BAKWE, a vigorous, fair-complexioned folk of medium stat ure on the French Ivory Coast between the Sassandra and Kavally rivers. The sub-tribes Ne, Houane, Pia, Abri, Pla and Ba live on the coast and supply crews known as Krumen for European vessels. The Bakwe properly so-called, the Ba, and the Te, dwell inland. The extended family has its patrimony in common. Marriage is exogamous, polygamy is allowed, the first wife being the head. Descent is patrilineal. The family property is inherited by the surviving brother, then by the eldest son. They are animists, and have ordeals by boiling oil or redwood.
See Thomann, Essai de Manuel de la Langue Neoule (1905) . a Bantu people in southern Nigeria. According to tradition they are migrants from the eastward. The "Brush men," for that is the meaning of their name, are grouped in about 6o separate clans. Most of the women are much shorter and far lighter in colour than the men. The law of blood for blood is mercilessly fulfilled, even in cases of accidental homicide. Their religion is ancestor-worship blended with witchcraft and magic. They believe in good and evil spirits, those of the forests and seas being especially feared. The Ba-Kwiri possess a curious drum language. By drum-tapping news is conveyed from clan to clan. Slaves and women are not allowed to master this language, but all the initiated are bound to repeat it to pass on the messages. The Ba-Kwiri have a horn language peculiar to themselves.
See P. A. Talbot, The Peoples of Southern Nigeria (1926).