The San Francisco call., 1909-07-25
The San Francisco Sunday Call

of the in fe-and this enabled the men about
the to put the greater part OF the rum TO better
use.
The district commissioner came forward at this
juncture and presented the family with large Ii
berian flag for the grave 1t was accepted with 2f'
probation and placed on small stick until an appro-
pirate staff could be secured When the commissioning
walked to the grave the following morning he saw
the stars and stripes of Liberia flying from tall bam-
boo stat, with the empty rum jug perched on toFl
After the grave had been properly arranged the
town assembled to witness the significant ceremony
of the late king kne1t the grave and held the
chickens head above Wobehs head. King Sow
long speech and then different members of Wobehs
family gave the chicken messages to take to his spirit
This part of the ceremony very solemn and i'm
pressive 1t was clear that they implicitly believed
that their messages would reach their destination.
Then the nephew pulled off the chickens head
and threw the body down on the grave Curiously
enough, the headess chicken huttered around until
reached the head of the grave and then seemed be
trying to bore its way down to the king 1t then
huttered away, the throng crowding each other in
ceased its struggles there chorus of AhP fol-
lowed by excited talking 1t explained to
that when chicken dies with its feet in the air it
is sign that the nephew has been true to the king
and has meddled with his In this
the chicken had died its side.
Then another chicken brought for another
nephew to kill 1t likewise died its side and there
was another chorus of excited grunts. A third
chicken was killed by niece with the same result;
but the fourth, killed by another niece stopped with
It's feet in the air The crowd went wild, caught up
the girl and marched around the town with her on
lnelI SHOULDERS WODen ndQ one IcldtlVe LndL ndQ
been true.
EATING CHICKENS
This ceremony followed an hour or two later
by that of eating the chickens together with rice
cooked in yellow palm oil The food was placed at
the head of the grave and Wobehs head wife pre-
sided the pot All the children squatted about
the grave and the other relatives were assembled
around it King Sow had good many remarks to
make before he called up the eldest and motoned
for him take the painful of rice which the widow
had held Before eating it he made certain prom
ises' relative TO peace in the family. Each of the
relatives called out in turn and required to go
through the performance. Old king Sow kept
his open. and whenever he not satisfied with
given promise he and questioned the
relative like country lawyer until he made him
promise what he wanted Parts Of this ceremony
exciting; at times there outbursts of laugh
at of Sows jokes; very little of it Has sad
or pathetic. When the chief Widows came there
pathos in her voice, though she gave other
sign of grief Turning her motherly face to the.
grave, she sat there and talked to Wobeh's spirit
naturally if she were looking into his face. No
body needed to question her
There was nothing extraordinary for the next two
days On the first day the mourning women
taken to the creek and washed, in order that they
might begin to dress up for the final feast On the
second day the OF the town assembled
der the big paaver tree and individually to be