434 
THE OKDEAL. 
Chap. XXII. 
In the construction of this instrument they make use of 
caoutchouc, which, with a yariety of other gums, is found in 
different parts of this country. 
The intercourse which the natives have had with white men, 
does not seem to have much amehorated their condition. A 
great number of persons are reported to lose their lives annually 
in different districts of Angola, by the cruel superstitions to which 
they are addicted, and the Portuguese authorities either know 
nothing of them, or are unable to prevent thek occm'rence. The 
natives are bound to secrecy by those who administer the ordeal, 
wliich generally causes the death of the victim. A person, when 
accused of witchcraft, wdl often travel from distant districts in 
order to assert her innocency and brave the test. They come 
to a river on the Cassange called Dua, drink the iofusion of 
a poisonous tree, and perish unknown. 
A woman was accused by a brother-in-law of being the cause 
of his sickness while we were at Cassange. She offered to take 
the ordeal, as she had the idea that it would but prove her con¬ 
scious ionocence. Captam Neves refused his consent to her going, 
and thus saved her hfe, which would have been sacrificed, for the 
poison is very virulent. Wlien 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 same superstitious ideas being prevalent through the 
whole of the country north of the Zambesi, seems to indicate 
that the people must originally have been one. AU beheve that 
the souls of the departed still mingle among the living, and par¬ 
take in some way of the food they consume. In sickness, sacrifices 
of fowls and goats are made to appease the spirits. It is imagined 
that they wish to take the hving away from earth and all its 
enjoyments. When one man has killed another, a sacrifice is 
made, as if to lay the spirit of the victim. A sect is reported to 
exist, who kill men in order to take their hearts and offer them 
to the Barimo. 
The chieftainship is elective from certain families. Among the 
Bangalas of the Cassange valley, the chief is chosen from tlrree 
families in rotation. A chief’s brother inherits in preference to 
liis son. The sons of a sister belong to her brother; and he often 
