gris-gris

Updated: June 18, 2025

The Moors and the Negroes, have an extraordinary respect for these priests, who manufacture leather, into little etuis, perfumed bags, and pocketbooks, to which they give the name of gris-gris.

Alexandre Corréard - Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816: Undertaken by Order of the French Government, Comprising an Account: of the Shipwreck of the Medusa, the Sufferings of the Crew, and the: Various Occurrences on Board the Raft, in the Desert of Zaara, at: St. Louis, and at the Camp of Daccard. to Which Are Subjoined: Observations Respecting the Agriculture of the Western Coast of: Africa, from Cape Blanco to the Mouth of the Gambia.

Ghresh, or Gresh, is an expression in the Arabic tongue, meaning to expel or drive away, and, as I apprehend, by the repetition of the word, is the expression from which the African gris-gris is derived, consisting of exorcised feathers, cloth, &c., short sentences from the Koran, written on parchment, and enclosed in small ornamented leathern cases, worn about their persons, under the idea that it will keep away evil spirits, and is a species of fetish.

Joseph Corry - Observations Upon the Windward Coast of Africa

And, Thirdly, the melley wood, or gris-gris tree, another species of mahogany, abundant in growth, having a more rare quality than the foregoing, resisting the worm in both salt and fresh water; it is extremely hard, and its juices so poisonous, in the premature state, as to cause instant death.

Joseph Corry - Observations Upon the Windward Coast of Africa

They sell them extremely dear, and those who possess them set a very high value on them; the king and the princes are not less superstitious than those whom they command. There are some who wear as many as twenty of these gris-gris fixed to the neck, the arms, and the legs.

Alexandre Corréard - Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816: Undertaken by Order of the French Government, Comprising an Account: of the Shipwreck of the Medusa, the Sufferings of the Crew, and the: Various Occurrences on Board the Raft, in the Desert of Zaara, at: St. Louis, and at the Camp of Daccard. to Which Are Subjoined: Observations Respecting the Agriculture of the Western Coast of: Africa, from Cape Blanco to the Mouth of the Gambia.

By means of magic words spoken over the gris-gris, and little notes written in Arabic, which they enclose in them, he who carries such a one about him, is secure against the bite of wild beasts; they make them to protect the wearer against lions, crocodiles, serpents, &c.

Alexandre Corréard - Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816: Undertaken by Order of the French Government, Comprising an Account: of the Shipwreck of the Medusa, the Sufferings of the Crew, and the: Various Occurrences on Board the Raft, in the Desert of Zaara, at: St. Louis, and at the Camp of Daccard. to Which Are Subjoined: Observations Respecting the Agriculture of the Western Coast of: Africa, from Cape Blanco to the Mouth of the Gambia.

A night or two before a new song from Gris-Gris, the best tenor in the whole army, would have been paradise to her, and she would have vaulted through the window at a single bound into the pandemonium. Now, she did not know why, she found no charm in it.

Ouida - Under Two Flags