Note 16 — Chapter XV · Mythical and Legendary Kings
Reading edition
The Kafirs of Africa “play at a game of chance before their idols, and, should chance be against them, kick and box their idols; but if, after this correction, on pursuing their experiments they should continue unsuccessful, they burn the hands and feet off them in the fire; should ill fortune still attend them, they cast the idols on the ground, tread them under foot, dash them about with such force as to break them to pieces. Some, indeed, who show greater veneration for the images, content themselves with fettering and binding them until they have obtained their end; but should this not take place as early as their impatience looks for, they fasten them to a cord and gradually let them down into the water, even to the bottom, thus trusting to force them to be propitious”.16 It may be that Wu-Yih (Wuh-I) was engaged in some such ceremony when he disgraced and tortured his god.