poison-water

Updated: July 18, 2025

There is an immense show of grief, with keening and crocodiles' tears, perhaps to benefit the living by averting a charge of witchcraft, which would inevitably lead to "Sassy" or poison-water. The wake continues for five days, when they "pull the cry," that is to say, end mourning. If these pious rites be neglected, the children incur the terrible reproach, "Your father he be hungry."

Sir Richard Francis Burton - Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 1

The poison-water is exhibited in many variously coloured and tasted draughts, but however unlike each other they may be, it is always the same. The great effort of God's love is to press home this consciousness of despising His Name upon all hearts.

Alexander Maclaren - Expositions of Holy Scripture : Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Minor Prophets. St. Matthew Chapters I to VIII