The first definite reference to human leopards is to be found in Banbury’s “Sierra Leone; or, the White Man’s Grave,” 1888. At p. 183 he says: “Secret cannibalism is also prevalent, though the native punishment for this custom is death, and in the Mendi Mission (an American society) they possess the skin of a large leopard, with iron claws, which had once been the property of a man who, under this guise, satisfied his horrible craving.” This clearly refers to human leopard activity. Mr. Alldridge,[5] who has had a long and intimate acquaintance with the Mende tribes, is of opinion that the Human Leopard Society is of no great age, probably not more than half a century. All, however, that can be said with certainty is that until comparatively lately the operations of this society, if it existed, were so limited or so secret that the Society was unknown to Europeans, or indeed to Africans who were in touch with Europeans. In 1891 the report from the Mende country that a number of cannibals had been burnt to death came as a shock to the Executive. The existence of the practice of cannibalism was known, but there was no idea that there was cannibalism on such a large scale. It seems that the inhabitants of the Imperri chiefdom had suffered so heavily at the hands of the cannibals that they complained to their chief. The complaints becoming too numerous and too insistent to be disregarded, the chief called a meeting, and the big men of Gangama, Gbangbama, Yandehun, and other towns and villages met at Bogo. Here the question of cannibalism was discussed, and those present were informed that a number of Tongo players[6] had been summoned for the purpose of discovering the cannibals, the guilty parties no doubt depending upon their Borfima[7] and bribes to escape detection. On the appointed day the Tongo players arrived. A huge fire was lighted, and the Tongo players were directed to throw into the fire all persons whom they found to be cannibals. One of the first to be cast into the flames was the principal chief who had been instrumental in calling in the Tongo players, and it is asserted that as many as eighty persons were burnt to death, a number of them anticipating their fate and of their own accord throwing themselves into the flames. A mercantile agent who visited Bogo shortly after this terrible retribution reported that the spot where the burning took place was a sickening sight, with its heaps of white ashes and remains of human bodies, whilst Mr. Alldridge, who held an inquiry into the matter, says that the pyramid of calcined bones which he saw at the junction of two roads just outside Bogo was about four feet high. But the Government could not view with indifference such a crude and barbarous administration of justice, and on the 5th May, 1892, issued the following proclamation: