A few days after our return from the expedition against the Bushmen,
Inyati called me one morning to his hut, in which were two of his
counsellors. He then told me that I was raised to the rank of a
counsellor, and that he intended to give me three of the cows that he
had received from the Caffres, for freeing them of the Bushmen. He said
that Caffres, as young as I was, were never made counsellors or had the
privileges of men; but the two things I had done, viz., trapping the
leopard and shooting the Bushmen, were so extraordinary that the tribe
had agreed that I was to be made a chief. The rank which a chief holds
among these people is of more importance than any civilised men could
understand. The rank gave me command and authority over all men who
were not chiefs. I could order them about, make them do work for me,
whilst I need do nothing. I thanked Inyati for what he had done, and
said I hoped to again show him what my rifle would do, in case there was
any occasion for it, and that I believed I could kill an elephant or a
lion with it, as easily as I had killed the Bushmen. He replied that
"we should see."
On leaving Inyati I took my assagies and walked out to the hill where my
late companions Inyoni and Tembile were watching the cattle, and sat
down with them, telling them of my having been made a counsellor and
chief. These boys were quite excited at the news and very pleased, and
we sat talking some time, till we noticed that the cattle were alarmed
by something and seemed uneasy. We ran up to them, and then saw quite a
small calf on the ground, and something shiny all round it. In an
instant I saw it was an immense snake, as thick as my body. Seizing an
assagy, I drove it into the snake's head, and then, withdrawing it,
stabbed it again in the body. The snake uncoiled itself, and came at
me; but Inyoni, coming behind it, threw an assagy at it and pinned it to
the ground, whilst Tembile drove another spear into it. Seeing my
chance, I went close to the monster and stabbed it in the head two or
three times, and thus killed it. As soon as we saw it was dead we cut
some sticks, sharpened the ends of these, and pegged the snake straight
on the ground. It was then longer than the three of us, and was a giant
among snakes. The Caffre boys told me there were several such snakes
about, and that they would kill and swallow a calf. They knew no other
name for it than "Inyoka m'culu" ("the big snake.") They said these
snakes ate only about twice each moon, and after eating slept for many
days, and were sometimes then killed by wild pigs and leopards. They
said that, many months ago, a Caffre boy was sleeping near here, and
whilst asleep one of these snakes came to him, coiled round him and
killed him. Before the snake could swallow him, some men came to the
place and killed the snake, but the boy had been dead some minutes
before they arrived. They described how this snake attacked anything.
It first crawled slowly along the ground till near its prey, or waited
in long grass, or in bushes, till some animal or bird came near. When
close to the animal it wished to capture, the snake lunged rapidly at
it, seized it with its teeth and dragged it to the ground, at the same
time coiling round the animal and compressing it in its folds. Even a
riet-bok could be thus killed by the snake. The reptile then slowly
gorges its prey, and remains torpid many days.
Although this large snake was a terrible creature to look at, it was not
as dangerous as several other snakes that were common near our village.
The most dangerous of these was the puff-adder, which the Caffres called
"_m'namba_." This snake I have seen about four feet long, and as thick
as a stout arm. It is a sluggish, dull animal, very brilliantly
coloured, its body being speckled yellow and black, which makes it look
like dead leaves, so that you might tread on it without seeing it,
unless you were always on the look-out. This snake has a practice of
throwing itself backward and striking with its poisonous fangs anything
that is following it. To be bitten by the _m'namba_ is certain death,
no case ever having occurred of a man or any cattle having been bitten
and having lived after it. Our old rain-maker had some little bits of
wood that he called _mutt_, some of which, he said, would prevent a man
from dying when he had been bitten by a snake; but I never heard of a
cure by this means. Some of his medicine was, however, wonderful in its
effects, as I once experienced. I was very ill and had a bad fever; so
old Amanzi came to me and gave me a small pill of wood, which I bit and
ate. In a few minutes I broke out in a perspiration, and then went to
sleep, and slept for nearly the whole of the sun's course round the
earth (a whole day), and when I woke I was quite well. Caffres are very
seldom ill: they eat so little meat, are so much out of doors, and take
so much exercise, that they rarely suffer from bad health. The climate
also is very healthy, so that the people were strong and robust.
It was about two moons after our expedition against the Bushmen, that I
was out one morning with Tembile and Inyoni, on some hills near, in
search of riet-bok, when we saw two strange Caffres coming towards us.
These Caffres, we knew by the "_esikoko_" (the ring on the top of their
heads), came from the east, near the bay of Natal. Having given them
the usual salutation, we said, "_Chela pela s'indaba_" ("tell us the
news"), when they told us that a large herd of elephants was coming down
the country, and had done much damage to the corn-gardens of the Caffres
on the way, breaking down the fences, eating and treading down the corn.
They said there were two bull-elephants, very savage, in the herd, who
ran after any man they saw or scented; and that three Caffres, near the
Umlass river, had been killed by these elephants.
A herd of elephants visiting a country where the inhabitants are as
defenceless as were these Caffres, is a serious matter. Assagies were
little or no use against elephants; and if a regular attack was
organised against them, in the same manner as we had attacked the
buffaloes, we should probably have ten or twenty men killed, and after
all not kill the elephant. The corn-gardens, on which we depended for
our store of food, might be destroyed; and then there might be, if not
starvation, at least great scarcity of grain. So that to prevent the
elephants from coming our way was considered most important. There was
a great council held the evening after the news was brought; and it was
decided that we should send some men towards the east, to find out when
the elephants came near us; and on their approach we were to light fires
in their track and make noises, so as to try and make them travel in
another direction. To turn them back would not have been a proceeding
pleasant to the Caffres east of us, but yet we should have liked it, as
it would rid us of the animals.
There was nothing talked about during the next week besides the
elephants, and I learned much about these animals and their habits from
the Caffres. These elephants, I was told, came down the country each
year: they did so when the umbrella acacia had its young branches and
shoots; for on this tree and several others the elephants fed. In its
wild state the elephant lives almost entirely on the branches of trees.
These it breaks off with its trunk, eats the smaller branches, and
grinds the larger to pieces so as to extract the juice from them. It is
at night that the elephant usually travels and feeds: by day, especially
if it be very hot, he remains quiet in the bush--so quiet, that you
might be within fifty yards of a herd of elephants and not know they
were there. If, however, a man disturbs the herd when they are thus at
rest, the animals will very likely charge at him, and hunt him through
the bush just as a pack of hounds will hunt a fox. At this time of year
the elephant bulls, cows, and calves, all keep together; but later on
the bulls separate and sometimes travel alone. When thus alone, the
bulls are very savage; and if two bulls meet in the bush a terrible
battle ensues. The Caffres consider that a bull-elephant is a match for
100 Caffres, and even then the animal may get the best of the fight.
I was much interested in these accounts of the elephants, and began to
think how I could manage to kill an elephant; for it was my ambition to
do so.
The Caffre name for an elephant is _inglovu_, and the words _inglovu_
and _ama inglovu_ were frequently heard during the next few days; for
the expected arrival of the elephants was a most serious incident in the
daily life of these people; and forty moons ago the elephants had
suddenly travelled into this country and had destroyed all the crops of
the Caffres near this village. It was all done in one night, and on the
morning the people discovered that their yearly crop of corn had
vanished. The season was too far advanced to sow again; consequently
they were compelled to buy corn and to purchase it with cattle. So that
their loss had been very severe.
Taking the first opportunity of speaking to Inyati, I inquired what he
intended to do in order to protect his fields and gardens. He replied
that the only thing to do was to light fires round the gardens, and to
assemble and shout. I inquired why he did not dig a great ditch round
his gardens; but he replied that it would take too long, and that the
elephants could manage to cross almost any ditch that could be dug.
He also told me that sometimes pits had been dug for elephants; and some
years ago an elephant fell into one of these pits, and had been helped
out by other elephants; so that it was no use attempting anything
against them, as they were as clever as men. That night I thought over
every plan by which I could kill an elephant, and at length an idea
occurred to me; but I kept my thoughts to myself, as I intended to try
by myself if I could not kill one of these enormous animals. Great
preparations were made by the Caffres for the arrival of the elephants,
quantities of dead wood were gathered in heaps in readiness for large
fires to be made when the animals approached our gardens. Several pits
were also dug and covered with a hurdle, on the top of which earth was
thrown and grass carefully laid. These pits were placed in the old
paths of the elephants, because it was known that these animals always
followed in their old tracks whenever they revisited a country, and
though these tracks were overgrown, or obliterated, yet the instinct, or
knowledge of locality of the elephants was so great, that they would
travel miles through the bush, and then come out into the open at
exactly the same place at which they had come out of the bush some
thirty or forty moons previously.
The Caffres told me that the elephants did not understand any man
getting up into a tree; that if they were chased by an elephant they
climbed a tree, and, although this tree was not big enough to place them
beyond reach of an elephant, yet the animal never seemed to think of
pulling the man out of it, or of pulling down the tree. This
information was of great value to me in carrying out a plan that I was
forming in my head.
It was about half a moon's time after we first heard that elephants were
coming our way, that we discovered their traces within five miles of our
village. There was a marsh about five miles from us, formed by the
overflow of one of the rivers, and in this marsh the elephants had
rolled in the mud, and had then returned to the bush. In this bush
there were several large trees, hung over by creeping plants and very
easily climbed. Having followed the track of the elephants into the
bush for a short distance, I noticed a tree that was covered with mud
about the stem, and as high as I could reach with my assagy. This was
caused by the elephants rubbing themselves against the tree after they
had rolled in the mud.
Although the elephant is a thick-skinned animal yet he is much worried
in hot weather by flies and mosquitoes. So, to escape in some measure
from these pests, he rolls in the mud, and this mud sticking to his
hide, forms a coating over him, which defends him to some extent from
the mosquitoes. When he passes a thick tree he leans against this and
rubs himself, and thus rids himself of a portion of the mud, and spreads
it more evenly over his body.
Having selected a tree, I thought at first that I would tell Inyati what
I intended doing, and would ask him to accompany me when I carried out
my plans. On second thoughts, however, it occurred to me that if I were
successful and Inyati were with me, I should do everything, but he would
get the honour, because he was a man, I only a boy. So I asked Inyoni
and Tembile if they would accompany me in an attempt to kill an
elephant.
They replied that to go near these elephants was very dangerous, and
that perhaps I did not know how very likely I was to be killed, so that
they hardly liked to go for fear I was trying to do too much. I said
they might trust me, as I had thought a great deal about what was to be
done, and that by my plan there would be very little danger.
From information I had gained from the Caffres, I learned that the
elephants usually drank every other night, and that unless disturbed
they would drink at the same pools of water. I hoped, therefore, that
if I climbed the large tree that I before mentioned, I might during the
night or early morning, find the elephants under this tree, when I
should have a chance of trying my plan upon them.
My plan was as follows:--The Bushmen that I had shot were armed with a
bow and two kinds of poisoned arrows. One kind were made of reeds with
a bone end, and were used for shooting small game; the other arrows were
stronger, and had a barbed iron end, covered with poison. The barbed
end fitted into a stout reed out of which it could be easily pulled.
The reason for this arrangement was, that if the arrow struck any large
animal such as a lion or a buffalo, the lion would scratch at the arrow
and pull it out, and the buffalo in rushing through the bush might do
the same. If, however, the reed end of the arrow were pulled, or rubbed
off from the animal, the barb containing the poison would remain in its
body, and so enable this poison to enter the circulation of the animal,
and eventually to cause its death.
If I climbed a tree, and the elephants came underneath it, I could fire
an arrow into the back of any one I selected, and by this means I hoped
to kill one, if not more elephants. I explained all this to Inyoni and
Tembile, and they agreed with me that it was a very good plan and likely
to succeed. So having obtained the arrows and a bow, we three started
for the tree when the sun was two hands'-breadth above the horizon, and
was going down. Before we entered the bush we walked in the wettest
parts of the marsh, so that our feet and legs might be covered with mud,
when we should not leave any scent from our tracks; for the elephant is
very keen-scented, and would avoid any place where the scent of a man
was strong. These elephants, however, were not much afraid of man,
because in this part of the country guns were not used against them, and
they were accustomed to see men run away from them. So that the
elephants had it all their own way.
We climbed the tree without difficulty, and having broken off the
branches that intercepted my view, I seated myself on a stout branch,
high enough to be beyond the reach of an elephant's trunk. Inyoni and
Tembile were close beside me, and held the case containing the poisoned
arrows. It was nearly full moon, but clouds occasionally made it rather
dark in the bush, though not so dark as to prevent me from seeing
anything beneath me.
The night came on, and the moon had gone over about half its course,
when we heard a branch broken at some distance from us; and shortly
after, the bushes made a rustling noise as though a gust of wind had
shaken them; and then I saw something white and shining, and around this
white object loomed a black mass. I almost immediately recognised the
white object as the tusks of an enormous elephant, and the animal itself
was the black mass. I took one of my arrows from Tembile, and fitted it
to the bow, and waited for this elephant to come close to me. I was
acquainted with the elephant in India, and was not surprised to find how
quietly it walked in the bush: its steps made no noise, and the only
sound audible was the slight rustling of the leaves as the animal moved
along through the bush, and an occasional blow through its trunk as it
sniffed the air around.
Careful as we had been to cover our feet with mud, still we must have
left some scent; for the elephant came on very slowly, blowing through
its trunk and shaking its great ears as it listened for some sound. At
last it strode forward and came exactly beneath me, and, aiming at its
back just clear of the backbone, I discharged one of my arrows with all
my force. Immediately the elephant felt the prick of the arrow it gave
a sharp cry and moved rapidly forward. It then stood still, listening,
and apparently watching for some enemy, but it could not see us in the
tree. After a short time it gave another and different cry, and
immediately several other elephants, some large, some very small,
shuffled along under the tree. One of these was a very large elephant
with great tusks, and as it passed I sent an arrow into its back, which
caused it to cry out just as the first had done. We counted about forty
elephants in the herd, among which were three very large bull-elephants
with large tusks. The herd went through the bush to the watering-place
in the marsh, but did not return by the same path that they had followed
on going to the marsh. So we did not see them as they came back.
As soon as it was light we descended from the tree, and found ourselves
very stiff after sitting so long on the branches. After moving about a
little we got all right, and then agreed that we should follow the trail
of the two elephants that I had hit with my poisoned arrows.
The first thing to be done was to examine the feet-marks of these two
elephants. Now the under part of the foot of an elephant is not smooth,
but is marked by several small cracks; consequently when the elephant
treads on soft ground, it leaves a kind of plan or map of its foot. The
plans of no two elephants' feet are exactly alike, so that when you have
once studied the plan of a particular foot, you can recognise the
footprint when you see it in another place. It is just the same with
the inside of the thumb and top joint of each person's finger. The
grain of the skin makes a sort of pattern, and it rarely happens that
this pattern of each finger is the same; and it still more rarely
happens that the fingers of two people are alike. Having examined
several good impressions of the two elephants' feet, we went quickly out
of the bush, walked along the edge of the marsh, and then entered the
bush again at the place where the elephants had re-entered it. It was
easy to follow the elephants along the path they had made as they first
entered the bush, for along this they walked one after the other; but
when we had gone some distance into the bush, we found that the
elephants had separated, some going one way, some another. They had
also stopped to feed, and had broken off some very large branches from
their favourite trees. We now set to work to follow the footprints of
the two elephants that I had struck with the arrows. It was very
difficult at first, as the ground was very hard, and covered with dead
leaves; so that we could not obtain a good impression of the feet for
some time, and we were puzzled at first. At length we found an
ant-bear's hole in the ground, and near this the elephants had trodden
on the loose earth, and we then recognised the footprints of the largest
elephant that I had hit. We followed this elephant very cautiously, for
he had separated himself from the others--a sign, as my companions said,
that "_Inglovu efar_" (the elephant was ill), especially as it was
evident he had not eaten, there being no branches broken along his
track. After following the track during about a quarter of the day, we
came so close to the elephant that we could hear him. Sometimes he
would make a low rumbling sound, at others he would blow through his
trunk, and then knock his tusks against the stem of a tree. All these
acts were indications of his being very uneasy, and I hoped the poisoned
arrow had begun to do its work. We sat down in the bush listening to
the elephant, and ate some of our corn; for I had determined to follow
this elephant for days, if possible, in order to find whether he died or
lived. The elephant stood quiet in the bush about as long as it took
the sun to move ten times its own diameter in the sky, and then it again
moved slowly forward, selecting the densest parts of the bush to move
through. About every hundred paces it stopped, and remained quiet for a
little time, and then moved slowly on again. All these proceedings
delighted my Caffre companions, who declared the elephant was very sick.
During the whole of the day we followed this elephant, and when the
night came we ascended a tree, and slept a little; but as we could hear
a leopard calling in the bush, and several bush-pigs were under the
tree, we were mostly on the watch. The night was fine, though there was
a heavy dew; and though we felt it very cold we did not like to go down
on the ground to light a fire for fear of the leopard. As soon as it
was light enough to distinguish the tracks, we again followed our
elephant. He had travelled during the night, but had gone very slowly;
and we saw some marks on the stem of a large tree that showed the
elephant had leaned against this, as though he could scarcely stand.
We had moved through the bush very quietly and slowly, stopping every
now and then to listen, and also to look all round us; for if we had
come on this elephant very suddenly he might have charged us, and,
before we could have escaped, he might have caught us and probably
killed one of us. Tembile told me that when an elephant caught a man,
he pushed him to the ground with his trunk, and then either knelt on him
or thrust his tusks into him, and also would push him down and get him
between his front and hind feet, and kick him backwards and forwards
till he killed him. So, with this description of the elephant's
proceedings, which I afterwards found was quite correct, we thought it
best to be very cautious in our approach to the animal.
The sun had risen its highest in the sky, when we sat down to rest and
to listen; for we knew that we were close to the elephant, as the
footprints were quite fresh. We talked in whispers and avoided any
noise, whilst we were on the alert for any sound that should indicate
the whereabouts of the elephant. As we sat quietly thus waiting, Inyoni
pointed upwards, and gave a grunt of delight: we looked up and saw a
vulture slowly circling in the sky and nearly above us. "Elephant going
to die," said Inyoni; "vulture knows it." We immediately followed on
the elephant's tracks, and, after advancing about two hundred paces, we
heard a noise in front of us, and saw the elephant lying on its side,
whilst every now and then it swung its trunk about and struck the
bushes, thus making the noise we had heard. The elephant was dying, its
vast frame overpowered by the subtle poison of the Bushman's arrow. We
kept at a short distance from the animal and watched it, as it gradually
got weaker and weaker, and at length lay motionless. We then went close
up to it, and found that it really was dead. It was a monster with
great tusks as big round as my thigh, and as it lay on the ground it was
far higher than I was as I stood up.
"The other elephant must be dead too," I said, "for I hit that also with
an arrow."
"Yes," replied my companions, "and we shall find that too: perhaps
vultures will show us where it is, if we watch."
We now agreed that Tembile should go as quickly as he could to our
village, and call all the people to come and cut up the elephant, whilst
Inyoni and I kept watch near it. So Tembile started off, whilst we who
remained agreed to sleep turn and turn about, as we were both very
tired.
I had a good sleep, and then Inyoni lay down whilst I kept watch. I
could not keep my eyes from the dead elephant which lay a few paces from
us. It looked such an enormous creature, that I could hardly believe
its death had been caused by so trifling a wound as that given by the
small arrow; but the poison used by the Bushmen is powerful beyond
belief, and they kill all animals with their arrows.
As I sat listening for any sounds of the approaching Caffres, I heard a
slight crack in the bush, then another and a louder crack; and I knew
these noises must be caused by elephants, for the Caffres glide through
the bush without making any noise. I awoke Inyoni, and we were soon
convinced that the elephants were approaching us. My companion was
alarmed, as he seemed to think the elephants were hunting us in order to
revenge themselves on us. We crept through the bush to a large tree,
and climbed this quickly, getting up so high that no elephant could
reach us.
We had reached our place of safety, when we saw the first elephant
approaching us: this was a cow, and it was following the track of the
bull that was now dead. After this cow came about forty other elephants
of various sizes. They came along with a sort of shuffling gait,
stopping every now and then to listen and sniff the air, and then to
move forward again. When they came to the spot where we had sat down,
they smelt the ground, and then raising their trunks sniffed all round.
Their attention, however, was soon attracted to the dead elephant, which
they approached and touched with their trunks, several of them uttering
sharp cries as though they wished to wake him. After a few minutes,
however, they seemed to know that he was dead, as they moved away from
him and stood looking at him, whilst they flapped their great ears and
seemed very uneasy. Suddenly, as though suspicious of danger, the large
cow-elephant uttered a shrill trumpet and dashed off through the bush,
recklessly smashing the small trees and branches in her course. She was
followed by the whole herd, and we could hear them as they forced their
way through the underwood, the sounds becoming fainter and less audible
until all was again quiet.
We remained in our tree, for we could not tell whether more elephants
might not come, and on the ground we were in danger. All was quiet,
however, for a long time, until we heard the slightest movement of some
leaves; and then we saw Tembile, followed by Inyati and all the men and
boys of our village. We whistled to them, and, descending the tree,
told them what we had seen. We talked in whispers and then went up to
the dead elephant and examined it. The reed portion of my arrow had
been broken off, but the barb containing the poison was buried deep in
the elephant's flesh, and thus the poison had circulated rapidly and had
caused the monster's death.
Inyati with his assagy at once cut out this barb and a large portion of
the flesh round it, and he then said we might safely eat the remainder
of the animal, which would not be affected by the poison.
A scene was then commenced which I shall remember to my last day. About
twenty Caffres set to work at the elephant, cutting the flesh off, and
piling it in heaps near the animal, by the aid of hatchets; the tusks
were cut out of the elephant's jaws, and were so heavy that one man
could only just lift one. It took a comparatively short time to cut the
animal to pieces, and to take off all its flesh, which was then divided
into portions, the boys being given small weights to carry, whilst the
men took larger and heavier weights. We then commenced our march
through the bush, and before sunset we reached our village, at which we
were received with shouts of rejoicing by the old men and females.
Notice had been sent to the next village that another elephant was
supposed to be dead, and the men of that village had watched the
vultures, and had succeeded in finding the second elephant lying dead in
the bush, and had cut this one up in the same manner as we had done with
the first elephant I had killed. Elephant's flesh, although tough and
unsavoury, is still eaten greedily by the Caffres. They are so fond of
their cattle, and like to see a large herd near their kraals, that they
will not kill an animal unless on some special occasion, such as a
marriage, or a victory; so that a feast of flesh is a rare treat, and
there is not usually any complaint about the toughness or want of
flavour of the meat. As it was usual to have a great dance and general
feast when any such event as slaying an elephant had occurred,
invitations were sent to all the kraals near, to invite the neighbours
to partake of the elephant's flesh.
Before the evening on which the feast was to occur, there had assembled
nearly all the Caffres from ten miles round. There were some fine
fellows among them, several young men six feet high, and as active as
leopards, who could run ten miles without stopping, and who could walk
from sunrise till sunset without tiring. They all brought their
assagies, and shields, as well as their knob-kerries, and were dressed
in their dancing dresses.
News was also brought us about the elephants. There was now no fear of
their destroying the gardens, as they had again taken up their residence
in the forests about Natal. This was good news to all the Caffres about
us, and was celebrated by one of the largest dances I had ever seen.
There were more than a thousand men assembled, all in full war-costume,
each with a shield, a knob-kerrie, and five assagies. They danced and
ate, and danced again and ate again, during the whole night. To me was
given the honour and glory of having killed the elephants, and I had to
enter the centre of the ring of men, and describe and act the whole
scene. I told how we climbed the tree; how I heard the elephants
coming; how I sent my arrow first into one then into the other elephant;
how these elephants paid no attention to so small a thing as an arrow,
fired by me, a boy; but how this arrow was stronger than the elephant,
and at last killed him. I went through all the movements of creeping
through the bush on the track of the elephant, sitting down to listen,
and at length seeing the elephant. I then lay on the ground just as did
the elephant, and swung my arm about to imitate the movements of the
animal's trunk, and at length died just as did the elephant.
The shouts and dancing after this performance were of the most exciting
description, and lasted for a long time. When, suddenly, a very old
chief came into the centre of the circle, and raising his arm to command
silence, spoke in a loud clear voice words of which the following is a
translation:--
"My people, we have been delivered from the elephants; the elephants
that have often destroyed our corn, and brought us to starvation. And
how have we been delivered? Not by two hundred warriors armed with
assagies, many of whom were killed by the elephants; not by digging
holes, and the elephants tumbling into them; but there have been two
large elephants killed by our white companion who came out of the sea.
He alone thought out of his own head how to kill the elephants, and
though very young, has the mind of an experienced chief and the courage
of a warrior. We have held a council and have decided that he be from
this time forth a chief, and that he be called `Umkunkinglovu.' What
say you, men?"
A tremendous shout was given by the assembled crowd at the termination
of this speech; and then one of the oldest warriors came into the ring,
and placed round my neck a necklace made out of leopards' claws, whilst
all the men called out "Inkosi!" The dancing and feasting were then
continued till the first sign of daylight appeared, when we all retired
to our kraals to rest.
On the following morning I met the old warrior who had put the necklace
on me, and sat down talking to him. He was very anxious to hear where I
had come from, and was much interested in the accounts I gave him of
India. He was puzzled to know how it was possible that our ships found
their way over the sea. There were no paths, he said, and the waves
were always altering their shape, so that he could not tell how they got
on. I told him that the men found their way by the sun and stars, but
this he could not comprehend. After some time I asked him to tell me
all he knew about his own people, and where they came from. He thought
for some time, and then gave me the following account. Spreading his
two hands on the ground he lifted the little finger of his left hand and
said, "That me." He then raised the next finger and said, "That my
father." He then raised the next and said, "That his father;" and so he
went on, to the thumb of the left hand, giving father after father.
"All these lived here," he said. Then he raised the thumb of his right
hand, and said, "That father lived in Zulu country, and quarrelled with
great chief there, and came down here."
"But how did those other fathers live?" I enquired.
He raised four more fingers, and pointing to the last said, "That father
live other side of the sun."
By this, I have since learned that he meant the other side of the
equator, or up near Somali.
"That father and all his people have great fight; too many people there,
so they come down slowly, and at last live in Zulu country. Those
fathers had strange animals that they used to ride on, and which went as
fast as an ostrich, but all these died as they came down country."