Among Sierra Leoneans the Sherbro country enjoys a reputation for
mysteriousness. A country where every object, from the sandy soil one
treads in the streets to the bamboo chair one sits upon at home, is
supposed to possess intelligence and to be capable of "catching" one,
to wit, afflicting one with disease; a country where the penalty for
such a venal offence as stubbing one's devoted foot against the roots
of a famous cotton tree, which stands perilously near the roadside, is
a sure attack of elephantiasis; a country which boasts of a certain
holy city upon whose soil no man on earth may walk shod and live to
see the next day, a tradition for which the District Commissioners,
adventurous Britons as they are, have had so much respect that they
have been content to get only a cruising knowledge of the place,
always summoning the headmen to conferences on the beach and
delivering instructions from the safe precincts of a boat awning; such
a country evidently deserves to be called a land of mystery.
Now, to this air of mystery is added one of interest for students of
archæology in general, and particularly for all Negroes who are
interested in the study of the history of their race with a view to
discover whether it has really made any worthy achievements in the
past or, as its traducers love to make us believe, it is indeed a
backward race, that is only just emerging from barbarism and beginning
to enjoy and assimilate the blessings of Western culture. I refer to
certain sculptured finds which are from time to time made in the
country and are naturally looked upon by the unsophisticated native
mind as nothing short of a mystery.
These images, or _nomolis_, as they are called in the vernacular, are
by no means the empirical efforts of some crude artists, but are the
products of finished workmanship wrought in steatite or soapstone,
which abounds in the Protectorate. They present purely Egyptian and
Ethiopian features, and are apparently of great antiquity, possibly
thousands of years old. They are dug out from old graves in the course
of ploughing, and the finder of one of them considers himself a lucky
man indeed. He sees visions of an unprecedentedly rich harvest, or of
an extraordinarily brisk trade, if he happens to be in the commercial
line, as the _nomoli_ is the presiding deity of crops and commerce.
If the good services of the god are required on the farm a small
shrine is erected there for it and a great big hamper and a bundle of
rods placed in front of it. The demon is then addressed in some such
manner as this: "I wish you to protect this farm from injury. Make the
crop prosper more than everybody's else, and, to do this, every day
you must steal from other people's farms and fill this hamper to the
full. If you do this I shall treat you well; but if you fail, this
bundle of rods is reserved for your punishment." The god is then
heartily treated to a sample of the walloping it should expect in case
of default. When its help is needed in the store a similar temple is
put up for it in a corner within, and its duty is then to protect the
store from burglary, to replenish it by theft and to "draw" custom by
a sort of personal magnetism. In either case it must be well cared
for. Whatever food or drink its owner partakes every day, a portion
must be given to it--and don't forget the whipping. Whether you
realize or are disappointed in your expectations of it the guardian
angel respects force more than gentleness, and must be whipped soundly
every morning.
It will be seen from this that the morality of the _nomoli_ is of a
rather naughty order. The controlling principle of its life is theft;
in fact it idealizes this vice, since ownership in regard to it cannot
be transferred except by stealing. The god argues it this way: "He who
is so careless of me that he allows me to be stolen from him, is not
worthy to be my master; but he who so much believes in my powers that
he risks the consequences of theft for the sake of getting possession
of me, is deserving to be my master and I will serve him." In the
event of discovery the culprit is taken to the barre or native court
and the Chief inflicts a fine on him; and, "whereas, contrary to
customary law, Kai Baki, the plaintiff, did harbour a 'big man'
stranger (to wit, a _nomoli_) in the chiefdom without intimating the
Chief in order that his majesty might pay his homage etc., etc.," the
aforesaid plaintiff, who in native law is entitled to receive the
amount of defendant's fine as compensation, is not only mulcted in the
same amount more or less, but his _nomoli_ becomes forfeited to the
crown in the bargain. Obviously, then, it does not pay to prosecute
for _nomoli_ stealing, and the robbed native would rather bear his
trouble like a philosopher, secretly admiring the cuteness of the
other fellow and stealing his property back at the earliest
opportunity.