Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/688

378 demons who play a middle role between him and the people. These are represented in the form of carved wooden masks or human shapes, and they have exactly the same meaning as if they were ancestors. Offerings with supplications are made to these in the new moon, a granite block which is generally kept in the "Palaver-house," being used as an altar.

The carved wooden figures of the Bakundu and Bakoko groups are referred to by Passarge as being representatives of the dead.

The development of the mask in certain ceremonies appears to have had its origin in a custom according to which skulls were first used, but were later superseded by carved wooden representations, some of which have now become degenerate in form. It is possible that the use of masks in the ceremonies of secret societies has developed from the same origin.

Amongst the Tikar the belief exists that at death the ghost (akong) leaves the body through the nose. If the deceased person was good-living, then the ghost goes straight to Masuë, the water god of the Tikar; if evil, the ghost must go to a place where the god cannot see him. This is in order to make people pay for their guilt. There is no judgment, and the evil ghosts must live in the world set apart for them. The ghosts of the good can return to earth and influence the life of their relations and friends, but the ghost of an evil man cannot return to earth and so cause trouble. In any supplication made to the ghosts, that of the father is always called upon for help.

Thorbccke says that the ghost of a chief is regarded somewhat differently. Not only the heir, but all the attendants and members of the tribe look upon the ghost of a dead chief as their protector. A chief is buried on the