y illumination of the
interior being derived from such light as came through the low door;
consequently when one first entered such a hut the contrast between the
obscurity of the interior and the glare of the blazing sunlight outside
produced an impression of profound darkness, this only passing away as
the eye gradually accustomed itself to the gloom, after which one found,
somewhat to one's surprise, that there was light enough to see
everything with a very tolerable degree of distinctness.

As 'Ngaga preceded me into the hut I heard a low murmur of greeting pass
between him and someone else, which told me that the owner was at home;
then I followed and stood upright in what was, to my eye, inky
blackness.

"S'a bon', 'mlungu (I see you, white man)!" said a deep, resonant voice
from the depth of the darkness.

"Yebo (yes), Mafuta," answered I, that being the usual interchange of
salutations between the native and the white when the former esteems
himself the equal of the latter; and I stood, blinking and striving to
penetrate the obscurity. Gradually the darkness melted into a sort of
sombre twilight, which by imperceptible degrees grew stronger, and
presently I saw that I was in a hut the sole furniture of which
consisted of a pallet, raised about a foot from the floor, and covered
with rich karosses or skin rugs--one, I observed, being made entirely of
leopard-skins. On one end of this pallet was seated a man of perhaps
forty years of age, wearing a keshla, or head ring, and a mucha, or
apron, made apparently of monkey skins. The man's shield and sheaf of
assagais stood close at hand against the wall of the hut, and a
ponderous knobkerrie hung just overhead, slung by a loop of rimpi; but
the hut contained nothing to distinguish it from that of any other
native, and I confess that my first feeling was one of disappointment,
for I had never before been in the hut of a nyanga, and I had been led
to believe by those who had that I should see all sorts of strange and
weird-looking objects if I ever happened to penetrate to the interior of
a Kafir witch doctor's hut. The owner seemed to read my disappointment
in my eyes, for he laughed softly as he waved his hand, indicating the
emptiness of the hut.

"I do not need the things for which you are looking, 'mlungu," he said;
"my magic is different from that of all other nyangas--and much more
potent, as mayhap you shall see for yourself. Be seated," he continued,