form of witchcraft and sorcery, the people held a simple 
but profound belief in the God of their church, and pos- 
sessed a strong faith in His ability and promptness to 
dispel all things contrary to His will. 
In direct contrast to this security was the situation of 
‘the African jungle-dweller, whose life was ruled by myr- 
iad ceremonies, actions, and reactions, all revolving about 
an equally large number of extra-sensory beings who 
controlled every facet of his life. Both good and evil, 
these beings continually required courting or placation 
in order that the good spirits might make or keep his lot 
bearable, and that the bad might be prevented from ex- 
erting their evil influence. There seems to have been a 
concept that the good could prevail over the bad, but to 
accomplish this end, the native had constantly to pit the 
two factions, as it were, against each other, never allow- 
ing the good to be neglected, nor the bad encouraged. 
Under these circumstances of constant insecurity and 
tension, it is possible to see how easily the uneducated 
and superstitious native could adopt the handiest means 
for discovering the causes of any unfortunate incident. 
In several instances, there exist legendary explanations 
of the beginning of the ordeal. One such is found in the 
folk-lore of the Kamanga people of the upper Lake Ny- 
assa district. (Young, 1981) 
Long, long ago God told mankind that there were many troubles 
in the world. He said ‘You have chiefs and leaders, freemen and 
serfs; the fools, the cunning, and those without protectors; wasanda. 
Among you all there are those who are puffed up because of their 
position; there are deceivers as well as troublers of other sorts?’ And 
God gave us this tree saying, ‘If your fellows for any reason do you 
ill, take this tree as the support of your case; kujivikirira; and if the 
man has truly done evil, he will die.” It was thus that muavi came 
among us. 
However, although history and folklore are both rela- 
tively silent as to the physical means by which the custom 
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