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QUAMT SUBJECTS OF
THE KING.
f7.—MEN OF THE MANGROVE
SWAMPS.
[By John Foster Fraser.]
—Engaged Girls.—
As the English girl wears a ring when
slie il engaged to be married, so the Ibo
girl wears necklaces in proportion to the,
number of lovers she has. The clothing
1b not profuse. The men are content with,
a straight piece of cloth, which falls from
their waist to their ankles, while the cloth
worn fay the women reaches only. halfwaj*
to the knee. On occasions of festival the
women, like their sex in other parts _ of
the world, love to adorn ■ themselves with
gaudy ribbons of blue and orange, fas
tened in a bow to the right side of their
waists. Both sexes paint their bodies on
fete .days, while when they are in mourn
ing they mark white rings round their,
eyes. Great pains are taken in the paint
ing of the figure.
—Tainting Figure.—
When a woman wants to look particu
larly smart she has a white mask painted
over her own countenance, while a long
white daub stretches down lier spine. Al
though the skins of the men are as black
as night, they always take the precaution,
when setting out for warfare, to paint
themselves black. When a girl reaches mar
riageable age she is painted red all over by
the man to whom she is betrothed, which
is a sign that she must receive uo more at
tentions from the other young men of the
district. But after this colouring, and
while she is being fattened for the mar
riage ceremony, she is invariably painted
white all over when she goes out visiting
lier friends. The native seizes every oppor
tunity to cover himself with paint of some
sort. If he is sick he plasters himself with
a thick green paint- made from leaves.
—Queer Salutations.—
The usual Ibo way of saluting a friend
when you meet is to snap the fingers and
shake the fist. The natives at Lokoja, how
ever, salute each other by bobbing down to
the ground and going through the panto
mime of spreading dust over their faces,
and taking it, in turns to make, weird
noises. Thus, when a maij passes another,
He says—"Ougli, ougb, all, ah, yai yi oh ah."
The other man-meanwhile aoeB the > same,
alternately with the first, both of them
slowly and pleadingly, and with rising in
tonation. Then suddenly one, changing,
brings out a new word, which "the other re
peats—"Oh, oh, ah, oh, akoo, ah akoo,"
while the other comes 'in with—"Aboo,
aboo, aboo," and thus they pass eaclu
other, the plaintive "oughs" . and "ahs"
gradually getting fainter as the distance
increases.
—The 111 Luck of Twins.—
I have mentioned the horror which pre
vails in the Niger Delta when twins are
born. Nothing will induce the natives to
believe that such a thing is not the conse
quence of some terrible offence on the part,
of the' woman, and that, therefore, she and
the infants ought to lie killed at once.
True, here and there, missionaries have
succeeded in doing something to modify the
ill-feeling of the natives toward the luck
less mother and children. When mission
ary influence succeeds in procuring the re
mission of the death penalty, a hamlet is
built on the outskirts of each town called
"the place of the twin mothers," where the
poor women are banished immediately after
the birth of twins, and where they must
remain for life, exiled from their homes,
and mourned for as dead by their rela
tives. Not so long ago the native Chris
tian minister at a place called Ikunetu was
told of the arrival of twins at a farm near
by, and went out to sec the mother, who
had been taken out and left in the bush.
She Was weeping very much, and, when he
tried to comfort her, would not listen; she
refused to go with him to the mission
house, or to accent any help. She would
rather die than ne a twin mother. lie
asked for the children...but all were afraid
to say where they yere. At last one boy,
on t lie promise of a shirt, indicated a. spot
lying under a palmtree. On turning it
up, two little girls were found squeezed
into it. They were wrapped up and taken
back to the mission house, ana given a
warm bath. One. however, died after the
bath, for her head had beeu wounded, her
face and hands cut, and one of her ribs
broken. Hmall wonder, then, when this
state of things is considered, that the most
dread curse you can throw at a woman in
the Niger Delta is to raise the right arm,
and, closing the fist, make a "V" with the
first and second fingers, for this means
"May you become the .'mother' of twins'."
If the woman at whom this curse is level
led is strong-minded, she snaps her fingers
to indicate that she returns the compli
ment; but, if she be qt^a timid nature, she
runs away as .fast as her lege can cairy
her, crying out' at the top of her voice
that the curse has been cast upon her.
8ucli .an effect does this malediction have
upon some women that they have been
known to lose their reason completely for
several hours after.
—Dreaded Secret Societies.—
It is not surprising that among the people
who inhabit the foetid swamps bordering
the Niger and the gloomy shadows of the
forests there should be innumerable secret
societies. ' Most of these are chiefly for the
maintenance of tribal order; some are asso
ciated with superstitious religious prac
tices, while there are others which have
terrorism and plunder as their main object.
Youths are imtiated> into the lower grades
of these tribal societies, advance in Know
ledge of the secrets as they reach manhood,
and then attain high rank or office in pro
portion to their ability or their wealth.
Quite apart from these legitimate tribal
societies are the brigand societies. Among
the Ibibios there are societies known as
"leopards!' and "alligators." The "leo
pards" thieve and murder on land, while
the "aligators" take the rivers and creeks
as their province. The "leopard" society is
so called because its members dress them
selves in leopard skins; they go forth at
night, make the woods echo with their
yells, and. if they come across any one,
murder him and thieve his belongings. The
native who hoars their yell crouches in
terror, for he knows that if caught his
doom- is sealed. The "alligator" societies
have canoes made to resemble crocodiles.
They lie in wait underneath the overhang
ing branches of a tree on the river, and
when a native comes paddling down shoot
out, upset his boat, kill him, and seize hie
belongings. The difference between these
murderous societies and the ordinary tribal
societies is that, while the object of the
former is the commission of crime,
the chief functions of the latter are the de
tection and punishment of crime.
—The Egbos.—
The most important and widespread of
the secret societies in Nigeria is tne Egbo
j Society, which is partly religious and
| partly social in its functions, and may
almost be compared with Freemasonry in
England. The functions of the high officers
are secrets which have not yet been disco
vered by European investigators. The
dress worn by the lowest-grade members
of Egbo is of a peculiar shape, somethina
like a diver's suit. The man lias fringes of
biack-and-red grass round his ankles, and
covering his face is a mask of wood painted
white. The teeth are carved and the
tongue is depicted; so altogether the
appearance of an Egbo gentleman is
most villainous. Some of the higher
grade members have their dresses covered
with long grass. The societies meet in a
secluded spot in the bush, and then set out
in procession to different plaees, dancing
in their fantastic costumes. They shout
as they go along, but vary the tones of
their voices from gruff bass to thin fal
setto, and all the while shake wooden rat
tles. Every member of Egbo is bound by
oath, under penalty of death, to obey
every command issued by the spirit under
which the society professes to be orga
nized. One of the members acts as priest,
to represent the spirit. He hides in the
bush, disguises his voice, and then pro
nounces his instructions, which are given
out to the accompaniment of the beating
of drums. Sometimes the. spirit, as re
presented by the priest, takes up his re
sidence in the back apartment of the town
palaver house. When his voice is heard
every one in the town shuts up his house,
and remains within as long as he is there.
When he goes forth he is preceded by run
ners, who carry whips of hippopotamus
hide, and thrash everybody out of the way,
while those who are not successful in get
ting out of sight l ake care to avert their
faces. Of course, the natives know that
the orders are given bv a human being,
but will not confess, even to themselves,
that the voice is any other than that of a
spirit wlro must be obeyed. To disobey
the laws enacted by the Egbo society is
to risk«death.
—Valuable Factors.—
But there is an even more influential
society than the Egbo in Southern Nigeria.
It is called Idion, and consists only of men
of rank and importance. No man who
has not passed through all the grades of
Egbo can be admitted. The laws of the
idion society demand that its members
shall not steal, lie. or do anything wrong.
These secret societies are valuable factors
in the government of the country. When
the British authorities can persuade the
heads of them that a particular thing ought
to bo done or ought not to be clone, there
is never any question 011 the part, of the
people to the order, but they obey in
stantly.
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