This book is composed of a series of interviews conducted by Callaway, the English missionary, with Zulu informants, of which only the answers of the natives to Callaway's questions are usually given. As such, it is made up primarily of prose explanations of concepts and ideas that Callaway, a more or less sympathetic English missionary, found to be of interest. There are no sacred narratives, transcriptions of ceremonies, or anything else of that nature, although the book is still interesting, and in many ways more informative than it might be otherwise.

It is one of several books he wrote about the Zulu people and their beliefs.

The book is divided into four parts:

- Unkulunkulu, which concerns the creator Unkulunkulu and the Zulu story of creation;
- Amatonga, which concerns the Zulu traditions of ancestor worship;
- Izinyanga Zokubula, which concerns the traditions of diviners among the Zulu;
- Abatakato, which concerns the Zulu customs of medical magic and witchcraft.