CANNIBAL SOCIETIES 205 



superstition ; Christianity rarely does it, the 

 most ignorant convert being ever a pagan at 

 heart, and even the most educated revert readily 

 to fetish influence. 



When I was stationed at Sierra Leone, on the 

 west coast of Africa, in 1912, two secret societies 

 called the " Leopard " and the " Crocodile " had 

 just been tracked down and destroyed. Among 

 the rites they practised were those of cannibalism ; 

 the victims being attacked by members of these 

 bands with weapons like claws, and jaws resembling 

 those of the leopard and crocodile. When these 

 horrible societies were at last unmasked and their 

 followers captured and tried, it was found that 

 the ringleader was an educated negro. Such 

 secret societies are rare in Angola. One was 

 formed of the young men of the Lunda people 

 when forbidden to smoke hemp by their elders. 

 This society became ultimately a political and 

 radical union directed against the more conser- 

 vative elders. It was never religious in character. 



It is usually the witch doctor who makes love 

 philtres, much as the witch did in England years 

 ago. These philtres are often made in Angola 

 from the hair and nail parings of the beloved. 

 Such things are supposed to have a special personal 

 influence, as they are often taken from the bodies 

 of dead chiefs and distributed among his people 

 at the funeral. As totemism exists in an obscure 

 form in Angola and taboos arc recognized, the 

 witch doctor has still another method of main- 

 taining his hold on the people and augmenting his 

 practice and income : by the imposition of pro- 



