Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/216

 failed to notice a branch of a tree or small dry stem planted in the ground, where the master of the house hung the skulls of antelopes or the upper vertebræ of the larger mammalia as trophies of his prowess. After a hunter’s death these are always placed upon his grave.

While walking along the river side on the 26th, I saw a crocodile rise from the river and snap at a man in a canoe. Fortunately he observed his danger in time, and managed to save himself by leaping on to the sandy bank.

During this day the king gave a Mabunda dance in my honour—a performance of so objectionable a character that the negroes themselves are quite conscious of its impropriety, and refuse to dance it except in masks. In their ideas of music the Marutse-Mabundas seem to be comparatively well advanced. It is quite true, indeed, that in the skilful handling of their instruments they are surpassed by some of the tribes on the east coast, who have more constant intercourse with the Portuguese, and in singing they are not a match for the Matabele Zulus; but here was the first instance that I found of a king with a private band composed entirely of native artistes. Altogether the band consisted of twenty men, but it was very rarely that more than eight or ten of them performed at the same time, the rest being kept in reserve for the night. There were several drummers among them, who played with the palms of their hands or with their fingers upon long conical or cylindrical kettle-drums, over which they walked astride, or upon double drums in the shape of an hour-glass, which were suspended from their necks by a strap. The