The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-23
DEvOuRED BY ANTS.
The Horrible Fate Which Came to q Poe
Little Zulu Maiden.

The Horrible Fate Which Came to Poor
Little Zulu Maiden.
The son of Pambeli, q chief, had died
suddenly and the OWNERS. or witch
doctors. were called upon to smell out
the ''abataki" who had caused the
young chiefs death. The Zulus are
completely under the power of the
witch doctors. They believe thorough
ly in bad men and women who 60
about causing sickness and death; they
believe that these evil ones go about at
night accompanied by their familiars
(wild cats and baboons) and lay poison
in the paths for peop.e to step over,
and on the thresholds and in the fields
to destroy crops-thus sickness and
death are attributed to their magic
and malice.
In the course of the next day all the
people gathered in the square before
Pambeli's house. a mass of silent.
quaking men aud women. for none
knew whom the OWNERS would con-
vict. Pambeli himself sat silent and
sorrow-stricken in the doorway of his
hut; before him. the witch finders.
They were three hideOus and re-
voting men wearing various charms
upon their filthy bodies. rows OF
cleaning teeth around their necks.
dried toads, with the eyes of animals
and snake skins tied to their waists,
and quantity of clanking metal brace
lets on ankles and arms.
After some preliminary lamentations
these three men suddenly leaped for
ward and commenced their work of
smelling out" Round and round
the great circle formed by the people
they ran. sometimes slowly with cum
ming gravity, sometimes with almost
incredible swiftness. forever crying
out one word. "fswa." and all the
people repeating it a ter them. some
times loudly-then it was dangerous
then whispering it. crying it over and
over again. running, dancing. yelling,
until the witch-fnders. steaming with
perspiration, had dashed themselves
in state of historical fury. shouting
and shrieking with the widest con-
tOrtiOns of face and limb, till. after
one tornado of final vic ence. they
swooped with the rapidity of eagles
upon one startled girl. touched her
! cd ol
at their loudest. while the covering
crowd breathed freer the next moment,
and then repeated the word in one last
overwhelming shout.
| 1t was all over. the trial was finished.
the victim was selected. and naught
remained but the penalty to be pro-
nounced. At the supreme moment of
selection the people dropped away on
either side and the girl stood alone the
focus of all eyes After one fear
full glance all round. after one
second of tense rigidity. the
woman fell forward in q
stupOr of pitiable terror. 1t was a
sight no man could ever forget. When
those appointed by the witch doctors
touched her she rose shrieking and
struggling, but seeing - probably
knowing-the hopelessness of it all,
she fell again at their feet.
! Late that night one of our Kaffir lads
an English speaking mission boy called
Tom Oupe-came in and told us the
woman had been taken to the woods.
bound to tree, her body smeared all
over with wild honey. small train of
it thickly laid near white ants nest.
and left. When the moon crept above
the tops of the trees Wood and | rose.
buckled on our revOlvers and cartridge
belts. and signaled Oupe quietly
After going about a mile the boy
crouched and pointed. and Wood and
went forward alone. There was a
par tial clearing in the forest. and
through the trees we could see the
plain beyond. then a passing cloud
drifted by and obscured the light. We
| two men stood close together, and
waited with our revolvers in our hands
Nowhere does the moon seem to shine
with such wonderful radiance as in
Africa. When the light showed again
we crept forward. All at once Cyril
gave an inarticulate cry of horror and
dismay; he was covered with thou
sands of crawling things, Shiny mil
lions were creeping at our feet, and
there before us-in the white splendor
of the moonlight-was the poor girl S
body tied naked at the foot of tree,
eaten to death by ants.-Tl avels ir
Zululand.