To find witches, one by means of taking on and off
the lid of a small basket while he repeated the names of all the
people in the village. When the lid refused to come off at the name
of a person, that person was doomed. The other Cabinda doctor first
tried throwing nuts upon the ground, also repeating names. 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.
