human
that is doctor for the people and poisoner; we cannot, however, apply in Africa the adage of Louis XIII.'s day,
gpt
To one wizard ten thousand witches. In the
human
Muata Cazembe (pp. 57, et passim) we read
gpt
O Ganga or O Surjão; the magician is there called
human
Muroi, which, like
gpt
Fite, is also applied to magic. The Abbé Proyart opines of his professional brother,
human
--a pregnant saying. Yet here
gpt
is not l'homme de révolution, and he suffices for the small
human
of his flock. He has charge of the
gpt
Kizila, the
human
Chigella of Merolla and the
gpt
Quistilla of James Barbot--Anglicè putting things in fetish, which corresponds with the Tahitian tapu or taboo. The African idea is, that he who touches the article, for instance, gold on the eastern coast of Guinea, will inevitably come to grief. When
human
as by the seller of palm wine who tastes it in presence of the buyer, the precaution is evidently against poison. Many of these
gpt
Kizila are self-imposed, for instance a water melon may never enter Banza Nokki, and, though slaves may eat bananas upon a journey, the master may not. Others refuse the flesh of a fowl until it has been tasted by a woman. These rules are delivered to the young, either by the fetishman or the parents, and, when broken, they lead to death, doubtless often the consequence of strong belief. The Nganga superintends, as grand inquisitor, the witch-ordeal, by causing the accused to chew red-wood and other drugs in this land ferax venenorum. Park was right:
human
By witchcraft is meant pretended magic, affecting the lives and healths of persons, in other words it is the administering of poison. European
gpt
Narratives of Sorcery and Magic exactly explain the African idea, except in one point: there the witch
human
here she has no Satan. Both European and African are the firmest believers in their own powers; they often confess, although knowing that the confession leads directly to torture and death, with all the diabolical ingenuity of which either race was capable. In Tuckey's time a bargain was concluded by breaking a leaf or a blade of grass, and this rite it was
gpt
apparently it is now obsolete. Finally, although the Fetish man may be wrong, the fetish cannot err. If a contretemps occur, a reason will surely be found; and, should the
human
Semo of the Susus or Soosoos of the Windward Coast, and the
gpt
Purrah of the Sherbro-Balloms or Bulloms, rendered Anglicè by
human
The novitiate there lasts for seven or eight years, and whilst the boys live in the woods food is placed for them by their relations: the initiation, indeed, appears to be especially severe. Here all the free-born males are subjected to the wrongly called
gpt
Mosaic rite. Merolla tells us that the wizards circumcise children on the eighth day (like the Jews), not out of regard for the law, but with some wicked end and purpose of their own. At any time between the ages of five and fifteen (eight to ten being generally preferred), boys are taken from their parents (which must be an exceeding comfort to the latter), and for a native year, which is half of ours, they must dwell in the Vivála ya Ankimba, or Casa de Feitiço, like that which we passed before reaching Banza Nokki. They are now instructed by the Nganga in the practices of their intricate creed; they are taught the mysteries under solemn oaths, and, in fine, they are prepared for marriage. Upon the Congo they must eat no cooked food, living wholly upon roots and edibles; but they are allowed to enter the villages for provisions, and here they often appear armed with matchets, bayonets, and wooden swords. Their faces and necks, bodies and arms, are ghastly white with chalk or ashes; the hair is left in its original jet, and the dingy lower limbs contrast violently with the ghostlike absence of colour above. The dress is a crinoline of palm-fronds, some fresh and green, others sere and brown; a band of strong mid-rib like a yellow hoop passed round the waist spreads out the petticoat like a farthingale, and the ragged ends depend to the knees; sometimes it is worn under the axillae, but in all cases the chalked arms must be outside. The favourite attitude is that of the Rhodian Colossus, with the elbows bent to the fore and the hands clasped behind the head. To increase their prestige of terror, the Jinkomba abjure the use of human language, and, meeting a stranger, ejaculate with all their might,
human
Hár-rr-rr-rr-rr! and
gpt
Jojolo! Jojolo!