-+ Anthropology : Social 



rarely the case, the K\vi-iru appears in the clay, the 'father' 

 is always so masked as to he perfectly disguised. The night 

 is the usual time tor this strange association to go abroad ; 

 often at midnight, on the outskirts of the town, or in the 

 adjoining bush, a sudden discordant shrieking, whistling, yelling, 

 hideous noise bursts forth. In a tumultuous body they run 

 around and through the town. Women and children fly 

 affrighted into their houses and close them up, for a heavy 

 fine would be the penalty of their seeing and being seen by 

 the mysterious visitors. If in their wild revelling they fancy 

 they want something from any person, they surround his house, 

 and there remain yelling, dancing, screaming, and threatening 

 until their demand is granted. 



The avowed object of the association is to seek and to 

 punish witches and wizards. These are said to be particularly 

 active in practising their arts at night. They strip themselves 

 naked and go to the houses of those whose lives they seek ; 

 and especially is it their delight to visit and dance on the 

 graves of those whom they have succeeded in killing by their 

 enchantments. Woe, then, to the man or woman who is seen 

 walking about or through the towns in the night ! The Kwi- 

 iru pounce upon them, carry them to a house prepared for the 

 purpose, put them in the top of it, where they are smoked 

 until next day about ten o'clock, the usual time for subjecting 

 them to the universal African test, u gedu " or sassy-wood. 

 Early in the morning an official of the Kwi-iru is dispatched 

 to the forest to get the bark of the gedu tree. This arrived, 

 the accused person is taken by the Kwi-iru to the field, there, 

 in the presence of the assembled townspeople, to be subjected 

 to the test. The officer of the society beats the bark in a 

 mortar, pours water into it, then turns it out into a wooden 

 bowl, and calls for the accused to come forward and drink, 



1069 



