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 XXII - 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 complains of the inconveniences arising from the method of African thought, and discourses on apparitions and Deities.
However much some of the African's mental attributes get under-rated, I am sure there are others of them for which he gets more credit than he deserves. One of these is his imagination. It strikes the new-comer with awe, and frequently fills him with rage, when he first meets it; but as he matures and gets used to the African, he sees the string. For the African fancy is not the “aërial fancy flying free,” mentioned by our poets, but merely the aërial of the theatre suspended by a wire or cord. The wire that supports the African's fancy may be a very thin, small fact indeed, or in some cases merely his incapacity to distinguish between animate and inanimate objects, which give rise to his idea that everything is possessed of a soul. Everything has a soul to him, and to make confusion worse confounded, he usually believes in the existence of matter apart from its soul. But there is little he won't believe in, if it comes to that; and I have a feeling of thankfulness that Buddhism, Theosophy, and above all Atheism, which chases its tail and proves that nothing can be proved, have not yet been given the African to believe in. He would believe the whole lot if he had the chance, and his mind is in a pretty muddle as it is. I dare say I speak with irritation, but I have suffered much from the African's mind muddle.
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- Travels in West Africa, Congo Français, Corisco and Cameroons , pp. 501 - 520Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1897