\Ari\K SUPKRSTITIOX AND (KIMIC. 257 



the incendiar\- escaping- umliscoxercd. llis store of gnuu luifl 

 been destroyed, and all that was It-fi to him was a partially 

 burnt hut. Still he evinced no disposition to \acate his kraal 

 site. It was. however, imperatixe for him to go away to collect 

 .some debts due to him. wdierewith to i)urchase provisions. He 

 secured the services of two friends, yotiiii^ men who were strang- 

 ers in the neighbourhood, and, arming them with assegais for the 

 protection of themselves and his family, left them in charge dur- 

 ing his temporary absence. The fact that he had gone away 

 appears to have been unknown to his enemies. The night he left 

 was a moonlight one. The young men and the inmates of the 

 household slept outside, as usual. Ditring the night, one of 

 ^tsombuhtko's wives saw three men approaching. She gave the 

 alarm to her guardians, and they sprang up to meet the invaders. 

 Both the young men were stabbed with assegais and succumbed 

 to their injuries, not. however, before they were able io make 

 dying depositions, which were of assistance in bringing the mur- 

 derers, one of whom was a relative of the woman who had died, 

 to justice. This occurrence took place three and a half years 

 ago. 



How' fate pursued a man, who took no such risks as Alsom- 

 buluko, will now be shown. The victim was one Mbemu, who 

 some five years ago, being suspected of witchcraft, was cast 

 aside by his people, and left them. He joined another kraal, 

 but on the illness of one of its inmates, the accusing finger was 

 pointed at him, and he again moved his residence. His wife 

 forsook him, and he erected a hut for himself at some little 

 distance from other natives. This was set alight to by four 

 men. one of whom was a son of the man wdio had been taken 

 ill, and as he sought to escape he was stabbed to death by them. 

 His body was covered with dry grass, to which a match was 

 applied. The scene of this tragedy was a native location in 

 Natal. An immediate investigation brought the facts to light, 

 and led to the arrest and conviction of those implicated. 



It cannot, perhaps, be maintained that the old-time idea of 

 death by burning as a punishment for witchcraft is the governing 

 principle among the natives, or the primary reason why fire so 

 often figures in their schemes of vengeance. The main object 

 is to be rid of the ofi^ender, and this can. with ease and certainty, 

 be accomplished by the simple expedient of incendiarism. This 

 was especially so in the days of the Zulu kings, where a smelling- 

 out involved the destruction of the whole kraal. If it were de- 

 creed that all the inmates were to perish, their escape was ettec- 

 tually cut oft' by the ring of u^atchers outside. On a smaller 

 scale the same system prevails to-day, as has been shown in 

 some of the illustrations cited, and is also seen in the case which 

 follows. One Somcuba, living in Zululand, was believed by his 

 own son to have cast a spell over him. The accidental burning 

 down of the hut erected by the youth in a neighbouring kraal 

 (he having separated himself from his father in consequence of 



