Superstitions 
surely that the victims cannot prove who poi¬ 
soned them, nor when, nor how. They murder 
by poison because in this way they can more 
easily escape detection. To draw even a little 
blood in times of peace is a capital crime. There 
is much quarrelling and even fighting among the 
women, but they rap each other over the shoul¬ 
ders with the palms of their hands in such a way 
as to hurt without drawing blood. When fight¬ 
ing, young men frequently tap each other over 
the head with short sticks upon which little iron 
rings have been strung. In this way they can 
knock each other down without breaking the 
scalp and drawing blood. One morning about 
light, 1 heard some people shouting, <f ehjeh! 
ehjeh ! ” (blood, blood) as if a murder had been 
committed, but on investigating, found that a 
woman had drawn a little blood by scratching 
the face of a man. If the matter had not been 
hushed up before it got to the ears of Areh, the 
offender might have suffered decapitation. 
I do not remember a single instance in which 
a poisoner was detected and punished by the au¬ 
thorities. People might be suspected, and the 
fear of poisoning would sometimes scatter the 
people of a compound, but legal proof was gen¬ 
erally wanting. Loud lamentation once caused 
95 
