interpreting--she spoke of their need of healing and saving, of which
they must be conscious through their dissatisfaction with this life,
the promptings of their higher natures, the experience of suffering and
sorrow, and the dark future beyond death, and, asking the question,
"Wilt thou be made whole?" pointed the way to peace.

As she observed and assimilated, she came to hold a clearer view of the
people and the problems confronting the missionaries. She realised that
the raw negroes, though savage enough, were not destitute of religious
beliefs: their "theology," indeed, seemed somewhat too complicated for
comprehension. Nor were their lives unregulated by principles and laws;
they were ruled by canons and conventions as powerful as those of
Europe, as merciless as the caste code of India; their social life was
rooted in a tangle of relationships and customs as intricate as any in
the world. The basis of the community was the House, at the head of
which was a Master or Chief, independent and autocratic within his own
limited domain, which consisted merely of a cluster of mud-huts in the
bush. In this compound or yard, or "town" as it was sometimes called,
lived connected families. Each chief had numerous wives and slaves,
over whom he exercised absolute control. The slaves enjoyed
considerable freedom, many occupying good positions and paying tribute,
but they could be sold or killed at the will of their master. All
belonging to a House were under its protection, and once outside that
protection they were pariahs, subject to no law, and at the mercy of
Egbo. This secret society was composed of select and graded classes
initiated according to certain rites. Its agents were Egbo-runners,
supposed to represent a supernatural being in the bush, who came
suddenly out, masked and dressed in fantastic garb, and with a long
whip rushed about and committed excesses. At these times all women were
obliged to hide, for if found they would be flogged and stripped of