We Saw Footprints Of Many Black Rhinoceroses,
Buffaloes, And Zebras.
After a few hours we reached the village of Nyakoba.
Two men,
who accompanied us from Monina to Nyakoba's, would not believe us when we said
that we had no beads. It is very trying to have one's veracity doubted,
but, on opening the boxes, and showing them that all I had was perfectly
useless to them, they consented to receive some beads off Sekwebu's waist,
and I promised to send four yards of calico from Tete. As we came away
from Monina's village, a witch-doctor, who had been sent for, arrived,
and all Monina's wives went forth into the fields that morning fasting.
There they would be compelled to drink an infusion of a plant named "goho",
which is used as an ordeal. This ceremony is called "muavi",
and is performed in this way. When a man suspects that any of his wives
has bewitched him, he sends for the witch-doctor, and all the wives
go forth into the field, and remain fasting till that person has made
an infusion of the plant. They all drink it, each one holding up
her hand to heaven in attestation of her innocency. Those who vomit it
are considered innocent, while those whom it purges are pronounced guilty,
and put to death by burning. The innocent return to their homes,
and slaughter a cock as a thank-offering to their guardian spirits.
The practice of ordeal is common among all the negro nations
north of the Zambesi. This summary procedure excited my surprise,
for my intercourse with the natives here had led me to believe
that the women were held in so much estimation that the men would not dare
to get rid of them thus. But the explanation I received was this.
The slightest imputation makes them eagerly desire the test;
they are conscious of being innocent, and have the fullest faith in the muavi
detecting the guilty alone; hence they go willingly, and even eagerly,
to drink it. When in Angola, a half-caste was pointed out to me
who is one of the most successful merchants in that country;
and the mother of this gentleman, who was perfectly free,
went, of her own accord, all the way from Ambaca to Cassange,
to be killed by the ordeal, her rich son making no objection.
The same custom prevails among the Barotse, Bashubia, and Batoka,
but with slight variations. The Barotse, for instance,
pour the medicine down the throat of a cock or of a dog,
and judge of the innocence or guilt of the person accused according to
the vomiting or purging of the animal. I happened to mention to my own men
the water-test for witches formerly in use in Scotland:
the supposed witch, being bound hand and foot, was thrown into a pond;
if she floated, she was considered guilty, taken out, and burned;
but if she sank and was drowned, she was pronounced innocent.
The wisdom of my ancestors excited as much wonder in their minds
as their custom did in mine.
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