the “ancient ones”, his Nyon-nyonse (or gnon-gnon-sse) subjects to fully exercise his power. The Nyon-nyonse are the peoples who lived in Mossi-controlled regions before the Mossi. Mossi society is divided vertically into two major segments: the descendants of the horsemen who conquered the peoples on the Mossi plateau are called the Nakomse, and all Mossi Napa's (kings) come exclusively from the Nakomse class. These people use figures as political art to validate their rule over the peoples they conquered. The descendants of the ancient farming peoples who had occupied the land from the beginning of time and who, by right of first occupation, were and are the owners of the land are called the Tengabisi (“people of the earth”). These Tengabisi can be further divided into groups of smiths (Saya), groups of traders (Yarse) and, most important, groups of farmers (Nyonyose). Generally the smiths and the traders do not use masks, but the Nyonyose are the principal makers and users of masks in Mossi society. Craftsmen and ordinary citizens They constitute the larger part of the population and are all subjects of the emperor. These two groups are generally fused but have internal subdivisions, each one having its own ruling family; they perform ceremonies and other important events. Mossi people often identify with groups; hence, at all levels, there is a hierarchy in Mossi society. In everyday life, the family hierarchy is most important, and family is often directly associated with the notion of hierarchy for the Mossi. 'Mogonaba' was what Leo Frobenius was told was the appropriate term for the emperor of Mossi at Wagadugu when he visited the country in 1904–6. His is one of the few disinterested reports as he was an anthropologist and not a missionary, representative of a European company, or military. He describes a court much like a European one (he may have an anti-aristocratic bias) with nobles in intrigues over commerce, power and industry. This report alone caused disbelief in Europe as no European source had ever considered Africans to be socially like Europeans. The lack of racism in Frobenius' report and his discovery of an industrious people and what some would describe as a glorious past interested W.E.B. Du Bois in Frobenius' other writings on Africa. Rudolf Blind's translation in English of the Voice of Africa, published by Hutchinson & Co., produced some racist comments he thought necessary to conform with English