Alone In West Africa - free ebook by Mary Gaunt

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Alone In West Africa

Mary Gaunt

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26 chapters

DEDICATION

DEDICATION

To those who have helped me I dedicate this record of my travels in West Africa. Without their help I could have done nothing; it was always most graciously and kindly given and I know not how to show my appreciation of it. “Evermore thanks, the exchequer of the poor,” is all I can give in return, unless some of them will take this book in very inadequate payment. Sir Charles Lucas, the head of the Colonial Office, gave me letters of introduction, Elder Dempster and Co. gave me a free passage, t

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CHAPTER I—SONS OF THE SEA WIFE

CHAPTER I—SONS OF THE SEA WIFE

Hereditary taste for wandering—A first adventure—“Little girls you must not be tired”—How Carlo was captured by savages in West Africa—Life in Ballarat—Nothing for a woman to do but marry—Marriage—Plans for wandering twenty years hence—Life in Warrnambool—Widowhood—May as well travel now there is nothing left—London for an aspirant in literature—Stony streets and drizzling rain—Scanty purse—Visit to the home of a rich African trader—Small successes—At last, at last on board s.s. Gando bound for

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CHAPTER II—THE GROUNDNUT COLONY

CHAPTER II—THE GROUNDNUT COLONY

Rejoicing-, half-eastern and wholly tropical, on arrival of the Governor—Colonies governed and held as the Romans held their colonies of Britain—Great g-ulf between the black and the white—The barrier of sex—Received as a brother but declined as a brother-in-law—Lonely Fort St James—The strenuous lives led by the men of the past—Crinted walls—The pilot's wife—Up the river in the Mungo Park—The river devil's toll—“Pass friend and all's well.” W hen I was a little girl the Queen held something the

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CHAPTER III—THE WHITE MAN'S GRAVE?

CHAPTER III—THE WHITE MAN'S GRAVE?

The origin of Sierra Leone—The difficulties of disposing of freed slaves—One of the beauty-spots of the earth—Is it possible that in the future, like Jamaica, it may be a health-resort?—Zachary Macauley's views—Few women in Freetown—Sanitary matters taken out of the hands of the Town Council and vested in a sanitary officer—Marked improvement in cleanliness and health of the town—A remarkable man of colour—Extraordinary language of the Creole—Want of taste in dress when they ape the European—Mrs

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CHAPTER IV—WHERE THE BLACK MAN RULES

CHAPTER IV—WHERE THE BLACK MAN RULES

America's experiment in the way of nation-making—Exiles in their mothers' land—The forlorn little company on Providence Island—Difficulties of landing and finding accommodation—British Consul to the rescue—The path to the British Consulate and the Liberian College—An outrageously ill-kept town—“Lovely little homes up the river”—A stickler for propriety—Dress and want of dress—The little ignorant missionary girl—At prayer in Lower Buchanan—The failure of a race. N o one on board the Zaria really

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CHAPTER V—THE GUINEA COAST

CHAPTER V—THE GUINEA COAST

Every man's duty—“Three deaths in two days”—An old Portuguese settlement—A troubled District Commissioner—What to do with a wandering white woman—The Judge's quarters—The kindly medical officer and his wife—A West-African town—“My outside wife”—Dangers ahead—The man who was never afterwards heard of—The Forestry officer's carriers—“Good man, bad man, fool man”—First night in the wilds—Hair in the soup. A great German philosopher has remarked that you very seldom get a human being who has all the

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CHAPTER VI—THE KING'S HIGHWAY

CHAPTER VI—THE KING'S HIGHWAY

The burying of the village dead—For Ju-ju—The glory of the morning—The catastrophes by the way—The cook is condemned to death—Redeemed for two shillings—The thunderous surf—The charm of the shore—Traces of white blood—A great negro town—Our quarters—Water that would induce a virulent typhus in any but a negro community—The lonely German trader—Difficulties of entertaining a negro potentate—The lair of the hunted. T he King's Highway is along the shore here easy enough going when the tide is out

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CHAPTER VII—ON THE FRENCH BORDER

CHAPTER VII—ON THE FRENCH BORDER

Very heavy going—-Half Assinie—The preventive service station—The energetic officer—Dislike of Africa—The Tano River—The enterprising crocodiles—The mahogany logs—Wicked waste—Gentlemen adventurers—A primitive dinner-party—Forced labour—The lost carrier—“Make die and chopped”—A negro Good Samaritan—A matrimonial squabble—The wife who would earn her own living—Dissatisfied carriers. W e were bound to Half Assinie and the French border and the way was all along the shore, which is a narrow strip o

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CHAPTER VIII—ALONE IN WEST AFRICA

CHAPTER VIII—ALONE IN WEST AFRICA

Cinderella—A troubled Commissioner—Few people along the Coast—No hotels—Nursing Sister to the rescue—Sekondi—A little log-rolling—A harassed hedge—Carriers—Difficulties of the way—A funeral palaver—No dinner and no ligjit—First night alone—Unruly carriers—No breakfast—Crossing the Prah—A drink from a marmalade pot—“We no be fit, Ma”—The evolution of Grant—Along the Coast in the dark—Elmina at last—A sympathetic medical officer—“I have kicked your policeman.” W est Africa is Cinderella among the

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CHAPTER IX—AN OLD DUTCH TOWN

CHAPTER IX—AN OLD DUTCH TOWN

But one man of the ruling race—Overlooked Elmina—Deadly fever—The reason why—Magnificent position—Ideal for a capital—Absence of tsetse—Loyal to their Dutch masters—Difficulty in understanding incorruptibility of English officials—Reported gold in Elmina—The stranded school-inspector—“Potable water”—Preferred the chance of guinea-worm to trouble—Stern German head-teacher—Cape Coast—Wonderful native telegraphy—Haunted Castle—Truculent people. E lmina means, of course, the mine, and the reason for

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CHAPTER X—IN THE PATHS OF THE MEN OF OLD

CHAPTER X—IN THE PATHS OF THE MEN OF OLD

The glory of the morning—The men who have passed along this road—The strong views of the African pig—An old-world Castle—Thieving carriers—The superiority of the white man—Annamabu—A perfect specimen of a fort—A forlorn rest-house—A notable Coast Chief—Tired-out mammies—The medical officer at Salt Ponds—The capable German women—The reason of the ill-health of the English women—Kroo boys as carriers—Tantum—A loyal rest-house—Filthy Appam—A possible origin for the yellow fever at Accra—Winne-bah—A

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CHAPTER XI—THE CAPITAL OF THE GOLD COAST COLONY

CHAPTER XI—THE CAPITAL OF THE GOLD COAST COLONY

The pains and penalties of landing in Accra—Negro officials, blatant, pompous, inefficient—Christiansborg Castle—The ghost of the man with eyes like bright stones—The importance of fresh air—Beautiful situation of Accra—Its want of shade-trees—The fences of Accra—The temptation of the cooks—Picturesque native population—Striking coiffure—The expensive breakwater—To commemorate the opening of the waterworks—The forlorn Danish graveyard—A meddlesome missionary—Away to the east. I don't like landin

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CHAPTER XII—BLOOD FETISH OF KROBO HILL

CHAPTER XII—BLOOD FETISH OF KROBO HILL

To Dodowah by motor lorry—Orchard-bush country—Negro tortures—The Basel Mission factor—A personally conducted tour—Great hospitality—A dinner by moonlight—Plan a night journey—The roadway by moonlight—Barbarous hymns—Carriers who “no be fit” once more—Honesty of the African carrier—Extraordinary obedience—The leopard that cried at Akway Pool—A hard-hearted slave-driver—Krobo Hill—Blood fetishes—Terror of the carriers—Story of the hill—The dawning of a new day—Unexplained disappearances—Akuse at

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CHAPTER XIII—THE FEAR THAT SKULKED BENEATH THE MANGO TREE

CHAPTER XIII—THE FEAR THAT SKULKED BENEATH THE MANGO TREE

Up the Volta—Svvanzy's trusting agent at Akuse—Amedika, the port of Akuse on the Volta—The trials of a trolley ride—My canoe—Paddling up-river—Rapids that raise the river thirty-four feet—Dangers of the river—Entrancingly lovely scenery—A wealthy land—The curious preventive service—Fears—Leaving the river—Labolabo—A notable black man—The British Cotton-growing Experimental Farm—The lonely white man—The fear that was catching—The lonely man's walk. A t Akuse I changed my plans. I had intended to

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CHAPTER XIV—INTO THE WILDS

CHAPTER XIV—INTO THE WILDS

Anum Mountain—The Basel Mission—A beautiful spot—An old Ashanti raid—A desolate rest-house—Alone and afraid; also hungry—A long night—Jakai—Pekki Blengo—The unspeakable Eveto Range—Underpaid carriers—A beautiful, a wealthy, and a neglected land—Tsito—The churches and the fetish—Difficulties of lodging in a cocoa-store—The lonely country between Tsito and the Border—Doubts of the hammock-boys—The awful road—Butterflies—The Border. F rankly, my sympathies are not as a rule with the missionaries, c

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CHAPTER XV—CROSSING THE BORDER

CHAPTER XV—CROSSING THE BORDER

German roads—German villages—The lovely valley of Ho—The kindly German welcome—German hospitality—An ideal woman colonist—Pink roses—The way it rains in Togo—An unfortunate cripple—Vain regrets—Sodden pillows—A German rest-house—A meal under difficulties—Travelling by night—The weirdness of it—The sounds of the night—The fireflies—A long long journey—Palime by night—More German hospitality—Rail-head. T here was nothing to mark the border between the Gold Coast Colony and Togo. The country on the

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CHAPTER XVI—ONE OF THE CURSES OF THE DARK CONTINENT

CHAPTER XVI—ONE OF THE CURSES OF THE DARK CONTINENT

The neat little town of Palime—The market—The breakfast—A luxury for the well-to-do—Mount Klutow—The German Sleeping Sickness Camp—The German's consideration for the hammock-boys—Misahohe, a beautiful road, well-shaded—A kindly welcome—The little boys that were cured—Dr von Raven, a devotee to science—The town of the sleeping sickness patients—“Last year strong man, this year finish”—Extreme poverty and self-denial—A ghastly, horrible, lingering and insidious disease—Dr von Raven's message to th

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CHAPTER XVII—GERMAN VERSUS ENGLISH METHODS

CHAPTER XVII—GERMAN VERSUS ENGLISH METHODS

Lome, the capital of Togo—A bad situation but the best laid-out town on the Coast—Avenues of trees—Promising gardens—The simple plan by which the Germans ensure the making of the roads—The prisoner who feared being “leff”—The disappointed lifer—The A.D.C.'s kindness—The very desirable prison garb—The energetic Englishman—How to make a road—Building a reputation. P eople who sigh, “I am such a bad traveller,” as if it were something to be proud of, and complain of the hardships of a railway journ

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CHAPTER XVIII—KETA ON THE SAND

CHAPTER XVIII—KETA ON THE SAND

The safety of the seashore—Why they do not plant trees in English territory—The D.C.'s prayer—Quittah or Keta—The Bremen Sisters—The value of fresh air as a preventive of fever—A polygamous household—The Awuna people—The backsliding clerk of the Bremen Mission—Incongruity of antimacassars and polygamy—Naming the child—“Laughing at last” and “Not love made you”—Forms of marriage—The cost of a wife—How to poison an enemy—Loving and dutiful children—The staple industry of the place—Trading women—Th

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CHAPTER XIX—FACING DEATH

CHAPTER XIX—FACING DEATH

The Spanish nuns—One of the loneliest settlements in West Africa—Hospitality and swamp—A capable English woman—A big future in store for Addah—The mosquitoes of Addah—The glorious skies—Difficulties of getting away—A tremendous tornado—The bar steamer—The boiling bar—“We've had enough!”—Would rather be drowned in the open—The dismantled ship—Everybody stark—The gallant engineer—On the French steamer bound for Accra. A t Addah, at the mouth of the Volta, a place that exists solely for the transpo

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CHAPTER XX—WITH A COMPANION

CHAPTER XX—WITH A COMPANION

The kindness of Sekondi—Swanzy's to the rescue—A journey to Dixcove—With a nursing Sister—The rainy season and wet feet—Engineering a steep hill in the dark—Rains and brilliant fireflies—The P.W.D. man's taste in colours—The need of a woman in West Africa—Crossing the Whin River—My fresh-air theory confirmed. S ekondi, from the nursing Sister outwards, was as it always has been, awfully good to me, and I felt as if I were come home. I had the kindest offers of help from all sides, and the railwa

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CHAPTER XXI—THE WEST-AFRICAN GOLDFIELDS

CHAPTER XXI—THE WEST-AFRICAN GOLDFIELDS

A first adventure—Tarkwa—Once more Swanzy to the rescue—Women thoroughly contented, independent, and well-to-do—The agricultural wealth of the land—The best bungalow in West Africa—Crusade against the trees—Burnt in the furnaces—Prestea—The sick women—A ghastly hill—Eduaprim—A capable fellow-countrywoman—“Dollying” for gold—Obuasi—Beautiful gardens—75 per cent.—The sensible African snail. I was born and brought up on the goldfields. My first adventure—I don't remember it—was when my nurse, a str

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CHAPTER XXII—A NEW TRADING CENTRE

CHAPTER XXII—A NEW TRADING CENTRE

The siege of Kumasi—The Governor in 1900—The rebellion—The friendlies under the walls of the fort—The Ashanti warrior of ten years ago and the trader of to-day—The chances of the people in the fort—The retreat—The gallant men who conducted it—The men who were left behind—The rescue—Kumasi of to-day—The trade that comes to Kumasi as the trade of Britain came to London in the days of Augustus—The Chief Commissioner—The men needed to rule West Africa. A nd when I had been to Obuasi nothing remained

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CHAPTER XXIII—IN THE HEART OF THE RUBBER COUNTRY

CHAPTER XXIII—IN THE HEART OF THE RUBBER COUNTRY

Bound for Sunyani—The awe-inspiring-forest—The road through the forest—The people upon that road—Ofinsu and an Ashanti house—Rather a public bedroom—Potsikrom—A night of fear—Sandflies—Attractive black babies—A great show at Bechem—A most important person—The Hausa who went in fear of his life—Coronation night at Tanosu—A teetotal party—The medical officer's views on trees—Beyond the road—Sunyani. I talked to the Commissioner, and those talks with him made me want to go somewhere out into the wi

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CHAPTER XXIV—AN OUTPOST

CHAPTER XXIV—AN OUTPOST

The white men at Sunyani—Contrast between civilisation and barbarism—The little fort—The suffrage movement—“I am as mud in the sight of my people!”—The girl who did not wish to marry the King—The heavy loads carried by the Hausas—The danger of stubbing a toe—An Ashanti welcome—The Chief's soul—The unpleasant duties of the Chief's soul—The blood of sheep versus the blood of men—A courteous lady of Odumase—The Commissioners of Ashanti—Difficulties of crossing flooded streams—One way of carrying fo

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CHAPTER XXV—THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITIES

CHAPTER XXV—THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITIES

The enormous wealth of West Africa—The waste—The need of some settled scheme—Competitive examination for the West-African Civil Service—The men who come after the pioneers—One industry set against another—The climate—The need of women—The dark peoples we govern—The isolation of the cultivated black man—The missionaries—The Roman Catholics—The Basel missionaries—West Africa the country of raw material—An answer to the question, “What shall I do with my son?”—The fascination of Africa. A nd so I h

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