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. [Illustration: BUNDU DEVILS, SIERRA LEONE.] TONGO PLAYERS A quotation which Mr. Alldridge has been so good as to allow from his “Sherbro and its Hinterland” (pp. 156–159) with respect to the Tongo players already alluded to will illustrate the atmosphere in which the human leopards worked.