he
altar of human sacrifice, but the divinity considers the offering of a
single virgin sufficient for all its requirements.

Some years after my visit to Ayudah, it happened that my traffic
called me to Lagos at the season of this annual festival, so that I
became an unwilling witness of the horrid scene.

When the slender crescent of the November moon is first observed, an
edict goes forth from the king that his _Juju-man_, or high-priest,
will go his annual round through the town, and during his progress it
is strictly forbidden for any of his subjects to remain out of doors
after sunset. Such is the terror with which the priests affect to
regard the sacred demon, that even the fires are extinguished in their
houses.

Towards midnight the _Juju-man_ issued from a sacred _gree-gree_ bush
or grove, the entrance to which is inhibited to all negroes who do not
belong to the religious brotherhood. The costume of the impostor is
calculated to inspire his countrymen with fear. He was clad in a
garment that descended from his waist to his heels like a petticoat or
skirt, made of long black fur; a cape of the same material was clasped
round his neck and covered his elbows; a gigantic hood which bristled
with all the ferocity of a grenadier's cap, covered his head; his
hands were disguised in tiger's paws, while a frightful mask, with
sharp nose, thin lips, and white color, concealed his face. He was
accompanied by ten stout barbarians, dressed and masked like himself,
each sounding some discordant instrument. Every door, by law, is
required to be left ajar for the free access of the _Juju_, but as
soon as the horrid noise is heard approaching from the _tabooed
grove_, each inhabitant falls to the ground, with eyes in the dust, to
avoid even a look from the irritated spirit.

A victim is always agreed upon by the priests and the authorities
before they leave the _gree-gree bush_, yet to instil a greater
degree of superstitious terror, the frightful _Juju_, as if in doubt,
promenades the town till daylight, entering a house now and then, and
sometimes committing a murder or two to augment the panic. At dawn the
home of the victim,--who, of course, is always the handsomest virgin
in the settlement,--is reached, and the _Juju_ immediately seizes and
carries her to a place of concealment. Under pain of death her parents
and friends are denied the privilege of uttering a complaint, or even
of lifting their heads from the dust.