STRONG-HEADED INDIVIDUAL. 301 



further interference; the rolling of his body had increased 

 rapidly during the fourth tumbler, and it had scarcely 

 been emptied before M'untu Umculu, chair and tumbler, 

 came with a crash to the ground. 



The councillor, who had wisely ordered the wives away 

 as soon as he saw what was going on, now came in, and 

 with the aid of three Kaffirs lifted M'untu up and bore 

 him away, not without considerable opposition, however, 

 as he still held out his broken glass ; and its splintered 

 remains were the last thing that disappeared from the 

 door, entreatingly held towards me at arm's length. I 

 soon after sent for the councillor and requested him to 

 remind M'untu Umculu in the morning of the ridiculous 

 exhibition he had made, and to state, that, although my 

 hospitality obliged me to give him what he had requested, 

 I still did not think so highly of him as I had done 

 previously, and warned him against all strong drinks as 

 his greatest enemies. On the following morning, just as 

 the sun was rising, I heard some talking outside my tent, 

 and upon opening the canvass door, saw my drunken 

 guest of last night, sitting down coolly outside. Imme- 

 diately he saw me he held out his hand and thanked me 

 in a most gentlemanly manner for my kind entertainment 

 of the night before. I asked him if his head ached, 

 but he complained of nothing, and certainly appeared 

 quite right, with the exception of a slight redness about 

 the eyes. What would some of my readers give for a 

 cranium of this strength ? Perhaps this child of nature's 

 head did not yet know how to ache. I accepted an 

 invitation to go and hunt in the district that acknow- 



