282 ORDEALS. 



emetic, but in a larger dose as a virulent poison. The chief 

 use of the tangena ordeal was for the detection of -witchcraft, 

 by which the African races " understand the use of poisonous 

 drugs for evil purposes." Dr. Davidson remarks * that the 

 word " is in fact equivalent to the $ap/xaKeia of the Greeks ; 

 and as the terms $apfuiico<; and veneficus were applied by the 

 ancients to signify alike a physician, a sorcerer, and a poisoner, 

 so in many of the African languages the same peculiarity obtains. 

 This arises from the fact that among these and other primi- 

 tive races the physiological effect of drugs, whether poisonous 

 or medicinal, are ascribed to some magical power, either inhe- 

 rent in the substance itself or imparted to it by sorcery. 

 Medicines are thus employed as charms both for causing and 

 curing disease." 



The use of some poison as an ordeal in Madagascar is pro- 

 bably of very ancient date, but it seems possible that the 

 tangena itself has not been used for a very long period. 

 It was. used chiefly for the detection of infamous crimes 

 when ordinary evidence could not be obtained, such as 

 witchcraft and treason ; and it was believed that there was 

 inherent in the fruit some supernatural power, a kind of 

 " searcher of hearts," which entered into the suspected person, 

 and either cleared him of guilt or convicted him. The mode 

 in which it was administered was by giving a portion of two 

 nuts rubbed down in water or in the juice of a banana, the 

 culprit having previously eaten a little rice and swallowed 

 three small square-shaped pieces of a fowl's skin. Tepid 

 water was after a few minutes administered to cause vomit- 

 ing, and the proof of innocence was the rejection of these 

 three pieces uninjured. But even if the ordeal was fairly 

 administered, there was an amount of risk of poisoning ; and 

 as it was frequently used to get rid of obnoxious persons, 

 by a little management it could easily be made to yield an 

 unfavourable result. 



One of the most remarkable things in connection with this 

 ordeal was the implicit faith of the people generally in its 

 supernatural power, so that they would often demand of the 

 authorities that it should be administered to them to clear 



* Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, vol. viii. p. 97. 



