There the
head chief took a piece of the flesh from a basket and squeezed a
drop of blood upon the newly-deposited grains of corn. His example
was followed by the rest, till all the seed had been sprinkled with
the blood; it was then covered up with earth. According to one
account the body of the victim was reduced to a kind of paste, which
was rubbed or sprinkled not only on the maize but also on the
potatoes, the beans, and other seeds to fertilise them. By this
sacrifice they hoped to obtain plentiful crops.
A West African queen used to sacrifice a man and woman in the month
of March. They were killed with spades and hoes, and their bodies
buried in the middle of a field which had just been tilled. At Lagos
in Guinea it was the custom annually to impale a young girl alive
soon after the spring equinox in order to secure good crops. Along
with her were sacrificed sheep and goats, which, with yams, heads of
maize, and plantains, were hung on stakes on each side of her. The
victims were bred up for the purpose in the king's seraglio, and
their minds had been so powerfully wrought upon by the fetish men
that they went cheerfully to their fate.
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