364 SUPERSTITIONS 



of any avail. Their faith is likewise strong in an 

 evil influence variously called, who, they consider, 

 is always looking for an opportunity to afflict them 

 and interfere with their temporal well-being. The 

 propitiation of the latter is a troublesome and 

 expensive business, as it never occurs to the African 

 mind that Mlungu might be able to exercise any 

 restraining influence ; so he takes the whole of the 

 gigantic contract upon his own shoulders, and, as a 

 rule, finds it a sufficiently absorbing study. Before 

 undertaking the simplest enterprise, therefore, he 

 will consult the spirits of his ancestors, with very 

 considerable ceremony, supposing that from their 

 present abode they must possess facilities for ob- 

 taining information as to the views of the evil one. 

 It is evidently not an idea that would enter the 

 minds of the survivors of a family which had been 

 noted for its good works, but the native sees 

 nothing derogatory to their memory in it, since 

 the evil spirits are supposed to have a habit of 

 consorting with the shades of the dead, possibly 

 with a view to gleaning hints as to how most 

 easily to exercise their satanic and malevolent 

 influence upon the survivors. Be this as it may, 

 the Creator is wholly neglected, and never enters 

 into their calculations at all. 



Another singular custom which obtains in certain 

 parts of the country is to apply to the witch doctor 

 for denunciation of the unknown perpetrator of 

 murder, witchcraft, or other serious offence, by 

 calling back, in the case of the former, the spirit of 

 the deceased. This he affects to do by means of a 

 small gourd, usually not unlike a little, fat doll, It 



