IOO 
The Minor Tribes 
that no one had revived it in his time ; at an idea 
so philosophical, which leads directly to the neplus 
ultra of faith, El Wahdaniyyeh or Monotheism. 
Nor should I have credited them with so logical 
an apparatus for the regimen of the universe, or 
so stout-hearted an attempt to solve the eternal 
riddle of good and e vil. But the same belief also 
exists amongst the Congoese tribes, and even in 
the debased races of the Niger. Captain William 
Allen (“ Niger Expedition,” i. 227) thus records 
the effect when, at the request of the com¬ 
missioners, Herr Schon, the missionary, began 
stating to King Obi the difference between the 
Christian religion and heathenism : 
“ Herr Schon . There is but one God. 
“ King Obi . I always understood there were 
two,” &c. 
The Mpongwe “ Mwetye ” is a branch of male 
freemasonry into which women and strangers 
are never initiated. The Bakele and Shekyani, 
according to “Western Africa’' (Wilson, pp. 
391-2), consider it a “ Great Spirit.” Nothing 
is more common amongst adjoining negro tribes 
than to annex one another’s superstitions, com¬ 
pletely changing, withal, their significance. 
“ Ovengwa” is a vampire, the apparition of a 
dead man; tall as a tree, always winking and 
clearly seen, which is not the case with the 
Ibambo and I logo, plurals of Obambo and 
