So it came about that to the English Queen through the spirit of Chaka you swore certain things; that slaying for witchcraft should be abolished; that no man should die without fair and open trial, and other matters." He paused a while, then went on, "These oaths you have broken, O King, as being of the blood you are and what you are, you must do." Here there was disturbance among the Council and Cetewayo half rose from his seat, then sat down again.

Zikali, gazing at the sky, waited till it had died away, then went on-- "Do any question my words?
If so, then let them ask of the white men whether they be true or no.

Let them ask also of the spirits of those who have died for witchcraft, and of the spirits of the women who have been slain and whose bodies were laid at the cross-roads because they married the men they chose and not the soldiers to whom the king gave them." "How can I ask the white men who are far away ?" broke out Cetewayo, ignoring the rest.
"Are the white men so far away, King?
It is true that I see none and hear none, yet I seem to smell one of them close at hand." Here he took up the skull which he had laid down and whispered to it.

"Ah! I thank you, my child.

It seems, King, that there is a white man here hidden in this kloof, he who is named Macumazahn, a good man and a truthful, known to many of us from of old, who can tell you what his people think, though he is not one of their indunas.