HUMAN SACRIFICES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8355, 15 February 1913, Page 11

HUMAN SACRIFICES

SAVAGERY IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA. THE STRANGLING STICK. NATIVES ATTEMPT TO POISON A BRITISH OFFICIAL. An appalling story of tribal savagery comes troiu Southern Nigeria, where the dreaded Long Juju of Arocfioku, winch was thought to have been stamped out by the British expedition of ten years ago. has been revived with afi its hideous accessories of murder and slavery. Probably on account of the fact that the Long Juju, with its human sacrifices, was thought to have been permanently wiped out after the British Expedition, the cult was never declared illegal, and gradually and secretly a powerful Aro chief named Kanu Okoru collected the scattered remnants. He organised a staff of 1500 messengers, who were perpetually travelling up and down over nundreds of miles of territory. On arriving in a town the secret messenger would inquire if any of the people wore accused of witchcraft or other crime, or if any desired to invoke the aid of the chief oracle Chuku. Those consulting the oracle were first taken before the head chief, and, after payment of rods equalling in value about £1 sa. wore passed on to the officiating priests, where further payment was exacted. Any townsman nourishing enmity against another bribed the Juju messenger, who thereupon ordered the man to go before the oracle, and the wretched victim went unresistingly to death or life-long slavery. In spite of the vigilance of the Government, until a few weeks ago the Aros made most of their wealth through tho slave trade. Northward as far as Udi and southward to the sea tho country is honeycombed by slave routes. Along these were continually passing the victims of the revived Long Juju, too terrorised to complain to the white men or do anything in self-defence. Such was the power of the Juju emissaries that if they only pointed a finger at a man. woman, or child, the wretched creature had to follow them without thought of hesitation or resistance. The most lucrative side of this hideous traffic was the supply of sacrificial victims to those wealthy enough to pay for such means of ensuring rich crops or answers to prayer. Closely as the dread secrets of the Long Juju were guarded, adds Reuter, rumours at length reached the Government, and the District Commissioner, at great personal irisk, made inquiries. Though baffled for a time, he, was determined to stamp out the movement, and the cult was made illegal. As a result further arrests were justified, and several of the chief priests were sentenced to death.

In order to avenge their kin, relatives of tho condemned men poisoned the Commissioner’s food, but luckily antidotes wex-e at hand, and the attempt only resulted in a severe illness.. . Tho chief, Kanu Okoru, had safeguarded him self with such skill that it was found impossible to convict him of murder, so while subordinates suffered the extreme penalty, the arch conspirator, who has amassed a fortune of at least half a million, could only be condemned to three years’ imprisonment. One of the most startling results of the investigations was the discovery of a slave town with 2000 to 3000 souls at the back ot Kanu Okoru’s compound. This was screened from the road by only a few yards of bush, hut so dense is the vegetation that its existence had never been suspected. No smoko was visible above the high trees, and the thick undergrowth hid everything from sight, while the terror of the oracle precluded all thought of crying for help. The following is typical of the cases brought to light. Alter heavily bribing tho officiating priest for a favourable verdict, one man accused another of a crime, and summoned the latter before Chuku. After both had offered a sacrifice of sheep and goats to the oracle, accuser and accused were taken to a spot in the riverbed, before the entrance to a sacred cave in the side of the gorge. They were ordered to stand with their backs to the cave mouth while the oracle was announced by a priest concealed within. The accused was, declared guilty, and was ordered to sit on the trunk of a tree which jutted out over the water, while his accuser and all the members of the cult present were told to retire to a place above the cave and screened from tho river. The executioners next appeared with a “strangling stick,” a piece of wood Sin to 9in long, with a rope noose firmly fixed to one end, and passing through a circular hole in the other. This stick was placed against the front of tho throat, ami the victim was then quickly strangled by means of the cord which was passed over his head. No resistance was e.ver made; the fear of Chuku seems to have been too overwhelming for-any such idea. The head of the corpse was then struck thrice, with great force, on a sacrificial stone placed near tho tree trunk—after which the body was thrown into the river, trampled upon by the executioners, and finally interred on the bank. The power of the Long Juju is now finally broken, and the fear which it inspired over hundreds of miles of territory and thousands of people is now a thing of tho past.