Note note 7 — NOTES TO PART I

7 Some of his companions laughed (p. 20).--We are apt to think that all natives are equally superstitious, but that is not so. A man may be a devout believer in charms and fetishes, he may decorate his person, his house, his children, his pigs, his goats and his dogs with as many charms as he can afford to buy, or he may quietly leave all the charms and fetishes severely alone, and no one will think the better or worse of him; but he must believe in witchcraft, in witches and their occult power, or his life will be made wretched with accusations of witchcraft. I have known some natives to surround themselves with fetishes and charms, and most scrupulously observe all rites and ceremonies, and I have known others to disregard the whole box of tricks and hold them in contempt.