Worshipping the Dead Prince 
ferred by himself, and he practically executed his 
general for accepting it by exposing him to 
certain death in battle. All this worked exactly 
in the Bashorun’s hands. One very dark night, 
all the Ogbonee elders, including many of the 
most powerful men of both armies, met under 
the cottonwood tree standing just outside the 
gate, and sent a peremptory order to Areh to 
appear immediately before them. As they evi¬ 
dently meant to put him to death, he refused to 
obey but at the same time showed a disposition 
to make every concession possible by sending 
200 bags of cowries and 300 slaves. From that 
night, the Bashorun was the real ruler of Ejahyay; 
for Areh did not dare to disobey any decree of 
the Ogbonees, and they decreed in this particular 
matter whatever the Bashorun desired. 
Whenever any one disobeys or offends the 
Ogbonees, the executioner of the lodge requires 
him to eat a poisoned cola-nut in the presence of 
the lodge. When this is done, he is told to go 
home and put his house in order by the time the 
Ogbonees come to seize his property. I have 
always believed that this was to have been done 
with Areh, but as they could not get him into 
their power without violence, 1 suspect they 
ordered him to commit suicide. In this way 
191 
