NEGRO FETISHES. 523 



side by the darker-coloured Negro tribes inhabiting the sur- 

 rounding lower countries. In the interior of Africa, the 

 Bornui, the occupants of the low basin of Lake Tsad, are also 

 the most like the typical Negroes of the coast. Their moral 

 and social condition, or the degree of barbarism and civilisa- 

 tion in which they live, has likewise a considerable influence 

 on the physical conformation of the Negroes. The tribes in 

 which the distinctive marks of the race are developed in the 

 highest degree invariably occupy the lowest grade in the scale 

 of African humanity ; they are either ferocious, barbarous, or 

 sunk in stupidity and sloth — as, for instance, the Papels, Bal- 

 loms, and other savage hordes on the coast of Gruinea, where 

 the slave trade was formerly carried on to a great extent, and 

 exerted, as usual, its baneful influence. On the other hand, 

 where we hear of a Negro state whose inhabitants have ma^e 

 some progress in the social arts, we constantly find their phy- 

 sical character considerably deviating from the strongly pro- 

 nounced Negro type. The Ash an tees and the Sulimas may be 

 cited as examples. The Negroes of Gruber and Haussa, where 

 a considerable degree of civilisation was a long time dominant, 

 are perhaps the finest race of true Negroes in all Africa. The 

 Joloff, who, since the time of their first discovery by the Por- 

 tuguese, have enjoyed a certain degree of culture, are also tall, 

 well-made Negroes, with the nasal profile less depressed, and 

 the lips less prominent than is the case with the more typical 

 tribes. 



The religion of Mahomet has spread over many North 

 African countries, but Fetissism, or the adoration of natural ob- 

 jects, animate or inanimate, to which certain mysterious powers 

 are attributed, is still the superstitious creed of the greater 

 part of that continent. Anything which chances to catch hold 

 of the fancy of a Negro may be a fetish. One selects the tooth 



I of a dog, of a tiger, or of a cat, or the bone of a bird ; while 

 another fixes on the head* of a goat, or monkey, or parrot, or 

 even upon a piece of red or yellow wood, or a thorn branch. 

 The fetish thus chosen becomes to its owner a kind of divinity, 

 "which he worships, and from which he expects assistance on all 

 occasions. In honour of his fetish, it is common for a Negro 

 to deprive himself of some pleasure, by abstaining from a 

 particular kind of meat or drink. Thus one man eats no 



