376 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



ges to the dress, and the dwelling of every negro, the fol- 

 lowing represents one which the wearer considered as an in- 

 fallible charm against poison ; the materials are, an Euro- 

 pean padlock, in the iron of which they have contrived to 

 bury a cowrie shell and various other matters, the bill of 

 a bird, and the head of a snake ; these are suspended 

 from a rosary consisting of the beans of a species of do- 

 lichosy strung alternately with the seeds of some other plant. 



Others, with some little variation, are considered as protec- 

 tions against the effects of thunder and lightning, against 

 the attacks of the alligator, the hippopotamus, snakes, hons, 

 tigers, &c. &c. And if it should so happen, as it some- 

 times does, that in spite of his guardian genius, the wearer 

 should perish by the very means against which he had 

 adopted it as a precaution, no blame is ascribed to any 

 negligence or want of virtue on the part of the fetiche, but 

 to some otJence given to it, by the possessor, for which it 



