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moon-deity that the fear of witchcraft is potent among the Mambila.

Witchcraft is acquired either by heredity or by purchase or by accident. It is hereditary in the female line only. [64] If a woman is a witch her children automatically acquire the witch soul or complex by imbibing her milk. But the mere possession of the witch-soul is not sufficient to enable the owner to practise witchcraft. The eyes of the owner have to be opened to his powers, and this is done by means of a medicine mixed by the mother or more usually by an elder sister. It is said that an elder brother [65] will not perform this service for a younger brother, on account of the jealousy which exists between brothers.

Witchcraft is not transmitted automatically from father to son; but a father who is a witch or wizard can reveal his art to a son by taking the soul of one of his maternal [66] relatives, cooking it after the fashion of witches, and giving a piece of soul-liver to his son, together with part of a slippery fish or a secret medicine. Or a man may purchase witchcraft from a witch who is not a relative, by making a present of the soul of one of his maternal [67] relatives to the witch. The witch devours the gift, but gives some of the soul-liver, together with the secret medicine, to the person who wishes to become a member of the guild of witches. The souls of paternal relatives [68] may not be taken and given as gifts to witches, for paternal relatives are not regarded as one's kith and kin. A man can do anything he likes with his kith and kin, i.e. with his maternal relatives, but if he took a paternal relative he would be taking what did not belong to him, and if detected he and all his maternal relatives would be sold into slavery. [69] But if he is detected trafficking in the lives of his maternal relatives he is merely rebuked, the head of his wife's family pointing out out to him that if he does not desist he will have no relatives left in the world. These beliefs show that among the Mambila descent is reckoned primarily in the female line.

A person may become a witch unwittingly by partaking of food which contains the secret medicine of witchcraft, the medicine having been inserted into the food by a witch who may be an acquaintance or even a friend of the innocent man. The person who eats such tainted food soon begins to become thin and ill. The witch then goes to him and explains the reason

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