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FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA




[Illustration: FETICH MAGICIAN. (With horns, wooden mask, spear, and
sword; dress of leaves of palm and plantain.)]




  FETICHISM IN WEST AFRICA

  _Forty Years' Observation of Native Customs
  and Superstitions_


  BY THE REV. ROBERT HAMILL NASSAU, M.D., S.T.D.

  FOR FORTY YEARS A MISSIONARY IN THE GABUN DISTRICT
  OF KONGO-FRANCAISE

  AUTHOR OF "CROWNED IN PALM LAND," "MAWEDO"


  WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS


  YOUNG PEOPLE'S
  MISSIONARY MOVEMENT
  156 FIFTH AVENUE
  NEW YORK




  _Copyright, 1904_
  BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

  Published October, 1904




PREFACE


On the 2d of July, 1861, I sailed from New York City on a little brig, the
"Ocean Eagle," with destination to the island of Corisco, near the
equator, on the West Coast of Africa. My first introduction to the natives
of Africa was a month later, when the vessel stopped at Monrovia, the
capital of the Liberian Republic, to land a portion of its trade goods,
and at other ports of Liberia, Sinoe, and Cape Palmas; thence to Corisco
on September 12.

Corisco is a microcosm, only five miles long by three miles wide; its
surface diversified with every variety of landscape, proportioned to its
size, of hill, pr