134 THE NORTHEMN MOUNTAINS. 



such as may be seen, and more than one of them, in any- 

 long day's march. It was said again, that if asked by an 

 Obeah-man to swear to his good character, they could not 

 well refuse, under penalty of finding some fine morning a 

 white cock's head sign of all supernatural plagues in their 

 garden path, the beak pointing to their door; or an Obeah 

 bottle under their door-step ; and either Brinvilliers in their 

 pottage, or such an expectation of it, and of plague and ruin 

 to them and all their v/orldly belongings, in their foolish 

 souls, as would be likely enough to kill them, in a few 

 months, of simple moiial fear. 



Here perhaps I may be allowed to tell what I know about 

 this curious question of Obeah, or Fetish-worship. It 8.p- 

 pears to me, on closer examination, that it is not a worship) of 

 natural objects ; not a primaeval worship ; scarcely a worship 

 at all : but simply a system of incantation, carried on by a 

 priesthood, or rather a sorcerer class ; and this being the case, 

 it seems to me unfortunate that the term Fetish-worship 

 should have been adopted by so many learned men, as the 

 general name for the supposed primaeval Mature- worship. 

 The ISTegro does not, as the primaeval man is supposed to have 

 done, regard as divine (and therefore as Fetish, or Obeah) 

 any object which excites his imagination; anything peculiarly 

 beautiful, noble, or powerful ; anything even which causes 

 curiosity or fear. In fact, a Fetish is no natural object at 



