A TRUTH TRIAL
In his new book. “Treks and Palavers,” Capt. R. R. Oakley, who has been a Government official in Nigeria, describes a strange custom illustrating how the natives in one part of the country settle disputes by using a cro-codile-infested pool. The theory is.that the pool, which is in the midst of the Northern Camerocn-Nigerian boundary, will prove which of the disputing parties is telling the truth. It is used by both Cameroon tribes and also by the Kilba and Margin pagans of Nigeria. The method of procedure is that the disputants enter the pool from opposite sides, witnesses being present, and try to swim across, having first sworn by their own "Gooti” or “Juju” that they have spoken the truth. The natives hold the view that the man who is really truthful will swim across without difficulty, but that the false person will at the last minute either refuse to swim or, if he does enter the water, will flounder about until he is seized by a crocodile.
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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 31 December 1938, Page 13
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171A TRUTH TRIAL Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 31 December 1938, Page 13
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