NATIVI': SUl'l-.KSriTION AND iKlMi:. 2^1) 



gruel out of a comiuon vessel, a small ])iece of fresli meat was 

 fouud \n the i^ruel. This was too serious an incident to be 

 capable of explanation. Accordingly, by mutual consent they 

 consulted a WMtch doctor in Johannesburg, who said that one 

 of their number. Ngulube. was the guilty ]~)erson, but that he 

 was acting as the agent of some one in i^ower. (ireatly alarmed, 

 the party returned to Zululand, and ac(|uainted their Chief of 

 the circumstance. Ngulube. a relative of the Chief's, was 

 summoned to appear before him. and an iiujuiry was held. To 

 protect himself. Nguktbe demanded that another diviner, a man 

 of renown in Swaziland, should be consulted. His re(|uest was 

 acceded to b\- the Chief, who seemed anxious to shield him, and 

 a deputation was sent to this man. His verdict confirmed that 

 c.f the Johannesburg witch doctor. He im])licated Ngulube. but 

 l)ointed out the real offender as one Tshankala. an uncle of the 

 Chief's, who had acted as regent during the minority of the 

 latter. Tshankala. he said, had supplied the piece of meat 

 before the party left Zululand. and had given it to Nguhtbe in 

 order to cause injury to the Chief by undermining his influence. 

 That the meat could have been kept fresh for three months 

 before use was made of it did not occur to any of them as an 

 unlikelv feature in the case. The deputation returned to Zulu- 

 land and made their report to the Chief. Within four days 

 Tshankala was shot by two men who went to his kraal at dusk. 

 The prisoners made a full confession at the trial, averring that 

 thev were the emissaries of the Chief. No evidence in corrobora- 

 tion of their allegation w^as procurable, and the Chief wa.s not 

 ])roceeded against. The death sentence in this case was com- 

 muted to one of imprisonment for life. 



If a person upon wdiom the stigma of witchcraft has been 

 cast is discovered at night within the precincts of a kraal, cus- 

 tom decrees one recognized method of summary punishment — 

 death by impalement. Three years ago. wnthin twenty miles of 

 this town, a man named Wele met such a fate. He was 

 believed by his brother Sitendeni, and others, to he an umtakati. 

 Returning one night from a beer drink, something the worse 

 for his libations, Wele lost his way. and found himself in his 

 brother's kraal instead of his own. His presence there after 

 dark was proof incontrovertible of his evil intentions. He was 

 seized and tied up, and his doom pronounced by his own mother, 

 and carried into execution by his brother, Sitendeni, and two 

 other inmates of the kraal. After being impaled he was driven 

 forth, and managed to crawl a short distance and make his cries 

 for assistance heard. His life was past saving, but a deposititMi 

 was taken from him before he died, which, wMth other evidence, 

 established the facts narrated, and secured a conviction against 

 the four persons charged. 



Without having exhausted recent examples of the fate 

 Vv'hich overtakes the supposed umtakati, enough has been said 



D 



