Our Last " Safari " 



to be satisfied by the mystery of a secret society with murder 

 and frequently cannibaUsm as its aim. The suppression 

 in British territories of the barbarous leopard societies has 

 not led to their entire disappearance from the coast. Presi- 

 dent King, in his address to the Liberian Parliament, re- 

 ferred to an extensive recrudescence of the savage activities 

 of leopard societies amongst the aborigines of the Montserrat 

 and Gora districts of the Liberian Republic. Land and water 

 travel has become increasingly unsafe. Unhappily, we are 

 told that legal technicalities have been responsible for failure 

 in the prosecution of members of these societies, and con- 

 sequently their prestige has been enhanced. The President 

 of Liberia reports that plenary powers have been secured, 

 and it is to be hoped that the activity of this reversion to 

 savagery and barbarism may be stamped out. It is a grave 

 menace to peaceful trade and existence in the hinterland 

 of the RepubUc." 



It is curious to note how the eradication of this Leopard 

 sect in one part of Africa has led to its re-establishment 

 elsewhere, and how the cult has taken hold of the native 

 mind. Judging by the comparatively recent formation of 

 such a society in Congoland, one is led to believe there may 

 even have been some kind of propaganda at work. 



The tale of the Anioto Leopards of the Aruwimi is enough 

 to make the blood run cold and keep the imaginative awake 

 at nights, but fortunately the prey of this sect are blacks — 

 principally young and defenceless women and children — ^not 

 whites. When we arrived in the part of the forest — between 

 Batama and Bomili — which they frequented, their campaign 

 of revolting murders had reached its height, when no less 



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