50 Proceedings of the Roj/rd Fn'sh Acndemjf. 



skull were taken and buried under a palm-tree. The remainder of the body 

 was cut up ; and a messenger was sent to the town for the chief. When he 

 came, he ordered the meat to be shared out. In addition to the chest and 

 ribs the hands and feet were allowed "to the chief; these he presented to 

 some of the minor cliiefs ; the remainder of the meat was distributed to 

 representatives of the sections. 



The chief then ordered some men to cut banana- stalks and di-y leaves. 

 These were taken to the back of a house, where they were made into an 

 effigy of the victim. The effigy, together with a pole, was fastened up in a 

 country mat ; and it was then sent to the village from which the victim came, 

 where it was buried in the presence of the victim's relations as the actual 

 body of the victim. 



The man who provided the victim got the entrails ; the heart and liver 

 were usually divided. Special portions of the body were reserved for the 

 chief, the king of the Leopard society, and the father of the victim, who was 

 usually present, and commonly was a leopard-man. Special portions of the 

 sacrifice were also given to any of the Kiunra-Bais who happened to be present. 

 The king of the human leopards always got the skin of the victim's forehead 

 to cover the Borfimor and the kidney fat to rub on it ; he also got the liver 

 and trachea. 



At another cannibal feast in the Imperre country part of the ceremony 

 consisted of a dance. The victim, a little girl whose step-father was being 

 initiated, was carried to the Poro bush, where a fire was lighted, and to the 

 beat of drum seven men, clad in leopard-skins, which covered their heads, 

 faces, and bodies, and with tails trailing behind them, came into the clearing, 

 with a quick, jerky run. Their arms were thrust into the forelegs of the 

 leopard skins, the paws of which were armed with pronged knives, from which 

 glittered and shot back the yellow glare of the fire and the silvery rays of 

 the moon. As they ran they broke into a kind of dance, each man dancing 

 for himself, as is the native custom, except two men who appeared to carry a 

 pole with a box slung to it. After dancing for a time they formed one 

 behind the other and moved across the space to a bush, where they stopped, 

 and broke into a low, sad chant. From the box they took something, which 

 was afterwards found to be a wooden image of a leopard and a Borfimor bag, 

 and offered it to the bush. Eetiring from the bush, they recrossed the space 

 and danced again. Eeturning to the bush, the box was opened to receive the 

 spirit of the fetish. This they did several times ; finally they danced right 

 across the space to the fire and sat down. They then took fat fi-om the child's 

 stomach, and having anointed the image with it, they put it back int<i the 

 box. The company then cooked and ate the flesh, buried the bones in the soil 



