CHAPTER SIX.
A few days after our return from the expedition against the Bushmen,Inyati called me one morning to his hut, in which were two of hiscounsellors. He then told me that I was raised to the rank of acounsellor, and that he intended to give me three of the cows that hehad received from the Caffres, for freeing them of the Bushmen. He saidthat Caffres, as young as I was, were never made counsellors or had theprivileges of men; but the two things I had done, viz., trapping theleopard and shooting the Bushmen, were so extraordinary that the tribehad agreed that I was to be made a chief. The rank which a chief holdsamong these people is of more importance than any civilised men couldunderstand. The rank gave me command and authority over all men whowere not chiefs. I could order them about, make them do work for me,whilst I need do nothing. I thanked Inyati for what he had done, andsaid I hoped to again show him what my rifle would do, in case there wasany occasion for it, and that I believed I could kill an elephant or alion with it, as easily as I had killed the Bushmen. He replied that"we should see."
On leaving Inyati I took my assagies and walked out to the hill where mylate companions Inyoni and Tembile were watching the cattle, and satdown with them, telling them of my having been made a counsellor andchief. These boys were quite excited at the news and very pleased, andwe sat talking some time, till we noticed that the cattle were alarmedby something and seemed uneasy. We ran up to them, and then saw quite asmall calf on the ground, and something shiny all round it. In aninstant I saw it was an immense snake, as thick as my body. Seizing anassagy, I drove it into the snake's head, and then, withdrawing it,stabbed it again in the body. The snake uncoiled itself, and came atme; but Inyoni, coming behind it, threw an assagy at it and pinned it tothe ground, whilst Tembile drove another spear into it. Seeing mychance, I went close to the monster and stabbed it in the head two orthree times, and thus killed it. As soon as we saw it was dead we cutsome sticks, sharpened the ends of these, and pegged the snake straighton the ground. It was then longer than the three of us, and was a giantamong snakes. The Caffre boys told me there were several such snakesabout, and that they would kill and swallow a calf. They knew no othername for it than "Inyoka m'culu" ("the big snake.") They said thesesnakes ate only about twice each moon, and after eating slept for manydays, and were sometimes then killed by wild pigs and leopards. Theysaid that, many months ago, a Caffre boy was sleeping near here, andwhilst asleep one of these snakes came to him, coiled round him andkilled him. Before the snake could swallow him, some men came to theplace and killed the snake, but the boy had been dead some minutesbefore they arrived. They described how this snake attacked anything.It first crawled slowly along the ground till near its prey, or waitedin long grass, or in bushes, till some animal or bird came near. Whenclose to the animal it wished to capture, the snake lunged rapidly atit, seized it with its teeth and dragged it to the ground, at the sametime coiling round the animal and compressing it in its folds. Even ariet-bok could be thus killed by the snake. The reptile then slowlygorges its prey, and remains torpid many days.
Although this large snake was a terrible creature to look at, it was notas dangerous as several other snakes that were common near our village.The most dangerous of these was the puff-adder, which the Caffres called"_m'namba_." This snake I have seen about four feet long, and as thickas a stout arm. It is a sluggish, dull animal, very brilliantlycoloured, its body being speckled yellow and black, which makes it looklike dead leaves, so that you might tread on it without seeing it,unless you were always on the look-out. This snake has a practice ofthrowing itself backward and striking with its poisonous fangs anythingthat is following it. To be bitten by the _m'namba_ is certain death,no case ever having occurred of a man or any cattle having been bittenand having lived after it. Our old rain-maker had some little bits ofwood that he called _mutt_, some of which, he said, would prevent a manfrom dying when he had been bitten by a snake; but I never heard of acure by this means. Some of his medicine was, however, wonderful in itseffects, as I once experienced. I was very ill and had a bad fever; soold Amanzi came to me and gave me a small pill of wood, which I bit andate. In a few minutes I broke out in a perspiration, and then went tosleep, and slept for nearly the whole of the sun's course round theearth (a whole day), and when I woke I was quite well. Caffres are veryseldom ill: they eat so little meat, are so much out of doors, and takeso much exercise, that they rarely suffer from bad health. The climatealso is very healthy, so that the people were strong and robust.
It was about two moons after our expedition against the Bushmen, that Iwas out one morning with Tembile and Inyoni, on some hills near, insearch of riet-bok, when we saw two strange Caffres coming towards us.These Caffres, we knew by the "_esikoko_" (the ring on the top of theirheads), came from the east, near the bay of Natal. Having given themthe usual salutation, we said, "_Chela pela s'indaba_" ("tell us thenews"), when they told us that a large herd of elephants was coming downthe country, and had done much damage to the corn-gardens of the Caffreson the way, breaking down the fences, eating and treading down the corn.They said there were two bull-elephants, very savage, in the herd, whoran after any man they saw or scented; and that three Caffres, near theUmlass river, had been killed by these elephants.
A herd of elephants visiting a country where the inhabitants are asdefenceless as were these Caffres, is a serious matter. Assagies werelittle or no use against elephants; and if a regular attack wasorganised against them, in the same manner as we had attacked thebuffaloes, we should probably have ten or twenty men killed, and afterall not kill the elephant. The corn-gardens, on which we depended forour store of food, might be destroyed; and then there might be, if notstarvation, at least great scarcity of grain. So that to prevent theelephants from coming our way was considered most important. There wasa great council held the evening after the news was brought; and it wasdecided that we should send some men towards the east, to find out whenthe elephants came near us; and on their approach we were to light firesin their track and make noises, so as to try and make them travel inanother direction. To turn them back would not have been a proceedingpleasant to the Caffres east of us, but yet we should have liked it, asit would rid us of the animals.
There was nothing talked about during the next week besides theelephants, and I learned much about these animals and their habits fromthe Caffres. These elephants, I was told, came down the country eachyear: they did so when the umbrella acacia had its young branches andshoots; for on this tree and several others the elephants fed. In itswild state the elephant lives almost entirely on the branches of trees.These it breaks off with its trunk, eats the smaller branches, andgrinds the larger to pieces so as to extract the juice from them. It isat night that the elephant usually travels and feeds: by day, especiallyif it be very hot, he remains quiet in the bush--so quiet, that youmight be within fifty yards of a herd of elephants and not know theywere there. If, however, a man disturbs the herd when they are thus atrest, the animals will very likely charge at him, and hunt him throughthe bush just as a pack of hounds will hunt a fox. At this time of yearthe elephant bulls, cows, and calves, all keep together; but later onthe bulls separate and sometimes travel alone. When thus alone, thebulls are very savage; and if two bulls meet in the bush a terriblebattle ensues. The Caffres consider that a bull-elephant is a match for100 Caffres, and even then the animal may get the best of the fight.
I was much interested in these accounts of the elephants, and began tothink how I could manage to kill an elephant; for it was my ambition todo so.
The Caffre name for an elephant is _inglovu_, and the words _inglovu_and _ama inglovu_ were frequently heard during the next few days; forthe expected arrival of the elephants was a most serious incident in thedaily life of these people; and forty moons ago the elephants hadsuddenly travelled into this country and had destroyed all the crops ofthe Caffres near this village. It was all done in one night, and on themorning the people discovered that their yearly
crop of corn hadvanished. The season was too far advanced to sow again; consequentlythey were compelled to buy corn and to purchase it with cattle. So thattheir loss had been very severe.
Taking the first opportunity of speaking to Inyati, I inquired what heintended to do in order to protect his fields and gardens. He repliedthat the only thing to do was to light fires round the gardens, and toassemble and shout. I inquired why he did not dig a great ditch roundhis gardens; but he replied that it would take too long, and that theelephants could manage to cross almost any ditch that could be dug.
He also told me that sometimes pits had been dug for elephants; and someyears ago an elephant fell into one of these pits, and had been helpedout by other elephants; so that it was no use attempting anythingagainst them, as they were as clever as men. That night I thought overevery plan by which I could kill an elephant, and at length an ideaoccurred to me; but I kept my thoughts to myself, as I intended to tryby myself if I could not kill one of these enormous animals. Greatpreparations were made by the Caffres for the arrival of the elephants,quantities of dead wood were gathered in heaps in readiness for largefires to be made when the animals approached our gardens. Several pitswere also dug and covered with a hurdle, on the top of which earth wasthrown and grass carefully laid. These pits were placed in the oldpaths of the elephants, because it was known that these animals alwaysfollowed in their old tracks whenever they revisited a country, andthough these tracks were overgrown, or obliterated, yet the instinct, orknowledge of locality of the elephants was so great, that they wouldtravel miles through the bush, and then come out into the open atexactly the same place at which they had come out of the bush somethirty or forty moons previously.
The Caffres told me that the elephants did not understand any mangetting up into a tree; that if they were chased by an elephant theyclimbed a tree, and, although this tree was not big enough to place thembeyond reach of an elephant, yet the animal never seemed to think ofpulling the man out of it, or of pulling down the tree. Thisinformation was of great value to me in carrying out a plan that I wasforming in my head.
It was about half a moon's time after we first heard that elephants werecoming our way, that we discovered their traces within five miles of ourvillage. There was a marsh about five miles from us, formed by theoverflow of one of the rivers, and in this marsh the elephants hadrolled in the mud, and had then returned to the bush. In this bushthere were several large trees, hung over by creeping plants and veryeasily climbed. Having followed the track of the elephants into thebush for a short distance, I noticed a tree that was covered with mudabout the stem, and as high as I could reach with my assagy. This wascaused by the elephants rubbing themselves against the tree after theyhad rolled in the mud.
Although the elephant is a thick-skinned animal yet he is much worriedin hot weather by flies and mosquitoes. So, to escape in some measurefrom these pests, he rolls in the mud, and this mud sticking to hishide, forms a coating over him, which defends him to some extent fromthe mosquitoes. When he passes a thick tree he leans against this andrubs himself, and thus rids himself of a portion of the mud, and spreadsit more evenly over his body.
Having selected a tree, I thought at first that I would tell Inyati whatI intended doing, and would ask him to accompany me when I carried outmy plans. On second thoughts, however, it occurred to me that if I weresuccessful and Inyati were with me, I should do everything, but he wouldget the honour, because he was a man, I only a boy. So I asked Inyoniand Tembile if they would accompany me in an attempt to kill anelephant.
They replied that to go near these elephants was very dangerous, andthat perhaps I did not know how very likely I was to be killed, so thatthey hardly liked to go for fear I was trying to do too much. I saidthey might trust me, as I had thought a great deal about what was to bedone, and that by my plan there would be very little danger.
From information I had gained from the Caffres, I learned that theelephants usually drank every other night, and that unless disturbedthey would drink at the same pools of water. I hoped, therefore, thatif I climbed the large tree that I before mentioned, I might during thenight or early morning, find the elephants under this tree, when Ishould have a chance of trying my plan upon them.
My plan was as follows:--The Bushmen that I had shot were armed with abow and two kinds of poisoned arrows. One kind were made of reeds witha bone end, and were used for shooting small game; the other arrows werestronger, and had a barbed iron end, covered with poison. The barbedend fitted into a stout reed out of which it could be easily pulled.The reason for this arrangement was, that if the arrow struck any largeanimal such as a lion or a buffalo, the lion would scratch at the arrowand pull it out, and the buffalo in rushing through the bush might dothe same. If, however, the reed end of the arrow were pulled, or rubbedoff from the animal, the barb containing the poison would remain in itsbody, and so enable this poison to enter the circulation of the animal,and eventually to cause its death.
If I climbed a tree, and the elephants came underneath it, I could firean arrow into the back of any one I selected, and by this means I hopedto kill one, if not more elephants. I explained all this to Inyoni andTembile, and they agreed with me that it was a very good plan and likelyto succeed. So having obtained the arrows and a bow, we three startedfor the tree when the sun was two hands'-breadth above the horizon, andwas going down. Before we entered the bush we walked in the wettestparts of the marsh, so that our feet and legs might be covered with mud,when we should not leave any scent from our tracks; for the elephant isvery keen-scented, and would avoid any place where the scent of a manwas strong. These elephants, however, were not much afraid of man,because in this part of the country guns were not used against them, andthey were accustomed to see men run away from them. So that theelephants had it all their own way.
We climbed the tree without difficulty, and having broken off thebranches that intercepted my view, I seated myself on a stout branch,high enough to be beyond the reach of an elephant's trunk. Inyoni andTembile were close beside me, and held the case containing the poisonedarrows. It was nearly full moon, but clouds occasionally made it ratherdark in the bush, though not so dark as to prevent me from seeinganything beneath me.
The night came on, and the moon had gone over about half its course,when we heard a branch broken at some distance from us; and shortlyafter, the bushes made a rustling noise as though a gust of wind hadshaken them; and then I saw something white and shining, and around thiswhite object loomed a black mass. I almost immediately recognised thewhite object as the tusks of an enormous elephant, and the animal itselfwas the black mass. I took one of my arrows from Tembile, and fitted itto the bow, and waited for this elephant to come close to me. I wasacquainted with the elephant in India, and was not surprised to find howquietly it walked in the bush: its steps made no noise, and the onlysound audible was the slight rustling of the leaves as the animal movedalong through the bush, and an occasional blow through its trunk as itsniffed the air around.
Careful as we had been to cover our feet with mud, still we must haveleft some scent; for the elephant came on very slowly, blowing throughits trunk and shaking its great ears as it listened for some sound. Atlast it strode forward and came exactly beneath me, and, aiming at itsback just clear of the backbone, I discharged one of my arrows with allmy force. Immediately the elephant felt the prick of the arrow it gavea sharp cry and moved rapidly forward. It then stood still, listening,and apparently watching for some enemy, but it could not see us in thetree. After a short time it gave another and different cry, andimmediately several other elephants, some large, some very small,shuffled along under the tree. One of these was a very large elephantwith great tusks, and as it passed I sent an arrow into its back, whichcaused it to cry out just as the first had done. We counted about fortyelephants in the herd, among which were three very large bull-elephantswith large tusks. The herd went through the bush to the watering-placein the marsh, but did not return
by the same path that they had followedon going to the marsh. So we did not see them as they came back.
As soon as it was light we descended from the tree, and found ourselvesvery stiff after sitting so long on the branches. After moving about alittle we got all right, and then agreed that we should follow the trailof the two elephants that I had hit with my poisoned arrows.
The first thing to be done was to examine the feet-marks of these twoelephants. Now the under part of the foot of an elephant is not smooth,but is marked by several small cracks; consequently when the elephanttreads on soft ground, it leaves a kind of plan or map of its foot. Theplans of no two elephants' feet are exactly alike, so that when you haveonce studied the plan of a particular foot, you can recognise thefootprint when you see it in another place. It is just the same withthe inside of the thumb and top joint of each person's finger. Thegrain of the skin makes a sort of pattern, and it rarely happens thatthis pattern of each finger is the same; and it still more rarelyhappens that the fingers of two people are alike. Having examinedseveral good impressions of the two elephants' feet, we went quickly outof the bush, walked along the edge of the marsh, and then entered thebush again at the place where the elephants had re-entered it. It waseasy to follow the elephants along the path they had made as they firstentered the bush, for along this they walked one after the other; butwhen we had gone some distance into the bush, we found that theelephants had separated, some going one way, some another. They hadalso stopped to feed, and had broken off some very large branches fromtheir favourite trees. We now set to work to follow the footprints ofthe two elephants that I had struck with the arrows. It was verydifficult at first, as the ground was very hard, and covered with deadleaves; so that we could not obtain a good impression of the feet forsome time, and we were puzzled at first. At length we found anant-bear's hole in the ground, and near this the elephants had troddenon the loose earth, and we then recognised the footprints of the largestelephant that I had hit. We followed this elephant very cautiously, forhe had separated himself from the others--a sign, as my companions said,that "_Inglovu efar_" (the elephant was ill), especially as it wasevident he had not eaten, there being no branches broken along histrack. After following the track during about a quarter of the day, wecame so close to the elephant that we could hear him. Sometimes hewould make a low rumbling sound, at others he would blow through histrunk, and then knock his tusks against the stem of a tree. All theseacts were indications of his being very uneasy, and I hoped the poisonedarrow had begun to do its work. We sat down in the bush listening tothe elephant, and ate some of our corn; for I had determined to followthis elephant for days, if possible, in order to find whether he died orlived. The elephant stood quiet in the bush about as long as it tookthe sun to move ten times its own diameter in the sky, and then it againmoved slowly forward, selecting the densest parts of the bush to movethrough. About every hundred paces it stopped, and remained quiet for alittle time, and then moved slowly on again. All these proceedingsdelighted my Caffre companions, who declared the elephant was very sick.During the whole of the day we followed this elephant, and when thenight came we ascended a tree, and slept a little; but as we could heara leopard calling in the bush, and several bush-pigs were under thetree, we were mostly on the watch. The night was fine, though there wasa heavy dew; and though we felt it very cold we did not like to go downon the ground to light a fire for fear of the leopard. As soon as itwas light enough to distinguish the tracks, we again followed ourelephant. He had travelled during the night, but had gone very slowly;and we saw some marks on the stem of a large tree that showed theelephant had leaned against this, as though he could scarcely stand.
We had moved through the bush very quietly and slowly, stopping everynow and then to listen, and also to look all round us; for if we hadcome on this elephant very suddenly he might have charged us, and,before we could have escaped, he might have caught us and probablykilled one of us. Tembile told me that when an elephant caught a man,he pushed him to the ground with his trunk, and then either knelt on himor thrust his tusks into him, and also would push him down and get himbetween his front and hind feet, and kick him backwards and forwardstill he killed him. So, with this description of the elephant'sproceedings, which I afterwards found was quite correct, we thought itbest to be very cautious in our approach to the animal.
The sun had risen its highest in the sky, when we sat down to rest andto listen; for we knew that we were close to the elephant, as thefootprints were quite fresh. We talked in whispers and avoided anynoise, whilst we were on the alert for any sound that should indicatethe whereabouts of the elephant. As we sat quietly thus waiting, Inyonipointed upwards, and gave a grunt of delight: we looked up and saw avulture slowly circling in the sky and nearly above us. "Elephant goingto die," said Inyoni; "vulture knows it." We immediately followed onthe elephant's tracks, and, after advancing about two hundred paces, weheard a noise in front of us, and saw the elephant lying on its side,whilst every now and then it swung its trunk about and struck thebushes, thus making the noise we had heard. The elephant was dying, itsvast frame overpowered by the subtle poison of the Bushman's arrow. Wekept at a short distance from the animal and watched it, as it graduallygot weaker and weaker, and at length lay motionless. We then went closeup to it, and found that it really was dead. It was a monster withgreat tusks as big round as my thigh, and as it lay on the ground it wasfar higher than I was as I stood up.
"The other elephant must be dead too," I said, "for I hit that also withan arrow."
"Yes," replied my companions, "and we shall find that too: perhapsvultures will show us where it is, if we watch."
We now agreed that Tembile should go as quickly as he could to ourvillage, and call all the people to come and cut up the elephant, whilstInyoni and I kept watch near it. So Tembile started off, whilst we whoremained agreed to sleep turn and turn about, as we were both verytired.
I had a good sleep, and then Inyoni lay down whilst I kept watch. Icould not keep my eyes from the dead elephant which lay a few paces fromus. It looked such an enormous creature, that I could hardly believeits death had been caused by so trifling a wound as that given by thesmall arrow; but the poison used by the Bushmen is powerful beyondbelief, and they kill all animals with their arrows.
As I sat listening for any sounds of the approaching Caffres, I heard aslight crack in the bush, then another and a louder crack; and I knewthese noises must be caused by elephants, for the Caffres glide throughthe bush without making any noise. I awoke Inyoni, and we were soonconvinced that the elephants were approaching us. My companion wasalarmed, as he seemed to think the elephants were hunting us in order torevenge themselves on us. We crept through the bush to a large tree,and climbed this quickly, getting up so high that no elephant couldreach us.
We had reached our place of safety, when we saw the first elephantapproaching us: this was a cow, and it was following the track of thebull that was now dead. After this cow came about forty other elephantsof various sizes. They came along with a sort of shuffling gait,stopping every now and then to listen and sniff the air, and then tomove forward again. When they came to the spot where we had sat down,they smelt the ground, and then raising their trunks sniffed all round.Their attention, however, was soon attracted to the dead elephant, whichthey approached and touched with their trunks, several of them utteringsharp cries as though they wished to wake him. After a few minutes,however, they seemed to know that he was dead, as they moved away fromhim and stood looking at him, whilst they flapped their great ears andseemed very uneasy. Suddenly, as though suspicious of danger, the largecow-elephant uttered a shrill trumpet and dashed off through the bush,recklessly smashing the small trees and branches in her course. She wasfollowed by the whole herd, and we could hear them as they forced theirway through the underwood, the sounds becoming fainter and less audibleuntil all was again quiet.
We remained in our tree, for we could not tell whether more elepha
ntsmight not come, and on the ground we were in danger. All was quiet,however, for a long time, until we heard the slightest movement of someleaves; and then we saw Tembile, followed by Inyati and all the men andboys of our village. We whistled to them, and, descending the tree,told them what we had seen. We talked in whispers and then went up tothe dead elephant and examined it. The reed portion of my arrow hadbeen broken off, but the barb containing the poison was buried deep inthe elephant's flesh, and thus the poison had circulated rapidly and hadcaused the monster's death.
Inyati with his assagy at once cut out this barb and a large portion ofthe flesh round it, and he then said we might safely eat the remainderof the animal, which would not be affected by the poison.
A scene was then commenced which I shall remember to my last day. Abouttwenty Caffres set to work at the elephant, cutting the flesh off, andpiling it in heaps near the animal, by the aid of hatchets; the tuskswere cut out of the elephant's jaws, and were so heavy that one mancould only just lift one. It took a comparatively short time to cut theanimal to pieces, and to take off all its flesh, which was then dividedinto portions, the boys being given small weights to carry, whilst themen took larger and heavier weights. We then commenced our marchthrough the bush, and before sunset we reached our village, at which wewere received with shouts of rejoicing by the old men and females.Notice had been sent to the next village that another elephant wassupposed to be dead, and the men of that village had watched thevultures, and had succeeded in finding the second elephant lying dead inthe bush, and had cut this one up in the same manner as we had done withthe first elephant I had killed. Elephant's flesh, although tough andunsavoury, is still eaten greedily by the Caffres. They are so fond oftheir cattle, and like to see a large herd near their kraals, that theywill not kill an animal unless on some special occasion, such as amarriage, or a victory; so that a feast of flesh is a rare treat, andthere is not usually any complaint about the toughness or want offlavour of the meat. As it was usual to have a great dance and generalfeast when any such event as slaying an elephant had occurred,invitations were sent to all the kraals near, to invite the neighboursto partake of the elephant's flesh.
Before the evening on which the feast was to occur, there had assemblednearly all the Caffres from ten miles round. There were some finefellows among them, several young men six feet high, and as active asleopards, who could run ten miles without stopping, and who could walkfrom sunrise till sunset without tiring. They all brought theirassagies, and shields, as well as their knob-kerries, and were dressedin their dancing dresses.
News was also brought us about the elephants. There was now no fear oftheir destroying the gardens, as they had again taken up their residencein the forests about Natal. This was good news to all the Caffres aboutus, and was celebrated by one of the largest dances I had ever seen.There were more than a thousand men assembled, all in full war-costume,each with a shield, a knob-kerrie, and five assagies. They danced andate, and danced again and ate again, during the whole night. To me wasgiven the honour and glory of having killed the elephants, and I had toenter the centre of the ring of men, and describe and act the wholescene. I told how we climbed the tree; how I heard the elephantscoming; how I sent my arrow first into one then into the other elephant;how these elephants paid no attention to so small a thing as an arrow,fired by me, a boy; but how this arrow was stronger than the elephant,and at last killed him. I went through all the movements of creepingthrough the bush on the track of the elephant, sitting down to listen,and at length seeing the elephant. I then lay on the ground just as didthe elephant, and swung my arm about to imitate the movements of theanimal's trunk, and at length died just as did the elephant.
The shouts and dancing after this performance were of the most excitingdescription, and lasted for a long time. When, suddenly, a very oldchief came into the centre of the circle, and raising his arm to commandsilence, spoke in a loud clear voice words of which the following is atranslation:--
"My people, we have been delivered from the elephants; the elephantsthat have often destroyed our corn, and brought us to starvation. Andhow have we been delivered? Not by two hundred warriors armed withassagies, many of whom were killed by the elephants; not by diggingholes, and the elephants tumbling into them; but there have been twolarge elephants killed by our white companion who came out of the sea.He alone thought out of his own head how to kill the elephants, andthough very young, has the mind of an experienced chief and the courageof a warrior. We have held a council and have decided that he be fromthis time forth a chief, and that he be called `Umkunkinglovu.' Whatsay you, men?"
A tremendous shout was given by the assembled crowd at the terminationof this speech; and then one of the oldest warriors came into the ring,and placed round my neck a necklace made out of leopards' claws, whilstall the men called out "Inkosi!" The dancing and feasting were thencontinued till the first sign of daylight appeared, when we all retiredto our kraals to rest.
On the following morning I met the old warrior who had put the necklaceon me, and sat down talking to him. He was very anxious to hear where Ihad come from, and was much interested in the accounts I gave him ofIndia. He was puzzled to know how it was possible that our ships foundtheir way over the sea. There were no paths, he said, and the waveswere always altering their shape, so that he could not tell how they goton. I told him that the men found their way by the sun and stars, butthis he could not comprehend. After some time I asked him to tell meall he knew about his own people, and where they came from. He thoughtfor some time, and then gave me the following account. Spreading histwo hands on the ground he lifted the little finger of his left hand andsaid, "That me." He then raised the next finger and said, "That myfather." He then raised the next and said, "That his father;" and so hewent on, to the thumb of the left hand, giving father after father."All these lived here," he said. Then he raised the thumb of his righthand, and said, "That father lived in Zulu country, and quarrelled withgreat chief there, and came down here."
"But how did those other fathers live?" I enquired.
He raised four more fingers, and pointing to the last said, "That fatherlive other side of the sun."
By this, I have since learned that he meant the other side of theequator, or up near Somali.
"That father and all his people have great fight; too many people there,so they come down slowly, and at last live in Zulu country. Thosefathers had strange animals that they used to ride on, and which went asfast as an ostrich, but all these died as they came down country."
I understood from this that he meant his people formerly owned horses.
"Then," he continued, "we break up, some stop one place, some another--we come here."
The old chief thus made out ten fathers, and, taking four generationsfor a hundred, it made out that, about 250 years previously, the Caffresmust have resided not far from Nubia.
Two days after our feast all the Caffre visitors had gone home, and wehad settled down again to our usual quiet life.