Passing through several cattle
kraals, we came to a shed under which sat the heir-apparent dressed in
a gorgeous blanket with his court around him. Leaving him, we entered an
inner cattle kraal, where, in one corner, stood a large, roughly-built
shed, under the shade of which squatted over a hundred of the head men
of the tribe, gathered together by Secocoeni to "witness."[*]
[*] As each chief came up to the meeting-place he would pass
before the enclosure where Secocoeni was sitting and salute
him, by softly striking the hands together, and saying
something that sounded like "Marema."
Opening out of this kraal was the chief's private enclosure, where stood
his huts. As we drew near, Secocoeni, who had inspired such terror into
the bold Burghers of the Republic, the chief of nine thousand warriors,
the husband of sixty-four wives, the father of a hundred children, rose
from the ox-hide on which he was seated, under the shade of a tree, and
came to the gate to meet us.
Pages:
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526