Anthropology : Social 



The boys may or may not pass from this simple rite of initia- 

 tio;i (into sexual matters and tribal affairs) into more elaborate 

 secret or Masonic societies ot different kinds, and possibly of 

 different grades, connected with the ages ot the initiated.^ Usually 

 during these ceremonies they wear a special cap ot plaited palm 

 leaves and rub their bodies over with grey wood ash or white 

 kaolin, or they may wear fantastic petticoats of fibre or leaves. 

 The name possibly is changed 

 at this time, the Boy leaving 

 the name of his childhood 

 and adopting a new name 

 conferred on him by the 

 medicine-man or priest who 

 conducts these ceremonies, 

 either in propria persona or 

 masking as a devil. The site 

 of the school will be a place 

 in the forest not too far from 

 the village, where temporary 

 huts are constructed and 

 sentries are posted with rattles 

 or flutes or horn trumpets 

 to scare away women from 

 coming too near their pre- 

 cincts. Amongst the Vai, a boy undergoing initiation is called 

 Duamba, and a girl Boni. 



The Kru and Grebo with their abandonment of circumcision^ 

 and possibly owing to their life on or near the coast in contact 

 for several centuries with foreign ships and traders, seem to 



' Amongst the Vai (vvlio are mostly Muha?iimadan) a youtli may stay for a 

 few montlis in the Beri (for sexual initiation) or may spend years in that institution 

 to become initiated into all the tribal Freemasonry. But civilisation and the 

 demands of commerce for labour are sapping these silly practices. 



411. A DEVIL-MASK OF WESTERN LIBERIA 



