of Edinburgh, Session 1885-86. 
761 
small huts surrounded by strong tall fences, and in this solitude 
they perform their mystic rites. 
The charms are made of the claws, the teeth, or the horns of 
animals, often blended into fantastic ornaments highly decorated 
by beadwork. Others consist of cunningly-devised powders 
containing numerous ingredients, such as burnt roots and bark and 
leaves, the nails of dead men, tufts of hair, and sometimes teeth. 
These powders are either placed in horns, usually closed by python 
skin, or else they are packed in small neatly made boxes covered 
by skin. Charms are'hung round the waist or the neck, suspended 
to the rafters of the huts or over the doorway, or else may be they 
are hung to the branch of some mighty forest tree, supposed to be 
inhabited by a sprite ; others again are cast into the streams or 
lake to propitiate some offended river deity. 
Besides the charms which these magicians retail to their dupes, 
they profess to possess special ones which never go out of their 
possession. These they use only on rare and important occasions ; 
for instance, should a great chief be sick, they bring the charms to 
his hut that they may cure him. 
A great many national charms also exist in Uganda, which are 
regarded as most sacred ; huts are provided for their accommodation 
near the royal palace, and special custodians are appointed to guard 
them night and day. Some drums and horns are also supposed to 
possess the special power of striking dread into the hearts of 
national enemies. Should any great war be undertaken, these 
charms are brought before the king, and should untoward news 
arrive from an army in the field, it is not unusual for some of 
them to be sent to aid by their subtle spell the wavering troops. 
The Waganda take good care to let their opponents know of their 
presence, hoping by this means to gain a victory all the sooner. 
As I before mentioned (see Pathology), some of the magicians 
practise as doctors, and far be it from me to depreciate their skill, for 
I am sure, after repeated observation, that many of the drugs they 
use are active remedies, and that they are administered with con- 
siderable insight and skill. 
Religion . — It is very difficult to know what the Waganda really 
think about death and departed friends, and one would be inclined 
to say that they think nothing of a life after death, were it not that 
