CHAPTER I

HISTORY
Descriptive Note — Muhammedan Societies — Mu- hammedan- Pagan Societies — Pagan Societies — His- tory of Pagan Societies — Grouping of Pagan Societies.
The Native Secret Societies found amongst the peoples and tribes of the West Coast of Africa are many. Nearly one hundred and fifty of them are referred to in the following chapters.
They can be roughly divided into
(i) 'The Mystic and the Religious. These ap- proximate in organisation and purpose the Grecian Pythagoreans, the Roman Gnostics, the Jewish Kabbala and Essenes, the Bayern Illuminata, the Prussian Rosicrucians, and the world-wide Free- masons. In the course of the years they have evolved an official class that may be likened to the priesthood founded by Ignatius Loyola.
This group includes all the Muhammedan societies, all the Muhammedan-Pagan societies, and those of the Pagan societies known as Law-God, Priestly, Purification, Prohibition, and Protective associations.
(2) The Democratic and Patriotic. These are the tribal organisations that come under the titles of Agricultural Associations, Co-operative Societies, Dance and Play and Sports Clubs, Political Societies, Social Societies, Trade Guilds, and War Clubs. The last are included because they are now largely social organisations.
13
14 WEST AFRICAN SECRET SOCIETIES
Some of these are showing the trend of the times by using as rallying cries great words like " Patriot," "Truth," "Reform," "Friends of the People," " Rights of Man," as do similar organisations in Egypt and England and Italy and Poland and Turkey ; and fling out banners of challenge to all too hidebound to sympathise with " Young Africa." Some suggest that the organisers have studied the Muhammedan League and Fascism.
(3) The Subversive and Criminal. These have analogies with the German Totenbund (Band of Death), the Irish Ribbon Men and Fenian Brother- hood and Sinn Fein (Ourselves Alone), the Persian Assassins, the Mala Vita (Evil Life) of Naples, the Mafia of Sicily, the Ku Kluk Klan of Tennessee, and the Know-Nothings of the Southern States of America. They may be said to be akin to the American and Eur- opean Anarchists and Nihilists and Communists, but with powers crippled, as yet, by over-zealous leader- ship. Most are modern of origin, transplantations from other lands, foreign influences only slowly becoming acclimatised, in contrast to the societies of the other groups, which are indigenous to the soil of Africa.
There are also Ethical and Religious (Theological) societies to be found in most of the larger towns, founded to exploit native thought and native doubts and native conservatisms ; men and women banded together by their gropings after the ideals of The Friends of the Muses or the Knights Templar or European Ethical and Secular societies, but they are too exiguous and transient to be included here.
HISTORY
To discuss more conveniently the history of the societies, a division of them can be made into Muham- medan, Muhammedan-Pagan, and Pagan.
HISTORY 15
The first two are transplantations.
The Muhammedan Societies found along the West Coast were originally branches of the great religious fraternities of the North Coast. These were carried southwards and westwards by migrating Semitic, Libyan, and Libyo-Negroid families and septs, and by home-seeking ex-slave Negroids. They are few in number, being (to put them in their probable historic order) Sirri, Javia-kartas, Qairowan, Masubori, Mori,Mahammah-Jamboh, Kongcorong, and Bori.
The Muhamme dan-Pagan Societies evolved much later. Their presence, and their dual religious basis, is an advertisement of the ancient strength of the Pagan societies. When the Muhammedan peoples began to migrate westward in sufficient numbers to found empires, such as that in the district now known as Northern Nigeria, in the clash between Islamism and Paganism, not of arms and war only, but of mind and thought, the latter won, and proof of the victory is seen in this inclusion of Pagan rites into Muhammedan ceremonies.
The thirteen known societies of this order may be traced back to one of their number, Penda-penda, an early French Guinea organisation. It may have originally been a branch of Masubori or Mahammah- Jamboh or Kongcorong, but coming into contact with the Pagan Si'mo (and possibly Org) its purity of ritual declined, and it became the parent-influence of kindred associations, as shown in the following table.
Pagan Societies. In the history of anything Pagan there must always be hesitation in using dates. Suffice it then to say that when the Muhammedan invasion of the West Coast took place the Pagan societies were well established. They withstood that bitter antagonism, as they did the later one from the Jesuit Fathers (and their predecessors of The Order of Christ) who accompanied the earliest Portu-
i6 WEST AFRICAN SECRET SOCIETIES
guese adventurers to the coast. Almost contemptu- ously, they accepted from both spectacular trifles of ceremony and ritual.
Pagan influence Muhammedan influence through through Masubori-Kongcorong
Si'mo-Oro Mahammah-Jamboh
I I
I PENDA-PENDA
(French Guinea)
DOU AFA BELLI-PAARO
(Senegal) (Dahomey) (Liberia)
I I
KATAHWIRA KATAHWIRIBA
(Gold Coast)
I I I
NAFERI BOVIOWAH SINDUNGO
(Senegal) (Liberia) (Congo)
KWAGA JAMBOI SEMBE NANAM (Bornu) (Sierra Leone and Liberia)
They were instituted to enforce and maintain tribal traditions, customs and beliefs that were in ■ danger of changing or becoming obsolete. The organisers were the champions of the old against the new, as some of their descendants still are. They ■j were the restrictors of mental advance and punishers of the heretic and the unorthodox. They were clever enough to know that prohibition alone was not sufhcient foundation for any organisation desir- i ing longevity, and, therefore, made their societies ! the repositories of the folklore, myths and history and the conceptions of art and culture and learning and wisdom the tribes possessed. Moreover, they became the teachers of these things. The only teachers.
HISTORY
17
Gradually each society became the " Power " of the district within which it functioned. Member- ship became the best insurance the natives of those districts knew against surrounding dangers. Fear may have been the first motive, but loyalty soon followed. Their life was governed and regulated by the society's tenets, but they themselves were of it, initiated into it, and could become even officials of it. This may be why, when forced to migrate or when sold overseas, they planted the " banner " of their society in the midst of their new homes.
The earliest are of the Law-God organisation, to use a word already coined, and of those known before the seventeenth century the following grouping can be made.
SI'MO (French Guinea)
I
ORO
(Nigeria)
PORO
(Sierra Leone)
I BUNDU
(Sierra Leone)
-DYORO-
( Ivory Coast)
EGBO
(Nigeria)
I I I
NKIMBA MUNGI BUTWA
NKAMBA (Kameruns) (Angola)
(Congo)
AMPORA (Sierra Leone)
I I I
OGBONI ORISHA ELUKU
I (Nigeria)
NKANDA
(Congo)
All these great and powerful societies have largely influenced others. They are intertribal. Some have
1 8 WEST AFRICAN SECRET SOCIETIES
established successful branches in states other than that of their own headquarters. Some, like Poro of Sierra Leone with Nkimba of the Congo, have like- nesses in their secret language, and others have traces of similar rites, as have Si'mo of French Guinea and BuTWA of Angola.
Poro had influenced nearly all Sierra Leone with its branches, especially those of Bundu, Ampora, KuFONG and Mannekeh, being acknowledged by the Tenne, Mende, Sherbro, Vai, Kafu-BuUom, Koranko, Lokko, Limba and Sanda-Temne peoples, as well as by paganised Fula, Susu and Mandingo settlers.
Egbo by its powerful branches has influenced the Akuna-kuna, Andoni, Awori, Aro, Ebo, Efik, Egba, Egbado, Ede, Ekita, Ekoi, Ibani, Ibo, Ibibio, Geduma, Kukuruku, and other Yoruba and kindred peoples in Nigeria and Dahomey as well as some of the tribes of the Congo countries and the Kameruns.
Dyoro is known and feared and obeyed not only in the Upper Volta, but in the Gold Coast and Daho- mey, and through others of its branches right through the Niger Colony to the Upper Congo regions.
MuNGi has established branches in Belgian and French Congo, Dahomey, Kameruns, Nigeria, and BuTWA links one side of the continent to the other, influencing tribes from Angola to Rhodesia.
GROUPING OF THE PAGAN SOCIETIES
The Mystic and the Religious. This group includes the Law-God Societies, the Priestly associations, and the Prohibition, Protective and Purification societies.
{a) Law-God Societies. Ampora, Bundu, Poro, of Sierra Leone ; Butwa of Angola ; Dyoro of Upper Volta ; Egbo, Eluku, Ogboni, Orisha, Oro, of Nigeria ; Mungi of the Kameruns ; Nkamba, Nkanda, Nkimba, of the Congo ; and Si'mo of French Guinea.
(J?) Priestly Associations. These are brotherhoods after the order of the Hebrew Levites, and include
HISTORY 19
Ayaka, Ebomici, Eyo, Okonko, Nimm, Nri, of Nigeria ; Homowo, Oyeni, of the Gold Coast ; and Ikung, Malanda, Nda, Ukukwe, of the Congo.
(c) Prohibition Societies. Banban, Dubaia, Gbang- bani, Kangar, Kemah, Mannekeh, Sande, Tuntu, of Sierra Leone ; and Mawungu, Ngi, Izyoga, of the Congo.
{d) Protective Societies. Bih, Kimpasi, Kongold, Ndembo, of the Congo ; Boibente, Kofoo, Kufong, Tilang, Yassi, of Sierra Leone ; Dus of Upper Volta ; Egugu, Ekkpe, Ekkpo-Njawhaw, Ngbe, Oshorbo, Shopono, of Nigeria ; Egungun, Odiiwa, Odwira, of the Gold Coast ; Elung, Ukuku, of the Kameruns ; and Mukanda of the Congo.
(/?) Purification Societies. Apowa, Humoi, of the Gold Coast ; Chibados of Angola ; Iban-Isong, Ndito-Iban, Ovia, of Nigeria ; Muemba, Mukuku, of the Kameruns ; Njembe, of the Congo ; and Ramena, Segere, of Sierra Leone.
The Democratic and Patriotic.
{a) Agricultural Associations. If the prosperity of West Africa rests upon the attention paid by its peoples to agriculture, as some think, the farmers and other land associations are a hopeful sign. In all the populous districts they are now to be found, and they are being strongly helped by the agri- cultural colleges established by the various govern- ments. Most of the new associations have member- ships drawn from the ranks of young, educated men. Those chosen for description here are, however, of the older type founded on the ideas of the fertility cults. They include Adamu, Olokemeji, of Nigeria ; Koliumbo, Raruba, of Sierra Leone ; Neguiti of the Congo ; and Yugu of the Kameruns.
(b) Co-operative Societies. These are not exactly what the title conveys to most Americans or Britons, yet having some likenesses. Varying motives caused their foundation, mostly good, and they remain in the majority of cases great organisations of social and provident importance. They include Agbaia,
20 WEST AFRICAN SECRET SOCIETIES
Borro-Mia-Gundu, Wanka, of Sierra Leone ; Babende, Bena-Riamba, Lubuku, of the Congo ; Mborko, of Nigeria ; Olongumbu, of Angola ; and Zangbeto of Dahomey.
(c) Dance, Play and Sports Clubs. Aiyasa, Ank- umunko, Baya-Gbunde, Kaloko, Kure, Wunde, of Sierra Leone ; Ofiokpo, Owu-Egbo, of Nigeria ; and Yasi, of the Congo.
(d) Political Societies. Epe, Idiong, of Nigeria ; Joosai, Kinki, of Sierra Leone, and Owo of Nigeria.
(e) Social Organisations. Andomba, Ankoi, Kono, Tormai, of Sierra Leone ; Bweti, of the Congo ; and Ebere, Ekene, Eturi, Gelede, Ovato, Ovra, of Nigeria.
(/) Trade Guilds. There are numerous guilds of fishermen, hunters, copper and iron workers, wood- carvers, musicians, and traders. Those of the black- smiths are probably the oldest. In many tribes these workers form a separate clan or sept, ranking as members of chiefs' families, honoured as leading citizens and, in some districts, are exempt from the payment of taxes. The associations are well organised and exclusive, having passwords and signs and secret languages, and in some instances entrance and grade fees. They include Bakelebroa, of the Congo ; Kambonbonke, of Sierra Leone ; and Miwetyi, of the Congo.
(g) War Clubs. Abam, Eku-Meku, of Nigeria ; and Ekongola, of the Kameruns.
Subversive and Criminal. Most of the criminal associations are " animal " societies. The titles are often known to Europeans as " Human Baboon " or " Human Leopard." They include Alligator, Baboon, Boa, Leopard, Panther societies and the Tongo Players of Sierra Leone.
All the above divisions are merely attempts at grouping. Most of the societies have more than one reason for existence. Some seem to include in their work every one of the subjects detailed above.