ne. I found no trace of any use for purposes of
sorcery of the edible remnants of the victim's food, nor (except
as regards a woman's placenta, to which I shall refer presently)
of any part of his body, such as his hair or nails; and, in fact,
the free way in which the natives throw away their hair when cut is
inconsistent with any belief as to its possible use against them.

First, the inedible remnants of recently consumed vegetable food. The
use of this as a medium for causing illness and death is apparently
confined to the case of a victim who has passed the stage of very
young childhood. Why this is so I could not learn; though in point
of fact a mere infant would hardly be eating such things as a regular
practice. A man or woman, however, never carelessly throws aside his
own food remnants of this character; and his reason for this is fear
of sorcery. He carefully keeps them under his control until he can
take them to a river, into which he throws them, after which they
are harmless as a medium against him. The fear concerning these
remains is that a sorcerer will use them for a ceremony somewhat
similar to that described in connection with the death of a chief,
but in a hostile way. No such precautions are taken with reference
to similar food eaten by very young children.

Secondly, the discharged excrement and urine. This, for some reason,
only applies to the case of an infant or quite young child. Here again
I could not learn the reason for the limitation; but it is confirmed
by the fact that grown-up persons take no pains whatever to avoid
the passing of these things into the possession of other people,
whereas, as regards little children, the mothers or other persons
having charge of them always take careful precautions. The mother
picks up her little child's excrement, and wraps it in a leaf, and then
either carefully hides it in a hole in the ground, or throws it into
the river, or places it in a little raised-up nest-like receptacle,
which is sometimes erected near the house for this purpose, and where
also it is regarded as being safe. One of these receptacles, shaped
like an inverted cone, is shown in Plate 91, and a somewhat similar
one is seen in Plate 64. As regards the urine, she pours upon it,
as it lies on the ground or on the house floor or platform, a little
clean water which she obtains from any handy source, or sometimes from
a little store which, when away from other water supply, she often