about an assagy's-throw of us before they knew of our
presence; so that we fired each two shots before they got out of range,
killing three elands. This supplied us with plenty of meat; so we had a
great feast, and dried enough flesh to last us on our journey back.

On our return to our kraals we were received like heroes who had won a
great battle. Our feathers were the envy of the whole tribe, so I gave
several to the various chiefs, and it was agreed that a chief might wear
as many as he liked, the head man of a kraal might wear only one, and no
lower man might wear any. We thus made a division in the rank of men,
which is of great importance even with men as uncivilised as were these
Caffres.

Among the men at our kraal there was one called Ebomvu, because his skin
was redder than most Caffres. He was the Rain-maker of the tribe, and
was much feared, because he was considered a wizard. Now the power
which these wizards had was very great. They were believed by most of
the men in the tribe to be able to foretell events, to produce rain in
time of drought, to tell who had bewitched cattle, or men, and made them
ill, and they used this power very often to get rid of any person who
was not agreeable to them. The Rain-maker was a dangerous man, and I
had soon learnt that, unless I was friendly with him, he might proclaim
that I had bewitched somebody, and then probably all the power of my
friends could not save me from being killed.

I saw one case where an old man who had made an enemy of the Rain-maker,
was killed by the people, and as the proceedings then adopted were
similar to those usually practised, I will give a description of what
occurred.

A cow belonging to the head man of a neighbouring kraal died during the
night. There was no doubt in my mind, on looking at the animal, that it
had died from the bite of a snake, probably the _m'namba umculu_, or
great puff-adder. Ebomvu, however, told the owner that the cow had been
bewitched by some enemy who wanted to serve him an ill turn, and that
this enemy he would smell out. In two days after the cow's death Ebomvu
commenced his proceedings. He assembled all the principal men of the
kraal, and also those of the kraals near; and then, entering the cattle
enclosure, went to the spot where the cow had died, and told the men to
dig. Several men set to work digging up the ground, and discovered the
end of a cow's horn, on which was scratched a mark like a c