Saphy
Perhaps from the Arabic safi "pure, select, excellent." Certain charms or amulets worn by the negroes as protection against thunderbolts and diseases, to procure them wives, and avert disasters of all kinds. They are composed of strips of paper on which sentences from the Koran are inscribed, sometimes intermixed with kabalistic signs. These strips are enclosed in silver tubes or silk bags, which are worn near the skin, and often fastened in the dress. Africans of both sexes and all religions are great believers in the occult properties of such talismans; and Mungo Park resorted to the making of Saphy, or Grigris (as they are some times called), as a means of earning his living.