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V. Transvaal, Suto

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2012

C. Hoffmann
Affiliation:
Botshabelo

Extract

The Moloi may either be a man or a woman. It is said most Baloi are women. Because the men generally have more than one wife, it happens that those wives who are neglected by their husbands obtain magic medicine in order to kill the husband, so that the more-favoured wives lose him too. Or they procure love-philtres from witch-doctors, so that he prefers them to the other wives. And then it often occurs that they unwittingly give him something that is fatal to him. Children obtain the power of magic from their parents. This magic power is given to them in helpless babyhood by grafting magic medicine in their posterior cavity. Such a person has the power of making himself invisible, especially at night.

Type
The African Explains Witchcraft
Information
Africa , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , October 1935 , pp. 520 - 522
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1935

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References

page 520 note 1 The supposed killing is done by a doctor who lights a fire consisting of various medicinal ingredients. When the smoke rises the person dies. The doctor is not punished, but the man who engaged him to do this.