Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/537

Rh one will dare to risk the curse that would follow the breaking of a law thus proclaimed, and any family, town, or clan thus cursed would tremble until they either procured its removal or secured the services of the greatest nganga to nullify it.

The "evil eye" is supposed to receive its power from a fetish called "Ezau." The ingredients of the charm are known only to the maker and user, and the possession of such a charm is, of course, a secret, as those known to be in possession of it would soon be accused of witchcraft. The charm used to counteract the evil eye is called "kimbaji-mbaji," and is made by putting various herbs into a univalve shell. When a person feels under the power of the "ezau," he sends for a nganga who owns a good "kimbaji-mbaji" fetish. The nganga kills a fowl as a sacrifice, and puts some of the blood into the shell; he then marks a cross with chalk on the shell and puts it on the ground, surrounding it with eight heaps of gunpowder, which he explodes, and then blows his whistle vigorously. This arouses the charm to work effectively. Sometimes the nganga makes the shell move along the path, to the astonishment of all. The person engaging the nganga is now free from the influence of the evil eye. A woman here with a ground-nut patch who was not ready to gather it has objected to the other women in the village gathering theirs lest they put "ezau" on her patch, and so destroy the possibility of a good harvest. She believed that they had power by using the "ezau" to draw the nuts under ground from her own patch to theirs. The great, wealthy chief Makitu, now dead, was supposed to possess an "ezau" by which he put a ban on other folk's goods and thus became rich by their misfortunes.

It is considered very unlucky for a person to count her children one, two, three, and so on, for evil spirits will hear