ABSTRACT
Ten years ago Professor Marwick published a comparison of witch-finding movements in Central Africa.1 Summarising what Dr Richards had earlier reported of the Mcape movement2
he showed that later witch-finding movements were adapted to avoid the European opposition provoked by Mcape. The latter too obviously resembled the poison ordeals which had been the customary method of dealing with witches throughout the region: medicines had been taken orally, and witches had been exposed, as in the poison ordeal. Furthermore, charms had been sold, rendering the vendors liable to prosecution for fraudulent dealings. But in the Bwanali-Mpulumutsi movement of 1947, medicines were given by incision in the skin, no payment was taken, and witches confessed voluntarily.
