Liberia ^ 



to many matters, and is made use of for social discipline not 

 only in connection with the initiation school of the boys, but 

 also for enforcing obedience on womankind. It is therefore 

 generally arranged that boys shall be initiated into the know- 

 ledge of what the devil really is upon their approach to 

 manhood, and shall be bound to keep the secret on pain of 

 death, or at any rate outlawry, while a woman attempting to 

 find out the mystery of the men's devil is almost invariably 

 killed. Thus (though no doubt they have cracks of scepticism) 

 women and children in this part of Negro Africa continue 

 to believe that the men's devil is a supernatural being. The 

 men, of course, not being under c]uite the same degree of 

 delusion, are probably not overawed by the women's devil, 

 though public opinion allows considerable licence to the 

 women at this time and in connection with this institution 

 (just as happens in Australia), so that open scoffing, incredulity, 

 or impertinent inquiry on the part of men would be punished 

 to a considerable extent by a strike on the part of the women 

 or a respectable degree of violence in their actions. 



The devil which looks after the men's school amongst 

 the Vai is generally known as Beri-nydna. The women's devil 

 is called Femba or Sande-nyana. 



In the case of most parts of Liberia except the Kru 

 country the men's bush school seems to be in full force. 

 Ordinarily, except where the tribe is Muhammadanised, the 

 boys are circumcised at these schools in the bush, and at the 

 same time are taught more or less the mysteries of sex and their 

 duties and responsibilities as future husbands. Possibly here, 

 as in South-east Africa, these initiation ceremonies are ac- 

 companieci by indecent dances of a pantomimic kind, but from 

 all the information I can gather there does not appear to be 

 much, if any, deliberately intended indecency on these occasions 



