:887.] 
Stay in Garenganze. 
225 
MATAYA AND HER SON PARDONED. 
Pedro, the bearer of these letters, had also brought for Msidi a 
piece of handkerchief and a message from the two brethren. To 
deliver these he at once started for the king's court. At that 
time Msidi's wife, Mataya, one of the queens of the country, and 
her eldest son, were being tried for having bewitched her younger 
son. This younger son was more liked by the chief than the 
elder, and had gone to Sombwe in a war party (under the command 
of the chiefs nephew, Molenga), where he was shot. The diviners 
declared that he had been bewitched by someone, that his body 
had been stripped of its charms, and he had thus become exposed 
to the enemy's bullets. Suspicion fell on the lad's mothej and 
elder brother, who were consequently brought to trial. The 
evidence against them was, that on the day of the departure 
of the war party, the elder son hid the gun of his younger brother, 
and, when the latter demanded his gun, he refused to give it up, 
saying, " Neither of us is beloved of the chief, why then should 
we go and fight his battles?" The mother interfered, and said, 
Give the lad his gun ; if he be killed, what matter ? Certainly 
the chief won't weep for him." The elder brother was condemned 
to be shot, but Mataya's sentence was deferred for a final day of 
deliberation, when all in authority were to be gathered. This 
court was sitting when the news reached Msidi that Messrs. Swan 
and Faulknor were at the borders of his country. Mataya was at 
once pardoned, and the sentence of death passed upon her elder 
son commuted to one of banishment for life, the chief joyfully 
declaring that no human blood should be shed upon the arrival 
of these his white guests, and the piece of coloured handkerchief 
that the brethren had sent was handed to Mataya by Msidi as a 
proof of her pardon. 
PREPARATIONS TO RECEIVE FELLOW-LABOURERS. 
Msidi sent one of his own sons to meet the caravan, bearing 
with him Msidi's w^elcome, as well as letters of greeting and 
hearty welcome from me j and I at once turned my attention to 
making things as comfortable as possible for their arrival. Some 
mats that had been made for me out of plaited strips of palm 
leaves were sewn together to form a ceiling, and racks and 
Q 
