242 The Bitbis, or Edeei/ci/i of Fernando Po. 



liance is placed in the propitiatory powers of the priest to 

 invoke the mohs or idols ; and if the sick person dies, it is 

 only considered to be the operation of the gods, who did not 

 wish him to be retained any longer in the tribe. We omitted 

 to state in the proper place, that the females have a fair 

 portion of labour assigned to them, such as planting and col- 

 lecting the yam, preparing and carrying the palm-oil to the 

 traders, &e. ; but they are certainly treated with greater 

 consideration and kindness than in any part of Africa we 

 visited, and they appear to be much attached to their hus- 

 bands and children. 



The Edeeyahs are expert hunts ; they use the spear and 

 sling with great precision, and kill squirrels, lizards, and 

 birds this way. When a tribe is engaged in a hunt, the 

 sight is novel and exciting in the extreme. On one occa- 

 sion, we had a party of 200 natives from Bannapa, who came, 

 agreeably to their promise, to let the White man see " Bubi 

 hunt."" They first secured a number of nets, very strongly 

 made of bark, to the surrounding trees ; after which, the 

 juju man, or Buyeh-rupi, began to vociferate loudly, using the 

 most absurd gesticulations, in which he was occasionally fol- 

 lowed by the others. Their strangely painted bodies, the al- 

 most unity of voice with which the pai'ty responded to the 

 Buyeli-rupi, as well as the frantic manner in which they threw 

 their arms about from time to time, formed a scene of the 

 strangest intei-est ; nor was it the less so, as being enacted 

 under the waving palm, and lofty hombax or cotton-trees. 

 After waiting about half an hour, by which time the juju man 

 had got the mohs into a favourable humour, at a given sig- 

 nal each person rushed to a small tree, from which he 

 plucked some leaves, and commenced rubbing them briskly 

 between the hands ; some were put into the grass armlets. 

 The chief also placed some in the button-holes of our shoot- 

 ing-coats. On inquiry, we found it was intended as a token 

 of good feeling among all pres ent ; that if any should be 

 killed or wounded in the hunt, it was not to be considered as 

 intentional, but the result of accident. The whole party then 

 separated into two long lines, and commenced beating the 

 bushes to drive t!ie deer and game down to the nets. Such 



