68 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
The dialects of the Kpwesi tribes show a decided affinity with the Man- 
dingo group of dialects. Johnston says that if these resemblances are real, 
they are undoubtedly due to the fact that the Kpwesi language is derived from 
a very ancient West African mother speech. The Kpwesi or Kpelle language, 
which is most widely employed in Central Liberia, has been especially studied 
and reduced to writing by Westermann.! Varying dialects of it are spoken by 
the tribes which surround the central Kpwesi group just discussed. 
The many invasions of Liberia and migrations into it, and the interbreeding 
of different tribes of people, have left a variety of groups speaking more or less 
different dialects, and varying more or less in their customs, habits, and industries. 
Thus like the name “Kru” the name of “ Kpwesi,” “ Kpelle,” or “Gbele”’ has 
been used to designate a group of related tribes. The Kpwesi’s country is divided 
into a number of different independent domains or kingdoms that contain a vary- 
ing number of villages. In some of them the same dialect is spoken, in others the 
dialects are considerably varied. In all the different districts, however, the local 
ruler is known as the Paramount Chief. Each domain or kingdom also has 
a chief town, with a ruler whom it is rather absurd to call either a queen or a 
king as is sometimes done. The town of Suahkoko is presided over by a woman 
(the queen) of the same name. She is a woman of advancing years, with gray 
hair and failing eyesight. Nevertheless, she displays surprising intelligence in her 
conversation and is apparently feared, respected, and obeyed in her community. 
She lives near the center of the town, in a stockaded compound which is entered 
through a narrow passage, the walls of which are made of heavy stakes, and which 
has a heavy wooden door at each end. Within the compound there are five houses 
which she occupies with her relatives and dependents. She received us sitting 
upon a small stool, wearing practically no clothing (No. 48), and through an 
interpreter told us that her five sons and two daughters were dead, and that 
she was assisted in ruling by one grandson, a man apparently between twenty- 
five and thirty years of age. She also stated that she was the only chief in the 
vicinity to take the side of the Americo-Liberian Government in the hostilities 
that occurred several years ago in connection with the refusal of some tribes to 
pay the hut taxes. Her province was apparently well governed, and all the 
promises which she made while we were in the community, and in response to 
our requests, chiefly relating to the sale of food, to transportation, and the exam- 
ination of her people, were kept. 
In the region around Gbanga where the farms are most numerous and where 
agriculture and the weekly market day play an important réle in the life of the 
people, the tribe known as the Jarquellis reside. In their general habits and 
customs they resemble the Kpwesis. Apparently, however, they are a somewhat 
more savage race. The men frequently file their teeth to long points; and the 
women more commonly, and certainly more conspicuously, practice cicatriza- 
tion, in diamond-shaped patterns on their abdomens and breasts (No. 47). The 
Chief of Gbanga evidently assumed a dictatorial authority over his people. 
1 Westermann: “Die Kpelle, ein Negerstamm in Liberia,” Gottingen, 1921; and ‘The Kpelle 
Language in Liberia” (with H. L. Melzian), Berlin, 1930; in cooperation with the Firestone Plantations 
Company and the American Advisory Committee on Education in Liberia. 
