Chap. III. HORRID FORM OF JIOXOMAXIA. 53 



he would not believe liis own confession, until the hoy 

 took him to a place in the forest where lay the two 

 bodies, one with the head cut off, and the other with 

 the belly torn open. Uj)on this, Akondogo gave 

 orders to seize the lad. He was bound with ropes, 

 taken to the village, and there tied in a horizontal 

 position to a post, and burnt slowly to death, all the 

 people standing' by until he expired. 



I must say, the end of the story seemed to me too 

 horrid to listen to. I shuddered, and was ready to 

 curse the race that was capable of committing such 

 acts. But on careful inquiry, I found it was a case 

 of monomania in the boy Akosho, and that he really 

 was the murderer of the two men. It is probable 

 that the superstitious belief of these morbidly imagi- 

 native Africans in the transformation of men into 

 leopards, being early instilled into the minds of their 

 children, is the direct cause of murders being com- 

 mitted under the influence of it. The boy himself, as 

 well as Akondogo and all the people, believed he had 

 really turned into a leopard, and the cruel punish- 

 ment was partly in vengeance for witchcraft, and 

 partly to prevent the committal of more crimes by 

 the boy in a similar way, for, said they, the man has 

 a spirit of witchcraft. 



The natives of all the neighbouring country were 

 now so Mcll aware that I wanted live gorillas, nnd 

 was willing to give a high price for them, that many 

 were stimulated to search with great perseverance; 

 the good effects of this were soon made evident. 



One day as I was quietly dining with Captain 



