DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0321
THE WAYAO OF NYASALAND
305
Witch-medicine. The making of medicine against people has been shown to occupy
an essential place in usawi, and it plays an important part in all occultism. So by insensible
grades, the ordinary use of drugs in common diseases is reached, though it is probable that
very much greater faith is placed in a packet of burnt roots put under the floor of the house
than in the efficacy of any concoction taken by mouth.
There is a general belief that by medicine extra ability verging into supernatural power
can be acquired. This power in a general sense is represented by the word ukoma and a man
so possessed is spoken of as mundu jua komala. The desire for increased power may be a
perfectly natural one, such as a desire for influence and popularity as a chief, or on the other
hand, the power of usawi may be aimed at, or again, the knowledge of magic medicine for
thieving or for any other practice. Ukoma is, therefore, a relative matter. The necessary
medicine or initiation into the understanding of magic can be purchased from persons
already practitioners, the honest herbalist merging by imperceptible degrees into the most
criminal witch-doctor. A single practitioner may prescribe a charcoal dressing for an
ulcer, exorcise an evil spirit by a vapor bath, sell medicine to enable the buyer to win a
case at court, arrange medicine on a pathway to act as a selective love potion, or prescribe
a drug to change a man into a Hon.
Deserving of special mention are the people who thieve by the aid of medicine which
they have either purchased or prepared themselves. Such a man is called chitaka and the
medicine mtela wa chitaka. The active principle of this medicine is said to be prepared
from the tail of a hyaena, an animal which is said to be able to enter a house where people
are sleeping and kill and carry off the fowls without waking the occupants. The medicine
is often carried in a hyaena’s tail. The chitaka is supposed to approach the house he would
rob and chewing some medicine in the mouth, gently blow towards it to put everyone to
sleep. The door is supposed to unfasten itself and the thief is free to take what he wishes.
He is even said to kill, cook, and eat food in the house while the inmates remain unconscious.
A special characteristic of the chitaka is that whatever he lays his hands on in the house he
must remove, though he does not want it, so that in the morning many unwieldy, useless
objects may be found outside the hut.
There are many other magic medicines. One of these, luunga, if introduced into a vil-
lage, will cause the illness and death of some inmate. Anyone handling the body of the
sick man or the corpse after death, sickens and dies until the whole village is wiped out.
There is a man serving a life sentence now at the Central Prison, Zomba, who was convicted
of having caused the death of many people in a village in Angoniland. He is said cheerfully
to have admitted the power of his medicine.
Medicine made from a cousin is supposed to be efficacious in various ways. The blood
of a cousin is instilled into the ear for otorrhoea. Drinking the water which has been used
by a cousin to wash his face relieves intestinal colic. Medicine is made from the hairs of
the beard of a cousin or from an mbilo and used for chest trouble.
305
Witch-medicine. The making of medicine against people has been shown to occupy
an essential place in usawi, and it plays an important part in all occultism. So by insensible
grades, the ordinary use of drugs in common diseases is reached, though it is probable that
very much greater faith is placed in a packet of burnt roots put under the floor of the house
than in the efficacy of any concoction taken by mouth.
There is a general belief that by medicine extra ability verging into supernatural power
can be acquired. This power in a general sense is represented by the word ukoma and a man
so possessed is spoken of as mundu jua komala. The desire for increased power may be a
perfectly natural one, such as a desire for influence and popularity as a chief, or on the other
hand, the power of usawi may be aimed at, or again, the knowledge of magic medicine for
thieving or for any other practice. Ukoma is, therefore, a relative matter. The necessary
medicine or initiation into the understanding of magic can be purchased from persons
already practitioners, the honest herbalist merging by imperceptible degrees into the most
criminal witch-doctor. A single practitioner may prescribe a charcoal dressing for an
ulcer, exorcise an evil spirit by a vapor bath, sell medicine to enable the buyer to win a
case at court, arrange medicine on a pathway to act as a selective love potion, or prescribe
a drug to change a man into a Hon.
Deserving of special mention are the people who thieve by the aid of medicine which
they have either purchased or prepared themselves. Such a man is called chitaka and the
medicine mtela wa chitaka. The active principle of this medicine is said to be prepared
from the tail of a hyaena, an animal which is said to be able to enter a house where people
are sleeping and kill and carry off the fowls without waking the occupants. The medicine
is often carried in a hyaena’s tail. The chitaka is supposed to approach the house he would
rob and chewing some medicine in the mouth, gently blow towards it to put everyone to
sleep. The door is supposed to unfasten itself and the thief is free to take what he wishes.
He is even said to kill, cook, and eat food in the house while the inmates remain unconscious.
A special characteristic of the chitaka is that whatever he lays his hands on in the house he
must remove, though he does not want it, so that in the morning many unwieldy, useless
objects may be found outside the hut.
There are many other magic medicines. One of these, luunga, if introduced into a vil-
lage, will cause the illness and death of some inmate. Anyone handling the body of the
sick man or the corpse after death, sickens and dies until the whole village is wiped out.
There is a man serving a life sentence now at the Central Prison, Zomba, who was convicted
of having caused the death of many people in a village in Angoniland. He is said cheerfully
to have admitted the power of his medicine.
Medicine made from a cousin is supposed to be efficacious in various ways. The blood
of a cousin is instilled into the ear for otorrhoea. Drinking the water which has been used
by a cousin to wash his face relieves intestinal colic. Medicine is made from the hairs of
the beard of a cousin or from an mbilo and used for chest trouble.