It is many years since I first came to live on this spot. I was then a
poor man, although the 'great son' of my father, who was a chief of
some importance. He died with Ncapayi in the battle on the Umzimvubo,
and shortly afterwards all our cattle were swept off, I had then only
two wives, and the eldest child by the first wife was a girl whom I
called Nomalie. Many daughters have been borne to me since, and my
kraal is full of their 'lobola' cattle, but the only girl of the lot
that I was ever really fond of was Nomalie--perhaps because she was my
first child.

"She grew up--tall and straight, with well-formed limbs. I remember
that from her birth she had a soft look in her face, and her eyes were
very large. She was rather light in colour. It was said that her
mother's grandfather was a white man. Her mother's family came from the
Amavangwane country, which is on the sea-coast, and I have been told
that long ago a white man came out of the sea and took a woman of the
tribe as his wife. One of this man's daughters was the mother of my
wife, who was Nomalie's mother. It was strange that my wife showed no
trace whatever of white descent, whilst Nomalie most certainly did,
both in colour and feature.

"As soon as ever Nomalie reached a marriageable age, many men wanted to
marry her, but when the suitors came to 'metja' (woo) she would have
nothing to do with them. I soon found out the reason of this; she had
grown fond of a young man named Xolilizwe, a son of the right-hand
house of one of Ncapayi's counselors who, like me, had lost all his
wealth. Xolilizwe dwelt with his uncle Kwababana--a very old man--over
the hill at the back of the cliff facing the Ghoda. He was a few years
older than Nomalie, and he often used to stay for weeks at a time here
at my kraal. Xolilizwe was all that a young man should be, except that
he was poor, and his uncle, old Kwababana, could give him nothing.

"Xolilizwe was brave and strong, and I had gladly given him Nomalie,
but you know what we Kafirs are; no man will give his daughter to one
who cannot pay 'ikazi' (dowry). Besides, no girl would want to marry
such a man--no matter how much she liked him--for she would always be
known as the woman for whom no dowry had been paid, and this would be a
reproach to her and all her relations.

"Nomalie was very young, and I was so fond of her that I did not want
to force her to marry against her will. But seeing how matters stood, I
told Xo