away, hospital and all, to what seemed destruction. She was
rescued, but what the feelings of those on board were, save
that they had a lurid glow of glory in them and a determination
that they would die in a manner creditable to La France,
I know not. The feelings of those ashore ' I am faintly able
to realise, and they must have been painful in the extreme, for
the Mmerve is beloved ; many a man, nay, almost every man,
knows that he owes his life to the skill and care he received on
board her when he had “ that attack.” No man is, I think,
regarded as being initiated into the inner life of Congo
Français until he has been carried on board her in a dying
-condition from the fearful Coast fever, and duly pulled round.
It would be an immense advantage to the other settlements
along here had they such an institution. She is infinitely better
than the so-called “ Sanatorium” on higher ground. The idea
-of the efficacy of such stations is one of the most dangerous
illusions rife on the West Coast— I even learn now that this
•Government is thinking of doing away with the floating
hospital and building one ashore which will not have anything
like so good a record to show as the wards of the
Minerve now have.
After our incident with the authorities we pull ourselves
together, and arrive at Hatton and Cookson’s Wharf with a
-delusive dash, and glad I am to get there and return to all
the comforts, society, and safety associated with it.
CH APTER X IX
FETISH
In which the Voyager attempts cautiously to approach the subject. oF
Fetish, and gives a classification of spirits, and some account of the
Ibet and Orundas.
H a v in g given some account of my personal experiences
among an African tribe in its original state, i.e., in a state uninfluenced
by European ideas and culture, I will make an
attempt to give a rough sketch of the African form of
thought and the difficulties of studying it, because the study
of this thing is my chief motive for going to West Africa.
Since 1893 I have been collecting information in its native-
state regarding Fetish, and I use the usual terms fetish and
ju-ju because they have among us a certain fixed value— a
conventional value, but a useful one. Neither “ fetish ’ nor
“ ju-ju” are native words. Fetish comes from the word
the old Portuguese explorers used to designate the objects
they thought the natives worshipped, and in which they
were wise enough to recognise a certain similarity to their
own little images and relics of Saints, “ Feitigo.” Ju-ju, on the
other hand, is French, and comes from the word for a toy or
doll,1 so it is not so applicable as the Portuguese name, for
the native image is not a doll or toy, and has far more affinity to-
the image of a saint, inasmuch as it is not venerated for
itself, or treasured because of its prettiness, but only because
it is the residence, or the occasional haunt, of a spirit.
1 It is held by some authorities to come from gru-gru, a Mandingo word
for charm, but I respectfully question whether gru-gru has not come from
ju-ju, the native approximation to the French joujou.