ot
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.

ORIGIN OF THE NOMOLI

If one depends upon the aborigines for a clue as to the origin of the
_nomoli_ the enquiry would, like Kipling's "eathen," "end where it
began." The whole thing is veiled in mystery; there is not even a
legend about it. All that the native would tell you, and it is what he
honestly believes to be the truth, is that the image was created by
Gehwor (God) and came down directly from heaven. The fact that no
sculpturing of the kind is now-a-days prosecuted in the country,
although the Sherbros are clever at wood-carving, makes him ridicule
the idea that the _nomoli_ is man's handiwork. The enquiring student
must for the present, therefore, go upon very scanty basis to
formulate his theory. In order to help in the solution of this problem
I shall state one or two facts about the natives of these regions. The
Sherbros and Mendis, both of whom inhabit the vast territory known as
Sherbroland, are, of all primitive Africans, the least given to fetish
worship. This fact has always proved a stumbling-block to the spread
of Mohammedanism in that part of the world. Arab as well as Negro
Moslem missionaries have always found the Sherbro and Mendi man rather
hard nuts to crack. Many an emissary of the prophet has invaded
Sherbroland, exposing for sale all the tempting superstitious
paraphernalia of the faith, but the native has almost invariably
beaten him with his cold logic.

"How long does it take