222 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



has killed a lot of big game, as they assert that he cannot 

 help it, as the elephants', buffalos', and lions' spirits have 

 found a place in his heart, and that they are responsible 

 for his irascibility. 



Old Mpseni seems to have been a rather fiery personage, 

 for he ruled his people with an " iron " hand. An Angoni 

 tells me he remembers often seeing adulterers killed, and 

 this was done by either dashing out their brains with knob- 

 kerries or, more usually, taking them to a big tree and 

 binding them to it with bark-string, placed round the neck 

 and round the trunk. This quickly killed by strangulation, 

 and then the bodies were thrown to the hyaenas. At that 

 time the indunas had great power, as " they had the ear," 

 so to speak, of Mpseni, as the ordinary people were afraid 

 to go near him. Some of these indunas are still alive, and 

 they always struck me as cunning old men, and they were, 

 probably, the most expert liars in existence in getting up 

 false cases against people who were in their way. 



In a thunderstorm, when the lightning is bad, the Angoni 

 object to having black dogs, sheep, goats, or pigs in their 

 huts, as they believe their presence will cause the lightning 

 to strike the huts. Further, they keep the fire low, and 

 they believe that should a black sheep look up to the roof 

 the lightning will immediately strike the hut and kill the 

 occupants. 



The eldest son of old Mpseni (I write " old " Mpseni 

 because the present chief of the Angoni here is young 

 Mpseni, son of Singo, who was the eldest son of Mpseni), 

 by name Singo, was killed when the whites occupied this 

 country. He was sentenced to death, and a native tells 

 me the soldiers fired twice at him, and hit him, but he did 

 not die, so a white man took a big knife and cut his throat. 

 This I do not believe, but it is what the natives believe, 

 and, once they get anything into their heads, it is difficult 

 to get it out, as they have that dull, stubborn nature which 

 it is difficult to enlighten. 



The death of Chibisa, son of Patamoyo, a son of Mpseni, 

 seems to have been simply a murder. One day some 



