[33] Those nails were not mere “ornaments.” They were the records of the number of persons who had been transfixed by death or disease under the power of that fetich idol. A similar custom is known in the West Indies and in the southern United States. For every pin stuck into a wax figure intended to represent the person to be injured, some sickness or other evil will fall on him. Wilkie Collins also utilized this superstition in his novel, “I say, No.”—R. H. N.
[34] Declè.
[35] History of Religion, pp. 65, 69.
[36] Garenganze, p. 77.
[37] Three Years in Savage Africa.
[38] I saw the same on the Ogowe.—R. H. N.
[39] These piles I have found at almost every village I have visited.—R. H. N.
[40] Declè, p. 346.
[41] Menzies.
[42] Declè.