45° 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 
rival ruler of the universe or as an alternative to the good God, in short some 
tribes believe—without outside influence—in a devil. This is the case with the 
Wankonde at the north end of Lake Nyasa, who, according to Dr. Cross, 
believe that Mbase (the spirit of evil) lives in a remarkable cave in the side 
of the mountain called Ikombwe. This cave has stalactites and stalagmites 
in abundance. As Mbase is considered to be the source of many troubles 
people worship him and propitiate him constantly. When Dr. Cross visited 
the cave it was nearly filled up with old broken pots and rotten cloth. These 
pots had been deposited full of meal for hundreds of years in the cave so that 
it is now almost blocked up. Two years ago a harum-scarum son of chief 
Mwankenja determined to set Mbase at defiance and robbed his cave of large 
quantities of cloth and offerings of brass-wire and beads. As no harm 
happened to him subsequently the belief in an evil spirit is said to have 
received a severe shock, and this, with the growing influence of the missionaries, 
is bringing about a cessation of the worship. 
With all this implicit belief in the lingering life or the immortality of the 
soul after death, the natives of Central Africa do not believe in any form 
of resurrection. All these peoples have numerous sayings and proverbs 
expressive of the fact that the dead never return. If they analysed their 
own beliefs they would probably admit that in most cases spirit life had a 
definite duration, after which it faded away into the central God, “ Mulungu,” 
or into nothingness. Certain great men might linger on for centuries. 
At the north end of Lake Nyasa the natives constantly offer sacrifices 
to the spirits of the dead. Secret places for worship are known as Ilisicta 
(plur. Aniasieta). They are usually thick clumps of forest or groves of trees 
in which people have been buried for generations. The offering is generally 
a bullock. The animal is killed by striking it on the back of the neck with 
a sharp axe of a special kind kept for the purpose. The blood is carefully 
collected and poured over the ground in one of the Amasieta. Prayers are 
then offered to the spirits of the forefathers. The head of the ox is laid on the 
ground as a further offering while the rest of the body is consumed by the 
worshippers. 
Divination and the drawing of lots are constantly practised. In Southern 
Nyasaland it is a common practice to ascertain whether a certain journey will 
be favourable by sticking a knife in the grass and leaning against the blade two 
small sticks, or else by laying two tiny sticks on the ground and placing a third 
one athwart the two. The person making the experiment then turns aside for 
a minute or two and if on looking at the sticks again one or other is found 
to have fallen to the ground from against the blade of the knife, or if the stick 
laid athwart the other two is disturbed in its position (from any passing breeze) 
then the omen is a bad one. Among the more superstitious A-nyanja, niuavi 
or other medicines are given to fowls or to goats. (There is evidence to show 
that originally the medicine would have been given to a slave.) If the creature 
thus doctored dies it is an ill omen, if the reverse a good omen. I his is used 
constantly to try the good faith of strangers. Colonel Edwards, Mr. Sharpe 
and myself have often sat anxiously waiting for the result of some such ordeal 
in visiting a suspicious tribe, and have been delighted to see the fowl eject the 
noxious close from its crop, or the goat refuse the bolus, knowing then that our 
cause was gained. Besides the great Muavi ordeal there are other methods 
of testing guilt or innocence. People will plunge their hands into boiling 
water. If not scalded they are innocent. A remarkable instance of divining 
