The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-03-02
THE ZULU WITCH-DOCTOR.
He Still Has a Powerful influence
Over the Minds of the Natives.
Q,ondon MaiI1

| Nondon Mail.)
The ZuIus, who form the native popu-
lation of the fair colony of Natal, are
not making the rapid progress toward
civilization which the presence of the
white mans government, state officials,
parliament, colleges, churches and
schools would lead one to expect, writes
our Natal correspondent, under date
| of Jan. IA.
In Natal the rate of population is
fourteen blacks to one white. Yet
blacks and whites, so far as outward
appearances go, are on friendly terms
friendly always meaning that the black
is subservient to the White-although
now and again events transpire which
show the dangers existing in Natal for
the whites. principally because of ma
tive superstition.
Will it be believed that in this adj
vanced British colony today witch doc
tors abound-men, and women, too,
who exercise 'boundless influence over
the natives? Notwithstanding years of
missionary effort, the untutored Zulu
believes that all the ills which befall
him or his country are the direct re-
suits of an enemy's Vaccinations.
To discover that enemy is the task
| which the Witch-d0ctor imposes upon
llILSelI. what IOilOWS gives d glimpse
of the Natal witch-doctor and his
ways
Two months ago, on Saturday af-
ternoon, a number of natives assembled
at kraal in Alfred county, on the east
coast of Natal, not far from the borders
of Pondoland. a witch-doctor had ar
rived at the kraal, and whisper had
gone through the district that this man
was skiliful in the making OF love-
nj I1a 1irfi NH
upon a native girl, will make her love
the man who throws it.
RinderpeSt had devastated the native
herds; even then the cattle. We're dying
daily. So it came to be that the young
men who sighed for new love mutt of
greater potency than the old, and the
old men who wished to preserve their
cattle from the mysterious white
mans disease" came together to in
woke the aid Of the witch doctor.
A woman had died in the kraal the
previous day; how, it is not yet known.
She had been sick, it was said, and the
Witch-doctor had treated her. What
was said by the natives that Saturday
afternoon will never likely be known.
But the Natal criminal courts have
elected the one fact that after the
''indaba,' the Witch-doctor, Umtanti by
name-an ugly, skinny old man-deltv-
cred himself in this oracular fashion,:
I have already obtained the blood
and the fat of one who croucheS over
the fire. To complete the charm, I
want the blood and the fat of a man
who walks out of his house erect"
The behest of the witch doctor was
easily understood by the natives. The
native it is who crduches over the fire,
and it is the white men who possess
houses which can be entered erect
A short distance from the kraal
where this gathering of natives took
place lived a Scotsman on his farm. His
name was James Kay, he was between
40 and 80 years of age. he was unmar-
ried, and he lived alone. His dwelling
consisted of two huts, one his bell
room, the other his dining room.
The two native servants he kept
lived in the 'kafir house" some little
distance from Kays huts.
On the night after the ''indaba'' with
the witch doctor, according to the con-
feesiOns of the prisoners. Kay was ly-
ing in bed reading by the light of
lamp when the witch doctor arrived at
the huts. Umtanti was accompanied
by a pupil of his in the craft of witch
doctorinS, a younger man than himself,
named UsabalWent, and by at least two
young ladies.
The door of Kays hut was open to
admit the soft Natal air. and the first
intimaticn the victim had of his mur-
dereTs' presence was an assegai strik-
ing into one of his arms, aimed at him
through the open doorway Kay leaped
from bed to be confronted by the witch
doctor and his confederates
The thres powerfully built young ma
tiVes Joined simultaneously with Um-
tamil in the attack. and soon Kay was
pinned to the floor and a second as
segaf plunged deep in his side. The
four men then carried Kay Some little
distance from the hut, and the witch
Doctors pupil. with an aSsegai, cut his
throat from ear to ear.
Umtanti was now left alone with the
dead body intent on his incantadons.
and on his mutt gathering. Shortly
afterward he was seen dancing around
the dead mans DWELLING wearing long
ostrich feathers in his hair, snortinS
furiously and brandiShfng his assegais.
When the body was discovered a few
hours afterward by the Natal police it
was found that the murdered man
throat had been cut away. The inspec-
ton Of a wallet belonging to the witch