At first they were not very distinct, but gradually they assumed the form of human beings, and then the blacks readily recognised them as one or other of their long-departed chiefs--estimable men always and great fighters.

The baser sort never put in an appearance.
Now the first two or three times I saw this weird and fantastic ceremony, I thought the apparitions were the result of mere trickery.
But when I saw them year after year, I came to the conclusion that they must be placed in the category of those things which are beyond the ken of our philosophy.

I might say that no one was allowed to approach sufficiently close to touch the "ghosts,"-- if such they can be termed; and probably even if permission had been granted, the blacks would have been in too great a state of terror to have availed themselves of it.
Each of these _seances_ lasted twenty minutes or half-an-hour, and were mainly conducted in silence.

While the apparitions were visible, the witches remained prostrate, and the people looked on quite spellbound.
Gradually the phantoms would melt away again in the smoke, and vanish from sight, after which the assembly would disperse in silence.

By next morning all the invited blacks would have gone off to their respective homes.