Note 108 — Chapter IV

The priest brings his nuts in a rhinoceros horn from the upper country. Holding the sixteen in his left hand, he takes them up at random—as we do at a ‘bean club’—in his right, and the operation is repeated till either two, called ‘ofu,’ or one, called ‘ossa,’ remains. The chosen nut is then rolled, with the middle finger, over the earth, or over a board whitened with the dust made by tree-worms. Finally, it is marked with certain lines, which, by deciding the value and the nature of sacrifice, procure success.

An old converted priest thus performed the ceremony in my presence. He counted sixteen nuts, freed them from dust, and placed them in a bowl on the ground, full of yam half boiled, crushed, and covered with some acrid vegetable infusion. His acolyte, a small boy, was then called, made to squat near the bowl, resting his body on the outer edge of the feet, which were turned inwards, and to take from the fetish-man two or three bones, seeds, and shells, some of which are of good, others of bad omen. Elevating them, he rested his hands upon his knees. The adept cast the nuts from one hand to the other, retaining some in the left, and while manipulating, dropped others into the bowl. He then stooped down, drew with the index and medius lines on the yam, inspected the nuts, and occasionally referred to the articles in the boy’s hand. Thus he was enabled to pronounce an opinion upon what was to happen.

I cannot flatter myself that the modus operandi has been made quite intelligible to the reader, for the best of reasons—I do not quite understand it myself. The system is far more simple in Dahome, and at some future time I may explain it.