[Illustration: Omone, son of Chief Benebo of Buguma, in the costume of the Peri play] SOME NIGERIAN FERTILITY CULTS BY P. AMAURY TALBOT RESIDENT, NIGERIA OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD 1927 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD. THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, GLASGOW. PREFACE The facts collected here are almost exclusively such as came to my notice in the course of the ordinary administrative work in Degama Division, to which I was posted in June, 1914. The region is mainly inhabited by sections of the two great tribes of Ibo and Ijaw. A full description of these will be given later, but it appeared best to issue without further delay this little monograph, dealing with a certain aspect of their religion, the publication of which has already been long postponed owing in the first place to the war and then to pressure of other work. As regards the remaining tribes, the subject will be found discussed in other books, especially the _Ethnological Sketch_, comprising the second and third volumes of _The Peoples of Southern Nigeria_, published by the Clarendon Press. The descriptive parts in the following pages were written by my first wife. P. A. T. _June, 1925._ CONTENTS PREFACE v I. THE GREAT DRUM 1 II. MBARI HOUSES 10 III. MBARI HOUSES (_continued_) 26 IV. MBARI HOUSES (_continued_) 40 V. SKY GOD AND EARTH GODDESS 52 VI. IBUDU 65 VII. EKU 82 VIII. THE YAM CULT 99 IX. ALE AND THE ANCESTORS 120 INDEX 138 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS _Frontispiece_ Omone, son of Chief Benebo of Buguma, in the costume of the Peri play 1. Ikuru drum at Ihie 2. Phallic serpent (Eke) and tortoise (Naba), Okpala 3. Chief juju at Tema 4. Outside the Mbari House, Omo Dim 5. Clay figure of Ale in an Ibo Mbari house 6. Abara, the messenger of Ale and Amad’ongha or Otaminni 7. Girl ’Mgbe, Otaminni house, Opioro 8. Humorous figures 9. Shrine of Otaminni, Opioro 10. The chief of Opioro, head priest of Otaminni 11. Figure of Mbafor in the Njokku Mbari at Omo Dim 12. ‘Little Moon-face’, Omo Dim 13. Group in Obogwe Mbari house 14. Obukere Club head-dresses 15. Sacred drum used to call together the Obukere Club, Oduaha 16. Figure in Mbari house, Umoyo 17. Wrestling scene (’Mba) in shrine of Amade Onhia and Ale. Shrine drummers on the right 18. Clay figure of Amade Onhia in an Ibo Mbari house