Chapter 1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND PRINCIPAL DEITIES The land bordering the shore of the Gulf of Guinea is one vast littoral, crossed and recrossed by such a network of water-ways that it is possible to pass by canoe from French Dahomey on the one side to the Cameroons on the other without once sighting the sea. The Eket1 District, with which this book is chiefly concerned, lies on the coast, some hundred miles east of the Niger delta, and is roughly bounded on the west by the Kwa Ibo and on the east by the Cross River. These two water-ways form the main features of the country and, in taking their parallel courses to the sea, drain the whole area between. The most important of their tributaries is the Ubium, which rises in the north-east corner and flows diagonally through the centre until it joins the Kwa Ibo River in the south-west. The land is low-lying, for the most part only a few score feet above sea-level, and, though undulating in the centre and north, the highest points rarely reach more than two or three hundred feet. Except for these low hills, which are composed of reddish sands probably formed during a subsidence in Tertiary times, the whole region has been built up from alluvial deposits brought down by the rivers and held back by the mangrove. The process of land formation can be clearly seen in action throughout the southern portion of the District, 1 The conventional spelling has been kept, but the word should be written Ekkett or Ekkitt, according to the orthography recommended by the Royal Geographical Society, followed in this book, by which the vowels are pronounced as in Italian and the consonants as in English. I B which consists of vast stretches of swamp, under water in the rainy season and difficult to traverse even in the dries, since the ground has a way of sinking beneath the feet and engulfing the unwary in treacherous, unfathomable ooze. Save for a few colonies of fisher-folk, who build frail palm-leaf huts by the shore or pile-like dwellings, borne on arched mangrove roots over the waters whence their livelihood is drawn, these lands are uninhabited except round the estuaries of the two great rivers. The influence of this environment of water and mangrove swamp can be clearly traced in the character and beliefs of the race. All the most powerful Jujus, as also the principal deities, are connected with the sea or sacred pools and rivers. In some parts lie quagmires, ever shifting, the most deadly of which, situated amid the mud-flats of the Cross River, is known as Hell’s Gate or Ghosts’ Road, from its power to suck down and engulf ; in others are smiling grass-stretches, to trespass upon the thin crust of which means certain death ; while cold, swift, crocodile- haunted streams flow by the very door. Beyond the mangrove belt, which runs parallel to the coast some ten miles in depth, comes a dense evergreen forest—a land of marshes and water-blooms, with the sound in the air of water, where, from spring and grove, by sunshine or moonlight, Naiad and Dryad peep, and through which old-world ghosts walk at noon of day or night. This bush, which once stretched over the rest of the District, but now exists, in its primeval state, only on the borders of streams, in sacred groves or the comparatively small proportion of uninhabited country, contains a large number of flowers new to science,1 though few in comparison with those found in the Oban country.2 The greater part of the central and northern regions is now composed of fertile palm land, whence spring countless great coconut, piassava, and oil palms, each with its crown of feathered leaves ; very different from the southern back- 1 A description of the first instalment of new flowers found in the Eket District appeared in the Journal of Botany of January 1914. 2 Nine new genera and 195 new species of which are described in Catalogue of Talbot’s Nigerian Plants, published by the British Museum in 1913- ground of sombre mangrove lining the banks of creek and stream, over which lovely lianes trail their fragrant length, lightening the dark foliage with milk-white or bright-hued flowers. It is perhaps over-fanciful to look upon these two trees, so different in habit and growth, as typical not only of the land, but of the people, and of those strange contrasts and contradictions to be found on every hand. The palm, springing straight and tall above the lesser vegetation, glorying, as it were, in the free air and sunshine, and waving its proud crown against the blue sky, would seem the very antithesis of the gloomy symbols of bloodstained Juju and fetish worship, which, for many of us, are indissolubly linked with the very thought of West Africa. Yet the sacrifices demanded by the “ Spirit of the Palm ” were as cruel as those of any other cult. Whenever the great clusters did not ripen, or when only a small crop was vouchsafed, the inhabitants were ordered to search the country-side until a leper was found with face eaten away by the ravages of the disease. Him they dragged to the nearest palm grove and bound by waist and throat to the tallest tree, his arms tied round the trunk as though clasping it. Through both feet were driven long hooked pegs, sharply pointed, which pinned the wretched victim to the ground. There he was doomed to stay, suffering intolerable agonies from wounds, hunger and thirst, in the glare of a tropical sun, until released by merciful death. The bodies of such victims were never buried, but left to decay until sun, rain, and vultures had worked their will, and Isong (Mother Earth) once more received the poor remains into her gentle guardianship. After this sacrifice, natives assert, there was no dearth of fruit, for the Spirits of the Palms, pleased with the offering, sent forth their rich, orange-hued clusters in such profusion that “ over the whole grove men cut till they were tired.” The mangrove, on the other hand, springing from black mud and crocodile-haunted ooze, might seem a fitting symbol of all that is darkest and most terrible in West African beliefs. As one’s canoe slips down some creek, perchance never before visited by a white man, between ill-smelling mud-flats, arched over and over by tangled, wan-coloured roots, the shadows seem a fitting background for dark stories of lust and blood, while the very air seems heavy with the agony of victims. Yet, so far as it has been possible to ascertain, the mangrove neither claims nor receives sacrifice ; while it goes on, year after year, in growth and decay, ceaselessly gathering round its roots atoms of alluvial soil washed thither by the waters, thus gradually building up the smiling lands behind its dark outposts. Often at a sudden turn in the creek one comes upon a little beach leading to hidden homestead and prosperous farm, where small brown piccans and gorgeous butterflies play in the sunshine, and gay-hued flowers and ripening corn are to be seen on every hand. So, too, amid this strange maze of superstition and cruel rites which form the religion of the people, one chances unawares upon gentle traits, or turns of thought, almost startling in their tenderness and beauty. Girt round by swamp and marsh lie the fertile farm lands, yielding heavy crops of yam, cassava, and corn, in return for industrious cultivation, their open, sunny spaces alternating with stretches left to lie fallow, till, at the end of seven years—now, owing to the increasing population, more often reduced to three—these in turn are cleared by fire and furrowed by short-handled, primitive hoes in preparation for the new season’s crops. Dry stems, left standing here and there, licked white by the flame, or showing patches of charcoal black, act as supports for the yam vines, which twist and climb round them, much like the hops of Kent or our own Worcestershire. Lower down, coco-yams spread out great arum-like leaves, while pumpkin flowers, bright hued or white, hang in graceful garlands or trail along the ground. The wasteful method of farming, by which, save for sacred groves and comparatively rare stretches of forest, every few years’ growth is destroyed, forms a somewhat serious problem from the point of view of deforestation. Fortunately the belts of palm-swamp and mangrove marsh, which everywhere fringe the encircling waters, make the question less acute than it would otherwise be ; for, no matter how fiercely the bush fires rage, they come before long to an arm of creek or river stretched forth to bar their path. With the exception of some forty Europeans and a few African strangers, the population is composed entirely of Ibibkn one of the most ancient peoples in this or perhaps any part of Africa, who have probably been in this neighbourhood for many thousands of years. This, however, is said with great diffidence, since our leading African , authority, Sir Harry Johnston, in his Survey of the Ethnography of Africa, is of opinion that they only arrived in these regions about fifteen hundred years ago. The Ibibio are confined to the south-eastern part of Nigeria, and number in all over a million, of which some hundred and fifty thousand inhabit the Eket District, divided into nine tribes,1 of whom the Efik,2 whose main habitat is in Calabar District to the east, are the best known. Their language belongs to the Semi-Bantu group, with many and strong affinities, however, to the Sudanic tongue of their neighbours the Ibo, with whom they have much in common. The dialects spoken by the different tribes vary so much as to be almost unintelligible in towns only a few miles apart, but the spread of education and the adoption of the Efik speech in school and religious books have greatly simplified inter-tribal communication during the last few years. The Ibibio are typical negroes, thick-set, with long arms, short trunks, medium-sized legs, and feet broad and flat, usually with larkspur heels. Their skulls are long and often “ crested,” i.e. sloping upwards at the back, which projects far over the neck. Their lips are in most cases thick and everted, the cheek-bones rarely prominent, the 1 Viz. Oronn, numbering according to the 1921 census about 41,000 souls; Okkobbor (Okkobbaw), 11,000; Efik and Effiatt, 3000; Ubium, 9000 ; Nsitt (including Ndiva and Okkonn), 11,000 ; Ibeno, 4000 ; Ibibio (Awa), 39,000; and Eket, 20,000 ; giving a total population of 138,000, composed of adults — males 33,000, females 38,000 ; and non-adults (i.e. under fifteen years old)—males 34,000, females 33,000. The real population is probably very much higher. 2 This is the conventional spelling. The word is really pronounced Efuk or Effuk, and applies more particularly to the Duke Town quarter of Calabar. nose flat, with splayed nostrils, and the jaws prognathous. The colour of the eye is, almost without exception, deep brown, and of the skin varying shades of the same colour, generally very dark or chocolate, while the hair is short, black, and woolly.1 The Ibibio form yet another survival from that strange, half-forgotten world for whose children life was one long wonder-tale. Many, it is true, have now been led by white influence to the borderland between the old and new. Indeed so rapidly is civilisation spreading, that the late Mr. Eakin, a missionary of great experience, told me that I had only come just in time to record the old faiths and customs before their final fading. Yet, though the young are so swiftly becoming Christianised, many of the older generation still cling to beliefs and ways unchanged, or hardly changed, since the childhood of the world. For such the commonplace does not exist, each object is tinged with wonder and mystery, while forces beneficent or malignant are to be felt on every hand. To us, in the twentieth century, it is hard indeed to grasp the point of view of survivals such as these. Before their mental vision the path stretches broad and clear ; familiar as that which leads to farm or homestead. To us it has been lost for centuries. Faint is now the trail and far the way, barred by the thorny tangles of alien thought and overgrown with the weeds of forgetfulness. To the Ibibio, as to the Ekoi, everything, from the smallest stone or humblest plant to the mightiest rock, river, or tree, has an indwelling soul or “ Mana,” which is capable of projecting itself in a multitude of ways in order to influence the lives of those with whom it comes in contact. For instance, should an Ibibio man, on going forth in the morning, strike his foot against root or stone, or should a snake or other small creature cross his path, he usually goes back to seek an offering. “ Perhaps,” he thinks, “ that which I saw was the manifestation of the Power set to guard me to-day. I will therefore offer sacrifice, that it may be favourably inclined and protect me from all ill.” 1 The physical characters of the Ibibio and other West African peoples are being treated in detail in a forthcoming book. Beside such transient guardians, each of the more important towns and families has its own sacred grove, pool, creek, tree, or stone, which may be looked upon as the home of permanent protectors, the more famous of which have become places of pilgrimage, and will be described in turn. Certain similarities run through all or nearly all. Most, for instance, are connected with the worship of Obumo, the Thunder God, who to all, save a few initiates, is looked upon as the chief deity of the tribes of this District. In nearly all such groves a sacred stone is to be seen representing a goddess who confers fruitfulness upon her woman worshippers. In most cases this is the “ outward, visible sign ” of Eka Abassi (Mother of God), who, according to esoteric teaching, is the true head of the Ibibio Pantheon. Such waters are guarded, so the legend runs, by python and leopard. A mat woven of plaited grass or palm-leaf is often to be found stretched across the entrance, and, in nearly all cases, jars of varying shape and form, skulls—either of human beings or animals—and the feathers of white birds are to be seen. Sacred fish, tenanted by the souls of men, swim in the waters, while above soar fish eagles, black and white, the totem or “ affinity ” of many chiefs of the race. These seemingly disconnected objects are all parts of a complicated symbolism. Obumo,1 the Thunderer, is not only regarded by most present-day Ibibio as the principal deity, but as the great First Cause—the All-Father—from whom everything which exists has sprung. His home is in the sky, and, as he is too far off to trouble much about the smaller concerns of men, he leaves these in the hands of lesser powers ; reserving to himself the ordering of the great events of the year, such as the division of the seasons. The “ dry ” months are looked upon as the time of barrenness and unrequited desire. If an Ibibio man wishes to express dislike of a woman, he nearly always uses the word “ dry ” as a term of disparagement towards her. In due course, the first rains begin to fall, slaking the thirst of the parched earth. Soft mists enfold her, and from their gentle embrace her barrenness turns into fruition. A 1 See also p. 255. stirring and quickening, hardly perceptible at first, but growing ever stronger, makes itself felt. Seeds germinate and spring forth to new life. Young leaves spread over all their veil of fresher, tenderer green ; while yams, plantains, and new corn swell and ripen to nourish the children of men. As so often happens amid primitive peoples when, after months or years of careful study, one fondly dreams that the bed-rock of religious ideas has at length been reached, a chance word, or vague hint, shows that, beyond all yet learnt, lies a deeper depth still. So here. For months nothing happened to lead us to doubt the reiterated assertion, made by all classes and on every hand, that Obumo, the Thunderer, was not only the Chief of the Ibibio Pantheon, but the great First Cause from which all things have sprung. This belief fitted in so neatly with those of other West African peoples, chronicled by authors of far greater weight, that we accepted it unquestioningly. Only after long study did we chance upon the fact that another belief had been handed down, though this was kept, a carefully guarded secret, from the knowledge of all, save those few initiated into the esoteric mysteries, a band, always small in number, but now verging on extinction. One evening when seeking information as to the existence of sacrificial altars, from a man of Chief Henshaw’s household well known for his knowledge of secret things, forgotten by or hidden from the common herd, he happened to mention that the only case in which, to his knowledge, altars were erected, was on the occasion of sacrifices made to Eka Abassi (Mother of God). Acting on this hint, careful inquiries brought out an ancient belief that the latter was the Divine Creatrix—like Ilmatar of the Kalevala —from whom Obumo the Thunderer sprang, a virgin birth, as did Vainamoinen of the Finnish legend. Indeed, so like are these two far-sundered Creation stories that many of the beautiful lines of the northern version poured, to our astonishment, hardly changed save for names, from the lips of these rude Ibibio : I have often heard related, And have heard the song recited, How the nights closed ever lonely, And the days were shining lonely. Only born was Vainamoinen, Sprung from the divine Creatrix, Born of Ilmatar, his mother, Air’s young daughter was a virgin, Fairest daughter of Creation. Long did she abide a virgin, All the long days of her girlhood, In the Air’s own spacious mansions. In those far-extending regions. From Obumo, son and spouse of the one Great Mother, sprang, according to Ibibio belief, the parents of all earth- folk, and, lest in course of the ages these latter should forget their divine origin, sacred pools and groves were set apart by the Thunderer himself, as shrines to which all in need might flee ; there to claim the special protection of the dread deities. In a deeply interesting article entitled “ A Common Basis of Religion,” contributed to the Journal of the African Society, April 1913, Mr. R. E. Dennet says : “ In each sacred grove that has been examined by me I have found : “ o. “ 1. Mats said to represent the rainbows. “ 2. Pots of water. “ 3. Seeds and parts of trees. “4. Oysters and other shells. (Oyster represents determination.) “ 5. A hut and snake skins. (The hut represents feeling, sensation, love ; snake skins awe and secrecy, and the two great divisions of the seasons.) “ 6. The vertebra of the whale and feathers of parrots. (The whalebone and feathers of birds symbolise motion.) “ 7. The heads of brutes and animals. (Animals and man intelligence.) “ 8. The priest and worshippers.” Now in Ibibio sacred groves, over a score of which we were the first Europeans permitted to visit, we usually found : 1. Mats of plaited palm leaf, said to represent the rainbow, and, when fringed, rainbow and lightning combined ; thus typifying the seasons of the year : the dry weather, or rain ceasing, and the tornado or rainy time. 2. Pots of water, i.e. ghost offerings, representing the Spirit World in general, and the ancestors in particular. 3. Seeds and parts of trees, signifying the power of pro¬ creation and the forces latent in vegetation. Sometimes, too, there is a sacred tree, of giant size, the spirit of which is looked upon as a powerful protector. 4. Shells, Voluta and Fasciolaria (species not yet deter¬ mined by scientists). These are sacred to the Spirit of the Sea, “ since one can always hear the sound of her waves in them.” For the same reason all sea- shells are sacred in varying degree and some freshwater ones, because these latter belong to the spirits of streams and rivers. 5. A little hut, representing the family, hearth, and home. 6. Parts of fishes, skulls, and vertebrae of crocodiles, feathers of white birds and skulls and horns of bush beasts— signifying life and movement in water, air, and on earth. 7. Holy stones or rocks, in conjunction with pool, lake, or earth itself—all typifying motherhood or fertility. 8. A legendary python set to guard the waters, a leopard appointed to the same office by land, and a fish eagle hovering as protector in the clear air above. All of these last-named creatures are mysteriously linked with human beings, as will be seen in the chapter dealing with animal affinities, totems, and were-beasts. Lastly, in many of these sacred groves, as in most places of sacrifice, egg-shells may be found, often impaled upon sticks. The following facts were gleaned by my wife, during the corfrse of her independent investigations from women informants : In an Ibibio Sacred Grove. “ Long ago,” one of these stated, “ Obumo, the Thunderer, left the earth and ascended to the sky.” Here the narrator waved her arms with wing-like motion to illustrate the flight of the Deity. “ From his home in the clouds Obumo still sends forth his messengers, Rain and Storm-wind, Thunder-bolt and Eagle." In the latter form, according to Ibibio belief, as once on the mountain Kokkygion near Sparta, the god is still thought to descend at the beginning of the rainy season to woo his terrestrial consort. At Ndiya town, a place of some importance on the Kwa Ibo River, neither eggs nor fowls may be eaten, and, should this command be broken, sudden death would fall upon the offender through the agency of the great local Juju Isu Ndemm (the Face of the Juju). On the authority of one of my wife’s woman informants the following reason was given for this tabu : “ My grandmother once told me,” said the old woman,1 “ that Isu Ndemm was the mouthpiece of Eka Abassi. So great is this goddess that no husband was needed for the birth of her babes. By her own might alone did the first of these, Obumo, spring forth ; but to none of her daughters was this power transmitted. When, therefore, the Great Mother saw that all the first earth-women were sterile, long she pondered ; then sent to them a white bird, which, floating down through the Realm of the Wind to earth, laid a gleaming egg—the symbol of fertility.” 2 Surely in this Ibibio belief lies the germ of the beautiful lines ’Epe/?ous S’ kv airelpovL koXttois tiKTCi irpwTLCTTov VTrrjvkpuov Nr>£ r/ p.eXavoTvrepo<; (iov.3 In the beginnings of things, black-winged Night Into the bosom of Erebos, dark and deep Laid an egg, wind begotten . . . These lines are quoted by Miss Harrison, to whom 1 The “ pidgin ” English has, in all cases, been turned into ordinary English. 2 D. Amaury Talbot, Woman’s Mysteries of a Primitive People (Cassell). 3 Aristophanes, Aves, 692. students of Hellenism owe so deep a debt, in an illuminating paper on Bird and Pillar Worship. She continues : “ The beautiful doctrine of the Fatherhood of the wind and the Virgin Birth was Orphic, and is connected with the ancient Attic Cult of the Wind Gods, the Tritopatores, worshipped by Bride and Bridegroom before marriage. The World-egg, looking back to the divine Bird, is Orphic. Orpheus said : ‘ What time great Chronos fashioned in holy Aether a silver-gleaming egg.’ ” 1 In the Kalevala, the Cosmic egg was laid upon the knee of the Great Mother herself, from which it rolled into the water, where “ a wondrous change came o’er ” it, “ and the fragments all grew lovely.” From the cracked egg’s lower fragment. Now the solid earth was fashioned, From the cracked egg’s upper fragment, Rose the lofty arch of Heaven.2 Miss Harrison thus ends her deeply interesting paper : “ The Orphics, we have long known, revived, among other primitive things, the Cult of Gaia, the Earth Mother. They revived also, we have seen, the egg Cosmogony. . . . On the gold tablet of Petelia the initiated Orphic in Hades will drink of the Water of Memory. The guardians challenge him. They ask him whence and from whom he comes. He claims no kinship with any Olympian ; he looks back to an earlier Faith and an auguster parentage ; ‘ I am the child of Earth and of Starry Heaven.’ ” To continue the Ibibio story as related to my wife : “ Old women tell that, after showing the people how, by honouring eggs and oval stones, and making sacrifice to the Great Mother, the gift of fertility might be won, the magic bird flew back to her home in the sky ; whence, with folded wings, soft brooding, she still watches over the children of men. Mortals call her ‘ Moon,’ and sometimes, when people are sleeping, the Moon-bird floats down from her home on high and pecks up grains, or other food, which she may find lying about. She looks round to see that all 1 Transactions of the Third International Congress of the History of Religions, vol. ii. p. 163. 2 Kalevala, Rune 1, line 231 et seq. is well with the Earth-folk, and that the tabu on fowls and eggs is still observed. Were it otherwise, the hens would complain to her, and she would bear their plaint before Eka Abassi, who would not only kill the actual offenders, but withdraw her gift : thus sending barrenness upon all the countryside. It is because of this service that the goddess forbids the offering to her of any fowl save such as has borne many eggs in its day but, by reason of age, has ceased from bearing.” Some traces still exist of a belief in an earlier god called Ete Abassi (Father God), the husband of Eka Abassi. At the present day, however, he has been superseded by Abassi Obumo, as was the Greek Chronos by Zeus, the Yoruba Shango by Awlawrun, and the Ibo Chuku Abiama by Chineke, or has even become identified with him, as has Eka Abassi in some places with Isong, the earth. In Eket District Abassi is generally represented by a small clay pot, filled with water in which is placed a manilla, and sometimes an egg, while a palm leaf is stretched across. Among other Ibibio an Itommaw, Awkonnor, or Obbossi tree, or the sacred Ngwewepp leaves are usually planted near by. The symbol of Isong is, in some places, a round clay pot, filled with water or palm wine and placed between two Akwa sticks amid a heap of small round stones ; in others the goddess is represented by the shell of a tortoise, the emblem of the female sex, impaled before the shrine of Abassi. Among Northern Ibibio a “ stick ” of fish is added. The symbols of both deities are often rubbed round with yellow wood dye. Sacrifices of a cock to Abassi and a hen to Isong are generally made simultaneously, about the time of planting new farms and the harvest festival, also at any time by an expectant mother or the parents of a sick child. Some Ibibio sacrifice to these divinities at the cross-roads or before the big ant-hills, the head of the fowl being put down one of the passages in the mound. The Efik often offered up their sacrifices in a pit whence clay had been dug for building purposes ; generally an old woman officiated as priestess.1 1 See also p. 181. The fact that among Ibibio the fish eagle is thought to hover over grove or water sacred to Obumo the Thunderer, brought to mind memories of similar beliefs enshrined in many a half-forgotten line. Gliding through creeks, bird- haunted, where egrets flit before one, white against the blue, and rose-tinted flamingoes people the sandy beaches or drift across the green of distant banks, light wafted like pale petals from some giant rose, many a verse comes to mind which, in such surroundings, takes on new and deeper meaning. How much might be learnt could one but study Euripides, Aeschylus, or Aristophanes amid such ideal scenes ! But light travelling is one of the first necessities for carrying out official work in a District such as this. Carriers are an all-important item of expenditure, and, in default of books, one has to rely on chance lines garnered in memory’s storehouse, such as the beautiful ■)}At/3drots evl KevOpojcri yevo'ifxav iva pe TTTepov(TO-av opviv dye\rj(riv 7roravals Oeo<s evoxir],1 with its hardly less beautiful rendering by Professor Gilbert Murray : Could I take me to some cavern for my hiding, On the hill-tops where the sun scarce hath trod ; Or a cloud make the home of mine abiding As a bird among the Bird-Droves of God. Here, again, Miss Harrison’s article expresses much of what I would say, far better than I could hope to do. It is therefore unnecessary to apologise for quoting those passages which bear most closely on the conjunction of grove or water, sacred to the Thunder God, Eagle, and Earth Mother, so clearly do they voice reflections borne in upon our minds amid the silences of this strange water-world. “ Thunder, Thunderbolt, and Lightning are not distinguished, and, further, they are not for death and destruction only. Like the sun, they are parts of the Heavenly fire, the Aether, only caught and imprisoned in a black thunder-cloud. As Euripides has it : It is in his Epiphany of Thunder and Lightning that Keraunos comes to 1 Euripides, Hipp. 732. Keraunia, that the Sky God weds Semele, the Earth, the ‘ Bride of the Bladed Thunder.’ ” “ On a votive relief in the Sparta Museum we see Apollo and Artemis in human form. Beneath them are the older divinities of Earth and Sky, the Omphalos and the Eagles. The Omphalos is not, I think, the stump of a tree, ... it is simply what the name says, the navel of the Earth Goddess, the Mother thought of Anthropomorphically.” Here, amid the primitive Ibibio, we have the actual Omphalos ; for in nearly every case the stone standing out from earth or encircling water bears almost the exact shape of its representation on the old papyrus of Am-Tuat.1 Distinct traces of the Cult of the Eagle are still said to be found at, and near, Ebughu, one of the largest and most important towns in the district. Here, when the eagles are heard to cry in the bush, the inhabitants are reported to gather at a certain tree, round which they dance for hours, in honour of the lordly birds. The custom was brought to our notice through a matrimonial quarrel, resulting from one such celebration. My informant was Obuoho, son of the Head Chief of Oduku. He related the circumstances to show the folly and ignorance of the Ebughu people : “ On one occasion, when a husband and wife had been dancing for some time round the Sacred Tree,” he told us, “ the man said to the woman, ‘ I am tired and hungry and shall now go home.’ The wife, however, answered, ‘ You can go if you wish, but I have not yet danced long enough, so will come later.’ “ The man went alone, but after a while a friend joined him, and to the latter he said, ‘ Since my wife did not come at my bidding, I cannot let her return to my house any more ; but shall put her away.’ To which the friend answered : ‘ How can you do so ? The woman did but follow the ancient rite which our fathers have taught us, in obedience to the cry of the Eagles. You should therefore allow her to come back to you when the dancing is over.’ ” We had made arrangements to revisit the town, so soon 1 Budge, Egyptian Heaven and Hell, vol. i. p. 102. as other duties allowed, in order to follow up investigations in this direction, when orders came to proceed to another District. So, to our great regret, further information on the subject was not obtainable. Unless we are much mistaken, however, other traces of bird-worship may be found in the “ bird-play,” described on p. 79, and the “ longtailed ” dance of the Egbo Society (p. 163), for each of which a feathered head-dress is worn, as also in the fact that, as in ancient Egypt, the Cult of the Vulture plays a prominent part in the life of the people. This may be specially noticed in the initiatory ceremonies of the great Idiong Secret Society (p. 173). Another possible echo from an ancient bird cult may perhaps be traced in the Inuen Okobo (Bird Juju), which is regarded as very powerful for finding out hidden things, such as the causes of sickness, etc. It is supposed to have received its name “ because the Spirit talks with a small, small voice like a bird.” According to some accounts, in olden days the priest of this cult was also stated to have donned a bird head-dress before giving out the oracles. It is a very old Juju, the “ custom ” of which is said to be as follows. The priest places two small, flat beans, each pierced with a hole, in his nostrils, while he holds a larger one in his mouth. He then takes two old ramrods and binds them together, fastening a ram’s beard at the top, after which he pours “ medicine ” over all. To pronounce his oracles he sits in the Juju shed, before a curtain of plaited palm leaf, which is hung across so as to hide an inner compartment. Another very ancient cult, that of the serpent, still holds sway along the whole Nigerian and Dahomeyan coast, while among the Yoruba this is looked upon as the symbol of awe and mystery. Ibibio would seem to regard it more as the guardian of sacred places and mysterious cults than in itself symbolical. In connection with the tutelary pythons reported to be found in nearly all Ibibio sacred grooves or pools, it is not without interest to remember that the Throne of Osiris was guarded by a giant serpent. In a papyrus of the XXII. Dynasty the Deity is represented “ lying on the slope of a mound of earth, with his right arm extended on the top of it. His hand nearly touches the head of a huge serpent, the body of which passes down the back of the heap.” 1 Further, these pythons appear as the special guardians of holy places dedicated to the powers of fertility. Among many primitive peoples, such, for instance, as the Pangwe, there is considerable evidence to show that the snake is regarded as the representation of the phallus, and, as such, plavs an important role in initiatory ceremonies of youths of the tribe.2 Each great Ibibio Juju man is supposed to keep one such serpent familiar in his house, in the “ bush ” where secret rites are celebrated, or in some place by the waterside. It is called Kukubarakpa, and, by virtue of this agent, much of the magician’s power is said to come to him. The possession of such a snake is also supposed to bring riches, though its magic is thought to be of no avail during the season of storms. To Abassi Obumo, the Thunderer, human sacrifices were always offered at the time of the New Yam Festival. A very tall tree was chosen for the purpose. Bark, stripped from piassava palms, was wrapped round the victim so as to envelop him completely, and he was then tied, bundle- wise, to the trunk, some distance from the ground. Chief Henshaw discovered one such sacrifice a few years ago, and at Atebio—a town of some importance in the centre of the District—several trees are to be seen which, in olden days, were set apart for thus bearing the thunder god’s offering. There is a road called Usun Obuma, i.e. the Road of the Storms, which lies near here, on the border of the Oban District. Over this the winds are said to blow ceaselessly, and “ Thunder Stones ” are stated to fall more often than in other places. When such a stone is seen to strike the earth, people mark the spot, but do not at once try to dig up the meteorite, because, should one attempt to do so, it is said to cry out with a voice like that of a man in pain. A chicken is therefore first killed and the blood poured upon the stone, for the same reason as that given by the 1 Dr. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, p. 43. 2 Gunter Tessmann, Die Pangwe. Yoruba for a libation of oil under similar circumstances. Among Ibibio a palm leaf is also cut and laid over the hole ; for here, as with the Ekoi, palm trees are thought to bear some mysterious link with the thunder Juju.1 All Idiong men possess these “ Storm Stones,” which they lay before them when divining, while the priest of Obumo and some other Juju men have a strong “ medicine,” by which they can cause an enemy’s house to be struck by lightning, or send a tornado to ruin the farms of those against whom they cherish ill-will.2 Once, when Consul Annesley was at Calabar, a chief got into trouble with Government because he had cut off the ears of several of his “ boys ” and flogged some women dependents naked round the town. In his house were many “ fine gifts ” obtained from Spanish traders, among them two cannon which were confiscated by Government, one of which still serves to give time to all the neighbourhood by being fired at eight o’clock every morning. It is said that the delinquent’s family got a “ bad mind ” against Consul Annesley, to whom they attributed the punishment of their chief. So they collected money to buy the “ Storm Juju,” by which means they raised a terrible hurricane, hoping to destroy the offending official by thunderbolt or lightning stroke. In general, however, Obumo is opposed to witchcraft and all bad Jujus. It is fatal to attempt to carry out evil spells during the time of storms, when his power is greatest. In this connection it may be noted that the sonorous lines of the old Babylonian poem might equally well be chanted by Ibibio of to-day : Place him where the thunder roar is uttered, that it may help thee, May the potent meteorite of heaven With its awful roar help thee, That the evil Spirit and the evil Demon may go forth. That the evil Ghost and the evil Devil may go forth, That the evil God and the evil Fiend may go forth.3 1 As also among the Ibo. 2 Ibo “ doctors ” use them to produce rain. Among the Yoruba they are neolithic celts, one of which must be in every important shrine of Shango, the God of Thunder. 3 R. C. Thompson, The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, p. 121, line 30 et seq. In some parts of the District a curious means is taken to prevent young children from fearing thunder and lightning. Electric fishes are caught and placed in a bowl of water during a storm. After being left in this for some time, the water is poured off into another vessel and given to the child to drink. This is done with the idea that children thus treated will lose all fear of tempests, and that those who do not dread him enjoy the special protection of the thunder god, and, by his aid, will attain to power and riches.