s a
struggling mass of men, and then a shout of "_Yena gofile_" ("he is
dead.") I rushed up to the crowd, and there was the leopard covered with
blood, his lips drawn back showing his teeth, and his limbs extended as
they had been in his last spring. I jumped about with delight and
excitement, for this was the first leopard I had ever seen killed, and
it was by the aid of my trap that he had been secured.

The legs of the leopard were tied together, and a long pole was then
inserted between them, and he was carried to the kraal, the men singing
songs as they accompanied his body. Two men immediately set to work to
skin him, they then extracted his teeth and claws. Of the use they were
going to make of these latter I at the time was ignorant, but in a few
days I learned their value. All the principal men from the neighbouring
kraals were invited to come to our village in the evening, for the
Caffres intended to eat the leopard, the flesh being supposed to give a
man courage and endurance. A very small piece of meat could be spared
for each man, as there were more than a hundred men assembled. They all
sat in a circle on a piece of level ground outside our village, a fire
being lighted in the centre, at which the leopard, cut up into pieces,
was being toasted. Many songs were sung by the men, the chorus being
shouted by all. This chorus was very little more than "_Ingwe gofile,
Tina shiele, Yena shingarner, Yena gofile_:" which meant, "The leopard
is dead, We have struck him, He is a rascal, He is dead."

We sat several hours singing songs that were extemporised by the best
singers, and occasionally drinking _Itchuala_, a sort of beer made out
of corn, and then we all retired to our huts and slept. Three days
after this the same men assembled at our kraal in the evening, and I was
told by the chief to come to the meeting. I did not know what it was
for, but I found all the Caffres looking at me, and the young girls
seemed to regard me most attentively. I thought perhaps they intended
to eat me, though I had seen nothing since my capture that frightened
me. When the men were seated in a circle, the chief stood up, and,
going into the centre of the circle, made a long speech, which was to
this effect: "This white boy I prevented from being assagied; some of
you wished to kill him, but I said, `No--he shall be as my son, let him
live.' You agreed, and he lives. Though his skin is white, his heart
is the heart