SOME TIUHAL CUSTOMS IN THEIR RELATION TO IIEDICINK AND MOIiALS 253 



second disc, the W'alad (or son), which is quite plain and rounded olf above into a small 

 handle {vide Plate XVII., iig-. 4; also I'ig. 79). 



Before working the oracle there are much the same preliminaries as described under 

 "Devil-Dancing." Then both discs are wetted first with water, next with the operator's 

 saliva and finally with the slimy juice of the Katoura (Zaitdeh) Bukutro (a variety of 

 wild tomato) and closely applied. With a series of jerks and asking the question for 

 solution with each movement in the "This year, next year, sometime, never" style of our 

 youth, the diviner causes the upper disc to slip over the lower. At first it slides 

 freely, then, the suction becoming intense, there is a sudden check which means a question 

 answered. 



By this method, any matter can be decided, without resource to the Benga Rite. 



I think Euwa is confined to the Nyam-nyam, Benga being common to both races. Euwa confined 



to the 

 (HIirr iHciius of di i'inatiuii Nyani-nyam 



(«) The diviner rubbing the palms of his hands together (sometimes moistened 

 with his saliva) and obtaining "sensational" replies therefrom. 

 (/)) Rubbing the soles of his feet in a like manner. 



(c) Eructating noisily and so obtaining council and information from the "voices 

 within him." 



(d) Sand-gazing and other forms of hypnotic oracle, so common among the Arabs, 

 do not seem to be employed by these people. The bearing of divination on their 

 medical customs is important since it is undertaken in the case of all maladies of a 

 serious nature, when not only the cause, diagnosis and treatment, but also the eventual 

 issue, can be determined. 



Evil SriiuTs 

 The Spell of Sahar ur Zan- 



Sahar or Zarr' is the infliction of illness, misfortune or death, by evil ancestral spirits, 

 brought about through the machinations of an enemy, the medium being some object, 

 a part of, or intimately connected witli, the intended victim. 



Most illnesses and diseases are attributed by both Nyam-nyam and Gour to Sahar 

 {vide " Theory of Disease ") as also the death of all persons not of advanced years. It is not 

 everybody that can inflict a Sahar, and those that can are not easy to detect.- The Benga 

 or Euwa will reveal them, however, and the possession of a vermiform appendix is said to 

 be diagnostic (a rough autopsy is therefore conclusive). 



For this latter interesting fact, which I have since verified myself, I am indebted to 

 Captain A. Ij. Hadow. 



Blood-hrolherlwod. 



By Blood-brotherhood is meant a mutual coalition, and a ])rotection effected between "Sahar" and 

 two men, each against the Sahar of the other, through the possession by each of a portion 

 of the other's person. 



The rite, enacted in turn by each, consists in incising the other's forehead with a knife, 

 drinking the outflow of blood, smearing an adjacent lock of hair in its residue, and 

 cutting this off to keep in a small cyclinder of wood or in a neatly woven hair bag as a 

 charm, (Bagara). Many carry six or more such guarantees. 



' This word, meaaiug " Evil-one," (agaiu an adojjtiou from the Arabic) refers among the people of 

 Kordofan to one possessed of an evil eye {Vide Third Report, IVelleome Tropienl Hescarch Laboratories, 

 Khartoum, p. 282), not, as here, to "one possessed of devils." 



■-' The same diffieiiltv of detecting one possessed of an evil eye exists amongst the Aralis ui Kuvdcifan 

 ;/■«/« lliiril JUimrt, H'l-tli-iime Triipienl lirsearch Lnlwratories, Khartoum). 



Blood- 

 brotherhood 



