40 Mr. Morgans Account of the Amakosae. 



witched. It does not ai)pear that any ccienionics or incanta- 

 tions arc performed over these articles, hut they are deposited 

 in a place of secrecy, and then sickness hegins to afflict the 

 person to whom they hclonged, and death ensues if the he- 

 wifcliing matter is not discovered. 



There is no doubt that many of these accusations arc made 

 by the Igiaka to excuse his want of success in the cure of dis- 

 ease, but they are often used by the Chiefs as a means to ob- 

 tain tlie property of their wealthy subjects, or to rid them- 

 selves of a too powerful one : in this case sickness is feigned, 

 the Igiaka points out the person or persons who are the cause, 

 sometimes accusing them of poisoning, at others of bewitching 

 the Chief. Confiscation of property, torture and sometimes 

 death arc sure to follow. Though we may believe tliat no 

 means are actually used to effect these purposes, yet it is cer- 

 tain that there have been instances of individuals who, on the 

 point of being put to the torture, or during its application, have 

 confessed giving something to cause illness, or having employed 

 the bewitching matter, and have told where it was secreted. 

 In some of these cases where an opportunity has occurred of 

 conversing on this subject with the individuals who have 

 escaped on making this confession, they have without scruple 

 stated, that they knew nothing about it, but that when they 

 have been accused, or feared that they should be so, they them- 

 selves or some of their friends, have made up a parcel and 

 deposited it in the place which was afterwards pointed out to the 

 Igiaka. Sometimes no discovery can be made, and the Igiaka 

 finds it out himself, and then the person whom he accuses of 

 having secreted it is sure to be put to death. 

 , During the sickness of some of the great Chiefs the accusa- 

 tions ha\ e been numerous, and many deaths have been the 

 conse(|uence, for if the Chief does not get better, after one is 

 killed another follows, and an end is put to this horrid system 

 of murder only by the death or recovery of the Chief. 



By this practice the people are kept in the most luimiliatuig 

 fear and superstitious dread of the Igiaka-isi-nusikaza. 



There are instances also of persons suffering much from paiu 

 and disease who have got better from the time of the discovery 

 of the bewitching matter ; affording another proof of the effects 

 of the imagination on the sufferings of the body. A deep im- 

 pression is made on the mind of the afflicted individual that his 

 health, and probably his life, are in the hands of some unknown 

 foe. — Hope Hies, — he becomes the victim of despair, and \iews 

 himself as already in the grasp of death, from which no way of 

 escape is open but by obtaiujng the " bewitching matter." la 

 this state he cm|)loys a iierson who, as he has been brought up 

 to believe, has the power of showing where it may be found, or 



