l6 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



flag and the Woman Geographers' flag and the senior writer's 

 Masonic ring, that we were "joiners," they arranged for us to 

 join the Snake Society. This Society exists throughout Africa. 

 Each tribe has its own lodge. Our best native companion was Bobo — ■ 

 Bobo Johnson of the Gisi tribe — a devout member of the Society, 

 and he went with us and joined all over again, we think to find out if 

 the ritual were the same as in his own tribe. According to him, it was. 



In a dimly lighted hut we were kept at night for 4 hours. After 

 taking the oath of secrecy we were taught high-signs, passwords, 

 the procedure of entering a home, the manner of giving a present 

 to a Snake Society brother or receiving one from him, and the 

 symbolism of a large number of fetiches. Next day, inducted into 

 the sacred bush, we were taught again more signs and landmarks, and 

 the secrets of 36 different species of plants were explained to us. 

 Some were medicinal, some used in sorcery. And then our fellow 

 members of the lodge presented to us the ceremonial snake, a 

 rhinoceros viper which we afterward sent to Washington. Because 

 she was the first white woman who had ever lived in the village, 

 and the second white woman who had ever joined the lodge, the 

 junior author was made an officer, given a title and certain powers. 

 As Yangwah, she has the authority to "cut a palaver," that is, to end 

 an argument, which is a valuable power in West Africa! The native 

 Yangwah surrendered to her the symbol of office, a harnessed 

 antelope horn containing within it the "medicine" of the Society. 



Other trips made into the interior in various directions were for the 

 purpose of collecting specimens and getting the natives interested 

 in collecting and bringing to headquarters other animals. This re- 

 sulted after a time in a constant though rather thin stream of animals 

 being brought in to base camp. 



Near Dobli's Island in the St. Paul River a young adult female 

 pigmy hippopotamus was caught by natives in a pit. A cage had to 

 be built for it, using heavy planks for the floor, and stout bamboo 

 for the framework, lashed together with rattan and padded with 

 rice bags. The cage alone weighed 300 pounds, and the hippo weighed 

 400, making 700 pounds that had to be carried by manpower, up 

 hill and down, over sandy roads and narrow twisting trails, through 

 streams and over fallen tree trunks, for 40 miles — a 2^-days' walk. 



The hippo became tame surprisingly quickly. After 2 days in 

 camp she was practically a pet. Later she had to be taken by truck 

 50 miles down to the coast, loaded into a surf boat, rowed out across 

 the bar and 2 miles out to sea, lifted on board ship by derricks, let 

 down into the hold, kept alive for 21 days on a diet of nothing but 



