Liberia "^ 



tribes arriving one after the other from the hinterland, each 

 tribe or clan retaining (to the present day) its own hereditary 

 chieftain ; but that from out of these numerous chiefs was chosen 

 a supreme chieftain from the Kru people, this office being held 

 in succession by the head chief of each of the clans in turn. 

 This hardly seems to be in force at the present day, when the 

 Kru communities are coming so much under the general control 

 of the Liberian Government. 



The general council in each of these Kru communities 

 preserves in oral tradition the body of country customs which 

 constitutes the Cod? of Law. The council is also empowered 

 to enact special and new laws when these are required. Mr. 

 Gow writes that in the Siicon country at the back of the 

 Kru Coast new laws are prom-ulgated at any time by the king 

 of the tribe or some other responsible person going round 

 the town shouting out the law at the top of his voice — literally a 

 " proclamation." 



The constitution of the Grebo people was thus described by 

 the late Bishop Payne some fifty years ago. It remains much 

 the same in theory at the present day, though on account of so 

 many Grebos having become Christian and civilised, and having 

 thus assumed the status of Liberian citizens, their old tribal 

 customs are rapidly disappearing. 



" The constitution of the Grebo tribe is patriarchal, although 

 the government is almost purely democratic. There are in it 

 twelve families . . . deriving their names from the emigrant 

 patriarch or father. Their appellations are Nyambo, Grebo, 

 etc. In nearly every one of the Grebo settlements . . . 

 there are parts of these families, having in each case their 

 distinct head-man or patriarch, who usually occupies a particular 

 portion of the town, with his sons, grandsons, and relatives 

 round him. The male members of these deposit with the 



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