The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1909-09-08
|H<0 AEE/cE4T PENCE s

Secretly and in the dead Of night he was car.
rled back into the bush to an obscure "half
town cailed Goomah, no woman being allowed
to know his whereabouts. Courtesy to the mul.
Ian and the sand cutter" demanded that Wobeh
should promptly pass into the unknown but the
old man held on to life with his characteristic
tenaclty. 1t was several weeks before the news
was quietly brought to Totoquelli that its found
to Boporo and King Sow came over to take
charge of the town until all its palavers were
settled.
The funeral of an African chief follows the
law of the bush implicitly but the details vary
in different parts of the west coast The pro-
ceedngs in this case extended over period of
about three weeks.
First Wobeh's body was removed from the
hut where he had died and placed in an open
kitchen in Goomah. These kitchens are merely
large huts without walls, or, rather, with walls
about three feet high The roof is of thatch and
the floor of clay. In the center of one of these
kitchens shallow grave was dug. Then the
feet were bound together, the arms were extend
ed down the body and the hands bound together
by means of strong stick placed between
hands and feet the body was placed in the grave
and lightly covered. After it had lain there for
two days it was taken up by night and carried to
Totoquelli, where it was again placed in a shall.
low grave, but in hut where woman could
bring i'll luck by looking upon it. The law of the
bush shuts out all women from any approach to
the dead. Then the family and the town began
to make ready for the obsequies, formal notices
were sent out to all the big kings within two
days walk, in order that they might come with
gifts) and assist Wobeh's spirit into rest.
The funeral continued for eight days. First
the body again lifted from the grave and
laid out" in open kitchen carefully screened
The kings women were then segregated in an
other kitchen and intrusted with the duty of
making great lamentation. Then the head of the
devil bush'-he is a great functonary in West
Africa-came into the village to announce the
kings death-a performance a par with the
formal notification given to presidential nomi-
nee by committee from national convention
The devil bush" is sort of combination of Sc
cret society and boys boarding school. 1t is a
collection of huts hidden away in the bush which
women must avoid pay the penalty of DEATH
Here are collected most of the boys of the CON-
muaity and they remain in seclusion for period
varying from three to six years, being taught
some sense and much nonsense The grip of SUI
persttion is so strong that the head of the bush
becomes great man in the tribe and death is the
penalty for any woman who looks upon his face.
Totoquelli's devil" preceded his entrance into
the town by an unearthly yell, which was the
signal for all the women and girls land every
man not member of the devil bush') to Sc.
crete themselves. Then with series of ventril.
oquistic yells he came into the center of the
town. announced the death of Wobeh, ordered
the funeral to proceed and vanished into the
bush Then the real noise began.