All Fan Knives Are Fine Weapons, Superior To
The Knives Of All Other Coast Tribes I Have Met With, But The
Sacrifice Knife Is Distinctly Peculiar.
I found to my great
interest the same superstition in Congo Francais that I met with
first in the Oil Rivers.
Its meaning I am unable to fully account
for, but I believe it to be a form of sacrifice. In Calabar each
individual has a certain forbidden thing or things. These things
are either forms of food, or the method of eating. In Calabar this
prohibition is called Ibet, and when, in consequence of the
influence of white culture, a man gives up his Ibet, he is regarded
by good sound ju-juists as leading an irregular and dissipated life,
and even the unintentional breaking of the Ibet is regarded as very
dangerous. Special days are set apart by each individual; on these
days he eats only the smallest quantity and plainest quality of
food. No one must eat with him, nor any dog, fowl, etc., feed off
the crumbs, nor any one watch him while eating. I suspect on this
day the Ibet is eaten, but I have not verified this, only getting,
from an untrustworthy source, a statement that supported it.
Dr. Nassau told me that among Congo Francais tribes certain rites
are performed for children during infancy or youth, in which a
prohibition is laid upon the child as regards the eating of some
particular article of food, or the doing of certain acts.
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