SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 13 



to be expected that medical research would advance very far. Still 

 the native doctor does possess a few herbal remedies which are cer- 

 tainly efficacious, but the most trusted of his nostrums are prescribed 

 in the form of charms or amulets. These I shall have to allude to pre- 

 sently, as they deal with the most abstruse and mysterious of all forms 

 of native belief the presence of spirit possession in material objects. 



Let me first refer, however, briefly to the native belief in witch- 

 craft, a part of the native creed which influences most powerfully his 

 daily and social life. So strong is the native horror of this crime of 

 witchcraft that it is very difficult to get him to discuss it at all, and it 

 is only through actual charges that have been brought against indi- 

 viduals in the native law courts that one has been able to get any 

 insight into this subject. 



To put it briefly, the native " witch " is a member of a secret cult 

 which feeds on human flesh, and thereby obtains its occult powers, 

 and the deaths of their victims are said to be brought about for the 

 purpose of obtaining the human flesh on which the " witches " feast 

 at their midnight orgies. The powers thus obtained enable them to 

 produce disease, misfortune and death. They are worked through the 

 means of charms or " medicines" which are administered by secreting 

 them about the hut or village or garden of the individual whom they 

 wish to injure. The result is that some mysterious illness befals this 

 individual and unless his "doctor" can provide some more powerful 

 charms, the case must end fatally. The result is as follows : 



As soon as a death occurs, the relatives and friends gather round 

 the corpse, and watch it night and clay, while the young men and 

 women dance and sing to the accompaniment of drums and the firing 

 of guns all this to keep the " witches " from their supposed victim. 

 The corpse is first washed and prepared for burial by bending the 

 knees to the chin, and wrapping it up in a sleeping mat. When the 

 near relatives have assembled, generally the morning following the 

 death, the corpse is slung on a pole and carried to the grave. A grave 

 is dug, and a recess scooped out at the bottom on one side of the pit. 

 In this the corpse is laid on its side, with the face to the east, and, in 



