sorts of crannies, traces of a late habitation exist
all around, and the boiling stream is roaring in the
crevices below.
The flat rocks outside were just then covered with
locusts drying in the sun; millet meal and other
domestic commodities were spread out too.
The rest of that lovely afternoon we spent in
wandering about in this paradise, admiring the dense
foliage, the creepers, and the euphorbia which towered
over the huts, and regretted when the pangs of hunger
and the shades of evening obliged us to return to our
huts to cook our frugal meal and pretend to go to
bed.
It was a long ride next day to Cherumbila’s kraal,
the bitter enemy and hereditary foe of our late ho st;
we passed many villages and many streams on the
way, and had a direful experience at one of the
swamps which our path crossed just before reaching
our destination. One of our horses disappeared in
it, all but his head, another rolled entirely over in
it, whilst we stood helpless on the bank and fearful
of the resu lt; but at length we managed to drag the
wretched animals out, and an hour before sundown
we reached Cherumbila’s stronghold*
It is quite a different place from Umgabe’s, and
much larger, with huts running along the backbone
of a high granite ridge. The principal kraal, where
the chief lives, is fortified with palisades and rough
walls, and is entered by a gateway formed of posts
leaning against one another; the huts are better,
with decorated doors, and the people finer than those
of Umgabe’s tribe. Many of them have their heads
cleanly shaved at the top, with a row of curious tufts
of hair tied together and made to look like a lot of
black plants sprouting from their skulls.
Cherumbila himself is a lithe, active man, a
complete contrast to Umgabe ; a man of activity both
of mind and body, he is feared and respected by his
men, and is consequently one of the strongest chiefs
AT CHERUMBILA’S KRAAL
hereabouts, and raids upon his neighbours with great
success. Years ago, when he was a boy, he told us,
his tribe lived on the top of one of the highest
mountains overlooking Providential Pass, when a
Matabele raid, or impi, fell upon them and drove
most of the inhabitants over a steep precipice to
their death: the remnant that escaped came here
and settled, and have now, under Cherumbila’s rule,
a 2