| 4.1 WUTANGANG |
The witchdoctor is a clairvoyant as the others already
treated above. Unlike the villain and sorcerer, he is preoccupied with
the good and welfare of the society; protecting its individuals from
evil forces. He is a wise man. He is born with his medicine in his
stomach, and as he grows up, the medicine grows as well. When this
medicine is mature enough he begins to use it. |
He knows the ins and outs of Msa. He goes there to rescue
people. He is very careful of the way he does this, because its people
would chase him away if they see him. Sometimes it is impossible to
rescue a victim, either because he ate garden eggs, or is tied at a
place too delicate for the witchdoctor to reach. According to Martin
Knze:
When a witchdoctor has to rescue someone from Msa, he
leaves his house with his medicine. He is given two fowls. He rubs
himself and puts some of his medicine on his head. He must go there
only at midday, when everybody has gone to the farm. He takes along
with him groundnuts, palm nuts, bean balls; to bribe the children to
show him where the victim has been kept. At midday the children are
hungry and can easily be deceived. If the victim went to take money
at Msa, the witchdoctor would see him in a house over whose roof
water drips. The witchdoctor must make sure none of the water drops
on him. If it does, he dies. (interviewed 15th December, 1984) |
Once back from Msa, the witchdoctor makes an amulet for the
rescued person. If the latter is a cunning child, the amulet would
close the way to Msa for him, as long as it remains tied around his
neck or waist. Just as witchdoctors are of varying abilities, so too
are their amulets. It is not uncommon to find certain amulets stronger
than others. The Bum people have a saying that:
It is the people who tell you of the good witchdoctor; he
does not say so himself. Medicine is seen, not heard. |
Where the victim at Msa is an innocent, the amulet would
protect him against further victimization by his cunning mate. |
The witchdoctor is an awung, but he does not join with
others to "eat" people. Instead, at night he lies on his bed
and watches all that the sorcerers are doing all over the land. If he
sees where a victim is being roasted, he would go out to the spot and
warn the sorcerers doing the roasting. He asks them to abandon their
victim and disperse, or else be exposed to the authorities in the
morning. These sorcerers may heed him or not. In the case where they
do not, he reports them to the authorities at dawn. The authorities
then take appropriate measures to force the sorcerers to discontinue
their nocturnal activities. The sorcerers see the witchdoctor as an
obstacle, and try to victimize him as well. The witchdoctor is
expected to be ripe and strong in his medicine, to be able to
outmanoeuvre them. He must not drink wine from a sorcerer. Or rather,
he must be capable of detecting poisonous wine or food. |
The witchdoctor is also expected to interpret the message
of the gods (a god is egg-like in shape, white and soft, and believed
to be an ancestor or a devil) that visit the people. A god might be a
devil from Msa, that comes to ask for debts to be paid, or it may
simply be an ancestor saying what is wrong or right with the present
state of things. The witchdoctor also makes medicine on people's farms
and compounds. This is to prevent destruction by sorcerers and
villains who may transform themselves into storms and harmful animals.
This particular medicine is called ifam |
To conclude, the witchdoctor finds out what people bear in
their minds; he moves about at night seeing what is going on in the
various households and clans; sees the sorcerers at work and exposes
them, thus saving the life of a would-be victim; goes to Msa and takes
the bodies or hearts of victims, which he reinserts in them; and makes
ifam on farms or compounds, or amulets, to protect and close the way
to Msa, to the innocent and the cunning respectively. |
4.2 WUTAMFU |
The herbalist (sg. wutamfu = man of mfu - pl. ghetamfu) is
a person who cures patients of bodily diseases with natural causes. He
gives herbs (sg. afu - pl. mfu) to those who are sick with headaches,
fever and other physical illnesses. All he needs is a very retentive
memory, since he deals with many herbs which he must know to his
finger tips; how to identify them, and what quantities are needed for
what length of time, for a particular illness. He is often likened to
what modernity (kwang) calls 'doctor'. Just like the doctor, the
herbalist might buy some herbs whose effectiveness he has learned
about. His ambition is to become as efficient as possible. When a new
type of illness develops, he goes about to neighbouring tribes
fetching for the cure. The more he travels and learns about the herbs
and curing, the more efficient he is gong to be. The saying that
'medicine is seen, not heard', would apply to him as well. For people
would broadcast far and wide how valuable he is to the sick and
society. But a bad herbalist can never admit to you that he is bad. |
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Beben Bangha Dinga of Njinijoh, a herbalist, summarises
what the Bum think of the herbalist as follows:
A witchdoctor is born with his sense in medicine But a
herbalist might buy some herbs whose effectiveness he has been told
about. Just, as with modernity, he who knows the names of drugs can
buy them and sell, so too is it with local herbs. If I call in
somebody now to cure my child of stomachache I would also ask him to
show me the herb so that I could apply it when the child is sick
again. The intelligence of a herbalist is just like that of a school
child. Is it not true that sometimes in a class of sixty, only five
may succeed in a test? I can indicate a certain herb to ten persons.
But from here to Bamenda not more than one of them would be able to
identify that herb again. The one who identifies it is more likely
to be a herbalist than the others.
A bad herbalist, just as a sorcerer, can never tell you that he is
such. Only people will tell you what he is or does. Herbalist are
just like hospitals - with varying degrees of efficiency. If you - a
patient -cannot be cured in Nkambe, they may send you to Bamenda. If
you cannot be cured there, you may be sent to Banso. We hear of a
good hospital from people. It is not the hospital staff that goes
about boasting of their excellence (interviewed 5th April, 1984). |
In today's Bum, the distinction we have drawn between the
witchdoctor and the herbalist is not so clear amongst the laymen.
However, the true witchdoctors and herbalists are very conscious of
this difference between them. But they cooperate with one another. For
instance, the herbalist Beben Meki of Kwoti, and the witchdoctor Bande
Wabua of Njinijoh cooperate very well. When the former receives a case
that concerns sorcery or villainy, he sends it to Bande Wabua. And
when the latter is faced with the case of ordinary illness, he sends
it to Beben Meki. If the laymen find it hard to distinguish between
the two, it is either the result of one of two things or both.
Firstly, it might be that the laymen believe that no illness is ever
the result of natural causes (for the people often refer to the
witchdoctor only, as if the herbalist never existed, even if it is in
fact a herbalist that they consult. Or secondly, it might be the
result of the proliferation nowadays of fake witchdoctors. |
| 4.3 WUTAFUNYAK |
It is the duty of the diviner to find out what has
happened, what is, and what is going to be. He uses his divination kit
(cowries, kolanut peelings, funyak, little blocks of wood, ete) and
tells the people of his findings. It is left to those concerned to
think of the best line of action to take. |
Both individuals and groups (lineages and villages) go to
consult the diviner. A community might want to know those sorcerers
and villains who cause destruction, illness and death. The diviner's
findings might either confirm or reject the initial suspicions of
those who consult him. The community always decides how best to
sanction its dissidents. Divination therefore helps the community to
solve the problem of distinguishing between who is a sorcerer or a
villain, and who is not. |
The diviner is not contacted only in connection with
destruction, illness or death. An individual who meets with persistent
ill-luck or misfortune, a community faced with blighted crops, poor
harvest or an epidemic, would resort to divination. Divination was
also carried out before hunting and fishing expeditions, trading
trips, journeys and wars. |
J.H.H. Pollock gives us the following detailed account of
how the Bum carry out divination:
There are two types (of divination) one called Funyak,
similar to the ka of Mbembe, the other is called Njokabi The
procedure when consulting the former, is as follows:- A Funyak
servant is called, after being told what information is required, he
finds a land crab hole. The seeker for information then takes a
stick, and touching his forehead with it, recites his request and
asks the stick to request Funyak to give an answer, he then taps the
entrance of the burrow with his stick, and drawing it along the
ground for a distance of about 10 inches, sticks the stick into the
ground; another stick is similarly placed in the ground which
represents the negative answer, this is repeated for as many times
as the suppliant has questions to ask. The burrow is then covered
with leaves, some of which are marked and scratched with a knife,
some are marked with sasswood, holes are burned in them. The two men
then leave the burrow, after an hour or so they return, and if the
land crab emerged and scattered the leaves the diviner is able to
interpret the placing of the leaves as answers to the questions;
should the leaves be scattered round in an indiscriminate manner it
is interpreted as showing that Funyak is not prepared to answer any
of the petitioner's questions. Divination by Njokabi is performed
with a kola nut which is divided into five segments, the petitioner
holds the pieces of nut and casts them on the ground; the diviner is
supposed to be able to read an answer from the formation and manner
in which the kola nut lies on the around (Pollock 1927: 43-44). |
The diviner works in close collaboration with the
witchdoctor, sending to the latter cases of illness that are connected
with Msa. The diviner can suggest to an individual plagued by
misfortunes, to "pull feathers off a fowl' in order to please his
ancestors; "cook a pot" to the same effect; or "gather
the house" which is being divided by certain bad elements.
Ill-luck is likely to befall one who fails to keep his word or pay his
debts. |
In conclusion, the diviner reads the past, the present and
the future; pinpoints the sorcerers and villains that trouble the
peace of the society; detects liars and thieves; and finds out the
cause of certain private or public misfortunes. The Bum prefer to go
many villages away to look for a diviner. They equally believe that
the local diviner knows all already about the supplicant, and can
hardly be trusted. In Bum it is not uncommon to find a witebdoctor who
is also a practising diviner. |
Nowadays, in Bum, it is the belief that sorcerers and
villains vaunt that no local authority can force them to seek
information from the diviner on whether they are sorcerers and
villains or not. so they practise their sorcery and villainy without
scruples. |
| 4.4 WUTASCHIE |
The avenger (sg. wutaschie = man of schie - pl.
ghetasuchie) is called into play after the death of one believed to
have been eaten by sorcerers or taken to Msa by villains. When a
person like that dies, his kin or the accused or suspects. are lined
up in front of his corpse. Each of them is given a bit of camwood to
rub on the forehead of the dead man. The one who knows that he is
lying must not apply the camwood on the corpse as prescribed. If he
does, his body is going to he afflicted by burns, red spots and
swellings. |
Another way of avenging the dead man, is to shave his hair
and put it into an amulet, which is then rubbed with camwood and burnt
to ashes. After which the ashes are gathered and thrown into a river.
The person or persons responsible for his death would be known when
burns, red spots and swellings begin to appear on his skin. After a
period of time the afflicted sorcerer or villain starts to lose parts
of his body. This chronic stage of his affliction is call leprosy (sg.
bingo, chiesu). The Bum have two appellations for the leper. They
either refer to him as wutasumbingo, or call him by the same name used
to identify the avenger wutaschie. Thus the term wutaschie refers both
to the avenger who punishes others by leprosy affliction, and the
culprit who is afflicted by leprosy. |
The Avenger can also be invited to play his part when an
individual is still ill. The person responsible for the illness is
known when he hesitates to rub camwood on the sick man, thus we see
the avenger as yet another means of dealing with the trouble-makers of
the society. He in his own way detects liars, sorcerers and villains.
But what is more, he revenges on them accordingly. The theory that
inspires his function seems to be that of tit for tat. |
| 4.5 WUTAGWU |
In Bum the poison ordeal specialist (sg. wutagwu = person
of gwu) was found at Mungong. He was the person who administered the
sasswood to people accused of sorcery. The tree which he used is
called Tungha (Erythraphlaeum quineense) by the Bum. This is a type ot
red tree whose bark was cleaned, mixed with other things in a liquid,
and given to the accused to drink. The accused died instantly if he
was actually a sorcerer. But if he failed to die, it meant that he was
wrongly accused. |
The kwefon alone sent people to the poison ordeal
specialist. Not every person accused of sorcery was sent to drink the
sasswood. Only those who refused to confess to the kwefon were sent to
drink the gwu. Those who confessed and pleaded with kwefon were
forgiven and asked to abandon their evil practices; they were asked to
go back home and act as the ears and eyes of the kwefon in their
communities. |
The accused had to make certain incantations as he drank
the sasswood mixture. Those wrongly accused vomited the stuff. Then
they were freed and taken home to the kwefon, who beat a fowl on them
and shook their hands. Talking about the administration of the
sasswood amongst the Bum, Bridges says:
After the trial by sasswood those who were innocent would
be handsomely rewarded with food by the community at large; no
doubt, as much to recompense them for the loss of their last meal as
to compensate them for the damage to their reputation caused by the
indignity of such an accusation. The wizard would inevitably die,
(if he existed)... (Bridges 1933: 26). |
Perhaps before we pass to the examination of Bum
institutions, it is worth mentioning that the administration of
sasswood was and has remained prohibited since European colonisers
first came in contact with Bum. Today the Bum speak of it (as they do
with many other practices and institutions) in the past tense. |
