Not far from Regundo’s house were several little houses, standing by themselves, and not big enough for human beings to live in. Calling Regundo, I asked him what these houses were for? He answered with a great deal of solemnity—“The nearest one to us, which is also the largest, is the house of Okookoo, a great spirit; the second is that of Abamboo, called also Jockoo by some of the slaves; the third one is that of Mbuiri, another spirit; and the fourth is the great and powerful idol Makambi, who watches over us and often talks to us during the night.”
On our way back to his house Regundo said: “Oguizi, we all dread Ovengua.”
“Who is Ovengua, and to what tribe does he belong?” I asked.
“Oh,” replied Regundo, “if he were a man I should not be afraid of him, for I am afraid of no man when I have my gun with me. He is a spirit, and we dread him very much. He is a great catcher of men. He wanders incessantly through the forest, seeking always to kill men. We never see again those who are caught by him. By day he lives in a dark cavern, but at night he roams freely, and sometimes even gets into the body of a man, and beats and kills all those who come out in the dark. When Ovengua gets into the body of a man, that man must be killed and his body burned to ashes—not a single piece of bone must remain, lest a new Ovengua arise from it. When a bad man dies, the bones of his body leave the place where he was left, one by one, and become an Ovengua. There is much witchcraft in our land, Oguizi. You have seen slaves of many different countries here; witchcraft is in their country also. There is witchcraft in all the countries inhabited by the black man.”
Then, after a pause, he added: “Wizards and witches are the worst kind of people, for they bewitch men and women and cause them no end of sickness and trouble, and make them die. The spirit of witchcraft goes into the body of a man or woman, sometimes against his will; but often envy and hatred cause men and women to become wizards and witches. These are so cunning that they carry out their evil designs unknown to the people for months, nay, even for years, and keep on killing and giving bad luck to people without detection. They smile and appear friendly to those they want to bewitch, so they may not be suspected. When witchcraft enters people and gets possession of them, it gives them the greatest power for evil and they can do all they wish. They can make one have a long and painful illness, or make one die suddenly. They can also give one bad luck in hunting and fishing, they can bewitch your food and water and the road upon which you pass. Through witchcraft people sometimes appear in the eyes of other people to be animals or birds.” Then he shouted, with fierceness in his eyes, “Yes, our medicine doctors can find out wizards and witches after they have drunk the ‘mboundou.’”
“What is the ‘mboundou?’” I asked Regundo, though I had of course learned about it at the village of King Mombo.
“It is a tree,” he answered, “that Aniambie, the good spirit, has given to us poor black men to enable us to discover those who possess the power of witchcraft. Our doctors drink the ‘mboundou’ without dying, and when they are under the influence of it, they have the power of divination, and find out who the sorcerers are. Then those accused of witchcraft appeal to the ‘mboundou’ to prove their innocence, and they drink it in presence of the people and of the doctor, who drinks it from the same bowl. If the accused falters and falls to the ground, he is a sorcerer, and we kill him and put him on a road where the bashikouay ant is, or we tie him to a tree and make cuts in different parts of his body, and fill these cuts with those little red peppers that are so strong, or we burn him slowly, or we cut him to pieces as soon as he falls.”
“But,” I said, “Regundo, this is terribly wicked, to make poor creatures die by being eaten slowly by the bashikouay ants, or from the fearful tortures of red peppers in their wounds, or by slow burning. If I were present, I think I would take ‘Bulldog’ with me and shoot the perpetrators of such deeds.”
“But,” Regundo replied, with much animation, “no punishment is big enough for wizards and witches. Our land is full of them. Still,” he added, as if to soften my displeasure and sorrow at such a story, “Oguizi, wizards and witches are almost always sold to the people of other tribes instead of being killed.”