108 
A VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 
When the accusation of magic falls on a person whom they 
cannot sell, either on account of his age, or the rank of his 
family, he is conducted to a field out of the town, >vhere he is 
obliged to dig his own grave ; while the people, who surround 
and guard hioi;, load him with insuits, and say as a common 
phrase, You kill others, and do not wish that death should 
strike you in return." During these injuries he continues his 
doleful work with an apparent insensibility, and merely answers, 
It is true that I have killed such a one, and many others ; and 
if I were to live 1 should kill many more." From time to time 
he takes measure of the grave v>'ith his own body ; and wlsen he 
thinks it deep enough, tliey place him at one end with his face 
towards it : in this position one of the assistants gives him a vio- 
lent blow on tîie nape of the neck, v^hich causes him to fall 
into the grave on his face; th.ey then cover him with mould, 
and finish him by running him through with a sharp pike, which 
they strike several times into his bffdy. The grave is then filled 
np, and the name of the criminal is condemned to oblivion. 
These ceremonies, in which slight differences prevail amongst 
the various tribes, are so absurd, and their injustice is so palpa- 
ble, that it is astonishing that the people have not abolished 
so barbarous a custom, notwithstanding its antiquity. 
AU savage or ignorant nations have believed in spells and 
magic ; but nothing can equal the furious people of whom I 
am speaking. îf a crocodile devour a man, a leopard destroy 
a sheep, a person fall ill, or die sudtlenly ; or if any reverses 
be experienced, it is always through the sorcerer ; and when he 
is discovered, he never escapes the cruel punishment which the 
law pronounces against him. 
They place implicit faith iîî the efficacy of a talisman, which 
they call gris-gris: they wear it round their neck, at their waist, 
and on their legs and arms. Each has its particular virtue : 
one preserves them from bullets; another from poison; and when 
a man has been killed, burnt, or drowned, they say, that his 
gris-gris was not so eiiicacious as that of his enemy. They are, 
however, persuaded that the gris-gris can do nothing against 
cannon. 
These talismans are made of gout skins, with the hair on, or 
of morocco ieatlier ; and they are of diff erent sizes, from one to 
three iiiches ; they are filled vvith a kind of powder, and with 
scraps of certain sentences of the alkoran in the Arabic. Hie 
priests, or marabous, have the exclusive privilege of preparing 
and selling them. These people all follow the trade of divines 
or augurs : their testimony is, in the eyes of the people, evi- 
dence itself; they pry into futurity, discover thieves and adul- 
