unconnected with either the Balantes or the Doiolas. 
There seems to be no explanation for this last action. 
The day of the ordeal was a festive holiday. People 
sang and feasts were prepared by those who expected to 
triumph over the trial. The ceremony was conducted in 
a clearing away from the village, where the people formed 
a wide circle around the medicine man who distributed 
the poison in cups. 
As soon as he drank the ¢ta/i, each Balante ran to the 
bushes and seated himself at the foot of a tree. Those 
who were saved soon vomited, and returned to the vil- 
lage with the rest of those who had survived, each con- 
vinced that this was the end of trouble for their commu- 
nity. But those who died were hated and blamed for all 
evil. Their bodies were thrown into the underbrush to 
rot or to be eaten by wild animals. 
The mortality rate of these ordeals was exceedingly 
high. Each year approximately one-fourth of the popu- 
lation succumbed. In 1895, the French made the prac- 
tice a crime. But nevertheless, in 1910 and 1911, there 
were respectively 1,500 and 2,000 deaths. At the pres- 
ent time, however, it is doubtful that even the most 
isolated natives practice this custom. (Lasnet and Boyé, 
1911) 
In the Boriawah tribe, the medicine man held a lizard 
in his hand when there had been suspicion of witchcraft. 
As he walked among the people, the lizard occasionally 
jumped on a person, who was then considered to be un- 
der suspicion and was forced to submit to the ordeal. 
If the crime were a serious one, and if all concerned 
were certain of the person’s guilt, cup after cup of poison 
was pressed upon him until he died or confessed, think- 
ing that a judgement had fallen upon him. (Strong, 1911) 
In the western part of the Congo, the bark was gath- 
ered by a medicine man who mixed the poison to a paste 
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