RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES. 
117 
They say they cannot see or know the Great God, or 
“ Nisrah and, therefore, it is necessary to have some 
intercessory agents between them ; and for this purpose 
are the Gregres, or Buhs. 
They also worship evil spirits to propitiate them ; and 
thus ward off the ills they consider them capable of 
inflicting. The Grebus are more under the influence of 
this latter superstition than the Krumen. 
Marocho, which occurs about our Christmas period of 
the year, is the greatest religious festival, but it is to 
celebrate the completion of their seed sowing. The feast 
continues for five or six days, during which they keep 
up a succession of dancing, singing, and firing of mus- 
kets. Goats, ducks and fowls, or rather the blood 
and heads, are offered up to their Gregres : the bodies 
being reserved for the entertainment. As the season 
corresponds so exactly with our Christmas, they say, 
“ Kruboy keep Christmas too, all same white man.” 
Marriage is here, as all over the west coast of Africa, 
a civil contract. The man usually takes a wife when he 
IS about twenty years of age, after which time the num- 
ber increases according to his circumstances, from four 
a usual number — to as many as one hundred. Females 
would thus appear to be more numerous than the males, 
but having no statistics to guide us, it must rest on the 
testimony of the natives that such is the case. They 
even say that there are many women who cannot get 
husbands, which wc can only sujipose must be, because 
they are deficient in those lines of beauty which constitute 
