IN WESTERN AFRICA. 
81 
CHAPTER XXV. 
GREGREES. 
The superstitions of the people aftbrd them a 
ready explanation for many things otherwise mys- 
terious to them, and yet explainable upon natural 
principles by an enlightened mind. They believe 
that the power of the gregree, the work of witches, 
and the doings of evil spirits produce many phe- 
nomena in the physical world which are the re- 
sults of natural causes. 
Gregrees are of different sizes and shapes, and 
of various kinds of material. Mohammedans 
If 
make a great many, though they are made by 
pagans also. A Mohammedan gregree is a piece 
of paper, with a few Arabic letters and characters 
upon it, incased in leather or cloth. When used 
it is suspended to some part of the body, usually 
the neck. A pagan gregree is a few leaves, or a 
little clay, or sand, or a pebble, or bark of a tree, 
incased in a cloth, or tied together. It is fastened 
to the wrists, ankles, and other parts of the body. 
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