Black Art in West Africa

1914

Natives Freely Acknowledge Guilt, Even When They Know It Means Their Death

Early in 1911 a deputation from one of the larger towns of West Africa brought two prisoners, father and son, before the commissioner at Oban. They were accused of having, in crocodile form, killed two women while the latter were crossing the river.

As they refused to swear their innocence on the dominant ju-ju of the town, they were brought before the "white man," who naturally decided that there was no case against them. The deputation, however, had not finished with the matter. On returning home another ju-ju was invoked, with the result that the son confessed that both he and his father were guilty, and that they had killed and eaten seven other men and women.

Strangely enough, people accused of this uncanny power nearly always acknowledge their guilt, even when fully aware that such confession will probably cost them their lives. Awa Ita, an old woman of Oban, was suspected of being "a snake soul," and of sending out her familiar every night to lick a wound on her husband's ankle while he slept, and so prevent it from healing. The chiefs of the Egbo society summoned her before their dreaded tribunal, and she was condemned to death.