Mahalbiya

Overview

Mahalbiya is the Markswoman, daughter of Jigo and sister of Dan Jigo. An attributed warning says that shaking clothes at night exposes someone to her shot, while daytime is safe because she is asleep. Her arrow is said to leave a small sore that grows deeper and larger if scratched. The collector’s suggestion about people seeing what they do by day is his interpretation, distinct from the stated spirit warning.

Tremearne was unable to obtain her song, and her actions were reported to resemble Jigo’s. The source therefore gives a comparatively brief performance description but a definite temporal pattern and family relationship. She is a separately named huntress, rather than a female version of every power held by Jigo or Rinna. The attributed sore and offering account are preserved as historical beliefs, without converting the warning into a demonstrated medical cause.

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.

Records & interpretation

Complete selected notice in chapter XXIV, printed pp. 346; chapter read through its ending.

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

   Chapter XXIV, printed pp. 346; complete attributed spirit notice and representation.

Family, evolution & connections

Jigo’s three expressly named children

Tremearne’s selected 1914 historical Bori notices, pp. 343–346.

Individual notices explicitly name Jigo as father of Gajere, Dan Jigo and Mahalbiya. No mother is named. The generic praise Father of the Hunters does not add all hunters as offspring. Disputed Gajere / Sarikin Bakka identity is not harmonized. These are attributed historical religious relationships, not biological phylogeny or a universal contemporary doctrine.

References

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

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

Image credits

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