MoDjADjE, A Native Queen. 243 



Country had aggravated rain -production, and again forces were set 

 a-going to burn down their homesteads ; a white man was also 

 murdered. Two native wars resulted from this. 



Her wholesale fraud gave Modjadje immense power, so that 

 every one of her subjects who fled into another country was sur- 

 rendered without further ceremony. The hangman's servants dogged 

 his steps and said : " This man has run away with the rain." The 

 people to whom he had fled replied that it was better for one man to 

 die than for the whole of the tribe to suffer. But in most cases these 

 deserters surrendered themselves, and then were put to death with 

 battle-axes in a most wretched way. 



About the time I entered the country the Kaffirs had a beer-feast 

 in a kraal not far from my station. There they drank and danced 

 and committed all sorts of abominations until they were exhausted. 

 At that time a fire broke out in a place far away, which, by a strong 

 wind, was driven towards that kraal, and the huts and hedges became 

 a prey of the flames. Most of the people v»'ere so drunk that they 

 could not escape, and were burned. I tried to save the chief's wife 

 and her daughter, but the burns were of such a nature that they also 

 died. Now a great trial was started to find out the guilty person, 

 who by witchcraft had directed the fire to this place. By means of 

 dice it was at last discovered that it was an old man of the same 

 kraal, who, of course, was in possession of a good lot of cattle ; he 

 had not been one of the drinking party. This man was condemned 

 to death as having called the fire by witchcraft in order to annihilate 

 these people. The poor old fellow fled into the bush and hid himself 

 in the long grass, which was set on fire at once, whilst they sur- 

 rounded it, and as soon as the victim appeared he was struck down 

 with axes. His cattle fell to Modjadje's share. 



When I attacked the heathens with the Gospel, stating : "Whoso 

 sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed," they were 

 equal to the occasion, and started to strangle their victims with a loop. 

 A very tall native was the executioner. He with his staff entered 

 quite peaceably the kraal of the person they intended to kill. He 

 drank beer and took snuff with him, then suddenly threw the loop 

 round his victim's neck, his assistants caught the legs, and so they 

 tugged him to and fro till he was dead, a.nd having carried out their 

 orders they went away roaring and laughing. The queen was a 

 blood-thirsty monster, who felt neither pity nor mercy. She 

 remained childless, and this is said to have been one of the causes of 

 her sanguinary disposition. She always had a chancellor, who lived 

 with her and was her principal adviser, but who generally was killed 

 within, at most, two years, lest he spread the secrets he had dis- 

 covered. 



The Constitution of the Country and the Whole System 



OF Government 



was quite peculiar. Every minor chief, according to the degree of 

 Modjadje's favour, received a small piece of land, for which he had 

 to pay a daughter, who passed for a wife of Modjadje, but in reality 



