dying every day: and now another evil thing which we did not expect has happened, the lad, the son of the Chief, is bewitched; therefore go on; let us see how it will end.'

"The artful woman having drawn this speech from the very man whom she intended charging with the crime, immediately answered, I am glad you say so; let us go to your kraal; you must show us the way; and there I will produce and exhibit something.' All now ran off to the man's kraal, where the woman produced a bag of ubootie, or bewitching matter, and which appeared to be hidden in a pool of water. My fears were excited for the man; but I was relieved by the information that Pato had given no orders for the seizure of his person or of his cattle; the ceremonies of this day he had decided should only be those which they call ukumbulelo, in which case only the bewitching matter is sought out, while the offender is not formally announced. It is, however, likely that before long the people will be again assembled to go through the ceremonies called umhlahlo, when the name of the offender or offenders will be announced, and they will as usual be punished and tortured."

Their modes of torture are various; and in some instances indescribably horrid: the very idea of them produces in one's mind a chilling sensation. Some cases I have seen, and of others I have heard; and many a time have I shuddered while witnessing their effects. These alone furnish proof sufficient that Paganism is abhorrent in the extreme. Beating with the induku, or club, until the offenders are almost lifeless, is a comparatively mild measure. They are more frequently bound down, and tormented by means of large black ants, with which their bodies are literally covered from head to foot. Those who are doomed to undergo this process are first pinioned to the ground at full length, and in such a manner as to render it utterly impossible for them to move hand or

foot: the poisonous swarm is then let loose upon them, and their stinging powers purposely stimulated. The eyes, the ears, and even the tongue, are all made to feel the painful smart, for the insects are not unfrequently forced into the mouth. In this way many a poor female is put upon the rack, and afterwards concealed in the lonely forest or cheerless dell until her wounded flesh is in some measure healed again.

Roasting and branding come next in order, and constitute a fiery ordeal indeed. Posts are firmly fixed in the ground, at certain distances, and to these the culprit is tied with thongs, and with his arms and legs distended to the very uttermost. A fire is then made on each side of him, at his head also, and likewise at his feet. Here he broils, and when he seems likely to expire amidst the encompassing flame, the fires are partly removed; but it is only to "shift the rack." Hot stones are now applied to the breast, the abdomen, the inner parts of the thighs, or to the soles of the feet, which are thus burnt until the sinews shrink, and parts of the muscular system are completely destroyed.

Capital punishments are likewise executed in various ways. It appears to have been the custom with Chiefs of former days to drown, or dash to pieces, those who were pronounced guilty of any very heinous crime. This mode of execution was performed by throwing the criminal from the very highest point of some tremendous and projecting precipice into the abyss beneath, where he either sunk into the watery deep, or fell upon rocks and stones in the bed of the river. Several places have been pointed out to me where the celebrated Chiefs Palo, Gagabi, Galeka, Khauta, and others, were in the habit of executing their subjects in this manner. It would seem

also that delinquents were sometimes killed in the clefts of trees, which, being split at the upper extremities, and forcibly drawn asunder, were then allowed to close upon

the body, and with an awful crash to squeeze them to death.

This practice, however, together with that of throwing the convicts from precipices, appears to have sunk into disuse; hence such occurrences are now rarely if ever heard of. At present the following constitute the most common punishments inflicted upon capital offenders: viz., 1. Stabbing. This is done with the spear, and is by far the most expeditious method employed by the Amakosæ, in putting the sufferer out of his misery. Nevertheless he usually receives many wounds before his sufferings terminate, as they are seldom anxious to shorten them. 2. Stoning, or beating with clubs. I have known instances wherein both clubs and stones have been used in accomplishing the fatal deed, which, notwithstanding its tragical nature, is not unfrequently made matter of sport. The body is often shockingly bruised and wounded in every part before the head receives the deadly blow; this being left to the last, and until the executioners are tired of their work. 3. Burning. When this is the prisoner's doom, he is placed, bound, upon the fire, and there held until scorched in a dreadful manner. On being removed from the pile, heated stones, as above described, are laid upon the most tender parts of his body, and the whole system at length becomes one wound: his pains are excruciating, and his sufferings intolerable. In this state he is sometimes left to linger in agony indescribable, beyond all possibility of recovery. But generally, after protracting his tortures to the utmost of what nature is able to bear, they break his head with a bludgeon, and thus he expires. 4. Strangulation. Many cases of this description have occurred within the range of my own observation and knowledge. The culprit is taken to a distance from the hamlet, and made to sit down at the foot of a tree, with his back against it. Round his neck and the tree the executioner then puts a leathern thong,

which is gradually drawn tighter and tighter, until the spirit is forced out of its clay tenement: after which the halter is fastened, and the corpse left just as it expired. In this position it usually remains until limb is torn from limb by wolves or eagles, which spread abroad the bones, and leave them whitening in the sun.

Horrible as are these penalties, and affecting as are the groans and cries occasioned by them, they are inflicted, as the reader will already perceive, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, for crimes which are literally ideal; for evils that have no existence whatever, excepting in the deluded imaginations of the people. This will appear still more manifest from the following facts, which will at once exemplify and fully substantiate all that has hitherto been said upon the subject. It must, however, be observed that the circumstances which I am now about to state occurred on the very frontier, where some of the clans are happily beginning to be ashamed of such inhuman practices. Conscious that they are decidedly opposed to European views and feelings, they will rarely allow us to witness them; but should we surprise the multitude when actually engaged in the perpetration of these sanguinary deeds, they will seldom suffer our presence to prevent their accomplishment.

Mr. B. one day perceiving a sudden rush of the people, at the Chief's hamlet, contiguous to his station, and being aware that they had assembled for some diabolical purpose or other, was induced, in company with two or three other individuals, to go to the place, in order to ascertain what they were about. But ere they reached the spot, the piercing shrieks of a female in distress were distinctly heard, and a scene soon presented itself which was shocking in the extreme. A poor woman had been mercilessly bound, and was then lying under the hands of her tormentors, encompassed by a callous-hearted crowd of spectators. These stood looking on with as

much apparent interest as the ancient Romans felt when gazing upon the bloody fights of the gladiators, or upon the wild beasts, while tearing to pieces those who were unhappily doomed to be cast into their arena. A fire was burning before them; some were engaged in collecting fuel, others in heating large flat stones, and a third class in applying these stones to different parts of the sufferer's body. A price was humanely offered for the redemption of her life; but to this the savages would not listen. Her tortures were in various ways continued for several hours, after which they dragged her into the forest, where she quickly sunk into the arms of death.

At another hamlet, thirty or forty miles from that just alluded to, a man and his wife were charged with having bewitched one of the subordinate Chiefs. The former instantly fled, knowing that his life was in danger; his wife and cattle, however, were immediately seized. The usual ceremonies then took place; after which the defenceless woman was bound with thongs, and seated upon a fire that had been kindled for the purpose. There she was held by a number of merciless wretches, until the flesh upon her legs, arms, and other parts, was literally roasted, insomuch that it subsequently fell from the bones, leaving the latter quite bare. In this melancholy condition she was left to languish, or to die, under the eye of hovering vultures, and within the range of prowling hyenas, without house, without food, and without any companion whatever, excepting a little daughter, who occasionally stole from the neighbouring village to take her a draught of water. Heart-rending indeed was her situation when discovered. Having lain several days, utterly unable to turn herself, her wounds were full of vermin, which were making rapid progress towards the vital part. After being removed, she was rendered as comfortable as her circumstances would admit; but her sufferings speedily terminated in death, from the idea of