580 WITCHCRAFT. 



Fetich worship, which is so widely prevalent in Africa, can 

 hardly be called a religion ; and even the South Sea Islanders, 

 who were in many respects so highly civilized, are said to 

 have been seriously offended with their deity if they thought 

 that he treated them with undue severity, or without proper 

 consideration. According to Kotzebue, the Kamschatkans 

 adored their deities "when their wishes were fulfilled, and 

 insulted them when their affairs went amiss."* When the 

 missionaries introduced a printing-press into Fiji, " the hea- 

 then at once declared it to be a god."-f- 



The natives of the Nicobar Islands put up scarecrows to 

 frighten away the deity ; J and Burton once heard an old Eesa 

 woman, who was suffering from tooth-ache, offer up the fol- 

 lowing prayer : " Oh Allah, may thy teeth ache like mine ! 

 Oh Allah, may thy gums be as sore as mine are now !" 



The savage is, however, almost universally a believer in 

 witchcraft. Confusing together subjective and objective re- 

 lations, he is a prey to constant fears. Nor is the belief in 

 sorcery easily shaken off even by the most civilized nations. 

 James the First was under the impression that by melting 

 little images of wax, " the persons that they bear the name 

 of may be continually melted or dried away by continual 

 sickness." As regards pictures, the most curious fancies exist 

 among savage races. They have a very general dislike to be 

 represented, thinking that the artist thereby acquires some 

 mysterious power over them. Kane on one occasion freed 

 himself from some importunate Indians, by threatening to 

 draw them if they did not go away. I have already mentioned 

 (p. 529) the danger in which Catling found himself from 

 sketching a chief in a profile, and thereby, as it was supposed, 

 depriving him of half his face. So, again, a mysterious con- 



* New Voyage round the World, vol. ii. p. 13. 

 t Figi and the Figians, vol. ii. p. 222. 

 + Voyage of the " Novara," vol. ii. p. 66. 



