The professional pig-killer is not, as such, either a sorcerer or a magic man in the minor sense; and, if there has originally been anything of a superstitious or magic character associated with him or his functions, I was unable to find any trace of it, except perhaps as regards the ceremony and incantation in connection with hunting, which apparently is commonly performed by him.

Charms.

The Mafulu people believe in charms.  I have already referred to those used by young men desirous of marrying.  But there are many other more important charms for various purposes, such as averting illness and death, success in hunting and fishing, and perhaps preservation in time of war.  These charms may be stones, small pieces of different sorts of bark, flowers, or various kinds of poisons, though the poisons appear to be only used for averting illness and death.  They are all procured from sorcerers, who may be of the same or of some other village, or of another community, and there are sorcerers who have specialities in certain sorts of charms.  These charms are often carried inside the small charm bags already mentioned.

Omens.

They believe in omens; but of these I was only able to hear of two examples—­namely, flying foxes, [116] and fireflies, the latter, though common in the plains, being rare on the mountains, and both of these are bad omens.  Any person or party starting off on a journey, or on a hunting or fishing expedition, and meeting either of these creatures would probably at once turn back; and I was told that even a full war party starting off on a punitive expedition would turn back, or at least halt for a time, if it met one or other of them.  I cannot help thinking there must be some other omens, which I have failed to discover.

General.

Referring generally to supplications, incantations, and acts of propitiation, the only examples of them which I was able to discover were the above-mentioned supplication to the river prior to fishing, which is apparently spoken by the fishers themselves, and not merely by a sorcerer or magic man, and the incantations in connection with nose-piercing, with hunting, with a dying chief, with the stone operation for stomach complaints, and with the plant remedies for wounds, and the acts of propitiation, if such they are, in connection with ceremonious pig-killing, and especially with the ceremonies performed at a big feast and at or following a funeral; and as regards the incantations I could learn nothing as to their nature, nor as to the specific spiritual powers for the influencing of which they are intended, nor the way in which those powers are moved by them.