ABSTRACT
The iconographically rich banner of Efori Enongo might be seen as a realistic version of the more abstract nsibidi designs of Ibo-derived Ejagham and Efik ukara cloth, as well as the Cuban Abakua Society's own anaforuana. Ukara cloth is a resist-dyed medium of highly contrasting blue and white designs. Anaforuana putatively derive from Cross River ideographic and pictographic systems, such as the nsibidi of the Ejagham. Scholars' formal comparisons between the Cross River and Abakua representations have provided persuasive evidence of this transatlantic genealogy of secret "writing" systems. Numerous nsibidi signs on the cloth depict what is to be found in the secret chamber, among them pictographic symbols learned during initiations. The most common of these signs is the paw print of the leopard, composed of alternating blue and white right triangles also found are hieroglyphs of other Ngbe bush animals, most commonly the tortoise, crocodile, bush cow, lizard and snake".
