MAGIC WORDS awe." 9 Later, in 1799, Mungo Park concurred: "This is a strange bugbear . . . much employed by the Pagan natives in keeping their women in subjection" 40 through bewildering talk and meaningless ceremonies. However, since the eighteenth century, there have been no reports of any such deity in any West African tribe.41 The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins suggests that Mumbo Jumbo is a "magician who makes the troubled spirits of ancestors go away. [The phrase] referred to the belief of some Mandingo peoples in the western Sudan that a high priest called the 'Mumbo Jumbo' had the power to protect his village from evil spirits."42 Variations and Incantations: • Hugger-mugger -- WordNet, Princeton University • Mambo jambo -- Dean Buchmeyer and Peter Gardner, A Touch of Voodoo (2000) • Mambo jumbo -- Muhd F. Khamsin, "Witches Cookbook," Young Writer's Club (1999) • Mumbo-Pocus "[T]his transcends mere Mumbo-Jumbo, sending us reeling into the realm of Mumbo-Pocus." -- Frank Zappa, The Real Frank Zappa Book (1989) • Mumbo mumbo mumbo jakka dakka hippitippi -- Balanced Alternative Technologies Multi-User Dimension, Bat.org (2004) • Mumpo jumpo "[T]he professor of the mystic art to-day wears a white or embroidered waistcoat, pays rates and taxes, has a wife and family; and, instead of mystic adjurations of 'hocus pocus,' and 'abracadabra,' and 'mumpo jumpo,' issues invitations to his friends to come and see him at a theatre, an assembly room, or a public hall." -- Ellis Stanyon, Magic (1900). In Literature: • "The ultimate effect of the non-Euclidian geometries becomes nothing more than a magician's mumbo jumbo in which belief is sustained purely by faith!" -- Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974) • ". . . an intangible, impalpable, mysterious mumbo-jumbo virtue in it." -- William Hope, "Pollution of Rivers," Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science (187 ) 9 F. Moore, Travels in Africa (17 8), quoted in TakeOurWord.com (1999) 40 Quoted in TakeOurWord.com (1999) 41 TakeOurWord.com (1999) 42 William and Mary Morris (1977)