The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-01-05

had begun to occupy positions in these
territories, they were still to all practi-
cal purposes uneXplored. But / was
now alone in the world, and it mattered
little what became of me; so, driven on
by the overmastering love of adventure,
which, old as l am, will perhaps still be
my cause of death, I determined to I'M
dertake it.
Accordingly I sold such stock and
goods az we had upon the station, reserv-
ing only the two best wagons and two
pairs of oxen. The proceeds l invested
in such goods AS were then in fashion,
for trading purposes, and in guns and
ammunition. The guns would have
moved any modern explorer to merri-
ment; but such as they were l man.
aged to do a good deal of execution
with them. One of them was a single
barreled, smooth bore, fitted for percus-
threw a three-ounce ball, and was
charged with a handful of coarse black
powder. Many is the elephant that I
killed with that roer, although it gener-
ally knocked me backwards when | fired
it, which 1 only did under compulsion.
The best of the lot, perhaps, was a dou-
bic barreled No. 10 shot gun, but it had
flint locks. Also, there were some old
tower muskets, which might or might
not throw straight at seventy yards. I
took six Kaffirs with me, and three good
horses, which were supposed to be sailed
that is, proof against sickness. Among
the Kaffirs was an old fellow named In
daba-zimbi, which, being translated,
means tongue of iron."
l suppose he got this name from his
strident voice and exhaustless %eloquence.
This man was a great character in his
way. He had been q noted witch
doctor among a neighboring tribe, and
came to the station under the following
circumstances, which, as he plays a con-
siderable part in this history, are per-
haps worth recording.
Two years before my fathers death I
had occasion to search the country
round for some lost oxen After a long
and useless quest it occurred to me that
| had better go to the place where the
oxen were bred by a kaffir chief, whose
name l forgot, but whose kraal was
about fifty miles from our station.
There 1 went, and found the oxen safe
at home. The chief entertained me
handsomely, and on the following morn
ing | went to pay my respects to him
before leaving, and was somewhat sur
prised to find collection of some hun
dreds of men and women sitting round
him a%nxiously watching the sky, in
which the thunder-clouds were banking
up in a very ominous way.
"You had better wait, white man."
said the chief, "and see the rain doctors
fight the lightning"
inquired what he meant, and learned
that this man, Indaba-zimbi, had for
some years occupied the position of
wizard-in-chief to the tribe, although he
was not a member of it, having been
born in the country now known as
Zululand. But a son of the chiefs, a
man of about 80, had lately set up as a
rival in supernatural powers. This irri-
tated Indaba-zimbi beyond measure, and
a quarrel ensued between the two witch
doctors that resulted in a challenge to
trial by lightning being given and ac-
cepted. These were the conditions.
The rivals must await the coming of a
serious thunderstorm, no ordinary tenn
pest would serve their turn. Then,
carrying assegais in their hands, tn
must take their stand within fifty PAGES
of each other upon a certain patch of
ground where the big thunderbolts were
observed to strike continually, and by
the exercise of their occult powers and
i%nvocations to the lightning, must strive
to avert death from themselves and
bring it on their rival. The terms of
this singular match had been arranged
a month previously, but no storm worthy
of the occasion had arisen. Now the
local weather prophets believed it to be
brewing.
I inquired what would happen if
neither of the men were struck, and
was told hat they must then wait for
another storm. If they escaped the
second time, however, they would be
held to be equal in power, and be jointly
consulted by the tribe on occasions of
Importance.
The prospect of being a spectator of
so unusual a sight overcame my desire
to be gone, and l accepted the chiefs in
vitation to see it out. Before midday I
regretted it, for though the western
heavens grew darker and darker, and
the still air heralded the coming of the
storm, yet it did not come. By 4 o'clock
it became obvious that it must burst
soon-at sunset, the old chief said, and
in the company of the whole assembly j
moved down to the place of combat.
The kraal was built on the top of a hill,
and below it the land sloped gently to
the banks of a river about half a mile
away. On the hither side of the bank
was the piece of land that was, the ma
tives said, ''loved of the lightning
Here the magicians took up their stand,
while the spectators grouped themselves
on the hillside about two hundred yards
away, which was, I thought, rather too
near to be pleasant.
When we had sat there for awhile my
curiosity overcame me, and I asked
leave of the chief to go down and inspect
the arena. He said 1 might do SO at my
own risk. I told him that the fire from
above would not hurt white men, and
went and found that it was a bed Of iron
ore, thinly covered with grass, which of
course accounted for it's attracting the
lightning from the storms a they trav-
eled along the line of the river. AT, each