ABSTRACT
F e t i s h i s m is often supposed to have its home and place of origin amongst the negroes of West Africa. It is certainly amongst the inhabitants of the Gold Coast and Slave Coast that the subject can best be studied; but if our conclusions are to be of any value, they should not be based on the hasty reports of passing visitors or the statements of semi-civilised natives, and “ fetishism” should not be detached from the general religious beliefs of those who practise it. Fortunately, within the last few years trustworthy information has been placed at the command of the student, and a signal service to the science of religion has been rendered by LieutenantColonel Ellis, First Battalion, West India Begiment, from whose valuable works {The Tshi-speaking Peoples, The Ewespeaking Peoples, and The Yoruba-speaking Peoples) the follow ing account is taken.
