A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Ba-Maguje is placed after Arni among spirits connected with farming and drinking. Tremearne reports that he is sometimes classed as a hunter, but favors a farming association. His clothing and equipment are specific: a leather loin covering, a bull’s hide over the shoulders, a club and an axe. At the performance he drinks, becomes intoxicated and rolls about. Informants disagree over the proper offering, with one account naming fowls and another insisting on a goat.

His praise contrasts an elder with a youth, while the song addresses a tobacco-smoking figure who is old yet behaves foolishly. A line about being released from further payment is explained as referring to a Nigerian chief who abandoned taxes on people who would do nothing but drink. No district or dated event is supplied. The account thus preserves an explanatory historical claim without converting it into a verified administrative history or merging the spirit with the real Hausa population.

Bull hide over shouldersClub and axeConflicting offering accounts
01

Origins & earliest records

A. J. N. Tremearne combines interviews and descriptions of bori performances with comparative interpretation. These selected notices do not consistently name individual speakers; printed attributes are distinguished from his conjectures.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete selected spirit notice in chapter XXIII, printed pp. 337–338; full chapter read.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    The Ban of the Bori: Demons and Demon-Dancing in West and North Africa

    A. J. N. Tremearne, collector and colonial-era interpreter · 1914

    XXIII. Bori—the Black Spirits, printed pp. 337–338; historical representation and attributed explanation.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Digitized historical ethnographic accountTremearne — Ba-MagujeResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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