Chap XXII. THE ORDEAL. 293 



actions, concluded that the merchants of Cassange had stolen 

 the dead man's goods, and that now the spirit was killing the 

 child of Captain Neves for the part he had taken in the affair. 

 Upon this the mother of the child came and told the father 

 that he ought to give a slave to the diviner, as his fee, if he 

 would appease the spirit and save the life of the child. Instead 

 of this, the father quietly sent for a neighbour, and by a brisk 

 application of a couple of sticks to his back suddenly reduced 

 the diviner to a most undignified flight. The child was soon 

 in a dying state, and, as the father wished it to be baptized, I 

 commended its soul to the care and compassion of Him who 

 said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." The mother at 

 once rushed away, and commenced that doleful wail which is 

 so affecting, inasmuch as it expresses sorrow without hope. 

 In the evening her female companions used a small musical 

 instrument constructed of caoutchouc, which produced a kind 

 of screeching sound, as an accompaniment to the death-wail. 



The intercourse which the natives have had with white 

 men does not seem to have ameliorated their condition to 

 any great extent. Very many lives are annually sacrificed 

 to their cruel superstitions without the knowledge, or at all 

 events without the inteiference, of the Portuguese authorities. 

 The use of the ordeal prevails, and proves veiy fatal : persons 

 accused of witchcraft, in order to assert their innocency, will 

 often travel from distant districts to a river on the Cassange 

 called Dua, and there drink the infusion of a poisonous tree, 

 and perish. While we were at Cassange a woman who was 

 accused by a brother-in-law of being the cause of his sickness 

 offered to take the ordeal, under the idea that it would prove 

 her conscious innocence. Captain Neves refused his consent 

 to her going, and thus saved her life, which would have been 

 sacrificed to the virulence of the poison. Shortly after, when 

 we were at the Quango, we heard of a chief named Gando, 

 who was accused of witchcraft, being killed by the ordeal, 

 and his body thrown into the river. When a strong stomach 

 rejects it, the accuser reiterates his charge; the dose is 

 repeated, and the person dies. Hundreds perish thus every 

 year in the valley of Cassange. 



The prevalence of the same superstitious ideas through the 

 whole of the country north of the Zambesi seems to indicate 



