Abstract

n part one of this paper (vol. 18, no. 1, 1984) I discussed four types of medicines (njom) among the Ejagham of the Cross River region of western Cameroon, specifically those found in the town of Kembong. These medicines-that is, the powers found in certain magical plants that have been given by God and the ancestors to fight witches and criminals-are localized in specific objects: carved figures, lumps of clay, horns, or raffia bags. In the case of the fifth medicine, Obasinjomn, whose origin and characteristics I will discuss here, the object is a mask. Following the rebellion of the Ejagham and neighboring peoples in 1904, the German colonial administration ordered the resettlement of the population into larger villages. This period was marked by an abundance of witches. So many people were killed by witches and their preferred animal form, leopards, that when word reached the people of Upper Kembong of Obasinjom's power, they resolved to acquire the medicine for themselves.'

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