To The Gold Coast for Gold Volume II Part 14

--1. THE ASHANTI SCARE.

That fears of an Ashanti attack upon the mines of the Gold Coast Protectorate are rather fanciful than factual we may learn from the details of the Blue Book 'Gold Coast, 1881.' The 'threatened Ashanti invasion,' popularly termed the 'Ashanti scare,' did abundant good by showing up the weakness of that once powerful despotism, and the superiority in numbers and in equipment of the coastlanders over the inlanders. It is true that there are tribes, like the Awunahs of the Volta, and villages, like Bein in Apollonia, which still sympathise with our old enemy. But only the grossest political mismanagement, like that which in 1876 abandoned our ally, the King of Juabin, to the tender mercies of his Ashanti foeman, aided by the unwisest economy, which starves everything to death save the treasure-chest, will ever bring about a general movement against us.

On December 1, 1880, died, to the general regret of native and stranger, Mr. Ussher, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Gold Coast; a veteran in the tropics and an ex-commissariat officer, whose political service dated from 1861. In British India a change of rulers is always supposed to offer a favourable opportunity for 'doing something,' often in the shape of a revolt or a campaign. The same proved to be the case in West Africa, where the Ashanti is officially described as 'crafty, persistent, mendacious, and treacherous.'

It may easily be imagined that after the English victories at Amoaful and Ordusu in 1873-74 the African despotism sighed for _la revanche_. The Treaty of Fomana, concluded (February 13), after the capture (February 4) and the firing (February 6) of k.u.masi, between Sir Garnet Wolseley and the representative of the King, Kofi Kalkali, or Kerrikerri, subsequently dethroned, stripped her of her princ.i.p.al dependencies--lopped off, in fact, her four limbs. These were the ever-hostile province of Denkira, auriferous Akim, Adansi, and lastly a.s.sin, now part of our Protectorate.

The measure only renewed the tripart.i.te treaty of April 27, 1831, when King Kwako Dua, in consideration of free access to the seaboard, and in friendship with the unfortunate and ill-treated Governor (George) Maclean, 'renounced all right or t.i.tle to any tribute, or homage, from the Kings of Denkira, a.s.sin, and others formerly his subjects.' But _nulla fronti fides_ is the rule of the hideous little negro despotism, which, in 1853, again invaded the coveted lands on its southern frontier, a.s.sin.

The treaty of 1874, moreover, compelled Ashanti formally to renounce all pretensions to sovereignty over Elmina and the tribes formerly in connection with the Dutch Government. It vetoed her raids and forays upon neighbouring peoples; like Dahome she had her annual slave-hunts and the captives were sold for gold-dust to the inner tribes. The young officers who replaced the veterans of the war would naturally desire, in Kafir parlance, to 'wash their spears.' Nor are they satisfied with the defeats sustained by their sires. 'I believe,' wrote Winwood Reade, 'that Sir Garnet Wolseley attained the main object of the expedition, namely, the securing of the Protectorate from periodical invasion. Yet still I wish that the success had been more definite and complete.' The wish is echoed by most people on the coast; and the natives still say, 'White man he go up k.u.masi, he whip black boy, and then he run away.'

It is regretable that the Commander-in-Chief, if he could not occupy k.u.masi himself, did not leave Sir John H. Glover in charge, and especially that he did not destroy the Bantama (royal place of human sacrifice), [Footnote: Sir Garnet Wolseley's admirable conduct of the Egyptian campaign, where he showed all the qualities which make up the sum of 'generalship,' have wiped out the memory of his failures in Ashanti and Kafir-land. Better still, he has proved that the British soldier can still fight, a fact upon which the disgraceful Zulu campaign had cast considerable doubt. But the public ignores a truth known to every professional. Under an incompetent or unlucky commander all but the best men will run: the worst will allow themselves to be led or driven to victory by one they trust. Compare the Egyptian troops under old Ibrahim Pasta, and under Arabi, the Fe-lah-Pasha.] or at least remove from it the skull of Sir Charles Macarthy. [Footnote: Captain Brackenbury throws doubt upon the skull being preserved in the Bantama; but his book is mainly apologetic, and we may ask, If the cherished relic be not there, where is it? The native legend runs thus: 'And they took him (_i.e._ Macarthy) and cut off his head, and brought it to their camp and removed the brains; but the skull, which was left, they filled it with gold, and they roasted the whole body and they carried it to Ashanti.... And the head, which they bore to Ashanti, has become their "fetish," which they worship till this day.'--Native account of Macarthy's death, Zimmermann's _Grammar of the Accra or Ga Language_, Stuttgart, 1858.] And yet we now learn that the campaign did good work. Captain Lonsdale, who has spent some time in k.u.masi, reports that the Caboceers have built huts instead of repairing their 'palaces.' Moreover, he declares that the story of sacrificing girls to mix their blood with house-swish is a pure fabrication; the Ashantis would no longer dare to do anything so offensive to the conqueror.

Last on the list of solid Ashanti grievances is her exclusion from the seaboard. Unknown to history before A.D. 1700, the Despotism first invaded the Coast in 1807, when King Osai Tutu Kwamina pretended a wish to recover the fugitive chiefs Chibbu and Aputai. These attacks succeeded one another at intervals of ten years, say the Fantis. The main object was to secure a port on the coast, where the inlanders could deal directly with the white man, and could thus escape the unconscionable pillaging, often fifty per cent. and more, of the Fanti middleman. This feeling is not, indeed, unknown to Europe: witness Montenegro. I see no reason why the people should not have an 'Ashantimile' at the Volta mouth; and I shall presently return to this subject.

Hardly was Governor Ussher buried than troubles began. Mr. Edmund Watt, a young District-commissioner at Cape Coast Castle, officially reported to Lieutenant-Governor W. B. Griffith, subsequently Administrator of Lagos, that Opoku, 'King' of Bekwa (Becquah), had used language tending to a breach of the peace. This commander-in-Chief of the Ashanti forces in 1873-74 had publicly sworn in his sober senses at k.u.masi, and in presence of the new king, Kwamina Osai Mensah, that he would perforce reduce Adansi, the hill-country held to be the southern boundary of Ashanti-land.

Such a campaign would have been an infraction of treaty, or at least a breach of faith: although the province is not under the protection of the Colonial Government, King Kofi Kalkali [Footnote: This ruler succeeded his father, King Kwako Dua, in 1868; and his compulsory abdication is considered to have been an ill-advised measure.] had promised to respect its independence and to leave it unmolested.

Lieutenant-Governor Griffith lost no time in forwarding the report to the Colonial Office, adding sundry disquieting rumours which supported his suspicions. Missionaries and merchants had observed that certain 'messengers,' or envoys, sent from k.u.masi to acknowledge the presents of the late Governor Ussher, were lingering without apparent reason about Cape Coast Castle, after being formally dismissed. Moreover, their residing in the house of 'Prince Ansah,' a personage not famous for plain dealing, boded no good.

A new complication presently arose. Prince Owusu, nephew of the King and heir to the doughty Gyaman kingdom, fled from k.u.masi to the Protectorate, and reached Elmina on January 18. He appeared in great fear, and declared that a son of the chief Amankwa Kwoma and three 'court-criers,' or official heralds, were coming down to the coast on a solemn mission to demand his extradition. They carried, he said, not the peaceful cane with the gold or silver head, but the mysterious 'Gold Axe.' Opinions at once differed as to the import and object of this absurd implement. According to some its mission portended war, and it had preceded the campaigns of 1863 and 1873. Others declared that it signified a serious 'palaver,'

being a strong hint that the King would cut through and down every obstacle. Strange to say, the first Ashanti messengers were never called upon to explain before the public what the 'Gold Axe' really did mean.

The Colonial Office acted with spirit and wholesome vigour. It was urged on by Mr. Griffith, whose energetic reports certainly saved the Protectorate grave troubles. He has thereby incurred much blame, ridicule, and obloquy; nor has he received due credit from those under whom he served.

The newly-appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Gold Coast, Sir Samuel Rowe, at once ordered out to relieve Mr. Griffith, left England in mid-February. He was accompanied by a staff of seven officers temporarily employed. Reinforcements were hurried from Sierra Leone and the West Indies. The Admiralty was applied to for the reunion of cruisers upon the Gold Coast waters. Estimates of native allies were drawn up, showing that 20,000 half-armed men could be brought into the field against the 30,000 of Ashanti. The loyal and powerful chief Kwamina Blay, of Atabo, in Amrehia, or Western Apollonia, offered 6,000 muskets, and an additional 1,000 hands if the Government would supply arms and ammunition.

On January 19 the amba.s.sador with the 'Gold Axe' presented himself at Elmina. He was accompanied by Saibi Enkwia, who had signed the treaty at Fomana, a village in a.s.sin, between k.u.masi and the Bosom Prah River. The envoy formally demanded possession of Prince Owusu and of one Amangkra, an Ashanti trader who had aided him to escape. Saibi Enkwia added by way of threat, 'The King said, if the Governor would not order the return of Owusu to k.u.masi, he would attack the a.s.sins.' He further explained that these a.s.sins were the people who always caused 'palavers' between the Ashantis and the Protectorate, to which they belonged.

Naturally the ignominious demand was refused. The messengers left for k.u.masi, and Lieutenant-Governor Griffith telegraphed from Madeira to England (January 25), 'War imminent with Ashanti.' It was considered suspicious that all the inlanders were disappearing from the coast. This was afterwards explained: they were flocking north for the 'native Christmas,' the Yam-custom, or great festival of the year.

Our preparations were pushed forward the more energetically as time appeared to be tight. The Ashantis were buying up all the weapons they could find when the sale of arms, ammunition, and salt was prohibited.

Detachments were despatched to the Mansu and Prahsu stations; the latter is upon the Bosom (Abosom, or Sacred) Prah, the frontier between Ashanti and the Protectorate, to cross which is to 'pa.s.s the Rubicon.' Here, as at other main fords and ferries, defensive works were laid out. Arrangements were made for holding nine out of the eighteen forts, abandoning the rest; and Accra was strengthened as the central place. The 'companies,' or 'native levies,' who, with a suspicious unanimity, applied for guns and gunpowder, lead and flints, were urged to the 'duty of defence.' Five cruisers, under Commander (now Captain, R.N.) J. W. Brackenbury, were stationed off the three chief castles, Elmina, Cape Coast, and Anamabo, and the naval contingent was drilled daily on sh.o.r.e. The Haussa constabulary was reinforced. The First West India Regiment sent down men from Sierra Leone, and the Second 500 rank and file from Barbadoes. In fact, such ardour was shown that the Ashantis, scared out of their intentions of scaring, began to fear another English invasion. 'The white men intend to take k.u.masi again!' they said; and perhaps the reflection that 48,000 ounces of gold were still due to us suggested a motive. They had been making ready for offence; now they prepared for defence.

About mid-February the 'situation' notably changed. Messieurs Buck and Huppenbauer, two German missionaries who were making a 'preaching-tour,'

reported from k.u.masi that King Mensah was afraid of war, and that his kingdom was 'on the point to go asunder.' The despot, with African wiliness, at once threw the blame of threatening a.s.sin upon his confidant, Saibi Enkwia. No one believed that an Ashantiman would thus expose himself to certain death; but the explanation served for an excuse. The King also a.s.serted that his 'Gold Axe' meant simply nothing. Thereupon the officials of the Protectorate began looking forward to an ample apology, and to a fine of gold-dust for the disturbing of their quiet days. In fact, they foresaw 'peace with honour.'

Governor Sir Samuel Rowe, with his usual good fortune, landed at Elmina on March 9, exactly the right time. The attempt to intimidate had ign.o.bly failed, and had recoiled upon the attempter. King Mensah, in order to remove all suspicions of intending a campaign, had resolved to send coastwards the most important and ceremonious mission of the age. It was to conclude a kind of _Paix des Dames_. Queen Kokofu had threatened that in case of hostilities she would go over to the British. The Queen-mother, a power in the country, which has often kept the peace for it and plunged it into war, threatened to take her own life--and here such threats are always followed by action. In fact, the peace-party had utterly overthrown the war-party.

The mission left k.u.masi in May. It was headed by Prince Bwaki, step-father to the two royal brothers, Kofi Kalkali and Kwabina Osai Mensah, and the number as well as the high rank of the retinue made it remarkable. At Prahsu, where the envoys were met by Governor Rowe, a preliminary conversation took place. Despite the usual African and barbarian fencing and foiling, the Englishman carried the day; the message must be delivered with all publicity and proper ceremony in the old 'palaver-hall' of historic Elmina Castle.

A conclusive interview took place on May 30. Prince Bwaki explained that 'mistakes had been made, but that the mistakes had not been alone those of his king and son-in-law.' He declared that the messenger, Saibi Enkwia, had exceeded his powers in threatening a.s.sin. The King, he said, had sworn by 'G.o.d and earth,' that is, by the 'spirits' above and by the ghosts below, that he had sent no such message. At the same time the King confessed being partly to blame, as the message had been delivered by his own servant. In the matter of the 'Gold Axe,' however, the mistake was the mistake of the Lieutenant-Governor (Griffith).

The Prince further explained that Ashanti has two symbols of war, a peculiar sword and a certain cap; whereas the 'Gold Axe' being 'fetish'

and endowed with some magical and mysterious power, is never sent on a hostile errand. He offered, in the King's name, as further evidence of friendly feeling, to surrender the 'so-called Golden Axe,' which important symbol of Ashanti power had been forwarded from head-quarters with an especial mission. It was delivered on the express understanding that it should be despatched to England for the acceptance of H.B. Majesty, and not be kept upon the coast, exposed to the ribaldry of the hostile Fantis.

The weapon, said Prince Bwaki, is so old that no one knows its origin, and it is held so precious that in processions it precedes the Great Royal Stool, or throne, of Ashanti. The leopard-skin, bound with gold upon the handle, symbolises courage in the field; the gold is wealth, and the iron is strength.

Finally, the unhappy 'Gold Axe,' after being publicly paraded upon a velvet cushion through the streets of Elmina, was entrusted to Captain Knapp Barrow, who returned to England by the next steamer. It was duly presented, and found its way to the South Kensington Museum, after faring very badly at the hands of the 'society journals' and other members of the fourth estate. [Footnote: For instance: 'The gold axe of King Koffee of Ashantee, lately sent, for an unexplained reason, to the Queen, is described as a triangular blade of iron, apparently out from a piece of boiler-plate, roughly stuck into a clumsy handle of African oak. The handle is covered with leopard-skin, part of which, immediately above the blade, is deeply soiled, apparently with blood. Bands of thin gold, enriched with uncouth chevrons and lunettes _en repousse_, are placed round the handle. The sheath of the blade, which is of tiger (leopard) skin, accompanies this hideous implement, and attached to it is the sole element which has anything like artistic merit. This is a nondescript object of beaten gold, in shape something like a large c.o.c.kle-sh.e.l.l with curved horns extending from the hinge, and not inelegantly decorated with lines and punctures, _en repousse_ and open work of quasi-scrolls.']

Needless to say it was an utter impostor. The real Golden Axe is great 'fetish,' and never leaves either k.u.masi or, indeed, the presence of the King.

The ceremony of delivering the message in the palaver-hall was satisfactory. Prince Bwaki grasped the knees of Governor Rowe, the official sign of kneeling. He expressed the devotion of his liege lord to the Majesty of England; and finally he offered to pay down at once two thousand ounces of gold in proof of Ashantian sincerity. All these transactions were duly recorded; the promises in the form of a bond.

The play was now played out; cruisers and troops dispersed, and golden Peace reigned once more supreme. Prince Owusu, a drunken, dissolute Eupatrid, who had caused the flutter, when ordered on board a man-of-war for transportation to a place of safety, relieved the Gold Coast from further trouble. He was found hanging in the 'bush' behind Elmina Castle.

Most men supposed it to be a case of suicide; a few of course surmised that he had been kidnapped and murdered by orders from k.u.masi.

Since that time to the present day our Protectorate has been free from 'scare.' The affair, as it happened, did abundant good by banishing all fear for the safety of the Wasa (Wa.s.saw) diggings. During the worst times not a single English employe of the mines had left his post to take refuge in the Axim fort. This does them honour, as some of the establishments lay within handy distance of the ferocious black barbarians.

The native chiefs, especially 'King Blay,' proved themselves able and willing to aid us in whatever difficulties might occur. The kingdom of Gyaman further showed that it can hold its own against shorn Ashanti, or rather that it is becoming the more powerful of the two. The utter failure of the scare is an earnest that, under normal circ.u.mstances, while King Mensah, a middle-aged man, occupies the 'stool,' we shall hear no more of 'threatened Ashanti invasions.'

But the true way to pacify the despotism is to allow Ashanti to 'make a beach'--in other words, to establish a port. This measure I have supported for the last score of years, but to very little purpose. The lines of objection are two. The first is in the mercantile. As all the world knows, commercial interests are sure to be supported against almost any other in a reformed House of Commons; and, in the long run, they gain the day. The Coast-tribes under our protection are mere brokers and go-betweens, backed up and supported by the wholesale merchant, because he prefers _quieta non movere_, and he fears lest the change be from good to bad. I, on the other hand, contend that both our commerce and customs would gain, in quant.i.ty as well as in quality, by direct dealings with the peoples of the interior. The second, or sentimental, line belongs to certain newspapers; and even _their_ intelligence can hardly believe the _ad captandum_ farrago which they indite. The favourite 'bunk.u.m' is about 'baring the Christian negro's throat to the Ashanti knife.' But the Fantis and other Coast-tribes were originally as murderous and bloodthirsty in their battles and religious rites as their northern neighbours: if there be any improvement it is wholly due to the presence and the pressure, physical as well as moral, of Europeans--of Christians, if you like. Even Whydah is not blood-stained like Agbome, because it has been occupied by a few slavers, white and brown. Why, then, should the Ashantis be refused the opportunity and the means of amendment? Ten years' experience in Africa teaches me that they would be as easily reformed as the maritime peoples; and it is evident that the sentimentalist, if he added honesty and common sense to the higher quality, should be the first to advocate the trial.

But I would not allow the Ashantis to hold a harbour anywhere near Elmina.

They should have their 'mile' and beach east of the Volta River, where they would soon effect a lodgment, despite all the opposition of their sanguinary friends and our ferocious enemies the Awunah and the Krepi (Crepee) savages.

I will end this paper with a short notice of the kingdom of Gyaman, generally written Gaman and too often p.r.o.nounced 'Gammon.' Its strength and vigour are clearly increasing; it is one of the richest of gold-fields, and it lies directly upon the route to the interior. Of late years it has almost faded from the map, but it is described at full length in the pages of Barbot (1700) and Bosman (1727), of Bowdich (1818), and of Dupuis (1824). They a.s.sign to it for limits Mandenga-land to the north and west; to the south, Aowin and Ba.s.sam, and the Tando or eastern fork of the a.s.sini to the east. This Tando, which some moderns have represented as an independent stream, divides it from Ashanti-land, lying to the south and the south-east. Dupuis places the old capital, Bontuko, whence the Gyamans were formerly called 'Bontukos,' eight stages north-west of k.u.masi; and the new capital, Huraboh, five marches beyond Bontuko. The country, level and gra.s.sy, begins the region north of the great forest-zone which subtends the maritime mangrove swamps. It breeds horses and can command Moslem allies, equestrian races feared by the Ashantis.

The Gyamans, according to their tradition, migrated, or rather were driven, southwards from their northern homes. This was also, as I have said, the case with the Fantis and Ashantis; the latter occupied their present habitat about 1640, and at once became the foes of all their neighbours. King Osai Tutu, 'the Great,' first of Ashanti despot-kings (1719), made Gyaman tributary. The conquest was completed by his brother-successor, Osai Apoko (1731), who fined Abo, the neighbour-king, in large sums of gold and fixed an annual subsidy. Gyaman, however, rebelled against Osai Kwajo (Cudjoe), the fourth of the dynasty (1752), and twice defeated him with prodigious slaughter. The Ashanti invader brought to his aid Moslem cavalry, and succeeded in again subjugating the insurgents. The conquered took no action against the fifth king, but they struck for independence under Osai Apoko II (1797). Aided by Moslem and other allies, they crossed the Tando and fought so st.u.r.dily that the enemy 'liberally bestowed upon them the t.i.tles of warlike and courageous.' The Ashantis at length compelled the Moslems of their country to join them, and ended by inflicting a crushing defeat upon the invaders.

Osai Tutu Kwamina, on coming to the throne (1800), engaged in the campaign against Gyaman called, for distinction, the 'first Bontuko war.' He demanded from King Ad.i.n.kara his ancestral and royal stool, which was thickly studded and embossed with precious metal. The craven yielded it and purchased peace. His brave sister presently replaced it by a seat of solid gold: this the Ashanti again requisitioned, together with a large gold ornament in the shape of an elephant, said to have been dug from some ruins. The Amazon replied, with some detail and in the 'spade' language, that she and her brother should exchange s.e.xes, and that she would fight _a l'outrance_; whereupon the Ashanti, with many compliments about her bravery, gave her twelve months to prepare for a campaign.

In 1818 Dupuis found Ashanti engaged in the 'second Bontuko war' with Ad.i.n.kara, who had again thrown off his allegiance. But small-pox was raging in the capital, and this campaign ended (1819-20) with the defeat and death of the womanly monarch, with a ma.s.sacre of 10,000 prisoners, and with the sale of 20,000 captives. Thus Gyaman was again annexed to Ashanti-land as a province, instead of enjoying the rank of a tributary kingdom; and the conqueror's dominions extended from Cape Lahou (W. long.

4 36') through Gyaman to the Volta River (E. long. 0 42' 18"), a coast-line of some 318 direct geographical miles.

Gyaman, however, seems to have had a pa.s.sion for liberty. She fought again and again to recover what she had lost in 1820; and, on more occasions than one, she was successful in battle. During the 'Ashanti scare' the st.u.r.dy kingdom was preparing for serious hostilities; and a little war of six or seven months had already been waged between the neighbours. The late Prince Owusu, before mentioned, deposed before the authorities of our Protectorate as follows: 'At k.u.masi I was ordered to eat the skull of the late King of Gyaman, which was kept there as a trophy from the conquest of Gyaman; but I did not do it.' He also a.s.serted that, in 1879, a white man, Nielson, and his interpreter, Huydecooper, had been sent by an intriguer to Gyaman, bearing a pretended message from the British Government and the Fanti chiefs, enjoining the King to conclude peace with the Ashantis, and to restore their 3,700 captives. Neither of these men saw the ruler of Gyaman, and it is believed that Nielson, having begun a quarrel by firing upon the people, was killed in the fray.

At this moment Gyaman is battling with her old enemies, and threatens to be a dangerous rival, if not a conqueror. Here, then, we may raise a strong barrier against future threats of Ashanti invasion, and make security more secure. The political officers of the Protectorate will be the best judges of the steps to be taken; and, if they are active and prudent, we shall hear no more of the k.u.masi bugbear.

--2. THE LABOUR-QUESTION IN WESTERN AFRICA.

In their present condition our African colonies are colonies only because they are administered by the Colonial Office.

Most of these stations--for such they should be termed--were established, for slaving purposes, by the Portuguese, and were conquered by the Dutch.

Thence they pa.s.sed into the hands of England, who vigorously worked the black _traite_ for the benefit of her West Indian possessions.

The 'colonies' in question, however, saw their occupation gone with negro emanc.i.p.ation, and they became mere trading-ports and posts for collecting ground-nuts, palm-oil, and gold-dust. Philanthropy and freedom expected from them great things; but instead of progressing they have gradually and surely declined. The public calls them 'pest-houses,' and the Government p.r.o.nounces them a 'bore.' Travellers propose to make them over to Liberia or to any Power that will accept such white elephants.

Remains now the task of placing upon the path of progress these wretched West African 'colonies,' and of making them a credit and a profit to England, instead of a burden and an opprobrium.

Immigration, I find, is _le mot de l'enigme_.

Between 1860 and 1865 I studied the labour-question in West Africa, and my short visit in 1882 has convinced me that it is becoming a vital matter for our four unfortunate establishments, Bathurst, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and Lagos.

A score of years ago many agreed with me that there was only one solution for our difficulties, a system of extensive coolie-importation. But in those days of excited pa.s.sions and divided interests, when the export slave-trade and the _emigration libre_ were still rampant on either coast, it was by no means easy to secure a fair hearing from the public. Not a small nor an uninfluential section, the philanthropic and the missionary, raised and maintained the cuckoo-cry, 'Africa for the Africans!'--worthy of its successor, 'Ireland for the Irish!' Others believed in imported labour, which has raised so many regions to the height of prosperity; but they did not see how to import it. And the general _vis inertiae_, peculiar to hepatic tropical settlements, together with the unwillingness, or rather the inability, to undertake anything not absolutely necessary, made many of the colonists look upon the proposal rather as a weariness to the flesh than a benefit. A chosen few steadily looked forward to it; but they contented themselves with a theoretical prospect, and, perhaps wisely, did not attempt action.

The condition of the Coast, however, has radically changed during the last two decades. The export slave-trade has died the death, never to 'resurrect.' The immense benefits of immigration are known to all men, theoretically and practically. India and China have thrown open their labour-markets. And, finally, the difficulty of finding hands, for agriculture especially, in Western Africa has now come to a crisis.

Here I must be allowed a few words of preliminary explanation. In this matter, the reverse of Europe, Africa, whose social system is built upon slavery, holds field-work, and indeed all manual labour, degrading to the free man. The idea of a 'bold peasantry, its country's pride,' is utterly alien to Nigritia. The husband hunts, fights, and trades--that is to say, peddles--he leaves sowing and reaping to his wives and his chattels. Even a slave will rather buy him a slave than buy his own liberty. 'I am free enough,' he says; 'all I want is a fellow to serve me.' The natives of the Dark Continent are perfectly prepared to acknowledge that work is a curse; and, so far scripturally, they deem