102 
MISSIONARY LIFE 
conduct toward myself and others was so marked 
that we often spoke of it ‘at the time 
"Women are not allowed to belong to the society, 
or to he on the ground where it meets ; and when 
they walk out of the town during the society’s 
meetings they are required to clap their hands 
together, so as to make a noise, that they may be 
warned by the sentinel on guard not to go farther 
in the direction leading to the place of meeting. 
Had one of their own women done what I did 
at the purrdw-bush house,” near the falls of 
Jong River, — which was simply to take into my 
hands a round stone which lay in the house, — she 
would have lost her life; and for the same offense 
one of their own men who is not a member of the 
society would have been sold into slavery. 
Mr. Brooks, who had an excellent faculty for 
the investigation of such matters, being a man of 
quick perception and keen insight into human 
nature, and who had long resided in that country, 
and had obtained a great influence over the peo- 
ple in general, and the members of the purrow 
society ” in particular, and who had taken special 
pains to collect facts concerning this society, 
sketched a history of its doings, from which we 
extract the following concerning their meetings : 
^^One of the members of this association acts in 
the capacity of a devil. He speaks through a 
