With its darkened, aged patina, this figure was carved to represent a bound witch or a captive slave.

The figure's arms are secured behind its back by a long twisted rope apparently tied to the captive's braided hair, its head pulled backwards from its thick neck to hauntingly display a passive face with the features of a mask.

Whatever the ultimate purpose of this carving may have been, when physically encountered, it dramatically displays a sense of vulnerability and captivity.

When this sculpture was collected at the turn of the Twentieth Century, a similar piece, collected at the same time by a Presbyterian missionary, bore an old label across the shoulders which read "Witchcraft Torture".