PJLAirg XWOO. 
KAFIR KRAAL, NEAR TIIE UMLAZI RIVER, NATAL, 
•‘The thunder-cloud*, *urcluirg«d "ith rain, 
Pour verdure o’er I he panting pluin.” 
Pringle. 
This is one of the kraals of Natal Kafirs situated on the banks of the Umlazi river, to the southward of Port 
Natal, towards the Amaponda tribe. This kraal is without the enclosure for cattle in the centre, as is usual in most ot 
the kraals; and the huts are protected at the entrance by upright screens, to keep off the wind, which often sweeps 
with violence from the south-west along the Natal coast. 
The upright pole, surmounted by a skin, is placed in the kraal when the Induna, or principal man, is at home, 
much in the same way as the Hag of royalty is hoisted above the dwelling of a sovereign. 
On the left is a Kafir coral-tree (erythrina Caffra ), with its scarlet blossoms, which during the spring months 
present a most brilliant appearance in the woods of Natal. The stormy effect, with the rainbow and thunder-clouds, is 
indicative of the climate, where most of the rain falls in thunder-showers, especially during the hot season. Natal is 
fertile and well watered by numerous rivers, which are always flowing, and rise to a flood during the summer months ot 
November, December, and January. The winding of the Umlazi river may he traced along the flat, plain that extends 
towards the coast, where a ridge of hills, wooded by a variety of elegant shrubs, amongst which occurs the graceful 
strelUzia, forms a barrier to the Indian Ocean. Elephants are frequent in this locality, and at times may be seen dossing 
the flats of Umlazi; but being night-feeders, they rarely leave the covert of the thick woods in which they repose during 
the day. They may be observed by moonlight browsing on the margin of the forest, and bathing in the muddy creeks 
near the sea. Nearly every morning l have witnessed their tracks and huge footmarks between the Umlazi and the 
sea-shore. 
The huts of the. Amazulu are superior to those of the other Kafir tribes inhabiting the coast; they are finished 
with more, neatness, and are larger and more securely built than those of the Amaponda, who plaster the insides ot 
their houses with mud or cowdung. Some of the king’s dwellings in the “ issigotlilo,’ or harem, are really beautiful 
specimens of workmanship, being circular domes of elaborate basketwork, exquisitely finished, and thatched outside with 
great neatness, the thatch being all fastened down by innumerable little pegs of wood, and afterwards laced across with 
osiers. The floors, too, of these larger dwellings are made very smooth and compact with a mixture of day and other 
substances, and by being constantly rubbed by the women with fiat stones, they look as if they were polished. The 
largest and best dwellings are at the upper end of every kraal; these are occupied by the Indunas, or chiefs, with their 
families. Baskets, large earthen jars for holding millet, sleeping-mats, stores of dry wood, calabashes, wooden pillows, and such 
other necessary articles, compose the furniture of a Zulu lint, and are distributed about the circular sides of these snug 
dwellings, for they would really be comfortable abodes enough had they but an orifice in the roof, or some contrivance 
for a chimney to carry out the smoke, which is frequently suffocating, the only means of its escape being through the 
low door, into which the occupants worm themselves on entering or departing from the hut; and this aperture is closed 
at night by a basket-work shutter, to prevent, the intrusion of wild beasts or serpents, or the still more formidable 
appearance of some, stealthy foe. 
N 
