Читать книгу Human Leopards - Sir Kenneth James Beatty - Страница 6

Although it is impossible to say that the Human Leopard Society is connected with the Poro, nevertheless any account of that Society would be wanting unless accompanied by some reference to the Poro, one of the secret societies by which the natives of the Sierra Leone Hinterland are educated and were, until the British Government took over the administration of the country, ruled. Mr. Migeod, in the Journal of the African Society for July, 1915, ventures the suggestion that Purrus Campus in Ptolemy’s map of the second century may be no other than the Latin for Poro bush; and everything points to the custom being of great antiquity. The earlier writers on Sierra Leone dwell almost exclusively upon the predatory habits of the Poro and the danger of trespassing into the Poro bush, but Major Laing (1822), who travelled amongst the Hinterland tribes to the north of Sierra Leone, also points to the fact that it was the Poro which governed the country. He says:

“Particular pieces of ground (generally eminences covered with thick wood) are consecrated to the Greegrees and held sacred. I have always seen those enclosures approached with reverential awe, and have been informed that the smallest encroachment upon them would subject the aggressor to the most awful punishment from the Purrah, an institution which is much dreaded by the whole of this unhappy country. Their power supersedes even that of the headmen of the districts, and their deeds of secrecy and darkness are as little called in question, or inquired into, as those of the inquisition were in Europe, in former years. I have endeavoured in vain to trace the origin or cause of formation of this extraordinary association, and have reason to suppose that it is now unknown to the generality of the Timannees, and may possibly be even so to the Purrah themselves, in a country where no traditionary records are extant, either in writing or in song.

“In the early ages of the slave trade (which particularly prevailed in this country) every nefarious scheme was resorted to by the headmen for the purpose of procuring subjects for the markets. It may be conjectured that where liberty was so insecure concealment not difficult, and the means of subsistence easy to be procured, and when the power of the headmen did not extend beyond the limits of their own town, many individuals, whose safety was endangered, would fly to the woods for protection; and as their numbers increased, would confederate for mutual support, and thus give rise to secret signs of recognition and rules of general guidance. It may further be supposed, that in a country divided amongst numerous petty authorities, each jealous of the other, such a confederacy may soon have become too powerful for any probable combination against them; and being possessed of power would at length employ it in the very abuses to which it had owed its own origin.

“The headquarters of the Purrah are in enclosures situated in the woods; these are never deserted by them entirely, and any man, not a Purrah, approaching them is instantly apprehended, and rarely ever heard of again. The few who have reappeared after several years of secretion have always become intermediately Purrah men themselves; those who do not again appear are supposed to be carried away to distant countries and sold. The Purrahs do not confine themselves always to the seizure of those who approach their enclosures, but frequently carry off single travellers, and occasionally whole parties, who are imprudent enough to pass from one town to another in certain districts without applying for an escort from the body. To ensure safety, one Purrah man is sufficient, who, while leading the party, blows a small reed whistle suspended from his neck. At the advice of Ba Kooro, I procured one of these persons as a guide from Ma Bung to Ma Yasoo, the intermediate country being thickly inhabited by the Purrah. As we passed along, they signified their vicinity to us, by howling and screaming in the woods, but although the sounds denoted their neighbourhood, no individual was seen.

“The Purrahs frequently make an irruption into towns in the night-time, and plunder whatever they can lay their hands upon—goats, fowls, cloths, provisions, men, women, or children. On such occasions the inhabitants remain shut up in their homes, until long after the plunderers retreat. During the time that I was in the interior, I always had a sentry over my quarters at night, for the protection of the baggage. One night, the town in which we slept was visited by the Purrah, and my sentinel remained firm at his post. When the Purrah came up, an attack was made upon him, but the application of the bayonet kept them at a distance until I made my appearance, when the Purrah, uncertain of their power over a white man, scampered off; they were mostly naked and unarmed, but a few had knives.

“The outward distinguishing marks of the Purrah are two parallel tattooed lines round the middle of the body, inclining upwards in front, towards the breast, and meeting in the pit of the stomach. There are various gradations of rank among them, but I could never ascertain their respective offices; persons said to be men of rank amongst them have been pointed out to me with great caution, as the Timannees, generally, do not like to speak of them; but I could learn nothing further. Purrah-men sometimes quit their retirement, and associate with the townspeople, following employments of various kinds, but no chief or headman dare bring a palaver against a Purrah-man, for fear of a retributive visit from the whole body. At stated periods they hold conventions or assemblies, and on those occasions the country is in the greatest state of confusion and alarm; no proclamation is publicly made, but a notice from the chief or headman of the Purrah, communicated by signs hung up at different places, with the meaning of which they are acquainted, is a summons to them to meet on an appointed day, at a certain rendezvous. Palavers of great weight, such as disputes between rival towns, or offences of such magnitude as to call for capital punishments, are always settled by the Purrah—the headmen of towns not having at the present day (whatever power they may have possessed formerly) the lives or their subjects or dependents in keeping. The Purrah may be therefore said to possess the general government of the country, and from the nature of their power, and the purposes to which it is applied, they will probably be found a most serious obstacle to its civilization.”^[9]

ENTRANCE TO A “PORO BUSH.”

Every subsequent writer touches upon the Poro, and gradually more information is gleaned as to its object and procedure and the manner in which it exercises its power. The fullest account is to be found in Mr. Alldridge’s “The Sherbro and its Hinterland” (1901). The Poro is for men only, and it begins by training the youth of the country. Boys between 7 and 20 are taken into the Poro bush for several months. “The meetings of the fraternity for initiation of new members always take place in the dry season, from November to April, as they are held in the Big Bush, a part of which is sufficiently cleared and the ground cleaned. The opening to the Big Bush is rudely constructed of palm leaves, the entrance being through leafy bowers, and the aperture serving for a doorway hung with country mats. Inside, the place is separated into compartments similarly divided by palm leaves—that entrance also being hung with mats. The whole is beneath the dense and overspreading foliage of high trees, and is known as the Poro bush.”^[10] This Big Bush is usually much higher than the usual low bush of the country, and looks more like virgin bush—a scarce commodity in Mende land. Here the boys are taught and trained and initiated, here they dance and sing after dark, and here they are imbued with the idea of the power and authority of the Poro. After some months of training the boy is placed in—

(1) The Messenger or servant class; or,

(2) The Mohammedan Mori^[11] or the Devil men class; or,

(3) The Chiefs’ class;

when further initiation and instruction suitable to his class are given.

Until the British Government proclaimed a Protectorate, the government of the country was practically in the hands of the third class. The chiefs would assemble in the Poro bush, they would be sworn to secrecy, and then would discuss the matter in hand; their orders would be issued and carried out by the whole Society; any member in default could be tried by a Poro tribunal inside the Poro bush, condemned, and there put away.

Every member of the Human Leopard Society is a member of the Poro, the main supporters of both societies are the chiefs, the place of meeting for both societies is the Poro bush—this suffices to show how easily the Poro organization can be used, and no doubt has been used, for many of the purposes of the human leopards.

BUNDU DEVILS, SIERRA LEONE.