A fetish is literally a parcel of ingredients kept in a horn or bundle as the locus of a destructive power that will operate at its owners behest provided he maintains and appeases it with regular offerings.Fetish figures therefore are technically supports for fetish material that is hung around them in bundles or horns or alternatively concealed in an orifice.The ownership of such material gives a man tremendous power over others. Fear of a reputedly powerful fetish will cause a guilty person to take almost any step to protect himself from it. The medicine man or witch doctor from whom such fetishes can be obtained stands in a unique position in the community.Reliquary figures were carved to stand above basket or bark cloth receptacles containing the bones of their ancestors. The figures do not represent the ancestors them selves, rather they are the guardians of the bones placed there to ward off evil that might desecrate the ancestral remains.