ith large calabashes of beer, and
in our ears some distant dying snatches of chants. The singers were on
their joyful way to slay and devour the oxen provided as a stimulus and
reward for them by their chief's liberality.

When the last dusky figure had topped the rising ground over which the
homeward path lay, and had stood out for an instant against the flaming
background of the western sun, and then dropped, as it were, back into
its native darkness beyond those gates of fire, the old chief drew near.
He had divested himself of his heavy war-dress, and sat down amicably
amongst us.

"Ah," he said, taking the hand of Sir Theophilus Shepstone, and
addressing him by his native name, "Ah! t'Sompseu, t'Sompseu, the
seasons are many since first I held this your hand. Then we two were
young, and life lay bright before us, and now you have grown great, and
are growing grey, and I have grown very old! I have eaten the corn of my
time, till only the cob is left for me to suck, and, _ow_, it is bitter.
But it is well that I should grasp this your hand once more, oh, holder
of the Spirit of Chaka,[*] before I sit down and sleep with my fathers.
_Ow_, I am glad."

[*] The reader must bear in mind that the Zulu warrior is
buried sitting and in full war-dress. Chaka, or T'chaka, was
the founder of the Zulu power.

Imposing as was this old-time war-dance, it is not difficult to imagine
the heights to which its savage grandeur must have swelled when it was
held--as was the custom at each new year--at the kraal of Cetywayo,
King of the Zulus. Then 30,000 warriors took part in it, and a tragic
interest was added to the fierce spectacle by the slaughter of many men.
It was, in fact, a great political opportunity for getting rid of the
"irreconcilable" element from council and field. Then, in the moment of
wildest enthusiasm, the witch-finder darted forward and lightly touched
with a switch some doomed man, sitting, it may be, quietly among the
spectators, or capering with his fellow-soldiers. Instantly he was led
away, and his place knew him no more.

Throughout the whole performance there was one remarkable and genuine
feature, the strong personal attachment of each member of the tribe
to its chief--not only to the fine old chief, Pagadi, their leader in
former years, but to the head and leader for the years to come.

It must be remembered that this system of chieftainship and its
attendant law is, to all the soci