CANNIBALISM 361 



to the certainty that some person is undergoing 

 the Mwavi torture, throw the whole community 

 into a state of ferment. 



But stripping off the picturesque superstition of 

 sorcery, with all its singular " were- wolf " attributes, 

 cases have been known of natives becoming 

 addicted to a form of cannibalism which has led to 

 their digging up and devouring the corpses of the 

 dead. I remember one particularly conclusive 

 piece of evidence which I received in the course of 

 a visit to Zambezia only last year. It appears that 

 in certain A-Nyanja villages in the Pinda District, 

 an old man was accused of this practice, and, a 

 complaint having been formally made to the head- 

 man of his village, he was made to drink Mwavi, 

 which in this instance was a correct enough form 

 of ordeal, for no sooner was it applied, and before 

 the man had time to vomit, he was seized with 

 panic and confessed that the charge was true, at 

 the same time directing the people to the spot in 

 the forest where his dreadful feasts took place. 

 Here human remains were discovered, but when 

 they were brought in to the village, it was found 

 that the accused had vomited the draught, and, 

 therefore, could not be guilty. Here was a per- 

 plexing position ; so to solve it the whole matter 

 was brought before the European district official, 

 who told me the story. 



Of course the native mind invests these canni- 

 balistic sabbaths with much fanciful, fantastic 

 imagery. They suppose, for example, that the 

 corpse-devouring wizards are very numerous ; that 

 in addition to putting on the forms of wild beasts, 



