EAST CENTRAL AFRICAN CUSTOMS. 241 



farther south, animals sacrificed are cooked and eaten, with the 

 exception of the sacred portions, which are burned with fire. 



As a detective of wizards and witches, the prophetess is in con- 

 stant demand. When traveling on official duty in this capacity, 

 she goes accompanied by a strong guard, and when she orders a 

 meeting of a clan or tribe, attendance is compulsory on pain of 

 confessed guilt. When all are assembled, our friend, who is clad 

 with a scanty loin-cloth of leopard skin, and literally covered from 

 head to foot with rattles and fantasies, rushes about among the 

 crowd. She shouts and rants and raves in the most frantic man- 

 ner, after which, assuming a calm, judicial aspect, she goes from 

 one to another, touching each person's hand. As she touches the 

 hand of the bewitcher she starts back with a loud shriek, and 

 yells : " This is he, the murderer ; blood is in his hand ! " I am not 

 certain if the accused has a right to demand the mwai, but it ap- 

 pears this may be allowed. My impression is that the law does 

 not require it, and that the prophetess's verdict is absolute and 

 final. The condemned man is put to death, witchcraft being a 

 capital crime in all parts of Africa. But the accuser is not con- 

 tent with simply discovering the culprit. She proves his guilt. 

 This she does by "smelling out" finding the " horns " he used 

 in the prosecution of the unlawful art. These are generally the 

 horns of a small species of antelope, and which are par excellence 

 " witch's horns." The prophetess " smells out " the horns by going 

 along the bank of a stream, carrying a water vessel and an ordinary 

 hoe. At intervals she lifts water from the stream, which she pours 

 upon the ground, and then stoops to listen. She hears subter- 

 ranean voices directing her to the wizard's hiding place, at which, 

 when she arrives, she begins to dig with her hoe, muttering incan- 

 tations the while, and there she finds the horns deposited near the 

 stream to poison the water drunk by the person to be bewitched. 

 As they are dug from the ground, should any one, not a magician, 

 touch them, even accidentally, the result would be instant death. 



Now, how does the detective find the horns? By what devil's 

 art does she hit upon the spot where they are concealed ? The ex- 

 planation is very simple. Wherever she is employed she must 

 spend a night in the village before commencing operations. She 

 does not retire to rest like the other villagers, but wanders about 

 the live-long night, listening to spirit voices. If she sees a poor 

 wight outside his house after the usual hour for retiring, she 

 brings that up against him next day as evidence of guilty inten- 

 tion, and that, either on his own account, or on account of his 

 friend the wizard, he meant to steal away to dig up the horns. 

 The dread of such dire consequences keeps the villagers within 

 doors, leaving the sorceress the whole night to arrange for the 

 tableau of the following day. 



VOL. XLIII. 17 



