When I visited the site in April 1967, the bush had almost concealed what remained of the village. My guide, who lived in the area, told me that official press reports of 70 deaths were wrong. "They crawled out of the bush for weeks afterwards". Confirming the rumour that Alice had given her followers pieces of blessed paper which would protect them from bullets, he put the death toll at more like 700, and "the wounded came crawling out of the bush for weeks afterwards".