he British West African possession known as the Colony and Protectorate of the Gambia occupies a narrow strip of territory (averaging 12 miles in width) on both sides of the Gambia river. The territory comprises the settlement of St. Mary, where the capital—Bathurst—is situated, British Cambo, Albreda, M'Carthy's Island and the Ceded Mile, a protectorate over a narrow band of land extending from Cape St. Mary for over 250 miles along both banks of the river. The Gambia river was discovered by a

he Philatelist for March 1, 1869, contained the first intimation of the preparation of stamps for the Colony of " Gambia. "We are proud to announce the preparation of stamps for this African settlement. In a central circle is Queen Victoria's coroneted head in white relief; in straight bands above is GAMBIA; below, the value, which, as well as the spandril ornamentation, is embossed in white. The stamp is nearly square, and the specimens possessed by our correspondent are imperforate. Values: Th

he introduction of watermarked paper for these stamps occurred in 1874, the paper being that familiar to collectors of British Colonial stamps as watermarked "Crown C.C." The paper was not readily adaptable for the small sheets of the Gambia stamps, and the method of cutting it to suitable sizes for these sheets has produced some varieties for the specialist. Major Evans, writing in the Philatelic Record for January, 1883, says:— "Most collectors are probably aware that the stamps of the British

ogether with a number of other colonial possessions, Gambia was admitted to the Universal Postal Union on January 1st, 1879, and in June of the following year (1880) a more comprehensive series of postage stamps was issued, all modelled after the same fashion as the two denominations which had done service in the Colony for the previous twelve years. The convenience of perforation was adopted at the same time. The new series comprised the following values, the shades being given in the approxima

n 1886 a number of the stamps began to appear on the paper watermarked Crown C.A., the initials of "Crown Agents." The colours were changed, and a new value inscribed "2½ penny " on the value tablet was added. The values and colours are— All values exist with the embossing double; several with the embossing double, one of the impressions being inverted; part double and treble perforations; and the white and the yellow gum. The watermark Crown C.A. is uniformly sideways in this issue, the normal

n the 31st January, 1898, the following notice was issued in reference to the postage stamps of the Colony:— " Withdrawal of Present Issue Of Gambia Postage Stamps. "On the 1st May, 1898, the present issue, if not previously exhausted, of all denominations of Postage Stamps in the Gambia that are then in the hands of the Government will be destroyed, and a complete new set of stamps will then be put in circulation. "Administrator's Office ,       Bathurst, Gambia ,            31st January, 1898

he change from the Queen's Head type to the King's Head type of design came in 1902, the new general Colonial key plate being used. It is numbered 1 in a similar manner to the numbering on the Queen's Head plates. All the denominations in the previous set were repeated, and a 2s. value was added; later (May, 1905) three new stamps appeared of the face values 1s. 6d., 2s. 6d. and 3s. respectively. Of these three denominations it is stated that only 6000 [2] copies of each were printed. The stamps

he next and only remaining issue we have to describe are in the nature of Provisionals issued during a temporary shortage of halfpenny and penny stamps. The Bathurst correspondent of Ewen's Weekly Stamp News , writing April 30, 1906, communicated the following information, which is published in the issue of that journal for May 26, 1906:— "The surcharged penny and halfpenny postage stamps on the 3/- and 2/6 denominations respectively were issued on the 10th instant, and withdrawn on the 23rd Apr

1869.—No watermark. Imperforate. White gum. 1874.—Watermarked vertically Crown C.C. Imperforate. White gum. 1880.—Watermarked Crown C.C. vertical. Perf. 14. White gum. 1886-7.—Watermarked Crown C.A. sideways. Comb perf. 14. 1898.—Watermarked Crown C.A. (upright). Perf. 14. [ Note. —Unless otherwise stated, the plate number is 2 .] ½d. dull green and green (plates 2 and 3 ). 1d. carmine and carmine. 1d. deep carmine and deep carmine ( plate 3 ). 2d. orange and mauve. 2½d. ultramarine and ultramar

he first Gambia stamps appeared early in 1869, and postmarks of that year are usually composed of a circle with "Gambia" across the centre in a straight line, and the date in two lines below and a control letter above. This postmark is usually in red, but is also found in black. It was apparently only in use for a short time, being superseded by a circular postmark of the same size, but with "Gambia" at top and "Paid" at bottom, both following the line of the circle. The day and month are in a s