That
method apparently failed. Then he resorted to another, rubbing the
flattened palms of his hands against each other. When the palms
refused to meet at a name, and his hands flew about wildly, he had
got his man.
The accused person, if he denies the guilt, and does not claim the
ordeal, is tortured until he not only acknowledges his guilt but
names his accomplices in the murder, for remember this witchcraft is
murder in the African eyes.
If he claims the ordeal, as he usually does, he usually has to take
a poison drink. Among all the Bantu tribes I know this is made from
Sass wood (sass = bad; sass water = rough water; sass surf = bad
surf, etc.), and is a decoction of the freshly pulled bark of a
great hard wood forest tree, which has a tall unbranched stem,
terminating in a crown of branches bearing small leaves. Among the
Calabar tribes the ordeal drink is of two kinds: one made from the
Calabar bean, the other, the great ju-ju drink Mbiam, which is used
also in taking oaths.
In both the sass-wood and Calabar bean drink the only chance for the
accused lies in squaring the witch-doctor, so that in the case of
the sass-wood drink it is allowed to settle before administration,
and in the bean that you get a very heavy dose, both arrangements
tending to produce the immediate emetic effect indicative of
innocence. If this effect does not come on quickly you die a
miserable death from the effects of the poison interrupted by the
means taken to kill you as soon as it is decided from the absence of
violent sickness that you are guilty.
The Mbiam is not poisonous, nor is its use confined, as the use of
the bean is, entirely to witch palaver; but it is the most respected
and dreaded of all oaths, and from its decision there is but one
appeal, the appeal open to all condemned persons, but rarely made -
the appeal to Long ju-ju. This Long ju-ju means almost certain
death, and before it a severe frightening that is worse to a negro
mind than mere physical torture.
The Mbiam oath formula I was able to secure in the upper districts
of the Calabar. One form of it runs thus, and it is recited before
swallowing the drink made of filth and blood: -
"If I have been guilty of this crime,
"If I have gone and sought the sick one's hurt,
"If I have sent another to seek the sick one's hurt,
"If I have employed any one to make charms or to cook bush,
"Or to put anything in the road,
"Or to touch his cloth,
"Or to touch his yams,
"Or to touch his goats,
"Or to touch his fowl,
"Or to touch his children,
"If I have prayed for his hurt,
"If I have thought to hurt him in my heart,
"If I have any intention to hurt him,
"If I ever, at any time, do any of these things (recite in full),
"Or employ others to do these things (recite in full),
"Then, Mbiam!
