The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1878-01-31
AFRICNs suPERsTITIoNs.
Lecture BY Paul Il. Du Chaillu on
the Witchcrofl and Religion
of Africn.

Mr. Paul b. Du Chaillu lertured at A..
sociation Hall on the "Witchcfhft md
ISupcrsli,ions Of Africa" 1 am going 10
take you again. said be. into the Jungle Of
Equatorial Africa. Stanley met that iun>
glu at tho headquarters Of tho Congo he
met there the cAnnibHls | saw AID the
dwurts | discovered And What Il jungle
I Is iI9 AT The end Of each day journey
made no negro could tell me where that
] tat forest ended There arc great dan.
gers there, and sometimes one has 10 tight
the people IL Is not very pleasant 10
eight II was not very pleasant for Stanley
I but hc had 10 light or be killed,
The people are scattered ia great trihas
I divided into clans and tho clans into famis
[ lies, the chiefs and the old men making
l the laws. Three Institutions are every
where prevalent polygamy slavery aud
lWltrhCFAn. II Is wonderful bow these
people love 10 get married They marry
laN tho time aud never get tlFed uf IT,
|Somo of them marry As old as eighty-tve
Ior ninety years, lusL as some Of us do al
home, you know. Laughter The
largest number Of wives / have seen be,
/ longing 10 ono man was about three hun
| Idred. and when / asked him how many
children he bad, he said, between siI and
iright hundred. Two hundred, more or
/ less, didn't seem 10 trouble him at all
/ The wives are not slaves, but their hus-
bands buy them when they are three OF
| four yeafs old from their fathers that is .
sort OF IA dowFy. polyEamy is also n po-
/ lt!cAl institution The tribes are Always
al Mar, aud hence n.RA tries 20 get a.
many wives ne bo can from the sur
| rounding tribes So Ne 10 have friends
among them. They have great Abhor-
renee OF blood relationship and no man if
Iallowed 10 take wife Of bis own clan.
Their Witcherait and Cannibalism.
The grea. curse of that country is its 81
/ Ipersli.lons, and il is very hard 10 get At
the bottom facts about their religious be-
/ tNvf, They have two names which repre-
sent our ideas Of God and Of tho Devil
| The Devil Is the source Of all evil Anu
IwitcheIan. When person is sick be BE-
| lbeNilehed by some one. aud the sorcerel
| or sorcsress has 70 be Killed. The Doctor
point them OUT aud they have 10 swal
/ low poison 20 prove their innocence. Thn
|polsun is The root Of tree called
| bunio, belonging - the strychnine order
but those doctors take IL and do not die
| Here, II a man sees the new moon over biz
| right shoulder, or his lett. IL is lucky or
Iunlueky but there IL is unlucky II he see'
Tie neW moon al All. and on the day OF th,
uew moon nobody dare 10 out OF his hui
/ The queen Of Witch crAlL lives Ia tho moon,
and The people Of the world are the insects
on which wilchcrar feeds, and whei
wisehcrail is very hungry she sends the
plague aud kills more people. Those va,
have any connection with the spirit in the
moon AIc women Hud must DO ia trance.
I The people are honest In their belieis. bui
/ Of course there Is jugglsry among them.
Among many tribes cAnuibaiism exists.
but think d IL a sort OF religious feast, ~
they do not Nil people purposely except,
I iprisuHcrt Of war A among the Indians
I they have no mercy 90 thosetake In war.
! l made inquiries about this cAunibalism, !
wanted 20 knOw which were best eating
women or men. They all agreed that the
woman were best. They didn't tell n,
anything new, for / knew that before
I Laughter Their war dance is perfectly
terrible. They cover themselves all Owe
with war paint and With clay that has beci
saturated with tho decayed nesh ana
/ brains from the heads OF their dead war
riors, which they always keep in a partic
a.ar house Ia every village. Then they
have dance, and When morning come
each man cuts his hand in several place,
and lets the blood dow into n large wood
81 dish, and they rub themselves with
that blood and then 90 10 war.
Some Suggestions TO Missionaries.