232 WITCHCRAFT. 



Mr. Chalmers's apartment, under the greatest ex- 

 citement, stating that he was pursued for his life. 

 It seemed he had been accused of poisoning his 

 brother ; and whilst a party of his tribe was leading 

 him to the bush to put him to death, he had contrived 

 to disengage himself from his bonds, and suddenly 

 springing into a thick covert, had succeeded in 

 effecting his escape to that " city of refuge," where 

 he found protection against his brother's avengers. 

 A few months after my visit to this station, I 

 received a letter from the Rev. Mr. Chalmers, from 

 which the following is an extract : — 



" Since you visited us, three cases of ' Witchcraft' 

 have taken place in our immediate neighbourhood. 

 The first, the doctor with his attendants found their 

 victim, and killed him on the spot ; in such cases 

 the person is generally tortured with red hot stones, 

 but in this case they were too eager, and strangled 

 the poor young man before they were themselves 

 aware of it. I found his dead body on the following 

 morning, which had been thrown into a small ravine 

 a short space to the left of the place where you en- 

 camped the evening previous to your visiting our 

 station. The murder took place on the hills, and 

 the dead body was brought there to be devoured by 

 the wolves. 



" The second person was more fortunate, for al- 

 though the Caffers had surrounded the dwelling, he 

 darted from amongst the midst of them, brandishing 



