Identifier: handbooktoethnog00brit (find matches)
Title: Handbook to the ethnographical collections
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: British Museum. Dept. of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography Joyce, Thomas Athol, 1878-1942 Dalton, O. M. (Ormonde Maddock), 1866-1945
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Publisher: (London) : Printed by order of the Trustees
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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2:)ractised. Drums(figs. 223, 224) are found everywhere except among the Bube ; AFRICA 243 also gongs of wood and iron, the former pattern being used inthe Cameruns for transmitting messages. Pianos (e. g. fig. 201)are found amongst Bali and Ikwe, and the xylophone amongstmost of the western tribes, notably the Mandingo. Harps(Cameruns, Bini, Liberia), musical bow (Bube), horns (fig. 225),flutes and the bull-roarer (Bali, Efik, Bini, Yoruba) are alsoused ceremonially; some sort of fiddle is found whereverMohammedan influence has penetrated. It is difficult to writein general terms of religious beliefs since research has hithertobeen unequal. Some districts have been closely studied (Yoruba,Ewe and Tshi), but practically nothing is known of the paganismround Lake Chad. Belief in vague evil spirits is found inthe Cameruns, but gods with well-defined functions are foundalong the coast to the west; tree and animal worship is alsocommon, and of the latter form suake-worship is the most im-
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Fra. 225.—Ivory fetish-horn ornamented with(.human skulls ; froma juju-house. Andoni country, S. Nigeria. portant. This, which seems to have prevailed amongst theprimitive Hausa and Mandingo, has Ijeen carried by slaves to theWest Indies, where it is known as Voodoo. Human sacrifice wasa great feature of the cult of the rojal dead and other ceremoniesin the large kingdoms of the west (Ashanti, Dahomey, &c.).Belief in a double .soul (Ewe, Tshi) and in transmigration(Banyang, Ikwe, Ibo, Yoruba) both occur. Connected withreligion are the powerful secret societies which flourish among thenegroes of this area ; many of these are very large, far transcendingthe limits of the tribe, and exercise great political power. Some ofthem (such as the Leopard society of the Mendi) make murder theirprime object. Poison ordeal and other forms of divination aregeneral. The Sudanese and Berber tribes are all Mohammedan,though the religion is debased and certain restrictions, such as theveiling of w

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