You have heard of Umdava, who
used to eat men in Natal long ago, after the wars of Tshaka--well, he
was my uncle. After Umdava had been killed and his people scattered, my
father, with a few followers, came to live among these mountains. But we
found that after having eaten human flesh we could enjoy no other food,
so we caught people and ate them. These two men lying dead are my sons,
and that woman is my daughter. My four wives were here to-night. They
are very old women. Have you not seen them?" he asked, looking at
Whitson.
"They are in there; I shot them," said Whitson, pointing to the cave.
"I had other children," continued Ghamba, quite unmoved, "but we ate
them when food was scarce."
"Have you always lived, all these years, on human flesh?" asked Whitson.
"No, not always; but whenever we could obtain it we did so. There is
other food in these mountains--honey, ants' eggs, roots, and fruit;
besides game, which is, however, not very easy to catch. But we have
often all had to go away and work when times have been bad. Besides, I
have a herd of cattle at a Basuto kraal, and I have been in the habit of
taking some of these now and then, and exchanging them for corn, which
the women then went to fetch.
Pages:
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134