Liberia '^ 



distinguishing Kru marks in addition to the blue forehead and 

 nose. The Kru men tattoo their arms a good deal, but this is a 

 practice probably learnt from European seamen, and the patterns 

 they adopt are usually of the same origin. They are, however, 

 fond of having either their English or their native names 

 tattooed in Roman capitals along the forearm. Their women 

 imitate them in this. 



The tribes to the north of the Kru and Grebo people 

 (the last-named do not practise much tattooing or cicatrisation) 

 confine their body ornamentations to raised scars, and apparently 

 do not tattoo with colour. Mr. John Gow informs me that 

 the Sikon people have in most cases (but not always) the forehead 

 and nose mark of the Kru and Basa. When this mark is 

 absent, it is because the person to be operated on feared the pain 

 so much that he somehow evaded the rite. The Sikon people 



the women more than the men — are cicatrised on the back 



and on the chest. The marks are generally these : X "^ 



The Vai, Gora, Kpwesi, and Kru peoples are a good deal 

 given — especially amongst the women — to de:orating the skin 

 with brown, grey, or %ihite earth (these substances are generally 

 derived from some form of kaolin) or siripes of indigo. 

 Amongst the Vai, Gora, and Kpwesi women this is often done 

 at the time that the girls go through their period of initiation 

 in the bush school. At such times they cover all their bodies 

 with whitish clay, which gives them a peculiarly hideous appear- 

 ance. A Kru woman when getting herself up in gala costume 

 smears her face with brown clay, and then draws round each eye 

 a large circle of white kaolin. The Basa women have much the 

 same custom. 



Behind the Kru peoples of the coast it occurs sometimes 

 that the warriors of the cannibal tribes paint their bodies with 

 white, yellow, red, and black earths when getting ready for war 



976 



