TRIBAL CUSTOMS 108 
often influences him in deciding what strength to give the poison, or he may be 
bribed. He also knows of course that fear will help to betray the criminal. It 
is almost impossible for a native suspected of any serious crime to avoid the 
trial by ordeal unless he is able to escape from the community in some miracu- 
lous way, — a thing not easy to accomplish in such a country. Even in Mon- 
rovia, the trial by ordeal is not infrequently employed or recommended by the 
Americo-Liberians in order to detect guilt in case of theft or other crime. 
Among the Boriowah, whose customs influence a number of the Kru tribes 
in the interior, particularly the Gibis and Grebos, the medicine doctor uses a 
trained lizard to aid him in the preliminary work of detecting the criminal. 
This lizard when held in the palm of the hand of the doctor, is supposed to point 
to the guilty person; suddenly it will leap to the garments of the shivering, 
frightened man and cling to him until it is removed. If the person is actually 
guilty he will sometimes believe that he has been detected, and confess his crime 
without undergoing the ordeal. 
The manner of conducting the trial and the interpretation of its results vary 
somewhat among the different tribes. However, it is generally accepted that if 
the person undergoing the ordeal dies from the effects of the poison, he is cer- 
tainly guilty of the offence, and that his guilt has unquestionably been proved. 
When, however, the evidence of the guilt of the accused seems conclusive to 
those concerned, and he nevertheless does not die on drinking the first potion, a 
second is given him, or even a third or more. When the native is really guilty, 
his belief in the efficacy of the test is so great that he will often confess his 
crime, — especially if the irritant poison causes vomiting, retching and abdom- 
inal pains, and he becomes frightened and feels that judgment has descended 
upon him. Among some of the tribes, if the patient immediately vomits, the 
medicine man and the authorities concerned judge him not guilty, and if the 
crime is not a serious one, the matter ends. But if these authorities have already 
investigated and convinced themselves that the victim is not to escape, or is 
really guilty of a serious offence, then cup after cup of the sasswood mixture is 
forced upon him until through fright or despair, he either confesses or falls into 
a stupor and dies. We have been informed that in some instances from twenty 
to thirty cups of the mixture have been forced one after the other upon the vic- 
tim. Among the Krus, in the trial for theft, the accused is considered guilty if 
the mixture acts as a purge, and either he or his relatives or friends are expected 
to return the amount of the theft, and to pay the medicine man who has pre- 
pared the sasswood and conducted the trial. 
Government officials have employed the trial by ordeal with sasswood suc- 
cessfully in a number of instances, particularly in the interior of the country, in 
detecting members of the human leopard society, suspected of murder and can- 
nibalism. Three of a number of leopard men we saw are illustrated in No. 71. 
After undergoing trial by ordeal and being compelled to drink cup after cup of 
sasswood and after repeated attacks of vomiting, retching, and pain, they finally 
confessed to their crimes. On recovery from the effects of the poison, they were 
placed in chains and sentenced to hard labor for life. It is said that a person 
