Barolong give a kind of worship to deranged persons, as being under the direct influence of a deity; while in East Africa the explanation of madness and idiocy is simple and typical — 'he has fiends.'[1] Negroes of West Africa, on the supposition that an attack of illness has been caused by some spiritual being, can ascertain to their satisfaction what manner of spirit has done it, and why. The patient may have neglected his 'wong' or fetish-spirit, who has therefore made him ill; or it may be his own 'kla' or personal guardian-spirit, who on being summoned explains that he has not been treated respectfully enough, &c.; or it may be a 'sisa' or ghost of some dead man, who has taken this means of making known that he wants perhaps a gold ornament that was left behind when he died.[2] Of course, the means of cure will then be to satisfy the demands of the spirit. Another aspect of the negro doctrine of disease-spirits is displayed in the following description from Guinea, by the Rev. J. L. Wilson, the missionary: — 'Demoniacal possessions are common, and the feats performed by those who are supposed to be under such influence are certainly not unlike those described in the New Testament. Frantic gestures, convulsions, foaming at the mouth, feats of supernatural strength, furious ravings, bodily lacerations, gnashing of teeth, and other things of a similar character, may be witnessed in most of the cases which are supposed to be under diabolical influence.'[3] The remark several times made by travellers is no doubt true, that the spiritualistic theory of disease has tended strongly to prevent progress in the medical art among the lower races. Thus among the Bodo and Dhimal of North-East India, who ascribe all diseases to a deity tormenting the patient for some impiety or neglect, the exorcists divine the offended
- ↑ Casalis, 'Basutos,' p. 247; Callaway, 'Rel. of Amazulu,' p. 147, &c.; Magyar, 'Süd-Afrika,' p. 21, &c.; Burton, 'Central Afr.' vol. ii. pp. 320, 354; Steere in 'Journ. Anthrop. Inst.' vol. i. 1871, p. cxlvii.
- ↑ Steinhauser, 'Religion des Negers,' in 'Magaz. der Evang. Missions and Bibel-Gesellschaften,' Basel, 1856, No. 2, p. 139.
- ↑ J. L. Wilson, 'W. Afr.' pp. 217, 388.
