Mary was happy the way the work was going, but she was not satisfied.  She wanted to go to other places.

“This cannibal land of deep darkness with woods of spooky mystery is like a magnet,” said Mary Slessor.  “It draws me on and on.”

“Where is this country where you want to work?” asked Miss Wright, one of the teachers at the Girls’ Institute at Calabar.

“It lies to the west of the Cross River.  It stretches for miles and miles toward the Niger River.”

“Haven’t any missionaries been there?”

“None have gone into the forest.  Missionaries and traders have gone along the edge of it when they went up the Cross River.”

“What tribes live in this dark and mysterious country?” asked Miss Wright.

“The Ibo tribe lives in most of the country, but they are ruled by the Aros clan,” said Mary.

“Who are they?  Tell me something about them, Mary.  I know so little about the tribes, except those who come to Calabar or send their girls to our Institute.”

“The Aros clan are a wise but tricky people.  They live in thirty villages near the district of Arochuku, where I would like to begin a mission.  They are strong and rule the Ibo tribe because of their trade and religion.  They trade slaves, which their religion furnishes.  When they cannot get enough slaves that way, they raid Ibo villages and capture the people who live there and sell them.”

“You say their religion furnishes them with slaves?  How is that possible?”

“The Ibo tribe and the Aros pray to the juju god.  They believe the juju god lives in a tree.  They think this tree is holy.  Each village has its own god and sacred tree, but the main juju used to be about a mile from Arochuku.”

“But you haven’t told me about the slaves,” interrupted Miss Wright.

“I am just coming to that,” said Mary.  “This main juju, called the Long Juju, was reached by a winding road that goes through a dense jungle and leads at last to a lake.  In the center of the lake is an island on which was the Long Juju.  Here hundreds of people came to ask advice from the priests and to worship.  When the people came here, the Aros clan had captured them.  Then they were either sold as slaves, sacrificed to juju, or eaten by the tribe.”

“How terrible!”

“The Aros are tricky.  One of their tricks, was to throw some of the people they captured into the water.  The water at once turned red.  The priests would tell the people that juju had eaten the men.  The people believed it, but really the red was only coloring the priests had thrown into the river.”

“Is the juju still there?” asked Miss Wright.

“No.  The British soldiers went over the Cross River.  They had a battle with the natives and beat them.  They captured Arochuku.  Then they chopped down the Long Juju.  But of course the natives still have their village jujus.  They still do many wicked things.”