Some of the most brutal and cruel acts in the world are done among negro kingdoms like Ashanti, Dahomey, and Benin. No human life is there safe. The king orders instant death to those who offend him. The executioner’s knife is kept busy. Cruel butcheries are connected with their religion, and sometimes the king will have dozens, scores, or even hundreds of men killed to carry messages to his dead father. It is also among negroes that we find cannibalism existing in revolting forms and frightful belief in witchcraft. Any old man or old woman may be accused, at any time, of being a witch: it takes little to prove their guilt, and they are speedily executed. Negroes often believe that some men can change themselves into wild animals and then resume their own form. They are especially afraid of man-leopards: not unfrequently men who have been thought to be such have been executed. We cannot, however, blame the negroes much for such ideas. Not long ago white Europeans generally believed in werewolves (or manwolves), and there are still districts in Europe where such beliefs exist. Many African negroes wear charms to protect themselves against harm. Such charms are called _gri-gris_. Almost anything may be a gri-gri: a part of some animal, a plant, a curious stone. Where the negroes have had much to do with Arabs or other Mohammedans a favorite gri-gri is a verse from the Koran, written on paper done up in a little leathern pouch and hung about the neck. Sometimes a man will be almost covered with gri-gris. He may have so many “as to weigh thirty pounds,” and they may hamper him so “that he must be helped in mounting a horse.” We have already told you that the Arabs still hunt negro slaves. Many of the negro tribes themselves keep slaves—thus the Wolofs do so. They, however, treat their slaves more kindly than the Arabs do. XXIV. NEGROIDS. The negroids of Southern and Eastern Africa resemble the negroes. They are generally tall; they have a fine dark brown color, long narrow heads, hair less kinky and woolly than the negroes, flat nose and thick lips. They do not have the negro’s odor. The negroids comprise many different tribes, but all speak related languages known as the Bantu languages. The tribes we shall consider are the Zulus, Kaffirs, and Waganda.