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A CAMERA ACTRESS IN THE 
 WILDS OF TOGOLAND 
 
Hy permissiot of 
 
 MaJ. H. Schomburgk, F.R.G.S. 
 
 KoNKOMBWA Warrior in Full Gala Dress 
 
 The helmet is a calabash, elaborately ornamented with cowrie shells, and surmounted by a fine 
 pair of roan antelope horns Other less lucky warriors, or less clever hunters, content themselves 
 with the smaller horns of the commoner puku antelope. Note the beautifully ornamented quiver 
 nued with poisoned arrows. 
 
A CAMERA ACTRESS 
 IN THE WILDS OF 
 
 TOGOLAND 
 
 THE ADVENTURES, OBSERVATIONS &- EXPERIENCES OF A 
 
 CINEMATOGRAPH ACTRESS IN WEST AFRICAN FORESTS 
 
 WHILST COLLECTING FILMS DEPICTING NATIVE 
 
 LIFE AND WHEN POSING AS THE WHITE 
 
 WOMAN IN ANGLO-AFRICAN 
 
 CINEMATOGRAPH DRAMAS 
 
 BY 
 
 MISS M. GEHRTS 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MAJOR H. SCHOMBURGK 
 
 WITH 65 ILLUSTRATIONS <Sr» A MAP 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
 
 LONDON : SEELEY, SERVICE dj' CO. LTD. 
 1915 
 

INTRODUCTION 
 
 By Major H. Schomburgk, F.R.G.S. 
 
 IT was after my return from my first West 
 African cinema expedition, in June 1913, 
 that I made up my mind to try and film 
 native dramas in their true and proper settings. 
 
 My aim was to visuahse, as it were, for the 
 European pubHc, scenes from African native fife 
 as it once was all over the continent, and as it is 
 even now in the more remote and seldom-visited 
 parts ; and it was further my object to so present 
 the various incidents as to ensure their being 
 pleasing and interesting to all classes and condi- 
 tions of people. 
 
 To this end, then, it became necessary for me to 
 find a white woman capable of acting the principal 
 parts, supported by native supers. My thoughts at 
 once reverted to Miss Gehrts, a lady with whom 
 I have been acquainted for some little while, 
 and whom I knew to be a keen sportswoman, a 
 good rider, and possessed of histrionic ability of no 
 mean order. 
 
 It did not take me long to persuade her to 
 accept the offer I made her ; but her parents raised 
 many objections, based principally on the supposed 
 dangers and privations which they assumed — not 
 altogether wrongly — ^to be inseparable from the 
 trip. These objections, however, were eventually 
 
 V 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 overcome, the enterprise was undertaken and 
 brought to a successful conclusion, and this book 
 is one result of it. 
 
 Personally, I must confess to not being altogether 
 favourably impressed with the ordinary African 
 " travel book " of the typical globe-trotting woman 
 writer : the kind of one, I mean, who either con- 
 scientiously and carefully hugs the coast, or else 
 ventures but a little way into the hinterland along 
 the ordinary caravan routes, and then puts upon 
 record a long string of facts and fancies which only 
 serve to raise a smile on the faces of those who 
 really know their Africa, exemplifying, as they 
 almost invariably do, that, with regard to this 
 vast and most wonderful continent, more than 
 perhaps anywhere else, a little knowledge is a 
 dangerous thing. 
 
 Miss Gehrts' book— and I say so frankly and 
 freely without fear or favour— is not of this sort. 
 She quitted the beaten track altogether ; so much 
 so that north of Sokode she was absolutely the 
 first and only white woman the natives had ever 
 beheld. She had, therefore, the satisfaction of 
 seeing these interesting peoples— the Tschaudjo, the 
 Konkombwa, the Tschokossi, and many others — 
 in their original unspoilt state of free and proud 
 savagedom. 
 
 I am pleased to say that she appreciated the 
 opportunities afforded her, using her powers of 
 observation to very good purpose indeed, and with 
 results that were not a little surprising even to old 
 dwellers in the country. For instance, it was she 
 who discovered the curious industry of making 
 beads from palm nuts, described in Chapter VII, 
 
 vi 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 as also the unique fortified native village of which 
 a plan and drawing, as well as a full and most in- 
 teresting description, will be found in Chapter XII. 
 
 For these reasons I am inclined to dissent from 
 the view, expressed by her in her foreword, that the 
 book possesses no scientific value. I also disagree 
 with most of what she has written in the opening 
 chapter concerning myself : it is far too flattering. 
 
 On the other hand I cannot praise too highly 
 the work done by her in connection with the ex- 
 pedition. I am only afraid that no reader will 
 either appreciate or understand, from her very 
 self-restrained narrative, what she really underwent 
 while acting in the dramatic pieces. 
 
 Miss Gehrts also took charge of the commis- 
 sariat, and I am sure that every member of the 
 expedition will be only too pleased to certify that 
 a better could not have been evolved than the 
 one that was run so easily and beautifully by " our 
 little mother," as the " boys " used to call her. 
 
 Finally, I should like to say that this book 
 possesses the distinction of being the first published 
 record of a journey through Togoland ever written 
 by anybody, man or woman, black or white. It is, 
 therefore, in a sense unique, and I wish it all the 
 success that, in my humble opinion, it deserves. 
 I cannot say more : nor can I say less. 
 
 HANS SCHOMBURGK. 
 
 London^ July 9, 1914. 
 
 Vll 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 IN the beginning, when I first went out to West 
 Africa, it had never entered into my head for 
 a single instant that my experiences there 
 might form the subject of a book. But I fell into 
 the habit of keeping a diary of my journey ings, and 
 afterwards many of my friends, as also other people 
 in a position to judge, seemed to think it almost a 
 pity that the adventures and impressions of the 
 first white woman to travel through Togoland from 
 the sea to the northern border and back again, 
 should go unrecorded. It was pointed out to me, 
 too, that the fact of my being the first cinema 
 actress to perform in savage Africa, and with 
 savages as " supers," would most certainly add to 
 the interest, even if it did not enhance the value, 
 of such a record. 
 
 In this way the present volume came into being : 
 a creation born — ^to be perfectly and absolutely 
 frank — of egoism and flattered vanity. I should 
 like to say at the outset, however, that it does not 
 make any pretence to add to the sum of human 
 knowledge in a scientific sense ; it is merely a plain 
 and simple narrative of a girl's seeings and doings 
 amongst strange and primitive folk living in a 
 remote and little known land. Still, should there 
 be found in it anything new of anthropological or 
 
 ix A 2 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 ethnological value, it will be to me an added 
 pleasure ; for I particularly tried, to the best of my 
 ability, to keep my eyes and ears open for the 
 reception of such. Likewise, I shall be glad if this, 
 my first attempt at authorship, helps to win 
 friends for the colonial cause, and tends to dispel 
 the altogether erroneous idea anent West Africa 
 being, in the sense in which the phrase is usually 
 interpreted and understood, the " white man's 
 grave." 
 
 Speaking for myself and on the whole, I was 
 both healthy and happy out there. I received 
 nothing but kindness from white and black people 
 alike ; so much so, indeed, that I have come to 
 love and admire the country into which I first 
 adventured myself with feelings akin to fear and 
 repulsion. Africa, in short, has cast her spell over 
 me, as she does, I am told, over most others. 
 Even as I write these few last lines I can feel " the 
 call of the wild " stirring my blood. 
 
 In concluding this brief foreword, I should wish 
 to be permitted to thank His Highness the Duke of 
 Mecklenburg, Governor of Togoland, whose per- 
 sonal interest in the welfare of the expedition, 
 shown in many ways and at divers times, made it 
 possible for us to carry it out in its entirety on the 
 lines originally laid down. 
 
 My thanks are also due to Commander Triebe, 
 of the S.S. Henny Woermamm, for many kindnesses 
 and courtesies received on the outward voyage, as 
 well as to his colleague. Captain Pankow, of the 
 Eleonore Woermamm, for other similar evidences of 
 good- will on the voyage home ; to Lieutenant von 
 
 X 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 Rentzel, who so kindly placed his house at our 
 disposal on our first arrival in Lome, the capital 
 and port of Togo ; and to Mr. Kuepers, the head- 
 master of the Government school in Sokode, for 
 welcome hospitality freely extended to us. 
 
 Especially, too, am I grateful to Captain von 
 Hirschfeld, District Commissioner of Mangu, who 
 not only showed us personally every hospitality and 
 kindness during visits extending altogether to over 
 a month, but who also went out of his way, at 
 considerable trouble and inconvenience, to help us 
 in filming many subjects, scenes, and incidents of 
 native life, which we should otherwise hardly have 
 been able to secure ; his efforts in this latter direc- 
 tion being ably seconded by his two European 
 assistants, Messrs Sonntag and Gardin. 
 
 Mr. Mucke, of Bassari, also showed us many 
 kindnesses for which I am sincerely grateful ; and 
 my best thanks are likewise due to Herr von Par- 
 part, District Commissioner of Sokode, whose hospi- 
 tality on our return journey to the coast made our 
 last evening in the African bush an outstandingly 
 pleasant recollection. Mr. James S. Hodgson, our 
 camera man, besides proving himself a first-rate and 
 exceedingly careful operator, kept us lively of an 
 evening by his clever playing on the mandoline, 
 while his imperturbable good-humour, even in the 
 most trying circumstances, helped to make our 
 trip a pleasant and agreeable one. 
 
 Finally, I should wish to thank my friend, Mr. 
 C. L. McCluer Stevens, of " Ivydene," New Maiden, 
 Surrey, author and journalist, for the skilful and 
 painstaking manner in which he has edited my 
 
 xi 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 rough manuscript and put it in trim for the pub- 
 lishers, as well as for valuable advice and help 
 regarding the treatment and scope of the various 
 chapters and the work as a whole. 
 
 M. GEHRTS. 
 London, July 1, 1914. 
 
 XU 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 LONDON TO LOME 
 
 I am " up against " a queer business proposition — ^Doubts and diffi- 
 culties — ^Assent — Major Schomburgk, F.R.G.S., the leader of the 
 expedition — His African experiences — Filming cinema pictures in 
 the tropics — The start from England — Dover to Madeira — Life on 
 board ship — Madeira — Teneriffe — Las Palmas — Motoring under 
 difficulties — Arrival in Togo — "Yellow Jack" — Kindness of 
 H.H. the Duke of Mecklenburg, the Governor of Togoland — A 
 jolly dinner party — Rickshaw riding in Lome — Off to Atakpame . 17-28 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 HOW WE FILMED " THE WHITE GODDESS OF THE WANGORA " 
 
 A tiresome railway journey — My hut in the forest — A trying toilet — 
 Native inquisitiveness — Haute cuisine in the heart of Africa — 
 Mosquitoes — My first night in the bush — A very primitive shower- 
 bath — Rehearsing our first cinema drama — Savages as " supers " 
 — Irritating delays — A false alarm — Filming the principal scene 
 in the White Goddess — I am knocked up — And laid up — Malarial 
 fever — " If you cough you'll die " — Convalescence — I try cookery 
 — A disconcerting experience — Eating 9863 chickens — A little 
 about lizards — ^Also about ants and beetles 29-39 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 LIFE AT KAMINA 
 
 Troubles of cinema playing in Central Africa — Enforced leisure — 
 Native girls and a gramophone — Women and work — Native 
 children — A negro philosopher — ^Native servants — Learning to 
 cycle — Improvising a studio — Wild monkeys — Native dances — 
 A perilous climb 40-48 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 STARTING " ON TREK " 
 
 On the march into "the back of beyond" — Packing our "chop 
 boxes " — Quinine — " I didn't want to do it " — The starting of 
 
 xiii 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 the caravan — Good-bye to Kamina — Kindly forethought of the 
 Duke of Mecklenburg — Our first day's march — Sleeping out in 
 the bush — Rest-houses — Our operator goes astray — Dish-wash- 
 ing extraordinary — Our cook disappears — To return with a 
 wife — I try my hand at bush cooking — " Feed the brute " — A 
 native belle 49-56 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 Our friend the doctor — A new way with natives — Laughable results 
 — And to Njamassila — Travelling by hammock — ^A rash resolve 
 — Njamassila to Agbandi — Sleeping on the march — A native 
 giant — Agbandi to Djabotaure — Depressing effects of the West 
 African climate — An adventure at Djabotaure — Native festivities 
 on the eve of Ramadam — Djabotaure to Audasi — Incompetent 
 hammock boys — " Sea-sickness " on land — ^A moonlight night in 
 the bush — ^Nearing Sokode — Our horses waiting for us in charge 
 of a European — ^A bush toilet — ^Arrival in Sokode — Kindly 
 hospitahty 57-68 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 IN THE CAPITAL OP TSCHAUDJOLAND 
 
 In camp at Paratau — Uro Djabo, paramount chief of the Tschaudjo 
 — A courtly savage — The Tschaudjo a conquering tribe who 
 came riding on horses from the north — ^Djabo's palace — ^His 
 wives — ^A much -married monarch — ^His prime minister and at- 
 tendants — He comes to afternoon tea — A democratic king — 
 Tschaudjo horsemen — An accident — I nearly lose my life — ^A 
 nervous breakdown — We leave Paratau in a hurry — Eandness of 
 the German Government ofl&cials at Sokode — ^They lend us one 
 hundred carriers — On the road to Aledjo-Kadara, " the Switzer- 
 land of Togo" 69-79 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 ALEDJO-KADARA — THE SWITZERLAND OP TOGO 
 
 On the march from Paratau to Aledjo-Kadara — A terrible stage — 
 Doubt and depression — An uphill journey — I feel my health im- 
 proving — An accident — Native sympathy — Our cook annexes 
 our dining-table — A lovely camp — A thousand yards up and 
 surrounded by mountains — The Switzerland of Togo — Beautiful 
 rest houses — The harmattan — Grass fires — Filming a drama — 
 Another accident — Nebel and I nearly fall over a precipice — 
 Nebel homesick — ^He leaves for Europe — Filming the final scene 
 of Odd Man Out — We visit Bafilo, near Aledjo — Great reception 
 
 xiv 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 by natives for the first white woman — The Uro (king) of Bafilo 
 meets us in state — Torch play to celebrate the finish of Ra madam 
 — More filming — An astonished native — Industrial films — The 
 cotton industry — Trade guilds — Primitive looms and spindles — 
 Mating beads from palm nuts — Baboons like dogs and rabbits 
 with feet like elephants .... ... 80-96 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 AMONG THE BAFILO FOLK 
 
 The native market at Bafilo — Native sweetmeats — Cowries as cur- 
 rency — A native barber shaving a baby's head — Togo boys 
 playing at the West African equivalent of pitch and toss — ^A 
 woman's dance that out-tangos the tango — Native baskets at a 
 farthing apiece — Hyenas — I am nearly bitten by a puff-adder — 
 A leopard — Early stables — Filming again — A glut of supers — A 
 " woman palaver " — One of our people abducts a native girl — His 
 punishment — I read the girl a lecture — But make little impres- 
 sion — " He gave me these " — A drunken native — I intercede for 
 him with his chief — ^Wild tribes from the Kabre Mountains — 
 Nude but modest — The shy girl and her bag of salt — A native 
 falls in love with me — Beautiful native wdfK~I buy a cloak of 
 native manufacture — Good-bye to Bafilo 97-107 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 On trek once more — A disquieting discovery — I am very angry — A 
 long day's journey — I narrowly escape sunstroke — " Whole- 
 some anger a good tonic" — I taste native beer for the first 
 time — And find it both refreshing and sustaining — ^Antelope 
 spoor — ^Exchange carriers — First meeting with the Konkombwa 
 — The fiirestrace of savages in Togo — Native dandies — Trouble 
 with our horse boys — They are punished — In the heart of the 
 wilds — European and native rest h ouses — Paying our carriers 
 with salt — Schomburgk gets ""bushed " — Resents my anxiety — 
 We quarrel — Elephant spoor — I am given my first lesson in 
 wood-craft — Mosquitoes — The yellow-fever breeding anophele — 
 We cross the Kara River — First sight of hippopotami — We strike 
 the Oti, the principal river of Northern Togo . , . . 108-124 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 At Mangu — Captain von Hirschfeld — I make an "impression" — 
 Though not the kind I should have liked to have made — " The 
 Place where Warriors Meet " — A brush with the Tschokossi — 
 
 XV 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Captain von Hirschfeld's splendid hospitality — Tamberma Fort 
 — ^The head tax- — The Mangu plantations — Mangu in the rainy 
 season — TTrfeit heat — Terrific thunderstorms — Our Christmas 
 dinner at Mangu — ^New Year's Eve festivities — We burn three 
 thousand feet of film — Game birds round Mangu — A fishing car- 
 nival — Queer native methods — Canoeing on the Oti River — A 
 marvellous shot — Filming in the tropics — More diflficulties — The 
 new station at Mangu, and the old one — A striking contrast — 
 The big Mangu " songu " — A gathering of the clans — Trapping 
 a hyena — A plague of bats — Fresh milk and native butter — 
 Ancient records at Mangu 125-140 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Northward from Mangu — Wild savages and poisoned arrows — A 
 treacherous attack and a lucky escape — Different arrow poisons 
 — Grass fires and their drawbacks — Mosquitoes and some yarns 
 about them — Wild natives — The wild Tschokossi women — A 
 new dress every day — Our boys go swimming in a crocodile- 
 infested pool — Our pet monkey gets loose — Searching for hippos — 
 An unreliable guide — Sullen natives — A too-early call — A won- 
 derful game country — In God's big "zoo " — Gorgeous plumaged 
 birds — I want Schomburgk to shoot some for me — He objects — ■ 
 Sun birds and blue jays — Across a yam -field country — A bird 
 sanctuary — Discovery of a flock of marabou — I regret having no 
 gun — The costliest feathers on earth — Our guide loses his way 
 again — Fulani herdsmen — They supply us with fresh milk — 
 Arrival at Sumbu 141-158 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 At Sumbu — Wild savages — Our boys afraid — Tschokossi refuse to 
 sell us provisions — I enter a village and buy a chicken — Astonish- 
 ment of the people at their first sight of coined money — I make 
 friends with the children — Lumps of sugar — A new delicacy — 
 The " white honey rock " — I become " chummy " with the chief 
 — He invites me to go over his village with him — I accept the 
 invitation — A unique village — Elaborate precautions against 
 attack — Where did the Tschokossi learn to build these remark- 
 able villages ? — " Every village a fortress and every house a fort " 
 — Messa gets scared — And Alfred follows suit — Cleanliness and 
 the " classes " — I try my hand at cheese-making — Our too 
 energetic " washerwoman " — A novel theory of wages — The 
 ugliest chief in Togo — Marriage among the wild Tschokossi — 
 Men's view — A primitive form of eugenics — " Can white women 
 laugh ? " — Our boys are boycotted — Native women refuse to 
 cook for them — Salt the only currency — Sleeping "rough" — 
 My boys' anxiety for the safety of their " little white mother " — 
 Messa makes himself putties — His anxiety about his wife — A 
 caseoffilaria — ^Dangerous symptoms 159-182 
 
 xvi 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 BACK TO MANGU 
 
 FAOEa 
 
 An adventure with a puff-adder — Welcome news — " Chief's mail " — 
 Out after hippo — Inexperienced hammock boys — My first sight 
 of hippopotami — I am not impressed — Crocodile island — An 
 extraordinary sight — Birds that pick crocodiles' teeth — Pans- 
 cheli — Hodgson shoots two hippos — Our boys fetch them from 
 the pool — Cutting up the carcases — A loathsome sight — We 
 break camp — ^Homeward bound — Huge oyster " middens " — 
 Stalked by savages — A nuit blanche — A leopard — and other things 
 — Bad news — Back in Mangu 183-197 
 
 CHAPTER XIV \ 
 
 THROUGH THE KONKOMBWA COUNTRY 
 
 At Mangu — The harmattan — A meteorological mystery — Filming 
 ethnological pictures — Building the new Mangu station — Drilling 
 native soldiers — Marriage in the native army — Buying wives — 
 Their market value — Polygamy v. monogamy — Filming Togo 
 history — We reconstruct a big battle — Celebrating the Kaiser's 
 BTfthday — We buy a wild ostrich — It escapes — An ostrich hunt on 
 the veldt — Packing up for the downward journey — Horrible dis- 
 covery — 'No cigarettes — " Battle-axe " brand v. best Egyptians 
 — Quitting Mangu — On the march to Unyogo — No water — 
 Hodgson has an extraordinary " adventure " — ^A woman palaver 
 — On to Djereponi — Chameleons — Nambiri — Nothing to eat — 
 A glorious feed — An egg-laying story — In the heart of the Kon- 
 kombwa country 198-212 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 The chief of Nambiri — One of Nature's gentlemen — Killing the fatted 
 calf — Pretty Konkombwa villages — The Konkombwa and the 
 Dagomba — Elaborate head-dresses of the Konkombwa men — 
 Konkombwa women — A domestic row — Wonderful recuperative 
 powers of savages — Konkombwa dances — A wonderful perfor- 
 mance — Studies in facial expression — Distributing kola-nuts to 
 the dancers — A native delicacy — On to Tschopowa — Voluntary 
 carriers — A "royal" progress — Marabou feathers — A welcome 
 surprise — I secure a wonderful bargain — The rest-house at 
 Tschopowa — A huge baobab tree — Bow and arroWcompetitions 
 — We secure pictures of hippo — Remarkable corn bins — Roast 
 bats as native luxuries — I decline a share in the " banquet "—A 
 live alarum clock 213-226 
 
 xvii 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE WOMEN MINERS OP BANJELI 
 
 PAOBS 
 
 Tschopowa to Kugnau — No roads — A carelesa guide — Schomburgk 
 loses his way — Crossing the Oti River — Mosquitoes at Kugnau — 
 Asmani and his " mosquito slaps " — ^A disconcerting mistake — 
 Messa and Asmani fall out — ^The Konkombwa and their helmets 
 — A too officious soldier — Anecdote about the Duke of Mecklen- 
 burg — Crossing the Oti for the last time — Arrival at Imbubu — A 
 *' Roman Fort " — In the Sokode district — Small food rations — 
 Truculent natives — We buy a second ostrich — Lack of carriers 
 — A serious dilemma — ^The chief of Ibubu is impertinent — " I 
 can't make carriers out of mealie cobs " — I go on ahead with the 
 few carriers available, leaving Schomburgk to follow — The dis- 
 appearing women — On the road to Banjeli — Beautiful scenery — 
 Schomburgk orders the chief of Ibubu to be arrested and 
 brought a prisoner to Bassari — Women carriers — A glut of green 
 and gold beetles — Our mail arrives at Banjeli from Bassari — 
 News from home — I buy a pig — ^And am disappointed — A native 
 "cooler" — Our personal boys imbibe not wisely but too well 
 — A model punishment — Filming the native iron industry at 
 Banjeli— Slave women miners — A pitiful sight — We obtain some 
 most interesting pictures 227-248 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 Banjeli to Bassari — In a mountain country — Crossing the Katscha 
 River — Bush riding — Arrival at Beapabe — An avenue of mango 
 trees — ^We reach Bassari — Hospitality of Mr. Mucke, the Sub- 
 District Commissioner — He places the *' Massow House " at our 
 disposal — Sleeping in a dwelling with windows— Scarcity of water 
 — ^The " King of Bassari " — An Arab stallion — Native smiths at 
 Bassari — ^The Mallam Mohammed, a local Pooh-Bah — An open- 
 air school — ^The Mallam's eight wives — ^Their house and its trea- 
 sures — ^They pay me a return visit — ^A Jack-in-the-box baby — 
 Native jewellery— The District Commissioner from Sokode passes 
 through Bassari 249-262 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Native marriages — ^A matter of sale and exchange — Infant betrothals 
 — Native weddings — A Tschaudjo ceremony — ^A trying ordeal — 
 Polygamy— Childbirth— Infant diet and infant mortahty— Baby 
 girls— A bush ordeal— The " Women's Queen "—Fetish women 
 — Secret rites — Status of native wives — Widows — ^Africanjleath 
 customs — Caravan cookery — ^Native cooks — Monkey-nufsoup — 
 Potatoes a coveted luxury — Bush delicacies .... 263-279 
 
 xviii 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 FAGSS 
 
 Bassari to Malfakasa — Crossing the Kamaa River — A fearful climb^ 
 Mountain scenery — Uro-Ganede-Bo — A royal sanctuary — The 
 last of our provisions — The outlaw of the " Long Gun " moun- 
 tain — On the road from Malfakasa to Sokode — ^The Tim plains 
 — Arrival in Sokode — In touch with civilisation once more — A 
 telegraphic orgie — We say good-bye to our horses — Sending them 
 down through the tsetse-fly belt — Precautions — Sleeping sick- 
 ness — The Mallam of Dedaure — A splendid native — The native 
 Governmentjchool at Sokode — Mr. Kuepers, the schoolmaster — 
 Native scholars'— ^ood manners of the children — Native children 
 apter to learn than white up to a certain age — Herr von Parpart 
 gives a farewell dinner — We meet Mr. and Mrs. Dehn — The choir 
 invisible — By motor car to Atakpame — A breakdown on the road 
 —Arrival at Atakpame — Kamina 280-295 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 KAMINA — LOME — HOME 
 
 Warm welcome to Kamina — I am introduced to the Baroness Codelli 
 von Fahnenfeld — Good news — A faithful black " boy " — The 
 great wireless station at Kamina — Feminine vanity — Camping 
 out V. living in — A tornado — Good-bye to Kamina — By rail to 
 the coast — At Lome — Filming the first scene of our principal 
 drama — We want a white baby — Difficulties of the quest — Shall 
 we paint a black baby white ? — A compromise — Social life in 
 Lome — Herr VoUbehr paints my portrait in the gardens of the 
 Duke of Mecklenburg's palace — The great pier at Lome — Coast 
 natives — We part with our " boys " — Good-bye to Africa — Vain 
 regrets — Las Palmas — I try a mild gamble — ^And win £7 — We 
 are nearly sunk when nearing Southampton .... 296-311 
 
 INDEX 313-316 
 
 XIX 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 KoNKOMBWA Warrior in full Gala Dress 
 
 Portrait or the Author To 
 
 Rehearsing for the Cinema 
 
 Playing an " Interior " Scene in a Native Drama 
 
 Cinema Acting in the Wilds .... 
 
 Authoress and Bodyguard of Tschaudjo Horsemen 
 
 Major Hans Schomburgk 
 
 European Rest-House at Tschopowa . 
 
 Cinema Films: — (1) A Konkombwa Giant; (2) 
 Paying Carriers in Salt ; (3) The Old 
 Uro Djabo of Paratau ; (4) A Live Alarum 
 Clock ; (6) Boy Scouts 
 
 Market Scene in Paratau 
 
 Native Boys at Paratau 
 
 Cinema Films : — (I) Women Hairdressinq ; (2), (3) 
 Baby's Bath ; (4) Better than the Tango ; 
 (5), (6) Scenes from "The White Goddess" 
 
 Cinema' Films : Bead -making ..... 
 
 A Hausa Woman 
 
 Tschaudjo Girl from Bafilo .... 
 
 Konkombwa Warrior 
 
 Camping Out in the Bush 
 
 Konkombwa Dandy 
 
 Young Konkombwa Warrior 
 
 Cinema Films : A Woman's Work . . . 
 
 Tambbrma Fort 
 
 Canoeing on the Oti River 
 
 Chiefs' Compound 
 
 Native Pig Iron 
 
 Unfortified Tschokossi Village . 
 
 Natives Gambling 
 
 Sketch of a Fortified Tschokossi Village 
 
 Plan of the Same Village 
 
 Basket-making 
 
 Authoress and Dead " Hippo " . . . . 
 
 A Fine Head of Hair 
 
 Native Hairdressing 
 
 Young Konkombwa Warrior 
 
 A Huge Communal Corn -Bin 
 
 <• Roman " Fort at Ibubu 
 
 Benjeli the Centre op the Native Iron Industry 
 
 Section of Old Native Iron Furnace . 
 
 A Couple of Young Supers 
 
 A Study in White and Black .... 
 
 Native Village in Northern Togo 
 
 Cinema Films ; Konkombwa at Archery Practice 
 
 XX 
 
 Frontispiece 
 face page 32 
 36 
 36 
 42 
 46 
 50 
 62 
 
 62 
 
 72 
 74 
 
 88 
 94 
 104 
 104 
 112 
 112 
 116 
 116 
 120 
 128 
 134 
 138 
 138 
 144 
 164 
 166 
 167 
 170 
 188 
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A CAMERA ACTRESS IN THE 
 WILDS OF TOGOLAND 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 LONDON TO LOME 
 
 ACTRESSES who, like myself, specialise in 
 /\ cinema productions, frequently find them- 
 ^ ^ selves "up against" all sorts of queer 
 propositions of a business character ; and we are 
 not, therefore, easily surprised out of that orthodox 
 professional calm, which we all try, more or less 
 successfully, to cultivate. 
 
 When, however, it was suggested to me, early 
 last summer, that I should take a trip into the 
 far interior of Africa, in a district where no white 
 woman had ever been before, in order to play 
 " leading lady " in a series of dramas of native life, 
 I confess to having been for once completely taken 
 aback. 
 
 Nor did even the fact that the proposed expedi- 
 tion was being financed and personally conducted 
 by Major Hans Schomburgk, F.R.G.S., the well- 
 known African explorer and hunter, completely 
 reassure me. I hesitated long. But eventually 
 the prospect of shaking the dust of cities from my 
 feet for awhile, and living the (very much) simple 
 life amongst unspoilt children of nature in alto- 
 
^^^^^ : L^ TO LOME 
 
 gether novel surroundings, tempted me into ac- 
 quiescence ; and — greatly against the advice of 
 my relatives and friends— I '' took on" the job. 
 
 Largely I was influenced in my decision by the 
 fact of my having known Major Schomburgk for 
 some time previously, for we are both natives of 
 Hamburg. 
 
 Although not perhaps so well known in England 
 —outside of scientific circles — as he is in Germany, 
 he can nevertheless, if he wishes to, truthfully lay 
 claim to be one of the most successful African 
 explorers and big-game hunters now living ; and 
 as his name will figure pretty prominently in the 
 pages of this book, a brief description of him and 
 his work may not be out of place. 
 
 Thirty-three years of age, of medium stature 
 and somewhat slim build, he is nevertheless en- 
 dowed with great physical strength. The last six- 
 teen years of his hfe — since he was a lad of seven- 
 teen, that is to say — have been spent almost 
 entirely in Africa, hunting, fighting, and exploring. 
 
 Speaking English like a native, he served in the 
 Natal Mounted Police, and in the last Boer War, 
 for which he has the medal, with four clasps. As 
 a hunter, it is no exaggeration to say that his prowess 
 is famed throughout Africa. No fewer than sixty- 
 three full-grown elephants have fallen to his rifle, 
 and he once bagged four big tuskers in four shots 
 —two rights and two lefts. 
 
 Twice he has crossed Africa. His most adven- 
 turous trip — one of five years' duration — ^was from 
 the Victoria Falls to Angola, Portuguese West Africa, 
 thence back through the Congo Free State, Northern 
 Rhodesia, and German East Africa, coming out 
 
 i8 
 
LONDON TO LOME 
 
 eventually at Dar es Salam, near Zanzibar. During 
 the whole of that time he never saw a railway, or 
 slept in a stone house. For an entire year he was 
 exploring the source of the Zambesi, in the Walunde 
 country, which had not been previously visited by 
 white people ; and it was during this expedition 
 that he trapped, and brought to Europe alive, a 
 specimen of the East African elephant, a feat that 
 had been frequently attempted before, but never 
 successfully performed. 
 
 He was, too, the first white man to secure alive 
 specimens of the rare pygmy hippopotamus, an 
 animal that in its native state is so exceedingly 
 scarce and shy that its very existence even was 
 denied up till comparatively recently by most 
 African hunters and explorers. 
 
 Major Schomburgk knew better, however, for 
 he had actually seen one of the miniature creatures 
 during an early trip into the West African hinter- 
 land ; and in 1911, after infinite difficulty, and 
 some danger, he succeeded in trapping no fewer 
 than five living specimens, and, what is more to 
 the point, conveying them from the interior down 
 to the sea-coast, whence they were safely shipped 
 to Europe. 
 
 Two of these are now in the London " Zoo " — one 
 specimen having been presented by the Duke of 
 Bedford, who bought it from Mr. Carl Hagen- 
 beck, for whom Major Schomburgk was acting; 
 the other three are in the New York Zoological 
 Gardens. All five " pygmys," I may mention, were 
 shown to the Kaiser, who was greatly interested 
 in the curious little beasts, and warmly congratulated 
 their captor on his success. 
 
 19 
 
LONDON TO LOME 
 
 In addition to those mentioned above, Major 
 Sehomburgk has also discovered and named many 
 hitherto unknown species of African fauna, in- 
 eluding a rare new buffalo, the Buhalus Schom- 
 burgki. 
 
 Nor was this the first cinema expedition that he 
 had organised and led into the West African hinter- 
 land. Scarcely three weeks prior to the date when 
 he first approached me with an offer to go out to 
 Togo as leading (and only) lady, he had returned 
 home from conducting a similar enterprise into the 
 hinterlands of Liberia and Togo. But that one 
 was not a success ; one reason being, he informed 
 me, that the negative stock he took out was not the 
 right kind for the tropics. Then, too, his camera 
 man proved a failure. 
 
 The net result was that the money invested in 
 financing the expedition was practically all lost. 
 This time he hoped, profiting by experience, to 
 attain to far better results, and, after I had signed 
 my contract, he infected me with his enthusiasm, 
 so that I grew quite learned — in theory — about 
 celluloid ribbon, reels, and so forth. 
 
 I may say at once that we succeeded even beyond 
 our expectations. In fact, it has been admitted 
 since by experts, that the collection of films we 
 brought back, dramatic, ethnographic, and anthro- 
 pologic, were the finest that ever came out of the 
 tropics. I can say this without egotism, and even 
 without appearing unduly to flatter Major Sehom- 
 burgk, since the pictures were not taken by either 
 of us, but by his camera man, Mr. James Hodgson. 
 Of course, we both of us acted in the dramatic films, 
 but that is another matter. 
 
 20 
 
LONDON TO LOME 
 
 It was on August 26th, following the necessary 
 preliminary preparations in London, that we sailed 
 from Dover in the " good ship " — I believe that 
 is the accepted nautical term — Henny Woermamm, 
 bound for Lome, which is the capital and port of 
 Togo, a tiny German protectorate wedged in be- 
 tween the Gold Coast Colony on the west and 
 Dahomey on the east. ' 
 
 The coast-line is only thirty-two miles long, but 
 inland the country widens out a lot, and it was for 
 this " hinterland "—largely unknown and uncharted 
 —that we were bound. 
 
 I must confess to a certain feeling of pleasurable 
 excitement— what girl would not experience such? 
 —on the occasion of this first start on what will in 
 all probability always stand out in memory's re- 
 cord as the longest and most adventurous journey 
 of my life. 
 
 Our prime business was, of course, to film pic- 
 tures, and we set to work promptly. Directly we 
 got on board the tender, we commenced photo- 
 graphing the first scene in a drama entitled Odd 
 Man Out, the scenario of which had already been 
 put together in London, and concerning the plot 
 of which I shall have more to say presently. 
 
 Naturally our business excited the curiosity of 
 the other passengers, and as the tug drew near to 
 the great liner, I could see that the rails of the 
 decks nearest to us were lined with row on row of 
 the passengers who had joined the vessel at Ham- 
 burg, all eagerly intent on watching us and our 
 doings ; and as we stepped on board, all eyes were 
 directed at us, and many smiled a kindly greeting. 
 As for me, however, during those first few hours 
 
 21 
 
LONDON TO LOME 
 
 my one wish was to be alone, to arrange my cabin, 
 unpack my belongings, and generally make my 
 surroimdings as comfortable and homelike as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 It is the fashion of old West African travellers 
 to protest that the pleasures and amenities of the 
 voyage do not really begin until Madeira is passed, 
 but as far as I was concerned I had quite settled 
 down to life on board after our first day at sea. 
 We played the usual ship's games, sang, talked, 
 and I am afraid that most of us, old as well as 
 young, married and single, flirted a little bit. I soon 
 gathered round me quite a small circle of friends. 
 They were mostly men friends, but this was not 
 exactly my fault. An actress is an actress. Que 
 vouleZ'Vous ? 
 
 And here I feel that I must say how greatly I 
 appreciated the kindness and attention I received 
 during the voyage from the ship's officers. The 
 captain, a most fatherly old gentleman, the oldest 
 officer and the commodore of the fleet of mail 
 steamers to which the Henny Woermamm belongs, 
 was unceasing in his efforts to do all he could for 
 my comfort and convenience. The food, too, was 
 excellent, and the whole surroundings most com- 
 fortable, not to say luxurious ; equal, in fact, to 
 those of any first-class hotel. 
 
 Curious how one gets used to the throbbing of 
 the engines on board ship, and the vibration of 
 the propeller. When they suddenly ceased, very 
 early one morning, I was wide awake immediately. 
 For a few moments I lay quite still, wondering lazily 
 what was the matter. Then it suddenly flashed 
 upon my mind that we must be at Madeira, and all 
 
 22 
 
LONDON TO LOME 
 
 desire for further sleep promptly vanished. I 
 jumped up, peeped out of my port-hole, saw at 
 once that it was even as I had surmised, and at 
 once I proceeded to dress and hurry on deck. 
 
 It was Sunday morning. Before my eyes lay 
 Madeira. Never in all my life had I seen any- 
 thing one-half so beautiful. I was quite taken 
 aback by the ethereal loveliness of the picture, and 
 could only stand still and gaze at it in speechless 
 admiration. 
 
 I was almost the first on deck, and so I had it 
 all to myself for a while, and I could drink in the 
 beauty of it, and enjoy it at my leisure. But soon 
 the other passengers came pouring up from below 
 in ever increasing mmibers, and all became bustle, 
 noise, and animation. Native boys swam out and 
 round the ship in shoals, shouting, jabbering, and 
 gesticulating, and diving for pennies which were 
 thrown to them by the passengers. 
 
 After breakfast we went ashore, hired a motor- 
 car, and drove up the mountain side to a spot 
 whence a magnificent view is obtained of the whole 
 of the bay, harbour, and town. The road up is 
 exceedingly steep, and it was, take it altogether, 
 the most exciting motor ride I ever experienced. 
 I was, in fact, afraid at times that the car would 
 slip backwards. 
 
 But if the ride up was exciting, it was nothing 
 by comparison with the ride down. This return 
 journey is made by means of queer-looking native 
 sleighs over a smooth cobble-paved, but exceed- 
 ingly steep road. Each of these sleighs will accom- 
 modate two passengers, and is manipulated by a 
 couple of natives, who stand bolt upright on the 
 
 23 
 
LONDON TO LOME 
 
 elongated runners that project behind, and guide 
 its course with their feet. 
 
 It is very like tobogganing, minus the snow and 
 ice, and most of the passengers made light of it, 
 but to my mind it was a rather terrifying and not 
 altogether pleasant experience ; for the road is in- 
 clined in places at an angle of something like ninety 
 degrees, there are many sharp curves, and the 
 crazy little vehicles fly downwards with the rapidity 
 of lightning. Nevertheless, so skilful are the natives 
 that I was assured that accidents are practically 
 unknown. 
 
 After our ride our party went together into the 
 town, and I found it very interesting to watch the 
 passengers busily engaged in buying curios, and 
 specimens of native work, to take home to their 
 friends. Everybody haggled to get the price as 
 low as possible ; and yet afterwards, when they 
 got back on board ship, everybody came to the 
 conclusion that they had been " had." 
 
 We utilised, too, our short stay on shore to film 
 yet another scene in the Odd Man Out drama, 
 this being taken in the gardens amidst beautiful 
 tropical vegetation ; and one of the curious island 
 sledges, drawn by oxen, was also introduced. In 
 fact, I may say here that we hardly ever missed a 
 suitable opportunity throughout the voyage to get 
 local colour for this our first cinema play, the early 
 scenes in which are concerned with a young white 
 woman going out to join her husband in the wilds 
 of Central Africa. When later on, for instance, 
 we passed a mail steamer in mid-ocean, the camera 
 was got ready, and I was set to pose and act on 
 deck, with the big ship flitting past in the back- 
 
 24 
 
LONDON TO LOME 
 
 ground as a setting. We had some gorgeous sun- 
 sets, too, and these also we pressed into our service, 
 so to speak. 
 
 The " Blue Peter " flying from the masthead is 
 the signal for everybody to hurry on board, and 
 soon the anchor is up, the screw starts to revolve, 
 and we resume our journey. Between Madeira and 
 Las Palmas we enjoyed two of the lovely sunsets 
 mentioned above. I never saw anything to equal 
 them, and certainly I could never have imagined 
 anything half so beautiful. If a painter could have 
 painted them exactly true to nature, I am quite 
 sure that he would have been laughed at as a 
 futurist^ or something artistically as dreadful ; be- 
 cause no one, who had not seen the original, would 
 have believed in the reality of his vivid colour effects. 
 
 On the morning of September 1st we passed 
 Teneriffe, but only stopped there for quite a short 
 while to put off a few passengers. At noon we 
 anchored at Las Palmas, where we had a long wait. 
 A party of us went ashore, and visited the cathe- 
 dral and the few other " sights " that the place 
 boasts of. 
 
 Then we hired a motor-car for a drive up to the 
 Hotel Monte. At least, the chauffeur who drove us 
 called his conveyance a motor-car, but it was the 
 awfullest type of its kind I ever came across. The 
 bumping was terrific, but looking over and under 
 to try to ascertain the reason I discovered to my 
 amazement that one of the wheels was practically 
 destitute of any vestige of a tyre. About every 
 ten minutes, too, we had to stop dead, because the 
 motor got hot, and there was no water available 
 to cool it. 
 
 25 
 
LONDON TO LOME 
 
 At last, after a thorough shaking-up, the worst 
 I think I ever had in my Ufe, we arrived at the 
 hotel, and had our tea. The view from the summit 
 made amends in part for the disagreeableness of 
 the drive. It was superb. It struck me as being 
 very strange, however, that the one side of the 
 mountain is quite bleak and bare, whilst the other 
 is beautifully green and wooded. 
 
 In Las Palmas I saw for the first time women 
 washing the family linen at the sides of the roads 
 in the streams that flow downwards through pebble 
 and shingle. The Las Palmas roads, by the way, 
 are atrocious ; but the strongly built mail-coaches, 
 each drawn by six mules, make light of their un- 
 evennesses. 
 
 At five o'clock we paid a visit to S.M.S. Bremen, 
 which lay in the harbour near the Henny Woermamm, 
 Three officers belonging to her had accompanied us as 
 far as Las Palmas, and we had been great friends 
 with them, and now they invited us to come on 
 board their vessel for a farewell visit. Champagne 
 was produced, and I took a couple of glasses and 
 found they did me good, the heat being very great, 
 and the ride up to the Hotel Monte and back 
 dreadfully dry and dusty. 
 
 Our captain had fixed six o'clock as the hour 
 of departure, but we did not actually start until 
 eleven. The ship seemed almost unnaturally quiet 
 now that the naval officers had left her, for they 
 were always bright and jolly, and I must confess 
 that I had got to like " my little boys in blue," as 
 I had christened them, very much indeed. How- 
 ever, I am naturally light-hearted, so I quickly 
 banished sadness, consoUng myself with the re- 
 
 26 
 
LONDON TO LOME 
 
 flection that there are, after all, heaps of nice men 
 in the world. 
 
 At length Lome hove in sight, and while I was 
 being lowered, together with three other pas- 
 sengers, into the boat that was to take us ashore, 
 the band struck up a song that was pretty popular 
 amongst the passengers on board, " Do you think 
 that I love you because I have danced with you ? " 
 and on deck stood an army lieutenant who was 
 going to join his regiment in Kamerun, and with 
 whom I had often danced. I was convulsed with 
 laughter, because I knew that it was all his work. 
 After this ditty came " The Girl I Left Behind Me," 
 and looking back from the boat I saw my dear old 
 captain, and an elderly civilian gentleman who had 
 paid me a good deal of attention, standing on deck 
 with a huge bath towel between them, on which 
 they were pretending to dry their tears. It was 
 exceedingly comical. 
 
 Landing at Lome is not at all a simple matter. 
 First one has to be lowered into the boat from the 
 deck of the steamer in what is called a " mammy 
 chair " — mammy being a coast term for woman. 
 It is a sort of wooden skip, something like one of 
 the old-fashioned swing-boats one sees at village 
 fairs. 
 
 The passage from ship to shore is exciting, and in 
 bad weather it is even considered dangerous, and 
 there is considerable surf; but the sea happened 
 fortunately to be calm when we got there. Other- 
 wise our arrival was inopportune. On the day 
 before a member of the tiny European colony there 
 had died of yellow fever, and all the flags were at 
 half-mast. 
 
 a; 
 
LONDON TO LOME 
 
 This rather cast a damper over our spirits, 
 although nothing could exceed the kindness and 
 courtesy shown us by the Togo officials, from the 
 highest to the lowest. The custom-house officers 
 hurried over the necessary formalities as quickly 
 as possible ; and although the governor, H.H. the 
 Duke of Mecklenburg, was unable to receive us, 
 being engaged with Sir Hugh Clifford, Governor of 
 the Gold Coast Colony, who had come to pay him 
 an official visit, he had kindly arranged quarters 
 for us, and done everything in his power to welcome 
 us and make us comfortable. 
 
 His adjutant. Lieutenant von Rentzel, who was 
 in hospital at the time, put his house and servants 
 at the disposal of our party, and we had a jolly 
 dinner party there that night, at which I played 
 the part of hostess. He also lent me personally a 
 rickshaw, and a boy to draw it, so that I might 
 be able to see what there was to see in and about 
 the town with the minimum of fatigue and incon- 
 venience. 
 
 However, I had not much time to devote to 
 sight-seeing, for very early on the morning after 
 our arrival we set out to journey up country to a 
 place called Atakpame, distant about 110 miles 
 from Lome. A railway runs so far ; and at the 
 rail-head civilisation may be said to come abruptly 
 to an end. 
 
 28 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HOW WE FILMED "THE WHITE GODDESS 
 OF THE WANGORA" 
 
 OH that railway journey ! Shall I ever 
 forget it ? The dust and heat were awful, 
 and owing to some unaccountable over- 
 sight, nobody had thought to lay in any provisions 
 for the trip, which lasted from six o'clock in the 
 morning till four in the afternoon. The only food 
 we were able to obtain en route consisted of monkey 
 nuts. Our thirst, however, we quenched quite 
 satisfactorily with luscious, juicy pine-apples, of 
 which the natives brought us unlimited supplies at 
 every stopping-place, offering them clamorously for 
 sale at the uniform rate of one penny each. 
 
 Arrived at Atakpame, we were given a right 
 royal welcome by Baron Codelli von Fahnenfeld, 
 who is building for the German Government, at 
 Kamina near by, an immense wireless station, in- 
 tended to communicate direct with the wireless 
 station at Nauen, just outside Berlin. 
 
 The baron first introduced to me my " house," 
 a straw hut, like all the dwellings hereabouts, but, 
 as he proudly pointed out, it was, unhke them, 
 possessed of a cement floor. I duly thanked him, 
 and tried to smile my gratitude. But my heart 
 misgave me, for to my mind it seemed to lack 
 pretty jwell [all£the essentials that a dwelling-place 
 should by rights possess. 
 
 29 
 
HOW WE FILMED "THE WHITE 
 
 To begin with, it most certainly was not weather- 
 proof, for I could see, through the interstices of 
 the loosely-thatched roof, the stars twinkling far 
 above. The wind blew in the front and out at the 
 back, and I was conscious, all the time I was dress- 
 ing for dinner, that I was the cynosure of several 
 hundred pairs of eyes, belonging to as many natives, 
 men and women, who, " clad in the climate," as 
 the saying is out there, crowded in serried ranks 
 all round the wattle walls, anxious for a glimpse 
 through the all too numerous chinks at the won- 
 derful white woman timidly robing and disrobing 
 within. 
 
 But dinner made amends for everything. We 
 were the baron's guests for that evening. It was 
 a glorious, gorgeous meal, beautifully prepared and 
 perfectly served under conditions which seemed 
 ideal to me, partly no doubt because they were so 
 altogether novel. The warm African night was 
 absolutely still, save for the continual monotonous 
 humming of myriads of insects. All around was 
 the silent mysterious bush, from which came no 
 sound, either of man, or of beast, or of bird. 
 
 And we — ^we were in a little gastronomic world of 
 our own ; a tiny bit of London, or Paris, or Berlin, 
 planted out in the wild. There was the same 
 sheen of damask napery, the same glitter of crystal 
 and silver, the same faint, almost imperceptible 
 perfume of exotics, as one associates mentally with, 
 say, the Ritz or the Savoy. Only the servitors 
 here, instead of wearing black clothes and having 
 white faces, were ebon black in colour, and their 
 liveries were white, all white, from head to foot, 
 save for the silver blazonry of the baron's crest. 
 
 30 
 
GODDESS OF THE WANGORA'^ 
 
 Oh, how I enjoyed this my first real meal in the 
 real heart of Africa ! The memory of the taste of it 
 lingers on my palate yet, even as I write. Nothing 
 was lacking, nothing was de trop. The caviare was 
 as good as the consomme, and both were perfect. 
 The partridge en casserol was hot, juicy, and tender. 
 The spring lamb with asparagus shoots was a dream. 
 The peach Melba melted in one's mouth. The 
 coffee was as good as any I have tasted in Vienna, 
 which is only another way of saying that it was the 
 very best possible. The wines, like the liqueurs, 
 were just " it." When my host informed me, over 
 our cigarettes, that all the comestibles came out of 
 cans, I simply could not believe it. But it was the 
 truth, of course, nevertheless. Only canned pro- 
 visions are available in the Togo hinterland, if one 
 excepts chickens and eggs, and an occasional joint 
 of very tough and very insipid beef. 
 
 After dinner, however, came my first real African 
 ordeal. Wishful to do honour to our genial host, 
 I had donned one of my prettiest low-necked frocks, 
 and the mosquitoes took a mean and dastardly 
 advantage of my innocent inexperience. The baron 
 and Major Schomburgk swathed me from head to 
 foot in blankets and tablecloths, so that I looked 
 like an Egyptian mummy. Nevertheless, ere bed- 
 time, I grew unbeautifully speckled, and very, very 
 lumpy. 
 
 I had almost forgotten to record that the dinner 
 was served in an open thatched house, like my 
 own, but somewhat larger, so that the insects had 
 free access everywhere. The light came from one 
 of Baron Codelli's acetylene motor-bike lamps, 
 placed at some distance from the. table. A lamp 
 
 31 
 
HOW WE FILMED ^^THE WHITE 
 
 placed anywhere on, or near the table, attracts 
 insects in such countless myriads as to render eating 
 and drinking almost out of the question. 
 
 I slept fairly well through my first night in the 
 African bush, having previously learnt to he per- 
 fectly straight and still on the narrow camp bed- 
 steads that are everywhere in vogue in Togo. If 
 one wriggles about under one's mosquito-net, or 
 throws one's arms about, the bloodthirsty little 
 brutes are sure to get at one, and then woe be- 
 tide the sleeper. He, or she, becomes the sleeper 
 awakened with a vengeance. 
 
 On rising at sunrise, I asked quite innocently 
 for my bath. My native boy grinned; and pointed 
 to a bucket hanging from the top of a tall pole in 
 the open compound fronting my hut. At the same 
 time he explained by gestures that by pulling out, 
 by means of a cord that was attached to it, the 
 bung in the bottom, I could manage to obtain a 
 very good imitation of a genuine shower-bath. 
 
 Nobody seemed to think that there was any- 
 thing amiss in the publicity that must of necessity 
 have attached to the proposed performance, but I 
 was of a different opinion. I shirked my bath for 
 that one morning, and during the afternoon my 
 boy, acting on my instructions, built a wattle screen 
 round the compound. 
 
 I was looking forward to start rehearsing that 
 day on the first of our native plays, which we had 
 entitled tentatively, The White Goddess of the Wan- 
 gora ; but then I knew nothing at the time of the 
 delays incidental to any kind of work in which 
 natives play a part. 
 
 Time is of no value whatever to these wild and 
 
 32 
 
Portrait of the Author 
 
 Painted in Togoiand, by Ernst Vollbehr of Miinchen. The native is a Konkombwa. 
 
GODDESS OF THE WANGORA' 
 
 woolly savages, and as we had of necessity to get 
 together a small army of several hundred " supers," 
 literally weeks elapsed before we were ready. I 
 chafed dreadfully at the delay, but there was no 
 help for it. The requisite number of natives had 
 to be laboriously collected from a score or more 
 of villages scattered over a wide area of country, 
 and then, when we had got them together, every- 
 thing had to be explained to them over and over 
 again through the medium of three or four different 
 interpreters. In fact, it was nothing but talk, talk, 
 talk, palaver, palaver, palaver, from morning till 
 night. 
 
 There was considerable difficulty, too, in getting 
 them to face the camera. Like most savages, these 
 Togo natives have an inherent rooted aversion 
 to being photographed. Luckily, however. Major 
 Schomburgk had taken moving pictures of some 
 of their villages during a previous expedition he 
 had led into these parts, and some of the very 
 natives we had engaged figured in them. 
 
 So, as we had brought a projecting machine 
 with us, we made shift to rig up a screen, and 
 showed them themselves, their wives and their little 
 ones, going about their ordinary avocations in their 
 own homes. The effect was instantaneous. They 
 had, of course, seen ordinary photographs before, 
 but none of them had ever beheld any moving 
 pictures. Now they all wanted to come into one ; 
 and whereas before the most of them hung back, 
 they were now only too anxious to push themselves 
 in the forefront of every scene. 
 
 Only one act they shirked. This was a battle 
 scene in which several of the warriors were supposed 
 
 33 c 
 
HOW WE FILMED "THE WHITE 
 
 to be slain. We had the greatest difficulty in per- 
 suading even one native to " act dead." Their 
 objection, they explained, was due to the fact 
 that they believed that if they played at being 
 dead before the white man's mysterious machine, 
 they would most likely be dead in reality before 
 morning. 
 
 At length, by the promise of a liberal bonus, one 
 warrior, greatly daring, consented to play the part. 
 The next morning the head interpreter knocked 
 at the door of my hut to inform me that there were 
 " eight dead natives lying in the compound outside." 
 
 " What ! " I screamed, in great alarm. And, 
 hastily donning my dressing-gown, I ran out. 
 
 But I need not have got scared. The eight were 
 not really defunct. They were merely shamming 
 death, and wanted me to see how well they could 
 do it, with a view to being taken on for the part 
 in the forthcoming day's rehearsal. 
 
 The one who had played dead the day before 
 had not of course died during the night, as they 
 more than half expected he would have done, and 
 they were consequently now only too willing and 
 anxious to follow the lead he had set them. 
 
 At length the long, wearisome series of pre- 
 liminary rehearsals came to an end. Everybody 
 was supposed to be part perfect, and we made 
 ready to film the play. 
 
 Up to this I had, of course, rehearsed in ordinary 
 attire. Now I had to don native dress ; and as I 
 am a stickler for realism I insisted— against Major 
 Schomburgk's advice — in playing in bare feet and 
 legs, bare shoulders and arms, and with no head 
 covering. 
 
 34 
 
GODDESS OF THE WANGORA ' 
 
 As the principal scenes were laid out of doors 
 in the middle of the bush, and under a blazing 
 tropical sun, this, as was pointed out to me, was a 
 pretty " big order." Nevertheless, I thought I 
 could " stick it " ; and, as a matter of fact, I did, 
 though I suffered for it afterwards. 
 
 My part was, of course, that of the " White 
 Goddess." I was supposed to have been cast ashore 
 as a babe on the coast of Togo, and taken up- 
 country by the savages who found me, and who 
 afterwards placed me in charge of their principal 
 ju-ju shrine, paying me, in the course of time, 
 almost divine honours. 
 
 I had grown to womanhood without ever having 
 seen one of my own colour and race, and when a 
 white hunter (Major Schomburgk) was taken prisoner 
 by the tribe whose high priestess I was, I was 
 naturally attracted to him. Bound hand and foot, 
 he was cast into a hut, preparatory to being put 
 to death. I had to free him from his bonds, and 
 guide him in a wild flight for freedom over rocks 
 and bushes, through foaming streams, and up hill 
 and down dale. 
 
 All this I did. It is the great scene of the play, 
 and to film it took one whole day. Major Schom- 
 burgk had given strict orders for all our eight hun- 
 dred or so of supers to muster at 6 a.m. sharp, but 
 with the irritating perverseness of natives they did 
 not put in an appearance until 10 a.m., when, of 
 course, the sun was already high in the heavens. 
 
 This added tremendously to my trials and 
 tribulations, and was, in fact, to a great extent the 
 cause of my subsequent breakdown. By noon, 
 when the sun was directly overhead, it was so hot 
 
 35 
 
HOW WE FILMED "THE WHITE 
 
 that the operator was unable to bear to touch with 
 his ungloved hand the brass work of his machine. 
 
 How I got through the afternoon's work I don't 
 know to this day. I managed it somehow. There 
 is a marvellous sustaining power in the mere ner- 
 vous tension of acting, and the click, click, click of 
 the camera helps to keep one tuned up as it were. 
 But directly it was all over I fell fainting on my 
 camp bed in my hut, and the doctor had to be 
 called in. My feet were all cut and scarred, and 
 full of thorns and jiggers.^ My legs, too, were 
 pretty badly scratched and torn. And, to crown 
 all, I had got a " touch of the sun." 
 
 The next day I was in a high fever, and the day 
 after that in a higher one. Malaria had gripped 
 me, and I really thought at one time that my first 
 African photo-play rehearsal was going to be my 
 last one. Even the doctor looked grave after the 
 first week or so. " You have got malarial fever," 
 he explained, " and you have got it pretty badly. 
 Your spleen is about four times larger than it ought 
 to be, and if you cough it will probably burst." 
 
 As at that time I was troubled with an almost 
 incessant cough, this was not consoling. However, 
 liberal doses of quinine, repeated at frequent inter- 
 vals, cured me at last, and in order to celebrate 
 my convalescence, as soon as I felt well enough I 
 prepared a little dinner with my own hands, and 
 invited Baron Codelli and Major Schomburgk to 
 my hut to partake of it. 
 
 I rather fancy myself as a cook, and I had pre- 
 pared, as the piece de resistance, a couple of nice 
 plump fowls. When the dish was uncovered my 
 
 ^ Also known as the chigoes and the sand-flea. 
 
 36 
 
By permission of 
 
 MaJ. H. Schombttrgk, F.R.G.S. 
 
 Rehearsing for the Cinema 
 
 Another scene from the moving picture play " The White Goddess of the Wangora." Note the 
 intent look on the little black girl's face, and the pleased expression on that of the authoress, 'i he 
 black lady on the left is the head "super " amongst the native women at Kamina. 
 
 By permission of 
 
 Playing an 
 
 MaJ. H. Schontbitrgk, F.R.G.S. 
 
 Interior" Scene in a Native Drama 
 
 slave- 
 
 The authoress is reclining on a leopard-skin rug, and is supposed to be sleeping, while a 
 girl" — really a native " super" — fans her with a feather fan. Taken at Kamina. 
 

GODDESS OF THE WANGORA" 
 
 guests glanced sharply at one another, turned very 
 red, and looked quite uncomfortable. 
 
 I could not make out what was the matter, and 
 in my usual impetuous way, I blurted out, plump 
 and plain, the question that was uppermost in my 
 mind. 
 
 " Is there anything wrong with the chickens ? " 
 
 This was too much for their gravity. Both the 
 baron and Schomburgk burst into fits of uncon- 
 trollable laughter, and the former ran to fetch his 
 diary. 
 
 " Look here," he said, pointing to one of the 
 last entries, " I have already, during the years I 
 have spent in this benighted country, eaten 9863 
 chickens. Schomburgk has probably eaten jpro 
 rata at least as many "—the major nodded—" and 
 now you give us two more as a treat ! O Lord ! " 
 
 I joined in their laughter then. I had to. 
 And, after all, my little dinner passed off excellently 
 well, for of course there were other dishes. Mean- 
 while I had learnt one more African lesson. Never, 
 never, never offer your guests chicken if there is 
 anything else under the sim obtainable by hook or 
 by crook. Cheese and crackers, if you hke ; or 
 tinned salmon, or sardines, or even " bully " beef. 
 But the domestic fowl, regarded as more or less of 
 a luxury in Europe, is in Africa absolutely tabu. 
 It is the one article of flesh diet that is all-per- 
 vading everywhere out there, and which everybody 
 consequently soon heartily sickens of. As well 
 might one offer a dish of salmon to an Alaskan 
 fisherman ; or a ragout of mutton to an Australian 
 boundary rider. 
 
 Another lesson I learnt during my long and 
 
 37 
 
HOW WE FILMED THE WHITE 
 
 wearisome illness was never to kill a lizard, the 
 reason being that lizards eat insects, and insects of 
 innumerable and most diverse kinds constitute the 
 principal pests of equatorial Africa. The houses 
 out there swarm with lizards, and they are big 
 ones too, fully eighteen inches or more in length. 
 Nobody dreams of interfering with them. On the 
 contrary, they are everywhere petted and made 
 much of. One old fellow I got quite attached to, 
 and he to me. I always knew him from the others 
 because he had only three legs, having lost the 
 other, probably in an encounter with one of his 
 kind. He was as good as a watch. I used to call 
 him my tea-time lizard, because he always put in 
 an appearance precisely at four o'clock every after- 
 noon. 
 
 Schomburgk used to tell me that every lizard 
 was responsible for killing and eating I don't know 
 how many hundreds— or was it thousands? — of 
 white ants daily. Very likely. But all the same 
 the ants did not seem to me to diminish perceptibly. 
 The venomous and vicious little pests swarmed 
 everywhere in incredible numbers. Nothing seemed 
 to come amiss to them. Our operator declared that 
 he once found a lot of them trying to make a meal 
 off a sixteen-pound cannon-ball that he used as a 
 make- weight to the tripod of his machine to prevent 
 it being blown or knocked over, but this I alto- 
 gether decline to believe. He must have been — 
 well, mistaken. But I can vouch from bitter per- 
 sonal experience that they will devour, in the course 
 of a single night, photographs hung on the walls, 
 and boots left standing on the floor; and once 
 a detachment of them riddled so badly a strong 
 
 33 
 
GODDESS OF THE WANGORA" 
 
 wooden box in which I kept my letters and papers 
 that it fell to pieces in my hands. 
 
 Another troublesome insect pest was a kind of 
 big wood-boring beetle, that made its home chiefly 
 in the beams of the roof. These he would riddle 
 so completely that sooner or later the thatch was 
 practically certain to come tumbling about one's 
 ears. While in between whiles he peppered the 
 interior with sawdust from his carpentering opera- 
 tions to such an extent that I was kept continually 
 busy dusting and sweeping it out. 
 
 Later, however, when we trekked further up- 
 country right into the real heart of the unexplored 
 hinterland, I learnt that Africa held other even 
 worse insect pests than white ants and wood- 
 boring beetles. But of these more anon. 
 
 39 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 LIFE AT KAMINA 
 
 THERE seems to be no end to trouble when 
 filming cinema plays in equatorial Africa. 
 No sooner had I recovered from my bout 
 of malarial fever than our leader and pro- 
 ducer. Major Schomburgk, was stricken down 
 with it, and everything was at sixes and sevens 
 once more. 
 
 However, I employed my interval of enforced 
 leisure in making my temporary home as comfort- 
 able as possible, and in getting acquainted with 
 the natives, and so managed to pass the time 
 pleasantly and profitably enough. 
 
 My nicest hours were those spent before my hut 
 between four o'clock and dark, after the day's 
 work was done. Then I took my tea, and passed 
 the time of day with the women and girls who 
 came with huge calabashes on their heads to get 
 water. 
 
 At first they used to hurry by shyly, with eyes 
 downcast, and without speaking. But I laughed 
 and smiled at them, and by degrees, after the first 
 day or two, we became quite friendly. They were 
 chiefly interested in my needlework and my hair. 
 Then one day a thunderstorm broke suddenly while 
 they were near, and I invited them into my hut for 
 
 40 
 
LIFE AT KAMINA 
 
 shelter and set my gramophone playing. This 
 delighted them immensely, although for a long 
 while they seemed to be more or less frightened 
 of it. 
 
 There are some sweet girls amongst them, and 
 many of them are quite modest in their demeanour, 
 and well-behaved, although in the matter of clothes, 
 of course, they have not much to boast of. The 
 young unmarried girls are some of them quite 
 pretty, with lithe graceful figures, beautifully 
 proportioned busts, and well-shaped arms and 
 shoulders. 
 
 All of them have to work hard, however, and 
 the existence of the married women especially seemed 
 to me to be one continuous round of drudgery. In 
 fact, the daily life of a native wife out here might 
 well serve the advanced suffragettes at home as 
 a typical, " terrible example " of what my sex has 
 to put up with from " tyrant man." 
 
 She has to rise at dawn, sweep out the home- 
 stead, fetch water from the river, often far away, 
 do the scanty family washing, tread out the corn, 
 grind it to flour and make it into porridge, gather 
 and prepare for food various wild roots, herbs, 
 and vegetables, cook the family meals, wash and 
 tend the children, and perform a hundred and one 
 other similar duties, while her lord and master is, 
 for the most part, quietly resting " in the shade of 
 the sheltering palm." 
 
 Nevertheless, I am bound to say that the women 
 do not appear to mind it, but seem, on the contrary, 
 to be quite happy and contented. And indeed 
 their lives compare very favourably on the whole 
 
 41 
 
LIFE AT KAMINA 
 
 with the Hves led by many married women of the 
 lower classes in the great cities of England, Ger- 
 many, and elsewhere. 
 f^ The native husband is, as a rule, of a good- 
 natured and kindly disposition, tolerant to a fault 
 almost, and passionately fond of his children. 
 Domestic quarrels are rare, and " nagging " on the 
 part of the wife— that great source of strife amongst 
 the lower classes in Europe — is practically un- 
 known in Africa. Then, again, if there are no 
 palaces in Togoland, there are likewise no slums. 
 Everybody is well housed, according to native 
 standards, and they have plenty to eat. The 
 children especially are well looked after in this 
 latter respect. There is no " under feeding " of 
 them, at all events, and a Togo mother would 
 probably regard as an insult any offer on the 
 part of the State to provide " free meals " for her 
 offspring/) 
 
 The worst class of natives to get along with are 
 those who have been brought continually into 
 association with Europeans, and have acquired 
 thereby an exaggerated notion of their own import- 
 ance. Our chief interpreter, for instance, required 
 at first a good deal of keeping in his place, although 
 his views on life and things in general used to afford 
 me considerable amusement. 
 
 One day, for instance, seeing me rather down- 
 cast — ^it was when I was recovering from my illness 
 — ^he surprised me by offering to sing to me. I 
 thanked him, and told him to get on with it, ex- 
 pecting to hear some ordinary tuneless native ditty. 
 Instead, he greatly astonished me by singing, in a 
 
 42 
 
LIFE AT KAMINA 
 
 fairly passable voice, some very nice songs in 
 German. 
 
 I complimented him, and asked him where he 
 had learnt them. He said, " At the Catholic 
 Mission." Then he went on to inquire whether I 
 had a mother still living, and on my answering him 
 in the affirmative, he remarked : " I, too, have a 
 mother, a dear good woman, and twenty-five 
 brothers and sisters." 
 
 I suppose I looked the astonishment I felt, for 
 he hastened to add that his father had five wives. 
 " My father," he remarked, " is a fine big man, 
 with a good figure, and in Togo, if a man has a 
 good figure, he can get plenty of wives." 
 
 As my interpreter possessed what he called " a 
 good figure," I asked him if he had many wives. 
 " Oh no," he replied, in quite an offended tone, 
 " I am a scientist, and I only have one wife." 
 
 " How scientist ? " was my next question, spoken 
 quite gravely. 
 
 " Well," he replied, " I understand German." 
 
 " And does your wife understand German too ? " 
 I inquired. 
 
 " Oh dear, no," he answered, " that is forbidden 
 amongst us, because we hold that it is not good 
 for a woman to be educated." 
 
 " And why, pray ? " I asked. 
 
 " Well," he said, " supposing I return home 
 to-night and issue some instructions to my wife, 
 she would probably, assuming her to have been 
 educated, reply : ' Talk to yourself, my husband, 
 not to me ; you cannot teach me anything ; I 
 am as clever as you are.' As it is, however, she 
 
 43 
 
LIFE AT KAMINA 
 
 just obeys my instructions, and says nothing. It 
 is better so." 
 
 I was inclined to laugh just at first at this ex- 
 ample of negro philosophy, when it suddenly struck 
 me that I had listened to very similar sentiments 
 expressed by men in far more civilised communities. 
 " The girl I shall choose for my wife," I once over- 
 heard an eminent lawyer remark, " will not be one 
 of your new-fangled sort, all fads and fancies, but 
 one of the good old-fashioned kind, who will faith- 
 fully minister to the comfort of my home and 
 willingly share my bed." 
 
 London lawyer and Togo interpreter —there was 
 scarcely a pin to choose between them as regards 
 their outlook on marital life and its duties and 
 obligations. Both cherished at bottom precisely the 
 same sentiments, and neither's ideal of femininity 
 was one whit higher than the other's. 
 
 I also had some differences with my cook. He 
 demanded a lot of money for " extras," and so 
 forth, and the results were, as a rule, distinctly 
 disappointing. I was especially struck with the 
 toughness and tastelessness of the meat served at 
 table, until I discovered, quite by accident, that he 
 was in the habit of making soup out of it for his 
 family and relations, we getting the solid — ^very 
 much solid — residuum. After that I insisted, much 
 against his wish, in superintending his culinary 
 operations, with the result that we got good palat- 
 able food at about one-half the cost. 
 
 My best servant, or at all events the one I 
 liked best, was a young girl of about fourteen or 
 fifteen, who acted in our dramas, and was my 
 
 44 
 
LIFE AT KAMINA 
 
 personal attendant between whiles. She was a 
 really nice little lassie, with no nonsense about her, 
 and an excellent taste as regards the most suitable 
 native attire for me to wear in our various plays, 
 and the best way to drape and arrange it. She, 
 too, was a bit of a philosopher in her way, some 
 of her remarks being exceedingly quaint, and yet 
 sensible. 
 
 Once, for instance, when I was attired in evening 
 dress for a certain social function I was attending, 
 she started admiring my costume, and on the spur 
 of the moment I said to her : " How would you hke 
 to wear clothes such as I am wearing ? " Quick 
 as a flash came the answer : " Ma'am, what one 
 can never own, one must not permit one's self to 
 like." There is a world of meaning in that little 
 sentence — especially for our sex— if one stops to 
 weigh it carefully. Nor does it necessarily apply 
 only to dress, but to — well, other things. 
 
 Another use I made of my enforced leisure at 
 this time was to learn to cycle, this being by far 
 the easiest way of getting about in southern Togo, 
 where the roads are fairly good. I had several 
 spills, for it must not be imagined that the Togo- 
 land roads, good though they are judged by African 
 standards, are in any way comparable with the 
 macadamised highways one cycles over at home. 
 Still, I persevered, and after a while I became a 
 fairly proficient rider. 
 
 One advantage I had, and that was not being 
 hampered in any way as regards dress. One re- 
 turns to nature in equatorial Africa. No tight 
 skirts, but riding-breeches, in which one can move 
 
 45 
 
LIFE AT KAMINA 
 
 about easily. No high heels or wafer soles, but 
 good strong boots that are alike serviceable and 
 comfortable. No waved hair, because the waves 
 would not remain in for even half an hour in this 
 hot, damp atmosphere. 
 
 Of course we were all the while on the look-out 
 for suitable subjects and settings for our pictures. 
 I rigged up a studio out of half a hut, and we filmed 
 many scenes of native life and customs. Amongst 
 other pictures we took was one showing the daily 
 life and work of a native woman, as set forth 
 above. This was entirely my own idea, and when 
 the films came to be developed, and shown in London 
 later on, this one attracted a very great deal of 
 attention indeed. 
 
 I found, however, that the native women and 
 girls made far worse subjects for the camera, taking 
 them altogether, than did the men. It was more 
 difficult to get them to pose, or rather, to be strictly 
 accurate, they were always posing whenever the 
 camera started clicking, instead of going about 
 their natural avocations in the ordinary way, which 
 was what I wanted them to do. Their silly giggling, 
 too, used to get on my nerves, and at times made 
 me quite angry. 
 
 There were other difficulties also as regards the 
 mechanical part of the business. Occasionally the 
 heat was so great that it almost sufficed to melt the 
 films, or even to set fire to them ; and they had to 
 be kept stored, therefore, in a special sort of cooling 
 case, built on the principal of the vacuum flask. 
 Later on, when marching in the far north through 
 the Togoland Sudan, the cases containing the films 
 
 46 
 
LIFE AT KAMINA 
 
 had themselves to be protected from the heat by 
 being swathed in green banana leaves. 
 
 On October 10th I saw wild monkeys for the 
 first time. Near my hut is a mealie field, and they 
 came there at noon every day to eat their dinners. 
 They are queer little creatures, very cunning and 
 amusing, but very shy, so that it is difficult to get 
 near them and study their antics. 
 
 Once or twice I went to a native dance, but I 
 must confess that I was not greatly impressed. It 
 amused me for ten minutes or so, but as the move- 
 ments are always the same I soon grew tired of 
 watching them. And the noise of the native dnmis 
 is simply deafening, so much so that it generally 
 brought on a more or less severe attack of headache. 
 
 On the night of October the 15th I had quite a 
 little adventure. It was bright moonlight ; I could 
 not sleep, and at eleven o'clock, when the whole 
 place was hushed in slumber, I was seized with the 
 desire to climb to the top of one of the great steel 
 towers that have been erected here by Baron 
 Codelli von Fahnenfeld in connection with the 
 Government wireless telegraphy station, mention of 
 which has been made in a previous chapter. 
 
 There are no fewer than nine of these towers, 
 varying in height from about 250 feet, up to about 
 400 feet, and with an enterprise born of ignorance 
 and inexperience I chose the tallest of them all for 
 my experiment. I thought how beautiful the 
 African landscape would look seen from the top 
 under the light of the tropical moon, and started 
 on my long climb full of hope and enthusiasm. 
 By the time I had reached about a third of the way 
 
 47 
 
LIFE AT KAMINA 
 
 up, however, all my ambition had evaporated, 
 and I was glad to go slowly back again. I found 
 the climb down even more nerve-trying than the 
 climb up — for one thing the stimulus had departed 
 — and I reached the ground in a state bordering on 
 collapse. 
 
 48 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 STARTING "ON TREK" 
 
 THE first few days of November were spent 
 in packing up our belongings and making 
 ready to start up-country away from the 
 rail-head, and into " the back of beyond," as 
 Schomburgk put it. 
 
 The packing process interested me greatly ; 
 partly, I suppose, because it gave my housewifely 
 instincts full play. It was like making prepara- 
 tions for a glorified picnic on a gigantic scale. 
 Piles of provender, pyramids of stores of all kinds, 
 cumbered the camp, and it fell to my lot to bring 
 order out of chaos. 
 
 Necessaries and provisions for a five months' 
 trip had to be packed, and all the " chop boxes," 
 as they are called out there, had to be carefully 
 marked and their contents scheduled. It was also 
 necessary to see that each box weighed precisely 
 60 lb., neither more nor less, this being what each 
 porter contracts to carry in Togo. 
 
 This was my work, and the motto given me for 
 my guidance was " in every box a little of every- 
 thing." This obviated the bother of opening a 
 separate box for each article wanted on the march, 
 one or two days' supplies being carried in each box, 
 and used as required, after which the empty box 
 could be discarded, and another one opened. 
 
 49 i> 
 
STARTING "ON TREK^^ 
 
 The most important single article amongst the 
 host of stores was the quinine. Over and over again 
 I was urged to look carefully after this. One can do 
 without food in the bush, I was told ; one can even 
 do, for a while at all events, without water ; but 
 to be without quinine spells death. 
 
 Everybody takes it regularly out there, and 
 quite as a matter of course, the usual dose being 
 thirty-five grains or thereabouts each week. I took 
 my little lot in two separate doses on Saturday and 
 Sunday, and I don't mind confessing that, in the 
 words of the popular ditty of the day, " I didn't 
 want to do it." Only I had to. There was no 
 escape. Schomburgk and Hodgson, our operator, 
 who were the only other white people in the party 
 at this stage of the journey, took theirs on the 
 instalment principle, five grains each evening. But 
 I preferred the other way. 
 
 At last everything was ready. Our one hundred 
 carriers, collected and sorted with elaborate care 
 from a dozen or more different villages, made a 
 brave show. Altogether, with our personal staff, 
 interpreters, and so forth, we had a retinue of 
 exactly 120 followers ; a greater, I reflected, than 
 any I was ever likely to travel with in future, and 
 certainly far in excess of any that I had been 
 honoiured with in the past. 
 
 On the evening of the 4th of November we 
 entertained to dinner the good Fathers of the 
 Catholic Mission from Atakpame, who had shown 
 us many kindly courtesies during the time we had 
 spent in their neighbourhood, and on the 5th we said 
 good-bye to Kamina, and started on our journey. 
 
 Our object was to film scenes and plays of native 
 
 50 
 
Photo by 
 
 A. Mocsigay, Hamburg 
 
 Major Hans Schomburgk 
 
 The leader and organiser of the expedition. During the last sixteen years he has only spent about 
 two years outside Africa. 
 
STARTING "ON TREK" 
 
 life amongst absolutely virgin and unspoiled sur- 
 roundings, and to this end we intended to pene- 
 trate to the extremest northern confines of Togo, 
 as far at least as the borders of the French Sudan. 
 As I have already intimated, no white woman had 
 ever travelled so far afield in this part of Africa 
 before, but we anticipated little difficulty or danger 
 on this account, the natives being reported as 
 quite friendly everywhere along our proposed line 
 of route. Then, too. His Highness the Duke of 
 Mecklenburg, the governor of the colony, had very 
 kindly instructed all district commissioners and 
 other Government officials to render the expedition 
 every assistance in their power ; so that altogether 
 we looked forward to a pleasant, if possibly a some- 
 what strenuous trip. 
 
 The first stage of our journey was to a place 
 called Sokode, seven days' march, and up to this 
 point there is a very fair road. Consequently we 
 had arranged to cycle so far, the major explaining 
 that we should have all the horseback riding we 
 wanted later on. 
 
 Our first day's trek was to have been a very 
 short one, only seven miles, and so we did not start 
 until four o'clock in the afternoon, having sent on 
 our carriers and instructed them where to wait 
 for us. But once again we had experience of the 
 curious perversity of the African native. Instead 
 of covering a short seven-mile stage, as ordered, 
 they travelled a good fifteen before they conde- 
 scended to call a halt. 
 
 As a result darkness overtook us long before we 
 overtook them, and I had one or two rather nasty 
 spills, reaching camp at last sore, shaken, and bruised. 
 
 51 
 
STARTING "ON TREK" 
 
 Schomburgk was furious, but was obliged to dis- 
 semble a good deal, as at this stage of the journey, 
 with the carriers comparatively close to their homes, 
 any undue show of harshness or temper might 
 easily have resulted in stampeding the whole lot 
 of them. 
 
 That night I spent on a camp bed in an old 
 deserted straw hut. It was not altogether uncom- 
 fortable, but I got little sleep. The carriers were 
 all round me in groups of messes, each with its 
 own little fire, and they were all the time mumbling 
 and talking to one another. 
 
 The next day we made a short march, as the 
 rest-house was only about eight miles ahead. 
 These rest-houses are strung out all along the 
 Kamina-Sokode road at distances about twenty 
 miles apart, and each marks the end of a stage. 
 Our operator, Hodgson, should have picked us up 
 here. He had left Kamina the day after our depar- 
 tiu-e, intending to overtake us, but he passed us 
 somehow, and cycled on to the next rest-house. 
 
 Naturally we wondered what on earth had be- 
 come of him, and were beginning to get rather 
 anxious when, about four o'clock in the afternoon, 
 a messenger arrived with news of his whereabouts, 
 and bearing a letter asking urgently for a supply 
 of provisions to be sent on to him, as he had nothing 
 to eat where he was, and had tasted no food all 
 that day. 
 
 By degrees things began to settle down. I had 
 charge of the commissariat and cooking arrange- 
 ments. The natives I found tractable enough, but 
 woefully deficient in their notions of cleanliness. 
 Most of them entertained the idea that the proper 
 
 52 
 
STARTING "ON TREK" 
 
 way to wash a plate or a dish was to lick it all over 
 thoroughly. In this way, they explained, they not 
 only cleansed it, but at the same time were able 
 to get at least a taste of the white man's " chop." 
 
 Water, they contended, was for drinking, not 
 for washing things in. Even to rub over a kitchen 
 utensil with a wisp of dried grass seemed to them 
 a work of supererogation. Eventually I used to 
 boil the water myself in which the dishes were 
 washed up— a necessary precaution against dysen- 
 tery — and superintend the washing-up operations 
 from start to finish. It was, I found, the only way. 
 
 I also had charge of the petty cash book, and 
 used to make small advances to the boys as occa- 
 sion demanded. They had christened me " The 
 Puss," and applications for money became more 
 frequent and insistent than Schomburgk deemed 
 consistent with good order and discipline. It was, 
 " Please, Puss, give me some pennies," " Me want 
 one shilling, please. Puss," and so on from morning 
 till night. 
 
 The climax came on the evening of the second 
 day, when we were about twenty-five miles out 
 from Kamina. Just as I was retiring for the night, 
 a letter was handed to me which purported to come 
 from Messa, our cook, and Alfred, our chief inter- 
 preter, but which was really, I found out afterwards, 
 inspired by the first-named individual, although 
 drawn up and signed by them both. 
 
 " Dear Puss," it ran, " cook and myself want 
 advance. One pound please. Or more. If not 
 more, less would be good. Farther up in the bush 
 presently we no want one penny. This the last. 
 So please not tell master, because perhaps he make 
 
 53 
 
STARTING "ON TREK" 
 
 palaver. Good evening, dear Puss. We salute you. 
 Alfred and Messa." 
 
 Well, I made a bit of a palaver myself about it, 
 for a sovereign seemed a good roimd sum for a 
 couple of natives to want all of a hurry, but even- 
 tually, yielding to their urgent entreaties, I let 
 them have it. We broke camp next morning at 
 three o'clock, so as to avoid marching in the heat 
 of the day. To my amazement and disgust the 
 cook had disappeared. So, too, had one of our 
 bicycles. The chief interpreter, on being interro- 
 gated, disclaimed all knowledge of the whereabouts 
 of the absent man. He had, he asserted, merely 
 written the letter to oblige Messa, and had no idea 
 that he intended deserting, as he apparently had 
 done. 
 
 Here was a pretty go and no mistake. The 
 major swore fluently ; I cried — profusely. Then 
 we both got angry. He said it was all my fault. 
 " The idea of giving a nigger a whole soverei^ 
 advance ! " I retorted that he ought to have im- 
 pressed upon me more carefully what mean, under- 
 hand skunks niggers were. 
 
 Gloomily we marched to the next camp, and I 
 could hear Schomburgk grumbling to himself at 
 intervals whenever I got near enough to him, which 
 was not often. " No cook ! Whatever shall we do ? 
 And Messa was a good cook. A better one I never 
 had. And good cooks cannot be picked up in the 
 bush like paw-paws." And so on, and so on. 
 
 We marched eighteen miles that morning, the 
 longest stage we had done so far, then halted for 
 breakfast. 
 
 " Sardines and crackers ! " sneered Schomburgk. 
 
 54 
 
STARTING "ON TREK" 
 
 " For gracious sake go away somewhere for 
 half an hour," I retorted hotly. " I'm going to 
 run this chop." 
 
 He picked up his gun, and strolled off into the 
 bush — grumbling. I set to work to prepare break- 
 fast. It was hard work to bring my self-imposed 
 task to a successful issue, for I had only the most 
 rudimentary cooking utensils, and an open fire. 
 
 By dint of much labour and perseverance, how- 
 ever, I managed in the end to prepare a very decent 
 dish of eggs and bacon, with hot rolls, and strong 
 steaming coffee. Schomburgk grunted approval 
 when he came to partake of it, and afterwards was 
 quite genial, despite the affair of the missing Messa. 
 " Feed the brute ! " I forget the name of the tact- 
 ful woman who first gave our sex that very excellent 
 piece of advice, but she knew what she was talking 
 about. She had studied men, and to some purpose. 
 
 An hour later our truant cook turned up. He 
 explained that just prior to starting on trek with 
 us he had married a young wife, and having regard 
 to her attractiveness and inexperience he had, on 
 mature reflection, deemed it inadvisable to leave 
 her behind. He had therefore gone back to fetch 
 her, borrowing the bicycle and the sovereign for 
 that purpose. 
 
 By dint of cross-examination I elicited that he 
 had not left our previous camp until midnight. 
 He had therefore cycled twenty-five miles to Kamina, 
 and the same distance back again, plus the eighteen 
 miles we had marched that morning, or nearly 
 seventy miles in all in rather less than nine hours, 
 a wonderful performance for a native, and on a 
 native road. 
 
 55 
 
STARTING "ON TREK" 
 
 I asked him about his wife. " Oh," he replied, 
 " she come presently. She walking." 
 
 Sure enough she turned up that afternoon, having 
 trudged the whole distance from Kamina, forty- 
 three miles. When I saw her I did not blame Messa 
 for not caring to leave her behind. She was as 
 pretty a girl, for a native, as I ever wish to see. 
 Fourteen or fifteen years old, probably, but quite 
 fully developed and beautifully proportioned, with 
 a pair of roguish alluring eyes, and a face all smiles. 
 She accompanied us throughout the trip, and proved 
 herself quite an acquisition. 
 
 As for Messa, we ought of course to have chided 
 him severely. But, as a matter of fact, we were so 
 exceedingly glad to get him back again that but 
 little was said to him at the time. Later on, how- 
 ever, he was taken pretty sternly to task, and 
 warned that any similar breach of discipline would 
 in future be very seriously dealt with. 
 
 56 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 I FORGOT to say that shortly after leaving 
 Kamina, at a village called Ana, we were over- 
 taken by another caravan convoying a Euro- 
 pean, a certain Dr. Berger, who was travelling 
 up-country as far as Sokode, with a view to vac- 
 cinating the natives there. 
 
 The meeting came about in this wise. On 
 arriving at Ana, we discovered that the rest-house 
 there was already occupied by a Mr. Lange, an 
 engineer, who was building a bridge across the Ana 
 river. 
 
 He was away at work when we got there, and 
 Schomburgk sent his (Lange's) boy to tell him of 
 our arrival. Presently Lange turned up, looking 
 rather perplexed, and not a little worried. The 
 statement made to him by his boy, it appeared, 
 had been couched in the following terms : " Master, 
 two white men have arrived, and one of them looks 
 like a woman." 
 
 Lange had guessed from this the identity of 
 our party, for he had known Schomburgk during 
 his previous trip, and had heard of his re-arrival 
 in the colony, and of my presence there with him. 
 His worried appearance, we found out, was due to 
 the fact that he had practically run out of pro- 
 visions just then, and so was unable to show us the 
 
 57 
 
ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 hospitality he would have desired ; and he was 
 greatly relieved when we asked him to be our guest 
 during our stay at Ana. I may add that this was 
 Schomburgk's invariable practice, and I have often 
 heard him inveigh against the thoughtlessness some- 
 times shown by a certain type of globe-trotting 
 European travellers in Africa in planting themselves 
 upon other Europeans, sometimes for days together, 
 and eating up food which is perhaps badly needed, 
 and may be very difficult to replace. Of course 
 hospitality under such circumstances is never re- 
 fused. It is the unwritten law of the bush that 
 white man shares with white man. But all the 
 same there are times when it works hardly on the 
 individual who does the sharing. 
 
 Well, luncheon was served and eaten, and we 
 were enjoying our coffee and cigarettes, when a 
 new lot of carriers hove in sight. 
 
 " Hullo ! " remarked Lange to Schomburgk, 
 " this looks like a white man's caravan " ; and the 
 two fell to discussing the foolishness of the in- 
 dividual, whoever he might be, in travelling thus 
 during the heat of the day. 
 
 Presently the owner of the caravan, the Dr. 
 Berger mentioned above, turned up, looking very 
 hot and tired. Of course we made him welcome 
 — it is wonderful how bush life makes one relish 
 the advent of a white stranger— and we spent a 
 very pleasant time together during the rest of 
 the day. 
 
 He was the most even-tempered man as re- 
 gards his dealings with the natives that I have 
 ever come across. Nothing that they did or said 
 seemed to disturb him in the least. 
 
 58 
 
ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 Curiously enough, although he was a Government 
 official, he was travelling unprovided with an inter- 
 preter ; and he himself, of course, understood no 
 word of any of the native dialects. 
 
 When he wanted anything he simply asked his 
 boy for it, addressing him at considerable length and 
 with much circumlocution in German. Now this 
 boy, whose name by the way was Joa, had been 
 specially engaged by the worthy doctor because 
 he had represented himself to be a fluent German 
 scholar. 
 
 As a matter of fact, beyond a few phrases that 
 he had learned to repeat parrot-like, he knew nothing 
 whatever of the language, and the result of their 
 joint efforts to make themselves understood was 
 laughable in the extreme, and was not rendered 
 the less amusing owing to the fact that the doctor 
 would not allow our interpreter to intervene to 
 straighten out the verbal tangle. He wanted, he 
 said, to train his boy to understand German 
 sufficiently well to minister to his wants. 
 
 As a result we nearly laughed ourselves into fits 
 over scenes like the following, repeated at intervals, 
 and with variations, all through the day. 
 
 " Joa," the doctor would say, " my friends 
 would like a whisky and soda, and I myself could 
 do with a drop. A small modicum of alcohol, Joa, 
 after the day's march, certainly does no harm to 
 a white man, and may conceivably do him good. 
 Therefore, Joa, you may bring us a syphon of soda, 
 please, together with a bottle of whisky " ; and the 
 doctor would imitate in dumb show the process of 
 drawing a cork out of a bottle. 
 
 " Yah ! " Joa would say, his face all one broad 
 
 59 
 
ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 grin ; and off he would go to his master's tent, 
 to return presently with — a telescope. 
 
 " Now, Joa," the doctor would remark genially, 
 " a telescope is a very good thing in its way, but 
 one cannot drink telescopes, Joa. What we now 
 want, Joa, is a whisky and soda, especially the soda." 
 And he would start to imitate the pressing down 
 of the lever of a soda-water syphon. 
 
 A new light would then break on Joa's face. 
 " Ah ! Yah ! " he would cry, and trot off again, 
 to reappear a minute or so later carrying with due 
 care and circumspection his master's double-bar- 
 relled rifle, loaded, and at full-cock. 
 
 And so the pantomime would proceed, master 
 and man both in the best of tempers, until at last, 
 perhaps at the fourth or fifth attempt, perchance 
 at the tenth or twelfth, the native would hit upon 
 the right article, either by accident, or by the 
 slower process of elimination. 
 
 Whereupon the doctor would smile gravely yet 
 pleasantly at us, as if in mild reproof of our un- 
 seemly mirth, and remark : " There you are ; with 
 time and patience one can achieve anything, even 
 in Africa and with African natives." 
 
 On the morning after this little episode we rose 
 at three o'clock in order to cover the next stage, 
 as far as a place called Njamassila, before the worst 
 heat of the day began. This, I may say, was our 
 usual practice henceforward ; as it is, indeed, that 
 of all old seasoned travellers in this part of the world. 
 
 The distance from Ana to Njamassila is roughly 
 about twenty miles, and the road in places is not 
 particularly smooth. It was too, of course, quite 
 dark when we started, so that altogether I was 
 
 60 
 
ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 not particularly sorry when Schomburgk decreed 
 that I was to do the first part of the journey in 
 my hammock. 
 
 In this way I was carried about two-thirds of the 
 stage. Then, when it got light, I climbed out, 
 mounted my bicycle, and rode the remainder of 
 the distance. It was rough going, and very cold 
 at first, but I persevered, rather reproaching my- 
 self for my earlier laziness. When, however, I dis- 
 covered on arriving at Njamassila that our doctor 
 friend had elected to be carried the whole of the 
 way, I went to the other extreme, shook hands 
 with myself, metaphorically speaking, and plumed 
 myself mightily on my " wonderful " exhibition of 
 hardihood and endurance. " I intend to cycle the 
 whole of the next stage," I told Schomburgk. 
 
 Alas, my pride in this respect, and on this occa- 
 sion, was of the kind that goes before a fall. Whether 
 or no it was due to my unwonted exertions of the 
 previous day — I had done a lot of running about on 
 foot besides the cycling— I cannot say, but the fact 
 remains that when we struck camp at 2.30 next 
 morning I felt so weak and dizzy, as well as stiff 
 and sore, that I could hardly stand. 
 
 Under the circumstances there was nothing to 
 do but to seek refuge in my hammock once more, 
 where, snuggled beneath many rugs and wraps 
 designed to keep out the cold night air, and lulled 
 by the rhythmic swaying of the conveyance, I 
 promptly fell sound asleep. 
 
 It seemed to me that I had hardly closed my 
 eyes more than a very few minutes, when I was 
 awakened by hearing Schomburgk angrily inquiring 
 of the hammock boys why they were standing idle, 
 
 6i 
 
ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 and whereabouts was I. " Master," they repHed, 
 " she is inside asleep, and we feared you would be 
 angry did we wake her." 
 
 All this I heard dimly as in a dream between 
 sleeping and waking. Lazily I lay back, too com- 
 fortable even to raise myself on my elbow and peer 
 out ; but I was beginning to wonder what was the 
 reason for the long delay, and how soon we were 
 going to resume our journey, when the sound of 
 Schomburgk's voice, once more raised in protest, 
 roused me into instant and complete wakefulness. 
 
 It was me he addressed this time, and his words 
 were as follows : 
 
 " Come, little lady ; are you not going to get 
 up?" 
 
 " But why should I get up ? " I replied. " What 
 time is it ? Where are we ? " 
 
 " It's eight o'clock," he answered, " and we are 
 at Agbandi." 
 
 " What ! " I screamed ; and, pulling the cur- 
 tains aside, I bounced out on to the ground. 
 
 What I saw made me rub my eyes with amaze- 
 ment. Before me was a new rest-house, and a 
 village that I had never seen before, and prepara- 
 tions for breakfast were, I could see, well under 
 way. Only then did I realise that I had slept right 
 through the entire twenty-mile stage from Njamassila 
 to Agbandi. 
 
 In the afternoon, after the worst heat of the day 
 was over, we strolled down to the village. There 
 was very little to see, however, and we were on the 
 point of returning to our camp, when there suddenly 
 confronted us from out of one of the huts the tallest 
 and biggest man I have ever seen, either in Africa 
 
 62 
 
Reproduced from Cinematograph Films 
 
 1. A Konkombwa Giant 
 
 2. Paying Carriers in Salt 
 
 3. The Old King of Paratau dancing before 
 
 the Camera 
 
 4. A live alarum clock. A cock which accom- 
 
 panied the expedition, and roused them 
 every morning 
 
 5. Boy Scouts 
 
ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 or out of it. He stood over eight feet high, and was 
 very broad and immensely powerful, the muscles 
 bulging out under his skin like bosses of beaten 
 bronze. 
 
 We would have liked to have filmed him, but 
 unfortunately we did not have our camera with us. 
 Later on, however, we unearthed another giant, of 
 scarcely inferior size, and him we did succeed in 
 photographing, Schomburgk meanwhile standing 
 beside him to show the contrast in size and height, 
 and lifting and displaying at intervals the big 
 man's various personal paraphernalia —his bow and 
 arrows, his spear, and the ciu-ious iron rattle which 
 all the Togo natives carry, and concerning which I 
 shall have more to say presently. 
 
 Our next stage was from Agbandi to Blita, and 
 at this latter place we were met by a fresh lot of 
 carriers, men of the Kabure tribe, who had been 
 sent down from Sokode to meet us. Our other 
 carriers were sent back to Atakpame. 
 
 The Kabures inhabit the Trans-Kara country, 
 and are, as a rule, fine strong men, but the lot we 
 got were rather poor by comparison with the 
 Atakpame people. However, they carried our be- 
 longings to Sokode all right, which was all we wanted 
 of them. 
 
 They were absolutely the wildest-looking lot of 
 natives I had yet come in contact with. There 
 were ninety of them altogether, and they were all 
 quite nude— not even a loin-cloth amongst the lot 
 of them. Their dialect, too, was quite different 
 from anything I had heard up till now. It sounded 
 to my ears more uncouth and uncivilised, a mere 
 succession of grunts and gurgles. 
 
 63 
 
ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 Here, too, I realised for the first time that my 
 personal appearance might possibly inspire fear, 
 or even disgust and aversion, for when I went into 
 the market-place in the afternoon to have a look 
 round as usual, the children fled screaming with 
 terror, and even their mothers looked askance at 
 me. I did not mind the latter so much, for I had 
 already discovered that the women dwelling in these 
 remote bush villages were not always very pleasant 
 companions to have in too close proximity to one. 
 They are apt to be — well, smelly. But I felt really 
 hurt at the attitude of their offspring, for I am 
 very fond of children, and they of me, as a rule, 
 and in Kamina we had been great chums together. 
 But then in Kamina there were always white people 
 about, whereas I was the first white woman, at all 
 events, that these nude little ebony imps had ever 
 set eyes on. Consequently, I suppose, they re- 
 garded me as a sort of pale-faced bogey, to be 
 avoided promptly, and at all hazards. 
 
 I slept again in my hammock during our march 
 from Blita to our next halting-place at Djabotaure. 
 This sounds a bit lazy, I must admit ; but then it 
 has got to be borne in mind that this moist, hot 
 West African climate is exceedingly enervating, 
 especially to a European woman, and to an unac- 
 climatised European woman at that. Spend an 
 hour or so in the Palm House at Kew Gardens, and 
 you will get a faint idea of what it is like. The 
 least exertion during the daytime causes one to 
 break out into a profuse perspiration. Worse still, 
 it seems to sap all one's energy and vitality, so that 
 one feels like a wet rag from morning till night. 
 To fight against it is well-nigh impossible. I used 
 
 64 
 
ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 to go to bed tired, and wake up more tired. After 
 a while, however, these symptoms entirely wore off, 
 and I became quite strong and well, despite the 
 heat and the constant travelling. Truly the human 
 machine is marvellously adaptable. 
 
 It was at Djabotaure that I had quite a little 
 adventure. I was taking my usual afternoon stroll 
 through the village, the men being out in the bush 
 shooting for the pot, when suddenly, from just out- 
 side, and in the opposite direction from where I 
 had entered it, there arose a most terrific noise of 
 tom-tomming, mingled with much shouting, the 
 clattering of rattles, and the trampling of horses. 
 
 I stood stock still in the middle of the village, 
 not quite knowing what else to do, and in a few 
 minutes a group of five horsemen, looking very 
 fierce and wild, galloped up and halted before me, 
 and these were followed by others, who took up 
 positions to right and left. Meanwhile, our inter- 
 preter, who had put in an appearance for once just 
 when he was really wanted, had mutually intro- 
 duced us, so to speak, and the foremost horseman 
 dismounted and greeted me with stately courtesy. 
 I was, he remarked, the first white woman he had ever 
 seen ; and having seen me, he trusted that he would 
 live to see many more. Not a bad compliment for 
 a nearly naked savage to pay one off-hand in the 
 heart of the African bush ! 
 
 The newcomers were, the interpreter explained, 
 a chief and his retinue from a neighbouring village, 
 and they had ridden into Djabotaure in order to 
 take part in the festivities that precede the great 
 Mohammedan fast of Ramadan. 
 
 This, as most people are aware, corresponds 
 
 65 E 
 
ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 » 
 
 roughly to our Lent. It is supposed to commemo- 
 rate the first " revelation " received by Mohammed, 
 and during the entire four weeks that the fast lasts 
 a strict Moslem may not eat or drink, smoke or 
 bathe, smell any perfume, or even swallow his own 
 spittle, till after sunset. 
 
 All this, however, is pure theory, so far as 
 regards the Togo native Mohammedans. They cer- 
 tainly celebrate the festivities which usher in the 
 fast with a tremendous enthusiasm— they kept us 
 awake all night with their singing and dancing — 
 and they are equally enthusiastic over the bairam 
 festival which marks its close. But as regards the 
 actual fast itself, I could not see that it made any 
 difference to them whatever. They ate, drank, 
 and smoked just as they always do ; the real 
 truth, of course, being that these people are Mo- 
 hammedans in name only. 
 
 The day following this affair we marched as far 
 as Andasi, our next halting-place, I still travelling 
 in my hammock. I had not yet become acclima- 
 tised, and was very weak and languid. For some 
 reason, too, my relays of hammock boys on this 
 occasion proved themselves altogether incompetent, 
 a most unusual thing. They swung me from side 
 to side, tipped me this way and that, and only 
 grinned idiotically when I complained. It was 
 like being out in a small boat in a gale, and I really 
 felt quite " sea-sick " during the last few miles. 
 
 The next morning we started at 3 a.m., in 
 full moonlight, to cover the last twenty miles to 
 Sokode, which is one of the largest and most im- 
 portant Government stations in this part of Togo. 
 Wonderfully beautiful are the moonlight nights in 
 
 66 
 
ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 Africa, whether, as was the case now, one is on a 
 comparatively open road, or following one of the 
 native tracks that disclose, with each fresh twist 
 and turn, some new vista of silvery enchantment. 
 The grey, mysterious bush takes on, under such 
 circumstances, a hitherto undreamt-of beauty. The 
 many clumps of tropical vegetation in the frequent 
 open glades one encounters, stand out clear-cut and 
 still, looking like white metal trees fragilely carved 
 out of frosted aluminium. 
 
 At eight o'clock in the morning we reached a 
 spot about four miles from Sokode, where our 
 horses were waiting for us in charge of a young 
 European, Mr. Kay H. Nebel. Up to this point 
 I had travelled, after quitting the rail-head, en- 
 tirely by bicycle and hammock ; now it was to be 
 principally horseback riding. 
 
 Mr. Nebel had been attached to Major Schom- 
 burgk's former expedition in the capacity of staff 
 artist, and had been left behind at Sokode in charge 
 of spare stores and equipment when Schomburgk 
 had quitted that place on Jime 1, 1913. I knew 
 him fairly well, having met him in Hamburg, where 
 my home is. 
 
 It seemed passing strange to renew the acquaint- 
 ance out here in the African wilds. The sleek, 
 well-groomed young fellow I remembered had de- 
 veloped into a typical bushman. His face, neck, 
 and arms were burnt and blackened by the sun 
 to a very deep mahogany colour. He wore a huge 
 cowboy hat, beneath which his long hair fell almost 
 to his shoulders, h la Buffalo Bill. His flannel 
 shirt was open at the throat. He looked wonder- 
 fully picturesque, and also marvellously disreput- 
 
 67 
 
ATAKPAME TO SOKODE 
 
 able, a sort of cross between a typical grand-opera 
 brigand and a Western American desperado, as 
 depicted on the cinema films in New York and 
 London. 
 
 After mutual greetings and explanations we 
 pitched a tent, made a hurried toilet, and changed 
 our clothes, in order to arrive somewhat clean in 
 Sokode, where we found awaiting us a welcome 
 luncheon, the outcome of kindly forethought and 
 hospitality on the part of Mr. Kuepers, the Govern- 
 ment schoolmaster at the station. 
 
 At Sokode we remained resting during the heat 
 of the day. After which we struck off at right 
 angles into the bush to a village called Paratau, 
 distant about four miles from Sokode. 
 
 Here it was our intention to make a rather 
 prolonged stay, in order to film a number of 
 dramatic, and some ethnological scenes. 
 
 68 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 IN THE CAPITAL OF TSCHAUDJOLAND 
 
 PARATAU, where our camp was situated, is 
 the residence of Uro Djabo, the paramount 
 chief of the important Tschaudjo tribe. 
 Uro means " king," and it is indeed virtually as 
 King of the Tschaudjo that Djabo is recognised, 
 and subsidised, by the German Government. 
 
 In Togo it is customary for white strangers to 
 visit a really big chief like this before proceeding 
 to the Government rest-house, and although I was 
 very, very tired. West African etiquette had to 
 be observed. 
 
 I found the Uro a most charming host, and 
 although he was old and fat, and his personal 
 appearance, therefore, was not particularly im- 
 posing, he managed somehow to convey the idea 
 of dignity, and the power and ability to command. 
 He received us in great state, surrounded by a big 
 bodyguard of officials and personal attendants, 
 conspicuous amongst the former being his prime 
 minister, Mama-Sugu, an exceedingly tall, well- 
 proportioned, and fine-looking man. In his turban 
 he looked quite young ; in fact, I made a mental note 
 of his age as probably about thirty. Afterwards, 
 however, he removed it, and I then saw that he was 
 grey-headed and partially bald. Probably he was 
 about fifty, but this estimate is, of course, only 
 
 69 
 
IN THE CAPITAL OF 
 
 approximate, for natives keep no records of their 
 birthdays, and have only the most hazy notions, 
 consequently, as to how old they really are. 
 
 Governments are not remarkable for gratitude, 
 but the German Government has certainly good 
 reason to be grateful to Uro Djabo, since it was to 
 his father and predecessor that it practically owes 
 its possession of Togoland. When the famous Dr. 
 Kersting, the founder and pioneer of northern Togo, 
 first entered the country, he found it inhabited 
 by many distinct and warlike tribes, continually 
 fighting with one another. 
 
 Following in a small way the example set by 
 Cortez in Mexico, and by Clive in India, he allied 
 himself with the strongest and most warlike of the 
 lot, the Tschaudjo to wit, and he and the old Uro 
 between them practically subdued the whole country, 
 and placed it under the German flag. 
 
 In the course of our somewhat prolonged stay 
 at Paratau I had several chats with Uro Djabo, 
 and he used to hold forth at length, through an 
 interpreter, of course, concerning the former power 
 and greatness of the Tschaudjo people. They were 
 originally it appeared a conquering tribe, like the 
 Masai and the Zulus, and they swept down from 
 the north many years ago, devastating the country 
 as they advanced. They came riding on horses, and 
 as these animals had never before been seen in Togo- 
 land, the terror they inspired almost sufficed by 
 itself to ensure the defeat of the aboriginal owners 
 of the soil. 
 
 Djabo also showed me over his "palace," a 
 collection of circular huts of various sizes, arranged 
 in irregular zigzag fashion, and connected by a 
 
 70 
 
TSCHAUDJOLAND 
 
 wall. The principal hut, which was very much 
 bigger and higher than any of the others, contained 
 the entrance-hall and stables, and was surmounted 
 by an ostrich egg, the emblem of royalty. 
 
 At the other extremity of the space enclosed by 
 the huts and connecting wall a crested crane was 
 kept. Uro Djabo attached very great importance 
 to this bird. It was, I was informed, sacred ; and 
 anyone killing it, or otherwise interfering with it, 
 would be very severely punished. The crane knew 
 quite well that it was privileged, and it used to 
 strut up to the cooking-pots when the natives were 
 at dinner, and help itself to any choice morsel that 
 took its fancy. Any ordinary bird acting after this 
 fashion would have promptly had its neck wrung, 
 for hardly anything upsets a West African native 
 more than a liberty taken with his food. But 
 directly the crane appeared, they would all draw 
 away from their cooking-pot, and patiently wait 
 until he had finished helping himself before resuming 
 their meal. I tried hard to get Uro Djabo to tell 
 me all about this bird, but he always avoided the 
 subject, and when I pressed him, he refused point- 
 blank. Nor did anyone else seem inclined to say 
 anything about it, beyond telling me, in awe-struck 
 whispers, that it was the Uro's ju-ju. 
 
 Djabo, as I have already intimated, kept up 
 considerable state for a native. He was always 
 accompanied by his band, mostly drum, with one 
 or two reed-like instruments ; and by his prime 
 minister, sword-bearer, personal servants, and the 
 like, all elaborately attired in Arab dress. Thus, 
 when one day we asked the old fellow to our house 
 for afternoon tea, he came with a retinue of about 
 
 71 
 
IN THE CAPITAL OF 
 
 twenty followers, completely filling the small com- 
 pound. He was, however, a most democratic sort 
 of a king. When, for instance, he helped himself to 
 a biscuit, he first took a bite, then handed it round 
 for everybody else to have a nibble at it. When 
 Schomburgk gave him a cigar, all his attendants 
 smoked it after him in turn, each taking two or 
 three big whiffs before passing it along to the next 
 in waiting. I never saw a cigar smoked by so 
 many people, or last so short a while, for each native 
 tried to draw into his lungs as big a modicum of 
 smoke as he possibly could, so that it was burned 
 away and done with in no time. Djabo meanwhile 
 chatted and joked with all and sundry. In fact, 
 the only difference discernible between the king 
 and his subjects was that he sat in a chair, while 
 the others squatted on the ground. 
 
 Subsequent to this visit, Djabo received me alone 
 in his palace, and introduced me to his wives. I 
 saw about twenty of them. Two or three were 
 young girls, and fairly presentable ; but mostly 
 they were old, fat, and ugly. After the reception 
 was over I complimented him, not upon the beauty 
 or intelligence of his wives, but on the fact of his 
 being able to afford so many of them, for this is 
 West African etiquette. " Oh," he replied lightly, 
 " this is nothing. I have hundreds more scattered 
 up and down the country." 
 
 Among other presents that Djabo had received 
 from the Government at one time and another was 
 a large and very substantial garden chair. It was 
 of extremely ordinary appearance, and quite out of 
 keeping with the surroundings of the African bush ; 
 but old Djabo was inordinately proud of it, and even 
 
 72 
 

TSCHAUDJOLAND 
 
 went to the length of keeping a chair-bearer, whose 
 sole duty it was to look after this one piece of 
 furniture, and to carry it about to wherever his 
 master went. This was a source of difficulty to 
 us when we came to film his Majesty, for he would 
 insist on being photographed seated in it, a pro- 
 ceeding which, of course, would have rendered the 
 picture worthless from our point of view. Even- 
 tually, however, after many palavers, and the 
 present of a piece of silk stuff, he consented to 
 dispense with it for that one occasion. 
 
 There is a big native market at Paratau, and 
 food is very cheap. Eggs, for instance, can be 
 bought at the rate of eight a penny. Lemons 
 are a farthing a dozen. A fine plump pigeon costs 
 threepence. These sums represent, of course, very 
 much more to a native than they do to a Euro- 
 pean ; but even allowing for the difference in the 
 value of money, I came to the conclusion that the 
 average Tschaudjo man or woman could, if they 
 choose, live far better at a much cheaper rate 
 than can the average labouring man of, say, 
 England or Germany. Certainly the majority of 
 those I met appeared to be well fed and contented. 
 
 I have alluded elsewhere to the skilful riding of 
 the Tschaudjo horsemen, and one of the objects of 
 our stay at Paratau was to film them. In this we 
 succeeded perfectly. In fact, I was myself im- 
 mensely pleased, and even surprised, at the faithful 
 realism of the scene when I came to see it after- 
 wards in London on the screen. Everybody was 
 very much taken by the clever equestrian feats 
 performed by the Arabs at the International Horse 
 Show at Olympia last year. But there were only 
 
 73 
 
IN THE CAPITAL OF 
 
 a few picked men. We were able to film a much 
 greater number of the genuine wild horsemen of 
 the Sudan, and to film them, too, at home among 
 their native surroundings. 
 
 By the way I am frequently reminded here, as 
 elsewhere, that I am the first white woman to in- 
 trude her presence among these primitive people. 
 The women shrink from me, or look askance, and 
 the children run screaming in terror away from me. 
 Once I got the interpreter to inquire of one sweet 
 little lassie of about nine or ten why she had run 
 from me. He brought the child before me, but for 
 a long time she would not say a word. She just 
 stood still, with eyes downcast, and trembling in 
 every limb. 
 
 At length she looked quickly up, and shot a 
 hard, swift question at the interpreter. 
 
 " No ! No ! No ! " was his reply. " Of course 
 not. Stupid little one! Why do you think such 
 things ? " 
 
 I asked him what the child had said. He 
 answered that she had asked whether, if she spoke 
 the truth, I was going to flog her. 
 
 " Tell her," I said, " that, on the contrary, I 
 will make her a present." 
 
 He translated my promise, whereupon the girl, 
 after one quick half-inquiring, half-doubting glance 
 at me, rapped out something that sounded short, 
 solid, and authoritative, like the rat-a-tat-tat of a 
 door-knocker. 
 
 Then it was the interpreter's turn to take refuge 
 in silence. He absolutely declined to translate 
 what she had said, saying that it was too dreadful, 
 was quite unfit for me to hear, &c. &c. 
 
 74 
 
TSCHAUDJOLAND 
 
 " Very well," I said at last, " I will go and tell 
 Major Schomburgk that you refuse to perform your 
 duties." 
 
 Whereupon the poor man, driven into a corner, 
 blurted out the message, running his words alto- 
 gether in his confusion and excitement. " The 
 impudent little wench says," he rapped out, " that 
 shefearstolookuponyoubecauseyouaresougly." 
 
 I had to laugh. I simply could not help it. 
 But my mirth had a slight— a very slight— tinge of 
 bitterness in it. To be told to my face that I was 
 ugly ! And by this naked little ebony imp. 
 
 Well, men, I reflected, had not found me un- 
 comely. And even from my own sex — supremest 
 test of all — I had listened to words of appreciation, 
 and even of admiration upon occasion. So I play- 
 fully pinched the cheek of my little critic, and 
 sent her away happy in the possession of a gaudy- 
 coloured silk handkerchief. 
 
 This incident broke the ice, so to speak, and soon 
 I was on the best of terms with practically the 
 entire juvenile population of Paratau. They dis- 
 covered that I was not really an ogre, as they had 
 imagined at first. But I could not prevail upon them 
 to admit that I possessed any claim upon their 
 admiration, whatever I might have upon their 
 gratitude. " Am I really and truly ugly ? " I one 
 day asked a little boy, a dear little chum of mine. 
 " Really and truly you are, dear Puss," he replied, 
 with childish frankness. " But," he added in ex- 
 tenuation, and as a balm perhaps for my wounded 
 feelings, " you cannot help that. The good God 
 made you so, did he not ? We cannot all be black 
 and beautiful." 
 
 75 
 
IN THE CAPITAL OF 
 
 Projecting my mind into theirs, and trying to 
 think as they thought, I have come to the conclu- 
 sion that they regarded me much as a white child 
 regards a black golliwog— a something to be fright- 
 ened of at first, and yet cherished because of its 
 strangeness and uncouthness. Only in their case 
 the golliwog was alive, and so all the more 
 fearsome until experience had shown them its 
 harmlessness. 
 
 After spending about ten days in Paratau, I 
 began to feel my health breaking down. Our camp 
 was pitched close to the old Government station, 
 and the site was by no means an ideal one. My 
 hut, like the others, was close, very stuffy, and 
 almost unventilated. It had no windows, and it 
 was built of the usual wattle and daub, which is all 
 right when fairly fresh, but when old, as this was, 
 it is apt to give off a sickly, mouldy odour. Then, 
 too, there were the smells from the native village 
 —anything but pleasant. While to crown all, the 
 entire place was surrounded by dense fields — ^you 
 might almost call them plantations — of guinea corn, 
 fifteen to twenty feet high, which effectually shut 
 out any breath of air. Not, however, that this 
 mattered so very much ; for the harmattan season 
 had now set in, and the hot, palpitating air was 
 filled with an impalpable yellow dust, like fog, so 
 thick that one could look straight into the sun at 
 mid-day without hurting one's eyes. 
 
 One result was that I suffered from almost in- 
 cessant headaches. Yet I did not like to com- 
 plain, for we were now in the middle of a new drama, 
 and I knew that Schomburgk had set his heart on 
 
 76 
 
TSCHAUDJOLAND 
 
 completing it at as early a date as possible. But 
 sometimes, after rehearsing from seven till eleven 
 in the broiling heat, in cowboy dress, and with 
 crowds of perspiring niggers for supers, I felt that 
 I must drop in my tracks from sheer physical 
 exhaustion. 
 
 The climax came one day when I had to enact 
 the heroine in a scene where Nebel, who was sup- 
 posed to be a fugitive from justice, was galloping 
 away across the mountains, and I after him, fol- 
 lowed by twenty or thirty Tschaudjo horsemen. 
 Nebel kept turning round in his saddle and firing at 
 me. The horsemen behind were emitting a series of 
 the most blood-curdling yells. And between them 
 they frightened my horse, so that it bolted, and 
 headed straight for the brink of a fairly high cliff, 
 with a lot of rocks and broken ground at the 
 bottom. 
 
 Greatly alarmed, I threw away my revolver, and 
 using both hands, and all my strength, I tried my 
 hardest to pull up my frightened steed. He was a 
 grand horse, the best in Sokode, and he and I were 
 great friends. Ordinarily, I could do anything with 
 him, but now he was simply mad with terror, and 
 I was entirely powerless to even check appreciably 
 his wild race towards what appeared to be certain 
 death for both of us. 
 
 Nebel tried his best to stop him by grabbing at 
 his bridle as we flew past him, but the runaway 
 swerved violently, nearly unseating me then and 
 there. The next instant he leapt wildly into the 
 air over rocks and boulders, and I gave myself up 
 for lost. 
 
 n 
 
IN THE CAPITAL OF 
 
 As luck would have it, however, he alighted on 
 almost the only patch of moderately soft ground 
 that there was anywhere in the vicinity. A yard 
 to the left, a yard to the right, were masses of jagged 
 rocks, and had he come down on these I should 
 almost inevitably have been killed. As it was he 
 stumbled, recovered himself, stumbled again, and 
 again recovered, and then stood stock still, 
 streaming with perspiration and trembling in every 
 limb. 
 
 I was, of course, riding astride ; luckily for 
 me. Had I been in a side-saddle, I do not see 
 how I could by any possibility have retained my 
 seat. As it was I was badly bruised and shaken, 
 and this, coupled with the shock to my nerves, 
 so aggravated my previous indisposition that I 
 collapsed. 
 
 " I must go away, and at once," I told Schom- 
 burgk that evening, "or I feel that I cannot 
 recover." 
 
 To his credit be it said, Schomburgk was most 
 sympathetic. He saw that matters were serious, 
 and although the hour was late, he sent a special 
 messenger to Sokode to tell the authorities there 
 how things stood, and to ask for their assistance. 
 With a promptitude and kindness that I can never 
 forget, the German Government officials set to work 
 at once, collected a hundred carriers from their 
 own working staff, and sent them over to us the 
 first thing in the morning, in order that we might 
 be able to start straight away for Aledjo-Kadara, 
 the sanatorium of Togo. 
 
 An hour later we had left our pretty but 
 
 7S 
 
TSCHAUDJOLAND 
 
 unhealthy camp at Paratau, and were on the 
 march for the highlands on which Aledjo stands 
 —the Switzerland of Togo as grateful invalids 
 from the sweltering lowlands have enthusiastically 
 christened it. 
 
 79 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 ALEDJO-KADARA— THE SWITZERLAND OF TOGO 
 
 THE march from Paratau to Aledjo-Kadara, 
 or Aledjo, as it is generally called for short, 
 was a very tedious one, and took us two 
 days. One reason for this was that the men so 
 kindly provided for us by the officials at Sokode 
 were ordinary station labourers and not used to 
 carrying; consequently they made but slow 
 progress. 
 
 I was carried all the way to our camp at Amaude 
 by hammock, reaching there at two o'clock, accom- 
 panied by Schomburgk as escort, but it was getting 
 dark before the rest of the caravan turned up, 
 shepherded by Nebel and Hodgson. They had had 
 a terrible time with the men, and at one period 
 during the worst heat of the day they had almost 
 given up hope of accomplishing the stage at all. 
 The poor fellows staggered in under their loads in 
 a terrible condition, some of them so utterly col- 
 lapsed that I could not bear to look at them. The 
 baggage was only got up at all, Nebel informed us, 
 by requisitioning the help of the natives —other 
 than carriers— who accompanied the caravan in a 
 permanent capacity. Even the interpreters, and 
 our personal boys, had to take turns in carrying 
 loads, greatly to their disgust, for these people con- 
 sider themselves to be on a higher plane altogether 
 
 80 
 
ALEDJO-KADARA 
 
 than the porters. It was as if one should ask the 
 office staff at, say, a big contractor's place of busi- 
 ness, to doff their black coats and white shirts, and 
 start in to shovel clay or carry bricks. 
 
 As for me, I felt more dead than alive on arrival. 
 My head ached terribly ; not the ordinary head- 
 ache of civihsed climes, which if painful is at least 
 endurable, but a burning, throbbing, rending tor- 
 ture, that seemed at times as if it would drive me to 
 the verge of insanity. The heat, the dust, and the 
 added anxiety as to the whereabouts of the caravan, 
 made matters worse. There was no proper rest- 
 house ; only a tumble-down hut, dirty and evil- 
 smelling, into which, however, I was glad to crawl 
 and seek refuge from the blinding glare outside. 
 After a while I fell asleep, and awoke feeling much 
 better, but ravenously hungry. As, however, the 
 carriers had not yet arrived, there was no food 
 available, and by the time they did turn up I 
 was nearly dead with hunger. This was not sur- 
 prising, as I had had nothing to eat for twelve solid 
 hours, from six o'clock in the morning until six 
 o'clock at night. When the kitchen boxes did at 
 last put in an appearance, we lost no time. The 
 cook was put upon his mettle, and in rather less 
 than a quarter of an hour we were doing full jus- 
 tice to a glorious meal of delicious little Frankfort 
 sausages, tinned vegetables, and potatoes, washed 
 down — this was an extra special treat — by a bumper 
 of champagne, which had been kept cool in bottle 
 by being wrapped in wet blankets. Afterwards I 
 crawled into my hut, wrapped myself in a horse- 
 rug, and with a saddle for a pillow, I cried myself 
 to sleep. My last thoughts were, I remember, of a 
 
 8i F 
 
ALEDJO-KADARA 
 
 most doleful character. I wished most fervently 
 that I had never come to Africa ; I was quite sure 
 that I was going to die out there in the wilds, and 
 I even contemplated seriously cancelling my con- 
 tract and insisting on returning to Europe. 
 
 Next morning, however, I awoke feeling very 
 much better, and all the dark misgivings of the 
 night before were completely dispelled as soon as 
 I stepped out into the glorious air of the early 
 African dawn. The men, I discovered, had slept 
 out in the open all night, it having been too dark 
 to see to pitch the tents when the last of the carriers 
 with the heavy baggage had straggled in, and the 
 boys too utterly exhausted into the bargain. They, 
 however, like me, were feeling much better, and we 
 made a good start ; I on horseback, as I felt that the 
 exercise in the open air was preferable to the stuffy 
 hammock, and might help towards my recovery. 
 
 Nor was I mistaken. We were now leaving the 
 lowlands, and mounting upwards, and ever up- 
 wards, by a winding serpentine mountain road, and 
 after the first few miles I could feel my health 
 and strength coming back almost with every yard 
 we progressed. I was not destined to reach Aled- 
 jo, however, without further mishap. Misfortunes, 
 they say, seldom come singly, and it was most cer- 
 tainly so on this occasion as regards myself. 
 Schomburgk and I had cantered on ahead of the 
 caravan, and on reaching a little native village we 
 called a short halt, in order to rest awhile and allow 
 the carriers to come up. Our two horses were 
 tethered close together, and out of sheer devilment 
 Schomburgk's horse edged back behind mine and 
 bit him on the tail. He lashed out with his hind 
 
 82 
 
THE SWITZERLAND OF TOGO 
 
 feet at his offending mate, and, fearing further 
 trouble, I went up to stroke him, and try to pacify 
 him. Usually I could do anything with him. He 
 would follow me about the camp like a dog, whinny- 
 ing for sugar, and poking his soft nose about my 
 shoulders and bosom. But on this occasion no 
 doubt he was angry and terrified, and the moment 
 I laid my hand on his flank he lashed out with both 
 hind feet, kicking me in the calf of the leg, and 
 sending me flying head over heels clean off the 
 path and into the middle of a small corn patch. 
 Half-stunned and dazed, I tried to pick myself up, 
 but foimd that I could not stand. The pain in my 
 injured leg was awful. I never experienced any- 
 thing like it in my life. Schomburgk and the others 
 thought that it was broken, and were naturally 
 very much concerned, since it would have taken 
 at least a week to get a doctor up. They tried to 
 get my riding-breeches off, but I could not stand the 
 agony, and had to beg of them to desist. Mean- 
 while our boys stood round in a circle, muttering 
 " Poor Pussy ! Poor little Pussy ! " and showing 
 in their black countenances the concern they felt 
 at my sufferings. I was greatly touched. 
 
 After about an hour the pain began to abate, 
 and I was able to endure the removal of my riding- 
 breeches. Then, to my great relief, I discovered 
 that the limb was not fractured, but terribly 
 bruised and swollen. Luckily the horse was not shod, 
 or one or more bones would almost inevitably have 
 been broken. The poor beast was not to blame, 
 and as showing how sorry he was for what he had 
 done, I may mention that for fully a week after- 
 wards he would shrink away and hang his head 
 
 83 
 
ALEDJO-KADARA 
 
 whenever I approached him. He seemed to know 
 that he had unwittingly caused me pain, and no 
 doubt if he could have spoken he would have told 
 me how he had let fly on the spur of the moment, 
 without looking round, not knowing that it was 
 me, but imagining it to be the other horse, intent 
 on inflicting further annoyance. 
 
 When we at length reached Aledjo, the boys, 
 owing to our being delayed by the above incident, 
 had got there before us, and had begun prepara- 
 tions for camping. Now we had heard on the way 
 up that there was a very nice, large dining-table 
 in the Aledjo rest-house, and as dining-tables in the 
 African bush are rare luxuries, affording a wel- 
 come change from the usual ricketty folding things 
 carried in a caravan, we naturally looked for it the 
 first thing on our arrival. To our surprise it was 
 nowhere to be seen, and on inquiring we discovered 
 that it had been calmly annexed by Messa, our 
 cook, who had carted it over to his kitchen, and 
 arranged all his pots and pans on it in beautiful 
 apple-pie order. He was greatly chagrined and 
 annoyed at having to submit to their being all 
 dumped unceremoniously on the ground, and the 
 table returned to its proper place. We dined oft it 
 later in state, and enjoyed an extra good meal owing 
 to the thoughtful kindness of the good fathers of 
 the Aledjo Roman Catholic Mission, who sent us 
 over a supply of fresh vegetables, a treat which 
 only a prolonged course of tinned stuff enables one 
 to appreciate fully. 
 
 The next day I felt as fit as a fiddle as regards 
 my bodily health, although my leg still pained me 
 somewhat. It is simply marvellous the difference 
 
 84 
 
THE SWITZERLAND OF TOGO 
 
 a few thousand feet of elevation seem to make in 
 equatorial Africa. From out of the depths of a 
 steaming cauldron, so to speak, one is transported 
 in the course of a few hours to a region where the 
 air seems as pure and bracing as that of, say, the 
 Austrian Tyrol. Of course it isn't. It is the force 
 of contrast. If a European could be transported 
 straight from such a climate to that which prevails 
 in the dry season at Aledjo, he would probably 
 laugh to scorn its claim to be entitled the Switzer- 
 land of Togo. But to poor, jaded me, it was as 
 the very elixir of life itself. 
 
 And it is not the climate only. Aledjo itself is 
 a beautiful place, and beautifully situated on a lofty 
 plateau nearly 3000 feet above the level of the sea. 
 Here Dr. Kersting has built for himself an ever- 
 lasting monument. Foreseeing how in time it would 
 be needed, he laid out the place as a health resort 
 for Europeans, and built beautiful roomy and airy 
 rest-houses overlooking a wide expanse of plain and 
 mountain, the plain in front, the mountains behind. 
 
 These Aledjo rest-houses consist of a series of 
 enormous round huts, connected by covered corri- 
 dors. All the rooms are very large, and have big 
 windows and doors, so that the fresh air can come 
 in everywhere. The dining-room especially is big 
 enough for a circus to perform in. And what de- 
 lighted me perhaps more than all was that there 
 were the very finest set of stables for our horses 
 that I had seen anywhere in Africa. 
 
 In time Aledjo is bound to become a place of 
 considerable importance. Already there is in course 
 of erection there a fine Catholic Mission Station. 
 I am not a Catholic myself, nor is Schomburgk, but 
 
 35 
 
ALEDJOKADARA 
 
 nevertheless we became great friends with the good 
 fathers who were there superintending the work. 
 We dined together nearly every night, and organised 
 jointly some sports — ^target shooting and so forth — 
 which were very well attended. 
 
 We also utilised our stay here to film what after- 
 wards proved to be one of our very best dramas. 
 We called it The Outlaw of the Sudu Mountains^ 
 and in the beginning we merely intended to use the 
 play as a sort of setting for the beautiful scenery 
 aroimd Ale d jo, much of which is, as I have already 
 intimated, grand beyond description. When, for 
 example, the harmattan is not in evidence, and the 
 atmosphere is consequently clear, one can see right 
 away to the Bassari Mountains, and the lofty out- 
 standing peak of Mafakasa, meaning " Long Gim." 
 At night, too, when the moon is shining as only it 
 does in the tropics, the landscape takes on a new, 
 mysterious beauty, on which I was never tired of 
 gazing. Other nights, when there was no moon, 
 the grass fires lit up the country for miles around, 
 so that I thought I had never seen anything so 
 awe-inspiring and magnificent. These grass fires 
 are started by the natives at regular intervals 
 during the dry season, as otherwise the country 
 would be covered with an altogether too luxuriant 
 vegetation. It is simply marvellous how quickly 
 nature repairs the ravages of the flames. After 
 two or three days, new green grass shoots up through 
 the ash-covered soil, and clothes the whole of the 
 burnt areas with a beautiful carpet of verdure 
 three or four inches high, on which the antelope, 
 and other small four-footed game, feed greedily. 
 The natives call this " the sweating of the coimtry," 
 
 86 
 
THE SWITZERLAND OF TOGO 
 
 a most expressive phrase. The flames did not as 
 a rule sweep onward with a wide front, but ate 
 broad streets and roads, as it were, through the 
 bush ; and we used to amuse ourselves after dinner 
 of an evening by making imaginary comparisons 
 between these fiery thoroughfares and places we 
 knew. " There is the Strand," we would say, 
 "and over there the Unter den Linden. Yonder 
 are the long-drawn-out lights of the Thames Em- 
 bankment, and that is the Boulevarde des Italiens. 
 This is the White City, that is Earl's Court, and so 
 on." It was all very amusing, and served to recall 
 memories of home and friends, and of happy hours 
 spent in far different surroundings. Later on, I 
 may add, when our caravan had to make long 
 detours to avoid these same grass fires, I was not 
 so greatly in love with them. Our horses, however, 
 were not in the least frightened of them, which was 
 one comfort. They would even gallop through some 
 of the lesser ones, and seemed to have a perfectly 
 marvellous knack of finding openings in the ad- 
 vancing line of dancing flames, through which they 
 trotted unconcernedly. The reason for this is, of 
 course, that these African horses have been used 
 to grass fires all their lives. An animal fresh from 
 Europe would probably go wild with terror, if con- 
 fronted with one for the first time. 
 
 We evolved the plot of the Outlaw film 
 practically on the spot, and I have very good 
 reason to remember it, for while playing in it I 
 met with yet another of those mishaps which seem 
 to be inseparable from the profession of cinema 
 acting. Briefly the story of the play is as follows. 
 A white man is outlawed from amongst his fellows, 
 
 87 
 
ALEDJO-KADARA 
 
 and takes to the bush, living as a native amongst 
 the natives. Prowling about one day in the vicinity 
 of a settlement, he approaches a farmer's homestead, 
 and is ordered off by the farmer's wife — myself. 
 Cursing and threatening, he goes away to his lair 
 in the hills, where he has collected together a lot of 
 black scalliwags, of whom he is the self-elected chief. 
 He sits apart on a knoll, brooding over the slight 
 that has been put upon him, and vowing revenge. 
 
 His chance comes sooner than he had anticipated. 
 From his eerie in the hills he sees me walking along 
 a lonely path, decides to kidnap me, and does so, 
 carrying me, struggling wildly, to his lair, over 
 steep and dangerous mountain tracks. Part of the 
 way led along the brink of a precipice, where the 
 foothold was extra precarious, but of course I had 
 to keep on struggling and squirming, as obviously 
 a robust young woman of two-and-twenty is not 
 going to submit to be abducted in this rough-and- 
 ready fashion without making a fight for it. 
 
 It was this that was the cause of the accident. 
 The camera man was grinding away at his machine, 
 and calling out " Capital ! Capital ! Keep it up ! 
 Keep it up ! " while Schomburgk sat a little way off 
 on a rock out of range and beamed approval. Every- 
 thing, in short, was going on first-rate, when sud- 
 denly Nebel, who was playing the part of the outlaw, 
 stumbled over a boulder that lay in his way. At 
 the same moment I, over-anxious perhaps to do 
 perfect justice to the situation by making it as 
 realistic as possible, gave a more than usually 
 energetic wriggle. The result was that he lost his 
 balance completely, and we tumbled head over 
 heels on the very brink of the precipice. As the 
 
 88 
 
Reproduced from Cinematograph Films 
 
 r. Hair-dressing 
 ?, 3. Baby's Bath 
 
 4. Better than the Tango. A curious bumping dance 
 
 5, 6. Scenes from " The White Goddess " 
 
?7s 
 
 '•»>•• c 
 
THE SWITZERLAND OF TOGO 
 
 scene had been originally mapped out, he ought 
 to have been carrying me in his arms. But he had 
 insisted that this was not the way an outlaw would 
 carry off a woman, and had hoisted me across his 
 shoulder. As a result, when he fell, I flew clear of 
 him, and landed within less than a foot of the edge 
 of the cliff. Had I gone over, it goes without saying 
 that I should most certainly never have played in a 
 cinema drama again. As it was, I was cut and 
 bleeding, and pretty badly bruised, but my pro- 
 fessional instinct caused me to ask almost auto- 
 matically as they picked me up, " What sort of a 
 picture did it make ? " As a matter of fact, except 
 that it did not show the depth of the precipice, 
 it made a very good one, for the operator had 
 never ceased all the while turning the handle of his 
 machine. Nothing short of an earthquake, and a 
 pretty big earthquake at that, would, I am con- 
 vinced, upset the equanimity of a cinema photo- 
 grapher to the extent of making him stop grinding 
 away at his beloved camera. 
 
 Whether it was the effect of this little upset or 
 not, I am unable to say, but the fact remains that 
 soon afterwards Nebel got homesick, and gave out 
 that he must return to Europe then and there. So, 
 as we still had to film one or two scenes in our 
 Odd Man Out drama, in which we wanted him to 
 act, we went to a place called Bafilo, only about 
 eight or nine miles from Aledjo, where we had 
 previously decided to act them. I might mention 
 here that all the dramas we played in Togo 
 were entirely the work of Major Schomburgk, 
 who wrote the scenarios, produced them, and 
 also acted in all of them. The germ idea of The 
 
 89 
 
ALEDJO-KADARA 
 
 White Goddess of the W angora, however, was given 
 him by Mr. L. Dalton, a young London journalist. 
 
 We had a tremendous reception at Bafilo, the 
 Uro and all his people turning out to do us honour. 
 It was very flattering, no doubt, but all the same 
 I could not help wishing that they would not be 
 quite so demonstrative. The din was simply ter- 
 rific, and the heat and the clouds of dust together 
 were well-nigh overpowering. 
 
 The station at Bafilo is perched on a plateau, 
 with a sheer drop down to the native town, which is 
 a very large one ; and here one night, soon after 
 our arrival, I was witness to a scene that at the time 
 made a deep impression on me. It was pitch dark, 
 no moon, but millions on millions of stars twinkling 
 like points of fire out of a coal-black sky. We were 
 sitting on a sort of platform, which Dr. Kersting 
 had had built on the extreme edge of the plateau, 
 jutting out over the valley. The native village, or 
 rather the cluster of native villages that constitute 
 Bafilo, lay beneath us, but for all that we could see 
 or hear of them they might have had no existence. 
 Neither sight nor sound came from the depths to 
 indicate that hereabouts were the homes of many 
 thousands of people. 
 
 I had just commented upon this strange and 
 altogether unusual stillness, when there was borne 
 upwards on the night air a curious, almost uncanny, 
 sort of rustling sound, like the sudden soughing 
 among trees of a newly-awakened wind, and which 
 yet had something human about it, as of a vast 
 multitude bestirring itself uneasily. Then, all at 
 once, in every village for miles around, thousands of 
 lighted torches twinkled into being, and a chorus 
 
 90 
 
THE SWITZERLAND OF TOGO 
 
 of delighted shouts burst from as many savage 
 throats. 
 
 It was the beginning of the festival of Bairam, the 
 great Mohammedan period of rejoicing which marks 
 the end of the fast of Ramadam, mentioned in a 
 previous chapter. From what I heard and saw, I 
 am quite sure that the Bafilo people paid little or 
 no attention to the fast, but they certainly let 
 themselves go on the festival. Many of them threw 
 the torches that they carried high in the air, so that 
 they resembled very much a flight of rockets. And 
 they seemed to vie with one another in running 
 swiftly about with them all over the place. Even- 
 tually they all converged at a level spot just outside 
 the principal village, where the half-burnt torches 
 were thrown together in a huge heap, making a 
 very presentable bonfire. One has only to remem- 
 ber that the Moslem festival of Bairam commemo- 
 rates the offering of Isaac by Abraham on Mount 
 Moriah to appreciate the significance of this bonfire. 
 But of that these savages knew naught. It was to 
 them just an occasion for merry-making. Had they 
 known of the word they would doubtless have 
 called it a " beano." All that night, at intervals 
 when I awoke, I heard the weird negro music, and 
 the singing of men and women. It sounded not 
 unmusical — ^heard afar off. 
 
 We were kept very busy filming at Bafilo. 
 First we played the scenes in Odd Man Out that I 
 wrote about, so that Nebel could leave for home. 
 These occupied us off and on, and counting the pre- 
 liminary rehearsals, for about a week, from Decem- 
 ber 1st to 8th, on which latter date Nebel left us, 
 with many expressions of regret and best wishes 
 
 91 
 
ALEDJO-KADARA 
 
 on both sides, to start on his journey down to the 
 coast. 
 
 One incident of this drama caused us a good 
 deal of amusement. Nebel, acting the part of 
 the brutal husband, had to throw a plate at my 
 native boy ; and in order to get exactly the right 
 expression we decided not to tell him anything 
 about it beforehand. The result was eminently 
 satisfactory from our point of view. Hodgson 
 having been previously warned to have his camera 
 in readiness, Nebel pretended at breakfast-time 
 one morning to find fault with his porridge — 
 served purposely cold for the occasion — and seizing 
 hold of the plate and contents he hurled them at 
 the boy, who was standing behind my chair. I 
 never saw a native so completely flabbergasted in 
 my life. His whole face, attitude, and manner 
 expressed unbounded amazement, not unmixed 
 with fear. I take it that he imagined that Nebel 
 had suddenly gone mad. For perhaps half a minute 
 he remained rooted to the spot. Then he turned 
 and ran as fast as his legs could carry him to the 
 shelter of the cook-house. Of course the nature 
 of the incident was explained to him later on, 
 whereat he laughed heartily, quite entering into the 
 spirit of the joke. 
 
 After disposing of the Odd Man Out drama, we 
 started on some industrial films, and these I found 
 extremely interesting. Among others we took, 
 was a series showing the various processes in the 
 native cotton industry from start to finish. A 
 great deal of cotton is grown round about Bafilo, and 
 the people are exceedingly clever in cultivating it, 
 preparing it, and making it up into garments. 
 
 92 
 
THE SWITZERLAND OF TOGO 
 
 First we filmed the cotton growing in little 
 plots, or fields, which the natives clear from time 
 to time, in the midst of the virgin bush, and 
 where it was being tended and picked by the 
 native girls. Then we photographed one by one 
 the various processes, such as ginning, spinning by 
 means of hand-worked spindles manipulated by 
 the women, dyeing, and so on, down to the final 
 process of weaving the cloth on the queer, old- 
 fashioned native hand-looms, the pattern of which 
 has been handed down unchanged probably for 
 thousands of years^J These looms are most curious, 
 and likewise extremely primitive. The cloth can 
 only be woven on them in strips about four to 
 five inches wide, and these have afterwards to be 
 laboriously sewn together by hand in order to 
 make of them whatever garment is required. The 
 native tailors are, however, marvellously expert 
 with their needles, the stitches they put in being 
 so tiny, and so close together, and the thin strips 
 of cloth so evenly matched, that at a little dis- 
 tance the finished garment appears as if it had 
 been woven in one piece. 
 
 \ The ginning is done by hand, and mostly by 
 the women and girls, who tease it out very finely 
 and quickly. In other parts of Togo, however, 
 I have seen the natives acccomplish this same 
 process even more expeditiously by rolling it on a 
 stone. The skeining is done by boys. Men every- 
 where undertake the important work of weaving, 
 with the one exception that there exists at Bafilo 
 a sort of class, or guild, of women weavers. These, 
 however, work on quite different principles, and 
 with altogether different looms, to those used by 
 
 93 
 
ALEDJO-KADARA 
 
 the men ; and the cloth, instead of being woven 
 in narrow strips, is made all in one piece, and of 
 practically any width. It is a sort of primitive 
 home industry, occupying women in their spare 
 time, and is carried on inside their hu^ When 
 we wanted to film one of these women weavers 
 at work, we had to get her to bring her loom out 
 from her hut, and set it up in the open. I may 
 add that theseQ workers' guilds are common in 
 Togo, not only amongst women, but to an even 
 greater degree amongst men. They are very strict 
 and conservative as regards the qualification for 
 admission to membership ; and as regards their 
 aims and objects, they correspond in some respects 
 to our European trade unions, while in other 
 directions they approximate very closely indeed 
 to the caste system of India:) 
 
 The dyeing is also women's work, a beautiful 
 dark blue colour being obtained from a prepara- 
 tion of native indigo. f1\Iost interesting of all 
 from my point of view was the process of spinning. 
 The hand-worked spindles are merely hard round 
 sticks, which are inserted through a hole drilled 
 in a flat disc — more rarely pear-shaped — of soft 
 stone, or of clay baked hard, the weight of which 
 helps to keep the spindle revolving, and also re- 
 gulates its speed — performing, in fact, the functions 
 of the governor of a steam-engine. The women, 
 who do all the spinning, are marvellously expert 
 with this exceedingly primitive contrivance. 
 Resting one end of the spindle in the hollow of 
 a calabash placed upon the ground, and sanding 
 their fingers from time to time so as to get a grip, 
 they make it revolve evenly and rapidly, and 
 
 94 
 
Beadmaking : A Native Industry discovered by the Author 
 
 1. Ordinary palm nuts 
 
 2. Are cracked on a stone 
 
 3. The cracked shells are smoothed with water 
 
 between two stones 
 
 4. Holes are drilled in the cracked and 
 
 smoothed pieces 
 
 5. Then strung together 
 
 6. And the whole string made round and 
 
 smoothed with the help of a stone and 
 mud and water 
 
 7. The bead belt is put on over the head 
 
 8. And worn as a hip ornament by the women 
 
THE SWITZERLAND OF TOGO 
 
 seemingly with little or no exertioivJ Sometimes 
 one sees a woman revolving the spindle on her 
 knee. A white woman trying the experiment 
 would probably succeed in drilling a hole in her 
 knee-cap, that is, if she continued the experiment 
 for any length of time, but the skin of a native 
 woman's knee is calloused by continual kneeling 
 to almost the consistency of bone. I have occa- 
 sionally, too, seen a spinner of more than ordinary 
 dexterity throw the spindle away from her, and 
 draw it back by the thread, keeping it revolving 
 in the air all the while. 
 
 Another industry which we filmed, and one 
 which, so far as Schomburgk could discover, is 
 peculiar to the district, I can lay claim to be the 
 discoverer of. I was out one day after butter- 
 flies, when I came unexpectedly on a number of 
 girls busily engaged, by the banks of a little 
 stream, in grinding and polishing a number of 
 small objects, the exact nature of which I could 
 not at first determine. Inquiry revealed the fact 
 that they were palm nuts, out of which they were 
 manufacturing artificial pearls to make up into 
 waist-belts. By marshalling a bevy of the girls 
 together, and setting them to work, we were able 
 to secure a number of most interesting photo- 
 graphs of their unique industry, showing the whole 
 process, from the first cutting of the nuts, drilling 
 the holes, stringing the " pearls," and so on, down 
 to the moment when the native belle, broadly 
 smiling her manifest delight, puts the finished girdle 
 round her ample waist. 
 
 I quite forgot to mention that while we were 
 at Aledjo, Nebel went out one day and shot a 
 
 95 
 
ALEDJO-KADARA 
 
 " dog monkey," otherwise a baboon. It was as 
 big as me, and looked so human that I could not 
 bear to gaze upon it. In the evening I inquired 
 casually what had become of the carcase, and 
 was informed that our boys had cooked and eaten 
 it. I shuddered. To me it seemed only one 
 remove from cannibalism. Another queer little 
 animal we shot here was called a rock-rabbit. 
 It was exactly like a rabbit as to the body, but 
 its feet reminded me very much of an elephant's 
 hoofs. 
 
 96 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 AMONG THE BAFILO FOLK 
 
 BESIDES the films mentioned in the last 
 chapter, we also took advantage of there 
 being an unusually large market at Bafilo 
 in order to photograph a series of unique moving 
 pictures of this side— a very important one — of 
 the natives' daily life. It was my business, as 
 well as Hodgson's and Schomburgk's, to be con- 
 stantly on the look-out for fresh scenes and in- 
 cidents in this connection, and between us we 
 managed to secure a complete representative 
 collection. 
 
 To mention but a few of them. In one film 
 boys are seen bargaining for supplies of native 
 sweets, made from flour and wild honey. Pay- 
 ment for these toothsome delicacies, it may be 
 mentioned, is made in cowrie shells, coined money 
 being very rarely used. The value of these shells 
 varies, according to distance from the coast, diffi- 
 culty of transport, and so on, from about 2500 
 to the shilling up to as few as 1000. In Bafilo, 
 they were worth about sixpence a thousand. In 
 another film we showed a native barber shaving 
 a baby's head, in accordance with native custom. 
 The baby was held tight in the mother's arms, 
 during the operation, which it did not seem to 
 relish at all, for it kicked and screamed the whole 
 
 97 G 
 
AMONG THE BAFILO FOLK 
 
 while. After it was over I asked the woman the 
 reason of the custom. " How else would you 
 keep the lice from feeding on its little scalp ? " 
 she asked in evident surprise. We also photo- 
 graphed boys engaged in gambling for cowries at 
 a curious kind of native game, the equivalent, 
 I suppose, to our pitch and toss. Only in Bafilo 
 there are no policemen to interfere with the urchins 
 or mar their enjoyment. The kind of dour puri- 
 tanism that is so prevalent in England — and in 
 parts of Germany, too, for that matter — would find 
 but little encouragement among the Togo people. 
 It was at Bafilo, too, that we filmed a most curious 
 native dance, performed entirely by women and 
 the principal feature of which consisted in violently 
 bumping one another with that portion of their 
 anatomy on which boys are birched at school. 
 It was a most strange and mirth-provoking spectacle, 
 but the women take this particular dance very 
 seriously, and will continue at it for many hours 
 at a stretch, encouraged by the loud yells of 
 approval from the spectators that invariably follow 
 an extra hard bump, and by the terrific tom-tom- 
 ming of the native band. In yet another film, 
 vultures are seen acting as scavengers ; while hard 
 by warriors are engaged in mimic sword-play. 
 The manufacture of leather mats, an industry 
 peculiar to the place, was also filmed — together 
 with basket-making from the stalks of the palm 
 leaf, which we photographed from start to finish. 
 The finished articles are sold for a sum approxi- 
 mating in value to one farthing apiece. 
 
 There are many wild animals in the bush round 
 Bafilo, but the hyenas are the most trying. At 
 
 98 
 
AMONG THE BAFILO FOLK 
 
 Paratau we had heard these noisy brutes at a distance, 
 but here they came quite close up. Night after 
 night, one's rest was broken and disturbed by them. 
 I used to get up and throw empty bottles and 
 things out of the window to drive them away, much 
 as one scares off the nocturnal domestic cat at 
 home ; but, though they would slink off for a 
 while, they always came back again. Some nights 
 were worse than others. I remember, on one 
 occasion, there seemed to be a regular pack of them 
 prowling round the huts, and their fierce howls 
 sounded quite terrifying. Next morning, Hodg- 
 son, who slept in a detached hut some distance 
 away from those occupied by the other members 
 of our party, turned up at breakfast looking un- 
 usually pale and hollow-eyed^ and, on inquiring, 
 we found that he had been sitting up all night 
 with his revolver fearing an attack. Presently 
 Nebel put in an appearance —it was just before he 
 left for Europe that the affair happened— and 
 remarked casually to Hodgson that he had been 
 imable to sleep for the noise, and had at one time 
 been on the point of coming round to his (Hodg- 
 son's) hut for a chat. " Good job for you, you 
 didn't," replied Hodgson, wearily. " I should 
 most likely have shot you. My nerves were in 
 such a state that I am quite sure I should have 
 let drive at any living thing [only he didn't say 
 living] that had come to the door of my hut 
 in the dark." 
 
 There were also numbers of scorpions about the 
 place, and snakes, although for a long time I did 
 not see any of the latter. In fact, one evening 
 when we were sitting outside our hut on some 
 
 99 
 
AMONG THE BAFILO FOLK 
 
 stones, chatting and enjoying the cool night air, I 
 remarked generally to the men-folk that I did not 
 believe one half of the many snake yams they 
 were in the habit of telling one another from time 
 to time. " Here I have been at this place for a 
 whole week, and nary a snake," I remarked. " I 
 don't believe that there are any." Hardly were the 
 words out of my mouth, when one of the boys 
 standing near darted forward to where I was 
 seated, and started lashing furiously with a stick 
 at something on the ground at my feet. It proved 
 to be a puff-adder, one of the most poisonous 
 reptiles to be found in the whole of Africa, and 
 its deadly fangs were actually within a foot or so 
 of my lightly covered ankles at the very moment 
 when I was deriding the existence in Bafilo of him 
 or any of his species. 
 
 Curiously enough, too, a somewhat similar in- 
 cident occurred here in connection with a leopard ; 
 and this also took place in the evening. The men 
 had been talking about these animals, and of 
 how plentiful they were, until their stories rather 
 got on my nerves. " Oh, bother your leopards," 
 I cried. " I don't believe there is one within a 
 hundred miles." I spoke in jest of course, and 
 looked towards Schomburgk expecting him to 
 laugh. Instead, he held up a warning hand, as 
 if to enjoin silence, while with the other he pointed 
 to what looked to me like a black shadow slinking 
 slowly past where we were sitting, and not more 
 than five or six yards distant. " A leopard ! " 
 he whispered. Hodgson and I both laughed, 
 thinking he was joking, and that what we had 
 seen was probably nothing more dangerous or 
 
 ICO 
 
AMONG THE BAFItO FOLK ri.:^ 
 
 uncommon than a native dog. We were sitting 
 outside our hut as usual, and without a Hght, for 
 the night, though dark, was fine and warm. But 
 Schomburgk was quite sure, and he called up the 
 native boys, who lit lamps, and there, sure enough, 
 clearly discernible even to my inexperienced eyes, 
 in the soft sand, was the spoor of a big, full-grown 
 leopard. He must have come our way from the 
 village, climbed up on to the plateau, spotted us, 
 and slunk off between the huts, and so escaped. 
 When we came back from examining the spoor, 
 Hodgson, said to me, remembering our former 
 experience with the snake : " Well, you're a pro- 
 phetess the wrong way about ; only say you don't 
 believe in elephants, and I'll go and load my gun." 
 
 From the 10th to the 13th of December, I 
 suffered from a relapse of fever, and had to lay 
 up, but during the rest of the time, as I have said 
 before, we were kept pretty busy. There were 
 seven horses to look after, and I usually super- 
 intended their early morning toilet myself, taking 
 my coffee by the stables at six o'clock. Every 
 afternoon we went riding, and the mornings were 
 devoted to acting, or filming ethnological subjects. 
 One thing, there was no lack of supers for our 
 dramatic scenes at Bafilo. Once, when we asked 
 for fifty negroes, fully a thousand turned up. 
 Naturally they all wanted to be taken on, and 
 the noise and clamour they made was simply 
 deafening. 
 
 One day a " woman palaver " caused con- 
 siderable trouble. The word " palaver," I may 
 explain, stands for anything and everything in 
 West Africa. Originally it meant a talk, a formal 
 
 lOI 
 
\H/;t:: AMONG THE BAFILO FOLK 
 
 conference or conversation. Nowadays any hap- 
 pening in the least out of the common is re- 
 ferred to as a palaver. If, for example, you go 
 to buy a horse — ^that is a "horse palaver." Does 
 the cook spoil or steal your rations ? There follows 
 a " cook palaver." And so on. Most frequent of 
 all, however, are the woman palavers, for my fair 
 but frail sex was, I found, the cause of fully as 
 much trouble in Togo as it is generally credited 
 with being elsewhere. Cherchez la femme. 
 
 This particular case began in this way. During 
 the afternoon, while the men were away shooting, 
 a native came from the village to complain that 
 one of our soldiers — we had two as escort pro- 
 vided by the Government — had decoyed away his 
 daughter, a girl of fourteen or fifteen. She had, 
 he said, been sent to the market that morning to 
 buy provisions, and the " soldier " had met her, 
 and induced her to go away with him. I called 
 the soldiers before me, and questioned them jointly 
 and severally, but they both denied most strenu- 
 ously having had anything to say to any girl, one 
 of them adding, with a great show of virtuous 
 indignation, that he had a wife of his own in 
 Sokode. This latter assertion, however, though 
 doubtless correct, did not greatly impress me, 
 because I had only the evening before come across 
 him canoodling one of the native women on the 
 outskirts of the camp. 
 
 While I was trying to get at the bottom of 
 the matter, Schomburgk returned and, on my ex- 
 plaining to him what it was all about, he called 
 Alfred, our chief interpreter, and ordered him to 
 translate the man's story carefully, and word for 
 
 I02 
 
AMONG THE BAFILO FOLK 
 
 word. This, however, Alfred seemed either un- 
 wilHng or unable to do, so we called in the aid 
 of Mseu, another interpreter, who understood the 
 Bafilo dialect better than Alfred did. Mseu heard 
 what the man had to say, and translated it sen- 
 tence by sentence, adding voluntarily, after he 
 had finished, that, in his opinion, the man was a 
 liar. I began to think so myself, for it suddenly 
 occurred to me that the two soldiers had been 
 about the camp practically all the morning, and 
 could not, therefore, have been down in Bafilo, 
 philandering with native girls. 
 
 The man, however, insisted that what he said 
 was correct, and that his daughter was even now 
 concealed in our camp, so we told him to go with 
 Mseu and see if he could find her. This he ap- 
 peared unwilling to do, and Mseu also, but Schom- 
 burgk insisted, and eventually they went off together, 
 to return presently with the girl. This, of course, 
 was a serious matter, as these sort of " women 
 palavers " may easily lead to grave bother with 
 the natives. So we held a sort of informal Court 
 of Inquiry, and went thoroughly into the matter. 
 In the end we found that it was Mseu himself 
 who had taken the girl away. Schomburgk fined 
 the delinquent ten shillings— a big sum to him— 
 to be handed over as compensation to the girl's 
 father, and gave him the option of taking a letter 
 to the Government Commissioner at Sokode, or 
 of suffering personal chastisement at his hands 
 there and then. He promptly chose the latter 
 alternative, and Schomburgk gave it to him 
 soundly. He yelled like a hyena, and screamed 
 for mercy, to the huge delight of our boys, for 
 
 103 
 
AMONG THE BAFILO FOLK 
 
 Mseu was always greatly interested and pleased 
 when anybody else got a hiding. Afterwards I 
 took the girl aside, and gave her a good talking 
 to, but I am sorry to say it seemed to make 
 very little impression on her. To all my ques- 
 tions as to how she came to act in such a wicked 
 manner— for it transpired that she had gone away 
 with Mseu quite willingly — she would only reply 
 in snappy monosyllables, or by that forward and 
 upward thrust of the chin which is everywhere 
 associated with sulky indifference. Once only did 
 she show any sign of interest or animation, and 
 that was when I asked her if she had gone with 
 the man because she loved him. " Love him ! " 
 she cried indignantly. " Indeed no. He is old 
 and ugly. But — he gave me this." And she 
 pointed to a string of common white beads, value 
 perhaps three-halfpence, which she was wearing 
 round her throat. Poor child ! To her they were 
 a rope of rarest pearls, and for ropes of pearls, 
 I reflected, European women, dainty and well- 
 educated and well-bred, have ere now been not 
 unwilling to barter their honour. 
 
 It was at Bafilo that there also occurred another 
 palaver, in which I was more directly concerned. 
 I was out riding one day, when a native lad of 
 about sixteen or seventeen started dancing and 
 shouting in the path in front of my horse. The 
 more I expostulated with him, the worse he went 
 on, and I was afraid that he would frighten the 
 horse, and perhaps cause it to bolt. Luckily, 
 Schomburgk rode up at the crucial moment, and 
 secured the offender, who proved to be dnmk. 
 We handed him over to his chief, who was furious, 
 
 104 
 
•a 0) u 
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 ^ 0) o 
 
 -V (U E 
 
 =:-^ o 
 
 S O W) 
 
 c 3 > 
 ^ t^ S =« 
 
 q ^ j:;j3 
 
 — 0) as 
 S 2 t^ Q.~ 
 
 O S^ ^-s 
 Pi ^ g.S « 
 
 c« ^ «; o "" 
 
 Oii 
 
 s o -w 2 
 2 aJ « ?? 
 
 2 O- E — 
 
 o ^ a. 
 
 U.S 
 
 o O 
 
 ^ S 
 
 < .-^'S 
 
 oS 
 
 •S E 
 
AMONG THE BAFILO FOLK 
 
 and promptly ordered him to be flogged. I waited 
 till he was triced up, then interceded for him, but 
 I had the greatest difficulty in inducing the chief 
 to forego the punishment. I do not know whether 
 the culprit was grateful to me or no — gratitude 
 being, to put it mildly, not a strong point in the 
 character of the African native — but he at all 
 events ought to have been, for a chief's flogging 
 is no joke. 
 
 An endless source of interest to me during our 
 stay in Bafilo were the long strings of natives 
 belonging to different tribes, Losso, Lamantine, 
 etc., from the Kabre Moimtains —semi- wild people, 
 who were travelling back to their far-off homes 
 after going down to do their tax-work at Sokode, 
 or to labour for wages on the railway at Atakpame 
 and beyond. All these people were accompanied 
 by their women to cook their food, and both sexes 
 were absolutely nude ; not even a loin-cloth amongst 
 hundreds of them. Yet, somehow, after the first 
 impression wore off, one saw nothing to cavil at 
 in it. Their black skins seemed quite to do away 
 with the impression of nudity, and their extremely 
 graceful movements, and modest carriage, made 
 their nakedness seem not only natural, but ad- 
 mirable. The women were especially modest in 
 their demeanour, and the younger girls were even 
 painfully shy. If one spoke to them in passing, 
 one might get a swift shy smile in return, accom- 
 panied by a sudden uplifting of the head for a 
 fraction of a second. But if one approached one 
 of them in order to try to converse, they seemed 
 to be absolutely paralysed with fright. Like a 
 startled fawn, they would stand stock-still, and 
 
 105 
 
AMONG THE BAFILO FOLK 
 
 trembling all over, until one was within a yard or 
 so of them, then fly away like an arrow from a 
 bow. Numbers of them carried on their heads 
 big bags filled with salt, the ordinary currency of 
 the Kabre country, and representing probably the 
 wages of the bread-winner for many months. On 
 one occasion a young girl thus loaded stumbled 
 and fell right opposite my hut, the bag burst, 
 and some of the precious salt was spilled and 
 wasted. I felt sorry for her, and went in and 
 got some of our own salt to give to her. But 
 directly I approached her with it, she fled like 
 the wind, after giving one startled scream. How- 
 ever, I went after her, and by the aid of the inter- 
 preter I eventually succeeded in calming her fears, 
 and inducing her to accept my salt. 
 
 Another thing that amused me greatly, al- 
 though I was chaffed about it considerably by 
 Schomburgk and the others ! The son of the 
 richest native in Bafilo took it into his head to 
 fall violently in love with me. There was nothing 
 offensive about his attentions. It was merely a 
 dumb, dog-like sort of devotion. He would sit 
 for hours silently watching me, would run to 
 anticipate my wants, and was constantly bringing 
 me presents, and expecting nothing in return, a 
 thing absolutely foreign to native methods. Poor 
 chap ! I have a pretty little table-cover of native 
 workmanship spread upon the table at which I 
 write these words — ^his parting gift! I can see 
 him now, the tears streaming down his squat ebony 
 face, as I turned in my saddle to wave him a 
 last farewell — a ludicrous sight, and yet somehow 
 pathetic. 
 
 io6 
 
AMONG THE BAFILO FOLK 
 
 By the way, some of the native cloth-work 
 at Bafilo is exceedingly beautiful. I bought a 
 number of specimens of it, among the best being 
 a handsome toga-like garment of hand-woven blue 
 stuff, elaborately embroidered, and which I am 
 now wearing as an opera cloak in London, where 
 it has been greatly admired. It is woven in 
 narrow strips about two inches wide, and these 
 are then sewn together by stitches so small, even, 
 and regular, that they are practically invisible. 
 It cost me £3, 10s., a big sum out there, and to a 
 native, but then it must be borne in mind that 
 one of these cloaks takes about a year to make. 
 
 107 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 ON December the 16th, at five o'clock in 
 the morning, we left Bafilo, where we had 
 been since the first day of the month, and 
 started on trek again, bound for Dako and the 
 north. On the road an incident occurred that 
 upset me greatly. A certain Dr. Engelhardt had 
 died in Togo about three weeks previously of some 
 malignant malady of the fever type. They — 
 Schomburgk and the rest — had given me to under- 
 stand that he died at Sokode. Now it tran- 
 spired that he had really died at Bafilo, and in the 
 very hut and on the identical spot where my bed 
 had stood. They had kept this from me, not 
 wishing to alarm me. Now they thought it a good 
 joke to tell me, and were quite taken aback when 
 I got exceedingly angry. They pointed out that 
 the hut had been thoroughly disinfected. But I 
 was not at all appeased. I said they were cold 
 and callous, and many other things, but they only 
 laughed. 
 
 The distance from Bafilo to Dako is only a 
 little over twelve miles, yet it took us four hours 
 or thereabouts to cover it, the reason being that 
 the road was so bad. It was all up hill and down 
 dale, and covered with big rocks and loose round 
 stones. As a result, I was quite shaken up and 
 
 io8 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 tired on arrival, and the sight of the clean and 
 pretty little rest-house was a welcome one. There 
 was, however, I found, no accommodation for our 
 horses, and we had to tether them all together 
 under a big tree. We took our meals under 
 another tree, and were very comfortable and 
 " picknicky." 
 
 Next day, on to Kabu. The going was even 
 worse than on the previous day. Indeed, I have 
 never experienced anything like it, either before 
 or since. The road, a mere native track, crossed 
 at right angles a continual succession of mountain 
 ridges, with narrow wooded valleys in between, 
 along which in the rainy season rapid streams 
 flowed. To ride down the steep sides of many of 
 these valleys was a sheer physical impossibility. 
 We had to dismount again and again, and scramble 
 down as best we could. Even without their riders 
 the poor horses had hard work to keep their footing 
 at times, and one of them nearly met with a bad 
 accident when crossing one river bed that was not 
 yet wholly dry. He had negotiated successfully 
 the exceedingly steep slope down to the river, and 
 was in the act of crossing, when he somehow got 
 his near hindleg between the root of a big tree and 
 the bank, and nearly broke it. He was our best 
 horse too, and my own for riding purposes, and 
 I was fearfully anxious about him until Schom- 
 burgk assured me, after a careful and prolonged 
 examination, that beyond a straining of the ten- 
 dons, there was no harm done. 
 
 As the day advanced it grew fearfully hot. I 
 kept on asking how much farther it was, and the 
 answer from the interpreter hardly ever varied 
 
 109 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 between " Not far," and " Only half an hour." 
 It turned out to be three full hours from the last 
 " only half an hour," the whole journey occupying 
 from 4 A.M. till 1.30 p.m., so that we were nine 
 and a half hours in the saddle without a break, 
 barring the time that we were climbing and 
 slithering on foot up and down the sides of the 
 valleys. Even the horses felt the strain, and 
 although I had two mounts, and changed them 
 frequently, they were both pretty well knocked up 
 by the time we reached our journey's end. Schom- 
 burgk, who knew beforehand that the stage was 
 likely to be a hard one— although even he did not 
 realise how hard — had strongly advised me, before 
 setting out, to wear my pith helmet. But I, with 
 true feminine perversity, had insisted on donning 
 a big slouch hat of the cow-boy type to which I 
 was partial. I realised my mistake when the sun 
 was well up, but my pride would not let me admit 
 it. The last few miles were the worst. Only my 
 thick hair, I am convinced, saved me from sun- 
 stroke. Once or twice I reeled in the saddle, 
 almost overcome with weariness and the terrible 
 heat. I got, however, but scant sympathy from 
 the men. Schomburgk especially was most rough 
 and unkind, and this was so unlike him, as a general 
 rule, that at length, after one or two half-hearted 
 appeals for sympathy, I got very angry, gritted 
 my teeth, straightened myself in the saddle, and 
 made up my mind to go through with it come what 
 would. Afterwards, when we had camped and 
 rested, he told me that he had acted of set purpose. 
 He had realised that I must be on the very verge 
 of collapse, and knew that if he could succeed in 
 
 no 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 making me angry, I should probably succeed in 
 pulling myself together; while if he started to 
 condole with me, he feared that I might break 
 down altogether. No doubt he was right. Whole- 
 some anger is a good tonic. 
 
 Anyhow, I managed somehow to hold out until 
 our arrival at Kabu. Here the chief's hut was 
 placed at my disposal, there being no rest-house, 
 and throwing myself full length on the horse blanket 
 and with my saddle for a pillow, I slept soundly 
 for a full hour. I woke greatly refreshed, and 
 ravenously hungry. Unfortunately there was no 
 food available, the carriers with the chop boxes 
 not having yet arrived. However, the negroes 
 brought us some big calabashes full of native beer. 
 It was the first time I had ever tasted it, and I 
 am bound to say that I found it both refreshing 
 and sustaining. This was lucky, as we had nothing 
 to eat until six o'clock that night. It is a fer- 
 mented drink made from guinea com, and is, I 
 was told, highly intoxicating if one drinks enough 
 of it. It has a peculiar sweetish sour taste, not 
 at all unpleasant. After my sleep, a wash, and 
 supper, I felt none the worse for our long march, 
 notwithstanding that it was the worst and longest 
 one we ever did. Here for the first time I saw 
 antelope spoor all along the road, but no antelope 
 were visible. We expect, however, to meet plenty 
 before long, as well as other game, for we are now 
 in the heart of wild Africa — no proper roads, only 
 native tracks, and all round us the shadeless, 
 waterless bush. 
 
 Our next day's stage, to Bapure, was a short 
 one. I felt unusually fit and well, and the road 
 
 III 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 being good rode nearly the whole way in a canter. 
 I forgot to say that after Sokode we got a different 
 lot of carriers at each stage ; what are called out 
 here " exchange carriers." These are furnished by 
 the chief of each village, on payment of course, and 
 each day a soldier of our escort was sent on ahead 
 to arrange for the proper number being forthcoming. 
 There is practically no difficulty about this so far 
 as Togo is concerned, although in some other parts 
 of Africa, I was informed, things are very different. 
 On the whole trip we only once had any bother 
 about carriers, but I shall come to that later on. 
 I may add that there are two sides to the exchange 
 of carriers. It has its advantages and its disadvan- 
 tages. One of the principal advantages is that 
 with fresh people each day, one naturally travels 
 faster than with " stale " men. On the other 
 hand, a nucleus of old carriers is to be preferred, 
 because they know the loads, and can consequently 
 pack up very much quicker. Coming up from 
 Atakpame to Sokode it usually took us no more 
 than about half an hour to pack up in the morning 
 and get away, whereas now our exchange carriers 
 take fully three times as long. 
 
 At Bapure, we first came into contact with the 
 Konkombwa, admitted by everybody to be the 
 finest race of savages in Togo. As, however, 
 Bapure is only a border village, the ones we saw 
 here were not, for the most part, pure bred ; and 
 nothing like such fine specimens, consequently, as 
 those we saw farther up country. For this reason 
 I will defer my description of them until later. 
 
 We camped here under a big tree, the roost- 
 ing place of innumerable tame guinea-fowl, who 
 
 112 
 
By permission of MaJ. H. ScJiomburok, F.R.G.S. 
 
 A KoNKOMBWA Warrior 
 
 He is not wearing a helmet, ora cap of some kind, as might be supposed, but his 
 own hair, into which is woven a number of little rings of copper and brass. 
 
 Bj^HMil 
 
 i^H^^^^I 
 
 
 H 
 
 m^f^^m 
 
 ^ 
 
 Camping Out in the Bush 
 
 The authoress is sitting outside her tent, busy at needlework. Note the double awning, the bed 
 with moiquito curtain, the portable washstand on the right, and the chairs and tables all made to 
 fold up into a small compass. This photo was taken at Kugnau. 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 greatly annoyed us by their incessant cackling. 
 The heat in the middle of the day was very exces- 
 sive, and in order to get the maximum of fresh 
 air and the minimum of sunshine, we adopted the 
 expedient of detaching the outer canvas roofs 
 over our tents, and using them as awnings. It 
 was surprising what a difference it made. Be- 
 neath this awning, and still further sheltered from 
 the sun's glare by the thick branches of a big tree, 
 I enjoyed my siesta in perfect comfort and com- 
 parative coolness, whereas when I remained cooped 
 up in the tent, I found it usually impossible to 
 obtain any sleep whatever during the daytime. 
 The fact of the matter is that a tent in the tropics 
 is not at all a desirable kind of dwelling-place. 
 It looks cool, and it sounds cool, but it isn't any- 
 thing of the kind. On the contrary, its interior 
 is almost always stiflingly hot. 
 
 Whilst we were waiting here for our carriers 
 to come up, I was greatly amused by the antics 
 of two travelling coast natives who unexpectedly 
 put in an appearance. They were " beautifully " 
 dressed in what they, no doubt, considered the 
 latest European styles ; broad-brimmed straw hats, 
 short tight trousers, and cut-away coats. As soon 
 as they saw us they came swaggering over to 
 where we were seated. Said Schomburgk : " Where 
 do you come from ? " " From the coast," they 
 replied. Said Schomburgk : " You look it." That 
 was all. But it was enough. The two "culled 
 gentlemen" beat a quick retreat, and for the 
 rest of their stay they left us severely alone ; 
 which was precisely what we wanted. They had 
 two carriers for their belongings, and later on we 
 
 113 a 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 saw them seated back to back on their boxes in 
 the middle of the village street, each reading a 
 book, while a crowd of gaping bush negroes stood 
 round, evidently greatly impressed, and very much 
 amazed at so marvellous a display of erudition on 
 the part of men of their own race and colour. Of 
 course it was all done for effect. 
 
 Although the days in this part of the Togoland 
 Sudan are frequently fearfully sultry, the heat 
 radiates quickly in the thin dry air at this season 
 of the year, and the nights, consequently, are apt 
 to be chilly. On the morning when we left Bapure, 
 for instance, at 5 a.m., it was quite cold, so that my 
 teeth chattered as I dressed myself. A quick short 
 canter, however, soon put the blood into circula- 
 tion. The first part of our journey was along a 
 picturesque native path, just wide enough to allow 
 two people to ride abreast, and bordered on either 
 side by open bush country. About half-way be- 
 tween Bapure and our next halting-place at Gerin- 
 Kuka, however, we crossed a river, the Dakpe, 
 which forms the boundary between the Sokode 
 and the Mangu districts, and immediately found 
 ourselves on a broad, well-kept Government road. 
 I didn't like it at all. The tortuous native tracks, 
 winding in and out, may not be so good for quick 
 or easy travelling, but they possess the charm of 
 the unknown. When riding along them, one is 
 always wondering what new scenery the next 
 turn will disclose. But this wide straight highway 
 where one could see miles ahead. Bah ! There 
 was no more romance or element of uncertainty 
 about it, than there is about Rotten Row. 
 
 However, I was soon to be reminded that, road 
 
 114 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 or no road, I was not anywhere in Europe, but in 
 the heart of savage Africa. We had arrived within 
 a mile or two of Gerin-Kuka, when there suddenly 
 sounded ahead of us a most terrific din, and pre- 
 sently there came in sight an immense crowd of 
 Konkombwa people, who advanced towards us 
 leaping and yelling, and brandishing in the air long 
 bows and barbed arrows— the latter, I was informed, 
 poisoned. It was a most imposing, barbaric sight. 
 The savages, all nude, or nearly so, kept up a 
 chorus of yells, a series of long-drawn and sonorous 
 " ha-ha-has," threw their bows into the air, and 
 dexterously caught them again. And all the while 
 they were dancing and capering, and making swift, 
 short darts forward, as if bent on attacking us. 
 
 I confess to having been a wee bit frightened 
 at first, until Schomburgk assured me that this 
 was merely their way of saluting an honoured 
 guest, and that the honoured guest on this occasion 
 was myself, the first white woman who had ever 
 adventured herself within the confines of their 
 country. I can quite imderstand, however, what 
 a welcome of this description might easily be mis- 
 understood, and possibly lead to complications, as 
 it has, in point of fact, upon occasions, and this 
 not only amongst the Konkombwa, but amongst 
 other more or less kindred people, whose customs 
 in this respect are practically identical. In this 
 connection Schomburgk mentioned an incident that 
 came within his own personal knowledge. It hap- 
 pened some years ago. in what is now the north- 
 western corner of Rhodesia, in the bend of the Kafue 
 River. Here a traveller, who shall be nameless, first 
 came into contact with the Mashukulumbwe. This 
 
 IIS 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 traveller had heard a lot about the fighting prowess 
 of the Mashukulumbwe, in just the same way as I 
 had heard a lot about the fighting prowess of the 
 Konkombwa, and when they came out to greet 
 him, as the Konkombwa came out to greet us, 
 he, like me, grew frightened, and fired and killed 
 one of them. The poor savages, utterly at a loss 
 to understand in what way they had offended, went 
 in a body to the District Commissioner to complain 
 of the outrage, and to ask for redress and compen- 
 sation. They got what they asked, the money 
 payment they received being afterwards recovered 
 from the traveller, who was severely called over 
 the coals for his share in the matter. 
 
 This was the first time I had ever met any 
 real full-blooded Konkombwa, and I was greiatly 
 struck with their appearance. Tall, splendidly 
 proportioned, and of fierce and warlike aspect, 
 they carried themselves with a grace and dignity 
 one could not help admiring. They were great 
 dandies, too, for although they wore no clothes to 
 speak of, many of them had little copper plates 
 woven into their woolly hair, or had their heads 
 surmounted with curious helmet-like head-dresses 
 of cowrie shells, topped by antelope horns. The 
 quivers in which they carried their sheaves of 
 poisoned arrows, too, were beautifully designed 
 and ornamented ; and round their arms, from 
 wrist to shoulder in some cases, they wore bracelets 
 of brass and copper alternating. These were kept 
 brightly polished, and glistened in the sun as they 
 moved, making an extremely effective picture. So 
 I rode into Gerin-Kuka in state, surrounded by my 
 savage escort, dancing, shouting, and leaping. The 
 
 ii6 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 noise made my horse exceedingly restive, and I 
 began to fear that I might be unable to control 
 him, so that I was very glad when, after we reached 
 the confines of the village, they suddenly with one 
 accord stopped shouting, and began to sing, a low, 
 melodious, yet barbaric chant, altogether different 
 from any native singing I had ever heard before. The 
 interpreter explained that it was a song specially 
 composed in my honour, and in which I was told 
 that I was more fair than the moon, brighter than 
 the sun, and more graceful and beautiful than a 
 roan antelope. 
 
 The rest-house at Gerin-Kuka is very large and 
 comfortable, and beautifully clean. It is square, 
 not round, as is usual with the Togo rest-houses, 
 and this in itself was a change. We were its first 
 occupants, which accounted perhaps for its being 
 so altog^her spick-and-span ; although as a matter 
 of fact [the rest-houses all over Togoland are in- 
 variably^ept in first-rate order. Only white people 
 are allowed to occupy them, and it is the duty of 
 the chiefs of the different villages where they are 
 situated, to keep them clean. It must not be 
 imagined, however, that it is only the white 
 travellers whose convenience is studied by the 
 Government in this respect. In the neighbourhood 
 of each of the rest-houses for Europeans, there 
 has also been built a compound for nativesA Maiiy^ V 
 of these compounds are quite imposing-looking 
 places, being, in fact, self-contained villages, com- 
 prising often as many as fifty or sixty round huts, 
 each of which affords accommodation for a native 
 family. The entire compound is called a " songu," 
 and is in charge of a native official called the 
 
 117 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 " sery-chi-songu " (I won't vouch for the spelling), 
 whose duty it is to keep it clean and tidy, and to 
 see that the occupants of the huts sweep them 
 out before they leave in the morning for the next 
 stage of their journey. This sweeping out process, 
 I may mention, is by no means perfunctory, for 
 [the Government insists on cleanliness in regard to 
 the native rest-houses, as well as in regard to 
 those used by the whites^l But it is not by any 
 means an ordeal. There are no brooms provided, 
 but the natives soon improvise one from the 
 branches of the nearest tree, the work — as usual — 
 falUng upon the women, when there are any in 
 the party. \^One penny a day is charged for the 
 use of a hut, the money being collected by the 
 man in charge of the compound. No party is 
 allowed to remain beyond a certain time —usually 
 three days — at any one rest-house, except in case 
 of sickness. One result of the provision of these 
 compounds, and of the roads the Government have 
 caused to be built, is that there has grown up quite 
 a regular system of travel to and fro between the 
 rail-head at Atakpame, and other parts of Togo, 
 and not only are the roads and rest-houses used by 
 the Togoland natives, but those from the northern 
 parts of the British possessions on the one side, and 
 the French possessions on the other, also come 
 down through Togo to the coast, when they wish 
 to make the journey, in order to avail themselves 
 of the facilities provided^ 
 
 It was outside the Gerin-Kuka rest-house, by 
 the way, that I first paid our carriers in salt, 
 the currency in general vogue throughout the 
 Mangu district, where we now are. Each carrier 
 
 ii8 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 received two eupfuls of salt for his day's work, 
 Schomburgk saw nothing extraordinary in this, 
 and rather pooh-poohed the idea when I suggested 
 cinemaing the incident. He consented, however ; 
 and afterwards, when we came to show the films 
 in London, this one created quite a lot of interest. 
 People seemed to find it strange that natives could 
 be found willing to carry heavy loads all day in 
 the broiling sun for what was, from their point of 
 view, so altogether inadequate a remimeration. 
 
 In the afternoon, the Konkombwa, not content 
 with their magnificent reception in the morning, 
 gave a grand dance in my honour. Afterwards, 
 Schomburgk went out into the bush to look for 
 antelope. He had previously told me that he 
 would not be gone more than about an hour or so, 
 and when darkness came on, and he had not re- 
 turned, I grew alarmed for his safety, remembering 
 how easy a matter it is to lose one's way in the 
 African bush. Hodgson kept trying to reassure 
 me, saying that it was quite certain that so old 
 and experienced an African traveller as Schomburgk 
 was would not get bushed. As, however, he had 
 not returned by eight o'clock, I ordered out the 
 soldiers to look for him, and fired several revolver 
 shots to guide him in our direction in case he was 
 anywhere within hearing. I also sent natives out 
 with lanterns, and soon the bush all round Gerin- 
 Kuka was alive with twinkling points of fire. At 
 nine o'clock the truant turned up. He had, he 
 explained, struck some fairly fresh antelope spoor, 
 and, urged on by the ardour of the chase, had gone 
 further afield than he had at first intended. As 
 is the way with men the world over, he was not 
 
 119 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 a bit grateful to me for my thoughtful solicitude. 
 On the contrary, he growled and grumbled, saying 
 that the lights of the lanterns had dazzled and 
 confused him, and so caused him to be even longer 
 on the way than he otherwise would have been ; 
 also that all the unnecessary hubbub and excite- 
 ment had made him look foolish in the eyes of the 
 natives. " I am quite capable of looking after 
 my own safety, thank you," he snapped in con- 
 clusion ; to which I icily retorted that if he thought 
 it was his safety I was anxious about he was 
 mightily mistaken, my only reason for acting as I 
 had done being that I had no ambition to be left 
 stranded alone with a leaderless caravan in the 
 heart of the African wilds. It is perhaps un- 
 necessary to add that after this little passage of 
 arms we parted on not the best of terms that night. 
 Next morning he was all smiles and kindly 
 courtesy, and as I showed by my manner that I 
 had forgiven his boorishness of the previous night, 
 we made a first-rate start. We are now bound 
 for Sansane-Mangu, the northernmost Government 
 station in Togo, by way of Kadjamba and Nali, and 
 are in the heart of the Togoland Sudan. The days 
 are intensely hot, and the nights seem to get colder 
 and colder. This morning, for instance, the f^ost lay 
 thick on the ground, so that we shivered under 
 our thick wraps. These extremes of temperature 
 are very trying. For at least nine out of the twelve 
 hours of sunshine that one gets in these latitudes, 
 the sun pours down scorching rays from a cloud- 
 less sky upon sandy plain and mountain rock, and 
 the whole landscape shimmers and glows like the 
 mouth of the furnace ; but with the coming of 
 
 1 20 
 
By per7n-'ssicn of 
 
 MaJ. H. Scliovibitrgk, F.R.G.S. 
 
 A Woman's Work 
 
 Five phases oi a native woman's life are given here. She brings in the firewood and the water, 
 does the cooking, and attends generally to domestic duties and family cares, whilst her lord and 
 master passes the time in pleasant oblivion under a tree. 
 
 Reproduced from Cinematograph Films. 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 night a sudden chill seems to fall from the stars, 
 the heat radiates rapidly into space, and the mer- 
 cury in the thermometer drops often as many 
 as forty or fifty degrees in hardly more than as 
 many minutes. Of course the above applies to 
 the dry season only. 
 
 On leaving Gerin-Kuka we did not take the 
 main road, but branched off into a side-path 
 which it is only possible to use in the dry season. 
 After riding a few miles, Schomburgk stopped his 
 horse, and, stooping down, called my attention to 
 a small roimd depression, or hole, in the hard 
 clay soil. It looked for all the world as if some one 
 had jabbed the bottom of a bucket deep down 
 into the clay when it was soft, and that the in- 
 dentation so made there had then been left to 
 harden. I looked at it, as he bade me ; but I 
 did not see anything very remarkable about it, 
 and I said so. " Perhaps not," replied Schom- 
 burgk. " Nevertheless, it happens to be an ele- 
 phant's spoor, the first you have ever set eyes 
 on." Of course my interest was aroused at once, 
 and I dismounted in order to examine it more 
 closely. Schomburgk explained that it was an 
 old spoor from the last rainy season. I thought 
 the footprint an enormous one, but Schomburgk 
 said that it was made by quite a small elephant. 
 We followed up the spoor for some little distance, 
 and I received my first lesson in wood-craft, 
 Schomburgk pointing out to me where the beast 
 had stopped to feed, breaking off the branches 
 and uprooting a number of small trees, and where 
 he had stopped to rest for a while. In the rainy 
 season all this part of the country is under water 
 
 121 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 and impassable, and the elephants then come here 
 to feed from the mountain country of the north- 
 east, and from the Kara River region, where, in 
 the " gallery forests," as they are called, there are 
 elephants all the year round. Later on, during 
 the next day's march, we struck this same Kara 
 River, and I saw spoor of hippopotami and buffalo. 
 We also encoimtered immense flocks of guinea- 
 fowl. The flesh of these birds is eatable, but tough. 
 Kadjamba we found to be quite a small village. 
 We could not even get carriers to take us on to 
 Nali, the next stage, but had to keep those we had 
 brought from Gerin-Kuka. There was only a small 
 rest-house, and I slept under my tent, being badly 
 bitten by mosquitoes, which swarmed about the 
 place in countless myriads. Amongst them were 
 numbers of anophele, the carriers of the mala- 
 rial fever microbe. Only the female anophele 
 stings, and she has got to be herself previously 
 infected by the fever germ before she can convey 
 infection to the person bitten. Consequently, 
 anopheles inhabiting densely populated regions are 
 far more dangerous than those found in compara- 
 tively deserted ones, such as we were now in. In 
 and around the big villages practically every 
 anophele is a germ carrier, and capable of breeding 
 infection, while those breeding out in the bush are 
 comparatively innocuous. 
 
 Next day we started at 6 a.m. as usual, and 
 after an hour and a half's ride we reached and 
 crossed the great river Kara, our horses going in up 
 to their saddle-flaps. This river drains the Kabre 
 Mountains, and is one of the main tributaries of 
 the Oti, the big river of Northern Togo, and which 
 
 122 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 is itself in its turn a tributary of another and yet 
 bigger river called the Volta, which forms the 
 boundary between the British and German terri- 
 tory. In the dry season, which is of course now, 
 the Kara is only about 100 yards wide and com- 
 paratively shallow, with a slow, sluggish stream ; 
 but in the wet season it is, I was informed, fully 
 500 yards wide, and so deep and swift as to be 
 quite unfordable. 
 
 The Konkombwa coimtry, in which we now 
 are, differs from the Tschaudjo country in many 
 respects, and especially as regards the number 
 and extent of the villages. The Konkombwa live 
 in little homesteads of two or three huts, distri- 
 buted thickly but unevenly all over the country, 
 the reason being that these people are in the main 
 agriculturists, getting their living from the soil. 
 The Tschaudjo, on the contrary, are traders and 
 warriors, caring little for agriculture, and so in 
 the course of ages they have come to concentrate 
 together more and more. Paratau, which may be 
 described as the capital of Tschaudjoland, has a 
 population of several thousand souls, and Bafilo 
 is even bigger. 
 
 Two hours after crossing the Kara we rode 
 into Nali, where the chief had laid out all his 
 " presents " under a big tree. The collection 
 made a goodly show ; quite a lot of flour, some 
 unground corn, many chickens, and a big pile of 
 eggs. In return we gave him brass, tobacco, and 
 salt, and he retired highly pleased. Later in the 
 day Schomburgk and Hodgson went out shooting, 
 and the latter returned greatly excited. He had 
 seen a school of hippos for the first time. His 
 
 123 
 
ON THE MARCH ONCE MORE 
 
 jubilation, however, over the incident, was greatly 
 marred by the fact of his rifle having jammed 
 in a most extraordinary manner when he was 
 making ready to let drive at them. He had it 
 already loaded at the time with a cartridge carrying 
 a soft-nose bullet for shooting antelope, and pulled 
 the lever in order to extract it, with a view to re- 
 load with one carrying a solid bullet. But the 
 case came away, leaving the bullet in the barrel, 
 and as he had no ramrod his rifle was put alto- 
 gether out of action for the time being. There 
 were five or six hippos in the school, and for days 
 afterwards, Hodgson did not cease to lament 
 having been unable to bag at least one of them. 
 
 From Nali we rode on in the morning for about 
 ten miles, then camped on the open veldt. There 
 was no rest-house available, of course, and we put 
 up our tents. The next day, December 23rd, we 
 struck camp at six as usual, and after an hour 
 and a half's ride we reached the Oti River. Here 
 we halted, had breakfast, and tidied ourselves as 
 best we could for our entry into Sansane-Mangu, 
 which lay only about another hour and a half 
 ride in front of us. 
 
 124 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 CHKISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 MANGU, the northernmost Government station 
 in Togo, is in charge of a District Com- 
 missioner, Captain von Hirschfeld, who 
 is assisted in his duties, which are arduous 
 and important, by two other white men, one of 
 whom is a non-commissioned officer, the other a 
 civiUan. Between them, these three representa- 
 tives of a dominant race, carry on from year's 
 end to year's end administrative and executive 
 duties over a tract of country as big as half a 
 dozen EngUsh coimties, and larger by far than 
 many of the smaller semi-independent German 
 States. It is a country, too, difficult of access at 
 all times, and in the rainy season impossible alto- 
 gether to traverse in many parts. It is, more- 
 over, inhabited by a people diverse and strange, 
 speaking different dialects, possessing different 
 tribal customs, manners, and beliefs ; and in some 
 instances — and in all instances at times —truculent, 
 intractable, and treacherous. 
 
 That this vast, far-flung region, in parts even 
 now largely uncharted and unknown, should have 
 been brought, within comparatively recent times, 
 under a settled and stable government, and tribal 
 and internecine warfare practically abolished, speaks 
 volumes, I venture to think, for the character and 
 
 125 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 abilities of the men who have accomplished the 
 task. Earliest among these pioneers was Dr. 
 Gruner, who took the German flag right up to 
 the Niger bend, but who had to withdraw owing 
 to the shortsightedness of the German Parliament. 
 The British Government, by the way, made no 
 such mistakes, I notice. I have read in our history 
 books how, some twenty years ago. Lord Rose- 
 bery's Government was on the eve of adopting a 
 similar policy of scuttle in regard to Uganda. But 
 the Rosebery Government went down in response 
 to a popular outcry, and as a result your Union 
 Jack waves over all that portion of East Africa. 
 Our Parliament was subject to no such popular 
 pressure — at all events at that time, and in regard 
 to this matter. But here I had better stop. I 
 am trenching upon high imperial, not to say inter- 
 national, politics, and such things are not for a 
 girl like me. 
 
 Let me get back to the Mangu of the present 
 day, which we are now, if you please, dear reader 
 — I like that old-fashioned phrase — approaching on 
 horseback from the lowlands about the Oti River. 
 A big broad road leads up to the station from 
 the Oti, and the station buildings can be seen a 
 long way off, gleaming white in the sunshine, and 
 giving one, even at a distance, the impression of 
 extreme neatness and cleanliness. As our caravan, 
 with its long string of porters, winds slowly up- 
 wards, I observe through my field-glasses that 
 flags are flying from every point of vantage, and 
 I guess, even before Schomburgk tells me so, that 
 the decorations are in honour of the advent of 
 myself, the first white^^woman in Mangu. Pre- 
 
 126 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 sently, Captain von Hirschfeld, accompanied by a 
 mounted bodyguard, canters out to meet us, and I, 
 intent on making as imposing an entry as possible, 
 ride forward to greet him. But alas, for the plans 
 of mice and men, to say nothing of women! A 
 patch of soft sand — a quicksand, no doubt, in the 
 rainy season — lay directly in my path. When my 
 horse reached it, he jfirst sank in it over his fetlocks, 
 then floundered, then fell, pitching me over his 
 head. And in this unceremonious, not to say un- 
 dignified, fashion, the first white woman made 
 her first entry into the far northern station of 
 Mangu. Captain von Hirschfeld and myself often 
 laughed over the incident later on, but to me at 
 the time it was no laughing matter. Not that I 
 was hurt in the least. The sand, fortunately, 
 was soft, and the floundering kind of stumble my 
 horse made resulted, so far as I was concerned, 
 in a subsidence rather than a fall. But I was 
 deeply mortified. I had looked forward to making 
 quite an impression, and the only kind of impres- 
 sion I accomplished was the one made by my 
 face in the sand when I fell. 
 
 The full name of the station— I fancy I have 
 mentioned this before somewhere — is Sansane- 
 Mangu, meaning " the place where warriors meet," 
 Once upon a time it was the gathering-place of the 
 natives when their yoimg men met together to 
 set out on one of those wild forays so dear to 
 savages the world over. The exact place of meeting 
 was a big baobab tree, still standing, and about 
 this tree the new station of Mangu has been built, 
 withfa view to breaking the fetish spell which in the 
 estimation of the natives stills hangs round it. The 
 
 127 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 old station at Mangu, founded by a Lieutenant 
 Tiery, was in a different spot, overlooking the Oti 
 River. It was a small station, but very strongly 
 fortified ; a fort, in fact. Of this station, only 
 the walls remain. The interior of the site is used 
 as a European cemetery. Three white men lie 
 there. Two died, the third was killed in warfare 
 with the Tschokossi, a tribe inhabiting the country 
 to the north and west. The unhealthiness of the 
 site, more than anything else, caused the old 
 station to be abandoned. The new station was 
 founded by a Captain Mellin, who died a few years 
 back. A little while ago the Tschokossi rose in 
 rebellion, and tried to capture this station, and 
 they very nearly succeeded. There was some 
 sharp fighting, one white man and a good many 
 native soldiers being killed. As an act of ex- 
 piation, after the rebellion had been crushed, 
 they were forced to build, near their principal 
 village, an immense stone pyramid, with a cross 
 on top. 
 
 Captain von Hirschfeld, who, throughout this 
 and our subsequent stay at Mangu, was hospitality 
 personified, had got everything ready for us. A 
 nice house was placed at our disposal, all swept 
 and garnished, very large, airy, and roomy, with 
 a fine broad verandah. Close by our house was 
 an extraordinary-looking building of native con- 
 struction called Tamberma Fort. This was built 
 many years ago by a tribe of natives of that name, 
 who live in the extreme north-eastern corner of 
 Togoland. These Tamberma were, and still are, 
 a very wild, warlike, and truculent people. The 
 German Government, I ought to explain, exact 
 
 128 
 
.- /--CI - 
 
 ^ 5- 
 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 what is called a head tax of six shillings a year 
 from each native. It is the equivalent of the 
 British " hut tax," and, like that impost, it has 
 been the cause of endless trouble and bother with 
 the negroes, who in Togoland are called upon, 
 under its provisions, to either pay the tax in cash, 
 or work twelve days on the Government roads, 
 buildings, etc. Now six shillings sounds a very 
 small sum to a civilised white man, but to a semi- 
 wild negro, who never sees any coined money 
 whatever from year's end to year's end, it is, of 
 course, an altogether impossible impost. He has 
 therefore to work it out, and in the case of a 
 distant tribe this means a long journey forward 
 and backward to their homes, with their wives 
 and their little ones, all of which not infrequently 
 involves considerable hardship and privation, for, 
 of course, the negro has to provide food for him- 
 self and his family on the journey, though not 
 while he is working out his tax. No wonder he 
 resents the hated impost, and tries to evade it 
 whenever possible ; for the native is constitution- 
 ally incapable of looking ahead, and cannot be 
 made to see that the work he is called upon to 
 do is for his own benefit as much as, and even in 
 a sense more so, than for that of his white masters. 
 He sees, of course, that the roads he builds, he is 
 able presently to travel over with an assurance 
 unknown in the old days ; that the songus he 
 erects shelter him and his family when he is on 
 the move ; and that the net result of all this easy 
 intercommunication is a general cheapening of 
 commodities, and the opening of new markets for 
 those he produces. But all this weighs in the 
 
 129 I 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 balance very little against his innate conservatism 
 and rooted aversion to settled labour. 
 
 Well, these Tamberma people came down once 
 to Mangu from their mountain fortresses in the 
 far north-east ; then, having finished their allotted 
 task, they packed up their belongings and returned 
 to their homes. And they never quitted them 
 again — at least to come to Mangu. For shortly 
 after they got back to their own country, a new 
 boundary line was drawn between the German 
 and the French possessions in this part of Africa, 
 and the Tamberma country was intersected by this 
 line. The result has been considerable confusion, 
 some of the tribe owning allegiance to one govern- 
 ment, and some to the other. Things, however, 
 are now likely to straighten themselves out before 
 long, the Tamberma having, by mutual agreement 
 between the two governments, been given a year 
 in which to decide under which they will come, 
 and this year expires shortly. Meanwhile Tam- 
 berma Fort, erected by them as a memento of their 
 visit, still stands in Mangu, a conspicuously pic- 
 turesque object. It is, I may add, at present used 
 as a mosque by the Mohammedans at the station, 
 who have agreed to keep it in order in return for 
 the privilege. 
 
 AH round Mangu are big plantations of different 
 kinds of valuable timber, a sort of experimental 
 arboricultural farm. All this work has been done 
 at the initiative and under the personal super- 
 vision of the officials there, and they have also 
 carried out many other improvements. The place 
 is, in fact, a little island of civilisation set in a 
 wilderness of savagery, the new station house 
 
 130 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 there, Schomburgk considers, being the finest and 
 handsomest building of its kind in the whole in- 
 terior of Africa. The country round the station, 
 and especially to the north, is typical of the Sudan, 
 the soil mostly a hard dry ironstone formation. 
 It is on the whole of somewhat arid appearance, 
 but grass grows freely in many parts, and along 
 the banks of the streams, and for a considerable 
 distance on either side one gets a belt of riverine 
 vegetation — trees, osiers, and the like. 
 
 Mangu during the harmattan season, which lasts 
 from October to the end of January, is an alto- 
 gether delightful place of residence ; no mosquitoes, 
 pleasantly windy, cool at night, and not too hot 
 by day, because of the harmattan, the sun's rays 
 being unable to penetrate the dry yellow mist. 
 During the rest of the year, however, and especially 
 from May to August, Mangu has been not inaptly 
 described as " Hades with the lid off." Not only 
 is the heat terrific in the day-time — one cannot, 
 I was assiu'ed, walk across the square without 
 dripping with perspiration — but it is hardly any 
 cooler at night, while to keep things lively there 
 is an almost continual succession of thunderstorms 
 of appalling intensity, the rain descending with 
 tropical violence at an angle of forty-five degrees 
 or thereabouts, and beating right into the houses, 
 so that at times the people prefer to go out into 
 it at once and have done with it, rather than try 
 to take shelter inside, when it is practically unob- 
 tainable. These storms do not last long enough 
 to cool the air, but the lightning seems to take a 
 special fancy to strike the station or the village, 
 one theory advanced to accoimt for this being 
 
 131 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 that there exists beneath the place a subterranean 
 stream of water, which attracts the electric fluid. 
 How feasible this may be, I do not know; but it 
 is a fact that Mangu is very unfortunate in this 
 respect. During the last rainy season, for instance, 
 two natives were killed in the village by lightning, 
 and one here in the station. The lightning also 
 struck Captain von Hirschfeld's house, and went 
 through his writing-table, destroying a lot of 
 papers, he himself only escaping death by a 
 miracle. 
 
 We spent Christmas at Mangu, and had a real 
 good time. We ate our Christmas dinner in 
 Captain von Hirschfeld's house, a fine, handsome 
 stone building. It was only finished last October, 
 and when inside, and especially of a night, one can 
 hardly realise that one is in the heart of Africa. 
 We had part of a young pig for our Christmas 
 dinner, and I was present at the killing of him. 
 I must confess that the sight rather sickened me, 
 though later on I became quite an expert butcher. 
 Curious how one sheds the veneer of civilisation 
 in the wilds. After quitting Mangu for the north, 
 we were destined to be absolutely cut off from the 
 outer world for a while, and we relied almost alto- 
 gether on our guns and rifles for fresh meat for 
 the pot. Then it was the men who hunted and 
 killed the game, and I who prepared and cooked 
 it. In like manner, I take it, did the women of 
 the Stone Age. 
 
 At Mangu, however, we were, of course, still in 
 touch with civilisation, and our Christmas dinner, 
 besides being something of a curiosity in its way, 
 was exceedingly nice. I append the menu : 
 
 132 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 Caviare sans Ice. 
 
 Asparagus Soup. 
 
 Oti Fish. 
 
 Ragolit k la Mangu en escallop. 
 
 Saddle of Pork k la Konkombwa. 
 
 Peaches k la tin. 
 
 Frothed White of Eggs, Cream, Sauce Vanilla. 
 
 Cheese sticks. 
 
 Coffee. Liqueurs. 
 
 Wines. 
 
 Madeira. Claret. Champagne. 
 
 On the dinner-table was a miniature Christmas 
 tree, which had been sent all the way from Ger- 
 many by Captain von Hirsehfeld's mother, and 
 after we had finished eating we gathered round it 
 and toasted absent friends in champagne. I had 
 not looked forward at all to this particular Christ- 
 mas. In fact, I had rather dreaded it, fearing that 
 it would bring with it more of regret than of 
 pleasure, but as a matter of fact I thoroughly en- 
 joyed it. For one thing, I found it hard to realise, 
 owing to the climate and surroimdings, that it 
 was really Christmas ; for another, everybody 
 was so kind and hospitable that one could not 
 help feeling merry and jolly. On New Year's Eve 
 we had another little party, and on the stroke of 
 midnight we set fire to about three thousand feet 
 of old celluloid films. The inflammable stuff 
 blazed up fiercely of course, directly a match was 
 applied to it, and made a splendid bonfire. 
 
 I have alluded already to the big plantations 
 round about Mangu. Most of these are thriving, 
 but as regards some of them, considerable damage 
 has been done by a species of beetle with huge 
 saw-like forceps. It was pitiful to ride along the 
 
 133 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 plantation roads, and see hundreds and hundreds 
 of fine trees all dead or dying, killed by these 
 insect pests. Every effort has been made, Captain 
 von Hirschfeld told me, to extirpate them, but in 
 vain. In the plantations are many small antelope 
 and immense flocks of guinea-fowl and francolin, 
 the latter a bird resembling a partridge. The 
 best sport of all, however, was afforded by a bird 
 called out there a koran. It is a most comical- 
 looking creature, not unlike a miniature ostrich, 
 but, unlike the ostrich, it is a good flier. Schomburgk 
 was quite an expert in shooting them ; right and 
 left — ^bang ! bang ! They were excellent for the 
 pot, yielding two distinct kinds of meat, white 
 and brown, arranged in layers like a cream and 
 chocolate sponge-cake. They were so plump and 
 fat that I used to cook them in their own grease, 
 and we all agreed that they were better done that 
 way, being delicious eaten hot, and even better 
 cold. There were also quail in great numbers all 
 round the station, which I used to roast, and serve 
 on toast in the approved fashion. We also had 
 antelope, as many as we cared to shoot. Their 
 meat, which had a pleasant gamey flavour, made 
 a nice change. The only drawback was that we 
 had to eat it too fresh, as of course everything 
 goes bad if kept overnight in this climate. 
 
 The Oti River furnished us with fish in abun- 
 dance. We rode down to it nearly every day, 
 and once we went for a cruise in it on a big dug- 
 out native canoe. We started at seven in the 
 morning, and got back at eleven. We were not 
 able to go far, as the water was nearly at its lowest, 
 
 134 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 but still it was very pleasant, and the scenery was 
 very beautiful. Towards the end, however, the 
 sun's rays, reflected back by the almost stagnant 
 water, made things very oppressive. What it must 
 be like in the summer I can only faintly imagine. 
 From a sand-bank where he had stalked it, Hodg- 
 son shot a very &ne paauw — a kind of bustard — 
 with his rifle at about sixty yards, the bullet 
 passing clean through its neck. It was, of course, 
 a fluky shot, but Hodgson was awfully proud of 
 it, nevertheless. 
 
 Early in the morning of December 30th, word 
 was brought to us that the natives were gathering 
 for a grand combined fishing expedition, and, of 
 course, we rode out to see the fun, taking our 
 camera and operator with us. They caught any 
 niunber of fish, but in a way that I fear would 
 hardly appeal to any genuine disciple of Isaac 
 Walton. Still it was very interesting, and we 
 secured some good pictures. The natives had 
 previously built a number of dams parallel to each 
 other across the river in a shallow and still reach, 
 and they now proceeded to bale out the water 
 from each inclosure until there was only liquid 
 ooze left, in which the fishes hid, and whence 
 they were presently scooped up by hundreds of 
 natives armed with calabashes. Afterwards the 
 master of the ceremonies distributed the catch 
 to the perspiring fishermen. They were mostly 
 of the barbel species, and of very moderate size ; 
 but there was one big fellow, which we purchased, 
 and afterwards ate for dinner. He was very 
 nice, unlike many of the Togo river fish, which 
 
 135 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 are about as tasty as blotting-paper flavoured with 
 mud. 
 
 We took no dramatic films at Mangu, but plenty 
 of ethnological ones. Cinemaing had now become 
 more difficult than ever, for the intense dry heat 
 kept continually cracking the wood of the cameras, 
 until both Hodgson and Schomburgk were well 
 nigh in despair. Every evening almost they were 
 kept busy repairing the damage done during the 
 day-time, filling the cracks with sealing-wax, which 
 they afterwards smoothed down with hot knives, 
 and covered with sticky tape. We had only brought 
 two cinema cameras with us — in addition to three 
 ordinary ones — and the woodwork of one of these 
 had got so badly warped by the heat on the road 
 up as to interfere with the working of the mechanism, 
 rendering it utterly useless. Consequently we were 
 relying on the one machine ; and if anything hap- 
 pened to put it out of action, the whole expedition 
 would come automatically to an end, since no other 
 cinema camera could be bought nearer than Europe. 
 I never saw so much care lavished over an inani- 
 mate object, as was bestowed on that machine. 
 Talk about a mother with a new-born babe ! 
 Why, that bit of brass and woodwork was watched 
 over by Hodgson as though it had been the apple 
 of his eye. He scarcely ever allowed it out of his 
 keeping, whether on the march or in camp, and a 
 boy was detailed to do nothing else all day long 
 but rub it over with palm-oil. 
 
 Amongst other interesting films we took at 
 Mangu was one showing portions of the new stone 
 station in process of construction, with, as a con- 
 
 136 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 trast, the old wattle-and-daub buildings still 
 standing in close proximity. The scene here 
 during the hours when work was in full progress 
 was most animated, and our cameras did full 
 justice to it. In one picture an endless row of 
 carriers is seen bringing up the hewn stones from 
 the quarry. In the next native workmen are 
 burning lime in a native kiln. Another picture 
 shows forty stalwart negroes carrying between 
 them an immense baulk of timber, hewn in the 
 mountain forest country many miles away ; they had 
 been carrying it after this fashion for eight whole 
 days at the time our photograph was taken. The 
 skilled masonry work is being done by long-term 
 prisoners, many of them in chains, and in charge 
 of armed soldiers. The head mason, I was in- 
 formed, was a murderer. 
 
 After taking this film we rode down to the 
 quarry near the Oti which furnishes the stone. 
 Here were hundreds of natives working out their 
 tax. The quarry, which is a very large one, and 
 seems capable of indefinite extensions, was only 
 discovered quite recently by Captain von Hirsch- 
 feld. On the way to it we passed a large " songu," 
 or native resting-place, equivalent to the rest-houses 
 of the whites. Here we saw specimens of races 
 and tribes from all parts of Western Africa, and 
 even parts of Northern Africa, collected together — 
 Hausas from Nigeria; Fulani, with their com- 
 paratively pale complexions, and clear-cut European 
 looking features ; squat, coal-black, pagan tribes- 
 men from the Kabre Mountains, and the central 
 forest region ; Fulbe, from the far interior of the 
 
 137 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 central Sudan ; stately Arab traders from Tim- 
 buctu, and beyond, clad in flowing snow-white 
 robes ; naked Gourma people, fierce and wild look- 
 ing; and many stalwart Konkombwa, upright 
 and graceful as ever, but minus their helmets 
 and head-dresses ; while in and out among the 
 motley throng, naked little children swarmed 
 everywhere, and perfectly nude women and girls, 
 bearing on their heads calabashes of water, or pots 
 of food, trod gravely and sedately to and fro, 
 their brass anklets glittering in the sun, and 
 making music as they moved. It was as picturesque 
 a scene as any I had ever beheld in my lifetime, 
 and certainly more so than any I had yet come 
 across in Togo. 
 
 On January the 2nd, in the morning, a soldier 
 came to say that a hyena had been caught in a 
 trap overnight, and we at once saddled up our 
 horses and rode out to have a look at it. The 
 soldier led us to the place where the trap had 
 been, but both it and the hyena had vanished. 
 Investigation showed that the powerful brute had 
 torn up the anchor which held the iron gin-trap 
 in position, and had walked off with the whole 
 contrivance. However, we knew that it was im- 
 possible for him to rid himself of the trap alto- 
 gether, so we followed up his trail to a patch of 
 jungle grass a considerable distance away, where 
 he had hidden himself, and a soldier went in and 
 pulled him out, trap and all. The poor beast 
 howled horribly, and no wonder, for its mouth was 
 all torn and bloody, where it had tried to bite away 
 the iron of the trap. It was no goodly sight, and 
 
 138 
 
Native Pig Iron from a furnace 
 AT Banjeli 
 
 liilLm 
 
 
 Chief's Compouni:) in a Tschokossi Village at Mangu 
 
 These compounds are where the wives are housed, and they also contain the 
 chief's "palace," his stables— if he is well enough off to possess horses— and other 
 *' offices." 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 I was glad to turn away my head while Schom- 
 burgk put an end to its misery with a bullet from 
 his mauser. In the afternoon came huge flocks 
 of vultiu^es to feast upon the carcase, and again 
 we put our camera into requisition, getting some 
 fine pictures. They are loathsome-looking creatures, 
 these carrion-eating birds, but of course they are 
 invaluable to the squalid African villages, where 
 they act as general scavengers, and are rarely, if 
 ever, interfered with. 
 
 Mangu is plagued with bats — millions on millions 
 of them. I would not have credited it if I had 
 not seen it with my own eyes. If I write that 
 there came at dawn out of a single small hut, 
 twelve to fifteen thousand of the creatures, dark- 
 ening the air for quite a distance around, I should 
 hardly expect to be believed. But it is so. One 
 of the interpreters told me that on one occasion 
 a deserted hut where there was a rookery — or 
 should it be a "battery"? — of them, was sealed 
 up, and sulphur burned inside. And when they 
 unsealed it in the morning, they counted above 
 eighteen thousand carcases of bats. 
 
 We got plenty of milk at Mangu, making a 
 welcome change of diet, also native butter. This 
 latter is good for cooking, but one cannot eat it 
 on one's bread, owing to its rancid taste, even 
 when freshly made. As regards the milk also, 
 one has to be very careful to see that the cala- 
 bashes are clean. I always saw to this myself, 
 for native servants, as I have already stated else- 
 where, have no idea of the importance of hygiene. 
 
 One evening, shortly before we quitted Mangu 
 
 »39 
 
CHRISTMAS AT SANSANE-MANGU 
 
 for our "farthest north," Captain von Hirschfeld 
 told us about a number of most interesting records 
 concerning the days of Dr. Gruner and the earUer 
 pioneers, which are preserved here. Schomburgk 
 was greatly interested in them, and urged the 
 Captain to have them published, which he said he 
 would probably do shortly. 
 
 140 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 OUR "FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 ON January 11th, 1914, we left Mangu, where 
 we had been since December the 23rd, 
 and resumed our journey northward. Be- 
 yond Mangu, Togo has not yet been opened 
 up, nor is the country considered altogether 
 safe for Europeans. We only went there by 
 special permission of the Government, obtained 
 through H.H. the Duke of Mecklenburg, and he 
 only granted it because Schomburgk was person- 
 ally known to him as an old and experienced 
 African traveller, who could be trusted to treat 
 the natives well, to neither do nor say anything to 
 provoke them, and who yet was capable of holding 
 his own in an emergency if he were attacked. 
 
 Before setting out, too, Schomburgk had to 
 sign an official document, promising only to go 
 north along the Oti River, and not to attempt 
 to enter the Gourma country. He was also warned 
 to be on his guard against the Tschokossi people 
 in the villages of the extreme north, as these were 
 reputed to be shy and suspicious of white strangers 
 entering their territory. As a matter of fact, 
 Schomburgk insisted, in talking the matter over 
 with me, that the Tschokossi are nowhere dan- 
 gerous if properly handled, and that there was 
 likewise little or nothing to fear from the Gourma 
 
 141 
 
OUR "FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 people living in German territory, although he 
 admitted that occasionally parties of Gourma come 
 over from French territory as far as Panscheli, 
 whither we were bound, and that these strays are 
 apt to be troublesome, and even truculent. In- 
 deed, only quite recently a German officer traversing 
 the very district into which we were about to 
 penetrate, and having with him a big escort of 
 soldiers, was attacked by prowling savages, who shot 
 a flight of poisoned arrows into the tent where he 
 was asleep. According to the version of the affair 
 I heard, he must have escaped death by a miracle. 
 He was, I was told, lying down asleep when he 
 was awakened by the " plunk, plimk, plunk," of 
 the arrows striking and penetrating the taut 
 canvas. Jumping up, he ran to the entrance 
 of the tent, whereupon the lurking savages shot 
 another volley, one of the arrows glancing from 
 the tent pole behind which he was standing, and 
 wounding him on the forehead. With commend- 
 able presence of mind, instead of going after his 
 assailants, he at once sat down upon the ground, 
 and called to his native boy, who there and then 
 set to work to suck the poison from the wound. 
 In this way his life was saved, for although he 
 suffered great agony, and was seriously ill for quite 
 a long while, he recovered in the end. He was 
 lucky, for, as a rule, the least scratch from one 
 of these poisoned arrows proves fatal. I made 
 many inquiries during my stay in the country, 
 and afterwards, as to what was the particular 
 poison used by the natives on their arrow tips, 
 but I could get no proper information, or rather, 
 I should say that what I did get was extremely 
 
 142 
 
OUR "FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 contradictory. A Doctor Porteous, a friend of 
 mine, assured me that he had analysed some of it 
 taken from a freshly-smeared arrow, and found it 
 to be a preparation of digitalis, made from a native 
 plant of the fox-glove variety. On the other 
 hand, I have talked with people who claim to 
 have actually seen the natives poisoning their 
 arrows by the simple process of sticking the points 
 in a lump of putrid meat, and leaving them there 
 for a while; while yet others assert that the 
 poison is a preparation of rotting vegetable earth 
 taken from the nearest bog-hole. There may be 
 some truth in this, for it is known that people 
 wounded by the arrows frequently succumb to 
 tetanus. The probability is that no one poison is 
 used at all times, and by all the tribes, but that 
 different kinds are utilised as opportunity offers. 
 
 It was on a Sunday morning that we quitted 
 Mangu, and Captain von Hirschfeld, with his usual 
 kindness, made all arrangements for carriers and 
 so forth, and also stored our spare baggage against 
 our return. Our first day's march was only five 
 miles, and, travelling as we did along the Oti valley, 
 in which the natives had just been burning the 
 grass, it was anything but pleasant riding. The 
 air was filled with a black impalpable dust, which 
 got into my eyes, down my throat, up my nostrils 
 — everywhere. The heat was terrific, and caused 
 one to perspire freely, so that our faces soon took 
 on a most unbeautiful streaky appearance. The 
 water I washed in when we camped became of the 
 colour of ink, and the consistency almost of pea 
 soup ; and when I unbound my hair, showers of 
 blacks descended from it to the ground. 
 
 J43 
 
OUR "FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 Schomburgk wanted to camp at a village, but 
 I was greatly taken with a very pretty spot, lying 
 fifteen feet or so up on a bluff in a bend of the river, 
 and from which a beautiful view could be had 
 over the surrounding country. To this Schom- 
 burgk objected, saying that the wind was likely to 
 prove troublesome by day, and that at night 
 we were pretty certain to be eaten up by mos- 
 quitoes. I persisted, however, and in the end 
 he allowed me to have my way. Afterwards, I 
 wished he hadn't. His prediction was verified. 
 Very much so, in fact. As the day advanced, a 
 hot wind swept across the Oti plains in fierce 
 eddying gusts, bringing with it more clouds of 
 black dust from the burnt veldt ; and at night 
 the mosquitoes were so bad that we couldn't sleep, 
 exactly as he had foretold. I never encountered 
 anything quite so bad in the way of insect pests 
 as were these mosquitoes on the banks of the Oti. 
 The boys had to light fires of green boughs to drive 
 them away, and while they were crouching over 
 them, half-suffocated by the smoke, Schomburgk 
 started to tell me about some mosquitoes he once 
 encountered in the Congo forest region. " Why," 
 he remarked, " we used to shoot them like game 
 with our revolvers as they sat perched on the 
 boughs of the trees above our heads, and so big 
 were they that several of them weighed a pound." 
 " Get out," I retorted indignantly, " there are no 
 such insects anywhere in the world." " It is the 
 literal truth I am telling you," he replied, gravely, 
 " several of those Congo mosquitoes weighed a 
 pound." " Yes," put in Hodgson slyly, with a 
 laugh and a wink at me, " several of them. Several 
 
 144 
 

 t'' O 3 
 Co-" 
 
 
 •r - « 
 
 
OUR "FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 thousands — or millions if you like." Then, of 
 course, I saw the joke, such as it was, and we all 
 laughed. 
 
 The place near to which our camp was pitched 
 was a small Tschokossi village called Bwete. The 
 people were very wild in appearance. The Tscho- 
 kossi living in and about Mangu were compa- 
 ratively civilised, but these were just savages 
 pure and simple. The men wore only small loin 
 slips of undressed bark, the women bunches of 
 green branches before and behind. These they 
 renewed daily when they went down to the river 
 to wash in the early morning. Each woman or 
 girl plucked a few branches, thereby possessing 
 herself of a new dress. In this respect these 
 children of nature go one better than ourselves. 
 No civilised woman, I take it, be she ever so 
 wealthy, has a new dress every day. Schomburgk 
 considered these umbrageous costumes hideous, but 
 I thought them very pretty, modest, and becoming. 
 Certainly, on hygienic grounds, the custom has 
 much to recommend it. 
 
 In the afternoon all our boys went down to 
 the river to bathe in a big deep pool, in which I 
 had previously observed several crocodiles dis- 
 porting themselves. I was horrified when I saw 
 them, and called to them to come out, telling them 
 what I had seen ; but they only laughed at my 
 fears, and went on swimming, skylarking, and 
 splashing about. The natives assert, and pro- 
 bably with truth, that whereas for one man to 
 venture alone by himself into a crocodile-infested 
 pool would be for him to court almost certain 
 death, a number of them can go in together with 
 
 145 K 
 
OUR "FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 impunity. Doubtless the reptiles are frightened 
 at the noise and the splashing, and lie low in- 
 stead of attacking, fearing for their own safety. 
 
 On the road to this village a pet monkey we 
 had bought earlier in the trip got loose, and bolted 
 across the veldt. It was being carried shut up in 
 a hen-coop, and probably resented the indignity. 
 We were greatly perturbed, for we had all of us 
 become more or less attached to the " comical 
 little cuss," as Artemus Ward would doubtless 
 have called him, and we did not want to lose him. 
 The boys tried their hardest to catch him, and 
 failed ; but directly Schomburgk called him, he 
 came to him, and rode coiled up on the front of 
 his saddle for the rest of the day. 
 
 Shortly after this episode we came upon a very 
 picturesque little lake, a really pretty sheet of 
 water, long and narrow. We had been on the 
 look-out for this, because before we left Mangu 
 one of the officials there told us that he had re- 
 cently shot a big bull hippopotamus here, and 
 Schomburg was anxious to film one or more of these 
 creatures. So we circled the entire lake, going 
 up one side and down the other, examining it 
 carefully. There were lots of water-fowl, but no 
 hippos, big or little, male or female. When we 
 reached camp, our boys told us that they had seen 
 a big herd of antelope. This was tantaUsing, for 
 we wanted meat for the pot, and we had seen 
 nothing of them. The natives are still busy at 
 their favourite pastime — at this season of the 
 year — of burning the grass on the Oti flats, and 
 the wind, as usual, blew the calcined debris into 
 our eyes and noses. Anything but pleasant ! 
 
 146 
 
OUR "FARTHEST NORTH' 
 
 Next day we resumed our march. Our inten- 
 tion had been to follow the Oti, but the river winds 
 in and out just about here in the most bewilder- 
 ing and tantalising manner, and our soldier guide 
 from Mangu, in attempting a short cut, lost his 
 way. We passed through or round a number of 
 dirty Tschokossi villages, but the people were 
 sullen and suspicious, refused to answer om* ques- 
 tions, or replied only in non-committal monosyl- 
 lables. These people live, like the Konkombwa, in 
 tiny hamlets of two or three families, and, to judge 
 by their replies to our requests for information, one 
 would have imagined that no such river as the 
 Oti existed anywhere in Togo, let alone close to 
 where they lived, moved, and had their being. 
 
 At length, thoroughly vexed and tired out, 
 hot, dusty and thirsty, we halted at noon at a 
 place called Magu, and put up our tents under 
 some low, withered trees. It proved to be a most 
 uncomfortable camping ground. The black dust 
 settled everywhere. The sim beat down with a 
 perfectly awful intensity, and it was practically 
 impossible to obtain shelter from the heat, the 
 country all round being low bush, interspersed with 
 open veldt. Late in the afternoon, after a rest, 
 Schomburgk set out to try and find the Oti, and 
 returned in a little while with the somewhat com- 
 forting news, under the circmnstances, that it was 
 only about a quarter of an hour's march ahead. 
 And yet the people here had assured us that it 
 was " very far away." This shows what reliance 
 is to be placed on the word of a wild native. 
 Schomburgk further told us that on the way back 
 from the river he had sighted a roan antelope, 
 
 H7 
 
OUR 'FARTHEST NORTH'' 
 
 but that it was too far off for him to be able to 
 get a shot. Another disappointment ! 
 
 Before going to bed that night Schomburgk 
 instructed the interpreter to rouse us at 5 a.m. 
 Presently I heard him calling out as usual that 
 it was time to get up, and in obedience to the 
 summons I arose, though feeling unusually sleepy. 
 I put this down, however, to the tiring events of 
 the day previous, and, having washed and dressed, 
 I went outside the tent. To my surprise, I found 
 the moon still high in the heavens, and only then 
 did it occur to me to look at my watch. The time 
 was 2.30 A.M. After saying some things the reverse 
 of complimentary to the interpreter, I re-entered 
 my tent and lay down, intending to try and get 
 to sleep again. But meanwhile Hodgson, who had 
 also been awakened, had started a long confab 
 with one of the native boys. Hodgson was a first- 
 rate operator, and a very decent sort of a fellow 
 to boot, but he was one of the most confirmed 
 chatterboxes I ever came across. I used to tell 
 him that he would talk to his own shadow, if there 
 was nothing and nobody else to talk to. In this 
 respect he was the very reverse of Schomburgk, 
 who, like most men who have lived long in the 
 wilds, was a very quiet, reserved sort of man. 
 
 At five o'clock, we rose finally for the day, and 
 resumed our march in the direction of the Oti, 
 striking it, as Schomburgk had already told us we 
 would, in from fifteen to twenty minutes. We 
 are now in an utterly wild country, where few, 
 if any, white people, whether men or women, have 
 ever been before. There are no paths, and the 
 native tracks — one cannot call them trails —lead 
 
 148 
 
OUR 'FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 nowhere save from village to village, or possibly 
 to water-holes, or river fords, as the case may be. 
 For the most part we tried to follow the Oti, but 
 the wide bends it made, and the nature of the 
 banks in places, rendered this at times an absolute 
 impossibility. 
 
 We are in a fine game country, and we saw 
 many troops of antelope. Flocks of guinea-fowl, 
 too, ran along in front of the horses ; francolin flew 
 up in coveys of ten and twelve ; crested crane kept 
 passing overhead on their way from one feeding- 
 ground to another, uttering their haunting rasping 
 cry. It was a beautiful sight to a city-bred girl. 
 I felt I was really near to Nature at last ; that 
 here was God's big " zoo." I did not want to 
 talk — only to listen and look. I am beginning to 
 understand now how it is that all the white bush 
 people are quiet men, who think a lot, but say 
 little, like the famous parrot of immortal memory. 
 Crossing, as I have already said, a succession of 
 big bends, we were mostly out of sight of the river, 
 but when we did catch a glimpse of it I could see 
 that it was covered with ducks, teal, and all sorts 
 of water- fowl ; while every thicket and clump of 
 trees we came to held colonies of bright-hued land 
 birds, blue jays, sun-birds, and so on, whose gor- 
 geous plumage, flashing in the sunshine, was a 
 source of never-ending pleasure. 
 
 It was concerning these fine-feathered birds 
 that Schomburgk and I had " words " one day. 
 I badly wanted him to shoot a few specimens, and 
 preserve them for me, as I had reason to know 
 that he is an exceedingly skilful amateur taxider- 
 mist. But he politely and firmly declined to do 
 
 149 
 
OUR ^^ FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 anything of the kind. He is in favour of the pro- 
 tection of wild birds, and holds strong views about 
 killing them in order to strip them of their plumage. 
 " We might," he said, " take back to Europe 
 hundreds of pounds' worth of feathers and skins 
 from this district, but to do so would be a crime 
 against Nature and against Nature's God." I 
 replied that I didn't want to do murder for money, 
 but that I would like a few specimens for my own 
 personal use and adornment. " Besides," I added, 
 "you kill birds for the pot — f rancolin, quail, and 
 so forth — and what the difference is between 
 killing them to eat and killing them to wear, I 
 cannot for the life of me make out. So far as I 
 can see, it makes precious little difference to the 
 poor birds." To this Schomburgk retorted that 
 men must eat, and women too for that matter, 
 but that the latter need not stick feathers or 
 stuffed birds in their hats. Eventually, however, 
 he did so far do violence to his principles as to 
 shoot me a single sun-bird, out of the many hun- 
 dreds that were flying about. These little creatures 
 are exceedingly beautiful ; purple red about the 
 body, with lovely blue heads, a splash of blue at 
 the root of the tail, and very much elongated and 
 very brilliant tail feathers. Schomburgk, also, 
 yielding to my earnest entreaties, shot me a blue 
 jay, and gave to Hodgson permission to shoot me 
 one other. These have been greatly admired since 
 in London, for, of coiu*se, we took care before 
 shooting them to select perfect specimens in full 
 plumage. But I wish my fair friends could have 
 seen them as I saw them first, when the feathers 
 were alive. The difference between the plumage 
 
 150 
 
OUR FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 of a stuffed bird and a living one, or even one 
 recently killed, is very marked. It is the differ- 
 ence between a woman's own hair and a made-up 
 switch, between a peroxide blonde and a real one. 
 
 These bright-plumaged birds, by the way, do 
 not sing. A few of them whistle, but mostly their 
 cries are coarse and rasping ones. The reason is, 
 of course, that they rely upon the beauty of their 
 colouring to do the work of sex attraction. It is 
 wonderful, when one comes to think of it, how 
 always and everywhere it is love, love, love, that 
 makes the world go round. To it we owe the 
 beauty of the colouring of the sun-birds, the tail 
 feathers of the bird of paradise, the song of the 
 nightingale, and these in their turn, no doubt, in 
 the dim, distant past, gave birth to painting and 
 to music. No doubt the first Tschokossi belle who 
 tore down a green branch to deck herself withal, 
 was moved in the first instance by sex attraction, 
 and the same holds good to-day of a frock by 
 Worth. 
 
 It is astonishing how tame the antelope, and 
 four-footed game became — so far at least as I 
 personally was concerned— as we trekked farther 
 into the wilderness. They seemed almost to have 
 lost all fear of me whatever. The pretty little 
 puku antelopes used to stop and gaze curiously 
 at me until I was within a few yards of them, 
 and once a couple of reitbuck got up right in front 
 of my horse, and stood stock-still staring at me. 
 I called to Schomburgk to bring his rifle, but by 
 the time he got to me they had galloped off. 
 
 On the morning of January 13th, after following 
 the Oti for about eight miles, we debouched on to 
 
 151 
 
OUR "FARTHEST NORTH'' 
 
 a big open plain, and Schomburgk and Hodgson 
 rode on ahead along the river bank to explore, 
 leaving me to lead the caravan across the flat. 
 The going for the horses soon became exceedingly 
 bad, so that we could only move at a snail's pace. 
 It is the kind of country that is known out here 
 as " yam-field country " ; for the following reason. 
 The natives, when they cultivate their yams, hoe 
 up a little hillock round each plant. Now in the 
 rainy season the country we are crossing— part of 
 the Oti flats— is all under water, and when this 
 dries up it leaves a lot of little hillocks, which the 
 sun presently bakes into the consistency of bricks. 
 Hence the name ! 
 
 Owing to the recent firing of the old grass, 
 however, there was plenty of fresh green stuff in 
 the interstices between the hillocks, and this fur- 
 nished fodder for countless troops of antelope. 
 I never saw so many together at one time before. 
 Some of the herds we encountered numbered 
 between thirty and forty head. While Schom- 
 burgk and Hodgson were with the caravan, they 
 were shy, but with me riding alone it was quite 
 different. They seemed instinctively to realise that 
 they were in no danger. They would stand still 
 gazing stolidly in my direction until I was within 
 thirty or forty yards of them, before gracefully 
 cantering off, afterwards stopping every now and 
 again to turn round and stare inquisitively at what 
 was evidently something quite new to them. 
 Others would simply trot a little way to one side 
 of the path we were following, then line up to see 
 us pass, like soldiers on parade. 
 
 It was while I was gazing admiringly at a row 
 
 152 
 
OUR "FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 of these pretty little creatures, that my boys drew 
 my attention to a big moving object in the dis- 
 tance, whispering excitedly: "Look, missy— some 
 big meat ! " The native, I may explain, calls all 
 game " meat." Focussing the object through my 
 field-glasses, I saw that it was an xmusually fine 
 specimen of a roan antelope, the size of a small 
 horse. These roan antelopes are, of course, quite 
 different from the small puku, and other similar 
 varieties ; they are, in fact, the second biggest of 
 the antelope species, only the eland being larger. 
 This one, to the unaided eye, looked like a blue- 
 black shadow moving obliquely across the bright 
 sunlight, and I do not suppose I should ever have 
 noticed it had it not been for my boys. With 
 the glasses, however, I could see distinctly tl^^ 
 beautiful dappled skin, note the proud carriage 
 of the creature's head, and watch its long tail 
 swaying rhythmically and regularly to and fro as 
 it switched the flies from its hind quarters. It 
 was moving across our track well in advance, 
 and was evidently travelling from the river, where 
 it had been for its morning drink, back to the 
 safety and shelter of the bush beyond. When I 
 first focussed it, it was going quite leisurely, but 
 after I had been observing it for about a minute 
 or two I saw it stop suddenly, and gaze anxiously 
 in my direction. Evidently it had got our wind. 
 It started to throw up its head in angry defiance. 
 Then it began to paw the ground, and a moment 
 later it was off and away like an arrow from a 
 bow. 
 
 Presently we breasted a slight rise, and then 
 rode down into a sort of circular depression, in 
 
 153 
 
OUR 'FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 the centre of which was a small " vley," or hollow, 
 where the water collects from the rainy season. 
 It was literally covered, and also surrounded, by 
 an immense collection of birds of all kinds, amongst 
 them being about a himdred marabou. My heart 
 gave a great bound at the sight of these latter, 
 and for the first and last time during our journey 
 I regretted that I carried no gun. Here were 
 hundreds of pounds' worth of the most beautiful 
 and highly-prized feathers in the world within easy 
 reach of me, and I couldn't get one of them. I 
 could easily have shot them had I a weapon handy, 
 for they allowed me to come quite close to them, 
 before lazily rising, only to settle again a few 
 hundred yards farther on. Later on I told Schom- 
 burgk about them, and begged him to go back and 
 get me at least one bird ; but his reply was a 
 blunt negative. " I've told you already I will not 
 shoot these beautiful creatures," he said. " But 
 marabou feathers ! " I replied, almost crying with 
 vexation. " You don't know what they mean to 
 a woman. And such splendid specimens too. Why 
 they are practically priceless." To all of which, 
 and much more on similar lines, he listened in 
 silence, only shaking his head doggedly from time 
 to time. However, I was destined to get my 
 marabou feathers later on, and that, too, without 
 doing violence to Schomburgk's feelings by killing 
 even one single bird. But that is another story, 
 which will come in its proper place. These mara- 
 bou birds, by the way, were first discoverd to exist 
 in Togo by Schomburgk during this very trip, he 
 coming across a flock of them accidentally, just 
 as I had done. When we went back to Mangu, 
 
 154 
 
o 12 
 
 ^ .s 
 
OUR "FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 and he told them there what he had seen, they 
 absolutely declined to believe him, holding that 
 he must have mistaken some other commoner 
 species of the crane family for the rare and valu- 
 able marabou stork. Our old friend. Captain von 
 Hirschfeld, was especially emphatic on the subject, 
 saying that he had resided in the country for years, 
 that he had travelled all about it on his official 
 tours of inspection, and that if there were any such 
 birds in Togoland he would have been sure to have 
 come across them. We were standing on the 
 square in front of the Captain's house when this 
 conversation took place, and Schomburgk, hap- 
 pening to glance up, remarked quietly to Von 
 Hirschfeld : " Why, there's one flying overhead 
 now," at the same time handing him his glasses. 
 " By gad, you're right," cried the Captain, after he 
 had focussed the bird, " I can see the tail feathers 
 plainly." And from now on therefore the Lejp- 
 toptilus crumenifer will figure in the list of birds 
 indigenous to Togo. I may add that after coming 
 to London I made frequent inquiries in the millinery 
 shops of the West End for African marabou feathers, 
 but never once did I succeed in getting even a peep 
 at the genuine article. Those I was offered, and 
 at very high prices too, were mostly of the far 
 less valuable Indian variety, though others were 
 not even derived from any of the cranes, but 
 were the product of all sorts of birds, including 
 vultures. 
 
 After leaving the vley where the marabou were, 
 we rode on and on across the shadeless, waterless, 
 sim-baked plain. The heat was terrific, and the 
 guide seemed to have completely lost his way. 
 
 155 
 
OUR "FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 I confess to feeling anxious, and at length I called 
 a halt, feeling that we might as well be sitting still, 
 as to go on travelling in a direction that might 
 be a wrong one. In about an hour Schomburgk 
 and Hodgson turned up. They had been following 
 the course of the river, scouting, taking compass 
 bearings, and doing a little mapping. They had 
 found that the Oti took another big bend just 
 here. 
 
 Schomburgk took over command of the caravan 
 from me, and set a course due north, towards a 
 fairly large village called Sumbu. Soon after- 
 wards we quitted the plain, and climbed up on to 
 a plateau. Everybody was very tired, including 
 myself, and I quite understood now why natives 
 preferred to go nude, or with only a loin-cloth. 
 One never realises how utterly ridiculous and super- 
 fluous civilised clothing can become, until one travels 
 in the African bush during the heat of the day. 
 We passed many dirty little Tschokossi villages, 
 mostly deserted or in ruins, but saw no inhabi- 
 tants. At last, when we were beginning to despair, 
 we discerned in one we sighted some slight signs 
 of life ; a stray chicken or so, and a mongrel dog. 
 Riding up to it we foimd it to be quite a small 
 hamlet, inhabited by a mixed lot of Tschokossi, 
 and some Fulani, who were looking after their 
 cattle. The Tschokossi, I may explain, are not 
 themselves cattle-breeders. All the stock they own 
 comes down to them from the north by way of 
 trade, and always in charge of the Fulani, who, 
 in regard to their knowledge of cattle and their 
 ways, may be termed the Masai of Western Africa. 
 These Fulani drovers, being mostly poor men in 
 
 156 
 
OUR FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 their own country, or at all events cattle-less, 
 which amounts to much the same thing, are only 
 too glad to remain and settle down amongst the 
 Tschokossi for a while, and look after their herds. 
 They receive as their reward the milk, and at 
 stated intervals a calf or two. These latter in- 
 crease and multiply, and in time each Fulani 
 possesses a herd of his own, and returns to his own 
 land a rich man, judged by Fulani standards. I 
 was greatly interested in these people, who are, 
 as I think I have already mentioned, of an 
 altogether different type to the ordinary negro 
 tribes dwelling in this part of Africa. I found 
 them quite intelligent to talk to. They possess 
 clear-cut features, approximating to the European 
 standard, light chocolate-coloured skins, and some 
 of the women I saw were by no means bad-looking. 
 The Fulani as a class are supposed to be of Arab 
 and Berber blood, with a dash of the negroid. At 
 this village we called a halt, and partook of a 
 hurried limch, which was greatly improved by a 
 big calabash of fresh milk brought us by the Fulani 
 herdsmen. 
 
 After lunch Schomburgk and I cantered on to 
 Sumbu, about two miles distant, leaving the caravan 
 to follow. On the way two reitbuck got up, and 
 stood looking at us not ten yards away. Schom- 
 burgk's language at not having his rifle with him 
 was, to put it mildly, not elegant. Personally, I 
 was glad that he hadn't got it with him, but I 
 did not tell him so. The beautiful creatures were 
 so close up, that I could see the look of startled 
 terror in their lovely big brown eyes, and I was 
 pleased when they scampered away, even though 
 
 157 
 
OUR 'FARTHEST NORTH" 
 
 their meat would have come in most handy for 
 the pot. At Sumbu, we pitched our camp on a 
 promontory overlooking the Oti, which is here 
 bordered with fresh grass, very pretty. The out- 
 look, too, over the plains to the north and west 
 was very cheering, with herds of puku grazing 
 quietly at intervals as far as the eye could reach. 
 We intend staying here four or five days. 
 
 158 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 WE carried out our intention, as narrated 
 at the end of the last chapter, and stayed 
 at Sumbu several days, making short 
 excursions into the surroimding country, and a 
 dash north-east as far as the French frontier. We 
 have now traversed Togoland from end to end, 
 and I can flatter myself that I am at all events 
 the first white woman to go farther than Sokode, 
 and only one or two, at most, have ever been so 
 far as that. 
 
 The people about here are a very wild and 
 mixed lot. Besides the native Tschokossi, who are 
 indigenous to the soil, so to speak, there are many 
 others— Gourma people from the northern plains, 
 Fulani from the central Sudan, Ashantis from the 
 neighbouring British dominions, and Dahomeyans 
 from across the French international boundary, 
 with a sprinkling of individuals belonging to other 
 tribes and peoples from various districts and states, 
 who, for reasons best known to themselves, have 
 sought sanctuary, as it were, in this remote and 
 seldom-visited region, within comparatively easy 
 reach of three different frontiers. 
 
 On the afternoon after our arrival the men 
 went out shooting, and I noticed directly that our 
 boys kept close round my tent, and that their 
 
 159 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 usually merry countenances wore an exceedingly 
 staid, not to say sombre, aspect. As this was so 
 entirely unlike their conduct under normal cir- 
 cumstances, I asked them the reason for it. They 
 answered that they were afraid to venture outside 
 the camp. " People here," they said, " very bad 
 people ; they very much kill." 
 
 This was not very reassuring, and when Messa, 
 the cook, came presently to tell me that he was 
 unable to get any fowls, the interpreter having 
 reported that the people in the village refused to 
 sell, I felt rather uneasy. From where I was, I 
 could see the natives sitting about outside their 
 huts, each one with his bow and quiver of poisoned 
 arrows beside him. 
 
 However, I reflected that I had to get dinner 
 somehow against the return of the hunters, so 
 calling the cook I ordered him to come with me 
 to the village. At first he refused, saying that he 
 was frightened. But I told him that if a woman 
 could go there, surely a man could, and eventually 
 he consented, very reluctantly, to accompany me. 
 When we approached the place, the children all 
 ran away screaming. This did not trouble me 
 greatly. I had become used to it. What I did not 
 like was that the women, in obedience to gestures 
 from their men-folk, also went away — where I 
 could not see. This I interpreted as a pretty bad 
 sign, for it is well known that the African natives 
 invariably send away their women and children 
 when mischief is brewing. The men sat still, and 
 scowled at us in silence, making no move, and 
 speaking no word. 
 
 At this moment I must confess to feeling very 
 
 1 60 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 frightened. I remembered the gruesome incident 
 of the white man and the poisoned arrows. The 
 affair had happened quite close to where I then 
 was. It was hkely, indeed probable, that some of 
 these very men who sat there scowling at me, had 
 been concerned in that cowardly and treacherous 
 attack. However, I reflected that having adven- 
 tured myself amongst them I had got to brazen it 
 out. It would never do now to show the white 
 feather, for if we retreated we must of necessity 
 turn our backs upon them — we could not very 
 well retire facing them and walking backwards all 
 the way to the camp — and a flight of arrows let 
 fly on the impulse of the moment would mean the 
 end of the pair of us. 
 
 So, stalking along till I came close up to them, 
 I said, addressing one of the biggest of the groups 
 of squatting negroes, that I wished to buy a fowl. 
 Nobody took the slightest notice. I waited a 
 matter of thirty seconds or so, then fixing one of 
 the least truculent-looking of the savages with my 
 eyes, I addressed my request to him personally. 
 I told him that I wanted a chicken, that I was 
 willing to pay anything within reason for a chicken, 
 but that a chicken I must have. Thereupon the 
 man rose, caught a fowl, and handed it to me, 
 still without speaking. 
 
 I had not brought with me any salt — the usual 
 currency of the country — so I gave him a whole 
 sixpence in cash. It was probably the first coined 
 money that he, or any of those sitting near him, 
 had ever seen. Everybody pressed round to ex- 
 amine it, and everybody started to express his 
 opinion concerning it. The jabbering was terrific, 
 
 i6i L 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 and hearing the din the women came running up, 
 and even the children ventured near, their wide- 
 open eyes fixed in staring astonishment at the 
 stranger white woman who had dropped from the 
 skies, as it were, into their village, in order to 
 bargain for chickens with tiny bits of metal. 
 Eventually, after being passed from hand to hand 
 all roimd the circle, the sixpence was returned to 
 me by the man to whom I had originally tendered 
 it, and who now, opening his mouth for the first 
 time, condescended to explain that the price of 
 his chicken was half a cupful of salt — i.e. about 
 three-halfpence. I told him that the sixpence I 
 had given him was worth two whole cupfuls of 
 salt, and ought therefore by rights to purchase 
 four chickens, taking the birds at his own valua- 
 tion, but that as he had been the only one to 
 oblige me by selling me what I wanted, he could 
 keep the sixpence and I would keep the bird. 
 
 He shook his head. Obviously he did not 
 believe me. Most likely he thought I was trying 
 to obtain his valuable chicken in exchange for a 
 worthless fragment of metal, which, assuming him 
 to be fool enough to accept it, his wife would 
 promptly annex as a neck ornament, and which, 
 even at that, would not be much of an ornament. 
 Luckily at this juncture a much-travelled native 
 from a neighbouring village — he had once been as 
 far as Mangu — put in an appearance, and on being 
 appealed to, and after an examination of the six- 
 pence, was able to confirm to his fellows my state- 
 ment as to the seemingly fabulous value of the 
 coin. At once the spell was broken. Obviously a 
 person who, like myself, was willing to buy chickens 
 
 162 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 at four times the ordinary market rates, was an 
 individual whose acquaintance was worth culti- 
 vating. 
 
 From being almost openly hostile, the villagers 
 went to the other extreme, and became embar- 
 rassingly friendly. Everybody crowded round, the 
 women especially evincing the liveliest curiosity. 
 They felt my clothes, my arms, my neck, my hair ; 
 especially my hair, bombarding me with questions 
 concerning it meanwhile. Was it all my own ? 
 Did all white women's hair grow straight like 
 mine ? What made it so shiny ? Did I put 
 palm oil on it ? These, and other even more deli- 
 cate questions concerning the inner mysteries of 
 my toilet, were flung at me by all and sundry. To 
 distract their attention from the subject, I picked 
 up and fondled a little urchin of three, or there- 
 abouts. At once every woman in the place ran 
 to fetch her own offspring, and held them up for 
 my approval and admiration. A happy thought 
 struck me. I had in my pocket several lumps 
 of sugar, which I carried about with me to give to 
 the horses. Taking them out, I distributed them 
 amongst the nearest children. They took them, 
 but had evidently no idea what to do with them. 
 One little girl, placing her lump in a calabash, 
 started to bore a hole in it with a thin piece of 
 pointed iron, like a skewer, obviously with the 
 intention of hanging it round her neck as a charm, 
 and seemed greatly disappointed and annoyed 
 when it broke into several pieces. Meanwhile, I 
 had bitten a lump I had reserved for myself in 
 halves, and putting one part in my mouth, handed 
 the other half to a little boy standing near me, 
 
 163 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 who, greatly daring, licked it. His delight was 
 promptly manifested in his face. I doubt whether 
 Charles Lamb's mythical Chinaman showed a more 
 intense appreciation of the flavour of roast pig, 
 when tasting it for the first time, than did this 
 little Tschokossi savage on first sampling sugar. 
 After indulging in several more licks, he handed 
 it to his mother, who started licking it in her turn ; 
 and who, like her child, showed her manifest ap- 
 preciation of the delicacy after the first lick. Other 
 women were not slow to follow her example. Soon 
 the place was full of women and children licking 
 Imnps of sugar, the novel delicacies being passed 
 from hand to hand, and from mouth to mouth, 
 the recipients meanwhile " ul-ul-ulling " in gleeful 
 anticipation and excitement. After this little 
 episode, whenever I showed my face in Sumbu, I 
 was sure to be followed by crowds of children, 
 begging for some of my " white honey rock," as 
 they not inaptly christened it. 
 
 The ice once broken, I became very friendly 
 with the Sumbu people, so much so that I asked 
 the chief to show me over his village. He readily 
 agreed. It was a most extraordinary place, unlike 
 any I had ever seen or heard of, and merits a de- 
 tailed description. The village itself is egg-shaped, 
 the huts round, and placed closely together, not 
 more than two yards apart, all round the rim of 
 the oval, the roofs overlapping in such a manner 
 that the edges of the opposite down-sloping eaves 
 practically meet at a height of about three feet 
 from the groimd. The huts are completely joined 
 together all the way round by two walls, an outer 
 wall and an inner wall, the same height as the huts, 
 
 164 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 the outer wall protected by thorn bushes. The 
 entrance hole — one cannot call it a door — to each 
 hut is two feet from the ground, is round in shape, 
 and of a diameter just sufficiently large to allow 
 a full-grown native to squeeze through feet fore- 
 most. The only entrance to the village is through 
 a fair-sized doorway in a big hut at one extremity 
 of the oval. This big hut is a sort of communal one, 
 and is used, as regards one side of it, for the women 
 to grind the corn on stones placed upon a hard 
 clay platform the height of a table ; and as regards 
 the other side, as a sort of club-room for the men to 
 sit in during the rainy season in the daytime, and 
 as a stable for the sheep and goats at night. At 
 the opposite end of this big hut is a second fair- 
 sized doorway giving access to a courtyard. From 
 the level of the first two huts (see plan) to right 
 and left of the big communal hut a straight wall 
 is carried right across from wall to wall, dividing 
 the inner egg-shaped inclosure into two unequal 
 portions, the larger portion being on the far side 
 of the wall. This intersecting wall has a doorway 
 in the centre through which admission is secured 
 to the other further portion of the inclosure, and 
 from this far inclosure only can access be had to 
 the huts. 
 
 And not even then directly. When I arrived 
 in this inner space, after being politely conducted 
 by the chief through the communal hut, and across 
 the courtyard, I naturally thought to see some 
 signs of human habitation, and looked round for 
 the doors of the dwelling-places. To my great 
 surprise, however, there was nothing to be seen 
 but the bare inner wall ; and the chief, his eyes 
 
 165 
 
^ yy Ladder for climbing Over f^c walU 4" ft 'ong 
 
 A.B.C. drones for 
 
 ^rirtdir»3 Com. 
 
 Df PUhform habie Vigb 
 
 >A>i7ere vi/omen sroknd fo ytnd corn 
 
 E. WaII6 ir«>5(?r ot frut-ft 5fi:. 
 
 Ti Snvall i/ofes for fowls. 
 
 G. Ertfroj^ee l^ole* fo ^r* 
 
 arrJ joar l<xr^« etfou^l/ for a 
 man to SQueeTC eijrou^^* 
 
 H« Lifrtc walb inftide cnlVonee 
 ^ies to ffuf6. 
 
 Plan of the Village shown Opposite 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 twinkling at my obvious bewilderment, presently 
 reared against this a forked stick, and motioned 
 me to climb up it, using it in fact as a ladder. I 
 did so, though not without some slight misgiving, 
 and stepping over, and down the other side, I 
 foumd myself in a sort of well-like space between 
 the inner and outer walls and two of the huts. 
 From here only could access be had to the actual 
 dwelling-places of the Tschokossi, through the 
 small roimd holes mentioned above, and which were 
 placed close up imder the low overhanging eaves. 
 Even, however, after squeezing one's body through 
 this hole, one has not yet reached the actual in- 
 terior of one of the houses. One is faced by yet 
 another blank wall, round which one has to nego- 
 tiate a careful passage in pitch darkness. This 
 inner wall is intended to prevent anybody from 
 creeping in under cover of darkness, and shooting 
 oft poisoned arrows amongst the sleepers inside, 
 a pleasant practice to which both the Tschokossi 
 and the Gourma are said to be only too frequently 
 addicted. The whole series of elaborate precau- 
 tions dates from the days when inter-tribal war- 
 fare, instead of being sporadic, was endemic. 
 Every one of these villages is in fact a fortress, and 
 every house is a fort. To storm such a place would 
 be exceedingly difficult, at least for savages armed 
 only with bows and arrows ; to surprise it would 
 be impossible, especially in view of the fact that 
 the two blank spaces contained between the outer 
 and inner walls and the big conmiunal entrance 
 hut and the two nearest to it on either side, are 
 utilised to keep chickens in, and these creatures 
 would at once give notice, by their unwonted 
 
 i68 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 commotion, of the presence of an intruder. The 
 natives dwelling near Mangu, as well, of course, 
 as those living to the south of it, have now en- 
 tirely given up building these fortress villages, the 
 necessity for them having ceased to exist. Nor 
 is it likely that even the Tschokossi of the extreme 
 north of Togo will build any more, when those 
 they are now dwelling in are abandoned, or fall 
 into ruin. I learned later that these Tschokossi 
 people are supposed to have learnt the art of 
 building these curious villages from the Gourma 
 people, with whom they are intermixed. 
 
 I forgot to say that after I had bought the 
 chicken, and had handed it to Messa, at the same 
 time telling him that I was about to go inside the 
 village at the chief's invitation, he tried earnestly 
 to dissuade me from doing anything of the sort. 
 " Oh, but I am going," I replied, " and you will 
 come with me." Whereupon he threw up his 
 hands with an expressive gesture, and declared 
 that he was afraid. " I will go and call Alfred," 
 he suddenly ejaculated, after a few moments' 
 cogitation, " him big man, him no frightened," 
 and off he went at a great pace, before I could 
 stop him. Alfred, I may explain, was our chief 
 interpreter, and stood six feet three inches in his 
 bare feet. 
 
 Well, I waited for him to put in an appearance 
 until I grew tired ; then I went alone into the 
 village, to the great delight of the old chief, who 
 seemed vastly to appreciate my reposing such 
 implicit confidence in him, and started off ex- 
 plaining everything to me with great volubility. 
 Of course I could not imderstand a word of what 
 
 169 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 he said, so on second thoughts I decided to go 
 outside again and wait until Alfred turned up. 
 This he did soon afterwards, walking very slowly 
 and reluctantly, and evincing the greatest indis- 
 position to come with me into the village. At 
 length I got angry with him. " Surely," I said, 
 " if a little slip of a girl like me is not afraid, a long 
 slab of misery like you ought not to be " ; and I 
 wound up by threatening to report him to Schom- 
 burgk. Only then did he agree very unwillingly 
 to accompany me, at the same time protesting so 
 solemnly and earnestly against the " terrible risks " 
 we were running, that once the thought did flash 
 through my mind that my insistence on the enter- 
 prise might possibly turn out to be yet another 
 example of the danger of fools rushing in where 
 angels fear to tread. " But then," I reflected, " I 
 am no fool, and Messa is most certainly not an 
 angel " ; and I thereupon took my courage in both 
 hands, and in we went, with what result I have 
 already stated. I was greatly pleased and excited 
 at my discovpry of this extraordinary village, as 
 also was Schomburgk when I told him about it. 
 It was, he agreed, one more fact added to our 
 anthropological knowledge of darkest Africa ; and 
 of a kind, moreover, regarding which nothing has 
 ever before appeared in print. 
 
 After this little episode we never had any diffi- 
 culty during our stay there in getting plenty of 
 chickens from the people at the ordinary market 
 rates, which shows, to me at all events, that by 
 firmness, mixed with kindness, one can do a lot 
 with natives, even very wild ones. Our camp is 
 on a high plateau, very picturesque, and command- 
 
 170 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 ing a quite extensive view over the high roHing 
 veldt. Provisions are plentiful, with the excep- 
 tion of eggs, which are scarce just now. The Fulani, 
 however, still continue to bring us milk, and butter 
 for cooking. As their village lies at a much lower 
 elevation than our camp, I am able to see them 
 coming a long way off, and their first advent upon 
 the scene is the signal to begin to get breakfast 
 ready. We use the milk for our porridge and our 
 coffee, but it is always very dirty. Tolstoy was 
 right when he wrote that cleanliness is the hall- 
 mark of the classes the world over. The lower 
 down, the dirtier ! Most of these people, for in- 
 stance, are simply filthy, possessing not even the 
 most rudimentary notions of cleanliness. They 
 defecate promiscuously in the neighbourhood of 
 their villages, and they throw out their garbage 
 anywhere. One result is a plague of flies, which 
 settle everywhere, and must be ideal breeders and 
 carriers of disease under the circumstances. At 
 first I was really afraid to use the milk they brought. 
 But by straining it through a clean cloth, and 
 then boiling it, I have managed so far to ward off 
 any ill effects. I have to pay these people in salt 
 for all the milk, butter, and eggs they bring ; they 
 absolutely refuse to accept coined money. The 
 rate of exchange has been fixed at one cupful of 
 salt for each big calabash of milk, and the same 
 for a pat of butter. They bring so much milk at 
 one time, that there is quite a lot left over, and 
 the happy thought struck me to make cheese of 
 it. I put it in a big basin, allowed the cream to 
 rise, skimmed it off, put it in a serviette, and hung 
 it up in the branches of a tree. The result was 
 
 171 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 an excellent cream cheese, which, after I added 
 some salt and carraway seeds to it to give it a 
 flavour, proved to be quite nice and palatable. 
 I tried it first on Schomburgk, who liked it im- 
 mensely. " Who made it ? " he asked. " I did," 
 I answered, quite proud, as what woman would 
 not be, of my achievement. " Good ! " he cried. 
 " Give me another helping." Presently Hodgson 
 came along. " Have some cheese ? " I said. 
 Hodgson eyed the dainty doubtfully, thinking it 
 to be of native manufacture, and he had a rooted 
 aversion and prejudice — not altogether unreason- 
 able under the circumstances — against any article 
 of native-made food. " Who made it ? " he de- 
 manded, using Schomburgk's exact words. I was 
 just about to answer him as I had answered 
 Schomburgk, when the latter kicked me violently 
 under the table. I understood, and my lips framed 
 the ready lie. " Oh, the cook, I suppose," I an- 
 swered carelessly. " Then I don't want any," 
 he replied decisively. Whereat Schomburgk kicked 
 me again under the table, but appreciatively this 
 time; and we finished the rest of the cheese to- 
 gether. Then we both started laughing, and 
 Hodgson grew quite angry, because he didn't 
 know what the joke was. He knows now, how- 
 ever ; or he will, at all events, when he comes to 
 read this book. 
 
 I had other domestic troubles at Sumbu, in 
 addition to culinary ones. Washing-day was a 
 great trial. Our "washerwoman" was a boy, if 
 you please, and said " boy " was a man, which 
 sounds rather paradoxical, but you will find it is 
 quite right, dear reader, and good sense, if you 
 
 172 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 stop to think for a minute. Well, this boy, or man, 
 or " washerwoman," whichever you please, had one 
 fixed idea as regards the cleansing of clothes, and 
 that idea was the one underlying, according to the 
 old English proverb, the correct treatment of " a 
 woman, a dog, and a walnut tree," as regards all 
 three of which we are assured that "the more 
 you beat 'em the better they be." Only I am 
 convinced that neither woman, nor dog, nor walnut 
 tree could possibly have stood, for any but the 
 briefest period, the terrible beatings that our boy 
 subjected our clothes to. He was a small, under- 
 sized man, but very strong and energetic, and 
 with fists like ginger-beer bottles, and he used 
 to pound end tear my delicate lingerie into shreds 
 with his iron-shod paws, as a preliminary to ham- 
 mering it to pulp on a big chimk of rough stone. 
 Eventually Schomburgk raised his wages, on con- 
 dition that he didn't work so hard ; the first time 
 on record, I suppose, that an employer has so 
 acted. The result was disastrous. From that 
 moment he ceased to take any interest whatever 
 in his washing operations. He just trailed the 
 soiled things in the river for a few minutes, and 
 took them out again. When I, in despair at getting 
 them cleansed, but hopeful of getting them at least 
 smoothed out, suggested damping them down, and 
 ironing them, he compromised matters with his 
 conscience by ironing them wet. " What is the 
 good," he exclaimed when I expostulated with him, 
 " of first drying things, and then wetting them 
 again, in order to dry them yet again with hot 
 irons ? " Such logic, regarded merely as logic, 
 was unanswerable, and I was wise enough to at 
 
 ^7Z 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 least refrain from attempting the obviously im- 
 possible. 
 
 There were a lot of old people in Sumbu. As 
 a rule one sees few such in Africa. One old chap 
 I especially remember. He used to sit in front 
 of his hut all day, a mere living skeleton, only 
 skin and bones. He looked exactly like a shrivelled- 
 up monkey, or a mummy out of the British Museum. 
 One day, taking pity on him, I gave a woman a 
 lump of sugar to give to him. After he had eaten 
 it, to my unbounded amazement he scrambled to 
 his feet and executed a sort of impromptu war- 
 dance. Later on he told our interpreter that he 
 was now willing to die, having eaten of the white 
 woman's honey rock. The phrase sounds new, but 
 it isn't. It is merely one more variant of the 
 " fate - cannot - harm - me - 1 - have - dined - to - day " 
 wheeze. 
 
 The chief of Sumbu, the same who conducted 
 me over his village, is the ugliest man I ever set 
 eyes on, even in Africa, which is saying a good 
 deal. He was so surpassingly ugly, so perfectly 
 and preposterously hideous, that we took a cinema 
 picture of him. We did not, however, think it 
 necessary to explain to him our real reason for 
 wishing to photograph him. On the contrary, we 
 told him that it was because, besides being the 
 northernmost chief in Togo we had visited, he was 
 also the handsomest, and Europe would be incon- 
 solable if it were to be deprived of possessing a pic- 
 torial record of an individual at once so distinguished 
 and so beautiful. Hodgson, our operator, hung 
 back for a while. He said he was afraid the chief's 
 face might break the camera. It didn't. But I 
 
 174 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 am inclined to think that it was a near thing. 
 In justice to the chief, I feel I ought to add that 
 not quite all his ugliness was natural to him, so 
 to speak. It was due in part to his having been 
 pitted by smallpox. He was badly pitted, too. 
 His face would have made a very good cribbage- 
 board, but regarded as a face it was a failure. 
 Even, however, if he had never been pitted, I am 
 inclined to think he would have been sufficiently 
 ugly to have carried off the wooden spoon at even 
 the least exacting of beauty shows. He reminded 
 me of the ugly man immortalised by Mark Twain, 
 who, after having the smallpox ever so bad, was 
 just as handsome as he was before. 
 
 In addition to being very ugly, the chief was 
 also very dirty. So were all his people. In fact 
 the Sumbu Tschokossi are about the filthiest lot 
 of savages I have come across up till now. It 
 was only twenty minutes to the river, yet even 
 the younger men's bodies were always grey with 
 ashes, sand, and dirt, and covered with vermin. 
 The women were much more clean to look upon, 
 probably because it was their custom to bathe each 
 day when they went to the river in the morning 
 for water. The younger girls wear brightly polished 
 brass armlets round their wrists and forearms, and 
 the contrasts of these ornaments with their ebony 
 skins, and the green leaves they wear before and 
 behind, is exceedingly effective. Some of the very 
 young unmarried ones are not unbeautiful, but 
 they soon lose their good looks, owing to the hard 
 work they have to do. They are at it from morning 
 till night, carrying water, cooking, hoeing in the 
 yam fields, bringing in fuel from the forest, while 
 
 175 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 the men laze about in the sun, and breed flies. 
 One thing, however ; this incessant labour renders 
 them very strong, and strength is a valued asset 
 in a Tschokossi woman. A weak one stands a 
 poor chance in the matrimonial market. " Amongst 
 us, men choose their wives for strength, not for 
 beauty," remarked one burly savage to me. I 
 have heard somewhat similar sentiments expressed 
 amongst our working classes in Europe. And 
 after all, what is the philosophy of these savages 
 regarding marriage but a primitive form of eugenics ? 
 
 As for the men, they strongly resent the impu- 
 tation of laziness. " We are fighters," remarked 
 the old chief when I gently tackled him on the 
 subject, " not workers. It is for the women to 
 work, whilst we protect them against outside in- 
 terference." "But," I said, "there is no fighting 
 to be done now ; the land is at peace." " Who 
 knows ? " was his somewhat cryptic reply. 
 
 If, however, these far northern tribes, the 
 Tschokossi, the Gourma, and others, resent being 
 called lazy, they regard as flattering the charges 
 of treachery and cowardice that are brought against 
 them. They look upon the shooting of a foe from 
 behind with a poisoned arrow, not only as legiti- 
 mate warfare, but as the very best and highest 
 form of warfare. It is their business to stalk an 
 enemy, to see and not be seen, to pounce upon 
 him unawares ; a proceeding which, after all, is 
 recommended by all writers on strategy, and 
 practised by all beasts of prey. It is a fact, too, 
 that a certain kind of cowardice requires a certain 
 kind of courage. The prowling savage who climbs 
 the walls of a Tschokossi village at dead of night 
 
 176 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 in order to take pot-shots at the sleeping inhabi- 
 tants with his poisoned arrows, is not exactly a 
 coward, however reprehensible his conduct may ap- 
 pear judged from a civilised standpoint. For having 
 accomplished his object, he has to make good his 
 retreat, with an even chance that by that time 
 the whole village is in an uproar, and I can con- 
 ceive of no less desirable place wherein to be 
 trapped by a score or so of vengeful enemies, than 
 the well-like space between the huts and the in- 
 closing walls. 
 
 I had many talks with the old chief regarding 
 these and other matters, and once he made some 
 sort of an odd remark which caused me to laugh 
 heartily. " Oh then," he said, looking mildly 
 astonished, " you can laugh." " Of course I can 
 laugh," I answered. " Why not ? " " Well," he 
 replied, " I have never seen a white woman before, 
 but I have always been told that they are unable 
 to laugh." 
 
 Although the chief, and in a lesser degree his 
 people, were fairly friendly with me, they con- 
 tinued up to the end to show themselves suspicious 
 and distrustful of our boys, and this distrust 
 showed itself in many curious, not to say incon- 
 venient ways. For example, it was our custom 
 while on trek to allow our personal staff, numbering 
 about fifteen, three-halfpence a day extra subsist- 
 ence money. With this they used, on arriving at 
 a village, to club together, and engage a woman 
 to buy their provisions and to cook for them ; in 
 fact, to board them during their stay there. But 
 in Sumbu no woman could be got to undertake 
 the job, nor would they even sell them provisions 
 
 177 M 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 until they had exchanged their coined money for 
 salt, the usual currency of the country. With 
 this they were at length able to buy provisions, 
 millet-meal, yams, &c. Then, however, a new 
 difficulty presented itself. They had no one to 
 cook for them, nor had they any cooking utensils 
 of their own. So they came to me, and asked me 
 to lend them one of our pots. Naturally, I declined ; 
 I am not over squeamish, but to eat after natives ! 
 Faugh ! On the other hand, I could not stand by 
 and see the poor fellows go hungry. So off I went 
 to the village, and begged the chief to let me have 
 the loan of a pot. After a lot of palaver he con- 
 sented, and Schomburgk, at my request, allowed 
 his gun-bearer to be struck off duty in the after- 
 noons in order to cook for them. This arrange- 
 ment worked fairly well, for natives eat only 
 once a day, of an evening. Then they consume 
 an enormous meal. One can actually see their 
 stomach " swell wisibly," like the Fat Boy in 
 Pickwick, 
 
 No sooner had this difficulty been settled, how- 
 ever, than another one arose. Owing to the boy- 
 cott of the villagers, the boys could not even get 
 the use of a hut to sleep in at night, and had to 
 camp out in the open. They complained to me, 
 and 1 told Schomburgk about it, but foimd him 
 unsympathetic. " If the Sumbu people won't lend 
 them a hut, they won't, and there's an end of it. 
 I have no right to force them to. Besides, it is 
 good to sleep out in Africa. I've slept out hun- 
 dreds of nights when himting elephants, and it 
 never did me any harm, nor will it them. Tell 
 them I said so." I did as I was told, and the boys 
 
 178 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 had to sleep out for the rest of the time we re- 
 mained in the neighbourhood. But they didn't 
 like it one bit. 
 
 In fact, towards the end of our stay here, some 
 of them began to get somewhat surly and discon- 
 tented, not like their usual selves. One reason for 
 this probably was that, on quitting Mangu, their 
 women had all been left behind there. This had 
 been done at their own wish, as they said they were 
 afraid to take them up-country to where we were 
 going. Nevertheless, they no doubt felt the sepa- 
 ration keenly, for natives temporarily divorced 
 from their womenkind are like ships without their 
 rudders. They had all taken it for granted, by 
 the way, that I too was to be left behind in Mangu, 
 and seemed greatly surprised and anxious when 
 they heard that I was going to accompany the 
 caravan. Indeed, just as we were about to start, 
 all our personal boys came to me in a body, and 
 implored me not to go, saying that the Tschokossi 
 of the north were dangerous, and that they feared 
 for the safety of their "little white mother." I 
 was greatly touched by their solicitude, but of 
 course I was unable to accede to their request, 
 even had I a mind to, which I had not. Later on 
 I overheard Asmani, Schomburgk's personal ser- 
 vant, while discussing the journey with another 
 boy, exclaim : " Well, I shall be glad when our 
 little white mother is safe again on board the 
 steamer." 
 
 Another source of dissatisfaction, was that 
 there was a shortage of caravan food. For one 
 thing, our European flour began to give out, and 
 we ourselves were obliged to eat bread made half 
 
 179 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 of millet-meal and half of flour. I didn't like it a 
 bit. But for the Fulani, in fact, we should have 
 been, if not exactly on short rations, at all events 
 on restricted ones. These used to bring us, when 
 they came with our daily allowance of milk, huge 
 calabashes of buttermilk, which the boys used to 
 purchase, and mix with their millet-meal, thereby 
 obtaining a welcome addition to their diet. 
 
 Meanwhile their clothing, what they had of it, 
 was going from bad to worse. Messa had to cut off 
 the legs of his trousers above the knees, in order to 
 patch the portion covering that part of his anatomy 
 on which boys are birched at school. Alfred, the 
 interpreter, was in an even worse fix, because he 
 had no trouser-legs left to utilise after this fashion. 
 He complained to me, saying that his appearance 
 was not decent. I was bound to agree with him 
 as to this, but pointed out to him that I could do 
 nothing in the matter just then, as we had no 
 spare clothing with the caravan. When we got back 
 to Mangu, I told him, Schomburgk was going to 
 rig out all our personal staff with new clothes ; 
 in the meantime I suggested to him that he should 
 wear a " lavelap," which is a West African term 
 for a whole piece of cloth wrapped round the body. 
 " Oh dear no, little mother," he replied, in deeply 
 shocked tones. " An interpreter cannot wear a 
 'lavelap,' he must at least have a pair of 
 trousers." 
 
 Next day I noticed that Messa, who was always 
 a bit of a dandy, had covered his bare legs, from 
 the ankles to above the knees, with strips of white 
 cloth dipped in washing-blue, and arranged like 
 putties. I rallied him on his " improved " appear- 
 
 i8o 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 ance, but he only smiled feebly and somewhat 
 sadly, so I asked him what was the matter. There- 
 upon he confided to me that he was worried about 
 his wife, who was lying ill at Mangu. This was 
 the same young lady whom, it will be remem- 
 bered, he had gone back to Kamina to fetch 
 while we were on the road up from there to 
 Sokode, and her illness, or at all events the 
 undue prolongation of it, was largely his own 
 fault. 
 
 She was always bright and bonny imtil we got 
 to Paratau. Then, when we resumed our march, 
 she seemed to have changed altogether. She was 
 always tired, and appeared as if trying to elude 
 our observation. Messa, too, got sad and sulky, 
 so one day, after we had camped, I went over to 
 their quarters to try and find out what was the 
 matter. I found the girl sitting disconsolate out- 
 side their hut, crying, and nursing a frightfully 
 swollen and ulcerated leg. I went and told Schom- 
 burgk, who examined it, and at once diagnosed it 
 as a very bad and greatly neglected case of filaria, 
 otherwise guinea-worm. These dangerous para- 
 sites burrow imder the human skin, generally in 
 the feet or legs, and the female lays eggs, giving 
 rise to abscesses, and also causing grave functional 
 disturbances. They are removed by very slowly 
 twining them round a stick, and the natives assert, 
 and apparently with some measure of truth, that 
 if the worm is broken in the process, the death 
 of the person affected will ensue. Messa had 
 known all along, it appeared, what his wife was 
 suffering from, but fearing to have her sent back, 
 had tried to conceal it from us. Schomburgk gave 
 
 i8i 
 
AMONG THE SUMBU SAVAGES 
 
 the poor girl some mercurial ointment, and after- 
 wards several of the parasites were removed in 
 the manner described above, many of the natives 
 being exceedingly skilful in this matter. Now, it 
 appeared, he was anxious, fearing a relapse. As a 
 matter of fact, on our return to Mangu, we found 
 the patient practically convalescent. 
 
 182 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 BACK TO MANGU 
 
 WHILE in camp at Sumbu I had another 
 adventure with a puff-adder, which is, 
 as I have explained elsewhere, one of 
 the most venomous snakes in all Africa. We were 
 sitting outside my tent after dinner, enjoying our 
 coffee and cigarettes as usual, when my personal 
 boy had occasion to go inside on some errand or 
 other. A moment or two later there came the 
 sound of a wild commotion from within. The 
 boy was threshing about with a stick, and calling 
 out excitedly something we could not understand. 
 We jumped up, and the boy came running out, 
 dangling the dead reptile gingerly at the end of his 
 stick. He had, he explained, nearly stepped on 
 it in the dark, and he showed us where it had 
 been coiled, right opposite my toilet table, where I 
 should have stood on entering. The curious in- 
 stinct natives have about snakes, had warned him 
 of his danger, but had I gone in I should almost 
 certainly have trodden on it ; and there would 
 probably have been an end to me for good and all. 
 
 Soon after this incident a piece of very welcome 
 news reached us. A native runner came trotting 
 up to our camp with a letter in a cleft-stick, and 
 wrapped in the usual oilskin. It proved to be a 
 
 183 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 cablegram from the Moving Picture Sales Agency 
 in London — the firm that is handling our films — 
 telling us that the first lot of pictures had been 
 received and developed, and that they had turned 
 out very well indeed. Naturally, we were all 
 immensely pleased and delighted, for as we had 
 no proper facilities for developing our cinemato- 
 graph negatives where we were, we had no means 
 of judging how they were going to turn out, and 
 Schomburgk, with memories of the failure that 
 had attended his efforts during his former expedi- 
 tion, had been all along very anxious about the 
 matter. Now all our apprehensions were set at 
 rest, our spirits soared high, and we opened a bottle 
 of champagne in honour of the occasion. The 
 cablegram had only left London thirty-six hours 
 previously. It had been re-transmitted by tele- 
 phone from Lome to Mangu, whence it had been 
 dispatched by relays of runners to our camp. The 
 date stamp showed that it had left Mangu at ten 
 o'clock that morning, and it reached us at eight 
 o'clock in the evening, the distance from Mangu 
 to Sumbu being approximately fifty-five miles. 
 When it is remembered that there is no proper 
 road between the two places, nor even a trail in 
 many parts, that the heat in the daytime up here 
 is so terrific that even the natives ordinarily do 
 not care to move about in it, and that the letter 
 had to be carried up hill and down dale, as well 
 as across rivers and streams, it must be admitted 
 that the performance was a good one. It had been 
 brought to us by what is known as " chief's mail," 
 
 184 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 an institution peculiar to Togo. The letter, mes- 
 sage, telegram, or whatever it may be, is wrapped 
 in oilskin by the clerk at the issuing office, firmly 
 fixed into the cleft of a stick, and handed to a 
 native runner, who at once dashes off with it to 
 the nearest village along the line of the route it is 
 intended it shall take. Arrived there, he calls out 
 at the top of his voice " Chief's mail ! " and hands 
 it to the first native he happens to meet, who at 
 once starts off with it at top speed to the next 
 village, where the operation is repeated. In this 
 way messages can be dispatched to practically any 
 part of the country with marvellous celerity. 
 
 Our principal reason for remaining at Sumbu 
 was because we wanted to photograph some pic- 
 tures of hippopotami, which were reported to be 
 fairly numerous in the Oti hereabouts. Schom- 
 burgk wanted to secure a good picture of the 
 ordinary hippo, in order to show the contrast 
 between these big fellows and the pygmy hippo- 
 potamus which he discovered in Liberia, and also 
 to show how the one is practically always cooped 
 up in some big pool, while the other, the little one, 
 roams at will all over the place in the forest; 
 otherwise he did not trouble greatly about game 
 pictures. Day after day passed by, however, and 
 we saw none, and Schomburgk began to get 
 anxious. Eventually he sent natives out to look 
 for them, promising a reward to whoever succeeded. 
 That evening a couple of Tschokossi came in, and 
 reported that they had located five of them some 
 few miles up-stream, near a village called Panscheli. 
 
 185 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 This, of course, was welcome news, and very early 
 the following morning we set out for Panscheli, taking 
 our camera with us. We crossed the river, which 
 was fairly deep and infested with crocodiles, without 
 mishap. I was being carried in a hammock, being 
 a bit run down, and I confess to being a little bit 
 nervous, as I was being carried by boys who were 
 new to the business, and didn't know how to handle 
 the hammock properly. Besides this, the re- 
 sponsibility of having to carry a white woman 
 for the first time made them over careful, and 
 their progress was slow and tedious. Proper 
 hammock boys, like those who carried me from 
 Atakpame to Sokode, are exceedingly swift, 
 smooth, and easy in all their movements. They 
 " break step," like stretcher-bearers are trained to 
 do, and sing a curious sort of chanting melody 
 as they trot along, which is very apt to lull one to 
 sleep. 
 
 Altogether, what with the crossing, and one or 
 two enforced halts on the way, the journey to 
 Panscheli occupied about two and a half hours, 
 and a little way beyond the village, in a big and 
 very deep pool, we came up with the hippos — one 
 big bull, one big cow, and three smaller ones. This 
 was the first time I had ever seen hippopotami in 
 a wild state, and Schomburgk was rather looking 
 forward to my being impressed at the sight. As 
 a matter of fact, however, I wasn't a bit impressed. 
 The ungainly brutes only poked their heads above 
 water at intervals to breathe, then down again. 
 I was far more interested in those I had seen in 
 
 1 86 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 captivity at the " Zoo " in Hamburg, and in 
 Regent's Park, London. 
 
 So shy and wary were these Oti hippos, that 
 even now we had tracked them to their lair our 
 operator foimd it impossible to take pictures of 
 them. So at length, hot, tired, and disgusted, we 
 gave it up as a bad job, and Schomburgk proceeded 
 to vent his anger on the crocodiles, shooting six 
 or seven of them. He absolutely refused, however, 
 to shoot any of the hippos, saying that they were 
 harmless creatures, not like the beastly crocs, and 
 that anyway it wouldn't be sport, but butchery, 
 because the poor brutes, although they were in 
 their native element, had not got the run of the 
 river, but were cooped up in the pool, and had to 
 come to the surface to breathe. Eventually, however, 
 he so far relented as to give Hodgson permission 
 to shoot one of the two big hippos, telling him to 
 remain behind for that purpose. " Perhaps," he 
 remarked, " you will never get another chance, and 
 anyhow it will do for meat for the boys." 
 
 Meanwhile, on an island in the middle of the 
 pool, I saw the most extraordinary sight I had 
 ever beheld, an incident that I had often heard 
 about, but never really believed. The low sandy 
 islet was covered thick with innumerable water- 
 fowl : teal, egrets, herons, and so forth. And 
 right in amongst them were five enormous croco- 
 diles, lying basking in the sun with their mouths 
 wide open, and numbers of little white birds running 
 in and out, and pecking with their tiny beaks 
 at the interstices between the big cruel teeth. 
 
 187 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 We promptly tried to cinema the scene, and again 
 we were disappointed ; in fact our luck seemed 
 dead out on this particular day. The crackling 
 of the dried grass alarmed the reptiles, and they 
 promptly closed their cavernous mouths, and slid 
 off the island into the river. Whether any of the 
 poor little birds were accidentally trapped inside, 
 under the — for the crocs — altogether exceptional cir- 
 cumstances of the case, I do not know, but Schom- 
 burgk said not, as these birds are exceedingly 
 quick in their movements, and the crocodiles are 
 careful not to hurt them. The little creatures are 
 generally known throughout Western Africa as 
 " tick-birds," and they do not go only with croco- 
 diles, but with elephants, rhinoceri, buffaloes, &c., 
 as well as tame cattle and sheep. They feed 
 on the vermin, and especially on the ticks, that 
 infest these creatures ; hence their name. Hence, 
 also, the fact that they are never wantonly inter- 
 fered with by their hosts. Even the stupid croco- 
 dile has sense enough to know that it is good for 
 him to be rid of vermin, and to have his great ugly 
 yellow teeth picked and cleansed for him by these 
 \ indefatigable little scavengers. 
 \ Panscheli, where we halted for a brief spell on 
 
 our way back to Sumbu, is a prettily situated little 
 village of the usual frowsy Tschokossi type. It 
 stands on the left bank of the Oti going up-stream, 
 Sumbu being on the right bank, and is surrounded 
 by broad belts of palm-trees. Curiously enough, 
 the natives hereabouts seem to make no use what- 
 ever of these valuable trees. 
 
 i88 
 
By perniissio7i of 
 
 Maf. H. SchojJiburgk, F.R.G.S. 
 
 Authoress and Dead "Hipro 
 
 This young bull hippopotamus was shot in the Oti river in the far north of Togoland. Lying 
 in the water in the background of the picture is another. These two hippos were the only ones 
 shot by the expedition, although many others were seen and photographed. 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 Very late that afternoon, while we were restmg 
 at our base camp at Sumbu, Hodgson came back 
 and reported that he had shot the two big hippos, 
 leaving the three smaller ones. In acting thus, he 
 explained, he had not wilfully disobeyed Schom- 
 burgk's instructions, which were, it will be remem- 
 bered, to shoot only one, sparing the other four. 
 He had fallen into an error which, Schomburgk 
 remarked, was quite excusable on the part of a 
 young hunter unaccustomed to the ways of these 
 animals. He had shot at one of the big hippos, 
 which sunk, fatally wounded. Directly afterwards 
 the other big fellow popped up, and Hodgson, 
 thinking it to be the same hippo, fired again. After- 
 wards, when, on coming back to see whether they 
 had risen, he found, not one only, but two dead 
 hippopotami drifting on the surface of the pool, he 
 was greatly surprised and disgusted. 
 
 Next day we rode over to Panscheli to see the two 
 hippos, taking our boys with us to get them out. 
 We found the carcases floating on the surface of 
 the pool, surrounded by innumerable crocodiles 
 biting and tearing at them. Despite of this our 
 natives plunged fearlessly into the water amongst 
 them, and fixing long stout coils of native coir 
 rope round the bodies, soon had them hauled up 
 on dry land. A hippo when shot sinks imme- 
 diately, but only takes about two hours to rise. 
 A crocodile, when fatally hit, jumps clean out of 
 the water, then falls back, and also immediately 
 sinks. But it takes much longer to rise than the 
 hippo; thirty-six hours, or even longer, according 
 
 189 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 to the state of the weather. Consequently none of 
 those shot by Schomburgk on the previous day 
 were visible, but on the island were above a score 
 of the loathsome creatures, gorged to repletion, 
 their jaws wide open, and their living toothpicks, 
 the little tick-birds, to wit, running in and out, and 
 cleansing their mouths from the remnants of their 
 disgusting meal. By the way, Schomburgk tells 
 me that the popular idea regarding the strength 
 and toughness of the " scaly defensive armour " 
 of the crocodile is all moonshine. The so-called 
 " armour " is not really armour at all, but merely 
 a leather-like integument, and a modem bullet 
 will penetrate it almost as easily as it would so 
 much blotting-paper. 
 
 While we were up at the island, discussing the 
 chances of a cinema picture, our boys were cutting 
 up the dead hippos. I never witnessed a more 
 disgusting sight. The extremities had been gnawed 
 off by the crocodiles during the night, but the 
 massive trunks, and the huge heads, were intact, 
 and the natives sliced up the meat, entrails and all, 
 and squabbled over the tit-bits, their faces, hands, 
 and bodies smothered in blood. I wanted to get 
 away from the horrible scene, and at my request 
 Schomburgk took me for a short stroll up the 
 river. Here, in a bend on a shallow sand-spit, we 
 came unexpectedly on a number of big turtles. 
 At our approach they popped up their heads like 
 so many snakes, then bobbed down again as swiftly. 
 Schomburgk succeeded, however, in shooting one, 
 and I had visions of turtle soup for dinner. But 
 
 190 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 it sank, and could not be recovered. That night 
 our boys gorged themselves on hippo meat, and 
 the next morning croton oil was at a premium. 
 
 On January 16th we broke camp and started 
 southward for Mangu. This is the first stage on 
 our return journey to London, and Schomburgk, 
 at my suggestion, utilised the occasion to take a 
 "travel picture " — ^this is the technical trade term 
 — showing the making up and starting of the cara- 
 van, striking the tents, porters taking up loads, 
 and so forth. It made a very interesting film, 
 but in order to photograph it, we had to get up 
 much later than usual, and also delay the start, 
 so as to get the light, so that our first day's stage 
 was an unusually short one. 
 
 We are now marching back across the Oti flats. 
 The season is advancing, and each day that passes, 
 the heat increases in intensity. The very air seems 
 to palpitate with it, and even by eight o'clock in 
 the morning the sun's rays are so powerful that 
 to sit in one's saddle exposed to them is to endure 
 a mild sort of torture. We camped that night in 
 the bush, far from any human habitation, under a 
 big tree. It was near to where I had seen the 
 marabou on my way up, but these beautiful crea- 
 tures had now all disappeared. The burning sun 
 had drunk up most of the water in the " vley," 
 reducing it to the dimensions of a good - sized 
 puddle, and the little depression, so full of bird 
 life the week before, was now silent and deserted. 
 In a comparatively little while the rainy season 
 will set in, and soon afterwards all this district 
 
 191 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 where we now are will be under water, and con- 
 sequently of course quite impassable for man or 
 beast. The antelope, which now cover the flats, 
 will retire to the higher ground away from the 
 floods, and only the hippopotami and the croco- 
 diles, and of course the birds, will disport them- 
 selves in and about what will be in effect a vast 
 inland sea of fresh water. 
 
 Next day we resumed our march, striking a 
 new track a little nearer the river bank. On the 
 way we passed many big heaps of oyster shells. 
 These river oysters are small, but very sweet and 
 nice, and in the season they are consumed in 
 enormous numbers by the natives, who come down 
 to the Oti at this spot on purpose to feast upon 
 them, returning to their homes in a few weeks' time 
 as fat as butter. The native does not trouble 
 about an oyster knife in order to open what journal- 
 ists of the old school used to term the " succulent 
 bivalves." He just dumps the oysters down near 
 a big fire, and waits for them to open of their own 
 accord. Some of these midden-like piles of old 
 shells are of vast extent, and are probably the 
 accumulation of many years, possibly of centuries. 
 These shells are now used by the Mangu people for 
 making lime, and Schomburgk used to note the 
 whereabouts of the heaps so that they might be 
 able to come up and fetch them away later on. 
 
 I was surprised and imeasy at observing, soon 
 after we camped to-day, that several Tschokossi 
 savages, each with his bow and sheaf of poisoned 
 arrows, were prowling about in the bush in the 
 
 192 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 distance, evidently watching us, and taking stock 
 of our movements. We tried to get in touch with 
 them, in order to find out what their intentions 
 were, but directly we made a movement in their 
 direction, they as promptly retired, to reappear 
 once more when we withdrew, and resume their 
 silent spying upon us. It was somewhat discon- 
 certing, but Schomburgk did not attach any very 
 great importance to it. No doubt, he remarked, they 
 were suspicious of our intentions, wondering what 
 we were doing so far away from the beaten track ; 
 since even in the more remote parts of Togo, like 
 that where we now are, there are certain well- 
 defined caravan routes, and the natives, treacherous 
 and cunning themselves, are always mistrustful of 
 any white strangers who quit these recognised 
 travel lanes, in order to adventure themselves into 
 the bush on either side. 
 
 Nevertheless, when night fell and the camp 
 was still, I felt strangely uneasy. I could not 
 sleep, and the story of the white man so nearly 
 slain in his tent by the poisoned arrows of these 
 treacherous savages kept recurring to my mind 
 again and again. At first a camp in a typical 
 African bush is strangely silent, but after an hour 
 or so there invariably begins a regular succession 
 of noises, continuing till just before dawn. I 
 heard, and perforce listened to them all, on that 
 nuit blanche. First it was a horse neighing, then a 
 hyena yowling ; monkeys started chattering in 
 the trees, a bush buck was bellowing to its mate. 
 A little later on an old owl started " ter-hoot ! 
 
 193 N 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 ter-hoot ! " somewhere near, and some crested cranes 
 answered her with their rasping " honk ! honk ! " 
 like an asthmatical motor horn. My tent was 
 pitched under some dwarf trees, from which there 
 proceeded a continual crackling of dry branches. 
 Hark ! Surely there are human fingers stealthily 
 groping about the outside of my frail dwelling. 
 I creep to the flap and look fearfully out. Then 
 laugh softly. It is only a tree lizard that has 
 fallen from above, and now runs pattering about 
 the taut canvas. The moonlight is flooding the 
 country, and all the landscape for miles around is 
 as a level unbroken plain of snow, or frosted silver, 
 save that here and there a huge mis-shapen baobab 
 rears its contorted form and casts weird black 
 shadows athwart the white brightness. I lie down 
 and close my eyes, determining to sleep, to be 
 startled into wakefulness again this time by the 
 low gurgling cough of a leopard. I go to the tent 
 flap once more, and call softly to the horses, who 
 are commencing to neigh uneasily. As I stand 
 there huge bat-like moths circle about with whir- 
 ring wings, or dash blindly into my averted face ; 
 while from the river below comes an endless, 
 monotonous chorus from the throats of thousands 
 of bull-frogs—" qua-ah ! quah-ah ! quah-ah ! " a 
 million times repeated. At last I feel myself 
 drifting into slumberland. The weary eyelids close 
 peacefully over aching eyeballs. The tired brain 
 ceases to concern itself automatically with things 
 past or with things present. Have I slept, or have 
 I been awake all the time, and only imagined the 
 
 194 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 sleep that came not ? I am not sure. But I am 
 at all events certain that I am now wide awake, 
 and that the camp is in an uproar. One of the 
 horses had got loose, and being a stallion, as in- 
 deed they all are, " goes for " the one next him. 
 The two fight furiously. The others start kicking 
 and squealing. The boys rush out, stumbling 
 over the tent ropes in their excitement, and cursing 
 fluently meanwhile in half a dozen different dialects. 
 And above the din I can distinguish Schomburgk's 
 voice, angrily inquiring of the horse boys whose 
 animal it is that has broken loose, and promising 
 punishment for the careless delinquent later on. 
 That morning at dawn comes to my tent the erring 
 one, to beg me to intercede for him with the "master." 
 I promised to do my best. But Schomburgk is 
 adamant. " An example must be made," he says. 
 " It is sheer downright carelessness. No horse can 
 break loose like that if it is properly tethered. Some 
 night we shall have the lot stampeded ; or, worse 
 still, one of them will be fatally injured." Sud- 
 denly a happy thought strikes me. " It was a 
 leopard," I explain, lying fluently, for the leopard 
 incident happened hours before the horse broke 
 loose. "I heard the brute myself." "Oh, of 
 course, that alters the case," he says. " A horse 
 might conceivably get loose if frightened by a 
 prowling leopard. I will let the fellow off with a 
 talking to." So that little affair ends satisfactorily 
 to all concerned, and I congratulate myself on the 
 fact that although I have lied, I have at least 
 lied for an unselfish object, and to some purpose. 
 
 195 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 Only later on did I learn that Schomburgk knew 
 I was fibbing all the while, since he was perfectly 
 well aware that a leopard will not go anywhere near 
 a horse ; only he was glad of an excuse to remit 
 the punishment without injury to discipline. 
 
 I start the day's march with aching eyes and 
 head, due to lack of sleep, and an aching heart, 
 also, for I am obsessed with a curious feeling of 
 misfortune waiting for us ahead. In vain I try to 
 shake it off, and when presently a native runner 
 is seen approaching with a letter carried in the 
 familiar cleft stick, I feel as certain as certain can 
 be that he is the bearer of bad news. And so it 
 turns out. The envelope, on being taken from its 
 oilskin wrapper and opened, proves to contain a 
 telegram from Kamina to tell us that Baron Codelli 
 von Fahnenfeld's house there had been burned to 
 the ground, and that all our heavy baggage which 
 we had left stored in it had gone up in smoke. 
 This was indeed terrible news. I cried nearly all 
 day and the best part of the next night. Practi- 
 cally the whole of my personal belongings, includ- 
 ing about £200 worth of jewellery, my books and 
 papers, the little presents and souvenirs that I 
 had bought at Madeira and elsewhere out of my 
 hard-earned money as presents for the dear ones 
 at home, my best and daintiest frocks and imder- 
 wear, to say nothing of other valued odds and 
 ends— all! all! nothing but dust and ashes! It 
 was really too awful, Schomburgk's loss was even 
 more serious than mine, but he took it more philo- 
 sophically. His manuscripts had gone, his private 
 
 196 
 
BACK TO MANGU 
 
 letters and papers, his army commissions, his 
 medals and decorations, photographs, &c., repre- 
 senting fifteen years' camera work in the African 
 wilds, his diaries, his clothes and miiforms, and a 
 whole lot of other valuable property, much of which 
 can never be replaced. We had intended to camp 
 for the night at a place called Magu, but were so 
 disgusted with fate, and things in general, that, in 
 order to tire ourselves out and keep from brooding 
 we pushed on as far as Najo. Here we camped, 
 spending most of our time lamenting, and the 
 next day, still very much down in the dumps, we 
 rode into Mangu. 
 
 197 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THROUGH THE KONKOMBWA COUNTRY 
 
 I FOUND that the change in temperature at 
 Mangu was very marked indeed since we had 
 left it not so very many days ago. The 
 harmattan was Hfting, and the nights, as well as 
 the days, had begun to get very oppressive, so that 
 I had no longer any difficulty in believing the 
 stories that had been told me concerning the tropical 
 intensity of the heat in the rainy season. 
 
 This harmattan, by the way, is a bit of a 
 meteorological mystery. In the reference books 
 it is generally described as a hot dry wind, blowing 
 from the interior deserts of Africa, and laden with 
 reddish dust. This may be true as regards its 
 inception, but to describe the harmattan one en- 
 counters in Togoland as a " wind," is to convey an 
 altogether wrong impression. It more nearly re- 
 sembles a dry fog, and is yellowish rather than 
 red, rendering the light effects most unsuitable for 
 photography of any kind, and especially so for 
 cinematographic photography. Its advent is, how- 
 ever, welcomed by the residents of the colony, for 
 it tempers the heat of the sun's rays in a most 
 effective, not to say extraordinary, manner. Directly 
 it lifts, the temperature goes up with a bound, and 
 
 198 
 
THROUGH KONKOMBWA COUNTRY 
 
 the heat, which, while it lasts, is at least tolerable, 
 becomes well-nigh insupportable. 
 
 My second stay in Mangu was not particularly 
 eventful. The men went out every day taking 
 ethnological pictures. This was in the morning, 
 of course, before the worst of the heat began. I 
 put in the time riding round with Captain von 
 Hirschfeld, watching the progress of the building 
 of the new station, and inspecting the soldiers on 
 parade. There are a great many soldiers in Mangu 
 just now, as all the reserves have been called up 
 for training. It is wonderful to see the progress 
 these reservists make, not to mention the raw 
 recruits, in the course of their training. This is 
 limited to ten days, but into that brief period of 
 time there is crammed almost an infinity of hard 
 work. Their ordinary hours of drill are ten a day. 
 No white soldier could, or would, stand it. But 
 the black man seems absolutely to enjoy it. 
 
 We took the opportunity of the reserves being 
 called up to film the lives of these native soldiers, 
 photographing them not only while they were at 
 drill and at work, but also while they were at play, 
 and resting in the bosom — or rather bosoms — of 
 their families. Family life, by the way, plays a 
 big part in the existence of the black troops of the 
 Togo hinterland. There is no " marrying off the 
 strength " for the Togo " Tommy." Practically 
 they are all married, and " with leave," and most 
 of them are very much married. An English 
 Tommy, when he has saved up money, and feels 
 like enjoying himself, goes on furlough, and buys 
 
 199 
 
THROUGH THE 
 
 beer. The Togo Tommy stops at home, and buys 
 a wife. He has to ask permission first, of course, 
 but this is practically always granted, provided 
 he has enough funds standing to his credit. The 
 cost of a wife in Mangu is about sixteen shillings ; 
 in other places it is dearer, in some few cheaper. 
 It all depends on the number of unmarried girls 
 there are available; in other words, on the law of 
 supply and demand. Even in Mangu, however, 
 the price varies. A young and attractive girl of 
 thirteen or fourteen may possibly be worth a 
 sovereign. Girls marry young in West Africa. 
 On the other hand, a strong and experienced woman 
 who is a good cook and housewife, has also a good 
 market value. Practically every soldier in Togo- 
 land buys as many wives as he can afford. The 
 German Government — very wisely, I think— does 
 not attempt to interfere with native domestic 
 customs, of which polygamy is one of the oldest 
 and most deeply-rooted. The women do not 
 object in the least. In fact, they rather like it, 
 for many hands make light work, and the more 
 wives a man has to minister to his wants, the less 
 arduous are the duties any single one of them is 
 called upon to perform. Besides, in the days when 
 inter-tribal fighting was the normal state of affairs 
 in Togoland, the women naturally greatly out- 
 numbered the men ; for although in no single one 
 of these perpetual little wars was the death roll 
 on either side considerable, the simi total of fatal 
 casualties soon mounted up, and the adult males 
 were, therefore, always in a minority as compared 
 
 200 
 
KONKOMBWA COUNTRY 
 
 with the adult females. Consequently, if mono- 
 gamy were the rule, many Togo girls would have 
 been, in the old days, condemned to a life of celi- 
 bacy, and a celibate female amongst savages is 
 unthinkable. 
 
 But I find I am wandering off the track. Soon 
 I shall find myself writing a Togoland " Golden 
 Bough." Let us return to our sheep— in other 
 words, our films. Most of those taken at Mangu, 
 as I have already stated, were ethnological ones, 
 and many of them created the liveliest interest 
 when they were shown later on in London at 
 special meetings of the various learned societies, 
 such as, for instance, the Royal Anthropological 
 Institute and the Royal Geographical Society. 
 But we also utilised this, our second stay in Mangu, 
 to photograph some of the kind best described as 
 semi-dramatic. 
 
 One of these was of very special interest to 
 everybody there, natives as well as whites, because 
 it was an attempt to reproduce for the cinema 
 what will presently become Togo history. The 
 incident chosen was the attack on the old station 
 at Mangu by the Tschokossi, mentioned in a 
 previous chapter, and amongst the hundreds of 
 supers, soldiers as well as natives, who took part 
 in the film production, were many men who had 
 been in the actual fighting. We followed the true 
 course of events as nearly as possible in our mimic 
 representation, the authorities kindly placing at 
 our disposal for the purpose practically the entire 
 Mangu garrison. In the film, as finally completed 
 
 201 
 
THROUGH THE 
 
 and screened, two patrols are seen going out, one 
 in the direction of Tamberma Fort. The latter is 
 attacked, overwhelmed, and cut to pieces, only one 
 badly wounded man escaping. The other patrol, 
 going farther afield, scouts up to a big native 
 town, and finds the savages there dancing their 
 tribal war dances, yelling death to the Europeans, 
 and generally working themselves into a frenzy. 
 The patrol returns to the fort to report, and on 
 the way picks up the wounded survivor from the 
 other party, who tells them of the fate that has 
 overtaken his comrades. The officer in charge of 
 the fort sends a letter to the commanding officer 
 at headquarters asking for assistance, but before 
 the relief arrives the natives swarm up and attack 
 the fort. The garrison is hard pressed, and the 
 officer in charge, uncertain as to whether his first 
 letter has got through to headquarters, calls for a 
 volunteer to take a second letter. A native soldier 
 steps forward, and quits the beleaguered fort dis- 
 guised as a Hausa. By taking careful cover he 
 gets through the lines of the besiegers without 
 being noticed, delivers his letter to the officer 
 commanding, whom he meets on the road, and all 
 ends happily, the final scene showing the assault, 
 followed by the arrival of the relieving force and 
 the dispersal of the assailants. Curiously enough, 
 we had considerable difficulty in getting the natives 
 to act as supers in this film. They remembered the 
 real fighting, and having a wholesome fear of the 
 soldiers, born of actual experience, they were ex- 
 tremely loath to come to close quarters with them. 
 
 202 
 
KONKOMBWA COUNTRY 
 
 On January 27th the Kaiser's birthday was 
 celebrated in Mangn, sports and ^ames being 
 organised for the natives, who took the keenest 
 interest in them. A water race for women caused 
 great excitement. They had to run a certain dis- 
 tance, carrying calabashes of water, the prizes 
 going to those who succeeded in spilling least. 
 A blind-fold pot-smashing competition was also the 
 cause of a lot of fim. In the afternoon Captain 
 von Hirschfeld distributed the prizes to the winners, 
 and I also gave away some pieces of silk, cloth, 
 and beads as supplementary ones. 
 
 One morning an exceedingly smart-looking 
 Hausa, from the heart of the true Sudan, came into 
 the station with a wild ostrich for sale. It was a 
 very fine bird, the biggest in fact, Schomburgk 
 said, that he had ever seen, and he promptly 
 bought it. The bird had been tightly tied up for 
 some considerable while, and as a result it was 
 all sore and chafed about the legs. Schomburgk 
 therefore set him loose. And the bird showed its 
 gratitude by immediately bolting. The result was 
 that we had to organise a party to recapture him. 
 It was by no means bad fun, however, and besides 
 we were able to film an ostrich hunt on the veldt. 
 Everybody nearly enjoyed it first rate, including, 
 I verily believe, the ostrich. The one exception 
 was our camera man, who soon ran himself out of 
 breath, and was as limp as a wet rag by the time 
 we had finished. Before this little episode he had 
 been very keen on game pictures, but it was notice- 
 able that afterwards he studiously avoided refer- 
 
 203 
 
THROUGH THE 
 
 ring to them. However, he made a lovely film of 
 this one, and we were highly pleased, naturally. 
 
 We were due to leave Mangu for good on 
 February 1st, and the last few days were spent in 
 packing up, sorting out our stores for the down- 
 ward journey, and disposing of such as we no longer 
 required. A lot of tinned stuff we gave away, and 
 one of the horses that was ill Schomburgk pre- 
 sented to the white non-commissioned officer at 
 the station. Our one himdred loads that we had 
 started with had dwindled by now to about 
 forty. 
 
 Suddenly Schomburgk announced a most ter- 
 rible and alarming discovery. He had run out of 
 cigarettes. A package supposed to contain a 
 reserve supply was found on being opened to be 
 filled with packets of tea, sugar, and other groceries. 
 He flew to the telephone and sent an urgent message 
 to Sokode for a fresh supply, to be despatched by 
 special runner. Meanwhile he growled and grum- 
 bled like a bear with a sore head. Nor did matters 
 improve greatly when the cigarettes at length 
 arrived. The Sokode people had rim out of the 
 best Egyptians — his usual smoke— which retail out 
 there at sixpence a dozen, so they had sent him 
 a very inferior sort, known locally as " battle-axe 
 brand," and costing about sevenpence for fifty. 
 They have been christened "battle-axes," Schom- 
 burgk explained, in between two long strings of 
 swear words, because two of them will knock you 
 on the head and kill you. On the same principle 
 the Western American cowboy dubs the vile spirit 
 
 204 
 
KONKOMBWA COUNTRY 
 
 sold in the frontier cattle towns " forty-rod whisky." 
 You walk forty rods after drinking a glass of it, 
 then you drop down dead. I cannot, of course, 
 speak as to the whisky ; but the cigarettes fully 
 deserved their evil name. Navvy shag was simply 
 " not in it " with them. When Schomburgk started 
 to smoke one, everybody ran away. I am told 
 they are exported to Togo from England for 
 native consumption. All I can say is, I pity the 
 natives. 
 
 At last the day of parting came. I can hardly 
 find words to express how sorry I felt to leave 
 Mangu and our dear little home. Captain von 
 Hirschfeld, who had shown us such splendid hos- 
 pitality all through our stay there, rode three miles 
 with us on the return journey. We are not travel- 
 ling back along the same route we came up by, but 
 are setting a course some distance to the westward 
 of it, so as to break new ground. Our first camp 
 had been fixed at a place called Unyogo, and as 
 the distance was comparatively short, Schomburgk 
 and I did not quit Mangu until three o'clock in 
 the afternoon, having previously sent our carriers 
 on ahead to pitch the tents, and get everything 
 ready. Our boy we took with us on horseback to 
 carry our water-bottles, but he didn't keep up 
 with us, and somehow he managed to tmnble oft 
 his horse. Naturally, the riderless animal promptly 
 bolted back for its comfortable stable at Mangu, 
 with the boy hot a-foot after it. As a result we 
 had no water to drink during the stage, which 
 was a very hot one, with no shade whatever and 
 
 205 
 
THROUGH THE 
 
 clouds of dust. I suffered considerably from thirst. 
 So did Schomburgk, who, however, was able to 
 console himself by smoking " battle-axes " and 
 swearing at intervals, both palliatives denied to 
 me. It was a glad moment for both of us when at 
 length we caught sight of our green tents imder 
 the trees outside Unyogo. 
 
 Hodgson was already there, having gone on 
 ahead on his bicycle. He was greatly excited, 
 and would hardly give us time to get a drink of 
 water, or a cup of tea, before plunging into a 
 narrative of what he somewhat grandiloquently 
 termed his "adventure." It appeared that he 
 had been pedalling silently along on his bicycle, 
 when a covey of grouse flew up almost from under 
 his front wheel, and cannoned into one another in 
 their fright and excitement with so great violence 
 that six of them fell to the ground. Dismounting, 
 he picked up five of the birds quite dead ; the 
 sixth was only stunned, and, recovering itself, 
 fluttered off into the bush. The incident was cer- 
 tainly a remarkable one, almost incredible indeed, 
 for grouse are notoriously hard birds to hit. But 
 there they were, all five of them, mute witnesses 
 to the truth of his story. None of them bore any 
 shot, or other wound, to account for their deaths ; 
 and besides, Hodgson had no gun with him. We 
 cooked them for supper, and very delicious they 
 were. Afterwards, we sat outside our camp in 
 the moonlight talking and laughing, and in high 
 spirits at the thought of going home— all but 
 Schomburgk, who declared that the trip was far 
 
 206 
 
KONKOMBWA COUNTRY 
 
 too short a one. " Some day," he remarked, " we 
 will come out here again, film some more pictures, 
 and return home the other way." " Other way ? " 
 I inquire dubiously. " Yes," he replied airily, 
 " roimd by Timbuctu, and north across the Sahara. 
 It will be grand fun, and we shall get some unique 
 pictures." " Yes-s ! " I reply feebly. And no 
 more is said. But I think a lot. 
 
 That night a woman palaver started right out- 
 side my tent. I was awakened at dead of night 
 by the cries of a female in distress — shouting, 
 howling, and sobbing. Jumping up, and throwing 
 on a wrap, I hurried outside, imagining that murder 
 was being done at the very least. The noise was 
 being made by the wife of one of our soldiers, who 
 declared, on being questioned, that her husband 
 had tried to kill her. Schomburgk, whom the 
 noise had also awakened, and who now put in an 
 appearance, promptly sent for the man, and cross- 
 examined first him and then his wife. The true 
 facts of the case were thus elicited. It turned out 
 that the woman, having had a wordy quarrel with 
 her husband— no blows were struck— -had an- 
 nounced her intention of forthwith going back to 
 Mangu. Her husband had, quite properly, pre- 
 vented her from carrying out her intention. 
 Whereupon she had rushed out of their hut, and 
 over to our camp, where she had started howling 
 and yelling, hoping thereby to get her husband 
 punished. Had Schomburgk been an inexperienced 
 African traveller, unused to the little wiles of 
 native women, she might possibly have succeeded 
 
 207 
 
THROUGH THE 
 
 in her design. But he was too old a bird to be 
 caught that way. Instead of punishing the hus- 
 band, who was obviously not to blame in the 
 matter, he told him to take his wife back to their 
 hut, and if she didn't behave herself, he had his 
 (Schomburgk's) full permission to give her a hiding. 
 I never saw a woman so completely taken aback 
 as this one was when she heard the judgment de- 
 livered. Her jaw dropped, her look of hard de- 
 fiance gave place to one of abject fear, and without 
 a word she followed her lord and master to their 
 joint domicile, where, for the rest of that night at 
 all events, peace reigned once more. 
 
 Next morning at 3 a.m. we were oft again, and 
 rode the next stage, a short one, to Djereponi. 
 Here there is a rest-house, one of the old square 
 Sudan stations. It is quite an imposing-looking 
 place, and beautifully clean. Two square huts for 
 sleeping in form one side of a hollow square, the 
 other three sides being formed by the huts intended 
 to accommodate the native dependents of Euro- 
 pean travellers. In the middle is a mess hut 
 for the rainy season. During the dry season in 
 Togoland, of course, as elsewhere in Africa, one 
 eats invariably out-of-doors, usually under a veran- 
 dah, if there is one, if not, under the awning of 
 one's tent, or beneath a tree. Here there was a 
 very fine broad verandah, and the roof came down 
 very low, giving plenty of shelter and shade, very 
 pleasant. All the buildings, and even the hard 
 beaten clay floors, were coated with fresh native 
 whitewash. This gave the place a beautifully 
 
 208 
 
a. 
 
 ^^.^o 
 
 
 t/l n - - 
 
 UJ rt « c c 
 > 
 
 
 i tj « ^ bO 
 
 u .s 
 
 = 3-5 
 
 c 1 
 
 C rt o 
 
 ^—3 3 
 
KONKOMBWA COUNTRY 
 
 cool and clean appearance, but I found the glare, 
 when the sun beat down upon it, somewhat trying 
 to the eyes. While we were resting here a soldier 
 brought in five chameleons, which he sold to us for 
 three-halfpence each. It was very interesting to 
 watch them change their colour from grey to 
 green, and back again to grey. They have large 
 staring eyes, which they roll about in the most 
 comical manner imaginable ; and their slender 
 tongues, when they protrude them to their full 
 extent, are nearly as long as their bodies. 
 
 The next stage was to Nambiri, where also there 
 is a very nice rest-house. The road was good, and 
 we cantered or galloped nearly the whole distance. 
 As a result we arrived at our destination a long 
 way in advance of the carriers, who, after the sim 
 rose, were unable to make very rapid progress. 
 There being nothing to eat, I rolled myself in my 
 horse rug, pillowed my head on my saddle, and fell 
 fast asleep ; when I awoke, some two hours later, 
 there were still no signs of the carriers, and we were 
 all three very hungry. Schomburgk sent the cook, 
 who had come along with us on a bicycle, to forage 
 round for eggs, and on his returning with a hand- 
 kerchief full he boiled six of them hard and ate 
 them without any bread or salt. Hodgson and I 
 preferred to wait, saving up our appetites against 
 what we knew was coming. Three hours after 
 our first arrival in camp the first of the carriers 
 came straggling in, looking very hot and exhausted. 
 As luck would have it this advance guard was 
 carrying the chop boxes, and we pounced upon them 
 
 209 o 
 
THROUGH THE 
 
 forthwith. We did not even wait for a wash, or 
 for our chairs and tables, which happened to be 
 behind, but squatted down just as we were on 
 the mud floor, and enjoyed our tinned stuff better 
 than a meal at the Savoy. First we devoured 
 three whole tins of sardines, then we ate an entire 
 pate de foie gras, followed by a miscellaneous as- 
 sortment of cheese, crackers, and candied fruit. 
 Schomburgk rather looked with disfavour on these 
 extravagant delicacies, having been used to more 
 frugal bush diet on his previous trips. But I con- 
 sidered that now we were homeward bound we 
 could afford to use up our reserve of luxuries. 
 
 And, speaking of luxuries, it was here that our 
 personal boys had the feed of their lives. It came 
 about in this way. At different places along the 
 road I had bought a number of chickens, mainly 
 on the strength of the assertions of the sellers 
 regarding their unrivalled powers as layers, and 
 these we carried with us in a big native coop, 
 releasing them at the end of each stage in order 
 that they might give free play to their supposed 
 egg-laying proclivities. I write " supposed " ad- 
 visedly, for with the exception of one little bird, 
 who did her duty regularly by laying one egg at 
 practically every place we stayed at, hardly one 
 single egg did the others produce between the lot 
 of them. Until we got to Nambiri ! Then they 
 laid no fewer than five. This was all right — ^if 
 they hadn't chosen to lay them in my bed. More- 
 over, I did not discover the whereabouts of the 
 eggs imtil I went to lay down at night, and then 
 
 2IO 
 
KONKOMBWA COUNTRY 
 
 only through making an improvised omelette ot 
 them. Being new laid, fortunately, there was 
 naturally no smell, but the mess was awful. I 
 would not have believed that five small eggs — 
 and African hens' eggs are exceedingly small — 
 could have made one's bed in such a state, to say 
 nothing of one's night attire. Next morning I 
 gave away all my chickens — bar the regular-laying 
 one — to our boys, who ate them that night for 
 supper. I also told Schomburgk about my mishap, 
 expecting him to condole with me. Instead he 
 laughed himself nearly into a fit ; and when he 
 had somewhat recovered, he started telling me 
 about a fox-terrier bitch he once owned, and who 
 had deposited six " new-laid puppies " in his bed. 
 " And when I started to get in between the sheets," 
 he began; but I stopped my ears and ran away, 
 refusing to hear any more. Men are so unsym- 
 pathetic. 
 
 We are now in the heart of the Konkombwa 
 country, and Schomburgk decided to stay over 
 here for a couple of days in order to film these 
 most interesting savages. Everywhere aroimd us 
 the country is most densely populated, little villages 
 peeping through the trees wherever one turns 
 one's gaze, and we expected that we should have no 
 difficulty, therefore, in inducing sufficient numbers 
 of natives to attend. But in the beginning there 
 was a hitch. Schomburgk had sent round word 
 for them to come up to the camp in the afternoon 
 for a dance, and they duly turned up, but un- 
 decorated. This, of course, was not at all what 
 
 211 
 
THROUGH KONKOMBWA COUNTRY 
 
 we wanted, and Schomburgk asked them why they 
 had left off their head-dresses and other ornaments. 
 They rephed that it was because they were afraid 
 that the white men would take them from them ; 
 but on receiving his personal assurance that nothing 
 would be taken from them by force, but only on 
 fair payment, and even then not unless they were 
 perfectly willing to sell, they agreed to come the 
 next day dressed in their best. 
 
 212 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 THE chief of Nambiri turned out to be a 
 charming little old man ; one of Nature's 
 gentlemen. He wore a long grey beard, 
 and not much else beside, but his manners were 
 courtly and kindly, and he bore himself with a 
 certain savage stateliness, tempered by a deference 
 that had in it no trace of cringing or servility. 
 Since parting with the old Uro of Bafilo, I have 
 met no African potentate who has impressed 
 me so favom-ably. Unlike so many village chiefs, 
 he was not unduly intrusive. He waited imtil we 
 had had a bath and a sleep, then came with his 
 " presents." They were more than abundant, in- 
 cluding, besides the usual chickens, eggs, &c., a 
 young calf. Schomburgk at first refused to accept 
 this, knowing that the return " present " expected 
 would be of considerable value ; but the old man 
 begged so hard, saying that the first white woman 
 to honour his town with a visit must be properly 
 feasted, that at last he consented. We gave him 
 in return a piece of silk cloth, and a number of 
 brass and copper rods, with which he seemed to 
 be highly delighted, and all the rest of the day he 
 kept pottering round, trying in every way that lay 
 in his power to make things comfortable for us. 
 
 213 
 
NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 That night the soldiers killed the calf, and I 
 distributed the meat to our boys, keeping the best 
 portions for ourselves. These I ordered to be 
 roasted at once, a precaution only too necessary 
 with meat in this climate, as otherwise it will go 
 bad in a surprisingly short time. The boys are 
 greatly delighted when this happens, because the 
 native has no qualms whatever about eating tainted 
 meat. They always pretend to be very sorry 
 when they come up to me with the news, " Missy, 
 um meat gone smell — um quite bad " ; but it is 
 easy to see by the irrepressible glitter in their eyes 
 that they are secretly delighted. Consequently, 
 they were rather crestfallen when I ordered that 
 our share of the meal should all be roasted there 
 and then. They considered that a good meat 
 meal had, from their point of view, been practically 
 stolen from them. 
 
 The Konkombwa villages round about here are 
 the prettiest and neatest I have seen in Togo. 
 They are quite small, consisting mostly of from 
 five to ten huts, and each little community seems 
 to be more or less self-contained. The social 
 system under which they live, in fact, may be best 
 described as a blend of the communal and the 
 patriarchal. It is very astonishing that these 
 splendid savages, so warlike by training and in- 
 stinct, and of so fine and stalwart an appearance, 
 should have been, for as far back as their history 
 or traditions extend, under the domination of the 
 neighboiu'ing Dagomba tribe. The only explana- 
 tion I can think of is that the Dagomba have guns, 
 
 214 
 
Photo by 
 
 Miss M. Gehtts 
 
 Young Konkombvva Warrior 
 
 Note the helmet-like shape of the hairdressing ; the dependent horse- 
 hair switch, a highlj'-prized ornament ; the iron bell-rattle carried in the 
 hand ; the bow, and sheaf of arrows all poisoned. The bead necklace 
 supports a whistle by means of which the natives can signal messages 
 from village to village, and even call one another by name, using a sort 
 of Morse telegraphic code invented by themselves. 
 
»^* ' • ; 
 
 « « r V 
 
NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 and probably became possessed of them, moreover, 
 and learnt their use, at a very early date, whereas 
 the Konkombwa are still in the bow-and-arrow 
 stage of martial evolution. The Konkombwa 
 women are by no means ill-looking; but they are 
 short and squat, and their good appearance is 
 considerably detracted from owing to their custom 
 of cropping their hair quite close, the cuttings 
 being used, I was told, by the young warriors to 
 make up their own elaborate head-dresses. I 
 wonder what a European girl would say, if she 
 were required to sacrifice her tresses for the benefit 
 of her brothers, her sweetheart, or her husband. I 
 rather think she would indignantly refuse ; but 
 these dusky belles take it quite as a matter of 
 course. It is the custom of the country, and here, 
 as elsewhere, it appears to be a more or less settled 
 conviction that whatever is, is right. As regards 
 their behaviour, the Konkombwa women compare 
 very favourably with any in Togoland. Not only 
 are their manners modest and gentle, but they 
 have a reputation for chastity — a rare virtue 
 amongst African natives — ^which inquiry led me to 
 believe is not undeserved. They all— barring the 
 very young unmarried girls — ^wear a loin cloth, 
 mostly of some white material, and which they 
 take a pride in keeping exquisitely clean, and this, 
 and the custom they have of wearing pretty little 
 white " pearl " anklets, and similar, but broader, 
 belts of " pearls " round their wrists, necks, and 
 waists, gives them quite a picturesque and pleasing 
 appearance. 
 
 215 
 
NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 My first favourable impression of these charming 
 people, however, was destined to receive rather a 
 set-back during the course of the evening, although 
 the incident that gave rise to it was an isolated 
 one, and probably of quite infrequent occurrence ; 
 and in any case, of course, one has no right to 
 generalise from a particular instance — a fault 
 which, by the way, is far too common. We were 
 sitting outside our hut in the cool of the evening, 
 chatting together of home and future prospects ; 
 Hodgson, who plays the mandoline rather nicely, 
 was strumming some old-time melody ; the moon 
 was shining as it only can shine in the tropics ; 
 and all nature seemed at peace ; when there rose 
 from the village near by a most terrific din. 
 Women were screaming, men shouting, and chil- 
 dren crying. Naturally we all jumped up, and 
 ran over to see what was the matter. It proved 
 to be a domestic row, and a pretty serious one at 
 that. A huge native, apparently mad drunk, was 
 beating his wife with a big, heavy stick, almost a 
 club in fact, while a score or more of others stood 
 round yelling to him to desist, but not caring 
 apparently to take any active steps to compel 
 him to do so. When we arrived upon the scene, the 
 poor woman was lying huddled up on the ground, 
 covered with blood, feebly moaning, and evidently 
 too weak to even attempt to ward off the blows which 
 her better half was still raining down upon her de- 
 fenceless head. Schomburgk promptly bowled the 
 brute over with a left-hander straight in the face. 
 Then, having got possession of his big stick, he 
 
 216 
 
NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 gave him a taste — several tastes, in fact — of his 
 own medicine until he howled for mercy. Mean- 
 while I had run back to our camp for lint and 
 bandages, and proceeded to bind up the injured 
 woman's hurts. I never in all my life saw such 
 a sight as the poor woman presented. He had 
 beaten her almost to a jelly, so that her features 
 were well-nigh indistinguishable, and on the scalp 
 were six or seven deep wounds, extending to the 
 bone. Her body was simply drenched — I can use 
 no other term— in blood. To my inexperienced 
 eyes it seemed well-nigh impossible that she could 
 ever recover ; yet such are the recuperative powers 
 possessed by these people, that when I inquired 
 about her not long afterwards I was informed that 
 she was going about her household duties as usual, 
 her head swathed in bandages, and her face all 
 puffed up and swollen, but otherwise seemingly 
 little the worse for the terrible punishment she 
 had undergone. I tried to get her to tell me, 
 before quitting Nambiri, what was the origin of 
 the affair, but beyond saying that it was " all 
 her own fault," I could get no explanation from 
 her. The other women were not so reticent, 
 however, and from what they let drop I gathered 
 that her husband had caught her philandering 
 with a young buck belonging to a neighbouring 
 village. So there you are ! Conjugal chastity, or 
 the insistence upon it, has as its necessary corol- 
 lary conjugal jealousy, in Konkombwaland as 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Next day the dancers turned up. There were 
 
 217 
 
NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 about two hundred of them, picked young warriors 
 from every village within a big radius round about 
 Nambiri ; and very smart they looked, with their 
 ebony skins set off by rows on rows of brass 
 and copper anklets and wristlets, their quivers of 
 poisoned arrows ; and their cowrie-shell helmets, 
 with long strings of similar shells dangling before 
 and behind, and surmounted either by the small 
 graceful puku horns, or occasionally by the yard- 
 long horns of the roan antelope, worn in pairs. 
 I had never beheld, or even conceived of, a more 
 magnificent yet barbaric sight. Nearly every 
 warrior carried a curious bell-like rattle, made of 
 native iron, with which they kept up a continuous 
 ding-dong " duotonous " tintinnabulation, each note 
 separated by an octave, and continually repeated 
 over and over again. 
 
 We took great pains over this film, for these 
 Konkombwa people are exceedingly interesting 
 from an ethnological point of view ; they have 
 hardly ever before been visited by private travel- 
 lers, and most certainly have never before been 
 photographed by a cinema camera. In the pic- 
 tures we took, the tribesmen, fully arrayed in all 
 their finery, are first seen in the act of parading 
 for one of their big ceremonial dances. Then comes 
 the salute, followed by the actual dance itself. 
 The young braves rush into the circle, and perform 
 various evolutions, the whole being instinct with 
 life and movement. The only hitch in our arrange- 
 ments, but that a sufficiently annoying one, was 
 due to the Konkombwa women, who insisted on 
 
 218 
 
NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 dancing in between with their children, thereby, 
 of course, spoihng the film, and necessitating its 
 being done all over again. After the dances were 
 over, a number of warriors were photographed 
 separately, and close up to the camera ; and in 
 order to get good studies of facial expression, we 
 told them to talk into the machine, saying that it 
 would take down whatever message they gave it, 
 and that it would afterwards be heard in Europe. 
 The result of this little manoeuvre fully came 
 up to our expectations, each warrior as he ad- 
 vanced close up to the camera delivering his 
 message to it with much energy and many gesti- 
 culations. Afterwards, I asked our interpreter 
 what it was they had been saying. His reply 
 was that most of the messages were of such a 
 character that they would not bear being re- 
 peated ! 
 
 After it was all over we distributed tobacco and 
 kola nuts amongst the dancers, both of which were 
 much appreciated, especially the nuts, which are 
 esteemed a great delicacy by the natives, and are 
 highly valued besides on account of their stimulat- 
 ing effects, and the curious property they possess of 
 enabling a person to go without food or other re- 
 freshment for a considerable interval. These kola 
 nuts are brought into the interior from the coast 
 belt by the Hausa traders. They have to be 
 carried very carefully, and must also be kept 
 constantly damp. Their value is from a half- 
 penny apiece upwards, being dearer the farther 
 north one goes. Two or three kola nuts are usually 
 
 219 
 
NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 —provided he can afford them —carried by a native 
 when he goes out hunting, or is called upon to 
 perform any other feat of physical endurance, and 
 one nut will enable him easily to do without 
 food or water for at least a day. Some of the 
 older natives, who are also well to do, and the 
 chiefs and mallams are very partial to the nuts, 
 chewing them all day long, much as the American 
 girls chew gum. The result is a staining of the 
 inside of the mouth, lips, and teeth, a dirty reddish- 
 brown, very repulsive to look upon. I once tasted 
 a kola nut, but found it exceedingly bitter and 
 unpalatable. 
 
 Very early on the morning after the dance we 
 struck camp, and started on our next stage to a 
 place called Tschopowa. We only wanted fifty 
 carriers, but over two hundred turned up. Schom- 
 burgk naturally objected, but the old chief ex- 
 plained that we need only pay on the basis of 
 the number of loads carried ; the extra carriers 
 were going on their own initiative, and for the 
 fun of the thing. They regarded it, in fact, in 
 the light of a pleasure excursion, and as they all 
 helped with the loads, which were constantly 
 being changed voluntarily from one to the other, 
 we got over the groimd in fine style, and at a 
 great rate. At almost every village we passed 
 going along, too, other natives joined in, singing, 
 shouting, and capering, so that our caravan as- 
 sumed in the end a most imposing, yet barbaric 
 appearance. As I felt somewhat indisposed, I 
 travelled all the way by hammock, and my boys 
 
 220 
 
NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 swung me along in great spirits at a five-mile-an- 
 hour gait. 
 
 The curiosity aroused by my advent in the 
 villages along this usually little frequented route 
 was very great ; more so, in fact, than anywhere 
 else in Togo. Everywhere crowds of natives lined 
 the roads to see me pass, the women " ul-ul-ulling " 
 a wild welcome, the men capering and singing. 
 While at the more important places, regular demon- 
 strations of welcome were organised, as though for 
 royalty itself. Thus, at Tschopowa, at a distance 
 of fully three miles from the village, there awaited 
 us a great crowd of natives, all dressed in their 
 best. Schomburgk happened to be riding some 
 little distance ahead at the time, and when he 
 appeared they seemed quite disappointed, and in- 
 quired as to the whereabouts of the " White Queen " 
 of whom they had heard so much. He pointed over 
 his shoulder as he cantered past, intimating that 
 *' Her Majesty " would be along presently, and the 
 reception I got when I did ride up to where they 
 were awaiting me was almost overpowering. At 
 most of the other larger villages it was much the 
 same. The road used to be lined three and four 
 deep by hundreds on hundreds of Konkombwa 
 men, women, and children, all in gala attire, and 
 I had to tell my boys to throw up the curtains 
 of the hammock, so that I could sit up and smile 
 my acknowledgments right and left, just as royalty 
 does when it appears on a festive occasion in the 
 streets of, say, London or Berlin. It quite made 
 me blush for myself— and I am not ordinarily 
 
 221 
 
NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 over-shy — ^remembering how insignificant a per- 
 sonage I really was. Our operator, however, 
 was troubled by no such scruples ; but getting 
 his camera in position, he usually managed to 
 secure any number of good pictures of the 
 curious, unusual scenes. At Tschopowa the whole 
 affair culminated in a big dance, given in my 
 honour. 
 
 It was at this dance that I made an interesting, 
 and profitable discovery. Surmounting the head- 
 dress of one of the male dancers, I noticed a bunch 
 of black, draggled looking objects, that closer 
 inspection showed me to be feathers. They were, 
 however, altogether different from any other 
 feathers I had seen the natives wearing elsewhere, 
 and a sudden, quick, glad suspicion flashed into 
 my mind. I darted up to the native, and greatly 
 to his surprise snatched the plume from his head- 
 dress. One glance sufficed. " Marabou ! " I 
 shouted to Schomburgk. " Marabou feathers at 
 last ! " Would the native sell ? Of course he 
 would, and glad to. A brass rod changed hands. 
 So, too, did the feathers. 
 
 To heat some water was the work of a few 
 minutes. Then I rinsed the bedraggled objects in 
 soapsuds, dried them by waving them to and fro, 
 and a little later they emerged the most beautiful 
 objects conceivable, soft fleecy things of snowy 
 whiteness and exquisite purity. Yes, there could 
 be no doubt about it ; they were marabou feathers, 
 of perfect texture, and large size. I wear them in 
 my hat now occasionally in London and elsewhere, 
 
 222 
 
NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 to the envy and admiration of my women friends ; 
 those, at least, who are not members of the Wild 
 Birds' Protection Association. 
 
 The feathers had been left hanging up in the 
 smoky atmosphere of the native's hut, which ac- 
 counted for their black and draggled appearance. 
 But they had suffered no permanent deterioration, 
 and after I had washed them, they were, as I have 
 already intimated, as good as ever. That after- 
 noon, without saying anything to Schomburgk, 
 who had gone out shooting, I sent for the native 
 from whom I had bought my treasures, and told 
 him to let it be known in the village that I would 
 give a brass rod for every similar feather brought 
 in. Soon the camp was alive with Konkombwa 
 bringing marabou plumes for sale. As fast as I 
 secured them, I rinsed them out in a big bath of 
 soapsuds, and set the boys to work drying them. 
 When Schomburgk returned presently he was 
 amazed to see rows on rows of ebon-black natives 
 engaged in gravely waving to and fro a small forest 
 of snow-white feathers. Even his personal boy 
 had been impressed for service, and he was inclined 
 to grumble a little thereat in consequence. But 
 he quickly relented, when he realised the nature 
 of the bargain I had made. We had, at the time, 
 a considerable store of the rods left, which we wanted 
 to get rid of. They were worth to us about six- 
 pence apiece, while marabou feathers are scarcely 
 to be had for money in Europe. 
 
 The rest-house at Tschopowa is of the old square 
 Sudan pattern, like an East African " tembe." It 
 
 223 
 
NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 is beautifully situated on a little rise^ whence a 
 fine view is obtainable for miles all around. This 
 is in the dry season, after the crops have been 
 harvested. In the rainy season, however, when 
 the guinea corn stands some 15 or 20 feet high, 
 and the country is mostly under water, it cannot 
 be at all a desirable place to stay at. Near the 
 rest-house was one of the biggest and finest baobab 
 trees I saw in Togo. The trunk was, I suppose, 
 fully 60 feet in circumference, and it was certainly 
 many hundreds, and probably some thousands, of 
 years old. The wood of the baobab tree is of no 
 use commercially, being so spongy that a '303 bullet 
 will go clean through even the biggest of them ; 
 but the bark, which is fibrous, is sometimes stripped 
 off by the natives, and used for making ropes, and 
 a coarse kind of cloth. The leaves are dried, and 
 made into a powder called " lalo," which is used 
 by West Africans as a condiment. Only the 
 female baobab tree bears the fruit, which is the 
 size of a small football. Inside are a lot of 
 kernels, enclosed in an acid pulp. This is said to 
 be a fine cure for blackwater fever, and it makes 
 a most refreshing drink, prepared with sugar, like 
 lemonade. 
 
 Here we had a bow-and-arrow competition, the 
 natives shooting at marks for prizes, which caused 
 a lot of interest and excitement. One warrior 
 greatly amused us by putting in an appearance 
 in a sort of George Robey hat, stuck full of feathers. 
 No doubt he considered it the very latest thing in 
 head-dresses. We stayed at Tschopowa two days, 
 
 224 
 
By permissi07i of 
 
 A Huge Communal Corn-Bin 
 
 MaJ. H. Schomlmrsk, F.R.GS. 
 
 Bins built after this fashion are peculiar to the Konkombwa people. The ens shown in the 
 illustration was photographed at a place called Tschopowa. It has a movable top, is as big as a 
 good-sized hut, and when full will hold several tons of corn. 
 
NAMBIRl TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 while Schomburgk and Hodgson went out to the 
 Oti and filmed some pictures of hippopotami. We 
 also secured pictures of some enormous corn-bins 
 of curious construction. They are roimd, as big 
 as a good-sized house, and stand on three legs, 
 with a covered-in top. When full some of them 
 will hold several tons of corn. These bins, built 
 after this fashion, are peculiar to the Konkombwa 
 people. 
 
 In the evening we discovered that the baobab 
 tree mentioned above was full of bats ; thousands 
 on thousands of them. Our horse boys from 
 Sokode killed some scores of them with sticks, 
 spitted them on small skewers, and roasted them, 
 esteeming them apparently as a great delicacy. 
 They brought me some on a stick, and laughed 
 when I turned away shuddering. I am a great 
 favourite, by the way, with our boys. When they 
 transgress in any way, and Schomburgk, sitting in 
 judgment, condemns them to be fined or otherwise 
 punished, they always come and ask me to inter- 
 cede with him for them. This I invariably do— 
 unless it is a very flagrant case— and Schomburgk, 
 glad of an excuse to let them off, will then remit 
 the punishment, saying carelessly : " Oh, all right 
 if Puss says so " ; or, " Now mind and don't let 
 it happen again, and remember you've got Puss 
 to thank for this." 
 
 It was here that I saw one of the most beautiful 
 white cocks I ever set eyes on, riding on a donkey- 
 load of stuff belonging to a Hausa trader. I had 
 seen similar cocks before in Mangu, and elsewhere, 
 
 225 p 
 
NAMBIRI TO TSCHOPOWA 
 
 but never so fine a one as this. These birds are 
 carried all over Togoland by these peripatetic 
 pedlars, in order that they may arouse their owners 
 in good time in the morning by their crowing. 
 They are, in fact, living alarum clocks, a lusty, loud 
 crower being greatly valued. 
 
 226 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 FROM Nambiri as far as Kugnau, our next 
 stage, there is no road, nor practically any 
 trail ; only an immense variety of native 
 tracks, leading anywhere and everywhere. The 
 country is so thickly populated, that to pick out 
 the right route is very difficult, and well-nigh 
 impossible without a guide. I went on ahead, 
 with the guide, from Tschopowa ; and Schomburgk, 
 who was to follow on later, instructed him to 
 " close the road." This means that whenever the 
 guide came to a cross trail, or a fork in the road, 
 he was to place a piece of stick across the wrong 
 one, thereby " closing " it to the next traveller 
 who came along, assuming him to be bound in our 
 direction. This, however, the guide neglected to 
 do in several instances, and as a result Schomburgk 
 wandered off the right track and got lost. 
 
 We crossed the Oti twice during this stage. 
 The first crossing was a somewhat difficult one. 
 Not only were the banks covered in dense jungle, 
 but the path dipped down a very steep angle for 
 about fifty feet in sheer depth. I had to slide 
 down assisted by my hammock boys, and we had 
 to exercise considerable care in order to get the 
 horses down, and safely across. I had a magni- 
 
 227 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 ficent view of the river, which is here about three 
 hundred yards wide from bank to bank, but it 
 being now towards the end of the dry season, the 
 actual stream was greatly shrunken, revealing the 
 presence of many islands, both up and down. 
 These islands were covered with thick tropical 
 vegetation, the haunt of innumerable birds. In the 
 rainy season, all but a few of the higher and larger 
 islands will have disappeared beneath the risen 
 waters, which then fill the whole channel from 
 bank to bank, and bank high. 
 
 The second crossing of the Oti was even more 
 picturesque than the first. It is here much broader, 
 the banks are lower, and there are many villages 
 scattered about, from all of which came detach- 
 ments of natives to swell the welcome given to the 
 first white woman. In the end there must have 
 been fully a thousand of them round my hammock, 
 in front and behind, shouting, dancing, and singing. 
 The din was terrific, the heat and dust awful. I 
 felt I would have given almost anything if they 
 would only go away, and leave me in peace ; and 
 yet it was, of course, impossible to get angry with 
 them, or even be anything but polite to them, 
 their good intentions were so obvious. Some time 
 after our arrival Schomburgk turned up, hot, tired, 
 and cross, and rated the guide soundly for not 
 having closed the road. He had, it appeared, gone 
 completely astray, and had been wandering about 
 all over the place. 
 
 There is no rest-house at Kugnau, so we had 
 to use our tents. But there was no shade, the 
 
 228 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 trees just about here being merely dwarf ones, 
 and the daytime heat rendered sleep out of the 
 question. Then at night came hordes of ferocious 
 mosquitoes, some of which got under my mosquito- 
 net, and well I knew it. It was the duty of Asmani, 
 Schomburgk's personal boy, to attend to my bed. 
 He was quite a youngster, a long lanky slab of a 
 boy, with arms on him like a chimpanzee's ; but 
 he was so willing and good-tempered, that he was 
 a great favourite with all of us. He could not be 
 made to understand, however, the importance of 
 tucking my mosquito-curtain in all round under 
 the mattress, so as to prevent the ingress of the 
 bloodthirsty little pests. I got so tired of talking 
 to him about it, and so weary of sleepless nights, 
 that at last I used to send him regularly to report 
 himself to Schomburgk whenever I was bitten by 
 mosquitoes. It was very comical to see him go 
 up to make this report in the morning, his usually 
 jolly, round face, long and woebegone. " Master," 
 he would say, " two" (or three or four, &c., as the 
 case might be) " mosquitoes in the ' little mother's ' 
 bed last night." " Ah ! " Schomburgk would re- 
 mark, with becoming gravity. " Then you must 
 be punished." And he would give him two, three, 
 or four light slaps on the face, one for each mos- 
 quito. They were just such smacks as one gives 
 in play to a child, and of course did not hurt him 
 physically in the least, but they hurt his dignity, 
 for Asmani, in virtue of being Schomburgk's per- 
 sonal servant, was " head boy " of the caravan, 
 and the other boys, whom he regarded as being 
 
 229 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 more or less under him, used to take a solid 
 delight in crowding round and sniggering their 
 approval whenever he rolled up for his " mosquito 
 slaps." 
 
 I have said that Asmani was a willing boy. 
 In fact, he was too willing. When one gave him 
 an order, his eagerness to obey led him to rush 
 off at top speed before he half understood what 
 was required of him. The results, very often, were 
 ludicrous in the extreme ; and occasionally not a 
 little annoying. Asmani got to be known, very 
 early in the trip, as the " cockroach," on account 
 of his erratic, rapid movements ; and towards the 
 end of our journey, whenever he was making ready 
 to bolt eagerly off before he had properly com- 
 prehended our meaning, it only became necessary 
 to cry out to him, while lifting a warning forefinger, 
 " Whoa, Asmani ; don't cockroach ! " in order to 
 arrest him. He was one of that type of servant 
 — ^now, I am afraid, rare in effete Europe — who 
 regards his employer's interests as his own. Con- 
 sequently, he was not a great favourite with the 
 other boys ; who held, for the most part, views 
 widely divergent from these. To Messa, our cook, 
 more especially, he was the very reverse of a jper- 
 sona grata, for when Messa would come to tell me, 
 say, that the tea was all gone, or that he required 
 more sugar from store, Asmani, if he happened to 
 be anywhere near, would be sure to give vent to 
 an incredulous, long-drawn " Oh-h-h ! " Where- 
 upon Messa would glare at him, and presently 
 there would ensue a rare hullabaloo from behind 
 
 230 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 the cook-house ; Asmani and Messa " having it 
 out." 
 
 It was while we were resting here that an 
 incident occurred which showed how easily an 
 inexperienced European may be led astray in his 
 dealings with the natives, and so cause trouble 
 without being at all aware of it. It had reference 
 to the Konkombwa cowrie-shell helmets, of which 
 mention has already been made. These beautiful 
 and unique objects always attract the immediate 
 attention and admiration of European travellers, 
 who naturally try to acquire one or more to take 
 away with them. But the Konkombwa value 
 them highly, and are usually, and for the most 
 part, very unwilling to sell them, even though 
 tempted by what is, for them, a very good price, 
 either in coined money, or in brass or copper rods, 
 which they greatly prefer. 
 
 I have heard it hinted that, in the old days, 
 Europeans were not too careful of the rights of the 
 natives in regard to their acquisition of these curios. 
 Now, however, strict orders have been issued by 
 the Duke of Mecklenburg that the Konkombwa 
 are not to be unduly pressed to part with their 
 helmets or other trappings. They may be bought. 
 But the sale must be a genuine one, a fair price 
 must be paid, and above all, Europeans are warned 
 to make certain, before purchasing, that the Kon- 
 kombwa are willing to sell, and that no secret 
 intimidation has been used to compel them to do 
 so by the interpreters, soldiers, &c., attached to 
 the caravan. 
 
 231 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 Now Schomburgk had already secured one of 
 the helmets at Gerin-Kuka, but he was open to 
 purchase others, and sent one of the soldiers of 
 our escort into the village to say so. The man 
 was strictly enjoined, however, to use no com- 
 pulsion. If the Konkombwa wished to do busi- 
 ness, well and good, but not otherwise. His part, 
 in short, was simply to act as a go-between, to 
 introduce a willing seller to a willing buyer. Well, 
 the soldier went off on his errand, to return pre- 
 sently with several natives marching at his heels, 
 carrying helmets, quivers, &c., about a dozen in 
 all. " Are these for sale ? " asked Schomburgk. 
 '^ Yes, all the lot," replied the soldier. Schom- 
 burgk thought this suspicious, knowing how loath 
 the Konkombwa are to part with these things, 
 so he sent the soldier away, out of sight and hear- 
 ing, while he cross-examined the natives. As a 
 result it turned out that only one man wanted to 
 sell a helmet, and two others bows and quivers, 
 and a horse-hair switch. The others had been 
 told that they had got to bring the things up to 
 our camp for sale, and that if they did not do so 
 they would be punished. Of course the unwilling 
 ones were at once sent back to their village with 
 their helmets, &c., while the soldier was given a 
 severe lecture. In this connection Schomburgk 
 told me of the following amusing incident. During 
 his last trip in the Konkombwa country, he was 
 travelling with the Duke of Mecklenburg. One 
 man of the party, a newcomer in the district, 
 bought two helmets, and showed them, with evident 
 
 232 
 
^•5 
 
 v bxi 
 
 -^ . « 
 
 ^ i'l 
 
 O c B 
 
 5 1! 
 
 ii« 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 pride, to some members of the party. Said the 
 Duke, using his usual formula in such circum- 
 stances : " I suppose I may take it for granted 
 that there was no intimidation." " Oh dear no," 
 was the reply, " I just sent a soldier to the village 
 to tell the Konkombwa I wanted a couple of their 
 helmets, and he brought 'em to me." A roar of 
 laughter greeted this naive admission, and even 
 his Highness was unable to repress a smile. 
 
 At 5.30 A.M. the following morning (February 8th) 
 we resumed our journey, and soon afterwards we 
 crossed the Oti once more, and for the last time. 
 Schomburgk seized the opportunity to go off with 
 Hodgson and the camera to try and get some hippo 
 pictures, but only two of the creatures were visible, 
 so he did not trouble. Afterwards he caught up 
 to me, just as my hammock broke down, letting 
 me to the ground with a bump. While it was 
 being repaired, we consumed an alfresco breakfast 
 by the side of the road ; very enjoyable. An hour 
 or so later we arrived at Ibubu ; the end of the 
 stage. 
 
 There is a spacious old rest-house here, but to 
 our surprise we found it very much dilapidated ; 
 almost in ruins, in fact. This is a very unusual 
 thing as regards the Togo rest-houses, the only 
 explanation I can think of being that this particular 
 route is very infrequently used by white people. 
 Ibubu is the site of an old fort, called by Europeans 
 in Togo the " Roman Fort." I had heard it men- 
 tioned so often, that I expected to see a quite 
 imposing-looking building, and was greatly dis- 
 
 233 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 appointed at beholding nothing more startling or 
 romantic than a big mud wall, surrounding a huge 
 conglomeration of native huts, set closer together 
 than any I had ever observed previously. No 
 doubt, however, it was once a place of considerable 
 strength. It was built, I was told, by Dr. Kerst- 
 ing, to overawe the Konkombwa in the old days, 
 when these savages, not having then sufficiently 
 measured their strength with that of the white 
 men, were inclined to be aggressive and trouble- 
 some. It is noticeable that the Konkombwa on 
 this side of the Oti are much wilder and more 
 truculent than are those on the other side, and still 
 give the Government trouble from time to time, 
 although there has been no actual fighting for the 
 last few years. 
 
 We are now in the Sokode district, and the 
 supplies of food are ridiculously small by com- 
 parison with what they were in the Mangu district. 
 We put up the flap of our tent under a big tree, 
 the upper branches of which were full of what I 
 at first took to be some kind of fruit, but which 
 turned out afterwards to be a large species of bat, 
 a kind of flying-fox. We bought another ostrich 
 here. He was a most comical sight, having been 
 plucked before being offered to us for sale. I 
 laughed till I cried, at the sight of him. He looked 
 exactly like a gigantic replica of one of those wooden 
 egg-shaped toy birds that are sold in the shops, 
 with two sticks for legs. However, he turned out 
 to be a very fine, and unusually big, bird. So, 
 too, did the other one, that we bought in Mangu. 
 
 234 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 Both ostriches are now in the Hamburg " Zoo," 
 to which they were presented by Major Schomburgk, 
 and the director wrote, after our arrival in London, 
 that everybody was amazed at their enormous size, 
 and that it was quite conceivable — although this 
 is not yet scientifically proved — that they are a 
 new species of giant ostrich. " In any case," he 
 wrote, " they are quite out of the common." 
 
 The Ibubu people are very sullen ; not a bit 
 like those on the other side of the Oti. The women, 
 as well as the men, eyed us askance ; and the 
 children edged away from us, and remained silent, 
 when spoken to. This I took to be a bad sign, 
 for these people are not " savages," in the sense 
 that the far northern tribes are, and that they 
 declined to make friends was, therefore, clearly 
 due to the influence of their elders. Both Schom- 
 burgk and I— I flatter myself that I am getting 
 quite experienced in the ways of natives by now 
 — ^had a sort of feeling, a presentiment if you like, 
 that all was not well ; and so it turned out. 
 
 In the morning only twelve carriers turned up, 
 whereas we wanted at least fifty, and the inter- 
 preter reported that the chief either could not, or 
 would not, supply any more. Here was a pretty 
 go. It is difficult for an outsider to realise how 
 completely a caravan in the African hinterland is 
 dependent on man transport. If we could not 
 secure a sufficiency of carriers, it meant either 
 one of two things, abandoning the bulk of our 
 belongings— an unthinkable alternative —or doing 
 " relay work " backwards and forwards between 
 
 235 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 Ibubu and Banjeli, the next stage, the latter as 
 heartbreaking and tedious an operation as can well 
 be conceived. Then, too, there was this further 
 cause for anxiety ; an official who was acting for 
 the Commissioner at Sokode— who happened to be 
 on leave at the time — had had bother with the 
 natives at this very village, and serious trouble 
 was only narrowly averted. 
 
 Schomburgk acted at once, and in a manner 
 which— I hope he will pardon me for saying so — 
 struck me at the time as being somewhat high- 
 handed, although I have no doubt now, from what 
 subsequently transpired, that it was the only way. 
 He sent a peremptory demand for the chief to attend 
 before him at once. Soon he appeared, escorted 
 by our two soldiers. He was very cheeky, not to 
 say overbearing. In effect he said that the twelve 
 carriers he had sent were all that were at present 
 available, and he " couldn't make carriers out of 
 mealie cobs, could he ? " However, after talking 
 to him for five minutes or so in terms the reverse 
 of polite, Schomburgk got a promise from him to 
 let us have ten more. 
 
 The chief was a tall, big man, and Schomburgk 
 is of quite medium size ; consequently he had to 
 bend his neck backwards at an angle, and look up 
 at the huge Konkombwa towering above him like 
 a rock, in order to address him. This, I think, 
 made him even angrier than he otherwise would 
 have been. A short man carrying on an alter- 
 cation with a tall man is always at a disadvantage, 
 be the taller black or white. Schomburkg called 
 
 236 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 him everything but a gentleman, " long slab of 
 misery," being among the mildest term of abuse 
 he applied to him, and when the interpreter inter- 
 preted the chief at first looked puzzled, then bowed 
 and seemed quite pleased. Schomburgk couldn't 
 make this out. He thought the chief was, speaking 
 vulgarly, " trying to take a rise out of him," and 
 it made him wilder than ever. Not until long 
 afterwards did it transpire that the interpreter, 
 fearing for his own skin, had interpreted all his 
 abusive terms into eulogistic ones, " long slab of 
 misery " becoming " tall and strong chief," and 
 so on. 
 
 Well, the promised ten carriers turned up, 
 making twenty-two in all, and Schomburgk sent 
 me on with these, and one of the soldiers, he 
 remaining behind with the interpreter and another 
 soldier. After leaving Kugnau, the scenery changes. 
 We are now quitting the Togoland Sudan, and going 
 back to the more thickly- wooded part of the country. 
 The scenery is magnificent. In the blue haze of 
 the early morning one can see the purple mountains 
 outstanding round Banjeli, whither we are now 
 bound, and beyond, as far as Bassari, ridge upon 
 ridge. Presently Hodgson passed me on his bicycle, 
 and I was surprised at seeing him, as I supposed 
 him to be staying behind helping Schomburgk. 
 The latter told me afterwards that Hodgson had 
 gone off, leaving him to deal with the bother alone, 
 and he was very angry with him about it. In fact, 
 he hardly spoke to him again all that day. 
 
 Presently we begin to go uphill by a tortuous 
 
 237 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 rocky path, and after a while we came in sight of 
 the village of Banjeli, beautifully situated on the 
 crest of a long rise, and backed by an imposing 
 array of lofty, wooded mountains. I had heard a 
 lot about this place, partly because it was the 
 farthest point north that Schomburgk had got on 
 his previous trip, and also on account of its being 
 the principal seat of the famous iron industry, 
 which affords occupation to large numbers of 
 natives throughout this district. Already, on our 
 way up, we had passed several of the curiously 
 shaped fiu'naces, concerning which I shall have 
 more to say later on. The rest-house here is in the 
 form of a square of pretty round huts, from the 
 windows of which one has at this season of the 
 year a lovely view of the moimtains, their slopes 
 lightly shrouded in the haze of the harmattan, 
 which, however, lies thick as a woollen blanket in 
 the valleys between. 
 
 Hardly had I got settled in the rest-house, 
 when Schomburgk turned up with a few carriers 
 and some more loads, but not all. He told me that 
 he had had a lot of bother with the Kugnau people. 
 First he had gone to the village and collected a 
 few women, telling the chief that as his men would 
 not carry, the women must. They did not seem 
 to mind greatly, and he promised them good pay, 
 and put each woman by a load, arranging every- 
 thing beautifully, as he thought. Then he turned 
 for a moment to speak to the interpreter, and 
 when he looked again, about half of them had 
 vanished. " I could not believe my eyes," he 
 
 238 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 said, " and had to rub them to make sure I was 
 not dreaming. I never saw any manoeuvre exe- 
 cuted so swiftly and silently in my life. One 
 moment they were there, the next they were not. 
 Talk about the disappearing trick ! Why those 
 women could give points to Maskelyne and 
 Devant." 
 
 At last, it transpired, he succeeded in collecting 
 a few more carriers, but still not enough for the 
 loads. He had come on with these, leaving the 
 interpreter and the soldier behind to get other 
 carriers as best they could, and bring along the 
 rest of the baggage. He also placed the chief imder 
 arrest, and told the soldier to bring him along with 
 him, intending to hand him over to the authorities 
 at Bassari, which station has jurisdiction over all 
 this part of the Konkombwa coimtry. 
 
 The last batch of carriers, with the rest of the 
 loads, shepherded by the interpreter, turned up 
 sooner than we had ventured to expect. With 
 them was the soldier, in charge of the chief. The 
 latter looked very crestfallen. All his cheeky, 
 overbearing manner had gone, and he seemed to 
 wish he had behaved himself properly in the be- 
 ginning. Amongst the last arrived lot of carriers 
 we found, to our surprise, ten women. This seemed 
 to show that the chief really could not prevail 
 upon the men of the village to carry, and made 
 Schomburgk even more determined than ever to 
 take him on to Bassari and have the whole matter 
 threshed out there, since a chief who cannot im- 
 pose his authority on his people, when called upon 
 
 239 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 to do so, is worse than useless from the Government's 
 point of view. Schomburgk also announced that 
 only those carriers who had come voluntarily in 
 the morning would be paid for their work, the 
 others would get nothing. He expected them to 
 be disappointed and crestfallen on hearing this 
 decision, but greatly to his disgust they did not 
 seem to care in the least, laughing and joking 
 amongst themselves about it, women as well as 
 men, as though being docked of their wages was 
 the greatest fun imaginable. Whether they really 
 did not care, or whether they acted as they did in 
 order to show their independence, I am unable to 
 say. It is practically impossible to fathom the 
 workings of the native mind in regard to a case 
 like this. 
 
 After we had been here a short while, a little 
 native boy came into our camp bringing me as a 
 present a very pretty little green and gold beetle. 
 We gave him a pfenning (eight pfennings go to the 
 penny) for it, and seeing I was pleased with it, 
 Schomburgk said he would purchase at the same 
 rate as many other similar beetles as he or the other 
 children cared to bring in. It proved to be a rash 
 promise. The wonderful news must have spread 
 like wildfire amongst the village urchins, who 
 must, moreover, have immediately set to work with 
 feverish energy to secure a goodly store of beetles, 
 for soon the camp was alive with grubby little boys 
 and girls, some carrying no more than a single 
 beetle, or two or three, others with both dirty 
 little paws filled with the pretty delicate insects. 
 
 240 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 It was one of the most comical sights I ever saw. 
 There was Schomburgk dishing out pfennings in 
 exchange for beetles, and the more pfennings he 
 distributed the more children came rolling up with 
 their beetles. They pressed and clamoured round 
 him like English children round a street hawker 
 of toy paper windmills, so that eventually he had 
 to take refuge on a chair in order to escape being 
 mobbed by them, while I set to work to marshal 
 them into a queue, which, as regards both its extent 
 and the happy eagerness of its component parts, 
 reminded me of that which assembles outside the 
 Gaiety on the first night of the production of a 
 new musical comedy. 
 
 Whilst we were resting that afternoon, our mail 
 arrived from Bassari. It had come by post-runner 
 to Bassari, whence it had been forwarded by 
 special messenger to Banjeli. At once everybody 
 was on the alert to secure his or her letters, and 
 once secured we retired to a quiet corner to read 
 them. We got two mails together— a month's 
 letters and papers — on this occasion, so that we 
 had plenty of reading matter to occupy ourselves 
 with. Afterwards we came together again to 
 compare notes, and tell each other tit-bits of 
 personal news, talking and chatting until dinner- 
 time, and afterwards far into the night. Amongst 
 a bundle of papers sent out by my sister was 
 a copy of the Elegante Welt, Germany's leading 
 fashion paper, and, womanhke, I was im- 
 mensely interested in seeing, out here in the 
 wilds, what was being worn at home by the 
 
 241 Q 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 " smart set " in Berlin, London, and the other 
 European capitals. 
 
 So utterly sick and tired of fowls had a lengthy 
 sojourn in the African wilds made me, that at 
 Banjeli I decided to have for once a dinner of 
 roast pork, and sent Messa into the village with 
 strict injunctions to bring back a pig, no matter 
 what the cost. He succeeded almost too well, re- 
 turning in about half an hour at the head of a 
 procession of natives, leading, driving, and carrying 
 pigs of all sorts and sizes. In only one respect 
 were they alike. They were the ugliest-looking 
 lot of porkers I ever set eyes on ; all black as to 
 colour, and with long bristly hair, not at all like 
 the rosy- snouted little piglets one sees in the 
 German villages. However, I reflected that I was 
 not buying a pig to look at, but to eat, so I 
 picked out one I considered to be the best and 
 fattest of the lot, paying for him what seemed 
 to me the ridiculously small sum of four shil- 
 lings. Then, spurred on by my success in the 
 pig-killing line at Mangu, I superintended the 
 similar necessary operations here, only to find, 
 however, when my porcine purchase came to be 
 cut up and dressed, that he was about as 
 scraggy, scrawny, lean, and generally unprofitable 
 a specimen of his species as one could possibly 
 conceive of. What he had been fed on. Heaven 
 only knows. Sawdust and wood shavings, I should 
 imagine, from the taste of him. And this, I 
 hasten to add, was not the fault of the cooking, 
 for from almost the beginning of the trip I have 
 
 242 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 made the kitchen and its conduct my own special 
 care. 
 
 Taught in the first instance by that old Togo- 
 land campaigner, Captain von Hirschfeld, I have, 
 too, succeeded in perfecting a very excellent system 
 of keeping our drinks cool, and our cheese and 
 butter from running to oil. It is worked this way. 
 In Togoland we have what is called a " Hausa 
 load." This is not a " load," as might be imagined, 
 but a long, narrow basket made of split bamboos 
 laid closely together lengthways, and bound together 
 crossways with strips of bark. Into this long 
 wicker trough I used to put the things I wanted 
 kept cool, wrapped up and covered with sacks 
 kept constantly wet. It was marvellous how 
 beautifully they were preserved by this simple 
 expedient. Even on the march, by detailing a boy 
 to constantly sprinkle the sacks, I was able to keep 
 the butter quite solid, the bottles of liquid com- 
 fortably cooled, and even perishable provisions, 
 such as cooked meat for instance, fresh and sweet. 
 
 It was Anton, our pet monkey, by the way, who 
 was the alleged cause — as a matter of fact he was 
 quite innocent in the matter — of a grave dereliction 
 of duty on the part of seven of our boys. The 
 affair happened on the road to Ibubu, where the 
 whole lot of them turned up very late ; a long 
 way, in fact, in rear of the carriers, who, of course, 
 made ordinarily considerably slower progress with 
 their heavy loads than did our personal servants, 
 who carry no loads. They had, it transpired, met 
 some friends on the road, who treated them to 
 
 243 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 palm wine and native beer ; but their excuse was 
 that Anton had scampered off into the bush, and 
 refused to be caught for some time, thereby de- 
 laying them. Now this was an excuse that might 
 easily have held water, for we knew, and our boys 
 knew that we knew, that Anton was addicted to 
 such tricks. But on this occasion their somewhat 
 unsteady gait and the strong smell of alcohol that 
 hung about them convicted them, and one by one 
 they broke down under cross-examination, and 
 confessed to the truth. Then came the question of 
 their punishment. 
 
 Very early in our trip Schomburgk had told 
 me that the best way to punish a lazy carrier 
 was not by personal chastisement — for which they 
 care little unless it be carried to such an extent 
 as to be inhuman, which, of course, is not to be 
 thought of — nor by fining them ; but that if a 
 carrier was really lazy, coming in a long while 
 after the others, the best thing to do was to give 
 him a load, and stand him with it on his head 
 in the middle of the camp, making him stay there 
 for as long a time as he had been behind his fellow- 
 carriers. " Then," said Schomburgk, " the others 
 will all make game of him, and he will have learnt 
 a lesson he is not likely to forget." 
 
 Well, this plan had been carried out on several 
 occasions with our carriers, and we found that it 
 worked excellently. So Schomburgk decided to 
 try its effect upon our boys, and that afternoon the 
 seven " beauties " were lined up in the middle 
 of the camp, each with a 60lb. load on his head. 
 
 244 
 
By permission of MuJ. H. SchoJiil'iirgk, F.R.G.S. 
 
 Section of Old Native Iron Furnace 
 
 The portrait is that of the Chief of Banjeli, the seat of the native iron industry of Togo. In 
 these furnaces the iron ore, after being laboriously dug out of the mountain side by native slave 
 women, is smelted, and afterwards made into axes, knives, spear and arrow-heads, hoes, and 
 so forth. 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 Also, as they had laid the blame on the poor in- 
 nocent monkey, he was fastened by a chain to the 
 right leg of our " washerwoman " — he of the ginger- 
 beer-bottle fists — who had been the last one to hold 
 out in the lie about him. At first the culprits 
 treated the whole affair as a huge joke, laughing 
 and chattering amongst themselves. But little by 
 little, as the afternoon wore away, their faces grew 
 longer and longer ; the laughter and chatter grew 
 less, and finally died away altogether ; they started 
 shifting their loads from the head, first to one 
 shoulder, then to the other, until, eventually, after 
 Schomburgk had gone out with the camera, a 
 benighted appeal for mercy reached my ears. I 
 was seated inside my tent at the time, and for a 
 little while I pretended to take no notice. But the 
 cries of " Little mother ! Little mother ! Have 
 pity on your poor tired children ! " redoubled in 
 intensity, so as Schomburgk had told me, before 
 quitting camp, to let them go when I thought fit, 
 I gave them their " ticket of leave." 
 
 Prior to our arrival at Banjeli, Schomburgk had 
 made arrangements with the chief there to film 
 the iron industry, of which I wrote earlier in this 
 chapter. He was a nice old man, and, having met 
 Schomburgk on his previous visit, he had now 
 promised in advance to have everything ready for 
 us. This promise he faithfully kept, and to the 
 letter, an attribute very rare in a native. Next 
 morning we took the pictures. First of all we 
 started off at 6 a.m. to the mountain where the 
 iron ore is mined. We rode the first stage of the 
 
 245 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 journey, accompanied by our two ostriches, who 
 seemed to imagine that we were going on trek again, 
 and intended giving them the shp. It was very 
 comical to watch them, especially after we dis- 
 mounted, and started to climb the last part of the 
 journey to the top of the hill where the mine is 
 situated, about 1600 feet up. Eventually, how- 
 ever, we had to send them back, for fear they 
 might injure themselves. 
 
 The ore is mined by women, strong, but dirty- 
 looking, with more of the masculine element about 
 them than the feminine. It was pitiful to see some 
 of them, with babes at their breasts, digging out 
 the ore with a curious kind of hoe-shaped tool. 
 Besides being a hard occupation, it is also a dan- 
 gerous one. Only a day or so before our visit one 
 of the miners had been killed, owing to a shaft 
 falling in. On inquiry, I learnt that the women 
 were slaves. I was assured that it was only a mild 
 form of slavery, a system of indentured labour, 
 and that even if liberated they would not go away. 
 Still, I didn't like the idea, and the sight impressed 
 me the least favourably of anything that I had 
 seen in Togoland. 
 
 The other operations that centred round the 
 iron industry, however, interested me greatly. 
 Here is a handicraft that is usually associated with 
 a more or less advanced degree of civilisation — 
 the bronze age everywhere preceded the iron age 
 amongst primitive man — being carried on by nude, 
 or nearly nude, savages, in a fashion which, al- 
 though it has many points in common with our 
 
 246 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 own methods of mining, smelting, and so on, bears, 
 nevertheless, unmistakable signs of being of purely 
 indigenous origin. 
 
 Taking it altogether, I am inclined to think that 
 this film, which was one of the last we took, was 
 also one of the best, if not the very best, of the lot, 
 and when I came to see it screened later on in 
 London, I was amazed at its fidelity to life. First 
 the women miners are seen getting the ore out of 
 the mines, as narrated above. The next scene we 
 filmed shows a long string of them carrying it in 
 baskets on their heads down the mountain-side to 
 the primitive native furnace, which the men load 
 with wood, charcoal, and ore. We showed, too, 
 the method of regulating the ventilation of the 
 furnaces by means of holes round the bottoms, 
 these being stopped by clay stoppers, very in- 
 geniously constructed, and which can be inserted 
 and withdrawn at pleasure by means of a wooden 
 stick, embedded in the centre of the clay stopper 
 when it is first made. These furnaces, after being 
 lighted, burn for three days, when the pig-iron is 
 taken out and carried to the market at Bassari, 
 where it is bought by the native blacksmiths. 
 These craftsmen, working with a round boulder for 
 a sledge-hammer, and curious hand- worked bellows, 
 somewhat resembling bag-pipes in appearance, 
 forge the iron into axes, knives, spear and arrow 
 heads, hoes, and so forth, not forgetting the curious 
 iron rattles mentioned in a previous chapter, and 
 which form a valued part and parcel of every 
 Konkombwa warrior's equipment. Speaking in 
 
 247 
 
THE WOMEN MINERS OF BANJELI 
 
 regard to these industrial films in general, a certain 
 eminent scientist who presided at a recent meeting 
 of the Royal Geographical Society, remarked that 
 he did not think that at the present time any 
 very great good was accomplished by getting to the 
 north or south pole, because both these very in- 
 teresting spots would be there five thousand years 
 hence ; but the men who went out into the wild 
 places of the earth in order to try and obtain re- 
 cords of the out-dying customs of native tribes in 
 these remote regions, deserved the greatest praise. 
 Even an ordinary written record (he continued) 
 is of acknowledged value. Whatj then, must be the 
 value of living pictures, such as these, showing 
 every stage in processes of primitive native indus- 
 tries which, from the nature of things, must, in the 
 not far distant future, become superseded, and so 
 ost to us forever. Similar views, I may add, were 
 expressed in letters written to Major Schomburgk 
 after having viewed the films, by Mr. Atho Joyce, 
 of the British Museum, and by Sir Harry Johnston, 
 the famous explorer. 
 
 248 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 I FORGOT to say that owing to the forethought 
 of the chief of Banjeli, in making all arrange- 
 ments beforehand for us to film the iron 
 industry there, we were enabled to get away one 
 day earlier than we anticipated. According to the 
 itinerary which we had drawn up, we should have 
 left there on February the 12th, whereas we got 
 away early on the morning of the 11th. 
 
 Up to now, from at all events as far north as 
 Nambiri, my journey had been one long triumphal 
 progress, of a kind somewhat different from any- 
 thing of the kind I had experienced previously. 
 All through the thickly populated Konkombwa 
 country, the roads — they are mere native trails — 
 are punctuated throughout their entire length with 
 little villages, strung out like beads on a string with 
 intervals between them, and from the very first 
 one past a station there used to issue in my direc- 
 tion crowds of women and children to welcome me. 
 On meeting me, they would separate on either side 
 to let me pass, ul-ul-ulling and waving their hands, 
 then close in behind me, and follow me through 
 their own village, and on to the next, a mile or so 
 distant, where the welcome would be repeated by 
 the women and children living at that place, the 
 
 249 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 others returning to their homes ; and so on to the 
 end, the result being that I used to have a con- 
 tinuous bodyguard, perpetually renewed, all the 
 way from one station to the other. 
 
 Now all this came to an end. We are entering 
 a wilder and more mountainous country, where 
 villages are few and far between, and the inhabi- 
 tants correspondingly sparse. From Banjeli to 
 Bassari, for instance, a distance of twenty-two 
 miles, we did not pass a single settlement that 
 could properly be called a village. The road is a 
 narrow winding native path, just wide enough to 
 allow of two people riding abreast. Nothing more 
 pleasant and exhilarating can be conceived than 
 to ride thus in the cool of the African morn along 
 a road where every turn reveals new beauties. 
 It was nowhere level, but all up hill and down 
 dale, some of the steep ascents making us rather 
 pity Hodgson, who had gone on ahead, as usual, 
 on his beloved " bike." Presently we reached the 
 Katscha River, which flows hereabouts at the 
 bottom of a deep gully, cut by the raging torrents 
 that, during the rainy season, hurl themselves 
 down from the adjacent mountains. It is crossed 
 by a native wooden bridge, which, however, looked 
 so frail and insecure, and was moreover in so 
 wretched a state of repair, that we preferred to 
 go through the river, now nearly dry. 
 
 The descent to the river bed was as nearly 
 perpendicular as a steeply sloping bank can be ; 
 nevertheless, our horses slithered down without 
 mishap, as only African ponies can. By the way, 
 
 250 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 when I first came to Togoland, I rather fancied 
 myself as a fearless and accomplished horsewoman. 
 But I very quickly discovered that a morning 
 canter in the " Row," or even a stiff cross-country 
 gallop to hounds, constituted but a poor prepara- 
 tion for African bush-riding. Practically I had 
 to begin and learn equitation all over again. But 
 I proved an apt pupil — or at least so I was informed 
 — and now even a deep and steep gully like this 
 possesses for me no terror, whatever it might have 
 done at the beginning of the trip. 
 
 The usual riverine belt of vegetation that is a 
 feature of all the Togoland streams had broadened, 
 in the case of the Katscha, into a beautiful shady 
 forest, and here it had been our intention to halt 
 and partake of an open-air breakfast, but we had 
 made such good time on this, the early stage of our 
 journey, that we decided to put on a few more 
 miles. Nearing Bassari, we came to a big native 
 town, called Beapabe, which reminded me very 
 much of Bafilo, on account of the number of 
 houses, and the many fine baobab trees scattered 
 about. Here we struck the northern end of a fine, 
 well-kept Government road, which has been built 
 out from Bassari, and which will ultimately extend 
 upward as far as Mangu, following approximately 
 the route along which we have come. We did not 
 keep to this road, however, but left it to our left, 
 and rode through the native market-place, to 
 emerge presently into a perfectly straight and most 
 beautifully kept avenue of mango trees. These 
 grew so thickly overhead as to form a complete 
 
 251 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 arched roof of solid greenery, altogether shutting 
 out the burning rays of the sun ; the only dis- 
 advantage being that the fruit sometimes himg so 
 low down that, in riding along, it was liable, unless 
 one was very careful, to catch one in the face, 
 with results the reverse of pleasant. Following 
 this avenue for about half a mile we arrived at 
 Bassari. 
 
 The station is built very much on the lines of 
 an old Norman castle, with a castellated tower, 
 and a broad raised verandah fronting a level, well- 
 kept parade ground shaded by fine trees, the whole 
 backed by forest-clad mountains. Here we were 
 welcomed by Mr. Muck^, the Sub-District Commis- 
 sioner, one of the oldest officials of Togoland, and 
 one of Dr. Kersting's most able assistants. He 
 has been in the Government service ever since 
 1898, and has taken part in practically every piece 
 of Togo history that has been made during the 
 intervening years. 
 
 Schomburgk knew him through meeting him 
 here during his previous trip, and the worthy 
 gentleman's only regret was that we had been 
 unable to be with him for the Christmas festivities, 
 of which he gave us a glowing description. We 
 soon convinced him, however, that we could not 
 possibly have managed it ; and he then led us, 
 talking all the while, to where he had prepared 
 for us a most substantial and appetising breakfast, 
 to which, needless to say, we did full justice. He 
 had also very kindly got ready for us, and placed 
 at our disposal, the " Massow House," so called, 
 
 252 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 I was informed, after a certain Lieutenant Massow, 
 a pioneer of empire who died in northern Togo 
 in the early days, while engaged in opening up 
 that part of the territory. It is a square house, 
 standing ninety feet above the station, with baobab 
 and other trees all round it, affording a welcome 
 shade. The view from it is one of the finest I had 
 yet seen in Togoland, with picturesque wooded 
 mountains in front and rear, and all around. Here 
 we stayed five days, and were very comfortable; 
 what made it seem more than ordinarily homelike, 
 being the fact that it was provided with windows. 
 This may not sound much to untravelled Euro- 
 peans, but it was the first windowed house I had 
 slept in since leaving Lome, six months previously, 
 for although at Mangu Captain von Hirschfeld's 
 house had windows, ours had none. 
 
 There were, however, some slight drawbacks to 
 residence here. One was that there were no stables 
 for our horses, these being down at the station. 
 We therefore had to tether them under some of 
 the biggest of the trees, for we were afraid that 
 our horse boys would not look after them properly, 
 or at least not to our liking, once they were freed 
 from our constant personal supervision. Another 
 drawback was the scarcity of water. We had to 
 buy every single drop we used, paying at the rate 
 of a halfpenny a calabash for it, from the natives, 
 who brought it on their heads all the way from 
 the Kamaa River, a good two hours distant. It 
 was not good water either, being brown and nasty 
 looking; but it had to serve us for all purposes 
 
 253 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 until Mr. Muck^ detailed some prisoners to fetch 
 us water for our personal use from a spring situated 
 some distance up in the mountains that towered 
 at the back of our house. We still, however, had 
 to purchase water for our horses, and for washing 
 purposes, &c. This came rather expensive at a 
 halfpenny a small calabash full, for we had seven 
 horses, and they needed, of course, to be watered 
 regularly twice a day. However, there was no 
 help for it, and Mr. Muck^ did his best to atone 
 for the dearth of water by sending us daily 
 plentiful supplies of the most delicious, thirst- 
 quenching fruits — limes, oranges, paw-paws, 
 bananas, &c. — and beautiful flowers from his own 
 garden. 
 
 We went out riding a good deal during our 
 stay at Bassari. All round the station — another 
 legacy from Dr. Kersting's days — there are beauti- 
 ful tree plantations, similar to those at Mangu, 
 and these are kept in apple-pie order by Mr. Muck^, 
 who is as proud of Bassari almost as Bassari is 
 of him. In the evening, after dinner, he used to 
 hold us spellbound by the hour together, telling us 
 stories of the olden days, when all the country 
 round about was unsafe, and almost unknown, and 
 when warfare with the wild natives was practically 
 endemic. Muck^ and Bassari ! Bassari and 
 Muck^ ! The two terms are identical — inter- 
 changeable. He has been christened the " King 
 of Bassari," and with reason, for he rules his sub- 
 district with a rod of iron, and yet with a fine 
 sense of justice that makes the natives respect, and 
 
 254 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 at the same time fear, him. Schombm-gk, who has 
 the greatest respect and liking for him, remarked 
 one day that he was of the class that helps build 
 up colonial empires without talking about it, and 
 I fancy that that very aptly describes him. If he 
 has a fault it is that he is rather too fond of his 
 Bassari. A story is told of him, which may or 
 may not be true, but which at all events fits him 
 to a nicety. It concerns a visit he paid to Ger- 
 many's capital during one of his infrequent leaves 
 of absence. He was asked what he thought of it. 
 " Ah — Berlin ! " he is reported to have remarked, 
 drawing out his words in his slow, thoughtful, 
 methodical way. " Well — yes ! Berlin is all very 
 well, of course. But " — with a sudden brightening 
 of the eyes and a quick acceleration of speech — 
 " give me Bassari." The yarn is not new of course ; 
 it is merely one of the many variants of Punch's 
 old-time joke anent the Peeblesshire Scotsman who 
 declared, after his first trip to France, that Paris 
 was " a graun' city, mon, but gie me Peebles for 
 playsur." But, as I have already intimated, it 
 exactly hits off Muck^, and Mucke's attitude to- 
 wards that little unregarded strip of West African 
 soil whereon he reigns an imcrowned monarch. A 
 curious attribute of Mucke's is that, although the 
 soul of hospitality, his fondness for a practical joke 
 will sometimes go to the length of permitting a white 
 stranger to pass his domicile; and this, in a land 
 where peripatetic white men are as rare as butter- 
 flies on an iceberg — a more apt simile would be 
 ice in Hades — is a sufficiently strange trait to merit 
 
 255 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 mention, the more especially as it was the cause of 
 Hodgson going without his breakfast for ten minutes 
 longer than he otherwise need have done. And for 
 Hodgson to go without his breakfast for even five 
 minutes beyond the appointed time, was an eventu- 
 ality that Hodgson did not greatly appreciate. I 
 need not say more. 
 
 Well, Hodgson had gone on ahead of us from 
 Banjeli, as I have already said, on his " bike," 
 and when he cycled level with Mucke's house he 
 just gave it a sidelong, passing glance, and went 
 on, never dreaming but that if it were the residence 
 of a fellow white man he would step outside and 
 give him a hail. Mucke, however, did nothing of 
 the kind, but sat tight, and when his boy rushed in 
 crying, " Master ! Master ! There's a white man 
 gone past ! " Muck^ simply replied, " Is there ? 
 Well, don't bother about that ; he'll come back 
 again." And he did, after having over-shot his 
 destination some little distance ; whereupon Muck^ 
 remarked, " You must be fond of cycling, but come 
 inside now and have some breakfast." Two more 
 facts about Mr. Muck^. He owns the finest and 
 handsomest horse I saw in all my journey ings 
 through Togoland. It is a perfectly black stallion 
 of Arab breed, and came from the far interior of 
 the French Sudan, whence it was brought by a 
 Hausa trader, a journey of many months' duration. 
 Such horses are difficult to acquire, and Schom- 
 burgk badly wanted to buy this one on his first 
 trip, but Muck^ would not sell. Another great pet 
 of Mucke's— he simply idoUses his horse— is a tame 
 
 256 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 bush buck, which he keeps in a wire enclosure out- 
 side his house. 
 
 Bassari is the principal market for the raw iron, 
 which is mined and smelted at Banjeli. Here it 
 comes to be made up into the finished articles, as 
 mentioned in the previous chapter, and our reason 
 for staying here so long was that we wanted to film 
 these finishing processes, the native smiths at 
 work, and so on. When we were not taking pic- 
 tures, we put in our time exploring the surround- 
 ing country, which is exceedingly picturesque and 
 pretty, and also densely populated. The climate, 
 too, is healthier and less enervating than most 
 other parts of Togo ; the great drawback being 
 the terrific thunderstorms and the heavy moist 
 heat of the rainy season. 
 
 We also paid a few visits to local notables, chief 
 amongst whom is the Mallam Mohammed. Every- 
 body in Bassari, and for miles around, knows the 
 Mallam, who is a sort of local Pooh-Bah. For one 
 thing, he is the richest native in these parts. For 
 another, his interests are practically unlimited, so 
 that he has a finger in every local pie. He is, for 
 instance, a great dealer in horses, trading as far 
 north as the French Sudan, and with Dahomey 
 on the one side, and the Gold Coast Colony on the 
 other. He also occupies the important and re- 
 sponsible post — as regards a big place like Bassari — 
 of sery-chi-songu, or head-keeper of the native rest 
 house and compound, known together as the songu, 
 and this carries with it the further responsible — 
 and lucrative — position of tax-collector to the 
 
 257 R 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COtJNTRY 
 
 Government. Besides all these things he is head 
 schoolmaster at an open-air school for natives 
 which he has established, and where the little 
 children, sitting cross-legged on mats under a shady 
 tree, are taught the Mohammedan religion, and to 
 read and write. He is very proud of this unique 
 school, and with reason, for the scholars seemed 
 to me to be a wonderfully intelligent lot of 
 laddies. I was especially struck with their pains- 
 taking writing of the neat and pretty Arabic 
 characters, which is done on soft slabs of wood, 
 with a pointed stick and native made ink. It 
 was really astonishing to see the beautiful re- 
 sults they obtain with these primitive writing 
 materials. 
 
 Of course he invited us to his house, where I 
 was introduced, collectively and separately, to his 
 eight wives. These ladies possess a certain degree 
 of culture, and most of them are good-looking; 
 one, a Fulani girl of light, almost white complexiouj 
 being really pretty. The chief wife showed me, 
 with evident pride, all their household treasures, 
 their European crockery, brass dishes and cooking 
 utensils, and so forth. I was greatly struck by 
 the contrast these afforded to much of the native 
 furnishings. For instance, her bed was made 
 of mud, baked hard, a mere raised platform, 
 similar to that used by the Sumbu women for 
 grinding corn on, and on top of this was a mat- 
 tress and rug of native manufacture, surmounted 
 by a European mosquito-curtain, of which she 
 
 258 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 was exceedingly proud. There were numbers of 
 children about the place, some quite pretty, and 
 ranging in hue from jet black to light chocolate 
 colour. 
 
 Afterwar s all the eight paid me a return visit 
 at our house. I had invited them to afternoon 
 tea, but found out on their arrival that they did not 
 drink tea, preferring cocoa, which, to suit their 
 palates, I had to make inordinately sweet. They 
 put in an appearance arrayed in their smartest 
 lavelaps, each one heavily be- jewelled, and with 
 faces rouged and powdered, and eyes and lashes 
 and eyebrows painted black, after the fashion of 
 a stage actress's make-up. They chewed kola-nuts 
 incessantly, and their nails were dyed red with 
 henna. But what struck me most about my visi- 
 tors was the inordinate quantities of scent they 
 used. What particular kind of scent it was, I do 
 not know. I have never smelt anything exactly 
 like it before or since. But I do know that it was 
 so heavy and overpowering that I felt a difficulty 
 in breathing the same atmosphere. The slightest 
 movements of their wraps sent invisible clouds of 
 it wafting and rolling about the room, and when 
 once five of them stirred suddenly and quickly in 
 unison, they set going an aromatic hurricane that 
 made me gasp, and cough, and choke. However, 
 the wild bees, who swarmed in countless numbers 
 in the big baobab trees near our house, seemed to 
 like it, for they buzzed round my visitors in clouds 
 incommoding them so greatly that, after two or 
 
 259 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 three ineffectual attempts to drive them off, they 
 had to sit, during the remainder of their stay, with 
 their heads and shoulders shrouded in their lave- 
 laps. 
 
 After they had been with me for some time 
 an infant started to cry lustily, to my great 
 surprise, for I had seen no signs of a baby up till 
 then, nor had any mention been made of one. I 
 suppose I looked the astonishment I felt, for they 
 all began to laugh, and the chief wife rose, unrolled 
 her outer lavelap, and after a further unwrapping 
 of shawls, produced a fine, healthy child of six 
 weeks, or thereabouts, from a sort of sling in which 
 she had been carrying it between her shoulders 
 at the back. She then handed it to another of 
 the wives, who suckled it, so I suppose she 
 was the mother. Then, when it had had its 
 fill, it was passed on to yet a third woman — 
 not the chief wife — who wrapped it up as before, 
 and slung it behind her back under her lave- 
 lap. 
 
 In order to amuse and entertain them, I showed 
 them my European clothes and jewellery. The 
 former interested them greatly, but my rings and 
 bracelets did not appear to impress them. They 
 seemed to consider them too small and trivial to 
 be of any particular value. They themselves wore 
 numbers of very large and heavy silver bangles 
 and finger and thumb rings, together with massive 
 gold brooches of native workmanship and design. 
 That evening, on their return, they sent me food 
 
 260 
 
Pho!o by Miss M. G;hrts 
 
 A Couple of Young "Supers" 
 
 A Study in White and Black 
 
 Scene from a native drama being acted for the cinema. 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 of their own cooking. It was, however, so terribly 
 peppered that a single spoonful brought the tears 
 to my eyes and nearly choked me ; so I gave it to 
 my boys, who devoured it greedily, smacking their 
 lips over it with many grunts and gurgles of ecstatic 
 approval. 
 
 During our stay at Bassari, Herr von Parpart, 
 District-Commissioner of Sokode, arrived with his 
 escort. They had ridden the whole distance from 
 Sokode to Bassari, about forty miles, in the one 
 day, a truly wonderful performance considering 
 the roads they had to traverse, of which more anon. 
 As a result of their journey, Parpart was somewhat 
 tired, so I did not see him that night, and the 
 following morning very early he was up and away 
 to Banjeli before I rose. I was rather disappointed 
 at being unable to make his acquaintance, but as 
 it turned out, it was only a pleasure deferred, for 
 we were destined to see a good deal of him later on 
 during our stay at Sokode. 
 
 It was at Bassari one evening, on returning 
 from our ride, that I first heard close up, and was 
 able to observe, the curious death wailing and 
 other ceremonious celebrations precedent to a 
 native funeral, concerning which I shall have more 
 to say presently. I had frequently, when on my 
 travels, heard these same weird sounds afar off, but 
 on this occasion I was brought into actual contact 
 with them, and the result was an almost painful 
 shock to my nervous system. The wailing and 
 lamentation emanated from the compoimd occupied 
 
 261 
 
IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY 
 
 by the native soldiers attached to the station, and, 
 on inquiring, I found that they were mourning for 
 a httle child who had died that day, a baby of 
 about two weeks. 
 
 262 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 I HAVE entitled the following chapter "A 
 Woman Palaver," and this it is— no more. 
 Men may skip it, if they like. Women, I 
 venture to think; will find it interesting. In what 
 I have set down there is, I suppose, little that is 
 of real ethnographical or anthropological value. 
 Nevertheless, the facts were obtained at first hand, 
 and are the result of many long and confidential 
 talks with the women of many diverse native tribes, 
 and of my own observations and deductions, taken 
 and recorded on the spot. The latter portion of 
 the chapter, dealing with caravan life and cookery 
 from a white woman's point of view, I have been 
 led to insert in the hope, which I believe to be well 
 founded, that it may serve a useful purpose in 
 the case of any other woman who may in future 
 visit the West African hinterland under cir- 
 cumstances similar to those in which I found 
 myself. 
 
 Marriage, and its natural corollary, the bearing 
 and rearing of children, constitute the main fea- 
 tures in a native woman's life ; indeed, marriage 
 may be said to be the pivotal point, as it were; 
 round which all else revolves. Broadly speaking, 
 it is, as amongst most primitive peoples, a matter 
 
 263 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 of barter, of sale and exchange. Girls are mar- 
 ketable commodities, just as are cattle, or goats, 
 or fowls, and are, in fact, interchangeable, a wife 
 being bought by so many of one or the other, or 
 by so much salt, or coined money, as the case 
 may be. 
 
 Frequently, instead of buying a wife outright, 
 the prospective husband will work for her, exchang- 
 ing in fact his labour against her value with his 
 prospective father-in-law. In this way a man can 
 obtain a wife, or wives, without any capital outlay 
 whatever, and for this reason the plan is much 
 favoured by the younger and more impecunious 
 natives. Those who are older and better off 
 naturally prefer to pay cash on the nail, or its 
 equivalent. 
 
 Girls are frequently bought by far-seeing natives 
 as soon as they are born, and are then considered 
 as betrothed from birth. The price of such is 
 naturally much less than when they are adult, or 
 approaching adolescence, for obviously the child 
 may die before attaining to marriageable age. A 
 girl so betrothed is supposed to keep herself chaste ; 
 but an unbetrothed girl is free by native law to 
 indulge her sexual appetite as she pleases. If a 
 child is bom out of wedlock, however, it is not 
 necessarily considered to belong to the mother. 
 On the contrary, the reputed father has the first 
 claim to it by tribal law; but he must claim it 
 directly it is born, and if the girl disputes his claim, 
 he must make it good by evidence that will satisfy 
 the chief, or the village elders, as the case may be. 
 
 264 
 
A WOMAN PALAVEK ' 
 
 If he fails, then the child is retained by the mother, 
 and goes with her to the man who eventually 
 marries her, and who becomes a father to it. As a 
 rule, the fact of a woman having previously given 
 birth to one or more children, is no bar to matri- 
 mony. Indeed, the native husband seems rather 
 to prefer it so, for reasons into which I need not 
 enter. 
 
 Marriage customs vary widely amongst the 
 different tribes. The semi-wild Tschokossi people 
 of the far north, for instance, seem to have, so far 
 as I could discover, no wedding ceremonies what- 
 ever of a fixed settled character, although the 
 occasion is always made one of feasting and re- 
 joicing. The Tschaudjo, on the other hand, who 
 profess Mohammedanism and are by comparison 
 civilised, possess a very elaborate series of marriage 
 rites, which is strictly adhered to. Those prece- 
 dent to the actual ceremony, however, are secret, 
 and strangers are jealously excluded from any 
 participation in them, nor may they be present 
 even as spectators. 
 
 One such wedding took place while I was at 
 Paratau, but although I tried to gain permission 
 to see the thing from start to finish, I was unable 
 to. I gathered, however, that the principal 
 feature of the initial proceedings, so far as the 
 bride was concerned, consisted in a sort of very 
 rough washing and massaging of her whole body, 
 lasting throughout the entire night immediately 
 preceding the actual day of the wedding. This 
 operation took place in a hut set apart for the 
 
 265 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 purpose, the poor bride being rubbed and scrubbed 
 vigorously by relays of village women armed with 
 pieces of porous stone, like pumice, and rough 
 wooden brushes or scrapers, shaped like hair- 
 brushes, but minus the bristles. The ordeal, which 
 lasted practically from dusk till dawn, must have 
 been a pretty unpleasant one, judging from the 
 shrieks and yells that came from the interior of the 
 hut where it was being carried out. At the same 
 time other women were engaged in buffeting and 
 harrying the bridegroom ; although the treatment 
 meted out to him, I was informed, was nothing like 
 so violent or painful as that which the bride had 
 to endure. 
 
 However, the latter looked, I am bound to 
 say, none the worse when, next day, dressed all in 
 white from head to foot, she took her place with 
 her prospective husband in the bridal procession. 
 Both were mounted on fine horses— the Tschaudjo, 
 as I have already explained, are splendid horse- 
 men — and were escorted by multitudes of people, 
 shouting and firing gims, to the mosque, where the 
 actual ceremony was performed in accordance with 
 the Mohammedan law. The day's proceedings 
 culminated in a feast, after which husband and 
 wife were escorted to their hut by practically all 
 the married women in the neighbourhood, who 
 remained outside all through the night, yelling at 
 the top of their voices, singing, capering, and 
 beating drums. 
 
 Every native wife, it may be mentioned, is 
 entitled by tribal law to her own separate hut, no 
 
 266 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 matter how many other wives her husband may 
 possess, and she can also lay claim to an equal 
 share of his society and attentions, the rule being 
 for him to stay with each of his women for five 
 days and nights together in regular rotation. 
 Thus, in the case of a well-to-do native possessing 
 eight wives, a favourite number amongst those 
 who can afford it, it takes him exactly forty days 
 to '' go the rounds," so to speak. As I have 
 already intimated, native women do not resent 
 polygamy in the least ; and on the whole they 
 seem happy and contented. They take, too, con- 
 siderable pride in their personal appearance ; and 
 they are, speaking generally, far cleaner in their 
 personal habits than are the men. This is largely 
 due, no doubt, to the fact that they bathe two or 
 even three times a day, when going down to the 
 river for water. The men usually bathe once a 
 day, in the evening, and then it is invariably a 
 warm bath, the water for which is carried and 
 heated for them by the women. This, however, 
 does not apply to some of the remote pagan tribes, 
 whose habits are filthy. Practically all the women 
 I came across spend a lot of time and trouble over 
 dressing their hair, with the exception of the 
 Konkombwa, who, as already related, crop their 
 wool quite close. They are also very fond of 
 cleaning their teeth, using little pointed sticks of 
 soft wood, which they are everlastingly twiddling 
 in their mouths with their fingers as they go 
 to and fro for the morning and evening water. 
 Soap they manufacture themselves in little black 
 
 267 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 balls about the bigness of a golf ball, and 
 very good soap it is, giving a soft and abundant 
 lather. 
 
 The savage woman looks forward to the ordeal 
 of childbirth with none of those fears and mis- 
 givings that so frequently beset her civilised sister. 
 To her, indeed, it can scarcely be counted an ordeal. 
 She is, as a rule, a perfectly healthy female animal, 
 and her strong, supple body has never been com- 
 pressed by corsets, or had its natural growth and 
 development hindered by tight-fitting skirts, heavy 
 " tailor-made " costumes, and other similar sar- 
 torial abominations. Every woman, too, has re- 
 ceived during her early girlhood, and quite as a 
 matter of course, a training in midwifery ; but of 
 this I shall have more to say presently. 
 
 Assuming the birth to take place at home, and 
 in her own village, which, however, by no means 
 always happens, she is taken in hand by her female 
 friends and relations when the critical moment 
 arrives, and as a general rule all is over in two 
 hours or thereabouts, and the mother is frequently 
 up and about again an hour or so later. They are 
 as a rule, skilful and careful midwives, with two 
 exceptions. The umbilical cord is nearly always 
 severed in an exceedingly primitive, not to say 
 rough and ready, fashion, leaving a disfiguring 
 protuberance, which in after life, amongst peoples 
 who almost invariably go nude, or nearly so, is 
 unpleasantly noticeable. The other exception has 
 to do with the observance of a proper degree of 
 cleanliness on the part of the mother, and those 
 
 268 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 attendant on her, which is largely lacking, On 
 the other hand, the new-born baby is always well 
 looked after, being given a warm bath directly 
 after it first enters the world, and otherwise care- 
 fully tended. 
 
 When, as not infrequently happens, the birth 
 takes place while the woman is on a jom^ney, or 
 at work in the fields, the mother does not allow 
 the incident to unduly distress her. She is quite 
 capable of looking after herself in her " trouble," 
 and does so, much as do the wild bush animals 
 amongst whom she lives, and from whom she has 
 learnt and adopted many practices. In such an 
 eventuality she simply rests for an hour or two, 
 or perhaps three at the outside, then wraps the 
 baby in her lavelap, bunches it in a heap behind 
 her back between the shoulders, and goes on with 
 her work or resumes her journey, as though nothing 
 untoward had happened. Nor does she appear to 
 suffer any after ill-effects ; although that is not to 
 say that they do not result. And this is where 
 white women in Africa might do a lot of good on 
 lines similar to those achieved by the Zenana 
 missions in India ; teaching the native mothers, 
 that is to say, the importance of personal hygiene 
 at this critical time, of obstetric cleanliness ; and 
 likewise impressing upon native husbands — this is 
 vital — ^the necessity of permitting women with 
 new-born babies to be released for a time from 
 their hard domestic duties. 
 
 The native mother suckles her child for from 
 three to four years, during which time she separates 
 
 269 
 
A WOMAN 'PALAVER" 
 
 herself entirely from her husband, who has, almost 
 perforce, to take to himself another wife, assuming 
 him to be still a monogamist. One reason for this 
 custom, no doubt, is that the ordinary native food 
 is not sufficiently sustaining for a very young child, 
 or rather it cannot assimilate enough of it, because 
 its little stomach is not big enough to hold a suffi- 
 cient quantity. The poor little mite does its best, 
 and is assisted thereto by its mother, who practises 
 regularly upon it a system of forcible feeding of so 
 drastic and unpleasant a nature as would, I should 
 imagine, quickly break down the resolution of even 
 the most stubborn of suffragettes. 
 
 The thick millet gruel, or thin porridge, called 
 fu-fu, which is the staple diet of the Togoland 
 negro, is simply poured and crammed down its 
 little throat whenever feeding-time comes round, 
 giving rise to the peculiar pot-bellied appearance 
 so noticeable in all native children. One result of 
 this lengthy suckling, coupled with an insufficiency 
 of any other sort of nourishing food, is a very high 
 rate of infantile mortality. The mother gets care- 
 less as time goes on, does not properly attend to 
 the cleanliness of her nipples, is guilty herself of all 
 sorts of imprudences of diet, with the result that 
 the youngster sickens and dies. 
 
 The negro baby at birth is not black. It is 
 either white, or of a very light yellowish colour; 
 but this gradually darkens, until by the time it is 
 a month old, it has assumed a chocolate tint, which 
 afterwards deepens rapidly to the ordinary jet- 
 black of the full-blooded negro. Another peculiarity 
 
 270 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 I noticed, in the new-born native baby, is its long, 
 straight hair. This, however, rapidly falls out, to 
 be replaced in due course by the well-known thick 
 woolly thatch that does duty for hair on the 
 cranium of the African adult native. 
 
 African children learn to walk at a later age 
 than do European children. This is probably due 
 to the fact that they have, comparatively speaking, 
 very little practice. As soon as the youngster is 
 born it is taken to the local ju-ju man, who bestows 
 upon it, for a consideration, certain charms, or 
 fetishes — a small piece of bone, a fragment of wood, 
 or a bit of glass, say. These are carefully placed 
 in the middle of different-sized strings of beads, 
 which are then made into bracelets for its wrists, 
 into anklets for its legs, and into a waist-belt. So 
 long as it wears these, which it does constantly, it 
 is supposed to be secure from the influence of the 
 evil eye. But in order to make assurance doubly 
 sure, the mother rarely lets the little one out of 
 her sight. She carries it about with her constantly 
 on her back, shrouded in her lavelap, from the 
 folds of which, in the case of a very young child, 
 not even the head protrudes. This method of 
 carrying the child is rendered easier, owing to the 
 fact that all native women wear round their waists 
 big bead belts, drawn quite tight with a view to 
 making their hips look larger and more prominent; 
 a greatly admired feature. Into these belts the 
 lower edge of the head lavelap is tucked, affording 
 a comfortable support to baby. 
 
 As soon as it does begin to toddle, however, it 
 
 271 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 is, assuming it to be a girl, given a tiny calabash, 
 and taught to balance it, filled with water, upon 
 its little head. From now on it becomes a useful 
 unit in the tribal, or village, organisation. It 
 accompanies its mother regularly to the river 
 when she goes with the other women to get water ; 
 is taught to sweep out the hut with a little broom, 
 to prepare fu-fu^ is taken into the forest and in- 
 structed what herbs and wild vegetables are good 
 for food, and which must be avoided. In short, 
 the child is trained in the ordinary domestic and 
 other duties that fall to the lot of the average 
 native woman. 
 
 At about the age of ten or twelve, assuming 
 her parents are able to afford the expense, the 
 little girl luidergoes an extraordinary ordeal, gene- 
 rally referred to euphemistically as being " sent 
 into the bush." This means that she quits her 
 home and her parents, and is placed in charge of 
 a fetish woman, who leads her away to a hut, or 
 rather a collection of huts, in the forest, far from 
 the habitations of men. Here is a very important 
 personage, a " mammy," generally referred to as 
 the " Women's Queen," and under her care and 
 tuition, and that of her assistant fetish women, 
 the little girl remains for a period varying from 
 two to five or six months, or even longer. 
 
 During this period she receives instruction in 
 the art and practice of midwifery, and has to 
 undergo the painful, and to our minds revolting, 
 operation of introcision, corresponding to the rite 
 of circumcision, to which her brothers, if she has 
 
 272 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 any, are called upon to submit themselves at about 
 the same age. This much is known ; but what 
 other practices are carried on in these women's 
 fetish groves cannot be told. No man may ap- 
 proach anywhere near any of them imder penalty 
 of instant death, and the women's lips are sealed 
 regarding them. Even to their husbands, it is 
 said, they dare not speak concerning them, nor to 
 any iminitiated women. I made several attempts 
 to get them to tell me personally something con- 
 cerning the matter, but without result. At Atak- 
 pame I made the acquaintance of one of these 
 " women's queens," a charming old pagan, rejoic- 
 ing in the very Christianlike name of Maria. She 
 bore herself with the dignity of the abbess of a 
 cloister, as indeed in a sense she was, and she had 
 the smallest and most beautifully formed hands, 
 wrists, and ankles I ever beheld in a negress. She 
 was most affable and courteous, and I tried hard 
 to get her to tell me something of herself and her 
 work. Beyond, however, telling me that her high 
 office was hereditary, her mother, grandmother, 
 and great - grandmother having held it before 
 her, and that she "taught the girls for their 
 good," she would vouchsafe me no information 
 whatever. 
 
 One thing, however, is certain ; the woman 
 who, either owing to the poverty of her parents 
 or from any cause, has not been " sent into the 
 bush " as a girl, is looked down upon as an inferior 
 by all the other women of her tribe. So much is 
 this so, that women of twenty, or even thirty years 
 
 273 s 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 of age, who have been long married, and perhaps 
 borne two or three children, are not infrequently 
 handed over to the fetish women by their hus- 
 bands, who themselves pay the initiation fees, 
 in order that the stigma may be removed from 
 them. 
 
 The status of married women amongst the West 
 African native tribes varies widely. Among the 
 pagan Tschokossi of the extreme north, the wife is 
 a chattel and a beast of burden, and her condition 
 is very little, if any, better than that of a domestic 
 slave. The Tschaudjo woman, on the other hand, 
 is a household queen, lording it over everybody, 
 including her husband, who must yield implicit 
 obedience to her lightest whim. In between these 
 two extremes come the great mass of the native 
 women, who are drudges certainly, but willing 
 drudges, and with their rights and privileges well 
 defined and carefully guarded by tribal law and 
 custom. Probably they are neither better nor 
 worse off, according to their lights, than the ma- 
 jority of working wives elsewhere. Certainly, they 
 appear to be happy and contented ; conjugal 
 quarrels are comparatively rare ; and poverty, as 
 we imderstand the term in Europe, is practically 
 unknown. The worst off are the widows, who are 
 usually looked down upon and disregarded, although 
 there are plentiful exceptions to this general rule. 
 In the old days the wives of a chief, or other big 
 man, were buried with him ; their legs and arms 
 being first broken with a heavy club, after which 
 they were thrown, still breathing, into the open 
 
 274 
 
A WOMAN PALAVER ' 
 
 grave. But these barbarous practices have now 
 been, to all intents and purposes, done away with ; 
 and now the widow simply shaves her head, and 
 wears a white bandage round her forehead, as signs 
 of mourning. On the man's grave are placed 
 broken guns, bows, arrows, and so forth ; on the 
 woman's are calabashes and cooking-pots, also 
 broken, and in each case there are supplies of food 
 to enable the dead person to subsist during his or 
 her long journey to the supposedly far-away land 
 of shades. 
 
 The cultivating, gathering, and preparation of 
 food constitutes the most important part of the 
 native wife's duties, as it does, I suppose, amongst 
 all primitive peoples. Native cooking may be 
 almost entirely summed up in one word — porridge. 
 This, however, is not made altogether of meal or 
 flour, but is mixed with herbs and wild vegetables, 
 and is invariably so highly seasoned with native 
 pepper, derived from the wild pepper plant, as to 
 be uneatable by Europeans. 
 
 For this reason, if for no other, one is obliged 
 to carefully superintend one's own cooking when 
 on trek. The ordinary native cook will put pepper 
 into all dishes, if he is not carefully watched, and 
 he uses the pepper-pot with no sparing hand. The 
 matter of superintendence and oversight of the 
 culinary department fell to my lot all the time 
 we were on our travels. All our provisions were 
 carried with us up country from Atakpame in old 
 kerosene tins, which a native artisan had previously 
 fitted with hinged lids and locks and keys. These 
 
 275 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 tins, carefully cleansed from all smell or taint of 
 oil, constitute the very best receptacles possible for 
 the conveyance of perishable commodities, as they 
 are white-ant proof and weather-proof. 
 
 Each box, as I have previously explained, held 
 a little of everything, and I entered in my store 
 book before starting the contents of each. In this 
 way it was easy at any time to get at any parti- 
 cular article, and I was able to check any tendency 
 to extravagance on the part of our cook ; a most 
 necessary precaution when dealing with natives. 
 
 Cooking in the bush, I need hardly say, is a 
 very different thing from cooking at home. Largely 
 it is carried out in the open ; or at best in a small 
 low hut, with little or no ventilation, and of course 
 minus a chimney. In this latter case, as there is, 
 of course, no outlet for the smoke, the mistress — 
 in this case myself— usually finds it impossible to 
 remain in her " kitchen " for more than a minute 
 or so at a time, and the superintendence of the 
 preparation of a meal resolves itself into a succes- 
 sion of dashes in and out — mostly out — and a con- 
 tinuous rubbing and wiping of smarting eyeballs. 
 
 One thing I never dared trust to the cook, and 
 that was the boiling of the water ; not only that 
 used for drinking, but also that for washing up in, 
 and for our personal ablutions. It all had to be 
 boiled for a full ten minutes by my watch, and 
 always under my personal supervision. This was 
 done outside the hut on a special stove, but the 
 operation was only carried out systematically and 
 regularly by means of constant pertinacity and 
 
 276 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 insistence on my part, to which Messa, our cook, 
 was wont continuously to oppose as great a measure 
 of passive resistance as he dared. The one objec- 
 tion to boiled water is that, to quote Artemus 
 Ward's dictum anent " biled crow," it " ain't nice." 
 Its taste is about as insipid as it is possible to con- 
 ceive, and a prolonged course of it as a beverage 
 is unthinkable. Consequently we drank tea when 
 on trek almost entirely ; either hot or cold, and 
 flavoured with limes. 
 
 Barring his rooted objection to boiling water, 
 and his undue predilection for the pepper-pot, 
 traits which, I am given to understand, he shared 
 with all native servants, Messa was a good cook. 
 He could dish up a fowl so that it looked and tasted 
 like anything but a fowl ; an invaluable attribute 
 in a cook in a country where a surfeit of fowls, as 
 fowls, is so quickly and invariably produced. He 
 used to buy for a penny a bone as big as a small 
 log of wood from the villagers, split it open, and 
 serve us delicious marrow on toast. His soups, 
 made out of the most unpromising materials — he 
 used to give us one kind the basis of which was 
 burnt monkey-nuts that was a gastronomic dream 
 — were simply delicious. 
 
 His great fault was that he would use tinned 
 stuff whenever possible, even when other fresh food 
 of the same kind was available. For instance, we 
 had amongst other canned vegetables several tins 
 of spinach, of which we were all very fond. Only 
 when it was all gone did I discover that spinach 
 of a most delicious quality— far better than the 
 
 277 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 tinned— grew wild in the bush all along our line of 
 route. 
 
 The greatest luxury in the vegetable line up in 
 the bush is the ordinary potato, which cannot be 
 got to grow anywhere in Togo. We had brought 
 one load, 60 lb., up country with us ; and when 
 we wanted to give anybody an extra special treat, 
 we would cook them a few potatoes. I remember 
 on one occasion, on our way up, asking our good 
 friend Mr. Kuepers, the schoolmaster at Sokode, 
 to breakfast with us at Paratau, where we were 
 living, the distance between the two places being 
 about three miles. He demurred somewhat, seek- 
 ing excuses, for to come meant an early rise and 
 an early ride. But when I told him that we had 
 got eggs and bacon, and European fresh potatoes, 
 he agreed to come like a shot. Our great ambition 
 was to take some of the potatoes on to Mangu, 
 and we did succeed, by exercising considerable self- 
 denial, in saving about 15 lb. Then, to our grief 
 and consternation, they began suddenly to go bad. 
 Each morning Messa would sort them carefully 
 out, laying them to dry in the sim, and bringing 
 the black ones to me, saying, with a sorrowful face : 
 " Little mother, four more — or six or seven as the 
 case might be — potatoes gone bad." Eventually, 
 by bestowing upon those remaining as much devoted 
 care and attention as a fond mother does to her 
 new-born babe, or a dog fancier on a litter of pedi- 
 gree puppies, we got enough good ones into Mangu 
 to give each European there three for his Christmas 
 dinner. Yams, which are the native equivalent to 
 
 278 
 
A WOMAN "PALAVER" 
 
 our potatoes, I did not like at all at first ; but 
 in the end, mashed and served with butter, I grew 
 to find them at least palatable. Our tinned butter, 
 by the way, became after a while of the consistency 
 of oil, from the constant jolting on the carrier's 
 heads, and could only be used for cooking. The 
 tinned bacon was the best of the canned provisions, 
 keeping good and sweet to the last. It was, how- 
 ever, very expensive, costing 4^. Sd, sl pound tin. 
 Native eggs were everywhere plentiful and cheap, 
 costing about a shilling the hundred. They are 
 small, but nice tasting. Fruit, too, was plentiful, 
 especially bananas, of which Messa used to make 
 all sorts of tasty dishes. But when I wanted to 
 give the men a real treat, I used to prepare for 
 them a special Hamburg dish, consisting of dried 
 apples and plums, boiled with bacon and little suet 
 dumplings. 
 
 279 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 THE first stage of our journey to Malfakasa, 
 the half-way house, so to speak, between 
 Bassari and Sokode, led us down to the 
 Kamaa River along a beautiful, well-kept road, 
 planted on either side with mango trees. The 
 Kamaa in the dry season is, like most West African 
 rivers, practically without water; but during the 
 rainy season it is frequently quite unfordable, and 
 many a poor native, I was informed, has lost his 
 life in its treacherous whirlpools, while attempting 
 a crossing that looks perhaps easy, but is in reality 
 excessively dangerous. 
 
 To us, of course, the crossing presented no 
 difficulty. The road on the far side of the river, 
 too, though rocky, is fairly good, undulating up 
 and down, and twining in and out amongst an 
 open bush country until the foot of the Malfakasa 
 Mountain is reached. Then commences a fearful 
 climb of about two hours' duration. For the 
 greater part of the way riding was out of the ques- 
 tion. We had to lead our horses, clambering 
 painfully up slippery slopes, dragging them after 
 us, often threading our way between huge boulders 
 
 280 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 where there was hardly room for them to pass. 
 Arrived at the top of the shoulder of the mountain, 
 we had to go along the ridge for about half an hour, 
 then followed an exceedingly steep, well-nigh per- 
 pendicular descent of about two hundred feet, to 
 the almost dry boulder-strewn bed of a small 
 stream ; and out of which a corresponding though 
 not so steep rise led up to a little plateau where 
 the rest-house is situated. 
 
 From here a lovely view is obtained over the 
 whole surrounding country, reminding me some- 
 what of that seen from our old house at Aledjo. 
 The round huts, too, were very clean and com- 
 fortable ; but, owing to lack of room on the tiny 
 plateau, they are situated rather too close to the 
 native compound and songu, whence the smell of 
 cooking, and other even more potent odours, was 
 wafted in a manner more pronounced than pleasant. 
 I noticed this the more on account of a splitting 
 headache from which I suffered, due no doubt to 
 the heat and the hardships of the ascent. I was, 
 too, exceedingly tired ; so for the last time I 
 rolled myself in my horse-rug, with my saddle 
 for a pillow, and despite the pain from my 
 throbbing temples, was soon lost in blissful uncon- 
 sciousness. 
 
 I awoke feeling almost my old self, and able to 
 properly appreciate the magnificent scenery that 
 surrounded us on all sides. One needs to spend, as 
 I had done, two or three months traversing the 
 brown sun-baked veldt of the northern Togoland 
 
 281 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 Sudan, in order to fully enjoy the sight of these 
 verdure-clad mountains. Here one seemed alone 
 with Nature, and with Nature's God. There was 
 no village near, only a few resident negroes to 
 look after the rest-house for European travellers, 
 and its native equivalent, the songu. To right and 
 left, in front and behind, wherever the eye ranged, 
 it rested on a wilderness of wild mountain country, 
 peak on peak jumbled together in chaotic, yet 
 magnificent confusion. To the north was the 
 outstanding mass of Tabalo Mountain, where is 
 situated a curious village, called by the natives 
 Uro-Ganede-Bo, which means " The-Place-where-the 
 Crown-Prince-is-educated." Here, in the olden 
 days of Togo native history, the eldest son of the 
 reigning Uro, or king, of Paratau, lived alone with 
 his tutors, who instructed him in the arts of war 
 and of peace, and in the duties appertaining to a 
 native ruler. The place, I was informed, is prac- 
 tically impregnable to attack from a native army, 
 no matter how large, and even a European force 
 would find it a hard nut to crack. Here, in this 
 mountain fortress, the young prince remained closely 
 secluded until he came of age, and even afterwards 
 he was only permitted to pay an occasional brief, 
 flying visit to Paratau, never permanently leaving 
 his rocky retreat until such time as his father, the 
 old Uro, died, and he was called down with much 
 ceremony, and the beating of many drums, to 
 reign in his stead. 
 
 We are now looking forward eagerly to a return 
 
 282 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 to civilisation. At Sokode, our next stage, we are 
 in touch with the telegraph once more, and there 
 are rumours that a big motor car has been put 
 upon the road since we have been away, and is 
 available for the journey down to the rail-head at 
 Atakpame. It is time we emerged from the wilder- 
 ness, for our stock of provisions is beginning to 
 give out. Here at Malfakasa we opened our last 
 tin of condensed milk. The last of our coffee and 
 butter we used before reaching Bassari. Our table 
 salt gave out long previously, and we have had to 
 make shift with the coarse native article, carefully 
 sifted. 
 
 The country round here is the home of a curious 
 little bush fowl, which looks exactly like an English 
 bantam. We used to see them running alongside 
 the road on our way up, and when I first caught 
 sight of one I called out to Schomburgk : " Hullo ! 
 We must be nearing a village. Here's a chicken 
 straying about the track." Later on I learnt that 
 they were wild birds, and indigenous to the moim- 
 tain regions of West Africa. 
 
 Malfakasa means " Long Gun " ; malfa — gun, 
 and kasa — long ; and the story goes that it derived 
 its name from a famous outlaw who, many years 
 ago, used to sit up here with a gun and rob the 
 caravans, and levy blackmail on such solitary 
 travellers as desired to pass. Of course I cannot 
 vouch for the truth of this yarn, which is in the 
 nature of a native tradition, but it seems to me 
 that it is very likely to be true. Anyhow, it 
 
 283 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 is difficult to conceive a better place for a 
 robber stronghold than this rocky, isolated 
 peak, with its steep, tortuous, boulder - strewn 
 approaches. 
 
 After resting the usual part of a day and a 
 night at Malfakasa, we set out for Sokode very 
 early the next morning, the conversation during 
 the first part of the journey turning almost en- 
 tirely on whether we should be able to secure the 
 motor car of which we had heard, to take us down 
 to Atakpame. If this is available, and native 
 rumours crystallize as to its existence, at all events, 
 the nearer we get to Sokode, then we shall be able 
 to accomplish in one day what otherwise will take 
 us seven. Moreover, just south of Sokode one 
 enters the tsetse-fly belt, which extends downwards 
 as far as a point above twenty-five miles north of 
 Lome ; so if we cannot get the car, we must either 
 travel by hammock and bicycle, or else ride our 
 horses down after dark, as these animals cannot, 
 of course, be taken through a fly-infested area in 
 the daytime. 
 
 The view on the road leading down from Malfa- 
 kasa is fully as beautiful and picturesque as that 
 leading up to it from the north. On quitting the 
 plateau, one sees far away to the north-east the 
 Sudu Mountains, and in between the great level 
 Tim plain. This plain, or steppe, got its name in 
 rather a curious way. Mostly the various dis- 
 tricts, or areas of country, in West Africa take 
 their names from the tribes inhabiting them. 
 
 284 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 Thus, one speaks of the Konkombwa country, the 
 Gourma country, and so on. Now the Tim plain 
 is inhabited by our old friends the Tschaudjo, who, 
 as I have previously explained, came riding on 
 horses from the north, conquering or driving out 
 the aborigines before them, and harrying the 
 country with fire and sword. The invaders were 
 called by the original inhabitants of the soil 
 Kotokoli, which means " warriors " or " robbers," 
 the two terms being interchangeable, and, amongst 
 primitive peoples, frequently identical ; and the 
 strange, barbaric "lingo" they spoke — strange 
 and barbaric that is to say to the peaceful abori- 
 gines—was dubbed by them " tim." When they 
 took possession of the plain, and settled there, 
 the neighbouring tribes no longer cared, perhaps 
 no longer dared, to call them by the opprobrious 
 name of Kotokoli (robbers), and so they used to 
 refer to them as the folk who spoke " tim," and in 
 time this became a general term for the country 
 inhabited by them. It is perhaps the only instance 
 in West Africa of a land being named after a 
 language, and not after a people. 
 
 After a not unpleasant and interesting twenty- 
 mile ride, we at length reached Sokode, where the 
 District Commissioner, Herr von Parpart, being 
 still absent, we made a bee-line for the post office. 
 Here we found a huge mail awaiting us, and many 
 cablegrams. We soon set the wires humming in 
 return ; in fact, we indulged in a regular telegraphic 
 orgie : after which we went over to the house of 
 
 285 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 our old friend Mr. Kuepers, the Government school- 
 master at the station, from whom we received a 
 most hearty and hospitable welcome. We also 
 heard from him full particulars concerning the 
 motor car, about the very existence of which up 
 till now we had been more or less doubtful. It 
 was, he told us, a big and powerful automobile, 
 capable not only of carrying our entire party, but 
 also of transporting our personal luggage, leaving 
 only the heavy baggage to be carried by man 
 transport. It had been put on the road by the 
 Togo Company, and was now at Atakpame, whence 
 it could be summoned by telegraph, the cost 
 of hiring it for the journey being ninepence per 
 mile. 
 
 This, of course, was splendid news, and put us 
 all in the best of spirits, which were further en- 
 hanced by the receipt of a second communication 
 from the Moving Picture Sales Agency in London, 
 saying that all the rest of the films to hand had 
 turned out well, and were of the highest possible 
 quality. That night we stayed at the rest-house 
 near the station, and sat up late talking of home 
 and friends. The one drop of bitterness in our 
 overflowing cup of happiness was the knowledge 
 that we should now have to part from our horses, 
 to whom we had become very much attached. 
 Next day, however, we received a wire from the 
 Hon. W. H. Grey, whom we had met on the steamer 
 on the outward voyage, offering to take over all 
 our animals, and to transport them to Accra, 
 
 286 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 where they would be well cared for and looked 
 after. This, again, was very acceptable news, for 
 it would have caused us infinite pain and regret 
 to have had to sell the faithful animals, that had 
 carried us safely for so many hundreds of miles, 
 back to the natives, to be ill-treated as only a native 
 can ill-treat a horse, and to be tortured by the 
 horrible bits they habitually use. Nevertheless, 
 when they left that night for the coast, after a 
 final caress and a feed of sugar, we all felt a bit 
 down-hearted. I know I felt it like parting from 
 old friends. Schomburgk had detailed a soldier 
 to accompany them on the downward journey, and 
 had given him the strictest and most minute in- 
 structions as to each day's itinerary. He was 
 also warned on no account to permit them to travel 
 before nightfall, after which the dreaded tsetse-fly 
 sleeps. This is, of course, the insect that is respon- 
 sible for the fatal sleeping-sickness in man. We, 
 hov/ever, saw no cases of this terrible disease while 
 we were in Togo, although it is known to exist there 
 and according to some accounts is spreading. As 
 regards domestic animals — ^horses, oxen, and so 
 forth— they can be moved safely through the worst 
 fly-belts if proper care be taken. They must be 
 shut up in a hut during the daytime, and for pre- 
 ference in a hut situated in or near a village, since 
 the tsetse invariably shuns the habitations of man, 
 preferring to live out its life in the low, unhealthy 
 localities it most frequents, near to water, stagnant 
 if possible, and with plenty of thick tropical under- 
 
 287 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 growth wherein it can breed and take refuge from 
 its many enemies. 
 
 We stayed five days in Sokode, paying visits, 
 resting from the fatigue of our long journey, and 
 generally enjoying ourselves. Amongst other not- 
 able people we called upon, was the Mallam of 
 Dedaure. " Mallam," I perhaps ought to explain, 
 meant originally a priest or teacher, but the term 
 is now applied loosely in West Africa to any native 
 who, owing to his wealth or learning, has raised 
 himself far above the common herd. This parti- 
 cular Mallam struck me as being absolutely the 
 finest -looking native I had seen during our trip. 
 Tall, beautifully proportioned, with clear-cut aqui- 
 line features, a small well-kept beard, and always 
 exquisitely dressed, he would have been a striking 
 figure anywhere, let alone out here in the heart 
 of the African bush. Schomburgk said he was the 
 best specimen of a native he had come across any- 
 where in Africa, and I can quite believe him. I 
 imagine, though, that he is by no means a full- 
 blooded Togo native, but has Arab blood in his 
 veins, and probably a goodly proportion of it. He 
 was a well-educated man, and before we left he wrote 
 on a board in exquisite Arabic characters what he 
 assured me was a eulogistic account, and personal 
 description, of my humble self. 
 
 What impressed me most during my stay in 
 Sokode, however, was the splendidly-appointed 
 Government school, of which Mr. Kuepers is the 
 principal. He is assisted by several native teachers, 
 
 288 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 and it is really wonderful to see the way in which 
 the scholars — all boys — from the bush villages 
 hereabouts assimilate the knowledge that is put 
 before them. Mr. Kuepers assured me that they 
 make far apter and better pupils than do European 
 children of a similar age. Their minds seem to be 
 more quick and ready to receive outside impres- 
 sions. It is like writing with a new pen on a per- 
 fectly blank sheet of paper, or sowing seed in virgin 
 soil. And this rapid progress they make is the 
 more remarkable, in view of the fact that these 
 little African kiddies, when they begin to attend 
 school, have first to be taught the German lan- 
 guage, or at least enough of it to enable them to 
 understand their lessons, to grasp the purport of 
 the questions asked, and to frame their answers. 
 Unfortunately, however, this quickness of percep- 
 tion, and the desire to learn, does not last beyond 
 a certain age. Directly the boy begins to blossom 
 into a man, which in this climate and amongst the 
 black races is somewhere between the thirteenth 
 and the fourteenth year, he comes to a dead stop 
 as it were. Restless and uneasy, he cannot be 
 brought to fix his mind upon his tasks, and seizes 
 the first opportunity to return to his native village, 
 where, it is to be feared, he quickly forgets most, 
 if not all, of what he has learnt. There are excep- 
 tions, of course, but this is the general rule. In 
 the pregnant words of one of the native teachers, 
 spoken with no touch of lightness, but solemnly 
 and even sadly : " When the young native Afri- 
 
 289 T 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 kander begins to think about women, he thinks no 
 longer any more about lessons." 
 
 On one of my visits to the school, I was asked 
 to put some questions to the children, and I asked 
 a small boy of eight or thereabouts, " What is a 
 mouse ? " His answer, transcribed word for word 
 from my note-book, was as follows : " A mouse is 
 a small animal, with four legs, two eyes, and a thin 
 long tail ; on its back are brown hairs, and it has 
 white hairs under its stomach." The description 
 is incomplete, but I doubt if one English or German 
 child out of a hundred, of a like age, could have 
 given offhand as good a one. I also asked a class 
 generally the old, old " catch " question in mental 
 arithmetic of our childhood's days : " If a herring 
 and a half cost three-halfpence, what is the price 
 of eleven herrings ? " I had previously announced 
 that I would give a penny to every child who 
 answered it correctly, and that I would allow them 
 three minutes by my watch to think it out. It 
 was most interesting to watch their thoughtful, 
 intent little black faces, as they wrestled inwardly 
 with the puzzling problem. When time was called, 
 hardly a child but gave some sort of an answer, 
 many being obviously mere guess-work ; but two 
 of the scholars earned their pennies, and more than 
 earned them, for not only were their answers cor- 
 rect, but they explained to me how they arrived 
 at them. 
 
 The children are very prettily mannered. If 
 one meets a group of them on the road, they will 
 
 290 
 
KONKOMBVVA AT ARCHERY PRACTICE 
 
 These people are still in the bow-and-arrow stage of martial evolution ; nor are the bows they use 
 remarkable for power or strength of construction. Their arrows, however, are invariably 
 poisoned, and the slightest scratch from one means death. 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 line up, stand rigidly to attention, and give one 
 a smiling " Good morning." If, as frequently 
 happens, one comes across them seated by a stream, 
 and repeating their lessons together in the sort of 
 a sing-song chorus they greatly affect, the same 
 thing happens. Of course, however, these children 
 are picked children. Only a certain number are 
 taken from each village, and not above a certain 
 number in all. At present the sum total for whom 
 accommodation is available is about one hundred ; 
 but new school buildings are being erected ; then 
 the classes will be very largely augmented. The 
 children are taken entire charge of by the Govern- 
 ment during the time they are at school. A small 
 daily sum is allowed each child for food and lodging, 
 this being handed over jpro rata to certain approved 
 native women living in the village, who undertake 
 in return to board and sleep so many of them. 
 Each child is also given by the Government a little 
 blue smock, and books, slates, pencils, and so forth 
 are of course provided free. 
 
 On the evening before the day we had fixed 
 for our departure, Herr von Parpart asked us to 
 dinner. This gentleman, by the way, was not at 
 Sokode when we were here on our upward journey. 
 If he had been, we certainly should not have stayed 
 at Paratau. He is a most courteous, considerate 
 man, who radiates energy, kindness, and good- 
 nature ; altogether a splendid example of the best 
 type of German official. At the dinner-party were 
 a Mr. and Mrs. Dehn, who were going up to Bassari 
 
 291 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 to relieve Mr. Muck^, who was going home on 
 leave. It follows, therefore, that she will be 
 the second white woman in Togoland north of 
 Sokode. 
 
 Prior to going in to dinner, we were seated out- 
 side the house on a little hillock, the top of which 
 had been artificially flattened, chatting together 
 and enjoying the cool evening air. It was a dark 
 night, with very little moonlight. Suddenly, from 
 a grove behind us, came the sound of children's 
 voices singing an old German part-song. It was 
 a choir of Mr. Kuepers' little scholars, and the 
 musical treat had been arranged by him in our 
 honour. I never heard anything more beautiful ; 
 or, under the circumstances, more affecting. Song 
 after song of our childhood's days the young 
 choristers reeled forth. Mrs. Dehn, who had only 
 recently come out, started to use her handkerchief ; 
 and I think I should shortly have followed suit, 
 had not our host come up at the crucial moment 
 and led me into dinner. 
 
 The meal was a grand success, reminding me 
 of the one Baron Codelli had treated us to on our 
 arrival at Kamina from the coast six months pre- 
 viously. There was the same beautifully arranged 
 table, the same sheen of damask and glitter of 
 silver, the same noiseless, trained service, the same 
 carefully chosen and perfectly cooked food. Every- 
 body was in the highest spirits, and I enjoyed myself 
 immensely. We sat late, and should have sat later 
 at our host's urgent invitation, only that the motor- 
 
 292 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 car had arrived that day from Atakpame, and we 
 were due to start early in the morning. It seemed 
 strange, by the way, to find my hammock — thought- 
 fully provided by my kind host — ^waiting at the door 
 to take me home, in the same way as the electric 
 brougham belonging to the house waits at home 
 to whisk away the late-departing guest. 
 
 We had told our boys to call us at 5 a.m., but 
 I confess that, for my part, it required no small 
 effort of will to induce me to rise and dress. Out 
 in the bush one is not used to dissipation. I wished 
 now that I had refused that last half glass of cham- 
 pagne, or had dispensed with the Hqueur. I will 
 say no more. 
 
 Outside, the cold morning air acted as a tonic. 
 There was the big car, panting to be off. It held 
 seven people comfortably, and our ten boxes. Soon 
 we were speeding along our homeward road, and 
 my spirits rose with each succeeding mile. It was 
 grand to fly along down the route up which we had 
 toiled so slowly, to cover in an hour a stage that 
 had taken us a whole day to traverse on cycles 
 or by hammock. At Djabotaure, however, there 
 came a sudden halt. Our left-hand hind wheel 
 tyre burst with a loud report, and my heart sank 
 within me at the prospect of being stranded here 
 in this desolate spot, two days — ^by carriers — ^from 
 Sokode and five from Atakpame. Luckily we 
 carried a spare tyre, but it was a non-skidder, 
 and from now on our driver had to be very 
 careful. 
 
 293 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 The road in the Sokode district was perfect, 
 that in the Atakpame district was not quite so 
 good ; and we were all more or less anxious, for 
 we carried no more spare tyres, and another break- 
 down would have meant several days' delay. The 
 bridges of planks, covered in some instances with 
 clay, were negotiated in fear and trembling, for 
 they had, of course, not been constructed for heavy 
 motor traffic, and our big car, with its load, weighed 
 a good bit over a ton. The natives we met seemed 
 greatly interested in the new machine, which had 
 not yet lost its novelty for them, and stood gaping 
 after it much as the rustics used to do in Europe, 
 I am told, when motor-cars first began to be used 
 there. One big negro varied the ordinary pro- 
 ceeding by standing facing the car in the middle 
 of the road, and backed as we approached, at the 
 same time edging sideways. As a result he tumbled 
 over backwards into a ditch, and the last I saw of 
 him, as we sped by, was a pair of big flat feet pro- 
 jecting upwards, and waving wildly from the side 
 of the road. 
 
 We overtook our horses at a village en route, 
 and paused to see that our instructions were being 
 properly carried out. At Blita, too, we stopped 
 for breakfast, selecting this particular rest-house 
 because it is the only one between Sokode and 
 Atakpame that boasts a table. Here we used up 
 absolutely the last of our provisions, and I re- 
 member thinking to myself that if a breakdown 
 were to occur now, we should not only be subject 
 
 294 
 
BACK IN SOKODE 
 
 to an irritating and vexatious delay, but that we 
 should probably go hungry into the bargain. How- 
 ever, nothing happened ; mechanism and tyres 
 both held ; and shortly after noon we rolled into 
 Atakpame, and thence to Kamina. 
 
 295 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 WE were expected in Kamina by our old friend 
 Baron Codelli von Fahnenfeld, and by the 
 baroness, his wife, a young woman of about 
 my own age, whom he had recently brought out 
 from Europe, a new-wed bride, to share his home 
 and fortunes in this out-of-the-way comer of the 
 German colonial empire. 
 
 All the week long I had been looking forward 
 to this meeting with the wife of one of my best 
 friends, and picturing it in the rosiest colours. We 
 should have so much to say to each other, I said 
 to myself, for I had been so long cut off from all 
 association with my own sex — ^the meeting with 
 Mrs. Dehn at Sokode being only a casual one — 
 that I was simply dying for a good long chat about 
 — ^well, about the things women love to talk of. 
 Yet now, when the hour had come for our mutual 
 introduction, I felt a strange kind of bashfulness 
 creep over me. I had been so long in the bush, 
 practically cut off from civilised society. True, I 
 had met a few men. But then men friends and 
 acquaintances are so different from women friends 
 and acquaintances. They are less critical ; more 
 apt to take one at one's own valuation. 
 
 296 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 Shall I like her ? What is she like ? Shall we 
 get on together ? The questions one woman al- 
 ways asks herself of another woman whom she 
 hopes to favourably impress, surged uppermost. 
 But my doubts and fears were quickly dispelled. 
 A tall, graceful girl, golden-haired and blue-eyed, 
 advanced towards me with hands outstretched in 
 warm welcome. Soon we were deep in an earnest, 
 animated conversation ; she asking all sorts of 
 questions about the " back of the beyond " of the 
 country that was now her home ; I anxious to 
 hear the latest " gup " of Berlin, of Paris, of 
 Vienna. But there was one piece of information 
 that I wanted to acquire, now and at once, that 
 to me was all-important, and at the risk of being 
 thought ill-mannered, I blurted out the personal 
 query : " My boxes ? My treasured boxes ? What 
 had become of them ? " 
 
 It will be remembered that a wire had been 
 forwarded to us by post-runner from Mangu, telling 
 us of their destruction by a fire that had burned 
 down Baron von Codelli's house at Kamina while 
 he was away in Europe. Since then we had re- 
 ceived several more or less contradictory reports 
 from his employes. Some personal luggage had 
 been rescued from the flames, we were told at one 
 time ; at another, the rumom* reached us that 
 everything that was on the premises when the 
 fire broke out had gone up in smoke. Now, to my 
 unbounded relief and delight, I learnt that all the 
 boxes containing my personal belongings were 
 safe ; only a few parcels containing hats, lingerie, 
 
 297 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 and comparatively valueless articles of personal 
 apparel, had been burned. 
 
 I owed their safety, it transpired, to the efforts 
 of my black boy, Kabrischika, who had been with 
 me during our stay at Kamina on the upward 
 journey, and who had become very much attached 
 to me. It appeared that a big grass fire was burn- 
 ing near Kamina, and that a sudden change in the 
 strength and direction of the wind had sent it, 
 roaring and raging, straight for Codelli's house, 
 which was of wood, thatched with many thick- 
 nesses of straw for coolness. The house was un- 
 occupied, of course, and, it being the end of the 
 dry season, about as inflammable as a box of 
 matches. Kabrischika, quick to realise the danger, 
 had dashed through the flames and smoke and 
 lugged my boxes out of danger. He knew them, 
 it seemed, because they were new ; my name, 
 which was stamped in big letters upon each one of 
 them, meaning nothing to him. 
 
 We spent ten days in Kamina, recuperating, 
 and filming the big wireless station which Codelli 
 is building there, and about which I wrote in an 
 earlier chapter. I was amazed at the progress 
 which had been made during our six months' 
 absence. Kamina itself had changed utterly ; had 
 grown tremendously. Everywhere were substan- 
 tial stone houses ; mostly finished and ready for 
 occupation, some few in course of erection. The 
 great steel towers, and the immense power-station, 
 were finished, contrasting curiously with the little 
 wattle and straw huts that had lodged the hundreds 
 
 298 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 of workmen, whose labours were now nearing com- 
 pletion. When the dynamos and turbines are in- 
 stalled, which they will be by the time this book 
 is in print, Kamina will be able to talk direct with 
 Berlin, 3450 miles distant. Even during my stay 
 there, although messages could not yet be trans- 
 mitted, they could be received, and each morning 
 on our breakfast-table there lay a little type- 
 written broadsheet, our morning paper as it were, 
 summarising for us the news that had come through 
 to the station overnight. In this way we knew 
 what was happening in Europe, almost as quickly 
 as if we had been living in, say, London, or Paris, 
 or Berlin. 
 
 I need hardly say, however, that it is not for 
 such comparatively trivial purposes as these that 
 this powerful installation has been erected in the 
 heart of the wilderness. The wireless station at 
 Kamina is intended to be the chief receiving and 
 distributing centre for the whole of Africa ; so 
 far, that is to say, as Germany is concerned. It 
 will communicate with the similar but smaller 
 wireless station in the Cameroons, and also with 
 that at Windhuk in German South- West Africa, as 
 well as with Tabora in German East Africa. Fiu*- 
 thermore, it will in course of time constitute one of 
 the principal links in the chain of wireless stations 
 with which Germany, like Britain, is seeking to 
 girdle the globe ; connecting her East and West 
 African possessions with German New Guinea, with 
 Samoa, and with the German protectorate of Kiao- 
 Chau, in the Chinese province of Shantung, which 
 
 299 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 she holds from China on a ninety-nine years' lease 
 since January 1898. 
 
 A little railway connects Codelli's house with 
 the northern part of Kamina, where the receiving 
 station is, and we used frequently to remark, after 
 dinner : " Now let us go up and listen to what 
 they have got to say in Berlin." It was, to me at 
 all events, very weird and wonderful to be able to 
 place the receiver to my ears, and listen to sounds 
 having their origin at a point between three or 
 four thousand miles away. No words, of course, 
 were audible, only the short and long sounds of the 
 Morse code ; but I soon learnt enough to be able 
 to understand the purport, at all events, of what 
 was coming through. The signals sound very much 
 like musical notes — a series of notes all of the same 
 tone and pitch— played on an ordinary whistle. 
 This particular brand of wireless is called in German 
 the telefunken, meaning " sounding spark " ; and 
 this exactly describes it. Sounding sparks ! That 
 is what you are listening to. 
 
 The temporary receiving station, by the way, 
 is the same building that served me for a house 
 during our stay in Kamina on the upward journey, 
 six months previously. It gave me quite a shock 
 on my first visit to it this time, to find the little 
 home I had decorated and fitted up so comfortably 
 — we rigged up our studio here, you will remember 
 — now all bare and desolate, and filled with com- 
 plicated wireless instruments. Presently, I got 
 another kind of shock, an unpleasant one. I re- 
 marked to Codelli how dusty everything was, and 
 
 300 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 he replied quite gravely that that was so, it wanted 
 a woman's deft hand ; and, handing me a cloth, 
 he asked me if I would be so good as to wipe things 
 over a bit with it, while he adjusted the instruments. 
 At the same time he pointed to two little metal 
 points, saying that it was important that every 
 speck of dust should be removed from these if 
 the working was to be satisfactory. In my inno- 
 cence I did my best to carry out his instruc- 
 tions, with the result that I suffered a mild sort of 
 electrocution. It was merely a practical joke of 
 Codelli's, and not enough electricity passed through 
 me to hurt me, but it gave me a rare start never- 
 theless. 
 
 I was, as I have already said, greatly interested 
 in this wonderful wireless installation ; but I fear 
 that I was also fully as much interested — trivial 
 though the confession must sound — in a new 
 nickel-plated collapsible dressing-table that the 
 Baroness Codelli had brought with her from Berlin. 
 It was the first time for six months that I had been 
 able to see myself full length in a large mirror, 
 and only a woman can realise what this means to 
 a woman. When I was first left alone with it, I 
 scrutinised myself closely and anxiously, turning 
 this way and that, peering close and drawing back. 
 On the whole the inspection was eminently satis- 
 factory. My figure was fuller, rounder, and harder, 
 my face also had filled out ; otherwise, I was sur- 
 prised to find how slight a difference half a year's 
 roughing it in the wilds had made in my personal 
 appearance. Why, I have frequently been more 
 
 301 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 sunburnt after a week at the seaside, than I was 
 by this long trek through tropical Togoland. One 
 reason for this was the care one always takes to 
 shade one's face from the sun's rays while on the 
 march ; not, however, in order to preserve one's 
 complexion, but with a view to avoiding sunstroke. 
 During the first part of my journey, I always wore, 
 when in the saddle, or out-of-doors even tempo- 
 rarily, a big slouch hat of the cowboy type, but 
 afterwards I discarded this for the pith helmet, 
 than which no more effectual safeguard against 
 heat apoplexy has yet been devised. 
 
 While their new stone house was in course of 
 erection, the Baron and Baroness Codelli had taken 
 possession temporarily of the " Stranger's House," 
 a building set apart for the use of stray visitors to 
 the place who may be in want of accommodation, 
 corresponding, in point of fact, to the rest-houses 
 of the up-country stations, but somewhat more 
 solidly constructed, and having a cement floor. 
 There were, however, two rooms completed in 
 their new stone house, and these Codelli very kindly 
 placed at our disposal. But I, with the lately 
 awakened instinct of the bush woman, preferred 
 to camp out in a small grass-and-wattle hut, with 
 only a mat curtain between myself and the outer 
 air. 
 
 This was all very well for a couple of days. 
 But the rainy season was now near at hand, and 
 on the third day one of those tornadoes, which 
 always precede the great rains, came on to blow. 
 The wind set in motion great clouds of dust, which 
 
 302 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 filled my frail dwelling, and after a short, sharp 
 struggle between pride and inclination, the latter 
 won, and I took refuge behind stone walls. A day 
 or two later great black clouds came rolling up, 
 threatening to break in one of those terrific tropical 
 thunderstorms of which I had heard such lurid 
 accounts. Still, however, the rain held off ; in- 
 deed, I was assured, that Kamina had been ex- 
 ceptionally fortunate in respect to its freedom 
 from these storms since the wireless station had 
 been erected, the theory being that the nine great 
 steel towers in some way repelled the electric fluid. 
 Whether this theory has any scientific foundation 
 in fact, I am, of course, unable to say, but every- 
 body seemed agreed that though all round the 
 station might be black, the sky overhead of Kamina 
 was for the most part clear. 
 
 At length the time came to say good-bye. 
 Our heavy baggage had arrived from Sokode, and 
 all was ready to entrain. Our horses, none the 
 worse for their journey through the fly belt, had 
 already been sent by rail to Lome, there to await 
 shipment to Accra. The two ostriches had been 
 sent on by road, in charge of their boys. There 
 remained only our pet monkey, Anton, and him I 
 presented to the Baroness Codelli. This time we 
 took care to lay in a proper stock of provisions for 
 the train journey, so that it was at least endurable, 
 if not enjoyable ; and the rain coming down just 
 when it was beginning to get uncomfortably hot, 
 still further helped to mitigate the discomfort of 
 what is at best a somewhat tedious and trying trip. 
 
 303 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 At Lome we were to film the opening scene of 
 our drama, The White Goddess of the W angora. We 
 had already filmed all the other parts, but the reader 
 will of course understand that in cinema work the 
 scenes are not photographed consecutively ; at 
 least not necessarily so. In this first scene, it will 
 be remembered, I am supposed to be cast up by 
 the sea from a wreck as a baby and found by some 
 black savages, and the problem was whereabouts 
 along the Togo coast were we to get a white child 
 of the proper age. It was the problem that had 
 been haunting us at the back of our minds ever 
 since the beginning of the trip. Now it had got 
 to be solved somehow or other. 
 
 Various suggestions were brought forward, and 
 gravely discussed. Could we use a doll ; and if 
 so, could a sufficiently large and lifelike doll be had 
 in Lome ? Would it be possible to paint a black 
 baby white without injury to the infant ? Mean- 
 while Alfred, our interpreter, had spread the news 
 of what was wanted throughout Lome, and soon 
 babies of all sorts and sizes, accompanied of course 
 by their mothers, began to roll up. None of them, 
 however, suited our requirements. Some were too 
 big ; all were too black : nor were we able to find 
 any mother who could be induced to regard the 
 whitewashing scheme in a sufficiently favourable 
 light to lend her own offspring for the experiment. 
 They all knew somebody else who had a baby they 
 would no doubt be willing to lend for the purpose, 
 but when it came to the point the " somebody 
 else " invariably declined most emphatically to do 
 
 304 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 anything of the kind. It really looked at one 
 time as if we should have to film the scene at some 
 English seaside resort, with a squad of burnt-cork 
 beach " niggers " as supers, an obviously most 
 unsatisfactory alternative. Just, however, as we 
 were beginning to despair, a coast girl turned up 
 with a half-caste, khaki-coloured infant, of about 
 the right age ; and which Hodgson opined might 
 be made, by the liberal use of a powder puff, to 
 come out white on the film. 
 
 But when the scheme was explained to the 
 mother, I could see that her enthusiasm for it 
 waned rapidly. The baby was to be hidden in a 
 box close to the edge of the surf. Yes-s-s ! That 
 was all very well. But suppose one big wave come 
 roll up, sweep baby away ? What then ? Oh ! 
 No ! No ! No ! And she clasped the little choco- 
 late-coloured coon to her bosom. There was a lot 
 more palaver, but at length she gave a reluctant 
 consent. She was to be paid a sovereign for the 
 loan of the infant, and the clothes we provided, 
 and which cost another ten shillings, were to be 
 hers to keep when all was over. Moreover, while 
 the scene was being filmed, she was to stand on 
 one side of the camera, and I on the other, so that 
 we could both rush into the sea together to the 
 rescue in case of anything untoward happening. 
 As a matter of fact nothing did happen. The scene 
 was filmed on the beach outside Lome, a time being 
 chosen when there was nobody about. We were, 
 however, honoured by the presence of the Governor, 
 H.H. the Duke of Mecklenburg, who expressed 
 
 305 u 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 himself as being both surprised and pleased at the 
 way we had drilled our black supers to act their 
 parts. 
 
 Our time passed very pleasantly in Lome. We 
 had horses lent us by a friend of ours. Lieutenant 
 Manns, and used to go for rides round the neigh- 
 bourhood. The sea, too, was a source of never- 
 ending pleasure and delight to me, since first I 
 caught a whiff of it towards the end of our railway 
 journey from Atakpame. We used to take walks 
 along the beach by moonlight, and Lome, beneath 
 its silvery enchantment, seemed to me an altogether 
 ideal place of residence. In the daytime, when 
 the sun beat down upon it, and all was glare and 
 dust, I held quite the reverse opinion. 
 
 Herr Vollbehr, the famous Munich portrait 
 painter, happened to be in Lome while we were 
 there, and he expressed a wish to paint me in the 
 native dress I wore whilst playing in the White 
 Goddess drama. So I gave him some sittings in 
 the gardens of the Duke of Mecklenburg's palace, 
 and I am told that the picture turned out very 
 well, and has been much admired at Munich, where 
 it is now on exhibition. The Governor's palace, 
 by the way, is quite the finest building in Lome, as 
 indeed is only right. It is four-square, built round 
 a central courtyard, and must have cost no end 
 of money. It is quite new, like all the other build- 
 ings in Lome, for not so very many years ago — 
 some seventeen or eighteen, I believe — ^this town 
 had no existence, at all events as the capital of 
 Togoland, which was then fixed at a place called 
 
 306 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 Little Popo, at the eastern extremity of the Togo 
 seaboard. 
 
 The great drawback to Lome as a port is the 
 heavy surf which breaks almost incessantly on the 
 low sandy beach, as indeed it does all along the 
 West African coast. Different methods of mini- 
 mising the inconvenience caused by this hindrance 
 have been adopted at different places. At Accra 
 they have built a breakwater, which has cost a 
 small fortune, and is not, I hear, a great success. 
 At Lome they have gone the other way to work, 
 and have erected a pier, or bridge, right out into the 
 sea, a third of a mile long, and connected with a 
 massive wharf, or quay, at the seaward end. This 
 simplifies greatly the problem of landing, although 
 it has its drawbacks. One is that there are now 
 no surf boats there, or very few at all events, and 
 the natives, I am told, are forgetting how to handle 
 them, even if any were available. So when, some 
 years back, the bridge which connects the wharf 
 with the shore was destroyed by a tidal wave, 
 supposed to be due to some great submarine vol- 
 canic upheaval, Lome was almost entirely isolated 
 from the outside world for a while. However, with 
 commendable energy, the authorities there soon 
 set to work to rebuild their bridge ; but because 
 they could not build it over the old foundations, 
 it now takes a curved course, which gives it a some- 
 what curious, lopsided appearance. 
 
 For the rest there is not much to say about 
 Lome. It is a clean and neat little place, like 
 most of our German colonial towns, with well-laid- 
 
 307 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 out streets shaded by palm and other trees, and 
 bordered by pretty little bungalows, or, in some 
 cases, more substantially built stone houses, set in 
 well-kept tropical gardens. The native population 
 of Lome, however, did not impress me favourably. 
 The up-country native is a gentleman; the coast 
 native is, too often, a caricature of the street 
 " corner boy " of London or Berlin. Far be it 
 from me, a mere girl, and a stranger and a sojourner 
 in the colony at that, to set myself up as a judge 
 in such matters ; but it seems to me that the negro 
 is not fitted for education, in the sense that we 
 in Europe generally understand that much-abused 
 word. Certain it is that no white man I ever 
 came across, who knew his Africa, would hire as a 
 " boy " one of the mission- school type of negro ; 
 he would infinitely prefer the wildest bush native 
 from the remotest part of the hinterland. 
 
 At last the morning of the 13th of March 
 dawned, the day on which we were to say good-bye 
 to Africa. Frankly I felt sorry. I had come here 
 six months previously, timid, and not a little 
 apprehensive. There had been times since, up in 
 the lonely bush, when, weary with travel and 
 weakened with fever, I would have given anything 
 to have gone to sleep and waked in Europe. But 
 not now. All these feelings were over and done 
 with, and in their place was a consuming regret 
 for the things I was leaving behind, that were 
 passing out of my life ; the long lone trail leading 
 onward, and ever onward, through lands new 
 and strange ; the black peoples of the far interior 
 
 308 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 unspoilt by civilisation, an interesting study always ; 
 the stillness of the tropic night, the stir of the 
 tropic dawn. 
 
 We had previously paid off our boys, of course, 
 but all those that were in Lome at the time came 
 down to the pier head to see us off. They were 
 sorry to part with us. One could see it in their 
 black faces, for the negro is nothing but a big child, 
 and his features reflect every passing mood. " You 
 will come back, little mother," they called out in 
 unison, as the screw began to revolve. " Yes," 1 
 answered gravely, " I will come back." And I 
 meant what I said. Shall I ever be in a position 
 to redeem my promise, I wonder ? Well ! well ! 
 Time will show ! 
 
 One thing rather pleased me. None of our boys 
 were left stranded ; they all got jobs. Alfred, our 
 interpreter, and Asmani, Schomburgk's personal 
 servant, took service with Baron Codelli at Kamina. 
 Messa, the cook, got employment in the Duke of 
 Mecklenburg's kitchen. Lideed, no boy who has 
 been for any length of time with Europeans, and 
 has a good character, need be long out of employ- 
 ment in Togo. A character, however, is an essen- 
 tial thing ; and curiously enough they all seemed 
 to prefer my written recommendation to Schom- 
 burgk's. I suppose it was because they had other 
 characters from European men, and wanted to add 
 to their collection one from a European woman, in 
 case others of my sex wanted their services later. 
 Schomburgk, however, said that a woman's recom- 
 mendation always goes further than a man's, be- 
 
 309 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 cause prospective employers argue in this way : 
 " Oh ! so this boy has served under a woman, has 
 he ? Well, I'll engage him, because a boy who can 
 stick a woman, can stick anybody — even me." 
 Of course, this was said by way of a joke ; but 
 like a good many words spoken in jest, there is a 
 certain amount of truth underlying these. Anyway, 
 I believe it to be a fact that West African personal 
 boys, kitchen boys, and so on, do not care over 
 much to take service with a woman. 
 
 The ship that bore us back to England was 
 named the Eleonore Woermamm. She was a good 
 staunch boat, and very seaworthy and steady, like 
 all those belonging to this fine line ; but as we were 
 steaming against "the trades," we had a rather 
 rough passage to Las Palmas. There was a pleasant 
 break here, and I went ashore to the " Stranger's 
 Club," where I played roulette for the first time. I 
 knew nothing whatever of the game, and threw 
 down a coin at haphazard, and with the usual luck 
 of the novice I won again and again. In ten 
 minutes I was the richer by £7, and was already 
 beginning to have visions of a golden fortune ahead, 
 when the screeching of the ship's siren called me 
 hurriedly aboard. 
 
 The rest of the voyage was uneventful up to the 
 last day. Then, when we were nearing Southamp- 
 ton, we had the very narrowest escape — so I was 
 assured— of going to the bottom. We were seated 
 at dinner, all in the highest spirits at the successful 
 termination of our trip, when the steamer suddenly 
 sounded three sharp, angry blasts, then started to 
 
 310 
 
KAMINA— LOME— HOME 
 
 heel over to starboard, sending all the plates and 
 dishes with their contents flying into our laps. 
 Another steamer, it appeared, had come right across 
 our bows, and only the presence of mind of the 
 officer on the bridge of the Eleonore Woermamm in 
 putting the wheel hard a-port, and so causing our 
 ship to describe a circle to starboard, had averted 
 what would otherwise almost certainly have been a 
 very terrible disaster. 
 
 311 
 
INDEX 
 
 Accra, 286, 303, 307 
 
 Agbandi, 62 ; native giant at, 63 
 
 Aledjo, beauty and healthfulness 
 
 of, 85 ; mission station at, 86 ; 
 
 grass fires at, 87, 281 
 Alfred, our interpreter, 64, 102, 103, 
 
 169, 244, 309 
 Ana, native village, 57, 60 
 Antelope, 134, 161, 152, 153 
 Arrows, poisoned, European shot 
 
 by, 142 
 Ashantis, 159 
 Asmani, Schomburgk's personal 
 
 *'boy," 179, 229, 309 
 Atakpame, 28 ; Catholic Mission 
 
 at, 60; 63, 186, 275, 284, 286, 
 
 295 
 Audassi, 66 
 
 Babies, native, 270 
 
 Bafilo, the bairam festival at, 90 ; 
 cotton industry at, 92 ; artificial 
 " pearls " made at, 95, 261 
 
 Banjeli, 237 ; beautiful situation 
 of, 238 ; arrival of mail at, 241 ; 
 a pig purchased at, 242 ; pim- 
 ishing carriers at, 244 ; chief of, 
 245 , 249, 260 
 
 Bapure, 112 
 
 Bassari, 239, 241 ; iron market at, 
 247; 250, 251; station house at, 
 252 ; Mr. Muckd, Sub -District 
 Commissioner of, 262 ; our 
 house at, 263 ; I entertain the 
 wives of the Mallam Mohammed 
 at, 267, 291 
 
 Bats, a plague of, 139 ; as food, 
 225 
 
 Beapabe, native town, 251 
 
 Bedford, Duke of, 19 
 
 Beer, native. 111 
 
 Bees, wild, 259 
 
 Beetles, beautiful, 240 
 
 Berger, Dr., 57 et seq. 
 
 Betrothals in infancy of native 
 girls, 264 
 
 Birds, valuable feather-bearing in 
 
 Northern Togo, 149, 160, 154 
 Bremen, S.M.S., 26 
 Buffalo, 20 
 Butter, native, 139 
 Bwete, native village, 145 
 
 Cameras, damage to by heat, 136 
 
 Cameroons, wireless station in, 299 
 
 Chameleons, 209 
 
 " Chief's mail," 184, 185 
 
 Childbirth amongst native women, 
 268 
 
 Children, native, government edu- 
 cation of, 290 
 
 Cinema acting, on board ship, 21 ; 
 in Madeira, 24 ; at Kamina, 33 ; 
 at Paratau, 77 ; at Lome, 305 
 
 Cooking, native, 275 
 
 Corn-bins, curious, at Tschopowa, 
 224 
 
 Cotton industry, native, 92 et aeq. 
 
 Cowrie shells, as money, 97 
 
 Crocodiles, 145, 189, 190 
 
 Dagomba tribe, 214 
 
 Dahomeyans, 159 
 
 Death, native ceremonies at, 261, 
 
 262 
 Dedaure, Mallam of, 288 
 Dehn, Mr. and Mrs., 291 
 Djabotaure, 64 ; adventure at, 65, 
 
 293 
 Djereponi, 208 
 
 Elegante Welt, German fashion 
 
 paper, 241 
 Eleonore Woermamm, mail steamer, 
 
 310, 311 
 Elephants, 18 ; old spoor of, 121 
 
 Fahnenfeld, Baron Codelli von, 
 29, 31, 36, 47, 196, 292, 296; 
 Baroness Codelli, 297, 301, 302 
 
 Fetish groves, hidden practices in, 
 273 
 
 313 
 
INDEX 
 
 Fever, 36, 101, 108 
 
 Films, industrial, at BaJBlo, 92 et 
 
 seq.f 97 ; ethnological, at Mangu, 
 
 136 ; travfel, at Sumbu, 191 ; 
 
 historical, at Mangu, 200, 201 ; 
 
 Konkombwa, 218 ; hippopotami, 
 
 225 ; iron industry, at Banjeli, 
 
 246 ; at Bassari, 257 
 Fishing by natives in the Oti, 135 
 Francolin, a kind of partridge, 134, 
 
 149 
 Fulani, 137, 156, 159, 180 
 Fulbe, 137 
 
 Gerin-kuka, boisterous welcome 
 to by the Konkombwa people, 
 115; rest-house at, 117; native 
 "songu " at, 118 
 
 Gourma, 138, 141, 142, 168, 176 
 
 Grass fires, 143, 146 
 
 Grey, Hon. W. H., 286 
 
 Grouse, remarkable incident in 
 connection with, 206 
 
 Gruner, Dr., 140 
 
 Hagenbeck, Carl, 19 
 
 Hammock travelling, delights of in 
 the African bush, 61 ; being 
 " sea-sick " in one, 66, 185 
 
 Harmattan, 76 ; at Mangu, 131 ; 
 a meteorological mystery, 198 
 
 Hausas, 202, 203, 219, 225 
 
 "Hausaload," 243 
 
 Henny Woermamm, mail steamer, 
 21, 22, 26 
 
 Hippopotami, 123, 146, 185 et seq., 
 225 
 — ■ pygmy, 19, 185 
 
 Hirschfeld, Captain von, 125, 127, 
 128, 132, 133, 137, 140, 143, 155, 
 199, 203, 205, 243, 253 
 
 Hodgson, James, our camera man, 
 20, 50, 52, 97, 99, 100, 101, 119, 
 123, 124, 135, 136, 148, 150, 152, 
 156, 172, 174, 187, 189, 203, 206, 
 216, 225, 233, 237, 250, 256, 305 
 
 Horses, our, waiting for us near 
 Sokode, 67 ; am badly kicked by 
 my favourite one, 83 ; accident 
 to one, 109, 195, 286 
 
 Hyena trapped, 138 
 
 Ibubu, native village, 233 ; " Ro- 
 man Fort " at, 233 ; troulDle with 
 carriers at, 235 ; arrest of chief 
 of, 239 ; woman carriers from, 
 239, 243 
 
 Insect pests, 38, 134 
 Iron industry, native, at Banjeli, 
 245 et seq. 
 
 JEWEiiLERY, native, 260 
 Johnston, Sir Harry, 248 
 Joyce, Atho, Mr., 248 
 
 Kabre Mountains, 137 
 
 Kabrischika, native boy, saves my 
 baggage from fire, 298 
 
 Kabu, welcome hospitality at. 111 
 
 Kabures, native tribe, 63 
 
 Kaiser's birthday, 203 
 
 Kamaa, river, 253, 280 
 
 Kamina, wireless station at, 29 ; 
 my house at, 29 ; life at, 30 et 
 seq.; an adventure, 48, 196, 292, 
 295, 296 et seq. 
 
 Kara, river, 122 
 
 Katscha, river, 250, 251 
 
 Kersting, Dr., 70, 85, 90, 234, 252, 
 254 
 
 Kola nuts, 219, 259 
 
 Konkombwa, first contact with, 
 112 ; boisterous welcome by at 
 Gerin-Kuka, 115; 138, 147, 211 
 et seq. ; dancers, 217 ei seq. / 231, 
 234, 236, 239, 247 
 
 Kuepers, Mr., Government school- 
 master at Sokode, 68, 278, 286, 
 288, 289, 292 
 
 Kugnau, native village, 227 ; in- 
 cident with the Konkombwa at, 
 231, 232, 237 
 
 Lange, Mr., engineer, 57 
 
 Las Pahnas, 25, 310 
 
 Leopard, adventure with a, 100, 
 
 194 196 
 Lizards, 38, 194 
 Lome, capital and port of Togo, 21, 
 
 27, 184, 253, 284, 303, 304, 305, 
 
 307 
 
 Madeira, 21 e^ seq., 196 
 Magu, native village, 147, 197 
 Malfakasa, 280 ; the outlaw of, 283 
 Mallam Mohammed, of Bassari, 
 257 ; his house, 258 ; his wives, 
 259 
 Mangu, northernmost Government 
 station in Togo, 125 ; Moham- 
 medans in, 130 ; timber planta- 
 tions in, 130 ; new station house 
 at, 131 ; climate of, 131 ; Christ- 
 
 314 
 
INDEX 
 
 mas at, 133; New Year's Eve 
 festivities at, 133 ; trees de- 
 stroyed by beetles at, 134; 
 prisoners, native, at, 137 ; stone 
 quarry at, 137 ; plague of bats 
 at, 139; native soldiers at, 199, 
 200 ; filming Togo history at, 201, 
 202 ; celebrating the Kaiser's 
 birthday at, 203 ; departure from, 
 205, 251, 278 
 Manns, Lieutenant, 306 
 Marabou stork, discovered in Togo 
 by Major Schomburgk, 154 ; 
 feathers, 154 
 Marriage customs, native, 264 
 Mashukulumbwe people, anecdote 
 
 concerning, 115 
 Massow House, at Bassari, 252 
 Mecklenburg, Duke of, Governor of 
 Togo, 28, 51, 141, 231, 232, 305, 
 306, 309 
 Messa, our cook, supposed deser- 
 tion of, 53 et seq.; returns with 
 a young wife, 55 ; he annexes our 
 dining-table, 84; 160, 169, 180, 
 230, 277, 278, 309 
 Monkey, our pet, 146, 243, 303 
 Monkeys, wild, 47 ; shooting a 
 
 " dog " monkey, 96 
 Mosquitoes, 31, 122, 144, 229 
 Moving Picture Sales Agency, 
 
 London, 184, 286 
 Mucke, Mr., of Bassari, 252, 254, 
 255, 256, 292 
 
 Natives, as " supers," 33 ; averse 
 to being photographed, 33 ; 
 views of on matrimony, &c., 42 
 et seq.; perversity of, 51 ; as car- 
 riers, 112 ; wars, inter- tribal, 200 ; 
 as handicraftsmen, 247 ; school 
 for at Bassari, 258 ; at Sokode, 
 288 
 
 Najo, native village, 197 
 
 Nambiri, 209 ; village chief of, 213, 
 249 
 
 Nebel, Mr. Kay H., 67 ; accident 
 while acting with, 77, 88, 89 ; 
 leaves for Europe, 91 
 
 Njamassila, 60 
 
 " Odd Man Out," dramatic film, 
 
 21, 24, 91, 92 
 Ostriches, 203, 234, 246, 303 
 Oti, river, 122, 126, 134, 141, 144, 
 
 147, 148, 151, 156, 185, 188, 192, 
 
 227, 233 
 
 " Outlaw of the Sudu Mountains,** 
 dramatic fihn, 86 ; accident 
 while rehearsing in, 88 
 
 Oysters, fresh -water, in the Oti 
 River, 192 
 
 " Palaver," a woman, 101 e^ seq.; 
 
 a man, 104 ; at Unyogo, over a 
 
 soldier's wife, 207 
 Panscheli, native village, 142, 185, 
 
 186, 188 
 Paratau, 69 ; native market at, 73 ; 
 
 children at, 74 ; an unhealthy 
 
 camp, 76, 278, 282, 291 
 Parpart, Herr von, 261, 285, 291 
 Plantations, timber, near Mangu, 
 
 130 ; near Bassari, 254 
 Poisons, kinds used by natives on 
 
 their arrows, 142 
 Polygamy, 267 
 Porteous, Dr., 143 
 Potatoes, a luxury in Togo, 278 
 
 Quinine, importance of in West 
 Africa, 50 
 
 Ramadam, Mohammedan fast, 65 
 Rentzel, Lieutenant von, 28 
 Royal Anthropological Institute, 
 
 201 
 Royal Geographical Society, 201, 
 
 248 
 
 Salt, paying carriers in, 118; as 
 currency, value of in Northern 
 Togo, 161, 171 
 
 Schomburgk, Major Hans, 17 et 
 seq., 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38, 40, 60, 
 52, 55, 57, 61, 72, 78, 85, 
 88, 89, 95, 97, 100, 102, 104, 106, 
 110, 113, 116, 121, 123, 131, 134, 
 139, 140, 141, 144, 146, 147, 149, 
 152, 156, 170, 190, 195, 196, 203, 
 211, 223, 225, 227, 233, 236, 245, 
 252, 287 
 
 Sleeping sickness, 287 
 
 Soap, native made, 267 
 
 Sokode, 68, 103, 169, 186, 234, i*' ♦ 
 283, 284, 285, 288, 292 
 
 Soldiers, native, 199, 200 
 
 " Songu," native rest-house, 137 
 
 Sumbu, native village, 156, 164 et 
 seq. ; inhabitants of, 171, 177 
 
 Snakes, adventure with a venomous, 
 100, 183 
 
 Sudu Mountains, 284 
 
 
 315 
 
INDEX 
 
 Tabalo Mountain, 282 
 Tamberma Fort, 128 ; and people, 
 
 129, 130, 202 
 Tax, head, native, 129 
 Teneriffe, 26 
 «* Tick-birds," 188 
 Tim plain, 284 
 Tschaudjo, native tribe, 69 ei seq. ; 
 
 clever horsemanship of, 73 ; 
 
 mounted supers, 77, 265, 274, 
 
 285 
 Tschokossi, native tribe, 128, 141, 
 
 145, 147, 156, 168, 176, 185, 
 
 192, 201, 265, 274 
 Tschopowa, welcome by natives 
 
 to, 221 ; ceremonial dance at, 
 
 222 ; marabou feathers worn by 
 
 natives at, 222, 223 ; big baobab 
 
 tree at, 224 ; curious corn-bins 
 
 at, 225 ; bats at, 225 
 Tsetse-fly, 284, 287 
 Turtles in the Oti River, 190 
 
 Unyogo, 205 ; a *' woman pal- 
 aver " at, 207 
 
 Uro Djabo, paramount chief of the 
 Tschaudjo, 69 et seq., 213 
 
 Uro-Ganedo-Bo, 282 
 
 ViiiiiAGE, native, remarkable forti- 
 fied, 1 64 et seq. 
 Vultures as scavengers, 98, 139 
 
 Vollbehr, Herr, paints my portrait 
 306 
 
 Widows, hard fate of, 274 
 Wedding ceremonies, native, 265 
 " White Goddess of the Wangora," 
 
 dramatic film, 32 et seq., 90, 304 
 Windhuk, wireless station at, 299 
 Wireless telegraphy between Ka- 
 
 mina and Berlin, 300 
 Women and girls, native, 40 et seq. ; 
 a young philosopher, 45 ; film- 
 ing the life of a native wife, 46 ; 
 women weavers at Bafilo, 94 ; 
 " abduction " of a girl, 102 ; mod- 
 esty of, 105 ; wild at Sumbu, 164, 
 175, 200 ; Konkombwa at Nam- 
 biri, 215 ; a conjugal quarrel, 
 216 ; as carriers, 238, 239 ; slaves 
 as iron miners at Bangeli, 246 ; 
 marriage customs, 264 ; infant 
 betrothals, 264 ; illegitimate 
 births, customs regarding, 264, 
 
 265 ; wedding ceremonies, 265, 
 
 266 ; polygamy, 267 ; childbirth, 
 268 ; fetish women, 272 ; intro- 
 cision, rite of, 272 ; initiation 
 ceremonies at puberty, 273 
 
 " Zoo," London, two of Major 
 Schomburgk's pygmy *' hippos " 
 in, 19 ; Hamburg, 187, 235 
 
 Printed by Ballanttne, Hanson (&» Co, 
 at Paul's Work, Edinburgh 
 
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