parts of Zululand. Those who were missed at this great\ngathering, and who were reported as being too aged to take the long\njourney, were ordered to be \u201csent home\u201d by the king. Everyone had to\nbring his ornaments to adorn his person, and deck himself out suitably.\nThese ornaments consisted of different coloured ox tails, feathers, and\nbeads. Those who had distinguished themselves in battle wore horns of\nbravery besides, and certain kinds of roots round their necks. They\nalso had to take food with them\u2014enough to last for a week or\nlonger\u2014for the gathering always lasted four days at the least, and\nmost of the people had to take long journeys to get to it. There were\nfour different ceremonies to go through at that time in connection with\n\u201cUkunyatela\u201d (feast of first fruits), and \u201cUmkosi\u201d (the feast). On the\nfirst day the ceremony of strangling a black bull and pulling it to\npieces by mere force was performed. Mbonambi, the best and strongest\nregiment, was picked out to do this. Sometimes the black bull picked\nout for the purpose would happen to be grazing by the river, and the\npoor beast had to be attacked and pulled to pieces there; or sometimes\nit would take place in the king\u2019s cattle kraal, and he would be present\nlooking on. If done by the river side, all parts of the ox had to be\ncarried home and placed before the king, so that he could see that it\nhad been done without the assistance of knives, choppers or assagais.\nThe beef was not to be eaten on any account. The next to handle it were\nthe doctors. They brought a mixture of all sorts of medicines with\nwhich to smear the meat; but the king must have a dose of it first.\nThis was to give him a brave and cruel heart. When the king had taken\nhis dose, the doctors used their mixed medicines to smear over all the\nbeef and prepare it for roasting. Meanwhile the king\u2019s regiment, the\nIngobamakosi (bend or humble), was busy getting wood to use for the\npurpose. This was supposed to be a great honour, and the king would\npick a regiment specially for it. The doctors finished their allotted\ntask and the Ingobamakosi arrived with the wood. They then cut strips\nof beef and roasted it until it was black. This was done by the\nIngobamakosi at the last feast before the Zulu war. For, being the\nking\u2019s favourite regiment, he granted them more privileges than all the\nother regiments put together, and they were greatly envied on that\naccount. It was galling to the rest that this young and proud corps was\npicked to roast the daubed beef! for it gave them the right to have the\nfirst taste of the medicines after the king. If they went to battle,\nthese would give them courage and make them fight to the last. They\nwould never think of retreating. The men did not take the medicines in\nthe same manner as the king. An officer would take a strip of roasted\nmeat, bite a small piece off, suck the juice and swallow that only,\nspitting the meat out again, then pass the rest of the meat on to his\nmen, and they would do the same. Then all the other regiments would\nfollow suit. The meat was not passed in at all a polite way; it was\nsimply tossed up high into the air, and the next one had to catch it,\ntake a bite, and toss it up again. After this the bones and horns of\nthe beast had to be burnt to cinders. During these four days all the\nyoung lads old enough to join a corps had to \u201ckreza.\u201d This is to draw\nthe milk into their mouths and drink it warm, preparing themselves\nthereby to be made into a corps. The king would meanwhile choose a\nfitting name for the new regiment.\n\nA month before the feast the king generally sent a party of four men\nand two boys to the beach to look for a certain vegetable marrow\ngrowing near the sea. This species grows wild there, and has never been\ncultivated. Sometimes the marrow would be ready to pick early in the\nseason and sometimes late; and the time to begin the annual feast\ngreatly depended upon this. They could not commence operations without\nknowing that the vegetable was ready, for it had to be used on the\nsecond day. Therefore the party sent off in search of it had to stay on\nthe coast until it was fit to pick; they were on no account whatever to\nreturn without it. On its arrival all is ready for the second day\u2019s\nperformance, which proceeds as follows: The king and party rise very\nearly and enter the great cattle kraal. Here the marrow is presented to\nthe king, who receives and inspects it very carefully, and says a few\nwords in a low voice over it, all the chief men standing round about\nhim expectantly. Then the ceremony of tossing the marrow commences. The\nking throws it up in the air five or six times, catching it again like\na ball, after that he throws it to the men, when it breaks perhaps into\ntwo or three pieces, and these again he throws to the men, and they by\nturns go through the same performance. Then they throw the broken\npieces over the kraal to all the different regiments drawn up round it\nawaiting their turn at the tossing. This goes on until all have touched\nthe marrow and broken it into small pieces. Then the king picks out of\nhis herd another black bull, fiercer than the one of the day before, to\nbe treated in the same way. It is said that it gives the warriors\nbravery and cruelty. At noon, when all the ceremonies are over, the\nking declares the \u201cFeast of first fruits\u201d at an end. He allows reed\ninstruments (umtshingo and ivenge) to be played all through the\ncountry, so that all people may know they may now begin to eat green\nmealies, vegetable marrows, and pumpkins. Before the umtshingo and\nivenge are heard no one may touch anything fresh out of the gardens, no\nmatter how long the fruit or vegetables have been ripe (even if the\npeople are starving), on penalty of death, or, later on, a heavy fine.\nIt was against the laws of the country, too, to play the reed\ninstruments before the king gave the order, being considered a greater\noffence even than eating green mealies before \u201cUkunyatela\u201d (to tread)\nhad taken place, for it was misleading the people; therefore the\npunishment for this offence was certain death. Umtshingo is the long\nhollow reed the natives play tunes on. It is a kind of flute; there is\nno string to it. The ivenge is a short one with only two notes. Two of\nthese instruments have to be played together to make a tune at all. The\nfavourite air played on them is, \u201cUcakide ka bon\u2019 indod\u2019 isegunjini\u201d\n(the weasel doesn\u2019t see the man who is in the corner). Some natives can\nplay several nice tunes on the long reed.\n\nThe great dance commences about 3 p.m. All have to \u201cvunula\u201d first (put\non their ornaments). They, of course, grease themselves well to make\ntheir dark bodies sleek and supple. All chiefs have black feathers of\nthe indwa bird stuck in the centre of their head ring, just above the\nforehead. The younger chiefs wear black ostrich feathers in the same\nway. The grand old Mbonambi regiment carried plumes of black ostrich\nfeathers. A shape of straw was first made (like the crown of a hat) and\nthe feathers were neatly stitched on to cover it all. These plumes\nlooked very graceful as the men came dancing and bowing before the\nking. All the regiments would simultaneously beat their shields with\nknobkerries, and the noise would re-echo over the mountains like a\nfearful peal of thunder. The regimental ornaments varied a great deal,\nas they were chosen to mark the different corps. The rest of the\nafternoon, until dark, was spent in dancing and singing \u201cIngoma ye\nnkosi\u201d (National Anthem). The words were as follows:\u2014\n\n  \u201cAbafo besab\u2019 inkosi (Strangers fear the king),\n  Konj\u2019 uyaliwa (By the by you are rejected),\n  Bamzonda bamyoliza (They hate him, they praise him);\n  Konj\u2019 uyaliwa\u201d (By the by you are rejected).\n\nIt sounded really grand to hear thousands of men singing it, dancing,\nand keeping time with their feet, the words giving somewhat the effect\nof a \u201cround,\u201d and the trampling of feet resembling distant thunder. The\nnext morning, on looking round at the fields where the dance had taken\nplace, one would find the grass beaten into the ground.\n\nThe third day is usually spent in feasting and drinking beer. The king\norders his chiefs to deal out a certain number of cattle to each\nregiment for slaughter early in the morning, so as to give them plenty\nof time to prepare the meat, and to have it cooked by noon, when the\nfeast commences. After all the meat has been devoured beer is brought\nround, and those who serve it out have to taste it first in front of\neverybody to show that it has not been poisoned. This is a standing\nrule at all beer drinks. No one will drink the beer before it has been\ntasted. The men sit down in circles, and the one who heads the circle\nhas the first drink, and passes the earthen vessel to the next, and it\ntravels all round the circle and comes back to him again, then he takes\nanother drink and passes it; this is repeated till there is no beer\nleft. Talking goes on all the time\u2014relating anecdotes, questioning and\narguing as to which regiment danced the best, looked the best, or\ndistinguished itself the most in any way. Now and then an \u201cImbhongi\u201d\n(jester) comes forward, shouting praises to the king, and jumping about\nlike a maniac, with long horns fixed on his forehead. He acts the wild\nbull, tearing the ground up with his horns, then leaps into the air,\nshouting the king\u2019s praises all the time. The people have to show their\napproval by praising and thanking him for his wonderful feats of\nagility. This afternoon the doctors are uncommonly busy preparing\n\u201cImshikaqo yemiti\u201d (the mixture of medicines), to be ready for use the\nnext day. The officers also are busy choosing places where the\ndoctoring is to be done.\n\nOn the fourth day each man in every regiment has to take the mixture of\nmedicines, which acts as an emetic. In order to be fully prepared for\nthe effects of the medicine, each regiment, in its allotted place, digs\na deep trench. This is done very early in the morning. It is said by\nmany who took this mixture that it made their hearts feel very bad\nindeed, full of cruelty and daring. This is the day, too, when the men\nfelt most inclined to fight in order to try their strength. They would\nbreak out quite unexpectedly, without waiting orders from their king.\nAt the last feast given before the Zulu war the ground was actually\nstrewn with the dying and the dead. The blood of the favourite\nIngobamakosi regiment being heated and poisoned by the \u201cImshikaqo,\u201d\nthey dashed forward to try their strength against another noted\nregiment, which, jealous of them, had been constantly provoking them to\nfight.\n\nLate in the afternoon of this great doctoring day the chiefs had to\ncall up their men to stand before the king and hear the new laws given\nout. Soon after this, \u201cukubuta\u201d (collecting) takes place. The boys who\nhave come to \u201cKreza\u201d (milk into their mouths), come forward to be\n\u201cButwa\u201d (made into a regiment). The name is chosen and given out. So\nthe lads go home holding their heads up high with pride, shouting as\nthey go along, \u201cWe are soldiers of the king.\u201d After this has been done\nthe king addresses the people, and fines those heavily who have been\nfighting and shedding blood. Then he praises those who have behaved\nbest, and finally bids them all go home in peace. A good many men\ngenerally volunteered to stay on and \u201ckonza\u201d (serve the king). There\nwas always plenty of work for them to do in the fields, weeding mealies\nand minding amabele (Kafir corn) gardens\u2014keeping the destructive\nlittle birds away from eating them. There was also a good deal of\nfencing to be done, for the king\u2019s kraal was an uncommonly large one,\nand had always to be kept neat and tidy. The men who volunteered to\nstay and work had to keep themselves in food. Very often they would run\nshort and live only on water for days. Their people had to come long\ndistances with it, carrying it on their heads, and sometimes they could\nill be spared from home. They got no pay for their work, but a beast\nwas given them occasionally for slaughter when all the work was\nfinished. By the time they had to leave, a good many of them were\nreduced to mere skeletons, and could barely manage to drag themselves\nhome.\n\nThe annual feast is now a thing of the past, as there is no king, so is\nalso the \u201cFeast of the first fruits.\u201d The only part of it they keep up\nis taking a dose of the mixture each year before eating green mealies\nor vegetables. This they regard as a help towards making the green food\nagree with them, and that is all.\n\n\n\n\n                          UKUQWANJISWA KWEMPI\n                       (THE DOCTORING OF AN ARMY)\n\n\nThis was a most important ceremony among the Zulus while they were\nstill under their own rulers. The natives of Zululand, as all who know\nanything of their history will admit, were the bravest and most warlike\nof the coloured races, and were always ready to fight for their king\nand country. They never shirked their duty as soldiers, they were all\ntrained to arms from boyhood, and felt it a disgrace not to go out\nagainst the foe whenever called upon to do so.\n\nThe ceremony of Ukuqwamba was invariably performed when there was to be\nwar, and was supposed to make the men both brave and invulnerable.\n\nA proclamation went forth to all the men, in the word \u201cMaihlome\u201d (Let\nthem arm), and in a very short time the whole manhood of the nation\nmobilized and proceeded, fully equipped for war, to the chief kraal of\nthe sovereign, encamping within a short distance. No women were\npermitted to come near, all supplies of food or other necessaries being\nbrought by men or boys specially deputed for this service. The army,\nhaving assembled at its rendezvous, was then formed into a crescent,\nand the national war-doctor marched up in all his war-paint, when a\nvery wild black bull was brought in, seized by some warriors selected\nfor the occasion, and held down by them, while the doctor killed it by\na blow with his axe on the nape of the neck. Meanwhile a large fire was\nlighted, and kept up while the beast was being flayed. Then its flesh\nwas cut into long narrow strips, which were roughly roasted in the fire\nunder the superintendence of the doctor, rubbed with a powder made of\nvarious roots and herbs and portions of the skins of lions and other\nfierce animals, and tossed up into the air among the soldiers, who had\nto catch them in their mouths, bite off a piece, and pass the rest on,\ntill everyone had had a mouthful. Any piece which might chance to fall\non the ground was left there.\n\nThe doctor\u2019s attendants now brought him vessels full of a liquid\ncomposed of various medicines pounded and mixed with water, and the\ndoctor sprinkled the warriors with it, shouting the while, \u201cUmabope\nkabope, Umabope kabope\u201d (let the Mabope tie up, that is, concentrate\nthe strength of the army).[3] All were now ready, and without further\ndelay set out to fight. The \u201ctshela\u201d (tela) or sprinkling was repeated\nin case of a reverse, but not the killing of a bull.[4]\n\nThe whole body was now drawn up in a crescent, representing the two\nhorns of a bull about to thrust at the enemy, while the central part\nrepresented the face of the bull, which would drive them away.\n\nThe war-doctor brings with him all the things required for carrying out\nthe rites I have described, namely, an axe with a sharp point, a knife,\nthe different medicines, and the sprinkler. This should be made of the\ntail of the gnu, or if this cannot be obtained, the tail of a black\nbull is used. All these things the doctor keeps in his own possession,\ncarefully wrapped up in a mat.\n\nThe whole of these ceremonies were gone through just before the Zulu\nwar of 1879, and in addition to this the fighting men partook of a\nmedicinal charm which was to repel the enemy (Intelezi yempi).\n\nWe must not forget the women-folk who were left behind. Married women\nalways wear a skirt made of ox-hide, the hair having been scraped off.\nIn ordinary life the upper edge of this is rolled outward, round the\nhips, but during war they turn the roll inside. The young girls throw\nashes over their bodies, a sign of mourning, as wearing sackcloth and\nashes was among the Hebrews. The old women take their brooms and run\nalong the roads sweeping with them, thus indicating that they would\nmake a clean sweep of their enemies in all directions. This they call\nUkutshaluza.\n\nWomen also drink similar medicines to those taken by the men, but the\npreparation of them is somewhat different. A big fire is lighted\noutside the kraal, and a pot containing a number of roots possessing\nmagical properties is put on, and left to simmer slowly till next\nmorning, when the fresh milk of a cow is added, to whiten it. This is\nsupposed to bring good luck. When it is ready, all the women and\nchildren sit round the pot, dip their fingers in it, and lick off the\nmixture. This is the Ukuncinda, or ceremony of sucking. After this, a\ncow is slaughtered for them to eat. Then they begin to sweep, smear the\nfloors of their huts with cow-dung, and make all tidy. This is\nevidently to prepare for the return of the soldiers. Beer is made, and\nsnuff ground, and all the snuff-boxes filled up, so that nothing shall\nbe wanting.\n\nThe Zulus \u201cfight and die\u201d; there is no turning back, no retreating\u2014for\nthat only means death in the end, an inglorious death instead of a\nglorious one. Any who turned back would be killed by order of the king\nor chief. This was the law of the country in war-time.\n\nWhen attacking, the whole body of men made one big rush forward,\nshouting their clan name or war-cry, \u201cUsutu!\u201d or \u201cMandhlakazi!\u201d[5] &c.,\nas the case might be.\n\nOn camping out for the night a watchword was always agreed upon,\nunknown, of course, to the enemy, and to every passer-by they cried,\n\u201cWho goes there?\u201d their own people, on giving the word, being allowed\nto go safely on their way. This, of course, is the same procedure as\nwould be followed among other nationalities.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 3:\n\n  Umabope is explained in Colenso\u2019s _Dictionary_ (p. 333) as \u201ca\n  climbing plant with red roots, bits of which are much worn about the\n  neck.\u201d A note adds: \u201cThe root is chewed by Zulus when going to\n  battle, the induna giving the word \u2018Lumani (bite) umabope!\u2019 which\n  they do for a few minutes and then spit it out again, saying\n  \u2018Nang\u2019umabope!\u2019 (here is the umabope). The notion is that the foe\n  will be bound in consequence to commit some foolish act.\u201d (The verb\n  bopa means \u201ctie.\u201d)\n\nFootnote 4:\n\n  The nearest translation that can be given in English of the word\n  Ukuqwamba would be \u201cTalisman,\u201d and \u201cUkuqwanjiswa kwempi\u201d may be\n  rendered \u201cThe consecration of an army.\u201d\n\nFootnote 5:\n\n  Usutu is the name of the royal clan to which Cetshwayo\n  belonged\u2014Mandhlakazi being the house of Zibebu.\u2014ED.\n\n\n\n\n                                INGOBOCO\n                         (FINDING OUT WIZARDS)\n\n\nThe office of Detector of Wizards was held by the Chief of Izanusi. He\nwas the one chosen by the king to decide abatakati (wizard) cases. A\nbig Umkamba tree, standing with its wide outstretched branches between\nMahlabatini and Ulundi Military Kraals, was the place where he took the\nappeal cases. (The former was Mpande\u2019s headquarters and the latter\nCetshwayo\u2019s.) He heard only the most complicated cases in which the\nmajority of people were dissatisfied with the inferior Zanusi\u2019s\n(detector of wizards) decision. I happened to be paying a short visit\nto these kraals during Cetshwayo\u2019s reign, when one morning early I saw\na great number of people collected under the Umkamba tree, and on\nasking a native standing by what these men were assembled for was told\nthat the king\u2019s chief, Sangoma, was about to \u201cBul\u2019ingoboco\u201d (inquire\ninto the wizard\u2019s case whether the right judgment had been given). Then\nmy friend and I went near the place to observe the proceedings. We saw\nthe demoniacal Umgoma standing with his dreaded magic wand in his right\nhand, a black tail of \u201cInkonkoni\u201d (gnu), and making fearful deep noises\nin his throat (bodhla), calling the spirits to help him to touch the\nright man with his wand. While doing this he would be walking round and\nround the people, now and then making sudden leaps into the air like a\nmaniac, flourishing his dreaded wand, and all the accused would be\nawaiting the final touch with fear and trembling. The Imigoma (doctors)\nwho had partly heard the cases would also be present, as well as\nrelations of the accused, but none of them were supposed to say\nanything to the Ingoboco man: the amadhlozi (spirits) were to instruct\nhim in everything. After having gone on till thoroughly exhausted with\nthe antics described, he suddenly stops near his victim, whom he\ntouches on the head with the Inkonkoni tail. The poor man has then to\nbe taken off at once without even a word of remonstrance or a last\nfarewell from his relations. He is driven off to Kwankata, a precipice\nover a deep pond in the Mfolozi River, which is full of crocodiles.\nThis place is at no great distance from Ulundi. Having reached it the\npoor victim would be first stoned, then thrown down the precipice into\nthe pond, where the crocodiles were always in readiness to receive him.\nThey really lived on human beings.\n\nHappily the morning we were watching Ingoboco the victim escaped most\nmarvellously by running off at once to the king, who was standing in\nthe cattle kraal, and throwing himself down at his feet, pleading for\nmercy, which was granted at once as a reward for his pluck and running\npowers. I am told that several others managed to save themselves in the\nsame way, for it was quite an understood thing that if a man reached\nthe king, outstripping all his pursuers, he would be saved. This also\nheld good if a man reached King Mpande\u2019s grave in safety. No one would\ndare to touch him there.\n\n\n\n\n                               ICIMAMLILO\n                          (FIRE EXTINGUISHER)\n\n\nIcimamlilo is the name of a compound which is in use among the heathen\nZulus in cases of murder or homicide, and so well is this known that if\nany person were found using it after a murder had been committed, that\nperson would be strongly suspected of the crime. It consists of four or\nfive kinds of very bitter roots, with pieces of the flesh of the\nfollowing animals: a lion, a baboon, a jackal, a hyena, and an\nelephant, also a kind of hawk. All of these ingredients are essential,\nthere are others which may be added, but which are not absolutely\nnecessary. After all these things have been burnt to ashes and\nthoroughly mixed, the murderer or homicide swallows some of the powder,\nand mixing the rest with water sprinkles himself and goes off for a\nbathe; then the purification is complete, and any evil effects upon the\nsystem which, according to native superstition may follow the killing\nof a human being, are counteracted. This custom of purification is\nstill strictly kept up by the heathen natives, as a preventive against\ntheir own death, which they believe might otherwise naturally take\nplace as a consequence of having killed another.\n\n\n\n\n                              RAIN DOCTORS\n\n\nIn common with other backward races the Zulus have faith in the power\nof the rain doctors to make, or to draw, rain, and also to prevent it\nfrom falling. The Zulu kings generally kept rain doctors; but as these\nmen, when they did not make enough rain to please their royal masters,\nwere in danger of being fined or even put to death, they were obliged\nto invent a good many excuses for their failures. The most common was\nthat they felt sure somebody was practising witchcraft, that is to say,\nputting pegs dipped in medicine into the ground, or tying knots in the\ngrass on the mountain-tops and sprinkling them with medicines, either\nof which proceedings would stop the rain. Then the king would send\nmessengers round the country commanding his subjects to find out where\npegs had been driven in, or knots tied in the grass, and the owner of\nthe kraal in whose neighbourhood this was found to have been done was\nliable to be killed or fined, at the king\u2019s discretion. In a dry season\npeople were constantly in fear of this happening, for they knew that\nany who wished to injure them would drive in pegs near their kraals and\nthen report them to the king for having done it.\n\nCetshwayo once had a rain doctor of whom he thought a great deal; but\none year when there was a terrible drought he lost faith in him, and\nthen someone accused him to the king of having wilfully prevented the\nrain from falling. Of course this made his majesty furiously angry, and\nhe ordered the unfortunate man to be killed and thrown into the river,\ntogether with his hut and everything he possessed. No sooner was this\norder carried out than the rain fell in torrents. Such is the story\ntold by the natives, but I cannot vouch for the truth of it.[6]\n\nThe Zulus used to consider the Basuto rain doctors the best of any, and\nthe king sometimes engaged some of them to come to Zululand when rain\nwas wanted. One year a large number of them arrived, laden with roots\nand other medicines, from Basutoland. Some carried calabashes filled\nwith liquids, which were rolled about on the ground at the cattle-kraal\nto bring thunder, and bundles containing charms to bring lightning and\nrain were stuck upright in the ground. These performances went on for\nsome weeks, until at last the rain came, and the Zulus were satisfied\nthat it was caused by the hard work of the Basuto doctors. These men\nwere kept well supplied with beef and beer all the time they were in\nthe country, and handsome presents were given them when they left it to\nreturn to their own land.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 6:\n\n  This story scarcely seems to be consistent with Cetshwayo\u2019s\n  character. He was certainly a sceptic as regards witchcraft.\u2014ED.\n\n\n\n\n                  THE RAINBOW, LIGHTNING, AND ECLIPSES\n\n\nThe Zulus believe in a glorious being whom they call the Queen of\nHeaven, of great and wondrous beauty, and the rainbow is supposed to be\nan emanation of her glory. This \u201cQueen of Heaven\u201d (Inkosikazi) is a\ndifferent person from the Heavenly Princess, to whom the young girls\npray regularly once a year, as described on another page.[7]\n\nSome believe that there is a gorgeously coloured animal at the point\nwhere the rainbow appears to come in contact with the earth, and that\nit would cause the death of any who caught sight of it.[8]\n\nThe natives as a rule are very superstitious about the lightning; if it\nhas struck anything they say \u201cthe heavens did it,\u201d they dare not speak\nof it by name. A person killed by lightning is buried without ceremony,\nand there is no mourning for him; a tree which has been struck may not\nbe used for fuel; the flesh of any animal so killed is not to be eaten;\nhuts which have been injured by lightning are abandoned, and very often\nthe whole kraal is removed. Persons living in such a kraal may not\nvisit their friends, nor may their friends visit them, until they have\nbeen purified and pronounced clean by the doctor. They are not allowed\nto dispose of their cattle until they also have been attended to by the\ndoctor: even the milk is considered unclean, and people abstain from\ndrinking it.\n\nAn eclipse or an earthquake foretells a great calamity, and the natives\nare terrified whenever an eclipse takes place. The defeat of Cetshwayo\nby Usibebu a few hours after an earthquake, which was felt all through\nZululand in 1883, naturally confirmed them in the belief that it is an\nevil omen.[9]\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 7:\n\n  The rainbow is called utingo lwenkosikazi, \u201cThe Queen\u2019s Bow.\u201d See\n  Callaway, _Nursery Tales and Traditions of the Zulus_, p. 193.\n  Utingo, however, is not \u201ca bow\u201d in our sense (at any rate not in\n  current Zulu speech), but a bent stick or wattle, such as is used in\n  making the framework of a hut. It is difficult to ascertain anything\n  about this inkosikazi; but the Zulu women hold dances on the hills in\n  honour of some Inkosazana\u2014an echo, it may be, of the story of\n  Jephtha\u2019s daughter.\n\n  Mr. Dudley Kidd (_The Essential Kafir_, p. 112) seems to have\n  confused her with Nomkubulwana, who, as Miss Samuelson expressly\n  tells us, is not the same person. It is not clear whether she is\n  identical with the mysterious being called \u201cInkosazana,\u201d of whom the\n  late Bishop Callaway says: \u201cThe following superstition ... appears to\n  be the relic of some very old worship\u201d (_Religious System of the\n  Amazulu_, p. 253).\n\n  She was supposed to appear, or rather to be heard speaking (for she\n  was never seen), in lonely places, and predicted the future, or gave\n  directions which had to be obeyed by the people. \u201cIt is she who\n  introduces many fashions among black men. She orders the children to\n  be weaned earlier than usual.... Sometimes she orders much beer to be\n  made and poured out on the mountain. And all the tribes make beer,\n  each chief and his tribe; the beer is poured on the mountain; and\n  they thus free themselves from blame.... I never heard that they pray\n  to her for anything, for she does not dwell with men, but in the\n  forest, and is unexpectedly met with by a man who has gone out about\n  his own affairs, and he brings back her message.\u201d\u2014ED.\n\nFootnote 8:\n\n  The Congo people believe the rainbow to be a snake (chama) as do the\n  Yorubas (Oshumare). (See Mr. Dennett\u2019s _At the Back of the Black\n  Man\u2019s Mind_ (p. 142), and _Nigerian Studies_ (p. 217).\u2014ED.\n\nFootnote 9:\n\n  The earthquake referred to took place in 1883, during the night which\n  preceded Cetshwayo\u2019s defeat by Usibebu at Ulundi. My sister (Mrs.\n  Faye) and I were camped out some ten miles from Melmoth, when, about\n  midnight, the wagonette in which we were sleeping was shaken and\n  began to move down hill, but was fortunately stopped after a few\n  yards by a block of wood lying in the grass. The natives who were\n  near us exclaimed that it meant a calamity to the Zulu nation. And in\n  the morning, when we got down from the wagonette, we found a great\n  number of men sitting about looking sad, with their arms over their\n  shoulders (meaning \u201cwe are lost\u201d). They told us that Cetshwayo had\n  been killed by Usibebu; in fact, the latter had made a clean sweep of\n  the royal kraal and all the king\u2019s men. In less than an hour later we\n  saw numbers of people, some running, some limping, some crawling past\n  us, who had just managed to escape with their lives. Cetshwayo,\n  wounded badly in the leg, was saved, and taken for protection to\n  Eshowe, where he died early in the following year. (See Mr. Gibson\u2019s\n  _The Story of the Zulus_, p. 256, new edition.)\n\n\n\n\n                           UKUKALEL \u2019AMABELE\n                         (PRAYING FOR THE CORN)\n\n\nA description of an old Zulu custom which is now slowly dying out may\nbe found interesting. It is generally observed at the season when the\nmealies and mabele (Kafir corn) are coming into flower.\n\nThe Zulus believe that there is a certain Princess in Heaven, who bears\nthe name of Nomkubulwana (Heavenly Princess), and who occasionally\nvisits their cornfields and causes them to bear abundantly. For this\nprincess they very often set apart a small piece of cultivated land as\na present, putting little pots of beer in it for her to drink when she\ngoes on her rounds. They often sprinkle the mealies and mabele with\nsome of the beer, for luck to the harvest.\n\nThere is one day appointed specially for girls, when they go out\nfasting on to the hills, and spend the whole day weeping, fasting, and\npraying, as they think that the more they fast and weep the more likely\nthey are to be pitied by the princess. On that day they have to wear\nmen\u2019s clothing (umutsha) made of skins, and all men and boys are to\nkeep out of their way, neither speaking to them nor looking at them.\n\nThey start very early, as by sunrise they must be by the riverside,\nready to begin praying and weeping.[10]\n\nDigging deep holes in the sand, they make two or three little girls sit\nin them, and fill them in again, till nothing but their heads are left\nshowing above ground. There they must remain, weeping and praying for\nsome time. Girls about six years old are generally chosen for this\npurpose, as they cry the most (rather from fright than anything else),\nand so are most likely to catch the ear of the heavenly princess.\n\nWhen the older girls think the poor little things have done their fair\nshare, they help them out and let them run home.\n\nThe big girls then go to the mountains and weep; after that to their\ngardens, round which they walk, screaming to the heavenly princess to\nhave pity on them and give them a good harvest.\n\nAfter this they sprinkle the gardens with beer, and set little pots of\nit here and there for the princess.\n\nAbout sunset the ceremonies are over, and they all go back to the river\nto bathe, after which they return to their homes and break their fast.\nAny girls refusing to join with the others on Nomkubulwana\u2019s day would\nlose caste, unless prevented by illness. Of course Christian girls are\nnot expected to join, this being an entirely heathen rite.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 10:\n\n  Cf. an account of this custom (umtshopi) in Colenso\u2019s _Zulu\n  Dictionary_, p. 614. A similar observance, intended to avert disease,\n  is described by Mrs. Hugh Lancaster Carbutt in the (South African)\n  _Folk-Lore Journal_ for January, 1880 (Vol. II., p. 12), as follows:\n  \u201cAmong the charms to prevent sickness from visiting a kraal is the\n  umkuba, or custom of the girls herding the cattle for a day. [Umkuba\n  means \u201ccustom,\u201d it is not the name of this particular rite.] No\n  special season of the year is set apart for this custom. It is merely\n  enacted when diseases are known to be prevalent. On such an occasion\n  all the girls and unmarried women of a kraal rise early in the\n  morning, dress themselves entirely in their brothers\u2019 skins [_i.e._,\n  skin kilts (umutsha)], and, taking their knobkerries and sticks, open\n  the cattle-pen or kraal, and drive the cattle away from the vicinity\n  of the homestead, none of these soi-disant herds returning home, or\n  going near a kraal, until sunset, when they bring the cattle back. No\n  one of the opposite sex dare go near the girls on this day, or speak\n  to them.\u201d\u2014We have reproduced the passage in full, as the periodical\n  which contains it is now very scarce. It should be noted that at\n  ordinary times it would be contrary to custom\u2014indeed, highly\n  improper, if not sacrilegious\u2014for any woman or girl to approach the\n  cattle-kraal, to say nothing of herding the cattle. The idea is, no\n  doubt, to compel the assistance of the Unseen by some flagrant\n  outrage on decency, actual or threatened.\u2014ED.\n\n\n\n\n                            OLD WIVES\u2019 TALES\n\n\nIn addition to the many beliefs amongst the Zulus, of which I have\ngiven some examples, which may be properly called superstitious, there\nare a large number of curious half-beliefs and traditions, something of\nthe nature of \u201cold wives\u2019 tales,\u201d to which allusion is made more or\nless seriously in the ordinary course of Zulu conversation, and which\noften come as a surprise to the uninitiated European. I remember being\nmuch struck with some of these many years ago (as far back as in 1872),\nwhen my father took me as a child for a journey through Zululand on a\nvisit to the great kraal of the celebrated King Mpande. On the way, as\nI was getting somewhat tired, a friendly Zulu told me to press my foot\non an aloe (icena), and I should not be tired any longer. I saw no\nparticular harm in obeying the injunction, and whether it was from the\neffect of the \u201cicena,\u201d or a thought cure wrought by the friendly Zulu,\nI certainly managed to get on.\n\nOn the same journey I was struck by a curious idea the Zulus have\n(somewhat akin to our \u201cwatched pot never boils\u201d) as to disturbing the\nordinary processes of the vegetable kingdom. I noticed some fine\nvarieties of pumpkins, melons, and marrows, and, being curious to know\ntheir names, I pointed my finger at them. \u201cMusa, musa\u201d (don\u2019t, don\u2019t),\nshouted my native conductor, \u201cthey will never ripen if you point at\nthem. You ought always to bend your fingers and point with your\nknuckles towards vegetables.\u201d \u201cOh,\u201d said I, \u201cyou might perhaps pick me\nthat pumpkin (indicating one of the best), as it is the only one I\npointed at, and it will prevent its rotting,\u201d and he at once fell in\nwith my suggestion, adding a few marrows growing near the pumpkin,\nwhich had also been in peril. Some of our mistakes in dealing with the\nZulus might at times lead to serious consequences; but fortunately, as\na rule they take them good naturedly, and attribute them to our\nignorance.\n\nIt is rather curious, and perhaps a little humiliating, to civilized\nand superior people, to find one of their favourite nursery\ntactics\u2014the threat of the black man coming down the chimney\u2014in vogue\n(mutatis mutandis) among the Zulus. Fond Zulu mothers used to reduce\ntheir refractory offspring to order by the threat, \u201cI\u2019ll take you away\nto be eaten up by the white men,\u201d and in the old times of which I am\nnow speaking the threat always had the desired effect, though, let us\nhope in the present day, the notion of our being cannibals, if not\nbogies, no longer exists, even among the Zulus.\n\nI well remember the day when we were graciously admitted to an audience\nwith King Mpande, and the curious kind of awe with which the monarch\nand his attendants regarded us. The King spoke to us through his chief\nofficial, and courteously welcomed us to his Place, hoping we had not\nbeen disturbed by a big fight which had taken place in connection with\nsome festivities among the Zulus near to us. It was a way his subjects\nhad when their blood was heated, and he had done his best to stop it.\nHe then noticed my long brown hair, which hung down to my waist, and\nobserved, \u201cWhat nice tails you have adorned yourself with! where did\nyou get them? I should like some like that.\u201d I said I had a private\nstore from which I got them, and should not like anyone else to know.\nKing Mpande smiled, and took it all in good part. I was the first white\ngirl he had seen, and he looked therefore upon me as a curiosity.\n\n\u201cCome nearer,\u201d he said, \u201cand take off your hat, so that I can have a\ngood look at you. How do you manage to tie the tails so neatly that no\nstrings are seen?\u201d He pulled and tugged at my hair, to see whether it\nwould come off.\n\n\u201cWhy, this is wonderful!\u201d said he. \u201cThese are the tails they make under\nthe sea. There\u2019s nothing on land equal to this.\u201d\n\n\u201cI glue them on,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cWow! It is well done! Do show us how you do it.\u201d\n\nIt was beyond human nature to keep a serious face after that. We all\nburst out laughing together. Then I told him that it was only my hair.\n\n\u201cNgimdala!\u201d (I am old) said the king (meaning in wisdom); and I was\nasked to go round for fuller inspection. The king noticed my hands. He\nsaid: \u201cHer hands have a different colour to her face! Come nearer\nagain, let me have a look at your hands.\u201d I obeyed. He took my hand and\nfelt it all over. \u201cMamo!\u201d (oh! mother) \u201cthe skin moves. It is quite\nloose, and look how red it is.\u201d I had a pair of scarlet silk gloves on.\nI pulled one off, an incident which caused a prodigious sensation in\nthe royal hut. Exclamations of surprise were heard all round. \u201cWhite\ngirls are double skinned,\u201d said one, \u201con their hands.\u201d \u201cThey have a\nwhite skin to suit their face, and this is covered by a loose, dark red\nskin,\u201d said the king. \u201cBehold the artfulness of the white beings that\ncome out of the sea.\u201d The glove was carefully examined, and one man,\nwith fear and trembling, picked it up with the tips of his fingers, but\nspeedily dropped it again in horror and dismay. My father then\nexplained to them as best he could that ladies wore gloves to protect\ntheir hands from getting sunburnt, and we took leave of the mighty king.\n\nOutside the door we were met by a number of his royal daughters, all\nwanting to have a look at the girl from under the sea and her wonderful\nhair and hands. When they had satisfied their curiosity, they asked us\nto come and call on Giba, King Mpande\u2019s celebrated snake charmer. He\nwas sitting in his hut training his numerous snakes to go and come in\nto and out of their holes as he wanted them.\n\nA great monster of a python was coiled round a stone in a corner,\nlazily watching his inferiors at their drill, and waiting his turn.\n\u201cNgqabitani\u201d (the snake\u2019s name, which means \u201chop down\u201d), called out\nGiba, and the monster made a move and came with a twist and a roll, and\nwas rewarded by a fowl to eat. It was a horrible performance.\n\nThe tendency which the Zulu has, in common with all savage or\nhalf-civilized people, to ascribe anything unusual to magic, and to\naccount for the unknown by fanciful analogy (the basis, indeed, of most\nof the vulgar superstitions), was curiously illustrated in this journey\nby a chief whom we met and to whom my father gave a small mirror. The\nZulu looked into it, gave a start, and dropped it to the ground. \u201cWhy,\nit is myself; I know, for I have seen a reflection of myself in a clear\npool. These people carry mysterious things with them.\u201d He picked it up\ngingerly, and handed it to his chief man, who, after examining it with\nthe caution that a detective might display in opening a parcel supposed\nto contain dynamite, handed it round to the attendants, each of whom\nmade a study of the \u201cego\u201d and the \u201cnon ego\u201d in the wonderful \u201ccharm,\u201d\nwhich they took to their home and sealed up in an earthen pot.\n\nSuch are some of the curious ideas which were entertained by the Zulus\nas to the white man in the old days. Since that time increased\nintercourse with the white creatures from under the sea has dissipated\nsome of their old delusions, but even to this day a large number of the\nnatives look upon the white man as something weird, as a being who can\ndo anything, and who has about him a touch of the mysterious, if not of\nthe supernatural. Fortunately for us these ideas have never taken a\nvery serious hold on the native mind. They look upon us as strange\ncuriosities, but do not seriously associate our doings with the \u201cblack\narts,\u201d ready as they are to attribute dealings with forbidden agencies\nto their own people. It would have gone hard with us in the early days\nif any influential chief had conceived the idea, so readily seized by\nthe Chinese, of designating all Europeans \u201cforeign devils\u201d\u2014\u201cTakati\u201d\n(wizards)\u2014with unknown powers and malignant designs. Our just and\nlarge-minded treatment of them has prevented the spread of any such\nnotions amongst them. Their mental attitude towards us at the present\nday is one of bewildered simplicity, not unmingled with respect, and,\nwhen their confidence is obtained, with something of the loyal\naffection they have long been accustomed to entertain towards their own\nchiefs and superiors.\n\n\n\n\n                      KING MPANDE\u2019S SNAKE CHARMER.\n\n\nDuring King Mpande\u2019s reign there lived in his chief kraal a most noted\nand wonderful snake-charmer, who was spoken of far and wide with great\nawe. He was looked upon as one who was in constant communication with\nthe spirits, as all snakes obeyed him. He was tall and slim, with a\nwithered right arm and a crooked forefinger. It was quite an easy task\nfor him to catch snakes in bushes, and he could even draw them out of\ntheir holes with his crooked finger. He said he had certain kinds of\nmedicines which he always took, and also injected into his right arm\nand finger before setting out snake-catching in the mornings, and these\nprevented snake bites having any effect on him\u2014in fact, he felt quite\nsafe anywhere. He would sometimes take long journeys in search of\nvarious kinds of snakes, and on his return would call on people living\nnear the roadside that he might exhibit them. He generally took two or\nthree boys with him to carry them, and they had special bags made for\nthem of water-broom rushes. I shall never forget the day when the\nsnake-charmer called at our house and asked whether we should like to\nsee two big snakes he had caught that day. At first we felt rather\nscared, although, at the same time, we were curious to see them, for we\nhad heard a great deal about this snake-charmer. So we allowed him to\nget them out and show us what he could do with them. He ordered the\nboys to open the bags, then gave two or three whistles, and the snakes\ncame crawling out very slowly and carefully. He then drew a winding\nmark on the ground with his rod, which they most obediently followed,\nhissing and sticking out their tongues now and then, and looking about\nto see which way they were to go next, and he said that this was all he\nhad been able to teach them that morning. He put down his rod a moment,\nthen one of the snakes made for the kitchen door, where three native\ngirls were standing, and it went part of the way in before he could\nstop it. The girls were half mad with fright; one climbed on the table,\nanother on the shelf, and the third went up the chimney: there was a\nterrible scrimmage. But the man soon made the snake go into the bag\nagain. I then thought I would have some fun, so I went into my room to\nfetch a big toy snake which I kept in the window to prevent the natives\nfrom standing about there and using it as a mirror. When I brought it\nout, moving and wriggling about in my hand, the charmer took to flight.\nIt was an ugly green and yellow thing, with open red mouth. The man\nsaid his medicines would be no preventive against a bite from this\nstrange kind of snake, of which he knew nothing. But when I told him it\nwas only a toy, he had a good laugh over his fright. Soon after his\nreturn to his hut at the king\u2019s kraal we heard that some gentlemen had\ngone up to pay him a visit and to ask him to let them see his snakes.\nWhen he went away his hut would be quite safe, for the snakes were\nalways on the look out for strangers. The gentlemen thought it prudent\nto keep at a good distance until the owner of the hut and snakes\nappeared. After the usual greetings and introductions had been gone\nthrough, the man said, \u201cI hear you would like to see my pets; how much\nwill you pay me for it?\u201d They answered that they were travellers, and\nhad not much with them, but that they would give him a blanket each. So\nhe made them go into a corner of his hut and sit down on a mat.\nPresently he called out \u201cNgqabitani\u201d! (his chief snake), and it came\nout with a majestic twist of satisfaction. Then he whistled for\nanother, grunted for another, groaned for a third, hissed for a fourth,\nand then rattled for the whole lot. They came out by the dozen; the\nvisitors found themselves surrounded by snakes of all sorts and sizes,\nthe great python wriggling and twisting impatiently, with a look as\nmuch as to say, \u201cI could swallow the whole of you if only my master\nwould allow me.\u201d The man sat coolly at the door of his hut enjoying the\nfun. The gentlemen called out, \u201cEnough! enough! we have seen your pets;\ndo for pity\u2019s sake call them back!\u201d The man said, \u201cHow much will you\ngive me?\u201d The answer was, \u201cTen blankets each\u2014anything you like\u2014all we\npossess; only clear off your pets and let us out of this trap.\u201d He\nanswered, \u201cYou shall have your wish my good friends,\u201d and then made the\nusual noises, when they all promptly returned to their holes. The\ngentlemen heaved a sigh of relief, paid the man, but never will they\nask to see his pets again. They were quite satisfied.\n\n\n\n\n                     HOW DEATH CAME INTO THE WORLD\n\n\nThe Zulu people believe that our first parents came out of a reed. The\nGreat-great-one made the reed to open, and forth came a man and a\nwoman. Some years after, He sent a messenger to inform the people that\nthey were to live for ever. This messenger, being a chameleon, was very\nslow in fulfilling its errand. On the way it espied some nice berries,\nof which it is very fond, and it spent quite an age in climbing up the\nshrub to pick and eat the sweet little fruit. It thought that it was\nunnecessary to hurry with the message\u2014the people could wait: so it was\nat no pains to perform His mission. Meanwhile the Great-great-one sent\na second messenger to tell the people that they were to die. This\nmessenger (being a kind of lizard, or salamander) was much quicker in\nits movements, and so, arriving in the world long before the chameleon\neven thought it had had enough berries to eat, it proclaimed to men:\n\u201cThe Great-great-one says you must all die.\u201d When at length the\nfirst-sent messenger came, it was too late, for people were already\ndying, and the fate of the rest could not be changed. And they said:\n\u201cWhy did you delay when sent by the Great-great-one? You detestable\nlittle, slow, crawling creature! You shall be hated for ever and ever.\u201d\nThe natives still abhor this creature in connection with the legend.\nThey always ill-treat it, delighting to fill its mouth with snuff,\nwhich turns it black.\n\n\n\n\n                    THE ZULU\u2019S CHOICEST BIT OF MEAT\n\n\nIf a native sends a present of meat to his chief, or anyone he respects\nas far above him, he will generally send the Insonyama, that is, the\npart of the flesh of a slaughtered bullock or cow which covers the ribs\nand is separated from them by a moist substance which makes it very\neasy of removal. This is, in native estimation, the choicest meat, and\nis always eaten by the head of a family. This is a useful piece of\nknowledge for those who have to do with native cases which concern\ndisputed inheritance. If an ox is slaughtered which belongs to any\nother house of the same family, the insonyama is always taken to be\neaten in the superior\u2019s hut. If the insonyama is taken as a present to\na superior friend, it is always considered a great compliment to cook\nit beforehand and roll it up nicely in a clean mat (isitebe) ready to\nbe eaten.\n\n\n\n\n                    A FRIENDLY WAY OF OBTAINING FOOD\n\n\nThe Zulus are a very kind and hospitable race, always willing to share\ntheir food with others in need. In times of famine they have a way of\nasking help from each other without any intention of returning the\nsame; this they call Ukutekela. Sometimes on meeting one another by the\nway, after the usual greetings, one says to the other, \u201cI am coming to\nbeg (tekela) mealies (or potatoes) of you to-morrow\u201d; the answer would\nbe, \u201cAll right,\u201d with a laugh, \u201cyou may come.\u201d\n\nTekela really means begging or obtaining food, corn or potatoes, from\nanother, sometimes getting it as a reward for assisting to reap or\nweed, or as a gift. It is one of the oldest customs which the natives\nhave.\n\nFor instance, a woman may go on a visit to relations or friends, and\nremain with them for a short time, and while staying there assist in\nwhatever work is going on at the time of her visit. Then when she\nleaves to return home she may be given grain of some kind to take with\nher, if there is a fair supply at the kraal. A visitor hardly ever\nreturns home empty handed. Only in times of famine would it be possible.\n\nHelp given one to another in reaping cornfields is very commonly\nacknowledged in the same fashion.\n\nWhen the gardens need weeding a day is arranged on which to invite\nfriends to a beer-drink. The guests arrive about sunrise and weed till\nabout three o\u2019clock, when the beer is brought out; but no one except\nthose who have assisted in the work will have a share in it, unless\nthey happen to be travellers or too old to work.\n\nNatives will do a great deal to obtain beer, which is the reason why\nthe native fields are usually so free from weeds. But it is seldom used\nbefore the allotted work is done\u2014a very necessary restriction!\n\n\n\n\n                   PEACEMAKING OVER A PINCH OF SNUFF\n\n\nVery few people, I believe, know this Zulu custom of making friends.\nAfter a severe quarrel natives will not condescend to take snuff\ntogether on any account, although they have been the best of friends\nfor years. It is not till their quarrel has been settled and their\ntempers cooled down that they can begin to say, \u201cNgi ncwebise ugwai\u201d\n(give me a pinch of snuff)\u2014and even then the one asked may refuse and\nsay \u201c\u2019Tis too soon my friend, irritate me not, I pray.\u201d The following\nis an instance:\u2014\n\nTwo handsome young men, who had been friends ever since they were quite\nlittle lads, and who had joined the same regiment, fell in love with a\nvery beautiful girl, who was a chief\u2019s daughter. These young men were\ninseparable; wherever the one went the other was sure to go. Whether it\nwas to a hunt, beer drink, wedding, or dance they always went together.\nThere was a certain chief who took a liking to these two young men, for\nthey were very cheerful and amusing, so he encouraged them to come to\nall his entertainments. One used to ornament himself with white beads\nand tigers\u2019 claws and white ostrich feathers, the other with red beads\nand black and red feathers. They each carried a nice assagai and a\ncouple of knobkerries and a courting shield. They always looked neat\nand nice, for they made a point of greasing themselves well before\nsetting out anywhere.\n\nThis chief had a most beautiful daughter who was greatly beloved by old\nand young, for she was kind and pleasant to everybody. Her father\nalways chose her to serve the beer round to the visitors, she did it so\ngracefully and willingly. These two young men were greatly struck with\nthe girl, and both fell in love with her. The one in red decided at\nonce to win her, but how to set about it was a puzzle, for he never\nbefore had gone anywhere without his friend, and he didn\u2019t know what\nexcuse to make to go off alone. But the next day he got a very good\nopportunity, for his friend was taken ill and could not attend a dance\nhe had promised to go to. The one in red had to go alone and make\nexcuses for the other. Between the dances he got a chance to try his\nluck with the young lady, and was rejected at once for having the\nimpudence to wear the Royal colours. (Those red beads were worn in\nthose days only by royalty, also the red parrot feathers.) This maiden\nthought he could not be trusted: he would venture too much, and end by\ngetting killed.\n\nHe went back disappointed and annoyed, but did not let his friend know\nanything about it, for he intended to try again. When his friend had\nrecovered they went together to call on the chief. His daughter brought\nin some beer. It was noticed that she paid most attention to the one in\nwhite, and of course that gave him hope at once. As soon as she left\nthe hut the young man said: \u201cYour daughter, chief of the great house,\nhas won my heart. How much would you want for her? How many head of\ncattle?\u201d\n\nThe chief answered, \u201cYou are a handsome, promising lad. Of another I\nshould ask for her sixty, but I would let you off with thirty.\u201d\n\nThe young man was delighted with this answer. He took the very next\nopportunity to propose and was accepted.\n\nHis friend was furiously angry, and swore a solemn oath that now their\nfriendship had come to an end, and they would be enemies for the rest\nof their lives, \u201cFor,\u201d said he, \u201cI was first in the field.\u201d\n\nThey parted there and then. The lucky man sent the thirty head of\ncattle the very next day to make sure of his future bride, and the\nmatter was properly settled. He was very happy, but still he missed his\ndear old friend who had left him in anger.\n\nWhenever they met, he said to him, \u201cdear friend of my youth and life,\ncome and let us make it up. Here, take a pinch of snuff. It was no\nfault of mine you were rejected.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, \u2019tis too soon. After your wedding,\u201d said the other, \u201cthis may be\ndone, but I do not wish to come to the wedding feast. May the spirits\nof my ancestors pity me and save me from harming you or her. Depart in\npeace!\u201d\n\nThree months after the wedding the two friends met under a cabbage\ntree, took snuff together, and vowed to forget their grievance.\n\n\n\n\n                          RULES OF A ZULU HUNT\n\n\nHunts are conducted on a large scale, and there are certain rules which\nhave to be kept. Generally the most important man in the neighbourhood\nproclaims it, and young boys are sent round a day or two in advance\nwith a few branches of the wild cabbage tree (umsenge) in their hands\nto invite those who are chosen to take part in the sport. All who see\nthese boys with umsenge branches ask from them where the hunt is to\ntake place, and are told in answer. It is an easy way of inviting\nsuperiors to anything, for a Zulu youth may not address his senior\nwithout being first spoken to.\n\nAll the men invited have to meet the chief at the starting point,\narmed, and with their dogs. They dance round him and sing their hunting\nsongs, then they follow him to the place chosen for the hunt. While at\nthe hunt, if a buck is stabbed by more than one person before it falls,\nit belongs to the man who first drew blood, and the man who gave it the\nnext stab, or whose dog caught it after it had received its first wound\nis entitled to a leg; the man who wounded it a third time, or whose dog\npulled it down, takes a shoulder, if it is a large buck, but nothing if\nthe animal is a small one.\n\nIf caught by dogs without being previously wounded, and if it is not\nknown whose dog was the first to lay hold of it, the buck belongs to\nthe master of the hunt or the man who called the hunt together. And it\nis the latter generally who settles a disputed question of ownership;\nbut he cannot mend the broken heads which so often follow such a\ndispute. One seldom sees natives so excited as they over a buck killed\nat a hunt, when there is any doubt as to the person to whom the buck\nbelongs. Many cases of assault, and even murder, arise out of quarrels\nover a dead buck. It might therefore be very useful to know these rules.\n\n\n\n\n                          UBUQILI BUKA BONGOZA\n                          BONGOZA\u2019S SMARTNESS\n\n\nIn the early days when the Boers invaded Zululand the Zulus twice set\ntraps for them, which were very successful. They were completely caught\nin both.\n\nDingane, who was at that time King of the Zulus, prepared the first one\nhimself. He gave a great beer drink in his cattle kraal, and invited\nall the Boers, with their leader (Piet Retief). These readily accepted\nthe invitation, came, and were highly entertained in various ways. A\ngood many Zulus were asked by Dingane to come and help to entertain by\nsinging and dancing while the tyuala (Kafir beer) was being passed\nround. The Boers enjoyed the Kafir beer immensely, as well as the\nsinging and dancing, little guessing what was in store for them that\nday.\n\nWhen Dingane thought he had spent enough time with them, he gave a sign\nto his people, which had been agreed upon beforehand. He just passed\nthe palm of his hand over his mouth, and that meant, \u201cSweep them all\noff the face of the earth.\u201d After having given this sign, he himself\nwent out of the kraal unnoticed. Hundreds of Zulus who had been waiting\noutside the kraal ready armed set to at once, and those who had been\nsinging and dancing joined in as soon as the sign was given them. There\nwas a confusion of beer pots and assagais. The assagais came like a\nhailstorm upon the unfortunate Boers. Their leader was the only one who\nescaped by leaping over the cattle kraal fence and disappearing in a\nmost mysterious way.\n\nA few years after he came forward again with another big commando, in\nhopes of settling old scores, when he was led into another trap beyond\nthe White Umfolozi, at a place called Opate. He had been troubling the\nZulus a great deal all round about Mahlabatini (where the Natal Police\ndistinguished themselves in the recent Boer war). Dingane was quite at\na loss what to do with them, for he wished to put an end to it all.\nAmongst his numerous chiefs he had one very smart general called\nNobongoza, who thought of a plan to catch the Dutchmen. He had a\nprivate interview with the king, and made his plans known to him. They\nwere thought to be very good indeed, for Dingane left the management of\neverything to him after that. Opate is a nice open plain, surrounded\nwith bushes and hills. To get to it one had to go through a narrow\npass. Nobongoza ordered a good number of his men to drive the king\u2019s\ncattle to this plain for safety; but he really had quite another object\nin view in doing this. All the natives were to go armed, in readiness\nto defend the cattle in case the Boers should find their hiding place\nand try to take them. A day after the cattle had been taken to Opate,\nNobongoza sent a big army to hide in the bush all round the place; then\nhe turned traitor and went over to the Boers, saying he was tired of\nfighting against them, therefore he was now willing to lead them to a\nplace where the king had hidden his cattle, and they could just help\nthemselves and go away. Piet Retief believed what Nobongoza said, and\nwas quite pleased. He allowed this chief to go as their leader, and\neven promised to pay him for his trouble. So he led them through this\nnarrow pass, and when they had got through a fine sight came in view\u2014a\nsight that would make any Dutchman\u2019s heart leap for joy\u2014the plain was\nalive with fine cattle. They at once made a dash for them, when\nNobongoza suddenly disappeared in the forest close by, where thousands\nof armed Zulus were waiting for their prey. They rushed out from the\nbush all round, closed in upon the Boers, and killed every one of them.\nThe cattle were then driven back triumphantly to the King\u2019s kraal, and\nNobongoza was looked upon as a hero ever after.\n\nThese historical tales are repeated to this day. Anyone visiting\nZululand might ask a Zulu to relate to them \u201cUbiqili Buka Bongoza,\u201d and\nit would be told them with great glee. It is one of the most favourite\nstories amongst the men.\n\nWhen visiting Zululand only a short time ago I heard this story from an\nold Zulu warrior who is now over a hundred years old. He seemed to have\na very good memory still, and enjoyed relating all his past victories.\nHe said he was quite a little boy when Chaka died, and he served as a\nsoldier under Dingane.\n\n\n\n\n                        LABYRINTHS AND WAR GAME\n\n\nThe Zulus are very fond of drawing mazes (usogexe) on the ground with\nthe finger, or\u2014after smoking hemp (insangu)\u2014with saliva passed\nthrough a hollow stem of tambootie grass and so made to trace a\nlabyrinth (tshuma sogexe) on a smooth floor. The one who draws\ngenerally asks some one else to find the way into the royal hut. And\nthis he does with a pointer of tambootie, or failing to follow the\nright course and getting cornered, is greeted with a general shout of\n\u201cWapuka sogexe!\u201d (you are done for in the labyrinth), and has to go\nback to the start and begin the quest again. This game is a great\nfavourite, and is often played for hours at a time: the sons of Mpande\nwere great adepts at it. They would vary it sometimes by dotting rows\nof warriors on the outside, and then success depended on the positions\nthat the combatants were made to assume, the great triumph being to\nbring an army into the shape of a bull\u2019s head and horns, when he whose\nhorn first touched the adversary\u2019s line was acclaimed as winner.\n\n\n[Illustration: The above is a copy of a Labyrinth made by a Zulu,\nUlutyetye, for the well-known missionary, the Rev. R. Robertson, and\nfirst reproduced by Messrs. John Sanderson and Co., of Durban. It is\nnoticeable for having two huts to be reached\u2014that in the centre being\nthe Royal one.]\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                               Printed by\n                      The Church Printing Company\n                     Burleigh Street, Strand, W. C.\n\n\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\nThe titles of the chapters in the Contents are not necessarily\nconsistent with titles of the chapters in the text, although their\norder in the text is correct.\n\nThis text has been preserved as in the original, including archaic and\ninconsistent spelling, punctuation and grammar, except as noted below.\n\nObvious printer\u2019s errors have been silently corrected.\n\nText in italics in the original work is represented herein as _text_.\n\nSmall capitals are shown herein as all capitals.\n\nFootnotes have been renumbered and then moved to the end of the chapter\nto which they belong.\n\nPage 2: \u201cNgashiy\u201d and \u201cNgishiy\u201d each appear once and they were retained\nas printed.\n\nPage 17: There was one character not printed at \u201ccountry to [a] river\u201d\nand is shown here within the bracket.\n\nPage 52: \u201cUzibebu\u201d was changed to \u201cUsibebu\u201d to correspond to multiple\nuse in the footnote on the same page.","title":"Some Zulu Customs and Folk-lore","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":19629}