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ANTHROPOLOGICAL REPORT

ON

IBO-SPEAKING PEOPLES OF NIGERIA.

BY

NOETHCOTE W. THOMAS, M.A., F.E.A.I., etc..

GOVERNMENT ANTHROPOLOGIST.

PART IV.

LAW AND CUSTOM

OF THE

IBO OF THE ASABA DISTRICT, S. NIGERIA.

LONDON : HARRISON AND SONS.

1914. (Copynght.)

III ii <'k

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

	Page
I. — General	1
Language ...	4
History ...	7
Kings	.. 10
II. — Religion and Magic —
Alose	.. 12
Orhene	.. 13
Ns^	.. 16
Reincarnation	.. 18
Ancestor Worship	.. 27
Uruci	.. 27
Witches and Spii'its	.. 28
Changeling	.. 29
Akbomalegwe	. 29
Hunting	.. 30
Agricultural Rites	31
Magic	.. 31
Making Peace	. 33
Ebwando	. 34
Burial	. 35
II. — Social and Political Organisation —
Obi	.. 38
Nz^lu	.. 40
Jpzubo	. 45
Qkpal^bo	49
C^rna	. 51
Titles	54
V. — Marriage —
General	. 58
Marriage Customs	. 60
Bride Price...	61
Confession	. 72
Id^bwe	. 78
AVoman Marriage	83

Paoe

V. — Criminal Law —
Muidfci'	.. 86
Theft	.. 97
Misdemeanours ...	.. 109
Assault	.. 109
Trespass and Damage	.. 110
/I.— Slavery —
General	.. HI
Work Days	.. Ill
Purchase	.. 112
Substitutes	.. 113
Marriage...	.. 113
Dues	.. 115
Property	.. 116
Civil Rights	.. 117
Freeing Male Slaves	.. 117
Guardians	.. 119
Freeing Female Slaves	.. 121
Ownership and Inheritance of Slaves	.. 122
Runaways	.. 123
Theft	.. 125
Murder ...	.. 125
II. — Civil Law —
Inheritance	.. 126
Idebwe	.. 130
Gifts	.. 131
Bride Price	.. 132
Guardians ...	... 133
Strangers ...	... 136
Woman's Property	.. 136
Inheritance	.. 140
Land	.. 143
Farm Land	... 147
Trees	... 149
Water	... 157
Taking Charge	.. 157
Debt	.. 161
Loans	.. 166
Pawning	.. 166

Page

"VIII. — Technology —
Farm	... 173
Yam Species		... 181
Yam Marks		... 183
House		... 182
Palm Oil		... 184
Palm Wine		... 184
Fishing		... 185
IX. — Market		... 187
Glossaey		... 191
Index		... 193

LIST OF PLATES.

Map of Asaba District. Frontispiece.

Facing page I. — Baby (Onica Olona). Small Boy (OniCa Olona)... 8

II. — Orh^ne (Priest) of Onirhe at Asaba ... ... 13

III. — Qbwo Obodo, Figures Drawn on the Ground for

the Cult of Nkpetime 15

IV. — Child One Day Old (Onica Olona). Medicine

(Ci Umwaka) at Asaba 22

V. — Osebluwe; Onoku (Okpanam). Worship of Ancestors

Nze, Of^ AND Ikenga (Onica Olona) 25

VI.— Akbomal^gwe at Ogwasi. " Gate " of Quarter, and

Offering for Erhi, Isele Asaba 29

VII. — Burial : Dance round the Body ; March round

THE Town, carrying Corpse (Is^le Asaba) ... 36

VIII. — Burial : Washing Hands before Offering Food (Isele Asaba). Orhai Uku (Great Orhai) with Osu (Onica Olona) 36

IX. — Chief of Is^LE Asaba. Man of On i^ a Olona ... 38

X. — Woman of Iskle Asaba with Ekwa Alcj Hair.

Omoka : Woman OF South-west Area 66

VI

Fanng page XL— Old Man (IBUZ9) 114

XII. — Young Man of Asaba with Oz^le Hair. Tooth- filing 137

XIII. — Ofome, of Oboluku, who bore eight children before

MAN OF 55 WAS BORN. YoUNG MaN (AsABA) WITH

Isi Kpolokpolo 138

XIV. — Woman of Isele Asaba with 91*0 Aboda Hair ... 144

XV. — Wall Paintings : Leopard pursuing Bush-buck.

Plastic Art : Woman 148

XVI. — Young Man of iBuzg 160

XVIL— Man OF Oboluku 164

XVIII.^WOMAN OF ISELE ASABA 166

XIX. — Preparing "Ide" for making String (Oboluku).

Girl making String (Ala) 186

I.— GENEEAL.

The Asaba District extends from about 6° 30' N. to about 5° 55' N". The western border is somewhat irregular ; in the north the angle between the north and west boundary line lies about 6^ 30' ; from here it trends westwards nearly as far as Oweri in the Agbor district 6° 22' west ; then there is a re- entering angle some 10 miles to the south-east, and the southern boundary line is reached about 6° 23' at Utagba yng. The eastern boundary line is formed by the Niger.

The southern portion of the district is in the main low, and, more especially near the Niger, swampy ; in the rainy season a large area is uninhabited. A few miles behind Asaba, and from there westwards, the land rises to a height of about 400 or 500 feet, and the Hinterland of the district lies in the main upon this plateau. There are no important rivers running through the district, but the Otg, which cuts off the Ishan town of Inyele from the rest of the district, is deep, though narrow in the dry season. Among other rivers may be mentioned the Anwai, entering the Niger at Asaba, It then curves northwards to Isele Asaba, and from there runs for some distance near the Asaba- Agbor road as far as Uburokiti, after which it trends northwards towards Udumuje Ung.

The population of the district, according to the last census, is 200,000 in round numbers, and, although the population is fairly homogeneous, four or five distinct dialects may be dis- tinguished. Inyele, in the north, speaks Ishan, and in the south-west the people of Nsukwa, although their language does not differ markedly from their neighbours, appear, judged by the standard of customs, to belong to a different stock.

(1172) B

2

In the north-west portion of the district two towns, Ukunzu and Ubodu, with an offshoot Ubulubu, are remark- able as being Yoruba islands, which appear to have settled in their present situation perhaps some 700 years ago, and yet, in spite of theirisolation, preserve their Yoruba language, known as Unukumi, which resembles the Yoruba of Usehin and Akure, until the present day. In fact, the older people are even now unable to speak Ibo fluently, and it is said that until some 50 or 60 years ago the population was monoglot Yoruba. As far as the customs go, they appear to have entirely assimilated those of the surrounding Ibo, except, possibly, in burial customs. How far back this identity of custom goes, I had no meana of ascertaining, as I could find no tradition relating to the change. Their own account of the manner in which they were brought from the neighbour- hood of their own tribe was that they followed the first King of Benin City in his wanderings. The tradition is, in part, inaccurate, as they describe this first King as a son of the Ata of Ida. It appears, however, certain that until compara- tively recent times the King of Benin City sent messengers annually to make offerings at the shrine of Ihroguda at Ukunzu. No doubt it is to this support of the powerful State of Benin that they owed their separate existence and immunity from outside influence.

A curious feature of the traditions, and, in all probability, of the actual history, of the towns of the Asaba district is that not only can they, unlike the towns on the east of the Niger, say who the founder of the town was, but very few towns are homogeneous in respect of origin. At Ala (Illah), for example, native tradition asserts that the ^original stock came, like the people of Asaba, from Nteje, east of the Niger ; other immigrants came from Ida, whose ruler formerly claimed a considerable tract of land on that side of the Niger, and another small quarter is said to have come from Benin City. How far the latter statement is true is un- certain.

It has already been mentioned that the King of Benin sent

animal messengers to Ukunzu. His power appears to have extended at one time as far as the Niger, though Asaba threw off the yoke of Benin comparatively soon after its settlement by the Nteje stock. It has been stated that, according to native tradition, the present inhabitants of Onitsha, known to the natives as Onitsha Mili, came origin- ally from Benin. So far as I was able to discover there is no foundation for this tradition. The original Onitsha, together with its sister towns, Onitsha Ubwo, Onitsha Uku, Onitsha Olona, and others, seems to have been located a few miles west of Onitsha Ubwo, that is to say, some six miles from Isel'uku, until they were driven out by the forces of Benin. Some, at any rate, of these towns acknowledged the suzerainty of the King of Benin until some 70 years ago, when the annual messengers ceased to come. This was probably due to the defeat of the Bini by the Ishan, which took place about 1840, in the time of the grandfather of Overami.

In spite of the fact that the Bini influence had ceased to be active long before the fall of Benin City, the present Obi of Obol'uku at his accession, within the last few years, sent messengers to Calabar and Benin City to obtain the sanction of the Qba according to traditional custom.

One result of this common origin has been that more or less formal treaties of alliance, as it were, exist between these sister towns. If it does not carry them so far as to bring an ally into the field in case of war, this is due less to an indis- position to help their kinsmen than to the fact that war, at any rate in this part of West Africa, was deemed impossible if the foe were more remote than one or, at most, two hours. In practice, the alliance manifested itself rather as neutrality than in any active form, and in more than one town I was assured that they never fought with certain other towns because they were kinsmen.

The district is remarkable in one way, as the towns are

considerably larger than any on the east of the Niger. Ibuzg

is said to have 40,000 inhabitants, Asaba 27,000, Oboluku

20,000, and there are one or two others with more than

(1172) B 2

10,000. One-fifth of the population of the district, therefore, is gathered in about five large towns.

Towns have grown up in some cases on no definite plan. Ogwashi, for example, is a maze of highways and byways through which it is difficult to find one's way. Other towns, like Ala (Illah) and Onitsha Olona, are divided up by broad and comparatively straight avenues, which, if they do not form the boundary between the different quarters, are in almost every case the property of a single quarter.

In the matter of arts and crafts there is no very great diversity. There are, for example, no towns of blacksmiths, and no quarters for doctors. Pottery, however, is made only in three towns, Ewulu, Irhago, and Omodo, and the balance of the supply is imported from the Anam country, on the other side of the Niger. Fishery is, naturally, confined to the banks of the Niger. A description of the numerous methods in use will be found in Chapter VIII.

The physical type differs to a greater extent than one would expect in so homogeneous a population as seems to be found in the greater part of the district. The young man of Ibuzg, for example, is easily recognised. Nsukwa, as might be expected, from their difference in custom and probably in origin, have a different physiognomy. There is a well-marked difference of facial expression between the men of Ezi, specially the older men, and their neighbours.

Langvxige. — In all probability the languages of the Asaba district are becoming more homogeneous, and, at the same time, there is probably a tendency for them to become assimilated to the language of Onitsha. I was more than once informed that it would be extremely difficult to find anyone who spoke the old Asaba language. Certain points in the Asaba language, and in some of the languages of the Hinterland, such as, for example, the breathed " r," suggest contact with and influence by the language of Benin. However, on the other side of the Niger, at Nimo, precisely the same breathed "r" is found, and I also noted other tendencies, such as a change from " f " to " sh," in both places.

It has been mentioned above that Asaba traced its origin to N'teje, but no information is available as to whether the dialect of Nimo is also spoken at Nteje ; as, however, they are only some eight or nine miles distant from one another, the Asaba dialect, if it has not maintained itself in its original form, has probably undergone changes at much the same rate as the language of its place of origin. It is a little singular that Asaba should now be taking over the language of its neighbour, Onitsha, on the opposite bank of the Niger, and Onitsha, as we have seen, originally came from the Asaba Hinterland, probably about 250 years ago.

As regards customs, it is clear that the Niger is a far more important boundary than the frontier between languages. The marriage customs on the Asaba side are completely different from those on the east of the Niger. (Possibly those of Onitsha may have been assimilated to those of their neighbours, otherwise we must suppose that the present form of the marriage custom is very recent.) On the other hand, the Id^bwe custom has apparently spread down from the Ishan country, though it is only beginning to reach Asaba ; this custom is, in point of fact, simply the Isomi* custom of the Kukuruku country modified by a change in the custom of residence, for the Id^bwe remains in her father's house, whereas the Isomi wife leaves her father's family and lives with her husband, though both she and her children remain in all respects members of her father's family, except in so far as changes are introduced by purchase of the children or otherwise.

This penetration of the I bo country by Ishan customs is the more remarkable because, in the first place, the Ibo is, on the whole, little disposed, even when he is close to a linguistic frontier, to learn the language of his neighbours. East of the Niger, for example, I found a knowledge of Ibo extending fully one day's march into the Igara country, but no corresponding knowledge of Igara on the Ibo side of the

* " Eeport on the Edo-speaking Peoples," Vol. T, p. 54.

frontier. How far the same is true of the Ishans I had but small opportunity of finding out. At Inyele, however, a number of men seemed to understand more or less Ibo, although they are cut off from the Ibo country by the river for 10 months in the year. This difference in receptivity may possibly be due to some difference in the marriage customs. It is plain that, if Ibo women do not object to go to the Ishan or Igara country, they will be likely to carry their own language with them. (I have observed that, where a father and mother are of different tribes, the children are usually bilingual.) This is a point on which I collected no data, though, from some of my genealogies, it is clear that Ibo women pass freely across the linguistic frontier, while, on the other hand, it is well known that not only women but male refugees formed a considerable part at one time of the population of Idumuje. In this connection it may be mentioned that the Igara, who have come to reside in various various parts of the Asaba district, appear to have given up their native language in most cases.

In one respect the custom of the Asaba side differs very markedly from that of their neighbours on the other side of the Niger. The titles or grades briefly mentioned in the report on the Ibo of Awka* are equally well marked, but over and above these are dignities, as they may be termed, " Onotu " or " Olinzele," ranging in number between four and sixteen (?), held, except in rare instances, only by indi- viduals. These dignitaries act as a sort of council to the Obi, or head chief of the town, and have also large indi- vidual powers of dealing with law-breakers. From the names of these dignities it seems clear that their origin is to be sought largely, if not entirely, in Benin City. It must be remembered in this connection that the Obi of a town would himself often visit Benin City to obtain the sanction of the Qba to his succession, and that emissaries would go at more or less frequent intervals in ordinary times with

* " Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples," Vol. I, p. 75.

presents for the King of Benin. This council of dignitaries seems to have acted as a check on the unrestrained power of the head chief at least in some towns. The Obi himself is, as was shown in the report on the Awka district,* virtually an unknown figure east of the Niger, if we except the town Onitsha Mili, which migrated from the Asaba side perhaps 250 years ago.

Side by side with Nzele there is a kind of minor chief known as Qkpala, of which there are three grades, who preside over the quarter, the Idumu (sub-quarter), and the Umunna (sept). Their functions are religious as well as civil, though we find side by side with them priests (Orhene), who correspond to the '^ze of the various Alose in the Awka district.

This superior organisation on the Asaba side is evidenced in another direction by the fact that the women, more especially with regard to the markets, are under the control of one or more dignitaries of their own sex. Nearly every- where in the Asaba district the markets are presided over by a functionary known as Qmu, who has disciplinary powers over offenders in the market, and can punish women for leaving their own markets for those of neighbouring towns, for charging more than the customary prices or for infractions of ritual prohibitions. In addition, they collect dues of various kinds, more especially for purposes connected with religion or magic, such as the making of the market medicine.

History. — In many respects the people of the Asaba side ditfer very considerably from the Ibo of the Awka district and apparently, so far as my observation goes, from the majority of the other Ibo also. This is true, not only with regard to custom, but more especially in respect of their traditions. East of the Niger, with the exception of the town of Aguku, it was comparatively rare to find any historical traditions, and, as was pointed out in the report,

* " Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples," Vol. I, p. 8.

the town of Aguku occupies an exceptional position, and may possibly be of different origin, for they speak of the people round them as Ibo, precisely as the Asaba people refer to the people on the other side of the Niger as Ibo, and precisely as the people of Onitsha Mili, who originally came from the Asaba side, refer to the people east of them as Ibo.

Although the historical traditions on the Asaba side do not go back very far, probably not more than 400 years at most, there are few towns which cannot tell the story of their foundation. Thus Asaba asserts that it came from Nteje, in the Hinterland of Onitsha, and many, if not all, people in Asaba trace their genealogies back to Xevisi, w'ho emigrated from Nteje. Some of the quarters of Ala claim descent from a man who left Nteje at the same time as Nevisi. Ibuzg and Ogwashi claim descent from Aguku; Qkpanam are emigrants from Uci, near Abo. All the Onitsha, Ezi, Qbio, Obcjmpa, and the Isele trace their descent to one town, which, according to the most reliable tradition that I could discover, was situated between Qnitsha Ubwo and Igbodo.

Everywhere the tradition of the power of Benin City is strong ; in some places objects are still preserved which are said to have been left behind by the armies of Benin. It is not only articles left behind by defeated warriors that are found in the Ibo country, but also cult objects. At Ob^mpa the obi keeps in his orhai (PI. VIII) an , object the name of which is given asahiamQlo. This he takes to represent Osun, and it is said that the mother of the town Irere Olomo brought it from Idu. Ahiamolo is the name by which the object is known in Benin City.

The precise limits of the suzerainty varied from time to time. Asaba appears to have shaken off the yoke of Benin ; Ukunzu, on the other hand, which is a Yoruba linguistic island, main- tained its identity, probably owing to the support which it received from Benin. According to the Asaba traditions, the intiiience of Benin was stronsj when Nevisi founded the

Plate I.

9

town. Onitsha appears to have crossed the Niger as a result of war with Benin City, perhaps some 150 years later.

The story told in Asaba at the present day is perhaps largely legendary, as the ground given for the emigration of Nevisi is a quarrel with his brother about the gift of a cow's tail to him by his father. According to the story, his mother had previously been sent to Ose, king of the land where Onitsha Mili now stands, and he had sent her to the Asaba side, then occupied by the town of Aeala, and the migration of Nevisi is explained by this previous visit of his mother.

After Nevisi had founded Asaba, the Ata of Ida is said to have come. His brother founded the market, and the Ata gave a wife, who was the mother of Illah, though I did not obtain any confirmation of this story at Illah. Amongst other things it is said that the Ata slept in Oye market in Asaba, and that nine palm trees grew from the nuts used to make his soup. These were cut down only about 40 years ago. It is comparatively easy to determine within limits the period at which Nevisi came to Asaba. for, according to their custom, the head of a quarter is the oldest man of the oldest generation, reckoning back to Nevisi. At the present time the oldest generation is the 8th and the youngest is the 12th, reckoning always in the male line. From this it may be inferred that tlie migration took place not less than 300 and not more than 400 years ago.

According to the Asaba tradition. Ado, by which name they know the mother town of the Onitshas and other places mentioned above, was driven out in the lifetime of Nevisi, that is to say, perhaps some 60 years after he left Nteje, for it is expressly stated in a tradition that Acala called Idu (Benin City) because Nevisi and his people were getting too strong, and goes on to say that he had grand- children. Nevisi fled before the warriors of Idu, and tradition says that a civet cat and greater plantain eater walked over his tracks and concealed them. Hence these are the sacred animals of Asaba.

10

After the war Acala wished to make peace with Nevisi and his family, and, if this statement is correct, it implies that his grandchildren, at least, must have been grown up. At this time the boundaries of Asaba were fixed, and, from the list of names given, it appears that neither Ibuz^ nor Qkpanam were in existence. Another tradition says, however, that the war with Idu took place at a time when Daike, son of the king Ezobome, great-grandson of Nevisi, was old enough to fight, and this, perhaps, is more probable. In the genealogies which I recorded, Daike appears, and his great- great-grandson, a very old man, is alive at the present day.

Kings. — Originally Asaba had a king known as i^ze ; the first was Ezenei, grandson of Nevisi, then came Ezobome, the son of another grandson of Nevisi, then Ezago, Ago, Amarora. and Odili, but in the time of Amarom quarrels broke out owing to jealousy between different quarters who should have had the kingship in turn, and five or more men took the title of §ze. After this the custom of taking the Qze title spread, until now in the neighbouring town of Ibuzo, where the movement was also taken up, 800 men have taken the title in one year. As a result of this unsatisfactory state of things the town decided to elect a head chief, and Afadie of Ajaji was selected with the title of asabwa. The present asabwa, a man of about 60, is the grandson of Afadie, who was suc- ceeded by his second son Adanjo, who left a sou Ezogo. Ezogo did not take the title because he could not afford to make the necessary payments, and it passed to the children of a younger son. The first appointment of asabwa, there- fore, dates back 100 years or more. Three kings went to Idu to have their titles confirmed, the first being Ezobome, and one king, in addition, paid dues without going. This would leave an interval of one or two generations at most before the asabwa was appointed.

The historical traditions of Asaba explain the origin of their dignitaries, such as Okute. The first is said to have been Opeci, great-grandson of Nevisi. He was sold as a slave for stealing and set free by the Ata of Ida as a reward

11

for success in war. The Ata made him Okute, and he returned to Asaba, having in the meantime gained various magical powers. Historical tradition explains also the origin of some of the titles (see p. 54). We have already seen how the title of ^ze originated. The first title known as nkpese was at the outset never given to a man in the life- time of his father. A number of men, whose names are still remembered, joined together to give the title to their sons during their lifetime, doing so in order to avoid expense. They were called dimw^ because they were expected to die as a result of their breach of tradition. When, however, they did not die, the children of other people came to them, on whose heads they put eagles' feathers to show that they were free born. The descendants of those dim wg still have certain rights ; their children pay nothing but yams for their title while other people have to pay £5. It is said that a man can become dimw^ by payment of £50 to £70, and he can then give the title of nkpese to his umunna.

II.— EELIGION AND MAGIC.

Alose. — As regards the position of the alose there is com- paratively little to add to what has been said in the previous report. On the whole, perhaps, there appears to be a some- what more personal element in the alose of the Asaba district, for, with the exception of the ani, the names are usually personal. On the other hand the natives appear to be much vaguer in their ideas on the subject of the alose, for I was told more than once that all m wo were alose. Perhaps the most interesting point was one which came oat spontaneously. A man was talking to me on the subject of medicine (PI. IV), by which is meant the magical objects which are employed to keep people alive, to protect crops, and so on, and went on to say that when they had had medicine for a long time it became alose. How far this implies a corresponding personalisation of what may at one time have been regarded as impersonal, it is difficult to say. The case is interesting inasmuch as it almost exactly bears out the view which I expressed in the " Eeport on the Edo-speaking Peoples," vol. I, p. 26.

It is of interest to note that in the Asaba district certain alose are attached to certain quarters, so much so, in fact, that a man cannot become orhene unless some relationship of this sort exists between him and the alose. This may be either through his father or through his mother, for when a woman comes to her husband she brings her own alose, at any rate after her mother's death ; even before the death of her mother the child takes a portion of the earth from the pot representing the mother's alose and transfers it to her own house, and this is considered to be sufficient to enable her to offer sacrifice. The alose, however, is not regarded as transferred.

Many of the forbidden animals of the Asaba district are,

Plate II.

ORHESE (priest) OF OXIRHE AT ASABA. .^ef ]iage 13,

13

at the present day, associated with the alose, and it is an interesting question how far this association may be regarded as primary. If these animals have not come to be connected with alose through a natural tendency to bring all sacred objects into relationship, it seems probable that true totemism does not exist, if we define totemism as a primary and not a secondary relationship. In this connection it is important to notice that where a stranger has resided in a town and subse- quently removes again, although he may not take the alose with him, he so far remains in relationship to the alose that he practises the prohibitions observed by the people of the town which he temporarily inhabited.

Orhene (Priest). — As in the Awka district, there are priests to whom are entrusted the cult of the various alose, but the fact that there is an alose in a town does not necessarily imply that there is an orhene there, for the orhene is not selected, but inspired to become a priest. Only in certain cases, such as the cult of the ani or earth, is there a regular functionary, and in this case the Qkpala of the ^bo, or some similar person, takes the place of the priest on the Awka side.

The orhene (PI. II) of Onirhe at Asaba described to me how he came to take the position. Before he began " prophesying," Onirhe used to come to speak to him and told him of things which were going to happen, such as cases of drowning, but when he turned to look the voice came from another side. One day, however, when he was sleeping, Onirhe came upon him suddenly : he saw nothing, but heard a voice. It "took" him, and he followed it as far as a point above the Niger associated with the cult of Onirhe ; there he fell into the water, picked up a stone, and came home again ; this hap- pened some eight years ago. He went on to say that the stone which he picked up he put on his head, and where it fell off his umunna built a house for him. He went four times to collect stones, and after this experience he was forbidden to wash for three months or more, until he had regularly associated himself with the company of the orhene by the ordinary method of gifts of food.

14

The orhene of Oguguat Asaba is known as Ony^bo, and his position is hereditary. The present one is in the eighth generation from Nevisi, and is great-great-grandson of Opeci, the first OnyQbo who, it will be remembered, is said to have acquired magical powers at Ida. These are still associated with his descendants, and when rain does not fall, a doctor divines in order to decide, and the Onygbo has to offer to Ogugu. He receives one yam from every inhabitant in Asaba, which is brought and offered to ar^, the year.

At Onitsha Olona I received an account from Mokweni, the orhene of Nkpetime, of how he came to take the office. His father and grandfather had been orhene before him and after his father, his father's nwago. It is a rule that if the own son does not succeed, the ago (see p. 20) does so, but this apparently does not exclude the necessity for some sort of religious experience as a preliminary. Mokweni said he went to farm when something pressed him down to the ground and he answered " oh." Nkpetime then said he must become orhene and offer her sacrifices. He did no more work in the farm that day for his eyes " turned " and he began to answer (^zam wo). He saw Nkpetime, who wore no clothes and was like a white man.

Nkpetime is commonly regarded as a woman ; she is said to live in a shallow pool, largely overgrown, known as Nkpetime, not far from Onitsha Olona. I have been assured by educated natives that they have seen some object, which was not a manatee, in this pool, and that it resembled a woman : it answers to the ordinary description of a mermaid and appears to be known in Lagos as "mammy water." Custom requires that the orhene shall go to this pond annually three days after he has gone into "nzu" and swim in it after making certain offerings. I was in Onitsha Olona at the time when he should have done this but did not accompany him, and he told me on his return that he has now got an old man and if he tried to swim, Nkpetime might have taken him, so out of consideration for his family he refrained from his annual plunge. He appeared to have been in a trance-like

Plate III.

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15

condition during a portion, at any rate, of his time at the pond, for I could not get any connected account of what he had done.

At Iwaji, the festival of New Yams, the orhene "goes into nzu (chalk)." The women of two of the quarters rub his house, the roof is repaired, and his compound swept ; in the night young men dance. After four days the orhene comes out and they beat a drum and dance before the m wg in the evening. A woman makes figures on the ground (PI. Ill), called ybwo obodo, with charcoal, chalk, red mud, and ashes. These figures represent amongst others the following : a leopard, tiger cat, duiker, spitting cobra, fowl, squirrel, pangolin, monkey, viper, the sun, the moon, Nkpetime. At some time during the ceremonies the orhene throws the horn of an animal, called obolo mill, which seems to be a situtimga, into his yard with two hands. If it falls cross- ways the ground is good, if not, there is evil in the town. When the orhene is "in nzu " no one is allowed to make a noise ; quarrelling is forbidden and firing of guns.

An orhene forbids (see Glossary) what Nkpetime forbids, and says that Nkpetime is his ci (p. 19). He cannot kill a spitting cobra, but must grind chalk and salt and throw on it. The leopard, monkey, squirrel, and bush-buck are also forbidden. Neither ducks, goats, or fowls may step upon the figures drawn upon the ground. He may not drink palm wine for it would kill him.

All the (jkpala are cleansed before Ibanzu, and none of them may see another during the whole of the three days, nor wash for sixteen days. After washing they come before nzu and offer kola.

At Obuluku I was told that the orhene always gets his alose from his mother, grandfather, or grandmother. If a son is born of a mother from an §bo that owns the alose, but married into one that does not own it, he must return to his mother's ^bo to become orhene.

At Nsukwa I got another account from an orhene. Nine years ago a water alose chose him; he shouted in his sleep

16

and walked into the water. The alose brought out a flat dish, such as is used for kola, and gave it to him ; he saw the alose, who was like a man. Now when the alose speaks to him he cannot see him, because he comes to him in his sleep.

Xso. — As was the case in the Awka district there are a large number of ritual prohibitions. The essential feature of a ritual prohibition is that it is not only forbidden, for this is also true of theft or assault or other acts forbidden by what may be called the ordinary law, but also entails ceremonies of expiation or purification before a normal state of things is restored. It must not, of course, be forgotten that the religious life is very closely bound up with the ordinary life of the people, and that even where ritual prohibitions are not in question, considerations of religion may play an im- portant part, but from a certain point of view ritual prohibi- tions stand apart, and it often happens that the method of re- moving or varying already existing prohibitions is entirely different from the procedure adopted in the case of changes in the ordinary law.

Some of the prohibitions are of the utmost importance in the social life of the people, such as, for example, those which deal with the regulation of marriage; others are, from our point of view, trivial in the extreme. But from the native point of view, as far as one can judge, there is little or no difference of grade, though doubtless if it were proposed to make any changes in the nso, it would be far easier to change those prohibitions which appear to us to be minor ones.

As in the Awka district these prohibitions may be classi- fied into prohibitions which concern husband and wife, pro- hibitions which deal with the relation of the sexes, prohibi- tions such as those which relate to certain animals and other general prohibitions incumbent upon the whole of the Qbo, and, though they are not so important here as on the other side of the Niger, prohibitions which refer to the acts of certain animals. It is impossible to deal with these prohibitions in detail, but one or two examples of each kind may be men-

17

tioned here. "When a woman goes to her husband's house she puts her ci (p. 18 sq.) in a dish known as gk wac i.' If a hus- band gives this back to his wife, it is equivalent to a divorce, even if tiie act is done in haste. If the husband wishes to take his wife back, it may involve a separation of three years and various sacrifices, before atonement is made. In Asaba a runaway wife is forbidden to return if, after her husband's death, she does not succeed in coming back to shave his head.

The pi'ohibitions regulating intercourse between the sexes depends upon the degree of kinship between the parties con- cerned. At Asaba, for example, if the mothers of two men belong to one idumu, the male children of the latter are for- bidden to commit adultery with each other's wives ; but other acts which would be forbidden to those less nearly related, are permitted. They may, for example, take a knife (ukoti) or any other object from the woman's head. They may sit upon one mat, and so on. In some cases they are per- mitted to salute women in certain degrees of kinship to them, or married to certain kin of their own, by tlie title of " my wife." This may be done at Isele Asaba if they belong to the same ^bo, or if they are not more than four generations removed from a common ancestor ; the use of this term of address does not imply any further rights over the woman in question.

If there are two exogamous units in a community, it is forbidden to say to a woman married into one of them that the speaker thought she was married into the other, and it is equally forbidden to call her the wife of a husband from whom she has run away.

As examples of prohibitions incumbent upon the whole community the most conspicuous case is the animal or animals forbidden by the whole town or to certain quarters. Asaba, for example, forbids civet cat and greater plantain eater, and a story is told to account for this prohibition which closely resembles the ordinary etiologi- cal totemic myth (see p. 9). At ObQmpa, if a man and his wife go to the house of the head chief, it is forbidden to

(1172) c

18

both of them to suggest that it is time to go, they have simply to get up and leave.

Some of these prohibitions refer particularly to women. In Asaba a woman is not allowed to abuse people while she is cooking, nor may she mention a vulture. Others are imposed only on the wives of certain men ; at Isele Asaba a woman married to a man who has taken a title may not tie a cloth with a fringe to it.

Other prohibitions refer especially to the men who have taken a title. An Qze may not, for example, see a corpse, nor have his cap knocked off. Some classes of doctors may not see their blood spilled on the ground.

As regards prohibitions relating to animals, these relate more especially to the market. A cock may not crow nor a dog bark, on the penalty of instant death. In the same way a cock is forbidden to fly up to the roof of a small hut which • a blacksmith uses as his forge, whether the blacksmith is there or not. If it does, it pays the penalty of its rashness provided it can be caught.

From a practical point of view the most important prohibi- tion is that which forbids the keeping of twins. Although the native will usually state that twins are not killed at the present day, I have rarely, if ever, noted a case of twins in my genealogies, except with the addition that they are dead. In one case at Ala a woman was stated to have borne twins four times, and all had been exposed in the ordinary way. Here, as in the Awka district, the recognised method of changing these customs would be to sacrifice to the ani and the mwo, and to declare that henceforth the custom was abolished. The QkpalQbo would probably be the person to perform the sacrifice.

Eeincaenation. — In the account of the peoples of the Awka district it was explained that a dead man is believed to be reincarnated in one or more of his descendants or relatives. On the Asaba side the belief exists in more than one form ; but in some places instead of having a dead man as ci* they

* " Report on the Ibo-speakiug Peoples," Vol. I, p. 31.

19

take a living man, and consequently there can be no question of reincarnation. In addition to ci a man has also erhi and two forms are distinguished, ^rhi ^mo and §rhi oifia. Both the name and the belief are curiously reminiscent of the Edo belief in ehi owa and ehi oha.*

It is said that a man before coming into the world again decides what he is going to do in his new life. At Qkpanam they say that a person can fix before his or her death where they will return in the next life, and a woman who has married into an ^ b o may decide to be reincarnated in a child born in that Qbo. (It must be remembered that women are usually buried in their own country and that reincarnation depends to some extent upon the locality of the burying place.) If a man has seven wives, he may decide that he will have only one in the next life as they are too much trouble.

At Obuluku the belief is somewhat ditferent. Here it is said that not the man himself but his ci decides what his life shall be, and this is held to explain why some men are lucky and others unlucky. A man without wife or children has obviously had a bad ci.

The ordinary way of deciding who is the c i of a new born child is for the doctors to divine. At Onitsha Olona when the doctor comes to bwa ago, i.e., discover the identity of the child, the father takes pieces of ^bwo which are known as ute. As he hands each to the doctor he names an in- dividual, and the doctor divines for each separately.

At Ibuzo a doctor is called upon to divine before a child is born. The husband gets ogu (ute) from a plant called ulu oibo for the purpose of divination and before the doctor proceeds to enquire, the father asks whether he will live till the child is born. If the diviner says he will not do so, the first duty of a doctor is to find analoseormw^ which will hinder the catastrophe.

At ObQmpa a ci is assigned to a child when it is two or

* " Report on the Edo-speaking People?," Vol. I, pp. 39 and 40. (1172) c 2

20

three years old, but here the conditions are complicated by the fact that one of the quarters took living men as ci and other quarters have begun to follow their example. Here it is held that the ci must be someone of the same ^bo, though a woman who marries into it reckons as one of the Qbo.

At Ubulubu, under ordinary circumstances a ci is not divined till the child has two upper and lower teeth. If the ci troubles the child and makes it sick, the teeth may be marked with chalk on the lips and then the doctor is called to divine. Here a living man is ci and the dead man is called onyebi owe, the one who comes to the world. A doctor says before the child is born who will be the on ye bi owe. There are no restrictions as to locality from which the onye bi owe can come. In one case that came under my notice a man told me that his onye biowe came from the Ishan country, of which his father's mother was a native.

At Ezi the ci of all the children born during the year are discovered before the annual worship of ci. Here the ci and the onye bi owe seem to be the same person, for they say that a child that comes back is the ci of the new child.

At Asaba the ci is a dead man and the child is called his ago ; the person reincarnated is usually of the same idumu or Qbo, but may also be a friend; in one case a white man is said to be the ci of the child of one of the chiefs. That the Asaba belief is actually one in reincarnation seems clear from the fact that if several children die at an early age one after the other, the husband cuts up the body of the one that dies last and buries it. When another child is born it has marks of a cutlass upon it and fears to die again. In the same way the reincarnation of a hanged man always turns his eyes up.

The reincarnation may be male or female, and there can be more than one reincarnation of the same person of either sex. The belief is, however, not quite consistent, for the same informant said that a man's ci is in owamwg, the world of spirits, and receives sacrifices in order that he may protect

2]

his ago ; but he went on to say that where a man who was bad in the former life opens his eyes for the first time in a new life, as soon as he sees the world into which he has been born, he says to himself : " It is the same world I did so badly in before," and promptly dies.

An alose as well as a dead man may be ci, but unlike the Awka belief the Asaba people do not hold that a tree can be reincarnated. If an Qji seed falls into a pot used to represent ci, and grows, people may say that QJi is his ci, but the man himself knows that an alose (or human being) is really his ci. The ci is usually represented by a pot ; some people take a pot and call the ci to come inside, others use a stone. Another informant told me that a man's ci follows him, and when a man entitled to carry an ivory horn meets him and holds out his horn in salutation, it is really his ci whom he is saluting.

At Qkpanam a man can return as male or female as he chooses. He can be ci to only one person though an alose may be ci to several. Among the alose mentioned were Atekbe, Ogugu and ObQsi. Those who break a ritual pro- hibition cannot become ci, tliey die at once and become ajgmwo (p. 28). Here, as at Asaba, the ordinary repre- sentative of ci is four pieces of Qbwo put in an Qkwa (wooden dish). When a man dies his ci is thrown away.

At Onitsha Olona the ci must be a living person. When the ci is selected by a doctor the child's mother goes with clialk and kola to the person selected ; a woman may be the ci to a boy or a girl. When the ago grows the ci gives it a goat; when the ci dies the ago has to bring dues and take part in the burial ceremonies ; even a small child can become ci. Four pieces of stick are cut in the lifetime of the ci and are kept in an gkwa, but this only when the ago builds his own house. A girl gets it as soon as she goes to her husband ; an id Qb we (p. 78) gets it as soon as she has borne a child. At the death of the asro the four pieces are cut from end to end and thrown away. They say that grhi is the same as ci and " follows a man from Qkwa."

22

All the dead are in gkwa and all the people that are coming into the world. Dead people come back just as seed comes back.

The other erhi they try to send back, so that a man may be prosperous a good erhi is brought to a man's house. In order to effect this two baskets of yams, containing five and seven respectively, a tortoise, and other articles are provided ; and an ants' nest is put in an odala tree which is bearing- fruit, oran^gili tree. They strike the tortoise with wood and tell the erhi that they cannot strike him in the same way. Then its head is cut off under the tree and put in the basket with chalk, etc., and left where the doctor says it is to be put. A certain seed is chewed and spit over the right shoulder, then the ants' nest is brought to him and put down by the doctor. The ants' nest is erhi.

At Ala the ci is always a dead person and it is possible for one to have a multiple ago ; some ci come from the world of alose, Onoku, Obonku, and others. When a woman is married she gives her okwaci to the conductors; on arriving at her husband's house she puts it in his orhai, or big medicine, till she gets her own house ; then she takes it before ^rhi (an image of mud near the wall). Before making it she calls ci to come and puts chalk beside it ; a doctor tells her what to sacrifice.

At Ibuzo an alose, such as Obgsi, Onirhe and Ogugu, may be ci of a child. If Obosi is ci it conies to the mother in the form of a snake ; when people come the snake disappears. A doctor will say which alose isci of the child and the mother must forbid (see Glossary) the same things as the alose as long as she is pregnant or suckling the child ; if the mother dreams of swimming, that is a sign that the child comes from a river alose.

When a child begins to walk they make an image of ci and kill a fowl to it. When a child grows up they offer whatever ci demands. A woman takes ci with her to her husband's house, but if her husband dies she breaks her old ci and usually does not get another until she gets

Plate IV.

CHILD ONE DAY OLD (ONICA OLONA).

MEDICINE (CI UMWAKA) AT ASABA.

23

anotlier husband. The ci of a runaway wife is thrown away. When a man dies his ci is thrown away and they say that the ci has taken the person away whom he brought.

When a man is grown up and lias a large family he may get grhi. He makes a mud image and sacrifices a goat, saying : " I put this image because you helped me." AVhen the man dies a goat is sacrificed and the image thrown into the bush. The head wife may get ^rhi and puts it near ci. They say that there are two ci, one of which comes to hinder the other, but no clear distinction is drawn between grhi and ci. They may even go so far as to say that ^rhi is ago (p. 20). The good grhi is grhi uno, and erhi oifia misleads him.

If ^rhi oifia is not driven out when a man dies he goes to the Qbe din jo (place of the bad), which was interpreted to mean bush. As, however, I detected traces of Christian influence in the information supplied to me by pagan natives, lam disposed to think that the ^be din jo is a European importation. To drive out grhi oifia an ants' nest is covered with a pot near the house, and the man makes at the same time the promise to perform the proper ceremony if he gets rich. If his life is a hard one he leaves the nest in the bush, if he is successful he brings to his house and makes ^rhi lino.

When a man's wife is pregnant a white ants' nest, which is to be found as soon as pregnancy is discovered, ripe and unripe nuts, a tortoise, chalk, and other objects, are put in the bush in the evening and left there till the seventh month. The tortoise is killed and put in the basket and the nuts and ants' nest with it. A small stage is made in the street, in the case of a woman living with her husband, in the direction of her own quarter. At dawn the woman washes, dresses, and chalks her eyes. A doctor brings cowries to wash her hands and puts some in the basket. An Qmu aja is plaited, i.e., a basket of palm leaf for offerings, and put on the top of the basket, and then mashed yams. If a vulture eats the yanis the omen is a

1'4

good one. While this is being done they sing, "^gr hi k we kwe kwe, grhi kwQl'nkwe, §rhi ^rhi bia g^lie, grhi lia, kena na ololowe," and so on, "grhi agree, grhi agree, come and eat, eat and go, go to ololow e (the place of the mwo),"

At Ogwashi ci may be a living or dead man or woman. If it is a living person the child gives a fowl to him, or her, which is offered to the ci of the ci. When the ci dies the nwago sends cloth and makes an image of ci in his house. One person can be ci to any number of children ; an alose may be ci. They do not know where dead people go to, but they say a ci must come to the world again ; but c i " means " that the child is coming to the world through him, or her, because they loved each other. There must have been some previous arrangement between them before the child came to the world and got a ci.

;grhi is said to be just like ci and they distinguish §rhi yn^ and erhi oifia, which they send to join the uke that lives in the bush. For §rhi oifia a small house is built in the bush and a mud image made. After the sacrifice the image is thrown away and the house broken down. They think that grhi is mwo, otherwise they could not sacrifice to it.

At Obuluku a ci is said to be the one who created a man. One of my informants told me that his grandfather is his ci, but that he is not the same as his grandfather ; ci must be one related to the umunna and must be a dead person. A woman's ci is represented by a mud image, a man's ci by gfo. Ci and erhi are said to live with Cuku before they come to this world ; if a child tells what it saw among the mw^ they expose it in the aj oifia ("bad bush"); if it speaks before it opens its eyes its fate is sealed.

A man may be ci to four or five at the same time ; when the last of them dies the ci is said to stop ; it sits in the other world and is a mwg. Some people have alose as ci, Obira, Amaci, or Osebluwe, in any case all have an

Plate V.

OSEBLUWE ; ONOKU (okpanam). See page 25.

WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS NZE, QFO AND IK^NGA (ONICA OLONA). See page 27.

25

image of Osebluvve (PI. V), because Osebluwe, erhi and ci are said to have created the man. An alose itself, however, does not become the ci, properly speaking ; the real ci is the orhene (priest) of the alose.

Ci is put before grhi iino which they obtain after driving away erhi oifia. It has been mentioned above that the coming of a vulture to eat is a good omen. I found the same belief at Idumuje Uboko, where the appearance of a vulture during the worship of ci is regarded as satisfactory. The grhi or ci is said to have come in order to eat.

At Ukunzu the ci, known as ^Iq in Unukumi, is a living person, and the image is made only when they die. Ci in this town appears to be rather one of the titles and the cost of making ci is considerable. Here, too, fufu and oil are put out for the vulture to eat, and this is given as a reason why they never eat vultures. An image of the ci is made inside the house, a stone in the river being put inside, with one snail in front and one behind. The candidate goes outside and others come and cover the snail and stone with mud and pour water from the Niger over it, saying that good things must fill his hands as the Niger cannot run dry. Then the candidate breaks a kokunut, pours some of the milk on tJie ci, and drinks the rest. Near the image he grows an Qbg tree, so that, just as the gbg grows and bears seed which different birds come and eat, his ci may get many children for liim. There may have been some vague idea that the obo brought children for the man, but I did not satisfy m}self on this point.

At Obgrnpa the doctor names a dead man, who is variously said to have entered the new-born child or sent it to the world. The Uboba quarter had to take a living man as their ci, and now the other gbo have offered kola to their mw^) and said that they, too, would have living men as their ci, for the c i is a source of benefifc to the child, as he can give him a goat or make title for him ; when a girl marries she can beg her ci or liwago for anything that she likes.

26

A child's ci may be another wife of his father and a father or mother may even become ci to their own child. People will then say : " You do not allow anyone to help you get this child." A brother may become ci to a brother. Some light is thrown upon native beliefs with regard to ci by the saying that the child which one should have borne is one's nwago.

At TJbulubu, where a living man is ci, a child is carried by its mother to the annual sacrifice to the m w o with kola and other offerings which are put upon the ci of the ci. Seven qIco are given to the child's mother and chalk from the ci is rubbed on the child's head. If the ci is a doctor and the child is to become a doctor, the ci marks one eye with chalk and then the child pays no money when he takes the title. The nwago can bury a ci who has no children and take his property. A ci must be of the same ebo. If a man's ci has done ill in this life his nwago may suffer from the ill will of those who have been injured by his ci. The nwago must offer a sacrifice between two cross roads so that all who wish may come and eat. If a man has been cursed before Ogugu, which is done by putting down chalk on either side of the path and striking the matchet on the ground, his nwago must offer to Ogugu as the killer of his ci.

Two points remain to be noticed with regard to the position of the nwago. At Obgmpa it is forbidden to marry into the umunna of a woman who is a man's ci, though he may marry into her ^bo. If two people have the same ci they cannot marry, but a brother or sister may marry the nwago of their sister or brother. The children of uniuago are forbidden to marry. '

Under ordinary circumstances children follow the pro- hibitions of their father and mother ; it often happens that they have to take over the prohibitions of their ci; this is the case at Asaba and Ala; those who have an alose as ci forbid what the alose forbids. Curiously enough the rule is not the same with regard to onye bi owe (p. 20),

27

whose prohibitions do not concern the child in whom he is supposed to be reincarnated.

Ancestor Worship. — The cult of ancestors plays as con- siderable a part in the life of the Ibo of the Asaba district as it does in the case of other tribes of Southern Nigeria. Very commonly the main ceremonies are associated, as at Asaba, with the celebration of the Feast of New Yams. After the death of a man, as soon as his son takes a certain title, he puts the image of his father among the mwo, though it may also be placed elsewhere in the bouse. They also have a spot where they worship their mother.

At Ogwashi, a son makes a mud image of his father in a corner of the house, and the eldest child offers for his brothers and sisters. This image is put in the Qgwa, while that of the mother is put inside the house. In some cases the object known as gfo (PI. V) is taken to represent the father, cowries are tied round them and the Qfo is put on small heap of mud, either in the house or in the Qgwa.

In addition to the worship of the immediate ancestors of a man, there is as usual the worship of the ancestors of the §bo or idumu. Small houses, the sites of which are commonly seen in the main streets of such towns as Qkpanam, serve for this purpose. In addition, in some, if not all towns, there is a cult of umunadi, by which appears to be meant all deceased people of a certain e bo.

Uruci — Vaguely associated with ancestor worship is also an image known as uruci, which is kept both by men and women. In the case of women, uruci appears to be associa- ted with the husband, at any rate at Isele Asaba, and is put by the widow in the house of any brother of her late husband. Where, however, uruci is used by a man, it is said to represent all dead women, and he buries it in order that they may not trouble him. He will then be sure to get a wife. A third statement as to uruci was made to me at Ob^mpa, where the belief seems to be that they represent the dead wives of a man. During his lifetime the husband

28

is said to call them to come and eat and not to trouble the wives who survive.

Witches and Spirits. — In this connection may l)e men- tioned also the aJQmwo, or evil spirit, who is a man that has died a violent death. The aJQmwo is said to come and shake the house at night, and when a man shouts no one hears.

In the dry season children are told to come home when the sun is over head, or the ajgmw^ will meet them. A sacrifice, usually put in the middle of the street, is offered to the ajqmw^, yams and koko yams are split and with them bored cowries, old bones, fish heads and rags. Sand is taken in the left hand, and the food is cut four times, and the sand added. Then some abobo is taken in the left hand, and the whole is put into a broken vessel which they carry round the house calling on the a j q m w o. If anyone is sick, they come before him and pass the vessel round his head.

At Ogwashi they say that those who break the law and steal, become aJQmwo, or a man who died a violent death in war and otherwise ; but the dead warrior hurts onl}' the man who killed him.

The aJQm w^ is often compared to the aniosu or witch, who is said to steal young children soon after birth. In Asaba, they have medicine which is said to wake a man when the witch comes. The ingredients are a gag put in the mouth of a man who is going to be killed, leaves on which a head of palm nuts has fallen, the sap of a palm tree, an owl's head and inyi seed. These are parched and seven times seven flies added, and all put in a broken pot at night. They are then put in a long calabash, and lumg in front of the house.

A method of dealing with witches is to put a staple in the ground with something heavy on it. This holds the witch, but it must be taken up just before dawn, otherwise the other amosu would come and kill him or her.

The witch is said to kill the victim by taking medicine, and kneeling and calling out the name of the man. A

Plate VI.

AKBOMALEGWE AT ogwaSi. See page 29.

*' n A rrJTi "

gate" of quarter, axd offering for erhi, isele asaba. See page 19.

29

common method of dealing with witches is to make them drink sasswood.

Changeling. — In this connection may also be mentioned the belief in changelings. It is said that a child of three years who cannot creep or walk has come through or from a stream. At Ubulubu they take it to the Ot^ Eiver with mashed yams on a plate. It changes into a python, and goes back into the stream.

In Asaba the same ceremony is performed in the house, and if the child turns into a snake, it is killed. Some children are said to turn into monkeys. A changeling is known as nwa di mwo, and I have been seriously assured by more than one person that they have actually seen the transformation.

Akhomalegivc. — This fear of vengeance of a slain animal or man is the root of various practices, such as those at the killing of big game, as well as of a portion of the ordinary burial rites.

At Asaba, the head of the slain man was brought to Odogu, who put an eagle's feather on the head of the slayer ; the slayer then went to the other olinz^le (p. 40) to show that he had become omalqgwe, the slayer of a man or dangerous animal ; those who performed this rite plaited paltn leaves and put them up before a cotton tree (Plate VI).

At Isele Asaba, when a man went to war and slew another man, he brought the head to Ago and the Onotu;* Ago, Odogu and lyase put eagle's feathers in his hair. After going round the town for seven days, he brought a cock, meat and drink, and the onotu came and offered the cock to his ikenga (Plate V) ;f a cotton tree (ak'bo) was then planted in the street. The Onotu came and the head was skinned and buried behind the akbo, and portions of the skin were given to each Onotu and fowls were boiled and eaten.

On the day on which gkw^nsu or ine was celebrated, a man went to his akbo with a cock which he ofi'ered and

* See p. 40. t See p. 55.

30

also took one calabash of palm wine not quite full. Odogu then came and took qbwQdo and cut the mbubu (calabash) into two; lyase and Odogu rejoiced over their dead enemies and sang "onye mbu djyi," "the one I killed is you" (because they do not know his real name). Then they held the matchet and QbwQdg in either hand and danced. After this Odogu and lyase made their own akbo and mbubu ceremony. The next day logs 4 feet long and 6 inches in diameter were cut and stored in the ogwa between two posts; The log is called nko okbokba; okbokba are properly ebwono and koko yam leaves used for soup; soup was cooked and sprinkled on the logs so that people might not die before the year was out, then the wood was used as fire- wood. A sick person might plant akbo even though he had killed neither man nor beast ; if the doctor recommended .him to do so, he paid money and planted the trees ; he might go and ask for the skull of a man killed long before.

Hunting. — In some respects, the hunter enjoys privileges similar to those which a doctor enjoys. No one, for example, is allowed to seize his property for debt, and the reason given is that the hunter is useful in keeping animals off the farm. This exemption is, however, subject to exceptions in practice, for if a doctor refused to pay a fine on the demand of Okute, his house might be broken down.

As usual, there are special ceremonies wlien a leopard is killed. At Qkpanam, a messenger is sent to the head chief, and the body put down at the entrance of the Qbo. The hunter receives an eagle's feather, and offers kola to the mwo, and the people say "QzeanQzu orhi," " the king never steals."

At Onitsha Olona, the customs are much the same, and the hunter is required to dance all night for seven nights. If they kill a bush cat, called o nob wo, the forbidden animal of the town, they have to leave it lying, and the hunter throws one cowry yearly into the bush on the anniversary. This is called " paying the debt of the bush cat." As mentioned

31

under gkpalQbo, the hunter is required to give dues of most animals that he kills to the QkpalQbo.

Agricultukal Rites. — In addition to the ceremony con- nected with the eating of new yams, various customs are celebrated, which are more connected with the promotion of the growth of yams. At Isele Asaba, four days before the New Yam Feast, two ^bwo sticks about three inches long, called ifejigko uno, are gathered and taken to the farm, where ofiferings are made to them. After this they are taken home and kept for the whole year.

At Onitsha Olona, on the other hand, the §bwo are kept in the farm and the offerings are made there ; and the ifejiqko unp is represented by tools used in farming, such as hoe, matchet, etc.

At Ogwashi the ceremonies are performed in a part of the court near the wives' houses. Here, as elsewhere, the object is to make the yams grow, and they say that this spot chosen to make the heart of the women agree with the farms.

At Obuluku a ceremony known as ^rha Ji aku is per- formed, the object of which seems to be to call the Qbwo, which represent the ifejigko, from the old farm to the new one. A woman boils koko yams at night and peels them in the morning, adding pepper, salt and oil. In the Qgwa she stirs it with her middle finger and then kneels on both knees, holding the same finger up. The husband offers the food to the mwg and puts some in the woman's hand for her to eat. The rest is offered on the farm and the first and last posts of the irhe (see p. 177) taken out. At the same time the ^bwo are lifted with a matchet and told to come to the new farm, where one hen is offered to them. After this the old farm is considered to be deserted and the posts used for the yams can be taken for firewood.

Magic. — There are a considerable number of magical rites in the Asaba district, the main object of which appears to be to avert evil rather than to bring good ; such, for example, is the ceremony known as cu isusu. At Qkpauam a doctor is

32

called, and a he-goat and an old basket provided, in which is put a leaf from each house. The goat is tied upon a stick with palm leaves and tutu and an old shield put upon the top with the leaves inside. The men of the Qbo in order of age fire arrows at the goat, and after the doctor has offered mashed yams the young men take the shield, preceded by the " dividers " of the sacrifice, and run to the place where the post called isusu has to be planted, usually some distance along the road. After planting the isusu, they wash before they return. The object of this is said to be to make the land good and to cause the isusu to leave it. Isusu therefore appears to mean evil.

This rite appears to be performed for the benefit of the whole community. For the benefit of the ^bo the following ceremony is performed. The doctors come with a basket containing a pig's head. Leaves from the roof of the house are put in the basket, the dectors saying at the same time, " War and fire leave the house." Here, as before, yams, corn and kola are offered to those who perform the ceremony.

Where a girl reaches the age of ten or twelve a ceremony called uke is often performed, M'hich is believed to have the effect of rendering her good and obedient.

At Onitsha Olona, if a man's ci has been cursed, the nwago (see Glossary) goes to a doctor at the death of his ci. The doctor takes a white ants' nest, unbroken kola and the head of a cock that has not crowed and puts them in a trap. After marking the man's forehead with this medicine, he puts the trap in a tree or forked supports.

A rite of a more positive kind is known asibe mbubwu. The person who wishes to make it draws a line with his foot in the court of his house. Seven chalk lines are drawn across this and a leaf put on each and the man cuts the leaves in half. The doctor takes up the right-hand halves and the man the left-hand halves. The doctor then takes both in his left hand and passes them down the man's body. He next hands them to the man, who throws them into the bush, and before entering, the house draws his right foot

33

along the line drawn by the doctor. This is done by traders to make their trade good, and it is symbolical of breaking down obstacles.

At Ala anyone who wishes to plant cotton must mark his eyes with chalk, so that the cotton will grow well ; for cotton itself is chalk, they are the same colour.

Another ceremony is known as onu. At Ibuzo a hole is dug and the man led before it : a fowl's head is thrown in and various objects passed round his head. All bad spirits and all bad men are called upon to come and eat, and all the objects are put in the hole. The doctor leads the man by the right hand across the hole and says : " Eun away " ; the hole is then filled in.

Making peace. — War was of frequent occurrence in the old times, consequently methods of making peace were well known. Under ordinary circumstances the ambassadors were the nwadiani or hwada, that is to say, the children of women who had married from one of the combatant towns into the other.

At Asaba the method of making peace was as follows — Those who had caused the war brought a slave and the other party brought a goat and a cock and a ceremony known as li onini was performed, usually at the boundary. A cotton tree (akbo) was planted over a slave's head; this was the onini and it became a permanent alose. A hole 7 feet deep was dug and the slave put in alive ; then the cotton tree, on the first occasion of making peace, was planted on the slave's head and a goat and a i'owl sacrificed. On later occasions, when peace had to be made a second time, the price only of a slave would be brought.

At Asaba treaties of alliance as well as treaties of peace were known. The asabwa or obi* was represented by the onoi or rhaza. Each town brought its own alose and the parties swore to do each other no harm, to allow no enemies to pass and to warn each other of the approach of enemies. A treaty of alliance, however, did not mean that they would go

* See p. 38.

(1172) J)

34

and fight as allies in the case of war against a third party, they only supplied guns, powder, etc. If they went beyond this the enemies would never make peace with the town that thus intervened. This ceremony of making alliance was known as ebwando.

At Isele Asaba each party sent money and one slave to the boundary and there the lyase and Odogu of each town investigated the matter to see who was to blame, the town responsible for the war had to pay the whole ; if they did not agree war began again. Ten men with guns stood as guards while the discussion was going on, others hid in the bush but lyase was sacro-sanct and could not be wounded A slave was buried within a triangle formed by two Qbwo trees and an ecici.

At Onitsha Olona the trees planted by the side of the road were qhwo and kola on either side and §bwe in the middle. Each party brought one goat and offered after a war, and buried the head before the Qbwe.

At Obuluku to make peace sheep and a goat were provided. The lyase of each party killed the animals provided by the other and the heads were buried at the boundary and they said, " If anyone causes war again and passes this spot let him die." In addition to these they could also bring alose and the lyase of each town swore ebwando. The alose were then taken home so that enemies might not come and offer and make the oath of no effect.

At Ezi the Qbwe tree was planted over the head of a slave at the boundary and each town ate half of a goat sacrificed on the ^bwe. If after this first peace making war broke out again only kola would be offered to the Qbwe.

Ebwando. — The ceremony of ebwando might be per- formed by individuals or sections of a town as well as by two towns. At Onitsha Olona, two men when they made an agreement had to swear on the alose and take kola each from the alose of the other. A man might call his umunna to swear friendship to himself and his household before the mw^; an idumu might be called before the ani (p. 13)

35

for a similar purpose, or the ^bo; a man's wife or children might be called upon to make ebwando ; all the women of the household of the husband swear to do no magic to cause a wife to be sterile, and the children swear not to give poison.

At Ibuzo, when two people quarrel in the same Qbo, the head of the ^bo calls them and asks them what the cause of the quarrel is; they then eat kola from each other's alose. A man may swear ebwando with his wife also, that she may confess to him any forbidden thing that she does. When two idumu or two Qbo make ebwando they swear that if they see anything which will injure the other they will tell them ; they will not attempt to poison them or put aja for them ; if they do the alose is to kill them.

At Obuluku, two idumu meet, each man who has an qfo lays it down before the ani, and puts kola on the gfo. They swear that if they see anyone stealing or carrying off a woman of the idumu they will not keep silence, and whoever mixes poison for one of the idumu, they will report it, and if they do not, let the alose and the gfo kill them.

At Ezi for an iyi umunna the Qkpala brings a staff known as osisi together with gfg and pincers. The women of the umunna bring a pepper pounder and the men black- smith's tools. Kola is then put in water in a bowl and these articles washed in the water. The kola is then offered to ani and an oath taken to make no medicine to kill anyone in the umunna.

Burial. — It is impossible to give a full account of the burial rites in the Asaba district, for not only does each town, and even each quarter, have its own rites, but these rites, here as else- where, differ according to the rank and sex of the deceased person. In former days for example it was the custom in Qkpanam to kill a slave when a man holding the title of Qze was buried. He was dressed up and wore a rain hat upon his head, and carried a fly whisk upon his shoulder. He was tied to the <jb wo tree which represents if eji^ko (p. 31) and those present

(1172) D 2

36

fired at him with their guns. He was then washed and buried beneath the ^bwo.

At the present day at Isele Asaba (PI. VII) the burial cere- mony is as follows : — The body is washed in the part of the house known as ezi obulu, and the corpse is put in a sitting position on a circular box known as mpata. The adqbo shaves a small portion of his head and another woman completes the shaving. The ada then takes a corn husk and smears chalk in spots all over the body. Thereupon the box of cloth is opened and the body covered with a good mat and wrapped in cloth. When the grave is dug, a calabash is blown to summon the dead man. A goat is sacrificed to the ik^iiga (see p. 55), which is sometimes split, but if a man has a good son, only a small portion may be taken off it, and the son would take possession of the ikenga. The head of a dog is cut off and the blood dripped in a circle round the corpse. After this a goat is killed " to the feet" and offered, together with fufu. Then kola, roast yam, etc., are offered (PI. VIII), but the kola is not eaten. One of the pots in which the food is offered is broken. If the corpse is to be buried in a coffin, it is now put in a coffin and taken to the akbo or cotton tree, where a ram is killed. At this point, in former days, a slave would have been put in the grave and the coffin lowered down upon him. When the grave is filled in, the ground is beaten hard and cowries fixed on the surface. A goat is sacrificed and the blood sprinkled upon the grave. Ceremonies of mourning go on for some time, and on the fifth day, the pieces (p. 21), known as nkpuliici, are cut up and the sons take one piece each. A hen and a he-goat are killed where the dead man washed, and other animals are killed " to cut down ifejigko and ocucu a J a." Three months later the idumu of the dead man collect, and yams, a mat, and two pots are brought. The yams are peeled first and the peel pounded in a mortar ; a pot is set aside for the peeled yams, and any Qkpala puts fire under- neath all shout when the fire blazes. The eldest son of the dead man digs a small hole and the ada sacrifices a hen to it. All the yams are offered and the peeled yams and water are

Plate VII.

BURIAL : DANCE ROUND THE BODY (iSELE ASABA). See page 36.

BURIAL : MARCH ROUND THE TOWN, CARRYING CORPSK (iSELE ASABA). See page 36.

Plate VIII.

BURIAL : WASHING HANDS BEFORE OFFERING FOOD (iSELB ASABA). See page 36.

ORHAI UKU (uKEAT UKHAi) WITH 08& (oNICA OLONA).

poured into the hole. The a d a then takes her mat and one of the pots and says she is going her own way. The children then shave their heads.

The widows have to mourn for three months and remain in the house. They are free on the day on which the ceremony just described above, known as ini nni;is performed.

A woman is sometimes taken home to be buried by her own people ; sometimes she is buried in her son's house, or on the spot where her son will build a house when he grows up. Where custom requires that a woman should be handed over to her own people for burial, it would be an offence against native law for the husband to undertake the ceremony for. himself.

Those who die in infancy are buried under the eaves, children at the edge of the street, and young men and women .may, like older people, be buried in the house.

III.— SOCIAL AND POLITICAL OEGANISATION.

Obi (head chief). — We have already seen under what circumstances the original arrangement as to the head chief at Asaba fell through, so that the office, instead of being held by a man of each Qbo in turn, was assigned to a particular family. For a time, while Afadie's descendants were still young, a man of another quarter acted as deputy (ie^ndo); As soon as Afadie's descendants grew up, however, the regency ceased.

Asabwa and his assessors had to decide cases brought for trial. The dispute was talked over in the umunna* then in the idumu and then in the Qbo, and the appeal lay to the head chief. In that case the gl^pala of each Qbo came to the Asabwa's house with the ikeani and the otu rhaza. Asabwa sat on his ukbo or raised seat and informed lyase of his views as to the case. When Asabwa and lyase agreed, the assessors retired and took counsel ; when all the judges were agreed decision was given, otherwise it was postponed for further consideration. When a case came up about farm land Onoi would speak and two men from each ^bo were summoned to decide the matter. The witnesses were questioned by any of the court who wished to do so, but there was no oath either for judges or for witnesses. The latter, however, might be called upon to swear upon an alose if there were a conflict of testimony, and oaths might also be taken after the decision was announced, if the parties were not satisfied with it.

Asabwa might receive bribes from law-breakers who wished to gain his assistance, but this did not preclude him from punishing them. The Asabwa received the slaves that were paid by candidates for obu, alo and other titles, but at the present day each qbo regulates its own titles.

Plate IX.

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Asabwa was in some respects the represeutative of the community. If one man were seized for the fault of another, who was unable to pay to release him, the otu rhaza might collect contributions and hand them to Asabwa who bad to deal with the matter. He also received all fines before they were shared out. Asabwa was, as we have already seen, originally compelled to go to Idu in order to claim succession. He took with him two bags, which at that time were worth far more than at present, for 100 cowries would purchase a large goat and 400 a bullock, according to the statements made to me. As, however, my informant added that the price of a slave was two ngugu, I feel some doubts as to his reliability- The candidates paid small sums to the king's messengers at Idu and to the chiefs who led him to the king. The king gave the candidate certain bead ornaments and rubbed chalk on his feet and arms. The ceremonial sword was only given to Qbio and Isele. It is said' that when the king of Idu died all the people as far as the Niger shaved their beads. One slave was exacted from each town annually and this was paid by the head chiefs.

Among the towns in which the obi occupies an important position may be mentioned Ogwashi, Obuluku, Onitsha Ubwo and Iseluku. Isele Asaba is an ofi-shoot of Iseluku and therefore the Ago, as the head chief was called, was less important.

The old men of the town seem to have exercised a certain amount of control over the obi, even in the most important places. At Ogwashi they said that if the obi violated the law he might be boycotted or even deprived of his position.

In certain towns a woman beyond the control of her husband was handed to the obi, who put her among the ibiale (female slaves) and she virtually "became his wife. If she still proved refractory he was at liberty to kill her. This might also be done in the case of a woman who refused to go to her husband. The male slaves corresponding to the ibiale were the ibiagwale, but at any rate at Obuluku they had much more freedom and left the king's service when they married

40

their wives. They would, however, go to a particular quarter known as obwenta.

At Ukunzu the right of succession to the title of obi was iso far peculiar that it was not contined to the direct line. Tlie title might be taken by any of the obi's umunna and the decision appears to have rested with the Onotu.

NzELE. — In several towns in the Asaba district there is a body of men selected in the various ebo to act partly as councillors to the obi or head chief and also to exercise a restraining force upon him, and partly as administrative officers ; they are known as nz^le, olinz^le or onotu. In a certain number of cases the offices are hereditary, in others the office bearers are selected either by divination or acclamation ; some towns have elective and hereditary dignities. Where the dignities are not hereditary, the selection is usually confined to a particular quarter; it may be limited to each idumu or umunna in turn.

In Asaba, as elsewhere, the dignitary styled lyase was a highly important functionary. He was the mouthpiece of the town both in judicial cases and in communications with other towns ; together with the otu rhaza he had semi-judicial and semi-administrative powers of dealing with law-breakers. If a man who was ordered to leave tlie town as a punishment for an offence refused to go, the otu rhaza and lyase might break his house down and hand the man's property to Asabwa.

The leader in war was known as Odogu, and though he did not leave the town, young men who brought heads back, took them to him and put ^mu (palm leaf) through the mouth or fastened it to the tuft of hair upon the crown. When there was a disturbance with people of another town Odogu had to go to the " end of the street " and then the young men went to war. There is a saying that " Odogu cannot go to a disturbance and do nothing." When anyone was seized he was sent to Odogu to keep, for if he ran it was Odogu's duty to bring him back or seize a substitute ; in the absence of her husband, Odogu's wife might be put in charge of a pawn. If

41

a woman refused her husband, Odogu had to deal with the matter,

Onoi carried the Qf 9 of the whole town. He was one of the elders of the otu rhaza; when a new otu rhaza succeeds, which happens every ten years, Qmu is planted in the iluku or big street by each man who joins the otu rhaza. A dog is sacrificed and the blood sprinkled on the omu and its body put in the house of the okei rhaza. On the next day they meet in the house of the okei rhaza and divide the dog. The Onoi then takes Is. 8d., a cock and some palm wine, etc., to the Onoi of the previous rhaza. After counting up to 11 (for the ten years that they serve) he hands the articles he has brought. Onoi is chosen from the first of the four Qb W2 who become otu rhaza and a doctor divines from which umunna he shall be taken. If anyone broke the law the Onoi could go to the §bo and seize a goat or fowl. If the aniiual seized was not that of the actual culprit, money might be paid and the animal released ; a man who could not pay the fines could be outlawed. Where a breach of the law occurred a complaint was made to the Onoi, if it was in his own ^bo, otherv/ise the complainant would go to Asabwa. It was part of Onoi's duty to sacrifice to all the alose of Asabwa. He wettt into the street and seized a victim, not as a member of the otu rhaza in this case, for the offender whose deed made the sacrifice necessary was liable to refund the cost of the animal to its owner ; the sacrifice might be postponed till the next big annual sacrifice. When the workers went out Onoi led the way with Qfg.

Another important functionary was Okei Okute, often called simply Okute. He had a body of men associated with him known as iru Okute, slaves of Okute. If anyone, even the Asabwa, committed a forbidden act, it was Okute's duty to reprove him, and he might break down the house of anyone who disregarded constituted authority. If, in a quarrel, a less powerful man feared that his property might be seized, he might put it in charge of Okute. Okute announced new laws; he also stopped the market when the ikei ani had decided that it must be done.

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The olinzQle (dignitaries) at Asaba were as follows: Asabvva, Onirhe, Odafe, lyase, Isabwa, Osodi, OzQma, Odogu, Qmu, Adaisi (?), (Okute), (Onoi).

When we turn to the remainder of the district we find that some of the olinzqle found in Asaba are found practi- cally everywhere. Each town has a head chief, though those which have been recently founded, like Ubulubu, or those which were barely within, or not within, the sphere of effective Bini influence, have chiefs of only minor importance, lyase is found in every town, for he is the spokesman of the town ; Odogu is found in nearly every town. OzQma, or Esama (if, indeed, these are identical), are found everywhere, except as Ala and Ibuzo. Onirhe is found at Asaba, Qkpanam, Isele Asaba, Ogwashi, Obuluku, Onitsha Olona, Ukunzu and Nsukwa ; but, on the whole, though contiguous .towns tend to have the same olinz^le, there is nothing like the same amount of grouping that we find in the distribution of the systems of titles (see p. 54). It need hardly be pointed out that the influence of Benin City has, obviously, counted for much in the nomenclature, if not the origin of the olinz^le, Odogu, lyase, Ozgma and Osodi, are names obviously derived from those in use at Benin City, and this is hardly surprising when we remember that messengers were sent at intervals to Benin City, and that the head chief or his representative visited Benin City to procure the sanction of the king to his succession.

The most important functionary was, undoubtedly, lyase, for he had to enquire into all breaches of law. At Onitsha Olona, lyase had to find out the cause of a quarrel between town and town, and to secure the release of any townsmen who had been seized. In cases of murder he acted as a kind of sheriff, and led the onotu to seize the property of the iduniu. He was the executioner, or, at any rate, superin- tended the execution; when an okpala's wife committed adultery, or a woman abused her husband, she was struck by lyase with his Qfo, as a sign that she must be sold and quit the town for ever. Where an assault was committed, lyase

43

called out the onotu, and in a case of accidental homicide he took the gim and the hunter's outfit. He had to deal with cases of suicide, and, generally speaking, all complaints were laid before him and he carried them to the head chief.

At Obuluku, lyase had control of the young men, for the okw^l^gwe was only the superintendent of the work. The lyase was in charge of the building of obi's house; he searched for runaway slaves belonging to obi. In time of drought he went to the bush and searched for a victim to offer to the mwo, but, as a set off, OzQma, and not lyase, was properly the spokesman in a meeting.

At Onitsha Ubwo, lyase controlled all the town, but ok WQl^gv/e looked after the roads and streets. lyase had to see that the contributions in kind provided by candidates for titles, were sufficient.

At ObQmpa, lyase controlled all the young men, and wlien one of the olinz^le died he had to assent to the choice of successor, which was announced to him by the four eldest men in the Qbo, in whose hands the choice lay. Generally speaking, it lay with lyase to decide in cases of murder whether the culprit should be hanged or whether compensa- tion was to be received by the family of the murdered man.

At Qkpanam some of the functions of the lyase were carried out by the i^zobu (king of killing). The head of a man killed in war was brought to him first, and if he refused to put chalk and an eagle's feather on the head it was a declaration that the slayer was a murderer. Every three years, about the middle of March, the ceremony of Enaka, or dancing and striking matchets, was held before Ezobu by men who had killed wild beasts or a man.

At Ibuz^ IkwQle, who was also found at Okpanam, fulfilled the functions of Ezobu, and it was part of his duty to bury the head of the man who was killed. Although Odogu was the leader in war, his functions required him to stop at home instead of going out with the warriors.

Under ordinary circumstances onotu is synonymous with olinzQle. At Qkpanam, however, onotu was the name

44

given to all the young Qze, who were in the same position as the otu rhaza at Asaba (see p. 47). At Onitsha Olona the okwQlQgwe occupied a more important position than in many of the towns, for he was the head of all the gkpala (see p. 57), but this appears to have been because he was a sort of deputy of Onirhe, who appointed him ; Onirhe himself was the next senior to the head chief. When they killed a goat as a fine for a breach of the law he offered it to ik^nga. In Onitsha Olona, contrary to the rule stated above, Odogu could go to the war.

At Ala, as at Onitsha Olona, the head chief is virtually only one of the olinzQle, for his position is not hereditary, he is simply the senior gkpala or ^ze. He is known as Obwelaui or Onoi.

At Ala the control of the town was in the hands of the Obwelani (or Onoi) and of the lyase, who chose some of the nkpalo (p, 54), as a sort of jury where a case was being tried. After these jurors had consulted and come to a unanimous decision they announced it to lyase, who com- municated it to Obwelani. Bribery alone justified lyase and Obwelani in refusing to accept it. Another important functionary at Ala was Okute ; if there was a quarrel about a palm tree Okute had it in charge till the matter was settled ; when a yvoman stole yam sticks for firewood the farm was put in charge of Okute ; he was the executioner in cases of serious offences. It was laid down that when an gkpala summoned a meeting no woman was to come near.

At Ibuz^, where the head chieftainship was likewise not hereditary, the chief was selected not by seniority but by age. Cases were tried before him, the men of the next two gbwg to him, the Qkpala, and possibly several others.

At Ogwashi, where the dignitary second to obi is called Onirhe, the son of the dead obi took a slave to Onirhe in order to receive the title from him.

At Oboluku all the nz^le were hereditary positions, though a deputy might be appointed if the eldest son were young or if the last holder had no son. The olinzQle, the

45

(jkpalebo and the ike ani, that is the old men who had taken §ku title, were the law-makers.

At Idumuje, on the other hand, all the nz^le, with the exception of the obi, were chosen by the town,

EzuBO, — In some of the towns of the Asaba district the young men are organised in what may be termed companies or Qbwo. This system is found in Asaba, Ibuzo, Qkpanam and Ala. An Qbwg includes all male children born 15 months on either side of a given date, that is to say, no member of an obwo is more than 2^ years older than any other member.

At Asaba the Qbwo come in alternately in March and September, and a list has been made tracing the obw^ back to the year 1796. The compilation was made from informa- tion given by men of the Ajaji quarter, and the names given are not necessarily those of the heads of the gbwo.

Qbwo alueady extinct.

	Head of Obwo.	Born.	Ezubo.
1.	Mgnu . . .	... Sept.	1796	Onwuanabu of Qnaji.
2.	Ama isienu*	. . March	1799	,,
3.	Oniahwa		1801	»
4.	OkwusQgu		1804	j>
5.	Okonta		1806	Utomi of Agu.
6.	Obwe . . .		1809	»
7.	Enainya		1811	»
8.	Ebuike ...		1814	»
9.	Enewe		1816	Om^k^m of Ajaji.
10.	EbQla ...		1819	„
11.	Aiyagasi		1821	ft
12.	QfQgU ...		1824	»

* Last of company and died 1903.

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Obwo of which Eepresentatives survived in 1912.

	Head of Obwo.	Born.	Ezugbo.
1.	Osadqbe*	.. 1826	Nwacie of Ubo^nta.
2.	Isibisi ...	.. 1829	>'
3.	Keri	.. 1831	.J
4.	Kan^me	.. 1833	,,
5.	Khalim ...	—	Alalotfu of Ezenei.
6.	Kaje	..	,,
7.	Onwuka ...	—	,.
8.	NzQm^ka	—	„
9.	Eluemuno	—	Edeatii of Agu.
10.	Cima	—	J,
11.	Idigba ...	—	»
12.	CukuQdo	..	»
13.	Qdiwe ...	—	Moyo of Oiiaji.
14.	Grwanniru	..	J)
15.	Mgzia ...	—	„
16.	Cukura ...	—	,,
17.	Nwadei	—	Ojineka of Ubo^nta.
18.	Iw^bi	—	»
19.	AribwQgu	—	»
20.	Okwudei	—	„
21.	Okobi	—	Okoma of Ajaji.
22.	QnwQcei. . .	—	„
23.	Okaka ...	—	»
24.	Okuji	—	»
25.	OkSlo	—	Okoinye of Agu.
26.	Oru ebu ...	—	>;
27.	Jidowa ...	—	»
28.	Anam aga noke	—	»
29.	Izediono	—	Ocei of Ezenei.
30.	Ofili	—	)■
31.	Cinyemolo	—	,.
32.	Uzo meeina	—	"

* In 1912 two of the first and second, four of the third, and ten of the fourth and fifth together survived.

47

Head of Obwo. Born. Ezubo.

33. Ciwetanoma ... ... — Odini of Ubwenta.

34. Onyenyozie ... ... — „

35. Mosi eli . . . ... ... —

Every 10 years an Qzubo is appointed and the names of these Qzubo are also given.

At the age of about five a boy joins the Qbwo of his idumu, when he is 10 these obwo are united and become an g b w 2 of the Q b o, and when he is about 1 8 the q b w o is " called out for work." A man belongs to these Qbw^, known as otu okwQlQgwe, for about 25 years unless he previously takes the Qze title and is free from work. Every 10 years when a new ezubo is selected, the four top gbwg of the otu okwQlQgwe become akboluku or elders of the work. The first two remain at home to detect shirkers and the other two go out to direct the work. After ten years the akboluku become the otu rhaza, who are the deputies of the ndicie or otu ok wa. At the present time the ndicie appear to belong to nine different gbwo, though according to my informant there should be only five. As, however, by reckon- ing up the old men in each quarter, I discovered that there were two survivors of the Qbwg born in 1826 onwards, two of the next, four of the next, and ten between the next two, seventeen in all, I am inclined to think that the larger number is probably correct. At any rate the rhaza appear to be a numerous body when they enter on their term of office. On the last occasion there is said to have been a total of 400. As the population of Asaba is only 27,000 this means one man out of every 35 males. The head of all the gbw^ is the okwqlqgwe, usually the head akboluku, but a younger man might be chosen. In each §bo an ^zQbwo is appointed, but the functions do not seem to be very definite.

When the ezubo is appointed the whole town meets and a doctor divines. The man appointed comes before the last ezubo to get gf 2 ; he lives 25 days in a bush house and two boys cook for him ; he cannot eat any food which has not

48

been cooked in an ukoni and cannot carry a load on his head. After the period of seclusion the woman who cooks for him must wear a special cloth ; in the bush house a fire always has to be burning, and if it goes out special fire has to be fetched from Okwe. If the candidate dies, ashes are put on him but they do not lament for him. After receiving ici marks he goes to " Udo bush " and his head wife washes his back, which she may not do later ; then he puts anklets on and rubs camwood all over his body. At new yam time he gets his own New Yam Feast on the day known as af^ ubwo, and the following day he sends the old year back. All the young men take long sticks known as ubolo and dance after the ezubo through the town a dance called iwu. Before he comes out and after he goes home boys of the age of 20 and downwards fight with these sticks on these two .days. There is a saying about this kind of fighting " Ubulo adebu awo," " a stick does not kill a frog," that is, a quarter staff will not kill anyone. Women follow the dance carrying small switches and they collect money to buy palm wine for the young men. To the feast mentioned above come the Qbw9 and uke, i.e., the Qbwg next below the one of the ezubo. The Qze of these two gbwg drink palm wine only. As regards the gbwo, any member of it is bound in honour to stand up to any other member in wrestling or any other kind of contest, and any member of an gbwg who commits adultery with the wife of an gbwo mate is fined seven goats. No one may come armed to a meeting of the Qbwo.

As regards the number of Qbwg in the other towns men- tioned above I recorded 32 at Okpanam, and there appeared to be about 31 at Ala, though here the information was more uncertain. There were 34 at Ibuz{). Thus in the towns mentioned the oldest men were between 80 and 90, but it is a curious fact that in the Hinterland the number of old men appears to be far smaller. So far as my observation went, there were no men over 80 in most of the towns, though the absence of Qbwg made it difficult to determine the ages.

At Ala boys become active members of au gbwg at the

49

age of about 10 years. After the New Yam Feast they meet in the house of their head to drink palm wine. They all join in trying to discover a thief ; if a member commits adultery with the wife of another member he is fined. About 10 years after joining the gbwg a man becomes one of the ibwobwo (men liable to be called out to work) and takes his share in the work of the town. Eight Qbw^ do work and one supervises them ; the Qbwo between the ibwobwo and the supervisors are called owai. The work of the owai is to smooth a wall made by the ibwobwo or to straighten bad places. They cut the bush on the side of the farm roads while the ibwobwo clean the grass. They remove trees from the road. The owai subscribe for sacrifices, together with the ikei, but the ibwobwo contribute nothing beyond palm wine. When a slave was dragged to the river in the ceremony of purification the owai officiated ; he was first of all dragged widdershins round the tree which represents ani, and then each quarter, Ukumaga and Oinya excepted, in turn dragged him towards the river. Anyone whom they meet took a leaf and throws it on the slave, saying " alo soi," " may the forbidden thing follow you."

I enquired of a man whether women had any Qbwg and he said, " No, of course not, they have no time to meet or do anything."

At Ibuz^ each Qbw^ has an §zQbw^ for the whole town. Four Qbwg form the workers and after 5 years two more gbwg come in and take the place of the two top ones ; here, therefore, a man is required to give 10 years. All the gbwQ above the workers are akboluku.

Qkpalebo. — An important part in the life of the people is played by the various persons who enjoy the dignities of Qkpala and ada. These Qkpala, namely the gkpalebo, gkpalidumu and gkpalumunna, must be carefully dis- tinguished from the holders of the Qkpala title, which are found only in certain parts of the district.

The Qkpalebo and his counterpart among the women, the ad^bo, are selected in various ways. In Asaba, where

(1172) - B

50

everyone appears to trace his genealogy back to Nevisi, the founder, the oldest man of the oldest generation is the gkpala of the q bo, irrespective of the actual age; that is to say, if a man of 20 in the sixth generation is the oldest survivor of that generation, he takes precedence of a man of 90 in the generation below him, and the same is true of the a da.

At Qkpanam, on the other hand, the Qkpala seems to be the oldest man in the ^bo. There is, however, a third method of selecting the gkpal^bo which is practised at Isele Asaba and elsewhere, namely, by seniority in rank ; that is to say, that when a new Qkpala is to succeed, they enquire who took the qkpala or other significant title first, and he succeeds as to the title gkpalQbo. This method of selection, of course, does not apply to the a da.

■ Various fees have to be paid both in the case of Qkpala and a da, and they also have to ofler food to the community. If their means do not permit them to perform all these ■ceremonies, their kin may assist them ; and if an interval ■occurs between the death of the last holder of the title and the succession of the new one, one of the family of the last liolder acts as deputy (icQndo), and may continue to hold Ihe office for years.

The QkpalQbo has a certain amount of responsibility for the maintenance of order in his Qbo, and is in more than one way the legal representative of the q b o. In some places, for example, the trees, which elsewhere are regarded as common property, are said to be vested in him. In other places he takes the property of anyone who dies without a known heir.

In Asaba anyone who buys a slave or a cow puts them in the charge of the Qkpalidumu, whom they call their father, the object being that no one, in or out of the idumu, may seize for debt the property so entrusted to the Qkpala, for his property cannot be seized. The work of the QkpalQbo, in addition to the maintenance of order, is largely concerned with the social life of the people, and in particular with breaches of the marriage law. To him falls an important

51

part in the ceremonies which follow the confession of adultery on the part of a wife.

As the representative of the community he receives various services from them. He is virtually the father of the eldest son in each family, and he receives the bride price of the eldest daughter. The remaining members of the community owe him certain dues, some of them annual, some of them payable only under certain circumstances. The hunter, for example, in Asaba, has to render to the Qkpal^bo a certain portion of the meat, and in the case of an animal with a valuable skin, like the leopard, also the skiu. Curiously enough, at Asaba antelopes are not included among the objects on which the gkpalQbo has a claim, although by way of bringing up the children in tlie way they should go, a small brown dove, known as nduli, about the size of a blackbird, is divided into shares, one of which goes to the (jkpalQbo,

The Qkpalqbois the custodian of the nze, an object, often a box, which represents the founder of the ^bo (Plate V).

Much of what has been said about the gkpal^bo applies also to the ad^bo, but she has additional functions in that it is her duty to hear the confessions of girls before they go to their husbands, and also of married women who have com- mitted adultery. Over and above this she is charged with annual purificatory ceremonies in the houses of men holding various titles. In consideration of this she receives certain dues from the community. Generally speaking, if a house is regarded as polluted, the ada may be summoned to purify it, which she does by means of one or more fowls, which may be either carried round and released, or beaten upon the ground until they die.

Qma. — Under Qkpal^bo have been given details of tribute and other duties owed by all or nearly all persons to certain dignitaries. The gkpalamunna, who is the lowest of these grades, is also known as the Qkpalanua. A man's mother's (jkpalannais his gkpalanne. Different from these again are the Qmanna and (jmanne or gma proper. The Qmanua

(1172) -. k2

52

at Ezi appeared to be the eldest male on the side of the father's mother. Of all these different kinship titles, how- ever, the only two that seem to occupy an important position are the Qkpalanna and the Qmanne, inasmuch as dues ave rendered to both of them.

Qma is the name given at Ibu^^ to the image of mud which represents a dead mother in the house of her eldest daughter ; all the family meet there and offer yams. As soon as a man gets a wife he offers ten yams and one mbannu.

Exactly as dues are offered to the Qkpalamunna as the sacrificer to the founder of the umunna, so dues are rendered by a family to a person who "has them in gma" ; and just as a different rule prevails as regards service to the Qkpalamunna for the first-born of either sex and the other members of the family, so in the case of gma. At Isele Asaba the eldest daughter is the Qma and receives three bags out of the bride price for the eldest daughters of all her brothers.

At Onitsha Olona the eldest daughter, C, of a family serves her maternal grandmother, A, if she is alive, and her younger sisters serve their mother, B, and at the death of their mother their eldest sister, C. C's eldest daughter, D, then serves C, and also her other daughters. At the death of C, D would serve her mother's eldest sister, and so on, the regular rule being that the eldsst daughter of a family serves the oldest female maternal relative in the ascending line, while the younger daughters serve their mother or their eldest sister.

At Obuluku I was informed that the Qma was like an Qkpala to a woman, but men as well as women are in Qma. If there are two sisters, A and B, and if A's daughter has two children, C a girl and D a boy, C has D in Qma. At her death D is in i^ma to B. The if^nru for Qma is one leg of duiker, one hen, one vessel of oil, and nine yams, to be sent when the Qma is going to offer to her mother. One bag is also paid to the Qma at the marriage of a girl who serves her. On the other hand a man who is in Qma to her may be helped by her to pay the bride price.

63

At Idumuje Uno all are in Qina to the oldest woman of the oldest generation according to my information, but as I not investigate this by means of genealogies it is possibly wrong; for at Idumuje Uboko the gma may be a man or a woman, and is either the mother or the eldest descendant of the mother, but the eldest child of the mother is in Qma to the mother's brother or sister.

At Onitsha Ubwo the eldest child has his brothers and sisters in Qma and is himself in gma to his mother's sister.

At Ukunzu, where the gnia custom has probably been introduced in comparatively recent times, there are certain irregularities. In one case that came under my notice a woman was said to be in o ma to the son of her mother by her second husband, though he was naturally the younger ; I think the mother was dead. The eldest son was also in Qma to his mother's half brother, and had himself all his brothers and sisters in gma. Isebwe, the woman in question, had her son's children in Qma, but they are now dead.

At ObQmpa the eldest son has the other children of his own mother in Qma, and is himself in Qma to the eldest brother of his mother. If the mother's brother dies without sons he then stands in Qma to his mother's QkpalQbo. If there are only daughters, the first daughter has the rest in Qma. A woman brings wood, water, salt, and ogidi to offer ; if she has already gone to her husband, each husband brings five yams and kola, and the woman herself brings five yams.

At Ubulubu, in a case that came under my notice, a man, A, was in Qma to his mother's younger brother, B, although A himself was not the oldest survivor among his brothers and sisters. B was said to be Qkpalanne to the mother's children. However, D, the son of C, another brother of the mother, was said to have A's children in Qma. In another case I found a man in Qma to his mother's brother, although the latter was the younger of the two.

At Ezi the rules were different again. Men are not owned in Qma at all. People are in Qma to their maternal grand-

54

mothers or their mothers or their mother's sisters. This was the statement made to me by my informant ; in practice I found that men were owned in Qma and had others in gma.

Titles. — All through the Asaba district it is the custom, as in the Awka district, for a man to attain a social position by certain payments which give him the right to bear certain titles. The contributions in money and kind thus paid by the candidates are divided among those who already hold the title.

The expenditure on titles does not appear to be anything like so great as it is in parts of the Awka district, at any rate, the Qze title in Asaba appears to cost about £25, and it is only rarely that this amount would be exceeded. There are two well marked geographical groups in the district, .corresponding with the distribution of the Qze title. Asaba, Ibuzg, and Qkpanam have one set of titles, and the remainder of the district another. Ala, which in other respects is allied to Asaba, was not affected by the tendency to multiply the ^ze title, and falls in line with its neighbours instead of following the Asaba custom.

The first title to be taken at Asaba is that known as nkpese; this is a sign that a man is free born; he pays five cows to the head of the quarter, and is thereafter entitled to carry an ivory horn ; in olden times, when a man had taken nkpese title, one slave was sacrificed at his burial. The next title is known as alo, so called from the ceremonial staff which the bearer of it carries; the holders of the alo title receive a share of the contributions of other candidates ; a special kitchen is provided for the holder of the alo and higher titles. Properly speaking, a man can only make alo after his father's death, he is called nkpalo.

The third title is that of ^ze, and it has been explained elsewhere how it originated. In making this title a slave was formerly sacrificed. After the completion of the Qze title, the obu has to be made, which is properly a title confined to those who have killed a man or danj^erous beast.

55

If the gze fails to make the obu title in his lifetime, it has to be made, if necessary, after his death. A cotton tree called akbo olju is planted in front of his house, and is not cut down until his death.

A man also takes the title of blacksmith (ozo) when a doctor orders. Various payments are necessary for the purchase of the blacksmith's materials. One of the benefits reaped by the ozo member is that no one is allowed to seize any animal belonging to him. A man may also become a doctor (dibia). He beats a drum for seven days and calls the ants, Qluln, and the ceremonies are not satisfactory until they have come. A doctor also makes orhai (PI. VIII), or big medicine, made out of a white ants' nest, which he puts either in the ukoni (kitchen) or in a small house built especially for it. According to the grade attained by the doctor, he is entitled to chalk one or both eyes.

When a doctor gets a patient, a price is agreed upon, to be paid when the cure is completed. The patient, however, is not allowed to observe what remedies a doctor uses, for they will be of no effect. A doctor may also, if a patient does not pay him his dues, recall the sickness by putting the medicine used for the cure into the fire.

At Okpanam dimw^ (p. 11) give the title of nkpese to their children or their daughters' children. The title of alo is also known as ^z^mw^, but a man only takes it after his father's death and before that time he has no mwg of his own. The house is purified, and brooms and mats are removed. During certain parts of the ceremonies, the can- didates are secluded, and Nri men are sometimes called in. The influence of the people east of the Niger is seen both here and at Asaba and Ibuzg in the fact that " going to Udo " is an important part of the ceremonies.

The second class of titles is in some respects more elaborate. It is imposible to give any details of the ceremonies that are performed, but the following is a summary of those found at IsQle Asaba. A young man gets ikgiiga izizi, that is to say, he gets his first ik^hga (PI. V) or tutelary image. After

56

procuring the ik^iiga he washes it and says, "Oco pua nar^ " ; this is apparently a ceremony of purification, but the meaning of "oco" is unknown. The ik^iiga is then fixed in a dish known as abuke with chalk and roots; the. arms of the candidate are marked with chalk and they say " Food and money come " ; then kola is offered and a cock killed. On the following day twenty cowries are offered to the ik^hga, which is put on the ukbo. Food and drink are provided for the ^bo.

The next title is §si or grhi. An ants' nest is got from the bush and taken home, and then put in the bush again near a tree. A doctor goes at night and offers kola at the tree and brings the ants' nest back, drawing at the same time a line of chalk all I he way from the tree to the house and saying, "Erhi follow the line of chalk, and come to the house and eat." The ants' nest is put in an old basket for fish, and a tortoise sacrificed to it. The doctor then says, " Let me go h"ome," and receives his fee. The children of the idumu then take erhi, and take it to the place fixed by the doctor, singing "Erhi eat."

The next ceremony is known as orhai. The candidate provides certain roots and an ants' nest, which is put near the wall and covered with medicine so that it cannot be seen. Then the qkpala of the candidate offers to this orhai, and a dog and other victims are sacrificed on it. The skull is skinned and hung over the orhai and they say the orhai will preserve him ; later, a ram is killed with similar ceremonies.

After this a man has his head shaved, leaving a patch in the middle. This is called inyok^nti; he may put a parrot's feather in the patch that is left. A day is fixed on which the candidate dances all night ; young men come and build an Qgwa, that is an open front house, for him ; he then proceeds to make alo. In the course of this, in addition to various payments, he has to cut Qf^, put it in a pot and half bury it. The candidate provides himself with Qsisi staves, which are identical with the Edo

57

uxure,* and he next proceeds to find a small girl who will carry his Qkwaci for him.

This girl, known as onye ebuci, is decorated with beads and stays four days in the candidate's house ; she does no work for the next three months, and then takes off her beads. Before a girl can become on ye ebuci, the ceremony of uke has to be performed for her.

The candidate has now completed his title (ic^mwo), and is known as gkpala. Here, and in most places where an Qkpala title is taken, the candidate plants an iroko tree in the course of the ceremonies, and fastens a victim, either a cock or a ram, to the top of it. At Onitsha Olona the ram is left hanging to the iroko tree for vultures to eat.

The Qkpala is, like the qze, subject to various ritual prohibitions ; if anyone takes his head wife, both man and woman may be killed if they belong to Onitsha Olona, but if the man belongs to another town, war would be the result. Neither Qkpala nor Qze may fight with each other, and an ordinary man who fights with an Qkpala or Qze incurs a fine. An ordinary man who commits adultery with the wives other than the head wife of an Qkpala may be fined anything from ten bags to the price of a slave. An Qkpala who steals may be put to death.

* " Report on the Edo-speakiug Peoples," Vol. I, p. 37.

IV.— MARRIAGE.

General. — The ordinary form of marriage in the Asaba district is that in which the wife is purchased by her husband, and resides with him, and the children belong to him (PLI, PLO, PP).* There. is also a subsidiary form in which a childless wife purchases for herself, not for her husband, a wife whom she assigns to a " friend," usually chosen by the " wife " herself ; this friend takes an oath not to run away with nor injure the woman assigned to him. The relation- ship thus set up hardly differs technically from a marriage of the ordinary form, inasmuch as the woman is not allowed to change partners at will, and the bond may be lifelong, though in certain localities the death of the " woman husband " (H) results in her " wife " (W) passing to her husband or his heir. A second subsidiary form corresponds to isomi ("Edo Report," vol. I, p. 54); it is known as i deb we.

All over the Asaba district, the ordinary form of marriage usually involves three other stages, though it may happen that the second is omitted, and the first and third coalesce. These stages are (1) the consummation of the marriage, commonly followed by the residence of the wife with her husband for a period up to three months, (2) a period of licence, known as so nwaboa, etc., at the girl's father's house, the girl being free to entertain any male friend and cohabit with him ; (3) removal to her husband's house and perma- nent residence with him, after making confession of the names of all her paramours during the period of licence, and absolving the necessary ceremonies of purification, sacrifices and practices ritual commensality with her husband.

* Patrilineal, patrilocal, patripotestal.

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Up to the time of the consummation of the marriage, the girl should be, and usually is, a virgin, though it may- happen that a girl who has reached the age of puberty before a suitor presents himself will take the matter into her own hands and choose a " friend " without her father's knowledge ; this is, however, no bar to subsequent marriage either with the friend or another suitor.

Various reasons appear to have facilitated the growth, though they were not necessarily the original cause, of this period of licence. In most places this temporary promis- cuity is attractive to the girls, not only as a time of unlimited sexual enjoyment, but also because it involves a respite from household work ; their lovers naturally bring presents, and this no doubt is a further inducement; it is worthy of note that in the Asaba district, as on the other side of the Niger, the prevalence of theft is to some extent attributed to the existence of these " friendships."

Elsewhere, at any rate at the present day, the views of the girl appear to be less important ; at Ezi, I was informed that the period of licence is intended for the benefit of the mother, who, as well as her daughter, receives presents, though only in kind, from the lovers ; the period of licence is here extended to five years, and is not terminated, as elsewhere, by the conception or birth of a child.

To some extent, no doubt, the period of licence must be attributed to the fact that there was little outlet in other directions for the sexual passions of the unmarried men ; before marriage, a girl was, and is, carefully kept ; adultery with the wives of those who had taken the title of gkpala or its equivalent was heavily punished, and though the wife of a young man was fair game so far as native law went, the co-respondent was liable to be assaulted and even killed by the husband on whose rights he had trespassed.

In the present day, the introduction of " white man's " law with regard to adultery appears to have resulted in a great relaxation of morality among the wives of the older men (gkpala, etc.), and with this additional safety valve, the

60

demands of the young men upon the young girls should be correspondingly less.

In Asaba and certain other areas, the punishment for adultery with certain women was considerably heavier than elsewhere. The wife of an ^ze or any girl in whose head an eagle's feather had been put was known as isi mw^; an isi mwo who commited adultery, was put to death in the olden time. Later, as a concession to humanitarianism, she was allowed to live but expelled from the town, death being the penalty for return : she might re-marry elsewhere, but the original husband claimed no money.

In the present day this custom of expulsion has fallen into desuetude, in some places owing to the guilty parties putting themselves under the protection of a mission, with or with- out being converted to Christianity.

Marriage customs. — The ordinary form of marriage cor- responds to the amoia marriage of the Edo-speaking peoples (" Eeport," vol. I, p. 54). There is, however, a form of sexual relation closely resembling the isomi marriage.

It may be recalled that the isomi wife does not become the absolute property of her husband, though he pays the usual bride price for her ; on the contrary she can go to her own family at will, and her children, with certain exceptions, return to her family and inherit property from her brothers.

In the Ibo(and Isan)area the isomi wife, known as id^bwe, is not paid for and does not leave her father's house, at any rate permanently; a girl is usually left as id^bwe because the father has no son ; she is reckoned as a man, her son, if any, is the heir ; if she bears no child she may be joint heir with her father's brother, or may marry a "wife" (W) whose children will inherit.

The id^bwe is assigned to a friend in the same way as the wife purchased by a woman, and the same oaths are taken to ensure that the " friend " does not abuse his position.

From the point of view of the man to whom the wife is assigned, tlie kind of marriage in which the woman is pur- chased by a childless wife resembles isomi marriage, inasmuch

61

as, though she is assigned to a friend, property in his children is retained by the family to which she belongs (after purchase).

Bride 'price. — A girl is often asked for in marriage the day after she is born, the suitor bringing wood and throwing it down before the mother's door. Some months may elapse before he is finally accepted, but as soon as he is recognised and presented to the umunna (sept, or extended family) he is called upon {a) to work on his prospective father-in-law's farm or elsewhere if he needs assistance in clearing the land, planting yams, re-roofing the house and so on, and (b) to bring " if^nru," gifts of yams, palm wine, cowries, palm oil, etc., on certain ceremonial occasions ; he will also give 15 or 20 yams to his mother-in-law once or twice a year besides bringing her palm nuts, wood, etc., and providing for her in his farm a plot in which she plants if'ubwo, vegetables such as pepper, tomatoes, beans, etc., for him to tend.

It is almost universal to repay only the bride price, so that the suitor after rendering services and if Qnru for fifteen years, finds himself no better off than if he had thrown his yams into the street for his neighbours' goats to eat ; he has in fact made a present of perhaps £15 or more to his girl's parents ; and if by insisting on her coming to him before she feels disposed he loses his wife, all he receives is the actual bride price, plus if'gna ("brass " money) and similar out-of-pocket payments. In other words, perhaps three-fourths of his outlay has been thrown away. Unless he can find a girl who has refused her suitor or one who, for some reason, has no suitor, his only resource is to begin again at the beginning and serve fifteen years for another bride. It may be mentioned that it is usually more costly to engage an adult bride, so that the bride price recovered from the parents by a girl engaged in infancy will not be sufficient to bring a wife to his door.

At present the period of licence is merely an episode in the life of a woman ; there is, however, a tendency, notably at Oboluku, to transform it into a permanent condition. There it was reported to me that some women after going to live permanently with their husbands had again returned to their

62

fathers' houses and were living as prostitutes, finding such a life easier than the burdensome state of the married woman.

I could not discover any precise number at Oboluku ; in a town of 20,000 inhabitants it was impossible to get at the facts in any simple way ; I was, however, informed that the cases were numerous. Legislation would imdoubtedly be welcomed and it would doubtless be possible to deal with the period of licence and habitual prostitution by one and the same law.

At Asaba the bride price is about £7, but £3 10s. has to be spent on provision of food, probably for the marriage ceremony, and some pounds for ornaments, cloth, etc., for the girl. In addition to this a number of yams are rendered at certain times of the year such as Iwaji (New Yam Festival), the quantity depending upon the age of the gii'l. When the girl goes to reside with her husband, the girls of her own quarter go and cut wood for her and take it to her husband's house so that she need not fetch wood for some time. She is, however, obliged to share this wood with the other married women of her husband's quarter. When she reaches her husband's house the new wife cooks both for the children and for the older people of the quarter. This is called isinniuno, the beginning of cooking.

An eagle's feather is put on the head of the first wife, who is called anase. This a husband can only do if he has taken alo title. If his wife runs away his title is lost, and conse- quently it is the custom to take an Asaba wife. If the man is poor and cannot get another wife he makes the people of his own wife swear to return her if she runs. If a man cannot get an anase he takes a bambu pole and carries it to market, and it represents his anase ; he puts feathers on it and keeps it; when he gets a wife he can make her anase.

In the case of certain women it is laid down by the doctor that they either must be or must not be a n a se. In the former case if a man already has an anase the second wife will purchase the title from the first. In the latter case it is possible for the man to make his alo title without putting a feather on her head.

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When a man gets a head wife she takes one hen to make gm^n^* in the woman's house. This is represented by mud which is rubbed with chalk. A hen is taken to the ukoni (kitchen) and killed there and three akukwa (pot rests) are made. If her husband dies she must lie down beside the corpse with her feet beside his head, a position which is ordinarily forbidden. The work of the head wife is to cook on feast days and on every eke day. She sacrifices on behalf of a man who has taken Qze title when he is on a journey and may sit on his ukbo or raised seat. If there are quarrels among the other wives she can summon them before her and try the case.

The marriage customs of Asaba have undergone considerable changes in the last twenty years, because in olden time the mere putting of an eagle's feather in a woman's hair bound her legally to the man who did it, whether she was unmarried or a widow. This has now been abolished and in the case of a widow the new husband has to take the woman to her people. He formerly paid 5 ngugu to the gkpalaof herumunna. If a man is paying price for a girl but has not yet married her, the head wife is the one for whom he is paying the price.

At Qkpanam, as in many other places, a go-between, one of the umunna of the father, conducts the suitor to the house of the father and any complaints about the conduct of the suitor subsequently would be made to this go-between. On the first day the father's consent is asked and the father, mother and go-between discuss the matter. Palm wine is brought and as soon as a man has been presented to the umunna as suitor his position is established. All these preliminaries can be carried out as soon as the child is born, and a man of speculative ten- dencies may take steps even before the child is born.

As soon as the girl is six or eight she will be consulted and if she declares that she does not like her suitor her father will wait until she makes her choice, and will repay the first suitor from the monies handed over by the second suitor. The Qkpanam price is seven bags for a girl engaged as a child ♦ Image of her mother (?).

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together with one cow valued at ten bags. The former sum is known as ifoji, the latter as oziza.

At Isele Asaba the first step is to throw down wood before the door of the child's mother. This is the common custom throughout the district. After this he approaches the father and mother and they are compelled to consult the father's elder brother. After palm wine has been drunk by the umunna the son-in-law is accepted and told by his father-in- law what he has to do ; he may be called upon, for example, to give a goat to one or more of the umunna. When the girl reaches the age of puberty the father-in-law calls upon the son-in-law to bring ten bags known aseliliefi;he also pays a cow ; five bags go to the mother, the rest to the father or his heir. If the mother is dead, the eldest of her own sisters gets the five bags, failing the sisters her own mother, failing her own mother her mother's sister or the oldest woman in that line (see p. 51.)

Wheuithe suitor makes ikQiiga for the girl she receives from him a goat, 100 yams and three bags for the purchase of fish and meat. For beads, cloth and cowry armlets she gets three bags. All these she receives before she goes to her husband. The girl is sent with four conductors to her husband's house. They receive a small payment from the husband and then return home. After remaining two nights in the husband's house she goes home to her father at daybreak on the second day taking with her five ngugu, seven yams and the leg of an animal.

The son-in-law has to make the following annual payments in addition to the single payment mentioned above. When his father-in-law sacrifices to his ancestors his son-in-law brings palm nuts, seven yams and one pot of palm wine. He and his umunna are required to work on the farm of the father-in-law in return for food, soup, palm wine, tobacco and kola. They help to build the father-in-law's house and the umunna tread the mud for it and make the floor. The actual building of the roof is done by the idumu of the father-in-law, though the son-in-law comes to help but without his umunna.

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The mother-in-law receives five yams when she has given con- sent to the marriage ; thirty yams at New Yam time, two n t o t o when the yams are tied in irhe and one ntoto of ji abana (p. 177). One ntoto is given at the same time to the girL If other women go with her to the farm two yams may be given to each and the mother-in-law also receives twenty nganaji (seed yams). She further receives seven heads of palm nuts and as many heads of corn as the son-in-law can caiTy. If the girl refuses to marry the suitor they repay in addition to the actual out-of-pocket expenses ten bags as the commuted value of the yams.

It has been mentioned above that a good deal of value is laid upon the virginity of the bride in the Asaba district. If the husband finds that the girl for whom he has been paying the price has had friends previously to her going to his house he indicates it by marking the yams and the fish which are sent to the parents when the girl returns to their house. After this a girl, who has committed herself in this way, is liable to have her offence thrown in her face not only by her husband but also by other wives when they quarrel with her.

Isele Asaba is so far peculiar in its marriage customs that marriage within the q b o is permitted. Originally the two main §bo came from IsQl'uku, where they formed an exogamous. unit. Scarcity of wives then compelled them to offer a sacrifice and divide the two Qbo so that they could intermarry. In Obwoto marriage within the iduniu is also permitted because some of them did not come from IsQl'uku.

It is forbidden to marry in the mother's family. If a distant relationship is traceable, for instance as between son's son'a child and daughter's daughter's child, the idumu may go to the 0 k e i and offer a goat to the m w o to be eaten by the i k e^ b o> to " stop the parties from being related." The man and woman themselves may not eat.

At Onitsha Olona a certain amount of work is required from the suitor before the father definitely assigns the child, who may be five or six years old before anything final is done. When this has taken place the suitor has to bring five yams,

(1172) F

66

sixty kola, etc. for his father-in-law to sacrifice to his ancestors. The following day the suitor takes his umunna to thank the father-in-law, who on his side call the umunna to see the suitor. The gkpal^bo comes and offers kola and touches the foreheads of the girl and of her suitor as they kueel before him. After this palm wine is drunk and the son-in-law visits the members of his father-in-law's umunna singly with his umunna to salute them. The price of the bride is not fixed definitely but varies from three to six bags for the father-in- law ; the mother-in-law gets one bag, the gkpal^bo one bag, the young men of the umunna one bag, the go-between one bag and ten ngugu to the mother's gkpala, that is her eldest sister. After the suitor has made ik^nga for the girl the husband buys cloth and two goats and the gu'l returns to his house with him. If both belong to Onitsha Olona she goes alone, if to another town young men and girls of her umunna accompany her ; they stay three days and are fed by the husband. In the case of a marriage where the girl belongs to Onitsha Olona she returns, with her husband, to her parents at dawn the day after marriage. Five yams are given to the mother- in-law and seven gko and palm wine to the father-in-law, but if the bride is not a virgin this payment is reduced. This is the rule where the girl is engaged in childhood.

Where the girl is already marriageable before the suitor presents himself the price may be twenty or thirty bags or even forty if the suitor is from another town. Three bags go to the mother, one to the eldest son, one to thegkpal^bo and one to the woman who has the mother in Qma. After this the son-in-law is instructed to bring yams, kola, etc., for the sacrifice to the mwo, which takes place on the following day. The son-in-law brings his umunna and a few people from each idumu and the father-in-law's Qbo will also come. Where a girl has been engaged under these circumstances she does not return to her father's house after marriage.

At Ala not only the father, but the father's umunna and the mother's brother can call upon the suitor to do work for them. He is also called upon to continue the if^nru or

Plate X.

^3

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50 «

< o n

To

2:3 <

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gifts of yams, etc., due before marriage from the time that she has borne her first child until her death. The pay- ments are as follows : three bags to the father, one bag to the mother, one bag to the eldest son, l.s. to the mother's eldest brother or sister. Is. to the father's umunna. It is not quite clear whether she goes alone to her husband's house ; according to one informant the suitor fetches the girl home, according to another she has conductors who carry her gkwaci (see p. 17) which she puts in orhai (see p. 22) till she gets her own house, when she takes it before esi (p. 22), an image of mud near the wall. The morning after she has gone to her husband she returns to her parents about 4 a.m. Five days later her husband takes five ngugu, ten yams and a calabash of palm nuts to her mother and this payment is annually made if the girl is a virgin. She returns to her husband's house after she bears her first child and her idumu will conduct her, carrying the pots and other house- hold articles which are usuall}'" purchased by the girl's mother and also yams and fish go to her father.

Under ordinary circumstances, if a girl's mother is dead, one of her mother's sisters may bring her up, but in Ala she may go to live with her suitor's mother. The payment which is ordinarily made to her mother's sister, as a recompense for bringing her up, is, however, made just the same. The Ala customs are different in several respects from those of the rest of the district. Both at Ala and Ebu, if a woman is driven away by lier husband and he refuses to build a house for her, she can take all her children to her own umunna, but her husband's refusal must be given in the presence of the umunna of both sides. Where tlie husband refuses, the umunna cannot accept the responsibility of retaining the children. The Qkpala of the woman's umunna takes them as his own.

If no children are born, a husband can apply to his elder brother to assign his wife to a friend who swears not to take her as his wife and to allow any children to be handed over to the husband.

(1172) F 2 '

The ^bo is not the exogamous unit in Ala, but this is due to the fact that almost every quarter is made up partly of immi- grants from Ida and elsewhere, and partly of those who claim to benatives. These two groups are distinguished as Azanam wo and Umu^ze and apparently form the exogamous units in the §bo.

The ordinary rule is that if a widow marries outside her §bo the price has to be paid.

At Ibuzo the age of a child, when application is made for her, is said to be about 6 or 8. The following are the pay- ments : seven bags as if^ji to the father, who gives three to the mother, twenty five bags as oziza, one bag to the umunna. Is. to the woman who has the mother in Qma together with ten yams, a fowl, etc., for sacrifice to the oma. If a girl refuses her husband, in addition to the out-of-pocket expenses Ihejiogige, 100 yams given annually valued at 5.S., are repaid. It is a somewhat curious circumstance that all pay- ments either in kind or in money are made before witnesses even when they cannot be demanded back if the girl refuses to marry.

In most of the district the rule is that when a girl has gone to her husband and returned to her parents, she is re- quired to return to her husband either at the end of twelve months or after a child is born. At Ibuzo the former rule prevails but she may remain with her parents after the birth of a child, in which case the husband must send food for her to her father's house. While she is living in her parents' house she may go to see her husband and remain not more than one night ; if she stays longer she must stay altogether. She is allowed to have friends out of any §bo except her own, but the husband's idumu is also excepted. Her friends may come to her father's house when her husband is not there and will also do work for her parents.

At Ogwashi the rule is for the girl to stay seven months with her husband before she goes back to her parents, and if conception has" taken place she remains with him permanently. If she goes back to her father she remains at most three

69

years; here not only her own Qbo but all her husband's Qbo are ruled out as friends. The ordinary rule at Ogwashi with regard to widows is that the father's brother takes the mother of the eldest son and the eldest son takes the re- mainder. If, however, a boy is small, the father's brother takes all who have gone to their husband. The girl, however, who has gone to her husband and returned to her father's house may elect to remain in her father's house, or go to the brother of the dead man. As regards marriage prohibitions, it is forbidden to marry in one's own or one's mother's ^bo or one's father's mother's ^bo. Marriage in the mother's mother's Qbo is permitted, but it must be outside heridumu. Such marriages would, however, be rare, for my informants had not heard of any cases.

At Oboluku a girl stays three months with her husband and then returns to her parents, whether conception has taken place or not. After going to her father's house she may stay away three years or return earlier at will. I was informed that in a number of cases girls who had finally gone to their husbands decided to leave them again and return to a small house which they built near their father's house, this after repaying the price. Where a woman does this, the children belong to her father for she is reckoned as id^bwe.

At Obolono a girl goes to her husband for from one to three months or may remain with him altogether. If she returns to her father's hovise she may remain away as much as three years. This period appears to be growing longer, and here as elsewhere the natives say that formerly a girl's mother sent her to her husband, but at the present day the girl threatens to summon her husband to receive repayment of bride price if any pressure is put upon her.

At Idumuje Uboko application is made for a girl soon after birth, but decision is apparently delayed for some years. When a father-in-law accepts a suitor the latter brings various articles for sacrifice, and the forehead and chest of suitor and girl are touched with kola, which is then^ offered to the m w^. When a girl goes to her husband she stays from

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three to live months and then returns to her parents, where she remains till she has borne a child or at most for two years. If she is the wife of a man who has taken Qkpala title, here as elsewhere she is not allowed to have friends, but in recent years this custom has probably been broken down, and to this is due, no doubt, the fact that the older men are without exception opposed to the period of licence which follows the return of the girl to her father's house.

Under ordinary circumstances the method of recovering a runaway wife was to seize people connected with her in some way, even though the relationship was no nearer than membership of the same Qbo. At Idumuje it was also the custom to apply to the owner of the alose N^monica. It was believed that if after this the offending man failed to restore the woman, N^monica would kill him. His property had to be brought together with an offering and put before the alose ; the valuables were taken and added to the offering, and the rest of the property sprinkled with o d o and chalk ; the worthless articles might then be removed by the umunna of the dead man.

At Idumuje Un^, if a man seduces a girl the father can compel him to pay a higher price than usual and at the same time retain the child, if one is born. The child, however, at the age of 10 might go to see its mother and refuse to retiurn. If it showed its wishes in this way it might be purchased at the price of twelve bags.

If a suitor is paying price at the time the girl is seduced he takes the child, and the father may send the girl to her husband at once. The husband pays full price but gives no goat, etc., for the purchase of cloth, and the mother sends no household articles with the girl.

At Onitsha Ubwo a man asks for a girl as his wife the day after she is born by throwing a piece of wood on the ground before the house. The next day he brings a calabash of palm wine, and if more than one man presents himself the one from whom the palm wine is taken is the favoured suitor. The day after this five heads of palm n uts are brought to the

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mother, who must agree in the choice of the suitor. The head of the umunha is not told until later, but he has only a very limited right of refusal, apparently only if he has a quarrel with the suitor, which will probably be appeased with a few yams and some palm wine. After this offerings are brought for sacrifice to the mw^, and kola is offered in the usual way. The man is now the legal son-in-law, and is bound to give palm wine to various members of the umunna, ten in all.

The following are tlie annual if^nru. At the sacrifice to the ancestors the mother-in-law receives five heads of palm nuts and a leg of meat ; at the sacrifice to Qma 120 cowries, three yams, and a leg of meat ; at the ig we dance, seven yams and a leg of meat ; twenty yams are given to her when the suitor begins to dig his yams. If the father of the girl is an gkpala, one yam and meat without bone are sent to the mother-in-law when the father-in-law goes into nzu (see p. 15); when the yams are tied, twenty yams are given to her as"jiogige" and three yams to each of the two women who help to carry them ; at Ifejigko a leg of meat goes to the mother-in-law ; the father-in-law receives five large yams and a calabash of palm wine, which he offers to his ik^iiga ; seven yams, a leg of meat, and a calabash of palm wine whenever he entertains a stranger ; five yams, four kola, a large calabash of palm wine, and 180 cowries when he sacrifices to his ancestors ; a log of wood and a calabash of palm wine when he goes into nzu; five yams at iwaji; five yams and a calabash of palm wine at igwe. These payments go on as long as the girl lives, unless she refuses her husband. The if^nru are reckoned in repayment of bride price but not the work. They were formerly reckoned at ten bags. Some people send their daughters to the suitor before the price is paid ; this gives him time for collecting money ; in this case she stays permanently with her husband.

At Ukiinzu the customs are apparently slightly different, but how far this is due to difference of race I was unable to

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ascertain; The suitor, when the girl is marriageable, may either take her home to his own house or go to her father's house. In the latter case he will take her home the next day. The girl remains with him three months, but it is not uncommon for men to keep their wives permanently.

At Ezi a girl normally goes to her husband after the birth of her first child, but if no child is born she may stay away five years, and I was informed that some wives bear three children before they finally go to their husbands. Apparently it is impossible for a girl to go to her Imsband and remain with him from the first, and my informants gave as a reason that the mother would be deprived of the profit she derives from her daughter's friendships in the way of palm nuts, yams, etc.

At Nsukwa the marriage customs are widely different from those of the greater part of the rest of the district, for when a girl has gone to her husband she remains with him. Previous to this she may have had friendships with other men, but risks her suitor's annoyance in this case. She is forced to take her suitor whether she likes him or not, and my informants said that this was the rule at Ejema, Ogidi, Esago, Umute, and other places. Where they marry a woman of a town where the custom is different, they follow their own custom, and not uncommonly the Nsukwa woman who marries, for example, at Ogwashi, remains per- manently with her husband.

Confession. — Before, or as soon as, a girl returns to her li us band's house, she has to make confession, usually to the ad^bo, of the names of all the lovers she has had. At Onitsha Olona the ad^bo takes Qfo, the girl names her lovers in succession and puts a grain of corn before Qf^ at each name, and as she does so she occasionally includes, out of revenge, the name of a man who has offended her. When these proceedings are finished the ad a takes a grain of corn and gives a grain to each lover who has been men- tioned, who is thereupon obliged to bring a cock and a goat, which are sacrificed to the Qfo. Thereupon all the lovers

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eat kola, and after this they may meet the girl in the same house. If this ceremony is not performed a chicken must be offered to purify the woman if she meets them, and she is not allowed to suckle a child till she has been cleansed. The girl and her husband then go to the gkpalumunna, koko yams are boiled, the gkpalumunna entwines his fingers with those of the woman, holding the palms up, and puts slices of koko yam on the hand of each. The woman takes the slice from the hand of the qkpalumunna and the qkpalumunna from her hand. She kneels to the qkpalumunna and shouts as she rises; the husband eats nothing. The same ceremony is performed where a married woman commits adultery.

At Ala a girl makes confession in the seventh month of pregnancy. A he-goat is required to cleanse her if she has had lovers, otherwise a chicken suffices. A she-goat is sent to the qkpal^bo of her husband, to offer to nze, after she has borne a child. The girl takes one leg to her father's house and cooks the rest for the Qbo, but the husband does not attend tlie feast. The one leg is cooked the next day in her husband's house and husband and wife eat together.

In addition to this ceremony the husband may lie in wait for any lover of his wife and pursue him to the boundary of his own ^bo. The lover would then take 180 cowries and palm wine to the gkpala of the husband to make peace. This, however, is only in the case of a girl who has not yet gone to her husband. Where it is a question of a married woman, the normal procedure is for the nkpalo (p. 54) to go and kill five or six goats and fine the co-respondent five or seven bags.

At Ibuz^, where a married woman commits adultery there is no fine for the man if he belongs to another qbo. The woman brings two fowls and two goats. The goats are offered by the husband to the ndicie and the nze, and he also kills a cock to a da's gf^. The adqbo kills the fowls to nwada. Where the parties belong to the same idumu, a goat is brought to the house of the qkpalqbo and killed by

74

him. The meat goes to the men and women of the quarter, but the wife herself gets the head of the second goat which is killed by the husband. Both goats are provided by the co-respondent. The husband brings yams and meat to the house of the Qkpal^bo, and they eat together in his house.

At Ogwashi, before a girl goes to her husband, she confesses to ad^bo and takes with her a hen, fish, and yams. The ada kills the fowl to the calabash where Qfo is kept. The girl cooks, the ada gives food to husband and wife in their clasped hands. The cloth of the girl is changed and hung in the street in which the cult of ancestors is kept up.

In the case of a married woman, if the husband had taken a title, the co-respondent was redeemed with one cow or sold. Adultery with the wife of a young man is a minor matter and the fine is a goat, a cock, a hen, and a new cloth. In both cases the ceremonial meal in the house of the QkpalQbo is obligatory.

At Oboluku the girl makes confession in her husband's house and may be cleansed with a chicken. After this she is bound to be faithful to her husband even if, as sometimes happens, he sends her back to her father's house to bear a child because he has not completed payment of the bride price. In the case of a married woman, the co-respondent used to be fined about £5, which was divided between the Qmu, the obi, and the olinzQle and ikei ani, three portions in all. The husband received money out of this to buy a goat and perform the other ceremonies, for which a chicken, a hen, a cock, a goat, and three pieces of cloth were required. The wife was then sent to the obi and, unless she belonged to the same ^bo, became his wife. If she belonged to the same Qbo, she might be sent away to a distant place to another husband. At the present day they complain that women who are unfaithful to their husbands say, " You cannot send me to the obi now, what can you do to me ? "

At Idumuje Uboko, when a girl goes to her husband, all the eldest daughters of her husband's ^bo assemble. The

75

girl gives corn to the ad^bo and two piles of the grain are made, according to whether a lover has been accepted by the girl or whether she has refused him after he has made advances. The girl then brings a goat and a cock and changes her cloth. Animals are sacrificed to Qfo by the ad^bo, and the girl and her husband are purified with two chickens. Husband and wife then go to the ok pal a and eat part of the food after the okpala has offered to the m w^. The girl is accounted as a wife from the day that she has made confession.

Adultery with the wife of obi was punished by hanging the co-respondent or selling him into slavery. At the present day, if the woman is the wife of an gkpala the fine is £5, and the ceremony of purification has to be performed " for the ground." The woman may be sent to obi as a wife. In some cases the women of the quarter, both here and elsewhere, inflict their own punishment on an unfaithful wife. I was told that at Idumuje Uboko the recognised procedure is to rub the woman with yam juice and then rub in pepper. The husband might also attack the co-respondent with a matchet.

At Idumuje Un2, when a girl goes to her husband, the mother brings a goat for her daughter and the husband offers the goat to nze. The girl then cooks after making confession to a da, and husband and wife eat from each other's linked hands. If after this a man solicits her, the umunna sends a message to , him and the man brings cloth, a goat, two chickens, and a cock ; the gkpaltjbo offers the goat to Qf() and the ada offers the cock to her gf 9. The head, liver, and heart of the goat are cooked in soup, and husband and wife eat from each other's linked hands. The elders eat the rest of the liver and heart. The gkpalQbo takes one ear and the jaw, tlie ribs go to the young men, two legs to the husband, one leg to the Qkpal^bo and one leg to the elders. A portion of the head seems to go to the young men and the rest to the husband. One wing of the cock is given to the elders by the Qga or divider, and the hiisband gives a wing to the ad^bo and takes one leg himself.

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At Onitsha Ubwo the punishment for adultery on the part of a married woman depends upon the status of her husband. A young man fights the co-respondent, but if he uses a matchet he would be fined four goats according to the usual practice ; afterwards the co-respondent sends I*', to the husband to make peace and they eat kola together. If the husband has taken gkpala title he notifies the qkpala members ; they collect and inflict a fine of three bags, together with five ngugu, to the Qga, and ten ngugu to "take up the seat of the elders of the okpala." The husband's ad a then obtains a cock, a goat, and a chicken from the co-respondent, and hears the confession of the woman. The ada purifies the wife with a chicken and kills the goat and the cock to her gf 9 ; the Qkpal^bo then gives kola to the husband and wife.

At Ukunzu the girl goes to her husband before confession and the ad^bo comes and calls her out ; after confession, the men whose names have been mentioned have to provide a goat, a hen, and three chickens, the latter to purify the husband, the wife, and the house. The hen is sacrificed on the Qfo ada, and the ada changes the woman's cloth and keeps the old one. The okpal^bo sacrifices the goat before the mwg, and offers kola to them. The woman receives some of the kola from him and the husband himself from the ada. The gkpalQbo cuts food for the woman and the ada for the man. If this ceremony were not duly performed the woman would have to confess agam. In the case of a married woman the purificatory ceremonies are described above. The pimishment for the woman is as follows. She is called by ada and a hairy seed called abwala is rubbed all over her body. Her head is shaved and a drum put on her back ; filth of various kinds is rubbed over her and rags put on her ; then she starts from her husband's house and the drum is beaten and the woman keeps shouting her own name with the words " Alo kai §me," " the abomination I have done."

At Obgmpa the ad^bo hears confession in her own house,

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and the Qkpal^bo and the woman eat kola from each other's hands. Where a married woman, the wife of an Qkpala, commits adultery the obi causes the "ozi" drum to be beaten and a fine of ten bags is inflicted.

At Ubulubu the ceremony in the case of a girl going to her husband does not differ essentially from that already described. In the case of a married woman the ad^bo calls for the woman and takes the offending wife to a tree called oko; she is tied to this and abwala seed rubbed on her neck. They then flog her home, saying, " You want to kill your husband," and seize all her house- hold goods ; the woman has to pay a fine of one goat to the Qmu. After this the a da takes her home and hears her confession ; the woman has to draw a chicken tied with a palm leaf round her house and mash odo and sprinkle it. A hole is dug where she makes confession and corn put in. Blood is run into the hole and meat eaten outside the house and then the bones are buried in the hole. After this the usual ceremonial meal has to be taken in the house of the Qkpal^bo.

At Ezi a girl makes confession to the ada umunna, and each accepted lover has to pay sixty cowries and join in providing a goat and a cock which are offered in the first wife's kitchen. The unmarried girls of the husband's umunna eat the meat. The girl's mother brings a cock and fish to purify the body of the husband, and when these are roasted, small boys eat them. The ada "washes" the Imsband's mouth with mashed odo leaves and his tongue with an egg, which he throws in the middle of the street. The following day the girl cooks in the head wife's house and brings the food before the Qgwa, where the ada puts it in the linked right hands of man and wife. Each portion of food is then transferred to the hand of the other party and husband and wife eat. After this no co-respondent is to stop and chat with the woman or say to her : " Ainyai di nwa," "your eye is like this." For doing so he may be fined three bags and a goat, none of wliich, however,

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would go to the husband, for the money is considered to be defiled.

In the case of a married woman the fine for the co- respondent varies from five to seven bags and from two to seven goats, together with victims for sacrifice. No penalty is known for adultery with a wife of one of the olinzqle, for they said that they had never seen such a case. Where a girl was betrothed to the obi, a lover had to buy a slave to cleanse the town and pay one bag to each Qkpal^bo to purchase his intercession, twenty bags to the obi, ten to the ike ani, a goat for ani uku, another for Adubwe, a goat to ik^nga orh^ze, one bag to each of the onotu, five in all, and three bags to Qmu's company. Where the wife of an obi committed adultery, both parties were hanged and their bodies redeemed by their kin at the price of one bag. They v/ere buried in the ajoifia if this is not done. A cock, an aka bead, and a red feather, have also to be paid to lyase.

At Nsukwa, where the customs are widely different, it is the lover who brings the girl to the okpalidumu to confess, and they offer to the m wo. The husband need not be present.

Idebwe. — There can be no doubt that the id^bwe custom (p. GO) has spread southwards from the Ishan country, for it appears to have reached Asaba comparatively recently, and even now it is unknown, according to statements made to me, in Ogwaslii and Ala. Under normal circumstances the idebwe is kept because there is no son, but at Asaba, Onitsha Olona, Obuluku, and Ubulubu, the possession of a son does not prevent the father from making one of his daughters idqbwe.

A man cannot make his daughter idebwe under ordinary circumstances without some form of declaration. At Isele Asaba he calls his idumu and offers a goat ; after this she will inherit her father's house and all his property to the exclusion of his brother ; she may even take a title, though she may not become Qkpal^bo. The same disability is imposed here, as elsewhere, on her son or sons.

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At Onitsha Olona her father declares to the umunna that she is idqbwe and builds a house for her; he reckons as her husband and will pay one bag to her gkpala for her. If she has no male children she may make one of her daughters idQbwe in her turn. If one wife has no male children she may pay the price of one of her daughters and keep her as id^bwe ; in this case, after the death of the father, one of the half brothers reckons as her husband.

At Idumuje Uboko, if a man dies without sons, his brother may offer a goat and in the presence of all the Qbo declare one of the daughters to be id^bwe. The mother of the idQbwe has her children in Qma precisely as is the case with the children of a woman married in the ordinary way.

At Onitsha Ubwo a man can make one or more daughters idqbwe, but if anyone has begun to pay bride price, this must be refunded and also the if^nru. If the id^bwe bears only daughters the father's brother is the heir, and failing the father's brother, the head of the umunna. Where there are only daughters the father's brother arranges their marriage and takes the price.

At Ukuuzu the father announces that his daughter is idQbwe and at dawn he hands her over totheitokw^l^gwe (workers), and she joins them when they come out for work, bringing kola and tobacco for them.

At ObQmpa the father explains to the qbo and offers kola to the mwo. He is placed in the position of husband to his daughter to such an extent that when he sacrifices to his ancestors he hands yams to his daughter which she has to bring to him as if she were his son-in-law. When she reaches marriageable age the share of the bride price which would normally go to her mother is given to her and her father also gives her goats for if'arvi, if'^na, and other ordinary payments. If, after making one of his daughters id^bwe, the father marries later and has a son, the child of the idgbwe, even though he is the elder, comes second in the family. He would take his mother's property and would only get one cow from his father's property. If the

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id^jbwe bears no sons all her daughters must be given to husbands and the bride price goes to the heir of her father.

At Ubulubu a goat is sacrificed before the idumu when the girl reaches a marriageable age, but apparently it is known before this that the girl is to be made id^bwe, for a man offers himself as a friend before the sacrifice is performed, brings ifgnru, and works in her father's farm. At the "igwe" ceremony five yams go to the mother and five to the girl. On the following day the mother cooks and sends to the man and gives eight ngugu to buy meat for soup. The boy then calls his idumu to eat. Five ngugu are put in the soup pot, but this appears to be an irregular practice of which the elders do not approve. At puberty the go-between goes to ask for the girl, and just like an ordinary wife she gets a portion of the friend's farm for if 'ubwo ; the friend continues to give assistance to her fathei- in the farm.

If a woman bears no sons she may make one of her daughters id^bwe, and her eldest son, if she bears one, is entitled to a share of his grandfather's property. At the burial of his grandfather he acts in the same way as a son. If an id^bwe has no son she can take her mother's property and make one of her daughters id^bwe. The eldest son and daughter serve their mother's brother by the same father, the other sons and daughters serve their eldest brother.

At Ezi, as at Ukunzu, the id^bwe joins the workers. The son of the id^bwe can here become Qkpal^bo.

If late in life the father gets a son by another wife, half of the father's property must go to him. If the father of a childless id^bwe dies his brother and the childless id^bwe share the property and bury him.

In some cases the father takes an oath to give the id^bwe in marriage to her mbwa (friend), if she wishes, after she has borne children. The id^bwe who bears only daughters can leave one as id^bwe, but the others must be given to

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husbands. The id^bwe gets from her father the gifts which the husband ordinarily gives ; one bag is paid to whoever has her mother in Qma (p. 51) ; it is believed that if this were not handed over she would bear no children.

It is everywhere the rule that the id qb we is restricted to a single lover, and in many cases the lover is sworn not to run away with her nor take her to wife, nor to kill the woman, nor to steal from her father.

At ObQnipa the friend brings seven Qko to the father, who refuses them ; the same night he brings a calabash of palm wine and the girl is handed over to him ; it is a rule that neither father nor mother can receive money.

At Ezi in addition to other items of the oath the friend is sworn to declare to her father if she commits adultery. At Nsukwa, on the other hand, no oath of any sort is taken. Under ordinary circumstances, however, if a friend proves unsatisfactory, or if, for example, he quits the town, it is permissible for a girl to take some one else, but capricious changes are disapproved of just as much as what may be termed adultery, that is to say, irregular connections with others than the friend bound by oath.

At Ukunzu it appears to be the rule that the id^bwe must remain with the mbwa for life. If she runs to another ^bo the umunna of her mbwa may fight with the people of her new friend and take iyi (pp. 93, 100) there precisely as if she were a runaway wife.

At Idumuje Uboko the idtjbwe who goes to other men would be rebuked by her umunna, and if she persists the umunna may offer a goat to nze and make her marry the original friend. Here as elsewhere the woman selects the friend, who has, however, to be approved by her father or the umunna.

At Idumuje, which is close to the Ishan border, the customs differ in other respects also, for the friend takes no oath, and the mother, not the father, is in the place of the husband. In other cases marriage is permitted when the idgbwe has borne two or three children. In this case she

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leaves the children with her mother. The ordinary bride price is paid even when the friend marries her and the if Qnru go on as long as the wife lives.

At Onitsha Ubwo a calabash of oil, twenty yams antl ten ngugu are given to the mother by the friend but nothing to the father. When enough children have been born the idQbwe is told to marry her mbwa, and the father may take one or two sons and give the rest to the mbwa. Properly speaking the decision rests with the id^bwe's father, but since the white man came the id^bwe herself has been claiming a voice in the matter. I was also told that the native court is giving all the children to the mbwa where he pays bride price, even though it has been agreed that he is to share the children with the father.

At Idumuje Uno the mbwa may pay ten bags to the father, three bags to the mother and two bags to other relatives and marry the id^bwe if children have been born. As elsewhere, a goat has to be offered to the mw^ to reverse the position set up by the original sacrifice when the girl was made id^bwe.

At Ukunzu, when the girl has four children and wishes to marry her friend, a goat is sacrificed to nnadi ( = umuuadi), a hen is killed upon the long broom used by the workers and ten yams are also offered. The friend pays the ordinary price.

At ObQmpa the id^bwe may be offered as a wife to the friend, but^ if the male children of the father die after she has been married, the father cannot claim any children born in wedlock.

At Ubulubu after the id^b we has borne three children, she may be given to^a husband, but not necessarily to the friend. In some cases the father's heir gives her to a husband and takes bride price, but before this can be done she must have a son or daughter.

At Nsukwa the rule is once id^bwe always id^bwe. If she has no son she inherits nevertheless.

In many -^cases, notably at Isele Asaba, Onitsha Olona

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Idumuje yno,Ubiiliibaand Nsukwathe id^bwe is permitted to marry a wife precisely like an ordinary childless wife and thus raise up heirs to herself if she has no children of her own.

" Woman marriage." — This custom of woman marrying woman has practically the same distribution as the id^bwe custom, that is to say, it does not appear to be found at Ala and Ogwashi. In the case of "iiwunye okporo" (woman wife) an oath is required from the friend and adultery is forbidden, precisely in the same way as in the case of the id^bwe, and in both cases when the girl is assigned to her friend the period of licence, which is normal in ordinary marriage customs, is unknown. There is a considerable amount of variation in the position of "hwunye okporo" in the different towns.

At Isele Asaba the "nwunye di" (woman husband) (H) consults her own people and they give her another girl (W) to give her husband, who pays for her ; if no near relative is available the woman pays for a girl. If a son is born he takes all the property of the husband, but under no circum- stances may W go to the husband of H. If H's husband dies,W goes to his sons unless she is too young. If, however, instead of marrying within the umunna, H marries the eldest son of the dead man, W remains with her friend.

At Oboluku W must not come from the same Qbo as H; when H dies the husband cannot marry W, and if she has borne male children she would not marry again but would remain with her mbwa, and all children would belong to the dead woman, i.e., lier husband. If she has borne no male children she is free to marry. If the husband of H dies, his heir takes charge of W, and she remains with her mbwa. The reason given for a woman marrying a woman was that she wished to have an heir, otherwise all her property would go to her people.

At Idumuje Uboko both the girl and her friend are sworn not to kill each other, and the friend undertakes not to run away with her or marry her, and he and the umunna to

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which H and her husband belong undertake jointly no to injure each other. When H dies she goes as a wife to the man who buries H, the friend being sent away. All H's property goes to her husband. At his death it all passes to the children of W. If, however, the children are adult at H's death they receive the property at once if they are sons. A somewhat interesting case was brought to my notice in which the female orh^ne of Nemonica, who was childless, engaged a wife, who was seized on the road when she was taking food to her H when she was sick in bed ; this was about seven years ago. Since then she has borne two children, a boy and a girl, to the man who seized her, whose rights are not admitted by the girl's father. He says that the husband has not paid bride price and yet buried the dead ; hence, as his daughter was not brought to H to bury, " the child is still alive for her."

At Idumuje Uno I was told that the husband of H could hand W to one of his sons at the death of H. If only daughters were born to W, one of them might be made idgb we. At Onitsha Ubwo W goes to the husband when H dies.

At Ukunzu a childless woman takes wood as a suitor to the mother of a baby girl, and then tells her husband, who performs the rest of the service for her ; but when the girl reaches marriageable age she is assigned to a friend with her consent and thereafter cannot change. He brings seven gko for her and H gets from her husband a goat, cloth and three ngugu "to lead her to her mbwa." W lives in her own house in the compound of the husband and at birth H goes to name the child. If it is a male child he buries H ; if it is a daughter she buries her in the sanie way and becomes idgbwe. W must not be from the same Qbo as H but may belong to the husband's gbo. If H dies W remains with her mbwa if she is of the same qbo as the husband of H, other- wise she may marry in his umunna. In a specific case which came under my notice, however, I was informed that she might marry the husband or one of his sons. If before

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the death of H no male child is born, H's property may go to a posthumous child. Till a child has been born W may not marry. If the child is a girl she becomes id^bwe.

At ObQmpa a son of W cannot become Qkpalumunna nor be the first heir of H's husband if he has another son. If H dies W can go to the husband or be given to the son if she has borne no male children, otherwise she will remain with her friend, bearing children for the son. Here W must not belong to the §bo of the husband or of H.

At Ubulubu H serves like an ordinary suitor save that the husband undertakes the farm work. If the friend quarrels with W she is permitted to change, for they say " one person never finishes one head of nuts." When H dies W goes to the husband, or if she misbehaves in H's lifetime the same can be done, and H has then no more authority over her. W cannot come from the same §bo as H or her husband but can get a friend from another idumu of the same Qbo. The children of W can take a share of the property of H's husband, such as a cow or seed yams or even a widow.

At Ezi W may be of the husband's qbo, for here the idumu is the exogamous unit. If W bears only daughters H can leave them only part of her property and part goes to her husband. If W is of the same idumu as the husband, when H dies, even if she has borne no children, she is given to a husband, who pays price for her.

At Nsukwa W can be taken from any Qbo. If H dies she remains with her friend. She cannot marry.

v.— CRIMINAL LAW.

MuEDER. — The ordinary rule in cases of murder was that the culprit had to hang himself, but it was also possible to pay compensation and hand over a woman to the brother of the murdered man, to be his wife and to raise up children in the place of the dead man.

At Asaba the culprit hanged himself, and his uniunna buried him, but they did not lament for him. If the murderer and his victim were of the same quarter, the mother's people, Ikunne, of the dead man came to demand the murderer, who had to suffer death ; no blood money could be taken. If the murderer ran, it was a signal for spoliation ; trees were cut down and houses burned, though how far this right of retalia- tion extended I could not quite ascertain. If the murderer ran to another town they would fight with the town to which he went or put an alose down, Ogugu or Atakbe, to kill the people of the town.

In addition to murder, justifiable homicide and accidental homicide were recognised. If a thief came in the night he might be killed if he were caught in the act, but he would more often be wounded so that it would be easy to discover his identity. If a thief were killed under such circumstances it might be treated as murder in the absence of a witness. If one man attacked another on the road with intention to rob him, a wound might be given as a sign ; if a thief were killed, the stolen property had to be put on his chest. If a man assaulted a pregnant woman and caused a miscarriage, he could be required to pay money or give a woman to the family as a wife, but it was not regarded as murder. A husband who killed his wife was guilty of murder, but not, according to one statement made to me, a woman who killed her husband.

If two men were on bad terms and A threatened B, A

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might get into difficulties if evil befell B or his house, but would not, however, be hanged in the ordinary way ; though if B met his death when out hunting with A, matters might be serious for the latter, A hunter who shot a man by accident was required to confess. He might offer money to the umunna of the dead man and they were free to accept or not, or a woman might be given as a wife.

If one ^bo fought with another and a slave were killed, it was a case for compensation, monetary or in kind. If a slave killed a slave he might be hanged or taken to replace the dead man. If a slave killed a free man the owner might be hanged. It was, however, possible for a murderer to escape death if he could come to Odogu before knowledge of the murder was spread abroad. Odogu might then put an eagle's feather upon his head ; this was equivalent to a declaration that the homicide was not a murder.

At Qkpanam the ordinary rule with regard to murder was the same. If it was a case of homicide (Qy^m) the man was not hanged if he confessed, provided there had been no previous palaver between the parties. He had to bury the dead man, give his daughter to wife, and make various other payments to the son of the man or his brother. For a " small man " who had taken no title of importance, the payment was two goats, one cock, one dog, one piece of cloth and powder ; for nkpalo four goats, and one hen in addition to the other articles; for Qze eight goats, two cocks, and two hens, all of which were used for the burial ceremonies. After taking this to the son of the dead man, the culprit gave drink to his tjbwo and thanked his ci that he had escaped death. If he killed a woman, he gave his daughter to the son or brother of the dead woman or to her husband, if she had a husband, and supplied materials for the burial rites as before. If the chosen girl objected and ran, her father explained to the man to whom she ran that she was being given in compensation for murder. She would then be given up and would have to remain with the husband to whom she was given. If one woman killed another accidentally, naturally a very rare

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occurrence, money only was paid in compensation. Her mother's people would take about £2 10s., and her father's people the same.

At Qkpanam there was a special functionary known as !^zobu. The head of a man killed in war was brought to him first, and if he refused to put chalk and feathers, it was a declaration that the killer was a murderer. If Isele people, for example, seized a girl as a wife and a man were killed in the struggle between the young men, the ^zobu might refuse the eagle's feather and permit the man to be hanged. The Isele people might come to his house and see him hanged, or might come after the event to identify the body before burial. It was incumbent upon a murderer to hang himself, for if anyone else hanged him it would be murder ; if he ran, the Isele people came and were told that he had run. They could not claim another man in his place, but a girl would be paid over and eight or ten bags of cowries. This would be taken by the children of a nwada, and the brother of the dead man would receive a wife and his umunna the money (to take Qmu from their hands).

At Isele Asaba, if two Qbo were fighting and one man killed another, the penalty was death ; he would come to the open street and hang himself, though a rich man was per- mitted to hang himself in his own house. His own brother would plant two sticks and put a cross beam over them. Then lyase and Odogu came and received 980 cowries. Odogu asked for the matchet with which the man had been killed and cut the corpse down with it. Then the brother took the corpse and lamented, saying, " You will never murder again, when you return to this world." If a murderer ran, his hosts had to look into the matter and hand him over, even if he were a relative. If he were not a relative, he would be handed over without enquiry, but in the latter case the sum of thirty bags would be paid for him, ten bags of which went to the host and twenty to the town. If the murderer were retained it would not necessarily mean war, but the farms would be spoilt and the trees cut down.

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In a case of accidental homicide Odogu and lyase enquired into the case, and if there had been no previous trouble, the town was called together and lyase explained the circum- stances. The culprit paid for the burial of the dead man. If there had been previous trouble, the umunna of the dead man brought iyi, and told the hunter to come and swear. If he took an oath, the matter was settled, but if he and his people were killed by the iyi, his people would come and beg, and his idumu would have to give a wife, or, if a sufficient sum of money were offered, the giving of a wife might fall through.

At Onitsha Olona, if a thief came to the farm or the house, they could shoot at night ; in the day-time the proper course was to pursue him and call for help, but if they failed to do so, in the farm it was permissible to fire. The stolen object was put on his chest and the umunna of the dead man came and took his body. No payment was made on either side.

The lyase had important functions in the case of murder. He would order the murderer to be brought, and if he were not brought he would seize the property of the idumu. All the onotu accompanied him and got a portion of the seized property. If a man killed one of his own umunna the onotu seized property, and the brother of the murderer helped the offender to give kola to the \^kpalQbo. One bag of cowries was paid to the head chief, one bag to Onirhe (p. 44), one bag to the okw^lggwe. A woman was given to the brother of the dead man, she would be either the murderer's own daughter or his brother's. One bag of cowries and one goat was offered to the ani; the murderer might be hanged if he ran. If both were members of the same idumu he might be hanged, or the people of the murdered man might accept compensation. The hosts of a runaway murderer received five bags or more and when the murderer was seized there was no question of compensation. If both belonged to the same ^bo, the mur- derer would be hanged unless he were an important man.

If the gkpalqbo and the ikei ani considered that the interest of the ^bo required that the murderer should not be

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killed, they would inform the town, and decide that compens- ation should be paid. If the murderer belonged to a different town, he was hanged if he was caught. If he escaped, the on otu sent a message and asked for him to be handed over; the proper persons to approach in the matter were the onotu in the other town. If they refused, the o n o tu of the murdered man's town seized a person, if possible, and then war came. Apparently in this case compensation was impossible. Peace between the two towns might be brought about when the farming time came.

In the case of accidental homicide during hunting, the lyase seized the hunter's gun and outfit and the ordinary rule was followed.

At Ala the murderer was hanged even if the two parties belonged to the same idumu; his own umunna brought him out, and the brother of the murdered man put the noose I'ound his neck ; if he ran, the houses of the qbo to which he belonged were burned and their trees wasted. His umunna were sent after him to bring him back, and the §bo could not rebuild their houses until he was found ; they had to remove to another spot if necessary. Farms could be made on the site of the old houses.

No compensation was payable, but the umunna of the murderer might pay for respite. If necessary, the murderer's umunna paid money to his hosts in order to gain possession of him. When two §bo fought and a man was killed, if the murderer was unknown, the town asked who began the trouble, and the man adjudged to be the culprit had to bring a woman for the brother of the dead man. If a woman caused palaver she might be handed over in person or her daughter in her place. If she had no daughter, her husband had to give a a daughter or obtain a girl by purchase.

In cases of accidental homicide, if the culprit confessed, compensation was paid, otherwise he was hanged. If a corpse was found, each §bo would enquire what hunters had gone out and each man would be called upon to state which road he had taken.

At Ibuz^, if two §bo had a dance on the same day, they

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occasionally met in the street. If one or the other began to throw sand, a sign of contempt, a fight would be caused, and if a man were killed the murderer had to be seized by his own umunna and handed over to be hanged. His ^bo collected to help his umunna to look for him ; when he was found the men of his Qbo beat drums and the murderer danced round the town and then hanged himself in his own house. His umunna cut him down and buried him after killing owu ik^hga, saying, " It is a deaf child that killed himself, it is what he got from his ci." The rule would be the same if a man killed another from the same umunna. If the murderer ran, his umunna gave money to his host to release him, or if not, they handed over a woman to the family of the dead man, and the brother of the murderer defrayed the •expenses of the burial. The murderer could return to his home only after many years.

If a slave killed a free man tlie owner was hanged, or the slave could be handed over and killed at the burial. Then the owner would pay compensation, but before doing so, he would have to pay £2 IO5. to the Qk pal Qbo.

The olinzQle were summoned in the cases of suspected murder, and asked the culprit to drink inyi. He was taken to Onitsha by his accuser and the umunna of both parties accompanied them. If the man died he was buried in the bush at Onitsha. If not, he came home and rejoiced, and the accuser paid 55. compensation to him. Where one hunter killed another, it was usually considered that he did it maliciously and capital punishment would be inflicted. They never tired at a thief, but tried to seize him or recognise him.

If a man cutting palm nuts dropped them on the head of a person below and killed him, no compensation would be payable, but the man responsible would 1>ring a goat for the dead man's ik^iiga. If a husband caused his wife to mis- carry, there would be no palaver, but if another man were responsible, it would be regarded as murder ; even if the wife died the husband would not be regarded as responsible. He would be merely required to complete payment of the bride

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price if he had not already done so, and bury his wife in the ordinary way.

At Ogwashi, if one man killed another in a fight, the obi took the object which caused the fight, if there were one, and the murderer hanged himself. A goat and one ngugu four uku were paid to the obi to remove his seat (irhe Qbwala, that is, take it back to his own house after going to the murderer's house) and the same to the lyase. If the mur- derer ran, his own brother might be killed or one of his umunna; the murderer could then return and bury the man killed in his place; no payment could then be demanded. If the quarrel were caused by a woman, a horn would be blown and the town met. The lyase ordered people to cook for the murderer, and he hanged himself. His people cut him down and buried him, and the woman who was respon- sible for the trouble was given to the obi as his wife. A sister of a man could not be taken as compensation, nor her child nor a person of the same idumu. The family could pay money to the obi to settle the case before he called the assembly ; one woman, or two cows or a slave was the normal amount.

After the people had assembled, the murderer's brother would have to pay two women, and if either of them ran, the matter was reopened; If both parties were of the same Qbo, two cows were paid or two daughters handed over. If one first cousin killed another, the culprit could not be hanged ; such cases happened occasionally in games. A husband could not be hanged for killing a wife, but if he had not completed payment of the bride price, the necessary sum had to be handed over together with an additional amount, equal in value to one cow. But this was only due if the bride price had not been completed.

If a woman killed a man, she might suffer the