TRAKSACTIONS OF SECTION II. 1019 



people themselves. This is represented by the cult of the Law God — the so-called 

 secret society of the district — Oru, Purroh, Egbo, Belli, &c., and by the infiiieDce 

 of religion. For details of the manner in which these powers conjointly act in 

 preserving property, see a lectm'e by tlie author on ' African Religion and Law ' 

 given for the Ilibbert Trustees and published in the ' National lleview ' for 

 September, 1897. 



2. The Native Secret Societies of the West Coast of Africa. 

 By H. P. FitzGerald Marriott. 



Spread throughout West Africa from the Gambia to the Kongo are various 

 native secret societies, some well known by name, others very secret and power- 

 ful, and known of but by few white men, which must not be confused with fetich 

 customs and priests. These societies contain the religious and social principles of 

 the people, and administer justice according to native law and custom. The 

 kings, princes, chiefs, and great men belong to these organisations, and by their 

 means sustain their own power. Some of them are merely temporary, such as 

 the lesser Purroh of certain parts of Sierra Leone, of which white men speak ; 

 others again are ancient tribal institutions, such as the secret religious or state 

 Purroh with its grand council, of which most people are unaware. A man may 

 live forty years on the coast and never hear of Kofong, that powerful, mystic 

 society which controls the Limba nation, as was not long ago evinced to the 

 author by a gentleman who, knowing the coast well, called on him in town and 

 brought with him a native of another Sierra Leone district. The white man 

 denied its existence, but after a few moments the author extracted from the native 

 that there was such a society as Kofo, and that in another part it was called 

 Kofobi, and in Mendi he thought that it was Joosoi ; the author said that it was 

 the same, and at the same time made certain Kofong signs, which he xmderstood 

 (as was evident from his expression), and he acknowledged that he belonged to it, 

 but had not taken its highest forms ; all of which rather put the white friend 

 out of countenance. But even this native knew little of the true inner Kofong, 

 or of any other societies elsewhere, such as on the Gold Coast, and others like the 

 Egbo in the Niger. Nearly all these societies oblige their initiates to undergo cir- 

 cumcision, if this rite has not been previously performed in youth or childhood; 

 the female societies are almost solely for that purpose, amongst them the Boudo of 

 Sierra Leone is perhaps the best known by name. 



The science of life and death is taught in the highest of these societies, and 

 even hinted at in the inferior. Mohammedan influence is seen not only by the 

 personal association of the latter, but by the knots that are used as charms 

 (conf. Koran llo siira), both by some of these societies, as well as by individuals. 

 Fetichism must not be confused with these societies. Spirit worship perhaps may 

 be associated with them ; but a mystic religion and belief in one God, a Creator, 

 from whom springs all life, and to whom death is but in some sort a return, is, I 

 believe, the very inner secret of secrets ; more they do not teach; they dabble in 

 a low form of magic, or devil-worship (black magic in more than one sense), 

 and they uphold the ancient usages of the country, and the balance of the 

 powers that be. The names and varieties of these societies are numerous. Those 

 nearest to each other are generally on good terms, though distinct ; and all could 

 be more or less connected, as is proved by the safety with which a Mohammedan 

 may advance near a religious Purroh procession, or even Purroh bush in safety ; 

 with regard to Purroh and the M(jhammedan, this may be on account of the 

 rite of circumcision. In various instances the Government could employ thes« 

 societies to carry out its ends, and by means of methods to which the natives are 

 accustomed could gradually habituate them to British law and order. 



3, On the Natives of the Niger Delta. By M. le Comte Charles de Cardi. 



The Paper gives some account of the early navigators who visited Western 

 Africa ; of a theory of the origin of the Benin people, and of many of their 



