WEST AFRICAN SECRET SOCIETIES.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.".1
Sr,—.Will you permit me to refer to Mr. Fred. Edmondson's letter on the West African Regiment in the Spectator of August 15th? He says that the majority of the men in that "regiment belong to secret societies, of Which few people have any real knowledge." For those who are interested to know that these societies are merely tribal, and not revolutionary, I would refer them to my introductory outline of the subject printed in " Ars Quatuor Coronatornm " in May, 1899, and reprinted as a brochure entitled "The Secret Tribal Societies of West Africa," and containing far more, at that time, new matter than in the extract of my paper read before the Anthropo- logical Institute, and published in the Journal in August, 1899. There are, however, " Leopard" societies which are regarded as antagonistic even to the tribe itself, and which all right-minded natives abhor. • But customs and societies bound up with the very origin and existence of the tribe itself, forming its government and religion, are no more to be despised than the Privy Council and Cabinet of England, and should be employed by our Colonial Administrations as a machine of which the natives well understand the justice and through which our orders would be willingly carried mat. The Mohammedan followers of Senussi probably, so I am informed, constitute a real danger. The pith of the letter is, however, that the West African Regiment is not sufficiently matured to allow of the withdrawal of the West India Regiment.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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