4 o2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



neither good nor harm, and troubles himself only about the whites, who 

 owe their skill and wealth to him. 



The woods and fields, however, are supposed to be inhabited by 

 numerous sprites which go out to trouble and vex the blacks, never 

 doing them any good, but are at their best when they are satisfied to 

 be harmless. The dead are regarded as in the same position as toward 

 the living. A third, still more dangerous class of hostile powers, con- 

 sists of the wicked enchanters among the black's own neighbors, with 

 whom he is in daily intercourse. The magicians are also capable of 

 doing harm to the whites, while the genii and spirits of the dead are 

 not. All sickness, all loss in business, every misfortune, even strokes 

 of lightning, are referred to one or another of these evil influences. 

 The religious aspirations and ritual of the Bantu relate chiefly to 

 provisions against these three negative principles. Among the de- 

 fenses against evil are oracles, medicine-men, and prayer. The tech- 

 nic of the oracle, the duties relating to which are generally performed 

 by some person who has gained a repute for skill in the art, is extremely 

 childish and ridiculous, and depends upon the crudest and most pal- 

 pable deception. A favorite method of managing it is to take a piece 

 of board with a smooth groove cut upon it. The oracle-priest rubs a 

 stick back and forth in the groove, all the time asking, if, for instance, 

 the object is to discover who has been guilty of some trespass or 

 witchery : " Was it the Shamuhongo ? " " Was it Joao ? " and so on. 

 All at once the stick will stop and refuse to slide any more in the 

 groove. The person whose name has just been pronounced when this 

 happens is the guilty individual. None of the by-standers will have 

 any doubt on the subject ; for, it is fair to remark, the priest has gen- 

 erally previously taken care to inform himself of the state of public 

 opinion in the matter. Men's lives are frequently risked by these ex- 

 periments ; for the person who is accused in them has afterward to 

 undergo the ordeal of poison. Another method is for the oracle-priest 

 and the person consulting the oracle to take a position in the open air 

 and both grasp with their right hands the handle of an axe which has 

 been placed upright on the ground, the questioner's hand uppermost. 

 The questioner tries with all his might to hold the axe fast to the 

 ground, the oracle-man exerts his strength to lift it up. The answer 

 is given when the axe sticks so fast to the ground that it can not be 

 moved at all. The fear which prevails and is generally quite strong, of 

 beinsr accused bv some of the oracles, has a beneficial effect in restrain- 

 ing malicious mischief and promoting peaceableness. 



Of the two chief motives of European prayer the fervor of devo- 

 tion and the strength of desire the negro is acquainted only with the 

 latter, or selfish one. He has a kind of instinctive, unconscious idea 

 that he may attain his wish by giving it constant utterance, and every 

 other higher blossoming of religious wants is strange to him. Prayer 

 is made with a sort of litany, in which the praying-master, swinging 



