Chapter Five.
The Mosutu Witch-Doctor.
“You will be wondering, Nkose, what had become of the old Mosutu witch-doctor whose life I had spared, and who was the sole survivor of his people. The morning after the battle and the feast, before we resumed our march, Umzilikazi ordered the old man to be brought before him.
“I was in attendance upon the King that day, and was acting as his shield-bearer. It was my duty to stand behind him as he sat among the indunas, holding the great white shield above his head to shade him from the sun. This was an office the King often had me to perform in preference to most of the other young men of his body-guard, wherefore I heard much deliberation of matters, such as would have astounded many in our host, could they but have guessed they were known to the King—yes, and would have put them in terror for their lives. But these were matters for which I had neither eyes nor ears, and although I had revealed a secret to Nangeza—and that foolishly—it was one which concerned myself alone, and for the others, I would have suffered any death rather than let fall breath of them.
“Standing thus behind Umzilikazi, I was able to command the fullest view of the old witch-doctor, and as they brought him along I noticed that he showed no sign of fear. His, eyes were as bright and piercing as before; and his old body, bowed and wrinkled with age, looked hardly human, so shrunken and withered was it.
“‘Are the ghosts of those slain yonder come to life again in this old man?’ I heard the King mutter as he signed the Mosutu to rise up from the prostration he had made. ‘What is thy name, old man?’
“‘I am called Masuka, lord. The guardian spirits of the Bapedi tribe whisper in my ears.’
“‘Ha, the Bapedi! So that is the name of those we swept out of our path yesterday.’
“‘It is, lord. Yet there are more of them left; but they dwell in the mountains.’
“‘Then fortunate are they, for so far as I care they can stay there,’ said the King. ‘It is only those lying in my path whom I sweep aside. But, old man, thy serpents (A favourite form of tutelary deity among Zulus is the serpent) must have been powerful yesterday, in that thou art the only one who has escaped with life from the fangs of my hunting dogs. Yet am I not sorry, for I have heard much of the powers of the Basutu izanusi, and would fain see some proof of them.’
“‘The hour is not propitious, King,’ replied the old man in a wearied sort of tone, with a glance at the heavens.
“A great growl of astonishment went up from all who heard this answer. The indunas sat open-mouthed with amazement. This wretched, shrivelled little old monkey, whose life had been spared by the merest chance, instead of being all eagerness to meet the King’s wishes, had returned a curt, almost contemptuous refusal.
“‘Atyi! Was ever such a thing heard of?’ they cried. ‘He is mad! He is tired of life!’
“But Umzilikazi made no reply. He whispered a word to one of the indunas, who rose and went away. In a few moments the sound of singing was heard, and a band of about twenty men and as many women was seen approaching. Battling with bones and bladders, bristling with porcupine quills and feathers, some of them crowned with dry and fleshless skulls, others twining snakes about their necks and arms, in them we recognised our own mystic circle—the witch-doctors who had accompanied us on our migration.
“‘Bayéte!’ they shouted, halting suddenly before the King, whom they had approached in a wild and whirling dance. ‘We smell a hyena—we smell a jackal—we smell a wizard—an impostor! Give him to us, O King, Lord of the nations! Let him die the death, lest he bewitch us, and our path be no longer smooth! Give him to us, that we may eat him up! Hou! hou! hou!’
“The whole circle was now whirling around the old Mosutu, springing at him in the attitude of wild beasts, snapping and growling. So frenzied were they, that the foam fell from their hideous mouths, and, indeed, I began to think they would end by really biting and tearing their rival to pieces. I found myself bending eagerly, anxiously forward in my suspense. But the old man sat there as unconcerned as though there was nobody within a day’s journey of him.
“‘See, O King!’ they howled in their fury. ‘We will eat him up—blood, hones, every fragment—as he sits there! All is possible with us. We are crocodiles—we are hyenas—we are lions! Hou! hou! hou!’
“‘Hear you what these say, Masuka?’ said the King.
“‘I hear a noise, lord. But—who are these?’
“The pity, the contempt, in the old man’s tone as he gazed wonderingly round upon the circle of frenzied magicians, I can hardly convey. They, seeing it, roared with rage.
“‘Thus does this impostor speak of the King’s izanusi!’ they howled.
“‘Izanusi?’ said the Mosutu. ‘Can they be izanusi—these?’
“‘Show him what you can do,’ said the King.
“Then our witch-doctors went through the most appalling performances. Some fell down in fits, during which they tore their own ears off; others gashed themselves, and stood on their heads for long at a time, and howled. Some placed snakes round their necks, and by compressing the reptiles’ throats caused themselves to be all but strangled in their constrictions. One man produced a huge serpent as long as himself and as thick as his own arm, and, indeed, this was the most marvellous of all, for where he could have secreted it passed all men’s comprehension. But all the while the old Mosutu sat watching these performances with the same smile of contemptuous pity.
“‘Now, Masuka,’ said the King, as he signed to the izanusi to desist, ‘show thyself a greater magician than these, and thou shalt have thy life. Thou must show me something I have never seen before. If thou failest in this, I swear that thou shalt be eaten alive by these. I am bent upon seeing something new this day, and the spectacle of a man eaten alive by men will be a new one indeed. So pray for success upon thy magic.’
“The furious bowlings of our own magicians were renewed. There was an awesome, uneasy expression upon the faces of the lookers-on. Never was Umzilikazi known to depart from his word. Unless, therefore, the old Mosutu should show us some very strange and startling thing, he would certainly meet with a fate which to us Zulus—accustomed as we were to bloodshed in the ordinary way—seemed in the last degree horrible. Again, if he fulfilled his undertaking, we might look for some very terrifying exhibition of magic. Wherefore, the awe which rested upon every face is beyond words.
“‘Begin,’ said the King. ‘Begin, old man. We wait.’
“Masuka stared in front of him for a few moments, his lips moving. Suddenly he gave a convulsive start and fell over motionless. Time went by, yet no sign of life did he show. At last the King, tired of waiting, rose and went over to look at the apparently lifeless body.
“‘He is as cold as a stone,’ he said.
“‘I think he is really dead, Great Great One!’ I whispered, for, as the King’s shield-bearer, I alone had accompanied him from his place. ‘See he does not even breathe.’
“‘He is not dead, Untúswa,’ answered the King. ‘Whau! I have seen this trick before, but never better done. Yet he must show us something more than this if he is to keep his life. See; place snuff in his nostrils.’
“I hastened to obey, and as I bent over the set, rigid face, a glance into the wide-open but apparently sightless eyes all but unnerved me. Lustreless and filmy, there yet seemed such a demon-like power lying beneath their black depths. It made me feel as though I were looking into a dark and terrible pit, with some monster of unimaginable hideousness and cruelty lurking at the bottom. The hand which held the snuff spoon shook, and I could hardly carry out the King’s command.
“But with his nostrils well filled with snuff—and, indeed, there must have been a good deal in his throat, for my unsteady hand had spilt some—the old Mosutu never sneezed, never choked. He was not emitting the very faintest breath.
“‘He is dead!’ said Umzilikazi at last. ‘Remove him.’
“Now, for a long time we had been watching, and so, when the King’s word was given, there were not wanting those who were eager to drag the wizard’s body away out of the camp as soon as possible. There was a rush forward, but no sooner had the thong been placed around the ankles, than those who held it leaped high in the air with a cry of alarm. For the dead wizard had uttered a most thunderous sneeze. Another and another broke from his chest as he sat up, and, looking around, set to work coolly to loosen the thong from his ankles.
“‘Thy snuff is strong, Untúswa,’ said the King, bursting out laughing. ‘Well, old man, that was well done; I have never seen it better done. Still, I have seen it done before.’
“‘Can these do it better, lord, son of Matyobane?’ asked Masuka, pointing to our own magicians.
“‘Not so well. Now, Masuka, let this be the new feat, and, by my head-ring, if it is not new, nothing shall save thee from the fate I promised.’
“A roar of bonga went up from all. When it had subsided, the old man said:
“‘Search me. Let the King see himself that it is done thoroughly.’ And he stretched out his arms.
“‘Search him, Untúswa,’ said Umzilikazi. ‘Search him while I watch.’
“Handing the royal shield to another of the body-guard, I stepped forward. So frail and puny did the little old man look, his head hardly reaching to my chest, his withered limbs like bits of broken stick, that it seemed as though I could have blown him away. Yet I feared him. I feared the glitter of his snake-like eyes. But I feared the King even more, wherefore I was careful to show no sign of hesitation.
“Save for a very scanty mútya around his loins and a strip of hide which served as a bandage to his bruised and battered head, the old Mosutu was entirely naked. He no longer wore even his mystic adornments as witch-doctor. In a moment I was able to satisfy myself that there was absolutely nothing upon him.
“‘Where hast thou deposited thy múti, old man?’ said the King, when I had reported this. ‘Shall it not be brought?’
“‘I require it not, lord. Such as these,’ with a sweep of the arm towards our own izanusi, ‘such as these require many things—I, nothing.’
“‘Proceed, then.’
“‘Yonder is a mound upon the plain,’ pointing to a small rise outside our lines about four times the distance a man could cast a spear. ‘Does the King allow me to proceed yonder alone?’
“‘Go,’ said Umzilikazi.
“There lay upon our host a deep, dead silence, such as might be felt. Every breath was drawn in, every head bent forward, every eye dilated upon the little shrivelled form of the old witch-doctor as he shambled forth from our midst to the spot indicated.
“Arrived there, he lay flat upon the ground, placing his ear against it as though he were talking to someone beneath and listening for an answer; and, indeed, talking he was, for we could hear the muttering of his voice. Then he raised himself to a sitting posture, with his back towards us and his face turned upward to the heavens, and, lo, a marvel! There arose a thread of smoke, light, filmy, then thicker and blacker, till soon there poured upward a black column, in thickness as a man’s leg; and while we gazed there leaped into the smoke-pillar a ball of flame, and as it did so it gave forth a booming roar even as the thunder of the baï-nbaï (Cannon), which wrought such havoc among us Zulus yonder at Kambúla. Another and another followed, and then the blackness of the smoke ceased, and it rose blue and clear, and a gasp and shiver of wonder ran through our people, for the grass around the old Mosutu was blazing. He was standing in a ring of flame.
“‘Bid your izanusi put out this fire, O King of a new nation, if they dare approach the spot whence the Fire Spirit, who dwells in the heart of the world, has lifted up his voice,’ cried Masuka, stepping through the flaming circle and advancing towards us.
“Though thrilling with awe and wonderment myself, I had not omitted to watch Umzilikazi’s countenance during the witch-doctor’s manifestation: Fear was upon all other faces, but upon that of the King was only curiosity, and I thought triumph. Now he turned to the izanusi, and said:
“‘Do his bidding.’
“Their countenances told as plainly as possible that they liked not their errand. But to hesitate meant death, for Umzilikazi would not tolerate so much as a moment of hesitation in obeying his orders, not even from an izanusi. So with loud yells the whole band dashed forward, and with their green boughs beat out the flames, which, indeed, were spreading fiercely in the dry grass.
“‘Is the King satisfied?’ said Masuka, as, having prostrated himself, he rose to his knees.
“Umzilikazi looked at him steadily for a moment. Then his eyes grew stern, and we who saw it trembled.
“‘Do you know what we do with abatagati?’ he said.
“‘My life is in the King’s hands,’ answered the old Mosutu without flinching.
“‘Ha! the death of the hot stones. Let us see now if the fire-maker can also be the fire-quencher!’ said the King, giving a sign. And in obedience thereto those in attendance for such purposes sprang forward to seize the old man; while others, with incredible rapidity, kindled fire and fanned it to a roaring blaze. Into this several flat stones were placed. Au! Nkose, it is a terrible thing, the death of the hot stones! A man may live a whole day in agony of torment, for the stones are placed upon his naked body and held on him with sticks until they burn their own way into his vitals.
“Those whose work it was to hold down the Umtagati while he underwent this torment were not over-fond of the task, for the manifestation of his powers which old Masuka had afforded had struck fear into us all. But even this was small in comparison with the wrath of the King, so there was no hesitation. In a moment the old man lay stretched on his back; already the slayers were bringing the stones hot from the fire to place upon him. Yet these preparations he was watching without the smallest sign of fear.
“‘Hold!’ cried the King.
“Those who bore the hot stones—which were carried resting in the middle of two sticks—paused.
“‘Release him.’
“This, too, was immediately done.
“‘I was but trying thee, old man,’ said Umzilikazi; ‘I was but trying thee, and right well hast thou come through the ordeal. Yet, I think, had I detected but a sign of fear, I would have left thee to the terrible death of torture. But I see thou art afraid of nothing, and I love such, wherefore I grant thee thy life.’
“‘Baba! Nkose!’ (‘Father! Chief!’) cried old Masuka, prostrating himself and kissing the King’s foot. And all men, with right hand uplifted, shouted with a mighty voice in praise of the King’s justice and the King’s mercy.
“Thus came it about that the Mosutu witch-doctor was adopted as one of ourselves.”