Johann Ludwig Krapf (1810-1881) was a German explorer, linguist
and missionary. He travelled in East Africa for almost twenty years
in the mid-19th century. Here he explains how the local
Abyssinian Lebashi solves a crime. . . .
The superstition of the Abessinians is immeasurably
great, and its workings pervade every act of
their daily life. Very noticeable and peculiar are
the means employed in Shoa for the detection of
thieves. The Lebashi (thief-catcher) is much feared,
and belongs to the servants of the state. When
a theft has been committed the sufferer gives
information to this official, upon which he sends
his servant a certain dose of black meal,
compounded with milk, on which he makes him smoke
tobacco. The servant is thrown into a state, of
frenzy, in which state he goes from house to house,
crawling on his hands and feet like one out of his
mind. After he has smelt about at a number of
houses, the Lebashi all the time holding him tight
by a cord fastened round the body, he goes at last
into a house, lays on its owner's bed, and sleeps
for some time. His master then rouses him with
blows, and he awakes and arrests the owner of the
house, who is forthwith dragged before the priests,
and they make the victim of the robbery swear
that he will not assess at more than the real value
the articles stolen. The person into whose house
the entry was made is regarded as the thief, and
is forced to pay, whether he be innocent or guilty.
No wonder that the population trembles when the
Lebashi is seen in the street, and that everybody
tries to be on good terms with him, as there is no
saying when he may make his appearance in a
house. The King of Shoa is said to have convinced
himself of the truth of this matter by ordering one
of his pages to steal a garment of his own, and to
conceal it in the house of an inhabitant of Ankober,
where the Lebashi is reported to have discovered it.
On the 31st of July 1841 I had an opportunity of
watching closely this operation of thief-catching in
the streets of Ankober.
(The End)
