The
magician, having placed a large earthen pot full of water on the fire,
arranges a platform on the top, and on this he binds a young child and a
fowl, covering them with another pot, which he inverts over them. After
the fire has burned for a given time the upper pot is removed. If both
victims are dead, it is considered that war must be deferred for the
present; but, if either should be alive, it may be commenced
immediately. When the army is about to proceed to war, the magician
flays the young child, and lays the bleeding body in the path, that the
warriors may step over it, thereby believing that they will gain
immunity for themselves in the approaching combat.

During the expedition, which Speke made with the king to the Nyanza,
they landed on an island inhabited by a magician and his wife, who were
supposed to be priests of of the water-spirit of the lake. His head was
decorated with numerous mystic symbols, among them a paddle, the badge
of his high office. He was dressed in a little, white, goat-skin apron,
adorned by various charms, and, instead of a walking-stick to support
his steps, he used a paddle. Though not an old man, he pretended to be
so, walking slowly and deliberately, coughing and mumbling like one.
Seating himself, he continued coughing for half an hour, when his wife
came in, much in the some manner, without saying a word, and assuming
the same affected style.

The king, who was seated near the door, with his wives behind him, asked
Speke what he thought of it. No voice was heard but that of the old
wife, who croaked like a frog for some water, and when some was brought,
croaked again because it was not the purest of the lake's produce, and
had the first cup changed, wetted her lips with the second, and hobbled
away in the same manner as she had come.

The water-spirit's chief priest now summoned several of the king's
officers to draw round him, and then, in a low voice, gave them all the
orders of the deep, and walked away. His revelations appeared to have
been unpropitious, for the party immediately repaired to their boats and
returned to their quarters.

During this excursion, the king went off on the lake, leaving Speke by
himself on shore. He took the opportunity of visiting an hospitable old
lady, who treated him and his attendants to the last drop of _pomba_ in
her house, smoking her pipe with him, and did not hesitate to speak of
the horrors of the Uganda punishments. Wh