ABSTRACT
The Safwa term for these empongo designates them as being 'of Ongolobɛ. Despite this ultimate attribution of these empongo to Ongolobɛ, however, it is the ancestors themselves who actually deprive kinsmen of their life force. The most frequently used of these restorative medicines are for empongo. Numerous home remedies, as well as those procured from medicine men serve to cure people of those empongo which are 'known' . Medicines for strengthening human relationships are used at almost every level of group interaction. In the compound a special gourd is usually maintained by the compound head to strengthen his group against disease and malevolence from outside. lup?mb? is actually a medicine, which is prepared by a medicine man at the behest of a creditor. It is a specific for causing death within the lineage of a particular debtor and may strike down any member at random, though the strength of a potential.
