and refer to each other as ndakha shi and ndakha bwen respectively. 547
names [60] and refer to each other as ndakha shi and ndakha bwen respectively.
Religion.- Among the Mambila there are, as already noted two distinct terms for the Supreme Being, viz. Nama [61] 
and Chang. The former is one of the commonest terms in West Africa occurring as Nyam, Nyamba, Yamba, etc. It possibly embodies the root Ma or Ama which is the name of the Jukun creator - deity. The term Chang is not, as far as I know, paralleled elsewhere in West Africa.
Neither Nama nor Chang is identified with the Sun, though the identification of the Supreme Being with the Sun is general among the tribes of the Benue basin.1 Nor are there any Sun rites such as are found among the Jukun groups which are located at no great distance from the Mambila.
On the other hand I received from a Mambila of Kuma a remarkable account of Moon rites which, he said, were practised originally at Mbamga, and subsequently at Dembe, the officiant of the cult being at that time a woman who was a relative of the informant. I was unable to obtain any verification of the account given of these rites and I have some hesitation, therefore, in recording it, more especially as the subject of moon-worship is of exceptional importance for the study of the history of religious thought. Nevertheless, owing to the circumstantial character of the description given I feel bound to record it.
The rites are held twice monthly at the waxing and waning of the moon.
On the morning of the day on which the moon is due to appear food, consisting of porridge and chicken's flesh, is prepared by the villagers. in the evening the priest (mbon shoo) [62]
proceeds to the sacred grove and blows loudly on an antelope's horn. The men of the village then proceed to a cleared space in the vicinity of the shrine, taking with them the prepared food and a supply of palm-wine. Meanwhile a man who is to personate the moon-deity enters the shrine (which is shaped like a granary) and dons an animal-headed mask. He covers his body with a string costume to which are attached feathers of various kinds of birds. He is then escorted out to a wooden seat in the cleared
1It is noteworthy that in the Warwar group of Mambila the word for Sun is Lu. This word occurs as Lu or Ru, in the sense of Sun and Supreme Being among the Yendang, Waka, Kumba, Teme, and Gengle tribes.