"
Silence there was indeed, and in it Zikali crouched himself down
till his head almost rested on his knee, and seemed to go to
sleep. He awoke again and chanted for half a minute or so in
some language I could not understand. Then voices began to
answer him, as it seemed to me from all over the kloof, also from
the sky or rock above. Whether the effect was produced by
ventriloquism or whether he had confederates posted at various
points, I do not know.
At any rate this lord of "multitudes of spirits" seemed to be
engaged in conversation with some of them. What is more, the
thing was extremely well done, since each voice differed from the
other; also I seemed to recognize some of them, Dingaan's for
instance, and Panda's, yes, and that of Umbelazi the Handsome,
the brother of the king whose death I witnessed down by the
Tugela.
You will ask me what they said. I do not know. Either the words
were confused or the events that followed have blotted them from
my brain. All I remember is that each of them seemed to be
speaking of the Zulus and their fate and to be very anxious to
refer further discussion of the matter to some one else. In
short they seemed to talk under protest, or that was my
impression, although Goza, the only person with whom I had any
subsequent debate upon the subject, appeared to have gathered one
that was different, though what it was I do not recall. The only
words that remained clear to me must, I thought, have come from
the spirit of Chaka, or rather from Zikali or one of his
myrmidons assuming that character.
Pages:
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277