Among some tribes, especially the Ekkett Ibibio, the tortoise shell is looked upon as the symbol of the Earth Deity, the goddess of fertility. The snake is the chief phallic symbol, not only on account of its shape but also because many species live underground and are therefore taken to represent the dead, to whose influence the fruitfulness of the crops is in many places considered mainly due. [Illustration: FIG. 4. Outside the Mbari house, Omo Dim] II MBARI HOUSES From Aba, we passed through Omo Dim, in Owerri District, to visit the Mbari house there. According to Ababua, priest of Amade Onhia at Ibo near Okomoko, the meaning of the word Mbari is ‘fine’ or ‘decorated.’ The central part of the strange structure at Omo Dim proved to be a rectangular building with steeply pointed roof and overhanging eaves, the latter so wide as to make a broad verandah. The walls, forming the central chamber, were painted with elaborate frescoes, mostly in red and white upon yellow, or red and yellow upon white. On either side of the main entrance to the inner, sacred apartment were here, and in most Mbari houses subsequently visited, figures so strikingly like those of Omogwa and Otamelli, the two strangely elongated guardians of the Thunderer’s shrine at Ibodo (fig. 19), as to make it probable that all had a common origin and were set there for the same purpose, namely to warn trespassers from approaching the shrine. To others the people had only answered vaguely in reply to questions as to the purpose of the building: ‘We make it for nothing, only to please ourselves.’ The identity of the white figure at the top of the ladder was explained, as a portrait of the District Commissioner!