94 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
the Bundu a cause for rejoicing. One of the strongest of all things to avert the 
evil eye is simply a hair plucked from one’s own eyebrow and carefully preserved, 
or the nail of a dead man, the beak of a bird or a leopard’s claw. The bansare 
leaf is said to be a sure defence against assault. The hair of an albino put inside 
the hollow of a blue bead is said to make lovers more loving, while the ‘‘cabe”’ or 
‘oten,”? which can be had from many of the medicine men, is a thoroughly bad 
fetish that can be used for slaying of people by sympathetic magic. Butt- 
Thompson,! who has studied West African secret societies, especially in Sierra 
Leone, says that charms are used for every conceivable subject, to protect one’s 
self or to harm another, to prolong life, to conserve strength, to ensure success 
in work or in play and in sport and in love, to gain the advantage in bargaining, 
to ensure the safety of crops and their full harvesting, and for purposes connected 
with marriage, childbirth, fertility, and death. 
Fetish Doctors. With the belief in spirits is also associated the idea that 
certain persons possess supernatural powers, through which they can cause 
death or illness or misfortune to others. The medicine men or women are sup- 
posed to have such power, — a belief which becomes impressed on the other 
natives, in part by the knowledge which the doctors have acquired of local 
remedies prepared from roots, herbs, seeds or leaves. ‘These medicine men or 
women are also supposed to have special knowledge of the efficacy of charms 
and magic. Indeed, it is said that of all the native authorities the fetish doctor 
comes first, since practically all of the business of life must be brought to him 
and pass through his hands. When a charm which a person possesses no longer 
brings him good luck, its efficacy is thought to be impaired by the action of an 
evil charm, and aid from the medicine man is sought in order that such action 
may be nullified. The valuable qualities of a charm are acquired either through 
contact and association with it, or through its incorporation into one’s person. 
The possession of the skin and head of a leopard in one’s hut or even its claws or 
teeth when worn, gives power and strength to the person to whom they belong. 
This power is not transferable and cannot be obtained by stealing the articles. 
Hating the flesh of the Neotragus or Dorcathervum antelopes is said to give fleet- 
ness of foot and skill in hunting, and drinking human blood and eating human 
flesh, to give greater strength and courage. The value of weapons used in hunt- 
ing may also be increased by the use of charms. The manufacture of charms is 
the particular business of the medicine men, or witch doctors. Various parts of 
human or ‘animal bodies, particularly the viscera, but also the flesh, skin, hair 
and even the sputum and saliva, are often dried and ground into a powder and 
put into a little bag, which is either worn or in some instances kept in some safe 
place in the hut, perhaps in a bottle. Not only have leopard’s claws and teeth 
special powers, but also a number of vegetable powders. 
The charms worn by the Mandingoes and Vais are usually quite different 
from those which we have been considering, and more commonly consist of verses 
of the Koran, worn as amulets. Their ideas of sacrifice are also bound up with 
their religion and are more particularly based on the killing of some animal. 
* Butt-Thompson: West African Secret Societies (1929), p. 64. 
