VAI COUNTRY A PORTION OF NEGROLAND

The Vai country is a portion of the great Negroland, the latter of which is inhabited by an estimated population of more than 30,000,000 Negroes. This Negroland was known among ancient geographers by different names, sometimes by Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigretia, Tekrour, but more generally by Genewah, from the last of which we have derived the word Guinea. The land of the Blacks, now generally known as the Sudan, is a broad strip of territory between the seventh and seventeenth parallels north latitude, extending across the African continent from the Atlantic to the southern mouth of the Red Sea, and marked by a water-belt of rivers and lakes from the Senegal to the sources of the Nile. Along the northern limits of the Sudan is the great desert of Sahara, beyond which lies the fertile strip along the Mediterranean, occupied by the Berber states. Connecting this fertile land of the north and the Negro Belt is the valley of the Nile, which suggests all those Arabian and Egyptian influences which for centuries have played upon the Negro peoples.

ORIGIN OF THE VAI PEOPLES

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Rev. S. W. Koelle, who visited the Vai country about 1851 and who wrote a grammar of the Vai language, gives as his opinion that the Vais came from the interior. This opinion was based on the fact that the Vai language was bordered on the north and south by entirely different languages, the Kirim on the north and relics of the Déwoi on the south. He also found a tradition among the Vai people "that they emigrated from a district of the Mánde country." He thought also that the Mándes not only took the country but adopted the name of the conquered people. The tradition

S. W. Koelle, Vai Grammar, Preface, p. iii. There is a Mandingo word, andavai, meaning split from, and it seems very likely that the word Vai is derived from it. Vai scholars informed the writer that when the people now called Vais separated from the Mandingos, those remaining called those who left Vais in derision. Some stated the separation to have been caused by rival brothers contending over a Mandingan throne.

says that the Mándes were under the command of Fabule and Kiatamba.7

From what the writer learned in a trip across the Vai country, the opinion expressed by Reverend Koelle is not only highly probable but well attested by many considerations and facts other than those mentioned by him. The writer was informed by numerous chiefs and Vai scholars that the Vais came from the Mandingo country not only under the leadership of Kiatamba and Fabule, but Cassu and Manoba, his son. A story was told to the effect that a Mandingo king of Musardu had a son who broke a law, which according to custom forfeited his life. His father dearly loved him and escaped with him to the Tegya country and founded the Vai tribe, and later he and his followers pressed onward until the coast was reached. From all the obtainable data on the subject it seems pretty well settled that the Vais were Mandingos and came to the coast for commercial and other advantages.

NATURAL AND URBAN SOCIAL CONDITIONS

Like most of the tribes of West Africa, the Vais are distributed over a thickly wooded country of wild and tangled forests, the natural abode of poisonous reptiles and the nightly haunts of ferocious beasts. Here may be found the prowling leopard, the fierce crocodile, and the man-like chimpanzee. Here may be seen the elephant, the buffalo, the hippopotamus, and the cruel, dreaded boa constrictor, lying for days in ambush for its prey.

This section is principally drained by the Manna, Marfa, and Little Cape Mount Rivers. At Grand Cape Mount is a lovely lake, extending for miles into the interior, and beside which is a range of hills whose insular crest at the coast is some 1065 feet above the level of the sea. For seven months there is almost continual rain, and for five months it is dry with transitions of intermittent showers. The climate is

7 The spear which Kiatamba brought with him is said to be now at Bomie, and was exhibited to the writer during the ceremonies of the king who had just died.

damp during the rains except upon the mountains and warm during the drys. The mean average temperature at Monrovia is about 83° F. with daily variations from 77° to 90°. As in most of Africa communication is slow and difficult, and to those distant from the rivers walking is the only means. Under these physical conditions the Vai people are scattered over the Vai country in towns and half-towns, connected with one another with narrow, winding foot-paths. The characteristic form of African society is the social group. Here isolation is not only unpleasant and exceedingly inconvenient, but absolutely dangerous and unsafe. Real native towns are the abodes of kings, past or present. In a town rice kitchens and the making of palm oil are prohibited. Towns are intended for comfort, pleasure, and the full enjoyment of the highest native life. Half-towns are for support, the main source and center of sustenance. All native towns or half-towns are built on sites for some or all of the following considerations: water, agricultural or commercial convenience, health, and military advantage. The towns are generally on hills difficult of approach to an attacking foe, while the half-towns are moved about in accord with convenience to gardens, farms and centers of trade. Commanding wide views of the neighboring country, many Vai towns are surrounded with two or three walls of barricade 25 or 30 feet apart. On the sides of approach, the ground is covered with large logs, at inconvenient distances or sharp sticks thickly stuck into the ground.

Towns are social, half-towns economic centers. In the latter are found the rice kitchens, the making of palm oil, and the raising of domestic fowls and animals. The towns consist of individual houses generally grouped together about an open space in the center and not far distant from one another with thoroughfares running both ways. With circular coneshaped roofs, the houses usually have dirt floors thrown up three or four feet above the general level. Covered on the outside with mud, the lower framework is selected from the varied and rare timbers of the country. is done with shingles made of palm branches. In the halftowns the houses generally indicate that they are temporary

The roofing

structures, due to the frequent changing of the farms and half-towns.

As a rule the houses contain two rooms, and sometimes more, and when there is more than one wife there is a house for each wife. Aside from the cooking utensils there may be seen in the kitchen the rice fanners, cloth weavers, a few chairs and a hammock and the fire-hearth. In the other room used for bedroom are chairs and a bed of bamboo, wooden trunks, water pots made of clay, a rattan line for the hanging up of clothes or bamboo rack, country mats and country cloths or blankets. On the whole the towns of the Vais are kept very clean and are noticeably superior in sanitary conditions to those of neighboring tribes.

EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION OF THE "DEVIL BUSH"

The "Devil Bush" is one of the most important institutions among the Vais, indeed of most of the tribes in West Africa. It is but one of many others whose social functions differ in form, but whose ultimate aim and purpose are one. Among the various tribes it is known by different names, but its mission and principles are substantially the same. It has been the observation of the writer for nearly ten years that most of the social institutions of West African natives tend to strengthen authority and to render government less difficult, and this is especially true of the "Devil Bush," deriving this name from Europeans because of the public appearance of representatives of the institution dressed and masked as devils.

The "Devil Bush" is a secret organization, and its operations are carried on in an unknown place. The penalty for divulging its secrets is said to be death. It is exceedingly difficult to ascertain much information concerning the inner workings of this society.

The head of the society we call a "Country Devil." He has sole power and is assisted by other members of the tribe versed in the principles of the organization. The society meets in what are called sessions, varying from three to ten years. It admits males alone between the ages of seven and

fifty. When the organization is in session, under the penalty of death, no one is allowed to visit the scene of its workings. The paramount aim of this institution is to prepare the young and to drill the old for the great ends of African life. More definitely stated instruction is given in (1) the industrial trades, (2) native warfare, (3) religious duties, (4) tribal laws and customs, (5) and the social arts.

While great stress is placed upon the secrets of the society its chief function is educational as a great political and social sanction. In the application of its principles there is no respect of person or rank. The bow and arrow is called the Vai alphabet. Every morning the small boys are first taught to use skillfully this weapon. In addition they are taught to throw the spear and wield the sword. In the afternoon they are taken on a jaunt for small game, and later are given practice in target shooting and throwing the spear. After supper they take up singing and dancing and their duties to their gods. To the latter a certain portion of their meals is said to be offered. Each is given the sacrificial ceremony; and they clap, dance, and sing their songs of praise.

When the boys have attained a certain advancement, among other things they have sham battles, with 150 or 200 boys on a side. A district is given to one side to be captured by the other. Each side has a captain and much stress is laid upon the display of bravery. Sometimes the contests assume aspects of reality. When one side repulses the other six times it is said to be victorious.

The next stage involves the teaching of the actual methods employed in the higher forms of native warfare. The most difficult feat in native war is the taking of strongly fortified and barricaded towns. Where the town to be taken is defended with shot and powder, the attacking party builds a barricade around the town in a siege to cut off all communication and supplies. When thus weakened the town is attacked at some advantageous moment. If repulsed they reattack the town and storm the barricades on a dark and rainy night when the loud thundering renders their approach unheard.

Beside teaching the above method of taking towns another is taught. The attacking party is arranged around a town