Page 158 - A People Called Afrika

A PEOPLE CALLED AFRIKA

the tribe and the tribe is he. This is what we teach, I say, for
this is the utmost the Common Man is capable of compre-
hending; indeed many have only a vague comprehension,
even of this much. But the belief of us, Wiser Ones, is some-
thing far wider and greater, though similar. It is far too wide
and great for Common Man’s comprehension—or for yours,
at present. But I may say this much, that we know that the
Itongo is not the mere Spirit of the Tribe, but is the Spir-
it within and above all men—even all things ; and that at the
end, all men being one in Spirit, all are brothers in the flesh”.

Mankanyezi was a pure Zulu, of the royal blood. What his age
might have been, I do not know, but certainly he was at least
seventy, He was a tall, lean man, light chocolate in colour, of
a distinctly Jewish cast of countenance, without a trace of the
Negroid, with the exception of his snow-white hair which was
frizzled. Both by the Natives and by the few white hunters
who knew him he was regarded as a powerful magician, but
only once did I get a glimpse of this side of his character.

A year or two subsequent to the talk above quoted, in com-
pany with a famous Boer hunter named Sarel Du Pont,
I met Mankanyezi near the Limpopo River. “You go on
a far journey”, he said after some preliminary remarks.
“Only as far as the Zambezi”, replied my companion.
Mankanyezi shook his head. “Much farther, I think. You will ere
you again see this river visit the Great Lake of the North (Lake
Nyassa). To the eastward of that lake, you will visit the springs of
another river, and there you will meet one of my elder brothers”.
“Indeed”, said Du Pont, “if it should happen that we go
so far, which is not our intention, how are we to know this
brother of yours? I suppose he is not your brother in real-

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