WITCHCRAFT IN NIGERIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15048, 18 July 1912, Page 4

WITCHCRAFT IN NIGERIA.

THE LAKE OF THE DEAD. ; Mk. P. Amaurt Talbot, a district , commissioner for Southern ; Nigeria, c accompanied by his -wife,-hits just returned home from nearly two yeans' travelling in parts of Nigeria, largo portions of : which • have ,: never before been visited by a Government' I official, and certainly never by a white! woman. For the .first. time a survey, anthropological, botanical, and in .parts ; geo- i graphical and zoological, has been completed almost uninterruptedly from the j Gulf of Guinea light through to Central! Africa. V:'. i > Describing to Renter's representative some of his experiences in the Southern Nigerian bush— horiae of witchcraft Mr. Talbot said: "Th»«bush, with its soft green twilight, dark shadows, «nd quivering lights, is peopled by many terrors, but among these 'Gj je, J or •witchcraft,- reigns supreme. 'i'ho bird which flies in at your open door in the . sunlight, the bat which circles round you at. nighty the small, bush- j beasts which cross your j>atn while .hunt- | ing, all may be familiars of witch or' wizard, or even the latter themselves, dis- ) gtrised to do you hurt. Sometimes the ter- j wr of witchcraft will scatter a whole town. ' " Should the suspicion of witchcraft fall j upon anyone, only trial by ordeal can free him. 1 The most usual on© is» that of easingj esere, a poisonous bean, wliich almost iii- 5 variably hills the suspected', person. Xh«> ordeals of boiling oil povfred upon the 5 plams of the hands, and of peppercorns in- j serted; in the eyes, are far leas dreaded, - ■not only because . their results are prac-1 tically never fatal, but because the pnyjsi- \ cal Anguish entailed is acknowledged to be { less intense than that caused by eeere." One of. the most interesting * discoveries was that of . the Lake of' the Dead, in the ; Oban country. " The name of this lake, 1 said Mr* Talbot, " occurs in many of the tribal song®, but for a long time I could not discover the meaning of the word, and i all inquiries failed to elicit infoiroatioji, and when I believed I was in the aioigh- ; bourhooa of this haunted spot and altered my course my carriers begged to be allowed not to proceed and were left behind. : After a. struggle. through dense bush- we ; could isee the edgf> -of a -sheet of water, : along the banks of' which were the holes of crocodiles, whdse : tracks covered the shore.. ■ : :] y. 1 ~ ■" .

snore. • ; - - •• . - , v • \ ."The scene was a weird one; the surface was absolutely still, and -round about were 10ft high bushes with what were apparently great tufts of creamy -flowers. These, however, proved to be nests of tree frogs. . The plaoe >jis a sanctuary for -afl wild things, for no hunter -would dare to ; penetrate the bush to this dreaded spot. As we stood at the edge., gazing out over the water, its quiet was suddenly broken by a broad ripple, an.d. little fish were seen to spring agitatedly above the surface. A great python was crossing, and -this, we learned, 'Shared with -the crocodiles the guardianship of the sacred lake. " Nothing, we were, informed, must be allowed to trouble the water or even to "touch its outer edge, or famine and pestilence would ensue. Here, according to popular belief, come by night the ghosts of long-dead Ekoi, to drift in sad com-' panies, hopeless .and wailing, over the surface of the water. Even in the bright sunilighfe the plaee has ait uncanny look, and one can easily imagine : that, at midnight, when the .white .mists shimmer ghostlike ; •in the light of the moon, people with the ■ terror and mystery of the ' bush' in sEfeir ifclaod would rather sit chatting jownii the fire 01* dance iby .torchlight in itlie «p«n i Spaees of th« 'towns, than seek out this • uncanny spot, cm the chance of holding (Communion with the spirits of their long•dead Jan." .. ' . 5