e under her patronage. I would
lie near a small fire towards the back of the hut, the two Bapedi
crouching behind me. The old woman, with a sheaf of dry reeds in her
withered hand, would squat on the floor near my head. Then the hut
would fill up with men and women, who would arrange themselves in a
crescent shaped mass, with the front rank lying down, the next
crouching, those farthest from me standing.

The old woman would select a few suitable reeds from the bundle, light
them as a torch, which she held so that I would be illuminated, and
deliver a lecture. All my points would be gone over in detail the
unusual color of my eyes, the whiteness of my skin, and the length of
my hair were the occasion of much comment. By request I would take off
my shirt or pull up a leg of my much tattered trousers. Farther than
this modesty prevented my going. Sometimes a similar ordeal would have
to be gone through several times in the course of an evening.

The only work I did was in the matter of repairing guns, of which, by
the way, the Swazis possessed but very few. I had a knife, the handle
of which contained a screwdriver and various other tools; the condition
of my own gun necessitated the carrying of a nipple wrench. The latter
was a very old instrument; it had sockets graded to fit nipples of
various sizes. The trouble with the Swazi guns was almost invariably
dirt or rust. Some I put right without much difficulty; others were
quite beyond the possibility of repair.

After a somewhat wide experience I can truthfully say that the Swazis,
at the time I knew them, were the finest savages I ever came in contact
with. They were gentlemen in all essentials, they were manly, brave,
and independent. The white race had not yet degraded them by contact
with its corroding fringe.

The following incident will serve to illustrate their courage: Six of
'Ntshindeen's men, armed with nothing but spears and sticks, came upon
a full-grown lion among the foothills through which I had journeyed.
The brute was a well known depredator among the herds. He had, in fact,
given up killing game in favor of the easier pursuit of killing cattle.
He had also killed two herd boys. The six attacked without hesitation.
They slew the lion, but in the struggle three men lost their lives. Two
were killed on the spot; the third had his arm chewed to a pulp. He was
brought back to his kraal, but gangrene at once set in, and he died on
the third day. The other