varied considerably from area to area, but the basic pro- 
cedures for most were similar. A suspect was given some 
of the poison to eat or drink, depending upon its form; 
if his stomach rejected it and he vomited, he was usually 
deemed innocent; conversely, if he retained the poison 
he was considered guilty, and was either allowed to die 
from its effects or was disposed of, according to his 
crime, in a variety of other fashions. 
MADAGASCAR 
Due to its small size and isolated location, Madagas- 
‘ar is one of the few areas for which there exists a pro- 
gressive recorded history of ordeals by plant poison. 
Native folklore, as would be expected, considered the 
sorcerers and evil magicians the plague of society. They 
were responsible for all ills. Flacourt, in the 17th century, 
was one of the first investigators to write about the na- 
tives’ methods of apprehending these evil beings. His 
descriptions, however, are of little value, for he mentions 
the genus or species of few plants, and seems to have 
missed the significance of their use in opposition to witch- 
craft. It remained for Virez to state the essence of the 
custom in the following excerpt from one of his writings: 
(Virez, 1822 
Les Madécasses, comme tous les peuples barbares, croient beaucoup 
a la sorcellerie: ils s’imaginent qu’on ne peut pas perdre de bestiaux 
ou essuyer d’autres melheurs sans que des sorciers jaloux en soient 
cause. De 1A resulte un grand nombre d’imputations contre des in- 
dividus dont on se croit victime, et de violents querelles pour les- 
quelles on invoque |’autorité des arbitres ou des juges. 
Thus, the action of poisons, which were incomprehensible 
to the people, came to be employed in the judging of 
equally inexplicable problems, the constantly recurring 
unfortunate incidents of life. 
The use of these poisons continued without interrup- 
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