ABSTRACT
Before warriors start on the war-path, it is customary to offer a sacrifice to the chief fetish of the town. All the inhabitants join in this ceremony, and afterwards each of the chosen band submits himself to the “Shot and Matchet Juju,” the principal rites of which consist in the priest rubbing magic leaves over the whole body of the warrior, in order to render him invulnerable, and a black Juju powder over his face to make him invisible to his opponents. When each had been protected in this way, another ceremony was performed. A great “medicine” was made and a fresh sacrifice offered, during the slaying of which the priest called upon the “soul names” of the strongest and most famous warriors among the enemy, adjuring these to leave their bodies and come at his bidding; so that in the day of battle they might be soulless, and therefore powerless to fight.
