The black, white, and beige porcupine quills are stored in an antelope horn. The quills are harvested by hunters and farmers who kill porcupines for their meat, a delicacy in many parts of Africa. The quills are collected and taken to members of medical societies who use them for medicine.
GEOGRAPHY / CULTURE GROUP: Sierra Leone, Mende. The Mende people are a population of farmers. They take tremendous pride in their cultural practices. The society is arranged in chiefdoms of different lineages. The Mende have a wide variety of indigenous healing (medical) societies that treat all forms of physical and mental ailments. The healing practices use local materials, animal, plant and organic as medicine and treatment procedures. These plant compounds and medicine are often modified and used in various combinations.
