When the spirit is ‘dead’ the fetish has no further value, ‘the little thing you kept the spirit in is no more use now, and only fit to sell to a white man as “a big curio”!’ (40, 304-5). But occasionally sanctity still clings to the former dwelling of the spirit, and it is used as a charm, though no longer worshipped as a fetish. The _Mirrone_, a tree worshipped in the Congo region, was the tutelar god of the dwelling, and the owners placed calabashes full of palm-tree wine at the foot of the tree for the spirit to drink, ‘nor do they dare to tread upon its leaves any more than we would on the holy cross.’ But if it were damaged in any way, they no longer worshipped it, but they stripped off the bark or rind, which was made into petticoats for the women, to act as protecting charms (54, xvi. 236). Owing to the possibility of the spirit leaving the fetish, it has to be tested, to see whether it really contains an indwelling spirit or no, and the natives of the Gold Coast put their Bohsum in the fire as a probation. If the fire injures it in the very least degree, it is not a true Bohsum, there is no indwelling spirit (15, 92). Sometimes the spirit is forcibly ejected from his dwelling-place for a particular purpose. Soon after Sir Richard Burton had arrived at Dahomé, ‘a fetish youth made his appearance in the evening, knelt down before the domestic altar, broke some of the images, and went away declaring that he had called out the fetishes, and that I might after the _evocatio deorum_ do my worst’ (9, i. 299). 10. The fetish is =worshipped, prayed to, sacrificed to, and talked with=, as a sentient and willing personification of the spirit or power. Examples of sacrifices and prayers and worship offered to the fetishes are found in all parts, and many instances have already been quoted. Offerings of food and drink are placed before them daily, and sometimes a cock is sacrificed; occasionally, if the worshippers are rich, a sheep is killed, ‘which they offer up to the gods in words alone, for they immediately fall upon it and tear it to pieces with their fingers’ (54, xvi. 400). The personal interest of the fetishes in the affairs of their worshippers is seen in the ceremonies connected with the death and burial of the Fiote. ‘When all are assembled, the elder addresses the two family fetishes held by two of the family. Pointing and shaking his hand at them, he tells them how the deceased died, and all the family has done to settle the matter; he tells them how they have allowed the father to be taken, and prays them to protect the rest of the family; and when he has finished his address the two who hold the fetishes pick up a little earth and throw it on the heads of the fetishes, then, lifting them up, rub their heads in the earth in front of them’ (13, 135).