SOUTH AFRICA 47 



troops when we suffered a reverse in the neighbour- 

 hood of Gaza. 



On the day of this incident I had ridden out 

 some ten or twelve miles from Bulawayo. On my 

 return I had arrived within three miles of Bulawayo, 

 my horse burdened with the extra weight of a paw 

 or bustard (some of these birds reach a weight of 

 about thirty pounds), when I came upon one of 

 the Impis, or regiments of fighting men, who had 

 gone to headquarters to participate in the festivities. 

 For some real or imasfined breach of the unwritten 

 law of the IMatabele they had been sent home in 

 disgrace. There are no minor punishments for 

 evil-doers ; one only — and that is death ! There 

 are no such anomalies as "unwanted babies." If 

 a girl gets into trouble in this way there is short 

 shrift both for herself and her lover, as they are 

 both put to death. 



Some years previously this particular kraal had 

 incurred the King's displeasure, and all the women 

 of the kraal that were enceinte were assembled 

 close to a small hill, adjacent to the kraal, and 

 then slaughtered, few escaping. It was the 

 descendants of this same kraal that were in 

 trouble again, and it was the disgraced crowd 

 of warriors that I met, all in their war paint, 

 picturesque and truculent, some with monkey skins 

 and some with leopard skins round their waists, 



