Zulu witch-doctors and Beliefs

Posts : 1603 Join date : 2009-09-21

I thing we have discussed this before, but I can’t find the original post. Do you think this happen to any British Soldiers.

"As the evening came on we saw a black column of Zulus streaming out of Ulundi and coming straight towards us. We heard afterwards that the witch-doctors had chosen out a few of their enemies, had tortured and killed them, and then smeared their blood on the lips of the warriors. Very often the heart would be cut out of the victim, divided into
little pieces and given to the warriors to eat, and they had humbugged the fighting men into the belief that our bullets would be utterly harmless against them. The King then reviewed his army and told it to go out, kill and eat the white devils."

Source: MELTON PRIOR CAMPAIGNS OF A WAR CORRESPONDENT

Dave.

Guest

Dave. As far as I’m aware there were no prisoners taken on either side; every encounter ended either in death or escape.

There was one exception to the rule and that was the case of trooper Raubenheim, captured and tortured to death, supposedly by the Zulu women at Ulundi.

There was a Frenchman who claimed to have been captured, but his story didn’t Hold water.

E.H

Posts : 627 Join date : 2009-01-20 Age : 46

There is a post somewhere about the Frenchman of whom you talk.

Subject: Re: Zulu witch-doctors and Beliefs Sun May 16, 2010 4:33 pm

"The bulb of a flower in the Amaryllis family, called Boophane disticha, or the Bushman Poison Bulb. Studies have shown that the bulb -- which was also used by southern Africans to help mummify bodies -- contains buphanidrine, an alkaloid, like codeine and morphine (although it is not related to them) with hallucinogenic and pain-killing properties. According to botanist Ben-Erik van Wyk of Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg, South Africa, the dosage of buphanidrine necessary to reduce pain is very close to the toxic dose, "but in a very experienced traditional healer's hands it should be safe. They usually assess the strength of a bulb by testing it on themselves."

"In addition, warriors sometimes ingested a hallucinogenic mushroom containing a toxin called muscimol. The chemical, present in fly agaric -- a mushroom that can attract and kill flies -- is said to induce a state of expanded perception in those who ingest it. Warriors who consumed those mushrooms, researchers speculate, might have been utterly without fear, believing themselves impervious to British bullets."

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