File:A voice from the Congo - comprising stories, anecdotes, and descriptive notes (1910) (14803482253).jpg

Identifier: voicefromcongoco00ward (find matches)
Title: A voice from the Congo : comprising stories, anecdotes, and descriptive notes
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Ward, Herbert, 1863-1919
Subjects: Ward, Herbert, 1863-1919 Africa, Central -- Description and travel Africa, Central -- Social life and customs
Publisher: New York : Charles Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: University of Connecticut Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Connecticut Libraries

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
insmen congregate uponthe scene, where, half intoxicated with palm-juice,they dance around the wretched victim, to whomthey offer every species of cruel insult. If by sunsetthe nkasa poison should act as an emetic, the factis accepted as demonstrating innocence. The simple-minded heathen agree that obviously no evil spirit layconcealed within the body of the accused. On theother hand, should the nkasa drug prove a fatalpoison, then the justice of the ordeal is fairly estab-lished. Every one is then satisfied that the accusa-tion of sorcery has been brought home to the rightperson and that the evil spirit has been satisfactorilyexterminated. The most iniquitous phase of the or-deal is perhaps to be found in the fact that the NgangaNkissi regulates the strength of the nkasa accordingto his intentions when administering it to his victim.The judicious expenditure of a few beads, or a kit offowls, upon the part of the accused friends, is knownto influence the potency of the poison draught.
Text Appearing After Image:
Nyanga Nkissi, the witch doctor Drawn by the Author NGANGA NKISSI 55 A day was appointed for the wife of MavondaNzau to submit herself to the ceremony of find-ing the evil spirit. Lubaki was to officiate as theadministrator of the poison, and my anticipation ofthe result of the ordeal offered no prospect ofhope; I felt assured that the poor womans life wasdoomed. From the stray remarks I overheard from thenatives around the village fires during the night, Ithought I had gained a clue to the locality in whichthe ceremony was to take place. But unfortunatelyI was misled; I searched the district in all direc-tions, hastening from one wood to another, inquiringeagerly of every native I met, without result. Thesun had already risen four hours before I appearedupon the actual scene. Drawing near to a small strip of forest, growing inthe alluvial deposit of a ravine, several miles fromMayumbula, I was suddenly warned of danger byhearing native voices forbidding me to pass. I was,however, by

Note About Images