Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
very poisonous, their adoption by Western medicine stresses the narrowness of the dividing line
between drugs that cure and poisons that kill. A reexamination of the witch doctors' potions and
poisons for possible new drugs has become necessary. The ordeal and arrow poison plants are
highly prized in African societies. Their composition and methods of preparation are closely
guarded secrets, and in some cults, revelation of the ingredients of such poisons constitutes a vital
part of the initiation ceremony.
Perhaps the most widely known traditional doctor, and by far the most notorious, is the “witch
doctor.” The notoriety of the witch doctors has caused immense harm to the study and understand-
ing of African ethnomedicine. Their practices are the single most important reason for the con-
tempt, and sometimes fear, of traditional African doctors. The witch doctor not only is a diviner of
repute but also, as the name connotes, protects his clients from the harmful effects of witchcraft
and sorcery. He provides most fetishes and the poisons used in native jurisprudence when the gods
fail to deliver justice quickly enough. He adorns himself with colorful regalia of feathers, shells,
and other paraphernalia to impress his clients and to assure them of his magical powers. It has been
established that hidden among all the feathers, shells, and colored ribbons are plants with demon-
strable pharmacodynamic bases of action.
The use of extracts of Calabar bean (
Physostigma venonosum
) by Efik-speaking chiefs (in the
Cross River State of Nigeria) in the trial of people accused of witchcraft, sorcery, or murder is well
known. The chiefs, known as Obongs, relied on palace medicine men to determine the effective
dose of the potions. It is believed that the poison kills only the guilty and spares the innocent. This
trial by ordeal was effective because of the nature of the chemical constituents of the plant: The
alkaloids of Calabar bean when taken slowly (i.e., hesitantly by a guilty person) are absorbed into
the bloodstream, and death follows before long; when gulped down quickly (as expected of the inno-
cent), the drug soon causes emesis and is vomited before it exerts its lethal effect. In some parts of
Africa, judgment is declared in favor of a disputant who is courageous enough to accept an ordeal
poison whether or not the disputant lives or dies, the rationale being that a person who is prepared
to go through such an ordeal must be very desperate and has already paid the highest price through
demonstration of courage.
Among the Mano and Ekpelle tribes of Liberia, witches are exposed by forcing them to partake
of a communal meal. The ordeal is usually executed by four naked men under the eaves of a house
on a rainy day. The four men are assigned specific duties: one keeps the blacksmith bellows going
to preserve the sacred fire throughout the ordeal; the second beats the sacred metal gong; another
man takes care of a huge calabash of cooked rice, taking a morsel of it, dipping it into another ves-
sel containing chicken cooked in a soup with herbs, and handing it to each person as the person
comes up. The entire village, sections, or families take part in this ordeal, depending on the extent
of the accusation. As in other parts of Africa, pregnant women are exempt from partaking of such
meals. They may, however, give the chief medicine man a personal token or representative symbol
(usually a bracelet, hairpin, or body ornament), which is dipped into the medicine and given back
to the pregnant woman. There is a general sense of relief and subdued cheerfulness after the ordeal,
but tension and anxiety permeate the land in the knowledge that someone will die the next day or
two after the meal. It is not certain how this works, but it has been suggested that the medicine man
could slip a bit of poison into any of the morsels handed out. Another method of trial by ordeal is
the “hot or cold magic.” A mixture made from freshly powdered roots of herbs is given to suspected
witches or accused murderers a day before the ordeal. On ordeal day, two pots of water are carefully
balanced on a stone cooking tripod. One of the pots is heated to the boiling point, and the other is
kept cold. The accused persons are flogged lightly with palm fronds (plumes of a palm tree) dipped
into the pots. An innocent person, even a child, finds both pots cold, but a guilty person is scalded
by the contents of both pots. It is very difficult to understand how this works except if one accepts
the metaphysical explanation of the ordeal.
