352 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



simple secret of so many notable successes, achieved 

 in the most unpromising causes by self-reliance and 

 enthusiasm, the parents of energy and consistence. 

 These barbarians are more often sinned against by their 

 own fears and fooleries of faith, than sinners against 

 their fellow-men by fraud and falsehood. 



The office of Uganga includes many duties. The 

 same man is a physician by natural and supernatural 

 means, a mystagogue or medicine-man, a detector of 

 sorcery, by means of the Judicium Dei or ordeal, a 

 rain-maker, a conjuror, an augur, and a prophet. 



As a rule, all diseases, from a boil to marasmus 

 senilis, are attributed by the Fetissist to P'hepo, Hubub, 

 or Afflatus. The three words are synonymous. P'hepo, 

 in Kisawahili, is the plural form of upepo (a zephyr), 

 used singularly to signify a high wind, a whirlwind 

 (" devil"), and an evil ghost, generally of a Moslem. 

 Hubub, the Arabic translation, means literally the 

 blowing of wind, and metaphorically " possession." 

 The African phrase for a man possessed is " ana p'hepo," 

 " he has a devil." The Mganga is expected to heal the 

 patient by expelling the possession. Like the evil 

 spirit in the days of Saul, the unwelcome visitant must 

 be charmed away by sweet music ; the drums cause 

 excitement, and violent exercise expels the ghost, as 

 saltation nullifies in Italy the venom of the tarantula. 

 The principal remedies are drumming, dancing, and 

 drinking, till the auspicious moment arrives. The ghost 

 is then enticed from the body of the possessed into 

 some inanimate article, which he will condescend to 

 inhabit. This, technically called a Keti, or stool, may 

 be a certain kind of bead, two or more bits of wood 

 bound together by a strip of snake's skin, a lion's or a 

 leopard's claw, and other similar articles, worn round 



