R!l()|)i:SI AN X \ ll\ i;. I'olSd.NS. 359 



animals formed part of tlu'ir slock in trade. 1 lia\e ot'ten been 

 told hy natives that tlie\- saw wizards at ni.yht, and when I in- 

 cinired what he was like, was informed that he was like a buck 

 or other animal. This shows how deei)ly rooted the belief is 

 anionj.;^ the natives. Of course there is a ^reat difference in the 

 minds of the natives between witch-tinders and witches, thoug^h 

 the former are, to our ways of thinkino^, the real villains. To 

 kill a nocturnal wizard is justifiable, no matter where found. I 

 have lieard it stated that they used to ,£^o about i)erfectly naked 

 with their Ix^dies smeared with fat, so that if captured they 

 could not be held fast, and thus were enabled to escape more 

 readily. Witch doctors are most expert eavesdroi)])ers, and do 

 fre(|uentl\- wander about at night for this and otlier purposes. 

 Natives are very much afraid (^f the dark, more es])ecially in 

 lonely jilaces, and usually, when travellino^, make a great noise to 

 frighten awav the witches, and keep up their spirits, so that if 

 a man wanders ai>out l)y himself at night, there is something 

 uncanny about him, and he is after no good. These nocturnal 

 visits of the witch doctors were often connected with secret i)oi- 

 soning. The termr inspired by such a visit is almost unbeliev- 

 al)le. The modus operandi in some cases was as follows. The 

 doctor Ijy night tied a bunch of his herbs, wdiich might or might 

 not be poist)nt)US, over the door of the i:)erson's hut, or buried 

 them in the earth just before the door. In the morning when 

 the owner saw the bundle, he was inspired with the greatest 

 tern^-. To pass over the freshly-dug earth or under the bundle 

 was enough to cause certain death. Sometimes he even sickened 

 and died of sheer fright, or took his own life. He was abso- 

 lutelv con\inced that his destruction was certain. There was no 

 use in resisting. Often his family was involved in his ruin. Tf 

 not actualh' killed they were driven from tlie district and lost 

 all their proj^erty. W'hw because they were susi)cctcd of being 

 witches. 



Wholesale i.)oisoning does not seem to have been i)ractised 

 among these peo])le. as we read of in other ])laces. such as wdiat 

 ha]>])ened in the West Indies in the time of Pere Labat, who re- 

 lates that the whole slave pojuilation of an estate in Martinique 

 had been ])oisoned by an Obeah. or witch doctor, who made use 

 of the juices of poi.sonous plants that grew in the island, and 

 so .skilfully was the matter accom])lished that the guilt was never 

 l)r(-.ught home to the criminal, until he confessed at the point of 

 death. This was in 17 12. 



Occasional poisoning seems not to have been uncommon in 

 the old days. Sometimes this was done by the witch doctors to 

 gratify motives of personal spite, or at the bidding of the chiefs 

 who wanted to rid themselves of unwelcome subjects, who might 

 l)ossibly become too jjowerful. A man who had a grudge against 

 another would go to the witch doctor or herbalist, and obtain 

 from him .some |X)ison which he would mix unobserved wnth the 

 victim's food or drink. Persons suspected of witchcraft were 

 sometimes quietly poisoned without the formalitv of smelling out. 



c 



