On the next day the place is opened, and the meat devoured by the people. All sacrifices, with trifling exceptions, must be offered by priests. The blood is never spilt, but caught in a vessel, and it is necessary to burn the bones. The frenzy or inspired madness characteristic of the priests of the ancient oracles is commonly assumed by the priests of the Zulu spiritualists, and many of their ceremonies are occult, and have never been made known to Europeans. [Sidenote: _Great military rite._] The Zulu government is thoroughly despotic. The will of the tyrant is law, and he has unlimited power of life or death. We have seen that Chaka sacrificed everything to military power, and in order to succeed, banished even circumcision, and refused to allow his warriors to marry. Women's love and children's tenderness were forbidden to the stern soldiers of the new empire. Medicines composed of various plants and roots were used to purify the body and make it strong, and ordinarily sacrifices were offered for the same purpose. The great national sacrifice to make the army invulnerable is styled "ukukufula," when flesh is cut off the shoulder of a living beast and roasted on a fire into which certain charms have been thrown. Each man bites off a mouthful, and passes on the meat to the next, while the priest makes incisions in parts of their bodies, into which he inserts the powdered charcoal of the charms. The poor animal is left in torture all this time, and is not killed until the ceremonies are ended. A decoction is also prepared from medicinal roots, and sprinkled by means of the tail of an ox over the bodies of the warriors. All this is designed to make the Zulus either invulnerable, or to enable them, if they do fall in battle, to join triumphantly the heroes of their race in the spirit world. The three great divisions of the army already referred to, comprising "men," "young men," and "carriers," were sub-divided into regiments with a proper staff of officers. The Zulu strength is in attack, when with ferocious yells they throw themselves with undaunted bravery upon their enemy. Two horns advance and endeavour to flank the foe, while the main body follows quickly to their support. _Virtus_—military bravery—is their _summum bonum_, and death is the immediate penalty of any form of cowardice. Extreme cunning and dissimulation are considered essential qualifications of a general, so that to lure a foe into ambush, or to deceive him by illusory promises or messages of peace, are considered proofs of wisdom and ability. Honour, humanity, and generosity are perfectly unknown, and merely considered signs of weakness. When an enemy is defeated, prisoners are never taken, and those not killed in the heat of battle are cruelly tortured and mutilated, with every mark of indignity and contempt. Women and children are not spared, and the most cruel destruction of the most cruel northern barbarians, who devastated Europe, pales