ii4 MATABELE LAND. 



Lee told the king it was for him to punish it. The 

 two indunas present seized the boy, and he was 

 half throttled, and much knocked about. They 

 would have killed him there and then, had it been 

 Lee's wish. The king said, 'Is he to be thrown 

 out ? ' which means put to death. Lee, however, 

 said he should be satisfied by the boy being tied 

 up, which was done. . . . Went with Lee to the 

 king's afterwards. More drenching was going on. 

 I saw the boy tied up ; he could neither sit nor 

 stand, but squatted on the ground, his arms nearly 

 on the full stretch, fastened on either side to one of 

 the poles that support the large wooden structures 

 on which meat is piled. When the sun set Lee 

 was told, if he did not give the word to have the 

 boy taken away, he would rot where he was. The 

 king and the indunas then chaffed the poor wretch, 

 as, Lee having consented, he was cut down. He 

 was told that he had been kicking Mosilikatze's 

 bones. 



" The scene, with the king sitting on his front- 

 box, would make a picture — the setting sun ; the dark 

 green trees beyond the kraal, and the green walls of 

 the newly -erected kraal ; the yellow beehive -like 

 huts ; the yellowish trodden grass in the space ; the 

 herds of goats and sheep, with lambs and kids, and 

 pack of dogs, crowding round the king's waggon ; 

 the group of natives, some all but naked, some 

 adorned with feathers, some with a single article of 

 European dress, as a hat, crouching on their haunches, 

 forming the court of the black king ; tusks of ivory 



