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 coup 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 Kaffirs 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 



p 



