THE SIMO AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 155 
Without this notice no person excepting the uninitiated 
durst look at him^ for they are foolish enough to think it 
unlucky^ and if they were to feel ill after it^ they would not 
fail to ascribe it to the unfortunate glance. 
On the festival day^ the Simo again announces his 
approach by frightful bowlings, which are imitated by his 
pupils with cows' horns. They are all armed with whips, 
in token of their authority. Those who have been formerly 
initiated, and reside in the neighbouring villages, collect 
and join in the rejoicings. They dress themselves in their 
best apparel, and, preceded by the music of the country, 
march at the head of the troop. After having compli- 
mented the Simo, they make him a little present, and 
conduct him in triumph to the village, with the sound of the 
tomtom. Those who are present accompany the music with 
their monotonous singing and fire off guns. The women 
also assemble, singing, and bearing each a calabash of rice, 
which they fling at the Simo, by way of offering, amid 
dances and shouts of joy. 
These festivals are usually very gay : much palm- wine 
and rum are drunk^ sheep and oxen are killed, and there is 
great feasting, which lasts several days. When all this re- 
joicing is over, the children whose parents cannot afford to 
make presents to the Simo return with him into the woods, 
and continue the same course of life for seven or eight years 
longer. When they are old enough to be serviceable, how- 
ever, they are allowed to help their parents, at the approach 
of the rainy season, to work in the fields ; after which 
they return to the woods and the master employs them in 
cultivating his land. 
When the initiated return to their families, they set up 
before their doors a tree, or merely a stake, at the end of 
which is suspended a small piece of stuff, most common- 
ly white. The tree or stake, whichever it may happen 
