88 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
bilities as a future husband. The novitiates are also taught the sex lore traditional 
with their tribe, and the special marriage customs as well as the tribal dances 
and the method of drumming. It is said that a boy may be dismissed from the 
school if he is not sufficiently proficient in dancing. The tribal traditions re- 
lating to the art of warfare, and the preparation of land for farms are also a part 
of the education. 
While at the bush schools the boys generally wear a dress made of raffia palm 
cloth or grass, which, however, does not cover the upper part of the body. 
Among some of the tribes, indeed, they go completely naked. Before ending the 
initiation they are said to undergo certain physical tests intended to establish 
their manhood. By some it is asserted that there is a sort of Masonic Fra- 
ternity among the members of the society who have been initiated in the bush 
school. Unless a boy has been properly initiated he is held in derision by his 
companions, and in some cases is not considered as a full member of the tribe or 
as a man of importance among them. 
The sande, bundu, sembe societies, or grigri bush school for girls, is as im- 
portant in the life of the natives of the interior as the school for boys. Some 
tribes maintain that it was founded by a woman who came from a country far 
away to the east where only women live, a legendary land and people of amazing 
exploits. Although the girls’ school is a separate organization, it is said to be 
more or less under the control of the officials of the devil bush. It is nevertheless 
presided over directly by a woman devil called femba by the Vais, or zogbe by the 
Kpwesi. She is assisted by a number of attendants, and’when she appears in 
public is, like the bush devil, masked, and wears a somewhat similar costume. 
Among the Bundu the mask is made from the shell of a coconut with the fiber 
left on except where a miniature face is carved and painted. Among some tribes 
all parts of the body of the femba are covered in order that it may not be exposed 
to the dangerous influences that emanate from people who do not belong to the 
society. The femba often carries a palm fiber fan in her hand which she waves 
as a signal, and thus communicates with her attendants without speaking. 
When she appears in public she, like the poro, is surrounded by attendants, 
who sometimes carry mats to help hide her. In other instances she will glide 
from among them and creep into the village street as noiselessly as a fleeting 
shadow, pointing with her fan or small bunch of twigs, her official wand of office, 
to what she wishes, and silently indicating by touch the girls who are to follow 
her to the bush school. She is supposed to have magical powers, one of the chief 
of which is that of conferring fertility on the women. Consequently she is held 
to be important in continuing the life of the tribe. Perhaps for this reason a 
great part of the instruction which the girls receive in the bush school particu- 
larly relates to sexual questions and to the preparation of the girl for marriage 
and motherhood. Childless women are said sometimes to consult the femba or 
zogbe asking for a charm to ensure conception. When a woman bears a child 
she is preferably attended by the head of the grigri bush. If this is not possible, 
it is extremely desired that she be attended by a woman who has been trained 
in the bush school. It is the rule in some tribes that if she is cared for by the 
