Such  was  the  spot  that  Zikali  had  selected  to  abide  in
during  his  visit  to  Ulundi.  Certainly  where  privacy  was
an  object  it  was  well  chosen,  for,  as  Cetewayohad  said  and
as  Goza  emphasized  to  me,  it  had  the  repute  of  being  the
most  thoroughly  haunted  place  in  all  Zululand,  with  the
sole  exception,  perhaps,  of  the  ridge  opposite  to  Dingaan's
old  kraal  where  once  I  shot  the  vultures  for  my  life  and
those  of  my  companions.^  Even  in  the  daytime  people
gave  it  a  wide  berth,  and  at  night  nothing  would  induce  them
to  approach  it,  at  any  rate  alone.
Here  to  one  side  of  and  near  the  root  of  the  tongue  of

^  See  the  book  called  Marie,  by  H.  Rider  Haggard.
THE  VALLEY   OF  BONES  185

land  of  which  I  have  spoken,  the  huts  that  ZikaU  had
demanded  for  himself  and  his  company  were  being  rapidly
built,  close  to  a  spring  of  water,  by  a  large  body  of  men  who
laboured  as  though  they  wished  to  be  done  with  their  task.
Also  about  half  way  up  the  donga,  for  really  it  was  nothing
more,  at  a  distance  of  perhaps  five  and  twenty  paces  from
its  flat  point  whence  the  condemned  were  hurled,  a  circular
space  of  ground  had  been  cleared  and  levelled  which  was
large  enough  to  accommodate  fifty  or  sixty  men.  On  this
space,  Goza  told  me,  the  King  and  the  Council  were  to  sit
when  they  came  to  seek  light  from  Zikali.
