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* a charm “mentioning a man’s

* name” (ɛb-usueni [ ˩ \ ˩ ˩ ] “name-

* mentioning charm”) and a

* charm speaking by itself (oʋi‿ɛɽ̃i^

* ʋ̃i [ ˩ ˥ ˥ ˦ ˩ ] “son of the Under-

* world”) procure them more

* clients than the other oracle

* doctors have. This fact, together

* with their acting as witch

* doctors, enables them to make

* a living by being doctors only,

* without additional farm work.

* Their knowledge of herbs is,

* however, said to be smaller than

* that of the eb-ɔɽ̃ɔ̃mila [ ˩ ˥ ˦ ˩ ˩ ].

* An ɔb-akpɛlɛ [ ˩ \ ˩ ˩ ] is mostly an

* Olokũ [ ˥ ˥ ˦ ] priest, i.e. not a

* priest at a public shrine, but he

* has a bigger Olokũ shrine in his

* house than an ordinary Olokũ

* shrine. Many of his clients come

* to his Olokũ shrine and bring

* things for the yearly Olokũ

* sacrifice (eh-olokũ [ ˩ ˥ ˥ ˦ ]). The

* oracle method is learnt in about

* six months’ time. During this

* time the pupil keeps his akpɛlɛ

* [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ] in a pot at his Olokũ

* shrine (which nearly every adult

* possesses). Charms are also put

* into the pot, and the akpɛlɛ

* has first been charmed by the

* teacher, a full communal Olokũ

* priest. Afterwards the akpɛlɛ

* is put on an ukpabɔ [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ] tray

* and taken to some cross-roads

* (ada [ ˩ ˩ ]) where it is charmed

* again and buried with the charm

* for a fortnight “in order to see

* the truth”. (Ada being a meet-

* ing place for witches, spirits,

* etc., anything hidden there sees

* them.) Akpɛlɛ and Ogwɛga have

* to be familiar with witches be-

* cause they procure food for the

* witches by indicating pacifica-
