Bekky — The Sierra Leone Cannibals. 67 



to follow. The bush native conceives a connexion between the lungs and an 

 ant-hill, which, when broken or cut in sections, shows a number of holes and 

 passages. In old ant-hills certain snakes come to live, and their presence is 

 discoverable by a hole. In and around this hole the native pours rice-flour, 

 of which snakes are said to be very fond, as an offering ; and in the native's 

 mind the snake in the ant-hill is associated with the breath of life in the lungs. 

 Tame snakes can be found in many villages ; and the natives believe that no 

 snake will bite a man who lives up to the requirements of his Poro, and paj'S 

 due reverence to the shades of his ancestors. 



The association of the serpent with the tree is almost universal ; and there 

 appears to be some remote connexion here, as the serpent is associated with 

 the Poro. In the whole range of symbolism no emblem occurs more 

 frequently than the Branch or Tree, and in the Tree of Life it is associated 

 with the Cross as a symbol of regeneration and of Life active. 



Among the things found in the Borfimor bag before mentioned were two 

 tau-shaped crosses, with a cowrie, or sign of life, bound to the top. The tau 

 cross, or crux ansata, was the emblem of Osiris, and is called the Sign of Life, 

 the symbol of resuscitation and new birth, expressive of the idea entertained 

 by the Egyptians and other philosophers, that nothing created was anni- 

 hilated, and that to cease to be was only to assume anotuer form, dissolution 

 being merely the passage to reproduction. In its association with the Borfimor 

 we seem to have the reflection of some s^^ch ideas, the fetish being animated 

 by the indwelling life of the victim and the spirit attracted to it. 



Amongst the Ashantis the swastika is in use, but whether as a sun-symbol 

 or not does not appear clear ; another form of the swastika is found further 

 along the coast. 



The sigir of the Poro is the inverted Y formed in keloids down the spine 

 between the shoulders and branching off towards the ribs : a similar sign may 

 be seen on the backs of girls, and a St. Andrew's cross-shaped star, probalaly 

 a form of the swastika, is another of the Buudu marks (vide Plate II.). The 

 Y is the symbol of the branch or tree representing resurrection, new birth, 

 new life as typified by the ceremony of initiation into the life of the tribe 

 performed in the Poro. It is also a form of the cross ; and as a modification 

 of the swastika it is found in Denmark as a sun and fire symbol. The stars 

 cicatrized on the stomach in the outline of a human figure are supposed to 

 represent the vital spots of the human body (vide Plate II.). Inverted as we 

 find it in the Poro, the Y is an emblem of Trinity, and may have some relation to 

 the threefold function of the Poro as the place where laws are made and the 

 power behind them, the educational and religious function as typified by the 

 teaching of the young, and their preparation for the ritual of initiation ; and 



