The jungle folk of Africa

by Robert H. Milligan

The following story (although I do not vouch for its truth) illustrates very well the magical operation of medicine. A certain chief, it is said, induced a German trader to order for him a chest of medicines prepared in Germany. The bottles of medicine are all numbered and the chest is accompanied by a book of directions, competent for the diagnosis of any particular case. Every liable symptom and combination of symptoms is recorded together with the prescription for each. The prescription refers to the bottles by their numbers. One day the chief fell sick. He found his symptoms accurately described in the book, followed by the direction to take one spoonful of No. 15. The bottle of that particular number was missing; so he took one spoonful of No. 7 and one of No. 8. But the result was so alarming that as soon as he was sufficiently recovered from the shock he consigned the chest to the spirit of the deep sea with the hope that it might do Neptune more good than it had done him; and to this end he was careful to send the book of directions with it.

There is a large class of fetishes in which the ancestor is the agent. If a man is expecting to ask a favour of another he will be sure of a generous compliance if he scrape the skull of his ancestor and succeed in putting a little of the powder into the other man’s food. Du Chaillu was highly incensed when he found that this was the explanation of a certain chief’s generosity who had been feeding him lavishly for several days.

A man walking in the forest usually carries suspended from his neck a medicine, contained in a goat’s horn, the effect of which is to make him invisible to an enemy if he should meet him in the path. He often carries another, somewhat similar, which will turn the bullets of an enemy’s gun into water if the enemy should see him and shoot at him; or sometimes the bullets will pass through his body and do him no harm. He wears a band, a “kaga,” about his neck, which tightens at the approach of danger. The explanation of the latter may be a physical fact, namely, that fear distends the cords of the neck so that the band would really be tighter. He carries another medicine in a horn which, if danger overtake him in the forest, or he should be in need of help, will whistle in his town, however far away, and summon the people. It is obvious that several of these fetishes are quite superfluous if the others are to be relied upon. The native therefore does not fully trust his fetishes; and there is always the fear that some enemy may have a stronger fetish than his own. There are fetishes to protect a man against theft. One of these will cause a person who steals from its owner to “swell up and burst.” Indeed there are a great many fetishes used for various purposes which have this same effect of causing persons to swell up and burst. Another fetish is kept in the box containing the owner’s cloth, tobacco and other goods. If a thief should open the box this fetish will spring out and go right through him.

Before entering upon a war several days are sometimes spent in the preparation of war-medicine. The best fetish-doctors unite their skill in the preparation. It is medicine that makes the gun shoot straight; it is medicine that makes the bullets kill; it is medicine that makes a man fearless; it is medicine that makes cowards of the enemy. The French government brought into the Congo Français native soldiers of Senegal, armed with first-rate guns and skilled in the use of them. The Fang were of course eager to know the secret of their powerful gun-medicine. Two of the soldiers who were in personal contact with the Fang sold them little tin boxes filled with mud, which they said was their gun-medicine. The two enterprising soldiers were “getting rich quick” when the government required their prompt attendance at the capital.

Some of the war-medicines are repulsive. On extreme occasions they will sprinkle upon the forth-going warriors an admixture of the decomposing brains of men recently deceased and the blood of fowls or of animals, with other disgusting ingredients. With this medicine besides others which are suspended about his neck, the smell of such a hero would detract somewhat from the glamour of his exploits; and one can imagine, upon his return from the war, the people holding their noses and singing, “Lo, the Conquering Hero Comes.”

There are other fetishes which are used more commonly to avenge private wrongs.

When a man cuts his hair or trims his beard, he carefully guards it and then burns it, lest a single hair should fall into the hands of an enemy. So he does with the cuttings of his nails. The possession of these would give an enemy power over him; for they are the common ingredients of a fetish-medicine. A piece of his clothing may also be used in this way. Such medicine, if buried before his doorway or placed beside the path where he will pass, even without coming in contact with him, will inflict sickness or disease, misfortune or death. Most of the evils that befall the native he attributes to the power of these hostile fetishes. Only the most devout and consecrated Christians are entirely freed from this superstition. Even in the Mpongwe Church of Gaboon, the oldest in the Mission, there are many cases of discipline for such beliefs.

There was one particular case that came up in some form at nearly every meeting of the session of the church for more than a year. A young woman, named Anuriguli, was married and a short time afterwards was received into the church. It was said by certain of the heathen that an envious woman of a town near by, who was also a member of the church, had made medicine to prevent Anuriguli from having children. For this is a great affliction and reproach to an African woman. Some half dozen families, men and women, became entangled in this quarrel, most of them however being heathen. The Christians among them were several times summoned before the session of the church. Each told his story in his own way; the native way is to begin as far back towards the creation of the world as their knowledge of history extends, and leave to the very last all reference to the matter in hand. There is a notable absence of embarrassment in such a discussion, even on the part of the women; nor are they in the least forward; in fact they are not self-conscious at all; for no native ever hesitates for a word or experiences the slightest difficulty in expressing himself in appropriate language. Anuriguli declared she had never accused the other woman of making medicine against her. She had heard it from others, but she did not fear such medicines since she had become a Christian; although if the woman had done so it would indicate a feeling of extreme hostility towards her however powerless her efforts might be, and this enmity was making her heart sore. The other woman declared her innocence, and that for years she had not believed in this superstition; nor had she any hostile feelings that would prompt her to such a wicked action; but she had heard that Anuriguli accused her, and the accusation was hurting both her feelings and her reputation; and her heart was very sore, for the heathen had cast bitter reproaches upon her.

Having given much advice, but too little sympathy, I fear, I exacted a promise from each and all of them that they would stop talking about the matter, and I dismissed them; for the session had endless work ahead of them, some of it more serious than this. The result was that it broke out afresh, and three months later they were all before the session again, when the matter was more complicated than at first. Three months later it again came before the session for the third time. Anuriguli’s position had somewhat altered. She had heard that the other woman said that she said that the other woman said that she said ... that the other woman had made medicine to injure her! And still there are those who assert that the African is not intellectually competent! I did then what I wished I had done in the first place—gave them all the time they wanted and took time myself to realize that fetishism is a terrible reality in Africa, that public opinion recognizes it and can inflict as heavy penalties as anywhere else upon those who fall into disrepute; for the African, because his social instincts are strong, is very sensitive regarding his reputation. A patient and sympathetic hearing ended the whole matter.

The ingredients of a fetish are usually objects associated with that which is desirable or that which is fearful—the strong, the swift, the gruesome, the repulsive, the mysterious and objects associated with death. The eagle’s talon is commonly used, the wing feathers of any bird, the claw of the leopard, the teeth of all animals and their blood, dried bits of their flesh and their offal. When Shakespeare describes the contents of the witches’ caldron and their invocation of trouble, one might think that he had been a missionary to the Fang.