334 
Proceedings of the Eoyed Society 
A good man to them is one who is brave and not afraid to fight 
or die, who seeks the welfare of others, and is always ready to show 
kindness to them, who respects the aged, helps the sick and infi rm, 
and gives to those who are in need. 
Superstitions . — Among the superstitious practices in vogue in the 
Madi tribe, is the detection of guilt by ordeal. 
Three means of trial by ordeal are used, through which it is 
believed guilt can be detected. If a man is accused of an offence 
and denies it, he goes with his accuser to have the matter settled by 
ordeal. 
In one mode of trial they both receive a red feather of great 
value, and have to bite it through. This is considered very 
dangerous, for after a few weeks the guilty one will fall ill and die. 
Unless very sure of their own innocency they rarely try this ordeal. 
At other times seed is given to be eaten, which will be innocuous 
to the innocent, but fatal to the guilty. Another method is by 
throwing down small sticks of equal lengths. In the case of an 
innocent man, the sticks will fall against each other, standing up 
like the legs of a Gipsy table, whereas a guilty man’s sticks fall flat. 
Before any of these trials the men look up and solemnly invoke 
some invisible being to punish him if guilty, or help him if 
innocent. 
If a man is seen committing an injury and does not deny it, the 
injured person challenges him, and they fight until one is killed or 
badly wounded. Sometimes the men of the village come together 
and separate them, and then a kind of rough trial takes place, and 
the defaulter is obliged to make restitution in kind, e.g., a cow and 
a goat for a cow injured, a hut and a cow for a hut, &c* 
There are three classes of men who possess authority in villages 
and districts. Class A. preside over ordeals ; class B. possess the 
power to try j^ersons accused of murder or any great crime ; and 
class C., perhaps the most Important of all, consists of the men who 
kill the lambs on particular occasions, as described elsewhere. 
Madmen are always hanged. If birds afterwards feed on the 
body, it is taken as a proof that the person was really mad, their 
absence showing that he was wrongly put to death. 
Great faith is placed in the power of a certain plant, a piece of 
v/hich, after being spit upon, is applied to a man’s shoulders and 
