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 Cornell University Library 
 DT 515.D39 
 
 Nigerian studies 
 
 3 1924 028 648 776 
 
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NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 
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MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited 
 
 LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA 
 MELBOURNE 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO 
 
 ATLANTA . SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 
 TORONTO 
 
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FlSHKRMEN AND TRAP AT OLOKEMEJI. 
 
 {Frontispiece. 
 
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NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 
 OR 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL SYSTEM 
 OF THE TORUBA 
 
 BY 
 
 R. E. DENNETT 
 
 AUTHOR OF "AT THE BACK OF THE BLACK MAN'S MIND " 
 
 With Illustrations 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED 
 ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 
 
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 Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, 
 
 bread street hill, e.c., and 
 
 uungay, suffolk. 
 
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TO 
 
 BEATRICE DENNETT 
 
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PREFACE 
 
 Administrators and missionaries are often 
 blamed for adopting methods of administration or 
 evangelising which we all know are not suited to the 
 uplifting of the negro race. Destructive criticism of 
 such methods is easy, and in this case, where both parties 
 have sincerely done their best, quite unnecessary. 
 The construction of a correct native policy is much 
 harder to build up, and it is a question whether we yet 
 have sufficient data to work with any certainty. I 
 have been very much struck with Dr. Arthur Keith's 
 first series of Hunterian lectures on the "Anatomy 
 and Relationships of the Negro and Negroid Races." 
 There he expresses the opinion that before further 
 progress can be made in anthropological investigation 
 it will be necessary to revise our methods, substitut- 
 ing for the present empirical measurements others 
 founded on a more certain and scientific basis. 
 
 In the following pages I have approached the study 
 of the native from a philosophical (in the old-fashioned 
 sense of the word) point of view. 
 
 One of the most hopeful signs of the times in 
 Nigeria is that natives (who, by the way, owe their 
 
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viii PREFACE 
 
 education to the missionaries) are beginning to look 
 upon their native lore in a more serious light than 
 their dear old masters did. Bishop Johnson gave us 
 a little work on Yoruba paganism from which I quoted 
 largely in At the Back of the Black Man's Mind. 
 Bishop Phillips wrote a little book called Ifa. The 
 Rev. Lijadu has given us Ifa and Orunanila. Mr. Sobo 
 wrote Arofa odes or poems. Dr. Johnson has lectures 
 on Yoruba history, and Mr. John O. George has 
 written a short account of Yoruba history. Dr. 
 Henry Carr, the Chancellor of the Diocese of 
 Equatorial Africa, a native of Egbaland, is an author 
 of many interesting papers and keys to mathematical 
 works. Mr. Adesola is now engaged in writing a 
 most interesting account of Yoruba Death and Burial 
 Secret Societies, which are appearing in the 
 Nigerian Chronicle. Mr. Johnson is the editor of this 
 paper which is doing such good work in this direction. 
 Then Mr. Williams and Mr. Jackson, both also 
 Africans, are editors of the Lagos Standard and the 
 Lagos Record. These papers can be seen in the 
 Royal Colonial Institute. In other lines of life the 
 colony has produced many distinguished natives, but I 
 have only mentioned the above because I am now 
 only dealing with literature. That an African colony, 
 not yet fifty years old, should have produced in so 
 short a time so many men distinguished in letters is a 
 very hopeful sign for its future and speaks for itself. 
 
 I am indebted to so many for help in producing this 
 little work that it is difficult for me to know how 
 many to thank. Captain W. H. Beverley has kindly 
 
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PREFACE ix 
 
 supplied me with the little map which will at a glance 
 show my readers where Yorubaland is. 
 
 Mr. H. Dodd took the photographs of the fishermen 
 and hunters. A native photographer, Mr. Holm, has 
 supplied the rest. 
 
 Dr. Henry Carr, who is at present in England, has 
 gone through the proofs with me and corrected as many 
 of my mistakes in spelling native names as he has 
 been able, which adds very greatly to the value of the 
 work. 
 
 As I have to leave for Africa without seeing the 
 final proofs, Mr. T. A. Joyce has generously promised 
 to undertake this arduous task for me. 
 
 And away yonder in Africa are many to whom my 
 thanks are due for their hearty co-operation and 
 patience, among whom are the Forest Rangers Taylor 
 and Pellegrin, the priest or Babalawo, Oliyitan, the 
 sons of Agbola and other chiefs. 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 EXPLANATORY CHAPTER I 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 A FEW NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF YORUBALAND .... 6 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 CREATION AND THE SACRED STONES AT IFE 17 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 DEATH, BURIAL, AND DEPARTED SPIRITS ORO, EGUNGUN, ETC. . 28 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE FOUR GREAT ESTATES IN THE NATIVE FORM OF GOVERN- 
 MENT 60 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 JAKUTA. THE FOUR WINDS 65 
 
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xii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ODUDUA AND THE FOUR DAYS OF THE WEEK .... 73 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 OBATALA 8l 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 IFA AND THE FOUR WALLS OF THE YORUBA KINGDOM . . 86 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 ESHU 94 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 AGANJU, YEMOJA, THEIR OFFSPRING, AND THE OGBONI OR 
 
 COUNCIL 97 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 OLOKUN OLOSA AND FISHERMAN Io6 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 OGUN, OSHOWSI, AND THE HUNTER Il6 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 SEASONS 130 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 OKE, OJO, AJESHALUGA, AND FARMING 140 
 
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CONTENTS xiii 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 PAGB 
 
 ODUS OF I FA 147 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 SHANGO — OYA— OBA— OSHUN . 1 56 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 LAND LAWS 195 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 CONCLUSION ... . . ... .209 
 
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FISHERMEN AND TRAP AT OLOKEMEJI 
 
 LAGOS TYPES 
 
 THE ALAKB AND SOME OF HIS OFFICIALS 
 
 THE LATE BALE OF IBADAN AND SOME OF HIS 
 
 OFFICIALS 
 
 STONES SACRED TO OGUN 
 
 GROVES SACRED TO ORE, WIFE AND CHILD . 
 
 IN ORE'S WIFE'S GROVE 
 
 STONE CHAIR PRESENTED TO SIR W. MACGREGOR BY 
 
 THE ONI OF IFE, NOW IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM 
 A CHAIR MARKET AT BADAGRY, S. NIGERIA . 
 
 OPA ORANYAN AT IFE 
 
 TREE PLANTED OVER GRAVE WHICH THUS BECOMES 
 
 SACRED . . 
 
 MEMBERS OF A FUNERAL SECRET SOCIETY IN 
 
 LAGOS CALLED ADAMORISHA, WEARING DRESSES 
 
 SIMILAR TO THE EGUNGUN, EGUN 
 
 "PORO" HOUSE 
 
 AGBOLO'S SONS. GREAT NATIVE HUNTERS 
 
 METEOROLOGICAL CHART 
 
 SACRED CAVE AT ABEOKUTA 
 
 Frontispiece 
 To face page 10 
 
 >j » 
 
 14 
 
 Page 19 
 
 „ 20 
 
 21 
 
 To face page 23 
 
 . Page 24 
 
 To ] ace page 28 
 
 » » 32 
 
 » 119 
 
 . Page 131 
 
 To face page 164 
 
 MAP 
 
 THE COLONY AND PROTECTORATE OF SOUTHERN 
 NIGERIA, 1910 ... ... 
 
 End of Vol. 
 
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Nigerian Studies 
 
 ERRATA 
 
 Page Line 
 19 2*, after " Ogun " add " 3 " and, footnote, " s About the same distance on 
 brought us to another screen of palm leaves." 
 
 34 12, for And read He. 
 
 35 I 5*> f or retained read regained. 
 
 36 2, for grave read grove. 
 43 16, for Egbas read Egba. 
 
 56 9*> for Kakong read Kakongo. 
 
 62 12, for Jayse read Jyase. 
 
 85 2, yiw- Yorubas raj*/ Yoruba. 
 
 90 3* > for J. T. Palmer read I. T. Palmer. 
 
 97 2*, footnote, jfo' offices read officers. 
 
 101 6, 7, transpose " light" to read after " Imole." 
 103 1*, 104, 14, for Orishaula read Orishanla. 
 145 8*, for Shalua read Shaluga. 
 
 190 17, after small pox insert " 2 " and add footnote, " 2 See Addendum, 
 
 page 231." 
 
 200 12*, for that read than. 
 203 8*, after Ajele insert " 1 " and add footnote, " l See note, page 204." 
 
 215 diagram, last line, after Storing insert Memory. 
 
 216 9*, for and read but. 
 
 228 3rd col., 1 3*, for Nervous system read Memory. 
 
 229 3rd col. , 8, transpose entries Akpena and Odofin. 
 
 229 1st col., for The Speaker read The Chief Justice ; for The Lord Chief 
 Justice read The Speaker. 
 
 * From bottom. 
 
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NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 
 EXPLANATORY CHAPTER 
 
 In trying to impart one's ideas on a foreign people 
 to one's readers, a great difficulty arises, i.e. the 
 fact that for the most part one's public knows little 
 or nothing about the surroundings of the natives 
 about whom one is endeavouring to write. Well, 
 it would take many volumes to describe fully so 
 interesting a people as the Yoruba, even if one 
 had the ability, so that I must leave those interested 
 in this general branch of knowledge to others who 
 have written on the country. Then I sometimes 
 find it impossible to explain many foreign words that 
 will keep suddenly cropping up, so that my collection 
 of apparent facts at times resembles bits of a mosaic 
 which the collector has to leave to his successor 
 to put together. I take for granted that these 
 pieces are very precious to those who are ever 
 on the look out for something new that may throw 
 light on the many problems that are still puzzling 
 the thinking world, I do not hesitate therefore to 
 mention them. In presenting this little work, then, 
 
 B 
 
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2 NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 
 it is to be understood that I am fully conscious 
 of its faults, but I am fearful often to correct them 
 lest in so doing I may spoil the native colouring 
 and inculcate some erroneous idea that may be 
 really foreign to the people whose mental outlook 
 I am trying to illustrate. 
 
 A new name of a personage or a deity suddenly 
 appears on the scene, and I know that my reader 
 requires a far more accurate account of him than 
 I or my informant can give him ; well, all I can say 
 is that it is in this sudden fashion that we who 
 try to gather information in some foreign fields 
 obtain it. 
 
 I know that this jumpy style, which one of my 
 friends describes as "writing in seven league boots," 
 is very irritating to the earnest student, and, I 
 am very sorry for this also, and I wish to assure 
 my reader that I have tried to say as much as 
 possible about these sudden apparitions, either at 
 the time of their coming on to the stage or in notes 
 which refer to other places in the book where more 
 is said about them. 
 
 All my information is drawn from native sources 
 on the spot, the arrangement and order is not 
 mine. The order is taken from the order of the 
 Odus (palm nuts used in divination by the priests 
 of I fa) 1 as given to me by the babalawo (priest) Oli- 
 yitan, and from the seasons. 
 
 There is one more difficulty that I may be able 
 to clear away. In At the Back of the Black Mans 
 
 1 Ifa is the name of the Yoruba oracular deity. 
 
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EXPLANATORY CHAPTER 3 
 
 Mind the formula given is 4+£j.xy+4 or 32 parts 
 in all, that is forming one whole. Now among the 
 Yoruba the formula is 4 + 2x6 or 16 parts. This 
 is the pith of the work. Thus I commence the 
 book by giving my reader a very short account 
 of the history of the Yoruba as we know it as 
 well as from a native point of view. I then take a 
 legend of creation given to me by an old priestess 
 called Oja through the mouth of a man called 
 Togun. This takes me to a short account of the 
 sacred stones at Ife the religious capital and cradle 
 of the Yoruba people. As these stones are said 
 to be men and women who on their death have 
 turned to stone, I then say a few words about death 
 and burial customs from which I find I cannot 
 dissociate some secret societies. A consideration of 
 these subjects points to the fact that the Yoruba 
 have beatified their ancestors. This being a natural 
 and so a general practice, there are in consequence 
 thousands of such Orishas or deified spirits, all of 
 which must be most interesting studies of family 
 history. But a great philosopher called I fa (who 
 is mentioned in the story of creation as one of the 
 four great deities) is said to have chosen 16 persons 
 out of these different classes of people and formed 
 them into a kind of council. These 16 had their 
 1 6 family Orishas 1 and thus we get at the number 
 32 and the formula of the Bavili and the Bini as 
 shown in At the Back of the Black Mans Mind. 
 Crawley, in The Idea of the Soul, writes " Frazer 
 
 1 See note 1, page 12. 
 
 B 2 
 
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4 NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 
 gives the following description based on Maspero 
 and Wiedermann." Every man (Egyptian) has a 
 soul, ka, which is his exact counterpart or double 
 with the same features, the same gait, and even 
 the same dress, as the man himself. Many of the 
 monuments dating from the eighteenth century 
 onwards, represent various kings appearing before 
 divinities, while behind the king stands his soul 
 or double as a little man with the king's features. 
 In modern Egypt every child born has a djinnee 
 companion born with it. It is an angel, but often 
 hurts its protege. It is an exact counterpart of 
 the person himself, except that for male it is female 
 and for female male. Something like this exists 
 in the naming of the child's Orisha among the 
 Yoruba and will be found in the chapter on 
 marriage. 
 
 To continue, I give my reader what information 
 I am able about these chosen Orisha and find that 
 they are connected with certain occupations, i.e. 
 those of fishing, hunting, marriage, planting, market- 
 ing, and construction. I find that the native form 
 of Government official for Orisha coincides with 
 the heavenly one and I give the lists of Officials 
 and Orishas. Further, the meaning of the Odus 
 in the order given are connected with the Categories 
 of thought, which I have shown exist at the back 
 of the black man's mind in the Congo and in Benin, 
 i.e. those of water, earth, fire, germination or 
 conception, reproduction or pregnancy, death and 
 life. 
 
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EXPLANATORY CHAPTER 5 
 
 In my concluding chapter I suggest that the 
 elements of native religious and social government 
 are to be found in the black man's nervous system, 
 which in my opinion responds to the will of the 
 Almighty Architect of their Universe. 
 
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CHAPTER I 
 
 A FEW NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF YORUBALAND 
 
 Introductory Historical Remarks 
 
 From Dalzel's History of Dahomey, i793,<4t would 
 seem that Yorubaland about the year 1700 was under 
 one King, or Alafin, who resided at Old Oyo 1 or 
 Katunga. That this kingdom when united was a 
 very powerful one is shown from the fact that until 
 the year 1818 the Dahomi paid tribute to the Alafin 
 of OyoT) 
 
 It is only from this date (1700), when the decadence 
 of the Yoruba Kingdom had set in, that the native 
 chroniclers can give us any definite knowledge of the 
 Yoruba history. From this time we have a list of 
 Alafins given to us. 
 
 1 . Ajagbo. 
 
 2. Abiodun. 
 
 3. Arogangan ; during whose reign his 
 nephew Afonja raised an insurrection and so 
 hurried on the downfall of the Kingdom. 
 
 4. Adebo. 
 
 5. Maku. 
 
 1 Pronounced Awyaw. 
 
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ch. i THE HISTORY OF YORUBALAND 7 
 
 6. An Interregnum during which the Oba- 
 shorun or Prime Minister of the Alafin seems 
 to have kept the State from actual ruin. 
 
 7. Majotu. 
 
 8. Amodo, about 1825. 
 
 About 1830 Lander visited -Qld-Qyo, but /between 
 1833 and 1835 the Mohammedans captured and 
 destroyed the old town, and the Yoruba were obliged 
 to found a new capital where Oyo now stands) 
 
 it was about this time also that the Egba declared 
 their independence. They were finally driven out of 
 the country that they, as a section of the Yoruba 
 people, occupied, and_in 1838 they founded their 
 present capital, Abeokutay 
 
 A chief called Lishabi is said to have led them to 
 Abeokuta, and to show how near to the mythological 
 period of their history we even now are I am able to give 
 you the story of how Lishabi when defeated by the 
 Dahomi descended into the earth. 
 
 f How Lishabi descended into the Earth J 
 
 Lishabi was a great warrior who lived at Ikija, 
 Abeokuta. One day when there was a great battle 
 between the Egba and Dahomi, and the Egba 
 were put to flight and many killed, Lishabi was so 
 ashamed that he would not return to Abeokuta, and so 
 pointing his sword to the earth asked her to open. 
 She opened and he went headlong into her depths. 
 His sword is there to this day marking the place where 
 he thrust it into the earth. His brass chain is also 
 
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8 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 there ; and if anyone begins to draw the chain out he 
 can pull about 40 feet of it out of the ground, but then 
 Lishabi pulls it back again/) Many people have seen 
 pigeons fly out of the place, they feed here and there, 
 and then go back, so they know Lishabi has his house 
 there. One man tried to make a farm there and 
 started felling the bush, but he died, so now no one 
 dares to farm in this place./<A.nd the people of Ikija 
 go there yearly to worshifhJbim. They offer rams, 
 goats, fowls, and yams to hi m. ) 
 
 By the year 1840 the seeds of dissension sown by 
 Afonja had spread so rapidly that we find the proud 
 Kingdom of the Yoruba people split up into a number 
 of so-called independent states. 
 
 Illorin had been lost to the Alarm, and is now 
 inhabited by a mixture of Hausa, Fulah, and 
 Yoruba. 
 
 Ibadan, a semi-independent state, still recognises 
 the Alarm and pays tribute yearly, 
 
 The Egba, a fine race of agriculturists, declare 
 that they are quite independent, as also do the 
 Ijebu, Ilesha, Ife, and Iketu (now in French territory). 
 
 From 1840 to 1886, when the British Government 
 intervened as peace-maker, wars between these parts 
 of the Yoruba people were constancy From that 
 date until 1892 the peace-maker has had to punish 
 the Ijebu and Egba for closing their trade roads. 
 
 In August 1861 Docemo ceded Lagos to the 
 British. In 1863 Kosoko ceded Palma and Lekki, 
 much to the disgust of the chief of Epe, who refused 
 
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i THE HISTORY OF YORUBALAND 9 
 
 to cede his rights and was punished for it. And in the 
 same year the chiefs of Badagry ceded their territory 
 to the British. 
 
 Lagos became a great slaving port about the year 
 1815 when the King of Benin and a few other chiefs 
 refused to allow slaves to be exported from their 
 territories. The original inhabitants of Lagos were a 
 mixture of Bini and Yoruba people, j) When it became 
 a port of export for slaves, sucn slaves as became 
 residents as labourers and servants of the slave dealers 
 and merchants added their quota to the population ; 
 and when after t86i it becam e a British co!ony_many 
 freed slaves from Sierra Leone and other parts, more 
 especially Brazil, made their homes there. 
 
 The Colony of Lagos in 1863 rejoiced in a separate 
 Government, but in 1866 with the other West Coast 
 Settlements it was attached to Sierra Leone. 
 
 In 1874, after the Ashanti war, Lagos became part 
 of the New Gold Coast Colony and in 1886 it became 
 a distant Crown Colony) since when its progress 
 has been phenomenal. 
 
 The formation of the Niger and adjacent territories 
 into a Royal Charter Co. with Mr. (now Sir) G. Goldie 
 as Deputy Governor, following the declaration of a 
 Protectorate of the Niger Territories by the British 
 Government) in June 1885, is so well known a fact 
 that the mere mention of the event is sufficient. 
 
 And I need only jog my reader's memory to call to 
 his mind a knowledge of the time when that part of 
 the West Coast which finally became S. Nigeria was 
 more or less governed by Consuls resident in the 
 
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io NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 Island of Fernando Po, called by Burton the Foreign 
 Office Grave. 
 
 The time came when the Foreign Office having 
 worked up the " Raw Material " the finer processes of 
 the Colonial Office were applied. 
 
 In 1889 I was present at a meeting in Calabar 
 when the Special Commissioner Major (now Sir) 
 Claude MacDonald interviewed the Chiefs, and on the 
 </fst August 1 89 1 the Oil Rivers commenced a new 
 era^under the title of the Oil Rivers Protectdrat^ 
 ^The Oil Rivers Protectorare became what is now 
 - known as Old Southern Nigeria while the-test of the 
 Niger Protectorate became Northern Nigeria;; 
 .- In 1906 Southern Nigeria and the Colony of Lagos 
 and Protectorate were amalgamated, and the Colony of 
 Lagos and Protectorate became the Western Province 
 of what is to-day known_jis the Colony and Protecto- 
 rate of Southern Nigeria^/ 
 
 The following notes refer chiefly to ^his Western 
 
 Province, known generally as Yorubaland. \ 
 
 J 
 
 The Origin of the Seven Yoruba States 
 
 ^ In "At the Back of the Black Man's Mind" I 
 pointed out that the Congo was composed of a central 
 Kingdom surrounded by other six states, also that 
 ach of these states was divided into seven provinces, 
 six surrounding a seventh where the Fumu or Chief 
 of the sub- Kingdom resided. 
 
 F.S., in the Nigerian Chronicle, in a paper entitled 
 
 Chapter in the History of the Yoruba Country," 
 
 writes : — "Hforuba is one of the seven countries or 
 
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- imrm, frn*sr'fPW 
 
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i THE HISTORY OF YORUBALAND n 
 
 states which the Hausa people term Bansa Bokoi 
 (the vulgar seven) in contradistinction to Hausa Bokoi 
 (the Hausa seven); the latter term is applied to the 
 original Hausa states and the former to seven 
 countries or states originating from the same races as 
 the Hausa people, but which do not form part of the 
 Hausa nation."_J 
 
 He goes on to say, " There can be little doubt that 
 the Yoruba people are at least intimately connected 
 with the Orientals. Their customs bear a remarkable 
 resemblance to those of the races of Asia. Their 
 vocabulary teems with words derived from some 
 of the Semitic languages ; and there are many 
 natives of Yorubaland to be found having features 
 very much like those of Syrians or Arabians." 
 
 Most natives I have talked to on this subject are 
 conscious of this origin from a superior race, and the 
 marked superiority of the Yoruba people to their 
 neighbours certainly points to something of the 
 sort. 
 
 But many also are only too anxious to ignore the fact 
 that the country was peopled by pagan Africans and 
 that they are consequently in reality a mixed race 
 among whom paganism persists. 
 fNow these dear old pagans are said to have given 
 thVname of their Creator Odudua to the leader of 
 the Bornu immigrants whose real name has been 
 forgotten, and there is a legend that a Hausa 
 Mussulman came to Ife, the religious capital of 
 Yorubaland, and told them to " worship Allah/* " He 
 created the mountains, He created the lowlands, He 
 
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12 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 created everything, He created us." J But in a critcism 
 by the editor of the Nigerian Chronicle the coming of 
 the Mussulman must be placed at a much earlier date 
 than that given by F.S., i.e. many years after the 
 eleventh or twelfth century of the Christian Era. 
 
 It is possible, however, that Mussulman influence, at 
 whatever date it first made its appearance, may have 
 been the cause of fhe reorganisation of the religion of 
 the pagan Yoruba/ It was perhaps the means of 
 putting Jakuta or Shango, the thunder and lightning 
 God, in his place and the substituting of Olorun, the 
 owner of heaven, for that great Orisha. 1 
 \To this time, then, the Yoruba pagan may owe, 
 not the origin of his Orishas, but the order in which 
 the greater ones have been handed down to the 
 present generationy 
 
 Mr. George, in Historical Notes on the Yoruba 
 Country, gives us another variant of the historical 
 traditions of the Yoruba. Mr. George says : — 
 " There are many traditions about the Yoruba 
 Kingdom. We quote one which says that the Yoruba 
 Kingdom was peopled by six brothers ; that at the 
 departure of their father to his home in the north, 
 they left their mother, whose name was Omonide, and 
 travelled downward. These formed six distinct 
 kingdoms and are known to this day by the respective 
 regal titles : Alake, Alaketu, Onisabe of Sabe, Onila 
 of Ila, Oni Bini or Ibini or Benin, and Oloyo of Oyo. 
 Some time after they migrated downwards, their 
 mother hearing that they were settled decided to visit 
 1 Orisha = deified departed one. 
 
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i THE HISTORY OF YORUBALAND 13 
 
 them. On leaving home, she took with her the piece 
 of cloth, the band or Oja, with which she had secured 
 them on her back when they were young, and the 
 small pot, or Oru, in which she had prepared their 
 infant drink. She thought that perhaps, as they had 
 become Kings, they might ungratefully despise her, 
 and she was ready to curse all and any of them 
 that might do so. Accordingly, she went first to 
 Alaketu l the eldest. She was received with all the 
 honours of her position. She was pleased at this 
 reception, and after remaining some time she went to 
 visit the Alake, where she was similarly treated. She 
 spent some time here purposing to visit her other 
 children. Ultimately she fell ill and died. 
 
 "It is said that she, being pleased with her recep- 
 tion by the Alaketu, gave him on her departure the 
 band or Oja with which she had secured her children 
 .... She told him that the cloth was an important 
 charm which possessed the power of good and ill ; that 
 good or evil will follow anyone according to his wish 
 or utterance while he holds or puts on this cloth. It 
 is said that one of the Kings of Ketu, who never 
 would go out on any public occasion without having 
 on this cloth, was once upbraided by his Chiefs for it, 
 and was threatened to be driven away from the 
 throne. 
 
 " An altercation ensued, during which he made 
 certain imprecations which are said to be operating 
 upon the country and people to this time. That since 
 
 1 Most of the Ketu country is now French and so separated from the 
 old Yoruba Kingdom. 
 
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i 4 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 he was disgraced for having on an old cloth, made 
 brown by the dust of age, their country will ever be 
 red and dust covered, and their garment be it ever so 
 clean will appear and remain dirty." 
 
 " During Omonide's stay with the Alake of 
 Abeokuta she gave him the small earthen pot or 
 Oru in which she had always boiled infant drink 
 for her children. She told him that that pot was 
 a charm which had the power to establish himself 
 and his brothers in their cities ; that it was to be 
 kept in memory of her, that she would often visit them 
 and that the pot should not be removed from the 
 watch-care of the Alake by any of his brothers. 
 The Oru, a small earthen pot, is spoken of as being 
 now in the care of the Alake and in the Egbas' 
 former town, which is about twenty-five miles from 
 Abeokuta. There it is adorned and venerated in 
 respect of their dead mother up to the present. 
 Kings of the Interior seek and invoke the aid 
 of their dead mother Omonide or Iyamode before 
 coronation. 
 
 "At the departure of the father, he gave to his 
 youngest son Oloyo a small Ado or gourd receptacle 
 into which he had put some ingredients together 
 with common sand, as it might be of service to him 
 and his brothers in their travels. It was of great use 
 to them, for, when they travelled southwards, they 
 met a large river which they determined to cross. 
 They got into a canoe and pulled off; for a whole 
 day no land was visible. The next day Oloyo 
 remembered the gift of their father; he opened the 
 
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The Ai.akf. and some of his Officials. 
 
 The late Bale of Ihadan and some of his Officials. 
 
 [Face p. 14. 
 
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i THE HISTORY OF YORUB ALAND 15 
 
 small Ado and poured some of its contents into the 
 river. Immediately dry land was visible. Hence 
 he is said to be the ' land owner ' . . . . The Yoruba 
 Kingdom was once a great Power in West Africa. 
 It had Dahomey, Hausa, Tapa, and many other 
 important tribes and countries under its control. 
 
 " It lost its power through internecine wars, which, 
 together with foreign invasions, brought about an 
 entire disruption of the Yoruba Kingdom. The 
 remains formed themselves into small towns, their 
 once tributary towns, and these countries of course 
 became independent. 
 
 "In these small towns the remnant of the Yoruba 
 nation remained in peace for about two hundred and 
 fifty years. After this another war broke out, which 
 we are told began at Apomu, a market in the Ijebu 
 Country. In this war the whole Yorubaland was laid 
 waste, and from this the exportation of slaves from the 
 Yoruba Countries commenced." 
 
 Mr. George describes how a General called Maye, 
 the Balogun (or war chief) of Ife, with his Captains, 
 Abe and Laboside, overran the whole of the Yoruba 
 Country. He appears to have become a great slave 
 raider. 
 
 At his death the whole nation was again scattered. 
 
 He continues : " These wars which have laid our 
 country waste one hundred years ago, still continue 
 from that time to this" (somewhere in the nineties 
 of the last century). "The whole country has not 
 had ten years' rest. The Ijaiye War of i860 which 
 extended to Iperu, Makun and Ikorodu and the 
 
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1 6 NIGERIAN STUDIES ch. i 
 
 Eketiparapo and the Ibadan-Ilorin war are the 
 offspring of this Opomu War. We are inclined to 
 believe that the different tribes themselves cannot 
 yet settle these differences, seeing that^each tribe 1 
 has a hand in the causes which led to them.''/ 
 
 Anyone wishing to know how this peace was 
 accomplished by the British should read " Papers 
 relative to the Reduction of Lagos," 1852, and 
 " Correspondence respecting the War between native 
 tribes in the Interior," 1887 — two very interesting 
 papers presented to both Houses of Parliament by 
 command of Her late Majesty. 
 
 1 This is interesting as at the present day many half-educated natives 
 are apt to put down the ruin of their country to its occupation by 
 British Government. 
 
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CHAPTER II 
 
 CREATION AND THE SACRED STONES AT IFE 
 
 Creation 
 
 There are many stories of creation among the 
 Yoruba, but the story which I have chosen to open 
 this study on the Genesis of the Yoruba is remark- 
 able, I think, owing to the statement of Oja that 
 the three parts representing God in Creation turned 
 to stone when once they had set Creation going, 
 leaving the carrying on of the work, it would appear, 
 to sixteen great Orisha. Togun (see below) does not 
 mention the word Olorun, the word now used to 
 represent God, who is also known as Eleda the 
 Creator, Elemi (the owner of breath). I think we 
 shall learn as we proceed that he, as the owner of 
 heaven, is a development of Jakuta, the father 
 thunder god. 
 
 £""Tt was in the village of Ilobe in the Egbado 
 district, S. Nigeria, that the following account of the 
 Creation was given to me by an old lady called 
 Oja who, the Bale or Chief told me, knew all 
 about^it?) She was a Priestess, and spoke to me 
 through a relation of hers called Togun, who was also 
 
 17 c 
 
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1 8 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 connected with the Priesthood. Deputy Ranger 
 Edwards acted as interpreter. Togun said, " In 
 the beginning two people made the world, one 
 Yemuhu and the man." "What man?" I asked. 
 " Orishala, the husband of Yemuhu, who is also 
 called Obaba Arugbo. When Yemuhu and Orishala 
 came to the world they were afraid, and they were 
 accompanied by Ajajuno, a person who was not 
 made by anyone, and who acted as a messenger 
 and war chief. She was a woman whose business 
 it was to fight the world. 
 
 " When Yemuhu and Orishala had finished their 
 work of Creation, and their visit to the world, they 
 turned to stone — and when Orishala was about to 
 turn to stone Yemuhu said she would also turn to 
 stone again. But before they turned to stone 
 Orishala had a ram tied to his waist by a rope, and 
 Yemuhu had a gourd or calabash containing the 
 sixteen snails, 1 and when she turned to stone these 
 sixteen snails became the head of Eleda " (as we 
 have noticed one of the names by which Olorun is 
 said to be known). 
 
 " And what became of the ram ? " 
 "I do not know." 
 
 " When Eleda arose he noticed that Ifa had no head. 
 
 "One day Eleda fighting with Ifa knocked him 
 
 down, and his head came out, then his chest came 
 
 out, then his nose, then his mouth and eyes. 
 
 Orishala did this." 
 
 1 These 16 snails are symbols of Odudua, another name evidently for 
 Yemuhu. 
 
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ii CREATION AND SACRED STONES AT IFE 19 
 
 Here Togun paused, and the woman Oja gave 
 him a small tin of palm oil. With this Togun 
 oiled his tongue and then proceeded. " These stones 
 are to be seen at Ife up to the present/^) 
 
 The Grove Sacred to Ore 
 
 On one of my tours through Yorubaland I went 
 to Ife and stayed a day there (I should like to 
 have stayed a year) and managed to hear a good 
 deal of the departed changing into stones. 
 
 The Oni * of Ife was kind enough to send his 
 clerk with me to show me over the ( " Grove 
 Sacred to an old Oni of Ife called Ore."4* 
 
 They say that to avoid a war this okr Oni, his 
 wife and son, retired to this grove and died, and 
 were turned to stone. This grove is situated on 
 the road about ten minutes outside the Eastern 
 Gate of the city of Ife^ Leaving the road and 
 turning to the right we marched about 1 1 1 feet 
 down a lane when we passed through a «>. 
 
 screen of palm leaves hanging from two / f Jff 
 
 Perigun trees. About ninety feet from VJol '1 ? [ | 
 this entrance on the left of the pathway ^^%£&£k' 
 we reached three stones, which they stones sacred 
 called Ogun ; thirteen feet from here 
 we passed through a kind of gateway which led us 
 
 1 Oni is the title of a chief who is much in the same position as the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury is in England. It is also the name given to 
 the firstborn. 
 
 2 Ore means " Spirit of the departed." Not only did Orishala and 
 Odudua turn to stone, but, as we shall learn, Ifa also. 
 
 C 2 
 
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20 
 
 NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Hoad to Ife 
 
 Scale of FeeD 
 o ffio ep M *o go 
 
 
 
 ■igun trees 
 '.m trees 
 
 Xv4 
 
 O 1 Use's 
 Oiie's Wife's. 
 
 Shed where the meat is 
 . cooJred ; and eaten 
 
 Groves sacred to Ore, Wife and Child. 
 
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ii CREATION AND SACRED STONES AT IFE 21 
 
 
 into a small square with two other gateways leading 
 out of it, one to the East, and one to the South. 
 
 We first passed through the eastern gate and 
 there under a small shed in the centre of the grove 
 we saw the stone figure of Ore. He was only two 
 feet eight inches in height, but three feet round the 
 waist, so I came to the 
 conclusion that this 
 hero shrunk some- 
 what in height in the 
 process of turning to 
 stone. Near to him 
 were two kola boxes 
 or dishes in stone each 
 one foot long and six 
 inches wide. A stone 
 which looked very 
 much like a grave- 
 stone was standing to 
 the south-east of the 
 image. They said it 
 had grown out of the 
 ground. The width 
 of this grove was 
 about seventeen feet, 
 feet. 
 
 We went back to the porch and now passed 
 through the entrance to the south which led us down 
 a passage fifteen feet in length, and then we entered 
 the enclosure, oval in shape and about sixty feet long, 
 which was sacred to the wife of Ore. 
 
 In Ore's Wife's Grove. 
 and the length thirty-two 
 
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22 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 About thirty-one feet from the entrance was a 
 small circular shed under which the figure of Ore's 
 wife stood. It measured three feet in height and two 
 feet round the waist. Sixteen feet from this shed was 
 a collection of interesting stones. Two were flat (one 
 of which was broken) and measured four feet six inches 
 by one foot and, three feet three inches by one foot 
 respectively, and, rising from a mound of stones, a 
 carved stone representing an elephant's tusk two feet 
 six inches in height stood erect. 
 
 Passing out of this grove by a lane forty-three feet 
 long we came to a clearing measuring twenty-three 
 by twenty-eight feet near the side of which was a 
 hut with mud walls, where, they said, the worshippers 
 who had sacrificed to Ore came to cook and eat 
 the flesh of the animals sacrificed. The clerk told me 
 that this hut once contained a slab of rock upon which 
 a crocodile was carved. We had a good look for it, 
 but it was not there. 
 
 Other Sacred Stones at Ife 
 
 I Morimi and Alashe, mother and son, having also 
 
 /turned to stones, are now worshipped as Orishas at 
 
 / Ife. 
 
 / The Oni of Ife said that Alashe (the law- 
 
 / giver) was Jesus, 1 the father of all white men, and he 
 
 I was not sure but he thought that he also was 
 
 \ descended from him. 
 
 Alashe, he said, was the only child of Morimi who 
 
 * 
 
 1 Did the Oni mean Moses ? 
 
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Stone chair presented to Sir W. Macgregor by the 
 Oni of Iff., now in the British Museum. 
 
 A Chair Market at Badagry, S. Nigeria. 
 
 {Face t- 23. 
 
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ii CREATION AND SACRED STONES AT IFE 23 
 
 was worshipped for having sacrificed her son to save 
 the city from destruction. He pointed out the house 
 she used to live in, which is quite near to his palace. 
 
 I also saw the house Alashe is said to have 
 inhabited ; it is situated down the hill to the east of 
 the palace. In front of the house two poles had 
 been placed in the ground and a sheet of white cloth 
 was hanging from a string tied from pole to pole. 
 Seven trees formed a kind of arbour in which were 
 one or two sacred stones. Women dressed in white 
 were kneeling here and there as if in prayer. Alashe's 
 festival was then being held. 
 
 (^The story goes that when war was being waged 
 against Ife, God threatened to destroy the city unless 
 a woman with only one child, and that a male, was 
 willing to sacrifice it. Now Morimi, who had only 
 one child, Alashe, was a rich woman and did not 
 wish to lose her wealth so she agreed to sacrifice her 
 son. 
 
 When Alashe was about to be killed he and all 
 his property were turned into stone. A chair or 
 stool now in the British Museum was the property 
 of Alashe. He had sent all his property to the palace 
 of the Oni for safety while the war was on. j)The Oni said 
 that when Captain Bower was pacifying the country he 
 took the stool from Ife and gave it to Sir W. Macgregor, 
 and he added, "when I went down to Lagos Sir William 
 offered to give me the stool back but I refused to 
 take it. I have another one left." 
 /Quite close to the palace there are two large out- 
 crops of quartz evidently similar to that from which 
 
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24 
 
 NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 these stools and other stone images were made^so we 
 may conclude that they were made on the spotJ)But 
 by whom? I am inclined to think that they must 
 have been made by some black mason, possibly one of 
 those natives sent to the King of Portugal in the 
 fifteenth century and educated by the Portuguese, 
 He may have returned as a lay brother or even 
 
 as a priest and 
 found his way 
 to I f e. He 
 then possibly 
 introduced a 
 form of Chris- 
 tianity and built 
 two Churches, 
 one dedicated 
 to Jesus and 
 one to the 
 Virgin Mary. 
 The stools were 
 perhaps part of 
 the furniture of 
 these Churches. 
 But in Ife all sorts of people and things are turned 
 to sf!one;'the Oni has the figure in stone of a man 
 caught in the act of having connection with his sisterj 
 /fust outside the town is the " stick " of Oranyan, 1 a 
 
 1 Togun called the stone pillars, still to be seen in Ife, Orunmila, but 
 the present Oni of Ife on my visit there called the pillar still standing 
 Opa Oranyan, the stick or pole of Oranyan. Captain Elgee in his 
 paper to the African Society translated the words as the walking stick of 
 Qpd, 
 
 Opa Oranyan at Ife. 
 
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ii CREATION AND SACRED STONES AT IFE 25 
 
 rounded pillar eleven feet in height and three feet six 
 inches in girth, with the remains of a second in two 
 pieces by its side, also what may be the remains of a 
 third. I asked the Oni if there had not been three 
 pillars at one time and he gave me to understand that 
 there had been, but that during the wars his enemies 
 hadlaken one. 
 
 (About a foot from the top of this pillar the present 
 Alafin of Oyo on his visit to Ife had tied a piece of 
 white cloth as a kind of act of submission, thereby 
 putting on one side his religion as a Mohammedan. 
 Near the centre of the pillar a horn and an axe are 
 carved. Above these figures forty-five copper headed 
 nails in three rows had been driven into the stone, on one 
 side of it ten, and on the other eight, while below 
 twenty of these curious nails still remain. I measured 
 this stone with a tape and made it eleven feet in height. 
 Captain Elgee makes it twelve, so that I can only con- 
 clude that we measured different sides of it. 
 
 I asked the Oni where the three sacred trees were, 1 
 but he hesitated to tell me. Then I told him about 
 th^T:hree pillars of mud called Eshu and the three 
 sacred trees at IaiiuJ " Ah ! " he saidj^^hey got their 
 religion from here^? 
 
 Later on, while wandering about the town, I 
 happened to descend from the plateau on which the Oni 
 has his palace and march in an easterly direction. 
 My attention was drawn to a woman who was standing 
 before what seemed a heap of stones praying. As 
 soon as she had gone I went into this grove and 
 
 1 See Page 195 At the Back of the Black Maris Mind. 
 
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26 , NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 foundQiwo mounds of stones with the stumps of old 
 trees in the centre and the remains of another heap of 
 stones. This then was thoolace where the three 
 Oyisa trees had once existed*^ 
 
 Opa Oranyan, 1 the stick or pole of Oranyan, is what 
 the one standing pillar is called, and upon making 
 enquiries I learnt that Opa is sometimes used as a 
 slang word for penis. <Qt is possible then that here in 
 Ife, the cradle of the religion of the Yoruba people, as 
 in Iaiu, the three pillars represented the three procrea- 
 tive persons, Father, Mother, Son, while the three 
 trees (Oyisa) 2 figured the same three persons in their 
 God?) 
 
 Not far from the grove where I saw the woman 
 j addressing the three mounds of stone, and on the 
 opposite side of the road, is an altar composed of stones 
 sacred to the moon, called Oshupa Igio. Upon a large 
 block of granite surrounded by some smaller blocks 
 of the same substance are two slabs of granite on which 
 rest two smaller stones about the size of one's fist. It 
 is said that when the Babalawo rub the slabs with 
 them they shine with a light like that of the moon. 
 Amongst the stones alongside the altar were two 
 >ieces of cut quartz which evidently once represented 
 the moon. 
 
 I should say that they were carved by the same 
 artist who made the stools. < \CTose to the altar were 
 three smaller stones which they called Eshu (devil), 
 and in a little clearing in the bush were two large pear- 
 
 1 Called by Togun Orunmila. 
 f Bini for Orisha. 
 
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h CREATION AND SACRED STONES AT IFE 27 
 
 shaped stones which they called Orisha Omu, meaning 
 breast, udder. Near to the palace of the Oni of Ife 
 there is a well which is said to have no bottom, and 
 they said this was not made by man but by the 
 Orisha 01okoro gbo\ 
 
 <? 
 
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CHAPTER III 
 
 DEATH, BURIAL, AND DEPARTED SPIRITS ORO 
 EGUN GUN, ETC. 
 
 Egun. 
 
 {. [ro, Oro, Egun, Egungun, and Eleko, are all now 
 Orishas representing the spirits of their ancestors, 
 and it is during festivities connected with them that 
 the " bull-roarer " appears.y At Ilaro I noticed three 
 trees with all their branches cut off 1 and the bark 
 
 1 Note by Adesola in the Nigerian Chronicle. 
 
 The whole company of gods and men proceed outside to what is called 
 the Oro pagi (Oro kills the tree) or Oro jegi (Oro eats the tree) ceremony. 
 For its performance the newly deified takes the company to the highest 
 tree in the neighbourhood in order to show proof of its divinity by " eating " 
 up every leaf thereon to the latest shoot. At a convenient distance from 
 this tree gods and men accommodate themselves as best as possible — 
 the gods crying with all their might and the men drumming very loudly, 
 singing and dancing at the same time. As it is not permitted to the un- 
 initiated to know how this spirit feat is performed, suffice it to say that one 
 wakes up in the morning to see that particular tree completely denuded of 
 its leaves : and it will require the service of the most powerful microscope 
 to discover even the tiniest and latest shoot anywhere about the tree up to 
 the loftiest branch or on the surrounding surface or anywhere about the 
 vicinity of the tree. These leaves are supposed to have been literally 
 eaten up by the god. " A ki ri ajeku Oro " (No mortal ever sees the 
 fragments of food devoured by the Oro god) has now passed into a by- 
 word. Suspended on this tree between any two of its branches which are 
 topmost, or sometimes left streaming on one of the branches which is the 
 highest, is a new mat or a white or red piece of cloth. In rare but 
 important cases the cloth is stretched from the branch of this particular 
 
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Tree Planted over Grave which thus becomes Sacred. 
 
 [Face p. 28. 
 
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ch. in DEATH, BURIAL, AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 29 
 
 round each stumped branch curled like a frill around 
 it. On the top of each tree was a white flag. It 
 was down these trees, I was told, that the spirit of 
 the departed came to visit his relations. One of the 
 chiefs of Ilaro had died some days before, and so, 
 when I arrived there, people playing drums kept 
 passing through the market on their way to the late 
 chief's house. Just before dark, as the market people 
 were assembling, an " Egun " presented himself before 
 my tent, and told me that he was the father (deceased) 
 come from heaven, and what was I going to give him. 
 The men, they said, know that the Egun is a man 
 
 tree to that of another tree or trees in the same neighbourhood or at the 
 nearest or furthest corner. You see it floating in mid-space high up in 
 the air. What these mats or cloths are intended to symbolise ought to 
 be evident from what I had pointed out in a previous article. [In the 
 Nigerian Chronicle^ Unlike the Egungun (No. II) and Agemo (No. IV) 
 the incarnated form of the Oro is never habited in cloths and mats. 
 What its nature and habiliments are is supposed to be a mystery and 
 jealously guarded up to the present from the gaze of women. In fact Oro 
 is worshipped more in its inane and spiritual form than in a materialised 
 shape. It is to the former that sacrifices are offered, not to the latter. 
 Among the Egbas who are the originators of this cult, the Oro awe 
 ceremony is the only funeral rite performed in connection with this 
 worship when the spirit is supposed to pass from the " unburied " ( No. 1 1 1 ) 
 into the " buried " state. Viewing it in this connection the mat or cloths 
 suspended on the tree must be taken to represent the mats or cloth with 
 which the dead was buried ; and its suspension to signify that the spirit 
 of the deceased now purified with funeral rites and having entered into 
 that stage of spirit life in which it can be invoked and worshipped, casts 
 behind it in its flight into the spirit world these earthly encumbrances as 
 being useless to it. 
 
 After the completion of this Oro-pagi ceremony they (gods and men) 
 again repair to the house ; and having regaled themselves with the 
 remnants, they re-form into a procession, remove the mariwo from the 
 gate, march direct for the Aborts and thence to their own house ere 
 break of day. In the morning the inmates return to the houses of 
 mourning, set a mark to the dedicated spot, and congratulate one 
 another that the departed had passed into the Oro stage and can be 
 invoked at any time for worship. 
 
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3 o NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 dressed up, but they respect the dress and keep 
 up the play for the sake of the women-folk whom, 
 they say, need this assurance (that the chief has 
 risen from the dead). This Egun wore top boots 
 made by the Hausa. He also wore pants instead 
 of the native cloth. His shirt and overcloth were 
 of a rich texture, but not different from that worn 
 by the well-to-do. But he wore a net-like mask 
 in front of his face which gave him a weird appearance. 
 Men and boys followed him, and seemed to be much 
 impressed when the Egun cried out in a voice 
 evidently not his own : " I am from heaven, therefore 
 you must respect me." 
 
 When an important man dies in these parts, his 
 relations wash his body, and then shave off all hair. 
 Then they smear the body over with redwood and 
 water. The body is now placed on a mat on the 
 ground. The two big toes are tied together, and 
 the hands are placed on the chest. The mouth and 
 nostrils are filled with cotton wool. Each of the 
 children of the deceased then brings a fine cloth and 
 covers the body. Then they call all the people, who 
 come and condole with them. If the deceased's 
 daughter has a little one, it is this grandchild who sits 
 near to the deceased's bed and fans him. During the 
 night they have four or five lights burning. People 
 from all around come playing the gong-gong drums. 
 They remain all night and are given food and drink by 
 the children of the deceased. Among the rich this 
 feasting is kept up for seven days before the body is 
 buried. If the deceased has left a married daughter, 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 31 
 
 it is her husband who digs the grave. He gets ten 
 or twenty men to help him, and pays them in goods. 
 On the evening before the burial the son and 
 daughter give money to buy a sheep or goat. Then 
 they take the corpse to the grave, and having placed 
 the body in it the goat or sheep is killed over it, so 
 that the blood falls upon it. The sons and daughters 
 must next weep so that their tears may also fall on 
 the corpse. The grave is then filled in. 
 
 Regarding these expenses Adesola writes : 
 
 " Otalelegbeje ro gba 
 Omo re a san ligbehin o 
 
 The amount you have received 
 Will some day be paid by your children. r 
 
 " [Otalegbeje is 1460 cowries, or 36 strings and 
 a half. It is not intended to be interpreted 
 literally. One of the many things which contribute 
 to the heaviness of funeral expenses in Yorubaland 
 is the amount that must be paid the various social, 
 religious and political guilds to which the deceased 
 is attached, apart from presents of yams, oil, goats, 
 and other cattle and provisions which must be made 
 at some definite time after interment or during the 
 celebration of the funeral ceremonies. The amount 
 is for making etutu (propitiatory sacrifices) for the 
 dead ; the provisions to maintain the members when 
 they meet. There is no native but belongs to one 
 or another of these guilds. Some belong to several 
 and a man's rank is estimated according to the 
 guild or guilds to which he belongs. Whatever 
 amount remains after the necessary expenses are 
 made is distributed among the members and every 
 
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32 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 individual is given a portion, however small, in 
 proportion to his official status. The enjoyment of 
 this benefit is regarded as an accumulated debt for 
 every individual and imposes an obligation upon 
 their children to make similar contribution to the 
 guild towards their parents' funerals at their deaths. 
 This song repeated at funerals is to keep them 
 always in recollection of this fact. This expense is 
 always heaviest in connection with the Ogboni 
 (Senatorial) Society. This is both a political, social 
 and a secret Society. In fact it is the King's chief 
 consultative chamber in all matters and its principal 
 members form the Cabinet. They lay the corpse 
 with full masonic rites. In their passage to and from 
 the house of mourning, they sound alarms with 
 their state drums of various height and sounds so 
 that every woman or uninitiated man might flee their 
 presence either in the street or in the house of 
 mourning. For a woman to see them or their 
 drum (in the old days) meant death ; for an uninitiated 
 man a very heavy fine with compulsory initiation. 
 During the process of corpse-laying they continue 
 beating their drums and so at intervals whilst the 
 corpse is still lying in state when they go to make 
 their etutu. At each time they are generally pro- 
 vided with palm wine and native beer. The 
 members are sometimes called Oshugbo. A few 
 elderly women are always admitted and these are 
 generally distinguished from others by having 
 certain cotton strings (okun) tied round their wrists : 
 such women are supposed to be for ever precluded 
 from marriage. Members of this Society some- 
 times professed Christianity in order to free their 
 children from the above obligation.]" 
 
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Wmm 
 
 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 33 
 
 They present all who condole with them with kola, 
 gin, rum, or palm wine. In the olden days, if they 
 had not the money, they would rather sell themselves 
 to be able to stand the expense than not entertain in a 
 fitting manner. They would work one week for their 
 owner, and one week for themselves until they had 
 saved sufficient to redeem themselves. 
 
 To prove to the women folk that man rises and goes 
 to heaven a person is placed in a private room. Then 
 when all the family is assembled in an adjoining room 
 someone will strike the ground three times with a 
 stick crying out, " Father ! Father! Father! Answer 
 me." And the Egun, the person in the room, answers 
 and every one rejoices. Food has been placed in the 
 Egun's room by the women, and when the Egun has 
 answered each guest goes in there and helps himself 
 as he or she likes. The Egun is not dressed up when 
 in this room, but if he wishes to go outside and join in 
 the dancing then he dresses himself and puts on his 
 mask. 
 
 Oro or the Bull Roarer. 
 
 asg^olonel Ellis (p. 3, The Yoruba-speaking Peoples) 
 writes, " Just as Egungun is now used for social 
 purposes, and to preserve order in private life, so 
 is Oro used for political purposes, to preserve order 
 in the community at large^yet, from the analogy 
 of other peoples, and from the fact that it is death 
 for a woman to see the instrument which produces 
 the voice of Oro, there can be no doubt that Oro 
 was the spirit that presided at the celebration of 
 
 D 
 
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■U NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 male mysteries^.,) such as are found among the 
 Kurnai of Australia, and he has perhaps been 
 diverted from his proper purpose by the influence 
 of the Ogboni." 
 
 A story which rather bears out the phallic origin 
 of Oro is as follows : — 
 
 Another name for Oro is Iro, a chimpanzee or 
 slave of a rich man. His master had no child, 
 and so, when he bought Oro, he asked him what 
 work he could do. Oro said that the only work 
 he knew how to do was to offer sacrifice to the 
 Orishas. And promised his master that if he 
 would allow him to do this kind of work only he 
 would see that he got a child. Then Oro went 
 to search for camwood and made two flat pins. 
 In these he made holes at the end and tied strings 
 to them. And anyone who heard the sound when 
 he whizzed them through the air had children. 
 Then his master had children also and asked Oro 
 what he would take for the good work he had 
 done for him. He asked for a ram and pito 1 
 and that is why the Oro cries, " Mu de lewe, lewe, 
 lewe, lewe" ("I come with young, young, young"). 
 And now his worshippers sacrifice ram, dog, and 
 pito, and never eat dog and horse. And he who 
 offends him brings a dog as an offering. But his 
 followers will not eat it. When his master had 
 some children Oro killed one and ate it. Then 
 the master asked him : " Why did you kill my child 
 and eat it ? " Then Oro ran away and lived in 
 
 1 Corn beer. 
 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 35 
 
 the forests and became a chimpanzee, 1 and from 
 that time he was called Iro Omo Nenun the 
 chimpanzee, the child of Nenun. 
 
 And now if anyone wants a child from Oro 
 he will get a ram and pito and take it to the forests 
 and call him three times " O-o-oro, O-o-oro, O-o-oro." 
 The third time he answers, " Mu de lewe, lewe, lewe." 
 
 All the people went to Nenun and asked him 
 where his slave "Oro" had gone? He said to 
 the bush. He did his best to get him to come 
 back but he would not. So when men want a 
 
 1 Nigerian Chronicle. 
 
 Adesola's Version of the Iro Story. 
 
 "An ape (Iro) who had the power of transforming itself into a human 
 being made love during one of his transformations with a woman who was 
 in the habit of collecting jungle products for the market. Several 
 children (boys) were the result of this amorous affection. Their ren- 
 dezvous was a retreat in the woods where the ape who often came in the 
 guise of a hunter signalled his approach and arrival by means of what 
 now becomes the Oro spirit cry. For the amusement of his children and 
 to give them a dance, he beat his breast for a drum. The sound of it was 
 what is now imitated by the Obete and Asipelu drums used whenever an 
 Oro function takes place. He greatly enriched both wife and children by 
 means of the product of the chase, the latter of whom also embraced his 
 profession. He ultimately retained his human form and at his death was 
 buried on the spot which was their meeting place. Having shown him- 
 self a very extraordinary personage during his lifetime, he was worshipped 
 as a god after his death ; and whenever his children would invoke his 
 manes they produce the same sound by the same means and beat the 
 same drums as their father was in the habit of producing and beating." 
 
 This story evidently is an invention with a purpose. It is to explain the 
 Oro as a deified spirit ; only it makes it the deified spirit of one individual 
 rather than of many. The tradition of the man ape is to give it (the Oro) 
 a divine origin ; for apes and other species of that genus are sacred 
 animals in the Yoruba country. Parents of twins and people who worship 
 Ibeje (the twin gods) will never kill or eat monkeys, as twins are supposed 
 to be the transformations of these creatures that often displace the fcetus 
 of children. The derivation of Oro from Iro as explained by the above 
 tradition cannot therefore hold. 
 
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36 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 child now they first bring the ram and pito to the 
 Oro grave, 1 and ask Nenun to take the offering 
 to Oro. The reason why women may not see 
 Iro is that having killed the child, they told the 
 mother that the child was lost and so deceived her 
 but they took Oro's clothes from him so that he 
 was naked, and ashamed to see women. 
 
 Women run away because his master has punished 
 Oro by not allowing him to wear clothes and return 
 to town. It is not Oro but only his symbol that 
 comes to town. 
 
 The flat piece of camwood is called I she and 
 
 1 Nigerian Chronicle, September loth, 1909. 
 
 Burial Customs in the Yoruba Country by Adesola 
 
 Oro's grove is a sanctum sanctorum and no one, whatever be his rank 
 or status dare enter it unless he is a devotee and that on special and 
 rather rare occasions. As a matter of fact it brooks no interference ; and 
 wherever and whenever an Oro cry is heard no Egungun or Eluku dare 
 cry there at the same time. It is regarded as the chief of the spirit gods 
 and it maintains its awe and dignity intact even under modern conditions. 
 Apart from the rites and ceremonies performed in the grove, there are 
 other demonstrations performed in the public ; but from all, whether done 
 within the grove or without it, women are rigidly excluded. All males 
 from the baby at the back to the centenarian have access to the 
 witnessing of its public demonstrations. I have made independent 
 inquiries from several people who are Egba-born whether that special 
 privilege, that is extended to some elderly women, called Iya Agan, of 
 initiation into the Egungun mysteries is ever granted to any woman in 
 the Oro mysteries and in each instance have received a negative reply. 
 One gentleman alone it was who told me this privilege was conceded to 
 his late grandmother but I have every reason to doubt his veracity. It 
 was reported of that wealthy Egba woman who gave a name to one of our 
 public Squares in Lagos with some of its buildings that on her return to 
 her native country she offered to buy the exceptional privilege of being 
 initiated into the mysteries of this spirit god and of gaining its acquaintance, 
 To this end she used all the influence her great wealth gave her, but she 
 had to spend an equal if not a greater amount to recant and that within 
 doors and on her knees when the god and his attendants came in front 
 of her compound to accept the invitation. 
 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 37 
 
 the string is called Asho Oro or Oro's Cloth. The 
 stick to which the string is tied is called Papa Oro, 
 Oro's stick. 
 
 Another form is the Agbe- which is a piece of 
 flat wood about two feet long attached to a string 
 tied to a ball of cloth, grass, or string called Ibowo 
 Oro, Oro's handle. 
 
 Ishe represents a young man, but Agbe a full 
 grown man. 
 
 Ishe~~isthat which makes. Agbe is that which lives. 
 And my informant told me that they were symbols 
 of- the Phallus. 
 
 Co is a man's Orisha, and all men should worship 
 
 He was the first man slave bought from God by 
 Nenun, therefore men should recognise and worship 
 him, as the giver of children/ 
 
 When a person dies the relations cry out, " Oro 
 o Baba o," because Oro was the first Orisha and 
 first father who caused men to have children. < To 
 refer to the living father is not solemn enough ; 
 the death cry refers to their first father Orb.' 
 
 The calling of Oro by the Ogbonis" is only to 
 frighten women away, as they do not wish them to 
 see how they execute a criminal. 
 
 Mr. Pellegrin told me that when the first yams 
 are ready the Egba worshipped Oro. No woman 
 enters the Oro bush, and if he comes out night or 
 day the women must go indoors. A ram is killed 
 and cooked, and its head is placed on the wall near 
 to the worshipper's father's grave. 
 
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38 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 They draw a figure of a man in white chalk on 
 the wall near the grave, to represent the departed. 
 It is on this figure that they hang the head of the 
 ram. And a stranger will know if the head has not 
 been replaced each year. 
 
 They used to appoint a man called Ologbo Ijeun, 
 the chief of the Oro ceremony, who noted the seasons 
 and appointed, the time for the beginning of Oro 
 ceremony, 
 
 In the "Head Hunters" Dr. Haddon gives a 
 description of the Malu ceremonies, 1 and I am sure 
 that any of us who have seen Oro will be quite 
 ready to recognise the masked Zogole as some very 
 near relation. 
 
 This Malu ceremony, however, has to do with the 
 initiation of youths to certain male mysteries, while 
 our Oro, as figured by the bull roarer, is said not only 
 to be the giver of children, but to arrest disease and 
 sickness, and prevent so many people dying. In this 
 it more nearly represents the " Maduh " (p. 107) that 
 used to "turn devil" at night time, and go round the 
 the gardens, and swing bull roarers to make the yams 
 grow. Or perhaps Uvio is still more like our Oro, 
 for "if anyone is sick, food is given to Uvio, who is 
 placed on the top of a big house (clarino) and he 
 is addressed 'Oh! Uvio, finish the sickness of our 
 dgarr one, and give life.' " 
 
 It is strange that the Yoruba do not connect 
 
 )ro " with the male mysteries^)when it is so openly 
 
 1 Vols. V. and VI. Reports of Cambridge Expedition to Toms 
 Straits, 
 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 39 
 
 a male ceremony, but of many people I have asked 
 some say they have never heard of Oro in this connec- 
 tion, and others will not hear of any such thing being 
 mentioned. I say strange, 1 because the bull roarer is 
 certainly used at Ovia's yearly festival in Benin terri- 
 tory, at which as certainly youths are initiated into the 
 male mysteries. It is also used in the worship of 
 Ovato at Geduma, and during the Ebomici festival 
 and Ihoho dance at Ugo, both also in the Benin 
 Kingdom, which, as you may be aware, is a King- 
 dom adjoining the Yoruba conntry and said to 
 have been founded by a son of a Yoruba Oni of Ife. 
 But it may be that while " Oro " is present on these 
 occasions it is only as a deterrent to women and others 
 not to pry into the secrets of the Orisha, or so-called 
 Deity. 
 
 At Igbore the Oro festival is held always about 
 September, and it is at this time that members are 
 initiated into the secrets of the fraternity. Certain 
 youths known to be capable of keeping secrets are 
 chosen as novices. 
 
 The Oro of the Bini is known as Oloawon Ovato 
 Oloawon Ovia, and Usaokwhaiyi, that is the Oloawon 
 in connection with the Orishas Ovato, Ovia and 
 Okwhaiyi. 
 
 Oloawon means the owner of the turtle or tortoise, 2 
 the essence of deceit and meanness. He is described 
 as one who is constantly deceiving men and other 
 animals, and leading them to their death by making 
 
 1 See At the Back of the Black Man's Mind, page an, 
 
 2 The turtle is called the sea-tortoise. 
 
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40 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 use of secrets with which he has been entrusted. He 
 leads women also to seduction and other crimes. 
 
 To prove that boys are not like women and the 
 tortoise, such as are chosen as novices to be initiated 
 into the secrets of the fraternity of Ovia or Ovata are 
 first given a supposed secret to keep. After a time 
 if it is found that the boys have not told even their 
 mothers anything about it, they are tried again and 
 again, seven times in all, when, if considered trust- 
 worthy, they are taken to the Orisha's grove at the 
 beginning of the yearly festival, and gradually taught 
 the secrets of the craft. The Festival of Ovia 
 continues for some three months, and at the end of 
 this time Oloawon (or Oro) comes down for seven 
 days, and Ovia is then said to be dead until next year. 
 During these seven days women are not allowed out- 
 side their houses. 
 
 Anyone at other times of the year is allowed to 
 enter the grove or temple of Ovia, and to ask its help 
 to destroy his or her enemies. If the enemy has done 
 something worthy of death, Ovia gives him a certain 
 medicine in the making up of which parts of the 
 tortoise or turtle are used. 1 The criminal is said to 
 swell up and die. 
 
 It is interesting in this connection to read in the 
 Head Hunters (page 106) : " Before going out 
 turtling the men marched round the Agu and whirled 
 the ' bull roarers ' alway circling clockwise." 
 
 When a great man dies the " Ogboni " 2 go and 
 
 1 Vol. V. of Cambridge Expedition to Torres Straits. 
 8 Native council. 
 
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m DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 41 
 
 lay him out and help to bury him. On their way they 
 cry out ' Ehpa Ogboni Enu ! Enu ! " translated to me 
 as : — The Ogboni are coming, catch him ! catch him ! 
 (referring to anyone they may find outside their 
 houses). When they have buried the defunct Oro 
 comes. 
 
 When the " Ogboni " are holding a palaver or try- 
 ing a case they beat certain tunes on a drum ; if they 
 condemn the person to death, the tune beaten on the 
 drum is changed to Oro * and all the people know of 
 
 1 Nigerian Chronicle, 17th September. 
 
 Burial Customs in the Yoruba Country. 
 Oro or Spirit- Worship among the Egbas. 
 
 By Adesola. 
 The political aspect of Oro Worship. 
 
 Oro worship has a political side. The god assisted the State to give 
 capital punishment to criminals in return for services rendered it by the 
 state. As with punishment meted out by its companion gods, social 
 disgrace follows because of its implications. The Oro decapitates {pa) 
 in which case the head of the criminal is nailed to a tree as a warning to 
 others ; or takes away {gbe) the criminal, body and soul, out of the arena 
 of life when neither the living man nor the lifeless is ever seen after. To 
 the shades of such criminals no funeral honours are given, no shrines 
 erected, no worship paid. Their spirits are supposed to be doomed to 
 roam eternally outside the spirit world. With the Oro they revisit the 
 earth on festive occasions only to wander about in corner places. Hence 
 they are called Pakoko (loiterers in the corner). They are often referred 
 to as Eru Oro (Oro slaves). For these reasons an Egba man would 
 quickly resent the imprecation Oro re ma gbe e or Oro re ma pa e (May 
 you fall a prey to the Oro god). 
 
 The Oro is also employed as an instrument of banishment. If the 
 state considers it expedient to expel anyone from the country and the 
 authorities find themselves powerless to accomplish the object, they 
 concede the business to the Oro god. As soon as ready, an Oro 
 confinement is, declared, i.e. every woman is to keep within doors. The 
 gods then begin to walk the streets (Oro gbode). As many of them 
 surround the house of the individual giving out their weird cries ; and 
 eventually the man is heard miles off away from the town. He is then 
 said to be banished by the Oro (wonfi Oro le nilu). 
 
 In times of great political crisis or whenever the state would undertake 
 
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42 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 their decision. When some of the " Ogboni " 
 belong to the Oro fraternity they can call " Oro " out 
 and there is no doubt that at times they have abused 
 this privilege. 
 
 After witnessing the Egungun ceremony already 
 described, a semi-educated native, who evidently 
 thought he had got me in a favourable position to 
 annoy, volunteered the statement that the Government 
 for some reason or other would not allow Oro to kill 
 inquisitive women he found out of doors and that in 
 consequence they were getting quite out of hand. 
 What were they to do ? I looked at that semi-educated 
 barbarian who had certainly been sufficiently in touch 
 with civilisation to know exactly why the Government 
 put down this class of murder, and suggested that he 
 should write to the " Society for the Protection of 
 Aborigines." (This class of native has got to look upon 
 this Society as something a little more powerful than 
 the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the 
 Government he represents, and appeals to it in some 
 cases after appealing to the Secretary of State to 
 redress some fancied grievance.) 
 
 Mr. Pellegrin remembers how on one occasion Oro 
 was called " accidentally " at Abeokuta when three men 
 
 the consideration of any new law or measure that will seriously affect the 
 several sections of the country, an Oro confinement is also declared. The 
 streets being thus cleared of traffic and women save such as are carried 
 on under the circumstances by the men, the several heads and sub-heads 
 of the various townships often travel to attend conference. Any decision 
 arrived at in this assembly becomes law and is considered binding on the 
 whole country. Confinements are again declared whenever a state 
 sacrifice is to be offered on behalf of the town. In this instance the gods 
 parade the streets and the dull monotony which would have prevailed is 
 relieved by singing, dancing and other Oro displays. 
 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 43 
 
 were to be executed. Jaguna the executioner killed 
 the first, killed the second and when he got to the 
 third, who was the youngest of them, his cutlass would 
 not cut. He tried it three times without success, so he 
 went back to his seat and got a revolver and shot him 
 in the head. The young man cried out and put his 
 hand to his head and took the bullet and said, " Jaguna, 
 here is your bullet." Jaguna then fired into the young 
 man's ear. He shook his head and the bullet 
 dropped out of his other ear into his hand. He gave 
 the bullet to Jaguna. Then the people cried out 
 Oro and the women ran away. Then the people 
 hacked the criminal to pieces with their knives. 
 These criminals had been condemned to death for 
 selling salt to the Ibadan, then the enemies of the 
 Egbas. 
 
 Asani, who says he remembers the tragedy, declares 
 that three days afterwards the third culprit was seen by 
 him in the town, and that his people begged him to go 
 away as it was against the law of Oro for a man who 
 had been killed by Oro to come to life again. 
 
 A man who will not be killed and lives in spite of 
 being executed in this way is called Ologun or a 
 medicine man. Alateshe, an Egba Chief, refused to 
 allow a man who had been thus executed to be killed 
 again, as he said some day this rascality would save 
 them. 
 
 When the Egba go to war and set the I she (Oro) 
 whizzing and the enemy hears it he runs away. 
 
 Anyone who is an Oro worshipper must attend the 
 funeral of a member of the craft. The one who is 
 
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44 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 burying the worshipper gives the Oro, a ram, pito, and 
 kola. With the kola they touch the dead man's head. 
 Then with their fists closed, thumbs inside and one 
 hand on the other, they touch the dead man's head 
 three times and then the head of his son who 
 is succeeding him. They next take the kola again 
 and touch the dead man's head three times and then the 
 child's head, asking the dead to bless the living. 
 Then they kill the ram, and the children of the 
 deceased rub their foreheads with the blood. This 
 sacrifice is repeated every year by the children, and 
 they tie the head of the ram on the wall near to the 
 grave (in the house). 
 
 Talking of the persecution of the early Christians 
 Miss Tucker, in her book Abeokuta, writes : 
 " Idinui . . . died in the Ake Mission house. His 
 master (Mr. Hinderer) obtained the consent of his 
 relatives and buried him in the Christian burying 
 ground ... It was the first case of the death of a 
 native convert ; and the Ogboni who have by law, it 
 appeared, the arrangement and the profits of all the 
 funerals, considered their right was infringed upon and 
 lost no time in taking advantage of the alleged 
 misdemeanour. Six of the converts were seized and 
 confined in the Council House of Itoku . . . Mr. 
 Hinderer . . . procured their release after five days of 
 suffering, not however without severe scourging. 
 
 " The Missionaries received intelligence from 
 the Obashorun . . . who was unvarying in the friend- 
 liness of his conduct towards them, that the Chief of 
 Igbore was intending to follow the example of Itoku." 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 45 
 
 " Nothing," writes Mr., afterwards Bishop, Crowther, 
 " was omitted that could make the circumstances 
 appalling to the poor sufferers ; Oro was called out 
 . . . the Ogboni drums were beating furiously and 
 a great multitude armed with bill hooks, clubs and 
 whips were catching and dragging our poor converts 
 to the Council House . . . The women were cruelly 
 scourged and pinioned without regard to age or sick- 
 ness ; and while all this was going on in the Council 
 House, the houses of the imprisoned were being 
 plundered, their household utensils destroyed, their 
 doors unhinged and carried away." 
 
 Page 148. — " The fear of man kept back another 
 person from becoming a candidate." 
 
 " It was a Priestess who had formerly been a violent 
 opponent .... She feared lest if it were known she 
 had embraced the new Religion she should in revenge 
 be given to Oro, or in other words be murdered." 
 
 "This mysterious power Oro is an object of the 
 greatest dread to the women of Abeokuta, who are 
 forbidden to appear in the street during any of his 
 visits under pain of death." (Ibid., page 173.) 
 
 The above was written in 1853. The Rev. R. H. 
 Stone somewhere about the year i860 (there is no date 
 in his book, " In Africa's Forest and Jungle," neither 
 has the publisher given the date of publication) says : 
 " During my ten years' residence in Abeokuta the 
 town was frequently given to Oro and on three 
 occasions malefactors were punished and political 
 matters of importance were transacted. The Voice of 
 Oro was frequently heard in the streets after dark. It 
 
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46 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 began in a low moan, then rose to a kind of scream 
 and then sank into a moan. This noise was made by 
 the whirling of a flat stick, but it was a capital crime 
 for anyone to imitate as much. 1 It was a capital crime, 
 also, for any woman to remain in the streets after the 
 voice of Oro was heard at any time. 
 
 My friend, Mr. John Parkinson, collected two 
 versions of the origin of Oro, which I have also 
 heard, but take the liberty of giving in his own 
 words. (See "Man" 1906, 66.) 
 
 The Legend of Oro? 
 By John Parkinson. 
 
 In the olden days Olorun made six people, 
 four men and two women, to whom after a certain 
 time children were born, but these children always 
 died. 
 
 And the people said to Olorun, " O Olorun, how 
 is this ; you made six people, and although children 
 are born, they never live ? " So they said, " We 
 will find out another god who will let the children 
 live." 
 
 Now amongst the four men, two were Babalawo 
 (a priesthood who used the palm nut as a means 
 of divination). 
 
 Then said the Babalawo, " Olorun is your 
 father, but you must have some ' idol ' 3 to worship 
 
 1 Small boys now use it as a toy, 1909. 
 
 2 Oro, the bull-roarer. See Ellis, The Yoruba-speaking People of the 
 Slave Coast of West Africa, 109. 
 
 3 " Idol," used in the sense of a visible and tangible object of venera- 
 tion. 
 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 47 
 
 too." The others replied, " We are ready, let 
 us know the name of this god " ; and the Babalawo 
 replied, "It is Oro, you must worship him." 
 
 So the Babalawo made the Oro, and brought it 
 to the others and said, " You must give food every 
 day." They answered, " That is good, but how 
 shall we make him talk if we want anything of 
 him ? " To this the Babalawo replied that when the 
 food was given the people should dance, and sing 
 and clap their hands. And so doing, the Oro began 
 to talk, saying, 1 " Baba ma mu-o " (" O father don't 
 take them "). 2 Since the people did this none of 
 their children died, but the women were hidden in 
 the house. Slowly the numbers of the people 
 increased, and after a time they thought they would 
 like to have a king, and they made a king. The 
 king said, " I will worship only Oro, the god that 
 makes us populous." 
 
 When the time for the yearly feast was come, 
 the king gave a bullock to be killed, and he said, 
 " I am king, and I do like a king. All my wives 
 are to be present when Oro sings." And the 
 wives were brought, and the bullock was killed, and 
 the people danced and sang. 
 
 Then the king said, " I am king ; how is it 
 that common wood can talk and say 3 ' Baba ma 
 mu-o ' ? " 
 
 But when Oro saw that women were present he 
 
 1 Approximately onomatopoetic of the sound made by the "Bull- 
 roarer." 
 
 2 The pronoun them is not expressed in the original. 
 
 3 " A woman was once splitting fire-wood in the streets. Accidentally 
 a chip of it flew up and made a sound ; she took up the piece and shewed 
 it to the husband, he took it from her, contrived the Ise or Abe after it 
 and ingeniously evolved the Oro worship. 
 
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48 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap, 
 
 kept silence- Then said the two Babalawo, "It is 
 against the rules that women should be present 
 when Oro is made, but since you are king we 
 could not dictate to you at first, but now you your- 
 self have proved that this cannot be done, for Oro 
 does not cry where women are. This is not simply 
 wood but Eru Male, the slave of Male (Male = 
 Oro)." 
 
 And the king said to his wives, " Go home," 
 and they went ; and the Babalawo said, " Sing 
 again." 
 
 Then as once more they sang, the Oro cried, 
 " Baba ma mu-o." Hence it is from that day Oro 
 is not made in the presence of women. 
 
 A Second Legend of Oro. In the earliest time 
 six men were made by God, and the place where 
 they lived was called Aking-oro (full of Oro). In 
 those days this place was surrounded by bush and 
 trees, and now and again the people could hear a 
 sound, or cry, of " Mamu, ma mu," and so afraid 
 were they that they dared not go into the forest. 
 On a certain day one of them said, " I had 
 a dream, and in the dream Olorun said, ' You must 
 go from this place because it is Aking-oro, full of 
 Oro.'" 
 
 But they answered, " We will not go from 
 here ; we will find animals and kill them as a 
 sacrifice, sprinkling blood upon the ground to ap- 
 pease Oro." This ceremony they carried out, but 
 the dreams came again, and, worst of all, their 
 children died. 
 
 Now in those days Oro was a hunter, and Oro 
 came into their country. When the people saw this 
 hunter they were surprised and said, "Where do 
 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 49 
 
 you come from ; we thought there were but six of 
 us?" Then Oro replied, " I came to tell you that 
 this place belongs to me, and I will show you a 
 spot where you can see me always," and he showed 
 it to them and they cleared it. He told them that 
 when they wanted to perform the ceremony of 
 sacrifice to appease the spirit calling "Ma mu, ma 
 mu," they should sing, and he would come and see 
 them in the spot they had cleared. Moreover, Oro 
 said, " When this spot is cleared, come every seven 
 days and bring fowls, and sheep, and Fufu" 1 (fufu is 
 mashed yam), and they went on the days indicated 
 and Oro came as he had said. 
 
 When Oro had done eating he said, " I will 
 make you a present." Then said one, " May I ask 
 you something ? You are the owner of this place, 
 and since we have been here we hear the sound of 
 ' Ma mu, ma mu.' What is this noise, since you are 
 the owner of the place ? " 
 
 And Oro replied, " I am the man who 
 makes that noise every night." Then he cut a 
 piece out of his forearm and gave it to them. But 
 they said, " What shall we do with it ? " Oro re- 
 plied, " I am very old and cannot always come here 
 every seven days, but when you come, bore a hole 
 in the flesh and place a thread in it, and when you 
 fling it outwards it will cry like me, being part of 
 me. Take care, moreover, that no woman comes, 
 and when you have finished with the piece of flesh 
 put it in the ground before going home. You 
 dare not take it to the house. And you will call 
 this place Ebu Male" (Ebu = bush, Male = a 
 name for Oro). 
 
 1 Fufu is not a Yoruba word, mashed yam is called " Iyan." 
 
 E 
 
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50 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 Then they worshipped Oro every seven days, 
 and the children ceased from dying, and the people 
 multiplied. 
 
 When they became populous they elected a king. 
 
 Now the king had a wife whom he greatly loved, 
 and the wife said, " I know you love me very much 
 and I have a favour to ask of you. It is this : 
 May I see the thing that cries at night ? " And 
 . the king said, " It is against the rules, but I will 
 let you see it, for I love you greatly." 
 
 So when the day for the feast came the king 
 had a big chair made with a seat inside for the 
 woman. 
 
 Arrived at the place they made the usual feast, 
 and, as before, took the flesh from the ground and 
 flung it out, but there came no sound. Then one 
 of the four elders said, " Something is wrong here; 
 the hunter said, 'No woman must come,' or he 
 would fail to answer. We have called upon Ita 
 (Oro) but there has been no answer, let us look at 
 the king's chair." Then one went to the king's 
 chair and broke it and saw the king's wife inside, 
 and they began again to fling the flesh of the 
 hunter into the air when suddenly the thread broke 
 and the flesh flew off and cut the throat of the 
 woman. 
 
 Then said the small piece of flesh, "I go to my 
 father and will tell him what I have seen here 
 to-day, but since you have broken the rule I must 
 change myself, and on the next feast-day you will 
 see what I have taken to fill my place. 
 
 When all had gone the piece of flesh told the 
 hunter what had happened, and Oro the hunter 
 came back, and Oro said, " Come to my flesh 
 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 51 
 
 again," and Oro cut a stick and tied a string to it 
 and left it in the ground. 
 
 Then Oro departed from the world, being 
 offended because a woman had seen part of him. 
 
 Note the legend adds that Oro went into the 
 cam- wood, hence any " Oro" made from cam-wood 
 is held to be especially good. These stories of 
 Oro, the bull-roarer, do not seem to be opposed 
 to Ellis's suggestion that Oro was originally the 
 spirit presiding at male mysteries, but my carriers 
 do not know, or do not admit this idea. 1 
 
 John Parkinson 
 
 1 Nigerian Chronicle, September yd. by Niefios ara Orun. 
 
 In regard to derivation the word Oro is a purely onomatopoetic one 
 and is derived from the sound heard at the discovery of the Abe or Ise 
 of the musical God. 
 
 With respect to the origin. Although I am neither a missionary nor a 
 parson, but only a grandson of Oro worshippers, I am almost ashamed to 
 narrate the circumstance which led to the apotheosis of the God of my 
 fathers. On a certain day in Orun (" Sun "), a town in the Egba Province 
 of Gbagura, situated about 8 miles from Ibadan and lying on the route 
 between Ijebu and Ibadan, as a certain woman was splitting wood for 
 culinary purposes, there flew from the clefts of the wood something which 
 made a whizzing sound similar to the " voice " of the God Oro. The 
 astonished woman looked round and picked up that whizzing something 
 which corresponded in shape with the Ise or Abe now employed in the wor- 
 ship of the god. Her husband being hard by, she shewed him the whizzing 
 material and said in the dialect of " Orun " Ese ti ro baun (" why did it 
 sound like that?") and the husband answered O ro be nani ("it simply 
 sounded like that") or something to the effect which led to the coining of 
 the word Oro. The wily husband took the material from her and ere 
 long invented the Ise or Abe, and with the aid of his companions the 
 mystifying Oro worship was soon evolved. The old town of Orun is now 
 called Podo or Oke orun, and is like Ibadan and a few other towns at the 
 present time chiefly inhabited by Oyo people after it had been evacuated 
 by the -Egba as a result of the Owu war (1 821-1830) which caused the 
 dispersal of the Egba people and the destruction of the Egba towns. 
 
 As a proof of the truth of this story of the Origin of Oro custom it may 
 be stated here that in the township of Orun in Abeokuta where the 
 remnant of the people of old Orun now dwells since the founding of Abeo- 
 
 E 2 
 
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52 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 In each account it says that six beings were 
 made by God. We shall note as we proceed how 
 this number six keeps recurring as the number of 
 the pairs of members of the council of different 
 Societies. 
 
 Oro means, I am told, "lamentation," such as 
 we now hear at funerals; as soon as the "father" 
 dies, the family cry out Epa ! Oro o ! Baba Lo, I'oni o. 
 Alas the departed one, the father has gone to-day ! 
 
 In the second version Oro comes to the six as a 
 spirit of the departed (Ore) or as Oro is now said 
 to come. 
 
 In this version Oro cuts a piece out of his fore- 
 arm, but I heard that it was another part of his 
 anatomy (and I must here add that the time has 
 not yet come for the people of this country to be 
 quite frank in these matters, the followers of Oro 
 are still very powerful and will punish the divulging 
 of secrets of this sort, if they can). 
 
 I would draw your attention to page 65, " Great 
 Benin," where Mr. C. Punch is made to say, " With 
 these parts of the slain men and women the Oba 
 is said to have made certain medicine for fetish 
 purposes." 
 
 Although I have not been able to procure a leather 
 " bull- roarer " it is well to remember that in the 
 first version Oro is made to say, "this is not simply 
 wood," and in the second, " when you have finished 
 
 kuta in 1830 to this day it is a woman that " Heralds the Oro " (Lo Oro) at 
 the annual Oro festival which takes place in this township about Easter 
 time each year. 
 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 53 
 
 with the piece of flesh" and "then said the small 
 piece of flesh." 
 
 Certain parts of the dead Father are preserved 
 by the Bakutu. The penis is cut off and smoked 
 and then worn as a charm by his first wife's eldest son. 
 
 " Come to my flesh again," says Oro, and he cut 
 a stick and tied a string to it and left it in the 
 ground. Then Oro departed from the world, being 
 offended because a woman had seen part of him. 
 
 Another reason given to me for the exclusion 
 of women from affairs of state apart from their 
 inability to keep a secret, was that wherever a 
 man was, a woman came from here and another 
 from there and both wished to become his friend 
 (lover) and hence quarrels and fights ensued, and 
 that men had formed this fraternity of " Oro " out of 
 self-protection. 
 
 The following uses of the word Oro given by 
 Mr. Adesola in The Nigerian Chronicle, September 
 24, 1909, appear to me to be most interesting : — 
 
 "The important place assigned to the worship 
 of this god by the Egbas and other Yoruba tribes 
 who have adopted it, the strictest privacy with which 
 its rites and ceremonies are observed and the un- 
 flinching severity with which it punishes criminals 
 give rise to an extended use of the term Oro to 
 denote (1) anyigod, especially those with whose worship 
 private rites and ceremonies are associated ; (2) any 
 secret society ; (3) any secret rite or ceremony ; (4) any 
 strong or wicked man ; (5) any very severe punishment ; 
 (6) any unpleasant and habitual characteristics of a man, 
 
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54 
 
 NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 (7) an expression of great surprise. The following are 
 illustrative sentences of the above. 
 
 (1) Egungun l'oro ilu wa 
 
 ati ti idile wa. 
 
 (2) Awon ol'oro li eyi. 
 
 (3) A mi s'oro loni No III. 
 
 (4) Oro nini 
 
 Oko yi ti m'oro. 
 Oro agbolu aje. 
 
 (5) Kini se omode ni ti 
 
 nke ? Iya re nsoro 
 fun ni. 
 Okonrin na mbo. Jowo 
 re ma soro fun u. 
 
 Wa ki nforo han o. 
 
 (6) Omode napuroju. Oro 
 
 re ni ati ti idile won. 
 
 (7) Oro o ! or Oro Baba o ! 
 
 Egungun is our national and household 
 god. 
 
 These are the members of a secret or 
 friendly society. 
 
 We are performing the rites to-day. No 
 III. 
 
 That's he, a very wicked man (lit. He is 
 an Oro indeed). 
 
 You have not known the tyrant (lit. the 
 Oro). 
 
 A strong man that can dare anything 
 (the expression literally is : — Oro that 
 can remove from the arena of life the 
 chief of the craft of witches. Any 
 woman termed the head-witch is 
 always supposed to be inaccessible to 
 punishment even by the state; the 
 business is often entrusted to the Oro). 
 
 Why is that child crying ? The mother 
 is giving him a severe punishment 
 (lit. doing Oro for him). 
 
 The man is approaching you. Leave him. 
 I'll teach a lesson (lit. I'll make the Oro 
 for him). 
 
 Come near and let me teach you a 
 lesson (lit. show you Oro). 
 
 That boy tells awful lies. It is charac- 
 teristic of him and his people (lit. it is 
 the Oro worshipped by him, &c. A 
 man's disposition is here regarded as 
 the moral god to which he bows). 
 
 " By Jove " (lit. Thou Oro of my father. 
 This cry is heard all about the streets 
 from men and boys whenever the Oro 
 gods are out ; and it is that by which 
 the spirit is invoked. Although the 
 'spirits of females are supposed to enter 
 into the deified state yet the Oro spirits 
 of males alone are invoked and 
 worshipped. Really the Oro is re- 
 garded as the deified spirits of males. 
 This is so because men only take part 
 in its rites and ceremonies). 
 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 55 
 
 In the Burial customs in the Yoruba country 
 Mr. Adesola gives a most interesting account of the 
 annual worship of " Eluku" 1 the Oro of the Ijebu, 
 to which I must refer you if you wish to learn all 
 about these death and burial customs. For the 
 purpose I have in view I will here only quote a note 
 of his. Eluku is described as the God Iraye born, 
 offspring of the Royal House of Oniloku. " Oniloku " 
 is the title of the monarch of Iraye, an ancient royal 
 town. In one of the existing Jebu towns a 
 descendant of Oniloku has lately been installed 
 into that office in the Iraye quarter of the town. 
 
 There is a similar secret society in Calabar called 
 Egbo and I have been informed by " Harry Hartze," 
 the only European member, that it appears to him 
 to be a modified and simpler form of Freemasonry. 
 There are nine degrees and the cost to obtain the 
 right to wear the peacock's feather, the sign of the 
 highest grade, is about £70. I could not, of course, 
 ask this famous African trader to tell me any of its 
 secrets, but he assured me there was nothing phallic 
 about it. 
 
 The noise made by the Egbo is done by means 
 of a leaf and the Egbo's mouth, and when Egbo thus 
 announces himself women and non-Egbos have to 
 keep out of the way. The Society was formed for 
 the purpose of aiding the chiefs to keep their slaves 
 in order. 
 
 But the Poro Society, so ably described by 
 Mr. T. J. Alldridge in his interesting book, " The 
 1 Nigerian Chronicle, to be seen at the Royal Colonial Institute. 
 
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58 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 The Bavili give their dead the most imposing 
 funeral they can, and they bury their dead in places 
 set apart for the purpose. The Yoruba, however, 
 always buried their important departed in their houses 
 and„set apart a day in every year to do them honour. 
 
 *Ehe Yoruba seem also to connect ideas with which 
 they have surrounded natural phenomena with 
 personages whose characters seemed to them to fit 
 in with these impressions, and then on the death 
 of these persons to have deified them and gradually 
 to have looked upon them as the cause of the effects 
 produced by these natural phenomena/N 
 
 Thus the darkness before dawn they looked upon as 
 the beginning of the things that followed. It was 
 harmful to them because they could not see. 
 
 Some person learned in Genesis they called Odudua, 
 and on his death this person was deified, and as an 
 " Orisha " became the Creator out of whom all things 
 were made. 
 
 Again, their history tells us that "Shango," their 
 lightning Orisha, was the fourth Alafin of Oyo and 
 explains how he became deified. 
 
 But I will allow the native, as nearly as I can, 
 to continue to tell his own story, and to convince you 
 that whatever his methods, instinct or inspiration 
 coupled with natural observation has led him to the 
 foundation of a remarkably interesting mythology. 
 (To conclude, we have thus far noted that Egungun 
 is the Father come from heaven/N x. 
 
 ^ -That Oro was the Orisha of the first father? 
 
 Kjiat Eluku was the offspring of the Royal house of 
 
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in DEATH, BURIAL AND DEPARTED SPIRITS 59 
 
 Oniloku. And on the death of Ogbola, a famous 
 hunter near Olokemeji, I witnessed the women coming, 
 stamping and singing Epa ! Oro ! * Baba lo l'oni o ! 
 Baba wa l'amwa, awa kori o ! Epa ! Oro ! We are 
 looking for our Father ! and we do not see him ! 
 
 However much then the stories and their explan- 
 ations may differ, enough has been said to allow us to 
 conclude that the beatification of their ancestors is a 
 very ancient custom of the Yoruba\ 
 
 With this fact fixed firmly in our minds we can now 
 proceed to consider their more developed Social and 
 Religious systems. 
 
 1 May not Oro be a contracted form of Ore-o and simply mean the spirit 
 of the departed (father) — Adesola writes : Now Oro worship is undeniably 
 spirit-worhip. Every Oro is itself supposed to be the Manes of a 
 deceased parent or ancestor to which prayers and sacrifices are offered, and 
 invocations made. 
 
 [Note. — I should like to remark in passing that West African secret 
 societies seem to fall under three heads, i.e., phallic, medical, and 
 funerary. To the second class belong such organisations as the Leopard 
 Society described by Aldridge, loc. cit., the object of which is to obtain 
 human kidney fat with which to make powerful medicine. These 
 societies have only by degrees and at a later stage acquired political 
 powers.] 
 
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CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE FOUR GREAT ESTATES IN THE NATIVE FORM OF 
 GOVERNMENT 
 
 The death of the founder of the family, presumably 
 sthe grandfather, caused a great impression on the 
 father, mother and son who were left, and I think I 
 have said enough to show that the Yoruba reveres and 
 beatifies his dead. The family that once was 
 composed of three, i.e. father, mother and son, now 
 became one of four, i.e. the Orisha (the departed father), 
 and the father, mother and son. The father fished, the 
 mother gathered vegetables, and the son hunted. It 
 was the duty of each one of this little family to see 
 that the Orisha was fed. In this way perhaps 
 commenced the Yoruba first division of time into 
 weeks of four days, the Orisha's day, the father's day, 
 the mother's day, the son's day, and it was probably 
 rather owing to the necessity of supplying the needs 
 of the Orisha than their own humble wants that the 
 necessity to exchange products first arose, hence the 
 Orisha's day became the market day. j 
 /As the family became more numerous and developed 
 
 into village life we find that the woman has fallen out 
 
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ch. iv THE FOUR GREAT ESTATES 61 
 
 of what one looks upon as her place and that her roorrT 
 has been filled by her brother in the family council 
 The head of the village now worships the village 
 Orisha through the spirit of his dead father for his 
 people, and is helped in regulating village affairs by 
 the counsel of his wife's brother and his son. 
 / Later on in Town life we find a further develop- 
 ment, i.e. a kind of quadruple control composed of 
 the dowager Queen mother or Iyalode and her Court, 
 the Oba, and his Court, the Balogun and his Court, 
 and the Bashorun and his Court. 
 
 (i) The dowager Queen's Court is now composed 
 of:— 
 
 (a) Three women named respectively Oton 
 who proposes where meetings shall be held, 
 Osi who goes round gathering information which 
 she reports to the Iyalode, and lastly Ashipa who 
 collects money and distributes it. 
 
 (b) A Bale who acts as Iyalode's interpreter 
 with Bada the chief of her messengers. 
 
 (c) Small boys called Amade. 
 
 (2) On the other hand we have the Oba attended 
 by three courtiers jointly called Igbi but respectively 
 Oton, Osi, who hold up his right and left arms, and 
 Jaguna the captain of his bodyguard and executioner. 
 As these three are always near him they wield (or did 
 so) very great power^/ 
 
 Barbot, in his " Coast of Guinea," book 3, chapter 27, 
 page 290, mentions the names of three men as great 
 Chiefs of the Court of the King of Fetu. (1) Dy, a 
 
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62 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 high treasurer, (2) Brasso or standard bearer, and 
 (3) the Fataira. On page 479 he says, " The Jagos 
 have three governors, Singe, Kobak and Kabango." 
 
 In Benin city the Oba had three great ones, 
 Onegwa, Offade and Arribon, whose titles appear to 
 have been (1) Osuma, messenger connected with the 
 King's wants (2) Esogban, messenger connected 
 with King's gifts and (3) Esawn, the King's captain. 
 
 '(3) The next great officer of state is the Balogun or 
 waY-e-hief whose Court in Abeokuta is composed of 
 Seriki, Bada, and Ashipa and their attendants/) 
 
 (4) Then comes the Bashorun (the Iayse of the 
 
 ini) who is head of the Council and is attended by 
 the three officers of the Council called the Ogboni, 
 about which something has already been said and of 
 which much more will be written. 
 
 Thus out of the simple govefnment by the Grand- 
 father (who became the Orisha) and father, mother, 
 son, we have arrived at the development of a govern- 
 ment by four great chiefs, each the head of a court 
 of three and their followers. 
 
 (1) The Iyalode the relict of the grandfather. 
 
 (2) The Oba the father representing Fatherhood. 
 
 (3) The Balogun representing the brother of the 
 mother or Motherhood. 
 
 C(4) The Bashorun representing Sonship. 
 
 Nefftzer has called the Roman Gods the super- 
 natural magistrates of the republic. We shall, I hope, 
 be able to show that these four great chiefs have also 
 their counterpart in heaven. 
 
 t is interesting and very important to note that 
 
 (' 
 
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iv THE FOUR GREAT ESTATES 63 
 
 these four great ones fall into their places as pairs, 
 Iyalode and Balogun, the female duality, and the Oba 
 and the Bashorun or the male duality^. 
 
 Bishop Johnson has sard or written that so far as 
 his studies go he canonly \i\d duality among the (so- 
 called) heathen Godsy Now while the Dualities are 
 plain enough, the puzzle is to find the Trinity. 
 /"May I offer the following as the solution. 
 ( Iyalode represents the mother in the past, the 
 \ Balogun as the brother represents the wife of the 
 JKing, the mother of the son. 
 *\ The Oba equals the Father. 
 J The Bashorun the Son. 
 In heaven the Orishas, 
 "~\i) Odudua represents the Creator in heaven or the 
 Iyalode on earth. 
 
 (2) Obatala the Balogun, the mother's brother or 
 Motherhood. 
 
 (3) Jakuta Fatherhood, and 
 
 (4) Ifa the Sonship. 
 
 Among the Bini the days of the week are said to be 
 (1) the Regent's or lyase's day, (2) Osuma's day, (3) 
 Esogban's day and (4) Esawn's day. Among the 
 Yoruba they are not only connected with the Oba and 
 the three great chiefs but they are called Odudua's 
 dayyjakuta's day, Obatala's day and I fa's day. 
 
 /Thus the Orisha's (or market) day is now known as 
 Oaudua's or Iyalode's day, the father's day has become 
 Jakuta's day, the mother's day has become Obatala's 
 day, and the son's day has become I fa's day. Thus\ 
 altogether there are two dualities, a female and a maley 
 
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64 NIGERIAN STUDIES ch. iv 
 
 One person of the female duality belongs to the past 
 and the Trinity is represented by the father, mother, 
 son, Jakuta, Obatala and I fa or the Oba, the Balogun 
 and the Bashorun,J 
 
 I will now proceed to say something more of these 
 great Orishas whose names are now known to us. 
 
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CHAPTER V 
 
 JAKUTA. THE FOUR WINDS 
 
 Jakuta 
 
 The Yoruba have confused Jakuta with Shango until 
 they are to-day almost identical, but there is in reality 
 a difference between Jakuta the great " procreator " 
 and Shango, the son of Yemoja, the so-called god of 
 lightning and the great marriage deity. 
 
 Jakuta may be said to be Shango in a former period, 
 and Shango is to-day worshipped on the day called 
 Jakuta. 
 
 Jakuta as the thrower of stones, so closely connected 
 with Odudua who may be said to represent chaos, is 
 rather the thunderbolt than the lightning, and was 
 looked upon as the great father in heaven. 
 
 He is likened at times to the east wind, the cause 
 
 of the coming of the thunderstorm with its clouds, 
 
 rain, and wind connected with the first tornado season. 
 
 At this time the ancient Yoruba's (father's and son's) 
 
 thoughts turned to marriage, and no doubt in the 
 
 fights that took place stones were the weapons that 
 
 they used. And now a stone fell from heaven. Ah ! 
 
 6 5 F 
 
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66 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 thought the stone throwers, the dead father in heaven 
 is also at war and throwing stones, and so perhaps 
 came the name Ija strife, Oko stone, Ta x to produce, 
 shortened into Jakuta. The verb J a is to fight, and 
 okuta is a stonejy 
 
 I remember travelling behind Chilunga, now in 
 Congo Francais, and coming across a large stone near 
 to the top of a hill which had marks on it. These my 
 companion Tate told me were the foot-prints of God 
 (Nzambi). 
 
 At Adenyoba on the Osse River, or rather in the 
 bush not far from there, a large stone is venerated in 
 the same way by the Bini. 
 
 1 Also to throw. 
 
 2 The verb Ko is to grow hard. 
 
 Oko is a stone, 3 also a farm. 
 
 Oko bo is a eunuch. 
 
 Oko the foreskin. 
 
 Oko a husband. 
 
 Oko a hoe. 
 
 Oko a spear. 
 
 Ako beginning. 
 
 Ako a male. 
 
 Ako obiri a strumpet. 
 
 Iko where the pillar is and where they meet, comes to mean 
 a meeting. 
 The verb Lo is to engraft. 
 
 Lu is to bore. 
 
 Olo is a millstone. 
 
 Olu is a hammer. 
 
 Solu is to copulate. 
 The verb Le is to engraft. 
 
 Ole is embryo. 
 
 He means land, a town. 
 
 Ilu a nation. 
 
 3 Oko, a farm, is pronounced in the same way as oko, a stone, with 
 change of intonation, but oko, a husband is pronounced awkaw, in the 
 same way as oko, or awkaw, a hoe. 
 
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v JAKUTA. THE FOUR WINDS 67 
 
 Monsieur P. Saintyves in his book Les Vierges 
 Meres et les Naissances Miraculeuses has given us a 
 long account of fecund stones, so that we know the 
 Yoruba is by no means alone in his veneration of 
 sacred stones. 
 
 If Togun had not remarked that Ajaguno was a 
 woman, I should be inclined to say that Jakuta and 
 Ajaguno were one and the same person, and that 
 Jakuta was the power that did the fighting for the 
 greater gods, as his name is always coupled with 
 theirs as in the names of the four days of the 
 week. 
 
 C But it must be remembered that Jakuta really 
 represents the Spirit of the departed Father, the 
 stone-thrower who has gone to heaven and who rules 
 through his son on earthA 
 
 At the time when Jakuta was worshipped as the 
 dead father in heaven the Yoruba had not yet 
 developed the ideas now connected with Olorun (the 
 owner of heaven). 
 
 /These ideas must have come to them when, or 
 rather some time after, they had come to dwell in 
 towns. It seems that Jakuta is the first step in the 
 development of the Yoruba idea of God. Jakuta (or 
 rather now they say Shango) is said to have been a 
 King or Alarm of Pyo, the typical and temporal head 
 of the Yoruba race/ (See Yoruba- speaking Peoples, 
 page 50). 
 
 It is most interesting to read in a description of 
 
 South Guinea by Barbot (page 306), in writing of the 
 
 natives of the Gold Coast : " When it thunders they 
 
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68 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 say it is the voice of the trumpets, or blowing-horns of 
 Jan Goeman, so they call God, who, with reverence 
 be it spoken, is diverting himself with his wives ; and, 
 therefore, when it thunders much, or though there be 
 only flashes of lightning, they presently run under 
 cover if possible, believing that if they did not so God 
 would strike them with his thunderbolts. 
 
 "About the year 1480, the Spaniards trading at the 
 coast found those blacks extremely covetous and fond 
 of a sort of seashell, giving anything they had for 
 them, as believing they had a peculiar virtue against 
 thunder. Whereupon so many of those shells were 
 carried out of Spain that at last they were scarce to be 
 had there for money." 
 
 Bosman, writing about thunderstorms, says : " The 
 stake which supported our Flag was shattered int 
 splinters from top to bottom, and yet remained stand- 
 ing, but so torn asunder as if one or two hundred 
 chisels had been driven into it in order to split it. 
 The negroes, in the same terrified condition, with us 
 being of opinion that the force of the thunder is con- 
 tained in a certain stone, after the storm was over 
 brought one, which they ridiculously believed had so 
 shattered our Flag pole. But no wonder they were 
 of that opinion, for in Europe, where we think we are 
 better informed, several people don't much differ from 
 them." Then he goes on to say, " But what I have 
 observed of the effects of thunder is sufficient to 
 convince me that 'tis impossible they should be 
 caused by a stone." All I have to say to this is 
 " Jakuta!" 
 
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v JAKUTA. THE FOUR WINDS 69 
 
 The Four Winds 
 
 f The East in Yoruba is known by the name of I la 
 ^Dtrun, i.e. the place where "he that arises appears. "i 
 
 Ila also means the act of splitting, possibly the idea 
 comes from the fact that here darkness and light 
 become divided. This idea of splitting brings their 
 thoughts to creation, written Ida, and this word again 
 can be traced to the verb Da to be and to make or 
 Ta to produce, as yams are produced by splitting up 
 the seed yam. 
 
 This meaning coincides with the Bavili word (see 
 chapter Obatala, page 82) Xivanga or Creator, Va 
 meaning to split. 
 
 Ila also means Salvation, and we know that both 
 the ^oruba and. the Bavili say that their religion came 
 from the East. / 
 
 /The West is I ha I gun aiye ibuwo, the corner 
 region of the earth (where the Sun lodges); It is 
 interesting to note while talking of the WesTthat it is 
 to the South- West of Ife, the supposed centre of the 
 Yoruba Kingdom, near the beach or where the Sun 
 sets,, that we find the Ifa sacred palm tree in large 
 quantities, said to have been first found in Orungan's 
 farm or where he lodged. Orungan is another name 
 for Orun the Sun, that is the heat of the Sun at mid- 
 day. 
 
 /The North is known as Ari Wa Otun Ila Orun, 
 one who finds and comes to the right of the 
 EasjJ 
 (The South, or Igun kerin aiye, is the fourth corner 
 
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70 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 of the world. It is evident then that the Yoruba idea 
 of their world was that it was square and that the sun 
 travelled from the Eastern corner to the Western 
 corner. Their proverb, " Igun Merin ni Aiye Ini " 
 says, " The world has or is supported by four corners. 'A 
 This probably explains the figure marked in challc^on 
 the ground in front of the altar to the Orisha Olokun 
 (the sea spirit) noticed by me at Igo near Benin city 
 (see chapter XXI, page 225, At the Back of the 
 
 Black Mans Mind). The mark is 
 
 The native 
 
 places his back to the East and looks westward and so 
 has the North on his right. /The Yoruba also have a 
 figure called Olori merin which has four heads, which 
 is generally found placed upon a mound near the 
 centre of the town so that each head faces one of the 
 four great points of the compass!) (Tour times every 
 year a new-born infant four "days old used to be 
 sacrificed to this power in the presence of its mother. 
 Colonel Ellis calls this sacrifice Ejeodun, the season of 
 blood, and tells us that while Olori merin protected 
 the town and watched the four points of the compass 
 from his mound it was believed that no war or 
 pestilence could attack it. Now a force of men 
 attacking a town would come by the roads and try to 
 enter the city by one or all of the four gates, but 
 sickness and pestilence, the Yoruba say, are brought 
 by the winds. 
 
 This dual attack may be described as a personal 
 and physical invasion, and as the gates are in the 
 centre of each wall while the points of the compass are 
 
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v JAKUTA. THE FOUR WINDS / 71 
 
 the four corners of the walled town, thef following 
 figure may be said to represent these ideas. VThe only 
 
 one of the four great Orishas connected with the 
 winds is Jakuta, translated roughly as the Hurler of 
 Stones, the Yoruba Jupite^^He comes with the East 
 wind that brings tornadqsj It would seem to follow 
 that the four Orishas, Jakuta, Obatala, Odudua and 
 Ifa shoiild represent the East, North, South and 
 West winds. \ 
 
 I have been informed by Babalawo Oliyitan that 
 
 ee figure Olori Merin is not in itself an Orisha but 
 erely a Juju representing the above four great 
 Orishas, and as it has been stated that this figure faces 
 the four points of the compass and guards the city 
 from pestilence and war we can assume the position of 
 each Orisha. 
 
 Looking towards the West Obatala will point to the 
 North, Odudua to the South, Jakuta to the East and 
 Ife to the West/ 
 
 CThe Yoruba calls the winds that bring disease 
 Afefe Buruku, 1 Buruku being another name for 
 Shankpana, the small-pox " god," who is said to be a 
 son of " Yemoja.'y 
 
 /"But on the other hand Oliyitan tells me that a 
 whirlwind, which he called Aja, carries people off to 
 the bush, and, keeping them there two or three months, 
 
 1 Afefe buruku means bad or ill wind. 
 
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72 NIGERIAN STUDIES ch. v 
 
 teaches them the use of medicinal herbs by which 
 diseases are cured. 
 
 Olorun (Awlawrun) is the word now used for God. 
 Olu means owner, Orun heaven or sky. (Jakuta, we 
 have noted, is the Father God, the storfe-thrower 
 connected with the wind that blows the mysteries of 
 the East to the centre of the Kingdom or the walled 
 cityT) The Sun (Orun) rises in the East ; it is possible 
 therefore that the wind and storm god as a spiritual 
 revealer is nearly related to the Sun as the physical 
 revealer, and I think we can understand, as religious 
 ideas developed, how Olorun took the place of Jakuta 
 as the heavenly Father God and how Jakuta u 
 
 the name of Shango became a mere marriage Orisha 
 
 under 
 ishaj!> 
 
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CHAPTER VI 
 
 ODUDUA AND THE FOUR DAYS OF THE WEEK 
 
 Togun said Orishala was the husband of Yemuhu, but 
 Ellis tells us that Obatala was the husband of 
 Oduduwa. Are we then to suppose that Yemuhu and 
 Oduduwa are two names for one person, or that 
 Orishala had two wives ? I am inclined to believe 
 that Oduduwa and Yemuhu 1 are two names for one 
 person. Bishop Crowther also gives this deity the 
 name of Odua. Bishop Johnson talking of the Odus 2 
 in Yoruba heathenism says, " Behind each one of 
 these representative nuts are sixteen subordinate 
 divinities. Each one of the whole lot is termed an 
 Odu, which means a chief, a head." Bishop Crowther 
 gives the word Olu as the chief of anything. 
 
 Oduwa and Oluwa then mean the same thing, 
 i.e. " Owner," which in the form of Olowa Ini or 
 Oloni is now another name for God. Bishop 
 Crowther also says Odua or Odudua is a goddess 
 from Ife, said to be the supreme goddess in the 
 world. Heaven and earth are also called Odudua — 
 
 1 Ye means " Mother,'' and Muhu is to cause to be, to cause to 
 germinate. 
 
 2 Ifa's sacred palm nuts. 
 
 73 
 
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74 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 " Odudua Igba nla meji ad6 isi. Heaven and earth 
 are two large calabashes which being shut can 
 never be opened." And Ellis says Obatala and 
 Odudua, or Heaven and earth, resemble, according to 
 the priests, two large calabashes which when once shut 
 can never be opened. ... He goes on to say, accord- 
 ing to a myth Odudua is blind. In the beginning of 
 the world she and her husband were shut up in 
 darkness 1 in a large closed calabash, Obatala being 
 in the upper part and Odudua in the lower. . . . 
 Odudua complained to her husband of the confine- 
 ment. ... In a frenzy Obatala tore out her eyes. . . . 
 She cursed him and said, " Naught shalt thou eat but 
 snails." It will be remembered that Yemuhu's snails 
 became the sixteen heads of Eleda, or, in other words, 
 the sixteen Orishas taking part in the creation of the 
 world. The calabash or gourd in which Odudua was 
 confined is called Igba. The words for ancestor are 
 " Obi Ara Igbani, the parent body in the time past," 
 and in this sense it is interesting to read in the 
 Nigerian Chronicle an article on the history of the 
 Yoruba by one signing himself F. S. 
 
 " At the head of immigrants who settled in 
 Yorubaland about the eleventh or twelfth century 
 of the Christian Era was Odudua from whom most 
 of the present day native rulers are descended. 
 Odudua, however, was not the real name of the 
 leader of the Bornu immigrants. His name, together 
 
 1 The verb Du is to be black. Dudu means black. Odudua is the 
 goddess in darkness and blind opposed in a sense to Obatala who loves 
 that which is white, clear and light. 
 
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vi THE FOUR DAYS OF THE WEEK 75 
 
 with those of his wives and children and companions 
 are entirely lost, and his descendants many ages 
 after his death designated him Odudua, i.e. Odu 
 ti da wa, which means a " self-existing person- 
 age." He is also called Adumila (" Saviour "). 
 His wife, from whom are descended the dynasties of 
 the leading Yoruba kingdoms, was designated 
 Omonide, i.e. Onto ni ide, which means a " child is 
 brass,'" brass being the most precious metal known 
 to the early Yoruba people. Omonide is also called 
 Iyamode, a contraction of Iya Omonide " Mother 
 Omonide." 
 
 Odudua is worshipped in every Yoruba town, 
 and every Yoruba man, woman or child is called 
 Omo Odudua ("child of Odudua"). 
 
 Many years after the death of Odudua a Hausa 
 Mussulman came to Ife. He used to call the 
 inhabitants together and read to them passages from 
 the copy of the Koran which he brought with him from 
 his country. He was wont to say to the people in 
 Yoruba imperfectly as he could speak it with accents 
 foreign to the language — E wa e je ki a sin Allah, 
 On ni da oke, On ni da He, On ni da gbogbo 
 nkan, On ni da wa (" Let us worship Allah, He 
 created the Mountain, He created the lowland, He 
 created everything, He created us"). He did this 
 from time to time without being able to gain a single 
 proselyte, and died a few months after his arrival 
 in Ife. After his death his Koran was found 
 hanging on a peg on the wall where he had left 
 it in a bag. Some of the men who saw it said 
 Hausa ti ku ni so fun wa pe Odu ti da iwa ma ma 
 ni eyi 0, eyi ni Odudua, e je ki a ma bo 0. (" The 
 late Hausaman told us this was the personage who 
 
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7 6 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 created existence, 1 this is Odudua, let us therefore 
 worship him"), misunderstanding the Mussulman. 
 So they removed the bag containing the Koran 
 from the peg on the wall, put it on the ground, 
 covered it with a pot and began to worship it. So 
 commenced the worship of Odudua. 
 
 Odudua had by Omonide, his first wife, several 
 children ; his eldest daughter was the mother of 
 the founder of Owu, who become king of Owu, 
 and was consequently styled Olowu. All the 
 children of Omonide were famous, and became 
 founders of several towns in the Yoruba Country. 
 The names of Omonide's children or of any of the 
 children of Odudua are practically lost. Omonide's 
 eldest son founded Ketu and became the Alaketu 
 or king of Ketu. Another founded Benin (Ibini) 
 and became the Onibini. Another founded Ila 
 (Igbomina) and became the Onila. Another founded 
 Sabe and became the Onisabe. The youngest 
 of Omonide's children founded a town, the habitable 
 portion of which was so small that it was called 
 Kogbaye (" It does not afford room "), of which 
 he became king. Owing to the smallness of this 
 town the inhabitants left it stealthily, hence it was 
 said that they slipped off the place. They went to 
 a locality not very distant from Kogbaye and settled 
 there. Their king also went and remained with 
 them. From the circumstance of the people slipping 
 off (yo 16) from Kogbaye the new settlement was 
 called Oyo (" slipper "). The youngest son of 
 Mother Omonide thus became the Oloyo. 
 
 Odudua himself died in Ife, and one of his children 
 
 1 Odudua is by some regarded as a contraction of Odu ti o da iwa (" the 
 personage who created existence.") 
 
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vi THE FOUR DAYS OF THE WEEK 77 
 
 by his other wives was given a broom wherewith 
 to keep his grave clean. This child was made the 
 Oni or king of Ife. 
 
 The Alaketu, the eldest son of Odudua, was the 
 first of his sons to take a wife. His wife soon had 
 a babe and Mother Omonide, who had hitherto 
 remained at Ife, came to help her son's wife in 
 nursing the babe. This babe afterwards founded Ake 
 and became the Alake. Mother Omonide loved her 
 grandson very much and came with him to Ake, 
 where she died." 
 
 We shall have a good deal to say about these 
 sons of the founder of the Yoruba Kingdom. It 
 will be noted that F. S. calls Odudua a male, whereas 
 Ellis, Oja, Togun, and Crowther speak of her as a 
 female. 
 
 Upon asking people the question, who first gave 
 the days of the week their names ? I have always 
 been told that Odudua inspired them. The names of 
 the days of the week were first given to me by Oja 
 in the following order : — 
 
 Eshu. 
 Orishala. 
 Odudua. 
 Jakuta. 
 
 This was at Ilobi, South-west of Egbaland. An 
 old lady called Tinnawe living near Olokemeji gave 
 me the days in the following order which she said 
 had been inspired by Odudua : — 
 
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78 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 A wo. I fa's day. 
 Ogun. 
 Jakuta. 
 Obatala. 
 
 Oliyitan l gave the days and names as follows : — 
 
 Awo. 
 Ogun. 
 Jakuta. 
 Orishala. 
 
 Ellis gives the first day as a day of rest, but 
 gives no name for it, and then the following. 
 
 Awo or Awu. 
 
 Ogun. 
 
 Shango, another name for Jakuta. 
 
 Obatala. 
 
 The differences apparent in the above list are (i) 
 Eshu for Awo. Awo is the day set apart by the 
 priests of I fa to renew the chalk marks made on the 
 earth in front of the altars of the Orisha. As Eshu 
 the devil shares all the sacrifices made to I fa, it is 
 called Ifa's day — Eshu's day, or the day of Awo or 
 mystery. 
 
 Sttango worship has taken the place of the worship 
 of Jakuta in some places, but Shango has been 
 described to me as the servant or son of Jakuta who 
 attends to the lightning. Again Shango is a son of 
 " Yemoja " who is the daughter of Obatala. 
 
 1 A priest of Ifa. 
 
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vi THE FOUR DAYS OF THE WEEK 79 
 
 Ogun is a son of Yemoja and has become a very 
 important power as the " god " of iron and patron of 
 hunters. Here we have a minor power, as a part, 
 usurping the place of Odudua as the earth goddess 
 who was the first protector of hunters, much in the 
 same way as Shango has taken Jakuta's place. 
 
 Orishala and Obatala are one and the same. 
 
 An Ibadan named Moredaio gave me the days in 
 the same order, so that I think we are justified in 
 looking upon Oja's order as wrong, but in this 
 case Odudua has her right place, i.e. that of Ogun in 
 the other lists. 
 
 Another reason for Ogun taking Odudua's day may 
 be that very often Obatala and Odudua are spoken 
 of as if they are one. As Ellis put it, " according to 
 some priests Obatala and Odudua represent one 
 androgynous divinity, and they say an image, which is 
 sufficiently common, of a human being with one arm 
 and one leg, and a tail terminating in a sphere, 
 symbolises this." This being so, the part of the 
 earth Ogun may have come to take Odudua's 
 place. 
 
 The four days of the Yoruba week, then, are : 
 Jakutds day which is looked upon as a Sunday. On 
 this day they clean their houses, and rub their floors. 
 Then they " split " Kola for the Orishas Shango, 
 Yemoja, Oshun and Buruku. 
 
 Obatala s day, sometimes called Orishala. On this 
 day they rub the walls and floor of the houses, and 
 fill a pot of water on the altar ; and when they eat 
 they give part of their food to him. The following 
 
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80 NIGERIAN STUDIES ch. vi 
 
 " white " Orishas are worshipped on this day : — Larun. 
 Ijaiyi, Iluofun, Ijemdori, Ogiyan, Alajugun, Owa 
 Olufon. These white Orishas are appealed to by 
 barren women, and they must not be offered palm oil 
 or pepper. 
 
 Awo, or Ifas day. The people cannot consult Ifa 
 except through a priest. In this way he is consulted 
 about everything. On this day the Ifa priests re- 
 new the chalk marks on the ground in front of the 
 altars. 
 
 Oshun and Odu are also consulted on this day. 
 I have more to say about Ifa later on. 
 
 Odududs or Oguris day. When they build, or clear 
 a farm, or cut a tree, or hunt they split kola to Ogun. 
 Ija and Oshowsi are also worshipped on this day. 
 Odudua representing the creation, it is quite natural 
 that they should consider her day as first in their week. 
 The first, the fifth, the ninth and seventeenth, which 
 they look upon as the beginning of a new month, are 
 sacred to Odudua, and are all market days. 
 
 In Benin city there are four markets, one of which 
 is called the " Queen Mother's market," and this, as 
 we have already seen, is the position of Odudua. 
 
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CHAPTER VII 
 
 OBATALA 
 
 Four Gates 
 
 The literal meaning of the words Obaba Arugbo, 
 the other name by which Togun told me Orishala 
 is called, is Father Greybeard. 
 
 Orishala, Bishop Crowther says, is another name 
 for Obatala, whom he calls the Great Goddess (?) 1 
 of the Yoruba, the framer of the human body in the 
 womb. But Togun called Orishala the man, the 
 husband of Yemuhu. 
 
 The word is evidently formed of the words Orisha 
 and nla. 
 
 Ellis says the word Orisha seems to be compounded 
 
 of Ori (summit, top, head) and Sha (to select, 
 
 choose), though some natives prefer to derive it from 
 
 ri to see, and isha choice, and thus to make it mean 
 
 one who sees the cult. Bishop Johnson says these 
 
 deities are generally known among us as Orishas, and 
 
 that they were spoken of as "Awon ti o ri sha," 
 
 i.e. those who were successful in making their 
 
 collection of the wisdom strewn about by the son of 
 
 1 Mine R. E. D. 
 
 Si g 
 
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82 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 God. But it is more likely that the word is composed 
 of Ore departed spirit, and Isha one who is chosen, 
 selected or cut off, or, in other words, the beatified 
 departed one. Among the Bini the word Orisha 
 is pronounced Oyisha, 1 a compound of the word 
 Oye a title of honour expressing wisdom of the 
 elders, 2 and Isha, one who is chosen. La in this word 
 Orishala has the meaning of to split. 3 
 
 Oba, in Obatala, the other name for Orishala, 
 is also a title of honour, meaning Emperor, King. 
 Ta means to produce as yams are produced from split 
 seed yams. There is therefore little or no difference 
 in the meaning of the words Orishala and Obatala, 
 and, as Bishop Crowther says, Orishala and Obatala 
 are one. 4 
 
 Orishala. 
 
 A story told me by an Egba called Salako shows 
 that Obatala as a god is the person who sensitises 
 matter : 
 
 "He is the son of Odudua, and was sent to 
 do good on earth. When anyone is sick he 
 
 1 Oye may be derived from Yeye Mother, while Oba may be shortened 
 from Baba Father, so that Oyishala and Obatala may be the female and 
 male form of the same idea. The word Orisha and Oyisha is, however, 
 used in much the same sense as the word Nkici (plural Bakici ba ci 
 among the Bavili, which I have translated as the speaking powers on 
 earth. The late Bishop Crowther translates the word as deity, gods, 
 idols. 
 
 2 Compare Kulu in the Congo. 
 
 3 I may point out that the idea of splitting, separating, is also 
 connected with the idea of Creator in the Congo — Xivanga=one who keeps 
 on splitting, or Creator. Orishala may be a dialectical form of Orishanla 
 Orisha and nla ; nla being an adjective meaning big or great. 
 
 4 See his Vocabulary and Dictionary of the Yoruba language. 
 
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vii OBATALA 83 
 
 will tell them what leaf to get and they will get 
 well. If any woman wanted a child, any leaf he 
 cut and gave to her would have the desired 
 effect. Then the people thanked Odudua for 
 sending him, and said he was a good man. Then 
 Odudua made the body of man and called 
 Obatala to do the rest, and so Obatala made the 
 fingers, the eyes, the mouth, the ears. 
 
 They who worship him used to call him 
 Obatala to da oju, imu, eti, emi, ati apari 
 shikokanlelogun — Oba who makes the eyes, the 
 mouth, ears, nose, and the skull to be, twenty- 
 one. 1 
 
 When he finished the work, Olodumare breathed 
 into the body and it became a living being. And 
 so Odudua gave orders to all the world to worship 
 Obatala, and those who now worship him are the 
 descendants of those who benefited by his goodness 
 when he came on earth. And now he is Odudua's 
 mason and sculptor. 
 
 All things that Obatala and his followers wear are 
 white — white chalk, beads, cap and cloth. 
 
 Mr. Pellegrin gave me a story of Obatala as a 
 person or King ; he said : — 
 
 " Obatala was the poorest of the four Kings ; 
 he bought an Albino as a slave. And when 
 famine was raging he had nothing to eat, and he 
 had a wife and child ; so when they were starving 
 he told the Albino to go and find his own chop. 2 
 
 1 I believe the numeration of the Yoruba to be a kind of summary of 
 the Orishas and their attributes. 
 
 2 Chop = food. 
 
 G 2 
 
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84 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 He went crying about the streets. He stood at 
 the gate of the town, as some people with food 
 might be coming. That day a European with 
 his retinue came accompanied by a dog. The 
 dog, who came first and met the Albino, was 
 frightened and ran back to his master. The 
 master came to find out what had frightened 
 the dog, and found the Albino at the gate. He 
 asked him what was the matter, and he told him 
 his story. Then the European asked him to take 
 him to his master. And he asked Obatala why, 
 if he had food for his wife and child, he had 
 none for his slave ? The master told him of the 
 famine, and said he had sent the Albino to find 
 his own 'chop.' Then the white man, seeing 
 their condition, mixed some milk for them 
 and stayed that night. Next morning when 
 going he gave them food and money, and left. 
 Obatalaka 1 called the slave to come and count it. 
 But they did not dare to touch it, as it was too 
 white, 2 so they took a matchet to divide it, hence 
 silver is called Fadaka. 3 After this Obatala 
 became the richest of all the Kings. The white 
 cloth they wear to-day is owing to the coming 
 of the saviour whiteman. The milk they mistook 
 for palm wine, so they do not drink it. 
 
 They do not eat dog because he was the means 
 of pointing out the Albino." 
 
 In the olden days each great town was enclosed 
 
 1 Obatalaka means the master of a poor man. 
 
 2 See page 89, where Obatala is said to have made the brain, nerves and 
 skull, or the white parts of the body. The dark part, i.e. the blood and 
 flesh, are evidently the part Odudua created. 
 
 3 Fa to shave, scrape ; Da to be scarce, hence a time of dearth ; Ka to 
 take a quantity out of a soft mass. 
 
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vii OBATALA 85 
 
 within four great walls in the same way, as the 
 Yorubas say, that their kingdom was ; and leading 
 out of the city were four great roads (God's roads, 
 as the Bavili called them), which passed through 
 four great gates. The Balogun, or war chief, is the 
 guardian of these on earth, and Orishala or Obatala 
 is said to be the spiritual Balogun and protector 
 of these gates. 1 
 
 The mother among the Bavili, and also the Yoruba, 
 acts as a kind of Treasurer. She guards the wealth 
 of the family. In the case of the town, the war chief, 
 representing motherhood, guards the wealth of the 
 town from pillage. It would seem as if Orishala 
 (the female form of Obatala) referred to the mother 
 in the oldest form of parental government, and that 
 the name was altered when the family had increased 
 and multiplied, and the mother's brother had, under 
 the name of Obatala, taken her place in the developed 
 Council. 
 
 1 The names of the gates at Abeokuta are now : 
 
 Bode Alafinwa. 
 „ Shodeke. 
 „ Owu. 
 ,, Aro. 
 
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CHAPTER VIII 
 
 IFA AND THE FOUR WALLS OF THE YORUBA KINGDOM 
 
 Oja through Togun told me that Eleda fought with 
 I fa, in consequence of which he became a hearing 
 speaking, seeing, thinking being, and that this sensi- 
 tising of I fa was accomplished through Obatala. 
 Bishop Crowther translates the word Eleda as Creator, 
 Supreme Being. Ellis says it is another name for 
 Olorun, the Yoruba sky god, in his capacity as the 
 controller of rains. 
 
 The literal meaning of Ele is " a piece patched on," 
 and da means to make, which seems to back up 
 Togun's statement that Eleda was a creative power 
 told off to perform the perfecting of I fa. Bishop 
 Johnson tells us (see Appendix, At the Back of the 
 Black Mans Mind) that Ela is another name for Ifa, 
 although the name is often used as if it represented a 
 separate and distinct divine personality. From this it 
 would appear that the word Eleda is composed of Ela 
 and Eda, Ela meaning a piece severed from a larger 
 piece, and Eda the making ; thus Eleda would mean 
 not God, but the act of making Ifa or Ela, the word 
 Ifa meaning apiece that is scraped off or created. 
 
 86 
 
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ch. viii IFA AND THE FOUR WALLS OF YORUBA 87 
 
 Ifa is the first-born or Oni 1 of Odudua and Obatala. 
 He is known by the names Awnomila, the calabash in 
 which the sixteen sacred palm nuts are kept, the name, 
 also, that Oja gave for the sacred stones at Ife ; Akpani 
 ebora ynagiddi Odudua, or Odudua's private secretary, 
 Elerin ipin, or one who laughs ; Afo yo manitaw ; 
 or a man who shakes his mouth but does not speak. 
 
 He is the Oracular 2 deity about whom most is 
 known, and who is most often consulted. A very 
 good descripton is given of him by Colonel Ellis in his 
 " Yoruba-speaking People," page 56, and by Bishop 
 Johnson in his " Yoruba Heathenism," and many of 
 his wise sayings are to be found in Bishop C. Phillips' 
 book called " Ifa." 
 
 That I fa's Councils are god-like can be inferred from 
 the following quotation of one of his sayings given by 
 Adesola in the Nigerian Chronicle : — 
 
 E so'tito e se rere 
 Eni so'tito ni imole i gbe 
 
 Be faithful be good 
 For the faithful and good are favourites 
 of the gods. 
 
 Olotito ab'ona tororo 
 Osika ab'ona gbarara 
 K'eni ma seke 
 K'eni ma dale 
 
 Odale bale ku 
 
 Eni dale a bale lo 
 
 1 Ifa calls the first-born Oni, the one who has ; the second-born Ola, the 
 saviour ; the third Otunla, the day after to-morrow ; and the fourth Kokoro 
 Kundu Eru Oni. 2 See Chapter XV. 
 
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88 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 Narrow yet straight is the path 
 of righteousness. 
 But broad and many-sided are the ways 
 of the wicked 
 In purpose be thou true 
 Not given to perfidy 
 For the work of the perfidious will o'er-take him 
 The evil of the wicked shall slay him. 
 
 I fa as head of the priestly government of the Yoruba 
 is the greatest Orisha or Nkici, the priestly King in 
 Heaven, who, as the first Oni, is the priestly King (or 
 Nkici'ci ) on earth. The following legends describe 
 him as a great prophet on earth: — 
 
 Mr. Oyesile Keribo, 1 in a Yoruba pamphlet 
 published in August, 1906, on the History of the Gods, 
 writes on I fa (page 19) to this effect: — 
 
 " Ifa was a native of Itase, near Ife country, and 
 of poor parentage : in his youth he had great 
 aversion to manual labour and therefore had to beg 
 his bread. To better his condition he applied to a 
 sage for advice, and the latter taught him divination, 
 traditional stories with matters relating thereto and 
 medicine as an easy means of obtaining a livelihood. 
 He afterwards became very popular. The sixteen 
 original Odus correspond with the sixteen original 
 stories taught to Ifa, etc. His parents being poor 
 were not known in the country, hence he was after- 
 wards considered to be without parentage and deified 
 after death." 
 
 1 Mr. Keribo's pamphlet was printed by the Egba Government 
 Printing Press (August 22, 1906), and widely circulated at 6d. a copy 
 there and in other parts of the Yoruba country. 
 
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vni IFA AND THE FJ?UR WALLS OF YORUBA 89 
 
 In the Nigerian Chronicle of March 12, 1909, 
 writing on I fa, Mr. F. S., a correspondent of that 
 paper, says : — 
 
 "I/a was born at Ife, the cradle of the Yoruba 
 people. He was a skilful medical man, who had an 
 extensive practice and was an eminently successful 
 diviner. 
 
 After he had become famous he founded a town 
 called Ipetu, and became king of the place and was 
 styled Alapetu. 
 
 He was very popular, and was regarded by his 
 contemporaries as a true prophet. People from every 
 part of the Yoruba country flocked to him and 
 patronised him. His fame was so great that hundreds 
 of persons from different towns begged him to admit 
 them as disciples and apprentices under him. Out of 
 these, we are told, he chose only sixteen men from 
 about as many different towns — from Ekiti, from 
 Oyo, from Ijebu, and many other places widely 
 separated. 1 The names of these apprentices or 
 disciples are said to be identical with the names of 
 the sixteen divinitatory signs called Odus, and the 
 order of precedence among them, which was probably 
 based upon priority of appointment, is said to be still 
 preserved in the present order 2 of the Odus." 
 
 An intelligent native called " Ifebode " gave me the 
 following story about I fa : — 
 
 " Ifa was a human being who used to make 
 medicine, and sell it. While doing this he got to 
 Ife, and made that his headquarters. One day all 
 
 1 See Chapter XV. 
 
 2 This is most important. See Chapter XV. 
 
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go NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 the Ife people joined together to fight him. Then 
 he got vexed and went into the earth, and when 
 they asked him to come out he refused unless they 
 agreed to worship him. The day he entered the 
 earth he cut four palm leaves to mark the place, 
 and they each immediately became a palm tree — 
 each tree had four branches, or sixteen in all. He 
 told them to pick sixteen nuts, which he said they 
 must worship, and ask him whatever they wanted. 
 From then, anyone who got these nuts became a 
 Babalawo and became diviners, and these nuts teach 
 him what leaves to pick to cure any sickness. 
 The Babalawos at Ife wear cloths of light blue." 
 
 We have noted that one of I fa's names is Awnomila, 
 and that he was the first Oni, that the present Oni of 
 Ife called the pillar of stone, which Oja called 
 Awnomila, the stick of Oranyan, the first Oni of Ife. 
 Now the word Oraniyan 1 means " a matter of dispute," 
 so that we may conclude that there is some dispute as 
 to the first Oni's name. 2 
 
 In a later chapter we shall discuss the names of the 
 Odus, or 16+1 sacred nuts of I fa, which we only 
 mention in this place because the number of the 
 sons of the first Oni is said to be 16, and the number 
 of his daughters 1, or 16+ 1 offspring. 
 
 A hunter, said to be a priest of I fa, was introduced 
 to me by Mr. J. T. Palmer, a native trader residing at 
 Sapele, and the number and names of the offspring of 
 the first Oni, Oranyan, given by him were confirmed 
 
 1 Crowther writes the word Oraniyan or Oroiyan (see his Dictionary, 
 page 231). 
 
 2 We should say Mr. What's-his-name. 
 
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viii IFA AND THE FOUR WALLS OF YORUBA 91 
 
 by my friend Oliyitan, another priest of I fa, three 
 years afterwards, at Olokemeji. 
 
 The hunter said that the Oni was suffering from 
 some eye complaint, and thought he was going to die, 
 so he divided all his goods amongst his children and 
 ordered them to go to certain villages and live. 
 Alafin was forgotten, so he was given all the land 
 owned by the Oni. 
 
 The present Oni of Ife showed me the door through 
 which on another occasion the future King of Benin 
 City passed when he was sent away to occupy the 
 land of the Efa. 1 And he stated that Ilesha was not 
 sent out for a long time after his brothers, because the 
 Oni of that time loved him, and wished him to be near 
 to him. 
 
 In all matters referring to land, the Alafin takes 
 the place of his progenitor the Oni, and the present 
 positions of the two great Yoruba chiefs, Alafin and 
 Oni, are equivalent to those of our King and of the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 The list of the names is as follows : — 
 
 (1) Alafin, the youngest son, the head of the 
 Oyos, the owner of the Palace, the one who 
 takes the place of the Oni in mundane 
 affairs, the head of the officers of the 
 Council 2 or Ogboni. 
 
 (2) Olowu, from whom the Egbas are des- 
 
 cended, who, as an officer, may have repre- 
 sented the treasurer. 
 
 1 This custom of the Kings' sons being sent out to govern provinces has 
 been handed down and strictly adhered to by the Bini. 
 
 2 See Chapter X. on Yemaja and the Ogboni. 
 
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92 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 (3) Awujale, from whom the Jebus are descended, 
 
 who, as an officer of this ancient Ogboni, 
 may possibly have acted as executioner. 
 
 (4) Alaketu, from whom the Ketus are des- 
 
 cended, and who, in this Ogboni, appears 
 to have acted as the arbitrator. 
 
 These four great ones, the officers as it were of 
 the first Ogboni, are compared to the complete 
 Yoruba Kingdom, which they say was enclosed by 
 four walls. Their saying is Igun merin ni ile ini, a 
 house is composed of four corners {i.e. four walls), 
 and is not otherwise complete. 
 
 We find in Abeokuta four kings, the Alake being 
 at present the paramount chief, so that I conclude 
 that each of the above four great ones, composing 
 the Yoruba Kingdom, took three other sons of the 
 first Oni with him. I regret to say that I cannot 
 say who the three were in each case, so that I must 
 leave this matter in the hands of some future 
 historian, but the names of the Councillors or sons 
 are as follows : — 
 
 Obalado, the founder of Ado, where I fa is said 
 
 to have been born. 
 Oba Baruba, the founder of Barita, a town 
 
 north of Ilorin. 
 Oni Moba, said to be another name for 
 
 Shango. 
 
 These three possibly accompanied the Alafin. 
 
 Oluhu, said to be one of the four Kings of 
 Egba land. 
 
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vni IFA AND THE FOUR WALLS OF YORUBA 93 
 
 ° wa \ said to be part of Ifa's talk. 
 Ore ) 
 
 Oba Shabi, possibly the founder of the county 
 in Ketuland, where Orungan had his 
 farm, and from where I fa is said to 
 have procured his sixteen sacred nuts. 
 
 Ajeru, Ifa's messenger. 
 
 Orogun, to do with divination. 
 
 Ewi u Osoin, an Orisha said to speak in a 
 small voice. 
 
 Ajank Moba, part of Ifa's talk. 
 
 Alara, the owner of thunder. 
 
 The Babalawo Oliyitan described all the above as 
 parts of I fa, and as among these parts we find the 
 ancestors of the Oyo, Egba, Ijebu and Iketu 
 (the four walls of the Yoruba Kingdom), the con- 
 nection between I fa, the first Oni, and the walls is 
 self-evident. 
 
 It is very difficult to separate Eshu from I fa, as 
 we have noticed in considering the days of the 
 week, so I will now tell you something about this 
 personage. 
 
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CHAPTER IX 
 
 ESHU 
 
 Elegba and Eshu are translated Devil. In the form 
 of an earthenware pot with a hole in it, Eshu is repre- 
 sented in many villages. In some form or other 
 under a small shed, Eshu is found at the entrance of 
 a town or house. Whatever Orishas the people may 
 have, Eshu appears to be the most widespread (see 
 At the Back of the Black Mans Mind, pages 197, 190, 
 221, 223, 234, 246, 265). 
 
 The first blood of a sacrifice is generally splashed 
 over Eshu, so that he may not prevent the Orisha 
 to whom the sacrifice is made from accepting the 
 offering. 
 
 I think the explanation of the fact that the native 
 looks upon the number of Orishas as 201 or 401 is 
 that Eshu possibly has the same number of malevolent 
 Orishas as I fa has of beneficent. 
 
 I have pointed out in At the Back of the Black 
 Mans Mind, page 197, that Eshu represents the pro- 
 creative trinity, as opposed to the spiritual Oyisa. 
 (see also chapter on the Odus of I fa, where Odu is 
 
 the name of the sign of the new moon called Oshu). 
 
 94 
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ch. ix ESHU 95 
 
 Eshu 1 is the Being of Darkness, while Ifa is the 
 Being of Light and Revelation, personalities whose 
 signs are Oshu the new moon and Orun the sun. 
 
 At Akure some people came dancing up to the rest- 
 house where I was staying holding palm branches in 
 their hands and beating drums in a violent way. I 
 asked them what they were doing. They answered 
 that they were sacrificing to the devil. Well, I 
 assured them, " I am not the devil." They laughed 
 and ran away, leaving me rather in doubt as to 
 whether they thought me so or not. On inquiry I 
 heard that in three days they were going to keep the 
 feast of Ifa, and that preparatory to doing so they had 
 to feast Eshu or the devil. 
 
 The three Phallic pillars at Iaiu were called Eshu 
 (See At the Back of the Black Mans Mind, page 195). 
 Ellis tells us "He is supposed always to carry a short 
 knotted club, which, originally intended to be a rude 
 representation of the Phallus, has partly through want 
 of skill .... and partly through the growing belief 
 in Elegba's malevolence, come to be regarded as a 
 weapon of offence. . . . The rude wooden representa- 
 tion of the Phallus is planted in the earth by the side 
 of the hut, and is seen in almost every public place, 
 while at certain festivals it is paraded in great pomp, 
 and pointed towards the young girls, who dance 
 round it." 
 
 It was Elegba who told Ifa where to go for the 
 sixteen palm nuts and who taught that personage how 
 
 1 See note, Chapter VI., and note, Chapter X. 
 
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96 NIGERIAN STUDIES ch. ix 
 
 to divine, 1 and he stipulated that in return for this 
 instruction he should always be allowed the first 
 choice of all offerings. This possibly accounts for 
 Eshu getting the first part of the blood of every 
 sacrifice. 
 
 Eshu 
 
 As the story goes, Odudua has no other Orisha 
 except I fa, and, whenever he 2 consulted anyone, he 
 consulted I fa. I fa came one day to sacrifice to 
 Odudua, and he was very satisfied with the offering. 
 As it is a rule when a chief is pleased with the 
 services of a person to give him something, so, on 
 this occasion, Odudua gave Ifa Eshu. Thus Eshu 
 was the slave of Odudua, and became I fa's messenger. 
 And when anyone wants to sacrifice to Ifa they say 
 that it is best to square his messenger, 3 as he is a 
 wicked person. 
 
 1 See appendix At the Back of the Black Maris Mind, page 270. 
 
 2 Odudua is here spoken of as he, and if we remember that Odudua 
 stands for the Dowager Queen Mother and so for the ancestor her 
 husband this confusion is easily understood. 
 
 3 Opele (See At the Back of the Black Maris Mind, page 233) is 
 spoken of as Ifa's messenger and offspring. 
 
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CHAPTER X 
 
 AGANJU, YEMOJA, THEIR OFFSPRING, AND THE OGBONI 
 OR COUNCIL 
 
 The Bashorun is not only one of the four great chiefs, 
 but also the chief officer of the Council of State or 
 Ogboni. 1 We may expect, therefore, to find that Ifa is 
 not only one of the four great Orishas, but also the 
 chief officer of the godly Council of Orishas. And 
 so it is except that here Ifa is represented by Eshu. 2 
 
 Aganju and Yemoja are said to have been the 
 offspring of Odudua and Obatala, and it is related that 
 they had a son called Orungan. These then are the 
 three officers presided over by the great procreative 
 Orisha Eshu. And it is interesting to note that here 
 again we have the formula of four, Eshu representing 
 the past, and Aganju, Yemoja and Orungan, the 
 Trinity of Father, Mother, Son. 
 
 Aganju is sometimes described as a younger 
 brother of Jakuta, but very little is known about him, 
 except that the word means " Space " or " Expanse." 
 
 1 Ogboni is both the society of that name containing many members 
 and also the council and offices of the King's cabinet. 
 
 2 See page ioo, Chapter X. 
 
 97 H 
 
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9 8 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 Yemoja a great River Spirit (the mother of the 
 shining light) is the mother of Orungan, the heat of 
 the sun at mid-day (passion ?). 
 
 Orungan is known as Fi rin pon na yanju omo 
 Yemoja — The son of Yemoja (who) cleans his eyes 
 (with) a hot iron, or Erin re bi ija omo Oba Afeleja — 
 His laugh is like fighting the son of the King who 
 fights with the sword (or Ogun). 
 
 Yemoja, or Ye mo aja, is the most important 
 perhaps of these three, as from her sprang the twelve 
 or thirteen Orishas forming the deified Ogboni or 
 Council. 
 
 Yeye means mother, and Aiye means earth ; Mo is 
 to shine, and Aja is short for Aja-Osu, a name by 
 which the dog star is known, whereas Orun is the 
 name of the sun or day star. Thus we get the picture 
 of earth, mother (of the) shining star or sun. 
 
 Now Orungan (Ellis 1 tells us) "fell in love with his 
 mother, and, as she refused to listen to his guilty 
 passion, he one day took advantage of his father's 
 absence and ravished her. Immediately after the act 
 Yemoja sprang to her feet, and fled from the place 
 wringing her hands and lamenting, and was pursued 
 by Orungan who strove to console her by saying that 
 no one should know of what had occurred, and declared 
 that he could not live without her. He held out to 
 her the alluring prospect of living with two husbands, 
 one acknowledged, and the other in secret, but she 
 rejected all his proposals with loathing, and continued 
 to run away. Orungan, however, rapidly gained upon 
 1 See Ellis, Yoruba-speaking People, p. 54. 
 
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x AGANJU, YEMOJA, THEIR OFFSPRING 99 
 
 her, and was just stretching out his hand to seize her 
 when she fell backward to the ground. Then her 
 body immediately began to swell in a fearful manner, 
 two streams of water gushed from her breasts, and her 
 abdomen burst open. The streams from Yemoja's 
 breasts joined and formed a lagoon ; and from her 
 gaping body came the following offspring." 
 
 Before we continue our study of Yemoja's offspring 
 I should like to interpret this story of creation as 
 far as we have gone in my own words. 
 
 I do not think it follows that because there is such 
 a sameness about these stories of creation that they 
 must necessarily be different variants of any acknow- 
 ledged version. "Great minds think alike," the 
 saying goes, and in this way great men in many parts 
 of the world still come to much the same conclusions. 
 The intelligent Yoruba is, however, constantly 
 discovering resemblances in his laws, customs and 
 folklore to that of the Old Testament ; it may 
 therefore be well, without changing the natural order 
 of the Orishas, to point out where their ideas, though 
 differently expressed, evidently refer to the same 
 phenomena. 
 
 Odudua has been shown to express the ideas of 
 self-existence, heaven and earth, darkness, 
 and so as a heading may easily be made 
 to stand for " In the beginning God made 
 heaven and earth .... and darkness was 
 upon the face of the deep." 
 
 Jakuta has been connected with thunder, and so 
 electricity. "And the Spirit of God moved 
 
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too NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 Obatala upon the face of the waters " (or white 1 
 vapours), just as Fatherhood and Mother- 
 hood meet in marriage. Obatala, though a 
 male personage, it must be remembered, 
 stands for maternity. 
 
 I fa Ideas of speech and revelation and light are 
 
 connected with I fa — " And God said, Let 
 there be light : and there was light." 
 
 Eshu 2 The personality connected with darkness : 
 " And God divided the Light from the 
 Darkness." 
 
 Aganju Expanse, space. Ferrar Fenton in his 
 translation of Genesis instead of the word 
 " Firmament " uses the word " Expanse " — 
 " And God said, Let there be an ' expanse ' 
 between the waters and the waters and let 
 it be for a division between the waters and 
 the waters." 
 
 Yemoja is a great water spirit as well as mother 
 earth : " Let the waters below the heavens 
 be collected in one place, and let dry land 
 appear." 
 
 Orungan the heated rays from the sun which produce 
 — " Let the earth produce." 
 
 CThe Yoruba has only four days in his week, and 
 we find that each day is dedicated to an OrishaS 
 
 In the first place we have God separating from 
 himself two great persons to help him in Creation. 
 
 1 White is sacred to Obatala. 
 
 2 In Eshu's other name Elegba we have the words gba to strike with a 
 stick, Ela another word for Ifa, meaning that which is stripped or split off. 
 In each of the three parts we have a division or splitting off— light from 
 darkness, division of waters and waters, land from water. 
 
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x AGANJU, YEMOJA, THEIR OFFSPRING 101 
 
 Arranging these personages and phenomena in sets 
 of fours in the manner in which the sons of Oranyan 
 were arranged, we have : 
 
 Odudua Jakuta Obatala I fa 
 
 Eshu, Devil Aganju, space Yemoja Orungan 
 
 Dudu, black Orun, heaven Aiye, earth I mole, 
 
 light 
 
 Oshu, new Omi, water He, land Orun, sun 
 
 moon 
 
 From this it will be noted that the sun and moon 
 fall into the fourth line, but I do not think the native 
 would say that the sun and moon were made on the 
 fourth day, but rather that they were manifestations 
 of Odudua and I fa in the fourth place. 
 
 To return to the Ogboni of Orishas, Ellis gives the 
 list of Yemoja's offspring as follows : — 
 
 Dada god of vegetables 
 
 ^Shaogo^ ^ „ lightning 
 
 Ogun ,, iron a'nct'war 
 
 Olokun 
 
 ,, sea 
 
 Olosa 
 
 Oya 
 
 Oshun 
 
 goddess of the lagoon 
 
 ,, ,, River Niger 
 „ Oshun 
 
 Oba 
 
 ,, Oba 
 
 Orisha Oko 
 
 god of agriculture 
 
 Oshosi 
 
 ,, hunters 
 
 Oke, 
 
 ,, mountains, 
 
 Aje Shaluga, ,, wealth, 
 Shankpana ,, smallpox, 
 Orun the sun, and 
 
 Oshu 
 
 the moon. 
 
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102 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 From this it is seen that Ellis gives Yemoja as 
 the mother of the sun and moon. I have made 
 many inquiries about this, and none of my in- 
 formants have included them in their lists of the 
 offspring of this Orisha. And from what I have 
 written above I think it is clear that the sun and 
 the new moon, as personalities, are I fa 1 and Eshu. 
 Neither have I ever been able to get anyone to 
 agree with the order given by Ellis. The names, 
 however, of the other Orishas agree with those I 
 have collected. 
 
 The names and order, so far as I have been able 
 to discover, are : — 
 
 {Olokun, the owner of the sea which murmurs. 
 Olosa, owner of the lagoon which evaporates, 
 f Ogun, the one that pounds. 
 1 Oshowsi, the enchanter that is. 
 ( Oke, the one who cherishes. 
 ( Shango, Lightning, 
 f Oshun, the one who gathers together. 
 \ Oko, the one who collects. 
 
 {Oya, the one who plucks. 
 Shaluga, who elevates, enriches. 
 ( Oba or Ibu, the one who bakes or boils. 
 ( Buruku (or Shankpana), to rot, to die, and 
 Dada, the Orisha of birth. 
 
 As I have travelled nearly all over the Yoruba 
 country I have obtained the order of sacrifice 
 to Orishas in towns widely apart, and now give 
 them to show how far the worship in these different 
 places agrees, firstly as to the Orishas worshipped, 
 
 1 See figure, page 1 50, Chapter XV. 
 
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x AGANJU, YEMOJA, THEIR OFFSPRING 103 
 
 and secondly as to the order in which their festivals 
 are kept. As some fourteen years have passed 
 since Colonel Ellis wrote his Yoruba-speaking 
 People, it is possible that some changes have 
 taken place, not only in the original order, but also 
 in the number of local Orishas, or it may be that 
 local traditions have been too strong, and that the 
 order in which the Orishas set apart by Ifa as the 
 offspring of Yemoja to be worshipped has never 
 been fully adopted. 
 
 The following are the lists as given to me in a 
 few important towns. 
 
 
 
 Akure. 
 
 
 Isehin. 
 
 Aw aye. 
 
 I. 
 
 1 
 
 Alia. 
 
 
 
 
 2. 
 
 2 
 
 Oshun. 
 
 
 
 
 3- 
 4- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5- 
 
 
 
 (0 
 
 
 (*) , 
 
 6. 
 
 3 
 
 Ifa. 
 
 II 
 
 Ifa. 
 
 19 Ifa. 
 
 7- 
 
 4 
 
 Iweshu. 
 
 12 
 
 Elegba. 
 
 20 Shango. 
 
 8. 
 
 5 
 
 Agbarigbo. 
 
 13 
 
 Yemoja. 
 
 2 1 Orisha 
 Oko. 
 
 9- 
 
 6 
 
 Olokun. 
 
 14 
 
 Oshun. 
 
 22 Obatala. 
 
 10. 
 
 7 
 
 Idala. 
 
 15 
 
 Shango. 
 
 23 Yemoja. 
 
 11. 
 
 8 
 
 Aiyarigbi. 
 
 16 
 
 Orisha 
 Oko. 
 
 
 12. 
 
 9 
 
 Oile and 
 Oloba. 
 
 17 
 
 Oke. 
 
 
 '3- 
 
 10 
 
 I begun. 
 
 18 
 
 Orishaula. 
 
 > 
 
 c 
 o 
 
 rt 
 
 <u 
 
 CO 
 
 >-. 
 
 1 and 2 See chapter on the Seasons and the original division of time 
 which only took note of the Rainy Season. 
 
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104 
 
 Egbados. 
 
 lUiJL. 
 
 24. 
 
 Shango. 
 
 35- 
 
 25- 
 
 Orisha Oko. 
 
 
 26. 
 
 Oshowsi. 
 
 36. 
 
 27. 
 
 Oshun. 
 
 37- 
 
 2 8. 
 
 Ogun. 
 
 38. 
 
 2Q. 
 
 Ifa. 
 
 39- 
 
 3°- 
 
 Orisha Oko, 
 
 40. 
 
 
 wife. 
 
 41. 
 
 3i- 
 
 Shapana. 
 
 
 3 2 - 
 
 Olofin. 
 
 42. 
 
 33- 
 
 Yewa. 
 
 43- 
 
 34- 
 
 Eserikika. 
 
 44. 
 
 
 No sacrifice. 
 
 45- 
 
 
 do. 
 
 46. 
 47- 
 
 HAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 Orishala or 48. Egungun. 
 
 Ole. 49. Shanpona. 
 
 Alashe. 50. Oke. 
 
 Orisha Teku. 51. Kuku. 
 
 Ogara. 52. Shango and 
 Okun. Oya. 
 
 Ifa. 53- ^a. 
 
 Ogun and 54. Orisha Oko. 
 
 Oranyan. 55. Eynile. 
 
 Mori mi. 56. Yemoja. 
 
 Oranfe. 57. Oshun. 
 
 Odudua. 58. Eshu. 
 
 Ojumo. 59. Orishaula. 
 
 Iro. 60. Oro. 
 Ikeri. 
 
 It is possible that in the last three lists two Orishas 
 are worshipped every lunar month, or one every 
 seventeenth day during the rainy season. 
 
 It is evident that at the present day there is no 
 order common to the different sections of the Yoruba 
 people, as Ifa is about the only one to whom they 
 sacrifice at the same time, i.e. at the beginning of 
 the rains, or about the sixth month. 
 
 We have now considered the four supernatural 
 great chiefs and the four supernatural officers of the 
 spiritual Ogboni, and given the names of the offspring 
 of Yemoja, who evidently form the supernatural 
 Ogboni or Council. 
 
 Before describing these Orishas more at length I 
 think it will not be out of place to give a complete list 
 of the names of the officials in the native Government. 
 
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x AGANJU, YEMOJA, THEIR OFFSPRING 105 
 The names of the officers are as follows : — 
 
 1. Iyalode, the Queen Mother. 
 
 2. Oba, the King. Four 
 
 3. Balogun, the War Chief. Great Chiefs. 
 
 4. Bashorun, the Prime Minister. 
 
 5. Bashorun, the President. 
 
 6. Apena, the one who convenes" 
 
 the meetings. The 
 
 7. Oluwo, the Treasurer. 1 Officers. 
 
 8. Adofin, the Arbitrator. 
 
 The Council. 
 
 9. Lisa, one of the Iwarefa. 
 
 10. Egbe Iwarefa, or assistant Iwarefa. 
 
 1 1. Bisa. 
 
 12. Assistant. 
 
 13. Bala. 
 
 14. Assistant. 
 
 15. Asalu. 
 
 16. Assistant. 
 
 17. Malakun. 
 
 18. Assistant. 
 
 19. Ashipa. 
 
 20. Assistant. 
 
 These last fifteen members of the Government are 
 called the Ogboni, composed of three officers and a 
 Council of six Iwarefa and six assistant or Egbe 
 Iwarefa, but there are many members of the Ogboni 
 as a society. 
 
 I will now show how the offspring of Yemoja are 
 connected with the life and occupation of the Yoruba. 
 
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CHAPTER XI 
 
 OLOKUN OLOSA AND FISHERMAN 
 
 Fishing 
 
 As we approach the coast of Africa from Europe the 
 first Africans we meet are fishermen. It is true that 
 we seldom get near enough to the tiny fishing canoes 
 to see much of the fisherman, but then he is far from 
 us and sometimes out of sight of land. The sea in 
 some places is dotted quite thickly with the canoes of 
 these venturesome natives, whose courage and manli- 
 ness we must all admire. Confined as we all are on 
 board even the most comfortable of steamships nearing 
 the end of our trip we almost envy the fisherman his 
 freedom and loneliness. He has left the coast early 
 in the morning with the land breeze and when the 
 calm sea is rippled by the coming sea breeze he hoists 
 his little sail and returns to his home. 
 
 As we pass these crowds of specks upon the ocean 
 we feel that this sort of thing has been going on for 
 centuries and that the earliest foreigner to approach 
 these shores must have been equally touched .as our- 
 selves on our first contact with these hardy inhabitants 
 of the Black Continent. 
 
 106 
 
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ch. xi OLOKUN OLOSA AND FISHERMAN 107 
 
 Barbot evidently took a great interest in fishing and 
 fish as connected with the natives of the Gold Coast, 
 and in his Description of the Coast of South Guinea 
 writes : 
 
 "At my first voyage, whilst we lay before 
 Conimendo, some fishermen, near our ship, took a fish 
 about seven feet long. . . . The Blacks call it Fetisso, 
 but for what reason I cannot determine unless it be to 
 express that it is too rare and sweet for mortals to eat 
 and only fit for a deity. ... As I remember the 
 Blacks would not sell it but only allowed me the 
 liberty of drawing its figure. ... I am apt to believe 
 the Blacks look upon this fish as a sort of Deity ; 
 though I did not hear they paid it any religious 
 worship. If they do, there is nothing new in paying 
 adoration to a fish ; for the Philistines in the first ages 
 of the world adored Dagon, which was an idol half man 
 half fish : the word Dagon in their language signify- 
 ing a fish : and that those Gentiles looked upon as the 
 great god, Judges xvi., 23. ' Dagon our God hath 
 delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.' Dagon 
 represented Neptune the God of the Sea and by him 
 perhaps was meant Noah. The Syrians according to 
 Cicero and Xenophon, adored some large tame fish, 
 kept in the river Chalus, and would not suffer any 
 person to go about to disturb them. The Syro- 
 Phoenicians according to Clemens Alexandrinus, adored 
 those fishes with as much zeal, as the Elians worshipped 
 Jupiter : and Diodorus Siculus affirms the Syrians did 
 not eat fish but adored them as gods. Plutarch 
 mentions the Oxindrites and Cynophites, Egyptian 
 
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108 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 nations which having been long at war about killing a 
 fish they esteemed sacred, were so weakened, that the 
 Romans subdued and made them slaves." 
 
 One feels inclined, after reading this, to exclaim 
 " Dear old Barbot ; " for we can so fully enter into the 
 spirit which seems to have permeated the minds of the 
 great African traders of olden days, and which, in spite 
 of the rush of this day of steamships and railways, still 
 influences so many of us. 
 
 - The Kings of Benin had to be supported under 
 each arm by two chiefs whenever they attempted to 
 walk because they claimed to be descended from such 
 a deity as mentioned by Barbot (see plate XVII. 
 Antiquities from Benin in the British Museum), and 
 by way of proof they say that one of their Kings 
 " Ehenbuda " by name was born with legs with no 
 bones in them. Perhaps in reference to this myth the 
 late Mary Kingsley wrote : " The manners and 
 customs of many West African fishes are quaint. I 
 have never yet seen that fish the natives often tell me 
 about that is as big as a man only thicker, and which 
 walks about on its fins at night in the forest, so I 
 cannot vouch for it." 
 
 When in due course we land on the beach in Africa 
 we find fishing is of a more sociable nature, for here 
 we see numbers of men and boys launching their great 
 nets in canoes and casting them into the sea four or 
 five hundred yards away on the far side of the surf. 
 Having left the end of a grass rope, attached to one 
 end of the net, in the hand of a small boy, on the 
 beach, the fisherman in the canoe after discharging the 
 
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xi OLOKUN OLOSA AND FISHERMAN 109 
 
 net brings in the rope tied to the other end with all 
 possible speed. As the canoe rushes merrily through 
 the surf and almost before it grates upon the sandy 
 beach willing hands seize the rope, and, together with 
 those who have now gone to the help of the small 
 boy, begin to haul the net and its contents to the 
 land. 
 
 A fishing beach is not a pleasant place to walk 
 about on, unless the sea breeze is strong enough to 
 blow the stench of half cured fish away from you. 
 Barbot's words of nearly 1 50 years ago may be said to 
 still stand good in many places where he writes (page 
 42, " Description of the Coast of Nigritia ") : " It is very 
 unaccountable that these people, having such plenty of 
 several sorts of large fish, will not dress it while fresh 
 and sweet, but let it lie buried along the shore ; 
 especially the pilchards, as I suppose to give it a 
 better relish or else that it may keep longer. In short, 
 whether this be any particular fancy of theirs or that 
 the continual violent heat immediately corrupts it, this 
 is certain, that they eat none but what stinks, and 
 account it the greater dainty. To instance somewhat 
 more particularly, as to pilchards, they only let them 
 lie some days buried in the wet briny sand along the 
 shore, and perhaps it may be on account of its saltness ; 
 but afterwards dig up and expose them to the sun for 
 some time to dry ; and then lay them up in their huts 
 which are all the day like stoves ; and thus they daily 
 eat and sell them to the inland blacks who come down 
 to buy them, to supply the country markets. I have 
 seen whole cabins or cottages full of these dry pilchards 
 
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no NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 at Rusisco, and the sand down before it next the sea 
 so stored that there was an intolerable stench about 
 the place." 
 
 The great sea Orisha of the Yoruba people is called 
 " Olokun." The Benin river is called after him and 
 the Bini say that he married when poor the spirit 
 of the river Oha which runs into the Olokun near its 
 mouth. 
 
 His second and favourite wife, however, was the 
 Sapoba river called by the natives Igbagon (see At 
 the Back of the Black Mans Mind). 
 
 The Lagos people who were governed by chiefs 
 crowned by the Oba of Benin, say that Olokun 
 married Olokunsu or Elusu who lives in the harbour 
 at Lagos. She is white in colour and human in shape, 
 but is covered with fish scales from below the breasts 
 to the hips. The fish in the waters of the bar are 
 sacred to her, and should anyone catch them she takes 
 vengeance by upsetting canoes and drowning the 
 occupants. (See Ellis, The Yoruba-speaking People). 
 
 When the sea is rough and the people cannot fish 
 they say Olokun is angry. In the olden days the 
 people would then sacrifice a human being to appease 
 his wrath and so be able to fish, but as a rule his 
 wrath seems to have been calmed by offerings of 
 animals and foodstuff. 
 
 In Bishop Phillips' Ifa Odu No. 3 Ejiogbe, the 
 Oracle is made to say : " All the honours of the waters 
 upon earth cannot be as great as the honour of the 
 sea. All the rivers that have their source above are 
 not so beautiful as the Lagoon." 
 
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xi OLOKUN OLOSA AND FISHERMAN in 
 
 The sea Olokun is said to be in the first place the 
 Lagoon Olosa in the second as Orisha. 
 
 Many kinds of nets and traps are used by the 
 fishermen in the Lagoons in Africa and it is a pretty 
 sight on a bright day to watch the busy fishermen at 
 work, some in canoes patiently fishing with hooks, 
 some throwing a round shaped net, an importation 
 from Accra, some busy arranging their traps, and 
 others on the beach dragging the shallows for small 
 fish and prawns. 
 
 Olosa the Orisha of the Lagoons looms large in the 
 mind of the pagan fisherman and when floods prevent 
 his operations he concludes that she is annoyed and 
 offers some sacrifice at one or other of the many altars 
 erected in her honour along the banks of the Lagoon. 
 Human sacrifices, it is said, used to be offered to her, 
 but she is now satisfied with animals and vegetable 
 products. 
 
 Crocodiles are her messengers and Ellis tells us 
 " Food is regularly supplied to these reptiles every 
 fifth 1 day, or festival, and many of them become 
 sufficiently tame to come for the offering as soon as 
 they see or hear the worshippers gathering on the bank." 
 
 But leaving the Lagoons and entering the man- 
 grove banked rivers everyone will have noticed the 
 shy fisherman in his tiny canoe perhaps spearing fish 
 and have passed his wife carrying her baby on her 
 back just as she wildly steers her canoe out of your 
 sight up some tiny creek. 
 
 These fishermen live in small bamboo huts some- 
 
 1 The 5th day is the first day of a new week and is Odudua's day. 
 
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ii2 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 times built on piles in a surrounding swamp and some- 
 times on the sandy bank of a river in the midst of a 
 sea of grass. A solitary lonely life it must be. 
 
 And now we come to where the river passes through 
 country more or less cultivated and governed by some 
 responsible chief, and we find that certain fishermen 
 have fishing rights along specified reaches of the river 
 with a number of fishermen under them. 
 
 In this district (Olokemeji) this head fisherman is 
 called " Baba Olodu," Father or owner of the river. 
 All fishermen under him are supposed to give him part 
 of their catch, and he in turn is supposed to give the 
 Alake of Abeokuta, in whose Kingdom we live, a 
 certain quantity or its equivalent every year. There 
 are two such Baba Olodu near to Olokemeji, Akitunde 
 and Idowu by name, and it is from them that I have 
 obtained the following notes. 
 
 Anyone may fish, but if a stranger fishes he is 
 supposed to give the Baba of the district part of his 
 catch. They have four kinds of traps : — 
 
 i. The Kolu, a net-like trap made of the tie-tie or 
 native rope or string known as Agba. When the fish 
 enter this trap the float above is pressed down. 
 
 2. Ogun called Owa, a trap made up of the leaves of 
 the palm tree which is used in both large and small 
 streams and is left in them all night and examined in 
 the morning. 
 
 3. Koko, a trap made of Agba and placed in large 
 and deep rivers. A string is tied to the trap and fast- 
 ened to a shrub on the river bank, and when the shrub 
 shakes they know a fish is in the trap. 
 
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xi OLOKUN OLOSA AND FISHERMAN 113 
 
 4. Agbagba, a trap made of Egburo or Awkaw tie-tie. 
 This is for shallow rivers and is placed between rocks 
 with its mouth just above the level of the water, and 
 fish coming over the fall drop into it. 
 
 Before the fisherman starts to fish he gets a pod of 
 pepper, atare, and places it in a hole on the bank of the 
 river, he then puts seven grains of corn on the top of 
 this. This is to secure good luck. If his catch has 
 been a success the fisherman makes a thank-offering to 
 Yemaja or Yemoja, the mother of Olokun and Olosa. 
 He fills a pot with cooked maize and on the top of it 
 places seven kola nuts. He then pours palm wine, or 
 corn beer, or gin over the whole and puts it into the 
 river. Yemaja is said to carry this offering to her 
 offspring. 
 
 In going to fish if he stumbles and strikes his right 
 foot no matter, but striking his left foot means bad luck. 
 This sign is called Akilo. 
 
 When the bird Kowe crys or sings Krrr it is a good 
 sign, but if it is silent it is looked upon as a bad 
 sign. 
 
 Another man will know his luck by the quivering of 
 his eyelid. The quivering of the left eye-lid is a sign 
 of a death in his family. 
 
 The time for fishing in the interior is the dry season 
 and best just when the rains cease and the rivers begin 
 to fall. 
 
 Although fishermen have in this district their head 
 man or Baba Olodu, they have no guild or secret 
 society like the hunters. (See next chapter.) 
 
 When a fish black in colour, with two horns in its 
 
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n 4 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 head, called Aro (the owner of the river) is caught, 
 it is quickly returned to the river. (This is, perhaps, 
 the copper fish {Ostracion quadricomis). Its young, 
 however, may be killed. Then the Abori, fish with 
 one horn, are sacred to Yemoja. 
 
 They do not like catching the Ojiji {Malopterurus 
 eleclricus), as they say, when large, they can kill a 
 person; and the Adede, called "Owoternu" by the 
 Lagos people, does not please them, as they say that 
 when full he turns the waters black. 
 
 This life of the fisherman is perhaps the most 
 simple and wanting, from its solitariness, perhaps, in 
 organisation. We are, perhaps, nearer to what we 
 may imagine primitive life to have been in this study 
 of the life of an African fisherman than in any other. 
 But primitive as it may be, the fisherman thanks his 
 god, Yemoja, for his good luck, and knows that sin, 
 such as theft or adultery, is hurtful to his luck. 
 
 A Flood Story. 
 
 (According to Ellis, page 64.) Sometime after 
 settling at Ado, Ifa became tired of living in the 
 world, and accordingly went to dwell in the firmament 
 with Obatala. After his departure, mankind, deprived 
 of his assistance, was unable properly to interpret the 
 desire of the Gods, most of whom became annoyed 
 in consequence. Olokun was most angry, and in a 
 fit of rage he destroyed nearly all the inhabitants of 
 the world in a great flood, only a few being saved by 
 Obatala, who drew them up into the sky by means of 
 
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xi OLOKUN OLOSA AND FISHERMAN 115 
 
 a long iron chain. After this ebullition of anger, 
 Olokun retired once more to his own domains, but 
 the world was nothing but mud, and quite unfit to 
 live in, till I fa came down from the sky, and, in 
 connection with Odudua, once more made it habitable. 
 Thus are Olokun and Olosa the first offspring of 
 Yemoja and Orungan connected with the category 
 " water " and the occupation of the fisherman. 
 
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CHAPTER XII 
 
 OGUN, OSHOWSI, AND THE HUNTER 
 
 One catches glimpses of the rule by father form of 
 Government in Africa in a fisherman's or hunter's 
 camp, often a long distance from any village, they live 
 solitary camp-like lives. The fisherman's life we have 
 described ; the hunter smokes and dries the product of 
 the chase and exchanges this for other necessaries of 
 life in the nearest market. He is more or less 
 governed by his senses and his desires, but he believes 
 thoroughly in his Orisha "Ogun." He accumulates a 
 certain amount of goods and as he desires to marry he 
 invests his capital in obtaining a wife. They have 
 children and the result is a hunters' village. Other 
 hunters ask his permission to share his hunting-grounds 
 and on certain conditions he allows them to do so. 
 These hunters in all probability marry the head 
 hunter's daughters. 
 
 The men hunt and the women do the marketing and 
 cook for their husbands. Men living in the wilds of 
 Africa facing death in numerous ways become what 
 some people call superstitious and others religious. 
 
 This may account for the fact that most of the old 
 
 116 
 
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ch.xii OGUN, OSHOWSI, AND THE HUNTER 117 
 
 Coasters, though they were not credited with leading a 
 religious life but rather a kind of unlicensed patri- 
 archal one, were generally found to be believers 
 in their Bible and could always produce one when 
 needed. 
 
 Now the hunters in Africa are nearly all thorough be- 
 lievers in their Orishas, and before going out on their 
 expeditions in Yorubaland they offer kola nuts to the 
 Orishas Eshu, Ogun and Oshowsi. Their great time 
 for hunting is when the grass has been burnt and it is 
 then that the greater sacrifices are offered. In the 
 district of Olokemeji no human sacrifices were offered 
 to Ogun, so Agbola's son told me, but, he added, 
 in other districts human beings used to be killed. He 
 said that when a hunter goes out he sacrifices to the 
 three above-named Orishas ; they kill a cock giving 
 Eshu a dash of its blood, and then leave it at the foot 
 of Ogun's altar. After a while they come back and 
 take the bloodless body of the cock away and eat it, 
 they also give Ogun kola. To Oshowsi they give 
 roasted beans, and just before leaving on a small hunt a 
 hunter throws pieces of a kola nut into the air and as the 
 pieces fall upon the earth, so he knows he will have 
 good or bad luck. 
 
 A second good point about the hunter is respect 
 for the head hunter and obedience to his commands. 
 Having rubbed his body all over with soap mixed with 
 some powder, and placed chalk marks on his head so 
 that animals shall not smell him, he presents himself 
 before the head hunter and tells him where he is going 
 to hunt, so that there may be no overlapping. Should 
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n8 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 one hunter meet another on his way he salutes him 
 and walks on in silence, and should he omit to tell the 
 head hunter where he is going to hunt, or then shoot 
 somewhere else than in the appointed place, the head 
 hunter will take his gun and money from him and cast 
 him out of the camp. 
 
 If one hunter tries to poison another he will meet 
 with no luck. 
 
 If he commits adultery he will have no luck, and if 
 while away hunting his wife commits adultery he will 
 see a male and female animal copulating. If he loves 
 his wife he dare not shoot either of these creatures, 
 since, if he killed them, his wife would die. So he goes 
 back at once to his town and taking his wife before 
 Ogun's altar accuses her of the sin. If she admits her 
 guilt, the adulterer is fined one dog to be sacrificed to 
 Ogun, one goat for Ifa, and three bags of cowries to- 
 gether with kola for the husband. But if she denies 
 it they ask her to take some of the kola from Ogun's 
 altar, and if she eats the kola (being guilty) Ogun in 
 two or three days (unless she confesses) will kill her. 
 Sometimes a ram will run after her and butt her to 
 death. 
 
 And when the hunter cannot kill anything and he 
 hears the nightjar crying in the day he knows some- 
 thing has happened in his town and he returns to Ogun 
 knowing that some relation is dead or very ill. Or 
 when the bird that cries " Ko ! we ! " and then " tche ! 
 tche! " cries " Ko ! we!" three times without adding 
 " tche ! tche ! " he knows someone is dead. 
 
 But supposing a man has had a woman illicitly, he 
 
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Agbolo's Sons. Great Native Hunters. 
 
 [Face />. nq. 
 
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xn OGUN, OSHOWSI, AND THE HUNTER 119 
 
 takes a big snail, some shea butter and the leaves of 
 the Odudun, Tete and Renren, and pounding all 
 together (after first sacrificing to Ogun), smears his 
 whole body with the mixture and goes his way 
 rejoicing knowing that all is well. 
 
 Should a hunter happen to kill an animal that is 
 pregnant he makes an offering of one dog, palm oil, 
 and kola to Ogun. 
 
 If a hunter tells a lie he will kill nothing, and if two 
 hunters have gone before Ogun and sworn to keep a 
 thing secret, and one then goes and reveals it, some 
 animal will fight with him and may kill him. 
 
 And when a hunter knows that he has not com- 
 mitted any of these crimes, and still has bad luck, then 
 he knows that Ogun wants a present. 
 
 I have often had to spend the night in one or other 
 of these primitive fishermen's and hunters' villages, 
 and in the morning when I have asked to see the 
 " Father " to say good-bye to him I have been told 
 that I must wait if I wish to see him as he has 
 gone to the grove sacred to Ogun, to pray for his 
 people. 
 
 And so the hunter believes in his Orisha and obeys 
 his father's will and knows that he will be punished for 
 any offences against the divine and human father's 
 will. 
 
 Agbola's son told me that there are strong beasts 
 in the bush such as leopards, elephants, lions, 
 chimpanzees, unicorns (?), bush cows, etc., and that 
 when a hunter shoots at one of these he immediately 
 sprinkles a medicine called Kaji in front of him in the 
 
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iao NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 direction of the animal so that it will not get up and 
 charge him. 
 
 Hunters, he said, do not believe that men can 
 turn themselves into leopards, but they do believe 
 that certain people called Ologun have the power to 
 influence these beasts and so cause them to kill 
 people. Hunters protect themselves against this risk 
 by buying and wearing a belt with medicine in it 
 called Ishora. Their ancestors gave them the pre- 
 scription according to which these belts are made. 
 
 The leopard in this country is known by the names 
 Ekun, the fearless one, Ogida the one ready to scratch, 
 and Jakumu the striker. An Ibadan hunter told me 
 that the leopard represents the land, and that the 
 Alafin alone could call himself "the Leopard," be- 
 cause he inherited all the land from the first Oni of Ife. 
 
 The Alafin's warriors, called Kakamfu, who, by the 
 way, number 201 x (the original number of Yoruba 
 Orishas, or rather the number said by the priests of 
 I fa to have been in the right hand division), used 
 to wear an apron of the leopard's skin. 
 
 When the leopard was killed its face was covered 
 with a cloth (a custom they have in common with the 
 Bavili) because, as the hunter said, it is a king. The 
 king is not supposed to look anyone in the face for 
 fear of frightening him. 
 
 The Leopard king, or Alafin, is known by his 
 crown of blue beads, six marks on each cheek, 
 Orania's sword (Ida orania), and a calabash wrapped 
 in cloth called (Ibayiwa), a stick covered with beads 
 
 * The Yoruba heathenism, At the Back of the Black Man's Mind, 
 
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xii OGUN, OSHOWSI, AND THE HUNTER 121 
 
 called Okpaleki, and he does not wear a necklace, 
 whereas his chiefs do. 
 Elephant-hunting regulations in the Benin Kingdom. 
 The hunter wants to kill an elephant. 
 
 1. He goes to the King and asks permission. 
 
 2. The King gives him a boy. 
 
 3. The boy stops in the village, the hunter goes 
 into the bush. 
 
 4. When he kills the elephant he comes and tells 
 the King's boy what he has done. 
 
 5. The hunter then returns to cut up the elephant. 
 
 6. The leg nearest the ground when the elephant 
 falls is for the King. 
 
 7. The fore leg belongs to the village landowner. 
 
 8. The neck belongs to the hunter's wife. 
 
 9. The back round about the kidneys is for the 
 King's mother, Iyoba. 
 
 10. The upper fore leg to the hunter's boy. 
 
 1 1. The upper hind leg to the hunter. 
 
 12. The head belongs to the village boys who 
 accompany the hunter. 
 
 13. The two tusks and the King's leg are given 
 to the King's boy. 
 
 14. Some of the meat that is over is given to the 
 King's boy. 
 
 15. The hunter and the King's boy take the leg 
 and tusks to Benin city. 
 
 16. The village paramount chief takes them to the 
 King. 
 
 17. The King then takes one tusk and gives one to 
 the hunter, 
 
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122 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 i 8. The hunter next states that he has no wife, the 
 King then may give him a woman or not, just as he 
 thinks well or not of. the hunter. 
 
 One of the causes that influenced the King was 
 whether the hunter always killed the large elephants 
 and left the small ones. 
 
 The King kept his tusk either as a juju, or for a 
 future present to a white man or some foreign chief 
 who visited him. 
 
 Should a hunter kill an elephant without permission 
 he would be arrested and fined. 
 
 " Obodo, Adji, and Oluku and others shot an elephant 
 without a license at Ubogwi. They refused to come 
 in, so the King sent Ogiromeci with plenty of boys 
 to arrest them ; one fought and escaped. 
 
 " When they came the King accused them of killing 
 an elephant, and as a punishment sent some of 
 them to Igwihollo and some to Igwinigbo to hunt 
 elephants for him, and kept them there for three 
 years. 
 
 "When the hunter (stranger) came he generally 
 brought a present for the King, but before he could go 
 before the King he had to ' dash ' (make a present to) 
 the paramount chief." 
 
 Hunters in Yorubaland have societies or guilds, and 
 they appear to be of two kinds, the Egbe Omode an 
 ordinary hunter's society, and the Egbe Oluri Ode 
 which has its headquarters at Abeokuta. 
 
 Ogbolo of Olokemeji was one of the four great 
 officers of the " Egbe Olori Ode," the other three 
 residing in Abeokuta^ The titles of the four are :— 
 
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xii OGUN, OSHOWSI, AND THE HUNTER 123 
 
 1. Oyeshile, meaning the throne is vacant. 
 
 2. Bi eyi oku, If this is not dead. 
 
 3. Ojo, The afterbirth sticks to his head. 
 
 4. Ogbolo, meaning near the Ogun. 
 
 Their council is formed of six hunters and six assist- 
 ants. Thus it would seem that the hunters with their 
 great Orishas, Ogun and Oshowsi, have an " Ogboni " 
 on earth, the members of which, we may presume, 
 have their Orishas in heaven. 
 
 Ogbolo's son told me that the name of the first great 
 hunter was Akoka, but that the Orisha Ogun first 
 directed men to start hunting. He pointed out to them 
 also his sacred trees, the Peregun, Akoko and Atori : 
 and made them dig four holes and plant four sticks to 
 uphold a kind of altar or shelf, upon which they place 
 the heads of all animals they kill and where they also 
 sacrifice dogs to Ogun. 
 
 Ogun after Shango and I fa is perhaps the best 
 known or most popular Orisha in Yorubaland, and this 
 probably arises from the fact that in almost every village 
 there is a hunter or a number of them. 
 
 One hears Ogun's name constantly and he appears to 
 be the owner of some very potent medicine. As Ellis 
 says, " Any piece of iron can be used as a symbol of 
 Ogun and the ground is sacred to him because iron ore 
 is found in it." On a visit to the Asehin of Isehin I was 
 taken through various courts to the court where he 
 holds his palavers. I was astonished to find goats, 
 sheep, and women here, quite contrary to custom, and 
 the place was filthy. Across this court from north to 
 
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124 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 south an iron chain was tightly stretched and pegged 
 down. Near the middle of this line was a stone newly 
 covered with the blood of a dog that had been sacri- 
 ficed. I asked what it meant and was told by the 
 Asehin that it was Ogun medicine. 
 
 In the palace yard at Akure and also in one of the 
 streets there are mounds of mud about three feet high 
 on the top of which lie large flat slabs of wood and 
 these they call Isi Ogun. They are sacrificial tables 
 where dogs are, and at times human beings were 
 sacrificed. 
 
 Ibegun, which is the name of the dog sacrificed, is also 
 worshipped at Akure. It is strange how the compan- 
 ions of the Orishas are sometimes talked of as wives, 
 sometimes as brothers. The following story given to 
 me by Asani an Egba describes Ogun and Oshowsi as 
 brothers. 
 
 Oshowsi. 
 
 Oshowsi and Ogun are two brothers, and when 
 they were young they were very wicked, and were 
 driven away from their home by Jakuta because they 
 refused to acknowledge his authority. They became 
 great hunters. The natives say that Oshowsi is 
 Ogun's wife, but this is not so, they were both the 
 sons of one father. Oshowsi used to go ahead and 
 Ogun followed. Oshowsi's real name is Olu fu si, 
 Ogun's other name was Ija, he that beats and fights 
 the game that Qshowsj points out to him. Oshu 
 
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xii OGUN, OSHOWSI, AND THE HUNTER 125 
 
 osi x was a left-handed man. In this case Ogun and 
 Oshowsi are connected with the category Earth and 
 the occupation of hunting. 
 
 Ogun and the Blacksmith. 
 
 From the fact that the blacksmith has the same 
 Orishasasthe hunter it may perhaps be presumed that 
 the necessities of the calling of the hunter have, at 
 a much later period, brought his occupation into 
 existence. 
 
 He is an industrious and interesting person, and 
 does not like you to ignore him as you pass his 
 smithy. Tang, tang, tang, strikes his hammer on his 
 anvil as you approach, as if to say, " Here I am, a 
 cheery good day to you ! " and so you are invited to 
 go up to him and return his salute. 
 
 The mysteries of heat and cold, and light and dark- 
 ness have been revealed to him. He cannot, it is 
 true, explain them in words to you, for to him each 
 process is a mystery, and his language is still a poor 
 one from the European's standpoint. 
 
 But he has observed, and the knowledge is his. 
 See how the metal expands as it gets red hot 
 and contracts as it gets cold, and how, when he 
 thrusts the heated metal into water, evaporation and 
 condensation take place. He has seen all this a 
 hundred times. Again, heat dissolves and melts, and 
 cold consolidates and solidifies. He notes this daily. 
 Divided or broken bits of iron by heat and cold be- 
 
 1 Oshu osi is contracted into Oshowsi. 
 
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ia6 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 come fused and conjoined and made hard. He 
 watches the ebullition of the molten mass which, as it 
 cools, subsides and passes from motion to rest. Activity, 
 inertness, energy, pressure, sensation, numbness, light 
 and darkness, are wonders that impress themselves 
 upon his receptive mind as he day by day manufac- 
 tures his hoes, knives, spear heads, and what not. It 
 will not surprise us at a later period if we find in the 
 philosophy of the Blackman an Orisha for each of 
 these phases in a natural process. 
 
 After reading Barbot's account of the blacksmiths of 
 his day in a description of the Coast of North Guinea it 
 is pleasant to turn to Mr. C. V. Bellamy's sympathetic 
 account of "A West African Smelting House." I 
 cannot help quoting largely from this very interesting 
 paper : 
 
 "Not far from Oyo, not more than three days' 
 journey from the coast, there is a small village whose 
 inhabitants have been engaged in the extraction of 
 iron for generations past, and where the methods 
 are the same probably as those practised by the 
 
 earliest workers in this metal They are 
 
 simple and unsophisticated, but they practise an art 
 which is unknown to the savage and which places 
 them high above him in the social scale, while it 
 entitles them to be considered to have reached a 
 higher degree of civilisation than many of the tribes 
 met with in European countries where the people 
 have been looked upon as domesticated. 
 
 " The shale is excavated with the aid of a rude 
 pick in pieces weighing from three to five pounds, 
 and is carried to the works for treatment. 
 
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xii OGUN, OSHOWSI, AND THE HUNTER 127 
 
 " They first roast it over a fire of green 
 timber ; this is done during the night ; the next 
 morning it is pounded in a mortar. The poundings 
 are screened until there is nothing remaining in the 
 mortar, the sieve consisting of a native made basket 
 rather openly woven, and they are then borne away 
 to the river side for the purpose of washing or 
 panning .... The washed ore is conveyed to the 
 smelting house and poured into the kiln as occasion 
 may require, in a damp state." 
 
 For a description of the smelting house, the arrange- 
 ment of the shed, and the cupola, etc., I must refer you 
 to Mr. Bellamy's paper. 1 
 
 " Probably the most remarkable feature in the 
 whole of the process is the use of selected clinker 
 for a flux. This may throw light upon what is now 
 frequently a matter of doubt, namely, the medium 
 employed by the ancients in their smelting opera- 
 tions. 
 
 " The pig iron, after it has cooled down sufficiently, 
 is broken up into convenient lumps for the purpose 
 of sale or barter." This pig iron is sold to the 
 blacksmiths whose work Mr. Bellamy describes. 
 
 "The bellows consisted of a pair of circular 
 wooden bowls about a foot in diameter, connected 
 by an air passage constructed of the same, from 
 which two wooden pipes to do duty for the tue-iron 
 lead to the earth ; over the top of each bowl is 
 loosely secured an undressed goatskin, to which is 
 fastened in the centre of the bowl a long bamboo 
 rod, one of which is held in each hand. 
 
 1 To be found in the Royal Colonial Institute. 
 
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i 2 8 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 " The skin is very slack, and by raising and lower- 
 ing the rod alternately a more or less continuous 
 current of air is supplied to the hearth. There is no 
 inlet valve to these bellows, and the air supplied 
 enters by the wooden tue-pipes, a space being left 
 between the hearth stone and the nozzles for the 
 purpose ; the bellows and hearth rest upon the 
 ground. . . . 
 
 " For heavier work a large smooth, undressed 
 and water-worn stone does duty for an anvil, but for 
 smaller work another anvil is provided like a silver- 
 smith's, made of metal produced locally. The 
 hammers look at first sight like so many rude lumps 
 of iron roughly handled with the same, but a closer 
 inspection shows them to be systematically shaped 
 and diamond-wise in section so as to expose a flat or 
 an edged surface by a single turn of the wrist ; it is 
 an ingenious pattern. . . . With such simple means 
 as these the smith puddles the iron which has been 
 smelted after the manner already explained. 
 
 " These smiths prefer their native iron to the bars 
 imported." 
 
 Mr. Bellamy continues, " Not the least important 
 feature in this industry is the marked regularity which 
 characterised each operation and the enthusiasm 
 which seemed to inspire the workers. Strangely at 
 variance with the usual custom of the Ethiopian, 
 there was no noise, no bustle ; no confusion ; no 
 sound but the hum of preoccupation was to be 
 heard throughout the whole village ; at the right 
 moment the kiln was prepared, and lighted, sealed 
 charged and drawn ; at the right moment 
 when the fire was drawn, little boys stood ready 
 with their calabash trays to take away the live 
 
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xn OGUN, OSHOWSI, AND THE HUNTER 129 
 
 charcoal, and at the right moment they brought the 
 necessary green creepers with which to draw the pig 
 from the cupola, or water to quench the fire. All 
 this indicated systematic control and the strong hand 
 of authority, and method only acquired by long 
 practice and passed on from one generation to the 
 next. 
 
 K 
 
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CHAPTER XIII 
 
 SEASONS 
 
 It is quite impossible to understand the philosophy 
 of the African without some knowledge of his seasons. 
 Meteorologically this is not very hard, at any rate, in a 
 place like Olokemeji where the seasons are marked. 
 A glance at the chart will be sufficient. It will be 
 noted that the year is divided into thirteen lunar months. 
 Many natives will tell you that there are fourteen 
 months in their year, but this we will explain further 
 on, we are now only considering the lunar months 
 as they are looked upon by many followers of 
 Ifa. 
 
 The Yoruba are now more or less skilled farmers 
 and live chiefly on the products of their farms, so far 
 as farinaceous food is concerned, but we know that 
 there was a time when they were far more dependent on 
 forest products. It is most remarkable how many 
 semi-wild products the natives have to fall back upon 
 which at one time their ancestors may have had to live 
 on almost entirely. And a great advantage is that, as 
 far as my knowledge goes, they are able to feed on either 
 
 the leaves or the fruit of most of the undermentioned 
 
 130 
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CH. XIII 
 
 SEASONS 
 
 131 
 
 plants all the year round. The names of some of these 
 are the Ogunmo (?), the Oyo or Chorchorus olitorius, 
 the Awsun, one of the Solanacese, the Agbagba or 
 Musa sapientum var : paradisiaca, the Yanrin or 
 Lactuca sp, the Tete Aramanthus sp, the Ebolo or 
 Gynura sp, the Odu (?), the Ajefawu (?), the Ebure or 
 
 
 1 3 
 
 Native lunar months 
 
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 sp, the I la or Hibiscus esculentus, the A win or the 
 
 Dialium guineensis and the Igba or the Parkia 
 
 filicoidea. 
 
 The end of the rainy season and the beginning of the 
 
 dry (about November) forms a kind of season by 
 
 itself and is called Odun (year). The farmers go on 
 
 k 2 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
132 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 weeding their farms to give the crops of their second 
 harvest a chance. It is about the end of this season 
 that babies of parents married in the spring are born. 
 Before the long grass becomes dry and brittle they cut 
 and stack it for re-roofing their houses. 
 
 The Dry Season. 
 
 The dry season is divided into two sections of two 
 months each. White mists x cover the land, it is very 
 hot during the day, and the temperature during the 
 night falls as low as 5 2°, which we regard much 
 as you at home look upon your freezing point. 
 Bosman considered this great change of temperature 
 as the cause of much of the sickness on the coast : 
 " The unwholesomeness of this coast," he says, " in my 
 opinion, seems chiefly owing to the heat of the day 
 and coolness of the night, which sudden change I am 
 induced to believe occasions several effects in our bodies, 
 especially in those not accustomed to bear more heat 
 than cold, by too hastily throwing off their clothes to 
 cool too fast." Then Barbot tells us that " the air tho ' 
 not so cold is much thinner and more piercing than in 
 England, and corrodes iron much faster." The cold 
 wind blowing from the East is called the Harmattan by 
 us and Oye by the natives, who liken it to a giant who 
 lives in a cavern somewhere to the North of Ilorin, or 
 then in the mountain Igebeti where the Devil rules 
 supreme. 
 
 1 It is possible that the ideas surrounding "Obatala" have been 
 connected with this whiteness in the heavens, which commences as soon 
 as the rains are over in November and December. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
xin SEASONS 133 
 
 The farmers now gather their second harvest of 
 corn, and that of beans and guinea-corn. They clear 
 land for their next season's crops, and burn the drying 
 bush they have already felled. 
 
 They now enjoy eating crickets, and the fruits of 
 the Idofin tree and Ketemfe are added to their veget- 
 able bill of fare. The leaves of the Ketemfe are 
 called Ewe iran, and they are used also for roofing 
 their houses. 
 
 This is their fishing season, when traps are placed 
 at the mouths of all small streams. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 This dry season (Erun) continues for the next two 
 months, but during the latter part of the second month 
 rumbling thunder is heard, and small rains fall. The 
 farmer goes on preparing the ground, and starts plant- 
 ing yams. They still eat crickets, and make good use 
 of the semi-wild products already mentioned. Fishing 
 of course goes on, but the long grass having been 
 burnt and the fresh herbage making its appearance, 
 this part of the dry season is the hunter's ideal time. 
 
 It is now perhaps time to consider the so-called 
 fourteen months of the ancient Yoruba year. We 
 have already pointed out the confusion in some 
 observers' minds concerning the four days of the 
 Yoruba week, which some say is composed of four 
 days, and some of five. This same mystification 
 recurs in the number of days said to complete one of 
 
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136 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 their months. Some say that there are sixteen, and 
 others seventeen, days in a native month. The 
 natives, as we have already explained, rest on the 
 fifth day, that is to say, having counted four days, 
 they really rest on the first day of the next week, 
 counting that day as one. So in their next great 
 division of time they say that they rest on the seven- 
 teenth day, which is a great market day, and this is, 
 of course, the first day of what is their second so- 
 called month. Fourteen of these months completed 
 the ancient Yoruba so-called year. In other words, 
 the ancients only valued the rain season. It was the 
 first rumble of thunder that recalled the fisherman 
 and hunter to their huts, and caused them to com- 
 mence to count the days. They thought the father in 
 heaven had set his Forger Ogun to work to make his 
 thunderbolts so that he might carry on his war to 
 secure wives. 
 
 The ancient Yoruba then counted four weeks of 
 four days, and on the seventeenth day put one cowry 
 in a calabash or gourd, and when he had counted four- 
 teen of these he knew it was nearing the time when 
 his pregnant wife should bear him a child. That is to 
 say, the eighth month which he feared for his wife's 
 sake was now ended. This was the all-important part 
 of the year to him, the rest of the time after the birth 
 of his child he occupied in fishing and hunting. Thus 
 to him the year was composed of 4x4 x 14, or 224 
 days. And thus we hear of the Yoruba speaking of 
 his having fourteen months in his year, and the 
 traveller, concluding that he is referring to lunar 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
xni SEASONS l37 
 
 months, is puzzled. And in many localities we still 
 find that it is only during the rain season that the 
 worship of local Orishas takes place. In asking 
 natives for the names of the months of the lunar 
 year seven or eight Orishas' names only have at times 
 been given to me. This seems to me to show that 
 the I fa lunar calendar system is of a later date, which 
 has not even yet, in many parts, become general. 
 We will now return to our lunar calendar. 
 
 The Rain Season. 
 
 The season of rain may be divided into two parts 
 separated one from the other by a little dry season. 
 The first section is composed of five lunar months of 
 rain, the latter of two lunar months, one nearly dry 
 month intervening. 
 
 The first two months of this section of the rains is 
 called Asheroh ojo. It is the tornado season when 
 thunder, lightning, wind and rain, and Jakuta, the 
 stone-thrower, all do their best to frighten the timid 
 into a proper consideration of their powers. And I 
 think no one of us who has experienced some of these 
 great storms will dare to say that on some occasion 
 or other a very loud clap of thunder has not made 
 him jump, as the saying goes. I remember once at a 
 place called Musuku on the Kongo river a man and 
 his wife and child were all struck senseless by thunder, 
 as they were not struck by lightning. Luckily, I have 
 never experienced any accident of this terrible nature, 
 but I have been caught in the bush by " Zaci and 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
138 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 his twenty-four dogs," as they call thunder and light- 
 ning in the Kongo, and wished myself well out of it. 
 
 While on this subject I think we may all congratu- 
 late ourselves on not having been in Axim in the year 
 1693 or 1694, when, Bosman says, "the thunder broke 
 all the drinking glasses of the Factor's chamber, and 
 raised up his child with the bed under it, both which 
 it threw some feet distant, without the least hurt done. 
 What do you think, Sir ? Was it possible for a stone 
 to do this? I believe not." I think we are all wise 
 enough to-day to agree with Bosman, but the stone- 
 thrower, Jakuta, has a good deal to answer for in 
 Yorubaland. 
 
 At the beginning of this season the farmer plants his 
 first crop of corn and groundnuts, and later Bara, Igba, 
 and Agbe, or gourds used by them for all manner of 
 household purposes. Mushrooms are now added to 
 his bill of fare. This is the ancient season of 
 marriage. 
 
 The next two months compose the season when the 
 rainfall reaches its maximum. The farmer weeds and 
 keeps his farm as tidy as he can, but everything grows 
 apace, and he has to work hard if he wishes to reap a 
 fair harvest. He is rewarded towards the end of the 
 second month by being able to eat new corn. His main 
 crop, however, is left standing until it is quite dry, 
 which is not until the little dry season sets in, in the 
 next season. He gathers the fruit of the Emi ori or 
 Shea butter tree, and mushrooms are still to be 
 found. 
 
 This subdivision of the rain season is called Aga, 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
xin SEASONS 139 
 
 probably because the corn has grown tall during the 
 last month. The Yoruba have a saying that the 
 woman who is married in the month of Aga will eat 
 pounded corn. 
 
 The Awori season is composed of one month of rain 
 and the little dry season. The farmer digs up his first 
 crop of yams, and gathers in his corn and ground nuts 
 and gourds. Before the rains have stopped he has 
 sown the seed for a second crop of corn, beans, ground 
 nuts, and guinea-corn and he also now sows cotton. 
 
 This is said to be a marriage season also, but it is 
 evidently a time of harvest. 
 
 The next two months are called the Arokuro season, 
 and, like the first two months of the rains, they are 
 tornado months. Farmers fell the bush for next year's 
 farms, and keep on weeding. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 OKE, OKO, AJESHALUGA, AND FARMING. 
 
 Farmland and Farmers, and the Orishas Oke, Oko and 
 Ajeshaluga. 
 
 Yorubaland may be divided into three great zones, 
 one of very little use to the farmer as farmland, but 
 of service to him as the zone that in the olden days 
 provided him with salt, i.e. the Mangrove belt. Here 
 the seaside inhabitant used to cut down the salt bush 
 and manufacture salt, which he sent with smoked fish 
 into the interior and exchanged for farm produce. 
 Here also oyster shells were burnt and lime made, 
 but this does not appear to have been used by the 
 farmers, and I think we may conclude that the 
 industry was acquired from the early white settlers. 
 The native farmers have long known that leguminous 
 crops nourish the land, but they have not yet learnt 
 the use of lime as a manure, although it is perhaps 
 the manure most needed in this country. 
 
 The next zone as you travel inland is composed of 
 evergreen tropical forests and mixed forests, in which 
 we find the excellent Egba farmers. 
 
 The third zone is that which is called the dry open 
 
 140 
 
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ch.xiv OKE,OKO, AJESHALUGA, AND FARMING 141 
 
 forest, where the rainfall is from thirty to forty-five 
 inches per annum. For a full description of these 
 zones I must refer you to the Conservator of Forests' 
 Report on the Forest Administration of Southern 
 Nigeria for 1906. 
 
 The Yoruba call the forest land Igbo, the mixed 
 forest Odan, and the open grassland Pappa. 
 
 Forest land is generally felled during the latter rains 
 and the dry season. 
 
 In the open grass country the grass is burnt in the 
 dry season, and the land cultivated for three or four 
 years, and then allowed to lie fallow for some years, 
 but the forest land will stand from five to seven years' 
 crops, and even then water yams and plantains may 
 be grown on it. This land is then allowed to lie 
 fallow for two or three years, when it is again brought 
 into use for two or three years : then it used to be 
 allowed to lie fallow for twenty or thirty years. Farm 
 land is known as Oko, and fallow as Ashale. 
 
 The farmer also knows a great deal more about 
 soils than is generally credited to him. He prefers, 
 naturally enough, the good loamy forest land which 
 he calls Ebole, a stony loam he names Ebole olokuta, 
 the sandy loam Hero : then he talks of red and 
 black soils as Ilepa and Iledu. Clay he terms Amo, 
 and it is of a yellow colour, the white clay he calls 
 Amofunfun, and that which is mixed with sand and 
 cracks in the dry season is known by the name Tara. 
 Sand is called Yanrin. 
 
 It will be readily understood that in this study of 
 the native farmer I am not attempting to write an 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
U2 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 up-to-date paper on the state of agriculture in 
 Southern Nigeria. On the contrary I am purposely 
 leaving out all mention of all our Agege and other 
 advanced planters, of whom we are all so justly proud. 
 I am, in fact, dealing only with the less favoured 
 so-called pagan farmer in his capacity as a worshipper 
 of certain Orishas. 
 
 The Egba farmer is a very pleasant and hospitable 
 man to meet, as well as most interesting. One of 
 these simple folk told me that when it was time 
 to fell the bush to make a new farm he gave a 
 present to his chief, and asked him to give him 
 some people to help. On the day fixed for their 
 coming he prepared food for them. They cut the 
 bush, and ate and drank at his expense. He and 
 his family then burnt the felled timber, and when 
 the first rains came he sowed corn. For two or three 
 years he planted corn and yams on this land, he 
 also planted beans with the corn. He said Ebole 
 land might be used for as many as ten or eleven years 
 before it was exhausted. Hero soil was good for 
 corn and yams for two or three years. 
 
 If the land belongs to the farmer the produce is 
 his own, but if he has been allowed to farm it by 
 the owner he has to give him a part of the product. 
 
 Before planting they generally offered some sacrifice 
 to their departed parents, and asked them to see that 
 their crops were successful. He said he knew a man 
 who, to get good beans, used to mix a powder with his 
 seed. 
 
 When yams begin to sprout, and the first leaves 
 
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xiv OKE, OKO, AJESHALUGA, AND FARMING 143 
 
 begin to appear, women are not allowed to go on the 
 yam fields. A man at Ilaro, that he knew, was very 
 strict on this point, and prohibited all women from 
 walking through the fields, lest any with menses 
 should go, and so spoil the yam crop. He also told 
 me that the farmer's Orishas were Oke, Oko and 
 Ajeshaluga. 
 
 Agbolo's son, a great hunter and farmer, told me 
 that the farmers near Olokemeji had a society for mutual 
 help, called Aro or Owe. This was composed of four 
 great officers, Ashipa, Obawunju, Oluri and Ekesin, 
 and that these four were helped by a kind of Council 
 of twelve, composed of six Iwarefa and six Egbe 
 Iwarefa. It was a semi-religious society, and Ashipa, 
 when the rains failed, about April, was asked to offer a 
 sacrifice to Oke. They made a little mound of earth, 
 and planted bananas round it. They then killed a cock, 
 and took four kola nuts and placed them on the mound. 
 They next went home, and cooked some yams, and 
 pounded them into a kind of pudding. This they 
 carried to the mound, and taking the cock whose blood 
 had all soaked into the earth, they cooked it and ate it 
 with the yams. They also poured rum or gin or palm 
 wine on the mound. Then, as they danced and prayed, 
 the rain came. At the time of the new yams they sacri- 
 ficed to Oko, who was their Orisha of harvest. And 
 at the end of the year, when all their crops were stored, 
 they assembled in Ashipa's house, and he sacrificed to 
 the Orisha of wealth, Shaluga or Ajeshaluga. I visited 
 the Ashipa, and he confirmed this. I then asked him if 
 these three were the only Orishas the farmers wor- 
 
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144 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 shipped, and he said " Yes." I mentioned that I had 
 been informed that Yemoja had thirteen children. 
 "Yes." I continued, "I can account for seven — 
 Olokun and Olosa, the Orishas of the fishermen ; Ogun 
 and Oshowsi, the Orishas of the hunters ; Oke, Oko x 
 and Shaluga, the farmer's Orishas ; could he tell me any- 
 thing about the others?" "Yes, Shango, Oshun, Obaand 
 Oya were marriage Orishas, and Shankpana was the 
 Orisha of sickness, and Dada the Orisha of babies and 
 things created." He was kind enough to refer to me to 
 one Odedaino, who, he said, could tell me all about 
 marriage. 
 
 Just as the farm Orishas, Oke and Oko, have become 
 associated with the marriage Orishas Shango and 
 Oshun, so the marriage Orisha Oya, one of the wives 
 of Shango, cannot well be separated from the farmers' 
 Orisha of wealth and colour, Ajeshaluga. In fact, the 
 literal meaning of the word Ya is to pluck Indian corn. 
 These Orishas will finally fall into their places, in 
 accprdance with the seasons they appear to influence, 
 ^jje beginning of the rain, or Ashero ojo season, is 
 the old marriage season, thus Shango, the great 
 marriage Orisha/ and Oke, the rain Orisha, clearly 
 lead the way. Then we have the marriage Orisha, 
 Oshun, and the harvest Orisha Oko ruling the follow- 
 ing season of two months called Aga, leaving us with 
 Oya and Ajeshaluga as the gatherer and wealth maker 
 ruling the season of harvest of dry corn, and of all 
 fruit. 
 
 1 A minor Orisha is called Agbarigbo, who is said to be a guardian at 
 the gate or entrance on the way to the farm. 
 
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xiv OKE, OKO, AJESHALUGA, AND FARMING 145 
 
 I mention this now, as I wish to be free to describe 
 the Orishas separately and independently of the 
 seasons under the heading of farmer or marriage. 
 
 Ajeshaluga 
 
 Ajeshaluga, or Shaluga, is a very interesting Orisha, 
 and it is easy to see why he is the farmers' deity, for 
 they were possibly the first to accumulate wealth. 
 The word Aje is translated " money " ; Aje means 
 trial by water, and Ajeh is a witch. (No doubt the 
 people envying the wealthy declared them to be witches, 
 and put them to trial by water. In the Congo even 
 the so-called " King," while he might own a large 
 house, had to reside in a small one, so as not to cause 
 the envy of his people. This, incidentally, may be one 
 of the reasons why the natives of Africa have never 
 advanced beyond a certain stage of civilisation.) 
 Shalu is to recur, and ga is to be tall, high : gan is to 
 despise. 
 
 The word seems to convey the idea of a stretching 
 out to add money to money. Naturally he presides 
 over money transactions, and Bishop Crowther quotes 
 a proverb "Aje Shalua, ofi eni iwaju sile she eni 
 ehin ni pele, ori ki awran ki aw tan : Aje often 
 passes by the first caravan, as it comes to the market, 
 and loads the last with blessings " (i.e. the race is not 
 always to the swift). 
 
 The prevailing colour in the market where wealth is 
 acquired is indigo blue, and in this way perhaps Aje 
 Shaluga has been and is the patron of colour. The 
 
 L 
 
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146 NIGERIAN STUDIES ch. xiv 
 
 large cowry is his emblem. The Yoruba for cowry is 
 Owo, which also means money, wealth, trade, craft. 
 Weight is evidently also connected with wealth, as a 
 great number of cowries weigh a good deal, in fact the 
 word used for weight, heaviness, importance is Wuwo, 
 the act of increasing cowries. 
 
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CHAPTER XV 
 
 ODUS OF IFA 
 
 The If a Priests and Odus 
 
 Just as it is necessary to know something of the 
 seasons before understanding the place the farm 
 Orishas take in the philosophy of the Yoruba, so 
 before touching on marriage we must pause and 
 consider the priests of I fa, and their system of divin- 
 ation. 
 
 The sixteen snails of Yemuhu (or Odudua), Oja 
 told me, became the head of Eleda, and apparently 
 in the worship of I fa sixteen (plus one) palm kernels, 
 or Odus, take their place. The Yoruba word for 
 a snail is Igbin, and the verb Gbin is to breathe with 
 difficulty, so that Igbin means literally that which 
 breathes with difficulty. Igba, you will remember, 
 is the calabash cut in two representing heaven and 
 earth, within which Obatala and Odudua were 
 enclosed. I quote later on a native legend from 
 Historical Notes of the Yoruba People by Mr. George, 
 where the breaking of Igba causes famine. Igba 
 also means the number 200, and is said to be the 
 calabash in which the 201 Odus of Ifa are kept. 
 
 147 l 2 
 
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148 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 Awnomila is the Bini for Orunmila, another name 
 for I fa, and amongst those people it is the name 
 of a small basin wrapped in cloth containing the 
 Iviawnomila, or sixteen sacred palm nuts of I fa. 
 
 Bishop Johnson says: "He (Ifa) is represented 
 chiefly by sixteen palm nuts, each having from 
 four to ten, or more, eyelets on them. Behind 
 each one of these representative nuts are sixteen 
 subordinate divinities. Each one of the whole lot 
 is termed an Odu, which means a chief, a head. This 
 makes the number of Odus altogether 256. Besides 
 these there are sixteen other Odus connected with 
 each of the 256, and this makes the whole number 
 of Odus 4,096. Some increase this large number 
 still by a further addition of sixteen to each of the 
 last number of Odus, but the sixteen principal ones 
 are those more frequently in requisition. 
 
 " There is a series of traditional stories, each of 
 which is called a road and is connected with a parti- 
 cular Odu. Each Odu is supposed to have 1,680 of 
 these stories connected with it." 
 
 Bishop Phillips has collected about 105 of these 
 and given them to us in his little Yoruba book called 
 Ifa. 
 
 Ellis (pages 59-60 the Yoruba-speaking Peoples) says : 
 " For the consultation of Ifa a whitened board is 
 employed, exactly similar to those used by children 
 in Moslem Schools in lieu of slates, about two feet 
 long and eight or nine inches broad, on which are 
 marked sixteen figures. These figures are called 
 ' mothers.' The sixteen palm nuts are held loosely 
 
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XV 
 
 ODUS OF IFA 149 
 
 in the right hand, and thrown through the half closed 
 fingers into the left hand. If one nut remains in 
 the right hand, two marks are made, thus — u, and 
 if two remain one mark — 1. This process is repeated 
 eight times, and the marks are made in succession 
 in two columns of four each. In this way are formed 
 the sixteen mothers, one of which is declared by the 
 Babalawo to represent the enquirer ; 1 and from the 
 order in which the others are produced he deduces 
 certain results." 
 
 Ellis then gives the sixteen " mothers." 
 I obtained the order of the Odus from Oliyitan, an 
 I fa priest, and to make sure that the order was correct 
 so far as he was concerned, I asked him to give me 
 the order again about three months afterwards. As it 
 was exactly the same I have adopted this as correct. 
 
 It may therefore be of interest to give Bishop 
 Johnson's, Bishop Phillips', Colonel Ellis' and my list 
 side by side to see how far they agree. 
 
 Ellis'. 
 
 Johnson's. 
 
 Phillips'. 
 
 The Writers. 
 
 
 Ogbe 
 
 Ogbe 
 
 Ogbe 
 
 Yekuru 
 
 Oyekun 
 
 Oyeku 
 
 Oyeku 
 
 
 Iwori 
 
 Iwori 
 
 Iwori 
 
 Di 
 
 Edi 
 
 Odi 
 
 Odi 
 
 Loshu 
 
 Urosi 
 
 Iroshu 
 
 Iroshun 
 
 . • • 
 
 Owaran 
 
 Owourin 
 
 Owourin 
 
 . . • 
 
 Bara 
 
 Obara 
 
 Obara 
 
 ■ ■ • 
 
 Okaran 
 
 Okauran 
 
 Okouron 
 
 Kuda 
 
 Ogunda 
 
 Oguda 
 
 Oguda 
 
 1 There are 16 plus 1 nuts, and as far as my information goes the 17th 
 the enquirer. 
 
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i5o 
 
 
 
 NIGERIA! 
 
 si STUDIES 
 
 CHAP 
 
 Ellis'. 
 
 Johnson's. 
 
 Phillip's. 
 
 The Writer's. 
 
 Sa 
 
 Osa 
 
 Osa 
 
 Osa 
 
 Ka 
 
 Eka 
 
 Ika 
 
 Ika 
 
 Durapin 
 
 Oturupon 
 
 Oturupon 
 
 Oturupon 
 
 Ture 
 
 Eture 
 
 Otura 
 
 Otura 
 
 Leti 
 
 Erete 
 
 Irete 
 
 Irete 
 
 Shi 
 
 Ose 
 
 Oshe 
 
 Oshe 
 
 Fu 
 
 Ofu 
 
 Ofu 
 
 Ofu 
 
 Ellis mentions also the following Akala, Abila, 
 Orun, Ode, Buru. Bishop Phillips, in addition to the 
 above, gives — Ate, Tutu, Oka, Adoka, Egutan Oriko, 
 Egu, Sete, Dawo, Osutele, and Itegu. 
 
 On page 215 of At the Back of the Black Mans 
 Mind I give as one of the chalk marks renewed 
 on the first day of the week in front of the sacred 
 groves, the following : 
 
 I will now give you the reading of 
 this figure. 
 
 I fa is known by the name Owa, 
 the being whose advent filled men 
 with joy. He is also Orunmila, or 
 Heaven and the wise Reconciler. 
 In this figure the sun is called 
 Baba ye Omo, another name for I fa, 
 meaning " Father." 
 This is I fa in his character as the heavenly revealer, 
 the Sun, but he is also the propagator, and this is 
 where secrecy and darkness come in, so there is a line 
 drawn dividing the light side of his character from 
 that which is dark and secret. As I have pointed out, 
 
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XV 
 
 ODUS OF IFA 
 
 151 
 
 he is here represented by Eshu, which is the next 
 figure, i.e. that of the new moon ; and this is called 
 Odu or Edu, that which is black, or, as they say, the 
 " one that troubles have made black." I have already 
 pointed out that Odu = Oshu, the moon ; Edu thus is 
 another form of Eshu, the devil, or I fa, as procreator. 
 Odu or Eshu is in the place of the Bashorun, as 
 President of the Council, and as he is helped by three 
 officers so Odu is helped by the three symbols repre- 
 senting the three stars. Their names are given as — 
 
 Ogbe Meji, the one that succours. 
 Oyeku ,, the one that heralds. 
 Iwori „ the one that sets. 
 
 Representing the treasurer, the messenger, and the 
 arbitrator. 
 
 As we have noted, there is always a questioner who 
 asks the Diviners something. In this case it is the 
 17th Odu, or the one that stands aside, and its name 
 is Odin or Edi. The verb Di = Da to make or create. 
 Thus we can conclude that the questioner asks, "What 
 about Creation ? " Taking the order as given to me 
 by the Babalawo the answer is : 
 
 Iroshun 
 Owourin 
 Obara 
 
 Okoron 
 Ognda 
 
 Osa 
 
 Ika 
 Oturupon 
 
 water 
 
 filtration 
 
 that which drizzles 
 
 that which bears the oil \ 
 
 seed Egusi J-earth 
 
 the dry bed of a river / 
 that which pounds and -\ , . 
 
 , Imarriage 
 and jrain 
 
 creates 
 that which dries 
 evaporates 
 
 he who reaps, harvest 
 he who gathers 
 
 ) f 
 
 j-lst harvest ■! 
 
 in making of 
 man " Con- 
 ception " 
 
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152 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 Otura 
 Irete 
 
 ■translated to me as ease, 
 happiness, hope, when 
 there is no anxiety - 
 about food, a time of 
 fruitfulness 
 
 'in the making of man, 
 the time when the 
 woman shows signs 
 of pregnancy and 
 she is happy and 
 hopeful 
 
 (to appear in the "| 
 wrong month J. pain, suffer- 
 without being I ing, travail 
 expected 
 
 Taking these Odus in the order thus given to me, 
 and remembering the order of the seasons, there can 
 be no doubt that they tell us of the order of propaga- 
 tion ; neither can one doubt from the literal translations 
 given that the categories and their order which I 
 discovered to be at the back of the Black man's mind 
 in the Congo are also at the back of the mind of the 
 Yoruba Babalawo. But this will be more plainly seen 
 when I have finished describing the parts that the 
 offspring of Yemoja fill in the " Ogboni " of the 
 Orishas. 
 
 According to Bishop Johnson in his " Yoruba 
 Heathenism," there are three grades of Babalawo (see 
 page 251 At the Back of the Black Mans Mind), 
 but I fa's Ogboni is composed of the following priests : 
 
 Babalawo, Olowo, Odofin, Asawo. 
 
 Ajighona and assistant ) , „• , .,. 
 
 A J ° } who oner human sacrifice. 
 
 Awaro ,, ,, ) 
 
 Aro 
 
 Asarepawo,, ,, 
 
 Apetebi or Ayawo and assistant. 
 
 N.B. Bishop Johnson, in Yoruba Heathenism, tells us the priestess 
 called Apetebi, Esu or Ayawo, who may in reality be the wife of a priest 
 or of anyone for whom a sacrifice is to be offered, is regarded as the wife 
 of Orunmila or Ifa. 
 
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xv ODUS OF IFA 153 
 
 I have not discovered the name of the sixth and his 
 assistant. 
 
 The place these priests take in marriage and birth 
 ceremonies will shortly be shown under the chapter 
 headed " Marriage." We have had a " flood " story, 
 and noted the part played by I fa in making the world 
 fit again for human habitation. In the following 
 extracts from Mr. George's story of the breaking of 
 Igba at Ife, Ifa as Orunmila plays a notable part in 
 the fall of man, his punishment by famine, and his 
 salvation. 
 
 As Mr. George says, all I fa's sayings generally 
 open with some sort of aphoristic verse which in- 
 variably explains the whole object of the piece. Thus, 
 the first verse tells how all the world met in the 
 King's courtyard to discuss the cause of the breaking 
 of the world-renowned Igba, or calabash, of Ife. 
 
 1 . They called Awlawta to come and put it together 
 again, but he could not. 
 
 2. Beni ado from Ife 
 
 3. Owo from Etu 
 
 4. Ogun also is sent for ; which means that war was 
 declared over this breakage. 
 
 But none of them could put the calabash together 
 again. 
 
 People farmed and waited for the rain, but none 
 came. Then hunger came, and man and beast mourned 
 for their dead. 
 
 5. The Obalufon from Iyinde. 
 
 6. Laberinjo from I do. 
 
 7. Jigure from Otun Moba. 
 
 8. Esegba, an Egba. 
 
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 V were called. 
 
154 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 9. Asadu from Ijesa. 
 
 10. Akoda from Ife. 
 
 11. Aseda Araba (the law-giving cotton tree), their 
 father. 
 
 All these could not put the calabash together again. 
 Then the pigeon weakens in the Eselu bush. 
 The snail does the like in the bamboo, etc. 
 They could not put the calabash together again. 
 They call 
 
 12. Olumo from Imori. 
 
 13. OgunofAlara. 
 
 14. Ogbon of Ijero. 
 
 15. Odudugbundu of Eshemaiva, the Awbawle 
 bogun Baba wow Ketu Er, the father devil who lived 
 in Ketu. 
 
 But all these could do nothing. 
 
 To continue, in verse 3 the people call in 
 
 1. Akonilogbon, and 
 
 2. Afonahanni, and ask their assistance. 
 They advised them to call in 
 
 3. Ototo Enia, the truthful one. They asked him 
 to call Olofin. He refused. But the people re- 
 minded him " that from the beginning at the creation 
 of the world this duty of trumpeter to the man from 
 heaven was specially laid on him. Then he blew his 
 trumpet, and the elephant went quickly to the Eselu 
 bush, the wild ox to Elugu apako, the bird Kekeke 
 flies to the ale plant, the rat runs to its hole, the beans 
 to the brook, the dog to the land of meditation, the 
 sheep to the country of stupidity, all beasts go to 
 beastland, beings go to the land of beings." In fact, 
 as when Oro is sounded all non-members of the 
 Society fly to their homes. 
 
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xv ODUS OF IFA 155 
 
 1. And Ajalaiye, he who strives with earthly affairs, 
 
 2. And Ajalorun, he who strives with heavenly 
 affairs. 
 
 3. Ajirilogbon, he who strives with matters con- 
 
 cerning sight and wisdom. 
 
 The people confess their filth, and pray that he 
 should patch the broken calabash, and Ajirilogbon 
 tells them to go and find the leaf of a tree called 
 Ewe-Alashuwalu (which is said to be capable of re- 
 modelling a man's evil character). They cannot find 
 it. He then takes it out of the bag of Egede (the bag 
 of deep mystery), and mends the broken Igba of Ife, 
 and rain falls, and so heals all the people, and stops 
 the calamity from causing further harm. 
 
 And in this way we find that I fa and his priests are 
 not only concerned with marriage, but also with the 
 rains and the sin that prevents them falling in due 
 season. 
 
 This story of the breaking of the calabash and the 
 calling of all these worthies to patch it reminds one 
 of the story of Humpty Dumpty, and how all the 
 king's courtiers and all the king's men could not put 
 Humpty Dumpty together again. 
 
 With this short account of I fa, his priests and their 
 Odus, we will close this note and proceed to describe 
 the marriage Orishas. 
 
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CHAPTER XVI 
 
 SHAN GO OYA OBA — OSHUN 
 
 Marriage 
 
 In African Life and Customs (page 22) that remark- 
 able African author, Dr. E. W. Blyden, speaking 
 of Jamaica, says : " Now it is into this region of the 
 globe so hostile to the most vigorous European life 
 that Anglo-Saxon incuriousness has introduced the 
 marriage laws of Europe, with the result that during 
 the last three hundred years very few Europeans, if 
 any, born in those islands have achieved anything like 
 an international reputation. And why ? Their mothers 
 have not observed the regulation period of rest and 
 reserve which African mothers enjoy. They were 
 tired when the children were born, and the children 
 have suffered the same inability. There have been 
 exceptional cases of noted men born in the West Indies 
 sufficiently distinguished to be honoured by their 
 sovereign with the Companionship of the Bath and 
 with Knighthood, but these were men of mixed blood, 
 who were born practically under polygamic conditions, 
 whose mothers enjoyed the necessary period of 
 
 rest." 
 
 156 
 
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ch. xvi SHANGO— OYA— OBA— OSHUN 157 
 
 There is possibly a good deal of truth in Dr. 
 Blyden's argument, but the question of mixed blood, 
 and of passion, must not be ignored as possible factors 
 in these cases. Trying to look at this from a Black 
 man's point of view.^cannot forget the fact that not 
 only among the Bavili (now in Congo Francais), but 
 also in the kingdom of Benin, and without doubt 
 among the Yoruba, it is and was the custom for the 
 daughters of the king to cohabit with such men as 
 they chose without going through any marriage 
 ceremon^V'Tt was from these daughters of kings that 
 the people expected an heir to the throne, and they 
 naturally wanted the best product possible. Un- 
 restricted love thenwas the method by which this 
 result was obtained/ In nearly all the temples the 
 Orisha to which it is dedicated is figured as a king, 
 and he is surrounded by the principal officers of his 
 court. What more natural than that he also should 
 have daughters to propagate his divine race ? 
 
 In Bosman's description of the Slave Coast, letter 
 XIX, he writes : — "The women who are promoted to 
 the degree of priestesses, though some of them perhaps 
 were but slaves before, are yet as much respected as 
 the priests, or rather more, insomuch that they pride 
 themselves with the name of God's children ; and as all 
 other women are obliged to a slavish service to their 
 husbands, these on the contrary exert an absolute sway 
 over them and their effects, living with them perfectly 
 according to their arbitrary will and pleasure ; besides 
 which, their husbands are obliged to show them so 
 much respect, as they received from their wives before 
 
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158 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 their becoming priestesses, which is to speak to and 
 serve them upon 'their knees." I do not think that 
 Bosman is quite correct when he says that these girls 
 were perhaps slaves. 
 
 Coming a little nearer home, Ellis in his Yoruba- 
 speaking People (page 78), writes : — " There is an 
 annual festival to Orisha " Oko," held when the 
 yam crop is ripe and all then partake of new yams. 
 At this festival general licence prevails, the priestesses 
 give themselves indiscriminately to all the male 
 worshippers of the god, and theoretically every man 
 has a right to sexual intercourse with every woman 
 he may meet abroad." I do not think that Ellis is 
 quite right in saying that the priestesses give them- 
 selves indiscriminately to all the male worshippers, 
 at any rate as far as my enquiries go. "They, as 
 bride daughters of the Orisha, cohabit only with 
 those whom they may love of the male worship- 
 pers." It is a fact, however, that on these feast 
 days, in certain large towns, indiscriminate licence 
 prevails among the rest of the people. 
 
 There are two Orishas who have these bride 
 daughters acting as priestesses, Oke and Oko. 1 
 
 1 On Orisa Oko Keribo says, in his pamphlet published August 22nd, 
 1906, pp. 26 and 27 : — 
 
 " His name was ' Kubia.' He was a king and a tyrant. He was 
 poisoned by one of his subjects and was leprous. His people thereafter 
 built him a hut in the farm \oko\ and as he was reluctant to leave home, 
 kingly reverence was promised him in this retreat. This promise was 
 fulfilled, so that after his death men repair thither to worship him. The 
 white and red marks used by its devotees indicate the chalk and camwood 
 he is in the habit of using to conceal the leprous spots in their initial 
 stage." 
 
 In a word, according to this tradition, " Orisha Oko " was a leprous king. 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OBA— OSHUN 159 
 
 Oke and Oko as farm Orishas are worshipped in 
 the outer districts without any of these phallic 
 ceremonies. But at the yearly festival at Ibadan 
 and Abeokuta these priest daughters exist. It is 
 still considered a great honour to the family to get 
 one of their daughters elected to the office, which 
 is hereditary in certain families ; and most of the 
 members of the family, even the husband, feel 
 honoured by contributing to the fund to cover the 
 expense incurred. 
 
 The rites connected with Oke and Oko are 
 evidently intended, as Dr. Frazer has pointed out 
 in his book, " Adonis, Attis, Osiris," to ensure the 
 fruitfulness of the ground and the increase of 
 man and beast on the principle of homoeopathic 
 magic. 
 
 In an interesting discussion in the African Mail 
 on the marriage question in Africa, a correspondent, 
 signing himself " A Negro Lover of Consistency," 
 poured out the vials of his wrath on the head of 
 the departed Col. Ellis, and spoke of the passage 
 quoted above and such stories about the African as 
 "spurious bosh." I am not quite prepared to credit 
 
 On the same god F. S., in the Nigerian Chronicle of the 26th of March, 
 says : — 
 
 " Orisha Oko's name was ' Kubiya.' His first occupation was to catch 
 wild guinea fowls and sell them. He afterwards became a physician, and 
 was such an extraordinary man that his powers were considered super- 
 natural. He resided in a village where all men came to him, for he was 
 a very skilful medical man and diviner. He was called Orisa-Oko 
 [' Village god '] because he lived in a village." 
 
 Here Orisha Oko was originally a trapper and guinea fowl seller and 
 ultimately a physician. 
 
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160 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 this " Lover of Consistency " with a proper motive 
 in thus attacking a man no longer able to defend 
 himself, whom he believed to be a kind of enemy 
 of his race, but I can pity him as the product of 
 a spurious form of Christianity which thinks that 
 by hiding the past, his race is, in some magical 
 way, benefited. He is like that son full of false 
 pride who is ready to inherit the wealth and position 
 his father has left him, but is ashamed of his humble 
 origin. Great teachers not only have great ideals 
 to which they lead the minds of their disciples, but 
 they also know all about the past, and so are able 
 to warn them of the pitfalls they must try to shun. 
 The best way to learn how to appreciate the 
 beauties of a purely spiritual religion is by trying 
 to grasp all the beauties in a natural one. The 
 spiritual simply uplifts and fulfils the natural. 
 
 When these two great festivals were first instituted, 
 it must be remembered, wars between village and 
 village, town and town, were the rule, but upon 
 these days all united, and, under the protection of 
 these Orishas, met on more or less an equal footing. 
 It reminds one of the description given by an old 
 Arabist writer of the Hajj : — " It (the festival) 
 formed the rendezvous of ancient Arabian life. 
 Here came under the protection of God the tribes 
 and clans which at other times lived apart, and 
 only knew peace and security within their own 
 frontiers. Here affairs between states or tribes 
 were transacted and adjusted. Of course lively 
 proceedings and dealings went on between indi- 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OB A— OSHUN 161 
 
 viduals, for this was the single opportunity when 
 men could move freely in and out among one 
 another without fear. Here slaves are bought or 
 redeemed, acquaintances made and courtships 
 arranged between men and women of different 
 tribes, which could otherwise never be carried on." 
 The difficulty of obtaining wives in small villages 
 without incest is one of the possible causes of the 
 founding of these farm festivals. We must all 
 remember the difficulty of the sons of Benjamin. 
 'Then the elders of the congregation said, "How 
 shall we do for wives for them that remain, 
 seeing that the women are destroyed out of 
 Benjamin ? " 
 
 "'And they said, "There must be an inheritance 
 for them that be escaped of Bejamin, that a tribe 
 be not destroyed out of Israel." 
 
 " ' Howbeit we may not give them wives of our 
 daughters : for the children of Israel have sworn, 
 saying, " Cursed be he who giveth a wife to 
 Benjamin." 
 
 "'Then they said, "Behold there is a feast of the 
 Lord in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the 
 north side of Bethel, on the east side of the high 
 way that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and 
 on the south of Lebonah." 
 
 " ' Therefore they commanded the children of 
 Benjamin, saying " Go and lie in wait in the vine- 
 yards ; and see, and behold, if the daughters of 
 Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come 
 out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his 
 
 M 
 
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1 6a NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land 
 of Benjamin." 
 
 " ' And the children of Benjamin did so. In those 
 days there was no king in Israel : every man did 
 that which was right in his own eyes.' 
 
 However pure and good the intention of the 
 founders of these feasts may have been at the time 
 of their inauguration, it is certain that in course of 
 ages the beauty of the original idea was lost and 
 they possibly became the orgiastic festivals in this 
 part of Africa that we know they became in Greece 
 and Italy in days gone by. And now that peace 
 reigns here and roads and railways are opening 
 the country, native public opinion is fast siding 
 against all that is evil in these customs, and they are 
 once again assuming their true aspect in the form 
 of " prayers for rain in due season," harvest thanks- 
 givings, and agricultural shows. 
 
 The Orisha Oke may well be called the titular 
 goddess of Ibadan. When the chiefs of that place 
 were asked what animal or sign they would like 
 as an emblem to figure on the medals to be given 
 away at their agricultural show, they unanimously 
 selected Oke. They had the photograph of a fine 
 looking woman taken, her breasts exposed, and 
 her arms raised towards heaven, as if to welcome 
 her children. A picture of fruitfulness. She is the 
 hill Orisha, connected with fire. Her festival used 
 to be held when the land was at its driest and 
 rain was most required to quench its thirst. She 
 would appear to a man in a dream and tell him 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OB A— OSHUN 163 
 
 to go to the Bale and ask him to fix a day for the 
 feast. Perhaps the Bale would take no notice, 
 and then she would visit another man in a dream 
 and ask him to go. If the Bale hesitated she 
 threatened to send fire down from heaven to burn 
 his house and cause him a great loss. She sometimes 
 demanded a man as a sacrifice, sometimes 200 pigeons, 
 sometimes a bullock or a sheep. Notice would be 
 sent round to all the villages and the day stated. 
 Everyone had to be in the town the day before 
 the date fixed. Anyone coming into the town 
 on the day of the festival would be robbed of all 
 he might be bringing with him. No trade was done, 
 and the Bale threw money away among the crowds 
 of people, who, in bands of males and bands of 
 females of different ranks and ages, paraded the town, 
 throwing open their cloths as they met as if to 
 invite copulation. Wives told their husbands that 
 they were going to play and they allowed them to go, 
 and the wives picked out the men they fancied and 
 cohabited with them. Bands of women passing down 
 the streets sang : — 
 
 Septeni nascimur, utinam et ipsa septem pariam : 
 
 I do niger est, uterus penitus ruber, 
 
 Uterus duobus milibus concharum constat, sed 
 
 penis quindecim tantum conchis. 
 Eum cui penis est penem condere oportet, quod 
 
 uterum medio in corpore habeo. 
 Foris est mater olearii 
 Foris est pater olearii 
 Filius natu maximus olearii 
 
 M 2 
 
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164 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 Sub porticu dormit. 
 
 Tollo pannum et insero : 
 
 " Kerekere " sonit, etpenem quaerere os uteri sentio. 
 
 At the foot of the two hills from which Olokemeji 
 takes its name there is an altar to Oke, and there 
 is a cavern in the rocks at Abeokuta in which Oke 
 is said to be worshipped. The Egba say that 
 if they were defeated in war they could retire into 
 this cave and it would hermetically seal itself up 
 until the danger were passed. 
 
 The Orisha Oko, or harvest god, whose emblem is 
 an iron rod and who has the title of "eni duru," or the 
 erect person, is more in evidence at Abeokuta than 
 elsewhere. His festival is held about August. His 
 bride daughters, like the daughters of kings, may 
 cohabit with whom they please. These Iyawo Orisha 
 have a red and white mark on their foreheads. The 
 office is hereditary, but when the mother dies I fa is 
 consulted as to which of her daughters is to take her 
 place. The family collects from ^40 to ^50 to cover 
 the expenses of the initiation ceremony. They make 
 a shed in the bush and keep the girl there for three 
 months. She is given what she fancies, and feasting 
 goes on all the time. She is washed every day, and 
 the marks are renewed by a male and a female 
 attendant, called respectively " Baba losha and Iya 
 losha." After three months they wash her and paint 
 her head, arms and feet red and white. The people 
 then sing and dance around her and prostrate them- 
 selves before her for seven days. She is now called 
 Olu Orisha Oko. 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OBA— OSHUN 165 
 
 From the fact that these farm Orishas only become 
 phallic in the great centres of population, I am 
 i^H inclined to think that this phallic worship is a develop- 
 ment that only came about when people began to live 
 in large towns, where great feasts were held. 
 
 Agbolo had referred me to one Odedaino as an 
 expert on the marriage question, so to him I went for 
 enlightenment on this burning topic. He said they 
 knew a girl was ready for marriage, as then she first 
 had her menses (aseh). Girls were given in marriage 
 sometimes as babies. Two families wished to be 
 drawn together, and they agreed that their children 
 should intermarry. A boy or a man took a fancy to a 
 child and asked the parents through his parents for 
 their child in marriage. The first thing the father of 
 the girl did was to consult Ifa. Ifa's priest (Babalawo) 
 having been called in, he proceeded to divine as 
 explained in the chapter on Ifa. Then if " Eji ogbe " 
 turns up, the engagement may take place ; but if Osa 
 or Ofu turn up, the Orisha not being in its favour, 
 the application is not accepted. If the Orisha is pro- 
 pitious, the boy presents the parents with nine yams 
 and 100 heads of corn, 1 and repeats this offering 
 yearly. He also makes a sacrifice to Ifa. At the 
 proper time the boy presents himself before the 
 parents of the girl and says, " Now she is ready, give 
 her to me." 
 
 The parents again consult Ifa, who may put off the 
 marriage for a year. 
 
 In the olden days marriages took place at the 
 
 1 This present appears to vary in different districts. 
 
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166 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 beginning of the rains, but as there was very little 
 food in the house at that season the time was changed 
 to the time of the harvest of the new yams, which was 
 a time of great rejoicing (Orisha Oko), and the second 
 planting season. When the parents have given their 
 consent, and the young man has come to claim his 
 bride, he must sacrifice to his Orisha : and on the 
 day of his marriage he must sacrifice to his bride's 
 Orisha. The parents give their daughter a white 
 handkerchief and take her to the bridegroom's house. 
 She is dressed in costly clothes, beautiful beads around 
 her neck and waist, silver chains around her neck, and 
 rings on her fingers. As she is supposed to be a 
 maiden, plenty of rum and kola is presented. On the 
 third day the wife goes back to her parents and takes 
 the white handkerchief with her. If it has blood on it 
 all is well, but, if not, she is asked to say who seduced 
 her. The seducer has then to give damages to the 
 would-be husband, who may refuse to acknowledge 
 her as his wife. The chiefs on the husband's side 
 settle the amount of damages. If, on the other hand, 
 all is well, then they worship the Orisha called Ori 
 (head) and the girl becomes the young man's wife. 
 And if after a time she does not conceive, they give 
 her medicine called " Idadure," and they ask the girl's 
 Orisha to help them, and if this fails they then say it 
 is the fault of the man, and they give him another girl 
 so as to prove it. And if the latter does not conceive 
 then they are sure that it is the man's fault. They 
 next ask him to take medicine, and, after a certain 
 time, if neither of the girls conceive, they take them 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OB A— OSHUN 167 
 
 away, and the man who eventually marries the girl 
 pays back the dowry to the sterile would-be husband. 
 From the time of marriage to the time of birth there 
 are no Orisha ceremonies, but when the child is born 
 they ask the priest to what Orisha they owe this good 
 fortune, and when he tells them they sacrifice to it. 
 Three days after the birth they call in the priest and 
 ask him to name the child's " Ese entele " or foot- 
 prints. The Babalawo consults I fa, who, as the priest 
 mentions an Orisha, shakes his head until that which 
 is to become the guardian spirit of the child is men- 
 tioned. The child, as soon as it is able, fetches water 
 for this Orisha and sacrifices to it on all great occasions 
 during its life. If Obatala is the Orisha then the 
 child must wear white and must not drink palm wine 
 nor eat dog. The grand -parents as well as the parents 
 on the safe delivery of their child each thank their 
 separate Orishas. The priest gives the mother 
 medicine for the preservation of the child. If it be 
 a girl, a name is given to it on the seventh day, if a 
 boy, on the ninth. 
 
 Except that it is never done in the dry season, and 
 generally before the tenth year, there is no special time 
 for circumcision of the boy, or the excision of the 
 girl's clitoris, but the ceremony is performed when the 
 child is in good health, and it is marked with its tribal 
 marks on the same day. 
 
 Bosman in his description of the Kingdom of Benin, 
 which is an offspring of the Yoruba, says : " Eight or 
 fourteen days after the birth of their children, both 
 male and females are circumcised, the former are 
 
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1 68 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 thereby bereft of their prepuce and the latter of their 
 clitoris, besides which they make small incisions all 
 over the bodies of the infants, in a sort of regular 
 manner expressing some figures thereby." 
 / Bala Mimi, who accompanied Odedaino when this 
 information was given to me, told me that the only 
 marriage Orishas born of Yemoja were Shango and 
 his wives Oya, Oba and Oshun, while Dada, Shango's 
 brother^otherwise called Bayoni, was rather an Orisha 
 of birth/) 
 
 (Ellis gives us a very good description of the Orisha 
 Shango ; he says : "He dwells in the clouds in an 
 immense brazen palace, where he maintains a large 
 retinue and a great number of horses." The Oni- 
 Shango or priests of Shango in their chants always 
 speak of Shango as hurling stones, and whenever a 
 house is struck by lightning they rush in a body to 
 pillage it and to find the stone, which, as they take it 
 with them secretly, they always succeed in doing. A 
 chant of the Oni-Shango very commonly heard is : — 
 " Oh, Shango, thou art the master. Thou takest in thy 
 hand thy fiery stones, to punish the guilty and satisfy 
 thy anger." Everything that they strike is destroyed. 
 Their fire eats up the forest, the trees are broken 
 down, and all living creatures are slain, and the lay 
 worshippers of Shango flock into the streets during a 
 thunderstorm crying : — " Shango, Shango, great King. 
 Shango is the Lord and Master. In the storms he 
 hurls his fiery stones against his enemies, and their 
 track gleams in the midst of' the darkness." "May 
 Shango's stone strike you," is a very common form of 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OB A— OSHUN 169 
 
 imprecation. He usually goes armed with a club 
 called Oshe, made of the wood of the ayan tree, which 
 is so hard that a proverb says : — " The ayan tree 
 resists the axe." 
 
 His male followers are called Odushushango and 
 the female Esin nla (the great horse). 
 
 I happened to meet an Odushushango, named 
 Idowu, who gave me the following information. 
 Jakuta is the name of Shango's day. Shango is 
 the Alafin of Oyo's great Orisha and is sometimes 
 called Oba Kuso, the king of Kuso, a hill near Oyo 
 which is sacred to him. 
 
 Another name is Alada Ogun, the one who splits 
 the mortar that Ogun is said to wear on his head. 
 Ako aja abinrinja lese, the ako dog that walks 
 as one about to fight. Aja jumoni koto kpanije, 
 the one who frightens one before he kills and eats 
 him. Olilu tun ilu re she, one who puts his town 
 in order. Ebi ti ka waw ponyin shoro, the one who 
 with his hands behind his back does him an injury. 
 Akuwarapa abija kaka, the one who has fits and 
 is extraordinarily strong. 
 
 His wife Oya 1 is she who runs on ahead 
 when Shango goes out to fight, the strong tornado 
 wind. 
 
 Oshun is the gathering darkness and Oba the 
 wild clouds that meet. These two stay at home 
 to keep house. 
 
 They sacrifice the cow, the sheep and the cock 
 
 1 Oya is said to be the river spirit of the river Niger, and Bishop 
 Crowther describes her as the wife of Thunder. 
 
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170 \ .NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 to Shango.]! I His sacred tree is the Ayan from 
 which his/ staff is made. His ewaws are the 
 Sese (beans), the Eligidi (pumpkin), the Esuro 
 (antelope), the Ekun (rabbit), and the Eku ago 
 or white-bellied rat which the Alafin -of Oyo is 
 seen at times to raise to his lips as if to kis»s/ 
 
 Two days after my visit to Akure, where I saw 
 the people preparing to worship Eshu while at Ipetu, 
 just after I had finished talking to the chiefs, dancers, 
 singers and drummers, followed by a crowd, came 
 prancing to my tent, in a cloud of dust, and I was 
 informed that the followers of Shango were preparing 
 to hold their feast. So in this district the feast 
 of Shango follows close after, or about the same 
 time as, that of I fa. A very tall and graceful looking 
 woman, a priestess of Shango, closely followed by 
 a man, both rattling some seeds in a long-necked 
 gourd, and three or four women attendants, commenced 
 dancing in front of my tent. They said this woman 
 represented Shango. She was dressed in a blouse 
 of a dark colour and skirt of white. Over this 
 skirt, hanging from her waist, she wore pieces of 
 cloth and velvet six inches in width, and perhaps 
 two feet in length. Her hair was dressed in a series 
 of rolls running from her forehead to the back of 
 
 1 Shango— Bishop Johnson says that he is a deity imported from the 
 Niger. Col. Ellis says he is the son of Yemoja, the daughter of Odudua 
 and Obatala. Oja called him the son of Oranyan. As pointed out by 
 Idowa, Kuso near the town of Oyo is where Shango has his sacred grove. 
 Mr. E. P. Cotton in his report on the Egba boundary says that Shango 
 was the fourth king or Alafin of the Yoruba. According to the Ibadan 
 hunter, Alara (the owner of thunder), was one of the 16 sons of 
 Oranyan. 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OB A— OSHUN 171 
 
 her head, the largest being near the crown of her 
 head. I was told that she was collecting money 
 towards the expenses of the coming feast. Generally 
 seventeen days' notice are given, so that the feast 
 of Shango in these parts, it will be noted, takes 
 place at the beginning of the tornado season. 
 During the festival the Odushushango dance, carrying 
 pots of fire on their heads, and this fire they say 
 cannot be quenched by water. The hair of these 
 men is allowed to grow long and is arranged like 
 a woman's. Although this of course gives them 
 an effeminate appearance I am not able to attach 
 any homosexual act to the custom. They certainly 
 are credited with magical powers and they are rather 
 honoured than hated. 
 
 SHANGOyP^ 
 
 Told by Mr. Pellagrin 
 
 Shango is a man like myself, and when young 
 could not be controlled by his parents, so they left 
 him to his rascality. He used to waylay people 
 on the roads and kill them, so all the Orishas (201) 
 tried to find him, each giving one man. They 
 heard he was at Egbe. They met him there. He 
 said he was tired of running away, he would see 
 what they could do. Ogun said he would catch 
 him, so he took his pincers and ran after him ; 
 then Shango sent Thunder against him, but Ogun 
 caught her in his pincers. Shango said he could 
 not allow anyone to catch him, so he left his bow 
 
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172 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 at Egbe, and ran away. So he is called " Oja ja 
 forun ti l'egbe," the man who fought greatly and 
 left his bow at Egbe. Then all the 201 repre- 
 sentatives went and told Odudua, their chief. Then 
 Odudua ordered them to go back and catch him. 
 They went, but he told them that they would not 
 see him again, and he took a chain and knocked 
 the earth, and it opened and he went below. He 
 said they would hear of him for ever. Then they 
 returned to tell Odudua, and he said as Shango 
 had left the earth he was glad. Odudua took the 
 Thunder from Ogun, and gave him a sword to kill 
 anyone who came his way. Then they met to 
 arrange who should go on earth to repair the damage 
 Shango had done, and they elected Truth. And 
 when he arrived he began to use his influence. 
 When a child died he visited the parents and told 
 them that as human beings they would all die. 
 This kind of comfort they did not care for, so they 
 sent to Odudua, and told him that Truth did not 
 agree with them, so Odudua took Truth away from 
 them. He asked them which Orisha they wanted, 
 and they said the Iro (He), who made images and 
 carved eyes, nose, ears, mouth : they said he would 
 have sense to rule over them. Odudua gave them 
 Iro to rule them. And when one falls sick and 
 goes to him he tells them to gather such and such 
 a leaf, and make medicine and take it, and the fever 
 will go away. If he hears anyone fighting he hears 
 both sides, and settles it. When they saw that 
 matters went well with them like this, the chief 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA-OBA— OSHUN 173 
 
 of them was called " Ajalorun " (See I fa) — one 
 who fights in heaven. This Ajalorun sent to Odudua 
 and asked that the name of Iro should be changed to 
 Orishala. Ajalorun and Odudua are of the same 
 mother, Ajalorun being the younger. Ajalorun 
 called Iro Orishala, alaba la she, iku pa ni pori. 
 (Orishala means the great Orisha, Alabalashe, one 
 who commands [the Balogun], Iku pa ni pori, 
 Death kills us and kills the head). Then Orishala 
 began to reign in the world, and made eyes, nose, 
 mouth, ears, head, etc., for them all. And then 
 the people began to hear Shango in heaven. 
 
 Shan go 
 
 Shango is Odudua's son and a rascal, and he ran 
 away. Then Odudua sent to Oshala and Ogun, his 
 sons, to find out the truth about Shango. And they 
 fought with him, but they could not catch him ; so 
 they told Odudua. He used to cut a leaf and chew 
 it, and then fire came out of his mouth, and people 
 ran away. Then Odudua called a meeting, and asked 
 who would catch him, and Ogun volunteered. He 
 met him at Egbe. They fought : he left his bow 
 there, and went to Kuso. Then they went to tell 
 Odudua, and he said they must catch him, and so 
 they went to Kuso, and Shango said he would not 
 see them. He threw his chain to heaven, and it 
 opened for him, and he disappeared. And there he 
 
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174 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 thundered and lightened, and everyone began to 
 worship him. 
 
 Oshun 
 
 Told by Shotundi of Abeokuta 
 
 Oshun is a woman slave of one Oshunmakide, whose 
 name before being bought was Omujo. She then 
 became Oshunmakide's second wife. The master first 
 asked her what she could do, and she answered that 
 the only thing she knew how to do was to dance, so 
 he called her Omujo. And he allowed her to dance, 
 and while doing so she displayed magical powers 
 by changing her dress in the presence of everyone 
 instantaneously. When the first wife saw this, think- 
 ing that her husband would love Omujo more than 
 her, one day as she was dancing she used some charm 
 and turned her into water. Then the husband and 
 the people, thinking that this was part of her per- 
 formance, waited, expecting her to resume her position 
 as a woman. And when this did not occur the 
 husband wept bitterly, and all the people went home. 
 Afterwards the husband married another woman, and 
 she bore him no children ; then he went to the Baba- 
 lawo and asked how this was ? And he said, " You 
 have got a woman that became water, and so the 
 new wife must worship water before she can have a 
 child ; and they must call the water Oshun. * And 
 when worshipping it she must call out ' Omujo logun 
 rora gungoke, rora gun okuta : ' O dancer warrior ! 
 
 1 Oshun is one of the principal rivers in Yorubaland. 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OB A— OSHUN 175 
 
 go gently up the hill, go gently up the rock." And 
 the wife worshipped Oshun in this way, and had 
 children. 
 
 The Ewaw of the Yoruba. 
 
 J. G. Frazer, in an article, " Howitt and Fison," in 
 "Folk Lore," Vol. XX., No. 2, page 179, referring 
 to the Australian class system says : " But if the 
 system was devised to prevent the marriage of 
 brothers with sisters, of parents with children, and 
 of a man's children with his sister's children, it seems 
 to follow that such marriages were common before 
 the system was instituted to check them ; in short, 
 it implies that exogamy was a deliberate prohibition 
 of a former unrestricted practice of incest, which 
 allowed the nearest relations to have sexual inter- 
 course with each other. This implication is confirmed, 
 as Messrs. Howitt, Spenser and Gillen have shown 
 for the tribes of central Australia, by customs which 
 can be reasonably interpreted only as a system of 
 group marriage or as survivals of a still wider prac- 
 tice of sexual communism. And as the custom of 
 exogamy combined with the classificatory system of 
 relationship is not confined to Australia, but is found 
 among many races in many parts of the world, it 
 becomes probable that a large part, if not the whole, 
 of the human race have at one time, not necessarily 
 the earliest, in their history permitted the practice of 
 incest, that is, of the closest interbreeding, and that 
 having perceived or imagined the practice to be in- 
 jurious, they deliberately forbade and took effective 
 
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176 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 measures to prevent it." According to information 
 I have received, incest is still common in the Ibibio 
 districts of Southern Nigeria, but any such practice 
 has been more or less stamped out in the Yoruba 
 country by the system of " Ewaw " evidently instituted 
 by the priests of I fa for that purpose, and now incest 
 is connected in their minds, as a system, only on the 
 occasion of the festivals of the farm Orishas already 
 mentioned. It is true that on the death of the father 
 the son is given one or more of his father's wives, but 
 generally one who has not had children, the other 
 wives being sometimes distributed among the other 
 relations. 
 
 On the third day after the child is born the Ifa 
 priest is called in to give the child its " Orisha 
 and its ewaws." The Orisha is the child's object 
 of worship, and it may not marry one of the op- 
 posite sex having the same Orisha, which thus 
 becomes its chief " ewaw." This Orisha holds good 
 as a family deity and ewaw for four generations, 
 that is to say if the Orisha has been given anew 
 to the child then it will be his son's, his grandson's, 
 and his great-grandson's. His son then takes as his 
 second ewaw his father's wife's animal ewaw. This 
 one's son takes his father's wife's third or vegetable 
 ewaw. And the latter 's son takes his father's wife's 
 fourth omen ewaw, i.e. a rat, bird, or snake. 
 
 The daughters take the father's Orisha, but, as 
 the African says, if you wish to catch a rat you 
 must go to its hole, or, in other words, in this case we 
 must begin at the beginning. 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OBA— OSHUN 177 
 
 The Yoruba divide people into six double or 
 twelve single groups. The Fisherman, male and 
 female. Fish, snakes, and birds, or omens, male 
 and female. The Hunter, male and female. 
 Animals, male and female. Farmers, male and 
 female. Plants, male and female. In all six 
 brothers and sisters, and all were of one family. 
 
 In the beginning brother married sister, or, in 
 their words, eat 1 one another. For the sake of 
 brevity we will number each of the six groups, 
 and call each brother and sister by a letter. The 
 Fisherman A, his sister b, the group 1. The Omens, 
 male c and female d, the group 2. The Hunter, 
 male e and female f, group 3. The Animals, male 
 G, female h, group 4. The Farmer, male 1, female 
 j, group 5. Plants, male k, female l, group 6. 
 
 No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5. No. 6. 
 
 AB CD EF GH IJ KL 
 
 But they soon got tired of this single diet, and the 
 male product of ab caught the female product of 
 cd ; ef of gh ; and so on. 
 
 ABD CDB EFH GHF IJL KLJ 
 
 Even then they were not satisfied, and so the 
 fisherman made war on the hunter, and the hunter 
 on the farmer, and the farmer on the fisherman, 
 and each appropriated the product of the other's 
 labour. And the result was that the fisherman 
 
 1 J e is to eat, dine ; owe ; deserve ; gain ; earn ; win. 
 
 N 
 
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178 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 eat flesh, the hunter eat vegetables and the farmer 
 eat fish. 
 
 ABDF CDBH EFHJ GHFL IJLB KLJD 
 
 Reprisals were made, and the fisherman took 
 vegetables, the farmer flesh, and the hunter fish. 
 
 ABDFJ CDBHL EFHJB GHFLD IJLBF KLJDH 
 
 This could not go on, so they called a great 
 palaver, and finally agreed that they would give 
 their daughters in marriage to one another, and 
 now the priests see that there is no confusion nor 
 disorder. While the wife shall be allowed to 
 worship her Orisha it shall not be inherited by the 
 son unless the Babalawo says it is time. By this 
 the letters b d f h j l, as Orishas, drop out, but 
 their blood remains as that of the group to which 
 it belonged, and the ewaws stand 
 
 adfj cbhl ehjb gfld ilbf kjdh 
 
 Each person's ewaws shall in future be composed of 
 one Orisha, one omen, one animal, and one plant. 
 Each shall continue in the family for four genera- 
 tions, and shall then be renewed. Thus a c e g i k 
 now drop out, and a male Orisha is needed to 
 complete the ewaws. Number one or its product 
 adfj can intermarry with Number two family, because 
 their ewaws are all different : a and c may therefore 
 enter each other's group : e and G may exchange : 1 
 and k also. 
 
 The families are now thus represented : 
 
 DFJC BHLA hjbg flde lbfk jdhi 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OB A— OSHUN 179 
 
 The next generation the letters d b h f l j. 
 Number one is now in want of fish, so he marries b 
 
 of group No. 2. 
 Number 2 wants fish, and takes d. 
 Number 3 wants an animal, so he takes f. 
 Number 4 wants an animal and takes h. 
 Number 5 wants a plant, and takes j. 
 Number 6 wants a plant, so takes l. 
 The families now stand 
 
 FJCB HLAD JBGF LDEH BFKJ DHIL. 
 
 The letters fhjlbb now drop out. 
 
 Number one is now short of an animal, so he 
 marries h. 
 
 Number 2 wants an animal, so takes h. 
 
 Number 3 needs a plant, so takes l. 
 
 Number 4 wants a plant, so takes j. 
 
 Number 5 desires fish, so takes d. 
 
 Number 6 needs fish, and takes b. 
 
 The groups now stand jcbh ladf bgfl dehj fkjd 
 hilb. 
 
 And now jlbdfh drop out. 
 
 The male Orishas are now again to the fore : the 
 groups stand 
 
 CBHL ADFJ GFLD EHJB KJDH ILBF 
 
 Now there are said to be 201 Orishas, and if for the 
 sake of argument we say that 100 of these are male, 
 you will see that there is ample scope for an enormous 
 variation. There are also many omens, animals, and 
 plants in use as marriage ewaws, as the list given 
 
 N 2 
 
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180 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 below shows. I may say at once that their practice 
 does not apparently agree with this theory. Pre- 
 sumably the groups mentioned acknowledged Olokun, 
 Olosa, Ogun, Oshowsi, Oke, and Oko as their Orishas, 
 and so group No. i is a male group, No. 2 a female, 
 No. 3 a male, No. 4 a female, No. 5 a male, and No. 6 
 a female. 
 
 Such is, more or less, the idea that guides the 
 Babalawos in their choice of Orishas and ewaws, but 
 as we know there is always a vast difference between 
 the ideal and the actual. 
 
 A native called Shoremekun, said to be an authority 
 on this subject, informed me 
 
 (1) That the Orisha, given three days after birth 
 when the father acknowledged the child as his before 
 all the world, must be one that has been in the family. 
 
 (2) That no one could marry anyone of the opposite 
 sex who might have the same Orisha. 
 
 (3) That all the daughters take the Orisha of the 
 father. 
 
 (4) a. That he may not marry his uncle or aunt's 
 " Ebi," on his father's or mother's side. 
 
 (b) He may not marry his brother's or sister's 
 " Ebi." 
 
 (c) That by Ebi he meant 
 Omo Iya "1 
 
 Omo Babaf ^ s father's and mother's children. 
 
 Omomi his own children. 
 
 Omomome his grandchildren. 
 Omolala his great-grandchildren. 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OB A— OSHUN 181 
 
 Then he said that he had taken his mother's Orisha, 
 which was Shango, and that his eldest son, grandson, 
 and great grandson would all have Shango as their 
 Orisha. 
 
 Next he went on to say that his father's name was 
 Osho, and that his wife's name was Elekude, and that 
 her Orisha was Orishako. 
 
 His grandfather's name was Nagulo, and his Orisha 
 was Orishako x : he married Shabeyi, whose Orisha 
 was Beji. His own wife's name was Moshalo, and 
 her Orisha was Beji. 
 
 He had three brothers Shashino, whose Orisha was 
 Ifa, Akikumi, whose Orisha was also Ifa, and Oje, 
 whose Orisha was Oro. And his sons were Adikunle, 
 whose Orisha was Shango ; Adinakon, a Christian 
 who had no Orisha ; Bamibopa, a Mohammedan, 
 whose Orisha used to be Obatala, and Ladile, whose 
 Orisha was Obatala. 
 
 His daughters' names were Shangoedi, Adinoju, 
 Aditutu, and Shuboola, whose Orisha was Shango. 
 
 We note from the above that all brothers do not 
 take the same Orisha. Shoremekun's father was not 
 the eldest son of his grandfather, and therefore did 
 not take the latter's Orisha. Neither was Shoremekun 
 the son of his father's first wife Elekude. Shoremekun 
 has given us the names of the chief wife of each of his 
 ancestors only. 
 
 But this study is one that can be only taken up by 
 someone who has unlimited time at his disposal, and I 
 only give the above example to show how anyone, 
 
 1 Orishako is in full Orisha Oko. 
 
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1 84 
 
 NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I FA. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Town. 
 
 Sacrifice. 
 
 Ewos or Ewaias. 
 
 Yes. 
 
 No. 
 
 Fumiwirji 
 
 Akure 
 
 Pig, Goat, Fowl, 
 bandicoot 
 
 Fish, dog. May 
 not carry nor 
 bail water 
 
 
 I 
 
 Komolapi 
 
 Ilesha. 
 
 Pig, goat, fowls, 
 bandicoot, 
 pounded yams 
 
 D °&. Pig. tet e 
 (vegetable) 
 
 i 
 
 
 Ojo 
 
 Offa 
 
 Goat, fowl, 
 bandicoot, 
 tortoise 
 
 Sheep, oyo 
 leaves, banana 
 
 i 
 
 
 Alade 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 She goat, 
 pounded yams 
 
 Cock, goat, 
 Okro, adultery 
 on the wife's 
 part 
 
 i 
 
 
 Ojuola 
 
 Oyo 
 
 Pig, goat, fowl, 
 pounded yam 
 and b e a ns 
 
 (egusi) 
 
 Rats, dry fish, 
 partri dges, 
 eggs, ducks, 
 efon (veg.), 
 palm kernels 
 
 
 I 
 
 Makidi 
 
 Abeokuta 
 
 Goat, fowl, 
 pounded yams 
 
 Dog, pig 
 
 
 I 
 
 Ashaolu 
 
 Akure 
 
 Goat, bandicoot 
 fish, snail 
 
 Igi, Isin(nofire) 
 
 
 I 
 
 Shotunde | 
 
 Abeokuta 
 
 Goat, fowl 
 
 None 
 
 ? 
 
 ? 
 
 Orisha Oya (Awya). 
 
 Ige 
 
 Makunde 
 
 Oyadeji 
 
 Offa 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Abeokuta 
 
 Fowl, pounded 
 yams, goat and 
 Ishapa soup 
 
 Fowl, goat, 
 pounded yams, 
 pito (beer) 
 
 Fowl, pounded 
 yams 
 
 Sheep and cow 
 
 Sheep, ram 
 
 Sheep, snail, 
 elephant, dog 
 
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XVI 
 
 SHANGO— OYA— OBA— OSHUN 
 
 185 
 
 
 Orisha Oya (Awya)— Continued. 
 
 
 
 Name. 
 
 Town. 
 
 Sacrifice. 
 
 Ewos or Ewaws. 
 
 Yes. 
 
 No. 
 
 Belo 
 
 Abeokuta 
 
 Fowl, goat 
 
 S heep, efon 
 antelope 
 
 
 1 
 
 Awyalola 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Fowl, goat, 
 yams 
 
 Sheep 
 
 
 1 
 
 Sumanu 
 
 Ikirun 
 
 Fowl, goat, kola 
 
 Sheep 
 
 1 
 
 
 Adeoti 
 
 Offa 
 
 Fowl, goat 
 
 Sheep 
 
 1 
 
 
 Awyawerni 
 
 Ikirun 
 
 Fowl, goat, 
 pounded yams 
 
 Sheep, beans 
 
 
 1 
 
 Abiawna 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Fowl, goat 
 
 Sheep 
 
 
 1 
 
 Shango. 
 
 Idawo 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Ram, fowl 
 
 Antelope 
 (Eshuo), rab- 
 bit (Ekun), 
 pigeon pie 
 
 
 1 
 
 Lajidi 
 
 Ijaiyi 
 
 Ram, fowl 
 
 Antelope 
 (Eshuo), rab- 
 bit (Ekun), 
 rat (Ago), dog 
 
 
 1 
 
 Abidogun 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Ram, kola, cold 
 water 
 
 Rat, dog 
 
 
 1 
 
 Shangotola 
 
 Abeokuta 
 
 Dry fish, beans, 
 yams 
 
 Sheep, hedge- 
 hog, armadillo, 
 antelope, alli- 
 gator, tortoise 
 
 
 1 
 
 Adeyauju 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Ram 
 
 Rat, beans 
 (sese), ante- 
 lope 
 
 
 1 
 
 Bangbola 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Ram, kola, cock, 
 yam 
 
 Rat, beans 
 
 (sese) 
 
 
 1 
 
 Shangotayo 
 
 
 Ram, fowls, kola 
 
 Rat, beans 
 
 (sese) 
 
 
 1 
 
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NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Orishala, Obatala, Oshala, Orishanla, Oshanla. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Town. 
 
 Sacrifice. 
 
 Ewos or Ewaws. 
 
 Yes. 
 
 No. 
 
 Olorishade 
 
 Abeokuta 
 
 Snail, kola, 
 yams, fowl, 
 goat, ducks, 
 pigeons 
 
 Dog, palm wine, 
 may not use 
 brass 
 
 
 i 
 
 Adeoye 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Snail, fowls, 
 ducks, pigeons, 
 yams 
 
 Dog, palm wine, 
 tortoise 
 
 
 i 
 
 Laleye 
 
 Ogbomosho 
 
 Fowl, yam, 
 egusi soup 
 
 Salt, palm wine, 
 palm oil, may 
 not sleep on 
 mat 
 
 
 i 
 
 Adelafun 
 
 I lor in 
 
 Snail, egusi, 
 yam 
 
 Salt, palm oil, 
 palm wine, 
 pepper 
 
 
 i 
 
 Adeshiyan 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Snail cooked 
 with shea but- 
 ter, fowl 
 
 Palm wine, corn 
 wine and snuff 
 
 i 
 
 
 Adedoja 
 
 Ikirun 
 
 Snail, fowl 
 
 Palm wine 
 
 i 
 
 
 Aborishade 1 
 
 Ijero 
 
 Snail, goat, 
 kola, akara 
 
 Dog, palm wine 
 
 i 
 
 
 Adeyola 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Snail, fowl, Ori 
 
 Palm wine 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 Eshu. 
 
 
 Momodu 
 
 Otton 
 Oshoybo 
 
 He goat 
 
 Nut oil, onions, 
 dog 
 
 i 
 
 
 Ojo 
 
 Ede 
 
 He goat, sheep 
 
 Nut oil, dog 
 
 i 
 
 
 Adekunbi ' 
 
 Iganna 
 
 He goat, dog, 
 pig 
 
 Nut oil 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 Odudua. 
 
 
 Lowale 
 
 Ife 
 
 Sheep, palm 
 wine 
 
 None 
 
 i 
 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OBA— OSHUN 
 
 Orisha Oko, Oshaoko. 
 
 187 
 
 Name. 
 
 Town. 
 
 Sacrifice. 
 
 Ewos or Ewaws. 
 
 Yes. 
 
 No. 
 
 Akitundi 
 
 Ijanji 
 
 Dried meat, 
 egusi, yams 
 
 Antelope, and 
 may not eat 
 new yams be- 
 fore Oko's 
 festival 
 
 
 1 
 
 Obasa 
 
 Ido 
 
 Snail, fish, ekuru 
 beans 
 
 Butter kola 
 
 i 
 
 
 Adekunbi 1 
 
 Iganna 
 
 Goat, fowls, fish, 
 rat 
 
 New yams 
 
 1 
 
 
 Aminu 
 
 Salami 
 
 Oyiwopo 
 Babatunde 
 
 Akande 
 
 Tinuola 
 Adederan 
 
 Kaiwo 
 Kainde 
 
 Shankpana, Shankpano, Shakpana. 
 
 Abeokuta 
 
 Abeokuta 
 
 Offa 
 Abeokuta 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Ilaro 
 Ikirun 
 
 Ibadan 
 Oyan 
 
 Sheep, beans, 
 palm oil 
 
 OSHUN. 
 
 Rats,gala(ante- 
 lope), corn, 
 yams, palm oil 
 
 Goat, fowls 
 
 Goat, fowls, 
 beans, youri 
 (veg.) 
 
 Rabbit, ante- 
 lope, dry fish, 
 yams, pito 
 
 Corn with oil 
 Goat, fowl 
 
 Ibeji. 
 
 Fowl, beans, 
 yams and oil, 
 kola 
 
 Ekuru beans, 
 all fried things 
 
 Yamati seed, 
 tobacco, not to 
 sit on mortar, 
 head not to be 
 knocked. 
 
 Etu (antelope), 
 fowl, palm 
 wine, beans 
 
 Pito (corn beer) 
 
 Pito, snail, ele- 
 phant 
 
 Rats, he goat, 
 cocks, snails, 
 ducks, ground 
 corn), water 
 yams 
 
 None 
 
 Corn wine 
 
 Monkey 
 
 Nut oil, Ire 
 (Funturia elas- 
 tica) 
 
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i88 
 
 Adeniji 
 
 Adeniran 
 
 Abiara 1 
 
 Fabode ' 
 
 Fabode ! 
 
 Abiara 1 
 
 Oke 
 
 Asani 
 
 NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 Erinle. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Town. 
 
 Sacrifice. 
 
 Ewos or Ewaws. 
 
 Yes. 
 
 No. 
 
 Ishola 
 
 Ijaiyi 
 
 Cock, beans, 
 butter, kola, 
 yam flour, 
 pounded yams, 
 agidi 
 
 elephant and 
 hippo 
 
 
 I 
 
 Abeokuta 
 
 Ori. 
 
 Fish, beans 
 
 (egusi) 
 
 New yams be- 
 fore the Oko 
 festival 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 Oyan 
 
 Oyan 
 
 Ibadan 
 
 | Ibadan 
 
 Yemaja or Yemoja. 
 
 Yams, palm oil, 
 cooked corn, 
 yam flour 
 
 Sheep, fowl, 
 snails 
 
 Agba. 
 
 Dog, alligator, 
 un s kinned 
 roasted beef 
 
 Dog 
 
 Dog, fowl, goat I Palm wine, I I 
 dried okro I 
 
 Aga. 
 Fowl goat 
 
 Ebolo and Odu | I 
 herbs 
 
 Obaluaye. 
 
 Goat, f o w 1, | Beniseed 
 snail 
 
 Okejemori. 
 
 Snail, fowl 
 Oro. 
 
 Dog, palm wine | | I 
 
 Abeokuta I Ram, corn wine I Dog, horse 
 
 1 It will be noted that some people now have two Orishas. 
 
 Many in these lists may marry women who have their Orishas, but 
 they could give me no reason for this. It is possible that certain people of 
 royal descent may marry whom they like. 
 
 In Ibadan I have been told that in the olden times twins had to marry 
 twins. 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OB A— OSHUN 189 
 
 Orishas of Birth, Life and Death 
 
 We have left to us the Orishas Oba, Shankpana and 
 Dada, whose other name is Bayoni or Bayani. 
 
 >Oba or Ibu is the third wife of Shango, and represents 
 the thunder of Shango, the meeting of the clouds and 
 the crying out^ The word Ibu also means the one who 
 broils or bakes under ashes, and thus this Orisha may 
 be said to be the wife that first made native bread. 
 But I was told that Oshun was the woman bread-maker. 
 I am inclined to think that there has been some con- 
 fusion in the occupation of Shango's wives, who are 
 said to stay at home, as the meaning of Shango's third 
 wife's name so evidently points to Ibu or Oba as the 
 bread-maker. 
 
 About Dada, the Orisha of Birth, things created and 
 vegetables, we know very little. Ellis tells us that he 
 is represented by a calabash ornamented with cowries, 
 on which is placed a ball of Indigo. 
 
 As to Shankpana a story tells us that : — 
 
 Erinle and Shankpana are offspring of Shango and 
 Oya. Shankpana was a wicked boy, and Erinle was 
 his sister. When they were young Erinle used to 
 warn him not to be cruel to people's children, because 
 he was accustomed to beat them. Shankpana asked 
 her why she cared for other people's children. 
 Erinle said she liked to have plenty of companions 
 to play with. Shankpana said he did not like these 
 crowds of children, so he went on beating them, and 
 made the parents cry. Then she went and told her 
 father, Shango, of how Shankpana treated children, 
 and Shango sent for him and beat him. Shankpana 
 
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i go NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 then said he would revenge himself on Erinle, and 
 when he next saw her he flogged her to death, and 
 took her to the bank of a river, and buried her there. 
 After seventeen days, as the parents had not seen 
 Erinle, they began to search for her, but could not 
 find her ; and Shankpana said nothing. Then they 
 consulted the Babalawo, and he told them that Erinle 
 had been killed and buried on the bank of the river, 
 and, as she died for her love of children, anyone who 
 wanted children must worship Erinle on the bank of 
 the river. And so she became an Orisha to be wor- 
 shipped on the bank of any river. 
 
 Erinle means elephant that nourishes on the land. 
 Elephant is something that is great and loving. 
 
 And Shango drove Shankpana into the bush, and 
 there he became a mysterious and harmful bushman, 
 throwing smallpox and sickness about. 
 
 "The word Shankpana means one that cuts and 
 kills one on the road. Oba was his real name — a title 
 given to him as one who should look after, and be a 
 leader among, children." 
 
 We have now connected all the children of Yemoja 
 with all the occupations 1 of the primitive Yoruba, and 
 as we were led to expect they fall into their places 
 under the six or seven great categories. 
 
 (i) Dada things made, created, birth, etc. 
 
 (2) Water the fisherman and his Orishas, 
 
 Olosa and Olokun. 
 
 1 It must be remembered that Ifa is said to have chosen his disciples, 
 or councillors, from all parts of the country. The fact of his having 
 chosen Olokun and Olosa proves that the dwellers by the sea must have 
 been included. 
 
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xvi SHAN GO— OYA— OB A— OSHUN 191 
 
 (3) Earth the hunter and Oshowsi and 
 
 Ogun. 
 
 (4) Fire and mar- the priest farmer, and Oke and 
 riage Shango. 
 
 (5) Motion and the farmer and first harvest, and 
 conception Oshun and Oko. 
 
 (6) Energy, Weight women and all the people, and 
 Pregnancy Oya and Ajeshaluga. 
 
 (7) Life and Death, all folk, and Oba and Shank- 
 Suffering pana. 
 
 Thus these Orishas in their order and meaning 
 agree with the Odus or sacred palm nuts in the order 
 given to me by the priest Oliyitan. These categories 
 also are thus identical with those I discovered to be 
 at the back of the mind of the Bavili in the Congo. 
 And the heavenly and earthly forms of Government, 
 office for office, or rather official for Orisha, also 
 coincide. And as the occupations of the Yoruba are 
 followed according to the seasons of the year, it 
 follows that the Orishas of the different professions 
 should also appear to rule certain seasons. 
 
 In the earliest period of man's existence, the period 
 from marriage to birth and the problems involved 
 seem to have occcupied his attention, and as he was 
 driven to shelter by the first rains, and that was the 
 time of marriage, the rain season was of the greatest 
 importance to him, hence his primitive calendar of 
 eight rain months. As he progressed in civilisation 
 so did his sense of time, until I fa, or some great 
 philosopher, fixed his primitive observations, and gave 
 him his present lunar calendar. It seems to me that 
 
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192 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 there can no longer, now, be any doubt about either 
 the order or form of the ancient West African social 
 and religious system. 
 
 In Chapter XII. I have connected the leopard with 
 the Alafin, and given the insignia by which one may 
 recognise the head of the Yoruba people. The sign 
 of office of the Alake, the head chief of the Egba, 
 is a crown of beads. 
 
 In the olden days in the Congo, that is before 
 European control existed, we had to be very 
 careful in regard to etiquette in our relations with 
 the chiefs. As wearers of boots we white men ranked 
 with the highest in the land, and could command the 
 respect due to our station, if not our deserts. I 
 remember on one occasion, shortly after my arrival 
 on the coast, being called and treated by a rich native 
 trader as a " small boy " (a person of no importance). 
 Well, we had no armies or force of our own by which 
 to maintain our authority, so we had to rely upon the 
 goodwill of our native chief. On this occasion the 
 chief was called down, and three chairs were placed 
 in the yard in front of the house. The chief who, 
 for the occasion, wore boots, sat in the centre chair, 
 and I sat in the chair on his right. The wicked 
 native who had dared to call me a "small boy" was 
 invited to put on a pair of boots and sit in the vacant 
 chair. He ran away, and so lost the "palaver," and 
 was fined. And when we called the chiefs in to settle 
 some question or other, we had to place so many 
 chairs with pieces of cloth upon them for the greater 
 chiefs to sit on, and to spread mats on the ground for 
 
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xvi SHANGO— OYA— OBA— OSHUN 193 
 
 the lesser chiefs, while, rich or poor, the rest of the 
 courtiers or followers sat on the earth. 
 
 I find much the same custom exists in Abeokuta. 
 
 (1) The Alake, of course, and his three courtiers 
 have the right to Agas, or chairs. 
 
 (2) The Iyalode has the right to an Aga, but her 
 three courtiers sit on mats. 
 
 (3) The Balogun, whose sign of office is his armour, 
 has the right to a chair. Two of his courtiers, 
 Bada and Seriki, have the right to Agas, but 
 Ashipa sits on a mat. 
 
 (4) The Bashorun, whose sign of office is a large 
 umbrella and a staff of beads, has the right to a 
 chair, but his officers sit on mats. 
 
 (5) The Ogboni are distinguished by their leather 
 bags, a long walking-stick or staff, and the 
 horse's tail which they carry on their shoulders. 
 
 Each chief in his own quarter used to settle disputes 
 and woman palavers. 
 
 When there was a misunderstanding among the 
 members of the Ogboni, all the members of the craft 
 assembled and settled it. 
 
 The Ogboni tried all murder cases, and, as has 
 
 been shown, had to do with funerals. The head 
 
 of each occupation and his council, such as hunters, 
 
 farmers, priests, market women and crafts, settled 
 
 the palavers touching such occupations. But when 
 
 death from sickness or famine raged in the town, 
 
 the King, nobles, chiefs, and all the people held 
 
 a general meeting. Divination took place, and 
 
 o 
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194 NIGERIAN STUDIES ch. xvi 
 
 evildoers were sought out and punished, or killed 
 as a sacrifice to their outraged Orishas. 
 
 Such was what may be called the Home 
 Government of the Yoruba, but as conquerors 
 these people have progressed a little beyond this, 
 for as victors the head chief appointed Ajele, or 
 Governors, in the conquered provinces. These 
 regents, while acting as tax-gatherers, interfere as 
 little as possible with the home affairs of their 
 districts. A glance at the following chapter on the 
 land laws in the Western Province of S. Nigeria, 
 or Yorubaland, will show the place more or less which 
 these Ajele occupy. 
 
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CHAPTER XVII 
 
 LAND LAWS 1 
 
 In a paper which appeared in the African Journal, 
 page 312, No. Ill, April, 1902, "a native of Yoruba 
 gave an interesting account of the ' Native System 
 of Government and Land Tenure in the Yoruba 
 Country.' " In this paper he states : 
 
 " All lands in the country are in the keeping 
 of chiefs for the members of the tribe to whom 
 the land belongs. There is not a foot of land 
 that is not claimed or possessed by some tribe 
 or other, and the members of each tribe can apply 
 to their respective chiefs for a grant of land to 
 be used and cultivated for farming or other 
 purposes. Any land so granted becomes the 
 property of the grantee for life and for his heirs 
 after him in perpetuity with all that grows on 
 it and all that lies under it. (?) 2 But such land 
 must be made use of ; i.e. it must be cultivated 
 or used beneficially, if not, the grantee is liable 
 to lose it, and it may then be given to another 
 who will make use of it. 
 
 1 By kind permission of the African Society. 
 
 2 (?) Mine R.E.D. 
 
 19s O 2 
 
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196 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 " No land is granted for pecuniary consideration ; 
 that is, no land is given for so much money. 
 A man to whom land is granted may make a 
 present to the grantor if he so chooses ; that is 
 merely a private gift. 
 
 "In this way every piece of land is owned 
 by someone or other, and the boundaries are 
 generally definite and clear. 
 
 "In the native system of Land Tenure not 
 even a King has a right to alienate any land from 
 him to whom it has been granted, unless indeed 
 the man is guilty of negligence or lawlessness, 
 as above stated : and even then it is the chief 
 who has granted the land who dispossesses the 
 grantee. 
 
 "It is important to note that the idea of selling 
 land is entirely foreign to the native system." 
 
 In Land Tenure in West Africa, Reports 
 by T. C. Rayner, Esq., Chief Justice of Lagos, 
 and J. J. C. Healy, Esq., Land Commissioner, 
 Chief Justice Rayner writes — " The question as 
 to how the land, which in my opinion all originally 
 belonged to the King or head chief of the country, 
 became divided up among the various persons 
 now owning it is not always easy to discover : 
 and the difficulty is increased when we remember 
 that according to strict native ideas land is 
 absolutely inalienable. I believe that the notion 
 that land can be sold, or given in such a way 
 that the original owner loses all interests in 
 it, is utterly foreign to the natives of all this coast. 
 
 "There is no time limit during which the 
 grantee may occupy : he can occupy in perpetuity, 
 but should he quit the land it reverts to the owner, 
 
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xvn LAND LAWS 197 
 
 and in certain cases the owner can eject him, 
 e.g. if he claims the land as his and denies the 
 grantor's right, or if he attempts to sell the land. 
 The grantor regards the land still as his, subject 
 to the grantee's right to occupy, and so long 
 as he pays his rent 1 (or tribute, as it is more 
 usually called) the grantee can go on occupying, 
 and his heirs after him without interference. The 
 rent or tribute is required and paid in the case 
 of a stranger, simply as an acknowledgment of 
 the grantee's title ; it bears no relation to the 
 value of the land, and is in all cases quite 
 nominal. I think there can be no doubt that 
 originally, according to native law, land was 
 inalienable, 2 and that the chief or head of the 
 community was the only person who could be said 
 to be the owner of the land." 
 
 The statements of an individual must always be 
 looked upon as more or less an expression of the 
 impression he has obtained from the more or less 
 restricted field of his labours. 
 
 1 See further on, where natives who have bought land declare that they 
 have not to pay tribute. 
 
 2 Note.— (MSS. Mr. E. P. Cotton, L.S., B.E., F.R.A.S., Director of 
 Surveys, S. Nigeria.) 
 
 The inalienability of land is firmly rooted in the Yoruba mind. If he 
 is convinced that his ancestors at one time owned a certain piece of land, 
 the remoteness of that ownership, or the validity of the present owner's 
 title, appears to be no bar to his title. 
 
 The chiefs of country towns and villages do not understand the principles 
 of modern land alienation. These chiefs are quite prepared to allot land 
 to members of the community, or even to strangers, so long as they receive 
 in return some small periodical payment, generally in kind, as an acknow- 
 ledgment of title. The grantee may occupy the land for any length of 
 time, but should he attempt to sublet, or dispose of it in any other way 
 the grantor may at once eject him. 
 
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200 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 Fourth Development. — After many years of pro- 
 vincial warfare and European intervention, we find 
 Yorubaland divided into two great divisions, (i) The 
 Protectorate and (2) the Colony of S. Nigeria (lately 
 Lagos). 
 
 The Protectorate in the Western Province may be 
 said to be formed of the Oyo, Elesha, Ife, Ibadan, 
 Egba, Ijebu, and Ondo protected native states. 
 
 The Supreme Court has power and jurisdiction in 
 each of these states for the administration and control 
 of the property and persons of all persons not being 
 natives of each individual state, that is, of aliens in the 
 restricted sense of the word, but it has no control 
 apparently over the property of the natives in each 
 state, so that here, at any rate, land disputes are heard 
 and judged by the natives themselves according to 
 native law, or its abuse, as the case may be. 
 
 Fifth Development. — 1. In that part of Yorubaland 
 where the Alarm holds direct sway, old customs are 
 conserved far more strictly that in the other states 
 where the people have more power, and the sale 
 of land, although not unknown, is rare. It occurs 
 at times when the claim to succeed to the ownership 
 of land is disputed. As a way out of the difficulty, 
 the farm is sold and the yield divided between the 
 claimants. But the Alafin has the right to step in 
 and take away the land from the family and give it 
 to whom he likes. This is seldom done, but it is 
 possible. 
 
 The custom of buying and selling land is gradually 
 becoming more common, but it is much rarer here 
 
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xvir LAND LAWS 201 
 
 than in other states where more kola and palm trees 
 are planted. 
 
 2. In Ibadan the custom of selling land, it appears, 
 has crept in through the depravity of certain owners 
 of farms and the necessity of their paying back 
 money that has been borrowed. 
 
 (a) Moredaiyo of Ibadan, in answer to my questions, 
 gave me the following information : — 
 
 The Alafin is looked upon as owner of all the land. 
 The Bale of Ibadan received some land from the 
 Alafin, but he has added to it greatly by conquest. 
 The Bale took the land from the conquered people, 
 and it now belongs to him. After making many 
 of the conquered people slaves, some of those who 
 had escaped returned to their towns under an Ajele 
 appointed by the Bale, such as the towns of Ijaiye, 
 Awaiyi, Iwahun, Okeamu, Ilesan, Takiti, Gbagba, 
 Gangan, Tide, Ijebure, Otun Iyapa, Iro, Isi, Ileje, 
 Omujelu, Oyife, Okeako, Tapati, Egbe, Nikinyinrin, 
 Okeapa, Olofashan, Oye, Aiyidi, Imesin, Ikogusi, 
 Ifewara, Itaogbolu, Ilofa ; but other towns that had 
 chiefs with titles recognised by the Alafin, such as Ife, 
 Elesha, were left alone. 
 
 If anyone in the towns with an Ajele 1 wanted land, 
 he would go to the Ajele with a present (20 heads 
 of cowries = 10/-) and ask for what he wanted. If the 
 Ajele agreed, he would take him to the land and 
 mark the boundaries in proportion to the number of 
 retainers the petitioner brought with him. 
 
 1 This implies that the conquered land belongs to the conqueror and 
 does not remain in the hands of the conquered chief. 
 
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202 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 When the Ajele gives the land he makes the 
 petitioner promise not to fight or disobey the law, or 
 the land will be taken from him. 
 
 The petitioner now becomes an Onile (or one who 
 has land). 
 
 The boundaries are cut, and heaps of earth are 
 made at intervals, and on these a peregun tree is 
 planted. 
 
 Every year, as a thank-offering, the Onile gives 
 the Ajele a present of that product which thrives 
 best on the land. 
 
 The Onile now divides his land among his family 
 and retainers and they become farmers, or Oloko 
 (owners of farms). The Onile has the right to call 
 on the Oloko to work for him for one or two days 
 in the year, to fire the bush and prepare a place for 
 him to farm, and the Oloko give the Onile a yearly 
 present. The Onile may not sell the land to his re- 
 tainers, he gives it to them and they legally have no 
 right to sell it. It happens, however, that on the death 
 of a father the son who has succeeded to the farm 
 becomes a worthless spendthrift, and has had to borrow 
 money from some rich man. This money-lender 
 presses him for repayment, and the wicked son has 
 told him to take the farm and cease bothering him. 
 The Onile may if he likes interfere and drive such 
 a wicked person out of his farm, and, if he has no son, 
 or near relation, take the farm away and give it 
 to someone else who, however, must pay the money- 
 lender the sum borrowed. The money-lender cannot 
 take possession without the consent of the Onile. 
 
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xvn LAND LAWS 203 
 
 (b) Moredaiyo's father was an Onile, and gave 
 a farm to one of his friends called Lesinpo. Lesinpo 
 died. His son occupied the farm. He was a wicked 
 person, and borrowed money and could not pay. 
 For some years the money-lender lost sight of the 
 farmer, and so he attempted to jump the farm. He 
 did this by placing palm leaves on it. The Onile saw 
 the palm leaves, and threw them away. The moneyr 
 lender asked who had dared to displace the leaves. 
 The Onile said he had, as the land was his. The 
 money-lender then said " the farmer owes me money 
 and he has gone away." He was told he had no right 
 to take the farm for the money owed, as the farmer 
 had relatives. The relatives paid the money-lender, 
 and he recognised this and gave up his claim to the 
 farm. 
 
 (c) Many Onile, if they have more land than 
 they require, sell it to third parties, and the price 
 varies from two bags, or 10s., to twenty bags of 
 cowries, or £<$. This buyer pays no yearly tribute, 
 to the Onile or the Ajele, and the transaction is 
 really contrary to the old customary law. 
 
 When one Bale succeeds another, he changes 
 the Ajele and many of the customs of his 
 predecessor. 
 
 So in the Ibadan territory, in spite of the fact 
 that according to ancient law, land is inalienable, it 
 has been pawned and sold for a long time, and is 
 still being sold. 
 
 3. The selling of land with the consent of the 
 chief in Ijebuland has reached such a pitch that 
 
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204 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 when I was last there, the chiefs were trying to 
 prevent people from selling or buying land in a 
 certain quarter of the town of Ijebu, which they 
 held more or less sacred. 
 
 4. Mr. Pellegrin, an intelligent and educated 
 Egba, gave me the following notes : — 
 
 " All Yorubaland belonged to the Alarm, but the 
 Egba after the civil wars settled at Abeokuta, and 
 by right of conquest took and kept possession of 
 most of the land now known as Egbaland. In the 
 conquered towns they generally placed an Ajele, 1 
 but left the chief in many cases in possession, 
 exacting, however, a yearly tribute. Thus Otta, 
 Agege, Isheri Igawn, and Iro belonged to the people 
 known as Awuri, but now form part of Egbaland. 
 
 " Supposing natives in any of these districts wanted 
 land, they would go to the Bale and ask him for 
 it, and he, on receipt of twelve kola and one case 
 of gin, would grant it on condition that they would 
 abide by the laws of the country. 
 
 " One of the customs of the country was to give 
 the Bale a small portion of the products of the 
 land, and another was that he could not sell the 
 land. When one of these farmers dies and his 
 son does not care to occupy the land, the Bale can 
 give the farm to another, otherwise, the farm 
 
 1 Note. — Ajelehavebeen known to grant land to Onile who have planted 
 it up with cocoa and kola, and when the trees are bearing, endeavour to turn 
 the Onile out, without fair compensation. A case of this kind not long 
 ago came before the notice of the Resident of Ibadan, who insisted on a 
 fair price being paid to the Onile by the Ajele. In this case the ancient 
 land law, in view of modern agricultural development, became evidently 
 unfair. 
 
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xvii LAND LAWS 205 
 
 descends to the son. The occupier of this land 
 can, in his turn, give a portion of the granted land 
 to a friend or anyone other than an alien. He re- 
 ceives a present and something yearly from this 
 person. But if this part that is given to a third 
 party happens to be thick forest land, and the 
 receiver has to clear it, the land becomes his, and 
 as an Onile he can leave it to his son. This man 
 may not sell the land, but he can give it to another 
 person and receive the case of gin and twelve 
 kola. 
 
 "A woman may own land. (See below daughter.) 
 
 "A slave may not own land, but he may have 
 a farm on his master's land. In the event of the 
 death of his master, the slave may become the 
 property of any of the deceased's relations and be 
 taken away, or he may be allowed to remain on 
 the land and go with it to his master's successor. 
 A slave who has farmed and redeemed himself 
 becomes the owner of his farm. 
 
 " When the land is allotted, Akoko, Atori or 
 Peregun trees are planted on heaps of earth, and 
 serve as boundaries. 
 
 " The land does not belong to the family, but to 
 the father, and, later on the son or daughter. 
 
 " By family is understood uncles, aunts, nephews, 
 nieces on both the Obakan (father's) side, and the 
 Iyekan (mother's) side. On the death of the 
 father, the chief divides money, goods, slaves 
 or other movable property among the family. This 
 division is made in accordance with the amount 
 
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206 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 spent by the individuals of the family during the 
 death and funeral ceremonies, and also in accordance 
 with the services rendered to the deceased during 
 his lifetime. 
 
 "In the event of the owner leaving the farm without 
 a representative for a long time he may at any time 
 come back and claim it. But should he die while 
 absent, and not have left any planted trees, and the 
 chiefs have given the land to another, the son or his 
 heir cannot lay claim to the land, which has merely 
 been farmed (see Baba Numi's report later on). But 
 in the event of there being any living trees planted by 
 him on the farm, the son or heir may claim it. But 
 these questions are decided on their merits." 
 
 Baba Numi, an old Egba, illiterate, but said to 
 know all about Egba land laws, gave me the following 
 account : — 
 
 " When a man asks for land, the first question to be 
 considered is — ' Is he a native or an alien ? ' 
 
 " If he is not an Egba, and goes to a man and asks 
 for land, that man must take him to the chief of the 
 district, Bale, Balogun or Osi. If they agree to give 
 the stranger land, the Balogun is asked to take him 
 and show him the land allotted to him. When he 
 dies and has children, they can succeed to it. If the 
 successor owes money, he can pawn the land with the 
 Bale's consent, and the moneylender can take the farm 
 if none of his relations redeem it, but neither he nor 
 the moneylender can sell the farm. 
 
 " Supposing he is not a stranger, he must be the son 
 of a father who has land. If the land is too small for 
 
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xvii LAND LAWS 207 
 
 the son in possession to divide, the Bale will grant him 
 a portion of land which becomes his property. It is 
 granted to him and his successors in perpetuity for his 
 and their use, but he is not allowed to sell it. If he is 
 in debt, the family censure him and pay his debts, but 
 if his debt is too large for them to pay, they give their 
 consent to his pawning the farm, and the moneylender, 
 with the consent of the Bale, can take the farm. 
 
 " Pawning land is a very old custom in this country. 
 
 " The moneylender does not plant trees, or then 
 plants them at his risk, as the family may redeem their 
 farm at any time, and all the trees planted become the 
 property of the original owning family. 
 
 " The selling of land has been done privately for a 
 very long time ; people do this without the chiefs 
 knowledge, and people look upon the new occupier as 
 one who has been allowed to farm and live on the 
 seller's land by his consent. 
 
 " Should it become known that an owner has sold his 
 land, the seller gets into trouble, and is driven out of 
 the country, but the buyer is not punished, and is 
 allowed to go on farming in peace. If a man simply 
 farms his land and plants no trees, and is not married, 
 and goes away, and dies, his farm is given away to 
 another, and should he have a son while abroad, and 
 that son comes and claims the farm, he has no right 
 to do so, and the farm continues in the possession of 
 the occupier. 
 
 "If, on the other hand,' the farmer had a son when 
 he went away, and took him with him, and he died 
 abroad, and his son came back and found his father's 
 
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208 NIGERIAN STUDIES ch. xvii 
 
 farm occupied, the Bale would call him and the 
 occupier before him and ask the latter to give the 
 former a portion of the land. The son, however, 
 would have to allow the occupier to reap the fruit of 
 any trees he had planted there, so it generally ended 
 in the Bale giving the son another piece of land." 
 
 Such is some of the evidence which I have collated, 
 and from this we see that, legally speaking, according 
 to native customary law, land is inalienable, and that 
 the sale of land is a crime against the state. But, on 
 the other hand, land is sold and the buyer is left in 
 possession. 
 
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CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 By the fear of death and the desire to propagate and 
 live, the Yoruba's thoughts were driven to the study 
 in nature of the phenomena that caused death, or 
 helped him to live and propagate. And as they 
 progressed, men in all lines of life, i.e. the fisherman, 
 the hunter, the priest, the farmer, and, later on, the 
 market women and the craftsmen, all aided in this 
 search for the causes of life and death, and the true 
 nature of the spirit presiding over them all. In this 
 way it does not seem strange to me that, if man has 
 developed from a non-speaking animal stage of exist- 
 ence to his present speaking and cultivated stage, his 
 knowledge of things and his way of expressing his 
 ideas should have also developed step by step. I am 
 not wonder-struck that man, governed more or less by 
 his senses and environment, should have instinctively 
 built up trains of thought and ways of expressing 
 them that have led native philosophers to divide their 
 mythology into certain well-defined categories. But I 
 admit that a philologist unaided by a long and great 
 
 knowledge of the people whose language he may be 
 
 209 p 
 
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2io NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 studying, will find great difficulty in recognising these 
 categories in any but a primitive language. I think 
 that his studies may best be rewarded in Africa 
 by a thorough investigation of some Bantu tongue, 
 but even here the student will need a more or less 
 " primitive mind " attitude to carry out his work. 
 
 Yemaja's, or Yemoja's, first offspring by her son 
 Orungun was the sea Orisha, Olokun. In this word 
 we have the idea of " murmuring." The first man, 
 says another legend, was Obalofun, the first speaker. 
 Among the Bavili, Zimini, a plural word, literally 
 meaning the male and female Egos, comes to mean 
 the swallower, and Zimini was the man of the sea. 
 It seems, therefore, that we shall not be doing the 
 West African a wrong by concluding that he looked 
 upon his first parent as a creature from the sea. 
 
 (i) As a "merman," shall we say, he was ruled 
 rather by instinct than by reason, and I may presume 
 that he knew more about propagation 1 than about 
 
 1 The doyen of the senses is that of smell in order of creation. Bishop 
 Crowther gives the word Imu (Crowther) or Imaw for our word nose. 
 This word also means "sense" in a general way, thus the sense of taste 
 is written imu tawwo (towo). Without any accent over the last syllable 
 imu means the act of drinking. With a grave accent imu means know- 
 ledge, science, mythology, philosophy. In connection with the word Hu 
 (to germinate) it means Imuhu, to create. Combined with the words Bi 
 (to beget) and Si (to be) in the word imubisi, it means propagation. 
 
 The offspring Awmaw (otno) that shines or is good (dan) means a 
 virgin, omidan, another name for whom is wundia (probably a Hausa 
 word), the one who gives pleasure. Thus virginity and purity gave 
 pleasure to the ancient Yoruba. On the other hand, that which was lewd 
 and bad he called Buburu, i.e. that which swelled and sent out an 
 offensive smell. I need hardly remind my readers of the action of animals 
 in this regard, and that we still talk of the fires of love and desire. The 
 native has another word for to smell, " Gborun " (Crowther), which is 
 connected with the idea of heat (Orun) and to rub (gbo). 
 
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xviii CONCLUSION 211 
 
 association, and that for a long time this instinct 
 occupied most of primitive man's attention. He lived 
 on herbs and leaves. 
 
 At length we arrive at the stage when man busied 
 himself with certain occupations. 
 
 (2) As a fisherman, or still very primitive man, the 
 elements that he constantly braved and the natural 
 phenomena that he noticed caused him to ponder and 
 weigh things. The oft-recurring light and darkness, 
 day and night, heaven and earth, sun and moon, heat 
 and cold, the power of the murmuring waves of the 
 sea, the fierce rushing of flooded rivers, their constant 
 beating against the rocks, thunder, lightning, wild 
 winds and torrential rains, marriage and birth, life 
 and death ; all these kept his receptivity at work. 
 
 We will now consider the sense of touch. The verb Kan is to touch, 
 and Shaw is an adverb qualifying verbs of touching or dipping, and 
 means "just a touch." The word Shawkan (Crowther) is to copulate. 
 In this connection it is bad for us when our body aches, and an ache is 
 " kan." On the other hand, when we are free from ache " Dida ara " it is 
 good Dida ara = healthiness. 
 
 To behold is wo, and iwo not only means sight but also light and 
 countenance. Primitive man, attracted by her beauty or countenance 
 (iwo) pursued (de) woman and seduced (dewo) her. That which is (ewa) 
 is beauty, while that which does not abide (ailewa) is ugliness. 
 
 The word to eat (je) means also to win. The idea of following (taw) 
 beauty (iwo) apparently continues in the idea of taste (taw wo). That 
 which is sweet, delicious, is called dun, while that which is nasty is 
 compared to the tasteless husks of Indian corn (eri). 
 
 I have now given you the Yoruba idea of good and bad under the 
 senses of smell, touch, sight, and taste, it is left to trace their idea of 
 good and bad in a general sense. Well, the Yoruba, like the Bavili, 
 looks upon that which produces as good, i.e. Da to create, Ara body, or 
 Dara good. Its opposite Aidara means bad. 
 
 It is evident therefore that the Yoruba ideas of good and bad are 
 associated with the moral emotions of that most primitive of all 
 religions, which may be summed up in the words " Increase and 
 multiply." 
 
 P 2 
 
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212 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 His knowledge of all these "powers" may have been, 
 nay, certainly was, as primitive as he, but in his 
 earliest stage of existence he commenced to associate 
 these powers with the life he propagated as the chief 
 causes of death. He soon learnt that he was all too 
 impotent to fight these terrific powers, and so kept his 
 ears open to catch the slightest sound that might 
 betray their coming. Although these powers were 
 the cause of death, the waters yielded to the fisherman 
 fish as the food upon which he lived, and so the sea, 
 the lagoon and the rivers, and the powers behind 
 them, and the fish became in a way sacred to him. 
 More lives would be lost in his search for food in the 
 waters than anywhere else. Thus, at the foundation 
 of religion, which commenced in the very earliest 
 existence of propagating man and his fear of death, 
 we have a sense of primitive gratitude to the waters 
 that supplied him in this stage with food. And in 
 this way these water spirits, Olokun and Olosa, be- 
 came associated with that which quickened his sense 
 of hearing. Sound (figured here by the mighty, 
 murmuring Olokun, the giver of fish, salt, sweetness, 
 wisdom, and by the rushing of the waters of the 
 rivers, as they flow from the interior into the sea) is 
 the great parent of this family or category of thought. 
 His opposite is the Lagoon, the listener, the absorber, 
 through whom the salt is made. As a " merman " 
 he may have heard, made a noise, smelt, felt, seen 
 and tasted, but he probably knew little or nothing of 
 associating, in the same way as thinking man does, 
 outside phenomena with his senses. This, I think, is 
 
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xvni CONCLUSION 213 
 
 the first principle that native philosophy points to, i.e. 
 that animals were credited, figuratively speaking, only 
 with the senses of smell, touch, sight and taste, and 
 that the great difference between him and man is the 
 way in which the latter developed his sense of hear- 
 ing, and his powers of speech. Hence in the philo- 
 sophy of the Bavili the ear is said to have been, in his 
 making, the first thing formed in the womb. 
 
 (3) The next stage in the development of moral 
 man is figured to us by the hunter, and the trees and 
 herbs growing out of the earth. From trapping fish 
 to trapping " meat " is quite a natural step. The 
 lessons about the "powers" which the primitive 
 fisherman learnt have been handed down, but whereas 
 the fisherman looked to the " waters" for his food, on 
 land the hunter has turned to the forests. Long 
 before the hunter had bows and arrows, he probably 
 killed animals 1 by piercing them with pointed sticks, 
 or by beating them to death, or by throwing 
 stones at them. The hunter must have developed a 
 great many virtues, courage among the rest. And 
 hunting and its risks must have been the chief cause 
 of death. As he beat down animals, so he was beaten 
 down by the Orisha called "Ogun" (the one who 
 beats or pierces with a pointed stick). He learnt to 
 mimic the cries of certain birds and animals to lure 
 them to their death. Someone then lured him on to 
 death. This was Oshowsi, or Oshu, the one who 
 speaks, o, him, si, to (used always with a verb of 
 
 1 In fact this manner of huntingand killing with pointed sticks, I am told 
 by Mr. E. Torday, is still common in the interior of the Congo. 
 
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216 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 he mated. The great heat just before the rains 
 caused fire 1 to come, as he thought, from the hills, 
 and this phenomenon he called Oke. Then came 
 the storms and lightning, warning him that it was 
 time to mate and seek shelter. In this capacity 
 of watcher of the signs of the times of propagation 
 he was acting as a primitive priest. As a farmer 
 he, as head of the house (Bale), provided his 
 ancestors and family with food. They needed fish, 
 birds, reptiles, animals and vegetables. 
 
 In these 4th and 5th developments of thought, 
 or categories, we have on the one hand ideas of 
 heat, fire, smell of burning, imagination, love, 
 marriage, planting and sowing ; and on the other, 
 which closely follows it, the first fruits of the contact 
 of the waters of heaven and the heated earth, the 
 cold brought by the cooling rains, the quenching 
 of the fires, impression, satisfaction of desire, 
 conception, germination, motion and the first 
 harvest of the self-sown and now planted grain. 
 In other words all the ideas contained in the 
 Orishas, Oke and Shango, Oshun and Oko, occupied 
 the minds of the married couple and the primitive 
 priest farmer. 
 
 (6) And now we arrive at a period of plenty, 
 when all trees are bearing fruit, figured by the 
 market women and market places where the abun- 
 dance of the products brought forth by the waters 
 
 1 Before fire was used for cooking purposes and man knew how to make 
 it, bush fires that are now lighted by men, would not occur until nearly 
 the end of the dry season, when natural combustion took place. 
 
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xvni CONCLUSION 217 
 
 and rains, fish, reptiles, birds, animals and vegetables 
 were sold. And Ajeshaluga, as we have noted, 
 is not only the Orisha of wealth, but also that of 
 colour, which needs eyes and sight to recognise, and 
 which is best represented by the snakes or rainbows 
 Oshumare and Ere. I am told that the recognition 
 of the different colours of the rainbow is a sign 
 of a high stage of civilisation ; well, this is the 
 sixth development or category of thoughts, so that 
 my informant is apparently confirmed in his state- 
 ment. But " colour " means more to the Yoruba 
 than hue and tincture, for to the word Awo (Awaw) 
 they attach the meaning of outward appearance, 
 fashion, likeness, similitude and image. The Yoruba 
 call purple, Awo Aluko ; indigo, Awo Elu (after 
 the indigo plant) ; light blue, Awo Ojuorun, sky 
 colour ; green, Awo Obedo, vegetable matter on 
 stagnant pools ; yellow, Awo Pupa ; red, Awo Pupayo, 
 and another name for reddish purple Awo Pupa 
 Rusurusu, or somewhat red colour. I am inclined 
 to think that this interesting word Pupa, red, is derived 
 from the word Po or Paw to be plentiful (fruit is most 
 plentiful when it is ripe and red), hence the word Pon 
 or Pawn to be red or ripe, or to get yellow. 
 
 Thus in this category we have ideas of reproduction, 
 colour, 1 sight, pregnancy, weight, harvest, wealth, buying 
 and selling. 
 
 1 The idea of colour is first perhaps obtained from the Rainbow Oshu- 
 mare, who is reported to be a great snake (tchama in the Congo). She 
 is said to send her slave the python (Ere) to destroy towns and collect 
 slaves and food for her, and is also said to come up above the edge of the 
 earth to drink the pure water of the sky. In the Congo the six colours 
 
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2i8 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 (7) In this development we have a picture of death 
 and suffering, destruction and construction, figured by 
 
 which they recognise are said to be six snakes (page 139 "At the Back 
 of the Black Man's Mind "). These colours are also recognised by the 
 Yoruba, who attach some significance to them. When a man in the 
 Congo is grieving over some misfortune he is said to be swelling. We 
 should express the idea by saying that he was weighed down by sorrow 
 and crying. In Yoruba we find the verb Wu is to swell and to be sullen, 
 while Wu without the accent is to howl like a dog. When the father dies 
 his relations cry out Or'o Baba O, so that all the people near may know 
 that the head of the family is dead, and then the mourners do not wash, 
 and dress in dirty dull red cloth, their nearest approach to purple, and so 
 show their respect and fear of the departed. And people seeing this 
 sympathise with them. The Yoruba call purple Awo Aluko, or the colour 
 of a bird called Aluko. As we have noted, burials are very costly affairs 
 in Yorubaland, and much money is needed. 
 
 Money or wealth is also needed for the purpose of purchasing things in 
 the market, to pay the priests they call in to divine for them, to make 
 presents to their chiefs, and to offer sacrifices to their Orishas of harvest, 
 to propitiate the Orisha of sickness, and to thank their Orishas of birth. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that the prevailing colour in the markets, as that 
 of the wearing apparel of the market women, is indigo blue, and its popu- 
 larity is due to the fact that the wearing of cloth of this colour indicates 
 that the wearer is fairly well-to-do. 
 
 Now weighty matters are discussed in these markets, and the sharp 
 wits of buyers are pitted against the cunning of the seller, but the most 
 noticeable feature is the noise caused by the people talking to one another. 
 And so the ideas of intelligence, speech and understanding are connected 
 with the market and the Indigo colour. 
 
 Another weighty matter, as all will recognise, is Religion. Now the 
 priests of Ifa, I am told by Mr. Taylor, wear light blue cloths, 1 and I 
 have also noticed more than one instance of a Babalawo dressed in cloth 
 of this colour. These priests who play so great a part in marriage 
 believe that they are inspired, and their grave demeanour impresses this 
 fact upon the people. Theirs, in the olden days, was the office of smelling 
 out witches, and they are still held in great respect as Diviners. And so 
 this heavenly colour is connected with Inspiration, and the sense of smell, 
 Divination and Religion or Marriage. 
 
 Green silk is the favourite colour of great chiefs, and the colour is 
 symbolical of the season of conception and budding, or Spring. The 
 ordinary individual may not touch the sacred person of a great chief or 
 
 1 See also chapter VIII, page 96. 
 
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xvin CONCLUSION 219 
 
 Shankpana or Buruku, sometimes written Buluku, and 
 Oba or Ibu. Shankpana is in the first place the slayer 
 of children, in the second the smallpox Orisha. Bulu 
 is to blow vehemently upon, as the tornados blow upon 
 the trees, etc., but the verb Bu is not only to spoil 
 through damp, to decay, but also to broil or bake under 
 hot ashes ; Ru to rise, swell, boil over, and Kaw or Ku 
 to construct ; Ibu, the name of the river sacred to Oba, 
 means she that bakes, or decays. In connection with 
 these meanings we have to remember that these Orishas 
 in the cycle represent the seventh and eighth months, 
 the two tornado months finishing the rain season. In 
 propagation these months are much feared, as children 
 born now are more often than not still-born. Then 
 fallen fruits damped by the rain and heated by the sun 
 swell up and rot. I cannot, of course, say definitely 
 that from this nature-process primitive man first learnt 
 how to make his bread or pounded mass by heating and 
 beating (Bulu is also to beat), but one of the wives of 
 Shango is said to have been the first bread-maker, and 
 they now boil cereals or yams, and then pound them 
 
 Oba, and so the ideas of Authority, the sense of touch and conception, 
 are connected with the green of springtime. 
 
 The farmers watch the green corn turn yellow and ripe for harvest, 
 and show their wisdom and discernment in its ingathering and disposal, 
 and so wisdom, discernment, the sense of sight, and the yellow colour of 
 the time of harvest are connected. 
 
 Then comes the time when all fruits are ripe, and the predominating 
 colour is orange. This, especially in the olden days, was a time of great 
 feasting, tasting and appreciation, and discrimination, for all fruits were 
 not good, many of them being harmful if not poisonous. 
 
 And, finally, the last harvest was connected with the time of birth, and 
 the gathering of the red coloured palm nut, and in the disposal and 
 harvesting of this crop the farmers and traders had to use their powers of 
 calculation, sense and judgment. 
 
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22o NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 in a mortar to make what serves them as bread, and 
 the meanings of the words Buluku and Ibu point in 
 that direction. In this season also the angry winds blow 
 down old trees and many branches, all of which would 
 burn easily and are still preferred as firewood. This 
 period then seems to have been one of destruction and 
 construction, and as it developed gave birth to makers 
 of bread, potters, hut and canoe builders, black- 
 smiths, weavers of cloth. The verb Towo (Tawwo) 
 not only means to taste, but also to anticipate ; and the 
 word is composed of Taw to correct, educate, and Wo 
 which means to fall down as a tree or fruit, or W6 to 
 see, which seems to me, if we take into consideration 
 the above meanings of the Orishas and the season of 
 the year, that the Yoruba's idea of taste commenced 
 when he first tickled his palate with the juicy fruits of 
 trees that had fallen to the ground. This is perhaps 
 made clearer when we find that (i) The words for 
 palate are Imo (Imaw) Itowo (Itawwo) the sense of 
 taste ; (2) that the verb Mo means to drink, and (3) 
 that Imo comes to mean notion, knowledge, wisdom, 
 science, philosophy, etc. 
 
 It seems to me that man having no more senses 
 could not progress further in this direction which, for 
 the sake of clearness, I will call the perpendicular 
 direction of the cycle, but in a parallel way develop- 
 ment appears to be indefinite as season follows 
 season. 
 
 (1) Thus from primitive man's sense of hearing 
 correctly he progresses through many stages of 
 civilisation to that of the right hearing which 
 
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xvni CONCLUSION 221 
 
 we all connect with our Court of Equity and 
 Arbitration. 
 
 (2) From a primitive power of forming ideas he 
 marches on to right thinking, reason and justice, 
 and Courts of Justice. 
 
 (3) From his sense of smell and imagination his 
 primitive superstition may take him through different 
 phases of marriage and of love to an at-one-ment 
 with a true spiritual God, which we ourselves have 
 not yet reached. 
 
 (4) His sense of touch and impression may carry 
 him, step by step, from the fear of touching his sacred 
 kings and rulers to obedience to law and order, and 
 a desire to serve his king and country, and ideas 
 of State. 
 
 (5) Through sight, colour and weight, the people 
 may proceed little by little from their primitive and 
 impulsive meetings in the market places, and a 
 representative Council or Ogboni, to more and more 
 civilised meetings and discussions of the affairs of 
 the people in a great and more perfect House of 
 Commons than any that yet exists. 
 
 (6) And, finally, their sense of taste may carry 
 them from a simple meeting of elders to a House of 
 Lords, composed of the finest intellects in all 
 branches of thought and industries. To all this the 
 natives of Africa may aspire in the working out 
 of their own salvation as a people, if some 
 inherent and subtle vice does not arrest their 
 progress. 
 
 Now these six categories may be reduced to three 
 
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222 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 (i) Hearing and Speech may be headed "Science or 
 thought." (2) Smell and Touch may be termed 
 Religion. And (3) Sight and Taste may figure as 
 Order. 
 
 Science 
 
 In native communities we have the hunter, a brave 
 man, who must not be afraid of the fairies when the 
 whirlwind blows him into the depths of the forest 
 and into their presence, so that he may learn from these 
 departed spirits the cure for certain diseases. This 
 apothecary goes on experimenting and collecting facts 
 and, in this way, is a primitive man of science. He 
 uses his knowledge for the benefit of his family. 
 He may perhaps be called a white magician, at any 
 rate he is the opposite to the impostor or quack who 
 trades on the ignorance of the people and who in this 
 way is a dealer in black magic. 
 
 Religion 
 
 " Increase and multiply " sums up primitive Religion, 
 which is in this way bound up in the Creator and 
 motherhood. We have noted how the chief duties 
 of the Babalawos or priests are connected with marriage 
 and birth. So long as these priests confine themselves 
 to these moral duties for the benefit of their people 
 they may perhaps be called white magicians, but as 
 soon as they forget their priestly duties and trust to 
 priestcraft they become black magicians. 
 
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xvin CONCLUSION 223 
 
 Law 
 
 The ruler who governs his people scientifically and 
 religiously in accordance with the natural and moral 
 laws handed down to him by his ancestors may be 
 called a white magician, but the ruler who attempts to 
 govern his people by means of secret societies that 
 play on their dread of death becomes a dealer in black 
 magic. 
 
 True to the most primitive form of government, i.e. 
 that of father, mother, son, we conclude that these 
 three material persons symbolise the three great 
 spiritual lines of thought, i.e. • Science, Religion, and 
 Law. Law then is the offspring of Science and 
 Religion and may be said to be contained in them. 
 We thus arrive at the great " duality" in man. 
 
 There remains the Dowager Queen or Iyalode. 
 Iyalode as we have seen is the relict of the departed 
 father and so represents or symbolises the departed 
 spirit. We have further noted that when the father 
 dies the mourners cry out Oro O ! Baba O ! and by 
 Baba or father we are told they mean the first great 
 father and not the immediate deceased. In this 
 way we are correct in concluding that the Iyalode 
 symbolises the first great founder and spirit of her 
 husband's race. 
 
 I now refer my reader to page 237 in At the Back 
 of the Black Mans Mind, where the philosophy will be 
 found in table form. 
 
 Environment will colour each of these six " estates " 
 in each perfect kingdom, and each " estate " will need 
 
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224 NIGERIAN STUDIES chap. 
 
 many reforms before it is in itself perfect. The 
 Administrator learned in history will now have no 
 difficulty in placing the West Coast African in his 
 exact position in the historical development of civilisa- 
 tion, and can fearlessly help him upward on what he 
 knows to be natural lines and nature colouring. We 
 need fear no danger in being true to nature, for nature 
 in itself is true to the Divine inspiring Will of the Great 
 Father in whom we all believe. Danger arises from 
 the impulsiveness of those whose true instincts have 
 been perverted, and in whom secondary and unnatural 
 instincts have been inculcated by association with 
 abnormal situations, such as slavery, bad living, and a 
 wrong form of education. These unfortunate people, 
 having lost the principles of the foundations of the six 
 estates, think that no form of government is necessary, 
 and imagine that by destroying the divinely inspired 
 " structure," or parts of it, they will in some way 
 benefit. But if we believe that a kingdom is but a 
 conglomerate form of estates, the output of the senses 
 in man, we shall at once realise the imbecility and 
 futility of the endeavours of these ignorant people. A 
 state can gain no more, for instance, from the abolition 
 of its Church or Senate, in however crude and un- 
 developed a stage these estates may be, than an 
 individual can from the destruction of his senses of 
 smell and taste. Such a mutilated kingdom is doomed 
 to fall back to ruin and death in competition with one 
 that is more sensible and complete. 
 
 Conquering or Protecting Powers have enormous 
 responsibilities cast upon them, for it is to them and 
 
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xvm CONCLUSION 225 
 
 to their method of government that the safety and 
 welfare of the people is entrusted. They must not 
 destroy, but try to uplift. A study of the condition 
 of the people of the protected states is therefore 
 absolutely necessary. 
 
 The people themselves through disobedience may 
 easily cause all the efforts of the best of protecting 
 Governments to come to nought. The people must 
 believe and have faith in "the powers that be," 
 though they have the right to join in the prayer 
 that both plaintiff and defendant, among the Bavili, 
 kneeling and clapping their hands three times, 
 offer to their king who has just given judgment — 
 "May you continue to keep the 'seven' well in 
 hand." 
 
 I will now conclude by asking you to glance at 
 the following lists, which may help to make clear 
 the philosophy at the back of the Yoruba's mind. 
 
 I am sorry that I cannot give lists of the sacred 
 lands and rivers, trees, omens and animals, as in 
 At the Back of the Black Mans Mind, but I think I 
 have gathered sufficient traces of these to prove 
 that at one time such lists did exist. The Yoruba 
 has progressed more rapidly in the race of civilisa- 
 tion than his brother in the Congo, and this symbolic 
 picture of his philosophy is hard now to find in a 
 perfect state of preservation. 
 
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226 
 
 NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Yoruba Development of Calendar. 
 
 ut Development. 
 
 Odudua 
 
 2nd Development. 
 
 yd Development. 
 
 Week 
 
 Cycle 
 
 Month, 
 14 of 
 which 
 made one 
 ancient 
 year 
 
 Jakuta 
 
 Obatala 
 
 Ifa 
 
 / 1st day 
 
 2nd „ 
 
 3rd „ 
 
 4th „ 
 17th or 1st ' 
 
 5th day 
 
 6th „ 
 
 7* „ 
 
 8th „ 
 
 9th „ 
 10th „ 
 1 ith „ 
 1 2th „ 
 13th „ 
 14th „ 
 15th „ 
 1 6th „ 
 
 God's Ogboni, 
 
 Ancient 
 year 
 
 Olorun, Owner 
 of Heaven 
 
 9th 
 
 fist 
 
 2nd 
 
 3rd 
 
 4th 
 
 5th 
 
 6th 
 
 7th 
 1.8th 
 
 or the Great Orishas. 
 'Odudua 
 
 Lunar 
 year 
 
 Sun or 
 Originator 
 
 Moon Oshu 
 Creator 
 
 Procreator 
 
 Star 
 
 Star 
 
 Star 
 
 Jakuta 
 
 Obatala 
 
 Ifa 
 
 Eshu 
 Aganju 
 Yemoja 
 Orungan 
 
 Dada 
 
 Olosa 
 Olokun 
 Oshowsi 
 Ogun 
 
 Oke 
 Shango 
 Oshun 
 Oko 
 
 things created 
 
 > 
 
 Oya 
 
 Ajeshaluga 
 
 Oba 
 
 Shankpana or Erinle 
 
 1 am here adherin 
 
 m^4mfmm^W xiA 
 
 an, see list of Odus. 
 
XVIII 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 227 
 
 Abeokuta Hunters' Ogboni or the Egbe Oluri Ode. 
 
 Iyalode ? 
 Akoka or Alake ? 
 
 Balogun ? 
 Bashorun ? 
 
 Oyieshile 
 Bi eye oku 
 Ojo 
 Ogbolo 
 
 The hunter accused 
 
 Hunter 
 
 Assistant 
 
 Hunter 
 
 Assistant 
 
 Hunter 
 
 Assistant 
 
 Hunter 
 
 Assistant 
 
 Hunter 
 
 Assistant 
 
 Hunter 
 
 Assistant 
 
 The Priests of Ifa and the Odus. 
 Priests. Odus. 
 
 Oluwo Osi Awo 
 Oluwo otun Awo 
 Olopon ekeji Awo 
 Babalawo 
 
 Babalawo 
 Olowo 
 Odofin 
 Aro 
 
 The accused 
 
 Ajigbona 
 Assistant 
 Aworo 
 Assistant 
 
 Asarepawo 
 Assistant 
 Asawo 
 Assistant 
 
 Apetebi 
 Assistant 
 
 ? 
 
 Assistant 
 
 Orun 
 
 Odu 
 
 Ogbe meji 
 Oyeku 
 Iwori 
 
 Odin or Edi 
 
 Iroshun 
 Owonrin 
 Obara 
 Okonron 
 
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 q 2 
 
228 
 
 NIGERIAN STUDIES 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 The Aro or Owe of the Farmers. 
 
 Ashipa 
 Oba wungu 
 Oluri 
 Ekeri 
 
 The farmer accused 
 Farmer 
 Assistant 
 Farmer 
 Assistant 
 
 Farmer 
 Assistant 
 Farmer 
 Assistant 
 
 Farmer 
 Assistant 
 Farmer 
 Assistant 
 
 The Market Women and People's Ogboni or the Sense 
 Common to All. 
 
 Sensation 
 
 Mind 
 
 Body 
 
 Inception 
 
 Conception 
 
 *• Fulfilment 
 
 Spirit of departed 
 Wisdom or science 
 Faith or Religion 
 Obedience or Law 
 
 Action 
 Execution 
 Propagation 
 Proclamation 
 
 Nervous system 
 
 Hearing 
 Association 
 Speaking 
 Ideation 
 
 Smelling 
 Imagination 
 Touching 
 Impression 
 
 Seeing 
 Reproduction 
 Tasting 
 Construction 
 
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XVIII 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 The King's Ogboni. 
 
 229 
 
 Native form of 
 Government, 
 of which the 
 Oba is the 
 head 
 
 Council 
 
 or 
 Ogboni 
 
 Executive ■ 
 
 Legislative 
 
 Justice 
 and 
 Life 
 
 Church 
 
 and 
 Marriage 
 
 Death 
 and 
 k Offspring 
 
 ' Iyalode, the Queen 
 Dowager 
 Oba, the King 
 Balogun, the War Chief 
 Bashorun, the Prime 
 Minister 
 
 ' President, the Bashorun 
 Akpena, who convenes the 
 
 meeting 
 Oluwo, the Treasurer 
 Odofin, the Arbitrator 
 
 The Plaintiff 
 
 Lisa, Iwarefa 
 
 Egbe „ Or Assistant 
 
 Bisa 
 
 Egbe 
 
 Bala 
 Egbe 
 Asalu 
 Egbe 
 
 r Malukun 
 Egbe 
 Ashipa 
 Egbe 
 
 Possible Direction of Development. 
 
 Head of the Church 
 The King 
 
 The Lord Chancellor 
 The Prime Minister 
 
 The Prime Minister 
 
 The Speaker 
 
 The Chancellor of Exchequer 
 
 The Lord Chief Justice 
 
 The People or Nation 
 
 The Court of Equity 
 The Courts of Justice 
 The Church 
 The State 
 The Commons 
 The House of Lords 
 
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Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
ADDENDUM 
 
 THE SMALL POX GOD. 
 
 How Its Priests and Priestesses Ply Their 
 Inhuman Trade. 1 
 
 Suggestions for putting an end to this traffic in human lives. 
 
 The method of effecting the cure of the Small Pox disease 
 among the Yorubas was known only to a class of men (priest 
 and priestesses) who make a big trade of the affair by eleva- 
 ting the small pox into a god. One tradition states that 
 Shoponna (Small Pox) was a very wicked boy who often 
 excited great commotions in his town. On one occasion 
 after he had beaten to death several of his townspeople, he 
 was taken by his parents and sold to a native doctor who 
 taught him the use of very bad and poisonous drugs. 
 
 With these he effected the death of most of his fellow 
 citizens. No one dared mourn the death of these victims but 
 will suffer deprivation of his house and property ; and worse 
 still the relative of the deceased while in that house of mourn- 
 ing has to pay Shoponna and his master a congratulatory 
 visit thanking them for having claimed a victim from their 
 midst. Hence the small pox is ofter termed Alapadupe (a 
 man who kills and is thanked for the killing). After his 
 death the shoponna was deified and worshipped. 
 
 The following materials can be found in the house of every 
 small pox priest or priestess as emblems of the presence of 
 this god: — i. A calabash containing some portion or portions 
 of the carcase of a small pox victim such as the elbow right 
 on to the palm of the hand ; and the ankle right on to the 
 palm of the foot. 2. A pot containing some black liquid 
 which is made up of water collected from the body of the 
 corpse or that with which the deceased was washed when 
 alive. 3. A small vessel of black powder compounded from 
 the trash of the small pox after it is dried up. It is the 
 
 1 From The Nigerian Chronicle, February 25, 1910. 
 
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232 ADDENDUM 
 
 water or powder that is always thrown during night time in 
 front of the houses of individuals who are spotted: the 
 inmates inhale the germs during the day when at work or at 
 play and in this way the infection is caught on. Immediately 
 the rash is seen on any one a priest or priestess is to attend 
 on him and in nine cases out of ten helps to spread the 
 disease rather than check it. It is more to his or her interest 
 to do this, for apart from the heavy amount he receives for 
 medical attendance, he claims for himself all the personal 
 effects of his patient in case he succumbs. 
 
 These priests do not bury the dead but throw the corpses 
 into the bush to be devoured either by carrions or pigs who 
 sometimes drag the inedible portions into the town and 
 in front of houses. In this way is the disease made to 
 spread and priests drive a very lucrative trade. When a few 
 years ago the Government compelled some people in a 
 hinterland town to bury these corpses, the priest often found 
 it necessary to dig a dozen or more graves daily to await the 
 news of small pox victims. 
 
 Unless the Government track these wicked priests to their 
 very recesses in the farms of the Yoruba towns — and there 
 are a great number of them in Abeokuta, Ijebu and Ibadan 
 farms — and burn up their materials and houses of worship, 
 the small pox disease will ever continue its ravages in this 
 quarter of Southern Nigeria. It is not enough to arrest 
 worshippers in large towns like Abeokuta only. Those found 
 there are but the disciples of the real worshippers. Let the 
 Government pursue them into their strongholds in the Egba 
 and other farms, if this epidemic is to be checked. A capita- 
 tion fee paid to any successful detective under this head, I am 
 sure, will bring the desired end. 
 
 ADESOLA. 
 
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"Nigerian Studies" 
 
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 Colony of Southern Nigeria . 
 
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 OUTLINE MAP 
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 p THE COLONY and PROTECTORATE 
 
 OF — 
 
 •OUTHERW NIGERIA: 
 
 1910 
 
 Scale of Miles 
 
 2° E 
 
 If. H. Beverley, Capt. ,1.0., S.N. 
 
 Igitized by Microsof t®- 
 
 «3** 
 
 10° 
 
 12° 
 
 London: MadmJlsax & Co.Lta-. 
 
 Stanford's Geogi Estab%London 
 
Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
INDEX 
 
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Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abeokuta, 7, 14, 44, 45, 51, 62, 85, 
 92, 112, 159, 164, 193, 2°4 
 
 Adesola, 28, 31, 35, 36, 41, 55, 59, 
 87 
 
 Aganju, 97, 100, 101, 226 
 
 Agbarigbo, 103, 144 
 
 Ajele, 194, 199, 201-204 
 
 Ajeshaluga, ioi, 102, 143-145, 191, 
 217, 226 
 
 Alafin, 6, 8, 58, 91, 92, 199-201, 204 
 
 Alake, 12, 14, 77, 92, 112, 192, 227 
 
 Alaketu, 12, 13, 76, 77, 92 
 
 Alashe, 22, 23, 104. 
 
 Alldridge, T. J., 55, 59 
 
 Awnomila. See Orunmila 
 
 Babalawo, 2, 26, 46-48, 71, 90, 93, 
 
 '49, IS 1 . '52, 165, 167, 174, 178, 
 
 180, 218, 222, 227 
 Bale, 17, 199, 201-204, 206-208, 216 
 Balogun, 15, 61-64, 85, 105, 173, 193, 
 
 206, 227, 229 
 Barbot, 61, 67, 107-109, 132 
 Bashorun, 61-64, 97. IO S> 'S'i 193, 
 
 226, 229 
 Basuto, 57 
 Bavili, 58, 69, 82, 85, 120, 157, 191, 
 
 210, 213, 225 
 Bellamy, C. V., 126-129 
 Bini, 9, 39, 56, 62, 63, 66, 76, 80, 82, 
 
 108, no, 121, 148, 157, 199 
 Birth, 136, 167, 168 
 Blacksmith, 125-129, 214 
 Blyden, Dr. E. W., 156 
 Bosman, 68, 132, 138, 157, 167 
 Bull-roarer, 28, 33-53 
 Burial customs, 28-33, 36, 41-44, 56- 
 
 58, 176, 189, 219. 
 Buruku, 71, 79, 102, 219 
 
 Calendar, 60, 63, 77-80, 100-104, 
 130-139. 191. 215, 226 
 
 Campbell, D. R., 198 
 
 Categories, 151, 152, 190, 191, 215, 
 
 220-225 
 Chimpanzee, 34, 35 
 Circumcision, 167, 168 
 Colour, 217-219 
 Cotton, E. P., 170, 197 
 Crawley, 3 
 
 Creation, 17, 18, 74, 83 
 Crowther, Bishop, 45, 73, 77, 81, 82, 
 
 86, 90, 145, 210 
 
 Dada, ioi, 102, 144, 168, 189, 190, 
 
 226 
 Dahomi, 7 
 Divination, 148, 149 
 
 Egba, 7, 14, 29, 36, 37, 41, 43, 51, 53, 
 91, 93, 140, 142, 164, 192, 200, 204, 
 206 
 
 Egbo, 55 
 
 Egun, 28, 29, 30, 33, 183 
 
 Egungun, 28-33, 36, 54, 56, 58, 104 
 
 Eleda, 17, 18, 74, 86, 147 
 
 Elegba, 94, 95, 100, 103 
 
 Eleko, 28 
 
 Elgee, Captain, 24, 25 
 
 Ellis, Colonel, 33, 46, 51, 70, 73, 74, 
 77-79, 81, 86, 87, 95, 98, 101-103, 
 no, in, 114, 123, 148-150, 158, 
 159, 168, 170, 214 
 
 Eluku, 55, 56, 58 
 
 Erinle, 188-190, 226 
 
 Eshu, 25, 26, 77, 78, 93-97, 100-102, 
 104, 117, 151, 170, 186, 226 
 
 Ewaw, 170, 175-188 
 
 Execution, 41, 43, 45 
 
 Farming, 130-133, 138-145, 215, 216 
 
 Fire, 216 
 
 Fishing, 106-114, 133, 198, 211, 212 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
234 INDEX 
 
 Flood, 114, 115 
 
 Food plants, 131, 133, 138, 139 
 
 Frazer, J. G., 159, 175 
 
 George, Mr., 153 
 
 Government, 61, 62, 91, 92, 97, 105, 
 
 192-194 
 Grove (Sacred), 19-22, 25, 150 
 
 Haddon, Dr., 38 
 
 Hartze, H., 55 
 
 Hausa States, 11 
 
 Healy, J. J. C, 196 
 
 History, 6-16 
 
 Hunting, 116-123, 198, 213, 214 
 
 Ibadan, 8, 43, 51, 159, 162, 188, 200, 
 201-204 
 
 Ibibio, 176 
 
 Ifa, 2, 3, 18, 19, 63,64, 71, 73, 78, 80, 
 86-97, 100-104, no, 114, 115, 118, 
 123, 137, i47-'55, 164, 165, 167, 
 170, 176, 181, 184, 191, 218, 226, 
 227 
 
 Ife, 8, 11, 15, 19. 22-27. 69, 77. 87, 
 89, 201 
 
 Ijebu, 8, ss, 89, 92, 93, 200, 203, 204 
 
 Iketu, 8 
 
 Ilesha, 8 
 
 Ilorin, 8 
 
 Initiation Ceremonies, 38-40, 56 
 
 Insignia, 192, 193 
 
 Iro, 28, 34-36, 104, 172, 173 
 
 Iron- working, 125-129 
 
 Jakuta, 12, 17, 63-68, 71-72, 77-79, 
 97, 99, 101, 124, 137, 138, 169, 206 
 
 Johnson, Bishop, 63, 73, 81, 86, 87, 
 148, 149, 152, 170 
 
 Kerieo, 88, 158 
 Kingsley, Mary, 108 
 
 Lagos, 8-10 
 Land tenure, 195-208 
 Leopard, 120, 192 
 Lishabi, 7, 8 
 
 Malu, 38 
 Market, 80 
 Marriage, 156-162, 165-167, 175-182, 
 
 191, 216. 
 Mbundu, 56 
 
 Mohammedanism, II, 12, 75 
 Morimi, 22, 23 
 
 Niepos ara Orun, 51 
 Nkimbi, 53 
 
 Oba (Chief), 61-64, 105, 199, 219, 229 
 Oba (Orisha), 101, 102, 144, 168, 169, 
 
 189-191, 219, 226 
 Obatala, 63, 64, 69, 71, 73. 74. 78, 79. 
 
 81-86, 97, 100, 101, 103, 114, 132, 
 
 147, 167, 170, 181, 186, 226 
 Odedaino, 165 
 Odu, 2, 4, 73, 80, 88-90, no, 147-152. 
 
 191, 226, 227 
 Odudua, 11, 18, 19, 58, 63, 65, 71, 73- 
 
 77, 79, 80, 82-84, 87, 96. 97, 99> 
 
 101, 104, in, 115, 147. I 7°. J72, 
 
 173, 186, 214, 226 
 Ogboni, 32, 34, 37, 40-42, 44, 45, 57, 
 
 62, 91. 92, 97, 98, 101, 104, 105, 
 
 123, 152, 193, 221, 226-229 
 Ogun, 19, 78-80, 101, 102, 104, 116- 
 
 119, 123-125, 136, 144, 153, 169, 
 
 I7I-I73. 180, 182, 183, 191, 213, 
 
 214, 226 
 Oja (priestess), 3, 17, 77, 86, 87, 147, 
 
 170 
 Oja, 13 
 Oke, 101-104, 143, 144, 158, 159, 162, 
 
 164, 180, 191, 216, 226 
 Oko, 101-104, 143, 144, 158, 159, 164, 
 
 166, 180, 187, 191, 216, 226 
 Oliyitan, 2, 71, 78, 91, 93, 149, 191, 
 
 226 
 Oloawon, 39, 40 
 Olodumare, 83 
 Oloko, 202 
 Olokun, 70, 101-103, no, in, 113, 
 
 144, 180, 190, 210, 212, 226 
 Olorun, 12, 17, 18, 46, 48, 67, 72, 86, 
 
 226 
 Olosa, 101, 102, in, 113, 115, 144, 
 
 180, 190, 212, 226 
 Oloyo, 12, 14, 76 
 Omens, 113, 118, 119 
 Omonide, 12, 14, 75-77 
 Oni, 19, 22-25, 27, 39, 77, 87, 90- 
 
 92 
 Onile, 202-205 
 
 Oranyan, 24, 26, 90, 104, 170 
 Ore, 19, 21, 22 
 Orisha, 3, et passim 
 Orishala, 18, 19, 73, 77-79, 81-85, 
 
 103, 104, 173, 186 
 Oro, 28, 29, 33-59, 104, 154, 181, 
 
 lOO 
 
 Oru, 13, 14 
 
 Orun, 69, 72, 95, 98, 101 
 
 Orungan, 69, 97, 98, 100, 101, 115, 210, 
 
 226, 
 Orunmila (Awnomila), 26, 87, 90, 148, 
 
 ISO, 'S3 
 Oshowsi, 101, 102, 104, 117, 123-125, 
 
 144. 180, 191, 213, 226 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
INDEX 
 
 235 
 
 Oshu, 94, 95, ioi, 151, 213, 226 
 Oshun, 101-104, 144, 168, 169, 174, 
 
 I75> 187, 189, 191, 216, 226 
 Ovia, 39, 40, 56 
 Oya, 101, 102, 104, 144, 168, 169, 184, 
 
 185, 191, 226 
 Oyo, 7, 76, 89, 91, 93, 126, 169, 170, 
 
 199, 200 
 
 Parkinson, J., 46 
 
 Pellegrin, Mr., 37, 42, 83, 171, 204 
 
 Phillips, Bishop, 87, no, 148-150 
 
 P°ro, 55-56 
 Property, 142 
 Punch, C, 52 
 
 Rainbow, 217 
 Rayner, T. C, 196 
 
 Sacrifice, 23, 31, 34, 37, 44, 47-49, 
 70, 94, 102, in, 117, 123, 124, 143, 
 152, 163, 169, 182-188, 194 
 
 Saintyves, P., 67 
 
 Salt, 140 
 
 Secret Societies, 28, 29, 31, 32, 36, 38, 
 51. 55-57. 122, 123, 143 
 
 Senses, 210, 211, 220, 221 
 
 Shango, 12, 58, 65, 67, 72, 78, 79, 92, 
 101-104, 123, 144, 168-173, 181, 
 185, 189-191, 216, 219, 226 
 
 Shankpana, 71, 101, 102, 144, 187, 
 189-191, 219, 226 
 
 Shoremakun, 180 
 
 Slaves, 205 
 
 Stone, Rev. R. H., 45 
 
 Stones, Sacred, 3, 18, 19, 22, 27, 66, 67, 
 9°. 95 
 
 Taboo, see Ewaw 
 
 Tarahumake, 57 
 
 Tasso, 56 
 
 Thunderbolts, 65, 68, 136-138, 168 
 
 Togun, 3, 17, 18, 24, 26, 67, 73, 77, 
 
 81, 86 
 Tucker, Miss, 44 
 Twins, 35 
 
 Westermark, 57 
 Winds, 65-71 
 
 Yemoja, 65, 71, 78, 79, 97-105, 113- 
 115, 144, 152, 168, 170, 188, 210, 
 226 
 
 Yemuhu, 18, 73, 74, 147 
 
 Yoruba States Origin, 10, 12 
 
 k. CLAY AND SONS. LTD., BREAD ST. HILL. E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK*. 
 
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