CHAPTER XXII
NATIVE CHARMS AND THEIR USES
A general name—No sacrifices to them—Preventive charms—Thief’s charm and antidote—Charm for rendering the owner attractive—Helpful charms in war—Modes of dealing with witchcraft—Certain charms for certain spirits—For success in fishing—To detect a murderer—To preserve goats in health—Giving ordeal to a son.
The general name for fetish, charm, amulet, talisman, mascot, etc., is bonganga; and this is also the word for the skill or art of the medicine man—that which constitutes him a member of the profession. It is, however, difficult to decide whether this skill arises from his own inherent intuitions or is imparted to him by his own powerful fetish—the word bonganga favours both views. The prefix “bo” can indicate the thing into which a medicine man has put his power, hence a charm, fetish, etc.; and it also denotes a noun of quality, and thus points to the skilfulness, art, etc., or that quality by which the witch-doctor is able to perform his magic. It is very probable that both views are necessary for a complete understanding of the word—it is a thing into which the medicine man has put his power, and it is also the skill, art, power, etc., by which he imparts it and by which he works as a witch-doctor.
No offerings are presented to charms, and there is no mode of refreshing them as on the Lower Congo; but when a charm does not act as it should the owner takes it back to the medicine man to have some more “medicine” put into it, as it is thought that the old has become ineffective through being played out. Images are not used among the Boloki, but various articles are employed to conserve the fetish power imparted to them.
The charms belonging to the witch-doctors have been handed down from time immemorial and the various “doctors” make the amulets, charms, etc., for the people. The larger the fee the more powerful the charm.
In writing about the Boloki charms it is very difficult to classify them, for they so frequently overlap each other in their operations. I have collected the names of a large number of their charms, etc., and when describing some of them I shall have to repeat a little of the information given under the heading of “Medicine Men and their Magic”; but I will avoid more repetition than is necessary to put the reader in touch with the supposed powers of the charm.
There are those charms that help them in dire distress, and among the most potent of them is the ekando, which really means a snag hidden under the water. The owner of this charm can cause a snag to break the canoe of his pursuing enemies. In the excitement of a chase the paddlers do not always look where they are going and will run on a hidden snag, and the impact will split the canoe and the charm has the credit for it. Many trees topple from the bank into the river, and by and by the jagged end of a large branch will be just under water as the river rises and falls, and this favours the belief in the powers of the ekando charm. I have been nearly thrown out of my canoe two or three times from running on a covered snag, and they are a source of considerable danger to river steamers.
The owner of this charm has the power also to call on the hippopotami and crocodiles to help him when hard pressed by his foes. Hippopotami quite unintentionally, in coming up to breathe, overturn a canoe; and crocodiles have the trick of coming up suddenly by the side of a canoe and causing the paddlers to start so violently that they upset the canoe. The crocodile takes a man and goes off.
Another charm with curious power is the “fetish axe” (ekoko). The possessor when desirous of eluding his enemies takes the “axe” in his hand and beats an island with it, whereupon the island splits and he passes through the opening, which at once closes behind him, and he is safe. The numerous creeks and inlets favour this superstition.