ANGOY. 
167 
believe firmly in the devil, and worship him from fear. In every 
village there is a high pole erected, with long strings of ground rattans 
hanging from it, which, it is said, has the virtue to keep him at a 
distance. When they see any signs of an approaching storm, they 
imagine that the devil intends them a visit, upon which many super- 
stitious ceremonies are performed. The people of every village march 
round their own boundaries, and fix up at difiPerent distances small 
sticks split at the top, into which slit they put a piece of cocoa-nut, 
a whisp of tobacco, and the leaf of a certain plant, either as a peace- 
offering to the devil, or a scarecrow to frighten him away. When a 
man dies, all his live-stock, cloth, hatchets, fishing-lances, and every 
moveable he possessed, is buried with him, and his death is mourned 
by the whole village. In one view, this is an excellent custom, as it 
prevents all disputes about the property of the deceased. His wife 
must conform to custom, by having a joint cut off from one of her 
fingers ; and if she refuses this, she must have a deep notch cut in 
one of the pillars of her house. 
“ I was once present,'’ says Mr. Hamilton, ** at the funeral of an 
old woman. When we went into the house, which had belonged 
to the deceased, we found it full of her female relations ; some of 
whom were employed in wrapping up the corpse in leaves and cloth, 
and others tearing to pieces all the cloth wdiich had belonged to her. 
In another house hard by, the men of the village, with others from 
the neighbouring towns, were sitting drinking soura, and smoking 
tobacco. In the mean time, two stout young fellows were busy dig- 
ging a grave in the sand, near the house. When the women had 
done with the corpse, they set up a most hideous howl, upon which 
the people began to assemble round the grave, and four men w^nt up 
into the house to bring down the body ; in doing this, they were much 
interrupted by a young man, son to the deceased, who endeavoured 
with all his might to prevent them ; but finding it in vain, he clung 
round the body, and was carried to the grave along with it: there, 
after a violent struggle, he was turned away, and conducted back to 
the house. The corpse being now put into the grave, and the lash- 
ings, which bound the legs and arms, cut, all the live-stock which 
had been the property of the deceased, consisting of about six hogs 
and six fowls, were killed, and fiung in above it: a man then 
approached wdth a bunch of leaves stuck to the end of a pole, which 
he swept two or three times gently along the corpse, and then the 
grave W'as filled up. During the ceremony, the women continued to 
make the most horrible vocal concert imaginable ; the men said 
nothing. A few days afterwards, a kind of monument was erected 
over the grave, with a pole upon it, to which long stripes of cloth of 
different colours are hung. 
Customs, Religion, &c., of the Natives of Angoy, a 
Kingdom of Africa. 
The natives of Angoy allow polygamy, and the best beloved wife 
has the command of the rest; but is no less liable to be turned out, 
if she proves unfaithful. The ladies of the royal blood, however. 
