HUMAN SACRIFICE IN SAVAGE AFRICA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1894, 22 May 1890, Page 31

HUMAN SACRIFICE IN SAVAGE AFRICA.

Under the title " Life Among Congo Savages," Mr Herbert Ward, in the February number of Scribner, writes as follows : — The victim if placed on a block of wood, with his legs stretched out stiff in front of him. Be sides each ankle a small stake is driven firmly into the ground, the same at the knees and at the sides, running up under the armpits. These are then firmly bound together by cords, securing the body rigidly in its position. His head is then placed in a kind of cage formed by a riDg of cane fastened round the neck, with numerous strings attached to it, which are drawn up over the head and tied together in a loop. A pliant young sapling is now stuck in the ground about 12ft from the victim, and bent over toward him until the extreme end is caHght in the loop, and all the strings round the ring are drawn taut and THE NECK stretched stiff by the strain. Tb.6 executioner then makes his appearance, escorted by the young men and women of the village, each holding over him a palm leaf, forming a kind of canopy. On reaching the victim they fall back and leave him there alone. He wears a cap formed of large black cocks' tails ; his face is blackened with charcoal to the neck; his hands and arms are also blackened up to the elbows, and the same with his legs down to the knees. Around his loins he wears several several wild cat skins. Standing in front of his victim he makes at first two or three feints with his knife to get a proper swing. Then, deliberately bending down and taking a piece of chalk put there for the purpose, he draws a thin line around the neck, and putting a little fine sand on his hand, so as to get a good grip, with ONE QUICK BLOW WITH HIS KNIFE severs the head from the trunk. Until just before the execution the whole village is wild in expectation of the event. Groups of dancers are to be seen, drummers at work, and every kind of musical instrument to add to the tumult. The head, after being severed, is jerked up in the air by the released tension of the pole. Then, upon the sight of the blood, their vilest and most inhuman passions are aroused. They act like wild beasts, clutch at the head, smear each other in the face with the blood, and a general scrimmage always ensues, resulting more often than not fatally. — An exhibition of a thousand different sorts of horse-shoes, including some made by the ancient Romans, is now going on in London. — Highland Mary is buried in the old kirkyard in Greenock ; Greenock has a Burns Society, with some 300 members, who swear by the suggestive songs of the poet ; yet the grave of Highland Mary is overgrown with weeds ; no suitable inscription marks her resting-place ; and the spot is desolate and forsaken except by a chance tourist who is , willing to pay " saxpence " to have it pointed 1 out to him !