quiver of assegais, aud his huge knobbed club,
if he stirs so much as a yard or two from his
hut; " for war, he has plumed and furred robes
of considerable complexity." His wealth
consists in his cows and his wives; and his ripe
manhood, or rather his ownership of huts and
wives, is indicated by shaving all his head except
a narrow track round the crown, which he works
up with gum into a black polished coronet or
ring, and in which he places his feathers and
other ornaments. Until he is married and
independent, he wears his hair long and fuzzy,
dressed in all manner of ways, and the chief's
permission is necessary before it can be shaved
and wrought into that ebon coronal. The
married women wrap a small bit of skin about their
waists, and indicate their rank by its greater or
less length towards the feet. They wear bead
necklaces and brass bracelets, and, like the men,
shave their heads bare, but instead of a coronal
keep a tuft on the crown, which they make fiery
red with scarlet dust. The young girls wear
only a narrow waist fringe and a necklace of
gay beads, and the young children are
destitute of everything but what Nature gave
them until they are seven years old. The Kafirs
are something like the North American Indians
in their division of labour, but not quite so
"brave." The men hunt, make war, build the
huts, hew the timber, and milk the cows; the
women dig and hoe, sow and reap, prepare the
food, and repair the dwellings, which, however,
are only huge beehives with a fire in the centre,
and a continuous hedge all round. The Kafir
has no family name, but is provided with one,
according to some accidental circumstance, at
his birth; this name he afterwards changes for
one recording a deed of bravery or a
personal characteristic. Thus " The boy who was
born in a hole" may become " The hunter who
caused the game to roll over;" and " The child
born when the sun shone" may be " The man
with the big beard," or " The man with the
broad face." Europeans are also rechristened in
the Kafir manner. A lady, who walked with a
brisk and staccato step, was " One who moves in
little cracks," or, literally, " Cracklegait;" and
a clergyman's daughter, who had the habit of
looking quickly from side to side, was "One
who looks out in all directions in order to see."
Of course the Kafir is superstitious. Is not the
essence of savage life its fear? And, being
superstitious, every passing event is matter of
good or evil omen. It is a bad omen when a
rock-rabbit runs into a kraal, or a dog gets on
the top of a hut, or when a turkey-buzzard is
caught in a snare; but worse than all their
omens is the dreadful power of the Abatakati,
or evil-doers; or, as some translate the word,
witches and wizards. Under the direction of
the resuscitating evil-doer, the Umkovu (Dead
Spirit) is sent at night into some kraal, where
it shouts, "Maya!"—- "Woe! woe! to the house
of my father." That maya is the death-omen of
some one; and when the natives hear it pealing
at midnight through their kraal, they
remain silent and motionless; believing that they
would be struck dead if they were to speak
or stir from their beds. So the evil-doer and
his goblin messenger work their wicked will
without fear of interruption, and make too
surely that spectre cry the doom of whomsoever
may have offended. The whole transaction is a
savage parody on the Vehmgericht and Santa
Hermandad of the middle ages.

When a Kafir approaches the king's palace,
he begins, at the distance of half a mile, to shout
aloud in honour of the royal name, assuring the
sovereign that he is the great king, a black man,
a leopard, a tiger, an elephant, and a calf of that
cow which gores all other beasts with its sharp
horns; when within the royal precincts, he
advances with a bent body, repeating the royal
salute " Bayeti!" though what bayeti means,
DR. MANN, whose charming book on Natal we
are quoting, does not tell us. But it must mean
something very humble, used, as it is, by one being
to another who has absolute power of life and
death over him. Gay, light-hearted, affectionate,
easily content, social, and hospitable, the Kafir,
in his natural condition, has no cares, and few
wants; but when long under the influence of
white men, he becomes morose and sulky, and
makes rapid strides in the vices of greed and
covetousness. As yet, though, he is honest, and
articles of the most tempting value may be
freely left about the tent or hut; however numerous
the visitors, there will be no unlawful
"lifting." Their hospitality, though still
unbounded among each other, is changing towards
the white men. The traders are accustoming
them to take payment; and now a Kafir will
come after a few days to a visitor whom he has
lodged, and say, " I gave to you when you came
to my hut, because you are a great chief, and
now I am come to you, and what will you give
me?" Not long ago, eight strong young men
out on a journey went to the house of one of
the missionaries near D'Urban, saying they were
hungry aud wanted food, but as they had no
money they would work for two hours for the
chief " to earn their entertainment;" which was
utterly unlike the primitive Kafir. They are
very kind-hearted and sympathetic, exceedingly
polite, grateful also, and never backward in
returning kindnesses. An old German at New
Germany, poor and without influence, but full
of gentleness and kindness towards the natives,
has been dubbed " a chief" by them, simply on
these moral grounds; and one day a Kafir, who
had long left his service, went to his house, and
laid two small packets on the table before him.
"There, old Baas" (master), he said, " are some
tea and coffee which I bought for you at Pine
Town, because I know you like them." Again,
an English hunter, laid up by fever in a solitary
hut in Zululand, had his life saved by his Kafir
servant, who stole out at night for him, and
milked the cows in a neighbouring kraal, though
he knew that if he had been caught he would
have been killed without mercy. Mr. Posselt
was once riding in a remote part of the country,
when a woman rushed out of her hut, and
called to him to stop; she ran up to him with