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 THE ADVANCE OF OUR 
 WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE
 
 SOME IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 BIG GAME SHOOTING AND TRAVEL IN 
 
 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. 
 
 By Frederick R. H. Findlay. Medium Svo, 
 Cloth. Fully Illustrated. 21s.net. 
 
 SAND-BURIED RUINS OF KHOTAN. 
 
 By M. AUKEL Steix, Indian Educational Service. 
 With over 120 Illustrations and a Photogravure 
 Frontispiece and large Map. Medium Svo, 
 Cloth, 2 IS. net. 
 
 CRIMEAN SIMPSON'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Edited by GEORGE EYRE-TODD. With Illnstra- 
 iions. Royal 8i'0, Cloth, 21s. net. 
 
 Also a fine edition, limited to 100 copies, 
 printed on Arnold's unbleached, hand-made 
 paper, with plates on Japan paper, £fi 2s. net. 
 
 LONDON : T. FISHER UNWIN.

 
 THE ADVANCE OF OUR 
 WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 BY 
 
 C. BRAITHWAITE WALLIS, F.G.S., F.R.G.S. 
 
 {Fellow of the Royal Colotiial Inst I lute, &c.) 
 
 OF 
 
 THE CAMERONIANS (SCOTTISH RIFLES) 
 LATE ACTING DISTRICT COMMISSIONER 
 SIERRA LEONE PROTECTORATE ~ + 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP 
 
 LONDON : T. FISHER UNWIN 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE • 1903
 
 \All rights reserved.']
 
 dt 
 
 Field-Marshal the Eight Honourable 
 VISCOUNT WOLSELEY, K.P., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.M.G., 
 
 A GREAT SOLDIER AND A MAN, THE EARLY PART OP WHOSE 
 
 BRILLIANT CAREER WAS SPENT IN THE REGIMENT TO WHICH 
 
 HAVE THE HONOUR TO BELONG, WHOSE GENIUS, LOVE 
 
 OP COUNTRY, AND DEVOTION TO DUTY, HAS ADDED 
 
 TO THE ADVANCE AND EXPANSION OP THE 
 
 BRITISH EMPIRE, AND WHOSE CHARACTER 
 
 AND EXAMPLE IT IS MY AMBITION TO 
 
 EMULATE, THIS WORK IS, BY HIS 
 
 lordship's SPECIAL PERMISSION, 
 
 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 ^22^307
 
 "It is held 
 That valour is the chiefest virtue, and 
 Most dignifies the haver : if it be, 
 The man I speak of cannot in the World 
 Be singly counterpoised." 
 
 Coriolanus.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE idea of writing a work upon the stirring events which 
 took place in Sierra Leone in 1898 was suggested to 
 me by a General Officer who at one time in his career had 
 seen a good deal of service in West Africa. On my return 
 from that country in the following year he remarked that the 
 difficulties and hardships of our " little wars " in that part of 
 the world were not always appreciated by those at home. 
 
 Commenced in India — continued, as far as official duties 
 would permit, in West Africa ; and completed during my 
 leave of absence in England — I now place this volume before 
 the public, in the hope that all shortcomings will be forgiven. 
 It is intended to be a plain statement of facts, and although 
 I am aware that I have been unable to describe all the inci- 
 dents of the various expeditions, and have given none of the 
 "Protectorate Expedition" in 1899, what I have said is, I 
 believe, correct in detail. 
 
 If the hints on Bush Fighting and for the Preservation of 
 Health will benefit any one in West Africa, and if the 
 remainder of the work succeeds in arousing any interest in 
 that much abused part of the globe, I shall be fully compen- 
 sated. My thanks arc due to Sir Norman R. Pringle, Bart., 
 Captain C. C. W. Troughton, G. Whiteley Ward, Esq., and 
 to the Intelligence Division of the War Office for the use of 
 their maps, &c. 
 
 C. B. W. 
 
 JuNiou Army and Navy Club, S.W. 
 Ju7ie, 1908.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER FAGB 
 
 I. A KETKOSPECT . . . . .1 
 
 II. GOING OUT ..... 8 
 
 III. OFF TO SHERBRO . . . . .18 
 
 IV. A JOURNEY UP-COUNTRY ... 29 
 
 V. THE HOUSE TAX . . . . .38 
 
 VI. BEFORE THE RISING .... 50 
 
 VII. THE TIMINI RISING. . . . .58 
 
 VIII. OPERATIONS IN THE TIMINI COUNTRY . . 73 
 
 IX. THE DEFENCE OP KAMBIA . . . .87 
 
 X. THE DEFENCE OP KAMBIA {cOUtiuued) . . 95 
 
 XI. THE RISING OP THE MBNDIS . . . 113 
 
 XII. MURDER OF MR. HUGHES . . . MASSACRE OF 
 
 MAWFE ..... 126 
 
 XIII. THE MASSACRES ..... 134 
 
 XIV. THE RELIEF OF BANDAJUMA . . . 146 
 XV. OPENING UP THE KITTAM .... 162
 
 xii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XVI. OPERATIONS IN THE RONIETTA DISTRICT . 172 
 
 XVII. THE END OF THE RISING . . . 187 
 XVIII. OUR POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION . . . 201 
 
 XIX. OUR COMMERCIAL POLICY . . . 216 
 
 XX. OUR COMMERCIAL POLICY {continued) . . 226 
 
 XXI. FETISH AND SUPERSTITION. SECRET SOCIETIES 234 
 
 XXII. SECRET SOCIETIES {contiiiued) . . . 255 
 
 XXIII. HEALTH AND EXERCISE .... 262 
 
 XXIV. BUSH FIGHTING ..... 280 
 
 APPENDICES— 
 
 1 303 
 
 II 305 
 
 m. ...... 308 
 
 IV 311 
 
 INDEX 315
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PORTRAIT OP THE AUTHOR ..... Frontispiece 
 
 COLONEL SIR FREDERIC CARDEW, K.C.M.G., GOVERNOR OF 
 
 SIERRA LEONE, 1894-1900 .... Facvig p. 18 
 
 A SOLDIER OP THE WEST INDIA REGIMENT (p. 16) . . ,, 24 
 
 CLEARING THE BUSH FOR CASSADA PLANTING . . ,,24 
 
 SHERBRO HOUSES . . . . . . ,, 24 
 
 T. J. ALDHIDGE, ESQ., F.R.G.S., DISTRICT COMMISSIONER OP 
 
 SHERBRO ...... ,,26 
 
 THE DIFFICULTIES OP BUSH TRAVELLING (p. 32) . . ,, 34 
 
 A HALT FOR "CHOP" — UP-COUNTEY TRAVELLING (p. 33) . ,, 34 
 
 GOVERNMENT HOUSE, BANDAJUMA, THE DISTRICT COM- 
 MISSIONER'S RESIDENCE . . . . . „ 34 
 
 DETACHMENT OF THE SIERRA LEONE BATTALION, WEST 
 
 AFRICAN FRONTIER FORCE, IN LONDON, 1897 . „ 61 
 
 ESCORT ENTERING A VILLAGE, UPPER MENDILAND (p. 39) . ,, 68 
 
 MATITI (p. 64) . . . . . . ,, 68 
 
 SERJEANT W. J. GORDON, V.C, AND PRIVATE WEST INDIA 
 
 REGIMENT ....... n 68 
 
 A SOLDIER OP THE SIERRA LEONE BATTALION, W.A.P.F., 
 RECEIVING THE DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL FOE 
 A8HANTI FROM SIR C. A. KINQ-HARMAN, K.C.M.G., 
 
 GOVERNOR OP SIERRA LEONE . . . ,,72 
 
 IN ACTION (p. 77) . . . • • • .1 72 
 
 ON 8ENTEY-G0, UP-COUNTEY (p. 77) . • • » 72
 
 xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FAREWELL TO AN OLD COMRADE (p. 86) . . . Facing]}. 91 
 
 CHIEF KOUNG ...... ,,91 
 
 CHIEF KATAH OP LUAWAH . . . . • ,, 91 
 
 THE SMALIi BOOM RIVER. THE PLACE FROM WHICH THE 
 
 ESCAPE FROM KAMBIA WAS MADE . . . „ 108 
 
 '•present!" THE W.A.F.F. AT DRILL (p, 112) . . „ 108 
 
 KAMBIA REBUILDING. THE HOUSE THAT WAS DESTROYED BY 
 
 THE ENEMY IS BEING REPLACED BY A NEW ONE (p. 112) „ 108 
 
 PRISONERS OF WAR . . . . . ,,116 
 
 CHIEF HONNO OP GERIHUN, ONE OP THE LEADERS IN THE 
 
 RISING .......,, 116 
 
 MAKAVOURI, THE PRESENT PARAMOUNT CHIEF OP THE 
 
 BOOMPJ& COUNTRY (p. 118) .... ,, 116 
 
 A CASE OP THEFT — NATIVE LAW (p. 128) • . . ,, 116 
 
 THE ADVANCED GUARD IN ACTION, BHERBRO EXPEDITION ,, 124 
 
 A RAIN-HAT, UPPER MENDILAND . . . . ,, 144 
 
 A SOLDIER OP THE W.A.F.F. WHO ESCAPED DURING THE 
 
 RISING ....... ,, 144 
 
 " READY ! " THE W.A.F.F. AT DRILL (p. 166) . . . ,, 144 
 
 PEPOR, JONG RIVER, WHERE THE BANDAJUMA RELIEF FORCE 
 
 LANDED ...... ,, 148 
 
 THE UPPER KITTAM RIVER (p. 166) . . . . ,, 148 
 
 THE LATE CAPTAIN S. MOORE (p. 174) . . . ,, 148 
 
 TWO SERGEANTS, WEST AFRICAN FRONTIER FORCE . . ,, 150 
 
 AMARA, PARAMOUNT CHIEF OF THE TUNKIA COUNTRY (p. 158) ,, 150 
 
 OPENING UP THE KITTAM . . . . . ,, 166 
 THE LATE MAJOR-GENERAL SIR E. R. P. WOODGATE, K.C.M.G., 
 C.B., WHO COMMANDED THE TROOPS IN SIERRA LEONE 
 
 IN 1898 . . .....,, 176 
 
 MAJOR J. E. C. BLAKENEY, VSTHO COMMANDS THE SIERRA 
 LEONE BATTALION OF THE WEST AFRICAN FRONTIER 
 FORCE ....... ,, 180 
 
 MAJOR E. D. H. FAIRTLOUGH, C.M.G., D.S.O., DISTRICT 
 
 COMMISSIONER OP RONIETTA . . . . ,, 184
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 XV 
 
 HOW THE NATIVES GBOW TREES ROUND THEIR HOUSES FOR 
 
 STOCKADE-BUILDING ..... Facing p. 189 
 
 THE DATE CHIEF BATTE-KAKKA, WITH HIS TWO FAVOURITE 
 
 WIVES .......,, 189 
 
 THE ROADS IN THE RAINY SEASON ARE OFTEN PIiOODED 
 
 (p. 191) ,,189 
 
 THE GOREE HILL, MALEMA COUNTRY, GOLALAND (p. 191) . ,, 189 
 
 VANDI-VONG, PARAMOUNT CHIEF OF THE JAEWE COUNTRY ,, 190 
 
 CHIEF VANDI-VONG AND HIS TWO FAVOURITE WIVES . ,, 190 
 
 PAMBU, PARAMOUNT CHIEF OF THE MALEMA COUNTRY . ,, 190 
 
 ELEPHANT HUNTERS . . . . . ,, 194 
 
 CROSSING THE MORRO RIVER ON A CORK-WOOD RAFT . ,, 194 
 OUR POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION. THE ARRIVAL OP A BIG 
 
 CHIEF, UPPER MENDILAND . . . . ,, 206 
 
 A CASE OP EMBEZZLEMENT. IN THE COURT OP THE 
 
 DISTRICT COMMISSIONER . . . . . ,, 206 
 
 PASSIMBU, A GREAT ELEPHANT-HUNTER (p. 193) . . ,, 214 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY SIR C. A. KING-HARMAN AND PARTY AFTER 
 
 A TOUR IN THE HINTERLAND, FEBRUARY, 1903 . , ,, 214 
 
 SIR ALFRED L. JONES, K.C.M.G. .... ,, 218 
 THE GOVERNOR, SIR C. A. KING-HARMAN, HOLDING A 
 
 MEETING IN THE HINTERLAND (p. 212). . . . ,, 222 
 
 BRINGING DOWN PRODUCE . . . . ,, 222 
 
 COTTON-SPINNING, UPPER MENDILAND . . . ,, 222 
 
 MAKING POTTERY, UPPER MENDILAND . . . ,, 232 
 
 A NEPALI DEVIL, MORBI FETISH (p. 236) . . . ,, 232 
 
 BUNDU GIRLS DANCING (3 photOS.) . . . ,, 250 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE HUMAN ALLIGATOR SOCIETY AWAITING 
 
 TRIAL FOR MURDER . . . . . ,, 260 
 
 THE "PALL in" SOUNDING — W.A.P.P. AT DRILL (p. 283) ,, 260 
 
 MAP 
 
 Facing Index
 
 The Advance of our West 
 African Empire 
 
 CHAPTEE I 
 
 A EETEOSPECT 
 
 " Man's inhumanity to man 
 Mahes countless tJiousands mourn." 
 Burns. 
 
 TTIDDEN away, yonder, on the dank West Coast of Africa 
 -■--■- — a tiny spot of red between the Gambia and the 
 Liberian Republic — lies one of Great Britain's oldest colonies 
 and one of the most important coaling stations and strongly 
 fortified harbours of the Empire. That dot of colour upon 
 the map of the Dark Continent represents Sierra Leone and 
 its recently annexed Hinterland. Yet, insignificant as it 
 appears when compared with the vast tracts of earth and sea 
 by which it is surrounded, Sierra Leone and the Protectorate 
 adjoining includes an area of some 30,000 square miles — a 
 country full of interesting and startling history. Here, in the 
 good, or rather bad, old days, the Portuguese and others 
 established the headquarters of a gigantic slave trade ; here, 
 the ever-recumng inter-tribal wars caused the land to run 
 red with blood ; here, the various native " secret societies " — 
 
 2 '
 
 2 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 the Alligator, the Human Leopard, and others — cele- 
 brated, unchecked, their fearful orgies of mui'der, vice, and 
 a hundred other abominations ; and here, finally, stepped in 
 the British to put a stop to these horrors, and to frame a 
 series of laws and ordinances by which they might protect 
 and govern it. Their act directly and inevitably provoked a 
 general conflagi-ation throughout the entire country. 
 
 The events of those days would fill many volumes. Yet, 
 so far at least as I am aware, no consecutive account has ever 
 yet been published of the native rising of 1898 and 1899. I 
 have, therefore, somewhat diffidently, taken upon myself the 
 task of filling in a small — a very small — portion of that 
 blank ; and I do so in the hope that, whilst many short- 
 comings may be forgiven, my narrative will be taken simply 
 for what it is, namely, a plain, and, I believe, an accurate, 
 statement of the facts which immediately preceded and 
 followed the outbreak. 
 
 Now, I will wager a moderate stake that a very considerable 
 proportion of the British Public have never so much as heard, 
 even, of the rising in Sierra Leone, and the terrible massacre 
 which followed it. Nevertheless, the latter was the immediate 
 outcome of a widespread plot, hatched with all the diabolical 
 cunning, allied to secrecy, which forms so conspicuous a trait 
 in the character of the indigenous African. Spreading, as it 
 did, almost in a day, over an immense area, this conspiracy 
 showed the nature of the Negro in all his primitive savagery 
 and barbarism, a barbarism which generations of missionary 
 effort towards civilisation seem, somehow, to have failed to 
 eradicate, although one must confess that enormous strides in 
 the right direction have been made. And when I write of Sierra 
 Leone in this connection, it must be understood that I am 
 not referring to the Colony proper, but to the Hinterland, or, 
 as the official documents have it, "the territories that lie 
 adjacent thereto," and which constitute, indeed, the Pro- 
 tectorate.
 
 A RETROSPECT 3 
 
 Here is a country every whit as uncivilised as ever are the 
 Congo swamps of Central Africa to-day, a land reeking with 
 fetish and superstition, and teeming with dark and bloody 
 secrets. And here, it was, that in 1898, and part of the year 
 succeeding, a handful of British troops fought grimly to 
 maintain the supremacy of the old Flag ; and here, too, many 
 gallant officers and men lost their lives, either by the bullets 
 of the savage enemy, or, worse fate still ! by the hete noire of 
 tropical West Africa — the fiend Malaria. Here some of the 
 most atrocious and treacherous murders recorded in history 
 occurred — murders preceded by all the ingenious devices of 
 torture of which the depraved mind of the African bush savage 
 is capable. Black and white, old and young alike, were cut 
 down and butchered in cold blood. Delicate white ladies 
 were first outraged and then brutally done to death. Hun- 
 dreds of educated Sierra Leoneans, clergymen, missionaries, 
 traders and even innocent little children, were tortured, and 
 afterwards hacked literally to pieces or burnt alive. It was a 
 very carnival of slaughter, engineered by hordes of ruffians in 
 whose veins ran some of the cruellest blood in all wild Africa. 
 Mad drunk with spirits from the looted "factories," and 
 thirsty for the blood of fresh victims, these wretches pursued 
 their way, plundering, ravishing, burning, and destroying as 
 they went. And ever their rallying cry was "Death to the 
 white man ! Let us drive him and liis ' civilisation ' from our 
 country ! We want neither. We want our slaves, we want 
 our ' women-palavers,'* and we — don't want the House Tax! 
 Kill, therefore, every English and English-speaking man, 
 
 "■■' These arc one of the main sources from which the chiefs obtained 
 a certain amount of revenue and slaves. The chiefs and those who 
 have a plurality of wives utilise several of them as "prostitute 
 decoys," who tempt the weak, and, after doing so, protest and claim 
 compensation for the injury which they pretend has been done them. 
 Since the formation of the Protectorate in 1896, these " women 
 palavers " have been nearly stamped out.
 
 4 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 woman, and child, black or white ! Even though it be our 
 father or mother, our brother or our sister — slay every person 
 who wears the white people's clothes ! " This was the nature 
 of the oath taken by every chief and man throughout Mendi- 
 land, and so strictly and literally was it carried out, that their 
 own children and near relatives, who could talk a few words 
 of English, or who wore any clothes other than the native 
 dress, were murdered. But we must be just : the majority of 
 these people knew no better ; from their infancy and for 
 generations they had been brought up to believe that the 
 killing of their enemies, no matter how it was accomplished, 
 was the gi'eat aim in view, and, as I said before, the majority 
 of them were ignorant and wild. 
 
 There were some, however, who did know better. I refer 
 to those who had been brought up imder the guidance of the 
 missionaries, and who understood and could themselves speak 
 English. Blood being thicker than water, they, as soon as 
 the rising started, threw in their lot with their own people ; 
 and strange and horrible as it may appear to our eyes, some 
 of the worst and foullest murders were perpetrated by these 
 very persons who had received their earliest education under 
 the guiding influence of Christian men. 
 
 The Mendi and Sherbro countries were the worst. North, 
 south, east and west, the messengers of death ran fast. The 
 chiefs and their headmen arranged the day to be devoted to 
 the holocaust, while everywhere the burnt palm leaf, the 
 emblem of war and slaughter, was carried, and over a thickly 
 populated territory of some 25,000 square miles, the war-dogs 
 were let loose. 
 
 The ]\Iendi country and Sherbro were rapidly infected, as 
 their inhabitants were the most ruthless, cruel, and treacherous. 
 For these people are certainly lower in the scale than the 
 Timini, the Susu, Fulla, Mandigo, or Yi. They are far more 
 cniel and much more cunning, while liking danger less. There 
 were comparatively few actual murders in the Timini countiy,
 
 A RETROSPECT 5 
 
 though every prisoner of war was mercilessly killed, more 
 often than not with tortures indescribable. For this, which 
 we should term raw butchery, the African bushman considers 
 fair vidiV—Autres 2)ays, autrcs momrs. 
 
 Moreover, the native temperament itched for slaughter. 
 His was a victory indeed when after a fight he was able to 
 cut the throats of some half-hundred bound and helpless 
 prisoners, or, better still, put them to a ghastly, lingering 
 death. But he also wanted plunder. For long the showy 
 goods displayed by the few traders scattered about the 
 interior, or, as it is called locally, " the bush," had excited 
 his fierce cupidity and longing. Many and many a time had 
 he gazed with watering mouth at the contents of those stores, 
 making stealthy note and speculating inwardly how he might 
 get possession and at the same time cut the owner's throat. 
 Well, he got his chance, and took it. And he has since 
 arrived at the conclusion that the game was hardly worth the 
 candle ! 
 
 Throughout the protracted struggle it has to be said for 
 him that the Tiniini fought gamely and well, and made war, 
 and not merely massacres. Rarely if ever showing himself in 
 the open, his return of casualties was ridiculously light for 
 the number of rounds of ammunition that we expended on 
 him. The Timini it was who first commenced hostilities 
 against us. The Mendi followed— fired, not entirely by his 
 example, as has so often been erroneously suggested, but 
 rather, probably, by a desire to wait and see first how their 
 brother tribesmen fared in their resistance to the British 
 Government. Still, the fact remains that the whole business 
 was prearranged. It was, as has been said, a gigantic and 
 carefully considered plot — a " poro," or " one- word " war. 
 And, thank God, it will go down in our colonial history as 
 the Plot that Failed. 
 
 Ever since our earliest acquaintance with it the whole of 
 the great African continent has been drenched in blood, a
 
 6 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 large proportion of AThicb has been British blood, too. It has 
 been shed freely, even lavishly ; but what has been the return ? 
 "VMiat tally have icc to count against those corpses of brave 
 Britons who died so cheerfully for their counti^'s sake for 
 progress, the advance of civilisation, and the expansion of 
 Empire ? North, south, east, and west, in all of those long 
 years the dogs of war have been continually upon the hunt. 
 And even in this twentieth century, although at so much cost 
 of blood and treasure Great Britain has held her own and 
 acquii'ed some hundreds of thousands more square miles of 
 both wild and fertile coimtry, there can be but little doubt 
 that yet more tenitory must be conquered, yet more blood 
 spilled, yet more time and treasure spent, ere our vaunted 
 civilisation is to take firm root in those strange virgin lands 
 that lie hidden far off in the deep heart of Africa. The price 
 we have liad to pay for what we have acquired has been a 
 high one. What did the Soudan cost us to liberate from its 
 thraldom ? It may be, let us hope it is, the fact that after 
 sixteen years of dominance Mahdism has received its final 
 blow. But at what cost, England, the country that fights 
 their battles for half of oppressed humanity abroad, alone can 
 tell. Nevertheless, we have never shirked the task. St. 
 George, the modern Perseus, seemed to account it his own 
 peculiar privilege to slay the dragon of tyranny wherever met 
 with, all the world across. And so to his ardour is due the 
 fact that to-day the fellah is at liberty to till his patch in 
 peace and secmity, untroubled by the demands of the holy 
 impostor, Abdullah Keiim, who took eight-tenths of all his 
 crop and paid him in a text fi'om Al Koran. 
 
 Tm-n next to the east, and it is fighting, fighting, always. 
 And then come "Westward Ho!" where for the last three 
 quarters of a century we have been continuously contending 
 with the native races in order that we might benefit from the 
 commercial and other wealth in which this part of the 
 continent abounds.
 
 A RETROSPECT 7 
 
 So long ago as 1817 we were concerned with the suppression 
 of a rising in Ashanti-land, and again in 1824, when a British 
 force under Sir Charles McCarthy, the then Governor of our 
 Settlements in West Africa was taken prisoner, and beheaded 
 by the bloodthirsty warriors of Kumasi. 
 
 In 1874 came the Expedition commanded by Lord (then 
 Sir Garnet) Wolseley; the operations, in 1877, when Sir 
 Francis de Winton took the field against the Yonnis, and 
 more lately still, the Zebu Campaign of 1892, when, owing 
 to the strategy displayed by our savage adversaries, we lost, 
 in one action alone, fifteen marines killed, forty-seven 
 wounded, in addition to many men of the native levies 
 killed. Since then Great Britain has been employed un- 
 ceasingly in crushing the power of the many hostile races in 
 West Africa, including that of the wild tribes of fighting men 
 inhabiting portions of Northern and Southern Nigeria, the 
 Northern Territories of the Gold Coast, and those in the 
 interior of Sierra Leone, who rose and plotted for our 
 extermination.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 GOING OUT 
 
 ' My native land, good-night ! " 
 Byron. 
 
 IT was in January, 1898, that I received instructions from 
 the Colonial Office to proceed to West Africa. Eight 
 days was all the time I had in which to purchase my kit, 
 pack, and bid goodbye to friends in England ; and although 
 a good deal may be accomplished in that short space, it is 
 extraordinary, nevertheless, how many items will crop up 
 at the last moment which appear absolutely necessary to 
 take out. Indeed, I found myself hard at work up to the 
 very last making purchases and arranging matters generally. 
 
 The voyage from Liverpool to Sierra Leone is too well 
 knowTi at this time of day to require lengthy description ; 
 though possibly the beautiful Canary Islands — the " Isles of 
 the Blest," as the ancients called them, not at all inaptly — 
 may not be familiar to everyone, lying as they do somewhat 
 out of the beaten track of continental travel. Seven days' 
 steaming saw us outside the anchorage at Las Palmas. At 
 the time of our arrival, 7 a.m., a sea-haze enveloped the 
 island in a mantle of white wool through which nothing but 
 a faint, blurred outline of the harbour was visible from the 
 steamer's deck. 
 
 As usual, we were surrounded directly after our entrance
 
 GOING OUT 9 
 
 by innumerable small boats manned by Spaniards having 
 every imaginable ware for sale or barter. The Islands abound 
 with fruit, which is indeed one of the staple articles ot 
 commerce. Another is cigars. If you are lucky in obtaining 
 the genuine article, you are sure of a good leaf, and at a 
 figure that is quite ridiculously cheap. But, as in the case 
 of most foreign ports, one has to be very careful in making 
 purchases, and even then, unless one be a good judge of the 
 tobacco-plant, one is almost certain to be taken in. 
 
 Even for a newcomer, it is not difficult to see at a glance 
 to what country the Canaries belong. Everything smacks of 
 Spain and of the Spaniard — the dark, bronzed faces of the 
 men in their picturesque dress, topped by the broad sombrero ; 
 the finely formed and handsome women, with their peculiar 
 headdress and immense earrings ; and, above all, the babel of 
 voices uttering the soft liquid tones of the language of 
 Calderon and Lopez, all point conclusively to the nation of 
 which these fairy islets are still an integral part. 
 
 When the sun had dispelled the mist, an hour or two later, 
 the view presented was truly a magnificent one. In front of 
 us the town lay fi-amed in a background of richest green, with, 
 away beyond it, the hills lifting their ragged summits high 
 into the quivering blue. Indeed, their glorious translucent 
 sky is one of the distinguishing and characteristic features of 
 these Islands, and one which I do not think can be matched 
 by any other iu the world. With assets like these, and a 
 climate that varies scarcely a degree between January and 
 December, it is small wonder, surely, that the Canaries have 
 become the sanatorium, not only of Western Africa, but for 
 many parts of Europe also. 
 
 As our time was short — the steamer was to coal here 
 merely and would leave that evening — most of us hastened 
 to go ashore and see the " sights." 
 
 On first landing I confess I thought Las Palmas somewhat 
 disappointing. The sun was now high above us, and right
 
 lo OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 ahead the road wound, glaring white, for miles : away past the 
 two fine English hotels, and onward through the heart of the 
 town far up into the hills. All around us was fine sand, 
 collected in silted heaps at every point about the harbour. 
 It is said that this sand is blown here from the great Sahara 
 Desert, and has been collecting for ages. It is perhaps open 
 to question whether that is so or not. But what is indis- 
 putable is the fact that whenever the harmattan wind, which 
 corresponds to the pampero of South America, the levanter 
 of Gibraltar, and the mistral of Proven9e, blows across the 
 Islands, the fine particles are caught up and driven away for 
 miles to sea. Personally I can testify only to the unpleasant 
 effect it has on land, where it blows into one's face, gets 
 down one's throat, and is especially disagi-eeably felt between 
 the fingers of the hands. 
 
 The English hotels on the Island were full of invalids, 
 quite a number of whom had been invalided from the West 
 Coast. This somewhat damped our spirits in the first 
 instance, and those inveterate croakers, the Old Coasters, did 
 nothing to remove the depression by the raw-head stories 
 they were constantly relating to us of deaths fi-om malaria, 
 blackwater fever, and other ills that flesh is heir to in West 
 Africa. 
 
 There is a fine open market place at Las Palmas, but the 
 native houses were something of a disappointment. The 
 streets are, almost without exception, narrow and dirty, and 
 the buildings, many of which are of wood, low and badly 
 constructed. On a later visit in 1899, I saw Teneriff"e. 
 This, as all the world knows, is a conical peak of some 12,190 
 feet in height, and is crowned by an observatory. We were 
 many miles out at sea when I first descried it, and even at 
 that distance it presented a wonderfully fine appearance. The 
 apex of the triangle, far away above the clouds, gi-adually 
 loomed nearer as we approached the land. At first, it was 
 not a little difiicult to realise that we were gazing at a
 
 GOING OUT II 
 
 mountain-peak, but by and by it began to assume definite 
 shape. More and more of its vast bulk became visible until, 
 as we drew near the land, the whole of its majestic propor- 
 tions could be clearly seen. Certainly it was a fascinating 
 and absorbing spectacle. Indeed, one can gaze at Teneriffe 
 for hours, and as the Zulus say, " yet be hungi-y to see." 
 
 So much for the Canaries. Every one who can should see 
 them, and lucky are they who can escape an English "cold 
 weather," and the dank London fogs to winter there. 
 
 After leaving the Canaries, we sailed into beautiful, balmy 
 weather, a smooth sea and fair blue skies accompanying us to 
 within sixteen hours of Sierra Leone. Two days south of the 
 Islands the awning had been rigged ; and we began to feel 
 the benefit of it, too, for almost every hour now the tempera- 
 ture was rising. It was already intolerably hot, with a fierce 
 white glare upon the water, when we di'opped anchor in 
 Freetown harbour at half-past nine a.m. on the fifteenth 
 day out. 
 
 For some hours before the order to " let go " was given, we 
 passengers had been on deck ogling the low horizon through 
 telescope and binoculars for the first sight of land. The new- 
 comers amongst us were much struck by the beauty and 
 picturesque appearance of Freetown, viewed from seaward. 
 And it must be confessed that the place does, when seen 
 from a little distance, look really fine. The densely wooded 
 hills behind the town, crowned by the white barracks of the 
 West India Regiment, the luxuriant tropical foliage, and the 
 Cathedral (one of the few stone buildings in the place) all 
 combine to form a charming picture when seen from the deck 
 of an in-coming vessel. 
 
 "You would not think that the place was such a death- 
 trap, would you ? " was the lugubrious remark of one of the 
 Old Coasters, as we stood watching fi-om the deck. One 
 certainly would not. Indeed, the approach to Freetown 
 Harbour forms, I think, perhaps the most picturesque vista
 
 12 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 that I ever remember to have viewed, and one which never 
 fails to make a favourable impression on every new arrival. 
 
 One thing especially which struck me on my initial introduc- 
 tion to West Africa was the extreme verdancy of the foliage. 
 Everything about the landscape was so deeply, so richly, so 
 wonderfully green. No sign anywhere of the burut-up grass 
 and discouraged and sickly-looking trees, so commonly to be 
 observed in India during the dry season. And the higher up 
 the slopes one looked, the deeper became the tints of tree 
 and bush ; and this, too, notwithstanding the mighty glare of 
 an African sun, which beat down relentlessly upon us from the 
 zenith. Probably this riotous luxuriance of vegetation is 
 accounted for by the extreme humidity of the climate, a 
 feature common to all this part of Africa. Travel where you 
 will, coastwise, or for hundreds of miles in the interior, and 
 you will find that same moist atmosphere, so favourable to 
 forest growth, so trying and so enervating to persons fresh 
 from Europe. 
 
 Almost before our cable had rattled through the hawse- 
 pipe, we were surrounded by a flotilla of small craft, crowded 
 with specimens of some among the many tribes which inhabit 
 this part of the continent. Then, in addition, there were the 
 Medical Officer of Health, the Customs people, the Harbour- 
 master, some stray military men, and various local officials, 
 all of whom had come out to meet us, and incidentally to 
 learn the latest news fi'om home. We were a good big party 
 on board, all of us bound for some part or other of the Coast. 
 There were seven or eight military officers besides myself, and 
 a sprinkling of civilians and traders. His Excellency the 
 Governor (Colonel Sir Frederic Cardew, K.C.M.G.), very 
 kindly sent ofi" his cutter witli his A.D.C. to bring us ashore, 
 and with the former was Major A. F. Tarbet, C.M.G., 
 D.S.O., Inspector-General of the Sierra Leone Frontier 
 Police, and two orderlies. 
 
 And now came the collecting of our baggage, a somewhat
 
 GOING OUT 13 
 
 tedious business, as in most cases this was numerous. 
 Knowing that in any event the greater part of it would be 
 stopped for examination at the Custom House, I instructed 
 one of the orderlies, a smart young Tirnini of the Frontier 
 Police, to seize my small portmanteau and kit-bag. These 
 contained personal " necessaries " only, and having them 
 secure, I did not care greatly how long the Customs 
 authorities retained my other impedimenta. 
 
 On the steamer a slight breeze was blowing, even though 
 we were at anchor. Once, however, we were in the launch, 
 and there was a marked difference in the temperature, though 
 even this was nothing to the roasting we had to undergo on 
 shore ; and although I was wearing a large cork helmet, 
 of the kind known in India as a " solar topee," and a thin 
 flannel shirt, I felt the heat rather severely. It certainly was 
 tropical. The reddish ground reflected the sun-glare like a 
 burning-glass, and for dozens of yards around a misty sheen 
 was visible, quivering in the steamy atmosphere. We 
 streamed with perspiration, and before we had walked twenty 
 yards I was wet to the skin, and as generally uncomfortable 
 as one always does feel on one's initial introduction to the 
 tropics. Freetown, too, in the dry season, is a particularly 
 warm corner, and, ringed in, as it is, by lofty hills, very little 
 breeze finds its way into the town. Even the sea-breeze 
 itself seems to become heated and damped by its passage 
 over the burning ground, and its free entry is further checked 
 by the many intricacies of the streets and buildings. As 
 a matter of fact, this wind from seaward is rather more 
 dangerous to Europeans than the heat itself. Every evening 
 it blows smartly landward, chilling the atmosphere, and, at 
 the same time, the bodies of unwary folk, who at first are 
 only too glad to avail themselves of these pleasant, if 
 dangerous, draughts of air. But the body, which has been 
 sweltering all day long in a temperature approximating to 
 some 91° in the shade, cannot stand so great a shock, and 
 chills and fever supervene quite naturally.
 
 14 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 The more one sees of Freetown, the more disappointed one 
 becomes. A closer inspection of the buildings shows many of 
 them to be in an extremely dilapidated condition. Wood 
 everywhere — of white, brown, or bilious yellow colour ; this 
 from the sea makes an excellent imitation of stone, and is very 
 deceptive. The streets of Freetown are long and somewhat 
 narrow, and in many of them grass is growing ! 
 
 The borders of the principal thoroughfares are lined with 
 natives selling goods from stalls or from the ground ; piles of 
 fruit, cheap paper wares, calabashes, clay pipes, cotton hand- 
 kerchiefs, and all sorts and conditions of clay ornaments are 
 conspicuous. The more substantial native tradesmen stand 
 inside their shops. These are, as a rule, nothing more or less 
 than open sheds, arranged with shelves and protected by a roof 
 of wood, straw, or grass. The scene, especially for a new- 
 comer, was picturesque and fascinating in the extreme. 
 Crowds of men, women, and children were passing to and fro, 
 some with huge pitchers or baskets on their heads, others 
 bearing great bundles on their backs, while the idlers lolled 
 about with an appearance of having no aim or object in life 
 but to do nothing and to keep on doing it. The costumes 
 were both gorgeous and varied. Snowy-white clad Moham- 
 medans stalked in flowing robes alongside the Timini or 
 Mendi from the interior, mother-naked with the exception of a 
 single loin cloth. The civilised gentleman of Sierra Leone 
 was, of course, conspicuous with his immensely high collar, 
 immaculate patent-leather boots {^not from Bond Street or 
 Piccadilly), shiny "topper," correct frock coat, and dazzling 
 white waistcoat. But by far the most striking amongst all 
 the inhabitants to be seen about the streets were the women. 
 Gorgeous and varied were their costumes, pretty and even 
 strikingly handsome many of their faces, while nearly every 
 one boasted a figure that Juno herself might well have envied. 
 
 The African lady is, when young, much to be admired. 
 She generally possesses a jovial countenance, and wears a
 
 GOING OUT 15 
 
 perennial smile, which shows conspicuously her dazzling 
 white teeth. Her figure is always gi-aceful ; she is as 
 straight as a dart, with arms and shoulders round and 
 plump as polished ebony. Her costume, simple as it is 
 picturesque — that is, when it is built " country fashion " — 
 adds to her charm. A loose gown of gaudy colours is wound 
 around her waist and sometimes flung over her shoulders to 
 hang down on one side in graceful folds. Her well-poised 
 head is covered with a many-coloured kerchief, and her woolly 
 hair curled and twisted as only a native versed in this 
 mysterious art knows how to do it. Along with her is to be 
 seen the more civilised young lady, who corresponds quite 
 closely to the exquisite in the high hat, frock coat, and patent 
 leathers. She has probably spent her youthful days under 
 the care and tutelage of a missionary in some local school. 
 She generally turns out in a wonderful speckled blouse and 
 rainbow-tinted skirt, while on Sunday her costume, hat, 
 and parasol are nothing short of gorgeous, and ape the ultra- 
 fashionable garments to be seen in Hyde Park or Bayswater. 
 It is not strange, therefore, that neither her figure nor h^r 
 appearance are anything like as pretty or as graceful as her 
 more unsophisticated sister in the toga. Her bringing up has 
 been so different. She has not from her infancy carried 
 baskets and pails of water on her head every day, which is 
 one chief cause of the graceful development and symmetry of 
 figure in the other. She is fettered, moreover, by tight shoes, 
 high collars, and other abominations of European genteel 
 society. To this should be added the deleterious effect of 
 being kept indoors, while the veneer of gentility she gets 
 simply tends to render her unnatural, cramped, and often 
 blotchy as to her complexion. In sharp distinction to both 
 of these is the elderly dame, the Sierra Leone " mammy," as 
 she is called locally. This lady always appears to be 
 smilingly contented, and has a greeting for everybody. 
 When two "mammies " meet they will always " tell each
 
 i6 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 other how-do," Sierra Leone English is a quaint and 
 interesting language of itself, quite unintelligible to the 
 newcomer. 
 
 First mammy : " Mar, how you do to-day ? " 
 
 Second ditto : " Yes, mar, thank God ! " 
 
 First ditto : " Yes— ! " 
 
 "We stood watching this scene for some time, aftenvards 
 passing up the principal streets which cut the city into so 
 many lines and sections. Then, as the sun had declined 
 considerably, and a refreshing breeze was blowing quite 
 briskly from the sea, we set off to negotiate Mount Oriel 
 and Tower Hill. 
 
 The West India Regiment have fine quarters up here, well 
 situated and from all accounts exceedingly healthy. Indeed, 
 the barracks and mess-houses are the best-built places in the 
 town — Government House, perhaps, excepted ; and besides 
 being cool, with a fresh breeze nearly always blowing, the 
 drainage is excellent, and everything, of course, scrupulously 
 clean and well cared for. 
 
 This was the first time I had seen a soldier of this fine 
 regiment. The West India " Tommy" is a fine fellow, tall, 
 broad, and well set up, and his kit, with the Zouave jacket, 
 spats, red fez, and white puggaree, gives him an appearance 
 as soldierly as it is picturesque. 
 
 By the time we had refreshed ourselves, chatted and left 
 our cards, it was growing dark, so we said adieu to our hos- 
 pitable friends, and returned to the to^^'n. We dined at 
 8.30 p.m. ; there was a large and jolly party round the 
 dinner table that evening. Although nearly all the Frontier 
 ofiicers were away up-country, the mess was lively enough, 
 including, as it did, numerous honorary members. For 
 civilians as well as soldiers take advantage of their hospitable 
 board, and nearly every officer staying or passing through 
 Freetown, fed, and when room offered, put up here also. 
 
 One's first tropical night, even when surrounded by white
 
 GOING OUT 17 
 
 meu and civilisation, is always impressive. When dinner 
 was over, most of us moved out to the verandah to smoke and 
 talk, and amidst the inky darkness outside one could hear the 
 incessant chirp, or rather scream, of the cricket, the croak of 
 the grass frog, and the numberless other sounds and noises 
 so common in Africa, but which seemed at first so strange, 
 and even weird, to the newcomer.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 OFF TO SHERBRO 
 
 ^^ Long is the ivay, and Jiard." 
 Milton. 
 
 T WAS up and astir early on the following morning. This 
 -^ is by far the best part of the day in the tropics, and, in 
 fact, in all hot countries. Then the air is comparatively 
 fresh and cool, if not actually bracing, and work, whether in 
 or out-door, can be carried out with a degree of comfort 
 impossible later in the day. 
 
 On this day I was to have my official interview with His 
 Excellency. I donned my best uniform, therefore, and set 
 forth for Government House, where, amongst other matters, 
 I had to be sworn in as a Justice of the Peace. I need only 
 add, in this connection, that Sir Frederic Cardew was 
 exceedingly kind during the short chat, of some twenty 
 minutes or so, which we had together, and gave me some 
 excellent advice. 
 
 This formality over, I returned to my quarters, where my 
 marching orders shortly followed me. These were to the 
 effect that I was to j)roceed immediately to the Bandajuma 
 District, a journey, via Sherbro, of some ninety miles by 
 steamer, and thence some five days' march overland. For the 
 railway was not then. 
 
 Next day I set to work upon the selection of my stores.
 
 COI.ONEL ^IK iKKUEHlC CAKUEW, K.t'.M.G.. 
 
 (jovemor of Siena Leone, ]S9J-UiO('. 
 
 Fioiii o I'lio'.o I ij liiinn & Stiui.t. 
 
 To/a:e i>. IK.
 
 OFF TO SHERBRO 19 
 
 I do not think I need trouble the long-suffering reader with 
 details seriatim of the hundred and one articles necessary for 
 a bush journey. Suffice it to say that they included everything 
 needed by the traveller, from a folding deck-table to a stock 
 of tinned tomatoes. 
 
 By the time everything was ready and in marching order, 
 I had been three days in Freetown. I put in the remainder 
 of my time in making a few necessary calls, and in improving 
 my acquaintance with the place. A short outline of the 
 history of the Protectorate of Sierra Leone may not, therefore, 
 be out of place at this juncture, since, although the colony 
 proper has been written about many a time, the Hinterland, 
 or '* Protectorate," as it is called officially, has not been much 
 heard of. 
 
 It was, then, in 1788 that Sierra Leone first became part 
 and parcel of British territory. At that date King Nebana sold 
 to one Captain Taylor, a patch of land extending from St. 
 George's Bay, up the Sierra Leone river, to Gambia, and 
 inland for about twenty miles. There were at this time in 
 England, and especially round about London, several negi'oes 
 who had been for some reason or other separated from their 
 own country, and the idea of acquiring land in this part of 
 Africa for a home for these destitute blacks resulted in a 
 treaty with the aforesaid ruler of Sierra Leone — King 
 Nebana — and the acquisition of the country named above. 
 
 Later on, wlien Sir Fowell Buxton was making heroic efforts 
 in the House to bring in a Bill for the abolition of the slave 
 trade, the Colony was used for rescued slaves and African 
 exiles, and others who, for personal reasons, had left their own 
 country to seek shelter under the wing of the British. Since 
 then the Colony has been steadily growing, and many more 
 concessions have been received from the native kings. Two 
 chiefs, named respectively Tom and Farma, ceded the western 
 portion of the peninsula in 1807, and fifty-four years later 
 more territory was acquired from the chief of a country known
 
 20 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 as Kwia, the area of which was some 160 square miles, lying 
 
 between the Ribi and Sierra Leone Rivers. Another treaty 
 
 was ratified in 1825 by the Governor of the Colony with the 
 
 chiefs of the Sherbro Island, and other adjacent countries, for 
 
 the purpose of increasing the boundaries of the Colony. 
 
 Several further treaties were made, and the Colony now 
 
 includes an area of 300 miles, between 6° 55' and 9° 2' of 
 
 North latitude, up to Kiragba on the north-east, measured 
 
 from the Liberian border-line, where the Manoh River forms 
 
 the boundary. Two blocks of land, one measuring 14 miles 
 
 long by 23 miles broad, and the other about 80 miles by about 
 
 100 miles in breadth, extend in a north-easterly direction. 
 
 The former of these is claimed to be actually the oldest 
 
 portion of the Colony, while the latter forms the district of 
 
 British Sherbro. There is also a thin strip of land running 
 
 along the sea coast of about three-quarters of a mile broad. 
 
 The idea of securing this strip was to guard and control the 
 
 importation of merchandise. Numerous other treaties have been 
 
 made from time to time with the various native kings, the prime 
 
 objects of which were to open up the countries ruled over by 
 
 these potentates, for the protection of British subjects, such 
 
 as merchants, missionaries, and others, and the abolition of 
 
 the numerous petty wars, which at that time were so numerous 
 
 in the Hinterland. 
 
 The capital, Freetown, is, of course, a port of immense 
 importance to Great Britain. It has excellent coaling 
 appliances, a good and sheltered harbour, and is exceedingly 
 well defended, both as regards forts and by an Imperial 
 garrison, consisting of a battalion of the West India Regi- 
 ment, the native Royal Artillery, the West African Regiment, 
 armed Civil Police, and the Sierra Leone battalion of the 
 West African Frontier Force, which latter, however, is utilised 
 to a great extent in the Protectorate. The population of 
 Freetown is about 80,000. The inhabitants are not by 
 nature given to agricultural pursuits, and the soil is poor, and
 
 OFF TO SHERBRO 21 
 
 though Sherbro does a large trade in palm-kernels, rice, and 
 palm-oil, the greater portion of these are brought down from 
 the Hinterland. 
 
 The first impression a man receives of the interior of this 
 part of Africa is that it has an immense "bush," with foliage 
 so thick that in places it is impossible to sec more than a 
 few yards into it. Giant trees, especially the cotton-tree, 
 surround one on all sides, and the narrow, winding bush-path 
 curls its erratic way like a huge snake for hundreds of miles 
 through the network of trees, shrubs, and other vegetation, 
 the many species of which it is almost impossible to name. 
 
 Truly the scenery is matchless in its quiet beauty, and in 
 the waste and riot of its tropical profusion. Here, indeed, 
 is Nature, sweet Nature ! unspoiled by the pruning hand of 
 vandal man ; far aw^ay from the sordid crowd of man-made 
 towns, far from the bustle and turmoil of his puny, artificial 
 existence. Here in God's own garden the reverent mind, 
 searching diligently, may find a friend in every tree, a meaning 
 in each leaf and tiny bursting bud. Insensibly, but surely, 
 the grandeur, the majesty, the all-pervading spirit of the Great 
 Author sinks into the soul, exalting the greatness of the 
 Infinite while teaching us our own utter insignificance in the 
 scheme of Creation. No wonder if, once one has glimpsed at 
 these perfect vistas, there comes a longing to return and gaze, 
 and gaze again. " Drink Nile water and you must comeback 
 to drink of it once more" says the old Egyptian proverb. 
 And that is no less true of Western Africa. 
 
 " Far away in this sweet solitude, 
 Man must think and wonder at the marvels of Creation." 
 
 At midday, when the sun is directly overhead, throwing his 
 rays with all his force on to the tops of the trees above you, 
 the bush is still gloomy ; and at night, even with a full moon, 
 it strikes the traveller as being the blackest and loneliest of
 
 22 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 all the black and lonely places in the world. And yet one 
 knows that it teems with life — on every side one has 
 evidence of this. Above, below, and on both flanks, birds, 
 beasts, and thousands of insects are heard, though one can, and 
 does, march for miles sometimes without seeing a living thing, 
 with the exception, perhaps, of the driver ants, and other 
 stinging insects, which abound on the paths and trees in the 
 daytime. 
 
 As you pass along your way, the scenery changes. Some- 
 times there is a patch of fern swamp belted by giant bamboos, 
 with their smooth and willowy branches shooting straight up 
 from the gi'ound. Anon, you pass through dense patches of 
 evergreens and creepers, thousands of them, with the ubiqui- 
 tous palm close by in the background. Proceeding on your 
 way — perhaps for a score of miles — you come suddenly upon 
 an immense forest, thick with giant trees of all descriptions, 
 the gnarled cotton tree more conspicuous than most, with 
 its twisted roots and fantastic shapes and turnings ; and so 
 on till the end of your march, the scenery for ever varying, 
 but always the thick dense bush, be it forest, creeper, palm, or 
 bamboo, enveloping you on every side. The Hinterland of 
 this Colony, or, as it is called officially, the "Protectorate," 
 is, in fact, one dense mass of bush and forest, with an esti- 
 mated area of over 30,000 square miles. All over it are 
 dotted the towns and villages of the aborigines, and it is a 
 very network of paths and by-paths, mostly native, connecting 
 village with village, and ioining river to river. A few of these 
 paths — a very few— are Government roads, or rather tracks 
 (for roads, as they are understood with us, do not exist in 
 the Hinterland). Some two yards is the average breadth 
 of a Government road, and the endless pools and small 
 streams which intersect these are " corduroyed " or bridged 
 in a most primitive manner by the chiefs or headmen occupy- 
 ing the town nearest them, by order of the Government. The 
 population of the Protectorate is unknown, though it has been
 
 OFF TO SHERBRO 23 
 
 roughly estimated at some two million souls. Its depth is 
 about 210 miles, and 180 miles from East to West. The 
 country is well watered, and many of the rivers are deep and 
 rapid. In parts the soil is fertile, and on it are grown india- 
 rubber, cotton, gum, kola-nuts, while forests of palm trees are 
 met with on every side. It is as yet undeveloped, and, 
 indeed, unknown in some parts, although the revenue and a 
 large part of the trade of the Colony depend entirely upon the 
 Hinterland. 
 
 There is always one paramount chief over each country, 
 who has a lot of power. His towns are governed by sub- 
 chiefs or "headmen" who obey him in all things and are 
 responsible to him personally. The British Government 
 now look to the paramount chiefs for the proper ruling of the 
 individual territories, the encouragement of trade, and the 
 payment of their taxes. The chiefs have of recent years, 
 since the rising, been loyal to the Government, and have paid 
 their taxes with regularity, and vast strides have been made 
 for the general betterment of the condition of their peoples. 
 For the purposes of government, the Hinterland has been 
 divided into districts, five in all, each under Commissioners 
 and Assistant-Commissioners. The names of these districts 
 are: Ronietta, with headquarters at Moyamba ; Bandajuma, 
 with headquarters at the same place ; Karene, with head- 
 quarters at Mabanta (this will probably be changed) ; Pan- 
 guma, with headquarters at the same place ; and Koina-Dugu, 
 with headquarters at Kaballa. Besides the Commissioners, 
 with their Civil Stafi', there is generally stationed in each 
 district one company of the West African Frontier Force 
 under two or three officers, a medical officer of the West 
 Afiican Medical Service, and very often a missionary, who is, 
 however, not an official. In addition, there are a number of 
 minor officials, such as clerks, medical dispensers, interpreters, 
 and others. 
 
 Internal tribal wars have been waging fifom time to time in
 
 24 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 the Protectorate for centuries, the chief causes of which were 
 the disputes arising fi-om sale and barter and the kidnappiDg of 
 slaves. These wars not only devastated the country for miles, 
 but prevented any of the more civilised native inhabitants of 
 Sierra Leone from going into the interior to trade. It was 
 piincipally on account of these everlasting disturbances, and 
 in order to abolish slave trading and open up avenues of 
 trade with the interior, that, after the ratification of various 
 treaties with the French, who surround us here on all sides, 
 and the deliberations of divers Boundary Commissioners, a 
 Protectorate was declared in 1896. 
 
 To resume my nan*ative : — On the evening of my departure 
 we walked down, after dinner, to the quay, and were soon on 
 board the Colonial steamer, where we met the skipper. Captain 
 Compton, R.X., who allotted us berths and kindly arranged 
 for the storage of our necessary handbags in the three cabins. 
 Sleeping below, even in a big steamer, off Sierra Leone is 
 trying work ; but when attempted in a small boat like the old 
 Countess of Derby the thing became, at all events, to people 
 like ourselves, new to the tropics, a physical impossibility. 
 By the time we had got under way it had been decided by 
 unanimous consent to bring up our mattresses, and, defying 
 mosquitoes, fever, and cveiy other plague, to sleep on deck. 
 The night happened to be pitch dark. There was nothing 
 beyond the boat visible, except a few stars that peeped dimly at 
 us from the velvet dome above. Eveiything was still save 
 the throb of the engines and the occasional call of the man on 
 watch. Even the Kim-boys had stopped their chatter on the 
 forward deck ; only now and then a spar creaked or a rope 
 rattled noisily as a sea caught the little boat and lifted her 
 gentfy over. 
 
 It was nearly six when the lim of the sun peeped over the 
 low horizon. We had run into the so-called Sherbro Piiver, 
 and numerous islands, large and small, appeared and reap- 
 peared as we surged along upon our way. As yet there had
 
 
 
 
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 ^' 
 
 
 
 
 h 
 
 
 ...,.a
 
 OFF TO SHERBRO 25 
 
 been nothing of interest to see. Now the river, which at this 
 part is some ten miles wide, began to narrow, and soon on 
 either hand we had a view of the banks, in many places mere 
 morasses of slimy mud and decayed vegetable matter. Next, 
 acres npon acres of mangrove swamj)s — ilic typical featm'e of the 
 low-lying "West African coast sceneiy — swung into view, and 
 one nosed the sickly taint of crushed marigolds, which is the 
 prevailing odour of the waters here. It was still too near the 
 river mouth for very many alligators to be seen, but here and 
 there a huge specimen could be descried basking on a mud- 
 bank, his ugly body, cased in triply-rivetted armour-plating, 
 looking as nearly like a log of stranded driftwood as it was 
 possible to do. Higher up-stream, when the sun is at its 
 hottest, and the water running low, these brutes are quite 
 common objects of every landscape, so numerous are they. 
 
 By eleven o'clock that night we were quite close to Sherbro, 
 and half an hour later dropped oiu* tiny anchor into the slime 
 nearly opposite the landing-place at Bonthe. 
 
 Sherbro, as I have already mentioned, is really part and 
 parcel of Sierra Leone, and does, in fact, belong to the Colony 
 proper. It comprises an island, or rather a series of small 
 islets, whose situation is flat, swampy, and utterly unmterest- 
 ing from the scenic point of view. The place is, however, by 
 reason of its geographical position, the headquarters of an 
 enormous trade, both European and native, and boasts very 
 many handsomely constructed " factories " with airy resi- 
 dential quarters attached. Here, also, reside the factory 
 agent and his subordinates, sometimes for years together, 
 until they arc able to retire on a hardly-earned competence, 
 or, what is far more likely, get carried off by the combined 
 effects of climate and malaria. Nevertheless, Sherbro will 
 continue to be an important place, no doubt, since it is the 
 cntrejiijt for the entire trade between the interior and the 
 coast, and a large business is done with the natives in palm 
 oil, nuts, kola, rice, and other commodities.
 
 26 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 It was the intention of Captain Compton to remain at 
 Bonthe for a few hours in order to aftord us an opportunity of 
 calling upon the District Commissioner; and, further, it 
 would be necessary for us to embark here the carriers to 
 convey oiu- baggage and stores up-country. We should finally 
 leave the steamer a^ Bendu, a town on the mainland about 
 five miles higher up than Bonthe, and situated on the opposite 
 bank of the Sherbro River. 
 
 Mr. T. J. Alldridge, the Commissioner, whom I had the 
 pleasure of meeting here, had already been " on the Coast" 
 for more than twenty years, and had travelled over six 
 thousand miles in the interior. He gave me the impression 
 of an exceptionally healthy man, despite his long residence in 
 this trying climate ; and was, in his own person, an excellent 
 example of the adaptability of the European for life in any 
 part of the world provided he looks well after himself, and 
 takes the necessary precautions for maintaining health. 
 
 From the Commissioner's house, which was situated at the 
 far end of the town, overlooking the water, and within five 
 minutes of the Government landing-pier, could be seen the 
 large river, or, rather, confluence of several rivers, for quite 
 a long distance, north and south. Opposite, but far away in 
 the dim distance, woimd — a faint blue — the outlines of the 
 Imperri Hills : a country still steeped in fetish and all manner 
 of nameless evil-doing ; a land wherein the Alligator and 
 Human Leopard Societies even now practise their horrid 
 rites. Right and left, far as the eye could reach, was the 
 dense bush, over which the straight-ringed stems of palm 
 and cocoa-nut, crowned with feathery tufts of foliage, towered 
 like the "masts of some tall amiral " riding on a sea of 
 deepest green. Strange and unfitting was it that this fair 
 vista should of all become the theatre whereon was shortly to 
 be enacted that dreadful drama of blood and rapine, which 
 was, even as I looked, already in active rehearsal under the 
 di-ead stage-management of Death. Yet so it was to be.
 
 I. .1. Al.l.DKI DliE, JiS(J., r. ]{.(;>.. 
 
 District Commissioner of Sherbro. 
 
 From (I I'hoto III Thomson^ 
 
 To face i>. 2C
 
 OFF TO SHERBRO 27 
 
 Within a few short weeks the belt of tangled forest laud 
 beneath those gi-een fantastic hills would be the scene of 
 many a cold-blooded crime of mm'der preceded by tortures 
 more horrible than pen may write of, of reckless incendiarism 
 and wanton destruction of property and dwellings ; in short, 
 of all the unimaginable lust for villainy which characterised 
 (and perhaps still characterises) the people who inhabit this 
 seeming earthly paradise. Through these leafy labyrinths 
 the wide-mouthed rivers, still salt from their late contact with 
 the sea some fifteen miles below, pushed their erratic way, 
 their banks close overhung with tree and vine-clad under- 
 growth. Actually, only one river was visible from Bonthe 
 itself ; but three others, the Jong, the Small Boom, and the 
 Boom-Kittam, all of them important water-ways, came down 
 near by to swell the volume of turgid water that flowed 
 smartly out to sea. 
 
 We had not time on this occasion to explore Bonthe 
 thoroughly. But we noticed that all of the principal buildings 
 stretched in a line with the Commissioner's house along a 
 frontage of some two miles. Amongst the more important of 
 these were the Court-house, prison, and police quarters, the 
 Court Hall (which was connected with the Commissioner's 
 residence by a covered way), the large "factories" * of the 
 Sierra Leone Coaling Company, the French Trading Company, 
 Messrs. Pickering & Berthoud's warehouse, and other smaller 
 shops. One could purchase at Bonthe nearly everything that 
 one required in the way of stores, crocker}^ clothes, tobacco, 
 and ironware, though prices were even higher than those of 
 Freetown. 
 
 Small as the island was, it yet boasted its "king," who 
 
 '^- The word " factory " is a uiisnoiuer. There are no factories 
 on the Coast as the name is understood in Europe. " Factory " in 
 West Africa is the local name given to the warehouses, produce- 
 receiving depots, and other large shops in the up-country trading 
 centres. (Authok.)
 
 28 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 ruled also over the various towns and villages scattered amid 
 the neighbouring bush. A little, spare savage was the Beh of 
 Sherbro, to whose sly face his smattering of civilisation had lent 
 but an additional cunning. This worthy was, it should be said, 
 considered a man of very great importance by the people, 
 locally, and, indeed, many of the neighbouring up-country 
 chieflets were not above coming down here to obtain the 
 benefit (?) of his advice on any matter of importance. By this 
 miscreant many of the atrocious murders shortly to be com- 
 mitted in the neighbourhood were deliberately planned, and he 
 it was, also, who organised the intended wholesale massacre 
 and pillage of the island. I had the pleasure, later on, of 
 seeing him escorted on board one of Her Majesty's war-ships, 
 though he ultimately escaped punishment, the direct evidence 
 of his guilt being, unfortunately, too slender to justify his 
 execution. He was nevertheless banished fi'om the Colony. 
 
 Of late years, Sherbro has been, comparatively speaking, in 
 a somewhat more civilised condition, though the process is 
 still, and must be for some time yet, a slow one. As an 
 official on the spot since wrote to me, in India, " very little 
 progi-ess in the way of real advancement has as yet been 
 made. The people have no ideas beyond kernels and palm oil 
 and ' for full dem belly.' Perhaps one day," he adds, " in the 
 far distant future, a change may come over the spirit of the 
 country, and it may come more into line with the civilised 
 nations of the world. But there is very much to be done 
 before that happy state of things becomes a ^ fait accomj^li.' " 
 
 Our carriers were soon collected, after which we returned 
 on board and the Countess of Derby carried us across to Bendu, 
 a distance of some five miles. Here our baggage was put over- 
 side into a boat to keep company with our noisy crew of porters, 
 and we were shortly plumped down upon the beach and found 
 ourselves once more upon the mainland of the African 
 Continent.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 A JOURNEY UP-COUNTRY 
 
 " The road lies yonder, thro' those 
 belts of trees." 
 
 fTlHE march overland to Bandajuma would occupy five days, 
 -*- and this being my first experience of travel in the bush, 
 I was anticipating it with no little interest. But I had 
 reckoned without my carriers. I wonder, has it ever fallen to 
 the lot of the inexperienced newcomer to be suddenly set 
 down in the midst of a party of unruly West Coast carriers, 
 with indifferent headmen, and no military escort to overawe 
 or coerce them into good behaviour ? If it has, he will know 
 the sanguine (?) feelings with which I set to work to allot his 
 load to each of these gentry, every one of whom was perfectly 
 aware that he was ^jractically master of the situation. If my 
 readers be experts in this sort of thing, then they will sym- 
 pathise with me all the more keenly in the task I had of 
 silencing the babel of complaining voices which arose as I 
 endeavoured to lick that straggling mob into something ap- 
 proaching marching order, preparatory to a long day's tramj) 
 through the bush under the glare of a West African sun. 
 From the moment a move is contemplated up to the very last 
 second before the start, it is a physical impossibility to hear 
 one's own voice, much less make it heard by others. I am, 
 
 I trust, as long-suffering as my neighbours, but your West 
 
 29
 
 30 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 African earner would seriously try the patience of Job 
 himself. 
 
 You begin, let us say, by carefully assembling your force of 
 porters in squads, each under its own headman, whom you try 
 to make understand that he will be held personally responsible 
 for its collective orderliness and obedience. Having, by the 
 aid of much gesticulating, accomplished this (or so you 
 fondly believe) , you proceed to the more delicate task of allot- 
 ting to each man the load he is to carry and to which he is 
 to cleave throughout the journey. Now the African native, 
 like the rest of humanity at large, prefers to get through his 
 day's work with the smallest amount of trouble and incon- 
 venience to himself. And to accomplish this laudable end, 
 there are no lengths to which he will not proceed, no strategem 
 he will not readily adopt. The loading of a file of camels is 
 mere child's play to this. He will quarrel, and snarl, and 
 argue for hours, if you will let him, ^vith his fellow-porters, 
 with whom he enters on interminable discussions as to the 
 relative weights of the loads, the single pui-pose he has in view 
 being to obtain the lightest and most portable for himself. 
 By this time, probably, you are as hoarse as any crow, and as 
 nearly in a temper as it is possible for a man of your amiable 
 disposition to become. Choke it back. You are as yet only 
 at the beginning of your task. You now give, as fiercely as 
 you know how, the order to " pick up loads " — in the Mendi 
 tongue ^^ alcha moomhoo ! " At this summons a few — a veiy 
 few — loads will possibly be hoisted. You next pay particular 
 attention to the careful lifting of one of your specially valu- 
 able boxes, upon which you have had yom* eye fi'om the very 
 moment that it left the steamer. It contains, let us say, your 
 entire stock of liquid comforts, or the only breakable set of 
 crockery that you own. You have only moved away for half 
 a minute when you tm-n at the sound of a tremendous crash, 
 followed by a volley of cries, to find your one and only tea 
 service smashed into a hundred fragments, or your stock of
 
 A JOURNEY UP-COUNTRY 31 
 
 lime-jiiice cordial oozing away into the parched earth ; while 
 the dusky gentleman to whom it was entrusted lies inextricably 
 mingled with his load upon the ground. After much more 
 shouting and threatening of the headmen with instant exter- 
 mination if such a thing occurs again, you once more give the 
 order to raise the loads. If you have any kind of luck, the 
 majority of your porters will this time have "headed " their 
 burdens, and at the signal to " march," the procession starts 
 off in single file. You heave a sigh of relief and congratulate 
 yourself that your troubles are at an end at last. Not a bit 
 of it. You have only proceeded some two hundred yards 
 when there is another awful crash, and you hun-y forward to 
 find the fi-agments of your only glass reading lamp strewing 
 the sward, while the culprit is legging it as hard as he can 
 into the bush. Other parties are meanwhile sneaking off on 
 little private expeditions of their own after a cassava or pine- 
 apple which they have sjiotted growing handy near the path. 
 The new incident is, of course, the signal for a lot more jabber, 
 and the business of readjusting the loads has all to be gone 
 through once again. You are probably, by this time, in a mur- 
 derous frame of mind, and to add to your miseries you are wet 
 through with clammy perspiration and well-nigh voiceless from 
 shouting — and all this before you have much more than fairly 
 started on your march. I went through this little comedy 
 (only I hardly saw the humour of it) more than once during 
 my first " trek" in the wilds of the Sierra Leone Hinterland. 
 But it is quite wonderful how rapidly you learn to manage even 
 such a happy-go-lucky gentleman as the West Coast carrier ; 
 and, grown skilled by sad experience, I think I would now 
 undertake, ^ath small loss of time and temper, to move a 
 crowd of native porters from any one given point to another 
 through the bush, and without much fear of damage, either, to 
 the transport. 
 
 The occurrences which I have narrated at some length 
 above were all happenings of the "old" days — the time
 
 32 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 previous to 1899, that is to say. Matters have altered, and 
 very much for the hetter, since then. Good headmen are 
 more easily to be obtained and a military escort invariably 
 accompanies all European officials travelling with porters in 
 the bush. Further, the carriers themselves, if given their 
 " chop " regularly, and treated with kindness and forbearance, 
 are, as a rule, capital fellows to get on with, and are capable 
 of transporting yourself and your loads over distances of from 
 ten to twenty miles daily, without showing any signs of being 
 knocked up. 
 
 On this, my first journey up-country, I was five full days 
 upon the road. The first night I slept at Pangba, a small 
 native town in the lower Bullom country. The next evening 
 we reached a place called Bharmar, which I remember chiefly 
 as teeming with some of the most venomous mosquitoes it has 
 ever been my ill-fortune to encounter. We resumed the 
 march after a most uncomfortable time, and arrived on the 
 third night at a town called Bramah, where, however, nothing 
 worthy of narration happened. The next day found us en- 
 camped at Mo-Bongo, and the one after that at Jimi, which 
 place is the headquarters of the Upper Big Boom country, 
 whose chief, rejoicing in the name of Koker, has been a 
 noted warrior in the past, as well as an inveterate slave-raider. 
 
 A little incident occurred here which I may appropriately 
 mention, illustrating, as it does, not only the natives' complete 
 indifference to sanitary measures of any kind, but also the 
 same fatalism in the presence of grave danger from contagious 
 sickness, as one frequently reads of in the chronicles of 
 Mohammedan nations. Whilst strolling around this town 
 some little time after our arrival, we — that is. Dr. Horrocks 
 and myself — noticed several persons going about whose skin 
 was smeared with a kind of chalk, giving them a most weird 
 and ghostly appearance as they came and went in the twilight 
 betwixt the close-set rows of huts. On my inquiring of the 
 chief who these parties were, he informed me that they were
 
 A JOURNEY UP-COUNTRY 33 
 
 persons who had lately recovered from a bad attack of small- 
 pox, adding the cheering remark that several people had lately 
 died from this terrible malady in his town. Poor Dr. Horrocks 
 very nearly had a fit on hearing this intelligence. He at once 
 commenced a close cross-examination of our friend the chief, 
 with the object of eliciting whether any small^^ox patients had 
 died in the actual house that we were then inhabitinof. 
 Fortunately, his chiefship was able to assure us that no one 
 had, so far as he was aware, died or even been inside our resi- 
 dence. Nevertheless, it was only after his repeated assur- 
 ances, and that of others, that we could bring ourselves to 
 enter our domicile, or even persuade ourselves to remain the 
 night within his gates. I give this incident merely as an 
 example of the dcsagrc meats which the traveller has to put up 
 with when wandering in the Hinterland of Western Africa. 
 In time, it has to be said that one grows callous and indifferent 
 to such drawbacks. 
 
 Being entire strangers to this part of the country, we 
 were constantly under the necessity of inquiring of our native 
 followers the distance of one town from the next. Very curious 
 is the local method of reckoning this. Whilst travelling from 
 Mo-Bongo to Jimi we were informed that the latter place was 
 "very far." The fact is that the natives hereabouts have 
 only some three or four phrases in which to refer to distance, 
 and until you have been in the country some little while, and 
 have got to " know the ropes," you suffer much perturbation 
 by reason of the rongh-and-rcady notions that the inhabitants 
 have of such matters. For instance, when a Mcndi, Timini, 
 or any other native tells you that the distance to such and 
 such a town is " little far," there is no knowing whether he 
 means an hour's stroll or a foiu' hours' hard tramp. Again, 
 if he says, it is " far too much," anything between seven and 
 fourteen hours may be implied. But if he tells you it is " far, 
 far away " — " Jia-ka " is the Mendi word — you may abandon 
 all hope of getting to your destination that day. 
 
 4
 
 34 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 The distance from Jimi to Bandajuma is some twelve to 
 fifteen miles only, and the road rims, the whole way, through 
 very fine scenery. On looking at my diary, I find that we 
 moved ofl" at 6.15 a.m., the "thin black line" of carriers 
 having started half an hour previously. At ten o'clock we 
 halted for breakfast, boiling our water for tea at a fire, built 
 gipsy-fashion under the trees at the roadside. We were now 
 within an hour or two's march of Bandajuma, and, in fact, 
 reached our destination just upon midday. Here we found 
 the Officer Commanding the Frontier Force at this station 
 impatiently waiting for us. 
 
 The paramount chief of Bandajuma was one Momokiki, then 
 an old man of considerably over eighty years of age. His father 
 was a Fulahman, and his mother a Mendi, and the old gentle- 
 man himself wielded an immense amount of power in the 
 country. This chief, who succeeded Momo-Fulah, receives a 
 stipend from the Government and holds a commission to sit 
 with the Commissioner in Court on certain occasions. By 
 religion he is Foula-Mohammedan, and has plenty of shi-ewd 
 common-sense, and a great hold upon his people. 
 
 As for Bandajuma itself, the place is nothing more or less 
 than a huge clearing in the bush, and consists chiefly of 
 native-built "bungalows," in which the non-commissioned 
 officers and men of the Frontier Force live with their wives. 
 Besides these there are the military and medical officers' and 
 commissioner's quaiiers. These are also native-built houses, 
 consisting, as a rule, of two rooms and a verandah, as well as 
 the native hospital and Court-house. 
 
 The town is situated on a slope bounded on the west by the 
 "SVantje River, a tributary of the Kittam, and on the other 
 three sides by the primeval forest. At the time of which I 
 am wTriting, everything here was in a very rough-and-ready 
 state. Now, however, things have changed enormously for 
 the better. Substantial wooden bungalows have been erected 
 for the Commissioner and the European officers of the Govern-
 
 A HALT FOR " CHOP." 
 
 Up Coviutry Travelling. 
 
 THK DIFK[CULT[i;s Ol- UlSll TliA\ EI-I.ING. 
 
 (P. 32.J 
 
 (P. 33.) 
 
 Go\'i:iiN mi;n I iKu si:, i: \M)A.ir\i v. 
 The District (Joniiiiissioner's Residence. 
 
 To luce J'. 'M.
 
 A JOURNEY UP-COUNTRY 35 
 
 meut, aud in many other directions great strides have been 
 made. 
 
 Captain E. C. Mayne, of the Frontier Force, Avas at the 
 moment the only official European resident in the station, the 
 Commissioner being away up-country endeavouring to explain 
 to the natives the objects of the House Tax, and the reasons 
 why it had to be paid. Although at this time the district 
 appeared tranc^uil, there can be no doubt, having regard to 
 subsequent events, that a diabolical plot was even now in 
 process of being hatched and that the natives had already 
 made up their minds to drive the white man and everjrthing 
 connected with him out of their country. 
 
 On the day following, Dr. Horrocks started off on his five- 
 days' march en route for Panguma, the headquarters of the 
 district situated to the north of us. Here he was to be 
 stationed as Medical Officer in charge, and here he was 
 destined to undergo, within a very brief span, probably the 
 most trying and exciting period of his life. 
 
 As I have indicated before, the Government officials were at 
 this time much occupied in endeavouring to collect the House 
 Tax, which had come into force in the January previous. I 
 had not been established at my new post more than four or 
 five days when an urgent dispatch came up from the Governor 
 to the effect that every available official was to proceed on a 
 similar duty. I, consequently, found myself obliged to start 
 at once, with an escort of twenty men, and a few porters, on a 
 collecting torn- down the Big Boom Kiver. 
 
 This is one of the principal trading centres of the district, 
 aud the banks of the Boom River are, or were then, dotted 
 with "factories " the owners of which did an important trade 
 with Sherbro by water. The lower portion of the river is 
 noted for its mosquitoes, which for multitude and voracity are 
 hardly beaten, even by those of Bharmar. On my third night 
 out I stayed at a town called Barmani, where these pests are 
 so ferocious that sleep without a curtain was simply an im-
 
 36 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 possibility. After 5 p.m. the uight was one long conflict, with 
 the ^ictoiy assured from the start for the attacking force. 
 At length, in self-defence, I had to shove my legs into long 
 " gum-boots," and, in spite of the heat, wrap myself tightly 
 in a waterproof cloak, and even then my assailants found a 
 way of biting me. 
 
 Ten days later, after having made an extended torn- down 
 the Boom River, and visited on the way a number of chiefs 
 and towns in this part of the country, I anived at a place 
 called Bahal. Here I had my first experience of fever and 
 dysenteiT, and it was of the usual unpleasant character. 
 Worse still, I had no medicine whatever with me except 
 quinine. After struggling against fate for two days more, 
 I was compelled to do what I should have done at first, 
 namely, send a messenger do^vn by boat to Sherbro — a jomniey 
 of two days — for the medical dresser. He came as quickly 
 as he could, of coui'se, and, with the aid of castor oil, quinine, 
 and laudanum, in a few days set me on my legs again, 
 although I felt vei-y weak for some time afterwards. I shall 
 have something to say in a later chapter as to the simple 
 precautionary measures which new arrivals on the coast 
 would do well to obsei-ve, in order to guard against the 
 malarial attacks almost inevitable in this country. 
 
 Dining this tour I intendewed, as akeady stated, several 
 of the more important chiefe, whom I informed, as pleasantly 
 as I could, that whether they liked it or not the tax would 
 have to be paid. Although none of them actually refused, in 
 so many words, to do so, it was abundantly clear that they 
 did not like the notion of being mulcted one little bit. An 
 unmistakable sign of the way the wind was blowing lay (had 
 I been somewhat more experienced in native ways) in the 
 feet that on arriving in several of these towns the greater 
 portion of the inhabitants would bolt incontinently into the 
 bush. Nowhere was I hospitably received. I recollect well 
 one old chief named Bei-ri, of Bongeh, in the Kemor counti'y,
 
 A JOURNEY UP-COUNTRY 37 
 
 at that time possessed of considerable authority locally (and 
 whom I afterwards found it necessary to arrest for treacheiy), 
 telling me that he entirely failed to understand why the 
 Great White Queen should require money from such poor 
 people as themselves. I laboured hard to exj)lain to him and 
 his friends that every country had to pay a tax for its upkeep, 
 and that the contribution they were invited to make wovild 
 be expended solely upon seeming the good government of the 
 country. I further reminded them that in former days they 
 had had nothing but continuous wars when no man's property 
 was safe. But now the British Government had come there 
 to put an end to those wars and to give them, instead, justice 
 and a stable government. They were simply asked, in return 
 for these benefits, to contribute their due quota towards the 
 upkeep of this necessary regime. I saw that my hearers 
 more or less grasped the situation, and my arguments, but I 
 am afraid the latter made no particular impression upon their 
 minds. For everywhere I went the people were sullen, and 
 there were very few women or children to be seen — always a 
 sign of trouble.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE HOUSE TAX 
 
 " Men who prefer any load of 
 infamy, Jioivever great, to any 
 pressure of taxation, however 
 light." — Sydney Smith. 
 
 A ND now for a few words of explanation of the House Tax, 
 -^-*- which has been imposed upon the natives of the 
 Protectorate, and the means of collecting it, as well as of 
 the modus operandi of the British Government in their ruling 
 of this country generally. 
 
 As has already been said, the Protectorate of Sien-a Leone 
 came into official existence in 1896, the actual date being the 
 31st of August in that year. In anticipation of the aiTange- 
 ments necessaiy for governing the Protectorate an Order in 
 Council was made on August 24, 1895, to the effect that Her 
 Majesty had acquired jurisdiction in certain foreign countries 
 in West Afi-ica, adjacent to the Colony of SieiTa Leone, and 
 it was ordained that it would be la^'ful for the Legislative 
 Council of that Colony to provide fur giving effect to all such 
 jurisdiction by ordinance or ordinances, before or after the 
 l^assing of the Order in Council in the territory adjacent to 
 the Colony. 
 
 In 1894, 1895, and 1896 Sir Frederic Cardew made various 
 tours in the Hinterland with the object of acquainting himself 
 with the whole Colony and Protectorate,
 
 THE HOUSE TAX 39 
 
 In 1894 a journey of between 600 and 700 miles was taken, 
 beginning on March 27tli and ending on May 17th. In 1895 
 another tour was made of 598 miles, lasting from January 
 30th to April 5th. The last tour that His Excellency made 
 covered 675 miles, between January 29th and April 5, 1896. 
 Roughly, quite two thousand miles were travelled by the 
 Governor in the Hinterland. During his first tour in 1894 
 he found slave-raiding and slave-trading actively proceeding 
 and the country at large in a very disturbed state. A war 
 was being carried on in the Tchwa country in Liberia, which 
 is only separated from the British sphere of influence hy the 
 Manoh River. Across the Morro River also, the Mendis and 
 the Golas were fighting. Also a paramount chief named 
 Kai Lundu, living just on the Liberiau border, had raided the 
 Konno country, devastated it, and taken the paramount chief 
 prisoner. The great chief, Niagua of Panguma, was also 
 about to cai'ry war against the same Konnos, in spite of the 
 fact that this country had recently been devastated by the 
 Sofas. In other parts of the Hinterland things were much 
 the same. The ICi-anko and Kuniki countries were hostile, 
 and a slave-raiding war was being carried on by the two big- 
 chiefs, Fumbo and Fusa, of the Sanda-Lokko country. The 
 Governor found that the traffic in slaves was going on every- 
 where. At Mongheri, Kiutaballia, and Jarra, he met caravans 
 of slaves whom he caused to be set free. During these tours 
 the intended government of the country in future was carefully 
 explained to many of the chiefs by the Governor in person, 
 at the various places which ho visited. 
 
 In January, 1896, the Governor held a big meeting at a 
 place called Matinafor, in the Kwia country, where also the 
 Protectorate Ordinance was explained to several paramount 
 chiefs and tlic proposed scheme of taxation detailed. This 
 was, that every owner of a liabitable house in the Protectorate 
 Avould on January 1, 1898, be liable to a tax of five shillings, 
 and for houses of four rooms or more, ten shillings ; whilst
 
 40 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 for every village whose number of houses was under twenty 
 no tax would be imposed. The amount could either be paid 
 in cash or kind, that is, one bushel of rice, or one bushel of 
 palm kernels would be taken at its trade value as equivalent 
 to cash. The average value of a bushel was between three 
 shillings and five shillings, and this, notwithstanding the 
 fluctuations in price, would be accepted for a house of the 
 smaller kind. The increase of the revenue was a necessity, 
 and in most parts of the Protectorate the means of realising 
 the House Tax were at the people's very hands. There are 
 thousands of palm trees in nearly every part of the Hinterland 
 and especially in the south, and rice and kola are found 
 everywhere, whilst in most of the five districts rubber is 
 found. 
 
 Now the tax which was imposed in the Nyasa district of 
 British Central Africa was three shillings a month per head. 
 In the territories of the Upper Niger there was a tax of one 
 shilling and sevenpence per man. In Liberia every male 
 over twenty-one years and residing within the Government's 
 sphere of influence has to pay a tax at the rate of six shillings 
 and threepence per annum, and there is no difficulty in 
 collecting it. In Basutoland the rate was ten shillings in 
 1885, and since then there has been an increase ; and in 
 Natal every Kaffir pays about two pounds per hut. So the 
 tax of five shillings which was being imposed in the Sierra 
 Leone Protectorate was not unreasonable, and by no means 
 out of the power of a majorit}' of the inhabitants to meet. 
 
 The Governor also held a large meeting of chiefs in the 
 Masimira country, where again the Ordinance was explained 
 and the taxation question thoroughly thrashed out. Several 
 other meetings were held, at Madina, Bendiboo, Karene, 
 Boomban in the Shengai-Limba country, and at Kambia on 
 the Great Skarcies River. At all of these places the new 
 Ordinance was carefully and lucidly explained through the 
 interpreter. Very much care, trouble, and thought were
 
 THE HOUSE TAX 41 
 
 exercised by Sir Frederic Cardew in all his many tours ; and 
 although in several instances the Tax was not exactly welcomed 
 by the chiefs with eagerness or acclamation, no direct refusal 
 to adhere to its terms was, so far as is known, reported to the 
 Governor. The only exception was Niagua, of Panguma, 
 who, the Governor remarked, " was very truculent," but 
 seeing his people afterwards, he reported that they acquiesced. 
 Another chief remarked at one of the meetings tliat he preferred 
 to be under the English Government to the old days when 
 there was no peace. At the same time, it should be stated 
 that after he left the various districts showers of petitions 
 were received by the Government begging for the recission of 
 the House Tax and for a modification of several clauses of the 
 Ordinance. 
 
 After the Order in Council, an Ordinance entitled " An 
 Ordinance to determine the mode of exercising Her Majesty's 
 Jurisdiction in the Territories adjacent to the Colony of 
 Sierra Leone," was passed on September 16, 1896, and was 
 at once brought into operation, though the enactments 
 regarding the House Tax were not to come into force until 
 January 1, 1898. An explanation of the Ordinance was 
 prepared in October, while printed copies of the Ordinance 
 itself were sent to several of the principal chiefs in the Mendi 
 country. The District Commissioners were directed to give 
 as much publicity as possible to this Ordinance, and to explain 
 its essential details to the native chiefs. Also a Government 
 messenger was sent bearing copies to the Timini chiefs, and 
 this man visited Mabele in the Maramha country, Maghena, 
 Port Lokko, Sanda Lokko, Balam, Kwia, and other places. 
 At first, it appeared as if the cliicfs wished it to be thought 
 that they did not understand the meaning of the Ordinance, 
 but when they saw that things were being pushed forward, 
 and that there was little good in their pleading ignorance, 
 " notes of disapproval began to appear." Several written 
 petitions were sent to Sir Frederic Cardew, one of the first
 
 42 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 being from Bai Simera, dated Octohcr 26, 1896. His letter 
 was to the effect that his slaves would become free by going 
 before the District Commissioners, that the power of the 
 chiefs in holding their courts would disappear, that their 
 wives would leave them, and, worst of all, " in 1898, tax 
 must be paid on every house from five shillings to ten 
 shillings, which will bring down a heavy burden upon us, 
 when we consider our poor state in which we live." Also 
 on October 20, 1896, the Boompe chiefs in the Mendi 
 country sent a petition, saj'ing that they were unable to 
 abide by the new instructions, such as " the paying of Land 
 Tax and House Tax," and one year after this, these Boompe 
 chiefs sent a representative to the Governor to explain 
 matters. " The most principal is the House Tax, and we 
 are not opposing, but we are really poor, and not in a position 
 of paying; therefore we humbly pray that His Excellency 
 will pity our case in this respect." 
 
 On November 9, 1896, Bai Kompah, Chief of Kwia, asked 
 to be permitted to appeal direct to Freetown instead of going 
 to the Commissioners' Court at Kwalu. Also on the 3rd of 
 November in the same year, Madam Yoko, Queen of the 
 Lower Mendi, submitted a letter to the Governor, saying : 
 " As this being a new Ordinance which we are not accustomed 
 with, we shall make a trial of it, for we do not know what 
 it is like yet." Another petition was sent to the District 
 Commissioner of Karene on December 17, 1896, for sub- 
 mission to His Excellency by the Chiefs Bai Forki of 
 Maforki, Bai Faremah of Saffnoko, Bai Shakka of Dibia, Bai 
 Bm-eh of Kassi, and Bai Kawarri of Tendo-Tufa, to the effect 
 that the clauses in the Ordinance respecting trade licences, 
 domestic slaves. House Tax, and the removal of their power 
 in com*ts, should be abolished. In December, 1896, sixty- 
 four chiefs sent a letter to Sir Samuel Lewis, the unofficial 
 leader of the Bar at Freeto\^-n, asking him to put it before the 
 Governor. This letter was in much the same strain as were
 
 THE HOUSE TAX 43 
 
 the others, and pleaded poverty against the House Tax, A 
 large petition, in which the paramount chiefs of the Kwia 
 and Timini countries joined, was sent to the Governor on 
 June 28, 1897, and embodied the following objections : — 
 
 {a) That the chiefs now considered all their ancient rights 
 and power were at an end, as they were deprived of their 
 right of hearing lawsuits regarding their lands. 
 
 Qi) That the Tax will make the people poorer than they 
 are at present, who are too poor to pay this Tax, and 
 consequently the burden Avill fall upon the chiefs. 
 
 (c) That their own family slaves should be allowed to 
 remain with them. 
 
 ((/) That the building of gaols in their country should cease. 
 
 (e) That their ancient rites and customs should not be 
 interfered with, " except such as may be deemed inconsistent 
 with the laws of God." 
 
 The same petitioners sent a further appeal on September 
 18, 1897, requesting that it should be forwarded to Her 
 Majesty, and on the 15th of October they sent another 
 petition to the Legislative Council in Sierra Leone, which 
 stated that certain facts had caused them " to believe in the 
 possibility of the worst of all news, namelj', that the 
 Governor intends to make them pay for their huts or 
 * sleeping places,' " and on the 26th of October they sent 
 a telegram to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, asking 
 for a reduction in the House Tax. Upon this the Governor 
 made certain concessions, the most notable of which were 
 that the chiefs would receive a small commission on collecting 
 the Tax, and that temporary farm buildings should not be 
 taxed at all. On being informed of this, a further letter was 
 sent to Sir Frederic Cardew on November 15, 1897, in which 
 was stated that they thought that " the Government would 
 take their country from them ; . . . our own true fear is that 
 paying for our hnls naturally means no right to our country." 
 
 Shortly after this, the Timini chiefs returned to their
 
 44 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 homes in silence, and without giving their consent to the new 
 laws. Some chiefs from the Mendi counti-y came to Free- 
 town and had a personal interview -udth the Governor, without 
 any result. They were from the Boom and Kittam countries, 
 and Bai Kompah, King of Kwia, sent a petition on January 
 2, 1898, in which he stated his " inability to pay the tax." 
 
 It will he seen from the above with what repugnance the 
 people regarded the New Ordinance, and especially the laws 
 relating to the House Tax, and what a difficult task Sir 
 Frederic Cardew had imposed upon himself, by putting 
 into action his carefully thought out and able policy, one 
 which is being followed to-day in the Protectorate with 
 marked success. He had met with opposition everywhere, 
 and even the traders in the Hinterland in many instances 
 exhorted the natives not to pay, and to petition the Govern- 
 ment. His work was made more difficult fi-om the nature 
 and indolent habits of the peojjle with whom he had to deal, 
 " for it must be remembered, that this was not a ' no-man's 
 land ' which was being dealt with, or vast tracts peopled only 
 by a few wandering herdsmen, but a populous territory, which 
 had been for ages parcelled out, and under definite govern- 
 ment, although the plane of civilisation might be far removed 
 from a Em'opean standard." But the natives were, neverthe- 
 less, savages, cruel, treacherous, cimuing, and bloodthirsty. 
 These were the people whom Sir Frederic Cardew had set 
 himself to enlighten, and to govern justly, while insisting on 
 the abolition of slavery and wars which devastated the whole 
 country, which "extended along the whole length of the 
 coast fi-om Rio Nunez on the North to the Manoh River 
 on the South." His sole aim was to turn the Protectorate 
 into a responsible Government, and, by making the Hinter- 
 land self-supporting, and imposing a Tax on the lazy 
 inhabitants who were able to pay one, and who were anxious 
 enough to seek British protection whenever necessity arose, 
 to spare the drain on the resources of the Colony proper.
 
 THE HOUSE TAX 45 
 
 It cannot, therefore, be a matter of surprise that the 
 ignorant aborigines of the Hinterland, encouraged by their 
 chiefs, who foresaw, on the advent of the British flag, the 
 abolition of their slave laws and native orgies, and the 
 demand from them for a contribution, in the form of the 
 House Tax, for the up-keej) of a Government they did not 
 want or understand, that bloodshed should be the result. 
 More so, as they were indirectly encouraged by the people 
 of Sierra Leone — a number of whom are only half educated 
 and civilised — and also by the local press. 
 
 Having received copies of the Ordinance in October, 1897, 
 the District Commissioners commenced the difficult task of 
 explaining the contents of it to the people in their districts, 
 and went carefully into details of the Tax scheme. Out of 
 the five large districts, only three were to become liable to 
 taxation in January, 1898. These were Karene, Bandajuma, 
 and Ptonietta. In Bandajuma, in the early part of 1898, 
 every available officer was touring on Tax duty, and several 
 important meetings were held. The inhabitants, though 
 showing no open hostility, were sullen and reserved, and on 
 three occasions Captain Mayne was forced, through the 
 temper of a head chief in the Koya country, to attend these 
 meetings with a loaded, though concealed, revolver. Dr. 
 Arnold, District Surgeon of Bandajuma, while travelling on 
 Tax duty, was nearly mobbed by a crowd of natives at a town 
 called Gbar. 
 
 The following extracts from a letter written by Dr. Arnold 
 and sent to the District Commissioner, dated from Dodo, 
 January 5, 1898, will give a good idea of the state of the 
 country at tliis time : "I left Gorahun on the morning of the 
 3rd inst., having had great trouble in obtaining carriers, and, 
 consequently, making a late start. The chief of this town 
 seemed to be unwilling to render me any assistance in obtain- 
 ing men. Reached Gbah about sunset ; several carriers and 
 one hummock boy deserted on the way. Remained at Gbah
 
 46 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 Tuesday, the 4th. Put as shortly as possible, what happened 
 at Gbah was this : The town early in the morning became full 
 of an armed crowd of natives, fresh bands continually coming 
 in, headed by their chiefs, until several hundreds, at least, 
 must have arrived. I could at first obtain no information 
 from the cor^joral as to the meaning of it all, although, from 
 the fact that every man in the town, old or young, was armed, 
 and from the sinister scowls they gave me, it was evident that 
 mischief was intended. None of my escort could interpret, 
 even moderately well. After a palaver among themselves, 
 the chiefs and their followers assembled outside my house, 
 and a very excited and angry mob they were. Every moment 
 of some two hom's' time an attack on myself and men seemed 
 imminent — the slightest untoward incident or kindling spark 
 would, I am sure, have caused our instant massacre, for the 
 Frontiers * were all unarmed — a fortunate thing, I think. 
 We were surrounded by hundreds of men, most of them armed 
 with antique guns, swords, spears, and some with clubs. I 
 held the chiefs in converse as best I could with such iudifi'erent 
 interpreters, but I am inclined to think that it was due to the 
 influence of a man named Mousa of Filo, who arrived in the 
 middle of the scene, and whose authority seemed to weigh 
 with the chiefs, that mischief Avas averted. I promised the 
 chiefs that I would report their grievances to you, and that 
 you would at a future date come and settle the palaver, and 
 eventually the men were disbanded. ... I think that un- 
 doubtedly the real reason of the whole thing is that the people 
 refuse to pay the House Tax, and w^ere determined to fight 
 rather than do so . . ." 
 
 The District Commissioner, while travelling, held a large 
 meeting at MaAvfe. In an unofficial report to the Governor, 
 dated January 10, 1898, he A^Tote : " To-day week, 3rd inst., 
 I held a large meeting of influential chiefs of Boompe, Tikonko, 
 Bongai, Tihim, Mattru, Lubu country, and many minor towns. 
 ■-■= The local name given to the West African Frontier Force.
 
 THE HOUSE TAX 47 
 
 I gave them a long harangue, and talked quietly and softly to 
 them. They all pleaded extreme poverty and want of boys, 
 which, of course, is absurd. I told them ' All right,' but that 
 they must try and do something, however little, just to let 
 you see that they were willing, and gave them until to-day 
 to bring in what they could. To-day they all assembled in 
 Com-t (this was at Mawfe) and repeated the same thing ; any 
 wavering or further time would have been fatal, so I arrested 
 the four principal chiefs, Berri of Bongeh, Thomas Bongo of 
 the Lubu country, Baha, representing Boompe territory and 
 chief of this town, and chief Betsygai's representative. They 
 held several meetings during last week, where I had spies, 
 and they all agreed not to pay or attempt to pay for their own 
 coimtry. To-day at the meeting there were between 4,000 
 and 5,000 men. After arresting the chiefs, I dispersed the 
 crowd, and assembled them in an open space outside the town. 
 I stayed with them about an hour, taking things very quietly, 
 and walking amongst them, as the slightest wavering or half- 
 heartedness would have acted like a spark, although, of course, 
 I was fully prepared ; but I am glad of a bloodless result. At 
 the same sime, I regret to say, I am not one inch nearer the 
 collecting of the tax. . . ." 
 
 Threatening as matters appeared to have become, no danger 
 of any moment was anticipated. About a week after my 
 return to Bandajuma I again went on tax collection duty, this 
 time to the Small Boom country. I took with me on this trip a 
 coi-poral and twenty-three privates as escort, with a few carriers 
 and the necessary stores. The behaviour of the people in the 
 difierent towns and villages which I visited was precisely the 
 same as on the former occasion. Many scuttled ofi" like 
 rabbits at the first appearance of om- party, whilst those who 
 remained were sullen and unfriendly. I next went down to 
 Mawfe, on the Boom River, where I stayed for three days at 
 the house of Mr. Allen, an educated Sierra Leonean, who 
 kindly ottered to put me up. Allen had lived for over twenty
 
 48 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 years amongst these people, and had always treated them well 
 and kindly. On saying goodbye to him it was little I thought 
 that it would be for the last time, or that only a few days 
 later Mawfe would be the scene of a terrible struggle and 
 wholesale massacre. The "factory" here was gallantly 
 defended, as will be hereafter described, by a sergeant and 
 nine privates of the Frontier Force, every one of whom was 
 killed. Mr. Allen himself was taken prisoner by the Boorape, 
 one of the most savage, cruel, and warlike of the Mendi tribes 
 inhabiting this territory, and one of the originators of the 
 rising. He was taken to Boompe town, where he was brutally 
 murdered by degrees — in fact, tortured to death. 
 
 On leaving Mawfe I marched down to the Jong country to 
 a town called Kambia, situated on the Small Boom River. 
 Here I stayed for some days in the house of a large merchant, 
 named Macaulay, who is a Justice of the Peace, and possessed 
 a very charming and well-situated bungalow. 
 
 Considering the nature of the events to follow, it may be as 
 well to give in this place a short description of Kambia and of 
 the factory enclosm-e in which we were staying. 
 
 Kambia is situated, then, in the centre of the Jong country. 
 This territory is of considerable area, and was formerly ruled 
 over by an old woman named Betsy Gai, though where the 
 lady acquired her very English-sounding patronymic I am 
 quite unable to say. She died shortly after the rising, and 
 was immediately succeeded by her daughter. In my time the 
 headquarters of the town were at Tiboom. Now they are at 
 Mattru, on the Jong River, about seven miles from Kambia. 
 The natives were, it should be stated, originally all pure 
 Sherbro ; but the Mendis from the interior came down in 
 great numbers to mix with the Sherbro folk, and intermarriages 
 between the two tribes have resulted in a population half 
 Sherbro, half Mendi — a most undesirable intermixture on all 
 accounts, the warlike characteristics of the one nation being 
 grafted on to the cunning of the other. The whole of this
 
 THE HOUSE TAX 49 
 
 Jong country, from the Bullom right away clown to the Lower 
 Kittam and the Boompe, formed the very vortex of the rising. 
 The two towns of Old and New Kambia lie on either side 
 of Kambia factory, Old Kambia being quite close and almost 
 upon the " factory " — the houses approaching to within twenty 
 yards of it — T>vhile New Kambia was situated some two hundred 
 and fifty yards away on the other side. The factory itself 
 consisted of a bungalow forming one side of a square, with a 
 range of store-rooms and outhouses on the other two, the river 
 occupying the fourth side. Surrounding the house was a fence 
 of wire and wood, with a small coffee plantation beyond. 
 Outside of that the impenetrable bush commenced, through 
 which three roads conversfed on the town.
 
 CHAPTER YI 
 
 BEFORE THE RISING 
 
 " Plot one no plots, x>elition me 
 no petitions.^^ 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 "TT7E must now go back to the time when Major Tarhet, 
 ' ' accompanied by one officer and all the available 
 Frontiers, hurriedly left Freetown for Port Lokko under 
 special orders from the Governor of the Colony to effect the 
 arrest of a certain Timini chief. This worthy had openly 
 defied the District Commissioner by returning to him un- 
 opened a letter he had sent him, accompanied by a " con- 
 temptuous and defiant message." Karene was one of the 
 districts in which the new House Tax was to come into force 
 on the 1st of January, and the officials had been hard at work 
 endeavouring, with no very great success indeed, to obtain 
 payment, or part payment, of the same from the Timini 
 people. The refi-actory chief whom the Government wished 
 to bring to book was one Bai Bureh, who ruled over the Kassi 
 counti*y. Bureh, besides being a man of acute intelligence, 
 was a renowned and successful leader, whose warlike influence 
 extended not only to the confines of his own kingdom, but to 
 those of several adjacent native tribes. The Bai, or Kabalai, 
 as he is sometimes called, must have been perfectly familiar 
 with European methods of bush-fighting, having seen service
 
 BEFORE THE RISING 51 
 
 as an ally of the English in the Tambai campaign of 1892. 
 His military qualities had been further proved when, in 
 1873-76, in his capacity as commander of the Timini army, 
 he inflicted severe defeat upon the Susus, and at the same 
 time firmly established his reputation as a tactician of sorts. 
 His name was now a household word for miles around, and in 
 many a village the mothers stilled their crying babies by 
 whispering the name of this redoubtable Ethopian into their 
 infant ears. This was the man who successfully defied the 
 power of Great Britain for many months together, and thereby 
 made for himself a name that will never die so long as the 
 brave but misguided people whom he led remain a nation. 
 
 Many were the stories of this personage which I heard from 
 my servant Fodi, himself a pure-bred Timini, who had acted 
 as gun and spear-carrier to this chief in his campaigns and 
 raids after plunder into the Mendi country. He would tell 
 me how Bai Bureh used to dive into the river, and " lib dere 
 for two day"; how at his word, many thousand warriors 
 would spring to arms ; and how no king or chief, however 
 strong, however warlike, could stand a single moment against 
 his fierce onslaught. 
 
 Even after deducting a considerable discount from these 
 enthusiastic statements, it was abundantly plain that he 
 was no ordinary man. And yet the curious thing about it 
 was that Bureh was not born to leadership, was not even of 
 chiefly rank. It was entirely through his own ability for war 
 that he rose to be commander. We were soon to have 
 witness of those qualities, as well as of the bravery, loyalty, 
 and absolute confidence in his leadership which his daring 
 followers possessed. 
 
 And if Bureh was an unusually smart man, so did the 
 Timini prove to be in the events that followed. Savages thej^ 
 might be, but even in their very fighting they betrayed such 
 admirable qualities as are not always to be found in the 
 troops of the "civilised" nations. They loved their chief,
 
 52 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 fiiitl remained loj'al to him to the very last, whilst they 
 " understand bush-fighting as well as you and I do our very 
 alphabet ! " 
 
 Almost part and parcel of the forest that surrounded them, 
 they were eminent!}' adapted to the peculiar conditions of 
 local warfare. They required no clothes, and were hampered 
 by no transport. Their food was hidden in the bush itself, 
 where also they spent the night as comfortably as we should 
 do in a palatial hotel. Altogether I must confess, after a 
 somewhat intimate acquaintance with him, to having a very 
 gi'eat respect as well as admiration for the Tiniini. As Mr. 
 Ptudyard Kipling has it, " He's a poor benighted 'eathen, but 
 a first-class fighting man." 
 
 Prior to the departure of Major Tarbet and his force, the 
 Commissioner officially reported to the Governor the diffi- 
 culties which he was experiencing in the collection of the Tax. 
 As the despatch in question afi'ords a clear idea of the state of 
 things in the district at this time, I give it in full : — 
 
 " From the District Commissioner, Karene District, to the 
 Honourable the Colonial Secretary, Freetown. 
 
 " I have the honour to report for the information of His 
 Excellency the Governor some of the difficulties I have met 
 with in starting to collect the House Tax, with suggestions I 
 would submit for His Excellency's consideration. 
 
 " Port Lokko being one of the strongest and wealthiest 
 centres of my district, I decided to commence collecting the 
 Hut Tax from this place, and accordingly left Karene with 
 Sub-Inspector Crowther and ten Frontiers last Friday, the 
 4th inst., arriving there the following day. Since then, con- 
 tinued threats and rumours of attacks have been received, 
 chiefly from Bai Bureh. As soon as he heard that we were 
 leaving Karene he imagined we were going to arrest him, and 
 at once collected war-boys and threatened to attack us. At 
 midnight on the same day I received the report from the
 
 BEFORE THE RISING 53 
 
 Secretary of Native Affairs to investigate rumour of report 
 thatBai Bureh was collecting arms, &c.,from the French. A 
 rumour reached Karene that Bai Bureh had heard that we were 
 coming to arrest him, and was, in consequence, coming in to 
 Karene that night to attack Brima Sanda, and that he was 
 determined to resist any assistance the garrison at Karene 
 gave to Brima Sanda. I did not believe this, but the next 
 morning I sent out spies to watch Bai Bureh, to report on 
 what he was doing, what arms and ammunition he had, how 
 many breech-loaders, and whether he was in communication 
 with the French, &c. I left Karene that day, and on the way 
 to Port Lokko met two missionaries who had come to warn 
 me ' that there was a plot against my life and that Bai Bm-eh 
 was going to shoot me should I attempt to arrest him.' The 
 same day a letter was sent to Sub -Inspector Crowther at 
 Kabantama in the same strain [copy attached]. We halted 
 at Romani for the night, throughout which messengers were 
 coming and going from Bai Bureh watching our movements. 
 
 " On arriving at Port Lokko next day (5th) I saw all the 
 Sierra Leoneans, and called upon them to pay their tax. 
 They seemed willing but afraid, as the chief and natives had 
 said that the first to pay the Tax would be murdered. They 
 were willing to pay through their landlords or direct to me, if 
 the chief would undertake that they should not be molested. 
 This he refused to do, and was detained in custody and 
 warned that he would be given until Monday for his final 
 answer. The Sierra Leoneans were also told to attend again 
 on Monday morning and be prepared to pay. On the fol- 
 lowing night, Sunday, about midnight, a report reached us 
 that many people were coming into the town, hearing that 
 the chief was a prisoner, with the intention of rescuing hiui. 
 Finding that there was more or less truth in the report, I 
 placed outposts round our quarters, where the chief was, and 
 brought down all the ammunition from the barracks in the 
 town. The town was very disturbed all night, and of course
 
 54 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 we had to remain up and on the alert. On Monday, the 1th, 
 we found that one of the sub-chiefs, Santiggi Kearah, had 
 summoned Bai Bureh's people to come and rescue Chief 
 Bokari Bamp. I then summoned all the sub-chiefs and head- 
 men, and after allowing them to consult with the chief, they 
 were called upon to give their answers as to Avliether they 
 would imdertake not to molest the traders for paying their 
 taxes. After a good deal of coaxing they were at last per- 
 suaded to give a very half-hearted consent, though it was 
 evident that not much faith could be placed in their word. 
 But the traders were now thoroughly frightened of the 
 natives, and refused point blank to pay their tax, either to me 
 or through their landlords. I had a private interview with 
 the chief that same afternoon, and persuaded him that he was 
 running a great risk, and would be arrested if he did not 
 guarantee that those who paid their taxes would not be 
 molested. On Tuesday, the Stli, all the traders were brought 
 up and charged before me with refusing to pay their tax. 
 They used eveiy means within their power to annoy and 
 hinder me. Several of the men pretended that they could 
 only speak ' Aku,' knowing I had no interpreter for that lan- 
 guage. The women simply jeered at me as each was brought 
 up for judgment. They were detained as their goods were 
 being distrained on, but it was found that they had removed 
 all their valuables, and as each bundle of worthless rubbish 
 was brought in from their homes, it was greeted with jeers by 
 all the female traders. All were fined with the option of 
 imprisonment. One trader was sent to his home for money 
 to pay the fine, but his messenger was stopped by one of the 
 headmen, who took the money fr'om him and threatened to 
 kill the man if he paid the fine. As matters were now 
 getting serious, I summoned the chief, but he failed to come. 
 On Wednesday, the 9tli, the chief came down with all his 
 sub-chiefs, and about 1,000 followers. I then told them my 
 patience was well-nigh exhausted, and I called upon them for
 
 BEFORE THE RISING 55 
 
 an immediate answer to these questions : (1) In the event of 
 the Sierra Leoneans paying their tax, woukl he instruct all 
 his people not to molest them ? (2) Would he start at once 
 to collect the tax from the natives ? To both of these ques- 
 tions he answered * No ! ' I then arrested the chief, and four 
 of the ring-leaders, as follows : — Bokari Bamp, acting chief, 
 too weak to rule his people properly or to assist the Govern- 
 ment against opposition, and easily led astray by bad advice 
 from his Santiggis,* of whom he is thoroughly frightened. 
 Would be a loyal chief if he dared, when not subject to Bai 
 Bureh's influence and that of his Santiggis. (Twelve months' 
 imprisonment. Hard labour.) Bai Salamansa, a very dan- 
 gerous man, with many followers, who boasts that he can 
 defy the Government and resist the law, and who has 
 threatened that the first one that pays shall be murdered. It 
 was he who prevented a trader from paying his fine and 
 threatened to burn his house. (Fifteen months' imprisonment. 
 Hard labour.) Santiggi Kearah, an equally dangerous man. 
 In league with Bai Bureh to resist the Tax by force, and a 
 man with many followers. It was he who brought in Bai 
 Bureh's people to rescue the chief from custody. (Fifteen 
 months' imprisonment. Hard labour.) Ansumani Bali, a 
 powerful and dangerous man. An open enemy of the 
 Government, who is determined to resist the Tax. It was he 
 who rescued Bai Foki when he was arrested and attacked the 
 police. (Twelve months' imprisonment. Hard labour.) 
 Alpha Saidoo, a dangerous man whom I have previously had 
 to summon to Kamia and caution. It was he who sent a 
 message to the Sanda people that they were to take no notice 
 of Brima Sanda's election by the Government, as he would 
 himself come and ' pull ' a chief. (Twelve months' imprison- 
 ment. Hard labour.) 
 
 "As the tide had reached high water half an hour since, 
 and as I knew the risk there would be in keeping these 
 prisoners till the next tide, about midnight (with over 2,000 
 
 * iSpcakers.
 
 $6 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 people outside iu the towD watching the turn of events) I 
 decided the safest Avay was to send them to Freetown 
 Gaol at once, which I did under escort. Hence the reason 
 why no report accompanied them, as time would not permit. 
 This cleared the air considerably, as the Sierra Leoneans not 
 only volunteered to pay their Tax at once, but expressed their 
 regret at having defied the law. Being their first offence, they 
 were let off with fines, which were paid at once (amounting to 
 about ^670), and their distrained goods Avere then restored 
 to them. 
 
 " On Thursday, 10th, I sent for the headmen in the town, 
 and gave them a long interview, telling them to take warning 
 from the events of the last two days. I elected Soric Boukay 
 as acting chief until either Bokari Bamp's release, or until a 
 new chief had been elected, subject to approval. He was 
 then instructed to start collecting the tax at once, and the 
 Santiggis and others told to support him. This he is very 
 pluckily doing, in spite of threats of murder, attack, and 
 arson. Considering the very diiiicult position he is placed 
 in, he has proved himself very firm and loyal. During the 
 middle of the night he came to me in a very excited state, 
 saying that a messenger had just arrived saying that Bai 
 Bureh was coming in that night to attack him for collecting 
 the Hut Tax. I again took every precaution by placing out- 
 posts all round, and remained up all night. I also gave him 
 a small guard, which he begged for, and who, during the 
 night, caught three men coming in with arms secreted, which 
 were seized. I think they were sent in by Bai Bureh, as a 
 sort of advanced guard, though I cannot tell for certain. 
 Throughout the night the people of Port Lokko took fright, 
 and removed in canoes, and by road, to the neighbouring 
 fakkais, with all their property, fearing Bai Bm-eh would 
 come in and attack the town and burn it. On Friday, the 
 lltli, the acting chief still continued perseveringly to collect 
 the Hut Tax from the few people who remained, and he has
 
 BEFORE THE RISING 57 
 
 now sent round to ail those who have removed that, if they 
 do not return within 24 hours, they will he fined. I am 
 of opinion that the fear of an attack by Bai Bureh has 
 more influence with them than the fear of a fine. I feel 
 certain that the town and Lokko country will not settle down 
 until Bai Bureh's influence is removed. As the Sierra 
 Leoneans and natives who have paid the tax have been 
 threatened with attack, murder, &c., I feel it would not be 
 right to return to Karene until they have nothing more to 
 fear. Meanwhile, some of the spies I sent to Bai Bm-eh's 
 countiy have come in. They report that Bai Bm-eh fears and 
 expects arrest, which he will probably resist, though my only 
 fear is he will evade arrest, as he did before, by hiding. 
 Accordingly, I have sent to summon him to collect his tax at 
 once, and be prepared to pay me when I visit him, shortly. 
 I feel certain he will refuse, perhaps defiantly, and I shall 
 then take steps to effect his immediate capture. Until this is 
 done, there will be no peace in the country, and the tax will 
 never be collected with success. But when once it is done. 
 Port Lokko will pay up en masse, and the other large towns 
 of Mauge, Kambia, Kukuna, Mabile, &c., will follow its 
 example. The effect of the fine on the Sierra Leoneans here 
 has already reached other large towns, and I hear the Sierra 
 Leoneans there will not resist. I hear also that the natives 
 of these towns are all in awe of Bai Bureh, and when he pays, 
 or is removed, they will pay without the least difiiculty. 
 Though my sentences on the acting chief and four headmen 
 sent down appear severe at first sight, it was absolutely 
 necessary, as an example to others, and will lighten my 
 difficulties considerably. But I intend to ask his Excellency 
 to release Bokari Bamp as soon as the country is quiet, and 
 the tax is collected. At the same time, I shall submit to his 
 Excellency how very desirable it is, for future peace, that, of 
 the other four arrested, two, at least, be deported and not 
 allowed to return, viz., Bai Salamansa and Santiggi Keareh.
 
 58 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 I would add, also, bow very desirable it is tbat I do not 
 return to Karene until peace is restored, and Port Lokko has 
 paid the whole tax. If once I do this, the news will spread 
 that I have bad to acknowledge tbat I have failed to collect 
 the tax, and other chiefs who are inclined to resist, such as 
 Bai Foki, Pa Kobblo, &c., will cause endless trouble. A 
 clean slate means easy success. The above report, perhaps 
 needlessly lengthy, and too full of details, I have written as 
 the shoiiiest means of giving his Excellency a clear idea of 
 the state of things. I have no fear of eventual success, but I 
 am very anxious to be allowed to give my attention only to 
 this matter, until I have made a fair start, in spite of Treasury 
 returns being delayed for a week or two this month. To sum 
 up — I would ask bis Excellency's approval to : (a) Sentences 
 passed on five prisoners sent down, (i) Bokari Bamp to be 
 restored as Acting Chief, so soon as the tax is paid, and order 
 restored, (c) Bai Salamansa and Santiggi Keareb not to be 
 allowed to return, as mont dangerous to good order. ((/) Sorie 
 Bouka3''s appointment as Acting Chief for the present to be 
 confirmed, (c) My remaining here till Port Lokko has paid 
 the tax, and order is restored, though this may mean a slight 
 delay in rendering monthly returns and vouchers, &c. (_/) 
 The loan of about 20 Frontiers (not recruits) to eflect Bai 
 Bureh's arrest. The Customs, French Frontier Licence, and 
 Out-station duties make it impossible to bring in men from 
 out-stations, at which there are about sixty men. I am told 
 that some of the men now with me had only been joined 
 two weeks when they were sent up. Consequently they can 
 have done no musketry. There must be at least twenty left 
 at Karene (for stafl' and guard duties, &c.), and this would 
 only leave about fifteen men for arrest purposes. Bai Bureh 
 can only be arrested by several parties approaching fi-om 
 different flanks, or he will be sure to escape. I would there- 
 fore ask for twenty good men at least, at once, so as not to 
 risk failure. 
 
 ''Poet Lokko, 12/2/98.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE TIMINI RISING 
 
 " Not one cent for tribute." 
 
 ON the arrival of Major Tarbet at Port Lokko, it was 
 reported that the refractory chief, Bai Bureh, was at a 
 place called Mahera, some two hours' march from Piomeni ; 
 and a few days later he set out with a force of 46 men 
 and one officer, with the District Commissioner, to Romalia, 
 on the Karene road, where he halted for the night. The 
 next morning they went straight to Eomeni, which they 
 found deserted, though the forest around was described as 
 being "full of war-boys." Immediately the small force was 
 halted and formed into square, while the baggage train, 
 originally intended to go on to Kabantama, was also halted, 
 as, under the present small escort, it would be quite impossible 
 to get it through. 
 
 The spies of the British force had meanwhile reported 
 Bai Bureh to be in the immediate vicinity, and although 
 no powder had as yet been burned, the aspect of affairs 
 was "most threatening," and "stones were being thrown." 
 On the advance of the force, the war-boys concealed in the 
 surrounding Itush began at once to follow and quickly closed 
 round our Hanks ; in fact, our force was gradually, but 
 certainly, being surrounded on all sides. 
 
 An attem})t was made to stop this threatening movement 
 
 59
 
 6o OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 by the discharge of a few volleys, which were immediately 
 returned by the concealed enemy. Several of the carriers 
 now threw down their loads, while others were attacked by 
 the enemy, and their loads captured. Others, again, of the 
 porters, having had their loads seized, were themselves made 
 prisoners and carried off. 
 
 On arriving at Kabantama, it was reported that the road 
 between that place and the river was full of the enemy, who 
 again opened fire on the column from a place called 
 Masumbala, and when crossing the river the rearguard was 
 also fired upon and forced to retreat. After a long, weary 
 march, the party arrived at Karene at 5 p.m. We were now 
 informed that the whole of the Kassi country was in a state 
 of open revolt, and the entire male population armed and in 
 ambush in the forests, while the road to Port Lokko was 
 dangerous for messengers and small parties. Moreover, it 
 was reported that the Great Scarcies chiefs had sent many 
 fighting men to help Bai Bureh ; so that altogether the 
 British force was in a very precarious position. I afterwards 
 ascertained that some of the chiefs in the Koina-Dugu 
 district had also sent some of their war-boys to assist the 
 Timinis. 
 
 Although the Koina-Dugu district did not rise, the 
 Commissioner, Captain C. E. Birch, occupied a perilous 
 position at the headquarters, Falaba. Quite cut off from 
 civilisation (he was 250 miles from Freetown) Captain Birch 
 lived in close proximity to the wild hill tribes and with him 
 were verj' few men. 
 
 On the withdrawal of the party to Karene, as detailed 
 above, it was practically made prisoner there, for a return 
 either to Freetown or Port Lokko was now equally an 
 impossibility. 
 
 This unsuccessful attempt to catch the Timini chiefs was 
 the forerunner of large operations carried on throughout the 
 Karene country, and indirectly nearly the whole Sierra
 
 THE TIMINI RISING 6i 
 
 Leone Hinterland, — operations which cost many hmitlrecls of 
 valuable lives, involved the destruction of thousands of 
 pounds' worth of property, and brought down untold misery 
 and suffering upon many innocent heads. Many of the 
 engagements which followed v/ere exceedingly severe, the 
 British usually being opposed to vastly superior numbers. 
 The operations were, in fact, described by Colonel Marshall 
 as involving " some of the most stubborn fighting that has 
 been seen in West Africa," whilst " no such continuity of 
 opposition had at any previous time been experienced on this 
 part of the coast." 
 
 During the next two weeks incessant fighting took place 
 between our small force and the enemy, our object being to 
 prevent them crossing the Mabole River, and thereby 
 completely suiTounding the Karene barracks. On the 24th 
 of February 150 men of the West India Regiment, with a 
 7 -pounder and Maxim, under the command of Major 
 Norris, D.S.O., started from Freetown, by a circuitous route 
 through Robarton, with the object of assisting in the captui-e 
 of Bai Bureh, and strengthening the garrison if hard pressed. 
 With this force came fifty carriers, carrying food supply for 
 thirty days and camp equipment. 
 
 On arriving at Karene, on the 28tli of February, Major 
 Norris found the place invested on all sides, and the hospital 
 already containing several wounded. The government was 
 now made over to the military, and on the 2nd of March 
 martial law was proclaimed. One of the most important 
 steps to be taken in the first instance was to maintain 
 communication with Freetown, and on the 3rd of March the 
 West India detachment marched to Port Loklvo with this 
 object. 
 
 From the moment the British force showed itself outside 
 the barracks until the time of its arrival at Port Lokko, it 
 was boldly and recklessly attacked. Captain Scott, R.A.M.C., 
 and four men of the West India Regiment and five carriers
 
 62 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 were severelj' wounded, and Captain Fannco, two privates, 
 and seven carriers slightly wounded. The enemy suffered 
 no small loss during their attacks. On the arrival of the 
 column at Port Lokko, more troops were requisitioned for by 
 carrier pigeon. Our men were afraid of an attack on the 
 place, and had stockaded themselves in front of the Mission 
 House. On the 5th of March another 100 men of the 1st 
 West India Regiment arrived at Port Lokko under the com- 
 mand of Major Stansfield. Our laager here was attacked at 
 dawn, hut being expected, the enemy was repulsed by 8 a.m., 
 and again suffered severely through their reckless exposure. 
 Sniping continued for the whole of this day. On tlic arrival 
 of H.M.S. Alecto with the additional troops, they at once 
 began to shell old Port Lokko, but without apparently much 
 result. A further urgent message was sent for still more 
 troops, and meanwhile on the 9th of March Karene was again 
 attacked, and the enemy repulsed after a hot engagement of 
 two hours. Nothing further occurred, with the exception of 
 the enemy firing the bush, during the march of Major 
 Stansfield's company to Karene, until the 9th, when 50 men 
 of the West African Regiment with a 7-pounder gun, and 215 
 labourers and supplies, arrived under Major Donovan, A.S.C. 
 The District Commissioner, with an escort of 100 non-com- 
 missioned officers and men of the West African Regiment 
 and Frontier Force, also now arrived at Port Lokko, having 
 been attacked at a place called Malal, where five men of the 
 Frontier Force and three carriers were severely wounded. 
 The District Commissioner had gone to Port Lokko with the 
 idea of acting as political adviser to the officer commanding 
 the troops there. 
 
 On the 11th of March another company (120 strong) under 
 the command of Major Bourke, D.S.O., arrived at Port Lokko, 
 together with 100 labourers. This company, with that of 
 Major Stansfield, was instructed to act as a flying column 
 around Karene. A place called Rogabold was ordered to be
 
 THE TIMINI RISING 63 
 
 destroyed, and a reward of £50 was offered for the appre- 
 hension of Bai Bureh. 
 
 During the night of the 17th of March sniping by the 
 enemy took phice at Karene. The next day Major Stausfiekl, 
 with 100 men and a Maxim gun, left for Eobarton with the 
 idea of recovering some stores he had been obliged to leave 
 beliind owing to a lack of carriers on his former journey to 
 Port Lokko. This column came into action at Sindugu, and 
 had severe fighting again at Mabolonto, which resulted in 
 Lieutenant Yeld being Idlled, and eight non-commissioned 
 officers and men and 16 porters severely wounded. Owing 
 to the opposition here the column was compelled to return 
 to Karene. Another 125 men of the 1st Battalion West 
 India Regiment and 312 labourers, under the late Colonel 
 Bosworth, had meantime arrived at Port Lokko. This force 
 was opposed at Matatin and Mamalari, resulting in eight 
 privates of the West India Regiment and Frontier Force 
 being wounded. 
 
 And now the fighting around Port Lokko and Karene 
 became general, ^^^lenever a British force was seen it was 
 immediately attacked. It was impossible to get at the 
 enemy during a march through a narrow bush path, never 
 more than three to six feet broad, both sides lined with an 
 invisible foe largelj^ armed with breechloading rifles, and 
 completely concealed in the dense forest. 
 
 A company of the West India Regiment and fifty men of 
 the Frontier Force set out from Port Loklvo for Karene on 
 the 22nd of March, under Captain Carr-Smith, with the 
 object of transferring some of the carriers who were stationed 
 at the latter, to the former place. The force was allowed to 
 proceed unmolested until it reached a village called Matiti, 
 where it came face to face with several cunningly placed and 
 strongly defended stockades. At the end of an engagement 
 lasting five hours, during which the bayonet and sword were 
 freely used, the column got through, Lieutenants Craig-Brown
 
 64 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 and Lawrenson, and fifteen privates being severely wounded, 
 in addition to several porters killed and thirty-five wounded, 
 while a quantity of stores had also been seized by the enemy. 
 Owing to this opposition our force was obliged to bivouac at 
 Maperri and proceeded next day to Karene. 
 
 Three days later the column, having secured its object, 
 namely, the bringing away of the carriers — 800 in number — • 
 set out on its return. No sooner had it reached Matiti than 
 it was again vigorously attacked, and, the path being parti- 
 cularly narrow and winding at tliis part, almost surrounded. 
 Further on, at Mamaliki, the enemy attempted to rush us, 
 but were again repulsed with loss. At Matiti we were met 
 by a perfect hail of bullets and were forced to take advantage 
 of any scrap of cover in order to return the fire of the enemy, 
 who, although absolutely invisible, were always within fifty 
 yards of them, securely hidden in the thick undergrowth and 
 "as thick as bees." Here Captain Carr-Smith and 
 Lieutenant M'Lean were both severely wounded, and four 
 privates of the West India Kcgiment killed, and six severely 
 wounded, while four non-commissioned officers and men of 
 the West India Regiment were slightly wounded. All the 
 combatant officers now being wounded, the column had to fall 
 back again on Karene, and at a point where there was the 
 greatest danger of being rushed. However, owing to the 
 gallant behaviour of the non-commissioned officers and men 
 of the West India Regiment, Karene was reached without any 
 further mishap. 
 
 On this day also Major Bourke, D.S.O., with 150 non- 
 commissioned officers and men of the West India Regiment 
 and the Frontier Force, marched to attack a town called 
 Barmot, situated some ten miles distant in a north-easterly 
 direction from Karene. This attack was successful, the 
 enemy being taken completely by surprise ; it resulted in the 
 town being burnt, and the enemy driven from their stockades. 
 The next day the news of the reverse which Captain Carr-
 
 THE TIMINI RISING 65 
 
 Smith had suffered reached Colonel Bosworth, aud he decided 
 to march at once to Karene, to clear the road if possible of 
 all opposition. He took with him 100 specially picked men 
 of the 1st West India Regiment, who marched with as little 
 impedimenta as possible, and four ofi&cers. On reaching 
 Malai the invisible enemy poured in a hot fire from the front 
 and both flanks, and our force, having expended hundreds of 
 rounds of ammunition, reached Romeni, where they were met 
 by further fire at point blank range. Hastily pushing on to 
 Kagbantama serious opposition was again met with, the 
 enemy pouring in a perfect hail of lead from the town, which 
 was strongly fortified and loopholed. By this time our 
 troops were becoming jaded and fatigued by so much 
 marching and incessant fighting in the great heat. However, 
 they gallantly responded to the further call made upon them, 
 and the enemy were cleared out at the point of the bayonet, 
 our fellows charging in grand style up to the very muzzles of 
 the rifles. 
 
 At this juncture Colonel Bosworth succumbed to the intense 
 heat, the command devolving upon Major Donovan, A.S.C. 
 The gallant Colonel died at 6.30 p.m. the same day, but not 
 before he had received news of the complete rout of the enemy. 
 The column now pushed on to Matiti, where they found them- 
 selves again confronted by immense stockades erected on 
 either side of the road. Matters were now looking extremely 
 ugly. The commanding ofiicer was dead, many of our men 
 were either killed, wounded, or next to useless from over- 
 whelming fatigue, and, to add to our other troubles, the rapid 
 darkness of the tropical night was coming on. The carriers 
 also gave the column a lot of trouble, while the enemy, no 
 doubt seeing their advantage, continued to attack us with 
 renewed ardour. Indeed, these night attacks are just the 
 kind of fighting that the Timinis like best, and now the game 
 seemed to be all in their hands. It was at this time when 
 Captain M'Donald was shot dead while gallantly leading his 
 
 6
 
 66 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 men against a stockade, and thirty more non-commissioned 
 officers and men of the West India Kegiment were also killed. 
 Having, however, eventually turned the obstruction and cleared 
 out the enemy, who immediately re-collected in great numbers 
 in the surrounding bush, the column proceeded on its way 
 through the pitchy darkness along the narrow winding path, 
 at every end and turn of which the Timinis were posted. 
 
 Utterly fagged out, the column reached Karene at 2.30 a.m. 
 on March 28th, the force being nigh at breaking strain when 
 it marched wearily into this fortified position. We may well 
 congratulate ourselves that no more serious disaster overtook 
 us during this march in the inky blackness. Had the enemy 
 charged us during our attacks on their stockades, or made a 
 continued rush, there is not the slightest doubt that we should 
 have been annihilated. Surrounded as we were by gi'eat 
 numbers nothing could have saved us, and it is only by the 
 mercy of Providence and the luck which so often falls to the 
 lot of the British arms on these occasions that any of us came 
 through alive. 
 
 The next day Major Bourke, with seventy non-commissioned 
 officers and men of the 1st West India Regiment, patrolled 
 the road up to Maperri, and took several stockades at a loss 
 of six privates of the West India Regiment wounded, and 
 three earners killed. On the 28th of March, Major Tarbet 
 also patrolled the road to Matiti, and succeeded in destroying 
 some half-built stockades. On March 30th Major Bourke, 
 D.S.O., arrived at Port Lokko with 120 men of the West 
 India Regiment. 
 
 There were now twelve wounded officers and men at Karene 
 and 800 carriers, namely, those who had been driven back 
 under Captain Carr-Smith in the fight on the 25th. Ac- 
 cordingly Major Donovan, A.S.C., with 200 men of the West 
 India Regiment, 800 carriers, one Maxim gun, and the sick 
 and wounded, marched out fi'om Karene on the 30th, seventy- 
 five of the 1st West India Regiment, under Major Bourke,
 
 THE TIMINI RISING 67 
 
 forming the advanced guard. More sharp fighting ensued, 
 and no fewer than five of the enemy's stockades were taken 
 and destroyed, at a cost of Lieutenant Jones and six privates 
 severely wounded. These actions cleared the way so far for 
 Donovan's column, which was barred, however, at Mamaliki 
 by three strong stockades. Here a murderous fire was 
 opened on us, our fellows lying down for cover while the 
 enemy's slugs and bullets sang like harp-strings overhead. 
 Colonel Johnson was amongst the number severely wounded 
 here, and this gallant officer died two days afterwards. 
 Many carriers were also killed and wounded, mainly owing 
 to the fact that as soon as the enemy opened fire numbers of 
 them would at once lose their heads, fling down their loads, 
 and run about in all directions. 
 
 We halted at Magbantama for the night, but owing to the 
 incessant sniping that went on there was little sleep for 
 anybody. We had now several wounded on our hands, and 
 the advance party shortly returned to report that between 
 us and Port Lokko many stockades had been built, and that 
 both sides of the road were lined with the enemy, who were 
 lying in ambush in readiness to receive us. To have 
 attempted to run the gauntlet of stockades against which a 
 7 -pounder gun had no efl'ect whatever would have simply 
 meant the killing of 70 per cent, at least of our force, 
 while, judging fi'om previous encounters, every officer would 
 have been almost certain to be hit. 
 
 Major Donovan therefore cut a path through the bush with 
 much labour and difficulty and arrived at Port Lokko at 
 9 p.m. on March 31st, not, however, without encountering 
 the ever-watchful enemy again at Mabomrani, which resulted 
 in more casualties on our side. 
 
 Colonel Marshall arrived at Port Lokko on April 1st and 
 took over the command of the forces fi-om that date. 
 
 The situation in the Kassi country was now grave indeed. 
 The hunted chief was no nearer being caught than he was a
 
 68 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 the commencement of hostilities, while his warriors were in 
 evidence everywhere. Taking into consideration the number 
 of officers and men at present employed, our losses in killed 
 and wounded had been high. On the other hand, so far as 
 we could ascertain, the loss inflicted on the enemy was 
 ridiculously small, in spite of the thousands of rounds of 
 ammunition that were daily expended. Since February we 
 had been actively engaged against an adversary whom we did 
 not often see, but whom we knew could see us, and who 
 shadowed our every movement. The nerves of the officers 
 and men were severely shaken by this, one of the most trying 
 modes of warfare, and the deadly climate, worse even than 
 the enemy's bullets, was eating into the constitutions of 
 Em"opeans and natives alike, who by this time, owing to the 
 constant strain of sleepless nights, incessant fatigue, bad 
 food, and severe heat, were in anything but a healthy and 
 sound condition. 
 
 It is impossible to give in detail a record of the numerous 
 and severe skirmishes which took place between our troops 
 and the warriors of Bai Bureh. Many gallant actions were, 
 it is only fair to say, performed on both sides. In one a 
 private of the West India Regiment was set upon by three 
 armed warriors. He bayoneted one, shot the other, and 
 kept the third at bay with the butt-end of his rifle until a 
 comrade rushed up and shot his remaining adversary dead. 
 On another occasion a wounded Timini chief was able with 
 one hand to withstand the onslaught of a soldier and even 
 to severely wound him, being himself eventually shot in a 
 fi-antic efi'ort to take the other's life. 
 
 Meanwhile, if our columns were not to be swept ofi" the face 
 of the earth, some other method of procedure must be 
 adopted, and that quickly. The enemy's defence was so 
 strong that already on one occasion it had taken our people 
 several hours' incessant fighting to advance a little over 
 thirty yards. Inside the Mission-house at Port Lokko lay
 
 OKI K.NXtlii-NG A VILLAL.L, I 111... MKNDILAXU. 
 
 (P. 39. 
 
 (P. 6i.) 
 
 SEIMKA.M W. .1. GOKDON, V.C., .\M> I'KMAIK. 
 
 West India Regiment. 
 
 fan i: 68. 
 
 F.O..I <i Photo hy Stuart.
 
 THE TIMINI RISING 69 
 
 200 sick and wounded, while the hospitals in Freetown, civil 
 and military, contained no fewer than 150 men, invalided 
 from the scene of action, and before many months were over 
 the list had totalled up to 600 killed and wounded, including 
 admissions to hospital from sickness, and carriers and others 
 who were missing. 
 
 For some little time the gravity of the situation was 
 scarcely realised at Headquarters on the Coast, though the 
 following message, despatched from Port Lokko to Freetown 
 by the officer commanding the troops in the Kassi country, 
 must have given people some idea of it. The message ran 
 as follows : — " Things very serious : fifty men of the West 
 India Regiment and twenty-seven carriers missing, many 
 wounded, including four officers. Lieutenant Yeld dead." 
 
 As I have already said Colonel Marshall arrived on the 
 scene of action on April 1st and at once went earnestly into 
 the state of affairs, and in his report of the expedition he 
 stated at this point that " it was evident that the course 
 hitherto adopted, viz., that of sending columns up from Port 
 Lokko to Karene, could not be continued indefinitely without 
 involving the sacrifice of the life of every officer of the 
 battalion." He therefore decided to establish two inter- 
 mediate posts, which would divide the distance between Port 
 Loklco and Karene into shorter marches, and, by rendering 
 the passage of the convoy to and fro more secure, thereby 
 enable him to provision Karene the more easily. This would 
 also serve at the same time to provide bases for the flying 
 column. 
 
 Prior to this, several bluejackets and marines had been 
 landed from the Alecto and the Fox. More troops, chiefly 
 belonging to another battalion of the West Lidia Regiment, 
 were meanwhile despatched from St. Helena, and an emer- 
 gency detachment of Royal Ai'tillery and other details were 
 sent out from England. In addition, detachments of Royal 
 Engineers, Sierra Leone Royal Artillery, and numbers of
 
 70 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 armed Court Messengers were sent into the Kassi country to 
 assist in ovei-powering the hitherto invincible Bai Bureh, who 
 up to this had certainl)', as Tommy put it, " made things 'imi 
 a bit." 
 
 Major Bom'ke, with 120 non-commissioned officers and men 
 of the West India Regiment, set out with the express purpose 
 of destroying the stockade at Mabkaue, the place where Major 
 Donovan was stopped on the 31st of March. This was satis- 
 factorily accomplished with slight loss, the casualities being 
 one European gunner wounded, and one private (West India 
 Regiment) severely wounded. 
 
 All the senior officers were either sick or wounded, so on 
 the 3rd of April Major Donovan, A.S.C., Captain Morley, West 
 India Regiment, and Captain Tyler, R.E., left Poi-t Lokko with 
 a force of 230 non-commissioned officers and men and provisions 
 for Romeni, a march of some thirteen miles, with the object of 
 establishing a post there. The column then formed a laager. 
 The next day Major Donovan and Captain Morley returned to 
 Port Lokko with all the carriers, and Captain Stevens, of the 
 1st West India Regiment, was sent out to replace him at 
 Romeni. Two companies of the West India Regiment were 
 sent to Romeni on the 7th of April, and encamped there for the 
 night ; and on the following day set out in two parallel lines, 
 one, on the main road, being under Colonel Marshall, and the 
 other under Major Bourke. The column on the main road 
 met with opposition, and eventually the enemy were driven 
 out of their stockades, no less than twelve in number. 
 
 Major Donovan's column, missing its way somehow, had to 
 return, and followed Colonel Marshall's force along the main 
 road. An engagement took place at Rotifunk, where the 
 enemy were repulsed by volleys supplemented by the fire of a 
 7-lb. gun. On our arrival at Kagbantama fom- more stockades 
 were taken and destroyed. 
 
 To Major Kirk, R.A., was entrusted the super\dsion of the 
 lines of communication. Colonel Marshall, with a flying
 
 THE TIMINI RISING 71 
 
 column, now set out along the Katenta and Mabele roads. 
 The enemy were expected to be in force at Mabele, a position 
 easy of defence whilst difficidt to attack. Wide, deep ravines, 
 lined with impenetrable bush, commanded the approach to this 
 town, and in fact it was an ideal situation for the tactics of a 
 lurking and cunning foe. As soon as the column appeared 
 within sight of their to\\Ti, the enemy opened a heavy fire, but 
 were at length driven out with loss. The convoy, which had 
 set out for Karene, was also set upon at Matiti, and, after a 
 severe fight. Major Donovan had to fall back upon Kagban- 
 tama. In this engagement two men of the West India 
 Regiment and four carriers were killed, and four men and 
 nine carriers slightly wounded. Captain Tyler, commanding 
 the Royal Engineers, was also wounded. 
 
 Having got rid of his wounded. Major Donovan set out 
 on his return march to Karene, and was this time un- 
 opposed. 
 
 On April 14th a small column, accompanied by Major 
 Donovan, set out with a view to inspect a site for a new 
 camp. During their march the enemy attacked vigorously, 
 and several more of their stockades were turned and taken. 
 Some casualities occurred, including the severely wounding of 
 Donovan's hammock-boy, who was found after the skirmish 
 lying bleeding to death within five yards of a large stockade. 
 On seeing his boy down, Donovan at once gallantly ran to his 
 assistance under a perfect hail of bullets, but before he could 
 get him away he was himself shot down, and fell mortally 
 wounded with his body riddled with shot. This was the last 
 heroic deed of several which this gallant ofiicer liad performed 
 since his arrival on the scene of action. He had proved 
 himself a capable leader and one of tireless energy, as well 
 as a cheerful companion on the march and by the camp-fire. 
 His death, met in the performance of an act of conspicuous 
 braveiy, was sincerely mourned by all, and indeed, when it 
 was reported, cast a gloom over the whole of the British force.
 
 72 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 On this day Major Bourke attacked a strongly stockaded 
 town called Winti, which he took at a small loss on our 
 side, and on the 15th the flying column began to extend its 
 radius of action. From this time onward the most severe 
 fighting of the whole expedition took place, our force being 
 constantly and entirely engaged from early morning until late 
 at night. I cannot do better than quote here an extract 
 from the despatches of the Officer Commanding the forces 
 in the Kassi country to the Officer Commanding troops in 
 West Africa, and dated August 9, 1898. The document 
 in question runs : — 
 
 " From this date the fighting was continuous and the 
 opposition constant. Stockades there were everjnvhere, 
 twenty of these formidable structures being destroyed in 
 one day. The flying column commenced to march at 
 daj'break, and rarely bivouacked before 5 p.m. Half an 
 hour was allowed for breakfast whenever the attentions of 
 the enemy did not interfere, and a halt of 1^ hours was 
 made during the midday heat. These were the only halts. 
 The remainder of each day was occupied in marching and 
 fighting ; it was no uncommon thing to have four or five 
 stubborn fights during the day, whilst a day rarely passed 
 without two or three."
 
 1 : — -Tc r.-- ...T- ^'-f — -r: ^-- — T^ 
 
 
 
 
 '■*^.| 
 
 
 m^: 
 
 IX ACTIOX. 
 
 OX SEXTBY-GO, UP COVNTRY. 
 
 (P. 77.) 
 
 (P. 77.) 
 
 A Soldier of tlie SiiTni Leone iiiitlalion, W. A. I-" !■"., receiving; tlio Dist iiigiiislicd C'oiuluct 
 Medal for Ashanti, from Sir C. A, Kiiig-IlannMii, K.C.M.G., Governor of Sierra Leoiio. 
 
 face J).
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 OPERATIONS IN THE TIMINI COUNTRY 
 
 " To every man upon tJiia earth 
 Death cometh soon or late.'' 
 
 — Lays5 of Ancient Rome. 
 
 XpLEVEN or twelve hours continuous marching in the 
 -■--* enervating climate of the tropics, accompanied by poor 
 food and bad water, would at any time be arduous enough ; 
 but it is ten times worse when these initial hardships are 
 coupled with continuous fighting conducted in the manner of 
 this campaign. So long as the enemy stuck to their forests 
 and lay concealed behind stockades and hidden amongst 
 gigantic trees, it would take some considerable time before 
 they were subdued. Meanwhile they could with ease and 
 comparatively little risk to themselves continue to shoot 
 down our men and pick off our officers, whenever they 
 showed themselves. We, on the other hand, with our long 
 lines of transport, ammunition, hospital, hammocks, and 
 other encumbrances, were confined to very limited move- 
 ments, while manoeuvring, as that is understood in European 
 warfare, was absolutely out of the question. In the first 
 place, we were, to a great extent, bound to the extremely 
 narrow bush paths ; and, in the second, we could see nothing 
 save a few yards on either flank, and as a rule not more 
 than twenty in front when the path ran sufficiently sti-aight 
 to enable us to do so. The enemy, however, owing to the 
 
 73
 
 74 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 fact that they had bush-paths of their own rimning iu every 
 direction, which they knew to a nicety, could move about 
 rapidly and with perfect ease through the dense forest on 
 either side of us. The bush behind some of their stockades 
 was, indeed, a perfect network of paths and " runs," each 
 leading into the other, and every one having some objective, 
 either enabling one stockade to be gained fi-om the next, or 
 pointing a way of escape when hard pressed. 
 
 But why, it may be asked, could not our men follow the 
 enemy along his ot\ti paths, as had been done in West Africa 
 before and since? The reply is, that while this has been 
 successfully managed in several of om* operations here, it 
 seemed to be impossible in this case owing to the impene- 
 trable character of the bush not only bordering the main track, 
 but which extended for a considerable distance on either side. 
 Further, these paths were usually, from the cunning manner 
 in which they were laid, quite undistinguishable by a 
 European. Even trained scouts could make very little 
 progress here. It was as if, like Milton's devils, we could 
 " find no end in wandering mazes lost." On the few occasions 
 when we did attempt to follow we usually suffered severely 
 both in killed and wounded, and the enemy quite usually got 
 away scot fi'ee. The only way to subdue these people was 
 either to kill or capture their principal leaders, or destroy 
 their villages and crops and keep on attacking until they were 
 gradually driven to hiding in their more secluded haunts or 
 sick enough of the game to come in. 
 
 With regard to sending troops into the bush itself, I admit 
 that this was done, and successfully, in the last Ashanti 
 campaign. In the Timini country, and also in Mendi-land, 
 the plan was tried, but, as I have already said, unsuccessfully. 
 Stockades were invariably taken by a flanking movement, an 
 attack, that is to say, on three sides at once. But even then, 
 o-ftdng to the impenetrable nature of the bush, it took some 
 considerable time to cut round a stockade.
 
 OPERATIONS IN THE TIM INI COUNTRY 75 
 
 The number of rounds of ammunition that were expended 
 was prodigious for the result obtained. I can safely assert 
 that it frequently took from fifty up to something approaching 
 two hundred rounds for every man of the enemy accounted 
 for. Indeed, the only time that we did account for any 
 appreciable number of them was at the commencement of 
 hostilities, when they attacked in the open, or else in the 
 hand-to-hand fighting in the stockades. Bai Bureh, besides 
 having his men ambushed in every place where a British force 
 was able, or even likely, to go, was always extraordinarily 
 well-informed both as to om* numbers and movements. This, 
 I think, he accomplished by sending a few of his own men to 
 enlist with our column as carriers ; and several ex-native 
 soldiers and others who had been trained by our people 
 returned to him on the completion of their term of service, 
 and acted as his personal staff. 
 
 Here is an example of his watchfulness : — An officer having 
 been engaged with the enemy eventually drove them off". He 
 wished this to be known to a column following some distance 
 behind. With this object, he wTote on a piece of paper, 
 " Safe from here to Karene," ran a skewer through it, and 
 stuck it in the gi-ound in the middle of the road. As soon as 
 our force went on the paper was at once seized by a lurking 
 spy, who had taken in the whole proceeding, and carried to 
 Bai Bureh. 
 
 Here is another example of their excellent scouting. I 
 quote fi'om a narrative of an officer of the West India 
 Regiment : — " Our column was about to set out for a town 
 called Romeni, which had a few hours before been carefully 
 reconnoitred. This town is a nasty one to enter, as the 
 approach is hedged in by a very narrow passage, through 
 which not more than two men can pass at a time. Coming 
 within a few yards of the to\^ai, where all was silent and still, 
 a single rifle went off from somewhere close by in the bush, 
 the ball from which hit a soldier in the head. We returned
 
 76 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 the fire by pouring several volleys in the direction we thought 
 the shot had come from, and then advanced again. Having 
 again carefully examined the position, the enemy were 
 thought to have been either killed or driven off. Not so, 
 however. Two more steps, and another gun goes oflF ft-om the 
 bush, and a second man is hit and this time killed. Again 
 we fired all round the compass, again the position was 
 reconnoitred, and again we advanced, only to have a carrier's 
 skull splintered in pieces on the first step forward. This 
 created much consternation, and rather naturally so, amongst 
 the carriers, of whom many threw down their loads and ran in 
 all directions. As we could not advance without carriers, the 
 only thing to be done was to send back for more troops and 
 guard our baggage where it was. No sooner was this being 
 put into effect than we were attacked by hundreds of the 
 enemy who had been all this time lying close round us 
 concealed in the forest, and it was only by the aid of the 
 Royal Artillery and Maxim guns which came to our assistance 
 later that we ultimately forced this narrow passage and got 
 into Romeni at all." 
 
 In the Safroka country were several missionaries who, 
 since the outbreak of hostilities, had been detained by Bai 
 Farima, a local chief and a staunch ally of Bai 
 Bureh. Although these prisoners were, on the whole, fairly 
 well treated, they were nevertheless in daily fear for their 
 lives. The Rev. ]\Ir. Humphrey had been murdered only a 
 short time previously in a peculiarly brutal fashion, although, 
 it has since been understood, against the wish and orders of 
 Bai Bureh. He died like a hero, endeavouring to do good up 
 to the last : — 
 
 " His life was gentle and the elements 
 So mixed up in him that Nature might stand up 
 And say to all the world, ' This was a man.' " 
 
 Later, Mr. Cole, a trader well known in the Kassi country.
 
 OPERATIONS IN THE TIM INI COUNTRY 77 
 
 who saw Bai Bureh some time afterwards, told me that the 
 chief had expressed his regi-et that his men had killed Mr. 
 Humphrey, and had gone on to remark that he had caused 
 the four men who had committed the murder to be put to 
 death in exactly the same manner as they had killed their 
 victim. 
 
 There were comparatively few massacres in the Timini 
 rising, though, as is nearly always the case with West 
 Africans, their enemies were put to death, and in a great 
 many cases tortm-ed. I was informed, and this on good 
 authority, that Bai Bureh gave orders that all missionaries 
 residing up-country, when the hostilities commenced, were to 
 be allowed to go doMTi to Sierra Leone unmolested. Whether 
 this is correct or not I cannot say ; but I do know that this 
 chief, during the whole time he was fighting us, proved 
 himself both a soldier and a man. 
 
 In the Mendi country it was very different. The inhabi- 
 tants here are a much crueller race who constantly committed 
 the most atrocious crimes, to some of which it will become my 
 painful duty to refer later on in detail. Any attempt to rescue 
 the missionaries detained in Kassi-land would have meant 
 their instant massacre ; and, besides, the road to Rogberi, 
 where they were said to be imprisoned, was reported to be 
 heavily stockaded. 
 
 The column now marched to Kaob, the quarters of a chief 
 known to be more or less friendly to the whites. During a 
 palaver with him he was instructed to destroy the stockades 
 about his place. Although this was not actually done, a six- 
 foot road was, two days later, cut by him through the bush 
 and three missionaries, Messrs. Helmsley, Caldwell, and 
 Father Castle, as well as several native missionaries and 
 agents, were rescued and sent safely down to Freetown. 
 
 Henceforward our columns were pushed out in all directions, 
 and things seemed to go better with us. Colonel Marshall's 
 tactics were beginning to tell. Owing to the density of the
 
 78 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 forests it had been found that a command of ten men was all 
 that could be managed by one officer when actually engaged 
 with the enemy ; and when this was possible each column was 
 split up into sections of ten each. The Winti road which had 
 been blocked by the enemy was successfully oj)ened by 
 Captain Tyler, R.E., after several engagements, and on 
 arriving on the banks of the Little Skarcies and Mabole 
 Rivers, which were waded, the enemy were turned out of 
 a strong stockaded position on the further bank. 
 
 Colonel Marshall, in one of his despatches describing this 
 portion of the campaign, says : " The fighting in these 
 territories was, if anything, more severe than in the Kassi 
 country. At Rosuit the column was received by a hot fire 
 from several stockades in which the enemy maintained their 
 ground for some considerable time in spite of flank attacks. 
 They were, however, driven off with heavy loss and pursued 
 into the country, their chief, Fodi Mauri, being killed outside 
 the town." 
 
 Alimani Lahai, a general of Bai Bureh's army, was met by 
 our column at Ronietta, and gave us a fierce fight. Eventually 
 we found it necessary to shell and bm-n the town behind the 
 enemy's position, Avhich was done, but at the cost of several 
 casualties, including Captain J. E, Harden dangerously 
 wounded. The enemy in this action used "a large number 
 of rifles," the fire of which, however, was, luckily for us, not 
 very accurate, and, as is nearly always the case with these 
 people, for the most part high. A large amount of powder 
 was captured here, in addition to the war-drums of the chief. 
 After this our columns operated to the north-east of Kambia. 
 On passing again thi'ough Alimani Lahai's territory more 
 fighting, described oSicially as " strenuous opposition," took 
 place; and on our entering Sarcioy and Sumbogie "some 
 very serious fighting occurred in which we had several 
 casualties." 
 
 From Karene our force now marched to Magbantama, which
 
 OPERATIONS IN THE TIMINI COUNTRY 79 
 
 it reached without opposition shortly before the convoy arrived 
 from Romeni. Near the latter place the convoy had been 
 fiercely attacked, and, though the enemy were finally driven 
 ofi", our casualties included Lieutenant Ricketts of the West 
 India Regiment, shot dead. 
 
 Our object after this attack on our convoy (which, however, 
 proved the last) was to clear the enemy out of the stockades 
 and bush which sheltered them along the main pathway. 
 After much trouble and several hours of marching and fighting 
 this was accomplished, but as usual, owing to the immense 
 bush, with very few casualties on their side. 
 
 One of Bai Bureh's staunchest allies was a chief called Ba 
 Forki, who had already made his presence felt by blocking 
 the main road to Falaba, the headquarters of the Koina-Dugu 
 district. Having prevented all foot passengers passing either 
 up or down this road, the old chief went a step further and 
 seized all the caravans coming down, collaring as much 
 merchandise as he could lay hands on and imprisoning all 
 the traders. 
 
 It was absolutely necessary that this freebooter should be 
 punished, and consequently a flying column was sent against 
 him for this purpose. The goal was Rofenka, the capital of 
 his district. Here a sharp engagement took place, and several 
 casualties occurred on our side before the town was taken and 
 burnt. On our return a stubborn resistance was met with at 
 Ramakka, and more casualties were added to our lengthening 
 list. 
 
 Bai Bureh's power had by this time been considerably 
 weakened. The British Lion was, he found, a tougher beast 
 to tackle than he had bargained for, and although he had 
 fought well and bravely, and indeed splendidly, he was 
 beginning to find that, in spite of our losses and sickness, 
 he could not "exterminate us from his land," as he had 
 vowed he would do. On the other hand, we were no nearer 
 than we had been then to capturing the chief, although the
 
 8o OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 Government had in the interval increased the reward for his 
 apprehension to £100, which Bai Bureh on his side had 
 countered by an oJBfer of £500 to any one who would bring 
 him the head or person of His Excellency the Governor. 
 The Bai was certainly magnificently guarded and hidden by 
 his war-boys, and, what is more, was often present in person 
 to direct the operations in the more important engagements. 
 His boast was that " he would live to-day in the place which 
 he had destroyed yesterday." He was always, therefore, 
 pretty close to our columns, but in exactly the opposite 
 direction to that in which we were hunting for him. 
 
 We paid at this time a few days' visit to Bai Forki's 
 country, in order to punish him for his blockade of the Falaba 
 Road. Our force encountered strong opposition, as usual, 
 during this march, and several casualties occurred. The 
 enemy invariably set fire to their own towns when they had 
 to retreat, with the idea, I suppose, of checking our advance 
 and thereby giving them time to escape and hide or ambus- 
 cade themselves in the forest. After this the Falaba Road 
 was left open, and, though this chief's warriors no doubt 
 attacked us subsequently, they did not attempt a blockade 
 again at this part. 
 
 A report had come in that the people in the Massimeia 
 country in the Kevalu district had risen, therefore a specially 
 picked flying column was despatched to Mabile, the capital. 
 Strong opposition was met with dming the whole of this 
 march, but the enemy were disj)ersed and several other towns 
 were burnt. An efi"ort was now made by the ofiicer com- 
 manding the operations to call in some of the important chiefs 
 of Massimeia with the idea of arranging terms of peace. This 
 was accomplished after some delay, and two American mis- 
 sionaries, Dr. and Mrs. Ball, were also rescued from a place 
 called Kunso. "VMiat their state of mind must have been 
 during the time they were shut up in that place, I do not 
 know. It must have been a truly terrible one, full of anxiety
 
 OPERATIONS IN THE TIM INI COUNTRY 8i 
 
 and suffering, and with the dread of losing their lives in the 
 most horrible way hourly before them. 
 
 By this time the power of several of the more important 
 chiefs had been broken, while many had been killed or taken 
 prisoners. The latter had been sent down to Freetown. The 
 enemy, who had given so much trouble at Rokell, and destroyed 
 the trade there, had been scattered and the river reopened to 
 traffic. Bai Bureh was now, though still at large, a hunted 
 fugitive. Most of his towns had been burned, his crops 
 destroyed, and his power broken, and he himself was living 
 a hand-to-mouth existence in the bush. Besides, the whole 
 country was now in a ten'ibly flooded state from the heavy 
 rains which were in full swing. 
 
 A large garrison was left at Karene, which had been 
 provisioned for six months, and the remainder of the troops 
 returned to Freetown on the 10th of July. 
 
 Any one who has had the misfortune to find himself in a 
 West Afi-ican forest in the rainy season will sympathise with 
 our men, subject, as they were, not only to continual exposure, 
 night and day, to tropical downpours, but compelled to fight 
 as well as march in the rain, and as often as not to go huugi-y 
 to rest at the day's end. By the time the jaded columns left 
 the seat of war both officers and men were fairly worn out and 
 very badly in need of a rest. Throughout the long series of 
 fights the troops had behaved excellently. There was never 
 any shirking from duty, no matter how arduous, whilst often, 
 for days together, the men were wet to the skin and continually 
 opposed to an invisible enemy. The climate also was finding 
 out many officers and men. Lieutenant Corbett was taken 
 ill with fever one day, but continued marching with the 
 column. He struggled on until the evening with a tempera- 
 ture of over 103°. He was, however, at length compelled to 
 give in through sheer exhaustion, but had only been in hospital 
 a few hours when he was carried ofi", another victim to the 
 fever fiend. 
 
 7
 
 82 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 I cannot do better than give in this place another extract 
 from Colonel Marshall's despatch on the behaviour of the 
 troops during the fighting in the Kassi country. The despatch 
 says: " The behaviour of the troops throughout the operations 
 was admirable. Before the commencement of the movements 
 of the flying column the tornado season was already well 
 advanced ; the men were constantly soaked to the skin in the 
 marches, and, as they had no change of clothes, were obliged 
 to remain in their wet garments ; nearly every night the 
 bivouacs were deluged with rain ; it was comparatively seldom 
 that the troops were sufficiently fortmiate to sleep in towns, 
 for if the last town attacked during the day was not set on 
 fire by the shell fire of the attacking party, it was frequently 
 burnt by the enemy on being driven out, so as to leave no 
 shelter for our troops. These discomforts were not only 
 borne uncomplainingly by the men, but even cheerfully." 
 The despatch continues: "The conduct of the troops under 
 fire was excellent. Although they knew the enemy was 
 sheltered behind stockades which were proof against shell- 
 fire, and very nearly so against rifle fire (for occasionally a 
 bullet would find its way through the interstices or through 
 the bamboo loopholes of the boulders) they nevertheless 
 fearlessly faced the enemy's fire, sectional volleys being 
 delivered with a steadiness that would have been creditable 
 on parade." 
 
 Dming the earlier part of these operations scores of inci- 
 dents occurred which I should like to narrate, but which 
 would make my narrative too lengthy — acts of valour on the 
 part of both officers and men, as well as instances of devotion 
 to duty under dreadfully trying circumstances. The officer 
 commanding, in his despatch, speaks of the small number of 
 our casualties. This, I think, is open to question. When 
 the number of our troops, the nature of the country, and the 
 small amount of damage that we inflicted on the enemy are 
 all considered, I should say that our casualties were tolerably
 
 OPERATIONS IN THE TIM INI COUNTRY 83 
 
 heavy. In the Kassi country alone, during the attempt to 
 apprehend Bai Bureh, our wounded, sick, and missing at one 
 time totalled and even topped six hundred. On this subject 
 the despatch from which I have already quoted goes on to 
 say : " The small number of casualties, when compared with 
 the intensity of the enemy's fire, is accounted for by the 
 celerity with which the flying column came into action, and 
 so disconcerted the prearranged plans of the enemy. The 
 men of this column were sometimes changed, but the same 
 officers remained, and as section after section came up a word 
 or two from an officer was sufficient to ensure the right impulse 
 and direction being given to it." 
 
 The obstacles which gave our men the most trouble through- 
 out the operations were the stockades. Let me give a short 
 description of the way these formidable structures are built 
 and defended. And, imprimis, I may remark that in searching 
 for these stockades, it is well to look for them in the thickest 
 and most impenetrable part of the forest. Even then it is 
 almost impossible for Europeans to locate one of them. 
 Even the West India troops could not often do it, although 
 occasionally some clever native, whose powers of observation 
 must have been especially acute, was successful in spotting 
 one of them. Wherever they were fixed, there was absolutely 
 nothing, to our eyes, to betray the secret ; no earth down- 
 trodden in the road, no bushes trampled under foot, no loose 
 twigs or broken pieces of wood scattered conspicuously about. 
 Still, a stockade was sometimes located by a West African 
 bush-born native, whose method of working was to cautiously 
 creep or wriggle along, with bent back, and carefully examine 
 any place which, for reasons of his own, he would consider 
 likely to hide one. If he discovered an atom of a piece of 
 bark chipped off a tree, or a tiny twig, perhaps ten feet from 
 the ground, snapped or broken, or the faintest of faint imprints 
 of a naked foot on the side of the path — signs which you or I 
 would probably never discover, did we search for a month — he
 
 84 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 would predict that a stockade was lying hidden wdthin a few 
 yards, and he was generally right. Numbers of these 
 stockades, scattered about in every direction in the bush, were 
 only discovered by the enemy opening fire at point blank 
 range with the inevitable result of several men being hit, the 
 carriers demoralised, and the enemy encouraged. For our 
 return fire, which was at first directed at the stockade itself, 
 had no efi'ect whatever, and it was found after experience that 
 the only method of demolishing these strongly-built shelters 
 was to cut round them from each flank, while the enemy were 
 being engaged in the front. When it is considered that thirty- 
 seven stockades have been encountered dm-ing one not over 
 long march, each proof against the most modern rifle or a 
 7-pounder shell, it becomes easy to imagine the difficulty our 
 men often had when proceeding with hosts of carriers, hospital 
 hammocks, and the other encumbrances which accompany a 
 British column on the march from one place to another. 
 
 The stockade itself is built of boulders, stones, great logs of 
 wood and sometimes the soft spongy bark of the banana-tree, 
 with a trench four feet deep behind it. Given the above, with 
 a thick forest and a commanding situation, and you have all 
 the material for manufacturing one of the most formidable 
 obstacles that has been built in West Afidca, or elsewhere, by 
 savages to hinder the passage of troops. The logs of wood 
 used in the making of a stockade are about nine feet long, and 
 are driven about three feet into the ground with the remaining 
 six above. The diameter of these logs will be, roughly, fi-om 
 fourteen to sixteen inches, "When they are in position, and 
 have been firmly bound together, huge boulders are placed 
 against them, fonning a solid stone wall some three or four 
 feet thick. A skilfully-dug trench is cut behind the stockade 
 to afford protection to the firing party, whose aim is taken 
 through hollowed-out pieces of banana stalk or bamboo placed 
 in a row close to the ground. Usually stockades were situated 
 from six to twenty yards from the path and located in the vei-y 
 thickest part of the forest.
 
 OPERATIONS IN THE TIM INI COUNTRY 85 
 
 Colonel Marshall gives a very good description of these 
 stockades in his despatch. He says: "It is absolutely 
 impossible for European eyes to discern them by any outward 
 sign ; occasionally an exceptionally quick-sighted native will 
 discover the locality of a stockade by some indication, such as 
 a dead twig or some drooping leaves overhead. The places 
 mostly chosen are the crossings of fords and rivers, thick 
 gullies, a sharp turn in the road, the top or bottom of a hill, 
 so long as it commands the path, and the densest bush in the 
 vicinity of their towns. They are often built in groups, 
 giving mutual support. The shells of the 7 -pounder break to 
 pieces on coming in contact with these boulders. A sheltered 
 line of retreat down some small slope leading to a pathway 
 cut in rear enables the defenders to retreat in comparative 
 safety. Owing to the density of the bush it is impossible to 
 rush them." 
 
 The return of a large number of the troops to Freeto^vn in 
 July did not mean that the operations against Bai Bureh were 
 ended, but, as I said before, the chiefs power was very much 
 shaken. Many of his followers were scattered, their towns 
 destroyed, and their women and children forced to flee to 
 other lands, some into French territory and others into Mendi- 
 land ; while yet others found their way to the Manoh River 
 and crossed into Liberia. It may be asked, how was it that 
 an uneducated native, such as this chief appeared to be, was 
 able to keep his force so well supplied with arms and ammuni- 
 tion, to find provisions in a country devastated by the British 
 columns, and to be in possession of the money which he was 
 known to have paid to many of his allies for their assistance ? 
 Well, with regard to the guns and rifles with which his men 
 were armed, these were either obtained from the traders in the 
 Colony and Protectorate, stolen, or taken from such of our 
 men as were killed during the operations ; a part of the rifle 
 ammunition was likewise stolen or captured during the 
 lighting. But a great proportion of the brcechloadiug
 
 86 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 weapons, as well as powder, were undoubtedly purchased in 
 French territoiy. Bai Bureh must have been quite well off 
 also as regards gold. Apart from the fact that several 
 Government messengers from Falaba were seized and 
 plundered by his war-boys, he had himself acquired con- 
 siderable private means in one shape and another, and a sum 
 of at least a hundi-ed pounds was taken from poor Humphrey 
 when he was murdered at Rogbati. The Timinis may have 
 been hard up for food. Most likely they were ; nevertheless, 
 there is no doubt that at first they had large reserves of rice 
 and cassava stored away in the depths of the bush. They 
 were fortunate, likewise, in obtaining a large quantity of our 
 own stores, chiefly owing to the carriers throwing down their 
 loads and bolting when under fire. 
 
 Anyhow, wherever these provisions, rifles, and ammunition 
 did come fr-om, the fact remains that the chief seemed always 
 to have a goodly supply on hand, sufficient, at any rate, to see 
 him through a large portion of the fighting.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBIA 
 
 ^^'Tis not the least disparagement 
 To be defeated by tW event; 
 Nor to be beaten by main force ; 
 That does not make a man the -worse. 
 But to turn tail and run aiuay 
 And ivithout blows give uj} the day, 
 Or to surrender to tW assault — 
 That's no man's fortune, but his fault." 
 
 TT is a big jump from the Eokelle to the Kittam River. 
 -■- The Rokellc — in the neighbourhood of which we have just 
 been fighting — is, indeed, no more like the Kittam than the 
 Nile is like the Ganges. But it is necessary to make this 
 leap in order to get once more into Meudiland ; for in that 
 country and from Bandajuma it was that I now began to make 
 preparations, after a brief rest, to set out again on tour for the 
 purpose of " whipping up " certain chiefs and their people in 
 the matter of the House Tax. 
 
 My route lay in the vicinity of the Boom District, and I 
 started off from Headquarters with only a few personal stores, 
 a hammock, camp bed, some blankets and mosquito curtain, 
 and the necessary cooking utensils. Accompanying me were 
 an interpreter, one corporal, two lance-corporals, twenty-three 
 privates, and my own soldier orderly. Each non-commis- 
 sioned officer and man had fifty rounds of "303 ammunition. 
 
 87
 
 88 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 I had 94 rounds of '303 ammuiiition for my own carbine, and 
 150 rounds of revolver ammunition, which was strapped round 
 the waist of my boy, Fodi, who tramped behind me. 
 
 It would be wearisome were I to go into a detailed account 
 of this journey, or yet attempt a description of all the chiefs 
 I visited and the towns I passed through. It will, however, 
 be necessary to give, in outline, the results of my visits to 
 some of the larger towns along the route. 
 
 Before daylight a number of carriers were collected outside 
 the bungalow. A packed bath and other travelling necessaries 
 were lying outside ready for the journey. At six o'clock, the 
 men who were to form the escort fell in with the carriers in 
 line, and ten minutes after that, just as grey daylight was 
 creeping across the sky, we swung out in line Howa. the 
 slope of the hillocks across the Wanje river over to the 
 bush towards Jouma. At Pujuhun we halted after an 
 eighteen-miles march, and I had an interview with the chief, 
 Momo-jah. This chief had recently been an'ested for non- 
 payment of the Tax, but, having paid something " on 
 account," had been released by the Acting Commissioner. 
 Momo-jah was an interesting person to talk to. He knew 
 the country and the people as well as any man, and was con- 
 sidered a great warrior and authority on warlike matters by 
 the other tribes. He had certainly witnessed much bloodshed 
 and had taken a prominent part both in the local wars 
 against the Timinis and in slave-raiding expeditions into their 
 country. Many and hideous were the stories told of the 
 harsh treatment that he meted out to his luckless prisoners. 
 One story he himself told me — of how he went to make war 
 upon another chief in the Bandi country in order to punish 
 him for stealing slaves ; how 5,000 of his war-boys tracked 
 the tribe down to their own country ; and how they lay like 
 snakes for many hours under the banks of the river which ran 
 close by that town, waiting until the unsuspecting tribesmen 
 showed themselves. His eyes glistened as he went on to
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBIA 89 
 
 describe how the enemy fell into the ambush, and how his 
 warriors rose upon them, and hacked, and hewed, until at the 
 end of two hours' slaughter there was not one left. To use 
 his own words, '' The very slaves themselves were chopped ! " 
 Momo-jah had certainly seen life — savage African life, that 
 is — and was full of stories that would have filled a boy's book 
 of adventures over and over again. 
 
 On being asked the cause of the war and why his people 
 massacred British subjects, Momo-jah, who could never for- 
 give us for our opposition to the slave trade, replied, "You 
 know when I want to fill my belly I get a big bowl and fill it 
 with rice. But that is not enough. Before I eat I put a 
 little pepper, or soup, or green-stuff on the rice. That does 
 not fill my belly; it is the rice that fills it." 
 
 After leaving the Kittam and Krim countries I crossed to 
 the Jong District, making my headquarters at Kambia on the 
 Small Boom River. 
 
 As I have already stated, my object in coming on this tour 
 was to facilitate the collection of the House Tax. This was, 
 in fact, one of the most dangerous parts of the country, the 
 majority of the inhabitants being half Mendi, and half 
 Sherbro, a combination of all the vices with none of the 
 virtues of either tribe. 
 
 I had already been in the place for some eight days, and 
 used to start off daily to visit such of the local chiefs as 
 lived within a day's march of my temporary residence. 
 Upon these occasions I was never accomj)anied by more 
 than three persons — usually by my boy, Fodi, and two 
 soldiers. Sometimes I used to start out with Fodi alone. 
 
 Fodi was a most amusing as well as a faithful seiTant ; 
 a pure-bred Timini, whose English it took me , some little 
 time to understand. Indeed, to the last, whenever he got 
 excited, he became perfectly unintelligible. Here is a 
 characteristic example of his style of conversation : — 
 
 ** Massa ! dat Mendi cook nar come out Sa-Lon nar ticf
 
 go OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 man bad. Massa, ye own under- vest I find um all about, but 
 'e no lib. I de take um, I de hang um close nar kitchen, 
 ask de cook which side 'e de and de cook say 'e no see 'em at 
 all. Massa, I look so tay I tire. Dat man de ! ah ! 'e fit for 
 hell for trae. I no sabbe which side 'e come out. I no de 
 like um at ally 
 
 (Anglice — " These Mendi people are bad. The big black 
 cook who came from Sien-a Leone is a big thief. Master, I 
 looked for your under-vest everywhere, but it was not there. 
 I asked the cook where it was, and he said he had not seen it. 
 Master, I looked for a long time until I was tired. That man 
 ought to go to Dante's Inferno. I don't know where he came 
 from, I don't like him a bit.") 
 
 I had been having some trouble with a Jong chief named 
 Katah, who lived in a town called Old Luawah. This man 
 was of immense stature, was a pure-bred Mendi, and was 
 literally covered with scars gained in former battles. 
 
 He thought of nothing else but making war, catching 
 slaves, and plundering. Another Jong chief named Koung, 
 a relative of Katah's, who lived at a town called New 
 Luawah, was just such another man. During my stay at 
 Kambia several of the local chiefs had been in to see me, 
 many of them bringing something on account of the Tax. 
 Among these was Chief Berri of Bongeh, whom on account of 
 suspicious conduct I detained. I had sent several messages 
 to Katah, either to come and see me, or send his Lavari 
 (speaker) with something on account of the Tax ; but this he 
 refused to do. Eumoui's now began to reach me that a 
 tribe called the Boompe, one of the most warlike in the 
 country, had refused point-blank to pay the Tax, and were 
 going to fight, and that Chief Katah had started for the 
 Boompe country in order to join them. These rumours were 
 discredited and laughed at by all the Siei-ra Leone traders in 
 the place, who had resided among the people for years, and I, 
 who knew vei-y little about the counti-y or the people at that 
 time, was persuaded into believing them.
 
 KAHKWELL It* AN ULU umiiADE. 
 
 (P. 86. 
 
 CHIEF KOUNG. 
 
 CHIKF KATAH OF LUAWAH. 
 
 To face p. W.
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBIA 91 
 
 Ou the evening of the 23rd of April, a report reached me 
 that Chief Katah had actually started for the Boompe country, 
 whither he had gone to get help to make war against the 
 Government. Upon this report, I despatched, the following 
 day at 6 a.m., a lance-corporal, named Macavilay, and three 
 men to effect the arrest of Katah and bring him before me. 
 Two days previously, a sergeant and three men had arrived 
 at Kambia, having been on escort duty conveying specie to 
 Sherbro. I detained them, and they remained with me at 
 Kambia throughout the subsequent fighting. 
 
 On the night of the 24th, another report reached me that 
 the corporal and the men had been detained by the natives 
 at a place called Senahu, and that one of the latter had been 
 killed. On the following night the detachment retm'ned, and 
 reported to me that at Senahu the natives had refused to sell 
 them food, that a crowd had come round them in a threaten- 
 ing manner, and that, in order to get through, they had fired 
 their rifles into the air to scare the people. Also, one of the 
 men was missing ; had got behind and could not be found 
 when they were leaving the town. Another man had rushed 
 at the corporal and endeavoured to seize him. The latter, 
 in self-defence, was forced to strike the fellow with his rifle, 
 and felled him to the ground. I wish this to be quite clearly 
 understood. I went very carefully into the matter later 
 and the facts are exactly as I have stated them. In the 
 evidence given before the Koyal Commission in 1898 upon 
 the rising and its immediate causes, some doubt was expressed 
 as to whether or not the corporal and his men were to blame 
 for this aftray. I maintain that they were most decidedly not 
 to blame. 
 
 On the 26th of April I set out, accompanied by a lance- 
 corporal and armed only witli a revolver, to visit the large 
 town of Bramah, a distance of some nine miles from Kambia. 
 On arriving I found the place, which was usually full of 
 people, practically deserted. I saw only four men in it, who
 
 92 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 were sullenly walking about. They took no notice whatever 
 of me. I returned to Kambia the same evening. The bush 
 on either side of the path was immensely thick the whole 
 distance, and both at Bramah, and during my return journey, 
 I had an instinctive feeling that something was wrong. It 
 undoubtedly was, though I had no idea at the time that the 
 dense bush on either side of me, both coming and going, that 
 day, was full of hundreds of lurking blacks, who were only 
 waiting for a favourable opportunity to capture, torture, and 
 finally cut the throats of the whole lot of us. 
 
 All ready were they, but the time was still not quite ripe 
 for slaughter. The last stone had nut yet been thrown 
 aicay. 
 
 On the day following, that is the 27th, I was taking ehota 
 hazri — early morning tea — at 6 a.m., when I heard a 
 deafening row of horns blowng and drums beating, mingled 
 with shouts and dreadful shrieks. At first I took little notice, 
 imagining that a native dance was proceeding, or that some 
 chief or other "big man," as they say in this country, had 
 arrived. 
 
 Five minutes later my boy Fodi came rushing into the 
 room in a frantic state of excitement, exclaiming — 
 
 " Massa ! Massa ! De war done come ! De war done 
 come! De Boompe done come!" 
 
 On hurrying to the door I saw Mr. James, a Sierra Leone 
 merchant, and a man of education and considerable attain- 
 ments, who was living in Kambia at this time, staggering 
 across the yard, cut and mutilated in a shocking manner, and 
 literally dripping with blood. In his arms he held his little 
 son, a child of about five years old. The boy had a fearful 
 gash, at least six inches long, across his head, and was quite 
 dead. 
 
 I was so utterly taken aback by this dreadful sight that for 
 the moment I turned deadly sick. Then, realising that some- 
 thing awfiil must be taking place outside, I picked up my
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBIA 93 
 
 revolver and rushed out into the road. There, I met my 
 men, just roused from sleej), flying helter-skelter into the 
 enclosure from the town ; some half-dressed, with neither 
 coats nor hats on, but all carrying their rifles, with belts, 
 pouches, and ammunition. 
 
 Meanwhile the noise, what with the shrieking and shouting, 
 the blowing of horns, firing of guns, and beating of drums, 
 was simply deafening. I could see large bodies of naked men 
 dancing and howling, and waving guns and swords over their 
 heads. The sergeant now rushed up and told me that the 
 Boompe people had come down in great numbers, that the 
 Jong people had joined them, and that they intended to kill 
 us all. Already several Sierra Leoneans, men, women, and 
 children, who had not been able to get inside our enclosure, 
 had been butchered, or were then being murdered in the town, 
 not fifty yards away from us. 
 
 The men had fallen in, and I posted them as quickly as 
 possible in positions commanding the road approaches to the 
 yard, and from which they could best defend the place. All 
 this had not occupied more than a few minutes, though it 
 takes longer to tell, when my men opened fire on a party of 
 the enemy who were endeavouring to pull down the fence at 
 the furthest corner of our enclosure, some fifteen yards dis- 
 tant. At first the shooting on both sides was shockingly 
 bad, the bullets all going high. I now got my first shot at a 
 human being, a big, naked fellow armed with a huge sword ; 
 but, owing no doubt to over-excitement, I missed him, much 
 to my disgust, and he was brought down by a man standing 
 next to me. The next instant this Frontier also was droj)ped 
 by a shot full in the face, causing a terrible wound, while the 
 bullet in passing smashed the second button of my jumper and 
 cut through my leather whistle-strap. 
 
 We were now hotly attacked on three sides at once, the 
 enemy's endeavours being directed, with some success, to 
 pulling down the wooden fence which surrounded the house
 
 94 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 and yard. They lost heavily, however, whenever they showed 
 themselves in the open, and after an engagement lasting 
 three quarters of an hour were driven back, taking their dead 
 and wounded with them. But they remained in the bush 
 firing at us for quite an hour longer, until a bayonet charge 
 finally cleared them out. 
 
 It was necessary now that something should be done for 
 the women and children who had managed to escape from the 
 hands of the infm-iated tribesmen to gain protection in our 
 enclosm'e. Certainly their presence placed an additional 
 and heavy responsibility upon my shoulders. Anxiously I 
 returned to the house, only to find Mr. James lying in a great 
 pool of his own blood, while the dead body of his little son 
 lay on the sofa beside him. Nearly every one seemed 
 paralysed into doing nothing, but with the help of my boy 
 Fodi, I tied up his hurts as best I could and succeeded in 
 staunching the flow of blood. After that I put the women 
 and children into some canoes which luckily happened to be 
 on the premises, and sent them down to Sherbro in charge of 
 one of my men. I subsequently learnt that they reached that 
 place in safety. 
 
 Meanwhile I sat down and wrote a despatch to the 
 Governor, informing him of the state of afi"airs, and asking 
 for immediate reinforcements. This I directed to the Com- 
 missioner at Sherbro, to be forwarded to Sierra Leone with a 
 covering letter explaining the gravity of our situation, and 
 asking for any assistance he could spare, but especially for 
 ammunition. I sent these letters do'mi by canoe in charge of 
 a Court Messenger, and with him went Mr. James and the 
 wounded Frontier. Mr. James's little son was buried by the 
 river-bank before his father left.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBIA (continued) 
 
 T710RESEEING the extreme likelihood of another attempt 
 -■- on the part of the enemy to capture us, I set to work at 
 once to strengthen our position. This I was able to accom- 
 plish by means of a number of empty rice bags, casks, and 
 barrels which wc found in the store and which, when filled 
 with earth and stones, made a fairly effective breastwork. 
 We also built a rough soi*t of stockade and, in fact, filled up 
 every gap possible. The men worked well and cheerfully, 
 laughing and joking as they discussed together the events of 
 the morning. 
 
 My total strength at first was one sergeant, one lance- 
 corporal, and twenty-five privates, every one of whom had 
 fifty rounds of ammunition. There were in addition my boy 
 Fodi, the erring cook, and four hammock-boys, all of whom 
 were Timinis. My six carriers had absconded at the begin- 
 ning of the fight, and had in all probability joined the enemy. 
 In the yard there were also five natives, belonging to the 
 owner, who could speak English and who joined us. My per- 
 sonal battery consisted of a service revolver with 150 rounds of 
 ammunition, and I had in addition the rifle belonging to the 
 wounded Frontier with all the ammunition that was left him, 
 and my own carbine with ninety rounds of '303 ball. In the 
 house were also found a Ma]'tini-Henri rifle and from 200 to 
 300 rounds of ammunition. The sheds and ware-rooms of 
 
 95
 
 96 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 the factory were stored with bangar,* but unfortunately there 
 was no rice to be found in the whole place and in the shop 
 itself was nothing edible. My men had barely enough food 
 for one day and my stores were running short, as I had 
 intended sending in to Sherbro and replenishing them a few 
 days before the outbreak. The quantity of produce stored 
 here was considerable, however, as the owner had been 
 authorised by the Government to receive tax-payment from 
 the local chiefs in kind or cash. I was informed afterwards 
 by him that there was a good sum of tax-money also in the 
 place when he escaped. But this, although I searched every- 
 where, I was unable to discover. 
 
 Meanwhile, a Mr. Robinson, a Sierra Leone trader residing 
 at a place called Suntook, on the Small Boom Ptiver, and 
 within half a mile of Kambia factory, on hearing the sound 
 of guns, managed to make his way to us through the bush, 
 and was able to give me valuable information as to the 
 movements of the enemy. To this gentleman I gave the 
 Martini rifle and a hundi'ed rounds, and he rendered me 
 great assistance in the events that followed. Mr. Robinson 
 was an old hand, and had been attached to more than one 
 expedition previously ; he was also a fair shot. 
 
 Nothing further occurred that day, although we were of 
 com'se fully prepared, and on the alert ; but at 3.30 a.m. the 
 following morning, in the inky darkness, another attack of a 
 more serious nature took place. Our attention was first called 
 by one of the sentries who declared he had heard a faint noise 
 in the bush in front of him. The hearing of these men is 
 exceedingly sharp, and I and the Sergeant standing by the 
 sentry endeavoured for some time, in vain, to ascertain the 
 cause. But we could make out nothing. Now the Mendis 
 are at their best when making war, or rather, going to murder, 
 in the night. The usual time for their attack is between 1 
 and 4 a.m., when they say that man sleeps soundest. 
 * The local name for palm kernels.
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBIA 97 
 
 Owing to these tactics they have been most successful in 
 attacks on other tribes, and they are head and shoulders 
 above any other race I know of in the wonderfully silent way 
 in which they are able to move through the thickest forest in 
 the pitch dark. They are, in fact, like cats in their stealth 
 and cunning, and at such times it behoves one to be as wide 
 awake as possible in order to avoid a knife being jabbed into 
 one's body from some lurking foe. Their object in attacking 
 at night is to creep up and get inside the town, and, if possible, 
 into the very houses. Then, at a given signal, when all is 
 ready, each man having previously selected his victim, they 
 give one awful yell and commence their work of butchery. 
 
 The sentry who had first heard the noise, and who had 
 remained fixed and rigid, never removing his eyes fi-om the 
 spot whence he said it came, now asked permission to fire, 
 which was gi-anted. There was a spurt of flame from his 
 rifle-muzzle, accompanied by a report which sounded doubly 
 loud in the stillness of the night. 
 
 The shot was immediately returned from a distance of, at 
 most, ten yards, and the next instant there arose a weird and 
 blood-curdling yell from the bush all round us. That sentry's 
 ears had not deceived him. He had noted the faint rustle of 
 some leaf or the crackle of a twig as the Mendis came on 
 stealthily as leopards — creeping, creeping, slowly into our 
 midst. We were, as before, attacked on three sides 
 simultaneously, and in their first onslaught the enemy 
 succeeded in further smashing in the fence and in getting 
 into our enclosure, where they made a determined effort to 
 set fire to the roof of one of the outhouses. Every one who 
 took part in this enterprise was shot down, and, although we 
 could scarcely see at what to aim, the enemy were forced to 
 recoil before the withering fire poured in. That gi-eat numbers 
 of them were present there is not the slightest doubt ; and if 
 they had for one moment pulled themselves together and 
 " rushed " us, the end would have been very speedy. This, 
 
 8
 
 9S OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 however, tliey were too great curs to do, and the more they 
 reviled and cursed us, and shouted that they were coming to 
 cut our throats and burn us alive, the more my men jeered at 
 them, and challenged them to come and do it. 
 
 At 4.45 they had had enough and cleared off, but kept up a 
 desultory fire — which, however, did us no harm — for quite an 
 hour longer. What their losses were I cannot say, probably 
 exceedingly small, as in the darkness and excitement there 
 must have been very few hit ; and, with the exception of 
 those who succeeded in getting into our enclosm-e, we saw no 
 dead bodies at all. Our casualties were, two men slightly 
 wounded, and two labourers wounded, one severely. 
 
 We were not troubled further by the enemy that day, 
 although we knew they were all about us in the bush, watching 
 our every movement. 
 
 It had by this time become abundantl}' clear that Chief 
 Berri, whom I had detained as a prisoner, was playing us 
 false. During the late attack he had been continually calling 
 out in a loud voice, in Mendi, that we did not know what to 
 do and that our ammunition would soon be finished. This 
 was, of course, for the benefit of the enemy, and they 
 undoubtedly heard and profited by it. While he was thus 
 occupied, he was pounced upon by three stalwart Frontiers, 
 who in a moment had him gagged and secured and brought 
 before me, when I ordered him to be locked up in one of the 
 rooms in the factory, and thus put an end to the old 
 gentleman's pleasant little game. 
 
 I now began to feel seriously alarmed about our scarcity of 
 ammunition. A good deal had already been expended by the 
 men, who were exceedingly excitable and often fired at objects 
 they had not the slightest chance of hitting. I had already 
 impressed upon them all the importance of husbanding every 
 round, and told them that unless they did so, we should 
 inevitably fall into the hands of the enemy, and they all knew 
 what that meant. Nevertheless a great deal had, as I have
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBIA 99 
 
 said, been recklessly expended, and that morning I took 
 several rounds from each man to keep as a reserve. Some 
 of the men now had actually only three or four cartridges left 
 them. I was also not a little uneasy at receiving no message 
 from the Commissioner at Sherbro, and every hour we were 
 looking for a boat bringing help and ammunition ; but none 
 came. 
 
 At 11 a.m. that morning I called for two volunteers who, 
 disguised and stripped, were to endeavom* to get letters 
 through to Bandajuma, the headquarters, a three days' march 
 direct, or, as they would go, a journey of some five days. 
 Two men volunteered, and by their hands I sent an urgent 
 despatch to the officer in charge of the force there asking for 
 immediate assistance. 
 
 He never received my letter. The men were captured by 
 the Mendi, who murdered them with their usual savage 
 cruelty. 
 
 We were now getting very short of food. The men had 
 eaten all their rice, and I had to draw on my fast vanishing 
 stock of stores to feed them. There was not a fowl or a 
 sheep in the place, eveiything had been taken away and 
 plundered. 
 
 Nevertheless I resolved to remain, and my object in doing 
 so was fourfold : First, the property was a valuable one, and 
 the place contained tax payments of considerable value ; 
 secondly, in the event of Bandajuma needing assistance, if 
 attacked later, Kambia would, from its situation, make an excel- 
 lent advanced base, or " half-way house," for troops on their 
 way to the interior ; whilst the place was in direct com- 
 munication with Sherbro, and consequently with Freetown by 
 water. Thirdly, I had asked for reinforcements from Free- 
 town, Sherbro, and l^andajuma, and was hourly expecting the 
 arrival of help from one or other of these places. And, lastly, 
 I was at the moment unaware that this was but the com- 
 mencement of a general rising throughout the country, and
 
 loo OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 believed it to be the affair of a local tribe merely. I considered 
 that to yield now, and leave this property in the enemy's 
 hands, would have had the worst possible moral effect, 
 discounting, as it would have done, the prestige of our arms 
 in a country but newly ranged under the British flag. 
 
 At 11.30 a.m. on this day — the third since the commence- 
 ment of the outbreak — we were again attacked by a much 
 larger force of the enemy, who displayed their usual tactics. 
 Dm'ing this attack the noise was simply awful. Several deeds 
 of bravery were performed by individuals of my force on this 
 occasion. Lance-Corporal Macaulay, a man who, since the 
 commencement of the attacks, had distinguished himself 
 frequently by his dash and courage, engaged three Mendis at 
 once at close quarters when entering a narrow passage which 
 they were endeavouring to force. He shot one of them, 
 bayoneted the second, while the third man ran away and 
 thus probably saved his bacon. 
 
 Another Frontier, Private Kanu, had shot two of the 
 enemy at close quarters, and being unable to reload in time 
 and not having his bayonet fixed, seized a sword which had 
 been dropped by one of them and with it killed a third man 
 who was at the moment rushing at him with a spear. I have 
 that sword and spear in my possession now. In fact, all the 
 men behaved splendidly, and Sergeant Williams especially, 
 by his coolness and judgment, proved invaluable to me at 
 this time. 
 
 The enemy now tried new tactics and attempted to burn us 
 out. Already the new town was in flames, but it was, of 
 course, too far off to affect us. We could see the enemy — 
 most of them stark naked, many of them drunk — darting 
 about, with firebrands in their hands, among the bm-ning 
 houses. A bayonet charge, however, into their midst 
 effectually cleared them out of the town for the time 
 being. 
 
 Meanwhile the other town — called by way of distinction
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBIA loi 
 
 the " old town" — had been set on fire, although I had done 
 all that was possible to prevent it. This was serious, as it 
 was built quite close up to the factory outhouses, and there 
 was immediate danger of their catching fire. It all depended 
 upon the direction of the wind. There was very little then ; 
 sometimes a puff would blow the roaring flames one way and 
 sometimes another, but never near enough to do us any 
 damage. However, it was very necessary to unthatch them, 
 so I sent two of our labourers on to the roof of the sheds 
 for this purpose, while my boy Fodi climbed on another and 
 began rapidly tearing off the dry covering of split bamboo. 
 This, of course, drew the enemy's fire at once. I had barely 
 turned round to shout to the two other men to make haste 
 \vith their work and come down, when I saw Fodi slide limply 
 from his perch on the roof of the third store and tumble flat 
 upon his face in the courtyard below — dead, with a Mendi 
 bullet through his heart. 
 
 The death of my faithful servant in the discharge of his 
 duty was a bitter blow to me. I felt furious against the 
 enemy and resolved that, come what might, we would pay 
 them back with heavy interest. And if it came to a last 
 stand with our bayonets, at least our names should be 
 remembered by the savage foes who took our lives. 
 
 I was now feeling really unwell, with a high temperature, 
 and had had little to eat since early the previous morning. My 
 cook, who was boiling the last of the rice for the men, had 
 just been driven from the kitchen (which was a little round 
 hut in the yard) by the shots of the enemy, and came to me 
 and said dolefully : — 
 
 " Massa, dem ball done scatter all de fire ! " 
 
 It had now become necessary to use extreme caution in 
 crossing the factory, as some five or six of the enemy hidden 
 in the bush near by had been steadily sniping us for some 
 time past. 
 
 After another futile attempt on this day to capture our
 
 102 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 position they again retired, shouting to us as they did so 
 that they had gone to get more men and that by to-morrow 
 we should all be burning alive. Some of them did return at 
 about 2 p.m., but only skirmished in a very half-hearted 
 manner, making no direct attack, but continuing to fire at us 
 from the bush. This sniping resulted in one of the labourers 
 being severely wounded in the leg. 
 
 There was no sleep, of course, for any of us during this long 
 night, the third since we had been besieged. We were by 
 now suffering much inconvenience from the stench of the 
 bodies which lay about the place and in the paths, and which 
 the enemy had not been able to drag away with them. The 
 whole scene is still as clear as possible in my memory. The 
 night was pitch dark, and there was a heaviness in the air 
 which presaged the coming of a storm. Occasionally a puff 
 of wind would sough eerily through the trees, and on the 
 breeze would come the dismal hoot of a far off owl, or the 
 crackling cry of a nightjar — often no doubt a wingless bird. 
 Otherwise there was nothing to break the death-like silence 
 of our forest-^\Tapped enclosm'e, on which "the pale beauty 
 of a thousand stars looked down from heaven's high battle- 
 ments." 
 
 My men were as alert as, after three successive sleepless 
 nights, was to be expected, and I could now and then make 
 out a faint rigid outline as one of them endeavoured, with 
 straining eyes and carbine ready in hand, to penetrate the 
 black curtain of the night. My own nerves were in a ten-ibly 
 "jumpy" state; and whilst creeping about from post to post 
 dm-ing that long and never-to-be-forgotten time of suspense, 
 I would fancy that I heard all sorts of weii'd, unearthly 
 sounds ; the rustle of a leaf, or the creak of a branch would 
 make me start and send my hand to my revolver, in the 
 instant expectation of seeing some lurking savage spring up 
 before me from the darkness. 
 
 At length the long, weary night began to wane. The sky
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBIA 103 
 
 paled slowly, and with the light there came a dank and 
 writhing mist which hung over the trees and the black water 
 like a smoky cloud, showing each leaf and bending grass- 
 blade tipped with a tiny point of dew, that gleamed and 
 glittered fitfully, like diamonds shining dimly through a 
 marriage veil. The day paced slowly forward, and very cold 
 and cheerless under its pale influence looked the world of 
 tangled undergrowth around us, until the sun had struggled 
 up above the eastern horizon to recommence his daily trip 
 across the sky. A little bird, more early astir than any of 
 his kind, would now and then chirj) out as if to rouse his 
 lagging fellows from their rest ; and as the infant light was 
 born, a cock, as British, by his voice at least, as one could 
 wish to hear, gave out his old familiar crow that, sounding 
 faintly in the distance far away, waked in one's mind old 
 memories, long sleeping, of the fair green fields of England, 
 and of pleasant days gone by. After our all-night vigil my 
 men and I, wet through and through as we were, must have 
 presented a particularly draggled and disreputable spectacle, 
 as we looked into each other's faces in that dim day- 
 dawn. 
 
 At 6.30 a.m. the enemy again opened fire upon us and 
 attempted to rush the weakest side of om- enclosure, but 
 unsuccessfully, and after about an hour's fighting, part of 
 which consisted in their sniping at us from the bush, they 
 were finally driven ofi". 
 
 We had received no news of the boat with the help that I 
 was expecting from Sherbro and Bandajuma. As a matter of 
 fact, the Commissioner had written to me saying that he had 
 not a rifle or a round to spare. The whole country was, he 
 wrote, up in arms, and Sherbro itself was threatened with 
 attack ; if that occurred, a massacre would probably ensue, as 
 there were practically no arms to defend the place with. 
 But the messengers were unable to get through with his 
 letter, and had to retm-n to Bonthe, so I never received it.
 
 104 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 Now, on the opposite side of the river, which was open 
 grass land for almost 400 yards back, I could espy black 
 figures continuously passing and repassing, some with sticks 
 and faggots on their heads, others with what appeared at 
 that distance to be spears, swords, and guns. And here I 
 may remark that the native, at the beginning of the rising, 
 displayed a supreme contempt for the Martini carbine with 
 which the Frontier men were armed. This was a "303 Army 
 Martiui-Metford carbine, a most excellent and reliable little 
 weapon for use in the African bush. But they used to say 
 that a gun with so short a barrel, and one which fired so 
 small a bullet, could not do much harm to them or to any 
 one else, their own weapons being old muzzle-loaders with a 
 huge gas-pipe barrel, about six feet long, which they used to 
 half fill with slugs and often, owing to the recoil, fire fi-om the 
 hip. 
 
 On seeing these people continually passing to and fro, I 
 sent a chance shot in amongst them, much to their surprise 
 and consternation. They immediately ran in all directions 
 and were not seen again. 
 
 The situation for all of us had by now become most 
 desperate. This was the fourth day and no assistance was 
 forthcoming, whilst ammunition was also getting very scarce. 
 Some of the men, in fact, had no rounds left, while others 
 possessed, some eight, some ten, or, at the most, perhaps 
 twenty cartridges. There was no doubt that the enemy had 
 obtained large reinforcements. Each time they were driven 
 off they sent for assistance, and as a matter of fact we had 
 all the Jong country, a great number of the Boompe people, 
 and a large portion of the Kittam country in addition, ranged 
 against us. Each chief would send his own " war " or 
 detachment of fighting-men, and their instructions were to 
 take us dead or alive — better alive, they thought, for the fun 
 that they would have in torturing us. 
 
 The enemy's game was now to build stockades aroimd the
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBIA 105 
 
 place, and, lying securely behind these, to snipe us con- 
 tinually, and to attack us at night whenever they thought we 
 were the least prepared. They were unfortunately aware that 
 our ammunition was running short, as was plain from the 
 shouts that came from their leaders when urging their warriors 
 on to battle. No doubt the old Chief Berri was one of the 
 causes of this, and for his traitorous conduct, strictly speaking, 
 I might have had him shot. However, I could not bring 
 myself to do this, preferring to keep him a close prisoner 
 under lock and key. 
 
 That the blacks were now about to make a big attack upon 
 us was evident from the shouting, blowing of horns, and 
 beating of drums that could be heard all around us. To 
 attempt to cut our way through and make for Sherbro or 
 Bandajuma would simply have been to court disaster, as the 
 bush was now strongly ambushed, and the roads blocked and 
 stockaded. Besides, neither the men nor myself could have 
 stood the strain of such a journey — perhaps contesting every 
 yard of the ground. No, the only thing to do was to hang on 
 in the hope that the long-expected assistance would eventually 
 come. If it did not — well, there would be nothing left for 
 it but to endeavour to cut our way through or die in the attempt. 
 
 What we did do, and how, by a merciful dispensation of 
 Providence, we got away, I will explain later. Meanwhile, 
 let me resume my narrative of events. 
 
 At midday, in answer to a sentry who fired at and shot one 
 of the enemy, we were at once attacked. From all sides they 
 came at us, and poured in a hot fire from the surrounding bush. 
 It was now a matter of extreme risk to attempt to cross our 
 enclosure — a distance of some twenty-five yards only. My 
 men were well hidden and under cover, and placed at every 
 point of vantage. If, as I said before, the enemy had pulled 
 themselves together, and rushed us in any numbers, the end 
 must have come at once. Mr. Robinson, who had been doing 
 good work with his rifle through one of the shutters of the
 
 io6 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 house, now called me to show me where a man was hiding on 
 the ground, behind a log of wood, he thought, who had been 
 sniping us steadily, but without result, for a long time past. I 
 had just remarked to Eobinson that he was not sufficiently 
 covered, and pulled the two shutters together, when a bullet 
 from our lurking friend crashed through the centre of it, and 
 passing under my outstretched arm, and not six inches from 
 Mr. Eobinson 's side, buried itself in the wall of the room 
 behind us. A close call ! After this he left that post, and 
 sought for better cover. 
 
 I will not give all the details of the attack that followed, 
 except to say that it was the severest and most stubborn that 
 the enemy had as yet made. How it happened that we kept 
 them out, I do not know to this day. Half the outer side of 
 our stockade was pulled down, and a hand-to-hand struggle 
 had taken place between six of the enemy and four of our 
 men, two of whom were wounded. Two labourers were 
 severely wounded while running across the square to fetch 
 water for the men, and my own coat had been torn, and 
 my helmet perforated ; while the Interpreter, who had in some 
 mysterious way succeeded in obtaining a bottle of gin, was 
 lying shut up in a shed, upon his back, dead drunk. 
 
 One incident I ought to mention : Lance - Corporal 
 Macaulay, who was in charge of a post close to the river- 
 side, espied some thirty or forty of the enemy swimming over 
 it almost under our very eyes. We made gi-eat slaughter 
 here, and although the shooting on our side was dreadfully 
 bad, the other side nevertheless suffered severely. I now 
 learnt how extremely difficult it is to hit the head of a man 
 with a revolver, even at close range, while swimming and 
 bobbing in the water. 
 
 The enemy did not finally retire for five hours, and when at 
 last they slunk away, I knew we could not with the few rounds 
 that were left us stand another such attack. Sergeant 
 Williams and Lance-Corporal Macaulay with four of the
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBTA 107 
 
 men came and told me the same, and suggested that the 
 only thing left for us to do was to select a room and fight 
 it out there until the last round was expended, and then 
 use the bayonet. Such a thing could, of course, only have 
 one ending, and I had determined to keep two revolver bullets 
 for my own head after the last rally ; for to fall into the hands 
 of these savages alive would have meant worse, far, than a 
 thousand deaths. 
 
 I must own here to feeling horribly afraid. I could feel my 
 heart thumping against my ribs, and although I knew that I was 
 calm enough outwardly, I felt terribly sick at heart. More- 
 over, I was, as I have said, very far from well, having had a 
 high temperature for two days, scarcely any food, and no 
 sleep at all. Mr. Kobinson said to me, and I can recall 
 his words as if they were spoken yesterday: "The next 
 attack will be the worst one. I know these people, and 
 they have gone to prepare and get more help. We cannot 
 keep them off; but before God they shall not take me alive ! " 
 and he swung the butt of his Martini into the air. While I 
 was frantically and desperately turning over the situation and 
 making up my mind what to do (on these occasions one does 
 not have much time for this, but must act promptly) one of the 
 labourers came up behind me and whispered in my ear, 
 ** Massa ! nar boat ! " 
 
 Like a flash the full force and meaning of those magic 
 words came home to me. A boat ! The next minute the 
 fellow had informed me that there was a four-oared boat 
 hidden round a bend of the river, not 200 yards away. 
 He had known this all the time and had not had the sense to 
 tell me of it ! Verily, you need not look further than a West 
 African porter when searching for a natural fool. 
 
 Here was a bit of luck indeed. If this boat had not already 
 been discovered by the enemy, and Ave could obtain possession 
 of it uuperceived, we might yet get down to Sherbro. But was 
 the boat still hidden there ? Well we should soon know.
 
 io8 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 It was past five o'clock, and the sun, setting more blood-red 
 even than was his wont, as if to mock us in our troubles, 
 prepared to hide himself yet once again in trailing clouds of 
 glory from the strivings and the fury of the world whereon he 
 daily gazed. Darkness would directly be upon us, for there 
 is no t^\ilight in these latitudes. On my explaining what I 
 wanted, four men readily volunteered to proceed, under cover 
 of the darkness and our rifles, to bring the boat up-river to 
 our position. At any moment the enemy outside might renew 
 their efforts to get at us, and it was with the knowledge that 
 life or death depended on the issue that we waited for our 
 men's return. Ten minutes of breathless silence, and then 
 we saw the outline of that blessed craft, left by Fortune's 
 kindly hand, loom black upon the water. It was arranged 
 that if the enemy did not then attack us, on my giving the 
 signal, we should go down to the water-side, and embark as 
 quietly and as speedily as possible. 
 
 We could still hear the Mendis shouting and jabbering in 
 the forest all around. It seemed to me as if they were quarrel- 
 ling amongst themselves about something — the division of the 
 plunder, probably. No attack being made upon us, we crept 
 down under cover of the darkness, with beating hearts and 
 amid a silence of the dead. One by one we got aboard. Chief 
 Berri, securely bound and gagged, being in our midst. 
 
 When all were in the boat, we found we were unable to push 
 her off, and more delay was caused by some of the men having 
 to jump overboard and shove. Even the slight noise they 
 made in doing this brought my heart into my throat. An 
 attack now would certainly have meant our immediate 
 annihilation, and even when, at length, we floated free and 
 clear, it was but to find another trouble inmiediately con- 
 fronting us — the oars had been forgotten ! The labourer who 
 had informed me of the presence of the boat was now so good 
 as to vouchsafe the further information that the oars were lying 
 under the verandah roof. Before we could get away they
 
 / j 
 
 
 
 
 '^ 1 
 
 
 i^flM 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 JS 
 
 
 
 '3 '• ^3feXvJ 
 
 
 
 'Tlr^gg 
 
 1 
 
 
 Hk. 
 
 ""I^B 
 
 i 
 
 KAMBIA KEBUILDIXG. 
 
 The West African Frontier Force at Drill. 
 
 (P. 112.) 
 
 The House that was destroyed by the enemy is being 
 replaced by a new one. 
 
 (P. 112.) 
 
 I III-: SMALL IKXIM l{l\i:i(. 
 The i>lace from wliicli the cscaiic from Kanibiu was made. 
 
 o/«Le /.. 108.
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBIA 109 
 
 would have to be obtained. To do this it was necessary that 
 some one shouhl return to the factory— a matter of a hundred 
 yards or so — and fetch them. Not a man would volunteer 
 for this duty ; nothing, they said, would induce them to go 
 back to that accursed place, although it had become a question 
 of obtaining those oars or waiting to be cut to pieces in the 
 boat. " Vestigia nulla rctrorsum " was evidently the senti- 
 ment that animated every one ; and really I could not blame 
 the men, after what they had already gone through, for 
 entertaining it. 
 
 It was beginning to rain, moreover, and a tornado was 
 evidently blowing up, the dull rumbling of its advanced guard 
 being heard in distant booms on the horizon, while every now 
 and then a vivid streak of forked fire would, for the fraction of 
 a second, light up the scene like day. 
 
 At length the oars were obtained, and after sticking once 
 again on to a bank we finally got clear. The rain-drops were 
 by this time hissing fast upon the rippled surface of the river, 
 and without a rudder, and steering by the lightning-flashes, we 
 pulled and tugged at those two blessed oars, in desperate haste 
 to get away. For half an hour we went on thus, in a silence 
 rifted by the crashing of the warring elements above, and 
 punctuated by the gasping of the rowers — of whom I was one 
 — as we strained and panted at our work. 
 
 We were by this time soaked literally through and through, 
 when, getting closer to the bank, a man sprang up like a dark 
 phantom from the reeds that lined the water-edge and, shouting 
 in his native tongue, " They go by the boat ! the white man is 
 going by the boat ! " rushed fi-antically up the river-bank 
 to join his comrades at the place we had so hurriedly vacated. 
 Some of my men jumped up with the idea of shooting him down, 
 but, it being really too dark to take any sort of aim, and 
 fearing the noise of firing would only warn our enemies and 
 bring them down upon us, I forbade them, under pain of 
 instant death, to pull a trigger.
 
 no OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 A short while afterwards we heard the frantic yelling of the 
 mob, now no doubt in full possession of the place, and in fact 
 some of the howls that rose appeared to be drawing nearer, 
 as if a party of these demons was following us up. However, 
 partly owing to the deluge of rain that was descending and 
 chiefly, probably, to a desire to stay and share in the plunder 
 of the abandoned place, they must have quickly given up the 
 pursuit. Before long the night was lit up with a red and vivid 
 glare, which informed us that they were burning our old 
 stronghold to the gi'ound, dancing and shouting doubtless in 
 their fi-enzied savagery round the roaring, crackling flames. 
 
 We still continued to row for dear life along our course, 
 sometimes sticking fast on banks, sometimes running into 
 trees and bushes. And so, at last, we pulled into the dawn. 
 Every stroke now would make our safety more secure ; 
 because the further down we got, the wider grew the river. 
 
 As the light grew stronger, we glimpsed the charred and 
 burnt remains of many a " factory " and store, while the 
 natives spying us in the distance from the banks would some- 
 times try a shot at us, although the stream was now too broad 
 for these to do us any harm. 
 
 Now that a portion of the strain had been relaxed, we felt 
 (and probably looked) as wretched a crowd as one could wish 
 to see. Half starved we were, and worn out, and unkempt ; 
 soaked to the skin by our many hours' exposure to the 
 drenching rain, which set the men's teeth chattering like 
 castanets. And still, in spite of their discomfort, my fellows 
 found the pluck to talk and even to make a joke at times, 
 laughing merrily at one another's plight as they peeled off 
 their reeking jumpers and wi'ung the water out of them. 
 Their red fez caps were mostly all pulled out, and sat 
 on their woolly pates with all the grace of just so many 
 dunces' caps at school. However, now that immediate 
 danger was out of sight, their native minds appeared to be 
 absolutely unconcerned about the future. Truly they are a
 
 THE DEFENCE OF KAMBIA in 
 
 wonderful race, from whatever standard they be judged, these 
 big children of the West African bush. 
 
 By 10 a.m. we were close alongside York Island, and very 
 soon afterwards I hobbled, as well as my stiff limbs would 
 allow me, on shore, where I was met by Mr. Cook, the agent 
 of a leading factory (and a victim to the climate later on) with 
 the remark, "Why, we heard you had all been killed!" 
 However, he very kindly provided me with a change of clothes 
 and some warm tea, and forthwith made me swallow many 
 grains of quinine, while to my men he issued a double tot of 
 of rum all round. 
 
 I then heard for the first time that the whole country was 
 up in arms. Many factories had been burnt and looted, and 
 an attack on Bonthe itself was hourly expected. On receiving 
 this news I started off at once for the latter place, distant some 
 one and a half hour's pull — leaving half a dozen of my men 
 behind on Mr. Cook's urgent requisition. 
 
 On arrival, I was met on the Government pier-head by the 
 Commissioner, Mr. T. J. AUdridge, and a crowd of other 
 people, who cheered us heartily as we disembarked. Mr. 
 Alldridge's greeting was much the same as Mr. Cook's had 
 been — "Thank God! you have arrived; we heard the 
 worst." 
 
 The other news I had received from Mr. Cook was confirmed 
 by the Commissioner. The place was in a panic and in 
 imminent expectation of an attack from the mainland ; and, 
 what was worse, there were few arms and still less ammuni- 
 tion available. 
 
 Thus terminated our defence of, and escape from, Kambia. 
 Personally I was thankful enough to find myself alive with all 
 my limbs intact. But for some time after these events I would 
 start from sleep with the beating of the Mendi war-drums 
 vibrating in my ears, and "cutting the air in twain with 
 barbarous dissonance." Nevertheless, what with wild reports 
 fiying all about of the coming of the foe, I might well be
 
 112 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 excused for wondering if, after all, I had not stepped fi'om out 
 the frying-pan into the blazing fire. 
 
 Meanwhile, during two of the eventful days whicli I have 
 just described, a dreadful tragedy was being played out at 
 Mawfe in the Boomp6 country, a description of which I shall 
 reserve for another chapter.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE RISING OF THE MENDIS 
 
 ^^ Death in the front, destruction 
 
 in the rear ! 
 Sttch was the scene — what re- 
 
 maineth liere ? 
 The sun, the soil, hut not the 
 
 slave, the same." Byron. 
 
 I WENT straight to the Commissioner's house here, where 
 I met Miss Mary Mullens, a lady missionary who had 
 managed to get away with her life from a place called Moma- 
 ligi, where she was living alone. It was a providential escape 
 for her. Dr. Jarrett, Assistant Colonial Surgeon, had volun- 
 teered with five police to go in a boat to the assistance of Mr. 
 Hughes, the native Assistant-District Commissioner, who was 
 residing at Bogo in the Imperri country. The boat was 
 imable to reach Bogo and returned to Bonthe about midnight. 
 
 As I have stated previously, the place, which was inhabited 
 by a large number of Sierra Leoneans, was in a panic. The 
 Commissioner's house and verandahs, the police station and 
 officers' quarters, were packed with people, many of whom had 
 brought as much of their belongings as they were able to carry 
 with them. 
 
 On receipt of my message from Kambia, which had reached 
 Bonthe at daylight the morning after it was sent, namely, the 
 28th of April, the Commissioner engaged a German steamer, 
 
 g "3
 
 114 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 which had fortunately arrived the day previous, to convey the 
 despatches to Sir Frederic Cardew at Freetown. Sherbro was 
 now quite cut oflF from the outside world. Ninety miles 
 distant as it was from Freetown by water, "with the mainland 
 teeming with war-boys, the people here were in a most pre- 
 carious position. What is more, there were very few arms in 
 the place. As a matter of fact the Government had but nine 
 Snider rifles, and not much more than 750 rounds of ammuni- 
 tion, and unfortunately the European merchants in the place 
 were even worse armed. Rumours kept coming in that a 
 large number of war-boys were crossing over from the main- 
 land, and had sworn to sack and burn Bonthe. And what was 
 worse still, treachei-y was feared. The very servants could not 
 be trusted. It afterwards transpii'ed that a great number of 
 the native employes in the European factories, and even a 
 few in the Government service, were prepared to join the 
 insurgents should they cross over, and bludgeons of iron, 
 swords, machetes, and axes were discovered afterwards secreted 
 in some of the cellars of the factories. 
 
 Bai Sherbro, the stipendiary chief of Sherbro Island, and 
 one of the ringleaders in the rebellion, resided at a town 
 called Yonni, about five miles from Bonthe. He was sent for 
 by the Commissioner, and came on the afternoon of the day 
 of my arrival, and I was present at the interview. He denied, 
 of course, having anything to do with the " War," and asked 
 for the protection of the Government. This denial was false, 
 as he had been holding large meetings at his town, and 
 attending others in the interior, for weeks before the outbreak. 
 
 A warm bath and short sleep almost j)ulled me together 
 again, and about 1 p.m. the S.S. Gaboon, arrived from 
 Freetown, and a very welcome sight she was. She brought 
 twenty Frontiers and some West India soldiers, under 
 Major A. F. Dawkins, Northumberland Fusiliers. These had 
 been hmiiedly despatched by the Governor with orders that 
 the Frontiers were to proceed at once to Kambia to endeavom-
 
 THE RISING OF THE MEND IS 115 
 
 to eflect my release. It is lucky they did not have to do so, 
 since such a force would never have reached me by land or 
 water, as the country then was, and would certainly have 
 suffered most severely, if not have been annihilated. 
 
 From this time began one of the most terrible massacres and 
 outrages in the annals of our Colonial history. The outbreak 
 spread with alarming and almost inconceivable rapidity. It is 
 not quite correct to say "spread"; for when the preconcerted 
 day arrived the natives rose almost as one man. I was the 
 first person attacked in the Bandajuma district : this was 
 on the 27th of April, and from that day commenced a 
 sequence of terrible murders, robberies, and wanton destruc- 
 tion of property to the value of many thousands of pounds over 
 the M^hole Protectorate, with the single exception of Koina- 
 Dugu. 
 
 To give a detailed account of all the horrors and suffering 
 that took place would be impossible in a work of this kind. 
 The rising was so well and carefully planned, by a gigantic 
 Yuira Poro, or " one word " war, that even the wives of the 
 chiefs (and, of course, all other women) were excluded from the 
 secret. Large secret meetings had taken place in the bush 
 months before, when solemn oaths, sworn on the most deadly 
 fetish medicine, the breaking of which would mean death, were 
 taken. At these meetings the carefully planned details of the 
 plot were discussed and settled, each chief and headman being 
 responsible for his own party, who were in turn responsible 
 to the paramount chief of their country. A great deal of 
 money was spent by these chiefs in making sacrifices for the 
 success of the rebellion, and in payment for the magic of the 
 unscrupulous Morri men — who are itinerating low-caste 
 followers of Islam, and who, by the mystic workings of their 
 magic charms, wield a great deal of power over the super- 
 stitious minds of the people. In fact, a large share of the 
 rising was, I know, due to the influence of these people, who 
 are as a rule natives of the country, but who have acquired a
 
 ii6 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 certain smattering of Arabic and Mohammedanism. But 
 more of them anon. 
 
 After months of careful plotting, a time and plan was 
 arranged by which the whole country would know the exact 
 day on which to strike. This was planned by the three 
 principals of the whole movement, namely, Niagua of 
 Panguma, a despotic paramount chief who held enormous 
 power over a large area of country in the Panguma District ; 
 Guburu of Boompe, the paramount chief of that country and a 
 noted warrior and ruffian (and who, after the rebellion, suffered 
 the extreme penalty of the law for murder) ; and Bai Sherbro 
 of Yonni, whose influence extended over a large area of the 
 Sherbro Hinterland, and who, with Chief Niagua, was subse- 
 quently banished from the country. With these three were, of 
 com'se, a host of other paramount chiefs and sub-chiefs, 
 amongst the more important ones being Fa Kondo of Baoma, 
 Honno of Gerihun, and Almami Senna Bundu. 
 
 They had no lack of support. They said they were going to 
 get back their countiy, reintroduce slavery, abolish the House 
 Tax, drive British rule and the white man from their midst, 
 and murder every one who could speak English, or who wore 
 English clothes. They intended to do more than this. They 
 would loot every factory and store in the country, obtain an 
 enormous quantity of slaves and Anves by catching as many 
 SieiTa Leone women as possible, and arm themselves with 
 the rifles and ammunition they would seize from the sacking 
 of Bandajuma, Ronietta, Sherbro, and Panguma, and from 
 the hands of the Frontiers stationed about the Protectorate, 
 every one of whom they would torture or murder. And they 
 were bound to succeed. Did not the Morri men tell them so ? 
 Had they not, by the aid of their Saraka (sacrifices), cajoled 
 and pleased the spirits into bringing them success ? Did not 
 every to^Mi and village in the country have its "medicine" 
 ready ? There were not many white men, they said. A great 
 number had already been killed by Bai Bm'eh, and the whites
 
 I'KI^OXERS 01" W \l;. 
 
 Cirilil- llONNu OF GKUlIirN. 
 <)ue of tlie Leaders lu the risiii? 
 
 \IA K 1 V ■ ■! I. 
 
 The present I'lmuiiount Chief of the 
 IJooinpi- Country. 
 
 ^^^^^^^^DV 
 
 
 A CASK tiK TIIKFT. 
 Nalivj L.iw. 
 
 (P. 118.) 
 
 (P. ll'S.) 
 
 {Atvvudni.) 
 
 To face j>. lli>.
 
 THE RISING OF THE MENDIS 117 
 
 could never march about their country or follow them into the 
 trackless depths of their forests. 
 
 The old " warriors " in the country were delighted with the 
 prospect of murder and plunder that would follow the outbreak. 
 The sub-chiefs were equally so, and most of them readily and 
 willingly took the oath ; whilst the common people, the 
 majority of whom believed implicitly in their fetish and their 
 chiefs, were ready and willing to join them. The warnings of 
 the more educated class of native were unheeded, and, in fact, 
 scorned ; those who would not take the oath and join would be 
 murdered and sacrificed to the cause. Every one on the day 
 had to join. Meanv^hile, cutlasses and spears were sharpened, 
 powder bought, cannon got ready, stockades built, rivers and 
 roads blocked, and guns primed. Every conceivable thing 
 that could be used as a weapon was secreted. Sticks with 
 heavy knobs, pieces of iron, pikes, bits of wire, potlegs and 
 slugs — all were converted into bullets. No one coming within 
 the scope of their oath would be spared, and those who broke 
 it would die ; if not from the swords of their comrades, then 
 from the effect of the terrible hari (fetish medicine) from 
 which they believed there was no way of escape. 
 
 After many hidden meetings in the " poro " bush, and in 
 the small /aAa?-s (villages) throughout Mendiland, the "burnt 
 leaf" was started. This is the emblem of war, and is sent 
 with extraordinary rapidity from town to town and village to 
 village. When a chief receives the burnt leaf, he immediately 
 questions the messenger, asking " BeL-ar-ui-hlmi ?■ " which 
 means "What news? " and the messenger tells him every- 
 thing he knows concerning immediate events. The messenger 
 is then sent back, and the recipient of the burnt leaf sends it 
 on to the next chief by one of his own " l)oys "; and so it is 
 passed from place to place throughout a very large tract of 
 country, and in an incredible short space of time. Very soon 
 after the leaf has been received, and the hour has come for 
 action, a time is fixed for, say, the eighth day after the new
 
 ii8 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 moon. Then, on the arrival of the new moon, evei*y chief, 
 headman, and kruha (warrior) gets eight stones, and throws 
 one away every day. When the last stone is thrown away, 
 the rising begins. In this country each chief has his own 
 " war." For instance, during the rising there were many 
 " wars," and they used to join hands for one common object. 
 At Kambia there were several *' wars " attacking me. During 
 the attacks on the stations in the Protectorate, several " wars" 
 joined hands. After their object had been attained these 
 would go off on their own account, either to plunder or 
 murder. 
 
 I have been at some trouble to ascertain who was the actual 
 instigator of the "burnt leaf." As I have said before, the 
 rising was previously arranged by a series of gigantic secret 
 meetings in the " poro " bush and elsewhere, the principal 
 leaders being the three chiefs, Niagua, Bai Sherbro, and 
 Guburu of Boompe. After most careful inquiry, I think 
 there can be little doubt that the burnt leaf first started from 
 Boompe in the Bandajuma District, and was followed almost 
 immediately by Niagua's leaf in the Panguma District, and 
 then by a host of others. Anyhow, whoever it was, when the 
 ball once started moving, no chief, be he ever so powerful, 
 could have stopped it. 
 
 As soon as the actual fighting began, the control of the chief 
 over his " boys " practically ceased. They got entirely out of 
 hand, and very often small bands went off on their own 
 account, looting and killing, the plimder being divided and 
 secreted amongst the Ki'uba of the gang and his followers, 
 while a portion was kept for tlie chief to whom the party 
 belongs. 
 
 It can readily be understood, then, in a country of this 
 kind, where news is conveyed in a wonderful manner over 
 large distances, how quickly the rising spread from one end 
 of the Protectorate to the other. The natives' great strength 
 lay in their forest bush. To attempt to follow them there for
 
 THE RISING OF THE MENDIS 119 
 
 any distance was quite useless, and I have, time after time, 
 seen them suddenly holt into this bush with a Frontier follow- 
 ing not ten 3'ards away. Yet they have invariably managed 
 to escape. 
 
 One of the last occasions on which this happened was un- 
 pleasantly impressed on my memory. I was on tour up- 
 country when one of the Court Messengers accompanying me 
 came up with his clothes torn, his face running with perspira- 
 tion, and he himself very much out of breadth. He panted 
 out, " Dem people dem sabbe bush too much, sar ! " It 
 appeared that one of my labourers, who no doubt felt he had 
 had enough of it, had bolted into the bush, with the messenger 
 close at his heels. On coming up I found my box deposited 
 in the centre of the patli, with the kartar (a head rest, 
 often consisting of rolled leaves, etc.), carefully placed on the 
 top of it. I recollect the incident so well, because we were 
 unable to proceed without somebody to carry the load, and as 
 we were then some distance from the village it was quite a 
 while before we obtained another carrier, and got under way 
 once more. 
 
 The natives are children of nature, and in many points 
 closely resemble the wild animals of their forests. A Meudi 
 can make his way through the thickest of foliage with ease, 
 and with very little noise. From the custom of years they 
 have learned to wriggle under creepers, twist between branches 
 of trees, and avoid the impassable knots of entangled vine that 
 are so numerous in these parts ; while from the practice of 
 years they can do it with extraordinary rapidity. A great 
 number of the children are taught when young how to go 
 (piickly and quietly through the bush, and those who are not 
 so taught are bound to learn from having to go into it nearly 
 every day of their lives from their earliest years, following the 
 elder boys who go hunting, wood-cutting, or farm-making. 
 Also, even if it were possible to follow a native into his forest, 
 it would still be extremely difficult to keep him in view. For
 
 I20 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 here nature comes to his aid, as she does to that of nearly all 
 animals who live according to her laws. The human in- 
 habitant of the forest, with his naked body, harmonises closely 
 with his smToundings. Like the tiger in the jungle, the deer 
 in the mountains, and the snake in the gi-ass, this wonderful 
 provision of nature for insuring invisibility is strikingly illus- 
 trated in her unalterable laws, which extend even to savage 
 man. 
 
 For months dui-ing the outbreak the people lived literally 
 in the hush. All the women and children were there some 
 time before, dwelling under temporaiy shelters made of 
 bamboo sticks and leaves, set in places where it was almost 
 impossible for us to find or follow them. Hunted fugitives 
 lived there also, for the forest was a friend to all ; and many 
 owe their lives during this dreadful time to the friendly and 
 secret shelter of its leaves and trees. 
 
 To resume : there was not much sleep for any of us during 
 that Saturday night. The advent of the twenty Frontiers and 
 West India soldiers was a great relief to the place, and took 
 off much of the strain ; but such a force was totally inadequate 
 to cope with the situation had Sherbro been attacked. Mean- 
 while, news of the most alarming nature kept on coming in of 
 fearful massacres and destruction of property on the mainland, 
 and of the coming and actual arrival of a number of the enemy 
 and their spies in the island itself. All the European and 
 other shops were shut and barricaded, while armed native and 
 European patrols were formed to parade the streets or watch 
 the roads leading to and from the outlying villages. I may 
 mention that one of the Imperri chiefs was captured while 
 lauding from his canoe on the Island. He was conveying a 
 message to Chief Bai Sherbro as to when they were to send 
 the war-boys to attack Bonthe. This man was, of course, 
 made prisoner and detained. 
 
 Now and again a hunted trader would arrive, having lost 
 everything in his possession, and bring most harrowing tales
 
 THE RISING OF THE MENDIS 121 
 
 of the doings on the mainland. The Sherbro mail-boat lim- 
 ning between Bonthe and Lavana was missing, having been 
 abandoned by the crew and civil police when they found the 
 rivers were blocked, and they themselves miable to proceed 
 and chased by war-boys. Beside the police and crew, there 
 were passengers in the boat numbering about sixteen, some 
 of whom were women. Mr. Leech, of Manchester, who had 
 recently started business at Mopalma on the Upper Kittam, 
 had had all his property plundered and destroyed, and had 
 been picked up by the mail-boat before she was abandoned, 
 having previously narrowly escaped with his life. 
 
 This party tramped along the beach, having landed at a 
 place called Koronko on Tm-ner's Peninsula. They intended 
 to try and reach Bahol, about forty miles away, where they 
 hoped to be able to get canoes in which to cross over to 
 Sherbro. They were very soon again followed by the war- 
 boys, and had to discard nearly all their bundles, including 
 the mail-bag, which was in charge of the coxswain. 
 
 After many hours or wearing tramping over the burning 
 sand, the party became so exhausted that many were unable 
 to proceed, and they split up into twos and threes. The 
 sergeant of police was undoubtedly killed, as he fell behind 
 and was never heard of again, and no doubt this was the fate 
 of several of the others. 
 
 That night, about twelve o'clock, the police arrived and 
 handed the Commissioner a bundle of money, amounting to 
 £1,000, the revenue that was to have been brought down by 
 the abandoned mail-boat to Sherbro. These honest natives 
 had been able, after discarding all their own little property, 
 suffering dreadful hardships, being chased by war-boys, 
 and losing half their number, to stick to the revenue and hand 
 it over intact and correct to the Commissioner. Such magni- 
 ficent behaviour needs no further comment. How many white 
 men in their position woiild have done the same ? 
 
 The next day the coxswain and some boatmen arrived and
 
 122 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 reported that Mr. Leech was dead and could not be found 
 anywhere. This proved to be incorrect, for after a great deal 
 of suffering and many miraculous escapes, he had succeeded 
 in reaching the sea-bar point, and, on promising a native an 
 enormous bribe, was ferried over to Bontlie, where he arrived 
 on the following Monday. 
 
 On Sunday a party, which was under my command, had 
 gone out in boats to endeavour to get news of Mr. Leech, and 
 although we were fired upon from the banks, we kept too far 
 out for the shots to take effect. We hoped to draw Mr. 
 Leech's attention, if he happened to be anywhere near, by 
 the blowing of bugles and firing of guns, but we saw nothing 
 except the dancing and shouting war-boys in the distance, 
 and the ruins of the smouldering factories. 
 
 That night the sky was aglow for miles from the burning 
 of the many houses on the mainland. We could see from the 
 Commissioner's house the wanton destruction that was being 
 perpetrated. 
 
 The following day (Smiday) H.M.S. Blonde, under Com- 
 mander P. Hoskyns, M.V.O., C.M.G., arrived. He landed 
 fifty Bluejackets with their officers. These were quartered in 
 the Court-hall, and were a great help in suppressing the panic 
 that was now at fever-point among the people. Meanwhile 
 small punitive water expeditions were actively engaged in 
 and about the Sherbro. The force, consisting of Bluejackets, 
 Marines, West India troops, and Frontiers would start off at 
 dawn and return at night. During these expeditions, the 
 object of which was to endeavour to rescue any people who 
 had fled and were hiding from the war-boys, we were invari- 
 ably fired on fi'om the banks of the creeks and rivers by 
 concealed cannon, wliich the enemy used to load almost to the 
 muzzle with powder and slugs. After returning the fire, a 
 party would land and charge up the banks, hurrahing, and 
 spike the cannon ; and if there was a town near by, it would 
 be burnt to the ground. On these occasions the enemy never
 
 THE RISING OF THE MENDIS 123 
 
 waited for us, but having had time perhaps to load and dis- 
 charge their cannon a second time, they would abandon it 
 and flee to the bush. 
 
 An attempt was made by one of these parties to rescue Mr. 
 Hughes, who was reported to be a prisoner in the hands of 
 the Imperri chiefs. With that object an expedition, consisting 
 of some seventy Bluejackets, fifty Marines, thirty West India 
 soldiers, and forty odd Frontiers — the whole under the command 
 of Captain P. Hoskyns, R.N., M.V.O., C.M.G.— started by 
 water for Bogo, intending to march overland to Imperri town 
 the headquarters of the Imperri country, where Mr, Hughes 
 was supposed to be detained. 
 
 That night the party slept on board H.M.S. Blonde, and 
 the next morning we embarked in a flotilla of boats and were 
 towed by the steam pinnace up the river. While proceeding 
 in this way, we were several times fired upon by the enemy, 
 and on landing at Bogo we could hear them in the bush all 
 around us. A column of march was speedily formed, of 
 which twenty Frontiers, under my command, constituted the 
 advanced guard. No sooner had we commenced our march 
 than we were strongly attacked on all sides by an enemy 
 concealed in the thick bush, with the result that a couple 
 of my men were badly hurt by slugs. The further we pro- 
 ceeded the more numerous did they seem, judging by the 
 noise, to be ; they remained, however, so perfectly concealed 
 that my men were never able to get at them. The bush at 
 this point became almost impenetrable, and on neariug a 
 burnt-out fakai (small village), we were fired on from both 
 sides simultaneously without being able to return a shot. 
 
 When wc had been marching upwards of an hour the 
 commander, on discovering that the enemy was endeavouring 
 to cut us off" from our boats, which had been left in charge 
 of a few marines, decided to retire upon them for the time 
 l)eing. At this time Imperri town would be some seven 
 miles away, although our local guide informed us that it was
 
 124 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 distant a good ten from where we were. We learnt later to 
 accept these native estimates of mileage with a considerable 
 resei-ve, seeing that they were invariably dictated by a desire 
 on the part of the person making them to postpone bringing 
 us into anything like direct contact with an opposing force. 
 
 I now volunteered to go forward with thirty Frontiers, and 
 try to reach Imperri. But to this suggestion the commander 
 did not see his way to agree ; and, indeed, there was some 
 necessity for returning lest our boats themselves should be 
 attacked, and our means of retreat cut off. During the 
 homeward journey I was conversing with Commander Holmes 
 of the AlectOy when a man hidden in the bush not ten yards 
 away fired a cannon point-blank at us, causing us almost to 
 iump out of our skins by the deafening report at such close 
 quarters. Close as this was neither of us was hit. Even- 
 tually our force reached Sherbro, but unfortunately without 
 having achieved its object, the rescue, namely, of Mr- 
 Hughes. 
 
 Whilst on the subject of these little land expeditions I may 
 appropriately recall an incident which gives, I think, a good 
 idea of how narrowly our every movement was watched by the 
 vigilant enemy. We had landed near one of his towns, and 
 having cleared it out, had, as usual, fired it. Most of our 
 men, including the West Indias and Frontiers, were scattered 
 about in small parties, foraging for loot. Dr. A. F. M. 
 Berkeley, District Surgeon, who had gone far up on one side 
 of the place, found himself on a path leading directly into the 
 bush. With him were three Frontiers and two or three 
 West India soldiers. Suddenly, forth from the underwood 
 leapt a naked warrior, brandishing a long sword. The doctor 
 had only just time to present his revolver at the man, whose 
 spring had landed him not five yards away, and pull the 
 trigger when — his pistol missed fire ! He instantly flung his 
 weapon in the other's face and turned to run for dear life. 
 Ill-luck and the Mendi both pursued him. He slipped and
 
 TlIK ADVANCKl) ClAlili I .\ A( lli)N. >lli;i;liHil KX I'l: IHTIO.N. 
 
 To face p. 121
 
 THE RISING OF THE MEND IS 125 
 
 fell on his knees, and his huge antagonist, only momentarily 
 stopped by a shot from Captain Stewart of the West India 
 Regiment (who had been a spectator of the scene), had 
 already shortened his sword-arm in order to decapitate his 
 victim. In another moment Dr. Berkeley would have cer- 
 tainly been killed, when Lance-Corporal Brimah Windai, a 
 Frontier, by a well-aimed shot dropped the fellow in the very 
 nick of time. The whole incident had occupied but a very 
 few seconds, but it created something like a panic for the 
 moment among the men, and I saw several of the carriers 
 and soldiers begin to make tracks for the river-bank. There 
 is nothing, we know, so infectious as example on occasions 
 of this kind. I was at the further end of the place at the 
 time, and the town was burning merrily, but when I witnessed 
 the general stampede I found myself, almost before I was 
 aware of it, running too, though I pulled up on ascertaining 
 the real cause of the disturbance.
 
 CHAPTER Xn 
 
 MURDER OF MR. HUGHES AND MASSACRE OF MAWFE 
 
 " The hand that mingled luith the meal. 
 At midnight drew the felon steel ! 
 And gave the host's kind breast to feel 
 
 Meed for his hospitality. 
 The friendly hearth that warmed his hand 
 At midnight armed it with a brand 
 That bade destruction's flames expand 
 Their red and fearful blazonry." 
 
 Massacre of Glencoe. 
 
 rjlHE fate of Mr. Hughes, of Imperri, was terrible in the 
 -'- extreme. He was still alive upon the day that we 
 started to rescue, or to attempt to rescue, him. But he was 
 then hidden in the hush, and even had we succeeded in 
 getting into Imperri town we should never have found him. 
 The story of his captiu-e and death is, as I have said, a sad 
 and a very pitiful one. At the very commencement of the 
 outbreak Hughes was made a prisoner, together with his wife, 
 whilst those of his servants who had not already made their 
 escape were instantly put to death by the Mendis. Poor 
 Hughes was first tied and then cruelly " stocked." For 
 several days he was kept bound, just sufficient food being 
 given him to keep the life in him. Now it had happened, at 
 times, that in his official capacity he had found himself 
 compelled to inflict certain fines upon those brought before
 
 MURDER OF MR. HUGHES 127 
 
 him. The people were not slow to remember this now that 
 they had him in their power. They exacted a revenge that 
 was fiendish in its barbarous ingenuity. Every morning at 
 a certain time the scoundrelly chief would hold a sort of mock 
 court, taking care to have Mrs. Hughes placed in a position 
 where she would have, perforce, to be a spectator of all that 
 passed. Then Hughes would be brought forward, and after 
 some farcical procedure arranged for the enjoyment of the 
 delighted throng of savages who gathered round, the chief 
 would order his wretched prisoner to be fined one or two 
 pounds as the case might be. A grinning black, armed with 
 a blunt sword, would then step up and, in the very face of his 
 agonised wife, would saw off one or two of the poor man's 
 fingers. "When all his fingers had been severed his bleeding 
 hands were cut ofi" at the wrist, the devil who pretended to act 
 as magistrate informing him that this was merely the equiva- 
 lent of a five-pound fine, such as Hughes himself had often 
 inflicted upon them. Day by day he was subjected to further 
 torture of a description too horrible for words, until he finally 
 became a mere mass of quivering mutilated flesh. And day 
 by day, too, his poor wife was brought in and compelled to 
 witness all those growing horrors until at length, when the 
 end came and her husband died from loss of blood, the 
 wretches who had her in their power did her the only kindness 
 left, and cut her throat from ear to ear. It is questionable if 
 any political adjustment called a ''pacification," or any 
 punishment inflicted by us on the ringleaders in this rising 
 subsequently, could possibly atone for crimes like those. 
 Surely the British had been justified had they wiped out 
 every black the country through. There is no element of 
 doubt either as to the actual commission of this atrocious 
 piece of brutality. I myself had the details at first hand 
 Irom a Court Messenger named Cole, who was a native of the 
 place and himself an eye-witness of the revolting scene. 
 
 Nor does the tale of horrors stop here. Tragedies worse
 
 128 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 even than this in their cold-blooded ferocity were almost daily 
 enacted in this devil's cess-pit during that awful time — dark 
 deeds that make the blood run cold even to think of : acts so 
 utterly horrible, so absolutely hellish, that Nature's very self 
 might well blush for Creation. Verily, here in West Africa, 
 you have, epitomised, the sentiment of that grand old 
 missionary hymn of Heber's : a land "where every prospect 
 pleases and only man is vile." 
 
 In connection with the outrages perpetrated upon innocent 
 people at this time the name of the chief of Bambaia stands 
 out for peculiar execration. This man was literally a fiend 
 in human shape. In the evidence brought against him at 
 his trial following upon the termination of the outbreak, it 
 was proved that he had caused a deep well to be dug into 
 which, after subjecting his helpless victims to all the nameless 
 tortures that his black heart was capable of conceiving, he 
 had their bleeding bodies thrown as a saraka (sacrifice) to his 
 gods. 
 
 Reverting for a moment, in concluding this portion of the 
 narrative, to Hughes's fate, I may just state that an expedition 
 went up to Bogo later, which was accompanied by Mr. 
 Alldridge, the Commissioner for the district, who dming the 
 outbreak had worked night and day and had heavy respon- 
 sibilities. He was able to discover and identify Hughes's 
 remains, and had them reverently collected and brought down 
 to Bonthe. Here they were interred \vith military honom-s, 
 the of&cer commanding troops and several other officers 
 attending the funeral, at which fifty men of the West India 
 Regiment escorted the coffin to its last resting-place. The 
 remains of Mrs. Hughes, who was no whit less a martyi- than 
 her husband, were never found. 
 
 One of the largest and most important centres in the 
 Protectorate not being a seat of the Government is the 
 pretty and picturesque town of Mawfe, in the Boompe 
 country. This place is situated on the south side of the
 
 MURDER OF MR. HUGHES 129 
 
 beautiful Big Boom River, roughly twenty-eight miles from 
 Bandajuma and nineteen from Kambia. It is the centre of 
 a thri^dng trade, and there are many stores and "factories " 
 on both sides of the river. On the opposite side, or left bank, 
 lies Mobongo, while two hundred yards lower down is the 
 little trading station of Sumbuia. 
 
 MaT\^e, before the rising, was a very large town, in which 
 a number of educated people from Sierra Leone resided. It 
 had its stone chapel and school, which were well attended by 
 the children of the Sierra Leoneans and others resident in 
 the neighbourhood. A brisk trade was always going at 
 Mawfe, for in the rainy season the river was navigable for 
 fairly large craft to Sherbro, and a great deal of produce used 
 to be received here from the interior. The Big Boom River 
 in the " dries " was magnificent, and many a time I have 
 bathed in it after a long march while touring in that part of 
 the country. It runs clear and sparkling over a sandy and 
 rocky bottom, while just above the town the way is barred by 
 a mass of huge rocks and boulders stretching right across 
 from one bank to the other and forming a roaring cataract. 
 The banks on both sides are lined with beautiful tropical 
 vegetation, while here and there, dotted amongst the noble 
 palms and other giant foliage, peep the conical thatched 
 roofs of the villages. Sometimes these stand out in bold 
 relief at the very water's edge when a natural break in the 
 vegetation allows it. The banks of this part of the river are 
 from eight to fifteen feet in height, and, as a rule, very steep. 
 
 In the rainy season the river is between three hundred and 
 fifty and four hundred yards wide, but during the " dries " 
 it shrinks to half that size, leaving long stretches of sand 
 exposed along its bed. I recollect, on my first visit to the 
 interior, this river at Mawfe was one of the largest African 
 waterways I had seen. The view as it struck me then has 
 always been fresh in my memory. The density of the forest 
 was overwhelming ; the strange and brilliant-plumaged birds 
 
 10
 
 130 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 darting here and there, the bright sunshine that made the 
 water flicker and sparkle like silver, the native dug-outs, 
 swiftly and silently crossing and re-crossing, with their dusky 
 paddlers, together with the air of freedom that was around 
 one — all helped to form a fascinating and interesting picture. 
 One thinks when gazing at such scenes as these, surrounded 
 and enwi-apped by glorious nature, how beautiful the world is 
 when untouched by the scheming hand of man. 
 
 " To sit on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell ; 
 To slowly trace the forests' shady scene, 
 Where things that own no man's dominion dwell 
 And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been." 
 
 Besides being an important and busy trading centre there 
 were small bai-racks built just outside the town, in which 
 resided a sergeant and nine Frontiers, who were inspected 
 from time to time by an officer from Bandajuma. Shortly 
 after my arrival at Kambia rumours had been reaching 
 Sergeant Smith, who was then in charge of the detachment 
 at Mawfe, of impending trouble, and the principal merchants 
 and traders in the town sent a letter to me reporting the 
 rumours that were current and asking for further reinforce- 
 ments. I never received this letter. 
 
 On April 27th news reached Sergeant Smith that we had 
 been attacked and killed at Kambia, and that same day he 
 wrote to the officer in charge at Bandajuma, but this letter 
 never reached him either. The sergeant now very foolishly, 
 on the representation of the people, quitted his barracks, 
 which were in a fairly good position for defence, and took up 
 his abode with his nine men in the two-storied wooden 
 residence of Mr. Allen, an old Sierra Leonean, who had 
 lived for years amongst the natives, and who, as I have said 
 before, was continually rendering them assistance and doing 
 little acts of kindness among them. Into this house flocked 
 most of the Sierra Leone men, women, and children, with as 
 much of their property as they could carry with them.
 
 MASSACRE OF MAWF^ 131 
 
 Ou April 28th, at about eight in the morning, the town 
 was attacked by a number of the Boompe people. The 
 chiu*ch and stores were entirely destroyed by fire, and the 
 Sierra Leone men, several of the women, and all the little 
 children, who did not happen to be with the Frontiers or in 
 hiding, were massacred. Those women who were not killed 
 then and there were stripped of their clothing, tied, and taken 
 as slaves. 
 
 For the whole of that day Sergeant Smith and his men 
 defended the house and fought in a brave though reckless 
 way. They had already fired away an enormous amount of 
 ammunition, for they had no white officer to direct them ; 
 and owing to the number of people in the place, and also for 
 want of careful husbanding, their water was soon exhausted and 
 they began to suff'er terribly from thirst. They had succeeded 
 in driving away the enemy a number of times, but they 
 always returned with reinforcements. By three o'clock the 
 men recognised the seriousness of the situation. They were 
 badly in want of ammunition ; they were parched with thirst ; 
 three of them had been wounded, and some had not been 
 able to resist the offers of the Sierra Leoneans of sundry 
 drinks of gin. The enemy were by this time like a mad, 
 howling pack of wolves, frenzied from their taste of blood and 
 reckless with the boldness acquired from raw liquor, which 
 they had snatched and consumed fi-om the burning stores. 
 Their tactics were now to burn the defenders and the helpless 
 band of women and children out of the jilace. After several 
 attempts they succeeded in setting fire to the woodwork 
 forming the basement of the house. The hmigry flames 
 leapt up, and soon, licking around the wooden structure, had 
 caught the floor beneath. The house became instantly filled 
 with smoke, which wreathed in yellow curling clouds into 
 every room and out of all the windows. The desperate 
 inmates, realising their position, rushed shrieking to and fro ; 
 the ammunition was now almost finished and the rifles
 
 132 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 burning hot from constant firing. Mothers looked with agony 
 upon their crying babes, and some, more desperate than the 
 rest, seized knives and put the little ones out of their misery, 
 and then cut their own throats. Many of the inhabitants in 
 that doomed place implored the sweating defenders on their 
 knees to shoot them down. 
 
 Next, Sergeant Smith, foreseeing the terrible end, a 
 thousand times worse than death, at the hands of the fm-ious 
 mob beneath, seized his burning rifle, placed the muzzle in 
 his mouth, and pulled the trigger. The lance-corporal 
 immediately followed his example. 
 
 The fire by this time had fairly caught the wooden place, 
 and the heat having become unbearable, a rush was made for 
 the stairs and doors. Some, unable to find an exit, flung 
 themselves in their haste from the ^sindows, to be met 
 beneath by the furious naked Mendis. Others succeeded in 
 gaining the yard, only to be caught like sheep and hacked 
 down then and there. Every child was spitted. Every man 
 who was not killed at once was tied and had to die in slow 
 torture. Fires there were ready with stakes driven into the 
 ground. To these some of the unfortunates were dragged, 
 having first been deprived of an eye or limb. To these stakes 
 they were bound or chained, and slowly burned to death, with 
 a ring of maddened fiends jmnping and howling round them 
 and laughing at their screams of agony. One young man, a 
 prosperous trader, whom I had seen and known only two 
 short months before while passing through this very place, 
 was tied and taken to the river-side. Here they cruelly cut 
 and jabbed him with their swords, and when he called out 
 from the pain a native skewer was run through either cheek, 
 and in that position he was left for many hours, to be after- 
 wards cut to pieces and his remains thrown in the river. 
 
 Hardly one escaped that fearful day. Every Frontier was 
 cut doT\-n, and the place ran red with blood. The wretches, 
 in their lust for crime, did not content themselves with mere
 
 MASSACRE OF MAWFE I33 
 
 killing, but devised most gruesome tortures. Half-dead 
 victims were thrust head first into drains. Some were 
 roasted alive, while one man was hung up by his ankle from a 
 tree and flogged to death. I cannot describe one fom-th of all 
 that happened, for many things, too shocking to put on paper, 
 have since been told me by eye-witnesses of the scene who 
 had got away and hidden in the bush before it was too late. 
 
 I came up with the column later en route for Bandajuma, 
 and the remnants of this tragedy were all before om* eyes. 
 The officer commanding the column, in one of his despatches 
 upon the operations, says: "We occupied Mawfe next day; 
 the town was found to be in ruins, and most shocking 
 sights met our eyes on all sides. Numbers of corpses were 
 lying about in all directions, most of them charred, and 
 showing evident signs of the inhuman treatment the unfor- 
 tunate Sierra Leone traders had met with." 
 
 When the Mendis had finished their dreadful work, dancing 
 and dninken orgies took place all over this part of the country. 
 The fetish Morri-men had indeed spoken truly, they said, for 
 so far in the way of butchery and murder the insurgents had 
 been most successful. Yet, to paraphrase the poet : — 
 
 " 111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
 Where villanies accumulate whUc men decay. 
 Princes and chiefs may flourish, or may fade, 
 A breath has made them, and a word unmade. 
 But those brave souls, who died for England's sake, 
 When they're destroyed, who next their place will take? "
 
 CHAPTER Xni 
 
 THE MASSACRES 
 
 " If you have tears, prepare to 
 shed them now.'" 
 
 Shakespeabb. 
 
 "TT is necessary, in order that the state of the country at this 
 -^ time, and the practical methods adopted by the natives in 
 the fulfilment of their oath, may he thoroughly understood, to 
 turn from the more honourable practices of war to those of 
 brutal massacre and murder. 
 
 As has already been stated, an enormous area in the 
 Protectorate was affected by the rising ; indeed, every district 
 with the exception of Koina-Dugu was up in arms. This dis- 
 affected country would cover an area of considerably over 
 twenty thousand square miles. From the very commence- 
 ment of the rising, until its termination, murders and 
 massacres were daily being enacted throughout this vast tract 
 of territory'. 
 
 To attempt to give anything like an adequate description of 
 all the horrors of this time, and the number of English- 
 speaking people who were put to death in cold blood, would 
 be a Herculean task, and one that is quite beyond the scope 
 of any pen of mine. The total number of deaths is unknown, 
 but I can safely assert that one thousand human beings at 
 least must have been killed, while a gi-eat number of these 
 
 134
 
 THE MASSACRES 135 
 
 were barbarously tortured to death. From my own personal 
 investigation conducted on the spot, I have obtained the 
 names of 675 murdered persons, as well as reliable evidence 
 as to the horrible ways in which a great many of these people 
 met their deaths at the hands of the aborigines. Simul- 
 taneously the butchery was daily being carried on in almost 
 every corner of the affected area. The districts of Ronietta, 
 Imperri, Sherbro, Panguma, and Bandajuma, could each 
 reveal a story of almost unparalleled barbarity if the flood of 
 daylight were thrown on to the hideous transactions of the 
 first three months of the rising. 
 
 Most of the black people murdered belonged to Sierra 
 Leone. These were, all of them, persons whose only 
 language was English, who were educated Christians, and 
 who held respectable positions in the Protectorate. The list 
 included merchants, traders, agents, missionaries, and clerks. 
 
 Mr. William W. Lewis, nephew of Sir Samuel Lewis, 
 C.M.G., the unofficial leader of the Bar in Freetown, was 
 caught by the war-boys at a place called Bo on the Boom 
 River. He was cruelly tied and taken to a small village 
 called Biama, also on the Boom River. Here, after having 
 been kept without food and water for four days, he was held 
 down and his throat cut fi'om ear to ear. Mr. R. T. Collier 
 and his sou, Mr. Nathaniel Collier, both well-to-do merchants 
 owning a lot of property in the Protectorate, together with 
 their clerk, a man called Joe Cole, were killed in a particularly 
 brutal manner at a place called Gorbu. Mr. Collier, senior, 
 had resided for many years among the people, and had made 
 a good deal of money. He was a personal friend of my own, 
 and was very good to me when I was suffering from fever. 
 When the war-boys caught him and his son he offered to 
 give them everything he possessed if they would kill only him, 
 but spare his boy. The Meudis took all three, seciu-ely tied, 
 into the bush. They then began to cut them about. When 
 the son fell on his knees and began to pray for deliverance or
 
 136 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 death, a sharp skewer was run through both cheeks, and 
 he was left with gaping and bleeding mouth in this position. 
 His father had meanwhile been tied secui-ely with his back 
 against a tree in order that he might see the sufferings of his 
 son. Then, bit by bit, they began to sever the limbs of the 
 lad ; and when his feet and hands had been cut off his head 
 was severed by a cutlass. Mr. Collier next saw the murder 
 of his clerk, until at last his own turn came, and the old man, 
 by this time driven half crazy by the spectacle of the 
 sufferings of his son, had his throat cut. 
 
 Then came the killing of Mr. Eobert B. Wilson, of Toma, 
 also a prosperous trader and an acquaintance of my own. He 
 attempted to escape at the commencement of the outbreak, 
 hid for eight days in the bush, and was found in a starving 
 condition by a party of war-boys at Manno, on the Kittam. 
 He was taken to Tallia, a town in the Small Boom country, 
 and after being made to suffer further nameless cruelties, 
 was set upon by seven men armed with cutlasses and cut 
 to pieces. 
 
 Mr. 0. Cole, of Barmani on the Boom, who was agent to 
 the French company, and in charge of their factory there, was 
 taken to Harhun, the chief town of the Bekowar country, and 
 there was slowly put to death, in the presence of his shrieking 
 wife, each war-boy cutting him once with his sword. His 
 wife was afterwards murdered in the same place. Mr. Clarke, 
 who resided on the Kittam River, and who was agent to the 
 European firm of Messrs. Paterson, Zochonis & Co., was also 
 killed at Tallia in the same way and in the company of a 
 constable of the Sierra Leone Police. 
 
 Amongst the many killed at Mawfe were Mr. Trinity and 
 his wife and child, Mr. W. R. Allen, Mr. F. S. Powells, Mr. 
 Wallace, Mr. W. Thomas, Mr. Peter Williams, Mr. C. 
 Macaulay, Mr. A. Paris, and many others. All these Vfero, 
 merchants of some position and influence belonging to Sierra 
 Leone, and every one was most brutally and horribly
 
 THE MASSACRES 137 
 
 maltreated and murdered. At Mattru, on the Jong River, 
 Mr. H. V. Koker was slowly put to death by being chopped a 
 little every day, until after five days of awful suffering the end 
 came. 
 
 Mr. Kent Cole, a prosperous trader, was chopped to death 
 at a small fakai (village) near Grima, in the presence of a 
 large crowd of jeering and dancing war-boys. Mr. Good- 
 man, of Mocolong, an educated young Sierra Leone clerk, was 
 first tortured by having his tongue cut out, and then being 
 decapitated. 
 
 The Rev. C. H. Goodman, a European minister of the 
 United Methodist Free Chm'ch, who was taken prisoner by 
 the Boompe people, had a marvellous escape after going 
 through a terrible time. I cannot do better than give some 
 of his statements made before the Royal Commissioner in 
 1898. Mr. Goodman had been warned that a party of 
 war-boys was coming into his town, and told not to go 
 into it. He says : — 
 
 " Those who first tried to go into the town were met by the 
 war-boys, who flogged them with cutlasses. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Johnson (Sierra Leoneans) were stripped naked in the road, 
 at a short distance from the gate of the town. They struck 
 Mr. Johnson on the face with a cutlass, so that his nose fell 
 ofi" the next day. Another agent and his wife were already 
 hiding in the town. Myself and another were left on the 
 mission station, and hearing a noise, started to go to the town 
 to defend the others. The * boys ' then left Mr. and Mrs. 
 Johnson, and turned towards the mission. I went into the 
 bush behind the mission house. They cut out the doors and 
 windows with their cutlasses and plundered the houses. In 
 the evening I crept back, but went back again, as there were 
 people about. They burnt two houses that night and two 
 others at the end of the week. The mission house itself was 
 a frame building on stone piers. Residing in the house were 
 myself, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and their children, Thco
 
 138 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 Roberts (a native agent), his wife and a sister, Mrs. George 
 Pratt, the Sierra Leone carpenter ; another agent, Campbell, 
 lived near, and Vincent the sawyer. They were all Sierra 
 Leone people. A Sierra Leone man who had come to me for 
 medicine was also killed. The war-boys heard I had gone 
 to the town and came and demanded that I should be given 
 up. I was being sheltered at the time by Chief Sandi, who 
 begged me to go out of the town, and I went, disguised as a 
 sick woman. I went to one of Sandi's houses near the 
 town. 
 
 " About 4 a.m. they took me to the bush, and I remained 
 hidden all day. At night time I was brought back into the 
 town by the chief's people. I remained in that house until 
 Friday morning under the chief's protection. On Friday 
 morning I received a message that Sandi wished to see me, 
 so I asked where he was, and went outside to look for him. 
 I could not find the messenger, so, walking towards the barri 
 (native court-house) I called Sandi's name. He did not 
 reply. The Boompe people who were present got up, took 
 me in charge, two in front and two behind. I was ordered 
 to come to Tikonko, and afterwards to Boompe. They took 
 me there, and when I was about one and a half miles from 
 the town, they stripped me almost naked. They divided my 
 money and watch and what I had in my pockets, and offered 
 my clothes to the people, but they would not take them. 
 Having got to Boompe, they judged my case. The whole town 
 took part, the King being in the chair. 
 
 " Mr. Johnson was killed by the Tikonko people, and Mrs. 
 Campbell was caught and killed by the Boompe people. I 
 believe I saw Mr. Johnson's body." 
 
 Mr. Goodman, although he suffered much while a prisoner 
 in the hands of these people, was not killed. They looked 
 upon him as a God's man, and this saved him. His was 
 indeed a miraculous escape. 
 
 Nearly every one else who fell into the hands of the natives
 
 THE MASSACRES 139 
 
 suffered death. There are, indeed, a few rare instances of 
 people being warned by a friendly native, and managing to 
 secrete themselves in the bush and so escape. Mr. A. N. 
 Morrison, the First Clerk in the Bandajuma District, is a case 
 in point. He has on several occasions told me of his ex- 
 periences while a prisoner in the hands of the Mendis. Mr. 
 Morrison was, before he entered the Government service, a 
 merchant at Mano Bagru, in the Sherbro country. At the 
 time of the outbreak he was staying at Damballa with his 
 father, who belonged to the United Brethren Mission at that 
 place. Damballa is some two days' journey from Kwalu, 
 which was the headquarters of the Ronietta district. On the 
 29th of April Mr. Morrison left Damballa for a town called 
 Banju. When he arrived there he was caught by the war- 
 boys and stripped naked. He was 'then handed over to two 
 men armed with swords and ordered to be killed. The chief, 
 however, was absent from the town, and it was agreed that 
 the murder should be postponed until his return. An old 
 man, a pure-bred Mendi, who had lived for years with Mr. 
 Morrison's father, begged the men guarding him to let him 
 go. A bribe of six country cloths was offered them, and 
 they took Mr. Morrison to the place where he had left his 
 cloth, and while the cloth was being divided among them, he 
 ran into the bush with the boy and remained there in hiding 
 for a month, going through many adventures and nearly being 
 discovered several times. Mr. Morrison's father, who was 
 also caught, died from exposure and rough treatment. 
 
 One of the worst murders that took place during the whole 
 outbreak was the killing of Mr. T. Johnson and his sister, a 
 girl of eighteen, who were caught hiding in a village called 
 Deparli, in the Jong country. As soon as they were taken 
 prisoners they were tied together, stripped naked, and terribly 
 flogged. They were then made to walk to Tihun in the 
 Small Boom country, several hours' journey away, where they 
 were brought before the chief, a man named Vandi, who
 
 I40 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 immediately ordered them to be killed. They were then 
 flogged again in the presence of a large number of people, 
 and had to walk back, in charge of a party of war-boys, to 
 Deparli. When they arrived there, the war-boys tied 
 Johnson to one tree, and his sister to another, both in view 
 of each other. A man then appeared with a knife, and after 
 some difficulty succeeded in cutting ofi" one of Johnson's ears. 
 Miss Johnson's ear was also cut off. Then several ruffians 
 held first one, and then the other, down and slit their tongues. 
 In this position they were left for some hours, and then 
 conveyed into the bush and flung into a fire which was made 
 ready to receive them. Whether they were dead or not when 
 this happened I could not ascertain. Let us hope they were. 
 There were three other mui'ders committed in or near this 
 village of Deparli, and the perpetrators of them have 
 unfortunately never been caught. 
 
 The murders which took place at a large town called 
 Eotifunk are too horrible for a detailed description. At this 
 place, amongst the many who were killed on tlie ord of May, 
 were an American gentleman, two American ladies, and two 
 English ladies, all of whom were tortured to death. These 
 people were living in the mission-house at the time of the 
 rising. This was burnt to the ground ; and they were all, 
 with the exception of one, killed in a most terrible and awful 
 manner. All the ladies we. -"» stripped naked and outraged, 
 and left in the burning sun for hours to be gaped at by 
 thousands of dancing war-boys, a great number of whom 
 were half-mad from drink, and capable of anything. The 
 youngest lady was kept a close prisoner by the chief. He 
 wished to make her his wife, but she had the strength of 
 mind and the pluck to refuse, and was consequently beaten 
 and tortured. She was kept a prisoner for eight days, and 
 then handed over to a party of war-boys, who took her into 
 the bush ; and there every effort was made to induce her to 
 change her mind and marry the chief, but without avail. The
 
 THE MASSACRES 141 
 
 chief's wives were sent to argue with her, and they treated 
 her very cruelly. After being kept a close prisoner in the bush 
 for three days, she was taken back into the town and brought 
 again before the chief. A large crowd of people had gathered 
 to see the white woman, and a sort of trial took place, the 
 chief himself presiding. At the conclusion of this it appears 
 as if some bargaining and arguing took place among the 
 "big men" about the girl, and several offers were made for 
 her. Still refusing to accept the chief as husband, or to 
 marry any other man, she was kept a closely guarded prisoner 
 in a small hut on the outskirts of a farm inside the bush. 
 The chief's second wife was sent to look after her, and I 
 understand that during the time that she was there she was 
 treated fairly kindly by this woman. At length she was again 
 brought before the chief; and on her persistent refusals she 
 was flogged and tied. Finding that everything that he could 
 do was of no avail, the chief lost his temper, and calling to 
 some war-boys, ordered the girl to be killed. They were 
 to kill her, but they would not do it too quickly. She was 
 then led away into the bush, bound, and stripped naked. 
 
 A man named Robert Taylor, a carpenter by trade, who 
 was present during this time, most graphically described the 
 scene to me. This man, although a pure-bred native, was 
 fairly well educated, and at the time had to pass himself oflf 
 as one of the party joining in the " war." He could be nothing 
 else, therefore, than a horrified spectator of the scene. He 
 did not see the actual murder in the bush, but he saw the girl 
 led forth to die. He said: "I heard the screams from the 
 bush, and the woman calling out to God to let her die. They 
 cut her a lot with their swords, and made a lot of noise. 
 There were plenty of war-boys present. The screaming 
 went on for a long time. They did not kill her all at once. 
 I felt very much afraid and wanted to beg for the white 
 woman. But I dared not say a word, or they would have 
 found out that I knew English and killed me." The girl was
 
 142 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 disgracefully outraged, and then chopped down with a machete, 
 some of her bones and hair being taken and made into " strong 
 medicine." And this foul deed, too awful to be described in 
 full, was perpetrated in the beauty and gi'and solitude of an 
 African forest. The leaves all round the spot were splashed 
 with blood, and the ground was tramped down with the prints 
 of many naked feet. Yet after that foul deed had been com- 
 mitted, the sun continued shining in the heavens, and the 
 birds sang close by as they flew from tree to tree ! Nature 
 seemed all unmoved at this grim tragedy. One would almost 
 have expected the very earth to shake, and the sun to put out 
 bis light, after witnessing such dreadful scenes ! 
 
 " Flows there a tear of pity for the dead '? 
 
 Look o'er the ravage of the reeking plain ; 
 Look on the hands with female slaughter red 
 
 Then to the dogs resign the unburied slain. 
 Yet are thy skies as blue, thy crop as wild, 
 
 Sweet are thy groves, and verdant are thy fields." 
 
 The other ladies and gentlemen were killed within sight of 
 each other, and long before the terrible end came, they prayed 
 and longed for death to free them from their dreadful 
 sufferings. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. M'Grew, both Americans, were foully 
 butchered at Kama in the Ronietta District on the 17th of 
 May. They lived for many hours, dm-ing which time their 
 sufferings must have been too terrible for words, when at last 
 death came mercifully to their relief These people had for 
 months past been doing good and excellent work among the 
 very natives who cut them down. Kindness they had showed 
 fi-eely to all. The sick had been visited and treated, the poor 
 assisted, and the children taught. Small acts like these 
 were of daily occun-ence, and there were not many people 
 living in the vicinity who had not received from these good 
 people some benefit or other, either directly to themselves or
 
 THE MASSACRES 143 
 
 to their friends or relations. And yet, when the outbreak 
 came, these very beneficiaries were the ones who helped to 
 slay and torture them. We, as Christians living in the 
 twentieth century, cannot understand such base ingratitude. 
 But " can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his 
 spots ? " I trow not ! 
 
 In connection with the above I cannot do better than quote 
 an extract published in the Daily Chronicle in June, 1898, 
 from a correspondent who was on the spot during that 
 time. 
 
 "We have had no sleep for the past four or five nights, 
 expecting the Mendis to rush us from the hill-sides. When 
 they made their attack on Rotifunk, they captured four 
 American mission ladies, who had got about a mile and a half 
 from their mission in their flight to Songo town. They 
 stripped these ladies of all their clothing, and marched them 
 back in the bm-ning sun to the house they had just escaped 
 from. After cruelly outraging them, they put them to death 
 and mangled their bodies in such a manner as cannot be 
 described. 
 
 "Another lady, who was down with fever at the time, the 
 fiends tied up in barbed fencing wire, thus piercing her to 
 death. The men they captm-ed they mutilated by first cutting 
 ofi" hands, then arms to the elbow, and afterwards at the 
 shoulders, legs being chopped ofl' piecemeal in similar fashion, 
 after which the trunk was hacked in two, and the head severed 
 from the body and placed on a pole. These poles were set up 
 in fields, portions of the body being scattered along the road- 
 way and in the bush. The Mendis, indeed, sent into Sherbro 
 several baskets of chopped up human remains, both of whites 
 and blacks." 
 
 Throughout the Bandajuma district the murders of the men 
 at the out- stations were particularly atrocious. In the Barri 
 country a Frontier was caught and taken to a big town called 
 Bandasuma, on the Moia or Sulima River. His hands and
 
 144 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 feet were cut off, and a stone was tied round his neck, and he 
 was flung into the river and drowned. In the Tunkia, Gowra, 
 Koya, and Malema countries we lost men, who were all 
 treacherously murdered. At the large town of Gegbima, in 
 the Northern Tunkia, two men were asked into a fiiend's 
 house, having been first persuaded to leave their arms behind 
 them. "While they were sitting conversing with their com- 
 panions, one of whom was their own batman — a Mendi boy — 
 they were suddenly seized, their arms were pinioned behind 
 them, and they were led, amidst the jeers of the crowd, out 
 into the barri (court-house), where they were tied to posts 
 and left all night. Next day, before a great crowd of people, 
 their throats were cut in this Bani, their uniform burnt, and 
 the little property they possessed was plundered. Their Mendi 
 boy took a practical part in the betrayal and murder of his 
 masters. 
 
 " Some native blood was seen thy streets to dye, 
 A traitor only fell beneath the feud." 
 
 Besides these instances, but a few of many hundred deeds 
 of savagery, the men of the Frontier Force, who were scattered 
 about the Protectorate in small detachments, suffered most 
 severely from treachery at the hands of the insurgents. A 
 large number were captured and tortured to death. In fact, 
 whenever a Government official fell into the hands of the 
 Mendis, all the de\dlish arts of torture in which they were 
 versed were brought into play, and old scores were paid back 
 with heavy interest on those who, in tlieir official capacity, 
 had perhaps had unpleasant dealings previously with some of 
 the people. It would take too long to describe a fourth, nay, 
 even a tenth part of what took place between the natives and 
 our men stationed about the country at the time of the out- 
 break. Much treacherous and horrible butchery was performed 
 — many fights, sufferings, and almost desperate acts of valour 
 on the part of our men when endeavouring to make their
 
 '■ KKADV : 
 
 The West Afrioau Frontier Force at Drill. 
 
 (P. 166.) 
 
 ^^^^PBf f^- 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 A KAIN-IIAI. I I'l'iCK .MI:MJII,\Mi 
 
 A .soi.iMi:i; (.11 1 in: \\i:>r ai kk \n ri;o.\iii:it 
 FouiK WHO i:s( Ai'i:i) Diifi.Nt; thk kisim;. 
 
 Tn/ac,' I,. lU.
 
 THE MASSACRES 145 
 
 escape or rescue their comrades. Some of these were weeks 
 hiding in the bush, and during that time existed on roots and 
 berries, arriving eventually at their headquarters in a famished 
 and fearfully emaciated condition. 
 
 Enough ! These melancholy stories must end. Many of 
 these wretches were severely punished and suffered the extreme 
 penalty of the law, which, to my mind, was far too good for 
 them. There are still some lurking about in the Protectorate 
 with the guilt of blood upon their hands and upon their con- 
 sciences. So far as their depraved nature will let them, they 
 are suffering the agonies of a murderer's guilty mind, and 
 their punishment will overtake them sooner or later, if not 
 from the hands of the authorities, then from Nature's remark- 
 able provision — the great law of compensation. 
 
 " For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak 
 With most miraculous organ." 
 
 II
 
 CHAPTER XrV 
 
 THE RELIEF OF BANDAJUMA 
 
 " For this relief, much thanJiS." 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 ON May 3, 1898, the Countess of Derby an-ived at Bonthe, 
 bringing 7 officers and 159 N.C.O.'s and men of the 
 West India Regiment, with 12 headmen and 174 carriers, the 
 whole under the command of Colonel G. G. Cunningham, 
 C.B., D.S.O. Their object was the relief of Bandajuma, the 
 headquarters of the District which was at present invested by 
 the insm-gents, and from which no news had been received for 
 several weeks. The Governor, when issuing his instructions 
 to the officer in command, had advised the Jong River route 
 to be followed. Here a base would be formed and an advance 
 made to Mawfe, with a view to establishing communication 
 thence with the beleaguered station. 
 
 On the 8th of May ten boats were obtained at Bonthe and 
 loaded with stores, and on the following night, which happened 
 to be a dark one, the advanced guard, consisting of 6 officers, 
 2 medical officers, and 120 N.C.O.'s and men and 140 carriers, 
 under the command of Major C. B. Morgan, D.S.O., West 
 India Regiment, started ofi" at eight o'clock to occupy Mattru 
 and there to form a base for pushing on up-country. 
 
 The force embarked in lighters, which were towed by the 
 
 Blonde's steam pinnace for three hours up the river. To 
 
 146
 
 THE RELIEF OF BANDAJUMA 147 
 
 assist the cutter in this work the crews of the boats pulled 
 oars. At eleven o'clock the cutter cast oJBf, and the force 
 proceeded up-stream under oars only. The river at this part 
 is fairly broad, the water black and dead-looking, and the bush 
 bordering the banks as thick as thick could be. 
 
 After rowing hard until somewhere about 1.30 a.m., a large 
 force of the enemy opened fire at Mapurgba, and from that 
 time firing scarcely ever ceased. The enemy must have had 
 a considerable number of guns and have been well supplied, 
 moreover, with ammunition, for the fusilade directed at us 
 from the banks was both hot and incessant. Our o^vn 
 expenditure of ammunition must at the same time have been 
 prodigious, for it was quite dark and the enemy were well 
 hidden, partly by the thick foliage and partly by the natural 
 configuration of the river banks. However, the want of light 
 and the width of the stream together combined to prevent any 
 serious loss in killed and wounded on our side, though in some 
 places the opposition was so determined that it was found 
 necessary to land at all risks, in order to dissipate the 
 attacking force and captm-e their guns, which had been placed 
 in commanding positions to rake us as we passed. Three 
 successive times was this accomplished ; but it was found 
 impracticable, owing to delay caused by attacks on the part 
 of the enemy and the necessity for landing parties, to reach 
 Mattru that day, and the force encamped at Pepor, a small 
 town on the Ronietta side of the Jong. This place was 
 reached at 11.30 a.m., having been some eight and a half 
 hours in the boats, and exposed to the enemy's fire most of 
 that time. As already stated, our losses, considering the 
 intensity of the firing, were marvellously light. The casual- 
 ties up to this were a European sergeant-major and one native 
 soldier killed and twelve men wounded. The site of our camp 
 at Pepor was soon a very quagmire, the soft ground being 
 speedily churned into wet mud by the feet of the soldiers. 
 Everybody's nerves were more or less strung up from having
 
 148 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 had to sit still so long exposed to fire, and even after our 
 arrival at Pepor the enemy's attentions in this way continued. 
 Xext day the boats in charge of Major A. F. Dawkins, 
 Northumberland Fusiliers, with thirty men of the West India 
 Regiment, returned to Bonthe, and we heard afterwards that 
 they had been fired upon both by guns and cannon for a gi-eat 
 part of the distance. 
 
 On May 13th the remainder of the expedition under Colonel 
 Cunningham's command, consisting of 6 ofiicers, 118 N.C.O.'s 
 and men, and 180 carriers, were conveyed across to York 
 Island. At 11 a.m. we went off in a long string of boats 
 towed by a couple of steam cutters fi'om the Blonde, the four 
 last being detailed for landing purposes. At Matm-gba we 
 were again fired upon, and I landed at Bowo, a little higher 
 up, and captured and spiked a gun. Proceeding, we again 
 found it necessary to land at a place called Yali, where we 
 were once more met by a heavy fire. Here a gun was captured 
 and the town destroyed. Commander Hoskins was present 
 with the expedition up the river, and covered the landing 
 parties with his machine gun fi-om the cutter. We did not 
 arrive at Pepor until 8 a.m. 
 
 The mode of fighting in these expeditions was much the 
 same as in the Timini country, probably the same tactics 
 being adopted ; although the Mendis lacked leaders, were 
 comparatively poorly armed, and aj^peared more in the open. 
 The narrow winding paths, hedged in by thick bush, were 
 also much the same, and as the column advanced, the enemy's 
 presence was not known until guns had been discharged at 
 close quarters, which nearly always resulted in some of our 
 men, usually the advanced guard, being hit. 
 
 We remained the whole of the following day at Pepor to 
 prepare for the advance, and on the 15th of May we crossed 
 the Jong Piiver at 9 a.m., and the caniers and column swung 
 out on the bush path in a long, straggling line. We had not 
 been going many minutes when we were fired upon, which
 
 IIIK LAIE CAITAIN s. MdnUi:. 
 
 (P. 171.) 
 
 31{, JONfi KIVEH, WllKKK TlIK BAXDAJl'MA 
 
 KEI.IKI- IciKCI-: r.AMiKI". 
 
 aci.' J). 14K. 
 
 I HI'; ri'i'i;i; urnA.M m \ i;k. 
 
 (P. lt>6.)
 
 THE RELIEF OF BANDAJUMA 149 
 
 resulted in a Frontier being shot dead at a range of certainly 
 not more than six yards. Proceeding on our way, we were 
 constantly fired at, and the horns and war drums of the enemy 
 could be heard in the forest beyond and around us. The 
 advanced guard, under Captain H. D. Russell, D.S.O., made 
 rapid progress through the thick bush, and we passed many 
 dead and dying of the enemy lying on the road. Owing to 
 the can'iers becoming worn out, we halted at Luawah, and 
 camped for the night in the rain. 
 
 The next day, soon after dawn, we were on the march, the 
 damp unhealthy mist, and the dripping branches bordering 
 the narrow track, wetting us through and through. We were 
 now in the Kemor country, and neariug its principal town, 
 Bongeh. This was the place where Chief Berri lived before 
 he was made a prisoner at Kambia. The hills here, known 
 as the Bongeh Hills, are steep and trying to ascend. But 
 the scenery, when the summit is reached, is very pretty, and 
 the country in the immediate neighbourhood comparatively 
 open. Here and there, dotted about these hills, can be seen 
 small shelters or " devil huts," built by the people to drive 
 away the evil spirits. The Mendis are very suspicious of all 
 hills, and believe that in every one lurks a spirit, which can 
 work for good or evil upon them. Much care and many 
 sacrifices are made to appease these evil spirits and bring 
 good into the country. 
 
 Before we reached Bongeh town we suddenly became pain- 
 fully aware of a stockade barring oui- progi-ess right across the 
 road. It was hidden round a bend, and on the approach of 
 the advanced guard the enemy opened fire upon us, the slugs 
 and potlegs singing and humming over our heads, and whiz- 
 zing down the path. The fire here was almost entirely 
 frontal, and to avoid it, it was necessary to crouch do\vn. 
 This stockade was taken by cutting round it on both sides, as 
 usual, and attacking it in front, which we did at the expense 
 of two men of the West India Regiment wounded. It was
 
 ISO OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 tiyiug work crawling through the bush, with difficulty seeing 
 in what direction one was going. Behind the stockade there 
 was a great deal of blood and two corpses, and the enemy 
 must have suffered severely here, believing, no doubt, that 
 the white man's bullets would not penetrate their stronghold. 
 
 The heat had now become very trying, and the steepness 
 of the ascent caused several men and carriers to fall out fi-om 
 exhaustion. We were soon all soaked to the skin by a 
 downpour of rain, which greatly added to the discomfort of 
 eveiybody. That night, after a very fatiguing and trying 
 day, we camped at a small iovm called Gendama. Some of 
 the men of the West India Regiment had gone down with 
 fever, and so, although our casualties had not been hea^y, our 
 hammocks were rapidly filling. We were off again next 
 morning, passing through the same unhealthy forest bush. 
 The road was barred in several places by great trees and other 
 obstacles placed across the paths, which of course delayed the 
 long column, and caused the tail end to straggle. This had 
 to be made up by doubling. 
 
 After a long march, during which we were fired upon 
 several times, we arrived at Mawfe. A few of the native 
 houses were standing among the ruins, and here we formed 
 our camp. To our surprise no attempt was made to prevent 
 our entry into this town, the scene so short a time ago of the 
 terrible tragedy I have abeady endeavoured to describe. The 
 enemy were nevertheless all around us, and while visiting the 
 outskirts I saw several of them cautiously spying at us fi-om 
 the distance, but they slipped away too quickly for me to get 
 a shot at them. 
 
 All over this part of the country leopards and other game 
 abound, but, as is the case all over this part of West Africa, 
 the density of the bush makes it extremely difficult to get any 
 sport. I have been out for days, and have been able, by the 
 aid of my shikari, to track the spoor of swamp deer for 
 long distances through the bush, and have seen the pugs of
 
 .. '^
 
 THE RELIEF OF BANDAJUMA 151 
 
 leopards and other beasts, showing that they were plentiful 
 enough. Being disappointed after going out many times, and 
 with the enervating effects of the climate continually working 
 upon one, the unhappy conclusion is reached that West 
 Africa is a poor country for shikar. There are, of course, 
 exceptions, and I have known men in luck get most excellent 
 shooting in this country. 
 
 The following morning, namely, the 18th of May, our camp 
 was put into a state of defence, and reconnoitring parties 
 were sent out with a view to dispersing any of the enemy 
 collected in the neighbourhood. Nothing worth recording 
 took place that day ; but at 1 a.m. on the 19th the officer on 
 duty was alarmed by a gun being fired off, which sounded to 
 be almost inside our camp. This was the signal for the alarm, 
 and everybody rushed to arms. I was sleeping in a hut, 
 bordering on the outskirts of the camp, when I was aroused 
 by my servant rushing in and shouting that the enemy were 
 inside the defences. I remember bundling out, still half 
 asleep, and in my haste was unable to find the matches and 
 get a light. My revolver was close to my side, I knew, but in 
 the hurry and confusion of the moment I could not in the 
 pitchy darkness put my hand upon it. I now know well what 
 Napoleon meant when he laid so much stress upon " two 
 o'clock in the morning coin-age." At that moment I felt that 
 I would have given anything for that revolver and a light. 
 There was a great deal of shouting going on, and it was tound 
 that we were attacked by a force from Boompe, led by Chief 
 Berewa, and estimated to be a thousand strong. The Mendis 
 were at their old game again, and had tried to creep into the 
 town and stick us in our beds, but they had found our 
 sentries too smart for them. They attacked us several times, 
 firing and charging, but could not withstand the steady volleys 
 poured into them by our men at every point. 
 
 At daybreak a charge was made by West India soldiers 
 and Frontiers, gallantly led by Major Morgan, D.S.O., who
 
 152 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 succeeded in cleariiifr tlie enemy out, though he was un- 
 fortunately severely wounded in the head before the charge 
 was completed. This drove the enemy off, and they left 
 behind them over 130 dead. Many of our men were wounded 
 by spears and swords in the fighting, some of which was 
 hand to hand. At the same time we were attacked in front, 
 the enemy, roughly estimated to be between two and three 
 hundred, attacked us in rear, having first crossed the 
 Boom River. After some fighting, they were charged, and 
 driven into the river with severe loss. Forty dead bodies 
 were counted floating down the stream at the end of this 
 engagement. Up to the present the Mendis, whenever they 
 had met us, had suffered pretty severely, but they deser\^ed 
 a thousand times more punishment than being killed in 
 action. Nothing would be too bad for the terrible deeds that 
 were committed by these wretches, and when one looked at 
 the wreckage all around, and saw the charred remains of the 
 bodies, one felt capable of doing almost anything to revenge 
 these dastardly deeds. 
 
 On the 20th of May a convoy arrived from the base. They 
 had had difficulty in making their way, and were several 
 times attacked, which resulted in the wounding of three 
 soldiers and several carriers. The road was, as usual, blocked 
 by eveiy possible obstacle. Felled trees lay across the path, 
 while all the bridges were barricaded and broken. Most of 
 the roads in this neighbourhood were stockaded and small 
 parties used to go out, come into action, accomplish their 
 object by the removal of these obstacles, and return to camp 
 before nightfall. 
 
 AiTangements were now being made to send a small force 
 of picked men through to Bandajuma. There was some 
 difficulty in crossing the Boom Piiver, as there were no boats 
 available, and so the carriers, assisted by the men, were busily 
 occupied cutting wood from the bush and constructing rafts. 
 On the 21st a force of fifty-one men, consisting of the "West
 
 THE RELIEF OF BANDAJUMA 153 
 
 India Regiment and Frontiers, under Captain N. E. Safford, 
 and seventy carriers, left Mawfe at dawn, and after two trips 
 successfully crossed the Boom River on the rafts, and started 
 for Bandajuma, some twenty-eight miles away. The force 
 accomplished the journey in one day, arriving at Bandajuma 
 before dark, which was most excellent work. There they 
 found the place closely invested and quite cut off. The 
 station had been attacked by large numbers of the enemy, 
 who had been driven oflf with heavy loss each time. The old 
 paramount chief of the Sowra country, Momokiki, and who 
 resided in the native town of Bandajuma close to the barracks, 
 had been obliged to be loyal owing to his proximity to the 
 Government. He had assisted us to hold the place with at 
 least two thousand of his people, and his brother Momo-jah, a 
 powerful chief, who held sway in the Lower Sowra or Upper 
 Kittam country, and who resided in a town called Pujuhuu, 
 which was some eighteen miles away, also assisted us, and 
 rendered a great deal of valuable service later on. 
 
 The old Chief Momokiki was a man of between eighty and 
 ninety years of age. In spite of his years he was fairly 
 active, and possessed a tall and striking figure with a pleasant 
 face. He was not a pure Mendi, his father, as I have said 
 before, being a Fullah man who came into Mendiland when 
 quite young and married his mother, who was a pure bred 
 Mendi woman. At the commencement of the rising, and 
 when first Bandajuma was attacked, the old chief hesitated 
 as to which side he would join. He was certainly in an 
 awkward position. If he threw in his lot with his country- 
 men, and the British held their own, he would be caught and 
 imprisoned, perhaps hanged. On the other hand, in the 
 event of the enemy succeeding in taking the place, he would 
 have been most certainly killed. On the first victory of the 
 British he joined hand and glove with us, and his brother, 
 Momo-jah, one of the cleverest and most cunning men in the 
 whole country, joined with him. We consequently had
 
 154 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 several tbouiiand natives assisting us ; but bad it been tbe 
 otber way, I tbink tbere is little doubt tbat tbe station would 
 bave fallen. 
 
 Cbief Momo-jab was a most interesting personage. Of 
 sbort stature, I tbink be possessed a pair of tbe most cunning 
 eyes I bave ever seen. He was considered a gi*eat wanior in 
 tbe countr}', and bad been mixed up for years in tbe old tribal 
 wai's, and witb tbe catcbingof slaves. He bad probably seen 
 as mucb bloodsbed, and indirectly assisted in tbe slajang of 
 as many people, as any man in tbe country, wbicb is saying 
 a good deal. I came to know tbis cbief very intimately 
 after«-ards, and be bas told me most extraordinary yarns of 
 bis former doings. He was a most able man, and con- 
 sequently, being an uncivilised native — dangerous. He bad, 
 bowever, tbrown in bis lot witb tbe Government, foreseeing 
 before most of bis fellow subjects tbat tbere was no otber 
 course open, and bas certainly rendered us mucb service in 
 tbe country from time to time. 
 
 Tbe force under Captain Safford, "West India Regiment, 
 retm-ned to Mawfe on tbe 25tb, and two days previously 
 anotber convoy arrived fi'om tbe base, baving been as usual 
 attacked on tbe road. Prior to tbe return of Captain Safford, 
 bis men, accompanied by Frontiers, and 300 levies, marcbed 
 to attack tbe town of Largo in tbe Jiama country, some nine 
 miles fi'om Bandajuma. Tbe object of tbis attack was to 
 break up a force of tbe enemy wbo were reported by our spies 
 to be assembling tbere preparatory to making anotber attempt 
 on tbe station. 
 
 Tbis town of Largo bas one of tbe most interesting 
 bistories in tbe Protectorate. For years it was tbe gi-eat 
 slave market for tbis part of tbe country ; and was conse- 
 quently tbe scene of a number of boiTors and atrocities. It 
 is a most pictm'esque tow"n, closely suiTounded by unusually 
 gigantic busb wbicb abounds witb monkeys. Tbe Paramount 
 Cbief, Makaia, wbose name was a terror to tbe people for
 
 THE RELIEF OF BANDAJUMA 155 
 
 miles around, was probably the biggest ruffian and slave 
 holder in the country. He would organise periodical raids, 
 one of these resulting in the capture of six hundred women 
 and children. Things got so bad at last in the Jiama 
 country, that an expedition was organised in 1889 against 
 Makaia ; and the force, accompanied by the Governor, Sir 
 James S. Hay, arriving at Largo in the early dawn, sm-prised 
 and attacked the town, destroying it and setting free a 
 thousand slaves. Owing to the success of this last ex- 
 pedition, Chief Makaia was taken prisoner, and sent into 
 Sierra Leone, where he died in gaol. His successor, who 
 calls himself Shaffa, and who in his time had been a great 
 slave-dealer also, has reconciled himself to doing without 
 them, and now, as he says, " sits down for the British 
 Government." I have found him an easy man to deal with, 
 though he is weak with his people. He has often told me 
 the most exciting stories of the old slave days, and we are 
 good friends. He now enjoys the peace which the Govern- 
 ment has brought into the country. 
 
 It was thought necessary to establish a post halfway 
 between Mawfe and Bandajuma. This would be at Jimi 
 in the Upper Big Boom country ; where, on my first march 
 up-country, we received that scare about the smallpox. The 
 tornado season was now approaching, and rain fell daily ; and 
 in another three weeks the " rains " would be in full swing. 
 On the 26th I left Mawfe with a force of Frontiers and 
 West Lidia soldiers, and several labourers for Jimi, there 
 to establish a post. After the first two hours' marching 
 heavy rain came on and we were soon soaked to the skin. 
 This delayed our progi-ess considerably, and after being on 
 the tramp for eight hours, we arrived at Jimi only to find the 
 place burnt to the ground. Not a stick was standing, and we 
 had no tents, while the rain was coming down in sheets. 
 The men were standing about in shivering groups, and every- 
 thing looked most depressing and miserable. At last the
 
 156 OUR J VEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 labourers cut some palm leaves and sticks from the bush, and 
 after about an hour succeeded in putting up a little leaf 
 shelter, three feet wide and four feet high. The natives are 
 so clever at this that in spite of the severity of the rain not 
 a di'op came through, and although the ground beneath us 
 was wet and thick with mud, I crept, shivering, beneath my 
 shelter, and in spite of all slept the sleep of the weary the 
 whole night through. 
 
 The next morning, before daylight, I started on the return 
 march to Mawfe, having left a post at Jimi. This march 
 was uneventful, with the exception of one unspirited attack 
 by the enemy, who were easily driven off. "VVe were several 
 times soaked to the skin by the rain, but after a time one gets 
 accustomed to these little inconveniences, even to the di-ying 
 of one's clothes on one's back, which has often happened to 
 me, but from which I never felt any ill effects, due, doubtless, 
 to being on the move while the drying process was going on. 
 
 While our column was going up-country. Major Dawkins, in 
 command of the base, had been clearing the neighbourhood 
 of the insurgents, and on the 27th of May he attacked and 
 destroyed the large town of Tihun, in the Small Boom country, 
 and captured a cannon there. At this place many atrocities 
 had been committed, and it was considered to be a big fetish 
 to^vn, so the destruction of the place had a considerable effect 
 upon the people. 
 
 On May the 31st the officer commanding the expedition 
 marched to Bandajuma without opposition and found things 
 there in a little more settled condition. The retm-n journey 
 to Mawfe was made on the 2nd of June, a halt being made 
 halfway at Jimi. This town had been attacked at 3 a.m. 
 that morning by a number of the Boomp6 people, and others, 
 who had crept close up to the sentries without being dis- 
 covered. They were driven off with loss by Captain H. E. 
 Hutchinson, West India Regiment, who was in command of 
 the post.
 
 THE RELIEF OF BANDAJUMA 157 
 
 Although Bandajuma, the headquarters of the district, was 
 now free from further attacks, the immediate neighbourhood 
 was in a very distm*bed and dangerous state. The place was full 
 of armed and concealed war-boys, and it would take some time 
 before the pacification of the country was achieved and the 
 murderers caught and brought to justice. 
 
 Meanwhile, numerous small local expeditions were going 
 out daily, and the enemy were attacked and their towns 
 destroyed in the immediate neighbourhood. 
 
 This station was in a most perilous position at the com- 
 mencement of the rising. There were quite fifty men 
 stationed in small detachments about the District, and the 
 majority of these were treacherously caught and murdered, 
 while others had hairbreadth escapes, and lived on roots for 
 days together, hiding in the bush. At that time also the 
 Commissioner was away in the Dama country — some three 
 days' march, with forty Frontiers, on House Tax duty. This 
 force, shortly before the rising, was quartered at the principal 
 town of the coimtry, called Pendabu, where the Paramount 
 Chief Jaberti resided. The men, never suspecting the 
 coming trouble, were as usual scattered about the town in 
 difi'erent huts. Everything was previously arranged by the 
 natives for the massacre of the force, and the chief had 
 agreed to murder them all that night, when a question as 
 to the sharing of the plunder cropped up. The chief not 
 being satisfied with the proposals made by the Ki'ubas and 
 others in authority, postponed action for another day. The 
 following morning the Commissioner, having received intima- 
 tion from Bandajuma of the impending trouble, started oif, 
 choosing a little frequented road. Marching night and day he 
 succeeded in reaching the station in the early morning about 
 two hours before the attack was made. This was a fine per- 
 formance. Had he passed by the usual road he would have 
 been attacked and ambushed by great nmnbers who were 
 watching for him. He would also have found his passage
 
 158 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 across the Moia river, one of the largest in the Protectorate, 
 harred. Also, had the chief heen satisfied with his reward 
 for the treacherous extermination of this party, they would 
 most certainly have heen murdered the niglit hefore they left 
 Dama. Unfortunately, during this march the hoy bugler, 
 who was unable through fatigue to keep up with the party, 
 was compelled to fall out, and he remained behind and was 
 caught and murdered by the men of Chief Amara of Gorahun, 
 the Paramount Chief of the Tunkia country. This chief 
 was concerned in several murders, and took an active part in 
 the rising, but unfortunately there was not sufficient evidence 
 forthcoming by which he could be convicted, and he still rules 
 his country. 
 
 The attacks on Bandajuma were vigorously made by great 
 numbers of the insurgents. It was, however, in a good 
 position for defence, standing as it did on a rise, with a large 
 space of cleared ground all round. The enemy suffered 
 severely, having to come a good deal into the open, and their 
 skulls and bones were found lying about in the bush for months 
 after. Had they made their first attack two hours earlier, before 
 the arrival of the party from Dama, there is little doubt that 
 the station would have been taken, as the officer then in 
 command. Captain T. B. Eames, had only a force of about 
 sixteen men, and he was at the time sufi"ering from fever. 
 For several weeks this station was closely invested and quite 
 cut off from the outside world ; there were few provisions in 
 the place, and all were on "half rations," a very unpleasant 
 and serious matter in a climate such as this is. 
 
 One of the great strongholds in this part of the country, 
 and in which the native people had unbounded faith, was 
 Boompe town, in the country of the same name, a distance of 
 about seventeen miles from Mawfe. The people here had 
 from time immemorial been the gi'eat warriors in the southern 
 portion of the Protectorate, and were always successful in the 
 many wars and slave-raiding expeditions which they periodi- 
 cally carried out.
 
 THE RELIEF OF BANDAJUMA 159 
 
 The town of Boompe was, moreover, a powerful fetish place, 
 situated on the Tarbe river, which was held to be sacred by the 
 people. Close to this town and on one of the banks of the 
 river is a fetish grove, which is still existing and which the 
 people assert has never to this day been visited by any white 
 man. They are very much averse to any strangers going 
 there ; and although I endeavoured to visit the place in 1902, 
 I saw it was distasteful to the people and so gave up the 
 attempt. The Tarbe river at this point has most lovely 
 scenery, and is as usual shut in by almost impenetrable 
 tropical foliage. Scattered along its banks, and within a mile 
 of the town, both up and down stream can be seen the Juju 
 fetish of the people, in all its variety. Their queer customs, 
 all of which tend towards one thing, namely, the driving 
 away of the evil spirits and encouraging of the good, are 
 absorbingly interesting and well worthy of careful study by 
 all those who take an interest in West Africa and its peoples. 
 
 In consequence of Boompe having been impregnable in the 
 past, it was supposed by the inhabitants, for miles around, to 
 be in possession of very strong and powerful "medicine," 
 especially made and consecrated by the Morri magicians and 
 proof against the attacks of the white men. Up to the pre- 
 sent, this town had not been attacked by any British column, 
 and although a number of the people had been killed in the 
 various attacks made upon us, the country round was of 
 opinion that we should always be unable to take the place 
 owing to the amount of fetish by which it was surrounded. 
 Until this place was taken and destroyed, therefore, the great 
 number of the chiefs in this part of the country would hang 
 back and delay bringing in their submission to the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Consequently, on the 11th of June, a force of the West 
 India Hegiment, commanded by Captain Kussell, D.S.O., left 
 Mawf6 for Boomp6, which they attacked at early dawn the 
 following morning. The i(s\\ix was very heavily stockaded by
 
 i6o OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 two lines of fences, and a most determined and plucky resis- 
 tance was made by the enemy, who held on to their position 
 until the last and until eighty dead bodies lay behind the 
 stockades. Inside the town all kinds of " medicine " and 
 fetish charms were discovered. The stockades were destroyed 
 and the town fired, those of the enemy who were not dead or 
 wounded fleeing by crossing the Tarbe River, and hiding in 
 the surrounding bush. Considering the determined character 
 of the resistance made by these people, our casualties were 
 very small ; Captain Russell and three men being severely 
 wounded, and three men slightly wounded. 
 
 When the smoke of the burning town was seen by the 
 eagerly watching inhabitants for miles around, and they knew 
 by this sign that their stronghold had been taken, the people 
 in this part of the country began to see that it was impossible 
 to fight the white man, and cast about as to the best means 
 of surrendering to the forces of the Great White Queen, 
 
 While the relief of Bandajuma was taking place, Panguma, 
 the headquarters of the Panguma District, had been steadily 
 attacked by large numbers of the enemy, who had completely 
 surrounded the place and made desperate efforts to capture it. 
 It was consequently quite cut off from the outside world, and 
 much apprehension was felt in Sierra Leone as to the fate of 
 its gallant defenders. Orders had been received from the 
 Governor that Panguma was to be relieved at all cost, if 
 possible, by a force from Bandajuma, who could reach it by 
 good marching in four days. Accordingly, on the 9th of June, 
 a force consisting of forty-five Frontiers, and a number of 
 Friendlies, under Captain Eames, left Bandajuma with that 
 object. Resistance was not met with until the second day, 
 when a large number of the enemy secreted in the bush 
 opened fire on the party. Pushing on,, a town called Doija 
 was reached, when another attack was made which resulted in 
 three of our men and one Friendly being killed, and several 
 Frontiers wounded. Difiiculty now arose by the Friendlies and
 
 THE RELIEF OF BANDAJUMA i6i 
 
 carriers refusing to cross the Pangiima border. Eveiy effort 
 and threat was made to induce them to do so, but unavail- 
 ingly ; and the party having gone thirty miles, and finding 
 they could not proceed without their loads, which consisted 
 of ammunition and provisions for the beleaguered garrison, 
 were forced to retire, and returned to Bandajuma on the 13th. 
 
 12
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 OPENIKG UP THE KITTAM 
 
 *' We have met the enemy and they 
 
 TT became necessar}' that communication should be obtained 
 -■- by water with Sherbro, and it was decided that the Paver 
 Kittam would be the most convenient route. That part of 
 the country had as yet received no punishment, and was still 
 in open revolt. The inhabitants had committed a number 
 of fiendish atrocities, as well as destroying and plundering 
 everj' factory in the place. The Kittam was blocked, and no 
 boats except the war canoes of the enemy were permitted to 
 pass up and down it. Accordingly, on June 12th, I left 
 Bandajuma at dawn with a force consisting of one corporal 
 and thu'ty Frontiers en route for Pujuhun in the So^nTa 
 country, eighteen miles away, whence I was to open up the 
 river to Sherbro, destroy the enemy's towns, and inflict as 
 much loss upon them as possible. At Pujuhun I was to be 
 met by the Chief Momo-jah and a force of about four hundred 
 of his war-boys whom he had placed at my disposal. We 
 reached Pujuhun at 4 p.m., and found the town heavily 
 stockaded and crammed with people. They were either seek- 
 ing refuge under the protection of the chief, or assisting him 
 to defend his town against the insurgents, who had several 
 times attacked him because he had thro^mi in his lot with the 
 
 Government. 
 
 162
 
 OPENING UP THE KITTAM 163 
 
 Several of the chief's war-boys who were to accompany 
 me had ah'eady arrived in the town, and a queer looking lot 
 of ruffians they appeared. Some of them had been armed by 
 us with Snider rifles, and given a quantity of ammunition, 
 while many of them had their own guns, swords, and every 
 conceivable kind of weapon in the way of sticks, bludgeons, 
 knives, and clubs. 
 
 That night the chief treated me to one of the best war- 
 dances I have ever seen in this country. A huge ring was 
 formed by the spectators, and at the beating of the tom-toms, 
 or sang-hois, as they called them, each warrior would step 
 into the centre and begin his performance. It had been a 
 time of victory for them, and further victories were ahead. 
 The white man had come to join with them, and to-night they 
 would celebrate the fact. 
 
 As a rule, when about to perform the war-dance, the 
 warriors are stripped naked with the exception of a cloth about 
 the loins ; and magnificent specimens of the genus Jiomo they 
 appeared as their muscular limbs and torsos caught the light 
 of the flickering torches. For head covering they wore a 
 country-made cap or gaudy handkerchief, and the arms, knees, 
 and ankles of every dancer were hung with bunches of fetish 
 charms. Each man was armed with a heavy-bladed sword 
 which, when they cannot afford a gun, is still their favourite 
 weapon in war. 
 
 On first entering the ring, each warrior advances to the 
 centre where he stands like an ebony statue gazing, sword in 
 hand, at the audience crowding round. Meanwhile the beat- 
 ing of drums and throbbing of tom-toms continues ever to 
 grow louder. The performer now holds out his blade at arm's 
 length, and with the point describes great circles with a sweep 
 and swiftness that the eye can scarcely follow. Now his 
 weapon is cleaving the air in lightning-flashes above his head, 
 now rippling in fiery arches round his body, while the " dub- 
 u-dub" of drum and tom-tom is redoubled and the onlookers
 
 i64 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 applaud with a deep-throated roar. The dancer has by this 
 time worked himself up into a perfect frenzy and his whirling 
 blade is become a very comet-track of steely sparks in his fast 
 sweeping hand. On he dances, twirling and gyrating around 
 the circle of "kept" groimd, the audience testifying their 
 appreciation of the performance by that slow deep roar of 
 sustained applause. Then, when the excitement is at its 
 height, and his furious dance has reached a climax, the man 
 suddenly bounds across to where his chief, or the personage 
 in whose honour the tamasha is given is standing, and, driving 
 his weapon point foremost into the ground, crouches at the 
 great man's feet. On this occasion I was the recipient of the 
 honour, and the etiquette of the ceremony demanded that I 
 should touch the man's shoulder with my right hand to signify 
 my acceptance of his war-like services as well as my apprecia- 
 tion of his terpsichorean efforts. 
 
 And so the dance went on. No sooner had one man finished 
 his " turn " than his place was taken by another ; the people 
 crowding round the ring becoming more and more excited as the 
 dance proceeded, whilst the quick-throbbing tom-toms added 
 their quota to the general din. The scene that night, all 
 bathed in pale moonlight, was brilliant and bizan-e in the 
 extreme. In the foregi"ound the cleared ring of ground, in 
 which the coal black wan-iors danced and postured ; hem- 
 ming them in, a shouting, howling mob of fantastically- 
 garbed natives ; behind, again, the dim outlines of the 
 village huts and, for backgi'ound to the weird picture, the 
 ink-black of the dense foliage that gii-t us in before, behind, 
 on every side. And the thought struck me as I stood there, 
 unarmed and quite alone, and glanced round at the villanous 
 visages that confronted me in tier on tier, how very easily 
 treachery could have been displayed upon the white man 
 standing practically at their mercy. However, nothing unto- 
 ward happened, and I retu*ed at the conclusion of the 
 performance after an expression of thanks to the chief for
 
 OPENING UP THE KITTAM 165 
 
 the display, and the distribution of small presents to each 
 of the participants. 
 
 The next morning we were early ready for a start. First, 
 the chief drew up his horde of truculent-looking war-boys 
 in two lines for my inspection and also introduced me to the 
 " captains " of the different bands. At the head of the party 
 was the chief's own son, who accompanied me throughout the 
 march, and who, unfortunately, lost his life in the fighting 
 that ensued. 
 
 My initial object was to march down to a place called 
 Barmah, embark there upon the Kittam River, and so open up 
 a road to Sherbro by water, Barmah was distant only some 
 three hours from that town direct ; but as the whole neigh- 
 bourhood was alive with the enemy, it was decided that a more 
 circuitous route had better be adopted. Accordingly, fifty of 
 the Friendlies and five Frontiers were detailed as scouts and 
 ordered to make a wide sweep of the country, passing through 
 Sowara, Tabor, Petima, Kortuwaun, Gumasun and other towns. 
 Momo-jah's warriors were quite at home at this sort of work, 
 and rendered very valuable assistance, although I found it 
 difficult to keep them in hand and prevent them wandering off 
 on private expeditions of their own in search of loot. When- 
 over we came into the vicinity of the enemy, the native levies 
 would incontinently disappear, but invariably on their return 
 it would be found that they had done gi-eat slaughter, and 
 some of them would bring back a hand, a foot, or some other 
 portion of a human being as a proof of their prowess. 
 
 Continuing on our way we came at length to Barmah, where 
 we found several of the loyal headmen waiting to receive us. 
 I had decided to dispense now with the services of most of the 
 native warriors, and retaining only about a hundred, I em- 
 barked them and my men in four large barges, all of which 
 had been previously barricaded, and to the singing and drum- 
 ming of the war-boys we lumbered off down-stream. 
 
 Of all the waters in the Protectorate there are, I ahould say,
 
 i66 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 none that is more infested with mosquitoes than certain parts 
 of the Kittam River, and I suffered torment unspeakable from 
 these diminutive foes. The river banks in this part are not 
 lined to the water's edge with impenetrable forest, but border 
 upon pleasant open gi-ass fields. Game is abundant all over 
 the locality, and water-deer, pig, and hippopotami abound. 
 The river itself, for the whole distance, presents an appear- 
 ance that is wearisome in its monotony. Its waters are inky- 
 black, the banks and inlets thickly fringed with reeds, amid 
 which plenty of crocodiles lurk and hide. All this low-lying 
 swampy part of the country is very densely populated, and we 
 passed numbers of villages on either bank. " Swiftly ran the 
 current, swollen high by months of rain." We were, in fact, 
 in the heart of the rainy season. The barges were, therefore, 
 taken down at a good pace. As it was my object to reach 
 Sherbro as quickly as possible, I did not intend to attack any 
 of the towns on my journey down, resemng that business for 
 the return trip. A tour in boats like these of ours would be a 
 pleasant enough experience in fine weather. But when you 
 are in the middle of the rains, and are compelled to sit for 
 hours in close and cramped proximity to a crowd of naked and 
 perspiring blacks, the thing is not a picnic party. Over my 
 boat, which was supposed to be the best of the lot, there was, 
 to be sure, a rough sort of awning spread, which was intended 
 to keep the rain out. It succeeded indifferently well in doing 
 this. Nevertheless, owing to the superhuman efforts of our 
 war-boys, who were spurred and encouraged to ply their paddles 
 by a fearful and deafening row from the tom-tom men and other 
 musicians of the party, we made good and rapid progress. 
 
 About 2 a.m. on the following morning the man in the fore 
 part of the boat di*ew my attention to what looked like several 
 small, black logs creeping across our bows about 200 yards 
 ahead. These, I was told, were the enemy's war-canoes. We 
 continued, nevertheless, to pursue our way and now, as we 
 looked ahead, another canoe shot out, then another, and yet
 
 OPENING UP THE KITTAM 167 
 
 another, until the river was dotted with upwards of fifty of these 
 craft, some large, some small, but all of them filled with men. It 
 was now high time to take precautionary measures. E,OT\ing 
 therefore ceased, and as we drifted down-stream every man got 
 his rifle ready and looked forward to the fight which he knew 
 was coming. That they had seen us all doubt was quickly at an 
 end ; for very soon a voice called out in Mendi to know who 
 we were and whither we were going. The corporal in my boat, 
 who happened to understand the language, rej)lied promptly 
 that we were Sierra Leone people who were running away 
 from the war and on our way to Sherbro. Instantly there 
 arose a great hubbub amongst the canoes, and as the light 
 improved, we could see that preparations were being made to 
 attack us. Every man in our boats was now crouching down 
 behind his little wooden screen with rifle loaded and the muzzle 
 pointed outward from the boats. The chief's son, who was 
 in my boat, at this point almost spoilt our game by his over- 
 excitement, and it was with great difiiculty I could restrain 
 him from loosing off his gun haphazard into the midst of the 
 canoes. 
 
 My plan was to allow them to get as near to us as possible 
 and then to open fire upon them at point-blank range, when 
 they would find, instead of hunted traders and women fleeing 
 for their lives, they had to deal with men of sterner stuff. 
 
 Meanwhile the canoes began to draw nearer to us, and 
 gradually formed a sort of semi-circle round our bows, the in- 
 tention being to close in upon us and put us all to death 
 instanter. When they were sufficiently near I gave the word 
 "Fire ! " and instantly sharp tongues of flame spirted from 
 the rifles, and the silence of those lonely river reaches was 
 torn to tatters by the din of battle. Our Friendlies joined in 
 with their long "Dane" guns and added to the noise. At 
 such close quarters the effect of our fusillade can better be 
 imagined than described. Although in the bad light accurate 
 aiming was a matter of impossibility, we were so near them
 
 1 68 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 that a great number must have been hit. Our fire was 
 immediately returned with slugs, which hit several of our 
 men. But in their haste to get away some of the canoes had 
 capsized, while the occupants of others plunged into the river 
 to escape the hail of lead that rained all round ; and the water 
 was dotted for many yards with bobbing heads. We then took 
 to our oars and resumed our course. 
 
 By this time the whole neighbourhood was roused, and it 
 seemed that we were not to be allowed to get away without a 
 scrimmage after all. No sooner had the swimming Krims and 
 Mendis reached the shore than the news was flashed from place 
 to place with the incredible swiftness with which tidings are 
 known to travel in this country, and we were repeatedly fired on 
 from both banks dm-ing the whole of the succeeding night. 
 Thanks, however, to our barricaded boats and other precau- 
 tions, very little damage was done. And so we went on, many 
 a time wet through, tormented by mosquitoes and fired upon 
 incessantly by the insurgents. However, the river was now 
 becoming broader, and as it did so our difficulties decreased. 
 At last, on the morning of the third day we arrived at 
 Bonthe, where we remained two days, and where I gave 
 the Friendlies a good feed and presents, and permission 
 to go out and enjoy themselves in the neighbouring fakais 
 until I was ready to return ; the chief's son com-teously 
 coming in to report to me daily how the camp was getting on. 
 
 Returning, we had sterner work on hand, my intention 
 being to destroy every town and village of the enemy on 
 either bank. The blockade of the river had to be raised at 
 any cost, and the most efficacious way to do this was to raze 
 the strongholds of the enemy and destroy his food supplies 
 whenever and wherever possible. 
 
 I see by my diary that we left Bonthe at twelve o'clock 
 that day, in time to catch the tide. With the usual accom- 
 paniment of noise and shouting on the part of the Friendlies 
 we bade goodbye to the crowd which had gathered to see us off.
 
 OPENING UP THE K ITT AM 169 
 
 It is always a di'eadfully tedious matter embarking in these 
 boats with natives. The babel of voices is terrific. Every- 
 body talks at once, and all hands crowd into the boat and 
 stand up doing nothing but shouting and yelling at each 
 other. You may be sure that if any are left standing on the 
 bank they will do their best to jump in, notwithstanding that 
 the capsizing of the canoe is a dead certainty. You shout 
 until you are hoarse, and the whole business would be most 
 exasperating did it not have such a funny side. 
 
 Our progress now was painfully slow owing to the strong 
 tide that made against us. We passed several small towns 
 and villages on our way which were fired, the people in this 
 part making no resistance. Our war-boys invariably brought 
 back quantities of loot of every kind : fowls and ducks of every 
 degree of scragginess packed in little native-made baskets ; 
 tied and struggling goats and sheep that bleated piteously at 
 their captors ; while now and then a fine fat porker would be 
 added to the common stock, squealing and straining in his 
 futile eflbrts to get his tied legs free. Besides these, great 
 baskets of rice, paupaus, bananas, and in fact every possible 
 kind and description of portable matter were put on board, 
 until the boats resembled nothing so much as trading scows 
 on their way to market. Considerable time on this journey 
 was taken up i;i embarking and disembarking upon these 
 small forays. ' 
 
 We passed Bap at one o'clock in the morning. It had 
 been my intention to destroy this town, but, owing to the 
 darkness, we had gone quite a mile beyond before it was 
 discovered that we had missed it, and I scarcely thought it 
 worth while to retm'u. For the reason that it thus escaped, 
 this town has since been locally regarded as a great " medi- 
 cine " village, and the native, as usual, confusing cause with 
 effect, considers that it owes its immunity from destruction to 
 that fact. I quote this as but furnishing another instance of 
 the strong hold that " medicine " has upon the native mind.
 
 170 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 The burning of a place called Kattin resulted in a fight. 
 While we were engaged in firing the apparently empty town, 
 the inhabitants crept up through the bush and opened fire 
 upon us ; but the Friendlies replied, doing great execution 
 amongst them. Continuing on our way, we reached Toon, 
 noted for its huge and venomous mosquitoes. Close to this 
 place the Boom River joins the Kittam, and here the name 
 is changed to the Boom-Kittam. Proceeding, we came to 
 Mahpumpa in the Quarko country. This place we reached 
 in the darkness, and in the stillness of the tropical night our 
 barges grounded, and the Frontiers, having previously fixed 
 bayonets and fired a volley into the town, charged it, accom- 
 panied by the yelling Friendlies, when the night was soon 
 aglow with the blaze of the burning village. 
 
 Our barges had by this time become so full of loot that 
 we were scarcely able to make any progress whatever, and 
 much to the chagrin of the Friendlies, I insisted upon their 
 leaving some of the livestock behind, else, native-like, they 
 would assuredly have filled up every boat until it sank. 
 
 At Teh we again had a tremendous battle with the mos- 
 quitoes, and nobody except those who have gone through it 
 know what a misery it is to be robbed of one's sleep by these 
 pests after a hard day's work in the broiling sun. 
 
 It had taken us four days in our clumsy barges to come 
 thus far, and when we reached Mopalma, we were some 
 ninety miles from our starting-point, having fired and cleared 
 out nearly every town en route. 
 
 Eventually, however, we arrived at Barmah, where a large 
 concourse of people, including the chief Momo-jah, had 
 assembled to meet us. That night another war-dance was 
 held ; but on this occasion its magnificence was somewhat 
 marred by the fact that the chief's son, who was with me, had 
 been severely wounded, and was in fact m extremis even then. 
 He died shortly afterwards. We had had some few casualties 
 also among our Friendly allies, who had done most excellent
 
 OPENING UP THE KITTAM 171 
 
 work in sjjite of their propensity for loot. Yet, beyond its 
 success from the punitive point of view, this journey was, upon 
 the whole, the most wretched that I had ever undertaken. I 
 felt low from the incessant mosquito bites, stiff in every limb, 
 and indeed had almost lost the power to walk from so close 
 and long confinement. Still, our miseries had not been 
 endured in vain. For there was at least " something accom- 
 plished, something done, to earn a night's repose" — to which, 
 indeed, our party had long been strangers.
 
 CHAPTER XYI 
 
 OPERATIONS IN THE RONIETTA DISTRICT 
 
 " Dulce et decorum est pro patrid 
 mori." 
 
 AS will be seen by the map, the Ronietta District lies to the 
 north-west of Bandajuma, and is inhabited by Mendis, 
 Pbar-Mendis, Sherbros, Yonnis, and Timinis. This was one 
 of the districts in which the House Tax was to come into 
 force in January, 1898. The inhabitants of this part of the 
 Protectorate had nearly all joined in with the others and 
 taken the oath for the destruction of the white man. The 
 chiefs here wielded considerable power, and were of no small 
 importance locally. Early in January they held a meeting, 
 (one of many) at a place called Masimera, and among other 
 matters decided not to attempt to pay the House Tax. This 
 meeting was largely attended, the principal chiefs present 
 being Bai Sherbro of Yonni, Bai Kra of Mabang, Bai Simera 
 of Masimera, and a sub-chief named Kapru Massim, who 
 represented a powerful man named Bai Yosso, of Mayosso. 
 Other meetings took place in the Mabanta and Bagru coun- 
 tries, and there was unrest throughout the whole district. 
 The Kwia country', one of the largest in Ronietta was also 
 unsettled, its two most important chiefs, Pa Nembona and 
 Bai Kompa, doing all they could to get the people to post- 
 pone the tax payment as long as possible until the time had 
 
 arrived for them to strike. 
 
 172
 
 OPERATIONS IN RON I ETTA DISTRICT 173 
 
 There was consequently considerable difficulty in the col- 
 lection of the House Tax in the Kwia country at this time. 
 The paramount chief, named Bai Kompa, a man of import- 
 ance in the country, and of considerable strength of character, 
 and who was stirring up others to drive us from the country, 
 practically refused to pay the tax. An attempt was made to 
 arrest this chief on the 19th of February, but without success. 
 On the 27th of February, the Acting Commissioner of the 
 Ronietta District, the late Captain S. Moore, having been 
 informed that Bai Kompa had fortified himself at Maketti, 
 an island on a tributary of the Rokelle River, left Kwalu, the 
 headquarters of the district, for the Kwia country vdih the 
 object of effecting the capture of this chief. He had with 
 him one native ofiicer and forty Frontiers. On the 3rd 
 instant the force was joined by Major E. D. H. Fairtlough, 
 C.M.G., D.S.O., the present Commissioner of the Ronietta 
 District, and proceeded to Makompa, passing through Robia 
 and Rokonta. At Robia the rear-guard was fired upon, and 
 the party were followed by war-boys right along to Rokonta, 
 where during a halt efforts were made by them to rush the 
 sentries. The party camped for the night at Makompa. The 
 next day, when they were embarking in canoes for Maketti, 
 at which place the chief was supposed to be in hiding, the 
 baggage, which had been left behind in Makompa, was 
 attacked b}^ a very large force of war-boys. This necessitated 
 the return of the force to that place to relieve the baggage 
 guard, which was done, the insurgents being driven off with 
 loss. The hunted chief was reported to have removed to 
 Mangeh, a village near Clines town, and thither the party 
 marched, meeting with considerable resistance on the way. 
 The chief was not, of course, found there, and now he was 
 reported to have returned to Maketti. The party, therefore, 
 went back to that place by another route, meeting with resist- 
 ance for the greater part of the journey. 
 
 On arriving at Maketti, which they found deserted, the
 
 174 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 party were attacked from the bush, and in the fight which 
 followed a sub-chief named Pa Weal, who was the leader of 
 this attack, was taken prisoner. The force then returned to 
 Kobia, where it camped for the night, and was attacked at 
 5.30 p.m. The attack was repulsed with loss. At midnight 
 they were again attacked on three sides ; but after three 
 quarters of an hour's fighting the insurgents were driven ofi". 
 They sufi"ered severely in this action, in spite of the darkness. 
 On the 7th the towns of Makompa and Robia were burnt, and 
 on the 11th of March the party returned to Kwalu. The 
 non-success in apprehending Bai Kompa gave considerable 
 encouragement to him, his sub-chiefs, and the people. Two 
 sub-chiefs, named Almami Senna Buuda and Suri-Kamara, 
 obtained help from the Karene District, blockaded the Rokelle 
 river, and defied the Government, besides threatening the 
 people in the country with death if they paid any tax, and did 
 not join the war party. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 5th of April, fifty Frontiers, under the 
 command of Major Fairtlough, proceeded to Ronietta in order 
 to interview a friendly chief called Fula Mausa, of Yonni. 
 This man endeavoured to induce Bai Kompa to sm-render 
 himself to the Government. He accompanied the force to 
 Mafuluma, where the natives were holding a large war-dance. 
 The party was attacked while crossing a small stream close to 
 the town, but the enemy were driven off, leaving six killed, 
 and some wounded behind them. At 3.30 a.m. the insurgents 
 made an attempt to retake the town, but were again driven 
 off with a loss of seven killed. One of Fula Mausa's men, 
 who had been assisting us, was killed, and another wounded, 
 in this action. The towns of Mafuluma and Maseracouli 
 w^ere destroyed, and the party pushed on to Maiumera, 
 meeting with opposition on the road at a small village called 
 Batipo. At Maiumera we were attacked four times dui'ing 
 the afternoon and at about 9 p.m. a night attack was made. 
 The Friendlies belonging to Chief Fula Mausa rendered much
 
 OPERATIONS IN RON I ETTA DISTRICT 175 
 
 service by following the enemy into the bush, where they 
 invariably managed to kill several of them. They captured 
 the chief Ki'uba (warrior), named Paumri, during this attack. 
 Opposition was now met with everywhere our force went. 
 Hot fighting took place at Foude and Kofutu. At the latter 
 place two Friendlies were killed. At Foroduju, a kind of mud 
 fort had been erected and loopholed, and thither the party 
 went after being ambushed near Romabing. More fighting 
 took place at Robia, which was bui'nt, and the insurgents were 
 also driven out of Foroduju with a loss of five killed and 
 several wounded. This town was subsequently attacked by a 
 warrior named Suri Kamora, who, however, was repulsed. 
 
 On the 10th, ten men in charge of a sergeant and accom- 
 panied by a number of Friendlies were sent to Majaksun, a 
 town situated about five miles south of the Rokelle River ; 
 while another party went by river to Masengbi with the object 
 of encountering the enemy if driven back by the first party. 
 Strong opposition was met with by the first party, which was 
 ambushed close to Majaksun ; but the enemy were repulsed 
 and had to retire on Masengbi. Here they were met by the 
 second party, and being caught between two fires suff'ered 
 severe loss. Shortly after this the party returned to head- 
 quarters, arriving at Kwalu on the 23rd of April. 
 
 On May 2, 1898, Kwalu was attacked by the in- 
 surgents, estimated at two thousand strong, and led by the 
 War-chief Yombasu. Owing to rumours in the Panguma 
 District the officer in charge at Kwalu was asked for reinforce- 
 ments. Thirty men were therefore sent to Panguma, which 
 considerably weakened the garrison at the former station. 
 Although tlie insurgents had been driven off after their first 
 attack on Kwalu, they remained in the immediate vicinity 
 until the 7th of May. On that morning another large force, 
 estimated at five thousand strong, and accompanied by a host 
 of shouting musicians and banging tom-toms, again attacked 
 the station, and after sharp fighting was at length repulsed
 
 176 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 with heavy loss. Several of the important Kinibas in the 
 country had led this attack. These included Yomhasu of 
 Taiama, Lokai Boom of Maro, and Kassi of Bap — all men of 
 power and importance. While this attack was being made, 
 the war-boys shouted at the defenders in Mendi, " Your time 
 is come. We are going to drive the English into the sea, and 
 will have nothing more to do with you." After the repulse of 
 this attack, the enemy fell back upon Jama Mano, and Tiama, 
 at which latter place (consisting of five towns built all 
 together), an immense stockade and fort was erected. The 
 walls of the latter consisted of mud quite six feet thick and 
 about twelve feet in height, and must have taken a considerable 
 time to build. 
 
 On the 9th of May, a mixed force o'f fifty men of the West 
 African Kegiment and Frontiers, under the command of Brevet- 
 Major 0. H. E. Marescaux (Shropshire Light Infantry), left 
 Sierra Leone with the object of strengthening the garrison at 
 Kwalu. The force was a small one owing to the fact that 
 only thirty carriers could be obtained, and these came from 
 the Gold Coast. A halt was made at Songo town, which is 
 about thirty-five miles from Freetown, where it was found that 
 additional earners could be obtained. The enemy were 
 reported to be in large numbers between Rotifunk and the 
 Ribbi River, and so reinforcements were obtained. These 
 consisted of seven European officers and 453 men, fifteen of 
 whom were European soldiers. The others consisted of the 
 Sierra Leone Royal Artillery, with one 7 pounder R.M.L. gun, 
 Royal Engineers, West India Regiment, West African Regiment, 
 Frontiers and Army Service Corps. The late Major-General 
 Sir E. R. P. Woodgate, K.C.M.G., commanding the troops 
 in West Africa, accompanied the column. A raft had been 
 prepared on the Ribbi River at Makweh, and on the 13th of 
 May the column crossed the river and camped at Mabang for 
 the night. Next day at dawn the column marched on Foioa, 
 where the advanced guard came upon the enemy, who occupied
 
 I hi: r.ATE :\r.v.JOK-GKNKH \i. >ii; e. i;. v. woodgatf, Iv.c.m.c, c.b. 
 ■\Vlio coimuaiided tl;e Troops in Sierra Leoue in 1898. 
 
 To /nee ii. 176.
 
 OPERATIONS IN RON I ETTA DISTRICT 177 
 
 five stockades off the road. After some fighting, which 
 resulted in our having one soldier and one camp follower 
 killed, and two soldiers wounded, the stockades were taken 
 and destroyed. x\ camp was pitched at Moyamba, where a 
 halt was made for the night. Next morning the column 
 pushed on to Kotanga, which was defended by a stockade built 
 across the road ; and the taking of it resulted in Captain Cave 
 Brown Cave being severely wounded. Rotifunk was reached 
 on the same day. This place was found to be in ruins, and 
 the Mission house destroyed. It was here that the 
 European missionaries and others were murdered, as mentioned 
 in a previous chapter. A large amount of ammunition had 
 been expended during these skirmishes, and more troops were 
 required before proceeding to Kwalu. Accordingly, a further 
 detachment of the West India Regiment was sent up on the 
 20th, and Rotifunk was put into a state of defence. 
 
 On the 21st of May, the column started for Kwalu, leaving 
 twenty men of the West African Regiment to garrison Roti- 
 funk. A camp was formed that night at Moyamba. The 
 following day Kwalu was relieved, and another party of twenty 
 men of the West African Regiment was left between this 
 station and Rotifunk. 
 
 It was reported that a very large number of Mendis had 
 collected at Tiama, consequently a force consisting of three 
 European non-commissioned ofiicers and 19 native soldiers of 
 the Royal Artillery ; with 7-pounder guns, two ofi&cers, one 
 European non-commissioned ofiicer and thirty-eight men of 
 the West African Regiment ; two officers and eighty non- 
 commissioned officers and men of the Frontier Force, with 
 rocket tube ; and 650 Friendlies (Mendis and Yonnis) with 
 their war-chiefs marched for that place. The latter force was 
 armed with swords and with as many guns as were obtainable. 
 At noon the bank of the river to Tiama was reached, where 
 a small village situated at the ford was found to be very 
 strongly stockaded. The river at this part is about 200 yards 
 
 i3
 
 178 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 wide, and the passage was forced by the Frontiers, assisted by 
 the Friendlies, under cover of the guns and rockets. The 
 enemy showed gi'eat indifference to our fire, exposing them- 
 selves repeatedly in the open, and must in consequence have 
 suffered severely. Upon our advanced party, however, nearing 
 the far bank, they abandoned the three stockaded villages and 
 fled, being hotly pursued by our Friendlies. Our losses in 
 this action were very small, being three Friendlies killed 
 and three wounded, and three Frontiers severely wounded. 
 
 The Friendlies continued the pursuit of the enemy, taking 
 and burning the stockaded town of Senahu, and destroying 
 several others. They did excellent work, and there is no 
 doubt that our casualties would have been much heavier and 
 our task much more difficult had we not had their assistance. 
 
 Having attained its object, the column returned to Kwalu 
 on the 26th of May, passing through Banguma and Makori, 
 and, leaving reinforcements and ammunition there, reached 
 Rotifuuk two days later. 
 
 This expedition put an end to all resistance in the imme- 
 diate neighbourhood of Tiama, one of the strongholds of the 
 Mendis in this part of the country. It was nevertheless 
 discovered that the large towns of Jama-Mano and Tiama- 
 Warra were still full of war-boys, and a party of Frontiers 
 with a number of armed Friendlies were despatched to these 
 places on the 4th of June. This force was surprised, how- 
 ever, by a large number of the enemy, resulting in several 
 Friendlies being killed and some Frontiers wounded. Rein- 
 forcements were sent, and a lot of fighting took place at 
 Tiama-Warra, where the enemy suffered severely. This 
 force was unable to reach Jama-Mano, so returned. 
 
 On the 7th of June the column that had relieved Kwalu 
 under General Woodgate returned, and reported the capture 
 of Jama-Mano. The result of this, and especially the 
 taking of Tiama, was that the powerful chiefs Bai Simera, of 
 Maioppa, and Bai Kompa, of Yele, threw in their lot with the
 
 OPERATIONS IN RON I ETTA DISTRICT 179 
 
 Government, and tlieuceforward rendered valuable assistance. 
 The enemy were now driven out of the large town of Gendimah, 
 and the stockades destroyed by these chiefs. 
 
 Shortly after these events the District Commissioner of 
 Ronietta received orders to proceed immediately to the relief 
 of Pangiima, which, as I have previously stated, was cut off 
 and surrounded by a very large mmiber of the insurgents. 
 Consequently a force consisting of seventy-five picked Frontiers 
 and native gunners, with one 7-pounder R.M.L. gun, fifteen 
 armed Court messengers, and about 300 armed Friendlies, 
 mostly recruited from the Yonni tribe, left Kwalu on the 12th 
 of June under the command of Major E, D. H, Fairtlough, 
 C.M.G., D.S.O., for Panguma, in the heart of the Uj)per 
 Mendi country. Owing to reports having been received that 
 a large force of the enemy were concentrated at a town called 
 Longi, the column passed that way, and when within three 
 miles of Gagboro, which consisted of three terras, the enemy 
 opened fire from an ambush. After repelling them, om* men 
 charged and they were driven out, and the town, which was 
 defended by three rows of carefully prepared stockades, was 
 taken. Our casualties were, on this occasion, four Friendlies 
 killed and two Frontiers and two Court messengers wounded. 
 From Gagboro the column marched on to Longi, and, finding 
 the road blocked by obstacles all the way, which necessitated 
 a new one having to be cut, a halt was made at this town, 
 which was found to be deserted. Here the column bivouacked 
 for the night, and were sniped at whenever anyone showed 
 himself outside the enclosure. The following day Kambona 
 was reached without opposition, and here a halt was made for 
 the night. Pushing on next day to Monidu, a ferry had to 
 be crossed, and, all the canoes having been removed, rafts 
 had to be constructed. In these the advanced guard crossed, 
 led by Captain H. dc L. Ferguson, D.S.O. On the other 
 bank the scouts of the advanced guard discovered a canoe, 
 and, while preparing to launch it, were attacked. This attack,
 
 i8o OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 which was repelled, resulted in the loss of two Friendlies 
 killed and three wounded. Meanwhile the canoe was launched, 
 and the remainder of the column took it in turns to cross, 
 many of the Friendlies plunging into the water and swimming 
 the stream. The baggage having been left behind at Monidu, 
 the column camped for that night in a rice field close to the 
 river. At dawn Major Fairtlough proceeded with the advanced 
 guard to Geudima, and while halting there for the baggage 
 was attacked, one Friendly and one Court messenger being 
 killed. The column was now in the territoiy of the great 
 Chief Niagua, and severe opposition was met with for the 
 whole of the journey. Camping that night at Gendima, in 
 order to allow the baggage to come up, the column marched 
 again at dawn, finding the road blocked and impassable, and 
 the bush on either side alive with the enemy. There were 
 still eighteen miles to be done, and the movement of the 
 column was here exceedingly slow, a road having to be cut 
 through the bush and the pioneers defended from the repeated 
 attacks of the enemy at the same time. 
 
 The column, having covered thirteen miles, every few yards 
 of which were contested, found it was impossible to push on 
 further, and was obliged to bivouac again in a rice field. 
 Next morning the march was resumed, when the road was 
 again found to be blocked and impassable, and a new one had 
 therefore to be cut as before. At Dodo the column was 
 attacked, and the enemy did their utmost to prevent the 
 relieving force from reaching Panguma. However, as before, 
 they had to retire, and that morning the force marched in 
 triumph into the station. 
 
 Here the defenders, who were under the command of Major 
 J. E. C. Blakeney, were found to be in a very bad way. They 
 had been surrounded by thousands of the insurgents, who had 
 attacked them repeatedly, and their food supply had run short. 
 Every one was living on half rations, which consisted chiefly 
 of rice. The garrison were also short of ammunition. The
 
 MA.IiiK .1. i:. C. III.AKENKY, 
 Who coniiiiimds tlie Sierni Leoni' liiittalioii of the West African Froi.tier Force. 
 
 Pho'.o h<i KlUMt A- Fvij. 
 
 'A./.HV ;-. IWi.
 
 OPERATIONS IN RONIETTA DISTRICT i8i 
 
 barracks, in which were the ofificers' quarters, were stockaded, 
 and to this they probably owed their salvation. There was a 
 large number of casualties among the men, and the medical 
 officer, Dr. 0. Horrocks, had worked night and day attending 
 to the sick and wounded, helping them in their suffering. 
 
 Major Blakeney had occupied this perilous position for two 
 months, and it speaks well for the men he had under his 
 command that he succeeded in holding the station against 
 such heavy odds. In fact, throughout the rising the troops 
 engaged, including the West India and West African Regi- 
 ments, behaved exceedingly well. The men of the Frontier 
 Force were often left in small detachments in dangerous and 
 difficult positions, and invariably proved themselves worthy to 
 be classed with the best soldiers of the Empire, Colonel Sir 
 Frederic Cardew, in his despatch of May 1, 1899, upon the 
 Force says : " But for the courage and tenacity with which 
 they held, under the gallant leading of their officers, the seats 
 of Government in the Protectorate, the whole country would 
 have had to be reconquered at great expense during the dry 
 season which followed. During the disturbances they have 
 suffered severely, for no less than fifty were killed fighting at 
 their posts and 73 wounded ; and, notwithstanding that they 
 were fighting their own kith and kin, there was not a man 
 that proved himself a traitor in the whole force, but, held 
 together by the bonds of discipline, confidence in their officers, 
 and strong esprit de corps, they all did their duty loyally and 
 courageously." 
 
 The Governor continues: "As to their officers (and with 
 them I would include the District Commissioners and Sur- 
 geons), I cannot too highly commend them for their devotion 
 to duty and gallant bearing under very difficult and trying 
 circumstances ; left in isolated positions to act on their own 
 initiative, cut off from all communication, and surrounded by 
 numerous and savage foes, there was not one who did not 
 prove himself worthy of the trust imposed in him. They all
 
 1 82 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 upheld, from the highest to the lowest, the highest traditions 
 of the British officer for coolness, courage, daring, and resource 
 in danger." 
 
 Meanwhile a force, consisting of four officers, 84 West India 
 soldiers and Frontiers, 150 armed Friendlies, and 110 carriers, 
 under the command of Captain J. E. S. Woodman, left 
 Bandajuma on the 21st of June, and, passing by way of 
 Tikonko, Gerihun, and Koranko, reached Panguma on the 
 27th of June, four days after the arrival of Major Fairtlough's 
 column. No opposition was met with during their march, and 
 the force returned to Mawfe on the 3rd of July, leaving 
 behind thirty-three Frontiers and as much ammunition as 
 possible. 
 
 The exertions of Fairtlough's relieving force were by no 
 means over, and after remaining for five days at Panguma, 
 that officer left the station for the return journey, accompanied 
 by sixty Frontiers, five of whom were wounded, five men of 
 the native Royal Artillery, three armed Court messengers, and 
 about three hundred armed Yonnis. 
 
 The column did not return by the same route by which it 
 came, but passed via Lalehun and Gihun. At Lalehun oppo- 
 sition was met with, and the party found the road leading 
 to the town blocked by a strong stockade running right 
 across it. The to^\^l was also stockaded. All the stockades 
 were, however, destroyed, and the Friendlies, rushing into 
 the bush as usual, killed several of the enemy, losing in the 
 fighting two of their own number killed and three wounded. 
 At Gihun most determined opposition was met with, the 
 enemy defending their stockades until the last. Here, as in 
 several other places, the natives made good use of bamboo 
 spikes in the paths leading to the town. These spikes are as 
 a rule extremely sharp, and some of them are poisoned. 
 They are firmly placed in the ground, and are concealed by a 
 covering of leaves, twigs, or earth. The spikes are exceedingly 
 dangerous, and make very nasty wounds. At the same time
 
 OPERATIONS IN RON/ETTA DISTRICT 183 
 
 they have a most demoralising effect on a body of men who 
 wear no boots, such as the West Africa Frontier Force, 
 especially when they are rushing to take a stockade or charging. 
 The casualties at Giliun were tliree Frontiers and four 
 Friendlies wounded. 
 
 Passing through Dodo again, where there was some 
 skirmishing, the column pushed on to Goma, which was 
 found, as usual, to be stockaded. On the stockade being 
 turned, the enemy fired the town and fled. Here the column 
 camped for the night. Pushing on next day they found the 
 enemy's tactics were to set fire to the houses as the force 
 advanced. The column had now reached the Big Boom, or 
 Sewar River, which was a serious obstacle, as it had to be 
 crossed. A determined resistance was met with here, and a 
 hot fire poured into our force by the enemy, who had built a 
 strong stockade in the further bank. However, our column, 
 under cover of rifle fire, crossed the river, and charged and 
 took the stockade, the Friendlies rushing into the bush and 
 chasing the enemy in capital style. Pressing on, they came 
 upon another stockade, about a hundred yards from the town 
 of Jaiwa. The enemy were driven out of this also and fell 
 back upon the town. In the narrow path leading into it, 
 however, three more strong stockades were found. These 
 were stubbornly defended, and immediately they were taken 
 the enemy set fire to Jaiwa, which was close by, in order that 
 the column should have no place to sleep in that night. 
 Here, nevertheless, the force bivouacked and remained until 
 the following day, while parties were sent out to endeavour 
 to locate the whereabouts of an influential chief named Bundu. 
 This man had been an ex-political prisoner, and it was re- 
 ported that he was in command of a large war-camp in the 
 neighbourhood. However, the search was fruitless, neither 
 the chief nor his war-camp being discovered, although some 
 skirmishing took place between our men and his followers. 
 
 The next day the march was resumed, the column being
 
 i84 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 fired upon nearly the whole way, and the towns always bui-ut 
 before we reached them. Our force prepared to bivouac again 
 in the open. Anyone who knows what this countiy is like 
 in the middle of the rainy season will be able to appreciate 
 the hardships and difficulties which such a necessity entailed. 
 From Jaiwa the column marched on to Yabaima, where 
 constant opposition was met with, and the taking of two 
 stockades cost us one Court messenger severely wounded, one 
 Friendly killed and three wounded. Yabaima was reached on 
 the 4th of July, and it was seen to be in flames as the column 
 ueared the town. Information being received that the enemy 
 were in force at Jagbaima, and engaged in a big war-dance, 
 the column marched for this town, which was a large and 
 strongly stockaded one. The opposition here was found to 
 be very strong, and after the triple stockade had been taken, 
 our men were thrown into confusion upon suddenly coming 
 into the midst of a forest of shai-pened spikes. No fewer 
 than five Frontiers were badly hurt by these obstacles, and 
 several of the Friendlies suffered severely. The town was 
 taken at the point of the bayonet, and sixty-five of the enemy 
 lay dead around it. 
 
 On the 6th of July the force pushed on to Yomundu. This 
 consisted of three large towns in one, and was as usual strongly 
 stockaded by a triple row of fences. The action commenced 
 by the fii-e of the 7-pounder gun, and by volleys fi*om the 
 men. Closing in, one section under Captain Ferguson, 
 D.S.O., took the right side, another, under Major Fairtlough, 
 the left side of the line ; while a third section, accompanied 
 by a number of Friendlies, cut their way through the centre. 
 Here a hand-to-hand fight took place between the Frontiers 
 and the enemy, and when the town was taken by our men no 
 fewer than three chiefs and 115 of his followers were found to 
 have been killed. Among these chiefs was Yombasu, the 
 " big warrior," who, as I have before remarked, led the attack 
 on Kwalu.
 
 IIA.JOK K. I>. 11. IMIMI.iiTGH, C.M.G., U.S.O., 
 District Commissioner of Honietta. 
 
 To face p. 184.
 
 OPERATIONS IN RONIETTA DISTRICT 185 
 
 This action practically put an end to the fighting, and the 
 column met with no further opposition on its march down to 
 Kwalu, at which place it arrived on the 10th of July. That 
 same morning a force of Frontiers, accompanied hy Dr. T. 
 Hood, now Senior Medical Officer in Freetown, had left for a 
 town called Tonia, which they found stockaded, and after some 
 fighting, had taken. 
 
 A number of the chiefs now began to tender their sub- 
 mission, and although there were still war-camps and small 
 marauding parties scattered about the district, no serious 
 opposition was again met with. The people in this part of 
 the country had also been shown in a most practical and 
 forcible way that they are unable to withstand the soldiers of 
 the Great King, black though these soldiers were, and when 
 led by British officers. The natives had, however, fought 
 well, stubbornly and bravely, and who can blame them ? Did 
 they not think that they were fighting for their country which, 
 they wrongly conceived, was being taken from them by the 
 white man ? 
 
 Nor must we forget the great services rendered to our 
 columns throughout Mendiland by the number of Friendlies 
 who accompanied them. The casualties were always higher 
 among the Friendlies, owing to the fact that they used to 
 rush and follow the enemy into the bush, which the Frontiers 
 and others were not permitted to do. There was more assis- 
 tance rendered in this district by the chiefs than in both 
 Bandajuma and Panguma. While Bandajuma only received 
 real assistance from two important chiefs, namely, Momokiki 
 and Momo-jah (I do not include a number of minor chiefs and 
 others belonging to these two paramount chiefs) , the Eonietta 
 District was actively assisted by Bai Simera of Maioppa, Smart 
 of Mahera, Fula Mausa of Yonni, Tambawa of Kenema, Bangi- 
 Legbi of Bunkeri, Momo Gittai of Kendema, Nancy Tucker 
 of Bagru, and Madam Yoko of Senahu, all persons of power 
 and with large followings. This assistance was, of course,
 
 i86 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 of the greatest value, not only to our local forces, but as an 
 example and for the moral effect it produced upon the in- 
 surgents, who were fully aware that a number of the most 
 important chiefs in their country had joined the Government 
 and were fighting against them. Besides those who were 
 actually engaged against them there were others professing 
 to be neutral, the most important being Sembu Kamara of 
 Gendima, Bai Kru of Maban, T. N. Kalka of Shengai, Bai 
 Hal of Malal, and others. It is exceedingly doubtful, how- 
 ever, if these people were really neutral. Although it is 
 believed that they took no active part in the fighting, there 
 is a certain amount of evidence to show that some of these 
 chiefs were prominently concerned in the secret meetings of 
 the Poro, which were held so constantly for some time prior 
 to the outbreak. No faith, however, can be placed in the 
 professed neutrality of the powerful chief, Sembu Kamara of 
 Gendima. 
 
 Besides the Ronietta chiefs showing a tendency to submit 
 to the Government, those in several parts of the Bandajuma 
 District were holding constant palavers with that end in view, 
 and many of them even sent in a number of arms to Mawfe. 
 Although the British terms were *' unconditional sm-render 
 and total disarmament of the population," these were accepted 
 by several of the chiefs ; and many important arrests were 
 made of murderers and others. There were a great number 
 of people rescued in these expeditions, and by the column 
 that went to the relief of Bandajuma, over one hundred people 
 being saved, most of whom had been hiding in the bush, or 
 were even then in the hands of the Mendis, their death 
 having been, for some reason or other, postponed. These 
 included traders, women and children, and Sierra Leone 
 missionaries.
 
 CHAPTER XYII 
 
 THE END OF THE EISING 
 
 " Let as hear the conclusion of the 
 whole matter." 
 
 nnOWARDS the end of August I took a party of thirty-five 
 -*- Frontiers into the north-east corner of the Bandajuma 
 District for the purpose of: (a) Efi'ecting the capture of 
 certain chiefs and others who were charged with murder ; 
 (b) Punishing the insurgents who were reputed to he in force 
 on our side of the Liberian border ; and (c) Endeavouring to 
 bring in several chiefs who were hiding in the bush, and who 
 were willing to surrender, but afraid to do so. 
 
 It was now the middle of the rainy season, and marching at 
 this time of the year is worse than unpleasant. Moreover, a 
 number of towns had been burnt and destroyed, so it was 
 not at all certain, when making for a town, whether it would 
 be found to be standing or not. My route lay from Banda- 
 juma, across the Wanje River to a small place called Boombe, 
 in the Pej6 country, some fourteen miles distant : from there 
 to Buarbabu, on the Moia river, in the Koya country, thence 
 to Gorohnn, in the Tunkia, Gegbima, Mendikama, and finally 
 to Malema and Gore, in the Gola country, on the Liberian 
 frontier. 
 
 After passing tlie Koya country, one begins to get into 
 
 Upper Mendiland, and as soon as the Tunkia is reached a 
 
 187
 
 i88 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 magnificent forest is met with, consisting of tall and massive 
 trees. In this forest, owing to the thickness of the foliage 
 interlacing overhead, there is always a gloom, and even at 
 midday it would he possihle to march along without wearing 
 a hat. Here, and especially in the rainy season, elephant 
 are found, which are hunted and killed hy the natives, who 
 make bangles out of their feet, by burying the pad until it 
 becomes quite soft ; they also trade in ivory, and make fetish 
 " medicine " out of several parts of the body. 
 
 A great number of towns we found to be destroyed, although 
 here and there was a barri, or small bamboo hut, left stand- 
 ing. On arriving at Juru, in the Gowra country, we found 
 that the people, who were unaware of our being so close, had 
 only just had time to clear out, even leaving, in their haste, 
 their rice cooking on the fire. It was in the Gowra country 
 that I wished to bring the paramount-chief, Batte-Kakka, 
 from the bush where he was hiding. This man had great 
 power throughout the Upper Mendi country, and as long as 
 he remained where he was, the country within hail would 
 never be settled. I endeavoured in every way to find out his 
 hiding-place and entice him forth, but without result,"^s we 
 could find no one about from whom we could inquire. One 
 day, however, a native man was caught by one of the 
 Frontiers, spying at us from behind a tree. When he was 
 brought up to me he seemed so much afraid that he could not 
 talk. Telling him not to fear, that no harm should come to 
 him, I asked him where the chief was. He denied knowing 
 anything about him. Believing this was false, I told him 
 that if he would promise to take a message from me to the 
 chief, I would release him at once. This he very readily 
 consented to do, and next day, while bivouacking at a town 
 called Magbama, a messenger came from the chief, who 
 informed me that he was too sick to come out of the bush. 
 However, after several messages had passed between us, and 
 I had given him my word that no harm should come to him,
 
 THE EOADS IX THE BAIXY -EA.-OX AKE 
 OTTEX FiOODED. 
 
 {P. 191.) 
 
 THE GOREE HILL, MALEMA ( OlXTRy. GOLALAXI 
 
 (P. 11 
 
 HB^''?-Ai 
 
 i 
 
 j^P^^^^^v^ 
 
 WidiWi ^AfiMJJIMMl 
 
 
 ^Si 
 
 i^^^^^^HI 
 
 H 
 
 SHOTVIXG HOW THE XATIVES GHOW TEEES BOUXD 
 THEIR TOWXS FOE STOCKADE BUILDIXG. 
 
 THE LATE i IJIKT EAJ TE-K AKK A WJUI HI: 
 TWO FAVOURITE WIVES. 
 
 To face p. 18^.
 
 THE END OF THE RISING 189 
 
 the chief consented to meet me at Mendikama, a large town 
 in the Upper Gowra country and about twelve miles from 
 Juru. At ten o'clock on the fourth morning the chief arrived 
 in a hammock, being completely hidden and swathed in rugs 
 and blankets, which is the custom among some chiefs when 
 they travel. Having told Batte-Kakka the object of my 
 mission, and informed him that the country was becoming 
 settled again, he agTeed, after some time, to emerge from the 
 bush, and rebuild his town Pujuhun, which had been burnt. 
 There was much rejoicing in the town that evening, and a 
 regular pandemonium of tom-tom playing and singing was 
 kept up the whole night through. Batte-Kakka also promised 
 to do all he could to bring the people back into the towns and 
 further to assist the Government in apprehending several 
 murderers who had fled from Lower Mendiland into the dense 
 forests by which this country is surrounded. 
 
 From that day Batte-Kakka and I have always been good 
 friends, and on my returning to this country two years after- 
 wards, I went up to see him. He was genuinely delighted to 
 see me, and one of his first remarks was to recall the incident 
 of the manner in which I " pulled him from the bush " after 
 the war. Although he was sick at the time, I got him to 
 stand while I photographed him leaning on the shoulders of 
 his two favourite wives. Shortly after this he died, and I 
 was the last white man he had seen or spoken to. He was 
 a very clever man, and since the rising one of the most 
 genuinely loyal chiefs the Government had ever had to deal 
 with. This was in November, 1902. 
 
 Continuing our journey, we reached the Jarwe country, 
 upon the border of which we were fired upon. Pushing on, 
 we arrived at the paramount chief's town called Niama, which 
 we found to be deserted, though there was evidence about to 
 show that it had been quite recently occupied. Every 
 endeavour was made during my stay in this country to get the 
 chief, whose name was Vandi Vong, to return, but without
 
 I90 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 avail. A smart watch had to be kept during the three nights 
 we slept there, as the place was full of war-hoys, and there 
 were several alarms in the night. The forest all round was 
 tremendously dense, and it woidd have been extremely 
 unpleasant to have been attacked while up in this part of the 
 country with so small a number of men. However, no such 
 contretemps took place, and Chief Vandi Vong, who at that 
 time wished to come out from his hiding-place but w'as afraid, 
 has since been a very loyal, as he is a most impoiiant and 
 useful chief to the Government. He allowed me to take his 
 portrait when I visited his country last December. 
 
 The next place I went to was Madema, in the Malema 
 country, some sixty miles in a straight line from Bandajuma. 
 This town we found to be filled with people ; and although the 
 chief had been mixed up in the rising, he had not taken any 
 active part in it, but had, on the contrary, managed to save 
 the lives of one or two English-speaking people, who had 
 made their escape into this country. This chief, whose 
 name was Pambu, came out to meet me, and since that time 
 we have been very good friends. Of all the many native people 
 I have met since I have been in Africa, there is none I have 
 liked better or respected more than this old chief. I can 
 only describe him as a dear old fellow, and his delight on see- 
 ing me again on my return to the country in 1901 knew no 
 bounds. He presented me with a cow, several countiy-made 
 cloths, and so much rice that I had to give back a lot to him ; 
 not being able to carry it away. In return I bought him a 
 gun, of which he is immensely proud. 
 
 When I was staying in his town towards the end of last 
 year I asked him to allow me to photograph him, but he 
 would not consent to face the camera, telling me he had 
 never seen anything like it before, and was afraid to let me 
 " draw him." His fear of the camera was most amusing, and 
 I am convinced he thought it contained some powerful fetish. 
 However, I managed to snap him when he was not looking.
 
 (.IIIKF VA>]il-\ UNO AXL) ni8 TWO i--AVOUKITE 
 WIVES. 
 
 VANDI-VOXG, 
 Piiramount Chief of the Jarwe C'Diintry. 
 
 I'AMDl , 
 'iiriinioiint Chii't ot the Mnleiiia Cumitry. 
 
 To f<icc V. lUO.
 
 THE END OF THE RISING 191 
 
 The cloth shown in the picture belongs to my camp bed, and 
 had been placed in the sun by my boy to air. It forms no 
 part of the photograph, but I had to take the chief wherever 
 I could get him, and it happened to be there. 
 
 It was exceedingly interesting to talk to Chief Pambu, 
 which I have done by the hour together, of course by the 
 help of an interpreter. He told me he had never been further 
 than Bandajuma (the headquarters of the district), which he 
 said was a veiy long journey, and to do that, he added, was a 
 very big business, and it took many days to prepare the fetish 
 which had to be taken with him to see him safely there and 
 back. He was very much interested in my telling him about 
 the ocean-going steamers, and from the remarks he made he 
 showed me that he could have no conception of what an 
 ordinary steamship was like. When I asked him if he would 
 like to see England, the white man's country, he told me that 
 he had no desire to travel far away. He loved his country 
 and his people, which he must stay and look after, and which 
 he never desired to leave. I can well imagine him loving his 
 country. The scenery here in places was indeed exquisite, 
 and used to give me infinite and never-ending pleasure. It is, 
 in fact, an education of itself The surrounding forest, in its 
 vast and solemn magnitude, impresses one with a feeling near 
 akin to awe, and when one stands and gazes in its grand 
 solitudes, the thought comes home to one, how great and 
 awful must be the Maker Who can create such majestic 
 scenes as these. For every leaf, and tree, and insect, has its 
 meaning and its place ; every stone and twig helps to make 
 the one grand whole, and has its ordained part, which one 
 day in the unknown paths of time it is destined to fulfil. 
 
 " This is not solitude, 'tis but to hold 
 
 Converse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled." 
 
 Such scenes and surroundings as these leave a deep and
 
 192 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 abiding impression upon the mind of the thoughtful man. 
 Especially is this so when one leaves these solitudes and then 
 finds one's memoiy continually drifting hack to the time one 
 spent in the wild Afi-ican " bush," till at last, in spite of the 
 climate, and the thousand and one inconveniences (and that 
 is a mild term) that have to be endured, one feels an un- 
 accountable desire to go back to it all. It does not, of com'se, 
 affect everybody in this way, and I am here speaking chiefly 
 of myself in this regard, but I have known and heard other 
 men say the same thing also. There is most certainly an 
 extraordinarily attractive charm about it all. The going 
 home again, after spending a year or more in the lonely 
 surroundings of the interior of West Africa is, of course, 
 delightful, though sometimes, as is often the case with other 
 matters in life, the anticipation afi'ords more pleasm'e than 
 the reality. In Europe, and especially in the large cities 
 which number their inhabitants by tens of thousands, one is 
 struck with the artificial mode of life ; with the hm-rying and 
 bustling crowds ; with the unreality and shams of modern 
 so-called society ; and, above all, with the many poor and 
 squalid streets and the distressing sights of poverty and 
 suffering that meet the eye at every turn. It is then that one 
 thinks of Africa's silent haunts and virgin beauty. I have 
 seen no real poverty in savage Afiica, except when it is 
 brought about in the more civilised parts by the advent of 
 the white man and his ways. And this civilisation, what is 
 it all leading to ? We are trying, in my opinion wTongly, to 
 thrust European civilisation and European ideas upon the 
 African and upon a country for which our modes of life and 
 customs are entirely unsuitable. From my experience, ninety- 
 nine times out of every hundi-ed when you " Europeanise " 
 the negro you make an inferior man of him. He is quick at 
 picking up our vices, and our ways of dealing with him are 
 such that he sees vei*y little of the virtues that centuries of 
 civilisation have given to us.
 
 THE END OF THE RISING 193 
 
 At this time of the year the rivers are all swollen, and even 
 the streams, which in the dry season can be stepi3ed across, 
 become unfordable, and often raging torrents. All this 
 portion of the country is covered with immense forests, which 
 extend for miles into Liberia. These forests, impassable to 
 Em-opeans, have many small tracks, only known to, and used 
 by, the native hunters. Chief Pambu maintained a number of 
 hunters who used to get a good deal of ivory for him. During 
 my visit to his part in 1902, an elephant had been killed a 
 few days before my arrival in the town, and the chief pre- 
 sented his head elephant hunter to me. This man, whose 
 name was Fassimbu, is credited with having slain over two 
 hundred of these mighty kings of the forest. He was only 
 armed with a long barrel muzzle-loading gun of unknown 
 antiquity, and it is marvellous indeed how these natives are 
 able to go into the forest on a hunting expedition armed only 
 with these obsolete old weapons and slay the mightiest of 
 living animals, which sportsmen possessing the most modern 
 breechloading rifles are not always able to do. 
 
 These hunters, whose only covering is a kind of dark brown 
 cloth coat somewhat resembling a sack and peculiarly har- 
 monising with the surroundings, sometimes spend weeks 
 together in the depths of the forest when pursuing game. 
 When shooting elephant they generally hunt in twos and 
 threes, and their modus operandi is to stealthily approach the 
 game when it has been located, gradually creeping up upon 
 the leeward side. So quiet and cautious are they in their 
 movements that they are often able to approach within fifteen 
 paces of the elephant before they fire. Their long barrelled 
 guns are usually loaded with an extra charge of powder behind 
 a kind of spear consisting of a wooden haft about three feet 
 long, and a solid triajigular blade of about three inches across 
 in the widest part. This is in^icrtcd in the bairel of the gun. 
 They aim this usually under one of the forelegs of tlie 
 elephant, and if it does not bring him down at once, his
 
 194 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 rushing off with the spear sticking into him, and catching 
 in the ground or against trees as he careers madly forward, 
 tears and lacerates, and often cripples him into helplessness. 
 The hunters will often chase a wounded elephant for days, 
 being easily able to follow their game by the huge tracks and 
 the blood flowing from the wound. It seems marvellous how 
 these people are able so successfully to kill so many elephants 
 in this way. In the first photograph may be recognised the 
 hunter Fassimbu ; the picture was taken very shortly after he 
 had returned from a hunting expedition in Liberia. The 
 second photograph shows other elephant hunters belonging 
 to this part of the country, nearly all of whom are dressed in 
 their peculiar hunting costume. Every one of these men has 
 killed several elephants, some accomplishing this single- 
 handed. 
 
 Two of these hunters are mere boys, and the chief informed 
 me that they all possessed a wonderful " medicine," which 
 enabled them to be so successful in their hunting expeditions. 
 
 During my stay in this part of the country in 1902, I was 
 very anxious to try my luck with the elephants, which were 
 all round us. I consequently journeyed down to a small 
 village called Goree, some ten miles to the east of Madema, 
 and situated in the midst of gigantic bush. The country is 
 exceedingly hilly here, and the forest seems to get larger and 
 grander the farther East one goes. This town is near the 
 Morro PJver, which the chief told me had never been crossed 
 at that part by any white man before. Beyond was the 
 impenetrable Gola forest, where I was informed no one lived 
 excepting hunters and elephants. This river was, at the 
 time I visited the place, very swollen from the rains, and 
 flowed extremely rapidly. There were no canoes ; the natives, 
 v^hen they did cross, used to do so on corkwood rafts, one of 
 which was tied to a tree close by. For some time I could not 
 get any of the people of the village to cross at this part, all 
 declaring that a very powerful devil lived there, and that it
 
 ELKPHANT }ir>TERS. 
 
 CJ{U>.-i.N(. TUK MiiKlio lil\i:i{ ns .\ ( . Hi k -W oi i |i HAIl'. 
 
 •lofaci- i>. VH.
 
 THE END OF THE RISING 195 
 
 was therefore dangerous to do so. At length, however, by 
 dint of a bribe, I persuaded two hunters to take me over on 
 the raft. Starting from the bank, one man stood at each end 
 of the raft with a paddle in his hand, myself and the Court 
 messenger who accompanied me being in the centre. The 
 stream took us do^vn with a rush for about a hundred yards, 
 but the hunters were very skilful in managing the raft and 
 paddled safely across. Here the giant forest came down 
 almost to the very water's edge, but the hunters, who acted as 
 our guides, pointed out a narrow track along which we were to 
 proceed. For some hours we marched through this wonder- 
 ful " bush," occasionally coming across the huge beaten 
 tracks and marks made by elephants. I saw nothing of 
 them, however, and the hunters informed me that it would 
 be necessary to sleep in the forest and go on at dawn. Not 
 having the time for this, having other matters to attend 
 to, I was obliged to turn back and had regretfully to give up 
 my exploration and hunting trip in this most interesting and 
 unknown part of the country. We returned by another route, 
 the path of which was so narrow and so intricate in its 
 windings, that without the aid of our hunter guides we could 
 not have got along at all. The photograph on the next page 
 is a snapshot taken of the corkwood raft while crossing this 
 river. 
 
 Reverting now to my former journey. From the Malema 
 country we passed through Taima, Patania, Jenne, Lalehun, 
 Jagarma, Beribu, Konkon, to Bulma. All along this route 
 the scenery was exquisite and the forest gTand in its immense 
 and stately beauty. Most of these towns were standing, but not 
 a soul was to be seen in any of them. At Bulma there used to 
 be a small out-station, but nothing of it remained and the town 
 was found to be burnt. In former years Bulma was a very 
 strongly stockaded town, and was subject to repeated attacks 
 from the wild Gola tribe, who were continually making war 
 against the Mendis for the purpose of obtaining slaves. This
 
 196 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 was the reason that a small detachment of Frontiers was 
 maintained here, and for some years now no such raids have 
 taken place. From Bulma we marched on to the village of 
 Fangiwalalran, and thence back to Daru, Damawurn, and so 
 to Gorahmi again. No native people were met with, although 
 we found the road between Daru and Damawuru blocked and 
 impassable and had to cut a new one through the bush. 
 Between Gorahuu and Samatira we were fired at; but on 
 returning the fire nothing further occurred, and as we could 
 not see a soul, we continued our march, passing via Banda- 
 suma, which was burnt, and crossing the Moia river to a 
 small town called Falaba, which was also destroyed. Here 
 we camped for the night, the men erecting temporary shelters 
 of palm leaves. That night it rained in torrents, the water 
 dripping and splashing through my thin roof in a dozen 
 places at once. None of us got much sleep and we all felt 
 miserably chilled. Glad we were next day, when we returned 
 to Bandajunia, to find ourselves under a dry roof once more. 
 
 A few months later, while returning with Dr. A. F. M. 
 Berkeley and a party of Frontiers, from another visit to this 
 same part of the country, we arrived after a long march at a 
 deep stream, about a mile from Bandasuma on the Moia 
 river. The time was about five o'clock in the afternoon. 
 This stream was, owing to the recent heavy rain, running very 
 swiftly, and the native bridge which had spanned it previously 
 had been swept away by the rising of the water. Here we 
 found all the carriers and the advanced guard sitting down by 
 the stream, being, they said, unable to cross, as the river was 
 too deep and ran too swiftly. There was no town behind us 
 for quite fifteen miles, and unless we intended to pass the 
 night in the open, that stream had to be crossed. We there- 
 fore began to cut wood with the idea of making a raft ; there 
 was, however, no suitable timber close by, even if there had 
 been we had no axe to cut it with. 'At last, after about an 
 hour, in some wonderful manner the Frontiers and carriers
 
 THE END OF THE RISING 197 
 
 had managed to put together a kind of raft. On launching 
 it, however, it was found to be unevenly balanced, and would 
 not float. To add to our troubles just at this time it began to 
 rain. It came down in torrents. As we were hauling the raft 
 back to land, one of the creepers with which it was bound gave 
 way, and the whole thing went to pieces. Darkness had now 
 set in, and we were in a cold, wet, miserable condition. A large 
 table was next experimented with, which, to our joy, we found 
 would float on its back. Two of my tin boxes were carefally 
 placed on the table, one of the men having previously 
 managed to make his way across the rushing flood to the 
 opposite bank. A long rope of bush creeper was now found, 
 and by the aid of a heavy stone was flung over to the man on 
 the far side. This was in turn attached to one of the legs of 
 the table, and when all was ready, it was gently towed out, I 
 holding my breath as I watched my bedding and dry clothes 
 in this ricketty boat. It was not to be, however, for just as 
 the table reached the centre of the stream and felt the full 
 force of the rushing water, it canted, and ofi" gTacefully slid my 
 boxes into the river. This added to our other miseries, but 
 more was yet to follow. By some wonderful gymnastic and 
 aquatic feat, the corporal in charge, assisted by the man 
 on the opposite bank, managed to rescue my boxes again 
 lower down the stream, and although everything was soaked 
 and many things were ruined, nothing was lost. Without a 
 light, we could do nothing, and Dr. Berkeley after opening 
 some of his boxes came upon a packet of candles. The next 
 thing was to find a match, and this I could not succeed in 
 doing, as they were in the boxes that had been placed upon 
 the floating table. Again Dr. Berkeley came to the rescue, 
 and discovered a box, and when it was carefully opened, it 
 was found to contain only one match. By going through 
 the most elaborate preparations : arranging coats, hats, and 
 other things that would be likely to assist to keep out the 
 wind and the wet, that match was struck, and lit, and so were
 
 198 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 the six candles, all being held close together. For some time 
 we managed to keep this light burning, but we were no nearer 
 crossing that awful Styx, 
 
 It was now nearing ten o'clock, and we were all in a most 
 wretched state : some of us making up our minds to remain 
 in that place all through the night. At about 11 p.m., 
 however, we were informed that one of the carriers had 
 discovered a portion of the broken bridge about four feet 
 under the water. This on investigation proved to be a thin 
 pole, which seemed to stretch across to the other bank. With 
 infinite caution, each carrier balancing in a wonderful way 
 his load upon his head, and moving about six inches at a 
 time, all somehow managed to cross the stream. We waited 
 until all were over, and then went ourselves. How Dr. 
 Berkeley got over I do not know, I was unable to keep my 
 balance, and so fell into the water, managing to seize the pole 
 which prevented me from being washed away. By kicking, 
 pulling, and going through all kinds of gymnastic perfor- 
 mances, I arrived on the other side spluttering, dripping, and 
 cold, where I was seized by half a dozen Frontiers who were 
 waiting on the bank, but who, owing to the darkness, could 
 not see what had been taking place while coming over. There 
 was yet a mile to do before the town was reached, and stumb- 
 ling and tripping, with our wet clothes clinging round us, 
 that mile seemed like ten. At last the place was reached, but 
 when we got near enough, we found that nothing had been 
 built, and that in fact there u-as no town. 
 
 This was the bitterest blow of all, and our feelings can 
 be better imagined than described. However, owing to the 
 energy of the Frontiers and the carriers, whom no hardship 
 or knocking about ever seemed to dismay, a wTetched mud 
 half-built house, and two half-broken small barris were found, 
 into which we crept, I occupying the former and Dr. Berkeley 
 and the men using the other two. 
 
 It seemed as if the skies had opened theii* floodgates for
 
 THE END OF THE RISING 199 
 
 the pui'pose of washing us out, for during the two following 
 days and nights it poured incessantly. Our discomfort during 
 that time and after what had passed can be well imagined. 
 This is one of the many " inconveniences " of travelling 
 in West Africa. On the third day the rain ceased and the 
 sun came forth, and we came from our wretched shelters, and, 
 strange to say, suffered no ill effects from the exposure and 
 hardships of that never-to-be-forgotten adveutm'e. 
 
 A great number of chiefs and others throughout the Pro- 
 tectorate, finding that there was nothing to be gained by 
 remaining against the Government, had surrendered uncon- 
 ditionally, handed over all arms, and retmiied to their towns. 
 A gi'eat number of arrests had also been taking place and the 
 gaols in the different districts were filled with prisoners, the 
 majority of whom were charged with murder. In order to 
 allow for the trial of these prisoners a deputy-judge was 
 sent out from England, and the present Attorney-General, 
 Mr. A. Hudson, accompanied the judge upon his circuit 
 through the Protectorate. A counsel for the defence of the 
 accused was also sent out, and on the 14th of October the 
 judge and his party arrived at Sherbro, where at Bonthe the 
 next day the Supreme Com*t was opened. In Sherbro alone, 
 no less than nineteen prisoners were sentenced to death, all 
 of whom had committed most atrocious deeds in the rising ; 
 others were sentenced to penal servitude for life. 
 
 The Court then proceeded to Bandajuma, at which place 
 there were over one hundred and twenty prisoners, where 
 another sitting was held ; the enormous mass of evidence 
 that was brouglit before the Com-t was of a most interesting 
 though often of a horrible character. Some of the deeds 
 that were committed by these people, a very few of which 
 I have described, were almost beyond belief. Over twenty 
 of these wTetches were hanged at Bandajuma, including 
 several chiefs, among whom was Grubru, the Head-Chief 
 of Boomp6, against whom there was a string of charges,
 
 20O OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 some of which were of a most gruesome character. Prior 
 to the arrival of the Supreme Court at Sherbro and Banda- 
 juma, sittings had taken place at Kwalu, the headquarters 
 of the Ronietta District, at which place a large number 
 of murderers were tried, convicted, and hanged. The 
 measm-es thus taken by the Government in meting out 
 justice to the offenders had a great effect among the chiefs 
 and people throughout the interior. One of the effects of this 
 stern retribution so rigorously carried out, was that although 
 every man brought before the Court had as long and as 
 fair a trial as it was possible to give him, while he was 
 defended by counsel specially sent for that pui-pose, several 
 of the chiefs and people crossed into Liberia or remained 
 in hiding. 
 
 Shortly after this a General Amnesty was proclaimed 
 throughout the Protectorate. 
 
 Early in the following year, bodies of troops were 
 organised and marched through the country. Even then 
 resistance was met with, the natives attacking our columns 
 from time to time. Fighting took place on the Liberian 
 border on the eastern side of the Panguma District ; but 
 this was soon put down. The adoption by the Government 
 of the show of force had good effect upon the country, as 
 the natives saw for the first time large bodies of organised 
 troops in every district throughout the Hinterland. This 
 Expedition terminated in April, 1899, and is known as the 
 Protectorate Expedition. 
 
 Thus ended the operations in Sierra Leone. On the 
 captm-e of the Chief Bai Bureh in the Timini country and the 
 suppression of the rising in Mendiland terminated this most 
 remarkable rising, and one of the most strenuous resistances 
 to our arms that has ever taken place in our numerous expe- 
 ditions in West Africa.
 
 CHAPTER XYIII 
 
 OUR POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION 
 
 ^^ Equal and exact justice to all 
 men, of ivJiatever state or persua- 
 sion, religious or political ; peace, 
 commerce, and Jionest friendship 
 ivifh all nations." — Jefferson. 
 
 rpHE enonnous areas of country which have of recent years 
 -*- heen acquired by Great Britain in West Afi'ica, and the 
 heavy load of responsibility which their possession entails, 
 must render the question of the policy to be adopted in their 
 future government one of paramount importance. We have 
 declared ourselves " Protector " over the peoples inhabiting 
 these vast tracts of country, and have hoisted the " Jack " ; 
 and now that we have the land, what are we going to make of 
 it ? Is it to be a national exemplar of the talent buried in a 
 napkin, or of the three turned quickly into ten by zeal and 
 industry ? Let us hope the latter. And tlicrc is good hope 
 ahead, for the beginning at least has been felicitous. 
 
 Already, despite the hostility which as pioneers of civilisa- 
 tion we at first encountered from the barbarous races who 
 wander in the primeval forests of these countries, we have 
 made steady progress, morally, materially, and industrially in 
 our work. And not only that ; we have made this progi'ess 
 in the face of keen and jealous competition on the part of the 
 other Powers, who had previously seized a goodly share of the
 
 202 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 country for themselves. "We Britons were put upon our 
 mettle to show what we could do in our capacity as the 
 world's best colonists. Well, we " kept our end up," To- 
 day the term "British West Africa" stands for a territory 
 boasting as successful an administration as that of any 
 under foreign government. 
 
 This success has been achieved in not one, but a variety of 
 directions. It has been proved in ameliorating the social 
 condition of the aborigines and in assisting them to develop 
 the natm-al resources of the land ; it has been manifested in 
 the advancement of every kind of national industry and the 
 improvement of every sort of natm-al product ; it has been 
 evidenced in the marked increase of transport facilities by 
 land and water ; and it has been again exemplified by the 
 opening up of rich and hitherto unknown hinterlands to 
 the benefits and privileges of outside commerce. No bad 
 record, surely, in the time. But we are in reality only just 
 beginning. There is very much to be done in the futm-e. 
 
 Besides, it has to be remembered that in successfully 
 dealing with West Africa, as in progress generally, there is 
 no finality. Of no place, at no time, can the words be 
 •WTitten down, " Perfection has been reached ; there is no 
 more to be done." Sound as our methods of political and 
 commercial government may appear to us now to be, they are 
 still capable of improvement : some minor details have yet, no 
 doubt, to be added in order that the executive machine may 
 work to best advantage. 
 
 In attempting to carry out that policy and those ideas, it 
 was inevitable that some blunders should have been com- 
 mitted. Zeal will at times outrun discretion, even in 
 empire-building, and for our errors we have paid full dearly 
 both in blood and treasure. But with sad experience came 
 judgment. Quite early we decided that British rule in 
 British West Africa was to be, so far at least as possible, 
 " by the people, of the people, for the people." Great Britain
 
 OUR POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION 203 
 
 was not to be a task mistress, whipping the natives to the 
 corvee ; but a faithful fi'iend on whom they might lean, and a 
 sound adviser on whom they might rely for counsel. And so, 
 where we have been long enough established, the Native has 
 come to believe in us and our disinterestedness in seeking bis 
 improvement. 
 
 To be sm-e, this has not all been brought about at once, 
 nor yet without occasional recourse to the argumenticm ad 
 puerum of the schools. The pupil was thick-headed, the 
 teacher perhaps impatient : and when the former sulked the 
 latter administered a salutaiy chastisement. But at length 
 the scholar, gi-own much wiser by his stripes, found out that 
 it was not good policy to kick against the pricks. And since 
 he made that sapient discovery he and his preceptor have 
 been the best of friends — as the years to come will surely 
 show. 
 
 Certainly enormous strides have been made since the rising 
 towards the improvement of the country, b}' establishing 
 a more permanent and stable form of government, by 
 opening up new trade routes in the interior which shall tap 
 regions hitherto practically unknown, and by the adoption of 
 a friendly and conciliatory attitude towards the chiefs and 
 tribal rulers. 
 
 The early treaties between the British Government and the 
 native chiefs of the Sierra Leone Hinterland had always these 
 three important objects in view, namely, to put a period to the 
 internecine wars which had for so long decimated the popula- 
 tions of towns and villages, to promote legitimate trading by 
 every possible means, and to prohibit and discountenance the 
 traffic in human flesh which formerly proceeded everywhere 
 throughout these countries. In this latter determination of 
 ours lay the head and front of the grievance which the chiefs 
 felt against the British ; and this gi-ievance it was which 
 ultimately flared out into the rebellion whose course I have 
 attempted to describe in the preceding pages. For centuries
 
 204 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 upon centuries the slave trade and this portion of West Africa 
 have been inalienably connected. Human beings were 
 regularly bartered and sold like so many head of cattle, and, 
 shocking as it sounds to our ears to-day, they were Europeans 
 who primarily encouraged and participated in this nefarious 
 merchandise. Even to this day many outward and visible 
 signs still remain in the Colony to tell of what went on in 
 those old times. There are yet to be seen the rust-bitten 
 cannon by means of which the Spanish and Portuguese 
 *' blackbirders " enforced their demands for live freights with 
 which to fill their reeking holds ; and do\Mi even to the 
 present time the dreaded word " Spanish " is able to strike 
 terror into the hearts of the older inhabitants. The interven- 
 tion of Great Britain in this direction has been thorough, if 
 somewhat tardy, and if it is not yet entirely stopped in every 
 district, the back of the slave-trade in Sierra Leone is broken, 
 and as a remunerative industry it is, happily, ruined. 
 
 It is perhaps not a little strange, all things being 
 considered, that the formation of the Protectorate of Sierra 
 Leone was delayed to a date so late as 1896. As already 
 stated, disturbances amongst the tribes in the Hinterland had 
 been of more or less frequent occmTence since as far back as 
 1885, when the white inhabitants, including clergymen, 
 merchants, and others, submitted a memorial to the then 
 Governor pointing out that whilst the Colony was entirely 
 dependant for its maintenance upon the trade with the 
 interior, yet from Rio Nunez on the north to the Mano River 
 on the south the tribes were continually at war. The 
 memorialists therefore urged the Government to bring about 
 peace at any cost, even, if necessary, by force of arms. They 
 pointed out that the slave trade, the root of all the trouble, 
 was still being actively carried on under our very eyes ; and 
 proceeded to state that by the act of the Conference which 
 had shortly before been held at Berlin, the necessity for 
 assming the authority of the gi-eat Powers in the territories
 
 OUR POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION 205 
 
 occupied by them, for the purpose of promoting general 
 freedom of trade and transit, had been quite fully recognised. 
 And it is interesting to know that the presei-vation of the 
 aboriginal tribes was a prime article in such Act. 
 
 One of the chief needs, if the recommendations embodied in 
 this memorial for the protection of trade routes were to be 
 carried out in their integrity, was an organised system of 
 armed police-ing. An apt illustration of this need w^as 
 exhibited by the fact that in the very year in which this 
 petition was presented the Yonnis had attacked and plundered 
 Songa toAvn ; while two years later a place called Senehu, 
 close to the border of the Colony, had been burnt to the 
 ground and the male inhabitants killed, and the women and 
 children carried into slavery. As a result the Government 
 took action, and a punitive expedition, under the command of 
 the late Sir Francis De Winton, G.C.M.G., C.B., was sent 
 up-country, which defeated them, and for a time put an end 
 to the distm-bance. 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing that even in those early 
 days the more enlightened inhabitants of the Colony were 
 fully alive to the importaiice of opening up the rich Hinter- 
 land to down-country trade, and at the same time to the 
 desirability of putting an end to the iniquitous doings that 
 were going on. But in order efiectually to carry through the 
 progi'amme of remedial measures which had been mapped out, 
 a permanent territorial force was a sine qua non. The 
 Frontier Police was therefore raised, whose advanced posts 
 crossed the border of the Colony. The then Governor, Sir 
 Samuel Rowe, was strongly in favour of this scheme, and his 
 policy was given gi-cater effect to by his successor, Sir James 
 Shaw Hay, in 1889. A system of outposts and patrols was 
 organised, and it was not long before the territories which had 
 hitherto been drenched in bloodshed became tranquil and 
 even prosperous, commercially. The new Force was also able 
 to exercise some check upon the kidnapping of slaves for sale
 
 2o6 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 in the interior to Mohammedans and others from the east- 
 ward. 
 
 So far so good ; but in spite of their efforts there remained 
 other districts which were still far from quiet ; and I have 
 already described the deplorable condition these Avere in at 
 the time of Sir Frederic Cardew's tour through the country 
 in 1894. 
 
 But before the establishment of a Protectorate could 
 become a fait accomjili it was necessary that steps be 
 taken to divide it up for administrative purposes. This 
 having been done, the question now arose as to the source 
 from which the expenditure for maintenance was to be 
 drawn. A scheme was proposed by Sir Frederic Cardew, 
 and this, with certain modifications, was accepted. The 
 main proposition was that a House Tax of 10s. annually 
 for each native dwelling containing four or more rooms 
 should be imjposed, and one of 5s. for every smaller 
 domicile. In the early part of 1896 it was decided that 
 this tax should be leviable from 1898 upon the districts of 
 Karene, Bandajuma, and Ronietta, its collection in the 
 remaining districts — namely, Panguma and Koina-Dugu — 
 being postponed for a further period of two years. 
 
 The repeal of this Ordinance was subsequently brought 
 about by the Secretary of State on the ground that certain 
 of its provisions seemed to show that the lands of the Pro- 
 tectorate were vested in the Crown, which, of course, was not 
 the case. 
 
 In 1897 a second Protectorate Ordinance was passed, the 
 principal new provisions of w^hich were, shortly, as follows : — 
 The establishment of three separate Courts of Jurisdiction, 
 the first to be presided over by native chiefs alone, the 
 second jointly by the native chiefs and a District Commis- 
 sioner, and the third by the District Commissioner alone. 
 The intention of this provision was the relegation to the 
 chiefs of jurisdiction over civil cases arising exclusively
 
 oil! POLITICAL ADMIXISTHATKtX. 
 The arrival of a Big Chief, Upper Slemliliiinl. 
 
 \ 1 \~i; 111 i;\iiii.//. i.i;\ii;n r. 
 In the Court of the District Commissioner. 
 
 T'lfacij: 206,
 
 OUR POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION 207 
 
 between natives, excepting such as involved questions of 
 land title (the very ones they ought, one would have 
 thought, to have had a voice in deciding). This native 
 Court would also try criminal cases in which natives only 
 were concerned, excepting those involving murder, homi- 
 cide, and a few other offences of a serious natm-e, which 
 would come before the second Court. In the third Court 
 the Commissioner would take cases generally in which per- 
 sons not natives were concerned, such as trafficking in slaves, 
 and so forth. 
 
 The new Ordinance also enacted that as from the beginning 
 of 1898 a House Tax of 10s. should be levied for each native 
 house of four or more rooms, and 5s. for every house of three 
 rooms or less, a commission at the rate of per cent, being 
 allowed to the chiefs, who were responsible for the collection 
 of the tax, upon the full amount being paid. 
 
 The events which succeeded the imposition of the House 
 Tax and the proclamation of the Protectorate Ordinance 
 have been called locally "the Tax War"; and indeed some 
 persons who knew little or nothing about the Hinterland and 
 its people have gone so far as to aver that it was the tax 
 alone which precipitated that outbreak. As a matter of fact, 
 it was nothing of the kind. The war was not a " tax war " 
 at all ; it was a " slave war." The chiefs saw the old order 
 of things fast slipping away. The advent of a civil (and 
 civilised) control by Europeans was imminent, an embargo 
 would almost certainly be placed upon their barbarous 
 customs and fetish ceremonies, and their principal source 
 of wealth — namely, the slave traffic — would assuredly be 
 done away with. They cast about, therefore, for some pre- 
 text under which they could persuade the whole country to 
 join them in a determined attempt to throw off the British 
 yoke entirely. That excuse was now ready to their hand in 
 the execrated " House Tax." The other grievances already 
 detailed were the gunpowder, laid a considerable time before
 
 208 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 in readiness for an explosion, the "House Tax" supplying 
 the match with which to light it. That the rising was 
 inevitable I have not the slightest doubt iu my own mind. 
 Whatever had been the policy adopted by our Government 
 at that time, the natives who, it must be recollected, had 
 never been made aware of the strength of Great Britain, and 
 a large proportion of whom had never even seen a white man, 
 would undoubtedly have risen and attempted to do what they 
 did. 
 
 Nevertheless, I say that out of this evil much good has 
 come. It seems, in fact, as if a cm-tain had, since the lat« 
 outbreak, been pulled aside fi-om before the people's eyes so 
 that now they regard the British fi-om a different and much 
 more rational point of view. Sir Frederic Cardew, one of 
 the ablest, strongest, and most conscientious Governors who 
 has ever administered a British possession, took infinite pains 
 to find out as much as it was possible to discover about the 
 little knoAvn Hinterland behind the Colony of Sien-a Leone. 
 As I have stated earlier, a distance of upwards of two thousand 
 miles altogether was traversed, and mostly on foot, by His 
 Excellency, and during his tours an enormous quantity of 
 information, of great political and ethnological importance, 
 was accumulated. His policy respecting the imposition of 
 a House Tax on the natives, as well as the provisions 
 generally of the Protectorate Ordinance which he di*afted, 
 was quite sound ; and that it was so the fact that this policy 
 to a gi-eat extent is being canied out to-day, and ^vith eveiy 
 success, abundantly goes to show. 
 
 We came into this land with an inadequate staff for the 
 work before us : just a handful of British officers scattered 
 over a country about the size of Ireland, and inhabited by a 
 savage and disaffected population. But the herculean task 
 with which the Colonial Government found itself confi-onted 
 has been magnificently performed ; and anybody present, as 
 I was, in the country at the beginning of the trouble and
 
 OUR POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION 209 
 
 retm'umg to it later, could not fail to be surprised at and 
 struck, no less with the great strides made towards material 
 progi-ess than with the cordial relations which subsist to-day 
 between ourselves and the natives formerly so hostile to our 
 rule. The change that has been brought about in that short 
 space of time is a revelation certainly, and one that will afford 
 very pleasant wi-iting in the future for historians. 
 
 We appear to have recognised at length the fact that the 
 only way successfully to govern our West African Protec- 
 torates, inhabited, as a number of them are, by a population 
 just emerging from a state of savagery, and whose ideas and 
 notions are entii'ely different from our own, is to rule through 
 the people themselves. The African is by far the most valuable 
 asset that Afr-ica possesses, and through him and by him only 
 can the best results ever be obtained. Let the kings, chiefs, 
 emirs, and others in authority, retain the same executive 
 powers that they had before the advent of the British 
 regime, and, if possible, even greater powers than then. 
 Let their laws and tribal customs, which have been carried 
 out in the country for untold generations, be interfered "n-ith 
 as little as possible, excepting, of course, so far as these run 
 counter to the practice of civilised nations. Let us respect 
 even their religion, especially when the people are followers 
 of Islam. Do not let our missionaries, well-intentioned and 
 good men as they no doubt are, come here and thrust another 
 creed, even if it is a more exalted one than their own, upon 
 the natives nolens volens. 
 
 The Christian missionaries have, there is no sort of doubt, 
 a grand and noble work before them in the future here. But 
 they ought to see that the only way in which the moral nature 
 of the African can be improved and enlightened is through 
 the children. It is, I think, almost a physical impossibility to 
 influence morally the mind of an adult up-country aborigine and 
 change his ideas, and I fear that a large amount of wasted 
 labour and useless time has been spent by the missionaries in 
 
 15
 
 2ro OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 attempting to do so in the past. But through the rising 
 generation of young Africans something may and will, I 
 doubt not, be accomplished. Let them be taught a useful 
 trade or handicraft. But let it be understood that before any 
 lad can become, say, a good cai-penter, he must be educated. 
 Let him be " caught young," in fact, and let his education 
 include a good technical training also. In that way very 
 much may be done with him, and I understand is being 
 done at present. Moreover, always hitherto the mis- 
 sionaries seem to have begun to whittle away at the wrong 
 end of the stick. If prosel5i;ising is to be done effectively 
 among the tribes it should be delayed until they have learnt 
 to respect us, and to feel that in ourselves they have strong 
 and faithful fi-iends, and that without us their material condi- 
 tion would be many times worse than it is at present. These 
 feelings should first, I say, be fostered and encouraged, and 
 then it will be time enough to think of introducing into their 
 minds the ideas and creeds of Em-ope. 
 
 I have said that Africa must be worked by the Afiican. It 
 is most necessary that this fact should be always borne in 
 mind in all questions relating to our administration and 
 development of this part of the Continent. Sierra Leone 
 has, there is no doubt, a brilliant future ahead of it. The 
 chiefs are already beginning to realise and appreciate the 
 benefits which have accrued to them since we first came into 
 their country. To-day we find the people hapjjy and con- 
 tented. The crops are to be seen growing everj-where ; 
 there are no stockades ai'ound the towns and villages ; 
 evei^body can walk where he likes, and trade generally is 
 in a flomishing condition. Moreover, they have at last 
 begun to realise that in order to secure the benefits they 
 are receiving a small tax has to be paid for the upkeep oi 
 the Government which bestows them. Whenever we look 
 back upon the old days we find that it was useless for the 
 people to plant their crops because, as they themselves
 
 OUR POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION 211 
 
 would say, " they never knew whether they wouhl be there 
 to eat them." 
 
 As I have remarked elsewhere, I was struck on my return 
 to Sierra Leone in 1902 with the immense strides that the 
 Protectorate had made during my absence from the country. 
 The present Governor, Sir C. A. King-Harman, K.C.M.G., is 
 very popular, not only with the inhabitants of Sierra Leone 
 itself, but with many of the chiefs and people in the interior 
 ^dth whom he has come in contact. He has made himself 
 personally acquainted with the conditions of the Hinterland 
 by undertaking lengthy tours throughout every district, and 
 dining these journeys has been brought into direct touch with 
 the chiefs and people, and has thus had an opportunity of 
 making himself aware of their grievances and desires. In 
 this way a considerable amount of information has been 
 obtained which it is so necessary that the head of the 
 Government should know. 
 
 The last journey His Excellency made was to the Banda- 
 juma District, and lasted from the 20th of January until the 
 20th of the following month. During that time nearly the 
 whole of the circumference of this district was traversed, I 
 accompanied the Governor on this occasion as Commissioner, 
 and large meetings, attended by the chiefs and people, were 
 convened at every important town and village through which 
 we passed. 
 
 At nearly every town at which we stopped the Governor 
 convened assemblies of the chiefs and people and invited all 
 to come forward and say what they had in their minds, either 
 concerning the House Tax or the Government. It speaks 
 volumes as to the great strides that have of late years been 
 made towards establishing an entente cordiale between the 
 natives and the British that at these meetings there were 
 practically no complaints of any importance made. Many of 
 the Paramount Chiefs in the presence of their people openly 
 told the Governor that they saw and understood now how quiet
 
 212 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 the country was, how they were able to keep then* farms, and 
 how every one of them was safe. They declared that they 
 appreciated the protection the G-overnment was giving them, 
 and that they did not object to contributing their share by the 
 payment of a House Tax towards its up-keep. I think in 
 nearly ever}' meeting that took place, these sentiments were 
 expressed, whilst the complaints made were for the most 
 part trivial, and such as could be settled on the spot. 
 
 From an intimate knowledge of these people, I am assured 
 that the House Tax is not felt by them, and so long as fraud 
 is prevented in its collection, it can very easily be paid. The 
 slave question is a much more difficult one, and needs most 
 careful handling by the Government. One of the real griev- 
 ances of the chiefs and other important people in the country 
 (known locally as " the big men ") is that their former domes- 
 tic slaves are leaving them, and that they have no one to work 
 their farms and look after their homes as before. The domes- 
 tic slaves of the chiefs are really not slaves as the word is 
 understood at home. A man becomes the servant of the chief 
 either by inheritance, by choice, or by purchase. He has to 
 do a certain amount of work for his master, and in return 
 receives protection, wives, and is even sometimes given pro- 
 perty. The work these domestics have to do is by no means 
 hard or unpleasant. As a rule a slave will work for five days 
 in the week for his master, and for the remaining two days he 
 can work a farm of his own which his master has given him. 
 I have known cases where a "slave" has run away from his 
 master, gone to Sierra Leone, and finding the outside world 
 too hard for him, has, of his own free will, returned to his for- 
 mer employer and home. These men who have left their 
 masters in the interior and come down to the coast towns have 
 to work a great deal harder for a livelihood than they did in 
 the bush. Even now a number of these so-called slaves are 
 beginning to recognise this, and we should give the Chiefs 
 every assistance to keep their "boys " from leaving them, for
 
 OUR POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION 213 
 
 in its present state the wealth of the Protectorate can only be 
 developed and the country can only be properly administered 
 through its inhabitants, and, of course, without labour no 
 advancement whatever can be made. Properly handled by the 
 Government this domestic slave question will be no trouble, 
 and one of the great and genuine grievances of the land and 
 property owners in the Protectorate will be removed. We 
 have a splendid country here, and one small enough to be 
 easily tapped, but to develop it effectively we must make it 
 worth the Afi-ican's while to join handsomely in this profitable 
 undertaking. 
 
 Moreover, in a country of this kind, it is of the utmost 
 importance that the right officers are obtained for adminis- 
 trative purposes in the Hinterland. The proper qualifications 
 are by no means easy to find ; and a man unsuited for his 
 position, no matter what his qualifications may be, can do an 
 incalculable amount of mischief. I think the man who will 
 be really successful in this kind of work, is, as a rule, one who 
 takes real interest in the work for its own sake, and not merely 
 as a perfunctory performance of his duty. He should be open- 
 minded, firm, patient, tactful, and have courtesy and consider- 
 ation for others. As I have before remarked, good health is, 
 of coiu-se, a sine quel non, for without it a man cannot possibly 
 really do his duty. He should also endeavom- to make himself 
 acquainted with the language of the people amongst whom ho 
 resides. Being dependent on an often unscrupulous interpre- 
 ter has sometimes, within my certain knowledge, resulted in 
 miscarriage of justice, and in Court, where the answers to 
 questions depend in law so much upon the way they are given, 
 a great deal must be lost. An officer who possesses these 
 qualifications can do almost anything with his people. The 
 Chiefs will respect and trust him, and will seek his advice. 
 And his moral suasion will be so great that the advancement 
 and development of the country through its people will be 
 assured.
 
 214 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 As I have previously remarked, the Colonial Government 
 and its officers have had great difficulties to contend with ; but 
 these difficulties are gradually but surely being overcome. 
 For in these vast and wild areas every man who has done his 
 day's work honestly has left his mark upon the land, and done 
 his share in binding together those great strands of Empire 
 which traverse all latitudes and longitudes and unite the most 
 various races and colours in a common devotion to King and 
 Country. 
 
 I have previously remarked that the power of the Chiefs 
 must be upheld and receive the support of the Government, 
 but in doing this we must not lose sight of the rights of the 
 more humble native. British authority in the West African 
 Protectorates is upheld usually by an abnormally small staff, 
 whose jurisdiction extends over large areas of country. The 
 instrument by which our ordinances and laws are upheld is the 
 aid of locally raised natives, who join our service as police, 
 Court messengers, soldiers, etc. A native with the smallest 
 vestige of power will invariably abuse it on the first oppor- 
 tunity, and there is little doubt that our subordinate officials 
 have, times without number, abused their position and, taking 
 advantage of their uniform, have far exceeded their power as 
 police, or whatever they may have been. And I believe that 
 in the early days of the Sierra Leone Protectorate the Govern- 
 ment and even the European officers were wrongly blamed by 
 the inhabitants for the behaviour of their native subordinates, 
 whether travelling or stationary in different parts of the country 
 on duty. This state of afiairs is being gradually reformed by 
 rigorously punishing the offenders when caught. The African, 
 in his native state, is, as a rule, very slow to make a complaint 
 against any one wearing the Government uniform, and when 
 he complains there is usually good ground for his doing so. 
 As a rule, even when his complaints are genuine, he has little 
 encouragement to make them, for he may be many miles from 
 anyone in authority, while the offending officials might in some
 
 FASSIillU', A GKKAT ELEPHANT HrXTER. 
 
 (P. 193.; 
 
 ma EXCKLI-ENCV SIH C. A. K 1 N(i - II \ 1( M AN AM> I'Akl'V AITEK A TOlU IN THE 
 
 • iiiN ri;i{i.\Ni>, iiiiiiiiAuv. 190:?. 
 To face p. 214.
 
 OUR POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION 215 
 
 way or other be able to make the situation worse for the 
 complainant before he had time to reach the Government 
 headquarters. 
 
 To summarise generally, the advancement of the Sierra 
 Leone Protectorate since the lamentable occurrences of 1898, 
 affords a wonderful example of what courage, firmness, tact, 
 and hard work can together accomplish in a country as savage 
 and as little known as this was only a few short years ago.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 OUR COMMERCIAL POLICY 
 
 " The worlc under our labour groius 
 Luxurious by restraint.'^ 
 Milton. 
 
 rpHE question has often been asked by persons interested 
 -*- directly or indirectly in the commercial expansion of the 
 Empire, what are the prospects in future for the development, 
 on trading lines, of our possessions and protectorates in West 
 Africa ? Such an interrogative has, in various forms, been put 
 to me personally, not once, but many and many a time, and 
 my answer has invariably been that the prospects or, at all 
 events, the potentialities, are practically unbounded, whether 
 commercially, politically, or hj-gienically regarded. Certainly 
 the strides made in the past few years towards developing our 
 national estates on the West Coast upon sound business lines 
 have been enormous ; and there is every indication that even 
 this rate of progress will be exceeded in the near future. But 
 a very few years ago the shipping lines running between Great 
 Britain and this part of the African coast were but few and far 
 between. But Supply created Demand ; and the rapid expan- 
 sion of industry has necessitated the multiplication of over- 
 sea transport facilities, and to-day not one but several fine 
 lines of cargo-steamers ply regularly at short intervals between 
 the West Coast and Liverpool and Plymouth. 
 
 So far, so good. A big task still remains, however, to be
 
 OUR COMMERCIAL POLICY 217 
 
 performed by the British Government and by British mer- 
 chants, if they would grapple successfully with this huge 
 question. The greater part of West Africa is beyond all doubt 
 magnificently rich in a variety of indigenous products of a 
 value that can scarcely be over-estimated. But — and the 
 "but" is a big one — it is yet a new country, a land of 
 To-morrow. There is one thing still needed, if the natural 
 wealth with which the country teems is to be tm-ned to good 
 account — I mean, of course, the construction of rail and water- 
 ways. Upon the " metals " a major portion of the prosperity 
 of the future of the country hinges ; and until they are laid 
 down no real and substantial progi'ess can be recorded. 
 Again, in the vast tracts of Northern Nigeria which we have 
 lately acquired — surrounded as they are by the big Hausa 
 States with a population running into several millions, with 
 whom, as with many other of the native races, a flourishing 
 trade has for years past been carried on — lies one of the most 
 important markets of the world. Having, I say, recently 
 obtained the right to "protect" this huge slice of virgin 
 ten'itorj' we have here, if only we utilise it in the right way, an 
 illimitable source of wealth all ready to our hand. Here is a 
 country one-third the size of India, inhabited by peoples many 
 of whom are considerably above the ordinary negro standard 
 in intelligence, but which at present, so far as we are con- 
 cerned, remains entirely unexploited, and, as regards a large 
 portion of it, absolutely unkno^\7i. 
 
 To the south of it lies Southern Nigeria, a gi-eat region 
 whose physical characteristics are altogether different. This 
 is, 'par excellence, a timber country ; a land of dense forest and 
 thick unbroken " bush." Here flourish in a very riot of pro- 
 fusion all, or nearly all, the most valuable sorts of timber 
 known to western commerce, as well as many other kinds as 
 yet unknown to us. Through it flows the mighty Niger, and 
 the earth on either side of it literally teems with rich natural 
 products, both above ground and below.
 
 2i8 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 Then there is the Gold Coast. The whole of this wide 
 country, with its vast interior, by which I mean, of course, 
 the Northern Territories, is, no doubt, capable of immense and 
 profitable development. 
 
 But leaving these great outlying countries for the present on 
 one side, let me confine myself to the one with which I have 
 been more immediately and personally concerned, namely, 
 Sierra Leone and its Hinterland. 
 
 I have said that the future which lies before this country 
 is, economically speaking, very full of promise. The only 
 desideratum is that railway communication should be estab- 
 lished between the Hinterland and the coast, and the fertile 
 tracts of the interior thereby brought into direct touch with the 
 metropolis of Northern England — Liverpool. I am glad to be 
 able to add that our Colonial Government has shown itself 
 alive to this necessity, and a railway is even now being rapidly 
 pushed into the interior. That line will open to outside trade 
 leagues and leagues of territory hitherto unprofitable only 
 because, owing to the upper waterways being unnavigable even 
 to light-draught craft, the chiefs have been unable to get local 
 produce down to market on the coast in any paying quantities. 
 
 For years uncounted the palms have dropped their nuts on 
 to the ground only to rot there, for the reason that there was 
 nobody to take them away. The narrow-gauge railway will 
 alter all that, and the chiefs of those inland nations will at 
 length have an opportunity afi'orded them of estimating for 
 themselves the benefits to accrue from the development of 
 their lands. They will readily see, if they are alive to their 
 own interests, that it is far more profitable to send down the 
 large amount of produce which they have in their hands, and 
 for which they can obtain good prices at the coast, than to ruin 
 their people and depopulate the country by slave trading and 
 petty wars, as formerly. Not only will the increased quantity 
 of palm-nuts gathered yield a splendid return under the new 
 conditions to be inaugurated, but there is a further and con- 
 
 i
 
 i\H AI.rUKIi I.. .lOMvS, K.C.jM.G. 
 
 From, a Plioto hij BtiiWaiul* 
 
 To fna- V. •■il><.
 
 OUR COMMERCIAL POLICY 219 
 
 siderable advantage to be derived from the oil in which the 
 kernels are so rich. And in this connection I must not fail to 
 record the important sei-vice rendered to commerce by the 
 emj)loyment lately of a more scientific method of cracking than 
 formerly obtained. Previously, one great drawback to the 
 profitable character of this industry lay in the difficulty experi- 
 enced in cracking the nuts and separating the kernels from the 
 shells. This used to be done with the aid of stones by the 
 women, who spent the greater portion of their days engaged 
 in this laborious and monotonous occupation. I had, some 
 little time ago, an opportunity afi'orded me of watching the 
 working of a couple of the ingenious machines which have 
 been devised to supersede the old way of doing things ; and I 
 can truthfully say, after a somewhat exhaustive inspection of 
 their performance, that the care and rapidity with which they 
 did their work came as something in the nature of a revelation 
 to me. Once these machines come into general request, as 
 there is little doubt they will so soon as the slow-moving mind 
 of the black has understood the immense saving of labour 
 which their use involves, and the enormously increased 
 amount of produce which can be dealt with in a given time, 
 and the palm-kernel trade will receive a fillip such as it never 
 previously knew. To sum up on this head, I look upon the 
 West African palm-tree as constituting one of the chief, if not 
 the chief, sources of the country's wealth. Just as Mohammed 
 told the Arabs to "cherish the date-tree, for she is your 
 mother," so I advise the native here to do the same by the 
 nut-bearing palm, of which indeed there is no part which 
 cannot be tm'ned to profitable account. 
 
 I have referred to the palm forests of the interior as 
 supplying an inexhaustible source of wealth. But these are 
 not its only assets by any means. The finest rice, probably, 
 in the world is gi'own in the Hinterland of Sierra Leone. I do 
 not, I confess, think that West African rice is ever likely to be 
 in very great demand in the markets of Great Britain. For
 
 220 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 we British are a peculiar and a remarkably conservative 
 people in certain matters. We see the small white rice of 
 India put out for sale, and alongside of it the West African 
 grain, which, though coarser and dirtier in appearance, 
 contains quite three or four times the amount of nourish- 
 ment and gluten. It is almost a foregone conclusion that 
 British customers will be taken with the Indian sample, as 
 looking so much finer, while the West African, which is so 
 much better than it looks, will remain unsold. 
 
 But if that be so, the continent of Africa still remains to 
 the grower fi-om which to reap a fortune. There is a con- 
 tinual and ever-increasing demand for the commodity, both in 
 our own possessions and in the gi-eat countries lying to the 
 north and south of these. That demand it may well be our 
 ambition to satisfy. Here we have some millions of acres of 
 land only waiting cultivation, with customers practically on 
 the spot. What an enormous field of enterprise is open to 
 the native here ! Is he going, with our assistance, to avail 
 himself of it ? 
 
 Great interest has, again, been taken recently by Great 
 Britain, Germany, and other countries on the continent, in 
 the development of the cotton industry in West Africa. 
 Already, the Germans have had most successful results fi-om 
 their experimental cultivation of the cotton plant in Togoland ; 
 and now the governors of our own West African colonies are 
 bestirring themselves to push matters forward in the same 
 direction in the countries which they administer. Sierra 
 Leone has not been behindhand in the effort to induce the 
 native chiefs and the uji-coimtry traders and farmers to take 
 up this industry in earnest. If they do so, then there is little 
 doubt of a successful issue, though careful nursing will be 
 necessai-y for some little time to come. Meanwhile, the 
 colony has started in the right way by engaging the services 
 of skilled cotton experts to go out and show the people, and 
 others interested, the best way to set about planting the seed.
 
 OUR COMMERCIAL POLICY 221 
 
 This, mark you, should be home-grown, and not a foreign kind. 
 The latter would never be able to stand the heavy deluges of 
 rain, but would be washed out of the ground and destroyed 
 directly. The local cotton-seed is of quite good quality and 
 much better adapted, besides, to the country requirements and 
 conditions. At present this cotton is, like the country itself, 
 in a wild state, though freely employed by the natives. Yet 
 the result is sufficiently good to show what may be achieved 
 by systematic culture. All that needs to be done is, as I 
 have said, to place this seed, which is part and parcel of the 
 country's natural produce, under proper cultivation. We 
 must grow it over extended and carefully selected areas ; and 
 before everything else we must not mind whatever trouble and 
 labour it may cost to encourage and instruct the natives in its 
 growth, until at length West African cotton has obtained a 
 good hold on the country and a firm footing in the markets of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 This is quite a feasible project. The soil is there, the 
 climate is there, and the transport facilities will be there 
 directly. In very self-defence, and for the sake of our pre- 
 eminence as a nation of traders, we must not allow the other 
 countries to step in before us here. Nor, with the exercise 
 of energetic and prompt measures, is there any reason why 
 they should. I am glad to be able, too, to testify to the 
 indefatigable pains which the present Governor of the Colony 
 has been at, both during the time he was last in England and 
 since his return to the seat of government, to foster and 
 encourage the development of this magnificent industry. His 
 efforts have been well supported by many of our greatest 
 merchants and business men at home, and notably by Sir 
 Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G., the head of the great shipping firm 
 of Elder, Dempster, and Co., who has, with praiseworthy 
 public spirit, granted unusual facilities for placing the early 
 yield of native crops upon the English market. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary for mc to labour the point of what
 
 222 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 the cultivation of a fully adequate cotton crop in West Africa 
 would mean, from the political standpoint, to this coimtry. 
 Every good Imperialist will readily realise the advantage it 
 would be to Great Britain were she to succeed in pro- 
 ducing, in her own Afi'ican colonies, sufficient cotton for her 
 home requirements, and thus become altogether independent 
 of American supplies. There is not the slightest reason, 
 either, why she should not achieve this object, nor why, before 
 so very many years are passed, the big cotton-spinning and 
 weaving mills of Lancashire should not be fed entirely from 
 an article grown within the boundaries of a self-sufficing 
 British Empire. 
 
 And if this gi-and country is to be thoroughly and systema- 
 tically tapped, one thing before all else is a desideratum, 
 namely, the fact that we must avail ourselves to the fullest 
 extent of native labour. And herein arises another difficulty 
 — not an insurmountable one, but one which will still have to 
 be grappled ^dth and overcome before any real progress is 
 made. The raw material abounds all over the country. But 
 it has to be said that your West Afi-ican native, like other 
 persons whose lives are passed under the enervating influence 
 of a tropical sun, has a rooted disinclination to the doing of 
 more manual work than will suffice to keep him in the rude 
 necessaries of life. His wants are for the day only. " To- 
 morrow " is a word without much meaning for his undeveloped 
 intelligence. The industrial development of the Negro is the 
 first thing, then, to be taken in hand. Give him to under- 
 stand that a little more labour on his part will result in a 
 very material increase to his own comfort and well-being, and 
 he will begin to take quite kindly to paid work. 
 
 And there is a right and a wrong way of going about this. 
 To attempt to get at the African aborigine direct would 
 inevitably be to court failure. He must be approached 
 through his own chiefs if anything is to be got out of him 
 at all, and we shall have only om-selves to blame if we try
 
 
 ■''1 ^J! 
 
 ^2^r 
 
 IKi 
 
 ^■'^ 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 Hfa 
 
 ■iR^-- -. -^ 
 
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 K 
 
 ■l^^ 
 
 oH 
 
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 ^Jl^h^ 
 
 Ml 
 
 ¥M 
 
 ^^ 4|^H 
 
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 L M 
 
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 ^IHH^^IHIBi^ 
 
 
 THE GOTERXOR, SIR C. A. K1NG-UAE.MA.\ , HOLDING A 
 MEETING IN THE HIXTEKLAXD. 
 
 (P. 212.) 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 ^i^&f^ilsfe- 
 
 i^hHp^ -1. ■ 
 
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 ItltlNGlNG DUW.N rKODlCE. 
 
 (OITON SI'INMNG, Ul'l'EK Jl KNDlLAMl. 
 
 To face j). 222.
 
 OUR COMMERCIAL POLICY 223 
 
 any other method. It becomes our bonnden duty, therefore, 
 to encourage and support in every legitimate way the authority 
 of the local heads of tribes and villages, and to give them such 
 assistance as white men may in keeping their people well in 
 hand. 
 
 My own experience has been — and I have travelled some- 
 what extensively in this part of the country — that the native 
 "boy," once he can be set going, is both a willing and a 
 cheerful worker, provided, of course, that he is fairly well 
 treated and has the assurance of receiving some kind of fair 
 remuneration for his toil. Moreover, I have found the chiefs, 
 as a rule, only too willing to assist in procuring an adequate 
 supply of labourers, though they naturally expect, and are 
 entitled, to receive some small present, either in cash or kind, 
 for using their influence on om- behalf. 
 
 The labour question, then, coming as it does under the 
 heading of "profitable employment for the inhabitants," is 
 one of supreme and paramount importance in the develop- 
 ment of West Africa. There are, of course, scores of 
 channels in which this labour may be advantageously made 
 use of; whilst, deprived of it, the land must languish, as it 
 has languished for uncounted centuries in the past, and the 
 people who inhabit it must remain in a state of barbarism. 
 
 Resuming the tale of the land and its assets, commercially 
 speaking, mention should be made of the very excellent 
 native-woven cloth. Despite primitive appliances, the manu- 
 facture is really first-rate ; the cotton-woven cloths of the 
 Sien*a Leone Hinterland — and especially those which come 
 from the hand-looms of Mendiland — being, if somewhat 
 coarse in texture, practically indestructible in the matter of 
 durability and wear, as well as exceedingly tasteful in colour 
 and design. 
 
 I am not aware that particular encouragement has ever 
 been extended to the natives to weave their cloths in gi-eater 
 quantities. That, I think, is a pity, for here we have so
 
 224 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 much industry, and, I might add, talent, running to seed 
 simply for want of an incentive to display itself. If only a 
 regular market could be established to which these valuable 
 products could be brought, and where a fair tariff price could 
 always be obtained for them, I am quite satisfied that the 
 result would be of incalculable benefit to the people and chiefs 
 alike, whilst as a civilising influence it could scarcely be 
 surpassed. Even the missionaries \^'ill be with me, I imagine, 
 when I suggest that one of the first steps towards improving 
 the moral status of the West Coast negro is to get him to 
 wear some kind of clothes, however light, and to take a pride 
 in wearing them. 
 
 Another very valuable product of this part of the coast is 
 rubber. In this certain portions of the Sierra Leone Pro- 
 tectorate are particularly rich, and I have myself passed, on 
 several of my journeys in the interior, through immense forests 
 of rubber trees, only waiting to be tapj)ed to yield up their 
 precious stores of sap. At present this industry, which 
 might, and ought, to become one of the most important 
 staples of the Coast trade, is practically non-existent, owing 
 to the lack of sufficient enterprise on the part of the chiefs to 
 get it on the market. Here and there the trees are " milked," 
 to be sm-e, but in the unscientific and utterly wasteful manner 
 in which the native does everything when left to his own 
 devices. All this might easily be altered. A thorough 
 examination should be made of the rubber forests ; the trees 
 should be tallied and divided into groups for systematic 
 tapping, and speedy means arranged for getting their yield 
 down-country. I am of opinion that the trouble involved in 
 doing all this would speedily and amply recoup those who 
 took it. The rubber of no country in the tropics is of 
 better quality, intrinsically, than that grown in this part 
 of "West Africa, and in point of cheapness of production the 
 rubber of Mendiland would be found to compare, I think, 
 quite favourably with any other growths whatever elsewhere.
 
 OUR COMMERCIAL POLICY 225 
 
 A once impoi'tant local industry, but one that has of recent 
 years fallen for some inexplicable reason into desuetude, is 
 coffee cultivation. On one of my \risits to England I brought 
 home a sample of coffee berries from the Mendi country ; and 
 it was very much appreciated and liked. Indeed, I believe 
 that the coffee grown in this Hinterland is at least as fine in 
 quality and flavour as any that the world produces, not even 
 excepting Mocha itself. From the local merchants at Sierra 
 Leone this coffee, which is absolutely pure and free from any 
 kind of adulteration, can be obtained at the price of 6d. per 
 lb, at an}' time, and, indeed, I believe the usual price in the 
 local markets is something like 4d., with a fall, recentty, to 
 a figure even lower still. Now it would be a thousand pities 
 were this excellent article to be permitted, for want of a little 
 attention, to go entirely out of cultivation ; and of the many 
 openings for trade which this part of the coast affords few 
 have a better chance and a brighter future before them, in 
 my judgment, than the cultivation of the coffee bush. 
 
 It is by giving our attention to these minor products, so to 
 say, of the land that we can best help to awaken in the 
 aborigines that interest in their own advancement and intel- 
 lectual progi-ess which is so necessary a prelude to their 
 tm'uing an inquiring mind to a consideration of more 
 important questions still. 
 
 16
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 orPv COMMERCIAL POLICY (continued) 
 
 rpHE foregoing remarks on the commercial position of the 
 -^ Sierra Leone Protectorate would be incomplete without 
 a reference to the cultivation of fruit, for which nature has so 
 eminently fitted it. Here, in the multifarious vegetable 
 products which spring up almost spontaneously in its rich 
 and fertile soil, lies another ojiening for profitable trade. 
 Than the Coast and its Hinterland there are probably no 
 better fruit-growing countries in the world, and certainly none 
 boasting a ^ider range of products. Mark you ! the majority 
 of these are at present in a semi-mid state only. The best 
 known, perhaps, because it is the commonest, is the banana, 
 which occupies in West Africa a position analogous to that 
 filled by the commonest of our English fruits at home. Now 
 the banana has, ever since its introduction, been a most 
 popular fruit with us in this country, where a tolerably good 
 price is still paid for it. At present the chief som-ce — or one 
 of them, for we have now to reckon with Jamaica — of our 
 banana supply is the Canary Islands. Yet the banana of 
 SieiTa Leone is of infinitely better quality. I understand, 
 moreover, that in the Canaries the cost of cultivating this 
 fruit for the English market is still comparatively high. In 
 Sierra Leone and the country at the back of it the cost would 
 be practically nothing at all. That being so, and since the 
 banana is met with in nearly every town and village tkroughout 
 
 236
 
 OUR COMMERCIAL POLICY 227 
 
 the Protectorate, it is not a little curious that its growth for 
 export purj)oses does not at any time seem to have been 
 seriously considered. 
 
 The cause here, as elsewhere, is, of course, to be found in 
 the lack of transport facilities betwixt that country and this. 
 Given a service of fast steamers plying regularly between 
 Liverpool and Sierra Leone, and an immense trade ought to 
 be inaugurated in the banana and other fruits. The pro- 
 prietors of the Elder-Dempster Line have done a great deal 
 for Jamaica in starting a fleet of " fruiters " to run between 
 Kingston and Milford Haven. Would it not, I ask, pay 
 tliat enterprising firm to do the same by the Afi-ican West 
 Coast ? Certainly cargoes would never be lacking, whilst in 
 point of size and flavom* the African article compares quite 
 favourably with anything grown in the West Lidies ? 
 
 Then there is the pineapple — another fruit whose natural 
 home would certainly seem to be the moist, warm jungles and 
 field-patches of this country. During my travels in the 
 interior I have everywhere seen the pine growing wild in 
 profusion. I have also grown them in my own garden with 
 excellent results, and my table was seldom without a handsome 
 specimen upon it. I do not know what the exact cost of this 
 fruit is in England : something considerable, I understand. 
 In Sierra Leone they are worth from a halfpenny to twopence 
 each, and even the higher sum is not exorbitant having regard 
 to the size of the fruit that is obtained. Here again, then, 
 is a fine field waiting to be tilled. Would it not even be 
 worth the while of some enterprising firm to start a " canning" 
 factoiy on the Coast in which these delicious and wholesome 
 fruits could be sealed up by the thousand and transj^orted to 
 this country '? 
 
 Amongst other indigenous fruits of sorts is the mango, 
 which flourishes a incn-eille all over the country. I have 
 seen in many an upland town the trees literally groaning 
 beneath the weight of fruit that almost smashed their bending
 
 228 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 boughs. While they are found almost everywhere the mangoes 
 of Sherbro district enjoy a special reputation for the delicacy 
 of their flavour. Although I have no idea as to what they 
 fetch at present at home there should be no difficulty about 
 their transport in any quantity to Europe. 
 
 But, as I began by saying, the whole country from one end 
 to the other literally teems with fruit and garden produce ; 
 amongst these being paupaus, oranges, both sweet and bitter, 
 limes, guavas, plums, alligator pears (a thick-skinned fruit 
 more closely allied to the vegetable tribe), granadilloes, 
 tomatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, "jakatoos " (a kind of green 
 tomato), pumpkins, ground-nuts, and so on ad infinitum. 
 
 On looking over my notes in this connection T find that I 
 have omitted to give honourable mention to the cocoa-nut. 
 The cocoa-nut palm grows anywhere along the coast and 
 within a radius of about fifty miles inland, beyond which limit 
 it is not often met with. Along the whole coast-line of 
 Turner's Peninsula there are miles upon miles of ground 
 most admirably adapted for its cultivation. Yet little or 
 nothing has been done in this way beyond what the natives 
 may require for their own consumption. The pity is the 
 greater since this palm is one of the most useful of its kind 
 in existence, not even excepting the bamboo. From it is 
 obtained, amongst other products, copra, a marketable article 
 which I should like to see gaining much gi'ound in the near 
 future. Here is an industry in which little labour or initial 
 cost would be entailed to give most remunerative results. As 
 I have said, there are miles on miles of ground lying close to 
 the sea covered with the sandy soil that is so admirably suited 
 and necessary to the growth of this prolific tree. Now, one 
 acre of cocoa-nut palm should produce a ton of copra. A ton 
 of copra is valued at d615. Therefore every acre under cocoa- 
 nuts is worth dG15 for the fibre alone, irrespective of oil, and 
 so on. When this is remembered it is easy to see what an 
 enormous profit awaits any one enterprising enough to give it 
 a trial.
 
 OUR COMMERCIAL POLICY 229 
 
 Before concluding my remarks upon commercial matters I 
 propose to say a few words on the cm'reucy question, as that 
 affects to-day this portion of West Africa. 
 
 Ever since the imposition of the House Tax minted coin 
 has circulated freely in the interior, and the people are at 
 length beginning to appreciate its superiority as a medium of 
 exchange to the old-time system of barter in kind. 
 
 As illustrative of this fact I may appropriately recall an 
 incident which occurred when I was travelling in the interior 
 in 1899. During the Protectorate Expedition in that year I 
 had occasion to pay the chief of the Dama country for rice 
 supplied to the troops. The amount was something rather 
 considerable from the native point of view — that is to say, it 
 would run into a sum of between three and five pounds 
 sterling. When I offered to pay for the rice the chief 
 remarked that he did not want money, but would prefer to 
 receive the amount in tobacco, cloth, and snuff. With this 
 request I was unable to comply, and I proceeded to count out 
 the money in silver, which' I handed over to him. Some time 
 later I again met this chief, who told me that he was glad he 
 had made up his mind to take the money as he had had it 
 melted down into bangles and other ornaments for his 
 numerous wives. I may add that in 1902 this same chief 
 collected a sum of £680 in cash from the inhabitants of his 
 country as their contribution to the House Tax, which he duly 
 brought to me, when the amount was deposited and passed to 
 account in the Colonial Treasury in the usual way. The 
 chiefs highly appreciated the commission which they received 
 according to regulation for the collection of the tax. In fact, 
 the preference for money over "kind" is now becoming 
 general over the whole country, although there are still 
 districts, the people of which prefer to receive their fees in 
 tobacco, etc. 
 
 So smart in money matters have many of these people 
 become that it is almost impossible for a white man to get to
 
 230 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 wintlward of them in a trade transaction. I recollect once 
 offering a Susu trader a coin which I thought for the moment 
 was an English shilling. He took it, tm*ned it round, and 
 carefully studied it for the space of a couple of minutes. 
 Then he handed it back to me Avith these words, " Massa, 
 this money no good ; this not nah Queen's head," and I had 
 to take it back and give him another one instead. 
 
 In the north-east corner of this Protectorate, counti-y iron 
 constitutes the currency, and here a well-to-do person may 
 with no sacrifice of truth be termed a " man of metal." The 
 iron coinage in this case consists of long strips, one extremity 
 of which has a narrow " t^Adst " with a small handle in the 
 shape of a " T," and bored at the top. A piece of this iron 
 is worth, roughly, fi-om IJd. to 2d. But the two commodities 
 at present in most frequent demand in the interior are salt 
 and gunpowder, and to obtain these the natives will almost 
 give anything they possess. 
 
 The country in parts (and especially in the Panguma and 
 Bandajuma Districts) is full of excellent iron ore, out of 
 which the natives make — and very skilfully considering the 
 primitive character of their smelting appliances — their spears, 
 knives, and other weapons and rough agricultui'al implements. 
 The foimer they polish in a wonderful manner, and a cm-ious 
 thing in this connection is that these iron weapons retain their 
 brightness unimpaired quite a long period. 
 
 These far up-country tribes do not as a general rule journey 
 themselves or send very much of their produce to the coast, 
 but prefer to exchange it for cattle, wives, and other necessaries 
 to be obtained nearer at hand. 
 
 The markets of the interior are a fi-equent and always 
 interesting sight, and I have often watched these animated 
 and busy scenes. The articles bought and sold there are of 
 every conceivable kind ; country cloths, mats, tobacco leaves, 
 iron, palm oil and kernels, rough and clean rice, guinea corn, 
 fruit of all kinds, fowls, diied ants, fish, cattle, sheep, goats,
 
 OUR COMMERCIAL POLICY 231 
 
 cotton, skins, etc. As a rule, the women conduct the trans- 
 actions of buying and selling, and excellent hands at a 
 bargain they are, if rather noisy in their methods. But 
 sometimes the men of Mohammedan type, with Liberians 
 from over the border and other chance visitors from the 
 North-Eastern interior, will take a hand at the chaffering, and 
 the babel of voices speaking, arguing, and asseverating be- 
 comes positively bewildering. These Mohammedans are veiy 
 clever workers in leather, and most of the sword-scabbards, 
 leather purses, and sandal-work is done by them. Some of 
 the chiefs of the Susu country, as well as the Fulas, are great 
 cattle-dealers. The beasts are brought principally from that 
 part of the country known as the " Noi-thern Eivers." They 
 come do^vn immense distances to the markets of the coast or 
 to places in the interior near the coast-line. Cattle in these 
 parts are exceedingly cheap according to our standard of 
 prices, a fine bull being frequently obtained for the equivalent 
 of 15s. or £1, while a good cow will fetch, in Sierra Leone, 
 anything from £3 to £7. The native method of making 
 these animals cross rivers or streams is as follows : a rope 
 is first tied round the cow's horns, and she is led to the water 
 edge. Half a dozen native drovers then spring into a dug-out 
 canoe (known locally as a " bullom " canoe), whilst others 
 remain behind and belabour the beast until she enters the 
 water, when, with a chorus of shouts and yells, all follow, 
 the men in the forward part of the canoe paddling for dear 
 life, while those in the stern drag the cow, who begins to 
 swim, following close behind the canoe, after them. I have 
 often seen animals cross in this way, and so skilful are the 
 herders that the job is invariably completed without mishap 
 of any kind. Probably this fact is attributable to the constant 
 practice the native cattle- drovers have in that sort of work, 
 for during the journey down from the " Northern Rivers," or 
 Susu country, many large rivers have to be passed, some of a 
 width of as much as 500 yards across.
 
 232 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 The Susiis, Fulas, and natives from the " Northern Rivers " 
 are great traders, and, what is more, remarkably keen hands 
 at a business deal ; and it is these men of Fulani blood who, 
 by coming into the Protectorate and mixing with the bush 
 negro, have assisted so materially to open up the country. 
 
 Another local industry in which the natives are, in a 
 primitive fashion, great experts is the manufacture of earthen- 
 ware pottery. They are able to tm*n out really artistic bowls 
 and water-coolers, and dishes of clay hardened by a simple 
 process of sun-drying. They have no "potters' wheel," 
 however, and this might be introduced with advantage. 
 They would be sure to catch on to the idea, and thereby 
 improve their handiwork immensely. Often in passing 
 through a native town I have come upon rows and rows of 
 pottery, newly made, and put out into the sun to dry. The 
 articles vary in size from huge calabashes to tiny bowls and 
 jars, and always I have been struck by the artistic and 
 symmetrical, if plain, character of the ware. The accom- 
 panying photogi'aph shows the native women of Upper 
 Mendiland engaged in this occupation, with their crockery 
 baking under the sun's rays. 
 
 In a country inhabited by such primitive peoples as is this, 
 any kind of real and permanent advancement, whether moral, 
 political, or economic, must of necessity be a slow business, 
 and one long delayed. But of late years, at all events, 
 neither on political nor commercial grounds can complaint be 
 made that the Car of Progress has not moved forward fast 
 enough. Rather does it become necessary to pause and 
 review the position soberly, in order to see whether the pace 
 has not indeed been too fast to last. Yet there remains 
 always this fact to be remembered, that if we stand still we 
 are instantly liable to be elbowed aside by our more go-ahead 
 neighbours. Both France and Germany are taking active 
 and energetic measures in the development of their several 
 West African possessions, and are spending huge sums of
 
 :\IAkIN(; I'OTTEKY, I'Pl'EK JIEMULAXD. 
 
 
 
 
 ^jriTiiyHWP W 
 
 4 
 
 : i..-i , 
 
 •:fc; 
 
 3koIHI 
 
 A M;FA1,1 DKVIl.. MUKKI ii;iisii. 
 
 (P. 2:56.) 
 
 To face r>. 232.
 
 OUR COMMERCIAL POLICY 233 
 
 money annually on their improvement. It is not possible, 
 therefore, for this country to stand idly by and permit the 
 gi'eat natural advantages which our territorial position give 
 us to be used by our rivals for their own benefit. And to 
 prevent this fi'om happening we shall have all our work cut 
 out. The foreigner is quite smart enough to see the value 
 of the great tracts of territory which he already owns in 
 Afi'ica. And not only is he spending money like water on 
 railways to open these up to trade, but he is actually coming 
 stealthily behind us to glean in our own private reserves. 
 The French Trading Company, established in Sierra Leone, 
 and which has flomishing branches all over the West Coast, 
 as well as at Sherbro and several up-country towns, has to-day 
 a large proportion of the general trade with Europe. Within 
 the last two or three years Germany has managed to obtain a 
 large portion of the entire ocean-carrpng business. So that, 
 unless we look carefully to it, we shall find our commercial 
 stability gradually shipping thi'ough om* fingers. It behoves 
 us, therefore, to put om" shoulder to the wheel, and for so 
 long in future as we hold om* Afi'ican possessions, let us 
 make the most of them, commercially as in every other way. 
 There is an old proverb which says, "Nil sine labore." Let 
 us, in dealing with this problem of West African development, 
 keep that ancient and stinging truism well before our minds. 
 Let us recollect that Great Britain owes her supremacy among 
 the nations, not only to the fact that she is the workshop of 
 the world, but to this other, that she is to-day the greatest 
 commercial power that has ever been known in history. 
 And remembering this, we shall not be in danger of ne- 
 glecting our duty to every portion of our commercially 
 expanding empire.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 FETISH AND SUPERSTITION. SECRET SOCIETIES 
 
 " Double, double, toil and trouble, 
 Fire burn and cauldron bubble." 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 WERE I to attempt anything in the nature of an ex- 
 haustive survey of the many and various secret societies 
 which honeycomb West Africa, a volume twice the size of 
 this would he requisite for that one theme alone. On the 
 other hand, I am conscious that in a work which deals, as 
 does the present, with the African native as he appears in all 
 his native savagery and barbarism, a reference to the rigid, 
 if imwritten, code by which each trifling action in his daily 
 life is ruled and guided, can hardly be omitted altogether. 
 I have therefore resolved to devote a chapter to the subject, 
 although at the most I shall be able to give only a brief 
 summary of a few among the many fetish institutions which 
 exist in the Sierra Leone Hinterland. 
 
 For long the secret organisations which flourish in the 
 midst of these primitive peoples have formed a topic of ab- 
 sorbing interest, not alone to anthropologists in this country, 
 but more especially perhaps to those whose lot it has been, 
 as in my o^vn case, to be brought into intimate personal 
 contact with the Negro in his own land. 
 
 As I have already had occasion to observe, the whole of 
 
 234
 
 FETISH AND SUPERSTITION 235 
 
 this portion of the African continent is steeped to the hilt in 
 fetish. Not an event that happens but is ascribed to this 
 mysterious agency, which has its branches and ramifications 
 alike in the more civilised districts bordering on the coast and 
 in the remote fastnesses of the " bush " in the interior. And 
 in this connection, a fact which has often struck me with 
 some surprise in my dealings with the " educated " native — 
 the man who has been in constant contact with Eui'opeans 
 and has come under the direct influence of Christian 
 missionaries and others— is the powerful hold which these 
 superstitious practices still have over their minds. I have 
 known natives — men in Government employ and holding 
 positions of more or less responsibility — to be greatly afi"ected 
 by having wittingly or unintentionally transgressed against 
 the fetish code and thereby brought themselves within the 
 range of its power for retaliation. I have in mind the case of 
 a native sergeant, a man somewhat above the average in 
 intelligence, who had received a fair education and even been 
 to England for instruction. This man had no hesitation 
 whatever in ascribing a somewhat serious illness from which 
 he had begun to suffer to neither more nor less a cause than 
 his having inadvertently handled a native " medicine." 
 
 I ascertained the facts in this case to be as follows : — The 
 man had been allotted a house in an up-country village, and 
 in clearing it of an accumulation of rubbish had thrown away 
 a tiny basket, containing leaves and shells, suspended from 
 the roof. He was made aware of his mistake by a village 
 woman, who came over and informed him that he had thrown 
 away the " medicine " of another man, the former occupant 
 of the premises. A few days afterwards, on returning to 
 barracks, this sergeant reported himself sick. On coming 
 before his of&cer, in reply to a question as to what was the 
 matter with him, he related the story of the basket. At the 
 same time he stated that he did not wish to go into hospital, 
 but would have to seek out a " fetish man " and get the
 
 236 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 medicine " pulled " ; for by throwing away that unlucky 
 basket "de medeeine done ketch me in the belly." 
 
 Now there is not the slightest doubt that that man was 
 sick, although it might have puzzled a medical man to 
 diagnose his case correctly. But whether his illness was 
 altogether a natural bodily ailment, or whether it had been 
 induced in the first instance by fear of retribution on the part 
 of the " medicine " which he had handled, I am not prepared 
 to say. I shall content myself in this instance by observing 
 that there is hardly a native on the whole coast or in the 
 Hinterland who is not, in greater or less degree, affected by 
 a similar superstition. 
 
 The whole pivot on which these strange beliefs turn and 
 hinge is the inflexible credence placed by the native in the 
 spirits, good and bad, which regulate the course of mundane 
 affairs. Consequently, everything in connection with their 
 sarakas (sacrifices) and other offerings has for its object the 
 encouragement of the good spirits and the propitiation or 
 exorcism of the bad. For the same reason, when a man dies 
 and is buried, his sword, or stick, or other article that he was 
 in the habit of carrying about with him, is often buried with 
 him, the idea being that he shall not lack a weapon where- 
 with to fight and overcome such evil spirits as he may 
 encounter in his journey to Gewarlahun (God's land). In 
 passing by natives' graves in the vicinity of a bush village the 
 observant traveller can hardly fail to notice the number of 
 those that are decorated (?) with bottles, bundles of tied 
 leaves, and other charms — all of them placed there with the 
 one general idea, namely, the invocation of the good spirits 
 and repelling of the bad. 
 
 One of the most potent forces in this direction, and a class 
 wielding an enormous influence over the minds of the lower 
 orders in Mendiland, and other parts of the Protectorate, are 
 the Morri-men. This, as I have elsewhere remarked, is a 
 name given locally to itinerating Mohammedan priests who
 
 FETISH AND SUPERSTITION 237 
 
 wander about this country. Some of these men have come 
 from places so far distant as the Soudan, the Fulani country, 
 and other parts of Northern and North-western Africa ; and 
 their business is to trade upon the credulity and simplicity of 
 the inhabitants. 
 
 " A priest, a thief, and a liar were all hatched out of the 
 same Qg^'' says an Eastern proverb, and certainly the Morri- 
 men have done nothing to falsify the sentiment of that uncom- 
 plimentary aphorism. The natives seein only too delighted 
 to accept these wandering moolahs at their own valuation, 
 feeding them and paying them handsomely in kind and money 
 for their services in the working of good and evil spells upon 
 their fi'iends or enemies. The more important chiefs, in fact, 
 often retain one in their personal retinue. Of course, it is 
 possible that a percentage of these hedge-priests are genuine 
 and conscientious followers of the Prophet ; but I should say 
 that these are few and far between. The great majority are 
 undoubtedly men of little principle and less religion ; at least 
 a fair proportion being natives of the country itself, who have 
 learnt to read a few verses of the Koran, and who, finding 
 themselves supported by the chiefs as well as the more 
 ignorant of the people, prefer to leave work to their dupes and 
 to don the white robe and plaited sandals of a moolah. 
 
 These Morri-men are, I regret to say, becoming more and 
 more numerous in this Protectorate. I have even known 
 cases of slaves, who have run away from their masters and 
 managed to scrape together a little money, bedecking them- 
 selves in the Morri dress and, on this slight capital, setting 
 up in business as fetish magicians. There is no doubt that 
 one of the chief causes which accelerated the deplorable 
 events of 1898, which I have been describing, was the mis- 
 chief-making of the Morri-men throughout the entire Hinter- 
 land. That the chiefs and people paid large sums of money 
 and made over much property to these dangerous impostors is 
 well known. And even now, although the sanguinary predic-
 
 238 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 tions of the soi-disaiit magicians have been utterly falsified in 
 the result, their sinister influence seems to be scarcely any- 
 thing abated or discounted. 
 
 That this influence is, and was, a very real one may be 
 judged when I say that throughout the late rising there was 
 not a single action fought, hardly a murder committed, or any 
 important movement of the people made, for which the sanction 
 and approval of the Morri-men had not been previously asked 
 and obtained. 
 
 Even the common tribesman had recourse to these spurious 
 gentry when he desired a charm to render himself invulner- 
 able, or wanted a talisman to ensure his hammered slug 
 getting " home." I remember taking from the hand of a dead 
 native a gun which on examination proved to be still loaded. 
 The charge was drawn, when I found the bullet to be wrapped 
 in a piece of paper on which Arabic characters had been 
 written, and which I knew to be a Morri-man's charm. I 
 preserved the bit of writing, and some time afterwards had it 
 translated, when it turned out to be an invocation to certain 
 potent spirits that the bullet should not miss its mark but 
 should kill the white man. 
 
 The word " medicine," as well as the name " medicine- 
 man," is a terror all over the country. Nothing can be begun, 
 nothing done, without it. On every occasion when a white 
 man visits a town or village in the interior and his coming is 
 not expected, a "medicine" is prepared and certain charms 
 made ready, in order that the village and those in it may be 
 protected from a possible malign influence by him or his 
 followers. 
 
 Indeed, I am satisfied that in no part of Africa does there 
 exist a more superstitious race than the aboriginal inhabitants 
 of Mendiland. Amongst these people the greater part of my 
 time while in West Afi-ica was spent, and I have had oppor- 
 tunity of becoming rather intimately acquainted with them- 
 selves, their mode of life^ their tribal customs, and so forth.
 
 FETISH AND SUPERSTITION 239 
 
 I have the additional advantage of knowing something of their 
 hanguage. Therefore, in giving the following rough outline of 
 the secret societies, I must be understood as referring more 
 especially to those existing in Mendiland, which, again, is by 
 far the largest and most important country in the Hinterland 
 of Sierra Leone. 
 
 With the advent of the white man and his civilising 
 influence, which brings the principles of British justice in its 
 train, the prestige of the national societies received, as a 
 matter of course, some check. But even to-day they rule to 
 an extraordinary extent, as has been said, the affairs of these 
 primitive peoples. 
 
 As regards the precise constitution of these " corporations," 
 although there is room for an infinity' of speculation and sur- 
 mise upon the subject, I have nevertheless reached the mature 
 conclusion that it is altogether impossible for an outsider ever 
 to become familiar with their carefully guarded secrets. At 
 any rate, I have never met a European, nor do I believe there 
 is a white man living, who has been able to penetrate into 
 the inner arcana of these mysterious associations. 
 
 The three most important societies in the country are the 
 Pore, the Yassi, and the Bundu. For membership in the 
 first males only are eligible ; to the second men can be 
 admitted under certain circumstances ; while the Bundu, 
 a society of immense importance in the Mendi country, 
 belongs exclusively to the women. 
 
 There can be no gainsaying the fact that the Poro is a 
 power in the land ; for by its code of laws the entire com- 
 munity is bound and governed. The members are practically 
 made freemasons — if the designation may be employed in a 
 wider sense — and every candidate for initiation has to submit 
 himself to a com'se of special preparation. 
 
 There are two great divisions of the Poro, the religious and 
 the civil. To the former the boys go, while the civil arm is 
 established for special pm-poses, such as the making of war,
 
 240 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 the promulgating of new laws, and so forth. In the Siisu 
 country there is yet another description of Poro, which goes 
 by the name of simo, but this would not seem to have much 
 influence outside the boundaries of the Susu tribes. 
 
 In order to cement together and combine the various 
 tribal Poros they are always joined by the chiefs or men in 
 any power. Thus the Society becomes a potent agent for 
 linking the people together, and by and through its ordi- 
 nances the tribes were formerly entirely, and are still to a great 
 extent, governed. It is really the fear of breaking the Poro 
 laws and of thus calling down the wrath of "fetish " that 
 renders the folk obedient. Although women are not admitted 
 to membership of the Poro, they are nevertheless bound to 
 obey its laws. 
 
 At times the Society has been of enormous advantage to the 
 country, as, for instance, when two of the tribes were at war 
 with one another over some trivial disagreement and a third 
 stepped in with a view to stopping the hostilities. The chiefs 
 would then meet together " in Poro " in order to put an end 
 by diplomatic means to the fighting ; and such is^the respect in 
 which the Poro is held, and so great the fear of its " medicine " 
 upon the minds of the people, that the war would cease. 
 
 The Poro partakes, at other times, of the nature of a 
 "friendly" society, to membership of which even infants 
 are temporarily admitted. The ceremony in their case con- 
 sists merely in carrying them into the Poro " bush " and out 
 again. The child then becomes a sort of honorary member, 
 and when old enough to join has to go through the usual 
 ceremonies, to be described directly. 
 
 There is a Sherbro word — " min" — which means, in Poro, 
 the coming of a spirit from the other world to commune with 
 the people in the Poro. This " min," or spirit, also guards 
 the sanctity of the Poro "tabu." When the "Poro" is 
 placed on a certain fi-uit or tree an outward and visible 
 sign is attached to this fruit. The " min " is supposed to
 
 FETISH AND SUPERSTITION 241 
 
 have spoken, saying that this particular fruit shall not be 
 picked, and until this " min," or outward sign, is removed no 
 one dares to disobey the mandate. 
 
 At other times the Poro goes by the name of goila. 
 This in Mendi means " one word," although the Poro goila 
 is "for ever." This idea was brought into the Mendi 
 country from the Sherbro district about twenty years ago. 
 One of the passwords used in the late rising meant " by 
 your mouth." These passwords, however, were often local 
 and were continually being changed. They were so care- 
 fully guarded, and such strict watch was kept upon them, 
 that it would have been well-nigh impossible for a spy or 
 fugitive to pass through the insurgents' lines. Hence, so 
 few people managed to escape, even when disguised as natives 
 and being able to speak the language. 
 
 Here, in the Poro bush, a boy is first circumcised and after- 
 wards " christened." On his back is imprinted the caste 
 mark of his own order, and he proceeds next to receive 
 instruction in rudimentary botany in its relation to the 
 medicinal properties of various herbs. It is certain that 
 the knowledge which he gains in this way is no useless 
 acquisition, since the virtues of some of the native drugs are 
 freely admitted by the European medical confraternity. 
 Even outside of the Poro, and amongst the highly educated 
 and advanced natives resident in Sierra Leone itself, great 
 faith is placed, and quite deservedly, in the efficacy of these 
 country plants, many of which are still unknown to medical 
 science ; and they are, in fact, far more frequently used by 
 the educated Africans for the treatment of diseases peculiar 
 to this comitiy than European medicine, even when they 
 are able to obtain this latter. Here, as elsewhere, Nature 
 has put ready to the hand of man herbs specially and 
 peculiarly adapted to mitigate the diseases of the country, 
 and in the long lapse of time the inhabitants of these 
 unhealthy regions have learnt in the school of experience 
 
 17
 
 242 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 how to avail themselves of these means to keep themselves 
 in health. 
 
 I have even known serious cases of fever and other sick- 
 ness to be cm-ed entirely by the use of these home-compounded 
 remedies. Not once, but very many times, have persons in 
 Government employ — soldiers, messengers, clerks, and others 
 — come to me when ill and begged that they should not be sent 
 to the European hospital, but allowed to treat themselves for 
 their complaint in their own way, or, as they called it 
 " country fashion." I have nearly always consented to this ; 
 and although at times it seemed as though such people were 
 deliberately going to their death, yet, on the other hand, 
 I have known some remarkable cures to be effected. 
 Personally I am a behever in many of their herbs, and 
 whilst residing in Africa I have myself had recourse to them : 
 such as egbessi root, lemon gi-ass, oogjulubu, somi leaves, 
 and several others. 
 
 To return to the Poro. The Poro can best perhaps be 
 likened to an exclusive club, the revelation of whose secrets 
 would mean either death or, at the very least, complete social 
 and tribal ostracism and excommunication. The Society meets 
 as a rule in the dry season ; between the months of October 
 and Maj'. It is at these meetings that an-angements are 
 made for the initiation of new members. The situation of 
 the Society is most usually in the close vicinity of a town with 
 big bush. The entrance of the Poro house is divided into 
 separate apartments by mats, the thick foliage of the forest 
 serving for a roof. This place is called in Mendi, kamehra. 
 A ifuju, or messenger, stands just within the entrance to 
 the last of these divisions. This official, as the candidate 
 enters, addresses several test-questions to him, which as a 
 rule the neophyte is imable to answer, although he endeavours 
 perhaps to do so, generally in the affirmative. A pretended 
 struggle now takes place between the Wuju and the candidate 
 for admission, the former making several attempts to di-ag the
 
 FETISH AND SUPERSTITION 243 
 
 latter inside, which he at length succeeds in doing. The pos- 
 tulant is now welcomed by the members present, and the noise 
 of drums and shouting, which has been going on all this time 
 without intermission, ceases. 
 
 The next ceremony is the payment of the entrance fee ; the 
 Wuju receives his dues, generally a piece of tobacco, a little 
 snuff, or some such thing. Another apartment has now to be 
 " passed " by the candidate, and here the same ceremonial is 
 once more gone through. Further payment is made and the 
 Wuju hands the candidate over to one of the head medicine- 
 men, who asks him which division of the Society he is desii'ous 
 of joining. 
 
 And here I should say that there are three gi-eat divisions, or 
 gi'ades, of the Poro : the Kaimahim, which is intended only 
 for chiefs or other very " big men " ; the Binima, or Missi, to 
 which the Morri-men usually belong ; and the Yuyira and 
 Wujanga, whose membership is principally recruited from 
 amongst the slaves, servants, and poor people. 
 
 As soon as the candidate has specified the degree to which 
 he aspires, he is mulcted of more fees, and, these having been 
 paid, he next receives some instruction in the Poro laws. But 
 before the real law is demonstrated to him, which completes 
 the initiation, the candidate is sworn to secrecy upon powerful 
 existing " medicine." He now becomes a full member. 
 After this the Poro "devil" makes his appearance and, 
 with all the newly-elected members, is taken before the 
 people. Dm'ing this ceremony everybody belonging to the 
 local Poro is supposed to remain inside the club-house. In 
 the early morning (the initiation ceremony invariably takes 
 place at night) one of the members climbs a tree and arouses 
 everybody by a tremendous shouting. All then come out, 
 headed by the Wujangas, who act as a kind of master-of-the- 
 ceremonies, and keep order. The entire party now proceeds 
 into the town, and having walked round it and obtained as 
 much as they can fi'om the inhabitants, they return to the bush.
 
 244 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 As a rule the Poro " bush " remains open for about four 
 months in each year, and the ceremony connected with the 
 initiation of new members is repeated every time a candidate 
 joins. 
 
 The Poro " devil," upon entering a to^\'n, is accompanied by 
 a large retinue of Poro men and youths, who make as much 
 noise as possible. Prior to his entry, warning is given to 
 everybody to disappear inside their huts and close the doors, 
 while the women must kneel down and shout and clap their 
 hands. But as soon as the " devil " has made his entrance 
 absolute silence is ordained. 
 
 The "devil" now commences to speak, which he does 
 through a long tube of hollowed wood. He gives the chief of 
 the place " how d'ye do '? " and having asked and received the 
 news, takes his departure. 
 
 The longest period when a ' ' devil ' ' remains in a toT\Ti is 
 that just prior to the ceremony of the youths going out for the 
 first time to the Poro "bush." The queer belief is that 
 during the time preceding this the " devil " is pregnant, and 
 that on the lads coming out of the " bush " in which they 
 have been living during the greater part of the rainy season, 
 the " devil " has given birth to them. If I mistake not, there 
 is a similar superstition prevalent amongst some of the tribes 
 inhabiting the Lower Congo country. 
 
 The dress worn by the Poro boys during their novitiate is 
 most curious. It consists of a kind of twisted rope of leaves, 
 which is wound round and round the waist. This girdle very 
 nearly resembles fern, which is indeed one of the emblems of 
 the Poro. 
 
 On first emerging from the Poro " bush " the boys have a 
 very good time to make up for their seclusion. For a day 
 they have the free run of the neighbom-s' property, and may 
 annex their fowls, sheep, goats, and cattle without any notice 
 being taken of it. But the villagers, aware of this day of 
 grace, generally take precautions beforehand to ensm-e the
 
 FETISH AND SUPERSTITION 245 
 
 safety of their property from such incursions. Travellers in 
 the interior will often have noticed long twisted ropes of fern 
 depending from the trees outside a native town. These are 
 the work of the Poro boys before they leave the bush, and by 
 means of them the Poro " devil " is understood to have finally 
 ascended to the skies. 
 
 Theoretically, of course, the head order of the Poro 
 is the chiefs grade or division. But in fact the real 
 heads are the Tassos. Every chief with any pretence to 
 importance has his own Tasso-man, who accompanies him to 
 any important ceremony in which he is to take part. These 
 Tassos are arrayed in most weird and fantastic costumes, 
 consisting of human skulls and thigh-bones, feathers, and a 
 sort of net work of fibre which hangs from their waists in the 
 form of a skirt ; Avhilst plates of native iron are attached to 
 their knees and ankles, and clang and jingle as they walk. 
 No woman is ever allowed to so much as look upon the body 
 of a dead Tasso, and when one of them does pay the debt of 
 nature, a " law " is immediately placed upon the town, and all 
 women in it are driven out until the burial has been completed. 
 No one ever dreams of breaking this lex non scripta ; if they 
 did, the punishment would doubtless be exceedingly severe. 
 Although the Tasso-man is a necessary and important adjunct 
 to all ceremonies, he is, nevertheless, not allowed to dance, 
 himself, on such occasions. All the dancing is performed by 
 individuals known as " Lakas." The belief, in the event of 
 any person who is prohibited by tribal laws from seeing a dead 
 Tasso having succeeded in gratifying her curiosity, is that 
 some "medicine will catch them." To avoid such a fate the 
 guilty party would have to make confession to the Tor-Beuhmor, 
 or " country-fashion man," who would immediately report the 
 matter to one of the headmen of the Poro. In this case it 
 would probably be to the Soke. The culprit is then taken 
 into the Poro " bush," accompanied by the Poro " devil," and 
 after " medicinal " treatment she is admitted into the society.
 
 246 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 She is now considered to be both a man and a woman, and 
 goes henceforward by the name of Marbori, or Debhoi — the 
 latter a Sherbro word. 
 
 The Poro has such a far-reaching power that its tahu can 
 be placed on anything or everywhere. For instance, " Poro " 
 may, and often is, placed on groups of fruit trees, palms, or 
 anything else which the chiefs may desire to preserve or prohibit 
 from the public or other use. In that case a "Poro medicine," 
 suispended in a conspicuous position, always gives timely 
 warning as to the particular trees on which the tahii has been 
 placed. 
 
 The placing of this " Poro " upon the natural products of 
 the country has frequently, it goes without saying, the most 
 detrimental eflPect. For examj^le, the imposition of the veto 
 on the palm-trees of a town, village, or chiefdom entfrely pro- 
 hibits the inhabitants fi'om picking a single nut ; for nobody 
 would ever dream of disobeying such an order. Moreover, 
 the ban is sometimes kept for years together on a certain 
 district. The consequence is that over large areas of country 
 the palm nuts, one of the principal sources of the communal 
 prosperity, and which would otherwise have been taken down- 
 counti-y and sold as produce, are allowed to rot upon the 
 gi-ound. This state of things was, indeed, of such fr-equent 
 occurrence, and interfered so seriously with the river trade, that 
 in 1897 the Government was forced to pass a special Ordinance 
 absolutely forbidding the imposition of the tahii on all 
 indigenous products, thereby thi-owing open the whole country 
 to the industry of the people. 
 
 The Moni-men used veiy often to prepare the Poro "medi- 
 cine " employed by the chiefs, and always took good care to 
 charge very handsomely for so doing. 
 
 The next of the great Societies is the " Society of 
 Spots," known in the Mendi and Sherbro countries as the 
 " Tassi." This is to a certain extent affiliated to the 
 " Bundu," and, as I have previously remarked, belongs
 
 FETISH AND SUPERSTITION 247 
 
 primarily to the women, altliougli under certain circumstances 
 Poro men are admitted. So far, also, as I have been able to 
 ascertain, the women belonging to the Yassi society must also 
 belong to the Bundu, although Bundu women need not 
 necessarily be members of the Yassi. The supreme head of 
 this Society is termed the Behku ; the next in authority goes 
 by the name of the Yaman ; and then follow the Kambehs, 
 comprising several different degrees and orders : the Kamheh 
 mama, the kamhch mavisti, the kambeh kehivai, and others. 
 
 A regulation of this Society is that everything connected 
 with it must be spotted — for example, the sword and drum, 
 stools, knives, &c., are all splashed with yellow, black, white, 
 or other colours. The " medicine " house of this Society is 
 usually readily distinguishable by the coloured spots that are 
 painted all over it. But the real raison d'etre of the Yassi 
 Society seems to be the provision of a hospital for such men and 
 women as are able and prepared to pay the fees and who have 
 been, or think they have been, in any way aftected by its 
 *' medicine " or that of any other fetish. 
 
 The mysteries of the "Bundu " are, if possible, more carefully 
 and closely guarded than are even those of the Poro itself. This 
 association, as already stated, admits women only to member- 
 ship. Its headquarters are always in a remote part of the 
 bush, but, unlike the Poro, their exact location is kept more 
 or less of a secret. Here, the young native girls, on arriving 
 at a certain age, are trained, as in a sort of convent, in 
 feminine duties and accomplishments. Their education is in 
 charge of an experienced matron or " mannny," who stands 
 towards them somewhat in the relationship of Byron's 
 " Mother of the maids." They are instructed, as are the 
 Poro youths, in the medical use of herbs and in other matters 
 peculiarly affecting the gentle sex. 
 
 As soon as a girl comes into the Bundu she is subjected 
 to certain treatment which has a special significance. The 
 Bundu fetish is admitted by all the natives to be tremendously
 
 248 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 " strong." The Bundu girls are, I ought to add, perfectly 
 free and may walk where they please within the Society's 
 bounds. The law against infringement of any of their rules 
 is extremely stringent, and nobody of the male sex would 
 think of approaching the Bundu lodge or interfering in any 
 way with any of the inmates ; for if he did, it would probably 
 mean death. Payments are of course made in this, as in the 
 other Societies, in the form of entrance fees ; and any family 
 can send their girls into the Bundu " bush " who are able to con- 
 tribute the necessary fees. 
 
 The photograph annexed will afford some idea of the peculiar, 
 if somewhat outre dancing dress affected by the Bundu 
 votaries of Terpsichore. At all events it is but little more 
 abbreviated than the costume in which the corj^s de ballet at 
 our theatres are arrayed. In addition, or rather as a completion, 
 to the adornment of the dancers, bracelets of palm-leaf fibre 
 encircle the arms and wrists, while the body-net is made of 
 country-grown and woven cotton. Attached to the knicker- 
 bockers are to be noticed a number of small plates of native iron, 
 which make a not unpleasant jingle as the wearers i^irouette 
 and twirl. The material with which the face of each performer 
 is smeared, and which, hideous as it may appear to our eyes, 
 is but, after all, the African equivalent for rouge, is prepared 
 from animal fat, called in Mendi, wojah. 
 
 An infinity of pains and care is expended by the Bundu 
 dancing mistress in teaching her pupils all the mysteries of 
 the dance, which include, of course, a graceful carriage ; and 
 the magnificent figures of the young Mendi girls and women 
 are of themselves an ample tribute to the thoroughness of the 
 instruction. Personally, I have been privileged to witness 
 very many of these Bundu dances, and after making due 
 allowance for diflerence of nationality and taste, I can only 
 say that for grace and rhythmic movement the performance of 
 these dusky maidens is perhaps not far short of that of the 
 coryphees of an Empire or Alhambra ballet. Of course, the
 
 FETISH AND SUPERSTITION 249 
 
 orchestra available would hardly rank as passable in our 
 sophisticated eyes. Here, the instrument that sets the 
 pace and marks the time is a seligura, and consists simply 
 of a hollowed gourd covered with strings, upon which seeds 
 are threaded which make a sharp metallic click as they are 
 plucked. The other instrument most usually heard at a 
 Bundu dance is a species of wooden drum, called a sanghoi, 
 which is generally manipulated by a man or boy, usually the 
 latter. 
 
 I have already indicated that at these entertainments a 
 "mixed" audience is permitted to assist. For even in 
 primitive West Africa the fair sex does not see the force of 
 wasting its sweetness or agility on the desert air alone. The 
 news that a Bundu dance is to be held always, as a matter of 
 fact, brings together a large concourse of spectators, and so 
 highly does the exhibition work upon the feelings of the folk 
 that at its conclusion numbers of the women rush out into 
 the centre of the cleared circle and heartily embrace the dancers, 
 an example which I daresay many of the male onlookers 
 would be only too delighted to follow if they were permitted. 
 
 The concluding ceremony which the maidens who have 
 been newly initiated into the mysteries of Bundu have to 
 go through on leaving the bush is the "washing." Led by 
 tlie principal mistress of ceremonies, who is called in the 
 Mendi tongue, Mesu, the bevy of young beauties march 
 in procession through the town, followed by the admiring 
 gaze of all the men, who, however, are not allowed to take 
 any part on the occasion. At the conclusion of this " march 
 past " the girls proceed to the water-side, where they are 
 washed with herbs and other medicine. The washing at an 
 end, the party adjourn to the most important baiii (court- 
 house), where they remain for a further period of from two to 
 four days in charge of the same elderly females. At the end 
 of that time they are at liberty to return to their homes, and 
 their connection with the Bundu is at an end.
 
 250 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 The young women are now supposed to be (and really are) 
 thoroughly versed in all the things that constitute " accom- 
 plishments " in West African bush society, and have a good 
 knowledge besides of very many matters which are likely to 
 prove useful to them in their capacity as the wives and 
 mothers of the tribe in futm-e. It has been said by persons 
 whose knowledge of Bimdu rites is not so gi-eat as their 
 cm-iosity, that practically all the arts a girl learns during her 
 stay in the "bush " are those of allurement and — well, let us 
 say, cocotterie. That is quite a mistaken notion. The Mendi 
 maiden receives an entirely different and much more practical 
 education, and if she has, amongst other acqufrements, 
 learnt to dance well, that is surely not a matter for blame, 
 but rather for praise. One has only to cast a critical eye 
 round a London ball-room to observe how vei-y much better it 
 had been had deportment — yes, and dancing — formed a more 
 prominent featm'e in the school curriculum of the young 
 Englishwoman of to-day. 
 
 As in the case of the Poro, the outward and visible sign of 
 the Bundu society is the " devil." Her dress (for she is a 
 feminine demon) is characteristic and quaint in the extreme. 
 It is entirely black, and no portion whatever of the wearer's 
 body is permitted to be visible. From top to toe she is com- 
 pletely covered with clothes, even her veiy eyes being hidden 
 by a hideous mask of stained wood. The material of which 
 the " devil " dress is composed is thick, fibrous matting, 
 affording something of the appearance of a shaggy robe of 
 matted coir. 
 
 On her various peregrinations the Bundu "devil " is invari- 
 ably accompanied by a number of attendants, one of whom 
 carries a circular mat of such a form that when the " devil " 
 sits down she is completely hidden by this, and is thus able 
 to remove her heavy headdress \\-ithout her identity being 
 disclosed. The attendant who carries this mat is termed in 
 Mendi the digba.
 
 IJUNDU L. 1KL8 UANCING. 
 
 BrNDI' GIRI,.S KKADV lOK DANCING. 
 
 BUNUU GIRLS DA>'CIXG. 
 
 Tojace p. 250.
 
 FETISH AND SUPERSTITION 251 
 
 As in the Poro society so in the Bunclu, there are three 
 separate degrees or grades of membership. The most exalted 
 is the so well, a kind of head woman. Then there comes the 
 norma]/, to which the " devil " belongs, and lastly the cUyba, 
 or serving grade. 
 
 Every town of any pretensions to importance has its own 
 Bundu " devil." In the rare event of any of the Bundu laws 
 with reference to women being transgressed by a man, the 
 *' devil " is summoned, and, with her attendants, approaches 
 the offending party. A " palaver " is then given, in the 
 com-se of which the "devil" points with her official staff at 
 the guilty person, and beckons him with signs to follow her 
 into the bush. This he dare not refuse to do, owing to the 
 superstitious fear which is entertained on all hands as to the 
 potency of the "medicine " which the " devil" has at com- 
 mand. The next stage is to report the matter to the head- 
 man of the town or village as the case may be, who undertakes 
 to see the offender mulcted in various fines and penalties for 
 his misdemeanour. If these, again, should not be forthcoming, 
 the man is severely flogged, and in the old days would have 
 stood an excellent chance of being sold into slavery as well. 
 The penalty in the case of a Bundu girl going astray is 
 usually a flogging, but other punishments may be imposed as 
 well. 
 
 Amongst the many curious phases of native fetish are the 
 *' trials by ordeal," and the nature of the oaths which are 
 taken before any important ceremony. 
 
 Dm-ing my last residence on the coast, whilst I was touring 
 up-country with His Excellency the Governor, a native was 
 charged with having accused one of the carriers of wrongfully 
 selling some of his property. The matter having been 
 brought to my notice officially, I returned it for investigation 
 to the chief, telling him to find out according to country law 
 whether the man was guilty or not. The ordeal of the battii 
 (whip) was the test decided upon, and the ceremony was
 
 252 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 carried out in the following way : — The accused is placed in 
 the middle of a ring of interested spectators. The " country 
 fashion man," called in Meudi Tor Tor-hehmor, is then 
 introduced, carrying his " medicine whip " in his hand. He 
 now hands the whip over to a youth, having first applied 
 some native unction to the lash, and rubhed the lad's arm, 
 hands, and wrists with the juice of certain other plants. 
 
 At this stage the boy appears to fall into a sort of hypnotic 
 trance. He runs round the ring, flourishing the whip and 
 making the lash coil in writhing spirals all about the on- 
 lookers, though without touching anybody. At length the 
 whip appears to have singled out the culprit, whom it com- 
 mences to belabour in real earnest amid the cheers of the 
 spectators. The beating goes on, in fact, until the boy is 
 finally called off, and is held down by the "medicine man." 
 
 The ordeal of the whip is the final recourse adopted to 
 discover a guilty person. Its decisions are never appealed 
 against, even by the party most nearly concerned ; and the 
 most curious thing about the present case was that the man 
 singled out for the punishment did subsequently confess to 
 his Avi'ongdoing, prior to being hounded out of the town. 
 
 Another of the native " ordeals" is that in which a pot of 
 palm oil and a hot iron figm-e. This is usually aj)plied in 
 the case of women who are suspected of having been unfaithful 
 to their men. The test is conducted as follows : the Tor- 
 behmor first rubs over the hands of the suspect a decoction 
 of herbs and leaves. A pot is then filled with palm-oil, 
 under the oil is placed a small iron rod which has been pre- 
 viously made red-hot. The ordeal consists in the suspected 
 woman having to thrust her hand into the oil and pull out the 
 hot iron. If she is unable to do so without being burnt she 
 is adjudged to be guilty. But if, on the other hand, she 
 sufi'ers no bui"n, the charge falls to the ground. It is perhaps 
 needless to remark that the proportion convicted in this mode 
 of trial is rather high.
 
 FETISH AND SUPERSTITION ^53 
 
 Besides this test, there is another called the Karu-sortor, in 
 which a kind of magic bowl figiu'es. This has been specially 
 devised for the discovery of petty larceny. The bowl is 
 " dressed " with certain " medicine " and then handed to a 
 little child, usually a girl, who also has a " medicine " applied 
 to her hands and legs. With the bowl held in her hands she 
 is now told to go and find the guilty party. Like the boy 
 with the Avhip, the child seems to go off spontaneously into a 
 kind of trance, rushing about from place to place until she 
 finally steps before an individual, who is at once haled before 
 the chief for punishment. This punishment may take the 
 form of a fine, a flogging, or a period spent in the stocks. 
 Formerly the culprit might even have been sold into slavery 
 if the case were a particularly bad one. 
 
 Of fetish " medicines " there is an enormous number in the 
 Mendi country, and on one or other of them, or several 
 together, the most solemn and binding oaths are sworn. 
 In the late rising the oath was taken upon no less than 
 seven "medicines." Some of these " medicines " are supposed 
 to be especially powerful, and have such a hold on the minds 
 of the people that it is supposed that they are compelled 
 after swearing on them to speak the truth, the whole truth, 
 and nothing but the truth, whether they are inclined to do so 
 or not. Amongst these patent *' medicines " are Sarsi, 
 belonging to the jMorri fetish-men ; Marfanga, Bofimoor (a 
 different one from that used by the members of the Alligator 
 Society, to be described anon), Kaikumba, Tehlang, and 
 many others. When an oath is to be taken the witness 
 stands before the " medicine." This may consist of the 
 ancient stone kaikumba, and on top of it is placed further 
 " medicine," consisting as a rule of red pepper or kola nut. 
 The man then stands up, holding a few twigs from a tree in 
 his hand, and begins the ceremonial by saying in a loud 
 voice, addressing the stone — " My name is so-and-so. I 
 live at such-and-such a iilace, I am a farmer hy frade. If
 
 254 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 I lie may the stronrj ' medicine ' that lives inside you catch 
 me. If I go across the river in my canoe may the canoe he 
 upset, and a crocodile seize me. May a poisonous snake 
 bite my foot as I walk alone upon the road, so that I die. 
 May the tear come and catch me, and may I and all my 
 family he sold into slavery. If I fail to do my duty may 
 the ' medicine ' enter into my stomach, which uill sivell until 
 it hursts." Aiid to the foregoing the Mendis will always 
 add the words ' Nya votch ' (repeated three times) ' en Gcwar,' 
 which is the equivalent to our " So help me, God." 
 
 Taken altogether, the Poro and Bundu are undoubtedly 
 among the most remarkable of all the secret societies at 
 present flourishing in West Afi'ica. That these have, each 
 of them, their distinct use cannot be gainsaid, and probably 
 but for the medical knowledge of the members many a person 
 Avould fare but badly if ill from wounds or country fevers. 
 
 Unhappily there are other organisations amongst the 
 inhabitants which, whilst equally secret in their working, 
 have no redeeming features whatsoever to commend them. 
 The two best known — by name at least — are the Human 
 Alligator and Leopard Societies, and to a short descrip- 
 tion of these and kindred cults I propose to devote the 
 succeeding chapter.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 SECRET SOCIETIES {coutinuecl) 
 
 rriHE long centuries which still separate Europe, with her 
 -*- high state of civilisation and human progi'ess, from 
 Africa and her crude primeval barbarism, were never more 
 clearly indicated than when, on the advent of the British in 
 the hitherto unknown regions of the interior, a flood of light 
 was first thrown on to the strange and dreadful horrors 
 perpetrated in the name and through the agency of the 
 Human Alligator and Leopard Societies. Their objective 
 and their operation were fiendish and devilish even in a land 
 where deviltry flourished practically unchecked. No one, 
 whether of high rank or of low, was safe from their bloody 
 machinations. They struck swiftly, stealthily, and in the 
 dark ; and always their blow meant — death. The best 
 analogy that history furnishes to these terrors is perhaps 
 that of the Vehm Gericht of Germany in the Middle Ages, or 
 possibly the Secret Council of Venice. But in both of these 
 instances some semblance, at least, of a trial was vouchsafed 
 to the victim, even though he had been pre-condemned. 
 Here there was none. A man would walk alone by the river 
 bank at eventide. He did not return. Only next day his 
 body, brutally mangled, was found to tell dumbly of the foul 
 deed that had been perpetrated in Ihc night hours. In very 
 many directions Great Britain has, through her faithful 
 servants, done splendid and enduring work in \A'estern Africa ;
 
 256 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 and in nothing more than by the placing of a sharp check 
 upon these dreadful practices has she deserved the plaudits 
 of humanity at large. 
 
 I used the phrase " placed a check " advisedly. It is 
 generally thought that these societies, and others like them, 
 have been absolutely and finally eradicated. I wish that I 
 were in a position to say that this was a jait accojiipli. 
 Unfortunately, I am afraid that matters are not so well as 
 that. Although their machinations are no longer so openly 
 devised as was the case, say, ten years ago, it is not possible 
 to deny that these odious cults are still existent ; as the 
 ghastly details of some crime which, for want of direct 
 evidence for conviction, has to remain unpunished, still 
 occasionally go to show. 
 
 From their very nature it must be a matter of extreme 
 difficulty, if not of absolute impossibility, to obtain reliable 
 first-hand information about these organisations. The whole 
 of their plans and operations are so secretly hatched and 
 carried out, that even when a crime has been committed and 
 directly traced to the agency of one of the bands, the chance 
 of bringing the murderers to justice is still exceedingly 
 remote. There is scarcely ever sufficient evidence in such 
 cases to hang even a dog by — only a mangled corpse, which, 
 if it could speak, could tell but of a lurking, shapeless form 
 among the reeds, a sudden spring, a knife stab, and — that 
 is all. 
 
 So far as I have been able, in the absence of anything like 
 reliable data, to ascertain, the cults of the Human Alligator 
 and the Leopard had their origin between twenty and thirty 
 years ago. The idea of these was evolved, according to my 
 information, by a few individuals of more or less consequence 
 in the Sherbro and Mendi countries, who put their heads 
 together with the object of devising some means by which 
 certain persons standing in their pathway to power should be 
 got rid of. Obviously, if such persons were to be put out of
 
 SECRET SOCIETIES 257 
 
 the way, their removal would have to be accomplished in the 
 most secret manner possible. Now, of all the beasts in the 
 West African jungles the leopard is one of the most cunning, 
 most secret, and most deadly in its attack. So that the 
 notion of adopting this skulking animal for a model would 
 suggest itself quite naturally to these plotters. It was re- 
 solved, then, that the actual murderers should be disguised as 
 leopards, and the persons selected for the work went into 
 very thorough training for the gruesome part they had to 
 play, learning faithfully to copy the stealthy, catlike crawl 
 between the trees and bushes which should culminate at the 
 proper moment in that swift spring upon the unsuspecting- 
 prey. The part was always " dressed " quite accurately. 
 The head of the slayer and part of his body and legs were 
 covered with a leopard's skin ; he would have provided himself 
 with a vicious-looking knife, having three razor-keen blades of 
 smallest size to simulate a leopard's claws, and thus armed 
 he would lurk for hours until his victim passed, when he 
 would seize his opportunity, spring out behind him, and 
 strike him in the back of the neck, the blow generally 
 causing instant death. The body would then be cut open 
 and certain portions of it, including some of the fat, abstracted 
 for the purpose of making strong " medicine." This 
 " medicine " is known to the inner cult of the society as 
 hofimoor, a Sherbro word meaning literally " medicine- 
 bag." It is supposed that without this hofimoor the 
 society would be unable to continue with safety its murderous 
 doings. In addition to the horrible ingredients already noted, 
 the constituents of this " medicine " include a variety of herbs 
 and other native concoctions, all of which have a high local 
 rejiutation as being able to work potent spells. Before these 
 can have any influence, however, they need to be anointed by 
 the fat of a human body, which must have been slain in the 
 particular way above described. 
 
 The number of people who must, from time to time, have 
 
 18
 
 258 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 fallen victims to these societies would certainly be astounding 
 if the facts were known. For it may readily be imagined 
 what a convenience such an organisation would be to a chief 
 or ambitious headman anxious to get comfortably and quickly 
 rid of a personal enemy or a rival for paramount authority in 
 his district. A hint, in the form of a substantial bribe, to 
 the reputed heads of this Murder Club, and the thing was as 
 good as done, and their patron's road to "honours" clear 
 before him until, or unless, it chanced that the other side 
 were able to bribe higher still. 
 
 The wire-pullers had their own particular method of recruit- 
 ing to fill the lower ranks. If new members were required to 
 join the society, they were invited to a feast by some of the 
 older hands. Without their knowledge human flesh would 
 be added to the bill of fare. Afterwards, but not until they 
 had partaken, they would be made aware of the fact, and at 
 the same time solemnly warned that unless they joined they 
 would certainly die as a result of having eaten human flesh. 
 In nine cases out of ten the men, although perhaps not per- 
 sonally willing to become professional murderers, would be 
 frightened into joining, when they would at once be put into 
 training for the di'eadful part they had to play. 
 
 From the original society of the Human Leopard sprang 
 the Human Alligator and Human Baboon societies, which 
 were nothing more or less than off-shoots of the same trunk. 
 These sought out and killed their victims in a manner equally 
 stealthy, while the method employed had particular reference 
 to the mode of attack of the two animals which the murderers 
 represented for the moment. 
 
 In the case of the Alligator the operator was completely 
 covered with an alligator-skin, while his hands were armed 
 with sharp, tearing, iron claws. When out on " business " he 
 would lie -perdu among the reeds by the river-bank for hours 
 together, his body half hidden by the broken shell of an old 
 canoe. Then at the psychological moment he would pounce
 
 SECRET SOCIETIES 259 
 
 out upon his victim from behind in much the same way as 
 the " leopard." The special sign of their handiwork is the 
 tearing out of the murdered person's stomach. 
 
 In January of the present year a very bad case of murder 
 by these Human Alligators was brought before me. Five 
 men were placed in the dock charged under the Protectorate 
 Ordinance with being members of the Alligator Society, 
 and with having in that capacity been concerned in the 
 murder of two natives, a father and son. Both of these 
 persons had been mutilated by having their stomachs torn 
 open, which is part of the modus operandi of the society. 
 The accompanying photo shows these five persons under 
 escort awaiting their trial. 
 
 The " Baboon Society " works on lines almost identical, 
 excepting that the murderers are here disguised as baboons, 
 from which animals and themselves there is a mighty small 
 dividing-line in point of bestiality. 
 
 In 1898, just before the Mendi rising, three men and two 
 children were murdered at Juring on the Sulima River in the 
 Galinas country. The circumstances attending the death of 
 these persons were such as to prove beyond all possibility of 
 doubt that they had fallen victims to one or other of these 
 ferocious bands. During the time that I resided in the 
 Protectorate, cases of a similar kind were more than once 
 brought to my official notice. 
 
 It must nevertheless be stated that although these 
 " societies " do actually still exist in certain parts of the 
 remote districts, the Colonial Government has accomplished 
 much towards stamping them out. Towards this end an 
 ordinance has been passed, entitled " The Human Leopard 
 and Alligator Society Ordinance," specially designed to deal 
 with such cases ; and the chiefs themselves have been both 
 warned and encouraged to leave no stone unturned in the 
 endeavour to hound these miscreants to justice. The case 
 which came before me personally, and to which I have 
 alluded above, was in fact reported in the first instance by
 
 26o OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 the paramount chief of the coiintiy iu which the murders were 
 committed, and the murderers themselves were api)rehended 
 by his direct instrumentality. 
 
 I have already said that while they are scotched these 
 abominable organisations are not yet entirely killed. Never- 
 theless it seems certain that in course of time we shall see 
 these mm'derous bands crushed and dismembered for good 
 and all, and that with the active assistance of the Government 
 a day may speedily be reached when these loathsome offenders 
 will find the country too hot to hold them any longer. So 
 may it be ! 
 
 All this is very honible, of course, and practices such as I 
 have hinted at above seem to show that there is but scant 
 difi'erence between the African savage and the beasts of prey 
 that share with him his matted jungles. Yet, as a thinking 
 people, have we, I ask myself, any right to reprove the African 
 for exhibiting in regard to the ordinary afi'airs of life a 
 superstition which, after all, is inborn in all human natm-e? 
 Let us consider, in the first place, that whilst w^e are lining in 
 the twentieth centuiy of progi-ess, these people are still away 
 back in the second, although with hope of advancement in 
 the years to come. Let us only look back a veiy few years, 
 comparatively speaking, in the history of our own enlightened 
 country, and what do we find ? The nameless horrors of 
 the Liquisition flourishing abroad and Smithfield ablaze ■u'ith 
 the martyrs' fires at home. Come nearer still to our oiati 
 time and we shall find English judges, humane men probably 
 in private life, sentencing young children to the gallows for 
 the awful crime of petty larceny ! 
 
 Even at the beginning of the nineteenth centm-y, with 
 223 capital oflences recognised by the law, it did not take 
 very much to hang a man. " If he cut down young trees ; 
 if he shot rabbits ; if he poached at night ; if he stole 
 anything worth five shillings from a person or a sho}) ; if he 
 came back from transportation before his time." Li fact, the 
 chief desire of the Government was to get rid of the ciiminal
 
 MMU 
 
 lltfiiiiiM 
 
 Ww 
 
 i::.mM 
 
 |L 
 
 ^ '1^ 
 
 W^ 
 
 . ■ ' ii t^ -1 
 
 
 
 ^^^H 
 
 w- "^ 
 
 9S5BI^^^*^!^^K^^B 
 
 MEMBEKS OF THE HUMAN AI.LIGATUH mk IKTV AWAITING TRIAL FOU MVHDEK. 
 
 I II i: ■• 1 Ai.i. IN mu \ him;. 
 West African Frontier Force at Drill. 
 
 (i-. 283.) 
 
 To/u^•»■^■. 260.
 
 SECRET SOCIETIES 261 
 
 classes by banging tbem. In looking back even tbis sbort 
 time we were indeed in many respects little better tban 
 savages. Some of tbe poorer Englisb children were, in fact, 
 far worse off than African slaves to-day. " They took a child 
 — boy or girl — at six years of age ; they carried the little 
 thing away from the light of heaven, and lowered it deep 
 down into the black and gloomy pit ; they placed it behind a 
 door, and ordered it to pull this open to let the trucks come 
 and go, and to keep it shut when they were not passing. The 
 child was set at the door in the dark — at first they gave it a 
 caudle, which would burn an hour or two, and then go out. 
 They kept the little creature there for twelve interminable 
 hours." Can we, after this, point the finger of scorn at our 
 African brother? Moreover, before mocking at the naked 
 African doing poojah to his wooden fetish, let us think of 
 the many and bitter differences between ourselves. And 
 finally, before chiding the Black Man for his superstitious 
 rites and observances, let us recollect the rank superstitions 
 prevalent to-day among the most highly educated classes in 
 Great Britain — superstitions which permeate and influence 
 consciously and unconsciously the most trivial actions of our 
 daily life. Although to-day we are hundreds of miles ahead 
 of the other in all that goes to make existence worth the living, 
 who is going to speak of finality in this connection ? Who is 
 going to say, although under present circumstances such a 
 thing may seem impossible, that in the next thousand years the 
 Negro may not have ranged up to us, nay, overthrown us from 
 our pedestal of superiority ? It is ordained that all mankind 
 must move either backwards or forwards. There can be no 
 standing still. Let ns as a nation be thankful for this one 
 thing : that, whilst the process of development must necessarily 
 be a gi-adual one, the blessings which follow in the train of 
 civilisation's just laws and stable government arc slowly but 
 surely coming to be understood and ajipreciated amongst the 
 inhabitants of this outlying portion of our mighty and 
 advancing Empire.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 HEALTH AND EXERCISE 
 
 " Health is the vital principle of bliss, 
 And exercise of health.'' 
 
 Thomson. 
 
 A LTHOUGH I have no pretension to the possession of any 
 -^^ medical knowledge, I imagine, nevertheless, that a work 
 having West Africa for its subject would he somewhat incom- 
 plete without a reference, however slight, to the ills that flesh, 
 or at all events European flesh, is heir to in this much-abused 
 portion of the globe. I must, therefore, ask any medical man 
 who has taken the trouble to glance at these pages to pardon 
 the presumption of a mere layman in venturing to trespass 
 upon a province so exclusive. " Qui s' excuse, s' accuse," I 
 know full well, but there is, I believe, another old adage 
 extant to the efi"ect that " fools step in where angels fear to 
 tread," and no doubt the latter aphorism has an application 
 no less apt in the medical than in the general sense. In any 
 event, all I propose to do in this connection is to instance for 
 the benefit of others who may follow certain simple precautions 
 which, if adopted fi'om the beginning, may help to keep the 
 demon of disease at bay. I may just add that what small 
 lore I have been able to gain on this subject has been 
 acquired in the hard school of experience, during a residence 
 in difi'erent quarters of the world.
 
 HEALTH AND EXERCISE 263 
 
 A philosopher has said that a man is either his own doctor 
 at thirty or a fool. At any rate, the truth of the observation 
 can hardly be denied by the Anglo-African, who is liable at 
 any hour to find himself alone up-country, struggling unaided 
 against the combined assaults of fever, dysentery, and other 
 diseases peculiar to the tropics, while far removed from 
 medical assistance. 
 
 Such a flood of light has been thrown of late uj^on the 
 whole subject of malaria by the grand efforts of Ross, Manson, 
 Meigen, Stephens, and other investigators, that it seems at 
 least possible that this terrible scourge may yet be successfully 
 combated, if not entirely stamped out, in the future. It is 
 unnecessary to say that such a desirable consummation would 
 very materially alter the conditions of life for the White Man, 
 not only here, but also in many other insalubrious localities 
 around the British Empire. Indeed, it is questionable if 
 science ever stood the human race in better stead than when 
 she directed the eyes and brains of the medical world upon the 
 probing and investigation of this important subject. 
 
 It would be difficult to over-estimate the importance which 
 these brilliant discoveries are bound to have, and in fact have 
 had, for those toiling in every corner of the tropical world. 
 In the past the far-reaching hand of Malaria has snatched 
 down into premature graves more of Britain's best and bravest 
 sons than all the bullets of our savage foes have accounted 
 for. The Fever Demon has compelled us to double, aye, 
 often to treble, our executive staft' in our West African 
 possessions. It has caused civilisation and trade alike to 
 stagnate over wide areas ; it has retarded the opening up of 
 vast tracts of rich and fertile country ; and has cost the Empire 
 many millions of pounds sterling to hold in even partial check. 
 People at home who have never resided in these countries 
 can have but little idea of the power and the tenacity of this 
 deadly serpent, ever waiting an opportunity to fix its fangs 
 into the intruder rash enough to tempt fate by penetrating
 
 264 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 into its deadly haunts. In England the home-stayer knows 
 malaria only by name — as a bad kind of fever prevalent in 
 tropical comitries, and one which occasionally carries off 
 people foolish enough to lay themselves open to attack. That 
 is the vague general impression that obtains. In the tropics 
 the subject is treated with somewhat more respect. In West 
 Africa malaria is recognised as one of the most insidious and 
 tenacious poisons which have ever been injected into the human 
 body. Once bitten by this snake, and if death does not result 
 it Avill probably take many years before the venom is eradicated 
 — if it ever is so altogether. 
 
 At the present day over five millions of human beings die 
 annually in India from fever alone, and a very large portion 
 of these from malaria. Think of it ! Over five million souls 
 — nearly the entire population of London. And there are 
 other countries — West Africa, for instance — where the mor- 
 tality from this cause is even higher still 'pro rata to the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Now the responsibility for this has been proved to rest upon 
 the tiny shoulders of the A)iopheles mosquito. The most 
 recent research has proved the minute hosts of Anopheles to 
 be themselves the hosts in tm*n of the malarial parasite. And 
 thus do the winged disturbers of our hard-earned slumbers 
 at once satisfy their taste for human blood and infect, and 
 re-infect, humanity with the deadly germ. 
 
 The malarial parasite, which has been classed with the 
 "Protozoa" group, possesses an extremely interesting life- 
 history, which it is unnecessary to touch upon in a work of 
 this kind. I may say, however, that, once in the human 
 blood, it develops very rapidly within the red corpuscle. It 
 absorbs food, gi-ows, and is capable of reproducing itself. 
 
 This reproduction, when once the germ has obtained access 
 to the blood by means of the mosquito, proceeds to spread 
 automatically and without further inoculation by the insect. 
 
 There is no doubt that this gi*eat discoveij will lead, and
 
 HEALTH AND EXERCISE 265 
 
 is, in fact, leading, to further research in the inoculation of 
 disease into man through the bite or sting of an insect, and 
 marvellous results and discoveries may be expected in the near 
 future as to the cause and reason for infection of certain 
 diseases by this means. With this knowledge should follow 
 a new era of things, as far as West Africa and other malarial 
 countries are concerned. Nevertheless, great matters move 
 slowly, and so we must not allow the jeers of the sceptic or 
 the derision of the ignorant to trouble us, if the far-reaching 
 results of the great discoveries of our scientists do not show 
 themselves immediately. 
 
 The malarial mosquito theory has been so strenuously 
 combated that even now, when the fact of infection by 
 Anopheles-borne parasites has been established beyond any 
 possibility of doubt, there remain many persons who, instead 
 of encouraging and assisting those who are nobly treading the 
 intricate paths of science for the benefit of mankind, seem to 
 delight in throwing obstacles in their path, and in endeavour- 
 ing to show that either the whole theory is erroneous or else 
 that the mosquito is only in a very limited degree responsible 
 for fever in the tropics. I use the word "theory " wrongly, 
 for the malarial mosquito question is not a theory, but a 
 proved and established fact. These sceptics have propounded 
 a number of conundrums, nearly all of which have received, 
 if not a conclusive answer, at all events an entirely rational 
 one. They have adduced, for instance, the reputed fact that 
 in some malaria-ridden places, no mosquitoes exist. Yet 
 many of these places, cited as being mosquito-free, have been 
 found to harbour multitudes of them. Others will argue that 
 the theory must be wrong since, although they have never 
 been bitten, they have nevertheless suffered severely from 
 malaria. Now, for a person residing within the tropics and 
 in a malarial country, and one conducive to the conditions 
 necessary for mosquito life, to assert that he has nci-er been 
 bitten is, to say the least of it, somewhat didactic. Some
 
 266 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 persons never feel the bite of a mosquito at all ; and it is a 
 well-known fact that those who have been severely bitten for 
 long periods together cease after a time to feel the irritation 
 caused by the poison entering the wound. Nature, with her 
 wonderful adaptability to local conditions, has provided that 
 the body becomes, so to say, mosquito-proof, at least so far as 
 irritation goes. I have frequently inquired of natives living 
 in mosquito-infested towns how it is that they can bear this 
 pest with impunity, and under conditions which have kept 
 myself and my servants awake at night. They have invari- 
 ably informed me that they seldom or never get bitten ! 
 
 Another argument put forward is that, in certain mosquito 
 districts, malaria does not exist. True, in many mosquito 
 districts malaria does "iwt exist. But we are all aware that 
 there are many different tribes of mosquitoes, and that, so far 
 as is at present known, only one of these, and this, happily 
 for mankind, a comparatively rare one, is the efficient host of 
 the malaria bacillus ; and that, further, only a very small 
 proportion of the insects themselves are capable of conveying 
 the infection, by having previously fed on an infected body. 
 
 It has been noticed that Europeans and other persons 
 engaged in excavating earth and turning up new soil appear 
 to suffer severely from this disease ; and the opponents of the 
 mosquito theory adduce this fact as constituting yet another 
 argument against the mosquito being the transmitting agent. 
 Let us look at this from an unprejudiced point of view. In 
 such excavations as are necessitated by the making of railways 
 and the boring of tunnels, a large number of worlunen are 
 employed. Burrow-holes and other small displacements of 
 the surface earth are made in the covu'se of working, and in 
 these water is prone to collect, the result being that after a 
 time, larvae are hatched out. In a large body of employes 
 one or two would be certain to be malarially infected, and, 
 once they had been bitten, the spread of disease becomes 
 almost automatic.
 
 HEALTH AND EXERCISE 267 
 
 But let us take the matter further still. At a meeting of the 
 Royal Colonial Institute, held in April, 1900, a most interesting 
 paper on this very subject was read by Sir Patrick Manson, 
 M.D., K.C.M.G., Principal Medical Adviser to the Colonial 
 Office, in the course of which a high Colonial official asked, 
 how came the first infected mosquito, since man was stated to 
 be the only source of infection ? The answer was, obviously, 
 that he was not. On the contrary, there is reason to believe 
 that many of the lower animals, some birds and certain 
 monkeys, are probably capable of harbouring the malarial 
 parasite. 
 
 There are, however, one or two points that have not as yet, 
 as far as I am aware, been cleared up. First : is no other 
 insect, such as the sand fly, and the thousands of others that 
 breed and bite in the tropical world, capable of harbouring the 
 malarial parasite or of transmitting it to man ? Secondly : 
 are the hundi-eds of miles of mangrove swamps, with their 
 fetid and putrid mud, that are so monstrously abundant for 
 mile after mile in the rivers on the low-lying West African 
 coast, in any way, other than through the mosquito, capable 
 of extending a malarial atmosphere ? Also, can those periodi- 
 cal and widespread epidemics, which from time to time ravage 
 the coast like a plague and sweep away numbers of the 
 European inhabitants, be traced to a similar cause ? These 
 problems will, no doubt, in time be solved. Meanwhile, the 
 Government and public, both, should give every encourage- 
 ment to tliose highly deserving bodies, the London and 
 Liverpool Schools of Tropical Medicine, for the splendid and 
 public-spirited efforts they are making to trace these diseases 
 to their source and fountain head. 
 
 An old Coaster once said to me that the only thing that 
 keeps one alive on the Coast is exercise. This is, of course, 
 an exaggeration ; but, at the same time, there is little doubt 
 that systematic exercise is exceedingly valuable, and is one of 
 the gi'eat means for the preservation of health here. I have,
 
 268 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 to be sure, known men who take as little outdoor exercise as 
 possible during their tours, and who yet seem to thrive on it. 
 But they are the exceptions. People are undoubledly prone 
 to take too little exercise in "West Africa. I have noticed that 
 a great number of the inhabitants of Freetown, even when 
 going across the road or to their offices, invariably use 
 their hammocks. Indeed, nobody seems able or willing to 
 walk a foot more than is necessary in this country. Such 
 a procedure, even in Europe, would quite usually result in 
 sickness from want of exercise. The enervating effects of the 
 climate, the discouragement given to voluntary locomotion by 
 the bad roads, overgi-own by bush and foliage, and the heat of 
 the sun, all tend to make the European a recluse. Moreover, 
 owing to the present undeveloped state of the interior, it is 
 almost impossible for the few European officers stationed 
 up-country to play games, such as tennis, golf, fives, cricket, 
 etc. The making of a tennis-court or cricket pitch would be 
 a big undertaking in the bush, where the means of transport 
 are bad, and the residence of Em'opeans too short to render it 
 worth while for any one or two men to undeiiake the task. 
 
 It is well known how badly men fare in India and other 
 tropical countries who do not go in for some kind of exercise. 
 In India, in her advanced state, nearly evei-ything is to be 
 obtained in the way of games and sport — polo, cricket, tennis, 
 racquets, rowing, and even football, are to be got at a number 
 of the larger stations. Polo is now being played on the Gold 
 Coast and in Northern Nigeria, and other parts, and is a 
 God-send to the sport-loving officer ; and this wUl, no doubt, 
 be the beginning of a further development of British sport and 
 pastimes for the West African " exile." 
 
 The man who goes in for systematic exercise in Em*ope is, 
 as a rule, much fitter than he who does not. In fact, exercise 
 at home is looked upon as essential to every active and 
 energetic Briton. How much more, then, is it needful in the 
 tropics, where a man's liver and other organs are apt to get
 
 HEALTH AND EXERCISE 269 
 
 out of gear from the strain that is put upon them by climatic 
 influences ! But whilst exercise is undoubtedly an essential 
 part of the daily routine, it should be taken judiciously, and 
 if possible, rather as a pleasure than as a duty. Although 
 most things in this way are against a man in the bush, he can 
 always work out some plan or other, either indoors or out of 
 doors, by which he can obtain the necessary impetus. For 
 instance, he can go in for dumb-bells, and Indian clubs. He 
 can nearly always — at any rate during the dry season — take 
 his gun and go for a tramp in the bush on the look-out for 
 sport. He can bring out a set of gloves and practise the 
 " noble art" ; or he can make himself proficient in the use of 
 the singlestick and foils. There are many ways, in fact, by 
 which officers, both civil and military, in the bush, can 
 exercise themselves, and, by so doing, can reap the greatest 
 benefit. Personally, I have found nothing so conducive to 
 the preservation of health as judicious exercise ; and it pays 
 one a thousand, nay, ten thousand times, to keep the body fit 
 and in sound condition. I am a great believer in light dumb- 
 bell movements, and invariably take one or two pairs out with 
 me. A good spell of these, say, three times a week, followed by 
 a tub, and combined with walking, will keep a man compara- 
 tively hard and fit, healthy and strong, wherever he may be. 
 
 It is, of course, the duty of every official to use his best 
 endeavours to preserve his health. A man who is continually 
 sick is a sorry servant to his Government ; and while in poor 
 condition from the effects of the climate, or from other causes, 
 he cannot possibly perform his duty with a proper amount of 
 energ)" and conscientiousness. Military officers, above all, 
 owe it to themselves as soldiers to keep the body strong and 
 in hard condition and in readiness to take the field at a 
 moment's notice and to undergo the fatigues, privations, etc., 
 which a campaign invariably brings in its train. An officer 
 who cannot stand fatigue as well as his men, and has to give 
 in before they do (provided he is not sufi'ering from illness or
 
 270 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 wounds) is a poor creature, and is looked upon as such by 
 most soldiers, and by none more than by the West African 
 native Tommy. " The first quality in a soldier," says 
 Napoleon in his " Maximes de Guerre," "is manliness in 
 sustaining fatigue and privation — valour comes only second." 
 
 But while exercise is of enormous benefit to the healthy 
 Em'opean on the Coast, too much of it has just the reverse 
 effect, and over-fatigue in West Africa is extremely dangerous. 
 The same thing in Europe is bad enough, but can, as a rule, 
 be put right by a few days' rest. But in West Africa it is 
 diflerent. Here over-fatigue often has a lasting effect, and 
 may easily be followed by a serious illness. It has been my 
 misfortune to have sufifered fi-om this malady on various 
 occasions, and, so far as I am concerned, it has invariably 
 affected me in the distressing form of sleeplessness. 
 
 One of the more serious results is that it is often followed 
 by fever (as nearly everything else is on the Coast), tending 
 to lower and debilitate the system. Most people who have 
 lived for any length of time in West Africa have malaria 
 germs in thefr blood, and as soon as thefr power of resistance 
 becomes lessened by cold, chill, fatigue, or the many other 
 calamities which affect the human body, the dormant poison 
 gains the day, overcomes the patient's resisting power, and 
 finally lays him low with a high temperature. A cold bath 
 for those who have been long resident in the tropics is, as a 
 rule, not advisable. Personally, I have found a daily cold 
 bath, following on exercise, to be most beneficial, and I know 
 men who have been for years on the Coast who have never 
 missed their cold tub. But every one knows what suits them 
 best, and of coui'se such persons as suffer from liver, or who 
 are continually having mild attacks of fever, should not bathe 
 in cold water. 
 
 Whenever I come to England after a torn- in Africa there 
 are sure to be some people who will ask about the climate. 
 Their questions are generally something like this : —
 
 HEALTH AND EXERCISE 271 
 
 " Fearfully bad climate, isn't it ? How many men dead in 
 your part ? You are lucky to be home again fit and well ! " 
 
 There is no doubt that the climate is bad enough, and one 
 is combating it from the moment one lands on the Coast up 
 to the day of leaving ; and in ninety-nine times out of a 
 himdred a man will carry some bad effect of it away with 
 him. There are, however, simple rules of health, chiefly 
 common sense ones, to be followed when residing in this 
 country. It is advised by some medical men to take daily a 
 small dose of quinine, while others advocate a larger dose 
 once or twice a week. Personally, I only take quinine when 
 I feel I need it, and have been for months without touching 
 it. I cannot help thinking that the continual daily dragging 
 of oneself with quinine for long periods must have some 
 injurious effect, either on the nervous system or digestive 
 organs. Indeed, many medical men are of opinion that large 
 doses of quinine induce blackwater fever. This theory has, 
 however, yet to be proved. 
 
 On arriving at the Coast it is advisable to take a daily dose 
 of from two to five grains of quinine for the first two months. 
 After that it might be discontinued and only taken when 
 required. A large dose of fi'om fifteen to thirty gi*ains might 
 then be taken once a month. 
 
 Everybody should endeavour to arrive in West Africa as 
 fit as possible. A good beginning is half the battle. When 
 there a regular mode of life should be followed. One of the 
 most important precautions to be first taken is, of course, the 
 avoidance of the mosquito. No pains should be spared and 
 no amount of trouble thought too great to outmanoeuvre this 
 pest. And this can only be done by the careful use of the 
 mosquito curtain and by always wearing mosquito boots at 
 sunset, A favourite place for the mosquito to bite is on the 
 instep, and this he can easily do while his victim is at dinner 
 or sitting about in the evening. Avoid as much as possible 
 going into places where mosquitoes are said to be numerous.
 
 272 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 If, for instance, you intend to sleep at a certain town, and 
 you hear it is infested with mosquitoes, do not go there, but 
 sleep at the next, if possible. 
 
 In West Afi-ica one should always assure oneself that one's 
 mosquito cm'tain contains no holes and that it is carefully 
 hung. It should never be allowed to hang down on to the 
 floor. If it does, and there are any mosquitoes about, they 
 will assuredly manage to creep underneath the folds. The 
 cm-tain is invariably hung up in the daytime, and it is then 
 that the mosquitoes will often settle under the bed or in the 
 curtain itself; and careless servants will even enclose the 
 insects in the netting when taking it down. The mosquito 
 curtain should be let down before sunset, and the bottom of 
 the bed brushed with a duster, and the netting itself well 
 shaken out. It should then be very carefully tucked in all 
 round and not the minutest aperture left through which a 
 mosquito could enter. For these di-eadful little pests are 
 very tigers when hunting for their prey, and will hardly be 
 denied. They will buzz for hours round the curtain, examin- 
 ing every nook and crevice, and let there be the slightest hole, 
 no matter how small, they will inevitably find it out and get 
 inside. Then, goodbye to slumber. After all, no very gi-eat 
 amount of trouble is entailed dail}^ in taking these most 
 necessary precautions. 
 
 I advocated just now the use of mosquito boots, and this 
 is really an important matter. These boots are made of thin 
 leather and reach nearly up to the knee. They can be 
 purchased very cheaply at the Canary Islands as a rule, and 
 the money they cost is by no means thrown away. Two 
 pairs should last, in daily use, for eighteen months at least. 
 Of course they should not be worn when marching, but 
 simply put on in the evening after sunset. Every precaution 
 should also be taken to keep one's house spotlessly clean and 
 clear of everything likely to collect water — in which the 
 mosquito delights to lay its eggs. It is a well-known fact
 
 HEALTH AND EXERCISE 273 
 
 that the beginning and end of the rains are the most un- 
 healthy seasons in West Africa. One of the chief causes of 
 this is undoubtedly the fact that at the commencement of the 
 rains small pools of water will collect. In these the mosquitoes 
 lay their eggs, which are allowed to develop owing to the rain 
 being still insufficient to wash them quite away. The sun's 
 rays do the rest, and out come the mosquitoes. At the end 
 of the rains the same thing happens. There is now not 
 sufficient rain to drown the larvae out of the drying pools and 
 moist places. Then the same precautions should be taken to 
 see that all old pails, tin receptacles, and other rubbish 
 capable of holding water are cleared away from one's vicinity. 
 Native servants are very careless in such matters as a rule 
 and require continual watching to ensure that these simple 
 precautions are properly carried out. 
 
 If you are travelling in the bush or selecting a site for a 
 camp, keep the latter as far away from a native town as 
 possible and endeavour to have it on rising ground. Also, if 
 you are likely to be stationed yourself for any length of time 
 in the bush, do your best to have the ground on which you 
 will camp devoid of all depressions in which water would be 
 likely to accumulate ; all small holes should be filled in and 
 simple drains cut. 
 
 When marching, endeavour to avoid halting in the vicinity 
 of pools. But if you are so unfortunate as to get into a 
 station where these exist, and where consequently mosquitoes 
 abound, spare no pains to drain all ponds and to fill in the 
 puddles also — that is, of course, if you are remaining in the 
 neighbourhood for any time. In this way you may prevent a 
 plague of mosquitoes developing anon. 
 
 As I have said before, great care should always be taken 
 while living in West Africa to follow a regular mode of life. 
 Regularity at meals is a great thing to be observed, and a 
 diet of tinned " Em-opean chop" is to be avoided as far as 
 possible. A lazy cook is a gi*cat nuisance. Of course he will 
 
 19
 
 274 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 encourage, wherever he can, the use of tinned provisions, 
 as these things give him little trouble, either in the way of 
 catering or cooking. Personallj'^, I think the continual use of 
 tinned meat and fish a gi-eat mistake at all times in the tropics, 
 or, at least, I maintain that they should only be used to 
 supplement the ordinary rations when one is short of fresh 
 provisions and cannot get anything else. My own idea is 
 that in Africa one should live as far as possible on native 
 products, and especially vegetables. There are, as I have 
 elsewhere stated, excellent vegetables to be obtained in this 
 country, if one knows how to go about it. My opinion is that 
 the system ought, to a certain extent, to be built up on the 
 products of the country in which one is residing. In Africa 
 live as far as possible as the Africans live ; that is a golden 
 rule to be observed. 
 
 Fruit is a most necessary and healthful thing, and may be 
 used with benefit. It should be taken, as a rule, in the early 
 morning before breakfast. It is also better to take two fruits 
 instead of one only — say an orange and a banana, a paupau 
 and an orange, or any other two combinations. The paupau 
 itself is a most excellent fruit, and has the further advantage 
 of being utilisable when unripe as a vegetable, which indeed 
 it somewhat resembles when cooked. Limes are another first- 
 rate thing, but should not be taken too often as they have a 
 tendency to thin the blood. 
 
 Avoid, of all things, taking fermented liquors when the sun 
 is up. Alcoholic stimulants should only be taken in the 
 evening. Whisky and water or soda, and a light claret, are 
 good, but even these only in great moderation. It is injudi- 
 cious to take liquor on an empty stomach. After illness or 
 when one is fatigued by a long march or hard work, champagne 
 will be found to be most beneficial and exhilarating. There 
 is no better "pick-me-up" at such times than champagne and 
 stout mixed ; but this should not be overdone, especially if 
 one is excessively tired. Personally, I have found, after a
 
 HEALTH AND EXERCISE 27$ 
 
 thoroughly hard day's work in the sun, that a cup of warm 
 tea with plenty of milk is the hest warder off of the effects of 
 over-exertion. 
 
 Early rising is very advisable in the tropics. One should 
 be out and about at the latest by half-past six. There is a 
 coolness and a freshness in the early morning air of Africa that 
 is of great benefit to Europeans, and a deal of work may be got 
 through at this time. But do not take exercise or go into the 
 sun on an empty stomach. This is a rule which should never 
 be broken under any circumstances whatever. On coming 
 indoors one is usually more or less soaked with perspiration ; 
 yet it is a common habit to sit in the verandah or in a ham- 
 mock and have a "peg" before changing. One would not 
 treat one's polo pony in that way. He is not allowed to stand 
 out in the cold without cover, and to drink cold drinks after 
 exercise. The same practice when indulged in by human 
 beings is really most dangerous, and results inevitably in chills 
 and fever. It only requires a little trouble immediately on 
 coming in to change, rub down, and put on dry clothes. I 
 think one appreciates refreshment much more after first doing 
 this. 
 
 Do not as a general thing eat fi-uit at night, as this is often 
 inclined to cause pains in the stomach. And be careful always 
 to wear a thick cholera belt at night. This is a most effica- 
 cious means of fending off chills, covering, as it does, one of 
 the most delicate and vital parts of the body. Colds are one 
 of the most dangerous things in Africa, and the variations of 
 the climate tend to a great extent to produce them. When on 
 the march, it is a bad plan to be continually drinking water, 
 especially that most poisonous kind of water, swamp-water. 
 The result will almost certainly be an attack of dysentery. 
 Water should invariably be both boiled and filtered. Here 
 again, do not trust to your native servants to attend to this 
 matter, but see that it is done yourself. One of the most 
 useful filters for Africa is the Bcrhjddt. Take out two kinds
 
 2/6 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 of this — a "drip" and a "pump." The latter can be used 
 when travelling as it takes w^ little room and will draw water 
 in a very short space of time. With this pump-filter should 
 be carried several " candles" and washers. These should be 
 continually changed when dirty, and should be cleaned by 
 means of a brush or a piece of celluloid paper ; afterwards being 
 boiled for half an hour and then set in the sun to di-y. The 
 "candles" should be changed, and boiled or cleaned, about 
 once a fortnight. The " drip " filter should be kept for the 
 house and treated in the same way as regards cleaning, and 
 recollect that it is desirable to filter one's drinking water first 
 and to boil it afterwards. The boiled water should be carefully 
 deposited and corked up in coolers. 
 
 Do not be afraid of fresh air in West Africa, while at the 
 same time avoid chills. It is a good plan to sleep with the 
 windows wide open at night. If one has jalousies fitted in 
 one's house, keep them closed, as plenty of fresh air can get 
 through the slats. 
 
 When travelling in the bush, and at any time when going 
 up-country, do not fail to carry certain medicines and medical 
 appliances in your baggage. Excellent portable medicine 
 chests can be obtained from Messrs. Burroughs and Wellcome. 
 If, when uj)-country, you have an attack of dysentery or some- 
 thing resembling that complaint, take it in time. Do not 
 allow an unnecessary moment to elapse before treating your- 
 self. A strong dose of castor oil, containing five drops of 
 laudanum, will often prevent, and even cure, an attack of 
 dysentery if taken in good time. When suffering in this way, 
 the body should be kept very warm by means of a cholera belt 
 or cummerbund. 
 
 Another good rule is to avoid unnecessary exposure to the 
 heat of the midday sun. There is in West Africa such a 
 thing as " sun-fever," which is a very nasty kind of fever; and 
 there is such a thing as sunstroke. Consequently especial 
 care should be taken when marching in the sun to use a good
 
 HEALTH AND EXERCISE 277 
 
 head-covering. I myself look upon the pith helmet as a 
 rather cumbersome, as well as uncomfortable headgear, 
 and I prefer a soft felt hat, big enough and thick enough to 
 keep off the sun's rays. 
 
 Everything in West Africa is damp ; and when one's clothes, 
 after having been packed away, are taken out of the box, they 
 will be found quite clammy with moisture, and if left for any 
 length of time, will be apt to become mildewed, owing to the 
 extreme humidity of the climate. It is further advisable to 
 have one's bed-clothes and wearing apparel placed in the sun 
 for a short time every day, so as to give them a chance to 
 become thoroughly dry. It is best to sleep between blankets ; 
 but some men are unable to do this owing to the irritation 
 produced. But if sheets are used, care should be taken that 
 they are kept perfectly dry ; cotton sheets, in particular, are 
 very apt to absorb moisture. 
 
 It is just as well to remember, when getting together one's 
 kit for West Africa, that the very best boxes for this country 
 are the small tin air-tight ones, and in these all clothes and 
 articles of wearing apparel should be kept. Sleep, if possible, 
 in flannel, and always in the evening wear flannel next to the 
 skin. Carbolic soap will be found to be both exceedingly 
 refreshing and most cleansing to the skin, and the whole body 
 should be bathed at least once every day and soaped all over. 
 Many persons have complained that the climate has a dele- 
 terious effect upon the teeth. This can, to a gi-eat extent, be 
 prevented by regularly cleaning them the last tliiuf/ at night 
 before turninri in. It is advisable, nevertheless, to have one's 
 teeth properly seen to before going out to the Coast. This 
 precaution will often save a lot of sufi"ering and misery, for 
 dentists are, as a rule, not to be obtained out there. 
 
 As regards the rains, I have never found that being soaked 
 through even for hours together has had any ill efi'ect provided 
 one keeps moving all the time. The danger lies, having 
 become wet, in remaining stationary afterwards. Of course, 
 on the first opportunity wet clothes should be changed.
 
 278 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 The immineuce of au attack of fever is usually sliowu by 
 extreme drowsiness, coupled with a general feeling of lassitude 
 and yawning. After one has had this very disagreeable 
 experience once or twice, the symptoms can easily be spotted 
 in future. It is advisable not to attempt to struggle against 
 this drowsy feeling, but straightway to swallow a large dose 
 of quinine followed by, say, a tumbler-full of hot water and 
 fresh lime. This precaution will frequently ward off a bad 
 attack. 
 
 On the march it often happens that when one's feet are wet 
 through they become chafed by the friction of the boots and 
 socks. Never neglect this matter, as a sore in the tropics will 
 often develop into a very bad place and perhaps make you 
 lame and unable to wear a boot for a considerable time. The 
 application of a little zinc ointment will usually prevent a 
 chafe from becoming worse. 
 
 If the premonitory symptoms of sunstroke are felt, it is a 
 good plan to inhale cigarette smoke freely, and to bathe the 
 head, neck, and temples in cold water. 
 
 To summarise, briefly, the simple rules to be observed, I 
 would say : — Avoid mosquitoes as you would the plague. 
 Do not expose yourself unnecessarily to the rays of the sim, 
 and at all times wear a good head-covering. Wear a cholera- 
 belt or thick flannel round the waist at night. Take regular 
 exercise, especially in the early morning hours. Change the 
 clothes immediately after taking exercise. Wear flannel next 
 the skin. Do not worry over trifles ; the tendency of life in 
 this part of the world is to make men irritable. Obtain and 
 use fresh vegetables and the other natural products of the 
 country as much as possible. See that your cooking utensils 
 are cleaned every day and laid out by the servants for your 
 inspection — native cooks are apt to be very dirty in such 
 matters. Attend personally to the purity of your drinking 
 water supply ; drink as little as possible when on the march 
 and at all times take alcohol in extreme moderation. Keep in
 
 HEALTH AND EXERCISE 279 
 
 mind the rule about " early to bed and early to rise." See 
 that you are proYided with plenty of occupation, while remem- 
 bering that over-fatigue in work or play is extremely dangerous. 
 Have yom'self vaccinated before going out to the Coast. W^en 
 feeling ill always consult a medical man, if possible, and do 
 not fight against an attack of country-fever. Lastly and 
 comprehensively, — observe moderation in all things.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 BUSH FIGHTING 
 
 " EverytMng is a matter of opinion 
 in iuar." 
 
 Napoleon. 
 
 IT is a fact incontrovertible that our expansion of Empire 
 has been very largely brought about by the subjugation 
 of the savage and lawless races who were the original inhabi- 
 tants of the soil. Looked at from this point of view — the point 
 of view of empire-building, that is to say — the significance and 
 importance of many of our " little wars " can scarcely be 
 over-estimated. And, that being the case, it obviously behoves 
 every officer who is serving or is about to serve, in any of 
 these far-away corners of the earth, to make himself 
 thoroughly master of the local conditions and of the hundred 
 and one other points of a military nature, a complete know- 
 ledge of which is absolutely indispensable for the successful 
 prosecution of a campaign there. 
 
 Now there is but meagre information to be gleaned on the 
 subject of savage warfare from a perusal of the Infantry Drill 
 or any of the other official text-books ; and that although 
 scarcely a year goes by without a campaign of one kind or 
 another being organised against savages. Thus our officers, 
 often few in number, find themselves in charge of a handful of 
 
 partly trained native soldiers, and forced to face, not only the 
 
 280
 
 BUSH FIGHTING 281 
 
 attacks of an enemy, but the further dangers bred by the 
 pestilential swamps, rank forests, or howling deserts of which 
 parts of Egypt, and East, Central, and West Africa consist. 
 
 Moreover, there are various kinds of savage warfare, the 
 condition and tactics of each being quite distinct, and every 
 one demanding special and careful study. For example, the 
 tactics incidental to a campaign upon the North-west 
 frontier of India would be entirely different from those 
 employed against the fanatical ghazis of the Soudan, or the 
 cunning savages of West Africa, who fight amid, and are pro- 
 tected by, their dense and impenetrable forests. It is upon 
 this mode of warfare that I am desirous of saying something 
 here ; and I do so in the hope that the few remarks which I 
 propose to offer may be of some use to officers going out to 
 West Africa, or to those who, being already there, are about 
 to embark on their first campaign in the bush. 
 
 We have, in the past, lost but too many valuable officers 
 and men, not only from the ravages of the climate, but from 
 the shots of a carefully concealed enemy, who, as a rule, fires 
 from the bush at almost point-blank range, and ver}^ rarely 
 comes into the open. At present the nature of the countrj', 
 the ravages of the climate, and the peculiar tactics of an 
 enemy who is shadowing your every movement but whom you 
 yourself are not able to see, combine to render a bush cam- 
 paign one of the most trying and heart-breaking modes of 
 warfare possible. Your nerves are kept continually on the 
 stretch, and you probably only realise the propinquity of j'our 
 foe when he opens fire upon you at point-blank range. 
 
 In recent times most of the fighting iu West Africa has been 
 done by native troops and locally raised levies, commanded by 
 British officers ; and with the exception of the Ashanti 
 Expedition of 1896, no large force of white troops has, at 
 least to my knowledge, been employed here since Lord 
 Wolseley's Expedition to Ashanti in 1874. 
 
 These native troops, for the most part recruited and trained
 
 282 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 locally, have, so far, amply justified the confidence that has 
 been placed in them. Their discipline has generally been 
 excellent, and when under fire their bravery, endurance, and 
 dash, have been altogether beyond reproach. The employ- 
 ment of white soldiers in a climate as enervating and unhealthy 
 as that of West Africa is a mistake, and entails on those 
 connected with the transport an enormous amount of 
 unnecessary trouble and work, as well as costing the nation a 
 great deal more in money. It must be admitted, however, 
 that the moral effect of using white troops against a savage 
 foe is great, and sometimes even a necessity. At the same 
 time, with the splendid native forces we have now at our 
 disposal, we ought to be able to overcome any resistance that is 
 likely to be offered against British arms in that part of the world. 
 But if European troops be employed, they should consist of 
 carefully picked men, and the best officers should be selected 
 as leaders. Lord Wolseley, writing upon savage warfare, 
 says : " In small wars we must have the best men as leaders. 
 My advice is, select all ranks most carefully for these little 
 wars." And to no country is the truth of this more applicable 
 than to West Africa. One of the great advantages of being 
 able to employ native soldiers — men born and bred in the 
 country — is that we are then enabled, to a great extent, to 
 play the enemy's own game, to follow him into his favourite 
 haunts, and generally to adopt his own strategy and tactics. 
 We have, moreover, the great advantage of superior discipline 
 and arms, and when a savage finds that we are able to strike 
 at him in the same way, strategically and tactically, that he is 
 endeavouring to strike at us, he at once becomes demoralised 
 and uncertain how to act. It is then that an attack should, 
 whenever possible, be followed up and pressed home. When 
 once a savage foe begins to run, he will, as a rule, continue 
 to do so, and a panic amongst these people is even more con- 
 tagious than among civilised troops. A number of the tribes 
 inhabiting West Africa do not, from superstitious motives.
 
 BUSH FIGHTING 283 
 
 attack at night. This is so among the Ashantis, who believe 
 that all bad spirits are abroad during the night hom"s. On 
 the other hand, there are other aboriginal races whose special 
 mode of warfare is carried on during the night. During the 
 operations in Sierra Leone in 1898, most of the attacks were 
 made by the Mendis between the hours of 1 and 5 a.m. ; 
 and these people have been particularly successful in their 
 night attacks on other tribes. Therefore, when defending a 
 post or station against a savage enemy who are likely to attack 
 at night, great precautions are necessary in order to guard 
 against surprise. Obstacles should be used whenever possible, 
 either natm*al or artificial. Marshes, rivers, streams, high 
 banks, or precipices make excellent natural obstacles ; abattis, 
 consisting of sharp-spiked thorns, wire entanglements, broken 
 bottles, sharp spikes di-iven into the gTound point upwards, 
 and hidden with leaves or loose earth, and twigs and broken 
 bottles, make good artificial ones. At night, when an attack 
 is pending or about to commence, fire should be withheld as 
 long as possible, as blazing away in the dark without seeing 
 anything does very little good except making a noise ; whilst 
 when the enemy find that the shooting is not effective, they 
 will probably be encouraged to attack more vigorously. 
 Locally raised native soldiers are apt to fire at anything, and 
 waste an enormous quantity of ammunition unless kept well 
 in hand. They are naturally highly excitable and unable to 
 control their feelings, and consecpiently nearly always fire 
 high. It is much better when defending a post in the dark, 
 that soldiers should, if possible, lie down, protected by any 
 obstacle, either natural or artificial, that is at hand. This in 
 itself will give a native soldier more confidence, and therefore 
 enable him to make better shooting. Night attacks are very 
 dangerous and should be avoided whenever possible, especially 
 so as a savage enemy is usually very well informed as to his 
 opponent's movements, and with his intimate knowledge of the 
 country is in a much better position to manoeuvre at night
 
 284 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 than we are. Like the wild animals of his own forests he is 
 alert, has first-rate sight and hearing, and is cunning and 
 suspicious. If, however, a night attack is to he made on a 
 town, or war camp, and you wish to fall upon it unawares, the 
 utmost precautions must he taken. The march must be made 
 in perfect silence, and by paths that are little frequented. 
 No light of any kind should be allowed. Our West African 
 soldiers, owing to most of them being barefooted, are able to 
 march quite noiselessly. Officers accompanying a column on 
 a night attack should remove their boots, and wear shoes 
 without heels, those having india-rubber or very thin leather 
 or rope soles are the best. Care should be taken to prevent 
 accoutrements from knocking together, or cartridges from 
 shaking in the men's pouches. 
 
 In marching through the narrow bush paths of West Africa 
 at night, the advanced guard should move very slowly, and the 
 column should be constantly halted. If this is not done, 
 straggling will inevitably occur, and this will entail doubling 
 in the rear to make up the lost ground, and noise will be made. 
 Even if the attacking force is a very small one, this precaution 
 is most necessary, On the other hand, if you succeed in 
 catching your enemy unawares by carefully planned tactics, 
 and by rapidly-executed movements, a night attack will have 
 a very demoralising effect upon him. 
 
 We are, as a rule, somewhat inclined I think to underrate 
 our foe, a mistake that we have paid for dearly on more than 
 one occasion in the past. Nevertheless, it is better to oj)erate 
 with small bodies of troops with a good reserve than with a 
 large unwieldly force which is more or less bound to be con- 
 fined to the limited area in which its suj)plies are collected. 
 In taking the offensive against savages, they should, whenever 
 possible, be attacked simultaneously in front and on the 
 flanks, and these attacks should be carried out with dash and 
 vigour, and by rapidly-executed movements pushed well home. 
 It is rarely that savages will stand for a bayonet charge.
 
 BUSH FIGHTING 285 
 
 Small bodies of troops should never be left unsupported, or 
 advance too far into an unknown enemy's country. If they do 
 this, they run the risk of being attacked by an overwhelming 
 force, and completely annihilated. An example of this is 
 afforded by the disaster which lately overtook Colonel Plun- 
 kett's column in Somaliland. 
 
 Speaking generally, the rules to remember are : — 
 
 1. Rather overrate than underrate the enemy. 
 
 2. Find the enemy. 
 
 3. Bring him to battle. 
 
 4. Have supports and reserve ready to support small 
 
 detachments. 
 
 5. Guard against surprise and treachery. 
 
 6. Supply sufficiently strong escorts for lines of communi- 
 
 cation and food supplies. 
 
 7. Ascertain where the enemy obtains his food, and en- 
 
 deavour to destroy his crops, cattle and other supplies. 
 
 8. Put little faith in native reports and guides. 
 
 In our West African operations we have, time after time, 
 gone out of our way to destroy the enemy's towns and villages. 
 This, of com-se, is necessary, but it does not, as a rule, inflict 
 very serious punishment upon him. The West African can 
 live for months in a little gi-ass shelter in the heart of the 
 bush. He can, in fact, exist comfortably in the "dries" 
 without any shelter at all. Moreover, the natives are very 
 quick as a rule in rebuilding their towns. If possible, ascer- 
 tain from whence they obtain their food. Cattle, sheep, and 
 goats are invariably driven away from the towns and hidden 
 in the bush dming hostilities. Large quantities of rice, yams, 
 and other vegetables will also be stored there. If possible, 
 these should be located and destroyed. All rice and other 
 crops should also be destroyed, and even if this is only 
 partially accomplished it will deal the enemy a severe blow, 
 especially if the campaign is likely to be a prolonged one. 
 
 One of the truest signs that trouble is impending is the
 
 286 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 absence of all women, children and live stock from the towns. 
 Native troops when going into action should, so far as is 
 possible, be led by theii* own officers, who know and are 
 known by their men. In several of these operations a host of 
 " special service officers " are sent out, a number of whom 
 know little about the country, and still less about the men 
 they are commanding. The West African " Tommy " is an 
 excellent man when properly handled and understood. He 
 is extraordinarily quick in finding out the stuff his officers are 
 made of, and he has, like every one else, his likes and dis- 
 likes, and those in a marked degree. He has a wonderful 
 sense of justice, and the officer who treats his men firmly and 
 kindly, looks after their interests, proves himself capable of 
 sustaining privations and undergoing hardships, and of sharing 
 unselfishly the vicissitudes of a campaign with his men, will 
 be beloved, respected, and followed to the death. In a tight 
 corner this makes all the difference in the world. If the 
 position is serious, and an attack is being made by over- 
 whelming odds against you, never let the men perceive that 
 anything is wrong. These native soldiers watch every action 
 and every look of their captain — the white man — and would 
 immediately spot the slightest timidity or hesitation, which 
 might have a grave effect upon their morals. A confident 
 front, a few words of encouragement, a smile, a quick and 
 determined order, will act like a spark and will carry them 
 anywhere, even to certain death. During the relief of 
 Kumasi, after several hours' severe fighting, and when nearly 
 every officer was hit, and eveiy man tired and hmigry, 
 an order was given to the Lagos Hausas to charge and take 
 a stockade with the bayonet in the face of a terrific fire. It 
 was one of those moments, lasting for only the fraction of 
 a second, when the best troops in the world are liable to 
 waver. In this case, seeing the hesitation of the men, a 
 native officer rushed to the fi'ont, and waving his sword above 
 his head, and shouting in his native language to the men to
 
 BUSH FIGHTING 287 
 
 follow him in the name of Allah, dashed at the stockade. 
 This action acted like an electric spark ; and enthusiastically 
 shouting their war-cry, the men dashed headlong at the 
 stockade, and drove the enemy out of it. 
 
 The number of British officers who periodically go out to 
 West Afi-ica either on special or temporary service with the 
 local forces, is increasing. But when, upon a young officer 
 an-iving on the Coast, who perhaps has never been abroad 
 before, and whose experience of soldiering has probably been 
 confined to the stereotyped manoeuvi-es of Aldershot or Salis- 
 bury Plain, he finds himself in command of some small 
 expedition or in charge of a number of soldiers fighting or 
 marching against a savage tribe, perhaps several days' journey 
 from his station, he is apt to feel bitterly his lack of experience 
 in, and want of, knowledge of the local conditions peculiar to 
 a campaign in West Afiica. 
 
 It should be recollected also that most of the information 
 obtainable from up-country sources (that is, as a rule, fi'om 
 friendly natives) is scanty, unreliable, and often quite mis- 
 leading. It may be necessary to push on with all despatch, 
 either as a relieving force or to punish some refractory tribes 
 who have been annoying their peaceful neighbours by slave 
 raiding, or, as is often the case, stopping the trade from 
 passing through their country to the Coast. 
 
 Delays in operating against these tribes are dangerous. 
 Strike quickly therefore — and strike home. 
 
 One of the first things for an officer to do, if he finds himself 
 in such a position, is to leave no stone unturned until he has 
 obtained as much information as possible from local sources. 
 By local sources, I mean from traders, the Commissioner in 
 charge of the troubled country or district, and from the friendly 
 natives themselves. Often very valuable information can bo 
 obtained from the merchants and traders (European), who have 
 perhaps resided for a long time in the country, and whose 
 business often takes them into the interior and among the
 
 288 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 natives. If there are such men about, they should be con- 
 sulted. The local maps should also be carefully conned, 
 though a number of the maps published give but scanty 
 information, a gi'eat deal of which again is often far from 
 accm'ate. 
 
 The following points should also be ascertained : — 
 
 A. Nature of the country. 
 
 B. Fighting capacity and probable numbers of the enemy. 
 
 C. The kind of weapons used by the enemy and their usual 
 
 tactics. 
 
 D. The name and location of the principal town, and the 
 
 name of the Paramount Chief, and (if possible) his 
 whereabouts. 
 
 E. The sources of the enemy's food supply. 
 
 F. The approximate distance to be travelled. 
 
 G. The shortest and most favourable route for reaching the 
 
 objective. 
 H. The cause of the disturbance, and whether it cannot be 
 
 settled by you or by anyone else before making the 
 
 attack. 
 Having obtained as much information upon all the above 
 subjects as possible, the next thing will be to arrange the 
 transport. This is of the utmost importance. The organi- 
 sation of the transport for a column in West Africa requires 
 the very gi-eatest care and consideration. In this country 
 nearly everything is transported by carriers, each man being 
 able to march from ten to twenty miles a day bearing a load 
 of between 50 and 70 lbs. on his hand. Carriers will, as 
 a rule, march at from two to three miles an hour. The loads 
 should be as well balanced and as compact as possible, and 
 care should be taken, while choosing carriers, to enlist the 
 strongest men. It does not necessarily require a medical officer 
 to do this. Men of medium height and those with short thick 
 necks are usually the best. Carriers of poor physique, or who 
 may be suffering from sickness, give endless trouble when
 
 BUSH FIGHTING 289 
 
 forced marches aud fatiguiug joui'neys have to be made. The 
 majority of West African earners are, as a rule, excellent 
 fellows, and very easy to manage when well looked after and 
 properly treated. They are able to do an enormous amount 
 of hard work ; and requu'e little food. They will go through 
 the most trying hardships patiently and even heroically, and 
 their uncomfortable position in action, often surrounded by an 
 unseen enemy at close quarters, themselves being unarmed 
 and hampered with a heavy load, can well be imagined. It 
 is not surprising, then, that when under fire, and they see 
 their defenceless comrades being shot down all round them, 
 they sometimes fling down their loads and get out of hand. 
 Only officers who have had experience in dealing with natives 
 should be selected for transport duty in West Africa ; and 
 when the expedition is large this duty is a most trying 
 one. 
 
 When a column on the march does not appear to be making 
 sufficient progress the pace should on no account be forced. 
 This has a very worrying eflect upon the carriers, and never 
 pays in the long run. Allow them, as far as possible, to go 
 their own pace, which they are able to keep up for hom-s at a 
 stretch. It is the duty of the headmen of squads to spot all 
 laggards, and if they know their business, and have control 
 of their squads, they will soon mend matters. It is, of 
 course, most important that the best headmen possible 
 should be obtained. A bad headman will do more to 
 fatigue and worry his "squad" than heavy loads; and in 
 a tight comer, as a rule, he loses control over them. The 
 selecting of good headmen will save an endless amount of 
 trouble during the campaign. As a rule, one headman should 
 be placed over every fifteen or twenty carriers, and he should 
 be held responsible for everything connected with his " squad " 
 from the moment they start on the expedition until it termi- 
 nates. It is as well, if the expedition is going to be a long 
 one, to make a second or even a third headman of " squads," 
 
 20
 
 290 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 and a reserve for the companies and battalions. They will, 
 of course, take no active part until called upon to do so. 
 This will allow for accidents, casualties, or sickness, which 
 are bound to occur. 
 
 The duties of the headmen should be very carefully 
 explained to them, and, in fact, require " drilling " into 
 their heads. Their groups or "squads" should be ordered 
 to obey them implicitly on all occasions. Each headman 
 should know his own set of loads, which, as far as possible, 
 should be kept together. That is, all the rice-bags should be 
 singled out, and the biscuit and ammunition boxes should 
 each be under different leaders of " squads." Places should 
 also be allotted to these at the end of each day's journey. 
 Every set of loads should have its own place, and they 
 should on no account be allowed to become mixed. If these 
 precautions are taken much time and confusion will be saved 
 on the early morning start, which often takes place in the 
 dark. If carriers are not well organised, or have not had 
 special loads apportioned to them, they will invariably make 
 for the lightest and most compact load, which causes endless 
 confusion, and often fights among themselves. 
 
 At a signal given, either by the headmen or "captains" 
 of gi-oups or squads, or upon the "fall in" sounding, each 
 carrier should stand by, or sit upon his load, and be ready to 
 pick it up at once and start off on the " advance " or some 
 other signal being given. 
 
 In a large expedition, where the carriers number several 
 thousands, and where there is likely to be much fighting, the 
 minutest details as regards the transport organisation must 
 be gone into, and everything settled beforehand. Great care 
 and much forethought are therefore necessary if muddle and 
 confusion are to be prevented. A badly organised transport 
 might cause serious trouble to a fighting column, and perhaps 
 end in a disaster, and it behoves every commander to see that 
 things are in working order, and that the transport arrange-
 
 BUSH FIGHTING 291 
 
 ments are in good and reliable hands, before embarking upon 
 an expedition of any length or importance in West 
 A&'ica. 
 
 In a large expedition, and where carriers have to be re- 
 cruited from diflferent parts of the Coast, it is necessary that 
 all the men of one tribe should be kept together. Indeed, 
 the organisation of the carriers should be carried out as far 
 as possible like the organisation of soldiers. Thus, if the 
 number of carriers employed is large they should be told off 
 into battalions, each battalion being, say, 500 strong. If 
 possible, two officers should have charge of each battalion, 
 assisted by from two to four non-commissioned officers. The 
 battalions should then be formed into companies, which, 
 follo^ving the military system, would be eight. These should 
 be commanded by a " captain," who, as a rule, would be an 
 intelligent native. The companies would be again divided 
 into sections of from ten to twenty men, each under its own 
 headman. A good day's march for men carrying loads is 
 from ten to twenty miles. Supposing, therefore, the advance 
 depot is some one hundred and five miles from the advance 
 base, and reckoning each stage to be fifteen miles, it would be 
 necessary to divide the distance into seven stages. The first 
 battalion could convey five hundred loads in seven days to the 
 advance depot ; the second battalion could convey the five 
 hundred loads to the last stage in six days ; No. 3 battalion 
 five hundred loads to the fifth stage in five days ; No. 4 
 battalion five hundred loads in four days, until all the loads 
 were deposited along the different stages. It should be so 
 arranged that a number of men could be sent back without 
 loads to meet the loads being sent up, and so on. 
 
 As soon as all the necessary stores have arrived at the 
 advance depot the columns can push on into the enemy's 
 country. An escort should invariably accompany the carriers 
 from the advance base to the advance depot. Although no 
 enemy is likely to be in the neighbourhood, an escort is
 
 292 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 invaluable in keeping order, and is a necessity when employing 
 large numbers of carriers. 
 
 The daily ration for a native soldier is 1^ lb. of rice, and 
 each canier gets 1 lb. Rations to Europeans should not be 
 issued oftener than twice a week. It would be better, when 
 possible, to issue rations only once a week, as each canier is 
 able to take one week's rations with him. European officers 
 and non-commissioned officers, when campaigning in West 
 Afiica, should not require more than two, or at the most 
 three, carriers, one or two of whom would take the kit and 
 bedding, and the other the rations. One carrier is usually 
 allowed for the kits of ten soldiers. Working on these lines, 
 the transport for a force of five hundred soldiers and twenty 
 Europeans for a six days' march would be : — 
 
 750 lbs. of rice at 50 lbs. per load 15 men. 
 
 20 Europeans at three carriers each ... 60 men. 
 500 kits at one carrier to every ten 50 men. 
 
 Total 125 carriers. 
 
 In addition to the above, earners would be required for the 
 following : — 
 
 150 for the Medical Department. 
 6 men for each hammock. 
 
 Every Maxim gun requires eight men, including ammuni- 
 tion carriers, and each 7-pounder gun fifteen men, including 
 the carriage, and about the same number for the ammunition. 
 
 If a 7 5 -millimetre gun accompanies the colimin this would 
 entail a further number of thirty-five cai-riers for gun and 
 carriage, and about forty carriers for ammimition. 
 
 Order of March and Nature of Force. 
 
 It is impossible to lay down hard-and-fast rules as to the 
 nature of the force to be employed in a country like West 
 Africa. A great deal will depend upon local circumstances,
 
 BUSH FIGHTING 293 
 
 the quality and construction of the enemy's defences, and their 
 character. Artillery is of great value for demolishing walled 
 towns and certain kinds of stockades. Sometimes, however, 
 the stockades are so well and carefully huilt that artillery has 
 been found to have very little effect against them. In the 
 operations in the Karene country in Sierra Leone, in 1898, 
 7-pounder guns had no effect whatever upon the stockades. 
 Nevertheless, the moral effect of artillery fire upon savages 
 is always gi-eat. When horses are available, and when the 
 country is of an open nature, mounted infantry are of great 
 service. Before this branch of the service is employed, how- 
 ever, it should receive special training and be made thoroughly 
 cognisant of the tactics usually adopted by the enemy when 
 mounted. Mounted infantry for these expeditions should be 
 trained and recruited locally, and, unless unavoidable, troops 
 from other parts of the continent should not be requisitioned. 
 In our recent operations in Northern Nigeria and Somaliland 
 the mounted infantry did excellent work. 
 
 A few Maxims are a valuable addition to a force in West 
 Africa, though they have the gi-eat disadvantage of requiring 
 a large number of earners for the ammunition. Also, when 
 the bush is very dense (as is nearly always the case) much of 
 the usefulness of the Maxim is lost. This handy little gun 
 is, however, of incalculable value for the defence of isolated 
 posts, and for the boat expeditions which so often take place 
 upon the numerous rivers and creeks. 
 
 It is important that the loads accompanying a fighting 
 column be properly distributed and an-anged according to 
 their contents. Hammocks, to the number of 10 per cent., 
 should be in front of the rear guard, and, of course, accom- 
 panied by a medical officer. In a large force it would be 
 necessary to place a few stretchers in rear of the advanced 
 guard. In a small force articles that are required imme- 
 diately after arrival should be as far to the front as possible. 
 These would include officers' baggage, tents, and stores. The
 
 294 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 best place for artilleiy is in rear of the advanced guard. 
 Guns, as a rule, and when sufficient carriers are to hand, 
 are carried in sections ; they can, however, be hauled along 
 by means of drag ropes. Owing to the bad conditions of the 
 roads this necessitates constant halts and delays. Taking 
 these guns across weak and insecure native bridges, and 
 through swamps, entails an enormous amount of trouble. 
 Whenever possible, machine guns should be carried in sec- 
 tions. " One of the duties of the advanced guard," say the 
 official text books, "is fighting." This is specially so in 
 "West Africa. 
 
 The peculiar characteristics of the country cause the head 
 of the narrow columns, as a rule, to come in for the first part 
 and the brunt of the fighting. The advanced guard should 
 therefore be pushed far enough ahead, for, as is so often the 
 case when it has to move slowly and cautiously, the pace of 
 the column in rear is not thereby checked. Preceding the 
 advanced guard would be the scouts, who perform a most 
 difficult and important duty in the bush. Men employed on 
 this duty should be specially trained, and for it soldiers 
 should be employed who have been brought up in the bush, 
 and thoroughly understand the nature of the country. The 
 scouts should form a screen to the advanced guard, whose 
 " point " would be immediately in rear of it. This point 
 should be furnished by the leading company, near the head of 
 which should be the advanced guard. If the force is a large 
 one, and has guns to spare, a Maxim with escort might, with 
 advantage, immediately follow in rear of the advanced guard. 
 After this would come the main body, which should be rather 
 stronger than the advanced guard. One or two Maxims with 
 escort should march with the main body. The place for the 
 commanding officer should be at the head of the main body. 
 In this position he can see what is going on in front (where 
 most of the fighting will probably take place), and can best 
 send orders to the rear. The Commanding Officer should,
 
 BUSH FIGHTING 295 
 
 however, interfere as little as possible with the commander of 
 the advanced guard. In action he would, indeed, be unable 
 to do so. 
 
 Modern warfare has shown that the company is the fighting 
 unit. In bush warfare this is not the case. Here the fight- 
 ing unit is the section. It is well to remember this. It was 
 found in the Karene Expedition of 1898, when some of the 
 most stubborn fighting ever experienced in West Africa took 
 place, that a section was the largest command that could be 
 effectively handled at a time. Colonel G. W. Marshall, who 
 has had considerable experience in West African warfare, and 
 who was commanding for some time in these operations, says 
 in his despatch, " It was found that ten men were quite as 
 many as one command was able to control in the dense bush, 
 and consequently the column was divided into sections of 
 ten." 
 
 When a great number of troops are employed, and the 
 carriers run into thousands, the supply column will follow 
 as close to the rearguard of the fighting column as possible. 
 The strength, therefore, would not be so great. The supply 
 column might be divided up as follows : — 
 
 r2 Sections (advanced guard) 
 I Carriers 
 
 1 Company -j 1 Section 
 
 I Stretcher party 
 \\ Section 
 
 ( Carriers 
 \ Reserve Ammunition 
 2 Sections 
 
 2 Companies -^ Carriers 
 .1 Eeservc Ammunition 
 
 Stretcher party, hospital stores, etc. 
 ^2 Sections 
 
 \ Company Guns with rearguard 
 
 The above depends, of course, upon the number of carriers
 
 296 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 employed, etc. The distribution of troops should be suflBciently 
 strong to act on the defensive without the assistance of the 
 fighting column. 
 
 The halts should be as few as possible. With a large force 
 this tends to disorganise the carriers, worries the headmen, 
 and helps to get the men out of their stride. In making a 
 march of, say, twenty miles, one halt at between ten and 
 eleven miles would be sufficient. At least half the distance 
 should be accomplished before a halt is made. On aniving at 
 the halting-place sentries should be posted, and the positions 
 taken up as nearly as possible according to the order of 
 march, and as it vdW be resumed. Thus, the advanced guard 
 should occupy the front, the main body and rearguard foim 
 the flanks, and the supply column the rear. The same order 
 would be preseiTed in camping for the night, and the guns 
 would be properly placed in position. In the event of the 
 halt taking place during a march in the enemy's country, 
 the ranks should at once turn outwards to guard against a 
 flank attack. The rearguards of both fighting and supply 
 columns should be veiy alert, and should ascertain that no 
 soldiers, carriers, or others are left behind. If the halt is 
 of any length, the carriers should be ordered to put down 
 their loads, but should not be permitted to leave them and 
 stray into the bush without special permission. Scouts should 
 be thrown out, and pushed well into the bush. If attacked 
 during a temporaiy halt, carriers and men should be ordered 
 to lie flat down and take what cover they can behind the 
 stores and loads. If possible it should be so arranged that 
 the column an-ives in camp before nightfall. Darkness comes 
 on very rapidly in the tropics, and much confusion and noise 
 will be saved by getting in before this takes place. 
 
 One of the difficulties in West Africa is the enormous 
 length of the columns. This occurs owing to the narrowness 
 of the paths, which necessitate marching in single file. In 
 the Ashauti Expedition of 1896 the column occupied nine
 
 BUSH FIGHTING 297 
 
 miles. It requires the utmost skill of the commanders in the 
 rear to prevent gaps aud straggling. Tliere are so many 
 obstacles, such as swamps, broken bridges, and felled trees, 
 that a certain amount of distance must be lost. The Com- 
 mander of the advanced guard should remember this, and 
 after passing an obstacle should " step short " accordingly. 
 If this is not attended to, those in rear will be continually on 
 the double, which will unduly fatigue officers, men, and 
 carriers. Intelligent non-commissioned officers or men 
 should be told off to report immediately when the company 
 in rear is falling too much behind. These men can also be 
 employed in passing along orders, verbal messages, etc. 
 
 Officers and other Europeans accompanying the column 
 should endeavour to live as comfortably as circumstances 
 permit. In a climate like West Africa this is a necessity, 
 and if officers and others neglect themselves, it will probably 
 end in sickness, and their services will be lost to the expe- 
 dition, besides filling up the hammocks and field hospitals. 
 Good food is a necessity. One box (known locally as a 
 ** chop " box) should be sufficient for every two or three 
 Europeans, and should invariably accompany the fighting 
 column. Recollect that long marches under a tropical sun 
 and on an empty stomach are exceedingly dangerous. 
 Natives of the country can stand it to a certain extent. 
 Europeans cannot, and are certain to break down. Soldiers 
 and carriers can carry two days' rice upon their persons, and 
 when possible they should be allowed to do so. 
 
 On entering the enemy's country, and when he is known 
 to be in the vicinity, three things should be looked out for, 
 viz., stockades, ambushes, and sniping. There are two kinds 
 of stockades, those lying carefully concealed and parallel to 
 the road, and those built at right angles to the road, and 
 known as frontal stockades. The former variety of stockade 
 is sometimes very difficult to locate. Carefully trained native 
 soldiers, unusually quick-sighted, will spot these sometimes
 
 298 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 from most trivial indications, such as a broken twig, a foot- 
 print, or other equally insignificant mark. The tactics of the 
 enemy are to allow a part of the column to pass the stockade 
 and then to open fire from behind a strongly fortified and 
 loopholed position. The latter stockade is usually met with 
 at the bend of a road, close to a stream, bridge, or other 
 obstacle, or at the approach to a village. The enemy's 
 tactics are usually, when the latter stockade is met with, to 
 endeavour to envelope the column. 
 
 Sniping is one of the most trying and nerve-breaking of 
 experiences. The enemy will be carefully concealed, within 
 five to twenty yards of the road, fire his gun and then bolt, 
 along a narrow path (probably made by himself) into the 
 heart of the forest. His gun is usually filled up with slugs 
 of all shapes and sizes, which scatter a great deal and make 
 very ugly wounds. At so short a range he nearly always 
 succeeds in hitting some one. 
 
 The best way of overcoming the difficulties of stockades 
 and ambushes has been found by experience to lie in the use 
 of "flankers." In some parts of West Africa, however, the 
 bush in places is so impenetrable that the progress of flankers 
 is exceedingly slow. Almost every inch of road has to be 
 literally hacked through. When flankers are employed, every 
 five or six men of each company in the column on the word 
 being given must penetrate into the bush, some twenty to 
 forty yards, and cut a path parallel to the road, proceeding 
 as cautiously and as quickly as possible. As this is a most 
 trying and fatiguing duty the men should be constantly 
 changed. Every man should be carefully trained in these 
 important duties during peace manoemTes, and they should 
 be constantly taken into the bush for practice. Whilst a 
 native will follow the bends of the road when inside the bush 
 very cleverly, he can, however, be assisted by some one being 
 told off in the column who will occasionally give him warning 
 when the paths take a new direction.
 
 BUSH FIGHTING 299 
 
 Stockades, when located by the scouts or flankers, should, 
 as already remarked, he taken by an attack dh-ected in front 
 and on the flanks. Thousands of rounds of ammunition 
 and many valuable lives have been lost by the men lying 
 Aovai and poimng in rifle fire on the front of these stockades, 
 which does very little harm to the enemy. If a 75-milli- 
 metre gun is accompanying the column, this should be directed 
 at the front of the stockade, assisted by Maxim and rifle fire. 
 Two companies should then push forward well into the bush, 
 and endeavour to work round the flanks of the stockade, 
 while a third company should, after allowing sufficient time 
 for the flankers to do their work, fix bayonets and charge. 
 Being attacked vigorously in front, with his flanks seriously 
 threatened or turned, will usually have the effect of driving 
 the enemy fi'om his stronghold. 
 
 If possible, the enemy will take advantage of yom- long 
 column by endeavouring to cut off" your advanced or rear 
 guard, or some other portion of it. He will likewise 
 attempt to envelop you. Protect yourself and your fronts 
 as much as possible by your guns, and decoy your enemy 
 into the bush, which should be penetrated sufficiently on 
 the right and left to prevent him working round your flanks. 
 He will thus be checked, and should be driven back, when 
 a bayonet charge into his front should rout him. 
 
 Towns, as a rule, are either stockaded or walled. These 
 should be attacked first by the guns, and the walls breached. 
 The approach to a native town is usually stubbornly defended, 
 and is nearly always surrounded by the bush. Before making 
 the assault on the town the enemy should be cleared out 
 of the bush on either side. The town should then be rushed, 
 and on entering the men should be extended before advancing. 
 Precaution is necessary in entering a town, and every house 
 should be carefully searched. In the event of the town being 
 required for occupation it should be at once put in a state 
 of defence. If time permits, and the bush or gi-ass is thick
 
 300 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 close to the to^^Ti, this should be cleared as much as possible. 
 If this is not done it will give the enemy an opportunity of 
 creeping up in the night and attacking you. A native town can 
 be quickly put into defence by ban-icades made of timber, cut 
 trees, transport boxes, etc. Mud walls can be loopholed, and 
 empty bags filled with stones or sand. Before nightfall evei-y 
 man should be told off to his place, and the others warned as 
 to their places in the event of the " alarm " sounding. It is 
 as well to arm a large proportion of the troops with machetes. 
 These are ver}' useful for clearing obstacles and cutting roads 
 through the bush. Pigeons should be utilised for conveying 
 messages, and should invariably accompany a column when 
 going any distance into the interior. When properly trained 
 pigeons are obtainable they -will be found to be invaluable, 
 and are the swiftest means of communication after the 
 telegi-aph -n-ire. They are also a great deal safer than the 
 latter, which takes time and trouble to put up and is always 
 liable to be cut or get damaged. 
 
 It is difficult sometimes to know how to dispose of large 
 numbers of prisoners taken by a fighting column. It is well 
 to remember that native troojjs are often inclined to exercise 
 cruelty when guarding or looking after prisoners of war left 
 to their tender mercies. As soon after the capture of 
 prisoners as possible they should be brought before an 
 officer, who will inform them, in the presence of their escort, 
 that they need have no fear of being badly treated or tortured, 
 and that their lives will be safe, provided, of com-se, that 
 they do not attempt to escape, when they should be warned 
 that they will at once be shot. 
 
 It is usual, when on the march with prisoners in West 
 Africa, to tie ropes round their waists, which should be 
 attached to the escort guarding them. Large numbers can 
 be escorted in this way by squads ; the flank men of each 
 squad should be handcuffed. Of course, it would be best 
 to secure every prisoner iu this way while marching, but
 
 BUSH FIGHTING 301 
 
 this is usually impossible owing to the want of a sufficient 
 number of handcuffs. The utmost precaution should be 
 taken when prisoners have to be guarded in a native town 
 during the night. Houses should be selected which are 
 capable of being easily secured and defended ; into each of 
 these a certain number of prisoners should be told off. 
 Sentries guarding them should be relieved every hour, and 
 the utmost vigilance is necessary, as a prisoner will take 
 advantage of the first opportunity he is given to escape. 
 Shooting should only be resorted to as a final means, or as 
 an example in an attempt to escape. Common humanity 
 demands this. 
 
 Every effort should be made to allow all Europeans 
 accompan3dng an expedition in the bush as much comfort 
 as possible, and the best food should be procm*ed for them. 
 In the very small expeditions which may be perhaps, by 
 force of circumstances, unaccompanied by a medical officer, 
 the officer commanding should be furnished with the neces- 
 sary bandages, drugs, and medical comforts ; and some one 
 accompanying the column should have a knowledge of how 
 to render first aid to the wounded. The health of Europeans 
 depends very much upon little things in this country, and 
 it should be remembered that as soon as possible after a 
 long march a change of clothing should be obtained. It 
 is as well to remember also that it is a bad thing both as 
 regards health and example to drink alcohol while on the 
 march during the day. The West African soldier is apt 
 to notice very quickly if his officer is taking " liquor" on the 
 march, and the feeling immediately comes into his mind 
 that if his captain takes it, why should not he do so. I 
 have myself heard remarks of this kind among the men, 
 and hide it as much as possible, the men get to know 
 quickly enough, probably through the servant boys, who 
 have the habit of discussing the merits of their masters 
 among themselves.
 
 302 OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE 
 
 When a column is halted during a march, or for bivouack- 
 ing, soldiers should not be allowed to stroll away into the 
 bush and eat the roots of immature crops. They are very 
 unwholesome, and often cause much griping of the stomach 
 and even dysentery. Care should be taken also to prevent 
 the men drinking bad swamp water while marching. Many 
 men, while on the march, as soon as water is reached, no 
 matter how dirty it may be, will invariably stop and drink. 
 The less liquid taken during the day the better will the 
 men be able to march, and often the bush swamps are very 
 poisonous. 
 
 A knowledge of bush warfare is essential to every military 
 officer serving in these regions. There will probably be a 
 great deal more fighting in West Africa in future, for vast 
 tracts of country have still to be explored and the inhabitants 
 taught that we are the paramount power. It is probable also 
 that an increase in our local forces will be necessary in the 
 near future. But we must remember that the taking up arms 
 against the natives is a last resource, and one always to be 
 deplored. Albeit, it has often had to be done in the past, 
 and will no doubt be necessary in the future, in order that 
 civilisation and humanity may each add their quota to the 
 
 ADVANCE OF OUR WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE.
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 NATIVE LAW IN DISTRICTS WITHIN THE SIEERA LEONE 
 PROTECTORATE 
 
 IN most of the native states within the Protectorate where native 
 law prevails the Court is formed of the King as Paramount Chief 
 and his sub-chiefs and santiggies, or in small towns by the sub-chief 
 and his principal men, who assist in threshing out the matter, and 
 may make remarks on, and ofifer suggestions concerning the cause, 
 but have no voice in the final decision, the King or Paramount Chief 's 
 word being absolute and final. 
 
 II. He may, however, delegate his supreme power to some other 
 member of the assembly, who upon this being done exercises the 
 functions belonging to the King during the inquiry. 
 
 III. An appeal may be made from the decision of a sub-chief, but 
 fi'om that of a Paramount Chief there is no appeal, exceptmg an 
 appeal to arms. 
 
 IV. In these Coiurts crimes of murder, arson, adultery (commonly 
 called women palavers), theft, assault, debt, and other criminal and 
 civil causes, are inquired into, and the decision is generally arrived at 
 after consultation between the King and those of his principal men 
 who sit with him. 
 
 v. The punishment meted out for offences differs considerably, in 
 purely pagan coimtries fines being more generally adopted than any 
 other form of punishment, whilst in districts under Mohammedan 
 intiuence corporal punishment is adopted in many cases instead of 
 fines. 
 
 303
 
 304 APPENDICES 
 
 The following table gives, succinctly, the punishments adopted 
 in districts under different systems : — 
 
 Pagan. 
 
 Murder. — Penalty, a heavy fine as the price of blood. 
 
 Theft. — Flogging, restitution of property or its equivalent, enslave- 
 ment. 
 
 Witclicraft. — Burning to death and the confiscation of the property 
 of accused. 
 
 Rape. — Fines according to position of offender. 
 
 Arson. — Rebuilding of house and restitution of equivalent value 
 of contents, fine, and, in serious cases, enslavement of offender and 
 family. 
 
 Assault. — Fine according to gravity of offence. 
 
 Mohammedan. 
 Murder. — Death. 
 
 Theft. — In places where there are no prisons, for first offence 
 flogging ; second, loss of right hand ; third, loss of left. 
 Witchcraft. — Not recognised among strict Mohammedans. 
 Bu_pe.— Death. 
 
 Assault. — Fine according to gravity of offence. 
 Arson. — Flogging, imprisonment.
 
 APPENDIX II 
 
 NATIVE LAW (contimu'd) 
 
 MUSHRIKEEN OR PROFESSING MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 Murder. — Death or fine, according to the position of the parties 
 and the circumstances of the case. 
 
 Theft. — Flogging, restitution of property stolen or its equivalent, 
 enslavement, and for old offenders loss of limb. 
 
 Witchcraft. — Enslavement of the accused and all of his family and 
 the confiscation of his property. 
 
 Bape. — Fines according to position of offenders, flogging. 
 
 Arson. — Same as Pagan. 
 
 Asscvult. — Fine according to gravity of offence. 
 
 V. There is no recognised scale of fees, but they are received in 
 kind, in proportion to the position and wealth of the parties concerned, 
 coupled with the importance of the case under inquiry. 
 
 VI. The parties opposed to each other in civil causes generally 
 stake a certain amount on the issue, and this amount is given to the 
 party who obtains the judgment of the Court besides any fine that 
 the Court may choose to impose. 
 
 VII. It sometimes happens that a fine is imposed on one not able 
 at the time to pay it. Should such person have any fi-iends of 
 influence they sometimes " buy the palaver," or really assume the 
 responsibility of the guilty one. 
 
 VIII. Should any one be guilty of a Contempt of Court, or the 
 breach of some local custom, or of insulting any person of influence, 
 it is customary to give him Kassi, that is, to fine them, and upon 
 any one being apprised by the Paramoimt or sub-chief or princi^^al 
 man that he has been so "Kassied" he has to acknowledge his 
 offence and pay the fine imposed before any further steps are taken 
 in any cause in which such person may be engaged. 
 
 21 305
 
 306 APPENDICES 
 
 IX. There is, however, always a right of appeal from the decision 
 of a sub-chief to the Pai-amount Chief of the country, but the costs 
 attending these appeals generally make them impossible to any one 
 excepting wealthy litigants. 
 
 X. In cases where the decision of the Court is not carried out by 
 the party who is given wrong, that is, against whom an adverse 
 decision has been given, his property, and veiy often, if there is not 
 sufficient property, his family, and sometimes himself, are taken to 
 satisfy the judgment given. 
 
 XI. The most frequent palavers which occur in the native States 
 are "women palavers," really " crim. con." cases, in which the fines 
 are imposed in proportion to the position of the petitioner and the 
 co-respondent, and sometimes results in the enslavement of the 
 offender. The rigid manner in which this law is enforced certainly 
 serves to maintain a purer morality in those States which have had 
 but little contact with the vices of civilisation. They are, however, 
 sometimes based on very slender e\-idence. A husband who has left 
 his harem for some time, on his return questions his ■wives as to their 
 several movements, and if he has any reason to suspect any unfaith- 
 fulness, he tries them by the ordeal of putting their hands in boiling 
 oil, and if they are burnt he at once commences to flog them imtil 
 they mention the name of their suspected paramoin:, who is pounced 
 upon and made to pay heavily to the injm-ed spouse, excepting he is 
 fortunate enough to prove an alibi, or bring very convincing e\'idence 
 to prove that it was impossible for him to be guilty of the charge. 
 
 XII. In cases of witchcraft, or where the accused pleads not 
 guilty, and the evidence is doubtful, trial bj- ordeal is adopted, and 
 generally takes the form of drinking the poisonous decoction of the 
 sass wood, putting the hands in hot od, swearing on the TUlang (a 
 fetish which is supposed to have the effect of disfigm-ing the nose if 
 anything false is uttered after taking an oath on it), and in States 
 professing Mohammedanism, eating the Alafatia balad, which is 
 supposed to result in death to the wrongdoer who dares to eat it. 
 
 XIII. Two of the most important institutions of the Mendi and 
 Tonnie countries in pai-ticular are the Porro and Bundu, the former 
 for the men, and the latter for women. They are both of them 
 secret societies, and their members generally meet in the bush, which 
 is called, after the institution that uses it, the Porro or Bundu bush. 
 The approach to it is generally marked by a large cleaiing, and the 
 exhibition of a good many charms and fetish signs of all descriptions. 
 Each institution is said to be presided over by a devil, and all women 
 have to betake themselves to their houses and keep up a constant 
 clapping of hands at any time when the Pon*o de%al honours a vUlage 
 by a visit. These devils are generally attired in gannents made out
 
 APPENDICES 307 
 
 of palm leaves, dyed black, and their heads covered with a mask. 
 None but members of the society are permitted to enter the sacred 
 grove, and it is against their laws for any member of the male sex to 
 enter the Bundu bush, and vice versa. The Porro may be divided 
 into two branches — the general Porro, to which a very large number 
 belong, and at which the rites of circumcision are performed, and the 
 back and chest tatooed with small marks, and the special Porro, 
 which is generally formed for some specific object, and breaks up as 
 soon as that object has been attained. For instance, a Peace Porro, 
 m which several chiefs combine to go and make peace in a disturbed 
 area, under the condition that if their Porro is refused {i.e., their 
 advice not followed) they will form an alliance to fight the parties 
 refusing to follow their advice. 
 
 XV. Then again, there is the Porro on palm nuts, which m former 
 years was a law passed bj- the chiefs and principal men that palm 
 kernels should not be cut before a certain time, so as to prevent the 
 cutting of the nuts before they became ripe, but which has now 
 degenerated into a selfish dog-in-the-manger rule, adopted by some 
 chiefs to prevent others having what he cannot possibly reap himself, 
 as a result of which the nuts are sometimes allowed to fall off the 
 trees and rot. 
 
 XVI. If any one dares to pick any nuts, or to reap any land on 
 which a Porro had been placed, he is made to pay a kassi, or fine. 
 
 XVII. All fines and payments are calculated by the bar, which 
 ranges from Is. to Is. 6d. in merchandise ; head money, which is 
 supposed to be equal to three pounds in merchandise ; a ton, equal to 
 four bars ; and a Binki, which contains about twenty-five bushels. 
 
 XVIII. The rates of exchange for a head of money vary in different 
 parts. In the Timini country, for mstance, a head of money would 
 generally consist of twelve pieces of cloth, at Is. 6d. and 2s. 6d. per 
 piece, 1 keg powder, 1 gun, 4 bars tobacco, and be probably really 
 worth about £1 15s. in Freetown, whilst in some parts of Mendiland 
 ten pieces of cloth, at Is. 6d. and 2s. 6d., and one cutlass. 
 
 In Freetown, worth about 25s. would be taken as a head of money 
 In these calculations much depends on the distance of the place 
 
 wliere the barter is being made away from the coast as a large 
 
 allowance has to be made for transport.
 
 APPENDIX III 
 
 The clauses of the Protectorate Ordinance, 1897, relating to the 
 Hut Tax, are as follows : — 
 
 XLIII. From and after the 1st day of January, 1898, every chief, 
 in respect of every house, other than a house owned or occupied by 
 any person not a native, or a person in the ser\dce of 
 House Tax. the Government, situate in any town or village in 
 which he may have jurisdiction, and every person 
 other than a native or a person in the service of the Government, 
 residing in the Protectorate, in respect of every house owned or occu- 
 pied by him, shall, save as hereinafter provided, be bound to pay to 
 the District Commissioner, or to some person nominated by him, an 
 annual House Tax. And such tax shall be assessed on all houses 
 owned or occupied at any time during the year next preceding that in 
 respect of which such tax is payable. 
 
 XLIV. The liability of any person for payment of 
 Taxes! ^^^ House Tax shall be computed according to the 
 number of rooms in each house, and they shall be 
 taxed as follows : — 
 
 (a) For each house with four or more rooms, 10s. per annum ; 
 (6) For each house with three or any less number of rooms, 5s. 
 per annum. 
 XLV. The House Tax in respect of each year shall become payable 
 on the 1st day of January of that year, and shall be paid on or after 
 that date, on such day as shall be notified by the Dis- 
 payable.^ trict Commissioner of each district, or other oflScer 
 authorised in that behalf by the District Commissioner. 
 Provided always that whenever a chief shall have paid the full 
 amount of House Tax for which he is Hable at the time, and in 
 the manner appointed for the payment thereof, the District Com- 
 missioner shall allow him a rebate not exceeding 5 per cent, on the 
 amount so paid. 
 XLVI. The House Tax shall be paid in coin, imless the officer 
 
 308
 
 APPENDICES 309 
 
 collecting the same has no alternative but to accept grain, stock, 
 merchandise, or produce, when the value of such grain, 
 ^^inc^n^^ stock, merchandise, or produce shall be deemed and 
 taken to be the price current at the nearest available 
 market at which such grain, stock, or produce can be disposed of. 
 XLVII. A receipt in form of Schedule A hereto, or in such form 
 as the Governor may approve, for the amount of 
 Receipt. tax paid by each person, signed by the ofl&cer receiv- 
 ing the same, shall be delivered to the person paying 
 the same. 
 
 XLVIII. If any person or persons liable to pay any taxes, under 
 
 the provisions of this or any other Ordinance, shall refuse or neglect 
 
 to pay the same at the time and in the manner herein- 
 
 Eecoveryof. before appointed for the payment thereof, the District 
 
 Commissioner for the time being is hereby empowered 
 
 and authorised to levy the taxes on the goods and chattels of such 
 
 defaulters. Provided that in the case of a chief who is in receipt of a 
 
 stipend from the Crown, the District Commissioner may, in the first 
 
 instance, levy the tax on such stipend, and, if such stipend should 
 
 prove insufficient, then on the goods and chattels of such chief for the 
 
 balance. 
 
 XLIX. Ail goods and chattels which shall be levied upon by the 
 District Commissioner shall be sold by him at public auction to the 
 best bidder, and the sum or sums of money arising from 
 on°by^District such sale the said District Commissioner shall apply to 
 Commissioners the payment of the taxes imposed by this Ordinance, 
 and all charges attending such levy and sale, and shall 
 return the overplus (if any) to the person or persons entitled thereto. 
 
 LXI. The District Commissioner of each district may, from time 
 
 to time, by writing under his hand, appoint deputies to represent 
 
 him in the execution of the powers hereinbefore con- 
 
 ^*Taxes °^ furred on him for the recovery of taxes, and it shall be 
 
 lawful for any such deputy to exercise all the powers of 
 
 the District Commissioner ; and all acts done by any such deputy in 
 
 the execution of his powers shall be as valid and effectual, to all 
 
 intents and purposes, as if they had been done by the District 
 
 Commissioner. 
 
 * * -A- * -;,< 
 
 LXIV. It shall be lawful for the Governor to declare) 
 Taxatio''^ from time to time, by order, that any district or dis- 
 tricts, or any portion or portions of any district or dis- 
 tricts, or that any town, village, or house shall be exempt from the
 
 3IO APPENDICES 
 
 payment of House Tax, and to alter, amend, or revoke any such 
 order or orders ; and all such orders and alterations, amendments, or 
 revocations thereof, when published in Sierra Leone Boyal Gazette, 
 shall have the same force and efifect for all purposes as if the same 
 had been made by Ordinance. 
 
 LXXI. Any person who fraudulently evades payment of any 
 p, , , . House Tax, or Licence Duty, for which he is legally 
 evasion of liable, or any part thereof, shall be guilty of an offence, 
 and on proof thereof shall be liable to a fine not ex- 
 ceeding treble the amount of the tax or duty which he ought to 
 have paid.
 
 APPENDIX IV 
 
 AGEEEMENT BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE, FIXING 
 THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND FRENCH 
 POSSESSIONS TO THE NORTH AND EAST OF SIERRA LEONE 
 
 Signed at Paeis, January 21, 1895. 
 The Special Commissioners nominated by the Governments of 
 Great Britain and France, in accordance with Article V. of the Agree- 
 ment of August 10, 1889, having failed to trace a line of demarcation 
 between the territories of the two Powers to the north and east of 
 Sierra Leone, in confonnity wdth the general provisions of Article II. 
 of the said Agreement, of its Annex I. and of its Annex II. (SieiTa 
 Leone), and with the indications of the Agreement of Jime 26, 1891, 
 the imdersigned plenipotentiaries charged, in execution of the 
 declarations exchanged at London on August 5, 1890, between Her 
 Britannic Majesty's Government and the Government of the French 
 RepubUc, to proceed to delimit the respective spheres of interest of 
 the two countries south and west of the Middle and Upper Niger, 
 have agi'eed to fix the line of demarcation between the above- 
 mentioned territories on the following conditions : — 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 The boimdary starts from a point on the Atlantic coast, north-west 
 of the village of Iviragba, where a circle of 500 metres radius, described 
 from the centre of the village, cuts high-water mai-k. From this 
 point it proceeds in a north-easterly direction, parallel to the road 
 leading from Kh'agba to Eobenia (Roubani), which passes by or near 
 the English villages of Fungala, Robant, Mengeti, Mandimo, Momoti- 
 menia, and Kongobutia, at an even distance of 500 metres from the 
 centre of the track, as far as a point half-way between the village of 
 Kongobutia (English) and the village of Digipah (French). From this 
 point it turns to the south-east, and cutting the road at right angles,
 
 312 APPENDICES 
 
 reaches a point 500 metres on the south-eastern side, and proceeds 
 parallel to the road, an even distance of 500 metres, measured as 
 before from the centre of the track, till it reaches a point to the south 
 of the village of Digipali, whence it is drawn directly to the watershed 
 ormed by a ridge which, commencing south of the destroyed village 
 of Passimodia, distinctly marks the line of separation between the 
 basin of the Mellakori (MeUacoree) Eiver, and that of the Great 
 Skarcies or Kolente Eiver. 
 
 The frontier follows this watershed line, leaving to Great Britain 
 the villages of Bogolo (N'Bogoli), MusaUya, Lukoiya (Malagma), 
 Mufuri (Mafore), Tamenai (Tanene), Modina (Madina),Obleni, Oboto, 
 Balimir, Massini, and Gambiadi ; and to France the villages of 
 Robenia (Eoubani), N'Tunga (N'Tugon), Daragli (Daragoue), Kunia, 
 Tombaiya, Heremakuno (Erimakono), Fransiga (Fonsiga), and 
 Maodea, as far as the point nearest to the source of the Little Mola 
 Eiver ; from this point it follows a straight line to the above-men- 
 tioned source, foUows the course of the Little Mola to its junction with 
 the Mola, and then the thalweg of the Mola to its junction with the 
 Great Skarcies or Kolente. 
 
 From this point the fi-ontier follows the right bank of the Great 
 Skarcies (Koler*e) as far as a point situated 500 metres south of the 
 spot where the road leading from Wuha (Ouelia) to Wossu (Ouossou), 
 via Lucenia, touches the right bank. From this point it crosses the 
 river and foUows a line drawn to the north of the above-mentioned 
 road at an even distance of 500 metres, measured from the centre of 
 the track, untU it meets a straight line connecting the two points 
 mentioned below, namely : — 
 
 1. A point on the Kora, 500 metres above the bend of the river, 
 which is situated about 2,500 metres north of the village of Lucenia, 
 or about five kUom. up the Kora Eiver, measured along the bank, 
 h'om its pomt of junction with the Great Skarcies (Kolente). 
 
 2. A gap in the north-western face of the chain of hills lying in the 
 eastern part of Talla, situated about two English miles (3,200 metres) 
 south of the village of Duyunia (Donia). 
 
 From this point of intersection it foUows the above-mentioned line 
 eastward to the centre of the above-mentioned gap, from whence it is 
 drawn straight to a point on the Eiver Kita, situated above and at a 
 distance of 1,500 metres, as the crow flies, fi'om the centre of the 
 village of Lakhata. It then follows the thalweg of the Kita Eiver as 
 far as the confluence of that stream with the Lolo. 
 
 From this point of junction it coincides with a line drawn straight 
 to a point on the Little Skarcies of Kaba Eiver, four EngUsh miles 
 (6,400 metres) south of the tenth parallel of north latitude ; and it 
 then follows the thalweg of the Little Skarcies as far as the said
 
 APPENDICES 313 
 
 parallel, which then forms the boundary as far as its intersection with 
 the watershed {ligne de partage des eaux), separating the basin of the 
 Niger, on the one hand, from the basins of the Little Skarcies and 
 other rivers falling westward to the Atlajitic Ocean on the other hand. 
 Finally the frontier follows the aforesaid watershed south-eastward, 
 leaving Kalieri to Great Britain and Heremakuna (Erimakono) to 
 France, until its intersection with the parallel of latitude passing 
 through Tembikunda (Tembikounda), that is to say, the source of 
 the Tembiko or Niger. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 The boundary defined in this Agreement is marked on the map 
 which is annexed hereto. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 This Agreement is regarded by the two Governments as completing 
 and interpreting Article II. of the Agreement of 10th August, 1889, 
 Aimex I. of the said Agreement, Annex II. of the said Agreement 
 (heading Sierra Leone), and the Agreement of 26th June, 1891. 
 Done at Paris the 21st January, 1895. 
 
 (L. S.) E. C. H. Phipfs. 
 ,, J. A. Crowe. 
 „ Geoeges Benoit. 
 „ J. Haussmann.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Acquisition of Sierra Leone, 19 
 Alldridge, Mr. Commissioner, 26, 128 
 Anopheles mosquito theory, 264 ; 
 
 combatted, 265-66 ; some debatable 
 
 points on, 267 
 Apology for trespass, an, 262 
 Arrival at Bonthe from Kambia, 111 
 
 B 
 
 Bandajnma, description of, 34 
 Bap, a " big medicine " town, 169 
 Barmah, embarkation at, 16-5 
 Batte-kaka, account of Chief, 190 
 Behaviour of British troops in cam- 
 paign, 83 
 Behaviour of West Indian and Frontier 
 
 roops, 181 ; Friendlies, 185 
 Beh Bureh, account of, 50 et seq. 
 Berri of Bongeh, account of, 36, 98 
 Birch, Captain C. E., 60 
 Blakeney's, Major, defence of Pan- 
 
 guma, 180 
 Blonde, H.M.S., details from, 147 
 Bonthe, description of, 26, 27 
 Boomp6 Town, description of, 159 
 Bosworth, death of Colonel, 65 
 Bourke, Major, operations, 64 et seq. 
 Bulma, description of, 195 
 Bundu Dancing, 248 
 Bundu Devil, 250 
 Bundu Punishments, 251 
 Bundu Society, the, 247 
 Burial customs in Mendiland, 236 
 Burnt Palm-leaf, the, 4 
 Bush-fighting, seeunder Fighting, Bush 
 
 Canary Islands, description of, 8 et seq. 
 
 Cardew's, Sir F., scheme of Govern- 
 ment, 206 
 
 Cardew, Sir Frederic, 38 et seq. 
 
 Carr- Smith's, Captain, operations, 63, 
 64 
 
 Cattle traders, 231 
 
 Cave-Brown-Cave, Captain, 171 
 
 Cloth, native-woven, 223 ; need for 
 central market for, 224 
 
 Cocoa-nut palm, the, 228 
 
 Coffee, cultivation of, on West Coast, 
 225 
 
 Cole, murder of Mr., 136 
 
 Collier, murder of Mr., 135 
 
 Compton, Captain, E.N., 24 
 
 Corbett, Lieutenant, death of, 81 
 
 Cotton-growing in West Africa, 220-21 
 
 Crossing an African Piiver, 195-97 
 
 Cunningham, Colonel G. G., 146-48 
 
 Currency question, the, 229 
 
 D 
 
 Dawkins, Major H. F., 148 
 
 Daily Chronicle, report of massacres, 
 
 143 
 Defence of Kambia, 87 et seq. 
 Defence of Panguma, 180 
 Distance, native ideas of, 33 
 Donovan's, Major, operations, 66 et 
 
 seq. ; death of, 71 
 
 E 
 Eames, Captain T. B. G., 160 
 Early treaties, an account of, 203-4 
 
 315
 
 3i6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Elephant country, an, 188 
 
 Elephant hunting in West Africa, 193- 
 
 94 
 End of the Kising, the, 187 
 
 F 
 Fairtlough, Major E. D. H., 173-74- 
 
 79 et seq. 
 Faunce, Captain, 62 
 Fetish and superstition, 234 et seq. 
 Fighting, Bush, Hints on, 280 et seq; 
 uselessness of Infantry Drill in 
 savage warfare, 280 ; difiQcult nature 
 of, 281 ; employment of native troops 
 advocated in, 281-82; Lord Wol- 
 seley's advice re savage warfare, 
 282 ; conduct of night attacks, 283 ; 
 avoidance of night attacks, 283 ; 
 precautions against surprise, 283 ; 
 danger of under-rating the enemy, 
 284 ; advantage of destroying the 
 enemy's source of supplies, 285 ; 
 necessity for good ofi&cers in, 286 ; 
 unreliability of native information, 
 287 ; on obtaining infoiination, 287- 
 88 ; hints on transport matters, 288- 
 90 ; duties of West African carriers, 
 289-91; duties of headmen, 290; 
 disposition of troops on the march, 
 291 ; rations for troops, 292 ; order 
 of march and nature of force, 292 ; 
 artillery for employment in, 293-4 ; 
 advanced guard, position of, 294 ; 
 supply column, position of, 295 ; 
 halts, 290 ; length of column, 297 ; 
 the food supply in, 297 ; on taking 
 stockades, 298 ; attack on a town, 
 299-30 ; prisoners in, 300 ; medical 
 stores, care of, 301 
 Ferguson, Captain H. de L., 179-84 
 FightingnearMakettiandRobia, 173-74 
 Final "medicines," account of, 253 
 Fodi, 89 ; death of, 101 
 Forki, Bai's opposition, 79, 80 
 Freetown, description of, 14, 20 
 Frontier Force, origin of, 205 
 Fruit culture in West Africa, 226-28 
 
 G 
 
 Gegbima, Mendi treachery at, 144 
 Goodman, Rev. C. H., experience, 137 
 
 H 
 
 Health and exercise, 262 et seq. ; duty 
 of African official to preserve his, 
 269 ; avoidance of extremes, 270 ; 
 the cold tub, virtues of, 270; quinine- 
 taking, 271 ; avoidance of mosquitoes, 
 271-72 ; regularity of meals, 274 ; 
 moderation in drinking, 274 ; early 
 rising, benefit of, 275 ; water, neces- 
 sity for pure, 275 ; water filters, 276; 
 portable medicine-chests, 276 ; sun- 
 stroke, how to avoid, 277 ; damp 
 clothing, never wear, 277 ; best boxes 
 for Africa, 277 ; fever symptoms, 
 278 ; sore feet, 278 
 
 Herbs, efficiency of native. 
 
 Honesty of native police, Sherbro, 121 
 
 Hood, Dr. T. 185 
 
 House Tax, explanation of, 38 et seq. 
 
 Hughes, attempt to rescue Mr., 123 ; 
 death of, 126-27 
 
 Human Alligator, Baboon, and Leopard 
 Societies, 255-59 
 
 Human Alligator, Baboon , and Leopard 
 Societies Ordinance, 259 
 
 Human Alligator, Baboon, and Leopard 
 Societies, English Cruelty (judicial) 
 compared with, 260-61 
 
 Humphrey, Rev. Mr., murder of, 76 
 
 Hutchinson, Captain H. E., 156 
 
 Impression of an African forest, 191- 
 
 92 
 Influence of fetish, 235 ; an instance 
 
 of, 235 
 Instigators of the Rising, principal, 
 
 118 
 Iron ore, West African, 230 
 
 James, Mr., killed at Eambia, 92
 
 INDEX 
 
 317 
 
 Johnson, death of Colonel, 67 
 Johnson, murder of Mr., 139-40 
 Jones's, Sir Alfred, help to West 
 
 Africa, 221 
 Journey up-country, a, 29 
 
 E 
 
 Kama, massacre at, 142 
 Kambia, description of, 48-49 
 Karene, investment of, 61 
 Katah, account of chief, 90 
 King-Harman, Governor, Sir C. A., 
 
 211 
 Kirk, Major, 70 
 Kittam River, description of, 166 ; 
 
 fighting on, 167 ; return up, 169-70 
 Kompa Bai, attempt to arrest, 173 
 Kwalu, attack on, 175-76 
 
 Labour, native, the question, 222-23 
 Largo, attack on, 154 
 Leech's, Mr., experience, 121 
 Lethargy of Freetown inhabitants, 208 
 Lewis, Mr., 135 
 
 M 
 
 Major Marescaux's expedition, 176 
 
 Malaria fiend, the, 263 
 
 Market scenes in West Africa, 231 
 
 Marshall, Colonel, 61 et seq. 
 
 Mawf6, massacre of, 131 et seq. 
 
 McDonald, death of Captain, 65 
 
 "Medicine," potency of native, 238 
 
 Meilicino, the tropical schools of, 267 
 
 Memorial presented to British Govern- 
 ment, 201 
 
 Missionary work in West Africa, 209- 
 10 
 
 Momo-jah, account of, 8.8-89, 154 ; 
 co-operates with British force, 162 
 
 Moino-kiki's position. Chief, 153 
 
 Moore, Captain S., 173 
 
 Morgan, operations by Major, lid et seq. 
 
 Morley, Captain, 70 
 
 Morri-men, influence of, 115, 236-38 
 Morrison, murder of Mr. , 139 
 
 N 
 
 Narrow escape, a, 124 
 
 Native propensity for looting, 165, 169 
 
 Native smartness in money matters, 
 
 230 
 Norris, Major, 61 et seq. 
 Northern and Southern Nigeria, a 
 
 comparison with, 217 
 
 
 
 Oath, a terrible native, 254 
 Opening up the Kittam, 162 et seq. 
 Operations in the Kassi country, 68 
 
 et seq. 
 Operations in the Kemor country, 149 
 Operations in the Timini country, 73 
 
 et seq. 
 Our Commercial Policy in West Africa, 
 
 216 et seq. 
 Our commercial rivals, 232 
 
 Palm kernel industry, the, 219 
 Pambu, account of Chief, 190 
 Panguma, investment of, 160 ; relief 
 
 of, 179 
 Pepor, camp at, 146 
 Political administration, our, 201 et 
 
 seq. 
 Poro Society, the, 239 et seq. ; pass- 
 words, 241 ; initiation ceremonies, 
 243 ; divisions of the, 243 ; " devil," 
 the, 244 ; tabu, the, 245 
 Pottery, native, manufacture, 232 
 Protectorate ordinances, the two, 206-7 
 Provinces of Sierra Leone Protectorate, 
 
 23 
 Pujuhun, expedition from, 162 
 
 R 
 
 Railways, need for, in West Africa, 
 217-18
 
 3i8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Reasons for holding Kambia, 97 
 Relief of Bandajuma undertaken, 146 
 Eice, varieties and value of West 
 
 African, 219-20 
 Piicketts, death of Lieutenant, 79 
 Eight man in right place, the, 213 
 Eising in Mendiland, the, 113 
 Eobia, burning of, 175 
 Eobinson, Mr., 96 
 Eofenka, fighting at, 79 
 Eonietta, operations in district, 172 
 
 ct $eq. 
 Eotifunk, massacre at, 140 
 Eubber industry, the West African, 
 
 224 
 EusseU, Captain H. D., 149-59-60 
 
 S 
 
 Safiford, Captain N. E., 153-54 
 Secret Societies, West African, 239 et 
 
 seq. 
 Sherbro Bai, account of, 114 
 Sherbro, voyage to, 18 
 Simera Bai, of Masimera, 170 
 Slave question, the, 212 
 Smallpox at Jimi, 32 
 Spikes, wooden, as defences, 182 
 Stansfield's, Major, operations, 61-62 
 Stealthiness of Mendi attack, 96, 119 
 Stockades, description of, 83 
 Symptoms of tribal submission, 185 
 
 T 
 
 Tarbet, Major, A. F., 12 ; arrival at 
 
 Port Lokko, 59 
 Tasso men, the, 245 
 Tiama, expedition, the, 177-78 
 Timini Eising, the, 59 
 Trial by ordeal, 251-52 
 Tyler, Captain, 70-1-8 
 
 V 
 
 Value of athletic games, in health, 268 
 Vandi-Yong, account of Chief, 190 
 Voyage from Freetown to Sherbro, 24 
 et f-eq. 
 
 W 
 
 War-dance, a Mendi, 163-64 
 West African native government, ad- 
 vantage of, 209 
 Wilson, murder of Mr., 136 
 Women Palavers (footnote), 3 
 Woodgate, General, Sir E. E. P., 
 
 accompanies Kwalu column, 176 
 Woodman, Captain J. E. S., 182 
 
 Yassi Society, the, 246 
 Yeld, death of Lieutenant, 63 
 
 UMWIN BBOTHESS, LIMITKD, PillNTBBa, "WOKLSQ AND LONDON.
 
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