that the merchants of Cassange had simply stolen the dead man’s goods, and that now the spirit was killing the child of Captain Neves for the part he had taken in the affair.  The diviner, in his response, revealed the impression made on his own mind by the sale, and likewise the native ideas of departed souls.  As they give the whites credit for greater stupidity than themselves in all these matters, the mother of the child came, and told the father that he ought to give a slave to the diviner as a fee to make a sacrifice to appease the spirit and save the life of the child.  The father quietly sent for a neighbor, and, though the diviner pretended to remain in his state of ecstasy, the brisk application of two sticks to his back suddenly reduced him to his senses and a most undignified flight.

The mother of this child seemed to have no confidence in European wisdom, and, though I desired her to keep the child out of currents of wind, she preferred to follow her own custom, and even got it cupped on the cheeks.  The consequence was that the child was soon in a dying state, and the father wishing it to be baptized, I commended its soul to the care and compassion of Him who said, “Of such is the kingdom of heaven.”  The mother at once rushed away, and commenced that doleful wail which is so affecting, as it indicates sorrow without hope.  She continued it without intermission until the child was buried.  In the evening her female companions used a small musical instrument, which produced a kind of screeching sound, as an accompaniment of the death wail.

In the construction of this instrument they make use of caoutchouc, which, with a variety of other gums, is found in different parts of this country.

The intercourse which the natives have had with white men does not seem to have much ameliorated their condition.  A great number of persons are reported to lose their lives annually in different districts of Angola by the cruel superstitions to which they are addicted, and the Portuguese authorities either know nothing of them, or are unable to prevent their occurrence.  The natives are bound to secrecy by those who administer the ordeal, which generally causes the death of the victim.  A person, when accused of witchcraft, will often travel from distant districts in order to assert her innocency and brave the test.  They come to a river on the Cassange called Dua, drink the infusion of a poisonous tree, and perish unknown.

A woman was accused by a brother-in-law of being the cause of his sickness while we were at Cassange.  She offered to take the ordeal, as she had the idea that it would but prove her conscious innocence.  Captain Neves refused his consent to her going, and thus saved her life, which would have been sacrificed, for the poison is very virulent.  When a strong stomach rejects it, the accuser reiterates his charge; the dose is repeated, and the person dies.  Hundreds perish thus every year in the valley of Cassange.