IN CENTRAL AFRICA AND ELSEWHERE. 



153 



However, it is the fashion to suppose that the religious idea 

 was slowly evolved. Fetichism would be the first dawning in 

 the soul of man of the idea of God. This was followed by 

 animism, that by polytheistic idolatry, which finally emerged 

 triumphantly into monotheism. All this is beautifully simple, 

 but, to quote again Mr. Maunder* — " This last step is not in the 

 order of evolution ; the natural heir and successor of poly- 

 theism is, not monotheism, but pantheism." I may add that 

 without a certain animistic belief it is hard to conceive how 

 fetichism could exist. Besides, fetichism bears traces of truths 

 far above and beyond itself. How did these find their way in ? 

 The answer is difiicult on the evolutionary hypothesis. 



Fetichism is one of those words whose character has suffered 

 from the company they keep. It has an aroma of the Dark 

 Continent. It flatters our self -righteousness to paint in most 

 lurid tints the depravity of distant lands, like the school-boy 

 who was set an essay on the morals of the South Sea Islanders. 

 His essay contained the soul of wit, if nothing else, for it con- 

 sisted of six words — The South-Sea Islanders have no morals." 

 Just so, and of course the African has no morals ; it makes us 

 feel very virtuous to believe it. He certainly lacks the veneer 

 of European civilization, but from my experience I would consider 

 at the present time an African village greatly preferable as an 

 abode, in many respects both moral and material, to a European 

 slum. 



The word fetich came from the Roman Catholic Portuguese 

 discoverers of the fifteenth century. They intended no oppro- 

 brium by the term. It was a sacred word to them. They called 

 their own relics, rosaries and amulets, possessing in their eyes 

 magical virtues, " feitigaos " or " feticos," meaning magically 

 active." The Portuguese saw the negro paying religious 

 reverence, akin to their own, to his wooden figures and stones, 

 and dubbed them " feticos " too. So the term was not indigenous 

 to Africa, but was imported. This prepares us to learn that 

 fetichism is not confined to Africa, but exists not only in heathen 

 countries, such as India, but in other quarters nearer home. 



The fetich of the West African is umbanda — a charm, and 

 generally means some object with occult properties, because 

 indwelt by a spirit. It has been asserted that the negro is not 



* Tracts for New Times. No. 3, p. 5. 



