ABSTRACT
LIKE those of other Kafir tribes, the Amandebele government is a mixture of the Patriarchal and the Feudal. It is hereditary, and in some points, resembles that of the" Jews in Canaan." There is no instance, however, in the history of such a government as that of this South African tribe, to which I can refer the reader. The chief being a priest, prophet, and father to his tribe, has also absolute power over it, while all his sllbjects are his property-at least in theory. Nor is the history of Umzilikazi wanting in instances in which he exercised his supreme power in the most tyrannical and cruel way. I have seen him enjoying the spectable of a number of his young men whom he had sent out simply for his own amusement and the gratification of his pride, endeavouring, at the peril of their lives, to catch a wild ox or fierce bull, without anything in their hands. I have also been told repeatedly by the natives themselves, that in former days this absolute power was exercised to a still greater extent in reference to them. The king used to give
tIlel11 orders to ftttack allY Olle of tIle larger gan1e, SUCll as the elepllunt, witll only 8111(tll spears in their hands, and they must either lrill it or be killed themselves. They did this, although they kne\v before 11and that in all probability some of them would be crushed to death llllder the ponderous feet of the infuriated beast, or transfixed with its formidable tusks. This peculiar prerogative of the Amandebele king is happily not often exercised now, althollgh it still exists in theory. Ulnzilikazi could generally do as he wished, even to the elld of his life; but even he in his latter days found it necessary to resort to the precaution of giving his procedure an appearance of regularity and justice.
