5l^4 the tropical world. 



goat's flesh, another tastes no beef, and a third no brandy or 



palm wine. By a continual attention to his fetish, the Negro 



so far imposes upon himself as to represent it to his imagination 



as an intelligent being or ruling power, inspecting his actions 



and ready to reward or punish. Hence, like the Russian with 



his image of St, Nicholas, or the ancient Roman with his 



household gods, he covers it up carefully whenever he performs 



any action that he accounts improper. The importance or 



value of a fetish is always estimated according to the success of 



its owner whose good fortune induces others to adopt it. On 



the contrary, when a Negro suffers any great misfortunes, he 



infallibly attributes it to the weakness of his fetish, which he 



relinquishes, and adopts another that he hopes will prove more 



powerful. Sometimes a whole tribe or a large district has its 



fetish, which is regarded as a kind of palladium upon which the 



safety of their country depends. Thus, at Whidah, on the 



coast of Ashantee, they worship as their national fetish a kind 



of serpent of monstrous size, which they call the grandfather of 



the snakes. They say that it formerly deserted some other 



country on account of its wickedness, and came to them, 



bringing good fortune and prosperity along with it. The 



national fetish of the Kanga is an elephant's tooth, and that of 



the tribe of Wawa a tiger. At Bonny divine honours are paid 



to huge water-lizards. Undisturbed, the lazy monsters crawl 



heavily through the streets, and as they pass the Negroes 



reverentially make way. A white man is hardly allowed to 



look at them, and hurried as fast as possible out of their 



presence. An attempt was once made to kidnap one of these 



dull lizard gods for the benefit of a profane museum, but the 



consequences were such as to prevent a repetition of the offence, 



for the palm oil trade was immediately stopped, and affairs 



assumed so hostile an aspect that the foreigners were but too 



glad to purchase peace with a considerable sacrifice of money 



and goods. When one of the lizards crawls into a house, it is 



considered a great piece of good fortune, and when it chooses 



to take a bath, the Bonnians hurry after it in their canoes. 



After having allowed it to swim and plunge several times, they 



seize it for fear of danger, and carry it back again to the land, 



well pleased at once more having the sacred reptile in tlieir 



safe possession. 



