Note 175 — IX.

Undisturbed in any way, as required by custom, the grave was found by the troops in 1906, to be overgrown with grass and weeds. There was around it a grove, some 200 yards in length and oval in shape. Immediately round the grove was a rough fence of Kaffir-boom trees. None of the trees in the plantation were more than 25 feet high. Owing to the grass not having been burnt or cut, it was naturally infested with snakes, among which, it was believed, was that (i.e. spirit) of the departed monarch. As, year by year, the grass in the vicinity was burnt, it devolved on the care-taker to make a 10-foot fire-break round the grove by digging away the grass. The grave consisted of a mound, 12 feet long by 10 feet broad and 15 inches high. On top of it lay one or two broken kambas (clay pots without handles), and parts of the original ox-waggon.