ABSTRACT
While various methods of divination are common to all tribal groups in Southern Rhodesia certain methods would seem to have a definite prestige amongst individual groups. A description of divination methods must, therefore, take into account the various ethnic groupings. The traditional isangoma of the Nguni peoples was, as well as a diviner of the cause of sickness, a 'rainmaker' divining the cause of drought and prescribing the remedy. The method of this inyana, as far as one can ascertain, was similar to many Shona nganga. The above accounts are the ordinary methods of a divination used by the Ndebele. In a country where most of the more responsible positions in commerce and industry are held by Europeans, the occupation of a doctor-diviner enables a man to achieve a higher status without coming into competition with European enterprise.
