THE ORDEAL 283 



cathory -leaves, when boiled, exude a gummy juice, which 

 effectually shuts out the external air. Each remedy, of 

 course, claimed the merit of the cure. 



Many of the children are cut off by fever. A fine boy 

 of Captain Neves' had, since my passage westward, shared 

 a similar fate. Another child died during the period of 

 my visit. 



The intercourse which the natives have had with white 

 men does not seem to have much ameliorated their con- 

 dition. A great number of persons are reported to lose 

 their lives annually in different districts of Angola by the 

 cruel superstitions to which they are addicted, and the 

 Portuguese authorities either know nothing of them or are 

 unable to prevent their occurrence. The natives are bound 

 to secrecy by those who administer the ordeal, which gene- 

 rally causes the death of the victim. A person, when ac- 

 cused of witchcraft, will often travel from distant districts 

 in order to assert her innocency and brave the test. They 

 corne to a river on the Cassange called Dua, drink the 

 infusion of a poisonous tree, and perish unknown. 



The same superstitious ideas being prevalent through 

 the whole of the country north of the Zambesi seems to 

 indicate that the people must originally have been one. 

 All believe that the souls of the departed still mingle 

 among the living and partake in some way of the food 

 they consume. 



The chieftainship is elective from certain families. Among 

 the Bangalas of the Cassange valley the chief is chosen 

 from three families in rotation. A chief's brother inherits 

 in preference to his son. The sons of a sister belong to her 

 brother; and he often sells his nephews to pay his debts. 

 By this and other unnatural customs, more than by war, is 

 the sluve-market supplied. 



While here, I reproduced the last of my lost papers and 

 maps j and, as there is a post twice a month from Loanda, 

 I had the happiness to receive a packet of the "Times," 

 and, among other news, an account of the Bussian war up 



