des to the demand, the Egbo assembly
immediately meet, and the drums are beat about the town; at the first
sound of which every woman is obliged to retreat within her own
dwelling, upon pain of losing her head for disobedience: nor until the
drum goes round the second time, to shew that council is ended, and the
Egbo returned, are they released from their seclusion. If the complaint
be just, the Egbo is sent to the offending party to warn him of his
delinquency, and to demand reparation, after which announcement no one
dares move out of the house inhabited by the culprit, until the affair
is settled, and if it be not soon arranged, the house is pulled down
about their ears, in which case the loss of a few heads frequently
follows. This extremity, however, rarely occurs, for if the offender be
not able to settle the matter himself, it is generally made up by his
relations and friends.

The Egbo man--that is the executive person wears a complete disguise,
consisting of a black network close to the skin from head to foot, a hat
with a long feather, horns projecting from his forehead, a large whip in
his right hand, with a bell fastened to the lower part of his back, and
several smaller ones round his ankles. Thus equiped he starts from the
Egbo-house, runs through the streets with his bells ringing, to the
house of the offender, followed by half a dozen subordinate personages
fantastically dressed, each carrying either a sword or stick.

I one day asked King Eyo who this Egbo was, who ran about with the
bells, "What? you tink Egbo be man, no, he be debil, come up from bush,
nobody know him," was his reply.

It is their custom upon the death of a great man, to have one of his
slaves, male or female, taken down to the side of the river to make what
they call a devil, which means, I presume, an offering to the Evil
Spirit; this is done in the following manner. A stake is driven into the
ground close to the water's edge, to this the poor wretch is fastened,
the head being pulled as high as possible to stretch the neck for the
sword, by which he is to be decapitated, and after the deed is
accomplished they carry the head through the town rejoicing.

These frightful orgies used to take place in the daytime, but in
consequence of the repeated remonstrances from the Captains of vessels,
who were shocked by the frequency of these horrid scenes, performed in
sight of all the ships in the river, they now take place in the night;