Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/158

 136 Reviews.

of Loango by Dr. Pechuel-Loesche. There, however, gods in the true sense of the terms do not exist. Among the Baganda the ghosts of the dead were universally feared. So great was the terror they inspired that even the king would not venture to put a man to death for a crime without compelling him first to take a magical drink, or to undergo some other ceremony, that put his ghost within the king's control and prevented its haunting him. Baganda monarchy was, in fact, a despotism, as bloody as that of Dahomey or Russia, tempered by the fear of the posthu- mous activities of its victims. Every family naturally had its dead, who, as long as they were remembered, were the object of worship, those who were most recently dead, and therefore the most vividly remembered, being as a rule the most honoured.

The most exalted order of supernatural beings was constituted by the gods. Mr. Cunningham reckons up "thirty-five distinct and different devils," by which he means what Mr. Roscoe calls gods. The native word used {Bahibare) is the same. Mr. Cunningham states that it " essentially implies evil," an expression we must probably interpret as meaning not so much moral evil as physical evil, irritability, and ferocity. Their worship was, like that of the dead, founded on fear. Their number, however, must have greatly exceeded thirty-five. Mr. Roscoe wisely does not attempt enumeration : he only discusses the chief gods, those regarded as national deities. But besides them there were hosts of others. Every river had its particular divinity. The hills, the forests, — nay, every tree, — had their spirits, and these local spirits were doubtless gods in germ. At the head of the Pantheon stood the god Mukasa, whom Mr. Cunningham with some hesitation considers a goddess. He had his temple on the island Bubembe in the Victoria Nyanza. There he gave oracles by means of a female medium, and received sacrifices and gifts. Mr. Roscoe regards him as a deified man, an opinion shared by Sir Harry Johnston. Considerable weight must be attached to this judg- ment. It seems to be founded on the legends of his life and death or disappearance. He was the son of Wanema, also a god. His mother's name was Nambubi. She belonged to the Lung-fish clan. His brother Kibuka was the war-god. What sacred relics were enshrined in his temple seems a matter of some doubt;