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SERERS

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 664 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SERERS , a See also:

Negroid See also:people, living in See also:Senegambia. They are of the same stock as the See also:Wolof, and in some parts See also:form communities with them. Elsewhere they have mixed with the See also:Mandingo, to which See also:race belong most of their ruling families. The See also:country of the pure Serers lies between the See also:Gambia and Salum See also:rivers to the See also:south of Cape Verde. In this domain of nearly 5000 sq. m. the tribe has two See also:main divisions, the None Serers and the Sine Serers. The Serers are an extraordinarily tall race, even excelling in height their kinsfolk, the Wolof. Men of 6 ft. 6 in., with See also:muscular development in proportion, are by no means rare. They are less See also:black than the Wolof and have features more purely negroid with coarser lips and heavier jaws. Many Serers are nominally Mahommedans, but nature-See also:worship is still prevalent. Their two See also:chief gods are Takhar, See also:god of See also:justice, and Tiurakh, god of See also:wealth, who are worshipped at the See also:foot of trees. See also:Snakes, too, have their cult, and formerly living animals were sacrificed to them.

A belief in transmigration, as shown by their funeral customs, is See also:

general among the Serers. They are an honest and industrious people, but are very heavy drinkers.

End of Article: SERERS

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