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*    a charm “mentioning a man’s

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*    name” (ɛb-usueni [ ˩ \ ˩ ˩ ] “name-

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*    mentioning charm”) and a

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*    charm speaking by itself (oʋi‿ɛɽ̃i^

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

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*    world”) procure them more

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*    clients than the other oracle

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*    doctors have. This fact, together

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*    with their acting as witch

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*    doctors, enables them to make

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*    a living by being doctors only,

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*    without additional farm work.

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*    Their knowledge of herbs is,

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*    however, said to be smaller than

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

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

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*    Olokũ [ ˥ ˥ ˦ ] priest, i.e. not a

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*    priest at a public shrine, but he

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*    has a bigger Olokũ shrine in his

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*    house than an ordinary Olokũ

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*    shrine. Many of his clients come

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*    to his Olokũ shrine and bring

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*    things for the yearly Olokũ

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

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*    oracle method is learnt in about

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*    six months’ time. During this

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*    time the pupil keeps his akpɛlɛ

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*    [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ] in a pot at his Olokũ

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*    shrine (which nearly every adult

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*    possesses). Charms are also put

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*    into the pot, and the akpɛlɛ

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*    has first been charmed by the

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*    teacher, a full communal Olokũ

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*    priest. Afterwards the akpɛlɛ

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*    is put on an ukpabɔ [ ˩ ˩ ˩ ] tray

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*    and taken to some cross-roads

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*    (ada [ ˩ ˩ ]) where it is charmed

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*    again and buried with the charm

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*    for a fortnight “in order to see

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*    the truth”. (Ada being a meet-

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*    ing place for witches, spirits,

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*    etc., anything hidden there sees

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*    them.) Akpɛlɛ and Ogwɛga have

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*    to be familiar with witches be-

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*    cause they procure food for the

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*    witches by indicating pacifica-

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