160 



W. HOSTE, B.A.J ON FE'llCHISM — 



There is a good deal of ceremony in the preparation of some of 

 these, in which a number of persons may take part, and in very 

 important cases a whole village or even district will gather for 

 the occasions. AMiere the de^'ilry of fetichism comes out 

 unabashed is in the detecting of witches, supposed to be in col- 

 lusion with e\dl spirits. The poison and boihng -water tests 

 imposed on those accused of witchcraft involved in the past 

 hideous cruelties and himg as a perpetual terror over the heads 

 of the natives, who might at any moment find themselves 

 suspected. But this was not the essential of fetichism, and though 

 the spread of European authority and the wide influence of 

 Christian missionaries has gone far to stamp out this side of it, 

 the spiritist side flourishes as before. 



When the witch-doctor arrives the usual preliminary revelation 

 is that the spirits want beer, and accordingly a beer-danc^ is 

 determined on. As this exactly hits off the general taste, 

 everyone is pleased. That beer can be enjoyed beyond the veil 

 corresponds with the revelation of " Raymond,'' that whisky 

 is procurable in the spiritist heaven, as well as " spiritual 

 cigars," of some kind of ersatz tobacco. So the beer is prepared 

 and the dancing and divining begins, and as the good witch- 

 doctor is in no hurry whatever, it may go on for weeks, as long 

 as the patience of the villagers lasts. One hears night after 

 night the monotonous yelling of the natives rising and falhng 

 in the stillness of the dark hours, as they dance round the log 

 fire, before which the witch-doctor sits, divining with his basket 

 of fetiches. 



As he shakes this up and do^vn, some one fetich more than 

 another may seem to come to the surface, and according to the 

 interpretation which the diviner reads into this, so is his final 

 divination. Now comes the turn of the unhappy relatives, 

 who find themselves held responsible for the evil deeds of their 

 defunct relative. According to their means must be the great- 

 ness of the sacrifice. The rich must offer an ox, a poorer family 

 a sheep or a goat. The blood is poured out to the great Spirit 

 and the friends eat the flesh, and the spirit is set free and joins the 

 ranks of the ahamha, or well-disposed spirits. In the case of 

 an avenging spirit, it is supposed to be defijiitely appeased. 

 But not in the case of chiefs or those who died rich. In their 

 case the sacrifices go on for years, mitil at length their spirits, 

 who seek to harm, become kindly-disposed and helpful. My 

 host, who gave me these details, had sacrificed a promising career 



