The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1896-10-24

uing tattoo on their shields of rhinoc- |
eros hide. When all were gathered in
a great semicircle about large fire,
still keeping up a mOnotonOus chant, a
tall warrior suddenly rushed out into
the middle Of the open space and be-
gan heroic pantesmime.
He haped high in the air with a
violent thrust of his assegal that would
have driven the weapon through an
OK Next he would crouch as though
creeping upon an enemy, and end it
all with swift whirl that would have
done credit to a dervish. One by one
the other warriors followed, each going
through their especial maneuvers, to
the accompaniment of rolling drums
and monotonous chanting.
N'dubi Becomes n God
Thus until the fire died away and tine
moon came up in the east the warriors
danced and tom-tommed, while the
women and older men sat around in
'dusky and silent drifts.
Following all the others came N'dubi,
the high priest, black and horrid, cov-
cred with gree-grees. or charms, con-
s1sting of human bones, small gourds,
balls Of human hair and chicken feath-
ers. In his hand he held a small
wooden idol, which he waved threat
eningly on all sides, springing this way
and that, and singing in a low, droning
chant:
The god of the mountains is abroad
See! He seeks for some one into whose
soul he can enter" Then consecu-
lively N'dubi poked his hideous wood
en- idol under the noses Of his breth-
ren of the priestcraft and found them
wanting. After making several aero
badc rounds without being able to find
the man the M'limo wanted, N'dubi
suddenly began to shout, IN 'dubi is no
more; he is dead! I am M'limo, am
M'llmO!' And so saying he rushed
away into the darkness and disappear
ed in the direction of the Matoppo hill,
at the top Of which was the cave of the
god.
Then it became known among the
Matabele and Makalaka tribes that
Ndubi had become M'limo. He lived
IN the cave and sequestered himself
from everybody but his brethren of
the priesthood, who fed him. The
Matabele did not look upon the COM
missariat as food but as Offerings to
the god.
Soon afterward strange rumors be-
gan to reach the white residents of
Matabeleland. The M'limo was proph-
esying their destruction. ''Not one of
them should remain alive, nor one
stone Of their houses be left standing
upon the other" So said the dusky
oracle. At a given time all the Mata-
belle and Makalaka servants of the
white men We're to rise and murder
their masters. The plot was well laid,
but, afterathe manner of most savage
schemes, it miscarried. s=ess.s=,s
Death Decreed for N'dubf - S:
The uprising took place on time
BulaWayo was beSieged and many out
lying residents were >massacred. Then
1t was that the South African CON-
pany, which employed Mr.. Burnham,
the American scout, decided to act.
The Mlimo Of the A1atabele had FOR
feited his life many times over an1 his
death was demanded.
To Mr.. Armstrong, the superintend-
ent Of the Mangwe district, was in
trusted the concoction Of the scheme,
and to Mr.. Burnham it's execution. The
latter had been trained in woodcraft
and in scouting among the Western In
dams, and better man could not have
been found.
Even after the raid on Buluwayo had
been repulsed, the M'limo, from his
sanctuary in the Matoppo hills, con-
tinued to propnesy and to issue his
commands by messengers to his broth
ers, who made known their purport.
The purport Of these commands was
to induce the Matabele to continue the
war, under the promise that the bull
let's of the enemy should turn to water.
In this emergency Mr.. Burnham re-
ceived hurried orders to report to Mr..
Armstrong On the Goth of last June
the two men met at the Mangwe sta
ton, and talked the matter over. There
was no doubt as to the peril of the en-
terprise. The Matoppo hill, where the
cave Of the false god was situated, was
strongly fanked by kraals, some of
which contained as many as six hun
dred warriors. In order to effect their
object and. capture or kill the god that
was sowing the seeds of discord and
death it was necessary to pass these
kraals.
Before dawn on June % Mr. Burn
ham and Mr.. Armstrong rode quietly
away from Mangwe on their dangerous
expedition, unaccompanied and unob-
served. At daybreak they were well
away from the habitations of men.
They kept to the lowlands as much as
possible, following the valleys and the
many breaks in the sandy hills.
On the following morning, June %,
they started at dawn on the last and
most dangerous stage of their journey
-Four miles from the cave of the So
called god they saw parties of natives
passing to and fro. They carefully
concealed their horses and hid them
selves in the grass, escaping observa-
ton only by great good fortune.
They were now afraid to mount their
horses for fear Of discovery. The hoofs
of the beasts were muffled and they
were led slowly forward, peering pc
fore them after the manner of still
hunters on the trail. They were con-
graduating themselves upon their es-
cape from the party Of Matabele war
riors when, turning sharp corner of
the trail, they came upon a party of
women carrying beer and grain. 4
r. A Moment of Deadly Peril.
The women were moving along
path which crossed the trail some
twenty yards in advance of the two