14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANATOMICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL 



the case of chiefs or headmen, much of the personal property of the 

 deceased is torn or broken up and laid alongside. The mouth of the 

 recess is then closed by a mat supported by a few poles, so that the 

 earth may not fall on the corpse, and the grave is filled in. If a chief, 

 the grave is then hung round with offerings to the dead, and a pot is 

 sunk in the ground to receive the sacrifice of native beer which from 

 time to time the survivors will make to the spirit of their dead relative 

 or friend. The mourners then return home, and have their heads 

 shaved as a sign of mourning. The chief next calls a meeting to con- 

 sult with his headmen, and the relatives of the deceased as a rule 

 make complaint of witchcraft as the cause of death, and demand an ap- 

 peal to the divining " lots ". Two or three are selected to approach 

 the divining oracle, and he, after consulting the lots, names one or 

 more individuals as the cause of the death of their relative. The ac- 

 cused is then confronted with the charge, and the trial takes place. 

 Originally among the Yaos the result of the appeal to the lots was suf- 

 ficient proof of guilt, and the accused was forthwith put to death by 

 burning upon a tire of thorns, but of late, owing doubtless to their 

 contact with the Mang'anja, an appeal is allowed to the poisoned or- 

 deal. This is prepared from the bark of the mwabve tree, and is ad- 

 ministered in the presence of the accusers. If the victim dies of the 

 poison, he is deemed guilty, and his body is forthwith mutilated and 

 cast out unburied to the bush, while his relatives have to pay com- 

 pensation to the relatives of the original deceased for the crime of their 

 friend. If the accused vomits the poison he is deemed innocent, and 

 the accusers have to pay him compensation for the charge they brought. 

 They will then appeal again to the lots, the diviner, of course, finding 

 some good excuse for the failure of his first appeal, and another will be 

 accused, and so the case will go on till either some one dies of the 

 poison or the relatives desist from further proceedings. Among the 

 Angoni the poison is administered to the whole village, whose inhabit- 

 ants thus hope to clear themselves of any complicity in the crime. 

 Only last year I knew of eleven who thus died of the poison in the 

 hope of establishing their good name. 



