A REBELLIOUS INDUNA. 209 
oxen had strayed, and they succeeded in recovering 
them. 
"Whilst Stoffel was away the dogs began to 
bark late one night, and a man appeared at the fire 
in a miserable plight. He was a rebellious induna, 
or headman, whom the king had ordered to be 
killed. There are a certain number of indunas, who 
have certain districts given them to rule over under 
the king, and if they presume too much on their 
authority they are put to death without much trial. 
Some of them would be insufferable in their con- 
duct to white men if the king did not keep them 
in order. This particular man, I believe, the king 
had given fair warning to, and told him to take a 
horse and fly the country, but instead of taking one 
he took two, and he was brought before the king, 
who thought it best to make an end of the matter. 
They took him outside the town, and hacked him 
with their axes, leaving him for dead. What must 
have been intended for the coitp de grace was a cut 
in the back of the head, which had chipped a large 
piece out of the skull, and must have been meant to 
cut the spinal cord where it joins the brain. It 
had, however, been made a little higher than this, 
but had left such a wound as I should have thought 
no one could have survived. It is wonderful, how- 
ever, how hard Kafirs are. When I held the 
lanthorn to investigate the wound I started back in 
amazement to see a hole at the base of the skull, 
perhaps two inches long and an inch and a half wide, 
and I will not venture to say how deep, but the 
