Quashee solemnly enjoined to confess his guilt; he declines, and the ceremony pro ceeds. Washing his mouth, that all may see he has nothing therein, he eats a little rice, and calls down curses upon his own head if he is guilty of the- crime laid to his charge. The red-water is then handed to him, about half a pint at a time, and drunk as quickly as possible; the dose is repeated, eight, ten, twelve, or sixteen times, until the rice is ejected from the stomach upon the plantain leaves. If that desirable consummation be effected, Quashee .is again a free man, and more than that, is held in high honor for the remainder of his life as one who has drunk the red-water. Should the draught prove inefficacious, he receives the punishment al lotted for his offence; but if, unluckily, the red-water acts as a purgative — the "spoil ing of the red-water," as it is termed — he is punished by being sold into slavery. Sometimes he contrives to escape this in his own person; but in such a case the punish ment hangs over his descendants; and a young fellow may be sold as a slave, because his grandfather or grandmother spoiled the red-water years before he came into the world. The ordeal of red-water, or some thing equivalent to it, is practised by all the negro tribes north of the Zambesi. In Equatorial Africa the ordeal drink is a poisonous draught called mboundon, which helps materially to thin the population. The Equatorial savage can hardly believe in any great man dying a natural death; he must have been bewitched by somebody; so, when a chief dies, the fetich-man has to find out who is responsible for the untoward event, and for his reputation's sake, he is sure to find out that somebody bewitched the dead man; and whoever he names is compelled to drink the mboundon. M. du Chaillu saw three' unfortunate women succumb to the fatal test, and as they fell, their heads were struck off. " I have seen," says that en terprising writer, " a poor drinker fall down dead, with blood gushing from his eyes, nose, and mouth, in five minutes. It is not sur
prising that many negroes run away from home, never to return, rather than risk such a fatal test." The tangena of Madagascar is another poison ordeal through which intended victims sometimes pass unscathed. In 1860 the gov ernor of Mananjara accused certain indi viduals, of whom he wished to get rid, of violating the law forbidding Christian wor ship. Accused and accuser were summoned to the capital to abide the test of the tan gena. In this instance it was tried vicariously, the supposed Christians being represented by three of the queen's slaves, who drank the poison without injuring themselves; it was given to a dog, and he too survived the trial. This was conclusive. The accused were lib erated; and the governor, hoisted with his own petard, was put to death. This ordeal was afterwards abolished by Radama II., who, as he struggled in the hands of his assassins, was able to say what few savage kings could : "I have shed no blood!" Nowhere in Africa do we find anything like the smoke ordeal existing in the Cana ries, when the Guanches peopled the famous Fortunate Isles, and used upon one occasion to settle the right to the throne. In the year 1377 King John of Castile sent a fleet, under Martin de Avendano, to ravage the courts of England and France. The fleet was dispersed by adverse winds, and the admiral's ship took refuge at Lancerota, where the Spaniards received a hearty wel come. Avendano became a guest at the king's palace, and made himself so agree able to his entertainer's wife, that a halfSpanish princess was added to the royal family. The Princess Yeo afterwards be came the wife of one who eventually acquired the throne, and bore him a son; but when the time came for the latter to succeed his father, the Guanches disputed his right to the throne, on the ground that his mother was not of noble blood, being the daughter of a stranger. A council was held, and it was resolved to shut up Yeo with three female slaves in the house of King Gonzaniero, and
