CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS 325 



be successfully extracted, and with his death the ju- 

 ju had been lost and in its absence no one was brave 

 enough to begin working the lead again. I had 

 found the king of Bashar, although professedly Moham- 

 medan, strongly imbued with the idea of the efficacy 

 of this ju-ju, and now his son professed entire ignorance 

 of the site of the ancient workings. He said, how- 

 ever, that he would make inquiries for me amongst 

 the hunters of the neighbouring hamlets, as some of 

 them might possibly have stumbled upon them in the 

 course of their wanderings in the bush after game. In 

 a short time, after consulting his fellow- settlers, he 

 returned to say that he believed that if I were to go 

 to the adjoining village of Pai the headman there would 

 be able to direct me to the spot. I set off at once, 

 accompanied by my host ; but when we reached the 

 village its headman in turn likewise professed entire 

 ignorance of the whereabouts of the ancient workings. 

 He was obviously lying, but it was equally obvious that 

 he feared the power of the ju-ju more than the dis- 

 pleasure of the white man. This was disappointing, 

 but, happily, a sick man who was sitting at the door 

 of his hut and who had overheard the conversation, 

 apparently thinking that the ju-ju could do him no 

 further harm, spoke up and said that he knew where 

 the place was and would send his boy to show me 

 the way. This assumption of responsibility apparently 

 cleared the air, and the frowns departed from the 

 countenances of the villagers, some of whom followed 

 me, cheerfully shouting out directions to my youthful 

 guide whenever he seemed to be in doubt as to the 

 way. At length in a patch of low scrub and under- 

 growth, where formerly had stood a busy town, we 



