34 Procrciiiiifis of the Ro/ial Triiilt AcnJrmi/. 



as a whole, discharge thHir debt to the parent village, and that each one of th^ 

 community repays to the families left behind the value of the goods he brings 

 away with him and of the wife he marries. 



The standard of African coinage is 'a " head " — the price of a good male 

 slave. The head is constant in value ; but in lean years it buys less, owing to 

 the scarcity, and in fat years more ; Ijesides the " head " of any product 

 measured to the buyer is less in quantity than the measure at whicli it can 

 be bought — the difference between the two measures being the profit of the 

 retailer, which is thus a fixed amount in Africa. 



By this measure the new community lias to dischaigc its debt to the old, 

 either by labour or in kind, which sometimes takes years ; then it can cut the 

 tie which binds it to the parent village. But it is not free ; its sepai-ation 

 has provided a new tie, and the obligation is felt when the tribal chief puts 

 out his demand for help or tribute ; and he looks to the Kunirai-Bai to see that 

 his demand is instantly complied with. 



The Kumra-Bais are all sub-chiefs; but as they do not belong to tlie 

 reigning family, they are not themselves eligible for election to the chieftaincy. 

 Like the office of Kumra-Bai, the chieftaincy descends in one family along 

 the maternal side, so that the heir to a cliief is his sister's son ; but if he is 

 unsuitable, there is no obligation to elect him. Any member of the reigning 

 family that the Kumra-Bais consider most suitable may succeed if lie be 

 elected. The Kumra-Bais are the king-makers, in whose hands lies the 

 privilege of selecting and electing the paramount chief. 



Having selected the chieftain, the Kumra-Bais accompany him into the 

 bush, where he remains two or three months learning the duties pertaining 

 to his exalted calling. Sometimes he is shut up in a kunk for thirty days 

 before going into the bush. When he comes out of the bush, he is known by 

 a new name ; and it is an offence to utter his old name, the old name with its 

 body being dead — gone to Futa, gone to Congo. 



Initiation. — All the Sierra Leone races have the Bundu institution, wliicli 

 amongst them is of remote antiquity, thus pointing to some common origin or 

 association. The Temne have their puberty institutions for males; and although 

 they practise circumcision, their institution differs in essentials from the Poro, 

 which does not exist amongst the Temne : it is a purely Mendi institution. 

 The Poro exists amongst the Sherbro, but not amongst the inhabitants of the 

 Bullom shore, thus showing that, whereas cannibalism is a custom common to 

 Ijoth branches of the Mampas, the Poro has been imposed upon the Sherbro 

 hj their Mendi conquerors and neighbours. Amongst the Sherbros and the 

 Bulloms may be found the degraded beliefs and practices of their more civilized 

 neighbours, wlio have from time to time conquered them, taken their country, 



