The ordeal drink of Equatorial Africa is not identical with the “red-water” of Northern Guinea. It is prepared from the root of a small shrub called _Nkazya_, or _Quai_. Half a pint of the decoction is given to the accused, and small sticks being laid down on the ground at a distance of two feet apart, he is compelled to step over them five times. If the potion act upon him as a diuretic, he is pronounced innocent; but in some persons it produces vertigo. The sticks before his dizzy eyes rise like great logs, and in his awkward efforts to stride across them, he reels, falls to the ground, and is immediately assumed to be guilty. Ultimately the chief died, and the woman and boy both suffered death. The woman was taken out to sea in a boat, killed with an axe, and thrown overboard. The boy was burnt alive, bags of gunpowder being tied to his legs to shorten his sufferings. Apart from these superstitions, Mr. Reade asserts that the negroes possess the remnants of a noble and sublime religion, though they have forgotten its precepts, and debased its ceremonies. They still retain their belief in GOD, the One, the Supreme, the Creator. He has made mankind and the world; He thunders in the air, He destroys the wicked with His bolts. He rewards the good with long life; He gives them the rain, the fruits of the earth, and all things that are good. He is far above all the other gods. In some parts of Guinea the daily prayer is, “O GOD, I know Thee not, but Thou knowest me, Thy aid is necessary to me.” At meals they say, “O GOD, Thou hast given me this, Thou hast made it grow.” And when they work, “O GOD, Thou hast caused that I should have strength to do this.” And another of their prayers runs, “O GOD, help us, we do not know whether we shall live to-morrow; we are in Thy hand.”[40] CHAPTER X. _THE ZULU WITCH-FINDERS._