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 LIBRARY OF PRINCETON 
 
 JUL 2 5 2003 
 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
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 Henri B U.CHER 
 
 102, Bd Armgo 
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 5 
 
FETICHISM IN 
 WEST AFRICA 
 
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Fethii Magic'iax. 
 (With horns, wooden mask, spear, and sword ; dress of leaves of palm and plantain.) 
 
FETICHISM 
 IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Forty Years' Observation of Native Customs 
 and Superstitions 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. ROBERT HAMILL NASSAU, M.D., S.T.D. 
 
 FOR FORTY YEARS A MISSIONARY IN THE GABUN DISTRICT 
 OF KONGO-FRANCAISE 
 
 AUTHOR OF "CROWNED IN PALM LAND," <* MAWEDO ** 
 
 WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 YOUNG 
 
 LIBRARY OF PRINCETON 
 
 JUL 29 2003 
 
 ^MmC^SICAL semimary 
 
 MISSIONARY MOVEMENT 
 
 156 Fifth Avenue 
 
 New York 
 
Copyright^ igo4 
 By Charles Scribner's Sons 
 
 Published October, 1904 
 
PREFACE 
 
 ON the 2d of July, 1861, 1 sailed from New York City on 
 a little brig, the "Ocean Eagle," with destination to 
 the island of Corisco, near the equator, on the West Coast of 
 Africa. My first introduction to the natives of Africa was 
 a month later, when the vessel stopped at Monrovia, the 
 capital of the Liberian Republic, to land a portion of its 
 trade goods, and at other ports of Liberia, Sinoe, and Cape 
 Palmas; thence to Corisco on September 12. 
 
 Corisco is a microcosm, only five miles long by three miles 
 wide ; its surface diversified with every variety of landscape, 
 proportioned to its size, of hill, prairie, stream, and lake. It 
 is located in the eye of the elephant-head shaped Bay of 
 Corisco, and from twelve to twenty miles distant from the 
 mainland. Into the bay flow two large rivers, — the Muni 
 (the Rio D'Angra of commerce) and the Munda (this latter 
 representing the elephant's proboscis). 
 
 The island, with adjacent mainland, was inhabited by the 
 Benga tribe. It was the headquarters of the American Pres- 
 byterian Mission. O n the voyage I had studied the Benga 
 dialect with my fellow-passenge r, the senior member of the 
 Mission , Rev. James L. Macke y; and was able, on my land- 
 ing^ to con verse so well with the natives that they at once 
 enthusiastically accepted me as an interested friend. This 
 
 has eve r since been my status among all other tribes. 
 
 I lived four years on the island, as preacher, teacher, 
 and itinerant to the adjacent mainland, south to the Gabun 
 River and its Mpongwe tribe, east up the Muni and Munda 
 rivers, and north to the Benito River. 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 In my study of the natives' language my attention was 
 drawn closely to their customs; and in my inquiry into 
 their religion I at once saw how it was bound up in these 
 customs. I met with other white men — traders, govern- 
 ment officials, and even some missionaries — whose interest 
 in Africa, however deep, was circumscribed by their special 
 work for, respectively, wealth, power, and Gospel procla- 
 mation. They could see in those customs only ''folly," and 
 in the religion only "superstition." 
 
 I read many books on other parts of Africa, in which the 
 same customs and religion prevailed. I did not think it 
 reasonable to dismiss c urtly as absurd the cherished senti- 
 ments of so large a portion of the human race. I asked 
 myself: Is there no l ogical ground for the existence of these 
 sentiments, no philosophy behi nd all these beliefs ? _I began 
 to search; and thenceforward for thirty years, wherever I 
 travelled, wherever I was guest to native chief, wherever I 
 lived, I was always leading the conversation, in hut or camp, 
 back to a s tudy of the native thought . 
 
 I soon found that I gained nothing if I put my questions 
 suddenly or without mask. The natives generally were 
 aware that white men despised them and their beliefs, and 
 they were slow to admit me to their thought if I made a 
 direct advance. But, by chatting as a friend, telling them 
 the strange and great things of my own country, and first 
 eliciting their trust in me and interest in my stories, they 
 forgot their reticence, and responded by telling me of their 
 country. I listened, not critically, but apparently as a be- 
 liever; and then they vied with each other in telling me all 
 they knew and thought. 
 
 That has been the history of a thousand social chats, — in 
 canoes by day, in camp and hut by night, and at all hours in 
 my own house, whose public room was open at any hour of 
 day or evening for any visitor, petitioner, or lounger, my 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 attention to whose wants or wishes was rewarded by some 
 confidence about their habits or doings. 
 
 In 1865 I was transferred to Benito, where I remained 
 until the close of 1871. Those years were full of travels 
 afoot or by boat, south the hundred miles to Gabun, north 
 toward the Batanga region, and east up the Benito for a hun- 
 dred miles as a pioneer, to the Balengi and Boheba tribes, — 
 a distance at that time unprecedented, considering the almost 
 fierce opposition of the coast people to any white man's going 
 to the local sources of their trade. 
 
 After more than ten uninterrupted years in Africa, I took 
 a furlough of more than two years in the United States, and 
 returned to my work in 1874. 
 
 I responded to a strong demand on the part of the sup- 
 porters of Foreign Missions in Africa, tliat mission operations 
 should no longer be confined to the coast. Unsuccessful 
 efforts had been made to enter by the Gabun, by the Muni, 
 and by the Benito. 
 
 On the 10th of September, 1874, I entered the Ogowe 
 River, at Nazareth Bay, one of its several embouchures into 
 the Atlantic, near Cape Lopez, a degree south of the 
 equator. But little was known of the Ogowe. Du Chaillu, 
 i n his " Equatorial Africa " (1861), barely mentions it, though 
 he was hunting gorillas and journeying in "Ashango Land," 
 on the sources of the Ngunye, a large southern affluent of the 
 Ogowe. 
 
 A French gunboat a few years b efore had ascended it for 
 one hundred and thirty miles to Lembare ne, the head of the 
 Ogowe Delta, and had attached it to France. Two English 
 traders and one German had built trading-houses at that one- 
 hundred-and-thirty-mile limit, and traversed the river with 
 small steam launches in their rubber trade. Besides these 
 three, I was the only other white resident. They were 
 living in the Galwa tribe, cognate in language with the 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 Mpongwe. I settled at a one-hundred-and-fifty-mile limit, 
 in the Akele tribe (cognate with the Ben ga), buildin g my 
 house at a place called Bel ambila. 
 
 Two years later I abandoned that spot, came down to 
 Lembarene, and built on Kangwe Hill. There I learned 
 the Mpongwe dialect. I remained there until 1880, suc- 
 cessful with school and church, and travelling by boat and 
 canoe thousands of miles in the many branches of the Ogowe, 
 through its Delta, and in the lake country of Lakes Onange 
 and Azyingo. In 1880 I took a second furlough to the 
 United States, remaining eighteen months, and returning 
 at the close of 1881. 
 
 My prosperous and comfortable station at Kangwe was 
 occupied by a new man, and I resumed my old role of 
 pioneer. I travelled up the Ogowe, one hundred and fifty 
 miles beyond Lembarene, ascending and descending the wild 
 waters of its cataracts, and settled at Talaguga, a noted rock 
 near which was subsequently established the French military 
 post, Njoli, at the two-hundred-mile limit of the course of 
 the river. There I was alone with Mrs. Nassau, my nearest 
 white nei ghbors the two French offi cers five miles up river at 
 the post, a nd my successors at Kan gwe, seventy miles down 
 river. The inhabitants were wild cannibal Fang, just re- 
 cently emerged from the interior forest. It was a splendid 
 field for original investigation, and I applied myself to the 
 Fang dialect. 
 
 I remained at Talaguga until 1891, when I took a third 
 furlough to the United States, and stayed through 1892, 
 during which time the Mission Board transferred my en- 
 tire Ogowe work, with its two stations and four churches 
 and successful schools, to the French Paris Evangelical 
 Society. 
 
 In March, 1893, at the request of the Rev. Frank F. Ellin- 
 wood, D.D., LL.D., I wrote and read, before the American 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 Spciety of Com parative Religions, a forty-minute ess ay on 
 Bantu Theology. 
 
 At the wish of that Society I loaned the manuscript to 
 them, for their use in the Parliament of Religions at the 
 Chicago Exposition; but I carried the original draft of the 
 essay with me on my return to Africa in August, 1893, 
 where I was located at Libreville, Gabun, the Mission's 
 oldest and most civilized station. There I found special 
 advantage for my investigations. Though those educated 
 Mpong^we s could tell me little that was new as to purely 
 unadultera ted native thought, they, better than an ign oran t 
 tribe, could and did give me valuable intell igent replies to 
 my inquiries as to the logical connection between native 
 belief and act, and the essential meaning of things which 
 I had seen and heard elsewhere. My ignorant friends at 
 other places had given me a mass of isolated statements. 
 My Mpongwe friends liad studied a little grammar, and 
 were somewhat trained to analyze. They helped me in the 
 collocation of the statements and in the deduction of the 
 philosophy behind them. It was there that I began to put 
 my conclusions in writing. 
 
 In 1895 Miss Mary H. Kingsley journeyed in West Africa, 
 sent on a special mission to investigate the subject of fresh- 
 water fishes. She also gratified her own personal interest in 
 native African religious beliefs by close inquiries all along 
 the coast. 
 
 During her stay at Libreville in the Kongo-Frangais, 
 May-September, 1895, my interest, common with hers, in 
 the study of native African thought led me into frequent 
 and intimate conversations with her on that subject. She 
 eagerly accepted what information, from my longer residence 
 in Africa, I was able to impart. I loaned her the essay, 
 with permission to make any use of it she desired in her 
 proposed book, "Travels in West Africa." When that 
 
X PREFACE 
 
 graphic story of her African wanderings appeared in 1897, 
 she made courteous acknowledgment of the use she had 
 made of it in her chapters on Fetich. 
 
 On page 395 of her "Travels in West Africa," referring 
 to my missionary works, and to some contributions I had 
 made to science, she wrote: "Still I deeply regret he has not 
 done more for science and geography. ... I beg to state I 
 am not grumbling at him . . . but entirely from the justifi- 
 able irritation a student of fetich feels at knowing that there 
 is but one copy of this collection of materials, and that this 
 copy is in the form of a human being, and will disappear 
 with him before it is half learned by us, who cannot do the 
 things he has done." 
 
 This suggestion of Miss Kingsley's gave me no new 
 thought; it only sharpened a desire I had hopelessly cher- 
 ished for some years. In my many missionary occupations 
 — translation of the Scriptures, and other duties — I had 
 never found the strength, when the special missionary daily 
 work was done, to sit down and put into writing the mass 
 of material I had collected as to the meaning and uses of 
 fetiches. Nor did I think it right for me to take time that 
 was paid for by the church in which to compile a book that 
 would be my own personal pleasure and property. 
 
 Impressed with this idea, on my fourth furlough to America 
 in 1899, I confided my wish to a few personal friends, telling 
 them of my plan, not indeed ever to give up my life-work 
 in and for Africa, but to resign from connection with the 
 Board ; and, returning to Africa under independent employ 
 and freed from mission control, but still working under my 
 Presbytery, have time to gratify my pen. 
 
 One of these friends was William Libbey, D. Sc, Professor 
 of Physical Geography and Director of the E. 1\I. Museum 
 of Geology and Archseology in Princeton University. With- 
 out my knowledge he subsequently mentioned the subject 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 to his university friend, Rev. A. Woodruff Halsey, D.D., 
 one of the Secretaries of the Board of Foreign Missions. Dr. 
 Halsey thought my wish could be gratified without my re- 
 signing from the Board's service. 
 
 In November, 1899, the following action of the Board was 
 forwarded to me: "November 20th, 1899. In view of the 
 wide and varied information possessed by the Rev. Robert 
 H. Nassau, D.D., of the West Africa Mission, regarding the 
 customs and traditions of the tribes on the West Coast, and 
 the importance of putting that knowledge into some perma- 
 nent form, the Board requested Dr. Nassau to prepare a vol- 
 ume or volumes on the subject; and it directed the West 
 Africa Mission to assign him, on his return from his fur- 
 lough, to such forms of missionary work as will give him the 
 necessary leisure and opportunity." 
 
 On my return to Africa in 1900, I was located at Batanga, 
 one hundred and seventy miles north of Gabun, and was 
 assigned to the pastorate of the Batanga Church, the largest 
 of the twelve churches of the Corisco Presbytery, with itinera- 
 tion to and charge of the sessions of the Kribi and Ubgnji 
 churches. 
 
 During intervals of time in the discharge of these pastoral 
 duties my recreation was the writing and sifting of the mul- 
 titude of notes I had collected on native superstition during 
 the previous quarter of a century. The people of Batanga, 
 though largely emancipated from the fetich practices of sup- 
 erstition, still believed in its witchcraft aspect. I began there 
 to arrange the manuscript of this work. There, more than 
 elsewhere, the natives seemed willing to tell me tales of their 
 folk-lore, involving fetich beliefs. From them, and also from 
 Mpongwe informants, were ga thered largely the con tents of 
 Chapters XVI and XVI I. ~" 
 
 And now, on this my fifth furlough, the essay on Bantu 
 Theology has grown to the proportions of this present volume. 
 
xii PREFACE 
 
 The conclusions contained in all these chapters are based 
 on my own observations and investigations. 
 
 Obligation is acknowledged to a number of writers on 
 Africa and others, quotations from whose books are credited 
 in the body of this work. I quote them, not as informants 
 of something I did not already know, but as witnesses to the 
 fact of the universality of the same superstitious ideas all 
 over Africa. 
 
 By the courtesy of the American Geographical Society, 
 Chapters IV, V, X, and XI have appeared in its Bulletin 
 during the years 1901-1903. [ 
 
 I am especially obligated to Professor Libbey for his sym- 
 pathetic encouragement during the writing of my manuscript, 
 and for his judicious suggestions as to the final form I have 
 
 given it. 
 
 ROBERT HAMILL NASSAU 
 
 Philadelphia, March 24, 1904 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Page 
 Constitution op Native African Society — Sociology . 1 
 
 I. The Country 2 
 
 II. The Family 3 
 
 Family Responsibility. — Family Headship. — Mari- 
 tal Relations. — Arrangements for Marriage. — Court- 
 ship and Wedding. — Dissolution of Marriage. — Ille- 
 gitimate Marital Relations. — Domestic Life. 
 
 III. Succession to Property and Authority 13 
 
 IV. Political Organization 13 
 
 V. Servants 14 
 
 VI. Kingship 15 
 
 VII. Fetich Doctors 16 
 
 VIII. Hospitality 17 
 
 IX. Judicial System 17 
 
 Courts. — Punishment. — Blood- Atonement and Fines. 
 — Punishable Acts. 
 
 X. Territorial Kelations 22 
 
 Tenure. — Rights in Movables. 
 
 XI. Exchange Relations 23 
 
 XII. Religion 25 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 The Idea of God — Religion 26 
 
 Theology, Religion, Creed, Worship. — Source of the Knowl- 
 edge of God ; outside of us ; comes from God ; Evolution of 
 Physical Species. — Materialism ; Knowledge of God not 
 evolved. — Superstition in all Religions. — Dominant in African 
 Religion. — No People without a Knowledge of at least the 
 Name of God. — Testimony of Travellers and Others. 
 
xiv CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Page 
 
 Polytheism — Idolatry 42 
 
 Religion and Civilization. — Worship of Natural Objects. — 
 Polytheism. — Idolatry. — Worship of Ancestors. — Fetichism. 
 
 CHAPTER lY 
 
 Spiritual Beings in African Religion 50 
 
 I. Origin 50 
 
 Coterminous with the Creator. — Created. — Spirits of 
 Deceased Human Beings; in Unity, Duality, Trinity, or 
 Quadruplicity. 
 II. Number 55 
 
 III. Locality 58 
 
 IV. Characteristics 62 
 
 CHAPTER Y 
 
 Spiritual Beings in Africa — Their Classes and Func- 
 tions 64 
 
 I. Classes and Functions 64 
 
 Inina. — Ibambo. — Ombwiri. — Nkinda. — Mondi. 
 
 11. Special Manifestations 70 
 
 Human Soul in a Lower Animal ; the Leopard Fiend. — 
 Uvengwa, Ghost. — Family Guardian-Spirit. 
 
 CHAPTER YI 
 
 Fetichism — Its Philosophy — A Physical Salvation — 
 Charms and Amulets "^5 
 
 Monotheism. — Polytheism. — Animism. — Fetichism. 
 
 The Salvation Sought: its Kind, Physical; its Source, 
 Spirits; its Reason, Fear. 
 
 The Means used: Prayer, Sacrifices, Charms; Vocal, Ritual, 
 Material, Fetiches. 
 
 Articles used in the Fetich. —Mode of Preparation: A Fit- 
 ness in the Quality of the Object for the End desired; Effi- 
 ciency depends on the Localized Spirit; Misuse of the Word 
 " Medicine " ; Native " Doctors " ; Connection of Fetich with 
 Witchcraft. 
 
CONTENTS XV 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Page 
 The Fetich — A Worship . 90 
 
 I. Sacrifice and Offerings 91 
 
 Small Votive Gifts. — Consecrated Plants; Idols and 
 Gifts of Food. — Blood Sacrifices. — Human Sacrifices. 
 
 II. Prayer 97 
 
 III. The Use of Charms or " Fetiches " 99 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The Fetich — Witchcraft — A White Art — Sorcery . 100 
 A passively Defensive Art. — Professedly of the Nature of a 
 Medicine. — Distinction between a Fetich Doctor and a Christian 
 Physician. — Manner of Performance of the White Art. — The 
 Medicinal Herbs used sometimes Valuable. — Strength of Native 
 Faith in the System. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 The Fetich — Witchcraft — A Black Art — Demonology 116 
 
 Distinction as to the Object aimed at in the White Art and in 
 the Black Art. — Black Art actively Offensive. — The Black Art 
 distinctively "Witchcraft." — Witchcraft Executions; claimed 
 to be Judicial Acts. — Hoodoo Worship. — Christian Faith and 
 Fetich Faith Compared. — Deception by Fetich Magicians. — 
 Clairvoyance. — Demoniacal Possession. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Fetichism — A Government 138 
 
 Egbo, Ukuku, Yasi, and other Societies. — Their Power either 
 to protect or oppress. — Contest with Ukuku at Benita, and with 
 Yasi on the Ogowe. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Fetich — Its Relation to the Family 156 
 
 The Family the Unit in the African Community. — Respect 
 for the Aged. — Worship of Ancestors. — Family Fetiches ; 
 Yaka, Ekongi, Mbati. 
 
 b 
 
xvi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Page 
 The Fetich — Its Relations to Daily Work and Occu- 
 pations and to the Needs of Life 172 
 
 Hunting. — Journeying. — Warring. — Trading; Okundu and 
 Mbumbu. — Sickness. — Loving. — Fishing. — Planting. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 The Fetich — Superstition in Customs 191 
 
 Rules of Pregnancy. — Omens on Journeys. — Leopard Fiends. 
 
 — Luck. — Twins. — Customs of Speech. — Oaths. — Totem Wor- 
 
 — ship. — Taboo ; Orunda. — Baptism. — Spitting. — Notice of 
 Children. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Fetich — Its Relation to the Future Life — Cere- 
 monies AT Deaths and Funerals 215 
 
 Sickness, Death, Burial, Modes of Burial. — Mourning, Treat- 
 ment of Widows.— Witchcraft Investigations. — Places of Burial. 
 
 — Cannibalism — Family Quarrel as to Precedence in the Bury- 
 ing. — Custom of "Lifting Up" of Mourners. — Ukuku Dance for 
 Amusement. — Destination of the Dead. — Transmigration. 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Fetichism — Some of its Practical Effects .... 239 
 
 Depopulation. — Cannibalism. — Secret Societies (Ukuku, 
 Yasi, Mwetyi, Bweti, Inda, Njembe). — Poisoning for Revenge. 
 — Distrust. — Jugglery. — Treatment of Lunatics. — The Ameri- 
 can Negro Hoodoo. — Folk-Lore. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Tales of Fetich Based on Fact 277 
 
 I. A Witch Sweetheart 278 
 
 II. A Jealous Wife 281 
 
 III. Witchcraft Mothers 284 
 
 IV. The W'izard House-Breaker 287 
 
 V. The Wizard Murderer 289 
 
 VX. The Wizard and his Invisible Dog 293 
 
CONTENTS xvii 
 
 Page 
 
 VII. Spirit-Dancing 295 
 
 VIII. Asiki, or the Little Beings 299 
 
 IX. Okove 302 
 
 X. The Family Idols (Okasi, Barbarity, The Eight of 
 
 Sanctuary) 308 
 
 XI. Unago and Ekela (A Proverb) 318 
 
 XII. Malanda — An Initiation into a Family Guardian- 
 Spirit Company 320 
 
 XIII. Three-Things Came Back too Late 326 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Fetich in Folk-Lore 330 
 
 I. Queen Ngwe-nkonde and her Manja 332 
 
 II. The Beautiful Daughter 337 
 
 III. The Husband that Came from an Animal . . . 346 
 
 TV. The Fairy Wife 351 
 
 V. The Thieves and their Enchanted House .... 358 
 
 VI. Ban ga-of-the-five-f aces 367 
 
 VII. The Two Brothers 372 
 
 VIII. J6ki and his Ozazi 378 
 
 Glossary 387 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Fetich Magician Frontispiece 
 
 Facing Paoje 
 
 Native King in the Niger Delta 16 
 
 English Trading-House — Gabim 24 
 
 Fetich Doctor 86 
 
 Elephants' Tusks and Palm-leaf Thatch. Two Hundred 
 
 Miles up the Ogowe River 148 
 
 War Canoe. — Calabar, West Africa 174 
 
 Natives Trading in Plantains and Bamboo Building jNfa- 
 
 terials. — Gabun 182 
 
 Travelling by Canoe. — Ogowe River 198 
 
 A Civilized Family. — Gabun 236 
 
 Njembe. Female Secret Society. — Mpongwe, Gabun . . 254 
 
 Ekope of the Ivanga Dance. — Gabun 296 
 
 A Street in Libreville, Gabun 300 
 
 Map of the West African Coast 1 
 
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FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE AFRICAN SOCIETY — 
 SOCIOLOGY 
 
 THAT stream of the Negro race which is known ethno- 
 logically as *' Bantu," occupies all of the southern 
 portion of the African continent below the fourth degree of 
 north latitude. It is divided into a multitude of tribes, each 
 with its own peculiar dialect. All these dialects are cognate 
 in their grammar. Some of them vary only slightly in their 
 vocabulary. In others the vocabulary is so distinctly differ- 
 ent that it is not understood by tribes only one hundred miles 
 apart, while that of others a thousand miles away may be 
 intelligible. 
 
 In their migrations the tribes have been like a river, with 
 its windings, currents swift or slow ; there have been even, in 
 places, back currents ; and elsewhere quiet, almost stagnant 
 pools. But they all — from the Divala at Kamerun on the 
 West Coast across to the Kiswahile at Zanzibar on the East, 
 and from Buganda by the Victoria Nyanza at the north down 
 to Zulu in the south at the Cape — have a uniformity in lan- 
 guage, tribal organization, family customs, judicial rules and 
 regulations, marriage ceremonies, funeral rites, and religious 
 beliefs and practice. Dissimilarities have crept in with mix- 
 ture among themselves by intermarriage, the example of 
 foreiofuers, with some forms of foreiofu civilization and educa- 
 tion, degradation by foreign vice, elevation by Christianity, 
 and compulsion by foreign governments. 
 
 1 
 
2 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 As a description of Bantu sociology, I give the following 
 outline which was offered some years ago, in reply to inquiries 
 sent to members of the Gabun and Corisco Mission livino- at 
 
 o 
 
 Batanga, by the German Government, in its laudable effort to 
 adapt, as far as consistent with justice and humanity, its 
 Kamerun territorial government to the then existing tribal 
 regulations and customs of the tribes living in the Batanga 
 region. This information was obtained by various persons 
 from several sources, but especially from prominent native 
 chiefs, all of them men of intelligence. 
 
 In their general features these statements were largely true 
 also for all the other tribes in the Equatorial Coast region, and 
 for most of the interior Bantu tribes now pressing down to 
 the Coast. They were more distinctly descriptive of Batanga 
 and the entire interior at the time of their formulation. But 
 in the ten years that have since passed, a stranger would find 
 that some of them are no longer exact. Foreign authority 
 has removed or changed or sapped the foundations of many 
 native customs and regulations, while it has not fully brought 
 in the civilization of Christianity. The result in some places, 
 in this period of transition, has been almost anarchy, — making 
 a despotism, as under Belgian misrule in the so-called Kongo 
 " Free " State ; or commercial ruin, as under French monopoly 
 in their Kongo-Frangais ; and general confusion, under Ger- 
 man hands, due to the arbitrary acts of local officials and their 
 brutal black soldiery. 
 
 I. The Country. 
 
 The coast between 5° and 4° N. Lat. is called " Kamerun." 
 This is not a native word : it was formerly spelled by ships' 
 captains in their trade '^ Cameroons." Its origin is uncer- 
 tain. It is thought that it came from the name of the Portu- 
 guese explorer Diego Cam. The tribes in that region are the 
 Divala, Isubu, Balimba, and other lesser ones. 
 
 The coast from 4° to 3° N. Lat. has also a foreign name, 
 " Batanga." I do not know its origin. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE SOCIETY 3 
 
 The coast from 3° to T N. Lat. is called, by both natives 
 and foreigners, " Benita" ; at 1° N., by foreigners, " Corisco," 
 and by natives, "Benga." The name " Corisco " was given 
 by Spaniards to an island in the Bay of Benga because of the 
 brilliant coruscations of lightning so persistent in that locality. 
 The Benga dialect is taken as the type of all the many dia- 
 lects used from Corisco north to Benita, Bata, Batanga, and 
 Kamerun. 
 
 P'rom 1° N. to 3° S. is known as the " Gabun country," 
 with the Mpongwe dialect, typical of its many congeners, the 
 Orungu, Nkami Qniscalled '' C amma"\ Galwa, and others. 
 
 From 3° S. to the Kongo River, at 6° S., the Loango tribe 
 and dialect called " Fyat " are typical ; and the Kongo River 
 represents still another current of tribe and dialect. 
 
 In the interior, subtending the entire coast-line as above 
 mentioned, are the several clans of the great Fang tribe, mak- 
 ing a fifth distinctly different type, known by the names 
 "Osheba," " Bulu," '' Mabeya," and others. The name 
 "Fang" is spelled variously: by the traveller Du Chaillu, 
 "Fan"; by the French traveller, Count de Brazza, "Pa- 
 houin " ; by their Benga neighbors, " Pangwe " ; and by the 
 Mpongwe, " Mpafiwe." These tribes all have traditions of 
 their having come from the far Northeast. 
 
 Before foreign slave-trade was introduced, and subsequently 
 the ivory, rubber, palm-oil, and mahogany trades, the occupa- 
 tions of the natives were hunting, fishing, and agriculture. 
 They subsisted on wild meats, fish, forest fruits and nuts, and 
 the cultivated plantains, cassava, maize, ground-nuts, yams, 
 eddoes, sweet potatoes, and a few other vegetables. 
 
 II. The Family. 
 
 The family is the unit in native sociology. There is the 
 narrow circle of relationship expressed by the word "ijawe," 
 plural " majawe " (a derivative of the verb " jaka " = to beget), 
 which includes those of the immediate family, both on the 
 father's as well as on the mother's side (i.e., blood-rela- 
 
4 FETICHISM IN WEST AFKICA 
 
 tives). The wider circle expressed by the word *'ikaka" 
 (pi. "makaka") includes those who are blood-relatives, to- 
 gether with those united to them by marriage. 
 
 In giving illustrative native words I shall use the Benga 
 dialect as typical. All the tribes have words indicating the 
 relationships of father, mother, brother, sister. A nephew, 
 while calling his own father "paia," calls an uncle who is 
 older than himself " paia-utodu" ; one younger than himself 
 he calls "paia-ndembS." His own mother he calls "ina," 
 and his aunts "ina-utodu" and "ina-nd5mbg," respectively, 
 for one who is older or younger than himself. 
 
 A cousin is called "mwana-paia-utodu," or "-ndSmbS," 
 as the case may be, according to age. These same designa- 
 tions are used for both the father's and the mother's side. 
 A cousin's consanguinity is considered almost the same as 
 that of brother or sister. They cannot marry. Indeed, all 
 lines of consanguinity are carried farther, in prohibition of 
 marriage, than in civilized countries. 
 
 1. Family Responsibility. Each family is held by the 
 community responsible for the misdeeds of its members. 
 However unworthy a man may be, his "people" are to 
 stand by him, defend him, and even claim as right his acts, 
 however unjust. He may demand their help, however guilty 
 he may be. Even if his offence be so great that his own 
 people have to acknowledge his guilt, they cannot abjure 
 their responsibility. Even if he be worthy of death, and 
 a ransom is called for, they must pay it: not only his rich 
 relatives, but all who are at all able must help. 
 
 There is a narrower family relationship, that of the house- 
 hold, or '' diya " (the hearth, or fireplace ; derivative of tlie 
 verb "diyaka " = to live). There are a great many of these. 
 Their habitations are built in one street, long or short, accord- 
 ing to the size of the man's family. 
 
 In polygamy each wife has a separate house, or at least a 
 separate room. Her' children's home is in that house. Each 
 woman rules her own house and children. 
 
 One of these women is called the " head-wife " ("konde '* -^ 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE SOCIETY 5 
 
 queen). Usually she is the first wife. But the man is at 
 liberty to displace her and put a younger one in her place. 
 
 The position of head-wife carries with it no special privi- 
 leges except that she superintends; but she is not herself 
 excused from work. In the community she is given more 
 respect if the husband happens to be among the "headmen" 
 or chiefs. 
 
 Each wife is supplied by the husband, but does not per- 
 sonally own her own house, kitchen utensils, and garden tools. 
 She makes her own garden or "plantation" ("mwanga"). 
 
 There is no community in ownership of a plantation . 
 Each one chooses a spot for himself. N or is there land 
 tenure. ^ Any man can go to any place not already occu- 
 pied, and choose a site on which to build, or to make a 
 garden; and he keeps it as long as he or some member of 
 his family occupies it. 
 
 2. Family Headship. It descends to a son; if there be 
 none, to a brother; or, if he be dead, to that brother's son; 
 in default of these, to a sister's son. This headship carries 
 with it, for a man, such authority that, should he kill his 
 wife, he may not be killed; though her relatives, if they be 
 influential, may demand some restitution. 
 
 If an ordinary man kills another man, he may himself be 
 killed. For a debt he may give away a daughter or wife, 
 but he may not give away a son or a brother. A father rules 
 all his children, male and female, until his death. 
 
 If adult members of a family are dissatisfied with family 
 arrangements, they can remove and build elsewhere; but they 
 cannot thereby entirely separate themselves from rule by, and 
 responsibility to and for the family. 
 
 A troublesome man cannot be expelled from the family 
 village. A woman can be, but only by her husband, for 
 such offences as stealing, adulter}-, quarrelling; in which case 
 the dowry money paid by him to her relatives must be re- 
 turned to him, or another woman given in her place. 
 
 S. _ Marital Relations. Marriages are made not only be- 
 tween members of the same tribe but between different tribes. 
 
V 
 
 6 FETICHIS:^] IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Formerly it was not considered proper that a man of a coast 
 
 n^ tribe should marry a woman from an interior tribe. The 
 
 \<; coast tribes regarded themselves as more enlightened than 
 
 ^ , those of the interior, and were disposed to look down upon 
 
 them. But now men marry women not only of their own 
 
 ! tribe but of all inferior tribes. 
 
 Polygamy is common, almost universal. A man's addition 
 to the number of his wives is limited only by his ability to 
 pay their dowry price. 
 
 He may cohabit with a Avoman without paying dowry for 
 her; but their relation is not regarded as a marriage ("^diJbal')' 
 and this woman is disrespected as a harlot ("evove "). 
 
 There are few men with only one wife. In some cases 
 their monogamy is their voluntary choice; in most cases 
 (where there is not Christian principle) it is due to poverty. 
 A polygamist arranges his marital duties to his several wives 
 according to his choice; but the division having been made, 
 each wife jealously guards her own claim on his attentions. 
 A disregard of them leads to many a family quarrel.^ 
 
 Jf_ _a man die, his brothers may marry any or all of the 
 widows; or, if there be no brothers, a son inherits, and may 
 marry any or all of the widows except his own mother. 
 
 It is preferred that widows shall be retained in the family 
 circle because of the dowry money that was paid for them, 
 which is considered as a permanent investment. 
 
 Ante-ceremonial sexual trials (the ancient German " bun- 
 dling") are not recognized as according to rule; but the 
 custom is very common. If not followed by regular mar- 
 riage ceremon}^, it is judged as adultery. 
 
 While a man may go to any tribe to seek a wife, he does 
 not settle in the woman's tribe; she comes to him, and enters 
 into his family. 
 
 4. Arrangements for Marriage. On entering into marriage 
 a man depends on only the male members of his family to 
 assist him. If the woman is of adult age, he is first to try 
 to obtain her consent. But that is not final; it may be 
 
 1 Gen. XXX. 15-16. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE SOCIETY 7 
 
 either overridden or compelled by her father. The fathers 
 of the two parties are the ultimate judges; the marriage 
 cannot take place without their consent, after the prelimi- 
 nary wooing. The final compact is by dowry money, the 
 most of which mus t be paid in advance. It is the custom 
 which Tias come down from old time. It is now slightly 
 changing under education, enlightenment, and foreign law. 
 The amount of the dowry is not prescribed by any law. 
 Custom alters the amount, according to the social status of 
 the two families and the pecuniary ability of the bridegroom. 
 
 The highest price is paid for a virgin; the next, for a 
 woman who has been put away by some other man ; the lowest 
 price for widows. It is paid in instalments, but is supposed 
 tob e complet ed i n one orTwo years after the marriag e. 
 
 But the purchase of the woman by dowry does not extin- 
 guish all claim on her by her famity. If she is maltreated, 
 she may be taken back by them, in which case the man's 
 dowry money is to be returned to him. Not only the 
 woman's father, but her other relatives, have a claim to a 
 share in the dowry paid for her. Her brothers, sisters, and 
 cousins may ask gifts from the would-be husband. 
 
 If a husband die, the widow becomes the property of his 
 family; she does not inherit, by right, any of his goods 
 because she herself, as a widow, is property. Sometimes 
 she is given something, but only as a favor. 
 
 If she runs away or escapes, her father or her family must 
 return either her or the dowry paid for her. 
 
 On the death of a woman after her marriage, a part of the 
 money received for her is returned to the husband as compen-,^0 
 sation for his loss on his investment. Ji_ ^e has borne no (_ 
 children, n othing is given or restored to t])e hiisbgiig? ' 
 
 If a woman deserts her husband, her family is required to 
 pay back the dowry. If the man himself sends her away, 
 the dowry may be repaid on his demand and after a public 
 discussion. 
 
 There is no escape from marriage for a woman during her 
 life except by repayment of the money received for her. 
 
/\)> 
 
 I 
 
 8 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Two men may exchange wives thus : each puts away his 
 \ wife, sending her back to her people and receiving in return 
 , the money paid for her. With this money in hand each 
 ) buys again the wife the other has put away ; and all parties 
 t are satisfied. 
 
 A father can force his daughter to marry against her will ; 
 but such marriages are troublesome, and generally end in the 
 man putting the woman away. 
 
 A daughter may be betrothed by her parents at any time, 
 even at birth. The marriage formerly did not take place 
 until she was a woman grown of twenty years; now they 
 are married at fifteen or sixteen, or earlier. 
 
 Marriage within any degree of consanguinity is forbidden. 
 
 MaTriage.^£_cmisins is„impossible^ Disparity of age is no 
 
 ^^ hindrance to marriage : an old man may take a young virgin, 
 
 § and a young man may take an old woman. 
 
 ^ / There are no bars of caste nor rank, except the social 
 
 ^ eminence derived from wealth or free birth. 
 
 Only women are barred from marrying an inferior. That 
 |inferiority is not a personal one. No personal worth can 
 jSmake a man of an inferior tribe equal to the meanest member 
 [of a superior tribe. 
 
 All coast tribes reckon themselves superior to any interior 
 tribe; and, of the coast tribes, a supmiority i^ claimed for. 
 '^ jthosejvho have the largest foreign commerce and the greatest 
 j mumber of white resid ents. ^ — -^^-. 
 
 A man may marry any woman of any inferior tribe, the 
 idea being that he thus elevates her; but it is almost un- 
 heard of that a woman shall marry beneath her. 
 '^ As a result of this iron rule, women of the Mpongwe and 
 a few other small *' superior '' coast tribes being barred from 
 many men of their own tribe by lines of consanguinity, and 
 unable to marry beneath themselves, expect to and do make 
 their marriage alliances with the white traders and foreign 
 /'government officials. Their civilization has made them 
 I attractive, and they are sought for by white men from far 
 I distant points. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE SOCIETY 9 
 
 Younger sons and daughters must not be married before 
 the older ones.^ 
 
 5. Courtshij) and Wedding. The routine varies greatly 
 according to tribe; and in any tribe, according to the man's 
 self-respect and regard for conventionalities. A proper out- 
 line is : First, the man goes to the father empty-handed to ask 
 his consent. The second visit he goes with gifts, and the 
 father calls in the other members of the family to witness the 
 gifts. On the third visit he goes with liquor (formerly 
 the native palm wine, now the foreign trade gin or rum), and 
 pays an instalment on the dowry; on the f ourth vi sit with 
 his parents, and gives presents to the woman herself. On a 
 fifth occ asion the mother of the woman makes a feast for the 
 mother and friends of the groom. At this feast the host and 
 hostess do not eat, but they join in the drinking. Finally, 
 the man goes with gifts and takes the woman. Her father 
 makes return gifts as a~ farewell to his daughter. 
 
 On her arrival at the man's village they are met with 
 rejoicing, and a dance called '^nkanja^'; but there is no 
 further ceremony, and she is his wife. 
 
 For three months she should not be required to do any 
 hard work, the man providing her with food and dress. 
 Then she will begin the usual woman's work, in the making 
 of a garden and carrying of burdens. 
 
 Weddings may be made in any season of the year. 
 Formerly the dry season, or the latter part of the rainy, was 
 preferred because of the plentifulness of fish at these periods, 
 and the weather being better for outdoor sports and plays. 
 
 The man is expected to visit his wife's family often, and to 
 eat with them. Her mother feasts him, and he calls her 
 parents to eat at his house. 
 
 6. Dissolution of Marriage. By death of the husband. 
 Formerly, in many tribes one or more of the widows were 
 put to death, either that the dead might not be without com- 
 panionship in the spirit world, or as a punishment for not 
 having cared better for him in the preservation of his life. 
 
 ^ Gen. xxix. 26. 
 
10 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Formerly the women mourned for six months; now the 
 mourning {i.e.^ the public wailing) is reduced to one month. 
 But signs of mourning are retained for many months in dark, 
 old, or scanty dress, and an absence of ornament. 
 
 The mourning of both men and women begins before the 
 sick have actually died. The men cease after the burial, 
 but the women continue. 
 
 All the dead man's property goes to his male relatives. 
 On the death of a wife the husband is expected to make a 
 gift to pacify her relatives. Formerly the corpse was not 
 allowed to be buried until this gift was made. The demand 
 was made by the father, saying, "Our child died in your 
 hands; give us !" Now they make a more quiet request, 
 and wait a week before doing so. Something must be given, 
 even if the husband had already paid her dowry in full. 
 / Marriage can be dissolved by divorce at almost any time, 
 and for almost any reason, by the man, — by a woman rarely. 
 The usual reasons for divorce are unfaithfulness, quarrelling, 
 disobedience, and sometimes chronic sickness. There are 
 many other more private reasons. In being thus put away 
 the woman has no property rights; she is given nothing 
 more than what the man may allow as a favor. If the 
 woman has children, she has no claim on them ; they belong 
 to the father. But if she has daughters who are married, she 
 can ask for part of the money which the husband received 
 for them. The man and the divorced woman are then 
 each free to marry any other parties. 
 
 7. Illegitimate Marital Relations. These are very com- 
 mon, but they_ar e^not sanct ioned as proper. The husband 
 demands a fine for his wife's infidelity from~The co-respond- 
 ent. Cohabitation with the expected husband previous to 
 the marriage ceremonies is common ; but it is not sanctioned, 
 and therefore is secret. 
 
 The husband of a woman who is mother of a child begotten 
 by another man takes it as his own. If it be a girl, he (and 
 not the real father) is the person who gives her in marriage 
 and retains the dowry. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE SOCIETY 11 
 
 8. Domestic Life. No special feast is made for the birth 
 of either a son or a daughter, but there is rejoicing. During 
 the woman's pregnancy both she and her husband have to 
 observe a variety of prohibitions as to what they may eat or 
 what they may do. They cohabit up to the time of the 
 child's birth; but after that not for a long period, formerly 
 three years. Now it is reduced to one and a half years, or 
 less. This custom is one of the reasons assigned by men for 
 the alleged necessity of a plurality of wives. 
 
 During the confinement and for a short time after the 
 birth, the wife remains in the husband's house, and is then 
 taken by her parents to their house. 
 
 Deformed and defective children are kept with kindness 
 as others; but monstrosities are destroyed. Formerly in 
 all tribes twins were regarded as monstrosities and were 
 therefore killed, — still the custom in some tribes. In thei 
 more civilized tribes they are now valued, but special fetich 
 ceremonies for them are considered necessary. / 
 
 In the former destruction of twins there were tribes that 
 killed only one of them. If they were male and female, the 
 father would wish to save the boy and the mother the girl ; 
 but the father ruled. A motherless new-born infant is not 
 deserted; it is suckled by some other woman. 
 
 A portion of the wearing apparel and other goods are placed 
 in the coffin with the corpse. The greater part of a man's 
 goods are taken by his male relatives. Formerly nothing was 
 given to his widow; now she receives a small part. And 
 the paternal relatives of the dead man give something to his 
 maternal relatives. 
 
 The corpse is buried in various ways, — on an elevated 
 scaffold, on the surface of the ground, or in a shallow grave, 
 rarely cremated. Formerly the burial could be delayed by a 
 claim for settlement of a debt, but this does not now occur. 
 
 No coast tribe eats human flesh. The Fang and other in- 
 terior tribes eat any corpse, regardless of the cause of death. 
 Families hesitate to eat their own dead, but they sell or 
 exchange them for the dead of other families. 
 
 ■? 
 
12 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 The name given a child is according to family wish. There 
 is no law. Parents like to have their own names trans- 
 mitted; but all sorts of reasons prevail for giving common 
 names, or for making a new one, or for selecting the name 
 of a great person or of some natural object. A child born 
 at midday may be called " Joba " (sun), or, at the full moon, 
 " Ngande " (moon). A mother who had borne nine children, 
 all of whom had died, on bearing a tenth, and hopeless of its 
 surviving, named it "Botombaka" (passing away). 
 
 Circumcision is practised universally by all these tribes. 
 An uncircumcised native is not considered to be a man in 
 the full sense of the word, — fit for fighting, working, mar- 
 rying, and inheriting. He is regarded as nothing by both 
 men and women, is slandered, abused, insulted, ostracized, 
 and not allowed to marry. 
 
 The operation is not performed in infancy, but is delayed 
 till the tenth year, or even later. The native doctor holds 
 cayenne pepper in his mouth, and, on completing the opera- 
 tion, spits the pepper upon the wound. Then seizing a 
 sword, he brandishes it with a shout as a signal to the spectators 
 that the act is completed. Then the crowd of men and women 
 join in singing and dancing, and compliment the lad on being 
 now "a real man." 
 
 As natives have no records of births, they cannot exactly 
 tell the ages of their children, or the time when a youth is fit 
 to marry or assume other manly rights; but by the eighteenth 
 or nineteenth year he is regarded with the respect due a man. 
 He can marry even as early as fifteen or sixteen. 
 ' There are no tests to which he is subjected as proof of his 
 manhood. 
 
 A woman may speak in a court of trial, for defence of 
 herself or friends. She may also be summoned as a witness, 
 but she has no political rights. 
 
 Aged persons are not put to death, to escape the care of 
 them; they are reasonably well provided for. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE SOCIETY 13 
 
 III. Succession to Property and Authority. 
 
 Only men inherit. The children of sisters do not inherit 
 unless all the children of the brothers are dead. 
 
 Slaves do not inherit. 
 
 "Chieftains" (those chosen to rule) and "kings" (those 
 chosen to the office) inherit more than their brothers, even 
 though the ruling one be the younger. 
 
 A woman does not inherit at any time or under any cir- 
 cumstances, nor hold property in her own right, even if she 
 has produced it by her own labor. 
 
 There is no supremacy in regard to age in the division 
 of property. The things to be inherited are women (the 
 widows), goods, house, and slaves. An equal division, as 
 far as it is possible, is made of all these. 
 
 The dead man's debts are to be paid by the heirs out of 
 their inheritance, each one paying his part. There is no 
 written will, but it is common for a man to announce his 
 intention as to the division while still living. 
 
 IV. Political Organization. 
 
 The coast tribes and some of the interior have so-called 
 "kings," who are chosen by their tribe to that office. 
 
 There are family cliques for the accomplishment of a 
 desired end, but these are overruled by the tribal king. 
 
 There are headmen in each village with local authority; 
 but they too are subject to the king, they having authority 
 only in their own village. 
 
 Quarrels and discussions, called "palavers," are very^ com- 
 mon. (A palaver need not necessarily be a quarrel ; the word 
 is derived from a Portuguese verb = "to speak." It comes 
 from the old days of slavery; it was the "council" held 
 between native chiefs and white slave traders, in the pur- 
 chase of a cargo of slaves.) 
 
 The headmen settle disputes about marriage, property 
 rights, murders, war, thefts, and so forth. Their decisions 
 
14 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 may be appealed from to a chief, or carried further to the 
 king, whose decision is finaL Any one, young and old, 
 male and female, may be present during a discussion. 
 Usually only chosen persons do the speaking. 
 
 Instead of a question being referred to a chief or king, a 
 committee of wise men is sometimes chosen for the occasion. 
 Public assemblages are gathered by messengers sent out to 
 summon the people. The meeting is presided over by the 
 king. 
 
 V. Servants. 
 
 The domestic servants are slaves. Prisoners of war are 
 also made to do service; but on the making of peace male 
 prisoners are returned to their tribe ; the female prisoners are 
 retained and married. Slaves were bought from interior 
 tribes. If a male child was born to slave parents, he was 
 considered free and could marry into the tribe. If the slave 
 mother died, the widower could marry into the tribe. If the 
 slave father died, the widow was married by some man of the 
 family who owned him. There are no slaves bought or 
 sold now, but there is a sj^stem of "pawns," — ^ children or 
 women given as a pledge for a debt and never redeemed. 
 Their position is inferior, and they are servants, but not 
 slaves. 
 
 Also, if a prominent person {e.g., a headman) is killed 
 in war, the people who killed him are to give a daughter to 
 his family, who may marry her to any one they please. 
 
 A pawn may be sent away by the holder to some other 
 place, but he cannot be sold or killed; but the holder may 
 beat him if he be obstreperous. 
 
 During slavery days anything earned by a slave was taken 
 to his master, who would allow him a share; also, at other 
 times, the master would give the slave gifts. The slave 
 could do paid labor for foreigners or other strangers, and was 
 not necessarily punished if he did not share his wages with 
 the master, but he would at least be rebuked for the omis- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE SOCIETY 1.5 
 
 sion. Women ruled their female slaves. For a slave's minor 
 offences, such as stealing, the master was held responsible; 
 for grave offences, such as murder, the slave himself was' 
 killed. 
 
 Certain liberty was allowed a slave; he could attend the 
 village or tribal palavers and take part in the discussion. 
 If a slave was unjustly treated by some other person, his 
 owner could call a council and have the matter talked over, 
 and the slave could be allowed to plead his case. 
 
 A slave man could hold property of his own; and if he 
 were a worthy, sensible person, he could inherit. 
 
 In a slave's marriage of a woman the custom of gifts, 
 feasts, and so forth was the same as for a free man. 
 
 If ill treated, he could run away to another tribe (not to 
 any one of his own tribe), and would there be harbored, but 
 still as a slave, and would not be given up to his former 
 owner. A slave could become free only by his master set- 
 ting him free; he could not redeem himself. 
 
 VI. Kingship. 
 
 Kingship has connected with it the great honor that a 
 son may inherit it if he is the right kind of man; but it is 
 possible for him to be set aside and another chosen. A son 
 may lose his place by foolishness and incompetency. 
 
 Attempts to rule independently of the king are sometimes 
 made by cliques composed of three or four young persons of 
 the same age, who make laws or customs peculiar to them- 
 selves. There is no national recognition of them, nor are 
 they given any special privilege. 
 
 Kings have very little power over the fines or property of 
 others. These are held, each man lor himself; nor have 
 they the right of taxation ; but they have power to declare 
 war, acting in concert with their people in declaring it and 
 waging it. They administer justice as magistrates, decide 
 palavers according to the unwritten law of custom, summon 
 offenders, and inflict the punishment due. 
 
16 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Their dwellings differ but little from those of other persons 
 of like wealth and personal ability. 
 
 When a palaver is called, the king sits as ruler of the 
 meeting and does most of the talking. He provides food 
 for those who come from a distance. 
 
 A king may be blamed if a war he has declared ends dis- 
 astrously. While a king's son expects to inherit the title 
 and power, there is no invariable rule of succession; he can- 
 not take the position by force. He must be chosen; but the 
 choice is limited to the members of one family, in which it 
 is hereditary. 
 
 If the chosen person be a minor, another is selected (but of 
 the same family) to act as regent. The " incompetency " 
 which could bar a man from kingship, even though in regu- 
 lar succession, would be lack of stamina in his character. 
 The king-elect must make a feast, to which he is to call all 
 the people to eat, drink, and play for twenty days. 
 
 There are no higher state forms among the coast tribes, as 
 in civilized lands; no union among tribes; no feudal power 
 nor vassals ; no monarchy, nothing absolute ; no taxation, no 
 monopoly. Some of the interior tribes formerly had trib- 
 utes and kingly monopoly of certain products. 
 
 VII. Fetich Doctors. 
 
 They still exist, but it can scarcely be said that they are a 
 class. They have no organization ; they have honor only in 
 their own districts, unless they be called specially to minister 
 in another place. They have power to condemn to death on 
 charge of causing sickness. In their ceremonies they send 
 the people to sing, dance, play, and beat drums, and they 
 spot their bodies with their "medicines." Any one may 
 choose the profession for himself; fetich doctors demand 
 large pay for their services. 
 
Native King in the Niger Delta. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE SOCIETY 17 
 
 VIII. Hospitality. 
 
 A stranger is entertained hospitably. He is provided with 
 a house and food for two weeks, or as much longer as he may 
 wish to stay. On departing he is given a present. His host 
 and the village headman are bound to protect him from any 
 prosecution while he is their guest, even if he be really 
 guilty. 
 
 IX. Judicial System. 
 
 Such a system does not exist. Whatever rules there are 
 are handed down as tradition, by word of mouth. There 
 are persons who are familiar with these old sayings, prov- 
 erbs, examples, and customs, and these are asked to be 
 present in the trial of disputed matters. 
 
 1. Courts. In the righting of any wrong the head of the 
 family is to take the first step. If the offenders fail to satisfy 
 him, he appeals to the king, who then calls all the people, re- 
 hearses the matter to them, and the majority of their votes is 
 accepted by the king as the decision. The offenders will not 
 dare to resist. 
 
 There is no regular court-house. In almost all villages 
 there is a public shed, or "palaver-house," which is the 
 town-hall, or public reception room. But a council may be 
 held anywhere, — in the king's house, in the house of one of 
 the litigants, on the beach, or under a large shady tree. 
 
 The council is held at any time of day, — not at night. 
 There are no regular advocates; any litigant may state his 
 own case, or have any one else do it for him. There are no 
 fees, except to the king for his summoning of tlie case. 
 There is sometimes betting on the result; though no stakes 
 are deposited, the bets are 2:)aid. There is not mucli form 
 of court procedure. All the people of a village or district, 
 even women and children, according to the importance of 
 the case, assemble. While women are generally not al- 
 lowed to argue in the case, yet their shouts of approval 
 
18 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 or protest have influence in the decision, and encourage 
 the parties by outspoken sympathy. 
 
 If an accused person does not come voluntarily to court, 
 the king's servants are sent to bring him. Jn the court the 
 accused does not need to have some one plead for him, he 
 speaks for himself. Accusers speak first, then the accused ; 
 the accusers reply, the accused answers; and the king and 
 his aged counsellors decide. Witnesses are called from other 
 places. As there is no writing among untaught tribes, the 
 depositions are by word of mouth. 
 
 Formerly the accused was subjected to the poison ordeal ; 
 indeed, the accuser also had to take the poison draught as a 
 proof of his sincerity, and that his charge was not a libel. 
 But this custom is no longer practised on the coast. 
 
 There is no substitution of any kind, except in rare cases. 
 A guilty person must bear his own punishment in some way. 
 
 Oaths are common, and are used freely and voluntarily in 
 the course of the discussion. A man who utters false testi- 
 mony or bears false witness is expected to be thrust out of 
 the assembly, but it is not always done. 
 
 When an oath is required, there is no escape from it; he 
 who refuses to swear is considered guilty. Sometimes, under 
 bravado, he will demand to be given " mbwaye " (the 
 poison test), hoping that his demand will not be complied 
 with. When the test is produced, he may seek to escape it 
 by refusing that particular kind and demanding another not 
 readily obtainable. But his attempt at evasion is generally 
 regarded as a sign of guilt. 
 
 In court, parties are not obstinate in their opinion; they 
 ask for and take advice from others. 
 
 2. Punishment. If it be capital, the accusers are the 
 executioners. Death is by various modes, — formerly very 
 cruel, e. g., burning, roasting, torturing, amputation by piece- 
 meal ; now it is generally by gun, dagger, club, or drowning. 
 For a debt that a creditor is seeking to recover, securities 
 may be accepted. But if the accused then runs away, the 
 person giving the security is tried and punished. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE SOCIETY 19 
 
 A creditor does not usually attach the property of the 
 debtor, though often, in the interior tribes, a woman is 
 seized as hostage. If a long time elapses in deciding the 
 matter, the debtor may be held as prisoner until the debt is 
 paid. Formerly it was very common for the debtor's family's 
 property, or even their persons, to be seized as security; 
 and it still is common for a person of the debtor's tribe to be 
 caught by the creditor's tribe, and detained until he is re- 
 deemed by his own people. 
 
 The king of the prisoner's tribe is called to help release 
 him. If the king himself become a captive, his people com- 
 bine to collect goods for the payment, and meanwhile give 
 other persons in his place to secure his immediate release. 
 Sometimes differences are settled in a fight, by a hand-to- 
 hand encounter. 
 
 3. Blood Atonement and Fines. Revenge, especially for 
 bloodshed, is everywhere practised. It is a duty belong- 
 ing first to the "ijawe" (blood-relative), next to the 
 "ikaka" (family), next to the ^^etomba" (tribe). 
 
 The murdered man's own family take the lead, — in case of 
 a wife, her husband and his family, and the wife's family; 
 sometimes the whole "ikaka"; finally, the "etomba." 
 
 A master seeks revenge for his slave or other servants. 
 Formerly it was indifferent who was killed in revenge, so 
 that it be some member of the murderer's tribe. Naturally 
 that tribe sought to retaliate, and the feud was carried back 
 and forth, and would be finally settled only when an equal 
 number had been killed on each side, — a person for a 
 person: a woman for a man, or vice versa; a chihl for a 
 man or woman, or vice versa. A woman (wife of the man 
 killed) does not take the lead in the revenge; his family 
 must take the lead, her family must join in. They would 
 be despised and cursed if they did not do so. The woman 
 herself does not take part in this killing for revenge. 
 
 The avenger of blood may not demit his duty until some 
 member of the other tribe has been killed. If a thief has 
 been killed for his theft, blood may be taken for his death. 
 
20 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 But when that one other life is taken, the matter is con- 
 sidered settled; it is not carried on as a feud. 
 
 For a life taken by accident, a life is not required; but 
 some penalty must be paid, e. g.^ a woman may be given as a 
 wife. But, practically, in former times it was not admitted 
 that "accidents" occurred; any misfortune was adjudged 
 a fault. 
 
 Formerly even the plea of self-defence was not accepted. 
 Even idiotic or otherwise irresponsible persons were held 
 responsible, though sometimes they were ransomed by pay- 
 ment of a woman and goods. 
 
 At present blood is not always required, but formerly 
 no money would have been accepted as a sufficient penalty. 
 A man would have been despised for accepting it. There 
 was no way of settlement except by bloodshed, — a life for a 
 life, — except that, for the life of a woman, a woman and 
 goods of a certain amount and kind might be accepted. 
 When a woman was thus given for a murdered one, the living 
 woman must not be old, but one capable of bearing children. 
 Among the acceptable goods were sheep, goats, and pottery. 
 
 A w^ound or a broken limb is paid for in goods. These 
 must come not solely from him who caused the injury ; his 
 family, as fellow offenders, must assist in paying. 
 
 The man who obtains the woman who is given for a woman 
 killed, retains with her also part of the goods given with her, 
 and part he shares with the family of the murdered one. If, 
 in giving a woman for a murdered one, the offending family 
 is unable to furnish also the required goods, they must sell 
 another of their women in order to obtain those goods. 
 The point is that they must give a woman and goods ; two 
 women will not suffice. 
 
 The ceremonies in settlement of a blood-feud are as fol- 
 lows : The woman is paid in presence of both parties ; then 
 the_g;oqds^are given, counted, and received. Then both parties 
 retire. In the course of a week tlie parties receiving the 
 woman and the goods call the other party, and produce a goat 
 and kill it in their presence. It is divided equally, and given 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE SOCIETY 21 
 
 half to each party ; and the feud is settled, as by a covenant 
 of peace, over the divided goat (Gen. xv. 10). The woman 
 thus given in settlement will be married to some one. 
 
 The customs in her marriage are the same as for any other 
 woman. Subsequently those who paid her as a fine may 
 come and ask a portion of goods for her as a wife. Not that 
 they have any claim on her as their daughter ; but the man 
 who has married her will give the goods they ask for, under 
 the common belief that, unless he does so, the children born 
 by her will die early, or at least will not come to years of 
 maturity. 
 
 All misdeeds and offences, even capital ones, may be con- 
 doned by a fine in goods, excepting only the murder of a man. 
 This murderer must forfeit his life. These fines are paid with 
 foreign goods, each offence having its own regulation price as 
 a punishment. 
 
 In general, the punishment for an injury is the same, 
 whether the injured one be rich or poor. A man's " majawe " 
 are held responsible if he refuses to make restitution. If they 
 also refuse, the offended party await a suitable opportunity, 
 and then seize some one and hold him as a hostage until he is 
 redeemed, for the price of the original offence, every mite of 
 it being then exacted. 
 
 There is no right of asylum to any offender witliin the limit 
 of his own tribe. In case of a man visiting, for any reason 
 whatever, in the limits of another tribe one of whose members 
 is a fugitive from justice into the limits of the visitor's tribe, 
 this visitor may be seized, and his countrymen asked to ex- 
 tradite the criminal staying in their midst. 
 
 Corporal punishment is administered publicly, the towns- 
 people being called to witness it, so as to operate on their 
 fears and cause them to dread the doing of deeds which may 
 bring on them such a penalty. 
 
 4. Punishable Acts. A person is punishable only for an 
 injury committed intentionally, not by accident. 
 
 For damages by cattle, the animal may be killed if the 
 damage be considerable. The injured party may keep and 
 
22 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 eat the carcass, and the owner cannot recover for it. In this 
 respect animals are treated as human beings, their lives being 
 forfeit; and the owner's majawe are held responsible along 
 with him. 
 
 Punishments are rated according to the degree of the crime, 
 in the order .theft, adultery , rapie^ murder. Insults are not 
 punishable by law ; the insulted insults in return. If a fight 
 results, and wounds are made during the fight, no fine is 
 required. 
 
 Kidaappijig,j'ncestj and abortion are not known. 
 
 Under the slight duty owed to kings, treason can scarcely 
 be said to exist Its equivalent, the betrayal of tribal interests, 
 is publicly rebuked, and a curse laid on the offender. If he 
 be a servant, he is beaten and sent away. 
 
 The disturber of the peace of a wedding is expected to 
 express regret, but no calamity will follow because of the 
 disturbance. The offence is not common. 
 
 X. Territorial Relations. 
 
 The tribes have fixed settlements wherever foreign govern- 
 ments have not taken possession. Each man may choose for 
 a garden a place that has not been already occupied. The 
 land is common property for the tribe. But each ijawe may 
 choose a separate place for itself. 
 
 No man of a tribe has any claim on the soil other than is 
 common to any other man of that tribe. He has, however, a 
 claim greater than any stranger. 
 
 1. Tenure. Land is held as common property ; it is not 
 bought or sold to a fellow-tribeman. It may be bought from 
 the confines of another tribe, and it is sold to foreigners. 
 A hunter is free to go anywhere, even into the territory of 
 an adjacent tribe. If he kills game there, he does not have 
 to divide. Bee trees and honey are free to any one. The sea 
 is free for fishing only to the coast tribes. 
 
 Every woman has a separate garden ; even the wives of 
 polygamists do not have gardens in common. 
 
 Soil is free. A family, however, may settle in a limited 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE SOCIETY 23 
 
 district, and claim it as theirs as long as they live there ; or, 
 leaving it temporarily, if they return after a reasonable time, 
 they may still claim it. They temporarily mark their places 
 by trees or stones, as boundary lines. But there is nothing 
 permanent. They prove their right to it by residing on it 
 or making a garden from time to time. But their claim may 
 be lost if the entire family leave it and go elsewhere. Such 
 a place being vacated, and some one else wishing to occupy 
 it, permission may be granted on formal application to the 
 king. But if an occupant has deserted a place, and no one 
 else has applied for it, he can resume it as his even after 
 the lapse of years. 
 
 Dwellers on any ground have right to all the trees of 
 fruitage on it, e. g., palm-nuts, and other natural wild edible 
 nuts. Wells are never dug. People depend on springs and 
 streams. Springs are free, even though they be on land 
 claimed by others. 
 
 A man assists his wife in the clearing of the forest for a 
 garden plot ; but she and her servants attend to the planting, 
 weeding, and other working of the gaixlen itself. 
 
 2. Rights in Movables. The tenant dweller on any par- 
 ticular lot of ground owns everything on it, except the ground 
 itself. If a foreigner buy a piece of ground, he may or may 
 not buy the houses, and so forth, according to agreement. 
 The movables on any ground are houses, trees, and any 
 vegetables planted. 
 
 XL Exchange Relations. 
 
 There is no coin or metal currency, except among the 
 coast tribes, where foreign governments have introduced it. 
 Foreign _trade -goods are everywhere the niedium of, purchase 
 and e'xciiange^ But there is a'sort of currency, in the shape 
 of iron spear-heads and other forms rejejnbling miniatiire 
 hatchets, a certain number oi which ai'e giY.eJi by interior 
 tribes in the purchase of a wife. _ They are used only for this 
 purpose, and are exclianged by the parties themselves for-thF 
 foreign goods required in the dowry. 
 
24 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 They are manufactured by any village blacksmith from 
 imported iron. They are not received or recognized by white 
 traders. 
 
 Formerly cowry shells were used, even by foreign traders, 
 as a currency; and they are still so used in the Sudan. But 
 in all coast tribes purchase and sale are effected by foreign- 
 made calico prints, pottery, cutlery, guns, powder, rum, and 
 a great variety of„other_goods. 
 
 The natural products of the country — ivory, rubber, 
 palm-oil, dyewoods — and many other native unmanufac- 
 tured articles are exchanged for these goods. The natural 
 products belong to the men. If a woman should find ivory, 
 she cannot sell it ; it belongs to her husband to barter it. 
 
 Contracts are confirmed in various ways in different tribes. 
 A common mode is to eat and diink together, as a sign that 
 the bargain is closed ; and it will not be broken. A contract 
 cannot be broken after the price is agreed upon, even if only 
 a part of the price is paid ; the remainder is to be paid in 
 instalments. 
 
 If one overreaches another in a trade, he must take back 
 the imperfect article or add to it. This is true, according to 
 native law, among themselves. Any amount of overreaching 
 and deception is practised toward foreigners in a trade, or to 
 members of another tribe ; and many foreigners are just as 
 guilty in their dealings with the natives. 
 
 Loans of trade-goods are constantly made, but the taking 
 of interest therefor is not known. If a borrowed article, such 
 as a canoe, is broken or lost, a new canoe must be given in 
 its place. If the canoe is only injured and had been in want 
 of repair, the borrower, on returning it, must repair it and 
 also pay some goods. One going as surety for goods is held 
 responsible. 
 
 Pawning of goods is commonly practised everywhere. 
 
 People are generous in making gifts to fiiends, or donations 
 to the needy ; but if a man who has been helped in time of 
 distress subsequently increases in wealth, the one who helped 
 him may demand a return of the original gift. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF NATIVE SOCIETY 25 
 
 XII. Religion. 
 
 Religion is intimately mixed with every one of these afore- 
 mentioned sociological aspects of family, rights of property, 
 authority, tribal organization, judicial trials, punishments, 
 intertribal relations, and commerce. 
 
 Mr. R. E. Dennett, residing in Loango, has made a careful 
 and philosophic investigation into the religious ideas of the Ba- 
 Vili or Fyat nation and adjacent tribes bordering on the Kongo. 
 The result of his i-esearch shows that the native tribal govern- 
 ment and religious and social life are inseparably united. He 
 claims to have discovered a complex system of ^' numbers " 
 and " powers " showing the Loango people to be more highly 
 organized politically than are the equatorial tribes, and re- 
 vealing a very curious co-relation of those " numbers," 
 governing the physical, rational, and moral natures, with con- 
 science and with God. 
 
 Some traces of the '' numbers with meanings " are found in 
 Yoruba, where, as described by Mr. Dennett, the division of 
 the months of the year, the names of lower animals typical of 
 the senses, and the powers of earth that speak to us represent 
 religious ideas and relations. They err, therefore, who, as su- 
 perficial observers, would brush away all these native views 
 as mere superstition. They are more than mere superstition ; 
 though indeed very superst i tious, they point to God. 
 
 The particular exponent of religious worship, the fetich, 
 governs the arrangements of all such relations. It will be 
 discussed as to its origin and the details of its use in the 
 subsequent chapters. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE IDEA OF GOD — RELIGION 
 
 MISSIONARY PAUL of Tarsus, in the polite exordium 
 of his great address to the Athenian philosophers on 
 Mars Hill, courteously tells them that he believes them to be 
 a very "religious" people, — indeed, too much so in their 
 broad-church willingness to give room for an altar to the 
 worship of any new immanence of God ; and then, with equal 
 courtesy, he tells them that, with all their civilization, with 
 all their eminence in art and philosophy, they were igno- 
 rant of the true character of a greater than any deity in their 
 pantheon. 
 
 Modern missionaries, also, in studying the beliefs and forms 
 of worship of the heathen nations among whom they dwell, 
 while they may be shocked at the immoralities, cruelties, or 
 absurdities of the special cult they are investigating, have to 
 acknowledge that its followers, in their practice of it, exhibit 
 a devotion, a persistence, and a faithfulness worthy of Chris- 
 tian martyrs. They are very "religious." Verily, if the 
 obtaining of heaven and final salvation rested only on sincerity 
 of belief and consistency of practice, the multitudinous fol- 
 lowers of the so-called false religions would have an assurance 
 greater than that of many professors of what is known as 
 Christianity, and much of the occupation of the Christian 
 missionary would be gone. 
 
 I say much ; but not all, by any means. For the feeling 
 with which I was impressed on my very first contact with the 
 miseries of the sociology of heathenism, entirely aside from 
 its theology and any question of salvation in a future life, has 
 steadily deepened into the conviction that, even if I were not a 
 
THE IDEA OF GOD 27 
 
 Christian, I still ought to, and would, do and bear and suffer 
 whatever God has called or allowed me to suffer or bear 
 or do since 1861 in my proclamation of H is gospel , simply 
 for the sake of the elevation of lioaih en duri ng their present 
 earthly l ife from the wrongs sanctioned by or growing out 
 of their r eligion. D istinctly is it true that ^-Godline ss is 
 profitable unto all things," not only for the life '^ w hich is to 
 come," but al so for '' the life that now is." Those in Christian 
 lands who have no sympathy for, or who refuse to tiike any 
 interest in, what are known as " Foreign Missions," err egre- 
 giously in their failure to recognize the indisputable fact 
 that they themselves are debtors for their possession of pro- 
 tected life, true liberty, and unoppressed pursuit of personal 
 happiness, not to civilization as such, but to the form of reli- 
 gious belief called Christianity, which made that civilization 
 possible. And by just so much as divine law has ordained 
 us each our brother's keeper, we are bound to share the 
 blessings of the gospel with those whom God has made of 
 one blood with us in the brotherhood of humanity. 
 
 A pursuit of this line of thought would lead me into an ar- 
 gument for the duty of foreign missions. That is not the 
 direct object of these pages. True, I pray that, as a result of 
 any reader's following me in this study of African supersti- 
 tion, his desire will be deepened to give to Africa the pure 
 truth in place of its falsity. But the special object of my pen, 
 in following a certain thread of truth, is to show how degrad- 
 ingly false is that falsity, in its lapse from God, even though I 
 accord it the name of religion. 
 
 For my present purpose it is sufficiently accurate to define 
 theology as tliat department of knowledge which takes cog- 
 nizance of God, — His being. His character, and His relation 
 to His Cosmos. Whenever any intelligent unit in that Cosmos 
 looks up to Him as something greater than itself, under what 
 Schleiermacher describes as "a sense of infinite dependence," 
 and utters its need, it has expressed its religion. It may be 
 weak, superstitious, and mixed with untruth; nevertheless, 
 it is religion. 
 
28 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 When a study of God and the thoughts concerning Him 
 crystallize into a formula of words expressing a certain belief, 
 it is definitely a creed. When, under a human necessity, 
 a creed clothes itself in certain rites, ceremonies, and for- 
 mulas of practice, it is a worship. That worship may be 
 fearful in its cruelty or ridiculous in its frivolity ; neverthe- 
 less, it is a worship. Worship is essential to the vitality of 
 religion; without it religion is simply a theory. 
 
 Theology differentiates itself from other departments of 
 knowledge, as to its source and its effects. For instance, in 
 the study of geography, as to its effects, it is comparatively a 
 matter of indifference whether we believe that the earth is 
 flat or globular, like Booker T. Washington's teacher who 
 in his district school was prepared to teach either, "accord- 
 ing to the preference of a majority of his patrons " ; or, in 
 astronomy, whether we believe that the sun is the stationary 
 centre of our planetary s^^stem, or whether, with the late 
 Rev. John Jasper, we assert that the sun " do move " around 
 our earth. 
 
 But in theology it matters enormously for this present 
 life, whether we believe the supreme object of our worship 
 to be Moloch, and infinitely for our future life, whether Jesus 
 be to us the Son of God. 
 
 As to the source of theological knowledge, all our other 
 knowledge is evolved, systematized, and developed by 
 patient experiment and investigation. The results of any 
 particular branch of human knowledge are cumulative, and 
 are enlarged and perfected from generation to generation. 
 But the source of our knowledge of God is not in us, any 
 more than our spiritual life had its source in ourselves. It 
 came ah extra. God breathed into the earthly form of Adam 
 the breath of life, and he became a living creature, essentially 
 and radically different from the beasts over which he was 
 given dominion. Knowledge of God was thus an original, 
 donated, component part of us. It grew under revelations 
 made during the angelic communications before the Fall. 
 Revelation was continued by the Logos along thousands of 
 
THE IDEA OF GOD 29 
 
 years, until that Logos himself became flesh and dwelt 
 among us in visible form in His written word, and by His 
 Comforter, who still reveals to us. 
 
 I do not feel it necessary here to discuss, or even to ex- 
 press an opinion as to the evolution of the physical species. 
 I know, simply because God says so, — and am satisfied with 
 this knowledge, — that " in the beginning God created." As 
 to when that '^beginning " was, there may be respectable dif- 
 ference of opinion; for it is only a human opinion that 
 asserts when. Assertion may have apparently very reliable 
 data; but these data often are like the bits of glass, factors 
 in the geometric figures of a kaleidoscope, whose next turn 
 in scientific discovery dislocates and relocates in an apparently 
 reliable proof of the existence of another figure. 
 
 As to what it was that God created in that begin- 
 ning, there may be also respectable difference of opinion. 
 Whether, like Minerva, full armed from the head of Jove, 
 Adam sprang into his perfect physical, mental, and moral 
 manhood on the sixth of consecutive days of twenty-four 
 solar hours each ; or whether, created a weakling, he slowly 
 grew up to perfect development ; or whether life began only 
 in protoplasm, and gradually differentiated itself into the 
 forms of beasts, and finally into that of man, — back of all 
 was a great First Cause that "created " in the "beginning." 
 It is all a subject fearfully wonderful. 
 
 " My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made 
 in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the 
 earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unper- 
 fect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which 
 in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none 
 of them." 
 
 But all such assertion, discussion, and attempt at proof I 
 allow only to what is physical and finite, and is therefore a 
 legitimate subject of assertion on merely physical data; for 
 I do not desire to discuss, beyond simple mention, the Spen- 
 cerian doctrine of evolution, that materialism whicli would 
 make thought and soul only successions in a series i^even if 
 
30 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 the highest and best) of evoluted developments. To account 
 for the religious nature in man by evolution I regard as a 
 thing that cannot be done. It is a tenable position held by 
 evolutionists such as Dana, Winchell, and the late Professor 
 Le Conte of California, that "at the creation of man the 
 divine fiat asserted itself, and ' breathed into man the breath 
 of life, and man became a living soul.' Immortality cannot 
 be evolved out of mortality. If Spencerian evolution is true, 
 either everything is immortal or nothing is immortal; man 
 and vermin in this hypothesis go together." 
 
 Man's soul came to him direct from God, a part of His 
 own infinite life, in His "image," and like Him in His holi- 
 ness. Man's thoughts of God were holy. The expression 
 of them in words and acts was his practical religion, the 
 visible, audible link that " bound " (ligated) him to God. In 
 this there could be no evolution, unless that, in the many 
 forms and ceremonies used in the expression of religious 
 thought (which ceremonies constitute worship), there could 
 be, and were, variation, change, development, or retrogression. 
 
 Therefore I cannot accept the conclusions of those who 
 in their study of ethnology claim to find that the religious 
 beliefs of the world, and even the very idea of a Supreme 
 Being, have been evolved by man himself ah intra. They 
 claim that this evolution has been by primitive man, from 
 low forms of beliefs in spiritual beings, through polytheism 
 and idolatry, u]3 to the conception of monotheism and its 
 belief in the one living God. This process they claim to be 
 able to follow on lines racial and national, under the civil- 
 izations of Chaldee, Greek, Roman, Teutonic, and other stocks. 
 
 "Until some human being can be found with a conception 
 of spiritual existences without his having received instruc- 
 tion on that point from those who went before him, the claim 
 . . . that primitive man ever obtained his spiritual knowl- 
 edge or his spiritual conceptions from within himself alone, 
 or without an external revelation to him, is an unscientific 
 assumption in the investigation of the origin of religions in 
 the world." - 
 
 1 Trumbull, Blood Covenant, p. .'^11. 
 
THE IDEA OF GOD 31 
 
 The rather I find, in my own ethnological observations 
 during these more than forty years in direct contact with 
 aboriginal peoples, that the initial starting-point of man's 
 knowledge of God was by revelation from Jehovah himself. 
 This knowledge was to be conserved by man's conscience, 
 God's implanted witness, — a witness that can be coerced 
 into silence, that may be nursed into forgetfulness, that 
 may be perverted by abuse, that may be covered up by 
 superimposed falsities, that may be discolored by the black- 
 ness of foul degradation, but which can never be utterly 
 destroyed; which on occasions, like the Titans, arouses it- 
 self with volcanic force; which at God's final bar is to 
 be His sufficient proof for the verities and responsibilities of 
 at least natural religion ("natural" religion, a recognition 
 of certain attributes of God as revealed in the works of 
 nature). This knowledge of God, a treasure hid in earthen 
 vessels, rightly used and cherished, was to grow and de- 
 velop under subsequent divine revelation, so that man might 
 become more and more like his divine original; or, if abused, 
 neglected, or perverted, it would carry him even farther 
 away from God. 
 
 " Not alone those who insist on the belief that there was a 
 gradual development of the race from a barbarous beginning, 
 but also those who believe that man started on a higher 
 plane, and in his degradation retained vestiges of God's 
 original revelation to him, are finding profit in the study 
 of primitive myths, and of aboriginal rites and ceremonies 
 all the world over." ^ 
 
 I do not impeach the sincerity of those students of primi- 
 tive thought who teach that man in his religious beliefs has 
 reached his present monotheism by progressive growths from 
 polytheism, or that he has attained his present conception 
 of the very existence of a Supreme Being by a gradual 
 emergence from a state of ignorance in which even the 
 idea of such a being did not exist; but I do discount the 
 
 1 Trumbull, Blood Covenant, p. 4. 
 
32 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 competency of many of the witnesses on whose testimony 
 they base their conclusions. 
 
 Whatever may be proved in a complete investigation by 
 science into the arcana of nature, — of archaeology and other 
 channels of research, — a reverent comparison of these re- 
 sults of finite intelligence will find them not inconsistent 
 with the statements of God's infinite Word. Indeed, that 
 Word was not written to make any definite statement on 
 astronomy or geology, or any other human science. The 
 only science of the Bible is that of man's relation to his 
 divine Father; its only history a history of redemption, as 
 promised to Eve and her seed, the Jewish nation, and as 
 fulfilled in the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Apparent con- 
 flicts of the Bible with science are not always real; too 
 often a claim is set up, based on a single observation, per- 
 haps hastily made, and not verified by a comparison of the 
 variable factors in that observation. 
 
 I suppose that it is true that in the theology of even 
 the worst forms of religion there is more or less truth, 
 and almost equally true that in the theology of the best 
 forms there may be somewhat of superstition. This is so 
 because, as I believe, all religions had but one source, and 
 that a pure one. From it have grown perversions varying 
 in their proportion of truth and error. 
 
 In this study of the African theologic ideas I shall 
 endeavor to separate these two — the false and the true — 
 into two divisions : First, Beliefs in God more or less true, 
 which have had their birth in tradition of some divine reve- 
 lation, which find at least faint echoes in human conscience, 
 and which among exalted nations would be formulated into 
 confessions, creeds, and articles of faith. Second, Ani- 
 mism or beliefs in vague spiritual beings, which, being 
 almost pure superstitions, cannot, from their very nature, 
 be accurately formulated, they being the outgrowth of every 
 individual's imagination, and varying with all the variances 
 of time, place, and human thought. 
 
 Eliminating from any theology its superstitious element, 
 
THE IDEA OF GOD 33 
 
 we shall find the highest and truest religion. But if you 
 eliminate from the theology of the Bantu African its 
 superstition, you will have very little left; for, among the 
 religions of the world, it comes nearest to being purely a 
 superstition. So nearly is this true that travellers and 
 other superficial observers and theorists have asserted that 
 the religious beliefs of some degraded tribes were simply 
 superstitions, destitute of reference to any superior being. 
 
 I can readily see how the reports of some travellers — even 
 of those who had no prejudice against the Negro, the precepts 
 of the Bible, or missionary work — could be made in apparent 
 sincerity, when they state that native Africans have con- 
 fessed of themselves that they had no idea of God's exist- 
 ence; also, their belief that some pygm}' and other tribes 
 were too destitute of intelligence to possess that idea, — that 
 it either must be given them ah extra by the possessors of a 
 superior civilization, or must be developed by themselves as 
 they rise in civilization. 
 
 The difficulty about the testimony of these witnesses in this 
 matter is that, being passers-by in time, they were unable — 
 by reason of lack of ability to converse fluently, or absence 
 of a reliable interpreter, or of being out of touch with 
 native mode of thought or speech — to make their question- 
 ings intelligible. 
 
 On the heathen side, also, the obsequious natives, un- 
 accustomed to analytic thought, will answer vaguely on 
 the spur of the moment, and often as far as possible in 
 the line of what they suppose will best please the ques- 
 tioner. All native statements must be discounted, must be 
 sifted. 
 
 I am aware that some missionaries are quoted as having 
 said or written that the people among whom they were 
 laboring "had no idea of God." Even Robert Moffat is 
 reported to have held this opinion. If so, it must have 
 been in the earlier days of his ministry, under his first 
 shock at the depth of native degradation, before he had 
 become fluent in the native language, and before he had 
 
34 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 found out all the secrets of that difficult problem, an Afri- 
 can's native thought. Such an unqualified phrase could be 
 uttered by a missionary in an hour of depression, in the 
 presence of some great demonstration of heathen wicked- 
 ness, and in an effort to describe how very far the heathen 
 was from God. Tliat the heathen had no correct idea of 
 God is often true. 
 
 Arnot, who among modern African missionaries has lived 
 most closely and intimately with the rudest tribes in their 
 veriest hovels, writes: ^ "Man is a very fragile being, and he 
 is fully conscious that he requires supernatural or divine aid. 
 Apart from the distinct revelation given by God in the first 
 chapter of Romans, there is much to prove that the heathen 
 African is a man to whom the living God has aforetime re- 
 vealed himself. But he had sought after things of his own 
 imagination and things of darkness to satisfy those convic- 
 tions and fears which lurk in his breast, and which have not 
 been planted there l)y the Evil One, but by God. Refusing 
 to acknowledge God,^ they have become haters of God.^ The 
 preaching of the gospel to them, howeve r, is not a mere bea t- 
 ing^^f the air; there is a pe g in "the j vall_jLipoJi-3yliich some- 
 thin£]can~be hung^^^aid-i^emain. Often a few young men 
 have recerveTniemessage with laughter and ridicule, but 
 I have afterwards heard them discuss my words amongst 
 themselves very gravely. I heard one man say to a neigh- 
 bor, ' Monare's words pierce the heart.' Another remarked 
 that the story of Chrisfs death was very beautiful, but that 
 he knew it was not meant for him ; he was a ' makala ' 
 (slave), and sucli. a sacrifice was only for white men and 
 ^princes." 
 
 Lionel Decle,* who certainly is not prejudiced toward 
 missionaries or the Negro, w^rites of the Barotse tribe in 
 South Africa and their worship of ancestors: "They be- 
 lieve in a Supreme Being, Niambe, who is supposed to 
 come and take away the spiritual part of the dead." This 
 
 1 Gareuganze, p. 79. '^ Rom. i. 28, margin. 
 
 3 Rom. i. 30. * Three Years in Savage Africa, p. 74. 
 
THE IDEA OF GOD . 35 
 
 name " NiambeJ' for the Deit}, is almost exactly the same as 
 " Ajr^^imbe^'' in Benga, two thousand miles distant. 
 
 Illustrative of traveller Decle's haste or inexactitude in^ 
 the use of language, he apparentl}- contradicts himself on 
 page 153, in speaking of a tribe, the Matabele, adjacent 
 to the Barotse: "The idea of a Supreme Being is utterly 
 foreign, and cannot be appreciated b}^ the native mind. 
 They have a vague idea of a number of evil spirits always 
 ready to do harm, and chief among these are the spirits of 
 their ancestors; but they do not pray to them to ask for 
 their help if they wish to enter on any undertaking. They 
 merely offer sacrifices to appease them when some evil has 
 befallen the family." 
 
 Perhaps he and other cursory travellers, in making such 
 hasty assertions, mean that the native has no idea of the true 
 character of God; in that they would be correct. 
 
 The accounts which some travellers have given of tribes 
 without religion I either set down to misunderstanding, or 
 consider them to be insufficient to invalidate the assertion 
 that religion is a universal feature of savage life. 
 
 However degraded, every people have a religion. But 
 they are children, babes in the woods, lost in the forest of 
 ignorance, dense and more morally malarious than Stanley's 
 forest of Urega. In their helplessness, under a feeling of 
 their "infinite dependence," they cry out in the night of 
 their orphanage, "Help us, O Paia Njambe!" Tlieir fore- 
 fathers wandered so far from him that only a name is left by 
 which to describe the All-Father, whose true character has 
 been utterly forgotten, — so forgotten that they rarely wor- 
 ship him, but have given such honor and reverence as they 
 do render literally to the supposed spiritual residents in 
 stocks and stones. "Lol this only have I found, that 
 God hath made man upright; but they have sought out 
 many inventions." 
 
 Offering in the following pages a formulation of African 
 superstitious beliefs and practice, I premise that I have 
 gatiiered them from a very large number of native witnesses. 
 
W^vsv^^ \n^^^ 
 
 -^ 
 
 36 ^ FETICHISM IN WEST AFliICA 
 
 very few of whom presented to me all the same ideas. 
 Any one else, inquiring of other natives in other places, 
 would not find, as held by every one of them, all that I 
 have recorded; but parts of all these separate ideas will be 
 found held by separate individuals everywhere. 
 
 After more than forty years' residence among these tribes, 
 fluently using their language, conversant with their customs, 
 dwelling intimately in their huts, associating with them in 
 the varied relations of teacher, pastor, friend, master, fellow- 
 traveller, and guest, and, in my special office as missionary, 
 searching after their religious thought (and therefore being 
 allowed a deeper entrance into the arcana of their soul than 
 would be accorded to a passing explorer), I am able unhesi- 
 tatingly to say that among all the multitude of degraded 
 ones with whom I have met, I have seen or heard of n one 
 whose religious thought was only,, a superstition. 
 
 Standing in the village street, surrounded by a company 
 whom their chief has courteously summoned at my request, 
 when I say to him, "I have come to speak to your people,'* 
 I do not need to begin by telling them that there is a God. 
 Looking on that motley assemblage of villagers, — the bold, 
 gaunt cannibal with his armament of gun, spear, and dagger; 
 the artisan with rude adze in hand, or hands soiled at the 
 antique bellows of the village smithy; women who have 
 hasted from their kitchen fire with hands white with the 
 manioc dough or still grasping the partly scaled fish ; and 
 children checked in their play with tiny bow and arrow or 
 startled from their dusty street pursuit of dog or goat, — I 
 have yet to be asked, "Who is God?" 
 
 Under the slightly varying form of x\ nyamb e, Anyambie, 
 ^Njambi , Nzambi , Anzam, Nyam, or, in other parts, Ukuku, 
 Suku , and so forth, they know of a Being superior to 
 themselves, of whom they themselves inform me that he is 
 the Maker and Father. The divine and human relations of 
 these two names at once give me ground on which to stand 
 in beginning my address. 
 
 If suddenly they should be asked the flat question, " Do 
 
THE IDEA OF GOD 37 
 
 you know Anyambe ? " they would probably tell any 
 white visitor, trader, traveller, or even missionary, under 
 a feeling of their general ignorance and the white- man's 
 superior knowledge, "No! What do we know? You are 
 white people and are spirits ; yo u come from Njambi's town, 
 and know all about him ! " (This will help to explain, 
 what is probably true, that some natives have sometimes 
 made the thoughtless admission that they "know nothing 
 about a God.") I reply, "No, I am not a spirit; and, while 
 I do indeed know about Anyambe, / did not call him by 
 that name. It 's your own word. Where did you get it?" 
 "Our forefathers told us that name. Nj ambi is the One- 
 who-m ade-us. He is our Father." Pursuing the conversa- 
 tion, they will interestedly and voluntarily say, " He made 
 these trees, that mountain, this river, these goats and 
 chickens, and us people." 
 
 That typical conversation I have had hundreds of times, 
 under an immense variety of circumstances, with the most 
 varied audiences, and before extremes of ignorance, sav- 
 agery, and uncivilization, utterly barring oat the admission 
 of a probability that the tribe, audience, or individual in 
 question had obtained a previous knowledge of the name 
 by hearsay from adjacent more enlightened tribes. For 
 the name of that Great Being was everywhere and in every 
 tribe before any of them had become enlightened ; varied in 
 form in each tribe by the dialectic difference belonging to 
 their own, and not imported from others, — for, where tribes 
 are hundreds of miles apart or their dialects greatly differ, 
 the variation in the name is great, e.g., " Suku." of the Bihe 
 coun try, south of the Kongo River a nd in the interior back 
 of Angola, and " Nzam " of the cannibal Fang, north of the 
 equator. 
 
 But while it is therefore undeniable that a knowledge of 
 this Great Being exists among the natives, and that the belief 
 is held that he is a superior and even a supreme being, that 
 supremacy is not so great as what we ascribe to Jehovah. 
 "Nevertheless, I believe that the knowledge of their An- 
 
38 FETICHISM IN AVEST AFRICA 
 
 zam or Anyambe has come down — clouded though it be 
 and fearfully obscured and marred, but still a revelation — 
 from Jehovah Himself. Most of the same virtues which 
 we in our enlightened Christianity commend, and many of 
 the vices which we denounce, they respectively commend 
 aiid denounce. No one of them praises to me theft or false- 
 hood or murder. They speak of certain virtues as "good," 
 and of other things which are "bad," though, just as do the 
 depraved of Christian lands, they follow the vices they con- 
 demn. True, certain evils they do defend, e. g. (as did some 
 of our New England ancestors) witchcraft executions, justi- 
 fying them as judicial acts ; and polygamy, considering it (as 
 our civilized Mormons) a desirable social institution (but, 
 unlike the Mormons, not claiming for it the sanction of re- 
 ligion); and slaver}^ regarded (as only a generation ago in 
 the United States) as necessary for a certain kind of property. 
 But theft, falsehood, and some other sins, when committed 
 by others, their own consciences condemn, — closely covered 
 up and blunted as those consciences may be, — thus witness- 
 ing with and for God. 
 
 While all this is true, their knowledge of God is almost 
 simply a theory. It is an accepted belief, but it does not 
 often influence their life. "God is not in all their thought." 
 In practice they give Him no worship. God is simply 
 "counted out." 
 
 Resuming my street-preaching conversation: Immediately 
 after the admission by the audience of their knowledge of 
 Anzam as the Creator and Father, I say, "Wh}- then do 
 you not obey this Father's commands, who tells you to do 
 so and so ? Why do you disobey his prohibitions, who for- 
 bids you to do so and so? Why do you not worship him?" 
 Promptly they reply : " Yes, he made us ; but, having made 
 us, he abandoned us, does not care for us; he is far from 
 us. Why should we care for him ? He does not help nor 
 harm us. It is the spirits who can harm us whom we fear 
 and worship, and for wdiom we care." 
 
 Another witness on this subject is the Rev. Dr. J. L. 
 
H^vwko ^ G^ 
 
 THE IDEA OF GOD ,39 
 
 .Wilson .^ Speaking of Africa and its Negro inhab itants, he_ 
 says: "The belief in one gi'eiit Supreme Being is universal. 
 Nor is this idea held iiriperfectly or obscurely developed in 
 their minds. The im^jression is so deeply engraved upon 
 their moral and mental nature that any s\stem of atheism 
 strikes them as too absurd and preposterous to require a 
 denial. Everything which transpires in the natural world 
 beyond the power of man or of spirits, who are supposed to 
 occupy a place somewhat higher than man, is at once and 
 spontaneously ascribed to the agency of God. All the tribes 
 in the country with which the writer has become acquainted 
 (and they are not few) have a name for God ; and many of 
 them have two or more, significant of His character as a Maker, 
 Preserver, and Benefactor. (In the Grebo country Nyiswa ifi 
 the common name for God ; but He is sometimes called Geyi, 
 indicative of His character as Maker. In Ashanti He has two 
 names: viz., YankuhipoU Ywhich signifies ' My Great Friend,' 
 and Yemi, ' My Maker.') The people, however, have no 
 correct idea of the character or attributes of the Deity. 
 Destitute of (a written) revelation, and without any other 
 means of forming a correct CDUception of His moral nature, 
 they naturally reason up from their own natures, and, in 
 consequence, think of Him as a being like themselves. 
 
 " Nor have they any correct notion of the control which God 
 exercises over the affairs of the world. The prevailing notion 
 seems to be that God, after having made the world and filled 
 it with inhabitants, retired to some remote corner of the uni- 
 verse, and has allowed the affairs of the world to come under 
 the control of evil spirits ; and hence the only religious wor- 
 ship that is ever performed is directed to these spirits, the 
 object of which is to court their favor, or ward off the evil 
 effects of their displeasure. 
 
 " On some rare occasions, as at the ratification of an impor- 
 tant treaty, or when a man is condemned to drink the ' red- 
 water ordeal,' the name of God is solemnly invoked; and, 
 what is worthy of note, is in voked three times with marked 
 
 1 Western Africa, p. 209. 
 
40 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 precision. Whether this involves the idea of a Trinity we 
 shall not pretend to decide ; but the fact itself is worthy of 
 record. Many of the tribes speak of the ^, Son of God. ' 
 The Grebos call hira ' Greh. ' and the Amina people^ accord- 
 ing to Pri tchard. call him ^Sankombum.' " 
 
 The following testimony I gather from conversations with 
 the late Rev. Ibia j'Ikenge, a native minister and member 
 of the Presbytery of Corisco, who himself was born in 
 heathenism. He stated: 
 
 That his forefathers believed in many inferior agencies 
 who are under the control of a Superior Being; that they 
 were therefore primitive m onotheists. Under great emer- 
 gencies they looked beyond the lower beings, and asked help 
 of that Superior; before doing so, they prayed to him, im- 
 ploring him as Father to help; 
 
 That the people of this country believed God made the 
 world and everything in it; but he did not know whether 
 they had had any ideas about creation from dust of the 
 ground or in God's likeness; 
 :^ That they believed in the existence, in the first times, of 
 I a great man, who had simply to speak, and all things were 
 made by the word of his power. As to man's creation, a 
 / legend states it thus: Two eggs fell from on high. On strik- 
 A ing the ground and breaking, one became a man and the other 
 a woman. (Apparently there is no memory of any legend 
 I indicating the name, character, or work of the Holy Spirit.) 
 (" V. That there is a legend of a great chief of a village wno 
 always warned people not to eat of the fruit of a certain tree. 
 "I Finally, he himself ate of it and died; 
 
 That there was no legend, but, among a few persons, a 
 
 vague tradition of a once happy period, and of a coming time 
 
 of good; but he knew of nothing corresponding to the story 
 
 of Cain and Abel; 
 
 ( That there is a fable that a woman brought to the people 
 
 of her village the fruit of a forbidden tree. In order to hide 
 
 ^ it she swallowed it; and she became possessed of an evil 
 
 ( spirit, which was the beginning of witchcraft; 
 
THE IDEA OF GOD 41 
 
 That there was some tradition of a Deluge (he was not 
 aware of any about the Dispersion at the Tower of Babel) ; 
 
 That all men believed they were sinners, but that they 
 knew of no remedy for sin; 
 
 That sacrifices are made constantly, their object being to 
 appease the spiiits and avert their anger; 
 
 That many of the tribes are, and probably all, before 
 they emerged on the seacoast, were cannibal (of the origin 
 of cannibalism he did not know, but he was certain it had 
 no religious idea associated with it^); 
 
 Tha t there was a legend that a " Son " of God, by name 
 Ilongf o ja Anyambe, was to come an d deliver mankind from 
 trouble and g^ive them happiness ; but a s he had not as yet 
 come, t he heathen were no longer expectin g him ; 
 
 That there was a division of time, six months, making an 
 "upuma," or year^ and a rest day, which came two days after 
 the new moon, and was called Buhwa bwa Mandanda, — it 
 was a day for dancing and feasting; 
 
 That the dead were usually buried; but persons held in 
 superstitious reverence, as twins, Udinge, etc., were not 
 buried, but left at the foot of a ceiba, or silk-cotton tree, or 
 other sacred tree ; 
 
 That burial-places are regarded with a mixed feeling of 
 reverence and awe; 
 
 That the immortality of the spuMs believed in, but that 
 there is no tradition of the resurrec tion of the body; 
 
 That they believe God gave law to mankind, and that, for"' 
 those who keep this law, there is reserved in the future a 
 "good place," and for the bad a "bad place," but no definite 
 ideas about what that "good " or that " bad " will be, or as to 
 the locality of those places ; 
 
 That they believe in a distinction of spirits, — that some are 
 demons^ as in the old days of demoniacal possession, this dis- 
 tinction following the Jewish idea of diaboloi and daimonai. 
 
 1 I am strongly disposed to think that, in its origin, there was a sacrificial 
 idea connected with cannibalism. — K. H. N. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 POLYTHEISM — IDOLATRY 
 
 CIVILIZATION and religion do not necessarily move 
 with equal pace. Whatever is really best in the ethics 
 of civilization is derived from religion. If civilization falls 
 backward, religion probably has already weakened or will 
 also fall. The converse is not necessarily true. Religion may 
 halt or even retrograde, while civilization steps on brilliantly, 
 as it did in Greece with her Parthenon, and in Rome the 
 while that religion added to the number of idols in the pan- 
 theon. Egypt, too, had her men learned in astronomy, who 
 built splendid palaces and hundred-pillared Thebes the while 
 they were worshipping Osiris. The dwellers before the 
 Deluge had carried their civilization to a knowledge of arts 
 now lost, while their wickedness and utter wanderings from 
 God's worship caused the earth to cry out for a cleansing 
 Flood. 
 
 Whatever therefore may be true in the history of civiliza- 
 tion — whether man was gifted, ah iyiitio^ with a large measure 
 of useful knowledge which he had simply easily to put into 
 practice ; or whether, as a savage, primitive man had slowly 
 and painfully to find out under pressure the use of fire, 
 clothing, weapons of defence and offence, tools, and other 
 necessary articles and arts — is not important here to be dis- 
 cussed. From whatever point of vantage, high or low, Adam's 
 sons started, we know that they had at least tools for agri- 
 culture 1 and for the building of houses ; ^ and that a few gen- 
 
 1 Gen. iv. 2. 2 Qen. iv. 17. 
 
POLYTHEISM — IDOLATRY 43 
 
 erations later, their knowledge of arts had grown from those 
 which aided in the acquisition of the bare necessaries of life 
 into the sesthetics of music and metallic ornamentation. ^ 
 
 But religion did not wait that length of time for its growth. 
 To the original pair in Eden, Jehovah had given a knowledge 
 of Himself. They felt His character, they Avere told His will; 
 and when they had disobeyed that will, they were given a 
 promise of salvation, and were instructed in certain given rites 
 of worship, e, g.^ offerings and sacrifice. They knew^ the sig- 
 nificance of atoning blood, and the difference between a simple 
 thank-offering and a sin-offering. All tliis knowledge of re- 
 ligion was not a possession which man had atfaiined by slow 
 degrees. He started with it in full possession, while yet he was 
 clothed only in the skins of beasts,^ and before he knew how to 
 make musical instruments or to fashion brass and iron. His 
 religion was in advance of his civilization. Subsequently his 
 civilization pushed ahead. 
 
 What were the gradual steps before the Deluge, in the di- 
 vergence of man's worship of God, is not difficult to imagine 
 if we look at the history of the Chaldees, of the Hittites, and of 
 the Jews themselves. Subsequent to the Deluge, from the 
 grateful sacrifice of the seventh animal by Noah, to Abraham's 
 typical offering of Isaac, it is not a very far cry to the butchery 
 of Jephthah's daughter or the immolations to Moloch. A well- 
 intended Ed* may readily become a schismatic Mecca. An 
 altar of Dan is soon furnished wdth its golden calf. 
 
 With this as a starting-point, viz.^ that the knowledge of 
 liimself was directly imparted to man by Jehovah, and that 
 certain forms of worship Avere originally directed and sanc- 
 tioned by Him, I wish in subsequent pages to follow that 
 line of light through the labyrinths of man's wandering from 
 monotheism into polytheism, idolatry, and even into crass 
 fetichism. 
 
 Abstract faith is difficult. It is so much easier to believe 
 what we see, to have faith assisted by sight. Even such faith 
 is not without its blessing, but " blessed are they that have 
 
 1 Gen. iv. 21, 22. 2 jjeb. xi. 4. « Gen. iii. 21. ^ Joshua xxii. 34. 
 
44 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 not seen, and yet have believed." ^ Memory is assisted by 
 visible signs; whence tlie art of writing, — in its usefulness 
 so far beyond the Indian's wampum belts. Merely oral law 
 is apt to be forgotten, or its requisitions and prohibitions 
 become hazy. 
 
 As the years passed by, and nations, after the dispersion 
 from the tower on the plain of Shinar, diverged more and 
 more, not only in speech and writing but also in customs, 
 their religious thought began to vary from the simple standard 
 of Adam and Noah. Between those small beginnings of vari- 
 ation and the gulf -like depth of the fetich, there are three 
 successive steps. 
 
 First, retaining the name of and belief in and worship of 
 Jehovah, mankind added something else. They associated 
 with Jehovah certain natural objects. This, it is readily con- 
 ceivable, they could do without feeling that they were dis- 
 honoring Him. They could not see Him ; in their expression 
 of their wants in prayer they were speaking into vague space 
 and heard no audible response. The strain on simple un- 
 assisted faith was heavy. The senses asked for something on 
 which they could lean. Very reasonable, therefore, it was for 
 the pious thought, in speaking to the Great Invisible, to asso- 
 ciate closely with His name the great natural objects in which 
 His character was revealed or illustrated the, — sun, shining in 
 strength and beneficently giving life to plants and the comfort 
 of its warmth to all creation ; the moon, benefiting in a similar 
 though less prominent way ; the sky, from which spake the 
 thunder ; the mountain, towering in its solemn majesty ; the 
 sea, spread out in its inscrutiible immensity. All these illus- 
 trating some of Jehovah's attributes, — His power, goodness, 
 infinity, — without impropriety associated themselves in man's 
 thought of God, were named along with His name, and were 
 looked upon with some of the same reverence which was ac- 
 coided to Him. In all this there was no conscious departure 
 from the worship of the one living and true God. The posi- 
 tion to which these great natural objects were gradually ele- 
 
 1 John XX. 29. 
 
POLYTHEISM — IDOLATRY 45 
 
 vated relatively to God, in the thought of the worshipper, was 
 not as yet blasphemous, or in any intentional way derogatory 
 to Him. But the evil in this elevation of nature into prom- 
 inence with God was that there was no limit to the number 
 of objects or the degree of their elevation. From the dignified 
 use of sun, moon, sky, and sea, by unconscious degradations 
 animals became the objects of worship — the bull, the ser- 
 pent, and the cat (each illustrative of some attribute), 
 and thence finally objects that were frivolous, ridiculous, or 
 disgusting, which nevertheless were each the exponent of 
 some principle. Even the indecencies of Phallic worship had . 
 found their dignified beginning in an attempt to honor the 
 great principle of life in nature's procreative processes. 
 
 But there came a time, in the multiplying of the objects 
 illustrative of God's attributes, when they, by their very 
 numbers, minimized divine dignity. Their constant, visible, 
 tangible presence to the senses began not simply passively 
 to represent God, but actively to personify Him, and Je- 
 hovah was subdivided. He was still the great God; but 
 these others were given not only a name, but a personality 
 which shadowed Him and dishonored Him, by admitting them 
 to fellowship with Him, and regarding Him as no longer 
 alone the great I Am. Though supreme. His supremacy was 
 not exclusive ; it was comparative. He was over others, who 
 also were gods, with whom He shared His power, and to 
 whom was to be given somewhat of His worship. He was 
 not indeed denied, but He was dishonored. He became only 
 one of the many gods along with Baal and Ashtaroth. But 
 the worship of Him was not abandoned. He was worshipped 
 along with these others, as One among many. And finally 
 polytheism had become the belief of the world, except of the 
 many scattered small communities which, with their priests of 
 the Most High God, like Melchisedek and Job, held the true 
 light from extinction. " Jehovah " became a name for the Deity 
 of a nation ; each nation, while reverencing its own god, not 
 denying power to that of another nation. INIan's little thought 
 was trying to localize the Deity in its own small tribal limits. 
 
I 
 
 46 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Philistia worshipped its Dagon, but it feared and made tres- 
 pass offerings to Jehovah of the Ark of Israel's Covenant.^ 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, startled by a vision of a Son of God in the 
 flame of his fiery furnace, in an hour of repentance could 
 decree that the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego 
 should not be spoken against.^ This was the second step in 
 religion's retrograde movement. The personified natural 
 objects were actually worshipped. No longer considered 
 simply as representatives of God, they were actually given a 
 part of God's place, and were worshipped as God. The 
 prayer was not, "Jehovah, hear us, for the sake of Baal, 
 through whom we plead ! " nor " O Baal, present our petition 
 to Jehovah ! " but, flatly and directly, " O Baal, hear us ! " 
 
 Having reached in their religious thought this position of 
 a belief in many gods, it was a natural and logical result that 
 worship was to be rendered to them all. The sacrifices that 
 had been offered to Jehovah alone were divided for service 
 to other gods. But it was the same rehgious sentiment, in 
 both monotheist and polytheist, that prompted the rendering 
 of prayer, sacrifice, and other service. The same sense of an 
 " infinite dependence " that had led arms of weak faith to lay 
 hold for help on that which was nearest and most obvious, 
 operated with the heathen who had wandered from God, in 
 his petition to his many gods, just as it had operated originally 
 with the worshipper of the true God. The sentiment was 
 right, the principle was good ; only, its application was wrong, 
 — sometimes fearfully wrong. Man's religious nature is a 
 force. There are other forces in nature that belong to other 
 domains than religion. They are good forces if well applied ; 
 they become engines of destruction if misapplied or applied in 
 excess. 
 
 In all history no misapplied force has wrought more fearful 
 evil than the religious. It made holy even the atrocities of 
 the Inquisition ; it ordained a Te Deum for the massacre of 
 St. Bartholomew's Day. 
 
 Similarly mankind found not only justification but propriety 
 1 1 Sam. vi. 3. 2 Dan. iii. 29. 
 
POLYTHEISM — IDOLATRY 4T 
 
 in the human sacrifices to Moloch, and in the holocausts of 
 the Aztec civilization. If in giving a gift of thanks, tribute, 
 admiration, or fear to a human friend, ruler, or employer, we 
 choose that which is good and best in our o\vn eyes, so as to 
 win the favor of the being to whom it is given, much more 
 would we strive to please the god in whose power lies our life, 
 health, and prosperity. It was a logical result, therefore, in 
 choosing for sacrifice on great emergencies, to select the best- 
 beloved child. Moloch would be pleased and propitiated by 
 such a valuable gift. The more that the human love was 
 renounced in the agony of the parents' view of their child's 
 dying struggle, the more favorable would be the response to 
 the worshipper. Under this misapplied religious force an 
 Iphigenia is logical, and the Hindu infant cast to Gunga's 
 wave a fitting offering in the agonized mother's eyes. But 
 how fearfully mistaken! The religion that recognizes and 
 directs such abuse is a " false religion," as compared with 
 Christianity ; not in the sense that it has nothing good in it, 
 but in the falsity of the objects of its worship and in the 
 cruelty of the rites employed in that worship. In the genera 
 of the sciences there is only one species of religion, but that 
 one species has many varieties. In this sense Calvin is 
 correct if, in speaking of the " immense welter of errors " in 
 which the whole world outside of Christianity is immersed, 
 "he regards his own religion as the true one and all the 
 others were false." The function of a comparative study of 
 religion s is to point out the connec ting line of truth running 
 through the mass of error. Back of all the cruelty and error 
 
 and fals ity in polytheism lie the proper sense o f nee d, the 
 
 natural feeling of helplessness in the great emergencies of 
 
 life, and the commendab le desire to honor the Being known 
 under different names as Jehovah, Moloch, Jupiter, Allah, 
 Budh, Brahm, Odin, or Anyambe ; to which Being His chil- 
 dren all over the world looked up as the All-Father. But 
 the descensus Averni from the One living and true God 
 soon multiplied gods, dividing among many the attributes 
 that had been centred in the One, and finally carried man's 
 
48 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 religious thought so far from God that only His name was 
 retained, while the trust which had belonged to Him alone 
 was scattered over a multitude of objects that were not even 
 dignified with the name ''gods." Worship of ancestors was 
 established. Great human benefactors, heroic human beings, 
 were deified and canonized. The whole air of the world be- 
 came peopled with spiritual influences ; literally " stocks and 
 stones " became animated with demons of varying power and 
 disposition ; and fetichism erected itself as a kind of religion. 
 
 I see nothing to justify the theory of Menzies ^ that primi- 
 tive man or the untutored African of to-day, in worshipping 
 a tree, a snake, or an idol, originally worshipped those very 
 objects themselves, and that the suggestion that they repre- 
 sented, or were even the dwelling-place of, some spiritual 
 Being is an after-thought up to which he has grown in 
 the lapse of the ages. The rather I see every reason to 
 believe that the thought of the Being or Beings as an object 
 of worship has come down by tradition and from direct 
 original revelation of Jehovah Himself. The assumption of 
 a visible, tangible object to represent or personify that Being 
 is the after-thought that human ingenuity has added. The 
 civilized Romanist claims that he does not worship the actual 
 sign of the cross, but the Christ who was crucified on it; 
 similarly, the Dahomian, in his worship of a snake. 
 
 Rev. J. L. Wilson, D.D.,2 says of the condition of Dahomy 
 fifty years ago, that in Africa " there is no place where there 
 is more intense heathenism ; and to mention no other fea- 
 ture in their superstitious practices, the worship of snakes 
 at this place [Whydah] fully illustrates this remark. A 
 house in the middle of the town is provided for the exclusive 
 use of these reptiles, and they may be seen here at any time 
 in very great numbers. They are fed, and more care is taken 
 of them than of the human inhabitants of the place. If they 
 are seen straying away, they must be brought back ; and at 
 the sight of them the people prostrate themselves on the 
 
 1 History of Religion, pp. 129 et seq. 
 ? Westerii Africa, p. 207. 
 
POLYTHEISM — IDOLATRY 49 
 
 ground and do them all possible reverence. To kill or injure 
 one of them is to incur the penalty of death. On certain 
 occasions they are taken out by the priests or doctors, and 
 paraded about the streets, the bearers allowing them to coil 
 themselves around their arms, necks, and bodies. They are 
 also employed to detect persons who have been guilty of 
 witchcraft. If, in the hands of the priest, they bite the sus- 
 pected person, it is sure evidence of his guilt ; and no doubt 
 the serpent is trained to do the will of his keeper in all such 
 cases. Images, usually called ^ gregrees,' of the most un- 
 couth shape and form, may be seen in all parts of the town, 
 and are worshipped by all classes of persons. Perhaps there 
 is no place in Africa where idolatry is more openly practised, 
 or where the people have sunk into deeper pagan darkness." 
 
 Also, of the people on the southwest coast at Loango : 
 " The people of Loango are more addicted to idol worship 
 than any other people on the whole coast. They have 
 a great many carved images which they set up in their fetich 
 houses and in their private dwellings, and which they worship ; 
 but whether these images represent their forefathers, as is 
 the case among the Mpongwe (at Gabun), is not certainly 
 known." ^ 
 
 Having thus followed the religious thought of mankind in 
 its divagation from monotheistic worship of the true God, 
 down through polytheism and idolatrous sacrifices, to the wor- 
 ship of ancestors, we have reached a third stage, where the 
 worship of God is not only divided between Him and other 
 objects, but, a step beyond, God Himself is quietly disregarded, 
 and the worship due Him is transferred to a multitude of 
 spiritual agencies under His power, but uncontrolled by it. 
 
 The details of this stage in the religious worship known as 
 fetichism will be considered in the following chapters. 
 
 1 Wilson. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN AFRICAN RELIGION 
 
 THE belief in spiritual beings opens an immense vista of 
 the purely superstitious side of the theology of Bantu 
 African religion. 
 
 All the air and the future is peopled with a large and indefi- 
 nite company of these beings. The attitude of the Creator 
 (Anyambe) toward the human race and the lower animals being 
 that of indifference or of positive severity in having allowed 
 evils to exist, and His indifference making Him almost inex- 
 orable, cause effort in the line of worship to be therefore 
 directed only to those spirits who, though they are all prob- 
 ably malevolent, may be influenced and made benevolent. 
 
 I. Origin. 
 
 The native thought in regard to the origin of spirits is 
 vague ; necessarily so. An unwritten belief that is not based 
 upon revelation from a superior source nor on an induction 
 from actual experience and observation, but that is added to and 
 varied by every individual's fancy, can be expressed in defi- 
 nite words only after inquiry among many as to their ideas on 
 the subject. These, I find, coincide on a few lines ; just as 
 the consensus of opinion on any subject in any community will 
 find itself running in certain channels, influenced by the ut- 
 terances of the stronger or wiser leaders. 
 
 1. It appears, therefore, that some of the spirits seem to 
 have been conterminous with the life of Paia-Njambi in the 
 eternities. An eternity past, impossible as it is for any one to 
 
SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN AFRICAN RELIGION 51 
 
 comprehend, is yet a thing thinkable even with the Bantu 
 African, for he has words to express it, — '' p6k6-na-jome," 
 ever-and-beyond, " tamba-na-ngama," unknown-and-secret. 
 
 Away back in that unknown time existed Paia-Njambi. 
 Whence or how, is not asked by the natives ; nor have I 
 had any attempt even of a reply to my own inquiries. He 
 simply existed. They are not sufficiently absurd to say that 
 He created Himself. To do that He would need to antedate 
 Himself. I have met none who thought sufficiently on the 
 subject to worry their minds, as we in our civilization often 
 do, in effort to go back and back to the unthinkable point in 
 time past when God was not. Indeed so little is the native 
 mind in the habit of any such research that I can readily per- 
 ceive how their '' We don't know " could easily be misunder- 
 stood by a foreign traveller, scientist, or even missionary, as a 
 confession that " they did not know God," — a statement 
 which is true, but not the equivalent of, or synonymous 
 with, that traveller's assertion that the native had no idea of a 
 God. The native thought, wiser than ours, simply and un- 
 reasoningly says, " He is. He was." Conterminous with 
 Him in origin there may have been some other spirits. This 
 has been said to me by a very few persons with some hesita- 
 tion. But if those spirits were indeed equal in existence with 
 Njambi, they were in no respect equal to Him in character 
 or power, and had no hand in the creation of other beings. 
 In the Mpongwe tribe at Gabun one writer. Rev. J. L. 
 Wilson, D.D., fifty years ago, thought the belief existed 
 that " next to God in the government of the world are two 
 spirits, one of whom, Onyambe, is hateful and wicked. The 
 people seldom speak of Onyambe, and always evince displeas- 
 ure when the name is mentioned in their presence. His in- 
 fluence over the affairs of men, in their estimation, does not 
 amount to much; and the probability is that they have no 
 very definite notions about the real character of this spirit." 
 His character would be indicated by his name, 0-nya -mbe (He- 
 who-is-bady Th is name has sometimes been used b}- mission- 
 aries to translate our word " devil." Perhaps the idea of the 
 
52 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 word itself came from long-ago contact of this coast tribe 
 with foreigners. 
 
 2. A second and more recognized source of supply to the 
 company of spirits is original creation by Njambi. While 
 this origin is named by some, I have not found it believed 
 in to any very great extent. Even those whom I did find 
 believing it had very vague ideas as to the mode or object of 
 their creation. Of the Creation of mankind, and even of the 
 Fall, almost all of the tribes have legends, more or less dis- 
 tinct, and with a modicum of truth, doubtless derived from 
 traditions coinciding with the Mosaic history ; but of a pre- 
 vious creation of purely spiritual beings I have found no 
 legend nor well-defined story. If such specially created 
 spirits exist at all, their relation to Njambi is of a very 
 shadowy kind ; they are, indeed, inferior to Him, and are in 
 theory under His government in the same sense that human 
 beings are. But Njambi, in His far-off indifference in actual 
 practice, does not interfere with or control them or their ac- 
 tions. They are part of the motley inhabitants of "Njambi's 
 Town," the place of the Great Unknown, as also are all the 
 other living beasts and beings of creation. They also have 
 their separate habitat, and pursue their own devices, gener- 
 ally malevolent, with the children of men. 
 
 3. B ut the general consensus of opinion i s that the world 
 of spirits is peopled by the souls of dead human beings. This 
 presupposes a belief in a future life, the existence of which 
 in the native mind some travellers have doubted. I have 
 never met that doubt from the native himself. While I do 
 not impute to the travellers referred to any desire, in their 
 efforts at describing the low grade of intelligence or religious 
 belief of certain tribes, to misrepresent, I fully believe they 
 were mistaken, their mistake arising from misunderstanding. 
 It is not probable that they met, in the course of their few 
 years, what I have not met with in a lifetime. It is probable 
 that natives had expressed to them a doubt, or even igno- 
 rance, of a general resurrection, and may have said to them, 
 as a few have said to me, " No, we do not live again ; we are 
 
SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN AFRICAN RELIGION 53 
 
 like goats and dogs and chickens, — when we die that is the 
 end of us." Such a statement is indeed a denial of the res- 
 urrection of the body, but it is not a denial of a continued 
 existence of the soul in another life. The very people who 
 made the above declaration to me preserved their family 
 fetich, made sacrifices to the spirits of their ancestors, and 
 appealed to them for aid in their family undertakings. The 
 few who have expressed a belief in transmigration did not 
 consider that the residence of a human spirit in the body of 
 a beast was a permanent state ; it was a temporary condition, 
 assumed by the spirit voluntarily for its own pleasure or con- 
 venience, and terminable at its own will, precisely as human 
 spirits during their mortal life are, everywhere and by all, 
 believed capable of temporarily deserting their own human 
 body and controlling the actions of a beast. This belief in 
 transmigration, though not general, has been found among 
 individuals in almost all tribes. 
 
 It being thus generally accepted that all departed human 
 souls become spirits of that future that is all around us, there 
 is still a difference in the testimony of intelligent witnesses 
 as to who and what, or even how many, of these souls are in 
 one human being. (1) Ordinarily, the native will say in 
 effect, " I am one, and my soul is also myself. When I die, 
 it goes out somewhere else." (2) Others will say, "I have 
 two things, — one is the thing that becomes a spirit when I 
 die, the other is the spirit of the body and dies with it." 
 (This "other" may be only a personification of what we 
 specify as the animal life.) But it has frequently occurred 
 that even intelligent natives, standing by me at the side of 
 a dying person, have said to me, "He is dead." The patient 
 was indeed unconscious, lying stiff, not seeing, speaking, 
 eating, or apparently feeling; yet there was a slight heart- 
 beat. I would point out to the relatives these evidences of 
 life. But they said : " No, he is dead. His spirit is gone, 
 he does not see nor hear nor feel; that slight movement is 
 only the spirit of the body shaking itself. It is not a person, 
 it is not our relative; he is dead." And they began to pre- 
 
54 PETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 pare the body for burial. A man actually came to me on 
 Corisco Island, in 1863, asking me for medicine with which 
 to kill or quiet the body-spirit of his mother, whose motions 
 were troubling him by preventing the funeral arrangements. 
 I was shocked at what I thought his attempt at matricide, 
 but subsequently found that he really did believe that his 
 mother was dead a nd her real soul gon e. 
 
 Such attempt to distinguish between soul-life and body- 
 life has not infrequently led to premature burial. The sup- 
 posed corpse has sometimes risen to consciousness on the way 
 to the grave. A long-protracted sickness of some not very 
 valuable member of the village has wearied the attendants ; 
 they decide that the body, though mumbling inarticulate 
 words and aimlessly fingering with its arms, is no longer 
 occupied by its personal soul; that has emerged. "He is 
 dead "; and they proceed to bury him alive. Yet they deny 
 that they have done so. Th ey insist that he was not alive ; 
 only his body was " moving." P roof of premature burial has 
 been found by discoveries made in the practice of a custom 
 which is observed when a village has been afflicted with 
 various troubles after the death of one of its members. The 
 villagers, after ineffectual efforts to drive away the evil in- 
 fluences that are supposed to cause these troubles, decide 
 that the spirit of some dead relative is dissatisfied about 
 something, and order the grave to be opened and the bones 
 rearranged or even thrown into the river or sea. On open- 
 ing: the grave, corpses that had been buried in a recumbent 
 position have been found in a sitting position. It is possible 
 for one thus prematurely buried to change posture in a dying 
 struggle; for, mostly, heathen graves are shallow, and are 
 hastily and not always completely filled in. 
 
 (3) Another set of witnesses will say that, besides the per- 
 sonal soul and the soul of the body, there is a third entity in 
 the human unit, namely, a dream-soul. That it is which 
 leaves the body on occasions during sleep, and, wandering 
 off, delights itself by visiting strange lands and strange 
 scenes. On its return to the body its union with the mate- 
 
SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN AFRICAN RELIGION 55 
 
 rial blunts its perceptions, and the person, in his efforts to 
 remember or tell what he has seen, relates only the vagaries 
 of a dream, — a psychological view which, under the manipu- 
 lation of a ready pen, could give play to fantasies pretty, 
 romantic, not unreasonable, and not impossible. 
 
 Some who are only dualists, nevertheless, believe in the 
 wanderings of this so-called dream-soul, but say that it is 
 the personal soul itself that has gone out and has returned. 
 Both dualists and trinitarians add that sometimes in its wan- 
 derings this soul loses its way and cannot find its body, its 
 material home; should it never return, the person will sicken 
 and die. 
 
 (4) A fourth entity is vaguely spoken of by some as a com- 
 ponent part of the human personality, by others as separate 
 but closely associated from birth to death, and called the life- 
 spirit. Some speak of it as a civilized person speaks of a 
 guardian angel. Regarded in that light, it should not be 
 considered as one of the several kinds of souls, but as one of 
 the various classes of spirits (which will be discussed in a 
 subsequent chapter). To it worship is rendered by its pos- 
 sessor as to other spirits, — a worship, however, different 
 from that which is performed for what are known and used as 
 "familiar spirits." Others speak of the vague life-spirit as 
 the "heart." The organ of our anatomy which we designate 
 by that name, they call by a word which variously means 
 "heart" or "feelings," much like our old English "bowels," 
 the same word being employed equally to designate a physi- 
 cal organ and a mental state. Considering the organic heart 
 as the seat (or a seat) of life, the natives believe that by 
 witchcraft a person in health can be deprived of his life-soul, 
 or " heart " ; that he will then sicken ; that the wizard or witch 
 feasts in his or her magic orgy on this "heart," and that the 
 per son will die if that heart is not returned to him. 
 
 II. Number. 
 
 But whatever this human soul may be, whether existing in 
 unity, duality, trinity, or qiiadruplicity, all agree in believ- 
 
56 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 ing that it adds itself, on the death of the body, as another 
 
 to the multitudinous company of the spirit-world. That 
 
 world is all around us, and does not differ much in its wants 
 
 and characteristics from this earthly life, except that it is 
 
 free from some of the limitations to which material bodies 
 
 are subject. In that spirit-world they require the same food 
 
 as when on earth, but consume only its essence ; the visible 
 
 substance remains. They are possessed of all their human 
 
 passions, both bad and good. Men expect to have their 
 
 wives with them in that future, but I have never heard 
 
 the idea even named, that there is procreation by spirits in 
 
 that after-world. Not having believed during this life in a 
 
 system of reward and punishment, they have no belief in 
 
 heaven or hell. All the dead go to Njambi's Town, and live 
 
 ^, in that new life together, good and bad, as they lived to- 
 
 ( gether on earth. The "hell" spoken of by some of my 
 
 \ informants, I believe, is not a native thought; it was 
 
 '■) probably engrafted on the coast tribes by the Portuguese 
 
 ( Roman Catholic missionaries of three hundred years ago. 
 
 If therefore the spirits consist almost entirely of the souls 
 
 of departed human beings, how immense their number! 
 
 Equal in number with all the dead that have passed from 
 
 this life in the ages gone by, excepting those who have gone 
 
 permanently into the bodies of new human beings. That 
 
 form of metempsychosis is believed in. Occasional instances 
 
 of belief of transmigration into the body of a lower animal 
 
 do not necessarily include the idea of a permanent residence 
 
 there, or that the departed soul has lost its personality as a 
 
 human being and has become the soul of a beast. 
 
 But the idea of reap^Dearance in the body of a newly born 
 child was formerly believed in, especially in regard to white 
 people. Thirty years ago I wrote :^ "Down the swift cur- 
 rent of the Benita, as of other rivers on the coast, are swept 
 floating islands of interlaced rushes, tangled vines, and water- 
 lilies that, clinging to some projecting log from the marshy 
 bank, had gathered the sand and mud of successive freshets, 
 
 1 Crowned in Palmland, p. 234. 
 
SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN AFRICAN RELIGION 5T 
 
 and gave a precarious footing for the pandanus, whose wiry 
 roots bound all in one compact mass. Then some flood had 
 torn that mass away, and the pandanus still waving its long, 
 bayonet-like leaves, convolvuli still climbing and blooming, 
 and birds still nesting trustfully, the floating island glided 
 past native eyes down the stream, out over the bar, and on 
 toward the horizon of broad ocean. What beyond ? Native 
 superstition said that at the bottom of the ' great sea ' was 
 * whiteman's land ' ; that thither some of their own departed 
 friends found their happy future, exchanging a dusky skin 
 for a white one ; that there white man's magic skill at will 
 created t he beads, and cloth, and endless wealth that came 
 from th at unknown land in ships, in whose masts and rig- 
 ging and sails were recognized t he transformed trees and 
 vines and leaves of those floating islands^ W hen on the 
 1 2th of July, 1866, a few with bated breath came to look on 
 my little new-born Paull, the only white child mos t of the_ 
 community had seen, and the fi rst born in that B enita region, 
 the old people said, 'No w our hopes are dea d, l^ying^ 
 we had hope d to become like you; but verily ye are born 
 
 Not long after I had arrived at Corisco Island in 1861 I 
 observed among the many people who came to see the new 
 missionary one man who quietly and unobtrusively but very 
 steadily was gazing at me. After a Avhile he mustered 
 courage and addressed me : " Are you not my brother, — my 
 brother who died at such a time, and went to White Man's 
 Land?" I was at that time new to the superstitions of the 
 country; his meaning had to be explained to me. His 
 thought of relationship was not an impossible one, for many 
 of the Bantu Negroes have somewhat Caucasian-like features. 
 I have often seen men and women at the sight of whom I was 
 surprised, and I would remark to a fellow-missionary : " How 
 much this person reminds me of So-and-so in America ! " 
 This recognition of resemblance of features to white persons 
 living in America was the third step in my acquaintance 
 with native faces. At first, all Negro faces looked alike. 
 
58 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Presently I learned differences ; and when I had reached the 
 third step, I felt that my acquaintance with African features 
 was complete. 
 
 III. Locality. 
 
 The locality of these spirits is not only vaguely in the sur- 
 rounding air; they are also localized in prominent natural 
 objects, — caves, enormous rocks, hollow trees, dark forests, 
 — in this respect reminding one of classic fauns and dryads. 
 While all have the ability to move from place to place, some 
 especially belong to certain localities which are spoken of as 
 having, as the case might be, "good" or "bad" spirits. It 
 is possible for a human soul (as already mentioned in this 
 chapter) to inhabit the body of a beast. A man whose plan- 
 tation was being devastated near Benita by an elephant told 
 me, in 1867, he did not dare to shoot it, because the spirit 
 of his lately deceased father had passed into it. Also a com- 
 mon objurgation of an obstreperous child or animal is, "O 
 na njemba! " (Thou hast a witch.) 
 
 Their habitats may be either natural or acquired. Natural 
 ones are, for the spirits of the dead, in a very special sense, 
 the villages where they had dwelt during the lifetime of the 
 body; but the presence of the spirits of the dead is not de- 
 sired. It is one of the pitiable effects of African superstition 
 that its subjects look with fear and dread on what the deni- 
 zens of civilization look with love and tender regret. We in 
 our Christian civilization cling to the lifeless forms of our dead ; 
 and when necessity compels us to bury them from our sight, 
 we bid memory call up every lineament of face and tone of 
 voice, and are pleased to think that sometirfies they are near 
 us. But it is a frequent native practice that on the occasion 
 of a death, even while a portion of the family are wailing 
 and to all appearances passionately mourning the loss of their 
 relative, others are firing guns, blowing trumpets, beating 
 drums, shouting and yelling, in order to drive away from the 
 village the recently disembodied spirit. On consideration, it 
 can be seen that these two diverse demonstrations are sincere, 
 
SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN AFRICAN RELIGION 59 
 
 consistent, and, to the natives, reasonable. With natural affec- 
 tion they mourn the absence of a tangible ^j'erso?^ who, as a mem- 
 ber of their family, was helpful and even kind ; while they fear 
 the independent existence of the invisible thing, whose union 
 with the physical body they fail to recognize as having been 
 a factor in that helpfulness and kindness. This departed 
 spirit, joining the company of other departed spirits, will 
 indeed become an object of worship, — a worship of princi- 
 pally a deprecatory nature; but its continued presence and 
 immediate contact with its former routine are not desired. 
 In Mashonaland the native fears death by accident or human 
 enmity. " But a greater dread than this is of a visitation of 
 evil by the spirit of a departed friend or relative whom he 
 may have slighted while living." 
 
 A village in Nazareth Bay, the embouchure of one of the 
 mouths of the Ogowe River, is called " Abun-awiri " (" awiri," 
 plural of "ombwiri," a certain class of spirits, and "abuna," 
 abundance). 
 
 Large, prominent trees are inhabited by spirits. Many 
 trees in the equatorial West African forest throw out from 
 their trunks, at from ten to sixteen feet from the ground, 
 solid buttresses continuous with the body of the tree itself, 
 only a few inches in thickness, but in width at the base of 
 the tree from four to six feet. These buttresses are pro- 
 jected toward several opposite points of the compass, as if 
 to resist the force of sudden wind-storms. They are a notice- 
 able forest feature and are commonly seen in the silk-cotton 
 trees. The recesses between them are actually used as lairs 
 by small wild animals. They are supposedly also a favorite 
 home of the spirits. 
 
 Caverns and large rocks have their special spirit inhabi- 
 tants. At Gabun, and also on Corisco Island, geological 
 breaks in the horizontal strata of rock were filled by narrow 
 vertical strata of limestone, between which water action has 
 worn away the softer rock, leaving the limestone walls iso- 
 lated, with a narrow ravine between them. These ravines 
 were formerly reverenced as the abodes of spirits. 
 
60 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 When I made a tour in 1882, surveying for a second 
 Ogowe Station, I came some seventy miles up river from my 
 well-established first station, Kangwe, at Lambarene, to an 
 enormous rock, a granite boulder, lying in the bed of the 
 river. The adjacent hillsides on either bank of the river 
 were almost impassable, being covered with boulders of all 
 sizes, and a heavy forest growing in among and even on 
 them. This great rock had evidently in the long past be- 
 come detached by torrential streams that scored the mountain- 
 side in the heavy rainy season and had plunged to its present 
 position. The swift river current swirled and dashed against 
 the huge obstruction to navigation, making the ascent of the 
 river at that point particularly difficult. Superstition sug- 
 gested that the spirits of the rock did not wish boats or 
 canoes to pass their abode. Nevertheless, necessities of trade 
 compelled ; and crews in passing made an ejaculatory prayer, 
 or doffed their head coverings, in respect, but with the fear 
 that the ^' ascent " in that part of the journey might be for 
 "woe," whence they called the rock " Itala-ja-maguga, " 
 wh ich, contracted to "Talaguga," I gave as a name to my 
 new station, erected in 1882 in the vicinity of the rock. 
 During my eight subsequent years at the station I did, in- 
 deed, meet with some "woe," but also much weal. And the 
 missionary work of Talaguga, carried on since 1892 by the 
 hands of the Soci^t^ Evangelique de Paris, has met with 
 signal success. 
 
 Capes, promontories, and other prominent points of land 
 are favorite dwelling-places of the spirits. The Ogowe 
 River, some one hundred and forty miles from its mouth, 
 receives on its left bank a large affluent, the Ngunye, coming 
 from the south. The low point of land at the junction of the 
 two rivers was sacred. The riverine tribes themselves would 
 pass it in canoes, respectfully removing their head coverings ; 
 but passage was forbidden to coast tribes and other foreigners. 
 Portuguese slave-traders might come to the point; but, stop- 
 ping there, they could trade beyond only through the hands of 
 the local tribe (evidently superstition had been invoked to 
 
SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN AFRICAN RELIGION 61 
 
 protect a trade monopoly). A certain trader, Mr. R. B. N. 
 Walker, agent for the English firm of Hatton & Cookson, 
 headquarters at Libreville, Gabun, in extending his com- 
 mercial interests some forty years ago, made an overland 
 journey from the Gabun River, emerging on the Ogowe, 
 on its right bank, above that sacred point. Ranoke, chief of 
 the Inenga tribe, a few miles below, seized him, his porters, 
 and his goods, and kept them prisoners for several months. 
 Mr. Walker succeeded in bribing a native to carry a letter 
 to the French Commandant at Libreville, who was pleased 
 to send a gunboat to the rescue. Incidentally it furnislied a 
 good opportunity to demonstrate France's somewhat shadowy 
 claim to the Ogowe. After the rescue a company from the 
 gunboat proceeded to the Point and lunched there, thus 
 effectually desecrating it. Mr. Walker made peace with his 
 late captor, and established a trading-station at the Inenga 
 village, Lambarene. For years afterward, natives still looked 
 upon that Point with respect. My own crew in 1874 
 sometimes doffed their hats; but before I left the Ogowe 
 in 1891, a younger generation had grown up that was willing 
 to camp and eat and sleep there with me, on my boat journeys. 
 Graveyards, of course, are homes of spirits, and therefore 
 are much dreaded. The tribes, especially of the interior, 
 differ very much as to burial customs. Some bury only their 
 chiefs and other prominent men, casting away corpses of 
 slaves or of the poor into the rivers, or out on the open 
 ground, perhaps covering them with a bundle of sticks; 
 even when graves are dug they are shallow. Some tribes 
 fearlessly bury their dead under the clay floors of their houses, 
 or a few yards distant in the kitchen-garden generally ad- 
 joining. But, by most tribes who do bury at all, there are 
 chosen as cemeteries dark, tangled stretches of forest, along 
 river banks on ground that is apt to be inundated or whose 
 soil is not good for plantation purposes. I had often observed, 
 in my earlier African years, such stretches of forest along 
 the river, and wondered why the people did not use them for 
 cultivation, being conveniently near to some village, while 
 
62 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 they would go a much longer distance to make their planta- 
 tions. The explanation was that these were graveyards. 
 Such stretches would extend sometimes for a mile or two. 
 Often my hungry meal hour on a journey happened to coincide 
 with our passing just such a piece of forest, and the crew 
 would refuse to stop, keeping themselves and myself hungry 
 till we could arrive at more open forest. 
 
 In Eastern Africa it is believed that "the dead in their 
 turn become spirits under the all-embracing name of Mu- 
 simo. The Wanyamwezi hold their Musimo in great dread 
 and veneration, as well as the house, hut, or place where their 
 body has died."^ 
 
 Beyond the regularly recognized habitats of the spirits that 
 may be called "natural" to them, any other location may be 
 acquired by them temporarily, for longer or shorter periods, 
 under the power of the incantations of the native doctor 
 (uganga). By his magic arts any spirit may be localized in 
 any object whatever, however small or insignificant; and, 
 while thus limited, is under the control of the doctor and 
 subservient to the wishes of the possessor or wearer of the 
 material object in which it is thus confined. This constitutes 
 a "fetich," which will be more fully discussed in another 
 chapter. 
 
 IV. Characteristics. 
 
 The characteristics of these spirits are much the same as 
 those they possessed before they were disembodied. They 
 have most of the evil human passions, e. g.^ anger and re- 
 venge, and therefore may be malevolent. But they possess 
 also the good feelings of generosity and gratitude ; they are 
 therefore within reach of influence, an d may be benevolent . 
 Their possible malevolence is to be deprecated, their ange r 
 .placa ted, their aid enlisted. 
 
 Illustration of malevolence in their character has already 
 been seen in the dread connected with deaths and funerals. 
 The similar dread of graveyards in our civilized countries 
 
 1 Decle. 
 
SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN AFRICAN RELIGION 63 
 
 may rest on the fear inspired by what is mysterious or by those 
 who have passed to the unknown, simply because it and tliey 
 are unknown. But, to superstitious Africa, that unknown is 
 a certainty, in that it is a source of evil; the spirit of the 
 departed has all the capacity for evil it possessed while 
 embodied, with the additional capacity that its exemption 
 from some of the limitations of time and space increases its 
 facilities for action. Being unseen, it can act at immensely 
 greater advantage for accomplishing a given purpose. Natives 
 dying have gone into the other world retaining an acute 
 memory of some wrong inflicted on them by fellow-villagers, 
 and have openly said, "From that other world I will come 
 b^ck and avenge myself on you! '' 
 
 In any contest of a human being against these spirits of 
 evil he knows always that whatever influence he may obtain 
 over them by the doctor's magic aid, or whatever limitations 
 may thus be put on them, they can never, as in the case of a 
 human enemy, be killed. The spirits can never die. 
 
 Sometimes the word "dead " is used of a fetich amulet that 
 has been inhabited by a spirit conjured into it by a native 
 doctor. The phrase does not mean that its spirit is actually 
 dead, but that it has fled from inside of the fetich, and still 
 lives elsewhere. Then the native doctor, to explain to his 
 patient or client the inefticacy of the charm, says that the 
 cause of the spirit's escape and flight is that the wearer has 
 failed to observe all the directions which had been given, and 
 the spirit was displeased. The dead amulet is, neverthe- 
 less, available for sale to the curio-hunting foreigner. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN AFRICA— THEIR CLASSES 
 AND FUNCTIONS 
 
 INEQUALITIES among the spirits tliemselves, though 
 they are so great, indicate no more than simple differen- 
 tiations of character or work. Yet so radical are these vari- 
 eties, and so distinct the names applied to them, that I am 
 compelled to recognize a division into classes. 
 
 Classes and Functions. 
 
 1. Inina, or Ilina. A human embodied soul is spoken of 
 and fully believed in by all the tribes. It is known in the 
 Mpongwe tribes of the Gabun country as " inina " (plural, 
 " anina ") ; in the adjacent Benga tribe, as " ilina " (plural, 
 "malina") ; in the great interior Fang tribes, as "nsisim." 
 
 This animating soul, whether it be only one, or whether it 
 appear in two, three, or even four forms, is practically the 
 same, that talks, hears, and feels, that sometimes goes out 
 of the body in a dream, and that exists as a spirit after the 
 death of the body. That it has its own especial materiality 
 seems to be indicated by the fact that in the Fang, Bakele, 
 and other tribes the same word ^^ nsis im " means not only soul 
 but also shadow. T he shadow of a tree or any other inani- 
 mate object and of the human body as cast by the sun is 
 " nsisim. " 
 
 In my first explorations up the Ogowe River, in 1874, as in 
 my village preaching I necessarily and constantly spoke of our 
 soul, its sins, its capacity for suffering or happiness, and its 
 relation to its divine Maker, I was often at a loss how to 
 
CLASSES AND FUNCTIONS OF SPIRITS G5 
 
 make my thoughtless audience understand or appreciate that 
 the nsisim of which I was speaking was not the nsisim 
 cast by the sun as a darkish Hue on the ground near their 
 bodies. Even to those who understood me, it was not an 
 impossible thought that that dark narrow belt on the ground 
 was in some way a part of, or a mode of manifestation of, that 
 other thing, the nsisim, which they admitted was the source of 
 the body's animation. So far defined was that thought with 
 some of them that they said it was a possible thing for a 
 human being to liave his nsisim stolen or otherwise lost, and 
 still exist in a diseased and dying state ; in which case his 
 body would not cast a shadow. Von Chamisso's story of 
 Peter Schlemehl, " the man who lost his shadow," in actuality I 
 
 So few are the special activities by which to distinguish 
 anina from other classes of spirits, that I might doubt whether 
 they should properly be considered as distinct, were it not 
 true that the anina are all of them embodied spirits; none 
 of them are of other origin. As disembodied spirits, retaining 
 memory of their former human relationships, they have an 
 interest in human affairs, and especially in the affairs of the 
 family of which they were lately members. 
 
 2. Ibamho (Mpongvve ; plural, "abambo"). There are 
 vague beings, '' abambo," which may well be described by our 
 word " ghosts." Where they come from is not certainly 
 known, or what locality they inhabit, except that they belong 
 to the world of spirits. Why they become visible is also un- 
 known. They are not called for, tliey are only occasionally 
 worshipped ; their epiphany is dreaded, not reverenced. 
 
 " The term ' abambo ' is in the plural form, and may 
 therefore be regarded as forming a class of spirits instead 
 of a single individual. They are tlie spirits of dead men ; 
 but whether they are positively good or positively evil, to 
 be loved or to be hated, or to be courted or avoided, are 
 points which no native of the country can answer satisfac- 
 torily. Abambo are the spirits of tlie ancestors of the 
 people of a tribe or race, as distinguished from the spirits 
 of strangers. These are the spirits with which men are 
 
 6 
 
66 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 possessed, and there is no end to the ceremonies used to 
 deliver them from their power." ^ 
 
 The ibambo may appear anywhere and at any time and to 
 anybody, but it has no message. It rarely speaks. Its 
 most common effect on human lives is to frighten. It flits ; 
 it does not remain in one spot, to speak or to be spoken to. 
 Indistinctly seen, its appearances are reported as occurring 
 mostly in dark places, in shadows, in twilight, and on dark 
 nights. The most common apparitions are on lonely paths 
 in the forest by night. 
 
 To all intents and purposes these abambo are what super- 
 stitious fears in our civilization call " ghosts." The timid 
 dweller in civilization can no more tell us what that ghost is 
 than can the ignorant African. It is as difficult in the one 
 case as in the other to argue against the unreal and unknown. 
 What the frightened eye or ear believes it saw or heard, it 
 persists in believing against all proof. Nor will ridicule make 
 the belief less strong. However, the intelligent child in civ- 
 ilization, under the hand of a judicious parent or other friend, 
 and relying on love as an expounder, can be led to understand 
 by daylight, that the white bark of a tree trunk shimmering 
 in uncertain moonlight, or a Avhite garment flapping in the 
 wind, or a white animal grazing in the meadow, was the ghost 
 whose waving form had scared him the night before. His 
 superstition is not so ingrained by daily exercise but that 
 reason and love can divest him of it. But to the denizen of 
 Fetich-land superstition is religion ; the night terror which 
 he is sure he saw is too real a thing in his life to be identified 
 by day as only a harmless white-barked tree or quartz rock. 
 
 3. A third class of spirits is represented by the name 
 Ombiviri. The " ombwiri " (^Nlpongwe ; plural, " awiri ") 
 is certainly somewhat local, and in this respect might be re- 
 garded as akin to the ancient fauns and dryads, with a sugges- 
 tion of a likeness to the spirits resident in the dense oak groves 
 and the massive stones of the Druid Circle. But the awiri 
 are more than dryads. They are not confined to their local 
 
 1 J. L. Wilson. 
 
CLASSES AND FUNCTIONS OF SPIRITS 67 
 
 rock, tree, bold promontory, or point of land, trespass on which 
 by liunian beings they resent. The traveller must go by 
 silently, or with some cabalistic invocation, with bowed or 
 bared head, and with some offering, — anything, even a pebble. 
 On the beach, as I bend to pass beneath an enormous tree 
 fallen across the pathway, I observe the upper side of the log 
 covered with votive offerings, — pebbles, shells, leaves, etc., — 
 laid there by travellers as they stooped to pass under. Such 
 votive collections may be seen on many spots along the forest 
 paths, deposited there by the natives as an invocation of a 
 blessing on their journey. 
 
 " The derivation of the word ' Ombwiri ' is not know^n. As 
 it is used in the plural as well as in the singular form, it no 
 doubt represents a class or family of spirits. He is regarded 
 as a tutelar or guardian spirit. Almost every man has his 
 own ombwiri, for which he provides a small house near 
 his own. All the harm that he has escaped in this world, 
 and all the good secured, are ascribed to the kindly offices 
 of this guaixlian spirit. Ombwiri is also regarded as the 
 author of everything in the world which is marvellous or 
 mysterious. Any remarkable feature in the physical aspect 
 of the country, any notable phenomenon in tlie heavens, or 
 extraordinary events in the affairs of men are ascribed to 
 Ombwiri. His favorite places of abode are the summits of 
 high mountains, deep caverns, large rocks, and the base of 
 very large forest trees. And while the people attach no 
 malignity to his character, they carefully guard against all 
 unnecessary familiarity in their intercourse with him, and 
 never pass a place where he is supposed to dwell except in 
 silence. He is the only one of all the spirits recognized by 
 the people that has no priesthood ; his intercourse with men 
 being direct and immediate." ^ 
 
 These spirits are sometimes spoken of with the nkinda 
 and olaga (Mpongwe ; plural, '' ilagfi "). They all come from 
 the spirits of the dead. These several names indicate a dif- 
 ference as to kind or class of spirit, and a difference in the 
 
 1 J. L. Wilson. 
 
68 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 work or functions they are called upon to exercise. The ilag^ 
 are spirits of strangers, and have come from a distance. 
 
 While the ombwiri is indeed feared, it is with a respectful 
 
 reverence, different from the dread of an ibambo. Ombwiri 
 
 is fine and admirable in aspect, but is very rarely seen ; it is 
 
 white, like a white person. Souls of distinguished chiefs 
 
 and other great men turn to awiri. The fear with which the 
 
 native regards massive rocks and large trees — the ombwiri 
 
 'homes — need not be felt by white people, who are them- 
 
 J selves considered awiri, without its being clearly understood 
 
 / whether their bodies are inhabited by the departed spirits of 
 
 v^the Negro dead, or whether some came from other sources. 
 
 The awiri are generally favorably disposed, especially to 
 their former human relatives ; but it is necessary to gratify 
 them with religious services constituting an ancestral wor- 
 ship. While some of them reside in great rocks or trees, 
 others dwell in rivers, lakes, and seas. 
 
 Awiri, if they love a person and desire to favor him or 
 her, have the special power to grant a gift desired by most 
 Africans, viz.^ the birth of children. The awiri live mostly 
 in the region of their own former human tribe. It is pos- 
 sible, however, for them to go everywhere ; but they usually 
 remain within their old tribal limits. If, however, a tribe 
 should remove or become extinct, their awiri would still 
 remain in that region, and would affiliate with the new people 
 who might come to occupy the deserted village sites. 
 
 Awiri have a period of inactivity, the cold dry season of 
 four months (in western Equatorial Africa), May to Sep- 
 tember. At that time they become very small, inactive, and 
 almost lifeless (a condition of hibernation, somewhat like 
 that of bears; or of inertia, as when a snake casts its skin?). 
 
 4. There is another class of spirits called Sinhinda (sin- 
 gular, "nkinda"), some of whom are the spirits of people 
 who in the ordinary stations of life were ** common," or not 
 distinguished for greatness or goodness. Others of these sin- 
 kinda are of uncertain origin, perhaps demons whom Njambi 
 had created, but to whom He had never given bodily existence. 
 
CLASSES AND FUNCTIONS OF SPIRITS G9 
 
 Almost all sinkinda are evilly disposed. They come to 
 the villages on visits to warm themselves by the kitchen fires 
 or out of curiosity to see what is going on, and sometimes, 
 temporarily, to enter into the bodies of the living, especially 
 of their own f amity. The entrance of a nkinda into a 
 human body always sickens the person. It may enter any 
 one, even a child. If many of them enter a man's body, he 
 becomes crazy. 
 
 Sometimes the nkinda, when asked who he is, says : " I am 
 a spirit of a member of your own family, and I have come to 
 live with you. I am tired of living in the forest with cold 
 and hunger. I wish to stay with you." 
 
 Often when people are sick with fever or cold, the diagnosis 
 is made that some nkinda has come on a visit. If it is of the 
 same family as those wdiom it is visiting, it comes and goes 
 from time to time, to please itself ; but it is never, like an 
 uvengwa, visible. 
 
 Sometimes these sinkinda are called " ivavi " (sing. " ovavi," 
 messenger). They come from far and bring news, e. g.^ " An 
 epidemic of disease is coming," or " A ship is coming with 
 wealth." Sometimes the news thus brought proves true. 
 (Is this our modern spiritualism? ) In such cases the coming 
 of the nkinda is regarded as a blessing, in that it warns the 
 living of evil or brings them wealth. The information is al- 
 ways carried by the mouth of some living member of the family. 
 If these sinkinda are asked by a non-possessed member of the 
 family, " Where do you live ? " the reply is, " Nowhere in 
 particular. But at evenings we gather about your town, to 
 see you and join in your dances and songs. We see you, 
 though you do not see us." 
 
 5. Mondi. There are beings, " myondi " (Benga ; singular, 
 ** mondi "), who are agents in causing sickness or in either 
 aiding or hindering human plans. These spirits are mucli the 
 same as those of the fourtli class, except that in power they 
 seem to be more independent than other spirits. But they 
 are not always simply passive in the hands of the doctor; 
 they are often active on tlieir own account, or at their own 
 
70 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 pleasure, generall}^ to injure. They are worshipped almost 
 always in a deprecatory way. They often take violent pos- 
 session of human bodies ; and for their expulsion it is that ilaga, 
 sinkinda, and awiri are invoked. They are invoked especially 
 at the new moons, but also at otlier times, particularly in 
 sickness. The native oganga decides whether or no they be 
 myondi that are afflicting the patient. When the diagnosis 
 has been made, and myondi declared to be present in the pa- 
 tient's body, the indication is that they are to be exorcised. 
 
 A slight doubt must be admitted in regard to these myondi, 
 whether they really do constitute a distinct class, or whether 
 any spirit of any class may not become a myondi. The name 
 in that case would be given them, not as a class, but as pro- 
 ducers of certain effects, at certain times and under certain 
 circumstances. 
 
 The powers and functions of the several classes of spirits 
 do not seem to be distinctly defined. Certainly they do not 
 confine themselves either to their recognized locality or to 
 the usually understood function pertaining to their class. 
 These powers and functions shade into each other, or may be 
 assumed by members of almost any class. But it is clearly 
 believed that spirits, even of the same class, differ in power. 
 Some are strong, others are weak. They are limited as to the 
 nature of their powers ; no spirit can do all things. A spirit's 
 efficiency runs only on a certain line or lines. All of them 
 can be influenced and made subservient to human wishes 
 by a variety of incantations. 
 
 There are other names which, while they belong to spirits, 
 apparently indicate only peculiarities in spiritual manifesta- 
 tions, and not representatives of a class. 
 
 1. There may enter into any animal's body (generally a 
 leoparcTs) some spirit, or, temporarily, even the soul of a 
 living hmiian being. The animal then, guided by human 
 intelligence and will, exercises its strength for the purposes 
 of the temporary human possessor. Many murders are said 
 to be committed in this way, after the manner of the mythical 
 German wehr-wolf or the French loup-garou. 
 
CLASSES AND FUNCTIONS OF SPIRITS 71 
 
 This belief in demoniacal possession of a lower animal 
 must not be confounded with the equally believed transmigra- 
 tion of souls. The former is widespread over at least a third 
 of the African continent. In Mashona-land " they beheve 
 that at times both living and dead persons can change them- 
 selves into animals, either to execute some vengeance, or to 
 procure something they wish for; thus, a man will change 
 himself into a hyena or a lion to steal a sheep and make a 
 good meal off it ; into a serpent to avenge himself on some 
 enemy. At other times, if they see a serpent, it is one of the 
 Matotela tribe or slave tribe, which has thus transformed 
 himself to take some vengeance on the Barotse." ^ 
 
 2. Another manifestation is that of the uve ngwa. I t is 
 claimed to be not simply spiritual, but tangible. It is the 
 se lf-resurrected spirit and body of a dead human being. 
 It is an object of dread, and is never worshipped in any 
 manner whatever. Why it appears is not know^n. Perhaps 
 it shows itself only in a restless, unquiet, or dissatisfied feeling. 
 It is white in color, but the body is variously changed from 
 the likeness of the original human body. Some say that it 
 has only one eye, placed in the centre of the forehead. Some 
 say that its feet are webbed like an aquatic bird. It does 
 not speak ; it only wanders, looking as if with curiosity. 
 
 My little cottage at Batanga is a mile and a half from the 
 three chief dwellings of the station. One afternoon in 1902 
 I went to the station, leaving my cook and his wife in charge 
 of the cottage. When I returned late at night, he asserted 
 that an uvengwa had come there. A few yards in front of 
 the door of the house is a mango tree with its very dense 
 dark foliage. The trunk is divided a few feet from the 
 ground. The light from the open door streamed into a part 
 of the front yard, leaving the tree trunk in dark shadow. 
 The woman going out of the door had started back, scream- 
 ing to her husband that she saw an uvengwa standing in the 
 crotch of the tree and peering around one of the branches. 
 The husband went to the door. He asserted to me that he 
 
 1 DccK'. 
 
72 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 also had seen the form. In their terror, neither of them made 
 any investigation. Possibly a chalk- whitened thief had taken 
 advantage of my ahsence to prowl about. But the two wit- 
 nesses rejected such a suggestion ; they were sure it was a 
 visitor from some grave. 
 
 3. Other spiritual manifestations are spoken of as the per- 
 sonal guardian-spirit and the family guardian-spirit. These 
 do not constitute a separate class, but are the special modes of 
 operation adopted by the ancestral spirit or spirits in the pro- 
 tection of their family. Its description belongs properly to a 
 later chapter under the name of the Family Yaka fetich. 
 
 The manner of invocation of all these five classes of spirits, 
 in the case of obscure diseases, is very much the same now as 
 what Dr. Wilson described fifty years ago. What he saw on 
 the Gabun River tallies with what I also saw thirty years ago 
 at Benita, and subsequently in the Ogowe. Even at Gabun, 
 in the present day, though the Mpongwe have been en- 
 lightened, the same ceremonies are kept up by other tribes, 
 the Shekani and Fang, who have emerged on the coast at 
 Libreville. 
 
 " Sick persons, and especially those that are afflicted with 
 nervous disorders, are supposed to be possessed by one or the 
 other of these spirits. If the disease assumes a serious form, 
 the patient is taken to a priest or a priestess, of either of these 
 classes of spirits. Certain tests are applied, and it is soon 
 ascertained to which class the disease belongs, and the patient 
 is accordingly turned, over to the proper priest. The cere- 
 monies in the different cases are not materially different ; they 
 are alike, at least, in the employment of an almost endless round 
 of absurd, unmeaning, and disgusting ceremonies which none 
 but a heathenish and ignorant priesthood could invent, and 
 none but a poor, ignorant, and superstitious people could 
 ever tolerate. 
 
 '' In either case a temporary shanty is erected in the middle 
 of the street for the occupancy of the patient, the priest, and 
 such persons as are to take part in the ceremony of exorcism. 
 The time employed in performing the ceremonies is seldom 
 
CLASSES AND FUNCTIONS OF SPIRITS 73 
 
 less than ten or fifteen days. During this period dancing, 
 drumming, feasting, and drinking are kept up without inter- 
 mission day and night, and all at the expense of the nearest 
 relative of the invalid. The patient, if a female, is decked out 
 in the most fantastic costume ; her face, bosom, arms, and legs 
 are streaked with red and white chalk, her head adorned with 
 red feathers, and much of the time she promenades the open 
 space in front of the shanty with a sword in lier hand, which 
 she brandishes in a very menacing way against the bystanders. 
 At the same time she assumes as much of the maniac in her 
 looks, actions, gestures, and walk as possible. In many cases 
 this is all mere affectation, and no one is deceived by it. But 
 there are other cases where motions seem involuntary and 
 entirely beyond the control of the person; and when you 
 watch the wild and unnatural stare, the convulsive move- 
 ments of the limbs and body, the unnatural posture into 
 which the whole frame is occasionally thrown, the gnashing 
 of the teeth, and foaming at the mouth, and supernatural 
 strength that is put forth when any attempt is made at con- 
 straint, you are strongly reminded of cases of real possession 
 recorded in the New Testament. 
 
 " There is no reason to suppose that any real cures are ef- 
 fected by these prolonged ceremonies. In certain nervous 
 affections the excitement is kept up until utter exhaustion 
 takes place; and if the patient is kept quiet afterwards 
 (which is generally the case), she may be restored to better 
 health after a while; and, no matter how long it may be 
 before she recovers from this severe tax upon her nerves, the 
 priest claims the credit of it. In other cases the patient may 
 not have been diseased at all, and, of course, there was nothing 
 to be recovered from. 
 
 " If it should be a case of undissembled sickness, and the 
 patient become worse by this unnatural treatment, she is re- 
 moved, and the ceremonies are suspended, and it is concluded 
 that it was not a real possession, but something else: The 
 priests have certain tests by w^hich it is known whf^n the 
 patient is healed, and the whole transaction is wound up 
 
T4 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 when the fees are paid. In all cases of this kind it is im- 
 possible to say whether the devil has really been cast out or 
 merely a better understanding arrived at between him and the 
 person he has been tormenting. The individual is required to 
 build a little house or temple for the spirit near his own, to 
 take occasional offerings to him, and pay all due respect to his 
 character, or to be subject to renewed assaults at any time. 
 Certain restrictions are imposed upon the person who has 
 recovered from these satanic influences. He must refrain 
 from certain kinds of food, avoid certain places of common 
 resort, and perform certain duties ; and, for the neglect of 
 any of these, is sure to be severely scourged b}' a return 
 of his malady. Like the Jews, in speaking of the actions of 
 these demoniacs, they are said to be done by the spirit, and 
 not by the person who is possessed. If the person performs 
 any unnatural or revolting act, — as the biting off of the head 
 of a live chicken and sucking its blood, — it is said that the 
 spirit, not the man, has done it. 
 
 " But the views of the great mass of the people on these 
 subjects are exceedingly vague and indefinite. They attend 
 these ceremonies on account of the parade and excitement 
 that usually accompany them, but they have no knowledge 
 of their origin, their true nature, or of their results. Many 
 submit to the ceremonies because they are persuaded to do so 
 by their friends, and, no doubt, in many cases in the hope of 
 being freed from some troublesome malady. But as to the 
 meaning of the ceremonies themselves, or the real influence 
 which they exert upon their bodily diseases, they probably 
 have many doubts, and when called upon to give explanation 
 of the process which they have passed through, they show 
 that they have none but the most confused ideas." ^ 
 
 1 Wilson, Western Africa. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 FETICHISM — ITS PHILOSOPHY— A PHYSICAL 
 SALVATION — CHARMS AND AMULETS 
 
 EVEN during the while that man was still a monotheist, 
 as seen in a previous chapter, he had eventually come 
 to the use of idols which he did not actually worship, by the 
 making of images simply to represent God ; he had not yet 
 become an idolater. 
 
 Subsequently, in his farther lapse away from God, when he 
 began to render worship to beings other than God, fashioned 
 images to represent them also, and actually worshipped them, 
 he became a polytheist and an idolater. 
 
 When he had wandered still farther, and God was no 
 longer worshipped, the knowledge of Him being reduced to 
 a name, a multitude of spiritual beings were substituted in 
 place of God, and religion was only animism. 
 
 Farther on, when it seemed desirable to provide local 
 residence for these spirits, as had been done for God Himself 
 in temples and costly images, the material objects used for 
 that residence were no longer matter of value and choice ; 
 anything and any place was sufficient for a spirit's habitat. 
 Neither dignity, beauty, nor strength was any longer a factor 
 in the selection. For these objects did not represent the 
 deities in any w^ay whatever. They were simply local resi- 
 dences. As such, a spirit could live anywhere and in 
 anything. This is bald fetichism. The thing itself, the 
 material itself, is not worshipped. Tlie fetich worshipper 
 makes a clear distinction between the reverence with which 
 he regards a certain material object and the worship he ren- 
 ders to the spirit for the time being inhabiting it. For this 
 
76 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 reason nothing is too mean or too small or too ridiculous to 
 be considered fit for a spirit's locum tenens ; for when for 
 any reason the spirit is supposed to have gone out of that 
 thing and definitely abandoned it, the thing itself is no longer 
 reverenced, and is thrown away as useless. 
 
 The selection of the article in which the spirit is to reside 
 is made by the native " uganga " (doctor), who to the Negro 
 stands in the office of a priest. The ground of selection is 
 generally that of mere convenience. The ability to conjure 
 a free wandeiing spirit into the narrow limits of a small ma- 
 terial object, and to compel and subordinate its power to the 
 aid of some designated person or persons and for a specific 
 purpose, rests with that uganga. 
 
 Over the wide range of many articles used in which to 
 confine spirits, common and favorite things are the skins and 
 especially the tails of bush-cats, horns of antelopes, nut-shells, 
 snail-shells, bones of any animal, but especially human bones ; 
 and among the bones are specially regarded portions of skulls 
 of human beings and teeth and claws of leopards. But, lit- 
 erally, anything may be chosen, — any stick, any stone, any 
 rag of cloth. Apparently, there being no limit to the num- 
 ber of spirits, there is literally no limit to the number and 
 character of the articles in wliich they may be localized. 
 
 It is not true, as is asserted by some in regard to these 
 African tribes and their degraded form of rehgion, that they 
 worship the actual material objects in which the spirits are 
 supposed to be confined. Low as is fetichisra,it nevertheless 
 has its philosophy, a philosophy that is the same in kind as 
 that of the higher forms of reUgion. A similar sense of need 
 that sends the Christian to his knees before God to ask aid in 
 time of trouble, and salvation temporal and spiritual, sends 
 the fetich worshipper to offer his sacrifice and to ejaculate 
 his prayer for help as he lays hold of his consecrated antelope 
 horn, or as he looks on it with abiding trust while it is safely 
 tied to his body. His human necessity drives him to seek 
 assistance. 
 
 The difference between his act and the act of the Christii- . 
 
PHILOSOPHY — CHARMS AND AMULETS 77 
 
 lies in the kind of salvation he seeks, the being to whom he 
 appeals, and the reason for his appealing. The reason for his 
 a ppeal is simply fear ; there is no confession, no love, rarely 
 .thanksgiving. 
 
 The being to whom he appeals is not God. True, he does 
 not deny that He is ; if asked, he will acknowledge His exist- 
 ence. But that is all. Very rarely and only in extreme 
 emergencies, does he make an appeal to Him ; for he thinks 
 God so far off, so inaccessible, so indifferent to human woes 
 and wants, that a petition to Him would be almost in vain. 
 He therefore turns to some one of the mass of spirits which 
 he believes to be ever near and observant of human affairs, 
 in which, as former human beings, some of them once had 
 part. 
 
 As to the character of the salvation sought, it is not spir- 
 itual ; it is a purely physical salvation. A sense of moral and 
 spiritual need is lost sight of, although not eliminated. This 
 is an index of the distance the Negro has travelled away from 
 Jehovah before he finally reached the position of placing his 
 trust in a fetich. By just so much as he seems to himself living 
 in a world crowded with unseen but powerful spiritual beings 
 (with whom what a Christian calls " sin " has no reprehensible 
 moral quality), by just so much he seems to have lost sight of 
 his own soul and its moral necessities. 
 
 Jhe future is so vague that in the thou ght of most tribes 
 it contains neither heaven n or hell ; there is n o certain reward 
 or rest for goodness, nor positive punishme nt for badness. 
 The future life is to each native largely a ivpruduction, on 
 shadowy and intangible lines, of the works and interests and 
 passions of this earthly life. In his present life, with its sav- 
 agery and oppression and dominance of selfish greed and right 
 of might, goodness has no reward. It is badness which in his 
 personal experience makes the largest gains. From this point 
 of view, while some acts are indeed called " good " and some 
 " bad " (conscience proving its simple existence by the use of 
 these words in the record of language), yet conscience is not 
 much troubled by its possessor's badness. There is little 
 
78 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 sense of the sinfulness of sin. There is only fear of possible 
 human injury by human or subsidized spiritual enemies. This 
 is all the salvation that is sought. 
 
 It is sought by prayer ; by sacrifice, and by certain other 
 ceremonies rendered to the spirit of the fetich or to other 
 non-localized spirits ; and by the use of charms or amulets. 
 
 These charms may be vocal, ritual, or material. 
 
 (1) The vocal are the utterance of cabalistic words depre- 
 catory of evil or suppHcatory of favor, which are supposed in 
 a vague way to have power over the local spirits. These 
 words or phrases, though sometimes coined by a person for 
 himself or herself (and therefore like our slang having a 
 known meaning), are often archaisms, handed down from 
 ancestors and believed to possess efficiency, but whose mean- 
 ing is forgotten. In this list would be included long incanta- 
 tions by the magic doctors and the Ibata-blown blessing. 
 
 (2) Certain rites or ceremonies are performed for almost 
 every child at some time during his or her infancy or youth, 
 or subsequently as occasion may demand, in which a prohibi- 
 tion is laid upon the child in regard to the eating of some 
 particular article of food or the doing of some special act. It 
 is difficult to get at the exact object for this '' orunda." Cer- 
 tainly the prohibited food or act is not in itself evil ; for all 
 but the inhibited individual may eat of the food or commit the 
 act as they please. M ost natives blindly follow the " custom " 
 of their a ncestors, and are unable to give me the raison d'etre 
 of the rite itself. _But I gather from the testimony of those best 
 able to give a reason that the prohibited article or act is liter- 
 ally a sacrifice, ordained for the child by its parents and the 
 magic doctor, as a gift to the governing spirit of its life. The 
 thing prohibited thus becomes removed from the child's com- 
 mon use and is made sacred to the spirit. It is therefore a 
 sacrament. Any use of it by the child will thenceforth be a 
 .sacrilege which would draw down the spirit's wr atliln tlie 
 form of sickness or other evil, and which can b e atoned fo r 
 only through expensive ceremonies and by gifts to the magi - 
 cian interceding for the offender. 
 
PHILOSOPHY — CHARMS AND AMULETS 79 
 
 Anything may be selected for an omnda. I do not know 
 the ground for a selection. Why one child, perhaps a babe 
 too young to have eaten of the to-be-prohibited thing, should 
 be debarred forever from eating a chicken, or the liver or 
 any other particular part, or any portion at all, of a goat or an 
 ox or any other animal, I do not know. But that orunda 
 is thenceforth faithfully complied with, even under pangs 
 of hunger. It is like a Nazarite's vow. 
 
 I have a strong suspicion that where the orunda laid on a 
 woman is a matter of meat, superstition has played into the 
 hands of masculine selfishness, and denies to women tlie choice 
 meat in order that men may have the greater share. My 
 suspicion rests on almost positive evidence in the case of 
 some prohibitions to the Avomen of the Bulu and other Fang 
 tribes of the interior. 
 
 On a boat journey in the Ogowe River, about 1878, I 
 camped on the edge of a forest for the noon meal. My crew 
 of four, members of the Galwa and Nkami tribes, had no 
 meat. They needed it, for they had rowed hard and well. 
 For myself, I had only a small chicken. I was satisfied with 
 a portion of it, and gave the rest to the crew. It would 
 make at least a tasty morsel for each, with their manioc 
 bread. Three of them thanked me; the fourth did not touch 
 his share. I felt slightly vexed, thinking my favor was not 
 appreciated, and I asked the cause of his apparent sullenness. 
 He said he did not dare to eat of the fowl, as it was orunda 
 to him. 
 
 On another journey, in 1876, a young man whom I had 
 picked up as extra hand in my boat's crew, when at the noon 
 mealtime we stopped under the shade of a spreading tree 
 by the river's bank, instead of respectfully leaving me alone 
 with my lunch in the boat, and going ashore where the otliers 
 Avere eating, wanted to remain in the boat, hi s orunda being 
 that when on a jou rney by water his food'should be eaten 
 /only over water. 
 
 Two Ogowe chiefs, near whose villages was anchored the 
 small river steamer "Pioneer," on which I was passenger, 
 
80 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 in 1875, came aboard, and in drinking a glass of liquor 
 with the captain, one of them held up a piece of white 
 cloth before his mouth, in order that strangers' eyes might 
 not see him swallow. That was his orunda, probably. 
 Perhaps also the hiding of his drinking may have had refer- 
 ence to the common fear of another's "evil eye." 
 
 The other, having taken a mouthful, wet his finger in his 
 mouth, drew the wet finger across his throat, and then blew 
 on a fetich which he wore as a ring on a finger of the other 
 hand. I do not know the significance of his motion across 
 his throat. The blowing was the Ibata-blessing, — an ejacu- 
 latory prayer for a blessing on his plans, probably of trade. 
 
 This word "orunda," meaning thus ongimlly prohibited 
 fro m human use (like the South Sea "taboo"), grew , under 
 missio nary hands, into its related meaning of sacred t o spirit- 
 ual use. It is the word by which the Mpongwe Scriptures 
 translate ou r word "holy." I think it an unfortunate choice ; 
 for the missionary has to stop and explain that orunda, as 
 used for God, does not mean the orunda used by mankind. 
 In the translation of the Benga Scriptures the word "holy" 
 was transferred bodily, and we explain that it means some- 
 thing better than good. To such straits are translators some- 
 times reduced in the use of heathen languages I 
 
 (3) The charms that are most common are material, the 
 fetich, — so common, indeed, that by the universality of 
 their use, and the prominence given to them everywhere, in 
 houses and on the person, they almost monopolize the religious 
 thought of the Bantu Negro, subordinating other acknowl- 
 edged points of his theology, dominating his almost entire 
 religious interest, and giving the departmental word "fetich" 
 such overwhelming regard that it has furnished the name 
 distinctive of the native African religious system, viz., fetich- 
 ism. " Fetich " is an English word of Portuguese origin. 
 "It is derived from fei tico, 'made,' ^ artificial ' (compare the 
 o ld English f etys, used by Chaucer) ; and this term, used of 
 the charms and amulets worn in the Roman Catholic religion 
 of the period, was applied, by the Portuguese sailors of the 
 
PHILOSOPHY -CHARMS AND AMULETS 81 
 
 eighteenth century, to the deities tliey sa^v worshipped by 
 the Negroes of the West Coast of Africa. 
 
 " De Brosses, a French savant of the last century, brought 
 the word 'fetichism ' into use as a term for the type of re- 
 ligion of the lowest races. The word has given rise to 
 some confusion, having been applied, by Comte and other 
 writers, to the worship of the heavenly bodies and of the great 
 features of Nature. It is best to limit it to the worship of 
 such natural objects as are reverenced, not for their own 
 power or excellence, but because they are supposed to be oc- 
 cupied each by a spirit. "^ 
 
 The native word on the Liberian coast is "gree-gree " ; in 
 the Niger Delta, "ju-ju"; in the Gabun country, "mondl"; 
 among the cannibal Fang, ''biaii"; and in other tribes the 
 same respective dialectic by which we translate "medicine." 
 To a sick native's thought the adjuvant medicinal herb used 
 by the doctor, and its associated efficiency-giving spirit in- 
 voked by that same doctor, are inseparable. In the heathen 
 Negro's soul the fetich takes the place, and has the regard, 
 which an idol has with the Hindu and the Chinese. 
 
 "A fetich, strictly speaking, is little else than a charm or' 
 amulet, worn about the person, and set up at some conven- 
 ient place, for the purpose of guarding against some ap- 
 prehended evil or securing some coveted good." In the 
 Anglo-African parlance of the Coast fetiches are called by 
 various names, but all signify the same thing. Fetiches may 
 be made of anything of vegetable, animal, or metallic nature, 
 "and need only to pass through the consecrating hands of a I 
 native priest to receive all the supernatural powers which 1 
 they are supposed to possess. It is not always certain that | 
 they possess extraordinary powers. They must be tried and 
 give proof of their efficiency before they can be implicitly J 
 trusted. "2 ./ 
 
 A fetich, then, is any material object consecrated by the 
 "oganga," or magic doctor, with a variety of ceremonies and 
 
 1 Menzies, History of Religion, p. 33. 
 
 2 Wilson, Western Africa, p. 212. 
 
 6 
 
g2 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 processes, by virtue of which some spirit becomes localized in 
 that object, and subject to the will of the possessor. 
 
 Anything that can be conveniently carried on the person 
 may thus be consecrated, — a stone, chip, rag, string, or bead. 
 Articles most frequently used are snail-shells, nut-shells, and 
 ^mall horns of gazelles or goats. These are used probably 
 because of their convenient cavities ; for they are to be filled 
 by the oganga with a variety of substances depending, in 
 their selection, on the special work to be accomplished by 
 the fetich. Its value, however, depends not on itself, nor 
 solely on the character of these substances, but on the skill of 
 the oganga in dealing with spirits. 
 f There is a relation between these selected substances and 
 - the object to be obtained by the fetich which is to be pre- 
 pared of them, — for example, to give the possessor bravery 
 or strength, some part of a leopard or an elephant; to give 
 
 y cunning, some part of a gazelle ; to give wisdom, some part 
 
 S of a human brain; to give courage, some part of a heart; 
 to give influence, some part of an eye; and so on for a 
 
 / multitude of qualities. These substances are supposed to 
 lure some spirit (being in some way pleasing to it), which 
 thenceforward is satisfied to reside in them and to aid 
 
 . the possessor in the accomplishment of some one specific 
 wish. 
 
 In preparing a fetich the oganga selects substances such 
 as he deems appropriate to the end in view, — the ashes of cer- 
 tain medicinal plants, pieces of calcined bones, gums, spices, 
 resins, and even filth, portions of organs of the bodies of 
 animals, and especially of human beings (preferably eyes, 
 brain, heart, and gall-bladder), particularly of ancestors, or 
 men strong or renowned in any way, and very especially of 
 enemies and of white men. Jji iman eyeballs (part icularly of 
 a white pe rsmil . are a great prize. New-made graves have 
 
 _ been rifled for^them. ^ 
 
 ' These are compounded in secret, with the accompaniment 
 of drums, dancing, invocations, looking into mirrors or limpid 
 water to see faces (human or spiritual, as may be desired), and 
 
PHILOSOPHY — CHARMS AND AMULETS 83 
 
 are stuffed into the hollow of the shell or bone, or smeared 
 over the stick or stone. 
 
 If it be desired to obtain power over some one else, the 
 oganga must be given by the applicant, to be mixed in the 
 sacred compound, either crumbs from the food, or clippings 
 of finger nails or hair, or (most powerful !) even a drop of 
 blood of the person over whom influence is sought. These 
 represent the life or body of that person. So fearful are 
 natives of power being thus obtained over them, that they 
 have their hair cut only by a friend; and even then they 
 carefully burn it or cast it into a river. If one acciden- 
 tally cuts himself, he stamps out what blood has dropped on 
 the ground, or cuts out from wood the part saturated with 
 blood. 
 
 Sitting one day by a village boat-landing in the Benita 
 region, about 18G6, while my crew prepared for our journey, 
 I was idly plucking at my beard, and carelessly flung away 
 a few hairs. Presently I observed that some children gath- 
 ered them up. Asking my Christian assistant what that 
 meant, he told me: "They will have a fetich made with 
 those hairs ; when next you visit this village, they will ask 
 you for some favor, and you will grant it, by the power they 
 will thus have obtained over you. " 
 
 The water with which a lover's body (male or female) is 
 washed, is used in making a philter to be mingled secretly 
 in the drink of the loved one. 
 
 While, as I have already stated, it is true that anything 
 portable may be used either as the receptacle in which the 
 spirit is to be located or as the substance or " medicine " to be 
 inserted in it, I wish to insist that in the philosophy of fetich 
 there is always a reason in the selection of all these articles, — 
 a reason which it is often difficult for a foreigner to discover, 
 — an apparent fitness for the end in view. 
 
 Arnot^ refers to this: "Africans believe largely in preven- 
 tive measures, and their fetich cliarms are chiefly of tliat order. 
 In passing through a country wliere leopards and lions abound, 
 
 1 Gareiigimze, p. 237. 
 
84 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 they carefully provide themselves with the claws, teeth, lips, 
 and whiskers of those animals, and hang them around their 
 necks, to secure themselves against being attacked. For the 
 same purpose the point of an elephant trunk is generally 
 worn by elephant hunters. The bones from the legs of tor- 
 toises are much valued as anklets, in order to give the wearers 
 endurance, reminding one of the fable of the tortoise. The 
 lower jaw-bone of the tortoise is worn by certain tribes as a 
 preventive against toothache. The spine bones of serpents 
 are strung together wdth a girdle as a cure for back-ache." 
 
 A recent visitor to the Gabun country, in the " Journal of 
 the African Society," makes this criticism: "When a white 
 man or woman wears some trinket strung about them, they 
 call it an amulet or charm. They ascribe to it some virtue, 
 and regard it as a sacred (?) thing; but when an African 
 native wears one, white men call it ' fetich, ' and the wearer 
 a savage or heathen." This defence of the Negro is gratify- 
 ing, but the criticism of the white man is not quite just. 
 There is this radical difference: to the African the "fetich" 
 is his all, his entire hope for his physical salvation ; he does 
 not reckon on God at all. The civilized man or woman with 
 a " mascot " is very foolish in his or her belief in luck, but 
 their mascots never entirely take God's place. 
 
 I met at Gabun about 1895 the same criticism from the 
 mouth of a partly educated Sierra Leone Negro, who, though 
 a professing Christian, evidently was wearing Christianity 
 hypocritically. His well-educated Mpongwe wife was a 
 member of my church. It was discovered that she had a 
 certain fetich suspended in her bedroom. It was necessary 
 to summon her before the church session ; she explained that 
 it was not hers, but her husband's, and disclaimed belief in 
 it. She was rebuked for allowing it in her room. The 
 husband, hearing of the rebuke, wrote me an angry letter 
 justifying his fetich. He said in substance: 
 
 "You white people don't know anything about black man's 
 ' fashions. ' You say you trust God for everything, but in your 
 own country you put up an iron rod over your houses to protect 
 
PHILOSOPHY — CHARMS AND AMULETS 85 ,t^ 
 
 yourselves from death by lightning; and you trust in it the 
 while that you still believe in God ; and you call it ' elec- 
 tricity ' and civilization. And you say it 's all right. I 
 call this thing of mine — this charm — ' medicine ' ; and I 
 hung it over my wife's bed to keep away death by the arts of 
 those who hate her; and I trust in it while still believing in 
 God. And you think me a heathen ! " It was explained to 
 him that in the use of the lightning-rod white men rever- 
 ently recognized God in His own natural forces, but that his 
 fetich dishonored God, ignored Him, and was a distinct recog- 
 nition of a supposed power that was claimed to be able to act 
 independently of God; that I trusted to t he lightning-rod J 
 under God, while he trusted to his fetich outside o f God. 
 
 For every human passion or desire of every part of our 
 nature, for our thousand necessities or wishes, a fetich can be 
 made, its operation being directed to the attainment of one 
 specified wish, and limited in power only by the possible 
 existence of some more powerful antagonizing spirit. 
 
 This, hung on the plantation fence or from the branches 
 of plants in the garden, is either to prevent theft or to 
 sicken the thief: hung over the doorway of the house, to 
 bar the entrance of evil; hung from the bow of the canoe, 
 to insure a successful voyage; worn on the arm in hunt- 
 ing, to assure an accurate aim; worn on any part of one's 
 person, to give success in loving, hating, planting, fish- 
 ing, buying, and so forth, through the whole range of daily 
 work and interests. 
 
 Some kinds, worn on a bracelet or necklace, are to ward off 
 sickness. The new-born infant has a health-knot tied about 
 its neck, wrist, or loins. Down to the day of oldest age, 
 every one keeps on multiplying or renewing or altering 
 these life talismans. 
 
 If of the charge at Balaklava it was said, "This is magni- 
 ficent, but it is not war," 1 may say of these heathen, "Such 
 faith is magnificent, though it be folly." The hunter going 
 out, certain of success, returns empty-handed ; the warrior 
 bearing on his breast a fetich panoply, which he is confident 
 
86 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 will turn aside a bullet, comes back wounded ; every one is 
 some day foiled in his cherislied plan. Do they lose their 
 faith ? No, not in the system, — their f etichism ; but in the 
 special material object of their faith — their fetich -— they do. 
 Going to the oganga whom they had paid for concocting that 
 now disappointing amulet, they tell him of its failure. He 
 >' readily replies : " Yes, 1 know. You have an enemy who 
 ) possesses a fetich containing a spirit more powerful than 
 yours, which made your bullet miss its mark, which caused 
 your opponent's spear to wound you. Yours is no longer of 
 use ; it 's dead. Come, pay me, and I will make you a charm 
 containing a spirit still more powerful." 
 
 ^ The old fetich hitherto jealously guarded, and which 
 would not have been sold for any consideration, is now 
 thrown away or sold to the foreign curio-hunter. 
 
 A native heathen Akele chief, Kasa, my friend and host 
 in the Ogowe, in 1874, showed me a string of shells, bones, 
 horns, wild-cat tails, and so forth, each with its magic com- 
 pound, which he said could turn aside bullets. In a friendly 
 way he dared me to fire at him with my sixteen-repeater 
 Winchester rifle. I did not believe he meant it; but, on his 
 taking his stand a few paces distant, he did not quail under 
 my steady aim, nor even at the click of the trigger. I, of 
 course, desisted, apparently worsted. Two years later, Kasa 
 was charged by an elephant he had wounded, and was pierced 
 by its tusks. His attendants drove off the beast; the fear- 
 fully lacerated man survived long enough to accuse twelve 
 of his women and other slaves of having bewitched his gun, 
 and thus causing it only to wound instead of killing the 
 elephant. ,0n th at charge four of the accused were put 
 to d eath. ^ 
 
 Both men and women may become aganga on voluntary 
 choice, and after a course of instruction by an oganga. 
 
 " There is generally a special person in a tribe who knows 
 these things, and is able to work them. He has more power 
 over spirits than other men have, and is able to make them 
 do what he likes. He can heal sickness, he can foretell the 
 
■ 
 
 ^^^i^l^^^^H 
 
 ^^H 
 
 H^^^^^^H 
 
 ^^H 
 
 Kj^PBpi^B 
 
 ^^^H 
 
 ^^^^^^H^IHF^HH^Bli^^^K^' ^ • - -4^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^^^^^^^HHr?''"*^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^h 
 
 m * 
 
 1 
 
 mm. 
 
 J 
 
 B ' 'i^^S^S^i.J^ 
 
 1 
 
 Hl 
 
 
 Fetich Doctor. 
 (The triangular patch of hair is the professional tonsure.) 
 
PHILOSOPHY — CHARMS AND AMULETS 87 
 
 future, he can change a thing into something else, or a man 
 into a lower animal, or a tree, or anything; he can also as- 
 sume such transformations himself at will. He uses means 
 to bring about such results; he knows about herbs, he has 
 also recourse to rubbing, to making images of affected parts 
 of the body, and to various other arts. Very frequently he 
 is regarded as inspired. It is the spirit dwelling in him which 
 brings about the wonderful results; without the spirit he 
 could not do anything." ^ 
 
 Though these magicians possess power, its joy has its 
 limitations; for, becoming possessed by a familiar spirit, 
 through whose aid they make their invocations and incanta- 
 tions and under whose influence they fall into cataleptic 
 trances or are thrilled with Delphic rages, if they should 
 happen to offend that "familiar," it may destroy them by 
 "eating" out their life, as their phrase is. On Corisco 
 Island, in 1863, a certain man had acquired prominence as 
 a magic doctor; he finally died of consumption. His friends 
 began a witchcraft investigation to find out who had "killed " 
 him. A post-mortem bei ng made, cavities were foun d i n t he 
 lungs. Ignorant of disease, they thereupon dropped the in- 
 vestigation, saying that his own " witch " had " eaten " him. 
 
 Captain Guy Burrows, a British officer, formerly in the 
 service of the Kongo Free-State, left it unwilling to be a 
 participant in the fearful atrocities allowed by the King of 
 Belgium ; and he has recently made a scathing exposure of 
 the doings of Belgian agents that have made the Kongo a 
 slave-ground of worse horrors than existed in the old days of 
 the export slave-trade. He thus jocularly describes what he 
 saw of fetich at the town of Matadi on the Kongo, where 
 there is an English Baptist Mission : " Outside the small 
 area, under the direct influence of the mission, there is but 
 one deity, — the fetich. The heathen in his blindness, in 
 bowing down to wood and stone, bows, as Kipling says, to 
 'wood for choice.' He carves a more or less grotesque face; 
 and the rest is a matter of taste. I came across one figure 
 
 1 Menzies, History of Religion, p. 73. 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 88 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 whose principal ornament consisted of a profusion of ten- 
 penny nails and a large cowrie shell. ^ But anything will 
 do; an old tin teapot is another favorite fetich decoration. 
 I have generally found that the uglier they are, the more they 
 seem to be feared and reverenced. 
 
 ■' " The fetich is sometimes inclined to be a nuisance. On one 
 occasion I wanted to build an out-house at the far end of a 
 . plantation, where tools and other implements might be stored. 
 I was told by the chief, however, that this was fetich ground, 
 and that terrible misfortunes would follow any attempt to 
 build on it. I tried to get some closer idea of the fetich, but 
 could get no more material information than a recital of vague 
 terrors of the kind that frighten children at night. So I be- 
 gan building my out-house, during the course of which opera- 
 tion some monkeys came and sat in the trees, highly interested 
 in the proceedings. In some indefinite way I gathered that 
 \ the fetich power was regarded as being invested in these 
 
 monkeys, or that they were the embodiment of the fetich 
 idea, or anything else you please. But I could not have my 
 work interfered with by the ghosts of a lot of chattering apes, 
 and the fears of those big children the natives ; so I witch- 
 doctored the monkej'S after an improved recipe of my own, — 
 I shot the lot. Thereafter the spell was supposed to be 
 lifted, and no farther objections were raised; but the empty 
 cartridge cases were seized upon by the men as charms against 
 any further manifestations in the same place. I am glad to 
 say none occurred; the spell I had used was too potent! " 
 
 Captain Burrows was probably an efficient administrator. 
 But, like many foreigners, he evidently chose to ride, rough 
 shod, over natives' prejudices, regarding them as idle super- 
 stitions, and unable or unwilling to investigate their philoso- 
 phy. I see, however, from his story, that he had gotten hold 
 
 1 Those nails were not mere " ornaments." They were the records of the num- 
 ber of persons who had been transfixed by death or disease under the power of 
 that fetich idol. A similar custom is known in the \Yest Indies and in the 
 southern United States. For every pin stuck into a wax figure intended to 
 represent the person to be injured, some sickness or other evil will fall on him. 
 Wilkie Collins also utilized this superstition in his novel, " I say, No." — R. H. N. 
 
PHILOSOPHY— CHARMS AND AMULETS 89 
 
 of a part of the truth. That ground on which he desired to 
 build was probably an old graveyard. The native chief very 
 naturally did not wish it to be disturbed. Monkeys that 
 gather on the trees in the vicinity of a graveyard are sup- 
 posed to be possessed by the spirits of those buried there. 
 An ordinary individual would have been forcibly prevented 
 had he attempted what Captain Burrows did. He had a , 
 foreign government at his back, and the natives submitted. 
 Their dead and their monkeys, sacred pro tempore^ had suc- 
 cumbed to the superior power of the white man's cartridges. 
 Their only satisfaction was to retain the empty shells as 
 souvenirs. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE FETICH — A WORSHIP 
 
 WORSHIP is an eminent part of every form of religion, 
 but it is not essential to it. True, most religions 
 have some form of worship. But a belief would still be 
 a religion, even if it were so insignificant or so degraded 
 or so indifferent as not to care to express itself in rites or 
 ceremonies. 
 
 Fetichism, whose claim to a right to be reckoned as a 
 religion some have been disposed to dispute, expresses itself 
 by most of the visible and audible means used in the cults of 
 other forms of religion. 
 
 The motives also that prompt to the performance of religious 
 rites are not to enter into the question whether the beliefs 
 associated with them are worthy to be dignified by the name 
 *' religion." Motives may vary widely, e. g., love in an evan- 
 gelical Christian, pride in a Pharisee, sensual lust in a 
 follower of Islam and in a Mormon, and fear in the fetich 
 worshipper. Those motives, mixed perhaps with other con- 
 siderations, are the dominant factor in the government of the 
 religious life of each. 
 
 We have already seen in the previous chapter that the 
 religious thought of the believer in fetichism does not concern 
 his soul or its future. The evils he would escape are not 
 moral or spiritual. The sense of a great need that makes him 
 look for help outside of himself is not based on a desire to 
 obey God's will, but on his and some spirit's co-relation to the 
 great needs of this mortal life. 
 
 The salvation sought being a purely physical one, the 
 thoughts that direct the use of means to that end are limited 
 
THE FETICH — A WORSHIP 91 
 
 to physical needs, and largely to physical agencies. But not 
 entirely : for one of these agencies, as already mentioned in 
 the previous chapter, is prayer ; other agencies are sacrificial 
 offerings, and the use of amulet charms, or talismans, known 
 as fetiches. 
 
 1. Fetich Worship as p)erformed hy Sacrifice and other Offer- 
 ings. Sacrifice is an element in all real worship, if by sacri- 
 fice, in the widest sense, may be understood the devoting 
 of any object from a common to a sacred use, and this irre- 
 spective of the actual value of the gift (as is the case also 
 with Chinese paper imitation money scattered around the 
 grave, in Chinese funerals). The intention of the giver en- 
 nobles it; the spirit being supposed in some vague way to 
 be gratified by the respectful recognition of itself, and even 
 to be pleased sometimes by the gift itself. 
 
 (1) Thus the stones heaped by passers-by at the base of 
 some great tree or rock, the leaf cast from the passing 
 canoe toward a point of land on the river, though intrinsi- 
 cally valueless, and useless to the ombwiri of the spot, are 
 accepted as acknowledgments of that ombwiri's presence. 
 
 " All day we kept passing trees or rocks on which were 
 placed little heaps of stones or bits of wood; in passing 
 these, each of my men added a new stone or bit of wood, or 
 even a tuft of grass. This is a tribute to the spirits, the 
 general precaution to insure a safe return. Tliese people 
 have a vague sort of Supreme Being called Lesa, who has 
 good and evil passions ; but here (Plateau of Lake Tan- 
 ganyika), as everywhere else, the Musimo, or spirits of the 
 ancestors, are a leading feature in the beliefs. They are pro- 
 pitiated, as elsewhere, by placing little heaps of stones about 
 their favorite haunts. .At certain periods of the year the 
 people make pilgrimages to the mountiiin of Fwambo-Liamba, 
 on the summit of which is a sort of small altar of stones. 
 There they deposit bits of wood, to wliich are attached scmps 
 of calico, flowers, or beads ; this is to propitiate Lesa. 
 
 " After harvest, for instance, they make such an offering. 
 So when a girl becomes marriageable, she takes food with her, 
 
92 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 and goes up to the mountain for several days. When she 
 returns, the other women lead her in procession through the 
 villages, waving long tufts of grass and palms." ^ 
 
 (2) Other gifts are supposed to be actually utilized by the 
 spirit in some essential way. In some part of the long single 
 street of most villages is built a low hut, sometimes not 
 larger than a dog-kennel, in which, among all tribes, are hung 
 charms ; or by which is growing a consecrated plant (a hly, a 
 cactus, a euphorbia, or a ficus). In some tribes a rudely 
 carved human (generally female) figure stands in that hut, as 
 an idol. Idols are rare among most of the coast tribes, but 
 are common among all the interior tribes. That they are not 
 now frequently seen on the Coast is, I think, not due to a 
 lack of faith in them, but perhaps to a slight sense of civilized 
 shame. The idol has been the material object most de- 
 nounced by missionaries in their sermons against heathenism. 
 The half-awakened native hides it, or he manufactures it 
 for sale to curio-hunters. A really valued idol, supposed to 
 contain a spirit, he will not sell. He does not always hide 
 his fetich charm worn on his person; for it passes muster 
 in his explanation of its use as a " medicine." 
 
 That idol, charm, or plant, as the case may be, is believed 
 for the time to be the residence of a spirit which is to be 
 placated by offerings of some kind of food. I have seen in 
 those sacred huts a dish of boiled plantains (often by for- 
 eigners miscalled " bananas ") or a plate of fish. This food 
 is generally not removed till it spoils. Sometimes, where the 
 gift is a very large one, a feast is made; people and spirit are 
 supposed to join in the festival, and notliing is left to spoil. 
 That it is of use to the spirit is fully believed ; but just how, 
 few have been able to tell me. Some say that the '' life " or 
 essence of the food has been eaten by the spirit ; only the form 
 of the vegetable or flesh remaining to be removed. 
 
 (3) Blood sacrifices are common. In any great emergency 
 a fowl with its blood is laid at that low hut's door. In time 
 of great danger, an expected pestilence, a threatened assault 
 
 1 Decle. 
 
THE FETICH — A WORSHIP 93 
 
 by enemies, or some severe illness of a great man or woman, a 
 goat or sheep is sacrificed. 
 
 At the entrance to a village the way is often Ijarred by a 
 temporary light fence, only a narrow arched gateway of sai> 
 lings being left open. These saplings are wreathed with 
 leaves or flowers. That fence, frail as it is, is intended as a 
 bar to evil spirits, for from those arched saplings hang fetich 
 charms. When actual war is coming, this street entrance is 
 barricaded by logs, behind which real fight is to be made 
 against human, not spiiitual, foes. The light gateway is 
 sometimes further guarded by a sapling pinned to the ground 
 horizontally across the narrow threshold. An entering stran- . ^ 
 ger must be careful to tread over and not on it. / ^^^ 
 
 In an expected great evil the gateway is sometimes 1 V 
 sprinkled with the blood of a sacrificed goat or sheep. The j 
 flesh is not wasted ; it is eaten by the villagers, and especially A 
 by the magic doctor. Does not this look like a memory of / 
 a tradition of the Passover and its paschal lamb ? And does 
 it not suggest some thought of a blood atonement ? 
 
 (4) I have not actually seen, or even heard of human sacri- 
 fices in the tribes I have personally visited. But on the ad- 
 jacent Upper Guinea Coast, until ten years ago, there were 
 human sacrifices to the sacred crocodiles of the rivers of the 
 Niger Delta. In the oil rivers of that same coast there was, 
 until recently, an annual sacrifice (as in the ancient Nile days) 
 of a maiden to the river spirits of trade, for success in foreign 
 commerce. 
 
 Treaties with foreign civilized nations have now prohibited 
 this sacrifice, but the maiden lias not gained much in tlie 
 change. Instead of one being sacrificed to a brute crocodile 
 to please the spirit of trade, hundreds are prostituted to please 
 brutal, dissolute foreigners. 
 
 The thousands of captives butchered at the " annual cus- 
 tom " of Dahomey were claimed by its successive kings, in 
 their answer to the protests of the ambassadors from civilized 
 nations, to be required as offerings to the safety of the nation, 
 the omission of which would be punished by the loss of the 
 
94 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 king's own life. Fearful as that annual barbarity was, I do 
 not think that those kings should properly be called " blood- 
 thirsty." It was their religion. All the more dreadful the 
 religion that called for such deeds ! 
 
 Here, again, the question presents itself whether Africa has 
 gained much in the substitution of wicked white representa- 
 tives of civilization for the heathen black representatives of 
 fetichism. The Kongo River was rescued from the cruelties 
 and loss of life in the foreign slave-trade, only to be subjected 
 to greater cruelties, in its miscalled " Free State," under the 
 control of Belgium, at the hands of men like Major Lothaire. 
 
 The following remarks of Menzies ^ on the use of sacri- 
 fice by primitive man are descriptive of the interior tribes of 
 Africa to-day : " Sacrifice is an invariable feature of early re- 
 ligion. Wherever gods are worshipped, gifts and offerings 
 are made to them of one kind or another. It is in this way 
 that, in antiquity at least, the relation with the deity was re- 
 newed, if it had been slackened or broken, or strengthened 
 and made sure. Sacrifice and worship are, in the ancient 
 world, identical terms. The nature of the offering and the 
 mode of presenting it are infinitely various, but there is 
 always sacrifice in one form or another. Different deities of 
 course receive different gifts ; the tree has its roots watered, 
 or trophies of battle or of the chase are hung upon its 
 branches ; horses are thrown into the sea. But of primitive 
 sacrifice generally we may afiirm that it consists of such food 
 and drink as men themselves partake of. Whether it be the 
 fruit of the field or the firstlings of the flock that is offered at 
 the sacred stone, whether the offering is burnt before the 
 god or set down and left near him, or whether he is sum- 
 moned to come down from the sky or to travel from the far 
 country to which he may have gone, it is of the materials of 
 the meal that the sacrifice consists. In some cases it ap- 
 pears to be thought that the god consumes the offering, as 
 when Fire is worshipped with offerings which he burns up, 
 or when a fissure in the earth closes upon a victim ; but in 
 
 1 History of Religion, pp. 65, 69. 
 
)\v;^o.v\ ^OLtAcV 
 
 v> 
 
 THE FETICH — A WORSHH^ 
 
 05 
 
 most cases it is only the spirit or finer essence that the god 
 enjoys ; the rest he leaves to men. And thus sacrifice is 
 generally accompanied by a meal. The offering is presented 
 to the god whole, but the worshippers help to eat it. The god 
 gets the savor of it which rises in the air towards him, while 
 the more material part is devoured below." 
 
 The testimony of travellers in otlier parts of Africa, distant 
 thousands of miles from the West Coast, show that the prac- 
 tice of offerings is almost identical all over the southern third 
 of the continent, the lines of latitude of Bantu tribes being 
 conterminous with their language and their religion. 
 
 Arnot ^ says that in South Africa, " when going to pray. 
 
 the spirits of their forefathers 
 [)lanted for the purpose ; and 
 
 a smaller offering, according to the 
 
 the Barotse make offerings to 
 
 under a tree, bush, or grove 
 
 they take a larger or 
 
 measure of their request. If the offering be beer, they pour 
 
 it upon the ground ; if cloth, it is tied to a horn stuck in the 
 
 ground ; if an ox be slaughtered, the blood is poured over the 
 
 horn, which, in fact, is their altar." (Ps. cxviii. 27.) 
 
 In that same region, among the Barotse, " Nothing of im- 
 portance can be sanctified without a human sacrifice, in most 
 cases a child. First the fingers and toes are cut off, and the 
 blood is sprinkled on the boat, drum, house, or whatsoever 
 may be the object in view. The victim is then killed, ripped 
 up, and thrown into the river." 
 
 Decle also^ describes the religious habits of the Barotse 
 tribes of Southern Central Africa : " They chiefly worsliip the 
 souls of their ancestors. AVhen any misfortune happens, the 
 witch doctor divines with knuckle-bones whether the ancestor 
 is displeased, and they go to the grave and offer up sacrifice 
 of grain or honey. . . . They also bring to tlie tombs cooked 
 meats, which they leave there a few minutes and thi-n eat. 
 When they go to pray by a grave, they also leave some small 
 white beads. Whilst an Englishman was journeying to Lialui, 
 he passed near a little wood where there lay a very venerated 
 chief. The boatmen stopped, and having sacrificed some 
 
 1 Garenganze, p. 77. - Three Years iu Savage Africa. 
 
96 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 cooked millet, their headman designated a man to offer up 
 a prayer, which ran thus: 'You see us; we are worn out 
 travellers, and our belly is empty ; inspire the white man, for 
 whom we row, to give us food to fill our stomachs.' " 
 
 Among the Wanyamwezi, " Every chief has near his hut a 
 Musimo hut, in which the dead are supposed to dwell, and 
 where sacrifices and offeiings must be made. Meat and flour 
 are deposited in the Musimo huts, and are not, as with many 
 other peoples, consumed afterwards. The common people 
 also have their Musimo huts, but they are smaller than that 
 of the chief, and the offerings they make are, of course, not 
 so important as his. " 
 
 The Wanyamwezi being great travellers, they have num- 
 berless ways of propitiating the Musimo. " The night before 
 starting they put big patches of moistened flour on their faces 
 and breasts. On the way, if by chance they are threatened 
 with war or any other difficulty, some of them go on ahead 
 in the early morning for about a hundred yards along the 
 path over which they are about to travel. Then they place a 
 hand on the ground, and throw flour over it in such a manner 
 as to leave the impression of a hand on the soil. At the same 
 time they *■ wish ' hard that the journey may go off well. 
 On the march, from time to time each of them will deposit in 
 the same spot a twig of wood or a stone in such a way that a 
 great heap gets collected. If they halt in the midst of high 
 grass each will plait a handful of grass, which they tie to- 
 gether so as to make a kind of bower.^ In the forest, if they 
 are pressed for time, each will make a cut with a blow of a 
 hatchet in a tree ; but if they have time, they wiU cut down 
 trees, lop off the branches, and place these poles against a big- 
 tree ; in certain places I have seen stacks of hundreds of them 
 around a single tree. Sometimes they will strip pieces of bark 
 from the trees, and stick them on the branches, and at others 
 they will place a pole supported by two trees right over the 
 path. On it they will hang up a broken gourd, or an old 
 box made of bark. On some occasions they will even erect a 
 
 1 I saw the same on the Ogowe. — R. H. N. 
 
THE FETICH — A WOKSmP 97 
 
 little hut made of straw to the Musimo on the road itself ; 
 but this is usually done when they are going on a hunting 
 expedition, and not on a journey. Near the villages, where 
 two roatls meet, are usually found whole piles of old pots, 
 gourds, and pieces of iron.i When a hunter starts for the 
 chase, he prays to the Musimo to give him good luck. If he 
 kills any big game, he places before the hut of his Musimo 
 the head of the beast he has killed, and inside a little of the 
 flesh." 2 
 
 2. Just as worship is an eminent part of religion, prayer 
 is usually a chief part of religious worship. But in fetich- 
 ism, though it undeniably has a part, it is not prominent, and 
 not often formal or public. It plays a less obvious and less 
 frequent part than either sacrifices or the use of charms. 
 
 " Prayer is the ordinary concomitant of sacrifice ; the wor- 
 shipper explains the reason of the gift, and urges the deity to 
 accept it and to grant the help that is needed. The prayers 
 of the earliest stage are offered on emergencies, and often 
 appear to be intended to attract the attention of the god who 
 may be engaged in another direction. The requests they con- 
 tain are of the most primary sort. Food is asked for, success 
 in hunting or fishing, strength of arm, rain, a good harvest, 
 children, and so forth. They have a ring of urgency; they 
 state the claims the worshipper has on the god, and mention 
 his former offerings as well as the present one ; they praise 
 the power and the past acts of the deity, and adjure him by 
 his whole relationship to his people (and also to his enemies) 
 to grant their requests." ^ 
 
 Fetich prayer may be and is offered without restriction by 
 any one, young or old, male or female; but to my knowl- 
 edge it is seldom used by the young. A very intelligent 
 woman, a member of my Batanga church, tells me that when 
 she was a child she possessed a fetich supposed to be very 
 valuable, whicli she had inherited from her father. She 
 says that when she would be going into the forest or 
 
 1 These piles I have found at almost every village I have visited. — K. II. N. 
 
 2 Decle, p. 346. ■' Menzies. 
 
98 FETICHISiAI IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 where she expected difficulty or danger or trouble or was 
 anxious for success, she would hold the fetich in her hand, 
 and with eye and thought directed toward it and the spirit it 
 was supposed to contain, would utter a short petition for aid 
 and protection. 
 
 But practically formal prayer is rarely made. Ejaculatory 
 prayer, however, is made constantly, in the uttering of caba- 
 listic words, phrases, or sentences adopted by or assigned to 
 almost every one by parent or doctor. They are uttered by 
 all ages and both sexes at any time, as a defence from evil, 
 on all sorts of occasions, — e. y.^ when one sneezes, stumbles, 
 or is otherwise startled, etc. 
 
 The prayers which I have heard were of adults. On a 
 journey, about 1876, stopping for a night in a village on the 
 Ogowe River, I saw the venerable chief stand out in the open 
 street. He addressed the spirits of the air, begging them, 
 "Come not to my town! " He recounted his good deeds — 
 praising himself as just, honest, and kind to his neighbors — 
 as reason why no evil should befall him, and closed with an 
 impassioned appeal to the spirits to stay away. 
 
 At another time, about 1879, in another Ogowe village, 
 where a man's son had been wounded, and a bleeding artery 
 which had been successfully closed had just broken open 
 again, and the hemorrhage, if not promptly checked, would 
 probably be fatal, the father ran out of the hut, wildly gesticu- 
 lating towards the sky, saying, " Go away ! go away I O 
 ye spirits! why do you come to kill my son?" And he 
 continued for some time in a strain of alternate pleading and 
 protestation. 
 
 In another case I saw a woman who rushed into the street 
 objurgating tlie spirits, and in the next breath humbly sup- 
 plicating them, who, she said, were vexing her child that was 
 lying in convulsions. 
 
 Observe that while these were distinctly prayers, appeals 
 for merc}', patheti c, agonizino- protestations, there was no 
 praise, no lo ve, no thanks, no confession of sin, — only a 
 . long, pitiful deprecation of evil. 
 
THE FETICH — A AVORSHIP 99 
 
 There are also prayers of blessing. Parents in farewells 
 to their children, or a chief to his parting guest, or any grate- 
 ful recipient of a valued gift, will take the head or hand of 
 the child, guest, or donor, and saying, "Ibata!" (blessing), 
 or adding a cabalistic ejaculation, will sometimes "blow" a 
 blessing. From this custom has arisen the statement in some 
 books of travel that it was an African mode of honoring a 
 guest to spit on his hand. It is true that the sudden and 
 violent expulsion of the breath in "blowing" the "Ibata" 
 from the tip of the tongue is apt to be followed by an ejection 
 of more or less saliva, but the kernel of the custom lies in 
 the prayer of blessin g accompanyji^g thp not. 
 
 In auguries made by the mf umu, or witch-doctor, among the 
 Wanyamwezi, " the mfumu holds a kind of religious service ; 
 he begins by addressing the spirits of their forefathers, im- 
 ploring them not to visit their anger upon their descendants. 
 This prayer he offers up kneeling, bowing and bending to 
 the ground from time to time. Then he rises, and commences 
 a hymn of praise to the ancestors, and all join in the chorus. 
 Then, seizing his little gourds, he executes a pas seul, after 
 which he bursts out into song again, but this time singing as 
 one inspired." ^ 
 
 3. The third mode of worship has been already mentioned 
 in a previous chapter, viz., the use of charms or fetiches. 
 This is the mode most frequently used ; and to the descrip- 
 tions of their forms of preparation and manner, universality, 
 and the various effects of their use, the following chapters 
 are devoted. 
 
 iDecle. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE FETICH — WITCHCRAFT — A WHITE ART — 
 SORCERY 
 
 HUNDREDS of acts and practices in the life of Chris- 
 tian households in civilized lands pass muster before 
 the bar of sesthetic propriety and society, and even of the 
 church, as not only harmless and allowable, but as commend- 
 able, and conducive to kindness, good-will, and healthful 
 social entertainment ; but in the doing of these acts few are 
 aware of the fact that some of them in their origin were 
 heathenish and in their meaning idolatrous, and that long 
 ago they would have brought on the doer church censure. 
 
 Norse legends and Celtic and Gaelic folk-lore abound in 
 superstitions that were held by our forefathers in honor of 
 false gods and demons. Their Christian descendants, to the 
 present generations in Great Britain and the United States, 
 delight our children with the beautifully printed fairy tale, 
 forgetting, or not even knowing, that once, long ago, that 
 tale was a tale of sin. The superstitious peasant of Germany, 
 Ireland, and other European countries, while as at least a 
 nominal son of the church he worships God, fears the machi- 
 nations of trolls and the "good little people," and wards off 
 their dreaded influence by vocal and material charms, — a 
 practice for which the African Negro just emerging from 
 
 .heathenism is debarred church-membership. The practice 
 is common to the three, — the untaught heathen, the ignorant 
 
 ^. peasant, and the enlightened Christian, — but its significance 
 
 J differs for each. To the Christian it is only a national or 
 
 household tradition, without religious or moral significance, 
 
 / and his belief in the power of the charm is seldom seri- 
 
 \ ously held. To the peasant the practice is also a tradition; 
 
WITCHCRAFT — A WHITE ART — SORCERY 101 
 
 it is not his religion, but he thinks that somehow under the 
 divine Providence, in whom he believes and whom he wor- 
 ships in the church, it will be conducive to his physical 
 well-being. But to the heathen it is a part of his religion, 
 and leads to the exclusion of the true God, whom he does 
 not know, or at least does not worship. 
 
 In our Christian homes, around the Christmas tree, with 
 all its holy, happy thoughts, we decorate with the holly bush 
 and we hang the mistletoe bough, never thinking that the 
 December festival itself was originally a heathen feast, and 
 that our superstitious forefathers spread the holly as a guard 
 against evil fairies, and hung the mistletoe as part of the 
 ce remonies of a Druid's human sacrific e . 
 
 The superstitious African Negro does precisely the same 
 thing to-day, because he believes in witchcraft; the holly 
 bush not growing in his tropical air, he has substituted the 
 cayenne pepper bush. The witch or wizard whom he fears 
 can no more pass over that pepper leaf with its red pods than 
 the Irish fairy can dare the holly leaf with its red berries. 
 Superstitious acts are thus rooted in us all, heathen and 
 Christian, the world over; only with this great difference, 
 — that to the Christian they bear no religious or even moral 
 significance; to the heathen their entire raison d^etre is that 
 they are his religion, or rather part of his worship in the 
 practice of his religion. 
 
 In emerging from his heathenism and abandoning his fetich- 
 ism for the acceptance of Christianity, no part of the process 
 is more difficult to the African Negro than the entire laying 
 aside of superstitious practices, even after his assertion that 
 they do not express his religious belief. From being a thief, 
 he can grow up an honest man ; from being [i liar, lie can be- 
 come truthful ; from being indolent, he can become diligent ; 
 from being a polygamist, he can become a monogamist; from 
 a status of ignorance and brutality, he can develop into 
 educated courtesy. And yet in his secret thought, while he 
 would not wear a fetich, he believes in its power, and dreads 
 its influence if possibly it should be directed against himself. 
 
102 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Some church-members thus believing and fearing do wear 
 fetiches, claiming that their use is simply defensive. In their 
 moral thought they make a distinction, which to them is clear 
 and satisfactory in the present stage of the enlightenment of 
 their conscience, between the defensive and the offensive use 
 of the fetich, — the latter is a black art ; the former is a 
 white art. Only the heathen and non-Christian element 
 of the community practise the black art. They ignore not 
 God's existence, but deny that He plays any part in the 
 economy of human life. They believe in evil spirits, and 
 that they themselves can have association with them, by 
 which they may obtain power for all purposes; they use en- 
 chantments to obtain that power; and having it, or profess- 
 ing to have it, they exercise it for the gratification of revenge 
 or avarice, or in other ways to injure other persons. They 
 become, in heart, murderers; and if occasion serve, by poi- 
 son or other means, are willing to become actual murderers. 
 The community regards them as criminals, and executes 
 them as such when it is proved that they used black art to 
 accomplish the death of some one who has recently died. 
 
 The Christian, of course, will practise none of the black 
 arts, but believing in their existence and power as permitted 
 to the Evil One under the divine government, he is willing to 
 allow himself to use, as a counter-influence, a fetich of the 
 white art in self-defence. 
 
 The discussion of the morality of this white art is often 
 a difficult question in the church sessions in the discipline 
 of some offending church-member. Few of the natives have 
 emerged so far into the light as to stand squarely and fully 
 with the missionary in his civilized attitude toward this 
 question of the allowability of a fetich charm under any cir- 
 cumstances. Even the missionary, if he is wise and would 
 not be unjust, will look with the leniency of charity on an 
 offence of this kind in the case of a convert only lately come 
 out of heathenism, which he would not or should not exer- 
 cise toward a fortune-teller or hoodoo practitioner under the 
 broad light of civilization. 
 
WITCHCRAFT — A WHITE ART — SORCERY 108 
 
 In electing men as ruling elders in the church session, or 
 accepting candidates for the gospel ministry, while a certain 
 degree of intellectuality is desired, and a certain amount of 
 education required, we look first and always for the quality 
 of their moral fibre, whether or not it be untrammelled by the 
 fetich cult. 
 
 A rar e and noble example of utter freedom from any suc h 
 
 superstitious bias was the late Rev. Ibia ja IkSngg. From_ 
 his youth, believing in, using, and practisi ng fetich white art, 
 when he became a Cliristiau his conversion was so clear and 
 
 decided that he was soon made a ru ling elder, was acc epted 
 as a candidate, grew up to licensure as a probationer, sub- 
 sequently reached ordination to the ministry, and finally be- 
 came pastor of the Corisco church of his own Benga tribe. 
 Honored during his ministerial life by all classes, foreigners 
 and natives, he died regretted by all, even by the heathen 
 whose sins he had unsparingly denounced. But there are 
 few so morally clear as he. 
 
 A few years ago, while I was in charge of the Gabun 
 church, in the MpoDgwe tribe, at the oldest station and out- 
 wardly the most civilized part of the mission, I was surprised 
 by a charge of witchcraft practice laid against a very lady- 
 like woman who was one of my intimate native friends. I / 
 had known her from her childhood ; had admired her intelli- ^ 
 gence, vivacity, and purity; had unfortunately helped her t> 
 into a disastrous marriage from which, as her pastor, I after- ^ 
 wards rescued her with legal grounds for divorce ; and sub- >y 
 sequently she had married a Sierra Leone man who professed ^ 
 to be a Christian. It was discovered that she liad hanging 
 over the doorway in her bedroom a fetich regularly made 
 and bought from a fetich doctor. On trial of the case, she 
 denied that it was hers, stated that it was her husband's, 
 admitted that she knew of its existence and use, that she 
 allowed it to be placed in the usual spot for warding off evil 
 spirits, and was not clear in denial of belief that it might be 
 of some use to her in that way. 
 
 My three ruling elders looked on the case more lightly than 
 
104 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 even I was charitably disposed to do, and my own duty as 
 a judge was obscured by my friendship for the accused. It 
 was a great pain for me to have even to rebuke a lady I had 
 so loved and trusted. She kept her anger wonderfully under 
 control while in the session meeting; but she resented the 
 rebuke, broke our friendship, and subsequently sought to in- 
 jure me by slander. If there was any doubt about her com- 
 plicity with the fetich, there was no doubt about the fact of 
 her effort to injure me. I did not prosecute her (as I would 
 have done had she slandered any one else), lest I be suspected 
 of making my position of session moderator an engine for per- 
 sonal revenge. She subsequently made a noble reparation. 
 She still affirms that she does not believe in fetich, and re- 
 mains in "good standing" in the church, while occasionally 
 hanging a charm on her garden fence for its "moral effect " 
 on trespassers. 
 
 Lately a fellow missionary told me that in a conversation 
 with certain natives, professed Christians, they admitted their 
 fear lest their nail-clippings should be used against them by 
 an enemy, and candidly acknowledged that when they pared 
 their nails they threw the pieces on the thatch of the low 
 roof of their house. 
 
 The missionary was surprised, and, perhaps with a little 
 suspicion or perhaps as a test, turning to a man present who 
 had remained silent during the discussion, said, "And 3'ou — 
 what do you do with j^our parings ? " He honestl}^ replied, 
 "I throw them on the roof! " And this man is an elder, and 
 had been advanced to be a local preacher. There is no ex- 
 pectation of his ordination, for though he can preach a good 
 sermon, he is lacking in all other abilities desirable in a 
 minister. He is probably fifty years of age, and for forty 
 years has been in mission employ of some kind, and living in 
 the mission household much of that time. But this mission 
 association has not been to him the benefit it would have been 
 to almost any one else ; for, being of slave origin, he seemed 
 to prefer to keep aloof from the free-born, grew up without 
 companionship, and is extremely secretive. Though a Chris- 
 
WITCHCRAFT — A WHITE ART — SORCERY 105 
 
 tian and a good man, he had not opened his inner life to all 
 the ennobling influences of the light. 
 
 A difficulty, admitted by the missionary in judging of the 
 morality of the use of a fetich charm, is the explanation 
 offered by the natives, even by some professedly Christian, 
 that the charm is of the nature of a "medicine," and, 
 generally, actually has medicines in it. It is known to the 
 native that civilized and Christian therapeutics recognize 
 a great variety of medicinal articles, solid and liquid, and 
 that they are employed in a variety of ways, — as lotions, 
 ointments, and powders ; and that some are drunk, some are 
 rubbed into the skin, and some are worn on the body, — e. g., a 
 sachet of sulphur in skin diseases, or of pungent essential oils 
 to fend off insects, — and that certain herbs whose scent is 
 attractive to fish are rubbed on the fisherman's hook. The 
 missionary knows, too, that certain native medicinal plants 
 are used, and with efficiency, in precisely these ways and 
 with precisely these reasons as, at least in part, the ground 
 for their use. 
 
 Truth gains nothing by an indiscriminate denunciation of 
 all native "medicine"; for the native knows by the personal 
 experience of himself and his observation of others that a 
 given "medicine" has helped or cured himself and others. 
 His belief in this case is not a mere theory; it is actual fact. 
 The missionary loses in the native's respect, and in the na- 
 tive's trust in his judgment or the value of his word, if he 
 asserts unqualifiedly that "native medicine" is "foolishness," 
 especially if, as was the case before the desirability of medical 
 missionaries was as generally recognized by the church as it 
 now is, the missionary was able to give him no substitute for 
 the magic doctor. The native Christian's sense of justice 
 was aggrieved at being disciplined for the use of a medicine 
 in sickness, which experience told him had been of benefit 
 and in place of wdiich the missionary offered him no other. 
 
 The native's error in his judgment of the case and the 
 missionary's justification of his position lay in the idolatrous 
 ceremonies that are associated with the administration of the 
 
106 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 medicine. In the native's ignorant mind, and in the distress 
 iof his disease, he was unable to see a distinction between the 
 ^therapeutic action of a drug and the mode of its administra- 
 .'';;Wtion. , In fact, to him that mode may be as important a factor 
 ^ contributive to the desired result as the drug itself. In the 
 ^'^ heathen belief of the native doctor it is admittedly true that 
 ^ the administrati on, not the drug, is the important factor, both 
 \^ mode of adminis tration and the d rug itself deriving all their 
 
 ^ efficiency from a spirit claimed by the magician to be un der 
 his control, which is in some vague way pleased to be asso- 
 ciated with the particulcir d rug and those special ceremonies. 
 The native doctor does not understand therapeutics as such. 
 Some one of his ancestors happened to observe that a certain 
 leaf, bark, or root exhibited internally proved efficient in 
 cases where the symptoms indicated a certain disease which he 
 had failed to cure by his dances, drums, auguries, and other 
 enchantments. Not knowing the modus operandi of the drug 
 itself, he had jumped to the conclusion that he had finally 
 happily found the adjuvant herb necessary to please the 
 spirit for whom he had been making enchantments, without 
 which herb the spirit had hitherto withheld its assistance. 
 And ever afterward the secret of this particular drug was 
 guarded by his family, the knowledge of its tree being handed 
 down as an heirloom, the secret kept as jealously and care- 
 fully as the recipe for the proprietary medicine of any quack 
 in civilized lands. In his medical ethics there was no gum 
 prosunt omnibus . 
 
 The dividing line of morality between the fetich doctor 
 and the Christian physician is a narrow but deep chasm. 
 The latter knows that, with all his skill in physiology and 
 the infallibility of his drug's indication, results lie in the 
 hand of God, with whom are the issues of life and death, 
 who has sovereignly and beneficently endowed certain plants 
 or minerals with properties befitting certain pathological con- 
 ditions. The former ignores God, and firmly believes that 
 his own enchantments have subsidized the power of a spirit, 
 so that the spirit itself is to enter into the body of the patient, 
 
WITCHCRAFT — A WHITE ART — SORCERY 107 
 
 and, searching through his vitals, drive out the antagoniz- 
 ing spirit, which is the supposed actual cause of the disease. 
 The etiology of disease is to the native obscure. His at- 
 tempts at explanation are somewhat inconsistent; the sick- 
 ness is spoken of as a disease, and yet the patient is said to 
 be sick because of the presence of an evil spirit, which being 
 driven out by the magician's benevolent spirit the patient 
 will recover. 
 
 The drug exhibited with the ceremonies by which the 
 friendly spirit is induced to enter the body is entirely sec- 
 ondary and adjuvant, and is not supposed to be any more 
 efficient in producing a cure than was the Old Testament 
 incense of the Temple ritual in obtaining an answer to prayer. 
 
 But the drug is often a really valuable medicine, and does 
 cure the patient. Yet the native Christian must be forbidden 
 to submit to its use, because of the invariably associated 
 heathen ceremonies. The magician alone knows from what 
 plant the drug came, and he positively refuses to administer 
 it unless its associated ceremonies are carefully observed. 
 For the Christian to consent to do that, is to "kiss the 
 calves " ^ of idolatrous Israel, or to partake of the " meats 
 offered to idols." ^ 
 
 The manner of practising the white art by the magic 
 doctor may be purely ritual without his making or the 
 patient's wearing any material amulet, but the performance 
 is none the less fetich in its character. 
 
 According to the usual procedure an article is prepared 
 with incantations referring to spiritual influences to be worn 
 by the applicant either as a cure for an actually existing 
 disease or any other expected danger, or, irrespective of 
 disease, for the attainment of a desired object or for suc- 
 cess in some cherished plan. Its application may be as 
 limitless as the entire range of human desire. 
 
 The first step in the process is the selection of an object 
 in which to enclose the various articles deemed necessary to 
 attract and please the spiritual being whose aid is to be in- 
 
 1 Hosea xiii. 2. 2 ^cts xv, 29. 
 
108 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 voked. In this selection it is not probable that superstitious 
 or other moral consideration enters. It is simply a matter 
 of taste as to shape or availability or convenience. The 
 article usually chosen is a horn of a gazelle or young ante- 
 lope, or of a goat. The ground for the choice is availa- 
 bility; those animals are common. The horns are preserved 
 and are therefore always at hand. They are small, light, and 
 easily carried. They are durable, not liable to rust and de- 
 cay, as would be an article of vegetable origin, and they 
 have a convenient cavity. 
 
 The next step in the process is the selection of the sub- 
 stances which are to be packed into the hollow of the horn. 
 These are of both animal and vegetable origin, but mostly 
 vegetable. They may be very absurd to our civilized view, 
 they may be disgusting and even filthy; but they are all 
 ranked as "medicine," have actually some fitness to the end 
 in view, as described in the previous chapter, and are to be 
 as carefully regarded as are the ingredients of a physician's 
 prescription by a druggist. Their absurdity must not militate 
 against the view of them as "medicine," even to a civilized 
 mind. We are not to forget that, all superstitious and 
 fetich ideas aside, our own pharmacopoeia one hundred 
 years ago contained animal products of supposed therapeutic 
 value that were clumsy, annoying, and even disgusting. 
 Indeed, it is only in very modern medicine that the profes- 
 sion have thought it worth while to regard the matter of 
 agreeable look and pleasant taste. Homoeopathy, even if we 
 do not all believe in it, must be given credit for at least 
 eliminating nauseous taste from the attributes of a good 
 medicine, even of an emetic. 
 
 From the wide range of substances, mineral, animal, and 
 vegetable, the magic doctor takes generally some plant. 
 Indeed, so associated is the doctor's thought of a tree and 
 some spirit belonging to it, that an educated and very intelli- 
 gent native chief at Gabun who still clings to many heathen 
 practices, of whom recently I asked an explanation of fetich 
 from the native point of view, said sententiously, "A prin- 
 
WITCHCRAFT — A WHITE ART — SORCERY 109 " 
 
 ciple of fetich comes from trees." This carried to me very' 
 little meaning. I asked him to explain at length. He did 
 so. He said that in the long ago, while still his ancestors 
 knew of God and had not entirely forgotten to give him some 
 kind of worship, their medicine men were botanists, and, 
 like Solomon, "spake of trees." The herbs and barks they 
 used were employed solely for their own intrinsically cura- 
 tive qualities. But as people became more degraded and 
 "like people, like priest," the medicine men added a ritual of 
 song, dances, incantations, and auguries by which to dignify 
 their profession with mystery. As they grew in power, they 
 added claims of spiritual influence, by which to impress their 
 patients wdth fear and to exact obedience even from kings, 
 until finally the idea of a spirit as the efficient agent in the 
 cure was substituted for that of the drug itself, and fetich 
 belief dominated all. 
 
 The reason for the choice of one tree rather than another 
 in a given case of sickness is almost impossible to find out. 
 Perhaps there is a vague tradition of the fact that it 
 was used long ago by those who first happened to discover 
 that it had real medicinal quality, and the present generation 
 continues to use it, though having forgotten what that quality 
 was, or even that it had any intrinsic quality of its own, their 
 etiology of disease assigning as the cause of all sickness the 
 antagonistic presence of an evil spirit. 
 
 The laity, heathen and Christian, positively do not know 
 from what particular tree the leaf or piece of bark was ob- 
 tained, and they would not be able to recognize it even if 
 they were allowed to see it. They see only the dry powder 
 or ashes. Even if the heathen laity were able to tell me, 
 they will not do so. Even if they were bribed, I would have 
 no certainty that they were showing me the plant that was 
 actually used; for they would know that I would have no 
 means of comparing specimens or of proving their deception. 
 The native will tell foreigners many things for friendship or 
 for regard, and he enjoys conversation with us ; but supersti- 
 tion slams his heart's door shut when he is asked to reveal 
 
110 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 secrets of the spirits. His prompt thought is: " White man's 
 knowledge has given him power. There is little left of land, 
 authority, women, or wealth in my country that he has not 
 seized. Shall I add to his power by telling him the secrets 
 of my spirits?" Of course the magic doctor will not tell. 
 That would be giving himself entirely away. 
 
 Even Christian men and women who have inherited from 
 a parent knowledge of some plant, and who use it rationally 
 for its purely medicinal quality without any reference what- 
 ever to spiritual influences, can barely be induced to tell me 
 of it. The fee they obtain is part of their means of living. 
 They make honest " medicine " in the circle of their acquaint- 
 ances for certain sicknesses for which their drug happens to be 
 fitted. Of a cure for any other sickness they know nothing, 
 and must themselves go to some one else who happens to pos- 
 sess the knowledge. 
 
 Even by me my native friends — though with their personal 
 respect or affection for me they would be willing to do 
 much — do not like to be asked. They know that I, in ask- 
 ing for information, expect to utilize it in letters or lectures 
 or books. Their secret would not be safe even with me, 
 and it may die with them. One of the noblest of my native 
 female friends at Gabun, a Christian, well educated, with 
 only a minimum of superstition remaining, and no belief at 
 all in fetich, inherited from her mother much botanical and 
 medicinal knowledge. I observe her decocting a medi- 
 cine for a sick friend, and I ask her, "What medicine 
 is that?" She turns away her usually frank eyes and simply 
 says, "Sijavi" (leaves). "Yes, I see they are leaves. But 
 I asked you what they are. Where do you get them?" 
 With eyes still turned away, she only says, " Go-iga " (in 
 the forest). "Exactly; of course it's a plant. But is it a 
 tree or a vine or a shrub, or what?" And she looks at me 
 steadily, and quietly says, "Mi amie " (I don't know). I 
 have long ago learned that "mi amie," though only some- 
 times true, is not always a lie. It is equivalent to our con- 
 ventional "Not at home," or a polite version of, "Ask me 
 
WITCHCRAFT -A WHITE ART-SORCEKY 111 
 
 no questions and I '11 tell you no lies." From my friend it 
 IS a kind notification that the conversation had better be 
 changed. It having reached this acute stage, the pursuance* 
 ol It would be worse than useless. I talk about something 
 else, and immediately she resumes her wonted cordiality 
 
 Probably the particular herb selected by the fetich-man 
 does possess some therapeutic value (for cures are effected) 
 of which he does not himself know. He knows that that 
 plant was said by his ancestors to be the proper one to use 
 in case of a certain sickness, but knowledge of the raison 
 a user has been lost. 
 
 The use of drugs in decoctions is less likely to be merely 
 s^iperstitious. The fresh leaves and barks are recognized. 
 Ihere is not likely to be a secret about them. Whatever 
 of fetich is introduced in the case will be in the mode of 
 administration. 
 
 The next step, the admixture of the ingredients, is secret. 
 They are ground or triturated, or reduced to ashes, and 
 only the ash or charcoal of their wood is used. Among the 
 common ingredients are colored earths, chalk, or potter's blue 
 clays. Beyond the usual constituents constantly employed, 
 there are other single ones, which vary according to the end 
 to be obtained by the user of the fetich, - for one end, as else- 
 where already mentioned, some small portion of an enemy's 
 body; for another, an ancestor's powdered brain ; for another, 
 the liver or gall-bladder of an animal; for another, a finger 
 of a dead first-born child; for another, a certain fish; and so 
 on for a thousand possibilities. These ingredients are com- 
 pounded in secret, and with public drumming, dancing, 
 songs to the spirit, looking into limpid water or a mirror,' 
 and sometimes with the addition of jugglers' tricks, e. g., the 
 eating of fire. 
 
 The ingredients having been thus properly prepared, and 
 the spirit, according to the magician's declaration, having 
 associated itself lovingly with these mixed articles, they and 
 it are put into the cavity of the selected horn or other hollow 
 thing (a gourd, a nut-shell, and so forth). They are packed 
 
112 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 in firmly./ A black resin is plastered over the opening. Per- 
 haps also a twine is netted tightly on the top of it. A red 
 paint — triturated red-wood mixed with palm or other oil — 
 is daubed on it. While the resin is still soft, the red tail- 
 feathers of the gray African parrot are stuck into it. This 
 description is typical. It would be equally true if the chosen 
 material object had no cavity, e. ^., if it were a pebble or a 
 piece of bark; in which case the sacred ingredients plas- 
 tered on it would be held in situ by the twine netting. 
 A hole is bored in the apex of the horn, and it is hung by a 
 string from the neck, arm, waist, or ankle of the purchaser, 
 or from his door, roof, or garden fence ; or from the prow of 
 his canoe; or from any one of a hundred other points, ac- 
 cording to the convenience of the owner or the object to be 
 obtained by its use. 
 
 Those objects may be, all of them, not only desirable, but 
 commendable, even from a Christian point of view. In the 
 exercise of the white art there is no ill-will to or malice 
 against any other known person. The owner of the fetich 
 amulet is only using, from his point of view, one of the 
 known means of success in life, — somewhat as a business 
 man in civilized lands uses his signs and tricks of trade to 
 attract and influence customers. 
 
 It is true that our native convert, in abjuring fetich and 
 refraining from the white art, is at a disadvantage, humanly 
 speaking, alongside of his heathen fellow, just as the honest 
 grocer who does not adulterate his foods is somewhat at a 
 disadvantage with the man who does. 
 
 The heathen, armed with his fetich, feels strong. He 
 believes in it; has faith that it will help him. He can see it 
 and feel it. He goes on his errand inspired with confidence 
 of success. Confide nce is a larg^e part of life's battle. If he_ 
 s laould happen to fail, he excuses the failure by rem embering 
 ' that he had not obeyed all the minute " orunda '' d irec tions 
 that the mag^icia n told him to follow. It is entirely in his 
 power carefully to obey all directions next time ; and then 
 he cannot possibly fail! The Christian convert is weak in 
 
WITCHCRAFT — A AVHITE ART — SORCERY 113 
 
 his faith. He woiikl like to have soniethincr tangrible. He"*^ 
 is not sure that he will succeed on his errand. He goes at 
 it somewhat half-hearted, and probably fails. His not very 
 encouraging explanation is that God is trying his faith. 
 That explanation is perhaps not the true one, but it is sulli- 
 cient as his explanation. But it does not nerve him for the 
 next effort; only the strong rise to overcoming faith. The 
 weak ask the missionary whether they may not be allowed to 
 carry a fetich only for "show." That "show" is for effect 
 on a heathen competitor; for the moral effect on that com- 
 petitor's mind, — that he should not think that the convert, 
 in becoming a Christian, was at a disadvantage as to chances 
 of success in the race with him. But that would be allow- 
 ing even the "appearance of evil." 
 
 It was actually true, in the early days of mission effort, that 
 converts were oppressed by heathen under the idea that, as 
 the gospel proclaimed by the missionary was a message of 
 peace, all the " peace " was to be on the Christian's side, and 
 t hat he dared not strike a bloAv even in self-defence. But we 
 did not understand the angels' song of good-will as explained 
 by the followers of George Fox, and by precept and example 
 we allowed the use of force in the defence of right. 
 
 As to the use of fetich by those who did not really believe 
 in it, it was true that some Europeans, non-Christian men in 
 their trade with the natives, seeing what a power the fetich 
 was in the native thought, and knowing that it was exercised 
 against themselves, deemed it a matter simply of sharp prac- 
 tice to adopt a fetich themselves, and play the native at liis 
 own game. To my knowledge this was done by an English- 
 man now dead. I was intimately acquainted witli him ; and 
 though his morals Avere objectionable and his religion agnos- 
 ticism, I enjoyed his society. He was a gentleman in man- 
 ners, intelligent, well-read, interested, in connnon with myself, 
 in African philology and etlniology, and liis i-iver steamers 
 often generously helped me in my itinerations. His trade 
 interests were large ; he spoke the native language well, was 
 practically acquainted with native customs and native mode 
 
114 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 of thought. He was a good hater and a firm friend, strict 
 with subordinates to the point of severity, but on occasions 
 free-handedly generous. Naturally such a character, while 
 it made for him many friends, developed some enemies. A 
 few hated him, most liked him, even while all feared him. 
 To checkmate them on their own ground and to carry pres- 
 tige in dealing with the heathen chiefs of wild tribes, he caused 
 to be made for himself, and allowed it to be known in ad- 
 vance that he carried, a powerful fetich. The effect was very 
 decided in increasing his power, influence, and trade success, 
 so successful that I am not sure but that he grew himself to 
 have some faith in it, — an illustration of the oft-noted fact 
 in moral philosophy that non-Christian credulity often leads 
 men's beliefs further than does Cliristian faith. The after his- 
 tory of my trader friend is a sad illustration of the wings that 
 ill-gotten wealth develops. His fetich assisted in amassing a 
 fortune several times over, but it did not retain it for him. 
 He died in pitiful want. 
 
 Practice of this white art holds all over South Africa and 
 among all its tribes. " They believe in charms, fetiches, and 
 witchcraft. The latter is the source of great dread to a Ma- 
 shona, who fears that death or accident may overtake him 
 through the instrumentality of some fellow-being who may 
 perchance hold against him a grudge. For the purpose of 
 avoiding these calamities, charms are worn about the person, 
 usually around the neck. Divining bones or blocks of wood 
 called ' akata ' are thrown by the witch-doctors to discover 
 a witch or evil spirit, and they are also employed to ascertain 
 the probable results of a journey, a hunt, or a battle, — in 
 short, any and all of the events of life."^ 
 
 " The tribes we have passed through seem to have one com- 
 mon religion, if it can be called by that name. They say 
 there is one great spirit, who rules over all the other spirits ; 
 but they worship and sacrifice to the spirits of ancestors, so 
 far as I can learn, and have a mass of fetich medicines and 
 enchantments. The hunter takes one kind of charm with 
 
 1 Brown, On the Sonth African Frontier, p. 113. 
 
WITCHCRAFT — A WHITE ART — SORCERY 115 
 
 him ; the warrior another. For divining they have a basket 
 filled with bones, teeth, finger-nails, claws, seeds, stones, and 
 such articles, which are rattled by the diviner till the spirit 
 comes and speaks to him by the movement of these things. 
 When the spirit is reluctant to be brought up, a solemn dirge 
 is chanted by the people. All is attention while the diviner 
 utters a string of short sentences in different tones, which are 
 repeated after liim by the audience." ^ 
 
 1 Arnot, Garenganze, p. 106. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE FETICH — WITCHCRAFT — A BLACK ART — 
 DEMONOLOGY 
 
 THE distinction sought to be made by the half-civilized 
 Negro bet ween a white art and a black art, as a jus- 
 Jbification of his prac tice of fetich enchantments, lie s in the 
 _object^ to be obta ined by their use. He vainly tries tcT fifid,^^^^ 
 a parallel to them in Christian use of fire-arms, — proper for 
 defence, improper for unprovoked assault. The black art he 
 admits is wrong, its object being to kill or injure some one 
 else ; the white he thinks allowable, because with it he acts 
 simply on the defensive. He wishes to ward off a possible 
 blow of an unseen foe aimed at himself. He professes his 
 intention not to strike or take otherwise active measures 
 to injure any known person. After every allowance ma de, 
 the distinction between the arts as moral and imm oral is not 
 a clear one. They differ only in their degree of immorality. 
 The means both use are immoral, not justified by the pos- 
 sible goodness of the desired end, and not sanctified by the 
 intention of the user. Both use fetiches. Fetich, if it has 
 power at all, is not of God; if it is powerless, it is folly. 
 Thus, in every and any case, it dishonors God. 
 
 But whatever doubt there might have been as to the , 
 
 allowability of white art practice, there is no doubt as to | 
 
 the immorality of black art. It always contemplates a pos- 
 sible taking of life. 
 
 The term " witchcraft," which attaches itself to all fetich- 
 ism, localizes itself in the black art practice, which is thus 
 pre-eminently known as "witchcraft." Its practitioners are 
 all " wizards " or " witches." The user of the white is not 
 
 i 
 
WITCHCRAFT — DEMONOLOGY 117 
 
 so designated. He or she does not deny the use; it is 
 open and without any sense of criminality in the eyes of the 
 community, however much he or she may endeavor to sup- 
 press the fact from the knowledge of church officers. But 
 a practitioner of the black art denies it and carries on his 
 practice secretly. 
 
 The above distinction is observed by travellers in other 
 parts of Africa, as will be seen by the following quotiitions, 
 which give also an interesting exposition of the ceremonies 
 and practices of the black art in different regions : 
 
 " Among the Matabele of South Africa," says Decle, " it is 
 well understood that there were two kinds of witchcraft. One 
 was practised by the witch-doctors and the king, such as, for 
 instance, the ' making of medicine ' to bring on rain, or the 
 ceremonies car ried out by the witch-doctors to appease th e 
 - ^rits of ancestor s.^ The other witchcraft was supposed to 
 consist of evil practices pursued to cause sickness or death. 
 
 ^'According to native ideas, all over Africa, such a thing 
 as death from natural causes does not exist. Whatever ill 
 befalls a man or a family, it is always the result of witchcraft, 
 and in every case the witch-doctors are consulted to find out 
 who has been guilty of it. In some instances the witch- 
 doctors declare that the evil has been caused by the angry 
 spirits of ancestors ; in which case they have to be propi- 
 tiated through the medium of the witch-doctors. In other 
 cases they point out some one or several persons as having 
 caused the injury by making charms ; and whoever is so 
 accused by the witchcraft doctor is immediately put to death, 
 his wife and the whole of his family sharing his fate. To 
 bewitch any one, according to Matiibele belief, it is sufficient 
 to spread medicine on his path or in his hut. Tliere are also 
 numerous other modes of working charms ; for instance, if 
 you want to cause an enemy to die, you miike a clay figure 
 that is supposed to represent him. Witli a needle you pierce 
 the figure, and your enemy, the first time he comes in con- 
 tact with a foe, will be speared. 
 
 1 This would be what I have denomiuatcd the " white art." — K. 11. N. 
 
118 FETICHIS:\[ IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 " The liver and entrails of a crocodile are supposed to be 
 most powerful charms, and whoever becomes possessed of 
 them can cause the death of any man he pleases. For that 
 reason, killing a crocodile is a very heinous crime. ^ 
 
 " While I was in Matabele-land, a crocodile was one day 
 found speared on the bank of a river. The witch-doctors 
 were consulted in order to find out who had been guilty of 1 
 the deed; and six people were denounced as the offenders 
 and put to death wdth their families. ' 
 
 " Of witch-doctors there are two kinds.^ The first deliver 
 oracles by bone-throwing. They have three bones carved 
 with different signs; these they throw up, and according to 
 the position they assume when falling, and the side on which 
 they fall, they make the prediction. The other kind deliver 
 their oracles in a slow and very shrill chant. Both are 
 supposed to be on speaking terms mth spirits. They are in 
 constant request, but are usually poorly paid. Their influ- 
 ence, how^ever, is tremendous; and in Lo-Bengula's time 
 their power was as great as, if not greater than, the king's. 
 Lo-Bengula always kept two or three of them near him. 
 Chief among their w^orks was that of rain-making ; this was 
 done with a charm made from the blood and gall of a black 
 ox. No Avitch-doctors, however, could make rain except by 
 the orders of the king. It was a risky trade ; for they were 
 put to death if they failed in their endeavors to produce rain. 
 Dreams are considered of deep significance by the witch- 
 doctors. Madmen are supposed to be possessed of a spirit, 
 and were formerly under the protection of the king. 
 
 " One of the most remarkable ceremonies that used to be 
 performed by the witch-doctors was that of ' smelling out ' the 
 witches (wizards?). On the first moon of the second month 
 of the year all the various regiments gathered at Buluwayo, 
 and held a big dance in which the king took part ; usually, 
 from 12,000 to 15,000 wan-iors assembled for this ceremony. 
 After the dance the smelling of witches began. The various 
 
 1 In that part of Africa. — R. H. N. 
 
 2 Really, only a difference in administration. — R. H. N. 
 
WITCHCRAFT — DEMONOLOGY 119 
 
 regiments being formed in crescent shape, the king took his 
 stand in front surrounded by the doctors, usually women. 
 Then began a slow song accompanied by a dance ; they car- 
 ried in their hand a small wand. Gradually the song and the 
 dance became quicker ; they seemed to be possessed. They 
 rushed madly about, passing in front of the soldiers, pretend- 
 ing to smell them. All of a sudden they stopped in front of a 
 man, and touching him with their wands, began howling like 
 maniacs ; the man was immediately removed and put to death. 
 In this way hundreds of people wTre killed every year during 
 the big dance. No one, however high his position, was pro- 
 tected against the mandate of the witch-doctors, usually the 
 tools of the king, who found in this a way of getting rid of 
 his enemies, or of doing away with those in high station whose 
 loyalty he had reason to doubt. Other crimes are few except 
 the ever-present witchcraft. To bewitch an enemy on thai 
 Tanganika plateau, you scatter a red powder round his huto 
 and a white one near his door; this never fails to kill. > 
 
 " Ordeal by muavi is, of course, flourishing ; with the en- 
 lightened modification that, if the accused does not die, he can 
 recover damages from the accuser. In the Mambwe district 
 the muavi is made of a poisonous bean." ^ 
 
 The same " medicines," the same dances, the same enchant- 
 ments used in the black art, are used in the professedly 
 innocent white art ; the chief difference being in the mission 
 that the utilized spirit is eu.rusted to perform. 
 
 Similarity in witchcraft practices is one of the several 
 grounds held by ethnologists, as proving identity in origin of 
 the African Negro and the Australian black. To quote from 
 Dr. Carl Lumholtz's book, " Among Cannibals " : ''In the 
 various [Australian] tribes are so-called wizards, who pretend 
 to communicate with the spirits of the dead and get information 
 from them. They are able to produce sickness or death when- 
 ever they please, and they can produce or stop rain and many 
 other things. Hence these wizards are greatly feared. Atten- 
 tion is called to the influence of this fear of witchcraft upon 
 
 1 Decle, Three Years in Savage Africa, pp. 152, 154, 294. 
 
120 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 the character and customs of the natives. It makes them 
 bloodthirsty, and at the same time darkens and embitters 
 their existence. An AustraUan native is unable to conceive 
 death as natural except as the result of an accident or of old 
 age ; while diseases and plagues are always ascribed to witch- 
 craft and to hostile blacks. In order to practise his arts 
 against any black man, tlie wizard must be in possession of 
 some article that has belonged to him. On Herbert River the 
 natives need only to know the name of the person in question, 
 and for this reason they rarely use their proper names in 
 addressing or speaking of each other, but simply their class 
 names. I once met a black man who told me that he per- 
 sonally had been the victim of strange wizards, and that ever 
 since that time he had been a sufferer from headache. One 
 afternoon many years ago, two wizards had captured and 
 bound him ; they had taken out his entrails and put in grass 
 instead, and had let him lie in this condition till sunrise. 
 Then he suddenly recovered his senses and became tolerably 
 well ; a result for which he was indebted to a wizard of his 
 own tribe, who thus proved himself more powerful than the 
 two strangers. The blacks call an operation of this kind kobi, 
 and a man who is able to perform it, as a matter of course, is 
 very much respected and feared." 
 
 " The Ovimbundu race," says Arnot, " of Bihe and the coun- 
 try to the west are most enterprising traders and imitators of 
 the Portuguese. They seem, ho rever, to retain tenaciously 
 their superstitions and fetich worship. 
 
 " In Chikula's yard there is a small roughly cut image, 
 which I believe represents the spirit of a forefather of his. 
 One day a man and woman came in and rushed up to this 
 image, dancing, howling, and foaming at the mouth, apparently 
 mad. A group gathered round, and declared that the spirit of 
 Chikula's forefather had taken possession of this man and 
 woman, and was about to speak through them. At last the 
 ' demon ' began to grunt and groan out to poor Chikula, who 
 was down on his knees, that he must hold a hunt, the proceeds 
 of which must be given to the peo2)le of the town ; must kill 
 
WITCHCRAFT — DEMONOLOGY 121 
 
 an ox, provide so many pots of beer, and proclaim a great 
 feast and dance. Furthermore, all this was to be done 
 quickly. The poor old man was thoroughly taken in, and in 
 two days' time the hunt was organized. 
 
 " Thus I find, as among the Barotse, that divining and 
 prophesying, with other religious and superstitious means, are 
 resorted to in order to secure private ends and to offer sacri- 
 fice to the one common god, the belly. 
 
 '' At another time a man came to Senhor Porto's to buy an 
 ox. He said that some time ago he had killed a relation by 
 witchcraft to possess himself of some of his riches, and that 
 now he must sacrifice an ox to the dead man's spirit, which 
 was troubling him. This killing by witchcraft is a thing 
 most sincerely believed in ; and on hearing this man's cold- 
 blooded confession of what was at least the intent of his 
 heart, it made me understand why the Barotse put such 
 demons into the fire. 
 
 "Among the Ovimbundu, old and renowned witches (wiz- 
 ards ?) are thrown into some river, though almost every man 
 will confess that he practises witchcraft to avenge himself of 
 wrong done and to punish his enemies. One common process 
 is to boil together certain fruits and roots, with which the 
 wizard daubs his body, in order to enlist the aid of the de- 
 mons ; and the decoction is then thrown in the direction of 
 the victim, or laid in his path, that he may be brought under 
 the bewitching spell. "^ 
 
 We quote again from Dr. J. L. Wilson, " Western Africa " : 
 '' Witchcraft, and the use of fetiches as a means of protec- 
 tion against it, is carried to a greater extent here [Southern 
 Guinea] than in Northern Guinea, owing, no doubt, to the 
 greater imaginativeness of the people. The marvels performed 
 by those who are supposed to possess this mysterious art tran- 
 scend all the bounds of credulity. A man can turn himself 
 into a leopard, and destroy the property and lives of his 
 fellow-men. He can cause the clouds to pour out torrents 
 of rain, or hold back at his pleasure. 
 
 1 Arnot, Garengauze, p. 115. 
 
122 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 " A different article is used here for the detection of witch- 
 craft from that used in Northern Guinea. The root of a 
 small shrub, called akazya, is employed, and is more powerful 
 than that used in the other section of the country. A person 
 is seldom required to drink more than half a pint of the decoc- 
 tion. If it acts freely as a diuretic, it is a mark of innocence ; 
 but if as a narcotic, and produces dizziness and vertigo, it is 
 a sure sign of guilt. Small sticks are laid down at the dis- 
 tance of eighteen inches or two feet apart, and the suspected 
 person, after he has swallowed the draught, is required to 
 walk over them. If he has no vertigo, he steps over them 
 easily and naturally ; but, on the other hand, if his brain is 
 affected, he imagines they rise up before him like great logs, 
 and in his awkward effort to step over them, is apt to reel and 
 fall to the ground. In some cases this draught is taken by 
 proxy ; and if a man is found guilty, he is either put to death 
 or heavily fined, and banished from the country. In many 
 cases post-mortem examinations are made with the view of 
 finding the actual witch; I have known the mouth of the 
 aorta to be cut out of a corpse, and shown as unanswerable 
 proof that the man had the actual power of witchcraft.^ No 
 one expects to resent the death of a relative under such cir- 
 cumstances. He is supposed to have been killed by his awk- 
 ward management of an instrument that was intended for the 
 destruction of others ; and it is rather a cause of congratula- 
 tion to the living that he is caught in a snare of his own," 
 and that his own "witch" has killed him. 2 
 
 Not every one who uses white art is able also to use the 
 black. Any one believing in fetich can use white arts, and 
 not subject himself to the charge of being a wizard. Those 
 who desire to go beyond the arts of defence, and gratify their 
 revenge or any other passion by killing or injuring some one 
 
 1 And, similarly, I have known the fimbriated extremities of the fallopian 
 tubes in a woman held up as a proof of her liaviug been a witch. The ciliary 
 movements of these fimbriie were regarded as tlie efforts of her "familiar " at a 
 process of eating. The decision was that she had been " eaten " to death by her 
 own offended familiar. — R. H. N. 
 
 2 Wilson, Western Africa, p. 398. 
 
WITCHCRAFT — DEMONOLOGY 123 
 
 else, have generally to piircliase the agency of a doctor or 
 some one skilled in the black art. Should the means thus 
 emploj^ed be efficient in causing a death (or seemingly so, by 
 the coincidence of their use and the death itself) and the facts 
 become known, both the doctor and the man who employed 
 him would probably be put to death. Yet, inconsistently, 
 the very men who would execute them have themselves used, 
 or will some day use, these same black arts for the same 
 murderous purpose, and the native doctors will continue 
 in their risky business. 
 
 And yet, again, inconsistently, every man and woman in 
 the community dreads such a charge, and looks askance on 
 those who are suspected of belonging to the Witchcraft Com- 
 pany. For there is such a society, not distinctly organized. 
 It has meetings at which they plot for the causing of sickness 
 or even the taking of life. These meetings are secret ; pref- 
 erably in a forest, or at least distant from a village. The 
 hour is near midnight. An imitation of the hoot of an owl, 
 which is their sacred bird, is their signal call. They profess 
 to leave their corporeal body Ijing asleep in their huts, and 
 claim that the part Avhich joins in the meeting is their spirit- 
 body, whose movements are not hindered by walls or other 
 physical objects. They can pass with instant rapidity through 
 the air, over the tree-tops. At their meetings they have 
 visible, audible, and tangible communication with evil spirits. 
 They partake of feasts ; the article eaten being the " heart- 
 life " of some human being, who, in consequence of this loss 
 of his "heart," becomes sick, and will die, unless it be re- 
 stored. The early cock-crowing is a warning for them to dis- 
 perse ; the advent of the morning star they fear, as it compels 
 them to hasten back to their bodies. Should the sun rise upon 
 them before they reach their corporeal "home," their plans 
 would fail, and themselves would sicken. They dread cayenne 
 pepper. Should its bruised leaves or pods have been rubbed 
 over their body-home by any one during their absence, they 
 would be unable to re-enter it, and would die or miserably 
 waste away. 
 
124 FETICHISM m WEST AFRICA 
 
 The attitude of all missionaries toward executions on a 
 charge of being a witch or a wizard has uniformly been 
 distinctly in opposition to them. We characterize them as 
 murder. The European governments which have taken pos- 
 session of Africa also put down witchcraft, medicine-making, 
 and execution of supposed witchcraft murderers with a strong 
 hand. The natives submit under pressure of force, but un- 
 willingly. Each man or woman is glad of the strong foreign 
 power that protects himself or herself from being put to death 
 on a witchcraft charge ; but they each complain that the 
 government does not execute, nor will allow them to execute, 
 others against whom they make the same charge. It is un- 
 deniably true that were the European governments that have 
 partitioned Africa to withdraw to-day, the witch-doctors, 
 with poison ordeal and fetich killing and witchcraft execu- 
 tion, would promptly re-establish themselves and soon would 
 become rampant again. The Christian churches and com- 
 munities already established would barely hold their own, 
 and would not have an influence extensive enough to restrain 
 the forces of evil. 
 
 I quote from a recent issue of a Freetown, Sierra Leone, 
 newspaper, edited by a Negro, an article written by a Negro on 
 this subject : "• The subject of ' witchcraft ' has been agitat- 
 ing of late the minds of this community, and much sense and 
 more nonsense has been heard from those who take upon 
 themselves to elucidate the matter. It is a very difficult and 
 delicate question to tackle at all times, especially when knowl- 
 edge, which is always the foundation of eloquence, is absent. 
 From the statement of Holy Scriptures we know that there is 
 such a thing as witchcraft, and the theory is confirmed by the 
 records of English history. It will be a most desirable thing 
 if any person guilty of witchcraft could be convicted by means 
 that would be convincing in the legal investigation of other 
 crimes ; it will save the community from many heart-burnings 
 and mistakes. 
 
 " A writer in a local journal recently made the assertion that 
 in any case of poisoning in the cities of Europe, steps are 
 
WITCHCRAFT — DEMONOLOCxY 125 
 
 taken to trace the poison by eminent pliysicians and detec- 
 tives employed to linnt up the accused, but in our opinion 
 the cases are not analogous. In the case of suspected poison- 
 ing post-mortem examinations by competent authorities will 
 disclose the fact whether the deceased died of poisoning ; un- 
 founded, and in some instances gratuitous, assertions are not 
 without proofs allowed to cloud the life of individuals. A 
 prima facie case once established, the suspect is pursued with 
 the utmost vigor of the law. 
 
 *' In this colony [Sierra Leone] most deaths are attributed 
 to the influence of witches, and accusation of witchcraft is at 
 once made against individuals without attempt at obUiining 
 evidence. 
 
 " How can it be proved that there is a band of these wicked 
 ones, so as to attach credence to the confession of a conscience- 
 stricken member who implicates also a number of coadjutors ? 
 The problem is an intricate one, and requires thoughtful 
 investigation." 
 
 The slaves exported from Africa to the British possessions 
 in the West Indies brought with them some of the seeds of 
 African plants, especially those they regarded as " medicinal,'' 
 or they found among the fauna and flora of the tropical West 
 Indies some of the same plants and animals held by them as 
 sacred to fetich in their tropical Africa. The ceiba, or silk- 
 cotton tree, at whose base I find in Africa so many votive 
 offerings of fetich worship, they found flourishing on Jamaica. 
 They had established on their plantations the fetich doctor, 
 their dance, their charm, their lore, before they luid learned 
 English at all. And when the British missionaries came 
 among them with school and church, while many of the con- 
 verts were sincere, there were those of tlie doctor class who, 
 like Simon Magus, entered into the cliun-li-fold for sake of 
 whatever gain they could make by the white man's new in- 
 fluence, the white man's Holy Spirit! Outwardly everything 
 was serene and Christian. Within Wiis working an element 
 of diabolism, fetichism, there known by the name of Obeah, 
 under whose Idaven some of the churches were wrecked. And 
 
126 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 the same diabolism, known as voodoo worship, in the Negro 
 communities of the Southern United States has emasculated 
 the spiritual life of many professed Christians. 
 
 It must be admitted, as to this whole matter of witchcraft 
 belief and witchcraft murder and witchcraft execution, how- 
 ever wrong the Negro belief, his sense of justice is aggrieved 
 by the attitude of the foreign missionary and the foreign 
 government. Something should be allowed to that sense of 
 justice. Both missionary and government err sometimes, in 
 their judgment of individual or tribal crime and in their 
 punishment of it, by arbitrarily following only civiUzed law 
 and the civilized point of view ; ignoring or not giving proper 
 weight, in the make up of their judgment, to the degree to 
 whicii the fetich enters as a factor in native motives and acts, 
 and the power with which it influences native thought. 
 
 In Matabele-land, South Africa, after the defeat and death 
 of the king Lo-Bengula, and the occupation of his country 
 by Great Britain, there was an outbreak, the cause of which 
 was not fully appreciated until it was traced to the witch- 
 doctors, who seized the occasion of the ravages of the rinder- 
 pest, wliich was at that time devastating the cattle of Soutli 
 Africa, to make use of their power. " Naturally they must 
 have felt, more than anybody else, the occupation of Matabele- 
 land by the whites, as it meant the disappearance of their 
 former power. When the rinderpest broke out, they probably 
 persuaded the natives, who understood ^nothing about an epi- 
 demic and attributed whatever ill befalls them to witchcraft, 
 that it was the spirit of Lo-Bengula, wliich was dissatisfied with 
 them and which caused their cattle to die. To appease Lo- 
 Bengula's spirit, it was necessary to fight the whites. They, 
 the witch-doctors, would make medicine to turn the bullets 
 of the white men into water, so tliat the Matabele could not 
 be hurt by them." 
 
 Similarly Great Britain with difficulty has suppressed 
 several risings of the Ashantees, and the late so-called " Hut- 
 Tax '* rebellion in Sierra Leone. The actual force of the 
 
 1 Brown, On the South African Frontier. 
 
WITCHCRAFT — DEMONOLOGY 127 
 
 natives, in organization, arms, and skill, was almost ridicnlous 
 in its inferiority as compared with the thoroughly armed and 
 disciplined troops of the British Empire; but the final 
 result, though never doubtful, was attained with much loss of 
 men and funds. The fetic h doctor and fetich belief were a 
 vis a terqo with .the AyVtJYf. h^X^e.. Its value as a factor in the 
 contest had not been reckoned on by the foreigner. What- 
 ever motives influenced the native in the contest, in patriotism, 
 cupidity, revenge, bravery, they were minor. The grand 
 influence that nerved his arm and made him perfectly fearless 
 in his assaults against weapons of precision, was his deep 
 conviction, more complete than Christian faith, tliat lie would 
 win. Had not the fetich doctor told him so ? Thougli there 
 had been some apparent failures, in his belief they were only 
 apparent. The real failure Avas in his own self, his not having 
 folloAved minutely all the fetich directions. Those directions 
 followed rightly in the next battle, he could not fail. 
 
 The faith of a Christian does not assure him, in any emer- ] 
 gency of life, that he will be successful in his plan ; it only / 
 certifies him that, whatever be the result, success or failure, ( 
 of any single act or series of acts in life's drama, his own will > 
 must be subordinated to God's, who, if not granting his 
 specific wish to-day, will overrule everything in the final 
 dSnouement for his best spiritual good. 
 
 Similarly the heathen fetich, mixed with the fatalism of 
 Islam, is an explanation of the splendid recklessness with 
 which the followers of the Mahdi flung themselves against the 
 sabres and maxims of General Kitchener's army at Omdurman. 
 
 Faith in fetich is a power as long as its devotee believes in 
 its infallibility. When that is gone, his fliglit or conquest 
 is instant. Fetich power therefore cannot be invariabl}- relied 
 upon as a motive to action. It may sometimes be magnificent. I 
 Only Christian faith or civilized discipline can be sublime, as I 
 compared with it. ] 
 
 But a fetich devotee who has lost his faith in his fetich 
 could never have stood witli Christian martyrs wlio knew 
 perfectly well that within an hour they would be torn to 
 
128 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 pieces in the arena. Their sublime faith looked beyond that 
 arena to the eternal promise. A fetich soldier who has lost 
 ' j^' l^is faith in his fetich could never have gone with those who 
 ^^ V stood head erect before certain death in the Alamo fort or 
 Ct^ (h^ "^^^ ^^^® "^ ^^® charge at Balaklava. Their elevated motives 
 ^ of patriotism, implicit soldierly obedience to order, and the 
 sweet scent of human glory made them discount the value of 
 their own blood. These Avere motives not only powerful in 
 force, but great in character. The Negro's fetich faith is 
 powerful, but never great. 
 y^ Something cognate to this in the comparison of the power 
 and the greatness of a motive will explain the persistent fatu- 
 ity of the Boer in protracting his contest with Great Britain. 
 From the very first, whatever the world may have thought of 
 essential right or justice in the case, the world knew that 
 England would win. The Boer would have been wise to have 
 accepted defeat earlier and made terms with a conqueror who 
 generally has been magnanimous and rarely cruel, rather than 
 invite, by guerilla warfare, measures severer, harsher, and 
 possibly exterminative. The Boer is a Christian, but his 
 faith was of the Mosaic kind that expected the God of battles 
 to interfere visibly in his behalf. The president of the republic 
 had preached that he would do so. The Boer looked on the 
 president as a prophet, and believed him. But his faith was 
 an unreasonable one ; it was fatuous. His bravery, patriot- 
 ism, marksmanship, and endurance could not avail. These all 
 tell well for a martyrdom, if martyrdom were desirable or 
 necessar}^, but they did not tell well for assertion of success. 
 
 France, overcome by Germany, still was brave and patriotic ; 
 but she was wise in accepting the inevitable, — wiser than the 
 Negro or the Boer. France believed in God ; so did Germany. 
 But the faith of neither was of the fetich kind. Nevertheless, 
 the fetich faith is magnificent, even if it be fatuous. 
 
 For the apparently cruel side of the black art, viz., the 
 killing of those guilty of witchcraft, there is some allow- 
 ance to be made. 
 
 To the believer in fetich the killing is a judicial act. He 
 
WITCHCRAFT — DEMONOLOG Y 129 
 
 does not call it a murder, but an execution; and he tries 
 to justify it by an argument which even the missionary has 
 to admit is correct if the Negro's premises in the argument 
 are admitted. As we do not admit both of them, his argu- 
 ment falls. But it is difficult to show him that his second 
 premise is wrong, and he is unconvinced. 
 
 I have several times been thoroughly worsted in my dis- 
 cussion with native chiefs on this matter of witchcraft ex- 
 ecutions. In the early years of my missionary life, while 
 resident on Corisco Island, I followed tlie j)ractice of my 
 predecessor, the Rev. J. L. Mackey, in the effort to prevent 
 such executions, which were then (about 1863) common. 
 We directed the native Christians to notify us of any death, 
 and we Avould at once go to the village and endeavor to fore- 
 stall the almost invariable witchcraft investigation. The head- 
 man, Kombenyamango, of an adjacent village, was a large, 
 strong, influential, cruel man. There was so little about him 
 to command my respect that I had shown him but slight def- 
 erence. Having thus his amour proprc wounded, he was 
 unfortunately not on very good terms with me. His aged 
 mother had been failing in health for a long time, and finally 
 had died. Her position, as mother of a chief, had given her 
 much respect in native eyes. The concourse of mourners 
 gathered from a distance was large. Feeling for her death 
 was deep; threats of vengeance for her taking off were 
 loud. I was soon informed that one of her female slaves 
 had been seized under pure suspicion because of her proxim- 
 ity as the dead woman's servant. In her case as a means of 
 fiuding whether or not she was guilty, there had been no 
 ordeal test of drinking the mbundu poison. (On the Upper 
 Guinea Coast it is sassa-wood ; at Calabar, the Calabar l)ean ; 
 at the equator, the akazya leaf.) Under torture, l)eing 
 beaten and lacerated by thorn bushes, she had confessed her- 
 self guilty, was in chains, and was soon to be executed. 
 
 On such occasions, on arriving at the village, there was 
 often an effort on the part of the chief to deceive tlio mis- 
 sionary. The chief would either assert that he had had no 
 
130 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 intention of making a witchcraft investigation, or would con- 
 sent now, in deference to his white friend the missionary, to 
 abandon his intention, and would forbid any execution. But 
 it would be revealed to us afterwards that at that very mo- 
 ment a victim was in chains in that very village, and had 
 subsequently been secretly put to death. 
 
 This day Kombenyamango, though receiving me with 
 sufficient respect, was nonchalant. He did not lie. He 
 promptly, in answer to my question, said, ''Yes, I have a 
 prisoner here, and I intend to put her to death." "Why?" 
 "Because she has killed my mother! " I told him I did not 
 believe his mother had died by unnatural means, and I 
 preached to him the usual sermon on the Sixth Command- 
 ment. I was at that time young in my knowledge of native 
 thought and fetich belief. I can see now that to every sen- 
 tence of my address he could have said Amen, in his believ- 
 ing, as he did, that his mother had been murdered, and that 
 this slave woman had broken the Sixth Commandment. But, 
 after listening awhile, he became impatient, and said, " Look 
 here! in your country, when a person kills your mother, don't 
 you tie a rope about his neck and hang him up, and don't 
 you say you are doing right in so doing?" "Yes." " Well, 
 that 's just what I am going to do to this woman, and I am 
 right." "Yes, you would be right if she has killed your 
 mother; but she has not. The bewitching with which you 
 charge her is foolish." (As to the folly, I know now that 
 that was a matter of opinion between him and me; and he 
 had reason for his opinion.) He replied, "But she has con- 
 fessed that she is guilty." "Quite possibly; but still a lie 
 on her part, for she would say anything to obtain temporary 
 relief from your torture." "But ask her yourself." "No 
 use to do so in your presence ; she is afraid of you, and she 
 will not dare to speak to me or contradict you." "Well, 
 then, I will bring her; and you take her off there among the 
 plantains by yourself, and see what she will say." This 
 sounded fair ; but even so, I had my doubts, for she did not 
 know me. Perhaps they would lie to her, and tell her I was 
 
WITCHCRAFT — DEMONOLOGY 131 
 
 confederate with her master, and would order her not to alter 
 her confession. And she, in her dazed condition, was really 
 not responsible for anything she might say. She was brought 
 from a hut. She was in chains, and yet with her limbs free 
 to walk. There was no possibility of her escape ; nor of my 
 being able to abduct her, had I been unwise enough to at- 
 tempt it. I led her out of Kombenyamango's hearing, but 
 still plainly in his sight, and kindly said to her, " Did you 
 do this? " To my amazement, she said, "Yes." "But what 
 did you do? If you say you killed her, how did you do it? " 
 She described minutely how, being in attendance on the old 
 woman, she was often vexed at her petulance, and had been 
 beaten by her for small neglects; how, in her anger, she had 
 desired her mistress's death; had collected crumbs of her 
 food, strands of her hair, and shreds of her clothing; how 
 she had mixed these with other substances, and had sung 
 enchantments with drum and dance, aided by others; had tied 
 all these things together on a stick which she had secretly 
 buried at the threshold of the old woman's door, desiring and 
 expecting that she should thereby die. By an unfortunate 
 coincidence the old woman had died a month or two 
 later; and the slave believed that what she had done had 
 been efficient to accomplish the taking of life. 
 
 Baffled, I returned to Kombenyamango, and admitted her 
 confession. But I told him that, even so, both he and she 
 were under a delusion ; that what she had done had no effi- 
 ciency for accomplishing a murder; that it was impossible. 
 (Here again was a difference of opinion as to possibility; he 
 believed his senses. In his life he had seen witchcraft mys- 
 teries; I had not.) 
 
 It was useless, even inconsistent, to plead for mercy; I 
 retired heartsick. I was morally certain the old woman had 
 died a natural death. Yet this poor slave woman liad had 
 murder in her heart, and liad tried to make her murderous 
 thought effective. She was, before God, guilty. She had 
 confessed herself, before man's bar, guilty. (Well for the 
 thousands of us who know ourselves guilty in thought, that 
 
132 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 we are not to be held by our fellow-sinners as guilty in act !) 
 I knew that she was really innocent, but I could not prove 
 it. She was taken to sea in a boat, and decapitated; her 
 remains were thrown into the sea./ 
 
 On another occasion, a year later, also on Corisco Island, 
 a certain heathen headman of a village, Osongo, had died. 
 A female slave who was suspected had fled. Her flight 
 was regarded as proof positive of her guilt. Our mission 
 premises had always been accorded by the native chiefs 
 the right of sanctuary. A refugee for any offence could 
 not be seized on our premises till we saw just reason for 
 " extraditing " him. This slave woman had hidden herself 
 in our jungle-thicket adjoining a forest; just where I did 
 not know. Two freemen — my personal employees, good 
 Christians — knew, and secretly at night with my connivance 
 fed her. M}^ school-girls also learned of it. Such a secret is 
 difficult to hide. One of the girls, a niece of Osongo, re- 
 vealed it to another of my workmen, Matoku, a slave also 
 of Osongo, and a professed Christian. He, with the traitor- 
 ous cowardice that makes many slaves informers on each other 
 as a means of enhancing their own safety with their masters, 
 revealed it to Ajai, Osongo's brother. Ajai, with a retinue 
 of servants, came to visit me in my study. He, with a 
 wily talk about the sadness of his brother's death, detained 
 me, while the servants broke into the mission premises, 
 and, led by Matoku, captured the woman, faint with her 
 days and nights of exposure. I discharged Matoku from 
 my employ, and dismissed the niece from school. But the 
 heathen regarded these punishments as slight; they had 
 obtained their object. My attempts to plead with Ajai for 
 the woman's life were met with undisguised admission of 
 his fixed purpose to kill her. With a family as prominent 
 on the island and as wedded to heathenism as was Osongo's, 
 and in face of the current that set against the woman, the 
 influences I was able to employ, and which had at other 
 times resulted in saving some lives accused of witchcraft, 
 proved ineffectual. I was privately told that she was to be 
 
WITCHCRAFT— DEMONOLOGY 133 
 
 put into a boat and carried out to sea so as to prevent any A 
 interference I might possiblj^ attempt. AVith a spy-glass I / 
 saw a native boat shoot rapidly out from beyond a point of 
 land half a mile distant. The rowers rested on their oars 
 when they reached deep water. She was seized; her head 
 held over the gunwale, her throat cut, and her lifeless body 
 cast into the sea. 
 
 She had a son, a stout lad. Ajai, fearing that he might 
 live to avenge his mother's death, had ordered him also to 
 be killed as an accomplice with her in the bewitching of 
 Osongo. The tragedy that was being enacted on the beach 
 behind the point of land from which had issued the boat I 
 did not see ; but I was told that the lad was seized, his hands 
 and limbs tied to a stake, where he was slowly burned to 
 death. A crowd sat on the beach jeering him, and amused 
 themselves by tying little packets of gunpowder to different 
 parts of his body, enjoying the sight of his struggles as the 
 packets exploded in succession. 
 
 Undeniably there is much jugglery and conscious decep- 
 tion on the part of the magic doctors. How much they really 
 believe in what they say or do no one has been able to dis- 
 cover; they assert that they are under supernatural influ- 
 ences, and have power given from supernatural sources. 
 Rarely are any of this priest class converted to Christianity. 
 A few have professed conversion, and have made a general 
 acknowledgment of sinfulness; but they did not like to talk 
 about their divinations; they called them "foolishness." 
 But evidently there was something about those divinations 
 of which they seemed ashamed and which they wished to 
 forget. Only one have I met who would talk on tlie sub- 
 ject, and she believed she had been under satanic influence, — 
 not simply as all wicked thoughts are satanic in their char- 
 acter and inspiration, but that she had actually been under 
 satanic possession, and was given by the devil more than 
 mere human power. Certainly, if there is in civilized jug- 
 glery, fortune-telling, clairvoyance, divining, spirit-rappings, 
 theosophy, et id omne genus, nothing more than sleight of 
 
134 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 hand, alert observation of facial expression, and mind-read- 
 ing, the African conjurer almost equals the civilized profes- 
 sional. The native magician does and tells some wonderful 
 things. In one of my congregations an educated woman, a 
 widow, who had only one child, a son grown to young 
 manhood, had subsequently lived in succession with four 
 other men, three of whom were white, who had either died 
 or deserted her; and she supposed herself past child-bearing. 
 She contracted a secret marriage with a white gentleman, but 
 of it positively nothing was known or even suspected by any 
 one. She confessed to me that one day, being a visitor in a 
 distant place where she was not known, she, out of mere 
 curiosity, hired a magician to divine her future. He looked 
 into his magic mirror, and, among many other things which 
 he could shrewdly have guessed in a quick study of her 
 character as revealed in her looks, manner, and language, 
 surprised her by describing a white man (whom he had 
 never seen) who, he asserted, was deeply attached to her, 
 and by whom she would become the mother of two children. 
 She suppressed her surprise, and told him that though mar- 
 ried four times, she had borne no child in eighteen years. He 
 nevertheless asserted, "I see them in your womb." 
 
 Within five years from that time she did have two un- 
 timely births by her white husband. She told me in her 
 confession that he knew nothing of them, they being mis- 
 carriages. She had suppressed from him the fact of her 
 pregnancy. When subsequently she united with the church, 
 she made these revelations only to me as her pastor, to save 
 herself from public rebuke. 
 
 At another time a woman in Gabun became very anxious 
 about a brother of hers who was tradinor on the Osfowe River, 
 at a place at least three hundred miles distant; no news had 
 come of him. Evil news always flies fast and is always 
 spread publicly. She went to a magician. Divining, he 
 said, "Your brother is dead." ''But where? What? When 
 did he die?" " Only recently. I see his body lying bleed- 
 ing." And he described the wounds, the locality on the 
 
WITCHCRAFT — DEMONOLOGY 135 
 
 river, the time, and otlier details of a country where he 
 had never been. Two months hiter news did come, and it 
 agreed in time, phice, and circumstances with tlie divination. 
 
 Such things occur in civilized lands. They are accounted 
 for without any reference to, or belief in, demoniac or even 
 supernatural causes or influences. We call such recondite 
 knowledge telepathy, and leave it for psychologists to study 
 its character and application. It has no religious signifi- 
 cance or use. The most devout Christian may believe in 
 it or be subject to its operation. Other cases of telepathy 
 in Africa I have been told of, that had no fetich nor any divi- 
 nation of magic doctor connected with them ; but the natives 
 attributed them to some unknown spirit-influence. 
 
 An outcome of the witchcraft of fetichism, demonolatry, 
 though not necessarily identical with demoniacal possession, 
 intimately associates itself with it as a part of its develop- 
 ment. P'or the Negro belief in such possession there is good 
 basis. The Bible recognizes the possibility of human beings 
 in their free agency making pacts with the devil, in virtue 
 of which he was allowed, under divine administration, to 
 share with them some of his supernatural power as prince 
 of the power of darkness, and god of this world. Such pacts 
 were condemned by Jehovah as unholy. Those who made 
 them were called witches and wizards; such transgressors 
 were directed to be destroyed. "Thou shalt not suffer a 
 witch to live " ^ (a command that does not necessarily 
 prove that the professed diabolical compact was always a 
 real one. The mere professing to have satanic companion- 
 ship and aid was an offence heinous to Jehovah's theocratic 
 government of his people.) 
 
 But the witch of Endor ^ certainly was a reality; she did 
 "bring up " real departed spirits; perhaps only on that one 
 occasion, and then only by direct divine and not satanic 
 power and will, and for a divine object. She hereelf seems to 
 have been surprised ^ at the real success of divinations which 
 formerly may have been, in her hands, only deceptions. 
 
 1 Ex. xxii. 18. - 1 S.ain. xxvii. 11-15. ^ Verse 12. 
 
136 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 My native heathen chiefs have good precedent for their 
 witchcraft executions. New Enghmd history cannot wipe 
 out the fact of the Salem Avitchcraft trials. 
 
 Demoniac possessions in supposed lunatics are possible; 
 they were actual and numerous in Palestine during the min- 
 istry of Christ. Satan was "loosed" with unusual power, 
 that the Son of God in his contest with him could give to 
 the world convincing proof of his divine origin and authority, 
 even the devils being subject to him. If demoniacal pos- 
 sessions are possible during a term of years, they are equally 
 possible for a few hours ; they never were nor are made by 
 Satan for a good purpose. God, in the days of Christ, for 
 the special purpose of the time, overruled them for the de- 
 fence of his kingdom ; since then, in the hearts of evil men, 
 their advent is only for evil and by evil. 
 
 If in Christian lands the enchantments of the hoodoo are 
 only jugglery and nothing else, it may be that Satan's power 
 is limited under the broad light of Christianity. But in 
 heathen lands, where for ages Satan's power has not only 
 been accepted but also sought, I am disposed to believe that 
 some apparent cases of lunacy are real possessions by Satan, 
 in which cases both the physical disease and its associated 
 mental aberration are the effect of the possession. In lunacy 
 pure and simple the mental aberration is the effect of disease 
 alone, — some mental or physical injury. 
 
 The possibility of a permanent possession by Satan being 
 admitted, it is easily possible that the fetich doctors or priest- 
 esses may be temporarily entered into b}^ satanic power, and 
 that some wonderful things they do and say while endowed 
 with that power are used by the devil to blind men's minds 
 against the truth. 
 
 It may be, therefore, that the missionary in his contest 
 with heathenism has literally to fight with the devil, with 
 principalities and powers in high places, and needs weapons 
 more subtle than Martin Luther's inkstand. If so, he 
 puts his preaching and his work at a disadvantage in de- 
 riding the witchcraft side of fetichism, revealed in black 
 
WITCHCRAFT — DEMONOLOG Y 137 
 
 art, as simply "folly," and reprehensible only as a supersti- 
 tion. It is more than that ; it is wickedness, — spiritual 
 wickedness in high places. While it is true that it has much,' 
 that is mere jugglery and charlatanism, it is quite possible 
 that it may have something that is diabolically real. 
 
 But all this does not fully justify my Negro chief in put- 
 ting to death his slave, who may or may not have been more 
 than self-deceived and deceiving, who may or may not have 
 had a temporary satanic possession, who may or may not 
 have been guilty of murder before the bar of God or man. 
 That chief and all his assistants in the execution, and all 
 other users of the black art, had, in the beginning of their 
 fetich life, been users of only the defensive white art; had 
 inevitably grown into the use of the offensive black art, 
 and in all probability at some time or other had used divi- 
 nations, with and by the aid of witchcraft doctors, for the 
 destruction of others in a similar w^ay and under the same 
 motives as those admitted by my poor slave woman. 
 
 My chief's argument syllogized woidd be: Whoever kills 
 should be killed; this woman has killed; therefore she 
 should be killed. His first premise stands; but neither he 
 nor any of his people had a right to use it; consistently, he 
 and all his should themselves have been at the same bar with 
 the woman; they either had done, or would some day be 
 doing, just w^hat they were charging her with doing. His 
 second premise may or may not have been true; certainly, 
 the only one who could know whether it was true was 
 the accused herself, and she may have been self-deceived ; 
 and her confession should have no standing in court, having 
 been forced under torture. I could not therefore admit hisj 
 conclusion; and I think that, had the ^Master stood visibly on 
 Corisco Island that day, He would have said, "He that is] 
 without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." 
 
\XSyW^'^ 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 FETICHISM — A GOVERNMENT 
 
 IN civilization, under governments other than autocratic, 
 hiw being made and executed, at least professedly, with 
 the consent of the governed, all enactments find not only 
 their justification, but also the possibility of their enforce- 
 ment, in their support by public opinion. It is the general 
 consensus as to the need of an enactment regarding certain 
 conditions affecting the lives or happiness or rights of the 
 majority, that crystallizes opinions into a form of words, and 
 gives authority for the enforcement of the decisions expressed 
 by those words. 
 
 This is also partly true even under governments more or 
 less despotic, where the will of the ruler, not of the ruled, is 
 made the basis of law. Few despots are so utterly tyranni- 
 cal as deliberately to arouse opposition on the part of their 
 subjects. Even a Nero, who would refuse a petition if it 
 happened to run counter to his whim or caprice of the day, 
 would grant that same petition if it happened to coincide 
 with his own whim of another day. Even he thought it 
 desirable to pander to the public taste for the butcheries of 
 the amphitheatre, not simply because he himself enjoyed 
 them. Though he could initiate no measure for the real 
 good of Rome, he recognized the necessity of responding to 
 the cry, "panem et cireenses." 
 
 In all governments fear is recognized as one of the grounds 
 for the enforcement of law. In even the freest nations and 
 under the highest form of civilization the public opinion that 
 administers law makes its demand partly in the interest of 
 essential right, partly with the instinct of self-preservation 
 
FETICIIISM — A GOVERNMENT 189 
 
 against the forces of evil, and partly for the punishment of 
 wrong. Punishment in itself is not reformatory; it is retrib- 
 utive ; it is deterrent ; it plays upon fear. 
 
 In the native African tribal forms of government, while it 
 would not be true to say that there is no justice in the cus- 
 toms they recognize, it is true that the only sentiment ap- 
 pealed to, in the enforcement and even in the enactment of 
 supposed needed measures, is that of fear. Their religion 
 being one of fear, it is therefore appealed to to lend its sanc- 
 tion and aid. 
 
 " Fetiches are set up to punish offenders in certain cases 
 where there is an intention to make a law specially binding; 
 this refers more particularly to crimes which cannot always 
 be detected. A fetich is inaugurated, for example, to detect 
 and punish certain kinds of theft; persons who are cognizant 
 to such crimes, and who do not give information, are also 
 liable to be punished by the fetich. The fetich is supposed 
 to be able not only to detect all such transgressions, but has 
 power, likewise, to punish the transgressor. How it exer- 
 cises this knowledge, or by what means it brings sickness and 
 death upon the offender, cannot, of course, be explained ; but, 
 as it is believed in, it is the most effectual restraint that can 
 possibly be imposed upon evil-disposed persons."^ 
 
 Among the Negro tribes of the Bight of Benin and the 
 Bantu of the region of Corisco Island and of the Ogowe 
 River, in what is now the Kongo- Fran^ais, there was a 
 power known variously as Egbo, Ukuku, and Yasi, which 
 tribes, native chiefs, and headmen of villages invoked as a 
 court of last appeal, for the passage of needed laws, or the 
 adjudication of some quarrel which an ordinary family or 
 village council was unable to settle. 
 
 In those councils an offender could be proved guilty of a 
 debt or theft, or other trespass, and when it was no longer 
 possible for him by audacity or mendacity to persist in his 
 assertion of innocence, he would yield to the decision of the 
 great majority against him. But there was no central gov- 
 
 1 Wilson, Western Africa, p. 275. 
 
140 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 ernment to enforce that decision or exact from him restitu- 
 tion. The only authority the native chiefs possessed was 
 based on respect due to age, parental position, or strength 
 of personal character. If an offender chose to disregard all 
 these considerations, an appeal was then made to his super- 
 stitious fear. 
 - Egbo, Ukuku, Yasi, was a secret society composed only of 
 men, boys being initiated into it about the age of puberty. 
 Members were bound by a terrible oath and under pain of 
 death to obey any law or command issued by the spirit under 
 which the society professed to be organized. The actual, 
 audible utterance of the command was by the voice of one 
 of the members of the society chosen as priest for that pur- 
 pose. This man, secreted in the forest, in a clump of bushes 
 on the outskirts of the village, or in one of the rooms of the 
 Council House, disguised his voice, speaking only gutturally. 
 The whole proceeding was an immense fiction; they believed 
 in spirits and in the power of fetich charms, and they made 
 such charms part of the society's ceremonies; but, as to 
 the decisions, all the members knew that the decision in any 
 case was their own, not a spirit's. They knew that the voice 
 speaking was that of their delegate, not of a spirit. Yet for 
 any one of them, or for any woman, girl, or uninitiated boy, 
 to assert as much would have been death. And those men 
 who would not have submitted to the same decision if ar- 
 rived at in open council of themselves as men^ and known 
 before the whole village to be speaking only as men, would 
 instantly submit when once the case had been taken to 
 Ukuku 's Court. They carried out that fiction all their lives. 
 Let a man order his wives and other slaves to clear the over- 
 grown village paths, they might hesitate to obey by inventing 
 some excuse that they were too much occupied with other 
 work, or that they would do it only when other people who 
 also used the same path should assist; or if under the 
 sting of a kasa-nguvu (lash of hippopotamus hide or manatus 
 skin) they started to do the work, they might do it only 
 partly or very unsatisfactorily. But let the man call in 
 
FETICHISM — A GOVERNMENT 141 
 
 the other men of the village and summon a meeting of 
 the society, the recalcitrants would submit instantly, and 
 in terror of Ukuku's voice; much as they might possibly 
 have suspected it was a human voice, they would not dare 
 whisper the suspicion. They helped to carry on a gigantic lie. 
 They taught their little children, both girls and boys, that 
 the voice belonged to a spirit which ate people who dis- 
 obeyed him. When the society walked in procession to or 
 from their appointed rendezvous, they were preceded ])y run- 
 ners who, with a well-recognized cry and with kasa-nguvu 
 in hand, warned all on the path of the coming of the spirit. 
 Women and children hastened to get out of the way ; or, if 
 unable to hide in time, they averted their faces. The 
 penalty when a woman even saw the procession was a severe 
 beating; that, however, might be commuted to a fine. 
 
 About thirty-nine years ago, on the island of Corisco, the 
 then headquarters of the Corisco Mission, there was a long- 
 standing feud between the Benga tribe, inhabiting that island, 
 and the Kombe tribe, dwelling at the mouth of the Eyo River, 
 of the Benita country, fifty miles to the north. Benita was 
 also a part of the mission field. The quarrel between the 
 two tribes greatly obstructed our mission work. ]\lissionaiies 
 were entirely safe in travel between the two places, respect 
 being given them as foreigners, and their presence in a boat 
 protected their crews; but it was often difficult to obtain a 
 crew willing to go on the journey without the })resence of 
 a white man. The difficulties caused by the feud fell heavily 
 also on the Benga people themselves. The island itself had 
 no products for trade; ivor}^, dye-woods, and rubber came 
 from the Benita mainland. Many Kombe women had mar- 
 ried Benga men, and needed frequently to revisit their own 
 country. Finally, to end the feud, it was agreed that the 
 Kombe Ukuku Society, whose power was held in even greater 
 fear than that of Benga, should come to Corisco and settle 
 the affair. 
 
 It was a day of terror at the Girls' Boarding School, of 
 which I was then superintendent. As the long, blood- 
 
142 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 curdling yell of the forerunners on the public path, that ran 
 only one hundred feet from the school dwelling, announced 
 the approach of the procession, the girls fled, affrighted, to 
 the darkness of the attic of the house. After the proces- 
 sion had passed, they ran away secretly in byways to their 
 own villages, feeling safer in the darkness of their 
 mother's huts than in the mission-house; for it had been 
 reported that Ukuku, besides settling the tribal feud, in- 
 tended to attack the mission work that had been success- 
 fully making converts among the Kombe, because any native 
 who became a Christian immediately withdrew from member- 
 ship in the society. It had therefore begun to feel a little 
 anxious about its safety. I stood at my door and saw the 
 procession pass ; they saw me, but, because of my sex, they 
 did not show any displeasure. They were painted with 
 white and other colored chalks that gave a horrible expres- 
 sion to their faces ; their look was defiant, and a hoarse, mut- 
 tered chant had, even on myself, a depressing effect. I could 
 well imagine that to a superstitious native mind the tout 
 ensevible would be terrifying. 
 
 The procession on its way chose to pass over a road that 
 had by use become somewhat public, but which was owned 
 by the mission; it was only fifty feet past the front door 
 of the house of the senior missionary, the Rev. James L. 
 Mackey. Mrs. Mackey Avas standing at the door of the 
 house; not being a Benga woman, she saw no reason why 
 she should retire before Ukuku, and stood her ground. 
 Ukuku went to their rendezvous in a rage, and the Kombe 
 portion demanded the life of the woman who not only had 
 not hidden her face in their presence, but had dared persist- 
 ently to look upon them. This demand was modified by the 
 Benga portion to a fine ; its alternative, whipping, not even 
 they daring to suggest for a white lady. This demand for 
 a fine was actually brought to Mr. Mackey, who gave a dig- 
 nified reply, pointing out that, as foreigners, white people 
 were not subject to Ukuku; that Ukuku had trespassed 
 on mission private property, and was itself responsible for 
 
FETICHISM — A GOVERNMENT U6 
 
 being seen; that, as a Christian, in no case could he rec- 
 ognize the authority of Ukuku to order or fine him. In 
 reply, Ukuku made the point that it was the government 
 of the country, and that even foreigners were bound to obey 
 law. (Corisco actually belonged to Spain, but Spain in no 
 way exercised any visible authority over it.) 
 
 They admitted their trespass on private property, but still 
 demanded the fine. Mr. Mackey made no further reply; 
 and of course, as a matter of conscience, refused to pay the 
 fine. But it transpired afterwards that native friends, fear- 
 ful lest matters should come to an ugly pass through his 
 refusal, privately paid the fine themselves. The missionary, 
 unaware of this, thought he had triumphed; really Ukuku 
 had, but not unqualifiedly, for it was a shock to its power 
 tha t it should have been disputed at all, even by a white 
 man. 
 
 About the same time a young slave man who was begin- 
 ning to attend church with desire to become a Christian, was 
 sitting in a village where was being held a meeting of the 
 local Ukuku Society. The object of the meeting was to 
 alarm and drive back to a more constant performance of 
 fetich observances some of the villages on which heathenism 
 was beginning to lose its hold. In the course of his oracular 
 deliverances the Ukuku priest mentioned by name this young 
 man. In his fresh zeal as a convert he made a protest; per- 
 haps duty did not call for even that just at the time, but he 
 even went beyond. As he was able to recognize the voice, 
 though disguised, and knew who its owner was, he made a 
 fatal mistake in saying, " You, such-a-one, I know who you 
 are; you are only a man; why are you troubling me? " He 
 was promptly dragged to the seaside and decapitated. 
 
 While converts felt the propriety of abandoning their 
 membership in the society and any participation in its cere- 
 monies, the mission had not required of them nor deemed it 
 desirable that they should make a revelation of its secrets. 
 But it had occurred in the early history of the mission that 
 one young man, Ibia, a freeman^ member of a prominent 
 
144 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 family, had felt that in breaking away from heathenism and 
 becoming a Christian he should cast off the very semblance 
 of any connection with evil or even tacit endorsement of it. 
 He knew the society was based on a great falsehood. As 
 a lad he had believed Ukuku was a spirit; on his initiation 
 he had found that this was not so; but loyal to his heathen- 
 ism and to his oath, he had assented to the lie and had as- 
 sisted in propagating it. He was known for the fearlessness 
 of his convictions, and in his conversion he to a rare degree 
 emerged from all superstitious beliefs. Few emerge so ut- 
 terly as he. He therefore publicly began to reveal the cere- 
 monies practised in the Ukuku meetings. At once his life 
 was in danger. The two pioneer missionaries, Rev. Messrs. 
 Mackey and Clemens, were men of exceptional strength of 
 character and wise judgment, and had obtained a very strong 
 hold on the respect and affection even of the heathen. Their 
 influence, united with a small party of Ibia's own family and 
 
 /a few of the more civilized chiefs, was able to save his life, 
 he being guarded in the mission-house until the fierceness of 
 heathen rage should abate. But, though his enemies pres- 
 ently ceased from open efforts to kill him by force, they 
 proclaimed that they would kill him by means of the very 
 
 \ witchcraft power he was despising. They said they would 
 concoct fetich charms which would destroy the life of his 
 child, and that they would curse the ground on which he 
 trod so that it should sicken his feet. Not long afterwards 
 his infant child did die, and one of his feet for more than a 
 year had a painful ulcer. The coincidence was startling, and 
 somewhat triumphant for the heathen; but infant mortality 
 is large even among natives, and phagedenic ulcers of the leg 
 are very common. Ibia recognized his afflictions as a trial 
 of his faith permitted by God. He came out of his fiery trial 
 strong, and his life since has been that of a reformer, uncom- 
 promising with any evil, earning from his own people their 
 ill-will by his scathing denunciations of anything that savored 
 of superstition. He became the Rev. Ibia j'Ikenge, mem- 
 ber of Corisco Presbytery and pastor of the Corisco church ; 
 
FETICHISM — A GOVERNMENT 145 
 
 and Ukuku has long since ceased to exist as a power on the 
 island. 
 
 Like all government intended for the benefit and protec- 
 tion of the governed, Ukuku, when it happened to throw its 
 power on the side of right, was occasionally an apparent bless- 
 ing. It could end tribal quarrels and prochdni and enforce 
 peace where no individual chief or king would have been able 
 to accomplish the same result. In this connection I quote 
 from an editorial in a Sierra Leone newspaper: 
 
 "Much of the ideas of our western civilization as to native 
 African institutions have been crude and uninformed, based 
 on misconception and a predisposition to consider such insti- 
 tutions as an outcome of barbarism and savagery, to be treated 
 with unmitigated contempt. But as the light of modern re- 
 searches is reflected on the question by sympathetic students 
 who have brought an unprejudiced mind to bear on the sub- 
 ject, if haply they might discover the hidden truths under- 
 lying the fabric which age, custom, and intellect have combined 
 to construct into a national system, it is becoming more and 
 more apparent to those who are interested in the material 
 progress of Africa and the Africans and who are believers 
 in the fact that native races have a civilization of their own 
 capable of development and expansion on right lines, that 
 the study of such questions should be intelligently and scien- 
 tifically pursued, and with a purpose to help those concerned 
 in their onward progress towards the attainment of moral, 
 social, and intellectual liberty. 
 
 "That [some] native [governmental] institutions have 
 wielded, and are wielding, a power for good in the several 
 communities belonging to each distinctive tribe, is a fact that 
 cannot be disputed or contested, in the past as well as in tlie 
 present. The Aro of the Yorubas [in the Niger Delta], the 
 Porroh of the jNIendis [of Sierra Leone], and the Bondo of 
 the mixed mass who inhabit Sherbro-land, have and exer- 
 cise judicial functions exemplar}^ and dis('i[)linary in their 
 effects. By tlieir means law and order are observed to such 
 an extent that many of the unrestrained and rowdy outbursts 
 
 10 
 
146 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 cowardly indulged in by so-called civilized communities and 
 people are practically unknown. 
 
 " These institutions are connected with and govern the agen- 
 cies that work in the sociology of all communities, such as the 
 marriage laws ; the relation of children to parents and of sex 
 to sex ; social laws ; the position of eldership and the deference 
 to be paid to age and worth ; native herbs and medicines, and 
 the duties of the native doctor to the other members of 
 the community." 
 
 On one occasion in 1861 the Rev. William Clemens took a 
 young Benga man from Corisco Island to locate him as evan- 
 gelist in the bounds of a mainland heathen tribe where there 
 was some doubt as to the young man's safety. The village 
 chief, though a heathen and entirely uninterested in the reli- 
 gious aspect of the case, was alive to the fact that the presence 
 among his people of this young protege of the white man 
 would increase his tribal importance, and that his people 
 themselves would derive a pecuniary benefit from even the 
 small amount of money that would be spent on the evangelist's 
 food. He therefore voluntarily offered to call an Ukuku 
 meeting and have a law enacted that no one should machinate 
 against the Benga's life by fetiches of any kind. Mr. Clemens 
 decHned the offer. If he accepted Ukuku's authority to de- 
 fend him, he might some day be called on to submit to the 
 same power as an authority to punish him. He wisely avoided 
 an entangling alliance. He told the chief that he preferred to 
 entrust his prot^d to his care and to rely on his promise 
 rather than on Ukuku's. This comphment put the chief on 
 his mettle ; the evangelist's protection became to him a case 
 of nohlesse oblige. 
 
 The power of this society was often used as a boycott to 
 compel white traders as to the prices of their goods, using in- 
 timidation and violence after the manner of trades unions in 
 civilized countries. This was true all along the West Coast 
 of Africa wherever no white government had been established. 
 It ceased at Libreville, in the Gabun country, after the estab- 
 lishment of a French colony in 1 843, with a white governor, a 
 
FETICHISM — A GOVERNMENT U7 
 
 squad of soldiers, police, and a gunboat. Also at other trade 
 centres such as Libreville, Ukuku early lost its position, for 
 the population was too heterogeneous and there were too many 
 diverse interests. At the large trading-houses were gathered 
 native clerks and a staff of servants as cooks, personal attend- 
 ants, boatmen, etc., representing a score of tribes from distant 
 parts of the coast. Whatever obedience they gave to similar 
 societies in their tribes, they did not feel bound by the local 
 one, to which they were strangers ; and they were disposed, 
 under a community of trade interests with tlieir employers, to 
 disregard the society of the local tribe, to many of whom they 
 felt themselves socially superior. 
 
 But at Batanga, in what is now the Kamerun colony of the 
 German Government, the Ukuku Society forty years ago car- 
 ried itself with a high hand. Batanga was not then claimed 
 by any European nation, and the number of white men were 
 few. Its trade in ivory was one of the richest on the West 
 Coast of Africa, — so rich that the Batanga people became arro- 
 gant. Some of them disdained to make plantations of native 
 food supply, and lived almost entirely on foreign imported pro- 
 visions, taking in exchange for their abundant ivory barrels 
 of beef, bags of rice, and boxes of ship's biscuit. It was 
 a case of demand and supply. The native got what he wanted 
 in goods, and the white man obtained the precious ivory. 
 But in the competitions of trade, fluctuations in the market, 
 and the growing demand of the natives for a higher price, 
 there came days when some white man, seeing the margin of 
 his per cent of gain becoming too narrow, refused the current 
 price. Doubtless often the white men were arbitrary, not only 
 in prices but also in other matters. Doubtless, also, the natives 
 were often exorbitant in their demands. When the differences 
 became extreme, the native chiefs called in the aid of Ukuku. 
 The phrase was to '' put Ukuku " on the white man's liouse. 
 The trader was boycotted. He stood as under a major excom- 
 munication. No one should buy from, or sell to him. No 
 one should work for him. He was deserted by cook, steward, 
 washerman, and all other personal attendants. Sentinels stood 
 
\y 
 
 iO^ 
 
 148 
 
 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 on guard to prevent food being brought to him. or even to pre- 
 vent his lighting a fire in his own kitchen if he should at- 
 tempt to cook for himself. 
 
 The white trader generally succeeded in breaking down 
 the interdict put upon him by these means, viz. (1) He 
 had in his^ house a supply of canned goods and ship's biscuit, 
 with which he would not starve. (2) His Negro mistress 
 almost always remained faithfully with him, secretly assisting 
 him, divulging to him the plans of her own people, — as in the 
 history of Cortes and the conquest of Mexico. She dared to 
 do this, being tacitly upheld by her own family. The position 
 of " wife " to a white man was considered by the natives 
 an honorable one, and was sought by parents for their 
 daughters. It was an exceptional source of wealth for them. 
 (3) If other means failed, the trader could almost always 
 break the boycott by bribes of rum. Time was money to him ; 
 often, indeed, in a malarial country it was life to him. 
 Though time was worth nothing to the natives, the rum they 
 had learned to love became a necessity to them. In cutting 
 the white man from their ivory, they had cut themselves from 
 the white man's rum. A judicious expenditure of demijohns 
 in proper quarters generally enabled Ukuku to revoke his 
 own law. Then, perhaps, the white man would make some 
 slight concession. 
 
 I had an experience of this kind in the Benita country in 
 1868. I had been there several years. There was growth in 
 the desire for the good things that money can buy, but wages 
 and prices had remained unchanged. I was obtaining all I 
 needed of both labor and food without difficulty. Had I had 
 any difficulty, I should naturally have offered more induce- 
 ment. I was not aware that there was any discontent. None 
 of my employees had asked for a rise, nor had people, in sell- 
 ing their produce, complained of the price I gave. 
 
 Suddenly, one morning, a company of about twenty men, 
 led by an ambitious heathen whose manner had always been 
 dictatorial to me and to whom I had shown no favor, filed 
 into the public meeting-room of our mission-house. I knew 
 
FETICHISM — xV GOVERNMENT 149 
 
 them all ; none were in my employ, nor were any of them 
 Christians. As if they thought it was hopeless to attempt to 
 obtain anything from me by petition or respectful request, 
 they seemed to have decided to stake all on a demand and 
 threat. They suddenly and harshly began, '^ We 've come to 
 order you to change prices." Naturally I felt nettled and re- 
 plied that I saw no reason why I should take orders from 
 them. They rose in a rage and said, " Then we '11 put Ukuku 
 on you — (1) no one shall work for you ; (2) no one shall sell 
 you food or drink; (3) you shall not go yourself to your 
 spring ; '' and with a savage yell they left the house. In- 
 stantly a great terror fell on the native members of my house- 
 hold. Those who were heathen dropped work and went to their 
 villages. Those who were Christians came to me distressed, 
 saying that they desired to obey me, but they feared the inter- 
 dict. I relieved the situation for them by excusing them from 
 further work "till I should call them," and refrained from 
 ringing the call-bell at the usual work hour. 
 
 With me were jNIrs. Nassau, our child's nurse, my sister 
 Miss I. A. Nassau, and two native girls, members of another 
 tribe. Nurse w^as a foreigner, a Christian Liberian woman, 
 who was not amenable to the interdict. Some of my Chris- 
 tian employees, though not working, remained on the prem- 
 ises. A few visitors came in the afternoon, — some, as sincere 
 friends, to sympathize ; some in curiosity, to see how we were 
 feeling ; and some as spies, to see what we were doing. The 
 interdict, except as an expression of ill-will and a possible 
 check to my mission work, did not trouble me. As to food, 
 I had an ample supply of canned provisions, sufficient for a 
 long siege. In refusing to sell me their native products, 
 the people would miss more than I should. As to work, the 
 cleaning of the premises was not pressing and could safely be 
 neglected. As to drinking-water, enough coukl be caught 
 from the roof in the almost daily rains. Food and labor were 
 their own, to refuse if they chose. But the spring was on 
 my premises and belonged to me. To refrain from going to 
 it might be deemed cowardice ; at least it would be o])eying 
 
150 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 an order of what Ukuku claimed was a spirit. An order from 
 men I might submit to under compulsion ; to submit to this 
 spirit went against my conscience. After prayer and consid- 
 eration overnight, Mrs. Nassau fully agreed with me that it 
 was right I should make a demonstration at the spring. In 
 parting with her next morning, as I took up a bucket to go 
 to the spring, she knew I might not return alive. A sandy 
 path led through low bushes to the spring, several hundred 
 yards distant. I saw no one on the way nor at the spring. I 
 filled the bucket and was turning homeward, when a spy, 
 armed with a spear, jumped out of his ambush and ordered 
 me to leave the water. As I did not do so, but started to 
 walk over the path, he stabbed at my back. I thrust the 
 spear aside and faced him, but walking backward all the 
 time kept my eye steadily on his. He feared my eye (most 
 native Africans cannot stand a white man's fixed look) and 
 did not attempt to stab me in front, but tried to spill the 
 water in the bucket and stab me from behind. But the 
 bucket and its contents I guarded, as he struck at it from 
 right to left, by rapidly changing it from left to right with 
 one hand and warding off the spear with the other. Still walk- 
 ing backward, and keeping my eye on him, the bucket and I 
 reached the house in safety. 
 
 He hastened to the native villages, whence soon I heard a 
 great outcry. A company of Christian natives came in haste, 
 saying that Ukuku was on his way to assault the house, and 
 that they and other young men, even some who were not 
 Christians, would fight for me against their heathen parents 
 if I could provide them powder. I supplied them. Then 
 they bade me hasten and fasten all doors and windows. 
 
 The mission dwelling consisted of two houses joined by 
 a covered veranda, — one, a one-storied bamboo ; the other 
 framed of boards, one and a half story. Mrs. Nassau was 
 in the latter, closing it. Before I had finished closing the 
 former, the enemies came, and I was alone in the bamboo 
 house. Shots rattled against the walls. Through the chinks 
 I could see the young men were guarding all entrances and 
 
FETICHISM — A GOVERNMENT 151 
 
 firing. I think that in this difficult situation, defending me 
 against their own people, they purposely fired wide, for no 
 one was even wounded. But their armed stand checked 
 the enemies, who then soon retired. In after years these 
 were ashamed of their assault, and tried to minimize it, when 
 it was related to new missionaries, by representing that they 
 did not intend to kill me. I accepted that as a kindly after- 
 thought. Certainly the spy at the spring intended, and 
 tried hard, to kill me. Certainly, also, tlieir gunshots left 
 their marks on the walls of the bamboo liouse, and, for aught 
 they knew, had penetrated the thin walls and might liave 
 struck me. 
 
 That their interdict had been successfully broken, and that, 
 too, by the aid of their own sons, was a great blow to the 
 Ukuku party. It was the beginning of the end of its power. 
 Four years later, while I w^as absent on my furlough, the 
 number of the church-members having largely increased, two 
 young men, themselves of strong character and imbued with 
 the courage of my able successor at Benita, Rev. Samuel 
 Howell Murphy, deliberately determined to " reveal Ukuku." 
 They walked through a village street openly shouting to the 
 women that "Ukuku is only a man." At once their lives 
 were demanded; but so many of their companions stood up 
 for them, and said to tlieir fathers, " The day you kill those 
 two you will have to kill all of us, for we all say also that 
 Ukuku is only a person," that Ukuku was amazed. Nev- 
 ertheless the society met. But when the members looked in , 
 each other's faces, each one knew that in voting to put to death I 
 the other men's sons, he was voting also against liis own son. ' 
 The society could have dared to kill one or two, but to kill , 
 a score I They shrank from it. Every one thought of his own 1 
 son thus involved, and the great lie was exposed and died. 
 
 In 1879, on the Ogowe River, at my interior station, 
 Kangwe, near the town of Lambarene, one hundred and 
 thirty miles up the course of the river, I hiid a similar ex[)eri- 
 ence vnth that same society, known there in the Galwa tribe 
 by the name of JTasi. 
 
152 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 / In my new work on the Ogowe, I pursued toward that 
 society the same course I had followed with Ukuku at Benita. 
 I preached simply the gospel of Christ ; but it is true that 
 the gospel touches mankind in all their human relations. I 
 therefore was not silent about such sins as slavery and 
 polygamy, any more than I would be silent about the sins of 
 drunkenness or theft. All these were practices the evil of 
 which in serious moments most natives would admit, however 
 much they chose still to persist in them. But witchcraft was 
 their religion ; they believed in it. To attack it openly would 
 only offend, and I would lose the personal influence which 
 I was able to exercise in quiet, private discussions. Yasi, 
 though a falsehood, was their government. To attack it 
 would have simply emptied my church of every heathen 
 auditor, and would have debarred any women or children 
 from receiving further instruction. I could afford to bide 
 my time, for the entering wedge of Christian principles 
 to overthrow what I could never have removed by direct 
 onslaught. In conversations with my heathen friends, the 
 native chiefs, in their own houses, when no women or children 
 happened to be present, I would expostulate Avith them against 
 such a mode of government. I told them I would render 
 them respect and even obedience, if as persons they should 
 enact laws affecting me as a person, but that I could give 
 neither respect nor obedience to what they knew I knew was 
 a lie. They looked troubled, and replied, " Yes, that 's so, 
 but don't tell it to the women." And I did not. Neverthe- 
 less, in my untrammelled conversations in the mission-liouse 
 with my own Christian male employees, I was not careful 
 to be silent if our school-boys happened to be present ; and 
 these same employees in their own dormitories deliberately 
 and intentionally told the boys of the falsities of their tribal 
 superstitions. They were right. This was Christian prin- 
 ciple, working as I desired it should. Inevitably there grew 
 up a generation of lads who began to deride Yasi, and said 
 that they would never join the society. 
 
 There came one day a delegation of them led by two Chris- 
 
FETICHISM — A GOVERNMENT 153 
 
 tian young men, Mamba and Nguva, asking my permission to 
 play a mock Yasi meeting. I asked them, " Will you dare to 
 play that same play in your own villages ? " " No, we would 
 be afraid." " Then don't do here what you are unable to carry 
 out elsewhere. I cannot defend yoa in your own villao-es. 
 You are safe here ; wait until you are stronger and more 
 numerous. Just now your play will create confusion." 
 Nevertheless they did play, w^th the result which I had fore- 
 told. The chiefs were deeply enraged. They " put Yasi " 
 on my house, which meant that I was not to be visited nor 
 sold any food. There was a report, also, that the mission 
 premises were to be assaulted with guns. The loss of food 
 supply was a serious difficulty. I did not need any for myself 
 and sister, nor for the two young missionaries, both of them 
 laymen who were visiting me from a sea-coast station, and 
 who could not understand the case in all its aspects, for they 
 had never met with the society's power ; it did not exist at 
 their station, having been broken before they came to Africa. 
 But how was I to feed thirty hungry school-boys ? I had 
 to send most of them away to their distant homes down 
 the river; and my canoes returned Avith a temporary food 
 supply that they had been able to buy at places on the route 
 where news of the interdict had not as yet been officially 
 carried. 
 
 The dozen young men who remained with me I armed witli 
 guns obtained from a neighboring trading-house, and I posted 
 sentinels every night to guard against sudden assault. I 
 went to the native villages and met a council of several cliiefs. 
 They seemed desirous to keep on friendly terms witli myself, 
 but they were angry at their own children. They took me to 
 task for my warlike preparations. These I told tliem were 
 for defence, that I would use the guns only wlicn tlicy com- 
 pelled me to do so. Then they com[)lained tliat I luid taught 
 their children to disobey them. 1 denied, stilting tliat one of 
 the greatest of God's commands wliich I had taught tliom 
 was to honor their parents. But I added that the Fatlier in 
 Heaven claimed priority even to an earthly parent ; and how 
 
154 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 could children really honor parents who were persistently 
 deceiving them about Yasi, who they knew was only a person ? 
 They winced, and looking towards some women who were 
 passing by, said, "Don't speak so loud, the women will hear 
 you." They made another complaint, viz., that I was trying 
 to change their customs ; they bade me leave them alone 
 in their customs ; I could keep my white customs, and they 
 would keep theirs. I frankly told them that I would be 
 pleased to see some of their customs which were evil changed, 
 but that neither I nor any other missionary could compel them 
 to change ; that, nevertheless, these customs would be changed 
 in their and my own lifetime. They were terribly aroused, 
 and swore, " Never ! never ! You can't change them." " No, 
 not I ; but they will be changed." " Never ! Who can or 
 who will do it?" "Your own sons." "Then we will kill 
 our own sons." 
 
 They seemed to transfer their anger against me to their 
 own children. The interdict against my house was not for- 
 mally removed, but it was not rigidly enforced. I no longer 
 felt it necessary to post sentinels at night, and secretly, 
 at night, a sister of one of these very chiefs sold me food for 
 my family. But the heathen rage spread down the river to 
 the villages of the disbanded school children and native 
 Christians. One of these, Nguva, was seized, chained, and 
 offered to Yasi " to be eaten." He was rescued by a daring 
 expedition made by my two lay missionary visitors, who went 
 in my six-oared gig with my twelve enthusiastic young native 
 Christian workmen. They went fifteen miles down river, 
 were secretly directed by one of the little school-boys to the 
 village where Nguva was chained in stocks, assaulted the 
 village at the mid-afternoon hour, when almost all the men 
 were away, cut Nguva from the stocks, and brought him in 
 triumph to my house. But in their retreat up the river they 
 had for a distance of five miles been subjected to a fusillade 
 of native guns from both sides of the river. The river was 
 wide, and they kept in mid-stream, and no one was injured. 
 But the consequences of that resort to arms made me much 
 
FETICHISM — A GOVERNMENT 155 
 
 trouble after my visitors had safely returned to their seaside 
 station. According to native law, I, and not my guests, was 
 held as the responsible party, and the affair was not satisfac- 
 torily settled until some months afterward. 
 
 My prophecy came true; less than ten years later little 
 children were playing Yasi as amusement in the village 
 streets. Nguva became an elder in the church. He is now 
 dead. His chain is a trophy in the Foreign Board's Museum, 
 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. 
 
 Mamba still lives, working faithfully as a church elder 
 and evangelist. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE FETICH — ITS RELATION TO THE FAMILY 
 
 IN most tribes of the Bantu the unit in the constitution of 
 the community is the family, not the individual. How- 
 ever successful a man may be in trade, hunting, or any other 
 means of gaining wealth, he cannot, even if he would, keep 
 it all to himself. He must share with the family, whose 
 indolent members thus are supported by the more energetic 
 or industiious. I often urged my civilized employees not to 
 spend so promptly, almost on pay-day itself, their wages in 
 the purchase of things they really did not need. I repre- 
 sented that they should lay by " for a rainy day." But they 
 said that if it was known that they had money laid up, their 
 relatives would give them no peace until they had com- 
 pelled them to draw it and divide it with them. They all 
 yielded to this, — the strong, the intelligent, the dihgent, 
 submitting to their family, though they knew that their 
 hard-earned pay was going to support weakness, heathenism, 
 and thriftlessness. 
 
 Not only financial rights, but all other individual rights 
 and responsibilities, were absorbed by the superior right and 
 duty of the family. If an individual committed theft, mur- 
 der, or any other crime, the offended party would, if conven- 
 ient, lay hold of him for punishment. But only if it was 
 convenient; to this plaintiff justice in the case was fully 
 satisfied if any member of the offender's family could be 
 caught or killed, or, if the offence was great, even any 
 member of the offender's tribe. 
 
 Families recognized this custom as proper, and submitted 
 to it 5 for the family expected to stand by and assist and 
 
RELATION TO THE FAMILY 157 
 
 defend all its members, whether riglit or wrong. Each 
 member relied upon the family for escape from personal 
 punishment, or for help in their individual weakness or 
 inability. 
 
 In getting a wife, for instance, no young man had saved up 
 enough to buy one. His wages or other gains, year after 
 year, beyond what he had squandered on himself, had been 
 squandered on members of his family. The family therefore 
 all contributed to the purchase of the wife. Though he 
 thenceforth owned her as his wife, the family had claims on 
 her foi- various services and work which neither he nor she 
 could refuse. 
 
 If in the course of time he had accumulated other women 
 as a polygamist, and, subsequently becoming a Christian, was 
 required to put away all but one (according to missionary 
 rule), it was difficult for him to do so, not because of any 
 special affection for the women involved in the dismissal, nor 
 for pity of any hardship that might come to the women them- 
 selves. True, they would be a pecuniary loss to him ; but " / 
 his Christianity, if sincere, could accept that. And the dis- ^ 
 missal of the extra women does not, in Africa, impose on 
 them special shame, nor any hardship for self-support, as in O 
 some other countries. The real trouble is that they are not ^ 
 his to dismiss without family consent. The family had a 
 pecuniary claim on them, and the heathen members thereof 
 are not willing to let them go free back to their people. If 
 this man puts them away, he must give them to some man or 
 men in the family pale who probably already are polygamists. 
 The property must be kept in the family inlieritance. Thus, 
 though attempting to escape from polygamy himself, tliis 
 man would be a consenting party in fastening it on others. 
 His offence before the church therefore would still be much 
 the same. 
 
 For such concentrated interests as are represented in the 
 famil}', there naturally would be feticlies to guard tliose in- 
 terests separate from the individual fetich with its purely 
 personal interests. 
 
158 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Respect for the family fetich is cognate to the worship of 
 the spirits of ancestors. Among the Barotse of South Africa, 
 for this worship, "they have altars in their huts made of 
 branches, on which they place human bones, but they have 
 no images, pictures, or idols." 
 
 Among the Mpongwe tribes of Western Equatorial Africa, 
 "the profound respect for aged persons, by a very natural 
 operation of the mind, is turned into idolatrous regard for 
 them when dead. It is not supposed that they are divested 
 of their power and influence by death, but, on the contrary, 
 they are raised to a higher and more powerful sphere of in- 
 fluence, and hence the natural disposition of the living, and 
 especially those related to them in any way in this world, to 
 look to them, and call upon them for aid in all the emergen- 
 cies and trials of life. It is no uncommon thing to see large 
 groups of men and women, in times of peril or distress, as- 
 sembled along the brow of some commanding eminence 
 or along the skirts of some dense forest, calling in the 
 most piteous and touching tones upon the spirits of their 
 ancestors. 
 
 " Images are used in the worship of ancestors, but they are 
 seldom exposed to public view. They .are kept in some secret 
 corner, and the man who has them in charge, especially if 
 they are intended to represent a father or predecessor in 
 office, takes food and drink to them, and a very small por- 
 tion of almost anything that is gained in trade. 
 
 " But a yet more prominent feature of this ancestral wor- 
 ship is to be found in the preservation and adoration of the 
 bones of the dead, which may be fairly regarded as a species 
 of relic worship. The skulls of distinguished persons are 
 preserved with the utmost care, but always kept out of sight. 
 I have known the head of a distinguished man to be dis- 
 severed from the body when it was but partly decomposed, 
 and suspended so as to drip upon a mass of chalk provided 
 for the purpose. The brain is supposed to be the seat of 
 wisdom, and the chalk absorbs this by being placed under 
 the head during the process of decomposition. By applying 
 
RELATION TO THE FAMILY 159 
 
 this to the foreheads of the living, it is supjjused they ^^•ill 
 imhibe the wisdom of the person whose brain has dripped 
 upon the chalk." ^ 
 
 In the Benga tribe, just north of the equator, in West 
 Africa, this family fetich is known by the name of Yaka. It 
 is a bundle of parts of the bodies of their dead. From time 
 to time, as their relatives die, the first joints of their fingers 
 and toes, especially including their nails, a small clipping 
 from a lobe of the ear, and perhaps snippings of hair are 
 added to it. But the chief constituents are the finger ends. 
 Nothing is taken from any internal organ of the body, as in 
 the composition of other fetiches. This form descends by 
 inheritance with the family. In its honor is sacredly kept 
 a bundle of toes, fingers, or other bones, nail clippings, eyes, 
 brains, etc., accumulated from deceased members of succes- 
 sive generations. This is distinctly an ancestor worship. 
 
 "The worship of ancestors is a marked and distinguishing 
 characteristic of the religious system of Southern Africa. 
 This is something more definite and intelligible than the re- 
 ligious ceremonies performed in connection with the other 
 classes of spirits." ^ 
 
 What was described by Dr. Wilson as respect for the aged 
 among the tribes of Southern Guinea forty years ago, is true 
 still, in a large measure, even where foreign customs and 
 examples of foreign traders and the practices of foreign 
 governments have broken down native etiquette and native 
 patriarchal government. '' Perhaps there is no part of the 
 world where respect and veneration for age are carried to a 
 greater length than among this people. For those who are 
 in office, and who have been successful in trade or in war, 
 or in any other way have rendered themselves distinguished 
 among tlieir fellow-men, this respect, in some outward forms 
 at least, amounts almost to adoration, and proportionately so 
 when the person has attained advanced age. All the 
 younger members of society are early trained to show the^ut- 
 most deference to age. Tlioy must never come into the pres- 
 
 i Wilson, Western AfritJi, p. 393. 2 jbid. 
 
160 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 ence of aged persons or pass by their dwellings without taking 
 off their hats and assuming a crouching gait. When seated 
 in their presence, it must always be at a ' respectful dis- 
 tance,' — a distance proportioned to the difference in their 
 ages and position in society. If they come near enough to 
 hand an aged man a lighted pipe or a glass of water, the 
 bearer must always fall upon one knee. Aged persons must 
 always be addressed as ' father ' (rera, lale, paia) or ' mother ' 
 (ngwe, ina). Any disrespectful deportment or reproachful 
 language toward such persons is regarded as a misdemeanor 
 of no ordinary aggravation. A youthful person carefully 
 avoids communicating any disagreeable intelligence to such 
 persons, and almost always addresses them in terms of flattery 
 and adulation. _And there is nothing which a young person 
 so much deprecates as the curse of an aged person, and es- 
 pecially that of a revered father." 
 
 The value of the Yaka seems to lie in a combination of 
 whatever powers were possessed during their life by the dead, 
 portions of whose bodies are contained in it. But even these 
 are of use apparently only as an actual "medicine," the effi- 
 ciency of the medicine depending on the spirits of the family 
 dead being associated with those portions of their bodies. 
 This efficiency is called into action by prayer, and by the in- 
 cantations of the doctor. 
 
 " In some cases all the bones of a beloved father or mother, 
 having been dried, are kept in a wooden chest, for which a 
 small house is provided, where the son or daughter goes 
 statedly to hold communication with their spirits. They do 
 not pretend to have any audible responses from them, but it 
 is a relief to their minds in their more serious moods to go 
 and pour out all the sorrows of their hearts in the ear of a 
 revered parent. 
 
 "This belief, however much of superstition it involves, 
 exerts a very powerful influence upon the social character of 
 the people. It establishes a bond of affection between the 
 parent and child much stronger than could be expected 
 among a people wholly given up to heathenism. It teaches 
 
RELATION TO THE FAMILY IGl 
 
 the child to look up to the parent, not only as its earthly pro- 
 tector, but as a friend in the spirit land. It strengthens the 
 bonds of iilial affection, and keeps up a lively impression of 
 a future state of being. The living prize the aid of the dead, 
 and it is not uncommon to send messages to them by some 
 one who is on the point of dying; and so greatly is this aid 
 prized by the living that I have known an aged mother to 
 avoid the presence of her sons, lest she should by some secret 
 means be despatched prematurely to the spirit world, for the 
 double purpose of easing them of the burden of taking care 
 of her, and securing for themselves more effective aid than 
 she could render them in this world. 
 
 "All their dreams are construed into visits from the spirits 
 of their deceased friends. The cautions, hints, and warnings 
 which come to them through this source are received with the 
 most serious and deferential attention, and are always acted 
 upon in their waking hours. The habit of relating their 
 dreams, which is universal, greatly promotes the habit of 
 dreaming itself, and hence their sleeping hours are character- 
 ized by almost as much intercourse with the dead as their 
 waking hours are with the living. This is, no doubt, one of 
 the reasons of their excessive superstitiousness. Their imagi- 
 nations become so lively that they can scarcely distinguish 
 between their dreams and their waking thoughts, between the 
 real and the ideal, and they consequently utter falsehood 
 without intending, and profess to see things which never 
 existed." ^ 
 
 All that is quoted above from Dr. Wilson is still true 
 among tribes not touched by civilization. What he relates 
 of the love of children for parents and the desire to communi- 
 cate with their departed spirits is particularly true of the 
 children of men and women Avho have held honorable posi- 
 tion in the community while they were living. And it is 
 also all consistent with what I have described of the fear 
 with which the dead are regarded, and the dread lest they 
 should revenge some injury done them in life. The common 
 
 1 Wilson, Westeru Africa, 
 11 
 
162 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 people, and those who have neglected their friends in any 
 way, are the ones who dread this. The better classes, espe- 
 cially of the superior tribes, hold their dead in affectionate 
 remembrance. 
 
 I have met with instances of the preservation of a parent's 
 brains for fetich purposes, as mentioned above by Dr. Wilson. 
 As honored guest, I have been given the best room in which 
 to sleep overnight. On a flat stone, in a corner of the roonij 
 was a pile of grayish substance ; it was chalk mixed with the 
 decomposed brain-matter that had dripped on it from the 
 skull that formerly had been suspended above. I then re- 
 membered how, on visiting chiefs in their villages, they 
 frequently were not in the public reception-room on my 
 arrival, but I was kept awaiting them. They had been 
 apprised of the white man's approach, had retired to their 
 bedrooms, and when they reappeared, it was with their fore- 
 heads, and sometimes other parts of their bodies, marked 
 with that grayish mixture. The objects to be attained were 
 wisdom and success in any question of diplomacy or in a 
 favor they might be asking of the white man. 
 
 Around the doctor and his power is always a cloak of mys- 
 tery which I have not been able to solve entirel}^ and of 
 which the natives themselves do not seem to have a clear un- 
 derstanding. The other factors in their fetich worship have 
 to them a degree of clearness sufficient to make them able to 
 give an intelligible explanation. It is plain, for instance, 
 that the component parts of any fetich are looked upon by 
 them as we look upon the drugs of our materia medica. It 
 is plain, also, that these "drugs " are operative, not as ours, 
 by certain inherent chemical qualities, but by the presence 
 of a spirit to whom they are favorite media. And it is also 
 clear that this spirit is induced to act by the pleasing en- 
 chantments of the magic doctor. But beyond this, what? 
 Whence does the doctor get his influence ? What is there in 
 his prayer or incantation greater than the prayer or drum or 
 song or magic mirror of any other person? For, admit- 
 tedly, he himself is subject to the spirits, and may be 
 
RELATION TO THE FAMILY 163 
 
 thwarted by some other more powerful spirit which for the 
 time being is operated by some other doctor; or he may 
 be killed by the very spirit he is manipulating, if he should 
 incur its displeasure. 
 
 Belief in the necessity of having the doctor is implicit, 
 while the explanation of his modus operandi is vague, and 
 he is feared lest he employ his utilized spirit for revenge 
 or other harmful purpose. A patient and his relatives who 
 call in the services of a doctor are therefore careful to obey 
 him, and avoid offending him in any way. 
 
 The Yaka is appealed to in family emergencies. Suppose, 
 for instance, that one member has secretly done something 
 wrong, e. g.^ alone in the forest, he has met and killed a 
 member of another family, devastated a neighbor's plantation, 
 or committed any other crime, and is unknown to the com- 
 munity as the offender. But the powerful Yaka of the 
 injured family has brought disease or death, or some other 
 affliction, on the offender's family. They are dying or other- 
 wise suffering, and they do not know the reason why. After 
 the failure of ordinary medicines or personal fetiches to re- 
 lieve or heal or prevent the continuance of the evil, the 
 hidden Yaka is brought out by the chiefs of the offender's 
 family. A doctor is called in consultation; the Yaka is to 
 be opened, and its ancestral relic contents appealed to. At 
 this point the fears of the offender overcome him, and he 
 privately calls aside the doctor and the older members of the 
 clan. He takes them to a quiet spot in the forest and con- 
 fesses what he has done, taking them to the garden he had 
 devastated, or to the spot where he had hidden the remains 
 of the person he had killed. If this confession were made to 
 the public, so that the injured family became aware of it, his 
 own life would be at stake. But making it to his Yaka, and 
 to only the doctor and chosen representatives of his family, 
 they are bound to keep his secret; the doctor on professional 
 grounds, and his relatives on the grounds of family solidarity. 
 The problem, then, is for the doctor to make what seems like 
 an expiation. The explanation of this, as made to me, is 
 
164 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 vague. I am uncertain whether the Yaka of the injured 
 family is to be appeased or the offender's own Yaka aroused 
 from dormant inaction to efficient protection, or both. The 
 Yaka bundle is solemnly opened by the doctor in the presence 
 of the family ; a little of the dust of its foul contents is rubbed 
 on the foreheads of the members present ; a goat or sheep is 
 killed, and its blood sprinkled on them, the while they are 
 praying audibly to the combined ancestor-power in the Yaka. 
 These prayers are continued all the while the doctor, who 
 makes his incantations long and varied, is acting. The sanc- 
 tifying red-wood powder ointment is rubbed over their bodies, 
 and the Yaka spirit having eaten the life essence of the sacri- 
 ficed animal, its flesh is eaten by the doctor and the family. 
 The Yaka bundle is tied up again, and again is hidden 
 away in one of their huts, care being taken to add to it from 
 the body of the member who next dies. The curse that 
 had fallen on them is supposed to be wiped out, and the 
 affliction under which they were lying is believed to be 
 removed. 
 
 Recently (1901) a Mpongwe man had gone as a trader into 
 the Batanga interior. He was sick at the time of his going, 
 one of his legs being swollen with an edematous affection, 
 so much so that people in the interior, natives of that part 
 of the country, and fellow- traders, wondered that he should 
 travel so far from his home in that condition. He said he 
 was seeking among different tribes for the cure he had failed 
 to obtain in his own tribe. Later on, he died. He happened 
 to die alone, while others who lived with him, one of them 
 a relative, were temporarily out of the house. The sudden- 
 ness of the death aroused the superstitious beliefs of the 
 relative, and he rushed to the conclusion that it had been 
 caused by black art machinations of some enemy. But of the 
 Avhereabouts or the personality of that enemy he had not 
 even a suspicion. He cut from the dead man's body the 
 first joints of his fingers and all the toe-nails, put them in 
 the hollow of a horn, and closed its opening, intending to 
 add its contents to his family Yaka when he should return 
 
RELATION TO THE FAMILY 165 
 
 to Gabun. Then he waved the horn to and fro toward the 
 spirits of the air, held it above his head, and struck it on the 
 back of his own neck, uttering at the same time an impreca- 
 tion that as his rehitive had died, so might die that very day, 
 even as he had died, the unknown enemy who had caused 
 his death. 
 
 There is another family "medicine," still used in some 
 tribes, that was formerly held in reverence by the Banaka 
 and Bapuku tribes of the Batanga country of the German 
 Kamerun colony. It was called " IMalanda. " For description 
 of it see Chapter XVI. 
 
 Another medicine similar to the Yaka in its family in- 
 terest is called by the Balimba people living north of Batanga, 
 "Ekongi."^ The following statement is made to me by intel- 
 ligent Batanga people who know the parties, and who believe 
 that what they report actually occurred. 
 
 At Balimba, in the German Kamerun territory, lived a 
 man, by name Elesa. He possessed a little bundle contain- 
 ing powerful fetich medicines, so compounded that they 
 constituted the kind of charm known as Ekongi. Like 
 Aladdin's lamp, and almost as powerful, it warned him of 
 danger, helped him in all his wishes, assisted him in his 
 emergencies, and when he was away from it, as it was 
 hidden in one of his chests in his house, caused him to be 
 able to see and hear anything that was plotted against 
 him. Only he could handle it aright; no one else would 
 be able to manage it. 
 
 A brother-in-law of Elesa, husband of his sister, knew of 
 this Ekongi, and asked Elesa to loan it to him in order that 
 he also might be successful in some of his projects. 
 
 Now, the peculiarity of the Ekongi medicine is tliat it 
 acts for and assists only the family of the person who owns 
 it. Elesa refused his brother-in-law, telling him that as thoy 
 did not belong to the same family, he would not know what 
 to do with a strange Ekongi, nor would Ekongi be willing to 
 answer a stranofer. 
 
 The brother-in-law knew perfectly well that this was the 
 
166 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 manner of all Ekongi medicine ; but he was so covetous and 
 so foolishly determined that he hoped that in some way this 
 Ekongi might be of use to him if only he could possess 
 himself of it. 
 
 One day Elesa went off into the forest on a hunting trip, 
 leaving his Ekongi safely locked in a chest in his house. 
 The brother-in-law obtained a number of keys, and going 
 secretly to Elesa's house, tried them on the various chests 
 stored in the back room. Finally a key fitted, and a lock 
 turned. Suddenly the lid flew up, and out of the now 
 opened chest jumped the little Ekongi bundle, followed by 
 all the goods that had been packed in the chest; and these 
 spread themselves at his feet, — yards of cloth, and hats, and 
 shirts, and coats, and a multitude of smaller articles. He 
 rejoiced at the success of his effort. His covetousness over- 
 came him. He said to himself that he would put back Ekongi 
 into the chest, would lock it, gather up all this wealth and 
 carry it away ; and no one would see them, or know that the 
 chest had been opened by him. 
 
 He started to step forward, but his feet were held fast by 
 some invisible power. He tried to stoop down to lay hold of 
 some of the goods within reach, but his arms and back were 
 held fast and stiff by the same invisible power. And he 
 realized that he was a prisoner in Ekongi 's hands. 
 
 Off in the forest Elesa, in his chase, was enabled by his 
 Ekongi to see and know what was going on in his house. 
 He saw his brother-in-law's attempt at theft, and that his 
 unlawful eyes had looked on the sacred Ekongi. He aban- 
 doned the chase that day, and came back in great anger to 
 his house. There was his brother-in-law rooted to the spot 
 on which he stood, the chest open and empty, and the goods 
 scattered on the floor. 
 
 Elesa controlled his anger, and at first said nothing. He 
 quietly took a chair from the room out into the street and sat 
 down on it, opposite to the doorway, as if on guard. Then 
 he spoke: "So! now! You have looked on my Ekongi! 
 And you have tried to steal ! I will not speak of the shame- 
 
RELATION TO THE FAMILY 167 
 
 ful thing of stealing from a relative. ^ That is a little thing 
 compared with the sin you have done of looking on what was 
 not lawful for your eyes. We are of different families. I 
 will punish you by taking away my sister, your wife. You 
 shall stand there until you agree to deliver up your wife, and 
 also an amount of goods equal to what you paid for her." 
 The brother-in-law began to plead against the hard terms, and 
 offered to put his father into Elesa's hand instead of the wife. 
 But Elesa insisted. 
 
 The brother-in-law's father, at a distant village, possessed 
 also his own family Ekongi, which enabled him to see and 
 know what was being said and done at Elesa's house. He 
 was angry at the hard terms demanded ; according to 
 native view, he would defend any one of his family, even if 
 he were in the wrong. A native eye does not look at es- 
 sential wrong or right; it looks at fam ily interest. His son's 
 attempt at theft did not disturb him. It was enough that 
 Elesa had seized his son as prisoner. He snatched up his 
 spear, and hasted away to quarrel with his marriage relative 
 Elesa. 
 
 On reaching the house, he saw his son still standing help- 
 less, and Elesa seated, still pressing his hard terms on him. 
 The father said to Elesa, " You are not doing well in this 
 matter. Let my son go at once ! " 
 
 Elesa refused, saying, " He wanted that which was sacred 
 to me. He has looked upon it and has desecrated it. I will 
 not agree that the angry Ekongi shall let him go free. He 
 shall pay his ransom." After a long discussion Elesa changed 
 his terms, and demanded a money substitute of one thousand 
 German marks in silver (.^250). The fatlier also receded from 
 his demand that the son should be released unconditionally. 
 And after further discussion the father, having saved both 
 his son and himself from the lii-st terms of the ransom, re- 
 turned again to the question of a person instead of money, 
 and offered his daughter in marriage instead of the 51250. 
 
 1 To a native African that is a much ffroator wrong than stealing from other 
 people, particularly from foreigners. — K II. X. 
 
168 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Elesa accepted. He picked up the now satisfied Ekongi, and 
 put it back into the chest; and all the scattered goods fol- 
 lowed it, drawn by its power. And when the lid was again 
 closed down and locked, the brother-in-law felt his limbs 
 suddenly released from constriction, and was able to walk 
 away. 
 
 This was gravely told me by my cook, a member of the 
 Roman Catholic church, and was endorsed by a woman of 
 my own church, who was present during the recital. 
 
 My friend the late Miss Mary H. Kingsley, on page 273 of 
 her "Travels in West Africa," mentions an incident which 
 shows that she had discovered one of these Yaka bundles, 
 though apparently she did not know it as such and sus- 
 pected it to be a relic of cannibalism. It is true, however, 
 that she did come in contact with cannibalism. She had 
 been given lodging in a room of a house in a Fang village in 
 the country lying between the Azyingo branch of the Ogowe 
 River and the Rgmbwe branch of the Gabun River. On re- 
 tiring at night, she had observed some small bags suspended 
 from the wall. "Waking up again, I noticed the smell in 
 the hut was violent, from being shut up, I suppose, and it 
 had an unmistakably organic origin. Knocking the end off 
 the smouldering bush-light that lay burning on the floor, I 
 investigated, and tracked it to those bags; so I took down 
 the biggest one, and carefully noted exactly how the tie-tie 
 (rattan rope) had been put around its mouth; for these 
 things are important, and often mean a lot. I then shook its 
 contents out in my hat for fear of losing anything of value. 
 They were a human hand, three big toes, four e3'es, two ears, 
 and other portions of the human frame. The hand was fresh, 
 the others only so-so and shrivelled. Replacing them, I tied 
 the bag up, and hung it up again." It was well she noticed 
 a peculiarity in the tying of the calamus-palm string or 
 "tie-tie." A stranger would not have been put in that 
 room of whose honesty or honor there was doubt. White 
 visitors are implicitly trusted that they will neither steal nor 
 desecrate. 
 
RELATION TO THE FAMILY 169 
 
 Another family medicine in the Batanga region is known 
 by the name of Mbati. An account of the mode of its use 
 was given me in 1902 by a Batanga man, as occurring in his 
 own lifetime with his own father. The father was a heathen 
 and a polygamist, having several wives, by each of whom he 
 had children. One day he went hunting in the forest. He 
 observed a dark object crouching among the cassava bushes 
 on the edge of a plantation. Assuming tliat it was a wild 
 beast wasting the cassava plants, he fired, and was frightened 
 by a woman's outcry, "Oh! I am killed!" She was his 
 own niece, wdio had been stooping down, hidden among the 
 bushes as she was weeding the garden. He helped her to 
 their village, where she died. She made no accusation. The 
 bloodshed being in their own family, no restitution was re- 
 quired, nor any investigation made. The matter would 
 have passed without further comment had not, within a year, 
 a number of his young children died in succession; and it 
 began to be whispered that perhaps the murdered woman's 
 spirit was avenging itself, or perhaps some other family was 
 using witchcraft against them. A general council of adja- 
 cent families was called. After discussion, it was agreed 
 that the other families were w-ithout blame ; that the trouble 
 rested with my informant's father's family, which should 
 settle the difficulty as they saw best, by inflicting on the father 
 some punishment, or by propitiation being made by the entire 
 family. The latter was decided on by the doctors. They 
 gathered from the forest a quantity of barks of trees, leaves 
 of parasitic ferns, which were boiled in a very large kettle 
 along with human excrement, and a certain rare variety of 
 plantain, as small as the smallest variety of banana. To 
 each member of the family present, old and young, male and 
 female, were given two of these unripe plantains. The rind 
 does not readily peel off from unri[)e plantains and bananas; 
 a knife is generally used. But for tliis medicine the rinds 
 were to be picked off only by the iinger-nails of those hand- 
 ling them, and then were to be shredded into the kettle in 
 
170 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 small pieces, also only by their finger-nails. A goat or sheep 
 was killed, and its blood also mixed in. This mess was 
 thoroughly boiled. Then the doctor took a short bush 
 having many small branches (a tradition of hyssop?), and 
 dipping it into the decoction, frequently and thoroughly 
 sprinkled all the members of the family, saying, "Let the 
 displeasure of the spirit for the death of that woman, or any 
 other guilt of any hidden or unknown crime, be removed! " 
 The liquid portion of the contents of the kettle having been 
 used in the propitiatory sprinkling, the more solid pottage- 
 like debris was then eaten by all members of the family, as 
 a preventive of possible danger. And the rite was closed 
 with the usual drum, dance, and song. My informant told 
 me that at that time, and taking part in the ceremonies, was 
 his mother, who was then pregnant with him. The Mbati 
 medicine seems to have been considered efficient, for he, 
 the seventh child, survived; and subsequently three others 
 were born. The previous six had died. Though two of 
 those three have since died, in some way they were con- 
 sidered to have died by Njambi (Providence), i. e., a natural 
 death ; for it is not unqualifiedly true that all tribes of Africa 
 regard all deaths as caused by black art. There are some 
 deaths that are admitted to be by the call of God, and for 
 these there is no witchcraft investigation. 
 
 The father also is dead. My informant and one sister sur- 
 vive. They think the Mbati " medicine " was satisfactory, 
 notwithstanding that the sister believes that their father was 
 secretly poisoned by his cousins, they being jealous of his 
 affluence in wives and children. 
 
 The last step in the Mbati rite is the transplanting of some 
 plant. A suitable hole having been dug at one end, or even 
 in the middle of the village street, each person takes a bulb 
 of lily kind, probably a crinum or an amaryllis, such as are 
 common on the rocky edges of streams, and pressing it against 
 their backs and other parts of their body, and with a rhythmic 
 swaying of their bodies plant it in the hole. Thereafter 
 
RELATION TO THE FAMILY 171 
 
 these plants are not destroyed. They are guarded from 
 the village goats by a small enclosure, and should at any 
 time the village remove, the plants are also removed and 
 replanted on the new site. Such plants are seen in almost 
 every village. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE FETICH — ITS RELATIONS TO DAILY WORK AND 
 OCCUPATIONS AND TO THE NEEDS OF LIFE 
 
 IN the great emergencies of life, such as plagues, famines, 
 deaths, funerals, and where witchcraft and black art 
 are suspected, the aid or intervention of special fetiches is 
 invoked, as has been described in the Yaka and other public 
 ceremonies. The ritual required in such cases is often expen- 
 sive, as money is needed for the doctor's fee, for purchase 
 of ingredients and other materials for the " medicine," and 
 in the entertainment of the assemblage that always gather 
 as participants or spectators. 
 
 There is also loss in time, little as the native African values 
 time, and slow as he is in the expedition of any matter. 
 Houses that should be erected and gardens that should be 
 planted are neglected while the rite to be performed is in 
 hand. It may require even a month. During that time 
 either the favorable season for building or planting may have 
 passed, or the work has only partly been completed. The 
 division of the seasons into two rainy (of three months each) 
 and two dry (a short hot and a long cool) make it desirable, 
 as in the temperate zones, for certain work to be done in 
 certain seasons. 
 
 But for the needs of life, day by day, with its routine of 
 occupations, whose outgoings and incomings are known and 
 expected, the Bantu fetich worshipper depends on himself and 
 his regular fetich charms, which, indeed, were made either 
 at his request by a doctor (as we would order a suit of 
 clothes from a tailor), or by himself on fetich rule obtained 
 from a doctor; and when paid for, the doctor is no long. 
 
THE FETICH IN DAILY LIVE 173 
 
 needed or considered. The worshipper keeps these amulets 
 and mixed medicines hanging on the wall of his room or 
 hidden in one of his boxes. But he gives them no regular 
 reverence or worship, no sacrifice or prayer, until such times 
 as their services are needed. He knows that the utilized 
 actual spirits (or at least their influence), each in its specific 
 material object, is safely ensconced and is only waiting the 
 needs of its owner to be called into action. 
 
 These needs come day by day. Almost daily some one in 
 the village is hunting, warring, trading, love-making, fishing, 
 planting, or journeying. 
 
 For Hunting. The hunter or hunters start out each vnth 
 his own fetich hanging from his belt or suspended from his 
 shoulder ; or, if there be something unusual, even if it be 
 not very great, in the hunt about to be engaged in, a temporary 
 charm may be performed by the doctor or even by the hunters 
 themselves. This is the more likely to be done if there is an 
 organized hunt including several persons. Such ceremonies 
 preliminary to the chase are described by W. H. Brown ^ as 
 performed by an old witch-doctor among the Masliona tribe : 
 '* Fat of the zebra, eland, and other game was mixed with dirt 
 and put into a small pot. Then some live coals were placed 
 on the grease, which caused it to burn, so that clouds of thick 
 smoke arose. The huntsmen sat in a circle around the pot, 
 with the muzzles of their old flint-locks and cap-guns sticking 
 into the smoke. In unison they bent over and took a smell 
 of the fumes, and at the same time called out the name of the 
 * medicine' or spirit they were invoking, which was Saru, 
 saying thus, ' Saru, I must kill game ; I must kill game, Saru ! 
 Now, Saru, I must kill game 1 ' 
 
 " After this performance was finished, each of tlie candi- 
 dates in turn sat down near the doctor, to be personally 
 operated upon by him. He placed a bowl of medicated water 
 upon the huntsman's head, and stirred it with a stick while 
 the latter repeated the names of all the kinds of game he 
 wished to kill. This was to ascertiiin whether or not the hunt 
 1 On the South African Frontier, p. 214, 
 
174 ^ FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 was to be successful. If any of the water splashed out and 
 i-an down over the patient's head and face, success was assured. 
 If not a drop had left the bowl, then the huntsman might as 
 well have laid aside his gun and assegai, for his efforts would 
 have been doomed to failure." 
 
 Among the Matabele of Southeast Africa, " when they are 
 about to start for the chase, they arrange themselves in a 
 circle at sunset, and the doctor comes with the bark of a tree 
 filled with medicine, and with his finger marks the chiefs on 
 the forehead, in order to give them authority over the animals." 
 
 For Journeying. No journey of importance is made without 
 preparation of a fetich, to which more forethought and time 
 and care are given than to the preparation of food, clothing, 
 etc., for the way. Arnot ^ describes the process : " On behalf 
 of a caravan to start for Bihe, Msidi and his fetich priests 
 have been at work a whole month, preparing charms and so 
 forth. The process in such a case is first to divine as to the 
 dangers that await them ; then to propitiate with the appointed 
 sacrifices to forefathers (in this case two goats were killed) ; 
 afterwards to prepare the charms necessary either as anti- 
 dotes against evil or to secure good. The noma or fetich 
 spear to be cai-ried in front of the caravan, with charms 
 secured to it, was thus prepared. The roots of a sweet herb 
 were tied around the blade ; then a few bent splinters of wood 
 were tied on, like the feathers of a shuttle-cock. In the cage 
 thus formed, there were placed a piece of human skin, little 
 bits of the claws of a lion, leopard, and so forth, with food, 
 beer, and medical roots ; thus securing, respectively, power 
 over their enemies, safety from the paws of fierce animals, 
 food and drink, and finally health. A cloth was sewn over 
 all, and finally the king spat on it and blessed it. After all 
 these performances they set out with light hearts, each man 
 marked with sacred chalk." 
 
 " Before starting on a journey a man will spend perhaps a 
 fortnight in preparing charms to overcome evils by the way 
 and to enable him to destroy his enemies. If he is a trader, 
 
 1 Garenganze, p. 207. 
 
THE FETICH IN DAILY LIFE 175 
 
 he desires to find favor in the eyes of chiefs and a liberal price 
 for his goods." 
 
 For Warring. So implicit is African faith in signs, charms, 
 and auspices, that when the sign before going into war 
 is inauspicious, the natives' hopelessness of success sometimes 
 makes them seem almost cowardly. Among the people of 
 Garenganze in Southeast Africa, " when the chiefs meet in 
 war, victory does not depend on merely strength and courage, 
 as we should suppose, but on fetich ' medicines.' If some 
 men on the side of the more powerful chief fall, they at 
 once retire and acknowledge that their medicines have failed, 
 and they cannot be induced to renew the conflict on any 
 consideration." ^ 
 
 Among the Matabele, " before a war the doctors concoct 
 a special medicine, and taking some of the froth from it, mark 
 with it the forehead of those who have already killed a man." 
 A native of Batanga recently described to me the war-fetich 
 as formerly prepared by his people. The medicine for it is 
 arranged for thus. A house is built at least several hun- 
 dred yards from the village. There will be present no one but 
 the doctor, who eats and sleeps there while he is arranging with 
 the spirits and deciding on the medicine. After two days he 
 tells the people that he has finished it, that his preparations 
 are ready, and that they must assemble at his house. He tells 
 them to bring with them a certain shaped spear with prongs. 
 Men have already gathered in the village, to the number of 
 several hundred, waiting for the war. The doctor chooses from 
 among them some man whom he sends to the forest to get 
 a certain ingredient, a red amomum pod. (It contains the 
 '^ Guinea grains," or Malaguetta pepper, which taste like car- 
 damom seeds, which a centuiy ago were so highly valued in 
 Europe that only the rich could buy them.) Then the doctor 
 and the man, leaving the crowd, go together to the forest 
 with knife and machete and basket. They may have to go 
 several miles in order to find a tree called " unyongo-mua- 
 ele." The doctor holds the chewed amomum seeds in his 
 
 1 Arnot. 
 
176 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 mouth, and blows them out against the tree, saying, " Pha-a-a! 
 The gun shots ! Let them not touch me ! " The assistant 
 holds the basket while the doctor climbs the tree and rubs off 
 pieces of loose bark which are caught in the basket as they 
 fall. They then go on into the forest to find another tree 
 named " kota." There he blows the chewed seeds in the same 
 way saying the same, — " Pha-a-a ! Thou tree ! Let not the 
 bullets hit me ! " And the assistant, with basket standing be- 
 low, catches the bark scraped down as the doctor climbs this 
 tree. 
 
 They return to the village and enter the doctor's house. 
 No women or children may enter the house or be present at 
 the ceremonies. The men bring into the house a very big 
 iron pot, and the doctor says, *' This is what is to contain 
 all the ingredients of the medicine." Then the doctor, with 
 two other men, takes that spear by night, leaving all the 
 other men to occupy themselves with songs of war, while the 
 townspeople are asleep ; they go to the grave of some man 
 who has recently died. They dig open the grave, and force 
 off the lid of the coffin. The doctor thrusts the spear down 
 into the coffin into the head of the corpse. He twirls the spear 
 about in the skull, so as to get a firm grip on it with the prongs 
 of the spear. He changes his voice, and speaking in a hoarse 
 guttural manner says, " Thou corpse ! Do not let any one 
 hear what I say ! And do not thou injure me for doing this to 
 you ! " When the spear is well thrust into the skull, he stoops 
 into the grave, and with a machete cuts off the head. He goes 
 away carrying the head on the spear-point. While doing all 
 this, he wears not the slightest particle of clothing. They go 
 back to the village to the doctor's house ; and there they 
 catch a cock, and in the presence of the crowd the doctor 
 twists (not cuts) off its head. The blood of the cock is caught 
 in a large fresh leaf. He takes the fowl to the big pot, and 
 lets some of its blood drip into it. The head of the corpse is 
 also put into the pot, with water, and all the other ingredi- 
 ents, including the spear. The bullets of the doctor's gun are 
 also to go into the pot, which is then set over a fire. 
 
THE FETICH IN DAILY LIFE 177 
 
 After the water has boiled the doctor takes a furry skin of 
 
 a bush-cat, and all the hundreds of men stand on one side in 
 
 a line. He dips the skin into the pot, and shakes it over them. 
 
 As he thus sprinkles them, he lays on them a prohibition, 
 
 thus : " All ye ! this month, go ye not near your wives ! " All 
 
 that month is spent by them practising war songs and dances. 
 
 Then the doctor takes the blood that was collected on the 
 
 leaf, and mixes it with powdered red-wood. This mixture is 
 
 tied up with the human head in a flying-squirrel's skin. He 
 
 hangs this bundle up in the house over the place where he 
 
 sits. The body of the fowl next day is torn in pieces, not 
 
 cut with a knife, and placed in a small earthen pot with njabi 
 
 oil (the oil of a large pulpy forest fruit), and nganda (gourd) 
 
 seeds. An entire fresh plantain bunch is cut, and successive 
 
 squads of the men peel each man his small piece with his 
 
 finger-nails. These also they shred with their nails, part into 
 
 the pot, and part on a plantain leaf, as the pot is small, and 
 
 all the pieces will be added as the contents of the pot are 
 
 gradually reduced. The doctor himself lifts the pot from the 
 
 fire, and first eats of the mess, and then gives each of the men, 
 
 with his hand, a small share. 
 
 When all have finished eating, he opens the bundle that 
 had been tied in the squirrel skin, and with the fibrous 
 inner bark of a tree, kimbwa-mbenje (from which formerly 
 was made the native bark-cloth), sponges the red rotten 
 stuff on their breasts, saying, " Let no bullet come here I " 
 Then, led by the doctor, they march in procession to the 
 town. There he tells the people of the town to try to shoot 
 him, explaining that he does not wish any one to be in doubt 
 of the efficacy of the charm. As he leads the procession, he 
 holds the bundle in his hand, shouting, " Budu ! Iiali ' Jnh ' 
 Budu ! hah ! hah ! " The " hah " is uttered witli a bold aspi- 
 ration. This is to embolden his followers. Q' Budu ! jiah ^ " 
 does not mean anything; it is only a yell.) The people are 
 terrified, though he is still shouting to thein to fire at him. 
 He is safe; for he leads the procession to where is sta- 
 tioned a confederate, who does fire at him point blank from a 
 
 12 
 
178 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 gun from which the bullets have been removed. It is a tri- 
 umph for him ! The crowd see that not only he does not fall 
 dead, but he is not even wounded ! The charm has turned 
 aside the bullets ! 
 
 The townspeople are then invited to join the procession. 
 They stand up with the doctor and his crowd, and dance the 
 war-dance. AVhen the dancing is ended, he takes the bundle 
 and anoints all the townspeople, even the women and chil- 
 dren. And the men go to their war, sure of victory. But 
 the doctor himself does not go; he remains safely behind, 
 saying that it is necessary for him to watch the bundle in his 
 house. Defeat in the war is easily explained by saying that 
 some one in the crowd had spoiled the charm by not obeying 
 some item in the ritual. 
 
 For Trading. One method is described to me by a Batanga 
 native who had seen it used by a certain man of his tribe. 
 This man obtained the head of a dead person who had 
 been noted for his intelligence. This he kept hidden in 
 his house, lying in a white basin. To assure himself that it 
 should be seen by no one else, he built a small hut in the 
 behu (kitchen-garden), detached from his dwelling, and into 
 which none but himself and wife should enter. There he 
 kept the head in its basin. When he had occasion to go to 
 a white man's trading-house to ask for goods or any other 
 favor, he first poured water into this basin, mixed it with the 
 decomposed brain that had oozed from the skull, and washed 
 his cheeks in this dirty water. He also took some brain- 
 matter, mixed it with palm-oil, and rubbed it over his hands. 
 Then, on his going to the trading-house, when the white man 
 shakes hands with him and looks on his face, he mil be pleased 
 and generously disposed, and will grant any request made. 
 
 My informant told me that when he was a lad he assisted 
 his father in using another method. His father was inti- 
 mate with white men, trading extensively with them in ivory 
 To increase his credit, he set out to make a new fetich. He 
 called the son to accompany him to the forest, and handed 
 him a basket to carry. They searched among the trees until 
 
THE FETICH IN DAILY LIFE 179 
 
 they found two growing near together, but bent in sueli a 
 way toward each other that their trunks crossed in contact, 
 and were rubbed smooth by abrasion ; and when violently 
 rubbing, in a storm, gave out a creaking sound. In that 
 mysterious sound inhered the fetich power. He chose the 
 trees, not for any value in their kind, but because of their 
 singular juxtaposition and their weird sounds. He gathered 
 bark from these trees, and the son carried the basketful back to 
 their village. The father fixed the time of arrival and point 
 of entrance so that they should not be seen as they came to 
 their house. He then went out to the behu (kitchen-gar- 
 den) and plucked four ripe plantains (mehole) ; and gathered 
 leaves of a certain tree, by name " boka." An earthen pot con- 
 taining water and pieces of the twin-tree bark was set over 
 the fire, and into the pot were finely sliced the mehole and 
 the boka leaves. To these were added a certain kind of fish, 
 by name "hume," a bottle of palm-oil, gourd seeds, and ground- 
 nuts. All these were thoroughly boiled together. When 
 they were sufficiently boiled, he lifted off the pot from the 
 fire, not by his hands, but by clasping its hot sides with his 
 feet, as he sat on a low stool, and placed it on the ground. 
 Sitting by it, he held his face over it, with a cloth thrown 
 over his head, thus inhaling the steam. He remained in this 
 steam bath for about an hour. 
 
 At food time he cut two pieces of leaves from plantiiins, 
 spread them on the ground and sat on them, and ate the mess 
 that was in the pot. While eating, he uttered into the pot 
 adjurations, e. g., "Let no one, not even a Mabeya tribesman, 
 hinder me from the white man's good-^vill I When I go some 
 day to make my request to the white man, let him grant it I " 
 When he had finished eating, he told his son to carry the pot 
 into an inner room and deposit it in a large box, which tlie ' 
 father opened for that purpose. The pot was not washed ; it 
 still contained the remains of the pottage. He told liis son to 
 reveal to no one what tliey liad done. 
 
 That very day he heard tliat his trade friend in the adjacent 
 inferior Mabeya tribe had ol)tained an ivory tusk for him. 
 
180 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 He at once started out alone to meet his friend on the way, 
 so as to be sure that it would not be carried to some one else ; 
 but not as on other ordinary journeys. He was to look 
 neither to the right nor to the left (as if watchful of possibly 
 ambushed enemies), nor to look back, even if called by name ; 
 but with eye straightforward, to walk steadily to the goal. 
 Before starting, he had rubbed some of the pottage mess on 
 his hand and tongue. On reaching the Mabeya village, his 
 friend did not hesitate or haggle about the price, but promptly 
 told him to take the tusk. Before selling it to the white 
 trader, he scraped some ivory flakes from the outside of the 
 tusk, put them into a decanter with two bottles of rum (before 
 foreign liquor was known, native plantain beer was used) and 
 pieces of the twin-tree bark. When subsequently he had 
 occasion to go to the trading-house, he first drank a little 
 from this decanter. 
 
 Another Bwanga-bwa-Ibama, or trade medicine, is concocted 
 as follows: A man who decides to make one for himself does 
 not allow any one but his wife to know what he is about to do. 
 He gathers from the forest leaves of a tree, by name "kota," 
 the skin of a flying-squirrel (ngunye), from some dead per- 
 son the nail from the fourth or little finger (of either hand), 
 and the tip of the tongue, some drops of his wife's menses, a 
 solution of red-wood powder, and the long tail-feathers of a 
 forest bird, by name " kilinga. " He then provides himself with 
 an antelope's horn. Having burned the squirrel skin, he puts 
 its ashes into the horn, mixed with the above-named articles, 
 including the feather, whose end is allowed to stick out. 
 Then, with the gum of the okume, or African mahogany 
 tree, he closes the mouth of the horn, as with a cork, to 
 prevent the liquid contents from escaping. This horn he 
 suspends by a string from his neck or shoulder whenever he 
 takes it with him on a journey. He uses it in his trade 
 dealings with both whites and blacks. Before beginning a 
 bargain or asking a white trader or another person for gifts 
 of goods, he secretly pulls out the feather through the soft 
 gum, and rubs a little of the liquid on the end of his nose. 
 
THE FETICH IN DAILY LIFE 181 
 
 When this fetich is not in use, it is hidden in his bedroom 
 or other private part of his house. But no one, not even 
 his own family, is allowed to know where it is kept. 
 
 Among the Mpongwe tribes of the equator in West Africa 
 there are trade medicines that involve actual murder. One 
 of these is called "Okundu." Like modern spiritualism, it 
 seeks to employ a human medium to communicate with the 
 dead; but it is unlike spiritualism in that the medium must 
 actually be killed before he can go on his errand. 
 
 In the case of a man who seeks to become wealthy in trade 
 and goes to a magic doctor for that purpose, the doctor 
 tells him of the different kinds of medicine, and some of 
 the most important things required for each. The seeker 
 may choose what he is able and willing to do. For Okundu 
 medicine it is required that the seeker shall name some one 
 or more of his relatives who he is willing should die, and 
 that their spirits be sent to influence white traders or other 
 persons of wealth, and make them favorably disposed 
 toward the seeker, so that they may employ him in positions 
 of honor and profit. If the seeker iiesitate to do the actual 
 murder, the doctor, b}* his black art, is to kill the person 
 nominated and send him on his errand. If the fear should 
 occur to the seeker that perhaps the murdered relative, in- 
 stead of devoting himself in the spirit-world to the trade in- 
 terests of his murderer, should attempt to avenge himself, the 
 subject is dismissed by the doctor's assurance that either the 
 spirit shall not know that the death of its body was premature, 
 or that he will overrule it for the desired purpose. 
 
 I know, personally, a Mpongwe man still living in Gabun 
 who is believed to have done this Okundu. He is of promi- 
 nent family, and had held lucrative service with white traders. 
 His fortunes began to wane ; he fell into debt, and white men 
 began to doubt him and hesitated to entrust him. Though 
 wearing the dress of a civilized gentleman, he is a heathen 
 at heart. He had a little slave boy. The child suddenly and 
 mysteriously disappeared. Those who asked questions re- 
 ceived evasive and contradictory answers. A very reliable 
 
182 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 native told me that it was known that this man had been 
 communicating with an Okundu doctor, and many believed 
 that the child had been put to death. But no one dared to 
 say anything openly, and there was not sufficient proof on 
 which to lay an information before the French governor, 
 only a mile distant. 
 
 Another Mpongwe trade medicine is Mbumbu (which means 
 "rainbow"). Old tradition said that the rainbow was caused 
 by a forest vine which a great snake had changed to the form 
 of the sun-colored arc. The seeker of wealth is aided by the 
 doctor to obtain a piece of this rainbow, which he keeps in 
 secret, and can carry hidden with him. By it he is able at 
 any time to kill any one of his relatives whom he may choose 
 (of course unknown to them) and send their spirits off to in- 
 duce foreign traders to give him a store of goods (the 
 children's pot of gold at the rainbow's end?). 
 
 . For Sickness. Among the Mpongwe and adjacent tribes 
 there are three kinds of spirits invoked, according to the 
 character of the disease. These are Nkinda, Ombwiri, and 
 Olaga. 
 
 It is clear that these, as explained in a previous chapter, 
 are names of spirits, but the same names (as in the case of 
 other fetich mixtures) are given to the medicines in whose 
 preparation they are invoked. But my informants differed 
 in their opinions whether these names indicate different kinds 
 of spirits, or only a difference in the functions or works done 
 by them. One very intelligent and prominent native at first 
 seemed uncertain, but subsequently said that "Nkinda" in- 
 dicated the spirits of the common dead ; " Ombwiri " the 
 spirits of distinguished dead, kings, and other prominent 
 men; and "Olaga," a higher class, who had been admitted to 
 an "angelic " position in the spirit-world. All, however, as- 
 serted that all these are spirits of former human beings. 
 Which kind shall be invoked depends on the doctor's 
 diagnosis of the disease. 
 
 Take the case of some one who has been sick with an 
 obscure disease that has not yielded to ordinary medication: 
 
I 
 
THE FETICH IN DAILY LIFE 183 
 
 the doctor begins his iiiCcantations with drum and dance and 
 song. This is sometimes kept up all night, and in minor 
 cases the patient is required to join in these ceremonies. 
 But in the more mystic Nkinda, Ombwiri, and Olaga the sick 
 person sits still, being required to do so as a part of the 
 diagnosis. For if after a while the patient shall begin to 
 nod his head violently, it is a sign that a spirit of some one 
 of these three classes has taken possession of him. The 
 doctor then takes him to a secret place in the forest, and 
 asks the spirit what kind it is, and what the nature of the 
 disease. The reply, though made by the patient, is not sup- 
 posed to be his, but the spirit's who is using his mouth. Really 
 the sick, dazed, submissive patient does not know what he is 
 saying. After this diagnosis the doctor goes to seek plants 
 suitable for the disease. By chance the patient may recover. 
 If he does not, the doctor asserts that the spirit had misin- 
 formed him, and the ceremony must be performed again. 
 
 One of the physical signs indicating that Olaga, rather 
 than Nkinda or Ombwiri, is the medicine to be used, is vomit- 
 ing. Hemorrhages from the lungs would be included in the 
 Olaga diagnosis. 
 
 "Among the Mashonas of South Africa a 'medicine ' used 
 is a small antelope horn called 'egona, ' in which was a 
 mixture of ground-nut oil and a medicinal bark known as 
 'unchanya. ' The concoction is taken out on the end of a stick 
 termed 'mutira, ' and administered to the patient by dropping 
 it into his ear. The doctor stated that it was a sure cure for 
 headache. 
 
 "Another horn, four inches long, called 'mulimate, ' was 
 for the purpose of cupping and bleeding, and is used in this 
 wise: An incision is made with a knife into the body, the 
 large end of the horn is placed over the wound ; then a vacuum 
 is formed by the doctor's sucking the air out through an open- 
 ingf at the little end. The small hole is closed with wax, and 
 the horn is left until it has become tilled with clotted blood. 
 This is the process of curing rheumatism and other maladies, 
 which are supposed by the Mashonas to be literally drawn out 
 
184 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 with the blood. Bleeding is practised extensively; and I 
 have seen natives bled from arms, legs, body, and head until 
 they were so exhausted that weeks were required for their 
 recovery. 
 
 ^ "Another important instrument was a brush made of a 
 zebra's tail, among the hairs of which were tied many small 
 roots and herbs possessing various medicinal properties. One 
 of the remedies was known as 'gwandere,' and, taken inter- 
 nally, was a sure cure for worms, so the doctor stated. The 
 brush was called *muskwa,' this being the name of any ani- 
 mal's tail. The doctor demonstrated its use by operating 
 upon a man in my presence. He placed some powdered 
 herbs in a bowl of water, then dipped the brush in, and 
 sprinkled the patient. Next, he performed several magic 
 evolutions with the brush around the patient's body, at the 
 same time repeating, 'May the sickness leave this person!' 
 and so forth. The doctor told me that after this operation 
 the patient was certain of recovery, unless some witch or 
 spirit intervened to prevent it or to cause his death." ^ 
 
 For Loving. Love philtres are common, even among the 
 civilized and professedly Christian portion of the community. 
 Philtres are both male and female. If a woman says to her- 
 self, " My husband does not love me ; I will make him love 
 me ! " or if any woman desires to make any man love her, she 
 prepares a medicine for that purpose. This charm is called 
 "lyele." The process is as follows: First, she scrapes from 
 Resole of her foot some skin, and lays it carefully aside. 
 Next, when she has occasion to go to the public latrine at 
 the seaside or on the edge of the forest, she washes her geni- 
 tals in a small bowl of water, which she secretly carries to 
 her house. Then, with a knife, she scrapes a little skin 
 and mucous from the end of her tongue. These three in- 
 gredients she mixes in a bottle of water, which is to be used 
 in her cooking. 
 
 The most attractive native mode of cooking fish and meat 
 is in jomba ("bundle"). The flesh is cut into pieces and 
 
 Brown, On the Sontli African Frontier. 
 
THE FETICH IN DAILY LIFE 185 
 
 laid in layers with salt, pepper, some crushed oily nut, and 
 a little water. These all are tied up tightly in several thick- 
 nesses of fresh green plantain leaves, and the bundle is set 
 on a bed of hot coals. The water in the bundle is converted 
 into steam before the thick fleshy leaves are charred through. 
 The steam, unable to escape, permeates the fibres of the meat, 
 thoroughly cooking it without boiling or burning. 
 
 When the above-mentioned woman cooks for the man, her 
 husband, or any other for whom she is making the philtre, 
 the water she uses in the jomba is taken from that prepared 
 bottle. This jomba she sets before him, and he eats of it 
 (unaware, of course, of her intention, or of the special mode 
 of preparation). It is fully believed that the desired effect 
 is immediate; that, as soon as he has finished eating, all the 
 tlioughts of his heart will be turned toward this woman, and 
 that he will be ready to comply with any wish of hers. No 
 objection to her, or to what she says, coming from any other 
 person in the village, male or female, will be regarded by 
 him. 
 
 I know a certain Gabun woman who boasted of her power, 
 by the above-described means, to cause a certain white man 
 whom she loved (but who was not her husband) to do any- 
 thing at all that she bade him. 
 
 Also a small portion from that bottle may be poured 
 (secretly) into the glass of liquor that is to be drunk by a 
 favored guest. This is practised alike on visitors, white or 
 black. 
 
 The process of making a love charm by a man is more 
 elaborate. The ingredients are more numerous and require 
 more time in their collection. Having fixed his desire 
 on some woman, he decides in his heart, " I am going to 
 many such and such a woman in such and such a village! " 
 But he keeps his intention entirely secret. He proceeds to 
 make the male charm called "Ebabi." (I do not know the 
 origin of this word; it looks as if it belonged to the ad- 
 jective " bobabu " = sof t, which is a derivative of the verb 
 "babaka,'' to yie ld, to consent, to soften. ) The first ingre- 
 
186 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 dient is coconut oil, which is poured into a flask made of 
 a small gourd or calabash. Then, going to the forest, he 
 gathers leaves of the bongam tree. Another day he will go 
 again to the forest, and find leaves of the bokadi tree. Then 
 he plucks some hairs froni his arm-pits, and puts them and the 
 bruised leaves, with some of his own urine, into the flask. 
 This flask he then suspends from his kitchen roof above the 
 itaka frame or hanging-shelf that in almost all kitchens is 
 placed above the fire -hearth. It remains there in the smoke 
 for ten days. Then taking it down, he inserts into it, tip 
 downward, a long tail-feather of a large bird called " koka." 
 He is ready then for his experiment. Any day that he 
 chooses to go to seek the woman, he first draws out the 
 feather, with whatever of the mixture clings to it, and 
 wipes it on his hands. His hands he then rubs over his face 
 rapidly and vigorously, saying, " So will I do to that woman ! " 
 He must immediately then start on his journey. This act 
 of anointing his hands and face must have been his very last 
 act before starting. And there are several prohibitions. He 
 must have thought beforehand of all things needed to be done 
 or handled, for after the anointing he must not touch any 
 other thing. In taking the gourd-flask from above the 
 hanging-shelf he must not touch the shelf. He must not 
 rub or scratch his head. He must not handle a broom. 
 He must not shake hands with any one on the path to the 
 woman's village. All these prohibitions are in order that 
 the anointed mixture may not be rubbed off, or its effect 
 counteracted by contact with anything else. When he reaches 
 the woman's village, he goes directly to her, and clasping her 
 on the shoulder, he rubs his hands downward on her arm, 
 saying, " You ! you woman ! I love you ! " Instantly the 
 medicine is operative, and she is willing to go with him. 
 
 If it is only a love affair, she goes secretly. If he offers 
 her marriage, there is first the amicable settlement by the 
 council that is then held by the woman's family as to the 
 amount of the dowry to be paid for her. Presents having 
 been given to her by him, the woman goes with the man 
 
THE FETICH IN DAILY LIFE 18T 
 
 without further objection. On reaching his house, he points 
 out to her the gourd-flask hanging in the kitchen, and tells 
 her, "Let that thing alone." But he does not inform her 
 what it is ; nor does she know or suspect that it is anything 
 more than an ordinary fetich. Nor does any one else know ; 
 for no one had been allowed to see him perform any part 
 of the several processes of the ritual in compounding the 
 charm. 
 
 For Fishing. The prescription for making the fetich for 
 success in Ashing is as follows: Go in the morning early, 
 while the rest of the villagers are asleep, to an adjacent 
 marsh or pond. (Almost all African villages are built on 
 or near the bank of some stream or lake.) Find a place 
 where pond-lilies are growing. Wade into the pond, bend 
 low in the water, and pluck three lily-pads. There are 
 water -spiders, called " mbwa-ja-miba" (dogs of the water ), 
 generally running over the surface of the water at such 
 places; catch four of them. Gather also leaves of another 
 water-plant called "ngama." All these articles leave in the 
 village in a safe place. When other fishers come in from 
 the sea, go to the beach to meet them; and if they have 
 among their catch a certain fish called "hume," having three 
 spines, b eg or buy i t. This you are to dry over the fire. 
 Watch the daily fishing until some one has killed a shark; 
 obtain its heart, which also is to be dried. Take also a plate 
 full of gourd seeds (nganda) and some ground-nuts (mbenda); 
 also five "fingers" of unripe plantains cut from the living 
 bunch on the stalk, and a tumbleiful of palm-oil. All these 
 above-named ingredients are to be mixed in one pot (which 
 must be earthen) and are to be cooked in it. While the 
 mess is boiling, sit by, face over the pot, in the steam rising 
 from it, and speak into the pot, "Let me catch fish every 
 day! every da}^ " No people are to be present, or to see any 
 of these proceedings. Take the pot off the fire, not with 
 your hands, but by your feet, and set it on the ground. 
 Take all your fish-hooks, and hold them in the steam arising 
 from the pot, Take a banana leaf that is perfect and not 
 
188 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 torn by wind, and laying it on the ground, spread out the 
 hooks on it. Then eat the stewed mess, not with a real 
 spoon, but with a leaf twisted as a spoon. In eating, the 
 inedible portions, such as fish-bones, skins, rind, and so 
 forth, are not to be ejected from the mouth on the ground, 
 but must be removed by the fingers and carefully laid on the 
 banana leaf. Having finished eating, call one of the village 
 dogs, as if it was to be given liberty to eat the remains of the 
 mess. As the dog begins to eat, strike it sharply, and as 
 the animal runs away howling, say, ^^ So! may I strike fish! " 
 Then kick the pot over. Take the refuse of food from the 
 banana leaf, and the hooks, and lay them at the foot of the 
 plantain stalk from which the five " fingers " were cut. Leave 
 the pot lying as it was until night. Then, unseen, take it 
 out into the village street, and violently dash it to pieces on 
 the ground, saying, " So! may I kill fis h!" It is expected 
 that the villagers shall not hear the sound of the breaking of 
 the vessel ; for it must be done only when they are believed 
 to be asleep. When the bunch of plantains from which those 
 fingers were taken ripens, and is finally cut down for food by 
 others, you are forbidden to eat not only of it, but of the fruit 
 of any of its shoots that in regular succession, year after year 
 (according to the manner of bananas and plantains), take the 
 place of the predecessor stalk. You may never eat of their 
 fruit. 
 
 . For Planting. P lanting is done almost entirely by women. 
 If a woman says to herself, " I want to have plenty of food ! 
 I will make medicine for it! " she proceeds to gather the nec- 
 essary ingredients. She takes her ukwala (machete), pavo 
 (knife), short hoe (like a trowel), and elinga (basket), and 
 goes to the forest. She must go very early in the morning, 
 and alone. She gathers a leaf called "tube," another called 
 " in jenji, " the bark of a tree called " bohamba, " the bark also of 
 elamba, and leaves of bokuda. Hiding them in a safe place, 
 she goes back to her village to get her earthen pot. Return- 
 ing with it to the forest, she makes a fire, not with coals 
 from the village, but with new, clean fire made by the two 
 
THE FETICH IN DAILY LIFE 189 
 
 fire-sticks. These, used by natives before steel and flint 
 were introduced, require often an hour's twirling before 
 friction develops sufficient heat to cause a spark. The sparks 
 are caught on thoroughly dried plantain fibre. Then she 
 builds her fire. She goes to some spring or stream for water 
 to put in the pot with the leaves and barks, and sets it on 
 the fire. All this while she is not to be seen by other people. 
 When the water has boiled, she sets the pot in the middle 
 of the acre of ground which she intends to clear for her 
 garden until its contents cool. In the meanwhile she goes 
 to some creek and gets "chalk" (a white clay is found in 
 places in the beds of streams). She washes it clean of mud 
 and rubs it on her breast. Then she takes the pot, and 
 empties its decoction by sprinkling it, with a bunch of leaves, 
 over the ground, saying, ".My f orefathers! now in the 
 land of spirits, give me food ! Le t me have food more abun- 
 dantly than all oth er people ! " Then she again sets the pot 
 in the middle of the proposed plantation. She takes from it 
 the tube leaves and puts them into four little cornucopias 
 (ehongo), which she rolls from another large leaf of the 
 elende tree. She sets these in the four corners of the garden. 
 Whenever she comes on any other day to work in the garden, 
 she pulls a succulent plant, squeezes its juice into the ehongo; 
 and this juice she drops into her eye. To be efficient, this 
 medicine has a prohibition connected wdth it, viz.^ that 
 during the days of her menses she shall not go to the 
 garden. 
 
 When her plants have grown, and she has eaten of them, 
 she must break the pot. Having done so, she makes a large 
 fire at an end of the garden, and burns the pieces of earthen- 
 ware so that they shall Ije utterly calcined. It is not required 
 that she shall stay by the fire awaiting that result. vShe may, 
 if she wishes, in the meanwhile go back to her village. 
 She takes the ashes of the pot, mixes them with chalk in 
 a joinba (bundle) of leaves, which she ties to a tree of her 
 garden in a hidden spot where pe()[)le will not see it. 
 
 Another strict prohibition is required of her by the niedi- 
 
190 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 cine, viz.^ that she is not to steal from another woman's 
 garden. If she break this law, her own garden will not 
 produce. The jomba is kept for years, or as long as she 
 plants at that place, and the chalk mixture is rubbed on 
 her breast at each planting season. From time to time also, 
 as the leaves of the jomba decay or break away, she puts 
 fresh ones about it, to prevent the wetting of its contents 
 by rain or its injury in any other way. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE FETICH — SUPERSTITION IN CUSTOMS 
 
 THE observances of fetich worship fade off into the cus- 
 toms and habits of life by gradations, so that in some 
 of the superstitious beliefs, while there may be no formal 
 handling of a fetich amulet containing a spirit, nor actual 
 prayer or sacrifice, nevertheless spiritism is in the thought, 
 and more or less conscious^ held. 
 
 In our civilization there are thousands of professedly Chris- 
 tian people who are superstitious in such things as fear of 
 Friday, No. 13, spilled salt, etc. In my childhood, at Easton, 
 Pa., I was sent on an errand to a German farmhouse. The 
 kind-hearted Frau was weeding her strawberry bed in the 
 spring garden-making, and was throwing over the fence into 
 the public road superfluous runners. I asked permission to 
 pick them up to plant in my own little garden. She kindly 
 assented, and I thanked her for them, whereupon she ex- 
 claimed, "xVchI nein! nein! Das ist no goot! You say, 
 'Dank you'; now it no can grow any more!" I was too 
 young to inquire into the philosophy of the matter. Surely 
 she would not forbid gratitude. I think the gist of what she 
 thought my error was, that I had thanked her for what she 
 considered a worthless thing and had thrown away. I do 
 not think she would have objected to thanks for anything 
 she valued sufficiently to offer as a gift. 
 
 The difference between my old Pennsylvania-Dutcli lady j 
 and my " Number 13 " acquaintances, and my African Negro \ 
 friend is that to the former, while they are somewhat in- 1 
 fluenced by their superstition, it is not their God. To the \ 
 latter it is the practical and logical a})plication of his religion. 
 Theirs is a pitiable weakness ; liis a trusted belief. 
 
192 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 It would be impossible to enumerate all the thousands of 
 practices dominated by the superstitious beliefs of the Bantu, 
 — practices which sometimes erect themselves into customs 
 and finally obtain almost the force of law. JMany of these 
 are prevalent all over Africa ; others are local. 
 
 Rules of Pregnancy. 
 
 Everywhere are rules of pregnancy which bind both the 
 woman and her husband. During pregnancy neither of 
 them is permitted to eat the flesh of any animal which was 
 itself pregnant at the time of its slaughter. Even of the flesh 
 of a non-pregnant animal there are certain parts — the heart, 
 liver, and entrails — which may not be eaten by them. It is 
 claimed that to eat of such food at such a time would make 
 a great deal of trouble for the unborn infant. During his 
 wife's pregnancy a man may not cut the throat of any animal 
 nor assist in the butchering of it. A carpenter whose wife 
 is pregnant must not drive a nail. To do so would close the 
 womb and cause a difficult labor. He may do all other work 
 belonging to carpentering, but he must have an assistant to 
 drive the nails. 
 
 In my early years on Corisco Island, and while I was ex- 
 pecting to become a father, I was one day superintending the 
 butchering of a sheep. It was not necessary that I should 
 actually use the knife; that was done by the cook; but I 
 stood by to see that the work was done in a cleanly manner, 
 and that in the flaying the skin should be rolled constantly 
 away, so that the hair should not touch the flesh. In the 
 (dissection I assisted, so that the flesh should not be defiled 
 jby a carelessly wounded entrail. My servant was amazed, 
 "^ and said my child would be injured. He was still more 
 / shocked when Mrs. Nassau herself came to urge haste and 
 v^to secure the liver for dinner. 
 
 Among the station employees on Corisco in 1864 was an 
 ex-slave, a recent convert, whose freedom had been pur- 
 chased by one of the missionaries. The native non-Christian 
 freemen begrudged him his position as a mission employee; 
 
THE FETICH IN CUSTOMS 193 
 
 for his wages were now his own, and could no longer be 
 claimed by his former master. Some of his fellow-servants, 
 freemen, put off on him, as much as the}^ could, the more 
 menial tasks. It was incumbent, therefore, on the mission- 
 aries to see that he was not oppressed by his fellows. Clear- 
 ing of the graveyard was a task no one liked to have assigned 
 to him; and it was often thrown on poor Evosa. One day a 
 newly arrived missionary, the Rev. George Paull, the noblest 
 Qf my associates these forty years, who just then knew 
 J ittle of the language or of native thought or custom, 
 ordered Evosa to take his hoe and clean the cemetery path. 
 Evosa bluntly said, "Mba haye! " (I won't). ''You won't ! 
 You refuse to obey me?" "Mba haye I" "Then I dismiss 
 you." Evosa went away, much cast down. Some of his 
 fellow-Christians came to me saying they were sorry for him, 
 and asked me to interfere. "But," I said, "he should obey; 
 the work is not hard. " " Oh ! but he can't do it ! " " Why 
 not?" " Because his wife is pregnant." Immediately I 
 understood. Evosa may not have believed in the supersti- 
 tion, but for all that, if he did the work and subsequently 
 there should be anything untoward in his wife's confinement, 
 her relatives would exact a heavy fine of him. We had not 
 required our converts to disregard these prohibitions, if only 
 they did not actually engage in any act of fetich worship. I 
 was careful to say nothing to the natives that would under- 
 mine my missionary brother's authority; but privately I in- 
 timated to ^Ir. Paull that I thought that if lie had been fully 
 aware of the state of the case, he would not have dismissed 
 the man. He was just, and reversed the dismissal. Evosa 
 was pardoned also for the bluntness of his refusal; it was a 
 part of his slavish ignorance. In conclusion, I warned him 
 that he should have explained to ^Ir. Paull the ground of his 
 refusal, and should have asked for other work. He had not 
 supposed that the white man did not know; and the ask- 
 ing of excuse is a part of politeness that has to be taught. _ 
 Almost every now missionary makes unwise or unjust orders 
 and decisions k lore he learns on what superstitious grounds 
 
 13 
 
194 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 he is treading. Not all are willing to be rectified as was my 
 noble brother PauU. 
 
 In the burial of a first-born infant the lid of the coffin is 
 not only not allowed to be nailed down, but it must not en- 
 tirely cover the corpse; a space must be left open (generally 
 above the child's head); j^ie superstition being that if the 
 co ffin be closed, the mother will bear no more children . 
 
 Omens on Journeys. 
 
 Almost every traveller in Africa, in publishing his story, 
 has much to say about the difficulties in getting his caravan 
 of porters started on their daily journey. His detailed ac- 
 count of slowness, disobedience, and desertions is as monoto- 
 nous to the reader as they were distressing to himself. Did 
 he but know it, the fault was often largely his own. The 
 man of haste and exactitude, that has grown up on railroad 
 time-tables, demands the impossible of aborigines who never 
 have needed to learn the value of time. Anglo-Saxon, Teu- 
 tonic, ,and even Latin d ili gence expects too much of the 
 happy-go-lucky African. The traveller fumes, and frets, 
 and works himself into a fever. He would gain more in the 
 end if he would festina lente. He would save himself many 
 a quarrel or case of discipline (for which he earns the reputa- 
 tion of being a hard master; and for which, further on in the 
 journey, he may be shot by one of his outraged servants) if 
 he only knew that superstition had met his servant, as the 
 angel "with his sword drawn" met Balaam's ass, "in a nar- 
 row place" ; and that servant could no more have dared to 
 go on in the way than could that wise ass who knew and saw 
 what his angry master did not know. 
 
 Mr. R. E. Dennett, for many years a resident in Loango 
 among the Bavili people, and author of "Seven Years 
 among the Fjort," recognizes this in " A Few Signs and 
 Omens," contributed recently to a Liverpool weekly journal, 
 "West Africa." What he says of the Fyat (Fiot) tribes is 
 largely true of all the other West African tribes. "They 
 have a number of things to take into consideration, when 
 
^\A\\)oV^ 
 
 THE FETICH IN CUSTOMS 195 
 
 setting out upon a journey, wliich may account for many of 
 those otherwise inexplicable delays which so annoy the white 
 man at times when anxious to start ' one time ' for some place 
 or other. 
 
 '' The first thing a white man should do is to see that the 
 Negro's fetiches are all in order; then, when on the way, he 
 must manage things so that the first person the caravan shall 
 meet shall be a woman; for that is a good sign, while to 
 meet a man means that something evil is going to happen. 
 Then, to meet the bird Kna that is all black is a bad sig n ; 
 whi le the Kna that has its wings tipped with white is a good 
 
 sign. 
 
 " The rat Benda running across your path from left to right 
 is good ; from right to left fairly good ; should it appear from 
 the left and run ahead in the direction you are going, *0h! 
 that is very good ! ' but should it run towards you, we ll, 
 then the best thing for you to do is to go back; for you are 
 sure to meet with bad luck ! 
 
 " See that your men start with their left foot first, and that 
 they are 'high-steppers ' ; for if their left foot meet with an 
 obstacle, and is not badly hurt, it is not a bad sign ; b ut if 
 their right foot knocks against anything, you must go back 
 to town. 
 
 " See that you do not meet that nasty brown bird called 
 Mvia, that is always crying out^ 'Via, via': for that means 
 * witch-palaver, ' and strikes consternation into your people. 
 Nobody likes to be reminded of his sins or witch deeds, and 
 be condemned to be burnt in the fire; and that is what 'via ' 
 means. 
 
 "Then there is that moderately large bird with wings 
 tipped with white called 'Nxeci,' also reminding one of 
 'witch-palaver,' and continuously crying out, 'Ke-e-e,' or 
 'No.' You had far better not start. 
 
 "T ake care also to shoot the cukoo o Nkuku before it 
 crosses your path; for if you allow it to pass, you had better 
 return; it is a bad omen. 
 
 "Then, concerning owls: see that your camp at night is 
 
196 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 not disturbed by the cry of the Kulu (spirit of the departed), 
 that warns you that one of you is going to die ; or that of the 
 Xi-futu-nkubu, which means that you may expect some evil 
 shortly. On the other hand, let the Mampaulo-paulo hoot 
 as much as it likes; for that is a good sign. 
 
 " Then look out that the snake Nduma does not cross your 
 path ; for that is a sign of death, or else of warning to you 
 that y ou should return and see to the fetich obligation s 
 the iron bracelet Ngofu reminds you of. E xamine your men, 
 and ask those who wear the bracelet the following questions : 
 Have you eaten the flesh of anything (save birds) on the 
 same day that it was killed? Have you pointed your knife 
 at any one ? Did you know your wife on the Day of Rest 
 (Nsana, Sunday) ? Have you looked upon a woman during 
 a certain period of the month ? Have you eaten those long 
 'chilli' peppers instead of confining yourself to the smaller 
 kinds ? 
 
 " You must send those who have not the bracelet, together 
 with those who have not been true to ngofu, back to 
 town, to set this ' palaver ' right. Take great care of your 
 fowls, and see that you have no ill-regulated cock to crow 
 between 6 p. m. and 3 A. M., as that means that there is a 
 palaver in town to which your men are called, so that it 
 may be settled at once. 
 
 " Then, there is that large bird Knakna, whose cry warns 
 your men that there is something wrong with the fetich Mabili 
 ('the east wind, ' on the gateway at the eas t entrance to each 
 town^, and this knowledge will hang as a dead weight on all 
 their energies until they have just run back to town to see 
 what the matter may be. 
 
 " Get your men to sleep early, lest they should see the 
 ' falling stars ' ; for it means that one of their princes is about 
 to die, and that is disquieting. Then don't let it thunder 
 out of season; for that portends the death of an important 
 prince. 
 
 " And if you determine to go out fishing, and meet the rat 
 Benda (as above noted), go or not, as the signs command 
 
THE FETICH IN CUSTOMS 197 
 
 you. If you meet the bird Mbixi that sings 'luelo-elo-elo,' 
 go on your way rejoicing; or when the little bird Nxexi, 
 true to nature, sings 'xixexi, ' all is well; but when it sings, 
 'tietie,' go back, for you will catch nothing. 
 
 "Then there is the wild dog Mbulu; well, that must not 
 cross your path at starting. You laugh? Well, so did 
 Nyambi, the brother of my headman, Bayona ; and what hap- 
 j)ened ? Nyambi had come down from the interior with his 
 master; and after a short stay was ordered back to his trad- 
 ing post, his master saying that he would follow him shortl}'. 
 A friend handed him a son of his for him to educate, and to 
 attend upon him; in fact, to be his 'boj^' Everything being 
 ready, he set out from Loango; and the first thing they met 
 on the road was the wild dog. Now Nyambi was a plucky 
 Bantu and took no notice of this warning, but continued on 
 his way. On reaching the forest country in Mayomba, the 
 boy entrusted to him ran away. Nyambi, true to his trust, 
 came after him back to his town, to see that the boy was once 
 more placed in the care of his father, and so to avoid any 
 further complications. Then he once more started on his way, 
 and, nearing the forest country again, was bitten severely on 
 the foot by a snake. He tied a rag around his leg just under 
 the knee, and another just above his ankle, and squeezed 
 as much blood as he could from the wound itself. Then he 
 hobbled into the nearest town, and waited there for assistance 
 from his family, to whom he had at once despatched a mes- 
 senger. They sent men and women to bring him back to 
 Loango, where he arrived in a ver}- weak condition, and with 
 a fearful sore on his foot, — an awful warning to all those 
 who will not take the omens sent to them in earnest! What! 
 you still laugh? Well, there is no hope for you; you are too 
 persistent, and have not read the story of the rabbit and the 
 antelope, and of tlie trap laid for the former.^ And if you 
 keep on laughing at these superstitions of the natives, don't 
 blame any one if they call you a 'rabbit,' and refuse to follow 
 yoii in your wanderings through their land. Most haste is 
 
 1 Tale 23, p. 93, my "Notes ou the Folk-Lore of the Fjort." 
 
198 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 very often worst speed in Africa; and the white man who 
 ignores all but physical dilBculties does well to stay his im- 
 patient hand when about to strike his most provoking and 
 apparently dilatory black carrier, w^ho is beset by endless 
 moral obstacles retarding his progress as no physical diffi- 
 culties can." 
 
 When I was beginning my pioneering of the Ogowe River 
 in September-November, 1874, I had with me one Christian 
 coast native. I completed my canoe's crew with four heathen 
 Galwa, placed myself under the patronage of the Akele chief 
 Kasa, resided in his village, and bought from him a site, 
 Belambila, for my mission station, about a mile distant from 
 him. Daily I went with my crew in the canoe to work at the 
 building of a temporary house on the Belambila premises. 
 One day a water-snake crossed the canoe's bow, and I struck 
 at it. The Christian looked serious, and the four heathen 
 laid down their paddles. It was sufficiently disastrous that 
 the snake had crossed our path ; I had made matters worse by 
 attempting to injure it. They said, " You should not have 
 done that." "Why?" "Because somewhere and sometime 
 it will follow us and will bite us. Let us go back to Kasa's." 
 I refused, and insisted on our proceeding with the day's work. 
 I might better have yielded to their request. It was as if I 
 were under an Ancient Mariner's curse. My snake was as 
 bad as his albatross. My men either could not or would not. 
 Everything Avent wrong. They worked without heart and 
 under dread. What they built that day w^as done with so 
 many mistakes that I had to tear it down. I did not fully 
 appreciate at that time, but 1 do not now think that they 
 were intentionally disobedient or recalcitrant. Just as well 
 compel a crew of ignorant sailors to start their voyage on a 
 Friday. The fear of ominous birds and other animals is 
 over all Africa. In Garenganze, according to Arnot, "many 
 have a superstitious dread of the horned night-owl. Its cry 
 is considered an evil omen, which can only be counteracted 
 effectually by possessing a whistle made out of the windpipe 
 of the same kind of bird. 
 
THE FETICH IN CUSTOMS 199 
 
 " Jackals, Avild dogs, also are very much disliked. Tlie 
 weird cry of one of these animals will arouse tlie people of a 
 whole village, who will rush out and call upon the spirit- 
 possessed animal to be quiet and leave them, or to come into 
 the village, and they will feed and satisfy it. 
 
 " When travelling, they are careful to notice the direction 
 this animal may take. Should its cry come from the direc- 
 tion in which they are going, they will not venture a step 
 farther until certain divinations have been performed that 
 they may learn the nature of the calamity about to befall 
 them."i 
 
 T he chameleon is an object of dread to a ll natives wherever 
 I have lived. I have never met, even among the most civ- 
 ilized, any man or woman who would touch one. For friend- 
 ship, or to make a sale, they would bring it to me at the 
 end of a long stick, in my various efforts at zoological and 
 other collect ions. 
 
 The millepedes they also dread. I handle them with im- 
 punity, and my little daughter, on the Ogowe, in 1888 did 
 so too, under my example. But her young Negro com- 
 panions soon made her afraid. True, the adult millepede 
 ejects a dark liquid which stained my hands and which 
 natives said was poisonous if taken internally. (That I 
 never tested.) 
 
 A native friend, one of my Batanga female church-mem- 
 bers, a sincere Christian, of bright mind but limited educa- 
 tion, told me recently (1902) of her belief in the chameleon 
 as a bad omen. She was visiting relatives a dozen miles 
 north. Word was sent her to return, as anotlier relative, a 
 woman in my Bongaheli village, was dangerously ill. Her 
 host told her to go, and advised her to gather on the way 
 a certain fern, parasitic on trees, that is used medicinally 
 in the disease of which the woman was sick. My friend 
 started on her day's journey, came to the tree, and was about 
 to pluck the ferns when she observed a chameleon clasping 
 the tree; it stood still and looked at her. She instantly 
 
 ^ Arnot. 
 
200 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 left the tree, abandoned the ferns, went back to tell her host 
 that a chameleon was in possession of them and had stared 
 at her, and that it was useless to gather the medicine, for she 
 was sure their relative was dead. And she resumed her 
 journey, coming back to Bongaheli in order to attend the 
 mourning. It was true; the relative was dead, and the 
 mourning had begun. Her belief was not shaken when I 
 reminded her that that chameleon was only doing just what 
 all chameleons do when they are not walking, and when con- 
 fronted by any one. They all clasp the branch on which they 
 happen to be, and stare at their supposed pursuer, if unable 
 to escape. 
 
 Leopard Fiends. 
 
 Formerly a strange superstition said that on him who 
 should kill a leopard there would come an evil disease, cura- 
 ble only by ruinously expensive ceremonies of three weeks' 
 duration, under the direction of the Ukuku (Spirit) Society. 
 So the natives allowed the greatest ravages, until their sheep, 
 goats, and dogs were swept away ; and were aroused to self- 
 defence only when a human being became the victim of the 
 daring beast. The carcass of a leopard, or even the bones of 
 one long dead, were not to be touched. 
 
 While I was living at Benita, about 1869, the losses by 
 leopards became so great that, in desperation, some of the 
 brayer young men, under my encouragement, determined 
 that the depredator should be caught. (Nothing was just 
 then said about what should be done with it when caught.) 
 A trap was built in one of the villages, and baited with a 
 live goat. Soon a leopard was entrapped. What to do with 
 it was then the question. Some favored leaving it alone till 
 they could ask permission of Ukuku to kill it, even if they 
 had to pay heavily for the permission. Others, who had 
 heard me laugh at their superstition, proposed that I should 
 be asked to shoot it. They came at night; I willingly and 
 promptly went with my Winchester repeating rifle, which 
 could easily be thrust into the chinks between the logs of 
 
THE FETICH IN CUSTOMS 201 
 
 which the trap was built. When the animal was shot, came 
 the question, Who should remove it ? None would touch it. 
 Among my employees were two young men of another tribe 
 with whom that superstition did not exist. With their aid 
 I lifted the carcass upon a wheelbarrow, and touk it to a 
 place where I could comfortably skin it. Some objected to my 
 retaining the skin. They wanted the whole animal put out 
 of sight. But the majority agreed that the skin should be 
 my compensation for my rifle's service. Then a deputation 
 carefully followed me out on the prairie, to see that the 
 spot where the skinning was to be done was not near any of 
 their frequented paths. After the flaying was complete, what 
 was best to do with the carcass? The majority objected to 
 its being buried, fearing to tread over its grave. So I sent 
 the two young men in a canoe, to sink the carcass out in the 
 river's mouth toward the sea. Even then there were those 
 who for two weeks afterward would eat no fish caught in 
 ^ the river. 
 
 With this fear of the leopard was united a superstition 
 similar to that of the " wehr-wolf " of Germany, viz., a belief 
 in the power of hum an metamorphosis into a leopard. The 
 natives had learned, from foreigners who were ignorant of 
 the fact that there are no tigers in Africa, to call this leopard 
 fiend a "man-tiger." They got their fears still more mixed 
 by a belief in a third superstition, vi::., that sometimes the 
 dead returned to life and committed depredations. This 
 belief was not simply that disembodied spirits (mekuku) re- 
 turned, but that the entire person, soul and body (ilina na 
 nyolo), rose temporarily from the grave, with a few changes 
 (among the rest, that the feet were webbed). Such a being, 
 as mentioned in a previous chapter, was called "Uvengwa." 
 At one time, while I was at Benito, intense excitement pre- 
 vailed in tlie community: doors and shutters were violently 
 rattled at night; marks of leopard's claws scratched door- 
 posts; their tracks lay on every path; women and children 
 in lonely places saw their flitting forms, in the dark were 
 knocked down by their spring, or heard their grow.' '\ the 
 
i 
 
 V 
 
 202 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 thickets. It was difficult to decide, in hearing these reports, 
 whether it was a real leopard, a leopard fiend, or only an 
 uvengwa. To native fear, they were practically the same. 
 I felt certain that the uvengwa was a thief disguised in a 
 leopard skin. Under such disguise murders were sometimes 
 committed. By bending my thumb and fingers into a semi- 
 closed fist, I could make an impression in the sand that 
 exactly resembled a leopard's track; and this confirmed my 
 conclusions as to the real cause of the phenomenon. 
 
 The pioneer of the Gabun Mission, Rev. Dr. J. L. 
 Wilson, in 1842, found the wehr-wolf superstition preva- 
 lent among all the tribes of Southern Guinea. The leopard 
 "is invested with more terror than it otherwise would have, 
 by a superstitious apprehension on the part of the natives, 
 that wicked men frequently metamorphose themsej.ves into 
 leopards and commit all sort s of depredations , without the 
 lia bility or possibility of being killed. T he real leopard is 
 emboldened by impunity, and often becomes a terrible scourge 
 to the village he infests. I have known large villages to be 
 abandoned by their inhabitants, because they were afraid 
 to attack these animals on account of their supposed super- 
 natural powers." 
 
 At Gabun, about 1865, there still remained a jungle 
 on one side of the public road that constituted the one 
 street of the town of Libreville, as it followed the curve of 
 the bay for three miles. There were frequent alarms and 
 occasional murders along lonely parts of that road. The 
 natives believed that the leopard fiend was a beast; the 
 French commandant believed it was a human being. He 
 had the jungle cut away. Since then, no mangled bodies 
 have been found there. 
 
 Among the Garenganze people, in 1884, Mr. Arnot often 
 chid them "for their want of bravery in not hunting down 
 the man}^ wild animals that prey around their towns, carry- 
 ing off the sick people, and frequently attacking and seizing 
 solitary strangers. They excused themselves by explaining 
 that these wild animals are really ' men of other tribes,' 
 
THE FETICH IN CUSTOMS 20:3 
 
 turned, by the magic power they possess, into the form of 
 lions, panthers, or leopards, who prowl ahout to take ven- 
 geance on those against whom they are embittered. In de- 
 fending this absurd theory, one man said it was not possible 
 for a Luba and a Lamba man to go out into the country 
 together without one stealing a march on his neighbor, get- 
 ting out of sight, and returning again in the form of a lion 
 or leopard, and devouring his travelling companion. Such 
 things, they say, are of daily occurrence amongst them ; and 
 this foolish superstition leads them not only to tolerate the 
 wild animals about, but almost to hold them sacred." 
 
 This particular superstition still exists extensively. As 
 late as 1898, it is stated of the Barotse of Southeast Africa: 
 "They believe that at times both living and dead persons can 
 change themselves into animals, either to execute some ven- 
 geance or to procure something that they wish for: thus a 
 man will change himself into a hyena or a lion in order to 
 steal a sheep, and make a good meal off it; into a serpent, to 
 avenge himself on some enemy. At other times, if they see 
 a serpent, it is one of the ' Matotela ' or slave tribe, which 
 has thus transformed himself to take some vengeance on the 
 Barotse." i 
 
 Luck. 
 
 There exists a custom, even among the civilized, for the 
 seller of an article to hold back a small portion after his 
 price has been paid. When I first met with this custom, I 
 was indignant at what seemed like stealing; and yet it was 
 so open, and without any attempt at concealment, that I was 
 amazed. One who brought for sale a bunch of plantains 
 twisted off and took away one of its "fingers." Another 
 who had just heen paid for a peck of sweet ])(^tatoes deliber- 
 ately picks off one tuber. Another who ])n)Ught a g;izelle 
 for sale would not com})l(ne the bargain till I had consented 
 that he might remove the gall-bladder and a portion of the 
 liver. I learned that all tliese w(M(^ for 'Muck": in order 
 that the garden whence came that plantain bunch or potato 
 
 1 Declfe 
 
204 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 should be blessed with abundance; and the hunter, that he 
 might be successful in his next hunt. The gazelle is credited 
 with being a very artful animal, the cunning being located 
 especially in the liver. 
 
 One might ask why, if those pieces are so needed for luck, 
 the owner did not take them before selling, and while they 
 were still his own and under his entire control. I do not 
 know their exact thought; but the statement was that the 
 chances of good luck were greater if the pieces of plantain, 
 potato, meat, etc. were abstracted after the article had ac- 
 tually passed out of the seller's possession. 
 
 On the Ogowe, at Lake Azyingo, in 187-1, I was present 
 at the cutting up of a female hippopotamus which a hunter 
 had killed the night before. By favor of the native Ajumba 
 chief, Anege, I was allowed to see the ceremonies. They 
 were many ; of most of them I did not understand the sig- 
 nificance ; and the people were loath to tell me, lest I should 
 in some way counteract them. Even my presence was ob- 
 jected to by the mother of the hunter (he, however, was 
 willing). 
 
 After the animal had been decapitated, and its quarters 
 and bowels removed, the hunter, naked, stepped into the 
 hollow of the ribs, and kneeling in the bloody pool contained 
 in that hollow, bathed his entire body with that mixture of 
 blood and excreta, at the same time praying the life-spirit of 
 the hippo that it would bear him no ill-will for having killed 
 it, and thus cut it off from future maternity; and not to 
 incense other hippopotami that they should attack his canoe 
 in revenge. (Hippos are amphibians, but are generally killed 
 in the water.) He kept choice parts of the flesh to incor- 
 porate into his luck fetich. 
 
 Mr. Arnot mentions the same custom in Garenganze: 
 " One morning I shot a hyena in my yard. The chief sent 
 up one of his executioners to cut off its nose and the tip of 
 its tail, and to extract a little bit of brain from the skull. 
 The man informed me that these parts are very serviceable 
 to elephant hunters, as securing for them the cunning, tac* 
 
THE FETICH IN CUSTOMS 205 
 
 and power to become invisible, which the hyena is sui)posed 
 to possess. I suppose that the brain would represent the 
 cunning, the nose the tact, and the tip of the tail the van- 
 ishing quality." The stomach of the hyena is valued by 
 the Ovimbundu (of Southwest Africa) as a cure for apoplexy. 
 
 Twins. 
 
 Mr. Arnot states that in Garenganze "cases of infanticide 
 are very rare. Twins, strange to say, are not only allowed 
 to live, but the people delight in them.'' Though they are 
 not regarded as monstrosities deserving death, as among the 
 Calabar people on the West Coast, it is nevertheless con- 
 sidered necessary that certain preservative ceremonies should 
 be performed on the infants and their parents. 
 
 Mr. Swan, an associate of IMr. Arnot, describes a cere- 
 mony he was unexpectedly made to share in while on a 
 visit to the native king Msidi: "My attention was drawn 
 to a crowd of folk, mostly women, who approached, singing 
 and ringing a kind of bell. They formed in lines opposite 
 to us. In front of the rest were a man and woman, each 
 holding a child not more than a few days old. I learned 
 that the little ones were twins, the man and woman holding 
 them being the happy parents, who had come to present their 
 offspring to the king. They wore nothing but a few leaves 
 a])out their loins, — a hint to Msidi, I suppose, that they 
 would like some cloth. 
 
 " After chanting a little, an elderly woman came forward, 
 with a dish in her left hand and an antelope's tail in her 
 right. When she reached Msidi, I was astonished at her 
 dipping the tail in the dish and dashing the liquid over his 
 face. Msidi's wife had a like dose. But my surprise in- 
 creased when she came to us and gave us a share. What 
 was in the dish I cannot say, l)ut it struck me as possessing 
 a very disagreeable odor. This disct)urteous creature was 
 the Ocimbanda (fetich doctor). She did not cease her dous- 
 ing work till she had favored all sitting around. The king 
 then went into the house, and his wife came out with some 
 
206 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 cloth, which she tied around the mother's waist; and then a 
 piece of cloth was given to the husband. The friends had 
 brought some native beer; and when Msidi came out, he 
 went to one of the pots, filled his mouth, spouting the beer 
 in his wife's face; she did the same to him, after which the 
 spouting became general. . . . They told me it was their 
 custom to act thus when twins are born." 
 
 In the Benga tribe, thirty-five years ago, I observed that if 
 one of a pair of twins died, a wooden image was substituted 
 for it on the bed or in the cradle-box, alongside of the living 
 child. I strongly suspected Animism in the custom; but 
 some Christians explained that the image was only a toy, so 
 that the living babe should not miss the presence of an object 
 resembling its mate. 
 
 Names of twins are always the same, in the same cog- 
 nate tribes. In Benga they are always Ivaha (a wish) and 
 Ayenwe (unseen). These names are given irrespective of 
 sex. But not every man or woman whom one may meet 
 with these names is necessarily a twin. They may have 
 inherited the name from ancestors who were twins. 
 
 All over Africa the birth of twins is a notable event, but 
 noted for very different reasons in different parts of the 
 country. In Calabar they are dreaded as an evil omen, and 
 until recently were immediately put to death, and the mother 
 driven from the village to live alone in the forest as a pun- 
 ishment for having brought this evil on her people. 
 
 In other parts, as in the Gabun country, where they are 
 welcomed, it is nevertheless considered necessary to have 
 special ceremonies performed for the safety of their lives, 
 or, if they die, to prevent further evil. 
 
 In the Egba tribes of the Yoruba country they become 
 objects of worship. As in other parts of Africa where twins 
 are preserved, they are given twin names ; which, of course, 
 differ in different languages. Among the Egbas the first- 
 born is Taiwo, i. e., " the first to taste the world," and the 
 other Kehende, i. e., " the one who comes last." ^ About eight 
 
 1 See " Niger and Yoruba Notes." 
 
THE FI:T1CH in customs 20T 
 
 days after their birth, or as soon as tlie parents have the 
 money for the sacrificial feast, they invite all relatives on 
 both sides, neighbors and friends together. Various kinds of 
 food are prepai-ed, consisting chiefly of beans and yams. A 
 little of each kind of food is set apart with some palm-oil 
 thrown upon it, and the small native plates or basins contain- 
 ing it are set before the children in their cradle. They are 
 tlien invoked to protect their mother from sickness, to j)ity 
 their parents and remain with them, to watch over tliem at 
 all times. I quote in this connection the following from a 
 West iVfrican newspaper : 
 
 " After the ceremony an elderly man or woman who has 
 been a twin is called upon to split the kola nuts, in order 
 to find out whether the children will live or die. This is 
 their way of asking the god or goddess to answer their re- 
 quests (and it is singular that this throwing of kolas may be 
 done repeatedly until the reply is favorable to the inquirer)./ 
 Thus : if a kola nut is split into four parts in throwing 
 it down, they say, " You Idol, please foretell if the childi-en 
 will live long or die." If all the four pieces of the kola 
 fall flat on their backs, or all flat with their faces to the 
 ground, or if two of them fall with tlieir faces downward 
 and the other two upward, then in each of those cases the 
 reply is favorable, and it means they will live long and not 
 die. But if three pieces of the kola should turn their faces to 
 the ground and only one fall flat on its back, or if the three 
 pieces should turn their faces upward and only one downward, 
 tlie reply is unfavorable, and it means that the children will 
 (lie before long. In such cases they continue throwing the 
 kola nut indefinitely until they obtain their wish ; or, in rare 
 cases of total failure, the subject of inquiry is reserved till a 
 future time, when they hope the idol may speak more favorably. 
 Thus, twin children are worshipped every month. 
 
 "In some cases, where the parents have the means, an in- 
 vitation goes round to as many twins as they can get to pai- 
 tiike of the sacrificial feasts. Of course, the people enjoy 
 themselves at the feast. 
 
208 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 " The twins have everything in common ; they eat the same 
 kind of food and wear the same dress. If one of them should 
 die, the mother is bound to make a wooden image to repre- 
 sent the dead child. This kind of image is generally about a 
 foot in length, and is made of Ire wood, which is flexible and 
 durable. It is carved in such a manner as to represent the 
 human anatomy." 
 
 These images, substitute for a dead twin, are used very 
 extensively among all the tribes of Africa. Various reasons 
 are given for their use : that the surviving twin shall not be 
 lonely ; that the departed one may be sure it is not forgotten ; 
 and other reasons. The images are retained as family fetiches, 
 to ward off evil from the mother. 
 
 " If both children should die, the mother must have two 
 wooden images, and regard them as her living children ; she 
 worships them every morning by splitting kola nuts and 
 throwing down a few drops of palm-oil before them. Of 
 course, the occasional feasts follow in their due course, and 
 as oftentimes as she may happen to see them in her dreams. 
 
 " If they should live, and both are males, they make engage- 
 ments and marry at the same time. If one is male, and the 
 other is female, their dowry must be given the same day ; 
 the p arents believe that if things done for them are not alike 
 or do not go together, one will soon die." ^ 
 
 Customs of Speech. 
 
 Superstition mingles in customs of speech. There is the 
 custom of Kombo, existing to-day. Something about the act 
 of sneezing is considered uncanny. A phrase or a cabalistic 
 word, intended as an adjuration or a protestation in the nature 
 of a prayer for protection or blessing, is very commonly ejacu- 
 lated by one who sneezes and sometimes when one stumbles. 
 (In the old despotic days of native kings, in the Benito region, 
 it a kin g, on first emerging from his house in the mornin g, 
 should hap pen to stumble, he would order the nearest person 
 in sight to be killed.) That word is uttered by an adult for 
 
 1 From a West Africau newspaper. 
 
THE FETICH IN CUSTOMS 209 
 
 himself, by a parent or otlier relative for an infant child. It 
 may be an archaism whose meaning has been forgotten. Gen- 
 erally the Kombo is an epigrammatic phrase invented by the 
 individual himself, and to be used only by him. 
 
 Sometimes, insteiid of a phrase, the single word " Kombo ! " 
 as representing the custom, is uttered. 
 
 Some forty years ago the ejaculation, before the invariable 
 " Mbolo " salutation was uttered, that was used by visitors to 
 the Mpongwe king on the south side of tlie Gabun estuary, 
 was, '' What evil law has God made ? " Tlie response was, 
 " Deatli ! " Little as the heathen natives liked to talk of 
 death, their use of that word to their king was in the nature 
 of a good wish that he might escape the universal law. And 
 the ^^ Mbolo ! '' (gray hairs) that followed was a wish that he 
 might live to liave gray hairs. 
 
 His son, an educated man and a nominal Romanist, is now 
 saluted quite as formally, but the ejaculation has been changed 
 to a more respectful and Christian recognition of God. 
 
 Oaths. 
 
 Blasphemy of the Divine name, so feai'fully common in 
 professedly Christian countries, is almost unknown to the 
 African heathen. Though the native name for God, Any- 
 aml)e, is improperl}^ used in names of persons (which is not 
 intended for disrespect), it is not often actually blasphemed. 
 An equivalent blasphemy, is occasionally practised in the mis- 
 use of the name of their great and sacred spirit-society. In 
 the Benga tribe " Saba ? " and " Sabali ? " used interroga- 
 tively, mean only "True?" "Is that so?"; but, used posi- 
 tively, they are of the nature of an oath, especially wlien 
 the society's name (Ukuk) was added: '' Sal)a n' Tkuku " 
 (True ! by Ukuk !). 
 
 On the Ogowe Kiver, in the Galwa tribe, the name of tliat 
 society was Isyoga, more conunonly spoken of as Yasi. In 
 the initiation into it tlie neophytes were taught a long and 
 very solemn adjuration, that could b(> uttered only among the 
 initiated, as an oath; but tliey were allowed conunonly to 
 
 U 
 
210 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 use simply its title " Yasi," the utterance of that one word 
 being accompanied by a downward sweep of the right hand 
 over the left arm from shoulder to hand. It was not per- 
 mitted to women to speak this word. 
 
 In no tribes with which I have lived was this " By- the - 
 Spirit" oath used so much as among the Galwa of the 
 Ogowe. It became monotonously frequent, in and out of 
 season, in all conversations and on the slightest assertion 
 or the simplest excitement. 
 
 I became very tired of " Yasi ! Yasi ! Yasi ! " and that 
 sweep of the right hand, for the doing of which the canoe 
 paddle or a tool was laid down. And, by the way, the more 
 of a liar a man was, the more frequent and vociferous was 
 he in his persistent use of *' By Yasi I " . 
 
 Totem Worship. 
 
 Totem worship is found in Africa, though nothing at all to 
 the extent to which it existed among the Indian tribes of the 
 United States, and especially Alaska. 
 
 In Southern Africa it exists among the Bechuanas (who, 
 however, are not pure Bantu) ; not in the form of carving 
 and setting up poles in their villages, but in the respect which 
 different clans give to certain animals, e.g.^ one clan being 
 known as " buffalo-men," another as " lion-men," a third as 
 " crocodile-men," and so forth. To each clan its totem 
 animal is sacred, and they will not eat of its flesh. In some 
 parts this sanctity is regarded as so great that actual prayer 
 and sacrifice are made to it. But in most of the Bantu tribes 
 this totem idea does not exist as a worship. Indeed, the 
 animal (or part of an animal) is not sacred to an entire clan, 
 but only to individuals, for whom it is chosen on some special 
 occasion; and its use is prohibited only to that individual. 
 Only in the sense that it may not be used for common pur- 
 poses is it " sacred" or " holy " to him. 
 
 Taboo. 
 
 *V Taboo" is a Polynesian term, and indicates that which man 
 must not touch because it belongs to a deity. The god's land 
 
THE FETICH IN CUSTOMS 211 
 
 must not be trodden, the animal dedicated to tlie god must 
 not be eaten, the chief who represents the god must not be 
 lightly treated or spoken of. These are examples of taboo 
 where the inviolable object or person belongs to a good god, 
 and where the taboo corresponds exactly with the rule of lioli- 
 ness. But instances are still more numerous, among savages, 
 of taboo attaching to an object because it is connected with a 
 malignant power. The savage is suiTounded on every side 
 by such prohibitions; there is danger at every step that he 
 may touch on what is forbidden to him, and draw down on 
 himself unforeseen penalties." ^ 
 
 This idea exists very largely in the Gabun and Loango 
 coasts : as described in a previous chapter, the custom is there 
 called " prunda " ; e.g.^ suc h and such an animal (or part of an 
 animal) is "orunda," or taboo, to such and such a person. 
 
 The Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries to the King- 
 dom of Kongo, more than two hundred and fifty years ago, 
 found this custom *'of interdicting to every person at their 
 birth some one article of food, which they were not through 
 life, upon any consideration, to put into their mouths. Tliis 
 practice was regarded [by those Roman Catholic priests] as 
 specially heathenish, and was unconditionally " forbidden. 
 
 Explanation may here be found why a church which two hun- 
 dred years ago had baptized members by the hundreds of thou- 
 sands, with large churches, fine cathedrals, schools, colleges, 
 and political backing, and no other form of Christianity to com- 
 pete with it, shows in Kongo to-day no results in the matters 
 of civilization, education, morality, or pure religion. Its bap- 
 tism was only an outward one, the heathen native gladly 
 accepting it as a powerful charm. For each and all his 
 heathen fetiches the priest simply substituted a Roman 
 Catholic relic. The ignorant African, wliile he learned to 
 bow to the Virgin, kept on worshipping also fetich. The 
 Virgin was only just another fetich. The Roman Catholic 
 priests were to him only another set of powerful fetich 
 doctors. They commanded that, instead of the orunda, *' the 
 
 1 Menzies, History of Keligiou, p. 71. 
 
212 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 parents should enjoin their children to observe some particular 
 devotion, such as to repeat many times a day the rosary or the 
 crown, in honor of the Virgin ; to fast on Saturdays ; to eat 
 no flesh on Wednesdays ; and such other things as are used 
 among Christians." 
 
 A similar substitution was made in the case of a supersti- 
 tion of the Kongo country which exists universally among all 
 African tribes to-day, viz., "to bind a cord of some kind 
 around the body of every new-born infant, to which were 
 fastened the bones and teeth of certain kinds of wild ani- 
 mals." In place of this, the Roman Catholic records enjoin 
 *' that all mothers should make the cords with which they 
 bound their infants, of palm-leaves that had been consecrated 
 on Palm Sunday, and, moreover, guard them well with other 
 such rehcs as we are accustomed to use at the time of 
 baptism." 
 
 Thus the heathen, in becoming a baptized " Christian," 
 left l)ehind him only the name of his fetich ceremonies. 
 Some new and professedly more powerful ones were given 
 him, which were called by Christian names, but which very 
 much resembled wdiat he had been using all his life. His 
 "conversion" caused no jar to liis old beliefs, nor change in 
 its practice, except that the new fetich was worshipped in a 
 cathedral and before a bedizened altar. 
 
 Baptism. 
 
 Forty years ago, on Corisco Island, I found the remains of 
 a custom which resembled baptism.^ Before that time it 
 was very prevalent in other parts of the Gabun country, 
 whose people probably had derived it, like their circum- 
 cision, from East Africa and from Jewish traditions. As 
 described at that time, "a public crier announces the birth, 
 and claims for the child a name and place among the living. 
 Some one else, in a distant part of the village, acknowledges 
 the fact, and promises, on the part of the people, that the 
 
 1 See an illustration of it on p. 102 of my "Crowned in Palm-Land"; an 
 iniant is lying on a plantain leaf in the street. 
 
THE FETICH IN CUSTOMS 213 
 
 new-born babe shall be received into the community, and 
 have all the rights and immunities pertaining to the rest of 
 the people. The population then assemble in the street, and 
 the new-born babe is brought out and exposed to public view. 
 A basin of water is provided, and the headman of tlie villa(>-e 
 or family sprinkles water upon it, giving it a name, and 
 invoking a blessing upon it, such as, that it may have health, 
 grow up to manliood or womanhood, have a numerous prog- 
 eny, possess much riches, etc." ^ The circumcision of the 
 child is performed some years later. 
 
 Spitting. 
 
 The same Benga word, " tuwaka," to spit,^ . is one of the two 
 words which mean also ^' to bless ." In pronouncing a bless- 
 ing there is a violent expulsion of breath, the hand or head of 
 the one blessed being held so near the face of the one blessing 
 that sometimes in the act spittle is actually expelled upon liim. 
 
 This blessing superstition exists among the jjarotse o f 
 SoutlL.Aflica r who se dialect _ is_ remarkably like the Benga ). 
 " Relatives take leave of each other with elaborate ceremony. 
 They spit upon each other's faces and heads, or, rather, 
 pretend to do so, iov they do not actually emit saliva. They 
 also pick up blades of grass, spit upon them, and stick them 
 about the beloved head. They also spit on the hands : all 
 this is done to warn off evil spirits. Spittle also acts as a 
 kind of taboo. When they do^jiot^want- -a-. -thing -touched, 
 they spit on straws, and stick them all about the object." *^ 
 
 !N"oTTCE OF Children. 
 
 Recently (1903), in passing through a street of Libreville, 
 I saw several women sitting on the clay floor of the wide 
 veranda of a house. In their arms or playing on the ground 
 were a number of children. I was attracted by their gambols, 
 and stopped on my way, and having saluted the mothers, I 
 began to notice the children. The women knew me by sight, 
 
 1 Wilsoji, Western Africa. 2 Decle. 
 
214 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 but I was a stranger to most of them. I thought they would 
 be pleased by attention to their children. Tliere were seven 
 of them ; and I exclaimed, '' Oh ! so many children ! " And 
 I began counting them, '* One, two, three, four — " But I 
 was interrupted by a chorus from the mothers, of " No ! no ! 
 no ! Stop ! That is not good ! The spirits will hear you tell- 
 ing how many there are, and they will come and take some 
 away!" They were quite vexed at me. But I could not 
 , understand why, if spirits can see, they would not know 
 / the number without hearing my count. Perhaps my enthu- 
 I siastic counting brought the number more obviously to the 
 I attention of the surrounding spirits. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 FETICH— ITS RELATION TO THE FUTURE LIFE — 
 CEREMONIES AT DEATHS AND FUNERALS 
 
 WHEN a heathen Negro is sick, the first thing done, just 
 as in civiHzed lands, is to call the ''doctor," who is 
 to find out what is the particuhxr kind of spirit tliat, by 
 invading the patient's body, has caused tlie sickness. 
 
 This diagnosis is not made by an examination and comparison 
 of the physical and mental symptoms, but by drum, dance, 
 frenzied song, mirror, fumes of drugs, consultation of relics, 
 and conversation with the spirit itself. Next, as also in civ- 
 ilized lands, must be decided the ceremony particular to that 
 spirit, and the vegetable and mineral substances supposed to 
 be either pleasing or offensive to it. If all those cannot be 
 obtained, the patient must die ; the assumption probably being 
 that some unknown person is antagonizing the " doctor " with 
 arts of sorcery. 
 
 Fearing this, all the family relatives and friends come, hav- 
 ing been informed by a messenger of the state of the case. 
 They speak to and try to comfort the sick, as would be done 
 in civilization. But to believers in fetich their coming means 
 more than that. They have come from distant places as soon 
 as the news had spread that their relative was seriously ill, 
 without waiting for summons. Their coming is, indeed, a 
 necessary mark of respect for the sick ; but it may happen, 
 too, in case of the sick man's dying, that it would be a proof 
 for them of their innocence if a charge should come up of 
 witchcraft as the cause of death. The neglect to make this 
 prompt visit of condolence would be resented by the sick 
 should he recover, or, in case of his death, in the days when 
 witchcraft arts were more common, would have been held as 
 
216 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 a proof that the absentee had purposely absented himself, 
 under a sense of guilt. 
 
 In the sick man's village there already has been a slight 
 wailing the while that he is dying. Before life is extinct, and 
 while yet the sick may still be conscious though speechless, a 
 low wail of mourning is raised by the female relatives who 
 have gathered in the room. 
 
 These visitors have sat quietly in the sick-room while the 
 patient was still conscious. To a foreigner that quiet is very 
 strange in its oppressive silence and in the stolidity of faces 
 (at other times expressive), whose very reason for being pres- 
 ent is supposed to be the expression of sympathy. Only a 
 few assist in the making of food or medicine for the patient, 
 even when the medicines are not fetich. All the others are 
 spectators, smoking, lounging, dozing, or, if conversing, speak- 
 ing in a low tone. At the first report that death has actually 
 come, the women break into a louder wail. 
 
 But about a quarter of an hour is spent by some of the old 
 members of the family, testing to see whether life is really 
 extinct. When that fact is fully certified to the crowd in the 
 street, the wailing breaks forth unrestrainedly from men, 
 women, and children. The moment that death is declared, 
 grief is demonstrated in screams, shrieks, yells, pitiful sup- 
 plication, and extravagant praise by the entire village. 
 
 Shortly after this first frantic outburst quiet is ordered, 
 and the arrangements for burial begin. The body is bathed 
 and the limbs are straightened. The stomach is squeezed so 
 as to make the contents emerge from the mouth in order that 
 decomposition may be delayed and the body kept as long as 
 possible. The time will vary according to the necessity of 
 the case and the social position of the dead. Usually the 
 ^corpse is retained only one day ; but in case of a prominent 
 person as many as five days, and in case of kings in some 
 I tribes, e. g.^ of Loango, the rotting corpse, rolled in many 
 pieces of matting, is retained for weeks. 
 
 ^ When the washing and vomiting have been done, the corpse 
 is dressed in its finest clothing. The bed-frame is often en- 
 
RELATION TO THE FUTURE LIFE 217 
 
 arged so that many of the chief mourners may be able to sit 
 
 on it. 
 
 The body is generally taken from the bed and laid on a 
 piece of matting on tlie floor. The chief female mourner isl 
 given the post of honor, to sit nearest to the dead, holding the I 
 head in her lap. 
 
 During the time until the burial the women keep bending 
 the joints of the corpse to prevent the body becoming stiff. 
 The day before the burial (but if in haste, on the very day 
 of the death) the coffin is made. During the making the 
 mourning which had been resumed is again bidden to cease, 
 in order that the spirit may be pleased with the wooden house 
 that is being constructed for it. For the same reason the 
 wailing is again intermitted while the grave is being dug. 
 Those who are digging it must not be called off or interrupted 
 in any way. When begun, the job must be continued to 
 completion. 
 
 After the grave is completed, when they leave it and go to 
 arrange the coffin, they must put into the excavation some 
 article, e. g.^ a stick of wood, as a notice to any other wander- 
 ing spirit not to occupy that grave. 
 
 When all these preparations are complete, the corpse is 
 laid in the coffin, and some goods of the deceased, such as 
 pieces of cloth and other clothing, are stuffed into it for his 
 use in the other world. If the decetised w^as addicted to 
 smoking, a pipe and tobacco are laid in the coffin, or if 
 accustomed to spirituous drink, some liquor is often placed 
 there, either native palm-wine or foreign rum. 
 
 Recently, while the Rev. F. S. Myongo, a native clergyman, 
 was visiting on Corisco Island, he saw a mother put into a 
 coffin a bundle of salt for her daughter to eat in the future 
 world. 
 
 If the deceased was a rich man, the people of his mother's 
 side do not allow him to be buried without tlieir first being 
 given a part of his property by the people of the father's side. 
 
 If there be a suspicion that he lias been killed by witch- 
 craft, and yet not enongh proof to warrant a public charge 
 
218 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 and investigation, the relatives take amomum seeds (carda- 
 mom), chew them, and put them into the mouth of the dead, 
 as a sign that the spirit shall itself execute vengeance on the 
 murderer, and that the survivors will take no further steps. 
 It is a nolle prosequi of a judicial case. 
 
 All being ready, the lid of the coffin is nailed down, ex- 
 cept in the case of a first-born only child, as has been stated. 
 
 In former days, before coffins were used, the bamboo tatta 
 of the bed-frame, the pandanus leaf mat, palm-fibre mosquito- 
 net, and other bedding were all rolled about the corpse as it 
 lay, and were buried with it. 
 
 While the corpse is being arranged in the coffin, the women 
 have resumed their wailing. The coffin is lifted by strong men 
 and hurriedly taken to the grave, the locality of which varies in 
 different tribes, — sometimes in the adjacent forest, sometimes 
 in the kitchen-garden of plantains immediately in the rear 
 of the village houses, sometimes under the clay floor of the 
 dwelling-house. With the men who are carrying the coffin 
 may go some women as witnesses. 
 
 Formerly also slaves carried boxes of the dead man's goods, 
 cloth, hardware, crockery, and so forth, to be laid by the body, 
 which in those days was not interred, but was left on the top 
 of the ground covered with branches and leaves. 
 
 In carrying the coffin to the grave it must not be taken 
 through the village street but by the rear of the houses, lest 
 the village be "defiled." As a result of such " defilement," 
 all sorts of difficulties will arise, such as poor crops from the 
 gardens and short supplies of fish. 
 
 The coffin is laid with the face of the dead looking east- 
 ward. During the interment people must not be moving 
 about from place to place, but must remain at whatever spot 
 they were when tlie coffin passed, until the burial is completed. 
 
 The digging of the grave, the carrying of the coffin, and 
 the closing of the grave are all done only by men. When 
 these have finished the work of burial, they are in great fear, 
 and are to run rapidly to their village, or to the nearest body 
 of water, river or lake or sea. If in their running one should 
 
RELATION TO THE FUTURE LIFE 219 
 
 trip and fall, it is a sign tliat he will soon die. Tliey plunge 
 into the water as a means of " purification " from possible 
 defilement. The object of this purification is not simply to 
 cleanse the body, but to remove the presence or contact of the 
 spirit of the dead man or of an}^ other spirit of possible evil 
 influence, lest they should have ill-luck in their fishing, hunt- 
 ing, and other work. 
 
 During the time of these burial and other ceremonies the 
 women have refrained from their mourning. 
 
 Women who have babes must not go along the route that 
 was taken in the carrying of the coffin, lest their children 
 shall become sick. 
 
 When all parties have returned from the grave, the wailing 
 is resumed. They all mark their faces with ashes, and then 
 begins the regular official kwedi (mourning). During the 
 continuance of this, pregnant women and mothers with 
 young children are not allowed to come near lest evil happen 
 to them. To prevent any possibility of the just-departed 
 spirit injuring any children of the village, leaves of a common 
 weed, j^alakalii, a re laid on their heads. 
 
 The day after the funeral a decoction is made of the bark 
 of a well-known tree, bolondo. With it the doctor sprinkles 
 the people, their houses, their utensils and weapons, and the 
 two entrances to the village. During the ceremony the 
 people are shouting an ejaculatory prayer, *' Goods I Posses- 
 sions ! Wealth ! Do not allow confusions to come to us I " this 
 is distinctly a petition that the spirit should bring to them 
 goods or help them to obtain wealth ; " Let us have food I " 
 and many other similar cries for good things. What remains 
 in the vessel of the decoction of bolondo bark after the gen- 
 eral sprinkling is carried to the ends of the village street, 
 and emptied there, as a prevention against the entry of evil 
 spirits. 
 
 Also there is made a mixture of scrapings of bolondo, pow- 
 dered red-wood, and chalk. This is rubbed on the cheeks of 
 the people to keep off the evil spirits. It is rubbed also, for 
 that same purpose, on the walls of houses. 
 
220 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 The cutlass (machete) and native hoe that was used in the 
 digging of the grave are washed with the bolondo decoction 
 after having been left exposed to rain over night. 
 
 Then one of the houses of the village is chosen as the 
 ndabo ya kwedi (house of mourning). The mourners are to 
 sit only in that house. If they should eat in any other house, 
 the spirit of the dead would come and eat with them and would 
 make them sick. During the days of kwedi the men go in 
 the mornings to fish ; while they are away at the work, the 
 weeping is intermitted lest in some way it spoil the fishing. 
 
 The bedstead in the house of mourning must be constantly 
 occupied, even during the daytime, by some persons sitting 
 there, lest the spirit come to take any vacant space ; and the 
 house itself must not, by day or night, be without some occu- 
 pant. The near relatives, when one has occasion to go out of 
 that house, must not go unaccompanied, lest the spirit follow 
 them and attempt to resume earthly companionship and thus 
 injure them. 
 
 If it was a great man who has died, an occasional dance is 
 held during the prescribed mourning time to please his spirit, 
 which is supposed to be walking around and observing what 
 is done. 
 
 The kwedi formerly lasted a month, or, for a prominent 
 person, a month and a half. 
 
 People who while they were living were supposed to have 
 witch power are believed to be able to rise in an altered 
 form from their graves. To prevent one who is thus suspected 
 from making trouble, survivors open the grave, cut off the 
 head, and throw it into the sea, — or in the interior, where 
 there is no great body of water, it is burned ; then a decoction 
 of the bolondo bark is put into the grave. (The bolondo is a 
 poison ; even a little of it may be fatal.) 
 
 When affairs are going wrong in the villages, and the people 
 do not know the cause, offeiings of food and drink are taken 
 to the grave to cause the spirit to cease disturbing them, and 
 prayers are made to it that it may the rather bless tliem. 
 
 If the deceased was a very important person, the kwedi is 
 
RELATION TO THE EUTLUE LIEE 221 
 
 interrupted on the fifth day, for the selection of his successor as 
 chief or king. This ceremony is called '' anii)enda" (glories). 
 The successor is placed on the vacant seat or " tln-one " ; and 
 songs are sung in his praise. But first, a herald is sent to the 
 forest, or wherever tlie burial was made, to call the dead to 
 come and dispute his right to the throne, if he ])e not really 
 dead. The herald stands and calls on the dead by name, " Such 
 an one ! " This he does slowly once, twice, thrice, until five 
 times. He returns, and reports to the waiting assembly, " He 
 is really dead. I called five times, and he did not answer." 
 Then, this herald, standing in the street before all the people, 
 praises the dead for all his good deeds, and blames for some 
 of his bad ones. He turns to the chosen successor sitting on 
 the throne, and asks pardon for the candor he is about to ex- 
 ercise : " To-morrow I will bow to you and take off my hat, 
 but to-day I will tell the whole truth about you." Turning 
 to the crowd, he says, " The man who is gone was good, and 
 he has given us this new man. We hope that he too will be 
 good. You all help me now to tell him his bad points." 
 Then, addressing the new chief, he specifies, " You have a 
 bad habit of so and so." And the crowd responds affirma- 
 tively, '* Bad ! cease it!" After this, when the lierald lias 
 ended his own list of rebukes, any one else may call liim aside 
 and tell him of any other evil of which he knows, and ask 
 him to direct the new king to reform it. This ceremony was 
 particularly observed by the i\I pong we -speaking tribes of t lie 
 Gabun country. In the presence of the domination by for- 
 eign governments, but little of it now exists there or in any 
 other tribes to the north. 
 
 In the improvised songs and ejaculations of the kwetli 
 period the goodness and greatness of the dead are recounted. 
 The praise is fulsome, exaggerated, and often preposterously 
 untrue. Some declare their hopelessness of ever again seeing 
 any joy. Supplications are shrieked by others for the departed 
 to come back and reanimate the dead body. I>y most the 
 wailing is a song in moans. 'Men tear their garments ; women 
 dishevel their hair ; all take off their ornaments, and disfigure 
 
222 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 their faces with ashes or clay. The female relatives rediue 
 their clothing to a minimum of decency. In all tribes formerly, 
 and in some interior tribes still, the wives are made naked, 
 and compelled to remain so for months, especially if they 
 were known not to have been as submissive as is expected in 
 the slavery of savage African marriage. 
 
 During my early days in the Ogowe, about 1876, a native 
 Akele chief, Kasa, who had been my patron at my first resi- 
 dence in the Ogowe, Belambila, died after I had removed to 
 my second station, Kangwe. I made a ceremonious visit of 
 respect and condolence about a month after his death, for 
 Kasa, though a heathen and often cruel, to me had been true 
 and helpful. His family appreciated the compliment of my 
 visit. I looked around the room, and missed his wives. I 
 did not know that they had been divested of all clothing. I 
 asked for them. A man hastened to go out and call them. 
 I wondered somewhat at the delay in their coming. I was 
 afterward told that though they were accustomed to the dis- 
 grace of nakedness before native eyes, they did not wish to 
 meet mine, for I had always treated them respectfully. A 
 half-dozen of them sidled into the room, each carrying in their 
 hands, as their only protection, a plate, and quickly huddled 
 together in a corner of the room. I as quickly dismissed 
 them, telling them I had not known of the rule under which 
 they were living. 
 
 In tlie Batanga interior, among the Bulu-Fang tribe, where 
 women at all times wear scarcely any clothing, most widows 
 are still required to go perfectly naked, sometimes for a whole 
 year. 
 
 All this wailing and mourning, while sincere on the part of 
 some, is by most simply a yielding to the contagion of sym- 
 pathy. By some it is a mere formality, and with many even 
 a pretence. 
 
 In the older days, before Christianity had obtained any in- 
 fluence, or before foreign governments had exercised power 
 to force away barbarous rites and compel civilized ones, when 
 almost every death was regarded as due to the exercise of 
 
RELATION TO THE FUTURE EIFK liii:] 
 
 black art, and Avas always followed by a wik-licraft investi- 
 gation and by the pntting to death of from one to ten so- 
 called ^' witches " and '' wizards " (in the case of kings, fifty 
 to one hundred), no one, except the doctor and his secret 
 councillors, knew on whom suspicion for the death might fall, 
 and all were quick to be demonstrative in their grief, 
 whether real or feigned, as a means of warding off the dreaded 
 accusation against themselves^^ 
 
 Though tJKJse witchcraft executions have ceased wherever 
 foreign power exists, the wailing is still as demonstrative, 
 either as a sign of real grief or as a mere custom ; and the 
 mourning after burial continued for weeks (or even months) 
 is an enormous evil. Wives and husbands abandonino- their 
 duties to their own villages ; children either sliglited at 
 their own homes or idly helping to swell the confusion at the 
 town of mourning ; men neglecting their fishing, and women 
 neglecting their gardens, — all these visitors are an expensive 
 draft on the hospitality and resources of the town of kwedi, 
 or on their other relatives who may happen to be living near. 
 
 Inevitably there is not enough food for all, and they stanch 
 
 their hunger by immoderate drinking of foreign alcoholic 
 liquors. 
 
 After the first paroxysms of grief, in a few days the mourn- 
 ing is reduced to a perfunctory wail by the women for a short 
 time each morning and evening. The remainder of the day 
 is spent in idle talk, which always runs into quarrels ; and 
 the nights in dances, which generally end in dissolute revelry. 
 A month of mourning lays up a list of assignations and in- 
 trigues that result in trials for adultery and l)r()k('ii marriage 
 relations. 
 
 The feelings in the hearts of the mourners are very mixed. 
 The outcry of affection, pleading witli tlic dead to reluni to 
 life, is sincere, the survivor desiring the I'eturn to life to 
 be complete ; but almost simultaneous with that cry comes 
 a fear that the dead may indeed return, not as tlie accustomed 
 embodied spirit, lielpful and companionable, but as a dis- 
 embodied spirit, invisible, estranged, perhaps inimical, and 
 
224 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 surrounded by an atmosphere of dread imparted by the un- 
 known and the unseen. The many then ask, not that the 
 departed may return, but that, if it be hovering near, it will 
 go away entirely. 
 
 Few were those who during the life of the departed had 
 not on occasions had some quarrel with him, or had done him 
 some injustice or other wrong, and their thought is, " His 
 spirit will come back to avenge itself ! " So guns are fired to 
 frighten away the spirit, and to cause it to go off to the far 
 world of spirits, and not take up a residence in or near the 
 town to haunt and injure the living. 
 
 Nevertheless, the kwedi is kept up, if for nothing else than 
 to satisfy the self-complacence of the dead. It is believe d 
 that the dead, sometimes dissatisfied with the exte nt or char- _ 
 acter of the mourning ceremony, have returned an d inflicted 
 som e sickness on the village, for the removal of whic h other 
 ceremonies ha v^e to be performed. 
 
 Thus far acts which are dictated by natural feelings, good 
 and otherwise, have been dealt with; but there are a multi- 
 tude of other ceremonies, varied in different tribes and never 
 the same in any one tribe, which are performed under the 
 direct influence of religious duty as well as superstitious fear. 
 What has been thus far described is especially true of the 
 Mpongwe, Benga, and Batanga tribes of Avestern Equatorial 
 Africa, typical for most Bantu tribes of the continent. The 
 following quotations afford a comparison of the burial cus- 
 toms of savages in other regions with those I have observed : 
 
 Lumholtz,^ describing the burial customs of Australia, writes: 
 "The natives in the neighborhood of Portland Bay, in the 
 southwestern part of South Australia, cremate their dead 
 by placing the corpse in a hollow tree and setting fire to it. 
 . . . The natives of Australia have this peculiarity, in com- 
 mon with the savages of other countries, that they never utter 
 the names of the dead, lest their spirits should hear the voices 
 of the living and thus discover their whereabouts. There 
 seems to be a widespread belief in the soul's existence inde- 
 
 1 Among Cannibals, pp. 278-279. 
 
peiulently of matter. On this point Fraser relates that the 
 KuUe tribe (Victoria) believes that every man and animal 
 has a muriep (ghost or spirit) which can pass into other 
 bodies. A person's muriep may in his lifetime leave liis 
 body and visit other people in his dreams. After death the 
 muriep is supposed to appear again, to visit the grave of its 
 former possessor, to communicate with living persons in tlieir 
 dreams, to eat remnants of food lying near the camp, and to 
 warm itself by the night tires. A similar belief has been ob- 
 served among the blacks of Lower Guinea. (3n my travels 
 I, too, found a widespread fear of the spirits of the dead, to 
 which the imagination of the natives attributed all sorts of 
 remarkable qualities. The greater the man was on earth, the 
 more his departed spirit is feared. . . . An old warrior who 
 has been a strong man and therefore much respected by his 
 tribe, is, after his death, put on a platform made with forked 
 sticks, cross-pieces, and a sheet or two of bark ; he is hoisted 
 up amidst a pandemonium of noise, howling, and wailing, 
 besides much cutting with tomahawks, and banging of heads 
 with nolhvnollas. He is laid on his back with his knees up, 
 like the females, and the grass is cleared away from under 
 and around. The place is now for a long time carefully 
 avoided, till he is quite shrivelled, whereupon his bones are 
 taken away and put in a tree. 
 
 *'The common man is buried like a woman, oidy tliat logs 
 are put over him, and his bones are not removed. Young 
 children are put bodily into the trees. 
 
 " The fact that the natives bestow any care on the l)odies of 
 the dead is doubtless owing to the fear of the spirits of the 
 departed. In some places I liave seen the legs drawn and 
 tied fast to the bodies, in order to liinder the spirits of the 
 dead, as it were, from getting out to frighten tlie living. 
 Women and cliildren, whose spirits are not feared, receive 
 less attention and care after death. ^ V 
 
 '' In several tribes it is customary to bury the body wliere ij^ 
 
 the person w as bom. I know of a case where a dying man 
 was transported lifty miles in order to be buried in the place 
 
 15 
 
226 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 of his nativity. It has even happened that the natives have 
 begun digging outside a white man's kitchen door, because 
 they wanted to bury an old man born there. In Central 
 Queensland I saw many burial-places on hills. Such are also 
 said to be found in New South Wales and in Victoria. These 
 burial grounds have been in use for centuries, and are con- 
 sidered sacred. 
 
 "In South Australia and in Victoria the head is not buried 
 
 with the body, for the skull is preserved and used as a drin k- 
 ing-cup. It is a common custom to place the dead between 
 pieces of bark and grass on a scaffold, where they remain till 
 they are decayed, and then the bones are buried in the ground. 
 
 " In the northern part of Queensland I have heard people 
 say that the natives have a custom of placing themselves 
 under these scaffolds to let the fat drop on them, and that 
 they believe that this puts them in possession of the strength 
 of the dead man. 
 
 '' A kind of mummy dried by the aid of fire and smoke, is 
 also found in Australia; male children are most frequently 
 prepared in this manner. The corpse is then packed into a 
 bundle, which is carried for some time by the mother. She 
 has it with her constantljs and at night sleeps with it at her 
 side. After about six months, when nothing but the bones 
 remain, she buries it in the earth. Full-grown men are also 
 sometimes carried in this manner, particularly the bodies of 
 great warriors." 
 
 yi. H. Brown, in " On th e South African Fronti er," de- 
 scribes a burial in Mashona-land : " When a member of tlie 
 community dies, he or she, as the case may be, is usually 
 buried under a shelf of rock in a reclining position, with 
 arms folded and legs doubled up. In some districts, where 
 heaps of rocks are scarce, I have seen graves made in 
 large antr-heaps. As a rule, a small canopy or thatched roof 
 is built over the grave, and under this it is common to see 
 placed, as an offering, a pot of beer and a plate of sadza. 
 The beer evaporates, and the ants eat the sadza; but, to 
 the Mashona mind, the disappearance is due to supernatural 
 
RELATION TO THE FUTURE LIFE 227 
 
 causes. At the buriiil the near rehitives of the deceased 
 cry aloud. I was camping one night near a viUage where 
 a chikl died. The obsequies took phice next morning be- 
 tween dawn and sunrise. The mother cried hjudly while 
 the ceremony was proceeding, but her wailing ceased soon 
 after the funeral, and there was no more noise made over 
 it. I went into the village about two hours later, and 
 saw some men, women, and children quietly sitting around 
 the hut in which the death had taken place, and looking 
 very solemn. The child was about two weeks old, and the 
 cause of death was attributed by the Mashonas to the fact 
 that the mother had not given beer to her grandfather when 
 he wanted it at his death. 
 
 " If a woman's husband dies, and she afterwards procures 
 another, the new man takes up his abode in the hut of the 
 dead one, becomes owner of his assegais and battle-axes, and 
 assumes his name. Whether or not the second husband is 
 supposed to enter into possession of the spirit of the deceased, 
 I could not discover. Some Mashonas have told me that 
 they believe that the spirits of their departed relatives enter 
 the bodies of animals, particularly those of lions. 
 
 " At the end of the lunar month during which a death has 
 taken place, the surviving partner, man or woman, kills a 
 goat, and its meat is cooked, as well as quantities of other 
 food, and a large amount of Kaffir beer is ])re\ve(l. The 
 people gather from the neighboring kraals, and an all-night 
 feast and dance ensue. 
 
 "Monthly 'dead-relative dances,' wliirh are called 'iiia- 
 chae' ai-e very common; and if no one has been acconinio- 
 dating enougli to die during the month, the feast and daiR-e 
 may be held in honor of some one who departed years 
 before." 
 
 A similar dance is held in the Gabun region of West 
 Africa, partly as a consolatory amusement for tlie living, near 
 the close of whatever prescribed time of mourning. It is 
 called "Ukukwe" (for the spirit), as if for ilic gratification 
 of the hovering spirit of the dead ; but in many places in 
 
228 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 that region this dance has lost all reference to or for the 
 dead, or even any connection with a time of mourning, and 
 has become simply a common amusement. 
 
 In the Bihe country of Southwest Africa,^ " death is sur- 
 rounded by many strange and absurd superstitions. It is 
 considered essential that a man should die in his own country, 
 if not in his own town. O n the way to Bailundu, shortly 
 after leaving Bihe ter ritor y, I met some men running at great 
 speed , carrying a sick man tied to a pole , in order that he 
 
 might di e in his own co untry. I tried to stop them ; but 
 
 they were running, as fast as their burden would allow them, 
 down a steep rocky hill. By the sick man's convulsive 
 movements I could see that he was in great pain, perhaps 
 in his death throes; hence the great haste. If a Bailundu 
 man dies in Bihe, the Bihe people have to pay the Bailundu 
 heavily for the shameful conduct of the Bihe demons in 
 killing a stranger; and vice versa, 
 
 " When a man dies at home, his body is placed on a rude 
 table, and his friends meet for days round the corpse, drink- 
 ing, eating, shouting, and singing, until the body begins 
 actually to fall to pieces. Then the body is tied in a fagot 
 of poles and carried on men's shoulders up and down some 
 open space, follow^ed by doctors and drummers. The doctors 
 demand of the dead man the cause of his death, whether by 
 poison or witchcraft; and if by the latter, who was the 
 witch? Most of the deaths I have known of in Negro-land 
 were from pulmonary diseases, but all were set down to 
 witchcraft. The jerking of the bier to and fro, causing the 
 men bearing it to stumble hither and thither, is taken as the 
 dead man's answer ; thus, as in the case of spirit-rapping at 
 home, the reply is spelled out. The result of this enquiry is 
 implicitly believed in ; and, if the case demands it, the witch 
 is drowned." 
 
 Among the Barotse of South Africa ^ "funerals take place 
 at night, and generally immediately after death, while the 
 
 1 Aniot, Garenrranze, p. 116, 
 
 2 Decle, Three Years in Savage Africa, pp. 74-79. 
 
RELATION TO THE FUTURE LIFE 229 
 
 body is still warm. If the person, when alive, possessed the 
 skin of an animal, they wrap the body in it, and also in a 
 plain mat, and then bury it near the hut. But death inspires 
 them with a mortal terror, and thus the hut of the dead 
 man is nearly always abandoned. Anything that has been 
 used for the burial, such as the wood on which the corpse 
 was carried, is left near the grave. It is the fashion to 
 display great external signs of grief, howls and cries of 
 lamentation and the like. Formerly the graves of chiefs 
 were distinguished by elephant tusks turned toward the 
 east. _ All c attle belonoin^ to the deceased ar e killed ; and 
 any animal of which he was particularly fond, such as the 
 co w whose milk he dran k, is killed first. They bury in the 
 kraal itself those who died in the kraal ; but whenever it is 
 possible, the dying are taken out and laid in the fields or 
 forest. There are two reasons for this : first, they think that 
 away from other people is a better chance of the invalid 
 making a recovery ; and, secondly, wherever the person dies 
 he must be buried; therefore, if possible, far from their 
 habitations. When a man dies, visits of condolence are paid 
 to the relatives, the visitors bringing a calf or a head of cattle 
 as a mark of sympathy, which is killed and eaten as a kind 
 of consolation. The night after the funeral is passed in tears 
 and cries. A few days later, the doctor comes and makes an 
 incision on the forehead of each of the survivors, and fills 
 it with medicine, in order to ward off contagion and the effect 
 of the sorcery which caused tlie death. They place on their 
 tombs some souvenir of the profession or vocation of the 
 defunct; for example, — if he had been a liunter, liorns or 
 skins; if a chairmaker, a chair; and so on. Over the gnive 
 a sacred tree is planted. Tlie tree is a kind of laurel calleil 
 ' morata.' ... A man will kill himself on the tomb of his 
 chief; he thinks, as lie ])asses near by, that he hears the dead 
 man call him and bid him brinir him water. These natives 
 b elieve in transmi gration o f the soul into animals ; thus, the 
 hippopo tamus is believed to sh elter the spirit, of h chief. 
 Nevertheless, they do not appear very clear that the soul can- 
 
230 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 not be in two places at once ; else, if a chief has become a 
 hippopotamus in the Zambesi, why should one slay one's self 
 to bring water to his tomb ? " 
 
 / Perhaps Declfe was not aware of a widespread belief in a 
 dual soul, consisting of a "spirit," that, as far as known, 
 lives forever in the world of spirits, and a "shadow " that 
 for an uncertain length of time hovers around the mortal 
 remains. Some, as already mentioned in a previous chapter, 
 also name a third entity, the "life,'' — that which, being 
 "eaten" by sorcerers, causes the living being to sicken, and 
 which the sorcerer, if detected, can be compelled to return 
 to its owner. Miss Kingsley thought also she had discov- 
 ered a belief in a fourth entity, the " dream-soul. " But 
 this, though doubtless believed in as that which sometimes 
 leaves the sleeping body and goes on distant wanderings, is 
 the same as the " spirit, " during whose temporary absence the 
 body continues its breathing and other physical motions, in 
 virtue of the presence of its second and third soul-entities. 
 
 The funeral practices of all the tribes, with very few ex- 
 ceptions, over all Africa, however much they may and do 
 vary, contain all of them, as shown by the preceding quota- 
 tions, a decided belief in, and fear of, the intelligent and 
 probably inimical activity of the spirits of their dead. They 
 include also the custom of the burial with the dead man of 
 more or less of his property, together with the destruction 
 of such things as cannot be conveniently placed in the 
 grave, — clothing, crockery, utensils, wives, slaves, trees of 
 fruitage, etc. 
 
 Even among the civilized and enlightened, while of 
 course there would be no excessive destruction of property, 
 nor murder of widow or slave, an extravagant amount of 
 wearing apparel is stuffed into the coffin (which is some- 
 times made large for that purpose) as a sign of the impor- 
 tance of the dead, and of the sacrifice the love and grief of 
 the living are willing to make. 
 
 The residence of the transmigrated spirit is probably not a 
 permanent one. The Wa-nya-mwesi of East Africa " believe 
 
RELATION TO THE FUTURE LIFE i>31 
 
 ill transmigration both during life and aftur it. Thus, ac- 
 cording to them, a sorcerer can transform himself into a wihl 
 animal to injure his enemies; but in such cases the change 
 is not permanent, and the soul does not remain in its new 
 habitation." ^ 
 
 Leaving out of view the immense difference, caused by the"^ 
 absence of Christianity, in the moral life of native Africa, as 
 compared with that of the United States, there is no one 
 thing that more painfully strikes me, in the low civilization 
 of the former, than their customs for the dead. It would 
 occupy too much space to recount at length all the reasons 
 the natives give for their sometimes apparently heartless 
 ceremonies. The true explanation lies in their belief in 
 witchcraft and their fear of spirits. 
 
 From the testimony of travellers, burial customs are much 
 the same all over Africa. What I have written is my per- 
 sonal knowledge of what prevails on the West Coast, in the 
 equatorial regions, and especially in the portion lying along 
 the course of the Ogowe River, — a river that was fii-st 
 brought to public notice through the writings of Paul Du 
 Chaillu, the journeys of a British trader. My. R. B. N. 
 Walker, and subsequently by the thorough explorations of 
 Count P. S. De Brazza. 
 
 There are in Africa social distinctions of rich and poor, i 
 
 higher and lower classes, just as there are, and always wi ll U\j^ 
 be, all the WT)rld over, the claims of communism to the ^ 
 contrary notwithstanding . These distinctions follow their 
 subjects to the grave, — just as, in our own civilization, 
 one is laid in the sculptured cemetery and another in the 
 Potter's Field. 
 
 The African l)Uiia]-grounds are mostly in the forest, in tlie 
 low-lying lands and tangled thickets along the sea-beach, or 
 the banks of rivers. Hills and elevated building-sites arc 
 reserve(l for villages and planlatii)ns. If a traveller, in 
 journeying along the main river of the country, observes 
 long reaches of uncleared thickets, he will probably l)e 
 
 1 l)..,l.\ 
 
232 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 correct in suspecting that the^e are burial-grounds. His 
 native crew will be slow to inform him of the fact or to 
 converse on the subject, unless to object to an order to go 
 ashore there. 
 
 Some of the interior tribes bury all their dead under the 
 clay floors of their houses. The living are thus actually 
 treading and cooking their food over the graves of their 
 relatives. 
 
 This mode of burial is reserved as a distinction, in the case 
 of some coast tribes, for a very few of their honored chiefs, 
 or for a specially loved relative. 
 
 Over or near the graves of the rich are built little huts, 
 where are laid the common articles used by them in their 
 life, — pieces of crockery, knives, sometimes a table, mirrors, 
 and other goods obtained in foreign trade. Once, in ascend- 
 ing the Ogowe, I observed, tied to the branches of a large 
 tree extending over the stream from the top of the bank, a 
 wooden trade-chest, five pitchers and mugs, and several 
 fathoms of calico prints. I was informed that the grave 
 of a lately deceased chief was near, that these articles were 
 signs of his wealth, and were intended as offerings to spirits 
 to induce them to draw to the villages of his people the 
 trade of passing merchant vessels. 
 
 A noticeable fact about these gifts to the spirits is that, 
 however great a thief a man may be, he will not steal from 
 a grave. The coveted mirror will lie there and waste in the 
 rain, and the valuable garment will flap itself to rags in the 
 wind, but human hands will not touch them. Sometimes 
 the temptation to steal is removed by the donor fracturing 
 the article before it is laid on the grave. 
 
 Actual interment is generally given to all who in life were 
 regarded as at all worthy of respect. Native implements for 
 excavating being few and small, the making of a grave is 
 quite a task; it is often, therefore, made no deeper than is 
 actually sufficient for covering the corpse. This, according 
 to the greatness of the dead or the wealth of the family, is 
 variously encased.. Sometimes it is placed in a coffin made 
 
RELATION TO THE FUTURE LIFE 233 
 
 of the ends of an old canoe ; or, more shapely, of boards cut 
 from the canoe's bottom and sides; or, even so expensively 
 as to use two trade-boxes, making one long one by knocking 
 out an end from each and telescoping them. 
 
 Sometimes the corpse is cast out on the surfiice of the 
 ground, and perhaps a pile of stones or brushwotxl gathered 
 over it. Sometimes it lies uncovered. Sometimes they are 
 cast into the river. 
 
 Many years ago, I was ascending the Ogowe River in my 
 boat, painfully toiling against the current. I had unwisely 
 refused the wish of my crew to stop for our mid-day meal at 
 a desirable ulako (camping-ground), as the hour was too 
 early; and I determined to go on, and stop at some other 
 place. But I regretted presently; for, instead of finding 
 forest and high camping-ground, we came to a long stretch 
 of papyrus swamp; and, after that, to low jungle. We 
 pulled on for another mile, the sun growing hotter, along 
 the unsheltered bank, and we growing faint with hunger 
 as the hour verged to noon. Becoming desperate, I di- 
 rected the crew to stop at the very first spot that was solid 
 enough for foothold, intending to eat our dry rice with- 
 out fire. Presently we came to a clump of oil-palms. Their 
 existence showed solid ground, and I seized the rudder and 
 ran the boat ashore. The crew objected, hungry though 
 they were, that "it was not a good place"; but they did 
 not mention why. I jumped ashore, however, and ordered 
 them to follow, and gather sticks for fire. As tliey were 
 rather slow in so doing, and I overheard murinuiiiig tliat 
 "firewood is not gotten from palm trees" (which is true), 
 I set them an example by starting off on a searcli myself. 
 
 I had not gone far before I found a pile of biiisliwood, and, 
 rejoicing at my success, I called out to the crew to come and 
 carry it. While they were coming, I stooped down and laid 
 hold of an eligible stick. But an odor startled me; and the 
 other sticks that I had dislocated falling apart, there was 
 revealed a luiman foot and sliin, which, from the ornaments 
 still remaining about the ankle, I suppose was a woman's. 
 
234 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 My attendants fled; and I re-embarked in the boat, suffi- 
 ciently unconscious of hunger to await a late meal that was 
 not cooked until we reached a comfortable village a short 
 distance beyond. My crew then explained their slowness 
 to obey me at that clump of palm trees, by saying that they 
 knew it looked like a burying-place. 
 
 A less respectful mode of burial (if, indeed, the term be 
 not a misnomer) is applied to the poor, to the friendless 
 aged who have wearied out the patience of relatives by a 
 long sickness, and to those whose bodies are offensive by a 
 leprous or otherwise ulcerous condition. Immediately that 
 life seems extinct (and sometimes even before) the wasted 
 frame is tied up in the mat on which it is lying, and, slung 
 from a pole on the shoulders of two men, is flung out on 
 the surface of the ground in the forest, to become the prey 
 of wild beasts and the scavenger "driver" (Termes bellicosa) 
 ants. 
 
 Of one tribe in the upper course of the Ogowe, I was told, 
 who, in their intense fear of ghosts, and their dread of the 
 possible evil influence of the spirits of their own dead rela- 
 tives, sometimes adopt a horrible plan for preventing their 
 return. With a very material idea of a spirit, they seek to 
 disabl e it by beating the co rpse until e very bone is broken. 
 The mangled mass is hung in a bag at the foot of a tree in 
 the forest. Thus mutilated, the spirit is supposed to be 
 unable to return to the village, to entice into its fellowship 
 of death any of the sur vivors. 
 
 Some dead bodies are burned, particularly those of crim- 
 inals. Persons convicted on a charge of witchcraft are 
 "criminals," and are almost invariably killed. Sometimes 
 they are beheaded. I have often had in my possession the 
 curved knives with which this operation is performed. 
 
 Sometimes torture is used: a common mode is to roast the 
 condemned over a slow fire, which is made under a stout 
 bed-frame built for the purpose. In such a case almost 
 the entire body is reduced to ashes. When I was clearing 
 a piece of ground at Belambila in the Ogowe in 1875, for the 
 
RELATION TO THE FUTURE LIFE 235 
 
 house which I afterward occupied, my workmen came on 
 a pile of ashes, charcoal, and charred bones, where, tliey 
 assured me, a criminal had been put to death. 
 
 A barely mentionable method of disposal of the bodies of 
 the dead is to eat them. That is possible only in a cannibal 
 country. That it was actual was known among the Gabun 
 Fang fifty years ago, and among my Ogowe Fang twenty- 
 five years ago. None ate of their own dead ; adjacent towns 
 exchanged corpses. Women were not allowed to partake. 
 The practice was confined to the old men. One such was 
 pointed out to me at Talaguga in 1882. He robbed graves 
 for that purpose. 
 
 Among the coast tribes of the Gabun region of West xVfrica 
 cremation is not known, nor are corpses thrown out on the 
 ground. Under the influence of foreign example, the dead 
 are coffined, more or less elaborately, according to the ability 
 of the family; and the interment is made in graves of proper 
 tlepth. In some of these tribes a locality of low, dark, 
 tangled forest, not suitable as site for a village or for a 
 plantation, is used as a public cemetery. 
 
 Among the tribes of Batanga in the German Kamerun 
 territory, though the people are civilized, the old unsanitary 
 custom of burying in the kitchen-gardens immediately in tlie 
 rear of the village, and sometimes actually in the clay floor 
 of the dwelling itself, is still kept up, even by the more en- 
 lightened natives. The Christians are not in num])ers sufli- 
 ciently large in any family to control all the burial ceremonies 
 of its dead members. The strange spectacle is therefore pre- 
 sented of a mixture of Christian ritual and fetich custom. In 
 my own experience at funerals of some children of cliurcli- 
 members at Batanga, the singing of hymns of faith and hoi)e 
 l)y the Christian relatives alternated with the howling of half- 
 naked heathen death-dancers in an adjoining house. And 
 when I had read the burial service to the point of l)eginning 
 tlie marcli of the procession to the grave, perhaps only a few 
 rods distant, the heathen remained behind; and while 1 was 
 reading the "dust to dust" at the grave-side, they would be 
 
236 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 building a quick fire of chips and dried leaves on the exact 
 spot where the coffin had last stood in the village street. 
 The ashes they would gather and incorporate into their fam- 
 ily fetiches, to insure fertility to the mother and other near 
 female relatives of the dead child. 
 
 Also, in the Gabun region, there is the remains of a 
 custom, practised especially by the Orungu tribe of Cape 
 Lopez, of a pretended quarrel between two parties of 
 mourners on a question whether or not the burial shall 
 actually be made, even though there is no doubt that it 
 will be, and the coffin is ready to be carried. This contest 
 concluded, a second quarrel is raised on a question as to 
 which of two sets of relatives, the maternal or the paternal, 
 shall have the right to carry it. Very recently this actually 
 occurred at the town of Libreville, and on the premises of 
 the American Presbyterian Mission, the fight being shame- 
 fully waged by young men who formerly had been profess- 
 ing Christians. They had been given permission to bury a 
 young man in our Protestant cemetery. The missionary in 
 charge of the station heard a great hubbub on the path 
 entering the mission grounds, as if a fight was in progress. 
 Going to investigate, he found an angry contest was being 
 cariied on, under the old heathen idea that the spirit of 
 the dead must see and be pleased by a demonstration of a 
 professed desire to keep him with the living, aiid not to allow 
 him to be put away from them. The contest of words had 
 almost come to blows, and the victors had set up a disgrace- 
 ful shout as they seized the coffin to bring it to the grave. 
 
 Another custom remains in Gabun, — a pleasant one ; it 
 may once have had fetich significance, but it has lost it now, 
 so that Christians may properly retain it. Just before the 
 close of the kw edi, friends (other than relatives) of th e 
 mourners will brings some gift, even a small one, mak e a 
 few remarks appropriate to it and to the circumstances of 
 the receiver, an d give it to his or her mourning friend. It is 
 called the ^^ cere mony of lifting up," ^'. ^., out of the literal 
 . ashes» a nd from the supposed depths of grief. For instance^ if 
 
A Civil. i/.KU Family. —Gahin. 
 
RELATION TO THE FUTURE LIFE 237^ 
 
 the gift be a piece of soap, the speech of donation will be, '' Sit 
 no longer in the dust with begrimed face! Rise, and use 
 the soap for your body I " Or if it be a piece of cloth, ''Be 
 no longer naked! Rise, and clothe yourself with your usual 
 dress!" Or if it be food, ''Fast no longer in yuiir grief! 
 Rise, and strengthen your body with food!'' 
 
 As to the status of the departed in the si)irit-world, 
 though all those African tribes from old heathen days 
 knew of the name of God, of His existence, and of some of 
 His attributes, they did not know of the true way of escape 
 from the evils of this present life, of any system of reward 
 and punishment in the future life, nor of any of the condi- 
 tions of that life. That they had a belief in a future world 
 is evidenced by survivors taking to the graves of their dead, 
 as has been described in the preceding pages, boxes of goods, 
 native materials, foreign cloth, food, and (formerly) even 
 wives and servants, for use in that other life to which they 
 had gone. Whatever may have been supposed aljout the 
 locality or occupations of that life, the dead were conlidcntly 
 believed to have carried with them all their human passions 
 and feelings, and especially their resentments. Fear of those 
 possible resentments dominated the living in all their attempts 
 at spiritual communication wdth the dead. 
 
 As to the locality of the latter, it was not believed that 
 all of them always remained in that unknown other world. 
 They could wander invisibly and intangibly. More than 
 that, they could return bodily and resume this earthly life 
 in other forms; for belief in metempsychosis is a common one 
 among all these tribes. The dead, some of them, return to 
 be born again, either into their own family or into any other 
 family, or even into a beast. 
 
 Wlio thus return, or why they return, is entirely uneeriam. 
 Certainly not all are thus born again. Those who in this 
 present Hfe had been great or good or prominent or rich 
 remain in the spirit-world, and constitute the special class 
 of spirits called ''awiri" (singular, '' ombwiri '*). 
 
 But these awiri arc at liberty to revisit the earth if they 
 
'238 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 choose, taking a local habitation in some prominent natural 
 object, or coming on call to aid in ceremonies for curing the 
 sick. Other spirits, as explained in a previous chapter, are 
 sinkinda, the souls of the common dead; and ilaga, unknown 
 spirits of other nations, or beings Avho have become "angels," 
 all of these living in "Njambi's Town." 
 
 As to Father Njambi Himself, the creator and overseer of 
 all, both living and dead, every kind of spirit — ombwiri, 
 nkinda, olaga, and all sorts of abambo — is under His control, 
 but He does not often exercise it. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 FETICHISM—SOME OF ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 
 Depopulation. 
 
 ONE of the effects of witchcraft beliefs in Africa is the 
 depopulation of that continent. Over enormous ar eas 
 of the country the death rate has exceeded the birth rate. 
 Much of Africa is desert — the Sahara of the north, and the 
 Kalahari of the south — with estimated populations of only 
 one to the square mile. Another large area is a wilderness 
 covered by the great sub-equatorial forest, —a belt about 
 three hundred miles wide and one thousand miles long, with 
 an estimated population of only eighteen to the square mile 
 (among whom are the Pygmy tribes); and these not scattered 
 uniformly, but gathered chiefly on the banks of the water- 
 courses, the only highways (except narrow footpaths) through 
 that dismal forest. 
 
 The entire population of Africa, including all nationalities, 
 — Copts of Egypt, Moors and Berbers of the north, Arabs of 
 the east, Abyssinians, Pygmies, and Cannibals of the centre, 
 Negroes, both Bantu and Negroid, of the west, south, centre, 
 and east, — probably do not number two hundred million. 
 Qf these, the Negroes probably do not amount to one hun- 
 dred million. German authorities variously estimate the 
 
 population of their Kamerun country at from two to five 
 million, and they have been vigorously reducing it by their 
 savage punitive expeditions in the interior. The French 
 authorities of the Kongo-Frangais estimate theirs at from 
 five to ten million. 
 
 The population of the great Kongo River was much over- 
 estimated after tlie opening of that river by Stanley. Its 
 people were massed on the river banks, and gave an im- 
 
240 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 pression of density which subsequent interior travel has 
 not verified. To walk slowly in an hour over a mile of road 
 that constitutes the one street of a town ; to count the huts, 
 and allot such or such a number to each, would give a suffi- 
 ciently accurate census of one thousand or perhaps two thou- 
 sand to that town. But that place is the centre of travel or 
 traffic of that region. A half-day's journey on any radius 
 from that town through the surrounding forest would con- 
 front the traveller with scarcely any other evidences of human 
 habitation. Towns of the thousands are not the usual sight; 
 rather the villages of one hundred, and the hamlets of twenty, 
 excepting in the Sudan, in the Yoruba and other countries 
 of the Niger, and in the large capitals of Dahomey and other 
 Guinea kingdoms. There walled cities of from fifty to one 
 hundred thousand inhabitants are known. 
 
 These congested districts help to lift the average that 
 would be made low by the paucity in the wilderness and 
 desert portions. Probably the population of the entire con- 
 tinent was much greater two hundred years ago. Depopula- 
 tion was hastened by the export slave-trade. Livingston e _ 
 estimated that, on the East Coast, for every slave actually 
 exported, nineteen others died on the way. The foreign 
 slave-trade has long ceased, except from the Upper Nile 
 down through Egypt and Arabia, and from the Sudan across 
 the Sahara to Morocco. But far worse than Arab slave-trade 
 are the diabolical atrocities, committed during the last fifteen 
 years and actually at the present time, in the Kongo, under 
 white officers of the miscalled "Free State," and with the 
 knowledge and allowance of the King of Belgium. 
 
 But, aside from all these and other civil and political 
 causes, the fetich religion of Africa has been a large part 
 of its destruction. It has been a Moloch, whose hunger 
 for victims was never satisfied: as illustrated in the annual 
 sacrifice of hundreds and thousands by the priests of the 
 kings of Dahomey and Ashanti; and the burial victims at 
 the funerals of great kings, as in Uganda and all over the 
 continent. If the destruction of such human victims is not 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 241 
 
 so great to-day as it was twenty years ago, due to enligliten- 
 ment by Christian missions and forceful prohibition by civi- 
 lized governments, the spirit of and disposition to destruction 
 is not eradicated ; it is only suppressed. It is so deep seated 
 and ingrained as a part of religion, that it is among the veiy 
 last of the shadows of heathenism to disappear after individ- 
 uals or tribes are apparently civilized and enlightened. Under 
 transformino' influences the native has been lifted from dis- 
 honesty to honesty, from untruth to truth, from inmiorality 
 to virtue, from heathenism to Christianity; and yet there 
 still clings to him, though he no longer worships the fetich, 
 a belief in and fear of it. The presence of foreign govern- 
 ments can and does prevent witchcraft murder for the 
 dead ; but if these governments were withdrawn from 
 E n glish Sierra Leone, French Konc^o-Frangais, and other 
 partitions of Africa, the witchcraft ordeal and murder would 
 be a t once resumed. And no wonder. Inbred beliefs, 
 deepened by millenniums of years of practice, are not elimi- 
 nated by even a century of foreign teaching. Costume of 
 body and fashion of dress are easily and voluntarily changed ; 
 not so tlie essence of one's being. 
 
 Under the assurance that a consecrated charm can be made 
 for the accomplishment of any purpose whatever, it results 
 that almost every native African heathen, in hours of fear or 
 anger or revenge, has made, or has had made, for himself 
 amulets, or has performed rites intended to compass an 
 injury to, and perhaps the death of, some otlier person. 
 Should that other die, even as long a time as a year after- 
 ward, it will be believed that that fetich amulet or act 
 caused the death. 
 
 It follows, therefore (although even heathen natives do, in 
 rare cases, say of a death, " Yes, Anzam took this one, '' /. <;., 
 that he died a natural deatli), that almost universally at any 
 death which we woukl know as a natural one, surviving 
 relatives and friends make the charge of witchcraft, and seek 
 the witch or wizard, by investigation involving, in tlie trial, 
 torture, or ordeal by poisun, lire, or other tests. ^ For every 
 
 IG 
 
242 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 natural death at least one, and often ten or more, have bee n 
 executed under witchcraft accusation. 
 
 I have pleaded for the lives of accused when I believed 
 them innocent, and whenever I was informed that an in- 
 vestigation was in progress, I said to the crowd assembled 
 in the street, "When you kill these three people to-day, 
 do I see three babies born to take their place in the num- 
 ber of the inhabitants of your village ? " 
 
 The Balengi on the Benita River, among whom I travelled 
 in 1865-70, were then a large tribe. It is now very small, 
 exterminated largely by witchcraft murders for the dead. 
 The aged, defenceless, and slaves are generally selected as 
 victims. But no one is secure. Relatives of a chief who 
 during his life may have seemed envious of his power, are 
 often suspected and put to death. 
 
 For the determination of a doubtful cause of decease post- 
 mortems are made, but not on any rational basis or with any 
 knowledge of anatomy. In the autopsy of an ordinary person 
 the object is to find among the bowels or other internal organs 
 some sign which the doctor-priest may declare to be the path 
 of the supposed sorcery-injected destroying spirit. In case 
 of a magician, the object is to see whether his own "familiar" 
 had " eaten " him. Cavities in the lungs are considered proof 
 positive that one's own power has destroyed him. The 
 fimbriated extremities of the fallopian tubes of a uterus are 
 also declared to be ''witch." Their ciliary motions on dis- 
 section are regarded as a sign that the woman was a witch. 
 In proof, the native doctor said to me, "See! those are the 
 spirit-teeth. Don't you see how they move and extend in 
 desire to catch and eat?" It was in vain that I declared 
 to him that if that was true then every woman all over the^ 
 world was a witch, and that he was bound to go ahead and 
 kill them all ; for that God had made no woman without those 
 things. ( Wt^s this " doctor's " idea the same reaso n for which 
 the old an atomists called those fimbriae "morsus Diaboli"?") 
 
 In Garenganze, among the Barotse,^ "the trial for witch- 
 
 1 Ariiot, p. 76. 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 243 
 
 craft is short and decisive. If one man suspects another of 
 having bewitched him, — in fact, if he has a grudge against 
 him, — he brings him before the council, and tlie ordeal of 
 the boiling pot is resorted to. My proposal is that if they 
 consider it a fair trial of ' whiteness ' or ' blackness ' of 
 heart, as they call it, then let both the accuser and the 
 accused put their hands into the boiling water. The king 
 is strongly in favor of this proposal, and would try any 
 means to stop this fearful system of murder which is thin- 
 ning out many of his best men ; but the nation is so strongly 
 in favor of the practice that he can do nothing. An old 
 friend of mine, Wizini, who took quite a fatherly care and 
 interest in me, for some peculiar reason of liis own, was 
 charged with witchcraft. He pleaded earnestly to be spared 
 the terrible trial, and was reprieved because of his years, but 
 banished from his people and country for life, for no other 
 reason than that a neighbor had an ill feeling against him. 
 Had he been first to the king with his complaint, he might 
 have gotten his neighbor burned or banished instead of him- 
 self. . . . Their punishments are very cruel. Burning alive 
 is, among the Barotse, a common occurrence ; also tying the 
 victim hand and foot and laying him near a nest of large 
 black (' driver ') ants, which in a few days pick his bones 
 clean." 
 
 But it is well to repeat my own qualification of most 
 statements al)OUt '"African" customs, which Arnot makes 
 in connection with the above, that, '"when inanncrs and 
 customs are referred to, the particular district nuist be 
 borne in mind, ^frica is an immense continent, and there 
 is as much variety in the customs of the dift'erent tribes as 
 ,in t heir lannfuages. Certain tribes take delight in cruelty 
 and bloodshed; others have a religious fear of shedding 
 human blood, and treat aged people with every kindness, 
 to secure their good-will after death. By other trilics tlie 
 ajied would be cast out as mere food for wild animals." 
 
 The testimony uf Dcclc ^ as to the tribes of South-Central 
 
 1 Three Years in Sava'^e Africa, ]>. ')\2. 
 
244 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Africa is: "You would suppose that the African expected 
 everybody to live forever, since his one explanation of death 
 is an immediate recourse to witchcraft. It is hardly an ex- 
 aggeration to say that every natural death entails a violent 
 one as its consequence. Along with witchcraft and the 
 inevitable accusation of sorcery when one dies, goes the 
 custom of ' muavi,' the ordeal by poison. ... It is plain 
 what complete domination this practice has got over the 
 native mind. The reason is that he thoroughly believes in 
 its efficiency. My own porters have constantly offered to 
 submit to the ordeal on the most trivial charges. Of course, 
 this thorough belief in ' muavi ' hands the native over com- 
 pletely defenceless to the witch doctor. The doctor can 
 get rid of anybody he likes to. Besides this, he is a kind 
 of public prosecutor; that is to say, that when he accuses 
 any man or woman of sorcery, he is not obliged, like any 
 ordinary accuser, to take the poison himself." 
 
 The " ordeal " or test of the innocence of a person accused 
 of practising witchcraft or of having caused the death of any 
 one (except in places where Christianity has attained power), 
 is almost the same now as that described by Rev. Dr. J. L. 
 Wilson, and subsequently by Du Chaillu, as existing fifty 
 years ago on the entire West Coast of Africa. On the Upper 
 Guinea coasts it is called the "red water." "It is a decoc- 
 tion made from the inner bark of a large forest tree of the 
 mimosa family." At Calabar a bean was used, an extract of 
 which since has been employed in our pharmacopoeia, in sur- 
 gical operations of the eye. 
 
 In the Gabun country the bark and leaves of a small tree 
 called "akazya" are used. Farther south, in the Nkami 
 (miswritten, " Camma ") country, it is called "mbundu." 
 
 The decoction itself is supposed to have almost sentience, 
 — an ability to follow, in the various organs of the body, like 
 a policeman, and detect and destroy the witch -spirit supposed 
 to be lurking about. 
 
 Accused persons sometimes even demand that they be 
 given the ordeal. This an innocent person could fearlessly 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 245 
 
 do, feeling sure of his innocence, and thinking, as any honest 
 person in a civilized country charged with theft would feel, 
 that it was perfectly safe to have his house searched, sure 
 that no stolen article was secreted there. So here the ig- 
 norant native is willing to take this poison, not looking on 
 it as what we call "]3oison." 
 
 People who know that they have at times used witchci-aft 
 arts will naturally be unwilling to undergo the test; but if 
 the charge is made after a death, an accused is compelled to 
 drink. " If it nauseates and causes him to vomit freely, he 
 suffers no injury, and is at once pronounced innocent. If, 
 on the other hand, it causes vertigo, and he loses his self- 
 control, it is regarded as evidence of guilt; and then all sorts 
 of indignities and cruelties are practised on him. . . . On 
 the other hand, if he escapes without injury his character is 
 thoroughly purified, . . . and he arraigns before the prin- 
 cipal men of the town his accusers, who in their turn must 
 submit to the same ordeal, or pay a large fine to the niant 
 whom they attempted to injure. . . . There is seldom any 
 fairness in the administration of the ordeal. No particular 
 quantity of the ' red water ' is prescribed." The doctor, by 
 collusion and family favoritism, may make the decoction very 
 weak ; or, influenced by public feeling inimical to the accused, 
 he may compel him to swallow a fatal amount; or he may 
 save his life by a subsequent emetic.^ 
 
 Cannibalism. 
 
 African cannibalism has been regarded as only a barbar- 
 ism; but for many years I have strongly suspected that it 
 had some connection with the Negro's religion. It may be 
 a corollarv of witchcraft. 
 
 Declfe intimates the same:^ "I do not mean such can- 
 nibalism as that of certain Kongo tribes, or of the Solomon 
 Islanders, who kill people to eat them, as we eat game. 
 With such tribes I did not come in contact. P)Ut there is 
 another form of cannibalism less generally known to Euro- 
 
 1 Wilson. - P. r)13. 
 
246 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 peans, and perhaps even more grisly, which consists in 
 digging up dead bodies to feast on their flesh. This prac- 
 tice exists largely among the natives in the region of Lake 
 Nyasa.^ I know of a case in which the natives of a village 
 in this region seized the opportunit}- of a white man's pres- 
 ence to break into the hut of one of these reputed can- 
 nibals, and found there a human leg hanging from the 
 rafters. This incident shows that cannibalism is practised; 
 but also that it is not universal with the tribes among 
 whom it is found, and is condemned by the public opinion 
 of those who do not practise it. But public opinion in 
 Africa is not a highly developed power. . . . The real 
 public opinion is witchcraft. And, indeed, in the case of 
 cannibalism, the real public opinion tends to shield the 
 perpetrators, because they are reputed to be sorcerers of 
 high quality." 
 
 Rev. Dr. H. C. Trumbull, in his "Blood Covenant" 
 (1893), while gathering testimony from all nations to illus- 
 trate his view of the universality of blood as representing 
 life^ and the heart as the seat of life, as a part of the religious 
 rite of a covenant, comes incidentally on this same idea of 
 cannibalism as having a religious significance, or at least, as 
 I have expressed above, as a corollary of witchcraft. This 
 YJll explain why the African cannibal, in conquering his 
 enemy, also eats him; why the heart is especially de sired in 
 such feasts; an d why the body of any one of distinguishe d 
 characteristics i s prized for the cannibal feast. His strength 
 or skill or bravery or power is to be absorbed along with his 
 flesh. 
 
 Trumbull 2 quotes from R^ville, the representative com- 
 parative religionist of France: "Here you will recognize 
 the idea so widely spread in the two Americas, and indeed 
 almost everywhere amongst uncivilized people (nor is it 
 limited to the uncivilized), that the heart is the epitome, 
 
 1 I know of its occurring on the Gabun and Ogowe rivers on the West 
 Coast. — K. H. N. 
 
 2 P. 107. 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 247 
 
 so to speak, of the individual, — his soul in some sense, — 
 so that to appropriate his heart is to appropriate his whole 
 being." 
 
 A constant charge against sorcerers in West African tribes 
 is that they have made a person sick by stealing and eating 
 the sick one's "heart," and that the invalid cannot recover 
 till the " heart " is returned. 
 
 Also, see Trumbull :i "The widespread popular supersti- 
 tion of the Vampire and of the ghoul seems to be an out- 
 growth of this universal belief that transfused blood is 
 revivifying. The bloodless shades, leaving their graves at 
 night, seek renev/ed life by drawing out the blood of those 
 who sleep, taking the life of the living to supply temporary 
 life to the dead. ... An added force is given to all these 
 illustrations of the universal belief that transferred blood 
 has a vivifying power, by the conclusions of modern medical 
 science concerning the possible benefits of blood-transfusion. 
 The primitive belief seems to have had a sound basis in scien- 
 tific fact." 
 
 Histories of our American Indians are full of incidents 
 showing how the heart of a captive who in dying had 
 exhibited bravery in the endurance of torture, was promptly 
 cut in pieces and eaten, to absorb his courage. 
 
 " The Ashanti fetichmen of West Africa, apparently act- 
 ing on a kindred thought, make a mixture of the hearts of 
 enemies mingled with blood and consecrated herbs, for the 
 vivifying of the conquerors." 
 
 "In South Africa, among the Amampondo, one of the 
 Kaffir tribes, it is customary for the chief, on his accession 
 to authority, to be washed in the blood of a near relative, 
 generally a brother, who is put to death on the occasion, and 
 has his skull used as a receptacle for blood." ^ 
 
 Secret Societies. 
 Another outcome of witchcraft belief is the formation of 
 secret societies, botli male and female, of crushing power 
 
 1 p. 115. 2 Trumbull, p. 129. 
 
248 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 and far-reaching influence, which, in one aspect of their 
 influence, the governmental, were the only authority, before 
 the intrusion of foreign powers, which could settle a fierce 
 personal dispute or enforce intertribal peace. But their 
 possibilities for good were overbalanced by their actualities 
 of evil. 
 
 Among these societies I have, in a previous chapter, men- 
 tioned as governmental agencies the Egbo of the Nigger Delta, 
 pkuku of the Corisco region^ a nd Yasi of the Qgowe. There 
 is also in the Gabun region of the equator, among the 
 Shekani, Mwetyi; among the Bakele, Bweti ; among the 
 Mpongwe-speaking tribes, Inda and Njembe; and Ukuku 
 and M alinda in the Batanga regions . 
 
 A detailed account of the ceremonies of an initiation into 
 Malinda is contained in Chapter XVI. 
 
 In a previous chapter I have mentioned my own coming in 
 contact with Ukuku and Yasi. 
 
 All these societies had for their primary object the good 
 one of government, for this purpose holding the fetich in 
 terror; but the means used were so arbitrary, the influ- 
 ences employed so oppressive, and the representations so 
 false, that they almost all were evil. Most of them are 
 now discontinued as a tribal power by the presence of 
 foreign governments, the foreign power having actually 
 come in conflict with some of them, as in the case of Eng- 
 land recently with the Aro of Nigeria; or, where they still 
 exist, they have degenerated to mere amusement, as Ukukwe, 
 in Gabun ; or are kept up as a traditional fashion, as Njembe. 
 
 But they all exist, as described by Rev. Dr. Wilson a 
 generation ago, and are at this very present among the 
 tribes of the interior, where foreign government is as yet 
 only nominal. 
 
 Mwetyi "is a great spirit, who is supposed to dwell in the 
 bowels of the earth, but comes to the surface of the ground 
 at stated seasons, or when summoned on any special busi- 
 ness. A large flat house of peculiar form is erected in the 
 middle of the village for the temporary sojourn of this spirit. 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 249 
 
 The house is always kept perfectly dark, and no one is per- 
 mitted to enter it, except those who have been initiated into 
 all the mysteries of the order, which includes, however, al- 
 most the whole of the adult male population of the village. 
 . . . When Mwetyi is about to retire from a village, the 
 women, children, uninitiated lads, and any strangers who 
 may be there at the time, are required to leave the village." 
 
 "Inda is an association whose membership is confined to 
 the adult male population. It is headed by a spirit of that 
 name, who dwells in the woods, and appears only when sum- 
 moned by some unusual event, — at the death of a person 
 connected with the order, at the birth of twins, or at the 
 inauguration of some one into office. ... If a distinguished 
 person dies, Inda affects great rage, and comes the follow- 
 ing night with a large posse of men to seize the property of 
 the villagers without discrimination. He is sure to lay hands 
 on as many sheep and goats as are necessary to make a grand 
 feast, and no man has any right to complain. . . . The in- 
 stituti on of Inda. like that of Mwetyi, is intended to keep 
 ^the women, children, and slaves in subjection." 
 
 " N jgmbe is a pretty fair counterpart of Inda, but there is 
 no special spirit nor any particular person representing it." 
 Its power resides in the society as a body, and rests on the 
 threat of the employment of fetich medicines to injure 
 recalcitrant persons. Only women are admitted to it. A 
 very considerable fee is demanded for admission to member- 
 ship. Formerly it was considered an honor to be allowed 
 to be initiated; now, to perpetuate itself, it compels young 
 women to enter it, especially if they have made derogatory 
 remarks about Njembe. The initiation then becomes a kind 
 of punishment. Strange to say, young women thus com- 
 pelled to enter accept the society, and become zealous to 
 drag others in. The initiation occupies about two weeks, 
 and is accompanied with harsh treatment. NjSmbe has no 
 special meeting-house. They assemble in a cleared place in 
 tlie centre of a jungle, where their doings are unseen by out- 
 siders by night or day. Nothing is known of their rites, ex- 
 
250 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 cept that they dance in a nude state, and the songs of their 
 dances are openly heard, and are often of the vilest character. 
 
 " They pretend to detect thieves, to find out the secrets of 
 their enemies," to direct women in pregnancy, and in other 
 ways claim to be useful. 
 
 " The object of the institution originally, no doubt, was to 
 protect the females from harsh treatment on the part of their 
 husbands." 
 
 As a rule, the Mpongwe women say that every woman 
 should be in the Njembe Society; so, at a certain age of a 
 girl, they decide that she shall "go in." But she is not 
 always put through all the ceremonies at once. She may be 
 subjected to only a part of the initiation, the remainder to be 
 performed at another time. 
 
 The special occasion for an initiation may be perhaps be- 
 cause the spirit of some recently dead member wants a new 
 one to take her place ; or if any young woman has escaped 
 being initiated during her youth or if she is charged with 
 having spoken derisively of Njembe, she may be seized by 
 force and compelled to go through the rite. 
 
 The entire process so beats down the will of the novices 
 and terrorizes them, that even those who have been forced 
 into it against their will, when they emerge at the close of 
 the rite, most inviolably preserve its secrets, and express 
 themselves as pleased. 
 
 Just before the novices or "pupils " are to enter, they have 
 to prepare a great deal of food, — as much as they can pos- 
 sibly obtain of cassava, fish, and plantains. Two days are 
 spent, before the ceremonies begin, in cooking this food. 
 They make big bundles of nganda (gourd seed) pudding, 
 others of ground-nuts and odika (oily kernel of the wild 
 mango), pots of odika and fish boiled, boiled hard plantains, 
 and ripe plantains beaten into rolls called "fufu. " This food 
 is to be eaten by them and the older members of the society 
 the first night. 
 
 Those older ones, as a part of the hazing which they 
 always practise, deceive the new ones by advising them in 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 261 
 
 advance: "Eat no supper this evening. Save up your ap- 
 petite. All this food you have prepared is your own, and 
 you will be satiated at the feast to-night." This is said in 
 order to play a hard joke on them. But sometimes a more 
 tender-hearted relative will pity them, and will privately 
 warn them to eat something, knowing that they will be up 
 all night, and that the older members intend to seize and eat 
 what these "pupils" had prepared for themselves, allowing 
 the latter to be faint with hunger. 
 
 That evening the society goes into the adjacent jungle, the 
 spot selected including a small stream of water. There they 
 clear a small space for their ceremonies. They dance all 
 night, part of the time in this camp, and part of the time 
 in the street of the town, but ahvays going back to the camp 
 at some early morning hour. 
 
 On the second day they come to town, dance there a little 
 while, and then go back to the forest. They beat constantly 
 and monotonously, without time, a short straight stick on 
 a somewhat crescent-shaped piece of board (orega) that is 
 slightly concave on one side. It makes a clear but not a 
 musical note ; is heard quite far, and is the distinctive sign 
 of the Njembe Society. No other persons own or will strike \ 
 the orega music. 
 
 In the part of the ceremonies that are public in the village 
 street, a man is invited to assist by beating on a drum, a 
 matter in which women here are not expert. This drum does 
 not exclude the orgga, several of which may be beaten at the 
 same time; at least one must be kept sounding during the 
 whole two weeks by one or another of the candidates, or 
 if these become exhausted, by some other member of the 
 society. 
 
 One of the first public preparations is the bending of a 
 limber pole (ilala) as an arch, or two branches, their tops 
 woven together, over the path entering the village. They 
 are wreathed with lycopodium ferns, and at their bases 
 are stuck a young, short, recently half-unfolded palm-leaf, 
 painted with Nj&mbS dots of white, red, and black. At the 
 
252 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 distance of a few hundred feet may be another ilala; indeed, 
 there may be several of them on the way to the camp. 
 
 While dancing during the first tew days, the society occu- 
 pies itself with preparations, unknown to the pubhc, for their 
 "work" in the camp. Thither come older members from 
 afar, especially those related to the candidates. 
 
 Certain women skilled in the Njembe dances and rules are 
 called " teachers. " The first step which an already initiated 
 member takes to become a " teacher " is to find and intro- 
 duce a new recruit, with whom she must again go through 
 all the rites of initiation more severely than at her first ex- 
 perience. She makes herself perfect in the lessons impressed 
 on her by impressing them on the new pupil. The pro- 
 spective "teacher" has thus to endure, in this second passage 
 through the rites, all and more than is put on the novice. 
 Little as is known of these rites, it is certain they are severe. 
 
 In the singing, each song is known by its own descriptive 
 motions. The motion mentioned is to be actually performed, 
 however difficult or immodest it may be. Generally the im- 
 modest portions are reserved for the seclusion of their camp; 
 but the words sung at the camp can be heard at the village, 
 so that all hear them, — men, women, and little children. 
 
 One common public song has for its refrain, " Look at the 
 sun"; while that song is being danced, the candidate must 
 gaze steadily at the hot sun, even if it be. blinding. Most of 
 the "rules" (and the teacher may invent as many new ones 
 as she chooses) are purposely hard in order to make the can- 
 didate suffer, and as part of the process of breaking her will, 
 and ensuring secrecy by a reign of terror. 
 
 Also most of the nights the candidate (or several of them 
 if there are a number) must spend hours in keeping a fire 
 burning in some part of the forest. That fire, once started, 
 must be kept burning day and night during the whole two 
 weeks. A girl who in ordinary times would be afraid to 
 go out into the forest alone at night, will, under the Njembe 
 initiation, go out in storm and rain to see that the fire is 
 not extinguished. Sometimes the teacher will lighten the 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 253 
 
 task for her by accompanying her; or some one, pitying, will 
 help to gather the dead wood with which the fire is kept 
 smouldering. 
 
 There are also rules for the breaking of which there are 
 fines, e.g., "When you are dancing in public during the in- 
 itiation, do not laugh aloud." Another rule is that no salu- 
 tation is to be given or received, nor the person or even the 
 clothing of a visitor touched by a candidate. 
 
 The teacher must be quick to imitate, in this her second 
 " degree " or passage through the rites, the rapid motions of 
 the skilled older one who is teaching her and her new 
 recruit. 
 
 In order to increase the severity, the pupil, though she may 
 be already wearied, is required to repeat her dance before 
 every newcomer or spectator. The teacher will start the 
 beat of the orega and take a few steps of the dance, and 
 then stop and rest comfortably, the tired pupil taking the 
 orega and continuing the dance. 
 
 If pupils are sulky or shy, their teacher and other older 
 members will scold them: "Go on! dance I You may not 
 stand or rest there ! Go on ! You I this girl with your awk- 
 wardness I Do you own the Njembe?" Sometimes a \)\\\)i\ 
 is sulky or stubborn, or, disheartened, begins to cry. No 
 mercy is shown her. Others, in anxiously trying to follow 
 motions, will make absurd mistakes, and bring down on them- 
 selves the derision of the spectators. Some pupils really like 
 the dancing, and endeavor to learn quickly. Such as these 
 are praised: "This one knows, and she will some day be a 
 teacher." 
 
 It is expected that the relatives of the pui)ils will be j)ies- 
 ent and encourage them with some little gifts. 
 
 It is remarkable how well the secrets of the society are 
 kept. No one has ever been induced to reveal them. Those 
 who have left the society and have become Christians do not 
 tell. Foreigners have again and again tried to bribe, but in 
 vain. Traders and others have tried to induce their native 
 wives to reveal; but these women, obedient to any extent on 
 
254 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 all other matters, maintain a stubborn silence. Nothing is 
 known outside of the society of their doings in their camp, 
 except that they are all naked, lay aside all modesty, make 
 personal examinations of each other's bodies, sing phallic 
 songs, and indulge in the hardest, severest, and most violent 
 insults and curses heaped up in assumed wrath as jokes 
 on each other. It is really a school in which to learn the 
 fine art of using insults and curses which will be utilized 
 outside the society, upon other persons on occasions of real 
 anger. No man can equal these women in their volubility 
 and bitte r tirades when really angry. It is Billingsgate in its 
 
 After keeping up the ceremonies for a number of days, the 
 society chooses one for their "last." The day preceding it, 
 they go out in procession with baskets, kettles, and basins, 
 from village to village, still singing, the song being adapted 
 for their errand of begging, and still beating the orega, 
 to get offerings of food, or gifts of rum, tobacco, plates, 
 and cloth. (In a civilized religious worship this would be 
 the taking up of the collection.) At each village on their 
 route any member of the society will direct one of the new 
 pupils to dance, as an exhibition of her recently acquired 
 ability. She does not hesitate, but asks, " Which dance ? " 
 The teacher replies, " I will show you, ' ' and starting a few 
 steps measured, she stops, and the designated pupil takes 
 it up. 
 
 During the initiation the pupils are required to go bare- 
 footed ; and if they have been wearing dresses, the dresses 
 are taken off and only a native cloth worn. But a slight 
 concession has occasionally been made in favor of some mis- 
 sion-school girls when forced into NjSmbe, who, accustomed 
 to dresses, were allowed to wear them when walking in this 
 public collecting procession. 
 
 The night of the day on which they come back from this 
 collecting of gifts is the "last night." Dancing is then done 
 by all, both by the teachers and the pupils. 
 
 It is not known who is leader. One is spoken of as the 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 255 
 
 "Mother," but it is not known who slie is. Tlie chief tciu'her 
 is seen whenever they come from their cam[), and is know n 
 by the colored chalk markings different from others. 
 
 The next morning, the morning of the "last day," all go 
 out fishing, young and old, along the river or sea beach. This 
 fishing is done among the muddy roots of the mangrove trees. 
 They gather shell -fish of different kinds. But whatever they 
 do or do not obtain, they do not return till each one has 
 caught a small common snake which lives in holes at the 
 mangrove roots. The sound of the orega (which is still con- 
 stantly beaten) seems to act as a charm, and the snake 
 emerges from its hole and is readily caught; or the hand is 
 boldly thrust into the hole in search of the reptile. In start- 
 ing out on this fishing the new members do not know that 
 they are to handle snakes. They go as on a happy fishing 
 excursion. Really, it is their final test. They are told t^ 
 put their hands into these holes, and not to let go of thfe 
 "fish" they shall seize there. The novice obeys, but pres- 
 ently screams in alarm as she feels a snake-like form wriggling 
 about her hand. Her teacher terribly threatens her ; she begs 
 to be excused, dares not let go, and is compelled to pull out 
 the snake twining about her arm. They all then return to 
 the camp, each with her snake in her basket. It is not 
 known what is done with these snakes. 
 
 The teacher is to be paid for her services. As the pupils 
 come from different villages, each one has to ask her teacher's 
 joermission to go to her relatives to collect the fee. This is 
 done a few days before the final day. They are allowed to 
 go, but with an escort to watch them that they break no rule 
 of the initiation. They do not go into the houses, nor do 
 they speak. They stand in the street. Those who escort 
 them have to do the talking, thus: "AVe have come to collect 
 our money, as the NjSmbe will soon be done." If they get 
 a plenty, the pupils are glad; otherwise they have to stand in 
 the hot sun uncovered, except by their crown-like wreath of 
 lycopodium fern. It is a trying and humiliating position for 
 any girl whose people are poor or unwilling. She must stand 
 
256 FETICHISM IN" WEST AFRICA 
 
 there till some one of her people shall contribute what the 
 escort deems sufficient. / 
 
 Having collected each her fee for the teacher, the pupils go 
 back to her at the village, and seat themselves on the ground 
 under the eaves of the houses on one side of the street, each 
 with her pile of goods near her. The teacher eyes these 
 piles, and selects the girl who apparently has the most, to 
 be the first to begin to pay. Just previous to this, stalks of 
 amomum ar e laid down in the street, parallel to each other, 
 about eighteen inches apart, in number according with the 
 teacher's random guess of the number of articles in the 
 chosen pile. Then she lays the articles of the pile, one by 
 one, on the amomum stalk. Then another of the teachers 
 seizes the hand of the girl who owned these goods, and swing- 
 ing her from side to side, runs with her rapidly over that line 
 of goods, herself stepping carefully on the interspaces, but 
 apparently trying to confuse the girl into stepping on and 
 breaking some one of the articles, e, g., a mirror or a plate. 
 This ordeal safely passed, the goods of that girl are ac- 
 cepted and put aside near the teacher. The goods of each 
 of the other new girls are treated in the same way, and 
 laid, one by one, on the amomum stalks. 
 
 The number of some girl's articles may not equal the 
 standard set by the first, and there may be not enough 
 to cover every stalk. In that case the teacher will allow 
 some article, e.g., a head of tobacco-leaves, to be opened and 
 its separate leaves used to piece out the number. Neverthe- 
 less, she will demand that something be added. It is an 
 anxious time for the pupils, watching to see whether their 
 fee is accepted. Sometimes the teacher, seeing that a girl's 
 pile of goods is small, will not even attempt to count or 
 divide it, but, looking at it, sneeringly says, "I see noth- 
 ing here! Sit you there in the sun till some one brings you 
 more! " 
 
 The last act of the "last day," before adjourning, is a 
 public dance called Njega (Leopard). For that, the mem- 
 bers of the society, and most spectators, dress up in fine 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 257 
 
 clothes. It is performed in the afternoon, and visitors go to 
 see it. The " Leopard " is done by the teachers, two at a 
 time. All these pairs must have their faces painted, each in 
 a different style, no piece of skin left untouched. 
 
 In beginning the Leopard dance, one of tlie pair imi- 
 tates a leopard sneaking around tlie corners of the liouses; 
 while the other one, waiting, has collected perhaps a dozen 
 of the members as her "children," whom she as tlieir 
 "mother" is to guard from the "leopard." This teaclior- 
 mother begins a song, "Children! there is the leopard in 
 shape of a person," adding as a refrain the word, " Mbwero! 
 mbwero! mbwero!" which is repeated rapidly as a warning 
 that the leopard is coming, ending with, "my children!" 
 They sing, and step backward and forward to a drum accom- 
 paniment. While these "children" are in great pretended 
 excitement, the leopard is advancing slowly, steadily, and 
 nearer from the ogwerina (rear of the houses) into the street, 
 with extended tongue, and growling. When the mother sees 
 this, her dance step grows quicker, and she backs and 
 motions to her children behind her, they imitating all her 
 steps. The leopard advances with a swaying step in time 
 with the music, and then suddenly dashes forward, and 
 catches one of the children, and sets her aside. This is kept 
 up by the leopard till most of the children are caught, only 
 one or two being left. The mother then seems very much ex- 
 hausted, with a sad slow step ; but the leopard at last catches 
 the others. Now that her children are all dead, the mother is 
 aroused to fury. The conflict remains between lier and tlie 
 leopard. And " mother " must finally kill "leopard." The 
 dance becomes very nuich more rapid; the two approach 
 nearer and nearer. Mother has a stick like a sword, and 
 finally she kills leopard with a light blow. This coup is 
 received by a shout from the spectators of "o-lo-lol" 
 
 Then another pair are selected to go through the i)arts of 
 mother and leopard again. Sometimes one will refnse to 
 act, or to be mated with the other one. Then, like a singer 
 in civilized lands, she is met with entreaties from the crowd. 
 
258 
 
 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 - c 
 
 s 
 
 K 
 
 "Do act! You know so well Low to do it I " And then she 
 yields. If at the last there is remaining only one teacher who 
 has not done the act, one of those who has already performed 
 will mate with her. 
 
 At night, the last work of the society is to put out 
 their fire. If the leader has come from a distant village, 
 she wants to go, and she will extinguisli the fire that night; 
 or, if she lives near, she may choose to wait several days 
 longer. But during that time the dancing and singing are 
 not kept up, for the society has adjourned. 
 
 Whatever else is unknown of the objects of Njembe, it is 
 known that it is a government. It was formerly much more 
 powerful than it is now. At Libreville, Gabun, thirty years 
 ago, no woman dared to speak acrainst it. Mission schoo l- 
 girls, feeling themselves secure on the mission premises , 
 sometimes in their school-girl talk foolishly made , disparag - 
 i ng remarks about it. Wh en this reached the ear of Njembe, 
 those girls would some day be caught when they were visiting 
 their villages, and forced through the rites. Parents did 
 not dare interfere, and missionaries had no authority to 
 do so. 
 
 In one case, however, a missionary did make a successful 
 interference. The girl did not belong to Mpongwe (the tribe 
 of Gabun); she was a slave-waif that had been picked 
 up by the mission, and therefore, in a sense, the ndssion's 
 daughter. The senior m.issionary. Rev. William Walker, was 
 a tall, powerful, utterly fearless man, and his custom was 
 always to car ry a hea vy cane . That day, the Njembe lessons 
 that were being given to the abducted girl had only begun in 
 the village street; she had not yet been taken to their secret 
 camp. Mr. Walker strode among the women and laid h old 
 oi the unresis ting girl. When some women attemp ted to 
 drag her away, he brought down his cane heavily at random 
 over a ny head or shoulder within reach of his long arm; a nd 
 the girl was glad to be led back to the mission. The rescue 
 was successful. Mr. Walker's use of force was justifiable 
 is against Njembe's forcible abduction of the girl; and his 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 259 
 
 parental position in the case would have justified him if the 
 women had made any complaint against him before the local 
 French magistrate on charge of assault. 
 
 In a somewhat similar case, more recently, Njembt* sued a 
 missionary, he having assaulted them when they refused to 
 remove their distressingly noisy camp from a too great prox- 
 imity to the mission grounds. The magistrate dismissed the 
 case, resenting NjSmbe's existence as a secret society, and its 
 assumption of exercise of governmental authority. 
 
 Recently also a native man was successful in thwarting 
 NjSmbe. A certain native Christian woman had escaped 
 being forced into Njembe during her youth ; and by her being 
 very much in mission employ during her adult years, Njembe 
 bad ceased to threaten her. Her daughter, of about eighteen 
 years of age, though not a Christian, had also, by her mother's 
 care of her, escaped, though often threatened. A cousin of 
 this daughter had been put through the rite while her father 
 was away on a journey. And now this cousin was trying to 
 induce the daughter to enter. The daughter refused, and 
 perhaps may have made some slighting remark. This remark 
 her cousin reported to Njembe; and some intimations were 
 made that the young woman would be seized. The father of 
 the cousin had formerly been a church-member, is educated 
 and gentlemanly. Though he had fallen away from the 
 church, he had no desire to see his niece dragged down. He 
 spoke severely to his daughter about the excitement she was 
 trying to raise, and threatened to call in the aid of the French 
 Chief of Police. The firm stand taken by him and also by 
 the young woman's mother was efficient in preventing her 
 seizure by NjgmbS. Both these parents are of unusual 
 strength of character and advance in civilization. Without 
 their efficient backing, this young woman would have been 
 forced into NjSmbS. 
 
 Rev. J. L. Wilson,! wrote of Njembe almost fifty years 
 ago: "There is no spirit, so far as is known, connected 
 with this association, but all its proceedings are kept pro- 
 
 1 ^yestern Afriia. p. 397. 
 
260 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 foundly secret. The Njembe make great pretensions, and as 
 a body are really feared by the men. They pretend to detect 
 thieves, to find out the secrets of their enemies; and in 
 various ways they are useful to the community in which 
 they live, or, at least, are so regarded by the people. The 
 object of the institution originally, no doubt, was to protect 
 the females from harsh treatment on the part of their hus- 
 bands ; and as their performances are always veiled in mys- 
 tery, and they have acquired the reputation of performing 
 wonders, the men are, no doubt, very much restrained by the 
 fear and respect which they have for them as a body." 
 
 Most of the above description is, after so many years, true 
 now, except that the power of and respect for the society is 
 lessened by the permeating leaven of a Christian mission and 
 by the dominance of a foreign government; but even in that 
 same region, in portions where these two forces are not in im- 
 mediate contact with the community, NjSmbS still is feared. 
 
 It is true, also, that there is no special spirit belonging to 
 Njembe, but when the society has occasion to investigate a 
 theft or other crime, it invokes the usual ilaga and other 
 spirits. 
 
 It is also still true that in the tribes where NjSmbe exists 
 women have much more freedom from control by men than 
 in tribes where it does not exist. But even if it has been 
 thus a defence to women against man's severity, it undeniably 
 has been an injury to them by its indecent cerem.onies and 
 phallic songs. Such things may make men fear them, but 
 also make it impossible for men to respect them. 
 
 Those songs I myself have heard when the Njembe camp 
 was in a jungle near to a village. The male generative organ 
 was personified, and, in the song addressed to it, the name of 
 a certain man, who was known by the singers to be at that 
 very time in the adjacent village, was tauntingly referred to. 
 Even immoral men were overwhelmed with shame at the 
 shamelessness of the women. And yet those same women, 
 when their Njembe adjourned, resumed in their individual 
 capacities their usual apparent modesty which, as a collec- 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 261 
 
 tive body, they had cast aside. Litth^ lias heen printed of 
 Njembe's secret proceedings more tlian Dr. Wilson wrote fifty 
 years ago. 
 
 Paul Du Chaillu makes a short statement that he was al- 
 lowed to witness a part; and he describes a hut containing a 
 few almost nude old women sitting around some skulls and 
 other fetiches. Doubtless he saw what he asserts. Hut, 
 unusual as were his opportunities, and large as was liis per- 
 sonal influence with his "Ca mma'' (Nkami) native chiefs, it 
 is positive that w hat was shown him was only a little of 
 N j g m bg, if indeed it was Njembe at all. 
 
 Other white men, with, indeed, perhaps less tact than he, 
 but of greater money power and larger trade opportunities, 
 failed to see anything. ')^^«7^t«\iy^'<s\ *}VAV*^. 
 
 Some twenty-five years ago J;wo Germans Tnow dead) trad- 
 ing in the Gabun determined secretly to spy out Njembe. 
 
 The merchant, the head of the trading-house, was a well- 
 educated gentleman, and his clerk was an active, intelligent 
 young man. Both knew native customs well, and both spoke 
 the Mpongwe language fluently. Each had a native wife, 
 and being generous and liberal -handed, had many native 
 friends; but they had been unable to bribe any Njt^mbS 
 women, even their own wives, to reveal anything. 
 
 One dark night when the society was in session in a small 
 jungle not far from their trading-house, they went secretly 
 and cautiously through the bushes. They had not approached 
 near enough to the circle of women around the camp-lire to 
 actuall}^ recognize any of them (it would have been dillicult 
 to recognize their painted faces even by daylight); and they 
 really did not see anything of what M'as being done. Some- 
 how their approach was discovered, either by information 
 treacherously carried from some one in their retinue of house- 
 hold servants, or by being seen by one of the jjickets of the 
 camp, or by the breaking of a branch as they crept through | 
 the trees, or, possibly, by their white odor carried on the 
 wind, — odor which to Africans is almost as distinct as is 
 Negro odor to the white race. 
 
262 FETICHISxM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 NjSmbS raised a frenzied cr}^ and started to seize them. 
 The two men fled desperately through the thick bushes. 
 The clerk was recognized, and his name was called out, and 
 the other was assumed to be his employer. They escaped to 
 the safety of their house. Njgmbe did not dare assault it, 
 French policemen being within call ; but next day word was 
 sent b}^ the society denouncing them both, laying a curse on 
 them, and plainly saying that they should die. If the threat 
 had been that the means of death would be magic, these gen- 
 tlemen would have laughed; but the women did not hesitate 
 to say that they would poison them in their food. This would 
 be entirely possible, even without collusion among the several 
 men and boys that ranged from steward to cook and waiters 
 as their household servants ; though, if need were, some of 
 these servants would sooner be treasonable to the white master 
 than dare to refuse Njembe. The case was serious. The 
 older man, as a dispenser of wealth to the entire community, 
 was, even in NjSmbe's eye, too valuable to be killed; his 
 wife, herself a Njembe woman, interceded for him, and the 
 curse was removed from him on the payment of a large fine. 
 But the curse was doubled over the poor clerk. Njembe 
 would listen to no appeal, nor accept any bribe for him, as 
 they had actually seen him at their camp. 
 
 It is a fact that shortly after this this clerk did hill into a 
 decline, with strange symptoms which no doctor understood 
 nor any medicines seemed to touch. He became weaker and 
 weaker, and his life was despaired of. Njembe openly boasted 
 that it was killing him. 
 
 I do not know wh}^ an appeal was not made to the local 
 French authorities. Perhaps because the merchant did not 
 wish to give more publicity to his escapade ; perhaps because 
 it would be difficult to prosecute a society, no individual 
 Njgmbe woman appearing to be responsible. 
 
 To save his clerk, the merchant offered to pay a very large 
 sum. Njembe having had a partial revenge, having demon- 
 strated its power, and standing victorious before the com- 
 munity, was induced to accept. It was never known publicly 
 
ITS PRACTICAL KFFECTS 203 
 
 how much was paid. The curse was witlidiawu, and the 
 clerk immediately began to recover; but it was some months 
 before the evil was entirely eradicated from his system. 
 
 Beyond Dr. Wilson's and Du Chaillu's short statements 
 about Njembe, I have seen nothing else in print, except the 
 mere mention of the existence of the society by several Afri- 
 can travellers. What I have written in the above I have 
 obtained piecemeal at various times from different men and 
 women, Christian and heathen; but all of them spoke witli 
 hesitation, and under promise that I should mention no 
 names. 
 
 Poisoning for Revenge. 
 
 There are native poisons. It is known that sometimes they 
 are secretly used in revenge, or to put out of the way a rela- 
 tive whose wealth is desired to be inherited. This much I 
 have to admit, as to charges of " bewitching " and so-called 
 "judicial executions," therefore, that in the case of some 
 deaths they are actual murders, and that the perpetrator de- 
 serves to be executed. But it is rare that the proof of guilt 
 is clear. I have to be guarded in my admission of an ac- 
 cused person's guilt, lest I give countenance to the univer- 
 sal belief in death as the result of fetich agencies. I explain 
 to my native questioner: If what the accused has done in 
 fetich rite with intent to kill had any efficiency for Uiking 
 away life, I allow that he shall be put to death ; if he made 
 only fetiches, even if they were intended to kill, he is not 
 guilty of this death, for a mere fetich cannot kill. But if he 
 used poison, with or without fetich, then he is guilty. 
 
 But even so, the distinction Ijetween a fetich and a poison 
 is vague in the thought of many natives. What I call a 
 "poison" is to them only another material form of a feti(;h 
 power, both poison and fetich being supposed to be made 
 efficient by the presence of an adjuvant spirit. 
 
 Not all the deaths of foreigners in Africa are due to 
 malaria. Some of them have been doubtless due to poison, 
 administered bv a revengeful (Miijiloyoe. Very many wliite 
 
 (\ 
 
264 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 residents in Africa treat their servants in oppressive and 
 cruel ways. Even those who are not cruel are often auto- 
 cratic and arbitrary. In a country that has little law to 
 hinder, and no public opinion to shame them, some white 
 men treat the natives almost as slaves, cheating them of 
 their wages, cursing, kicking, striking, beating, and other- 
 wise maltreating and even mutilating them. Some are kind 
 and just; but even they are at times severe in enforcing 
 their authority. So it could occur that even a kindly-dis- 
 posed foreigner might have his life attempted by an evil- 
 disposed employee whose anger he had aroused. ^ 
 
 In general, the Bantu natives of Africa are patient, long- 
 suffering, and not easily aroused to violence, but taking their 
 revenge, if finally their endurance is exhausted, by robbing 
 their master of his goods or otherwise wasting his trade; 
 abandoning him in sickness, so that he dies really of neglect, 
 or, when his boat upsets in the surf of the sea, making no 
 effort to rescue him. 
 
 The Bantu tribes are less revencreful and more amiable 
 than the Negroes of Upper Guinea, or the tribes of Senegal 
 and of the Sudan, with their mixture of Arab blood and 
 Mahometan beliefs. 
 
 An English traveller recently, in the Igbo country of 
 Nigeria, in discussing the native belief in occult forces, says: 
 "It is impossible for a white man to be present at their gath- 
 erings of 'medicine men,' and it is hard to get a native to 
 talk of such things ; but it seems evident to me that there is 
 some reality in the phenomena one hears of, as they are be- 
 lieved everywhere in some degree by white men as well as 
 black. However that may be, the native doctors have a wide 
 knowledge of poisons; and if one is to believe reports, deaths 
 from poison, both among white and black men, are of com- 
 mon occurrence on the Niger. One of the white man's often 
 quoted proverbs is, ' Never quarrel with your cook ' ; the 
 meaning of which is that the cook can put something in 3'our 
 food in retaliation if you maltreat him. 
 
 " There is everywhere a belief that it is possible to put 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 265 
 
 medicine on a path for your enemy wliicli, when lie steps 
 over it, will cause him to fall sick and die. Other people 
 can walk uninjured over the spot, but the moment the man 
 for whom the medicine is laid reaches the place, he succumbs, 
 often dying within an hour or two. I have never seen such 
 a case myself; but the Rev. A. E. Richardson says he saw 
 one when on the journey with Bishop Tugwell's house-party. 
 He could offer no explanation of how the thing is done, but 
 does not doubt that it is done. Some of the best educated 
 of our native Christians have told me that they firndy believe 
 in this 'medicine-laying.' " 
 
 The most distinct instance of attempt at poisoning which 
 I have met was related to me in ]\Iarch, 1902, by Mr. H. L. 
 Stacey, of the English trading-house of J. Holt & Co. Ltd. 
 I took the following statement from his own lips, and he gave 
 me liberty to use it publicly. He has since died, and his 
 death was sudden. 
 
 Mr. Stacey was a gentleman of courteous manner and of 
 good education; fearless, universally kind, and generally just 
 in his treatment of the natives. He was a Christian in his 
 belief, and endeavored to be one in his life. His truthful- 
 ness is beyond doubt, thus making his statement entirely 
 reliable. 
 
 He had his headquarters at Bata, with native sub-traders 
 scattered north and south and up the Benita River, some 
 twenty-three miles south of Bata. There came to him for 
 employment a Lagos man, byname Croly or Crowley, lb- 
 spoke English well, could read and write, had ([nitc a display 
 of manner, and made himself very useful by liis aiiparcnl de- 
 votion, faithfulness, and honesty. All this deceived Mr. 
 Stacey, who thought he had obtained a valuable servant: and 
 rewarded him by giving him a sub-factory at Lobisa, a 
 few miles up the Ik'nita River. To have a factory of one's 
 own is the goal of the andjition of every white trader's 
 employees. 
 
 Mr. Stacey had also a Benga sub-trader on the river at 
 SSnje, some ten miles al)Ove Lobisa. 'Jliis lienga went to 
 
 cri^ cV^ 
 
266 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Bata and reported to Mr. Stacey that Crowley was wasting 
 his goods in riotous living and extravagant giving. While 
 the Benga was away, Crowley falsely told the native Fang, 
 who had been paid in advance by the former to collect india- 
 rubber for him, that the Benga had been dismissed, was in 
 jail, and would never come back, and induced them to sell to 
 himself the rubber they had collected for the Benga. When 
 the Benga returned to his post, and asked his Fang to pay 
 their debt, they told him of the deception Crowley had prac- 
 tised on them. There was, therefore, a triangular quarrel, 
 the Benga suing the Fang for their debt to him, the Fang 
 denouncing Crowley for his cheat, and Crowley angry at 
 the Benga for informing Mr. S. on him. 
 
 Just at this stage of affairs Mr. S. came on one of his 
 usual visits of inspection to Senje. The Fang immediately 
 sent secretly a deceptive message down to Crowley, saying 
 that Mr. S. wished to see him. As soon as he came, the 
 Fang began to fight him. Notwithstanding Crowley's dis- 
 honesty to him, Mr. S. magnanimously defended his life, 
 locked him for safety in the Benga's bedroom, and then made 
 the quarrel a quadrilateral by protesting to the Fang against 
 their assaulting his premises. His contention with them Avas 
 "talked'' in public "palaver," and finally was amicably set- 
 tled. During the "talk" a lad came to Mr. S. excitedly, 
 saying that Crowley was spreading "medicine" in the bed of 
 the Benga, with intent to kill the latter. This aroused again 
 the indignation of the Fang. But Mr. S. laughed down their 
 anxiety, telling them that he was not afraid of "medicine" 
 (he thought it was only fetich); that fetich could not kill a 
 white man; and that, to prove it, he would that night 
 sleep in that bed, and the Benga should sleep elscAvhere. 
 When all was settled, he got Crowley quietly away, and sent 
 him down river to his Lobisa house, with expectation of dis- 
 missal. At night Mr. S. awoke with a great pain in his ab- 
 domen, a great sense of constriction in his chest, skin hot, 
 and body tortured with shooting pains. Only his head was 
 clear and free from any distress. The sjauptoms were not 
 
 I -^ 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 267 
 
 those of malarial fever. The next clay his limbs were para- 
 lyzed. The natives said that Crowley had scattered in the 
 bedding and through the mosquito net a poisonous powder. 
 
 Mr. S. was taken helpless in his canoe down river, on the 
 way passing very near Lobisa, to a house on the sea-beach 
 near the river's mouth. Believing that Crowley had at- 
 tempted the life of the Benga, Mr. S., while lying sick, sent 
 word to the adjacent Spanish Government Post for two 
 soldiers to come and arrest Crowley. (Mr. S. had been in- 
 formed that C. was on his way to him.) For C, when he- 
 saw Mr. S. lying sick in his passing canoe, surmised what 
 had happened, and was afraid the Fang would follow him to 
 Lobisa and assault him there. So he had closed his house 
 and fled, following Mr. S. He was coming with a double 
 purpose: first, to plead with Mr. S. against dismissal; 
 second, as he promptly had heard of Mr. Stacey's sleeping 
 in the poisoned bed and being sick, he feared arrest and was 
 ready also to make the murder jjlan complete, if his plea for 
 mercy was denied. To this end he came prepared ^^•ith a 
 handful of the powder. 
 
 Before he had reached the house where j\Ir. S. was, the 
 two soldiers had met and arrested him, and were taking him 
 to jail. He asked permission first to be allowed to see his 
 "master." So they brought him to the sick-room, where he 
 made many protestations of friendship and devotion, and 
 plead for mercy. Mr. S. rebuked the soldiers for hesitating 
 in their duty, and for having brought their prisoner there, 
 and bade them take him away to the magistrate; then he 
 fell back on his j^illow exhausted, and lay with closed eyes, 
 only semi-conscious. The soldiers went out of the room, 
 leaving C. clinging to the bed. He fell on his knees by Mr. 
 S.'s head, as if still to beg for pardon. Mr. S. felt C.'s 
 hand insinuated under the bed cover near his pillow, and 
 suddenly opened his eyes, to find C.'s closed hand near 
 his face. He struck away the hand. A quantity of dark 
 powder fell on the pillow near his nose. Half suffocated, by 
 an effort he shouted to the soldiers, who came and took C. 
 
268 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 away. ^Ir. Stacey's little waiter-boy, w^ho had also come in 
 at the shout, was horrified to see the poison -powder on the 
 pillow. He snatched away the pillow, threw the powder out 
 of doors, and told the soldiers. They, without waiting for 
 official judgment at the Post, gave C. twenty-five lashes at 
 once. Farther blows, twenty-five at a time, were given him 
 while waiting in jail for Mr. S. to get well enough to appear 
 against him. Subsequently the Chef de Poste appointed a day 
 for the hearing; but Mr. S., in his devotion to the trade in- 
 terests of his employers, asked that the day be postponed, as 
 his sub-traders needed just then much supervision. So the 
 Chef dismissed the matter, seeming to think that if ]Mr. S. 
 regarded his trade as of more importance than the defence of 
 his life, it was no business of the government to hold the 
 prisoner; and took no farther interest in it. 
 
 Having been given, in instalments, an aggregate of two 
 hundred lashes, C. was discharged. He wandered about that 
 region gathering a little food, without friends, feared and 
 hated, and not allowed by some even to enter their villages. 
 
 The reputation of the Lagos powder as a powerful agent 
 in destroying life has been known for years among the equa- 
 torial coast tribes. Reports of it are well known among 
 white men on the steamers. It is believed in, not as a super- 
 stition, nor as a fetich, but as a powerful poison. Clerks and 
 other workmen from Lagos are not welcomed in the Gabu n 
 region, as are clerks from other parts of Upper Guinea, for 
 fear of their carrying: that poison with them. 
 
 Distrust. 
 
 As a result of the universal employment of fetiches in 
 African tribes, there is no confidence between man and man. 
 Every one is in distrust of his neighbor; every man's hand 
 against his fellow. 
 
 " The natives of Africa, though so thoroughly devoted to 
 the use of fetiches, acquire no feeling of security in conse- 
 quence of using them. Perhaps their only real influence is 
 to make them more insecure than they would have been Avith- 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 269 
 
 out them. There is no place in the world where men feel 
 more insecurity. A man must be careful whose company he 
 keeps, what path he walks, whose house he enters, on what 
 stool he seats himself, where he sleeps. He knows not what 
 moment he may place his foot or lay his hand upon some in- 
 visible engine of mischief, or by what means the seeds of 
 death may be implanted in his constitution."^ 
 
 Because of this lack of confidence, the natural affections 
 and the duties of the dearest relations are perverted. Wives 
 afraid of husbands, and husbands afraid of wives ; children 
 afraid of parents, and parents afraid of children ; the chief of 
 the village uncertain of his people ; and the entire community 
 that must live and eat and associate together, living and eating 
 and associating with a constant secretly entertained suspicion 
 of each other. 
 
 Jugglery. 
 
 While in some of the rites performed by the native doctor- 
 priest there is real diabolism, i. e., communication with Satan, 
 and certain wonders are performed through the Prince of the 
 Power of Darkness, I am disposed to believe that in most 
 cases the " doctor " is self-deceived, certainly in many cases 
 I believe him to be a deliberate deceiver. The native so- 
 called " prophet " is probably an artful mind-reader ; and the 
 fortune-teller, like our own fortune-tellers, a skilful observer 
 of the subject's tones, manner, and unguarded admissions in 
 conversation which give ground for shrewd guessing. 
 
 Arnot^says: "These professional diviners are no doubt 
 smart fellows, arch-rogues though they be. The secret of 
 their art lies in their constant repetition of every possibiUty 
 in connection with the disaster they are called upon to explain 
 until they finally hit upon that which is in the minds of their 
 clients. As the people sit around and repeat the words of the 
 diviner, it is easy for him to detect in their tone of voice or to 
 read in their faces the suspected source of the calamity. 
 
 '* A man had a favorite dog which was attiicked by a leopard, 
 
 1 Wilson, Western Africa. * Garenganze, p. 107. 
 
2T0 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 but succeeded in escaping with one of its eyes torn out. To 
 ascertain the reason of this calamity, the owner sent to call 
 one of these diviners. When he arrived, to test him, he was 
 told that a disaster had befallen my acquaintance, and was 
 asked to find out by divination what it was. The diviner 
 with his rattles and other paraphernalia, and dances, and 
 other movements to occupy attention, after the manner of 
 jugglers, asked leading questions of the spirit he was profess- 
 ing to consult, but really he was watching the faces of his au- 
 dience for their unconsciously given assent or dissent. Thus, 
 in succession, he found that the misfortune, whatever it was, 
 was not to a human being ; then not to certain families ; then 
 to some object possessed by a certain man ; then that it was 
 not about an ox nor about a goat ; then that it was about a 
 dog ; then, after certain other possibilities, was it connected 
 with a leopard ? So excited were the audience that they for- 
 got that they had been ' giving themselves away,' and when 
 the diviner asked the spirit, ' Was it a leopard?' they shouted 
 with admiration at his supposed skilL After a whole day of 
 such proceedings the diviner triumphed by announcing " that 
 the spirit of the father of one of the man's wives had been 
 grieved at the man's long absence from his town and family, 
 and had employed the leopard to tear the dog's eye as a gentle 
 reminder that it was time he should go back to liis own 
 village." 
 
 In connection with the Yoruba custom of parents of twins 
 having images carved of their dead twins, " the carving of 
 those images is a flourishing and money-making trade. If the 
 parents of the dead child are in comfortable circumstances, 
 the carvers tell them that they have seen in their dreams 
 the dead twin, and that he or she has asked them to send 
 such and such clothes, articles of food, money, etc. 
 
 "Sometimes they say the twins appeared to them in the 
 forest when they went to cut the Ire-wood to be carved, and 
 bade them not to venture it. In such cases special sacrifices 
 must be offered before taking any steps. In this way months 
 pass before the carving is complete ; during which time the 
 
ITS PRACTICAJ. EFFECTS 271 
 
 carvers demand of the parents whatever they feel they are 
 capable of supplying them with." ^ 
 
 In the Corisco region, some thirty years ago, I knew a 
 native sorcerer who achieved quite a reputation because he 
 could perform the thimble-rig juggler-trick of making a leaf 
 appear and disappear between two plates. 
 
 One of my associates in the Ogowe, the late H. M. Bachelor, 
 M.D., had brought Avith him from the United States a few 
 tricks of " parlor magic." He quite astonished my school- 
 children by swallowing and subsequently vomiting up a pen- 
 knife, and by passing a threaded needle through the thigh of 
 one of the boys. Dr. B. did the tricks so artistically that 
 even I did not detect the deception about the penknife ; and 
 the boy solemnly asserted that he felt the needle travelhng 
 through his leg. The exliibition was a happy one in reveal- 
 ing to the natives how an evil-disposed sorcerer would be 
 able to deceive them. 
 
 A lady of the West African Mission of the American Board 
 says : " I once witnessed the performance of a witch-doctor 
 on one of my visits among the villages. The chief of the 
 country was sick, and the doctor was giving him a massage 
 treatment. By sleight of hand he seemed to draw from tlie 
 patient's side chicken's claws, feathers, bones, sticks, pebbles, 
 etc. Some " witch," it was supposed, had caused these things 
 to grow in the man's body with intent to kill. It was evident 
 to the astonished crowd which had gathered around, that their 
 king would probably get well, now these things were removed. 
 The doctor's bill was promptly jjaid, — a thousand balls of 
 rubber, ten pieces of cloth, and a large pig. An ox was 
 slaughtered, and a beer drink indulged in to celebrate the 
 occasion and to appease any offended spirit." 
 
 Treatment of Lunatics. 
 
 The insane being supposed to be physically and mentally 
 possessed by an intruding spirit, their actions are necessarily 
 
 ^ Xigcr :iiid Yurulm Notos. 
 
272 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 not considered to be the outcome of their own volitions. This 
 view does not always, in the native mind, relieve a lunatic of 
 the burden of the consequences of his acts. 
 
 There is great diversity, therefore, in the treatment of the 
 insane in different districts and in different tribes. In some 
 regions a tribe holds to the following reasoning : This person 
 is possessed by a spirit. That spirit is occupying his body 
 and using his voice and limbs for some reason. If we inter- 
 fere with this person's doings, then we will be interfering 
 with the spirit and may bring evil on ourselves. Therefore 
 it is considered proper to make offerings and some degree of 
 worship to the incarnated spirit. But it is not true that the 
 lunatic himself is an object of worship. The gifts and sacri- 
 fices are made solely to and for the spirit; the prayer of the 
 petitioners being that it may refrain from inciting the pos- 
 sessed person to do them evil, and in the hope that it may 
 conclude to depart and leave the patient and them alone. 
 
 In other places this same belief of possession leads to a 
 very different logical conclusion. The thought is : This per- 
 son is possessed by an evil spirit ; if we allow him to remain, 
 that evil spirit will do us only evil ; let us put this man, who 
 is thus being utilized for evil, out of the way, and perhaps 
 in so doing we may get rid of the possessing spirit also. So 
 the lunatic is put to death. The manner of death sometimes 
 chosen is a cruel one, as if thereby the spirit itself might also 
 be injured or incapacitated to do further evil. Observe that 
 this cruelty is not directed against the demented human 
 being, but against the indwelhng spirit. The maniac in 
 being put to death is sometimes beaten with clubs, sometimes 
 burned, sometimes drowned, as if the evil possessing spirit 
 might itself be fractured or charred or sunk. 
 
 The forms of lunacy I have seen are mild, rarely maniacal. 
 The lunatics I have met in the Gabun region were both 
 men and women. Among women I have thought a cause was 
 uterine complications ; among both men and women, excessive 
 use of tobacco; in two cases o f men the cause was hashish- 
 jsmoking. These last were characterized by a deep melan- 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 278 
 
 choly ; all the others were marked by absurd hallucinations. 
 Undeniably, in two ca ses in Gabun, the paroxysms were 1 
 influenced by the stage of the moon. 
 
 The only medication of which the natives know is exor- 
 cism by fetich with drum and dance, baths and [)urgiitives. 
 When a person is discovered to be crazy, he is taken to the 
 doctor, who gathers medicinal barks and leaves, makes a very 
 hot decoction, and puts it under a seat on which is placed 
 the patient. Both seat and patient are covered by a cloth, 
 and he is subjected to a severe sweating process. Durino- 
 this time the doctor calls out to the supposed possessing 
 spirit, "Who are you? who are you?" Perhaps the sick 
 man will say (his voice supposed to be under control of 
 nkinda), "I am So-and-so." The doctor replies, "Eh! you 
 So-and-so ! leave him, or I will catch you and put you in 
 prison." The prison is a section of sugar-cane stalk with 
 its leaves twined together; and the doctor is believed to 
 be able to confine the nkinda there. And it remains there 
 indefinitely; but it may be released by the will of the 
 doctor, who A\dll choose to free it some day unless he is 
 paid not to do so. Sometimes the crazy person has so many 
 sinkinda that he becomes a maniac, losing all sense of shame 
 or even of hunger. In such a case he is tied till he be- 
 comes quiet and the doctor announces that the sinkinda 
 have all gone out. The patient is then washed, and tlie 
 doctor with song and drum calls on good sinkinda to come 
 and enter, and directs them to take care of the man's 
 body. 
 
 The American Negro Voodoo. 
 
 When the Negro was brought to America as a slave, he 
 brought witli him a variety of African things, some good, 
 some bad. 
 
 When hurried upon the slave-ships in the Kongo or at 
 Lagos, the slave tied into a little package, hung among his 
 other fetich treasures, seeds of his favorite foods. At least 
 one of these seeds survived, in the West Indies and thence to 
 
 18 
 
"S 
 
 274 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 the United States, with a native name "gumbo." It is the 
 okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), that exists all over Africa, 
 and has spread over the United States . 
 
 Ground-nuts — " pea-nuts " (Arachis hypogea), which bota- 
 nists claim to be a native of South America — have been 
 grown from time immemorial all over Africa, and, in the 
 Loango country bordering on the Kongo River, by the 
 Ashira and some other tribes are used as their staple article 
 of food, rather than the plantain (Musa sapientum), or 
 '' manioc," cassava (Jatropha manihot). It is an important 
 export from those regions and from the Gambia to-day. If 
 the nut itself was not carried from Africa to America, its 
 native name was; that name is " mbenda," and it was cor- 
 rupted to " pindar " in parts of the Southern States. 
 
 The evil thing that the slave brought with him was his 
 religion. You do not need to go to Africa to find the 
 fetich. During the hundred j^ears that slavery in our 
 America held the Negro crushed, degraded, and apart, his 
 master could deprive him of his manhood, his wife, his 
 child, the fruits of his toil, of his life; but there was one 
 thing of which he could not deprive him, — his faith in 
 fetich charms. Not only did this religion of the fetich endure 
 under slavery ; it grew. None but Christian masters offered 
 the Negro any other religion; and, by law, even they were 
 debarred from giving him any education. So fetichism 
 flourished. The master's children were infected by the con- 
 tagion of superstition ; they imbibed some of it at their Negro 
 foster-mother's breast. It was a secret religion that lurked 
 thinly covered in slavery days, and that lurks to-day be- 
 neath the Negro's Christian profession as a white art, and 
 among non-professors as a black art; a memory of the re- 
 venges of his African ancestors; a secret fraternity among 
 slaves of far-distant plantations, with words and signs, — the 
 lifting of a finger, the twitch of an eyelid, — that telegraphed 
 from house to house with amazing rapidity (as to-day in 
 Africa) current news in old slave days and during the late 
 Civil War; suspected, but never understood by the white 
 
 i 
 
ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS 275 
 
 master ; which, as a superstition, has spread itself among our 
 ignorant white masses as the "' Hoodoo/' Vudu, or Odoism, 
 is simply African f etichism transplanted to American so il. 
 
 " It is cilmost impossible for persons who have been brouglit 
 up under this system ever to divest themselves fully uf its 
 influence. It has been retained among the blacks of this 
 country, and especially at the South, thougli in a less open 
 form, even to the present day, and probably will never be fully 
 abandoned until they have made much higher attainments in 
 Christian education and civilization. In some of the planUi- 
 tions of the South, as well as in the West Indies, where there 
 has been less Christian culture, egg-shells are hung up in the 
 corners of their chimneys to cause the chickens to flourish ; an 
 extracted tooth is thrown over the house or worn around the 
 neck to prevent other teeth from aching; and real fetiches, 
 though not known by this name [perhaps '^mascots"?], are 
 used about their persons to shield them from sickness or from 
 the effects of witchcraft." ^ 
 
 While on a furlough in the United States in 1891, I visited 
 a town in Southern Virginia, and by invitation of the Negro 
 pastor of the African church addressed them on foreign 
 missions. Somewhat at a loss what attitude to take toward ii 
 Negro audience in speaking to them of Africa, I candidly 
 asked the pastor what 1 should sa}'. He bade me speak 
 exactly as if I was addressing an educated wliite assembly. I 
 did so. In describing native African virtues and vices, I 
 mentioned their fetichism, and remarked that it was the same 
 that obtained in the United States ; and lest my hearers 
 m igh t think I wa s personally attacking them, I added, *^ down 
 Sou th in Georgia an d Louisiana." The bench of elders 
 sitting just in front of me broke out, "• And jist around hyar, 
 too." 
 
 I had read Cable's " Creole Tales." One of liis characters is 
 sick with a strange vague affection whose symptoms medicine 
 had failed to reach. He is supci-stitious, and one moniing he 
 wakes in horror at flndiiig a dead frog secreted under his 
 
 1 Wilson. 
 
276 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 pillow. That fetich was no novelist's conjecture ; it was 
 true to life. About 1894 or 1895, while I was alone in charge 
 of Gabun Station, for three successive mornings when 1 
 opened the front door, I found a dried frog leaning against the 
 threshold. I did not care enough about it to inquire its sig- 
 nificance or to ascertain who put it there. Since then I 
 have found that it is not used as a fetich by people of the 
 Gabun region, but probably by Upper Coast people. I 
 remember that at that time I had three Bassa workmen 
 from Liberia whom I suspected of stealing and who then 
 suddenly deserted my service. I think they placed the frog 
 there, either to injure me or to prevent my following up 
 their theft. 
 
 FOLK-LORE. 
 
 An attractive survival of African life in America are 
 " Uncle Remus's" mystic tales of " Br'er Rabbit." They are 
 the folk-lore that the slave brought with him from his African 
 home, where in village hut and forest camp often have been 
 told to my own ears similar weird personifications before 
 Harris had actually written them. There being no rabbits hi 
 West Africa, " Br'er Rabbit " is an American substitution for 
 " Brother " Nja (Leopard), or Brother Iheli (Gazelle), in 
 Paia Njambi's (the Creator's) council of speaking animals. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 
 
 THE view-point of the native African mind, in all un- 
 usual occurrences, is that of witchcraft. Without 
 looking for an explanation in what civilization would call nat- 
 ural causes, his thought turns at once to the supernatural. 
 Indeed, the supernatural is so constant a factor in his life, 
 that to him it furnishes explanation of events as prompt and 
 reasonable as our reference to the recognized forces of nature. 
 Mere coincidences are often to him miracles. 
 
 In the large mass of materials which I gathered from all 
 native sources of information for the formulation of the phi- 
 losophy of fetichism, as presented in the former part of this 
 work, I found many remarkable tales some of whose incidents 
 were probable, and which to me were explicable on natural 
 grounds, but which my native friends believed were the effect 
 of witchcraft power. I did not dispute them. To do so would 
 either have closed their lips or made them omit the witchcraft 
 element from any subsequent stories they might narrate to 
 me. I thus secured these tales as a purely native product. 
 
 I did not use a note-book, fearing tliat its presence would 
 hamper the freedom of the story-teller, but listened carefully 
 and wrote down the interview immediately at its close. Not 
 all knew that I was writing for publication. That knowledge 
 would have interfered with the simplicit}' of tlieir utterances. 
 Of my several informants, some were ignorant, some heatlien, 
 some Christian, only a few well educated. Of the most intel- 
 ligent of my informants, two allowed me to take notes as they 
 were speaking, and I really wrote from dictation ; they con- 
 siderately spoke slowly, so th-it I slionld miss notliing, wliile 
 
278 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 I wrote rapidly and at the same time had to transhite their 
 language into English. Of those two, one was able to give 
 part of the interview in English. The thoughts in these 
 stories are entirely native. So are most of the words. I tried 
 to retain the narrators' own structure of sentences, sacrificing a 
 little of English for the sake of native idioms. The prevalence 
 of short words is due to my effort at exact translation of their 
 own words. Occasionally I have used longer words of Latin 
 origin because I had forgotten their word, and in an effort to 
 repeat their idea. The shortness of the sentences is due to 
 the natives' graphic and animated style of speaking. Long 
 sentences are foreign to their mode of speech. 
 
 The following two stories are illustrative of the native 
 belief, mentioned in Chapter IV, that we possess not only 
 our physical body, but also an essential or " astral" form, in 
 shape and feature like the body. This form, or " life," with 
 its '* heart," can be stolen by magic power while one is 
 asleep, and the individual sleeps on unconscious of his loss. 
 If the life-form is returned to him before he awakes, he will 
 be unaware that anything unusual has happened. If he 
 awakes before that portion of him has been returned, though 
 he may live for a while, he will sicken and eventually die. 
 If the magicians who stole the "hfe " have eaten the " heart," 
 he sickens at once, and will soon die. 
 
 I. A Witch Sweetheakt. 
 
 A certain man loved a woman whom he expected to marry. 
 He visited her regularly. Whenever he intended to visit her, 
 he always notified her thus : " I will be coming such a day " 
 or '' such an hour." Then she would say, " Yes." But it 
 happened on a particular day when he told her, " 1 11 be com- 
 ing to-night," she said, " No, not to-night, wait till next 
 night." He replied, " No, for I mil come to-night." But 
 she refused, " No, I do not want you to come to-night." 
 Then he asked, ^' What is your objection ? Hitherto you have 
 let me come when I pleased. What is the matter to-night ? " 
 So she said, " I do not want you to come, because I will be 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FAC T 279 
 
 absent to-night." "Where are you going?" lie asked. To 
 this she gave as answer only, " Don't come ! I don't want you 
 to come ! " So the man said, " All right ! I will not come. 
 If you don't want me, then I 'm not coming." So he left her, 
 very much surprised at what she had said, and began to think 
 something was going wrong ; he thouglit he would like to 
 know for himself what it was. 
 
 This woman was one of those who belonged to the Witch 
 Society, and engaged in its plays. But the man had not sus- 
 pected this, and did not know that she was one of those who 
 played. 
 
 The native belief is that when a witch or wizard has seized 
 some one to " eat " his " life " or do him other harm, if there 
 be a non-society witness hidden or in the open, the odor of 
 that witness weakens the witch power, and the attempt at 
 witchcraft fails. 
 
 This man, not suspecting the real state of the case, but in 
 order to know what was going on with the woman, came softly 
 and hid near her house, where he might be able to see whether 
 any one went in or came out. Soon he heard the door of her 
 house open. He saw her come out of the house without any 
 clothing, and she quietly pulled the door to after her and 
 closed it, and then walked away from the place. All this the 
 man saw, but he said nothing. He stood outside waiting, 
 waiting until she should return. After a long while, as he 
 was tired standing, he thought he would go into the house and 
 hide himself somewhere. It was not long after this that he 
 heard a little noise outside, and looking through the aper- 
 tures of the bamboo wall saw her and others with lier, nu*n 
 and women. Some of them were carrying the form ot a 
 man on their shoulders. Others spread out on the ground 
 green plantain leaves, and stretched the form on the leaves. 
 Each of the party had a knife, and they began tlu-ir work of 
 cutting the form into pieces. Wliile thus occupied, they saw 
 that their knives would not penetrate. Some of them Ix'gan 
 to step around, peeping into recesses as if they were lookino^ for 
 soniethin"'. Still tiTin<j: to cut. tlicir knives scenu'd dulled; 
 
280 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 no one of them could succeed in cutting out a single piece. 
 So they stopped, and began to sharpen their knives, and again 
 tried to cut, using more force in their efforts. They worked 
 rapidly, for they had to hasten, as there were signs of ap- 
 proaching day. 
 
 As they still were unable to make any incisions after the 
 sharpening of the knives, they thought it very strange, and 
 began to suspect that some one was near witnessing what they 
 were doing. So some of them began to search in different 
 directions ; they sniffed to detect the odor of a person. This 
 they did over and over again, and came back, and again 
 sharpened their knives, and again they failed. And then they 
 would again go around, sniffing for a human being. 
 
 At last, as it was near morning, they had to give up their 
 intention of cutting into this form. So they had to take 
 it up again on their shoulders and carry it back to where they 
 had brought it from, and lost their feast. 
 
 Then the woman came back to her house, very much dis- 
 appointed and excited. Though it was still dark, it was so 
 near daybreak that she did not go to bed, but took a light, 
 and began to hunt all through her house, having at last be- 
 gun to suspect that perhaps her lover was there. Finally 
 she found him where he was hiding. She was very angry, 
 saying, "Who told you to come here? What brought you? 
 And when did you come ? Did I not tell you not to come 
 to-night?" But he turned on her, saying, "But where have 
 you yourself been ? And what have you yourself been doing? 
 I came here expecting to find another man here. But that is 
 not what I saw! " 
 
 She trembled, saying, "Have you been here a long time?" 
 And he significantly said, "Yes, I have!" Then, furious, 
 she said, " Now you have seen all that we were doing, and 
 you have found me out! And as you have discovered that I 
 am engaged in witchcraft, and lest you tell others about it, 
 you shall see that I will put an end to your life! You shall 
 not go out of this house alive ! " So she pulled out her knife. 
 But the man was quite strong, and though he had no weapon. 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON ¥\CV 281 
 
 made a hard fight. He was stronger than the woman, was 
 able to get away from her, and left the house just before 
 daylight. 
 
 From that day their friendship was broken; neither cared 
 again to see the face of the other. The man informed on the 
 woman. But she was not prosecuted; for no one was able to 
 make specific complaint that they had lost their "heart-life." 
 That form had been restored to its person unrecognized and 
 uninjured. No one out of the society, not even the victim 
 himself, knew of the attempt that had been made on him. 
 
 II. A Jealous Wife. 
 
 A man of the Orungu tribe in the Ogowe region had 
 several wives, of whom the chief, commonly called the 
 " queen " or head-wife, had no children. This was a grief to 
 her and a disappointment to the husband. But one of his 
 younger women, who had now become his favorite, had a 
 baby, and the head-wife was jealous of her. 
 
 The husband still retained the older one as the bearer of 
 the keys and in direction of the other women, though he was 
 beginning to doubt her, as he suspected her of witchcraft. 
 But he said nothing about it, not being sure. 
 
 It is believed that witches can enter houses without open- 
 ing doors or breaking walls, and can do what they please 
 without other people knowing of it at the time. So 
 one night this man and his young wife were sleeping in the 
 same bed with their little babe. Suddenly, after midnight, 
 the mother happened to wake up startled. She missed her 
 l)aby from the bed. She looked and looked all over the bed 
 from head to foot, and did not find it. Tlicn she was fright- 
 ened, woke up her husband gently, and told him in a whisper, 
 "The child is missing! I don't see the child I " 
 
 The husband told her to get up and light a gum-torch (for 
 there were coals smouldering on the clay hearth used as a fire- 
 place), that they might look for the cliihl. She did so, 
 and both hunted, looking under the bedstead and elsewhere, 
 but did not find the child. Then they examined the windows 
 
282 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 and door; for perhaps the child had been taken out by some 
 one. The door and windows were all properly fastened. 
 The mother was very much troubled; but her husband, keep- 
 ing his own counsel, advised her not to scream or make a 
 noise, but said, "Let us go back to bed, but not to go to 
 sleep; and let the room be dark again." So the wife put out 
 the torch, leaving the room in darkness ; and they returned 
 to bed. Then the husband said, "Maybe we can prove or 
 see something before morning" (for he suspected); and he 
 added, " Whoever or whatever has taken the child out so 
 secretly, will secretly bring it back. So we must not sleep, 
 but watch." 
 
 So both lay awake in bed for a few hours. Then, just be- 
 fore morning, while it was still dark, they heard a little noise 
 outside near the house, like the rustling of wings and the 
 panting of breath. They were both anxious, and had their 
 eyes wide open. Soon they saw the room flashed full of 
 a bright light from the roof. [Witchcraft people are noted 
 for having a light which they can thus flash.] Then the wife, 
 as soon as she saw the light, quietly nudged her husband: 
 and he returned the pressure, to let her know that he was 
 aware, and also to intimate that she should continue silent as 
 himself; and they pretended to be sleei)ing soundly. 
 
 Soon they saw the figure of a woman descend from the low 
 roof, but with no hole in the roof. The figure came to 
 the bedside and lifted up the edge of the mosquito-net with 
 one hand, in the other holding a child. As soon as she at- 
 tempted to put the baby back in its place, between the 
 father and mother, the father, as he was the stronger, and 
 nearer to the figure on the outside of the bed, got up 
 quickly, and seized both hands of the woman before she had 
 time to let go of the child and escape from the room. He 
 said aloud to the mother, " Get up! Your baby has been miss- 
 ing. Now light the light, and we will see the person face 
 to face who has taken the child out!" 
 
 The young mother did so, and they discovered that it was 
 the head-wife who had brought in the child. 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 283 
 
 Then, when the father felt the body of the babe, it was limp 
 and burning with fever. 
 
 As it was so near daylight the father did not delay, but 
 began at once to make a fuss, and shouted for the people of 
 the village to gather together. And he began a "palaver'' 
 (investigation) immediately. When all the people had as- 
 sembled to hear the palaver, both the father and the mother 
 related what had passed during the night, about their miss- 
 ing the child, and its return. 
 
 The head-wife, being accused, was silent, having nothing 
 to say for herself ; for she was both ashamed and afraid to 
 confess that she had been eating the life of the baby. But 
 all the people knew that such things were done, and they 
 believed that this woman had done with the baby whatever 
 she wanted to do while she had it outside that night. 
 
 Then the father of the child tied up the head-woman, and 
 said to her, " Now I have you in my hands, I Avill not let 
 you go until you give back the baby's life, and make it well 
 again." [The belief is that if the "heart-life " has not been 
 eaten the victim can recover.] This she was not able to do, 
 for she had eaten its "heart." So the next day the baby died. 
 And the husband executed that head-woman by cutting her 
 throat. 
 
 The above incident was told me at Libreville by a very 
 intelligent Mpongwe as having actually occurred in tlie 
 Gabun region. It is fully believed that walls are no ol)- 
 stacle to the passage of the bodies of those possessing the 
 power of sorcery. The "light" spoken of I have seen. I 
 do not know what it was. From a small point it would flash 
 with starlike rays. It was carried by a man, wlio disaj)- 
 peared when pursued. A Christian native told me tliat he 
 once pursued it, and caught the bearer with a torch concealed 
 in a hollow cylinder; tlie flashing was caused by his thrust- 
 ing it in and out of the cylinder. 
 
284 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 III. Witchcraft Mothers. 
 
 (On an itineration in my boat on the Ogowe interior, in 
 1890, I came to a village of the AkSle tribe, whose inhab- 
 itants were in an intense state of excitement. All the men 
 were brandishing guns and spears or daggers ; women were 
 gesticulating and screaming ; the loins of all were girded for 
 fight; and a few only of the older men and some strangers 
 were appealing for quiet. 
 
 Among the latter was a native trader of the Mpongwe 
 coast tribe. His trade interests made for peace. I knew 
 him, as he had received some education in our Gabun 
 school. 
 
 I saw that in such confusion it would be useless to attempt 
 to ask a hearing for my gospel message. I did not wait to 
 inquire the cause of the day's commotion, and passed on 
 to another village. 
 
 Subsequently the Mpongwe man told me the story. 
 Though slightly educated and enlightened, he was not a 
 Christian and believed in fetiches. His account, therefore, 
 was from the heathen standpoint. I cannot repeat his own 
 wording, but the outline of the story is exactly his.) 
 
 In that village were two slave women, each married to a 
 free husband. Each was expecting to become a mother, — 
 No. 1 in three months, and No. 2 in six months. They were 
 friends; and, unknown to their husbands, were members of 
 the Witchcraft Society, and were accustomed secretly to at- 
 tend and take part in the society's midnight meetings and 
 plays. Just what is the nature of those plays is not quite 
 certain, but it is known that wild orgies of dancing consti- 
 tute a part of them. 
 
 These two women, that they might be freer for their danc- 
 ing and other movements, were accustomed, in going to the 
 meetings, jbq_di yest thems ejxes^mporarily of jtheir- -unborn 
 . babes. This they were able to _do by witchcraft power, in 
 virtue of which the possessor can pass, or cause any one 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 285 
 
 else to pass, uninjured through any material object, as a 
 ray of light passes through glass. 
 
 This they did on their way to the meeting-place on the 
 edge of the forest. They laid their babes on the grass in 
 a secluded spot, and resumed them on their return. As 
 they did so. No. 1 observed that hers was a male, and No. 2 
 that hers was a female. They did this many nights in 
 succession. 
 
 Subsequently No. 2 began to be envious of No. 1 in the 
 possession by the latter of a male child. The husband of 
 No. 2 had been very anxious for a son. She knew that if 
 she could present him with a son he would be very proud, 
 and would enlarge her position and privileges in the family. 
 So, one night, she did not wait for her friend No. 1 to re- 
 turn with her, but, excusing herself from the play, came 
 back on the path alone. Coming to where the two babes, 
 were lying, she deliberately exchanged her own girl for' 
 the boy of No. 1. 
 
 The latter stayed very late at the play, — so late that, as she 
 hasted home, fearful lest the morning light should find her 
 on the path (a dangerous thing to a witch-player), on coming 
 to where the babes had been deposited, she snatched up tlie 
 remaining one without examining it, and, supposing it to be 
 hers, resumed the natural possession of it. 
 
 Shortly after this, the nine months of No. 1 were fulfilled, 
 and she bore a child which, to her surprise, she saw was a 
 female. She made no remark, as she immediately suspected 
 what had been done. She waited three months, until tlie 
 days of No. 2 also were fulfilled. At the birth of the child 
 of No. 2 there was great rejoicing by the husband in the pos- 
 session of a son. He made a great feast, and called together 
 a large gathering of people. Among them was not invited 
 the woman No. 1 ; for she and No. 2 were no longer friendly, 
 though neither of them had said anything. 
 
 In the midst of the rejoicings No. 1 made her appearance, 
 tliough uninvited, and stiiding among the guests, went 
 silently into the bedroom, carrying a three-months-old fi-male 
 
286 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 babe. She went to the side of the bed of No. 2, kiid down 
 the female child, saying, "There's your baby!" snatched 
 up the male infant, saying, "This is mine!" and strode 
 out of the room into the street and on the way to her 
 house. 
 
 A scream from No. 2 startled the crowd of guests ; word 
 was passed that the boy was being stolen, and No. 1 was pur- 
 sued and brought back ; but she desperately refused to give 
 up the boy. The whole village was at once thrown into 
 confusion. 
 
 That was the state of affairs on the day that I arrived 
 there. My informant told me that he and others induced the 
 crowd to quiet, by saying that the matter could better be set- 
 tled by a talk than by guns, by sitting down in council than 
 by standing up in fight. 
 
 On being brought before the council or palaver, No. 1 
 was calm and firm. She still held to the boy-baby. She 
 said she was willing to be judged, but demanded that No. 2 
 should also be made to confront the council. The sense of 
 guilt of the latter made her weak and unable to face the friend 
 she had wronged. 
 
 Charged with stealing. No. 1 made a bold speech. She 
 said, "Yes; I have taken my own! If that be stealing, 
 I have stolen!" And then she told the whole truth of the 
 witchcraft plays of herself and No. 2. The latter, overcome 
 with shame for her crime, did not deny; she admitted all. 
 And No. 1 closed her defence by saying, "So this other 
 woman has nothing about which to make complaint. She 
 has her child, and I have mine, and that settles the matter." 
 
 The crowd was amazed, and the husbands were ashame d 
 at fi nding that their wives were witches. The husband of 
 No. 2 was no longer disposed to fight after his wife had 
 admitted that the boy-baby was not her own. The matter 
 was dropped, as no one was really harmed. Neither husband 
 was disposed to fine the wife of the other for her witchcraft, 
 as both were guilt}' . 
 
 The guests ate the feast, but the host had no satisfaction 
 
TALES OF FETICH liASEi) ().\ FAC 1" 'JsT 
 
 in its now useless expenditure except tliat it wus considered 
 sufficient reparation to the husband of Xo. 1 for his own 
 wife's original theft. 
 
 IV. The Wizard House-Breaker. 
 
 (The incidents narrated in the following three stories, The 
 Wizard House-Breaker, The Wizard Murderer, The Wiz- 
 ard and his Invisible Dog, my informant asserted were 
 actual occurrences; Nos. IV. and VI. occurring in the Gabun 
 region, and the parties known. The witchcraft part of the 
 stories consists in the strange light which wizards and witches 
 are said to possess; it is under their control to display or 
 hide, and it gives them power to overcome time and space. 
 The scene of No. V. is on the Ogowe River.) 
 
 There were a husband and wife who had been married a 
 number of years. She had a child, a little boy. The hus- 
 band had a brother; and this brother had taken a strong fancy 
 to the woman, and wanted to possess her. Secretly he was 
 asking her to live with him. But the woman always refused, 
 saying, "No, I do not want it I'' Then this brother's love 
 began to change to anger. He cherished vexation in his 
 heart toward the woman, and asked her, "Wh}- do you al- 
 ways refuse me? You are the wife, not of a stranger, but 
 of my brother. He and I are one, and you ought to accept 
 me." But she persisted, "No, I don't want it! " 
 
 The brother's anger deepened into revenge. He ])()ssessod 
 UN^emba (witchcraft powei"), and determined to use it. 
 
 One day this woman had to go to lier jjlantation ; and slie 
 arranged for the journey, taking her little boy with her. 
 Before she left the village to go to the ])lantati()n, she tohl 
 the townspeople, "I will remain at the i)lantation for some 
 days, to take care of my gardens; for I am tired of losses by 
 the wild beasts spoiling my crops." But the other women 
 said, "Ah I your plantatir)n is too fai-; it is not safe for you 
 to be by yourself." I>ut she said, " I camiot help it; I havo 
 to go." She was brave, and persisted in Ikt plan, and made 
 
288 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 all preparations. On a set day, with her basket on her back, 
 her child on her left hip, and her machete in her right hand, 
 the started. She went on, on, steadily ; reached the planta- 
 tion, and rested there the remainder of that day with her 
 child. After her evening meal she shut the door of the hut 
 and went to bed. The door was fastened with strings and a 
 bar, for the plantation hamlets had no locks. 
 
 She awoke suddenly about midnight, and thought she 
 heard a noise outside. She listened quietly. Then she heard 
 the sound again. Presently she discovered by the noise 
 that some one was trying to climb upon the top of the 
 hut, for the roof was low. Soon, then, she observed that 
 this person was trying to break open the palm-thatch of 
 the low roof. She still lay quietly. But she remembered 
 a big spear which the husband always kept in one of the 
 rooms of that hut; so she slowly got out of bed, and very 
 softly went to the corner of the room where the spear was 
 standing, and returned to bed with it. 
 
 The breaking of the thatch continued. Soon she saw the 
 room filled with a strange light, and then she saw a man 
 trying to enter the roof head foremost. She bravely kept 
 still, and watched his head and shoulders enter. She could 
 not see his face, and did not know who he was. But she 
 did not wait for certainty; she thrust the spear upward at 
 the man's head. Immediately the figure disappeared, and 
 she heard a heavy thud as he fell to the ground into the 
 street outside. 
 
 She now began to be frightened ; she no longer felt safe, 
 and dreaded what might happen before morning. So she 
 began to get ready to return to town that very night. She 
 girded her loin garment, fastened the cloth for carrying her 
 child, took her machete, hasted out of the hut, and started 
 for her village. In her fear she ran, and rested by walking. 
 Thus, alternately running and walking, she reached the vil- 
 lage so exhausted and weak with loss of sleep that when 
 her husband's door was opened she fell fainting on the floor. 
 He and others were alarmed, and asked, "What? What's 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 289 
 
 the matter?" As soon as she was able to speak, she 
 told the whole story. They asked her, " Did you see the 
 person? Do you know him?" She said, "No; only one 
 thing I know: it was a man, and he fell into the street." 
 
 So, when daylight came, the husband and otliers went to 
 the plantation to see whether they coukl iind tlie man. 
 When they reached the plantation, they were very much sur- 
 prised to see that the man was this brother. He was lying 
 dead, with the spear in his neck. 
 
 The husband was not vexed at his wife for tlie death of ] 
 his brother; he was pleased that she had so well defended \ 
 herself. 
 
 V. The Wizard Murderer. 
 
 (My informant asserted that this really happened in the 
 Ogowe.) 
 
 The parties are a husband and wife, their two little chil- 
 dren, and a younger brother of the husband. One of the 
 children, a boy, was a lad old enough to understand affaii-s. 
 
 The brother-in-law loved the woman, and secretly tried to 
 draw her affections to himself; but to all his solicitiition 
 she gave only persistent refusal. Thus mattere went on, he 
 asking and she refusing ; and then his love turned to hatred. 
 
 It happened one day that the husband and wife had a big 
 quarrel of their own. The wife was so angry that she said 
 she would leave him, take the cliildren, and go to her father's 
 house. But that home was far away, and could not })e 
 reached in one day. Other women tried to prevent lier going, 
 as she would have to spend the night in tlie forest on the 
 way; but she insisted. 
 
 Leaving her clothing and otlier goods, she started off witli 
 the two children, a little food, and her machete. Trying to 
 make the journey in one day, slie walked very fast. But 
 when the sun had set, and soon darkness would fall, the lad 
 said, ''Mother, as we cannot reach there to-night, don't you 
 think we 'd better stop and arrange a sK'eping-placc before 
 
 19 
 
290 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 dark, and let the spot be a little aside from the public path? " 
 The mother said, "Yes; that is good!" Then she gave the 
 babe to the lad to hold, while she with her machete began 
 to cut away bushes and clear the ground for a convenient 
 sleeping-spot. After she had cut away some bushes, the lad 
 watching her, saw that she was clearing a space larger than 
 was needed for herself. He asked her, "Do you intend 
 that we all shall sleep in that one place, — you and baby 
 and I?" The mother said, "Yes." But he said, "Why, 
 no! Fix two places, —I by myself, and you and baby in 
 another place." The mother replied, "No, I cannot let 
 you sleep alone in this forest; I want you near me." 
 However, the lad insisted: "But if anything happens to us 
 in the night, then we will be lost all together. I am not 
 willing that we should be all in the same place." 
 
 So the lad began to search for a place for himself, and came 
 to a big tree which was not very far from his mother's chosen 
 spot. He called her to him, and said, " I have found a good 
 place. Just you clear for me behind this big tree, and dig a 
 trench for me to lie in, just below the level of the ground." 
 The mother did so. 
 
 , After the two spots were cleared, they ate their little even- 
 ing meal, and night came. Then the lad said, " Now I go 
 to lie in the trench, and you sprinkle leaves over me to hide 
 me, and then you go to your sleeping-place. And if anything 
 happens to me at night, I promise 1 will not cry out ; I will 
 remain silent. And you promise that if anything happens to 
 you, you also will not cry out, nor call to me." The mother 
 agreed, and both went to sleep. 
 
 Not long after this, both were awakened by a strange flash- 
 ing light, and the mother saw some one coming to the place 
 where she was lying. Then the light was suddenly extin- 
 guished; and she saw a man near her, and recognized that 
 he was her brother-in-law. She was exceedingly alarmed, 
 knowing that he did not come with good intent. In her 
 fright she hoped to gain time by pretending to be friendly 
 with him. So she exclaimed, "Oh! My young husband! 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 291 
 
 Now 3'ou have come after me, su that your ])r()ther's wife 
 will not have to sleep in the forest alone. Now we will 
 make friendship and be good friends." But he replied in 
 anger: "Friends, you say? You shall see what kind of 
 friends I will make with you to-night I You, the woman 
 who hates me! Where is the lad?" She, determined to 
 shield the child, said, " The lad did not come with me ; he 
 preferred to stay in town with his father." The man replied, 
 " You are not telling me the truth. Tell me where the lad 
 is!" But she persisted in her statement, "He is left in town 
 with his father." 
 
 Then the man walked about in search of the lad, going 
 even very near to where he was lying awake in the trench. 
 But the leaves hid him, and his uncle did not discern that 
 the ground had been disturbed. Returning to the woman, 
 he said, "Good! you are telling the truth. I don't see the 
 lad. But now I am ready to attend to you. You shall see." 
 So he approached the woman to seize her. She was so para- 
 lyzed with fear that she neither attempted to run away, nor, 
 though her machete was lying near, did she lay hold of it. 
 Even had she done so, she was too weak Avith her journey to 
 defend herself. The man snatched up the babe that still was 
 sleeping, and looking around for a rough, projecting root, 
 violently flung the babe against it. It made no cry ; and botli 
 he and the mother supposed it was instantly killed. Then 
 he drew his machete, which he had made very sharp, and 
 began to cut and slash the woman. She pleaded and cried for 
 help; but there was no help near. She fell, covered witli 
 wounds, and died on the spot. All this the lad saw and 
 heard. After killing the mother, the man began again i.. 
 search for the lad, but did not find him; and, as it was now 
 after midnight, he left the place to go back to town. 
 
 Soon after he was gone, the lad, exhausted with terror and 
 fatigue, fell asleep. But he awoke again in the early day- 
 light. Arising from his trench, he went with grief and distress 
 to see the two corpses. Looking at his mother's blood- 
 covered form, he saw that she was dead. Looking at his 
 
292 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 baby brother lying on the root, he took up the little form, 
 sobbing, " Only I am alive. Even this little child was not 
 spared. Am I to go on my journey all alone?'* Examining 
 the limp body still further, it seemed still to show signs of 
 life; and he said to himself, "I think I will try to save 
 it. I am strong enough to carry it to my mother's people, 
 to whom I shall tell this whole story." 
 
 So he took up the cloth in which his mother had carried 
 the child, adjusted it for himself, placed the unconscious 
 form in it, and started on his journey. A short distance 
 beyond brought him to a brook. Before he crossed it, he 
 stooped to take a drink of water. Then examining the 
 little body again, he felt that it was not stiif and was 
 still warm. Said he, "Ah! perhaps it has a little life! I 
 better give it a drink." So he tried; and the baby drank. 
 He rejoiced. " So perhaps it will be alive. I better bathe 
 it." And he did so. Then he crossed the brook, and jour- 
 neyed on. Before he reached his grandfather's village, he 
 crossed another brook, and bathed the babe, and gave it a 
 drink as at the first brook. 
 
 On his arrival at the village the people were surprised 
 to see him without his mother. His grandfather at once 
 wanted to know his story and why he had come there alone. 
 Said he, "Please, before I tell my story, try to save this 
 baby." 
 
 After the people had looked to the baby's needs and saw 
 that it might live, they gathered together to listen to what 
 the lad had to say. When they had heard his account, they 
 started back with him to find his mother's corpse. They 
 took it up and carried it to her husband's village, there 
 to hold palaver over the death. As soon as they reached 
 the village, instead of announcing themselves as visitors to 
 the husband, they went straight to the brother-in-law's house. 
 They found him sitting in the veranda. They laid the corpse 
 at his feet. This so startled him that a look of guilt showed 
 on his face. Looking at the party who had brought the 
 corpse, he saw among them the lad ; and at once he felt sure 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 293 
 
 that this lad had been a witness of his crime. lie lost his 
 self-control, and began to scold, " What do you put this thing 
 at my feet for? Take it away ! " 
 
 Then all the townspeople gathered around him, being 
 horrified at the news of the woman's death. The husband 
 called them all to a council, and the palaver was held at 
 his house. There the grandfather and the lad told the 
 whole story. 
 
 The brother-in-law began to enter a denial ; but the hus- 
 band said, " No, you are guilty ! and because we are brothers, 
 and we are one, the guilt is also mine; and I will confess for 
 you. You are guilty. Your actions show it. Why did you 
 become so angry as soon as you saw the corpse at your feet? " 
 
 But the wife's family said to the husband, "We have no 
 quarrel with you. We want only the person who killed our 
 sister, and a fine of money for our loss." 
 
 Then the husband said, "You are right; this man killed 
 her. Take him, and for a fine take his slaves and other prop- 
 erty. He has deliberately deprived me of a wife, and my 
 children of a mother. Take all he owns." It was so done; 
 and the assemblage dispersed. 
 
 VI. The Wizard and his Invisible Dog. 
 
 (Thi s, my informant asserted, actually happened at the 
 town of Libreville. Gabun.) 
 
 One night a young woman was alone in her house. She 
 vras married; but, that particular night, the husband was 
 absent. 
 
 After she had gone to her bed for the night, she slept, but 
 not very soundly. Half awake, she thought she heard some- 
 thing moving in the front reception-room (ikenga). She had 
 lowered the lamp in her bedroom, but it still gave enough 
 light for her to see. She sliglitly o})ened the mosquito-net 
 on one side and began to look and listen. But she saw 
 no one nor anything unusual in her room. But as the door 
 between her bedroom and the reception-room was slightly 
 
294 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 ajar, she looked toward its opening, and thought she saw a 
 figure moving in that room. She felt sure there was some 
 one there. So she stepped softly out of the bed, and peeped 
 through the narrow opening of the door. Sure enough, there 
 was a man. 
 
 She was frightened, but controlled herself. She w^as puz- 
 zled to know how he had got into that room, whose outer 
 door she knew she had fastened before she went to bed. She 
 crept quietly back to her bed, and then began to shout, 
 "Who is that? How did you get in? I see you!" There 
 was no answer. The figure ceased moving, and stood still. 
 The woman again cried out, " Who are you ? When did you 
 come in? What do you want?" The man replied in a low 
 voice, "It is I! " She rejoined, " Who is 'I ' ? Are you only 
 'me'? Who are you? How did you succeed in entering? 
 Go out! " So he apparently opened the door and went out. 
 She was so frightened that she did not immediately follow 
 him, nor did she make a public outcry. 
 
 Awhile afterward she recovered self-control, and arose and 
 went into the outer room, and assured herself that the out- 
 side door was fast, as she had left it. She believed he had 
 entered the closed door by witchcraft art. 
 
 The next morning she told her village people the story; 
 but she was afraid to mention the man's name (for she knew 
 who he was), because many people thought he possessed power 
 as a wizard, and she feared he would revenge himself on her. 
 She told his name only to her mother. 
 
 Not long afterward he came again to her house when she 
 was alone at night, but did not enter. He came to the out- 
 side wall against which he knew her bedstead stood. Lying 
 there, she could see his form through the cracks in the bam- 
 boo wall. She saw this as she happened to awake from sleep. 
 She saw his figure standing still, and she heard a sound as 
 of the tinkling of a bell moving about, such as natives tie to 
 the necks of their dogs in hunting. The wizard had brought 
 with him this time a small invisible beast to whose neck the 
 invisible but audible bell wns attached; and she heard a 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 295 
 
 sound along the bottom of the Wiill, as if the animal was 
 scratching a hole for its master's entrance. This time she 
 was so alarmed that she screamed aloud to the people of the 
 village; and then, through the chinks in the wall, she saw 
 passing by in the street the figure of the same man. 
 
 The very next day the woman began to be sick of a fever. 
 For several days she was quite ill, and people began to be 
 alarmed for her. Her sickness grew very much woise. Her 
 pe ople sent for a Senegal man, living in Libreville, wh o had 
 c|^uite a reputation as a doctor in that kind of sickness. When 
 this doctor came, she was able to speak only in a low voice, 
 and she recounted to him what had happened. He asked lier 
 to mention the precise spot on which the man had stood out- 
 side of the wall of her house. She described to her mother 
 the particular spot, and the mother took the doctor to show 
 him. He scraped up clay from the place and mixed it 
 in a small bowl of cold Avater. He directed that after she 
 had been given a bath morning and evening this muddy water 
 should be rubbed over her body. She said that when it was 
 thus rubbed over her skin, her flesh temporarily felt as if it 
 was paralyzed. 
 
 Her sickness continued more than a month, and then she 
 recovered. Soon after her recovery the man who had at- 
 tempted to enter her room, and who was suspected of hav- 
 ing caused her sickness by witchcraft art, suddenly left 
 Gabun, and went to another country. 
 
 Vn. Spirit-Dancing. 
 
 Antyande, a Mpongwe woman of the town of Libreville, 
 Gabun, is a leader of a company of ten or a dozen women in 
 a certain native dance called ''ivanga, " which is performed 
 only by women. Some dance it only as an exhibition of 
 their gymnastic skill; others mix with it fetich and witch- 
 craft arts, and claim that their movements are under spirit 
 power. Antyande, more than the other women of the com- 
 pany, uses witchcraft in her performances. She seems almost 
 to glide through the air, alighting on the knees of sit- 
 
296 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 ting spectators without giving them the impression of weight, 
 gyrating on small stools without moving the stools from 
 their position, and making many other wonderful physi- 
 cal contortions in an exceedingly graceful and easy manner. 
 She even goes to graveyards at night, accompanied by three 
 or four men and women, to get what they call the spirits 
 of the dead. It is said by some of the men who have gone 
 there with her that they do not understand what she does, 
 but that it is so very strange and awful that they are afraid. 
 The reason why she goes for these abambo (ghosts) of the 
 graves is that she may be spry and alert, and able to do 
 with her body whatever she pleases. She claims also to 
 be accompanied by a leopard and a bush-cat that are visible 
 to her but not to others. As these animals are noted for 
 their quick and agile movements, and are under her witch- 
 power control, they are able to impart to her these qualities. 
 In January, 1902, she was dancing her ivanga, and there 
 was a woman among the spectators who had been drinking 
 to the point of intoxication. In her foolishness she deter- 
 mined to help Antyande by assuming to be directress to 
 keep the spectators in order. But, being drunk, she could 
 not do so ; she only made disorder. In attempting to make 
 matters straight she only made them crooked. Antyande 
 asked her to get out of her way. Many, also, of the spec- 
 tators begged the woman to cease interfering ; but she would 
 not, and finally she vexed Antyande by spoiling her move- 
 ments in getting too close in front of her. Antyande 's patience 
 was exhausted, and she suddenly revealed a secret that as- 
 tonished many even of her intimate acquaintances, saying, 
 " Whoever is related to this drunken woman, please tell her 
 to get out of my way while I am dancing, because my dance 
 is not a mere gymnastic exercise. I have leopards and bush- 
 cats about me, and if she comes too near me, and the tails 
 of these animals should twist around her legs, then she will 
 get a sickness : and if that happens, her people must not hold 
 me responsible for it, for I have given you this warning." 
 This surprised many of the people; for they had supposed 
 
Ekoi'e of the Ivan(;a Danck. — Gahi n. 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 297 
 
 she was nothing more than an unusually graceful dancer, 
 and that her success was purely physical. Now, publicly, 
 she admitted that the power in her limbs and body causing 
 her graceful undulations was a supernatural one. So some, 
 of the women laid hold of the drunken woman, and induced 
 her to get out of the way. 
 
 While dancing, Antyande wears a wide belt called "ekope," 
 which is made with white and red stripes, and adorned with 
 fringes of small bells in bands like sleigh-bells. Jt is known 
 that her ekope has been heard and seen moving as if in the 
 rhythm of a dance in her own room when she was not visibly 
 there. Those who heard the sound of its bells would think 
 she was there practising the dance ; but when they went to 
 look, they saw it moving, but did not see her. A few months 
 afterward, a report came at night to the villages that Antyande 
 was very much excited and could not sleep; that she had gone 
 to her room for the ekope, and that it was not there. So she 
 began to make a great fuss, and begged her associates to keep 
 watch and go with her to search for the missing ekoije. Some 
 of these friends were willing; others were not, and these went 
 to their beds. She then went to other villages and told the 
 people there: "My ekope has gone out on a promenade. 
 Have you seen it?" These people were among the chief 
 dancers of her band. But they told her they did not know 
 where the ekope was. So she began to ejaculate a prayer: 
 "Oh, please, you went out for a walk; come back to me, for 
 if you do not return, then I am lost. It will be death to 
 me." Just before daylight, as she was still wandering 
 about with her friends, and singing ivanga songs to attract 
 her ekope, suddenly she and two of her friends heard the 
 tinkling of the bells among the bushes lining a certain road 
 which passes by a Roman Catholic chapel. They all went in 
 the direction of the sound of the bells, and entering a cluster 
 of the bushes, they saw the ekope moving to iind fro. 
 She was so glad to see it, and she bade one of her com- 
 panions to go and get it. But tlie woman was afraid, and 
 refused, saying, "Me! Oh, no! Go and get it yourself!" 
 
298 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 So she went to it, singing her ivanga song, seized it, and 
 brought it to her house. 
 
 As she is noted for her grace and skill in that particular 
 dance, another woman, by name Ekamina, asked her to give 
 her power such as hers, as she also wished to be leader of 
 another band of ivanga dancers. Antyande assented, say- 
 ing, "Well, do you want spirits with it?" The other 
 replied, "Yes, I want two." So the two women, with a 
 young man to escort them, went at night to the graves and 
 obtained the two desired spirits. It is these which give them 
 spirit power. When under their influence, their bodies are 
 thrilled with a new essence which makes them very light 
 and causes them to act and speak as if insane. The two 
 women came back to Antyande 's village, and she performed 
 all the magic ceremonies that Ekamina wanted. 
 
 Some time after this, Avhen Ekamina had practised much 
 and had danced publicly several times, people began to say 
 to her that she danced very well, and soon she was invited 
 to give exhibitions in various places. 
 
 One day it happened that the two women had arranged 
 to dance on the same night, each with her own party, at 
 villages quite distant from each other. Antyande asked 
 Ekg^mina to give up her play for that night and join with 
 her, "for," said she, "I want to make mine grand; and you 
 wait for yours another day." But Ekamina was not willing. 
 Antyande tried to get her to change her mind, and was very 
 much displeased because she refused. Ekamina said, " I will 
 not give up, for my dance is by special invitation at An- 
 wondo village, so I have to go." (Lib reville is three miles 
 long; one end is called "Glass," and Ailwondo is at t he 
 other end^ Ekamina lived at Glass, and on her Avay to 
 Afiwondo she had to pass the village of Antyande . The 
 latter said to herself, " As Ekamina is not willing to do as 
 I wish, and I was the one who gave her this power, I will 
 watch her as she passes, and see what I will do." So, when 
 Ekamina passed at night with her party to Afiwondo, Anty- 
 ande watched her chance as Ekamina neared her. She went 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT liim 
 
 behind her, and did some magic act whicli would make the 
 latter powerless to dance and not be aware of her loss of 
 power. When Ekamina reached Anwondo and commenced 
 her play, she was not able to dance at all. She tried till 
 midnight, and failed. She suspected that Antyande was the 
 cause of the failure, for the latter had not been friendly since 
 their unsatisfactory talk. So she took a portion of lier party 
 that same night back to Antyande's village, told the lat- 
 ter her trouble, and begged her, " Please, if you have taken 
 away the power, give it back, so I may finish the dance to- 
 night." Antyande said, "No; you would not listen to me. 
 I am a chief dancer, and you are praised as the same. Co 
 and dance ! " Ekamina said, " But ])lease give me back the 
 power; I am not able to dance without it." Antyande re- 
 plied, "No, go to the graveyard and get other spirits there 
 for yourself." So there was no dance done by Ekamina that 
 night. 
 
 VIII. AsiKi, OR THE Littlp: Beings. 
 
 People believe that Asiki (singular " Isiki ") were once 
 human beings, but that wicked men, wizards Jind witclies, 
 or other persons who assert that they have memba (witchcraft 
 powers), caught them when they were children and could 
 not defend themselves, nor could their cries for liclp be 
 heard when playing among the buslies on the edge of the 
 forest. These wicked persons cut olf the ends of the chil- 
 dren's tongues, so that they can never again speak or inform 
 on their captors. They carry them away, and hide them in 
 a secret place Avhere they cannot be found. Tlicre they are 
 subjected to a variety of witchcraft treatment tliat alters 
 their natures so that they are no longer mortal. This treat- 
 ment checks their entire physical, mental, and moral growth. 
 They cease to remember or care for their former honu's or 
 their human relatives, and they accept all the witchcraft of 
 their captors. Even the hair of their liead changes, grow- 
 ing in long, straight black tresses down their backs. They 
 wear a curious comb-shaped ornament on the back of their 
 
300 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 head. It is not stiff or capable of being used as a comb, and 
 is made of some twisted fibre resembling hair. The Asiki 
 value it almost as a part of their life. 
 
 These Asiki will sometimes be seen walking in paths on 
 dark nights, and people meet them coming toward them. It 
 is believed that in their meeting, if a person is fearless by 
 natural bravery, or by fetich power as a wizard or witch, 
 and dares to seize the Isiki and snatch away the "comb," the 
 possession of this ornament will bring him riches. But who- 
 ever succeeds in obtaining that " comb " will not be allowed 
 to remain in peaceful possession of it. The poor Isiki will 
 be seen at night wandering about the spot where its treasure 
 was lost, trying to obtain it again. 
 
 It happened in the year 1901 that there was a report, even 
 in civilized Gabun, about these Asiki, — that two of them 
 were seen near a certain place on the public road at that part 
 of the town of Libreville known as the "Plateau," where 
 live most of the French traders and government officers. A 
 certain Frenchman, who is known as a freemason, in re- 
 turning from his 8 P. M. dinner at his boarding-house to his 
 dwelling-place, observed that a small figure was walking on 
 one side of the road, keeping pace with him. He accosted 
 it, "Who are you?" There was no answer; only the figure 
 kept on walking, advancing and retreating before him. 
 
 Also, a few nights later, a Negro clerk of a white trader 
 met this small being on that very road, and near the spot 
 where the Frenchman had met it, and it began to chase the 
 Negro. He ran, and came frightened to his employer's office, 
 and told him what had happened. His employer did not 
 believe him, laughed at his fears, and told him he was not 
 telling the truth. The very next night the Frenchman, the 
 trader, and other white men and Negro women were sit- 
 ting in conversation. The trader told the story of his clerk, 
 whereupon the Frenchman said, "Your clerk did not lie; he 
 told the truth. I have myself met that small being two or 
 three times, but I made no effort to catch it." The women 
 told him of the comb-ornament which Asiki were believed to 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 301 
 
 wear, and of the pride with which Asiki regiirdcd it, and llic* 
 value it would be to any one who couhl ohtain it. 'Hini tin* 
 Frenchman replied, "As the little being is so sniull, the very 
 next time I see it I will try to catch it and bring it here, 
 so that you can see it and know that this story is actually 
 true." 
 
 On a subsequent night they two — the Frenchman and the 
 trader — went out to see whether they could meet the Isiki. 
 They did not meet with it that night; but a few evenings 
 later the Frenchman went alone, and met the Isiki near the 
 place where it had first been seen. The Frenchman ran 
 toward it and tried to catch it; but it being very agile 
 eluded his grasp. But, though he failed to seize its body, 
 he succeeded in catching hold of its "comb," and snatched it 
 away, and ran rapidly with it toward his house. It did not 
 consist of any hard material as a real comb, but was made of 
 strands resembling the Isiki's hair, and braided into a comb- 
 like shape. The little being was displeased, and ran after 
 him in order to recover the ornament. Having no tongue, it 
 could not speak, but holding out one hand pleadingly and 
 with the other motioning to the back of its head, it made 
 pathetic sounds in its throat, thus inarticulately begging that 
 its treasure should be given back to it. On nearing the light 
 of the Frenchman's house it retreated, and he showed the 
 ornament to other white men and some native women. (So 
 positive was my informant that the names of these men and 
 women were mentioned to me.) He said to the trader, " You 
 doubted your clerk's story. Have you ever seen anything 
 like this in all your life? " They all said they had not. It 
 was reported that many other persons hearing of it went there 
 to see it. 
 
 From that night the little being was often seen by other 
 Negroes. It was always holding out its hand, and seem- 
 ingly pleading for the return of its "comb." This made the 
 Negroes afraid to pass on that road at niglil. Tlic French- 
 man also often met it; it did not chase him, but followed 
 slowly, pleading with its hands in diunl> show, and (u-rasion- 
 
302 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 ally makiug a grunting sound in its throat. This it did so 
 persistently and annoyingly that the Frenchman was wearied 
 with its begging, and determined that the next night he would 
 yield up the "comb." But he w^ent prepared with scissors. 
 He found the little being following him. He stopped, and it 
 approached. He held out his hand with the ornament. As 
 the Isiki jumped forward to snatch at it, the Frenchman tried 
 to lay hold of its body ; but it was so very agile that, though 
 it had come so near as to be able to take the comb from the 
 Frenchman's hand, it so quickly twisted itself aside as to 
 elude his grasp. He however succeeded in getting his hands 
 in its long hair, and snipped off a lock with his scissors. The 
 Isiki ran away wdth its recovered treasure, and did not seem 
 to resent the loss of a portion of its hair. This hair the 
 Frenchman is said to have shown to his companions at their 
 next evening conversation, and I was given to understand 
 that he had sent it to France. It was straight, not woolly, 
 and long. 
 
 These Asiki are supposed not to die, and it is also believed 
 that they can propagate; but so complete has been the par- 
 ent's change under witchcraft power that the Isiki babe will 
 be only an Isiki and cannot grow up to be a human being. 
 
 It is asserted that Asiki are now made by a sort of creative 
 power (just as leopards and bush -cats are claimed to be made, 
 and used invisibly) by witch doctors. 
 
 I am only writing these tales, I am not explaining them. 
 Some of the statements in the above story are too circumstan- 
 tial to be denied. Bu t there is a wide margin for uncertainty 
 as to what o ne might see after the conviviality of an 8 p.m. 
 West Africa n dinner. In my sudden leaving of Gabun in 
 June, 1903, I had not time to interrogate the men and women 
 named as having seen the Isiki 's tress of hair. 
 
 IX. Okoye. 
 
 (The incidents of this story really occurred, and indepen- 
 dent of the fetich belief in okove power, are true. At the 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 303 
 
 request of my native informant the names of the two tribes 
 are suppressed, for the sake of the living descendants of the 
 two kings.) 
 
 There was an old king of one of the principal tribes of 
 West Equatorial Africa who had great power and was lield 
 in great respect and fear ; there Avas none other his equal. 
 
 He had brothers and cousins. One of these cousins had a 
 servant, a slave, who had been bought from an interior tribe. 
 It happened that this man had not ahvays been a slave, but 
 in the tribe from which he had been sold he was a freeman. 
 The charge on which he had been sold by his own tribe was 
 that of sorcery and witchcraft murder, the death penalty for 
 which had been commuted to sale into slavery. He was 
 deeply versed in a mystery of a certain fetich or magic power 
 called " Okove." He possessed it so powerfully that no one 
 was able to overcome him in contests of strength, and people 
 were greatly afraid of him. 
 
 So his owners intended to get rid of him by selling him 
 out of the country. To do this, they planned to catch him 
 in the daytime ; for he exercised his okove power chiefly at 
 night, when he could change himself into a powerful being 
 ready to overcome any one who should resist him. 
 
 One night when this great king, who also possessed tlie 
 okove power (though it was not generally known), wxMit out 
 to inspect, he saw a big tall man walking up and down near 
 his premises. The king said to him, " Ho ! who are you ? " 
 The man answered, '' It is I." The king asked, '' Who is I ? " 
 The man replied daringly, " I have already told you that I am 
 I." So the king asked again, " Who are you ? Where did 
 you come from ? And what are you doing here ? " Tlie man 
 said, " I go everywhere, and do wliat I please at other people's 
 places, and so I have come liere." The king commanded 
 him, " But, no, not at this place. This is mine. Go back 
 to your own ! " 
 
 The slave gave answer, " No ! that is not my Iiabit. No 
 one can master me ! " 
 
304 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 The king again ordered him, "Go!" He flatly refused, 
 " No ! " The king then said plainly, " Are you not willing to 
 leave my premises ? " 
 
 He replied, " No, I never turn away from any one. I go away 
 when I please. When I am ready, I will go back to my 
 place." At this the king, restraining himself, slowly said, 
 " Be it so ! " and turned away, leaving the slave standing 
 in his yard. 
 
 The next day the king sent word for his cousin the owner 
 of the slave to come ; to whom, when he had arrived at the 
 house, the king told how he had seen the man at night. And 
 he inquired, "What does he do? Why does he leave his 
 place on the plantation and come to my place at night? " The 
 cousin was surprised to hear this, exclaiming, " So ! indeed ! 
 he comes here at night ? " Then he went back to his house, 
 and caUing the slave, asked him about this matter. " Do you 
 go around at night, even to the king's place?" The man 
 said, " Yes." His master said, " AVhy do you do that ? Do 
 you hear of other lower-caste people daring to go to the king's 
 at night?" He answered, "No; but it is I who do as I 
 please." His master told him, "No; you better return to 
 the plantation, and hve among the other slaves." He replied 
 "I will go, but not now\" His master asked him, ^' But what 
 are you waiting for ? " He only repeated, " Yes ; but not 
 now." 
 
 The very next night, on the king's going out as usual, 
 he found this slave again at his place, and said to him, " So ! 
 you here again ?" The man replied, "Yes; just what I told 
 you last night, that I do what I please, and I can master any- 
 body." Then the king said, " I warn you plainly, clear off 
 from my place ! " He replied, " No, I do not intend to clear 
 out ; but I am ready for a fight." 
 
 The king asked, " You really want a fight with me ? " The 
 man answered," Yes, I am ready for it." Said the king, "It 
 is well." 
 
 The fight began, each with his full okove power. In 
 such contests, the power is able to change the contestants' 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 305 
 
 bodies to many forms. The slave was quick in his use of 
 them. His first change was to the form of a big gorilhi. 
 This also the king met. As the fight went on, the next 
 form was into that of leopards. The fight went on, with 
 frequent changes ; the slave always being the first to change. 
 After a while the slave seemed to be growing tired, and the 
 king asked him, " Are you through ? " He answered, ^' No, 
 only resting." Again the fight was resumed. Finally, the 
 slave took an eagle's form ; the king did the same. 
 
 Presently the slave seemed to hesitate, and tlie king said, 
 " You said you wanted a fight. Well, let us go on with it." 
 They continued ; but the slave seemed to be exhausted, and 
 the king said, " Now, are you willing to leave the place ? " 
 He answered, " No ; my fatigue is not yet so great as to make 
 me leave your place." The king had held his power in re- 
 serve, and had been tolerant of the man's audacity ; but he 
 now resumed his human form, took his gun (the slave had 
 none), and aiming it, off it went, and wounded him. Being 
 wounded, the slave had to acknowledge that he was overcome, 
 and he had to go. When morning came, the slave was not 
 able to get up to go about his Avork, and remained in bed. 
 The gun-shot wound was a small one, and he was conscious 
 that he was dying of some other cause. He sent some one to 
 the master's house to ask him to come. When his master 
 came, he said, " Ah ! master! I have something to say to you. 
 Please plead for me ! " The master said, " Plead for you ! 
 For what?" The slave then told him, " I went around last 
 night to the king's place. He told me to leave, and I was 
 not willing to do so. So we had a great fight. And I am 
 conquered. But please plead for me, that he may make me 
 well" 
 
 The master replied, " Did I not advise you not to go there, 
 but rather to stay at your plantation? " He assented. '' I>ut 
 please plead, and I will stay at the plantation." 
 
 The master answered, "I do not think the king will be 
 willing to help you.'' Nevertheless, being a cousin, he \\-ent 
 privately to the king, and told liim all that the slave had told 
 
 20 
 
306 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 him. The kmg refused, saying, " No, I am not going to do 
 anything for liim. He must die." The next day the slave 
 was dead. 
 
 (Another illustration of that king's okove power was 
 narrated to me.) 
 
 There had been ill-feeling between this king's tribe and 
 an adjacent inferior tribe who had killed two of the king's 
 chief men without cause, coming suddenly upon them at night 
 in their fishing-camp. The king's people were very much 
 troubled about it, and asked to be led to war. But the old 
 king said, " You young people don't know anything. If you 
 go to war, there will be much blood shed on both sides. 
 Leave the matter with me. I will attend to it myself." 
 
 So at night he went by himself to the town of the king of 
 the offending tribe, and remained there waiting in ambush on 
 the path. Early next morning four of the women belonging 
 to that town had gone to their gardens with their baskets to 
 get food. The old king followed them secretly. After all 
 of them had filled their baskets, two lifted them upon their 
 backs and started to return to their town. The other two 
 were just stooping (as is the custom in lifting burdens, 
 leaning forward on one knee in order to place their backs 
 against the basket, with a strap passing around the basket 
 and over their foreheads), when the king came behind them 
 and struck their necks with his okove. They instantly died 
 in that stooping position. 
 
 The two women who had gone on ahead reached their town 
 without knowing what had happened to the other two. They 
 waited in town a long time for the two absent ones to come. 
 But when they did not make their appearance, the people 
 began to ask those women about the other two. They said 
 they knew nothing about the delay, only that they had left 
 them ready to come and preparing to lift their baskets. The 
 townspeople, anxious because it was late in the day, went 
 out to search for the women. They found them on the path, 
 dead by their baskets. They examined their bodies for some 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 307 
 
 mark or wound or sign of a blow. There was none. This 
 very much perplexed them, for they did not suspect the cause 
 of their death. They carried the dead bodies to town. The 
 next night the king went again to that same town, and he 
 happened to meet the other king at the boat-landing of the 
 town. So the old king made complaint to the other why tlie 
 servants of the latter had killed his two chiefs. The otlier made 
 no reply, having no justification of what his people had done. 
 
 Then the old king said, " As your people have done this, 
 there is war between us " ; and he struck him with his okove. 
 And he added, " Do you know that I have already begun war 
 with your people ? Did you not find two of your women dead 
 yesterday at your gardens? I killed them. But I am not 
 through with you. I want you to pay a fine, and I want the 
 man who killed my two chiefs, for the lives of the two women 
 are not equivalent to those of my two chiefs." 
 
 The other king felt he was conquered by some unseen power, 
 and did not resist. He agreed to give up the murderer and 
 pay a fine. The next day he had the murderer cauglit and 
 brought before a council. He told them that the old king of 
 the other tribe wanted the life of that man and a sum of 
 money for the lives of his two chiefs. 
 
 They began to collect on the spot goods and food of all 
 kinds, and many things of little value, with wliich to make 
 simply the appearance of a full canoe. They tied the pris- 
 oner, put him in the canoe, and went with him and the 
 goods to the old king. He received them. 
 
 But at night he went again to the other king, and began to 
 rebuke him, saying that what he had sent was not sutVicient. 
 The other made a protest: *' I have given you enough, — the 
 lives of the two women, the one man, and goods equivalent 
 to two more lives. I have thus given you five for your two." 
 
 But the old king, in tribal jn-ide, reckoned the sex and so- 
 cial position of his two men greater than any five of an inferior 
 tribe, and said, '' How dare you speak to me like that ? You 
 shall surely die ! " He struck him with his okove, and went 
 away. 
 
308 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 The next clay the other king was not able to leave his bed 
 and sent for many of his people to come, saying that he had a 
 special Avord to speak to them. They came, and he told them 
 all about the death of the two women, and all that had 
 occurred between him and the old king. "And now," he 
 said, " I am dying. We are overcome. It is useless to resist. 
 I want you to remember, as long as the world stands, never 
 to fight or quarrel with the tribe of that king." 
 
 Then he turned his face to the wall and died. 
 
 X. *The Family Idols. 
 
 (To a village on the St. Thome or left bank of Gabun Bay, 
 or " River," away up a winding mangrove stream, and on the 
 edge of the forest that was broken by pieces of prairie, I went, 
 in February, 1903, to visit a friend, a sick Christian woman, 
 who was in the care of a relative of hers named Adova. 
 
 There were only five huts in the village. At the first one 
 from the edge of the prairie, which was assigned to me in 
 which to sleep, on a bench outside under the low eaves, was a 
 roughly carved wooden idol, about fourteen inches in height. 
 From the dressing of the hair of its head, I supposed it to be 
 intended for a female. Its loins were covered with a narrow 
 strip of cloth. Near it was what could scarcely be recognized 
 as a dog, its head looking more like a pig's, and its tail more 
 like an alligator's. The figures were chalked and painted; 
 and near them were a few gourd utensils for eating and drink- 
 ing, and some medicinal barks. 
 
 Subsequently, at night, in a curtained-off corner of my 
 room, I saw three low baskets, in each of which was a pair of 
 wooden images not six inches high. They were chalked, and 
 adorned with strips of various-colored cloth. In each basket 
 also was a wooden hourglass-shaped article that seemed in- 
 tended for a double bell. Pieces of medicinal barks filled up 
 the spaces in the baskets. The images were relics of ceremo- 
 nies held over twins born long ago in the family. 
 
 At the other end of the village, in a very small roughly 
 built hut, open on one side, Avere two other idols, — one, a male, 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 309 
 
 standing and chalked and painted. The female in an or- 
 namented box was not visible ; near them wa^ a nondescript 
 animal. 
 
 The story of these idols, as told me by my friend (who has 
 since died), is more especially connected with this pair.) 
 
 Part I. OKASI. 
 
 It was made by a Loango man, a fetich doctor, very many 
 years ago. The Mpongwe family that to-day owns these 
 relics had sent south to Loango, to the Fiat or Ba-Vili tribe, 
 to bring to Gabun for this special purpose this celebrated 
 magician. 
 
 When he arrived, the chief of the family who had sum- 
 moned him went with him off to the forest, with all the 
 medicines, and so forth, which the Loango man had brouglit. 
 This occurred on that same left side of the " river " where I 
 was visiting. 
 
 The magician began to explain everything in the way of 
 directions about the medicines that were to be put into the 
 hollow of the abdomen of the idol (and which to-day is still 
 covered by a small round mirror fastened over it). After ex- 
 plaining all these matters, he gave also all the orunda (pro- 
 hibitions), viz. : The idol must not be allowed to fall on its 
 face ; it must have a small hut for shelter from rain and 
 sun : it must be given a light at night, at least of coals of 
 fire. After this, he began to carve the idol. After makinp^ 
 the male of the pair, and before making its female, he made a 
 duplicate of the male, exactly like it, except that it was only 
 an imitation without any magic power ; and, instead of med- 
 icines, only powdered charcoal was put into tlie hollow in 
 its abdomen, which, however, was to be covered with glass, 
 exactly as the real one. 
 
 When these two idols were finished, the two men. tlie magi- 
 cian and the chief of the family, went with tlieni far into the 
 forest. The Loango said, " I will put these here, and when 
 we go back to your town I will give the power of olaga [a 
 certain kind of spirit] to one of your women. If she receives 
 
310 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 it properly, she herself, without knowing our path, will come 
 to this forest, and will make no mistake in choosing the 
 real idol from the imitation ; and she will bring it to me in the 
 town." (It is a rule with the native sorcerers that if the one 
 who aspires to the power should make a mistake in this 
 choosing, she must pay a fine of from $60 to |100.) 
 
 When all was arranged, the Loango man said, " Now let us 
 go back to town." So they turned back. But when they 
 had gone half of the way, he said to himself, "This Ga- 
 bun man now knows everything, and where the idols are, and 
 which is the real one. It is his sister who wishes to receive 
 the power ; he will go and tell her everything, and she will 
 make no mistake, not by reason of her possessing power, but 
 by his private information." So the Loango said, '' Go you to 
 the town, await me there ; I will come soon." And he turned 
 back into the forest by himself, took up the two idols from 
 where he had laid them down, went in another direction and 
 hid them there, and then returned to town. 
 
 He then gave the power to the woman, and said, "Go 
 and bring the olaga." She started, went with only a little 
 power, and was going at random ; but before she had gone 
 half-way, she came under the full power. Then she turned 
 her face right and left, and gave an olaga yell, seeking to 
 know which way the power would lead her. At once then 
 she knew which was the way ; and she went running and 
 shouting frantically, under the influence of this power, to the 
 precise spot, and took up the real idol, making no mistiike 
 about the imitation one. Holding it aloft, she returned, shout- 
 ing and dancing, under the Delphic frenzy. She entered the 
 town singing and dancing in the street, and then laid the idol 
 at the feet of the Loango man. He took it, and knew it was 
 the right one. He then went to the forest and brought also 
 the other, the duplicate. When he returned, he went with 
 it and the real one to the ogwSrina (backyard) to show to the 
 Gabun man the slight difference in the two (which he knew by 
 a private mark). In doing this he had to take off the little 
 mirrors and show the difference between the medicines and 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON PACT ni 
 
 the charcoal. And he again closed the miiTora. Then, just 
 to test the woman, the magician said to her, " Go and bring 
 me the idol I have left in the ogwCrina." She went there, 
 still under the power, and with a frenzied scream seized the' 
 right one and brought it to him. He was half glad and 
 half disappointed; for had she mistaken, he would have 
 received more money. 
 
 Then the townspeople held a great dance, and the Loango 
 taught them special songs for the olaga. The female of the 
 pair of idols had also been made about the same time as the 
 male, but with no special ceremony. 
 
 All being finished, the magician named his fee for his ser- 
 ^dces, was paid, and went back to Loango. 
 
 This idol was intended as a family fetich, to protect the 
 family at night, and to kill any one who would attempt to in- 
 jure any of the members. The name of this male of the pair 
 was Okasi. 
 
 The name of the other one, that was under the eaves of the 
 hut in which I slept, was Kaka-gi-bala-dyambo-gi-bala-ve. 
 These are Shekyani words, and mean "A-great-log-may-rot- 
 but-a-spoken-word-dies-never/' That meant that if an enemy 
 came and injured any one in the town, the ^vl'ong would never 
 be forgotten and would surely be avenged. That idol might 
 almost stand for a statue of Vengeance. 
 
 The above proverb comes from a tale of a cruel old Shekyani 
 chief. 
 
 Part II. BARBARITY. 
 
 Once there was a very powerful Shekyani chief named 
 Ogwedembe. He had many sons and daughters and slaves 
 and slave children and nieces and nephews. He had also 
 a brother. His principal delight was in fighting and killing. 
 
 Ogwedembe used to go out on excursions, and would say to 
 his compan}^ "Now we are out of town." That meant that 
 all restraint was cast aside, and that he was ready to kill the 
 first person they might meet, even without a cause. 
 
 One day when they were out and were passing through a 
 tliick forest, they saw a man up a tree who had come for 
 
312 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 palm-wine and had filled two of the gourd-bottles used for 
 that purpose. So Ogwedembe shouted to him, " Indeed! what 
 are you doing there ? Have you not heard that Ogwedembe 
 and his brother are out of town ? Come down quickly and 
 meet us here ! " 
 
 The man did not dare disobey, and came down. Ogwe- 
 dembe took the gourds, and said, " You may have one ; I and 
 my brother will drink the other." After the drinking, Ogwe- 
 dembe stripped the man of his clothing, leaving him standing 
 naked and trembling. In his terror the man did not attempt 
 to escape. 
 
 Ogwedembe drew his knife, and repeated his questions, 
 "Who told you to come here? Did you not know that 
 Ogwedembe and his brother were out in the forest? Now 1 
 will fix you; and you can carry the news to your town that 
 Ogwedembe and his brother are in the forest." 
 
 He then seized a portion of the man's body, and with his 
 butcher-knife horribly mutilated him. The man started, 
 bleeding, to go to his town, and died on the way. 
 
 The section of country in which Ogwedembe's portion of 
 the Shekyani tribe lived was south of Gabun, toward the 
 Orungu people at the mouth of the Nazareth branch of the 
 Ogowe River. Sometimes he and his brother would travel 
 in their war canoes all the way from their place, and, passing 
 Gabun, would go on northward to attack the Benga of Cape 
 Esterias without cause and in sheer ruthlessness. 
 
 Some of his daughters and sisters were married to Mpongwe 
 chiefs at Gabun. At times his daughters and nieces would 
 go and visit him. They would be received with firing of 
 guns and other great demonstrations, and on leaving would 
 be laden with presents. 
 
 About twenty years ago one of his sisters, named Akanda, 
 died in the prime of life. She lived at Gabun, her husband 
 a Mpongwe. (She was the mother of Adova, my hostess, 
 who is apparently about sixty years of age, and has a younger 
 brother apparently about thirty years of age.) So, when that 
 sister died, Ogwedembe came to Gabun, on the St. Thome 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 313 
 
 side, to the funeral. My sick friend happened to be there at 
 the time (for, by family marriage, she is a cousin to Adova) 
 and saw the old chief. 
 
 Ogwedembe, according to native custom, demanded of the 
 husband a fine for his sister's death (as if due to lack of 
 proper care of her). When that was paid, as a sign that 
 no ill-will was retained, Ogwedembe was to give the widower 
 another wife. 
 
 During this discussion Ogwedembe kept saying, " I wisli 
 my sister had not been married to a Mpongwe, for it is not 
 your custom to shed blood for this cause. But I feel a 
 great desire to kill some one. If this had been a Sliekyani 
 marriage, I would have gone from town to toAvn killing as I 
 chose." The Mpongwe replied, "But we have no such cus- 
 tom." He answered, "Yes, I know that. I only said what 
 I would like to do, though your tribal custom will not allow 
 me to do it." 
 
 His demand of a fine being finally yielded to and paid, 
 to show his peaceful intentions, he gave the husband one 
 of his daughters, a widow who had with her two children, 
 — a son and a daughter, — and who afterward bore him 
 other children. 
 
 Ogwedembe 's bloody instincts were suppressed at that 
 funeral, and he remained awhile after the close of the 
 mourning ceremonies, making friendly visits among his 
 Mpongwe sons-in-law, and then went back to his Shekyani 
 country. 
 
 A short time after that the eldest daughter of that woman 
 Akanda (my hostess Adova) and her husband Owondo visited 
 Ogwedembe. He made a great welcome for them, with danc- 
 ing and rejoicing of various kinds. Every day he sent liis 
 people to fish and hunt, to obtain food for Adova and the 
 children she had with her. 
 
 Before Adova left, Ogwedembe called his principal wife 
 and his grandchildren, and said, " When I die, you who are 
 here in Shekyani, do not remain here, but go to Gabun and 
 live with Akanda's children all the rest of your life." When 
 
314 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 he finally died, they obeyed and came to St. Thom^, of Gabun, 
 bringing their idols with them. 
 
 The one female image that was under the eaves of the house 
 in which I slept was for guarding their families ; but the three 
 sets of twins were to prevent their mothers from becoming 
 barren. 
 
 Part III. THE RIGHT OF SANCTUARY. 
 
 (It was an ancient and univers al custom that a refugee, by 
 clasping the knees of the king of any other tribe, could claim 
 his protectio n. The king was bound to accept the claim. 
 The obligatio n he thus assumed was sacred.) 
 
 While Adova was there at Shekyani country, visiting 
 Ogwedembe, there came to him an Orungu man with a little 
 slave boy, carrying a box. As soon as they entered the town, 
 both of them came to Ogwedembe, and kneeling and clasping 
 his feet, claimed his protection, and promised voluntarily to 
 be under his authority. 
 
 The old chief, without asking the cause of their flight or 
 their reason for coming to him, assented, and summoned the 
 town to make the Ukuku (Spirit-Society of Law) ceremony 
 of installing the man and his slave boy as members of their 
 Shekyani tribe. 
 
 Adova and her husband were very kind to this adopted 
 "brother," and he at once became exceedingly intimate 
 with them. 
 
 At night this new man had been assigned to the house 
 occupied by Ogwedembe, in a room near him, so that he 
 could watch him that he should not run away, now that he 
 belonged to Ukuku. But it was not known that this man 
 possessed all the power of nj^emba (sorcery). Ogwedembe 
 also had power for fighting, and a certain amount of knowl- 
 edge that warned him not to be deceived by sorcerers. 
 
 After two days, on the third night, this man rose, and tried 
 to go to Ogwedembe 's room, to put some witchcraft medicine 
 on him. But Ogwedembe saw him coming, rose, seized his 
 staff, walked toward the man in the darkness, and struck him 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 315 
 
 violently on the head. The man fell. But neither of them 
 uttered any word, nor made any outcry. 
 
 Very early in the morning Ogwedembe got up, went out, 
 and sat on the veranda of his house. He called to Adova' 
 "Come, I want to tell you something." She came, and he 
 said, "I had a bad dream last night. If any one comes to 
 you to-day to ask you to make medicine for a sore head 
 do not do it." -Who is it?" she asked. He refused! 
 "No, I will not tell you. But I know that before to-day is 
 over some one will come to you, but do not help him." 
 
 The Orungu got up late that day and looked and felt dull. 
 When he left his room, he sent his boy to call Adova. The 
 boy went. She came to him. He said, "Can't you find 
 medicine for a headache? I did not sleep well. My head 
 pains too much." She said, "I do not know a medicine for 
 that kind of headache." The old chief was sitting near, and, 
 looking significantly at the Orungu, said to Adova, "Yes, 
 that is right." 
 
 The next night the man said, "I do not wish to sleep here 
 to-night. I will go to an adjacent village, and will be back 
 in the morning." "Well, go," assented Ogwedembe, "but 
 be sure to be back in the morning." And the man said, 
 "Yes." 
 
 Scarcely had he left the town to go to the other village, 
 when there came to Ogwedembe three people from a certain 
 Orungu town carrying a message from their Orungu chief, 
 thus: "The chief sent us, saying, 'Please give up this man 
 who came to you and who claimed your protection. Give 
 up the man. You do not know his habits; they are the 
 habits of a worm that in eating spoils only the best. He, 
 with his sorcery, always aims at killing the greatest. If yuu 
 do not give him up, there will be war; for our chief has had 
 this same demand made on him from a third chief whose 
 people this man has been killing, and our chief will liav3 
 to make war Avith you.' " 
 
 Ogwedembe laughed. " You say ' war ' to me ? That is 
 nothing to me. You cannot do it. War cannot touch me." 
 
316 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 When the message of the Orungu chief was being sent to 
 Ogwedembe, some of the attendants on the delegation had 
 awaited half-way on the route, and only the three had 
 brought the message. Ogwedembe said to these three mes- 
 sengers, " Go and call your chief, and we will talk about 
 
 it." 
 
 The chief came. (All this while the man was away at the 
 other village, not having kept his promise to return.) 
 
 Ogwedembe said to the Orungu chief, "It is impossible. 
 The law is sacred. I will not give him up." But in his 
 heart he felt, " I am protecting a sorcerer who has tried to 
 kill me; better I take the money for his extradition, and 
 send him away.''' He and the chief went on discussing. 
 The point was made that the sorcerer having himself broken 
 his obligation, by attempting to injure his adopted father, 
 relieved that father of his Ukuku duty of protection. 
 
 Ogwedembe began to yield, and to name the number of 
 slaves that should be given him as the price of giving up 
 the man. The Orungu chief demurred to the price: "It is 
 too much! " So Ogwedembe brought down the price to six 
 slaves, — three slaves, and three bundles of goods equal to 
 the price of three slaves. And it was so settled. Then 
 the Orungu chief said, "I will go in haste to my town to 
 get you the goods; but as to the three slaves, this man's boy 
 must be counted as one of them." 
 
 There was a dispute over this, Ogwedembe claiming that 
 the boy was not guilty of any crime, and that his right to 
 protection still existed. The Orungu insisted that the boy, 
 being a slave, must follow the fortunes of his master, must 
 be extradited as one with him, and then would of their own 
 will be released by them from the penalty of his master's 
 guilt. Ogwedembe consented. So the Orungu chief and 
 his people went to get the goods, on the promise that 
 Ogwedembe would have the man caught and ready to be 
 delivered to them. 
 
 At once Ogwedembe sent word to the man to fulfil his 
 promise of returning to the town, and told his sons to le 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 317 
 
 ready early next day to have the man caught and tied, ready 
 for delivery on arrival of the goods. 
 
 Next day Ogwedembe, seeing the man coming to him, 
 came out of his house to meet him, and speaking ewiria 
 (hidden meaning), called out to his people, "Sons, have 
 you tied up the hundle of bush-deer meat?" "Oh yes, 
 father, we '11 have it ready just now,'' as they came running 
 to him. Then they suddenly fell upon the man, dragged 
 him inside the house, began to strip off his clothing, 
 and tied him. He at once knew that there was no mercy, 
 and he did not remst; but he said to his boy, "Call mc 
 Adova and her husband*" 
 
 But she knew he was naked, so she told her husband tcj go 
 and hear what the man had to say. Owondo went, and the 
 man said, "Owondo, I have no friends here; only you and 
 Adova have been kind to me, so I call you my friend. 
 Untie this small strip of cloth I have about my waist. I 
 have four silver dollars there. I am going to die. These 
 dollars are of no use to me; you and your wife take them. 
 My box is in Adova's care; she must have the few things in 
 it." So Owondo untied the girdle, took the money, and 
 went out. 
 
 Shortly afterward the Orungu people came, bringing the 
 goods and slaves, and took away the man. He was taken 
 by the three messengers to the half-way camp, where they 
 had left their attendants. There were no houses there for 
 shelter, and only their mosquito-nets as tents. Tliey stopped 
 there with the intention of passing the niglit. and next day 
 of going on to their Orungu town. 
 
 When it came evening they began, to prepare tlicir slcei.- 
 ing-places, and at bedtime one . by one they went to lie 
 down. A large branch from an overhanging tree fell very 
 near th^-bed of one of the Orungu leaders, which w;l^ ad- 
 joining that of the sorcerer. So they all said, "Ah! we see 
 what is being done by his arts. H this has begun so soon, 
 who knows what will happen before morning? Let us start 
 a,t, once." 
 
318 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 So they all made ready that very night, and went out of 
 the forest, down to the beach, and got into their boat (as 
 they had come part of the way by sea). 
 
 Not long after they had started the sea became very rough. 
 Soon the boat capsized, broke to pieces, and all their goods 
 were lost. They all escaped ashore, but the sorcerer was 
 missing. They waited on the beach until daylight, and 
 then found his loin cloth washed ashore. (His hands had 
 been tied.) They believed that he had caused the storm, 
 and was willing to die with them in the general destruction 
 rather than survive to be put to death by the torture to which 
 sorcerers were usually subjected. 
 
 So these people sent back word to Ogwedembe and to the 
 nearer villages to let them know what had happened to them, 
 and they returned to their Orungu country by land. 
 
 The little slave boy, who had been left with Ogwedembe 
 as one of the three to be given as the price of extradition, 
 was shortly afterward given by him as a present to the sick 
 friend I was visiting that day. She stated that he was a 
 most faithful servant and affectionate attendant on her infant 
 daughter. He stayed with her, and died in her service a few 
 years later, about 1883; and she mourned for him, for she 
 had treated him, not as a slave, but as a son. 
 
 XI. Unago and Ekela-Mbengo. 
 
 (In the presence of theosophy, telepathy, thought-trans- 
 ference, astrophysics, and wireless telegraphy, the following 
 Benga legend has at least a standing-place. It was written 
 more than forty years ago by an educated native in the Benga 
 dialect. I translate it into English, preserving some of the 
 native idiom.) 
 
 Unago and Ekela were great friends. They lived, Unago 
 at Mbini in Eyo (Benito River); Ekela at Jgkg in Muni 
 (the river Muni, opposite Elobi islands in Corisco Bay. The 
 two rivers are at least forty miles apart; Ekela is supposed 
 to make the journey in two hours.) 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FAC'l^ ;51<) 
 
 Tliey were accustomed, if one killed a wild ;iiiiiii;il, to 
 send for the other. One day Unago killed a hog. Then lit* 
 sent for his friend Ekela. He at Mhini said, ''Oh, Chum 
 Ekela! start you out very early in the morning hither. 
 Come to eat a feast of pig." And his children would s;iv, 
 ''Father, your friend at JekS, and you right here, will In- 
 hear?" Said he, "Yes, he wdll hear." And so Ekela, oiH 
 there, would say to his children, "Do you hear how my 
 friend is calling to me ? " His children answered, " We do 
 not hear." Says he, "Yes, my friend has called me to 
 eat pig there to-morrow." 
 
 Before daybreak Ekela takes his staff and his fly-brush and 
 starts. When the sun is at the point of shining at Corisco, he 
 reaches Mbini. Unago says to his children, " Did I not say 
 to you that he can hear? " 
 
 And so they eat the feast; the feast ended, they tell nar- 
 ratives. In the afternoon Ekela says, "Chum, I'm going 
 back." Unago says, "Yes." 
 
 Having left him after escorting him part of the way, this 
 one goes on, and that one returns. When Ekela, going on 
 and on, reaches clear to JSke, then day darkens. When his 
 children see the lunch which he brings, then they believe thai 
 he has been at Mbini. 
 
 A Proverb: Manga Ma Ekela. 
 
 (Manga means "the sea"; secondarily, "the sea-boach"; 
 thirdly, by euphemism, "a latrine," or "going to a latrine." 
 For the sea-beach is used by the natives for that purpose, 
 they going there immediately on rising in tliC morning. 
 They stay, of course, but a short time. If one should st^iy 
 very long, this proverb would be used of him, because Ekela, 
 wdien he went, stayed and made a journey of fifteen or twenty 
 miles.) 
 
 Ekela was accustomed, if he started out early to the sea- 
 side in the morning, to say, "I am going to manga"; then 
 he went on and on, clear on to Hondo (a place at least fifteen 
 miles distant). Passing Hondo, his "manga " would end only 
 
320 FETICHISJM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 wherever lie and his friend Unago met. There having told 
 their stories, the}^ then each returned. This one went to his 
 village, and that one to his village. When Ekela was about 
 to go back to his village, then he would leave his fly-brush at 
 the spot where he and his friend had been; and when he 
 would arrive at home, he would say to his children, "Go, 
 take for me the fly-brush w^hich was forgotten of me, there 
 at the sea, on the place where I was. Follow my foot-tracks." 
 When the children went, it was step by step to Hondo, and 
 the foot-tracks were still farther beyond. 
 
 The children, wearied, came back together unto their 
 father, and said, "We did not see the brush." When he 
 went another morning, then he himself brought it. 
 
 XII. Malanda — AN Initiation into a Family 
 Guardian-Spirit Company. 
 
 (Manjana was my cook at Batanga in 1902. He is a young 
 married man with several small children. He is of a mild, 
 kindly disposition, obliging and smiling, without much force 
 of character, slightly educated, civilized in manner and dress, 
 but without even a pretence of Christianity ; at heart a heathen, 
 though a inember of the Roman Catholic church, into which 
 he consented to be baptized as the means of obtaining in mar- 
 riage his wife, who had been raised in that church. 
 
 His Romanism sat lightly on him, for he voluntarily at- 
 tended my Protestant evening-prayers, taking his turn with 
 others in reading verses around in the chapter of Scripture 
 for the day; then he liked to take part in the general 
 conversation which followed about native beliefs and native 
 customs. 
 
 Yaka, or family fetich, is no longer, at Batanga, a matter 
 of dread, even to the heathen ; so Manjana was not afraid to 
 tell me freely what happened when he was initiated into it 
 as a lad. I wrote down his story hastily, as soon as he left 
 that evening. I later wrote it out in full, while it was all 
 fresh in my memory. I could not exactly reproduce his 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED OX FA( T 'd-21 
 
 graphic native Avords, so I did not attempt them. The (K- 
 scription is my own. But I foUowed exactly the line of his 
 story, and used only his thoughts. He said:) 
 
 " I knew that a house was being built on the edge of the 
 forest, a short distance from our village. 1 and other lads 
 and young men assisted the strong adult men who were build- 
 ing it. But I did not then know for what purpose or why 
 it was being built. I remembered afterward that no girls 
 or women were either assisting or even lounging about it, 
 watching the process of building and chatting with the work- 
 men, as when other houses were built. I did not know 
 that they had been told not to look there. I remembered 
 afterward that the house was located separately from the 
 other houses of the village, but that did not just then 
 strike me as strange. Somewhat similar houses had been 
 built, as temporary sheds in making a boat or canoe. Such 
 houses are built rapidly, and not with the same care as is 
 used in the erection of dwellings. So it did not occur to me 
 as noticeable that this house was finished in the short time 
 of two weeks. One gable of it was left open. 
 
 Nor did. I connect its erection with the fact that a promi- 
 nent man of our family had died just two weeks before. 
 I know now that, in the manner of his death, or in things 
 that happened immediately afterward, the elders of the family 
 had seen inauspicious signs that made them fear that evil was 
 being plotted against us. As I now know, some six or eight 
 of our leading adult male members of the family had had a 
 secret consultation, and had decided that ]\Ialanda sliould be 
 invoked. 
 
 I did not then know much about IMalanda. I knew the 
 name, that it was a power, that it was dreaded; but lu.w or 
 why I had not been told. 
 
 I know now that while this house was being built one or 
 two other men were carving an image of a male figure; also, 
 that when the house was completed, that very niglit some of 
 those elders had secietly disinterred the con)se that had br. u 
 already two weeks in its grave, and had brought it tc iluil 
 
 '21 
 
322 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 house. There they had extracted two teeth, and had fas- 
 tened them in the hollowed-out cavities representing the eyes 
 of the image, and had hidden them there by fastening over 
 them, with a common resinous gum of the forest, two small 
 pieces of glass. And they had stood the image, painted hide- 
 ously, on the cover of a large box, made of the flexible inner 
 bark of a tree, at the closed end of the house. 
 
 Then tliey had cut off the head of the corpse and had 
 scooped out its rotten brains. These they had mixed with 
 chalk and powdered red-wood and the ashes of other plants, 
 and had tied up the mixture carefully in a bundle of dry 
 plantain leaves. I already knew and had seen such things 
 regarded as very valuable ^'medicine,'' used to rub on the 
 forehead or other parts of the body. Then they had tied 
 the headless corpse erect against a side wall of the house, 
 keeping its arms extended by cross pieces of wood. 
 
 The first that I knew that anything unusual was about to 
 occur was early one morning, just after the completion of the 
 house, when the voices of the elders were heard in the street, 
 "Malanda has come!" The women and girls were fright- 
 ened. They knew they were not to look at Malanda. And 
 we lads were oppressed with a vague dread that subdued 
 us from our usual boisterous plays. We knew the name 
 "Malanda." It was a power, it was mysterious. Mystery 
 is a burden; it might be for good or for evil. 
 
 Immediately all the adult men went into the forest. In 
 about an hour they returned, bearing on their shoulders a 
 long, large log of a tree. They cast it into the middle of 
 the street, facing the sun. The hour was about 8 a.m. 
 
 They sternly ordered about twenty of the young men and 
 lads to sit down on the log. The mystery that had bur- 
 dened me now fell heavier. Our mothers and sisters were 
 afraid to look on us, even with sympathy. These men were 
 our fathers and uncles and elder brothers, but their voices 
 were harsh, their faces set with severity, their eyes had 
 no liorht of recognition as relatives, and their hands handled 
 us roughly. I was dazed and helpless in my own village 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 323 
 
 and among my own relatives, but not a word of pity nor a 
 look of even kindness from a single person ! Each of the 
 twenty also was too occupied with his own destiny to speak 
 to a fellow victim. As far as our treatment was concerned 
 we might have been slaves in another tribe. With no will 
 of our own we blindly did as we were bidden. 
 
 We were told to throw our heads back, bending our necks 
 to the point of pain, and to stare with unblinking eyes at the 
 sun. As the sun mounted all that morning, hot and glaring, 
 toward the zenith, we were sedulousl}- watched to see that 
 we kept our heads back, arms down, and eyes following 
 the burning sun in its ascent. My throat was parched 
 with thirst. My brain began to whirl, the [lain in my 
 eyes became intolerable, and I ceased to hear; all around 
 me became black, and I fell off the log. 
 
 As each one of us thus became exhausted or actually 
 fainted, we were blindfolded and taken to that house. On 
 reaching it still blindfolded I knew nothing that was there. 
 I smelled only a horrible odor. The same rough hands and 
 hard voices had possession of me. Though blindfolded, I 
 could feel that the eyes that were looking on me were cruel. 
 
 It was useless to resist, as they began to beat me with rods. 
 My outcries only brought severer blows. I perceived that 
 submission lightened their strokes. When finally I ceased 
 struggling or crying, the bandage was removed. Tlic liorror 
 of that headless corpse standing extending its rotting arms 
 toward me, and the staring glass eyes of the image overcame 
 me, and I attempted to flee. That was futile. I was seized 
 and beaten more severely than before, until I had no will or 
 wish, but utter submission to the will of whatever power il 
 might be, natural or supernatural, into whose hands I had 
 fallen. 
 
 When all twenty of us had been thus rednced to al)ject 
 submission, we were treated less severely. Some kindness 
 began to be shown. Our physical wants were looked aftt-r 
 and regarded. Food and drink were supplied us. 1 ob- 
 served an occasional look of recognition. I began to feel 
 
324 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 that I was being admitted into a companionship. There 
 was something manly in the thought of being entrusted with 
 a secret to which younger lads were not admitted and from 
 which all of womankind were debarred. This gave me a 
 sense of elevation. There were some people whom I could 
 look down upon ! It began to be worth while to have suf- 
 fered so much. I began to be accustomed to the corpse of 
 my relative. True, I was a prisoner; but the days were 
 relieved by a variety of instructions and ceremonies prac- 
 tised over us by the doctor. 
 
 At first we were, in succession, solemnly asked whether 
 we were possessed of any witchcraft power ("o na jemba?" 
 Have you a witch?) Elsewhere we all would have indig- 
 nantly denied having any such evil doings. But in the face 
 of that corpse, under the presence of the unknown power to 
 which we were being introduced, in the hands of a pitiless 
 inquisition, and with the obliteration of our own wills, we 
 did not dare lie. Would not the power know we were lying? 
 We told what we imagined to be the truth ; some admitted, 
 some denied. 
 
 The Yaka bundle was opened ; some of its dust was added 
 to the brain-mixture (already mentioned). Of this compound 
 an ointment was made. On the breasts of those who denied 
 were drawn commendatory longitudinal lines of that oint- 
 ment. On the breasts of those who admitted were drawn 
 corrective horizontal lines with the same mixture. Instruc- 
 tions appropriate to our respective condition, as witch pos- 
 sessed or non-possessed, were given by the doctor. 
 
 We were interested also in watching the digging of a pit 
 in the floor of the house. When this had reached a depth 
 of over six feet, a tunnel was driven laterally under one of 
 the side walls, and opening out, a rod or two beyond, where 
 a low hut was built to conceal it. Into this tunnel the doctor 
 and three or four of the strongest of the elders carried the 
 corpse, and left it there for about ten days, the doctor pass- 
 ing much of that time with it. 
 
 After we had been in the house almost twenty days, al- 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT 325 
 
 though still confined, I did not feel that I was a prisoner; I 
 was deeply interested in seeing and taking part in this great 
 mystery. I no longer dreaded the dead. Even if physical 
 pain were yet to be inflicted on me, I would take it gladly as 
 the price of a knowledge which ministered to manly pride. 
 I was being made a sharer in the rights and possession of tlie 
 family guardian-spirit. 
 
 A few days after this the corpse, now reduced almost tc 
 a skeleton, was brought up from the tunnel, and bisected 
 longitudinally. The halves were laid a few feet ai)art, par- 
 allel and a short distance away from the two sides of 
 the house. We were gathered in two companies against, 
 the walls, and were told to advance toward each other,, 
 carefully stepping over, and by no means to tread on, our 
 half of the remains. And the two companies met in the 
 centre. 
 
 We now felt we were free, though not formally told so. 
 We had made a fearful oath of secrecy. We preferred to 
 remain and assist in the final order of the house. The doctor 
 and elders now disarticulated the skeleton (for such it was, 
 the man being dead now at least five weeks, and the decom- 
 posed flesh having almost all fallen away). The bones were 
 put into the bark box on which stood the image. They were 
 an addition to the contents of the Yaka, or family fetich. 
 Then, at the close of three weeks' confinement in the house, 
 we emerged in procession, the elders bearing the box and the 
 image on the top, and proceeded to the village street. 
 There the box and image were set; and a joyous dance was 
 started with drum and song, with all the people of the vil- 
 lage, male and female. A sheep or goat was kilh'd, and a 
 feast prepared. While the dance was going on, the cldei-s 
 around the box were bowing and praying to the image on 
 their knees. From time to time a man would parade hy, lift- 
 ing his steps high and bowing low, and as suddenly erect- 
 ing himself and strongly aspirating, "Hah! hah!" And 
 the village was glad, for it felt sure no evil could now eonie 
 to it. T Avas safe, and ready, at the next time of d;in'_^ei-. 
 
326 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 to assist in torturing the next younger set of lads, for was 
 I not a freeman of the family guardian-spirit? 
 
 The box and image were stowed away in a back room of 
 the village headman's dwelling, who would often take a 
 plate full of food to it, as a sacrifice, and sometimes an 
 offering of cloth or other goods ; and the village felt safe. 
 
 Nevertheless, the house was not torn down ; it stood empty 
 and unused. But if, even a year later, evil still fell on the 
 village, the elders knew that something about the Malanda 
 had not been rightly performed. And it must all be done 
 over again with the next dead adult male (never a female) 
 and with a new lot of neophytes. 
 
 A woman may be subjected to a part of the above cere- 
 monies if she is suspected of witchcraft, or if, on examina- 
 tion, she confess to using black art.- To purge her of this 
 evil, and to counteract the consequences of what she may 
 have done, she is taken to the little hut over the end of the 
 tunnel, and some of the above described ceremonies are per- 
 formed over her ; but she is never taken into the house, nor 
 into the presence of the corpse. 
 
 XIII. Three-Things Came Back too Late. 
 
 (The following narrative was told me by a Batanga native 
 Christian woman who, herself less than thirty years of age, 
 is a great-granddaughter of the man one of whose wives was 
 the witch of this story. I bade her, in giving me the 
 account, to speak, not from her present Christian stand- 
 point and her only slight superstitious bias, but from the 
 full heathen view-point. The confusing mixture of singu- 
 lar and plural pronouns referring to the witch is an exact 
 reproduction of my informant's words.) * 
 
 The great-grandfather was a heathen and a polygamist. 
 He had four wives. One of them was a member of an 
 interior tribe, the Boheba, more heathenish and superstitious 
 than his own Batanga coast trilie. Unknown to him, she 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT r.27 
 
 was a member of the Witchcraft Society, had power with 
 the spirits, and they with her, attended their secret night 
 meetings, and engaged in their unhallowed orgies. 
 
 The husband, though not a member of the society, liad 
 acquired some knowledge of witchcraft art, and, though 
 without the power to transform himself, as wizards did, was 
 able to see and know what was being done at distances be- 
 yond ordinary human sight. 
 
 One night she arose from her bed to go and attend a 
 witchcraft play. She left her physical "house,"' the fleshly 
 body, lying on the bed, so that no one not in tlie secret, 
 seeing that body lying there, would think other than it was 
 herself, nor v^^ould know that she was gone out. In her 
 going out she willed to emerge as Three-Things, and this 
 triple unit went off to the witchcraft play. The husband 
 happened to see this, and watched her as she disappeared, 
 saw where she went, and, though distant and out of siglit, 
 knew what she was doing. So he said to himself, "She 
 is off at her play; I also will do some playing here; she 
 shall know what I have done." 
 
 Among the several things of which followers of witchcraft 
 are afraid, and which weaken their power, is cayenne pei)[)er. 
 So this man gathered a large quantity of pepper-pods from 
 the bushes growing in the beliu (kitchen-garden), and bruised 
 them in a mortar to a fine soft pulp. This he smeared thor- 
 oughly all over the woman's unconscious body as it la}- in 
 her bedroom. He left not the smallest portion of her skin 
 untouched by the pepper, — from her scalp, and in the inter- 
 stices of her fingers and toes, minutely over her entire body. 
 
 Meanwhile, with the woman at her play, the night was 
 passing. The witches' sacred bird, the owl, began its early 
 morning warning hoot. She prepared to return. As she 
 was returning, the first morning cock-crow also warned lier 
 to hasten, lest daybreak should find her triple unit outside 
 of its fleshly "house." So the three caine rushing witli the 
 speed of wind back to her village. Iler husband was on the 
 watch; he heard this panting sound as of a pei-son ])rrat]iiiig 
 
328 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 rapidly, and felt the impulse of their wind as she reached 
 her hut and came in to re-enter their house. 
 
 He saw her approach every possible part of the body, seek- 
 ing to find even a minute spot that was not barred by the 
 pepper. She searched long and anxiously, but in vain ; and 
 in despair they went and hid herself in a wood-pile at the 
 back of one of the village huts, waiting in terror for some 
 possible escape. 
 
 All this the husband saw silently. When morning light 
 finally came, he knew that this wife was dead, for her life- 
 :spirit had not succeeded in returning to its body within the 
 specified time. It was therefore a dead body. But he said 
 nothing about it to any one, and went off fishing. 
 
 As the morning hours were passing while he was away 
 and the woman's door of her hut was still closed, his chil- 
 dren began to wonder and to say, "What is this? What is 
 the matter? Since morning light our father's wife has not 
 come out into the street." After waiting awhile longer, their 
 anxiety and curiosity overcame them, and they broke in the 
 door. There they saw the woman lying dead. They fled in 
 fear, saying, "What is this that has killed our father's wife?" 
 They went down to the beach to meet him as he returned 
 from fishing, and excitedly told him, " Father, we have found 
 your Boheba wife dead ! " The man, to their surprise, did 
 not seem grieved. He simply said, " Let another one of my 
 wives cook for me; I will first eat." Still more to their sur- 
 prise, he added, "And you, my children, and all people of 
 the village, do not any of you dare even to touch the body. 
 Only, at once, send word to her Boheba relatives to come." 
 
 This warning he gave his people, lest any of them should 
 sicken by coming close to the atmosphere that the witch had 
 possibly brought back with her from her play. 
 
 By the time he had finished eating, the woman's relatives 
 had arrived. They were all heavily armed with guns and 
 .spears and knives, and were threatening revenge for their 
 .^sister's death. 
 
 The man quietly bade them delay their anger till they had 
 
TALES OF FETICH BASED ON FACT^ 329 
 
 heard what he had to say; and took them to the woman's liui, 
 that they themselves might examine the corpse, leaving to 
 them the chance of contamination. 
 
 They examined ; they hfted np the budy of their sister, and 
 searched closely for any sign of wound or bruise. Finding 
 none, but still angry, they were mystiiied, and exclaimed, 
 '' What then has killed her?" And they seated themselves 
 for a verbal investigation. But the man said, "We will not 
 talk just yet. First stand up, and you shall see for your- 
 selves." As they arose, the man said, " Remove all those 
 sticks in that wood-pile. You will find the woman there." 
 So they pulled away the sticks ; and there they found Three- 
 Things. " There ! " said the husband, '' see the reason why 
 your sister is dead ! " At that the relatives were asliamed, 
 and said, " Brother-in-law ! we have nothing to say against 
 you, for our eyes see what our sister has done. Slie lias killed 
 herself, and she is worthy to be punished by fire.'' (Burning 
 was a common mode of execution for the crime of witchcraft.) 
 
 In her terror at being unable to get back into her mortal 
 body, the Three-Things, all the while she was hidden in the 
 wood-pile, had shrivelled smaller and smaller imtil what was 
 left were three deformed crab-shaped beings, a few inches long, 
 with mouths like frogs. These, paralyzed with fear, could not 
 speak, but could only chatter and tremble. 
 
 So the relatives seized these Three-Things, and also 
 carried away the body; and, followed by all the jieople of the 
 village, they burnt it and them on a large rock by the sea. 
 
 That rock I pass very often as I walk on the beach. At 
 high tide it is cutoff from the shore a distance of a few yanls ; 
 at low tide one can walk out to it. It is only a few hundred 
 yards from our Batanga Mission Station. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 
 
 THE telling of Folk-lore Tales amounts, with the African 
 Negro, almost to a passion. By day, both men and 
 women have their manual occupations, or, even if idling, 
 pass the time in sleep or gossip ; but at night, particularly 
 with moonlight, if there be on hand no dances, either of 
 fetich-worship or of mere amusement, some story-teller is 
 asked to recite. All know the tales, but not all can recite 
 them dramatically. The audience never wearies of repeti- 
 tion. The skilful story-teller in Africa occupies in the 
 community the place filled in civilization by the actor or 
 concert-singer. 
 
 This is true all over Africa. In any one region there are 
 certain tales common to all the tribes in that region. But 
 almost every tribe will have tales distinctive to it. It is part 
 of native courtesy to ask a visitor to contribute his local story 
 to the amusement of the evening. 
 
 Some of these tales are probably of ancient origin, as to 
 their plot and their characters. I am disposed to give the 
 folk-lore of Africa a very ancient origin. Ethnology and 
 philology trace the Bantu stream from the northeast, not by 
 a straight line diagonally to the southwest, but the stream, 
 starting with an infusion of Hamitic (and perhaps Caucasian) 
 blood in the Nubian provinces, flowed south to the Cape, 
 and then, turning on itself, flowed northwestward until it 
 lost itself at the Bight of Benin. That blood gave to the 
 Bantu features more delicate than those of the northern 
 Guhiea Negro. 
 
 That stream, as it flowed, carried with it arts, thoughts. 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE :m 
 
 plants, and animals from the south of Egypt. II10 ])('llo\vs 
 used in every village smithy on the West Coiist is the same as 
 is depicted on Egyptian monuments. The great personages 
 mentioned as " kings " are probably semi-deiiied ancestors, or 
 are even confounded with the Creator. It may not be only 
 a coincidence that the ancient Egyptian word " Ka " exists in 
 west equatorial tribes (contracted from * * rera " = my father) 
 with its meaning of " Lord," » Master," *' Sir." In these tales 
 the name Ra-Mborakinda is used interchangeably with the 
 Divine Name, Ra-Nyambe. 
 
 But it is true that a doubt can be raised against the an- 
 tiquity of some of the tales, in which are introduced wonls, 
 e.^., "cannon," "pistol," articles not known to the African 
 until compai-atively modern times. And in the case of a few, 
 such as No. V., the origin is in all probability modern. In 
 No. V. the reader at once turns in thought to " AH Babu and 
 the Forty Thieves." There the internal evidence is positive, 
 either that the story was heard long ago from Arabs (or per- 
 haps within the last hundi^ed years from some foreigner), or 
 there may have been an original African stor}^ to which mod- 
 ern narrators have attached incidents of Ali Baba which they 
 have overheard within the last fifty years from some wliite 
 trader or educated Sierra-Leonian. 
 
 But it would not necessarily condemn a tale's claim to an- 
 tiquity that it had in it modern words. Such words as 
 "gun," "pistol," "stairway," "canvas," and others may be 
 interpolations. It was probably true long ago, a.s is now the 
 case, that narrators added to or changed words uttered by the 
 characters. Where in tlie plot some modern weapon is named, 
 long ago it was perhajos a spear, club, or bow and arrow. 
 When Dutch and Portuguese built their forts on tlit" African 
 shore three hundred years ago, some briglit narrator could 
 readily have varied the evening's performance by introdncing 
 a cannon into the story. Such variations necessarily gicw ; 
 for the native languages were not crystallized into written 
 ones until the days of the modern missionary. 
 
 In recitation great latitude is allowed as to the time occu- 
 
."332 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 "pied. Brevity is not desired. A story whose outline could 
 iibe told in ten minutes may be spread over two hours by a 
 "yivid use of the speaker's imagination in a minute description 
 of details. A great deal of repetition (after the manner of 
 " This is the house that Jack built ") is employed, that would 
 be wearisome to a civilized audience, but is intensely en- 
 joyed by the African, e. g., whei'e the plot calls for the doing 
 of an act for several days in succession, we would say simpl}-, 
 " And the next day he did the same." But the native lover 
 of folk-lore will repeat the same details in the same words 
 for the second and third and even fourth day. In my report- 
 ing I have omitted this repetition. 
 
 I have purposely used some native idioms in order to re- 
 tain local color. African narrators use very short sentences. 
 Africans in many respects are grown-up childre n. One of 
 their daily recognized idioms finds its exact parallel in the 
 speech of our own children. Listen to a civilized child's ani- 
 imated account of some act. They repeat. The native does 
 ;so constantly. He is not satisfied, in telling the narrative of 
 :a journey, by saying curtly, "I went." His form is, "I w^ent, 
 went, there, there," etc. His dramatic acting keeps up the 
 interest of the audience in the twice-told tale. 
 
 I. Queen Ngwe-nkonde and her Manja. 
 
 A king, by name Ra-Mborakinda, had many wives, but 
 he had no children at all. He was dissatisfied, and was 
 always saying that he wanted children. So he went to a 
 certain great wizard, named Ra-Marange, to get help for his 
 trouble. 
 
 Whenever any one went on any business to Ra-Marange, 
 before he had time to tell the wizard what he w^anted, Ra-^Ia- 
 Tange would say, " Have you come to have something wonder- 
 ful done ? " On the visitor saying, " Yes," Ra-Marange, as 
 the first step in his preparations and to obtain all needed 
 power, would jump into fire or do some other astonishing act. 
 
 So, this day, he sprang into the. fioze^ and came out. unhai-med 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 3:5:] 
 
 and strong. Then he told Ra-Mborakinda to tell his story of 
 what he had come for. 
 
 The king said, " Other people have children, but I have 
 none. Make me a medicine that shall cause my women to 
 bear children." Ra-Marange replied, " Yes, I will fix you tlic 
 medicine ; and after I have made the mixture, you must re- 
 quire all of your women to eat of it." So the wizard lixed 
 the medicine, and the king took it with him and went home. 
 
 His queen's name was Ngwe-nkonde ; and among his lesser 
 wives and concubines were two quite young women wlio were 
 friends, one of whom lived mth the queen in her hut as lier 
 little manja, or handmaid. 
 
 As soon as Ra-Mborakinda arrived, he announced iiis posses- 
 sion of the medicine, and ordered all his women to come and 
 eat of it. But Ngwe-nkonde was jealous of her young maid, 
 and did not wish her to become a mother. So, early in the 
 morning, she purposely sent the manja away to their mpindi 
 (plantation hut) on a made-up errand, so that she might not 
 be present at the feast. 
 
 At the appointed hour the king spread out the medicine, 
 and called the women to come. They each came with a piece 
 of plantain leaf as a plate, and assembled to eat, and Ram- 
 borakinda divided out the medicine among them. Tlien the 
 other of the two young women remembered lier frit'iid the 
 manja, and observed that she was absent. So slie quickly 
 tore off a piece of her plantain leaf, and divided on it a part 
 of her own share of the medicine, and hid it by her, to keep it 
 for the manja, so that she could have it on her leturn from 
 the mpindi. In the afternoon, when the manja ri'turned, her 
 friend gave her the portion of the medicini', and slic ate it. 
 Soon after this, all these women told Ra-Ml)orakin(la that they 
 expected to become mothers. 
 
 After a few months he announced to them that he was go- 
 ing away on along trade-journey and that he would not return 
 until a stated time. He gave them directions that in the 
 meanwhile they should leave his town and goto their parentis' 
 homes and stay there until his return. 
 
334 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Now it happened that all these women had homes except 
 the little manja ; her parents were dead, but she remembered 
 the locality of their deserted village. 
 
 So Ra-Mborakinda left to go on his journey, and all the ex- 
 pectant mothers scattered to the homes of their parents, except 
 the manja, who had to follow with the queen to her people's 
 village. But soon after their arrival at Ngwe-nkonde's home, 
 the latter began to treat her maid cruelly ; and finally, in her 
 severity, she said, " Go away to your own home and sojourn 
 there," the while that she knew very well that her manja 
 had no home. Her thought and hope were that the manja 
 would perish in the wilderness. 
 
 As the maid knew the spot where her home had been, 
 she left Ngwe-nkonde's village, and started into the forest 
 to go to her deserted village. On arriving there, she found 
 no houses nor any remains of human habitation. But there 
 was a very large fallen tree, with a trunk so curved that 
 it was not lying entirely flat on the ground. Under this 
 enormous log she sat down to rest, and it gave her shade 
 and shelter. She accepted it as her place at which to live 
 and slept there that night. When she awoke in the morn- 
 ing, she saw lying near her food and other needed things ; 
 but she saw no one coming or going. A few days later on 
 awaking in the morning she saw a nice little house with every- 
 thing prepared of food and clothing and medicnies and such 
 articles as would be needed by a mother for her babe. She 
 stayed there, and in a few days gave birth to a man-child. 
 Each day in the morning she found, prepared for her hand, 
 food and other needed things lying near. 
 
 So she stayed there a long time till her baby was able to 
 creep. When the baby had grown strong, she knew it was 
 the time that Ra-Mborakinda had appointed for the return of 
 his women to his town. She finally gathered together her 
 things for the journey next day. That night, before she had 
 gone to sleep, suddenly she saw a little girl standing near 
 her, and she heard a voice which she remembered as her 
 mother's saying, " I give you this little girl to carry the babe 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 335 
 
 for you. But when you go back to lia-Mborakinda, do n„t 
 allow anyone but yourself and this girl to carry the child • if 
 you do, the girl will disappear." So the next morning tliey 
 started on their journey, the young mother and baby and tlie 
 girl-nurse. 
 
 During this while each of the other women had also 
 born her baby, and they were now preparing to return to 
 Ra-Mborakinda's toAvn. But of them all none had born ival 
 human beings, except the manja and Iier young friend. All 
 the others had born monstrosities, like snakes, frogs, and other 
 creatures. Ngwe-nkonde had born two snails, of the kind 
 called " nkala." (It is a very large snail.) 
 
 So that day Ngwe-nkonde was coming along with lier 
 nyamba (a long scarf) hung over her right shoulder, and her 
 two snails resting in the slack of the scarf, as in a hammock, 
 over her left hip, and supported by her left arm. When the 
 manja reached the cross-roads, she found the queen waiting 
 there. Her object in waiting there was to know wliether 
 her maid was still in existence. 
 
 On seeing the manja, Ngwe-nkonde pretended to be pleaded 
 and said, '' Let me see the child you have born ; " and she 
 stepped forward to take the baby away from tlie little girl- 
 nurse. Manja, in her fear of her mistress and accustomed to 
 submit to her, forgot to resist. Ngwe-nkonde saw that the babe 
 was healthy and attractive, and she coveted it. She ex- 
 claimed, " Oh, what a nice child you have born ! Let me 
 help you carry it!" The moment she took the baby, the 
 girl-nurse disappeared. Ngwe-nkonde deposited the babe in 
 her scarf, and gave the two snails to her manjii, saying, '' Vou 
 carry this for me!" She did this, intending to cause Ka- 
 Mborakinda to think that the baby was her own; she had im 
 intention to return it to its real mother; and the manja did 
 not dare to complain. 
 
 So they went onward on their journey to the king's town. 
 
 All the women, as they arrived there, saluted each other, 
 
 "Mbolo!""Ai! mbolo ! " "Ai!'' and each told her story 
 
 and showed her baby. Then they all brought their babies 
 
336 
 
 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 to the King Ra-Mborakinda, that the father might see his 
 children. In the king's presence Ngwe-nkonde took out 
 the baby boy from her scarf and placed it at her breast to 
 nurse. But the child turned its head away and would not 
 nurse, and did nothing but cry and cry. Poor little manja 
 did not dare to claim her own, and she took no interest in 
 the snails to show them to the king. For a whole day there 
 was confusion. The baby boy persisted in rejecting Ngwe- 
 nkonde's breast and kept on crying, and the snails were 
 moaning. 
 
 Not knowing what to make of this trouble, Ra-Mborakinda 
 went again to Ra-Marange. The wizard laughed when he saw 
 the king coming with this new trouble, for, by his magic 
 power, he already knew all that had happened. " So ! " he 
 says, " you have come with another trouble, eh? " And at 
 once he jumps into the fire, and emerges clean and strong. 
 
 Then the kins^ informed the wizard what his difficulty 
 was. And Ra-Marange told him, " This is a small thing. It 
 does not need medicine. Go you and tell all your women 
 each to cook some very nice food; then, sitting in a 
 circle, each must put the nice food near her feet. All the 
 babies must be put in a bunch together in the centre, and 
 you will see what will happen." 
 
 So Ra-Mbol^kinda went back to his town and told the 
 women to follow these directions. They all did so, except 
 the queen and her manja. The former did not put the baby 
 boy in the bunch of the other babies, but retained him on her 
 lap, and tried to make him eat of her nice food. But he only 
 resisted, and kept on crying, and the manja, in her grief and 
 hopelessness, had not prepared any nice food, only a pottage 
 of greens, which she thought good enough for her present 
 unhappiness. 
 
 The king seeing that the wizard's directions were not 
 
 fully followed by the queen, compelled her to put the baby 
 
 down in the company of the other creatures, and then he 
 
 and all the mothers sat around watching what would happen. 
 
 Soon all the children began to creep, each to its own 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 3.S7 
 
 mother. The two snails went to Ngwe-nkonde, and ])e^r;ui to 
 eat of her nice food. The little baby boy crept rapidly 
 toward the manja, and began with satisfaction to eat of tlie 
 poor food at its mother's feet. 
 
 That was a revelation to the king and to all the other 
 mothers. They w^ere surprised and indignant that Ngwe- 
 nkonde had been trying to steal the baby from the niiinja ; 
 Ka-Mborakinda deposed her from being queen. And the other 
 women shouted derision at her, '^ Ngwe-nkonde I O I o-o-o I " 
 and drove her from the town. She went away in her shame, 
 leaving the two snails behind, and never returned. \ 
 
 And the king made the manja queen in her place. And 
 the story ends. I 
 
 II. The Beautiful Daughter. 
 
 There was a married woman, a king's daughter, by name 
 Maria, who was very beautiful. She had a magic mirror tliat 
 possessed the power of speech, which she used every day, 
 particularly wdien she desired to go out for a promenacU'. 
 She would then take this mirror from its hiding-plaee, and 
 looking at it, would ask, "My mirror! is there any other 
 beautiful woman like myself?" And this minor would 
 reply, " Mistress ! there is none." 
 
 This she was accustomed to do every day until she beeame 
 jealous at the very thought of ever having a rival. 
 
 Subsequently she became a mother, and bore a daughter. 
 She saw that the child was very beautiful, more so tliaii even 
 herself. This child grew in gracefulness; was amiable, not 
 i)roud ; and was unconscious of her beauty. 
 
 When the daughter was about twelve years of age, the 
 mother dreaded lest her child should know liow attractive she 
 was and should unintentionally rival lier. She told her 
 never to enter a cert;\in room where she had her toilet. And 
 the mother went on as formerly, looking into lier mirror, and 
 then going out to display her beauty. 
 
 One day the daughter said to herself, - A li ! I'm tirr.l ..f 
 this prohibition!" So she took the keys, an<l opmrd the 
 
 22 
 
338 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 door of the forbidden room. She looked around, but not ob- 
 serving anything especially noticeable, she went out again, 
 locking the door. And the next day, the mother went in as 
 usual, and then went out for her walk. After the mother had 
 gone, the daughter said again to herself, " No ! there must be 
 something special about that room. I will go in again and 
 make a search." Looking around carefully, she noticed a 
 pretty casket on a table. Opening it, she saw it contained a 
 mirror. There was something strange about its appearance, 
 and she determined to examine it. While she was doing so, 
 the mirror spoke, and said, "Oh, maiden! there is no one 
 as beautiful as you ! " She put back the mirror in its place, 
 and went out, carefully fastening the door. The next day, 
 when the mother went as usual to make her toilet and to ask 
 of the mirror her usual question, " Is there another as beauti- 
 ful as I ? " it replied, " Yes, mistress, there is another fairer 
 than you." 
 
 So she went out of the room much displeased, and, sus- 
 pecting her daughter, said to her, " Daughter, have you been 
 in that room ? " The girl said, " No, I have not." But the 
 mother insisted, " Yes, you have ; for how is it that my mir- 
 ror tells me that there is another woman more beautiful than 
 I ? And you are the only one who has beauty such as mine." 
 
 During all these years the mother had kept the daughter 
 in the palace, and had not allowed her to be seen in public, 
 as she dreaded to hear any one but herself praised. Then the 
 enraged mother sent for her father's soldiers, and delivering 
 the girl to them, she commanded, " You just go out into the 
 forest and kill this girl." 
 
 They obeyed her orders, and led the girl away, taking with 
 them also two big dogs. When they reached tlie forest, the 
 soldiers said to her, " Your mother told us to kill you. But 
 you are so good and pretty that we are not willing to do it. 
 You just go your way and wander in this forest, and await 
 what may happen." 
 
 The girl went her way; and the soldiers killed the two 
 dogs, so that they might have blood on their swords to show to 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 389 
 
 the mother. Having done this, they went buck to lier, and 
 said, "We have killed the girl; here is her blood on our 
 swords." And the mother was satisfied. 
 
 But in the forest the girl had gone on, wandering aim- 
 lessly, till she happened to reach what seemed a handet 
 having only one house. She went up its front steps and 
 tried the door. It was not locked, and she went in. Slie 
 saw or heard no one, but she noticed that the house wa.s 
 very much in disorder ; so she began to arrange it. After 
 sweeping and putting everything in neat order, she went 
 upstairs and hid herself under one of the bedsteads. 
 
 But she did not know that the house belonged to rol^lx-is 
 who spent their days in stealing, and brought tlieir plunder 
 home in the evening. When they returned that day, laden 
 with booty, they were surprised to find their house in neat 
 order and their goods arranged in piles. In their wonder they 
 exclaimed, " Who has been here and fixed our house so 
 nicely? " 
 
 So they prepared their food, ate, drank, and slept, but 
 they did not clean up the table nor wash the dishes. 
 
 And the next day they went out again on their business of 
 stealing. 
 
 After they were gone, the girl, hungry and frightened, 
 crept out of her hiding-place, and cooked and ate food for 
 herself. Then, as on the first day, she swept the flooi-s and 
 washed up the dishes. And then she cooked a m<'al for the 
 men to have it ready against their return in the lale after- 
 noon; and again she occupied herself with the arrangement 
 of the goods in the rooms. Then she went back to lier 
 hiding-place. 
 
 When the robbers returned that day and laid down their 
 booty, they were again surprised to find not only their house 
 in good order, but food ready on the table. And they won- 
 dered, "Who does all this for us? " 
 
 They first sat down to eat; and then they said, "Let us 
 look around and find out who does all this." They searched, 
 but they found no one. 
 
840 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 The next day they armed themselves as usual to go out, 
 leaving the table and their recent load of stealings in 
 disorder. 
 
 When they had gone, the girl again emerged from her 
 hiding-place, and, as before, cooked, ate, washed up, swept, 
 arranged, and prepared the evening meal. 
 
 Again the robbers, on their return, were still more aston- 
 ished, as they exclaimed, "Whoever does this? If it is a 
 woman, then we will take her as our sister. She shall take 
 care of our house and our goods, but none of us shall marry 
 her ; but if it is a man, he must be compelled to join in our 
 business." 
 
 The next day, when they were all going out on their ways, 
 they appointed one of their number to remain behind, hidden, 
 who should watch, and thus they should know who had been 
 helping them. 
 
 When they had gone, the girl, ignorant that one had been 
 left to watch, came out of her hiding, and began to do as on 
 the other days. When she went outdoors to the kitchen 
 [kitchens here are all detached] to cook, the watcher came in 
 sight. She was frightened, and began to run away ; but he 
 called out, "Don't be afraid! Don't run, but come here! 
 What are you afraid of? You are not doing anything bad, 
 you have been doing us only good. Come here ! " She 
 stood and said, "I was afraid you would kill me! " 
 
 He came to her, saying, "What a beautiful girl to look 
 at! When did you come here, and who are you?" So 
 she told him her story. And when she had finished all the 
 housework, she sat down with this man to await the coming 
 of the others. When the others came and saw the two, 
 they said to him, "So you found her?" He replied only, 
 "Yes." Looking on her, they exclaimed, "Oh, what a beau- 
 tiful girl! " To calm her excitement, they told her, "Do not 
 be alarmed! you are to be our sister." 
 
 So they took all their goods and put them in her care, and 
 herself in charge of the house. Thus they lived for some 
 time, — they stealing, and she taking care for them. 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 341 
 
 But one day, at the palace, the wicked mother began to 
 have some uneasy doubts whether her soldiers had really 
 obeyed her orders to kill her daughter, and thought, '' Per- 
 haps the child was not really killed." She had a familiar 
 servant, an old woman, veiy friendly to her. To her she 
 revealed her story, and said, "Please go out and spy in 
 every town. Look whether you see a girl who is vi*ry 
 beautiful; if so, she is my daughter. You must kill her." 
 The old woman replied, "Yes, my friend, I will do this 
 thing for you." So she went out and began her spying. 
 
 The very first place at which she happened to arrive was 
 the robbers' house. There being no people in sight, she 
 entered the house, and found a girl alone. On account of 
 the girl's great beauty, she felt sure at once that this was 
 her friend's daughter. The girl gave her a seat and offered 
 hospitality. The old woman exclaimed, " Oh, what a nice- 
 looking child! Who are you, and who is your mother?" 
 The girl, not suspecting evil, told her story. 
 
 Then the old woman said, "Your hair looks a little untidy. 
 Come here, and let me fix it." The girl consented; and tlie 
 old woman began to braid her hair. She had hidden in her 
 sleeve a long sharpened nail. When she had completed the 
 hair-dressing, she thrust the nail deeply into the girl's head, 
 who instantly fell down, apparently dead. Looking at the 
 limp body, the old woman said to herself, "Good for that! 
 I have done it for my friend." And she went away, leaving 
 the corpse lying there, and reported to the mother what she had 
 done. The mother felt sure her friend had not dccciviMl h«M-. 
 
 When the robbers returned that day, they found the girl 
 lying dead. They were very much troubled. They began 
 to examine the corpse, to find what was the cause of death, 
 but they found no sign of any wound; and instead of tlie 
 corpse being rigid, it was limp; there was perspiration on 
 the head and neck. So they decided, "This nice life-look- 
 ing face we will not put in a grave." So they made a 
 handsome casket, overlaid it with gold, and adorned the 
 body with a profusion of gold ornaments. They did not 
 
 naiJ 
 
342 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 on the lid, but made it to slide in grooves. Supposing the 
 body liable to decay, they placed the coffin outdoors in the 
 air; and to keep it out of the reach of any animals, they 
 hung it by the halliards of their flag-staff. Every day, on 
 their going out and on their return, they pulled it down by 
 the halliards, drew out the lid, and looked on the fresh, 
 apparently living face of their "sister." 
 
 One day while they were all out on their business there 
 happened to stray that way a man by name Eserengila (tale- 
 bearer), who lived at the town of a man named Ogula^ Com- 
 ing to the robbers' house, he saw no one; but he at once 
 observed the hanging golden box. Exclaiming, "What a 
 nice thing! " he hasted back to his master Ogula, and called 
 him. "Come and see what a nice thing I have found; it is 
 something worth taking!" So Ogula went with him, and 
 EsSrengila pulled down the gilded box from the flag-staff. 
 They did not enter the house, nor did they know anything 
 of its character; and they carried away the box in haste, 
 without looking at its contents, to Ogula's, and put it in a 
 small room in his house. 
 
 Some days after it had been placed there Ogula went in 
 to examine what it contained. He saw that the top of this 
 coffin-like box was not nailed, but slid in a groove. He 
 withdrew it, and was amazed to see a beautiful young 
 woman apparently dead. Yet there was no look or odor of 
 death. As she was not emaciated by disease, he examined 
 the body to find a possible cause of death ; but he found no 
 sign, and wondering, exclaimed, " This beautiful girl ! What 
 has caused her to die ? " 
 
 He replaced the lid, and left the room, carefully closing 
 the door. But he again returned to look at the beautiful 
 face of the corpse ; and sighed, " Oh, I wish this beautiful 
 being were alive ! She would be such a nice playmate for 
 my daughter, who is just about her size." Again he went 
 and shut the door very carefully. He told his daughter 
 never to enter that room, and she said, "Yes"; and he 
 continued his daily visits there. 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 34:^, 
 
 After many days Ogula's daughter became tired of seeincr 
 him enter while she was forbidden. So one day, when he 
 was gone out of the house, she said to herself, '' My fatlicr 
 always forbids me this room ; now I will go in and see what 
 he has there." She entered, and saw only tlie gilded box, 
 and exclaimed, "Oh, what a nice box! I'll just open it and 
 see what is inside." 
 
 She began to draw the lid out of its grooves, and a human 
 head was revealed with a splendid mass of hair covered witli 
 gold ornaments. She withdrew the lid entirely, and saw th«' 
 form of the young woman, and delightedly said, ''A beautiful 
 girl, with such nice hair, and covered with golden ornaments! " 
 She did not know why the girl seemed so unconscious, and 
 began to say, ''I wish she could speak to me, so we might be 
 friends, because she is only a little larger than I." So she 
 gave the stranger's salutation, "Mbolo! mbolo! " As no re- 
 sponse was made, she protested, " Oh, I salute you, mbolo, 
 but you do not answer! " She was disappointed, and slid 
 back the cover, and went out of the room. Something about 
 the door aroused the suspicions of her father on his return 
 to the house, and he asked her, " Have you been inside that 
 room?" She answered, "No! You told me never to go 
 there, and I have not gone." Next day Ogula went out 
 again, and his daughter thought she would have another 
 look at the beautiful face. Entering the room, she again 
 drew out the lid, and again she gave the salutation, 
 "Mbolo!" There was no response. Again she protested, 
 "Oh, I speak to you, and you won't answer me!" And 
 then she added, "May I play with you, and fondle your 
 head, and feel your hair? Perhaj)S you liave lice for me 
 to remove?" [one of the commonest of native African 
 friendly services among both men and women]. Slie l)egan 
 to feel through the hair with lier fingei-s, and j^resently slie 
 touched something hard. Looking closely, she found it was 
 the head of a nail. Astonished, she said, ''Oli, slic has a 
 nail in her head! I '11 try to pull it out!" 
 
 Instantly, on her doing so, the girl sneezed, opened her 
 
344 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 eyes, stared around, rose up in a sitting posture, and said, 
 "Oh, I must have been sleeping a long time/' The other 
 asked, "You were only sleeping?" And the girl replied, 
 "Yes." Then Ogula's daughter saluted, "Mbolol " and the 
 girl responded, " Ai, Mbolol " and the other, "Ai! " 
 
 Then the girl asked, "Where am I? What place is this?" 
 The other said, "Why, you are in my father's house. This 
 is my father's house." And the girl asked, "But who or 
 what brought me here ? " Then Ogula's daughter told her 
 the whole story of Eserengila's having found the gilded box. 
 They at once conceived a great liking for each other, and 
 started to be friends. They played and laughed and talked 
 and embraced, and fondled each other. This they did for 
 quite a while. 
 
 Then the beautiful one was tired, and she said, "It is 
 better that you put back the nail and let me sleep again." 
 So the girl lay down in the box, the nail was inserted in 
 her head, and she instantly fell into unconsciousness. 
 
 Ogula's daughter slid back the lid, and went out of the 
 room, carefully closing the door. She now lost all desire 
 to go out of the house and play with her former companions. 
 Her father observed this, and urged her to play and visit 
 as she formerly had done. But she declined, making some 
 excuses, and saying she had no wish to do so. All her in- 
 terest lay in that room of the gilded box and beautiful girl. 
 Whenever her father went out, she at once would go to the 
 room, draw out the lid, and pull out the nail; her friend 
 would sit up, and they would play, and repeat their friend- 
 ship. Ogula's daughter, seeing that her friend's desire for 
 sleep was weakness for want of food, dail}' brought her food. 
 And the girl grew strong and well and happy. 
 
 This was kept up many days without Ogula knowing 
 of it. 
 
 But it happened one day, when the two girls were thus 
 sitting in their friendship, they continued their play and con- 1 
 versation so long that Ogula's daughter forgot the time of! 
 her father's return; and he suddenly entered the room, and 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 34.5 
 
 was surprised to see the two girls talking. She was fright- 
 ened when she saw her father. But he was not angry, "imd 
 quieted her, saying, "Do not be afraid! How is it that you 
 have been able to bring this girl to life? What have you 
 done?" 
 
 She told her father all about it, especially of the nail. 
 Then Ogula sat down by the girl of the gUded box, and 
 asked the story of her life. She told him all. Then he 
 said, "As your mother is the kind of woman that sends 
 people to kill, and I am chief in this place, I will investi- 
 gate this matter to-morrow. I will call all the people of 
 this region, and there will be an ozaza (palaver) in the morn- 
 ing; and you shall remain, for you are to be my wife." 
 
 The next day all the country side were called, — the 
 wicked mother, the soldiers, the old woman, and everybody 
 else (except the unknown robbers). The palaver was talked 
 from point to point of the history, and, just at the last, this 
 beautiful girl walked into the assemblage, accompanied by 
 Ogula's daughter. 
 
 As soon as Maria saw her daughter enter, she started from 
 her seat, looked at the old woman, and fiercely said to lu r, 
 "Here is this girl again! not dead yet! I thought you killed 
 her! " The old woman was amazed, but asserted, "Yes, and 
 I did. I kept my promise to you! " 
 
 Then the girl sat down, and Ogula bade her tell her entire 
 story in the presence of all the peoi)le. So she told from the 
 very beginning, — about the magic looking-glass, about the 
 soldiers, about the robbers' house, and on till the stay in 
 Ogula's house. 
 
 Then all the people began to shout and deride and revile, 
 and threaten Maria and the old woman. This frightenetl the 
 cruel Maria and her wicked friend, and they ran away to a 
 far country, and never came back again. 
 
 So the beautiful young woman was married to Ogula, and 
 was happy with his daughter as a companion. 
 
 But the robbers, in their secret house, not having heard 
 of the ozaza, kept on mourning and grieving for llieir lost 
 
346 
 
 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 sister, not knowing where she had gone or what had become 
 of her. And so the story ends. 
 
 (The above story is probably not more than two hundred 
 or two hundred and fifty years old; the name "Maria " doubt- 
 less being derived from Portuguese occupants of the ' Kongo 
 country.) 
 
 III. The Husband who Came from an Anbial. 
 
 Ra-Nyambie in his great town had his wives and sons and 
 daughters, and lived in glory. 
 
 He had a best-beloved daughter, by name Ilambe. There is 
 a certain fetich charm called "ngalo," by means of which its 
 possessor can have gratified any wish he may express. Ngalo 
 is not obtainable by purchase or art; only certain persons are 
 born with it. This Ilambe was born with a ngalo. While 
 she was growing up, her father made a great deal of her and 
 gave her very many things, — servants and houses, accord- 
 ing to her wishes. When Ilambe had grown up to woman- 
 hood, she said, " Father, I will not like a man who has othe r_ 
 wives. I shall want my husband all for myself." And the 
 father said, "Be it so." 
 
 As years went on, Ilambe thought it was time she should 
 be married, but she saw no one who pleased her fancy. So 
 she took counsel with her ngalo, thinking, " What shall I do 
 to get a husband for myself? " 
 
 She decided on a plan. Her father's people often went 
 out hunting. One day, when they were going out, she said 
 to them, " If you find some small animal, do not kill it, but 
 bring it to me alive." 
 
 So they went out hunting, and they found a small animal 
 resembling a goat, called "mbinde" (wild goat). They 
 brought it to her, asking pardon for its smallness, and said, 
 "We did not find anything, only this mbinde." She took 
 it, saying, "It is good." Then turning to one of the men, 
 she bade him, "Just skin this very carefully for me "; and 
 to another of the servants, " Bring me plenty of water, and 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 347 
 
 put it in my bathroom for a bath." Each of these servants 
 did as he was bidden, — this one flaying the animal, that 
 one bringing the water. When the one had iinished flaying, 
 and brought the entire flesh to her, she said, ''Just put it 
 into this water for a bath." She left it there two days, soak- 
 ing in the water. The skin she put in a fire, burned it to 
 black ashes, and carefully saved all the ash. This she did 
 not do herself, but told a servant to do it, cautioning him to 
 lose none of it. When it was brought to her, she wraj)ped 
 it up with care, and put it safely away so that none of it 
 should be lost. 
 
 On the third day she spoke to her ngalo, ''Ngalo mine, 
 ngalo mine, I tell you, turn this mbinde to a very handsome- 
 looking man! " Instantly the mbinde was changed to a flnely 
 formed man, who jumped out of the bath-tub, dressed very 
 richly. 
 
 Then Ilambe called one of her servants, and bade, "Go 
 to my father, and tell him I wish the town to be cleaned as 
 thoroughly and quickly as possible, because I have a hus- 
 band, and I want to come and show him to you ; so my father 
 must be ready to greet us." 
 
 The father summoned his servant Ompunga (Wind), who 
 came, and at once swept up the place clean. 
 
 Ilambe went out from her house with her husband, he and 
 she walking side by side through the street on the way 
 to her father's house. All along their route tlie people 
 were wondering at the man's fine appearance, and shouting, 
 "Where did Ilambe get this man?" When she reached her 
 father's house, he ordered a salute of cannon for her. He 
 was much pleased to see the man with the crowd of people, 
 and received him with respect. 
 
 Having thus visited her father, Ilambe returned to her 
 own house with her husband, the people still shouting in 
 admiration of him. The news spread everywhere about 
 Ilambe's fine-looking husband, and there was great praise of 
 them. They lived happily in their marriage for a while, but 
 trouble came. 
 
348 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Ham be had a younger sister living still at her father's 
 house. One day llambe changed her mind about having a 
 husband all to herself, and thought, " I better share him with 
 my younger sister." So she went out to her father to tell 
 him about it, saying, "Father, I 've changed my mind. I 
 want my younger sister to live with me, and marry the same 
 man with me." 
 
 Her father, though himself having many wives, said, " You 
 now change your mind, and are willing to share your hus- 
 band with another woman. Will there be no trouble in the 
 future? " She answered "No! " He repeated his question; 
 but she assured him it would be agreeable. So she took her 
 sister (without consulting the husband, as he was under her 
 control, by power of her ngalo), led her to her house, and 
 presented her as a new wife to her husband. 
 
 They remained on these terms for some time without any 
 trouble. But as time went on, the report about that hand- 
 some man went far, and finally reached Ra-Mborakinda*s 
 town. Another woman lived there, also named llambe, of the 
 same age as the other, and she was unmarried. This llambe 
 said to herself, "I am tired of hearing the report about this 
 handsome man. I will go, though uninvited I be, and see 
 for myself." So she tells her brother and some of his men, 
 " Take me over there to that town, and I will return to-day." 
 She told her father the same words : " I am going to see that 
 man, and will return." When this llambe got to the other 
 llambe 's house, the husband was out, but the wife received 
 her with great hospitality; and the two sisters and their 
 visitor all ate together. Soon the husband came, and the 
 wife introduced the visitor. "Here is my friend llambe 
 come to see you." "Good," he said. Then it was late in 
 the day, and the visiting llambe 's attendants said to her, 
 "The day is past; let us be going." But she refused to go, 
 and told them to return, saying that she would stay awhile 
 with her friend llambe. 
 
 But really, in her coming she was not simply a visitor and 
 sightseer J she intended to stay and share in the husband. 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 349 
 
 As her brother was leaving, he asked, '' But when will you 
 return? and shall we come for you?" She said, ''No; I 
 myself will come back when I please." When the even- 
 ing came, the hostess began to fix a sleeping-phice for her 
 visitor, showing her much kindness in the care of her 
 arrangements. 
 
 The second day the hostess observed something suspicious 
 in the manner with which her husband reganU'd the visitor; 
 he said to his wife, "Here is your friend. Speak t<i licr 
 for me. Are you willing to do that?" She looked at liim 
 steadily, and slowly said, "Yes." So at evening she spoke 
 of the matter to her visitor, who at once assented. 
 
 When Ilambe parted with her husband l>efore retiring, she 
 said to him, " Go with this new woman, but do not forget 
 your and my morning custom." [That was their hahit of 
 rising very early for a morning bath.] He only said, " Yes." 
 They all retired for the night. 
 
 The next morning the hostess was up early as usual, and 
 had her bath, and was out of her room, waiting. Hut the 
 man was not up yet, nor were there any sounds of prepani- 
 tion in his room. So Ilambe, after waiting awliile, had to 
 call to waken him. He woke, saying, "Oh, yes, yes, I 'ni 
 coming! " 
 
 The next day it was the same, he staying witli tlic new 
 Ilambe and rising late in the morning. Tlie fourtli day his 
 wife said to him, "You have work to do, and you do n(»t get 
 up to do it till late." He was displeased at lier fault-finding. 
 When she saw that, she also was displeased. 
 
 So when he went to the bathroom she followed hi in there. 
 On the way she had secretly taken with her t\w n.ll of bl.irk 
 powder she had kept from the day of his creation. 
 
 While he was bathing, she turned aside, without his no- 
 ticing it, and opening the roll of the powder, took out of it a 
 little, and held it between her finger and thumb. 
 
 While he was dressing, she came near, stooped down, and 
 rubbed the powder on his feet. They suddenly turned to 
 hoofs. He began stamping his hoofs on the floor, surprised, 
 
350 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 and saying, "Wife, what is this?" She said, "It is noth- 
 ing. You have finished dressing. Go out." He began to 
 plead; she relented, and by her ngalo's power changed the 
 hoofs back to feet. They both went out of the room and had 
 their breakfast, and that day passed. But at night he again 
 abandoned his wife for the new Ilambe, and next morning 
 he was up later even than on the previous days. He had to 
 be called several times before he would awake. He began to 
 grumble and scold, " Can't a person be left to sleep as long 
 as he desires?" And when he and the new Ilambe came 
 from that bedroom, she joined in the man's displeasure at his 
 having been disturbed. He went for his bath. The wife 
 followed, and used the powder as she had done the day 
 before, turning his feet to hoofs. He begged and pleaded. 
 She again forgave him, and fixed the feet again. And they 
 two came out of the bathroom and had their breakfast as 
 usual. He went to his work, and the day wore on. At 
 night he again deserted his wife. The next morning there 
 was the same confusion in arousing him as on the other days. 
 
 His wife accompanied him to the bathroom as usual. 
 While he was in the bath, and before he was done bathing, 
 she left the room, and told the new Ilambe, " You sit down 
 near the bathroom door. You will see him come out." The 
 visitor replied, " It is well " ; and she sat down. And Ilambe 
 went into the bathroom again. 
 
 When the man got out of his bath, as soon as he attempted 
 to dress himself, Ilambe, without saying anything or making 
 any complaint, went behind him, and having the whole roll 
 of powder with her, she opened the bundle, flung it on his 
 back, and said, " You go back to where you came from ! " 
 Instantly he was changed to a mbinde, and he began to leap 
 about as a goat. Then Ilambe cried out to the other Ilambe 
 at the door, "Are you ready to receive him? He 's coming! " 
 and she opened the door. Out ran the mbinde, leaped from the 
 house, dashed through the town and off to the forest, the people 
 shouting in derision, "Ha! ha! ha! So, indeed, that handsome 
 man was the mbinde that was taken to Ilambe's house! " 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LOKE .S.^il 
 
 Then the wife said to the other Ihunbe, M)ia you se. vnur 
 man? Call him! That 's he running off there! ' Tli. n.xi 
 day Ilambe said to the visitor, "Send word for ynur people 
 that they may come for you." 
 
 The following day they were sent for, and they came to 
 Ilambe s house. After they had arrived, Ilambe sent word 
 to her father, "Have your place cleaned, I am coming to 
 enter a complaint." The father replied, "Very well'" 
 Ompunga came and swept the place. Seats were prepared 
 m the street. Ilambe summoned the visitor and lier people, 
 saying, "Let us all go to my father's house." 
 
 So they went there, and Ilambe made her complaint, tell- 
 ing all from the beginning: how she obtained a husband: 
 how the other Ilambe had come; how she received lier 
 kindly; how she even had been willing to share lier hus- 
 band with her, but how the new Ilambe had nionop(»lized 
 instead of simply sharing; and how things had l)eeome so 
 bad that she had to send the man back to his beast origin. 
 Turning to the visiting people, she said, "I have nothing 
 more to say except that your sister Ilambe is not going 
 back to your town, but has to be my slave all the days of 
 my life." 
 
 So the king's council justified her, and pronounced thr 
 judgment just. The people scattered to their homes. And 
 the two sisters went to their house, wdth the other llamlx' 
 as their slave. 
 
 IV. The Fairy Wife. 
 
 In his great town, King Ra-Mborakinda, or Ka-Xyaml)ie, 
 lived in glory with all his wives and sons and dauglitei-s. 
 Some of his great and favored sons had large business and 
 great wealth. But there was one of the sons, nainc.l Nkomlc, 
 whose mother was not a favorite wife of the king, so this 
 Nkombe was poor. Everything went against him, and his 
 life was quite miserable; only, he had a gun, and he knew 
 how to shoot; that was all. So he thought, "I 'm tired <»f 
 ^ this kind of life. I better leave and go off by myself." 
 
352 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 He gathered together the few things that belonged to him, 
 
 — a few plates and pots, and his gun and ammunition, — 
 and went away. He went far into the forest, and with his 
 machete began to clear a little place for a camping-ground 
 (olako). 
 
 He fixed up his camp, and next morning went out hunt- 
 ing. When he began to feel hungry, he turned back to 
 cook his food. On his return he had fresh meat with him ; 
 this he cooked, set it on the table, and ate. After eating, 
 he cleared off the table, washed the dishes, brushed up the 
 floor, and the new meat that was left he put on the orala 
 (drying-frame) for next day's use. So that day's work was 
 done. 
 
 Next day he again leaves the camp, and with his gun is off 
 again to his hunting. At noon he comes back with his meat, 
 
 — antelope, or wild pig, or whatever it may be. He cooks 
 his food, eats; and that day's work is done jusfe as the day 
 before. 
 
 So he did many days. After each day's work he was so tired 
 and felt so lonely he wished he had a mother or some one to 
 do for him. 
 
 Unknown to him, since he had come to that olako, there 
 was a woman named Ilambe, who belonged to the awiri 
 (fairies), who secretly had observed all that he did. One 
 day she thought to herself, "Oh, I am sorry for this 
 man; I think that as I have the power I will turn myself 
 into a human being and help him, for I do not like to see 
 him suffer." So she said to herself, "To-day I will cause 
 Nkombe to be unsuccessful, so that he shall kill only ntori 
 (a big forest rat), and I will hide myself in ntori." 
 
 So Nkombe hunted long and far that day, and saw nothing 
 worthy of being shot. He was getting hungry, and mur- 
 mured, "Ah! I have not been able to kill anything to-day." 
 But presently he saw ntori pass by, and he said, " Well, I 'II 
 have to take this small animal, ntori! " He shot it, and tools 
 it with him to his camp. When he reached the olako, as he 
 had other meat on the orala, and was in a hurry, after singe- 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 353 
 
 ing and cleaning ntori, he threw it on the orala, and took tlu- 
 okler dried meat, and began to cook it for his supper. Ih- 
 went on with his usual day's work, as it took only ;i little 
 while to arrange ntori on the orala. 
 
 Next day he went out as usual on his hunting journey. 
 While he was away, and before he returned, Ilanibe had crept 
 out of the head of ntori. She bruslied up the canij), and 
 made everything neat and clean. She began to cook, taking 
 meat from the drying-frame. She cooked it very nicely, and 
 ate part, — her share, just enough to satisfy her appetite. 
 Then she crept back into ntori's head, as she knew Nkombe 
 must be about starting back. 
 
 Late in the afternoon Nkombe returned with some wild 
 meat. He took down dried meat from the orala, leaving 
 his fresh meat unattended to, for he was in a hurry to 
 cook, being hungry. He went to his little hut to get plate, 
 kettle, and so forth. To his surprise, on the table was 
 everything ready, food and plate and drink. He ex- 
 claimed, "What word is this? Where did this come from? 
 Is this the work of my mother's spirit? She has pitied me 
 and has come and done this. I wish I knew where she came 
 from." 
 
 This occurred during three successive days, just the same 
 each day. Nkombe v/as puzzled. He wanted to find out, 
 and decided to go to the great prophet, Ra-MarAnge. The 
 prophet saw him coming, and greeted him, "Sale! (Hail) 
 my son, sale!" "Mbolo," replied Nkombe. Ra-Marange 
 continued, "What did you come for? What are you 
 doing?" "I come for you to make medicine, that you 
 may prophesy for me about a matter I want to find out." 
 
 Ra-Marange said, "Child, I am old, and do not do such 
 things now. I have given the power to Ogula-ya-impazya- 
 vazya " [so called because his body was all-covered-by-a- 
 disease-of-pimples]. "Well, where shall I go to liim'" 
 The prophet replied, "Pie is not far." 
 
 Nkombe starts to go to Ogula-ya-impazya-vazya, who pres- 
 ently sees him coming. As soon as Nkombe reached hnn. 
 
354 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Ogula-ya-impazya-vazya said, "If you come to me for medi- 
 cine, good, for that is my only business ; but if for anything 
 else, clear off! " "Yes, that is what I came for." 
 
 So Ogula-ya-impazya-vazya began to kindle his big fire. 
 Nkombe was surprised, not knowing what was to be done 
 with the fire. The next minute he sees Ogula-ya-impaz3'a- 
 vazya throw himself into the flames. Nkombe was startled 
 and afraid, thinking, "Is this man going to kill himself for 
 me?" The prophet rolled himself several times in the fire 
 in order to get the power. Some of his pimples on his body 
 burst in the tiame; and he jumped out, ready with his power 
 to do the medicine. He said, " Hah, repeat your story ; I am 
 ready!" Nkombe told all his story, — how he had worked 
 for himself, and how for a few days past he had been helped 
 by some one, and wanted to know who it w^as, if Ogula-ya- 
 impazya-vazya would please tell him. " Hah, that 's a small 
 matter for me! " So the prophet told him, "You killed ntori 
 for yourself a few days ago, and this being is a woman who 
 has come to be your wife, and has hidden herself in ntori." 
 "But," said Nkombe, "how shall I be able to catch her, so 
 that she shall be a real woman, for I do not see her?" 
 
 "I '11 let you know how. Go back and hunt all the same 
 for three days. On the fourth day go out as usual, but do 
 not go hunting. Hide near the olako, — near, but not where 
 you will be seen." Then the prophet gave Nkombe a pre- 
 pared powder, and told him to keep it carefully. He gave 
 him also a small cornucopia (ozyoto) full of a bruised medi- 
 cinal leaf, and told him, " Go and put these two medicines in 
 a secret place near your olako. On the fourth day have these 
 two medicines with you where you hide. When 3^ou see her 
 come out, and while she is doing your work, you will run 
 and seize her, and say to her, "You are my wife." She 
 will not understand your language, and will murmur and 
 shake her head and resist. But when you hold her fast, 
 sprinkle the powder all over her body. Then take the ozoto, 
 and squeeze some of the juice in her nostrils, eyes, and 
 mouth. She will begin to sneeze. Repeat the words, ' You 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LOKE 
 
 ,ji)i) 
 
 are my wife, my wife! ' Then she will understand yuu, and 
 will yield." 
 
 So Nkombe took the medicines, and obeyed directions; hid 
 the medicines and hunted the three days, his lieart hui-sting 
 with anxiety to get the days done that seemed so long. At 
 last the three days were over and the fourth day came. 
 
 Now the woman, by the power that was with her, k new- 
 all these things; she knew she would be caught that day. 
 
 After Nkombe had left in the morning with the medicines, 
 had hidden himself, and was waiting for tlie liours to 
 pass, the woman, hesitating on her fate, did not come out 
 quickly as on the other days. But linally Nkombe saw the 
 pieces of meat on the frames shake. And out of ntori's 
 head came a beautiful woman with clean soft skin. He 
 could hardly restrain himself. She went on with all the 
 usual work, — cooking, and so forth. But that day she did 
 not divide nor partake of the food, but put all of it on the 
 table. When he saw she had finished, and was washing her 
 hands preparatory to jumping back into ntori (►n the orala, 
 he came out of the bushes, and stepping cautiously but 
 rapidly, rushed to seize her. He caught her. She b.-- 
 gan to resist, and he followed the prophet's directions. 
 The woman at first was murmuring and sobbing, and Nkoml)e 
 was trying to calm her with the words "My wife." Finally, 
 under the powder, she quieted. When the juice was dropj>ed 
 into her mouth, she was able to speak his language. Slie told 
 him all her story, — how she had pitied him, and liad entered 
 into ntori, and everything else. "But," she sai.l, "there is 
 one more thing I must tell you. I have come iii.lrc.l to !.»• 
 your wife, and I have the power to make you ri.h or j.-.-.r, 
 happy or unhappy. I will give you only one rule: lie i:ood 
 to me, and I will be so to you; but never say to me tliat I 
 came from the low origin of a rat's head." Nkonil>e ex- 
 claimed, "No, no! You have done so much for n.r. I coul.l 
 never so humiliate you." "You sj.eak well, but he very 
 careful not to break your promise." So they ate and finished 
 the day's work. 
 
356 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Next day the woman wanted to build a town by word of 
 her power. She said, " Mwe [Sir] Nkombe, surely you will 
 not live in an olako all your life. Look for a site for a town, 
 and mark it with stakes for its length and width." Nkombe 
 was puzzled. He had a wife, but where would he get mate- 
 rials for a house ; for he was as poor of goods as he was be- 
 fore ? Being troubled, he made no reply to his wife, and did 
 not go to mark a site. At night they retired, Nkombe still 
 troubled about the building of a town ; but IlSmbe was smil- 
 ing in her heart, for she knew what she would do. So she 
 made him fall into a deep sleep. She went out at night a 
 short distance, and chose a good town-site. She spoke to 
 her ngalo (a guardian-spirit charm), "Ngalo mine, before 
 morning I want to see all this place cleared, and covered 
 with nice houses, and all the houses furnished and supplied 
 with men and maid servants." And she returned to bed. 
 
 Before daybreak everything was ready, as Ilambe desired. 
 The ngalo had made the olako disappear, and Nkombe and 
 wife were sleeping inside their nice house. When morning 
 came, Nkombe did not know where he was, nor even on 
 which side to get out of bed. He exclaimed, " What is this 
 word ? " " You are in your own house and in your own 
 town." So both went out to inspect their town and their 
 servants. Nkombe did not know how well to thank her, so 
 glad was he. 
 
 Later the wife became a mother, and a son was born. 
 Nkombe called this first-born Ogula. Again, a daughter 
 was born. Then the wife told her ngalo to bring ships of 
 wealth. The next day ships were seen coming. Nkombe 
 went on board and had a conversation with the captains. 
 They stayed a few days, and then sailed away, leaving 
 Nkombe a cargo of wealth. Another time ships came, and 
 Nkombe went off on board as before ; and these ships sailed 
 away, also leaving wealth. Other children were born to 
 them. Children of a fairy mother are called " aganlo " ; they 
 grow very fast, and are very wise. 
 
 Other ships came. One day one comes, and Nkombe, hav- 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 357 
 
 ing gone on board, has there a convivial time, stays all day, 
 and returns nearly drunk. The wife says to him/- Nkombe! 
 often you come from ships looking in this way, and I do not 
 like it. I have spoken Avith you often, that if a food or a 
 drink is not good in its effects, it is better to leave it off. 
 But you do not care for my words." Nkombe, under the 
 influence of liquor, was vexed with her, rebuked her, 
 and began to use hard words with ora wo (insult): "Vou — 
 you — this woman who — but I won't linish it." Soon, 
 however, he took up the quarrel again, saying, "A person 
 can know from your manners that you came out of — " 
 The wife said, "When you are drunk, you say half sen- 
 tences; why hold back? Say what you want to say." 
 
 He shouted angrily, "Yes, if I want to say it, I will say it! 
 It was my own ntori that I killed. If I had not killed it, 
 would you have come out of it? " Then Ilambe said, " Please 
 repeat that; I do not quite understand you." He repeated 
 it. She exclaimed, "Eh!" but said no more, and waited 
 until morning, when he would be sober. 
 
 So early in the morning she told him to get up, so that she 
 could do her housework. She did the morning's work, wasli- 
 ing things neatly but rapidly. Then slie called her sons and 
 daughters, and in their presence said to their father, " You said 
 so-and-so yesterday; now I am off and with my children." 
 
 Nkombe knew he had said the forlndden words. Hf 
 pleaded for mercy; but she replied, "No, you broke your 
 promise." The two elder children pleaded for their father : 
 "It was only once. Though a bad thing, it cannot break 
 a marriage. Forgive it." But the mother persisted, ''No! " 
 Then the two elder ones said they would not leave ilifir 
 father. ^ 
 
 So she said to him, "Now be thankful you have these two. 
 If it was not for them, I would put you back where you were 
 just as I found you; but for the sake of these two children, 
 I leave some of my power witli them." Then to those two 
 she said, "You will call on me for help when you have need, 
 and I will be near to help you." 
 
358 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 So she took the two younger ones, and said to their father, 
 "As this place is quite open, Nkombe, sit you here and see 
 me depart." Nkombe did so. He and the two older chil- 
 dren watched the mother and the two younger ones walk 
 down the path from the town. They went to the bank of 
 the river, and, wading in, disappeared in the river depths. 
 
 V. The Thieves and their Enchanted House. 
 
 Ra-Mborakinda had his big town of men and women and 
 children, all in good condition. But a kind of plague came 
 upon the people suddenly, killing many. In a short time it 
 destroyed most of the inhabitants, and finally but few were 
 left. 
 
 So one of the elder sons said to a younger one, " Let us 
 flee for our lives ! " This elder brother's name was Qgula, 
 and the younger brother's name was Nkombe. When Ogula 
 had thus said, " Let us flee for our lives," Nkombe agreed. 
 Ogula took as his servant a boy, and together with Nkombe 
 they went out. They went aimlessly, not following any par- 
 ticular plan, but vaguely hoping to happen on any place. 
 
 They went, went, wandering on, on, till they came to a small 
 hut, almost too miserable for a dwelling. But in their extrem- 
 ity they said, " Oh I there is a house ! Let us go to it ; maybe 
 we '11 find shelter there." So they walked up to it, and, to 
 their surprise, saw there an old man mending a piece of canvas. 
 
 He saluted them, and asked them where they came from. 
 They told their story, and Ogula asked the old man whether 
 he would, of his kindness, give them shelter. He said, " Yes, 
 if you are willing to do as I tell you ; for living here is hard, 
 and there is nothing to eat. I have to cut firewood and 
 carry it to the city (osenge) far away, and sell it there. That 
 city belongs to a big merchant." 
 
 Ogula said, " Yes ; Ave are willing." So the next day 
 Ogula himself and Nkombe and their servant set themselves 
 ready for work. After they had cut their firewood, they asked 
 the old man the way to the city. He directed them. They 
 went, sold their firewood, and brought food. This they did 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 359 
 
 many times, ciittinor firewood unci K"i'»K ^<' tin* city and 
 buying food ; and they each built a lioust; of their own near 
 the old man's hut. 
 
 But after a while Ogula began to tire of tliis kind of life ; 
 so he said to himself, " If I only had a gun, I could go liunt- 
 ing. But even without the gun, I will go out and see wliat 
 I can see." So he went out alone, not calling his Ijrotlicr or 
 his servant to go with him. He went and went, on, on, for 
 a half-day's journey, till he happened to come to a large liouse 
 built in a very strange style, having no door at its side and 
 with a flat roof. The place looked clean, as if kept in order 
 by people. He approached cautiously; but looking around, 
 he saw no one at all. He said to himself, " Who owns this 
 place? Surely some one owns it, for it is so clean ; but I see 
 no one here. I won't leave this place to-day till I know 
 who lives here." He decided to retire a little and climb up a 
 tall tree overlooking the house and watch from there. He 
 was very hungr}^, having had no food that day, but he still 
 decided to wait and see what was about the house. 
 
 After he had been up the tree a long while, late in the after- 
 noon he saw a number of men coming. lie saw one of 
 them climb up the side of the house to the i-oof, where was a 
 trap-door. All of the men had bundles of goods. The first 
 one who had climbed to the roof spoke a few words to the door 
 as he stood before it, and the two parts of tlie door fiew 
 open of themselves. Then the other men climbed up witli 
 their bundles, and went into the house. 
 
 All this Ogula could see from his tree-top. He said to 
 himself, " Now I am hungry, and must go, for I have seen 
 enough to-day. I see that this house is occupied, and by 
 men, and how they enter; it is enough for to-day." lb- 
 thought it time to move before any of the ])e()ple should 
 come out of the house. He came down rapidly, and went 
 back to the httle hut of the old man. 
 
 AVhen he got to his own house, his brother Nkoinbr asked, 
 " Where have you been all day?" Ogula said, '' 1 was tired 
 of working, and took a walk to the forest, and missi'd my 
 
360 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 way." But he did not tell his brother the story of what he 
 had seen. 
 
 Ogula then ate a little and went to bed, though it was not 
 very late. He went thus soon to bed, for he wanted to go 
 early next day to inspect the big house again. So, very, 
 very early, before daylight, Ogula was up and off, for he did 
 not wish his brother to ask him where he was going. 
 
 He remembered the way to the big house, and went directly 
 there. He climbed his tree. He looked and saw that the door 
 of the house was open. He waited a little while, and then saw 
 the men climbing out of the door. Their leader was the last ; 
 he spoke a cabalistic word, pressed his foot on the threshold, 
 as the two sides of the door folded together, and it was closed. 
 
 After they had been gone quite awhile, Ogula thought he 
 would try to enter the house, first seeking what was the way 
 to open it. He said to himself, " I know they have goods 
 there, for I have seen them carried in." So he descended 
 from the tree, and going to the house, climbed up the 
 side. When he got to the top, he searched for something by 
 which the door could be opened. He saw nothing like a key 
 or lock or handle. Then he remembered the words he had 
 heard the leader use, and thought, " Perhaps they were the 
 means by which the door was opened. " So he uttered the 
 words, " Yaginla mie, ka nungwa, aweme ! " (Obey me, 
 and thyself open ! ) and, to his surprise, the door flew open. 
 Then he went down the flight of steps leading below to the 
 interior of the house. He was startled when he saw the room 
 full of all kinds of money and goods and wealth that any one 
 could wish to have. One could have taken away a great deal 
 Avithout its absence being noticed, so abundant was the amount. 
 
 Ogula thought, "Isn't this fine ! But I must be quick, 
 lest the owners of this house catch me here." So he took 
 a cloth, and put into it a few small articles and a quantity 
 of cash. He tied up the bundle, went up the stairway, and 
 walked out of the door which he had left open. At the top 
 he remembered the word " Nunja ! " (Shut !) which the leader 
 had used for closing. He spoke it ; and the door shut. He 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 3r,l 
 
 hasted away, and back to the hut of the old man. He did 
 not enter it, but went to his own liouse and tlieie hid tlie 
 bundle. He told no one anythin^r, neither the old man nor 
 his servant nor even his brother. Soon the brotht-r came 
 over from his house, saying, "Brother! 1 looked for you 
 this morning ; you must have gone out very early." *' Yes, 
 I went out early, for I am tired of seeing so little ; so I went 
 out to see what I could see." 
 
 The next day he did the same. On this trip he took not 
 only money from the house, but some fine clothing for himst-lf 
 to wear. As before, on emerging at the top of the house, he 
 spoke the word " Nunja!" the door closed, and he was away 
 again, no one having seen him. When Ogula got iiat-k to his 
 house, Nkombe asked him the same question of the day before, 
 "Where have you been?" and he made only i\\v evasive 
 answer. But Nkombe began to be troubled. He feared 
 something was wrong, and he determined to find out what 
 was the matter. So he decided to get up next morning just 
 as early as Ogula. The reason that Ogula did not t<.*ll 
 Nkombe was because the latter had a bad jealous heart, and 
 was very covetous of money. So early in the morning Ogula 
 was off. He did not know that Nkombe had any thought of 
 following him. But as soon as Nkombe saw Ogula start, he 
 followed him cautiously, so that he might find out what his 
 brother was doing. 
 
 Ogula walked on straight and rapidly, and never looked 
 behind, for he had no suspicion that he was in-ing followed. 
 When he got to the house, as usual he ordered tlie door to 
 open, and descended inside. While he was U'ginning to 
 select the things he wanted to take, to his surprise lie saw 
 Nkombe also descending the stairway. Ogula said, " Nkoml>e I 
 what is this ? Who showed you tlie way ? Who t..ld you to 
 come here ? I am troubled to find you here ; f.>r this will be 
 the end of you ! T knew it was not safe for you to come here. 
 What I took was for us both." 
 
 Nkombe said, "No! you hid it from me. I have found it 
 now. I will be rich for myself." By this lime Ogula had 
 
362 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 tied up his bundle ready to go out. But Nkombe was snatch- 
 ing up a large quantity from every side. Ogula said, 
 "Nkombe! be quick ! You do not know how to shut that 
 door, and it will not be safe for us to be found here by those 
 people." But Nkombe was not satisfied with one bundle, he 
 was still gathering up other bundles. Ogula wearied of wait- 
 ing and begging of Nkombe to come, so he said he must 
 go and leave him, saying, " Now, Nkombe, it is not safe to 
 wait longer. I have waited for you and begged you to leave 
 with me ; so I go alone. You cannot get out with all those 
 bundles." 
 
 But Nkombe would not listen. So Ogula went out, and 
 spoke the word that closed the door, leaving Nkombe in the 
 house. However, being anxious for his brother, Ogula did not 
 go away, but climbed his tree to see what would happen. 
 
 When Nkombe had entered the house, he had with him a 
 big, sharp knife. 
 
 Ogula waited outside till those people should come. Soon 
 they came. The leader did as usual, being the first to climb 
 to the house-top and to order the door to open. The door 
 flew open, and the leader descended. As soon as he entered, 
 he found another man, Nkombe, in the house. The leader 
 asked, " Who are you, and how did you get in here ? '' 
 Nkombe did not reply, but drawing his knife, plunged it into 
 the leader's neck. With one outcry the man fell dead. By 
 this time some of the other men had climbed up and were 
 about to enter. When they got inside, they saw their leader 
 lying dead, and this stranger standing armed. One of the men 
 drew his pistol and shot Nkombe. [Observe the pistol; all these 
 folk-lore stories disregard anachronisms or even impossibili- 
 ties.] They carried his dead body to the roof, and threw it 
 off to the ground. All this Ogula saw, looking from the tree- 
 top down into the house. 
 
 Then those people began to be perplexed and suspicious, 
 saying, "• This is not the work of only one, for we found the 
 door closed on our arrival. So this person inside must have 
 had some associate outside. How shall we find it out? " 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-I.OKE 3,i;i 
 
 said, Let us go and bury the dead body." A,„„l,,, . , ..^ 
 us leave it and go on with our business, and if on our'r.t,m, 
 the body IS nussing, that will be a proof that u ..u.tner has 
 taken it. Then we will get on tlie track and iin.l where th,- 
 body was taken." And they agreed that h,- whose „1.„ 
 proved successful should be tlieir new leader .S„ Uan 
 closed the door left Nkombe's dead body lying, and went olf 
 on their usual business. 
 
 After they had been gone quite a while, Oguhi came down 
 quickly from the tree, lie tried to carry the body of l.i. 
 brother without dragging it so as not to leave any sign of a 
 trail. And he did not follow tlie path, but walked paraUel 
 with It among the bushes. He hid the body, and then went 
 away to his house. He called his servant, telhng him that 
 Nkombe Avas dead, and that lie wanted him to come help bury 
 the body. He did not call the old man, but only told him that 
 his brother was dead. 
 
 He and the servant went to the spot where he had luft his 
 brother's body. They carried it far into the forest, buried it, 
 and then went back to their house. 
 
 When the thieves came again to their house, they missed 
 the dead body, so that part of their plan had proved trm- ; 
 and they said to the one who had proposed it, " You wwv 
 right. You are our leader. What is your next older ? '* II. 
 said, " To-morrow we will not go out to do our business, but 
 we will go out to hunt for this other man." 
 
 The next day they went, and scattering scardicd en all 
 paths to see whether they would meet A\ith some one or see 
 some house. Some of them who were on a certain path came 
 to the huts of the old man and Ogula. TUv lii-st person 
 they saw was the old man sitting in his doorway. 'Iliey 
 stopped and saluted. They asked him a few (|Uesiions, and 
 then consulting together agreed to return to their house and 
 come back next day, hoping to find out something from tlie 
 old man. They went back to their house. Trevious to this, 
 from the time that Ogula had been stealing goods he had built 
 
364 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 with his servant a little village of his own some distance from 
 the old man's hut. On this first coming of the thieves, Ogula, 
 liidden in his house, had seen them, and he said to himself, " As 
 they now know of this place, I better go away, for fear this thing 
 be found out, and they kill me as they did my brother." So 
 at night he left that house and went off to his village. 
 
 In the morning of the next day, when the thieves came, they 
 brought liquor, for they had planned that they would make 
 this old man drunk, that he might talk when he was fooHsh 
 with liquor. 
 
 They came to the old man's and saluted him. They sat 
 and conversed, asking him, '' How many people are here ? Are 
 you always living alone ? " At first he replied, " Yes, I live 
 alone." " But you are so old, how do you get your food by 
 yourself ? Would you hke to taste a nice drink ? We are 
 sorry for you in your lack of comforts." " Yes, I would like 
 to taste it." 
 
 So they opened their liquor, drank a little themselves, 
 and gave to him. After he had drunk he became talkative, 
 and began conversation again : " Oh, yes, you asked me if I 
 hved alone. But not quite alone. There is a young man 
 here." The thieves were glad to hear him talk, and gave 
 him more liquor. He drank ; they asked more questions, 
 " You said there was another man with you ; where is he ? " 
 Then the old man repeated the whole story of the coming of 
 the brothers, to the death of one of them ; and added, " A 
 few days ago one of them came to tell me he was going to 
 bury his brother ; but I do not know when or how he died." 
 So they asked the old man, " You know where he was 
 buried?" "No." "But where is that living brother?" 
 " Oh, he has just left me, and is gone to his new place not 
 very far away. I have not been there, but you can easily 
 find it." 
 
 They consulted among themselves. " As this other man may 
 hear of what we are about, we will go away to-day, disguise 
 ourselves, and to-morrow seek for his place." So they all left. 
 
 Next day two or three came disguised, and found Ogula's 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 3G5 
 
 new house in the afternoon. He did not recognize Uu'ir 
 faces. He welcomed them as strangers and treukMl iliuni 
 politely. They asked, " Is this your house? Do yuu live 
 alone?" He answered straightly, but did not mention liis 
 brother. But they felt they had enough pioof of who 1 it- 
 was, and left. But before they left tliey had observed the 
 number and location of the rooms and the shape of the house. 
 In the house was a large public reception and sitting ro(jm, 
 and from it were doors leading to the servant's room and to a 
 little entry opening into Ogula's room. 
 
 The next day Ogula and his servant were doing their work 
 of refining the gum-copal they had gathered for trade ; it \\ as 
 being boiled in an enormous kettle. When tliis copal was 
 melted, the kettle was set, with its boiling-hot pitehy contents, 
 in that little entry. In the afternoon came the whole com- 
 pany of thieves, all disguised. They said, "We have eome 
 to make your acquaintance, and to relieve your loneliness by 
 an evening's amusement." Ogula began to prepaie them 
 food. They sat at the food, eating and drinking ; had conver- 
 sation, and spent the evening laughing and playing. At 
 night most of them pretended to be drunk and sleepy, and 
 stretched themselves on the floor of the large room as if in 
 sleep. 
 
 Ogula also had been drinking, and said he was tired and 
 would go to bed. But his servant was sober; he saw what 
 the men were doing, and suspected evil. He thought : '^ Ah ! 
 my master is drunk, and these people are strangers. Wliat 
 will happen?" So when the lights were put out and lie was 
 going to bed, he left open the door of the little entry and 
 locked the door of his master's room. After midni.uHit tlie 
 thieves rose and consulted. " Let us go and kill him." They 
 arose and trod softly toward Ogula's room. Not quite sober, 
 they missed the proper way, stepped througli the open door of 
 the little entry, and stumbled into the caldron of copal. It 
 was still hot, and stuck to their bodies like pitch. I hey 
 were in agony, but did not dare to cry out. They all were 
 crawling covered with the hot gum, except tlic last man, who 
 
366 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 had jumped over the bodies of those who had fallen before 
 him ; and he ran away to their house. 
 
 But Ogula was sleeping, ignorant of what was going on. 
 
 In the morning the boy, who also had slept, on opening 
 the house, found the kettle full of tarred limbs of dead human 
 bodies. He knocked at Ogula's door and waked him. But 
 Ogula said, " Don't disturb me, I am so tired from last night's 
 revel." "Yes, but get up and see what has happened." 
 Ogula came and saw. Then he told the lad that but for him 
 he would have been dead. Ogula thenceforth took him as a 
 brother. Then he and the boy had a big work of throwing 
 out the bodies of the thieves. Ogula was not afraid of a 
 charge of murder, for the thieves had tumbled themselves 
 into the scalding contents of the kettle. He had enough 
 wealth, and did not go again to the thieves' house. 
 
 But that one man who had escaped was wishing for re- 
 venge, yet was afraid to come to Ogula's house by himself. 
 Time went on. Ogula remained quiet. But his enemy still 
 sought revenge, waiting for an opportunity. 
 
 Gradually, too, Ogula had forgotten his enemy's face ; for 
 the thieves were many, and all disguised, and he would be 
 unable to distinguish which one had escaped. 
 
 On a time it happened that this thief went far to another 
 country ; and while he was thei'e, Ogula also happened to 
 journey to that very town. The lad had said, being now a 
 young man, '' May I go too ? " " Yes, you may, for you are 
 like a brother. You must go wherever I do." On the very 
 second day in the town the two, Ogula and the thief, met. 
 The thief recognized Ogula; but Ogula did not recognize 
 him, and neither spoke; but the young man, with better 
 memory, said to himself, " I have seen this man somewhere." 
 He looked closely, but said nothing. 
 
 The next day the thief made a feast. He met Ogula again 
 on the street and saluted him, " Mbolo ! I am making a feast. 
 You seem a stranger. I would like you to come." " Yes ; 
 where?" "At such-and-such a place." "Yes, I Avill come. 
 ]But this attendant of mine is good, and must be invited too." 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 3,17 
 
 " Yes, I have no objections." Next evening the feast was 
 held, and people came to it. The thief placed Ogula and his 
 servant near himself. There was much eating and (h'iiiking. 
 The thief became excited, and determined to kill Ogula at the 
 table by sticking him with a knife. 
 
 All the while that the thief was watcliing Ogula, the ser- 
 vant was watching the thief. Presently the latter turned 
 slightly and began to draw a knife. The servant wat<'hed 
 him closely. The thief's knife was out, and tlie servant's 
 knife was out too. But the thief was watching only Ogula, 
 and did not know what the servant was doing. Just as tlie 
 thief was about to thrust at Ogula, the servant jumpwl and 
 thrust his knife into the thief's neck. The man fell, blood 
 flowing abundantly over the tiible. The guests were alarmed, 
 and were about to seize the servant, who pointed at the drawn 
 knife in the man's hand that had been intended for his master ; 
 and then he told their whole story. 
 
 So the guests decided that there was no charge against 
 Ogula and his servant, and scattered. The next day Ogula 
 and his servant left. As he knew that that man was the hist 
 of the company of thieves, he said, in gladness, **Now! 
 Glory!" Then he thought, "All that wealth is mine, since 
 this last one who tried to take my life is dead." 
 
 As he had seen enough of the world by travel, he decided 
 to stay in one place. He would call people to live with him 
 in a new town which he would build for them around that 
 enchanted house of the thieves, which he took as his own with 
 all its wealth. And he lived long in tliat house in great 
 glory, with wdfe and children and retainers and slaves. 
 
 VI. Banga ob^ the Five Faces. 
 
 Ra-Mborakinda lived in his town with his sons and daugh- 
 ters and his glory. One son was Nkomhe, and anothei j^C )gula, 
 whose full name was Ogula-keva-anlingo-n'-og^ndft (Ogula- 
 who-goes-faster-than-water) ; but they were not of the same 
 mother. 
 
 Ogula grew up without taking any wife. He Ixname a 
 
368 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 great man, with knowledge of sorcery. One day his father 
 said to him, " Ogula, as you are a big man now, I think it is 
 time for you to have a wife. 1 think you had better choose 
 from one of my young wives." Ogula replied, "No, I will 
 get a wife in my own way." So one day he went to another 
 osSnge (clearing) of a town which belonged to a man of the 
 awiri (spirits; plural of "ombwiri "), i. e., one who possessed 
 magic power, and obtained one of his daughters. Her name 
 was Ikagu-ny' -awiri. 
 
 He brought the girl home to his father's house, where she 
 was very much admired as " a fine woman ! a fine woman ! " 
 She was indeed very pretty. Then Ogula said to her, " As 
 you are now my wife, you must be orunda (set apart from) 
 to other men, and I will be orunda to other women, even if 
 I go to work at another place." And she replied, "It is 
 
 well." 
 
 At another time Ogula said, " I think it better for us to 
 move away from my father's town, and put my house just a 
 little way off." After the new house was finished they moved 
 to it, and lived by themselves. Ogula had business else- 
 where that compelled him to be often absent, returning at 
 times in the afternoons. Whenever Nkombe knew that Ogula 
 was out, he would come and annoy Ikagu with solicitation to 
 leave her husband and marry him. Ogula knew of this, for 
 he had a ngalo (a special fetich) that enabled him to know 
 what was going on elsewhere. The wife would say, "Ah, 
 Nkombe! No, I know that you are my husband's brother; 
 but I do not want you! " Then, when it was time for Ogula 
 to return, Nkombe would go off. That went on for many 
 days ; Nkombe visiting Ikagu whenever he had opportunity, 
 and the wife refusing him every time. It went on so long 
 that at last Ogula thought that he would speak to his wife 
 about it. 
 
 So he began to ask her, "Is everything all right? Has any 
 one been troubling you?" She answered, "No." He asked 
 her again, and again she said, "No." Thus it went on, — 
 Nkombe coming ; Ogula asking questions ; and the wife, un- 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 369 
 
 willing to make trouble between the two brothers, denying. 
 But one day the trouble that Nkombe made tlie wife wa« so 
 great that Ogula, with the aid of his ngalo, tliought surely 
 she would acknowledge. But she did not; for tliat day, 
 when he came and called his wife into their hc.ln„.ni. and 
 asked her, she only asserted weakly, "No trouble/' TIh-h 
 he said, "Do you think I do not know? You arc a go.ul 
 wife to me. I know all that has passed between you and 
 Nkombe." And he added, "As Nkombe is making y..u all 
 this trouble, I will have to remove again far from my fallier's 
 town, and go elsewhere." So he went far away, and built 
 a smaU village for himself and wife. They put it in good 
 order, and made the pathway wide and clean. 
 
 But in his going far from his father's town he had un- 
 knowingly come near to another town that belonged to 
 another Ra-Mborakinda, who also had great power and 
 many sons and daughters. One of the sons also was named 
 Ogula, just as old and as large as this first Ogula. One 
 day this Ogula went out hunting with his gun. He went 
 far, leaving his town far away, going on and on till he saw 
 it was late in the day and that it was time to go back. 
 
 Just as he was about returning he came to a nice clean 
 pathway, and he wondered, "So here are people? This fine 
 path I who cleans it? and where does it lead to?" So he 
 thought he would go and see for himself; and he sUirt^ni on 
 the path. He had not gone far before he came to the house 
 of Ogula. There he stood, admiring the house and grounds. 
 " A fine house ! a fine house ! " 
 
 When Ogula saw Ogula 2d standing in the street, he in- 
 vited him up into the house. They asked each other a feu- 
 questions, became acquainted, and made friendshij); and 
 Ogula kept Ogula 2d for two days as his guest. Then Ogula 
 2d said, "They may think me lost, in town, after these two 
 days. Thanks for your kindness, but I had l>etter go." And 
 he added, "Some day I will send for you, and you will come 
 to visit me, that I may show you hospitality." 
 
 Ogula 2d went back to his place. He had a sister who 
 
 24 
 
370 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 was a very troublesome woman, assuming authority and giv- 
 ing orders like a man. Her name was Banga-yi-baganlo-tani 
 (Banga-of -five-faces). Though her father, the king, and her 
 brother were still living, she insisted on governing the town. 
 When any one displeased her, or she was vexed with any 
 one, she would order that person to lie down before a cannon 
 and be shot to pieces. The father was wearied of her annoy- 
 ances, but did not know what to do with her. 
 
 As Ogula 2d had left word with Ogula that he would in- 
 vite him on another day, he did so. Ogula accepted; but as 
 the invitation was only to himself, he did not take his wife, 
 but went by himself, and was welcomed and entertained. 
 
 When it was late afternoon, he was about to go back, but 
 Ogula 2d said, "You were so kind to me; do not go back 
 to-day. Stay with me." And Ogula consented. 
 
 In asking Ogula to stay, Ogula 2d thought, " As his wife 
 is not here, perhaps he will want another woman. I have 
 my sister here; but if I first offer her, it will be a shame, 
 for he has not asked for any one " [an actual native Afri- 
 can custom, to give a guest a temporary wife, as one of the 
 usual hospitalities. The custom is not resented by the 
 women]. 
 
 All this while Ogula had not seen the sister. When they 
 were ready for the evening meal, Ogula 2d thought it time 
 to call his sister to see the guest. She fixed herself up 
 finely, clean, and with ornaments. She came and sat in the 
 house, and there were the usual salutations of "Mbolo!" 
 "Ai, mbolo! " and some conversation. 
 
 While they were talking, Banga had her face cast 
 down with eyes to the ground. And when she lifted her 
 eyes to look at Ogula, her face changed. From the time 
 she came in till meal-time, she made a succession of these 
 changes of her face, thinking that Ogula would be surprised, 
 and would admire the changes, and expecting that he would 
 ask her brother for her. 
 
 She waited and waited ; Ogula saw all these five changes 
 of her face, but was not attracted. They went to their food. 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LOUE 871 
 
 and ate and finished. And they talked on till bedtime; but 
 Ogula had said nothing of love. Bmiga was annoyed and 
 disappointed; she went to her bed piqut'd and wiih rfsuntl'ul 
 thoughts. 
 
 The next morning Ogula said it was time to go back to his 
 wife. When he was getting ready to go, Banga said to him, 
 " Have you a wife ? " 
 
 He answered, "Yes." She said, ''1 want her to coniL' and 
 visit me some day." And Ogula agreed. He went, and 
 returning to his house, told his wife that Banga wanted to 
 see her. 
 
 After Ogula was gone, Banga asked her brother about 
 Ogula's wife. "Is she pretty?" And he told her how linely 
 the wife had looked. Banga was not pleased at that, wius 
 jealous, and waited till Ikagu should come that she might see 
 for herself. "I will see if she is more beautiful than I with 
 my five countenances." Subsequently Banga chose a day, 
 and sent for Ikagu. She dressed for the journey, and Ogula, 
 not being invited, took her only half-way. 
 
 When Ogula's wife arrived, Banga saw that it was true 
 that she was pretty, and of graceful carriage in her walking, 
 and she did not wonder that her husband was charnu'd witb brr. 
 But she hid her jealousy, and pretended to be j»least'tl with ber 
 visitor. Ogula's wife did not spend the night there : when slie 
 thought it time to go, she said good-b3^e, and turned lo leave. 
 
 When she had gone, Banga was planning for a contest with 
 her. She said to herself, "Now I see why that man made me 
 feel ashamed at his not asking for my love, — U^canse his 
 wife is so beautiful. She shall see that I will have lier killed, 
 and I shall have her husband." 
 
 So after a few days she sent word to Ogula's wife, "Pre- 
 pare yourself for a fight, and come and meet me at my father's 
 house." 
 
 But the wife said to Ogula, " I have done nothing. Wliat is 
 the fight for ? " Nevertheless, she began to prepare a lighting- 
 dress, and before it was finished another messenger came with 
 word, "You are waited for." 
 
372 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 So she said, " As it is not a call for peace, I had better put 
 on a dress that befits blood." So she dressed in red. After 
 she was dressed she started, and Ogula went with her, to hear 
 what was the ground of the challenge. 
 
 As soon as they got to the town, they found Banga strid- 
 ing up and down the street. Her cannon was already loaded, 
 waiting to be fired. When Ogul'a wanted to know what the 
 "palaver " was, Banga said, "I do not want to talk with you; 
 I only want you to obey my orders. " 
 
 But Ikagu wanted to know what the trouble was, and 
 began to ask, "What have I done?" Banga only repeated, 
 " I don't want any words from you ; only, you come and lie 
 down in front of this cannon." Ikagu obeyed, and lay down, 
 and Banga ordered her men to fire the cannon. 
 
 By this time Ogula, by the power of his ngalo, had changed 
 the places of the two women. When the cannon was fired, 
 and the smoke had cleared away, the people who stood by 
 saw Ikagu standing safe by her husband, and Banga lying 
 dead. All the assembled people began to wonder, " What is 
 this? What is this?" 
 
 So Banga's father called Ogula, and said, "Do not think 
 I am displeased with you at the death of my daughter; 
 I too was wearied at her doings. So, as you are justified, 
 and Banga was wrong, it is no matter to be quarrelled 
 about." 
 
 And Ogula 2d said to Ogula, "I am not vexed at you. 
 You had done nothing. She wanted to bring trouble on 
 you, and it has come on herself. I have no fight with you. 
 We will still be friends. But do not live off in your forest 
 village by yourself ; come you and your wife to live in this 
 town." 
 
 So Ogula and his wife consented, and agreed to remove, and 
 live with Ogula 2d. And they did so without further trouble. 
 
 VII. The Two Brothers. 
 
 Ra-Mborakinda has his great town, and his wives, and 
 his children, and the glory of his kingdom. All his women 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LUKE 373 
 
 had no children, except the loved head-wife, Ngwe-nkoiide 
 (Mother of Queens), and the unloved Ngwe-vazyu (Mother 
 of Skin-Disease). Each of these two had children, sons, m 
 the same time. The father gave them their names. Ngwe- 
 nkonde's was Nkombe, and Ngwe-vazya's was Ogula. 
 Again these two women became mothei-s. This time l)()th of 
 them had daughters. Ngwe-nkonde's was ikiiiumI Ngw;in<,M, 
 and Ngwe-vazya's was Ilambe. A third tinu' these tw(j bore 
 children, sons, on the same day. These two sons grew up 
 without names till they began to talk, for the father had 
 delayed to give them names. But one day he called them 
 to announce to them their names. What he liad selected 
 they refused, saying that they had already named them- 
 selves. Ngwe-nkonde's child named himself Osongo, and 
 Ngwe-vazya's Obengi. And the father agreed. 
 
 These two children grew and loved each other very much. 
 No one would have thought that they belonged to different 
 mothers, so great was the love they had for each other. 
 They were always seen together, and always ate at the same 
 place. When one happened to be out at mealtime, the 
 other would not eat, and would begin to cry till the absent 
 one returned. Both were handsome in form and feature. 
 
 When Ngwe-vazya's people heard about her nice-looking 
 little boy, they sent word to her, " We have heard about your 
 children, but we have not seen you for a long time. Come 
 and visit us, and bring your youngest son, for we have hoard 
 of him and want to see him." 
 
 So she went and asked permission of Ra-Mhorakinda, 
 saying that she wanted to go and see her people. He waa 
 willinsf. Then she made herself ready to start. As soon as 
 Osongo knew that his brother Obengi was ^oin^ away, he 
 began to cry at the thought of separation. He said, "I am 
 not going to stay alone. I have to go too, for I am not 
 willing to be separated from my brother. And Obengi said 
 the same: "If Osongo does not go witli us, then I will not 
 go at all." Then Ngwe-vazya thought to herself. "No, it 
 will not do for me to take Osongo along with me, for his 
 
374 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 mother and I are not friendly." And she told Osongo that 
 he must stay. But both the boys persisted, "No, we both 
 must go." So Ngwe-vazya said, "Well, let it be so. I 
 will take care of Osongo as if he were my own son."^ And 
 Ra-Mborakinda and Ngwe-nkonde were willing that Osongo 
 should go. 
 
 So they started and went; and when they reached the town 
 of Ngwe-vazya 's family the people were very glad to receive 
 them. She was very attentive to both the boys, watching 
 them wherever they went, for they were the beloved sons of 
 Ra-Mborakinda. She was there at her people's town about 
 two months. Then she told them that it was time to re- 
 turn home with the two boys. Her people assented, and 
 began to load her and the boys with parting presents. 
 
 They went back to Ra-Mborakinda 's town, and there also 
 their people were glad to see them return, for the children 
 had grown, and looked well. The people, and even Ra- 
 Mborakinda, praised Ngwe-vazya for having so well cared 
 for the children, especially the one who was not her own. 
 
 This made Ngwe-nkonde more jealous, because of the 
 praise that Ra-Mborakinda gave, and because of the boys' 
 fine report of their visit and the abundance of gifts with 
 which Ngwe-vazya had returned. So Ngwe-nkonde made 
 up her mind that some day she would do the same, that she 
 might receive similar praise. She waited some time before 
 she attempted to carry out her plan. By the time that she 
 got ready to ask leave to go the boys had grown to be lads. 
 One day she thought proper to ask Ra-Mborakinda permis- 
 sion to go visiting with her son. Ra-Mborakinda was will- 
 ing, and she commenced her preparations. 
 
 And again confusion came because of the two lads refusing 
 to be separated. Osongo refused to go alone. But after- 
 ward he, knowing of his mother's jealous disposition, changed 
 his mind, and said to Obongi, "No, I think you better stay." 
 But Obengi refused, saying, " No, I have to go too. " Osongo 
 then told him the true reason for his objecting. " I said this 
 because I know that my mother is not like yours. So please 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 37.^ 
 
 stay; I will be gone only two days, and will then come and 
 meet you." But Obengi insisted, '^ If you go, I go." And 
 Ngwe-nkonde said, "Well, let it be so; I will take care of 
 you both." 
 
 So they went. When they reached the town of Ngw»- 
 nkonde's family, the people were glad to see them. She 
 also was apparently kind and attentive to the lads for the 
 nrst two days. On the third day she began to think tin- care 
 was troublesome. "These lads are big enough to take care 
 of themselves like men." 
 
 She did indeed feel kindly toward Obr-ngi, liking his looks, 
 and she said to herself, "I think I will try to win his affec- 
 tions from his mother to myself." She tried to do so, but 
 the lad was not influenced by her. When she noticed that 
 he did not seem to care for her attentions, slie was displeased, 
 began to hate him, and made up her mind to kill him. 
 
 All the days that the lads were there at tiie town they 
 went out on excursions to the forest, hunting animals. As 
 soon as they came back they would sit down togetlier to chat 
 and to eat sugar-cane [with African children a suKstitute 
 for candy]. 
 
 Ngwe-nkonde knew of this habit. After she had decided 
 to kill Obengi, on the next day she had the sugar-cane 
 ready for them. She rubbed poison on one of the stalks, 
 and arranged that that very piece should be the the lirst one 
 that Obengi would take. He had taken only two bites, and 
 was chewing, when he exclaimed, " Brother, I begin to feel 
 giddy, and my eyes see double! Please give me some water 
 quickly!" Water was brought to him. He took a little of 
 it. Others, spectators, became excited, and began to dash 
 water over his face. But soon he fell down dead. 
 
 Then Ngwe-Nkonde exclaimed to herself, "So I 'vo Wen 
 here only five days, and now the lad is dead. I (h'n't care! 
 Let him die!" 
 
 By this time Osongo had become greatly excited, crying 
 out, and repeating over and over, "My brother! Oh. my 
 brother! Oh, my same age!" His mother said to him, 
 
376 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 " To-morrow I will have him buried, and we will start back 
 to our town." Osongo replied to her, "That shall not be. 
 He shall not be buried here. We both came together, and 
 though he is dead, we both will go back together." The 
 next morning Osongo said to his mother, " I know that you 
 are at the bottom of this trouble. You know something about 
 it. You brought him. And now he is dead. I charge you 
 with killing him." She only replied, "I know nothing of 
 that. We will wait, and we shall know." 
 
 They began to get ready for the return journey, and some 
 of the people said, " Let a coffin be made, and the body be 
 placed there." But Osongo said, "No, I don't want that: 
 I have a hammock, and he shall be carried in it." So they 
 prepared the hammock, and placed in it the dead body. 
 
 As to Ngwe-Nkonde, Osongo had her arrested, and held 
 as a prisoner, with her hands tied behind her, and he took 
 a long whip with which to drive her. And they started on 
 their journey. 
 
 On the way Osongo was wailing a mourning-song, and 
 cursing his mother, and weeping, saying, " Oh, we both came 
 together, and he is dead! Oh, my brother! Oh, my same 
 age ! ObSngi gone ! Osongo left ! Oh, the children of one 
 father! Osongo, who belongs to Ngwe-Nkonde, left, and 
 Obengi, who belongs to Ngwe-Vazya, gone! " And thus 
 they went, he repeating these impromptu words of his song, 
 and weeping as he went. As they were going thus, while 
 they were still only half-way on their route, a man, Eseren- 
 gila (tale-bearer), one of his father's servants, was out in the 
 forest hunting. He heard the song. Listening, he said to 
 himself, "Those words! What do they mean?" Listening 
 still, he thought he recognized Osongo's voice, and under- 
 stood that one was living and the other dead. 
 
 So he ran ahead to carry the news to the town before the 
 corpse should arrive there. When he reached the town, he 
 first told his wife about it. She advised him, " If that is so, 
 don't go and tell this bad news to the king; a servant like 
 you should not be the bearer of ill news." But he still said, 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 377 
 
 "No, but I 'm going to tell the father." His wife insisted, 
 "Do not do it I With those two beloved children, if the news 
 be not true, the parents wdll make trouV)le for you!" Hut 
 Eserengila started to tell, and by the time he had finished his 
 story the company with the corpse were near enough for the 
 people of the town to hear all the words of Osongo's song 
 of mourning. 
 
 Obengi's father and mother were so excited with grief that 
 their people had to hold them fast as if they were prisoners, 
 to prevent them injuring themselves. The funeral eoinpanv 
 all went up to the king's house, and laid down the body of 
 his son; and Osongo's mother, still tied, was k-d into tlie 
 house. 
 
 The townspeople were all excited, shouting and weep- 
 ing. Some began to give directions about the making of a 
 fine coffin. But Osongo said, "No, I don't want him to l)e 
 put into a coffin yet, because when my brother was alive we 
 had many confidences and secrets, and now that lie is dead, 
 I have somewhat of a work to do before he is buried. Let 
 the corpse wait awhile." So he asked them all to leave the 
 corpse alone while he went out of the town for a short time. 
 
 Then he went away to the village of Ra-Marange, and said 
 to him, "I'm in great trouble, and indeed I need your 
 help." The prophet replied, "Child, I am too old; I am 
 not making medicine now. Go to Ogula-y'-impazya-vazya, 
 and repeat your story to him; he will help y«>u." 
 
 Ra-Marange showed him the way to Ogula-y'-impazya- 
 vazya's place. He went, and had not gone far when he 
 found it. Going to the magician, Osongo said, "I'm in 
 trouble, and have come to you." As soon as lie had sai<l 
 this, Ogula-y'-impazya-vazya made his magic fire, and stepped 
 into it. Osongo was frightened, thinking, "I 've come to this 
 man, and he is about to kill himself for me": and lie rdu 
 away. But he had not gone far, when he heard the magi- 
 cian's nkendo (a witchcraft bell) ringing, and his voice rail- 
 ing to him, "If you have come for medicine, come kick; hut 
 if for anything else, then run away." So Osongo returned 
 
378 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 quickly, and found that the old magician had emerged from 
 his fire and was waiting for him. Osongo told his story of 
 his brother's death, and said he wanted direction what to do. 
 Ogula-y'-impazya-vazya gave him medicine for a certain pur- 
 pose, and told him what to do and how to do it. 
 
 When Osongo came back with the medicine, he entered his 
 father's house, into the room where his brother's corpse was 
 lying, and ordered every one to leave him alone for a while. 
 They all left the room. He closed the door, and following 
 the directions given him by Ogula-y'-impazya-vazya, he 
 brought Obengi to life again. 
 
 Now came a question what was to be done with Ngwe- 
 nkonde, the attempted murderess. It was demanded that 
 her throat should be cut, and that her body, weighted with 
 stones, should be flung into the river. "For," said Osongo, 
 "I will not own such a mother; she is very bad. Obengi's 
 mother shall be my mother. " It was decided so. And Ea- 
 Mborakinda said to Ngwe-vazya, " You step up to the queen's 
 seat with your two sons " (meaning Osongo and Obengi). 
 
 And Ngwe-vazya became head-wife, and was very kind 
 and attentive to both sons. 
 
 And the matter ended. 
 
 VIII. J£ki and his Ozazi. 
 
 Ra-Mborakinda had his town where he lived with his wives, 
 his sons, his daughters, and his glory. 
 
 Lord Mborakinda had his loved head- wife, Ngwe-nkonde, 
 and the unloved one, Ngwe-lege. Both of these, with other 
 of his wives, had sons and daughters. Ngwe-nkonde's first 
 son was Nkombe, and she had two others. Ngwe-lege also 
 had three sons, but the eldest of these, Jeki, was a thief. He 
 stole everything he came across, — food, fish, and all. This 
 became so notorious that when people saw him approach 
 their houses they would begin to hide their food and goods, 
 saying, "There comes that thief! " 
 
 JSki's grandfather, the father of his mother, was dead. 
 One night, in a dream, that grandfather came to him, and 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-l.OKE 379 
 
 said to him, ^Meki, my son, when will yuu leave off that 
 stealing, and try to work and do (jther things as others do? 
 To-morrow morning come to me early ; I have a word to say 
 to you." Jeki replied, ''But where do you live, and how 
 can I know the way to that town?" Me answered, ''Yuu 
 just start at your town entrance, and go on, and you will see 
 the way to my place before you reach it." 
 
 So the next morning Jgki, remembering his dream, said to 
 his mother, "Please fix me up some food." [He did not tell 
 her that the purpose of the food was not simply for his break- 
 fast, but as an extra supply for a journey.] The food that 
 was prepared for him was five rolls made of boiled plantains 
 mashed into a kind of pudding called "nkima," and tied up 
 with dried fish. When these were ready, he put them inside 
 his travelling-bag. Then he dressed himself for his j(.uni.-y. 
 His mother said, "Where are you going?" He evaded, 
 and said, "I will be back again." So he went away. 
 
 After he had been gone a little while, he came to a fork 
 of the road, and without hesitation his feet took the one lead- 
 ing to the right. After going on for a while he met two 
 people named Isakiliya, fighting, whose forms were like 
 sticks. [These sticks were abambo, or ghosts. In all native 
 folk-lore, where spirits embody themselves, they take an ab- 
 surd or singular form, that they may test the amiability or 
 severity, as the case may be, of human beings with whom 
 they may meet. They bless the kind, and cui-se the unkind.] 
 He went to them to make peace, and parted them ; took out 
 one of his rolls of nkima and fish, gave to them, and passed 
 on. They thanked him, and gave him a ])lessing, " Peace Ikj 
 on you, both going and coming!" He went on and on, and 
 then he met two Antya (eyes) fighting. In the same way as 
 with the Isakiliya, he went to them, separated tliem, gave 
 them food, was blessed, and went on his way. 
 
 Again he met in the same way two Kuinu (stumj)s) figliting, 
 and in the same way he interfered between them, made j)eace, 
 gave food, w^as blessed, and went on Ids journey. He went 
 on and on, and met with a fourth fight. This time it was 1)0- 
 
380 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 tween two Poti (heads), and in the same way he made peace 
 between them, gave a gift, was blessed, and went on. 
 
 He journeyed and journeyed. And he came to a dividing 
 of the way, and was puzzled which to take. Suddenly an old 
 woman appeared. He saluted her, " Mbolo ! " took out his last 
 roll of nkima, and gave it to her. The old woman thanked 
 him, and asked him, "Where are you going?" He replied, 
 *" I 'm on my way to an old man, but am a little uncertain as 
 to my way." She said, "Oh, joy! I know him. I know 
 the way. His name is RS-ve-nla-ga-li." She showed him 
 the way, pronounced a blessing on him, and he passed on. 
 He had not gone much farther when he came to the place. 
 
 When the old grandfather saw him, he greeted him, " Have 
 you come, son?" He answered, "Yes." 
 
 "Well," said the grandfather, "I just live here by myself, 
 and do my work myself." And the old man made food for 
 him. Then next day this grandfather began to have a talk 
 with Jgki. He rebuked him for his habit of stealing. JSki 
 replied, " But, grandfather, what can I do ? I have no work 
 nor any money. Even if I try to leave off stealing, I cannot. 
 I do not know what medicine will cause me to leave it off." 
 Then said the grandfather, "Well, child, I will make the 
 medicine for you before you go back to your mother." So 
 Jgki remained a few days with his grandfather, and then 
 said, "I wish to go back." The grandfather said, "Yes, 
 but I have some little work for you to do before you leave." 
 So Jeki said, "Good! let me have the work." 
 
 The grandfather gave him an axe, and told him to go and 
 cut firewood sufficient to fill the small woodshed. JSki did 
 so, filling the shed in that one day. The regular occupa- 
 tion of the old man was the twisting of ropes for the lines 
 of seines. So the next day he told JSki to go and get the 
 inner barks, whose fibre was used in his rope-making. Jgki 
 went to the forest, gathered this material, and returned with 
 it to the old man. 
 
 The next day the grandfather said to JSki, "Now I am 
 ready to start you off' on your journey." And he added, "As 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE 381 
 
 you gave as reasons for stealing tliiit you had ni-itlicr money 
 nor the means of getting it, I will provide that." Then the 
 old man called him, took him to a brook-side, and rennnded 
 him that he had promised that he could make a medicine to 
 cure him of his desire to steal. 
 
 The grandfather began to cut open Jfki's chest, and took 
 out his heart, washed it all clean, and put it buck again. 
 Then they went back to the grandfather's house. Ihere lie 
 gave JiSki an ozazi (wooden pestle), and said, "Now, son, 
 take this. This is your wealth. Everything that yc.u wish 
 this will bring to you. Hold it up, express yuur wish, and 
 you will get it. But there is one oruuda (taboo) connectetl 
 with it: no one must pronounce the word -salt' ui your 
 hearing. You may see and use salt, but may not speak it.s 
 name nor hear it spoken, for if you do thing.s will turn out 
 bad for you." " But," the old man added, " if that happens, 
 I will now tell you what to do." And he re^.aled to an, a 
 secret and gave him full directions. When the grandfathe 
 S Ishel, he led him a short dist^uKC on the way^^ and 
 returned to his house. He had not prepared ^J^J^ 
 Jeki for the journey, for he with the ozazi ^^ould huiisdf 
 be able to supply all his own wishes. _^ 
 
 Jeki goes on and on, and then exclaims '-l' f"' >; "J ; 
 only thil ozazi is to furnish me with -ery tung n k 
 
 tincrhunffrv; SO, soon I 11 ti} its po\Nti. n 
 SrLd'the'n decided that he would try « 'et eH-;; c- 
 aet anvthing by means of the ozazi. So he h.ld ,t up. and 
 Sw "I wish a'table of food to be spread for me. wi.li n , 
 Se men to eat with me." Instantly there wa.s seen a Uu 
 and table covered with food, and two ^vl-; ;;- ' ' J;,_,^;,; 
 sat down with these two companions. .\tt< i t u > 
 
382 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 " There ! there is that thief coming again. We must begin 
 to hide our things. After Jeki's arrival, in a few days, the 
 townspeople noticed a change in him, and inquired of each 
 other, " Has he been stealing, or has he really changed ? " 
 for shortly after his return he had told his mother and 
 brothers all the news, and had warned the people of 
 the town about the orunda of "salt." In the course of a 
 few days Jeki did many wonderful things with his ozazi. 
 He wished for nice little premises of his own with houses 
 and conveniences, near his father's town, supplied with ser- 
 vants and clothing and furniture. These appeared. Soon, 
 by the wealth that he possessed, he became master of the 
 town, and ruled over the other children of his father. He 
 obtained from that same oz^zi, created by its power, two 
 wives, — Ngwanga and Ilambe, who were loving and obedi- 
 ent. He also bought three other wives from the village, who 
 were like servants to the two chief ones. He confided his 
 plans and everything to the two favored ones who had come 
 out of the ozazi. 
 
 In the course of time he thought he would display his 
 power before the people, and for their benefit, by causing 
 ships to come with wealth. So he held up the ozazi, and 
 said, " I want to see a ship come full of merchandise ! " 
 
 Presently the townspeople began to shout, "A ship! a 
 ship!" It anchored. Jeki called his own brothers and half- 
 brothers, and directed, " You all get ready and go out to the 
 ship, and tell the captain that I will follow you." They 
 made ready, and went on board, and asked, "What goods 
 have you brought?" The captain told them, "Mostly cloth, 
 and a few other things." They informed him, "Soon the 
 chief of the town will come." And they returned ashore, 
 and reported to Jeki what was on board. He made himself 
 ready and went, leaving word for them to follow soon and 
 discharge the cargo. The ship lay there a few days, and 
 then sailed away. Then Jeki divided the goods among his 
 brothers and parents, keeping only a small share for himself. 
 
 Thus it went on : every few months Jeki ordering a ship 
 
FETICH IN FULK-LOKK 383 
 
 to come with goods. As usiuil, he would si-nd Ids hn.thci-s 
 first, they would bring a report, and then hr would '^n cu 
 board. Sometimes he woukl eat with the ship's conipaiiv, 
 sometimes he would invite them ashore to eat in liis own 
 house. 
 
 All this time no one had broken the orunda of '\salt." 
 But, to prove things, Jeki thought he would try his half- 
 brothers, and see what were their real feelings toward him. 
 So the next time he caused ships to come with a cargo of 
 salt only. At sight of the ships there was tlie usual shout 
 of "A ship! a ship!" The brothers went aboard as usual, 
 and found what the cargo was. The half-brothers returned 
 ashore immediately, and began to shout when they neared 
 Jeki's house, "The ships are full of salt!" He heard the 
 word, and said to his mother and to his two chief wives, 
 "Do you hear that?" 
 
 The half-brothers came close to him, and exclaimed, 
 "Dagula [Sir], the ships are loaded with nothing but salt, 
 salt, salt, and the captain is waiting for you." Jrki asked 
 again, as if he had not heard, " What is it the captains have 
 brought?" And they said, "Salt." So he said, "Let it be 
 so. To-day is the day. Good ! You go and get ready, and 
 I will get ready, and we shall all go together." 
 
 Then the two chief wives looked very sorrowful, for they 
 felt sure by his look and tone that something bad was about 
 to happen. 
 
 First he ordered a bath to be prepared for himself. It wius 
 made ready, and he bathed, and went to dress himself in the 
 other room, where his goods were stored. When he had 
 entered, he called his own two Ijrothers and the two wives, 
 and closed the door. He began to examine a few of his boxes. 
 Opening a certain one, he said, "Of all my wealth, this wjus 
 one of the first. Now I am going to die. 15 ut as it is always 
 the custom, a few days after the funeral, to decide who shall 
 be the successor and inheritor, when that day arrives, come 
 and open this particular box. i)o not forget to take the cloth 
 for covering the throne of my sueeessor fnuu this ])ox." 
 
384 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 Inside of that box was a small casket, holding a large black 
 silk handkerchief. He kept the secret received from his grand- 
 father, and did not tell them what would happen when they 
 should come to get cloth from the box. They understood 
 only that on the throne-day they were to open the big box and 
 the little casket it contained. Then he told them, "Now 
 you may go out." They went out. Jeki shut the door, and 
 began to dress for the ships. But, before dressing, he took 
 out the black silk handkerchief from the small box, and 
 rubbed it over his entire body; and, carefully folding it, 
 put it back again in the casket and closed it. Then he was 
 ready to start. And they all went oif to the ships, he with 
 the ozazi in hand. He, with his own brothers, was in a boat 
 following the boat of his half-brothers. 
 
 He raised a death-song, "Ilendo! Ilendo! give me skill for 
 a dance! Ilendo! Ilendo! give me skill for a play!" This 
 he sang on the way, jumping from boat to boat. He said he 
 would go on board the ships, but ordered all his brothers not 
 to come. His plan was that they were to be only witnesses 
 of his death. He boarded one of the ships, and went over 
 the deck singing and dancing with that same Ilendo song. 
 Then he jumped to the deck of the next vessel. 
 
 As he did so, the first one sank instantly. On the second 
 ship he sang and danced, and jumped thence to the third, the 
 second sinking as the first. On the third ship he continued 
 the song and dance ; he remained on it a long while, for he 
 caused it to sink slowly. When the water reached the ves- 
 sel's deck, the brothers in the boats were looking on with fear. 
 His own brothers began to cry, seeing the ship sinking, for 
 they knew that Jeki would die with it. When it sank, the 
 boats went ashore wailing, and took the news to the town. 
 
 But the half-brothers were not really mourning ; they were 
 planning the division of Jeki's property. All the town held 
 the kwedi (mourning); but after the fifth day the half- 
 brothers told their father that it was time for the exaltation 
 of a successor to Jeki, the ceremony of ampenda (glories). 
 Ngwe-nkonde's first-born son, Nkombe, said, "I will be the 
 
FETICH IN FOLK-LORE zsr> 
 
 first to stand on the throne, and my two brothers will be 
 next." Juki's two brothers refused to have anything to say 
 about the division. They determined they would ivunnn 
 quiet and see what would be done. And the two wives 
 of Jeki said the same. 
 
 When the half-brothers came to the house of mourning, 
 they began to discuss which of these two women they would 
 inherit. Then one of the two wives said, "Oh, Ngwanga, 
 we must not forget what JC'ki told us about the box, now 
 that the people are fixing for the ampenda! " 
 
 So the two brothers of Jeki and the two women went inside 
 the room, shut the door, and began to open the big box to 
 take out the little casket. By this time the people outside 
 had everything ready for the ceremony of the ampenda. The 
 two women now opened the casket, took out the black hand- 
 kerchief, and unfolded it. And Jeki stood in the middle of 
 the room, with his ozazi in his hand. Their surprise was 
 great; their joy extreme. In their joy they ran to embrace 
 him. 
 
 The people outside were very busy with their arrangements. 
 Nkombe already had taken the throne, having painted his face 
 with the little white mark of rule, and given orders to have 
 the signal-drum beaten; and the crowd l)Ogan to dance and 
 sing to his praise. 
 
 Jeki sent his youngest brother, Oraniga (last-boiii), saving, 
 "Just go privately and tell my father about me, that I have 
 come to life. And I want him to have the wlu)le town swept, 
 and to lay bars of iron along the streets for me to st<'j) on 
 from this house to his. Say also that Ntyrgi- (monkey) must 
 continue his firing of guns and cannon; then I will come and 
 meet my father." 
 
 Oraniga did so; and the father said, " Good ! " and Oraniga 
 returned. The father gave the desired ordei-s about the 
 sweeping and the iron bars and the firing of cannon ; but 
 the people at the throne-hous(^ did not know of all tliis. 
 
 Then Jeki and his two wives and two brotliers dressed 
 themselves finely to walk to the father's house, and marched 
 
386 FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 in procession through the street. A few of the people saw 
 them, wondered, and asked the drums to stop, exclaiming, 
 "Where did they come from?" The procession went on to 
 the father's house, and Ntyege kept on with the cannon 
 firing. 
 
 On reaching his father's house, Jeki told him he had some- 
 thing to say, and the father ordered the drum to cease. All 
 the people were summoned to the father's house to hear 
 Jeki's words. He said, "Father, I know that I am your 
 son, and Nkombe is your son. You all know what Nkombe 
 has done, for he was at the bottom of this matter; so now 
 choose between him and me. If you love him more, I will 
 go far away and stay by myself; but if you love me, Nkombe 
 must be removed from this town." 
 
 So the father asked the opinion of others. (For himself, 
 he wanted to have Jeki.) Nkombe's own brothers said he 
 ought to be killed, "for he is not so good to us as Jeki was." 
 
 /So they bound Nkombe, and tied a stone about his neck, and 
 
 ) drowned him in the sea. 
 
 I And everything went on well, Jeki governing, and provid- 
 
 l ing for the town. 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 A. 
 
 Abuna, abundance. 
 
 Aganlo, children of mixed mortal 
 
 and fairy birth. 
 Akazya, a poisonous tree. 
 Amie, do not know. 
 Anlingo, water. 
 Autya (sinn;. intya). eyes. 
 Anyambe, the Divine Name. 
 Aweme, yourself. 
 AyenwS^ unseen. 'n v i 
 
 B. ^ 
 
 Babaka, consent thou. 
 
 Behu. kitchen garden. 
 
 Benda, a kind of rat. 
 
 Bian, medicine. 
 
 Bobabu, soft. 
 
 Bohamba, \ 
 
 Boka, f a certain medicinal 
 
 Bokadi, t tree. 
 
 Bokuda, ) 
 
 Bolondo, a poisonous tree. 
 
 Bongam, a certain medicinal tree. 
 
 Botombaka, passing away. 
 
 Buhw^a, day. 
 
 Bwanga, medicine. 
 
 Dagula, Mr., a title of respect. 
 Diba. marriage. 
 Diya the hearth ; a household. 
 Diyaka. to live. 
 
 E. 
 Ebabi. a male love pliiitre. 
 Egona, a small antelope horn. 
 
 Ehongo, a cornuco[)ia. 
 
 Ekongi, :i guardian-spirit fetich. 
 
 Ekope. a girdle. 
 
 Eiamba. a certain medicinal tree. 
 
 Elinga, a basket. 
 
 Etomba, tribe. 
 
 Evove, harlot. 
 
 Ewiria. words of hidden meaning. 
 
 Fufu, mashed, l>oiled ripe plantains. 
 
 G. 
 
 Go, to, in, at. 
 
 Greegree (gris-gria), fetich amulet. 
 
 Gumbo, okra. 
 
 Gwandere. a medicini- for worms. 
 
 H. 
 
 Haye, will not do. 
 Hume, a certain tish. 
 
 Ibambo (j^l. abambo), ghosts. 
 
 Ibata. a blessing. 
 
 Iga, the forest. 
 
 Iguga, woe. 
 
 Ihgli. a -a/elle. 
 
 Ijawe (pi. majawe), bli>o<l relative. 
 
 Ikaka (pi. makaka). family name. 
 
 Ilala, an arch ; a stairway. 
 
 Ilina (pi. malina). soul. 
 
 Ina. my mother. 
 
 Ininla (|>l. anlinla). soul. 
 
 liijCnji. a certain leaf; fault. 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 Isakiliya, kindling-wood. 
 
 Isiki (pi. asiki), a dwarf change- 
 
 ling. 
 Itaka, a kitchen hanging-shelf. 
 Itala, a view. 
 Ivaha. a wish. 
 
 Ivenda (pi. ampenda), glory. 
 lyele, a female love philtre. 
 
 Ja, of. 
 
 Jaka, to beget. 
 
 Joba, the sun. 
 
 Jomba, meat cooked in a bundle of 
 
 ])lantain leaves. 
 Juju, an amulet. 
 
 Ka, and you. 
 
 Kasa, a lash. 
 
 Keva, to surpass. 
 
 Kilinga, a kind of bird. 
 
 Kimbwa-mbenje, native bark-cloth, 
 
 Kna. a kind of bird. 
 
 Knakna, a large kind of bird. 
 
 Koka, a large kind of bird. 
 
 Kombo. a superstitious ejaculation. 
 
 Konde, queen. 
 
 Kota, a certain tree. 
 
 Kulu, a kind of spirit. 
 
 Kumu, a stump. 
 
 K'wedi, time of mourninsf. 
 
 Lale, my father. 
 
 L. 
 
 M. 
 
 Mabili, an east-wind fetich. 
 
 Mba, not I. 
 
 Mbenda, ground-nut. 
 
 Mbi. I. 
 
 Mbinde, a wild goat. 
 
 Mbolo, gray hairs; a salutation. 
 
 Mbuiu, a wild dog. 
 
 Mbtimbu, rainbow. 
 
 Mouiidu, prison ordeal. 
 
 Mbwa (pi. imbwa), dog. 
 
 Mbwaye, a poison test. 
 
 Mehole, ripe plantains. 
 
 Miba, water. 
 
 Mie, me. 
 
 Monda, witchcraft medicine. 
 
 Mondi (pi. myondi). a class of 
 
 spirits. 
 Mpazya, skin disease. 
 Mulimate, a small horn for cuppino-. 
 Musimo, spirits of the dead. 
 Muskwa, a medicinal brush. 
 Mutira, a medicinal stick. 
 Mvia, a kind of bird. 
 Mwana, a child. 
 Mwanga, a plantation. 
 
 N. 
 Na, with. 
 Ndabo, house. 
 Ndembg, young. 
 Nduma, a kind of snake. 
 Ngalo, a guardian- spirit charm. 
 Ng^ma, a water plant. 
 Ng^nd^, gourd seeds. 
 Ng§nde, moon. 
 Ngofu, an iron fetich bracelet. 
 Ngunye, a flying-squirrel. 
 Nguwu, hippopotamus. 
 Ngwe, mother. 
 Njabi, a wild oily fruit. 
 Njeg§, leopard. 
 Nk^ia, a large snail. 
 Nk^nja, a marriage dance. 
 Nkendo, a magician's bell. 
 Nkiiida (pi. siukiuda), a class of 
 
 spirits. 
 Nsana, Sunday. 
 Nsiusina, a shadow. 
 Ntori, a large forest rat. 
 Ntyege, a monkey. 
 Nungwa, open thou. 
 Nunja, shut thou. 
 Nyamba, a scarf slung over the 
 
 right shoulder, in which to carry a 
 
 babe, 
 Nyemba, witchcraft. 
 Nyolo, body. 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 389 
 
 Odika, kernel of the wild mango. 
 
 Oganga, doctor. 
 
 Oggnda, a journey. 
 
 OgwSrina, rear of a house. 
 
 Okove, a powerful fetich. 
 
 Okume, African mahonany tree. 
 
 Okundu, a kind of fetich for tradin<j. 
 
 Oiaga (pi. iiaga), a class of spirits! 
 
 Olako, a campinf; place. 
 
 Ombwiri (pi. awiri), a class of 
 
 spirits. 
 Ompunga, wind. 
 
 Orala, a hanging shelf over a fire- 
 place. 
 Oraniga, last-born. 
 Orawo, insult. 
 Orgga, the Njembe secret societv 
 
 drum. 
 Oruuda, a prohibition; tal)oo. 
 Osenge, a cleared place in the 
 
 forest. 
 Ovavi (pi. ivavi), messenger. 
 Owavi (pi. sijavi), a leaf . 
 Ozyazi, a pestle. 
 Ozyoto, a cornucopia. 
 
 P. 
 
 Paia, my father. 
 Pavo, a knife. 
 P6k6, ever. 
 
 Rera, my fjithc 
 
 Saba. } 
 
 Sabali. ^ "" •^^^^• 
 Sale, hail I 
 
 Tamba, the womb. 
 Tubg, ;i certain leaf. 
 Tuwaka, bless ; spit 
 
 u. 
 
 Udinge, a great person. 
 
 Ukuku (pi. mekuku), spirit; 
 
 secret society. 
 Ukwala, a machete. 
 Untyanya, a medicinal bark. 
 Uuyongo, a medicinal tree. 
 Upuma. a period of si.\ months. 
 Utodn. old. 
 Uvengwa, a phantom. 
 
 V. 
 
 Veya, fire. 
 
 Yaginla. imprrntire, hear thou. 
 Yaka, a family fetich. 
 
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