In Afric’s Forest and Jungle 
me to stop at the house of an acquaintance. I 
found the bale and those around him in deep 
distress. Two of his sons had just died sud¬ 
denly and he was in dread of the same fate. 
Though he probably suspected the murderer, he 
dared not express his opinion in the matter. 
There were several dwellings in this compound, 
but in a few days I found it deserted and as 
silent as the grave. Each family was afraid of 
the others and had sought homes in other com¬ 
pounds. 
Another thing that adds much to the mental 
disquietude of the people is a firm belief in the 
“evil eye.” For this reason they often avert 
their eyes when a stranger looks at them. When 
they fear that some one has smitten them with 
an “evil eye,” the rich often spend large sums 
of money in buying “ medicine ” to wash their 
eyes. I once knew a powerful chief to start up 
from his seat and flee to the remotest recesses of 
his vast compound because his eyes had acci¬ 
dentally met the black, angry eyes of a mission¬ 
ary whom he had wronged. For days, he 
washed his eyes with the most powerful “med¬ 
icine ” to break the wicked spell. 
By a thoughtless prank, soon after coming to 
Ejahyay I became an object of suspicion to the 
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