Fig. 479.—West African aroko.
The same author writes, on p. 297, describing Fig. 479:
It is a message from His Majesty Awnjale, the King of Jebu, to his nephew abroad; and here we find other substances besides cowries included in the aroko. Taking the various articles in order, commencing from the knot, we observe four cowries facing in the same direction, with their backs to the knot; this signifies agreement. Next a piece of spice, a, which produces when burnt a sweet odor and is never unpleasant; then come three cowries facing in the same direction; then a piece of mat, b; then a piece of feather, c; and, lastly, a single cowrie turned in the same direction as all the others. The interpretation is:
“Your ways agree with mine very much. Your ways are pleasing to me and I like them.
“Deceive me not, because the spice would yield nothing else but a sweet and genuine odor unto God.
“I shall never deal doubly with you all my life long.
“The weight of your words to me is beyond all description.
“As it is on the same family mat we have been sitting and lying down together, I send to you.
“I am, therefore, anxiously awaiting and hoping to hear from you.”