TREE-SPIRITS.
Several varieties of trees are believed to be inhabited by indwelling spirits, which are not exactly gods, but answer more to the hama-dryads of Ancient Greece, or to the elves of mediaeval Europe. From the analogy of the Tshi tribes there is little doubt but that these tree-spirits were once gods of the Srahmantin type, i.e., of the type of those which on the Gold Coast are believed to animate the gigantic silk-cotton trees; but now, owing to the great increase in the number of general objects of worship, which makes the propitiation of the local object a matter of less importance, they have been shorn of a great deal of their power, and pushed more into the background.
The Ashorin tree is, one which is inhabited by a spirit who, it is believed, would, if its attention were not diverted, drive away anyone who attempted to fell the tree. The woodman therefore places a little palm-oil on the ground as a lure, and when the spirit leaves the tree to lick up the delicacy, proceeds to cut down its late abode.
The Apa, frequently called the African mahogany, is inhabited by an evil spirit, and is commonly seen encircled with palm-leaves, and with an earthen pot at its foot to receive the offerings of woodcutters. It is believed to emit a phosphorescent light by night. The wood of this tree is in some demand for the construction of drums, which are hollow wooden cylinders covered with hide at one end; but before it can be out down the spirit must be propitiated by an offering, usually consisting of a fowl and some palm-oil. The Apa is the emblem of vengeance.
The Iroko (silk-cotton tree) is also inhabited by a spirit, but it is not very powerful or malicious, and when a man desires to fell such a tree it is sufficient protection for him to invoke the indwelling spirit of his own head by rubbing a little palm-oil on his forehead. The Iroko is used chiefly for building, whence probably it comes to be the emblem of refuge.
A proverb, referring to the risks a man runs in cutting down trees inhabited by spirits, says "The axe that cuts the tree is not afraid, but the woodman covers his head with etu" (a magic powder).
As is the case among the Ewe tribes of the Slave Coast, wizards and witches are by the Yorubas believed to hold nocturnal meetinus at the foot of trees tenanted by spirits, more especially the Apa, whose indwelling spirit is believed to assist them in their malpractices. Here, too, the owl again appears, but now, instead of the bird being the messenger or agent of the tree spirit, it is the wizard (Aje) himself, who metamorphoses himself into an owl and proceeds on the mission of death.
Witchcraft is, in the minds of the natives, the chief cause sickness and death. They cannot, they think, attribute these evils to the gods, unless they occur in some way special to a god; as, for instance, when a man is struck by lightning, in which case the event would be attributed to Shango-or contracts small-pox, when the disease would be attributed to Shanpanna; for they are very careful to keep on good terms with the gods, by scrupulously.
Witches are more common than wizards, and here, as elsewhere in the world, it is the oldest and most hideous of their sex who are accused of the crime.
Amulets and charms (onde) are numerous and of various kinds. Some, like the vo-sesao of the Ewe tribes, are really the badges of different gods, such as the ajude, or iron armlet worn by hunters, who are the servitors of Ogun, god of iron, and possess no virtue of themselves, being merely useful as serving to remind the gods that the wearers are under their protection. Others are amulets proper, and are believed to derive a protecting power from the gods, from whom they have, through the agency of the priests, been obtained.
The name onde means "one in bondage," and is compounded of eni, "a person," or "one who," and ide, "the act of being confined." This name seems to point to the former existence of a belief similar to that now held by the Tshi-tribes in regard to the Suhman; namely, that the amulet is animated by an indwelling spirit, who has been confined therein by a superior power. At the present time, however, the onde cannot be regarded in any way as being animated, or an orisha. Prayers are never addressed to it, nor are offerings presented to it; it is merely the instrument or vehicle through which the god from whom it was obtained acts, and by means of which events which affect the wearer of the onde are brought to the knowledge of the god.
An onde for the protection of the person is worn on the body, being tied round the wrist, neck, or ankle, or placed in the hair. Others, for the protection of property, are fastened to houses, or tied to sticks and stumps of trees in cultivated plots of ground. In consequence of their being tied on to the person or object they protect, the word edi, which really means the act of tying or binding, has now the meaning of amulet or charm, just as in Ewe the word vo-sesa (amulet) is derived from vo and sa, to tie or bind. Another word sometimes used to express amulet is ogun, which, however, more properly means medicinal preparation, poison, or magical drug.
