“Behind Shinte sat about a hundred women clothed in their best, which happened to be a profusion of red baize. The chief wife of Shinte, one of the Matebele or Zulus, sat in front with a curious red cap on her head. During the intervals between the speeches these ladies burst forth into a sort of plaintive ditty; but it was impossible for any of us to catch whether it was in praise of the speaker, of Shinte, or of themselves. This was the first time I had ever seen females present in a public assembly. Generally the women are not permitted to enter the kotla, and even when invited to come to a religious service they would not enter until ordered to do so by the chief; but here they expressed approbation by clapping their hands and laughing to different speakers, and Shinte frequently turned round and spoke to them. “A party of musicians, consisting of three drummers and four performers on the piano, went round the kotla several times, regaling us with their music. The drums are neatly carved from the trunk of a tree, and have a small hole in the side covered with a bit of spider’s web; the ends are covered with the skin of an antelope pegged on, and when they wish to tighten it they hold it to the fire to make it contract--the instruments are beaten with the hands. “The piano, named _marimba_, consists of two bars of wood placed side by side here quite straight, but farther north bent round so as to resemble half the tire of a carriage wheel; across these are placed about fifteen wooden keys, each of which is two or three inches broad, and fifteen or eighteen inches long--their thickness is regulated according to the deepness of the note required; each of the keys has a calabash beneath it from the upper part of each a portion is cut off to enable them to embrace the bars, and form hollow sounding-boards to the keys, which also are of different sizes according to the note required, and little drumsticks elicit the music. Rapidity of execution seems much admired among them, and the music is pleasant to the ear. “When nine speakers had concluded their orations Shinte stood up, and so did all the people. He had maintained true African dignity of manner all the while; but my people remarked that he scarcely took his eyes off me for a moment. About a thousand people were present according to my calculation, and three hundred soldiers. The sun had now become hot, and the scene ended by the Mambari discharging their guns.