The White Hecatomb Part 10

Subsequently, however, 'Ndondo, by means of judicious bribery, had managed to convince the chief of his innocence, and had accordingly been permitted to return, as it were, on probation of good behaviour. He was rich in cattle, and was now celebrated for generosity and hospitality to the "isa.n.u.se" and "inyanga" fraternities, members of which were generally to be found at his kraal.

On the present occasion, no less than four witch-doctors--one a most celebrated man, a very Matthew Hopkins among witch-finders--were present, the occasion being an attempt to cure one of 'Ndondo's daughters of what was really epilepsy, but which was supposed to be an attack of "umdhlemnyana," or "love frenzy," believed to have been induced by a young man of the neighbourhood by means of the casting a love spell.

It was about mid-day. Long strips of roasted meat were circulating among the feasters, and the beer, which was of a very heavy brew, was being handed round freely in small pots, each with a cleft-calabash spoon floating in it. Then one of the boys who had been herding cattle on the mountain-side rushed in, breathless, and told a strange tale. He had, so he said, been seeking honey in a steep gorge, the entrance to which was visible from the kraal, when he heard cries, as of a child, issuing from beneath a large flat stone. The gorge was not far off, and thither the feasters wended, some gazing back ruefully at the liquor and the baked meats.

They reached the flat stone; it was evidently part of an old land-slip, and lay as a sort of bridge across the bottom of the gorge. On each side the ground was flush with the top. Below it were piled stones which had been carried over by aeons of floods, and above it boulders, too heavy to admit of their being moved by water over the obstacle, had lodged. Among these were a few crevices, this being probably due to a general shifting of the whole ma.s.s under exceptionally violent pressure of water from above.

All the men listened carefully, but at first nothing could be heard.

The boy, however, was evidently in earnest over his tale, so they all sat down and waited. Sure enough after a few moments they heard a faint wail issuing from under the stone. Here was a portent which the witch-doctors welcomed as something coming specially within their province, and towards an explanation of which they alone could give a clue.

The most celebrated witch-doctor was asked his opinion. He did not give an opinion; he gave a full and positive explanation of the case. There was, he said, undoubtedly a child under the stone, but it had been placed there by the "imishologu," or spirits of the earth, and under no circ.u.mstances whatever should it be interfered with so long as it was in their august charge. The "imishologu" might, of course, be asked in some appropriate and orthodox manner to deliver the child back to the light of day, but any attempt to violate their domain would certainly be followed by severe punishment.

The three other witch-doctors at once declared that they had each independently arrived at exactly the same conclusion.

Upon being asked as to what form the request to the "imishologu" should take, the most celebrated witch-doctor claimed to have had it as a direct personal communication from some most potent spirits of this cla.s.s, that the sounds most delectable to their shadowy ears were those caused by the trampling hoofs and clashing horns of cattle, the lowing of which was also grateful to them, but in a minor degree. He, the witch-doctor, therefore recommended that the cattle be collected and driven round and over the spot, so that haply thereby might the earth-spirits be propitiated to the extent of permitting the imprisoned child to return to the light of day. So the boys, of whom several were present, were sent to collect the cattle on the mountain-side, and drive them down the gorge for the appeasing of the "imishologu."

All this time the pitiful wail of a little child who was dying in the cold and darkness could be heard coming at intervals from under the stone, which had lain through immemorial ages, not more deaf to pity, or more senseless, than the fraud and superst.i.tion of man.

The cattle were not far off, so within a short time the lowing herd was hurried down the gorge by the shouting boys. The men then formed a ring about a hundred yards in diameter, the flat stone being in the centre, and in this circle the cattle were driven round and round, the animals being crowded together so that their horns might clash, and beaten with sticks to make them low and bellow loudly. This went on for some time; until, in fact, the afternoon was well spent. Then the cattle were driven away, and the witch-doctors, jointly and severally, shouted down the crevices leading under the rock, conjuring the "imishologu" to permit the imprisoned child to return to the light of day.

But, perchance, the "imishologu" slept, like Baal of old. They gave no answer, nor did the child come forth. When the sun went down the men returned to 'Ndondo's kraal, and resumed their feasting.

Next morning one of the minor witch-doctors stated that he had, on a former occasion, been told by some "imishologu," in a vision, that the light pattering of the hoofs, the varying bleat, and the rank smell of goats were things that pleased them. After consultation it was decided to try the experiment of propitiation by means of goats, where the cattle had failed. The most celebrated witch-doctor, whilst admitting the possibility of some result from the goat function, gave it as his opinion that as the "imishologu" had remained obdurate in spite of the cattle function, they would not now relent.

The witch-doctors again went up the gorge to the flat stone, the goats being driven after them by the people of the kraal. They bent over the cleft and listened carefully. After a while a faint moaning could be distinctly heard. Then the goats were hurried in, made to crowd over the stone, and to rush backward and forward. This went on until nearly noon, when the flock of goats was driven away.

A most solemn invocation of the "imishologu" followed this, but they were still unappeased. The child did not come forth, nor could any sounds now be heard issuing from under the stone. Perhaps Death had at length shown mercy.

The most celebrated witch-doctor now apparently became epileptic, and soon fell into a trance. Upon awaking, he claimed to have been in spiritual communication with the "imishologu." The child had, he declared, been taken by the spirits of the earth, but was being well treated, and was, in fact, much happier than it ever had been before.

It was now playing in the wonderful underground fields where the sun never scorched nor wind chilled, with numerous companions. It would never more suffer hunger, thirst, nor any other pain. It was so happy that it did not wish to return to the regions of day and night. Much of this may, after all, have been true.

_Four_.

After Nomayeshe had been carried down to her hut on the afternoon of the second day of the search for her lost child, she lay long unconscious, and when she awoke, it was to raging delirium, which lasted until late in the night, when sleep suddenly overcame her.

Next morning, just after sunrise, she opened her eyes, and lay for a long time wondering as to what had happened. At length she remembered, and with a cry she started up for the purpose of going forth again to search. She staggered out of the hut, only to fall helplessly to the ground before the doorway. Several women from the nearest kraals had come to tend her, and these tried to persuade her of the uselessness of further search. Tears came to her relief, and she became calmer. At length she was persuaded to drink a little milk, after which she sank to the floor in a stone-like sleep. When she awoke, it was nearly noon.

It happened just about this time that Dhlaka, who had been out herding the flock of goats, returned to the kraal with strange news. In the veldt he had foregathered with other boys, who told him that a child had been heard crying under a stone near the kraal of 'Ndondo.

When this was communicated to Nomayeshe, she uttered one wild cry in which hope and agony were blended, and rushed forth. Her weakness had disappeared, and she climbed the steep, stony hills so fast that the two women who started with her were soon labouring on with heavy pantings, some distance behind. The seven miles she had to travel led her through many a tangled thicket, and along many a dizzy ledge with frowning b.u.t.tresses above, and sheer precipices yawning beneath. She plunged into dark ravines, in the depths of which the light of day was almost lost, and scaled narrow, knife-back ridges so steep that hands as well as feet had to be used by the climber.

Nomayeshe reached the kraal of 'Ndondo alone, about the middle of the afternoon, and probably two hours after the return of the party from the scene of their unsuccessful attempt at appeasing the "imishologu" by means of the goats.

These hours had been spent by the men in heavy drinking; all had endeavoured to make up the time that had been lost, and the beer, being now fully fermented, was at its point of greatest strength, just before turning sour.

Nomayeshe, wild-eyed and quivering, strode into the circle and sank exhausted to the ground before 'Ndondo, who was the only one present with whom she was acquainted. In disjointed sentences she began asking about her child, for she knew that the one she had heard of as crying under the stone must be little Nodada.

'Ndondo was in a very maudlin state, and the only two clear ideas he had were: that he must on no account whatsoever affront the witch-doctors, and that the said witch-doctors had stringently forbidden any interference with the child beneath the stone, under peril of the vengeance of the "imishologu"; or rather, what concerned 'Ndondo more nearly, under peril of offending the witch-doctors themselves.

'Ndondo accordingly declared, with drunken emphasis, that he knew nothing of the matter, and that the account of the child crying under the stone was an idle tale set current by boys, who should be well beaten for speaking falsely.

The most celebrated witch-doctor, however, took a different line. He had reached that stage in his cups which brings to some immense self-confidence. He arose, albeit somewhat unsteadily, and made a vigorous and eloquent speech. He recapitulated all he had previously said about the danger of offending the "imishologu" by interference with their concerns. He drew attention to an occurrence of a few years back, which was still fresh in the memories of all present, when the solid earth had shaken until a bluff of the mountain slid down with thunderous roarings, and overwhelmed a kraal, not one of the inhabitants of which had escaped. Continuing, he depicted once more the happy condition of the child in the subterranean fields. He ended by p.r.o.nouncing the direst anathemas upon any one becoming accessory to the impious deed which the woman contemplated.

Then Nomayeshe went around the circle, grovelling at the feet of each individual separately, and beseeching that she might be shown the spot where her Nodada, her little wild duck, the child she had carried in her womb and suckled at her breast, lay perishing in the cold and darkness.

Some of the men were evidently inclined to tell, but the warning frowns of the witch-doctors deterred them, and they maintained the cruelty of silence.

Then Nomayeshe broke out into fierce rage, and cursed all present, and their fathers and mothers before them as dogs and apes. She wished that they might die under the spears of an enemy, and that the bodies of their children might shrivel and hiss under their burning roof-trees.

This outburst came as a great relief to the men. Her invective was easier to endure than her entreaties, and the drunken crew only laughed at her fury.

While all this was going on, the two women who had followed Nomayeshe arrived at the kraal. They had found out, from some other women they had met, all that Nomayeshe wanted to know. These women described accurately the situation of the flat stone, so when Nomayeshe staggered back from the beer-drinkers, and met her two friends outside the circle of huts, she was led at once by them to the gorge where she knew that her lost child lay hidden.

It was dusk when they reached the stone. With unerring instinct the mother made straight for the largest crevice, through which she at once descended into the darkness. The two women waited in silence, standing apart from each other. Soon a faint shriek was heard issuing as though from the bowels of the earth. The women looked at each other with awe in their eyes... Nomayeshe emerged from the crevice, clasping her dead child to her bosom.

It was past midnight when the three women, carrying Nodada's body, arrived at Zwilibanzi's kraal. Their return journey was made by a longer but safer route. Nomayeshe placed the little body on a mat, and then laid herself down next to it. The two women lit a fire, and prepared some food. When they went to Nomayeshe to try and persuade her to eat, they found that she was dead.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

THE MADNESS OF GWEVA.

"I have not left any calamity more hurtful to man than woman."

_Table-talk of Mohammad_.

_One_.

"Yes, my father; for although your years are many less than mine, did you not protect me, even as a father, when these dogs of Fingo policemen would have made me guilty over the chopping down of that white iron-wood tree? I will now tell you the tale of Gweva, the son of Mehlo, which we yesterday spoke of when resting in the big forest during the hunt.

Here, boy, bring fuel for the fire, for the night is cold and the tale is long. Fetch also the last pot of that beer which was brewed seven days ago. The new beer has not yet worked, and it tastes like water from a muddy puddle. Fetch also the large calabash spoon; then clear out, and come not near unless you are called.

"There is one subject, my father, upon which you and I will never agree, namely women. You tell me that the women of your race are wiser than those of mine. This is no doubt true in the same sense as that you, a European, are wiser than I, a Kafir; but experience teaches me that women are just women, whatever be their colour, and that men should be their masters. Where it is otherwise, trouble always follows. I grant you that some women are wiser and better than most men; your great Queen, for instance. Her I used to hear of when I was a boy, and I still hear of her now that my head is white. _She_ must be strong and wise. Then, who has not heard of Gubele the wife of Umjoli, the cowardly chief of the Abasekunene, who, when her husband fled before Tshaka, remained behind with half of the tribe, and slew so many Zulus that men sang of her that she piled up the gateways of her kraal with Zulu heads to prevent the cattle from coming out.

"But such women, my father, are really men, and besides, one does not meet them, one only hears of them. I speak of the women one sees and knows and who become the mothers of our children, and I say that he who is their master, and holds them for his profit and pleasure, for the bringing forth of sons to fight for the chief (I forgot for the moment that we are under Government) and daughters for whom 'lobola' (dowry) cattle will be sent to his kraal, is wise, whilst he who sets his heart on one woman only, and desires her above all else, suffers from a madness that often leads to ruin.

"Hear then the tale of Gweva, the son of Mehlo, which tends to prove the truth of my judgment in this matter. I will relate it, so far as I can, in the words of my grandfather Nqokomisa, who told it to me many years ago; he being at the time a man extremely old, also blind and deaf, and bereft of the use of every member except the tongue.

"You have heard of our 'great chief' 'Ngwanya, whose body lies in the deep pool in the Tina river just below the drift where the wagons cross.

They tied him to a green iron-wood log and sunk him in the water so that no enemy could obtain his bones wherewith to work magic against the tribe. Every year are cast into the pool slaughtered oxen and new bowls of beer as offerings. You may have noticed that no woman of the Pondomisi ever lifts her skin skirt, no matter how high the water is, in crossing the Tina.

"Well, in the days of 'Ngwanya, we Pondomisi occupied the whole of the country between the Dedesi, at the source of the Umzimvubu, and the Umtata. We were then a large tribe, and we feared no enemy. When we rose against the English in the last war, we should have regained our position had not our chief Umhlonhlo offended the 'imishologu' by killing his magistrate treacherously. Then an evil spirit put it into the minds of some of us to attack the Fingoes of the Tsitsa, who thereupon became our enemies instead of our allies, as had been arranged. When Makaula and his Bacas slaughtered us in the Tina valley the 'imishologu' had turned their faces from us, and we knew it.

"'Ngwanya was old when his father died, and was the father of many sons and daughters. The eldest daughter of his 'great house' was Nomasaba, and it is of the madness caused by her, which fell upon Gweva, the son of Mehlo, that I am about to tell.

"Mehlo was the younger brother of 'Ngwanya. He was killed in a battle with the Tembus, on the Bazaya Mountain. He was a young man of great courage, and his death was so much lamented that his uncle, who had been to him as a father, found his hair grow grey with grief. Mehlo had only one wife--he had only been married a few months before his death. The wife was, according to custom, taken into 'Ngwanya's household, and when, half a year afterwards, she gave birth to a boy, it was said that his name should be 'Gwevu,' which means 'grey.' Soon afterwards she died, and the boy was formally adopted into 'Ngwanya's 'great house.'

Once he was gored by a grey ox, and thereupon the witch-doctors said that his name was an unlucky one, so they changed it to 'Gweva,' which means 'one who spies about.'

"When Gweva was three years old, Nomasaba was born, and these two grew up together in one hut. According to native custom they were brother and sister. I have been told that amongst Europeans marriage is allowed between people so related, but with us such a thing would be looked upon as most horrible and unnatural.