240 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



EAST CENTRAL AFRICAN CUSTOMS. 



By JAMES MACDONALD. 

 PART II. 



AN institution peculiar to Central Africa is the prophetess,* 

 who combines with her prophetic functions the office of 

 witch detective. As she is the most terrible character met with in 

 village life, a detailed account of her office and method of pro- 

 cedure may be interesting. It is to the prophetess the gods or 

 ancestral spirits make known their will. This they do by direct 

 appearance, and in dreams or visions. The prophetess, who is 

 frequently the chief's free wife, dreams her dreams and then gives 

 forth oracles at intervals, according to the exigencies of the case. 

 These are generally delivered in a kind of hysterical frenzy. 

 When she sees the gods face to face, which always happens at the 

 dead hour of night, she begins by raving and screaming. This 

 she continues till the whole village is astir, and she herself utterly 

 prostrated by her exertions. She then throws herself on the 

 ground, and remains in a state of catalepsy for some time, while 

 the villagers gather round her, awe-stricken, waiting for her rev- 

 elations. At last she speaks, and her words are accepted without 

 question as the oracles of God. Has she not seen the ancestors 

 face to face ? Has she not heard their voice sending a message 

 to their children ? Is she not their friend, to whom they have 

 shown favor ? Must not all hear the words of those who have 

 gone before ? 



After these revelations, the prophetess may impose impossible 

 tasks on men, and they will be attempted without question. She 

 may order human sacrifices, and no one will deny her victims. 

 Suppose she, for any reason, declares that a person must be offered 

 in sacrifice to a mountain deity — for there are gods of the valleys 

 and gods of the hills, deities of the rivers and of the forests — the 

 victim is conducted to a spot indicated by her, and bound hand 

 and foot to a tree. If during the first night he is killed by beasts 

 of prey, the gods have accepted the sacrifice, and feast " on his 

 fat," which is " as the smell of spices in their nostrils." Should 

 the victim not be devoured, he is left to die of starvation, or is 

 thrown into lake or river with a sinker attached. " The slave was 

 not worthy of the god's acceptance. He is worth nothing to any 

 one." Fowls and other animals killed in sacrifice are not burned ; 

 they are simply left near the " prayer tree," and when devoured 

 during the night the sacrifice is accepted. Among the tribes 



* Walolo tribe and Lake Shirwa district generally. 



