Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-05-10
DAILY EVENING STAR,
THE WITCH DOCTOR OF THE KAFFrRs

In the various works describing say.
age 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 fetish.
like cruelties practised by the Kaffirs to.
wards their own race and kindred. The
details are given by Capt. King, of the
British army, who took prominent part
in the late Kaffir war. After giving sew.
eral instances of butchery towards such
of the soldiers as were unfortunate enough
to fall into their hands, Capt. King says
when chief or great man of a tribe
is seized with sickness, the witch doctor
with forms and incahtations, dooms some
poor wretch to death, on pretence of his
having bewitched the ailing man. His
t1ocks and herds are forfeited to the chief
and his children left beggars and father.
less. One instance may suffice to give
an itioo of their ee~~so farnnity and snare
the repetition of outrages on the poor set
tiers, or those unhappy enough to fall
into their hands. The son of a chief
named Macomo having fallen sick, a
witch doctor was, according to custom,
consulted, to ascertain the individual un-
der whose evil influence he was suffering:
and, as usual, man of property was Sc
lected and condemned to forfeit his life
for his alleged crime. To prevent his be-
ing told of his fate by his friepds, 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 sacrifice ap.
peared to have been a sort of gala day
with the unconscious victim; he was in
his kraal, and had just slaughtered one of
his cattle, and was merrily contemplating
the convivialities of the day before him,
over which he was about to preside. The
arrival of party of men from the great
place gave him no other concern than as
to what part of the animal he should
offer them as his guests. In moment,
however, the ruthless party seized him
in his kraal. When he found himself
secured with a rheim around his neck,
he calmly said, q 1t is my misfortune to
be caught unarmed, or it should not be
thus lie was then ordered to produce
the matter with which he had bewitched
the son of his chief. He replied, "I 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 it; to
which he replied: "Save yourselves the
trouble. for torture me as you will I can
not produce what | have not" He was
then held down on the ground. and seve-
raj men proceeded to pierce his body all
over with long kaffir needles. The mis-
erable victim bore this with extraordinary
resolution, his tormentors finally tiring,
and complaining of the pain it gave their
nandS, alu or Tie ueeulvs and skewers
bending.
"During this time fire had been kin
died, in which large fiat stones were
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
until he produced the bewitcbing matter.
He answered told you the truth
when l told you to save yourselves the
trouble. AS for the hot stones, [ can
bear them, for | am innocent. [ would
pray to be strangled at once, but that
you would say, fear your torture. ,
Here his wife, who had also been seized
was stripped perfectly naked, and cruelty
beaten and ill-treated before his eyes
The victim was then led to the fire, wher,
he was thrown on his back, stretched GU
with his arms and legs tied to strong peg
driven into the ground, and the stones
now red hot, were taken out of the fire
and placed on his naked body-cn th
groin, stomach and chest, supported b,
others on each side of him, also heatet
and pressed against his body. 1t is i'm
possible to describe the awful effect O
this barbarous process, the stones slip
ping off the scorched and broiling flesh
and being only kept in their places by
the crotched sticks of the fiendish execu.
TONERS. Through all this the heroic
fellow still remained sensible, and when
asked if he wished to be released to dis
cover his his hidden charm, said" Re
lease me-" They did so, fully expecting
that they had vanquished his resolution
when, to the astonishment of all, h,
stood up a ghastly spectacle, broiled
alive! his smoking flesh hanging in pieces
from bis body! and composedly asked
his tormentors-s' What do you wish m,
to do nows'' They repeated their dc
mand, but he resolutely asserted his in
nocence, and begged them to put hin
out of his misery; and as they were
now getting tired of their labor, they
made running moose on the rheim
around his neck, .jerked him to the ground
and savagely dragged him about on tn,
sharp stones they placed their feet OF
the back of his neck, they drew th,
moose tight, and strangled him. HI,
mangled corpse was taken, into his OWL
hut, which was set ON fire and burnt II
ashes. His sufferings commenced at II
a. m, and ended only at sunset Thes'
are the people whom an Exeter Hal
spouter compared to 6 the ancient Scots
| fighting for their homes and hearts. -"
A TOUCHING RELIC OF P0MPEII.
IL &C.