SOUTH AFRICAN AFFAIRS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 May 1906, Page 3

SOUTH AFRICAN AFFAIRS.

BRITONS AND BOEUS. CYVTTJRE OF STARVING NATIVES. (BY M.ECTJUO TELEGRAPH— COPYKIGIIT } [pee pres l ) association] PIETERMARITZBURG, May 24. Colonel WaoKeiizio's force in ascending tlio Mkala mountains by precipitous Kaflir routes, winding over the hills through dongas, destroyed the kraals of Maugodi, Bambaata's chief lieutenant. Many of the horses lost their foothold, and, rolling over steep slopes. wi-rn killed. CAPETOWN'. May 24. Commandant Beyers, addressing the Hetvolk at: Piotorsbiirg. declared (li.it when the Chinese question is settled the Liberals in England would lose all interests in South Africa. The Boers must agitate In work old their own salvation and lighl for national existence. PIETEKMARITZIIUKG, M,.v 24. Lord llaldane has placed lli«' Imperial Ordnance Stores in South Africa, as far as possible, at the disposal of Natal. , . A rebel eniissarv was raptlin d Ml the Transvaal after Irving to persuade the native chiefs ill Zululnnd to rise simultaneously. A cordon of troopi.*was drawn round Nkandhla,'" the result being the capture of manv starving rebels. Two hundred and fifty native women and children are being «1 at Nkandlah and a hundred and twe.it> five near Greytown.

A «ood deal of indignation has been cxnressed in Natal at the arl ion of ceriZ cmSovcrs in flllinfs the places of men who were Vailed awav on active service Last month Colonel Sparks, of the Natal Mounted Rifles, issued an order as' ... for the names of men of Ins corps *ho lost their berths <Jwin ? to boine cnl eel ont on active service. The Natal Me. urs commends Colonel Sparks on hisaction, and says:-»Thc men who act so ...ea as to punish their employees for bona , "lMo.it are just the men who would ■ howl the loudest for compensation f | their property suffered damage bv arts , of the rebels, or the r.otous acts-ol me enemy." . , The witch-doctor, who accompanied Bambaata in his recent hurried excursion I from Creytown to Nkandhla (says the , Mercurv) seems to be a person of some | little note among the natives. From a | private letter which has been reee.ved by a Durban resident, it appears that lie isa person equally learned in the Knowled«o of human nature as in the practices of 'heathen sorcery, for he prevailed, so it is said, upon the renegade ex-chief to spare the life of his successor, whom, .10 I ad kidnapped, by assuring him that Uu, Iter would be a kind of mascot lo he party, and that his presence among the Land of fugitive outlaws would unsure their good luck. Although, as evens have proved, lh goo. luck was mainly upon Wagwababa's side (Magwababa escaped), the wizard's next attempt to Jm- | pose upon the superstitious credulity if Bambaata and his followers seems lo have been more successful. The letter goes, on to relate that, a*ter the fug tives tmva in the neighborhood of Nkandhla, the witch-doctor, perceiving at once the signs of a storm, and an opportunity for further impressing his doubting patron, proceeded to invoke the iTeavens for a sign, which should take the form of a discharge of lightning. The storm-clouds rapidly gathered, and at length there were two brilliant flashes, both of which descended upon the ground. The simple Kaffirs of course, regarded this as a wonder of the first magnitude; but Bambaata■ familial also applies a knowledge of science to the exercise of his calling, and he had ovitlentlv on many previous occasions seen the lightning playing about the metallic outcrops with which the Nkandhla district is studded. For once, his anticipations were justified, and his resourceful winning reinstated the reputation winch Magawababa's escape considerably damaged. One statement interesting lo towngiving white men (says the Mercury s ' special correspondent with ono of the columns) is that the natives of the district are all talking of the marvellous effect of the witch-doctor's working upon Bambaata's men. It is known by now that two or three natives were hit by the nolice. The wounds were, however, only sliahti -being practically grazes, and the argument among the natives now » that maaio turns the onomyV bullets. ThemeHon Is on« demanding Bonous cuuid. JwS B'ttw posslbHty ot jt.taduolng