SUPERSTITIONS OF THE WEST AFRICAN TRIBES. 
595 
Pear is not evidence of a belief in deity, and the fear of the poor 
savage— fear which he cannot explain — does not argue that he regards 
the object of his terror as a god. He fears snakes, he fears leopards, 
he fears thunder and lightning, but he does not fear anything which 
he does not know to exist. His belief is circumscribed by his 
experience ; and beyond that he does not speculate or theorise. 
Many things are m'buiri, but nothing is supreme in its true sense. 
Savages fear death as other animals do, but it is no evidence of their 
belief in a deity; and they believe that certain persons can cause 
death by witchcraft, but they attribute it to some physical agency 
under their control. They believe that Yassi can detect a criminal, 
but they ascribe it to his “secret” and bis “medicine.” They 
believe that he cannot be killed by any other man, although he is born 
as other men, and will die as other men ; they have always heard that 
it would he fatal to try and kill him or harm him, therefore no one 
ever tried to do so ; but all this is due to his “medicine.” Deprive 
him of that, and ho is the same as other men. .No witch has any power 
except the “ medicine,” and with that anyone can do the same thing. 
It is a chemical secret ; it is the same as “ patent medicines” with us. 
The art of reducing iron ore is a secret, and those who possess it 
are m'buiri ; they will not divulge it because it is a source of profit to 
them, and by it they monopolise the iron traffic of their tribe, hut it is 
not regarded as a divine power. The process of making steel was 
long kept a profound secret among us for the same reason, but it was 
not regarded as divine, although mysterious. 
Among the Esyira people the man who knows the secret of 
making iron is a great man, but they do not believe him to he any 
more than man. As I went through the tribe, I tried to learn their 
method of reducing ores, but failed to get any clue to it. I learned 
that I might obtain the secret for siha — that is, for “ wealth.” I 
did not wish it for my own profit ; I merely wanted to compare notes 
with them, as I knew the process used by white men, but they simply 
smiled at me, and thought I was trying to extort their secret for my 
own use. 
They see no mystery in the growth of plants, in the solar system, 
in procreation, or in any process of nature, unless it is rare or violent. 
They see no mystery in the gentle sunshine, but the lightning is m'buiri; 
in the soft breeze that fans the arid plain there is no mystery, but the 
tornado raging in the forest is m'buiri ; in the quiet waters of the 
lake there is nothing strange, but when it breaks into waves it is 
m'buiri ; in sleep there is no mystery, but death is the great m'buiri. 
They have no faith in the resurrection of body or soul, but they 
fear the return of those who have not completed the act of dying. 
They believe that people die from witchcraft by degrees, and that 
they are sometimes dead while they are yet residing in the town; that 
is, that the power of the witch has taken effect, and the victim is 
insensible to all around him ; ho may talk and laugh, but he is devoid 
of feeling ; lie may sit or walk, but with no motive in doing so ; he is 
dead to everything except the power of the witch; but his life is yet 
in bis body. This paradox is only one of many such among them. 
They fear death, but not the future. They have images, but no 
idols. They have ceremonies, but no worship. They have material 
agencies, but no spirits. They have mysteries, but no gods. 
