Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER I LIVERPOOL TO SIERRA LEONE
- CHAPTER II THE GOLD COAST
- CHAPTER III FERNANDO PO AND THE BUBIS
- CHAPTER IV LAGOS BAR
- CHAPTER V VOYAGE DOWN COAST
- CHAPTER VI LIBREVILLE AND GLASS
- CHAPTER VII THE OGOWÉ
- CHAPTER VIII TALAGOUGA
- CHAPTER IX THE RAPIDS OF THE OGOWÉ
- CHAPTER X LEMBARENE
- CHAPTER XI FROM KANGWE TO LAKE NCOVI
- CHAPTER XII FROM NCOVI TO ESOON
- CHAPTER XIII FROM ESOON TO AGONJO
- CHAPTER XIV BUSH TRADE AND FAN CUSTOMS
- CHAPTER XV DOWN THE REMBWÉ
- CHAPTER XVI CONGO FRANÇAIS
- CHAPTER XVII THE LOG OF THE Lafayette
- CHAPTER XVIII FROM CORISCO TO GABOON
- CHAPTER XIX FETISH
- CHAPTER XX FETISH—(Continued)
- CHAPTER XXI FETISH—(Continued)
- CHAPTER XXII FETISH—(Continued)
- CHAPTER XXIII FETISH—(Concluded)
- CHAPTER XXIV ASCENT OF THE GREAT PEAK OF CAMEROONS
- CHAPTER XXV ASCENT OF THE GREAT PEAK OF CAMEROONS—(Continued)
- CHAPTER XXVI THE GREAT PEAK OF CAMEROONS—(Continued)
- CHAPTER XXVII THE GREAT PEAK OF CAMEROONS—(Concluded)
- CHAPTER XXVIII THE ISLANDS IN THE BAY OF AMBOISES
- APPENDIX
- INDEX
- Plate section
CHAPTER XXI - FETISH—(Continued)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER I LIVERPOOL TO SIERRA LEONE
- CHAPTER II THE GOLD COAST
- CHAPTER III FERNANDO PO AND THE BUBIS
- CHAPTER IV LAGOS BAR
- CHAPTER V VOYAGE DOWN COAST
- CHAPTER VI LIBREVILLE AND GLASS
- CHAPTER VII THE OGOWÉ
- CHAPTER VIII TALAGOUGA
- CHAPTER IX THE RAPIDS OF THE OGOWÉ
- CHAPTER X LEMBARENE
- CHAPTER XI FROM KANGWE TO LAKE NCOVI
- CHAPTER XII FROM NCOVI TO ESOON
- CHAPTER XIII FROM ESOON TO AGONJO
- CHAPTER XIV BUSH TRADE AND FAN CUSTOMS
- CHAPTER XV DOWN THE REMBWÉ
- CHAPTER XVI CONGO FRANÇAIS
- CHAPTER XVII THE LOG OF THE Lafayette
- CHAPTER XVIII FROM CORISCO TO GABOON
- CHAPTER XIX FETISH
- CHAPTER XX FETISH—(Continued)
- CHAPTER XXI FETISH—(Continued)
- CHAPTER XXII FETISH—(Continued)
- CHAPTER XXIII FETISH—(Concluded)
- CHAPTER XXIV ASCENT OF THE GREAT PEAK OF CAMEROONS
- CHAPTER XXV ASCENT OF THE GREAT PEAK OF CAMEROONS—(Continued)
- CHAPTER XXVI THE GREAT PEAK OF CAMEROONS—(Continued)
- CHAPTER XXVII THE GREAT PEAK OF CAMEROONS—(Concluded)
- CHAPTER XXVIII THE ISLANDS IN THE BAY OF AMBOISES
- APPENDIX
- INDEX
- Plate section
Summary
In which the Voyager discourses on the legal methods of natives of this country, the ideas governing forms of burial, of their manner of mourning for their dead, and the condition of the African soul in its under-world.
Great as are the incidental miseries and dangers surrounding death to all the people in the village in which a death occurs, undoubtedly those who suffer most are the widows of a chief or free man.
The uniform custom among both Negroes and Bantus is that those who escape execution on the charge of having witched the husband to death, shall remain in a state of filth and abasement, not even removing vermin from themselves, until after the soul-burial is complete—the soul of the dead man being regarded as hanging about them and liable to be injured. Therefore, also to the end of preventing his soul from getting damaged, they are confined to their huts; this latter restriction is not rigidly enforced, but it is held theoretically to be the correct thing.
They maintain the attitude of grief and abasement, sitting on the ground, eating but little food, and that of a coarse kind. In Calabar their legal rights over property, such as slaves, are meanwhile considerably in abeyance, and they are put to great expense during the time the spirit is awaiting burial.
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- Travels in West Africa, Congo Français, Corisco and Cameroons , pp. 483 - 500Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1897