Fat, taken from the heart of a domestic animal, and fastened crosswise to a stick, and placed near the hut of any fugitive from his country, is imagined to be sure before long to overpower his senses and to make him reel home again like a drunkard to receive his proper punishment.
Pulverized and charred bones of mammalia, birds, and amphibious animals are sold to hunters to ensure their fleetness in the chase, the powder being either carried in bags about the person, or rubbed into incisions made in the arms and legs.
All kinds of pharmaceutical preparations obtained from white men are regarded as possessing magic properties, as are also the skins of rare animals, such as the great black lemur, the eyes, nostrils, and ridge of the tail of the crocodile, the horns of the Cephalopus Hemprichii and of the Scopophorus Urebi, beads of any scarce sort, and any abnormal growth in the hair, on the bones, or on the horns of animals.
Other charms consist of small bags made of the skin of the python, belts and chestbands cut from the skins of snakes and lizards, and little shells fastened together into headbands, necklaces, bracelets, and girdles. The shells, as well as other products of marine animals, have been introduced by the Portuguese, and are in great demand.
Instead of being worn about the body, charms and amulets are often deposited in some secret place known only to the master of the house. All along the enclosure at the back of his reception-hut, Sepopo had a row of clay-pots and calabashes containing a great collection of charms, besides those that were stored in his laboratory. The receptacles were very diversified. Those that were uncovered consisted of bags and baskets made of bast, grass, or straw, rude wooden dishes of many sizes, pots and pans of baked or unbaked clay, generally covered with patterns and glazed, either supported by wooden legs or hung upon poles, and calabashes that were generally arranged under little roofs of their own. The closed receptacles were makenke baskets, tiny baskets made of palm-leaves, small calabashes in the shape of an hour-glass with wooden stoppers, horns of gazelles with the end plugged up, goats’ horns engraved all over, and the horns of the larger kinds of antelopes, such as harrisbocks and gemsbocks, neatly carved and in shape like powder-flasks. All of them were provided with straps by which they could be hung up. I also noticed some boxes that had been carefully carved out of wood, reeds, birds’ or animals’ bones, hippopotamus’ and elephants’ tusks, fruit-shells, and various sorts of claws; and there were bags made of skins, and even the intestines and the bladders of certain animals, while some were merely fragments of woollen cloth or cotton sewn together. The greatest care seemed to be bestowed on the preservation of every article of this character.
If it could be transferred to a European museum, Sepopo’s medicine-hut would be in itself a very remarkable and promiscuous ethnological collection; but, unfortunately, it is very difficult for any one to obtain objects of this sort at all, as the natives are extremely reluctant to part with the most trifling thing that is credited with the possession of magic properties.
Liquids, poured out in front of the entrance of a house or courtyard, are supposed to act as a spell upon the master or any one who may inadvertently step across the place while it is still damp. Illness, as I have had occasion to remark, is nearly always presumed to be the result of magic or malevolence. My own profession, and the general character of my occupation, as well as my success from time to time in relieving certain cases of sickness, caused me to be regarded in the Marutse kingdom as a magician, and at least had the satisfactory result of ensuring me more respect than white men generally get. The nostrums used for medical purposes were known only by the king, his confidential doctors, and the executioner, who did not fail to extort a large price for their commodities.
Before any inhuman measure on which the king had set his mind could be carried in the council, it was frequently found unavoidable to have several sittings; but if any of the members were ascertained to be persistently obstructive, measures were soon found for getting rid of them, and they were perpetually being accused of high treason or some other crime, and thus removed out of the way. Sepopo’s propensity for human sacrifices was by no means in accordance with the usual practice of the country, and it was only by coercing his secret council that he succeeded in perpetrating his superstitious barbarities.
In this way it was that while New Sesheke was being built, Sepopo brought it about that a resolution should be passed by the secret tribunal to the effect that in order to save the new town from the fate of the old, the son of one of the chiefs should be killed; but that his toes and fingers should first be cut off, and preserved as a charm in a war-drum.
In spite of the secrecy which was enjoined, the rumour of the resolution came to one of the chiefs, who communicated it privately to many of his friends. This was about the end of September, when Blockley was the only white man left in Sesheke. Night after night groups of men were to be seen stealthily making their way past his quarters to the woods; they were the servants of the chiefs, carrying away the young boys whither they hoped to have them out of the tyrant’s reach, and some little time elapsed before either the king or his executioner was aware of the steps that were being taken to frustrate the bloody order.