Next morning we waked to find several hundred more warriors
surrounding our camp. A more important chief was in command, and when
Tuys had made a brief but leisurely toilet, he talked to him. Again
Tuys was given kingly honors, which he accepted with marked
condescension. This chief informed him that King Buno was waiting for
him and had sent greetings to "his white brother." Many dramatic
gestures accompanied this announcement, and I was quite impressed with
the manner of the chief. He was a fine figure of a savage and had a
great number of scars on his forehead, showing that he had killed many
enemies.
We broke camp shortly after and started on the short climb to the top
of the plateau. With our escort we made a party of about five hundred,
and I felt very proud to be riding with Oom Tuys at the head of so
imposing a procession.
When we reached the top, Tuys reined in and pointed across the Valley
of Heaven to where two rounded peaks rose about a thousand feet above
the river.
"You see those?" he asked. "Those mountains are Sheba's Breasts and
are known everywhere in Swaziland. Beyond them is the Place of
Execution. If you look closely, you can see that sharp cliff to their
left."
The rounded peaks looked exactly like a woman's breasts and were very
striking. There are many tales about them and they are supposed to be
the home of spirits of all kinds. I could see the cliff Tuys spoke of.
It appeared to be a sheer drop of many feet.
The plateau was much like the high veldt in our country. Except for
the tall grass and a few rocks raising their rugged tops here and
there, it was absolutely barren. These rocks look like little black
islands in a vast rolling sea of dull brown. Back of this are the bare
mountains, rugged and naked in their rocky barrenness.
We came to a little stream, which appeared to head up in these hills;
then suddenly a great collection of huts seemed to spring up out of
the plain. Hundreds of poles projected above them, and soon we saw a
number of kraals. There were a few patches of trees, their green being
the only relief from the dull brown of the scene. We seemed to come
suddenly on the settlement because its huts and kraals were of the
same color as the grass, which gave them a fine camouflage.
This was Zombode, formerly the royal kraal of King Umbadine.
"Queen Labotsibeni, his royal widow, lives there now," Tuys told me.
"All Umbadine's other widows live there, too. I think there are about
twenty of them. When we get close you will find that the big mountain
behind is already throwing its shadow over the place. It will be
cooler then."
Soon we came to the shadow and it was very pleasant to get out of the
scorching sun. This mountain was a sort of natural fort and protected
Zombode from attacks from the west. East of Zombode was a rolling
grass-covered plain.
Close to the outlying kraal was a small stream. We did not cross this.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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