CENTRE ,'D'Erus LfNGU1STIQUE

ET HISTORIQUE PAR TRADITION ORAlE

:-_"" .,' NIAMEY
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CEHTRE FOR UNQUISTIC. AND
HISTORJCAL STUDIES av ORAL TIIADIrtON
NIAMEY
TRA.DITIONS OF SIERRA LEONE
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CLHSOT IEH/3
Niamey, 6/1979
DRGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY
CENTRE FOR LINGUISTIC AND HISTORICAL
STUDIES BY ORAL TRADITION
ORAL TRADITIONS OF SIERRA LEONE
by
C MAGBAILY FYLE
Niamey, June 1979
CLHSOT/E.H/3

CONTENTS

Introduction
Glossary
Approximate location of areas discussed
Tikonko
Pendema, Jawe Chiefdom
Founding of Makali
Tonko limba
Suluku of Biriwa limba
The Wara Wara Limbe
The Koranko
Morifindugu
Neya Koranko
The Koranko of Barawa
The Koroma Clan of Nieni
The Kororri3 Clan of Diang
The Toronka
Koranko of the Kabgo Clan
Kamadugu
The RaIe of the Morimen
The Samura of Solima
Smithery
Heremakono
Kabeliakhori
The Mansaray Yalunka of Sinkunia
Dembelia Musaia
The Kamara of Folosaba
Page
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4
6
7
9
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1 5
1 8
21
24
26
29
33
36
39
42
43
45
48
49
55
57
59
61
65
67
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For most of the traditions presented here, the interviews
were' don: in Krio. "The Krio language is the lingua franca of
S'ferra Le'one:.:' 1 n the, most remote villa'ge in this country,
people spaak Thus most informants could be
in a language they speak and understand.
Thase who d'id not grasp Krio pcrfectly preferred to spaak
through a Krio interpreter. Even such informants could quickly
grasp posed the researcher before the interpreter
could spck.
'The 'foliowing collection spreads over Sierra Leone, but
with 'oncentration on the northern part of the country. The
'reasons are two-fold. One is a reflection of the research
concentration of the author. Eut secondly; the north is the
area where there is a dearth of written sources. In consequence,
little is said about it in whatever has been written especially
about pre-colonial history of Sierra It
mOre necessary tri collect and present oral traditions
of such areas. Only two Mende and one Temn8 traditions are
pre'sentcd. The TemnE tradition is significant because it
an' aspect of the history of the Tamne, the
area about which most authors on the Temne are silent.
Something must basaid generally about these texts. The
Mande pe'ople's of Sierra Leone refer ta the Mali Empire as "Mandelt.
The word is unknown to them. In fact, very often, they
s'1mply iridicate that their anc8stors came from "up" (country).
idee 6f up and down, the north-south movement fram Mande,
i8 very
The system of presenting namas should aIs a be painted out.
Clan names are rarely mcntioned except where it is necessary
'ta identify a wholo clane Tokba Asana Samura, for example, is
presented as Tokba Asana, and the clar namB added ta that
of an individual is usually done by thoS8 who had bocome ex-
posed to western norms. Mande also often indicate tWQ
nam8's. In mast instances, first name i8 that of the mother
... ,....
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INTRODUCTION
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Mush has been said about methodology wlth to the
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collectipn and analysis of oral tradition, but
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mada generally ta present any ofsuch
traditicns for a particular country, ethnie group, or clan.
. .' . . 1. .
, ,T,he. i.s fraught th many problems which have probably
frustrated su .. ::h a t te mpts G
An oral tradition piece i8 a text sa that i8
pr,esent, best ,as possible, exact,ly what the infor"mant said.
hoV:e'J8'r Jane finds that the "who co'llect such
traditions do nGt speak the language of the informants. -t'he
'1'
fact of through an interpreti who is usually not
weIl for purpose raises the question
of Wi.th respect ta accuracy also, it has been suggested
that it is i.i2.egitimate -Co collapse interviews or exclude ques-
tions
r
for this will disguise aspects of repetition p the in-
cidence is vary important in oral
Mcst oral tradition in African History is collected u8ing
th3 method of op3n ended In such situations, it is
not a.lways possible t,;.,(] Lju8stions except one
is ,using a tsp:: r'E;;:o:.:-de:i:'" This instrument does not go down weIl
.... .o.!
.
aIl informants Dr in aIl societies and it is sometimes
T
advisabla n:t ta use ito Many questions evoking are
spont:li;etJus a:-id -:hor8fcI'3 not be pre'-recorded. But the
Jlrr.c's-c where repeti tians are made
a n ct t Il i G COL.; J, d b'3 b a IJ 9 h ; ut: in t h 8 W r :l t t e n s cri pt, e s pee i a Il y
f
if th3 i8 saon after the interview. The inter-
is practically a detective, by the parti-
cula:!" att3mpts at falsification.
has said is intended ta demonstrat that while
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the i8 preser.t exatly the informant said,
there can Le no ana prescribed way bf cioing this. Great care
shoulo how8ver be and has been in this instance, to
,
as bsst as possible, ths styie f the informant.'
1 I. G. Wilks] personal

and the second is that given ta the individual. Thus in the
'cxample above:, Asana's 'mother"is, Tokbao
Virtually aIl of the informants are old mn, knowledge-
able in the traditions of their country. In 2t lcast one
chie* was a commonly
griot. The yeliba combine the functions cf and
praise singer. In pre-colonial tim8s, were rGtained
3
by kings and important men. Today, they hav ta do other jobs
for their living. But some of them still the old tra-
dition as custodians of tho history of their clan, ethnie group
or country.
traditions.
Being professionals, they are experts at presenting
But could als be oxpert at distorting thorn.
Othertraditions of the same locality should therefore be
collected ta serve as control on those of as even of
other informants.
should be made. The two texts
on the Mende warc collected by Dr. Arthur Abrham and 1 thank
him for permission for their inclusion. Similar thanks gota
Mr. D. Moorc-Sairay, a former student in the History Department,
Fourah Bay Colloge, for the Tonka Limba tradition. That on the
Kunike Temn8 was also taken from a on the samo town
dono by formor studonts of the same department named G. Cleo-
Hancilcs, Maligie Koroma and Finally, 1 must
commend the effort of Miss Fanianctt Faury who typed the major
part of the script.
C.Magbaily Fyle
of African Studi8S
August, 1978
Albitaya
Alfa
Almamy
Baba
Bai
Baimba
Bamet'i
barr'6
bUT1do
caborena
oat bread
fakG
fakai
ferensola
gbaku
kabuna
kagbere
kapr loya
kawoso
,1 '.

(Karanka) Gad protects us; name given ta
place 'of Earawa 'Kornko'" ;
- Islamic priest
t
charm maker
- for nbw aften a first name
(Yalunka') gun powder
(Tamne) king
(Limba) ancest'br
- (Limba) town ruler
court hall
femal secrot society
(Yalunka)
swoar a solemn oath by eating coun'try brliad made
out of. rice flour
- (Yalunka) death
small farm sottloment
- The narno by which aIl of country is
identifico
- (Limba) king
(Yalunka) iron smith
(Koranko) salt substitute
- (Tamne) chief prosecutor
- (Yalunka) hiding place
kclleh (Yalunka) military general
khori
kurugba
manga
mansa
tnbaimba
1
moriman
nyanda
poro
siagina
siaki
'singilin
- (Yalunka) country
(Mandingc, Limba) warrior
- (Yalunka) king
- (Koranko) king
- Koranko) sam8 as baimba abOV8
same as ..lfa above
- (Koranko) country mats
- male secret socioty
(Yalunka) goldsmith
- (Mandingo) goldsmith
(Yalunka) furnacc
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sofas
solay - (Koranko) furnacD
solidagina - (Yalunka) waaden chips flying off carver's wood
tar - (Mandinka) war fence
tatakuina - (Yalunka) mud wall around town
wureh - (Koranko) kalanuts
yambakiri - local tobacco
yamb - {Koranko} local tobacco
yeliba - historian, praise singer
Approximate location of areas discussed
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TIKONKO
Mr. M. Kangbai
p
a teacher" in Bo town, gave this tradition
in January 1969 about the Mende bf Chiofdom, Bo District.
This tradition, 'and that following, give som idea of Mende
expansion frc:n the Cape Mount arca of Liberia into the Sierra
Leone which started in. the latter part of the 18th
centuryo The interview was conductcd in Mende so that the ease
of is reflected in the informant's style.
According ta what l learnt from the old men and my father,
who r6member the oral tradition of this country, cspecially my
Tikonko, tho first settlGr was Momoh Kukuwa. The carly
history cf Tikonko should rcally begin with his rui9n. He pro-
came from Liberia; he had no followcrs and he was a warrior.,
He cstab].J.slcd hi.s rule: by gathering a fow followcrs whom
he trained in tho art of warfars 4 ,first settlement that later
grw into his capital was Tikonko. The namc is derivoal fram
and yo'u kncw the meaning - "thoy knaw it
t
' ... This
was on account cf Kukuwa1s bravery as a fighter, so much 50 that
people ff"3red WhenGvo:2 therc warc rumo"rs of war, the people
under Kukuwa would say in replYi tlthoy know it; they know who
W8 arc; le t them cerne a :-;d IT.f:je t us If 50 the town came to be called
Tikongoh, tcday Tikonko,
A number of the original inhabitants submitted to
control to HJ.s pr:'Jlfer and influence waro extended by those he
appointed as heads in he invaded and captured. They
were nct ncccssariJ.y h:'s relatives; he appointed those who were
capable o Acccrding ta how the old peoplo described him, he
was huge and sturdy, with awo-inspiring lookso He had no morcy
for his onemies o People migrated fram various areas and settled
in the chicfdom. Those who wero fishcrmen settled by the
and farmars with hunters in the forestso
Every village was surrounded by fonces as a protection
against encmies. Tho people fought only when it was ncessary.
Every of a village was a warrior, and he had a few war-boyr
with himo In timo of war, aIl of thom W8ro to Tikonko
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where ,they were organised.
Kukuwa had many WiVDS, and it is even said today that Dvery
village 'uscd ta give him a wife aftor the Bundo session every
year. But his bigger wives were Hawa, Nyawulo, Sattu. His
descendants by these wives were Momoh Gena, Jigba, Makavoray-
Kangbai (my great grandfathor), and Almemy Sandi. From each
of these descends one of the present rulling familias, narned
after thorn.
It is said that Kukuwa got his power from the spirits
that he had; He is rernembered for the contributions that he
made in wars. He made the chiefdom very large through his
Every gave hirn a bushel of ricc or oil annually as
a form of tax. People through communal labour. Those
who failed to' work wre killed at once 0
always consulted his eIders when in difficulty.
AlI four of his children ruled after hrmo
9
PENDEMA, JAWE CHIEFDOM
The informant here,"Baka, who is the town" chief of Pendema,
i5 a relative of the interJiewero -Jawe Chtefd6m is in the'
Kailahun District and the interview was recorded there in Decem
ber, 1969. Most of "the araas mentioned in Jawe, but Sulima
was a coasta: trading station in the Pujehun District.
l do not know tho many details of the history of this chief
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dom as a whole, but r. shall give you a brief backgrund and then
,
tell you how we came to own Pendemao Yau are my grandson and
1 do not like ta tell you liGs. 1 know that there are some
eIders wha wauld fabricate answers ta your curious and inqui-
sitive questions rathcr th an tell the truth o
Tho real founder of this chiofdom was Yarvai, from up
cou nt r y _. K El i k 0 h 1 in Fen 9 e hIe h cou n t r y Bor b 0 w a wa s a m 0 rima n.
who es tablis nad F olu, that is ft foleibu;I ml! aning under the foIe i
tree o He came from up country. Yarvai's wife dicd at parturi-
tion 2nd was buried at Kambama, so tho place came te be called
Kambama mcaning lion the grave
ti

l n th i s Q weil; soc t i 0 0 f th 0 chie f do r1 1 0 ur an ces t 0 r s " c a me
from Folu and estabJished the settlement of Njaluahun which,
as :. t expanded, came bD :::alled Nyeama, yeu know, the capital
of this soctiOllo One of our ancestors was Mamei Tondoi,
the mcther of Vandi Von 1. After him, she gave birth
to Bengay Jaya, Senesi Jegbega and Gbewoh, the owner of Pendema.
Von asked Bcngay Jaya to establish Pendema, about
three miles from Whilo Bengay Jaya actually erected
the first it wes my father, Gbewoh, who extended the
6ettlement and built the foundations of this town where you
are r ig ht <; You that stream on the way to Jombohun7 l t
ls Pends
r
sa this town was called Pendema, because it is situa-
ted on that stream
o
Not long after the establishment of Pendema, the Europeans
arrived with constables. Our people used ta go te Sulima to
sell palm kernels but thoy fearcd the constables because they
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arrestcd people. Vandi Von was not afraid. He moved freely.
many of his trips, the constables came and said they
wanted between us and Liberia. Vandi Von
the whole business of 'staff' hers. He was my fathcr's
brother.
After Vandi Von, Kpohni, and then were electBd
chiefs. Then Lahai Then Foray
and after him A. B. Samba. This is how we Kallans
came ta Pendema.
l,
FOUNDING OF MAKALI
This was collecicd Kunike Barina-
Chiefdbm ih thetonkolili District in March 1973. The informant
Iwas f,enthi Kagbo. _ This is .? TemT18 ,town but historically mixed
Koranko and the tradition explins how the Temne came to
superceda the
,Our ancostors told us, about The original founder,
who wasruler of the town was Pa But he at
-,
Rabano. He .. also had a town at Bumpe. 8very invasion
there was- Hcwcver, the tow,n was more or less stable
until there was an war cal18d Barbar. But this
\1 .p er .:i. ode ven "! h.e n the r e "'II as som u chf i 9 h 'G i n 9 the chi 8 f san dl th i r
were nct captured. After the war the people
cared 18ss about the chief, S8 he was in trouble. He took. the
"chief' s re galia, dres sed up and we n-: ta R obala. \rJhe n his wi fe
came she did meet
1
.1lr.1 0 51.9 the chief had gon8
. a w a y t 0 , Rob al a. sos he Id 0 n t t 0 , fi r. ci he r il tj s bar) d
The land wes 18ft a ru18r? was a
man callGd P3 who carra l"rom Ragbena, nea:-
at Wa were Ile ran away from the Poro
Soc ;i. et y HG cam EJ -t 0 ,f-i a y k B rn an. who s e W .1. f e 's n a me wa s B 0 m p
Nayake 0 .Hg fell in la\.,'8 w: . .'th WOr.lan. He was told that
thoy' had, a Bai was away; so went to
fin d h 5_ moT h e y ta .1 E 3 i T a ;1 9 e r.l a t h a t t h Y ha d a .s t r a n 9 e r who
was ,a chiEf but tbey would never install him as chief unless
.they first tcld hi.m (;Bngbe,;na). He agreed and g,ave the new
man stay at Mayak3. He stayed there until the
reigning and wes buried at Robanko.
-,- ,1\ f t 8 r .h i s pat :1 e. ,people we :.:' 'J ]. e ft w i t hou t a chief.
ancestors from Makana Mayake. Sorne of their
leaders .including Pa Keran gathered together and
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w, rds to Vele Q Pa Lumpri Dukor wls they
reached YeJ.8 they made a, temporary town" Pa Saybla
t Yele and ,;,Pa Karam -,went to Masako . ,Pa Gbonkonoh went to May-
.,
They stayed there for nat 18s8 than ten years. But
they had among' them an wuman callod Bomp Kanneh whose
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husband lived at Robando. This wom8n hd told them ta return
her ta her husband's town. This made Pa Gbonkan'oh ta confer
'w'i th' Pa Lumpri Dukor sa as to return to their lan.d _. He told
PEl Lumpri thF:t they should return so thAt the Mende wold not
take over aIl the Koranko country. 50 they sent a message to
Pa Keram, Pa 5aybla and the other leaders to meet at Mayembre.
They decided to return. But fearing the return journey
would be long, they pushed down to Makono. Pa Dukor
made a sacred bush of the poro society at Makono.
'During this time the old woman, Bomp Kanneh, had been
insisting thet they moved. They stayed at Makono for three
years. Aftcr the rice the woman died. They
to hcr to her husband's town. They assembled the warriors
and the ones, embalmed the body with salt, then movcd to
Makanike. They ascended a hill and then settled down in the
town which they called Masokiteh. The next day they moved ta
a big trec called Maworka. They said that the town, Mayake,
was their origin81 town but decided against residing there.
Their :leaderstold them th1t just a few miles away there was
a very nicc spot where a man Pa Kali had farmed. If
theywere able to get to this town, they would be happy. The
woman had however told them th2t if they did not get .ta her
husband's town, they should bury her. wherever they met large
numbers'of elephants.
These Elephants ascended the hills and our ancestars fired
on them. They then assem9led, took the corpse ta the hill,
founded a temporary town and then buried the body. The town
Makali wes named after Pa Kali, the Koranka who used to farm
on th8t land. Descending the hill, our ancestors decided to
build a town on Pa Kali' s ferme This wes done wi th Pa Lumpri...._ ..
4---------
Dukor' s assi.stance. They stayed there a long time' ..
Then Pa Lumpril Dukor decided ta introduce the Para society
into the land. He was told that the spirit of the land did not
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":J ant ,the society--on.hj s 1 and.. Ha insi sted..-that-ns.---would intro-
duce i t. On, the fourteen of his gue"sts died.
He then told the rest of the group neyer
in 'that' t'own that a town whet:e "the poro could be
should be found. that he went ta Mekandeh where he
society. He built a smaller secret bush then
... ; ., .:... . . '. . . .
built larger one at Mavuke
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At Pa Gbonkonoh was the accepted There,
he' wes told t'h':at', his brother was sipk et Mayembre. When he
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went ta r"layembre, ta see his sick brother, he died., Pa"
Du'kor But because ,of, his being. :a: member
of Othe Para he did ,not with chiefs,hip.,
Hem 0 v e d ta hi sun cIe Pa K,u m b ) und u atM a kan 9 A ft e r, hJ s
." ; .....: .. t. (" l' .. ; 1 ..
departure, the only prominent man, ,in the town wes Pa Kapo Gbla
" ..
who was left in charge of the town.
It was during that period thBt a whiteman, Mr. Ruff, came
into Makali to trade. Some of his goods were stolen. The chief
was then held responsible and charged to pay for aIl the 109ses
of the whiteman. Pa Kapo Gbla exploited aIl necessary grie-
vances sa as ta be able ta paye He even sold sorne of his WiV8S
and children.
The people told the government that it wes because there
was no chief that there was no law and order. 50 the govern-
ment decided that a chief should be crowned. The governent
asked Bai Simera to do aIl within his pow8r to see that a chief
was crowned. When he came, he started on the issue. There were
two possible contestants, Pa Marybon and Pa Yeba Gbara. It was
agreed that whoever wes elected should p8y the whiteman. Bai
Simera told Pa Mnrybon ta say to the government that if elected
he would pay. Pa Marybon refused ta accept this condition
because he was not directly responsible. Pa Yeba Gbara agreed
te pay the amount, sa he was crowned chief. He was a "pure"
Temne, a native of the tawn. But since he answered ta the
government, he was crowned.
14
After he weB crowned the people had to give up their
products to pay whiteman. When this was not forthcoming, the
chief destroyed their houses, beat many death and even
burned their farms. l, This tyrannieal rule Gould not last
long. 50 Pa Kapr Loya deeided to take .up the people' s case.
He went to the whites at Moyarnba. Because'of the findings of
the government, the chief was removed and Jailed. Pa Kapr Loya
was then 'asked to be ehief by the He .refused on the
'graunds thet there were aIder than him who were better
qu"ali fied ta be chief. Sa he alla\Jed his older brothe,r, Pa
. Kanu, who was then'staying at Makanike to ..
chief. 1- was born during his reign.. He ruled for a long' time.
He was succeeded by Alhaji Alimamy Sari, who rul.ed"forforty
years.
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TONKO LIMBA
Tonka Limba history before' the 19th century is discussed
in ... .his. tradition. The informant is 'Yana Sainura of Kayebaya
village.:, Tonka Limba, chiefdom, K.ambia District. The tradition
was collected in September , 1977. A major point of interest
":is 50so into Limba countxy eround and
By the late 18th century, the 50so were established in
those areas.
. .
There was aIl over the land several
Only_ the. Kolanten. (Great Sarcies River) separated us from the
.$080. A man from ,Mande. lcd ou.r He .. W8S ..
Fufu. He was a man of energy and zeste He;came
w i t h i n j u, me a n.i n 9 a ver y .t a Il man (c el.l e d in, Kr i 0 Lan 9 fut
Pa Simbara. came with people, sorne of whom he left at
points on the journey. He wes a blacksmith sothat
.very often he would dig a ditch into which he would Flace
selected ferreous stones for Sorne of the stones,
. .
left.over from smelting wera believed to have certain .powers
s u.c h a :ta e n s u r.e vic t 0 r yin wa r or in h u n.t in g, and h u n.t e-r s
and warr iors alike floc ked to: Pa Simbara to acquire power.
PaS i m.b fj ra wa saI sa bel i ev e d .t a . .p o.s ses s the po we r t 0 r end e r
people bullet proaf sa tha;:; hUilters and ,warriors came to him
daily for this purpose. Some smelted stones.were wsed as.
thadotho or local He nat only ensured.victory in
war, made warriors immune from the of the enemy"
!He made efficacious war medicine.
He the Mande people, but they did not remain here.
They went down as far as the coast to purchase salt. This
place is now known as Samu in Yumkela's country which stretches
.from Kasiri to KebrisBo Then the Beyeinkay Kamara clan
met tt'le and overtook them and then settled at. Kakanthin.
The area still has that name. After here for
very long .time, the Wormbor or Kagbo cl?n also CAme. The
Wormpor were asked ta to.the coast but they became
tired and sEttled between the Kamera-and Pa Simbara's' people.
.. .. .
They stopped first at Kadukuinya, tht is next ta Kakanthin.
Later the Wormbor left there and went ta Kayakaru.
The Moinie or Ban9ura clan-a-nd the Dema or Samura clan
were the last to come. The Dema were led by their bainba
1 t.
16
Manso Kholifi who did not come himself, but sent .Baio Sella
the father of Keiha Haro. He foundedMayehe. When the Moinie
or Bangura came, they askcd ta be.settled at Kamasuthuren:
This place is named the stream which flowed along'it,
Kamatumbeda and Kawonkifor. But there wes a bad form-
less devil in this stream and any who confronted it face ta
face would surely die. Because of that the Beyeinkay.asked
them ta settie at Kathanyan. They awned or Kakoniemaka,
naw Samaia. It was aIl part af the Beyeinkay country.
One day the Dema asked why they wore 8lways ruled by the
same Beyeinkay clan. The fi+st of these rulers was Bambakha
Serti of Kakanthin and the second was Bambakha Sedu of Kakan-
th!n. 50 the Dema and Wormbor agreed between themselves
ta fight drive the.Beyeinkay clan out of the land.
this, they turns ta rule. As
the very extensive, it was decided as 2 possible
alt?rnative that the land be divided bctween themselves (the
Dema and the Wormbor}c The Mafotori stream which starts fram
Madina and empties itself at Kamasakahin wes ta be the boundary.
They won the war.
Koriferi? - that is, "what are we now to do", they asked
themselves. The Dema answered that they had waited tao long
. for- this privilege ta rule the country as of right. The Wormbor
said they should be the first ta rule. Four years past
and Tonka had no ruler. The land had only been cleared of
the; Beyeinkay clan. From that time onwards, whenever we sent
'. some!youngmen ta purchase salt at Wula-tende-kum - thst is,
.. Alimamy' Lai' s countrt, aur people were raunded up and sald
t .Partuguese. The cast of a slave was nahulu-ba-yaha,
literally, 'the cast per head', which was Equivalent ta four
1. around Kambia, on the coast
-.
17
.
for five pounds Gbersn Lai was the notorious slaver
in this area .. ,
Our peop).e de,cided that the Temne be formally approached
ta flnd out the for our people from buy{ng
.' saI t, and for making of ,others.. Our. people found an
interpreter as they did not speak the language of Lai.
50 Gberen .Lai was asked by our why he was: treating'pur
people in this way. Gberan (ai answered that he was
. .
them, for Killing their leaders and driving away the ruling
Eeyeinkay clan whom they met on the land.'
During this period,the land was invaded and occupied on
both side$ -by 50so in'the west and by Gberen Lails Temne
people in east and south of the Sorne 50so people
rad'crossed,the boundary, the Kolenten river, and settled
on our land. The Temne,were doing the same from their awn area.
Out .of fear, the Limba fled and crossed the Koleoten and
settled where they became known as Bemathonko Mayete or people
of lesser Tonko. The 50so who were blacksmiths then occupied
the aree they left and it became known as Kukuna.
1 B
SULUKU OF BIRIWA LIMBA
The chief informant here is a very old man named Bubu,
said . ta be :the last surviving son. of the' great 5ulukuof Biriwa
limba. He indicated that when his father died in (1906). he had
just been borne But his father died a very oid man and so it
is doubtful whether he was:reallya soA of Suluku. The inter-
view was done in April ,1974 in Bumban, former capital of .
Biriwa . Limb" now the chief town of a section of the Biriwa
Chiefdom in the Koinadugu District. It should be noted that
d a y, ,t w o. ma Jo r ru 1:. i n, 9 fa mil i es", co m te for the. Par a mou n t
Chieftaincy in Biriwa. are descendants of and
-those of his brather The sdns of Eubu the present
chiefdom headquarters town of Kamabai hald
There i8 same contrversy over Eubu hav {ng ruled Biri'wa. The
offsprings of Bubu claim he did rule of as
in this tradition, 9mit his name
We Limba of Biriwa' are Contehs. ",As' far s we I.know, we
h av e al w ys b e e n he r e (t'h a t i sin Bir i w'a cou n t r y ) 0 ur f or e-
fat.hers told us something 'or the other about our comirig from
Sankaran but we cannat defini tely ,remember', this. Our first
9 b a k u ", ( ru le r') he r e, wa s Bai m baS a rw a He wa s fa llow e d b y hi s
son Wusie. Sankailay, Wusi' s Salt, became the .next gbaku' and
he: was . .. 9Y . brother, Suluku
.. 'L Succession bath to the office"of gbakLL ,and to property
goes from ta brother. This: is- so because it is the
brothers who take care of a man's children when he dies.
One of our greatest gbaku in Biriwa was Suluku. The ward
"suluku" means "wolf". Suluku's real name was Amadu. He was
called Suluku because he was very powerful. Sometimes he wes
also called "tambaronka" which means that his clothes always
fit him weIl.
Suluku was a very powerful warrior, but he always used
his power ta make peace. If he tried ta bring peace and others
refused, he would fight to achieve this peace. When the Sella
Limba had a war on their hands, they sent ta Suluku and he sent
warriors ta help them. The Kunike Temne also attacked the
Kor3nko and they cried to Suluku for help. Suluku sent help;
in fact, one of his sons, Tata, was killed in Kunike. Through
':
1 9
Suluku's efforts, the war ended.
'Sluku ha'd . a ktJrL C!,ba . (ch.:'ef . \II/arrior) 'whom he' always sent
t 0 ., le ad hi s for ces in the se w [l r s 0 He' w'a shi s ,. son, K p'e b e, the
bameti (town ruler) at Kabumban
o
In 'Sankailay'stime, there
was not much war, sa 'there was no kyrugba then. If a gbaku
went ta war, while he ws fighting, he was a kurugba
he returned became a gbaku.
:. .' . .1,. : .
. -_.:... .. Suluku' s ttri tory was very exte ns ive. :'1 t .... Js : similar
ta what his predecessor
p
HWbuld
appoint a bameti over the heruledo were
not his In his brother
Bubu iuled Kemabai While Suluku
, .
ruled, the only important ruler'!in country was
Bombolai of Tonka Limba o It waswhen the whitemen came that
aIl this of chiefs started; they formerly aIl
under Suiuku; they used ta bring tax ta
this nd the whitemen went
round ta crown his Any one of these who had
an important was made a With
th D. C., (District Commissicner), Suluku first went 'and
gave a staff (of office) ta Tamba Kaira of Mabonto who had been
subject. Next they went and gave one ta aokari at Gbung-
bunai they warned not ta fight. Baio bf Kasokuna
(Kalahtuba Chiefdom) was next given a staff; toKagbasis they
went and crowned Kaiya; Sara Baia was'made Chief at
Katimbo; fram there thsy went ta Kakarima in Koinadugu and
crowned Banka. Sieh Kuyamba et Kawa (close to Kakarima) wes
the next ta reive a staff. The ruler of the Loko town of
Kasengbe alsa received a staff; his name wes Kande Baimba 1.
Also the Mapaki Chiefdom (around Binkolo) emerged out of
1
Suluku's domain; Paki 1 was given a staff there. AlI Saffroko
Limba were formerly paying tax to Suluku. AlI these mentioned
had been once subject to his rule g

Mapaki is Tamne country while Kalantuba is Loko
. .20
Also when the whiteman came, he started a tax. 5uluku,
the man of peaee, greed to pay the tax. Sorne of his subjects
io when they were asked to paye They were
forced by Suluku to comply. Since was theirc'saviour,
they eventually aIl agreed. He tried to make peaee with aIl
thosa who refused the taxe The was very happy about
Suluku because he wes always for peaee. When the Sofas came,
Suluku did his best to maintain peace and it was through his
efforts that there was tnD difficult conflict with the Sofas
.. The whiteman asked Suluku for a place to build a barracks
in his country close to a river. Suluku gave them Karina.
They were also given Batkanu to build another barracks.
When Suluku died, he was succeeded as Paramount Chief
by Kalawa of Kamabai. It was Kalawa who went to Binkolo and
erowned Umaru Gboki as Paramount Chief of Saffroko Limba.
After Kalawa l died at Kamabai, another of Sulukurs sons,
Pompoli, was crowned Paramount Chief at Bumban. like
his father, was a 'peace maker; he went to make peace at Tonka
Limba. Pompoli was succeeded by Sheku l of Kamabai; he was
followed by Kalawa l of Bumbano Next was Kalawa"II of Kamabai;
Pompoli's son was next; he ruled for one year and was
followed by the present Paramount Chief, Sheku II.
The name Bumba means a land of fertile sail. Bumban was
the first town of the Biriwa Limba.
r :,
21
THE WARA WARA LIMBA
.. ,'
This tradition was rendered by two very old men - Sura
' .. Kamara and Almamy Sali fu Mansaray about the oldest Paramount
.. Chief in Sierra Leone. The interview was done ih
headquarters of Wara Wara Bafodea Chiefdom, in 1974.
It depicts the assimilation 6f a Mande the
Mansarays, by non-Mande
,r'; ancestor of the :Mansaray who first came here was
na merl P 3;p a y Nd a yin. He bu il t 0 u r or i gin aIt 0 w non the hi Il
you see here Just outside Ndayin met sorne Kamara
in especially at a town called Kayinbon; they
were aIl Wara Wara Limba. Kayinbon had been founded by
Ndayin got heree mother was Kati. When
Ndayinrgot to Kayinbon, gave his daughter in marriage ta
: Ndayin; name was Hinti With Binti, Papay Ndayin
had a son named Fodayo
When Ndayin died, his son Foday became the ruler. Foday
decided to move the town from atop the hill down into a nearby
,valley. At this valley he discovered water and it was
a sui t1ble site to mO'J8 his tO\.rJr: -to 0 Foday then his
nephews at Kayinbon and told them he had found a site
to which to move his town. The people of Kayinbon thought it
was a good idea; "our tO\'I}n here is very small", they remarked.
The people in aIl the Wara Wara towns and villages were
now called to go and build Foday's town on the new
site. They came from villages called Kap09poQ, Semarnaya, 5akut2
1
Kadankan, ,Kadonso, Kayenda, Kamaninki, Kakondobi,
Kamakumba,Seredugu, Kakamba, Kakoya, Kasentini, and Kaaka.
AlI these came to clear the bush; sorne were Mansaray,
sorne Kamara and sorne Conteh u
After they had cleared the bush, it was cided that the
people of each town who had assisted should build each a house
in, the new town . In this way the town became very large. Stone
22
and dirt was used ta build it Q When the tOWG was completed,
Foday said, "let us build a stone wall around it"; they did
this,. 'Foday then,asked that they should build a town his
This his uncle, Worsor, was a
if you hear the name Kawoya, it is Worsor.
AlI new rulers were now descendants of Foday. The new 1
town after Foday; it remained in the valley
untilithe time of the whiteman it was moved ta its present
site. ruler aIl Wara, even as far as
Yagala. The boundary was with the Biriwa. The Yagala t6wns were
aIl founded by this time
o
Those whb founded those towMs did
not come here, but they Fbdy's subjects. Gbonkobo,
Tamisoeand other areas were under Bafodea. The ruler of
Bafodea would appoint rulers of the' towns under his,control,
but these were not his relatives; they were descendants of those
who.hacl formerly been ruling'those
When Foday the next ruler of the Wara Wara at Bafodea
was his oldest sons Momodi Tcilkic The latter was followed as
gbaku by Lngb, another sOn of F0daYr Lngb's younger brother,
Salifu,Yaya, succeeded After Salifu Yaya, Almamy Suman,
who entered into the British eraf bacame gbaku and was the first
Paramount Cl;,ief-;
In the
driven from their homs and they took refuge at Kabala.
rule of Almamy Suman, the Koranko of Firawa were
1
They
gave wives to Almamy Suman and his Almamy Fanna as a ges-
ture so that they could be given a place to stay.' Almamy Suman
was succeeded by his son Almamy In Fanna's time, Yagala
was from Bafodea and Almamy Lamina,'a Mansaray at
Yagala, became the first Paramount Chief of Yagala. The whole
thing happened in this wayQ
When the' British came and star\:ed travelling to' Falaba,
they asked Almamy Fanna to provide carriers for them since
Fanna was ruling aIl Wara Wara Almamy Fanna agreed
and said they should go and 'sit down' at Yateya since that town
23
was close by the 'read. When the British got to Yateya, they
sent lamina at Yagala who was qbaku bamet (sub-ruler) ta
Fanna' and' controlled the area which became the present Yagala
,Chiefdom. Lamina came to Yateya. 1 Ah man called Banda
Se's'a'y, head of. Konkoba, presented the whiteman with a
. large cow as Almamy Fanna's Old Gbewuru, of
the presenl ParamoJnt Chief was then up the hill.
At Yateya, the whitemen asked Lamina ta provide someone
ta aet as bis assistant ta help in the pravisibn af carriers.
This was necessary because W8S e.n ald man, blind and ill.
Lamina refused, fer he feared that Almamy Fanna wauld in this
way pbsitian away fram him give it te this new
Fanna cleared this doubt mind.
After sorne' consultation, a compromise was reached. They
agreed that Lamina's younger Gbawuru, shouid be brought
ta KabaIa' as acting to assist in the provision of carriers.
They wouid have given Simmeh, Gbawurw' S older brother, this dut y ,
but Simmeh soon fell ill and died. Since Gbawuru was now im-
portant in assisting the British at Kabala, the area around Kabela
came to be called Gbawuruya.
Gbawuru selected carriers from Yagala,
because were the nearby villages. Lamina
died, Almamy Fanna gave the staff of office to Gbawuru as chief
there. Whsn you heer Wara Wara l, here; Wara II
,'ls Y'agalsa .
Almamy wes .succeeded by Almamy son of
Almamy Suman. After Muktaru came Almamy Salifu,' thg presBnt
ruler .
The following Wara Wara were left in Guinea when
the was created between Sierra Leone and Guinea:
y a ma, K a ri;, DaI i pot a and Su m bar a y a. They are a Il in t Ii-e Ma mou
regian. 1 n Dalipata, the 'baundary fell on a particular house;
if you are in the ver'andah, 'you a're in Sie"rra Leone. 'At the
backdoar, yeu aie in Guinea.
;
. '.
THE KORANKO
The Koranko are a nuclear Mande group and the Koranko
language is mutually Mandinka. Formet
Paramount Chief, Fina Kali BaIa, more commonly called Mongo
BaIa of Mongo Chiefdom, Koinadugu District, spoke here more
of the Koranko. His on shold indi-
cate information from more distant areas filtered down to
related peoples. The interview was done in Mongo Bendugu,
chief>town in Mongo Chiefdom, in'February 1975.
The'mbaimba (ancestor) of the Mara was Yurkhernani. He
and Gad blessed him abundantly. He once prayed
to'Gad ta lessen his power and wealth which he considered was,
tao much. After praying, he bathed in a stream on a Saturday,
, .
only, to come out of it with two harns on his head - one gold and
one silver. He picked,the fruit of a monkey-breadtre8 only to
find money in one and gold in another. He was biessed grsatly.
His son was Mulku Sulaimani. Both of them stayed at Kairouani
in Guinea;they did not come down. They were however the rulers
over aIl the Koranko'.
Mulku 5ulaimani had many sons and these he sent aIl over
Karanko land. Mamburu he sent to Mongo here. Mansa Morifing
went ta To Sengbe went Kulfinyan while Kor'ke
maved to Deldugu. Mandal founded Mankalia and Konkoronba
settled Neya. Nyedu was peopled by Nyanu Mansa Tigbale.
. . 1
Tambaya is another name for Binadugu.
This country is not only peopled by Mara. lhere are also
Koroma, Kagbo, Konde, Dulare and Jawara. Bankonko Brema Sesay
was the first moriman (charm maker, priest) who came down with
our mbalmba.
Sulaimani's son who stayed in had five
sons. These and their children farm the major families in
Monga. The five sons and their children'were (1) Korkantang,
whose son was Wora Mamburu; these are at (2) Makanjo,
together with his son'Bowa Dinkin, were the ancestors of the
people; (3) Fori Mori and son Fabala Bori Mara
head the town of Mongo Bendugu; (4) Tumani and his son Ameri
were aIs a of Karifaya. The last son Kor'ke had Nyata and these
head the Nyataya family.
25
Samori's war met Mongo BaIa here. Langanfali, Samori's
kurgba, ame Hers. He made . M.ongo
. Birama, Mongo Foday, Kondo Konya all .... t_e.l<en to
Sikasso' and many: of them did' not return. 'The only ones who
returoed were Kumba'Baie's and Kema Kanyo's yaunger brather,
. .'
with as
. ':. ,-:'
But before they Samori had been captured by the
" He had'; e-arlier. sent'his son Yenwulen ta France
... l': \ . 1 \,' 'r.. . '. -. ..
where the whites had gat this son to go and try to convince
His fatber,ta stop the fighting. Samori and His
wife, ,:Saranky, mother 'of YahlwuIen, had supported him. He had
Iocked :l..1p Yanwulen in awindawless house whre ithe:;latter had
died. But Yanwulen had predicted that the defeat
5q mori so it happened. The war brought much famine and
.. Samari's Many joined the whites had
many Kombo arrested 5emari.and took 'him ta Fitaba.
.. . Th n the cou n t r y was div ide d -' the: F ; en G h . i.n Gui n e a the En 9 lis h
in ,5 i e rra Le 0 ne.
The English started,making chiefs here. They that
people should send their ta and that every
country a representative ta the
force. When they came at first, they asked every ruler te meet
them at Falaba. Mongo sent Marmakali whose father was Bamba-
tina Konyo and older Kursanbale. The whiteman made
Mar"makali the Paramount Chief. After Marmakali, Kursanbale
became the ne.xt Paramount Chief. From these two there developed
twa ruling houses in Monga section . Kursanbale was follc:iwed
by his oldest son, Makura Konta l, whose son, Fina Kali BaIa
(the informant) succeeded him. It wes in the rule of Mongo
'Bala that amalgamatidn came under Fina Kali of Deldugu.
Manten Bokaii fram 5erikolia followed and was succeeded by
Fakuly Mara as Damba Kuluwa II of Deldu; the next Paramaunt
Chief was Makura Konta II, the present one.
MORIFINDUGU
MorifindugJ, formerly a chiefdom of itself, is naw part
'bf Mongo Chiefdom.' One of the informants, Moriba' Kamara, is
a yeliba and of a different clan from the predominant Mara.
The other, Kw'ul Mara'- is the chier' of rv'lori findugu. The
Mara of claim at one time political hegemony over
Ferensola, the name given to aIl of Koranko country. Marle
Bokari, who features prominently in this tradition, was actually
captured by Samori. The are apparently trying here ta
wipe off what they consider a disgrace from their traditions
and this is more cleverly' done by the yeliba. The interview
was conducted at Kombile in Morifindugu in February 1975.
Our mbaimba, Mara, came from Misadu Banankora
which is in, Sankaran He went. at, first ta Bafingf
,(between the Bagbe and Bafing rivers')., It was after him that
whole erea came to be called Mori findugu.
Mans,a Mgrifing came with .his younger brother, Vira.
This latter he sent to Yiraya the present Sengbe Chiefdom.
When Morifing came down, many also accompanied, him. He was a
big thembaimba of tbe Kagbo, Mansa Kama, came with him
before going further down to Kamadugu. The Kamara, who later
settled at Barawa (in 5ankaran) also came with him.
The Koroma also accompanied him and later moved down tO,Diang.
It w lS much later that aIl thesebegan ta find chiefs (rulers)
in the new areas they settled.
Mansa Mlrifing's oldest son was Yengu; the latter had
three sons - Yengu Vira, Yengu Mns, Yengu Fara. The eldest
of these three, Yengu Vira, had a son named Tinalei.This
Tinalei was the first ruler of aIl Ferensola. This Ferensola
is Koranko country. It starts from the Sambaia area to Sankaran.
The boundary between Sankaran and Konya was the Bafune (river).
Tinalei's oldest son,was Marl Bakari. He became a ruler
even greater than his father. Bokari moved his town to Yinde-
kuma (close to Serikolia). While Marl Bokari was at Yindekuma,
1

he heBrd S?mori's He therefore made a very strang
war.fen i-'Ct'rj--raund his tawn "wi th bnly one gate. "Hethen
decided ta go and greet He left his younger brather
BilAtamba, tagether many slaves, cows, as'pre-
sen t s for Sam or i CI Ge t tin gel set a 5 a a n k a ra wh e r e 5 a m'CT i wa s ,
he stapped t six miles off Q He sent Bilatamba
ahead ta Samari ta announce him and seek receptian.. Now,
Bilatamba was a very huge person. When Samori sawrhim, he was
astanished. Il l s your aIder brot her alive" ?,. Samor i a-s ked h im 0
When Bilatamba replied in the affirmative, Samori told Bila-
tamba t'a t'ell brother nat to get ta 5anank'oro, far he was
sure that brother would be more gigantic than Bilatamba.
'C
Samari gave Bilatamba ten times the amauht crf presents
Bokar! had sent and hended over ta Bokar{ aver the
lciwer countryo On his return journey, Bakari passed
throug'h Wasulu, captured some :Fula and brought 'them to his
country.
Before Mari Bokari 18ft his old town for Sanankora, his
al f a an c..: ye lib a n a me d Fin a V 'J ria Mar i Ka ma r (a n'c est 0 r of the
infoimant) had told him that he shouid not return to.tht town
but look for an area in his country 'on a hill 'between two strenms
and there build a new onee Bokari couid not findsuch
on his rturn so he went ta Umaru, ruler of Gberia Timbakb and
put the issue bfore Umaru. He asked Umaru to give him such a
place or face his wratho Umaru replied that since Marl
country and his had a common boundary, the former should look
for such a place anywhere around and take it
o
When Bokari could not discover such a site in Umaru's
country, he crossed the Se li (the baundary) back inta his own
country and went to settie at Bilatambaya. But this place did
not fit the description the

had given him. He stayed at
Bilatambaya three ycars while he was searching. After this
he discovered this place (Kombile) which answered the
description of the He called the new town Kambile, meaning
28
.'
a place with blessing. AlI of Bokari's yeliba and
people came and settled at Kombile. From Kombile, Marl
Bokari sent who founded Gberefi, Serikolia and other
places. towns in Marif{ndugu were founded by
people from Kombile. Kombile is older than Mongo and other
towns around; next in line is Mankalia Kirdu followed by
Kerifaya. Marl Bokari's power still extended over aIl Fer-
ensola. Kemo Boltamba of Barawa was his prime minister.
Almamy Musa at Dankawali was also under Bokari.
Bokari was very old when the whiteman came. The whites
psked that each ruler or his representative should meet them
at ralaba. Bokari sent his son Kumba Wulenlai as his represen-
tative and the British made him the first Paramount Chief of
Kumba Wulenlai's oldest son, Manten Bokari,
became the next Chief for eleven years before
amalgamation came. Five chiefdoms were joined and
called Mongo Chiefdom. The staff (of office) was given ta
Fina Kali of Masadu. Manten Bokari became speaker ta this new
chief. When Fina Kali died on the fourth year of amalgamation,
Manten Bokari became the paramount chief of the amalgamated
chiefdom; he died five years Iater and wes succeeded by
Fakoli Demba Kuluwa II), son of Fina Kali, with
Fayinba of Mongo as his speaker. This speaker succeeded
three years later as Majura Konta II.

, , .
29
NEYA KORANKO
There is much confJict between twa ruling families in
Chiefdam. The interview conducted:at Kurubonla'in
1973, saon the present Paramount Chief, Madusilai
rII .hadbeen installed. He moved the chiefdom headquarters
. Kurubonla ta nine miles away a new road had
ta be bilt by Parpan
o
Parpan'isthe home of
hi awn theruling Mara family. The informant here
is a, Kamara the interviews from susplcious
eyes, ta be m6re balanced, and perhaps intentionally sa.
Our earliest ancestor in this Neya'. cOLJnt"rywas' Nyomboyoh.
a and he .came from It up" Nyomboyoh hed nine
children and the families which descended these'
Neya .. are that of the e"ldest -
.. Sarrya '; then 1 then 501brangbeh, then Nyalmisah, then
. :- .'; . .
Dandu, t.hen Woronbaduh, then Mardulai, then Kelmasuw'eh and
Kol:iah. These fami2.ies are aIl in Porpon. These nine
children were aIl warriors but they did nat in one town.
The two most famaus warriors to emerge from these families
were Sondamtamba and They were directly descended
ff9m eldest son Nyesenyireh; Nyeseyireh
father cf Nyesengborih whose son was Tohkoreh's son
wa s Mar b u n ban who fa "t il e r e d Bu ni iJ a mal i and Ka li.' Ka li' s san wa s
Yileh, sons were Sondankali and Sondantamba. These two
famous warriors in their time fought the Temne and other
ethnie
The eldest cf these two, 50ndantamba, "had many children
Pesilai, Lai Kanja, 5ibenkun and them
. " .
But Sondankali had only two children - a son and a
named
. In Yileh's time, the Kono drave the Koranko from this Neya
the area. Our grandfethers
....: . , .:. f . ',' .
far a s r: jan la ( in Gui ne ) . wh e r e t he y st a y e d. Son dan da l i
. .
and Sondantamba left hers and went to Mongo. But before they
went, in Porpon that a be f6und ta
... cC?unt.ry from the Kono. One' important 'moriman f
30
(charm maker, priest) secluded himself for seven days on this
: ,issue; when 'he 'emerged, he prophesied that someone who wes an
only san ,cou,ld redee,m the count,ry. "Madusil'i was, one' sU,ch, sa
he'was chosen ta to Nyago the Mende leader, for help.
Thaugh Madusilai's mother was deeply at, this, the deci-
sion" stood. Bef OTe was twenty slaves
and six cows: to take' to Nya.9,o,. He was accompanied by' three
eIders - Sibenku, Nyaramalai and Pesilai (sons of Sondantamba).
When they got to Mansundu in Mende country, they met them busy
. ;'
with a war. Madusiiai had to stay six months in Mansundu before
his case could be considered. Nyago initially ag=eed ta help
the Neya Koranko. Arms and powder were sent for from Freetown.
After a while was in doubt; for him to that
Madusilai had a request, he should see some
more env,oys from the Neya people MeantJhile, sinc'e
had been absent from home for such a long time, Sondankali and
Sondantamba sent other envoyG. ten slaves and five cows to
follow Madusilai. When arrived at Mansundu, Nyago's
doubts were resolved and he sent for his warriors from aIl
around his countryo Aftsr much dancing and feasting' on the cows,
they took oif for Koranko o The road went through Nyeama Nimiyema
(Sewafe) to Sando, then ta a river where they rested and which
took the name of (in Koranko, 'resting place'). From
which is the boundary with Kono, they got to a village
named Yoromankoro which is in Neya country. From there through
to Babro and then to Tinkibru, close to Porpon. AlI
this area wes deserted.
Nyago said they should best attack the Kano in the raine
Madusilai then climbed up an ant-hi11 and proclaimed 'if 1
have ever slept with a blacksmith or a yeliba or finaba's
wife (grei00us sins), lat my'words come 'to nothing; but if not,
let it rain as we move on'.
They moved on to the central Koranko towns of
Tiredon which then the Kono strongholds in Koranko,
as they moved towards these towns
p
it started ta raine The army

J ';'"i .
31
in s t i tut e d a pas s wo rd - If ye g b e ? fi and the ans we r, " n y c ka"
.
(who is it.is me). In the attack on which
followed, many Kano were either or taken' One
Kano ruler - Fasulunkowa - was captured, but Madusilai would
not .let him betaken as slave. The ruler ta Porpon
. .
with two guards.., did Faslunkowa's
! '
mother was a.Koranko related to Madusllai. Nyombroh and Tire-
don and other villages were aIs a taken. Many'Kono were
captu;-ed.
The of Nyago stayed in Neya for six months. They
. ' handed.over the country to and his
Madusilai
."., to executl"' those who submi tted by eating flour and
kola.
tude.
Many Kono slaves were given to the Mende 'army in grati-
... j f
With the remaining slaves, the slave towns 'of Siyadu
were founded.
Trade wes then only in slaves iice,the products of
", .1
the country. When the Kono took Koranko cLuntry, Fankole
people of Kurubonko had fled to 5inkinsukurela. After Madusi-
lai's victory, he sent for ta return ta Neya and agreed
to share power with him. Whi1e Madusilai remained in Porpon,
Fanko1e wes 1eft to ru1e in Kurubon1a, bath areas being divided
by the Poro River. They agreed that if a cow was killed, one
leg would go to Madusilai and the other ta Fankole. Madusilai
was regarded as being over the entire Neya country but as a
sign of respect, Fankole was left in Kurubonla.
This Fank01e was descended from Konkoronba who was the
father of Yerikindifanko. The latter fathered Farinba Saio
who was the father of Bambafanko. Fankolai was Bambafanko's
son. The lctter's mother was a Fula by origin, named Bambe.
Farinbasaio, Bambafanko's father, was a hunter. He had many
wives but no chi1dren. A moriman told him that if he took the
wife of someone who died, he would have a popular child by her.
\:J he n Far i n bas a i a we nt t 0 h u n t a t Ku 1 a k 0 n ka, hem et Ba m b e and he r
he stayed with them and hunted for them. When this
32
... home in fqce of the
of everyone. Bambe was then getting aid. But the
prophecy came true and by Sambe was born Bambafanko ta
Farinbasaio.
When Madusilai's father.died, Madusilai made a funeral
inviting many people araund and slaughtering many CDWS.
Madusilai's eldest son was Gbondo while Fankalai's
eldest son was Kumbafanko. When the whitemen came, Madusilai
at.Porpon was a very old man. He therefore would always send
who had by then taken over from his fether Fankolui,
as his emissary to the wnitemen at Falaba. These latter grew
ta recagnize and when Paramount Chieftainciss were
created and at the death of Madusilai, Kumbafanko instead of
Gbonda got that for Neya. On the death of Kumbafanko, the
Chie: Gbondo, grandson of the aIder Gbondo became
Paramount Chief as Madusilai II.
THE KORANKO OF BARAWA
.'. This was a group interview done at Firawa, chief town
of the Barawa section of Nienni chiefdom in the
. District' iri' November 1974. The informants are: aIl Mara, the
predominaDt clan in Barawa. The tradi tion .explains the southern:
,expansion of the Koranko into territory formerly occupied by
the Gbandi.
Our ancestor who led the Barawapeople to this area was
Maran Kankan; he was a Mara. He came down with Kodo-
but the passed on ta Simbirinya (near Mabonto).
They fram a Karanko town named Barawa which is
close ta Farana in Guinea. There are Koranko still living
'there. country, Barawa, took its name from that place.
Maran Kankan met people here called Gbendi; he drove
,them away to the waterside (ocean). Maran Kankan and his follow-
ers founded the town of Kulandi and it became their chief town.
This town is as old as Fala9a. The heads of families which
,
,followed bim founded tawns surrounding, Kulanko. These towns
were Barawa Kamoia, Kokoro, Old Firawa, Timbiran, Kalmaro,
'* *
5 in 9 b i n y a,. Du k 0 no, Ba m b a k el e ya, G ben d e k 0 r 0, Ban dan k und u ma
* . * ' - *
(meaQing 'short cotton tree'), Kindekoro, Kurekor6,
* * * *
Momoria, Fereya, Kankanbaya, Bangbaranbuya, Dakaya, Yenkuya,
*' *
Bambugu, Sisela, Dankang, (now only a fakai),
*, * * *
Kulakoro,' 5arinyarinya, Tolto (meaning a place to get
. *
Merinto (people only go there to farm nowadays),
*
Kimasbgo, Kulukonko (meaning 'hill of leapards', now called
Wakonko), Baldoya and Y amisaya. These were the. origina,l
towns and villages of the Barawa.
When Maran Kankan died at Kulanko, he was succeeded by
his eldest son Maran, Kankansara. There was then no fixed rules
determining, succession wi thin the ruling family. When the
mansa (rulBr) died, aIl the big men got togBther and decided
who would become the next mansa. The young men would, after
this decision, collect piles of firewood and throw them at
the frontage of the appointee's house. This is the way the
information was made public. AlI other aspirants for the
Towns marked * denote those no longer existing
34
mansastiid-wo.uld then give up any hope of'acquiring it.
Ma.r an, .Kank-e-nsa.r a......w.a5..-..5-Ucceed.e.tL by-tti..s-own-ede.s t, 's_ 0 n ,
Maran Mamburu; the son, Maran as
mansa of Barawa at Kulanko. After Maran Balansama, his son
Damatibolo took office, followed by Boltamba (also called
Maran Tamba), son 'of Damatibolo.
the rule of B61tamba, the erttire Barawa was
by genkerifa, Kbno warrior, and his hordes. AlI
the' towns mentioned above were destroyed. Senkerifa was a
menance t6 the it was Samori 'who got rid of
When Senkerifa destroyed Barawa country, ;Bol tamba led
his peopie away ta 'a townin Morifindugu'called Aramanyinya,
whose ruler was Bilatamba. The people 'of Morifindugu would
not allow the 'Baraw to stay for fear thatthe more numbeT'OtJa
Barawawould domina te B61tamba then took his people
close ta Limba'country ta a hi11 outside Kabala. They were
,initially there under no one's protection; they named.the hLll
albitaya meaning."under the protection of 'God".
remained'in Albitaya a longtim. Boltamba
died there succeededby Senkeribolo, his.son, under
, whose: ledership the Barawa moved down from the. hill ta settie
at .Kabala. They met the Limba at Kabala. While:they were in
Albi taya, they began to settle in othe r towns and villages
, *
Kabala. These Sarako, Worowakalia,
i * * . *
Senikedugu, 'Dankanduma, Kyekoh" (meaning
1
* * *
,'white water'), Kumandi, Mantimamburuya, Karifafinaya,
., . ,* . . *.
1 Kondoya, Koromansilaya, Kumbadiforiya, Worsorkoroma (worsor-
" *
koro means 'pebble'), and Bel.ikoroya. also called Mamuruya.
Jhe Barawa Koranko founded aIl these towns and villages;
af.ter the y .1eft the a.rea, many of the villages were destroyed.
Benkolia started the Korari1<o town at Kabala.
35
At Kabal, Bucceeded by another son of
Boltamba named Belikoro (alsb called It was in
elikorc's rule that the whitemen passed through Kabala to get
to Falaba. They met Fasine at Falaba; the Falaba hill
did net accept the whitemen and many died.
There was a District Commissioner in' I}eIikoro' s rule called
Warren. surveyed the old home of the and toid
that it was very suitable cuttlng' and for agriculture.
He told Barawa people to return to their country for if
they did not, he would give their country to someone else'.
The Barawa people agreed to return; led by Belikoroba, they
retur.ned to Bara.wa withou.t stopping anywhere else.
When Belikoro died, his brother Tenbe (or Sewa
ruled. Tenbe Sewa was a warrior and people believed he was
wicked; when this rumour reached his ears, Tenbe Sewa called
people together and promised to forsake aIl wicked ways;
did and became a good After him, Belikoro's
1
son, Porobolo was mansa in Barawa. Porobolo was made ruler
.because people believed his father had been a kind man. -Para-
bolo was a good ruIer; after him there was an interregnum which
preceeded the amalgamation. This happened because there was
.. disagreement the of and Poro-
. ... .
balo.
Property succession goes from brother ta brother; this is
because a brother takes care of the children-nf the deceased;
when however the dead man's son grows'up gets married, the
uncle has to return aIl important items inherited ta his nephew.
If the dead has no brother, it goes ta his son or the
closest kin.
There was trade in slaves with Guinea before the whitemen
came. that, it was in kolanuts. Iron working was done
Tinbiran and Kankanbanya in pre-colonial times. The iran
was smelted in a soIsy
Bride priee was paid in eows, rice, goats, sheep and eloth.
A poor man who wanted a wife would attaeh himself ta a wealthier
man whieh latter would marry a wife for him; from this point he
would fend for himself if he needed another wife.
THE KOROMA CLAN OF NIENI
36
There is a strorrg the
informant, Chief Bali Kali Koroma, to centre every-.
thing in Nieni. AlI of the old men treen assemb1ed to
give the tridition, but the Paramount Chief did not allow
them to speak, only see king approval .from t hem. The tradition
was recorded in Yifin, capital town of Nieni the
Koinadugu District, in 1975.
Durmbaimba was Fakoli Koroma who came from Mand;
Fakoli 1eft Mande and went ta Mecca for seven years before
he returned to Mande. In Mecca, he had talled
Tamba these Fakoli sent out of Mande thy got
t 0 th i s are a; the y fi r s t s t t l e d . a t . G b e san y a wh i c: h t 0 w n i s
Yifin and Kondembaya. From Gbesanya, Yeiin Tamba came
to Yifin a.nd Saramb8 went ta Kamarow. Bath Yifin and
were founded at about the same time. Yifin at time
belonged ta the Turay Koranko; these were then subdued or
driver away by the Koroma. Yifin became the first town of
YerinTamba and his followers.
Saramba's brotDer, Yalan, went ta Bumbuna; he met the
Koranko, Kagbo there and his power drove them away; he took
over Bumbuna.
At Yifin, Tamba Koroma had children - Feren, Musa.
Eala and Sara Feren, the eldest, was the father of
Karawa whose son was Yirimusukeli. This Yirimusukeli then
became the ruler of aIl Koranko in this area. He also ruled
the Temne of Fulawusu and Kunike Gbarina, and the5ando Kano
. :. He was the mansa of the Koranko at the same time as Suluku
ruled the Limba. This was before the Barawa left for Kabala.
During the rule of Yerimusukeli, some' Koranko 18ft the
surrounding area, went to Bumban to seek Suluku's help against
Yifin. This war came to Yifin and lasted for six years; on
the seventh, in spite of the strong war fence around Yifin,
the war overcame Yifin. Eut Yerimusukeli had sent his children
.out of the country before this event. One of his children,
Bambafara, was however captured end taken to Bumban as prisoner.
With the destruction of Yifin's power, there was then no one
1
..
"
Ill.
37
... tb ,:fight far.the: KaJ;'anko, made i t possible for war ta
'.' .. r .. !.,' ::. " '.' .,
the Barawa and drive Kabala.
this, Samori's war came. Following this war,
people were.sent from Yifin ta go and bxing Bambafara from
.' , As there was no, money.", the people took four cows as
'a pre'sent to S.J..Jluku .. "made him, release Eambafar. When
he returned, Bambafara, the r,est of the Koranko and
'ta Kintibalia; whitemen came and said that there
"
shauld be no 'mci're .war; he said that e,veryqne. should return
f
ta home. ,The Kono of Sando who had aIl been at
Kintibalia, 'returned. Bambafara led his people ta Kruto
. ;).
(which still exists) before they to Yifin.
, The British then ,wanted a Paramount Chief over the area.
, The pople.all claimed that Bambafara was the one wno should
be appointed. A few ye,ars,,:, tl?r" was crowned. He
; was the ruler of K aliang (wh ic h was fula)" Wul i (Mara) and
Sambaia (Fula) besides Nieni. ,When Bambafara the
*
staff, these areas mentioned only had the The first
staff was at Yifin; a, l'ittle late,r, on,e wa-s ta f,3nkalia
, -in" Neya;: Mari. 'rvl'usa rec'eived one next at Kamadugu; Fasine
followed for aIl: theYalun'ka; then 'i t \"'as the turn of Suman
. '
at Bafodea. It was in D.Co Stanley's time that aIl the other
(lesser) chiefs received staffs.
Under Bambafara, Kaliang, Sambaia and Wuli aIl paid tax
here at Nieni for seven yearso On the eighth, the difficulties
Bambafara was experiencing in collecting the tax over such an
extensive area made him decide to give the responsibility for
this to chiefs in the different areas. Gbafara from Kumala
was ta be responsible for Kaliang; Fabol Karifa wes in charge
of Sambaia, white Wuli and Yeraia were given to Bandakarifa
from Kerifaia respectiveIy; little did Bambafara realize that
he was giving away the country.
* Book here refers ta treaties signed by the British with
the local rulers about 1890.
. "
38
"At the" next" tax t"ime,' i t was oll.ee1i&d 1'rom
thes6 di-rfe.,rent," .reated by Bambafara. F aboI Kar i fa
ndw asked the British far his awn staff ta became separate
from Nieni. This dispute Iasted a year after which the British
Chiefs ta settle the issue. In the end,
F.abol Kari fa was left at 'Sambaia: Bef"\dugu and Kallang were
given ta Gbafara; the was put as the boundary line;
later. Sambaia was ta the Tankollli District.
The whiteman askBd aIl Paramount Chiefs ta send a son
ta become a Cauri Messenger. Bambafara sent Kali, Iater
.b.ec.eme. -the. l"'t-9xt Peramount Chief." In the force, Kali was
ca+led tKali Nieni'.
After Eambafara, Kanku Mansa
Chief, followed by another son of Bambafata, Kali; the latter
WBS $Ucceeded by thQ CHief. Among the
Karanka, one cann-at be made a ruler if one is.. J"\.ot -From tne
crowning house.
A.t the time of amalgam"ation, those who had' formerly
baen under Nieni,except "again joined to us.
; The _name 'Nie ni' means "r ieh sail", a place
could thrive." Yifin means 'Blackwater'.

..

f-.,. _._ . "a ......
" ' .' t. :"1
" -- .. -.,
39
THE KOROMA CLAN' OF DIANG
This tradition must be and compared with the
pr
g
evious one by the Koroma of' Nien:C .. This /tdo wa!.s a group
interv iew hut the atmosphere was less cont'rolled and the
Paramount Chief wes absent. One of the informants, Chiefdom
Speaker, Pimpi Koroma' is now The' interview was done
among Koranko .of the Koroma cl:an at Kondembaia,. chif town
of Diang Chiefdom in the Koinadugu Distric{ in
1975. Lake Sonfon is a fairl; inland iake td
Kondembaia. The mythica1 story at the ,start may only serve
to explain the role of every clan in the area. Dansogoia
was a former chiefdom, now part of Kalansogota chiefdam in
the Tonkalili
Our mbaimba, Saramba, came from Yufune Mande; there
,"' '! .
was no one in this country then. Saramba here with his
older brother Yira; the Barawa were not here They were
also accompanied by Mamuduke Koroma and Sagba Turay, .. the
mbaimba of the Turay family. They came with the mansakin,
the medicine for sacrifice for the good of the
When gat to the L8ke Sonfon area, they built a
like a watchtower (the kind used ta scare away
birds on a farm) called This subend was built with
much magical power. After they hed constructed it, Mamuduke
wes told to climb it, but he was as the magic was too
powerful for him. Yir6 tao could not ascend the subend.
It was only Saramba who could overcome the and get
.
stop the subend. He met a g01d s1ing at the top; Saramba
took the sling and directed east, west, north and south
before he was asked ta climb down.
The eIders now decided that the mansakin and t8e lake
should be parcelled out. They a hill,close to
Foriya,! close to a lake called. Talaykekonke "hill
we shared"). The mansakinye was given ta Yira for safe
keeping. Saramba got the,subend so he would look after the
country. The lake was given ta Sagba sa the Turay
family would always be making sacrifice fpr aIl of them.
40
Mamuduke, who had initially come from Mamurudugu, asked for.
his own. share; he was told that the skin of any cow killed
shouldalways go ta his family as a mark of respect.
Saramba got the since he could climb the
H settled down at Dafolo and' had children. His oldest sah
wa Gbaday who also had two sons Sara
J
the eldest, and Tsmba.
This latter went ta Yifin which heopened up; thers was no
one there then. Sara rsmained in Diang; by"this timeSaramba
had died.
Sara's oldest son was Fagbesanyang, who founded a town
called F agbesanyang had .three sons - Kuliyumbo,
.Manfori and Foray, the ,Youngest. Foray soon started fomenting
between his town brothers. Once when Manfori was
'. sh!rpening his sword, he mis ta ke nly eut K uliyumbo a th is led
t 0 a big' fig h t b e t w e e n the m, bec a use For a y 1 S con spi r a c y ha d
. ".. . .. '
.made them suspicious of each other. This occurrence disturbed
very much so he decioed to send them to different
areas to them separated from each other. He sent Kuli-
yumbo to ,pomoliya (now only a deserted farming site); Manforay
was sent to Kamarow which he founded. Foray, who had caused
thetrouble, was not given a particular place; his father
.... l d hi m t 0 fin d hi s 0 w n for t une s wh e r ev e r he li k e d For a y
was a hunter, so he travelled southwards with his gun to
Bumbuna. He met some Koranko people there, but the place had
. no name yet., Near.the town, he killed a bush cow; he killed
another and yet another; because of this, the people there
called the cou.ntry 'Dansogoia', mealJ.ing tlhunter (firing)".
The Koranko here spread the qf this great man; the y called
..
meaning 'great , The name of Foray was
soon lost. At Dansogoia, Gbilma had children
-
Yelang, the
oldest, wes the father of Yalang Bokari; Yalang Bokari's
son was the la te paramount chief of Dansogoia.
:.Manforay at Kamarow was the father of Konibe, Sandy and
Dinka. Konibe founded Konibaya; his sons were Kerfado, Sangba-
noma (the eldest), Marmasandi, Tina Ferenkeh, BaIa (Mori) Musa

,

41
*
(a former Paramount Chief, rresent at the interview) and
Sangba Mgba. Konibe. sen.t. 'Marrnasandi to Dinka went
ta Dinkaya, which later became' known as Lengekoro. Ferenkeh
was ta the first Chief of Diang.
But this was after the Samorian war. Mansa Fira, who
been given themansakin, was at Yara; Fasolo was his
first son and the next. wes Nonko. When the war came, Yira
tald his twq sons to go and settle on the .between
Diang and Barawa: F asolo founded Soloya .and Nonko bU.il t
Nonkokoro. The location of these two towns saved Diang from
the Sofas, But Konibe and his sons - Manti and Marma-
Binti Momori and Hinti Magba, blocked the other end
to prevent the war entering Diang.
After the war, Kerfado who was then ruler of the
icountry (Kanibe had died) divided up the again. They
swore that everyone should bury the hatchet and aIl
ideas of revenge. Mansa Yira (Saramba's brother) was grieved;
when he remembered aIl they h2.d done to his people, he cried;
he was told ta have patience; this, in Koranko means "dien..9.':
and so the country took its name.
When Ferenkeh died., Samba Magba became the next Paramoun"':
Chief, followed by Mari Musa, son of Ferenkeh; next came the
present Paramount Chief Sheku Megba II, son of Samba
Diang Sokurella was founded by Sandi;. later Manforay
sent his children Manti BaIa and ta their.'big daddy'
at because they were naw many at Kamarow.
* Now deceased.
'1l2
THE TORONKA
'Thisshort piece a group' of the Koranko,
Savane or Toronka of . They were corners and
probably entered the Sierra 'Leone hinterland in the second
ha"lf of the 18th :century. The informa'ht is Madusu Momori
Thoronka the interview was recprded. at Alikalia in January,
1975.
Our .was Mankoro .who came from Torong,; the name
Toronka is .derived from place.;. the people are. really called
Savane. When Mankoro here, ,met Kagb,o :in the town
b y the r i.v e r. '. He sc a t te r.e d the m
Man.koro' s son was who .was t.he fpthe r of Sayo Demb8.
j. Samor!' met .;Sayo Demba at 0 He .was caught by the
Sofas who released him and hereturned :to town. But the
caught. him again and took him ta where they
killed:him. Sayo's.children were by the war.
At the end of the war, .. those who had came back; they
left. the oldsite of the town (probably destroyed) and refounded
.Alikalia 'on ,the presen.t l,ocai{,i_on 0
was this that the white man 1 was born then.
The leader of who bui:t AIikaIia .was brother of
Sayo Demba; but the.first .paramount chief of Kaliang was 82fere
of Kumalo ; the name K91iang .is from the Fula. :Kumalo; Bafar';
was a: Fula; Bafar.a was followed. as chief by his son
Hamoro . :M.eanwhile? Dabo.nta, son of Sayon Demba was town head
. of Al,ikalia o He was suC?ceeded by his .:brother Mantilai
. Mantilai -was followed hy another Dabonta who became the next
paramount chief of Kaliang aft.er .tlamo.J;.o.. ..li:; ."I[:iE? after Dabonta' s
death that Kaliang was amalgamated .wi th D.embQ.,.Lai '. s country
of Banda Karifaia; Barawa was latar added and aIl was joined
to Nieni
Sayo Demba and Kali Koroma of Yifin possessed aIl this
country then.

43
KORANKO OF THE KAGBO CLAN
It is usaIIy very use fuI to eolleet t'radi tians from
smaller sections of an ethnie group, state, or from Iess
significant in a town or viIIageo Since they often do
not have a traditional or current stake ta superior position,
they are Iess likely to distort the This tradi-
tion from Kamadugu Sokurela the Sengbe' Chiefdom, Koinadugu
helps to give a fair of situation in
Ferens91a.. This w.as .. a group interview led by Dowe and
i t wa s .:I one i ri J a:n u a r y, 1 975 0
Masa the first ta come down this area; he met
the Mansalai was the ruler
p
father of
Lenkonkeh ta Yantinti - fifteen'days walk
18 called( ferensol a and belol'lgs ta the Mara. Masa Kama maved
down ta The Mara of Kainadugu joined him there.
Masa Kama had many children. Some are at Dankawali, some
a t Ka m ad u 9 u (a r 0 und he r e )'. Man s a Yen 9 u ,( gr and fat h e r of in far m ,:, ;- .... )
was a son of Masa Kama; he was a great chief; he was given
the drum from the skis; he founded Yanguya where his grave
still stands. Yengu, the warrior
One of the "Kagbo who came to thii3 are Was
Komof inale h. His granc!snns 1...,8::'-8 Donkoro 9 Mer 1 se fanka, Komo-
fina, Kasasorary, Bambayira and Korakolay. These were warria:-
l
3
and farmers; these finally settled area of Kamadugu.
Bombayira founded Kurakunema; Komofima (also called Kema Kama:
founded Komaya; Kyegbema also built Yarawakalay.
Two of the oldest towns in this area are Farandugu and
Sangbamba. The latter was founded by Malvo Kenya, a descendEnt
of Masa The site of the town had been that of a farm
the previous year; this means sanqba in Karanko and thus the
town was called Sangbambao Cotton trees were planted around
5angbamba; one of these trees became a famaus tree of divina-
tion; it was called
Malvo Kenyo's first son was Brem; he succeeded Kenya as
ruler of Sangbamba. Next was Magba, son of Brema, followed by
his son Manti Sari; Almamy son of Manti Sori, came after,
44
followe,d by his younger the present town chief. In
Malvo Kenyo'.s there was no one over al.1 the count.ry.
was founded by who came
fr.am .Mande. He met Morekero and Diantomboro close to t'ri'e'
: j ;' "
From there li he came and founded Farandugu.
The. Samorian war met Tanwuleng Tongba ai Farandugu. Tongba
sent Fina BaIa to Samori accompanied by his two
and Tongba. By the end of the war, Tanwuleng Tongba was ill
and he went to Yagala for treatment. This was around the time
of the advent of the wh iteman'; by the t:ime h'ecouid rece:'ive
. .
the book' he died; but before he died,
that he who had been sent to Samori (Fina' BaIa) should be
g{ven the book. It was thus thet Fina BaIa became the first
Chief of
It was after the war that thesepeople (from Farandugu)
came to'build Sokurela which means 'new ri was founded
by Finaselai. After him came his brother Kumba Yira, followed
by"the son' Kumba as ruIer- Another
succeeded; he died last year and was followed by the present
town chief, another
,
"
45
KArvlADUGU
Apart" from' 'suppdrting the previc1us :in'terview'in discus-
sing later Kagbo this tradition gives a slightly
di fferent type of information. Upon req UB st .... the informants
aspects of traditidnal exchanges and production.
Samu, where they went sometimes to get salt, was on the. coast
near Kambia, sorne 300 kilometres from The interview
was done in January,
Kamadugu means Elephant; the Kamara and the Kagbo were
the first tg, come to this country. The mbaimba of the Kamara
was cal,led Kissi Monyay and that of the Kagbo was ,'-1ansa
Kama, .killer of elephants. Tbs Sesays followed these;. first
people as their alfa, offering prayers and giving divine advice
as tor',t he best place for' se t tlemen t Ma nsa Kflma settled f irst
at'Kalkoya.
Mamn Yiri, ,the mbaimba of our people here in Dankawali
,came later; he was a Kagbo. He first got ta Tumania in
--- Mor findugu section of Mongo Chiefdom, where he.', met Komo
T m b' " ", a Mar a, a s ru l e r 1"1 a man Y i r i ma r rie d the sis ter 0 f
Rila:'Jembaand founded the town of Nerikolia. While Maman
Yiri was at the Kagbo from Kalkoya would come ta
our area on hunting Expeditions.
Maman ,Yiri's first son was Tina.Fila Hamoro who ruled
next at Nerikolia; when he died" his son Fina BaIa eucceeded
him. Rules of succession were flexible; the rulership
only had to remain in the house of the first ruler. Anyone
in that house who showed' signs of prowe'ss an.cl ,prominence was
acknowledged os the next ruler when one, clied.
When Fina was ruling at Nerikolia, a Kono war des-
troyed that town; Fina Bqla and following went to 5ayela
(at Badela, close to Gberia); he was there until Samori's war
came down. This w1a,rgathered ,Ko-ranko from parts of ,this
'Koinadugu District end took theW to Mongo Kerifiya. There
they ate flciur (oath of submission) and to obey the sofas.
After they did this, everyone returned to his area and it was
then that Dankawali was founded.
Act.uallH-the.re_had-b-e.e.n-'-a--t"owrL o'n-this site before,
called Gbordangbolia. A small animal which looks like a goat
is cafled gbon'dan in Koranko. T.his animal was 'always:, by. ,the
s.tream, just outsiqe this town. was a h,u,man b'eing wh.o was
turning into a wheneverattempts were made tq grab
him. A (warrior) from the 'southern Dankawali
killed this gbondan by the stream. This stream then bore the
name 'of 'this brave krugba.
After the,oath of suhmission ta the sofas, Demba
{father 'Of informa rit Momori} came and refoundd a ,town on this
site; 'he called: it Dankawali, named &:If ter the qt:eam., The
'whiteman saon came ,and stayed at Falaba. Samori's ,had
Sayela and Fina Balahad he later got to
Dankawali where his relation had founded a town. The people
here dcided to snd a to. whiteman at
Falaba. 'Fina BaIa 'was chosen ta head this He was given
the by' the whiteman. Since he becameknown ta
he came be crowned the chief
in th i s re a . Fin a Bal a c a Il e d t'h i s t 0 w n " Tub a b u du 9 u Il wh i ch
means' "whi teman' s' tOwn".' Later during' his' rule, he changed
the name again to
But' before :he could be crowned, the 'sofas were still at
Ki'ntib'alia. A' :strong contingent from he-re led by Fina Tamba
( brotherOf 'BaIa) 'moved, a'gainst the sofas there to hel.p the
whi F Ina Tamba" s hand was cut wi th a sword before the
sofas This is why"ffll the country together
and agreed that 'Fina Ba12 should be made paramount chief. It
was after this that sorne of our relations left here and founded
the villages of Badla, Kasungya, Korenbon" Sanya and Tingifira.
At the death of Fina BaIa (also called Sayela BaIa or in
his old age, Mori Musa), Fina Samba him, followed
by Homori, son of Fina BaIa; the staff next went ta BadeIa,
ta MarIai Kagbo after which there was the amalgamation with
Sengbe.

.,' "
,
f' "
47
Trade and Society
People lived ... jn-Larg-e-"f-amilies..;. .. the youngerones depended
on the head of the family and ihey farmed collectively. If
anyone of the. family wanted a wife'therefore, the product of
that farm was used; rice from the farm would be used to buy
cows for the dowry.
.
People in this.country produced yambakiri (or yambe)
(tobacco), Wureh (kolanuts), nyanda (country and rice
principally. Iron was smelted here ta make hoes, cutlasses
and knives. Country eloth was also praduced. were the
articles of trade. In internaI exehanges, Iron ga?d
9
.were
used to buy snuff, tobacco or riee. People wou Id Ieave this
area and take tobacca.produced here ta Kano to obtain the
fine cloth made by the Kano. These latter Ioved the yambakiri.
cloth was taken from here ta Limba country for pa lm
wine; tobacco was also taken ta Sankaran for eattle and sheep;
some even went as far as Boure with kolanuts for goid.
salt and sheep were used for dowry;
people sometimes went ta Samu to obtain salt. In its absence,
sorne salt substitutes were used. h grass called mulkay
. .
and the bark of a tree called kurumbay were obtained; these
were first burnt and then sifted; the fine particles were
mixed with water and then boiled untii the saline product
called kagbere remained. The saed of the vegetable called
sourrel sower) was then mixed with the kagbere to
give the salt substitute. Garden eggs(jakato in Kria)
was also used as a substitute.
... ..i
'- ....
THE ROLE OF THE MORIMEN
. This tradition W2!S' reaorded from :.a 8mall village off
Koinedugu town (after 'the 'district named) known as
!The informants were'of the Sessy clan, regarded
as descendants of morimen and .this tradition depicts their
function. The recording was done in April, 1974.
Mbaimba Fara Musa, a Mara, was the one who founded
!!n his time, they were living originally at Gberi-
kelia.(meaning 'under a cotton tree') in Neya. It was Fori
Mal whO "looked ground
lt
for Fara Musa when latter wanted
to know the best place he could build his own town. Mal
told Fara cross the Seli to get beyond
Kal'Kpya and he would discover a place,where the cutting
.grass (a rodent) had cut down the tall (elephant) That
would be the place. Fara followed their instructions and
founded the town named Koinadugu - town of the tall grasSe
Uur own grandfather (ioe. the Sesays) wasMori (Alfa)
He came fram Mande first ta Yafuni and then ta Ba
Konko. He had a daughter; there were only the three of them.
Sando met aD old man named Mor'di at Diang (not
he, was a chief; Sando also met another warrior
chief named Fara the ancestor of Balansama at
Fara Musa told Sando to .help him get Masa Kama's daughter as
Masa Kama was then :lt the same place as Fara Musa. The latter
was.told that Kama's daughter would have These
and their offs pr ings create .. Se They were
Hom oro Mar ". Ken yoM a ra, Ku r u k e J1l i Y a and Mar an' K 0 ta.
The first of Sengbe was Fara Musa, followed
by Marin Kenyo; the next mansa was Marinkata, succeeded by
Gbindiml, then Maran Dinka (also called Banban Sera Dinka),
the father of Balansama I who followed him. The next ruler
was Mamusu Dinka, father of the present Ealansama.
Koinadugu is older than Sengbe-Eendugu. The first
Balansama built Sengbe-Eendugu. From Eendugu, they moved ta the
Wara Wara hills.

,"
-.
" 1
THE 5AMURA OF 50LIMA
This informant spoke mainly about the Samura clan of
which became 'the centre of the solima state.
49
The aged informant, Foday Erema
t
is very' knowledgeable about
Solima history.. But the coherence of this interview could
only after several interviews with other
5amura in Sierra Leone and Guinea. l t wes the n th'at much of
what Foday Brema had ta say became clearer. The interview was
done'in Falaba'; former capital of Solimana,
town >f thfl:_?uli.ma Chiefdom, in MaY'i1973.
and Fori Frigi were relatives; after Frigi
l '
had left Mande and settled in area of Firia, too
left Mande go and see how his famous relative faring.
When he got to the area he first met Sa Yere, a blacksmith
and relation of Fori Frigi. Solimanga stayed a while with Sa
Yere. This is why blacksmiths are respected in Solima; they
wsre our former lodgers.
Meanwhile Fori Frigi had issued a proclamation that he
would be in the debt of who would get rid of four
warriors who were capturing people and plundering traders around
his country. four warriors were his relations though
he did not know it. They had disguised themselves,
different names - Kolidigigi, Koligbe, etc. While 50limanga
was at Sa Yere's, he heard this proclamation. He rose ,up to
the occasion and killed the four warriors.
It was then that Frigi know of 50limanga's in
his country. He was grateful to Solimanga and gave him his
daughter Mmame Yeri as wife o with someother rela-
tions in the area, Fori Frigi gave 50limanga a total .of seven
hundred males and seveD hundred females ta form his
This number contained no 5amuras; they were aIl Kamaras,
Mansarays, etc. It wes gradually, as 501imanga
his own country that most of them came ta adopt
the na me Samura. They thought it was good to do 50.
The name 501imanga was acquired while 501imanga was with
Sa Yere. While he sat on the solidagina which were chips flyin
off hoe handles being carved, he was called manga as he sat 0-
.,.
!So
the ,soli(daginaJ--.s.o.li.rrtan-ga_ was
now large, Fori Frigi's country could not contain it. Frigi
thus ,Solimanga a tow'ri named 130 that the ).,atter
could settle:there.
Only one hill fram Futa
J a'll 0 n; t r 0 u b le' cam e w i th' the FuI a ,a.n d 5 al i man 9 a d r 0 ve the m
from near to as far narth as Dabola: This
cleared Yenunya for ,the Yalunka and Frigi; built Firia there.
He then came to an agreement with 501imanga that anywhere else
from Solimanga drave "away the Fula would be"long ta his
guest. vthen Solimanga atrove the Fula away fram the area
araund Kalata, that became his country and the name of
5 a li man k h o'r i .
Solimanga's four sons nd their descendants are the
only true 5amura of S61imankhori. When 50limanga died,' his
first son Yirisa Yella became ruler of 501imankhox'i at
50limanga's pr6perty, in gold, slaves, was shared
between the first three sons - Yirisa Yella, Kumbasa and Yeri
Fat. Tagesa, the youngest, came up ta these three and
'as ked for' his own s hare. F irisa took his fathe r's gun" Kumbasa
took"his father's swoid, Fst and arr6w; these were
given ta Tagesa as his own" share. Tagesa then asked for their
father's knife and he was He started dancing
and beating a'drum saying aIl 501ima belonged ta him. When
asked why, he said the share of the property he received was
what had been their father's actual property. Soon Kumbasa
died and his share of the went to Tages. Kumbasa
was followed ta the by Yeri whose also went
to Tagesa (by collateral succession).
Yirisa Yella had, among others, two sons - Kahdundantili
and Isa Gamba. When Yrisa died, Dantili vied' for the rulership
of 501imankhori with Tagesa but it went, as it should, to
By !the time Tagesa died, his own soh, B'ana Dansa, was a full
,grown man. Dantili, who was by old,' aIs a had a son c211ed

1i1
Sara Jho was also a grown The mangaship at Kalota
this time was not'hande-d-to,11an-tili---as i t should hav been;
it Bana Danse, thdugh Isa Gamba Sara Filay fought
hard ta getit. WhenEana Dansa died, his line retained power;
His son Yima Yella succeeded him; this latter handed the
drum to his wn sons Yella Dansa, who, with his brother Takba
Asna were the first rulers of Falaba.
Because of the disconteni on the part of
line for having lost the rulershilj1, started intr{guing
with the Fula. There had been clashes with the FuIe' since
Yima Yellals rule. In the time of Yella Dansa' , Yirisa's
line invited the Fula to attack Solimankhori. They hoped that
with Fula support, they would merge as the rulers of a de-
feated Solimankhori. To keep up the pretence however, Isa
'Gamba'and Sara Filay had to fight on the side of Yella Dansa
so as not ta give away their plan. They appeared ta fight,
but they put no powder in their guns.
The fight however was hotly contested for years. In the
process the Solima moved from Kalota to Tambambombade, then ta
lebemere. From there they tried Konkonbanya in search of a
suitable capital where any Fula attack could be easily fore-
stalled. It was from Konkonbanya that they ,went to faund
Falaba. Sara Filay, Isa G a rrJ 8 end aIl jained in the building
of Falaba, where Tagesa's descendants were established as the
mangas or Solima.
had been buil t, both Dentili and Sara Filay
asked that they should be allowed ta build their tawns.
The Falaba rulers agreed that if were to create
'a town near
o
the Fula, intrigue would continue. Thes two
ch'il-dr'en -o:f Yirisa were therefore s'ent to build towns on the
other side of Falaba, close to Sankaran. Dantili built Dan-
. tilla ) at the confluence of the Tentereba and Sasi, while S-:-::.-;
Filay founded Gbendenkud south' of Dantilia. These' people
were in search of a which would rival Falaba since
they fel t' they had a. to rule Solimankhori. Dut
00 '"
.... oeveryone was
payiOri -t8>< ""ta F alaba.
When Takba Asana died, his younger brother. Dinka, became
manga. Filay and others d{d not resits theh; Asana and
Dinka were of much the same generation "as themselves. But
,
when Wuleng, son of Asana succeeded, the Sara people
, .
felt they should owe no allegiance ta their nephew. They
came ota Falaba (Dantili and Sara Filay) and said they wanted
ta pay tax to Falaba no longer. Falaba refused, sa they went
back and Dantilia attacked Falaba. The attack was hawever

:Sori Wuleng's brothers now started urging him that Falaba
should subdue Dantilia. These people of Dantilia had attacked
Falaba .and had refused to send the yearly tribute. Yaradi had
Yelaya; Kungbana had founded Kunghanaya; Kalifil
created Kalifilaya. These aIl argued that sihce they paid
tax, Dantilia should be forced to do the same. But Sari
refused to saction the attack, feeling some sympathy with the
eIder line of Dantilia and wanting their stubbarness to pre-
. .',
events.
When Wuleng died, his younger brother Binti Bakari be-
came manga. ,Again the eIders pressed for an attack, but
Bakari remembered his brother's words and refused to allow an
attack. But when Sana Gbay, Sori' Wuleng's took over,
his brother Bibata Sana could wait no longer. Bibata Sana
a powerful warriar o He was called Mungutinga and
no over him) or Konkoronba (can break an iron gate).
Mungutinga was born on the same day as Sana Gbay, the latter
in the and the former at 8.00 p.m. Sana Gbay as the
eIder became manga and Mungutinga his kelle mansa. Munguting2
now on an attack on and Sana Gbay agreed.
Mungutinga went ta attack Dantilia. Dantili, who had
angered head wife, was betrayed by her. She gave the
secret of his strength ta Mungutinga sa the latter took the
fish from the lake and sacrificed it. The Falaba for=82
went at night; it rained heavily so that the


.. ;
53
{where Dantilia was situatBd)_over-fiowed and the mud wall
built the town, fell. MuAgutinga
Dantilia and addressed his uncle. He gave DantilI, who was
then a very old man, his horse and led Dantili to Falaba.
Dantili's son Gnyime Salu, was mde ruler of Dantilia.
AlI the e"lders who had been giving bad a'dvice to Dantili were
executed sothey would not do the same td Salue Those who
remained there made the act of subm{ssion by eating bread.
'Dantili;was detained in Falaba but was not treated as a slave.
He was gven his h6nor as a ruler and he Ilved in
Falaba until he died.
"Me-anwhile Sara Filay in "'Gbe'ndenkud had been acting like
his in Uantilia. He iook slaves in an attack on the
Kissi,' but did not take these slaves to 'Fala'ba as he was used
to. He tried cases and did executions in
taking the culprits to Falaba. Dantili who was Falaba
was questioned as to his son's conduct. He replied that he
was not responsible far his son's actions. The kelle manse,
Mungutinga, again took up arms against Gbendenkud. This was
a few years after the attack on Dantilia. Sara Filay was
killed by gunshot wound before the Falaba farces could enter
the town. Isa Gamba, who was not killed, was taken ta Falaba
where he died. He was treated like Dantili. A new ruler was
installed in Gbendenkud.
It was after this attack on Gbendenkud that Kalia also
was attacked for not bringing tribute. People say that Demo
Kali's father, Kumbe Kali built Kalia. l am not certain about
this. The ruler of Kalia was also of the Tag8sa line, but was
playing the same game as the Yirisa people.
When the kelle mansa in Falaba, Mungutinga, died, the
sword he laid down could be picked up only by his younger
brother, Fends Sana who thus succeeded Mungutinga as kelle mansa.
AlI the people mentianed above had to pay tax; it was also
in Sewa's rule that Firia was made ta start bringing tribute.
Those also-who---paid-tax-w.e-re... . ..B.ank.ak.a:x:-if.aya-( i<oranko), Neya
Karayima (Kono), Kaliang, now.amalgamated with
Yifin (Koranko). They did nat tax after any war was
made on them; they simply made the act of submission ta the
powerful Solima. Manga Sewa was planning ta build a strong-
hold at the Loma mountains. ta control those Kano which did not
bring tribute; the Sofa War failed his plan.
Manso DansaIs children went ta settle as far
as Tonka Limba and Wunkafang and became the rulers there.
1 have staod as a candidate for chirftaincy election in Tonka
Limba.
The Silima at first made gun (baba); when the
started bringing gunpawder, this stifled the desire
of the Solima ta make their awn pawder; they could
.catch slaves ta exchange for powder. Guns were also got from
Portuguese in exchange for slaves. Clath was made from
cotton;.wamen made the thread; Samu salt was used here. Gold
and iron bars were a medium of exchange o
1
55
-SMITHER"Y
Sari the who gave tradition,
the most difficult man to track down. As a famous black-
!smith, he travelled often into the Republ{c bf to pur-
sue his Here the role
their economie and social value o The interview was done at
;'" ': Falaba ;in 19730
1 Ws born in father's name:was
! ,Bakari He was ln Falaba but du ring the Sofa
War, he was teken from FaIba toKodowali by the sofas and
was borno My father Samoti in Kodowali
i8 in the Ivory
The Blacksmith profession is of' 'stan'ding .. In olden
, ,.-'. d a ys, Y a lu n k a b lac k mit h s ma d e 'h 0 es r ' eut las ses, Q xe s, ne e dIe s
bows r for arrows 0 AlI this wa$ f rom smei ted iron. _ 1 n sorne
of the hills in Guinea, there are sorne rocks which produce
irone Pieces of this iron-producing is put in a singilin
a chareeal fire is set ta it, blown by a (bellow2)
made were used. to make cloth in Yalunk2
The commodities made were exchanged fer othet food-
- rice, honeYt chicken, etca produced in Yalunka' country.
1 do :not know of exchange wi.th nOIl .. areas.
Smithery was a specialized There were two
t y P es 0 f sm i t h s The r e we r eth e ._a b u na who ma d e ho es, a x es,
pots, etco Eefore the Yalunka started making pots, wooden
bowls made out of the cotton tree were used as
The other type of smith was the (in Mandingo, siaki)
wha made only guns and worked in gold to make earrings, etco
When the Yalunka began ta import guns
1
the siagina became gun
repairers. Later started making guns, but this was
around the time of the sofas
o
Smithery wes a caste handed down from father
to son. The smiths al ways had ceremonies before starting their
wark.
The idea of smithery travelled from village ta village.
If there were no smiths in a particular village, the old men
56
there would 'hand heads' (hold a and send for a
smith from a village there one. This smith
either come on a contract basis or, when he came he would
be persuaded by the old men ta stay. Travelling smiths in
se arch of a fortune would pick out a village where there
were no smiths and move therej these also might be persuaded
to stay. The big men convinced them to stay by giving them
wives. A young beautiful girl was enough. Sorne of
roving smiths went ta Koranko and other places.
When a roving smith'left his town for a different place,
the ruler of the smith's town wauld send a message to the town
where the smith had decided ta work. This message was to
warn the ruler of this other tawn that the smith's ruler knew
where the ,smith had gone. AlI care should be taken of
'him there. If the smith decided ta continue-his. jou.rney to
another town, a simila.r ___.co-mmun,ica,tion was sent. In those-
people did not travel alane or in small groups outside of
the area where they lived. You could be- easUy--madea- s.lave
,if you did that. Thus, if the ruler did not send such a
message, the roving smith cauld easily be made a slave.
If on,the other hand, a smith was maltreated in a
foreign town, this could easily be a cause for war.

," .--. - ..-
._ .....
. .. ... ..-.-.-.
57
HEREMAKONO
This recording was made in March 1973 at Heremakona,
canton af Soliman, Farana regian in the Republic of Guinea.
The boundary Sierra Leone and Guinea divided up the
Samura Yalunka people. Lahai Fofana, the informant, talks
first of the Solima wars with the Fula of Futa then
of the founding of Heremakono.
A.long time aga when the 50lima Yalunka were in their
the Fula were their overlords. The Fula leader
was Alifa Ba at Timbo. At this time the Solima knew no
book (i.e. Koran). The Solima would send rice and women as
tax ta Timbo.
Our grandfather was called Asana at Falaba. He sent his
son Asana Vira ta Futa for le.arning. The Fula changed Yira's
name ta Sari. When Sari returned ta Falaba, he told his father
to rebel against the Fula yoke. Asanathen went to 'look
ground'(consult the oracle). He was told that if he fought the
Fula and returned alive, the Solima would remain slaves"to the
Fula; if however he died in the war, the Solima would forever
be free.
The Yalunka were aIl called together to discuss this issue.
They agreed to fight the Fula. By this time, the Fula had
built a masque and decreed prayer for everyone on pain of death.
On one such day of pray2r., the Yalunka gathered their force
and hid near the Fula masque. As soon as the Fula started
praying, the Yalunka attacked. The Fula sent for their ruler,
AIif Ba, and their warriors. The Yalunka were driven south
by the Fula and they fled through Kalis ta as far as Lebemere.
Asana was sitting by the river; the Fula met him there and
killed him.
The Salima then received word that their ruler had been
killed. Sori Wuleng called his warriors and said 'let us go
and die after our father'. The Fula were Kalia.
terms with the
No one, would cont;rol the other any longer. They
58
tI'ate Thus it was Falaba which was the saviour
of
.. . .
: On Gbehde'nkud'-
-.. (
This town Gbe,ndenkud' was founded by Sara F ilay. Sara
Filay's father was Dantili. Sara Filay had Sara Filay Kombo
who was'the father of Bokari's son was Kombo who
also had a son nam'ed Bo'kari who is here in Gbende'nkud JI0W.
Sara F ilay came from 'bantila. He at first wanted
ta build a town here, but the 'eIders of Dantilia refused.
Sara Filay then went ta Falaba. The Falaba people 'gave him
Bibata 5ana alias 'Munguting'a' (meaning' 'one is wasting powder'
or 'no b'ullets could pass' ) .' He was ta stand before Sara
Filay ta go nd build Gbendenkud. The of this town
means, 'let us stay here (now that we have come)'. One of
Samari's renamed the towh meaning 'WB
will await our fortune here'.
Solima were always in areas
by water. At the point where there were no rivers, 'ther'e
the ta the town were built. One could only enter Solim2
towns by crsslng the riveis or thraugh the gates. Falaba
was built in this way and sa was
Kayabayi founded Fotonkui.
the right ta go and settle there.
faunders of Falaba) first settled
Gb:er ia.
The Falaba people
Our grandfathers
at Sumanfirigiya.
gave him
(the
Tanun first town was Solimankhori; fram there
he went' ta Kalota and from Kalota; his children went to' si t
at Dantilia. The first four Salima towns were Dantilie;
Gbendenkud, Laya and Kalia. Gbendenkude is aIder then Gberiao
,
,
,
59
KABELIAKHOR.I
Kabelia was part of the Solima Yalunka state, but a
major disagreement occured"which Set Kabeliaagainst Falaba.
When co16n"ial Kabelia was a
but was Iater amalJamated with Sulima chiefdom, the centre of
the former Solima state. Bscause of the nee"d for co-operation
between bath sections of this new chiefdom, the reasons for the
disagreement of a century aga are carefully taken out of the
tradition. This interview was done at Ganya, chief town of
Kabelia section in April, 1973.
The first three people in this Kabelia country were
Tenen Dansa, Kungut and Wondenyamala. Kabeli met these
three at a place called Dansadiya. Kabeli was a hunter; when
he came, Tenen Dansa was happy ta see him. Kabeli wanted
ta continue his jaurney but Dansa pleaded with him; ttstay
here and l will give you a place far yourself". Tenen Dansa
then affered Kabeli the place where they had been threshing
rice as a site for a tawn; Kabeli was glad that these old men
did this far himo He decided ta stay and wark for them.
Tenen Dansa was by then a very ald man sa he decided
ta give the drum ta Kabeli sa that the stranger wauld stay
permanently. This plan worked and the area araund which
Kabeli's town was came ta be called Kabeliakhori.
Kabeliakhori and Falaba were built around the same
time. This was during the rule of Manga Bokari at Dantilia.
Before the founding of Falaba
s
every tawn had its own ruler.
After the passed from Dantilia, Manga lsa gat it
here.
Kabeli had a son named Sara who succeeded him.
Kabeli Sara's son was Yangi Saiop the next manga. Yangi Saio's
son, Isa, ruled after Saioo Up until lsa's time, our people
were in Simitia. It was when lsa's son, Seni, became manQa
that they moved down ta lt was manga Seni who faunded
Ganya. He was succeeded by his son Manga Isa II. This Isa
was then succeeded by Manga Fore, in whose rule Falaba and
~ .
60
w ~ e amalgamated. Forels father was Tenen Mmodi who was in
Taganya. This town had been part of Kabelia before the baund-
ary with Guinea was set up. Tenen Mmodi's younger brather
was Satan Musa and th present townchief here is a grandsan
of Satan Musa.




1 1
l,
61
THE MANSARAY YALUNKA OF SINKUNIA
where this interview was coriducted April
and 1973, is the chief towh of Dembelia Chief-
dom in the' Koinadugu District.,. This former "country" was, in
the 19th century, part of the Solima Yalunka state,
the informan-ts e\lade the' issue', not: very,successfuIly. Today,
Sinkunia is a more thriving town than the former
of the Solima state.
The first Yalunka -to come to De .. .country were
Gbindiya Sulay, Bandi ahd Wureh.. These were Kamaras
who came from Solon'kono. When they came here, they met some
Koranko making farms here o 'The were driven away by
Sulay. After this the then turned their
attention towards the Fula with whom they WBre
. Sulay sent his brother, Sari, to fight the Fula at Katangi
rear the Penseli river. This river LS in Guinea and was the
between the country of the Kamaras and the Fula.
After defeating the Fula, Sori stayed at Katangi and made
a town,there to guard against the Fula.
r
These Kamarawho came were foilowed by Kelis
Mansa Mamudu who was a Mansaray. On meeting Sulay, the
latter handed over the cbuntry which he had founded
who became ruler. Mamudu' had helped him.
Mansa Mamudu had a son named Khorea Kanki who
took over from him. Kanki'sson, Kaba Dimi, followed Kandi
while Nare Sinkun, son of Kaba Dimi shouid be regarded as
.the first manga. Before Sinkan, the country was unsettIed,
disturbed by wars. With the accession of 5inkun, a real govern-
ment was set up. The town which he founded was named after
him - Sinkunia.
Our forefathers called the entire cnuntry Dembelia.
The reason for this that they had learnt that patience was
vi;tue. As we say in Yalunka 'A ma which means,
your time, do not be in a hurry to get anything desired.
_. '
62
This lesse-n they had learn-tfrom fighting-.t-he enemy.
A fter Nare Sinkun his son, Momodu 'Kumba Kali, became
manga.. ,Kumba Kali was followe'd by Samb. Samb was the son
of 'Griyamfa Nwali. Nwali, himsel f, a Mansaray, had come from
"up" (Mande)" to live with brother Mansarays who had founded
their own country. As a means of encouragement, Nwali's son,
Samb, was made manga. In the rule of Samb, the town of
Musaia was founded. Samb was succeeded by Tg Musa who was
Kumba Kali's son.
During Tg MUSB' s rule, ,there was a family quarrel.
One of Tg Musa's councillors, a judge named Idrisa, had become
unpopular. It was reported to Tg Musa that the fines levierl
by Idrisa as a judge were not being passed on to the manga.
Idrisa retained them. As a result Tg Musa wanted to unseat
Idrisa from office o This angered Idrisa a lot so heleft
r,r Sinkunia and we nt to F alaba. F rom the re he. would -send-his.
as a spy to see wMat was happening in 5.inkunia.. At one time,
his son reported to him that the people of Sinkunia were aW8y
on a compaign;' Idrisa then came and attacked Sinkunia with the
help of F alaba. In this attack, Tg Musa lost, his li fe and
Sinkunia was destroyed. Kanda, Tg Musa's son, led his people
ta found another town nmed Kombila. At Kombila, Kanda
was visited by Ba Hamadi, himself ruler of Musaia.
Following Manga Kanda, the nExt two at Kombila
were Samba Karimu and his son Guduya Musee. ... J n the rule of
Guduya the Hubu under Abalu brought war on Kombila.
During this war, Guduya Musae got help from Kuruma wha was then
manga at Mana. Kuruma's father was Sansu Umaru; they were a
Kamara people.
The Hubu destroyed Kombila., Kuruma then took Guduya
Musae and his. people. to go and stay wi th the Karamas (i. e.
Ku'ruma t s people) at 1"1 a na Between Kuruma. (the Kamaras) and
Guduya Musae (the Mansarays), Mana into a bigger town.
,

..

63
Guduya Musae was at Mana when the Sofa War broke Kuruma
was tt1e '"one 'who j always went to the 'sofas as ambassador. But
Mqns could .not contain two rulers.
Kanda "had two sons, Kanda Foday and Kanda Keifala.
iL Manga.-Kanda 'IS "brot he r, Sua Lai, had a son named F oday..
:Foday now becme ruler at Mana. This was the time of the Sofa
War. This ':war:met: our people dispersed.: Most of them we"re
at Mana.. :Manga Foday, a fVlansaray, was the ruler there. He
fought with Kuruma over rulership. Both.Manga Foday and
Kuruma were take n t 0 F alaba to se t tle the issue. . The" whi temen
did that for they came around this time. At Falaba, Kuruma
claimed Mana as the town of hisancestors. Captain Torti asked
M9rga Foday whe.ther the latter' s . forefathers did not build a
town. F odaytold Torti. ta put the question to F alaba.
When asked the question, Fasine replied that Foday's ancestors
had built a town which drank out of the same water (Falaba
river) as Falaba. Tarti therefore toid Foday to go and rebuild
his father's towns and Kuruma to return to Mana.
Foday therefore came and rebuilt Sinkunia. When the
town was rebuilt, everyone ran away from Mana ta join Manga
Foday at Sinkunia. After Foday, his first son.AImamy Lahai
became Lahai was followed by Manga Modu, son of Guduya
Musaeo After Modu was Manga Karimu, son of Sira Kuruma.
Karimu's son, Manga Lahai II was the next ruler and was followed
by Lahai III, the present manga.
When the sofas came to attack Falaba, Sinkunia sent a
contingent of about ninety men to help Falaba. When this con-
tingent had got close ta Falaba, Gnyime Kamba said that they
should stay at the bush where they were standing till night-
fall before entering the towno But Komb accused Gnyime Kamba
of fear. He said that he, Komb, would go and deliver the
necessary message ta Falaba. Komb began to sing the war song.
When the sof.... heard this, they surrounded the Sinkunia con-
tingent. Kamba remarked, 'this is precisely what l had
."
64
but it was tao late
e
The s,ofas .. told by the people of Kabelia that
Sinkunia would not send help ta Falaba because the people of
Sinkunia were relations by,marriage with those of Kabelia.
they are related ta 4So The grandmother of the Kabelia
people came from Yangi Saio of Kabelia married Gbulen
Sira from Sinkunia. Gbulen Sira sent to her people saying
"I,cannot stay here alol")e; you must send another
girl to join me". 50 Mansarays sent Yog who aIs a married
'a Kabelia ,man.
,After surrounding the Sinkunia -contingent, the Mansarays
m n age d t 0 sen d . w 0 r d t 0 F a la bas a yin 9 "; w e we r e co min 9 t 0 he l p ,
but we have'been captured". A battle ensued between the
sofas and the The smoke of the firing made sofas
undistinguishable from 5inkunia men; Even so, the contingent
was wiped out. The Sofas then destroyed Falaba and moved
as far south as Katanta in Biriwa Limba before being signalled
by their leader to
65
DEMBELIA MUS/\IA
In this'tradition, Hamadi Jawara of Musaia, chief town
of Dembelia Musaia Chiefdqm in the Koinadugu District, talks
about the advent of the Jawara clan ta Musaia. Theirs was
Dembel country from which 5inkunia derived the'name. The
interview was done in Musaia in Hpril, 1973.
Fina Musa, the founder of Musaia, came from Futa.
When he left there,. he went to Fuqumba. Fina was a hunter.
Moving to.a forest named Sosokoli in this area, he
killed a arrimaI. this animal
what to do about it. 5uddenly he heard a cock. crow and the
sound of rica being threshed. Musa followed the sounds of
the se activities to the place where they came from.
When he got there, he made a present to the ruler there
named Fa Wul, who was a Koranko. Fa Wul's compound 1s called
Korankoya and still exists in Musaia. Fa and Fa Singbe
were the headmen,thereo Musa was given a place to sleep.
The next day, the people followed him to pick up the carcass.
Fa Wul and Fa Singbe were happy about the advent of
Fa Wul had many full grown daughters whO had no men
ta marry them. Wul immediately gave one of his to
Musa as wife. Musa was told to go and bring his people from
where he hed surne", Musa l'Je nit ta F ugwmba and re turned to
Korankoya with his peopleo They were many who came with him
and outnumbered the people of Korankoya.
Fa Wul then told Musa, "this i8 now your country. You
who have come are more numerous than us. You have much
power (in numbers), so we hand over authority ta yoo". Thus
Fina Musa took over control and this country came ta be called
Musaia after him. If you hear the name Fina Isa, it is the
seme persan as The women change the name to Isa.
The people of Musaia and those of Falaba have one rela-
tion. One of the wives of the founder of Falaba, Tokba I\sana,
was named Dugu. She was the mother of hsana .. 'tira .who .. was also
. .,
66
*
caIIed Dugu Seni
o
When Dugu 1 s died, Fina
took Dugu to Musaia ta becc:ne his wi fe 0 W:.th Dugu, Musa
had Dugu. Homor i. Homori is a Korpnko name. We Yalunka say
Hamadi.: It is the person,
Fin a Mus a 's ch il d r en.. t 0 0 k di f fer e nt are as. . Ba Ham ad i
stayed here. His older brother did not get the staff. He
went to Kongbandaya and settled there o Ba Hamadi was the next
ruIer of Musaiao . He was followed by his son Dusu Sori. Sori' s
mother was Dusu arid from Korankoyao
. "
Before got Fa Wul hid offered a sacrifice
for this towno Fa Wul took a young'girl with gold in her
ears. This girl together with a red bowl were burled the
foot of the cotion tree you see over there o tree
beneath the cotton tree grew on the spot where the girl was
buried. Any young girl who eats the fruit of orange
tree will never have children u
If you hear the term D8mb31ia i t cornes ,from a pr-overb ...
When women in Yalunka plait their hair, they insert
, ,
hard object into the plaiting ta make it firme Thus a Yalunka
proverb here says that if you see a beautifully plaited hair:
there is no telling what is inside; in oth8r words; what is
in the face is not nsc8ssarily is in the heart. The
translates this in a'nutshell
When the whiteman cam8 paople were appointed here as
spokemen o The Yalunka appointd Manga Sori and the Koranko
chose Fina BaIa of Sengbe (in Koranko country). Manga Sori
sent Mamodu Lamin who went with Manga Isa from Ganya, to meet
the whiteman. When these two returned, the people of Musaia
and others went ta rebuild Falabac Mil Falaba people who had
escaped were taken back to their townn
The first whiteman (white-black man) to come to Musaia
was Mr. Palmer. Together with the Chiefs in this area they
went to crown Fasine l of Falaba
o
*
Se n i me a ns Il f irstborn amc:1; t he valu n ka
!
67
: i
THE KAMARA OF FOLOSABA
The former Folosaba Chiefdom, was la,ter with
Dembelia 'Musaia Chiefdom. The F olosaba people are Kamara
from Firia in Guinea. They were of the Solima
state. This was a group interview conducted
Gbentu in April 1973.
Our grandfathers faunded this cOnt'ry.' The fir'st Yalunka
to come ta this area Kamaras; were the sons of'Tumani;
they we're led by Mari Kali, the eldest, Wakha Tumani, 'Wa'kha
"
Vira and lastly 'Wakha Sa.dab'a. They came 'from' F iria, from where
they had been driven-'out the Fula. they got here', they
me't Limba o'ccupying this' land" They drave away the Limba,
killing som of them and then faunded a town named after the
eldest of them, Marikalia. This town was close ta a hill'by
the present Kambao
While they were at Marikalia, the HubJ Karamokho
Abal came and town. The town was'destroyed and
Mari people fled and hid themselves ina bush they calI
Kawasa (meaning 'hiding place')o They:did nat stay there long;
ta iebuild 'Marikalia. When the Hubu heard that this
tawn was growing; they decided ta destroy it again. On their
mavement towards rvlar{kalia, they at 's distance by
hunters on a hill a feltJ miles East of the town.
1
ran back and sounded the alarme . The people of' Morikalia then
sent for help from The Yalunka clashed with Hubu
on a "hill close ta Kamba. The Hubu were mascared and' only one
. ,
of them remained. His ear was eut 6ff and he releasedto
go and tell the tale. The hill where this massacre tocik place
was Fulafakade; , in' Yalunka t
After this the Yalunka of Morikalia founded a'secure
place of at Kamba, built on a hill. This town was
named after a small stream (Kambandi) where the eIders had
prayed for prosperity and the town was built by the stream.
68
Another place -where 'they-pxayed-w.e-s _called--Kamatimbo which
is also a stream, a branch of the river,Mongo.
Mari Kali's brother, Wakha Tumani, had a wife named
Fend Kuyay. Fend's mother was from Sinkunia. She had
marrisd sameone in name we do not know}. It
was in Falaba that Fend was barn. At that time the incidence
of war was high. When we went ta Falaba and help them in
war or vice wives were exchanged from bath towns. Thus
,themather of one of our former mangas here in Kamba - Manga
Yala, 9an of Seta Musa - was Manga Yala in turn
'" ,gave .daughter, named Gnyime, ta the ruler of Falaba and
had Sana Gbay" also a former manga of Falaba. The mather
of SaDa Gbay's aIder brother, Yog, also came from Kamba. She
was.Sata, daughter of Manga Sata Musa of Kamba. Manga
of Kamba also had a mother from Falaba named,Fenda.
Wakha lumani' s children by Fend
and Kuyay Tala. Tumani also--had'ao-no nameul Sata Musa and Sata
Momodu. Kuyay Sari was the first manga of thus the
i,' family of Kamba came to be called Kuyeya. :Kuyay Sari
was followed as manga by his brother Kuyay Tala. After Tala
came their younger brather Seta Musa. After Sata Musa came
son of Kuyay Tala. Kamba Sari, also a son of Knyay
Tala and brother of Kabelahai, succeeded the latter as
manga.
In Kamba Sori's time, the whiteman came to this country.
Sari was followed by Fenda Mmodu,. a younger brother of Sata
Musa. Sata Momadu's son Tegi Sari, was the next manga. The
Sofa Tegi Sari ta Sikasso. His two brothers and him-
self had been part of the contingent from Kamba ta help Falaba
in attack by the Sofas. When Falaba was captured, the
valiance of Tegi Sori was recognized. He was drafted into
Samori's army and he fell Sikasso.
69
Tegi Sori was followed as manga by Yala, son of Seta
Musa. Yala was succeeded by Mmodi, son of Tegi Sori. When
the latter 1eft Kamba for Falaba, Mmodi was a baby. When Mmodi
grew up, aIl agreed that the mangaship was due him. On
Mmodi's death, Folosaba was amalgamated to Dembelia Musaia.
Fasine, sitting here, who should have been the next manga,
was made Chiefdom Speaker.
The term Folosaba is drawn from a saying. If three
trenches are dug and you are on one side of t h e ~ yau are
safe from people on the other. Anyone with an evil plan
against you coming from the other side cannat get over the
third trench, even if he gets by the first and second.
Other Yalunka jokingly say that in Folo5aba there i8 a witch
by the (mythical) third trench.
From Duguta river, near Limba, on ta river Mongo, is
Folosaba country. From the Mongo ta Masendi i5 Dembelia.
Masendi is the river that is crossed on the road between
Falaba and Sinkunia. It is the baundary between Dembelia and
Sulima.
This Gbentu is a new town; a few years ago it had only
six houses. When Dembelia Musaia and Folosaba were amalgama-
ted, the motorable road from Musaia only reached Gbentu. It
was difficult for Government officiaIs ta get ta Kamba and vice
versa. The Chiefdom Speaker, Fasine, and others therefore
moved to Gbentu.