The
Natives Will Say "Yes" To Any Mortal Thing, If They Think You Want
Them To; And The Variety Of Their Languages Is Another Great
Hindrance.
Were it not for the prevalence of Kru English or trade
English, investigation would be almost impossible; but, fortunately,
This quaint language is prevalent, and the natives of different
tribes communicate with each other in it, and so round a fire, in
the evening, if you listen to the gossip, you can pick up all sorts
of strange information, and gain strange and often awful lights on
your absent white friends' characters, and your present companions'
religion. For example, the other day I had a set of porters
composed of four Bassa boys, two Wei Weis, one Dualla, and two
Yorubas. None of their languages fitted, so they talked trade
English, and pretty lively talk some of it was, but of that anon.
I cannot close this brief notice of native ideas without mentioning
the secret societies; but to go fully into this branch of the
subject would require volumes, for every tribe has its secret
society. The Poorah of Sierra Leone, the Oru of Lagos, the Egbo of
Calabar, the Isyogo of the Igalwa, the Ukuku of the Benga, the
Okukwe of the M'pongwe, the Ikun of the Bakele, and the Lukuku of
the Bachilangi Baluba, are some of the most powerful secret
societies on the West African Coast.
These secret societies are not essentially religious, their action
is mainly judicial, and their particularly presiding spirit is not a
god or devil in our sense of the word.
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