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155 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett
may be the origin of the word JUJU used here much as the word fetish is south of the
equator.
A fence made of Kola saplings, planted four or five feet apart, tied together with native
string, screens a tree with a piece of cloth wrapt round it, and bottles, wood, and cones
of chalk at its root is called EKEJI.
OMEY, entrance to AROVIA, a grove sacred to OVIA, Similar to MABILI in the Congo,
with chalk marks as above in half circle on the ground in front of entrance.
OMEHU is a tree found near most villages with a collection of ant-hills heaped about its
roots. They say this is to make women bear children.
At IGUSALA there is a double IKHIMI tree growing behind a nicely kept fence, with a
strip of cloth round it. Between its buttresses are a pot of water, a drinking cup, shells,
the bark of a tree, AWAWA (spoon bill) and goats' heads, and nearly round its base are
seats for people to sit upon. While under a little shed, upon a wooden grill, rest great
lumps of EKWHA (a kind of pudding made of the bean-like seeds of a tree) being
smoked by a fire underneath them.
In the forest between ADENYOBA and ITE is a sacred stone called OKUTA.
On the Sapoba road there is a tree with the usual mound of earth and cowries in front of
it, planted they say to mark the place where the top of Ezomo's ladder fell. The story
goes that this great war chief heard it thunder and wanted to know what enemy of the
Oba's it was who evidently wished to fight him, so he built a ladder to reac:h up to the
heavens. When he and all his people were on the ladder and just getting at the home of
thunder, it gave way, and the top end of it fell where the tree is growing, about three
miles from Ezomo's house.
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