New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-10-04
The Witch-Doctor of the Kafirs.


The Witch-Doctor of the Kafirs
A LIVING DEATH.
In various works describing savage life, and
the barbarities attending it, which it has been
our fortune to read in the course of the last few
years. we have met with nothing more truly
horrible than the following account Of the Fe-
tish-like cruelties praeticed by the Kaffirs
toward their own race and kindred The
details are given by Capt. King. of the British
army, who took prominent part in the late
Kafir war. After giving several instances of
butchery toward such Of the soldiers as we're
unfortunate enough to fall into their hands,
Capt King says.
When a chief or great man of a tribe is
with sickness, the witch doctor,' with forms
and incantations, dooms some poor wretch to
death. on pretence of his having bewitched the
ailing man. His flocks and herds are forfeited
to the chief, and his children left beggars and
fatherless. One instance may suffice to give an
idea of their savage ferocity, and spare the
repetition of outrages on the poor settlers, or
those unhappy enough to fall into their hands
The son Of chief named Macomo having
fallen sick, a g witch-doctor " was according to
custom consulted, to ascertain the individual
under whose evil influence he was suffering; and,
as usual, a man Of property was selected and
condemned to forfeit his life for his alleged
crime. To prevent his being told of his fate by
his friends, party of men left Macomo's kraal
early in the morning to secure the recovery of
the sick young chief by numbering one Of his
fathers subjects. The day selected for the sa-
crifce appeared to have been sort of gala day
with the unconscious victim; he was in his
kraal. and just slaughtered one of his cattle,
and was merrily contemplating the conyivialities
Of the day before him, over which he was about
to preside. The arrival of a party of men from
the s'great place" gave him no other concern
than as to what part of the animal he should Of
fer them as his guests. In moment, however,
the ruthless party seized him in his kraal
When he found himself secured with rheim
around his neck, he calmly said: ss 1t is my
misfortune to be caught unarmed, or it should
not be thus s- bs2
He was then ordered to produce the matter
with which he had bewitched the son of the
chief He replied: g / have no bewitching
matter; but destroy me quickly if my chief
has consented to my DEATH His executioners
said they must torture him until he produced
ito which he replied, .'Saye yourselves the
trouble, for torture as you will cannot. produce
what have not He was then held down on
the ground, and several men proceeded to pierce
his body all over with long Kaffir needles The
miserable victim bore this with extraordinary
resolution--his tormentors finally tiring. and
~,
and of the needles and skewers bending Du-
ring this time fire had been kindled, in which
large fat stones were placed to heat. The
man was then directed to rise. and they pointed
out to him the fire, telling him it was for his
future torture, unless he produced the bewitch-
ing matter. u#aE
He answered ''I told you the truth, when I
told you to save yourself the trouble As for
the hot stones, | can bear them, for l am inno-
cent. would pray to be strangled at once, but
that you would say that l fear your torture
Here his wife, who had also been seized, was
stripped perfectly naked, and cruelty beaten
and i'll treated before his eyes. The victim was
then led to the fire, where he was thrown on his
back, stretched out with his arms and legs tied
to strong pegs driven into the ground, and the
stones, now red hot, were taken out of the fire
and placed on his naked body on the groin,
stomach and chest, supported by others on each
side of him, also heated and pressed against his
body. 1t is impossible to describe the awful
effect of this barbarous process The stones
slipped off the scorched and broiling flesh, and
being only kept in their places by the sticks of
the fendish executioners. Through all this the
heroic fellow remained perfectly sensible, and
when asked if he wished to be released to dis
cover his hidden charm, said. e Release me-"
They did SO, fully expecting they had van
quished his resolution, when to the astonish-
ment of all, he stood up CHASTITY spectacle,
broiled alive! his smoking flesh hanging in
pieces from his body and composedly asked his
tormentors 's What do you wish me to Dc
now" They repeated their demand, but hs
resolutely asserted his Innocence, and begged
them to put him out of his misery; and as they
were now getting tired of their labor, they madt
| a running Moose ON the rheim around his neck
jerked him on the ground, and savagely dragged
m n hpl har tS1o nj, N
their feet on the back of his neck, they drew
the moose tight and strangled him. His manglee
corpse was taken into his own hut, which wa:
set on fire and burnt to ashes. His suffering
nommenced at 10 A. NJ, and ended only at sun
set 81 z3-1=M fE5=5nN# la@ l5Ez58