The source of the Blue Nile : $b a record of a journey through the Soudan to Lake Tsana in western Abyssinia, and of the return to Egypt by the valley of the Atbara, with a note on the religion, customs, etc. of AbyssiniaHayes, Arthur J.
Religion
The source of the Blue Nile : $b a record of a journey through the Soudan to Lake Tsana in western Abyssinia, and of the return to Egypt by the valley of the Atbara, with a note on the religion, customs, etc. of Abyssinia
Hayes, Arthur J.
Ethiopia -- Description and travel; Ethiopia -- Religion; Sudan -- Description and travel
“I had a string of amulets which I usually wore, having on it many
charms for various maladies; but I was perfectly aware that none for
the _bouda_ was among them. Still, hoping thereby to expose the cheat,
I asserted that there was a very celebrated one, and laid the whole
string on her face, expecting that she would pretend to feel the
effects, and act accordingly; but to my surprise and disappointment,
she remained quite motionless. Several persons had been round the
village to look for some talisman, but only one was found. On its
being applied to her mouth, she for an instant sprang up, bit at it,
and tore it, but then laughed, and said it was weak, and would not
vex _him_. . . . I deluged her with bucketfuls of water, but could
not even elicit from her a start or a pant, an effect usually produced
by water suddenly dashed over a person. At night she could not sleep,
but became more restless, and spoke several times. She once remarked,
in her natural tone of voice, that she was not ill, nor attacked by
the _bouda_, but merely wished to return to Adoua. She said this so
naturally that I was completely taken off my guard, and told her that
of course she might go, but that she must wait till the morrow. The
other people smiled, and whispered me that it was only a device of
the _bouda’s_ to get her into the forest, and there devour her.
“Singular coincidences not unfrequently occur in such a way as to
encourage superstitious persons in their credulity; and, strange to
say, that very night, for the first and last time that I ever heard
him during my stay at Rohabaita, the hyena kept howling and laughing
close to the village. . . .
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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