So Imbued Are The
Natives' Minds With Belief In The Power Of Charms, That They Pay
The Magician For Sticks, Stones, Or Mud, Which He Has Doctored
For Them.
They believe certain flowers held in the hand will
conduct them to anything lost; as also that the voice of certain
wild animals, birds, or beasts, will insure them good-luck, or
warn them of danger.
With the utmost complacency our sable
brother builds a dwarf hut in his fields, and places some grain
on it to propitiate the evil spirit, and suffer him to reap the
fruits of his labour, and this too they call Uganga or church.
These are a few of the more innocent alternatives the poor
negroes resort to in place of a "Saviour." They have also many
other and more horrible devices. For instance, in times of
tribulation, the magician, if he ascertains a war is projected by
inspecting the blood and bones of a fowl which he has flayed for
that purpose, flays a young child, and having laid it lengthwise
on a path, directs all the warriors, on proceeding to battle, to
step over his sacrifice and insure themselves victory. Another
of these extra barbarous devices takes place when a chief wishes
to make war on his neighbour by his calling in a magician to
discover a propitious time for commencing. The doctor places a
large earthen vessel, half full of water, over a fire, and over
its mouth a grating of sticks, whereon he lays a small child and
a fowl side by side, and covers them over with a second large
earthen vessel, just like the first, only inverted, to keep the
steam in, when he sets fire below, cooks for a certain period of
time, and then looks to see if his victims are still living or
dead - when, should they be dead, the war must be deferred, but,
otherwise commenced at once.
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