ANALOGIES OF BELIEF AND CULT 197 



fetishes, from " Feitieo," the Portuguese word 

 for a charm, as the Portuguese were the earliest 

 of the modern Christian voyagers to meet the 

 African. 



Fetish-men or witch doctors are those persons 

 who can see and deal with evil spirits, become 

 mediums for them, propitiate and even control 

 the spirits through charms and incantations. In 

 some British West African possessions where the 

 Portuguese word " Fetish " has not penetrated, 

 the term " Ju-ju " is used for the charm, and 

 " Ju-ju man " for witch doctor. 



There is a nanalogy between the sorcerer, charm, 

 and amulet of Europe and Asia, and the witch 

 doctor and " Fetish " charm in Africa. The dress, 

 gesticulations, incantations, and fetish para- 

 phernalia of the witch doctor of Africa, and his 

 black and white magic, are singularly reminiscent 

 of what one reads of the sorcerer and his arts in 

 other parts of the world, and appear to be still 

 reflected in the tall hat and frock coat, professional 

 manner, surgery and dispensary fittings, imposing 

 instruments, and coloured bottles of the modern 

 physician and druggist. Have not these auxiliaries 

 a similar moral, hynotic, even suggestive effect on 

 the patient, whether black or white ? 



Is not the spiritualism preached by some educated 

 people to-day similar to that of the witch doctor 

 when he embodies a spirit and becomes its medium, 

 while the spirit speaks and acts through him ? The 

 cults of the childhood of man are too deep rooted 

 to destroy completely. Through the spirit super- 

 stition he has fostered and the fetish he has 



