104 The Minor Tribes 
cit. 334) terms the root “ Imbando,” a corruption 
of Mbundu. M. du Chaillu (chap, xv.) gives an 
illustration of the “ Mboundou leaf” (half size) : 
Professor John Torrey believes the active principle 
to be a vegeto-alkali of the Strychnos group, but 
the symptoms do not seem to bear out the con¬ 
jecture. The Mpongwe told me that the poison was 
named either Mbundu or Olonda (nut) werere— 
perhaps this was what is popularly called “ a sell.” 
Mbundu is the decoction of the scraped bark 
which corresponds with the “ Sassy-water” of the 
northern maritime tribes. The accused, after 
drinking the potion, is ordered to step over sticks 
of the same plant, which are placed a pace apart. 
If the man be affected, he raises his foot like a 
horse with string-halt, and this convicts him of 
the foul crime. Of course there is some antidote, 
as the medicine-man himself drinks large draughts 
of his own stuff: in Old Calabar River for instance, 
Mithridates boils the poison-nut; but Europeans 
could not, and natives would not, tell me what the 
Gaboon “ dodge” is. According to vulgar Africans, 
all test-poisons are sentient and reasoning beings, 
who search the criminal’s stomach, that is his 
heart, and who find out the deep hidden sin ; 
hence the people shout, “If they are wizards, let it 
kill them ; if they are innocent, let it go forth! ” 
Moreover, the detected murderer is considered a 
bungler who has fallen into the pit dug for his 
