Among the Fang this society represents the worship of ancestors. The motive of the worship is not devotion to their ancestors but rather that they may procure their help in every undertaking, good and bad. Each man as directed by the head of the society secures the skull of a father or uncle recently deceased and after various ceremonies, of which I shall speak when I describe the native religion, he puts the skull in a box made for the purpose. No woman may see the contents of the box, nor is she supposed to know what it contains. If she should see the skull she will die. And she really does die, if it be known that she has seen it. She is doubtless poisoned by the society. The spirit of the ancestor, if the skull is well treated, will punish with sickness or death a disobedient or false wife, or any other enemy. This it is supposed will in some degree restrain disobedience on the part of wives and secure justice and honesty between men. Thus it serves the purpose of government. Where the power of the ancestor is the efficient agent rather than the supernatural power of the head of the society, the latter has less prominence and often does not profess to be more than a man. But where he is regarded as a gorilla, or spirit, no woman or child or uninitiated man may see him and live. Therefore as he approaches a town he gives warning by roaring like a gorilla. The women and children flee for their lives. Or, if unable to escape, they fall upon the ground and shut their eyes, mothers also putting their hands over their babies’ eyes, until the gorilla passes out of the town, after having helped himself to chickens, bananas or anything that he desires. The African, it is said, loves idleness, amusement and war; of these three he probably loves war most. Except in the vicinity of the foreign governments or the missions, war is the usual condition; not only between tribe and tribe but between village and village. Beyond the range of civilization there is no salutation between persons casually meeting and no need of it; a man hearing another approaching in the forest would hide. _Nsama_, which means a crowd, is also the word for chance, or opportunity; because a man does not go anywhere alone and a crowd is his opportunity. Of course villages are often on friendly terms and some may manage to remain so; but in such cases there are usually strong reasons of expediency.