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WESTERH AFRICA. 
starvation, and the first thing they requested 
Mr. B. to give them was food. To burn 
to death by piecemeal, with only food 
enough given the victim to keep life in him, 
is a very common mode of torturing persons 
for witchcraft. 
One object in torturing so severely seems 
to be to extort confession from the victim, 
and with their teachings on that subject, 
and being distracted with pain, some confess 
to a crime ( though never committed ) for 
which they atone by their death. Thus 
many annually, because of the superstitions 
and cruelties of heathenism, fall victims to 
an indescribably painful death. 
When a noted headman dies, the chief 
men of the town keep it a secret until they 
select a person to take his place, and, if 
possible, embezzle a part of his property. 
After this, they make the u cry " for him., 
which continues sometimes for months. If 
he has relatives who live at a distance, they 
keep the knowledge of his death from them 
as long as they can. This is done to save 
the expense of feeding them ( for all relatives 
eoming to the 46 cry " must be fed at the ex- 
