Before we returned to camp L'Tunga explained some of the work an accredited witch-doctor is supposed to be able to perform. He said he could do all the things he talked about. According to him, a real witch-doctor can recover stolen goods; he can read the past and future; he can cast out spells and provide charms against them, and can "smell out" the witches that cause other than violent deaths. The genuine witch-doctor can cause the corn to grow; he can make or stop rain and can cause the cows to give milk when they have been bewitched and their milk dries up too soon. This last is accomplished by boiling some of the affected cow's milk and whipping the animal severely with a sjambok while the milk boils. Among the hocus-pocus and humbuggery of the witch-doctor's trade we found several genuine "cures" which they used to alleviate suffering among their people. I do not know the nature of these "cures," but they are all drugs. As an emetic, and a most efficient one, L'Tunga gives his patient "asangu"; for rheumatism he prescribes "amatoli" and sometimes "ovihata," and the distress of a mother in labor is greatly lessened by giving her "oluvanga" to chew. This is a leaf, while the rheumatism "cures" are both powders, as is the emetic. One stock remedy of which L'Tunga was very proud greatly amused us both, but we concealed our amusement lest he think we were making fun of him. This was "ekulo," a love medicine which he said was most potent. "When a wife wishes to be preferred above all other wives of an induna," he explained, in telling of its use, "she comes to me and I give her 'ekulo.' This she mixes with the food of her husband, and from that time on he cannot resist her and she becomes his favorite wife and is mistress of all the others." L'Tunga explained other uses of "ekulo," but these are "too intimate," as Sugden said, to be set forth here. After our investigation of witch-doctoring as it is practiced in Swaziland, Sugden and I came to the conclusion that the British knew what they were doing when they placed a ban on it. Even L'Tunga, kindly soul that he was, ought to be suppressed. CHAPTER XIX Wearisome delay in coronation--War suggestions from Umzulek--My plan to bluff Labotsibeni--The bluff is called--A ticklish situation-- Labotsibeni refuses to surrender the throne--Our demonstration fails--Night murders provoke war. During the next two months Tuys and I had almost daily interviews with Tzaneen and Sebuza, but we got no nearer the coronation. The situation was becoming a scandal in Swaziland and was hurting the prestige of the royal family at Lebombo. Indunas kept coming in from the outlying districts and asking how soon the coronation would take place. With them came their warriors, and there was much murmuring because of the delay.