A Terrible Punishment.

Manawatu Herald, 9 July 1889, Page 3

A Terrible Punishment.

(Pall Mall Budget.). hf TWO FABTS. PART 2. To digress for a moment; the Zulus are completely under abe power of the witch-doctors. They believe thoroughly in bad men and women who go abont oausing sickness and death; they believe that these " abataki, " go about at night accompanied by their families ( wild cats and baboons) and lay poision in the paths for people to step over, and on the thresholds, and in the fields to destroy crops— thus sickness and death are attributed to the magic and malice of the " abatuki ". Belief in these matters still clings to the natives after embracing Christianity. i #or a purpose chat we afterward imdeißtood, the Dutchman inspanned ' " ttng before daylight and passed to the other side of the town, getting into the npcountry track, so as to

bo ready to start without hindrance. We woro seen and spoken to as we passed the kraal, and Pa^noeli sent a message that we were to stay a day' over and trade with such as he appointed on the morrow. In the course of the next day all the people gathered m the square before Pambeli's house, a mass of sileut quaking men and womeu, for none knew whom the diviners would convict. Pambeli himself sat silent and sor-roiv-stricken in the doorway of his hut; before him. the witch finders. These were three hideous and revo ting* men wearing various charms upon their filthy bodies, rows of gleaming teeth round their necks, dried toids, with the eyes of animals a^d snake skins tied to their waists, and a quantity of clanking metal bracelets on ankles and arms. After some preliminary incanta tions these three men suddenly leaped forward and commenced their wotk pf " smelling. '' Round and round* the great circle formed by the people they ran, sometimes slowly AvtL winning gravity, sometimes with almost incredible swiftn* ss, for ever crying out one word "Eswa, " and all the peop'e repeating it after them, sometimes loudly — then it was dangerous — then whispering . it, crying it over and over again, running, dancing, yelling, until the witch-finders, steav.ing with persp'ration, had lashed themselves in a state of hysterical fury, shouting and shrieking with the wildest contortions of frtce and limb, ti 1, after one tornado of final violem c, they swooped with the ra idity of eagles upon one startled girl, touched her with a forked stick, and cried ,' Eswa " at their loudest, whi'e the cowering crowd breathed free the next moment and then repeated the fatal word in one last overwhelming shout. It was all over, the trial was finished, the victim s leeted, and nought remained but the penalty to be pronounced. At the supreme moment of selection the people dropped away on either side, and tho girl stood alone, the focus of all eyes. Aftor one fearful glance a.l round, after one second of tense rigidity, the woman fell forward in a stupor of pitiable terror. It was a Bight no man could ever forget When th.se appointed by the witch doctors 'ouched her she rose shrieking and struggling, but seeing probably knowing — the hopelessness of it all, she leil again at their feet. Cyril Wuod, his hand on his revolver, started forward, but Hertzogg grasped his htu and held him, and then the crowd sni'ged upon us and crusiied us hack until w« found ourselves near the < uter circle of. huts again. There were 'eurdin Cyril's eyes and hi-< f .'ce w.s hot with anger, as he exclaimed, "(.an nothing be done ?' 'My frifnd.' ?aid the Dutch trader, • listen to mo ; there are ten thousand here and there are three of us.' Wood turned abruptly away and we followed him to the wag*, gons. Nobody came near us all that day, and I found the Dutch loan discussing with Urubarki the necessity of 'trekking' onwardp, but the Kaffir counselled ourj remaining.:, to him. the events of the d»y had bren biff a custom that Zulu justice authorir s"<l. on the morrow all would be forgotten. Late thnt night one r»f our Kaffir lads — an English speaking mission boy cal'ed Tom » Hip,-— came in and told us the woman had heen tnken to the woods, bound to a tr»*>, h,er body smearfd all over with wild honey, a small train of it thick'y laid near a white ant'g nest, an<l left. When the moon crept over the tops of the trees, Wood and I arose, bucked on our revolvers and cartridge belts, and signalled Oupe quietly. Once clear of the camp and sleeping Kaffirs, we tod Oupe to go before us to the place where the girl had been taken. Our friend the trader knew of our project, and had been persuaded to hide the girl in the waotgon and start away at once. The air was still and heavy, and the night full of the cries of animals and the singing of tree crickets. We knew none of the natives would be in the vicinity for the reason that Tom Oupe, missionbred as he was, begged us not to make him go quite up to the place where the young woman was bound, because " The Tongas " (spirits of dead ancestors) would be there waiting. Aftor going about a mile the boy ! crouched and point d, and Wood and I went forward a 1 one. There was a partial til eiring in the forest, and through the trees we could see the plain beyond, thon a passing cloud drifted by and obscured the light. We ' two men stood close together, and waited with our revolvers in our hands. Nowhere dc-s the moon sefm fo shine with such wonderful radiar.ee as in Africa. Wheu tbe light showed aga n we crept forwad. .-Ml nfc o>ie« Cjri ernve an inait'cnlate cry of horror and dismay; he was covered with thousands of emwliuu; thino*, slimy millions were creeping. at onv feet, and there before us - in the white splendour of the moonlight— was the poor girl's body tied at the foot of a tree, eaten,to.dieaUibyuntß. ' [THM SJJD.J