280 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



by. I will describe the fit as I saw it, but in terms that his 

 fellow Hausas would use among whom these seizures are not 

 uncommon. 



Suddenly the spirit of Jagoba departed from his body 

 which was taken possession of by another who spoke fluent 

 Fulani, a language of which Jagoba did not know a word. 

 The Fulani was a droyer of cattle who whistled and called 

 imaginary cows to him by name and then proceeded to milk 

 them with absolute faithfulness of gesture, the while he made 

 the exact sound of milk falling into a pot. When the Fulani 

 departed, the spirit of a Hon took possession, grunting and 

 roaring and fighting at bay ; then followed a snake that hissed 

 and spat and writhed along the ground. After the fit had 

 lasted about twenty minutes Jagoba sneezed three times 

 and came to himself. 



It was evidently on the strength of his exhibition in the 

 former attack that he had been chosen by the " boys " to 

 act the animals in their Christmas play, but his performance 

 then, though very good, was not to be compared with his 

 impersonations while in the fit, which could not have been 

 surpassed by the finest actor ; indeed no gesture or trick 

 recurred that betrayed the fact that Jagoba the actor was 

 one and the same with Jagoba of the fit.* 



On our return to Surungu a tragic event befell in the 

 untimely death of poor little " Mary." While John her 

 keeper was washing clothes over the side of one of the boats, 



* The Hausas told me of the cise of a woman, on whom the fit fell in the 

 night, compelling her to go round the huts of the village collecting the neigh- 

 bour's chattels, which she would bring back to her own hut. She had done 

 this many times before she was discovered, nor was she ever conscious on 

 waking of having taken the things. 



