CHAPTER X.

THE ZULU WITCH-FINDERS.

ENGLISH Law now reigns in Zululand, and the occupation of the Witch-

finders is almost gone; but in times past they were potent personages, whom an
enslaving superstition had armed with despotic influence. The Zulu witch-
finders are regular Amazons—perfectly fearless, with a martial gait, and grave
composure of mien. It is their pride, according to Lady Barker, to be looked
upon as men when once they embrace their dread profession, which the men
sometimes share with them. They are permitted to bear shield and spear as
warriors, and they hunt and kill with their own hands the wild beasts and reptiles
whose skins they wear. “It is not difficult to understand,” says Lady Barker,[41]
“bearing in mind the superstition and cruelty which existed in remote parts of
England not so very long ago—how powerful such women become among a
savage people, or how tempting an opportunity they could furnish of getting rid
of an enemy. Of course they are exceptional individuals; more observant, more
shrewd, and more dauntless, than the average fat, hard-working Kafir women;
besides possessing the contradictory mixture of great physical powers and strong
hysterical tendencies. They work themselves up to a pitch of frenzy, and get to
believe as firmly in their own supernatural discernment as any individual among
the trembling circle of Zulus to whom a touch from the whisk they carry is a
sentence of instant death.”

The magician, like the melodramatist, must have his accompaniment of music,
and the Zulu witch-finders are attended by a circle of black girls and women,
who, like a Greek chorus, clap their hands together, and drone through a low
monotonous chant, the measure and rhythm of which change at times with a
stamp and a swing. Not less necessary is a ceremonial dress; for such things
appeal directly to the imagination of the crowd, and prepare them to be readily
influenced by the necromancer’s devices. The “Isinyanga,” “Abangoma,” or
“witch-finders,” whom Lady Barker describes for us, were attired with an eye