Barbour County index., 1910-05-04

try extending from the Niger to the
Cross river. The customs, of course
vary in different parts. Those who
live near the Cross river have prac-
tices that are certainly peculiar For
instance, when festival is in pros
pect, the women spend many days be-
forehand in arranging one anothers
hair, smearing it with palm oil and
then plastering it into singular shapes,
which remain undisturbed for months
at a time. Most men shave their chins,
but the chiefs allow a small tufty
beard to grow, and to the end of this
they not infrequently fasten a small
brass bell or some ornament
AS the English girl wears a ring
when she is engaged to be married, so
the Ibo girl wears necklaces in pro-
portion to the number of lovers she
has. The clothing is not profuse. The
men are content with straight piece
of cloth, which falls from their waists
to their ankles, while the cloth worn
by the women reaches only half way
to the knee. On occasions of festival
the women, like their sex in other
parts of the world, love to adorn them
selves with gaudy ribbons of blue and
orange, fastened in a bow to the right
side of their waists. Both sexes paint
their bodies on fete days, while when
they are in mourning they mark white
rings round their eyes.
Great pains are taken in the paint
ing of the figure. When a woman
wants to look particularly smart she
has a white mask painted over her
own countenance, while a long white
daub stretches down her spine. AL
though the skins of the men are as
black as night, they always take the
precaution, when setting out for war
fare, to paint themselves black. When
a girl reaches marriageable age she
is painted red all over by the man to
whom she is betrothed, which is a
sign she must receive no more at
tentions from the other young men of
the district. But after this coloring
and while she is being fattened for
the marriage ceremony, she is invari
ably painted white all over when she
goes out visiting her friends. The ma
tive seizes every opportunity to cover
himself with paint of some sort. If
he is sick he plasters himself with
thick green paint made from leaves.
The usual Ibo way of saluting a
friend is to snap the fingers and shake
the fist. The natives at Lokoja, how
ever, salute one another by bobbing
down to the ground and going through
the pantomime of spreading dust over
their faces, and taking it in turns to
make weird noises. Thus, when man
ah, ah, va vi oh ah." The other man
meanwhile does the same, alternately
with the first, both of them slowly and
pleadingly and with rising intonation.
Then suddenly one. changing, brings
out a new word, which the other re-
peats: "Oh, oh, ah, oh, akoo, ah akoo,"
while the other comes in with "Aboo,
aboo. aboo." and thus they pass each
other, the plaintive 'oughs" and "ahs"
gradually getting fainter as the dis
tance increases.
1t is not surprising that among the
people who inhabit the fetid swamps
bordering the Niger and the gloomy
shadows of the forests there should be
innumerable secret societies. Most of
these are chiefly for the maintenance
of tribal order: some are associated
with superstitious religious practices,
while there are others which have ter
rorism and plunder as their main OBJ
ject. Youths are initiated into the
lower grades of these tribal societies.
advance in knowledge of the secrets
as they reach manhood, and then at
tain high rank or Office in proportion
to their ability or their wealth.
Quite apart from these legitimate
tribal societies are the brigand socie-
ties. Among the Ibibios there are so
cieties known as ''leopards" and al
ligators." The "leopards" thieve and
murder on land, while the "alligators"
take the rivers and creeks as their
province. The leopard" society is so
called because its members dress
themselves in leopard skins; they go
forth at night. make the woods echo