Woman's Mysteries of a Primitive People

Womans Mysteries of a Primitive People
by D. Amaury Talbot

"This is an ethnography of the Iboibo, a Nigerian tribe. Written by a pioneering English woman in the early 20th Century, this book focuses on the ritual life of women. Despite the naïve colonialist attitude, it presents a female perspective which was seldom seen in the ethnographic literature of the period."

For many years good fortune has granted to my sister and myself the happiness of living amid scenes of indescribable beauty and peoples of peculiar interest. The novelty of being the first white women to visit any particular spot has indeed long worn off by reason of the frequency of the experience, but the thrill of penetrating to places as yet unvisited by any European is still a matter of unmixed joy. Time and again our little party has been so fortunate as to happen upon peoples never studied before, who have been induced to confide to us traditions, beliefs, and legends of unexpected charm.

That all this came into our lives, a golden gift from the gods, without hardship worth the name, is due to the fact that, unlike Mary Kingsley and the small band of women travellers who followed in her footsteps, my sister and I were not alone. A never-failing watchful care has always surrounded us, smoothing each difficulty, and, as far as is humanly possible, providing against every discomfort and danger--at what cost of personal sacrifice one hardly dares to think.

Chapter 1: Introductory
Chapter 2: Prenatal Influences And Birth Customs
Chapter 3: Birth Customs (continued)
Chapter 4: Affinities Or Bush Souls
Chapter 5: Childhood
Chapter 6: Maidenhood To Marriage
Chapter 7: Wedded Life And Motherhood
Chapter 8: Domestic Life
Chapter 9: Marriage Problems
Chapter 10: Love Philtres And Magic
Chapter 11: Witchcraft
Chapter 12: Jujus
Chapter 13: Woman And Secret Societies
Chapter 14: Woman In War Time
Chapter 15: Widowhood And Burial Customs
Chapter 16: Widowhood And Burial Customs (continued)