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+ padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +li.ifrst { + margin-top: 2em; + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +li.isub1 { + padding-left: 4em; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +li.isub2 { + padding-left: 6em; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +p { + margin-top: 0.5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +table { + margin: 1em auto 1em auto; + max-width: 40em; + border-collapse: collapse; +} + +th { + padding: 0 0.25em; + font-weight: normal; + font-size: 90%; + vertical-align: bottom; +} + +td { + padding-left: 2.25em; + padding-right: 0.25em; + vertical-align: top; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +.contents .tdc { + text-align: center; + padding: 0.75em 0.25em 0.5em 0.25em; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.tdc { + text-align: center; + padding: 0 0.25em; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.tdr { + text-align: right; +} + +.tdpg { + vertical-align: bottom; + text-align: right; +} + +.bt { + border-top: thin solid black; +} + +.total { + border-top: thin solid black; + border-bottom: double black; 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+} + +.poetry { + display: inline-block; + text-align: left; +} + +.poetry .stanza { + margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; +} + +.poetry .verse { + padding-left: 3em; +} + +.poetry .indent0 { + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.right { + text-align: right; +} + +.smaller { + font-size: 80%; +} + +.smcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; +} + +.allsmcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; + text-transform: lowercase; +} + +.titlepage { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; + text-indent: 0em; +} + +.valign { + vertical-align: middle; +} + +.x-ebookmaker img { + max-width: 100%; + width: auto; + height: auto; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .poetry { + display: block; + margin-left: 1.5em; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .blockquote { + margin: 1.5em 5%; +} + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowp100 {width: 100%;} +.illowp48 {width: 48%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp48 {width: 100%;} +.illowp50 {width: 50%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp50 {width: 100%;} +.illowp52 {width: 52%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp52 {width: 100%;} +.illowp53 {width: 53%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp53 {width: 100%;} +.illowp56 {width: 56%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp56 {width: 100%;} +.illowp61 {width: 61%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp61 {width: 100%;} +.illowp75 {width: 75%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp75 {width: 100%;} +.illowp88 {width: 88%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp88 {width: 100%;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75580 ***</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_i"></a>[i]</span></p> + +<h1>AFFAIRS OF<br> +WEST AFRICA</h1> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="illus01" style="max-width: 29.6875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus01.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>ON FISHING BENT—SOUTHERN NIGERIA</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ii"></a>[ii]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iii"></a>[iii]</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage larger">AFFAIRS OF<br> +WEST AFRICA</p> + +<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br> +EDMUND D. MOREL<br> +<span class="smaller">(E. D. M.)<br> +MEMBER OF THE WEST AFRICAN SECTION OF THE<br> +LIVERPOOL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage">WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS</p> + +<figure class="figcenter titlepage illowp75" id="heinemann" style="max-width: 6.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/heinemann.jpg" alt=""> +</figure> + +<p class="titlepage">LONDON<br> +WILLIAM HEINEMANN<br> +<span class="smaller">1902</span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iv"></a>[iv]</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage smaller">(<i>All rights reserved</i>)</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v"></a>[v]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi"></a>[vi]</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage">TO<br> +MY WIFE</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii"></a>[vii]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE</h2> + +</div> + +<p>Whatever its defects—and, no doubt, they are many and +various—the Author claims for this volume that it is, at least, +an honest attempt to deal with the problems, racial, +political and commercial, yearly increasing in magnitude, +connected with the administration of Western Africa by +Great Britain and by the other Powers of Western Europe +which participated in the scramble for African territory. +As such it is respectfully submitted to the thinking Public. +The Author considers it advisable to state that he has no +commercial interests in West Africa, and is, therefore, +uninfluenced by considerations of a personal nature, in +emphasising the importance of the part played by the +merchant on the West African stage. He also deems it +right to say that the West African Section of the Liverpool +Chamber of Commerce is neither responsible nor answerable +for the opinions expressed herein. The Author hereby +acknowledges the courtesy of the Editor of the <i>Pall Mall +Gazette</i>, the Editor-Proprietor of <i>West Africa</i>, the Editor of +the <i>Contemporary Review</i>, and the Editorial Committee of +the <i>Journal of the African Society</i>, in permitting the incorporation +of certain matter contributed by himself, from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii"></a>[viii]</span> +time to time, to those publications. His sincere thanks are +due to Major Ronald Ross, F.R.C.S., F.R.S., C.B., for the +chapter which that distinguished scientist has specially +written at the Author’s request. To other kind friends +and acquaintances who have good-humouredly submitted +to cross-examination, and have allowed themselves to be +victimised by the Author’s importunities generally, grateful +appreciation is due, and is thankfully acknowledged.</p> + +<p class="smaller"><span class="smcap">Hawarden, 1902.</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix"></a>[ix]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> + +</div> + +<table class="contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdr smaller">CHAP.</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdpg smaller">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td><span class="smcap">Foreword—Mary Kingsley</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#FOREWORD">xiii</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="3"><a href="#PART_I">PART I</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">I.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Five Years of British Trade with Western Africa</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">II.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Old and the New</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">7</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">III.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Real and the Ideal</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">11</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">IV.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Some Necessary Reforms</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">20</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="3"><a href="#PART_II">PART II.—NIGERIA</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">V.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Discovery of Northern Nigeria</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">35</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VI.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Discovery of Northern Nigeria</span>—(<i>cont.</i>)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">43</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Hausas and their Emporium</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">52</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VIII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Hausas and their Emporium</span>—(<i>cont.</i>)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">59</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">IX.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The National Industry of Southern Nigeria</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">74</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">X.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Administration of Northern Nigeria</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">83</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XI.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Finances of Nigeria</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">89</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Mohammedans, Slave-raiding and Domestic Servitude</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">94</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XIII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Principal Products of Nigeria</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">110</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XIV.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Rubber-collecting in Nigeria</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">119</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XV.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Fulani in Nigeria</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">125</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XVI.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Fulani in West African History</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">130</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XVII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Origin of the Fulani</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">136</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_x"></a>[x]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="3"><a href="#PART_III">PART III</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XVIII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Sanitary Affairs in West Africa. By Major Ronald Ross, C.B.</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">153</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XIX.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Land Tenure and Labour in West Africa</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">170</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XX.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">A Cotton Industry for West Africa</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">188</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXI.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Mahogany Trade</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">201</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Islam in West Africa</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">208</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXIII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Islam in West Africa</span>—(<i>cont.</i>)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">224</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="3"><a href="#PART_IV">PART IV.—THE FRENCH IN WEST AFRICA</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXIV.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Anglo-French Relations in West Africa</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">238</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXV.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">Ten Years of French Action in West Africa</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">249</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXVI.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Commercial and Financial Condition of the French Possessions</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXVII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">French and British Management in West Africa</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII"> 276</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="3"><a href="#PART_V">PART V.—MONOPOLY IN WEST AFRICA</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXVIII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Concessions Régime in French Congo</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">285</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXIX.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">International Interests and Monopoly</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">297</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXX.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The History of the Congo State</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">312</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXXI.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The Domaine Privé</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">327</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XXXII.</td> + <td><span class="smcap">The “Trade” of the Congo State</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">343</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="3"><a href="#APPENDIX">APPENDIX</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Sierra Leone (Expenditure, Loans, Exports, &c.)</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#SIERRA_LEONE">355</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Gold Coast (Expenditure, Loans, Exports, &c.)</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#GOLD_COAST">356</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Lagos (Expenditure, Loans, Exports, &c.)</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LAGOS">359</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Dahomey (Comparative Table of Duties)</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#COMPARATIVE_TABLES">360</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">The Dahomey Railway</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#THE_DAHOMEY_RAILWAY">362</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">French Guinea Railway</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#FRENCH_GUINEA_RAILWAY">364</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">West African Mahogany Trade</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#WEST_AFRICAN_MAHOGANY_TRADE">365</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">The Gold Coast Mining Industry</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#THE_GOLD_COAST_MINING_INDUSTRY">367</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">British Possessions in West Africa (Population and Area)</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#APPROXIMATE_AREA_AND_POPULATION">370</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">The Rabinek Case</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#THE_RABINEK_CASE">371</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Index</span></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#INDEX">373</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xi"></a>[xi]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="ILLUSTRATIONS">ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +</div> + +<table class="contents"> + <tr> + <td><i>On Fishing Bent, Southern Nigeria</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus01"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="tdpg"><i>Facing page</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<i>A Pure-bred Kano Man (Hausa)</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus02">54</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<i>A Hausa from Yola</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus03">56</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Hausa Loom and Spool</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus04">62</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Hausas Drilling</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus05">68</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Making Palm-oil</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus06">74</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Duke-Town, Old Calabar, Southern Nigeria</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus07">76</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Filling Palm-oil Barrels, Southern Nigeria</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus08">78</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>A Palm-kernel Market in Southern Nigeria</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus09">80</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>A Mohammedan Chief and his Standard-Bearer</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus10">100</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Mandingo Muslims</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus11">106</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>A Baobab—The Giant of West African Flora</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus12">116</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Washing Rubber</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus13">122</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Fulani Sword</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus14">126</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>*<i>Pure-bred Fulani Girl, Adamawa</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus15">128</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Fulani Chief, Futa-Jallon</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus16">130</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Half-caste Fulani Girl, Futa-Jallon</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus17">134</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Low-caste Fulani, Western Sudan</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus18">136</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Pure-bred Fulani Girl, Futa-Jallon</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus19">140</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Fulani House, Futa-Jallon</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus20">142</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Fulani Cattle-pen</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus21">146</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>A Half-caste Fulani Girl and a Susu</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus22">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>The Idle Native! Market Scene in West Africa</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus23">176</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>West African “Young Hopefuls”</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus24">180</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>An Ibo Family Group, Southern Nigeria</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus25">186</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Travelling on the Niger in the Dry Season</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus26">196</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xii"></a>[xii]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Felling a Mahogany-tree</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus27">202</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Squaring the Tree</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus28">202</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Dragging the Squared Log through the Bush</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus29">204</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Sapelli, Southern Nigeria’s principal Timber Port</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus30">204</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>A Susu Mallam</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus31">218</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Fulani Mallam</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus32">228</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Susu Chief and Staff</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus33">278</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Ashanti Field Force at Cape Coast <span class="antiqua">en route</span> for Kumasi</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus34">280</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Return of Ashanti Field Force</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus35">282</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>The Victim of a Rubber Raid</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus36">334</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">MAPS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Northern Part of Africa</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#map1">38</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Northern Nigeria</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#map2">84</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><i>Sketch Map showing Harbour Improvement Scheme, Ivory Coast</i></td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#map3"><i>page</i> 273</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><i>Photographs marked thus * are reproduced from “Adamawa” by kind permission +of Mr. Ernst Vohsen (Dietrich Reimer). The author is indebted (through the kindness +of a friend) to Dr. Maclaud, of the French Guinea Administration, for several of the +photographs here reproduced.</i></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiii"></a>[xiii]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOREWORD">FOREWORD<br> +<span class="smaller">MARY KINGSLEY</span></h2> + +<p>“Mary Kingsley—the heir and sustainer of a great name, one of the +ablest of that remarkable band of wandering writers, men and women, who +are the eyes and ears of our nascent Empire, who are bringing home to +England, that weary Titan, her tasks, her faults, her problems—Mary +Kingsley has gone from us.”—Mrs. <span class="smcap">Humphry Ward</span>.</p> + +</div> + +<p>Those who had the honour of knowing Mary Kingsley, and +corresponding with her on West African affairs, who have +studied her writings and her speeches, who realise all that +this “good woman with a gigantic intellect” might have +done for the Empire in West Africa had she lived, can with +difficulty reconcile themselves to the inscrutable decree of +Providence which robbed us of her presence. One of her +greatest admirers to whom I was expressing the other day +much the same feeling, expressed a different view. “Miss +Kingsley’s work was done”—he said in effect—“she was +the pioneer, she showed the way. That was her allotted +task: the fruit of her labours will come in due season.” It +may be so. Indeed, when we think of what Mary Kingsley +accomplished in the few short years which she devoted to +West Africa, the thought arises whether there is not an +element of unconscious selfishness in the desire that she +might have been spared. The nature of the work she had +undertaken, the intense fervour with which she devoted herself +body and soul to preaching the morals it was given her +to inculcate, the utter brain weariness which at times she +was fain to admit—no mortal being could have endured for +very long so perpetual a mental and physical strain. It was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiv"></a>[xiv]</span> +a passing heavy load for a weak woman of indifferent health +to bear, and in death Mary Kingsley has perhaps achieved +a greater triumph, a success more striking and profound, +than living on she would have attained. Death has had the +effect of rapidly fertilising the seeds she sowed, and from +her ashes have sprung forces gathering daily in power +which, united in a common aim, are taking up her burden +and carrying it along the path she pointed out, assured that +every year will bring fresh helpers, be the obstacles ever so +great. <i>La verité est en marche</i>, and although the spirit of the +hour is not precisely favourable to that patient investigation +of West African problems which affords the only guarantee +of political and administrative success, the phase is but a +fleeting one, and when the present fashionable policy of +force and hurry is found by practical tests to be even more +sterile in useful results than the apathy which preceded +it, the main truths Mary Kingsley taught will appeal to +thinking men with an eloquence all the greater for having +been temporarily obscured.</p> + +<p>On the personal aspect of Mary Kingsley’s character one +would fain dwell at length. Few women, I believe, have +inspired all sorts and conditions of men with so intense a +respect, so wondering an admiration. Few women are able, +as Mary Kingsley was able, to draw forth, by the magic of +her earnest personality, the best in a man. She was so unassuming, +so unaffected, such a womanly woman in every +sense of the word, that it appeared almost incredible she +should have grasped the essentialities of West African politics +with such comprehensiveness and scientific perception; +mastered, as no one had done before—in the sense, at any +rate, of being able to impart the knowledge to the world—the +intricacies of native custom and native law, or have +affronted the physical perils she made so light of. Eminent +politicians and administrators, distinguished men of letters, +world-renowned scientists, commercial magnates, were +regular visitors at her modest residence, and one and all +drew from her inexhaustible store. The least of those to +whom she extended the privilege of her friendship were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xv"></a>[xv]</span> +always welcome, and never failed to leave her presence +without feeling that her words of sympathy and encouragement +were a fresh incentive to push onward, never losing +hope and fortified against disappointment. The truest, +kindest, staunchest friend that ever breathed—such was +Mary Kingsley; and we who knew her, and have lost her, +know also that something has gone out of our lives which +can never be replaced. In a passage of singular beauty, +Mrs. Alice Stopford Green thus closes a tribute<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> to the +dead friend whose work she herself is doing so much to +carry on: “She laid her armour down when she asked +to be carried out to the unfathomable Ocean, alone in +death as she had been alone in life, going out with her last +wish from the bitter strife of men to the immensities where +she sought the will of God.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PART_I">PART I</h2> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I<br> +<span class="smaller">FIVE YEARS OF BRITISH TRADE WITH WESTERN AFRICA</span></h3> + +<p class="center">“West Africa, that great feeding-ground for British manufactures.”—<span class="smcap">Mary +Kingsley.</span></p> + +</div> + +<p>One still—but too often, alas!—meets with people who +wonder why England should bother about West Africa at +all, and pooh-pooh the idea that we have interests there at +the present time worth looking after, while as for the future +possibilities of that huge country as a field for British +enterprise, they simply will not trouble themselves to give +the matter a moment’s consideration.</p> + +<p>Now figures are very uninteresting things, no doubt, to +the average reader; but they possess a practical significance +superior to any number of the most glowing dissertations, +and I trust my readers will forgive me if I make, as a basis +of justification for inflicting this volume upon them, a few +sets of figures which I would respectfully suggest as worthy +of their attentive consideration. The statistics are compiled +from the Custom House returns, and they show the extent, +nature and distribution of British trade in Western Africa +during the last few years. In perusing them, three facts +should be borne in mind: first, that, although Europeans +have been engaged in commercial transactions on the West +Coast for upwards of five hundred and fifty years, those +transactions were, prior to the abolition of the over-sea<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span> +slave trade, confined, with very few exceptions<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>—so far as +the exports from West Africa were concerned—to the human +cargo, and to gold dust and ivory: that the trade in palm +oil and kernels, which are now the staple articles of export +from West Africa, is therefore of comparatively recent +growth, and that the mahogany trade and the rubber trade +have only come into existence—to any appreciable extent—within +the last few years, a fair indication of the fertility +and producing power and almost boundless resources of +West Africa. Secondly, that the extensive business relationship +which has been built up between Great Britain and +West Africa, in the shape of a legitimate commerce, has +grown to its present proportions under circumstances absolutely +disadvantageous to development, without railways, +with but few roads, with intertribal wars often preventing +the circulation of trade for months at a time, by merely +scratching the surface of the most prolific region in the +world. Thirdly, that the figures given below do but show +the actual volume of Britain’s trade with West Africa and +the wages earned by thousands of English men and +women who directly and indirectly benefit by that trade; +the British capital invested in West Africa in factories, +machinery, craft for navigating the rivers, coaling depôts, +surf-boats and lighters, stores and the like, to which must +now be added railway material, dredging apparatus, batteries +and soon, we may hope, cotton gins, not to mention a fleet +of some sixty steamers employed in the carrying trade and +passenger traffic—all these things have to be taken into +account in estimating West Africa’s worth to Great Britain.</p> + +<p>The total values of British produce and manufactures<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +shipped to the <i>British possessions in West Africa</i> in the five +years 1896-1900 were respectively as follows:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span></p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr">£1,828,395</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">1,763,461</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">1,999,505</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">2,116,080</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">2,148,149</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Gross total</td> + <td class="tdr bt">£9,855,590</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="noindent">Percentage of increase in five years, 17½ per cent.</p> + +<p>The total values of British produce and manufactures +shipped to the <i>possessions of Foreign Powers</i> in West Africa +in the five years 1896-1900 were respectively as follows:</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr">£970,080</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">1,002,318</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">1,247,994</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">1,490,603</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">2,145,349</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Gross total</td> + <td class="tdr bt">£6,856,344</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="noindent">Percentage of increase in five years, 121 per cent.</p> + +<p>If we add these two totals together, we find that the value +of British produce and manufactures shipped to <i>West Africa</i> +in the period mentioned was £16,711,934, which is a percentage +of increase of 138 per cent.</p> + +<p>From the British export trade we turn to the British +import trade with West Africa.</p> + +<p>The total values of raw produce imported by Great Britain +<i>from British West Africa</i> in the five years 1896-1900 were +respectively as follows:</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr">£2,223,925</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">2,153,412</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">2,352,285</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">2,427,946</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">2,137,023</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Gross total</td> + <td class="tdr bt">£11,294,591</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="noindent">The total values of raw produce imported by Great Britain +from the <i>possessions of Foreign Powers</i> in West Africa in the +five years 1896-1900 were respectively as follows:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span></p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr">£333,803</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">553,130</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">622,287</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">651,043</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">806,077</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Gross total</td> + <td class="tdr bt">£2,966,340</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="noindent">These two totals added together show that Great Britain +imported West African produce in the period under review +to the amount of £14,260,931.</p> + +<p>The value of Great Britain’s direct commerce with West +Africa in the five years 1896-1900 was, therefore, £30,972,865. +To this might be added a further sum of £1,750,888, representing +foreign and colonial merchandise shipped to West +Africa from British ports in the years mentioned.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>It is interesting, and valuable, to see which, among the +possessions of Foreign Powers in West Africa, were the +chief absorbers of British goods and the chief exporters of +raw produce to Great Britain. Examination yields the +following knowledge:</p> + +<p>Principal possessions of Foreign Powers which absorbed +in five years £6,856,344 of British goods:<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th>French.</th> + <th>Portuguese.</th> + <th>German.</th> + <th>Others.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th>£</th> + <th>£</th> + <th>£</th> + <th>£</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr">348,258</td> + <td class="tdr">402,445</td> + <td class="tdr">68,355</td> + <td class="tdr">151,022</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">401,224</td> + <td class="tdr">360,121</td> + <td class="tdr">91,320</td> + <td class="tdr">149,653<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">531,848</td> + <td class="tdr">438,320</td> + <td class="tdr">109,580</td> + <td class="tdr">178,246</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">693,255</td> + <td class="tdr">503,788</td> + <td class="tdr">126,047</td> + <td class="tdr">167,513</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">709,900</td> + <td class="tdr">1,084,072<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></td> + <td class="tdr">120,910</td> + <td class="tdr">212,175</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Principal possessions of Foreign Powers which exported +to Great Britain in five years £2,966,340 of raw produce:</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th>French.</th> + <th>Portuguese.</th> + <th>German.</th> + <th>Others.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th>£</th> + <th>£</th> + <th>£</th> + <th>£</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr">203,442</td> + <td class="tdr">33,937</td> + <td class="tdr">42,001</td> + <td class="tdr">54,423</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">312,430</td> + <td class="tdr">116,554</td> + <td class="tdr">68,194</td> + <td class="tdr">55,952</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">431,192</td> + <td class="tdr">85,544</td> + <td class="tdr">35,165</td> + <td class="tdr">70,186</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">461,267</td> + <td class="tdr">68,021</td> + <td class="tdr">48,736</td> + <td class="tdr">73,019</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">534,727</td> + <td class="tdr">75,037</td> + <td class="tdr">94,681</td> + <td class="tdr">101,632</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The French possessions are, it will be observed, far and +away our principal markets and our principal suppliers +among the possessions of Foreign Powers. Our exports to +and imports from the French possessions amounted together +to £4,627,543, or just under 50 per cent. of our total export +and import trade with the possessions of Foreign Powers +together. The increasing importance of the French possessions +in West Africa as a market for the sale of British +goods and as suppliers of British home markets is a fact which +it is of the utmost consequence for British statesmen to lay to +heart. The subject is one which I shall refer to later on. It is +already one of the dominant factors of West African politics +affecting Great Britain, and is destined to become so more +and more as the years go on, for France is in a territorial +sense the mistress of West Africa, and may become so in a +commercial sense as well.</p> + +<p>The general conclusions to be drawn from a study of +these figures are various. First and foremost there is the +clearly established fact that British trade with West Africa +is expanding enormously and has almost unlimited prospects +before it, now that serious and concentrated efforts are being +made on all sides to open up the untapped wealth of the +interior by the means of roads and railways and by the improvement +of navigable waterways, while the cessation of +intertribal warfare in many districts must entail a large<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span> +increase in the population, and therefore, in the native +capacity for production and purchase. It is also demonstrated +that every year West Africa absorbs a larger quantity +of British manufactured goods: that the exports of British +manufactured goods are steadily increasing to British West +Africa and increasing to an extraordinary degree to the +possessions of Foreign Powers in West Africa, especially +to the French possessions: that Great Britain is consolidating +her hold upon the carrying trade of West Africa as +testified by the increased quantity of foreign and colonial +manufactures shipped to West Africa from British ports: that +the Continent—Germany<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> chiefly—is receiving a greater +amount of raw produce from the British possessions in West +Africa, a deduction which can be fairly drawn from the +stationary aspect of the importation by Great Britain of such +produce from her own West African possessions. And the +final conclusion is this, that, in view of the restricted extent +of the British possessions in West Africa, compared with the +possessions of Foreign Powers in that part of the world, the +latter offer a very much vaster field for the sale of British +goods. Consequently, it is the bounden duty of the British +Government and the British Chambers of Commerce, while +in no way neglecting the brilliant possibilities which the +British West African possessions offer under wise administration +for the enterprise of Englishmen, to be ever on the +alert to look to the future and to protect British trade with +the possessions of the Foreign Powers in West Africa against +legislation tending to close the door of those possessions +against it; and to insist that, whenever international treaties +guaranteeing freedom of trade to the subjects of all nations +exist in West Africa, they shall be rigidly adhered to by the +signatories. In this respect British diplomacy has shown +itself singularly lax. But the mischief already committed +may even yet be remedied, and further dangers which loom +ahead averted, if the British public will only realise before +it is too late the enormous issues at stake.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II<br> +<span class="smaller">THE OLD AND THE NEW</span></h3> + +<p>“The past has gone with its follies and its waste.... Let us then face the +present and contemplate the future.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>In the previous chapter we discussed in practical fashion the +grounds upon which the British public is called upon to +devote more attention to the affairs of West Africa than it +does at present, and an attempt—I hope a successful +attempt—was made to show how very short-sighted and +singularly misinformed is the opinion which would disinterest +itself from a part of the world where the possibilities +of commercial development are so strikingly manifest. +There has never been such urgent need for an intelligent +appreciation, on the part of the British public, of the +problems which confront this country in West Africa. In a +few short years the policy of Great Britain in West Africa +has undergone a complete change. Events have followed +one another with bewildering rapidity. Official indifference +has been galvanised into life by French activity, and after a +brief but dangerous period of international rivalry, British +political rights have been established over a considerable +extent of territory, not, however, nearly so considerable as a +pacific, consistent, well-thought-out programme adopted +some years previously would have brought, had our merchant-pioneers +been listened to, and had successive Governments +been able to throw off the paralysing influence of +the resolution of 1865. There is a story told of a certain +Minister in charge of the Foreign Office—it was related +to me by one of those present at the interview—which +illustrates very forcibly the feeling which prevailed in +Government circles in those days. A deputation of merchants<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span> +waited upon his Excellency with the request that +he would permit the hoisting of the Union Jack on certain +parts of the West African littoral where British merchants +had long been trading, and where the rulers of the country +were genuinely desirous of receiving a British protectorate. +<i>Pro-formâ</i> treaties were produced by the deputation between +these rulers and the resident merchants. The merchants +asked for no reward. There was no question of expenditure +involved. All that the Government was required to do +was to meet the wishes of the chiefs. The deputation +pointed out that, so far as the relations between the natives +and the commercial representatives of Great Britain were +concerned, the acceptance of the Government would in +no wise alter them, but would simply have the effect of +cementing a friendly understanding which already existed. +But, urged the deputation, the treaties, if agreed to by the +Government, would prove an invaluable diplomatic instrument +if the time came, as it seemed likely to do, when +England might find herself faced in West Africa by foreign +competition. The Minister flung the treaties across the +table.</p> + +<p>It was a time of wasted opportunities, when a little political +foresight would have conferred upon this country great +future benefit, and it seems extraordinary, but is unhappily +true, that the same failure to look ahead as regards West +Africa appears to afflict our Foreign Office to-day despite +the lessons of the past. Of this, more anon.</p> + +<p>But if successive Governments showed unpardonable +negligence in safeguarding British interests in West Africa, +for decade after decade, down to the very time when the +French had worked their way so far southward into the +natural <i>hinterlands</i> of our old Colonies that action became +imperative if anything was to be saved from the wreck, the +British press and public were greatly to blame also. I well +remember that at the very height of the recent Anglo-French +controversy which culminated in the Convention +of 1898, when rival English and French expeditions were +rushing hither and thither through the territories west of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span> +the Niger, and when British and French efforts were concentrated +upon wringing out of the unfortunate Borgu Chiefs +all sorts, kinds, and conditions of agreements, sowing Union +Jacks and Tricolors by the wayside, the well-known editor +of an equally well-known newspaper to which I then contributed, +asked me to show him Nikki<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> on the map, as he had +not the least idea where it was.</p> + +<p>Mr. Chamberlain came into power just at the moment +when French enterprise in the West African uplands had +reached its maximum of threatening intensity, and he set +himself to vigorously counteract it as far as he could. The +invertebrate policy had, however, compromised the situation +almost beyond remedy, and had it not been for Mr. Joseph +Thomson’s success in obtaining treaty rights with the +Emirs of Sokoto and Bornu in 1884 on behalf of the National +African Company of Merchants—subsequently the Royal +Niger Company—and, it may be added, for the loyal +adherence of those native States to the treaties passed with +the Company, the magnificent possession of Northern +Nigeria would have gone the way of Futa Jallon, of Mossi, +and of so many other countries lying at the back of our +Colonies; that is to say, would have fallen into French hands. +The man who deserves the most credit for saving Northern +Nigeria to the Empire is Sir George Taubman Goldie, and +however one may deplore some of the uses to which he put +his Charter—things we are paying for now in the French +Congo and elsewhere—it is but common fairness to assert +that, if it had not been for Sir George Goldie, the possessions +of Great Britain in West Africa would have been reduced by +about one half. It is a matter for some surprise that the +Government should not have succeeded in securing the +continuation of Sir George Goldie’s co-operation in West +Africa after the Royal Niger Company’s Charter was cancelled. +An old opponent has lately said of him that “there +is no one more competent to guide our West African +Administration on practical, humanitarian, economical,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span> +prudent, and statesmanlike lines, no one more fitted to take +a high position in West African affairs political and commercial,” +a statement which will meet with wide acceptance.</p> + +<p>But this, after all, is ancient history, and what we are +chiefly concerned with now, is the present. What we are +called upon to seriously consider is the general trend of +England’s policy in West Africa, administrative, financial, +political and commercial. Internationally, we are secure in +the possession of our territories. The only rivalry we have +to fear is the peaceful rivalry of commerce, but commerce +is the explanation of our presence in West Africa: it constitutes +the sinews of our administration, and its requirements +demand the constant vigilance, the most careful +attention of the official world.</p> + +<p>It is the bounden duty of those who, believing in the +immense importance of West Africa to Great Britain, and +similarly believing that the present policy which is being +pursued by Great Britain in West Africa is open on several +grounds to grave objection, to say so, and to give their +reasons for saying so, with the assured conviction that, +however unpopular their arguments may be, the general +interest demands that they should be put forward.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III<br> +<span class="smaller">THE REAL AND THE IDEAL</span></h3> + +<p>“The nature of the natives, the climate, everything is against precipitate +and hasty action. To advance slowly, leaving no bad or unfinished +work behind, to gain the respect and liking of the natives, and only to use +force when compelled as a last resource to do so, are the means which in my +humble opinion lead to success in West Africa. To quote from the words of +a celebrated French traveller: ‘Do not let us dream of a hasty transformation +of Africa. Let us employ a method, slow but sure. Let us try and teach the +natives what knowledge we have acquired, and not try and make them learn +in a few years what it has taken us twenty centuries to learn.’”—<span class="smcap">Sir +Claude Macdonald</span> in Liverpool, 1892.</p> + +<p>“These figures are surprising. One would naturally have expected +that as the trade increased the proportion of expenditure would have +decreased.... From that date, however, the expenditure has advanced +by leaps and bounds, and in 1900 amounted to 28 per cent. of the +exports. In other words, the expenditure has increased more rapidly than +the trade.... If, however, the expenditure had been on the basis of former +years ... we could have given over £1,000,000 worth additional European +goods in exchange for the same amount of produce. In other words, the +heavier the expenditure the higher price must the merchant ask for his European +goods, or the less he is able to give for native produce. This must have +the double effect of reducing the demand for manufactures and diminishing +the energy of the natives in gathering produce. There is another possibility +which should not be lost sight of: our colonies are hemmed in by our French +and German neighbours. If in consequence of increased expenditure and +the resulting heavier taxes we are unable to offer the natives as large a +quantity of manufactures and as good a price as our competitors are enabled +to do, produce which is grown on the borders of our Colonies may be diverted +to foreign territory with a consequent loss of trade to this country.”—Mr. +<span class="smcap">Arthur Hutton</span>, President African Section, Manchester Chamber of +Commerce.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +</div> + +<p>A wise man has said that there is no way of conveying a +rebuke so efficiently as upon the back of a compliment, and +as a preliminary to criticism of certain phases of British +administration in West Africa, a measure of praise is both +just and needful. To avoid personalities—whether in the +sense of praise or otherwise—should be the constant<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> +endeavour of any critic in approaching the subject under +discussion, because it is primarily the system, and not the +agents of the system, which is in question. Unfortunately +the Crown Colony system being what it is, a despotism—though +by no means necessarily a tyrannical despotism—there +is great difficulty, if not actual impossibility, in +altogether avoiding the personal equation.</p> + +<p>The revolution in British West African policy is indelibly +associated with the advent to power of the present Colonial +Secretary, the Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain. His +entry upon the scene was contemporaneous with the culmination +of certain events which must infallibly have +modified our previous attitude in relation to West Africa +whoever the statesmen responsible at the time might have +been. The point need not be laboured, but it is often +overlooked. Be that as it may, it is an undoubted fact—a +fact redounding greatly to Mr. Chamberlain’s credit—that +no Colonial Secretary before him has displayed so lively +and personal an interest, both publicly and privately, in the +affairs of British West Africa, an interest which has continued +unabated during the entire period of his administration. +In specific directions the result has been all to the good. +Railways, the preliminary surveys of which had been made +by direction of Mr. Chamberlain’s predecessor, the Marquis +of Ripon, before he quitted office, have been constructed; +others are commenced; the routes of more have been +surveyed. The study of malaria has received the right +honourable gentleman’s warmest support. A general +publicity has been given to British West Africa by its +identification with so powerful a politician as Mr. Chamberlain, +which has materially contributed to remove it from +the rut of oblivion and popular ignorance. It may also be +added that the Colonial Secretary’s confident public declarations +in respect to the future of the gold-mining industry in +the Gold Coast has done much to attract capital to that +Colony, and that the damper which he recently felt it wise +to apply to the introduction of the more undesirable elements +connected with the revival, under modern conditions, of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> +gold-mining enterprise in a part of the coast celebrated for +its former export of the precious metal, was entirely to his +honour, although it would perhaps have been more useful +had it come somewhat earlier in the day; while the memorandum +he caused to be drawn up in September 1901 +embodying the principle of treating native labourers on the +Gold Coast, is perhaps the most admirable document ever +issued from the Colonial Office.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> In like manner, it can be +taken for granted that all officials in West Africa are animated +by the best of intentions, and however profoundly one +may differ, from time to time, from certain of their actions, +it is always essential to bear in mind that the system under +which they work—the inconvenience of which not a few of +them in private conversation readily admit—leaves the door +wide open to the commitment of errors for which the system +is in the first place responsible, while the climate is most trying +to the constitutions and temper of Europeans. But it is +unreasonable, and subversive of the true interests of the +Empire, that the tendency should be encouraged to denounce +honest criticism of a specific act of policy in West Africa +with which this or that official must in the nature of things +be associated, although he need not be, and often is not, the +originator of it, as a personal attack upon an absent man, +to be resented as an outrage and stigmatised almost as a +crime, as an offence at any rate against common decency +and fairness. The contention is absurd, and mischievous +and unfair. The autocratic power which the Crown Colony +system confers upon West African Governors, District Commissioners, +and military commandants makes it absolutely +essential that independent criticism, so long as it is legitimate, +should be exercised by the public at home, whether or +no full sanction has been obtained by a particular official +from the Colonial Office for the application of measures +giving rise to criticism, or whether the measures have been +initiated by the Colonial Office itself. By public criticism +alone can we hope to avoid the repetition of such deplorable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span> +mistakes as led to the Hut Tax war in Sierra Leone +and the last Ashanti outbreak; the framing of legislation +far in advance of the needs of the country and antagonistic +to native feeling, which interest and duty alike imperatively +demand, should be taken into consideration; the constant recurrence +of punitive expeditions, which in another portion +of our Tropical African Empire have worked such incalculable +injury; and financial embarrassments, outcome of mismanagement, +extravagance, and errors of policy.</p> + +<p>There is always danger in reaction, as in the body physical, +so in the body politic; and it is not altogether astonishing, +perhaps, that the long spell of official apathy in West +Africa, being suddenly changed to precipitate action, should +have given rise to some objectionable features. But it cannot +be admitted that the latter, instead of being a passing phenomenon, +should take permanent root, and become part and +parcel of the new order of things. If this be the case, +we shall presently be witnessing yet another reaction in +West Africa, and with embarrassed finances, a yearly expenditure +far in excess of any visible increase in producing +power, increased taxation, a native population alienated and +disorganised, and energetic rivals forging ahead while we +continue to struggle painfully in a quagmire of self-imposed +difficulties, the public will lapse once more into its old +attitude of indifference tinged with dislike, until some +brilliant gentleman at the Foreign Office, deeming the +moment opportune, hands over a further slice of British +West Africa to a Foreign Power, in exchange for cod-fisheries, +or something equally vital to the Empire’s prosperity.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +The forward policy in West Africa has had its uses; +it has served its purpose. We are secure in the possession +of a large territory some 700,000 square miles in extent, unsurpassed +in natural wealth by any other region in the globe, +containing a population of probably 30,000,000 to 35,000,000 +souls, of whose habits and customs we possess but the haziest +knowledge, whose very languages we are in the main ignorant<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span> +of; a population composed of the most diverse elements, +the resources of whose widely scattered habitat are barely +tapped, whose willing co-operation, which is essential to the +success of our rule, can only be gained by scientific, painstaking +study and the most tactful, sympathetic treatment. +Now should be a close time for British West Africa. The +country needs political rest. It has been turned topsy-turvy +by European rivalry; old landmarks have been swept away; +the boundaries of Native States altered to suit the exigencies +of European diplomacy; immemorial trade roads interfered +with. The native requires breathing space. Official activity +should in the main be limited to the construction, with due +regard to method and economy, of certain indispensable +public works, collecting data concerning the native peoples +and respective regions in which they dwell, strengthening +native authority so rudely disturbed by recent events; in +protecting commerce, encouraging capital, fostering native +industries—perfecting those in existence and preparing the +ground for others; in short, a work of gradual, sure, +systematic consolidation. It should be our object to intermeddle +as little as possible with native institutions, abide +with scrupulous exactitude to both the spirit and the letter +of our treaties with the Chiefs; develop the native peoples +along the lines of their own civilisation both in the case of +Mohammedans and Pagans; use conciliation in preference +to dictation, gold rather than the sword. Administrative +extravagance should be rigidly held in check for fear of +burdening new Colonies with a load of debt; the soldier +and the policeman should be kept in the background, only +to be used as a last extremity. Commerce, good roads, <i>and +statesmanship</i> should be our preferable choice of weapons +for mitigating evils, some at least of which the example of +Europe in the past has intensified, others lying in deep-rooted +religious beliefs, requiring careful preliminary investigation +and thorough understanding before being made the +object of official action, and then only of a repressive nature +after every pacific inducement had been tried in vain. +Patience, more patience, and again patience. That should +be, ought to be, the corner-stone of British policy in West<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span> +Africa. It was the tortoise that won the race; not the +hare.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately the hare is the more popular beast just +now, and the forward policy is as much in evidence in +British West Africa to-day as it was five years ago, with the +result that what may have been justifiable then bids fair, if +it be not stopped in time, to be disastrous now that the +necessity for it has passed away with the close of international +competition. Energy is being misapplied and misdirected. +Let it be conceded that the existing basis of rule +in West Africa, the Crown Colony system, is the worst in the +world to stand the strain of a naturally active directing +influence at headquarters; let it be admitted that it is a +clumsy, inelastic instrument which allows the governed no +voice in the government, which places the suppliers of +revenue, both direct and indirect, in the position of having +no effective control over the expenditure of that revenue, +which permits of the jeopardising of years of commercial +effort by some ill-considered legislative act—let these and +many other counts against the Crown Colony system be +admitted. The fact nevertheless remains that that system is +capable of reform, of modification, of being moulded in +accordance with the requirements of the case. The task +should not be beyond the capacity of statecraft. Is it to be +seriously maintained that British statesmanship has sunk so +low that machinery suitable to a bygone age cannot be +improved and brought more into line with our altered situation: +that we must needs cling to every ancient wheel and +rivet though they be clogged with superfluous matter, and +eaten through with rust? If the machine which it was sought +to preserve intact had done yeoman service in past days, +there might be some excuse for hesitating to supply it with +new works. But that is emphatically not so with the West +African machine.</p> + +<p>And it is positively heart-breaking to see that the last few +years, far from bringing any reforms, far from holding out +the hope of reform in the future, have but accentuated the +evil. We cannot, it is true, lose any more territory, unless<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> +we care to give away that which is assured to us by international +agreement. But in almost every other respect the +Crown Colony system, as it prevails in West Africa, and under +the new circumstances in which it is performing its functions, +is building up a legacy of trouble which can only be contemplated +with equanimity, or viewed with indifference, by +the thoughtless; by those good people who refuse to walk +save in pleasant places, who constitutionally dislike criticism +as much as a cat objects to a wetting.</p> + +<p>Haste and hurry are the order of the day in British West +Africa. Expenditure is going up by leaps and bounds,<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> altogether +apart from expenditure on public works. In the case +of public works, large and costly undertakings are arranged +for on the most unpractical lines, with no effort to benefit by +competition, no putting out to tender, no safeguards without +which a business man of ordinary intelligence will surround +himself in order that he may be sure of getting the best +value for his money. An extraordinary theory in economics +has become fashionable. It is that the higher the revenue +of a given West African Colony the more prosperous that +Colony must be, quite oblivious of the effect which every +increase of taxation has upon the volume of trade in the way +of reduction, and driving it away to the neighbouring +territory of a foreign rival. If a West African Colony +shows in a given year an increase of £10,000 in revenue, +obtained from increased taxation, jubilation in official +quarters is excessive: but either nothing is heard of the +falling off in trade accompanying the increase in revenue, +or it is explained in some other way. The fact that there +is a gain in revenue is held to be proof positive of an +abounding prosperity and wise management. Every fresh +increase in revenue is followed by a corresponding increase +in expenditure. The one is made to keep pace with the +other. It does not always succeed, because the expenditure +is not infrequently in excess of the revenue <i>quand même</i>. +It is also becoming the usual thing to financially assist these<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> +Colonies by “loans” or “grants-in-aid” or “advances” +quite on the West Indian model, while the official reports +invariably lead off with the reassuring statement that “this +Colony has no public debt”: a little farther on, casual +reference to the “grant-in-aid” may be discovered by the +aid of a microscope, tucked away in some obscure corner, +a footnote for choice. Lagos, Sierra Leone, the Gold +Coast, Nigeria, are all at the present moment in the enjoyment +of Imperial loans: Sierra Leone for the Railway and +the late Hut-Tax war, Lagos for the Railway, the Gold +Coast for the Railway and Ashanti war, Nigeria for the +purchase of the Niger Co.’s treaties with the natives (the +terms of which we have not adhered to), and for raising an +army. Meantime, our neighbours the French are—in their +West Coast Colonies proper, where comparison alone is +possible—making their own Colonies pay a considerable +part in the expenses of Railway construction; taxing their +trade less, spending less on administration, governing more +cheaply and quite as well—better by a long way in some cases.</p> + +<p>The producing power of our Colonies, that is to say, the +export trade, the only true test of prosperity in West Africa, +is either increasing slowly by comparison with the expenditure, +or it is stagnant, or it is retrogressing. When it is +increasing, the increase is much below the corresponding +ratio of increased expenditure. “Large doses”—veritable +purgatives—of European conceived legislation are being +thrust down the throats of the bewildered natives. The +number of Ordinances passed in the British West African +Colonies during the last few years, especially in Southern +Nigeria,<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> is simply amazing. Most of them are far in +advance of the times and cannot but remain a dead +letter because, thank goodness, the existing machinery is +not yet sufficiently extensive to carry them out. To make +as few Ordinances as possible, and to ensure that such as +are made shall be permanently useful, does not appear to +enter into the official conception; and in the face of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span> +growing objections to this rapidity and fertility of the +official brain in forming premature legislation, not only on +the part of the natives who are getting more and more +confused, and—as the French put it—<i>déséquilibrés</i>, but +by all people in affairs on the Coast who would desire that +officialdom should move more slowly, carrying at each step +real and understanding consent: the work of drafting portentous +decrees, the exact meaning of which the very +lawyers at home cannot comprehend, or reconcile with +avowed intentions, goes merrily on.</p> + +<p>Punitive expedition follows punitive expedition. We have +had a war in Sierra Leone, a war in Ashanti, two expeditions +in the Gambia, a big expedition up the Cross River +in Southern Nigeria, together with minor affrays, while in +Northern Nigeria, which so far is producing no revenue +and has not attracted a single merchant (and but one exploring +expedition for possible mining purposes), one punitive +expedition succeeds another at an interval of a few +weeks at most. I will not now labour the case of Northern +Nigeria, as that most interesting portion of our West African +dominions is discussed at some length farther on, but it is +quite evident that the attention of Parliament to the expenditure +of Northern Nigeria is becoming increasingly urgent. +Lagos alone, under the able guidance of Sir William +MacGregor, has known the blessings of peace. Long may +it continue to do so.</p> + +<p>Specific instances and examples of these general statements +will be found scattered throughout this volume. It +was, however, necessary to place them in collective form. +In the next chapter, endeavour will be made to briefly +indicate the lines upon which certain reforms might be +attempted and the reasons for those reforms. Official +optimism notwithstanding, it is an undoubted fact that, if +something is not very shortly done to improve the prevailing +system, the majority of the British West African +Colonies will drift into a morass of financial confusion +paralysing to their development and progress, while the +native population within them will be comparatively poorer +than in the neighbouring Colonies of commercial rivals.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV<br> +<span class="smaller">SOME NECESSARY REFORMS</span></h3> + +<p>“It is well known also that this personal system, at its best, is full of +abuses of the worst kind politically; the Administrators and those who influence +them, get to have favourites, and even chiefs have their legitimate +power, influence and dignity interfered with because they refuse to pay +homage to their views. In consequence of all this, an apparently successful +Administrator is usually and sharply followed by even worse confusion and +more protracted wars than were known before his advent. It is the history +of all weak despotic systems, having no basis in the country or among the +people sought to be governed or influenced.”—“The Crown Colonies of +Great Britain” (chapter vi. West Africa), by C. S. Salmon, formerly Colonial +Secretary and Administrator of the Gold Coast, &c.</p> + +<p>“The inhabitants of the country and the mercantile community who +provide the whole of the revenues, have no voice at all in the governing of +their Colonies and the expenditure of these revenues, and I sincerely hope +that the day is not far distant when the African community will rise up and +protest against this Crown Colony system of government”—Mr. <span class="smcap">Arthur +Hutton</span>, President of the African Section of the Manchester Chamber of +Commerce. (Extract from speech delivered.)</p> + +</div> + +<p>It will, I think, be conceded that, notwithstanding the extraordinarily +important and revolutionising discoveries of +Major Ross, to whom the entire credit of recent demonstrations +belongs, the admirable work performed by the +Liverpool<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> and London schools in the study of tropical +disease and sanitary improvements on the West Coast, the +chances of British West Africa ever becoming a possession +where English men and women can flourish and multiply, is +excessively remote; so remote, indeed, as to be outside the +sphere of useful discussion. In fact, with the one possible +exception of the Futa-Jallon uplands, when the Konakry-Kurussa<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span> +railway line has connected them with the coast, +West Africa as a whole is unsuitable, and will, according to +all reasonable supposition, always remain unsuitable for +European <i>colonisation</i>. The dominion of British West Africa +must, therefore, be regarded not in the light of a colony +properly so called, but as a vast tropical estate.</p> + +<p>From that postulate arises a query, or rather, series of +queries. What are we in West Africa for? What do we +hope to do there? What object took us there? What main +purpose keeps us there? The answer is not for a moment +in doubt. Commerce took us to West Africa; commerce +keeps and will keep us in West Africa. It is the <i>fons et origo</i> +of our presence in West Africa. The day that it ceases to +be so, West Africa ceases to be of use to the Empire. It will +become a costly plaything, and the British people is too +essentially practical a people to care long for toys of that +kind. As in every other part of the world, commerce in +West Africa is the outcome of supply and demand. There +is a demand for the products of West Africa on the markets +of the world, and there is a demand in West Africa for the products +of European industrialism. The increased circulation +of a portable currency in West Africa in the shape of silver +coinage will facilitate the operations of commerce, but will +not dislodge or alter the fundamental nature of that commerce. +The development of a mining industry in this or +that portion of West Africa will, while it lasts, modify the +conditions of trade in the portion affected, but commerce +will remain the backbone, as it ever has been, of European +intercourse with West Africa.</p> + +<p>There is nothing that need occasion regret at the contemplation +of the truth. Commerce is the greatest civilising +agent. The steps upward in the ethical development of the +human race have been synonymous with the spread of +commercial relations, and the creation of the means and +measures whereby their promotion has been successively +extended. The most backward peoples to-day are, generally +speaking, those whose secluded habitat renders their commercial +transactions with the outside world scanty and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span> +precarious. In these days, when the noble meaning which +attaches to “philanthropy” and “civilisation” is made the +cloak to cover in West Africa so much that is vile, the excuse +both sincerely and hypocritically given to explain away so +much that is in painful contradiction, one needs, perhaps, +to be reminded that such commonplace things as commerce +and improved means of communication will do more to +benefit the native than any number of attempts to impose +laws and institutions unfamiliar to him, by violent even if +well-meaning measures of so-called reform.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> As a nation +we should gain much and lose nothing in frankly admitting +to ourselves that it is due neither to a desire to mend the +ways of priestly theocracies, nor to alter the tyranny of the +strong over the weak, which has led to the incorporation +within the Empire of some thirty-five millions of West +African natives, but the belief that West Africa constitutes a +vast outlet for the free and unfettered development of British +trade, and an equally vast field for the cultivation of products +of economic necessity to ourselves. Thorough realisation +of the fact would lead to more accurate appreciation and a +truer sense of the direction which our policy should take in +West Africa, if ultimate success and not failure is to attend it.</p> + +<p>Commercial development is then in an especial and +peculiar degree the <i>raison d’être</i> of our presence in West +Africa.</p> + +<p>Now what are the principal factors in British West African +commerce, and how are their claims to consideration in the +administration of British West Africa treated under the +Crown Colony system? Obviously the two principal +factors are the European merchant and his customer, the +native. The merchant directly supplies, the native indirectly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span> +supplies, the revenue which pays for the salaries of the officials +and the general up-keep of the government, and if it be +true, as it undoubtedly is, that the burden of taxation ultimately +falls upon the native producer, it is equally true that, +without the enterprise of the merchant, there would be no +revenue and consequently no local funds for the support of +administrative machinery. It follows, therefore, as a matter +of simple justice, that the merchant should have a voice in +the framing of legislation calculated to affect the internal +politics, and consequently the commerce of our West African +possessions. Apart from its justice, the claim of the merchant +to representation in the affairs of our West African +Empire has many features in its favour. He enjoys an +expert’s knowledge, gained by long years of actual contact +with the peoples of Western Africa. Experience has given +him an insight into their customs and laws; an acquaintance +with their peculiarities, with the working of their minds, +with their inbred conservatism, which officials whose residence +in West Africa—broken, as it is, by long intervals of +leave—is usually of a very temporary or flitting nature, +cannot hope to attain at any rate with the same completeness; +and a mastery, even if it be only an instinctive +mastery, of certain special characteristics which underlie +native conceptions, and which have to be reckoned with in +dealing with them. The merchant is consequently well fitted +to be a most valuable assistant in the administration of +British Western Africa.</p> + +<p>The fact is recognised by the French and Germans who +share with us the vast proportion of influence in West Africa +properly so called. Ever practical, the Germans have created +an Advisory Board (<i>Kolonial-rath</i>) to their Colonial Office, +composed for the most part of the leading men in the West +African trade. The present Colonial Advisory Board has +twelve merchants sitting on its Council.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> In French West<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span> +Africa, but on somewhat different lines, the merchant is +similarly treated, and just recently the representations of the +French merchants to M. Décrais, the then Colonial Minister +of France, averted a great evil threatening the Ivory Coast +in the contemplated cession to King Leopold’s nominee, M. +Empain, of a practical monopoly over the whole of the gold-bearing +districts of that dependency, although M. Empain<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> +had the most influential support at his back.</p> + +<p>The French system, though far from perfect, is incomparably +superior to anything we have in this country. It +differs somewhat in the various Colonies, but is substantially +composed of two Organisms, the Metropolitan Organism +and the Colonial Organism. Under these dual Organisms, +every Colony which is not directly represented in the French +Parliament is represented at the Colonial Office by a delegate +elected by vote of the white inhabitants of such Colony. +In French Guinea, where the administration in force is in +advance of that of any other French (or English for that +matter) West African possession, a commercial delegate is +regularly elected, and at the present moment a merchant, +M. Gaboriau, representing the interests of that Colony, is +attached to the Colonial Office. The weak point in the +arrangement is, that the officials in the respective Colonies +as well as the merchants have the right to vote in the election +of a representative, with the result that very often the +officials are in a majority. When that happens, a French +politician, who can use his influence in promoting the officials +who vote for him, is appointed. Each colony possesses a +“Superior Council” or “Administrative Council” composed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> +of the Governor, the heads of departments, and two or more +merchants. In Senegal the merchant councillors have always +enjoyed considerable power, and no step affecting the interests +of the Colony is ever taken without the concurrence of +the great Bordeaux merchant firms, which between them +centralise the ground-nut trade (they themselves built it +up), the staple industry of Senegal. Moreover, Senegal is +particularly favoured in that it boasts a Deputy in the +Chamber and a local General Council which enjoys large +financial responsibility, the merchants—provided they do +not fall out among themselves—being always in a majority +in the said General Council.</p> + +<p>With us matters are altogether different. England, +which passes for a country where common-sense is the +cardinal virtue, refuses to her merchants any recognised +<i>status</i> in the administrative machinery of West Africa. It +has been accurately asserted that the merchant is the +<i>uitlander</i> of British West Africa. He is seldom, if ever, +consulted in the affairs of the country, and although +Mr. Chamberlain has on more than one occasion given +verbal assurances that no legislative acts affecting the +natives (and <i>de facto</i> calculated to influence native production—or, +in other words, trade) would be promulgated +without previously being submitted to the merchants for +their opinion, decrees of the highest importance embodying +a kind of revolution in our historical native policy in regard +to the laws of native land tenure have just become law in +Southern Nigeria, not only without the merchants being +consulted, but without their being advised in any other way +than by a perusal of the published Ordinances in the local +Government Gazette. From time to time—and during the +last two years with increasing frequency, consistency, and +earnestness—the Liverpool and Manchester Chambers of +Commerce, which between them represent the majority of +the commercial interests of Great Britain in West Africa,<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> +have approached the Foreign and Colonial Offices on their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span> +own initiative, sometimes supported by as many as ten or +twelve other leading chambers in the Kingdom voicing +industrial interests more or less directly affected by specific +occurrences. When—I am speaking now of recent times—the +Foreign Office has been either memorialised or waited +upon by deputations from the Chambers, the question at +issue has been one of international import, such for instance +as the differential tariff against British goods in the French +West African Colonies (1898), and the violation of the Berlin +Act in the Congo Basin (1901 and 1902). In the first case, +the action of the Chambers was surprisingly successful; +in the second case, success has not yet attended their +efforts.</p> + +<p>When, as in the majority of instances, the Colonial Office +has been waited upon or written to, the object has referred +to some legislation either contemplated or assented to, or to +some measure of internal policy towards a native tribe or +ruler. I cannot find that the Colonial Office has on any +single occasion, in a matter of importance, consented to +adopt the views of the men who, as subsequent events have +manifestly proved, saw clearer than the permanent officials, +and whose advice, if taken, would have avoided the perpetration +of serious mistakes. In 1895 the Manchester Chamber +and the local Chamber at Cape Coast strongly advised +“that the King of Ashanti (Prempreh) be allowed to reserve +all the rights that he now exercises over his people,” but +that a British resident should be established at his Court, as +the best means of ensuring a lasting peace with the Ashanti +people, who, if they had erred, also had—as is historically +admitted—grounds of legitimate complaint against the +British authorities on various occasions. Prempreh, however, +was arrested and deported, and from that moment the +Ashantis never ceased to intrigue against the British until +their discontent, fanned into flame by the injudicious proceedings +of Governor Hodgson, broke forth once more and +led to the last sanguinary expedition, which involved an expenditure +of a quarter of a million of money.</p> + +<p>But the most notable instance at once, of the value of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> +merchants’ expert knowledge and of the fatuity of lightly +rejecting their counsel, is provided in the lamentable chapter +in the history of Sierra Leone which began with the enforcement +of the Hut Tax Ordinance in 1898, and which is not +yet closed, whatever officialdom may say to the contrary. +As I propose discussing this subject in some detail later on, +it is sufficient to state here that the merchants almost went +on their bended knees, figuratively speaking, in seeking +to turn the Colonial Office from its purpose; that they +entirely failed; that they were met by official assurances +which were afterwards shown to be entirely erroneous; +that their predictions and warnings were fulfilled to the +letter; that their views were subsequently substantiated in +every respect by the Special Commissioner despatched later +by the Colonial Office to make investigations as to the origin +of the rising, and that the persistent refusal of the Colonial +Office to abide by the Special Commissioner’s report has +reduced our oldest West African possession to such a condition +that, if the railway now in course of construction +through the eastern district does not—and there appears +little or no hope that it will—entirely alter the present state +of affairs, Sierra Leone under the present <i>régime</i>, and with +the pressure of French competition in the neighbouring +territories, is irretrievably ruined.</p> + +<p>Is it not time that in this respect at least something was +done to bring the management of British West Africa more +into line with modern requirements, and at a period when +the commercial position of Great Britain in West Africa is +everywhere threatened by foreign competition, to establish +some working arrangement—call it a West African Council +or Advisory Board or anything you please—whereby the +accumulated experience of the men who are supplying the +Government with the wherewithal to govern, should be used +as an auxiliary force for the promotion of the general interests +of Great Britain in West Africa? The nucleus of such a +council or Advisory Board could be at once supplied.</p> + +<p>It is said that the merchants cannot agree amongst themselves. +The plea lacks in truthfulness, and it is permissible<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> +to doubt whether it is sincerely put forward. Unquestionably +there are rivalries in the West African trade. What trade +is without them? But to argue that competition in trade is +a bar to co-operation in matters affecting the general welfare +of the country is a very narrow-minded position to take up. +It is converting a legitimate, natural, and healthy phenomenon +into a disqualification which nothing justifies. Where +should we be in West Africa to-day but for our merchant +pioneers? Suppose they had endorsed the official resolution +of 1865 by withdrawing from the Coast, would the Union +Jack be floating in West Africa except in Sierra Leone to-day? +If the merchant had been devoid of political conception, +and content to let his horizon be confined to those +petty but inevitable aspects of commercialism which consist +in under-selling a competitor, would not the abandonment +of the Gold Coast have followed the battle of Katamansu, +and would the richest portion of the Niger Valley be a British +Protectorate to-day? Let those who suggest that the British +merchant in West Africa is incapable of rising above sordid +motives of self-interest remember MacGregor Laird. The +merchant has everywhere preceded the administrator in +West Africa. In his case the old adage must be reversed. +It has been the flag which has followed trade, not trade the +flag.<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p>It is also said that the merchants are not unanimous with +regard to certain features of West African policy. But can +any one single out a body of men among whom variations +of opinion on specific points do not occur? Do all the +members of a Cabinet invariably see eye to eye on a particular +measure to be introduced? Are not the very +modifications which any given Bill must go through before +being finally drafted and approved by the Cabinet as a whole<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> +a guarantee that legislation evolved from the interchange of +ideas among the sundry persons concerned—and who, unless +they be devoid of individuality, cannot all think alike on +every point—will be the better for the destructive and constructive +criticism to which it has been subjected? The +merchants are in substantial agreement in what they consider +the vital principles of British policy in West Africa, principles +which informed public opinion is at last beginning to +realise the urgency of upholding. No material divergency +of views will be found among merchants as to the absolute +necessity of respecting native land tenure, the need of careful +finance, the danger of constant military operations, the +indispensableness of preserving native institutions. If there +be a charge against the merchants, it is that they have not +hitherto sufficiently exercised their power of influencing +successive Governments. They have not risen as they +should have done to the height of their duties and responsibilities. +They have allowed outsiders to perform a difficult +and generally ungrateful work, which they themselves should +have taken in hand—that of calling public attention to the +urgency of reforms in West African administration. At +critical moments they have been weak-kneed, and fearful of +giving offence when they should have been resolute in +standing by convictions which they knew to be sound. +Their attitude is now happily undergoing a change which, +if maintained, is bound to have lasting results for good.</p> + +<p>At no previous period in the history of British West Africa +has the co-operation of the great merchant community in +the task of administration been so pressing a necessity as it +is to-day. Never could better use be made of such co-operation +by the department responsible for West Africa as +at present. In the increasing notice which is being given on +all sides to West African affairs consequent upon the remarkable +growth of European relations with that country and +with the birth in West Africa of a modern mining industry, +a host of dangerous advisers is arising. We see old errors +creeping back in the guise of new verities, old misconceptions +gaining fresh lease of life, exploded theories crowding<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span> +forward to mislead and confuse. Appeals to force as the +solution of all difficulties arising out of contact with a primitive +people, contemptuous disregard of native laws and +customs—the “damned nigger” theory in all its perennial +beauty, insistent requests for lavish expenditure, heedless of +plain economic facts, and so forth—these are the order of +the day. Upon elementary errors of geography are grafted +the crudest notions of the political and social condition of +the Negro, the most amazing ignorance of history and past +experience in every branch of West African lore. By a +plausible inversion of facts, opponents of the wild and +whirling talk indulged in regarding West Africa are denounced +as sentimentalists, although it so happens that the +denouncers draw the material which serves them as a basis +for their contentions from that very discredited sentimentalism +responsible for so many errors in West Africa, which +portrays the native as an abject being, brutish, lazy, and +degraded, greatly honoured by the bestowal of a bible, a suit +of clothes; and a shilling, with a possible extra threepence +thrown in as subsistence-money, for a hard day’s work. No +doubt it is possible to exaggerate the importance of these +<i>ad captandum</i> effusions, but their volume is, perhaps, calculated +to momentarily drown the voice of reason. Parrot-like +reiteration, if sufficiently sustained, is apt sometimes to +impress.</p> + +<p>At such a time the assistance of a trained body of men +thoroughly conversant with the affairs of Western Africa, +in a position to point to past experiences, to vested interests, +to technical knowledge as their claim to competency, and +to the feeding of the administrative machine as their claim +to consideration, ought surely to commend itself to the +Authorities. To persist much longer in the rejection of +that assistance would be equally short-sighted and unjust.</p> + +<p>Another and an equally important question connected +with the management of our West African Possessions, is +the question of the Crown Agents. If any one attempted +to define the duties of that body, he would be hard put to +it to do so. They are here, there and everywhere, and their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> +interference puts a premium upon extravagance and waste. +The Crown Agents are an anomaly which ought to disappear. +At present they constitute a sort of half-way house +between the Colonial Office and the West African Governors, +and are a positive obstacle to sound finance and good business +methods. Enough examples of the extraordinary ways +of the Crown Agents could be given to fill a volume. The +West African Colonies are hampered right and left by the +powers conferred upon this body. The Colonies are not +allowed to purchase what they require in the shape of stores, +equipment, material and so forth on the open market. +Everything has to go through the Crown Agents, with the +natural result that the Colonies have to pay 40 per cent. and +50 per cent. more than they would have to if allowed to +invite tenders on their own account. Look at the way in +which these railways have been and are being built.</p> + +<p>The construction is, apparently, the monopoly of one +particular firm (under the direction of the Crown Agents); +a firm which, as far as can be gathered, had had but little +experience in railway construction before, metaphorically +speaking, falling upon its feet in West Africa.</p> + +<p>The same firm holds the position of “consulting engineers” +to the Colonial Office. Surely it is anomalous, +from the purely business point of view, that a firm retained +as “consulting engineers” to a Government Department in +charge of West Africa should also be the actual constructors +of the West African railways! The two parts +strike one as incompatible. Consulting engineers, one +would imagine, would be advisers and arbiters. All contracts +should be publicly and openly tendered for. A very +widespread impression prevails that the time and cost +expended in the construction of these railways have been +very great. The Gold Coast Railway was begun in February +1898; it is officially estimated to reach Kumasi early +in 1904. Assuming that it does, it will have taken six years +to build, which works out at about twenty-eight miles per +annum—the distance from Sekondi to Kumasi being 169¼ +miles.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span></p> + +<p>It is as yet too early to say definitely what the cost of +the line will average per mile. Official estimates, we know, +are not always reliable. In this case, even the official +estimate is very high, viz. £8000 per mile for the Sekondi-Tarkwa +section, and £6300 per mile for the Tarkwa-Kumasi +section.</p> + +<p>That dissatisfaction with the policy pursued up to the +present (that is to say, the policy of constructing these +railways under the “Department System,” or, otherwise +stated, leaving their construction to the Crown Agents), is +not confined to merchants, mine-managers and other +revenue-payers of the West African Colonies, but is held +by competent and highly placed officials, I reproduce the +following remarks of Sir William MacGregor, made on the +occasion of a visit to the Manchester Chamber of Commerce +in 1900, and in reply to the following question of Mr. Arthur +Hutton’s<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“Do you think, from what you have seen, it (<i>i.e.</i> railway construction) +would be better done by contract?”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir William MacGregor</span>: “I believe at the present moment—and +I have said so to the Secretary of State—<i>I believe there would be men +living who are now rotting in their graves, if it had been taken out of the +control of the Crown Agents</i>....”<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +</div> + +<p>It is competently estimated that the Lagos railway, begun +in 1896, will have cost £10,000<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> per mile by the time its +125 miles are in full working order—an enormous rate.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span> +The Crown Agents, through whom the moneys have been +advanced to the Colony, exact 5 per cent. interest, whereas +with the security they have to offer, they should easily be +able to get them—and probably have got them—from the +Treasury at 3 per cent. Why should the Colony be saddled +with an extra 2<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> per cent. interest and find its liability for the +current year on the railway loan increased to the enormous +total of £54,000, or, say, 22 per cent. of the entire revenue?<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> +Why should all indents be sent through the Crown Agents? +The delays which this ridiculous system entail are only +second in point of importance to the squandering of the public +funds which goes on under it. The Crown Agents appear to +think that they know more about the material needs of the +Colonies than the officials in charge of the Colonies themselves. +Two instances have been recently brought to my +notice which would be laughable were they not so deplorably +unbusiness-like. A certain West African Colony required +a two-ton engine for a short, light railway. The +request was duly put forward. After months of delay an +eight-ton engine was sent out, too heavy, of course, for the +rails to support it. It was entirely useless. Again, a scheme +was drawn up for the construction of a bridge by the local +official responsible. An estimate was made, and the plans +and so forth were forwarded home. The bridge was +urgently required. Months elapsed; then the Crown Agents, +who knew nothing of the local conditions, instead of +despatching the materials, sent out an entirely different +counter-scheme, far more elaborate, far more costly, and +totally unsuited to local requirements. The Colony is still +waiting for its bridge.<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> I can only repeat that, whether<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span> +avowed or not—in many cases, of course, it manifestly +cannot be avowed—the Crown Agents are looked upon in +official and commercial circles in West Africa as an unmitigated +nuisance and a stumbling-block to progress.</p> + +<p>The needs of British West Africa at the present time may +be resumed thus: (1) A Council or Advisory Board in +which the merchant element shall be widely represented; +(2) Tight control over the military element—fewer punitive +expeditions, and more tact and patience in dealing with +native races, the officials whose administration is virgin of +wars to be looked upon as deserving of prior promotion; +(3) Economy in Administration; (4) Thorough financial +overhaul; (5) Elimination of the Crown Agents; (6) Open +tenders for all public works; (7) Sanitation; (8) Scientific +study of native peoples, laws and languages; (9) Scientific +study of native products and improvement of native industries; +(10) Maintenance and not murder of native institutions, +upholding and strengthening of the power of the +Chiefs; non-interference with domestic slavery in the Protectorates; +preservation of native land-tenure; (11) A Civil +Service on the lines of the Indian Civil Service; (12) A +Civilian Governor-General.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PART_II">PART II</h2> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V<br> +<span class="smaller">THE DISCOVERY OF NORTHERN NIGERIA</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The nineteenth century will ever be memorable for the +exploration of the interior of the African Continent. It is +difficult to realise when we read in the daily newspapers of +steamers plying upon Tanganyika, ocean steamers of 4000 +tons burthen ploughing their way through the brown waters +of the Lower Congo, gun-boats patrolling the Niger, railways +piercing alike the deserts of the Eastern Sudan and +the forests of Equatoria, telegraphs extending in a network +of lines across the Western Sudan and athwart the Great +Central Lakes—it seems difficult, I say, when we read of +these things to remember that at the close of the eighteenth +century the interior of Africa was to all intents and purposes +a blank, and that, even within the memory of most of us, the +extent of geographical knowledge we possessed respecting +vast regions many times larger than European Russia had +made no progress since the days of Herodotus and Pliny. +What a colossal work it has been, this solving of riddles +which had baffled the world for ages upon ages! What +prodigies of labour, of courage, of self-abnegation have been +required to triumph over the obstacles which nature and +man united in opposing to the early pioneers of African +research! How many splendid lives have been immolated +upon the altar of the African Moloch!</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the remarkable progress in medical +science and hygiene, and the potentialities of the modern<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> +rifle as a weapon of defence against the attack of man and +beast, the difficulties of the African traveller at the present +day are sufficiently great. Deadly maladies beset him on +every side, and the chance of coming to a sudden and +violent end is ever present. But these difficulties are as dust +in the balance compared with the sufferings and privations +which the first explorers of unknown Africa had to endure. +Think of Park, and picture to yourself the position of a +lonely European wandering about inland Western Africa in +a thick blue fustian coat, with gilt buttons, keeping his precious +notes in the crown of a top-hat, and kicked, buffeted, +spat upon, treated with contumely and scorn, subjected to +every possible insult, over and again a slave, exposed for +hours at a time in a burning sun without water, often on +the verge of starvation, racked by disease, and in so miserable +a plight upon many occasions that death would have +been a welcome relief—yet triumphing over everything and +finally returning, notes and all, to his own land. Park’s +experiences naturally occur to one in relation to the subject +which it is proposed to treat in this chapter, because Park +was the real discoverer of the Niger, which had been known +in a vague manner to the ancients, and also to the Arabs +(who, however, wrongly ascribed to it a westerly course, and +identified it with the Nile),<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> and laid the foundation of that +remarkable series of explorations which ultimately ended in +Lander’s supreme success.</p> + +<p>In 1805 Park set out once more on his second and fatal +journey, with the firm conviction that he would be able to +prove to the world the accuracy of his own theory, viz. +that the Niger and the Congo were one and the same. The +peripatetics of that eventful voyage are known to every +student of Africa. After incredible hardships, Park managed +to descend the Niger as far as Bussa. There, in sight almost +of the goal of his ambitions he perished, victim of a cruel<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> +fate, which drove his boat upon those treacherous rocks, +since celebrated for having brought two Christian nations +to the brink of war. There are aspects of Park’s character +which leave something to be desired, but his defects are lost +sight of in the magnificence of his courage, his indomitable +will, and the never-failing optimism with which he pursued +his task, undeterred by disappointment and unshaken by +adversity. As an example of human perseverance and fortitude +carried to its highest limits, Park probably holds an +unique position among African explorers.</p> + +<p>Park’s tragic end increased the desire of Englishmen to +solve the mystery of the Niger’s course, and in 1816 the +British Government organised a dual expedition on a large +scale for this purpose. One section, under Captain Tuckey, +ascended the Congo, and the other, under Major Peddie, +endeavoured to reach the Niger by a more southerly route +than that adopted by Park, the idea being that both sections +would ultimately meet somewhere in Central Africa. How +fantastic was the scheme does not need to be pointed out, +but it must be remembered that in those days the consensus +of learned opinion favoured Park’s theory of identification +concerning the Niger and the Congo. The expedition was +an utter failure. The Niger section excited the resentment +of the natives, and had to return after losing its chief. Captain +Tuckey ascended the Congo as far as the first cataracts, +which had baffled the Portuguese for 200 years, and then +leaving the River, pushed North, along what used to be the +old caravan route, to the Upper River, now covered by the +Matadi-Stanleyville railway, constructed by Colonel Thys. +He managed to strike the Upper River in the neighbourhood +of the modern Leopoldville, but the trying landmarch had +played havoc with his followers. Sickness broke out, and +finally the expedition had to return with a loss of 75 per cent. +of its European members. Several lesser attempts followed. +They all ended disastrously, and it seemed as though the +Dark Continent refused to yield up its secrets. But Englishmen +were not to be beaten. The Western route was indeed +given up as impracticable for a time, but what could not be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> +accomplished from the West might be achieved from the +North. True, the Desert had to be faced and traversed. +But where the Phœnician and the Roman had dared and +done, the Englishman might surely follow. The Desert had +not balked the Sectaries of Mohammed, and long caravans, +conducted by Tripolitan merchants, yearly made their way +across those dreary solitudes. Why should not a party of +Englishmen attach themselves to one of these caravans, +and, protected by the influence of the British Government, +armed with the authority of the Pasha of Tripoli, succeed +in reaching the fertile countries of the South, whence rich +supplies of ostrich feathers, skins, ivory, gold dust, and slaves +found their way to the ports of the Northern littoral?</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="map1" style="max-width: 62.5em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/map1.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>SKETCH OF THE NORTHERN PART OF AFRICA</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>For many years the African Association had been collecting +materials with a view to a possible penetration by the +Northern route. Once the idea found favour with the +authorities, Mr. Lucas was despatched by the Association +to Tripoli. He did very little in the way of exploration, but +brought back many interesting facts confirming Leo Africanus’ +description in respect to the existence of flourishing +kingdoms far away to the South, where arts and crafts had +attained a high degree of development. Ritchie and Lyon +followed Lucas. Lyon managed to reach the southernmost +limits of Fezzan, on the borders of the Desert.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> The Desert +itself remained uncrossed, however, and the mystery of the +Niger still unsolved. Then it was that the British Government +determined to make a great effort to solve the problem, +and fitted out an expedition, which did not, it is true, fulfil +all that was expected of it, but which succeeded, nevertheless, +in throwing a vivid light upon unknown Central Africa, and +in disclosing to an astonished world the remarkable civilisation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span> +which, under Arab, Berber, and Fulani influence, had +arisen in the heart of that black “Sudan” the “land of +infidels,” and in popular conception,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Of the cannibals that each other eat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The anthropophagi, and men whose heads</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do grow beneath their shoulders.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And so the subjects of this sketch enter upon the scene—three +men, Clapperton, Denham and Oudney, none of them +perhaps conspicuous for ability, or qualified to make the +most of their discoveries, yet animated all three with the +ardent love of adventure for which their race has ever been +famous, and whose united exertions enabled Western Europe +to estimate the political and social conditions prevailing in +the richest, most populated, most fertile, and undoubtedly +most interesting portion of the Dark Continent. It is peculiarly +fitting that the region which these Englishmen were +the first Europeans to visit, and which we now designate by +the name of Northern Nigeria, should have been ultimately +incorporated with the British West African Empire by the +foresight of another Englishman, Sir George Taubman Goldie, +and the diplomatic ability of the gallant Joseph +Thomson. A word now as to the three companions. Of +Denham and Oudney, we know little beyond what can be +gathered from their own writings; Oudney was a medical +man, and Denham held the rank of Major in the army. +Oudney was the real leader of the expedition, with which he +had been entrusted by Earl Bathurst, then Secretary of +State for the Colonies; but his untimely death had the result +of depreciating the part which he personally played during +its first two years’ work. Clapperton has written of him +that he was “A man of unassuming deportment, pleasing +manners, steadfast perseverance and undaunted enterprise; +while his mind was fraught at once with knowledge, virtue +and religion.” Major Denham’s action in joining a raiding +party into Mandara (Eastern Bornu) has somewhat tarnished +his reputation, in my humble opinion very unjustly, although +it is quite true that his action in this respect was the cause<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span> +of serious embarrassment to Clapperton later on. In criticising +Denham’s conduct on this occasion, we must bear in +mind in the first place that the Empire of Bornu, at that +period, owing to various dynastic revolutions, and to the +pressure of its powerful enemies on the East—Baghirmi and +Wadai—was in a state of more or less constant warfare both +within and without, and that warlike expeditions were constantly +taking place, faction fighting against faction and tribe +against tribe, warfare being in fact a more or less permanent +institution in the social life of the country. And in the +second place, we must also recollect that the members of +the expedition had been instructed to examine and report +upon all the various phases of life in the countries which +they might traverse. Now it was impossible for Denham to +obtain a thorough knowledge of the habits of the people +without personally investigating the manner in which they +waged war upon their neighbours. Apart, therefore, from +the natural predilections of his soldierly instincts, which +would lead him to find particular interest in matters of this +kind, it may be assumed that Denham considered it his +duty to act as he did. Years afterwards, Barth found himself +in much the same predicament. As it happened, the +adventure nearly cost Denham his life. The raided proved +too strong for the raiders, and, assisted by the Fulani +cavalry, completely defeated the latter. Denham’s escape +was a marvellous one. He lost everything, and was wounded +in three places.</p> + +<p>An account of Clapperton’s life is contributed by Lieut.-Colonel +Clapperton in the preface to Clapperton and Lander’s +journal of the second expedition to Sokoto, published by +Murray in 1829. Hugh Clapperton was born in Dumfriesshire +in 1788. At the age of thirteen he went to sea as an +apprentice, and subsequently entered the Royal Navy. He +served in the <i>Renommée</i> and <i>Venerable</i>, and visited the East +Indies. He then went to the Canadian Lakes, and participated +in the American War of Independence. In 1816 he +got his commission. A year later the British vessels on the +Canadian Lakes were paid off and laid up, and Clapperton<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span> +returned to England on half-pay. In 1820 he met Dr. Oudney +in Edinburgh, and struck up a friendship which resulted in his +accompanying the latter to Africa. Of intellectual attainments +he had none, but he was large-hearted, generous, and +tolerant; courageous in the extreme, gifted with an iron constitution, +and of great physical strength. So much for the +personal characteristics of the trio. We may now examine +the nature of their work. The narrative of the expedition in +which all three took part is chiefly contributed by Denham. +While Denham was compiling their joint notes, Clapperton +started for Africa again, and reached Sokoto from Badagry +on the West Coast. The story of Clapperton’s second journey +was written by himself, and afterwards published by his faithful +servant Richard Lander, who was destined ultimately to +follow the Niger down to the sea, thus finally solving the great +problem in the attempted elucidation of which Park, Tucker, +Clapperton and many others perished.</p> + +<p>The primary, and in many respects the main, obstacle +which had to be overcome by Oudney and his companions, +was the crossing of that portion of the Sahara which lies +between Murzuk and Bornu, and which, to use Denham’s +words, “Is made up of dark frowning hills of naked rock, +in interminable plains, strewed in some places with fragments +of stone and pebbles, in others of one vast level surface of +sand, and in others, again, the same material rising into immense +mounds, altering their form and position according to +the strength and direction of the winds.” Caravan routes +across the desert had existed for many centuries, and the commerce +of the Central Sudan, with the parts of North Africa, +was still an important one. The route which the travellers +hoped to take, in company with a party of merchants, was +the shortest and safest one, that which starting from Tripoli +passes through Murzuk and Bilma to Kuka, then the capital +of Bornu, situated on the shores of Lake Chad. The expedition +arrived at Tripoli in November 1821, but did not reach +Murzuk, capital of Fezzan, until the 8th April 1822. Here +the Englishmen met with such a discouraging reception from +the Sultan that on the 12th May, finding no chance of making<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span> +any progress whatever, Major Denham started back to +Tripoli to interview the Pasha, by whom the British Government +had been promised every possible assistance. The +Pasha proving as lethargic as his prototype at Murzuk, +Denham left Tripoli in a white heat of indignation to report +his conduct to the British Government. This did not suit +the Pasha at all, and he sent three despatches after the irate +Englishman begging him to return, as he had arranged for +an escort to accompany the expedition to Bornu. The despatches +reached Denham while the boat he had taken passage +in was quarantined outside Marseilles, and he forthwith set +sail once more for the Barbary shore. On the 29th November +1822, or a year after landing at Tripoli, the expedition +left Murzuk, and set out upon its way to Bornu under the +guidance of Bu-Kalum, a merchant of repute, much enamoured +of pomp and show, and not over energetic in his +movements. Within a few weeks’ march from Murzuk the +members of the expedition were able to appreciate all the +horrors of the trans-Desert slave trade in the sight of “more +than 100 skeletons, scattered over the line of route, some of +them with the skin attached to the bones.”</p> + +<p>On the 13th January they reached Bilma, famous for its +salt pans, and on February 4th the discomforts they had +endured in the desert received ample compensation by a +view of “the great Lake Chad, glowing with the golden rays +of the sun in its strength.” The natural emotion of the +travellers is thus expressed by Denham, whose descriptions +in the general way certainly do not incline to the picturesque:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“It conveyed to my mind,” he writes, “a sensation so gratifying and +inspiring that it would be difficult for language to convey an idea of its +force and pleasure.... My heart bounded within me at the prospect, +for I believe this lake to be the key to the great object of our search, +and I could not refrain from silently imploring heaven’s continued protection, +which had enabled us to proceed so far in health and strength, +even to the accomplishment of our task.”</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI<br> +<span class="smaller">THE DISCOVERY OF NORTHERN NIGERIA—(<i>cont.</i>)</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>On the borders of the Lake the travellers observed the +cotton shrub growing well and innumerable flocks of waterfowl +disporting themselves. So tame were the latter that +when approached they “merely changed their position a +little to the right or left.” Following the Western shore of +the Chad, the travellers pushed on to Kuka. Within a few +days’ march of that once-flourishing city they began to +realise how erroneous were the popular ideas of the +“Sudan.” Instead of “ragged negroes armed with spears,” +who, with the assistance of a few Arabs, managed to terrorise +the country, the travellers were astonished to see a dense +cloud of cavalry riding towards them, the guard of honour +sent by the Sheik of Bornu to bid them welcome. With +loud cries of “Blessing, blessing! Welcome! welcome!” +the black warriors, clad “in coats of mail, composed of iron +chain,” bore down upon them in orderly array, waving +swords and spears. Surrounded by this imposing mass of +horsemen they entered Kuka, and were received in audience +by the Sheik. After a short residence in Kuka the companions +separated, Denham going off with Bu-Kalum on +the raid which turned out so disastrously for all concerned +in it.</p> + +<p>The energetic Major subsequently visited a large portion +of the Eastern parts of Bornu, located and ascended the +Shari as far as Logon, then the capital of an important +kingdom, and explored a considerable portion of the Eastern +shores of the Lake. The information he collected in the +course of his peregrinations and the maps of the district +which he compiled were of very great value. The Southern<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> +and Eastern shores of the Lake were entirely unknown, the +Lake itself practically unlocated, and the existence of the +Shari unsuspected. It has always appeared to me that +Denham never received the credit which was due to him for +his exploring work. In view of his unscientific training, he +was unable to turn his discoveries to the best advantage, but +all things considered, his investigations proved in the main +surprisingly accurate. His ignorance of African history, too, +was very much against him. He was distinctly an unlettered +man, neither possessed of a ready pen nor imbued with +much imagination. The natural result of these shortcomings +is apparent in every page of his Journal. We find him +recording the most trivial incidents, and almost neglecting +the social, political and ethnological problems with which +he came daily in contact. The same lack of study and +intelligent research—of education, really—is visible, but +perhaps to a lesser extent, in Clapperton’s writings.</p> + +<p>It was in a sense a new world which the explorers had +entered, a world of absorbing interest, where Eastern magnificence +and barbaric display mingled with the naked +barbarism of Africa; where semi-Arabised potentates went +a-warring with mail-clad knights, and powerful Barons +brought their contingent of retainers to assist their liege lord +in his campaigns of plunder and conquest. The travellers +had left nineteenth-century England, had plunged into the +Desert, and had emerged therefrom amid a feudalism which +recalled in many ways that of their own land in the Middle +Ages. What an opportunity was theirs in this region, which +for centuries, by reason of its fertility, had proved a magnet +to attract the migration of races from the North, West, and +East! Some twenty years later a man with a truly scientific +mind went over the same ground, and then, and only then, +did people realise all that Denham and Clapperton had left +untold. But, although it was reserved for the genial and +cultured German who succeeded Denham to show how +profound is the gulf between a character such as Barth’s, +studious and observant, replete with historical lore and +scientific attainment, and men like Denham and Clapperton,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span> +notable only for their courage, dogged perseverance, and +love of adventure, yet the prestige of the former, which +increases rather than diminishes as our knowledge of these +regions in question becomes more extensive, can never rob +the Englishmen of the right of priority of discovery. They +were the first white men to reach the Chad, to discover the +Shari, to explore Bornu, Sokoto, and part of Kanem, and to +describe, however indifferently, the wonderful social fabric, +the picturesque civilisation, teeming with energy and +industrialism, which existed, and exists, in the upper portion +of the Niger Basin.</p> + +<p>While Denham bent his steps eastwards, Clapperton and +Oudney left Kuka in a westerly direction with the intention +of entering the Empire of Sokoto, founded by Othman +Fodio (the Fulani reformer during the first years of the +nineteenth century) out of the heterogeneous and mutually +antagonistic Hausa States. Of this Empire and the remarkable +race which created it, the travellers had heard a great +deal while in Bornu. The two States were for the time +being at peace, and the Sheik Mohammed-el-Kanemy, the +virtual, and subsequently the absolute ruler of Bornu, made +no opposition to the Englishmen’s visit. Shortly after +leaving Katagum, at the small village of Murmur, Dr. +Oudney, who had been ailing for many months, died, much +to Clapperton’s distress. The sad event did not, however, +deter his companion from pushing onwards, noting as he +went the extraordinary beauty and fertility of the country, +the numerous plantations of cotton, tobacco and indigo, +the rows upon rows of date-palms, the splendid cattle, the +luxurious foliage, and the industry of the inhabitants, tending +their flocks and herds, toiling in the fields, carrying fruit and +butter to the markets, weaving and dyeing their handsome +cotton cloths. On January 19, 1824, Clapperton reached +Kano, the great Emporium of the Central Sudan, his first +feeling being one of disappointment, which was not +diminished by the circumstance that, although he had +donned his naval uniform, no one took the slightest heed of +him, “but all intent on their own business, allowed me to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span> +pass by without remark.” This little incident, trivial in +itself, throws an interesting sidelight upon the character of +the gallant sailor, who was imbued with a proper sense of +the dignity befitting his position and never failed to uphold +it, as witness the following conversation which took place +between him and the Governor of Kano. There is, by the +way, a passage in this short dialogue which may be commended +to the attention of certain missionary enthusiasts at +the present time:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“‘How do you do, Abdullah (Clapperton’s native name)? Will you +come and see me at Hadyja on your return?’ I answered, ‘God +willing,’ with due Moslem solemnity. ‘You are a Christian, Abdullah?’ +‘Yes.’ ‘And what have you come to see?’ ‘The country.’ ‘What +do you think of it?’ ‘It is a fine country, but very sickly.’ At this he +smiled, and again asked, ‘Would you Christians allow us to come and +see your country?’ I said, ‘Certainly.’ ‘Would you force us to +become Christians?’ ‘By no means; we never meddle with a man’s +religion.’ ‘What,’ said he, ‘and do you ever pray?’ ‘Sometimes; +our religion commands us to pray always; but we pray in secret, and +not in public, except on Sundays.’ One of his people abruptly asked +what a Christian was? ‘Why a Kaffir,’<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> rejoined the Governor. +‘Where is your Jew servant?’ again asked the Governor; ‘you ought +to let me see him.’ ‘Excuse me, he is averse to it, and I never allow +my servants to be molested for their religious opinions.’ ‘Well, +Abdullah, thou art a man of understanding, and you must come and +see me at Hadyja.’”</p> + +</div> + +<p>Clapperton came very satisfactorily out of that interview, +but he did not fare quite so well in a later colloquy with +Sultan Bello, the ruler of the Sokoto Empire, who asked +him one day whether he was a Nestorian or a Socinian. +The puzzled Englishman, who probably had never heard of +either sect, excused himself by replying that he was a +Protestant. The fact of having such a question put to him +thousands of miles in the interior of the Dark Continent, +supposed to be the abode of primitive savagery, was sufficient +evidence of the intelligence of the inhabitants, of which he +received abundant proof every fresh day he prolonged his +stay in the country. Under the able guidance of Bello, +Othman’s successor and “a noble-looking man,” as Clapperton<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> +calls him (with the aristocratic and finely cut features peculiar +to the Fulani), the statesmanlike qualities of the ruling race +and the wonderful commercial and industrial activity of the +Hausa population, reached their full development, and law +and order reigned throughout that portion of the new States +which had accepted the Fulani dominion. The country had +been divided into Provinces, to each of which Governors +were appointed. Trade was encouraged, industries protected, +and manufactures promoted. Prosperity was everywhere +apparent, and, to quote the words used by Clapperton +in the course of one of his interviews with Bello:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“The people of England could all read and write, and were acquainted +with most other regions of the earth; but of this country alone they +hitherto knew scarcely anything, and erroneously regarded the inhabitants +as naked savages, devoid of religion, and not far removed from +the condition of wild beasts; whereas, I found them, from my personal +observation, to be civilised, humane, and pious.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>Clapperton very much desired to continue his westward +journey, and, if possible, strike the Niger, follow it to its +mouth, and thus attain the supreme object of the mission; +for the information which the traveller had obtained in +Sokoto made it a practical certainty that the Niger discharged +itself somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. But Bello +objected, alleging the disturbed condition of the westward +country, which had not yet been subjected. Much to his +disappointment, therefore, the Englishman was compelled +to forego his plans. He, however, parted on the best of +terms with his enlightened host, who gave him a letter to +the King of England, and begged him to return at the +earliest possible opportunity. The letter is worth reproducing +here:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p class="center">“<span class="smcap">Bello to King George IV.</span></p> + +<p>“In the name of God, the merciful and the clement. May God bless +our favourite prophet Mahommed and those who follow his sound doctrine. +To the head of the Christian nation, the honoured and the +beloved among the English people, George the Fourth, King of Great +Britain. Praise be to God who inspires, and peace be unto those who +follow the right path. Your Majesty’s servant, Rayes Abdullah, came +to us, and we found him a very intelligent and wise man; representing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span> +in every respect your greatness, wisdom, dignity, clemency, and penetration. +When the time of his departure came he requested us to form +a friendly relation and correspond with you, and to prohibit the +exportation of slaves by our merchants to Ataghar, Dahomi, and +Ashanti. We agree with him upon this, on account of the good which +will result from it both to you and to us; and that a vessel of yours is +to come to the harbour of Racka, with two guns and the quantities of +powder, shot, &c., which they require; as also a number of muskets. +We will then send our officer to arrange to settle everything with your +consul, and fix a certain period for the arrival of your merchant ships, +and when they come they may traffic and deal with our merchants. +Then, after their return, the consul may reside in that harbour, viz., +Racka, as protector, in company with our agent there. May God be +pleased. Dated, 1st of Rhamadan, 1239 of Hejra. April 18, 1824.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>Furnished with this letter, which he might well regard as +a signal proof of success, and which augured a promising +development of relations in the future, Clapperton travelled +back to Kuka, where Denham joined him in due course, +after his return from the Chad. The homeward journey +was accomplished without mishap, and on January 25, 1825, +the survivors of the mission reached Tripoli, after four +adventurous years, replete with interest to their country and +to the world.</p> + +<p>As already stated, Clapperton, when he parted company +with Sultan Bello, did so with the full intention of returning +at the earliest opportunity. Bello had shown himself most +eager to establish durable relations with Great Britain, and +had suggested that a British vessel should go to “Racka,” +there to deliver the warlike stores which were to cement +the understanding between his Christian Majesty King +George IV. and the Fulani Ruler. Clapperton found the +British Government eager to profit by the opportunity of concluding +an alliance with so influential a potentate, and lost +no time in giving Clapperton (who was raised to the rank +of commander) authority to organise another expedition. +Clapperton himself was all enthusiasm. On the 27th August +1825 he left England in H.M.S. <i>Brazen</i>, in company with his +trusted servant, Richard Lander, and attended by three companions, +Mr. Dickson, Captain Pearce, and Dr. Morrison.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span> +Dickson, for some unexplained reason, landed at Whydah +with the intention of reaching Sokoto alone, and was never +heard of again. Disappointed at not meeting any of Bello’s +messengers at Lagos, which it appears had been arranged, +Clapperton started his inland march from Badagry, after +trying the Benin route and being dissuaded from adopting +it by an English merchant established in that river. Shortly +afterwards both Captain Pearce and Dr. Morrison contracted +fever and died. Clapperton and Lander pushed safely onwards +through Yoruba and Borgu, and arrived without further +calamity at Bussa. The river was crossed below the rapids, +and the expedition duly reached Kano by way of Zeg-Zeg. +At Bussa, Clapperton gathered valuable information with +regard to Park’s untimely end, fully confirming the previous +information which had reached England.</p> + +<p>Everything seemed to promise well for the ultimate success +of the mission. Unfortunately, however, there were a number +of causes at work destined to wreck the sanguine hopes of +its leader. As Clapperton neared his destination, a doubt +of the reception awaiting him at Sokoto appears to have +weighed heavily upon his mind. In the first place, Bello’s +messengers had not put in appearance at Lagos; then the +seaport of “Racka,” mentioned in Bello’s map, did not exist +as such, which latter circumstance caused Clapperton to +entertain serious misgivings as to his former host’s good +faith. The absence of the messengers can easily be explained +in view of the disturbed state of the country between Yoruba +and the Niger, for the Fulani were then extending their +conquests southwards, and the entire region was in a state +of effervescence; but the misunderstanding about “Racka” +is certainly strange. It is difficult to believe that Bello purposely +intended to mislead. Bello had spoken of the “harbour” +of Racka, but as is pointed out in the introduction to +Clapperton’s journal, the Arabic word Bahr, used in the +manuscript, does not necessarily signify sea, but any collection +of water, whether lake or river.<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> On Bello’s map the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span> +Niger is designated as the “sea.” It is probable, therefore, +that Bello was perfectly honest in describing “Racka” as a +“harbour,” and that the <i>bahr</i> of the manuscript should more +correctly have been translated by “river” instead of “sea.” +Racka, however, turned out to be an inland town, and the +fact strengthened Clapperton’s suspicions. How the confusion +arose it is impossible, on the documentary evidence +available, to determine, but it seems obvious that Racka must +have been meant for Rabba, an important town on the banks +of the Niger, some distance below Bussa, and at one time the +capital of the kingdom of Nupe.</p> + +<p>To this error of interpretation and geography was really +due Clapperton’s subsequent misfortunes, because, had the +suspicion that Bello was playing him false been absent from +his mind, the intrepid Englishman would hardly have +adopted the unwise attitude which he subsequently did in +his negotiations with the Fulani monarch. That attitude +proved his undoing, and the direct cause of his death. His +mental condition did not enable him to grasp the fact that +the entire state of affairs had changed since his first visit. +Sokoto was then at peace with Bornu. But in the interval +war had broken out again. Now, in addition to the presents +that Clapperton had brought to Bello, his baggage also contained +a number of presents, including war-stores, for the +Sheik-el-Kanemy, ruler of Bornu, who had become Bello’s +deadly enemy. It was manifestly impossible for Bello to +allow these presents to pass through the country at such a +time, and he wrote to Clapperton to that effect. To this +Clapperton rejoined that he had been instructed by his +Government to go to Bornu, that he had a letter from Earl +Bathurst to the Sheik-el-Kanemy, and that he was in duty +bound to carry out his mandate. This insistence aroused +Bello’s mistrust, which seems to have been intensified by +reports, doubtless spread through the instrumentality of +Arab merchants dreading commercial competition, that +Clapperton was a spy sent on behalf of the English Government +to obtain information with the idea of facilitating a +future invasion of the country by the British. Clapperton<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span> +repeatedly, and with growing exasperation, pressed his wishes +upon the Sultan, and Bello, with increasing distrust, as +repeatedly declined to entertain them. The strain and the +mortification were too great, even for Clapperton’s splendid +constitution, and when Bello, yielding to his own suspicions, +and to the advice of his counsellors, demanded the production +of the presents intended for the Sheik, Clapperton +fell seriously ill. After hovering between life and death for +many days, he finally expired in the arms of his devoted +servant, Lander.</p> + +<p>Thus terminated a career of unbounding usefulness. To +England and to science Clapperton rendered great services, +and had his intellectual capacity equalled his courage and +determination, those services would have been even greater +than they were. Of him we may truly say that he was a fine +type of the English gentleman of the old school, without +much erudition, but simple, God-fearing, honest, manly, a +credit to his country and to his race.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII<br> +<span class="smaller">THE HAUSAS AND THEIR EMPORIUM.</span></h3> + +<p class="center">“The province of Kano is the garden of Central Africa.”—Dr. <span class="smcap">Barth</span>.</p> + +</div> + +<p>It has been said of the Hausas that they are “superior both +intellectually and physically to all the natives of Equatorial +Africa.” The statement strikes one as being exaggerated. +The intellectual average of the Hausa is undoubtedly lower +than that of the Fulani, who, thanks to their genius for combination, +administrative capacity, religious fervour, fighting +superiority, and moral influence, completely defeated and +subdued their former masters, although the numerical odds +were greatly in favour of the latter. Again, the physique of +the Hausas, though usually good, is certainly inferior to that +of several of the Senegalese races, the Krus, the Kaffir stock, +and probably also to one or two of the Bantu offshoots now +inhabiting the basin of the Upper Congo. Much has been +made of the fact that 500 Hausas trained by British officers +beat off several thousand Fulani at Bida. But what chance +have Fulani horsemen against Maxim guns and repeating-rifles? +The Baggara Arab, universally reputed the bravest +of the brave, fared no better against Macdonald’s trained +Sudanese.</p> + +<p>These remarks are by no means put forward to depreciate +the Hausa race, which is undoubtedly a very fine one, but +by way of protest against the somewhat hysterical estimates +concerning this people which find favour among those who +profess to look upon them as excellent material for proselytising +purposes, and are ever representing them to us as +cruelly oppressed, groaning under the tyrannical sway of the +wicked Fulani. The fact is, that a great deal of sentimental +nonsense has been said and written, principally by the missionary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span> +element, about the Hausas, who are generally content +with their lot, and having accepted Islam do not suffer +from the predatory incursions of the conquering race. +Fulani and Hausas grow up side by side: unions are frequent +among them, and the well-to-do Hausa enjoys a +somewhat similar position in relation to the ruling class as +represented by the Fulani, as did the merchant classes in the +old days in our own country in relation to the nobility and +governing classes.</p> + +<p>It seems fairly well established that at least a portion of +the Hausa<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> race inhabited the beautiful and mountainous +region of Air or Asben, at the time (about 700 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>) when the +Berbers—the modern Tuareg—driven south by Arab +invaders, crossed the desert into Air and made themselves +masters of that region.<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> These Asben Hausas belonged to +the family or clan of Gober. They were the Goberawa, who +claim to be the oldest and noblest branch of the Hausa race. +This claim is very generally admitted by Arabic historians, +and is expressly mentioned in the curious Fulani history of +the Sudan communicated to Clapperton by Sultan Bello, son +of Othman Fodio, in 1828.<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> Bello says of the people of +Gober that they are “free born, because their origin was +from the Copts of Egypt who had emigrated into the interior +of the Gharb or Western countries.” This statement is +particularly interesting as regards the possible Semitic or +Eastern origin of the Gober family of the Hausas. Dr.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span> +Barth, whose authority in all matters relating to the ethnology +of Western Central Africa still remains uncontested, +although fifty years have now elapsed since his wonderful +series of travels was accomplished, attributed to the Goberawa +an original relationship with North Africa. The theory is +borne out by the traditions of the Hausas themselves, who +trace back their descent to a Diggera mother, the Diggera or +Deggara being a Berber tribe which, at some remote period, +was predominant in the city of Daura, one of the oldest +centres of Hausa influence. To this day some of the Hausa +Mallams speak vaguely of a former relationship with the +East, and Canon Robinson during his stay in Kano was +informed by “the most learned man in that city” that the +Hausas migrated in early times from the Far East, beyond +Mecca.<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> It is much to be deplored in this connection that +the national records of the Hausas should have been destroyed +by the Fulani at the taking of Katsena. Nevertheless, +we may reasonably hope, now that the relations of +Northern Nigeria with the outside world are bound to +become more frequent, some further light may be shortly +forthcoming which will help to elucidate a problem fraught +with great attraction to all students of West Africa.</p> + +<p>After their expulsion from Air by the inflowing tide of +Berber immigration, the Hausas gradually spread west and +south, and in course of time formed themselves into seven +states, viz. Gober, Daura, Biram, Kano, Rano, Katsena and +Zeg-Zeg.<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> In Hausa mythology each of these States represented +one of the seven legitimate children, offspring of +the Diggera mother already alluded to, to each of whom was +respectively given a task to perform. Thus Gober was the +warrior <i>serki-n-yaki</i> (<i>serki</i>, Prince: <i>n</i>, of: <i>yaki</i>, fighting); +Kano and Rano the dyers <i>saraki-n-baba</i> (from the abundance +of indigo <i>marinas</i> or dyeing pits which represent one +of the most considerable national industries of the Hausas);<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span> +Katsena and Daura the traders <i>saraki-n-Kaswa</i>, and Zeg-Zeg +the purveyor of slaves <i>serki-n-bay</i> which, by the way, affords +incidental proof, if any were needed, that in the matter of +slavery the Hausas can hardly claim superior moral characteristics +over their Fulani conquerors. Disputes between +these various States were frequent, and although peopled +by the same race, they were constantly in open warfare +against one another. So great, indeed, was their mutual +antagonism, that when the Fulani uprising took place in +Gober, a considerable number of Hausas, principally from +the province of Zanfara, rallied round Othman’s standard, +fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Fulani against their +own compatriots.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp53" id="illus02" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus02.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>A PURE-BRED KANO MAN (HAUSA)</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Prior to their more or less forced conversion by the Fulani +early in the nineteenth century, the Hausas were Pagans. +True, the Hausa King of Katsena embraced Islam about the +seventeenth century, Katsena at that period being the most +flourishing city of Hausa—the “Florence of the Hausas,” +as Richardson<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> calls it—in regular communication with +Arabs from the East, and where the Hausa language attained +its greatest richness and purity of form. But the great mass +of the Hausa people were unaffected by the event. The +precise nature of their rites before the conquest remains +obscure. It appears possible however that, at one time, the +Hausas, Songhays, and other tribes of the Niger Basin were +snake worshippers. The Arabic historians Ahmed-Baba, +Edrizi and El-Bekri state that in the time of the first Songhay +king—placed at 679 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> by Dr. Barth, at 776 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> by +others—the natives rendered homage to serpents. Colonel +Frey,<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> in his interesting and ingenious study, suggests that +this worship may have extended to the <i>manatus</i> or <i>manatee</i>, +that curious and somewhat uncanny creature being an +inhabitant of the Niger River.</p> + +<p>Be that as it may, with the dawn of the nineteenth century +a higher ideal and a purer faith rose up in Hausaland, and +gained ground with marvellous rapidity. No doubt the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span> +result was not obtained without bloodshed, without cruelty, +without what Joseph Thompson called “the terrible clamour +and dread accompaniments of war.” Nevertheless, it was +accomplished, and none but the wholly fanatical will deny +that the Hausas have greatly benefited thereby. To an +unbiased mind it must appeal as little short of marvellous +that, in a period comparatively so short, a whole race should +not only have been converted to Islam, but have remained +devoted to its precepts when a lapse into Paganism would +have been easy and, in a sense, natural. Apart from the +added dignity which the acceptance of Islam imparts to +individuals in their intercourse with their fellows in a pagan +country, the explanation is probably to be found in the fact +that, after the Fulani had unquestionably established their +political domination over the Hausas, they none the less +persistently continued their religious propaganda by peaceful +means, and that, although a sense of security seems to +have temporarily dulled their political instincts, it has +had, on the contrary, a vivifying effect upon their religious +ideals. It is, in any case, notorious that Islam, through +the medium of Fulani preachers, is steadily sweeping down +the River Niger, penetrating into pagan villages, amid the +swamps and forests. The pagan Igarras whom the Niger +Company long thought would constitute a solid bulwark and +a sort of buffer-state against the invading tide, are now being +fast won over to Islam, and Fulani <i>fikis</i> are even met with +behind Akassa, a few miles from the seaboard itself.</p> + +<p>It is no easy matter to correctly estimate the Hausa population +in Nigeria, but of true Hausas there must probably +be five or six millions, besides the numerous half-breeds of +mixed Hausa and Fulani, Hausa and Kanuri, Hausa and +Songhay, or Hausa and Tuareg blood, the latter of whom +are chiefly to be met with in the northerly districts of the +Sokoto Empire, and are of less muscular build than the +true Hausas. The Hausas are incontestably the traders of +Africa. Their commercial aptitude is renowned from the +borders of the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Guinea; from +the Gulf of Guinea to the Shari; from the Shari to the Red<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span> +Sea. They are great travellers and have even been met +with on the Sangha, the Ubanghi, and the Congo. Every +North African port has its colony of Hausas. The same +may be said of the West African Coast ports. There is not +an important trading centre in the Niger bend but shelters +a family or two of Hausas. Every year numerous Hausa +caravans leave Nigeria for the countries lying at the back of +the Gold Coast, the Ivory Coast, and Liberia, to gather the +far-famed Kola or <i>guro</i> nut, the fruit of <i>Sterculia acuminata</i>, +which they convey with infinite care—delicately wrapped +in leaves—and sell at an enormous profit in Kano, Gando, +Zaria, &c., from whence the nuts are again transported to +Bornu, Wadai, and even as far as Khartoum.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="illus03" style="max-width: 29.6875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus03.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>A HAUSA FROM YOLA</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>If the trading instincts of the Hausas are remarkably +developed, their industrial enterprise is still more so. It +may with safety be declared that the product of their looms +and dye-pits constitutes the most extensive article in the +internal commerce of the Dark Continent. Kano is the head +and centre of this intrinsically native industry, which is unparalleled +in Africa, and Kano is, and in all human probability +will continue to be, Manchester’s great rival for the African +interior markets. Kano has been termed the Manchester +and Birmingham of the Sudan, and having due regard to local +circumstances and conditions, the comparison is strictly just.</p> + +<p>The number of Europeans who have visited Kano may +still be counted upon the fingers of both hands. Arab +merchants from North and East Africa have, however, been +regular frequenters of the city since the conquest of Hausa +by Othman Fodio, and for some considerable time past +Kano has sheltered an Arab Colony with a recognised +“Consul” who enjoys considerable influence. Its resident +population has been variously estimated at thirty thousand +to sixty thousand and its floating population at sixty thousand +to two millions,<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> including the most varied elements, Hausas, +Fulani, Kanuri, Baghirmis, Wadaiens, Arabs, Tuaregs, and +Jews; merchants from Egypt, Tunis, Tripoli and Fezzan, +from the Niger Bend, Adamawa and the Eastern Sudan.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> +The city itself is of enormous extent, containing within its +encompassing wall, which is reputed to be no less than +fifteen miles in circumference, large tracts of land under +cultivation. This immense wall played an important part in +the periodic wars with Bornu at the beginning and middle +of the past century. If the citizens of Kano did not think +themselves sufficiently strong to meet their aggressors in the +open, they simply shut the gates of the city and lined the +walls, and the Bornuese hosts, deeming discretion the better +part of valour, never attempted an assault. The situation of +Kano is fairly elevated and otherwise good, but is unhealthy +owing to the presence of large pools of stagnant +water into which refuse of all kinds is indiscriminately +pitched. The city is divided into different quarters, the +Fulani quarter, Arab quarter, Hausa quarter, and so forth. +The market is held daily and the most bewildering diversity +of articles are always on sale: native cloths, silk embroidered +<i>tobes</i>, leather and brass ware, ivory, weapons, rough agricultural +implements, silver and brass ornaments and trinkets, +antimony, ostrich feathers, live stock—cattle, horses and +sheep—and foodstuffs innumerable. Long files of asses +pass through from the distant Chad laden with natron for +Nupe, and arrive from the Niger Bend weighed down with +kolas. Camels are permanently in evidence, whether carrying +on their sturdy backs salt-cakes from Bilma or European +merchandise from Tripoli. Brilliantly attired Ghadamseen +and Arab traders caracole on gaily caparisoned steeds, +and the fierce-eyed, black-lithamed Tuareg of the desert +(many of whom, by the way, are extensive property owners +in Northern Nigeria) scowls darkly from the back of his +swift-footed <i>mehari</i>. In this great city throbs and vibrates +an industrial vitality unequalled in Africa.<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII<br> +<span class="smaller">THE HAUSAS AND THEIR EMPORIUM—(<i>cont.</i>)</span></h3> + +<p>“Travellers who have been in the country tell us that Kano, which is the +Manchester of Nigeria, has an attendance annually at its market of over one +million persons.”—<i>Extract from a speech by</i> Mr. <span class="smcap">Chamberlain</span>.</p> + +</div> + +<p>The reputation of Kano as a manufacturing city is of comparatively +recent growth, and although the Hausas have +manufactured cotton for a considerable time (how long is +uncertain, but we do know that their leather-ware<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> was +widely sought after as far back as the beginning of the +sixteenth century), the importance of Kano as a trading and +manufacturing emporium only dates from the Fulani conquest +and the destruction of Katsena by Bello. The Hausa +cottons of Kano are in demand throughout the whole of the +Islamic world of North, West, and central Africa. Lieutenant-Colonel +Monteil, one of the few Europeans who +have visited Kano, gives it as his opinion that the inhabitants +of two-thirds of the Sudan, and nearly all the inhabitants of +the Central and Eastern Sahara, clothe themselves in Kano +cottons; while Dr. Barth estimated the annual export of +cotton from Kano to Timbuctoo alone to amount in value +to some £5000. The principal cotton articles manufactured +by the Hausas at Kano are the <i>Tobe</i> or shirt for men; the +<i>Turkedi</i> or women’s dress; the <i>Zenne</i> or plaid; and the black +veil or litham invariably worn by the Tuareg and very often +by the Fulani, Kanuri, and Arab. The <i>tobes</i> are dyed various +colours, while the <i>turkedi</i> are always of that deep, dark blue +obtained by repeated washings in indigo-pits for which the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span> +province of Kano is famous. Of the plaids a large selection +is produced, varying in colour and in texture, some being +composed of a mixture of silk and cotton, others of cotton +only, others again of pure silk. Dr. Barth, speaking of this +cotton industry of Kano, and remarking that the Province +which produces it is also able to supply the corn necessary for +the sustenance of its population, and possesses besides splendid +pasture land, says: “In fact, if we consider that this industry +is not carried on here as in Europe, in immense establishments, +degrading man to the meanest conditions of life, but +that it gives employment and support to families without +compelling them to sacrifice their domestic habits, we must +presume that Kano ought to be one of the happiest countries +in the world; and so it is, so long as its Governor, too often +lazy and indolent, is able to defend its inhabitants from the +cupidity of their neighbours, which, of course, is constantly +stimulated by the very wealth of their country.” What the +lazy Fulani Governor of Barth’s days could not do, British +power can, and indeed has; and having done so, is also +able to ensure that by judicious management the national, +social life of this interesting country shall continue in that +state of happiness which struck the great German traveller.</p> + +<p>In addition to its cloths, Kano produces excellent leather +work, principally sandals, sword-scabbards, riding-boots, +shoes, despatch-bags, water-bottles and saddles, and annually +exports large quantities of tanned hides. The people of +Kano also produce iron weapons, rough agricultural implements +and sword-hilts for German blades, which are, or used +to be, imported from the north. The following estimate of +the total trade of Kano, carefully compiled from Dr. Barth’s +calculations, will give some idea of its extent and value at +the time (1851) of the German explorer’s stay in the city. +The sterling is arrived at by reckoning one million <i>kurdi</i> or +cowries—the chief currency in Kano—at £100.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span></p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Exports.</span></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cloths</td> + <td class="tdr">£30,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Slaves</td> + <td class="tdr">20,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Sandals</td> + <td class="tdr">1,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Miscellaneous leather-work</td> + <td class="tdr">500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Total</td> + <td class="tdr total">£51,500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Imports.</span></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Kola nuts (from West Coast hinterlands)</td> + <td class="tdr">£10,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ivory (from Adamawa)</td> + <td class="tdr">10,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Salt (from the interior)</td> + <td class="tdr">8,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Coarse silk (<i>viâ</i> Tripoli)</td> + <td class="tdr">7,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Arab dresses (from Tunis and Tripoli)</td> + <td class="tdr">5,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Beads (Italy, <i>viâ</i> Tripoli)</td> + <td class="tdr">5,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Sword-blades (from Germany, <i>viâ</i> Tripoli)</td> + <td class="tdr">5,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Manchester goods (<i>viâ</i> Tripoli)</td> + <td class="tdr">4,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Muslins (England, <i>viâ</i> Tripoli)</td> + <td class="tdr">4,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Rose oil (<i>viâ</i> Tripoli)</td> + <td class="tdr">5,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Copper (from Wadai and Bahr-el-Ghazal)</td> + <td class="tdr">2,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Woollen cloths (<i>viâ</i> Tripoli)</td> + <td class="tdr">1,500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Spices and cloves (<i>viâ</i> Tripoli)</td> + <td class="tdr">1,500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Sugar (from France, <i>viâ</i> Tripoli)</td> + <td class="tdr">1,200</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Tin</td> + <td class="tdr">1,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Egyptian dresses</td> + <td class="tdr">1,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Needles (from Germany, <i>viâ</i> Tripoli)</td> + <td class="tdr">800</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Common paper, ditto</td> + <td class="tdr">500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Razors (from Syria)</td> + <td class="tdr">300</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Total</td> + <td class="tdr total">£71,800</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="noindent">To which might be added a transit trade in natron, passing +through Kano from Bornu on its way to Nupe, yielding +about £1000 “passage-money.” The remarkable total of +£123,300 is thus arrived at.</p> + +<p>Of late years the trade of Kano, both in respect to imports +and exports, has undergone some change, and is bound to +become still more modified as time goes on. For instance, +the buying and selling of slaves is a thing of the past, or +soon will be. The imports of ivory from Adamawa are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span> +nothing like what they were in Barth’s time. The internal +salt trade has largely been extinguished, the native article +being unable to compete with European salt. But with this +exception—salt—the increased importation of European +goods into the Niger and Binue since 1880, that is to say, +since the spread of British commercial enterprise in the +Upper River and its tributary, does not appear to have +affected the caravan trade of Kano with the Tripolitan ports, +<i>viâ</i> the oases of Bilma, Fezzan, and Murzuk. In 1897, for +instance, the British Consul for Tripoli estimated the goods +sent to Sokoto (for Sokoto read the State of Sokoto, of which +the city of Kano is the commercial and industrial centre and +the terminus of the Tripoli caravans, the trade of the city of +Sokoto being insignificant) by caravan across the desert at +£46,000. These figures compared with Barth’s tables of +Tripoli imported goods are actually more considerable than +the total value as estimated by Barth half a century ago. This +is a very important fact, and by bearing it well in mind we shall +avoid falling into an error which might have unfortunate +consequences. Then, again, a comparison of the articles +imported in 1851 and 1897 is instructive as affording proof +of the conservatism of the African and the old-established +nature of this trade.</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Dr. Barth’s Enumeration, 1851.</span></p> + +<p>Coarse silk, Arab dresses, +sword-blades, Manchester goods, +muslins, rose oil, woollen cloths, +sugar, spices and cloves, needles, +paper.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Foreign Office Report, 1897.</span></p> + +<p>Cotton and woollen cloths, silk +waste, silk yarn, box rings, beads, +amber, paper, sugar, drugs, tea.</p> + +</div> + +<p class="noindent">We may go even farther back than this. According to the +exceedingly interesting and minute accounts of “Shereef +Imhammed” and “Ben Ali, a Moorish trader,” given in the +first published proceedings of the African Association in +1791, the trade between Tripoli and the Kingdom of +“Cashna,” <i>i.e.</i> Katsena (Katsena being then in its prime), +consisted of the following articles:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Imports to Katsena from Tripoli.</span></p> + +<p>Red woollen caps, check linens, +light coarse woollen cloths, baiza, +cowries, barakans or alhaiks, +small Turkey carpets, silk (wrought +and unwrought), tissues and brocades, +sabre-blades, Dutch knives, +scissors, coral beads, small looking-glasses.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Exports from Katsena to Tripoli.</span></p> + +<p>Cotton cloths, slaves, goatskins +“of the red and yellow dyes,” ox +and buffalo hides, gold dust, +civet.</p> + +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The “slaves” item is another proof that the Hausa Kings of +those days were extensive slave dealers. It is curious to +notice that in the map attached to this old work, <a href="#map1">a reproduction +of which faces page 38</a>, Kano does not even appear, +which shows that at that period it had little or no importance +as an industrial centre.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus04" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus04.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>HAUSA LOOM AND SPOOL</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The articles imported in 1897 were, therefore, substantially +the same as in 1851 and even in 1791. Then as now, English +cotton and woollen goods figured prominently amongst +them, and it is evident that up to 1897 large profits were to +be earned by Europeans (indirectly) and Arabs (directly) +in the caravan business between North Africa and Nigeria. +Seven years after the opening in regular form of the Western +fluvial route, Northern Nigeria is seen to have been importing +from Tripoli more goods than in 1851.</p> + +<p>It is not due then to commercial development from the +south, but to another reason, that the caravan traffic with +Tripoli has fallen off since 1897. That reason is to be found +in the internal political convulsions of which the Chad basin +has been the scene for the last eight years, and to the external +political confusion brought about by the action of European +Powers, or rather of one European Power—France. When +Rabah conquered Bornu in 1893-94, the Ghadamseen merchants +suffered heavy losses through the sacking of Kuka, +and trade was entirely stopped for a time. Rabah saw his +mistake, and endeavoured to remedy it by liberal promises of +future support and protection. He kept his word, and trade +revived. Then came the advance of the French down the +Shari, followed by a renewed period of anarchy in Bornu,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span> +as Rabah hurriedly flung himself across the river into +Baghirmi to arrest the march of the invaders. Under +Fad-el-Allah, Bornu became a cockpit of internecine strife. +With the consolidation of French influence in a portion of +the Chad region the merchants of the north took heart of +grace once more, but the recent pillage of sundry rich +caravans by the Kanem Arabs, various confederations of +Tuareg and other adherents of the Sheik-Senussi, has demonstrated +that at present the French are unable to ensure the +safety of caravans, however desirous they may be to do so. +These repeated blows have played havoc with the Nigerian-Tripoli +caravan trade, and those merchants who are still +bold enough to face the risks favour the Wadai route. In +1900 the caravan trade with Wadai was still important, +amounting in the aggregate, according to the French Consul +at Tripoli, to £210,000, imports and exports included. But +it is quite certain that 1901 and 1902 will show a notable +decrease of those figures.<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>Are we to conclude, therefore, that Kano’s internal trade +with the north and east has gone never to return, and that +the caravan traffic is a thing of the past? That is the view +which appears to be generally adopted.<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> I confess that I do<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span> +not share it, and it would certainly be an immense misfortune +for Kano and Northern Nigeria generally if such were, +indeed, the case. The main sources of Kano’s wealth and +prosperity do not depend upon the influx of trade from the +south, but upon the industry of its inhabitants in catering +for the requirements not of Europe but of Africa. It is a +great <i>dépôt</i> of Negroland for Negroland, and if Kano could +no longer find purchasers for her cotton and her leather +work, her prosperity must needs decrease and her wealth +decline. Now it is obviously in our interest that this should +not happen. It should be the object of our policy to maintain, +strengthen and assist the commercial and industrial +position of Kano, the centre of Hausa activity, the magnet +which attracts a flow of internal commerce from all points +of the compass. How can that best be done?</p> + +<p>In the first place, it is necessary to understand the main +caravan system of North-West Central Africa. The accompanying +map (<a href="#map2">facing p. 84</a>) shows the principal routes, and a +broad survey of the subject induces the belief that it is the +interest of both England and France to encourage the +revival of the caravan traffic between Kano (or, in other +words, Nigeria) and Kano’s interior markets, or, at any rate, +to do nothing to still further curtail it. The wider the +stream of internal trade both in and out of Nigeria the +greater the prosperity of the country, and it would be as +equally pedantic for us to object if the French, who are in +more or less theoretical possession of the majority of Kano’s +markets, succeed in eventually diverting <i>in toto</i> the caravan +traffic from the Tripoli route towards Timbuctoo and In +Salah, as it would be for the French to interfere with a +possible re-opening of the long-abandoned eastern route +(not marked in the map) towards the Nile. But there +should be an understanding between the two Powers on the +subject of this internal trade, which is centuries old, and +which certainly cannot be displaced in a day; in fact, never +can entirely be displaced, except by oppressive and selfish +interference, either on the part of the French or ourselves. +Any action tending to compel a diversion of trade in such<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span> +or such a direction would prove in the long run to be anything +but advantageous to the Power which attempted it. +For instance, if France were to start putting prohibitive +taxes on exports and imports to and from Kano over the +frontier in order to forcibly confine the circulation of trade +to certain channels, it would lead to serious trouble with +the natives, which would cost more to cope with than any +prospective profit to be derived from such action. Similarly, +if the authorities of Northern Nigeria were to actively discourage +Kano’s trade with the territories under French +protection, in order to develop Kano’s trade with the south, +it would only lead to a decrease in the productive capacity +of Kano, and consequently lessen the prosperity of Northern +Nigeria as a whole.</p> + +<p>Economic changes are bound to occur, especially when +the British and French railway systems proposing to tap +the Niger valley are more advanced, but there is plenty of +scope for both to earn an honourable livelihood, and the +central fact to be borne in mind is that Kano’s trade is, and +must be, as previously stated, more of an internal than an +external one. Before Kano can purchase such cottons, +woollens and other articles as it absorbs, from the south, +that is to say, from European merchants, it must be in a +position to give, in return, articles of African produce that +will pay the European merchant to buy. To suppose that +Kano will be able to do so until the iron horse has penetrated +well over the Kano side of the Niger, or until a +carriage-road the model of the one the French are building +from Conakry to Futa-Jallon connects a navigable point +on the Niger with Kano, is to cherish an illusion. Transport +charges would kill any chance of profit in a transaction +which differs in every particular from the nature of Kano’s +internal trade. The one would be a direct transaction, to +stand or fall on its merits; the other can best be described +as a multiplicity of transactions with the purchasing commodity +represented by native cloth, a useless article so far +as export to Europe is concerned. In fact, it is no easy +matter to determine how Kano will be able to feed a railway +from the coast without the creation of some great industry<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> +suitable for European export, corresponding with the oil-palm +industry of the coastwise regions. One thing at least +is certain, that if through extravagance in construction and +working, or other causes, the section of an eventual railway +from the coast to Kano, which passes through the oil-palm +bearing regions cannot be made to pay, the economical +outlook for the railway when it leaves the oil-palm zone is +anything but cheerful. Of course, where the main purpose +is strategic, considerations other than commercial come into +play, and the matter assumes a different aspect.</p> + +<p>To resume, it would seem really desirable that a mutual +arrangement between England and France should be arrived +at as regards freedom of circulation for the internal traffic +of the Chad region. I urged that course in the <i>Pall Mall +Gazette</i> when the negotiations for the Convention of 1898 +were pending. Recent events suggest that the proposal +might still be adopted with advantage to both parties concerned, +and as a measure both just and wise in the relation +it bears to the legitimate interests of the natives.</p> + +<p>It remains to be said in this connection that the principal +articles imported into the Upper Niger by the Niger Company, +which up to the present has enjoyed the monopoly of +the Upper Niger trade, are salt, brass, copper and iron rods, +white damask cloths, white brocaded cloths, indigo-dyed +cloths (in imitation of, but inferior to, the cloth produced +from native looms and dyed in Kano), cowries, rice, yarn +and gunpowder. The salt which is imported chiefly from +England has a large sale, being greatly superior to +native manufactured salt from Bilma and the shores of +Lake Chad. The copper, brass and iron rods are chiefly +used for conversion into arrow-heads. As for the cloths, +they do not equal the products of the Kano looms, and +unless of the finest white damask, are rejected by the Mohammedans. +They find, however, a ready sale among the +Pagans. These cloths are, as a rule, exchanged against +ivory, gum, bees-wax or rubber, bought by Hausa traders, +who in turn take them to Kano and there exchange them +for native-made cloth.</p> + +<p>I have entered rather fully into the trading and industrial<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span> +statistics of Kano because, apart from the interest naturally +attaching to the commercial life of one of the most flourishing +cities of Africa, the centre of a great industrial and +agricultural district, a knowledge of these particulars enables +one, I think, the better to realise what are the distinctive +characteristics of the Hausa race—Kano being pre-eminently +Hausa. The Hausa is primarily and essentially the business +man of Africa. He is not and never will become a governing +personality. His aims are commercial, and he neither +seeks nor desires any other state. Of political ambition he +has none, and although strongly attached to the Mohammedan +faith, and good-humouredly contemptuous of his +pagan customers, he is quite content that they should +remain pagans to the end of the chapter, willingly resigning +the attractions of proselytism into the hands of the Fulani. +Withal he is a cheerful, happy-go-lucky sort of person, +generally kind to his slaves, and content to gang his own +gait in his own way. That is the natural state of the Hausa. +If we take him away from his business habits and fashion +him into a soldier, we perforce place him in the midst of +artificial conditions of life, where his individuality become +lost. He is then merely interesting in the sense that our +other African levies are interesting, that is, from an exclusively +military point of view.</p> + +<p>The Hausa can be drilled into a good soldier, and under +decent treatment will show much patient endurance and +bravery. Like all Negroes, if adequate supervision be +lacking, he will take advantage of the prestige attaching to +his uniform to tyrannise over the aborigines among whom he +is quartered.</p> + +<p>In his military capacity the Hausa has rendered good +service in the Benin and Ashanti campaigns; in the course +of innumerable skirmishes on the lower Niger, throughout +the operations so admirably carried out by Sir George +Goldie against Nupe and Ilorin, and so on. It should, however, +be remembered that on those occasions where the +Hausa soldier has fought under the British flag, he has +gone into battle with the consciousness of possessing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span> +weapons which gave him an incontestable superiority over +his antagonist. He has never been called upon to face a +native force officered by Europeans, and armed with quick-firing +rifles similar to his own. His capacity to rise to the +occasion if necessity demanded it need not be queried. +That is a matter upon which military men personally +acquainted with the Hausa’s qualities and defects as a +fighting unit are alone competent to give an opinion.<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> +But until the Hausa has been put to the test, it may be well +not to found too high an estimate of his military abilities, +bearing in mind that, unlike the French West African +recruits, he does not come of a fighting stock.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus05" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus05.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>HAUSAS DRILLING</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>As already stated, it is in his natural sphere of commerce +and industry that the Hausa shines. In that respect he +stands without a rival on the continent in which he lives. +His manufacturing skill is not only remarkable for Africa: +it puts Europe to the blush. For closeness, durability and +firmness of texture, the products of his looms and dye-pits +eclipse anything that Manchester can produce. In a land of +reputed indolence, his activity is as conspicuous as his enterprise. +He makes an ideal commercial traveller, peddling his +wares over enormous distances, and seldom failing to secure +a considerable profit on his transactions.</p> + +<p>The Hausa has so identified himself with the commercial +requirements of a vast region that his language has, throughout +it, been adopted as the necessary vehicle of inter-communication +for all that appertains to trade and commerce. +The Hausa language is <i>per se</i> specially well fitted for extensive +propagation among African races. Reclus<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> has said of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span> +it that by its fine sonorousness, the richness of its vocabulary, +the simplicity of its grammatical structure, and the +graceful equilibrium of its phrases, Hausa deserves to rank +among the foremost languages of the Dark Continent; and +Sir Harry Johnston includes it with English, French, Italian, +Portuguese, Arabic and Swahili among the great languages +of New Africa.<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + +<p>The first vocabulary of Hausa was compiled by Mr. James +Richardson, who, in company with Dr. Barth and Dr. Overweg, +crossed the desert to Lake Chad in 1850-51.<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> Upon his +return from Africa, Dr. Barth himself published a work upon +the Hausa, Fulfulde and Kanuri<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> languages. Messrs. Schön<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> +and Krause subsequently devoted much study to the subject, +and the former issued a remarkable book on the Hausa language +in 1876, of which there appeared a revised edition in +1885. Later on, Mr. John A. Robinson, M.A., a scholar of +Christ College, Cambridge, made further researches into +Hausa during his stay at Lokoja. After his death the Hausa +Association was formed (1891) with the object of continuing +his labours, and in 1894 the Reverend Charles Henry +Robinson, M.A.—now Canon Robinson of Ripon—was +despatched by the Association to Kano. Canon Robinson +and his companions Dr. Tonkin and Mr. Bonner spent three +months in Kano, and in due course the former published an +account of his experiences<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> which excited much attention, +coming as it did so soon after Lieutenant-Colonel Monteil’s +remarkable journey from St. Louis to Tripoli through Kano +had revived the world’s interest in the famous Hausa city. +Since then the Hausa Association has published four works +on the Hausa<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> language. In 1897 the Cambridge University +appointed a University Lecturer in Hausa, and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span> +authorities of Christ’s College established a Hausa scholarship +open to graduates of the University or others who have +passed an examination in at least one Semitic language. The +initiative thus displayed by the Hausa Association<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> and by +Canon Robinson is worthy of all praise, and it is greatly to +be hoped that further efforts may be forthcoming which will +extend so useful a field of inquiry to the other great languages +of Northern Nigeria, Fulfulde and Kanuri.</p> + +<p>The Hausa language appears to belong to the Hamitic +group, although it contains numerous Semitic idioms, and +also a large number of words borrowed from the Arabic.</p> + +<p>Some controversy exists as to whether Hausa can be +properly considered a written language or not. Canon +Robinson stoutly maintains that it is, and even goes so far +as to assert that there is no race north of the Equator, nor +indeed in all Africa outside Egypt and Abyssinia, which has +reduced its language to writing, or made any attempt at the +production of a literature.<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> That is, as Americans say, a tall +order, and I beg leave to doubt the accuracy of the statement. +Sufficient interest attaches to the point to merit a +cursory examination.</p> + +<p>In the introductory remarks to his “Magana Hausa” +already referred to, Mr. Schön speaks of himself as the writer +of a “previously unwritten language”—meaning, of course, +Hausa. Commenting upon that passage in the preface to +the “Hausa-English Dictionary,” Canon Robinson infers +that, when Schön wrote the words quoted above, he was +probably unaware that the Hausa possessed any kind of +literature at all. That seems to me a gratuitous assumption, +for Barth, who came before Schön, and whose works Schön +would naturally have consulted, more than once declares<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span> +categorically that the Hausa language is <i>not</i> a written +language. Yet Barth knew perfectly well that the Hausa +had possessed historical manuscripts, since he lamented +their destruction by the Fulani at the capture of Katsena, +which was then, as Kano is to-day, the seat of culture +of the Hausa race. It may therefore be asserted with +every probability of exactness that Schön spoke <i>en pleine +connaissance de cause</i> when he referred to himself as +the writer of a previously unwritten language. Now, can +the existence of a certain number of manuscripts in the +Hausa language, and written in Arabic characters, be considered +sufficient proof that Hausa itself is a written +language? If so, then Fulfulde is a written language, +because Bello committed to writing in the language of his +race, and in Arabic characters, a history of the Sudan; and +Kanuri is a written language, because Koelle<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> published in +1854 a Kanuri grammar founded upon a collection of +manuscript literature in the tongue of the Kanuri and in +Arabic characters. In that case it follows that, contrary to +what Canon Robinson affirms, the Hausas are not the only +African people north of the Equator, outside Egypt and +Abyssinia, who have reduced their language to writing or +aimed at producing a literature. If the first claim is tenable, +if, that is to say, Hausa is a written language, then the second +claim put forward is not tenable. I do not propose to +continue this appreciation into more technical channels, +which would probably be wearisome to the reader, and will +content myself with quoting from a letter received by me +some little time ago from a British Officer then in charge of +the Military Intelligence Department of Northern Nigeria, +whose knowledge of Hausa has been officially declared to be +“unique.” Being unable to reconcile Canon Robinson’s statements<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> +that it was a written language, with the facts as they +presented themselves to me, I finally turned to my correspondent, +whose competency I was well aware no one would +venture to dispute. This is what he says:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“Robinson’s Hausa Grammar was universally pronounced a failure +by all officers of the West African Frontier Force, and they could make +no progress by using it. I have already told you that the natives say +they could not understand him. Moreover, one hardly talks the same +class of Hausa to any two Hausas consecutively; but after a couple of +minutes’ conversation with a native one knows his dialect, and what +words to use, and how to pronounce those words, the pronunciation +varying considerably.<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> The Hausa writing, very little of which exists, +is simply Hausa written phonetically in Arabic characters, there being +no recognised way of spelling one word, which fact alone proves how +little the written language is used. Nowadays Hausa is scarcely ever +written, except isolated words, such as ‘Sariki’ and ‘bature.’ The +Hausa writing is called ‘Ajumi,’ and when such words are used in an +Arabic letter, it is usual to prefix the word ‘Ajumi,’ in order to warn +the reader that the following words are Hausa, not Arabic. The +Arabic used is primitive, but correct. As the Hausa vowel sounds +cannot always be correctly represented by the Arabic vowel marks, +there is only the context to guide one in many Hausa written words, +and the task of spelling out every word phonetically is a laborious one, +especially when the proper sound cannot in all cases be represented. +I have seen some of the most learned Mallams in Nigeria experience +great difficulty in reading Canon Robinson’s specimens of Hausa literature. +Canon Robinson attaches much too much importance to the +Hausa writing. The few specimens that exist are interesting as +curiosities, but the language is useless as a means of communication.”</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX<br> +<span class="smaller">THE NATIONAL INDUSTRY OF SOUTHERN NIGERIA</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The palm-oil tree is the staple product of the whole of +the coastwise regions of West Africa from Sierra Leone<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> +right down to the Lower Congo. The Niger Delta may be +considered as the central region of its production. Since +regular administration was set up in the rivers,<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> the output +of the oil and kernels of the palm-oil tree has been as +follows:</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Oil.</span></p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th>Year.</th> + <th>Quantity.</th> + <th>Value.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1892-93</td> + <td>10,079,039 gallons</td> + <td class="tdr">£482,803</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1893-94</td> + <td>12,207,658 <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdr">637,625</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1894-95</td> + <td>Not ascertainable</td> + <td class="tdr">505,637</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1895-96</td> + <td>10,672,106 gallons</td> + <td class="tdr">514,303</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1896-97</td> + <td> 9,350,559 <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdr">465,583</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897-98</td> + <td> 8,476,955 <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdr">410,134</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898-99</td> + <td> 8,113,820 <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdr">397,870</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></td> + <td>Not stated in C. O. report</td> + <td class="tdr">491,131</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The great majority of the oil is sent to England, but +France takes a considerable quantity (£70,880 out of the +total of £491,131 in 1900), and Germany also purchases a +fair amount (£28,094 in 1900).</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Kernels.</span></p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th>Year.</th> + <th>Quantity.</th> + <th>Value.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1892-93</td> + <td>34,710 tons</td> + <td class="tdr">£301,483</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1893-94</td> + <td>39,224 <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdr">334,144</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1894-95</td> + <td>Not ascertainable</td> + <td class="tdr">295,313<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1895-96</td> + <td>36,640 tons</td> + <td class="tdr">296,397</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1896-97</td> + <td>38,043 <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdr">290,125</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897-98</td> + <td>39,529 <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdr">295,545</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898-99</td> + <td>40,528 <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdr">305,791</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></td> + <td>Not given in C. O. report</td> + <td class="tdr">430,016</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The output of kernels seems to be steadily on the increase. +Germany is far and away the largest purchaser of Nigeria’s +kernels. In 1900 she took more than two-thirds—to the +value of £346,997—of the total for that year.<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> Thus in +eight years the fruit of the palm-oil tree in Nigeria is seen +by these figures to have yielded no less than £6,453,900. +The production has certainly been greater, as the Niger +Company’s exports of oil and kernels are only included for +1900, the quantities and values for the preceding years not +being publicly accessible.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus06" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus06.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>MAKING PALM-OIL</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The chief centres of palm-oil production in the Niger +proper as distinct from the Delta, or, in other words, in the +territories formerly under the administrative sway of, and +still almost entirely tapped in a commercial sense by, the +Niger Company are Ogute Lake, Atani, and Onitsha. The +Ogute Lake produces about 4500 casks of oil annually; it +is connected by the Orashe River, for small craft drawing +four feet in the dry season and eight feet in the rainy season, +with Degama, but is only open from the Niger River during +the rainy season (for craft drawing seven feet) or say from +August to the end of December. It is about seventy hours +distant from Burutu. Atani yields about 6000 casks per +annum. It is open from the sea <i>viâ</i> Burutu or Akassa all +the year round. Distance from Burutu about two and a +half days. Onitsha will probably exceed before long the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span> +other two districts mentioned as a productive centre, the +population being very dense; distance from Burutu, three +days. For kernels, Assay is the chief centre, producing +about 6000 tons annually. It is open all the year round +from Burutu for craft drawing about five to five and +a half feet, and between July and October the rains permit +of navigation for craft drawing up to twelve feet; passage +from Burutu, twenty-four hours. Illushi, Idah, Lokoja, +Egga, Jebba, and Shongo are other important centres.</p> + +<p>The commerce derived from the oil-palm tree, apart from +its paramount importance in a commercial sense, has many +and varied features of interest. It was, for example, so far +as the oil is concerned, the trade which first took the place +of the slave traffic. The beverage extracted from it is +mentioned in some of the oldest references to the Dark +Continent—thus we know that Cambyses “delighted” in +its flavour, and Herodotus tells us that amongst the gifts +with which he despatched the mission of the Ichthyophagi +to Ethiopia was “a cask of palm-wine.” Collecting the +palm-tree’s fruit may also be said to be the national industry +of the West African Negro almost all along the coast—certainly +in Southern Nigeria.<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> It is an industry which permanently +employs hundreds of thousands of Negroes, men, +women, and children, and gives work to many thousands +of white men, from the merchant to the steamship owner, +from the manufacturer to the chemist. Often in watching +the long files of carts conveying the bulky barrels in which +palm-oil is shipped home from the west coast, passing along +the Liverpool streets, or the rows upon rows of these casks +and heaps of palm-kernel bags piled up on the dock’s side, +have I marvelled at the ignorance of those persons who +inform us that the native of West Africa will not <i>work</i>. +Not work, with this testimony to his labours! Not work, +when hundreds of English workmen are busy unloading, +rolling and carting these proofs of the Negro’s industry every<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span> +month in the year, every week in the month, every day in +the week almost! Not work, when it is borne in mind that +this brilliant yellow stuff with the penetrating smell, shipped +in hundreds of thousands of gallons from West Africa, is +brought down to the coast bit by bit, in small receptacles, +often from considerable distances inland, on the heads of +these idle and lazy people; that the kernels in those greasy, +dirty-looking bags have each been extracted with infinite +trouble from an extremely hard shell, that 400 of them are +required to make a single pound of kernels, and that the +market value in Southern Nigeria of those 400 kernels, to +the native, is the maximum sum of one penny! A stone-breaker’s +job in this country is not looked upon as a sinecure, +but I beg leave to doubt whether the stone-breaker +would be content with one penny per every 400 stones +he breaks.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus07" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus07.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>DUKE-TOWN, OLD CALABAR, SOUTHERN NIGERIA</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>There is not another tree in the whole world which +produces money with so little expense as this particular +crop. In Nigeria the oil is prepared usually in small +quantities, in the small villages scattered over the country. +After being prepared, it is in many instances carried +by women and children to some central native market, +situate as a rule on the edge of a waterway. There +it is bought by the middlemen so called, who are really +the carriers of the country, and put by them into the casks +previously supplied by the European merchants. The +casks are packed away in canoes, and the middlemen paddle +down through the creeks for distances varying with the +length and character of the waterways, to the merchant’s +factory at the mouth. The merchant then pays for the +oil, gives the middleman an empty cask in exchange for the +full one, and ships the latter by the first steamer that comes +along, the middlemen coopering it up and making it as +sound as possible before starting off on their homeward +journey. Palm-oil is used in the manufacture of soap and +candles.<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> It is also employed in South Wales and the States<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span> +in the preparation of tin plates, the plates when white hot +being dipped in palm-oil, which gives them their smooth and +glassy surface. The demand for palm oil increases annually, +and for many years to come is likely to keep up with +the supply.</p> + +<p>The transaction which takes place between the merchant +and the middleman native is the simplest feature of the +trade. Before that stage has been reached there are ramifications +innumerable. A middleman chief, for instance, will +send ten or twelve canoes up the creeks with goods which +he has purchased on trust<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a>—a large proportion of the trade +is still carried out on the trust system, credit being given as +between the merchant and the middleman, the middleman +and the producer, and again the producer with other producers +further afield, the nearest producer becoming thus a +middleman or carrier for his more distant countrymen—each +of the canoes being in charge of one of his “boys,” +with enough men to convey the craft to a certain market. +There that particular canoe remains until the goods it has got +on board are sold and the canoe is full of oil. The same thing +occurs in the case of every market in the district, and so on +all over the country, the canoes sometimes remaining several +weeks away.</p> + +<p>Apart from the porterage, purchase, putting into casks, +conveying by water, final sale and shipment, which employs +such numbers of natives in their respective <i>rôles</i>, there is the +collection and preparation to be taken into account before a +complete idea can be formed of the varied stages the palm-oil +industry goes through until the product is landed on our +shores. There is, first of all, the process of climbing the +tree to get the fruit, which, of course, is at the top. After +removing the fruit the natives are able, when the nut is +properly ripe, to shake it out of the spiky casing in +which it grows. The nut is something like a plum-stone, +only bigger, and contains the oil to the thickness of about<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span> +one-eighth of an inch. Inside is the kernel, itself enclosed +in a very hard shell. To extract the oil the outer skin or +shell has to be split or peeled off. The nuts are usually +flung into an old canoe, the natives trampling upon and +crushing the outer skin, and then put into boiling water, +which brings the oil to the surface. But there are a good +many ways of preparing the oil, and its different characteristics +were at one time supposed to be due to different ways of +preparation on various parts of the coast. That does not +appear to be the opinion now, for the theory is hardly +sufficient to account for the extra quantity of glycerine such +as is met with in Bonny and Old Calabar oil, and the larger +proportion of stearine<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> which exists in the hard kinds of +Brass and New Calabar. We have now come to an end of +the history of the collection of palm-oil, and the second use +to which the oil-palm lends itself arrives upon the scene.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus08" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus08.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>FILLING PALM-OIL BARRELS, SOUTHERN NIGERIA</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>With the breakage of the nut and the extraction of the oil, +there is left the kernel in its covering. The kernel trade did +not become general<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> until a few years ago, the kernel being +usually either left to decay or to reproduce, and for a considerable +time it was pointed out that hundreds of thousands +of pounds were annually lost in this way. But within a +comparatively recent time the natives have been induced to +break the hard shell in which the kernel is enclosed, and the +latter are shipped home in yearly increasing quantities from +Nigeria by the merchants, who dispose of them to the +African Oil Mills<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> or some other seed-crushing establishment +in Liverpool, or send them to Hamburg: Germany, as +already stated, being the largest buyer. The kernel yields an<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span> +oil which in its concrete form is white in contrast with the +yellowy-red or deep red or ochre colouring of the oil in the +nut itself, and is the principal ingredient in Sunlight and +other soaps of a similar character. In its chemical properties +it is almost identical with the oil pressed from the inside of +the cocoa-nut—<i>i.e.</i> copra—which is known as “cocoa-nut +oil.” It is exclusively used in the manufacture of soap.</p> + +<p>Owing to the very great labour entailed in cracking the +shells, a task generally performed by putting the nut on a +stone and breaking it with a stone or stick, and the immense +amount of time wasted by so primitive a method, +it cannot but be a matter for astonishment that some +mechanical contrivance has not been devised and put to +general usage whereby the process might be accelerated +and facilitated. It is certainly not due to any fear of +exhausting the supply by too rapid production, for, so far +as any conclusions can be based upon the quantity of +oil brought down to the factories, Nigeria is still a long +way off producing anything like the full quantity of kernels +available. The fact is that several attempts have been made +in this direction, but with one exception<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> they have failed, +and the failure has discouraged further efforts. Cracking +machines of various kinds have been imported, but through +neglect, the deadly effect of the West African climate upon +machinery of any kind—more especially perhaps in so very +humid a part as the Niger Delta—and other causes, they +have speedily become “old iron.”</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus09" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus09.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>A PALM-KERNEL MARKET IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Although it may seem presumptuous for an outsider to +make such a suggestion, I cannot but think that something +more might be done, in a systematic and concentrated way, +to bring about so great a reform as the cracking of the +kernel-shells by machinery could not fail to be; quadrupling<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span> +as it would the total production, and releasing a large +amount of labour, which could be turned into other +channels. In view of the very meagre remuneration which +the native is willing to accept per pound’s weight of kernels +cracked by hand, it is difficult to understand how any +real trouble, that decent wages and tactful management +were capable of overcoming, could be apprehended in the +utilisation of sufficient labour to keep the requisite steam-power +at work, more especially as, it is known, the shells +would provide a fairly efficient fuel ready to hand. Moreover, +would machinery elaborate enough to necessitate +steam-power be absolutely essential? Could nothing be +invented in the way of importing automatic hand-cracking +machines, the cracking taking place under white supervision +at the factories, and the middlemen carriers bringing +in the undecorticated nut, instead of, as at present, the +kernel itself?<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>There seems to be much need in this great oil-palm +industry, as in other native industries in West Africa, of +co-operation among the official and commercial classes, +which make up the white population—missionaries excepted—for +the adoption of some thorough and comprehensive +plan of teaching the natives more scientific methods +of production. It is no use saying the thing cannot be +done. It can be done, and has been done. The most +notable example is provided in the history of ground-nut +cultivation in Senegal, which has by no means reached perfection,<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> +or anything like it, and yet is now realising a +million sterling per annum. That striking result was +attained by patient, continuous and unflagging perseverance +on the part of the Bordeaux merchants, coupled with the +friendly support and assistance of the Government, without +coercion of any kind. It took some time, of course, but +the results have thoroughly justified the policy pursued,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span> +and Senegal to-day<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> is the foremost vegetable-oil producing +country in the world. We hear a great deal about technical +education in West Africa, carpentering, brick-making, and so +forth, all very admirable in their way, but the time and money +spent in these directions could be more profitably engaged by +perfecting the <i>existing native industries</i> of West Africa, and by +creating new ones, which would do more than anything else +to increase the prosperity of the country, and at the same +time be based upon sound science, for the natural instincts +and aptitude of the Negro are pre-eminently agricultural. +Far more lasting good could be achieved thus.</p> + +<p>Officials and merchants working side by side for a +common aim, and science—that is what West Africa needs. +What a reflection it is upon our Administration in West +Africa, that the commercial position of Sierra Leone, for +instance, should be declining, year by year, largely owing +to a passion for keeping up a form of taxation which is +repugnant to the natives, and does not even pay the cost of +collection, when thousands of pounds annually are wasted +in the Sherbro district alone by the natives merely collecting +the kernels, leaving the oil to rot off—all for want of encouragement, +and the teaching of scientific methods of production, +while acres upon acres of rubber-producing land in +Lagos have been impaired by a similar absence of preliminary +common sense. Perhaps the most curious feature of the +whole business is that which consists in turning round and +blaming the native for wilful destruction which—in the +latter case mentioned—he was never taught how to avoid. +If the oil-palm industry were taken in hand in practical +fashion, there is no possible doubt that an enormous +development would ensue. But while the want of sympathy +and combination, one might almost say the latent opposition, +between the official and merchant class continues, +I cannot see that matters will be different to what they are. +The remedy lies very largely with the Authorities.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X<br> +<span class="smaller">THE ADMINISTRATION OF NORTHERN NIGERIA</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The Empire has few more experienced servants in the +Tropical African field than Sir Frederick Lugard. Like +every other man who has become prominent, he possesses +critics, and no doubt, like every one else, has made mistakes, +but, speaking generally, he is very highly thought of. +Whether General Lugard, with his military instincts and +training, is the right man in the right place, is a matter +upon which opinion may differ. Among military men who +have served England in Equatorial Africa, no one more +distinguished could have been chosen. The only reflection +which his appointment gave rise to was an impersonal +one. Nobody doubted his capacity, but it was suggested +that the delicate problems of internal politics existing in +Northern Nigeria required civilian rather than military +habits of mind to cope with.</p> + +<p>Those problems are infinitely complex. Seldom did a +situation call for greater display of tact, sympathy and wise +discernment. Seldom was there a more abundant supply +of combustible material ready to take fire upon the initiation +of a policy which should lack these qualities. Never a field +more promising of desirable results to reward a just and +humane stewardship, whose highest aim should be the +contentment and prosperity of the people committed to +its charge, and whose guiding spirit should be patience, +and, as Sir Andrew Clarke puts it, “use of the power of +imagination.”</p> + +<p>Northern Nigeria, it need hardly be observed, differentiates +absolutely from the southern province, in the nature +of its soil, configuration, altitude, vegetation: in its ethnologic<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span> +material, in religion, culture, social condition, political +organisation. We have passed out of the pagan belt, and +are in contact with a more advanced type of civilisation; +we have left the forest and merged into the plain, into open +park-like country, sparsely timbered as a rule when compared +with the southern regions; pasture land, agricultural +land covered with fields of waving millet and <i>masara</i>, +peopled by splendid herds of cattle, where horses and long-nosed +sheep are reared. Animism or fetishism no longer +predominates; a revealed religion has replaced it. Semitic +infusion is now everywhere apparent. It is a new world we +have entered—a strange jumbling of two continents, an +amalgam of cross-migratory currents severally attracted by +the fertility of the soil; an industrialism at once remarkable, +deeply interesting and of great promise. A rough feudalism, +a loose central authority, a barbaric splendour in the midst +of primitive surroundings, a system of rule superior to +anything we have yet encountered, and of which the +strongest binding cord is religious faith; large cities, extensive +cultivations, tanneries, dye-pits, looms. A number +of States, owning allegiance—more religious and racial +than political—to a supreme chief, and appointing their +own district governors, treasurers, war ministers, judges; +controlling their own armies, managing their own exchequers. +Society divided into two distinct classes—the +aristocrats and the plebs—which correspond to divergencies +of race, each class confined to its own quarter, rarely +mingling in licit intercourse, perhaps more so than formerly, +yet perpetuating a strain of pure stock which must have +existed in Africa for at least two thousand years. Away +from the towns, in favoured districts, herdsmen of Semitic +blood; planters, agriculturists. In the towns, statesmen, +warriors on the one side; on the other, manufacturers and +traders. Riven through the country, highways of commerce, +centuries old, branching to north, east and west, over which +the tramp of feet and hoofs resounded when Rome held +North Africa, and built her forts to the desert’s edge—aye, +and beyond what man and nature have made the desert’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span> +edge—oxen and mules carrying natron, and asses bearing +kola, camels with salt, Eastern spices, and bales of cotton +from far-off Benghazi, cotton brought from Manchester, +silks from France, needles and writing-paper from Germany, +beads and looking-glasses from Venice; richly +caparisoned steeds with their gaily-clad riders, <i>meharas</i> +swift of foot, with the <i>lithamed</i> Tuareg bestriding them; +the Fulani shepherd driving along his flocks. Over there +by the lake, herds of elephants roam untroubled, while the +Shuwa, with his hair trimmed <i>à l’Egyptienne</i>, wanders +restlessly, as though seeking to pierce the mystery of his +origin.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp88" id="map2" style="max-width: 62.5em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/map2.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>SKETCH MAP OF NORTHERN NIGERIA SHEWING DIVISION INTO PROVINCES</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Into that country the white man has come in accordance +with the ancient prophecy, descendants of the white man +who first visited it. The same race, the dominating race, +which ever aspires after empire, and which, on occasion, +forgets that the sword untempered by the plough has proved +disastrous to many Empires.</p> + +<p>As before stated, two years elapsed between the advent of +the Crown Colony system in Northern Nigeria and the +publication of the first report by Sir Frederick Lugard. +With no official data available whereby the Commissioner’s +policy or the Government’s intentions could be gauged, the +public were only able to judge of the trend of both one and +the other through the scanty information communicated by +the news agencies, or by the vehicle of private letters from +Europeans resident in Northern Nigeria. It cannot be said +that such news as did filter through the thick veil in which +Northern Nigeria lay wrapped prior to the belated publication +of Sir Frederick Lugard’s report in February 1902 was +of a reassuring nature. On the contrary, while necessary +police-work in Bornu was so entirely neglected that the +French found themselves compelled by a combination of +local circumstances to practically run that country for us, +to give sanctuary to its lawful ruler, to beat off and finally +track to his lair the man who, following his father’s evil way, +was creating a desert wherever he passed; events in Sokoto, +which had been in constant treaty relations with Great<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span> +Britain’s representatives since 1884, seemed to justify the +worst fears, and to corroborate the late Mary Kingsley’s +prediction that “three months of Crown Colony form of +government in the Niger Territories will bring war, far +greater and more destructive than any war we have yet had +in West Africa, and will end in the formation of a debt far +greater than any debt we now have in West Africa, because +of the greater extent of territory and the greater power +of the native States, now living peacefully enough under +England, but not England as misrepresented by the Crown +Colony system.” The news received was exclusively of a +military nature. It recorded the exploits of numerous +expeditions against native rulers, the “smashing” of this +Chief and the other, foreshadowed a large increase in the +Frontier Force, and a further extension of the area of +punitive undertakings. Every steamer for Burutu had its +complement of officers on board for Nigeria, and the military +element appeared to reign supreme. At the same time the +propagandist efforts of Bishop Tugwell at Kano, which +should never have been allowed, resulted in what was predicted +of them when started, viz. failure, utter and complete. +Disappointment had its inevitable sequel in the shape of a +strengthening of the repressive theory for Nigeria by the +apostles of peace. Bishop Tugwell’s chief assistant, the +Rev. J. A. E. Richardson, on his return hastened to get +himself interviewed by Reuter, described “the Emir of +Sokoto and the King of Kano as the chief opponents of +civilisation in this part of the world,” and expressed his +hope that the former would be speedily “dealt with.” In +the same interview, this youthful and enthusiastic reformer +was fain to admit the existence in the territories of the +aforesaid “opponents of civilisation” of “fields upon fields +of cultivated land,” houses “splendidly made,” “broad +thoroughfares,” “big, beautiful gardens,” &c. The existing +“civilisation,” although not of the Exeter Hall pattern, had +at least something to recommend it! The theme was taken +up at home by another bishop, who delivered a sermon +which was simply an appeal to brute force in Northern<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span> +Nigeria, and provoked a good deal of comment. Observers +noted an almost exact parallel between Northern Nigeria +and East Africa, where the havoc wrought by the unchecked +forces of militarism and religious bigotry is of public +notoriety.</p> + +<p>When Sir Frederick Lugard’s report appeared its pages +were eagerly scanned, and it was with intense relief that a +clear, definite line of action was traced therein, and that an +apparently determined intention was noted to make a stand +against certain undesirable features of policy which had +already become conspicuous. In fact, so outspoken were +some of Sir Frederick Lugard’s remarks that it was permissible +and legitimate to suppose that many of the things +which had occurred did not meet with his approval. +Another reflection suggested itself from a perusal of the +report, viz. that the Commissioner was being hampered in +the pursuance of his task by the absence of the right type +of political assistants. Events subsequent to the report have +tended to confirm rather than weaken that impression, +which, however, is, after all, but an impression, and cannot +at present be asserted as a fact.<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> + +<p>The chief points to be gathered from the report, as bearing +upon the Commissioner’s policy, were (1) maintenance of +Fulani rule, (2) necessity of taking in hand the affairs of +Bornu, (3) advisability of accepting with great caution mere +accusations of slave-raiding, (4) harm perpetrated by crude +information, (5) recognition that more good can be effected +“by getting into touch with the people” than by “a series<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span> +of punitive expeditions and bloodshed,” (6) no compulsory +religious training.</p> + +<p>A programme such as this cannot fail to command +universal approval, and if Sir Frederick Lugard is determined +to unflinchingly carry it out he can count upon the +thorough-going support of every single person in this +country who takes a lively interest in British West Africa. +Nay more, he can rely with confidence upon receiving the +most strenuous backing should it at any time become +apparent that, in his attempt to get his own way, he is not +being sufficiently seconded by the Home Authorities, or +that the policy of Downing Street in specific directions +makes the attainment of that programme difficult if not +impossible. Having said so much, it is to be hoped that +any criticism directed to the affairs of Northern Nigeria +may not be misunderstood in the quarter where one would +greatly desire it to be looked upon in the light of a friendly +attempt to assist, and not as criticism is so often regarded +on West African matters, as being due to a carping desire +to find fault on the part of those who, while fully entitled to +speak their minds, are distant from the scene of action, and +have none of the worry and trouble involved in actual +contact with, or direct responsibility for, the questions upon +which they write.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI<br> +<span class="smaller">THE FINANCES OF NIGERIA</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>On June 30, 1899, a Treasury Minute informed the Royal +Niger Company of the intention of her Majesty’s Government +to revoke their charter. At the end of 1899 Sir +Frederick Lugard proceeded to Africa to take over the Niger +Company’s territories in the name of Great Britain. On +January 1, 1900, Crown Colony Administration was established +in the Niger Company’s territories, following its +similar establishment in the Delta, which had taken place +some years previously.<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> In February 1902 the Government +condescended for the first time—in the face of public pressure—to +publish a report by Sir Frederick Lugard, <i>dated +London, May 1, 1901</i>. The report, which is very interesting, +but in many respects incomplete, notably as regards finance, +only brings us down to March 31, 1901, so that, although we +are now well on in the third year of Crown Colony Administration +in Northern Nigeria, this single report is the +measure of the confidence which the Government sees fit to +repose in the British people, concerning the direct responsibilities +they have acquired over some twenty-five million +natives of Africa.</p> + +<p>There are several reasons why the public should not rest +content with such meagre information. The first reason +is financial. The expenditure of the two Protectorates—Northern +and Southern Nigeria—is assuming very large +proportions, a heavy load of debt weighs over them, and +not only is there not the slightest sign of an effort to wipe +off that debt, but almost every month that passes sees +an extension of liabilities. The present condition of our<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span> +national finances does not justify a continued attitude of +indifference towards the expenditure of public funds on an +increasing scale in Nigeria. On the other hand, our main +object in West Africa being what it is, viz. commercial in +nature, there is extreme unwisdom, from the ordinary +business point of view, in neglecting to ascertain how the +largest and most important of our estates in West Africa is +being managed, and if the outlay is giving now, or is likely to +give in an appreciably near future, those returns which the +public is justified in expecting.</p> + +<p>What, then, are the facts as to the financial situation of +Northern and Southern Nigeria? In the first place, there is +the debt of £865,000 incurred by the Government in buying +out the Niger Company. This debt is, while it exists, a bar +to progress, and at a Conference held in London on September +20, 1900, we find Sir Ralph Moor, Commissioner for +Southern Nigeria, admitting the fact. When a speaker at +that Conference urged that more should be spent on technical +education in the Protectorate, and that the necessary +amount might be paid out of the surplus revenue, Sir Ralph +Moor quickly retorted that they had no surplus revenue, but +were “in the unenviable position of owing her Majesty’s +Treasury £800,000.” So much for the debt, and the +obstacle to desirable improvements which its existence +entails.<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<p>The debt notwithstanding, the administrative expenditure +of Southern Nigeria steadily increases. In the year 1899-1900<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> +it reached the figure of £176,128,<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> being an increase +of £29,383 over the preceding year, and exceeded the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span> +revenue by £12,000. No figures are yet available of the +expenditure of Northern Nigeria since the substitution of the +Crown for the Niger Company in the <i>rôle</i> of Administrator, +but a reference to the estimates of March 31, 1902, shows +that Northern Nigeria received a grant-in-aid of £88,800 in +1900-01, and another of £280,000 in 1901-02, which includes +the provision of £200,000 for the West African Frontier +Force voted in 1900-01. We are, therefore, confronted with +a minimum expenditure for Northern Nigeria in two years +of £368,800. At this rate it is difficult to see how Nigeria +is ever to become self-supporting. Such an enormous +expenditure could only be warranted by an extraordinary +development in trade, or by the creation of means of communication +for that development, to be looked upon in the +light of expenditure on capital account. It is all very well +to call it “Imperial expenditure.” Of course it is “Imperial” +expenditure, and so is every penny spent in the furtherance +of British trade abroad “Imperial.” What we have to +try and form an opinion upon is whether the administrative +expenses of Nigeria are in any way proportionate to the +interests which the Administration is supposed to be promoting +there. If it is, well and good; if it is not, reform +is required.</p> + +<p>The relation of the expenditure to the trade of Nigeria is +comparatively easy to establish. The total trade (excluding +specie) of the Niger Coast Protectorate in 1898-99 amounted +to £1,477,398, and the total trade of Nigeria—that is, the +Niger Coast Protectorate plus the territories of the Niger +Company—in 1900 (excluding specie) was £2,113,878. If +we deduct, therefore, the one set of figures from the other +we can arrive at a close approximation of the trade done in +the former Niger Company’s territories included since 1900 +in the Protectorate of Nigeria. The trade of the Niger +Company’s territories in 1901 was, therefore, roughly +£650,000, of which it is quite safe to assume that Northern +Nigeria did not produce more than one-third, if it produced +that, the bulk of the trade being confined to the Niger +Company’s territories in the Lower River. The trade of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span> +Northern Nigeria would thus be represented by some +£216,660 out of the total of £650,000. Assuming, for the +sake of argument, that it rose in 1901 to £250,000, the total +for the two years 1900 and 1901 would be £466,660. Now +Northern Nigeria, as already stated, received for the same +period £368,800 from the Imperial Exchequer. Pursuing +the same method of illustration for the export trade as for +total trade, the export trade of the Niger Company’s territories +works out at some £360,000, of which, say, one-third +from Northern Nigeria, or £120,000. Putting it down at +£140,000 in 1901 gives a total of Northern Nigeria’s export +trade, or, in other words, Northern Nigeria’s producing capacity +for the two years mentioned of £260,000, so that +Northern Nigeria is in the disastrous financial situation of +spending more than it produces. The one-third basis of +calculation is a large and generous one, and Northern +Nigeria’s share of responsibility in the debt is not included +in the reckoning. The position then, so far as Northern +Nigeria is concerned, is unmistakably clear. Northern +Nigeria is at present a financial burden to the Empire. +Eight years’ experience of Crown Colony Administration in +the Niger Delta, where the machinery set up is not nearly +so elaborate as in Northern Nigeria and where the natural +exploitable riches are far greater, is hardly calculated to +cause feelings of confidence as to what eight years of a +similar system will lead to in Northern Nigeria. In the +three years ending December 1899 the Niger Delta (excluding +therefrom the Niger Company’s territories) produced +a trade which averaged in value £1,800,000, of which over +£1,000,000<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> represented exports. Under the Crown Colony +system, with its expensive machinery necessitating taxation +to keep up, its military expenditure, and the absence of all +commercial co-operation in the Administration, the value of +exports has only once (1893-94) managed to rise above +£1,000,000, while with that one exception the highest and +lowest figures have been £844,333 and £750,223 respectively,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span> +and the total volume of trade for any given three years has +never reached the average figure of £1,800,000. The totals +of the three years prior to 1900 were respectively £1,441,383, +£1,389,922, and £1,507,288. Making every allowance for +the fall in the market price of certain products during recent +years, which, by the way, has been to some extent counterbalanced +by the increased export of new articles, the conclusion +to be derived from these figures is that the Crown +Colony system in Southern Nigeria has not yielded results +which the country has the right to expect, and the moral is +that, whatever may be the position of affairs in other British +possessions in West Africa, Englishmen should really pull +themselves together and seriously consider whether the +brilliant future which Nigeria should have in store for it is +to run the risk of being compromised just for want of a +little courage in facing the facts as they are.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII<br> +<span class="smaller">MOHAMMEDANS, SLAVE-RAIDING, AND DOMESTIC SERVITUDE</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>It has been truly remarked that more permanent good can +be accomplished “by tact and gold with Mohammedan +chiefs in West Africa than by the Maxim and the rifle.” +That is a policy which has had much to do with our great +and striking success in India. Its application to Afghanistan +has within recent years been amply justified by results. +Why should it not be followed in Northern Nigeria? +Which is cheaper, an output of £5000 per annum in subsidies, +or the expenditure of much larger sums in military +operations? What is more likely to conduce to the prosperity +of a vast densely populated tropical estate where the +white man cannot settle, to gain your own ends peaceably, +albeit not so speedily as might be desired, or to use force +and face the dislocation of the existing social system which +violent measures entail? Few people, if they will but +calmly consider the matter, can fail to endorse the quotation +given above. In Northern Nigeria the question is +not merely one of expediency; it affects the honour of +England.</p> + +<p>When MacGregor Laird started on his pioneering expedition +up the Niger which laid the foundations of British +trade in the Upper River, his instructions from the Government +ran as follows: “It is most desirable to impress upon +the chiefs that you are there as traders, not as colonists, +not as acquirers of land, but simply as traders and for the +protection of trade.” When Lord John Russell despatched +Captain Trotter and Commander William Allen up the Niger +in 1840, he recognised the advisability of subsidising the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span> +native chiefs: “he himself (the chief) shall have for his own +share, and without any payment on his part, a sum not exceeding +one-twentieth part value of every article of British +merchandise brought by British ships and sold in his +dominions.” When Mr. Joseph Thomson concluded in 1884, +on behalf of the National African Company, a treaty of +amity and friendship with Umoru, Emir of Sokoto, “King +of the Mussulmans of the Sudan,” he undertook on behalf of +the Company to pay the Emir 3000 bags of cowries (roughly +£1500) per annum. When that treaty was confirmed with +the Emir on behalf of the Royal Niger Company (the +designation of the National African Company when it received +its charter) in 1890, and again with the Emir’s +successor in 1894, the payment of the annual subsidy was +confirmed. It was distinctly stipulated in those treaties +that the Royal Niger Company “received” its power from +the Queen of Great Britain and that “they (the Company) +are her Majesty’s representatives to me.” In the eyes of the +Emir, therefore, the Company was just as much “Great +Britain” as a consular representative, or a High Commissioner. +In exchange for this annual subsidy, the Emir +of Sokoto transferred “to the above people (the Company) +<i>or other with whom they may arrange</i>, my entire rights to +the country on both sides of the River Benue and rivers +flowing into it throughout my dominions for such distance +from its and their banks as they may desire.” The Emir +also bound himself not to “recognise any other white nation, +because the Company are my help.” In a letter dated +April 27, 1894, the Prime Minister of Sokoto repudiated +any intention of treating “with any other from the white +man’s country except with the Royal Niger Company, +Limited.” Separate subsidies were also paid by “her +Majesty’s representatives (the Niger Company)” to Gandu, +as well as to the rulers of Nupe, Adamawa, and other important +vassals of the Emir of Sokoto. That, at any rate, +was a well-defined political relationship. By it the Royal +Niger Company were able to secure this vast and populous +country to Great Britain, and by it peace was, with the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span> +exception of Nupe<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> and Ilorin, preserved. Whatever may +be said of the merits and demerits of the Royal Niger +Company as an administrative body, it must be readily +granted that a coherent policy was here applied, and that its +results were, from the Imperial standpoint, exceedingly +satisfactory. The nature of the bargain was precise. The +Emir of Sokoto and his vassals conferred extensive rights +upon England’s representatives and agreed to treat with no +other country but England on the basis of a subsidy of +£1500 per annum in the case of Sokoto, and sums varying +in importance in the case of Sokoto’s vassals. The +bargain was—according to the terms of the treaty—binding +upon the Niger Company and its successors. The Emir of +Sokoto kept to his share of it, and at a time when France +endeavoured, through Colonel Monteil, to upset the Company’s +treaty, the Emir loyally observed his obligations.<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> +The Company no less loyally observed theirs. It is +humiliating to have to confess it, but the British Government +has been less loyal than the Company, and less loyal +than the African chief whose loyalty enabled England at a +critical moment to uphold the claims of her representatives +to political influence over Sokoto. The Crown, it seems, +has declined to fulfil the obligations imposed on England +by these treaties, while reaping to the full the advantages +which the existence of the treaties confers. The first public +intimation that the Imperial Government had broken faith +with the Emir of Sokoto was made by the Rev. J. A. E. +Richardson, already alluded to. His statement ran as +follows: “The yearly payment in form of gifts which was +made to the Emir of Sokoto by the Niger Company has not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span> +been continued by the Imperial Government, and quite +recently the Emir flatly refused to allow the erection of a +British telegraph line.” No official announcement has been +made on the subject, nor has any member of Parliament +taken the trouble to inquire. But there is not, I think, any +doubt whatever that the Imperial Government has, in point +of fact, done this thing. I have made careful inquiries in +quarters likely to be well informed, and it seems that it was +considered <i>infra dig.</i> for a Government to politically subsidise +a West African chief. That is an extraordinary doctrine. +Since when has it been considered <i>infra dig.</i> for Englishmen +to keep their word with native potentates? Since when has +it been thought a criterion of Imperial rule to show native +rulers that England’s promise is not worth the paper upon +which it is written? Is that what has been called the “new +Imperialism”? Is it astonishing that the Emir of Sokoto +should, in the face of such a repudiation of treaty obligations, +“flatly refuse” to allow the erection of a telegraph-line +or anything else? Is it not a terrible handicap upon +the professed intentions of the most well-meaning administrator, +to be confronted at the outset with so powerful a +cause of native suspicion and hostility?</p> + +<p>Let us observe, for a moment, how the successive stages +of British action on the Niger must appear to the native +rulers of the country. We start off by saying that we have +come to the country as merchants and nothing more, not as +acquirers of land, but simply as traders. In 1870 the Emir +of Nupe, Maroba, is found co-operating with Bishop Crowther—an +earnest and godly man—to facilitate the operations +of merchants at Lokoja. In 1884 Mr. Joseph Thomson is +able, without any show of pomp or power, to induce the +Emir of Sokoto, supreme ruler of the whole country, to +sign a treaty of enormous importance, which practically +amounts to a Protectorate, in exchange for a yearly subsidy. +Sixteen years later a British Government ceases the subsidy, +and follows up that performance by initiating a policy +of active interference in the Emir’s dominions. As this +costs money, the next step will very probably be that the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span> +Emir and his subjects will be expected to contribute towards +the up-keep of the Administration, and England, having +agreed through her representatives to subsidise the Emir in +return for advantages conferred, will end by making the +Emir pay for permission to remain in his own country. +“It seems really incredible,” remarked the <i>Morning Post</i> +the other day, commenting upon the fighting with the Emir +of Kontagora,<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> “that a great Empire administering savage +countries should have no other weapon save an appeal to +arms.” It has other weapons, and the most potent of them is +the one upon which the Indian Empire has been reared. That +weapon may be described thus, “Keep to your plighted word.”</p> + +<p>The cause of the repeated military expeditions of which +Northern Nigeria is the scene, is said to be slave-raiding. +“Slave-raiding” is an evil which no one can possibly defend. +It leads to great misery, to depopulation and devastation. +Its agency is violence. To suppress it is the duty of every +European Government. On those points there can be no +difference of opinion. The difference comes in when the +means adopted to do away with “slave-raiding” are examined. +At present but one remedy has been devised and put into +practice in Nigeria. It consists in opposing violence by +violence. It has the merit of simplicity, but at best it is but +a crude way of procedure, and its efficacy as a reforming +agent is open to doubt. “The very foundation,” says Carl +Schurz, “of all civilization consists in the dispensation of +justice by peaceable methods, instead of the rule of brute +force,” and he adds a sentence well worth thinking over: +“Although a course of warlike adventure may have begun +with the desire to liberate and civilise certain foreign +populations, it will be likely to develop itself, unless soon +checked, into a downright and reckless policy of conquest +with all the criminal aggression and savagery such a policy +implies.” It is impossible not to feel the force and the truth +of this sentence when the history of British East Africa +is studied. These “nigger hunts,” to use the term, not of a +“deluded philanthropist” or “impracticable sentimentalist,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span> +two of the many choice epithets with which people who do +not believe in the practical advantages of “nigger hunts” +are consistently assailed, but of a specially gifted officer, have +worked incalculable mischief, and have put back the hands +of the clock for many years. “Some of the wars and the punitive +expeditions of the past few years,” remarks Professor +Gregory in his admirable and impartial work,<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> “have been +no doubt inevitable and just. They have been the ‘Cruel +wars of peace.’ But some of the military expeditions in +East Africa have been simply criminal in their folly and +thoughtlessness.” Yet the Home Authorities defended all +these expeditions, and covered the perpetrators of blunders +with its sheltering wing, to the detriment not only of the +general interests of the Empire, but of the efficiency of the +public service, by discouraging officials who had a different +conception of the duties of their position, but who saw, by +experience, that to get up a row with the natives, to fight +some brilliant action and get their “heroism” talked about, +was the surest way to obtain promotion. That, I am afraid, +is in West Africa also a motive power to advancement.</p> + +<p>In his report Sir Frederick Lugard shows that he is alive +to the abuses which a too constant “appeal to arms” may +give rise to, and how the designation of “slave-raiding” +can be converted into a mere excuse to justify acts of +injustice and oppression. “Though force,” he says, “must +be occasionally applied to bands of recalcitrant robbers, I +am convinced that a few such lessons will suffice, and that +the district officer, with tact and patience, aided by sufficient +civil police, can achieve the pacification of the country +effectively, and that parsimony in the appointment of these +officers, and of their native staff of police, &c., would be a +policy of false economy, resulting in unnecessary bloodshed.” +And again, “It is my conviction that throughout Africa—East +and West—much injustice and oppression have been +unwittingly done by our forces acting on crude information, +and accusations of slave-raiding, &c., brought by enemies +of the accused to procure their destruction.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span></p> + +<p>What is the genesis of this slave-raiding we hear so much +about? In the first place, it must be obvious to all who +have studied the history of inland Western Africa with any +degree of attention, that a great deal of what is called +“slave-raiding” is not “slave-raiding” at all, but military +operations undertaken by the rulers of Mohammedan +States for the suppression of risings against their authority, +rendered weak by ineffective organisation, and by +the absence of adequate means of communication. Sir +Frederick Lugard has thrown useful light upon other +circumstances which may lead to wrongful accusations of +slave-raiding.<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> But, taking the first case, how often may +not an expedition entered upon by a Mohammedan Emir +against his pagan subjects in West Africa be as justifiable, +if reckoned by the same standard, as the chastisement of a +tribe by the representatives of a European Power for resisting +a tax enforced by that Power, and considered by the +tribe excessive and unjust? The only fair and rational interpretation +of slave-raiding, properly so-called, is the incursion +of an armed band, without previous provocation of +any kind, into a peaceful district, followed by the capture +of a number of prisoners of war who are subsequently +sold into slavery by the victors. That is a condition of +affairs by no means peculiar to West Africa. It prevailed +in Europe and in Great Britain at a period when civilisation +was infinitely more advanced than it is at present in West +Africa.</p> + +<p>The motive forces to which slave-raiding is due in Nigeria +are: (1) economic necessities, or, in other words, the revenue +needs of native rulers, requiring many prisoners of war +who, as has been well said, serve the double purpose of +cheque-book and beast of burden; (2) the incidental effect +of conquest; (3) the direct incitement given to intertribal +wars by white men on the West Coast of Africa for a +period extending over several centuries, a system which, +by the way, prevailed not farther back than slightly over +fifty years ago on the Niger; witness Richardson’s and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span> +Barth’s representations to the Government of the day. +Those three causes are common to, or have been common +to, West Africa as a whole. To them must be added, in +the case of Northern Nigeria and other countries in West +Africa converted to Islam by the sword, religious zeal. +Let us take those causes severally one by one and examine +them.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus10" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus10.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>A MOHAMMEDAN CHIEF AND HIS STANDARD-BEARER</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>With regard to the first, it must be patent to all who can +look at the matter with unprejudiced eyes that, until native +rulers in Northern Nigeria are able to count upon a source +of revenue replacing that which they lose by the disappearance +of raiding operations for slaves, and until a portable +currency can be introduced into the country to take the +place of the human currency—that is, slaves—the economic +<i>raison d’être</i> of raids will remain; and that is why, apart +from any other considerations, a subsidy to the native rulers +on the part of the European “over-lord” cannot but prove +itself an instrument for good, pending the slower but +certain modifications which the creation of roads, railways, +the development of trade which should ensue from their +creation, and the introduction of an easily portable currency—such +as silver coinage—cannot fail to bring with +them. When in course of time such development takes +place, matters should be so arranged that the rulers of the +country benefit by the growth of trade in their respective +districts, or, in other words, that a portion of the revenue +derived by the Administration from trade in a given district +should accrue to the ruler of that district, and be expended +in the improvement of that district.</p> + +<p>In all communities where the ethical standard of the +people has not been influenced by the Christian ideal, the +enslavement of prisoners of war has existed from time +immemorial. The moral standard of the Fulani Chieftains +of to-day is not lower than that of Imperial Rome, and for +many, many centuries after the tragedy of Golgotha, men +enslaved one another in England and in Europe as the +natural sequel to warfare.</p> + +<p>As for the heavy load of responsibility which England<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span> +shares—and to a very large extent—with other Powers +towards the native of West Africa in her actual <i>rôle</i> of +inculcator of the higher principles of morality, it cannot +too often be called to mind. It is not so very long ago—a +mere nothing in the history of nations—that Englishmen +hounded on these native chiefs against one another, +supplied them with arms and ammunition, excited their +fiercest passions, pandered to their worst vices, and all +for what? To secure, under circumstances of cruelty more +aggravated because more protracted, those very slaves +which Englishmen to-day are but too ready to liberate, +by killing the descendants of the chiefs who formerly +supplied them with the objects of their desire!</p> + +<p>Religious fanaticism has ever been attended with outrages +upon humanity, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly. +In considering the case of the Fulani conquerors of Nigeria, +we must, if we are just, recollect how relative good and +evil are in matters of this kind, how dependent upon those +hundred and one things which make up hereditary instincts +and environment. Have the Fulani committed more atrocities +than Christian Europe (although far behind Christian +Europe of those days) perpetrated upon the Jews? Can +we turn over the pages of Gibbon and condemn to the +death penalty these wanderers in Darkest Africa, when we +read of the deeds of Christians amid “civilised” surroundings, +where art and crafts, the ease and luxuries of life, +culture and refinement had reached, comparatively, so high +a stage—a stage which West Africa had never known? Are +the episodes of Saint Bartholomew and the persecutions of +“bloody” Mary not vividly within our recollection? Do +not the lessons of history suggest that “civilisation” would +best fulfil its mandate, and rise to the level of its claims, by +drawing upon an abundant store of patience in dealing with +the evil of “slave-raiding” in Nigeria and elsewhere in +West Africa? And if there be a fair prospect, as there +undoubtedly is, of removing the causes, economical and +otherwise, which produce slave raids, by peaceful methods, +to employ the ways of peace rather than the sword, although<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span> +the process be a slower one, we can have made but very few +real strides in the last two thousand years if statesmanship be +not equal to the task. This is sentimentalism, you will say. +Well, it is easy to call names, but the following passage indicates, +at least, that a British Government was not ashamed +once upon a time to preach much the same doctrine:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“While you describe the power and wealth of your country, you will, +in all your interviews with the African chiefs and with other African +natives on the subject of the suppression of the slave trade, abstain +carefully from any threat or intimidation that hostilities upon their +territory will be the result of their refusal to treat.... You will allow +for any hardness of feeling you may witness in them on the subject of +the slave trade, a hardness naturally engendered by the exercise of that +traffic, and in some cases increased by intercourse with the lowest and +basest of Europeans. You will endeavour to convince them by courtesy, +by kindness, by patience, and forbearance of your most persevering +desire to be on good terms with them.”<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> + +</div> + +<p>At what period, and under what circumstances, has this +persevering desire to establish friendly terms, as a basis +upon which to work to do away with the internal slave-trade +of Nigeria by the exercise of courtesy, kindness, +patience, and forbearance been consistently applied, or been +given a fair chance? We should be hard put to it to supply +even one instance, in a given district.<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<p>So much for the moral aspect of the question. There is +another aspect to which the most unsentimental of mortals +will not deny the attributes of severest practicability. I refer<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span> +to the effect of these wars, nominally undertaken for the +suppression of slave-raiding and the upsetting of priestly +theocracies in West Africa, upon the well-being of the +inhabitants and upon the prosperity of the Colonies themselves. +Those who may be inclined to look into the matter +may peruse with advantage that very able volume, “Ashanti +and Jaman,” by Dr. Richard Austin Freeman, one time +Assistant Colonial Surgeon and Anglo-German Boundary +Commissioner of the Gold Coast.<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> Sir Frederick Lugard in +his report writes: “Already, with the removal of the fear of +the Fulani, each petty village is claiming its ancient lands, +or raiding those of its weaker neighbour, and interminable +feuds are the result.” That passage entirely confirms Dr. +Freeman’s opinion with regard to the forcible splitting up +of the Ashanti confederation after the Wolseley expedition. +The latter part of it is almost word for word that of a letter +which lies before me at the present moment, and which I +received from an Englishman in the Niger shortly after Sir +George Goldie’s brilliant but inconclusive campaign against +Nupe. “The whole country is confused”—wrote my correspondent—“the +central authority having been suppressed; +each man raids on his own.” In point of sober fact, almost +every war waged in West Africa has a deteriorating effect, +unless it be followed immediately by constructive action, +which in the vast majority of cases is impossible owing to +the vastness of the country. We read of a chief falling foul +of the British Authorities and being deposed. If captured, +he is marched off to the coast and deported; if he succeeds +in escaping, the chances are he will rally some followers +round him and prove a source of trouble for a considerable +time. However that may be, he is at any rate replaced by +some other individual who may or may not have, according +to local custom, a right to the chieftainship. A resident +with a small escort may or may not be left in the capital. +Now, bearing in mind that in Nigeria a district over which +a particular chief holds at least a nominal sway is sometimes +as large as Wales or larger, no great amount of imagination<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span> +is required to picture what but too often happens. Let us, +for the sake of argument, consider Wales an inland kingdom, +and imagine it under the feudal system, the King aided by +his barons ruling the country, with many abuses no doubt, +but still ruling it after a fashion and able to make his power +felt. At a given moment the King quarrels with a neighbour. +The neighbour enters the country, defeats the King’s armies, +marches on the capital, captures it and the King together. +The King is taken away a prisoner and the conqueror +remains in the capital with a small force, ignorant of the +language of the people, of their history, traditions, customs +and laws. He will not be attacked because it is known that +his soldiers possess weapons which kill easily at 300 yards, +which mow down men in heaps, and which it is as futile to +attempt to face as it is to stand against the roaring tornado +hurtling through the forest. But for obvious reasons it is +also known that he cannot effectively hold the country. +Result number one: all semblance of authority within gun-shot +of the capital has disappeared. Result number two: +every ambitious baron develops schemes of aggrandisement, +starts foraging in the property of his neighbours, who do +ditto with religious unanimity; another party remains +faithful to the deposed King and intrigues to get him back; +another may take the part of the dummy appointed by the +conqueror, presuming that step to have been adopted. +Sequel: disorganisation, widening of area of disturbance, +social chaos, impoverishment of the country.</p> + +<p>This is not, indeed, the exception but the rule in West +Africa. The facts are on record. I have quoted two +eminent authorities in specific instances and mentioned +one other case. But the examples are numerous, and were +it necessary one might amplify them considerably. Sometimes +the effect is chiefly commercial, as in the case of +Nana, ex-chief of Lower Benin.<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> Since his removal after +the war in that district the volume of trade has fallen considerably, +which has been a bad thing, of course, all round,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span> +from the point of view of both revenue and commerce. +Speaking generally, the only logical outcome of a punitive +expedition in West Africa is the replacing of what has been +pulled down by something else which shall answer to the +needs of the people in the same way, or a military occupation +of every yard of the country. West Africa being what +it is, the thing cannot be done, and the consequence of +punitive expeditions in that part of the world, no matter +what the motives, alleged or real, may have been, is ninety +times out of every hundred reactionary, sterile, and morally +destructive. Hence, whether it be a matter of slave-raiding +or fetishism, or disputes about land, or difficulties about +trade, punitive expeditions are things to be avoided, and the +Administrator who avoids them is the type of man which +West Africa needs most.</p> + +<p>A reference to the question of slave-raiding in Nigeria +would be incomplete without mention being made of +domestic slavery, or more properly termed domestic servitude. +I remember assisting, not so long ago, at a lecture +by a missionary on Northern Nigeria. With great impressiveness +the lecturer announced that a large proportion, +four-fifths I think he said, of Hausas in Nigeria are slaves. +There was no doubt of the effect of the statement upon the +audience, composed of benevolent, well-meaning people, +who conjured up at once the most horrible visions. The +mere enunciation of the fact, or alleged fact—because, from +what I have been able to ascertain, the estimate is widely +exaggerated—is calculated to horrify a public ignorant of +the nature and characteristics of domestic slavery in West +Africa, and there can be as little doubt that such is the +deliberate and perfectly sincere intention of the individuals +who make these bald statements, as that their after consequences +upon the public mind are harmful. All are agreed +that the intestine warfare which results in the capture of +many prisoners and their conveyance over large distances +always involves great hardships and sorrow, and very often +fearful sufferings upon the victims. But the weight of +evidence is decidedly against the supposition, still so widely<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span> +entertained, that domestic slavery in West Africa is what +the unscientific advocates of its hasty abolition, regardless +of the obvious political objections to such a course, would +have the public believe.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus11" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus11.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>MANDINGO MUSLIMS</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Nay more, while it may be fully admitted that a condition +of servitude is indicative of a state of society which we +happily have grown out of, and which in itself is essentially +opposed to the moral law, no impartial student will be prepared +to deny that the condition of tens of thousands of +toilers in this country is infinitely worse than anything +which prevails under the West African native system, where +poverty at least is normally non-existent. The latter, it is +true, are technically free, but to them actual freedom would, +if exercised, lead to starvation pure and simple. They are +bound in chains more enduring than any forged by native +blacksmiths in Nigeria. The “White Slaves of England” +was an appropriate title to a series of terrible articles published +a short time ago in a popular London magazine, the +absolute accuracy of which has since been acknowledged. +“The West African slave”—a celebrated French explorer +and administrator has said—“is not so unhappy as many +people who live round us and whom <i>we will not see</i>.” That +is the simple truth. Between the domestic servitude of +Nigeria—where any form of paid labour is unknown as a +native institution—and plantation slavery under European +supervision there is all the difference in the world. Compared +with the latter, the former is relative bliss. Degradation +was the keynote of the one. The other permits and +frequently leads to equality between the owner and the +servant. Under the European system the slave was a dog +and worse than a dog; under the West African system the +slave is part and parcel of the social life of the people, a +member, and not unfrequently an honoured member, of +the family.<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> With the second generation, the distinction<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span> +between the owning and serving class in West Africa is less +pronounced, and with the third generation, if it has not +already been practically effaced, the distinction is simply +theoretical. Slaves then own slaves of their own, while still +theoretically remaining slaves themselves. Once a slave is +incorporated in a household he usually remains a fixture, is +decently treated, and, if his conduct is good, his material +prosperity rapidly increases. It is the commonest thing in +the world for a slave to rise high in his master’s favour, and +even to hold lucrative and responsible positions. All the +relations of domestic life in three-fourths of the Niger territories +are based upon the system of domestic slavery, and +there is no question which requires to be approached by the +authorities with greater breadth of comprehension, with +greater largeness of views, with a more sincere resolve to +resolutely set aside all appeals, by whomsoever uttered, to +bigotry, passion, or prejudice.</p> + +<p>The harm which hasty legislation tending to violently +interfere with the entire social fabric of a people and with a +custom centuries old entails cannot be exaggerated. It +spells utter disorganisation, and has already worked incalculable +mischief in the British West African possessions by +destroying the authority and influence of the chiefs and +breaking up the whole labour of the country. The lesson<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span> +has been learned rather late in the day, and there is hope +that it will bear fruit, but the influences on the side of error +are very strong at home, and it never seems to occur to those +amongst us whose profession in life is the inculcation of +the moral virtues, that we have no greater right to destroy +or abolish domestic slavery without compensation of some +sort, if only that of substituting railway transport and portable +currency in West Africa, than we had in the West Indies or +in South Africa. Why should West Indian planters and +Cape Colonists receive compensation for the loss of their +slaves, and the African chief nothing—except bullets? The +policy of the sword and the application of twentieth-century +legislation to twelfth-century conditions, however good the +intentions, are, in the main, Imperial mistakes, for which +England may indirectly pay, but whom the present generation +of natives and the generations which come afterwards +do—and will—suffer in their persons. “It is understood”—cabled +Reuter’s agent on the Binue on September 21, 1901, +subsequent to the capture of Yola—“that Government will +not interfere for the present with domestic slavery, the evil +effects of such a policy being still felt in the provinces of +Nupe and Ilorin. It upset the internal economy of the whole +country, and the male slaves, instead of working on their +master’s farms, became rogues and vagabonds, and the +women something worse.” What a biting satire upon the +notion that immemorial customs can be changed by a stroke +of the pen without breeding disorder and social chaos! The +question of domestic slavery in Nigeria may best be +approached by once again recalling that great truth, “God’s +design in the perfecting of man’s mind is evolutionary and +not revolutionary.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII<br> +<span class="smaller">THE PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS OF NIGERIA</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The difficulty in estimating the producing capacity of the +enormous territory of Nigeria is not in stating what <i>natural</i> +products of economic value grow there, but what do not. +Nigeria is the tit-bit of West Africa, and practically every +form of vegetable growth peculiar to West Africa, or shared +by West Africa with other and less favoured tropical portions +of the globe, is to be found within its extensive limits. A +soil of surpassing richness; numerous waterways, a prolific, +industrious population—all the elements are there to +make of Nigeria under wise management a second if smaller +India, but an India unvisited by drought, or those fearful +scourges which are so terrible a drawback to the internal +prosperity of India; perchance a happier, richer India.</p> + +<p>With the exception of the oil-palm industry, everything +is in its earliest stages in Nigeria. Development is +rudimentary. Deducting palm oil and kernels, the value +of the whole of Nigeria’s exports in 1900—the only year +available—amounted to the relatively small sum of +£212,457. Rubber, ivory, timber, ground-nuts, fibres, +coffee, cocoa, gum copal and shea butter are amongst +the other products exported. The white sweet-smelling +flowers of the rubber vine are one of the commonest +sights in the forests of Nigeria. The tree, shrub and vine +rubber are all met with. The value of rubber exported +from Nigeria in 1900 was £137,289. It may increase to +almost any figure if the authorities will but take warning by +the sad experience of Lagos, enlist a brigade of trained +rubber-workers to instruct the chiefs in the science of +collecting, and prevent—which they can easily do—grossly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span> +adulterated rubber from leaving the country, and so preserve +a high standard of quality, for, in the present sorry condition +of the rubber market, low-class rubbers are almost unsaleable. +Here, again, one is compelled to preach, if it be for +the fiftieth time, co-operation between the officials and the +merchants. In French Guinea, the evils of adulteration +(for which, by the way, the merchants were, I am afraid, +primarily responsible) have been successfully combated by +a working partnership, so to speak. It is not necessary to +impose restrictions upon the freedom of the native in collecting +this product in his forests, but it is essential to +maintain a <i>permanent</i> staff of native rubber-collecting +instructors. It would cost very little, and the experiment, +if patiently and intelligently pursued, would give magnificent +results.</p> + +<p>Next in importance to rubber comes ivory, which, however, +must be regarded as a temporary commerce. Almost +the whole of the ivory trade of Nigeria hails from the Binue +region, and for many years Yola was the principal buying +depôt of the Niger Company, as much as forty tons being +sometimes purchased there in the course of the year. The +consequences of the Anglo-German Agreement of 1893 and +the Franco-German Convention of 1894 are calculated to +greatly diminish the trade. The ivory business is entirely +in the hands of Hausa traders, who make, or used to make, +most of their purchases in the famous markets of Banyo, +N’Gaundere, and Tibati, carrying the teeth overland to the +Binue and then conveying them across the river, to dispose +of either at the Niger Company’s pontoon at Yola or +factories at Ibi, Lake Bakundi, Lau, and Amageddi, or at +Kano, where it was sold for cloth and found its way eventually +to Europe, <i>viâ</i> the desert route and Tripolitan ports. +This is still done, but, for the reason stated, the volume of +trade is almost certain to diminish as the years go on. +When the ivory is sold to the Niger Company, English +manufactured cloths are purchased in exchange, and this +again is bartered by the Hausa traders against the superior +article of native make in Kano. Sometimes salt, tobacco,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span> +copper-rods, and gunpowder are in request by the ivory +traders, instead of cloth. It is always an open question +with Hausa traders which pays them best, the single transaction +if they sell direct at Kano, or the double transaction +involved by sale to the Niger Company. The chief currency +of these regions is now the cowry shell, and cowries have +a native market price just like anything else; for example, +a hundredweight of salt will equal 25 heads of cowries, or +roughly 12<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. When a tusk is brought to the factory it +is weighed on a butchers’ steelyard. The tariff per pound +is 10 heads of cowries. If the tusk weighs, say, 28 lb., it +fetches 280 heads of cowries, about £7, or £560 per ton in +barter goods, but the price actually paid for mixed ivory in +the Binue has been under £500 per ton for many years +past. The arrival of an ivory caravan is always the occasion +for a great deal of excitement. Some of these caravans +stretch over a mile in length. First comes the trader and +his friends on horseback, followed by the trader’s wives +and the various members of his household. Behind them +come the slaves, weary and footsore (slaves of Hausas be it +noted—not of Fulani), struggling under their valuable loads. +The tusks are carried sometimes on the heads and sometimes +upon the shoulders. Of course, these caravans can only +travel in the dry season, for during the rains the long marches +would be attended with enormous difficulty. There are +plenty of tricks in the ivory trade, and our Hausa friend is +very fond of putting heavy substances in the hollow of the +tusks, knowing well that if he is undetected the increased +weight will add to his profit. The Hausas call ivory “owry”<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> +and elephants “giwa.” They very often bring the flesh of +the animal, which fetches higher prices in the native markets +than beef or mutton.</p> + +<p>Gums, of which there exist many different kinds in Nigeria, +also constitute a source of future riches. There is gum +arabic (<i>Acacia senegalensis</i>) which oozes from the bark—much +like sap from a venerable cherry—and the “copals”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span> +found in solidified, translucent lumps, by digging at the +roots of acacias, and which sometimes fetch as much as £80 +per ton on the European markets. Very beautiful some of +these specimens are, varying in colour from pale lemon to +deep orange-yellow, and clear as the finest amber. These +graceful gum-trees form in many places a notable feature of +Binue scenery, and abound in many parts of Bornu, and it +is not an unusual circumstance for a Bornuese cavalcade, +including several individuals wearing the old-world surcoats +of chain armour which has so excited the interest and +curiosity of travellers in that country, to arrive at a trading-station +on the Upper Binue with a load of gum arabic for +sale. The natives of Hamarua (Muri), too, are noted gum-collectors. +As in the case of almost all Nigerian products, +the absence of competition among European purchasers +(the Niger Company, it must always be remembered, has +been the sole trader in these regions) has hitherto prevented +the natives from bringing in very large quantities of gum, +and where ivory is to be got, it is hard to induce Hausas to +go in for laborious gum collecting and picking. There can +be little doubt whatever that the gum trade is susceptible +of being increased to thousands of tons per annum. The +supplies must be almost inexhaustive. After many years of +assiduous collection, the Kauri pine forests of New Zealand +still furnish 8,000 to 10,000 tons per annum of fossil gum, +more or less similar to the West African “copals.” It can +be said without fear of exaggeration that there are hundreds +of thousands of tons of this valuable product in West Africa +waiting to be dug up. One fine day the fact will be better +realised than it is at present, and we may then expect to see +a remarkable development in the product. Among other +valuable trees freely growing in Nigeria, but of which the +economic aspects have not yet been thoroughly studied, two +at least deserve special attention. They are the Kedenia +(Kedenya) or Shea-butter tree (<i>Butyrospermum</i> or <i>Bassia +parkii</i><a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a>—the <i>beurre de Karité</i> of the French), sometimes, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span> +erroneously, called the tallow-tree, and the papain or paw-paw +(<i>Carica papaya</i>). Shea butter has of late appeared as +a regular if small export from the Niger.<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> Large forests of +it are to be found in the Lagos hinterland, and also in +Dahomey, where the French hope to exploit it when their +railway enters the zone of production. Shea butter fetches +about £24 to £26 per ton in Europe. It contains certain +medicinal properties of a purgative nature, I believe, and is +said to form a component part of the well-known Elliman’s +Embrocation. By the inhabitants of Nigeria the butter of +the Kedenia is held in high esteem, and is put to a number +of varied uses: medicinally, for cooking purposes, &c. The +Fulani dose their horses internally with it, and also rub it +on the sores which the cumbrous high-peaked saddles of the +country frequently produce on the backs of their steeds. +The Kanuri, or Bornuese, use it to light their lamps with, +and other tribes believe it to be a sure cure for rheumatism. +There seems to be a possibility of the shea-butter tree being +put to a second use; recent experiments have shown that +the latex furnished by this tree contains properties similar +to gutta-percha.<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> The butter- or tallow-tree (<i>Pendatesma +butyracæ</i>), which is often confounded with the shea-butter +tree, is an entirely different tree, belonging to the genus +<i>Guttifera</i>, whereas the shea butter is of the genus <i>Sapotacæ</i>. +The French appear to have been the first to make any +economic use of this tree, and for the first time last year, +when a trial shipment of nuts was forwarded from Conakry +to Marseilles by the leading French firm of merchants in +the former place. The nuts when crushed were found to +yield a valuable oil possessing ingredients which render it +particularly applicable for the manufacture of candles. +That wise and brilliant administrator, the late Dr. Ballay, +Governor-General of French West Africa, left a legacy of +priceless worth behind him in the shape of officials reared +in his school and imbued with his sentiments, and M.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span> +Cousturier, the present very able Governor of French Guinea, +has taken up this subject of the tallow-tree nut—“lamy” as +it is called—most energetically, in co-operation with the +council of merchants established in that Colony. My latest +information on the subject is that further shipments of +“lamy” nuts from French Guinea have taken place to +Marseilles, Hamburg, and Bremen, and that the prospects +of disposing of the nuts to seed-crushers at remunerative +prices is assured. It remains to be seen whether the nut +can be produced in adequate quantities in French Guinea. +I have not been able to positively ascertain whether the +tallow-tree occurs in Nigeria, but there is every probability +that it does, and if so, it will be another vegetable product +of value to be added to Nigeria’s long list.<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> + +<p>Seldom is it that on village market-days in Nigeria the +golden pear-shaped fruit of the <i>paw-paw</i> does not appear +for sale. The natives look upon paw-paw fruit in the +double light of a delicacy and article of considerable utility. +The juicy milk of the fruit, and the large, handsome leaves +contain the singular property of making hard meat tender, +a peculiarity which has given rise to many “travellers’ tales” +on the coast. The toughest steak is rendered soft and +agreeable to the palate by being rubbed with the juice of +the paw-paw, or wrapped round in its leaves. The active<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span> +principle of the dried juice of the paw-paw is somewhat +akin in nature to pepsin, and is regularly used as a substitute +for the latter in France and Germany. So far, the +demand is small, but there seems every likelihood that it +will increase. In connection with the future development +of the paw-paw in Nigeria, it is interesting to note that a +small factory for the preparation of pepsin from this fruit +has been established within recent years in the Island of +Montserrat. In addition to the trees already mentioned, +the kola (<i>Sterculia acuminata</i>, sometimes termed the <i>Sterculia +cola</i>), the gutta-percha, the giant baobab (<i>Adansonia +digitata</i>) or monkey bread-fruit tree, and the bamboo palm +(<i>Raphia vinifera</i>) must be briefly touched upon. The kola-nut +is to the Fulani, the Hausa, the Kanuri, the Songhay, +&c., what coffee is to the Arab and opium to the Chinese—a +never-failing panacea. So indispensable is the kola to the +daily existence of the native of Northern Nigeria, so +enormous the demand, that the Hausa journeys thousands +of miles to the districts of the Niger bend (the Gold Coast +hinterland chiefly), and even to the Gambia hinterland and +the valley of the Senegal, to barter his blue cottons for this +much-sought-after fruit. European science will, no doubt, +eventually succeed in so improving the quality of the Nigerian +kola as to make these long journeys yearly less necessary. +Kola plantations should then become a lucrative feature of +Nigerian industry.</p> + +<p>Gutta-percha is as valuable an article of commerce, and +as greatly in demand for European manufactures, as rubber +itself. In Nigeria gutta-percha is collected immediately the +rainy season is over, the sap at that time of year flowing +more freely from the tree. In coagulating, the milk assumes +a reddish tinge.</p> + +<p>The baobab has been aptly termed the monarch of the +African vegetable kingdom. From the bark of the <i>kuka</i>, as +the Hausas call it, excellent ropes and strings for musical +instruments are fashioned, while the fruit, when crushed +and dried, furnishes the natives with an excellent substitute +for sponges.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp61" id="illus12" style="max-width: 35.9375em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus12.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>A BAOBAB<br> + <span class="smcap">The Giant of West African Flora</span></p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span></p> + +<p>Vast groves of the bamboo palm (<i>R. vinifera</i>) exist in +many parts of Southern Nigeria, and although but little +utilised at present, experiments have demonstrated that the +fibre derived from the branches of this palm is capable of producing +an excellent and durable bass<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> somewhat similar in +quality to that which is obtained from the allied spices, the +<i>Raffia ruffia</i> of Madagascar, the demand for which on the +European market is already extensive.</p> + +<p>Date palms, dum palms, and cocoa-nut palms, lemons, +bananas, plantains, sweet potatoes, yams, sugar-cane, hemp, +tobacco, benni seed,<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> pepper, cassada, castor seed, capaiva—Nigeria +produces all these in more or less abundance, +according to the locality, and also ground-nuts and large +quantities of capsicums (red pepper). The valuable indigo +plant is widely cultivated by Hausas and Fulani, and Kano +owes much of its wealth to the dyeing industry carried on +by the natives. The native-woven Kano cloth, dyed a deep +indigo blue, is renowned all over Northern, Western and +Central Africa. With European skill, the cultivation of +indigo in Nigeria may possibly have a future before it, +although the present outlook is not encouraging.</p> + +<p>The cotton shrub grows luxuriantly in Northern Nigeria, +and the cloth manufactured from it by the natives can +favourably compare, for durability and fineness of texture, +with the best Manchester article. There may yet be a great +cotton industry in Nigeria, but the subject of cotton cultivation +in West Africa is sufficiently large to justify a special +chapter.</p> + +<p>Ebony, mahogany and other valuable cabinet woods +abound in the enormous untapped forests of Southern +Nigeria, and if no peddling restrictions are placed upon the +development of the timber industry, it should reach large +proportions. Sapelli is beginning to have some importance +as the foremost port of shipment for Southern Nigeria timber.</p> + +<p>Nigeria also produces cereals in plenty, such as maize or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span> +Indian corn, millet, rice, barley, guinea corn, gero, &c., and +on the high plateaux coffee, tea, and perhaps vanilla could +be grown.</p> + +<p>As far as minerals are concerned, silver,<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> tin, antimony +and stone potash<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> are known to exist in several parts of +Nigeria, but none of them, save the latter, have been +worked. When the country has been better explored and +surveyed, gold and copper may also be found (small quantities +of gold dust are sometimes sold by the Kanuri to +Fezzan and Ghadamseen merchants), but their presence in +any extent is at present problematical.</p> + +<p>Tin is known to exist up the Binue, and an English Syndicate +has been formed to explore and report upon the tin-bearing +possibilities of certain districts. The Niger Company +are about to start prospecting operations, and the +Germans are also said to be studying the same subject at +Garua.</p> + +<p>Such, briefly enumerated, are the chief natural products +of Nigeria, the most fertile and prolific portion of the +Central African Continent, towards which has gravitated +a commercial movement from north, east and west for +centuries past. Such eminent authorities, in their respective +ways, as Barth, Nachtigal, Monteil, Thomson, &c., speak in +terms of unbounded admiration of the fruitfulness and the +beauty of these regions, and all the information brought +by travellers and explorers of lesser importance only tends +to confirm the assertion of the great geographer Reclus, +that the countries of the Chad Basin are the richest in +Africa.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV<br> +<span class="smaller">RUBBER-COLLECTING IN NIGERIA</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>I have already briefly alluded to the vegetable products of +Nigeria. The collection of rubber, however, presents many +features of interest, and deserves more extended treatment.</p> + +<p>Of late years the West African rubber industry has grown +enormously. In some cases the increase has been phenomenal. +The Niger Coast Protectorate and the Gold Coast +have within the space of six years more than doubled their +rubber exports. The performance of Lagos has been still +more remarkable, although unfortunately the wastefulness, +or perhaps it would be fairer to say the lack of scientific +knowledge on the part of the natives in tapping the trees and +vines, has led to a notable falling off in production during +the last three years. It seems evident that Western Africa +may in time rival Brazil as the rubber-producing country of +the world.</p> + +<p>The rubber found in West Africa is of various kinds. The +place of honour, so far as our own Colonies are concerned, +may be given to the rubber-tree properly so-called, <i>Kickxia +Africana</i> (the “Ere” or “Ireh” of the natives), and a beautiful +tree it is, springing up clean and smooth to a height of +sixty feet. Then come various species of <i>Ficus</i>, and last, +but not least, the <i>Landolphias</i>, or rubber-vines.</p> + +<p>In Nigeria rubber is found, roughly speaking, from +Abutshi, 120 miles up the river Niger, as far as Jebba on the +Niger and Yola on the Binue. We will suppose that a +rubber-collecting expedition has been decided upon by the +inhabitants of some village fifteen or twenty miles from the +river side (rubber in Nigeria is scarce on the actual river +banks).</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span></p> + +<p>Soon after dawn all the available men and women gather +together—a light-hearted, jabbering crowd. Extraordinary +animation reigns throughout the village. The ground is +strewn with the implements necessary to the rubber-collector’s +art, and with the victuals essential to the sustenance of +his body while the work is being pursued. They include +such varied articles as calabashes, “matchets,” knives, dried +yam in bags, and fresh water in bottles which once contained +that delectable, throat-peeling liquid known as Hamburg +gin. Mingled with them, in apparently hopeless confusion, +numerous spears and flint-lock guns lie scattered. There is +generally something or other on the prowl in an African +forest in the shape of leopards, or “humans,” or spirits—and +it is just as well to be prepared for any emergency. +Hence these warlike accompaniments, calculated to deceive +the inexperienced into a belief that raiding and not rubber +is in question.</p> + +<p>Through the village and beyond it, passing plantations of +millet, yams, Indian corn and cassava, winds the caravan, +until the fringe of the forest looms near. Then, abruptly +parting with the bright sunlight and the waving fields, we +plunge headlong into an atmosphere of gloomy, fantastic +weirdness, and disappear amid the silent shadows of the +giant trees. By this time the caravan is reduced to single-file +formation. It has stretched out for a mile or more along +the narrow curling path, which often takes the form of an +almost complete circle, those who compose its extreme rear +being within hailing distance of the leaders, while between +the two extremities and the centre is a broad belt of impenetrable +bush. And what a solemnity broods over all! +Everything is hushed. The bare feet of the natives sink +noiselessly on generations of fallen, rotting leaves. The air +is damp, humid, and enervating. We glide along in the +semi-religious light as though oppressed by some vast, undefined, +awesome presence. It is a world of great black +shadows and mysterious depths; and within it the soul +shrinks and falters beneath a weight of indescribable, all-potent, +unnerving melancholy. A hot breath, laden with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span> +sickly and overpowering perfume, rises in stifling gusts till +the brain reels, and you long with a great yearning for air +and light and waving fields. And then, suddenly, a glimpse +of Paradise. Shattered by lightning, or perchance, riddled +by the larvæ of some monstrous coleoptera, a forest giant +has tumbled headlong, tearing by the impetus of his fall a +great rent in the sombre dome above, through which, though +chastened and subdued, the sun’s rays filter down upon the +path beneath. There, in that temporary clearing, Nature +seems to have lavished all her gifts. Festoons of glorious +orchids stretch out their capricious blooms, asking to be +plucked. The wild tamarind, with its exquisite, plum-coloured, +plush-like fruit, invites the touch. Round flowers +and fruit flutter countless brilliantly coloured butterflies, +and the glimpse of a deep tropical blue, far, far overhead, +completes the fairy sight. No palm-fringed oasis among +shifting sands can be more blessed to the traveller than these +gem-like clearings amid the sullen gloom of the tropical +forests of Western Africa.</p> + +<p>But to return, with apologies for this digression, to our +rubber-collectors. No sooner has the member of a caravan—every +one acts, as a rule, independently of his fellow—pitched +upon a spot which seems propitious, than down +comes the load off his head. A little preliminary in the +shape of refreshment is ever conducive to good labour, so recourse +is had to the <i>ci-devant</i> gin-bottle and the dried yams. +These inner cravings having been satisfied, the rubber-collector +makes with his “matchet” a number of transverse +incisions in the bark of an adjacent rubber-tree, or vine,<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> +as the case may be; hangs his calabashes (empty gourds) +beneath the cruel rent, sees that the sap is running; looks +round for more trees, makes more incisions, hangs up more +calabashes; and then, feeling fully satisfied with his labours, +casts himself down upon the ground and lies there awhile, +heedless of the crawling legions of the insect fraternity. +Every now and then he will lazily rise and make the round<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span> +of the trees he has tapped, to assure himself that the sap is +flowing freely into the calabashes. A really good workman +will collect three or four pounds of rubber a day, so that, +taking an average of, say, two pounds for each individual, a +caravan numbering one hundred and fifty souls will gather +a considerable quantity of the stuff in a comparatively short +time. The sap is then boiled in an iron pot to make it +coagulate, salt and lime being sometimes added to help the +process of solidification. It is then rolled into balls. When +the calabashes are full the homeward march begins.</p> + +<p>The home-coming of the caravan is marked by congratulations +on the part of those who stayed behind, and every +proud owner of a calabash or two of rubber recounts to the +members of an admiring household the wild and terrible +adventures (in the shape of spooks, leopards, and what not) +which have befallen him in the forest.</p> + +<p>The last stage in the business, so far as the native is concerned, +has then to be carried out. The rubber having been +collected, it must be sold. So off goes the collector to the +nearest trading station with the spoil. Now, if the commercial +ways of the Heathen Chinee are dark, the ways of the +Heathen son of Ham are much the same on occasion. The +rubber, he knows, is bought by weight. Primitive reasoning +convinces him that if he rolls his rubber round a stone or +bullet, not only will the ball weigh more, but he will be able +to make more balls out of the rubber he has collected. The +consequence is that the European trader, when he cuts the +rubber ball in two (being used to these little pranks), frequently +comes across a stone, bullet, or other heavy substance +embedded in the centre, to the unbounded astonishment, +needless to remark, of our friend the collector, +who cannot for the life of him understand who placed +it there, and asserts, with much emphasis and gesticulation, +that only a ju-ju or spirit of the most depraved +character could have played an honest man so low-down a +trick.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus13" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus13.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>WASHING RUBBER</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>When the rubber has finally passed into the white trader’s +hands, after the preliminary native preparation, it is still<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span> +found to contain a large proportion of water (about 10<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> per +cent.) and emits a most disagreeable odour. This water has +to be ejected before the rubber is fit for the European +market. The balls or cakes are therefore placed in a pressing +machine, resembling an ordinary mangle, then cleaned of +the impurities which may still remain, and finally cut into +strips, soaked in sea-water to prevent “sweating,” and +shipped in wooden casks.<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> + +<p>The rubber trade of Nigeria is only in its infancy, and the +advent of competitive private enterprise into the Niger +territories should have the effect of stimulating the industry +to a notable extent.</p> + +<p>The unfortunate destruction of the rubber trees and vines +in the Lagos forests has been instrumental in producing a +<i>furor</i> of restrictive legislation on the part of the authorities. +There is grave doubt as to whether this method of approaching +the subject is not mistaken and likely to defeat its own +ends. It is incongruous, to say the least of it, to first of all +encourage the native to exploit a new product, to give him +no scientific instruction or training in the process, and then, +when the inevitable happens, to express great indignation at +his villainous capacity for mischief, and frame legislation +calculated to interfere with his free use of his own property! +It is not the general custom of the native to destroy a product +out of which he makes money. In the case of the oil-palm, +in the usage of which they have been long accustomed, +the native chiefs themselves legislate against over-tapping, +witness the “porroh” of the Mendis. It is a matter of instruction. +It is notorious that the crisis in the Lagos rubber +industry is entirely attributable to the gross foolishness displayed +by the authorities in the first instance in not taking +the necessary means to teach the natives the art of rational +production. What is wanted is the creation of small centres +of instruction in every district, where the natives could come +for information, where various products could be shown,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span> +tested and commented upon. The official in charge would +have no powers whatever conferred upon him in a political +sense, but would be connected, of course, with the Government. +His duty would be that of instructor, supervisor, +guide, and assistant. He would certainly be welcomed by +the chiefs, so long as they were assured that his <i>rôle</i> was +entirely divorced from political designs. The experience +would cost very little, and the benefits accruing therefrom, +both as regards the perfecting of existing native industries +and the stimulation of new ones, would be considerable, and +would do away with the necessity, or alleged necessity, of +subsequent legislation of an irritating character. A little +more of that sort of thing and a little less blood-letting and +“murder of native institutions,” as Miss Kingsley used to +put it, in order to improve them, would be very desirable.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV<br> +<span class="smaller">THE FULANI IN NIGERIA</span></h3> + +<p>“Remember that Paradise is found under the shadow of swords. These +wretches are come to fight for an impious cause. We have called them into +the right way, and to reward us they threaten us with arms. Meet this attack +with courage and be certain of victory for the Prophet has said, ‘Even if a +mountain is guilty against another mountain, it is swallowed up in the +earth.’”—The speech of <span class="smcap">Othman</span>, the Fulani conqueror of Hausa, to his +soldiers on the outbreak of war.</p> + +</div> + +<p>“The King of Gober took many of their cows. The Phulas +said nothing. He returned again to seize their cows. The +Phulas said, ‘Is it right on us to take vengeance?’ But +the King of Gober took some of their cows and returned +them to them, saying, ‘Let there be peace between us; you +leave this place and return to some place near me.’ They +replied they would not go. In the morning he commenced +fighting with them, with one thousand horse soldiers to seize +the Phulas; but they drove him back with great force. From +that time he did not make open war with them again; but +he brought poison, put it into the water, and all who did +drink of it died. After this the Phulas made war with him, +and when they had conquered his people, they caught many +of them and made them slaves; in this way it was that the +Phulas got possession of Gober. In the same way it was +that they sent their people to all parts of Hausa and fought +with the Pagans.”<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> Thus does a native version explain the +origin of the great Fulani uprising in the Hausa States in the +early part of last century which started a great wave of +Muslim conquest, sweeping southwards from the Chad +Basin almost to the ocean. “We will dip the Koran in the +sea,” swore the conquering host of white-clad horsemen, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span> +but for the concentration of the agricultural Yorubas, which +checked their advance and led to their overthrow, by a night +surprise, outside the walls of Osogbo,<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> they would have fulfilled +their vow.</p> + +<p>The story of the Fulani revolution—misnamed by some +“invasion”—in Hausa has been often told, sometimes correctly,<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> +sometimes with obvious bias against the reformers, +and <i>minus</i> several important facts, such, for instance, as the +co-operation which the revolutionists sought and found +among the Hausas themselves. To describe it once again +would be superfluous. Suffice it to say that “victims of persecution,” +as their own records assert and as Barth confirms, +and as we are at least as warranted in believing as those +other accounts which make them out to be the oppressors +rather than the oppressed; in much the same position of +social and political inferiority to men whose intellectual +superiors they are, as their compatriots find themselves +to-day in Borgu, the pastoral Fulani of Northern Nigeria, +remembering the performances of other of their brethren +when similarly situated, and acting under the influence of +their mallam Zaky, or Othman Dan Fodio, to give him his +European appellation, flung aside the crook, took to the +sword, and with the name of “Allah” on their lips completely +subjugated in a few short years the mutually antagonistic +Hausa States, made themselves masters of the +principal cities, converted the natives to Islam, and so ably +and justly administered the country,<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> that, in Clapperton’s +words, “The whole country, when not in state of war, was so +well regulated that it was a common saying that a woman +might travel with a cask of gold upon her head, from one +end of the Fellatah<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> dominions to the other.”<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> + From cattle<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span> +rearers and herdsmen the Fulani temporarily became warriors, +administrators and statesmen, a minority retaining these +attributes to this day, while the bulk of the people continue +their usual avocations. Their capacity for combination +enabled them to overcome the Hausa States, perpetually +engaged in intestine quarrels; their statesmanship induced +them to foster and encourage the caravan trade with the +Tripolitan ports; their administrative genius was observable +in a hundred ways, not the least in obtaining their revenue +by the maintenance of existing forms of taxation.<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Their +intense religious zeal has been so communicative that the +Hausas have never even fractionally relapsed into Paganism.<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> +When we contemplate the achievements of the Fulani in +Nigeria we are lost in wonder, and there is no difficulty in +endorsing what Sir Frederick Lugard has said of them—and +what many French administrators and officers have said +before him—“they are born rulers and incomparably above +the negroid tribes in ability.” What potent allies these men +can be to the wise administration which makes use of their +services in Western Africa, which gains their confidence and +enlists their sympathies!</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus14" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus14.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>FULANI SWORD</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The wholesale manner in which the Fulani have succeeded +in stamping their individuality upon the races with +whom they have come in contact is astonishing. Everywhere +in their wonderful <i>trek</i> from east to west, and from +west to south, from the valley of the Senegal to the valley of +the Binue, new and more virile generations have sprung up +beneath their fertile tread, destined in the course of time to +found for themselves separate kingdoms, almost to become<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128"></a>[128]</span> +separate nationalities. Thus in Futa Jallon, that mountainous +region abounding in the fine cattle the Fulani themselves +introduced in the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries, and +which before the French occupation supplied the Freetown +markets with fresh meat, we find the Fulani powerfully +affecting the ethnic elements of the country by their unions +with the indigenous Jalonkes and Mandingoes. In Senegambia, +a well-nigh distinct race has arisen in the Tukulors, +Fulani crossed with Joloff and Mandingo. Hausas and +Kanuri of Bornu, Tuareg of the southern confederations, +and Susus from the Northern Rivers<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> have all received an +infusion of Fulani blood. And yet the pure Fulani element +has preserved itself, and while absorbing countless tribes +and becoming itself greatly modified in certain districts, has +succeeded in perpetuating the parent strain which has never +been absorbed.<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> At the present time may be found, scattered +throughout the Western Sudan, in the Futa Jallon +highlands, and in the regions abutting upon Lake Chad—in +Adamawa notably—the same type of nomadic herdsmen, +refined, hospitable and courteous in demeanour, simple and +patriarchal in his habits, with clear-cut features and copper-coloured +or olive-tinged complexion, who tended his hump-backed +cattle and roman-nosed sheep a thousand years ago +in the oasis of Tuat and the plains round Timbuctoo. And +by his side, his wives, rejoicing in a greater degree of liberty +and authority in the household than any of their African +sisters, with the charm of another land upon them, soft-eyed, +spice-loving daughters of the East, from whence they came +in those dim and distant days shrouded in impenetrable +mist.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp53" id="illus15" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus15.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>PURE-BRED FULANI GIRL, ADAMAWA</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The history of the Fulani is not confined to Nigeria. +Their rise to power in the old Hausa States, and the foundation +of the Sokoto Empire is, as we have seen, quite a modern +event, and it is only partially accurate to say that their +dominating influence in inland Western Africa dated from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a>[129]</span> +the Jihad of Othman. The latter’s successes certainly inspired +the Fulani (but perhaps more especially the cross +races of Fulani blood) west of the Niger to warlike deeds. +The Fulani revolution in Hausa was followed by the Fulani +uprising in Segu against the pagan Bambarras and Soninkes. +Timbuctoo fell into their power in 1826. Mohammed Lebo +started a crusade in Massina, directed as much against the +pagans as against his co-religionists and compatriots, for +their lack of zeal and the impurities which had crept into +their religious observances. After Mohammed Lebo, the +great Tukulor chief, El-Haji-Omar, a man of remarkable +ability, belonging to the fanatical sect of the Tijaniyah, +gathered an immense host around him, by means of which +he waged war on all and sundry, showing particular +animosity towards the parent stock from which he sprang. +But his religious zeal was untempered by political purpose, +his constructive powers appear to have been small, he fought +entirely for his own hand, and his collision with and subsequent +defeats by the French resulted in the revolt of those +who had suffered from his excesses. It is a curious fact +that he should have finally been driven to desperation and +suicide, and his power extinguished, by the Fulani themselves, +notwithstanding the ties of blood which bound them +to the Tukulors, from among whom Omar naturally obtained +most of his recruits. Nevertheless, El-Haji-Omar is still a +name to conjure with in the Western Sudan, and other +adventurers of his type have from time to time given the +French a deal of trouble. But the Fulani had been masters +in a considerable portion of Western Africa long before +Othman raised his standard in Gober of Hausa. In the +next chapter endeavour will be made to search the earliest +records throwing light upon the presence of the Fulani +in Western Africa. This will help us to approach the +problem of the origin of a race which constitutes the ruling +factor in the foremost, in point of size and importance, of +the British Protectorates in West Africa.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130"></a>[130]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI<br> +<span class="smaller">THE FULANI IN WEST AFRICAN HISTORY</span></h3> + +<p>“In every kingdom and country on each side of the river there are some +people of a tawny colour called Pholeys.... They live in hoards or clans, +build towns, and are not subject to any kings of the country, though they live +in their territories: for if they are ill-treated in one nation they break up their +towns and remove to another. They have chiefs of their own, who rule with +so much moderation that every act of government seems rather an act of the +people than of one man.... They plant near their houses tobacco, and all +round their towns they open for cotton, which they fence in together; beyond +that are their corn-fields, of which they raise four kinds.... They are the +greatest planters in the country, though they are strangers in it. They are +very industrious and frugal, and raise more corn and cotton than they consume, +which they sell at a reasonable price, and are very hospitable and kind +to all; so that to have a Pholey town in the neighbourhood is by the natives +reckoned a blessing.... As they have plenty of food, they never suffer any +of their own nation to want; but support the old, the blind, and lame equally +with the others; and, as far as their ability goes, assist the wants of the +Mandingoes, great numbers of whom they have maintained in famines.”—<span class="smcap">Francis +Moore</span> on the Fulani of the Gambia (1734).</p> + +<p>“A race in which self-reliance and colonising instincts are prominently +developed. Education and mental training are carefully attended to. In +every town and village are men who devote themselves to the instruction of +youth. Nearly every man and woman can at least read Arabic. Under the +enlightened rule of Alimami Ibrahim Suri, life is held in reverence, property +is sacred, robbery committed in the highway is punishable with death.... +There is a woman in Timbo who knows the whole of the Moallaket by heart, +an accomplishment in Semitic lore which many an Oriental scholar in Europe +might envy.”—<span class="smcap">Dr. Blyden</span> on the Fulani in Futa-Jallon.</p> + +<p>“They occupy a high place in the scale of intelligence.”—<span class="smcap">Baikie</span> on the +Fulani of Northern Nigeria.</p> + +</div> + +<p>The earliest mention we have of an Empire existing in West +Africa is contained in the <i>Tarik</i>,<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> a history of the Western +Sudan, written in the seventeenth century by one Abderrahman +ben Abdallah ben Imran ben Amir Es-Sa’di, and +apparently ascribed by Barth in error to the celebrated +<i>savant</i> of Timbuctoo, Ahmed Baba. That Empire was the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>[131]</span> +Empire of Ghanata, so called from its capital Ghana, which +has been identified with Walata or Biru. The spread of the +Empire was enormous and extended to the Atlantic, embracing +the valleys of the Senegal and the Gambia. Ghana +was situate in the central province of the Empire, by name +Baghena, the modern Bakunu according to Commandant +Binger. The <i>Tarik</i> states that twenty-two kings had reigned +in Ghanata prior to the Hejira. Barth approximated the +foundation of Ghanata to 300 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> It was attacked and +defeated in the eighth century<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> by a Berber tribe (Zanaga, +Senhaja?), the invaders subsequently succumbing, at what +period is obscure, to the Mandingoes—or Mandingo-Fulani, +<i>i.e.</i> Tukulors—who from its ruins constructed another +Empire which grew to even larger proportions, that of Melli, +Melle,<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> or Mali, as it is variously spelt. Who were the +original founders of the Ghanata or Walata Empire?</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="illus16" style="max-width: 28.125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus16.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>FULANI CHIEF—FUTA JALLON</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Dr. Robert Brown, in his most admirable edition of Pory’s +translation of Leo,<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> says: “Walata is the Arab and Tuareg +name, while Biru is the one applied to it by the Negro Azer, +a section of the Aswanek, who are the original inhabitants +of the place.” At the time the above was written no complete +copy<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> of the <i>Tarik</i> was obtainable, and Dr. Brown +was unable consequently to consult the work, and to observe +how closely it corroborates Barth’s famous chronological +history of the Songhay. Had he done so the passage in +question would, no doubt, have undergone modification, for +the <i>Tarik</i> distinctly tells us that the name of the original +founder of the Ghanata (Walata) dynasty was Quaia-Magha,<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>[132]</span> +and Magha, as M. O. Houdas points out, is a Fufulde word +meaning “great.” Thus it is legitimate to assume, in view of +the absence of rebutting evidence, that the original founders +of probably the oldest Empire in West Africa, of the first +Empire at any rate of which record is left to us, were of +Fulani blood. In any case, it would appear to point conclusively +to the existence of the Fulani language, and therefore +to the presence of the Fulani in the Senegal region of +West Africa from the very earliest times.</p> + +<p>It may be argued that a single word is a slender basis +upon which to construct a theory. But when it is borne in +mind (1) that the ensuing historical record of the very same +region, 1500 years later, viz. the arrival at the court of the +Bornuese king Biri of two religious chiefs <i>of the Fulani of +Melle</i>, proves the presence of the Fulani in the country +which the <i>Tarik</i> asserts was ruled over by a king with a +Fulfulde<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> affix to his name; (2) that every successive account, +both Arabic and European, referring to the same region +corroborates the circumstance, it will be conceded that the +assumption goes far beyond mere plausibility. There is +every reason to believe that the Fulani were numerous in +the Empire of Melle<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> (if, indeed, the rulers of that Empire +were not of mixed Fulani blood, which seems probable<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a>), +sometimes in the ascendant, sometimes the under-dogs, +according as their political fortunes rose and fell.<a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> In the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>[133]</span> +middle of the fifteenth century they were certainly the ruling +race in Baghena (the central province, as already stated, of +the Ghanata Empire, which seems to have preserved its +name subsequent to the Mellian conquest), having succeeded +apparently in getting the upper hand. We know this from +the Songhay records, which tell us that at that period Askia, +the powerful Songhay king, “conquered Baghena and slew +the Fulani chieftain Damba-Dumbi.”<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> Thirty years before +that event the chief of Baghena was also a Fulani, as is +testified by the records of Askia’s predecessor. About 1450 +Ca-de-Mosto speaks of “el rey dos Fullos” on the banks of +the Senegal. Later on, John II. of Portugal sends an +embassy to Tamala, “powerful king of the Fulas.” De +Barros, the Portuguese historian, refers to a great war, +“incendia de guerra,” in the Senegal country (1534). +Masses of Fulani, says de Barros, left the country of +“Futa”—probably Futa-Toro—in a southerly direction. So +numerous was the host, he continues, that “it dried up the +rivers in its passage.” Marmol also refers to this southward +movement. The Fulani, “who had raised so formidable an +army in the southern parts of the province of ‘Fura’ (Futa) +which borders on Mandingo, which they were marching +against, that they pretended it dried up rivers.”<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> No doubt +that was the beginning of the Fulani migration into Bondu +and Bambuk, to be followed at a subsequent period by a +continuation of the movement into Futa-Jallon. The <i>Tarik</i> +gives us the story of the foundation of the Fulani State of +Toro by Salta Tayenda, “the false prophet,” in 1511.<a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> +According to the <i>Tarik</i>, the Fulani were ruling as far eastward<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>[134]</span> +as Masina in the fifteenth century, and Barth’s chronological +table of the Songhay mentions an expedition by a +Songhay king against the Fulani of Gurma, still farther east.</p> + +<p>Coming to a later period, we have Jobson (1628) talking of +the Fulani as oppressed by, and in subjection to, the Mandingoes +in the Gambia region. In 1697 the Sieur de Brüe +pays his first visit, on behalf of the French Senegal Company, +to the court of the Fulani ruler on the Senegal River. +Labat’s description of the event is most picturesque. They +were the days when African monarchs were treated with +respect by the European who desired to trade with their +subjects. Even the cynical prelate to whom we are indebted +for the relation of Brüe’s voyage, and who chuckles over the +small villainies practised upon the Fulani by the Company, +expresses astonishment with the Fulani institutions, the +judiciary and administrative systems, the agricultural and +commercial aptitude of the inhabitants. “As far as the eye +could reach,” he says, quoting from Brüe’s papers, “not an +inch of ground was left uncultivated or neglected.” Farther +on he speaks of “vast plains covered with cattle.” “They”—the +Fulani—he continues, “cultivate the soil with care +and make abundant harvests of large and small millet, +cotton, tobacco, peas and other vegetables, and they rear +prodigious quantities of cattle.” In short, we find the same +well-defined characteristics in the Fulani Empire in the +Senegal of the seventeenth century as are observable in their +Empires of more recent date. Herdsmen and agriculturists +by nature, they produce, when circumstances have placed +the government of the countries in which they have settled +into their hands, a class of statesmen and administrators.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="illus17" style="max-width: 28.125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus17.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>HALF-CASTE FULANI GIRL—FUTA-JALLON</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>I have quoted a considerable number of authorities—the +list might easily be extended—to show that the Fulani have +lived in the Senegal and Gambia region from remote times, +and that their identification by the <i>Tarik</i>, and by Barth, +with the Ghanata Empire, estimated by the latter to date +back to <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 300, is, therefore, inherently probable. From +the region in which they have alternately been rulers and +ruled, and where they reside to-day under French domination, +the Fulani have gradually spread themselves south and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>[135]</span> +east, throughout almost the entire region of inland Western +Africa. The movement continues and is one of the most +interesting ethnological factors in Western Africa. On the +west, the forest belt has prevented the Fulani from reaching +the ocean, although on two occasions they were very nearly +doing so, from behind Lagos in the middle of last century, +as mentioned in the previous chapter; from behind Sierra +Leone about thirty years before their defeat at Osogbo, their +cavalry (as in Yoruba) being ineffective against the opposition +of the forest dwellers, Sulimas and others—the free +Negroes of the Sierra Leone Protectorate, upon whom +Downing Street in its wisdom imposed a property tax in +1898. Ashanti tradition mentions the advent of “red men” +from the interior as a contributive cause of their migration +southward.<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> To-day the Fulani have reached the borders +of the great Congo forest, and according to some accounts +are present in very large numbers on the Sangha River.<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> +Will they seek to penetrate the forest or will they turn aside, +oblique to the north,<a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> once more and, as though impelled +forward by an inscrutable decree of Providence, gravitate +imperceptibly towards the spot where they crossed into the +Dark Continent from Asia, and first set foot upon that +African soil which for some four thousand years has been +their home?</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136"></a>[136]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII<br> +<span class="smaller">ORIGIN OF THE FULANI</span></h3> + +<p>“The most interesting of all African tribes.... A distinct race.”—<span class="smcap">Dr. +Barth</span>, “Travels in Central Africa” (5-volume edition).</p> + +</div> + +<p>Of all the mysteries which lie hidden, or but half unveiled, +within the bosom of the still mysterious Continent of Africa, +there is none that presents a more absorbing or more +fascinating interest than the origin of the race which has +infused its individuality throughout inland Western Africa, +and whose fertilising influence is visible from the banks of +the Senegal to the Chad.</p> + +<p>In the previous chapter it has, I venture to believe, been +fairly established that the Fulani are indubitably associated +with our earliest available records of Western Africa, and +that, with the exception of Hanno’s narrative (touched upon +presently), every important reference, spread over many +centuries, to the portion of Western Africa between the tenth +and twentieth parallels of North latitude, bears witness, +directly or indirectly, to the presence of the Fulani within +that region at a remote period.<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> Whence came this people, +which differentiates so radically in colour, form, habits, +customs and manners from the Negroes among whom they +have settled, and which dominated in the valley of the +Senegal as far back as the fourth century?</p> + +<p>Their own legends; their complexion and structure; +their mental development and physical characteristics, all +point emphatically to the East as the cradle of the Fulani +race; a “distinct race,” as Dr. Barth truly says, and not the +bastard product which some would make out.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus18" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus18.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>LOW-CASTE FULANI, WESTERN SUDAN</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a>[137]</span></p> + +<p>Before attempting to piece together the various threads +which in the aggregate amount, in my humble opinion, to a +virtual demonstration, it may be well to state that the +Eastern theory numbers opponents who, from their position +and attainments, compel our attention. There are those +who entertain the belief that the Fulani belong to the +Berber stock. There are others who think—and this I +cannot but regard as wildly improbable—that the Fulani +are of Nigritic extraction. M. Marcel Dubois, the brilliant +author of “Timbuctoo the Mysterious,”<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> whose treatment +of the Fulani is anything but impartial, categorically denies +the Eastern theory. “It was from the West,” he says, “from +the Senegalese Adrar (Aderer of British maps), from the +land of sand extending north of the Senegal that they came.” +“The Foulbes,” he continues, “had been driven towards the +Sudan, very probably when the Moors, expelled from Spain, +invaded Adrar.” M. Dubois finds corroboration of his views +in a passage of the <i>Tarik</i> (which, being written by an Arab, +is necessarily biased against the Fulani) to the effect +that the “Foulbes originated in the country of Tischitt.” +I venture, very respectfully, to differ from M. Dubois. +According to Leo, the Moors or Berbers conquered Ghanata +in the eighth century, the ruling caste at that time, as both +the <i>Tarik</i> and also Barth’s records lead us to infer, being of +Fulani blood, which in itself casts doubt upon M. Dubois’ +assertion. But the more one endeavours to reconcile +M. Dubois’ contention with existing records, the less sound +does it appear. The Moorish power in Spain was not +finally extinguished until towards the close of the fifteenth +century. Nevertheless, it may be said that the Moorish +cause was lost in Europe, and that their expulsion commenced +with the defeat of Salado in 1340.<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> We can, therefore, +for the sake of argument, take the middle of the +fourteenth century as the period, approximately, when the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138"></a>[138]</span> +Moors began to be “expelled from Spain.” This would be +about the time when, in M. Dubois’ view, the Moors were +driving the pastoral Fulani towards Aderer, “the land of +sand.” Now, apart from the self-evident contradiction of +a people whose wealth has ever been in their flocks and +herds, originating in an arid district (sand not usually being +associated with pastures), the Fulani were in point of fact +already considerably farther south. Was not the market +of Jenne (on which M. Dubois has himself thrown such a +glamour of interest) attended as early as 1260 by Fulani?<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> +Did not the King of Bornu receive a Fulani deputation from +Melle between 1288 and 1306?<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> Is it conceivable that the +Fulani, compelled to evacuate Aderer in the middle of the +fourteenth century, would have ruled over vast tracts of +territory as far south as Gurma, only one hundred years +later? M. Dubois will have to bring forward a great deal +of evidence—certainly something more than his own assertion, +and an obscure passage in the <i>Tarik</i>—to upset the +Eastern theory of Fulani origin.</p> + +<p>Of native traditions among the Fulani attributing an +Eastern origin to their race we have no end, and although +too much significance need not be attached to them, they +must not on that account be overlooked. There is generally +a foundation of truth in native legends of this kind. +Anthropometrical studies, or rather craniological studies, +are, however, extremely valuable. Although carried out to +a small extent so far, they appreciably strengthen the Eastern +theory. Dr. Verneau, whose reputation as an anthropologist +is well known, has recently published<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> the results of an +examination of five skulls of Fulani chiefs from Futa-Jallon. +The first three belonged to individuals known, when alive, +to the French authorities of that Colony. The other two +were brought home by Dr. Maclaud, who has travelled extensively +among the Fulani, and to whom I am indebted for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>[139]</span> +several of the photographs here reproduced. None of the +originals were Fulani of the pure type. The one approaching +nearest to purity was Alfa-Alliu, who was condemned to +death for an unprovoked attack upon a French convoy. Of +this individual’s skull, Dr. Verneau reports: “Alfa-Alliu +belongs by his cranial and facial characteristics to the sur-based +(vaulted) pentagonal type which enters into the composition +of the present population of Erythria and the ancient +population of Egypt.” Of two other skulls out of the five +examined, Dr. Verneau remarks: “Their owners, no doubt, +had a certain amount of negro blood in their veins, which +resulted in a thickening of the osseous frame and in a +notable prognathous accentuation....<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> Nevertheless, these +two chiefs were not negroes; the width of the forehead, the +prominence of the bones of the nose, the proportions of the +nose itself, and the form of the chin, preclude any connection.” +Of the two remaining skulls, Dr. Verneau concludes +thus: “I will not further insist upon the cephalic character +of these two deeply crossed Fulani. I would merely observe +that, notwithstanding the mixed breed, they present two +cranial forms which we find wherever the influence of the +Ethiopians has been felt.” It is necessary to add that by +“Ethiopian,” Dr. Verneau—as he is careful to explain in the +opening lines of his paper—designates the Abyssinian type, +holding that the synonymy given to the terms “Negro” and +“Ethiopian” is a popular confusion. Élisée Reclus, in his +great geographical work, also states that the formation of the +Fulani cranium has affinities with the Egyptian type. To +this testimony may be added, that the most recent studies +in Berber anthropometry tend to divorce the Berbers from +the ancient Egyptian and the Eastern stock.<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a></p> + +<p>Dr. Blyden, who visited Timbo (the capital of Futa-Jallon, +one of the most important Fulani centres in West Africa) +in the seventies, and who, like Dr. Bayol and others, was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>[140]</span> +immensely impressed with what he saw, remarks in a report +to the Government of the time (to which I have been able, +through the doctor’s kindness, to have access): “On entering +a Fulah town the first thing which strikes a stranger is the +Caucasian cast of features, especially among the older +people; yet every now and then, in the children of parents +having all the physical traits of the Semitic family, there +recurs the inextinguishable Negro physiognomy.”<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> “It is +evident,” the doctor goes on to say, “that while there is a +large infusion of foreign blood among the people, there is +still the influence of a powerful race-stock which has +thoroughly assimilated the alien elements, and this may be +judged from the strong pride of ancestry which they possess, +their respect for the past and their care for posterity.”</p> + +<p>D’Eichtal sought to trace in the Hovas of Madagascar a +relationship with the Fulani, which would, obviously, connect +them with the Malays—the object of d’Eichtal’s treatise. The +sole basis of the theory was a chance similarity in certain +words; but were d’Eichtal right, we should have to admit a +complete reversal of the cycle of Fulani migration, which is +quite impossible. Fulfulde cannot as yet be definitely +classed among the languages, but, so far as our knowledge +extends, it has Semitic antecedents. When we endeavour +to find some other links, connecting the Fulani with the +East, several circumstances arrest our attention. The first +is provided in a passage of Hanno’s “Periplus”; the second, +in the invasion of Lower Egypt by the Hyksos; the third, in +the Hebraic tendencies and peculiar familiarity with Hebrew +legends observed among the Fulani; the fourth, in an attachment +to their cattle so remarkable as to suggest a far-off +bovine worship. These points may be severally examined.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp53" id="illus19" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus19.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>PURE-BRED FULANI GIRL—FUTA-JALLON</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>When, towards the close of the sixteenth century <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, +the rulers of Carthage conceived a scheme of over-sea colonisation +which should redound to the glory of the Empire +and free it at the same time from a portion at least of the +undesirable elements of the population, they despatched an +armada of sixty ships containing some thirty thousand souls,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>[141]</span> +under the command of a worthy magistrate of the name of +Hanno, with instructions to pass through the Pillars of +Hercules (the Straits of Gibraltar) and to lay the basis of +a colony somewhere beyond them. The fleet appears to +have navigated the West Coast of Africa until it reached the +Senegal, the Carthaginians proceeding for some little distance +up that river, subsequently pushing southward to the Gambia +and farther still to the “Southern Horn,” which it has been +sought to identify with Sherbro Sound.<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> This meeting of +Phœnician culture with aboriginal primitiveness on the +West Coast was, as Sir Harry Johnston has strikingly put it, +“The first sight that civilised man had of his wild brother +since the two had parted company in Neolithic times.” +And yet in one respect this general statement is open to +doubt. It was not only Negroes with whom the Carthaginian +navigator came in contact.</p> + +<p>On his return, Hanno wrote an account of his wanderings, +in the Punic tongue, termed a Periplus or circumnavigation, +which he dedicated to Moloch, the deity of the Carthaginians, +in the Temple of Cronos. Through the enterprise of Greek +scientists, the relation of Hanno’s voyage has been preserved +to us. About three centuries after its completion, +Ptolemæus Claudius, a Greek geographer and historian, +published eight volumes of geographical research. The +portion relating to Africa was mainly founded upon Carthaginian +material and included a translation of Hanno’s +“Periplus.” From Ptolemy’s description, we gather that in +the neighbourhood of the Gambia (Stachir) the Carthaginians +came across a people of a lighter hue than the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>[142]</span> +Negroes. These people the author calls “Leucæthiopes.” +Pliny also speaks of the “Leucæthiopes,” placing them, +however, a couple of degrees farther north. Thus five +hundred years <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, Carthaginian navigators reported in West +Africa the existence of a people to whom the epithet of +“black” did not apply, in the same region in which eight +hundred years later—that being the first reference to West +Africa which has come down to us—we hear of an Empire +whose rulers were “white,” founded by a monarch with a +Fulfulde affix to his name.</p> + +<p>Who could those light-complexioned “Africans” have +been? Not, assuredly, Arabs; still less Bantus. With the +Berber tribes the Carthaginians were in touch everywhere, +in Mauritania, Numidia, Cyrenaica. From the Berbers, +Carthage drew her mercenaries, who often enough proved +more dangerous than useful. The colonists would have +recognised the type had they met with it in West Africa, +and if the “Leucæthiopes” had been Berbers they would +have been differently described in the “Periplus.” Indeed, +there is some ground for believing that the colonists numbered +Berbers among their ranks. Moreover, the Berber +occupation could not at that time have extended as far +south, by at least fifteen degrees, as the Senegal-Gambia +region. There is not, so far as I am aware, any record +extant suggesting the presence of the Berbers in the valley +of the Senegal until the eighth century <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> To what race, +then, could the “Leucæthiopes” have belonged? To what +race but the Fulani, to whom the description given by +Hanno could alone—bearing in mind the period of the +expedition—by any possibility apply? That is link one.<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus20" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus20.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>FULANI HOUSE—FUTA-JALLON</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The invasion of Lower Egypt by the Hyksos or Shepherd<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>[143]</span> +Kings from the East is one of the obscurest stages of +Egyptian history. Professor Lepsius believed that the +invasion of the Shepherds occurred during the thirteenth +dynasty (which, according to the same authority, began in +2136 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>), and ended about 1626 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> with the expulsion of +the Shepherds. About 2000 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> then—a little earlier or a +little later, according to other authorities—Egypt, being at +that time under the Theban dynasty, was invaded by vast +hordes of Asiatics, who brought with them enormous +quantities of cattle and sheep.<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> It would seem as though +some great internal convulsion, the cause of which can only +be conjectured, had precipitated into the fertile valley of the +Nile a number of nomadic pastoral tribes, by nature herdsmen, +shepherds and agriculturists, but converted for the +time being either through famine, scarcity of pastures, +pressure of other tribes behind them, or spontaneous race-expansion, +into a warlike and conquering people which +swept onward in irresistible strength until they reached +a land suitable for their herds—their only wealth. The +distinctive character of their occupation is preserved in their +name—Hyksos or Shepherd Kings. After a sanguinary +struggle, the invaders succeeded in fairly establishing themselves +in Lower Egypt, and gradually extended their +influence over Upper Egypt, where, however, they were +unable to gain complete mastery. Their supremacy lasted +about five hundred years. They were finally overthrown +and driven out of the country by the representatives of the +old Theban dynasty under Misphragmuthosis and Thoutmosis, +somewhere about 1636 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, if we adopt the estimate +of the celebrated Egyptologist, Professor Lepsius. What +became of them? The Egyptian scribe, Manetho, contends +that they crossed back into Asia, but the statement is very +doubtful, and his further assertion that they occupied Judea +and founded Jerusalem is scouted by the learned.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144"></a>[144]</span></p> + +<p>Is it not legitimate to suppose that a portion, at any rate, +of so enterprising and courageous a people, which must +have been extraordinarily numerous to have held sway over +Egypt for so considerable a period, should have preferred +to plunge into the unknown West, in search of fresh territories +where their herds might find sustenance, rather than +ignominiously return in the direction from whence they +came? For five hundred years Africa had been their home. +Africa offered them extensive pastures for their cattle. +They must have largely mingled and intermarried with the +Egyptians. Family and historical ties bound them to the +African soil. They had become adopted children of that +Continent, which in all ages has exerted a peculiar fascination +over the various immigrant peoples that have entered it. +History, I believe, contains not one single instance of a people +which, having once settled in Africa, has left it again. The +Shepherds had risen in Africa to a position of paramountcy. +Out of the undisciplined host which spread itself like a +torrent over the Nile Delta, a race of statesmen had evolved +capable of ruling what was perhaps the mightiest Empire of +the then civilised world. It is incredible to imagine that a +whole people could have been driven in a fixed direction, +as Manetho would have us believe. Tens of thousands +must have been employed, as their compatriots the Hebrews +were employed, by the victorious Thebans, in raising those +mighty monuments of stone whose ruins to-day provoke +the wonder of all men. Many more must have escaped +westwards, and gained with their belongings the fertile +plains of inland Cyrenaica, and, through the ages, pushed +on and on, ever seeking pastures new, until in the course of +a thousand years the Carthaginians found their descendants +in the rich valleys of the Senegal and Gambia—with their +national characteristics preserved, their “powerful race +stock” unimpaired, their “strong pride of ancestry” remaining, +their ways adapted to their new environment.</p> + +<p>Others again may have migrated south and have largely +influenced the composite ethnic elements of Erythria, of +which the nomadic cattle-rearing Wahuma of Uganda would<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[145]</span> +appear to be an offshoot—the Asiatic origin of the latter +being generally admitted. So much for link number two.</p> + +<p>The advent of the Hyksos in Lower Egypt was approximately +contemporaneous with Hebrew emigration from +Mesopotamia to Palestine. Three hundred years later, in +1700 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> according to Biblical records, when a grievous +famine lay upon the land, the famous Israelitish <i>trek</i> into +Africa began, upon the direct invitation of Egypt’s ruler, in +whose employ Joseph had risen to a position of great +influence. The new-comers established themselves in the +fertile province of Goshen,<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> east of the Nile, where the river +branches as the prongs of a fork. Who was the reigning +Pharaoh at the time? The gap in Egyptian history unfortunately +prevents an answer. But that, unless the most +competent Egyptologists are hopelessly wrong, he was one +of the Shepherd Kings, cannot be doubted. And, apart from +the similarity of dates, there are inherent reasons which still +further fortify what may almost be said to be a certainty. +The Hyksos were a conglomeration of Asiatic herdsmen +whom circumstances had forced into the valley of the Nile. +The <i>rôle</i> of warriors and administrators which they assumed +was probably an accident, the result of finding a powerful +nation in occupation of the land they coveted, and whom +they had to subdue before being able to occupy. That they +succeeded is proof, not only of their courage but of their political +genius and power of organisation—qualities for which +the Fulani are to-day conspicuous, notwithstanding the demoralising +tendency of contact with intellectually inferior races. +It was their political genius which led the Hyksos to invite +an influx of Israelites, Asiatics like themselves, of the same +Semitic origin and the same Monotheistic leaning. The +wisdom of the policy is apparent. The Hyksos knew well +that their rule was unpopular, that the Princes of the overthrown +Theban dynasty were continually intriguing against<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146"></a>[146]</span> +their domination in the southern provinces, and that their +hold upon the country depended upon the number of their +adherents in the north. They set themselves, therefore, to +encourage Asiatic immigration. Inversely, it was but natural +that, when the representatives of the old Theban dynasty +once more came into their own, the Israelites should have +been specially marked out for resentment.</p> + +<p>The administrative seat of the Hyksos was Memphis, the +city sacred to the worship of the bull Apis. At first the +Hyksos replaced the worship of Apis, incarnation of the +divine Osiris, by their own divinity Set, but they were compelled +by the pressure of public opinion to allow the revival +of the national cult. After suffering a temporary eclipse, +bull-worship continued as before. It is, indeed, open to +question whether the Shepherds themselves, and their compatriots +the Israelites, did not end by adopting, partially at +least, the divinities of the conquered. Can we not trace, for +instance, in the incident of the golden calf erected by Aaron +in the wilderness, and the employment of golden calves by +Jeroboam, in order to symbolise the deity, the strong hold +which bull-worship had taken upon the imagination of those +pastoral Semites, the Israelites, whom the Hyksos, pastoral +Semites like themselves, had invited to reside with them in +the land of Goshen? What more natural that, being herdsmen, +and taught by long years of experience to look upon +cattle-rearing as their natural avocation, the Semitic invaders +of Egypt and their allies should have been predisposed, and +insensibly drifted, towards the adoption of the religion which +they found existing in the country they had conquered, and +of which the chief symbolical deity was a bull?</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus21" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus21.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>FULANI CATTLE-PEN</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Now is it not a very singular fact that the Fulani should be +the only people in Western Africa whose former religious +beliefs have been associated, by those who have lived amongst +them, with an ancient bull-worship, the former cult of +Egypt? The unusual regard they have for their cattle, even +after Islam has been established among the great bulk of +them for upwards of nine centuries, is singled out for special +notice on the part of numerous observers. Reclus deems<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147"></a>[147]</span> +the circumstance to be worthy of notice: “The scrupulous +care,” he says, “which they devote to their cattle-pens has +something in it of a religious nature.” Here and there, in the +Western Sudan, tribes of Fulani are met with, whose members +have remained pagan, and their paganism, in so far as it has +been observed, consists in a superstitious reverence for their +cattle, almost amounting to adoration. Among the Mohammedan +Fulani the <i>bororo</i><a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> is still pre-eminently the national representative +of the race, and the purest types are found among +the <i>bororoji</i>, rather than amidst those of their countrymen +who have become over-lords, administrators and land-owners +on a large scale. “The Foola nation,” says Winterbottom, +“is the only one in this part of the coast to whom the title of +<i>armentarius afer</i> can be justly applied.”<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> Many and various +are the stories told by French officers serving in the Western +Sudan of the curious affinity between the Fulani and their +cattle, an affinity which is a perpetual subject of comment +among their Negro neighbours.<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> Clapperton tells us how the +cattle respond at long distances to the shrill cry of the +Fulani herdsman, who, by the way, is said never to employ +a dog.<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> One of the most remarkable French stories is that +related by an officer operating in the Baol district of the +Western Sudan. In the course of a day’s work the officer had +commandeered some cattle from the natives; among the +animals was a fine black bull obtained from a group of +wandering Fulani herdsmen. When night fell, the cattle +were duly penned and a <i>Spahis</i><a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> posted as sentry over them. +Towards midnight the officer was roused from sleep by the +<i>Spahis</i> informing him with much solemnity that it would be +necessary to slaughter the black bull at once. “Are you<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148"></a>[148]</span> +mad?” cried the astonished Frenchman. “Not at all, +Lieutenant,” replied the soldier imperturbably; “it is the +cattle that are mad, for the Fulani are calling the bull—listen.” +Stepping out into the moonlight the officer listened. +Presently from a neighbouring hill came the sound of a +plaintive chant. At the same moment a violent disturbance +took place among the cattle. The officer hurried towards +the pen followed by the sentry, the chant meanwhile continuing +in a cadence of inexpressible melancholy. The +commotion in the pen increased, and before the Frenchman +could reach it, one of the beasts was seen to clear the +enclosure at a bound and crash through the bush, following +the direction of the sound and bellowing loudly the while. +It was the black bull. He had broken the halter which +bound him and leapt a palisade five feet high! With the +disappearance of the bull the chant abruptly ceased. Next +morning the Fulani were nowhere to be found.<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a></p> + +<p>The Hebraic flavour—if one may put it so—which seems +to permeate many of the Fulani customs, especially among +the less contaminated elements of the race, has been recorded +by careful observers. A friend, an officer in the +employ of the Northern Nigeria administration, who was +intimately acquainted with the Fulani, whose language he +spoke, and who possessed considerable erudition, had prepared +a number of notes for me on the subject, which, +unfortunately, I never received, owing to his death while +serving in Africa. One custom which had specially impressed +him among the pure Fulani was the habit of setting aside +the firstborn. He found that the Fulani woman of unmixed +blood in the Binue region never suckled her firstborn, but +consigned it to the care of friends, and completely disinterested +herself from its future career, while bestowing +upon the second child, and subsequent children, the usual +motherly solicitude. He connected this singular custom +with a distorted rendering of the punishment visited upon +the Egyptians in the time of the Captivity.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp53" id="illus22" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus22.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>A HALF-CASTE FULANI GIRL AND A SUSU</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The lecture delivered in 1886 by Captain de Guiraudon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a>[149]</span> +(who published a Fulfulde manual, and who resided for +several years in the Fulani country in Senegambia) before +the seventh Congress of Orientalists contains some interesting +references to the subject under discussion. In the +course of his relations with the Fulani, De Guiraudon was +particularly struck with their peculiar knowledge of Jewish +history. So familiarly did they speak of the chief Hebrew +personalities of the Old Testament, and so well posted were +they with the principal events related in it, that they could +not, argued De Guiraudon, have acquired their knowledge +merely through Arabic sources. They referred to those +times as though dealing with their own national records. +Moses and Abraham might have been individuals of the +same race as themselves. “In their oral legends Moses +plays a very important part, and although certain passages +of the Scriptures are transformed or rather assimilated, they +have so intense a Biblical and Hebraic tone as to exclude all +Arabic influence.” De Guiraudon noted, however, that their +Israelitish chronicles ceased after Solomon. “What they +knew of the miracles of our Saviour was so distorted and +erroneous as to prove that the New Testament had reached +them from afar, in a vague and fragmentary condition.” De +Guiraudon’s conclusions are best given in his own words. +“It would seem as if the Puls (Fulani), if they themselves +did not profess the Jewish faith, which I would rather be +disposed to affirm than deny, were at least in permanent +contact with the Jewish people in remote times, and that, +influenced at one time or another by the Israelites, they +received Old Testament legends directly from them.”</p> + +<p>Dr. Blyden also testifies in an indirect way to the close +acquaintance of the Fulani with the history of ancient +Hebraic personalities. “They hold the language of the +Koran,” he remarks, “in the greatest veneration, affirming +that it is the language which was spoken by Adam, Seth, +Noah, Abraham, and Ishmael. The descendants of Ishmael, +they contend, have never been in bondage to any man; +and that during the bondage of Isaac’s descendants in +Egypt the language lost its purity and copiousness.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150"></a>[150]</span></p> + +<p>It is significant that the son and successor of Othman Dan +Fodio, sultan Bello of Hausa, second Fulani ruler over the +Hausa States, in the history of the Sudan written in Arabic +characters which he gave to Clapperton, describes the +“Tow-rooths,” who may, I think, be identified with the +Torodos (a sect of Fulani greatly looked up to), as “having +originated from the Jews.”<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> Mungo Park, when writing of +his experiences among the Mandingoes—who appear to +have been converted to Islam by the Fulani, with whom they +have been in close relationship, amiable and the reverse, for +many centuries—observed a similar widespread knowledge +of incidents in Old Testament history, such as the death of +Abel, the lives of the Patriarchs, Joseph’s dream, and so on. +Winterbottom is equally emphatic. “The customs of these +people (the Fulani),” he says, “bear a striking resemblance +to those of the Jews described in the Pentateuch, and after +Mohammed, Moses is held by them in the highest estimation.” +There is some uniformity, too, between the following +descriptive passages. The first is from Kenrick (American +edition), the second from Laing’s history of the Sulima +people and their relations with the Fulani:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“The Jews were commanded, on the day of the Atonement, to provide +a goat to carry the sins of the people, and the high-priest was to +lay his hand on the head of the goat and confess the national sins. So +among the Egyptians whenever a victim was offered, a prayer was +repeated over its head, if any calamity was about to befall either the +sacrifices or the land of Egypt, ‘it might be averted on this head.’”</p> + +<p>“Musah Bah (a Fulani chief), shortly after his installation, ordered +a great feast to be held, and, inviting to it all the head-men of Jallon +Kadoo, explained to them the nature of the Mohammedan faith and told +them that the Foulahs had come to settle in their country with a desire +only to do them good and to show them the true road to happiness. +He then ordered a large wafer of country bread and a bleeding sheep +to be placed before him, and invited all those who wished to be +instructed by the priests of Futa-Jallon to place their hands upon the +bread and touch the sheep, which all the head-men did.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>The motives were different, but the Fulani ceremonial<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151"></a>[151]</span> +savours greatly of the Old Testament. So much for the +remaining links.</p> + +<p>Enough has been said, I think, to show that there is a vast +field open to systematic inquiry and investigation, which +may possibly lead to discoveries of a most interesting and +important kind. Having examined the links one by one, +let us see how they look when riveted together and what +conclusions they suggest. The straight-nosed, straight-haired, +relatively thin-lipped, wiry, copper or bronze complexioned +(“pale-gold” as one writer puts it) Fulani male, +with his well-developed cranium, and refined extremities; +and the Fulani woman, with her clear skin, her rounded +breasts,<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> large eyes,<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> antimony-dyed eyebrows, gracefulness +of movement, beauty of form, coquettish ways and +general attractiveness—are Asiatics. They are the lineal +descendants of the Hyksos, having migrated westwards with +the overthrow of the Shepherd conquerors. Their customs +bear record to their progenitors having been influenced both +by the cult of ancient Egypt and by the Israelites, whose +presence in the Nile Delta was contemporaneous with +Hyksos rule. Their presence in West Africa dates back at +least 2500 years. To dogmatise on such a subject would be +foolish; to claim having evolved an original theory would +be impertinent. But I am not aware that the Eastern +theory of Fulani origin has been hitherto worked out with +any attempt at consecutiveness, or an endeavour made to +amalgamate and give in connected form—however imperfectly—the +chief factors for further study which may be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152"></a>[152]</span> +usefully followed up by some one more competent than the +author.</p> + +<p>And what is to be the policy of Great Britain, of France +and of Germany towards this wonderful race? Surely it +should be dictated in the first place by a desire to preserve. +With their faults—and what race is devoid of faults?—the +Fulani have admirable qualities which can fit them to be +worthy and reliable co-builders and assistants in the task +which the Powers have undertaken in Western Africa. +Their virility has hitherto been equal to all the calls upon it. +They retain “the strong pride of race.” They possess in +the highest degree the attributes of rulers. It would be a +misfortune indeed if, with the advent of the European, +possessed of those swift engines of destruction he is at times +so prompt to use in the name of civilisation, the Fulani +should disappear from the regions they have leavened with +their intelligence.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a>[153]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PART_III">PART III</h2> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII<br> +<span class="smaller">SANITARY AFFAIRS IN WEST AFRICA</span></h3> + +<p class="center">(By Major <span class="smcap">Ronald Ross</span>, F.R.C.S., F.R.S., C.B., Liverpool School +of Tropical Medicine.)</p> + +</div> + +<p>The first question which any one who has studied the +history of West Africa will ask, is this—Why has the country +developed so slowly? It is actually nearer to Europe and +more accessible than several tropical countries, which +have certainly progressed far more towards civilisation—such +as the West and East Indies, Central America and +the seaboard of China; it is, generally speaking, a rich +country; with a fertile soil, sufficient rainfall, large rivers, +good harbours, fine, well-watered plains, a vast population, +and a climate not excessively hot. One would expect to +find here flourishing settlements, large cities, a prosperous +agriculture and a great commerce; but what we really have +is a series of second-rate, if not third-rate, settlements which +are just able to hold their own in the midst of the forests +and marshes which surround them; and a native population +which can scarcely be considered other than barbarous +beyond a short distance from the settlements referred to. +The discrepancy between the expectation and the fact is remarkable. +India, for example, with her vast tracts of well-cultivated +lands, her cities, her ports, her universities, her +thousands of miles of railway, her society, and her well-organised +Government is far indeed above West Africa. If +the best West African province could be transferred bodily<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154"></a>[154]</span> +to the East and placed alongside even such outlying parts +of India as Assam and Burma it would look very shabby in +comparison. The principal West African towns seen by me, +Lagos, Accra, and Freetown, cannot for a moment be compared +with the great Indian capitals and stations such as +Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Rangoon, Secunderabad, Allahabad, +Delhi, Benares, Pindi, Lahore. In general appearance, +construction, and style of living they are on a +level with such “benighted” spots as Moulmein in Burma, +Nowgong in Assam, or Masulipatam in Southern India. +West Africa possesses no Simla, Bangalore, Darjeeling or +Ootacamund.</p> + +<p>The whole country reminds one chiefly of the derelict +Coromandel Coast minus its principal city. Yet it may +perhaps be doubted whether in extent, fertility and natural +resources West Africa is really far below India. Europe +has been trading with West Africa for centuries; it has +long drawn from it many valuable commodities; it has explored +it and made settlements in it which have lasted for +hundreds of years. Why has not Europe done more for it, +then? The question is really one of great importance in +the philosophical history of civilisation, especially in these +days when civilisation tends so strongly to overflow from +the temperate climates into the tropical ones. Here we +have two countries equally gifted with natural resources +and equally exposed to the civilising irradiance of Europe. +Yet, while India is of itself already one of the great Powers +of the world, the other still remains in the condition of a +newly discovered continent, to be opened up in the future.</p> + +<p>Of the three reasons usually assigned for this curious fact, +the first generally given is that in India Europe found a +certain degree of civilisation already existing before her +advent; while in West Africa she started to work upon a +completely barbarous country. No doubt this has much to +do with the result; but we must remember that many +countries now far ahead of West Africa were little or no less +barbarous than West Africa a few centuries ago—such as +many portions of tropical America, Burma, and the Islands<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155"></a>[155]</span> +of the Pacific. It can scarcely be said that the antecedent +semi-civilisation of India and China has been always favourable +to progress, nor that a basis of complete barbarism is +always fatal to it. Another reason, perhaps more frequently +given, is that the natives of West Africa are incorrigibly indolent. +Yet it is by the labours of these very people, controlled +by Europeans, that the prosperity of the Southern +States of America has been established. In my humble +opinion the West African should be very good material for +civilisation. Compared with the East Indian, he is perhaps +not so patient, laborious, or thrifty; but, on the other hand, +he is much more vivacious and virile; he is not hampered +by the restrictions of caste; he is physically strong and +healthy; he is capable of producing men who are intellectually +not a whit inferior to the average European; and above +all, instead of adhering obstinately to his own customs as the +Indian so often does, he always shows a remarkable desire +for the customs and culture of Europe. In fact, I personally +feel, though I may be wrong, that these people are +better material for civilisation than East Indians, and I do +not think that the backwardness of West Africa can be +wholly or even largely assigned to defects in their character.</p> + +<p>To many of us the real reason for this backwardness +appears to be undoubtedly the so-called unhealthiness of +the West African “climate” for Europeans. It is impossible +to deny the fact that the European cannot live on the West +African Coast in the same security against disease as he +enjoys in the East and West Indies; and in my opinion it +is this fact, and not the original barbarism of the natives, or +their indolence, which retards progress here. The agent of +civilisation dies on the threshold of the country which he +comes to develop.</p> + +<p>It would require a large volume to deal adequately with +this important subject, and I can only attempt an outline +here. We shall first ask what is the cause of this unhealthiness, +and secondly, what is the remedy.</p> + +<p>I shall not attempt to give any statistics of mortality +among Europeans or natives, because what statistics exist<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156"></a>[156]</span> +are not at all reliable. But the fact that the country is extremely +unhealthy for Europeans is universally accepted; +and is, moreover, demonstrated by the high rates for life-insurance, +by the large amount of leave which Government +grants to its employés, and by the difficulty which all employers +experience in obtaining European agents for West +African work, even for high pay. In fact, the country is so +notorious in this respect that it is unnecessary to labour the +point farther.</p> + +<p>What are the causes of the unhealthiness of West Africa +for Europeans? The first series of causes are undoubtedly +a group of infectious diseases, certainly or probably due to +parasitic invasion of the body. These are principally what +is known as malarial or intermittent fever, with its most +dangerous variety, blackwater fever; various other fevers, +dysentery, and according to many physicians, yellow fever. +The first attacks the European with greater force than it +attacks the habituated native, but nevertheless produces +great havoc among native children. It is so prevalent that +new-comers frequently succumb within a few weeks after +arrival, while old residents often suffer from relapses during +the whole of their stay in the country. In addition, epidemics +either of this fever, yellow fever, or some allied disease, +sweep through the settlements, causing great mortality +among the Europeans; dysentery and bowel complaints are +scarcely less to be feared in some parts. The records of +West Africa are blackened by these terrible plagues, which +time after time have blotted out the names of the most +daring travellers, the most capable governors, and the most +enterprising traders; which mutilate the lives of those whom +they do not kill; and which hamper every political or commercial +enterprise by striking down or intimidating the +agents who are sent out to execute it.</p> + +<p>But we must not imagine that these are the only factors +of the total result. The heat and moisture of the climate +are most enervating to Europeans. The general absence of +good food—good meat, bread, vegetables, and milk—tends +to produce dyspepsia and melancholy. The absence of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157"></a>[157]</span> +most of the comforts and amenities to which Europeans +are accustomed in their own home—good houses, good +servants, society and exercise, not to mention the absence +of wives and children—depress the mind; and when this +general outline is filled in by such details as the ever-present +dread of serious sickness, the constant stings of insects, the +unsavoury surroundings of a squalid native population, it +must be confessed that the colonist has much to depress +him. What wonder if, in such circumstances, alcoholism +and debauchery sometimes complete the sketch! The fact +is, that what we call the “unhealthiness” of West Africa +is a complex due to many causes which assist each other. +People are apt to fall into a vicious circle from which it is +hard to escape. I may say, indeed, that the whole of West +Africa has fallen into this vicious circle and has not yet +escaped from it. Let us consider the point farther.</p> + +<p>When we find much sickness in a given country we are +too inclined to think that the sickness is entirely due to +certain natural conditions which are present in that country +and which render it unhealthy. We forget that the sickness +may be due, not to the country itself, but to the fact that the +inhabitants do not take proper precautions against the +diseases which persecute them. Now the whole trend of +sanitary science has been to show in a convincing manner +that the great infectious diseases are preventable, if only the +proper precautions are taken. Time after time we have +witnessed the entire disappearance, or at least the partial +disappearance, of such diseases from whole countries. For +example, small-pox and typhus have almost vanished from +the great States of Europe—at least we may say so when we +compare their prevalence in the past with their prevalence +at the present day. Typhoid and diphtheria are diminishing +daily. Malarial fever and dysentery, which were formerly +scourges of parts of Britain, have almost entirely gone from +the country. Even in the tropics we shall find numerous +instances of the same kind. Calcutta was once a hot-bed +of fever and cholera, and was probably as fatal to Europeans +as West Africa is now said to be. Rangoon was deadly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158"></a>[158]</span> +when the British first went there. A century ago cholera +often swept away whole regiments in India. We now look +in vain for this state of things. As a whole, India is perhaps +as healthy for Europeans as England is—at least if we exclude +the enervating effects of mere heat; and, indeed, I +think that in some respects, in the absence of colds and +chest complaints and in the benefits of open-air life and +exercise, Europeans in India are more fortunate than their +brothers at home.</p> + +<p>Such facts alone clearly demonstrate that many diseases +are not dependent upon natural factors beyond human +control; but science has reinforced the argument by showing +that a number of infectious diseases are due to microorganisms +which spring from previously diseased persons +and not from the air, soil, or water of localities. When, therefore, +we speak of a given place being unhealthy, we merely +mean that from some cause or other infectious disease is +readily propagated from the sick to the healthy in that place. +This may in part be due to the local conditions as regards +heat, moisture, and so on being especially favourable to the +transmission of the disease germs; but it may also be due to the +fact that no precautions are taken to check this transmission.</p> + +<p>Thus in the case of West Africa we may ask, Is the local +sickness really due to the climate being specially favourable +to the transmission of disease; or is it due to the neglect of +proper precautions? I would not be prepared to say that +as regards heat, moisture, and profuse vegetation—conditions +long known to be particularly favourable to malaria—West +Africa differs much from Calcutta or Rangoon. So +far as nature goes I can see little difference between West +Africa and other tropical regions which I have visited. On +the other hand, I see the greatest difference in the mode of +life adopted by Europeans in West Africa and in India; +and I am convinced that the excessive mortality amongst +them is due largely, if not principally, to this cause, added +to the imperfect condition of public sanitation in the country.</p> + +<p>My own visits to West Africa have been short and limited. +I have thrice lived in Freetown for brief periods, and have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159"></a>[159]</span> +paid flying visits to Bathurst, Accra, Lagos, and Ibadan. +But though my experiences of the country were thus brief +enough, I was always in a position to see a good deal in the +time at my disposal, and my powers of sanitary observation, +so to speak, were previously exercised by eighteen years’ +employment in the Indian Medical Service. Moreover, for +the last three years I have been in constant communication +with many old residents on the Coast, and I have also +learned much from the members of several expeditions +sent there by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, +and by reading numerous reports on the sanitation of the +country. I state these facts simply in order to enable +the reader to judge of the value of my testimony on the +points under consideration. I do not pretend that a greater +experience would not have increased that value; but at the +same time it should be remarked that a sanitarian of any +experience, like a trained physician, can often make a correct +diagnosis in a comparatively short time; and that it is not +necessary to examine every town in a country in order to +arrive at a general conception of its sanitary condition. +Moreover, the towns which I have seen are the capitals of +four out of the six British Colonies on the Coast.</p> + +<p>In my experience, such as it is, the mode of life of +Europeans in West Africa is not suited to the tropics.</p> + +<p>Take the houses to begin with. They are not generally +good. It is absolutely essential in the tropics to have good +roofs and large airy rooms. Our wise forefathers recognised +this early in India, and built the great solid structures which +are such a prominent feature of Calcutta and Madras and +many Indian stations. I have seen nothing of the kind in +West Africa. Even in Lagos and Accra the houses can be +described only as second-rate. In Freetown they are simply +execrable; and it is monstrous that Englishmen, much more +ladies, should be compelled to live in them. It should be +remembered that many of these West African hovels are +built by Government. In Ibadan I saw a magnificent iron +house which I was told cost the Government £6000, but +which is so ill-designed and ill-placed that in the heat of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160"></a>[160]</span> +day the inmates are compelled to go outside and sit under +leaf shelters! Then again, in India the Europeans and +some of the better class natives live in a separate quarter; +but in West Africa this seems to be the case only to a limited +extent; while in Freetown the Europeans often live over +native shops. Remembering that infectious diseases are +communicated from the sick, we shall easily understand why +the absence of a separate quarter is so dangerous to health. +Those absolute essentials to comfort in the tropics, punkahs +and mosquito-nets, which are invariably used in India, are +often the exception in West Africa, or were so until quite +recently.</p> + +<p>As regards food, we find little efforts made to help the +African colonists to obtain good provisions. Fresh milk +and butter often cannot be got at all, even where cattle +exist in plenty. Government sometimes maintains, at considerable +cost, botanical gardens for various economical +purposes. I was told that these gardens used to grow +vegetables for the Europeans until stopped by a mandate +from England, on the ground that a Government botanist +is not a vegetable gardener!—a type of the hopelessly unpractical +spirit which has crept into all British administration. +As a result the colonist has to fall back upon native +vegetables, to which he is not accustomed. The meat is +generally poor and coarse, and no proper effort is made to +improve it. Ice—another essential in the tropics—cannot +generally be obtained. I was gravely informed that ice-machines +will not work in West Africa. It is difficult to see +why this is the case, because they will certainly work in the +hottest and dampest parts of India. Aerated waters have to +be imported and cost about sixpence a bottle; I suppose +that they, too, “cannot be made” in West Africa. In India +they are made everywhere and cost about a penny a bottle. +Singular effect of the West African climate!</p> + +<p>What are more necessary anywhere than exercise, recreation, +and society? In India the smallest station has its +gymkana; its polo, tennis, cricket, and even football; its +dinners, its afternoon parties, its balls; its shooting and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161"></a>[161]</span> +riding. As for West Africa, though, owing to the intelligent +encouragement of the Governors, much attention is now +being given to this subject, things are very different. A +resident of Sekondi told me that their “only amusement is +to drink.” So it seemed. In many places horses do not +exist, because it is said they do not live there. So far as +I know, Government has never attempted the slightest +scientific inquiry into this most important matter, although +probably the disability is due merely to some easily preventable +parasitic disease. In Freetown many people take no +exercise at all and are carried about even for short distances +in hammocks. In up-country places, I hear, the dulness of +life, owing to the absence of recreation and exercise, is often +intolerable and heart-breaking.</p> + +<p>Turning now to affairs of state sanitation, let us first ask, +what would have been the logical and business-like course +for adoption by Government from the earliest days of these +Colonies? Seeing the obvious fact that all development of +the country was being retarded by the sickness and mortality +among the European Officials and traders, a practical +Government would from the first have strained every nerve +to remedy this state of things. It would have spent every +available penny in the sanitation of the coast towns, which +are, in fact, the portals of the continent. It would have +kept these scrupulously clean, swept and drained. It would +have housed its employés thoroughly well in quarters removed +from the infectious vicinity of the poorer native +locations. It would have encouraged the traders to do +the same for their agents. It would have organised farms +for the purpose of producing good fresh food—meat, +milk, butter and vegetables. It would have created or +endowed places of exercise and recreation. It would +have attempted to add in every possible way to the +comfort of the Europeans, who are the backbone of +the Colonies, knowing that reasonable comfort is half +the way to health and happiness, and that senseless and +unnecessary discomfort is more than half the way in the +other direction. It would have taken scrupulous care of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162"></a>[162]</span> +water supply; of the conservancy; of the drainage of +swamps. It would have insisted on the adequate sanitation +of native locations near European locations, in the interests +both of natives and Europeans. It would have maintained +an up-to-date medical and sanitary department, provided +with sufficient powers and funds for its work. It would +have kept accurate statistics of sickness and mortality, +especially among the Europeans. It would have ordered +numerous scientific investigations into the causes of the +most disastrous West African diseases, both among men +and domestic animals. Above all, it would have put the +direction of sanitary affairs into the hands of the ablest +scientific men it could procure.</p> + +<p>Now I do not wish to take the <i>rôle</i> of the fault finder; but +I must say, so far as I know—and I hope I may be mistaken—the +Colonial Office and the West African Governments +and municipalities can scarcely be said to have given +adequate attention to a single one of the items in this +programme—at least until quite recently. Consider the +question of surface drainage for instance. It has been well +known, since the time of the Romans, that surface-drainage +removes malaria; and malaria is the principal enemy of the +West African Colonies. Surely, then, the most obvious +considerations should have induced Government to reclaim +the large marshes existing in the vicinity of the principal +settlements. A small annual expenditure, if persisted in, +would have gradually done the work; and, as Sir William +MacGregor once observed, the local Governments have had +at their disposal for years large gangs of gaol prisoners who +could, with advantage, have been employed on such useful +labours instead of shot-drill. But no; the marshes have +been allowed to exist as they were. It is only quite recently +that the swamps of Lagos and Bathurst have been touched. +In Freetown the swamps existed in almost every street in +the native quarters during the rains, and were, in fact, actually +made by incompetent engineering efforts and maintained by +the grossest sanitary neglect—the roadside drains being +generally nothing but series of deep pools full of stagnant<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163"></a>[163]</span> +water seething with insect life. Yet this town was called the +white-man’s grave; and Heaven was blamed for causing +a disease which man could easily have prevented if the +most elementary teaching of sanitary science had been +attended to. Even after the connection between stagnant +water and malaria was fully verified and explained by the discovery +(completed in 1899) that the disease is carried from +the sick to the healthy by certain kinds of mosquitoes which +breed in stagnant puddles, no spontaneous effort was made by +Government to improve the surface-drainage in Freetown.</p> + +<p>In 1899 the Liverpool School took the trouble to send out +an expedition which made a complete map of the mosquito-breeding +puddles in the town; and next year the Commission +of the Royal Society extended our observations. +Two years later, however, another expedition of the Liverpool +School found that everything had been left in exactly +the same old state, except that the salary of the chief +sanitary official had been largely increased. Not a puddle, +not a ditch had been drained; not a single effort worth +mention had been made, to act upon the new discovery +which was of such importance to these Colonies; and it +was not until the advent of the new Governor, Sir Charles +King-Harman, assisted by the Liverpool School, that any +adequate attempt was made to clear and drain Freetown. +In the other Colonies progress was equally slow, until Sir +William MacGregor and Dr. Strachan commenced their +anti-malarial campaign in Lagos. The central authority, +the Colonial Office, instead of forcing on measures in a +brisk, business-like way, contented itself with publishing +good advice which every one had heard a dozen times +before. The Governments of the Gold Coast (Sir Matthew +Nathan), of the Gambia (Sir George Denton), are now +pushing on in this direction; and we can only hope that the +progress will be maintained in the future in all the Colonies.</p> + +<p>The other items of the programme mentioned above have +also received little attention. The medical and sanitary +services have not been kept in an up-to-date condition.</p> + +<p>For instance, in 1880, Laveran discovered the parasite<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164"></a>[164]</span> +which causes malarial fever; but even twenty years later +there were few doctors who used the discovery for the +proper diagnosis and treatment of the fevers prevalent on the +Coast. In most cases they were not even provided with +microscopes for the work. In these respects the West +African medical services were only on a par with the other +State medical services; which, while they often contain exceedingly +smart men, are generally wanting as a whole in +scientific ability and push, and in the influence which they +should exercise in the government of the countries to which +they belong. A high official once informed me that of all +the men under his orders the doctors had the least sense of +duty. This is little to be wondered at, since, in my experience, +efficiency does not lead to advancement in these +services, and the most perfunctory men reach promotion as +readily as the most meritorious. I have noticed a dozen +instances of the almost complete indifference to science +shown in these public medical services. For example, when +the first Liverpool expedition reached Sierra Leone in 1899, +the principal medical officer of the R.A.M.C. forbade us to +feed mosquitoes upon his cases of malarial fever for experiment, +though neither he nor his subordinates took the +smallest trouble to prevent their men from being bitten +night and day by the insects in the barracks and hospitals. +We were convinced that this order was given simply out of +wilful desire to obstruct us. Similarly in India a military +doctor once forbade me even to prick the fingers of his +patients in order to study their blood. The manner in +which the R.A.M.C. authorities interrupted the researches +of Colonel Bruce, F.R.S., on tsetse-fly disease and horse +sickness in South Africa, and in which the Madras Government +persecuted Dr. King for his small-pox work, is well +known. It would be folly to expect that services administered +in this manner could ever take a leading part in organising +great campaigns against disease in the colonies; and I +fear that, until Sir William MacGregor led the way in Lagos, +the West African medical services, even though they have +possessed many able men, have done little to improve sanitation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165"></a>[165]</span> +in that country. The fault is entirely with the chief +offices of Government, which too often appoint and retain +as heads of their medical departments men who have no +scientific status or even scientific knowledge, and at the +same time take no trouble to promote the deserving. I +have known many instances of this. It would be much +better, in my opinion, to fill such offices from the ranks of +able civil practitioners or scientists at home, rather than to +select men who have no other claim to the post than long +official service.</p> + +<p>One of the greatest defects in the sanitary administration +of West Africa has lain in the constant refusal of Government +to investigate the causes of sickness by making use of +the services of experts. Government argues that it is not +its duty to investigate disease; but is it not? It admits +the duty of maintaining expensive medical services, but +not that of helping those services to increase their knowledge +of their business! A logical position truly! In my +own humble opinion the Colonial Office ought to have spent +at least £5000 per annum during the last fifty years for investigation +of the causes of sickness in West Africa alone. +Do not talk to me of want of funds. There are plenty of +funds, but they are thrown away on military expeditions; +on the salaries of useless legal officials—chief justices and +attorney-generals of little villages; and on building houses +such as the one I referred to at Ibadan, which cost £6000, +enough to pay for sanitary researches for years, and is uninhabitable! +It is a case illustrating that peculiar form of +mind which looks upon all research and investigation as +idling and waste of time and money, a frame of mind which +seems to be specially a British one. We have yet to learn +the obvious fact that, if we wish to get a thing done, we must +first make suitable inquiry as to how it should be done. +Disease cannot be removed from a continent merely by +establishing a medical service; we must also help the service +to perfect its knowledge. The hand is not the same thing +as the brain. In West Africa we have long possessed the +hand, but the brain has been wanting.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166"></a>[166]</span></p> + +<p>The truth is that the defects of the West African sanitation +are really due to the fact that the colonial councils are +almost entirely in the hands of certain castes which are not +scientific castes, and which care little for sanitary matters. +I mean the politicians, soldiers, tax-collectors and legal +people. To these it is a matter of little moment to cleanse +streets, to purify towns, to banish disease from thousands +of homes. It is not given to them to stand powerless by +the side of death-beds and to hear the cries of the bereaved +at the moment of bereavement. If they have money to +spend, do they spend it for the purposes for which it was +really chiefly taken from the tax-payer—for conservancy and +hygiene? The filthy condition of most native towns in the +British tropical possessions gives the answer. No, it is a +finer thing to build a grand new post-office or law-court, or +to conduct a forward military policy which will find its +place in the home papers and delight the heart of the British +greengrocer (and voter) at his breakfast table. Well, after +all, it is human nature—each man for his own caste. As for +me, I have been too long an official myself not to understand +these little matters.</p> + +<p>I have said that West Africa has fallen into a vicious circle, +and the nature of this vicious circle will now be apparent. +The unhealthiness of the Coast for Europeans tends to check +their activities in all directions; and in return this detrimental +effect on their activities tends to check their efforts +towards ameliorating sanitary affairs. The two conditions +work hand in hand. It is impossible to remain blind to the +disastrous economical effect of the unhealthiness. It leads +to a constant change in the working staff of the country, not +only in consequence of death and sickness, but also in consequence +of the frequent furlough which is rendered necessary. +From the highest to the lowest, few Europeans remain +in West Africa for more than two or three years at a stretch; +and many Government officials are entitled to leave after +one year. This has the effect of rendering all business discontinuous. +As soon as a man has started a piece of work +he is called away from his efforts, and is obliged to leave<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167"></a>[167]</span> +everything to a successor. In India the period of residence +in the country before furlough can be demanded is five +years at least, and even then the break in the business which +occurs during the furlough is often very mischievous. How +much more so must be the interruption which occurs in West +Africa every year or two! The same thing prevents people +in West Africa from taking sufficient interest in the homes +of their exile. Many of them have told me that all the time +they are in the country they are indifferent to what happens, +that they simply live from hand to mouth, careless of their +surroundings and longing only for the day when, if fate spares +them, they can escape once more for a brief interval to +Europe. It is this feeling which makes them indifferent to +the houses in which they live, to the food they eat, to their +surroundings—and sometimes, I fear, to their duties. The +danger, discomfort and <i>ennui</i> of life are so great that a +chronic condition of callousness inimical to all serious effort +is frequently arrived at. We must remember these facts +when we are inclined to blame them. What wonder then +that a matter like sanitation, which requires such constant +endeavours, is apt to be neglected. Thus the circle comes +“full round” again; and the neglect of sanitation leads to +the paralysing unhealthiness which leads to the neglect of +sanitation. I have observed the same thing elsewhere—notably +in the unhealthy planting districts of India.</p> + +<p>What must we do to mend this state of affairs? Well, +the vicious circle must be broken at all costs.</p> + +<p>But how? I think that there is really only one way in which +it can be done, and that is by the introduction of a new force +into the vortex. I mean public opinion and public effort at +home in Europe. These must be roused for the sake of our +countrymen in West Africa. This country should be made +to understand that it has something more to do than to +watch processions of colonial troops and to brag of its +Empire. It is its duty to see that the Empire which it +boasts of is properly administered, and that our countrymen +who are sent to carry on the affairs, both official and commercial, +of that Empire are not left to die there unnecessarily.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168"></a>[168]</span> +This duty has certainly been most grossly neglected +in the past. It should be the work of all of us, especially +of those who govern the country, of the wealthy merchants +who trade with it, of the rich people who do not know what +to do with their money, and of men like myself, who are +hired to study and teach tropical sanitation—it should be +the work of all of us to see that it is not neglected in the +future.</p> + +<p>As every one knows, this new force has already come +into being. Every day sees some notice of West African +affairs in the Press. The able Governors of the Colonies +are, I think, doing all for the cause which their limited +means allow. The merchants of Liverpool and London +have come forward most handsomely with their tropical +schools, which I make bold to say are doing well also. A +single philanthropist has actually drained and cleaned the +houses in Freetown <i>pro tempore</i>, at his own expense, and +last, but by no means least, many young pathologists have +given their time and risked their health for the cause.</p> + +<p>But what are the exact steps which should be taken? I +have already indicated these above. It is the duty of the +Government to see that the principal settlements are kept +scrupulously clean and drained; to construct and publish +proper statistics of sickness and mortality among the Europeans; +to appoint whole-time health officers; to enforce +sanitary laws; and to encourage the building of good +houses and the establishment of dairies, settlement farms, +gymkanas and other institutions or trades which are likely +to conduce to the comfort and health of the colonists. +Thus Government has a great deal to do. It has only begun +as yet.</p> + +<p>But it is not Government alone which must act. Sir +William MacGregor recently pointed out to the Liverpool +Chamber of Commerce that men who carry on business on +the Coast have much to do for their employés—to give +them good houses, to force them to take proper precautions +against malaria, and to add to their comfort in every +possible way.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169"></a>[169]</span></p> + +<p>Then there is the philanthropist millionaire. I wish that +we could get hold of him in earnest. Sir Charles King-Harman +once told me that £100,000 would reform the +West Coast if presented as a free gift, by enabling Government +to start gymkanas, dairies, and such like for the +Europeans. So it would; and the money ought to be +obtained.</p> + +<p>Lastly, the Colonial Office ought to do one thing—a thing +which was recommended by a deputation which waited +upon the Colonial Secretary some time ago. That is, it +ought to appoint a Sanitary Commissioner on the Indian +model, to make constant inspections of sanitary matters in +the West African Colonies, and to report directly to the +Colonial Office. We were told, however, that the scheme +was too costly, and otherwise impossible. But shortly +afterwards a gentleman with a large salary was appointed +in order to inspect the knapsacks, &c., of the black troops—a +much more important matter than any sanitary business!</p> + +<p>I may mention here an opinion which I frequently heard +expressed on the Coast, namely, that the West African +Colonies have now outgrown the present system of control +by small detached Governments placed under an office in +London. It is contended that the whole country should be +administered by a Governor-General on the Indian lines. I +fancy that sanitation would not lose by the change.</p> + +<p>Such are my humble opinions on sanitary matters in +West Africa. They are given in response to an invitation +from the author of this book; and, of course, exigencies of +space have prevented my dealing with many points which +should be dealt with in a complete survey of the subject—which +would require a book for itself. I have thought it +best to say exactly what I think without much reservation; +but, of course, my views may, perhaps, not be so sound as I +imagine. It would be the grandest thing in the world if +sanitary science could give to civilisation such a glorious +gift as West Africa; and I believe that it will. But the +thing will be done only by straight speaking, hard hitting, +and the most indomitable action.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170"></a>[170]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX<br> +<span class="smaller">LAND TENURE AND LABOUR IN WEST AFRICA</span></h3> + +<p>“In dealing with the natives, one must never touch their rights in land.”—<span class="smcap">Sir +William MacGregor.</span></p> + +<p>“The so-called labour problem is, in my opinion, created by the people +who complain of it, and not by the natives, who are perfectly willing to work +when fairly treated.”—Mr. <span class="smcap">J. A. Daw</span>, of the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation.<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p> + +<p>“I know the Gold Coast natives well, and I repeat, you can get all you +want out of them, if people will only realise that the native is a human being, +and not an animal or a machine.”—Captain <span class="smcap">Donovan</span>, late of the Gold +Coast Police.<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a></p> + +<p>“Nothing in all the history submitted on this subject is more misleading, +untrue, and unjust than the reiterated statement that the chiefs and people of +Western Africa are unfitted for peaceable self-government. It is not pretended +they will reach for the present any Western European ideal, but they will not +lag behind some people who claim to be better. The people do not want war; +the very facility with which their disputes are temporarily adjusted serves to +show this disposition. The Coast is far from having recovered from the dire +effects of the slave trade. The chiefs are weak, and much of their power is +taken from them by the very British Administration which scolds them for +their non-success.”—<span class="smcap">C. S. Salmon</span>, “The Crown Colonies of Great Britain.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>If there is one thing more than another upon which the +most competent students of West Africa are agreed, it is the +tenaciousness of the West African Negro to his landed +rights. Land tenure in West Africa has been properly +described as a “cult.” The most experienced English, +French and German observers have noted this characteristic. +Wherever it has been adequately studied, the system +of native land tenure, in its tribal, family, individual and +commercial aspects, is found to be at once simple in its +broad lines, elaborate in its details, and approaching in +many respects to the most advanced democratic conceptions +of Western Europe. Before the torchlight of scientific inquiry, +the old idea of the Negro being more or less of an +animal, incapable of evolving any rational or consistent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171"></a>[171]</span> +policy; too backward to frame anything approaching an +unwritten code of law; his every act of life being merely the +outcome of natural instinct, can no longer be entertained. +And to the knowledge that these beings, who were thought +irrational, and inconsequent to the extent of being the half-devil, +half-child of popular imagination, has been added +the conviction that the commercial and political success +of the Powers of Europe in their West African Possessions +depends for its attainment upon the recognition of native +law in respect to property.</p> + +<p>But although the testimony to this effect is shared by +those who have the largest experience of West Africa, and +although evidence is accumulating on all sides which corroborates +in the most ample manner the statements of Ellis, +Sarbah and Mary Kingsley,<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> it is nevertheless unhappily true +that the tendency on the part of the European Powers, not +only to interfere with the native law of land tenure, but to +frame legislation without regard whatever for its importance +in the relationship between the European and the Negro, is +increasingly manifest. It would seem as though, having +discovered that the West African Negro is not a brute but a +man, evidence which establishes the discovery is deliberately +set aside; because it is so much easier to go on treating the +native as a brute, that is to say, as a being deprived of the +faculty of reasoning, and who, on the principle of “a woman, +a dog and a walnut-tree, the more you beat ’em the better +they’ll be,” will come fawning to our feet in abject humility +upon every fresh exhibition of our superiority.</p> + +<p>It is very curious to observe this conflict of forces; painstaking +research, its published results, and the influence it +wields, <i>versus</i> impatience and disinclination to investigate on +the one hand; and selfish material interests on the other. +The future of European political and commercial enterprise +in West Africa is largely bound up with the struggle for +the capture of Public Opinion which is going on in this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172"></a>[172]</span> +country and on the Continent. At present, the purely +materialistic notion, assisted by its twin-brother Indifference, +is in the ascendant. Apparent success having been +secured in that part of tropical Western Africa where, +under the tuition of his white masters, the native has +become a mere machine for the production of dividends +to European company promoters, a great impetus has been +given to the conception, popular in so many quarters, that +the <i>raison d’être</i> of West Africa and the West African is +their exploitation by Western Europe, on such lines and in +such fashion as the peoples of Western Europe see fit. +The European Governments are alternately allowing themselves +to be dragged along this perilous path whose ultimate +destination is the abyss called Failure, or are hanging back +from it, beset with doubts. But the danger is acutely +realised by many, and as it gathers in extent and consistency, +is being energetically opposed. The merchants, +English, French and German, are, as a body, unanimous +in condemnation. The exceptions to the rule are exceedingly +few and far between. The best type of Colonial +Administrator in West Africa also is utterly antagonistic, +and amongst the still restricted but daily growing section +of the Public which follows the affairs of West Africa +with intelligent interest a strong feeling of protest gathers +volume every day. These forces are numerically inferior, +but they carry great weight, and if they can succeed in +combining they must ultimately win the day. But the +struggle will be long and bitter.</p> + +<p>An attempt has been made in this volume to show (1) the +unwisdom of interfering too rapidly, and without sufficient +care and thought, with native customs generally, and (2), as +regards the evil of slave-raiding, the advisability of seriously +considering whether force is the only weapon which a great +Empire can forge to suppress it. In the latter case, the +Powers are able to put forward a plea justifying interference, +insomuch as the evil is an active one. The only difference +of opinion, as already stated, is the form which such interference +should take. In the former case the evils, if some<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173"></a>[173]</span> +of them are evils—a matter which admits of a good deal of +qualification—are of a kind that patience, tact, and time—time +above all things—will prove the most efficient means +of combating. But in respect to native law of land tenure, +we are not confronted with any evil. On the contrary, the +system of native land tenure is essentially just, thoroughly +adapted to the needs of the country and its people, a striking +refutation of the “arrested development” theory as applied +to the Negro, and <i>per se</i> an eloquent vindication of the +Negro’s claim to consideration at the hands of the European +invaders of, and settlers in, his country. There can be no +justification whatever for the break-up of land tenure, or for +the alienation of native property, under any pretext. It is +morally indefensible, and what is morally indefensible is +seldom politically wise.</p> + +<p>In West Africa, the circumstances being what they are, +interference with native property is bound to affect, not in +theory but in practice, the interest of every single individual +in the country. In the coastwise regions of West Africa +proper, as far south, that is to say, as the Rio del Rey, where +Bantu culture begins, it may be accepted as a rule (whatever +differentiation may exist in the system of land tenure in +widely removed districts), from which the departures are +extremely rare,<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> that every square yard of the country is +<i>owned</i>. Sarbah for the Gold Coast; Clozel and Delafosse for +the Ivory Coast; Ellis for Yoruba; Mary Kingsley for the +Rivers; Bohn for French Guinea; Fabre for Dahomey, have +borne witness in their respective fields of observation to this +fact—that there is no land without an owner. There is also +a vast amount of untabulated corroborative information +from almost every part of the Coast. South of Rio del Rey +the land customs of the natives have not been the object +of so much inquiry as north of it, and there the population +is not in the main so dense, but what gleanings are available +to us appear to be conclusive on the same point: in all +inhabited districts land is never without an owner, whose +claims, whether tribal or family, are as sacred in native<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174"></a>[174]</span> +unwritten law as they would be if duly set forth in a legal +document, in accordance with the full requirements of +European jurisprudence.</p> + +<p>It is easy to understand why this should be so. The native +lives on the produce of his land. He not only lives upon it, +it is also his wealth, his currency, his medium of exchange +for European goods. The products which he gathers in +his forests, the plantations he makes in the clearings and the +plains, these are at once his sustenance and his cash. Is it +astonishing, therefore, that he guards his land and all that +grows therein, or is built thereon, with passionate jealousy; +and that, whereas he can be induced without difficulty to lease +his property rights under certain conditions to Europeans +for even a long term of years, he can seldom be brought, +save by physical compulsion, to alienate them for ever? +Ought it to be matter for surprise that legislation calculated +to hinder his free use of the products of his land, or action +of which the logical consequence is to reduce him from the +position of land-owner to tenant, either provokes him to pit +his spears and flintlocks against the repeating-rifles of the +despoilers, or breeds in him such utter confusion of mind, +such bewilderment and terror, that,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Fleeing to the forest’s dim recess,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He broods in sullen unproductiveness,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Plunged in deeper savagery,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Witness to the high morality</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Christian peoples?</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Strange, indeed, does it seem, with the burden of historical +proof to the adaptability of the Negro; with the abundant +and cumulative evidence of his willingness to trade, to learn, +to take on new industries, to everywhere follow up his +natural profession of agriculture; with the actual and daily +evidence of his enterprise and producing capacity in the +existing oil-palm, ground-nut, mahogany and rubber industries; +strange, indeed, that European statesmen worthy +of the name should for a moment entertain the idea, or lend +ear to the suggestion, that in a country like West Africa, +where the white element compared with the black is as a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175"></a>[175]</span> +grain of sand on the sea-shore, and where the European +can attain nothing that is permanent or lasting without the +willing co-operation of the Negro, the spontaneous production +of the Negro as a free man, in the enjoyment of the +fruits of his own land, can be replaced by the forced production +of a serf deprived of his lands, his freedom, and his +individuality!</p> + +<p>If in one sense the question of native land tenure in West +Africa is distinct from that of native labour, it is in another +way closely allied to it, and to treat of one without referring +to the other is difficult, if not impossible. But it is equally +difficult, when once the labour problem is raised, to confine +oneself to West Africa only; for the theory of “assimilation” +is very much to the fore just now, and although the conditions +prevailing in West Africa differentiate absolutely from +those in Central, East, and South Africa, the same general +arguments are made to apply more or less to all four. I +must, therefore, crave the reader’s indulgence if I wander +somewhat afield.</p> + +<p>There is not the least shadow of doubt that the tendency +to go past the law of native land tenure in West Africa owes +its origin in large measure to the oft-repeated statement that +the Negro will not work. Numbers of people have for some +time past been assuring the Public that West Africa can only +be developed by compelling the native to work.<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> It is, of +course, assumed <i>à priori</i> that the native of West Africa does +not work. How the contention can be justified in the face +of demonstrable and easily accessible facts to the contrary, +we need not pause to inquire. It suffices that the contention +exists, and that there is not a paper dealing with African +affairs in Great Britain, or the Continent of Europe, which +does not contain in almost every issue some reference to +the matter. Nor is discussion limited to such papers. In<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176"></a>[176]</span> +the speeches of public men whose interests are associated with +Africa; in conferences, in books, pamphlets, and not infrequently +in the daily press, the subject crops up again and +again. The refrain is usually much after this style: “The +native will not work. We have to work and pay income-tax. +Why should not the native? What is the use of Africa +to us if the native refuses to work? It is intolerable. He +must be made to work.”</p> + +<p>It must be admitted that the spirit of the hour is admirably +suited to act the part of receiver to these laments. The +signatory powers of the Berlin Act have allowed the gradual +establishment and consolidation in Western Central Africa +of an institution the existence of which is based upon repudiation +of the inherent right of the native to his land or the +fruits thereof; and upon forced labour on the part of the +dispossessed for their despoilers. What wonder that the +public of France and Germany, observing the enormous +profits derived by people immediately connected with this +institution, and led astray by the apathy of their statesmen +to the evil, should put down to political ability what is +merely outrage; and impatient at the comparatively slow +progress of their own possessions, should begin to loudly +call for the adoption of a similar system therein? “The +King of Belgium has succeeded in making the natives +work. He and his coadjutors are reaping a huge harvest. +Belgian industry is the gainer. Antwerp has become the +first rubber market in the world. Why not imitate the +King of Belgium?”</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus23" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus23.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>THE IDLE NATIVE! MARKET SCENE IN WEST AFRICA</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>It would be grossly unfair to describe this mental attitude +on the part of public opinion in France and Germany as +having been due, or as being due, to a natural callousness. At +one time, indeed, the proceedings of the Congo State were +severely condemned in both countries, and not farther back +than 1895 Count Alvensleben, German Ambassador in Brussels, +was carrying on a correspondence with the then principal +Secretary of the Congo State anent the payment of rubber +premiums by the Congo State to its agents and the trading +operations of that State, couched in such language as would<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177"></a>[177]</span> +have brought about between two European Powers an +immediate rupture of diplomatic relations. But wealth +commands great power, and its rapid acquisition is a blunter +of conscience. The Belgian financiers who control the two +great Trusts in the Congo State—the <i>annexes</i> of the Domaine +Privé Trust and the Thys Trust—were desirous for their own +ends of still further extending their power. They managed +to obtain the co-operation of many highly placed persons in +France and Germany, and to secure the assistance of an important +section of the Colonial Press in the two countries. The +result is seen in the creation of what is known as the Concessionnaire +<i>régime</i> in the Colony of French Congo; its partial +adoption in the French Colony of Dahomey; its attempted +establishment in the auriferous French Colony of the Ivory +Coast; and its introduction into German Cameroons, where, +however, experience has led to a revulsion of feeling as +healthy as it is encouraging. In other words, the indifference +of the Powers to the violation of the Berlin Act by the +Sovereign of the Congo State has involved the application +of the new slavery to another vast tract of territory in +Africa. Public opinion has been worked to such good +purpose that the lucubrations of a Carl Peters or Camille +Janssens are not only listened to with patience, but are +regarded by many as the embodiment of a rational colonial +policy; while in France, open appeals have for the past year +and more been uttered every day in favour of a <i>régime</i> of +forced labour at the point of the bayonet. The theory that +the Negro will not work and must be compelled to do so has, +therefore, made strides rapid enough among the Western +nations on the Continent of Europe to satisfy the fondest +hopes of its promoters.</p> + +<p>In England the modern school of thought in African +affairs shows a like tendency. We hear in various forms +how essential it is to inculcate the African with the notion +of the “dignity of labour.” As we are here dealing with +West Africa, it would be out of place to discuss at any +length the labour questions connected with South Africa. +But it is only too obvious that the financiers of the Rand<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178"></a>[178]</span> +and their friends at home are the leading spirits through +whom British public opinion is being influenced towards +coercion in the matter of native labour in Africa as a whole, +just as the Brussels and Antwerp financiers who run the +Congo State are the instruments whereby similar notions +are propagated on the Continent of Europe. As already +stated, special conditions, as well as the nature of the native +population and, indeed, nearly all attendant circumstances, +differ profoundly in West Africa and South Africa, but it is +necessary to indicate the prevalence of a common shade of +thought which it is sought to apply in practice wherever +the European has secured a sufficiently strong hold upon +the Dark Continent. In a fascinating volume of African +travel recently published by a brilliant young explorer, +Mr. H. S. Grogan, can be found embodied, in a style distinguished +for its honest vulgarity, frank brutality and entire +absence of those hypocritical sophistries so much in vogue, +the views of the “modern school” as to what is, or what +ought to be, the inter-relationship of European and Hamite +in Africa.</p> + +<p>Here are a few samples of his arguments:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“But few people at home,” he writes, “realise what an alarming and +ever-growing difficulty has to be faced in the African native problem. +It is a difficulty that is unique in the progress of the world.... Under +the beneficent rule of the white man he thrives like weeds in a hot-house.... +What is to be done with this ever-increasing mass of +inertia? We have undertaken his education and advancement, as we +have carefully explained, by the mawkish euphemisms in which we +wrap our land-grabbing schemes. When we undertake the education +of a child or beast we make them work, realising that work is the sole +road to advancement. But when we undertake the education of a +nigger, who, as I have endeavoured to show, is a blend of the two, we +say; ‘Dear Nigger, thou elect of Exeter Hall, chosen of the negrophil, +bread-and-butter of the missionary, darling of the unthinking philanthropist, +wilt thou deign to put thy hand to the plough, or dost prefer +to smoke and tipple in undisturbed content? We, the white men whom +thy conscience wrongly judges to be thy superiors, will arrange the +affairs of state. Sleep on, thou ebony idol of a jaded civilisation, may +be anon thou wilt sing ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers.’ ... A good +sound system,” proceeds Mr. Grogan, “of compulsory labour would do +more to raise the nigger in five years than all the millions which have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179"></a>[179]</span> +been sunk in missionary efforts for the last fifty.... Why should not +other peoples be called upon to work for the cause of progress? +Throughout Africa the cry is, ‘Give me labour.’ There is a sound +maxim in the progress of the world: ‘What cannot be utilised must be +eliminated.’ And drivel as we will for a while, the time will come when +the negro must bow to this as to the inevitable. Why, because he is +black and is supposed to possess a soul, we should consider him, on +account of that combination, exempt, it is difficult to understand, when +a little firmness would transform him from a useless and dangerous +brute into a source of benefit to the country and of satisfaction to +himself.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>What a typical passage is this! The Negro lazy and degraded, +useless and dangerous: the European doing all +the work while the Negro smokes and drinks—whether imported +European liquor or liquor manufactured locally is +not stated: narrow-minded visionaries at home preventing +the salvation of Africa in the shape of compulsory labour +on the Rand mines which constitutes “education”: the +perfection of morals that result from such education, and +so forth! The crowning folly is conveyed in the words +“what cannot be utilised must be eliminated,” which, I +suppose, means a “thinning-out process”—such as Professor +Gregory tells us has been accomplished only too successfully +in Unyoro, where “it has been estimated that in the +four years following the establishment of British rule the +population was reduced to a fourth”—in order to prevent +the too rapid propagation of these “hot-house weeds!” And +yet what Mr. Grogan says is repeated by many and believed +by more—the mass who swallow this tainted diet as though +’twere nectar, and absorb these grotesque distortions as if +they were gospel truths.</p> + +<p>Let us endeavour to examine this question in a practical, +temperate, and impartial spirit. According to ethnologists, +the true, uncontaminated Negro is only found in West Africa, +roughly from Senegal to the Rio del Rey. He inhabits the +coastwise regions and the forest belt. The innumerable +creeks and forests of the Niger Delta shelter the purest +specimens, ethnologically, of his race. South of Rio del Rey +the Bantu stock begins, and predominates as you work<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180"></a>[180]</span> +southward. Behind the forest belt the true Negro stock has +become changed and modified by infusion of Berber and +Fulani, and also, but to a lesser degree, of Arab blood. In +the Niger bend, in the regions round about Lake Chad, in +Northern Nigeria this blending of races has created a +bewildering variety of mixed types, while here and there +both the invaded and invading elements have preserved +their purity—for instance, among the Negroes, the Bambarra +of the Upper Niger; among the Berbers, the noble Imosagh; +among the Arabs, the Shuwa; among the Fulani, the Pullo +herdsmen of Futa Jallon, Adamawa, Bondu, and of many +other parts of the Western Sudan. Leaving west for east, +you have the Shoa, Galla, Somali, and Jew in Abyssinia and +its confines; then the Bantu—product, as Dr. Voight thinks, +of Semitic and Negro mixture—spreading southwards, inwards +and westwards; universal everywhere, right down +to the Cape—the Masai, Wahuma, Pigmies, Hottentots; +and, in the French Congo, the Fans, presenting small +channels of ethnic divergence in a vast sea of Bantu +stock.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus24" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus24.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>WEST AFRICAN “YOUNG HOPEFULS”</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Throughout all this huge expanse of territory the soil is +in the main so fertile that it produces with little trouble +everything which the native requires for his subsistence and +his comfort, where his sense of what constitutes comfort +has not expanded as the result of intercourse with a higher +ethical development—a “higher civilisation,” to use the hackneyed +term. The climate being mostly hot, it militates against +great physical energy, which, moreover, is not, and has not +been, economically necessary for the African for countless +generations. The degree of development of the native +depends upon the extent of his contact with, or remoteness +from, influences tending to create in his mind fresh ideas; a +higher conception of arts and crafts—influences which may +have filtered through to him either by the medium of trade, +successive migration, conquest by a more advanced race, or +the infiltration of a revealed religion. The more inaccessible +the region, the further inland the people, the wider removed +from highways of commerce their situation, the more<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181"></a>[181]</span> +primitive their state. That is logical, although there are, of +course, exceptions. But that in his primitive state the +African is the “useless and dangerous brute” which the +shallow materialism, the frenzy for expansion, the unthinking, +rather blatant callousness of the hour would make him +out to be, is one of the many fictions which pass for truths +about Africa. The Wa-Kavirondo are the most primitive +people in the Uganda Protectorate. They go absolutely +naked, are more moral than their partly clothed neighbours, +and are agriculturists. “Wherever they settle, the jungle +around them is soon converted into fruitful fields, yielding +sweet potatoes, or various forms of corn. Those who can +afford it keep goats and sheep, and the wealthy have herds +of cattle,” says Dr. Ansorge, adding that among them, +“where the European villain with his lies and frauds has +not yet made his appearance, the white man’s simple word +is equal to a solemn and a binding oath.” In most parts of +Africa, south of the equator—in the huge central portion at +any rate—in the Upper Nile valley, the region traversed by +Mr. Grogan, the native has never had the motive, the spontaneous +impetus to produce more than his needs required +or his fancy led him to. Yet he works in iron, moulds +pottery, has in many cases a highly developed artistic +instinct,<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> manufactures cloth and ingenious and elaborate +weapons of offence, has some notions of harmony, and +often enough a vein of true poetic instinct. When local +conditions have been favourable to the evolving of important +social agglomerations, a native state form has grown up +which was a cause of abundant astonishment to the early +European travellers in Central Africa. Yet, as far back as +we are able to plunge in the dim recesses of the past, these +millions of natives—this “mass of inertia”—were entirely +cut off from intercourse with the outside world, isolated from +all contact with the “superior” races. A few stray Egyptian<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182"></a>[182]</span> +traders probably penetrated to the head waters of the Nile +and the Great Lakes. Later on, a handful of Arabs wandered +inwards from Zanzibar, but until Burton, Speke and +Grant, Livingstone (working from the south), Baker, Emin, +and Stanley revealed the interior of Africa, its inhabitants +had been innocent of all communication with the higher +culture. One need not inquire whether the lot of these +people has been much brighter since the advent among them +of the half-caste Arab slave-trader, the Belgian ivory and +rubber hunter, the over-zealous European missionary, and +the land-grabbing fever of the Powers. An estimate on that +point must be largely a matter of opinion. But to expect +that these natives are going to willingly emigrate <i>en masse</i> +to the Rhodesian mines, hire themselves out for the performance +of arduous labour, dig, delve, undertake plantation +work and the like with the zeal of a European workman +anxious to earn a living wage, is a piece of consummate +folly. They can only be induced to do so by the most +tactful treatment; by the payment of a decent wage; by +the selection of European agents possessing some sense of +proportion, and at least a rudimentary knowledge of the +teachings of history. To attempt to revolutionise these +peoples’ conceptions in a few years is madness, and to try +and drive them by coercive measures constitutes a policy at +once immoral, short-sighted, and disastrous.<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a></p> + +<p>Until quite recently British West Africa remained unaffected +in any material sense by the gradual gravitation of +European public opinion towards the use of coercion in +dealing with the African, together with the non-recognition +of native land tenure and the various concomitants of the +“exploitation” policy. The birth of a scientific gold-mining +industry in the Gold Coast, however, has let loose a flood of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183"></a>[183]</span> +ignorant talk about West Africa, and raised up a whole host +of evil advisers who are busily intent in introducing South +African methods in the West African goldfields. Constant +complaints are being raised about the scarcity of labour, the +indolence and the slothfulness of the native. Experienced +men like Mr. Daw, of the Ashanti goldfields, have not +hesitated to speak out boldly against these views; and so far +the Colonial Office,<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> to its honour be it said, has refused to +yield to the clamour, and has declined to repeal the law on +the acquisition, extent, and registration of mining concessions +whereby the rights of the native owners of the soil are +amply safeguarded. In that respect the Concessions Ordinance +must rank as the most equitable legislative measure +for the protection and preservation of native land tenure +which exists in West Africa. It is true that of the numerous +complaints which the Ordinance has given rise to, those that +refer to the actual working of the measure are justified. The +machinery for registration is hardly complete enough, and +in that and some other respects matters might be improved. +It is also true that cases have occurred where native chiefs +have, knowingly or unknowingly, sold their properties twice +over, and thus perpetrated a fraud which, no doubt, is +exceedingly reprehensible; but certainly not more so than +the numerous frauds deliberately consummated by sundry +Gold Coast company promoters in foisting upon the British +public bogus concerns, causing pecuniary loss to hundreds +and thousands of English men and women. The African +chief who indulges in sharp practice can be punished in the +Gold Coast, but his European prototype generally manages +to escape the clutches of the law. It is to be hoped that the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184"></a>[184]</span> +Colonial Office will maintain the Concessions Ordinance in +its integrity, while perfecting the machinery to administer +it, for the law, as a law, is a credit to British justice in West +Africa.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, it is much to be regretted that the +Colonial Office should have framed a code of laws and regulations +in respect to the development of forest products and +the attribution of forest reserves, in Southern Nigeria, which +have given rise to grave objection, and must continue to do +so. The effect of these regulations in the aggregate is to +authorise the High Commissioner to issue any rules he +chooses with regard to all kinds of forest produce, not excepting +the produce of the palm. No proper distinction is +drawn between so-called “waste”<a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> lands and forest lands +at the disposal of the native and the Government respectively. +Natives are to be compelled to take out licences to +enable them to do what they have hitherto done without restriction. +The licences are to be granted by the Government +officials. Half the money goes to the local treasury, +the other half to the native owner, but only if he can show +that he is entitled to it! The native is tried, under the +penalties provided by the proclamation, by the European +officer and not by his own local court. All this is bad and +short-sighted policy. It must inevitably tend to suggest to +the native mind that the Government is taking entire possession +of his land. His rights of land tenure are being treated +as though they had ceased to exist, and had been vested in +the Government. We are officially assured that the native +chiefs are satisfied that this is not the case, and that they +welcome these regulations. It is impossible to regard these +assurances otherwise than with scepticism. In Southern +Nigeria the Crown Colony Government is a despotism absolute<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185"></a>[185]</span> +and entire. There is no legislative council; there are no +native newspapers. The native has no means of ventilating +his grievances. The powers of the High Commissioner are +more sweeping than that of the Tsar of all the Russias. +There is no check upon him, no control of any kind. He +does exactly what he likes, and “force” in Southern Nigeria, +in other words, punitive expeditions are but of too frequent +occurrence. For upwards of three-quarters of a century +the natives of Southern Nigeria have been encouraged by +successive British Governments in the belief that they were +free to utilise the products of their own forests. I defy any +jurist to say what amount of freedom they will enjoy if these +regulations are carried out to the letter. I have sought the +opinion of English lawyers not unversed in native law on +this matter, and they have been anything but impressed +with the justice or legality of the measure. The regulations +have been compared to a retrogression “to the days of +William the Conqueror.” “The interpretation of the Commissioner’s +powers, under this Ordinance”—I am quoting +from the letter of a lawyer to whom I submitted the measures +in question—“are far too arbitrary. What privileges are left +to the native who, you will remember, is the owner of the +soil? It seems that he is in the unfortunate position of being +the owner of his land without being able to obtain the +slightest advantage from that land, and if he attempts to deal +with the products thereof, even with the very best intentions, +he is liable at the will of the Commissioner to imprisonment +or fine as provided by the Bill. This is surely +not the intention of the framer of the Bill; at least I hope +not.” The Chambers of Commerce on the one hand, and +the Aborigines Protection Society on the other, have protested +against this reactionary legislation, which shows that +both in commercial and philanthropic circles a similarity of +feeling exists in regard to its tenour. It is one thing “to +protect the forests from destruction,” which is understood +to be the motive of these regulations, and no reasonable +being would object to the framing of common-sense rules +for the preservation of rubber trees and vines (although it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186"></a>[186]</span> +is not rules but <i>instruction</i> which is required) and certain +young hardwood trees of slow growth; but it is quite +another thing to introduce a series of cast-iron laws of this +wholesale character, of doubtful legality, of still more questionable +expediency, inevitably calculated to lead to friction +and distinctly prejudicial to the development of legitimate +commerce. The Crown Colony system in the Rivers has +not been such a brilliant success that it can afford to deliberately +run such risks! These proclamations, it may be +added, were passed into law in Southern Nigeria without +the merchants who supply the whole revenue of the country +being advised or even consulted. Such is the business-like +method with which we conduct our affairs in West Africa!</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="illus25" style="max-width: 29.6875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus25.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>AN IBO FAMILY GROUP—SOUTHERN NIGERIA</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>In Lagos, where a similar measure was introduced (it +should be stated that the law is of home manufacture), it +met with considerable native opposition, and passed through +several stages of amendment before becoming law. In +Lagos there is a legislative council on which natives sit—in +a minority it is true—and there are local newspapers. +Channels exist, therefore, through which native opinion can +make itself heard. There is also, happily, a Governor of +the widest sympathies, of great and extensive knowledge and +experience. Under his auspices we may feel assured that +nothing will be wittingly done to alienate native rights in +land. The Bill, as amended, provides that it shall be open +to the duly constituted Native Councils, or Governments, of +the inland protected States, to construe its clauses in accordance +with native custom and usage; and as the chiefs are just +as interested in preserving their forests as the legislators or +the merchants, we may feel tolerably sure that the objects +aimed at will be secured. Moreover, it is further provided +that the Native Councils shall themselves issue licences when +required, the proceeds of which shall come to their own +local treasuries entirely; and shall themselves inflict fines +under their own law, and in their own courts; and the +Governor is further recommending that the Government +reserves shall be conveyed under lease.<a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> There you observe<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187"></a>[187]</span> +the difference between the two procedures. The one arbitrary, +dogmatic, despotic—the other such as it is seen to be. +If any difficulties arise in Lagos in the course of the working +of the Bill,<a id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> it will not be for the want of doing everything +possible to avert them, of surrounding the rights of native +land tenure with safeguards which, so long as they are +adhered to, will be sufficient to protect them, of imbuing the +native mind with the feeling that the Administration intends +to conform to the traditions of native usage; but they will +be due to the principle involved in the Bill, the principle, +that is, of a <i>primâ facie</i> right of interference, directly or indirectly, +on the part of the Government, in the affairs of +native States, whose internal independence in contradistinction +to their external relations is guaranteed by treaty. On +that point opinion will differ, and some of us will continue +to think that, in all matters affecting native industries, instruction +is better than restriction.<a id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188"></a>[188]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX<br> +<span class="smaller">A COTTON INDUSTRY FOR WEST AFRICA</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>Within the past few months a subject of the greatest +possible moment to West Africa, and of vital importance +to no inconsiderable section of the inhabitants of Great +Britain, has been discussed in concrete fashion, and there is +every reason to hope—nay more, to feel assured—that practical +results will follow. I refer to the movement for the +promotion of cotton-growing in West Africa.</p> + +<p>What has already been done may be stated in a few words. +On May 8 a memorable meeting was held at the Albion +Hotel, Manchester, under the auspices of Mr. Arthur Hutton, +the President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce. +The Chambers of Commerce of London, Liverpool, and +Oldham were represented at the meeting, together with the +managing director of the British West African Steamship +Lines, Sir Alfred Jones,<a id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> the Oldham Cotton Spinners Association, +the Manchester Cotton Spinners’ Association, various +other associations of a similar character from Blackburn +and other Lancashire towns, the West African merchants, +cotton merchants, brokers, weavers and manufacturers, &c. +The object of the meeting was to widen the area of cotton +cultivation under the British flag, more especially in West +Africa, and before the close of the proceedings a “British +Cotton Growing Association” had been formed with a preliminary +capital of £10,000, to be exclusively devoted to +experimenting in West Africa and other over-sea possessions. +This meeting was followed by another held in Manchester<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189"></a>[189]</span> +in June, in the course of which the decision arrived at +previously was confirmed and enlarged, and it was decided +to raise a fund of £50,000. The resolutions passed at this +second meeting were as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Resolutions.</span></p> + +<p>“(1) That, in the opinion of this meeting, the continued prosperity of +the British cotton industry depends on an increased supply of cotton, +and it is desirable that our sources of supply should be extended.</p> + +<p>“(2) That in order to attain this end an association be formed, to be +called the British Cotton Growing Association.</p> + +<p>“(3) That its principal object be the extension of the growth and +cultivation of cotton in British colonies, dependencies, and protectorates.</p> + +<p>“(4) That a guarantee fund of £50,000 be raised, to be spread over +five years, no guarantor being required to contribute more than one-fifth +of his total guarantee in any one year.</p> + +<p>“(5) That this association shall have power to form a subsidiary +company, or companies, and to dispose of any of its assets to any company +thus formed, on conditions that subscribers to this association +have the first option of taking up shares in any such company in +proportion to their subscriptions.</p> + +<p>“(6) That a general committee should be appointed.</p> + +<p>“(7) That this general committee should appoint from their number +members to form the executive committee.</p> + +<p>“(8) That the executive committee shall immediately collect all the +available information on the subject and despatch expert expeditions +to report on the best methods of procedure, and shall have power to +(<i>a</i>) acquire land on which to make experiments and to establish plantations; +(<i>b</i>) distribute seed among the natives to encourage them by +advice and assistance to grow cotton on their own land, and to engage +experts for this purpose if necessary; (<i>c</i>) establish stations to buy and +sell cotton, or any of its by-products, animals, implements, or any other +articles or goods necessary for the expeditions; (<i>d</i>) to adopt any other +means that may suggest themselves from time to time to attain the +object in view.</p> + +<p>“(9) That the general committee issue a report once each half-year +of the work which has been done.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>A third meeting took place at the Liverpool Chamber of +Commerce on July 14, in the presence of Sir William +MacGregor, Governor of Lagos, and Sir A. King Harman, +Governor of Sierra Leone, when practical ways and means<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190"></a>[190]</span> +of promoting the cultivation of cotton in their respective +Colonies for export to Europe were debated.<a id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a></p> + +<p>Having thus briefly indicated the various measures +adopted, we may profitably inquire into the origin and causes +of the movement. That inquiry cannot fail to impress the +thinking public with the importance of the issues. With +every year that passes Great Britain is becoming more than +ever dependent upon the United States for her cotton supply, +and with every year that passes the increase in the cotton +production of America accentuates itself by comparison +with the production of other countries. Thus in the decades +1870-80, 1880-90, and 1890-1900 America has produced 4½, +6½, and 9½ millions of bales, while India has produced 2, 2½, +and 2 millions; Egypt 384,000, 400,000, and 700,000; and +Brazil 600,000, 300,000, and 380,000 in the same period. +The gradual position assumed by America as controller of the +world’s cotton is, therefore, clearly apparent, and although +the production of Egypt and India is increasing, the ratio +of increase when compared with America is trifling, while +the production from countries outside India and Egypt is +decreasing.</p> + +<p>That is one consideration. Another consideration is this. +Forty years ago England took the bulk of American cotton. +To-day the Continent, thanks to the growth and to the +marvellous success of Continental spinners, takes one-third +of the entire American crop.</p> + +<p>Yet another factor is the increase in the American consumption +of cotton. A few years ago the American <i>consumption</i> +of cotton was almost <i>nil</i>. America now consumes +a third of her produce. In the opinion of some experts—although +in some quarters a contrary opinion is held—America<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191"></a>[191]</span> +will consume by the end of next year at least one-half +of her production.</p> + +<p>Now these are very serious facts for industrial Lancashire. +The terrible distress which visited Lancashire in the days +of the American Civil War is still sufficiently recent to be +remembered, and one shudders to contemplate the consequences +which would ensue if anything should again prevent +Lancashire from obtaining her share of the cotton crop of +America, with nothing but the existing inadequate supplies +from other parts of the world to fall back upon. The danger +is a very real and pressing one. As matters stand at present, +Great Britain is practically at the mercy of the United States, +and in a position of almost entire dependence upon the +market manipulations of American speculators, in whose +power it is to regulate the price to suit their own convenience. +So unsatisfactory is the actual condition of affairs, +that for the past three years it has hardly paid importers +to ship cotton to Liverpool. The fear of an American +syndicating of cotton is not, perhaps, altogether groundless +in these days of vast trusts and combinations, while the +competition from Continental spinners, and, above all, +increased American consumption, make the outlook as +gloomy as it well can be. It is therefore imperative that +something be done to increase the area of cotton production +under the British flag. So much for the wider aspect of the +question.</p> + +<p>Those to whom this matter specially appeals have naturally +enough turned their eyes towards West Africa, and it is in +connection with the possibilities of the development of an +export cotton industry in that part of the world that some +remarks may fittingly be made in this volume. I say an +“export” industry, because, as we know, a native industry +to supply local wants has existed in West Africa for centuries +past. We have seen, for example, the paramount +part which the cotton industry plays in the prosperity of +Kano and Northern Nigeria generally, where, in addition to +supplying local wants, manufactured cotton cloths are an +article of barter; in some regions indeed a veritable currency,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192"></a>[192]</span> +sent far and wide to countries of inland Western Africa where +the excellence of the Kano article is in perpetual demand. +But what is true of Kano is true of many other portions of +West Africa. The cotton shrub (<i>Gossypium herbaceum</i>)<a id="FNanchor_159" href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> is +met with in a wild state all over West Africa, and cultivated +very extensively. Wherever Islam has spread, cultivation +has increased, but in pagan communities the manufacture +of cotton cloths is indulged in to no inconsiderable extent. +The pagan tribes of Sierra Leone, of the Gold Coast and +Liberia, turn out the most beautiful cloths. Their excellence +and felicity of design are such that no one who has seen +them can fail to be impressed with the capacity of the races, +with their primitive appliances, which produce them. The +endeavour to promote cotton cultivation on a larger scale +in West Africa will not be, therefore, a new thing, and what +might have been an initial difficulty is happily non-existent.</p> + +<p>Nor will West Africa be called upon for the first time in +its history to supply Europe with raw cotton. When the +American Civil War broke out, high prices were offered for +West African cotton, which was universally pronounced by +experts to be of excellent quality. Cotton was exported in +its raw state from the Gold Coast, Fernando Po, Lagos, the +Gambia, and Angola. Indeed the export was continued +long after that, and between the years 1878 and 1885 raw +cotton to the value of £56,501 was shipped home to Europe +from the Gold Coast and Lagos. Even before the American +War, as was recently recalled to memory by Mr. Elijah Helm,<a id="FNanchor_160" href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> +himself a Quaker, the constitutional objections of the +Quakers to utilise the products of slave labour led to the +formation of a small association, which imported cotton +from West Africa of a quality so good, and in quantities so +considerable, as to provide for the not very extensive wants +of the Quaker fraternity.</p> + +<p>But with the close of the war, and the considerable fall in +price since those days, the West African export cotton industry +has become virtually extinct. A very little, I believe,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193"></a>[193]</span> +still finds it sway to Europe from the banks of the Volta and +from Angola, but that is all, with the exception of the Togoland +experiment of last year, of which I shall speak later.</p> + +<p>The four main requirements for the successful cultivation +of cotton are: (1) a suitable soil, (2) adequate irrigation +or a regularly recurring rainfall, (3) sufficient labour, +(4) transport facilities. British West Africa can, in the main, +give the first three, in some places better than in others. +British West Africa’s capacity to furnish the fourth depends +upon whether the grassy upland plains of the interior may +be considered more fitting or less fitting than the swampy, +better-watered regions of the coast. If the former be thought +the most likely, the country behind Lagos alone affords the +necessary qualifications at present. Lagos, moreover, is +particularly fitted in respect to the third requirement, that of +labour. A railway 125 miles long runs up from Lagos +town to the interior, passing through the naturally rich and +productive belt of forest, where it is hopeless to expect, and +where it would be dangerous to attempt to promote, cotton +cultivation. But beyond the forest belt a park-like country +opens out of an area of some 10,000 square miles in extent, +the greater proportion of which would be suitable to the +cultivation of cotton, and would go far to justify and hasten, +if taken up in earnest, the extension of the existing railway line +to the Niger. If, therefore, it be a question of experimenting +in a region of grass-covered plains—similar to those of +Texas—Lagos, by reason of its railway, is the only British +colony where such experiments can at present be undertaken. +The intelligence of the Yorubas, their agricultural +and industrial capacity, the dense agglomeration of population +met with in the country, the need of providing or +strengthening the <i>economic</i>, as opposed to the strategic, +argument for a continuation of the line (let us fervently +trust under different conditions) to the Niger; all those +factors render it in the highest degree to be hoped that +Lagos may be chosen as a centre of activity for the new +movement. Lagos, let it never be forgotten, is one of the +doors of Northern Nigeria.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194"></a>[194]</span></p> + +<p>If, on the other hand, the consensus of expert opinion +favours the low-lying coastwise regions, where fluvial +transport to the actual port of shipment is relatively easy, +the Gambia and Southern Nigeria primarily suggest themselves. +Those possessions seem to me to offer advantages +over Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast. The present +condition of Sierra Leone is not encouraging. The railway, +if it achieves anything at all, which is doubtful, can only do so +by increasing the yield of the fruit of the palm, and by bringing +the interior oil-palm districts into closer touch with the coast +markets. This may enable that unfortunate Colony to bear +the heavy burden under which it is now staggering. To cut +down the forests in the Eastern districts of Sierra Leone in +order to plant cotton would be suicidal. In the Gold Coast, +again, there is an opposing factor in the shape of the gold-mining +industry. The mining companies are perpetually +grumbling about the scarcity of labour, for which in many +cases they have themselves to thank. Their demands upon +the population have already resulted in drawing away a +number of people from their usual avocations, with the +result that the export of timber is decreasing; and any +further deviation of available labour, such as the cultivation +of cotton would necessitate, would seriously affect the producing +capacity of the country, not only as regards timber, +but in respect to other natural and cultivated products, such +as palm oil and kernels in the first category, and cocoa in +the other.</p> + +<p>For the Gambia, on the other hand, the advent of a new +industry would be a boon. The Gambia entirely relies for +its existence upon the ground-nut. It is always a bad thing +to have all your eggs in one basket. When an article like the +ground-nut is in question, it is very bad, because you are at the +mercy, as it were, of the seasons. The ground-nut is necessarily +a fluctuating article on that account, and one year may +produce a fine crop, to be followed the next by an indifferent +one. Sir George Denton—the genial and popular Governor +of the Gambia—intended, I know, to try and start a better +system of irrigation in certain parts of that Colony, in order<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195"></a>[195]</span> +to widen the extent of ground-nut producing land, and any +such project would be all to the good, of course, for cotton +cultivation. The population of the Gambia being mostly +Mohammedan and largely composed of those most enterprising +people the Mandingoes, and Mandingoes crossed +with Fulani blood—remnant of the old empire of Melle—a +cotton industry (to which they are long inured) could be +started with so much greater hope of success from this fact.</p> + +<p>In Southern Nigeria<a id="FNanchor_161" href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> the field is vast. You can march +for miles on either bank of the main river through a cotton-growing +country. The density of the population varies, of +course, in different districts. Fluvial means of transport +abound. The people, it is true, are not blessed, or cursed, +with many wants; but there is no valid reason why, with +a little painstaking care and sympathetic treatment; with +improvements in the production of kernels which, as already +suggested, would release a considerable amount of native +labour for other pursuits; with a greater display of combination +between the official and mercantile class; with a good +deal less blood-letting, fewer punitive expeditions, “clearing +away of the refuse of the population,” “drastic measures,” +and so forth; the natives of Southern Nigeria should not +be induced to take up cotton cultivation for purposes of +export.</p> + +<p>Granted the necessity; given the soil, irrigation rainfall, +labour and transport, as specifically mentioned above; +admitted an experience in cotton growing, spinning and +weaving among the natives; what remains to be studied +in this great enterprise destined, let us hope, to make of +British West Africa a great cotton-producing country on +which England can count in case of need; to assist in +freeing us to a large extent from a position of dependence +upon America, and so prevent the accumulating dangers of +the hour, and of which the creation cannot fail to confer +the greatest benefit upon the British West African possessions?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196"></a>[196]</span></p> + +<p>Obviously the first consideration is one of price. Can +a cotton industry in West Africa be made to pay? Can +sufficient inducement be offered to the native to encourage +him to produce cotton for export? Can West African +cotton compete with any degree of success against the +American product in the matter of price? On what lines +can a cotton industry in West Africa be promoted? Based +upon the data available, which are not, of course, by any +means complete, the general consensus of opinion amongst +experts appears to be that, with the inculcation of scientific +methods of cultivation, the treatment of the cotton shrub +as an annual instead of a perennial, the introduction of the +necessary implements and of ginning and compressing +machinery it will be possible to make cotton-growing profitable. +In this respect the experiments of the Germans in +Togoland are particularly interesting. To Germany belongs +the credit of initiating the new cotton movement. From the +German Colony of Togo came last year, for the first time in its +history, fifteen thousand marks worth of cotton. The conclusions +of the German Agricultural Committee were precise. +The absence of adequate transport facilities alone prevented +the complete financial success of the first experiment. +Further, it was shown upon analysis that, of the various types +of cotton raised from American, Egyptian, Indian and native +seed, the type raised from the native seed produced, as a +whole, the best staple, equal in quality to average American. +This absence of transport is likely to be remedied in time, +as a survey is now being made for a railway from the +coast to Misahöhe. Meanwhile the Germans are so far +from being discouraged that a company is, I understand, +about to be brought out for the express purpose of developing +the cotton industry in Togo<a id="FNanchor_162" href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> with a capital of +£37,500.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp53" id="illus26" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus26.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>TRAVELLING ON THE NIGER IN THE DRY SEASON</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The French are also devoting a great deal of attention to +the subject just now. Some years ago the then military +Governor of the French Sudan, Général de Trentinian, took +the matter up. Nothing came of his efforts, but M. Roume,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197"></a>[197]</span> +the new Governor-General of French West Africa, has now +adopted it as one of the planks of his platform, so to speak. +He is anxious to establish a cotton industry in Senegal, +which, like the Gambia, lives upon ground-nut production. +More ambitious schemes are vaguely mooted, and some +enthusiasts already speak and write as though the valley of +the Upper Niger were about to be converted, as it were by +a flash of the magician’s wand, into a rival of the Southern +States. That with its magnificent soil and splendid natural +irrigation the valley of the Upper Niger may some day +fulfil the aspirations of the French is, perhaps, more than +possible.<a id="FNanchor_163" href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> But we are a long way off that yet.</p> + +<p>It seems difficult, then, to believe that this simultaneous +impulse on the part of competent men in England, Germany +and France can be founded upon a miscalculation in respect +to working expenses, and I think we may feel tolerably +certain that, if cotton costs an average per lb. of 2⅛ <i>d.</i> to +produce in Texas, such parts of West Africa as can be endowed +with similar facilities in respect to machinery, and +where transport, either by rail or water, is available, will be +able to produce cotton at a lower figure; and as the interest +of the West African shipowners is to fill their ships homeward +bound from the West Coast, we may also presume that +they will make reasonable concessions to encourage the +industry.<a id="FNanchor_164" href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a></p> + +<p>There remains the question of how to set about establishing +a cotton industry in West Africa upon a sound +basis. Shall it be attempted in the form of plantations +managed by white overseers and with paid native labour; +or shall it be left very largely to native initiative, and +develop itself on the lines of a native industry—as, I +believe, is the case in India? I think that all who have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198"></a>[198]</span> +some knowledge of West African matters will unhesitatingly +pronounce in favour of the latter solution. West +Africa is essentially a country of native industries, and the +best economic results have been obtained in West Africa +when the motive power all through has been the native, +with the European as teacher, instructor and guide, but <i>not</i> +as manager or director of native labour.<a id="FNanchor_165" href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> In the construction +of public works the same phenomenon is observable in +a somewhat different form. Experience has demonstrated +that where the recruiting of labour for railways or road construction +has been left in the hands of the chiefs, requisite +labour was forthcoming, and sufficient left on the farms to +allow usual production, and therefore the export trade has +remained unaffected; whereas when recruiting operations +have been directed by Europeans outside the authority of +the chiefs, labour was indeed obtainable, but at the cost of +disorganising the general labour supply of the country and +consequently affecting adversely the export trade.</p> + +<p>A knowledge of these facts suggests, therefore, that the +cotton industry can be promoted with the greatest chance +of success by interesting the rulers of the country and their +councils in the movement; by giving the chiefs the benefit +of expert advice; by enlisting their sympathies and good-will; +by supplying them with cotton seed, implements, and +possibly hand-gins, gratis; and so on. Here at least the +necessity of proceeding on lines of instruction entirely is +manifest. The object is to improve an existing industry, +to greatly enlarge and systematise it, <i>to get the people of the +land interested in it</i>. If the native can see a profit in the +business, he will take it up. That is morally certain. It +has been so in every branch of West African commerce. +So keenly has the native embraced new trade outlets offered +to him that upon occasion he has, when uninstructed in the +art of production, compromised the future. Absolute and +entire co-operation of officialdom and commerce is essential +if the cotton movement in West Africa is to be attended<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199"></a>[199]</span> +with success. The Germans may here serve us as a model +to imitate. The home Government, the local Government; +the forces of industry and commerce in Germany, and +in the particular Colony where the experiments are being +made, have vied with one another in the effort to achieve an +aim of common interest to all. Centres of instruction have +been established in the Colony; model farms have been +created; Negro farmers from the States have been brought +over through the instrumentality of Mr. Booker T. Washington, +the distinguished Negro scholar and manager of the +Tuskegee Institute.<a id="FNanchor_166" href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> In all these matters the official world +has worked hand in glove with the commercial world.</p> + +<p>It is equally important that the cotton associations and +merchants should be in earnest. No mere pecking will +suffice. Disappointments and delays must be discounted +in advance. There are sure to be plenty of both. Ginning +and compressing machinery must be set up either on the +coast, or, if it be decided to try Lagos, at large centres such +as Ibadan and Abbeokuta; and preferably what is known as +the “American round lap,” which ensures simultaneous +ginning and compressing in 250 lb. round bales, instead of +the more cumbrous and more expensive separate ginning +and compressing machines, which produce the 500 lb. square +bale. In short, the movement must be engineered, from +the beginning, on a real scientific basis. If Togoland with +its transport difficulties has been able in the first year’s experience +to export 70,000 decimal pounds of cotton, what may +not be achieved by those of our West African Colonies +where transport facilities exist; where the population is at +least as dense if not denser; and where British subjects have +been in contact with the natives for periods ranging from +fifty to one hundred years?</p> + +<p>I cannot leave this subject without referring to the indirect +relation it bears to the Negro problem in the States. At +present all is vague and uncertain. We cannot tell what<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200"></a>[200]</span> +may be the outcome of the movement; but if it be a success, +what vistas does it not open up for the future! We have +seen how the Germans have invited the co-operation of +American Negro cotton farmers. The few who have gone +out—the German reports assure us—have elected to +remain. More, it is announced, are to follow. What +would the attitude of the American Government be in +the face of a steady flow of emigration on the part of +the coloured population of the Southern States, to help +to build up in its country of origin what it has built +up in America? In what light would the Americans regard +the up-springing of a great cotton industry in West Africa? +If, as events seem to indicate, America is likely to become on +an ever-increasing scale the principal consumer of her own +raw cotton, would such an occurrence be viewed with +equanimity by the American public? Or if not with actual +equanimity, with at least the feeling that the danger, presuming +it to be one, might be cheerfully faced if a deeper +peril could thereby be diminished, and in time perhaps +altogether removed? Could white labour in the American +cotton plantations, with the exception of the more swampy +and malarial regions, be substituted for Negro labour, in the +event of appreciable emigration? These are questions for +American statesmen and thinkers to answer. If American +intelligence can perceive in these tentative suggestions a clue, +be it ever so faint now, of future potentialities, a clue worth +following up and investigating, let America remember that a +million square miles of African territory, which was declared +in 1884 internationally free commercial land, and in the consolidation +of which under its present <i>régime</i> America is to a +large degree responsible, is in the grip to-day of a band of +greedy monopolists in whose bowels reside no scruples, no +pity, no humanity; who are sowing red ruin wherever their +influence can be asserted. If America ever seriously turns +her attention to West Africa as a solution of the greatest +problem of her internal politics, let her cast her eyes upon +the Congo State, misnamed Free—the abode of cruelty and +persecution, of slavery and reaction.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201"></a>[201]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI<br> +<span class="smaller">THE MAHOGANY TRADE</span></h3> + +<p>“The traveller who wanders through the dim recesses of the tropical forest +of Western Africa soon feels the sense of its beauty lost in that of its mournful +grandeur, and there steals over him a profound feeling of solitude and a deep +consciousness of the solemnity, majesty, and utter loneliness of this great, +gloomy wilderness.”—Dr. <span class="smcap">Austin Freeman</span>.</p> + +</div> + +<p>The great forest region of Africa is one of the wonders of +the world. It is a moot point whether Africa should be +described as possessing two forest belts or only one. Roughly +speaking, the forest region takes the form of an inverted +hatchet or axe, with French Congo, the Congo Free State, +and a portion of the Great Lakes districts as the blade; while +the West Coast, from Sierra Leone downwards, provides the +handle. There are gaps here and there; in the Cameroon +hinterland; among the mangrove swamps of the Niger Delta, +and behind Lagos on the Niger side. The forest is densest +in the Upper Congo, where Stanley, we know, struggled in +it for many weary weeks, as though held in the grip of some +hideous nightmare from which there was no escape.</p> + +<p>In this natural hot-house, always bathed in an atmosphere +of humidity and steam, vegetation flourishes in the wildest +profusion and exuberance, and with the widest diversity of +size and species, from the mighty <i>bombax</i> to the creeping +lichen. So abundant is this luxurious growth, so thick the +canopy formed by the spreading branches and creepers +overhead, that, save here and there, where some giant has +fallen and broken down the surrounding undergrowth, leaving +a gap overhead through which the sunlight penetrates flickeringly, +the forest is plunged in eternal gloom. This gloom +and the silence which accompanies it are the two great<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202"></a>[202]</span> +characteristics of the African forest. Except for the occasional +chattering of monkeys, the crash of a falling tree, or the far-off +chirrup of birds, who seek the sunlight in the topmost +branches, the silence broods everlastingly. The effect of +living amongst this gloom and silence is most depressing to +the European, and it is no matter for surprise that the terrific +solemnity of their environment should have exercised a +profound influence upon the naturally superstitious minds of +the native Africans who dwell therein. It is amongst the +dwellers in the forest region that we find the lowest type of +African humanity<a id="FNanchor_167" href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> and the most sombre developments of +African religious conceptions. All European travellers who +have spent some time in this great forest region have been +alike impressed by its grandeur and its melancholy, and their +descriptions bear witness to the way in which their feelings +have been wrought upon by the natural phenomena with +which they were surrounded.</p> + +<p>It is only within quite recent years that European enterprise +has concerned itself with the potential riches of this +vast forest region, or rather of that portion of it which it is +as yet possible to commercially develop, viz. the belt on the +West Coast—or, to refer to the illustration given above, the +handle of the axe. The results already achieved in a short +period of effort, which can hardly be called more than +tentative and unsystematic, are such as to warrant the most +sanguine expectations for the future, when facilities of +transport shall have brought the main portion of the forest +region within reach of the European markets. It is curious +to observe how, in its main lines, the trade of Western Africa +has arisen in a succession of well-defined stages. The earliest +trade was in gold-dust, and, so far as we know, confined to +gold-dust, unless the gorilla (or more probably the chimpanzee) +skins brought home by Hanno be counted as trade—which +would be a somewhat humorous classification. +Then ensued a long period of absolute neglect of West +Africa by civilised man. When once more the latter turned<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203"></a>[203]</span> +his attention to that part of the world, gold was again the +principal item of trade, accompanied by ivory, and later on +by slaves—the later a monstrous evil, whose Nemesis is +to-day making itself felt in the United States. The gold +trade died out, the ivory trade languished, and the gum, +palm oil and kernel trades came into existence, to be followed +by the rubber trade, and lastly by the timber trade—principally +confined to mahogany. On the principle of <i>plus +ça change, plus c’est la même chose</i>, the gold industry is now +again reviving, although on very different lines from the old +barter system. That is, of course, a general statement. +There have been, now and then, exceptions to prove the +rule, and so far as timber is concerned, a not inconsiderable +business was carried on in the Gambia and Sierra Leone +some fifty years ago.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp52" id="illus27" style="max-width: 21.875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus27.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>FELLING A MAHOGANY-TREE</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp52" id="illus28" style="max-width: 21.875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus28.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>SQUARING THE TREE</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Sir Alfred Moloney, however, was able to write in 1887 +that, after having made many inquiries, such timber trade as +had previously existed “may be said to have altogether +ceased or to have sunk into the export done in dye-woods +and ebony.” The following tabulated statement shows how +insignificant was the timber trade in West Africa between +the years 1878 and 1885:</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Wood and Timber Exports from +Western Africa, 1878 to 1885.</span></p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th>Year.</th> + <th>Articles.</th> + <th>Countries whence imported.</th> + <th>Quantity.<br>Tons.</th> + <th>Value.<br>£</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1878</td> + <td class="tdc">Wood and timber unenumerated</td> + <td class="tdc">From the West of Africa, not particularly designated</td> + <td class="tdc">Nil.</td> + <td class="tdc">Nil.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1879</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1880</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdr">1733</td> + <td class="tdr">14,892</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1881</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdr">No mention.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1882</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdr">1458</td> + <td class="tdr">10,750</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1883</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdr">1441</td> + <td class="tdr">11,100</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1884</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdr">1395</td> + <td class="tdr">9,980</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1885</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdr">1181</td> + <td class="tdr">9,565</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>In 1889 the total import of African mahogany was only +68,000 feet, and in 1890—or a little over ten years ago—it +did not amount to more than 259,000 feet. To-day the +mahogany trade has grown to be one of the most important<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204"></a>[204]</span> +branches of commerce in West Africa. Enormous quantities +of logs are shipped home from the Gold Coast, Lagos and +the Ivory Coast, and the mahogany exports from the Niger +Coast Protectorate,<a id="FNanchor_168" href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> which were started in August, 1899, +produced 23,983 superficial feet in the year 1899-1900.</p> + +<p>The industry is carried on by two categories of shippers, +viz. the European merchant established on the coast, who +either employs native labour to cut down his own trees, or who +buys timber direct from the native; and the native merchant +who ships home on commission. The chief centres of the +mahogany trade on the coast are: for the Gold Coast—Axim, +Twin Rivers, Sekondi and Chama; for the Ivory +Coast—Assinie, Half Assinie, Lahou and Grand Bassam; +for Southern Nigeria—Benin and Sapelli. Lagos timber is +carried round to Forcados in branch boats, and there +shipped on the homeward-bound steamers. The South +Coast mahogany trade is chiefly confined to Botica Point, +Gaboon, Eloby and Mayumba, although a few logs have +been sent home in the steamers of the Cie Belge Maritime +du Congo, from near Boma in the Congo Free State. The +South Coast timber trade appears to be dying out, owing +chiefly to the pale colour of the wood, which does not now +commend itself to buyers.<a id="FNanchor_169" href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> The vast forests of the Upper +Congo cannot, with advantage or profit, be tapped until the +Congo Railway Company lowers its preposterous rates, and +until the administration of the country is in other hands +than the monopolist clique which controls it.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus29" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus29.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>DRAGGING THE SQUARED LOG THROUGH THE BUSH</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus30" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus30.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>SAPELLI, SOUTHERN NIGERIA’S PRINCIPAL TIMBER PORT</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>It may be interesting to give the actual exports of timber +from the Gold Coast and Lagos from 1895 to 1899, showing +the wonderful strides which have taken place. The Gold +Coast, it may be stated, has a total forest area of 12,000 +square miles.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Exports from the Gold Coast.</span></p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th>Year.</th> + <th>Value.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1895</td> + <td class="tdr">£28,245</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr">52,234</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">90,509</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">110,331</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">87,076<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205"></a>[205]</span></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Exports from Lagos.</span></p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th>Year.</th> + <th>Value.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1895</td> + <td class="tdr">Nil.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr">£275</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">8,271</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">12,944</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">34,737</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Liverpool, Havre, Hamburg, Marseilles and Bordeaux +absorb nine-tenths of the exports of mahogany from Africa, +but a certain proportion finds its way from those ports to the +United States.<a id="FNanchor_170" href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> Of the ports mentioned, Liverpool holds far +and away the first place. The statistics of Liverpool imports +from 1889 to 1900 inclusive will be found in the <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a>.</p> + +<p>In view of the evidence given of the phenomenal increase +of the mahogany trade, it seems almost incongruous to say +that the existing condition and the future prospects of the +trade have, for some months past, been causing much +apprehension in West African commercial circles. The +truth is that the growth of the trade has been checked, and +for the last twelve months has even been showing signs of +decay. There was a decreased export in 1901 of over +11,000 tons, and the figures for the first six months of the +present year show a further decline, although prices have +considerably advanced and the demand for good logs +exceeds the supply.</p> + +<p>It is a fact recognised by all the interested parties that +the export of mahogany from West Africa has received a +serious check. What are the reasons? They differentiate +with the localities. In the Gold Coast the falling off which +has occurred is due, in the first place, to labour being +attracted from the timber to the gold-mining industry, and +to the needs of railway construction. Many thousands of +natives have thus been drawn away from timber-felling to +work on the railway; for the mines, or as carriers for the +various prospecting expeditions into the interior. A second +contributory cause has been the necessarily trade-disturbing +element of warfare, otherwise stated, the Ashanti War, in the +shape of the general unrest and disorganisation brought +about by the excessive demands for carriers, &c. In the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206"></a>[206]</span> +Ivory Coast, prospecting expeditions have also affected the +output. As far as Lagos is concerned, the remarks of the +Governor in the last report of that Colony for last year +afford the requisite explanation.<a id="FNanchor_171" href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a></p> + +<p>The freight question is undoubtedly held to militate +against the development of the timber industry, and it had +been freely prophesied that the effect would begin to make +itself felt last year. How much the decline was due on the +whole to high freights, and how much to other causes +mentioned, it would be difficult to say. With the technicalities +of the subject I will not bore my readers. Suffice it +to say that the principal objection which is advanced against +the steamship owners, is the way in which the system known +as the “sliding scale” is worked out. At present logs over +two tons pay increased freight, and a further increase is +made upon logs of three tons and upwards. It is urged +that, if the principle of the bigger the log the better the +timber were sound, this would be all right enough; but it so +happens that the average sale price of a one-ton log is much +the same as that of a two-, three- or four-ton log, except +when the heavier log is what is termed a good “figured”<a id="FNanchor_172" href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> +log. Figured logs fetch any price, according to the fancy of +the purchaser, and in such cases the question of freight is a +bagatelle. But the vast majority of the logs do not possess +these qualifications, and the increased freight on the heavier +logs tells very heavily against the merchant, and may even +go so far, when low prices prevail on the home market, as +to render any profit on the sale impossible. Of course, the +steamship owner has his reply ready; and, so far, he considers +it good enough to justify the existing rates.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207"></a>[207]</span></p> + +<p>When all is said and done, the fact remains that the +timber trade is languishing. It would be a thousand pities +to allow this to continue, if it can be avoided. A trade +once abandoned or paralysed is not easily restarted. It is +in the interest of all the parties concerned to arrive at a +<i>modus vivendi</i> which shall allow the native who cuts and +squares the wood, the merchant who ships it, and the +steamship owner who carries it, to make a profit. In this as +in other respects one would like to see some systematic +measures of instruction adopted, under joint official and +commercial auspices, to show the natives how the best logs +can be selected for felling, which would avoid the sending +home of a mass of worthless and immature timber calculated +at times to flood the market and depreciate prices, while +damaging the forests in Africa.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208"></a>[208]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII<br> +<span class="smaller">ISLAM IN WEST AFRICA</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The steady and continuous spread of Islam in the western +portion of the Dark Continent is a fact which no one +acquainted with the subject will attempt to deny. It is, +indeed, so well established that to specialise particular +instances where it has been observed would be a needless +undertaking. It is everywhere palpable, striking, impressive. +It can no more be disguised or ignored than the concurrent +circumstance of relative failure on the part of Christian +missions. While Mohammedanism continues to gain converts +far and wide; to absorb whole tribes; to filter down the +rivers to the ocean; to pierce the forest belt, with hardly a +check—save here and there, as, for example, among the Ibos +on the Niger—Christianity makes no headway in the interior; +and even in its confinement to the coastwise region, or +perhaps it would be more accurate to say, some of the +Europeanised towns on the coast, its progress is slow, so +slow, indeed, that well-informed observers are not wanting +who believe that it is losing rather than gaining ground. +At any rate, it is not, I venture to think, an exaggeration to +say, Christianity is maintaining itself with difficulty among +heathen communities in West Africa, and beats in vain +against the strong tide of Mohammedanism.<a id="FNanchor_173" href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a></p> + +<p>It cannot be without interest to Englishmen whose West +African Empire covers so large an area, and numbers +between thirty and forty millions, to devote careful attention<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209"></a>[209]</span> +to a subject which is fraught with such far-reaching importance, +and which it is imperially necessary for Great +Britain to take into serious consideration as constituting a +factor which has to be reckoned with and appreciated at its +proper value. On that account it may not be out of place +to discuss in a general way the whole subject of Mohammedanism +in West Africa. The problem is a great one, and +although there is no pretence here to more than touch the +fringe of it, even a tentative effort is, perhaps, of interest to +the daily increasing section of the public, which begins, +although still but dimly, to realise the nature and the extent +of the responsibilities Great Britain has undertaken in West +Africa.</p> + +<p>Rejecting, as, in my opinion, we can do with safety, the +legend that attributes the existence of Mohammedanism in +Walata (Biru), the seat of the Ghanata Empire as early as +the sixtieth year of the Hejira, or about 682 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, there is yet +good reason to believe that Islam crossed the Sahara, and +became powerful in the Western Sudan, earlier than the +eleventh century <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, which is the period assigned to that +event by the majority of authorities. We know positively +that the fifteenth prince of the first and Za dynasty of the +Songhay, Za Kasai, was converted to Islam in the year +1000 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span><a id="FNanchor_174" href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> From El Bekri we glean that Mohammedanism +had taken such firm root in the Songhay Empire about sixty +years after the conversion of Za Kasai (1067 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>) that none +but a Muslim could be king. In the reign of Yusif Ibn +Tashfin, the founder of Morocco, 1062 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, many Negroes, +according to Leo Africanus, became followers of the Prophet. +Barth’s invaluable “Chronological Table of the History of +Bornu” shows us that Islam was introduced into Kanem +(and Bornu)<a id="FNanchor_175" href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> in the reign of Hume, the first of the Muslim +rulers of that extensive Empire (1086-89), and the circumstance +that this potentate died in Masr (Misr)—<i>i.e.</i> +Egypt, infers that he was either on his way to or from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210"></a>[210]</span> +Mecca.<a id="FNanchor_176" href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> Now it seems inconceivable that Gao or Gogo, the +capital of the Songhay Empire, which was situate on the Niger +about 500 miles in the heart of the country of the Negroes, +should have yielded to the influence of Islamic preachers +who came from the north, before the introduction of that +religion in the intervening region comprised between the +southern limits of the Sahara and the Western Sudan. That +it should have struck the Niger, and followed it as providing +the swiftest vehicle of penetration inland before permeating +the countries that lay on either side of the river, is natural +enough, and we find indirect confirmation that it did so in the +circumstance that the other great Negro kingdom contemporary +with Songhay, that of Melle or Mali, which had succeeded +Ghanata, only embraced Islam in the person of its king, +Baramidana, in 1213, or about two centuries after the conversion +of Za Kasai. It may therefore, I think, be assumed, +without departing from the limits of inherent probability, +that if the existence of mosques in Walata were relegated to +900 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> instead of 682 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, the former date would approximately +represent the truth; and that Mohammedan proselytisers +must have been busily at work in the Senegal about +that time or a little later, pushing southwards and eastwards +from thence, until they reached the Niger, and pursuing +their course onwards to the most important city on its +banks, Gao; reaching it, as already stated, in the opening +years of the eleventh century,<a id="FNanchor_177" href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> and having met with success, +continuing their triumphal progress to the third great Negro +kingdom of West Africa, Kanem.<a id="FNanchor_178" href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a></p> + +<p>The introduction of Islam revolutionised Western Africa. +His first contact with a revealed religion powerfully affected +the naturally intense spiritual nature of the Negro. What<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211"></a>[211]</span> +was the precise nature of the religious beliefs entertained by +the Songhays, Mandingoes, Fulani, Hausas and other tribes +inhabiting the Upper Senegal and Upper Niger at the time +of the advent of Mohammedanism it is difficult to say. It +may have been the animism which, under its modern appellation, +Fetishism, is met with to-day in its purest form +among the true Negroes of the coastwise swamp and forest +regions. Or, as is much more probable, it may have been a +form of pantheism allied with animal worship inherited from +contact, at a remote period, with Egyptian culture; as witness +the <i>Tarik’s</i> description of the original fish-god of the +Songhays, believed by some authorities—and not without +reason—to have been the manatee;<a id="FNanchor_179" href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> the alleged regard of the +Mandingoes for the hippopotamus;<a id="FNanchor_180" href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> and the strong presumptions +of an ancient bovine worship among those Fulani +who have remained faithful to their original calling of +<i>bororoji</i> (herdsmen) as distinguished from their more ambitious +countrymen of the towns, whom destiny has fashioned +into statesmen, diplomatists and warriors. Whatever those +beliefs may severally have been they were flung aside, and +Islam struck so deep that the Negro became in time not only +as zealous, but upon occasion more zealous than his Semitic +teachers. Under the fostering impulse and care of the +new religion, these backward regions, says Thomson,<a id="FNanchor_181" href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> commenced +an upward progress. A new and powerful bond<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212"></a>[212]</span> +drew the scattered congeries of tribes together and welded +them into powerful communities. Their moral and spiritual +well-being increased by leaps and bounds, and their political +and social life took an altogether higher level.</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“Islamism is in itself stationary, and was framed thus to remain; +sterile like its God, lifeless like its first principle in all that constitutes +life—for life is love, participation and progress, and of these the +Coranic deity has none. It justly repudiates all change, all development, +to borrow the forcible words of Lord Houghton, the written book +is there the dead man’s hand, stiff and motionless; whatever savours +of vitality is by that alone convicted of heresy and defection.”<a id="FNanchor_182" href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a></p> + +</div> + +<p>The underlying thought in the above passage is evidently +comparative. The writer is unconsciously drawing +a comparison between the two great revealed religions +of the world, Christianity and Islam, as such. But as we +are here concerned merely to treat of the performances of +Islam in West Africa, and of the effect upon the <i>Negro</i>, +primarily of Islam, indirectly of Christianity, it can without +hesitancy be asserted that what may be partly true in the +description given of Islam in its relation to mankind as a +whole is wholly false as regards its influence in West Africa. +To the <i>Negro</i> the God of Islam is not sterile: Islam is not +lifeless. It is a living force, giving to its Negro converts, as +Mr. Bosworth-Smith says, “an energy, a dignity, and a +self-respect which is all too rarely found in their pagan or +their Christian fellow-countrymen.” Individually and collectively +the Negro has progressed since Islam crossed the +desert, and just as to the Negro fetishist of the forest and +the swamp religious conceptions permeate every act, preside +over every undertaking and insinuate themselves in every +incident of his daily existence, so Islam, where it has laid +permanent hold upon the Negro, claims from him an allegiance +entire and complete.</p> + +<p>We need not seek for proof of this. It is writ large over +West Africa. Negroes, not by dozens or by scores, but by +tens of hundreds, traverse thousands of miles on foot from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213"></a>[213]</span> +the innermost parts of the Mohammedanised Continent; +from Senegal, from the Niger Bend, from Bornu, from +Hausa, from our Coast Colonies of Sierra Leone and Lagos, +to perform the Haj, the sacred journey to Mecca, which +every true believer should accomplish at least once in his +life. A clergyman belonging to the Church Missionary +Society, writing from Tripoli,<a id="FNanchor_183" href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> recently spoke of “a ceaseless +stream of Hausa pilgrims continually passing through +Tripoli on the way to Mecca after a wearisome tramp across +the desert,” a significant admission from such a source. +This “ceaseless stream” is not confined to Hausa. It flows +from all parts of Western Africa. It has flowed thus for +many centuries, and the volume, far from diminishing, increases. +That is not the sign of sterility. Burton, during +his stay in Mecca, was witness of the extraordinary influence +wielded by Islam on the Negro mind. The case, as he remarks, +was not an exceptional one.</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“Late in the evening,” he says, “I saw a negro in the state called +Malbus—religious frenzy. To all appearance a Takruri,<a id="FNanchor_184" href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> he was a fine +and powerful man, as the numbers required to hold him testified. He +threw his arms wildly about him, uttering shrill cries, which sounded +like <i>le le le le</i>, and, when held, he swayed his body and waved his head +from side to side like a chained and furious elephant, straining out the +deepest groans. The Africans appear unusually subject to this nervous +state, which, seen by the ignorant and the imaginative, would at once +suggest ‘demoniacal possession.’ Either their organisation is more +impressionable or, more probably, the hardships, privations, and +fatigues endured whilst wearily traversing inhospitable wilds and +perilous seas have exalted their imaginations to a pitch bordering upon +frenzy. Often they are seen prostrate on the pavement, or clinging to +the curtain, or rubbing their foreheads upon the stones, weeping bitterly, +and pouring forth the wildest ejaculations.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>Dr. Blyden, speaking of the native Moslems of Sierra +Leone, has said, “Wherever they go, they take the Koran with +them. In a wreck or a fire, if nothing else is saved, that +book is generally rescued. They prize and honour it with +extreme reverence and devotion.... I have known them<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214"></a>[214]</span> +to pay as high as five pounds sterling for a Manuscript Koran +and think it cheap.” One might fill a volume in giving concrete +instances, as well as general statements founded upon +the personal observations of travellers in all parts of Western +Africa, to prove the inapplicability as concerns West Africa +of Palgrave’s passage quoted above, a passage which I have +specially chosen because it represents, unfortunately, what +may be called “home opinion” on the subject.</p> + +<p>It can, no doubt, be said with truth, that the majority of +West African Mohammedans cannot read Arabic, and that a +large proportion of them only know the ordinances of the +Koran by hearsay; but this, far from being an argument +against the influence of Islam in West Africa, is but an +added proof of the grip which Islamic thought has attained +over the African mind, and of its having supplied the Negro—not +through specific rules, regulations and ordinances, but +in its main conception—with something which he required +both in a spiritual and material sense. It is, moreover, +advisable to accept with caution the general statements +attributing wholesale ignorance of letters to Muslims in +West Africa. Blyden gives a long list of works which he +observed in a Mallam’s house in the Sierra Leone hinterland. +The <i>Tarik</i> tells us that, not long after the introduction +of Islam in West Africa, many Negroes rivalled their Semitic +or Berber teachers in knowledge and erudition. Barth +met in the wildest parts of Adamawa a Fulani from far-off +Massina carrying a considerable number of Arabic books +as <i>trade</i>. Many other instances could be given.</p> + +<p>Islam in West Africa is, indeed, a living force and a most +powerful agency “everywhere knitting the conquerors and +the conquered into an harmonious whole,”<a id="FNanchor_185" href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> and Englishmen +must regard it as such. It confronts them more particularly +in its political aspect in Northern Nigeria; and in +Sierra Leone, the Gambia, the Gold Coast, Lagos, and to a +much lesser degree, in Southern Nigeria, in its social aspect. +People in England appear strangely unacquainted with +these facts. West African Mohammedanism is presented to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215"></a>[215]</span> +them in distorted shape by those who have interest in so +doing, and to whom the public ear is more readily accessible. +But the local authorities in the West African Colonies realise +the state of affairs; and what is more, are rapidly coming to +the conclusion that the Mohammedan section of the community +is not only the most orderly and the most progressive, +but necessitates, both as a matter of duty and of policy, +recognition on the part of the Government. Within the last +few years Mohammedan schools have been established with +official sanction and support in all our Colonies; a mosque +built by the late Shitta Bey has been opened at Lagos<a id="FNanchor_186" href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> by +the (then) Governor in person, and in Sierra Leone a Director +of Mohammedan Education has been especially appointed +at a fixed salary per annum.</p> + +<p>As with Great Britain, so with France, but to a very much +greater degree. France’s African Empire is almost wholly +an Islamic one, and confining ourselves to that part of it +which is properly West African, the overwhelming majority +of the inhabitants are Muslims. With the exception of a +small section of Bobos, Diakankes and Bambarras, a larger +but declining section of the Malinkes and a few wandering +Fulani in the more remote districts of Barani, Fuladugu, +Bobo-Dialassu, &c., the whole of the Western Sudan is more +or less Muslimised. In the north of her colony of Guinea, +France has the large Muslim Fulani State of Futa-Jallon; +in Senegal, Mohammedanism has spread right down to the +ocean; in the Chad region, in Baghirmi and a considerable +distance up the Shari, Islam has flourished for at least four +centuries, and through Fulani cattle-rearers and Hausa +traders, the tenets of the Prophet are being propagated +as far south as the Shari, Sangha and Ubanghi. The +French have established numerous schools at which the +sons of Mohammedan chiefs receive instruction on Western<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216"></a>[216]</span> +lines. Among such schools may be mentioned those of +Kayes and Medina. Special instructors appointed by the +French Government teach Arabic side by side with French, +and every effort is made by France to secure Muslim co-operation +on lines of Western thought in the great work +which she has taken in hand. The French African Committee +go so far as to print a special bulletin in Arabic, which, +together with the Arabic newspaper <i>al Mobacher</i>, published +in Algeria, is distributed gratuitously to a large number of +influential Mohammedans throughout the Western Sudan, +especially in such centres as Jenne, Timbuctoo, Nioro and +Sokolo. Needless to say these publications are largely +composed of laudatory articles calculated to inspire their +readers with the justice, generosity, and liberty of French +political conceptions. The French seem to be adopting in +this, as in many other respects in West Africa, a very enlightened +attitude. At the Kayes school, for instance, they +have appointed a special teacher from Algeria to superintend +instruction in the Arabic tongue.<a id="FNanchor_187" href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> Moreover, in order to +make clear to the Muslim population that their sons can +attend the Government schools without fear of having to +listen to teaching conceived in a spirit of hostility or criticism +towards Islam, the French authorities not only permit but +encourage the presence during class time of the Muslim +schoolmasters themselves, thus removing the natural suspicion +of Muslim parents, and at the same time making +allies of the “marabouts.” This line of conduct, it may be +added, is especially embodied in the instructions given to all +District Commissioners.</p> + +<p>How comes it that Islam has succeeded with the West +African Negro when Christianity has fared so badly? Islam +has marched from triumph to triumph among the Negroes, +but of the greatest effort ever put forward by the Christian +Church in West Africa, that by the Portuguese in the Congo +in the sixteenth century, there remains little or no trace, and +the results of more widespread but less consistent (because<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217"></a>[217]</span> +rent by internal differences) efforts of to-day cannot be +termed otherwise than profoundly discouraging, when one +considers the lives expended in a fruitless task; pitifully +sterile, when one is aware of the large sums that have been, +and continue to be, spent in the attempt. It would seem as +though the failure of the Christian Church in North Africa, +and the failure of Roman Catholicism in South West Africa, +in the sixteenth century, were to be repeated in these later +days by the multifarious sects and denominations the +monotony of whose painful struggles to gain a foothold on +the western shores of the unfathomable continent is only +varied by the jealousies and recriminations which they indulge +in towards one another.</p> + +<p>The Protestant churchman is wont to ascribe the failure +of Christian propaganda in South-Western Africa in the +sixteenth century to Roman Catholicism, which to him is the +embodiment of an evil little if at all removed from the evil +of Islamic doctrine.<a id="FNanchor_188" href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> I have heard English and French +Roman Catholics attribute it to the inherent incapacity, or +weakness, or corruptibility—according to the particular views +of the individual—of the would-be converters, the Portuguese. +Persons devoid of special religious prejudices are sometimes +inclined to argue that the mere fact of the slave trade being +in existence contemporaneously was in itself sufficient to +account for it. Upon examination none of these views +appear very conclusive. Protestantism has not fared better +in West Africa than Roman Catholicism. Indeed, it may be +doubted whether it has fared, on the whole, quite as well. +No argument worthy of serious attention has been adduced +to prove the exceptional unfitness of Portuguese prelates to +successfully accomplish the task they had begun, nor does<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218"></a>[218]</span> +the decline of the political influence of Portugal in West +Africa provide a fitting explanation, because the flimsy +nature of the first apparent successes of the Roman Catholic +Church had become evident before that decline took place. +As for the alleged slave-trade deterrent, it was, contradictory +as the statement may appear, probably no deterrent at all, +but rather the reverse; for the policy of the Portuguese consisted +in promoting friendly relations with the more powerful +potentates of the littoral, and in supplying them with guns +and gunpowder to make war on the inland tribes. The +latter, and not the coastwise natives, were, in the main, the +chief sufferers by the slave trade; and the coast people, being +guaranteed from molestation, would have no occasion to +invoke the miseries inflicted upon them by the Portuguese +traffickers in human flesh, when approached by the Portuguese +inculcators of Christianity. In fact, if the political +acts of professing Christian nations in West Africa are to be +considered as a factor in the measure of success, or failure of +Christian propagandism in West Africa—a debatable proposition +upon which I propose to refer later on—it may +without hesitation be affirmed that recent developments of +European policy have done more to prejudice the natives +against the doctrines of Christianity, as propounded by +European teachers, than the slave trade with all its savagery +and horrors.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="illus31" style="max-width: 28.125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus31.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>A SUSU MALLAM</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>We must go deeper than this, and in doing so try and +clear our minds of preconceived opinions, no easy matter +when certain errors have been so persistently dinned into +our ears that they have come to be regarded as cardinal +articles of faith; and those who in this respect occasionally +venture to disturb the serenity of our convictions are +looked upon as outside the pale of respectable society. One +of such preconceived opinions is embodied in the quotation +from Palgrave’s “Arabia” already commented upon. Another +bears on the nature of Islamic proselytism in West Africa. +It is an ingrained belief with most people that Mohammedanism +in West Africa has ever been propagated by brute +force; is ever and always associated with “slave-raiding.”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219"></a>[219]</span> +The mere epithet of “slave-raiders” applied in Reuter’s telegrams +to a tribe with whom trouble has occurred, is sufficient +to justify in the eyes of the public any expeditions of +a punitive kind which the authorities in their wisdom think fit +to organise, against those who have incurred the displeasure +of a District Commissioner or Military Commandant. Far +be it from me to assert that occasions do not arise when the +adoption of punitive undertakings is not only an unavoidable +necessity, but a positive duty owed by the Suzerain +Power to its protected subjects. But I would venture +respectfully to suggest that the term “slave-raiding” is much +abused, not a little distorted, and sometimes most unfairly +applied. It is used almost exclusively in connection with +Mohammedan tribes. When a difference comes about with +pagans, we are told that it is caused by a predilection to +human sacrifices. A reference to the frequent collisions +which have taken place between Great Britain and the +natives of Western Africa during the last six years will +show that, either as a primary or an accessory cause of the +difficulty, human sacrifices are invariably given in the case +of a pagan community and slave-raiding in the case of a +Mohammedan community.</p> + +<p>There could be no greater error than the prevalent idea +that in West Africa, Islam has attained its remarkable +successes <i>manu militari</i>. Most of Islam’s triumphs in West +Africa have been won by the peaceful sect of the Quadriyah, +founded by Sidi-Abd-el-Kader-el-Jieari in 1077 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, first +introduced into West Africa in the fifteenth century; and +the work accomplished by this sect has been more enduring +and more widespread than that of the other great order in +West Africa, the Tijaniyah, which believes primarily in the +sword as a means of conversion.</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“In the beginning<a id="FNanchor_189" href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> of the present century<a id="FNanchor_190" href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> + the great revival which +was so profoundly influencing the Mohammedan world stirred up the +Quadriyah of the Sahara and Western Sudan to renewed life and +energy, and before long learned theologians or small colonies of persons +affiliated to the order were to be found, scattered throughout the Sudan,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220"></a>[220]</span> +on the mountain chain that runs along the coast of Guinea, and even +to the west of it, in the Free State of Liberia. These initiates formed +centres of Islamic influence in the midst of the pagan population, +among whom they received a welcome as public scribes, legists, writers +of amulets, and schoolmasters; gradually they would acquire influence +over their new surroundings, and isolated cases of conversion would +soon grow into a little band of converts, the most promising of whom +would often be sent to complete their studies at the chief centre of the +order; here they might remain for several years, until they had perfected +their theological studies, and would then return to their native +place, fully equipped for the work of spreading the faith among their +fellow-countrymen. In this way a leaven has been introduced into the +midst of fetish worshippers and idolaters which has gradually spread +the faith of Islam surely and steadily, though by almost imperceptible +degrees. Up to the middle of the present century<a id="FNanchor_191" href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> in the Sudan, +schools were founded and conducted by teachers trained under the +auspices of the Quadriyah, and their organisation provided for a +regular and continued system of propaganda among the heathen tribes. +The missionary work of this order has been entirely of a peaceful +character, and has relied wholly upon personal example and precept, +on the influence of a teacher over his pupils, and the spread of +education.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>The Quadriyah order, moreover, is not animated by +hostility towards Christians, in which it differs materially +from that of the Tijaniyah. The French find it advisable +to co-operate politically with the former sect. “It is,” +writes Captain Morrison in the interesting report already +alluded to, “our business to see that the Negroes, Moors, +Tuaregs and other inhabitants of the Western Sudan should +become more affiliated to the Quadriyah (Kadria). It is, +thanks to the spirit with which the Imam of Lanfiera +inspires his adepts, that friendship and protection have been +granted to all our explorers in that region.” M. le Commandant +Binger thus describes the work of Quadriyah +Muslims in the important city and country of Kong, in the +hinterland of the Ivory Coast, which he was the first to +discover and bring to the notice of Europe:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“A hundred years ago, the influence of the Muslim community of Kong +did not extend beyond a few miles of the city. Surrounded on all sides +by pagan tribes who existed by rapine and brigandage, the people of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221"></a>[221]</span> +Kong could not carry on trade and dispose of their cotton goods without +great loss, consequent upon the exorbitant taxes imposed by the pagan +kinglets, non-payment of which involved the pillage of caravans. What +did the Muslims do? They established Mohammedan families from +Kong in all the villages situated between Kong and Bobo-Dialassu first, +and between Kong and Jenne afterwards. It took them fifty years to +settle one or two families in each village. Each of these immigrants +organised a school, asked some of the inhabitants to send their children +there, then little by little, through their relations with Kong and other +commercial centres, they were able to render service to the pagan king +of the country, to gain his confidence, and gradually to take part in his +affairs. If a difficulty arises it is always a Muslim who is appealed to. +Even if he be quite alone in the country, the king will empower him to +negotiate, because he is usually able to read and write and has the +reputation of being a good and holy man. If the Muslim ambassador +fails in his mission, he proposes to the pagan king that the mediation +of the people of Kong shall be invoked. Thus the country becomes +placed under the protection of the Mohammedan States of Kong. +Gradually Islam makes progress. More Muslim families settle among +the pagans, who do not fail to become converts. The latter quickly +recognise that the one means of finding aid and protection wherever +their travels may lead them lies in the adoption of Islam.<a id="FNanchor_192" href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> Moreover, +have not the pagans a significant example before them? Do not the +Muslims live in comparative ease and comfort? The pagan, while +acknowledging that it is commerce and industry that render Mohammedans +prosperous, attributes much of that prosperity to the Supreme +Being, and the Muslim takes care to point the moral, ‘God wills it +thus.’ It is clearly apparent from the above that the Islamic propaganda +of Kong is carried on by persuasion. Force is but rarely +employed, and only against pagan peoples composed of thieves and +brigands, and when the Kong Mussulmans are driven to make use +of it.”<a id="FNanchor_193" href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a></p> + +</div> + +<p>The practices of the Kong people in this respect are not +at all peculiar to themselves. We find the same procedure +mentioned by Thomson, Barth, and numerous other explorers; +and the influence of Islam among the Hausas could +never have been maintained if to the early conquests of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222"></a>[222]</span> +Othman Fodio had not succeeded the peaceful efforts of +the Muslim teacher, schoolmaster and priest. Dr. Blyden +once described to the writer the incidents relating to the +conversion of one of the largest pagan towns in the Sierra +Leone hinterland, the knowledge of which he gleaned from +the inhabitants themselves in the course of his travels in the +Protectorate. On a certain day the inhabitants of the town +observed a man, black like themselves, but clad in a white +garment, advancing down the main street. Suddenly the +stranger prostrated himself and prayed to Allah. The +natives stoned him and he departed. In a little while he +returned, and prostrated himself as before. This time he +was not stoned, but the people gathered about him with +mockery and reviling. The men spat upon him and the +women hurled insults and abuse. His prayer ended, the +stranger went away in silence, grave and austere, seemingly +oblivious to his unsympathetic surroundings. For a space +he did not renew his visit, and in the interval the people +began to regret their rudeness. The demeanour of the +stranger under trying circumstances had gained their +respect. A third time he came, and with him two boys +also clothed in white garments. Together they knelt and +offered prayer. The natives watched, and forbore to jeer. +At the conclusion of the prayer a woman came timidly +forward and pushed her young son towards the holy man, +then as rapidly retreated. The Muslim rose, took the boy +by the hand and, followed by his acolytes, left the village +in silence as before. When he came again he was accompanied +by three boys, two of them those who had been +with him before, and the third the woman’s son, clad like +the rest. All four fell upon their knees, the holy man +reciting the prayer in a voice that spoke of triumph and +success. He never left the town again, for the people +crowded round him beseeching him to teach their children. +In a short time the entire population of that town, +which for three centuries had beaten back the assaults of +would-be Muslim converters by the sword, had voluntarily +embraced Islam!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223"></a>[223]</span></p> + +<p>It is in incidents such as these, which are by no means +rare in West Africa, that the moral force of Islam lies, and +which is largely accountable for its astonishing successes. +The fanatical zeal of an Ahmadu, a Samory and an El-Haji-Omar +are but drops in the ocean compared with the +systematic moral suasion exercised by Islamic teachers, +who, carrying no staff or scrip, relying solely upon the +inward strength derived from contact with a higher creed, +brave the perils and discomforts incidental to their calling +with a sublime indifference only met with in Biblical +narrative. There is a passage in Arnold’s “The Preaching +of Islam” which accurately interprets the misconceptions +which exist on the subject of Islamic propaganda in West +Africa:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“Unfortunately,” says that author, “for a true estimate of the missionary +work of Islam in Western Africa, the fame of the <i>jihads</i>, or +religious wars, has thrown into the shade the successes of the peaceful +propagandist, though the labours of the latter have been more effectual +to the spread of Islam than the creation of petty short-lived dynasties. +The records of campaigns, especially when they have interfered with +the commercial projects or schemes of conquest of the white man, have +naturally attracted the attention of Europeans more than the unobtrusive +labours of the Mohammedan preacher and schoolmaster.... +These <i>jihads</i>, rightly looked upon, are but incidents in the modern +Islamic revival, and are by no means characteristic of the forces and +activities that have been really operative in the promulgation of Islam +in West Africa; indeed, unless followed up by distinctly missionary +efforts, they would have proved almost wholly ineffectual in the creation +of a true Muslim community.”</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224"></a>[224]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII<br> +<span class="smaller">ISLAM IN WEST AFRICA</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>Being now perhaps in a somewhat more open frame of +mind with regard to the work of Islam in West Africa, we +may attempt to investigate the methods of Islam and the +methods of Christianity in their relationship to the Negro. +In this manner we may hope to come to still closer quarters +with the subject, and by so doing arrive at a tolerably clear +impression of its various phases. Why does Africa, which +was, as has been truly said, “the nursing mother of Christianity,” +remain impervious to the teachings of the highest +religion? Why does Christianity, which has laboured for so +many centuries in Western Africa, make no appreciable +advance in that country? The failure may, I think, be +ascribed to four main causes: first, the refusal to admit +that the circumstances which regulate certain natural laws +vary with climatic considerations and racial idiosyncrasies; +secondly, the tendency which Christianity, as taught in +West Africa, has to denationalise; thirdly, the incompatibility +between the ideals of Christ and modern conceptions +of Christianity; fourthly, the political action of Christian +Powers.</p> + +<p>For obvious reasons the question of polygamy is a very +difficult one to publicly discuss, but the subject of Christianity +and Mohammedanism in Western Africa cannot +adequately be treated without referring to it. It is no use +shutting our eyes to the fact that the refusal of the Christian +Church to admit polygamists into its fold is one of the +great obstacles with which the Church in West Africa has to +contend. That is not seriously disputed, and yet, so far as +can be observed, the chief dignitaries of the Church with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225"></a>[225]</span> +whom all decisions affecting missionary enterprise in West +Africa must ultimately lie, give no sign that they realise the +paramount importance of the problem. Now and again +individual utterances are made, which tend to show that some +Churchmen, at least, are possessed of a spirit sufficiently +broad to approach the subject in more practical fashion. +A well-known Canon of the Church once remarked that, +“owing to polygamy, Mohammedan countries are free from +professional outcasts, a greater reproach to Christianity +than polygamy to Islam.” Although the first part of that +statement may not be accepted <i>ad literatim</i>, there are, +unfortunately, sufficient data to show that the morals +of Mohammedan communities in West Africa are higher +than those of the Europeanised West Coast towns, where +alone Christianity has gained a sort of foothold, and where +a monogamous Christianity has been preached off and on +for centuries past. And it is, at any rate, true that in West +Africa the Mohammedan is, as a rule, distinctly averse to +relationship with public women; and also, as a rule, jealously +guards the honour of his wives and daughters.</p> + +<p>Let us consider for a moment how this refusal on the +part of the Church to receive polygamists appeals to the +Negro in relation to Christianity. If there is one social +feature of the Negro which all observers are agreed in +recognising, it is the sincerity and depth of the link between +mother and son.<a id="FNanchor_194" href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> With what sort of feelings, then, must +the Negro look upon a religion which, according to its +expounders, brands his parents with immorality? In very +truth, whether we approach this great subject from a standpoint +of common sense and severe practicability, or whether +we claim to study it on moral grounds alone, only one conclusion +can be arrived at. To offer Christianity to the +Negro at the price of repudiating the members of his household +is unreasonable, preposterous, unjust, and even cruel. +It is unreasonable, insomuch as it ignores the most fundamental +laws of human affection which exist in more or less<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226"></a>[226]</span> +developed form in every community and under every clime. +It is preposterous, because it displays an extraordinary ignorance +of the customs of the Negro and the strength of the +family tie, and all that appertains to it among the Negroes. +It is unjust, because it would deprive the rejected women +(and children) of all they possess, cover them with shame +and obloquy, thus deliberately inciting them to lead immoral +lives. It is cruel, because, with an entire inconsequence +and heedlessness of after effects, it would break up a social +system consecrated by immemorial usage. There is a noble +passage in Faidherbe’s great work which I cannot refrain +from quoting in this connection:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“Certain people,” said that distinguished Frenchman, “would seem +to desire that the natives should be induced to repudiate their wives +and to retain but one. This method appears to me to be thoroughly +immoral. What! Our object is to strengthen family ties, and we +would begin by disorganising the family! We should commit a great +injustice, and we should be displaying a singular callousness towards +the women and children, if we professed to grant to the native the title +and privileges of a citizen on the condition that he kept one wife and +expelled the others. We should place venerable fathers of families in +the position of sending away, with their children, wives with whom +they had lived for fifteen, twenty, or thirty years. And how would +they distinguish between their wives?... Disorganisation would be +complete.”<a id="FNanchor_195" href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p> + +</div> + +<p>There is another aspect of the question which cannot +fail to arrest the attention of all enlightened and truly +Christian men. Is polygamy a necessary institution on +physical grounds for the Negro <i>in Africa</i>? The evidence in +a corroborative sense is not to be lightly dismissed. Without +stopping to discuss the generally admitted theory that +the sexual side of man’s nature becomes more pronounced +as the tropical zone is approached, it is incontestable that +a well-grounded belief exists in West African educated +native circles that the effects of monogamy upon the Negro +<i>are racially destructive</i>. Dr. Blyden’s testimony in this respect +may not, perhaps, command universal acknowledgment, but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227"></a>[227]</span> +the following passage from his writings is well worthy +of note:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“Owing,” he says, “to the exhausting climatic conditions, the life +and perpetuity of the population depend upon polygamy. The difference +is marked between children born under monogamic restrictions +and those whose parents are polygamists. In the one there is the +evidence of physical deterioration and mental weakness; in the other +are manifest physical vigour and mental activity and alertness. In the +one there is the sad evidence of arrested growth, suppressed physical +development, and intellectual sluggishness; in the other there is +astonishing muscular strength and fully developed chest—a reproduction +of their fathers’—not weaker, but wiser than their fathers’, when +not diverted from aboriginal simplicity by alien influence.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>The exhausting climatic conditions of which Doctor +Blyden speaks is accountable for a custom, almost universal +throughout West Africa, among both Mohammedans and +pagans; which, although it may have some drawbacks +attaching to it, must nevertheless be assumed to entail +preponderating advantages for the racial welfare of the +people, or it would hardly have been so widely adopted. I +refer, of course, to the extensive period of lactation—three +years as a rule—during which time husband and wife have +no connection; connection, indeed, generally ceasing when +conception has taken place. The custom is attributive to the +belief that too frequent child-bearing is injurious to the +health of the mother and the offspring, in view of the +climate.<a id="FNanchor_196" href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> This is a point which also deserves the most +attentive consideration. The instinct of primitive peoples +in such matters is generally found to be based upon knowledge +born of experience. The only portion of the Dark +Continent where orthodox Christianity has made any appreciable +inroad is Uganda. Now what does Sir Harry +Johnston tell us in his last report? He says there is a +serious decrease in the birth-rate of the Bantu Waganda. +He quotes Monseigneur Strachir’s opinion that one of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228"></a>[228]</span> +causes of this state of affairs is the introduction of monogamy, +consequent upon the spread of the Christian faith.</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“In many parts of West Africa,” continues Sir Harry Johnston, +“where Christianity prevails, but where there is very little result other +than pious utterances from the mouth, ostensible monogamy is corrected +by the possession of recognised or unrecognised concubines, +and by a general promiscuousness in sexual matters. But in Uganda, +Christianity seems to have taken such a real hold upon the people that, +though by no means free from immorality—as no nation or community +is free from the same tendency—they really seem to be striving at +genuine monogamy and the exclusive possession of one wife for a +partner. As the Baganda women are certainly very poor breeders, +this means that the majority of couples only have one child. In fact, +the birth of a second child on the part of the wife is such an unusual +occurrence that the wife, in consequence thereof, is given a new and +honorific title.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>A Liberian Bishop—one of the kindliest of men—to whom +I showed the above passage, replied sententiously that the +ways of the Almighty were unfathomable, but that the disappearance +of the few could not be held to weigh in the +balance as compared with the salvation of the many; which +seemed to me to bear a curious analogy to that passage in +“Azurara” in which the old Portuguese historian, apostrophising +Prince Henry the Navigator on the occasion of the +first appearance at his court of West African slaves, torn +with every accompaniment of barbarity from their homes +by those gallant knights Antam Gonçalvez and Nuno +Tristram, exclaims:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“O holy Prince, peradventure thy pleasure and delight might have +some semblance of covetousness at receiving the knowledge of such a +sum of riches, even as great as those thou didst expend to arrive at that +result?... But thy joy was solely from that one holy purpose of +thine to seek salvation for the lost souls of the heathen. And in the +light of this it seemed to thee, when thou sawest those captives brought +into thy presence, that the expense and trouble thou hadst undergone +was nothing: such was thy pleasure at beholding them. And yet the +greater benefit was theirs, for though their bodies were now brought +into some subjection, that was a small matter in comparison with their +souls, which would now possess true freedom for evermore.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>I hope it will not be thought that these references are +made with any idea of depreciating the efforts, and in some<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229"></a>[229]</span> +respects surprisingly successful efforts, of Christian propaganda +among the Bantu races of the Uganda Protectorate. +The point under discussion is not the evangelising +success of the Church in Uganda, but the physical effects +of a monogamous Christianity upon the races of Africa.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="illus32" style="max-width: 28.125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus32.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>FULANI MALLAM</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>I have been at great pains to obtain all the evidence available +bearing directly or indirectly on this subject, and in +the aggregate it bears out what precedes. The highest type +of the Christian educated Negro urges that an entire latitude +should be left to the aboriginal element in the matter, +and although professing monogamists themselves, they +strictly maintain—whether rightly or wrongly is not for the +layman to decide—that in so doing the Church would not +be acting contrary to the principles of divine revelation.<a id="FNanchor_197" href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a></p> + +<p>I have given as the second contributory cause of the non-success +of Christian missions in West Africa the tendency +to denationalisation. It is unhappily true that the Christianised +Negro becomes to a large extent denationalised, +and the reason of it lies in the methods employed to convert +him. Islam, on the other hand, not only encourages +the spirit of nationality in the African, but intensifies it. The +Muslim Negro is elevated among his pagan neighbours; he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230"></a>[230]</span> +gains their respect and increases his own. Islam takes the +Negro by the hand and gives him equality with all men. +From the day the pagan adopts Islam, no Semite Muslim +can claim racial superiority over him. Islam to the Negro +is the stepping-stone to a higher conception of existence, +inspiring in his breast confidence in his own destiny, +imbuing his spirit with a robust faith in himself and in his +race. Christianity does not do this for the Negro. Its effect, +indeed, is quite contrary. Instead of encouraging, it discourages. +Instead of inculcating a greater self-reliance, it +seems to lessen that which exists. The Christian Negro for +the most part is a sort of hybrid. He is neither one thing +nor another. His adoption of European clothes causes him +to be looked upon partly with suspicion, partly with ridicule, +by his pagan fellow-countrymen; although they make use +of his services as clerk or secretary when occasion requires +it. Mohammedans treat him with undisguised contempt. +More bitter perhaps than anything else is the scorn which +Europeans themselves bestow upon him. Question any +white official, military man, trader or traveller, as to his +impressions of the West African native. He will tell you +that the pagan native of the interior is more often than not +a fine fellow, one of nature’s gentlemen, hospitable, kindly, +simple, courteous; that the Mohammedan native is a splendid +man, with a carriage full of pride and self-reliance, arrogant +may be, haughty, but singularly dignified, with a conscious +superiority and quiet confidence stamped all over him. But +the Christian Negro is seldom spoken of without opprobrium. +His vanity, his conceit, his “veneer of civilisation,” +the vices he has acquired and so forth, are the inevitable +theme. His unfortunate habit of adopting the latest +vagaries of European fashions, both in his own person and +in the person of his women folk, is the butt of constant +sarcasm, as are the accounts of the solemnisation of the +Christian form of marriage in a native West Coast town. +Even the missionaries are compelled, although with natural +unwillingness, to admit an unpalatable fact. “There are a +great many natives on the coast and in Lower Nigeria,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231"></a>[231]</span> +writes Canon Robinson, “who call themselves Christian; +there are distressingly few converts.... My advice to +travellers on the coast in search of trustworthy servants +would be to prefer the heathen or Mohammedan to the +professing Christian, because a bad religion sincerely +accepted, or even no religion at all, is to be preferred to a +religious profession which is only a sham.” A humiliating +confession, humiliating to the Christian Church, humiliating +to European civilisation. What between one thing and +another, the Christianised Negro is a <i>déclassé</i>, a <i>culotté sans +culottes</i>.<a id="FNanchor_198" href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> Of course there are exceptions, but they are relatively +scarce, and consist in the main of natives who have +acquired wealth by commerce (wealth being a safeguard to +open obloquy all the world over, no matter what the colour of +the possessor’s skin), and who either through the enjoyment +of special educational advantages, or because they are men +of unusually high character and intelligence naturally, have +succeeded in grasping the true Christian ideal and have +gained moral and spiritual ennoblement thereby. It is +my privilege to number such a man among my friends. +But I greatly doubt whether he would feel at ease in travelling +or sojourning alone in the interior, even among the +tribe to which he belongs, in his own country of origin. +There seems to be a barrier between the Christianised Negro +and his non-Christian countrymen; a barrier which excludes +sympathy, and which European policy tends to still further +accentuate.</p> + +<p>To what are these things due? To no one particular +circumstance, but to a whole set of circumstances, which +together produce the effect. To the general, omnipresent +suggestion—possibly quite unintentioned in many cases—of +the Negro’s inherent racial inferiority, inculcated by European<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232"></a>[232]</span> +missionaries. To the never absent, one might say +inevitable insistence, whether outspoken or only understood, +upon a great intellectual, social, moral gulf which yawns +between the Negro and his Caucasian instructor; a gulf that +can never be bridged by Christianity, as taught in West +Africa by Europeans.</p> + +<p>The third and fourth contributory causes, viz. incompatibility +between the ideals of Christ and the modern conceptions +of Christianity, and the political action of Christian +Powers, may be treated together, for they are closely allied +one to the other; as, indeed, they also are to the third cause, +upon which I have briefly touched. There is a striking +passage in the last literary contribution on West African +affairs, penned by Miss Kingsley on that fatal voyage to the +Cape, which puts in more pregnant language than I could +hope to do the underlying thought expressed above:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“I know,” wrote Miss Kingsley, “that there is a general opinion +among the leading men of both races that Christianity will give the one +possible solution to the whole problem. I fail to be able to believe +this. I fail to believe Christianity will bring peace between the two +races, for the simple reason that, though it may be possible to convert +Africans <i>en masse</i> into practical Christians, it is quite impossible to +convert the Europeans <i>en masse</i> to it. You have only got to look at the +history of any European nation—the Dutch, the Spanish, the Italian, +the German—every one calling themselves Christian, but none the +more for that tolerant and peaceable. Each one of them is ready to +take out a patent for a road to heaven, and make that road out of +men’s blood and bones and the ashes of burnt homesteads. Of course, +by doing this they are not following the true teachings of Jesus Christ, +but that has not, and will not, become a factor in politics.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>The bewildering contradictions between the ideals laid +down by Christ, as taught by the expounders of his word, +and the practical effect of that teaching as exemplified in the +conduct of Europeans and European Governments, confronts +the Negro at every turn. The more intelligent he is, +the more advanced in the social scale, the more puzzling +does it become. Is it a question of charity? The Muslim +propagandist speaks of Christ with deep respect amounting +to reverence. He is <i>Kalima</i>—the Word; <i>Masih</i>—the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233"></a>[233]</span> +Messiah; <i>Qual-ul-Haqq</i>—the Word of Truth; <i>Ruh</i>—the +Spirit (of God). He is “One illustrious in this world and +in the next”: “One who has near access to God.” The +Christian missionary speaks of Mohammed “as an impostor;” +“an arch impostor;” “a man full of evil and +wickedness.” Islam is a “bad religion”: “its ways are the +ways of darkness”: “it is Satan’s work,” and so on. Is it +a question of self-abnegation? The Bible and the Koran +utter the same precepts in almost identical terms. But what +a difference in the spiritual practice of their respective +expounders in West Africa! The Muslim preacher follows +out the letter of his book. He goes on his way alone and +unattended, carrying neither purse nor scrip. He lives the +life of the Negro, enters into his pursuits, shares his hardships +and his pleasures, assimilates himself in every possible +way with those whom he hopes to convert. The European +missionary is compelled, by the exigencies of the climate +very greatly, to attend primarily to his own comforts. He +travels with a long file of carriers bearing his baggage; preserved +foods, linen, camp impedimenta and what not. +Some of the most earnest missionaries keenly realise the +drawbacks which such procedure must entail in the prosecution +of their work, both physically and morally. They +are deeply sensible of the adverse influence which it cannot +fail to exercise over their labours. We have seen an English +prelate, high up in the hierarchy of his Church, suggest a +decrease in his salary, in order that the balance might be +devoted to the appointment of another helper in the great +cause.<a id="FNanchor_199" href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> On the other hand, we find in the works and +letters of prominent missionaries engaged in the West +African field, egotistical essays of the following description:<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234"></a>[234]</span> +“Care must be taken that the waterproof cloak is <i>stitched</i>. +Sponges, bath-towels, &c., will suggest themselves. Do not +forget the table-linen; a neatly arranged table helps to +tempt the appetite, which is often fastidious. Antibilious +compounds are worth in my judgment <i>two guineas</i> a box.” +The above passage is derived from a book recently published, +written by a missionary with nine years’ experience in West +Africa. The articles mentioned by the writer are recommended +by him as indispensable to the welfare of a teacher +of the Gospel in West Africa. The following is a typical +passage culled from the epistolary effusions published +from time to time in the organ of the Church Missionary +Society from the pen of a most energetic Bishop, who has +been endeavouring with singular ill-success, and not without +some danger of arousing disturbances, to evangelise the +Hausas. “We are all well.... Our appetites are enormous. +We have plenty of food. We receive presents of +food from the people every day—rice, onions, corn, maize, +fowls, bananas, &c. B—— shoots a good many partridges +and guinea-fowl, and we have a good reserve of European +and English stores.” That these little peculiarities do not +in the slightest degree detract from the sincerity of the +writers may be accepted without reserve. All we are here +concerned with, is to consider the general effect which these +conceptions of the methods of propagating Christianity in +West Africa are likely to have upon the African. Are men +who profess so tender a regard for their well-being calculated +to make much headway in an evangelical sense? It +may reasonably be doubted.</p> + +<p>Is it a question of vice? The Mohammedan preacher +does not leave a stone unturned to combat drunkenness in +every form, and to a very large extent he succeeds. The +sobriety of the great mass of Muslimised Negroes no longer +requires to be demonstrated. Laxity in this respect is the +exception which proves the rule. The European missionary +also denounces drunkenness, and with a fervour at times +which is not always discriminating. But he is terribly +handicapped (1) by the European trader, about one-fifth of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235"></a>[235]</span> +whose total trade consists in the importation of freshly distilled +liquor, often but not invariably containing various +impurities, and in quality not exceeding that which is sold +in low public-houses in this country, and which freely +mixed with water may not be very injurious, but drunk neat, +as for the most part it is, in the <i>coastal</i> regions of West +Africa, is—we have overwhelming testimony to that effect—harmful;<a id="FNanchor_200" href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> +(2) by the European Governments who, although +they do now and again raise the duty on spirits in deference +to public opinion, tacitly encourage a traffic without which +their whole administrative machinery would become temporarily +paralysed, seeing that from 45 per cent. to 75 per cent. +of the revenue of their Colonies is derived from this traffic. +These circumstances may, or may not, be preventable. +They exist, and cannot be ignored. As for another kind of +vice; the life lived by many white men in West Africa is +not, perhaps, calculated to give the Negro a high idea of +the morality of Christian Europe. His occasional visits to +Europeanised coast towns—presuming him to be living<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236"></a>[236]</span> +some distance in the interior—do not probably imbue him +with the notion that his trousered countrymen are the gainers +in moral ethics, through contact with European civilisation; +nor, unhappily, can it be said that the tales and personal +experiences related by those of his educated brothers who +visit our great cities are of a kind to lessen the impression +he may already have formed as to the results of twenty +centuries of Christianity in Europe.<a id="FNanchor_201" href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a></p> + +<p>Is it a question of gauging the true inwardness of the +doctrine of peace and love? It is to be feared that the +political aims of European Powers in West Africa are too +often associated with Maxims and Martinis to admit of much +doubt on that score. The Negro is a shrewd man, and he +distinguishes professions from actions. The readiness with +which the white interlopers in his country appeal to the +sword as the shortest cut to the solution of a misunderstanding +is instructive. The hastiness with which his habits +and customs are trampled upon by his would-be elevators; +the cheerful alacrity he is expected to show in swallowing +innovations thrust upon him at what, to his conservative +prejudices, appear to him a moment’s notice; and, finally, +the increasing desire on the part of his European friends +to appropriate his most precious heritage, his ancestral +lands, and the fruits thereof, for their own use—all these +things, whether in fashionable parlance they be the “inevitable” +accompaniments of opening up West Africa by +Western Europe or not, constitute those contradictions of +which I have already spoken, and whatever else they may do, +militate against the spread of Christianity in the land of the +Negroes.</p> + +<p>Is there a remedy, and if so, on what lines is it to be +sought for? There is only one <i>native</i> Christian State in +Africa—Abyssinia—and its Christianity is declared by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237"></a>[237]</span> +eminent divines to be tainted with all sorts of heresies and +objections. But it has endowed Abyssinia with sufficient +vitality to enable her to repel Mohammedan invasion for a +long term of centuries, and the strong religious zeal of +Abyssinia’s warriors was not a negligible factor in beating +back the unjustifiable aggression made upon the independence +of that country by Italy. To-day the Emperor of +this African Christian State is, with one exception, probably +the most powerful native ruler in the world. No doubt, +it does not enter the heads of European statesmen to +encourage the growth of a similar State in West Africa; +which, indeed, is an obvious impossibility for many reasons. +Yet Abyssinia provides a moral for the Christian Church. +The Christianity of Abyssinia is an <i>African</i> Christianity, +originally taught by an <i>African</i>, perpetuated by <i>Africans</i>. +Orthodox or unorthodox, it has shown itself suitable to +the necessities and the requirements of Africans; and +if Christianity in West Africa, is ever destined to make +appreciable progress, it will be when it is provided +with its only feasible agent, a West African Church: a +Church designed to respond to the needs of West Africa, +which are not the needs of Europe; a Church whose +servants shall be neither Europeans nor repatriate “Afro-Liberians,” +but West African Negroes, imbued with the +instincts and patriotism of race; a Church founded upon an +enlightened acquaintance with nature’s immovable laws; +upon principles of true science, which is true religion; upon +a wise recognition that what is good and proper and right +for one great branch of the human family may be bad, +improper, and wrong for another.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238"></a>[238]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PART_IV">PART IV</h2> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV<br> +<span class="smaller">ANGLO-FRENCH RELATIONS IN WEST AFRICA</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The subject of the relationship between England and +France in West Africa is one to which every year that passes +adds importance. The French have during the last few +years left us far behind in Western Africa, so far as territorial +expansion is concerned. They have now a great +Empire there. They have acquired it by dint of persistent, +far-sighted, courageous effort; qualities which it is regrettable +to state have been conspicuously lacking on the part of the +British official world. If a tithe of the energy which has +distinguished Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, and Bristol +merchants in Western Africa had been displayed by successive +British Governments, the possessions of Great Britain +in West Africa to-day would be infinitely more extensive +than they are.</p> + +<p>In addition to getting the better of us, in a territorial +sense, France—whose possessions touch our own at almost +every point—is steadily becoming a serious commercial +competitor. It is with that commercial competition that we +shall have to reckon in the future to an increasing degree. +It is of two kinds. There is legitimate competition and +unfair competition. In either case it behoves us to carefully +study its nature and consequences; to draw the necessary +lessons therefrom; to candidly acknowledge in a spirit of +tolerant common sense that in many respects the cause of +its pressing hardly upon us is due to superior management<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239"></a>[239]</span> +on the part of the French; to appeal to the spirit of +equity and fair play in our neighbours, when, as is the case +in some parts of their West African possessions at present, +British merchants, who have powerfully contributed in +creating the trade of those very possessions, are getting +neither fair play nor just treatment; and generally to brace +ourselves together, realising that in West Africa, as everywhere +else, the old position of undisputed commercial +supremacy which Great Britain was able to maintain at one +time with very little trouble, can no longer be retained unless +we shake off our facile opportunism and tackle the new +conditions in a scientific manner.</p> + +<p>Of early French enterprise in Western Africa very little +seems to be known by the average Englishman; and yet the +French were among the very first pioneers of Western +Africa—probably the very first—before the Portuguese, at +any rate, by at least 100 years. After the remarkable studies +recently published in the French African Committee’s +journal by Commandant Binger, the distinguished chief of +the African department of the French Colonial Office, there +is not, I think, any alternative but to accept as conclusive +the French claim of being the first Europeans to visit the +West African coast. Spanish and Genoese navigators; the +former hailing from Catalonia, the Lancashire of Spain, +may possibly have been contemporaneous with the French. +But, apart from French testimony, it is affirmed by eminent +Spanish authorities themselves, such as Navarette +and Viera, that the French preceded their own countrymen. +The Canaries were discovered by a Genoese of French +descent, and with a French name, Maloisel to wit, about +1275 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> They were also conquered by a Frenchman +named De Béthancourt in the first years of the fifteenth +century. In the beginning of the fourteenth the West +African coast as far south as the Senegal certainly, and +Sierra Leone probably, was regularly visited by French +ships. So much has now been established. Whether +French ships then pushed south to the Gold Coast is not +quite so clear. Personally I incline to the belief that this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240"></a>[240]</span> +has also been satisfactorily made out, and the confirmatory +testimony of Villaut-de-Bellefonds no longer stands alone.</p> + +<p>The paucity of historical and documentary evidence has +hitherto been the principal objection to the French claim of +priority. It has, of course, been made the most of by +Portuguese historians. But, apart from the circumstance +that Commandant Binger has now been able to partly fill +up the gap, and apart from the eminently reasonable explanation +of Labat that the old records of the port of Dieppe, +from whence many of the French ships bound to the West +Coast started, were destroyed by the bombardment of that +port in 1694, there is very good reason, to my mind, why the +Portuguese on the one hand should possess such splendid +and unique accounts of their early exploits in West Africa +from the middle of the fifteenth century onwards; and why, +on the other hand, the French, who arrived on the scene at +least a century before them, should be so poorly represented +in their own national archives. The reason is this. The +enterprise of Portugal in West Africa—which has so incomparably +enriched the domain of geographical knowledge—was, +from the first, an official undertaking. It was conceived +by Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the most remarkable +figures in history, and all the resources of the science and +literature of the age were invoked by him to give to the new +epoch of discovery a national and historical permanency, +which should be the means of reflecting glory for ever on +Portuguese annals. Very different was the enterprise of the +French. It was in no sense official, but private. It was +undertaken not by renowned knights and important personages +in kingly service, but by hardy, illiterate, independent +mariners and merchants of Normandy. The object was not, +as in the case of the Portuguese, fame, geographical discovery, +and religious zeal, but trade. The men who fitted +out the French ships and sent them on their perilous course +were Dieppe, Rouen, and Honfleur merchants; and the +French vessels returned, not with captives forcibly torn +from their homes with every accompaniment of cruelty in +order to convert them to a faith of peace, charity, and good-will,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241"></a>[241]</span> +but with ivory, spices, and gold dust. That was the +earliest form of trade in West Africa by the people of +Western Europe. The slave trade came afterwards. To +this day a local industry in ivory carving exists at Dieppe, +and every one who has visited that quaint old seaport has +noticed the numerous ivory ornaments displayed in the shop +windows. If, therefore, the British merchants can claim to +be the latter-day pioneers of commercial enterprise in West +Africa; if during the century that has just closed their commercial +aptitude and initiative gained for them the foremost +commercial position on the West African littoral, it was +French merchants who originally led the way. We have +too often led the way ourselves in most parts of the world +to begrudge the French this honour, so far as Western +Africa is concerned. Rather should it be a bond of respect, +the twin sister of sympathy between us and our neighbours.</p> + +<p>The first recorded instance upon which Englishmen and +Frenchmen met off the West African coast resulted, +curiously enough, in an alliance. It happened in this way. +One William Towerson, in the course of a voyage to Guinea +in 1555, being pursued by some Portuguese brigantines, +opportunely came across a fleet of French ships, with whom +he joined company for safety. The alliance does not seem +to have been a very satisfactory one, as it turned out; still, +it was an alliance, of sorts. This first meeting took place +some thirty-five years subsequent to the earliest known +appearance of an Englishman in West Africa, in the person +of one Andrew Battel, of Leigh—whether an ancestor of +the three old maids of that ilk, history sayeth not—who put +to sea in a Portuguese slaver, and after many extraordinary +adventures amongst the natives of Angola, succeeded in +getting back to his native country. The beginning of the +sixteenth century marked the awakening of Englishmen to +the potentialities of the West African trade. It had been +preceded by a notable slackening in the energies of Normandy +merchants. The Hundred Years’ War with England +had crippled enterprise of any kind in France. The House +of Valois was in a parlous state. The great war which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242"></a>[242]</span> +began in 1337 and continued, with occasional breaks of +short duration, until the marvellous successes of the Maid +of Orleans compelled the English to give way, was marked +by the crushing defeats the French sustained at Crecy and +Poitiers at the hands of Edward III., and at Agincourt at +the hands of Henry V.; and, to make use of some quoted +words, “The State was reduced to bankruptcy, the nobility +excited to rebellion, and the mass of the people sunk in +barbarism.”</p> + +<p>No sooner, however, had the victories of Joan of Arc +infused new vitality into the French, than we find renewed +evidence of the enterprise of Dieppe and Rouen merchants +in West Africa. The revival of that enterprise coincides +with the entry upon the scene of English merchants: +Windham, Hawkins of evil memory, Rutter, Baker, and +others, and the records bear witness to the contemporary +presence of French trading vessels on the West Coast from +Senegal to the Gold Coast. Recent discoveries of old +manuscripts, dating back to 1574, at Honfleur prove that +from that year to 1583—a space of nine years—thirty-two +French vessels left that port alone for West Africa. For +some time English and French got on well enough on the +West Coast. The power of Portugal was fast decaying, and +adventurers of all nationalities, notably the Dutch, were +hurrying to the spot. Then came more wars between +English and French, with their natural effect upon commercial +transactions in West Africa. In 1696 the French +destroyed the British settlement at the mouth of the Gambia. +For the next hundred years or so relations between the +Europeans established or trading on the West Coast appear +as a tangle of animosities. Every one seemed to be fighting +his neighbour, and pirates of all nationalities attacked every +vessel they came across, including those owned or manned +by men of their own race, even Gambia Castle, garrisoned by +a British force, being on one occasion captured and sacked +by a notorious British pirate named Davies, presumably +a Welshman! Notwithstanding all this dire confusion, the +English were gradually getting the upper hand all down the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243"></a>[243]</span> +coast. In 1794 Sierra Leone was bombarded by a French +squadron without the authority apparently of the Revolutionary +Government then in power. Twenty years later, +the power of Napoleon having collapsed, all that was left to +France by the Treaty of Vienna was her settlement on the +coast of Senegal.</p> + +<p>England remained in a preponderating position politically +and commercially on the West African coast. Such, too, +was her position in the main until the revival of a French +Colonial policy, under the impulse of those far-seeing statesmen +Gambetta and Jules Ferry in 1883. At any period +between 1815 and 1883 England had the opportunity of +creating an extensive Empire in West Africa and annexing +practically the whole coast.</p> + +<p>And here the curtain rings down on the old <i>régime</i>, and a +new chapter in the history of Anglo-French relationship in +West Africa begins.</p> + +<p>To whom should be properly attributed the initiation of +the scramble for Africa? It has been a cause of considerable +inconvenience to the Cabinets of Europe, and of still +greater inconvenience, we may feel tolerably certain, to the +natives of Africa. Each Power that participated in it throws +the onus on its neighbour. So far as West Africa is concerned, +whatever claim or credit may be taken, the French +must, I think, be held guilty or meritorious, according as +individual opinion may differ. The scramble in West Africa +arose from what, for want of a better description, may be +termed the discovery by the French of the West African +hinterlands. When Gambetta and Jules Ferry awoke the +slumbering colonial instincts of their countrymen, inland +West Africa was to all intents and purposes a blank. +Englishmen and Frenchmen sat on the coast, the former +doing a large trade and the latter little or none. In two +places only were organised attempts at interior penetration +being made. On the Lower Niger, Englishmen were pushing +their trade inland. On the Senegal, the era of political conquest +begun by Faidherbe was being slowly developed, +despite many difficulties and set-backs. The political<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244"></a>[244]</span> +energies of Great Britain were paralysed by the resolution +arrived at in 1865 to abandon all Government action in +West Africa, with the possible exception of Sierra Leone. +France was still feeling the effects of the disasters of +1870.</p> + +<p>With the propaganda of Jules Ferry and Gambetta in +favour of a policy of Colonial expansion, a change came +o’er the spirit of the dream as regards West Africa. Backed +by a strong body of opinion; supported by men of note, +such as M. Waldeck Rousseau, as he has himself recently +reminded us, French activity in Western Africa became +very pronounced, and the work once begun was not abandoned +on account of the temporary reverses suffered by +French arms in Tonquin, which drove Ferry from power +and broke his heart. French missions, generally of a +peaceful character, started eastwards and southwards from +the Senegal, and northwards from the coast, to explore the +unknown interior. They reported it to be a fairly salubrious, +fertile, cereal-producing and cattle-rearing country, unobstructed +by dense forests such as are met with inland from the +West Coast proper to a depth varying from sixty to two hundred +miles. This country was inhabited by intelligent races +relatively advanced in the scale of civilisation, possessing +flourishing industries and commercial aptitude. The French +found regularly constituted States, more or less Muslimised, +and in some of which social law and order had reached a +high stage of development; large towns of 10,000 to 15,000 +inhabitants with regular market-days, where iron smelting +was highly advanced, where the natives dressed in handsome +clothes of their own manufacture, and used leather +sandals, sword-belts, and scabbards, despatch-bags, and +saddles fabricated by themselves. It was a revelation. The +chief drawback about this vast inland region, which seemed +to offer such brilliant prospects under able administrative +supervision, was its liability to be swept by fire and sword +at any moment by some over-zealous adherent of a certain +militant sect of Mohammedans, which enjoyed great influence +in the Western Sudan. These French agents were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245"></a>[245]</span> +generally well received, and by their means vast stretches of +hitherto unknown country were opened up and brought to +the knowledge of the world.</p> + +<p>Out of these discoveries was born the desire—the very +natural and legitimate desire—on the part of the French to +build up a mighty empire in West Africa, a black Indies, +which should rival the Indies of the East in extent, in +wealth, and in the prestige which its acquisition would +confer. Exploring and semi-political missions were followed +by expeditions of a definite political character, and district +after district, State after State, tribe after tribe, came under +French influence; by peaceful means in the majority of +cases. All this time the English were doing nothing, in an +official sense. Liverpool men were calling upon the Government +to wake up to what was going on, but their efforts were +entirely unsuccessful. Wider and wider grew the sweep of +the French net, closer and closer to our own Colonies, +which it threatened to throttle in its meshes. Sierra Leone +became encircled on three sides by French territory; the +magnificent country of Futa-Jallon, the Switzerland of +Western Africa as it has been called, which had been visited +at various times by agents of the Government of Sierra +Leone (notably Dr. Blyden), of which it formed the natural +hinterland, was acquired by France without firing a shot. +The Gold Coast, and Lagos, and what is now known as +Northern Nigeria—whose safety the Convention of 1890 +was supposed to guarantee—were in imminent danger of +sharing a similar fate.</p> + +<p>I have often seen it stated, even by authorities of no mean +order, that the French were permitted or allowed to carry +out the great task of securing the hinterlands of Western +Africa. In point of fact, the statement is very misleading +and has had a somewhat mischievous effect. England was +not in a position to allow or disallow. The French conceived +a plan and carried it out in the face of tremendous obstacles; +they were prepared to undergo sacrifices which we were not +prepared to accept, and such being the case, they were +answerable to none but themselves. Their success and our<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246"></a>[246]</span> +failure was the due measure of their enterprise and our +apathy.</p> + +<p>When the future of our Colonies appeared thoroughly +compromised by the cutting off of the interior markets, the +British Government suddenly realised that Liverpool and +Manchester merchants had been clearer-sighted than British +officialdom, and at the last moment efforts were made to +secure for the British Colonies such of the hinterlands which +remained unabsorbed. Then arose a very delicate position, +which taxed the diplomatic resources of both Powers to the +uttermost. British and French officers with excitable native +troops under their command, remained facing one another +in the far interior a few hundred yards distance for weeks +at a time, awaiting instructions from the irrespective Governments. +To the good sense, tact, and mutual esteem of these +officers is due that peace was preserved between England +and France. We owe a deep debt of gratitude to these men, +who, suffering from the debilitating effects of the West +African climate and the hardships attendant upon West +African travel—neither of which are conducive to sweetness +of temper, managed to keep their heads. Mainly thanks to +them the quarrel was adjusted without bloodshed, and the +Anglo-French Convention of 1898 was signed. It left our +Colonies of the Gold Coast and Lagos greatly circumscribed, +but assured us in “Nigeria” a magnificent territory some +504,000 square miles in extent.</p> + +<p>The era of territorial rivalry between Great Britain and +France in Western Africa has, it may be legitimately assumed, +quite passed away. We continue to be rivals in commercial +matters, but that is a peaceful rivalry—or should be—which +ought not to exclude friendship. Nevertheless, as trade questions +are often converted into fertile causes of dispute, it is +essential that Englishmen and Frenchmen, in order to work +harmoniously together in the future, should thoroughly +understand one another’s points of view in this connection. +We, as a nation, are free traders. The French, as a nation, +are protectionists. It would be absurd and undignified for +us to complain of the different economic standpoint taken up<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247"></a>[247]</span> +by our neighbours. Moreover, there are various degrees of +protectionism in France. There is the extreme school of +M. Méline, which, if its doctrines were strictly applied to the +French West African Colonies, would ruin them in five +years. There is the school which upholds partial protectionism +in France, but favours freedom of trade in the +French Colonies. The latter is happily gaining in strength. +We should endeavour as far as in us lies to work with the +representatives of this school. One of the clauses of the +1898 Convention, which caused a great outcry in France +when it became known, stipulated that no differential treatment +was to be meted out to British trade throughout a +considerable part of the French West African possessions +for a term of thirty years. The following extract, bearing +on this subject, from an address read by M. Bohn, the head +of the largest firm of French West African merchants, before +the Marseilles Geographical Society, in September 1898, +three months after the Convention was signed, is interesting:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“A certain colonial school,” said M. Bohn, “starting from the +premise that the only object of colonies is to favour the outlet of goods +manufactured in the mother country, demands the application of prohibitive +tariffs upon foreign goods imported into our colonies. This +system, which contributed so powerfully to lose Spain her finest +colonies, flourishes in Gaboon, which is the least prosperous of our +colonies, and which only subsists at all by constant grants in aid from +the metropolis. These examples are hardly encouraging. On the +other hand, we are able to see that those of our colonies which are +developing themselves in the most rapid and satisfactory manner are +those where no differential tariffs exist.... From that point of view +it is certain the Franco-English Convention of June 1898, by abolishing +for a period of thirty years all differential duties in the Ivory Coast +and Dahomey, has assured for that period the commercial prosperity +of these colonies.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>That notable statement and others like it (the truth of +which has been amply borne out since) show that experienced +Frenchmen engaged in the West African trade +realise, as we do, that a policy of free trade is one which in +West Africa spells commercial success by the nation which +adopts it. The existence of such views in France is a very<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248"></a>[248]</span> +encouraging sign for those who firmly believe that trade is +the greatest progressive agency which can be brought to bear +upon the relations between Western Europe and Western +Africa.</p> + +<p>Recent events are proving that a natural community of +interests exists between British and French merchants in +Western Africa; that they will have to fight a common foe, +the Concessionnaire, and that every action calculated to +bring them into closer relationship is a step in the right +direction.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249"></a>[249]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV<br> +<span class="smaller">TEN YEARS OF FRENCH ACTION IN WEST AFRICA</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The history of France’s action in West Africa during the +last ten years has been so remarkable that it deserves to be +recorded in some detail, and where possible her policy may +be usefully compared with our own. On January 23, 1892, +the Paris <i>Figaro</i> published a literary supplement entitled +“Our African Domain,” in which was set forth by various +competent authorities—amongst whom was Captain Binger;<a id="FNanchor_202" href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> +Emile Masqueray, the well-known student of Algerian problems; +Georges Rolland, one of the foremost advocates of the +Trans-Saharan Railway; and “Harry Alis,” the redoubtable +Colonial propagandist, Lord Cromer’s <i>bête noire</i>, whose tragic +end will be in the recollection of many—the past achievements, +actual position and future aspirations of France in +Western and Central Africa. The supplement was divided +into five parts, entitled respectively “Algeria”; “Penetration +towards the Chad”; “Senegal and Dependencies”; +“Our Position on the Gulf of Guinea”; “Congo and Chad.” +At the time this supplement appeared, the revival of Colonial +ambition in France, which owed its inception largely to the +foresight and courage of Jules Ferry, had taken firm root +among the <i>élite</i> of French public opinion. But although +the seed where it fell gave forth lusty fruit, the sowers were +relatively few, and the area under cultivation was still but +small in 1892. The Chamber of Deputies was slow to grant +fresh credits. Politicians as a whole viewed the eloquence<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250"></a>[250]</span> +of Eugène Etienne and other exponents of the Ferry school +with ill-disguised nervousness, if not with positive apprehension, +fearing that the country was being turned from its +true business of guarding against possible aggression from +Germany, and was playing into Bismarck’s hands by rushing +into Colonial adventures which it was known that Bismarck, +for his own reasons, was desirous of encouraging. No one +party or rather group cared to identify itself too closely with +the expansionists, remembering the whirlwind of popular +passion which assailed and overwhelmed <i>le Tonkinois</i>. On +the other hand, it was not wise to entirely dissociate one’s +self from a movement which was steadily gaining a hold +over the masses. So Parliament vacillated, and, swayed by +contrary winds, voted funds one minute and sought to +withdraw them the next.</p> + +<p>The <i>Figaro’s</i> supplement was widely criticised. The +schemes it elaborated were not merely ambitious, they +were gigantic. “Our policy,” it argued, “is to make one +homogeneous entity of Algeria, Senegal, and Congo <i>viâ</i> the +Tuareg-Sahara and the Central and Western Sudan.” The +timid Deputy shuddered at the prospect. What must have +been, even to the master-minds who initiated the policy, +not much more than a fond hope strengthened by an unshaken +faith in the destiny of the country; what, in the +eyes of those who opposed it, appeared as a monstrous +figment of the imagination, is to-day in its main lines a +reality! How has it been accomplished?</p> + +<p>“Our intentions are pure and noble, our cause is just, the +future cannot fail us,” wrote Faidherbe in 1859, and, on the +whole, despite errors, despite the effects of temporary reaction +coming after acute disappointment, despite some +individual instances of cruelty and oppression, events have +justified Faidherbe’s confident declaration. The work of +France in Africa during the last ten years and more has, in +the main, been a work of progress tending to benefit the +populations with whom she has come in contact. Notable +exceptions there have been, of course, especially during the +years 1897 and 1898, when the scramble for West Africa was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251"></a>[251]</span> +at its height, and under the spell of an insensate rivalry +deeds were committed by all the parties in the struggle +which cannot be too strongly condemned. To France’s +debit account must be placed the ruthless proceedings of +Bretonnet in Borgu; the needless bloodshed of which Mossi, +Kipprisi, and Gurunsi were the scenes; the inevitable barbarity +which characterised Marchand’s hunt for carriers in +the Upper Ubanghi and Bahr-el-Ghazal. These incidents +in themselves are odious and reprehensible; but it is only +fair to recognise that they were the outcome of international +jealousies the responsibility for which was collective rather +than single, shared in by other Powers as well as by France +herself. In what may be regarded as France’s own sphere +of influence, acts have also been perpetrated from time to +time which call for censure. The punishment meted out +to certain towns hostile to the French in the Western Sudan +have been altogether disproportionate to the offence. In +the case of the French officers Voulet and Chanoine, an incalculable +amount of suffering was inflicted upon the unfortunate +people on the western banks of the Niger. But +from these isolated transgressions against the principles of +humanity, culpable as they have been, the records of no +European Power in Africa are free; and they cannot, in the +circumstances of France, be held to negative or even weaken +the advantages she has undoubtedly conferred upon the +population of the Western and Central Sudan, nor yet +tarnish the great reputation France has achieved in the emancipation +of millions from centuries of tyranny and invasion. +If she has had her Voulets and Chanoines, France can show +in the persons of her De Brazzas, her Bingers, her Monteils, +her Crozats, her Foureaus, Noirots, Gentils, Hoursts, and +Lenfants, performances which the subjects of other Powers +may have equalled but have not surpassed; always excepting +Barth, whose moral grandeur towers high above that of +all his competitors on West African soil.</p> + +<p>From the time when the Sieur de Brüe—one of the +clearest-headed Frenchmen who ever served his country +in Africa—paid ceremonious visits to the King of Kayor and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252"></a>[252]</span> +the “grand Seratik” of the Fulas at the close of the seventeenth +and at the beginning of the eighteenth century; from +the time when raiding bands of Trarza Moors, extending +their depredations to the very confines of St. Louis (1840-60) +compelled Faidherbe to take the offensive against them, to +the present day, it has been the lot of France to find herself +confronted in West Africa with races differentiating in +every respect from the true Negro of the coast regions—the +people whom England had, up to 1900, been chiefly concerned +with. Eight years before, a certain Select Committee +of the House of Commons, frightened at the responsibilities +England was assuming in West Africa, pusillanimously recommended +the abandonment of all our settlements except +Sierra Leone, thus enunciating a policy the evil effects of +which continued until 1895 and greatly limited our footing +in West and Central Africa; France had just emerged successfully +from a death grapple with one of the most powerful +individuals that ever sprung from African loins, el Haj-Omar, +the great Tukulor Mallam and warrior. Looking +backward at that long vista of years, when France was slowly +but irresistibly thrusting her influence into West Africa, <i>viâ</i> +the Senegal and Upper Niger, by pouring out her treasure +and the blood of her sons like water; while England remained +supine on the coast heedless of the representations +of her merchant-pioneers, it was not surprising that, +awakening almost too late from our lethargy, we should +have found the French, having triumphed over their +obstacles in the north, forging southwards and cutting off +our rich hinterlands in the interior. Writing to the Marquis +of Dufferin in 1892, Lord Salisbury contrasted the policy of +Great Britain and France in Western Africa. “France,” +wrote Lord Salisbury, “from her basis on the Senegal +Coast, has pursued steadily the aim of establishing herself +on the Upper Niger and its affluents.... Great Britain, on +the other hand, has adopted the policy of advance by commercial +enterprise.” There was, indeed, on the part of +Liverpool, Manchester, and Bristol merchants, plenty of +“commercial enterprise,” but it would have been difficult<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253"></a>[253]</span> +for Lord Salisbury to have quoted a single instance where +that “commercial enterprise” had constituted “a policy of +advance.”</p> + +<p>It is due to the type of native inhabiting the chief radius +of France’s operations in Western Africa, that her task has +been rendered so dangerous and so difficult, and its fulfilment +so remarkable. Criticise as we may, and often enough +unjustly, because ignorantly, the colonising capacities of our +Gallic neighbours, and the fluctuations of their colonial +policy, it is beyond question that no nation on earth could +have achieved what she has achieved in Western Africa, +without the possession of a doggedness and determination +for which we do not—to our own injury, be it said—even +now, give her the credit which she deserves. For centuries +upon centuries the enormous tract which lies between the +edge of the Sahara Desert and the fringe of the tropical +forest belt—consisting for the most part of grassy uplands +varied by wide plains of amazing fertility, by reason of the +yearly overflow of the waters of the Niger—had been the +cockpit of Africa. Empire after empire rose and fell; invasion +and counter-invasion swept devastatingly over the +country. The splendours of Jenne and Timbuctoo vanished +with the sway of the Songhay, beneath the bullets of +Morocco’s musketeers. Fulani domination arose and gave +way before Tukulor cruelties. Semi-negro kingdoms came +into being, declared their independence of this or that conqueror, +only to be subdued, while their victors had, in turn, +to bite the dust before some stronger foe. The mingling of +races in that vast region has no parallel in Africa. Ages +ago the pastoral Fula—veritable Asiatic—had settled therein +with his flocks and herds, destined in time by the sheer +force of superior intellect to become the master where he +had been either the guest or the despised tenant. Later +came infiltrations of the Moorish element proper; pastorals +also these, emigrating from the plateaux of Adrar to the well-watered +valley of the Niger. Tuaregs, the redskins of the +Sahara, descendants, as some affect to believe, of those tall, +fair-haired, long-limbed warriors of Northern Europe who,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254"></a>[254]</span> +about 1500 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, advanced slowly through Gaul and Spain, +and crossing the Mediterranean in ships, landed on the +North African Coast, ever pushing southwards, overcoming +the terrors of the desert and reaching the green pastures +beyond, but repairing the greater part of the year to the +desolate Saharan solitudes of which they remain the virtual +masters, though Foureau and his <i>tirailleurs</i> have for the +first time in history passed through without paying the toll. +Arabs too, but again later, and generally speaking farther +south and east in Kanem, Wadai and Baghirmi, where +Lamy met his death and Gentil was fighting two years +and more; Arabs from the north with caravans of merchandise, +and other Arabs from the east; Shuwas, of whom +no man knows the history or the origin. They intermarried, +these tawny, straight-haired nomadic strangers, with the +aboriginal blacks, or raped their women, as the case might +be; and from these unions, legitimate or otherwise, through +long centuries, there sprang into existence fierce cross-races +and wild, reared in war, nurtured in an atmosphere of turmoil +and brigandage; negro Fula, negro Moor, negro Arab, +exaggerating the savage instincts of the parent stock, whom +they turned and rent when strong enough. One such +hybrid product became in time the scourge of the Western +Sudan—the Tukulor, offspring of Negro (Joloff) and Fula, +unsparing, ruthless, dreaded alike by Fula and Negro, and +whose atrocities are written in letters of blood from Toro +(Senegal) to the frontiers of Hausa.</p> + +<p>In this medley of races there came in the tenth century +of our era the first whisperings of a revealed religion. The +whispering quickly changed to the deep hum of many voices +proclaiming aloud the word of the Prophet. Islam spread +with inconceivable rapidity. The Fulani became speedy +converts, but the arts they employed to win over their pagan +neighbours were usually peaceful. Not so with the Tukulors +and the other cross-races. They saw in it naught but a fresh +incentive to warlike deeds, and soon professed Mohammedans +were not merely massacring the infidels, but waging +battle against their more peaceable co-religionists. As<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255"></a>[255]</span> +though this were not enough, another fruitful cause of +bloodshed and disturbance was fated to arise, and still further +plunge in woe this distracted country. The Portuguese +adventurers on the coast, in the course of their professed +desire to save the soul of the Negro, made a discovery, to wit, +that the muscular development of the Negro eminently fitted +him for manual labour. From that discovery dates the +most atrocious traffic the world has ever witnessed. In their +greed for slaves, the Christians of Western Europe and of +America—without distinction of nationality, though perhaps +the Portuguese and English were the worst offenders—set +tribe against tribe; and the better to stimulate the industry, +imported wholesale guns and gunpowder, objects which +they ascertained the Negroes greatly coveted. The blacks +waged war right merrily upon one another, and their so-called +prisoners of war filled the slavers’ hulks. Presently +the tawny races beyond the forest belt joined in the game, +desiring above all things the acquisition of guns and the +wherewithal to use them, which meant power and increased +facilities for plunder. Slave-raiding then assumed almost +incredible proportions. Internecine warfare received a new +and terrible impetus. No excuse, whether valid or imaginary, +was henceforth needed to attack one’s neighbour; and +where in former days contentment might have been secured +by a rich booty of cattle and sheep, the requirements of the +case now necessitated the capture of the human animal himself. +In such a country, desolated by centuries of strife; +among such a people, upon whose vices Europe had grafted +her own; under such circumstances, has lain the destiny of +France in Western Africa.</p> + +<p>A favourite argument used by those who favour a militarist +policy in Northern Nigeria consists in pointing to the +action of the French in the Western Sudan. It is held by +some to be inconsistent to express approval of the military +trend of French policy in regions adjacent to Northern +Nigeria, and to disapprove of it in Northern Nigeria itself. +I do not think that the charge of inconsistency will bear +examination. In the first place, we should be careful not to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256"></a>[256]</span> +generalise. In West Africa proper—that is, in the coastwise +regions, the home of the true Negroes—the military +policy has, on the whole, been rarely resorted to by the +French. In the Western Sudan, although, no doubt, a good +deal of bloodshed might have been avoided at different +times, I fail to see myself, bearing in mind the object of +French policy, how that object could have been obtained +without military conquest. As far as the purely moral +aspect of the matter is concerned, the right of any European +Power to interfere in the internal affairs of West Africa may +be queried; but if a given region can, in West Africa, be +pointed to where the results of such interference are of a +beneficent nature, that region is the Western Sudan. France +is restoring to the enormous expanse of territory between +the Niger and the tropical forest belt the prosperity which +it possessed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries under +the Songhay, when Jenne was the granary and the store-house +of the Niger countries. She is laying the basis of a +prosperity far greater than in those days, because she is able +to bring peace where the Songhays could not. Having conquered +the cross-races, she wisely refrains from either +interfering with their customs, such as domestic slavery, +upon which the social fabric of West Africa depends, or +from allowing, save in strictly circumscribed limits, Christian +propaganda among them, being well aware that such +propaganda in Mohammedan communities but newly subjugated +is the certain precursor of trouble, bloodshed, and +fanaticism. She has hunted down and destroyed the four +tyrants who successively barred her way to the interior, and +who had perpetrated untold miseries upon hundreds of +thousands of human beings—El-Haji-Omar, Amadu, Samory +and Rabah. Had she been able to acquire the services of +these men, it would perhaps have been better, but the body +of evidence is against the possibility of her power to have +done so. But there is a limit to approval of French military +action, and if, now that France’s political influence is internationally +secure in the regions east and north of the Chad, +she chooses to embark open-eyed in a struggle with the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257"></a>[257]</span> +Senussi, she will be making a grave mistake. Unless +deliberately incited by unprovoked aggression, her game +there is to sheath the sword and give diplomacy the +innings, and those Frenchmen who see the danger of +precipitate, immature action in Wadai and Kanem, and +are strenuously agitating against it, are wise in their +generation.<a id="FNanchor_203" href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a></p> + +<p>But, taken all in all, the circumstances in which England +finds herself in Northern Nigeria, and the circumstances in +which France found herself in relation to the Western Sudan +before the conquest, are widely different. The aims pursued +by France in the Western Sudan, and by the English in +Nigeria, were not in their inception the same. The regions +coveted by France were for the most part widely removed—at +immense distances indeed—from her basis on the coast +and her basis on the Senegal River. To make her claims +to those regions <i>internationally</i> valid, it was requisite +that France should wield some tangible influence over +them, and in many cases that was impossible without +conquest.</p> + +<p>But the British in Northern Nigeria were very differently +placed. Northern Nigeria was the prolongation, so to speak, +of the British base in “the Rivers.” It lay immediately at +the back of them. The possession of the Niger’s mouth +facilitated the extension of British influence up the River +and its affluent the Binue. Moreover, British merchants +and explorers had ascended both the Niger and the Binue +many years before; they had paved the way for what was to +follow; and for fifteen years before the advent of direct +Imperial control in Northern Nigeria, its native potentates +had been united in close ties of political relationship with a +British Chartered Company. The Government stepped into +the shoes of the Chartered Company, not to play the <i>rôle</i> of +<i>conquisitador</i> and initiator, but to reap crops sown for it; +to consolidate work already half accomplished. It should, +in parenthesis, be stated that France manages the Western<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258"></a>[258]</span> +Sudan, a territory very much larger than Northern Nigeria, +and where a state of continuous internecine warfare had +existed for centuries, with an army not more than 3000 +strong. Again, if warfare has attended the establishment of +French influence in the Shari region, it has been due to +special circumstances. Thus Gentil acquired a Protectorate +over Baghirmi without firing a shot. It was only when the +country which France had placed under her protection was +invaded and laid waste by Rabah that military action became +a duty.</p> + +<p>No comparison is really possible between the respective +parts of Great Britain and France. Both are distinct, and +must be judged according to their antecedents and special +features.</p> + +<p>In Northern Nigeria<a id="FNanchor_204" href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> we have to do with native rulers +with whom we have been in treaty relationship for fifteen +years, and in commercial relationship for longer still. They +are our wards, we are in a fiduciary capacity towards them; +they are our <i>protégés</i>. We undertook by treaty to subsidise +them; we pledged ourselves by treaty “not to interfere with +the customs” of their people. It should be our object, +following the precepts of Sir Andrew Clarke, to make those +rulers “far bigger” men than they are, not to break them. +They come of a proud race, a capable race, of superior +mental calibre, possessed of statesmanship and skill. They +have played a great part in the history of Western Africa. +Barth, who knew them well, has said of them that “they +are the most intelligent people in Africa.” To reduce them +to impotence; to scatter their power; to break the organisation +they have created into small pieces would be politically +foolish, practically unwise, morally unjust, Imperially disastrous. +To strengthen their rule where weak; to perfect it +where oppressive; to assist them, work with them, and +through them along their natural lines; to interfere as little +as possible with the customs and habits of themselves and +their people; to respect their religious beliefs; to work<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259"></a>[259]</span> +gradually, peacefully, tactfully, for the attainment of the +only conceivable objects which have taken us to their +country—commercial development, advancement, prosperity—those +should be the political principles guiding us in +Northern Nigeria.</p> + +<p>The accomplishment of the colossal plan sketched out +by the <i>Figaro</i> in 1892, viz. the unification (if the word be +permissible) of the French possessions in Africa by expeditions +from north, west, and south, designed to meet on the +shores of Lake Chad, may now be briefly given. It is a +stirring tale. The first attempt—if we exclude that of +Flatters from the north, of which the purpose was limited—was +made from the south, by the blue-eyed, fair-haired +enthusiast, Paul Crampbel. He fell assassinated by Rabah’s +emissaries at El Kuti on April 15, 1891. Dybowski and +Maistre, sent out by the French African Committee in +Crampbel’s footsteps, had to retire without doing much more +than useful exploring work. Then came Gentil’s turn, a +modest naval lieutenant who, profiting by Rabah’s complications +in Bornu, succeeded after incredible difficulties in +reaching the mouth of the Shari (after signing a treaty of +Protectorate with Baghirmi) and floating a small steamer +upon the waters of the mysterious lake. But the success +was short-lived. Rabah recrossed the Shari, forced the +French to retire, and once again swept Baghirmi with fire +and sword. France hurried fresh reinforcements to the +spot, and these under Bretonnet were attacked by Rabah +and decimated. A further and more vigorous effort was +required.</p> + +<p>And here the scene shifts to the north. In October +1898 that intrepid explorer, Foureau, left the oasis of +Sadrata, near Wargla, in Algeria, at the head of a force of +picked men, 310 strong, consisting of troopers from the +Senegalese and Saharan <i>tirailleurs</i>, than whom there are probably +no more splendid fighters in the world, unless it be +our own Sikhs. Foureau was accompanied by three civilian +friends. Commandant Lamy led the military portion of the +expedition, which comprised four other officers besides<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260"></a>[260]</span> +himself. The object of the expedition was to cross the +Algerian Sahara and reach the Chad, while Gentil and +Bretonnet gained a firm foothold on its shores by working +upwards from the Congo and Ubanghi. Foureau and his +companions plunged into the unknown desert, and for ten +months entirely disappeared from view. Frequent rumours +of a wholesale massacre reached Europe, and remembering +the fate of Douls, De Palot, Dournaux-Dupérré, and Joubert, +Flatters and Bonnier, at the hands of the fierce nomads +who roam the desolate wastes through which Foureau had +to pass, France held her breath. If Foureau fell, it would +not only be a frightful disaster, fraught with peril to French +policy throughout her vast Mohammedan zone in Africa; +it might also mean a revulsion of popular feeling, a hanging +up of cherished schemes for a generation or more. But +Foureau did not fall or fail. He reached the Asben oases +in safety, and demonstrated to timid minds that the +Tuaregs, when confronted by a well-armed and disciplined +force, skilfully led and sufficiently numerous to inspire +respect, prefer, in the main, to hold themselves at a +distance.<a id="FNanchor_205" href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></p> + +<p>Again the scene changes. The plan was half-performed. +The third advance came from the west by the way of the +Niger Bend. It was at first attended by the direst results. +The gallant Cazemajou met a cruel and treacherous death at +Zinder. Voulet and Chanoine, who succeeded him, showed +what evil unlimited authority and the disordering effects of +the African climate can work upon ill-regulated minds. +Denounced by one of their subordinates for barbarous +conduct towards the natives, they, having already forgotten +the ordinary dictates of humanity, forgot alike honour and +patriotism, foully murdered the superior officer who had +been instructed to replace them, tore off their uniforms, +declared themselves renegades, and perpetrated the wildest +excesses. But their shrift was short, and they soon met<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261"></a>[261]</span> +their fate from the rifles of the native soldiers they had +temporarily led astray.</p> + +<p>The French Government, however, did not relinquish its +determination. The fragments of the Voulet-Chanoine +mission were got together, and under the joint leadership of +Captain Joalland and Lieutenant Meynier reached the Chad, +subsequently joining Gentil’s forces in the Lower Shari. By +this time Foureau had also gained the Chad. The three +missions, which after so many vicissitudes thus met together +in their common goal, were immediately called upon to face +a new and most formidable danger. Against the town of +Kusri or Kusseri, where the French had established their +headquarters, Rabah was marching at the head of 5000 men, +of whom 2000 were armed with guns of various patterns. +He had also three fieldpieces, captured from Bretonnet. +The French disposed of a total strength of 774 officers and +men—the latter natives without exception—with four fieldpieces. +They were assisted by 1500 Baghirmi auxiliaries, +who do not appear to have been of much use, contenting +themselves with looting after the battle was over. Rabah +pitched his war camp three miles from Kusri, and awaited +the onslaught of the French. It proved to be irresistible. +Rabah himself perished. His losses amounted to 1000 killed +and wounded, and his camp, with the whole of its contents, +fell into the hands of the French. The French losses were +severe. They included the brave Lamy, Captain Cointet, a +white non-commissioned officer and seventeen men killed. +Their wounded amounted to sixty, among them Captain +Lamothe and Lieutenants Meynier and Galland. But the +victory was complete, and Rabah, the noise of whose conquests +had filled Central Africa for close upon a quarter of a +century; whose destructive strides had left a bloody track +from the Bahr-el-Ghazal to the Chad; Rabah, the last of the +great <i>conquisitadores</i>, had gone the way of El-Haji-Omar, and +of Samory. The plan elaborated by the <i>Figaro</i> eight years +previously was an accomplished fact.</p> + +<p>Since Rabah’s overthrow the French have been engaged +in systematically consolidating their hold upon the Central<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262"></a>[262]</span> +Sudan and the lower Shari. M. Terrier, the able Secrétaire-Général +of the French African Committee, explains in the +Committee’s Bulletin for April 1901 the procedure which is +being adopted. One cannot but be impressed with the +grasp, the sagacity, and the statesmanship displayed. The +Shari region has been divided into two districts, the most +northerly of which abuts on Lake Chad, and includes Baghirmi +and the Shari mouths. It is administered on military +lines. The southern district, comprising the upper reaches +of the river and its affluents, is administered on civil lines. +The population of the southern district is composed of +Negroes, whose religion is fetishism, or what it pleases us to +call fetishism. The northern district is inhabited by various +branches of the Negroid Baghirmis; by the Kotokos; by the +Shuwa Arabs, and by a few pastoral Fulani. The pagans +of the southern district have for centuries been subjected to +the raids of the Arabised-Negroes of Bornu and Baghirmi. +It was from among them that the principal supplies of +slaves which used to find their way across the desert route +to Tripoli before the Firman of 1865 were drawn. France, +by ridding them of their external foes, claims the right to +make them share in her administrative expenses. She is all +the more justified in doing so, as for many years to come, +and until the Shari is connected with the Ubanghi by a +railway, there will be no trade upon which to levy duties in +order to obtain revenue. One-half of the population is +expected to furnish carriers, and the other half pays an +annual tax of four pounds of rubber per hut, of which two +pounds is returned to the chiefs as commission. We are +assured—on the authority of M. Terrier—that the chiefs are +bringing in the tax voluntarily from long distances. In the +northern district, which was directly under Rabah’s influence, +the French found an existing organisation which they have +in the main retained, but the tax levied by the Emir of +Baghirmi upon his subjects being considered too heavy, the +French have reduced it by two-thirds, thus relieving the +population from an undue burden of taxation. The Emir +and his chiefs—through whom French influence is exercised—benefit<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263"></a>[263]</span> +by this reduced tax; that is to say, they keep it for +themselves. Contributions of slaves to the Emir and chiefs +in the form of tribute by the sub-chiefs are, of course, suppressed. +The revenue of the Emir being thus limited, but +nevertheless assured to him, together with the continuation +of his prestige, the Emir himself, who owes his throne to the +French, and has, moreover, been relieved by them of the +necessity of paying an annual tribute to Wadai, is expected +to furnish annually to the Administration 240 pounds of +millet, 500 cloths, and 100 oxen, amounting roughly to +£1680.</p> + +<p>Here, then, as in the Western Sudan, the words of Faidherbe +ring sound; and M. Etienne, speaking at a Conference +held the other day at the Paris Colonial School, was +only saying what has hitherto been true when he asserted +that:</p> + +<p>“France can in all sincerity maintain that she has delivered +the peoples of inland Africa from an intolerable yoke. +She has liberated millions of human beings from sanguinary +tyrants who had reduced them to slavery. She has accomplished +a work of emancipation, of liberty, and of generosity.” +It would be sad indeed if, led astray by evil +counsels, France should be induced in another portion of +her West African domain, viz. French Congo, to tarnish the +great reputation she has undoubtedly built up.</p> + +<p>It may be doubted whether the problems with which +France has had to contend in West Africa have ever been +rightly understood among us, for Englishmen are usually +generous-minded enough to appreciate good work carried +out by others, even though the others are sometimes rivals. +Certain is it that of the nature of French exploits in West +and Central Africa the average Englishman is hopelessly +ignorant, and even English writers of repute persist in +shutting their eyes to the great, the almost revolutionary +changes which experience, dearly bought, has wrought in +French Colonial conceptions. We have failed as a nation +in doing justice to the actions of the French in Africa. We +have underrated their capacity and refused to admit the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264"></a>[264]</span> +existence at their council boards of a central plan carefully +matured which the frequent shuffling of Ministerial portfolios +merely retarded but did not alter. At the present +moment we apparently will not realise that France is +applying to the economic development of her vast territories +the same strenuousness of purpose with which she steadily +pursued her work of conquest and absorption.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265"></a>[265]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI<br> +<span class="smaller">THE COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE FRENCH POSSESSIONS</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The logic of facts is gradually bringing home to Englishmen +that the French have within recent years revolutionised the +commercial position of their West African possessions; of +those possessions, that is, which are at present commercially +exploitable. But a singular amount of ignorance continues +to prevail on the subject, and in non-specialist circles the +French possessions are still in a sorry condition both commercially +and financially. So far is that deep-rooted idea +from the truth, that not only are the French doing exceedingly +well commercially in West Africa; but they are doing +comparatively better than we are. Moreover, their possessions +are actually costing less to manage, and economy +in administration is not secured at the expense of +requisite public works; quite the contrary. The days +when Englishmen could represent the ideals of French +Colonial management in West Africa in the light of a +custom-house official and a soldier; an expenditure +overlapping revenue; constant grants from the mother +country; an embryonic trade and a growing budgetary +deficit, have passed and gone. In some respects the French +are turning the tables upon us. Even so distinguished an +authority as Sir Harry Johnston falls into the popular +error when he says that “with the exception of Tunis, there +is not a single French possession in Africa which is self-supporting +or other than a drain upon the French exchequer.” +It is a complete fallacy, and it can be proved so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266"></a>[266]</span> +up to the hilt. Here and there, it is true, the old, bad, +paralytic red-tape conception remains, but on the whole the +French possessions north of the Bights are progressing with +an astonishing rapidity; able to construct important public +works out of their own surplus revenues, and to enter into +railway contracts on guaranteed loans of their own raising. +Miss Kingsley, in her “West African Studies,” suggested that, +granting the possibility of France becoming “commercially +intelligent,” she might “pocket the West African trade +down to Lagos from Senegal,” and there can be no doubt +that if British policy in West Africa continues to be carried +out on the present lines, and if French policy in West Africa +can escape the contamination of the concessionnaire <i>régime</i> +applied with such deplorable results in French Congo, +France can and will do an enormous amount of commercial +damage to our possessions in West Africa, and on a fair +field, in legitimate competition. Senegal, French Guinea, +the Ivory Coast and Dahomey are all self-supporting, +and the growth of trade in these possessions is in all +conscience eloquent enough, as the following figures +show:</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th><span class="smcap">Senegal</span></th> + <th><span class="smcap pad">Guinea</span></th> + <th><span class="smcap">Ivory Coast</span></th> + <th><span class="smcap">Dahomey</span></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1889</td> + <td class="tdr">£1,520,000</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">£320,000</span></td> + <td class="tdr">£160,000</td> + <td class="tdr">£360,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">2,920,000</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">1,000,000</span></td> + <td class="tdr">520,000</td> + <td class="tdr">1,000,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">3,189,400</td> + <td class="tdr">973,000<a id="FNanchor_206" href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a></td> + <td class="tdr">686,300</td> + <td class="tdr">1,101,084</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="noindent">None of our Colonies can show such a rate of progress as +their young (Senegal excepted) Gallic competitors. The +increase is really phenomenal. In the French Colonies +mentioned the expenditure is well within the revenue. In +French Guinea conspicuously so. Would that we could +say the same of our possessions! In all these Colonies +the French are spending less than we are in the work of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267"></a>[267]</span> +administration. In some of them they are nevertheless +spending more in public works, and before long their expenditure +in that respect will in the aggregate far exceed +ours. It will suffice to give one or two instances in support +of these general statements.</p> + +<p>The position of Dahomey is particularly interesting, +because it adjoins Lagos, because Lagos is one of the transit +ports for Dahomey, because both Colonies are building a +railway in the same direction, and because both Colonies +aim at capturing the bulk of the interior trade. Compared +with Lagos, Dahomey is, of course, only an infant in +years, but an infant of sturdy growth. Its trade has +jumped from nineteen million francs in 1893 to twenty-seven +million francs in 1900. The growth in its export +trade is very noticeable. In 1893 it amounted to +£347,258 (8,681,463 francs), and in 1900 had grown to +£502,350. In 1893 the export trade of Lagos was +£836,295; in 1900 it was £885,111. True, Lagos saw better +days in 1896 and 1899 (£975,203 and £915,934 respectively),<a id="FNanchor_207" href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> +but the ratio of increase has not been equal to +that of Dahomey. In 1894, on an export trade of £821,682, +the expenditure of Lagos amounted to £124,819; in 1900, +on an export trade of £885,111 the expenditure was +£187,124, including £37,214 for public works and £18,169 +on account of public debt. In 1900, on an export trade of +£502,350 Dahomey spent £119,664, of which £29,000 in +public works, and in 1901 contributed £60,000 from its own +local revenue for the railway.<a id="FNanchor_208" href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> In 1900 Dahomey spent +£8000<a id="FNanchor_209" href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> in military and police; Lagos spent £39,095.<a id="FNanchor_210" href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> +For some unexplained reason Dahomey does not export +timber, but her exports of palm-oil and palm-kernels are +increasing yearly. Dahomey is now actually exporting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268"></a>[268]</span> +very nearly as much palm-oil as Lagos.<a id="FNanchor_211" href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> In palm-kernels +Dahomey has not yet reached the level of Lagos, +but is forging ahead, having exported 24,211,614 kilos, +or roughly 24,000 tons, in 1901, against 21,986,043 +kilos in 1900, and 21,850,982 kilos in 1899. Lagos +shipped in 1900-1901 over 47,000 tons of kernels. Some +years ago the French, annoyed at being dependent upon +Lagos as the only port of transit for the trade of their +Colony (Lagos is connected with Porto Novo, the capital +of Dahomey, by a lagoon, and the facilities of the Lagos +route were, and still are, for certain classes of goods very +much greater owing to the bar service), constructed at +Kotonu one of the few wharves which exist on the West +African coast-line. This wharf, aided by the duty imposed +on the Dahomey transit trade <i>viâ</i> Lagos by the Lagos +authorities, has succeeded in its object, and the bulk of +Dahomey’s trade now passes through Kotonu instead of <i>viâ</i> +Lagos. In this way has Lagos, for temporary revenue +purposes, played into the hands of her competitors. The +Colony is also building a railway<a id="FNanchor_212" href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> which is likely to prove a +most important undertaking. The fiscal policy adopted +by France in Dahomey since the 1898 agreement, abolishing +the differential tariff for thirty years, has been well calculated +to bring about the conspicuous advancement observable, +and unless the railway concessionnaire, under his agreement +with the local government,<a id="FNanchor_213" href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> is allowed to interfere in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269"></a>[269]</span> +territories ceded to him with the freedom of trade, and with +native rights of land tenure, the wisdom of Dahomey’s fiscal +policy will continue to bear fruit. Most people will be +astonished to learn that Dahomey taxes her trade, in the +main, at a lower rate than Lagos, and it is unquestionable +that the circumstance acts in the former’s favour and to the +latter’s detriment. There is so much misconception about +on subjects of this kind, which nevertheless have so direct +a bearing upon the prosperity and commercial position of +our West African possessions and of their rivals, that it has +been thought advisable to give in the <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a> as complete +a comparative table as possible of the duties in both +Colonies.<a id="FNanchor_214" href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> To that list the reader may be referred. On all +articles but cottons Dahomey charges lower duty than +Lagos. If Dahomey can manage her affairs, and get a +surplus revenue to boot by charging 2<i>d.</i> a pound on +tobacco and gunpowder, and 11<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i> and 4<i>s.</i> 10<i>d.</i> respectively +on rock salt and sea salt, why in the world cannot +Lagos do the same, instead of charging 8<i>d.</i> and 4<i>d.</i> a pound +on tobacco, 6<i>d.</i> a pound on gunpowder, and 20<i>s.</i> on both +classes of salt? The answer is, because the Crown Colony +system is infinitely more costly than the French system of +administration.</p> + +<p>France’s oldest Colony in West Africa, Senegal, despite +the periodic ravages of yellow fever, against which it is to +be hoped science will now be in a better position to struggle +with success, is in a very healthy condition commercially +and financially, although rather too dependent upon a +single industry, viz. ground-nut production.<a id="FNanchor_215" href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> Its export<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270"></a>[270]</span> +trade has increased from £517,934 in 1891 to £1,000,000 in +1900; but its expenditure, instead of increasing in similar or +greater proportion, as is generally the case with British +Possessions; has remained practically stationary, at about +£150,000; while surplus revenues have enabled her to agree +to pay a yearly subsidy of £36,000 for a period of twenty-two +years to the Western Sudan (Kayes-Niger) railway, from +the completion of which she is sure to largely benefit. In +the construction of public works Senegal is easily ahead of +any European possession of West Africa. A railway 250 +kilometres long connects St. Louis, the capital, with Dakar, +the principal seaport, and the best on the coast. St. Louis, +Dakar and Rufisque have all been provided with fresh +water. The Faidherbe bridge is a great engineering triumph, +and the wharves at Rufisque and Dakar are well organised. +Surveys for another railway through the Salum district, with +prolongation to Kayes, are being undertaken, and there is a +project on foot for improving navigation on the Senegal +River. Senegal seems destined to have a brilliant future.</p> + +<p>The Ivory Coast has come very much to the fore of late +as a possible goldfield, to rival if not to surpass the Gold +Coast. <i>Le Transvaal français</i> is the title already given to it +by enthusiasts. Prospecting work is being undertaken, and +hundreds of permits have been granted. A good deal of +secrecy is being observed in connection with the matter, +and a wise check appears to have been kept upon the flotation +of bogus companies. There seems to be good ground +for believing that auriferous deposits exist in considerable +quantities, and recent explorations have revealed the existence +of many old native workings, and even of a mine actually +being exploited by the natives, that of Kokombo in the Baoule +district. Experts think that the Ivory Coast will prove +particularly rich in dredging propositions. The Baoule,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271"></a>[271]</span> +Indenie, Attie and Jaman countries are reported to be the +four districts in the Colony which will repay the gold-seekers. +Commandant Binger, who has travelled all over +the country, is a great believer in its gold-bearing capacity, +and in Dr. Freeman’s opinion, South-West Jaman is the gold +country <i>par excellence</i> of the entire region; richer than +Ashanti and other portions of the British Protectorate.<a id="FNanchor_216" href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> At +the Paris Exhibition of 1900 many samples of auriferous +quartz from the Ivory Coast were exhibited, from Kuadikofi, +Nangu-Kru, Alepe and Adokoi, and also some specimens of +native gold workmanship from Baoule and Jaman which +point to a high degree of artistic talent on the part of the +workmen. Gold dust has been exported from the Ivory +Coast for many years, of an average annual value between +1890 and 1897 of £25,000. At present the trade of the +Ivory Coast, which is steadily increasing, is chiefly remarkable +for its timber export. The ports of Grand Bassam, +Lahou and Assinie are among the most important timber-shipping +centres on the coast. In 1892 the Ivory Coast +exported mahogany to the value of £23,000; in 1900, to the +value of £44,000. Nearly all the mahogany comes to Liverpool, +which imported in 1899 from the Ivory Coast 4714 +logs measuring 2,727,349 cubic feet, and in 1900, 5748 logs +measuring 3,697,416 cubic feet. In the old days the Ivory +Coast, the “Elfenbein Küste” of the Germans, was celebrated +for the article its name implies.</p> + +<p>Writing in 1730, Barbot says that “the inland country +affords yearly a vast quantity of fine large elephants’ teeth, +being the best ivory in the world, most of which is constantly +bought up along this coast by the English, Dutch, and +French, and sometimes by the Danes and Portuguese.” In +quaint language, he goes on to tell us how important the +ivory trade of the Ivory Coast was in those days, and how<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272"></a>[272]</span> +the natives profited thereby. “This great concourse of +European ships,” he writes, “coming hither every year, and +sometimes three or four lying together at anchor in the road, +has encouraged the blacks to set so dear a rate on their +teeth (<i>sic</i>), and particularly on the larger sort, some of them +weighing two hundred pounds French, that there is not +much to be got by them, considering the vast charges that +commonly attend such a remote trade.” Barbot describes +his own trading operations on the Ivory Coast, and speaks +of having “six large canoes about the ship full of fine +elephants’ teeth, each canoe manned by five or six hands +at least—and all lusty, resolute men.” Quoting some +Hollanders, the same author writes that “it is scarce to be +conceived what a multitude of elephants there is about this +country.” It is quite clear that in those days ivory was +practically the only product exchanged by the natives +against the iron bars and rings, beads, kettles, cotton, brandy, +and other articles brought by European traders in their sailing +vessels. Now the ivory trade has practically disappeared, +owing, no doubt, to the extermination of the elephants in the +coastal regions. What small quantity does come down for +shipment appears to be brought by caravans from the +Western Sudan. This disappearance of a trade which was +flourishing enough at one time to become the synonym of +an extensive portion of the West African coast-line, is one +of those curious facts of which West Africa affords us so +many examples. It seems to me that we have one of the +most striking proofs of the highly developed commercial +instinct of the West African native, in the circumstance that +no sooner has one branch of trade fallen off than he replaces +it by another. No doubt the initiative is not his own, +but the motive power is, and the very adaptability which he +displays in meeting the new demands of commerce affords +the clearest indication of the progressiveness of his race. +Thus in the Ivory Coast; the ivory trade has gone, and has +been replaced by the oil, kernel, and rubber trade; and, of +quite recent years, by the mahogany trade.</p> + +<p>So far, the Ivory Coast is the most backward of the French<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273"></a>[273]</span> +West African possessions in the shape of public works, +although there is a wharf at Grand Bassam; but a very big +scheme is in contemplation including the construction of a +harbour and railway, the piercing of the sandbank at little +Bassam opposite to the well-known “bottomless pit” so +dreaded by mariners, and the dredging of the Bingerville +lagoon. The future of the Ivory Coast would appear to be +in good hands, so far as a very efficient staff of administrators +is a guarantee; +M. Clozel and +M. Maurice Delafosse +in particular +having distinguished +themselves +of late in +studying the aboriginal +tribes, and +in laying the basis +of an intelligent +native policy +which, if pursued, +will make of that +possession a +second French +Guinea. Just now, +however, the military +element appears +to have the +upper hand, and +there has been a regrettable collision between the French +authorities and the powerful Baoules, which has undone the +work of years of pacific endeavour, and which might, in the +opinion of those Frenchmen who know the country best, +have been avoided. Archæological discoveries of profound +interest have been made in the Baoule country, pointing to +former intercourse with a more advanced people, whom +M. Delafosse thinks must have been the Egyptians.<a id="FNanchor_217" href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp56" id="map3" style="max-width: 28.125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/map3.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>MAP SHOWING THE LOCALITY AND NATURE OF HARBOUR +IMPROVEMENT SCHEME IN THE IVORY COAST</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274"></a>[274]</span></p> + +<p>French Guinea can serve as a model of what a common-sense, +commercial, sympathetic administration is able to +achieve in West Africa; and the late Dr. Ballay, its founder +and for more than a decade its governor, will rank as the +best type of Colonial Administrator, a worthy emulator of +his countryman, le Sieur de Brüe, and of our own Sir John +Glover. The strides which French Guinea has made since +its birth in 1889 are really phenomenal. In 1890, Konakry, +the capital, was non-existent. To-day it numbers 10,000 inhabitants, +of whom some 300 are Europeans. The trade of +French Guinea, which in 1890 only amounted to £300,000, +reached in 1899 and 1900 about £1,000,000. It is one +of the most cheaply and yet most effectively administered +possessions on the coast. Its revenue is buoyant, owing +largely to the successful collection of a poll-tax, and +although a railway to Kurussa, on the Niger, is in +course of construction, the expenditure is well beneath +the revenue. A magnificent carriage-road 137 kilometres +in length has been built from Konakry to the +foot of the Futa-Jallon plateau. Its import duties are, with +the exception of one or two articles, lower than in that of +its moribund neighbour, Sierra Leone. On the other hand, +there is an export duty of 7 per cent. on rubber and gum +copal. Its condition as compared with that of Sierra Leone +can best be set forth in tabular form:</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th colspan="2"><span class="smcap">French Guinea in 1900</span></th> + <th colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Sierra Leone in 1900</span></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Total trade</td> + <td class="tdr">£962,209</td> + <td>Total trade</td> + <td class="tdr">£921,017</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Export trade</td> + <td class="tdr">391,191</td> + <td>Export trade</td> + <td class="tdr">362,741</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Expenditure</td> + <td class="tdr">116,699</td> + <td>Expenditure</td> + <td class="tdr">156,421</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Expenditure analysed</span></th> + <th colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Expenditure analysed</span></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Public works and railway</td> + <td class="tdr">£57,478</td> + <td>Public works and railway</td> + <td class="tdr">£36,084</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Other expenditure</td> + <td class="tdr">59,221</td> + <td>Other expenditure</td> + <td class="tdr">120,337</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>It remains to be said that last year (1901) the export trade<a id="FNanchor_218" href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275"></a>[275]</span> +of Sierra Leone fell from £362,741 in 1900 to £304,010, +reckoning specie, and from £317,980 to £265,433, excluding +specie, the latter figure being the lowest for twenty-one +years. At the same time the expenditure increased from +£156,421 to £173,457, only £91,976 less than the purchasing +power of the Colony.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276"></a>[276]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII<br> +<span class="smaller">FRENCH AND BRITISH MANAGEMENT IN WEST AFRICA</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>Apart from the belief, which has been dealt with in the +previous chapter, that France cannot manage her West +African possessions successfully, another idea appears to be +widely entertained. It is said that French methods of rule +in West Africa are excessively harsh. I cannot find any +evidence to support this view. The records of all the +Powers who have possessions in West Africa are tarnished +by acts of oppression and injustice to the native, but I have +seen no proof that in this respect France compares unfavourably +with either England, Germany, or Portugal. On the +whole, France’s record is perhaps cleaner than that of +most other Powers. North of the Bights, the portion of +West Africa which has engaged our attention hitherto, I +should say the balance of evidence is decidedly to France’s +credit. That is the opinion of Sir Charles Dilke; it was the +opinion of the late Miss Kingsley, and one or two other +competent authorities. Speaking in September of last year +at a meeting of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, an +African of the Africans, and a distinguished scholar, +Dr. Blyden, who has had exceptional facilities for judging, +and who, withal, holds an official position under the Sierra +Leone Government, made a striking reference to the +subject.</p> + +<p>“France,” said Dr. Blyden, “has a peculiar work to do +for Africa—a work much needed and suited to the genius +of the Celtic race.... The contribution of the French to +the civilisation of Africa evidently springs not only from +what they have in common with all mankind, but from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_277"></a>[277]</span> +what is special to themselves. France is France. England +is England. France can do for Africa what England cannot +do, and England can do for Africa what France cannot +do. This all thinking Africans recognise, and all gladly +co-operate with each nation according to the measure in +which their systems agree with native ideas and customs +and traditions. And there seems to be more of conformity +in the French methods than in the more rigid and unimaginative +system of the Anglo-Saxon. Whatever there is +among the natives of original, racy, or romantic interest is +not perishing under French administration.”</p> + +<p>That is a true saying, and it goes far towards explaining +the political success of the French in West Africa.</p> + +<p>It is surely a circumstance which should impress us that +the French have been able to successfully apply direct +taxation in their possessions without bloodshed or disturbance, +while in Sierra Leone we have failed so disastrously. +As direct taxation in West Africa is a problem fraught with +great danger, one needing the utmost care and discrimination, +it seems worth while to give more than passing notice +to what has already been done by the French and ourselves +in the matter. A poll-tax was applied in French Guinea +in 1897. In 1900 it yielded £90,000, and I am informed +on good authority that the returns for 1901 will reach +£140,000, and will still further increase, as the taxable radius +has not yet been reached. It has been peacefully collected. +Was this the result of overwhelming military strength? Not +at all, for although French Guinea is now about three times +the size of Sierra Leone, the military, or rather the police, +force of the French Protectorate is just a little over half +what it is in Sierra Leone. The “show of force” theory +has, therefore, been conspicuous by its absence. It has +been replaced by a plentiful supply of imagination, plus +the appreciation of certain scientific facts. What, in the +first place, are the scientific facts? The tax in French Guinea +is a poll-tax, the tax in Sierra Leone is a property-tax. In +the one case there was no interference with native land +tenure; in the other there was indirect interference with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_278"></a>[278]</span> +native land tenure. Mr. Chamberlain<a id="FNanchor_219" href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> himself was “disposed +to think that the natives saw in the tax an attempt to +interfere with their property.” Yet Mr. Chamberlain has +maintained the tax. Farther on Mr. Chamberlain says, +“that the aversion of the natives to the payment of the tax +is not insuperable may be inferred from the fact that a +similar tax is levied without difficulty from similar races by +the French in the neighbouring territory.” There Mr. +Chamberlain showed that he was not properly informed. +The tax was not a “similar” tax, and the “races” in +French territory are not “similar” but dissimilar. What +ethnic similarity is there, for instance, between the Fulani, +the ruling race in a large portion of French Guinea, and +the Mendi, Timini, Konnos and Sulimas of Sierra Leone? +Such confusion is extraordinary. The peoples of French +Guinea are either Mohammedan, or for the most part +inured to direct taxation for many centuries past by +Mohammedan conquest.<a id="FNanchor_220" href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> The peoples of Sierra Leone were +independent races, who have beaten back every attempt at +Mohammedan conquest, and among whom a regularly +recurring impost is unknown, and contrary to all native +ideas. An almost identical argument has been made use of +in regard to the Gambia. We collect a hut-tax in the +Gambia; why not in Sierra Leone? For the same reason +that what may be sound in one place is not sound in +another. You cannot lump West Africa together and +evolve identical legislation for the whole! The passion for +assimilation is fatal to good government in West Africa. +The peoples of the Gambia are, again, either Mohammedan +or have undergone conquest by Mohammedans. The case +of the Gambia, moreover, is in another sense quite different +from Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is covered with dense +forests. Gambia is a small strip of territory on either bank +of a river. The villages along its shores can be raked by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_279"></a>[279]</span> +gun-boats. Every part is easily accessible, and on the other +side of the border the French are in occupation. What +chance is there of resisting Government demands, even +though the tax were bitterly opposed, which is not the case +for the reasons already given; although the Gambia natives +are probably no more in love with it than we are with our +income-tax? Direct taxation is ever unpopular; among +primitive peoples particularly so. Finally, the natives of +French Guinea are much richer than those of Sierra Leone. +So much for the scientific facts. Is it not about time that +the Colonial Office took over the services of a trained +ethnologist, or created independent native councils in West +Africa in touch with the Administration?</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="illus33" style="max-width: 28.125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus33.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>SUSU CHIEF AND STAFF</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Dahomey and Ashanti also offer a parallel in another way. +In Dahomey the poll-tax was applied for the first time since +the Conquest (1892) in 1899. It yielded £8200 in 1899 +and £22,290 in 1900. There has been no trouble, and as +in French Guinea, the tax has not prevented a steady increase +in the export trade, notwithstanding the thousands of able-bodied +men employed on the railway. In both Dahomey +and Ashanti the people taxed are Negroes, and were formerly +subject to an unusual state-form in West Africa, viz. a +despotism. They have been conquered, and conquest implies +a tacit right to levy an impost. But conquest involves +great hardships on the conquered in West Africa. Villages +and granaries are destroyed, crops burnt, acres of land laid +waste; many of those who would be sowing and reaping +and gathering produce have been killed, and general distress +ensues. That is the time for the conqueror with his higher +culture, and the lofty ideals of the religion he professes, to +take the conquered by the hand and try to renovate what +he has shattered, but on better lines; to act, since he chooses +to call the Negro a child, as a parent, who, after administering +castigation, makes friends once more with the offender. +Put differently, every assistance should be given, and due +latitude allowed to a tribe which has been so unfortunate +as to incur the wrath of the superior people, whose reforming +zeal is nothing if not drastic. The French gave the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_280"></a>[280]</span> +Dahomeyans seven years’ breathing space before they +taxed them.<a id="FNanchor_221" href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus34" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus34.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>ASHANTI FIELD FORCE AT CAPE COAST <i>EN ROUTE</i> FOR KUMASI</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>What has been our action in Ashanti? No sooner has +a desolating war been ended, a war attended by certain incidents +which do not reflect credit upon us as a nation; a war +which was caused by a series of official blunders of the +grossest kind, than we clap on direct taxation, and in +such a form that a premium is put upon future troubles. In +fact, shortly after this taxation was announced to the beaten +chiefs, yet another rising was only averted by the prompt +despatch of more troops to Kumasi.<a id="FNanchor_222" href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> Could anything less +imaginative—to put it mildly—be devised than this application +of a war indemnity nearly thirty years old, previous +non-payment of which was made the excuse for the arrest +and deportation of Prempreh and the annexation of the +country; and when the revival of the claim by the authorities +in 1900 is admitted to have been one of the contributory +causes of the last rising? As Sir William Geary pointed +out in 1900:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“To take a metaphor from private property, one cannot foreclose a +mortgage, receive the rents and profits of the land, and then beyond +that ask for interest on the debt when one has helped oneself to payment. +We annexed Ashanti in 1896, and not only have we obtained +formal sovereignty, but the matter has turned out a good bargain for +us. We are carrying away the natural gold of the country for the +benefit of European shareholders. Now we want to tax the natives.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>Is policy of this kind calculated to bring prosperity to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_281"></a>[281]</span> +British West Africa? In 1864 the <i>Times</i> expressed itself as +follows with regard to the ruler of Ashanti:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“Instead of harbouring culprits against his crown, instead of disregarding +the treaties between himself and us, instead of trying to sap +the foundations of his throne, we should strive to cultivate acquaintance +with him by the tranquil arts of trade. At the back of his vast +dominions, receding to the foot of the Kong mountains, reside natives +who owe and yield him obedience. What benefits might be showered +on the Protectorate if we would set our heads together to foster and +consolidate an intercourse based on amity and on the extension of +legitimate traffic!”</p> + +</div> + +<p>Wise words, excellent precepts. Why does not the <i>Times</i> +preach them now for application in other parts of West +Africa, where the Crown Colony system has not yet quite +succeeded in undoing the work of generations of peaceful, +commercial efforts? If there be still life left in this miserable +residue of the once powerful Ashanti nation, no doubt +but that more trouble arising out of the tax will ensue. It +does not seem as though the contingency were looked upon +as altogether remote even in official eyes, and there are some +significant passages in the last Blue Book on the subject. +Happily at present we have an excellent resident at Kumasi +in the person of Captain Donald Stewart, a man of broad +sympathies, and it may be that his personal influence will +prevail against the slumbering discontent which the policy +of his chiefs renders inevitable in the country, whether it +be given open expression to or not.<a id="FNanchor_223" href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus35" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus35.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>RETURN OF ASHANTI FIELD FORCE</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>There is a passage in the evidence of one of the European +witnesses before Sir David Chalmers, in the course of the +inquiry into the hut-tax war, which explains better than anything +else perhaps the difference between the procedure of +the French in Guinea and that of the British authorities in +Sierra Leone. “They are not so particular there. The great +man Alimami Dowla is supposed to collect the tax, and he +brings the money to the Governor and says, ‘This is what I +have been able to collect,’ and the Government say, ‘Thank +you.’” That is precisely what the French have done all through. +They have gone to the chiefs as “big friend”; explained to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_282"></a>[282]</span> +them that they required money for the railway, roads, and +so on; pointed out the advantages; asked them to contribute; +presented them with an extremely handsome commission of +one-third of the moneys collected (in other words, subsidised +them) in their respective districts, and “winked the other +eye,” so to speak, when the moneys presented have not +equalled the amount due. At the same time the prestige of +the chiefs has been everywhere upheld; the native courts +preserved; vexatious European legal formulas kept out of +the country; European merchants encouraged to come in, +and regularly consulted in the work of administration; the +numbers of officials restricted; economy practised in every +branch of the service, and military methods tabooed. +Result, a magnificent success politically, commercially, +financially. Compare this with what has taken place in +Sierra Leone. We are taking away the power of the chiefs +instead of strengthening it.<a id="FNanchor_224" href="#Footnote_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> The hut-tax was originally +enforced in a hasty, not to say brutal manner. Instant payment +was demanded. Chiefs were dragged from their +villages, treated as felons, handcuffed and marched off to +gaol under the eyes of their unresisting people. The +Frontier Police, an ill-disciplined force<a id="FNanchor_225" href="#Footnote_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> recruited from the +dregs of the Protectorate, committed all sorts of abuses, and, +to use the words of the Royal Commissioner, “oppressive +severity” was exercised, and this most delicate business was +approached in a general spirit of “imperious and uncompromising +force.” A rising very naturally ensued which +convulsed the whole Protectorate. Sir David Chalmers’ +subsequent report, which condemned the hut-tax and +recommended its withdrawal, was not acted upon; the hut-tax +has been maintained, and an expensive civil, military +and magisterial <i>régime</i> set up, unsuited to the country and +beyond its power to maintain. Result, the expenditure has<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_283"></a>[283]</span> +risen to about 60 per cent. of the producing power of the +Colony, which is steadily decreasing; and the up-keep of +the machinery to collect the tax costs more than the tax +produces. The Colonial Office, which exhausted itself in +ingenious explanations to disconnect the rising with the +hut-tax, has recently issued an optimistic statement—on top +of many others of a similar kind—containing the report of +the new Governor’s tour in the hinterland.<a id="FNanchor_226" href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> It seems that +everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. +The natives are delighted with everything, the hut-tax +included. The fall in the exports (the true test of prosperity +of a West African colony), which have been on the +downward grade since the hut-tax was introduced, and +were lower last year than they have been for twenty years +(the year of the rebellion excepted), is accounted for by +“want of activity on the part of native producers,” and to +the action of the French. With regard to the latter, the +French have for many years levied a tax upon native +caravans crossing the frontier, and the rapid development +and the judicious management of French Guinea have killed +the transit trade which used to pass <i>viâ</i> Freetown, and is +now concentrated at Konakry. Yet, in view of French competition, +the authorities deem it politic to keep up the tax +and all the incidental expenses it involves. The caravan +traffic with the far interior was doomed when the French +secured the back country; and the revival of the complaint +about taxing caravans strikes one as a little insincere for +several reasons, and among them because, although it is +natural that the natives of our Protectorate adjoining the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_284"></a>[284]</span> +French possession should be sorry to lose the profits they +derived from the passage of caravans through their districts, +and complain accordingly, no evidence has been adduced +to show that the natives from the remoter hinterlands +beyond the frontier, which, be it remembered, belong to +France, are desirous of travelling all the way to Freetown to +dispose of their products, when there are French factories +quite as near where as good prices can be obtained for +produce. It is curious, too, to contrast these explanations +with other official assurances given out both in 1899 and +1900, that the country would soon recover from the hut-tax +war and the export trade regain its normal dimensions. +French competition is no new thing. To conclude, the +export trade of Sierra Leone twenty years ago is given at +£366,000 for an expenditure of £72,000: last year the +expenditure was £173,457 including the railway expenses, +and £154,210 minus the railway expenses. The expenditure +has, therefore, excluding the railway expenses, increased +by over 100 per cent. in the face of a decline in the producing +power of the country. That is the road to financial +ruin, and those concerned know it well enough; but until +the British public makes up its mind to seriously tackle +these West African questions, the few who say so will, no +doubt, continue to be looked upon as pessimists, “sentimental +theorists,” or fools, until the inevitable day of reckoning +comes.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_285"></a>[285]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PART_V">PART V</h2> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII<br> +<span class="smaller">THE CONCESSIONS <i>RÉGIME</i> IN FRENCH CONGO</span></h3> + +<p>“What is important in colonial matters is that the Governments, in their +difficult and uncertain, but systematic, march, should have increasingly +before them the ideal which they proposed to themselves, and which they +never lose sight of in the darkest nights, the star which shines in the heavens, +and of which the beams are justice and humanity.”—<span class="smcap">M. Décrais</span>, Colonial +Minister in the Waldeck-Rousseau Cabinet.</p> + +<p>“We even think that on account of the difficulty, of the impossibility, in +which the natives find themselves of making known their feelings and expressing +their grievances, the interests of those natives should be the object of +special kindness and solicitude....</p> + +<p>“Can we allow these natives to be subjected to the unbridled exploitation, +to the economical servitude with which they are threatened? The exclusive +right which the Concessionnaires will arrogate to themselves of buying from +the natives living upon their concessions at such prices as they, the Concessionnaires, +choose to impose, the natural products of the soil, or the harvest +which their labour has produced, is but a disguised form of slavery.... In +conclusion, we can but say that this Concession <i>régime</i> is antagonistic to the +well-being, to the material and moral progress of our natives, and to the +responsibilities we have assumed in submitting them to our domination.”—“Memorial” +of the “French West African Company”<a id="FNanchor_227" href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> to M. Décrais.</p> + +</div> + +<p>By one of those extraordinary contradictions of which +French history affords so many curious examples, liberty-loving +France, with her splendid record in West Africa, +having proved her capacity to successfully manage possessions +in West Africa; numbering among her officials and +merchants connected with West Africa men of the highest +moral calibre, imbued with humanitarian instincts and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_286"></a>[286]</span> +earnest advocates of a sound native policy; has within the +last few years sanctioned the institution of a <i>régime</i> of +territorial monopolies in the French Congo which has +already led to deplorable occurrences, and cannot fail to +cause still greater evils if permitted to continue. To explain +all the phases of this grave departure from French traditions +in West Africa would require a great deal more space than +is here available. One can only give its origin, indicate its +main lines and the events which have hitherto taken place in +connection with it, and briefly discuss how it affects the +general relationship of Western Europe with Western +Africa and the interests of British subjects in the maritime +zone of the French Congo.</p> + +<p>Some three years and a half ago the huge profits earned +by certain rubber companies, so-called, in the Congo State; +the enormous premiums at which their shares stood on the +Antwerp Stock Exchange; the wild speculations which anything +to do with Congo rubber gave rise to in Belgium; the +colossal increase in the yearly output of rubber from the +Congo State, which from a value of 260,000 francs in 1888 +had risen to 15,850,000 francs in 1898,<a id="FNanchor_228" href="#Footnote_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> provoked in France—or, +at any rate, among some influential Frenchmen, notably +in Government circles—a desire that similar results should +accrue in the French Congo. “Here,” ran the argument, +“we have an immense territory as rich in forest products, +notably rubber, as the Congo State, which is doing very +little, which for years has been a drag upon the metropolis; +while the Belgians—these new-comers in Africa, these tyros +at tropical colonisation—are making fortunes every day. +Why cannot we imitate them?” The feeling was thoroughly +natural. Those who entertained it, however, forgot four things—three +of which may at this stage be referred to—or, if they +did not forget them, they at all events brushed them aside +in the enthusiasm of the moment. They forgot the causes +which had led to the comparative stagnation of French +Congo on the one hand and the causes which were moulding +a state of prosperity in the remaining French Colonies<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_287"></a>[287]</span> +on the other. They forgot the political ambitions of the +astutest diplomatist in Europe—the Sovereign of the Congo +State. They forgot <i>how</i> the inflated premiums, colossal +profits, and the exaggerated production had been and were +being brought about. If the latter point did present itself +to the minds of a minority, it was assumed that, under a +French administration, abuses such as those known to exist +in the Congo State were impossible, and that results in +every sense equal to those obtained in the Congo State +could be secured in French Congo without them. Swayed +by these considerations, the French Government and French +Colonial public, with the exception of a handful of far-seeing +and experienced men, sought to carry out the new +programme without delay.</p> + +<p>King Leopold foresaw at once the danger and the opportunity; +the danger if a sudden influx of French capital into +French Congo should lead to the construction of a railway +from the French coast-line to Brazzaville on the Upper +Congo, to threaten the monopoly of traffic with the interior +enjoyed by the Matadi-Stanley Pool railway; the necessity +of averting it by placing the financial control of the French +concessions in Belgian hands, whereby the construction of +such a line could be delayed <i>ad infinitum</i>; and the double +advantage of (1) fostering the movement in France, on +account of the increased railway freight the development of +the movement would bring for the existing Belgian line, to +say nothing of the increased customs duties on goods and +material for the French Upper Congo (whose only practical +route was, of course, <i>viâ</i> Congo State territory), which would +accrue to the Congo State for the same reason; and (2) of +securing for the small but influential Belgian group of +which he is the supremely able leader a preponderating +position in the possessions adjoining his own.<a id="FNanchor_229" href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> Gathering<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_288"></a>[288]</span> +his financiers and co-partners in that vast Trust—which is +called the Independent State of the Congo—King Leopold +flung himself into the breach, and with such good effect +that French Congo was in an incredibly short space of time +partitioned on paper into some forty odd concessions of all +shapes and dimensions, with nominal French heads, but +with Belgians on the board of administration, a majority of +Belgian shareholders behind, with Belgian capital either +openly or in disguised form the controlling factor, with strings +pulled in Belgium, ideas borrowed from Belgium, Belgian +methods of tropical African development and Belgian +methods of rigging the home markets writ large all over +them.<a id="FNanchor_230" href="#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> With what consummate skill the Sovereign of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_289"></a>[289]</span> +Congo State weaved his nets, flung them forth and landed +his fish, only those who have had a glimpse of what has +gone on behind the scenes can describe. It would make a +curious story, and not an altogether savoury one, and +perhaps some day it will be fully told.<a id="FNanchor_231" href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> The clever +manipulating tactics of the king were only equalled by the +infatuation, the heedlessness, the utter want of reflection +which characterised the action of the French Government +of the day and the noisiest section of the French Colonial +party. A policy involving the most far-reaching consequences +was suddenly adopted with, as a French writer +of distinction has said, “une insouciance, une désinvolture +presque criminelles.” Seemingly hypnotised, France +plunged headlong into an abyss whence she is vainly +seeking to emerge, and in which she has already soiled her +hands, and as De Brazza rather nobly puts it, “compromised +her dignity.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the French Congo Concessions are in being, +and what has been the outcome up to the present after +more than two years of the experiment? The promoters +have done excellently well. Floating their concessions at +absurd premiums on the Antwerp market, and coming on +the crest of the rubber wave, they were able—not in all +cases perhaps, but generally—to dispose of their holdings +at substantial profits. The shareholders who imitated their +example showed prescience, for, with the exception of two +companies, there has not been one single transaction this +year in the shares of forty-three of these companies which +are still quoted in the Antwerp financial and Congo organs! +Their paper, in fact, is unsaleable. Several of the companies +have fizzled out. Those who have not been allowed to prey +on the legitimate barter trade existing in the Maritime Zone<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_290"></a>[290]</span> +are in more or less of a moribund condition, and after +squandering their shareholders’ money have accomplished +absolutely nothing. But what of the effect upon the +country? Free trade in the Maritime Zone has disappeared, +and with it the revenue it supplied to the Administration. +The export trade has actually decreased. The finances +are so gravely compromised that a loan of 10,000,000 francs +is spoken of, and at one period last year there was not even +available in the local treasury sufficient cash to pay the +salaries of officials. All public works and improvements of +any kind are, of course, suspended. The local Courts are +kept busy with endless litigation between Concessionnaire +Companies who accuse one another of poaching upon their +respective preserves, the boundaries of none of which have, +by the way, ever been delimited. There have been two +native risings attended with considerable loss of life and +destruction of property, and chaos reigns supreme. The +Paris Colonial organs are filled with suggestions, exhortations, +threats, revilings, but with the solitary exception of +one Deputy<a id="FNanchor_232" href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a>—M. le Comte d’Agoult—and a handful of +courageous journalists, such as M. Jean Hess, the African +explorer, and M. Serge Basset, of <i>La Revue</i>, no one of note +in French Colonial circles has boldly tackled the subject, +gone to the root of it, or preached the only possible solution. +The fact that the affair has raised an international problem—or +rather two—of great delicacy, may have something +to do with the unwillingness to come to close quarters displayed +by the leading organs of the French Press. But it +is lamentable, in every sense of the word, that France with +all her generous instincts should be able on this occasion to +record but very few protesting voices against the fatal reversal +of the wise and just native policy she has hitherto +pursued in the main, and with such conspicuous success, in +her other West African possessions.</p> + +<p>For it is in the relation it bears towards the natives that +the concession <i>régime</i> in French Congo offers the strongest +ground for criticism. The saying that “evil communications<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_291"></a>[291]</span> +corrupt good manners” was never more applicable +than in this case. Once started on the road mapped out +three years ago, subsequent events became inevitable. It +would have needed a man of iron—and the warmest friends +of the ex-French Colonial Minister, who was not the initiator, +but the successor to a heritage of trouble, would not credit +him with such proclivities—to have stemmed the tide +and refused, even at the risk of resigning, to allow his +country to be dragged along the path of reaction towards +which the concession <i>régime</i> infallibly tended. Step by +step the French Government has found itself impelled to +gravitate nearer to the Belgian conception. The Concessionnaires +found English and German merchants trading +peacefully with the natives on what they claimed, according +to their contracts with the French Government, to be their +own property. Disputes arose, seizures of produce took +place, and it became increasingly urgent to define the +“rights” of the concessionnaires. M. Décrais hung back +a long time, but goaded by nearly all the Colonial and some +of the daily newspapers, with constant pressure brought to +bear upon him from influential quarters, he was fain at last +to take the leap. He took it, and through the Governor of +French Congo issued a decree (March 20, 1901) as to which +one can only say that, if a few years ago it had been predicted +that a French Minister could have framed such a +document, the prophecy would have earned the contemptuous +unbelief of all Frenchmen, or foreigners acquainted +with the part played by France in Western Africa.</p> + +<p>The decree declared that one idea dominated<a id="FNanchor_233" href="#Footnote_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> the entire<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_292"></a>[292]</span> +concession policy, viz. that the products of the soil +belonged to the concessionnaires, who alone had a right to +dispose of them, the natives not being entitled to sell them +to any one but the concessionnaires. To tone down the +arbitrary nature of this promulgation, mention was made of +native reserves, where the natives would be free to do what +they liked. But this apparent modification of the absolutism +of the decree is entirely illusory for three reasons: +(1) the area of the reserves was not delimited, and in view +of the enormous difficulty and expense delimitation would +involve, could not hope to be for many years to come; +(2) a decision of the local courts had ordained that, pending +delimitation of the reserves, the reserves were legally non-existent, +and that the whole country was therefore exploitable +by the concessionnaires; (3) an antecedent ministerial +decree had announced that, when the reserves were delimited, +the areas reserved should not include any land producing +saleable products.<a id="FNanchor_234" href="#Footnote_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> Whatever may have been the +difficulties with which the French Colonial Minister was beset, +the issue of the above decree cannot in equity be defended. +It virtually handed over the population of French Congo to +the mercy of European speculators, of Belgians grown fat +on the misery and the degradation of the natives in the +Congo State. It left the door open to the grossest abuses, +the most cynical outrages against humanity. It let loose +the tongues and pens of all the apostles of force and coercion +for Africa. It reduced the natives to the level of +servants and serfs of the greedy clique which had fastened +its talons in the country, and it strengthened the position of +the Congo State in Europe.</p> + +<p>Secure in the official recognition of their “rights,” the +concessionnaire companies’ next move was precisely what<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_293"></a>[293]</span> +might have been expected in view of the class of men controlling +them. Legitimate commerce having no place in +their calculations, they at once started a “campaign” for +the purpose of forcing the French Government to coerce +the natives into bringing rubber and other forest produce to +their factories, on such terms as they, the concessionnaires, +chose to pay for the labour expended by the natives in +collecting it. While their subsidised organs daily devoted +reams to prove that compulsion was essential in dealing +with primitive peoples, their agents in Africa hastened, as +far as possible, to put these principles into practice. Arms +of precision were smuggled into the country, and soon the +concessionnaires were attempting on a smaller scale to copy +the exploits of their countrymen on the other side of the +Congo River. <i>Facilis descensus Averni.</i> The agitation was +partly met by the application of a hut-tax paid in kind, the +produce to be handed in by the natives to the Government +authorities, who would dispose of it to the concessionnaires +at a nominal price; thus giving an appearance of legality +to the transaction, and disguising coercion in the garb +of administrative requirements. The Government having +accomplished nothing whatever in the way of bettering the +country, improving communication, or constructing public +works from which the natives might be expected to derive +some benefit, the hut-tax was naturally resented; its application +in French Congo being, moreover, scientifically unsound, +and only feasible of accomplishment by a long course +of preparation. Grafted upon the action of the concessionnaires, +the measure was followed by outbreaks in various +directions, especially among the warlike Fans of the Ogowe +and the Upper Sangha people.</p> + +<p>This new step on the part of the French Government +stirred up for a time the opponents of the concessionnaire +<i>régime</i> in France. De Brazza sent a memorable protest to +the <i>Temps</i>. Its concluding passage is well worth quoting:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“France has assumed a duty towards the native tribes (of French +Congo) who for twenty-seven years have lent their assistance in the +work of expansion. These people have received from us the seal of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_294"></a>[294]</span> +their future liberties.... We must not sacrifice them to the vain hope +of immediate results by thoughtless measures of coercion opposed to +the generous ideas which our flag personifies. We should be committing +a great mistake to discount that result, by enforcing at the +present time taxes upon the products of the soil, or by compelling the +natives to work in the form of forced labour or military service. It +would constitute a great blow to our dignity if such labour and such +taxes were converted into a sort of draft-to-order in favour of the concessionnaires.... +It is to recall these considerations to men’s minds, +and to avoid the moral bankruptcy to which economic and financial +disasters may lead us, that I have emerged from the reserve I had +imposed upon myself.”<a id="FNanchor_235" href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a></p> + +</div> + +<p>Just then, too, one of the very few genuine French +concerns among the concessionnaire companies, managed +by a Frenchman distinguished for his explorations in +the country, M. Fondère, wrote publicly to the Colonial +Minister, abandoning his concession:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“Experience has convinced us,” he wrote, “that, notwithstanding +any modifications of detail which your department might suggest, +either in the administrative organisation of the Congo Colony or in +the agreement between the Government and the Concessionnaires, the +exclusive monopoly of the concessions is a vain epithet. The right to +sell his products to whomsoever he may please cannot be denied to the +native, because he has always possessed it. Moreover, all stipulations +to the contrary notwithstanding, it would be quite illusory to think of +taking this right away from the native. That could only be done by +force of arms.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>Shortly afterwards, M. Albert Cousin, also a well-known +man in French Colonial circles, who had previously been a +warm defender of the concessions <i>régime</i>, published a +pamphlet to the effect that he had changed his mind, and +was now convinced the experiment was a mistaken one.<a id="FNanchor_236" href="#Footnote_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a></p> + +<p>These repeated blows staggered for a moment the +defenders of the Belgian conception in France. The newspaper +which had the most largely contributed to influence +French Colonial opinion even went so far as to admit that it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_295"></a>[295]</span> +could not but be “very much impressed by the new ideas +which are coming to light.” The ideas are not new. They +are as old as the hills. They date back from the time when +man, evolving from the brute, became a law-maker, and +decided that certain fixed principles of morality should form +the basis of social order.</p> + +<p>That temporary hesitation offered a great opportunity for +French statesmanship, but no one came forward to enforce +the lesson. And so the powerful influences which had been +at work from the first set themselves to destroy the “impression” +created. They partially succeeded, but they could +not destroy it altogether, and I rather fancy it is becoming +more pronounced and will eventually carry the day. One +factor, at any rate, is likely to assist its growth not a little—the +extravagant demands of the concessionnaires and the +violent attacks on the French Government on the part of +the Belgian organs devoted to the interests of their compatriots +in French Congo. The institution of the hut-tax +was merely a sop. It staved off the clamour for a time, but +in the nature of things could not last for long. To feed the +army of concessionnaires with the proceeds of a hut-tax an +army of native levies is required. That is what the concessionnaires +claim must be organised, and once more the same +strings are being pulled, the same arguments put forward, +the same machinery set in motion. The French Government +must do what the Congo State has done. It must +raise 15,000 or 20,000 men, arm them with weapons of +precision and turn them loose upon the population in order +to enforce a tribute on the yield of which the concessionnaires +shall not only live but run their shares up to high premiums, +present respectable dividends to their Belgian holders, and +generally make money at the expense of the natives of the +French Congo, using the French Government as a sort of +decoy-duck the while. I doubt if it will work. I fancy +King Leopold and his friends are going rather too far. But +one thing at least is certain. Either the concessionnaires, +who know nothing of trade and are not concerned with +mere matter-of-fact commercial considerations, who have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_296"></a>[296]</span> +never looked upon commerce as an element in their “business,” +will themselves be compelled to throw up the sponge; +or they will compel in one shape or another the French +Government to give them physical means to establish +slavery in the French Congo, as it has been established in +the Congo State. To suppose the latter is almost an impossibility, +notwithstanding all that has happened, and it is +perhaps not displaying too great an optimism to hope that +the concession <i>régime</i> in French Congo may perish from its +own internal corruption. Meanwhile it remains to be seen +how that <i>régime</i> has affected and continues to affect British +interests, and the part it plays in the international situation +created by the proceedings of the Congo State.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_297"></a>[297]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX<br> +<span class="smaller">INTERNATIONAL INTERESTS AND MONOPOLY</span></h3> + +<p>“As to the ground on which we contend for the rights we have in the +interior of Africa, they have really been our own guiding principles throughout. +<i>It is not territory, it is freedom of trade</i>, and on that ground we are strong +and shall do our very utmost.”—Extract from a speech by <span class="smcap">Lord Salisbury</span> +to a deputation of Chambers of Commerce, 1898.</p> + +<p>Speaking at Manchester in 1884, Sir H. M. Stanley prophesied, as a +result of the creation of the Congo State, an export of British cotton goods to +the Congo State of £26,000,000 annually. According to the same speaker, +one firm on the Congo River alone imported, in 1879, British goods to the +value of £185,000. After seventeen years’ existence, the <i>total</i> imports of +British goods to the Congo State is far below that figure—viz. £133,200 in +1901!</p> + +<p>The importance of British trade interests in French West Africa may be +estimated from the fact that in 1900 the French possessions absorbed British +goods to the value of £709,900, and sent £534,727 of produce to British +ports.</p> + +</div> + +<p>In the <i>cahier de charges</i> or agreements between the French +Government and the Concessionnaire Companies the latter +were held to respect the “acquired rights of third parties,” +and the “general rights created by the Berlin Act.” +Who were the “third parties”? What were their +“acquired rights?” What were the “general rights created +by the Berlin Act”?</p> + +<p>When in the early part of the nineteenth century the +European nations put a stop to the export slave trade, Great +Britain, having led the way in securing this reform, entered +into treaties with most of the chiefs and head-men along +the West Coast, giving some of them subsidies and, by +means of consular and naval visitations, encouraging them +to give their attention to the gathering of their forest products +for sale to Europeans in exchange for the merchandise +of Europe. In this way the trade in palm-oil was +stimulated in the Niger Delta and Windward Coast; whilst<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_298"></a>[298]</span> +in Gaboon it took the shape of barwood, ebony and ivory, +and in the River Congo palm-oil and ivory. At that time +there was no European Government established on the +African coast between the Gold Coast and Ambriz. The +Europeans who settled along the coast traded from their +vessels. After the introduction of steam, the European +traders (chiefly British) traded in hulks in the Niger Delta, +and built houses and stores at various points along the +whole coast-line down to Ambriz. Small sailing vessels +plied between these trading places and the terminus of the +ocean steamers (then Fernando Po, or Cameroons), and +sailing vessels from Europe sailed regularly to and fro, +bringing their goods and taking home their cargoes of +vegetable and animal products. Soon after the establishment +of steam the French Government made a treaty with the +chiefs of the Gaboon River, by which ground was ceded for +a coaling station for the French men-of-war then plying +on the African coast to put down the foreign slave trade. +Shortly afterwards, an American citizen established in Fernan +Vaz discovered a vine, of which the sap, when exposed to +the atmosphere, was found to yield india rubber, and in +course of time this new industry was fairly started and +gradually spread over the adjoining territory. It was a slow +process, but in a few years the gathering of rubber became +general in that part of the coast, and in Gaboon the +French naval officers saw that there was a trade to be +taxed, and forthwith a Custom House was built and duties +placed on imports.</p> + +<p>When British merchants first established themselves in +Gaboon the political authority of the French Government +was confined to the Gaboon River estuary, and the up-river +trade was carried on at our merchants’ personal risk. In +order to induce the natives to collect rubber, European +traders had perforce to let the natives have goods on credit, +as those natives near the coast had to go far into the interior +to buy from other natives; who, in their turn, had to be +given credit wherewith to buy from natives still farther +inland, and induce them to seek the vines and make the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_299"></a>[299]</span> +rubber. In this way the credit system, as it exists to-day, +was created.</p> + +<p>In the pursuit of this rubber trade, fostered by British +merchants, the natives of Gaboon, crossing their country to +the South, struck the Ogowe River, which gave them easy +access to a wide field from which to collect produce. In +course of time the European traders followed the natives +across country, and meeting the river,<a id="FNanchor_237" href="#Footnote_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> lost no time in +tracing its course to the sea and at once establishing sea +communication between Gaboon and the Ogowe. Their +example was imitated by the French Government, and in +due course possession was taken by France of the Ogowe +and Fernan Vaz; but when at Berlin the Governments of +Europe settled who were to become the owners of the +Congo and the adjoining maritime territories, France had, in +point of fact, no political influence south of Fernan Vaz. +This expansion of Gaboon was initiated by British and +German enterprise, French white traders coming in after +the pioneer work was accomplished. When 2° 30´ of South +latitude was fixed as the northern boundary of the free-trade +zone, it was expected that that line would include +within it the trade of Sette Camma, the trade of which was +British and German entirely. The Chambers of Commerce +of Liverpool and Manchester set forth these facts at the +time: before the treaty was made, and when urging the principle +of free trade within the zone fixed by treaty, no idea +was in the mind either of the traders, the Chambers of +Commerce, or the representatives of the various Governments +concerned in the making of the Berlin Treaty, other +than that the freedom of trade therein referred to applied +to the only known trade in existence, viz. the collection +and sale by the natives of the vegetable and other products +of their country in exchange for European merchandise. +Any legislation, therefore, of which the effect is to alienate +the rights of the natives to collect the produce of their +country, and to dispose of those products freely to whomsoever<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_300"></a>[300]</span> +they wish, is a direct violation of the principles of +equitable treatment towards the natives which animated +the Conference and the rights of the signatory Powers of +that Conference.</p> + +<p>It is then perfectly clear (1) that the “third parties” +mentioned in the <i>cahier de charges</i> were the European +merchants who had created the existing trade of the French +Congo, the taxes upon which supplied the local administration +with funds for purposes of revenue; (2) that the +“acquired rights” of those merchants consisted in the right +to continue their trade, the freedom of which was guaranteed +under the Berlin Act; (3) that the “general rights created +by the Berlin Act” were, on the one part, the rights of the +natives (“whose moral and material well-being” the contracting +Powers to the Berlin Act bound themselves to +“care for”) to their land and the produce thereof; and, on +the other part, the rights of each of the signatory Powers +to ensure that the principles of the Berlin Act were not +violated by any one of the parties to that Act. The way in +which the rights of the natives are “cared for” under the +concessions <i>régime</i> was dealt with in the last chapter. It +remains to be said to what usage the “acquired rights” +of the merchants trading in the country have been +subjected.</p> + +<p>Two of the most important firms trading in the French +Congo at the time of the issue of the Decree of Concessions +(March 1899) were British.<a id="FNanchor_238" href="#Footnote_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> They were among the very +first to open up the country to trade, their representatives +had always been law-abiding citizens under the French flag; +they had ever worked harmoniously with the French +officers, who from time to time had sought their assistance<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_301"></a>[301]</span> +in developing this or that district, had asked them to send +their native traders into such and such a region, and +generally encouraged them in every way to promote and +extend the area of their trading operations. In the course +of over a quarter of a century’s trade in the country the +British firms had contributed large sums to the local +revenue, and had cheerfully paid the enormous differential +customs tariffs levied upon British goods, the taxes, the +licences, the duties of all sorts affecting the various branches +of their businesses prescribed by the law of the land. Their +standing was, of course, well known to the French Government, +and in a secret letter of instructions<a id="FNanchor_239" href="#Footnote_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> communicated +to the concessionnaires by the French Colonial Minister, the +former were required to pledge themselves “to leave entire +latitude for two years to the existing foreign firms for all +the commercial undertakings which they may perform in the +territory conceded” to them; and further, that they should +propose to the said foreign firms at the end of the two years, +and in the event of difficulties arising with the latter, to buy +up their establishments. The pledge was duly given. But +it was not carried out. The French Government, finding +itself incapable of compelling obedience, allowed the matter +to slide, and was brought by successive stages in the +development of affairs to the issue of the Decree of +March 26, 1901 (mentioned in the previous chapter), which +declared, as has already been stated, that the products of the +soil—that is to say, the only medium of trade in the country—belonged +exclusively to the concessionnaires, and that the +natives were not free to dispose of them to any one but the +concessionnaires. The “acquired rights of third parties,” +and the rights of the natives, had gone by the board; the +rights of England as a signatory Power of the Berlin Act had +been infringed; and the Act itself had been violated in one +of its most essential articles, viz. Article V., which says +that “no Power which exercises, or shall exercise, sovereign +rights in the above-mentioned regions shall be allowed to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_302"></a>[302]</span> +grant therein a monopoly or favour of any kind in matters +of trade.”</p> + +<p>To describe the series of outrages<a id="FNanchor_240" href="#Footnote_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> perpetrated by the +agents of the Belgian groups, masquerading as French +patriots, upon our merchants which took place during the +two years that the Concessionnaire Companies had bound +themselves to allow “entire latitude” to the firms trading +in the country; the protests of our merchants, who were +never informed by the French authorities that their <i>locus +standi</i> had become modified; who continued on the one +hand to pay customs dues on their imports, licences for the +factories and native traders, while forcibly prevented, under +the eyes of the same authorities and with their tacit assent, +from disposing of their goods to natives against produce; +the expostulations of Sir Edmund Monson, our Ambassador +in Paris; the promises of M. Décrais which were never +fulfilled; the actions at law brought by our merchants at +great expense in the Congo to test the legality of the concessionnaires’ +proceedings; the deputation of nine Chambers +of Commerce to Lord Lansdowne; the upholding of the +concessionnaires’ claim by the local courts, whose judgments +as <i>Le Temps</i> (which has pleaded, together with one or two +other French papers,<a id="FNanchor_241" href="#Footnote_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> for justice to our merchants) has +pointed out, was based not upon law, but upon the Decree +of March 1901, which the judges could not go beyond; the +persecution of our merchants by the concessionnaires for +purchasing produce from their concessions on the strength +of the said judgment; the infliction of heavy fines upon our +merchants; the entire stoppage of their trade; the seizure +of their produce at African ports and even at a French port;<a id="FNanchor_242" href="#Footnote_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> +the evacuation of our merchants which is now proceeding;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_303"></a>[303]</span> +the renewed representations of British Chambers to +the Foreign Office; above all, the unaccountable lethargy +of the British Government,<a id="FNanchor_243" href="#Footnote_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> and, with one or two honourable +exceptions,<a id="FNanchor_244" href="#Footnote_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> the indifference of the British Press—to +adequately describe these things would require a couple of +chapters at least.</p> + +<p>The position to-day is this, that from the greater part +of the Ogowe Basin, which alone is unaffected by the +Berlin and Brussels Acts, being outside the Conventional +Basin of the Congo, our merchants have been expelled, +without a penny compensation. In the Conventional +Basin of the Congo, where—as in the Ogowe—our +merchants have been established for upwards of twenty +years; where their rights to trade freely with the natives are +solemnly guaranteed by International Treaties, British +subjects are being expelled, not only without compensation +but with ignominy and insult, after suffering heavy +losses; the trade which they brought into being ruined, the +trading stations they have built deserted, themselves arbitrarily<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_304"></a>[304]</span> +removed from regions where they have laboured for +so long.<a id="FNanchor_245" href="#Footnote_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a></p> + +<p>It is a shameful, a discreditable episode. But if it be true +that out of evil good may come, there is still some hope that +out of the treatment—treatment which to those who know +all the details is beyond the reach of Parliamentary language +to characterise—meted out to British merchants in the +French Congo may come the liberation of the peoples of +the Congo State from the Belgian yoke, and an international +understanding binding upon the Powers whereby a rational, +common-sense, and just native policy may be mutually +agreed upon, and the vast region of the Congo Basin thrown +open to the legitimate commerce of all nations. The movement +against monopoly based upon force in West Africa; +against the evil which King Leopold has sown; against the +follies as well as the horrors which that evil has engendered, +is growing apace. The expulsion of British subjects from +French Congo may yet serve as the lever whereby the +edifice of fraud and greed and cruelty reared by Africa’s +self-styled “regenerator” may be overthrown. And the +reason is this.</p> + +<p>The British Government has for years been pressed to +inquire into the doings of the Congo States upon humanitarian +grounds. The German Government, the Governments +of the United States and of France have been +similarly approached. None of them have taken definite +steps in the direction desired. The chief reasons in the +case of England, France and Germany are probably three. +First, international rivalries in the partition of Africa and +the political ambitions which those rivalries have begotten. +By a combination of circumstances of which King Leopold +took full advantage, the Sovereign of the Congo State has +been able to intrigue first with France against England +(1892-94), with England against France (1894), with France<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_305"></a>[305]</span> +against England (1897-99). When the expedition of Major +Marchand—who would never have reached Fashoda but +for the reinforcements in men, ammunition and stores despatched +to him over the Congo Railway, through Congo +State territory—was seen to be a political failure, King +Leopold turned fawning upon England, and attempted +to gain our consent to his appropriation of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. +With his usual astuteness he endeavoured to +strengthen his diplomacy at the Court of St. James by securing, +meanwhile, a <i>fait accompli</i> in Africa. In this he failed, +mainly through journalistic enterprise in exposing his carefully +laid plans (that also, by the way, would make an +interesting little story). After the Fashoda episode King +Leopold was again pro-British for a short time, until he +became once more France’s good friend, and plunged the +French Congo into chaos. In the interval of acting honest +broker to England and France alternately, he has tried to +play Germany off against England in sundry matters, such +as the Trans-African railway scheme. So much for international +rivalries on the Western Central African field, in +which the Sovereign of the Congo State has held most of the +trumps. To these must, of course, be added other rivalries +on a wider field amongst the Powers in question, which +tended still farther to paralyse all useful, disinterested and +combined action for humanitarian ends in the Congo. The +second reason is dynastic. King Leopold is connected with +the Royal Families of England and Germany. Only those +who are in Court secrets know the exact extent to which +the Sovereign of the Congo State has profited by that, to +him, happy circumstance. It has, undeniably, been considerable. +The third reason is the self-imposed halo of +sanctity with which the public press has been gulled for +years by the happy knack of attributing abuses of a more +than usually flagrant character to individual wrongdoing +of agents—a plea used again and again with never-failing +results. To these reasons—there are others, no doubt, +and two of them are briefly touched upon in the next +chapter—are mainly due the failure of the Powers to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_306"></a>[306]</span> +fulfil their duties under the Berlin Act <i>upon humanitarian +grounds</i>.</p> + +<p>But now an altogether different aspect of the Congo problem +has sprung up. So far the Stokes affair<a id="FNanchor_246" href="#Footnote_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> has alone +provided what might be termed a <i>material</i> cause of complaint +against the Congo State. The effect of this outrage was +modified by renewed international rivalries which occurred +shortly afterwards, and even the subsequent appointment +of Major Lothaire as Managing Director in Africa for one +of the “Companies” in which the Congo State holds 50 per +cent. of the shares, and of which King Leopold appoints +the agents, failed to exercise the influence which, but for +the international rivalries aforesaid, it would otherwise have +wielded. But the horizon has cleared of late. The scramble +for Africa is over. The Powers are beginning to think +seriously of the immense problems which beset them in +Tropical Western Africa. And it is precisely at this turning-point, +as it were, in European policy in Western Africa +that the material side of the question has risen. England +and Germany have both in their respective ways been +sharply confronted with the Nemesis of their past indifference +to the repeated violation of the Berlin Act by the Congo +State. Germany has seen her ivory trade in German East +Africa disappear, her protected natives driven out of Congo +State territory, forbidden to purchase ivory or produce of +any kind from the natives on the Congo side of the German +Congo State frontier, because by the laws of the Congo +State every product of the forest, whether vegetable or +animal—when either is of intrinsic value—belongs not to +the native owner of that forest, whose ownership the State +does not recognise, but to the State itself. England has +seen her merchants expelled from the French Congo by an +extension of the system of territorial monopolies involving +absolute rights over the products of the soil, inaugurated by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_307"></a>[307]</span> +the Congo State in 1892. The Belgian conception has +thrived upon the Powers’ <i>non possumus</i>. The African cancer +has attacked both banks of the Congo, and wherever spreads +the fell disease, liberty, legitimate commerce, free trade, alike +for white man and black, disappear.</p> + +<p>The Belgian conception of development in Tropical +Western Africa is observed a little late in the day to have +another side to it. It is not now merely an institution for +earning dividends and reducing the African population. It +stands forth as a menace to all legitimate European interests +in West Africa. What England and Germany could not +agree to do when humanitarian considerations alone were +in question, they can no longer ignore with safety to their +interests in Africa. The tentacles of the Belgian octopus +are flung wider and wider, French Congo, Fernando Po, +the Muni Territory, Dahomey, the Ivory Coast and South +West Abyssinia are all alike either threatened, or victims to +the insidious embrace which breeds death and devastation +to the natives of Africa.<a id="FNanchor_247" href="#Footnote_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> The treatment of our merchants +in French Congo has given a fresh impetus, and an added +motive, to the demand of public opinion that the Congo +State shall be called to the bar of international inquiry; for +if the expulsion of British subjects from a region solemnly +declared internationally free commercial land, necessitates +specific action on the part of the British Government in the +form of a request for arbitration, which is the line I have +reason to believe our Government has taken, there remains the +larger question behind—the question of the violation of the +Berlin Act by the Congo State, originator of the new African +slavery. The Upas-tree has thrown up a new sucker, and +although the fresh growth may be removed, no permanent +good will ensue unless the tree itself be rooted up and destroyed. +The whole scheme, the <i>raison d’être</i>, the entire +future of European action in Tropical Western Africa is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_308"></a>[308]</span> +involved in this question. If the Governments are still +slow in realising it, the people are not.</p> + +<p>The well-informed press of England and of Germany is +unanimous in calling upon the British and German Governments +to act in combination for the suppression of the +monopolistic <i>régime</i> in West Africa, and its fountain-head +the Congo State. The German Colonial Society, with its +32,000 members, has held two great meetings for this purpose, +and has passed resolutions of the most emphatic kind, +and at the same time is using its considerable influence to +ensure that in the two Cameroons concessions engineered +at the same time as the French Congo concessions and by +the same means, trade shall be unrestricted and the native +free to dispose of his products, to whomsoever he will.<a id="FNanchor_248" href="#Footnote_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> In +that respect, Germany is trying her best to undo an initial +error, committed under false advice, and the full consequences +of which are now understood. In England, we are +witnessing a happy alliance of genuine philanthropy, of +scientific knowledge, and of commerce united in a common +aim, testifying to the fact that there never has been a question<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_309"></a>[309]</span> +of African politics where morality and practicability are +so closely entwined,<a id="FNanchor_249" href="#Footnote_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> and if the British Press as a whole still +lags behind, it is only fair to remember that England has but +just emerged from a great war which has absorbed for three +years the energies of the country. Indeed, when all the +circumstances are considered, we should perhaps be thankful +for the amount of attention which the Press has given to +the subject, while maintaining the view that, in the specific +matter of the treatment of our merchants in French Congo, +it has displayed singular lack of foresight. In the United +States signs are not wanting that the special responsibility +incurred by America, which first recognised the International +<i>status</i> of the International African Association—subsequently +the Congo State—is beginning, now that +the policy of the State is better known, to weigh with +thoughtful Americans, who for many reasons ought not +to disinterest themselves from West African affairs; and +President Roosevelt has been appealed to, to co-operate +with other of the signatory Powers of the Berlin Act +to bring about a new Conference. It is to be hoped +that the appeal will be heard. America’s position is such +that she can act in this matter without a suspicion of +selfish motive, and the importance of her moral support at +this juncture cannot be over-estimated. In France, it may +safely be asserted that the <i>élite</i> of the French official element +in West Africa is entirely opposed to the monopolistic conception,<a id="FNanchor_250" href="#Footnote_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> +that the most powerful French merchant firms are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_310"></a>[310]</span> +profoundly and anxiously antagonistic, and that with few +exceptions the best-informed French writers on West +African affairs and French local explorers (Mr. Chevalier, for +instance) are dead against it. How, then, can we account for +what has occurred? Very easily, I think. A grave mistake +has been committed. It is recognised, not always publicly, +on nearly all sides in France. But the French Government +hesitates to admit it, and the incident of the British merchants +intensifies the difficulty. Every French Government +dreads the parrot-cry of being too friendly to the English, +and no one knows better than Lord Lansdowne how that +permanent feature in French politics hampers French statesmen. +The influence behind the concessionnaires is still +strong. They have still the majority of the French Colonial +Press on their side—for reasons which need not be too +closely inquired into; and King Leopold’s personal +influence in Government circles (which he takes every +opportunity of strengthening, witness, for instance, the despatch +of a special envoy of welcome to President Loubet on +his return from Russia), is still conspicuous, as every diplomatist +in Europe knows. The truth is that the French +Government is marking time. The next few months will be +crucial ones in the history of the concession experiment. +The concessionnaires will make a supreme effort to justify +their existence, and to force the Government to raise a large +standing army in the Congo to coerce the natives into collecting +rubber. If they fail, the Government may begin to +gently remind them that they have fulfilled none of the terms +of the <i>cahiers de charge</i>, and if England and Germany can +succeed in coming to a definite understanding between +themselves and the United States, France may be only too +glad to fall back upon a joint Conference as the best way +out of the <i>impasse</i> into which her so-called friends, the +Belgians, have plunged her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_311"></a>[311]</span></p> + +<p>It is possible that this forecast errs on the side of optimism, +and, in any case, it is but too obvious that the monopolists +are very strong and have great wealth and influence at their +back. Meanwhile all those to whom the continuation and +growth of the Belgian conception in Africa appears as a +virulent disease spreading wherever it can obtain a foothold, +and to be fought without pause or rest, can best be fulfilling +what they conceive to be their duty, by throwing more and +more light upon the proceedings of the Congo State.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_312"></a>[312]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX<br> +<span class="smaller">THE HISTORY OF THE CONGO STATE</span></h3> + +<p>“At the present time the body called the International Association—however +startling it may appear to you—is invulnerable and unassailable. All +the armies in the world could not reach it. It is impalpable, intangible as +air. I call it Benevolence, Charity, Philanthropy—the Spirit of Peace, good-will +to all men—Progress. It is here amongst you to-night ... It eludes +your armies, it mocks your best efforts; at a whisper it has disappeared and +you cannot recall it.... The founders of the International Association have +been called dreamers.... Men understand, or think they do, why a George +Peabody should invest hundreds of thousands in model lodgings, or a Josiah +Mason in an Institute.... They can understand also why an entire nation +spent £20,000,000 to free the slaves in the West Indies.... Though they +understand the satisfaction of a sentiment when applied to England, they are +slow to understand that it may be a sentiment that induced King Leopold II. +to father the International Association. He is a dreamer like his <i>confrères</i> in +the work, because the sentiment is applied to the neglected millions of the +Dark Continent. They cannot appreciate rightly, <i>because there are no dividends +attaching to it</i>, this restless, ardent, vivifying, and expansive sentiment +which seeks to extend civilising influences among the dark races, and to +brighten up with the glow of civilisation the dark places of sad-browed +Africa.”—Sir <span class="smcap">H. M. Stanley</span> at the London Chamber of Commerce, +September 19, 1884.</p> + +<p>“Tous les pouvoirs émanent du Souverain qui les exerce par lui-même ou +par ses délégués. Il consulte s’il le juge bon le Conseil Supérieur siégeant à +Bruxelles. Il prend en personne les mesures les plus importantes.... Le +Souverain manifeste sa volonté sous la forme de décrets contresignés par le +Secrétaire d’Etat....”—<span class="smcap">M. A. J. Wauters</span>, “L’Etat Indépendant du +Congo,” chap. xxxii., “Pouvoir législatif,” p. 433.</p> + +</div> + +<p>Legends die hard. The legend which attributes to King +Leopold of Belgium and the Congo State a philanthropic +motive in African affairs is still alive among us, although +not quite to the extent that it used to be. It would have +died long ago but for two causes, the misstatements indulged +in by two or three well-known Englishmen and the apparent +failure of the British Press, as a whole, to comprehend the +<i>fons et origo mali</i> which is raising up such terrible future +complications for Europe in Central Africa. Upon occasion<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_313"></a>[313]</span> +one is tempted to think—and the supposition is strengthened +by such articles as that which the <i>Times</i> recently devoted to +the Congo annexation debate in the Belgian Chamber—that +the curious omission to come to close quarters with the +subject proceeds not so much from inability to see things +as they really are, as from an unwillingness to criticise the +Sovereign of the Congo State himself. Personalities are +held to be bad form, especially where Royalty is concerned. +If that be, indeed, the real explanation of the whitewashing +of the Congo State which finds favour in many quarters, +there is nothing to prevent the process from going on indefinitely. +I maintain that it is utterly impossible to arrive at +the truth, if the king’s personal responsibility in the maladministration +of the Congo State is to be perpetually +shelved. Why should it be? The administrative <i>régime</i> of +the State, as M. Cattier has truly said, is an “absolute +despotism.” No one who is acquainted with that <i>régime</i> +believes for a moment that a Van Eetvelde, a Droogmans, a +Liebrechts or a Cuvelier exist for any purpose than that of +carrying out the king’s instructions and superintending the +routine work which those instructions entail. King Leopold +is sole master, and must bear the responsibility for the +<i>sequelæ</i> of measures which he himself has initiated and, +through his agents, caused to be applied. The king has +openly and repeatedly claimed for himself this position +before the world. He has posed, and continues to pose, as +the regenerator of the African. He has put it on record, in +a letter to his agents, that “his only programme is the work +of moral and material regeneration.” He has written of the +“results achieved” by the Congo State as being due “to the +concentration of all my efforts in one field of action.” He +has, throughout, loudly insisted upon the purity and unselfishness +of his intentions. Adverse comment has been +dismissed by him with a loftiness of tone, a simulated consciousness +of high purpose, a dignified picturesqueness of +expression from which it is impossible to withhold a meed +of admiration, as in the case of a play repugnant to one’s +sentiments but yet so excellently rendered that objection to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_314"></a>[314]</span> +the theme cannot blind one to the art of the performers. +“My aim throughout life has been to find the truth and +make the truth known to others. I have often been misunderstood +and misrepresented, but we must not be discouraged; +let us ever go forward in the path of duty, +striving to let the light shine forth.” It cannot be a subject +of complaint on the part of his Majesty or his Majesty’s +friends if, under these circumstances, we take the Sovereign +of the Congo State at his word; if we recognise that in the +management of the affairs of the Congo State he has adopted +to the uttermost the proud assertion of Louis XIV.: “<i>L’Etat: +c’est moi</i>”; if, making due note that his declared policy has +been the regeneration of the African Negro—a policy in the +execution of which he shuns not publicity but only desires +light and truth—we judge his acts and the consequences of +those acts from the standpoint he himself has laid down.</p> + +<p>It is essential for our purpose to give an historical retrospect +of the events which preceded the General Act of +Berlin in 1885.</p> + +<p>On September 12, 1876, King Leopold held a conference +in Brussels to consider the best means which could be +devised in order to open up Central Africa to European +civilisation. The “barbarism” of Africa had already begun +to perturb his Majesty, who was careful to place on record +the absolute disinterestedness of his intentions. Addressing +the assembled scientists and explorers,<a id="FNanchor_251" href="#Footnote_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> King Leopold spoke +thus: “Is it necessary for me to say that in inviting you to +Brussels I have not been guided by egotism? No, gentlemen, +if Belgium is small, Belgium is happy and content +with her lot, ... but I should be pleased to think that this +civilising movement had been inaugurated from Brussels.” +The outcome of this conference was an “International +Association for the exploration and civilisation of Central +Africa.” Its professed objects were exploration, together +with the establishment of sundry centres where explorers +of all nationalities might refit. Committees for the collection<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_315"></a>[315]</span> +of funds were to be established in all the countries represented,<a id="FNanchor_252" href="#Footnote_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> +and an Executive Committee appointed in Brussels +to manage the funds. King Leopold, who from the commencement +was pursuing his own ends—as he clearly showed +later—saw to it that the Belgian Committee should be in the +forefront of the subscribers, and to such good purpose that +ere long the Association came to be looked upon as a Belgian +Organisation.</p> + +<p>The association first of all directed its efforts towards the +East Coast of Africa; but when Stanley arrived home in +January 1878, after having discovered the course of the +Congo, the necessity of a change of policy became obvious. +The king speedily secured Stanley’s services, a “Committee +of Studies” for the Upper Congo was formed, and Colonel +Strauch was despatched to the Congo as a representative of +both the association and the committee of studies. Meanwhile +King Leopold’s ambitions were slowly maturing, +and the theory of an African State in which he would be +the representative head was already shaping itself in his +Majesty’s mind. In a letter which he wrote to Stanley, +Colonel Strauch suggested the formation “of an independent +confederacy of free negroes, the king, to whom the +conception and the creation of such a confederacy would +be due, to be president thereof.” “Our enterprise,” continued +Colonel Strauch, “does not tend to the creation of a +Belgian Colony, but to the establishment of a powerful +<i>negro kingdom</i>.” This idea appears to have been sedulously +fostered by Colonel Strauch among the European traders +established in the Lower Congo, with results which afterwards +became apparent. Whether it was put forward as a +blind or not it is difficult to say. Anyhow, Stanley knocked +it on the head. About this time France and Portugal began +to evince uneasiness at the somewhat exclusive complexion +which the association and the committee were beginning to +assume, and there ensued a long intrigue in which the +principal actors were Stanley and De Brazza. De Brazza +forestalled Stanley on the right bank of the Congo, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_316"></a>[316]</span> +Stanley checkmated De Brazza on the left bank above +Stanley Pool. Portugal, whose explorers discovered the +Congo’s mouth in 1484,<a id="FNanchor_253" href="#Footnote_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> whose treaties with the natives +undoubtedly possessed greater validity than those concluded +by the association’s agents, and who still retained commercial +interests in the region, now became thoroughly alarmed, +and endeavoured, with the assistance of Great Britain, to +make good her claims. On February 26, 1884, a Convention +was signed between Great Britain and Portugal, the practical +effect of which would have been to put a stop to the expansion +of the Association in the interior. The Convention +was attacked at home and abroad; abroad, from various +motives, including the fear that Great Britain’s political +influence on the Congo would become paramount; at home, +because, by the terms of the Convention, the right of Portugal +to impose a moderate import tariff was recognised, and it +was feared that this recognition might lead later on to the +application of differential tariffs to which Portugal was +wedded, and because the British Chambers of Commerce +and the British Press were deluded as to the real nature of +the International Association, which represented itself as +devoted to free-trade principles. The Convention was +opposed by European merchants in the Congo for the same +reasons, backed by the belief that the aims of the Association +tended towards the maintenance and strengthening +of native rule, which the community of mercantile West +African interests well knows to be the best guarantee of the +development of legitimate trade.</p> + +<p>The Convention was by mutual consent abandoned. Its +abandonment was preceded by a remarkable event, viz. +the recognition by the United States of the Association<a id="FNanchor_254" href="#Footnote_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> as a +friendly State. The king, aided by Stanley, who was still at +that time, I believe, an American subject, had played his +cards cleverly with General Henry S. Sandford (subsequently<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_317"></a>[317]</span> +one of the two American representatives at the +Berlin Conference), and the declaration sent by the former +to the United States Government, in which he stated that +“the International Association of the Congo hereby declares +that by treaties with the legitimate sovereigns in the basins +of the Congo and of the Niadi-Kwilu, and in adjacent territories +upon the Atlantic, there has been ceded to it territory +for the use and benefit of Free States established and being +established,” appears to have exercised a considerable influence. +The “Free States” appealed to American sentiment.<a id="FNanchor_255" href="#Footnote_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> +Needless to say, the one thing that has not been +created in any shape or form in the Congo is freedom either +for native States, or native institutions, or European trade,<a id="FNanchor_256" href="#Footnote_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> +and how General Sandford could have been deceived to the +extent of penning the above despatch, in view of the +emphatic manner in which Stanley had rejected Colonel +Strauch’s suggestion in 1878 (which presumably General +Sandford had in his mind, although six years had passed +since it was made), it is hard to understand. The American +recognition of the new status of the association was followed +by Bismarck’s suggestion of a conference of the Powers, in +order to set at rest the rivalries which had arisen in the +Congo Basin. The conference first met in November 1884,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_318"></a>[318]</span> +and subsequently in February 1885. Largely influenced by +the decision of the United States, the Powers authorised +their representatives to follow the lead of the American +Government, and on August 1, 1885, King Leopold had the +inexpressible satisfaction of notifying the Powers that the +association would be henceforth known as the Congo Free +State, and himself as the Sovereign of that State. In this +manner was the evolution of King Leopold from a pure +philanthropist to the ruler of a million square miles of +territory in Central Africa accomplished. The king, argue +his admirers, had come to see that patriotism was a duty +greater even than philanthropy. The practical had outweighed +the ideal. Very well; but as we study the next +stage in this royal metamorphosis, let those who follow us +remember the memorable words spoken in 1876 before the +assembled scientists and explorers in Brussels: “Is it +necessary for me to say that, in inviting you to Brussels, I +have not been guided by egotism? No, gentlemen; if +Belgium is small, Belgium is happy and content with her +lot.”</p> + +<p>The Berlin Conference laid it down that no import dues +should be established in the mouth of the Congo for twenty +years. But in 1890 King Leopold, alleging the heavy +expenses to which he had been put by the campaign against +the Arabs in the Upper Congo, applied for permission to +levy import duties. It was the first disillusionment; and +the British Chambers of Commerce began to wonder +whether their opposition to the Anglo-Portuguese Convention +had not been mistaken. The king’s request was +granted (the Powers merely reserving to themselves the right +to revert to the original arrangement in fifteen years), but +not without the bitter opposition of the Dutch, who had +very important commercial interests in the Congo, backed +by the British Chambers of Commerce and all the traders +in the Congo, irrespective of nationality. A representative +gathering was held in London on November 4, 1900, presided +over by Sir Albert Rollit, to protest against the +imposition of import duties and to denounce the hypocrisy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_319"></a>[319]</span> +which attributed to philanthropic motives the desire on the +part of the Congo State so to impose them. The speakers +at the meeting drew attention to the strange anomaly +revealed by the sight of a monarch who, having spent +certain sums with alleged (and loudly advertised) philanthropic +motives, now came forward to claim repayment of +those sums, just like an ordinary business man, but a +business man who, having acquired a vast estate under false +pretences, demanded from the victims the wherewithal to +pay for its management! They quoted with telling effect +Stanley’s speech at Manchester on October 21, 1884, given +on behalf of the association and against the Anglo-Portuguese +Convention, in which he declared that “the £500,000 +which it (the association) has given away to the Congo, it +gave freely; the thousands of pounds which it may give +annually it gives without any hope of return, further <i>than a +sentimental satisfaction</i>.” They were able to show that—even +then—King Leopold, notwithstanding his formal +assurances to the commercial world that the Congo State +would never directly or indirectly itself trade within its +dominions, was buying, or rather stealing, ivory from the +natives in the Upper Congo and retaining the proceeds of +the sale on the European market. They proved that, +profiting by the silence of the Berlin Treaty on the subject +of export duties, the Congo State had already imposed taxes +amounting to 17½ per cent. on ivory, 13 per cent. on rubber +and 5 per cent. on palm-kernels, palm-oil, and ground-nuts, +the total taxation amounting to no less than 33 per cent. of +the value of the whole of the trade. Finally, they had no +difficulty in demonstrating that, with all his professed wish +to stamp out the slave-raiding carried on by the half-caste +Arabs in the Upper Congo,<a id="FNanchor_257" href="#Footnote_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> his Majesty was himself tacitly +encouraging the slave trade by receiving tribute from conquered +chiefs in the shape of slaves, who were promptly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_320"></a>[320]</span> +enrolled as soldiers in the State army.<a id="FNanchor_258" href="#Footnote_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> The sincerity of +King Leopold’s solicitude for the natives of Africa was in +other respects appearing in its true colours, <i>vide</i> the letter +of Colonel Williams, a British officer in King Leopold’s +employ, who, in disgust at the outrages which were taking +place on the Congo, denounced them to the king. This +letter, from which I give the following extracts, was read at +the conference by Mr. Philipps, representing the Manchester +Chamber of Commerce. It ran thus:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“Your Majesty’s Government has been and is now guilty of waging +unjust and cruel wars against natives, with the hope of securing slaves +and women to minister to the behests of the officers of your Government. +In such slave-hunting raids one village is armed by the State +against the other, and the force thus secured is incorporated with the +regular troops. I have no adequate terms with which to depict to your +Majesty the brutal acts of your soldiers upon such raids as these. The +soldiers who open the combat are usually the bloodthirsty cannibalistic +Bangalas, who give no quarter to the aged grandmother or the nursing +child at the breast of its mother. There are instances in which they +have brought the heads of their victims to their white officers on the +expeditionary steamers and afterwards eaten the bodies of the slain +children.”<a id="FNanchor_259" href="#Footnote_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a></p> + +</div> + +<p>The history of King Leopold’s action in Central Africa +between 1876 and 1890 may therefore be summed up as +follows. First stage: Inauguration of a “movement” for +the “exploration and civilisation of Africa” from motives +(so stated) of pure philanthropy, devoid of any shade of +personal egotism or ambition on the part of Belgium. The +expenditure of a certain sum of money for this (alleged) +intent. The acquisition of a certificate of high moral +purpose. Second stage: The “movement” takes the form +of a State, possibly an “independent confederacy of free<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_321"></a>[321]</span> +negroes,” with the king as president. This idea is abandoned, +and for it is substituted the theory of an “Independent +State” administered directly by the king and his representatives. +The theory takes root, and by the Act of Berlin +is converted into a <i>fait accompli</i>. According to this Act, the +king becomes sovereign of the “Congo Independent State,” +and undertakes that the State shall grant no monopoly or +privilege in matters of trade, shall watch over the welfare of +the natives and shall not impose any import duties. Formal +assurances are also given to the commercial world that the +State will not trade on its own account, directly or indirectly. +Third stage: The State promptly starts trading for ivory in +the Upper Congo, and wages war against the natives by +means of a cannibal army, raised from slaves captured in +war and paid by the vanquished as tribute. Its agents +begin to be accused of shocking treatment of natives. +Fourth stage: The king asks for permission to impose +import duties, pleading the expenses which he is incurring +in putting down slave-raiding, and the Brussels Conference +grants the request.</p> + +<p>It may, I think, be fairly argued that the “sentimental +satisfaction” which in 1884, according to Sir H. M. Stanley, +was all that the king required as a reward for his out-of-pocket +expenses, had assumed a singularly practical shape +in 1890. From a philanthropist to an ivory-trader is a long +step.</p> + +<p>No sooner had the Sovereign of the Congo State obtained +the acquiescence of the Powers in the imposition of import +duties, which, it is almost unnecessary to say, enormously +strengthened the international position of the State, than the +plans which his Majesty had conceived for the development +of what was rapidly becoming tantamount to a Belgian +possession, manifested themselves. What were those plans +and what were their <i>leit motif</i>? So far as the plans are +concerned, I will come to them later. But their <i>leit motif</i> +may be briefly stated now. To those who have studied the +personality of King Leopold, acceptance of the philanthropic +claim put forward by that monarch is simply impossible at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_322"></a>[322]</span> +any stage of his African undertaking. In any case, the +philanthropic claim weakened with every year that passed +after 1876. The revelations at the London meeting of +November 4, 1890, definitely exploded it. Whoever attributed +philanthropy to the Sovereign of the Congo State after that +meeting was foolishly credulous, although he might still be +honest. Whoever, being acquainted with the edicts of 1891 +and 1892, from the time those edicts were thoroughly known +in Europe, that is to say, towards the middle of 1892, has +endorsed the philanthropic claim must have been guilty of +gross deceit. I would go even farther than this, and say that +such persons have been guilty of conniving and inducing +the public to connive at a crime which has been steadily +growing ever since, in the extent and heinousness of its +criminality; a crime for which Europe will yet pay +dearly.</p> + +<p>King Leopold found himself in 1885 possessed of an +enormous territory, in the acquirement of which he had +expended a certain sum as an investment. Not being a +philanthropist; but, on the contrary, a very shrewd man of +business, his next thought was how to get his capital back—with +interest. By throwing open the Congo to legitimate +commerce; by encouraging and facilitating the trade of all +nations as he solemnly undertook to do; by pursuing a +common-sense policy towards the natives, the Sovereign of +the Congo State might have recovered the original capital +he had sunk on the Congo, and even have realised a fair +percentage upon it. At the same time he would have laid +the foundations of a peaceful and commercially prosperous +colony <i>for Belgium</i>, a colony with vast resources, a magnificent +river system and unlimited future possibilities. That would +have been true patriotism, and the ends attained might have +justified the not very honourable means employed. King +Leopold preferred to adopt another course, which has led +him from illegality to violence, and from violence to barbarism. +The king’s intention all through was to recoup +himself for his expenditure at the earliest possible moment. +So much for the <i>leit motif</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_323"></a>[323]</span></p> + +<p>The measures adopted by his Majesty to bring about this +desired result were as follows: Five months after the +termination of the Berlin Conference, King Leopold issued +a decree (July 1885), whereby the State asserted rights of +proprietorship over all vacant lands throughout the Congo +territory. It was intended that the term “vacant lands” +should apply in the broadest sense to lands not actually +occupied by the natives at the time the decree was issued. +By successive decrees, promulgated in 1886, 1887 and 1888, +the king reduced the rights of the natives in their land to +the narrowest limits, with the result that the whole of the odd +1,000,000 square miles assigned to the Congo State, except +such infinitesimal proportions thereof as were covered by +native villages or native farms, became <i>terres domaniales</i>. +On October 17, 1889, the king also issued a decree ordering +merchants to limit their commercial operations in rubber to +bartering with the natives. This decree was interesting +merely as a forewarning of what came later, because at that +time the rubber trade was very small. In July 1890, the +same year as the Brussels Conference, the Congo State +went a step farther. A decree issued in that month confirmed +all that was advanced in November of the same +year by the speakers at the London Conference, held to +protest against the imposition of import dues by the State. +By its terms King Leopold asserted that the State was +entitled to trade on its own account in ivory—the first open +violation of his pledges. Moreover, the decree imposed +sundry extra taxes upon all ivory bought by merchants from +the natives; which, since the State had become itself a +trading concern, constituted an equally direct violation of +the Berlin Act, by establishing differential treatment in +matters of trade. Such were the plans King Leopold made, +preparatory to obtaining from the Powers the power to +impose import duties.<a id="FNanchor_260" href="#Footnote_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> Everything was ready for the great<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_324"></a>[324]</span> +<i>coup</i>, which should also inaugurate the fifth stage of his +Majesty’s African policy.</p> + +<p>The Brussels Conference met. The Powers with inconceivable +fatuity allowed themselves to be completely hoodwinked, +and within a year the greatest injury perpetrated +upon the unfortunate natives of Africa since the Portuguese +in the fifteenth century conceived the idea of expatriating +them for labour purposes had been committed, and committed, +too, by a monarch who had not ceased for fifteen +years to pose as their self-appointed regenerator! On +September 21, 1891, King Leopold drafted in secret a decree +which he caused to be forwarded to the Commissioners of +the State in the Ubanghi-Welle and Aruwimi-Welle districts, +and to the chiefs of the military expeditions operating in the +Upper Ubanghi district. This decree never having been +published in the official Bulletin of the State, its exact terms +can only be a matter of conjecture; but we know that it +instructed the officials to whom it was addressed “to take +urgent and necessary measures to preserve the fruits of the +Domain to the State, especially ivory and rubber.” By +“fruits of the Domain,” King Leopold meant the products +of the soil throughout the “vacant lands” which he had +attributed to himself, as already explained, by the decree of +1885. The king’s instructions were immediately followed, +and three circulars, dated respectively Bangala, December 15, +1891, Basankusu, May 8, 1892, and Yakoma, February 14, +1892, were issued by the officials in question. Circular +No. 1 forbade the natives to hunt elephants unless they +brought the tusks to the State’s officers. Circular No. 2 +forbade the natives to collect rubber unless they brought it to +the State’s officers. Circular No. 3 forbade the natives to +collect either ivory or rubber unless they brought the articles<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_325"></a>[325]</span> +to the State’s officers, and added that “merchants purchasing +such articles from the natives, whose right to collect them +the State only recognised provided that they were brought to +it, would be looked upon as receivers of stolen goods and +denounced to the judicial authorities.”</p> + +<p>Thus did the Sovereign of the Congo State avail himself +of the additional prestige conferred upon him by the +Brussels Conference. He did not obtain his own way +entirely, because the years which had elapsed since the +Berlin Conference had witnessed the creation of a powerful +group of Belgian trading companies, presided over by +one Colonel Thys, who afterwards brought the construction +of the railway which unites the Lower to the Upper Congo to +a successful termination, and who is now probably the +largest land-owner in Africa. These companies were doing +a large trade in rubber and ivory with the natives. They +were well organised, and the man at their head was both +capable and fearless. The companies invoked the Act of +Berlin, protested against its gross infringement by the State, +dwelt largely upon the sacredness of free trade and native +rights, pleaded for Belgium and the world at large; and, +finding these considerations insufficient, violently attacked +the king himself with the avowed intention of forcing him +to abdicate his “sovereignty” on the Congo. It is useless +to detail the process of an agitation which, if it did nothing +else, showed up in lurid colours how much the patriotism of +the King of the Belgians was subordinated to the egotism of +the Sovereign of the Congo State. The upshot of it was +that the king squared the colonel, and the commercial +companies of the Rue Bréderode group, as they are familiarly +designated, were induced to keep silence by the grant +of a trading monopoly over a very large area where they +would be free to carry on their business unmolested. His +resolute adversary being thus disposed of, the king forthwith +issued a decree, dated October 1892, by which he +defined the limits of his <i>terres domaniales</i>, and crowned +the policy he had ever steadily pursued by creating for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_326"></a>[326]</span> +himself in Central Africa a vast preserve, a <i>Domaine +Privé</i>, from which he might draw unlimited resources +with a view to his own personal enrichment. The extent +of this preserve cannot cover less than 800,000 square +miles.<a id="FNanchor_261" href="#Footnote_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> The summit of King Leopold’s ambition had been +attained.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_327"></a>[327]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI<br> +<span class="smaller">THE <i>DOMAINE PRIVÉ</i></span></h3> + +<p>“Our only programme, I am anxious to repeat, is the work of moral and +material regeneration.”—Extract from a published letter of his Majesty King +<span class="smcap">Leopold II.</span>, King of the Belgians, Sovereign of the Congo Free State.</p> + +</div> + +<p>It is to be regretted that writers who, from time to time, +call attention to the terrible maladministration prevailing in +the Congo State do not, as a rule, strive to bring its <i>causa +causans</i> clearly before the public. The main issue becomes +too often imbedded in a mass of surplus detail, and the +bewildered individual searching for light gropes about in +despair with an eternal query on his lips—“Why?” Why +these atrocities which have been attested by dozens of +honourable men<a id="FNanchor_262" href="#Footnote_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a>—atrocities which the Congo State +Administration has long ceased to deny, and now merely +attempts to minimise; atrocities of which every mail from the +Congo brings additional proof?<a id="FNanchor_263" href="#Footnote_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> Why this callous ferocity +which appears at first sight to have in it naught but incoherence +and downright stupidity, which seems so monstrous +as to be almost incredible, and yet is vouched for, not only +by travellers and missionaries who have witnessed its effects, +not only by those who are in a position to guarantee the +authenticity of information received from persons unwilling<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_328"></a>[328]</span> +to allow their names to appear through fear of jeopardising +their means of livelihood, but by the actual perpetrators, +who, not without reason—although this excuse cannot +shield them from execration—throw the responsibility +upon the system whose servants they have been? Where +is the underlying motive of it all? The answer to the query +is, the <i>Domaine Privé</i>. When you have learnt what the +<i>Domaine Privé</i> is, what it means, what it involves, what it +necessitates, what it renders inevitable, the story is told and +everything is explained.</p> + +<p>In the first place, let these main facts be borne well in +mind. The vast territories of the <i>Domaine Privé</i> have for +eleven years been absolutely closed to legitimate private +enterprise. Trade, which in Central Africa means the +exchange of European merchandise for raw products, does +not exist therein. The native living within these territories +has been deprived by Royal Decree of his rights as a land-owner. +Property held for centuries by well-defined native +laws, vested in particular families and tribes, has been +appropriated without consulting the interested parties, let +alone compensating them. With the deprivation of his +land the native has been dispossessed of the fruits thereof; +the rubber growing so luxuriously in his forests he may (by +decree) only gather for the State—we will see presently how +the “may” becomes “must”; the ivory stacked about his +villages is no longer his, but another’s; the elephants which +roam about his country and damage his plantations he can +incur the physical peril of destroying, but may not reap the +reward to which he is thereby entitled, for the tusks of the +slain beast do not, according to Royal Decree, belong to +him. Since he cannot dispose of his produce, which is his +wealth and also his currency; since he has lost his rights in +his own land; since he cannot even hunt the wild beast +which provides him with the wherewithal to make horns for +war and the chase, armlets and anklets for his wives, ornaments +for his habitation, he is no longer a free agent, but +has become <i>de facto</i> a serf. In theory, then, the decrees +of September 1891 and October 1892 made of the native<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_329"></a>[329]</span> +throughout the <i>Domaine Privé</i> a serf. In theory a serf he +remained for a little while. But as the grip of Africa’s +regenerator tightened upon the <i>Domaine Privé</i>, as the drilled +and officered army, armed with repeating-rifles, gradually +grew and grew until it was larger than the native forces kept +up by any of the great Powers of Europe on African soil,<a id="FNanchor_264" href="#Footnote_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> +as the radius of the rubber taxes was extended, as portions +of the country began to be farmed out to so-called “companies,” +whose agents were also officials of the king; the +native of the <i>Domaine Privé</i> became a serf not in theory +only but in fact, ground down, exploited, forced to collect +rubber at the bayonet’s point, compelled to pay onerous +tribute to men whose salaries depend upon the produce +returns from their respective stations—the punishment for +disobedience, slothfulness, or inability to comply with +demands ever growing in extortion, being anything from +mutilation to death, accompanied by the destruction of +villages and crops.</p> + +<p>The <i>Domaine Privé</i> is “worked” in two ways. The +country is vaguely divided into districts, and the business +of the <i>Commissaires</i> of districts, and their agents and sub-agents, +is to collect <i>impôts de nature</i>, the taxes in kind, which +the king levies. There is no limit to this taxation. The +<i>Commissaires</i> are told to “devote all their energies to the +harvesting of rubber,” but at the same time to proceed “<i>as +far as possible</i> by persuasion rather than force.” The +purport of the instructions maybe briefly summed up thus: +“Obtain all the rubber and ivory you can; your future +advancement depends upon your energy.”<a id="FNanchor_265" href="#Footnote_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a> Of course, this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_330"></a>[330]</span> +<i>régime</i> in a country like Africa, where the native is not +obliged to “work” in order to live, would be so much +beating of the air, if force were not used to give it practical +effect. King Leopold understood that well enough, and, to +use the expression of a French Colonial writer of repute—M. +Pierre Mille—“the basis of the king’s economic policy +has been the formation of an army sufficiently strong +to force the natives to pay the rubber and ivory tax.” +A large army, chiefly recruited from the Bangalas and +Batetlas—both cannibal tribes—was raised, and when not +engaged in rebelling against its officers, it has proved only +too well its value.</p> + +<p>Side by side with the enforcement of the <i>impôts de nature</i>, +King Leopold bethought him of another scheme whereby +to increase his revenue, and, at the same time, to throw dust +in the eyes of European public opinion, by professing to +sanction private enterprise in the <i>Domaine Privé</i>. His +Majesty took to farming out portions of his domain to +certain financiers with whom it suited him to keep on good +terms. “Companies” were formed, in which the State +retained a half interest. These companies are supposed to +obtain the rubber and ivory they ship home in such large +quantities by barter; but as more often than not the king’s +officials and the companies’ agents are the same persons, and +as the companies have the assistance of the <i>Force Publique</i> +(or permission to raise their own forces) to facilitate their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_331"></a>[331]</span> +commercial operations,<a id="FNanchor_266" href="#Footnote_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> we may judge of the amount of +legitimate barter trade which is carried on. There are six +of these companies<a id="FNanchor_267" href="#Footnote_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> in existence. The first group of five +consists of the <i>Société Anversoise du Commerce au Congo, the +Abir, the Compagnie du Lomami, the Comptoir Commercial Congolais, +and the Société Générale Africaine</i>. The State holds +half the shares of the <i>Abir</i> and half the shares of the <i>Société +Anversoise</i>. It has no shares in the <i>Comptoir Congolais</i>, but +receives 50 per cent. of the profits. Its arrangement with +the <i>Compagnie du Lomami</i> is, I believe, on the same lines as +that with the <i>Comptoir Commercial Congolais</i>; and with the +<i>Société Générale Africaine</i> on the same lines as the <i>Abir</i> +and <i>Anversoise</i>. The <i>Société</i>, or rather <i>Comité Spécial du +Katanga</i>, is also a <i>Domaine Privé</i> company, but under a +somewhat different form. One-third of the profits of the +latter institution go to the Thys group of companies and +two-thirds to the State. The principal officials of the +<i>Comité Spécial du Katanga</i>—the sixth <i>Domaine Privé</i> company—are +Messrs. Droogmans (president and Secrétaire-Général), +Arnold, De Keyser, and Lombard. All these men +are highly-placed officials of the State. Droogmans is the +Minister of Finance, Arnold is director of the Domaine, +director of Agriculture, and of “Central book-keeping”; +De Keyser is a director of the Finance Department, and +Lombard is a director of the Department of the Interior.</p> + +<p>The <i>Société Anversoise du Commerce au Congo</i> being a +typical representative, we may examine its condition. It +was formed in August 1892 under Belgian law, but reconstructed +in January 1898 under Congo law—quite a unique +jurisprudence, of which it may be said <i>summum jus summa +injuria</i>—with a capital of 1,700,000 francs divided into 3400 +shares of 500 francs each. King Leopold has conferred +upon this company some 12,000 square miles situated in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_332"></a>[332]</span> +the Mongalla district. Within that large area, of course, no +one has the right to enter; in that particular, the Mongalla +district resembles every other portion of the Congo <i>Free</i> +State above Leopoldville, in the sense of being a monopoly +within a monopoly. The administrative seat of the <i>Anversoise</i> +is 104 Rempart des Béguines, Antwerp; its principal +headquarters in Africa are at Mobeka. Its president is M. A. +de Browne de Tiège, nominated under the constitution of +the company by the king himself. M. de Browne de Tiège is +the king’s principal financial adviser in Congo affairs, and +has several times lent moneys to the State. He has a seat +in the House. The administrators are Baron Goffinet,<a id="FNanchor_268" href="#Footnote_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> Ed. +Bunge, and C. de Browne de Tiège; the “Commissaire” is +Count Emile le Grelle. The original shareholders are: the +Congo State, 1700 shares; A. de Browne de Tiège, 1100 shares; +Bunge & Co., 100 shares; E. P. Grisar, 130 shares; Deyman +& Druart, 100 shares—which accounts for 3130 out of the +3400. No one with even a superficial knowledge of Belgian +society need be told of the relations between the king and +Baron Goffinet, Count le Grelle and E. P. Grisar. The net +profits for the four years 1897-1900 have been: 1897, +120,697 francs; 1898, 3,968,832 francs; 1899, 3,083,976; +1900, 84,333, or say a profit in four years of 7,275,838 francs. +The “State’s” holdings being 50 per cent., its share in the +profits would be proportionate. At this point it may be +well to remark that the inspired utterances which from +time to time appear in the British Press, dated from +Brussels, to the effect that the Sovereign of the Congo State +does not hold a single share in these companies, constitute, +of course, a polite fiction. In all matters affecting the +<i>Domaine Privé</i> the State is the King. The <i>Domaine Privé</i>, +let it be reaffirmed once again, is the king’s property and +his alone. The shares of the <i>Société Anversoise</i> have stood as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_333"></a>[333]</span> +high as 13,730 francs (March 1900), which for a 500-franc +share is sufficiently alluring. At that figure, which can be +easily verified by the sceptical, his Majesty’s 1700 shares +were worth over 23,000,000 francs, or say £933,000. During +the last two years, outbreaks in the Mongalla district have +been so numerous that the profits of the company have +fallen somewhat.</p> + +<p>The performances of this particular offshoot of King +Leopold’s <i>Domaine Privé</i> have been worthy of the regenerating +nature of the Congo State rule. In 1900, one or two +of its agents confessed to killing, by order, 150 natives, +cutting off 60 hands, crucifying women and children, and +impaling the sexual remains of slaughtered males on the +stockade of the villages whose inhabitants were slow in +gathering rubber! “<i>Les scandales de la Mongalla</i>” led to +stormy debates in the Belgian Chamber on July 16 and 17 of +last year. It may not be out of place to recall their nature.</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“July 17.—<span class="smcap">M. Vandervelde</span>: We are not anti-colonial in principle.... +But we are adversaries of a capitalist colonial policy which entails +exploitation, theft, and assassination.... You dare not, in the name +of Christian morality, defend the exploitation of the <i>Domaine Privé</i>.... +Rubber and ivory represent 93 per cent. of the exports.... The +<i>Domaine Privé</i> produces much more than the budgetary returns. How +are these extraordinary results obtained?... The Congo State has +introduced forced labour, tribute, paid in kind, and a twelve years’ +military service.... We protest against this disguised form +of slavery. (Applause.) The greatest names in England and +Germany have condemned this system. The premiums given to Congolese +agents have been repudiated by the honest ones amongst them. +(<span class="smcap">M. de Browne de Tiège</span> interrupts.) M. de Browne de Tiège, who is +interested in Congo affairs, must be admirably posted in the Mongalla +lawsuit, which revealed acts of cruelty in his very own district.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">M. de Browne de Tiège</span>: It is false.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">M. Maroille</span>: No doubt; like the stories of the severed hands.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">M. Lorand</span>: It is so true that, as a result of what I have stated +here, the particular officer whom I challenged to deny the facts has +written giving me information, in which he admits that these ‘war +trophies’ were brought in. That is Congo civilisation! On all sides +war, massacres, crimes continue there. How can you possibly defend +these things?</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">M. Furnemont</span>: On the coat-of-arms of the city of Antwerp figure<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_334"></a>[334]</span> +cut hands. M. de Browne, who inhabits Antwerp, no doubt considers +the emblem very appropriate....</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">M. de Smet de Naeyer</span> (Belgian Premier): The exploitation of the +<i>Domaine Privé</i> is conformable with jurisprudence.... People criticise +tribute paid in kind (<i>prestations de nature</i>). Do they not exist to a certain +extent in Belgium? Why suspect the Congo State of cruelty?</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">M. Lorand</span>: We are entitled to do so. Remember the 1300 severed +hands.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">M. de Smet de Naeyer</span>: Faults have certainly been committed, +but the State is applying itself to their disappearance. The disinterestedness +of the creators of the Congo State will find its reward in the +gratitude of the country....</p> + +<p>“July 18.—<span class="smcap">M. Lorand</span>: Your colonial policy is analogous to the +crimes mentioned in Article 125 of the Penal Code; it is a policy of +devastation, pillage, and assassination. [The speaker (I quote from +the Parliamentary report of the Belgian papers of that date) then read +some correspondence published in the Antwerp newspaper <i>La Métropole</i>, +in which a series of executions, murders, and expeditions against the +Bundjas are mentioned.] ‘Are we,’ he continues, ‘to have another +edition of the severed hands incident?’</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">M. de Browne de Tiège</span>: That is not the question.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">M. Lorand</span>: Indeed. But it happens precisely to be the question. +(<span class="smcap">M. de Browne de Tiège</span> interrupts.)</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">M. Vandervelde</span>: Your interest, M. de Browne, is so direct a one +in this matter that you might refrain from any participation in this +debate.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>The cutting-off of hands item is a constantly recurring +charge. I have in my possession at the present moment a +photograph from the Upper Congo of three natives, a +woman and two boys; the woman and one of the boys have +their right hands severed at the wrist, the other boy has +both hands severed. The correspondent who sent it me—and +whom I know to be an honourable man—saw the +victims himself, and was satisfied that soldiers of the State +were the culprits. I fully believe him, but the photograph, +of course, does not prove it.<a id="FNanchor_269" href="#Footnote_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp56" id="illus36" style="max-width: 32.8125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus36.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption class="caption"><p>THE VICTIM OF A RUBBER RAID</p> + +<p>A LIVING ILLUSTRATION OF THE “MAIN COUPÉES” DEBATES IN THE BELGIAN +CHAMBER. THE BOY HERE PHOTOGRAPHED IS NOW CARED FOR +BY A BRITISH MISSIONARY IN THE UPPER CONGO</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>In November last, an American ex-agent of the <i>Société +Anversoise</i>, Mr. Canisuis, who served for some time under the +amiable ex-Major Lothaire, who, as already stated, was appointed +Director in Africa of this company <i>after</i> the murder<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_335"></a>[335]</span> +of Stokes, in a Press interview said: “Last year I was on a +rubber expedition with Major Lothaire, and during the six +weeks it lasted 900 natives were killed and scores of villages +were burnt.”</p> + +<p>According to this gentleman, the natives receive the equivalent +of one penny per pound of rubber, paid in merchandise +valued at 100 per cent. above cost price. We knew that +before. As things go in the Congo State, that particular +rate of pay is even generous. But you cannot get rubber +in Africa at even the munificent sum of one penny per +pound, and sell it in Europe from 3s. to 4s. per pound, without +those gently persuasive methods which find favour in +quarters where the “regenerating” instinct is properly +developed!</p> + +<p>I trust I shall not be unduly troubling my readers if I +pass another of King Leopold’s <i>Domaine Privé</i> companies +under review. It is not my fault that the whitewash has +been laid on so thickly, and the process of scraping is bound +to take some little time—and, from the author’s point of +view, no little trouble. What company could be better +singled out than the <i>Abir</i>, the most powerfully equipped of +all—the “Queen” of Congo companies as it has been called? +Originally the Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company, +founded in August 1892, and in which Colonel North was +at one time largely interested, it was, like the <i>Anversoise</i>, reconstructed +under “Congo law” in 1898 with a capital of +1,000,000 francs, divided into 2000 shares without designation +of value, “giving right of 1/2000 of the <i>avoir social</i>.” +King Leopold has conferred upon this company the monopoly +of exploitation in the Lopori and Maringa districts of +the <i>Domaine Privé</i>. The administrative seat of the <i>Abir</i> is +48 Rempart Klipdorp, Antwerp; its headquarters in Africa +are at Bassankusu. The President is M. A. van den Nest; +administrators, A. Mols and Count H. van de Burgh; <i>Commissaires</i>, +Jules Stappers and F. Reiss; Director, Ch. de +Wael; Director in Africa, Ch. Sterckmans. I am under +the impression that the British interests in the company +ceased when it ceased to be a company in the ordinary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_336"></a>[336]</span> +acceptation of the term, viz. in 1898, as aforesaid. At any +rate, I can find none but Belgian shareholders in the documents +I have been able to obtain. First and foremost +comes the Congo State with its 50 per cent., viz. 1000 +shares, the inevitable M. A. de Browne de Tiège being +<i>mandataire</i> for the State; then M. A. de Browne de Tiège +has 60 shares in his own name, and M. C. de Browne de +Tiège 50, while our old friend the <i>Société Anversoise</i> has 150 +shares represented by M. de Browne de Tiège, President, +and M. Bunge, Administrator; Bunge & Co. (whom we +have seen hold 100 shares in the <i>Anversoise</i>) have 50 shares; +other shareholders are Alexis Mols, Charles de Wael, F. Reiss, +&c.<a id="FNanchor_270" href="#Footnote_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> I have used the word <i>clique</i> to describe the handful +of persons who are running the Congo State (and as much +more of Africa as they can lay hands on) with the king as +Managing Director. It is an appropriate term, as the particulars +given for these two “Companies” show. I may add +that M. A. van den Nest, President of the <i>Abir</i>, is the original +holder of 120 shares in the <i>Comptoir Commercial Congolais</i>, of +which company M. Alexis Mols is President, while Messrs. +Charles de Wael and F. Reiss are also holders, the one to +the extent of 100, the other to the extent of 60 shares.<a id="FNanchor_271" href="#Footnote_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a> +Baron Goffinet’s name crops up again in the <i>Lomami</i>,<a id="FNanchor_272" href="#Footnote_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> and +so it goes on.<a id="FNanchor_273" href="#Footnote_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> These men are the king’s bodyguard. I +know nothing of them personally. They may in private life +be the most blameless of men, but the extraordinary thing is +that Europe should be content to allow 1,000,000 square +miles of African territory to be run by this <i>clique</i> with its<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_337"></a>[337]</span> +royal head, entirely for their own ends, and to fill their +own pockets! Why, in the name of common sense and +common decency, should hundreds, if not thousands, of +natives of Africa be slain annually on account of this <i>clique</i>? +It would be grotesque, were it not so horrible; so monstrous +as to seem more like a nightmare than a reality.</p> + +<p>But to return to the <i>Abir</i>. Its net profits in 1897 were +1,247,455 francs; in 1898, 2,482,697 francs; in 1899, +2,692,063 francs. The figures for 1900 I am unable to give, +I regret to say. In 1901 the net working profits (<i>bénéfices +nets d’exploitation</i>) were 2,455,182 francs, and the “profit +and loss account” was closed with 2,614,370 to the good. +A dividend<a id="FNanchor_274" href="#Footnote_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> of 900 francs was declared on each share, and +“the State” being the possessor of 1000 shares, it follows +that its august Sovereign raked in the nice little sum of +900,000 francs, or say £36,000, for one year’s working of this +eminently satisfactory “subsidiary” of the <i>Domaine Privé</i>. +In four years the <i>Abir’s</i> net profits amounted, therefore, to +8,877,397 francs, nearly nine times as much as its total capital! +In June 1899 the shares stood at 17,900 francs per share, and +the total value on the Antwerp Stock Exchange of this concern, +whose capital is one million, was 35,800,000 francs! +But since that date the shares have been up to over 25,000 +francs per share! In June of this year they had fallen to a +little over 11,000 francs per share. For a considerable time +past they have been quoted <i>in tenths</i>; that is to say, one-tenth +shares are bought and sold, and give rise to a great deal of +speculation on the Bourse. Imagine the fortune which a +holder of 1000 <i>full</i> shares has had the opportunity of making +during the last few years! Those 1000 shares, at 25,000 +francs per share, were worth a million sterling! What it is +to be a royal rubber merchant in the Congo!</p> + +<p>It will have been noticed that the shares of the <i>Abir</i> have +dropped. The fact is that there have been “indiscretions,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_338"></a>[338]</span> +and several Belgian newspapers published in October of +last year some unpleasant details with regard to the circumstances +under which these enormous stocks of rubber find +their way to Europe. Amongst other revelations published—all +of which purported to come from “a most honourable +and esteemed agent” of the <i>Abir</i>—were the following: +(1) In September 1897, the whole of the Upper Bolombo +country was devastated (“<i>mis à feu et à sang</i>”) by the Dikila +factory to compel the natives, with whom contact had not +before been established, to make rubber. (2) “On Aug. 24, +1900, I met at Boyela two young women, one of whom +was <i>enceinte</i>, with their right hands cut off. They told me +they belonged to the village of Bossombo, and that the +soldiers of the white man of Boyela had cut off their hands, +because their master did not produce enough rubber!” +These statements appear to have had the effect of depreciating +the market value of the shares. But, really, the +“bulls” might have been prepared for them. Possibly, +they had not read the evidence given a year before by +M. de Lamothe, ex-Governor of French Congo, before the +Commission of Colonial Concessions held in Paris. M. de +Lamothe, who had just returned from five months’ sojourn +in the Upper Congo, remarked in the course of his deposition +that:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“The Belgians have recently had insurrections in their territory. It +is but right to add, however, that they sometimes make use of proceedings +towards the natives that Frenchmen would never use.... The <i>Abir</i>, +for instance, possesses a considerable territory and has even police rights +(<i>sic</i>) over the natives. From that point of view the rights which its +charter confers upon it are exaggerated. <i>Its agents have applied this so +well that they have succeeded in inducing 30,000 natives to leave their territory +and take refuge on the French bank of the Congo.</i>”</p> + +</div> + +<p>Is it necessary to plunge yet deeper into this garbage of +human villany and greed? The entire system is based +upon terrorism. No man in his senses can really believe +otherwise. A volume might be filled with misdeeds which +since the days of Cortès and Pizarro have never been +equalled, much less surpassed. The habitual <i>modus operandi</i><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_339"></a>[339]</span> +in the Mongalla territory was tersely put by one of the agents +of the <i>Anversoise</i>:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“When natives bring rubber to a factory they are received by the +agent surrounded by soldiers. The baskets are weighed. If they do +not contain the 5 kilos. required the native receives 100 blows with a +<i>chicotte</i>.<a id="FNanchor_275" href="#Footnote_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> Those whose baskets attain the correct weight receive a piece +of cloth, or some other object. If a certain village contains, say, 100 +male inhabitants (a census is always taken of the village before operations +begin) and only fifty come to the factory with rubber, they are +retained as hostages, and a force is despatched to shoot (<i>sic</i>) the fifty +recalcitrant natives and burn their village.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>There are some districts which do not produce rubber: +such a district, for instance, as the Bangala country proper, +where hardly any rubber grows. Let it not be imagined +that the people of that district are the gainers thereby. They +are not subject, it is true, to either the rubber tribute or the +rubber-collecting operations of the <i>Domaine Privé</i> companies. +But their lot is little better for all that. The Bangala country +is one of the great recruiting centres of the State for its +army.<a id="FNanchor_276" href="#Footnote_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> The Bangalas are cannibals, and good fighters. It +is also a victualling centre for the State posts. A great deal +of information has been reaching me from this district of +late. It may be usefully epitomised. First, as to the recruiting. +The method adopted is this: A general order is sent +from Boma to the Commissaires of Districts to the effect +that so many recruits must be sent down. Each Commissaire +then sets to work to obtain recruits. There is no +system in the demands. Towns are dropped on according +to the whim of the Commissaire. A particular village is +summoned to supply a certain number of young men. The +summons is rarely communicated by a white officer: almost +invariably by native soldiers. The summons once made, it +has to be obeyed, or the usual punishment is meted out. +Nevertheless there has, upon occasion, been active opposition +to this forced recruiting. There is always passive +opposition. Both men and women object and complain<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_340"></a>[340]</span> +very bitterly, but they have to submit. Mothers, wives, and +relatives have been seen crying and protesting against their +children, husbands, and relatives being sent away as recruits, +for very few ever return; which is not astonishing, seeing that +they serve twelve years. Secondly, as to the victualling-tax. +Every month, and sometimes every fortnight, goats, fowls, +palm-oil, eggs, and cassava bread have to be supplied to the +State troops. The burden is increasingly heavy, because +since it was first assessed the population has very much +decreased. When accused of extortion the State replies that +it pays for its produce. It does pay, at about one-twentieth +of the market value. The natives have not infrequently to +purchase produce themselves, in order to meet the demands +of the State, which they are compelled to dispose of to the +State soldiers at a much lower price than they have paid +themselves:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“Every two or three miles a sentry, with a subordinate or two, and +two or three servants from the locality, are stationed. It is part of the +sentry’s duty to see that the tax is taken up regularly, and if he does +not do so he is severely reprimanded by his chief. Now a keen-witted +soldier will see to it that he is not reprimanded, and an unprincipled +soldier will do anything to the people to wring the tax out of them, +rather than run the risk of being a marked man in the Commissaire’s +book.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>The oppression and misery which ensue can be imagined. +The result of this double pressure for men and foodstuffs has +been, naturally, to bring about a great decrease in the population. +A correspondent who knows the Bangala country well, +tells me that between 1890 and 1895 there was no perceptible +decrease in the population. The taxes were first levied in +the latter year, and in five years (1895-1900) there has been +a reduction of one-half of the population. This appalling +ratio of reduction is partly to be accounted for by the fact +that sleeping sickness is endemic in the country, and that the +withdrawal of the strongest and most virile elements of the +population to serve in the army is naturally followed by a +decline in the birth-rate. Those that are left have “the +heart wrung out of them” by the food-tax. The people +along the river are fast dying out, and the State “is forcing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_341"></a>[341]</span> +the backwood folks to start towns on the river the better to +exploit them.” In one relatively small area my correspondent +says, “Since 1890, one town half a mile long has +disappeared; another, a quarter of a mile long, has also gone; +and up a creek where there were 1500 people, there are +scarcely 400 now.”</p> + +<p>So long as Europe tolerates the <i>Domaine Privé</i>, so long +will these things be—just as long as the regenerator of +Africa and his friends can make money out of their philanthropic +undertaking and can count upon dishonest, interested, +or infatuated friends in Europe to throw dust in +the eyes of the public.</p> + +<p>There is one other feature of this unsavoury business +which must be gone into before we can close the chapter +on the <i>native</i> aspect of Congo State rule. The Congo State +invariably attempts to wriggle out of the responsibility for +these horrors, by attributing their perpetration to the +“excesses” of individual agents; and M. Jules Houdret, the +Consul-General of the Congo State for England, had the +effrontery the other day to point to the punishment of some +of the <i>Anversoise’s</i> people as affording a justification for the +State’s claim to be what it professes, viz. solicitous of the +welfare of the natives! It is a barefaced attempt to bamboozle +public opinion, as impudent as the proposal made +by the representatives of the Congo State at the Mansion +House meeting last May to “inquire” into specific acts of +cruelty brought forward. We know what these “punishments” +mean. Occasionally, with a grand flourish of +trumpets, the State announces that an agent has been +punished. The announcement generally follows each fresh +crop of revelations. One or two sub-agents are, for the time +being, made scapegoats, and everything goes on as before. +How could it be otherwise when the <span class="allsmcap">SYSTEM ITSELF</span> is what +it has been shown to be? The time has gone by when the +public can be deceived by these sophistries, by these perpetual +and frivolous excuses and denials.</p> + +<p>The edicts of the Congo State administration, coupled +with certain material facts as to which there can be no<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_342"></a>[342]</span> +dispute, show the main factors, if one may say so, of the +system of African tropical development, which it has instituted, +to be these:</p> + +<p>(1) Alienation of native ownership in land.</p> + +<p>(2) Monopoly over the products of the soil.</p> + +<p>(3) Natives forbidden to collect those products for any +one but the State, or the subsidiary trusts (<i>Domaine Privé</i> +companies, if that appellation be preferred) created by the +State, and in whose profits the State shares, generally to the +extent of 50 per cent.</p> + +<p>(4) Natives compelled to bring in rubber and ivory, and +also recruits for the native army (and for labour in the cocoa +and coffee plantations), to the State as tribute, and to supply +the subsidiary trusts with rubber and ivory.</p> + +<p>(5) The existence of a regular army of fifteen thousand<a id="FNanchor_277" href="#Footnote_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> +men armed with Albini rifles, and an unnamed number of +irregulars to enforce the rubber and ivory tribute and to +“facilitate the operations” of the subsidiary trusts.</p> + +<p>(6) White officials in receipt of instructions to devote all +their energies to the exploitation of rubber and ivory; in +plain words, to get as much rubber and ivory out of their +respective districts as they possibly can.</p> + +<p>(7) The financial existence of the State dependent upon +the rubber and ivory tribute, and upon the profits it derives +from its share in the subsidiary trusts.</p> + +<p>When on the one side you have the factors already +enumerated, and on the other a primitive and—in the face +of coercion backed by rifles of precision—helpless population, +common sense asserts that gross oppression, violence, +and every form of tyranny and outrage must be the infallible +outcome of such a system; and it is that <i>system</i> which +the Powers are morally bound to put a stop to, seeing that +it is they who are morally responsible for its existence.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_343"></a>[343]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII<br> +<span class="smaller">THE “TRADE” OF THE CONGO STATE</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>It is a little surprising to find that M. Cattier, the Belgian +Imperialist, whose masterly indictment of King Leopold’s +administration does him infinite honour, should attempt to +defend, not the outcome of the system of the <i>Domaine Privé</i> +in the shape of compulsory military service for twelve years, +forced labour in Government plantations, &c., all of which +he condemns, but the legality of the system itself. He states +his case as follows. Article V. of the Berlin Act, which +forbade monopoly and privilege in the Congo Basin in +matters of trade, was meant to apply internationally, and +the Congo State was thereby bound not to grant commercial +advantages to the subjects of any one nation which it +denied to the subjects of another nation. M. Cattier says:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p>“The Government of the Congo State could not, therefore, adopt any +legislative measure, nor establish any <i>régime</i> conceding international +monopolies or privileges.... All facilities granted to its subjects in +trade matters should be legally extended to the subjects of other nations.... +But this does not prevent the Congo State from establishing the +commercial <i>régime</i> which it thinks advisable, and no objection can be +raised against its legislative action, when the measures adopted apply, +under the same conditions and in the same manner, to the subjects of +other nationalities, including the Congo nationality.”</p> + +</div> + +<p>It follows, therefore, according to M. Cattier, that in attributing +to himself all vacant lands in the Congo Basin, from +which action arose the <i>Domaine Privé</i>, and in farming out +portions of the <i>Domaine Privé</i> to his financial friends, upon +whom he has conferred an absolute monopoly of exploitation +in the regions affected, the Sovereign of the Congo +State has not violated the Act of Berlin; although M. Cattier<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_344"></a>[344]</span> +admits that by so doing he has committed “a violation of +the rights of the natives.”</p> + +<p>This curious theory of M. Cattier’s has been dismissed by +Dr. Anton (<i>Professeur agrégé à l’Université d’Iéna</i>) as a legal +quibble, in which opinion I entirely concur. M. Cattier’s +views are mutually destructive. Admitting, for the sake of +argument merely, that the interpretation he gives to Art. V. +of the Berlin Act is, from the strictly legal aspect of the +matter, accurate; once M. Cattier attempts to put his case +in language that laymen, unversed in legal subtleties, can +understand, it breaks down hopelessly. For what does +M. Cattier tell us in the passage above? “No objection +can be raised against its (the State’s) legislative action when +the measures adopted apply under the same conditions and +in the same manner to the subjects of all nationalities, including +the Congo nationality.” But the measures adopted +do not apply equally to all nationalities! Three-fourths of +the Congo State is the State’s—that is, the king’s—private +property, and is closed to the trade of all nationalities, +except the Belgian and “Congo nationality;” not in theory +but in fact. Can an Englishman, or a German, or a Chinaman +if you like, import European merchandise in the +territory, for example, acquired by the <i>Société Anversoise</i>, and +barter that merchandise against the raw products of the +soil, on a basis of a legitimate commercial transaction? Of +course they may not. Was not an Austrian arrested—on +Lake Moëro, and on, it appears, a British steamer—only +a few months ago for trading with the natives in the Katanga +region, although he actually had a permit to trade from the +Katanga Company, given to him prior to the arrangement +arrived at by the Congo State and the Katanga Company to +work those territories on joint account? And arrested, too, +in such a way that his removal from this world was a matter +of moral certainty—handed over to the merciful treatment +of King Leopold’s cannibal soldiery, to be transported +2000 miles away; he a white man and unarmed!<a id="FNanchor_278" href="#Footnote_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a> What<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_345"></a>[345]</span> +pitiful sophistries are these which attempt the squaring of +the Congo circle! The Congo State, which undertook not +to trade directly or indirectly in its dominions, has become +not only the largest “exploiter” within it, but in the major +portion thereof the exclusive “exploiter.” The king has +translated Article V. of the Berlin Act, which reads that “no +Power which exercises or shall exercise sovereign rights in +the above-mentioned regions, shall be allowed to grant +therein a monopoly or favour of any kind in matters of +trade,” by conferring upon himself an absolute monopoly, +which has made of him the biggest ivory and rubber +merchant in the world. In this capacity he can export his +produce under special conditions, free of dues, which come +out of one of his Majesty’s pockets to go in at the other. +All this is diametrically opposed to the provisions of the +Berlin Act.</p> + +<p>My object is principally to prove that King Leopold’s +intervention in the Dark Continent has from first to last +been due to selfish motives, and has resulted in the most +appalling consequences; whether we confine ourselves to +the past and present merely, or whether we look into the +future. I must crave forgiveness for having dwelt so largely +upon matters of trade. It was, however, necessary, because +the king’s native policy is the inevitable sequel of his commercial +policy. I must, indeed, revert again to this aspect +of the question in order to refute once and for all the +untruths so sedulously fostered, that the Congo State is in a +nourishing condition and that independent trade is flourishing +within it; and in refuting it to show—which is more important—that, +were it not for the ivory and rubber which the +natives of King Leopold’s preserve are forced to produce at +the cost of constant warfare, massacres, and atrocities +innumerable, the export returns, and consequently the whole +trade of the Congo State, would be practically <i>nil</i>, or so small +as to be unworthy of attention. This can best be done by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_346"></a>[346]</span> +giving facts and figures which all the ingenious theorising +in the world cannot overcome.</p> + +<p>The following table shows the relative proportion of the +rubber and ivory exports from the Congo to the total +exports:</p> + +<h4 id="table1"><span class="smcap">Table I</span></h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <th>Year.</th> + <th>Rubber.<br>Francs.</th> + <th>Ivory.<br>Francs.</th> + <th>Total of both<br>Exports.<br>Francs.</th> + <th>Total of all<br>Exports.<br>Francs.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">15,850,987</td> + <td class="tdr">4,319,260</td> + <td class="tdr">20,170,247</td> + <td class="tdr">22,163,481</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">28,100,917</td> + <td class="tdr">5,834,620</td> + <td class="tdr">33,935,537</td> + <td class="tdr">36,067,959</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">39,874,005</td> + <td class="tdr">5,253,300</td> + <td class="tdr">45,627,305</td> + <td class="tdr">47,377,401</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1901</td> + <td class="tdr">43,965,950</td> + <td class="tdr">3,964,600</td> + <td class="tdr">47,930,550</td> + <td class="tdr">50,488,394</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>If the rubber and ivory exports are deducted from the +total exports, it will be seen that—apart from these two +products—the exports only amounted in 1898 to 1,993,234 +francs, in 1889 to 2,132,422 francs, in 1900 to 1,750,096 +francs, and in 1901 to 2,557,844 francs, about 97 per cent. +of which was represented in each year by kernels and palm-oil +shipped almost exclusively from the Lower Congo<a id="FNanchor_279" href="#Footnote_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> to +Rotterdam, by the Dutch House <i>Die Nieuwe Afrikaansche +Handels Vennootschap</i>.</p> + +<p>The next table provides statistics of the rubber and ivory +shipped home by the Congo State, as shipper, being the +proceeds of the taxes—<i>impôts de nature</i>—levied upon the +natives of the <i>Domaine Privé</i>. As will be observed, the +Congo State is at pains to conceal the real proceeds. Ever +since 1893, when the actual returns exceeded the estimates<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_347"></a>[347]</span> +by one-half, the State has never published the former. The +correct figures may, however, approximately be arrived at +by comparing the estimates with the rubber and ivory disposed +of by the State, as vendor, on the Antwerp market. +The enormous difference during these last few years between +the estimates <i>and the produce actually sold by the State</i>, possesses +a significance which will not be lost upon my readers. +Into whose pocket does the surplus go? But need we ask +the question?</p> + +<h4 id="table2"><span class="smcap">Table II</span><br> +<span class="smcap">Value of Produce (Ivory and Rubber) derived from the “Domaine +Privé” in the shape of Taxes (Impôts de Nature).</span></h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <th>Year.</th> + <th>Published returns.<br>Francs.</th> + <th colspan="2">Actual returns.<br>Francs.</th> + <th>Produce (ivory and rubber) from the <i>Domaine Privé</i>, + sold on the Antwerp market by the State’s brokers.<br>Francs.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1893</td> + <td class="tdr">237,057</td> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td class="tdr">347,396</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">Unobtainable.</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1894</td> + <td class="tdr">300,000</td> + <td class="tdr">}</td> + <td rowspan="7" class="tdc valign">Withheld from public knowledge.</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad"><i>Ibid.</i></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1895</td> + <td class="tdr">1,250,000</td> + <td class="tdr">}</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">5,500,000</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr">1,200,000</td> + <td class="tdr">}</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">6,000,000</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">3,500,000</td> + <td class="tdr">}</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">8,500,000</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">6,700,000</td> + <td class="tdr">}</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">9,000,000</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">10,000,000</td> + <td class="tdr">}</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">19,130,000</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">10,500,000</td> + <td class="tdr">}</td> + <td class="tdr">14,991,300<a id="FNanchor_280" href="#Footnote_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>It will thus be seen that, out of a total rubber and ivory +export from the Congo State in 1898 amounting to 20,170,247 +francs (see <a href="#table1">Table I.</a>), the <i>Domaine Privé</i> taxes produced +9,000,000 francs, or close upon one-half; and that out of a +total rubber and ivory export in 1899, amounting to +33,935,537 francs, the <i>Domaine Privé</i> taxes produced +19,130,000 francs, or not far short of two-thirds. The +illustration is in itself sufficient to destroy the theory of +commercial prosperity so assiduously propagated by King<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_348"></a>[348]</span> +Leopold and his friends, in order to deceive public opinion. +Such “prosperity” entails the death of many human beings. +What could, indeed, be more eloquent of the true condition +of affairs! The total exports from the Congo State in 1899 +are found (see <a href="#table1">Table I.</a>) to amount to 36,067,959 francs, of +which 33,935,537 francs are represented by rubber and +ivory, in which the Congo State’s share as tax-gatherer is no +less than 19,130,000 francs. The Congo State asserts that +it does not trade. It merely imposes taxes which every +“civilised” Power (Heaven save the mark!) has the right to +do; yet it incorporates in its so-called trade figures the yield +of its taxes! What becomes, then, of this flourishing trade +we hear so much about? On the evidence produced, it +sinks for 1889 to 16,937,959 francs (36,067,959 minus +19,130,000) instead of 36,067,959 francs, which the world is +invited to believe. In reality it does not amount to anything +like 16,937,959 francs, for the simple reason that there +is no “trade” at all in the Congo State north of Leopoldville; +and that, if we extract from the remaining figures the +exports from the Lower Congo, where genuine trade, sadly +hampered by taxation, alone exists, the balance is represented +by the shipments of the <i>Domaine Privé</i> subsidiary monopolies +in which the Congo State benefits to the extent of 50 per +cent.; and by the shipments of the Thys Trust, which is a +monopoly within a monopoly, although conducted, it is but +right to add, on different lines. Such is the “trade” of the +Congo State, the most gigantic fraud which ever came into +being to work misery upon mankind.</p> + +<p>It would be unjust not to recognise that all this sordid +history has aroused loathing and distress in the hearts of +many honourable Belgians—not confined to the Party which +opposes Colonial policy for Belgium—mainly, as I believe, +on the ground that King Leopold, in the course of his +illegalities and intrigues, will end by compromising the +neutrality of his country. It would be as equally unjust +not to express admiration for the indomitable energy displayed +by Colonel Thys in constructing the railway to +Leopoldville, as to include in the condemnation of King<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_349"></a>[349]</span> +Leopold’s <span class="allsmcap">POLICY</span> in Africa all the Belgians who have been +employed at one time or another in the State service. Sir +Harry Johnston has recently lent the weight of his name in +favour of the Congo State, in respect to the “very small +portion” of the State which he has visited. Sir Harry +Johnston might have added that the rubber laws are not in +full operation in the “very small portion” of the country he +visited, and that the Belgian officers with whom he came in +contact have not been employed in that degrading business, +their duties in that particular region being confined to +strengthening the obscure political aims which King Leopold +is pursuing in the Nile Valley. For a description of the +state of affairs prevailing south of the “very small portion” +of the Congo State alluded to, Mr. Grogan’s volume, +and Mr. Robert Codrington’s recently published “Travel +and Trade Routes in Northern Rhodesia and adjacent +Parts of East Central Africa,”<a id="FNanchor_281" href="#Footnote_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> together with the revelations +attending the treatment meted out to the late Mr. Rabinek +by the officials of the State, may be consulted with advantage. +It would be an insult to Sir Harry Johnston—who has himself +condemned the system of territorial concessions—to +suggest that he desires in any way to bolster up the Congo +State; but it is certainly a thousand pities that he has committed +himself, even partially, to statements which, however +accurate in themselves, cannot fail to exercise an unfortunate +influence, without making himself acquainted with the +general system under which the Congo State is run. When +the nature of that system is understood, it becomes an +outrage upon common sense and common decency to write +one word in extenuation of the system, or of the man who +has originated it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_350"></a>[350]</span></p> + +<p>M. Cattier, to whose work I have several times alluded, +represents the type of Belgian who, convinced of the +necessity of a colonial programme for Belgium, has sufficient +perspicacity to realise, and sufficient courage to assert, that +the policy of King Leopold in the Congo State carries +within it the germs of death. How true this is, the reader +must judge for himself; but it is at least significant that +among a section of French Colonial writers who think they +see in the recent abandonment of M. Beernaert’s Annexation +Bill, at the king’s dictation, the final postponement by +Belgium and the consequent assertion—at some future date—of +France’s right of pre-emption, are beginning to ask +themselves whether the king’s ultimate aim is not to continue +for some years longer his “ruinous exploitation” of the +Congo State; and then, when uprisings have reached such a +scale that the king’s cannibal army, however large it may +by that time have become, is powerless to cope with them; +and when whole tracts of the richest and most easily +accessible rubber districts have been irretrievably impaired, +to offer the squeezed lemon, for a consideration, to his +Gallic neighbours. If the pernicious <i>régime</i> which King +Leopold has inaugurated in Africa were confined to the +Congo State, it would still be sufficient, one might have +thought, to stir the conscience of Europe, if not for the +sake of her own dignity outraged in the violation of solemn +obligations, if not for the sake of humanity, then for the +sake of the future relations of black man and white man in +Central Africa. But, as we have seen, the <i>régime</i> is +spreading, and with every year that passes it threatens more +acutely all legitimate European enterprise in Africa.<a id="FNanchor_282" href="#Footnote_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_351"></a>[351]</span></p> + +<p>This accursed <i>Domaine Privé</i>, and all the evils it has +brought with it, cannot last for ever. Like all such “negations +of God” it will perish. But what will remain behind +for Europe, when the Congo State has passed away, to deal +with? A vast region, peopled by fierce Bantu races, with +an undying hatred of the white implanted in their breasts; +a great army of cannibal levies, drilled in the science of +forest warfare, perfected in the usage of modern weapons +of destruction<a id="FNanchor_283" href="#Footnote_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a>—savages whose one lesson learned from +contact with European “civilisation” has been improvement +in the art of killing their neighbours; disciplined in +the science of slaughter; eager to seize upon the first +opportunity which presents itself of turning their weapons +against their temporary masters; rendered more desperate, +more dangerous, more debased than before the advent of +King Leopold’s rubber collectors, who, by way of regeneration, +have grafted upon the native’s failings, born of +ignorance, the worst vices of the Africanised civilisation of +modern Europe—cupidity, hypocrisy, cruelty, and lust.</p> + +<p>In their own most obvious interests, for the sake of +humanity and right, in the name of enlightened statesmanship<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_352"></a>[352]</span> +and political common sense, the Powers cannot allow +the disease introduced into West and Central Africa by +King Leopold of Belgium to be farther extended. Nor do +their responsibilities end there. The source of the disease +must be dealt with. The canker must be rooted out and +cast upon the dunghill. The Congo State must be called +to account for its crimes against civilisation; for its outrages +upon humanity; for the unparalleled and irreparable +mischief it has committed.</p> + +<p>And what a warning lies here for the Western nations! +The Congo State is the living embodiment of the evil +counsels, so lavishly, so thoughtlessly given in connection +with native policy in West Africa. In the Congo State +we see what these counsels lead to when put into practice. +All this talk about the puerility of preserving land tenure, +the futility of maintaining native institutions, the efficacy of +punitive expeditions, the necessity of teaching the native +“the dignity of labour,” the cry for territorial concessions, +the advocacy of monopoly, and all legislative acts framed in +accordance with these views, or with some of them, tend to +produce in greater or less degree a state of affairs in +Western Africa similar to that which prevails on the Congo. +In the case of the Powers, the motives may be of the very +best, the intentions honest and sincere; but if once the thin +end of the wedge be driven home; if once legislation be +passed or acts sanctioned which are founded upon a repudiation +of the inherent right of the native to his land and +the fruits thereof; if once it be officially admitted that it is +legitimate to force the native to give under compulsion that +which is purchasable on fair terms, we are committed to a +policy of reaction of which no man can prophesy the consequences +or the end. To those conceptions Tropical Africa +opposes her vastness, her climate, and the prolific nature +of her peoples. They can be tried; apparent success may +attend them for a time; lasting success they will never +secure. Tropical Africa <i>cannot permanently be held down +by force</i>, and in attempting to do so by placing modern<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_353"></a>[353]</span> +engines of destruction in the hands of Africans, Europe +will be but digging the grave of her ambitions on African +soil.</p> + +<p>But Europe can achieve a great work in Tropical Africa +for good, and benefit her own peoples in doing so. To +divorce the two is impossible. Evil wrought in Tropical +Africa will have its aftermath in Europe. The European +has need of the Negro, and the Negro of the European. +In occupying the country of the Negro, Europe has assumed +a great responsibility. It is well, perhaps, European statesmen +should occasionally be reminded, that for Europe to +forget the moral responsibility in pursuing the material +ends is to invite a certain Nemesis. These pages cannot +be more fittingly closed than by recalling the words of a +wise and good woman, who understood the nature and +immensity of the problem:</p> + +<p>“Not only do the negroes not die off in the face of white +civilisation in Africa, but they have increased in America, +whereto they were taken by the slave trade. This fact urges +on us the belief that these negroes are a great world race—a +race not passing off the stage of affairs, but one that has +an immense amount of history before it. The moulding of +that history is in the hands of the European, whose superior +activity and superior power in arts and crafts give the +mastery; but all that this mastery gives is the power to +make the future of the negro and the European prosperous, +or to make it one of disaster to both alike. Whatever we +do in Africa to-day, a thousand years hence there will be +Africans to thrive or suffer for it.”<a id="FNanchor_284" href="#Footnote_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a></p> + +<p class="right">E. D. M.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_354"></a>[354]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_355"></a>[355]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="APPENDIX">APPENDIX</h2> + +</div> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="SIERRA_LEONE">SIERRA LEONE</h3> + +<h4>EXPENDITURE, LOANS, EXPORT TRADE, RAILWAY</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th>Expenditure<br>1897-1902.</th> + <th><span class="pad">Export Trade</span><br>1897-1902.<a id="FNanchor_285" href="#Footnote_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">£112,000</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">£361,747</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">121,000</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">267,156</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">145,000</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">307,929</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">156,000</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">317,980</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1901</td> + <td class="tdr">173,457<a id="FNanchor_286" href="#Footnote_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">265,433</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1902</td> + <td class="tdr">177,882<a id="FNanchor_287" href="#Footnote_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a></td> + <td class="tdr"></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h4>RAILWAY</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th>Railway Expenditure<br>1899-1902.<br>(Included in<br>total expenditure.)</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">£10,493</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">23,320</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1901</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">19,642</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1902</td> + <td class="tdr">23,606<a id="FNanchor_288" href="#Footnote_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h4>LOANS FOR RAILWAY</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>Amounts advanced to end 1900</td> + <td class="tdr">£307,539</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Loan authorised</td> + <td class="tdr">631,000</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>First section, 32 miles, formally opened May 1st, 1899.</p> + +<p>Second section, 23¼ miles, “taken over by the open line,” end 1900.</p> + +<p>Third section, 80½ miles, in course of construction.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_356"></a>[356]</span></p> + +<p>According to the statement forwarded by the Local Traders’ Association +of Freetown to Sir A. King-Harman in 1901, the third section of the +railway (to Bo) will entail an annual charge on the Colony of £11,000, +plus a further sum of £6000 for “increased cost of administering and +operating.”</p> + +<h4>FOR MILITARY PURPOSES</h4> + +<p>Annual charge of £6000 for eight years from 1899 on account of the +sums advanced by the Imperial Treasury for the Hut-tax war.</p> + +<h4>THE PROTECTORATE</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <th rowspan="2"></th> + <th colspan="3">Expenditure 1898-1902.</th> + <th rowspan="2">Revenue<br>1898-1901.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Civil.</th> + <th>Military.</th> + <th>Total.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">£10,455</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">£20,634</span></td> + <td class="tdr">£31,089</td> + <td class="tdr">£7,754</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">14,124</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">25,672</span></td> + <td class="tdr">39,796</td> + <td class="tdr">21,943</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">17,000</span></td> + <td class="tdr">23,499<a id="FNanchor_289" href="#Footnote_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a></td> + <td class="tdr">40,499</td> + <td class="tdr">33,468</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1901</td> + <td class="tdr">25,767<a id="FNanchor_290" href="#Footnote_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a></td> + <td class="tdr">23,707<a id="FNanchor_291" href="#Footnote_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a></td> + <td class="tdr">49,474</td> + <td class="tdr">38,347</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1902<a id="FNanchor_292" href="#Footnote_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">24,807</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">24,911</span></td> + <td class="tdr">49,718</td> + <td class="tdr"></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="GOLD_COAST">GOLD COAST</h3> + +<h4>EXPENDITURE, LOANS, EXPORT TRADE, RAILWAY</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <th colspan="2">Expenditure<br>1897-1900<br>(Inclusive.)<a id="FNanchor_293" href="#Footnote_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a></th> + <th colspan="2">Liabilities incurred<br>1897-1902.<br>(Incomplete.)</th> + <th colspan="2">Export trade<br>1897-1900.<br>(Inclusive.)<a id="FNanchor_294" href="#Footnote_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">£406,370</td> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">£ nil.</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">377,976</td> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">265,000</td> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">£857,793</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">309,656</td> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">100,000</td> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">992,998</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">272,303</td> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">928,300</td> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">1,111,738</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td>1902</td> + <td class="tdr">1,035,000</td> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">885,446</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Total</td> + <td class="tdr bt">£1,366,305</td> + <td class="tdr">Total</td> + <td class="tdr bt">£2,328,300</td> + <td class="tdr">Total</td> + <td class="tdr bt">£3,847,975</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_357"></a>[357]</span></p> + +<p>Expenditure, £1,366,305; Liabilities incurred (incomplete), £2,328,300 +Export trade, £3,847,975.</p> + +<p>The Gold Coast Report for 1901 has not yet been published. +According to the statement made this year before the Legislative +Council of the Colony by Sir Matthew Nathan, the Imperial Government +advanced £400,000 on account of the last Ashanti expedition, but whether +this sum includes the £202,300 advanced for the same purpose in 1900 +is not clear. Assuming that it does, the liabilities incurred by the +Colony from 1897 to 1902 inclusive will amount: (1) Loans by Imperial +Government, £1,491,000; (2) Gold Coast Government Loan, £1,035,000; +Total, £2,328,300.</p> + +<p>The Ashanti Blue Book (1901) estimated the total cost of administrating +Ashanti at about £60,000 per annum. According to Sir Matthew +Nathan’s statement referred to above, the expenditure in 1902 may be set +down at £107,148. Assuming these figures to be correct, the total +expenditure in Ashanti from 1897 to 1902 (reckoning an expenditure of +£60,000 in 1901) works out at the very large figure of £319,385, entirely +exclusive of grants-in-aid (assuming the £202,300 in 1900 to be +incorporated in the £400,000 advance), amounting to £695,000. Up to +and including 1900, the revenue of Ashanti was £3406. In the Ashanti +Blue Book already mentioned, the annual revenue for Ashanti is estimated +at £14,600, less 10 per cent. to the Chiefs (<i>i.e.</i> less £1460). Assuming +this amount to have been collected in 1901 and 1902, the total revenue +for Ashanti from 1897 to 1902 inclusive amounted to £29,686, against an +expenditure of £319,385, and grants-in-aid to the amount of £695,000.</p> + +<p>These figures should be borne in mind when examining the following +tables, which do not go farther than 1900, that is to say, as far as the last +issued Colonial Office Report.</p> + +<h4>EXPENDITURE, GRANTS-IN-AID, AND REVENUE OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORIES AND ASHANTI<br> +1897-1900 inclusive</h4> + +<h5>TOTALS</h5> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th>Expenditure.</th> + <th>Grants-in-Aid.</th> + <th>Revenue.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Northern Territories</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">£213,338</span></td> + <td class="tdr">£195,000</td> + <td class="tdr">£7,736</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ashanti</td> + <td class="tdr">175,450<a id="FNanchor_295" href="#Footnote_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a></td> + <td class="tdr">202,300</td> + <td class="tdr">3,406</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_358"></a>[358]</span></p> + +<h5>DETAILED</h5> + +<h6>NORTHERN TERRITORIES</h6> + +<table> + <tr> + <th colspan="2">Expenditure.</th> + <th colspan="2">Grants-in-Aid.</th> + <th colspan="2">Revenue.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897-98</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">£121,022</span></td> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">£45,000</td> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdc">Nil.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">54,875</span></td> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">100,000</td> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">37,441<a id="FNanchor_296" href="#Footnote_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a></td> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">50,000</td> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td>1900<a id="FNanchor_297" href="#Footnote_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a></td> + <td class="tdr">£7,736</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h6>ASHANTI</h6> + +<table> + <tr> + <th colspan="2">Expenditure.<br>Ordinary.</th> + <th colspan="2">Expenditure.<br>Extraordinary.</th> + <th colspan="2">Revenue.</th> + <th colspan="2">Grants-in-Aid.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">£13,723</td> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">£151,614<a id="FNanchor_298" href="#Footnote_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a></td> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdc">Nil.</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">4,304</td> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">603</span></td> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">2,608</td> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">20</span></td> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">2,578</td> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">Not given.</span></td> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">£3,406</td> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">£202,300</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h4>RAILWAY</h4> + +<p>Position December 31st, 1901: Completed, say, 45 miles;<a id="FNanchor_299" href="#Footnote_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> sum +expended, £389,869.<a id="FNanchor_300" href="#Footnote_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a></p> + +<p>Loans from the Imperial Treasury: 1898, £220,000 (Railway +Ordinance);<a id="FNanchor_301" href="#Footnote_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> 1900, £676,000 (“certain public works, railway construction,” +etc.)<a id="FNanchor_302" href="#Footnote_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a></p> + +<p>Future: Officially expected to reach Obuassi end 1902.</p> + +<p>Gold Coast Loan: 1902, £1,035,000, “to defray cost of constructing +a railway 169¼ miles from Sekondi to Kumasi.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_359"></a>[359]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="LAGOS">LAGOS</h3> + +<h4>EXPENDITURE, LOANS, EXPORT TRADE, RAILWAY</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <th colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Expenditure</span>, 1891-1902-03</th> + <th><span class="smcap">Liabilities Incurred</span></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1891</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">£66,388</span></td> + <td rowspan="12"> +<p>“The amount of the debt of the Colony on 31st March 1901 was +£972,902. This debt has been incurred solely for the building +of the railway from Lagos to Ibadan, the tramway from Lagos +to Iddo, the Abbeokuta branch of the railway, and the bridges from +Lagos Island to the mainland.</p> +<p>“The Legislature has sanctioned the borrowing of £1,053,700 for these purposes.”<a id="FNanchor_304" href="#Footnote_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a></p> +<p>It is recognised that the above amount will not be sufficient to defray the entire cost.</p> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1892</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">86,513</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1893</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">101,251</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1894</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">124,829</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1895</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">144,483</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">168,444</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">182,668</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">203,802</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">223,289</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900-1901</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">187,124</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1901-1902</td> + <td class="tdr">231,597<a id="FNanchor_303" href="#Footnote_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1902-1903</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">240,718</span></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h4>EXPORT TRADE</h4> + +<p class="center">(These figures include the export of specie.)</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>1891</td> + <td class="tdc">—</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1892</td> + <td class="tdc">—</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1893</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">£836,295</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1894</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">821,682</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1895</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">985,595</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">975,263</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">810,975</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">882,329</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="pad">915,934</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900-1901</td> + <td class="tdr">831,257<a id="FNanchor_305" href="#Footnote_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Owing to the intelligent way in which the Report for 1900-1901 is +prepared, it is possible to separate the specie from the total exports for +the years 1896-1900, 1901, as given in that Report. The total exports, +less specie, for the above-mentioned period were as follows:</p> + +<h4>EXPORT, LESS SPECIE</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr">£906,393</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">740,179</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">821,112</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">834,358</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900-1901</td> + <td class="tdr">705,237</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_360"></a>[360]</span></p> + +<p>There are special reasons to account for the heavy fall in 1900-1901. +Nevertheless, a glance at the expenditure and export columns cannot +fail to accentuate the fact that the growth in expenditure is incommensurate +with the increase in the purchasing power of the Colony. The +financial future of Lagos now depends entirely on the railway. When +the entire sum authorised has been expended, which will be this year, I +believe, and other expenses are added thereto, it is estimated that the +railway will have cost about £9000 to £10,000 per mile. In this connection +the Dahomey figures should be consulted.</p> + +<p>The notes in the expenditure column include, of course, moneys +expended on public works. The growth in expenditure and the relation +it bears to the producing capacity of the country would, perhaps, appear +even more clearly if the expenditure totals were given, minus the expenditure +on public works. It has not been possible to satisfactorily separate +them in every case; but, as a simple illustration, 1893 and 1900 may be +compared.</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th>Ordinary expenditure.</th> + <th>Export trade.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1893</td> + <td class="tdr">£75,207</td> + <td class="tdr">£836,295</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">131,742</td> + <td class="tdr">831,257</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>It will thus be seen that whereas, within the period given—eight years—ordinary +expenditure has nearly doubled, the producing power of the +country is found, at the close of the eighth year, to be stationary. It +may be argued, and justly, that the area of the Protectorate has been +extended since 1893. But the point is, <i>the way these dependencies are +managed</i>. Is not the management carried out upon altogether too +elaborate and expensive a scale? Does this increase in ordinary +expenditure correspond with an increase in the production, that is to say, +in the prosperity of the colony and the people of the colony? If it does +not, no special knowledge of political economy is required to predict +that, if the system be not modified in the future, the steadily increasing +expenditure will, before very long, act as a positive deterrent upon the +producing power of the country. In fact, there is sufficient evidence to +justify the fear that in some instances this stage has already been reached.</p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="COMPARATIVE_TABLES">COMPARATIVE TABLES OF IMPORT DUTIES IN VOGUE IN LAGOS AND DAHOMEY</h3> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th><span class="smcap">Dahomey.</span></th> + <th colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Lagos.</span></th> + <th>In favour of</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Tobacco (manufactured)</td> + <td>2⅙d. per lb.</td> + <td></td> + <td>8d. per lb.</td> + <td>Dahomey.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span> (unmanufactured)</td> + <td>2⅙d. <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td></td> + <td>4d. <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Gunpowder</td> + <td>2⅙d. <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td></td> + <td>6d. <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Trade guns</td> + <td>1s. 7⅕d. each</td> + <td></td> + <td>2s. 6d. each</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Kerosene</td> + <td>0⅜d. per gallon</td> + <td></td> + <td class="nw">2d. per gallon</td> + <td class="tdc">”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_361"></a>[361]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Salt rock</td> + <td class="nw">11s. 4½d. per ton</td> + <td></td> + <td>20s. per ton</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span> sea</td> + <td>4s. 10½d. <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td></td> + <td>20s. <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Lead</td> + <td>⅑d. per lb.</td> + <td></td> + <td>1d. per lb.</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Coal</td> + <td>Free of duty</td> + <td></td> + <td class="nw">Pays duty 10%</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Fresh fruit and seeds</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td></td> + <td>Pay <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Tools of all kinds (<i>i.e.</i> mechanical, agricultural, etc.)</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td><a id="FNanchor_306" href="#Footnote_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a></td> + <td>Pay ” </td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Furniture</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td><a id="FNanchor_307" href="#Footnote_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a></td> + <td>Pays <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h4>SILKS, VELVETS, COTTONS AND PRINTS</h4> + +<p>In Dahomey these articles pay duty on their weight; in Lagos the +tax is an <i>ad valorem</i> one. How these different duties work out in practice +can only be ascertained by giving specific instances. The following +examples are taken from actual shipments:</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Dahomey.</span><br>50 c. per kilo.</th> + <th colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Lagos.</span><br>10 per cent.<br><i>ad valorem.</i></th> + <th>In favour of</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th>£</th> + <th>s.</th> + <th>d.</th> + <th>£</th> + <th>s.</th> + <th>d.</th> + <th></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="nw">Silk shipment of £50 value—38 kilos weight</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td class="tdr">15</td> + <td class="tdr">3</td> + <td class="tdr">5</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td>Dahomey.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Velvet shipment of £90 value—384½ kilos</td> + <td class="tdr">7</td> + <td class="tdr">13</td> + <td class="tdr">9</td> + <td class="tdr">7</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td>Lagos.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cottons shipment of £52 value—659 kilos</td> + <td class="tdr">13</td> + <td class="tdr">3</td> + <td class="tdr">7</td> + <td class="tdr">5</td> + <td class="tdr">4</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Prints shipment of £100 value—979 kilos</td> + <td class="tdr">19</td> + <td class="tdr">12</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td class="tdr">10</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h4>SPIRITS</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th><span class="smcap">Dahomey.</span></th> + <th><span class="smcap">Lagos.</span></th> + <th>In favour of</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Brandy, rum, &c., 18/20 under proof, equals 46° Tralles, at 1f. 20c. per hectolitre per degree plus 5c. for bottles</td> + <td class="nw valign">2s. 1d. per gallon</td> + <td class="nw valign">3s. per gallon</td> + <td class="valign">Dahomey.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Gin 0° to 20° Tralles</td> + <td>1s. 9½d. <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Gin 20° to 50° <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>2s. 8⅖d. <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Gin 57° proof (Sykes)</td> + <td>3s. 1d. <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td>Lagos.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Alcohol:</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>68 over-proof—96° Tralles</td> + <td>4s. 2¼d.</td> + <td>5s. 0¼d.</td> + <td>Dahomey.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>60 <span class="ditto2">”</span> —91° <span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>4s.</td> + <td>4s. 9⅗d.</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_362"></a>[362]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="THE_DAHOMEY_RAILWAY">THE DAHOMEY RAILWAY</h3> + +<h4>LENGTH—ESTIMATED COST—FINANCE—PRESENT POSITION—GENERAL REMARKS</h4> + +<h5><span class="smcap">Kotonu-tcharu (Tchaourou)</span></h5> + +<p>Length, 605 kilometres, or 377 miles, in two sections. First section, +Kotonu-Acheribe (Atcheribe). Second section, Acheribe-Tcharu.</p> + +<p>Length of first section, 186 kilometres, or say 115 miles. Estimated +cost of first section, 63,000 francs per kilometre. Estimated total cost of +first section, 11,718,000 francs.</p> + +<p>In English figures<a id="FNanchor_308" href="#Footnote_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a>—Total estimated cost of first section, 115 miles +long, £468,740, or say £4076 per mile.</p> + +<p>It is intended to subsequently carry on this line from Tcharu to +Karimama on the Niger.</p> + +<h4>RESULTS AS FAR AS AT PRESENT KNOWN</h4> + +<p>Actual work commenced May 1, 1900. In March 1902, 82 kilometres, +or say 51 miles, of embankment, earthworks and “ouvrages d’art” +complete, were handed over to the Concessionnaire, who is called upon to +provide and lay down sleepers and rails, provide rolling-stock, &c. Fifty +more kilometres, or say 32 miles, similarly complete, were ready at the +date mentioned to be handed over to the Concessionnaire. The Colony, +which has itself undertaken the work, has thus prepared in less than two +years 132 kilometres, or say 82 miles of line. The chief difficulties met +with have been in crossing the swamps between Kotonu and Godomey, +the marshy streams of Whydah and the Pahu lagoon, where the earthworks +are 26 feet high. To fill up a depression of 16 feet in the centre of +the lagoon 40,000 cubic metres of sand and earth were required. A +distance of 12 kilometres between Wagbo (Ouagbo) and Taffo required +75,000 cubic metres of embankment. In the crossing of the Lama +2500 workmen were continuously employed for five months in placing +80,000 cubic metres of gravel. All the labour was found in the Colony. +The number of natives continuously employed has varied from 3500 to +5000, <i>entirely recruited through the Chiefs</i>. There has been no trouble with +the workmen, and no police force has been employed on the works. +The export trade of the Colony has not suffered during the process, notwithstanding +the withdrawal of so large a quantity of labour from the +farms; but, indeed, has increased,<a id="FNanchor_309" href="#Footnote_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> a tribute to the wisdom of leaving the +<i>recruiting entirely in the hands of the Chiefs</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_363"></a>[363]</span></p> + +<h4>FINANCE</h4> + +<p>The Colony undertakes the cutting embankment, earthworks, &c., +everything but the laying of the rails, sleepers, the providing of the same, +rolling-stock, stations and so forth.</p> + +<p>It has undertaken to advance for five years <i>out of its own local resources</i> +a sum of one million francs, say £40,000 annually. For 1901 the Colony +undertook to provide £60,000, instead of £40,000.</p> + +<h4>GENERAL REMARKS</h4> + +<p>The French accurately claim that their railway will carry them much +farther inland for a given distance covered than the Lagos railway with +the big curve eastward which it takes from Abbeokuta; whereas they are +pushing their line almost due north, and at their present rate of progress, +in comparison with the time taken over the British line, their iron horse +will have penetrated very much farther into the interior than Ilorin, long +before the British line creeps up to that place. Upon this premise they +base a number of conclusions, the first and foremost of which is that the +French line will thus be able to capture the inland traffic which finds its +way into the Lagos hinterland from the Niger, along the Nikki road (the +French have a “post” at Nikki, which is a great centre for the caravan +traffic), and to drain the western portion of Sokoto, to the detriment +naturally of Lagos and Northern Nigeria. Well, in Northern Nigeria +we do not seem to care much about trade, the military and political policy +being more showy, albeit a nice little bill will have to be met presently, +for the showy policy cannot be indulged in in West Africa without having +to pay the piper some day. But in the case of Lagos it is a different +affair, and the French argument is worth looking into. There can be no +doubt that if the Concessionnaire of the Dahomey line lays his rails and +provides his rolling-stock at the same ratio of speed as the Colony has +performed its share of the work, the contention that the French rail-head +will in a couple of years be carried deeper into the interior is correct. +That the Concessionnaire will do so is, of course, an assumption. He has +been engaged in quarrelling with his contractors for a considerable time, +but now it appears he is seriously setting to work; at least, that is the +information I get from Lagos. It is equally true that the French line, +when it has reached its terminus at the 377th mile, will plunge into a +network of trade roads, branching eastwards to Lagos and westwards to +Togo, and will have an excellent chance of diverting the flow of the +internal commerce from both those Colonies. To that extent Lagos will +probably be a loser, because the African is very conservative and will +cling to his old trade routes rather than abandon them for new ones, and +naturally the French railway will benefit him. But the French, perhaps, +forget that the Lagos line, as far as Ibadan, at any rate—as far, that is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_364"></a>[364]</span> +to say, as it goes at present—does not rely upon inland traffic for its +existence. It will be fed locally by the increased production which will +accrue along its line of march by the conversion of thousands of carriers +of produce, into cultivators and reapers of produce. Between Ibadan and +Ilorin, it cannot hope to do much anyhow. Beyond Ilorin again, +increased local production will feed it, Nupe being a rich and well-populated +country. If the British line remains stationary at Ibadan for +many years, however, the danger from its French competitor, supposing +the latter to follow a progressive construction, would certainly become +more acute. Here, again, the question of finance comes in, and the +French Colony is decidedly better off. What greater contrast could, +indeed, be imagined?—Lagos in debt to the tune of over a million, +burdened for all time with an annual drain of £50,000, while Dahomey is +not in debt to the extent of one penny, and cheerfully advances £60,000 +in one year to the works of construction out of its surplus funds! As for +the <i>cost</i> of construction, if the French estimates hold good, or anywhere +near it, the French line will be built at about half the cost of its British +competitor.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>Since the above remarks were written news has been received that 65 +kilometres of the railway were opened to traffic in September, and that +rail-head is expected to reach Abomey in January next.</p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="FRENCH_GUINEA_RAILWAY">FRENCH GUINEA RAILWAY</h3> + +<h4>LENGTH. ESTIMATED COST. FINANCE. PRESENT POSITION</h4> + +<h5><span class="smcap">Konakry-Kurussa</span> <i>viâ</i> <span class="smcap">Timbo</span></h5> + +<p>Length, 550 kilometres, or 342 miles.</p> + +<p>Highest estimated cost of line, 80,000 francs per kilometre.</p> + +<p>Highest estimated total cost, 44,000,000 francs.</p> + +<p>First section, Konakry-Kandia, 150 kilometres, or say 92 miles.</p> + +<p>In English figures: Total estimated cost of line, 342 miles long, +£1,700,000; or say, roughly, about £5140 per mile.</p> + +<h4>RESULTS UP TO DATE, ACCORDING TO THE REPORT OF +THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF FRENCH WEST AFRICA IN +JUNE LAST</h4> + +<p>The earthworks have reached Kandia at the 149th kilometre (say 92nd +mile).</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_365"></a>[365]</span></p> + +<p>With the exception of two places, between the 27th and 44th kilometre, +and between the 90th and 107th kilometre, the earthworks and +embankment, &c. are finished and in good condition. One steel bridge +thirty-three yards long is already fixed up, and two others are in process +of being so. The 34 kilometres which remain are being proceeded with +rapidly. Seventeen hundred workmen are continuously engaged thereon. +Rails and sleepers are being regularly landed at Konakry. The first locomotive +has arrived. By October the rolling-stock complete for the first +150 kilometres, say 92 miles, will have arrived in the Colony.</p> + +<h4>FINANCE</h4> + +<p>For the first section the Colony borrowed from the “Caisse des +Retraites,” on its own guarantee, eight million francs (£320,000), at 4 10% +in August 1899; and four million francs (£160,000) at 4% from the +“Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations” in March 1901. The first loan is +to be paid back in forty annual payments, and the second in twenty-five +annual payments, the two annuities together amounting to 430,000 francs, +or say £17,200.</p> + +<p>These loans will be further supplemented by drafts upon the Colony’s +local funds.</p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="WEST_AFRICAN_MAHOGANY_TRADE">WEST AFRICAN MAHOGANY TRADE</h3> + +<h4>IMPORTS OF WEST AFRICAN MAHOGANY INTO EUROPEAN PORTS IN THE YEARS 1898-1901</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">40,167</td> + <td>tons</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">48,902</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">55,959</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1901</td> + <td class="tdr">44,582</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h4>DESTINATION OF IMPORTS IN 1901</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>Liverpool</td> + <td class="tdr">29,312</td> + <td>tons</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>London</td> + <td class="tdr">6,998</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Glasgow</td> + <td class="tdr">278</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Germany</td> + <td class="tdr">4,735</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>France</td> + <td class="tdr">3,259</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_366"></a>[366]</span></p> + +<h4>IMPORTS, IN SUPERFICIAL FEET, OF WEST AFRICAN +MAHOGANY INTO LIVERPOOL FOR THE PAST 13 YEARS</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>Sup. ft.</td> + <td>1889</td> + <td class="tdr">68,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>1890</td> + <td class="tdr">259,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>1891</td> + <td class="tdr">1,600,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>1892</td> + <td class="tdr">3,000,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>1893</td> + <td class="tdr">4,984,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>1894</td> + <td class="tdr">4,700,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>1895</td> + <td class="tdr">3,400,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>1896</td> + <td class="tdr">5,098,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>1897</td> + <td class="tdr">8,134,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>1898</td> + <td class="tdr">10,519,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>1899</td> + <td class="tdr">13,508,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>1900</td> + <td class="tdr">14,034,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> + <td>1901</td> + <td class="tdr">11,652,000</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h4>IMPORT, CONSUMPTION AND STOCK OF WEST AFRICAN MAHOGANY INTO LIVERPOOL +1898-1901</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th colspan="2">1898.</th> + <th colspan="2">1899.</th> + <th colspan="2">1900.</th> + <th colspan="2">1901.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Import</span></td> + <td class="tdr">10,519,000</td> + <td>ft.</td> + <td class="tdr">13,508,000</td> + <td>ft.</td> + <td class="tdr">14,034,000</td> + <td>ft.</td> + <td class="tdr">11,652,000</td> + <td>ft.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Consumption</span></td> + <td class="tdr">10,571,000</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdr">13,496,000</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdr">13,764,000</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdr">11,978,000</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Stock</span></td> + <td class="tdr">633,000</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdr">645,000</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdr">915,000</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + <td class="tdr">589,000</td> + <td class="tdc">”</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h4>IMPORTS OF WEST AFRICAN MAHOGANY INTO LIVERPOOL FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS +OF 1901 AND 1902 RESPECTIVELY</h4> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th colspan="12"><span class="smcap">Logs</span></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th colspan="2">January.</th> + <th colspan="2">February.</th> + <th colspan="2">March.</th> + <th colspan="2">April.</th> + <th colspan="2">May.</th> + <th colspan="2">June.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th>1901.</th> + <th>1902.</th> + <th>1901.</th> + <th>1902.</th> + <th>1901.</th> + <th>1902.</th> + <th>1901.</th> + <th>1902.</th> + <th>1901.</th> + <th>1902.</th> + <th>1901.</th> + <th>1902.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Lagos</td> + <td class="tdr">1558</td> + <td class="tdr">799</td> + <td class="tdr">767</td> + <td class="tdr">184</td> + <td class="tdr">386</td> + <td class="tdr">120</td> + <td class="tdr">311</td> + <td class="tdr">42</td> + <td class="tdr">210</td> + <td class="tdr">43</td> + <td class="tdr">72</td> + <td class="tdr">114</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Benin</td> + <td class="tdr">202</td> + <td class="tdr">599</td> + <td class="tdr">62</td> + <td class="tdr">376</td> + <td class="tdr">69</td> + <td class="tdr">—</td> + <td class="tdr">121</td> + <td class="tdr">181</td> + <td class="tdr">56</td> + <td class="tdr">66</td> + <td class="tdr">77</td> + <td class="tdr">—</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Sapeli</td> + <td class="tdr">65</td> + <td class="tdr">49</td> + <td class="tdr">44</td> + <td class="tdr">44</td> + <td class="tdr">58</td> + <td class="tdr">—</td> + <td class="tdr">87</td> + <td class="tdr">89</td> + <td class="tdr">36</td> + <td class="tdr">42</td> + <td class="tdr">77</td> + <td class="tdr">—</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="nw">Other West African Ports</td> + <td class="tdr">2373</td> + <td class="tdr">626</td> + <td class="tdr">505</td> + <td class="tdr">1130</td> + <td class="tdr">264</td> + <td class="tdr">198</td> + <td class="tdr">604</td> + <td class="tdr">617</td> + <td class="tdr">206</td> + <td class="tdr">502</td> + <td class="tdr">320</td> + <td class="tdr">114</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_367"></a>[367]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="THE_GOLD_COAST_MINING_INDUSTRY">THE GOLD COAST MINING INDUSTRY</h3> + +<p>Having but casually referred to the Gold Coast mining industry, it has +been suggested to me that a few remarks might be contributed to the +subject in an Appendix. I am somewhat reluctant to write anything on +the point, because I know absolutely nothing about mining; and the +opinions I have formed, such as they are, are the outcome (1) of conversations +with a number of men who are more or less experts, and have +formed their views of the prospects of the Gold Coast mining industry +from personal investigation on the spot; (2) the perusal of a quantity of +reports by Companies which are operating and prospecting ... and by +Companies which are doing nothing at all but squander their shareholders’ +money; (3) historical research and study of the past performances of the +Gold Coast as a gold producer. Beyond that I have no knowledge +whatever; nothing but opinions, which perhaps the reader will kindly bear +in mind when perusing the following notes.</p> + +<p>There is not the slightest doubt that gold exists in considerable +quantities in West Africa. The earliest records we have of any trade at +all being done on the West Coast of Africa is a trade in gold dust. The +external trade of West Africa dates back to the period when the Negroes +beheld the Carthaginian galleys bearing down upon their shores. The +internal gold trade of West Africa is probably even more remote—but +there we enter the domain of conjecture.</p> + +<p>There is not the slightest doubt that the Portuguese, Dutch, English, +French, and so on, obtained enormous quantities of gold from the Gold +Coast.</p> + +<p>For many years the gold <i>trade</i> in the Gold Coast has practically been +a thing of the past. The gold <i>trade</i>, as a trade, is long since dead.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of last century the great gold store—which had been +accumulating for ages—of the Coast peoples of the Gold Coast became +exhausted. At that period the Ashantis, farther inland, still retained +large quantities of gold ostentatiously displayed. James, Bowdich, +Dupuis, Hutton, and Hutcheson bear witness to that. With the gradual +undermining of the Ashanti Kingdom this store also disappeared.</p> + +<p>Coming to more recent times, we find that the geological formation +known as “banket” was discovered in 1878 in the Takwa district by a +French traveller called Bonnat. That seems to have been the basis of +the future modern mining industry in the Gold Coast, replacing the +extinct trade.</p> + +<p>Many years of disappointment and failure followed Bonnat’s discovery, +due in a very large measure to the absence of transport facilities and to +mortality. However, some of the mines which had come into existence +subsequent to the discovery refused to be discouraged, and went on +working, more or less half-heartedly, notably in the Wassau and Takwa +districts.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_368"></a>[368]</span></p> + +<p>In January 1900 the scene changed, as though by a magician’s wand. +The man who waved it was a Mr. Stanley Clay, an engineer reputed of +considerable ability, in the employ of the Consolidated Goldfields of +South Africa, which Corporation had been approached by the men who +owned the Wassau and Takwa mines. This gentleman reported in +effect that the banket formation of the district he had been despatched to +examine was so like the banket formation of the Rand as to be hardly +distinguishable from the latter. Although some years previous to that +report the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, Limited—the parent, so to +speak, of the Ashanti mines—had come into existence, I believe I am +correct in stating that the remarkable “boom” in Gold Coast mining +undertakings practically dates from the favourable report above +alluded to.</p> + +<p>Be that as it may, the last two years have witnessed the extraordinary +movement with which every one is familiar. According to “Wallach’s +West African Manual” for June 1901, 321 companies had at that time +been created, with a total nominal share capital of £25,567,170. “The +issued share capital will amount to approximately £15,750,000, if all is +fully paid up.”<a id="FNanchor_310" href="#Footnote_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a></p> + +<p>This is truly colossal. But all is not gold that glitters. The boom, +prematurely, and to a large extent, dishonestly engineered, collapsed. +Deep distrust has taken the place of sanguine anticipations, and public +confidence, greatly shaken, is apt to rush to the opposite extreme. The +Gold Coast mining industry has many enemies and many unwise friends. +The “boom” was, of course, thoroughly unjustified. The public lost +their heads completely. Company after company was formed, a large +proportion of which hardly knew where their territory lay, let alone +whether it contained any gold. But the public did not care twopence so +long as it was a Gold Coast venture, and a great many rascals have done +excellently well out of the British investor. Finally, this constant flotation +of companies got to be in the nature of a scandal; and the Governor +of the Gold Coast, in a courageous speech, which has remained famous, +before the local Chamber of Commerce, and for which Sir Matthew Nathan +deserves the greatest possible credit, denounced the abuses which the +movement was giving rise to. Mr. Chamberlain promptly endorsed the +Governor’s views, and caused a public statement to be made which fell +like a bombshell on the market-riggers. Flotation of new companies +after that was an almost impossible task, and the market received a +staggering blow from which it has not yet recovered. There is pretty +certain to be renewed activity at some not very distant day. Let us +hope that the next time it will rest on something more tangible than +fairy tales.</p> + +<p>That gold exists in the Gold Coast is demonstrated beyond a shadow +of doubt. That it can be worked at a profit has yet to be satisfactorily +proved, even in the case of the properties which are, or will be, in close +proximity to the railway now in course of construction. For the purposes +of illustration the Gold Coast may be divided into three portions. First,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_369"></a>[369]</span> +where gold exists in such quantities—other conditions being favourable—that +it is reasonable to believe the mines, if economically and wisely +administered, will become dividend-producing. Secondly, where gold +exists, but not in sufficient quantities—the conditions of mining in West +Africa being what they are—to enable the mines ever to become dividend-paying. +Thirdly; where no gold exists at all.</p> + +<p>Now when it is borne in mind that options have been acquired by +individuals pretty well all over the country, and companies have been +formed to work those options, it will be easily understood that shares of +a considerable number of existing companies are not worth the paper +upon which they are inscribed. In my opinion, if Mr. Wallach’s “321” +companies were divided by six, the residue would be an optimistic +prophecy as to the number of Gold Coast mining companies existing ten +years hence. This number would be amply sufficient to allow of the +Gold Coast to become, what I believe it will become, a gold-producing +region of very considerable value. Personally, I am as equally convinced +that some of the mines will become good dividend-payers, as I am that +the majority are rubbish. The two main difficulties which the mining +industry in the Gold Coast have to face are climate and transport.</p> + +<p>The first is a very real difficulty, and the public would do well to treat +with the utmost scepticism reports emanating from directors of Gold +Coast companies, especially those whose properties are situate near the +coast; who pooh-pooh the danger of the climate. If Major Ross’s indefatigable +efforts are backed up by the authorities and the mining +companies, we shall see a better state of things before many years are +past. But that the climate will always be an adverse element to contend +against is positively certain. Those who say the contrary are not +dealing honestly with the public.</p> + +<p>Many people imagine that transport difficulties will vanish when this +crawling single line to Kumasi has been completed. Let those who are +inclined to that belief study one of the excellent maps of the Gold Coast +mines now available, and see how many of the properties, out of the total +of companies floated, approximate sufficiently to the line to feel its usefulness. +Before transport difficulties can be said to be overcome, the Gold +Coast must be a network of railways. That may come, but the time is +not yet by a long, a very long way.</p> + +<p>The alleged labour difficulty I have dealt with elsewhere. It is largely +fictitious, as the most reputable companies and the most experienced +Europeans will bear witness. The boot, the stick; abuse; inadequate +pay; dishonest dealing—so long as these incentives to labour exist on the +Gold Coast, and they exist to-day, so long will certain people endeavour +to make the British public believe that labour is improcurable in West +Africa save by measures of coercion, or by Asiatic emigration, or by +draining the other West African colonies of their able-bodied men. +Decent wages; just treatment; tactful dealing; a high type of representative—the +mining companies which supply these have not, and will +not have, occasion to complain. The Administration might play a useful<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_370"></a>[370]</span> +part in imitating the French policy of obtaining labour for the Guinea +Railway, viz. through the Chiefs, and through them alone, and refuse to +allow authorised or unauthorised recruiting agents.</p> + +<p>From the point of view of the investing public, those who contemplate +putting any money into the Gold Coast mines should carefully weigh the +difficulties mentioned against the counterbalancing reasons for optimism +in the facts (1) that some undoubted experts, and some men of undoubted +integrity and ability who have a reputation to lose, have staked that +reputation upon the existence of “paying” gold in the Gold Coast; +(2) that a powerful corporation has undertaken a heavy liability in guaranteeing +a certain sum for a number of years to the Gold Coast Railway; +(3) that a very large sum of money has been sunk in the country for the +purpose of mining enterprise; (4) that the past history of the Gold +Coast is all in its favour. Finally, the investor should discriminate +carefully between the companies and “groups” which are justifying, +or honestly seeking to justify, their existence and those that are not.</p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="APPROXIMATE_AREA_AND_POPULATION">APPROXIMATE AREA AND POPULATION OF THE BRITISH WEST AFRICAN POSSESSIONS</h3> + +<table> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Gambia.</span></td> + <td colspan="3">Population, 14,260.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td rowspan="2" class="nw"><span class="smcap">Sierra Leone.</span></td> + <td colspan="3">Colony, 4000 square miles; population, 136,000.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="3">Protectorate, 30,000 square miles; population, 750,000.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td rowspan="3"><span class="smcap">Gold Coast.</span></td> + <td colspan="3">Gold Coast Proper, 40,000 square miles; population, 1,500,000.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="3">Ashanti proper. Neither area nor population known.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="3">Northern territories, 38,000 square miles<a id="FNanchor_311" href="#Footnote_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a>; + population, 317,964 (C.O. Report, July 1902).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td rowspan="2"><span class="smcap">Lagos.</span></td> + <td>Colony, 3460 square miles</td> + <td>}</td> + <td rowspan="2" class="valign">Population,<a id="FNanchor_312" href="#Footnote_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a> 1,500,000.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Protectorate, 25,450 square miles</td> + <td>}</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Nigeria.</span></td> + <td colspan="3">500,000 square miles; population, 25 to 30 millions.<a id="FNanchor_313" href="#Footnote_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_371"></a>[371]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="THE_RABINEK_CASE">THE RABINEK CASE</h3> + +<p class="center">(<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">See Chapter xxxii.</a>)</p> + +</div> + +<p>On October 27th, Sir Charles Dilke, having asked the Under-Secretary +for Foreign Affairs if he could say whether, in the Rabinek case, the +prisoner was taken by the Congolese authorities from a British ship in +British waters, and, if so, what course his Majesty’s Government proposed +to adopt, Lord Cranborne, in a printed answer, said: “It is at present +uncertain whether Mr. Rabinek was actually on board a British vessel +when arrested, or whether the ship was at the time in British waters. +Inquiries are, however, being made, and on receipt of definite information +his Majesty’s Government will be in a position to consider what action +should be taken in the matter.”</p> + +<p>Since the above question by Sir Charles Dilke, the doubt as to the +actual place of Mr. Rabinek’s arrest has been removed. The Congo +State authorities can no longer evade the point. Here is a copy of the +<i>Procès-verbal d’arrestation</i>, showing conclusively that Mr. Rabinek was +arrested <i>on board a British vessel</i>.</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Procès-verbal d’arrestation.</span></p> + +<p>Le soussigné, Saroléa, Louis, Sous-Lieutenant de la Force Publique, +commandant la colonne mobile du Tanganyka, stationnée à Mpueto, +officier de police judiciaire, a procédé le 15 Mai 1901, à 3 heures de +l’après-midi, à l’arrestation du sieur Rabinek en exécution du mandat +d’arrêt délivré le 17 Décembre, 1900, à charge du dit Rabinek par le +tribunal territorial d’Albertville. <i>Le prénommé se trouvait à bord du +steamer anglais “Scotia,” ancré dans le port de Mpueto.</i> Le Sieur +Rabinek a été remis à M. Chargois ff du représentant du Comité Spécial +du Katanga à Mpueto.</p> + +<p class="right">Fait à Mpueto, le 15 Mai 1901.</p> + +<p class="right">(L.S.) Lieutenant Commandant la<br> +Colonne mobile du Tanganyka.</p> + +<p class="right">(Sig.) <span class="smcap">Saroléa.</span></p> + +</div> + +<p>The British Government has now a copy of the above.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_372"></a>[372]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</h2> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> <i>Journal of the African Society</i>, October 1901.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Among the principal exceptions may be mentioned gum arabic +from Senegal, pepper, spices, &c., from the Guinea Coast.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> The totals here given do not, of course, include foreign and Colonial +merchandise shipped to British West Africa from British ports.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> The total volume of trade—British and foreign and coastwise—in +each of the West African Colonies in the five years 1896-1900, including +specie, has been as follows:</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>Gambia</td> + <td class="tdr">£1,797,916</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Sierra Leone</td> + <td class="tdr">4,646,503</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Gold Coast</td> + <td class="tdr">10,393,850</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Lagos</td> + <td class="tdr">8,853,461</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Niger Coast Protectorate (and for 1900, “Nigeria”)</td> + <td class="tdr">8,183,288</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Gross total</td> + <td class="tdr bt">£42,728,479</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="noindent">The trade of the former territories of the Niger Company, from 1896 to +1899 inclusive, is not reckoned in this total, no public figures being +available.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> The totals given are, of course, exclusive of foreign and Colonial +merchandise shipped to these foreign possessions from British ports.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> Due to exceptional imports of coal and telegraph apparatus.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> German imports, like British imports, are largely for re-exportation +to other European and American ports.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> The chief town in Borgu on which the Lugard and Decœur expeditions +were directing their efforts.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> <i>Journal of the African Society</i>, January 1902.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> This document is published <i>in extenso</i> in the annual report of the +Liverpool Chamber of Commerce for 1901.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> The Foreign Office lost us the Cameroons, the French Congo littoral, +Futa-Jallon, and heaven knows what besides. In doing so it showed +itself the indifferent servant of an indifferent public.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> See, more particularly, Appendices and the chapter on the +Finances of Nigeria.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> “By the end of April 1900,” says the report for Southern Nigeria +for 1900, “twenty proclamations were passed.” I should be afraid to +say how many have been passed since.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> The activity of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has been +phenomenal, and the useful work performed by it is internationally +recognised. To the splendid enterprise of Sir Alfred Jones, its initiator +and President, is due the astonishingly strong financial position which +the School has attained—entirely the outcome of private benevolence.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> In the remarkable speech he made at the Lagos Literary Institute—the +most able and statesmanlike oration ever delivered by a British +official in West Africa—Sir William MacGregor said in reference to the +extension of the Lagos Railway: “It would require probably not much +greater expenditure than would a number of military campaigns, it would +save many valuable lives to open up the country in that way, and it +would leave a permanent valuable asset. In this the locomotive would +be preferable to the Maxim.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> That admirable German Institution, the <i>Kolonial Wirtschaftliches +Komitee</i> (Agricultural Committee) might also be imitated with advantage +by our Government. Attached to the German Colonial Society, +the Agricultural Committee devotes its exclusive attention to a study +of the economic resources of the German possessions, giving special +notice to cocoa, rubber, gutta-percha, cotton, &c. Experts have been +despatched by the Committee to the South Seas to study gutta-percha, +to the States for cotton, to Central and South America for cocoa, &c. +The Committee is really composed of a trained body of agricultural +and botanical specialists working in the joint interests of the Government +and the merchants.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> M. Empain has lately been granted by King Leopold a huge concession +in the Aruwimi region of the Congo State in connection with +the promotion of a railway to the Great Lakes.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> The London Chamber being mainly—although not exclusively—concerned +with Gold Coast trade and mining developments.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> It was entirely owing to the assistance of the African Association’s +agents that the people of the Niger Delta were induced to accept +British protection and consular jurisdiction. By the merchants’ good +offices, Consuls Johnston and Hewett were enabled to ascend the +rivers to places where they would not have dared to enter unaccompanied +by representatives of the merchants.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> Chairman of the African Section.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> Report of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 1900.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> Messrs. Shelford’s estimate is £7000 per mile. But this cannot be +reconciled with the amount expended. It leaves out of account the cost +of bridges between Lagos Island and the mainland, which are part and +parcel of the railway scheme. In March of this year the Colony had +already expended its loan of £1,053,700, which works out at £8430 per +mile. But although the railway has reached its present terminus it is +not yet properly finished. Speaking in March, Sir W. MacGregor foreshadowed +a further expenditure of £60,000, and added, “the probability +is, however, that this will not be sufficient.” On the same occasion the +Governor, reviewing the state of the Colony, said that one of the two +“principal causes of anxiety” was “the difficulty experienced in getting +the railway into working order.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> French Guinea borrowed £480,000 at the rate of 4.10 per cent. and +4 per cent. respectively.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> 14<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> per head of the whole population of the territory.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> Another incident of the kind is referred to by Sir W. MacGregor in +one of his speeches before the Legislative Council. Plans were sent +home for a steam-hopper or tramway to remove refuse. The plans were +rejected by the “consulting engineers.” The Governor sarcastically +remarked: “It is doubtful that any remedy that would cost less than +£100,000 will ever be approved by the engineers.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> The same belief was entertained, curiously enough, by the inhabitants +of the Niger Basin itself even in Clapperton’s day, as witness +Sultan Bello’s map, drawn for Clapperton at the latter’s request, +referred to farther on.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> Lyon subsequently gained Timbuctoo from Murzuk, being the +second European to visit the mysterious city. It has always remained +an open question whether Horneman did not actually cross the Desert +and reach the Chad. Denham, indeed, believed that he did so, but no +trace of the unfortunate German has ever been discovered from the +time he left Murzuk, nearly a quarter of a century before Denham +arrived there himself.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> Caffre—<i>i.e.</i> unbeliever.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> For instance, the Bahr-el-Ghazal, Bahr-el-Asrek, Bahr-el-Abiad, +&c., all rivers.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> Some authors consider the Hausas to be a branch of the Mandingo +race. According to this theory, the Mandingoes are the parent stock, +and the Hausas, Songhays, Bambarras, &c., are all offshoots of the +same great family. Although there would appear to be a certain basis +of probability—especially as regards the Bambarras—in the plea of a +common Mandingo origin, our historical and ethnological knowledge of +the different races of West Africa, which is still in the embryonic stage, +precludes anything in the nature of a positive assertion.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> Subsequent to the final overthrow of the Berbers, under Kuseila, +by the Arabs in 688 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span></p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> “Historical Account of the Kingdom of Tek-roor.” By Sultan +Mohammed Bello of Hoosa. Denham & Clapperton. Vol. ii., Appendix +xiii.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> “Hausaland.” By the Rev. Charles Robinson. P. 179.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> The <i>Hausa bokoy</i>, or seven States, as distinct from the <i>Banza bokoy</i> +or Bastard States, representing the seven other provinces where the +Hausa language had partly spread.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> “A Mission to Central Africa.” By James Richardson. 1850-51.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> “L’Annamite mère des langues.” Le Colonel Frey. 1892.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> Lieutenant-Colonel Monteil’s estimate, 1891.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> For hours you may wander about noting industrial scenes like these, +showing to what a length their advance in civilisation has increased +the wants of the people, and produced a necessary division of labour +into weavers, dyers, blacksmiths, brass-workers, saddle-makers, tailors, +builders, horse-boys, agricultural labourers, domestic servants, shoe-makers, +shopkeepers, traders, and others.—Joseph Thompson, in <i>Good +Words</i>, 1886.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> Leo Africanus tells us that Gober “had a good trade and considerable +industry, especially in leather-work” (beginning of sixteenth +century).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> Since the above was written, Mr. Consul Jago’s report (No. 578) on +the “Trade and economic state of the vilayet of Tripoli during the past +forty years” has been published by the Foreign Office. It is a most +interesting document. The Consul gives a table of the value of Tripoli’s +trade with the Central Sudan States (Sokoto, Bornu, Wadai) for the +period 1862-1901 as follows: 1862-71, £318,000; 1872-81, £1,846,300; +1882-91, £1,283,000; 1892-1901, £1,141,700; annual average, £114,725.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> Consul Jago appears to favour this view. I venture to suggest +that the paragraphs (pp. 7 and 8) in which he refers to the point are +open to criticism. Take, for instance, the cost of transport. Notwithstanding +that, at first sight, the assertion may appear strange, I +believe that, if any one cares to take the trouble to work out the cost of +transport of a ton of European merchandise from London to Kuka (1) +<i>viâ</i> Tripoli and by caravan across the desert, (2) <i>viâ</i> Burutu, the Niger +and overland, the former route will be found the cheaper of the two. +Things do not always appear to be what they are in Africa. If France +can come to a working understanding with the Senussis, the caravan +trade will revive.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> According to Lieutenant-Colonel Pilcher, who commanded the +West African Frontier Force in 1898, the Hausa is more quarrelsome +than the Yoruba or Nupe, gets into trouble more often, and is not so +quick at picking up drill or musketry (Colonial Office Report, No. 260, +West African Frontier Force, June 1899). Other officers eulogise the +Hausas, and among military men they are, I think, believed to be +superior fighters to either the West Indian or Mendi Negro, while about +equalling the Yoruba. The Negro seems to fight more fiercely and +recklessly when he has Islam to fall back upon.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> “Géographie Universelle,” livre xii. p. 587. 1887.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> “The Colonisation of Africa,” p. 282. 1899.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> “Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> “The Language of Bornu.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> “Magana Hausa.” By J. F. Schön, D.D., F.R.G.S.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> “Hausaland; or, Fifteen Hundred Miles through the Central +Sudan.” 1897.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> “Specimens of Hausa Literature.” “A Hausa Grammar.” “A +Hausa-English Dictionary.” “The Gospel of St. John in Hausa.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> Full details are supplied in Canon Robinson’s book.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> Apart from the question whether the Hausas can claim to have +“attempted the production of a literature” any more than the Fulani +or Kanuri, there remains the fact—which goes to confute Canon Robinson’s +somewhat sweeping generalisation—that the language of the +Tuareg—the Tamashek—has been reduced to literature in <i>Tamashek +characters</i>, and that both sexes among the Tuareg are regularly instructed +therein.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> “Kanuri Proverbs and Kanuri-English Vocabulary.” By the Rev. +S. N. Koelle. On page 9 of the introduction to his book, Koelle speaks +of the system of orthography followed by him as that of Professor +Lepsius, of Berlin, in the pamphlet entitled “Standard Alphabet for +Reducing <i>Unwritten Languages</i> and Foreign Graphic Systems to a +Uniform Orthography in European Letters.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> Baikie gives nine Hausa dialects, viz.: “Katshena, the purest and +best; (2) Kano; (3) Gober; (4) Daure; (5) Zamfara; (6) Zuzu; +(7) Biranta Goboz; (8) Kabi; (9) Shira, or Shura.”—“Narrative of an +Exploring Voyage up the Rivers Kwora and Binue.” By William +Balfour Baikie. 1856.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> It is found in French Guinea, north of Sierra Leone, but is not +there the staple product, rubber taking its place.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> Southern Nigeria, or rather the Niger Delta, is commonly known as +“the rivers.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> The figures for 1900 include the whole of Nigeria—that is, the +former Niger Company’s territories in the Lower Niger, and the Niger +Coast Protectorate, now incorporated into Southern Nigeria.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[57]</a> <i>Idem.</i></p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[58]</a> Germany has a protective tax on kernel or other foreign crushed +oil, which enables her to keep the home market to herself, and she has +made a profitable use of the cake for feeding cattle, whilst our farmers—largely, +I understand, through the operation of the tenant-right conditions +of tenure, or perhaps through mere prejudice—refuse to use it +to any extent.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[59]</a> In Senegal and the Gambia the ground-nut industry, which is also +essentially a native industry, takes its place, the number of palm-trees +in those possessions being very scanty—not worth mentioning, in fact.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[60]</a> It is also used for lubricating mixtures for the axles of railway +carriages.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[61]</a> Giving out trust is not invariably confined to the European. Native +chiefs have been known to give trust to Europeans up to 1000 cases of +palm-oil, in days, too, when palm-oil was worth £15 per puncheon. This +would represent a credit of £15,000.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[62]</a> In point of fact, palm-oil from the Congo district is the richest in +stearine.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[63]</a> The first West African kernels were imported in 1860 by Mr. A. +Mackenzie Smith and the late Mr. Charles Lane, of Liverpool. The +Old Calabar district led the way in Southern Nigeria. The trade was +begun there in a small way in 1864. Benin was the next place in +Southern Nigeria to follow suit, and by 1867 the trade was fairly large. +By 1880 the trade had spread to the other rivers, New Calabar, Bonny, +Brass, and Opobo.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[64]</a> The average crushing of the African Oil Mills is, I believe, about +600 tons weekly.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[65]</a> The exception is the machine erected at the Brass River in 1877 +(by the Count de Cardi, I believe) and used to this day by the firm +which has the principal trade of this district. It can produce, I believe, +forty or fifty bags of clean kernels per day of ten hours. It would +require 600 or 700 pairs of hands to give this result in the same +time.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[66]</a> I am given to understand that efforts to use hand-crushing +machines are being made by a merchant firm in French Guinea.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[67]</a> An interesting account of this most valuable experiment is given by +M. Pierre Mille in the <i>Journal of the African Society</i> for October 1901.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[68]</a> Various types of hand-ploughs are now being experimented with in +Senegal for the purpose of quickening production.—See <i>Journal d’Agriculture +Tropicale</i>, September 1901.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[69]</a> Many people, on the other hand, will consider the somewhat +elaborate judicial machinery set up in Northern Nigeria as distinctly +premature. The administration of English law in West African Protectorates +(see p. 16, Northern Nigeria Report), even when modified by +native law and custom, is a feature of the Crown Colony system which +has little to recommend it. Dr. Ballay’s plan in French Guinea was +infinitely preferable. In all matters affecting the relations of natives +with natives Ballay insisted that native law should be the basis. He +declined to introduce all the technicalities of European law among a +people whose own laws are founded upon just principles, and, given +security in their application, work effectively and well.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">[70]</a> August 1, 1891. It was first called Consular Jurisdiction.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">[71]</a> Sir Ralph Moor has since declared that Southern Nigeria is in “a +very sound financial position.” The test of sound finance must be +different in West Africa from any other part of the world.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">[72]</a> Colonial Office Report, No. 315.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">[73]</a> In that year Southern Nigeria spent £30,196 on military expenses +and £8236 only on the “Aborigines” department. Under “Political +and Administrative” expenses, £20,327 was absorbed; under “Marine +Department,” £32,531; £24,654 only was spared for public works, but +“Prisons” necessitated £7200, against £1171 under “Botanical” and +£1147 under “Sanitary”!</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">[74]</a> In 1890 the value of exports from the Delta was estimated at over +£1,300,000.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">[75]</a> The Nupe campaign was undertaken after great provocation, and +is understood to have been carried out with the approval, tacit or +avowed, of the Emir of Sokoto, who had reason to complain of the +Emir of Nupe’s conduct.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">[76]</a> Similarly Nupe refused to have anything to do with Herr von +Puttkamer in 1889 without consulting the Company, although the +German (or his interpreter) passed himself off as the “Queen of +England’s messenger.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">[77]</a> Northern Nigeria.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">[78]</a> “The Foundation of British East Africa.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">[79]</a> Colonial Report, No. 346, page 11, par. 2.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="label">[80]</a> Lord John Russell’s Instructions to Captain Henry Dundas Trotter, +Commander William Allen, Commander Bird Allen, and William Cook, +Esquire, Commissioners for making and concluding agreements with +the Chief Rulers of the Western Coast of Africa for the suppression of +the traffic in slaves and the establishment of a lawful commerce, +1840.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="label">[81]</a> The absence of any wish to “act otherwise” on the part of the +native is invariably assumed in Europe, and but too often by Europeans +in Africa. In this connection the following passage from +Clapperton (when travelling in Nigeria) is worth noting: “It was with +feelings of the highest satisfaction that I listened to some of the most +respectable of the merchants, when they declared that; were any other +system of trading adopted, they would gladly embrace it in preference +to dealing in slaves.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="label">[82]</a> Archibald Constable & Co. 1898.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="label">[83]</a> Not to be confounded with the King of Benin who massacred +Consul-General Phillips.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="label">[84]</a> Referring to domestic slavery in the Northern Territories of the +Gold Coast, the late Lieut.-Colonel Northcott, C.B., whose death was a +sad blow to the Empire and to West Africa particularly, in his report +on those territories (Report on the Northern Territories of the Gold +Coast—published by the Intelligence Division of the War Office in +1899), says: “The every-day life of slaves differs in no respect from +that of the free men. Ground is allotted to them, on which they are +free to work for their own benefit, the rule generally being that they +may take two days out of every five for work on their own account. +With the accumulated results of this labour they are at liberty to purchase +their freedom. The price demanded is not excessive, and ranges +from £2 to £5, according to locality; but so lightly does the yoke of +slavery bear that only a comparatively small proportion seek their +emancipation by this means. Slaves may marry, and are encouraged +to do so, the children becoming the property of the master. The apparent +hardship of liability to sale is in reality not oppressive. The +march to the new owner’s place of abode is free from any suggestion of +cruelty or force; the slave partakes of his master’s food and shares +his lodging, and he is certain of kind treatment on arriving at his +destination.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="label">[85]</a> This is pidgeon-English, the Hausa for ivory tusk (<i>i.e.</i> piece of +ivory) being <i>hakorin</i>, or <i>hauwin giwa</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="label">[86]</a> Named in honour of Park, who is supposed to be the first European +to have noticed it.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="label">[87]</a> And Lagos again since the opening of the railway.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="label">[88]</a> Up to the present, however, shipments of this prepared latex have +met with scant success.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="label">[89]</a> In the “Report of the Sierra Leone Company” (London: James +Phillips, printer, 1794) the following passage occurs, which most probably +refers to the <i>Pendatesma butyracæ</i>. “Butter and tallow tree. +This is common in low lands about Freetown; it abounds with a juice +resembling gambodge in taint and durability, which exudes after the +least laceration, and becomes more coagulated, viscous, and of a +darker colour. The wood of this tree is firm, and seems adapted to +various economical purposes. The fruit is nearly oval, about twice the +size of a man’s fist; the rind is thick, pulpy, and of a pleasant acid; in +the inside are found from five to nine seeds of the size of the walnut, +containing an oleaginous matter, extracted by the natives and used +with their rice and other food.” A gentleman of my acquaintance who +knows this tree, tells me he has seen it growing in Sierra Leone, so that +there seems no reason why experiments similar to those undertaken in +French Guinea should not be made in our colony, which adjoins that +French possession.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="label">[90]</a> Known as “piassava” in the trade. Large quantities are imported +from Liberia. It is used in brush-making.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="label">[91]</a> Benni seeds crushed yield a fine edible oil.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="label">[92]</a> On the right bank of the Binue: in the Mitchi or (Munshi) country.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="label">[93]</a> Stone potash used to be a monopoly of the Igarras, who sold it to +the down-river tribes, but the Niger Company has taken the monopoly +from the Igarras of late years and disposes of it at Lagos, realising, it is +said, considerable profit—from 2 to 300 per cent.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="label">[94]</a> He will sometimes cut the vine down and chop it into pieces of +about one foot in length the more readily to extract the sap.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="label">[95]</a> Or even 20 per cent.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="label">[96]</a> There are many other ways of preparing rubber: this is one of +them.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="label">[97]</a> “A Short Account of the Invasion of Hausa by the Phulas.” By +Bashima, a Hausa-Fulani, in the “Magana Hausa” (J. F. Schön. 1815).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="label">[98]</a> About 1840.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="label">[99]</a> And by no one so well as Joseph Thompson, “Mungo Park and the +Niger.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="label">[100]</a> “Othman established the severest punishment upon whoever +committed the slightest violation of the law.”—“Travels of Sheik +Mohammed of Tunis” (Bayle St. John. London: 1854).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="label">[101]</a> One of the numerous designations of the Fulani.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="label">[102]</a> “Journal of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa,” &c. 1829.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="label">[103]</a> Under the old Hausa <i>régime</i> the inhabitants of the Northern Hausa +States paid direct taxes to the Kings. According to the curious and +interesting records of Assid-el-Haji-Abd-Salam Shabiny, a Tunisian +merchant, the Sultan of Hausa imposed a tax of 2 per cent. on all +products of the land. The people also paid a land tax, and certain +duties were exacted on all goods sold in the market-place (“Relation +d’un voyage à Timbuctoo vers l’année 1787”).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="label">[104]</a> A missionary has recently admitted that “To the Hausa what is in +the Koran is of God, and what is not in the Koran is not worth knowing.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="label">[105]</a> To-day, <i>Guinée française</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="label">[106]</a> This is explained by the unwillingness of the Fulani to allow unions +between their women-folk and their Negro neighbours.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="label">[107]</a> Recently translated into French by M. O. Houdas (Paris: Ernest +Leroux. 1900).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="label">[108]</a> Leo Africanus.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="label">[109]</a> At one time Melle ruled over Songhay and Timbuctoo. In 1329 +the Mellians were driven from Timbuctoo by the pagan Mosis (the +most powerful pagan kingdom which ever arose in West Africa). The +people of Melle reconquered the place, but were finally expelled by the +Tuareg in 1433. Melle was subsequently overcome by the Songhay +and fell to pieces.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="label">[110]</a> Published by the Hakluyt Society.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="label">[111]</a> We are indebted to M. Dubois for the first complete copy.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="label">[112]</a> The reigning family says the <i>Tarik</i> were white and their subjects +Wakoris (Mandingoes). This strengthens the Fulani argument, the +complexion of the pure-blood Fulani inclining to white by comparison +with their neighbours. In his “Notice Géographique sur la Région du +Sahel” (which includes Bakunu, the former Baghena), Commandant +Lartigue says of the Fulani still inhabiting that district, “Quelques-uns +sont presque blancs; leur cheveux sont à peine crépus, et ils ont les +traits fins et réguliers des Européens de bonne race.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="label">[113]</a> The language of the Fulani.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="label">[114]</a> The Empire which, as we have observed, was raised upon the ruins +of Ghanata by the Mandingoes, the subject race at the time of the +latter’s foundation.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="label">[115]</a> D’Eichtal’s assertion (“Les Foulahs.” Paris: 1842), that the Fulani +“to this day” call the whole of Senegambia “Melli,” I do not find confirmed, +but it is worth mentioning, nevertheless.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="label">[116]</a> The first map in which Melle figures is a Spanish one (1375 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>). +In the map of Mathias de Villadestes, the Venetian (1413 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>), the +word “Toucuzor” is written by the side of that of the King of Melli, +“Mussa.” For “Toucuzor” read “Toukulor” (Tukulor), the cross race +of Fulani-Joloff and Fulani-Mandingo.—“Considérations sur la Priorité +des Découvertes Maritimes sur la Côte Occidentale d’Afrique.”—Binger.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="label">[117]</a> Barth’s chronological table of the Songhay.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="label">[118]</a> Marmol—born in Granada, 1580—translated by Nicholas Perot +d’Ablancourt.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="label">[119]</a> The <i>Tarik’s</i> statement that Salta Tayenda fled into “Futa” affords +substantial indication of the presence of Fulani in that country at a +previous date, which we know, of course, from other sources.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="label">[120]</a> This tradition obviously refers to Fulani pressure—the root of the +word (Pul, or Ful) signifying red, or reddish.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="label">[121]</a> A correspondent of a Paris paper, <i>La Dépêche Coloniale</i>, writing +from Kunde, on the Sangha River, on December 10, 1901, says: “Our +clothes, which are ragged from bush travelling, do not convey a great +idea of our influence, especially when compared to the Fulbes (Fulani) +in their embroidered cloths and leather riding-boots. They are all on +horseback and we are on foot. <i>There are thousands of them</i>, and all are +armed.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="label">[122]</a> Their presence in Omdurman—that is to say, in the heart of the +Eastern Sudan in the Nile valley—has already been noted by Father +Ohrwalder. On page 300 of “Ten Years’ Captivity in the Mahdi’s +Camp” (Major Wingate, R.A. London: 1895), we read, “Several of +the Fellata, who came from distant parts of Bornu, Wadai, &c., were +stopped at Omdurman on their way to Mecca”; and again, on page 305, +“The inhabitants of Omdurman are a conglomeration of every race and +nationality in the Sudan—Fellata, Takruris, natives of Bornu, &c.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="label">[123]</a> Dr. Barth’s estimate as to the date of the foundation of Ghanata +is certainly not exaggerated, in view of the <i>Tarik’s</i> statement that +twenty-two kings had reigned before the Hejira.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="label">[124]</a> Ernest Flammarion, Paris. English edition: W. Heinemann.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="label">[125]</a> Toledo was wrested from the Moors in 1085; Saragossa in 1118; +Valencia, 1238; Seville, 1248; the Beni-Nasr held Granada until +1492.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="label">[126]</a> De Barros, Barth, <i>Tarik</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="label">[127]</a> Makrizi, de Barros, Barth.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="label">[128]</a> <i>L’Anthropologie</i> (Tome x., No. 6), of which Dr. Verneau is one of +the editors.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="label">[129]</a> In plain language, a prominence of the jaws—one of the characteristics +of the Negro type.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="label">[130]</a> Dr. Randle MacIver and Anthony Wilkin, in “Libyan Notes.” +Macmillan & Co. 1901.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="label">[131]</a> Concubinage with negresses being the natural explanation.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="label">[132]</a> Other authorities, basing their arguments, <i>inter alia</i>, upon the +assumption that the wild people “covered with hair” encountered by +the Carthaginian colonists were none other than the gorillas which +Du Chaillu, more than two thousand years afterwards, brought to the +knowledge of an incredulous world, and upon the unlikelihood of any +of those animals being in Hanno’s day so far north, maintain that the +expedition reached the Gaboon estuary, or even the mouth of the +Congo. The point is never likely to be cleared up. The two sides are +stated with great clearness by the late Miss Kingsley in “West African +Studies.” (Macmillan & Co.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="label">[133]</a> Lest it be supposed that I am appropriating other people’s ideas +without acknowledgment, I hasten to add that Major Rennel, in his +notes on Park’s travels (“Travels in the Interior of Africa.” London: +1799) hazards the same suggestion, and Barth and Frey follow suit. +But I think that, in the light of our further knowledge of the peoples and +history of Western Africa, the identification of the “Leucæthiopes” +with the Fulani becomes a good deal more than a suggestion.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="label">[134]</a> The cattle possessed by the Fulani—who are the herdsmen of +West Africa—are the hump-backed Asiatic kind (<i>Bos indicus</i>). That +was a great point with Faidherbe in favour of the Eastern theory. The +Abyssinians’ cattle, it may be observed, belong to the same breed.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="label">[135]</a> “Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said: ‘My father +and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they +have, are come out of the land of Canaan, and, behold, they are in the +land of Goshen.’”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="label">[136]</a> Cattle-rearer.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="label">[137]</a> “An Account of the Native Africans in the Neighbourhood of +Sierra Leone.” By Thomas Winterbottom, D.D., Physician to the +Colony of Sierra Leone. 1803.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="label">[138]</a> The Joloffs (Senegal) declare that the Fulani converse habitually +with their cattle.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="label">[139]</a> Moore, writing of the Gambia Fulani in the eighteenth century, +says, they manage cattle so well that the Mandingoes give them their +own to look after.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="label">[140]</a> Native cavalry soldier.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="label">[141]</a> Related in the French African Committee’s journal.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="label">[142]</a> De Guiraudon was, apparently, unaware of this passage, which +has an important bearing upon his statements.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="label">[143]</a> Not pear-shaped, as with the negress.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="label">[144]</a> Barth, Baikie, Gray, Monteil, Mollien, De Giraudon, Callié, &c., vie +with one another in their enthusiasm over the beauty of the Fulani +woman of pure blood, which is all the more pronounced in view of +their ethnic surroundings. Barth speaks of young Fulani girls whose +forms “recall the finest Grecian sculptury.” “The women are very +beautiful, and possess strange powers of fascination in their large deep +eyes,” says Monteil. “The women in particular,” remarks Gray, “might +vie in point of figure with the finest forms in Europe, and their walk is +particularly majestic.” “The Fulani women, many of whose countenances +are resplendent with a veritable beauty” (Reclus).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="label">[145]</a> “West Africa.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="label">[146]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="label">[147]</a> Witness, for example, the admirable work on land tenure on the +Ivory Coast just published by Administrator Clozel; also that gentleman’s +article in the <i>Journal of the African Society</i> for July.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="label">[148]</a> I have not yet heard of any departure from the rule.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="label">[149]</a> “Modern ideas and legislation,” says Dr. Alfred Zimmerman, +“forbid violent proceedings. The natives should be taught to work by +cultivating the sentiment in them that it is their interest to do so. +<i>Experience proves that protection of property is the surest means to attain that +end.</i>”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="label">[150]</a> Paul Kollmann’s “The Victoria Nyanza” may be consulted in this +connection with advantage. The illustrations of domestic ornaments, +of flasks, bark-boxes, drums, &c., constructed by the natives of Usukama +and Ukerewe show real beauty of design.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="label">[151]</a> Sir Marshall Clarke’s recent report is instructive. Speaking of the +natives of Rhodesia, he says: “They work in the mines either from +direct pressure brought to bear upon them by the administration, a +pressure only short of force, or the necessity of earning enough to pay +their taxes.... This,” continues Sir Marshall Clarke, “does not tend +to make industry attractive”; and, he adds, “At present there is +undoubtedly discontent among the natives.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="label">[152]</a> “The evidence available seems to indicate that the labour difficulty +on the Gold Coast may probably be overcome without the importation +of labourers from other countries, and that success or failure in the +matter is largely dependent on the person in charge of the undertaking. +It is very desirable that the persons in charge should be gentlemen and +men of education, as it is found that such are more likely to be able to +deal satisfactorily with the natives, who generally require to be handled +with much tact and judgment.”—Par. 9, “Labour Ordinance”: issued +by Colonial Office.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153" class="label">[153]</a> “According to native ideas there is no land without owners. What +is now a forest or unused land will, as years go on, come under cultivation +by the subjects of the Stool, or members of the village community, +or other members of the family” (“Fanti Customary Law,” J. M. +Sarbah). What holds good in the Gold Coast is equally applicable to +the rivers and to Lagos, indeed throughout West Africa, wherever +Negro culture is met with.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154" class="label">[154]</a> In order, of course, to do away with the idea that there is any +wish or desire on the part of the Government to alienate the land from +the rightful owners thereof.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155" class="label">[155]</a> The amended Lagos Bill exempts from its operation native customary +rights and defers to the authority of the Native Councils of the +hinterland. Its working depends largely, therefore, upon the interpretation +placed by the Colony’s Governor for the time being on the nature +of the relationship between those Councils and the Administration. +Sir W. MacGregor has passed a Bill (the Native Councils Bill) which, +he thinks, will strengthen the position of the Councils. But it is safe to +say that, in all matters affecting land legislation in West Africa, the +procedure for safeguarding native rights, and in their main lines those +rights themselves, should be laid down as clearly as possible in the +Act itself.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156" class="label">[156]</a> For an intelligent native view on the subject the reader is referred +to the speeches of Dr. O. Johnson, Member of the Legislative Council +of Lagos, in moving the rejection of the Amended Forest Ordinance +(May 1902). Dr. Johnson’s status in the Colony may be estimated from +the fact that the extraordinarily able historical address on the native +history of Lagos, delivered by him at the Lagos Institute last year, was +published as a Government paper in the Colony.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157" class="label">[157]</a> Who, for some time past, has individually done much to stimulate +cotton-growing for export in West Africa.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158" class="label">[158]</a> In the manifesto issued by the Association in October there figures +a list of Vice-presidents, headed by Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G., and +including no less than twenty-two members of Parliament, among +whom one notices such well-known names as Winston S. Churchill, +R. Yerburgh, Alfred Emmott, Sir William Mather, Lord Stanley, the +Hon. Arthur Stanley, the Hon. W. R. W. Peel, C. A. Cripps, K.C. +J. H. Whitley, Sir J. Leigh, &c.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_159" href="#FNanchor_159" class="label">[159]</a> Moloney.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_160" href="#FNanchor_160" class="label">[160]</a> Secretary of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_161" href="#FNanchor_161" class="label">[161]</a> The cotton-producing capacities of Northern Nigeria have already +been commented upon.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_162" href="#FNanchor_162" class="label">[162]</a> The <i>Deutsche Togo-gesellschaft</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_163" href="#FNanchor_163" class="label">[163]</a> And as with cotton, so with rice—the Songhays were great rice-growers, +and <i>Gao</i>, or Gago, their ancient capital, is said to mean rice in +the Songhay language.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_164" href="#FNanchor_164" class="label">[164]</a> Sir Alfred Jones has voluntarily offered to carry cotton from West +Africa freight free for two years, and I understand that Mr. Woermann, +of the line of that name, has agreed to ship a considerable quantity of +Togo cotton free of charge.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_165" href="#FNanchor_165" class="label">[165]</a> And where the enterprise has been carried out on the household labour +plan, which has been compared to the peasant proprietary system.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_166" href="#FNanchor_166" class="label">[166]</a> Chemical manure has been supplied free by manufacturers of the +article. An exhibit of cloths manufactured with Togo cotton has been +held at Dusseldorf, &c.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_167" href="#FNanchor_167" class="label">[167]</a> Sir H. Johnston’s and Mr. Grogan’s discoveries have recently +emphasised this fact.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_168" href="#FNanchor_168" class="label">[168]</a> Now Southern Nigeria.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_169" href="#FNanchor_169" class="label">[169]</a> And, say the merchants engaged in the trade, to high freights.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_170" href="#FNanchor_170" class="label">[170]</a> The American demand is, I understand, increasing.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_171" href="#FNanchor_171" class="label">[171]</a> C. O. Report, No. 348.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_172" href="#FNanchor_172" class="label">[172]</a> For a technical explanation read the following: “The extremely +high prices obtained here for figured logs have naturally excited +shippers, especially native traders, and all are desirous to learn what +constitutes figure.... This is a subject difficult to elucidate, but we +may say that ‘roe’ may be described as the curved direction the grain +of the wood takes by one ring overlapping the other; to be of any value, +beyond ordinary plain wood, it must be of a very pronounced and bold +character. This gives the required variation of light and shade.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_173" href="#FNanchor_173" class="label">[173]</a> The conversion of several hundred natives to Islam at Jebu-Ode, +one of the large Yoruba centres in close proximity to Lagos, and where +the Church has laboured for years, is a recent incident which points in +the direction stated.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_174" href="#FNanchor_174" class="label">[174]</a> <i>Tarik.</i></p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_175" href="#FNanchor_175" class="label">[175]</a> Kanem at the time ruled over what was known later as Bornu.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_176" href="#FNanchor_176" class="label">[176]</a> Makrizi attributes the introduction of Islam into Kanem to Hadi +el Othman, who was probably of Fulani origin, although Makrizi does +not say so.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_177" href="#FNanchor_177" class="label">[177]</a> Timbuctoo was not founded until about seventy years after the +conversion of Za Kasai.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_178" href="#FNanchor_178" class="label">[178]</a> The theory which gives an Eastern origin to Mohammedan proselytism +in Kanem seems unworthy of consideration.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_179" href="#FNanchor_179" class="label">[179]</a> The manatee is the <i>ayu</i> of the Fulani, and its signification—viz. +that of a mythical creature living in the water and dragging any one in +who sees it—seems to argue the existence of an ancient superstition. +In various parts of the Niger and Binue this strange animal is still +regarded with a certain awe, which, however, does not prevent it from +being slaughtered, both for its flesh and skin. The Soninke legend of +the water serpent, which each year claimed the handsomest girl of the +village as a victim, would seem to bear a distinct relation to this, the +former <i>ayu</i> worship of the Songhays.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_180" href="#FNanchor_180" class="label">[180]</a> Binger suggests that the word Mande, or Mandingo, is derived from +the same root as manatus, and signifies the people of a country where +the manatus is worshipped.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_181" href="#FNanchor_181" class="label">[181]</a> “Mungo Park.” Joseph Thomson. The “World’s Greatest Explorers” +series.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_182" href="#FNanchor_182" class="label">[182]</a> Palgrave’s “Arabia,” vol. i. p. 372.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_183" href="#FNanchor_183" class="label">[183]</a> “Niger and Yoruba Notes,” January 1900.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_184" href="#FNanchor_184" class="label">[184]</a> A native of the Western Sudan.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_185" href="#FNanchor_185" class="label">[185]</a> Blyden.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_186" href="#FNanchor_186" class="label">[186]</a> It has been pointed out to me that the Muslim teachers in this +mosque do not teach reading, but only the Slate-pattern. That simply +shows that Islam in West Africa is capable of being much improved, +and should be moulded, if possible, on Western lines of thought; but it +does not affect the main argument in the least.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_187" href="#FNanchor_187" class="label">[187]</a> Captain Morrison’s report, issued by the Government of the French +Sudan.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_188" href="#FNanchor_188" class="label">[188]</a> For instance, read the following passages in “Pilkington of +Uganda” (C. F. Harford Battersby). “This is the lost truth, the loss +of which gave Satan the opportunity of introducing both Mohammedanism +and Popery.... They (the Waganda) have learnt to +contend with the three forms of darkness which they will meet in +Africa: Heathenism, Mohammedanism, and Popery.” And again: +“Does it not seem as if the French Mission is just God’s appointed +instrument to complete the confusion of Rome in Uganda?”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_189" href="#FNanchor_189" class="label">[189]</a> Le Chatelier.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_190" href="#FNanchor_190" class="label">[190]</a> The nineteenth century.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_191" href="#FNanchor_191" class="label">[191]</a> The nineteenth century.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_192" href="#FNanchor_192" class="label">[192]</a> It is a remarkable fact, frequently borne witness to, that an unarmed +Muslim Negro can travel without molestation through vast +stretches of country in Africa, a privilege denied to his Christianised +compatriot.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_193" href="#FNanchor_193" class="label">[193]</a> “Esclavage, Islamisme, et Christianisme.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_194" href="#FNanchor_194" class="label">[194]</a> Affecting in many parts the laws and customs of the people in +respect to native land tenure.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_195" href="#FNanchor_195" class="label">[195]</a> “Le Sénégal: la France dans l’Afrique Occidentale.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_196" href="#FNanchor_196" class="label">[196]</a> Negro medical men—I mean qualified medical men—of whom there +are a few in West Africa, emphatically corroborate this: and they bring +a great many arguments, founded upon actual experience, in support of +the contention.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_197" href="#FNanchor_197" class="label">[197]</a> An ecclesiastic well known in the African field, and for whose really +wonderful labours I entertain the highest respect and admiration, +informed me only the other day that, within his personal cognisance, +over 150 couples had been married in Liberia by a certain minister, in +a certain district, within a period of five years; and that the total +number of births up to date was five, and the survivals two. My +reverend friend found in that striking fact (for the truth of which he +vouched, and he is a truthful man) a justification of his view that a +large proportion of Liberians, that is to say, the descendants of the +blacks from the States, led indolent and unhealthy lives. To my mind, +it conveys an eloquent demonstration, that <i>on West African soil</i> monogamy +for the Negro spells race extinction. Naturally my friend would +not admit the conclusion, although in his heart of hearts I believe he is +rather troubled on the subject. But he recognised—and admitted—in +course of conversation that polygamy was a question which the Church, +in her work among tropical peoples, had now to resolutely face and +earnestly discuss. There is, I fear, no doubt that the monogamist—or +professing monogamist—Liberians are, like the Waganda, dying out.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_198" href="#FNanchor_198" class="label">[198]</a> Politically, the same attitude is adopted by the British authorities; +and in the case of the Sierra Leone Hut-tax war, and the +Forest Ordinances in Lagos, it has been sought to divorce the educated—and +mainly, professing Christian—element of the coast from community +of thought, sympathy, and common racial feelings with the non-educated, +and mainly pagan or Mohammedan, element of the interior.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_199" href="#FNanchor_199" class="label">[199]</a> “As soon as half a dozen missionaries leave Liverpool,” writes the +same authority, Archbishop Dobson, “no end of a stir is made about +the devoted party, and so forth. I do not mean to be sarcastic about +the missionaries, but it does make one a trifle ashamed at times to meet +a stalwart trader hereabouts on an occasion, who has been coming +here off and on for twenty years, and his chief business is palm-oil, and +his best view a mangrove swamp.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_200" href="#FNanchor_200" class="label">[200]</a> It is even admitted to be harmful by Sir Alfred Jones, whose +steamers carry a large proportion of this liquor to West Africa, and +by a large proportion of the merchants who deal in it. The merchants +are sometimes violently attacked on account of this trade. Personally, +I detest the West African liquor traffic. I look upon it in the same +light as the opium traffic in the Far East—a blot upon the escutcheon of +Christian Europe. But those who denounce the merchants might just +as well, and more logically, denounce the Governments. <i>Per se</i> the +liquor traffic is not a lucrative trade to the merchant, but to the local +administrations on the coast it is the backbone of revenue. I was +never able to share the late Miss Kingsley’s views on this subject, while +fully agreeing with her as to the inanity of making the merchants the +scapegoats of an evil the responsibility for which is, in a sense, +universal. Despite anything that may be said to the contrary, I shall +believe that a powerful factor in determining Miss Kingsley’s views was +the knowledge that, but for the existence of the liquor traffic as a +supplier of revenue, direct taxation would be substituted throughout +British West Africa owing to the extravagance of the Crown Colony +system; and I know that Miss Kingsley strongly objected to the introduction +of European spirits into the interior regions by means of the +railways. The liquor question would require a special chapter to +adequately discuss.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_201" href="#FNanchor_201" class="label">[201]</a> He will, no doubt, be edified to learn that the Cape Government +has found it necessary to pass a law imposing a severe term of imprisonment +upon white <i>women</i> convicted of sexual intercourse with the +natives—a circumstance not precisely calculated to increase his respect +for our Christian civilisation.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_202" href="#FNanchor_202" class="label">[202]</a> Captain—now Commandant—Binger has for some little time past +been in charge of the African Department of the French Colonial Office. +His travels, books, and pamphlets are familiar to every student of +Western Africa.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_203" href="#FNanchor_203" class="label">[203]</a> It would seem now that they have temporarily prevailed with the +Government.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_204" href="#FNanchor_204" class="label">[204]</a> In the Sokoto Empire (Hausa States) more particularly.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_205" href="#FNanchor_205" class="label">[205]</a> They did it so well that, after the failure of their attack upon the +French camp, they denuded the country of supplies and reduced the +expedition to terrible straits for a time.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_206" href="#FNanchor_206" class="label">[206]</a> The fall predicted, and officially foreseen, in 1901 has come about, +owing to the rubber crisis. The measures taken during the last fifteen +months to stimulate fresh industries in the country, and the advance of +the railway, will, no doubt, make themselves felt in the next two or +three years.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_207" href="#FNanchor_207" class="label">[207]</a> For the Lagos exports and expenditure, see <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_208" href="#FNanchor_208" class="label">[208]</a> C.O. Report. 1900.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_209" href="#FNanchor_209" class="label">[209]</a> “Rapport d’ensemble.” Dahomey, 1900.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_210" href="#FNanchor_210" class="label">[210]</a> For 1902, on a total estimated expenditure of £121,560, Dahomey +provides £32,000 for the railway and £11,911 for public works ordinary +or, say, a total of £43,911 for railway and public works.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_211" href="#FNanchor_211" class="label">[211]</a> The following statistics of the export trade of Dahomey, compiled +from figures recently obtained, are interesting:</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Quantities in Kilos.</span><br> +(1015 kilos to the ton.)</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th>Palm-kernels.</th> + <th>Palm-oil.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">1898</td> + <td class="tdr">18,091,312</td> + <td class="tdr">6,059,539</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">1899</td> + <td class="tdr">21,850,982</td> + <td class="tdr">9,650,081</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">1900</td> + <td class="tdr">21,986,043</td> + <td class="tdr">8,920,359</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">1901</td> + <td class="tdr">24,211,614</td> + <td class="tdr">11,290,658</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">First quarter 1902</td> + <td class="tdr">6,972,297</td> + <td class="tdr">3,488,766</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><i>Ibid.</i> 1901</td> + <td class="tdr">4,768,050</td> + <td class="tdr">1,993,520</td> + </tr> +</table> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_212" href="#FNanchor_212" class="label">[212]</a> See <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_213" href="#FNanchor_213" class="label">[213]</a> It is worthy of note that the French Government authorises the +Administration of the several West African colonies to make their own +agreements for railway construction.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_214" href="#FNanchor_214" class="label">[214]</a> So far as the heavier duties charged on spirits in Lagos are concerned, +the fact is distinctly to the credit of Lagos.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_215" href="#FNanchor_215" class="label">[215]</a> There is a very curious circumstance connected with the ground-nut +trade. All the ground-nuts go to the Continent—both from Senegal +and Gambia—the oil extracted, therefrom, or the bulk of it, is used in +making margarine, which is subsequently consumed, to a very large +extent, by the English people! Why have we not our own crushing-mills? +Is it because we are short of milk? It cannot but strike one +as peculiar and unfortunate that we should send our West African +ground-nuts to France, and afterwards buy from the French the oil +the nuts yield for our own consumption! Ground-nuts will grow anywhere +in West Africa, and the labour involved in cultivating them is +very small.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_216" href="#FNanchor_216" class="label">[216]</a> Belgian syndicates have been trying, and are still trying, to get hold +of the French Ivory Coast goldfields. Hitherto they have been defeated +by the vigilance of the French merchants; but there is no knowing what +may happen in view of the extraordinary influence which King Leopold +appears to wield over the French official world.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_217" href="#FNanchor_217" class="label">[217]</a> “Sur des traces probables de civilisation Egyptienne et d’hommes +de race blanche à la Côte d’Ivoire.” Masson & Cie., Paris. A pamphlet +which ought to be read by all students of West Africa.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_218" href="#FNanchor_218" class="label">[218]</a> Specie is usually included in the trade figures—a very misleading +practice.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_219" href="#FNanchor_219" class="label">[219]</a> Sir David Chalmers’ report, p. 169.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_220" href="#FNanchor_220" class="label">[220]</a> Like the Susus, for example, who are very numerous in French +Guinea, but of whom a few only have settled in the British Protectorate +adjoining.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_221" href="#FNanchor_221" class="label">[221]</a> Let it not be imagined that the contrast here made between French +political action in Dahomey and British political action in Ashanti +implies approval of direct taxation <i>per se</i>. It is ever a dangerous experiment +in West Africa, especially with pagans, even if conquest has +supervened. If the system under which the taxes are collected is not +carefully watched, grave abuses are almost certain to follow. Quite +recently rumours of oppression in the taxation of the natives in Upper +Dahomey have appeared in the French Press. What truth there may +be in them I do not know. But it is true, I believe, that the excellent +staff whom Governor Ballot gathered round him has left the Colony +since Ballot left it, and has been replaced by less experienced and less +competent material.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_222" href="#FNanchor_222" class="label">[222]</a> Last Ashanti Blue Book, 1902.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_223" href="#FNanchor_223" class="label">[223]</a> See Note in <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_224" href="#FNanchor_224" class="label">[224]</a> See the evidence of Lieutenant-Colonel Gore, Colonial Secretary +for Sierra Leone. Sir David Chalmers’ report.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_225" href="#FNanchor_225" class="label">[225]</a> Between July 1894 and February 1898 no fewer than sixty-two +convictions—admittedly representing a small proportion of offences +actually committed—were recorded against them for flogging, plundering, +and generally maltreating the natives.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_226" href="#FNanchor_226" class="label">[226]</a> One of the pet arguments of the authorities consists in invoking the +benefits which have accrued to the people of the Protectorate since +the passing of the Protectorate Ordinance in the matter of putting +down the slave trade. For these benefits the natives, says officialdom, +ought to be delighted to pay a tax. Possibly they would have paid it +in time, more or less willingly, had they been approached in a different +spirit. But, so far as the slave trade is concerned, the argument is +singularly weakened by the circumstance that Sir F. Cardew publicly +declared in 1895 that the slave traffic had “practically disappeared +within the Protectorate.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_227" href="#FNanchor_227" class="label">[227]</a> The French West African Company, <i>Cie française de l’Afrique Occidentale</i>, +is the largest French firm of African merchants in West Africa. +Founded in 1887 with a capital of 7,000,000 francs; total turn-over in +1899, 22,000,000 francs; factories in Senegal, French and Portuguese +Guinea, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Lagos, and Ivory Coast.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_228" href="#FNanchor_228" class="label">[228]</a> In 1900, 39,874,005 francs; in 1901, 43,965,950 francs.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_229" href="#FNanchor_229" class="label">[229]</a> The same game was tried with the Germans in Cameroons. To +quote from an article in the <i>National Zeitung</i>, which, as I have reason +to know, may be accepted as authorised: “If in the Congo State itself +the Berlin Act could be disregarded in this way, and the natives obliged +to bring in the produce against their will, why could it not also be done +in other places? And as the Congo State was itself making the best +use of its monopoly, and only gave concessions to others at high prices, +the monopolists tried, and not without result, to obtain the same state +of affairs both in France and in Germany. In Germany, the German +Colonial Society at once protested against this state of affairs. In +spite of this, however, several of the Belgian capitalists were able to +obtain the help of influential German persons, who obtained from the +Government the concession of South Cameroon. This company had +obtained the assistance of Colonel Thys for its operations on the +Brussels Stock Exchange, and immediately after the flotation of the +company the shares were driven up to two or three times their value. +Further concessions in the free-trade zone were not conceded, and, +with the exception of the North-West Cameroon concession, in consequence +of the energetic opposition in colonial circles, no further +concessions were, or will be, made in the German territories. The +German Government has entirely abandoned this policy of concessions.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_230" href="#FNanchor_230" class="label">[230]</a> It is, of course, no easy matter to get at the precise constitution of +these companies, but the following example of one of the “groups” is +typical of the majority of them. <i>Comptoir Colonial français.</i> Parent +company: head offices, Paris; has founded at least six Concessionnaire +Companies, of a total capital of 9,650,000 francs; Board of Administration +numbers six directors, of whom three are Belgians; two-thirds of +the shares held in Belgium; two of the Belgian directors are directors of +the four <i>Domaine Privé</i> Companies in the Congo State, whose profits are +shared by the State (read the King); the third also belongs to the Congo +clique; among the Belgian shareholders are other directors of these +same <i>Domaine Privé</i> Companies, all men enjoying the confidence of, and +closely connected with, the Sovereign of the Congo State. One of the +six Concessionnaire Companies of this “group” has specially distinguished +itself in the persecution to which British merchants have been +subjected—discussed in the next chapter.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_231" href="#FNanchor_231" class="label">[231]</a> Some light has been thrown upon its African chapters by Mr. R. E. +Dennett, an Englishman in French Congo, and a recognised authority +on the Fjort peoples, in “West Africa.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_232" href="#FNanchor_232" class="label">[232]</a> I should say now, ex-Deputy.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_233" href="#FNanchor_233" class="label">[233]</a> “Une idée domine l’ensemble du système, tous les produits du +territoire, concédé quels qu’ils soient, sont la propriété de la Société +Concessionnaire. Seuls les agents de cette Société ont le droit de les +recueillir ou de les acheter des indigènes qui les ont récoltés; ces +derniers ne pouvant disposer librement que des produits des reserves +qui leur ont été spécialement attribuées et sur lesquelles je reviendrai, +et devant en thèse générale, lorsqu’ils s’emparent d’un produit quelconque +du sol en dehors de ces reserves, les remettre aux concessionnaires +dont l’intérêt bien entendu, est de remunérer ensuite leur +travail.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_234" href="#FNanchor_234" class="label">[234]</a> “Les indigènes ont droit aux superficies qui leur sont nécessaires +pour les cultures vivrières correspondantes aux besoins de leur alimentation. +On peut leur attribuer une certaine étendue de forêt +nécessaire à leurs besoins de chauffage et de construction, mais ils n’ont +pas droit a réclamer des forêts domaniales <i>dans le but de faire commerce +de leurs produits naturels</i> et de constituer ainsi une concurrence ruineuse +pour le concessionnaire” (Art. 18).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_235" href="#FNanchor_235" class="label">[235]</a> The French Government has recently voted De Brazza an annual +pension of 10,000 francs.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_236" href="#FNanchor_236" class="label">[236]</a> “Concessions Congolaises.” By Albert Cousin, Membre du Conseil +Supérieur des Colonies. Paris: Augustin Chalamel.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_237" href="#FNanchor_237" class="label">[237]</a> An English trader, Mr. Walker, was the first to do so. He is +admitted by French writers to have discovered the Ogowe.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_238" href="#FNanchor_238" class="label">[238]</a> Messrs. John Holt & Co. and Messrs. Hatton & Cookson, both of +Liverpool, and both connected with the West African Trade for upwards +of half a century. Mr. John Holt is probably the most enterprising +pioneer of Britain’s trade in West Africa, possessing trading stations in +most of the British and Foreign West African Colonies. He is the vice-chairman +of the African Trade Section of the Liverpool Chamber of +Commerce, and very few men living have so wide a grasp of West African +questions or so profound a knowledge of West African problems.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_239" href="#FNanchor_239" class="label">[239]</a> Whose existence was unknown in England until towards the end of +last year.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_240" href="#FNanchor_240" class="label">[240]</a> Seizure of British goods on public roads; breaking open of British +factories; flogging of British native agents, &c.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_241" href="#FNanchor_241" class="label">[241]</a> Notably that most excellent monthly, <i>Le Bulletin du Comité de +l’Afrique française</i>, through the instrumentality of the two distinguished +thinkers and writers who dictate its policy, Count Robert de Caix and +M. Auguste Terrier.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_242" href="#FNanchor_242" class="label">[242]</a> Forty tons of ebony, bought in the usual way by a British firm on +the Congo and shipped to Havre in a French ship, were seized at that +port (1902) on a mandate of a Concessionnaire Company. This produce +has, however, now been restored.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_243" href="#FNanchor_243" class="label">[243]</a> The Foreign Office was warned as far back as the beginning of 1898 +by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce of the danger of the possible +inauguration of a system of territorial monopolies. Lord Salisbury +said it would receive “our most earnest attention,” and admitted inferentially +that in fiscal questions England had, as a free-trade country, +“inferior” means of influencing other countries; “with the occasional +exception,” added his lordship, “of territorial concessions, we have no +means whatever of persuasion.” Nevertheless, in the purely fiscal question +which formed the principal object of the Deputation of Chambers +of Commerce to Lord Salisbury on this occasion, that of the differential +tariff in the French possessions, Lord Salisbury was able to get his own +way, simply by persuasion, by “influencing France’s ideas.” Yet in this +matter of the French Congo Concessions, in which the purely fiscal +question does not enter at all, and where we have an international +treaty to work on, Lord Lansdowne has been unable to prevent the +expulsion of British merchants from an internationally free-trade +zone!</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_244" href="#FNanchor_244" class="label">[244]</a> The <i>Morning Post</i>, the <i>Manchester Guardian</i>, the <i>Liverpool Daily Post</i>, +and <i>West Africa</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_245" href="#FNanchor_245" class="label">[245]</a> The German merchants, despairing of obtaining even the most +elementary justice, have evacuated the territory. Our merchants have +chosen the nobler part of making a stand for their rights, guaranteed +under international law.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_246" href="#FNanchor_246" class="label">[246]</a> To which must now be added the somewhat similar Rabinek +affair—an Austrian subject arrested and “removed” by the Congo +State in the Katanga district under circumstances analogous, in some +measure, to the case of Mr. Stokes.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_247" href="#FNanchor_247" class="label">[247]</a> The other day the then French Parliamentary representative of +Senegal, in a speech to his constituents at St. Louis, warned them that +the greatest danger threatening their hinterland, the French Sudan, was +King Leopold of Belgium and his monopolist gang.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_248" href="#FNanchor_248" class="label">[248]</a> At the great “Colonial Congress” held in Berlin on October 11, +Consul Vohsen moved a resolution, unanimously carried, calling upon +the Powers to institute proceedings for the revision of the Berlin Act. +Consul Vohsen said: “From the very first the Congo State, and +recently France in the French Colony of French Congo, have acted +against the principles laid down in the Congo Act.” ... Referring to +the Congo State, he continued: “All so-called countries ‘not occupied +by natives’ situated in the Free Trade zone were, as far back as July +1885, declared the property of the State, and in the year 1892 heavy +taxes were imposed upon the rubber trade, which was entirely prohibited +in parts of the Free Trade zone. The consequence was that +the freedom of trade and commerce guaranteed by the Congo Act was +practically abolished. The first condition of freedom of trade for the +nations is freedom to the natives, in such a way as to leave them free to +dispose of the natural products of the soil and of the chase; which +state of affairs existed before the passing of the Act in all French, +English, and German colonies in West Africa, and exists to-day, with +the exception of the territories of the Congo State and the French +Congo, the very colonies where, strange to say, free trade is insisted +upon by Articles I. and V. of the Act.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_249" href="#FNanchor_249" class="label">[249]</a> Among the supporters of the Mansion House meeting of May 15 +(held under the auspices of the Aborigines Protection Society) were +Mr. John Morley, Sir J. Kennaway, Earl Spencer, the Marquis of Ripon, +Lord Avebury, Mr. Lecky, M.P., Sir Edward Clarke, K.C., Sir W. +Brampton Gurdon, M.P., K.C.M.G., Sir Charles Dilke, M.P., Sir Mark +J. Stewart, M.P., Mr. James Bryce, M.P., Mr. W. S. Robson, M.P., and +other politicians of both parties. Five Chambers of Commerce, the +African Society, and the German Colonial Society were represented, +and Dr. Alfred Zimmermann, <i>attaché</i> to the German Embassy in London, +also attended.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_250" href="#FNanchor_250" class="label">[250]</a> Commandant Binger’s views are well known. M. Cousturier +(Governor of French Guinea), in his report on French Guinea for 1901, +does not conceal his adverse opinion of Belgian methods of collecting +rubber in the Congo State.</p> + +<p>The author could produce documentary evidence showing that similar +opinions are held by other well-known French officials in West Africa.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_251" href="#FNanchor_251" class="label">[251]</a> Belgium, Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy +and Russia sent delegates to the conference.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_252" href="#FNanchor_252" class="label">[252]</a> This was done with the exception of England.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_253" href="#FNanchor_253" class="label">[253]</a> Diego Cam.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_254" href="#FNanchor_254" class="label">[254]</a> The original title had by this time been changed to that of “International +Congo Association.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_255" href="#FNanchor_255" class="label">[255]</a> The point is brought out very clearly by Mr. Dennet, our only +authority on the Fjort Kingdom of Congo, and the author of several +books concerning the Fjort, in a series of interesting letters published +last year in “West Africa.” Mr. Dennet, who has lived twenty-two +years consecutively in the Lower Congo, positively declares that the +treaties made by the Association, and referred to by General Sandford, +had no validity whatever in native law.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_256" href="#FNanchor_256" class="label">[256]</a> In his report on the Congo State for 1898, Consul Pickersgill concludes +a long enumeration of the taxes levied upon independent trade +by the following humorous passage:</p> + +<p>“I may sum up this portion of my remarks by quoting the jocose +observations of the English and American missionaries, who declared +to me that there is nothing free in the Independent State, except +fevers; while a Belgian Father with whom I had some conversation on +the subject, remarked: ‘The Government taxes even the civilisation +we bring.’”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_257" href="#FNanchor_257" class="label">[257]</a> Who held the monopoly of the ivory trade in the Upper Congo, +which the Congo State, by exterminating them with the aid of its cannibal +soldiery (see Hinde’s “Fall of the Congo Arabs”), became +possessed of.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_258" href="#FNanchor_258" class="label">[258]</a> See Mr. Herbert Ward’s “Five Years with the Congo Cannibals,” +p. 297.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_259" href="#FNanchor_259" class="label">[259]</a> The whole paragraph might have been written a few weeks, instead +of eleven years, ago. The state of affairs pictured by Colonel +Williams has worsened instead of bettered. The evil is more widespread +and the means of perpetuating it more extensive and more +powerful. Read in this connection the latest revelations by Mr. Canisius +and Captain Burrows.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_260" href="#FNanchor_260" class="label">[260]</a> The importance of the 10 per cent. import duty was purposely +exaggerated. The amount derived therefrom was trifling. The merchants +objected to it on principle. As Sir Albert Rollit justly remarked, +“The reason for our opposition is only that they (the import duties) +would infringe the great principle of freedom of commerce, which was +the very basis of the programme of the Berlin Conference.” It is quite +clear, however, that the majority of the merchants also opposed the +import duties from a vague distrust of the king’s ultimate intentions, a +distrust which events proved to be only too well founded.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_261" href="#FNanchor_261" class="label">[261]</a> The map published by the African Society in the May (1902) issue +of its Journal may be consulted with advantage in this respect.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_262" href="#FNanchor_262" class="label">[262]</a> Among whom might be mentioned Augouard, Hinde, Glave, Morrison, +Hawkins, Sheppard, Andrew, Sjöblom, Alfred Parminter, De +Mandat-Grancy, Rankin, Murphy, Lloyd, Grogan, and many others, +without counting Belgian authorities—more numerous than all foreigners +put together.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_263" href="#FNanchor_263" class="label">[263]</a> At the present moment heavy fighting is going on in the Welle district, +due, as I have reason to know, to the usual rubber taxes. The +facts as to this particular rising may, happily, have been made public +before the publication of the present volume.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_264" href="#FNanchor_264" class="label">[264]</a> The regular army—<i>Force Publique</i>—of the Congo State is admitted +officially (Bulletin, July 1900) to be 15,000, but we know that in addition +to this regular force—15,000 cannibals armed with Albinis, sections of +whom are continually revolting—the State habitually arms, whenever +it deems necessary, thousands of irregulars, cannibals for choice (see +the letter written in October 1899 to the king by the acting head of +the American Presbyterian Mission in the Kassai district). There is +also a large reserve corps, but the extent of it is not known.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_265" href="#FNanchor_265" class="label">[265]</a> It may be usefully noted here that the <i>impôts de nature</i> are applied +by the Congo State in the so-called Free Trade Zone as well as in the +<i>Domaine Privé</i>, and until the Kassai district was incorporated in the +<i>Domaine Privé</i> many and bitter were the complaints by companies +operating in the former zone of the unfair competition to which they +were subjected by the levying of this tribute. Instances have been +given by some of these irate traders where the State’s officials have +threatened the natives with condign punishment if they did not hand +over all their rubber to the said officials. An arrangement has recently +been concluded between the State and the Kassai companies—the +Kassai district was the only portion of the Upper Congo where independent +trade had been allowed—whereby the Kassai companies have +amalgamated into a syndicate <i>in which the State holds one half the interest</i>. +To all intents and purposes, therefore, the Kassai has now been incorporated +in the <i>Domaine Privé</i>, <span class="smcap">which henceforth embraces the +whole of the Congo State north of Stanley Pool</span>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_266" href="#FNanchor_266" class="label">[266]</a> Both these facts have been repeatedly asserted. They were proved +beyond manner of doubt last year by the disclosures attendant upon +the Mongolla scandals, in which agents of the <i>Société Anversoise</i> were +involved.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_267" href="#FNanchor_267" class="label">[267]</a> Seven, if we include the Kassai Trust recently formed.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_268" href="#FNanchor_268" class="label">[268]</a> Baron A. Goffinet is “Conseiller de Légation, Secrétaire des Commandements +de leurs MM. le Roi et la Reine, Major de l’Etat, Major de +la Garde Civique, Aide-de-camp, Ministre Résident.” Baron C. Goffinet +is “Conseiller de Légation, Intendant de la Liste Civile du Roi, Ministre +Résident, Major de la Garde Civique.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_269" href="#FNanchor_269" class="label">[269]</a> I have quite recently received from another correspondent in the +Congo the photograph here reproduced.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_270" href="#FNanchor_270" class="label">[270]</a> “Abir (Société à responsabilité limitée) Statuts.” Anvers: Imprimerie +Ratinckx Frères, Grand Place, 40-42.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_271" href="#FNanchor_271" class="label">[271]</a> “Comptoir Commercial Congolais (Société à responsabilité limitée) +Statuts.” Anvers: Imprimerie Ratinckx.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_272" href="#FNanchor_272" class="label">[272]</a> “Compagnie du Lomami (Société Anonyme) Statuts.” Bruxelles: +P. Weissenbruch, Imprimerie du Roi, 45 rue du Poincon.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_273" href="#FNanchor_273" class="label">[273]</a> In chapter xxviii. I referred to the constitution of the <i>Comptoir +Colonial français</i>, which has managed to secure for its subsidiaries such +a respectable slice of French Congo. Well, Alexis Mols is one of the +Administrators, and so is A. Osterrieth, a shareholder in the <i>Abir</i>, and +so is A. Lambrechts, also a shareholder in the <i>Abir</i>, &c. &c.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_274" href="#FNanchor_274" class="label">[274]</a> I am afraid Sir H. M. Stanley was somewhat premature when, in +1884, he told the London Chamber of Commerce that people “could +not appreciate rightly” King Leopold’s philanthropy, because there +were “no dividends attaching to it.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_275" href="#FNanchor_275" class="label">[275]</a> Whip made out of hippo hide—the Congo <i>sjambok</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_276" href="#FNanchor_276" class="label">[276]</a> Or was until quite recently.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_277" href="#FNanchor_277" class="label">[277]</a> In Congo circles in Belgium it is suggested that to guard against +“attacks which might become too threatening” (by “attacks” is meant +exposures in the public Press, and on public platforms in England and +Germany) the Congo State should largely increase its standing army.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_278" href="#FNanchor_278" class="label">[278]</a> The author, who may claim to have brought the Rabinek affair to +light, is able to state that the British Government is causing specific +inquiries to be made through its representatives in Central Africa in +connection with the matter. See <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_279" href="#FNanchor_279" class="label">[279]</a> The trade of the Lower Congo has sensibly diminished since the +Congo State came into existence. On August 10 of last year the merchants +established in the Lower Congo (of whom there remain a few) +petitioned the king to reduce taxation. After pointing out the heavy +import and export duty on goods and produce (20<i>s.</i> per ton on palm-oil, +for instance) and showing how small the existing export trade already +was, owing to the taxes and emigration of native labour, due to “the +means employed in raising native levies,” the petitioners went on to +say: “We do not disguise from ourselves that business in the Lower +Congo is practically <i>nil</i>.... Each of us,” continues the petition, “consistently +hopes for an increase in trade; but these hopes appear to us +more and more unreliable, and the Government of the Congo State, +instead of coming to aid us, imposes increased and too onerous taxes.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_280" href="#FNanchor_280" class="label">[280]</a> The figures for 1900 are based upon the known sale on the Antwerp +market by the State brokers in 1900 of 1828 tons of rubber and 153,445 +kilos. of ivory, worked out at an average of 6 francs per kilo. for rubber +(1115 kilos, to the ton) and 18 francs per kilo, for ivory. I believe a +proportion of the produce imported was held in stock on account of the +poor state of the rubber market.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_281" href="#FNanchor_281" class="label">[281]</a> “There is no trade, properly so called,” says Mr. Codrington, “on +the Congo coast of Tanganyika, but all rubber and ivory is regarded as +the property of the State, and has to be surrendered by the natives in +fixed quantities annually. The natives are, however, continually in +rebellion, and the country is unsafe, except in the immediate vicinity of +the military garrisons, and within the sphere of influence of the +missionaries.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_282" href="#FNanchor_282" class="label">[282]</a> As was anticipated, the acquirement from Spain for purposes of +exploitation of a portion of the Muni territory (which was recently +handed over to Spain by France) by the Belgian “clique” has been +followed by the usual results. A correspondent, whose name commands +universal respect, and who is in a position to speak <i>de visu</i> on +the subject, wrote to an English friend recently that “atrocities” were +going merrily on; natives being shot down, and villages burnt in the +course of “ivory collecting” by the Belgian concessionnaires; “outrages +on the villagers are indiscriminate,” the writer adds. The same +“clique” is threatening Fernando Po.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_283" href="#FNanchor_283" class="label">[283]</a> Apart from the large quantities of rifles, cap-guns, and ammunition +imported into the Congo State for the arming and equipment of the +soldiers, regular and irregular, it is morally certain, although not easy +to prove, that the agents of the State and the agents of the <i>Domaine +Privé</i> Companies encourage some of the biggest and most powerful +chiefs of the Upper Congo to obtain ivory for them by presents of +repeating-rifles and ammunition. In this connection a M. Léon. C. +Berthier, writing from the French Upper Congo to the Paris organ <i>La +Dépêche Coloniale</i> (issue July 16, 1902), says: “The M’Bomu (a branch +of the Upper Ubanghi, which forms the frontier between the French +and Congolese possessions, and which pursues its course to the +Bahr-el-Ghazal), here very wide, forms the southern base of the square; +this is the route where the ivory passes <i>sous notre barbe</i> to be sold to the +Belgians on the other bank, <i>who pay for it in Albini rifles</i>, notwithstanding +all the Acts of Berlin and Brussels, which forbid even the sale of +percussion-cap guns!” The writer goes on to assert that he has +documents to prove his statements.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_284" href="#FNanchor_284" class="label">[284]</a> Mary Kingsley, in the “Story of West Africa.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_285" href="#FNanchor_285" class="label">[285]</a> Excluding specie. The figures are taken from the Parliamentary Report, +June 1902.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_286" href="#FNanchor_286" class="label">[286]</a> <i>Sierra Leone Royal Gazette</i>, April 18th, 1902.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_287" href="#FNanchor_287" class="label">[287]</a> Estimated. Appropriation Ordinance, 1902.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_288" href="#FNanchor_288" class="label">[288]</a> “Railways and Telegraphs,” Appropriation Ordinance, 1902.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_289" href="#FNanchor_289" class="label">[289]</a> Colonial Office Report, No. 324. On page 8 of the same Report the figures a +given as £29,126 18s. 7d. I cannot explain the difference.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_290" href="#FNanchor_290" class="label">[290]</a> <i>Sierra Leone Royal Gazette</i>, April 18th, 1902.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_291" href="#FNanchor_291" class="label">[291]</a> <i>Idem.</i></p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_292" href="#FNanchor_292" class="label">[292]</a> Estimated.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_293" href="#FNanchor_293" class="label">[293]</a> The figures for 1900 do not include the expenses of the Ashanti expedition.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_294" href="#FNanchor_294" class="label">[294]</a> Including exports of specie.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_295" href="#FNanchor_295" class="label">[295]</a> Ordinary for 1897, 1898, 1899 and 1900; extraordinary for 1897, 1898 and 1899.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_296" href="#FNanchor_296" class="label">[296]</a> Sir Matthew Nathan’s report on the Northern Territories (No. 357—issued +July 1902) says: “The expenditure in 1901 has not yet been completely estimated.” +Farther on he estimates the expenditure for 1902 at £52,381 11s. 7d. The expenditure +is, therefore, largely increasing. The above amount includes £23,038 11s. 7d. +or military purposes.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_297" href="#FNanchor_297" class="label">[297]</a> According to Lieutenant-Colonel Morris (C.O. Report, No. 35) the revenue in +1901 was £7415 4s. 3d. It was estimated at £8000; and the estimate for 1902 is +also £8000.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_298" href="#FNanchor_298" class="label">[298]</a> Including £97,769 paid back to the Imperial Government for cost of expenditure +on Ashanti expedition.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_299" href="#FNanchor_299" class="label">[299]</a> Official statement, dated March 1902:—1st section, 39¼ miles long, open to +traffic; and section, of 9¾ miles, “approaching completion.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_300" href="#FNanchor_300" class="label">[300]</a> Colonial Office Report, No. 344:—Sum borrowed to end 1900, apparently +£798,000 (£220,000, 1898; £578,000, 1899).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_301" href="#FNanchor_301" class="label">[301]</a> <i>Idem.</i></p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_302" href="#FNanchor_302" class="label">[302]</a> Railway development, £578,000; harbour works at Accra, £98,000.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_303" href="#FNanchor_303" class="label">[303]</a> Estimated.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_304" href="#FNanchor_304" class="label">[304]</a> Colonial Office Report, No. 348.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_305" href="#FNanchor_305" class="label">[305]</a> <i>Idem.</i></p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_306" href="#FNanchor_306" class="label">[306]</a> If for re-sale.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_307" href="#FNanchor_307" class="label">[307]</a> <i>Idem.</i></p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_308" href="#FNanchor_308" class="label">[308]</a> One mile—1609 metres.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_309" href="#FNanchor_309" class="label">[309]</a> In 1901 there was an increase of 4600 tons of palm oil and kernels exported +compared with the previous year.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_310" href="#FNanchor_310" class="label">[310]</a> Wallach.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_311" href="#FNanchor_311" class="label">[311]</a> Late Lieutenant-Colonel Northcote’s estimate. It does not include the portion of +the Anglo-German neutral territory, which is eventually to be incorporated within the +British sphere, according to the Anglo-German Convention of November 1899.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_312" href="#FNanchor_312" class="label">[312]</a> The principal towns of the Protectorate are Ibadan (population 180,000), +Abbeokuta (population 150,000), Oyo (population 50,000).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_313" href="#FNanchor_313" class="label">[313]</a> If we assume the population of Northern Nigeria to be 30 millions, this gives +us a rough total, exclusive of Ashanti, of 33,218,324 inhabitants to 645,000 square +miles of territory; or not far short of the population of France, in a territory as +large as France and Germany, with a good half of Austria-Hungary thrown in.</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_373"></a>[373]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX</h2> + +</div> + +<ul> + +<li class="ifrst">Abbeokuta, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abderrahman ben Abdallah ben Imran ben Amir Es-Sa’di, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Abir</i>, <i>see</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aborigines Protection Society, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abutshi, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abyssinia, <i>see</i> <a href="#Christianity">Christianity</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adamawa, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li class="indx">African Association, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="indx">African Oil Mills Co., <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Agoult, Comte d’, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Agricultural Committee, <i>see</i> <a href="#German">German</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ahmed-Baba, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Air, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Akassa, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Allen, Commander, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alvensleben, Count, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Amageddi, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Anglo-French Convention, <i>see</i> <a href="#Treaties">Treaties</a></li> +<li class="isub1">-German Convention, <i>see</i> <a href="#Treaties">Treaties</a></li> +<li class="isub1">-Portuguese Convention, <i>see</i> <a href="#Treaties">Treaties</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Angola, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ansorge, Dr., <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Anton, Dr., <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Anversoise</i>, <i>see</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Apis, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ashanti, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, + <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Assay, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Assinie, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Atani, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Axim, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Baghena, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Baghirmi, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bakundi, Lake, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bakunu, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ballay, Dr., <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ballot, Governor, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bambarras, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bamboo-palm, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bambuk, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bangalas, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Banyo, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Baobab, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Barbot, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Barros, de, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Barth, Dr., <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, + <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, + <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Basset, Serge, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bathurst, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Earl, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Battel, Andrew, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bayol, Dr., <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Belgian policy in West Africa, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Belgians in French Congo, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li> +<li class="isub1">on Muni River, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Belgium, King Leopold of, <i>see</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bello, Emir, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Benin, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Berlin, Act of, <i>see</i> <a href="#Treaties">Treaties</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Béthancourt, De, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_374"></a>[374]</span>Bilma, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Binger, Commandant, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, + <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Binue, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, + <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Biru, <i>see</i> <a href="#Walata">Walata</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bismarck, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blyden, Dr., <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Bohn">Bohn, M., <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#French_West_African_Company">French West African Co.</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bondu, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bonny, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Borgu, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bornu, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, + <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brass, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brazza, De, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315-316</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bretonnet, Lieut., <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">British Cotton Growing Association, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brown, Dr. Robert, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brüe, Sieur de, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brussels, Act of, <i>see</i> <a href="#Treaties">Treaties</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Burutu, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bussa, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Butter-tree, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Ca-de-Mosto, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caix, Count Robert de, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cambyses, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cameroon, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caravan traffic, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62-65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cardew, Sir F., <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cardi, Count de, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cattier, M., <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chad, Lake, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, + <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chalmers, Sir David, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chama, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Chamberlain">Chamberlain, Right Hon. Joseph, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <i>see also</i> + <a href="#Colonial_Office">Colonial Office</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Christianity">Christianity, in Abyssinia, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Uganda, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in West Africa, <a href="#Page_208">208-37</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Clapperton, <a href="#Page_35">35-51</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, + <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Clarke, Sir Andrew, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Clarke, Sir Marshall, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Clozel, M., <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Codrington, Mr. Robert, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Colonial_Office">Colonial Office, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, + <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#Chamberlain">Chamberlain</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Comptoir Colonial français</i>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Conakry, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Concessions <i>régime</i>, <i>see</i> <a href="#French_Congo">French Congo</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Congo_State">Congo State, history of, <a href="#Page_312">312-326</a></li> +<li class="isub1">“trade of,” <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343-53</a></li> +<li class="isub1">taxation in, <a href="#Page_327">327-29</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, + <a href="#Page_348">348</a></li> +<li class="isub1">native policy of, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328-29</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, + <a href="#Page_345">345</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> +<li class="isub1">land policy, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> +<li class="isub1">commercial policy of, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, + <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> +<li class="isub1">traffic in arms, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> +<li class="isub1"><i>Force publique</i>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> +<li class="isub1"><i>Domaine Privé</i>, <a href="#Page_327">327-42</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> +<li class="isub1">privileged Companies in, <a href="#Page_330">330-38</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Stokes’ affair, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Rabinek affair, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344-49</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">and Belgian Parliament, <a href="#Page_333">333-334</a></li> +<li class="isub1">on Tanganyika, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Nile Valley, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> +<li class="isub1">slavery in, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> +<li class="isub1">influence in France, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Copal, <i>see</i> <a href="#Trade">Trade in Gums</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Copra, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Copts, <i>see</i> <a href="#Gober">Gober</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cotton, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181-200</a>, <i>see also under</i> <a href="#Trade">Trade</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cousin, M. Albert, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cousturier, M., <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_375"></a>[375]</span>Crampbel, Paul, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crown Agents, <i>see</i> <a href="#Crown_Colony_System">Crown Colony System</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Crown_Colony_System">Crown Colony system, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, + <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crowther, Bishop, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Currency, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Dahomey, <i>see under</i> <a href="#French">French</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dakar, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Daw, Mr., J. A., <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Décrais, M., <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Degama, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Delafosse, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Denham, <a href="#Page_35">35-51</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dennett, Mr., <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Denton, Sir George, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Desert">Desert, the, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, + <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dilke, Sir Charles, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dobson, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Donovan, Captain, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dubois, M. Félix, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dufferin, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dybowski, M., <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Ebony, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#Timber">Timber</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Edrizi, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Egga, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eichtal, M. d’, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li class="indx">El Bekri, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li class="indx">El-Haji-Omar, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">El-Kuti, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ellis, A. B., <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Etienne, Eugène, <a href="#Page_250">250-63</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Faidherbe, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, + <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fans, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ferry, Jules, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Finances of British West Africa, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>; <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">of Nigeria, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>; <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Finances of Lagos, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>; <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">of Sierra Leone, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>; <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">of French Colonies, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>; <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Flatters, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fondère, M., <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Forcados, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Foreign Office, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Foureau, M., <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Freeman, R. Austin, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="French">French, exploration and discovery, <a href="#Page_238">238-48</a></li> +<li class="isub1">trade, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265-75</a></li> +<li class="isub1" id="French_policy">policy, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249-84</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in French Guinea, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, + <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281-84</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Dahomey, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Chad region, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, + <a href="#Page_260">260-64</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Western Sudan, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Senegal, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> +<li class="isub1" id="French_Congo">in French Congo, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285-304</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Ivory Coast, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, + <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> +<li class="isub1">and British, <a href="#Page_238">238-48</a>, <i>see also under</i> <a href="#Nigeria">Nigeria</a>, <a href="#French_policy">French policy</a>, and <a href="#French_Congo">French in French Congo</a></li> +<li class="isub1" id="French_West_African_Company">West African Company, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#Bohn">Bohn</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Frey, Colonel, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Fulani">Fulani, origin of, <a href="#Page_136">136-52</a></li> +<li class="isub1">history of, <a href="#Page_125">125-29</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130-135</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Yoruba, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Hausa States, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125-30</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Gambia, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> +<li class="isub1"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_376"></a>[376]</span>in Futa-Jallon, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, + <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Senegal, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, + <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Western Sudan, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Gurma, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Adamawa, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Baghirmi, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Congo Basin, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Segu, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Baghena, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Bornu, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Melle, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Omdurman, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Massina, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> +<li class="isub1">and Portuguese, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li class="isub1">and British, <a href="#Page_46">46-50</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> +<li class="isub1">and French, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> +<li class="isub1">and Hebrews, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> +<li class="isub1">characteristics of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> +<li class="isub1">religion of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> +<li class="isub1">language of, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fula, <i>see</i> <a href="#Fulani">Fulani</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fulbe, <i>see</i> <a href="#Fulani">Fulani</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fulfalde, <i>see</i> <a href="#Fulani">Fulani</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Futa-Jallon, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, + <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Gaboon, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gambia, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, + <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gambetta, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gando, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gao, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Geary, Sir William, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Générale Africaine, Société</i>, <i>see</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gentil, Lieut., <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="German">German, trade, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, + <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> +<li class="isub1">agricultural committee, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Colonial advisory board, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">German Colonial Society, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ghana, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ghanata, <i>see</i> <a href="#Walata">Walata</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Gober">Gober, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gold Coast, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, + <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gold, <i>see</i> <a href="#Mining_Industry">Mining Industry</a>; <i>also under</i> <a href="#Trade">Trade</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Goldie, Sir George, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grand Bassam, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Green, Mrs. J. R., <a href="#FOREWORD">Foreword</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gregory, Professor, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grogan, Mr. H. S., <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ground-nut, <i>see under</i> <a href="#Trade">Trade</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guiraudon, Capt. de, <a href="#Page_148">148-50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gutta-percha, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Hamarua, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hanno, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hatton and Cookson, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hausa Association, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> +<li class="isub1">language, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> +<li class="isub1">history, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> +<li class="isub1">religion, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hausas as manufacturers and traders, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, + <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> +<li class="isub1">as travellers, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> +<li class="isub1">as soldiers, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> +<li class="isub1">as slave-owners, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> +<li class="isub1">relations of with Fulani, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Helm, Mr. E., <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Herodotus, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hess, M. Jean, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Holt, Mr. John, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Horneman, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Houdas, M. O., <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hourst, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hut-tax in Sierra Leone, <i>see under</i> <a href="#Taxation">Taxation</a></li> +<li class="isub1"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_377"></a>[377]</span>in French Congo, <i>see under</i> <a href="#Taxation">Taxation</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hutton, Mr. Arthur, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hyksos, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Ibi, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Idah, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Igarras, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ilorin, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Illushi, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Indigo, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">In Salah, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">International Congo Association, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314-20</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Islam">Islam in West Africa, <a href="#Page_208">208-23</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Bornu, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Hausa States, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, + <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Baghirmi, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Kanem, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Gambia, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Yoruba, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Adamawa, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Lagos, <a href="#Page_213">213-15</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Sierra Leone, <a href="#Page_213">213-15</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Futa-Jallon, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Western Sudan, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Kong, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in French possessions, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ivory Coast, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <i>see also under</i> <a href="#French">French</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ivory, <i>see under</i> <a href="#Trade">Trade</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Jago, Consul, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jalonkes, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jebba, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Johnson, Dr. O., <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Johnston, Sir H., <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, + <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Joloffs, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jones, Sir Alfred, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Kanem, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kano, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, + <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62-67</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kanuri, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, + <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Katamansu, battle of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Katanga Co., <i>see</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Katsena, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kingsley, Miss Mary, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Koelle, the Rev., <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kola, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kontagora, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kotonu, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Krause, the Rev., <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kuka, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Labat, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Labour, native, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170-87</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Ordinance in Gold Coast, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lagos, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, + <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, + <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lahou, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lamy, Lieut.-Colonel, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lamy, <i>see under</i> <a href="#Trade">Trade</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lander, Richard, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Land-tenure, in West Africa, <a href="#Page_170">170-87</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Sierra Leone, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Ivory Coast, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in French Congo, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Congo State, <i>see</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lansdowne, Lord, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lau, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Laveran, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leather-ware, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leo Africanus, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lepsius, Professor, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leucæthiopes, <i>see</i> <a href="#Fulani">Fulani</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Liberia, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_378"></a>[378]</span>Liquor traffic, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#Ross">Ross</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Logon River, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lokoja, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Lomami</i>, <i>see</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> + +<li class="indx">London School of Tropical Medicine, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lucas, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lugard, Sir Frederick, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, + <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lyon, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Macdonald, Sir Claude, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li class="indx">MacGregor, Laird, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Sir William, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, + <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maclaud, Dr., <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mahogany, <i>see under</i> <a href="#Trade_Timber">Trade (Timber)</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maistre, M., <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Makrizi, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Malaria">Malaria, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153-69</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manatus, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mandara, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mandingoes, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, + <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maritime Zone, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marmol, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maroba, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Méline, M., <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Melle, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mendis, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Merchants, British, in West Africa, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, + <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in French Congo, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298-304</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> +<li class="isub1">and liquor traffic, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> +<li class="isub1">German, in West Africa, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> +<li class="isub2">in French Congo, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> +<li class="isub1">French, early exploits of, <a href="#Page_240">240-42</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Senegal, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Ivory Coast, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mille, M. Pierre, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Mining_Industry">Mining industry, in Gold Coast, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182-83</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Ivory Coast, <a href="#Page_270">270-71</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Misahöhe, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Missionaries, <i>see</i> <a href="#Christianity">Christianity</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mitchi, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mohammed-el-Kanemy, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mohammed Lebo, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mohammedans, <i>see</i> <a href="#Islam">Islam</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moloney, Sir Alfred, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mongolia, atrocities in, <i>see</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a>s</li> + +<li class="indx">Monopoly, <i>see</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a> and <a href="#French">French in French Congo</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Monteil, Lieut.-Colonel, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moor, Sir Ralph, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moore, Francis, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mosis, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mosquitoes, <i>see</i> <a href="#Malaria">Malaria</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Muni River, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Murzuk, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Nachtigal, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nathan, Sir Matthew, <i>see</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> + +<li class="indx">National African Company, <i>see</i> <a href="#Niger_Company">Niger Company</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Natron, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Navarette, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li class="indx">New Calabar, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + +<li class="indx">N’Gaundere, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Niger Coast Protectorate, <i>see</i> <a href="#Nigeria">Nigeria</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Niger_Company">Niger Company, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Niger, <i>see</i> <a href="#Nigeria">Nigeria</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Nigeria">Nigeria, discovery of Northern, <a href="#Page_35">35-51</a></li> +<li class="isub1">inhabitants of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> +<li class="isub1">trade of, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60-66</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91-93</a></li> +<li class="isub1">finances of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> +<li class="isub1">administration of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83-88</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, + <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> +<li class="isub1"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_379"></a>[379]</span>forest ordinances in, <a href="#Page_184">184-87</a></li> +<li class="isub1">national industry in, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> +<li class="isub1">and the French, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nikki, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Northcott, Lieut.-Colonel, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nupe, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Ogowe, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ogute Lake, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Old Calabar, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Onitsha, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orashe River, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Osogbo, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Othman_Fodio">Othman Fodio, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, + <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Oudney, Dr., <a href="#Page_35">35-51</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Overweg, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Palm-oil industry, in Southern Nigeria, <a href="#Page_74">74-82</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> +<li class="isub2">in Dahomey, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> +<li class="isub2">in Lagos, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> +<li class="isub2">in Sierra Leone, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <i>see also under</i> <a href="#Trade">Trade</a></li> +<li class="isub1">-kernels industry, in Southern Nigeria, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> +<li class="isub2">in Dahomey, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <i>see also under</i> <a href="#Trade">Trade</a></li> +<li class="isub2">in Lagos, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Park, Mungo, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paw-paw, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peddie, Major, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peuhl, <i>see</i> <a href="#Fulani">Fulani</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pickersgill, Consul, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pilcher, Lieut.-Colonel, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pliny, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Polygamy, <i>see</i> <a href="#Islam">Islam</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Porto Novo, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Portugal and the Congo</li> +<li class="isub1">and the Fulani, <i>see</i> <a href="#Fulani">Fulani</a></li> +<li class="isub1">and Great Britain, <i>see</i> <a href="#Treaties">Treaties</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Portuguese discoveries in West Africa, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Church in West Africa, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Potash, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prempreh, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prince Henry the Navigator, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ptolemy, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Punitive expeditions, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Puttkamer, Herr von, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Quadriyah, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Rabba, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rabah, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, + <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rabinek, <i>see under</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Racka, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Railways, in British West Africa, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, + <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in French Guinea, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Dahomey, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Senegal, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Northern Nigeria, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Matadi, Stanley Pool, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Reclus, Élisée, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Religion, <i>see</i> <a href="#Christianity">Christianity</a> and <a href="#Islam">Islam</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Richardson, James, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Rev. J., <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ripon, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ritchie, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Rivers,” the, <i>see</i> <a href="#Nigeria">Nigeria</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Robinson, John A., <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Canon, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rollit, Sir Albert, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Ross">Ross, Major R., <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152-69</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Roume, M., <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rubber, in Nigeria, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119-24</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in French Congo, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> +<li class="isub1"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_380"></a>[380]</span>in Lagos, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rubber, in Congo State, <i>see</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Russell, Lord John, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Sahara, <i>see</i> <a href="#Desert">Desert</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Salisbury, Lord, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Salmon, C. S., <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Salt, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Samory, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sandford, General, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sangha, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sanitation, <a href="#Page_153">153-69</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sapelli, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sarbah, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Schön, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Schurz, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sekondi, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Senegal, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, + <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <i>see also under</i> <a href="#French">French</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Senussi, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sette Camma, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shari, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, + <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shea-butter, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sherbro, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shongo, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shuwa, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sierra Leone, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, + <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, + <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Silver, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Slavery, in West Africa, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> +<li class="isub1">over-sea, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> +<li class="isub1">domestic, <a href="#Page_94">94-109</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Sierra Leone, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Northern Territories of the Gold Coast, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Nupe and Ilorin, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Congo State, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> +<li class="isub1">the “New Slavery,” <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Slave-raiding, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94-109</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Slaves, “White Slaves of England,” <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sokoto, treaties with, <i>see under</i> <a href="#Treaties">Treaties</a></li> +<li class="isub1">under Bello, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, + <i>see also under</i> <a href="#Fulani">Fulani</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Songhays, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, + <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Soninkes, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stanley, Sir H. M., <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, + <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stewart, Captain Donald, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stokes, <i>see under</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Strachan, Dr., <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Strachir, Monsignor, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Strauch, Colonel, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Susus, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Tanganyika, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Tarik</i>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, + <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Taxation">Taxation, in Sierra Leone, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, + <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Lagos, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Dahomey, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Ashanti, <a href="#Page_279">279-81</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Gambia, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in French Guinea, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281-84</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Congo State, <i>see</i> <a href="#Congo_State">Congo State</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in French Congo, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Hausa States, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> +<li class="isub1">direct in West Africa, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Terrier, Auguste, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thomson, Joseph, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thys, Colonel, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tibati, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tijaniyah, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Timber">Timber, <i>see under</i> <a href="#Trade">Trade</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Timbo, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Timbuctoo, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, + <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tin, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_381"></a>[381]</span>Togoland, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Trade">Trade, British trade with British West Africa, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> +<li class="isub2">French West Africa, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> +<li class="isub2">German West Africa, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> +<li class="isub2">Portuguese West Africa, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> +<li class="isub2">Congo State, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> +<li class="isub1">of Gambia, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Gold Coast, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Lagos, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267-69</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Sierra Leone, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <i>see also</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">of Kano, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> +<li class="isub1">of Nigeria, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74-82</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91-93</a></li> +<li class="isub1">of French possessions, <a href="#Page_265">265-75</a></li> +<li class="isub1">of Congo State, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343-53</a></li> +<li class="isub1">early in West Africa, <a href="#Page_238">238-48</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in ivory, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in Gold, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, + <i>see also</i> <a href="#Mining_Industry">Mining Industry</a> and <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in ostrich-feathers, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in kola, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in benni-seed, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in skins, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in “lamy,” <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> +<li class="isub1" id="Trade_Timber">in timber, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201-207</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <i>see also</i> + <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in bees-wax, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in gums, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in shea-butter, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in cottons, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in palm-oil, <a href="#Page_74">74-82</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in palm-kernels, <a href="#Page_74">74-82</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in ground-nuts, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> +<li class="isub1">in rubber, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119-124</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, + <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> +<li class="isub1">piassava, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Treaties">Treaties, Anglo-French, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Anglo-German, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Anglo-Portuguese, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Franco-German, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> +<li class="isub1">with Fulani Emirs (Sokoto), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_257">257-58</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Berlin Act, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, + <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, + <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Brussels Act, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a></li> +<li class="isub1">of Vienna, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Trentinian, Général de, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tripoli, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, + <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Trotter, Captain, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tuareg, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, + <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tuckey, Captain, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tugwell, Bishop, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tukulors, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Twin Rivers, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Ubanghi, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Uganda, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">United States, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, + <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Unyoro, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Verneau, Dr., <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Viera, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Villadestes, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Villaut de Bellefonds, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vohsen, Consul, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Volta, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Wadai, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wahuma, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wa-Kavirondo, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + +<li class="indx" id="Walata">Walata, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, + <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_382"></a>[382]</span>Waldeck-Rousseau, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Washington, Booker T., <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wauters, A. J., <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> + +<li class="indx">West African Frontier Force, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Western Sudan, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, + <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Winterbottom, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Woermann, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Yola, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yoruba, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Za Dynasty, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Za-Kasai, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zaky, <i>see</i> <a href="#Othman_Fodio">Othman Fodio</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zanfara, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zaria, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zeg-Zeg, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zimmerman, Dr. A., <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> +</ul> + +<p class="titlepage">Printed by <span class="smcap">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span><br> +London & Edinburgh</p> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75580 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75580-h/images/cover.jpg b/75580-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..24db2f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/75580-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/75580-h/images/heinemann.jpg b/75580-h/images/heinemann.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfae83b --- /dev/null +++ b/75580-h/images/heinemann.jpg diff --git a/75580-h/images/illus01.jpg b/75580-h/images/illus01.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..825fd71 --- /dev/null +++ b/75580-h/images/illus01.jpg diff --git a/75580-h/images/illus02.jpg b/75580-h/images/illus02.jpg Binary 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