Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/365

 Collectanea. 313

The front of the box consists of a piece of looking glass, now starred by an accident, and the eyes of the figure are also made from bits of silvered glass. Two animal teeth are fixed, one at each side of the headdress.

The Bolobo fetish was regarded by its owner as a protection from evil spirits who brought ill-health or bad luck in trade or hunting, or caused bad dreams or any other sort of evil. It might be hung up in the hut, or placed in the corner in a little arrange- ment of sticks and clay resembling a small shrine. If the owner was very superstitious or under the impression that he was likely to be the victim of the evil designs of someone possessed of occult powers, he would probably every morning bring the figure out into the open air, and walk up and down in front of his hut, or round about it, waving the fetish and at the same time chewing a piece of kola nut. When the nut was reduced to pulp he would squirt it from his mouth on the front, or all round the middle, of the image, special care being taken to cover the part occupied by the " medicine." This anointing with chewed kola nut is thought to arouse the powers of the fetish. I once heard a man address some remarks to his fetish while performing this operation, but I had an idea that he did so for my benefit, as I had had some conversation with him on the subject. I do not think it is customary to regard the fetish as subject to any other influence than that of the kola nut or camwood powder which is rubbed or spat upon the fetish. The right leg of the figure is missing, but this would in no way diminish its powers. The defect would indicate age, which in some cases is supposed to mean increased power. Or the fetish may have been regarded as of great influence, and, although injured by the loss of its leg, still venerated.

A. E. Scrivener.

Bolobo, Haut Congo, Congo Beige.

Old-Time Survivals in Remote Norwegian Dales.

(With Plate XX.)

The following notes of old-time Norwegian customs and stories are translated from Sundalen og Oksendalens Beskrivelse ("Sundal