360 Kii()i)i:si AN .\A'n\i-; I'oisoxs. 



Two young |^;ii'ls. some years ago, suddenh- and mysteriously 

 died at a village, some distance from Bulawayo. They showed 

 signs of poisoning, and the evidence was not sufficiently strong 

 to fix the guilt upon anyone in ])articular. although suspicion 

 rested on the chief. I heard afterwards that the poison used 

 was SfropliaiitJins in such cases, but this may have been mereh" 

 a guess hazarded by my informant. The people of the i^lace 

 had no doubt the girls were |K)isoned. Self-destruction by means 

 of poison was not unknown. It is said that Lobengula took his 

 life by poison when he was pursued by the Chartered Company's 

 forces. He always, it seemed, carried about with him a small 

 l)hial of poison slung round his neck. He took some of this 

 poison, and then laid down and c|uietly died. Another part of 

 the witch doctor's duty was the detection of criminals. The doc- 

 tor was often called in by the chief to assist him in such a case. 

 The fact is, the witch doctor was the ]>ower behind the throne, 

 not only in name but in reality. The accused person was occa- 

 sionally obliged to imdergo the poison ordeal, or he could demand 

 it. Sometimes it meant the only chance of escape from an ig- 

 nominious and unjust death. The risk was great, but to the 

 defendant it was worth taking. The prisoner was given an ex- 

 tract of Datura or Ekeodendron, which produced severe vomiting 

 or purging. If he became rapidl)'- unconscious and died without 

 vomiting, he was held to have been guilty, and the medicine was 

 said to have been very good, and the doctor ])ossessed of grear 

 skill, whereas if he showed any of the usual signs of the i)oison 

 he was actiuitted, so that in both cases his prospects were not 

 bright, as sometimes the effects of the poison remained for 

 months. In some parts of .\frica the ]ioison ordeal was much 

 more largely used than in Rhodesia, as, for exam]jle, in Barotse- 

 land, Nyasaland and the Congo. Sometimes the doctor wottld 

 be in collusion with the accused, and for a consideration would 

 give him a weak decoction of the poi.son. or even give him an 

 antidote immediately afterwards. But I think unless the de- 

 fendant was a very big man socially, such a thing did not hapi^en 

 often. If the chief wanted to get rid of a man. no matter what 

 his .social standing was. he stood a i)oor chance. We may look 

 U])on the poison ordeal as a sort of rough and readv means of 

 disi>ensing justice. Undoubtedly it was liable to the gravest 

 abuses, and could be used as an efficient means of revenge or 

 miu'der. The ordeal probablv arose out of .some such idea as 

 that of distinguishing between the innocent and the guiltv. Sav- 

 ages have little inclination to weigh the niceties of legal evidence, 

 and something tliat brings a (|uick result api>eals forcibly to 

 then>. 



There are several other ])oisonous plants used for various 

 piu-|)oscs, but so far they have not been identitied. This is a 

 jjromising field of in<|uirv. and much remains to l)e learnt con- 

 cerning native i)oisons and their antidotes. The native doctors 

 say they have antidotes for all their poisons, and their word is 

 implicitly believed by the peopU'. Thev could not. however, tell 



