79 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



convulsions. In this manner the West African negroes seek to 

 account for epileptic and similar seizures ; they are what used to 

 be termed cases of " possession," but they are not directly attrib- 

 utable to the departure of the kra, per se. 



When, however, the soul quits the body, the latter falls at once 

 into a motionless and lifeless condition. Sometimes, though but 

 rarely, the soul returns, and then the man has been in a swoon or 

 trance ; more frequently it does not return, and then the man is 

 dead. It is in the hope that the soul may return that appeals to 

 the dead to come back are always made, and that the corpse is 

 kept until the signs of corruption show that the soul has gone for- 

 ever. The difference, then, between the results of departure is 

 clear. When the kra departs, there is no direct and immediate 

 result, though the departure may lead to " possession " ; but when 

 the soul departs, the direct and immediate result is suspended ani- 

 mation or death. 



The Ewi-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast the Awunas, 

 Krepis, Dahomis, Mahis, etc. hold exactly similar views ; the 

 third element, or indwelling spirit of man, being by them termed 

 a luivo. The Ga-speaking peoples of the eastern districts of the 

 Gold Coast have modified the more original conception, and be- 

 lieve that each individual has two kla (the Ga-term for kra), a 

 male and a female, the former being of a bad disposition and the 

 latter of a good. 



By all the tribes of these three lingual groups the indwelling 

 spirit is believed to afford some protection to man. It receives oc- 

 casional thank-offerings, and the anniversary of each individual's 

 day of birth is held as a day sacred to the spiritual tenant. On this 

 account the hra may be regarded in some respects as a guardian 

 spirit, dwelling in the body of the man ; but it is more than that. 

 Its close connection with the man himself is indicated by the fact 

 of its nocturnal adventures during its absence from the body 

 being remembered by the man when he awakes. The latter even 

 feels physically the effects of his kra's actions ; and when the ne- 

 gro awakes from sleep feeling stiff and unref reshed, or with limbs 

 aching from muscular rheumatism, he invariably attributes these 

 symptoms to the fact of his Icra having been engaged in some 

 struggle or some severe toil. If, moreover, a man dreams of other 

 men, he believes that his kra has met theirs ; consequently, the kra 

 is held to have the outward appearance of the man whose body he 

 tenants. Hence the kra is more than a mere tenanting or guardian 

 spirit. He has, though doubtless only in a shadowy form, the 

 very shape and appearance of the man ; and both the mind and 

 body of the latter are affected by and register the results of the 

 kra's actions. How the notion of such an existence came into 

 being it is beyond the province of this paper to inquire. It is 



