Kafir Stories
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William Charles Scully >> Kafir Stories
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"Just after the sun had begun to fall, I saw my daughter Nomalie
approaching. She walked in amongst the people and straight up to me
without saying a word. I shall never forget her face--it was like the
face of one that had been dead for several days--all except the eyes,
which were full of fire. I knew at once that Xolilizwe was dead.
"She took my hand and silently drew me after her, and thus we walked
down the footpath to the drift on the other side of the Ghoda, which
you meant to have passed to-night. We crossed the stream, and she led
me to the edge of the bush and pointed to something lying just inside
the outer fringe of brushwood. I looked, and saw the headless body of
Xolilizwe.
"I recognised the body at once. No other man that I knew hart such
limbs as he. My unhappy daughter's husband had been slain by the thrust
of a spear from behind through the left shoulder-blade. I tried to
comfort Nomalie, and to get her to speak, but not a word passed her
lips. After a while, she motioned me impatiently to leave her, so I
went away, meaning to return later. I noticed a digging pick, and a
stone nearly as large as my head, with a string of twisted bark tied
around it, lying close to the body. I knew now in whose skull the
first-fruits had been mixed.
"It was still early in the afternoon, so I went home. The day was hot,
and I had drunk much beer, so I lay down and slept. I woke just at
sundown, and went quickly down to the Ghoda, expecting to find my
daughter there. But she was not to be found, neither was the body where
I had seen it lying. Just afterwards, however, I found a heap of stones
that appeared to have been just before piled over a mound of freshly
turned earth. The pick was stuck into the soft ground next to it, so I
inferred that Nomalie had buried the body of her husband and gone home.
"I went up to Kwababana's kraal, but Nomalie was not there. Old
Kwababana was healthy in body for so old a man, but he was very
childish, and just then the loss of his cow had quite upset him. He
could tell me nothing about Nomalie, and when I told him that Xolilizwe
was dead, he thought I meant the cow, and began to cry out. When I at
last was able to make him understand that it was Xolilizwe I had said
was dead, and not the cow, he appeared to be quite comforted, I then
went back to my own kraal, but Nomalie was not there, nor had she been
seen or heard of. So I ceased searching, thinking that she would be
sure to return, sooner or later.
"Three days after, a little boy told me that something strange was
lying in the pool just above the Ghoda drift. I went down at once to
see what it was. The pool is quite shallow, it would hardly drown a man
if he were to sit down in it. There I found my daughter's body, with
the stone which I had seen lying near Xolilizwe's headless trunk tied
to the neck by the string of twisted bark. It was a pity. She would
have been the mother of men.
"I dug a hole where she had left the pick stuck in the ground, for I
now understood she had meant the placing of the pick thus as a sign
that she wished me to bury her next to Xolilizwe. Tomorrow, when you
are going home, get off your horse and walk into the Ghoda bush at its
lower extremity. You will see a large 'umgwenya' (kafir plum) tree just
inside on your left, and underneath it two piles of stones. These are
the graves. But my story is not yet finished.
"Lukwazi never saw another Shwama. The corn-yield that year was very
plentiful, and in the early part of the winter beer flowed like water
at every kraal. Lukwazi rode about with his followers from beer-drink
to beer-drink, and he was drunk most of his days. On the evening of the
fourth new moon after the feast of the first-fruits, Lukwazi and his
men rode past here at full gallop. It was not yet dark. The sun had
gone down and the moon was just disappearing. The party had been
drinking beer for two days at the huts of Vudubele, the last kraal that
you passed on your way here this afternoon, and all were mad drunk.
They galloped down the valley, Lukwazi leading on a stout little grey
stallion. He was beating his horse and yelling, and one blow made the
horse swerve out of the path. There was an old ant-bear hole hidden in
the grass, into which the horse trod, and falling, rolled over on its
rider. Lukwazi lay quite still. His neck was broken.
"Since then, no horse will ever pass the Ghoda bush between sunset and
sunrise when the Moon is new."
Next morning I dismounted at the Ghoda, and walked into the forest. I
found the large umgwenya tree without any difficulty, and underneath it
were the two piles of stones close together. They were much overgrown
with ferns and creepers. A large bush-buck leaped up and crashed
through the undergrowth. His doe followed immediately afterwards,
passing so close that I could see the dew-drops glistening on her red,
dappled flank.
UMTAGATI.
"The great witch-doctor has come, and all
Sit trembling with cold and fear
As they list to the words from his lips that fall,--
The words all shrink to hear.
Lo! look at the seer as he whirls and leaps
The awestruck circle within,
Where each one shudders, and silence keeps
As he thinks of the untold sin.
"On his head is a cap of dark brown hair,--
The skin of a bear-baboon,
And the tigers' teeth on his throat, else bare,
Jangle a horrible tune;
The serpents' skins and the jackals' tails,
Hang full around his hips,
And a living snake from his girdle trails,
And around each bare limb slips."
The Witch-Doctor.
I.
THE motive and controlling factors of great issues are not always
recognised by those most interested, neither does honour nor yet reward
always fall to those who best deserve or earn them. In proof of the
foregoing propositions the following narrative is adduced.
Teddy's full name was Edmund Mortimer Morton. He was a Government
official holding the appointment of clerk to the Resident Magistrate of
Mount Loch, which district, as everybody knows, is situated in the
territory of Bantuland East, and just on the border of Pondoland.
Vooda was a native Police Constable attached to the Mount Loch
establishment.
Teddy's age was twenty-six, but he looked several years younger. He
was a pleasant-looking little chap, about five feet four inches in
height, slightly built, with blue eyes, yellow hair and an incipient
moustache upon which he bestowed a great deal of attention. His hobby
was popular chemistry. This he indulged in, greatly to the
entertainment of his friends and the detriment of his hands, which were
generally discoloured in a manner that defied soap. He lived in a
little hut just outside the village. This hut consisted of one room,
and was shaped like a round pagoda. It had a pointed roof and
projecting eaves made of Tambookie grass. The walls were of sod-work,
plastered over and white-washed. Here Teddy dwelt--taking his meals
elsewhere--and experimented in parlour-magic to his heart's content.
Vooda was a constable. He was a short, stout man, with a deep, although
not wide knowledge of human nature; not wide only for lack of
experience. He had dwelt all his life amongst the natives surrounding
Mount Loch, and he could read them like so many books of Standard I. He
could, moreover, tell by looking at a witness in court, whether that
witness were speaking truth or lying, and the magistrate recognised and
utilised this faculty. Vooda and Teddy were great friends, Vooda taking
a lively and intelligent interest in Teddy's experiments.
Every one knows that in the early part of 1894, Pondoland, the last
independent native State south of Natal, was annexed to Cape Colony.
Much to the general surprise, the annexation was effected peacefully,
but for some months afterwards the greatest care had to be exercised in
dealing with the Pondos. The people generally were glad of the change
from the harsh, arbitrary, and irresponsible rule of the native chiefs
to the settled and equitable conditions of civilised government; but
the chiefs gave trouble. They naturally would not, without struggling
and agitating, submit to the loss of power and prestige which they
sustained, and they bitterly resented being no longer permitted to "eat
up" those who annoyed them. Now, the instincts of clannishness and
loyalty are so strong amongst the Kafirs, that even against what they
well know to be their own vital interests, they will follow the most
cruel and rapacious tyrant, so long as he is their hereditary tribal
chieftain, into rebellion.
Now, the Kwesa clan of Pondos dwelt just on the boundary of Mount Loch,
and within thirty miles of the Magistracy. The head of this clan, a
chief named Sololo, had not objected to the annexation, and was
consequently looked upon as well-affected towards the Government. But
within a few months after the annexation, a serious difficulty arose
between the authorities and this man. One of his followers quarrelled
with another, and after the time-honoured local custom, assuaged his
feelings by means of a spear-thrust, which had a fatal result. The
murdered man was one whom Sololo disliked, whereas, on the other hand,
the murderer was one whom the chief delighted to honour. Consequently,
when the magistrate demanded the surrender of the culprit for the
purpose of dealing with him according to law, Sololo refused delivery,
and couched his refusal in an extremely insolent and rebellious
message.
Cajolements, remonstrances, and threats were of no avail; Sololo
remained obstinate. His tone, however, somewhat changed; he sent
polite, but evasive and unsatisfactory replies to all messages on the
subject. The Chief Magistrate was at his wits' end. Of course the law
had to be vindicated, but were an armed force to be sent against
Sololo, the odds were ten to one that within twenty-four hours signal
fires would be blazing on every hill, and the war-cry sounding from one
end of Pondoland to the other. The Chief Magistrate's native name was
"Indabeni," which means "The one of counsel." He was a man of vast
experience in respect of the natives, and moreover, he did not belong
to that highly moral, but sometimes inconvenient class of officials who
are known as "the hide-bound"; that is to say, his ideas ranged beyond
the length of the longest piece of red tape in his office, and he knew
for a certainty that things existed which could not conveniently be
wrapped up in foolscap paper. He was, moreover, one who trusted much to
the effect of his own considerable personal influence, and he believed
in utilising the talents of such of his subordinates as possessed
faculties similar to his own in this respect.
Indabeni had taken Vooda's measure accurately. He knew the Constable to
have a persuasive tongue, to be honest, loyal, and discreet, and, above
all, to possess that nameless and almost indescribable quality of
imparting trustfulness in those with whom he came in contact.
One afternoon a telegram marked "confidential" came from Indabeni to
the Resident Magistrate of Mount Loch. The purport of the message was
that Vooda should go to Sololo and talk quietly to him, endeavouring by
means of persuasion to effect a compliance with the reasonable demands
of Government. Teddy, being in the fullest confidence of his Chief,
was present when instructions were accordingly given to Vooda, who was
directed to start early next morning for the kraal of the Chief of the
Kwesas, in Pondoland.
When the offices were closed for the day, Teddy went home to his hut,
and it was noticed by one who met him on the road that his manner was
very preoccupied, and his walk unusually slow. Shortly afterwards he
was seen to stroll over to the police camp, and go straight to Vooda's
hut.
At eight o'clock that evening Vooda visited Teddy's dwelling, and a
long and serious conversation ensued. This was varied by a series of
experiments of a nature so striking that even Vooda was startled. At
about ten o'clock a stranger passing noticed strange flashes lighting
up the back of the hut behind the reed fence. Shortly before eleven
Vooda returned to camp, carrying a small satchel which contained a
packet of lycopodium powder, a piece of potassium about as large as a
walnut, and a number of whitish lumps about an inch in diameter, such
as are known amongst practitioners of parlour magic variously as
"serpents' eggs" or "Pharaoh's serpents."
At daylight next morning Vooda left the police camp, but it was late in
the afternoon when he reached the kraal of Sololo. He found a. number
of strangers there, including Shasha, the "inyanga," or war doctor. The
men, all of whom were armed, were sitting on the ground in a half-circle.
Before them stood a number of large earthen pots of beer.
Vooda, being an old friend of the Chief, was invited to sit down and
drink, so, after removing the saddle from his horse, he joined the
party. He soon saw, however, that his presence had imported an element
of restraint. He was careful as yet not to allude to the business upon
which he had come. Later on others began to arrive, some carrying guns,
some spears, and some assegais. It was plain that an important
discussion was on hand, and that Vooda's presence was unwelcome. The
beer was not in sufficient quantities to cause intoxication, but
nevertheless all were somewhat mellow when the sun went down.
Shortly afterwards Sololo asked the visitor point blank "Where he was
thinking of." This was an unusual thing to do under the circumstances,
such a question to a visitor being held amongst natives to be
discourteous and suggestive of inhospitality.
Vooda replied to the effect that he had an important matter to discuss
with the Chief, and asked Sololo to grant him a private interview.
Now Sololo, having had experience of Vooda's persuasive tongue and
knack of casuistry, did not wish to argue the point--knowing, as he did
full well, the object of Vooda's visit--and at once made up his mind
that he would not see the glib-tongued constable alone.
"Son of my father," he said, "what you have to say, let it be said
before these my councilors and friends."
Vooda saw there was no chance of a private discussion, and determined
therefore to play his game boldly and in public. The dusk of evening
was just setting in, and some women had kindled a bright fire.
"My Chief," he said, "I come with the words of Indabeni, who has chosen
me because he knows I am your younger brother" (figurative).
"Indabeni is a great man," said Sololo; "he has eyes all round his
head. His words are good to hear--speak them, son of my father."
"Indabeni's heart is heavy, my Chief, because you, the leopard, are
placing yourself in the path of the buffalo, which is the Government.
Men have told Indabeni that you refuse to deliver to the Magistrate one
who has done wrong."
"The leopard may stand on one side and tear the flank of the buffalo as
he passes. He may then hide in the caves of the rocks where the buffalo
cannot follow," said Sololo, sententiously.
"The buffalo may call the wolves to his aid to drive the leopard from
his cave," rejoined Vooda, developing the allegory further; "but why
will you not give up the wrong-doer to the magistrate?"
"Why must I give up my friend to be choked with a rope?" said Sololo,
excitedly. "He has not slain a white man, but one of my own people.
Government must leave him to be punished according to the law of the
native. If one of my tribe slays a white man, I will deliver up the
slayer."
"But you know what the Government is, my Chief--it is over all of us.
Even Indabeni himself has to do as it tells him."
"Indabeni is not a Pondo, neither am I Indabeni," said Sololo,
appealing, with a look, to the audience.
"Yebo, Yebo, Ewe--E-hea," shouted all the men.
"I did not ask Government for its laws," continued the Chief.
"'U-Sessellodes' [The native attempt at pronouncing the name of Mr. Cecil
Rhodes, Premier of the Cape Colony.] came here and said in a loud voice
that we all belonged to him. We were surprised, and could not think or
speak. Besides, who listens to the bleating of a goat when an angry
bull bellows? Now we have thought and spoken together, and we can also
fight; I will never give up my friend to be choked with a rope."
"E-hea," shouted the audience.
"My Chief," said Vooda, "your words are like milk flowing from a great
black cow ten days after she has calved, but there is one thing you
have not seen, but which I have seen and trembled at."
"What is this thing that frightens a man who is the father of
children?"
"The magic (umtagati) of U-Sessellodes, which he has taught to
Indabeni--the terrible magic wherewith he overthrew Lo Bengula and the
Matabele."
"We, also, have our magic," said Sololo, glancing at Shasha, the
war-doctor.
Shasha came forward in a half-crouching attitude, and approached Vooda,
who appeared to be very much impressed. The war-doctor's appearance was
startling enough. He was an elderly man of hideous aspect. On his head
he wore a high cap of baboon skin. Slung around his neck, waist,
elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles were all sorts of extraordinary
things--cowrie and tortoise-shells, teeth and claws of various beasts
of prey, strips of skin from all kinds of animals, inflated gall
bladders, bones, and pieces of wood. In his hand he carried a bag made
by cutting the skin of a wild cat around the neck, and then tearing it
off the body as one skins an eel. Out of this he drew a long, living,
green snake (inusbwa, the boom-slang), which he hung over his shoulder,
where it began to coil about, darting out its forked tongue.
As Shasha advanced quivering towards Vooda in short, abrupt springs,
all the things hanging about him clashed and rattled together. He bent
down and beat the ground with the palms of his hands and the soles of
his feet, making the while a low rumbling in his throat, the apple of
which worked up and down. His eyes glared and his nostrils dilated.
The snake hissed, and wound itself round his neck and limbs. The whole
audience appeared to be struck with superstitious dread.
Shasha suddenly drew himself straight up, and chanted in a sing-song
voice, rattling his charms at every period:
"I am the ruler of the baboons and the master of the owls. I talk to
the wild cat in the hush. I call Tikoloshe (a water spirit) out of the
river in the night-time and ask him questions. I make sickness do my
bidding on men and cattle. I drive it away when I like. I can bring
blight to the crops, and stop the milk of cows. I can, by my magic
medicines, find out the wicked ones who do these things. I alone can
look upon Icanti (a fabulous serpent) and not die. I know the mountain
where Impandulu (the Lightning Bird) builds its nest. I can make men
invulnerable in battle with my medicines, and I can cause the enemies
of my Chief to run like a bush-buck pursued by dogs."
The speech ended, Shasha again bowed down, quivering and contorting,
beat the ground with his hands and the soles of his feet and then
sprang aside into the darkness.
Sololo looked at Vooda as though he would say, "What do you think of
that; is he not a most terribly potent war-doctor?" All the other men
looked extremely terrified.
Dead silence reigned for a few moments, and then Vooda spoke:
"O Chief, the magic of your war-doctor is indeed dreadful to behold,
but, believe me, the magic of U-Sessellodes and Indabeni is stronger,
and I can prove it."
This caused a murmur of incredulity and indignation. The magic
paraphernalia of the war-doctor rattled ominously in the gloom.
"U-Sessellodes," continued Vooda, "has found the Lightning Bird sitting
upon its nest, and plucked its feathers; he has discovered how to make
water burn, and he has robbed the cave of Icanti of its eggs, which he
can strew over the land to hatch in the sun, and produce snakes that
will kill all who see them. These secrets he has taught to Indabeni,
and Indabeni has taught them to me so that I might warn you, and having
warned, prove the truth of my words."
At this a loud "ho, ho," accompanied by a rattling noise, was heard
from the war-doctor. Sololo laughed sarcastically. Several of the
audience did the same. Then Sololo said:
"Are we children, to believe these things?"
"My Chief," said Vooda, impressively, "you are not a child, neither is
Indabeni; as you know,--nor is the potent war-doctor, nor are any of
these great men (madoda roakulu) that I see around me. For that
matter, neither am I a child. I have said that I can prove my words,
and I say so again."
"Prove them, then," said Sololo.
"Three things will I do to show the magic of U-Sessellodes, which he
has taught to Indabeni--I will show you a feather of the Lightning
Bird, I will make water burn like dry wood, and I will produce some of
the eggs of Icanti and make them, when touched with fire, hatch into
young serpents before your eyes."
There was not a breath of wind. Vooda seized a small firebrand, and
stepped a few yards away from the fire. He held the firebrand in his
left hand, and put his right into one of the pockets of his tunic.
This pocket contained a quantity of loose lycopodium powder. He filled
his hand with this, waved it over his head several times, and then
projected the handful of powder high into the air with a sweeping
throw. Then he slowly lifted the firebrand, and as the cloud of powder
descended, it ignited with a silent, blinding flash. A loud "Mawo" from
the spectators greeted the success of the experiment.
The war-doctor gave a harsh laugh and shouted that there was no magic
in the business, and that the Lightning Bird's plumage was still intact
so far as Vooda was concerned; he, the war-doctor, knew how the thing
was done, and would presently explain. Sololo and the others murmured
amongst themselves.
"Now," said Vooda, "I will make water burn with a bright flame like dry
wood."
"You have, no doubt, brought the water with you in a bottle," said
Shasha, the war-doctor, with a sneer in his voice. He was evidently
thinking of paraffin.
"No, O most potent controller of baboons," said Vooda, "I will, on the
contrary, ask you to get me some water for the purpose, in a vessel of
your own choice."
Shasha went to one of the huts and returned with a small earthen pot
full of water, which he placed on the ground near the fire.
Vooda look the lump of potassium which he had cut into the form of a
large conical bullet, from his pocket, and advanced to where the chief
was sitting. He beckoned to the war-doctor to approach, and then, said:
"This, O chief, and O discourser-with-the-wild-cat, is a new and
wonderful kind of lead which U-Sessellodes has dug out of a hole in the
ground far deeper than any other hole that was ever made. You will
observe that my knife is sharp, and therefore I cut the lead easily.
You may see how the metal shines when newly cut. Now, if a bullet such
as this be shot into a river, the water blazes up and consumes the
land."
"Give it to me that I may examine it," said Shasha.
Vooda handed a small paring of the potassium to the war-doctor, saying;
"Be very careful, O you-whom-the-owls-obey-in-the-dark, because it is
dangerous stuff."
Shasha did exactly what Vooda anticipated--he looked carefully at the
shred of metal, and lifted it to his mouth, meaning to test it with his
teeth. When, however, the potassium touched the saliva, it blazed up,
and the unhappy war-doctor spat it out with a fearful yell. His lips
and tongue were severely burnt. Sololo and the men, who had seen the
flame issuing from Shasha's mouth, were terror-stricken.
Vooda now cut the lump of potassium into several pieces, and these he
dropped into the pot of water. The lumps began to flame brilliantly,
dancing on the top of the water and gyrating across and around. All
the spectators were horribly frightened, and shrank back, their
eyeballs starting, and their lips wide apart.
"Now," said Vooda, who felt that he had practically won the game, "I
will produce the eggs of Icanti, the terrible serpent, and make them
hatch out live snakes. Were I to do this without having other greater
magic ready wherewith to overcome them, the snakes would kill us all.
The only magic stronger than that of Icanti is the magic of the
Lightning Bird, so I will drop a feather plucked by U-Sessellodes from
the tail of Impandulu upon the snakes as they come out of the eggs, and
that will cause them to turn into dust."
Vooda took five large Pharaoh's serpent-eggs out of his pocket and
placed them on a flat stone about a yard from the fire. He then asked
Shasha to approach, warning him to be very careful, as the serpents
might be dangerous. After the experience with the potassium, such a
warning to Shasha was quite a work of supererogation. He came forward
with hesitating steps, and stood behind Vooda, watching.
Vooda had a small quantity of lycopodium powder in his left hand. With
his right he seized a blazing firebrand, and with this he touched each
of the eggs in turn. At once five horrible looking snakes began
uncoiling, blue flame surrounding the spot at which each emerged from
its egg. Vooda then shouted loudly, calling on the name of Impandulu,
and making mystic passes over the coiling horror with his fire-brand.
Stretching forth his left hand, he liberated a small cloud of
lycopodium powder, which ignited with a brilliant flash. At this, all
the spectators leaped to their feet, wildly yelling, and, with the
exception of Sololo, who stood still--although the picture of terror--
disappeared into the surrounding darkness. For some seconds after the
sound of the last footfall had died away, the rattle of Shasha's
charms, as he fled, could be heard.
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