33 chapters
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33 chapters
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY
Regarding a voyage on a West Coast boat, with some observations on the natural history of mariners never before published; to which is added some description of the habits and nature of the ant and other insects, to the end that the new-comer be informed concerning these things before he lands in Afrik. There are some people who will tell you that the labour problem is the most difficult affair that Africa presents to the student; others give the first place to the influence of civilisation on n
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
Wherein the student of Fetish determines to make things quite clear this time, with results that any sage knowing the subject and the student would have safely prophesied; to which is added some remarks concerning the position of ancestor worship in West Africa. The final object of all human desire is a knowledge of the nature of God. The human methods, or religions, employed to gain this object are divisible into three main classes, inspired— Firstly , the submission to and acceptance of a dire
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
Wherein the student, thinking things may be made clearer if it be perceived that there are divers schools of Fetish, discourses on the schools of West African religious thought. As I have had occasion to refer to schools of Fetish, and as that is a term of my own, I must explain why I use it, and what I mean by it, in so far as I am able. When travelling from district to district you cannot fail to be struck by the difference in character of the native religion you are studying. My own range on
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CHAPTER IX THE WITCH DOCTOR
CHAPTER IX THE WITCH DOCTOR
African Medicine mainly from the point of view of the Witch Doctor. We will now leave the village apothecary and his methods, and turn to the witch doctor, the consulting physician. He of course knows all about the therapeutic action of low-grade spirits, such as dwell in herbs and so on; but he knows more—namely the actions of higher spirits on the human soul, and the disorders of the human soul into the bargain. The dogma that rules his practice is that in all cases of disease in which no bloo
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APPENDICES
APPENDICES
[ To face page 443. Ja Ja, King of Opobo....
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A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE NATIVES OF THE NIGER COAST PROTECTORATE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR CUSTOMS, RELIGION, TRADE, &c. BY M. le COMTE C. N. de CARDI.
A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE NATIVES OF THE NIGER COAST PROTECTORATE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR CUSTOMS, RELIGION, TRADE, &c. BY M. le COMTE C. N. de CARDI.
It is with some diffidence I attempt this task, because many more able men have written about this country, with whom occasionally I shall most likely be found not quite in accord; but if a long residence in and connection with a country entitles one to be heard, then I am fully qualified, for I first went to Western Africa in 1862, and my last voyage was in 1896. Previous to 1891, the date at which this Coast (Benin to Old Calabar) was formed into a British Protectorate under the name of the Oi
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NATIVE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IN BENIN, AND RELIGION
NATIVE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IN BENIN, AND RELIGION
Though there is a great similarity in the native form of government in these parts, it would be impossible to convey a true description of the manners and customs of the various places if I did not treat of each river and its people separately; I shall therefore commence by describing the people of Benin. The Benin kingdom, so far as this account of it will go, was said to extend from the boundaries of the Mahin country (a district between the British Colony of Lagos and the Benin River) and the
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ORIGIN OF THE BENIN CITY PEOPLE
ORIGIN OF THE BENIN CITY PEOPLE
According to Clapperton the Benin people are descendants of the Yoruba tribes, the Yoruba tribes being descended from six brothers, all the sons of one mother. Their names were Ikelu, Egba, Ijebu, Ifé, Ibini (Benin), and Yoruba. According to the late Sultan Bello (the Foulah chief of Sokoto at the time of Captain Clapperton’s visit to that city), the Yoruba tribes are descended from the children of Canaan, who were of the tribe of Nimrod. In my opinion there is room for much speculation on this
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BRASS RIVER
BRASS RIVER
Brass River is then the first river we have to deal with on the Niger Coast Protectorate, to the eastward of the Royal Niger Company’s boundary. The inhabitants of Brass call their country Nimbé and themselves Nimbé nungos, the latter word meaning people. Their principal towns were Obulambri and Basambri, divided only by a narrow creek dry at low water. In each of these towns resided a king, each having jurisdiction over separate districts of the Nimbé territory; thus the King of Obulambri was s
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RELIGION
RELIGION
The Brass natives to-day are divided into two camps as far as religion is concerned: the missionary would no doubt say the greater number of them are Christians, the ordinary observer would make exactly the opposite observation, and judging from what we know has taken place in their towns within the last few years, I am afraid the latter would be right. The Church Missionary Society started a mission here in 1868; it is still working under another name, and is under the superintendence of the Re
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NEW CALABAR
NEW CALABAR
The intervening rivers between the Brass and New Calabar Rivers are the St. Nicholas, the St. Barbara, the St. Bartholomew, and the Sombrero; the influence of the king of New Calabar may be said to commence at the St. Bartholomew River, extending inland to about five or ten miles beyond the town of Bugama. The lower parts of the St. Bartholomew and the numerous creeks, running between that river and New Calabar are mostly inhabited by fishermen and their families, their towns and villages being
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BONNY AND THE PEPPLE FAMILY
BONNY AND THE PEPPLE FAMILY
This river was the most important slave market in the Delta, as a matter of fact surpassing in numbers of slaves exported any other single slave-dealing station on the West or South-West Coast of Africa. According to Mr. Clarkson, the historian of the abolition of the slave-trade, this river and Old Calabar exported more slaves than all the other slave-dealing centres on the West and South-West Coasts of Africa combined. It is a well-known fact that for about two hundred years the average annual
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ANDONI RIVER AND ITS INHABITANTS.
ANDONI RIVER AND ITS INHABITANTS.
This river lies a few miles to the east of Bonny River. The inhabitants of the lower part of the river are called Andoni men, and during the slave-dealing days these people were as well known to Europeans as the Bonny men, but, owing in a great measure to the much deeper water at the entrance to Bonny River than was to be found on the Andoni bar, the former river offering thus more facilities for deep-draughted ships, the traders gradually deserted the Andoni altogether, though these people were
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OPOBO RIVER.
OPOBO RIVER.
After leaving Andoni, and continuing down the coast some ten or fifteen miles, the Opobo discharges itself into the sea. This river, marked in ancient maps as the Rio Condé and Ekomtoro, is the most direct way to the Ibo palm-oil-producing country. This river was well known to the Portuguese and Spanish slave traders, but as Bonny became the great centre for the slave trade, this river was completely deserted and forgotten to such an extent that, though an opening in the coast line was shown on
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KWO IBO.
KWO IBO.
This river was first visited in modern days in 1871 by the late Mr. Archie McEachan, who found the people very troublesome to deal with, and did not long remain there. No doubt the people were not so easy to deal with as those natives that have been for some hundreds of years dealing with Europeans; but as he was at the same time posing as a friend and supporter of Ja Ja, and the oil he got in Kwo Ibo was being diverted from Ja Ja’s markets, the latter no doubt exerted a certain amount of pressu
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OLD CALABAR.
OLD CALABAR.
I now come to the last river in the Niger Coast Protectorate, both banks of which belong to England, the next river being the Rio del Rey, of which England now only claims the right bank, Germany claiming the left and all the territory south to the river Campo, a territory almost as large as, if not equal to, the whole of the Niger Coast Protectorate, which ought to have been English, for was it not English by right of commercial conquest, if by no other, and for years had been looked upon by th
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SECRET SOCIETIES AND FESTIVALS IN OLD CALABAR—AND THE COUNTRIES UP THE CROSS RIVER
SECRET SOCIETIES AND FESTIVALS IN OLD CALABAR—AND THE COUNTRIES UP THE CROSS RIVER
To describe all the customs of the Old Calabar people would take up more space than I am allowed to monopolise in this work. They have numerous plays or festivals, in which they delight to disguise themselves in masks of the most grotesque ugliness. These masks are, in most cases, of native manufacture, and seem always to aim at being as ugly as possible. I never have seen any attempt on the part of a native manufacturer of masks to produce anything passably good looking. Egbo, the great secret
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A VOYAGE TO THE AFRICAN OIL RIVERS TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO. BY JOHN HARFORD
A VOYAGE TO THE AFRICAN OIL RIVERS TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO. BY JOHN HARFORD
It was in the month of December, 1872, when I with seventeen others left our good old port of Bristol bound for one of the West African oil rivers on a trading voyage. It was a splendid morning for the time of year: bright, fine, and clear, when we were towed through our old lock gates, with the hearty cheers, good-byes, and God-speed-yous from our friends ringing in the air; and although there were some of us made sad by the parting kiss, which to many was the last on this earth, there was one
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TRADING IN THE CAMEROONS
TRADING IN THE CAMEROONS
Each ship in those days had what was then called a cask house, that was a piece of land as nearly opposite as possible to where the ship lay moored. This land was always kept fenced round with young mangrove props or sticks, forming a compound; inside this compound would be two, perhaps three, fairly good sized stores or warehouses, and also an open shed for empty casks which had to be filled with palm oil and stowed in the ship for the homeward voyage. Now the first work to be done after the sh
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PIONEERING IN WEST AFRICA; OR, “THE OPENING UP OF THE QUA IBOE RIVER”
PIONEERING IN WEST AFRICA; OR, “THE OPENING UP OF THE QUA IBOE RIVER”
In the year 1880, I was asked by a Liverpool firm to undertake certain work in connection with one of the trading establishments on the Old Calabar River. The offer came at a very opportune time. Being anxious to improve my position, like most young fellows, I accepted, and was soon on the way to my new undertaking. My first business was to take an old ship, that had seen the best of her days, and had been lying there in the stream for many years as a trading hulk, now being considered unsafe to
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TRADE GOODS USED IN THE EARLY TRADE WITH AFRICA AS GIVEN BY BARBOT AND OTHER WRITERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. BY M. H. KINGSLEY
TRADE GOODS USED IN THE EARLY TRADE WITH AFRICA AS GIVEN BY BARBOT AND OTHER WRITERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. BY M. H. KINGSLEY
“Those used in trade by the Senga Company of Senegal at St. Lewis and Goree and their dependent factories of Rufisco, Camina, Juala, Gamboa (Gambia), circa 1677. “For the convenience of trade between the French at the Senega and the natives, all European goods are reduced to a certain standard, viz., hides, bars, and slaves, for the better understanding whereof I give some instances. One bar of iron is reckoned as worth 8 hides, 1 cutlace the same, 1 cluster of bugles weighing 4¼ lbs. as 3 hides
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GAMBIA TRADE, 1678.
GAMBIA TRADE, 1678.
“The factors of the English Company at James Fort, and those of the French at Albreda and other places, drive a very great trade in that country all along the river in brigantines, sloops, and canoes, purchasing— Elephants’ teeth, beeswax, slaves, pagnos (country-made clothes), hides, gold and silver, and goods also found in the Sengal trade. In exchange they give the Blacks — Bars of iron, drapery of several sorts, woollen stuffs and cloth, linen of several sorts, coral and pearl, brandy or rum
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SIERRA LEONE, 1678.
SIERRA LEONE, 1678.
“Exports.—Elephants’ teeth, slaves, santalum wood, a little gold, much beeswax with some pearls, crystal, long peppers, ambergris, &c. The ivory here was considered the best on the West Coast, being, says Barbot, very white and large, have had some weighing 80 to 100 lbs., at a very modest rate 80 lbs. of ivory for the value of five livres French money, in coarse knives and other such toys. The gold purchased in Sierra Leone, the same authority states, comes from Mandinga and other remot
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THE GOLD COAST.
THE GOLD COAST.
This coast has, from its discovery in the 15th century to our own day, been the chief trade region in the Bight of Benin; and Barbot states that the amount of gold sent from it to Europe in his day was £240,000 value per annum. The trade selection for the Gold Coast trade in the 17th and 18th centuries is therefore very interesting, as it gives us an insight into the manufactures exported by European traders at that time, and of a good many different kinds; for English, French, Portuguese, Dutch
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USE MADE OF EUROPEAN GOODS BY THE NATIVES OF THE GOLD COAST. BARBOT.
USE MADE OF EUROPEAN GOODS BY THE NATIVES OF THE GOLD COAST. BARBOT.
“The broad linen serves to adorn themselves and their dead men’s sepulchers within, they also make clouts thereof. The narrow cloth to press palm oil; in old sheets they wrap themselves at night from head to foot. The copper basons to wash and shave. The Scotch pans serve in lieu of butchers’ tubs when they kill hogs or sheep, from the iron bars the smiths forge out all their weapons, country and household tools and utensils; of frize and perpetuanas, they make girts 4 fingers broad to wear abou
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SELECTION OF GOODS FOR FIDA OR ONIDAH, CALLED BY THE FRENCH JUIDA, NOW KNOWN AS DAHOMEY, WITH MAIN SEAPORT WHYDAH.
SELECTION OF GOODS FOR FIDA OR ONIDAH, CALLED BY THE FRENCH JUIDA, NOW KNOWN AS DAHOMEY, WITH MAIN SEAPORT WHYDAH.
The French opened trade in this district in 1669, when the Dutch were already there. “The main export of this coast was ‘slaves, cotton cloth, and blue stones, called agoy or accory, very valuable on the Gold Coast.’ “The best commodity the Europeans can carry thither to purchase is Boejies or cawries, so much valued by the natives, being the current coin there and at Popo, Fida, Benin and other countries further east, without which it is scarcely possible to traffic there. Near to Boejies the f
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BENIN TRADE GOODS.
BENIN TRADE GOODS.
“Exports, 1678: cotton cloths like those of Rio Lagos , women slaves, for men slaves (though they be all foreigners, for none of the natives can be sold as such) are not allowed to be exported, but must stay there; jasper stones, a few tigers’ or leopards’ skins, acory or blue coral, elephants’ teeth, some pieminto, or pepper. The blue coral grows in branching bushes like the red coral at the bottom of the rivers and lakes in Benin, which the natives have a peculiar art to grind or work into bea
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OUWERE (NOW CALLED WARRI) TRADE, AND THE NEW CALABAR TRADE, 1678.
OUWERE (NOW CALLED WARRI) TRADE, AND THE NEW CALABAR TRADE, 1678.
“Exports mainly slaves and fine cloths from New Calabar district and Ouwere. ‘The principal thing that passes in Calabar as current money among the natives is brass rings for the arms or legs, which they call bochie , and they are so nice in the choice of them, that they will often turn over a whole cask before they find 2 to please their fancy.’ “The English and Dutch import there a great deal of copper in small bars, round and equal, about 3 feet long, weighing about 1¼ lbs., which the blacks
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OLD CALABAR TRADE, 1678.
OLD CALABAR TRADE, 1678.
“The most current goods of Europe for the trade of Old Calabar to purchase slaves and elephants’ teeth are iron bars, in quality and chiefly, copper bars, blue rags, cloth and striped Guinea clouts of many colours, horse bells, hawks’ bells, rangoes, pewter basons of 1, 2, 3 and 4 lbs. weight, tankards of ditto of 1, 2, and 3 lbs. weight, beads very small and glazed yellow, green, purple and blue, purple copper armlets or arm rings of Angola make, but this last sort of goods is peculiar to the P
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TRADE OF RIO DEL REY, AMBOZES COUNTRY, CAMARONES RIVER, AND DOWN TO RIO GABON.
TRADE OF RIO DEL REY, AMBOZES COUNTRY, CAMARONES RIVER, AND DOWN TO RIO GABON.
“The Dutch have the greatest share in the trade here in yachts sent from Mina on the Gold Coast, whose cargo consists mostly of small copper bars of the same sort as mentioned at Old Calabar, iron bars, coral, brass basons, of the refuse goods of the Gold Coast, bloom coloured beads or bugles and purple copper armlets or rings made at Loanda in Angola , and presses for lemons and oranges. In exchange for which they yearly export from thence 400 or 500 slaves, and about 10 or 12 tons weight of fi
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SELECTION OF GOODS FOR THE ISLANDS FERNANDO PO, ST. THOMAS’S, PRINCE’S, AND ANNOBON.
SELECTION OF GOODS FOR THE ISLANDS FERNANDO PO, ST. THOMAS’S, PRINCE’S, AND ANNOBON.
There were about 150 ships per annum calling and trading at San Tomé in the seventeenth century. The goods in “ French ships particularly consist in Holland cloth or linen as well as of Rouen and Brittany , thread of all colours, serges, silk stockings, fustians, Dutch knives, iron, salt, olive oil, copper in sheets or plates, brass kettles, pitch, tar, cordage, sugar forms (from 20 to 30 lbs. apiece), brandy, all kinds of strong liquors and spirits, Canary wines, olives, carpets, fine flour, bu
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TRADE GOODS FOR CONGO AND CABENDA, 1700.
TRADE GOODS FOR CONGO AND CABENDA, 1700.
“Blue bafts, a piece containing 6 yards and of a deep almost black colour, and is measured either with a stick of 27 inches, of which 8 sticks make a piece, or by a lesser stick, 18 inches long, 12 of which are accounted a piece, Guinea stuffs, 2 pieces to make a piece, tapseils have the same measure as blue bafts. Nicanees, the same measure. Black bays, 2½ yards for a piece, measured by 5 sticks of 18 inches each. Annabasses, 10 to the piece. Painted callicoes, 6 yards to the piece. Blue paper
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TRADE GOODS FOR SAN PAUL DO LOANDA.
TRADE GOODS FOR SAN PAUL DO LOANDA.
“Cloths with red lists, great ticking with long stripes and fine wrought red kerseys, Silesia and other fine linen, fine velvet, small and great gold and silver laces, broad black bays, Turkish tapestry or carpets, white and all sorts of coloured yarns, blue and black beads, stitching and sewing silk, Canary wines, brandy, linseed oil, seamen’s knives, all sorts of spices, white sugar and many other commodities and trifles as great fish-hooks, pins a finger long, ordinary pins, needles and great
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