Fetichism in West Africa

by Robert Hamill Nassau

(My informant asserted that this really happened in the Ogowe.)

The parties are a husband and wife, their two little children, and a younger brother of the husband. One of the children, a boy, was a lad old enough to understand affairs.

The brother-in-law loved the woman, and secretly tried to draw her affections to himself; but to all his solicitation she gave only persistent refusal. Thus matters went on, he asking and she refusing; and then his love turned to hatred.

It happened one day that the husband and wife had a big quarrel of their own. The wife was so angry that she said she would leave him, take the children, and go to her father’s house. But that home was far away, and could not be reached in one day. Other women tried to prevent her going, as she would have to spend the night in the forest on the way; but she insisted.

Leaving her clothing and other goods, she started off with the two children, a little food, and her machete. Trying to make the journey in one day, she walked very fast. But when the sun had set, and soon darkness would fall, the lad said, “Mother, as we cannot reach there to-night, don’t you think we’d better stop and arrange a sleeping-place before dark, and let the spot be a little aside from the public path?” The mother said, “Yes; that is good!” Then she gave the babe to the lad to hold, while she with her machete began to cut away bushes and clear the ground for a convenient sleeping-spot. After she had cut away some bushes, the lad watching her, saw that she was clearing a space larger than was needed for herself. He asked her, “Do you intend that we all shall sleep in that one place,—you and baby and I?” The mother said, “Yes.” But he said, “Why, no! Fix two places,—I by myself, and you and baby in another place.” The mother replied, “No, I cannot let you sleep alone in this forest; I want you near me.” However, the lad insisted: “But if anything happens to us in the night, then we will be lost all together. I am not willing that we should be all in the same place.”

So the lad began to search for a place for himself, and came to a big tree which was not very far from his mother’s chosen spot. He called her to him, and said, “I have found a good place. Just you clear for me behind this big tree, and dig a trench for me to lie in, just below the level of the ground.” The mother did so.

After the two spots were cleared, they ate their little evening meal, and night came. Then the lad said, “Now I go to lie in the trench, and you sprinkle leaves over me to hide me, and then you go to your sleeping-place. And if anything happens to me at night, I promise I will not cry out; I will remain silent. And you promise that if anything happens to you, you also will not cry out, nor call to me.” The mother agreed, and both went to sleep.

Not long after this, both were awakened by a strange flashing light, and the mother saw some one coming to the place where she was lying. Then the light was suddenly extinguished; and she saw a man near her, and recognized that he was her brother-in-law. She was exceedingly alarmed, knowing that he did not come with good intent. In her fright she hoped to gain time by pretending to be friendly with him. So she exclaimed, “Oh! My young husband! Now you have come after me, so that your brother’s wife will not have to sleep in the forest alone. Now we will make friendship and be good friends.” But he replied in anger: “Friends, you say? You shall see what kind of friends I will make with you to-night! You, the woman who hates me! Where is the lad?” She, determined to shield the child, said, “The lad did not come with me; he preferred to stay in town with his father.” The man replied, “You are not telling me the truth. Tell me where the lad is!” But she persisted in her statement, “He is left in town with his father.”

Then the man walked about in search of the lad, going even very near to where he was lying awake in the trench. But the leaves hid him, and his uncle did not discern that the ground had been disturbed. Returning to the woman, he said, “Good! you are telling the truth. I don’t see the lad. But now I am ready to attend to you. You shall see.” So he approached the woman to seize her. She was so paralyzed with fear that she neither attempted to run away, nor, though her machete was lying near, did she lay hold of it. Even had she done so, she was too weak with her journey to defend herself. The man snatched up the babe that still was sleeping, and looking around for a rough, projecting root, violently flung the babe against it. It made no cry; and both he and the mother supposed it was instantly killed. Then he drew his machete, which he had made very sharp, and began to cut and slash the woman. She pleaded and cried for help; but there was no help near. She fell, covered with wounds, and died on the spot. All this the lad saw and heard. After killing the mother, the man began again to search for the lad, but did not find him; and, as it was now after midnight, he left the place to go back to town.

Soon after he was gone, the lad, exhausted with terror and fatigue, fell asleep. But he awoke again in the early daylight. Arising from his trench, he went with grief and distress to see the two corpses. Looking at his mother’s blood-covered form, he saw that she was dead. Looking at his baby brother lying on the root, he took up the little form, sobbing, “Only I am alive. Even this little child was not spared. Am I to go on my journey all alone?” Examining the limp body still further, it seemed still to show signs of life; and he said to himself, “I think I will try to save it. I am strong enough to carry it to my mother’s people, to whom I shall tell this whole story.”