The treatment of the native fever must be active and prudential. But the

remedies are simple and easily obtained, being such as may be had at any

well-kept apothecary's shop. The _sulphate of quinia_, in moderate

doses, three or four times a day, with the usual attention to the

febrile changes, gentle _aperients_, _effervescent_ and _acidulous_

drinks, taking care to prevent acridness in the stomach. In my advice to

persons going to Africa, I shall speak more pointedly of the domestic or

social customs to be avoided.

Locality

I observed that all elevated places, as Monrovia and Freetown, subject

to severe visitations of disease, are situated near mangrove swamps;

consequently, from the _rising_ of the _malaria_, they are much more

unhealthy than those in low plains, such as Lagos and many other places,

_above_ which the _miasma_ generally rises for the most part passing off

harmlessly.

I left Cape Palmas, Liberia, on Thursday, 2 P.M. the 15TH of Sept., on

the British Royal Mail African steamer, "Armenian," Captain Walker, to

whom and his officers, I make acknowledgments for acts of kindness.

VII THE INTERIOR--YORUBA

Coasting. Cape Coast Castle, Bight of Benin

Thursday, the 20th of September, about noon, after stopping at

Cape-Coast Castle for twelve hours, on the Coast of Benin, the steamer

made her moorings in the roadstead, Bight of Benin, Gulf of Guinea, off

Lagos. I disembarked, going ashore with the mail-boat managed by

natives; from whence, by the politeness of the gentlemanly young clerk

(a native gentleman) of Captain Davies', a native merchant, I was taken

in a sail-boat, also manned by natives, up the bay, and landed at the

British Consulate; whence I was met by Mr. Carew, the native agent of

the Rev. J. M. Harden, a most excellent man, Missionary, and conducted

to the Baptist Mission House.

After a stay of five weeks, visiting almost everything and place worthy

of note, being called upon by many of the most noted persons, among whom

were several chiefs, having several interviews with the authorities, and

meeting the most active, intelligent, Christian young men, in several of

their associated gatherings, I was waited on by the messenger of the

king; when after several interchanges of "words" between us, the

following instrument of writing was "duly executed, signed, sealed, and

delivered," I, and Mr. Harden being present, and witnessing the

measurement of the land, according to the present custom in that place:

TITLE DEED

DR. M. R. DELANY

Lagos, October 25th, 1859

_Know all Men by these Presents:_

That I DOCEMO, King of Lagos and the Territories thereunto

belonging, have this day granted, assigned, and made over, unto

Doctor Martin R. Delany, for his use and the use of his Heirs and

Assigns forever, All that Piece of Ground, situated on the South of

the Premises and Ground occupied by Fernando, in the field at Okai

Po, Po, measuring as follows, Three Hundred and Thirty Feet square.

Witness my Stamp hereunto affixed, and the Day and Year above

written.

_KING_

DOCEMO

OF LAGOS.

* * * * *

BRITISH CONSULATE,

Lagos, October 28th, 1859

I CERTIFY that the Circular Stamp, as above, with KING DOCEMO, of

LAGOS in the centre, is the Official Stamp of Docemo, King of

Lagos, and is used by him as his signature to all Letters, Deeds,

and Documents.

{SEAL} EDWD. F. LODDER

_Acting Consul._

The Deed of Land above, granted to Doctor Martin R. Delany, by King

Docemo of Lagos, has this 18th day of October, 1859, been

registered in the Registry Book of the British Consulate, and

numbered.

JOHN P. BOYLE, _Clerk_

On the 30th of October, I left Lagos, proceeding _via_ Ogun river, to

Abbeokuta, which I reached on Saturday, the 5th of November.

Explorations. Abbeokuta

Here I met for the first time with my colleague and Assistant

Commissioner, Mr. Robert Campbell, from whom, at Lagos, I found a letter

waiting for my arrival in the hands of Acting Consul, Lieut. Edward F.

Lodder, of Her Majesty's war vessel "Brun," which continually lies in

the harbor, directly opposite and near to the Consulate. Consul Campbell

(since deceased), had paid an official visit to England, and Lieut.

Lodder was supplying his place.

Towns from Abbeokuta

From Abbeokuta, population 110,000, we proceeded to Ijaye, population

78,000, reckoned by the white missionaries and officers of the Niger

Expedition of Her Majesty's service, who passed through once, at 80,000;

Oyo, population, 75,000; Ogbomoso, population 70,000; Illorin,

population 120,000; returning back, _via_ Ogbomoso to Oyo: when by

arrangement, Mr. Campbell leaving me at Oyo, returned to Abbeokuta by a

new route through Isen and Biolorin-Pellu, small places: whence I, a

week later, also by another strange route, returned, passing through

Iwo, population 75,000; and Ibaddan, population 150,000 an immense city,

the estimated number of inhabitants by the Civil Corps who passed

through, being 250,000. It will be seen that I have made a liberal

deduction of two-fifths, or 100,000 from this estimate; still, the

population is immense and the city extensive, the walls embracing an

outline of at least twenty-three miles.

Return to Lagos

From Abbeokuta, the water being very low, it was thought advisable that

Mr. Campbell take charge of all our luggage, and proceed by way of the

Ogun to Lagos, (he having disposed of his horse at Abbeokuta) whilst I,

on horseback, with William Johnson our cook, the only servant we

retained--a civilized native--as guide and attendant, proceeded by land,

both reaching Lagos three days after, in the same hour of the same day.

VIII TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, ETC.

Topography, Climate

The whole face of the country extending through the Aku region or

Yoruba, as it is laid down on the large missionary map of Africa, is

most beautifully diversified with plains, hills, dales, mountains, and

valleys, interlined with numerous streams, some of which are merely

temporary or great drains; whilst the greater part are perennial, and

more or less irrigating the whole year, supplying well the numerous

stocks of cattle and horses with which that country is so well

everywhere provided. The climate is most delightful.

First Plateau and Second Plateau, or Table Lands

The first plateau or low land from Lagos, extends about thirty-five or

forty miles interiorly, with but occasionally, small rugged or rocky

elevations breaking the surface, when it almost abruptly rises into

elevated lands, undulating and frequently craggy, broken often by deep

declivities of glens and dales.

Soil

The soil of the first plateau, for ten or fifteen miles, is moist and

sandy, more or less, gradually incorporating with a dark rich earth,

which, extending quite through the second plateau, continually varies in

quality, consistence, and color, from a sandy loam and clay-red iron

pyrite appearance to a potter's-clay, and rich alluvial color and

quality, the whole being exceedingly fertile and productive; as no

district through which we traveled was without cultivation more or less,

and that always in a high degree, whatever the extent of ground under

cultivation or the produce cultivated.

Stone Formation

The stone formation throughout these regions consist of primitive

dark-gray granite, quartz, and conglomerates, with, occasionally, strata

of felspar and mica, which are found mainly in the beautiful mountain

regions (which are detailed extensions of the great mountains of Kong),

having in these sections always beautiful gaps or passes of delightful

valleys.

Minerals, Iron, Copper, Zinc

The minerals consist of iron in the greatest abundance, which at present

is smelted by the natives from the clay, and every town of any note or

size has not only its blacksmiths' shops, but the largest all have iron

smelting works. At Ijaye there is quite an extensive and interesting

establishment of the kind. And, as they manufacture _brass_, there must

be also zinc and copper found there--indications of the last-named

metal being often seen by the color of certain little water surfaces.

The stone formation bears the usual indications of aqueous and igneous

deposits, but more of the former than the latter.

Productions Timber

The timber is numerous, and for the following classification I am

indebted to my learned friend the Rev. Alexander Crummell, Episcopal

missionary and Principal of the Mount Vaughn High School at Cape Palmas:

Teak, ebony, lignum vitae, mahogany, brimstone, rosewood, walnut,

hickory, oak, cedar, unevah, and mangrove.

Medical Productions

Gum Yoruba (the same as gum Arabic), acacia or senna, castor oil, croton

oil, rhubarb root, colomba-root, ipecacuanha, quasia, nux-vomica,

cubebs, tobacco, and many others.

Fruits

All the fruits common to the tropics are found in these regions; in

fact, so redundant is Africa with these productions, that she combines

the whole within herself; that is, there are some fruits found in the

tropical parts of Asia, South America, the Asiatic and West India

Islands, common or peculiar to one which may not be found in the other,

but all of which, it may safely be said, can be found in Africa.

Pineapples the most delicious in flavor and taste conceivable oranges

the same, bananas the finest, plantains equally so, mangrove plums (a

peculiar but delightful and wholesome fruit, said by the natives to be a

_febrifuge_), guavas, and "soursops," a delightful _febrifuge_ of pure

_citric acid_, without the least acridness, as well as a hundred others

which I cannot now name. The papaw or tree-melon also grows very finely

here, and is a very useful and wholesome fruit. When green, "stewed and

mashed," and well-flavored with the usual culinary spices, it cannot be

distinguished from the best green apple-sauce--for which reason it makes

excellent pies. When fully ripe, it cannot be told from the finest

muskmelon or cantelope.

Agricultural Products

The Agricultural labor of this part of Africa is certainly very great,

and merits the attention of every intelligent inquirer; from the simple

fact that, so far as it exhibits the industry of the inhabitants, it

shows the means which may be depended upon for a development of the

commercial resources of the country.

Palm Oil

Palm oil is produced in great abundance, as a staple commodity among

themselves, as well as for exportation since the common light for houses

consists of palm oil burnt in native manufactured lamps, some

constructed of iron and others of earthenware. The oil of the nut is the

most general in use among the natives, both for light and cooking,

because it is the richest, being the most unctuous. This use of the

nut-oil is certainly an antiquated custom among the people of this

region, whilst those contiguous to Liberia have recently learned that

the kernels could be put to commercial use, by the discovery or rather

practical application by Mr. Herron, of Grand Bassa, Liberia, and

subsequent demand by the French traders. The fact that the Yorubas

generally produce their charcoal from the hull of the palm nut, is an

evidence of the long-continued and abundant use of the latter article

for the manufacture of oil. They have regular establishments for the

manufacture of the palm oil, with vats and apparatus (simple though they

be), places and persons for each process: as bruising the fruit from the

nut, boiling, carrying the pulp to a vat, where it is pressed and washed

to extract the oil; one to skim it off from the top of the

liquid--another to carry off the fiber of the pulp or bruised fruit,

which fiber is also appropriated to kindling and other uses. There is no

such method of extracting the oil, as the mistaken idea so frequently

reported by African traders from Europe and America, that the natives

bruise the nut with stones in holes made in the ground, thereby losing a

large percentage of the oil. Even among the crudest they know better

than this, and many use shallow troughs, made of wood in some parts of

Africa, as the Grebo, Golah, and some other peoples on the western

coast, adjacent to Liberia.

Palm Trees Cultivated. Camwood. Ivory

All through the Yoruba country the palm tree is cultivated, being

regularly trimmed and pruned, and never cut down in clearing a farm,

except when from age the tree has ceased to bear, or is of the male

species, when it is cut down for the wine, which is the sap, extracted

from the trunk, in a horizontal position, by boring a hole near the top

and catching it in a vessel, when it is drunk either before, during, or

after fermentation.

Camwood is also very plentiful, but owing to its great weight and the

inconvenience at present of transportation, it does not enter

extensively into the commerce of these parts, except as dyestuffs in the

native markets. Gum elastic or India rubber is plentiful.

Ivory enters largely into commerce, being brought by "middle men" from

the distant interior.

Indian Corn or Maize, Peas, Beans, Ginger, Pepper, Arrowroot, &c

Indian corn, the finest in the world (usually white), is here raised in

the greatest quantities, we having frequently passed through hundreds of

acres in unbroken tracts of cultivated land, which is beginning to enter

into foreign commerce; Guinea corn in great abundance--an excellent

article for horses, spoken of in another place; also peas, such as are

raised for horse and cattle feed in Canada and other parts of America;

white beans in great quantities, as well as those of all colors;

black-eye peas; horse beans; in fact, all of the pulse vegetables; also

ginger, arrowroot, red pepper in pods (the cayenne of commerce), and

black pepper, all of which are articles of commerce; indigo; they also

produce salt, and pea-nuts.

Kitchen Vegetables

Yams, cassaba, sweet potatoes, onions, cucumbers, and many other

culinary roots and vegetables; and I am certain that beets, parsnips,

and carrots, which we did not see under cultivation, could be

successfully raised, if desired. Cabbage grows freely in all parts of

Africa, if planted in the right season.

Potatoes, None

Whether or not the common potato of America and Europe can be propagated

here has not been tested, but such is the excellence of the yam, that

served up in the same manner, there is little or no difference between

them and potatoes; and I am certain that when well cooked, "mashed" and

seasoned, the best judge could not tell them from good potatoes. I mean

good yams, because they differ in quality like potatoes.

Manufactories Iron, Brass, Glass

Crockeryware is manufactured very extensively, of almost every

conceivable size and kind of vessel, for various purposes. Some of them

are quite handsome, and all nearly of the ancient oriental mould. The

largest earthen vessels I ever saw are made by these people, some of

them being large enough for small cisterns. Iron implements for

agricultural and military, as well as other domestic purposes, are made

by them in every large city. They make excellent razors, which shave

quite well, as also other steel-bladed knives, which prove that they

have the art of tempering iron. Brass as well as glass ornaments and

trinkets are made in considerable quantities.

Inhabitants

The people are of fine physical structure and anatomical conformation,

well and regularly featured; not varying more in this particular from

the best specimen of their own race than the Caucasian or Anglo-Saxon

from that of theirs. They are very polite--their language abounding in

vowels, and consequently euphonious and agreeable--affable, sociable,

and tractable, seeking information with readiness, and evincing

willingness to be taught. They are shrewd, intelligent, and industrious,

with high conceptions of the Supreme Being, only using their images

generally as mediators. "So soon," said an intelligent missionary, "as

you can convince them that there is a mediator to whom you _may talk,

but cannot see_, just so soon can you make Christians of them"; their

idea being that God is too great to be directly approached; therefore

there must be a mediator to whom they must talk that they can see, when

God will listen and answer if pleased.

How Received by Them

After my arrival at Abbeokuta, not going out for two days, they

expecting me through information from Mr. Campbell, the third day the

Chief Atambala called upon me, inviting me in turn to call and see him.

In a few days after, the king had a popular religious festival in the

great public space, where there were assembled many chiefs and elders;

but, on our approach, the old king sent his messenger to escort us to

the porch of the piazza upon which he was seated, eagerly grasping me by

the hand, bidding me welcome to Abbeokuta and his court; telling me,

pointing to Mr. Campbell, that he was acquainted with him, and had heard

of me through him.

Native Estimate of Civilized Educated Men

In December, a meeting of the native cotton-traders, chiefs, and others,

was held at the residence of the great chief Ogubonna concerning the

price of cotton. On the meeting assembling, and finding that we were not

present, the chief at once despatched a messenger, requesting our

immediate attendance, as "we knew how things ought to be done." On going

down, we found a large assemblage waiting, among whom were Messrs.

Samuel and Josiah Crowther, H. Robbing, J. C. During, F. Rebeiro, and C.

W. Faulkner, civilized native gentlemen; also Mr. J. G. Hughes, an

English gentleman. By a motion from myself, seconded by J. Crowther, the

chief Ogubonna was chosen chairman, and, upon a motion by Mr. Campbell,

seconded by J. G. Hughes, Mr. Robbing was chosen vice-chairman. The

meeting went off well, we making many suggestions during the

proceedings, which were always received with approbation.

The following from the native minister, being his own writing and

composition, will explain itself:

ABBEOKUTA, Igbore, 23rd Dec., 1857

M. R. DELANY, Esq.:

DEAR SIR--A meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary Society will be held

at the Wesleyan Chapel, on Monday next, the 26th instant, at ten

o'clock, A.M., precisely. You are sincerely and respectfully

solicited to be the Chairman on the occasion.

The object of the Meeting is to offer Thanksgiving to Almighty God

for the past years' success; and to pray for an outpouring of the

Holy Spirit's influence upon the Church, for a further success, &c.

Collection will be made at the close of the above.

Yours respectfully and affectionately,

EDWD. BICKERSTETH

Wesleyan Minister

P.S. An early answer will be much obliged.

I replied in the affirmative to this kind invitation (the copy of reply

is now mislaid), when, at the appointed time, a crowded house was

assembled.

Influence of Civilization--Native Demonstration

In a simple and comprehensive address made to them (being interpreted by

the minister as I proceeded), such was the effect that it not only

produced their unanimous applause, but aroused Mr. During (a native

civilized merchant, who had never before spoken in public) to his feet,

who approved of what I had said, with such an appeal of native

eloquence, that when he ceased, sixty bags of cowries (£54 or $270,

estimating them at 18s, or $4.50 a bag; the then current value of

cowries) were paid down on the spot, to aid the spread of civilization

through the gospel and education. Many, very many were the thanks given

me that day by these, my native kinsmen and women. Several other

gentlemen, among them Surgeon Samuel Crowther, the Pastor, Mr. Rebeiro,

and Mr. Campbell my colleague, also addressed them.

Official Transactions

Many had been the social, friendly, and official interchanges between us

and the king and chiefs during our stay in Abbeokuta, when, on the

twenty-seventh, the day after the missionary meeting, the following

document was duly executed, with the express understanding that no

heterogeneous nor promiscuous "masses" or companies, but select and

intelligent people of high moral as well as religious character were to

be induced to go out. And I am sure that every good and upright person

in that region, whether native or foreign missionary, would exceedingly

regret to see a reckless set of religion-spurning, God-defying persons

sent there--especially by disinterested white societies in America,

which interferingly came forward in a measure which was originated

solely by ourselves (and that, too, but a few of us), as our only hope

for the regeneration of our race from the curse and corrupting

influences of our white American oppressors.

TREATY

This Treaty, made between His Majesty, OKUKENU, Alake; SOMOYE,

Ibashorun; SOKENU, OGUBONNA, and ATAMBALA, Chiefs and Balaguns, of

Abbeokuta, on the first part; and MARTIN ROBISON DELANY, and ROBERT

CAMPBELL, of the Niger Valley Exploring Party, Commissioners from

the African race, of the United States and the Canadas in America,

on the second part, covenants:

ART. 1. That the King and Chiefs on their part, agree to grant and

assign unto the said Commissioners, on behalf of the African race

in America, the right and privilege of settling in common with the

Egba people, on any part of the territory belonging to Abbeokuta,

not otherwise occupied.

ART. 2. That all matters, requiring legal investigation among the

settlers, be left to themselves, to be disposed of according to

their own custom.

ART. 3. That the Commissioners, on their part, also agree that the

settlers shall bring with them, as an equivalent for the privileges

above accorded, Intelligence, Education, a Knowledge of the Arts

and Sciences, Agriculture, and other Mechanical and Industrial

Occupations, which they shall put into immediate operation, by

improving the lands, and in other useful vocations.

ART. 4. That the laws of the Egba people shall be strictly

respected by the settlers; and, in all matters in which both

parties are concerned, an equal number of commissioners, mutually

agreed upon, shall be appointed, who shall have power to settle

such matters.

* * * * *

As a pledge of our faith, and the sincerity of our hearts, we each

of us hereunto affix our hand and seal this Twenty-seventh day of

December, ANNO DOMINI, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-nine.

His Mark, + OKUKENU, Alake

His Mark, + SOMOYE, Ibashorum

His Mark, + SOKENU, Balagun

His Mark, + OGUBONNA, Balagun

His Mark, + ATAMBALA, Balagun

His Mark, + OGUSEYE, Anaba

His Mark, + NGTABO, Balagun, O.S.O.

His Mark, + OGUDEMU, Ageoko

M. R. DELANY

ROBERT CAMPBELL

Witness--SAMUEL CROWTHER, Jun.

Attest--SAMUEL CROWTHER, Sen.

Executive Council, and Ratification of the Treaty

On the next evening, the 28th, the king, with the executive council of

chiefs and elders, met at the palace in Ake, when the treaty was

ratified by an unanimous approval. Such general satisfaction ran through

the council, that the great chief, his highness Ogubonna, mounting his

horse, then at midnight, hastened to the residence of the Surgeon

Crowther, aroused his father the missionary and author, and hastily

informed him of the action of the council.

Native Confidence; Hopes in Educated Blacks; Princess Tinuba

On our return from the interior, having previously made the acquaintance

of, and had several interviews with, and visits to and from the Princess

Tinuba, being a called upon by her, I informed her that during our tour

I learned that she had supplied the chief of Ijaye with the means and

implements for carrying on the war, which that chief was then waging

against Oyo and Ibaddan.

I had previous to that, obtained her fullest confidence as an adviser, a

person of integrity, a friend of my race and of Africa. She had

previously expressed to a friend of mine, that she had more hope of a

regeneration of Africa through me than ever before. She had promised to

place the entire management of her extensive business in my hands, as

much advantage was taken of her by foreigners. She has attached to her

immediate household about sixty persons, and keeps constantly employed

about three hundred and sixty persons bringing her in palm-oil and

ivory. She had come with a private retinue of six or seven persons, her

secretary, a man and several maid-servants, to counsel and give me a

written statement of what she desired me to do. Having conversed for

some time, after receiving my admonition concerning the part which I had

learned she had taken with Arie of Ijaye, she sat some time after,

positively negativing the accusation, when, bidding me farewell, and

saying that she would "_send_ me a letter," retired. In the course of

the afternoon, her secretary, "Charles B. Jones," a native, came to the

house, and presenting his mistress's compliments, with her final adieu,

handed me a written paper, from which I take the following extracts,

simply to show the general feeling and frankness of these people, as

well as the hopes and confidence they have in our going there:

DR. MARTIN R. DELANEY: Abbeokuta, April 3rd, 1860

SIR--This is to certify you, that it is with a willing mind I come to

you for help: and I trust you will do according to your promise.... I

return you my sincere gratitude for your kind information gave me while

at your house, and can assure you that all what you heard is false

respecting my sending guns and powder to Arie, the Chief of Ijaye.... I

beg to say, you must not forget to find the Clerk who will stop at Lagos

to ship my cargo ... and make agreement with him before you send him

here.... I need not say much more about the affairs, as you yourself

have known my statements. With hopes that you are well, I am, dear Sir,

Your humble servant,

TINUBA

P.S. You must not forget to send the two gauge-rods. I beg you ...

Yours, &c.,--TINUBA

Per Charles B. Jones.

I have preferred to give these extracts just as they were written,

without correcting the composition in any way.

Royal Deference to Black Men

The liberality which is here accorded to the people of Abbeokuta may be

also accorded to most other places. The king of Illorin sat in his court

exposed to our view, because, he said, we were "his people"; a privilege

which he never allowed "a strange white man," who was never permitted to

look upon his royal black face publicly. He also sent with us an escort

of a horseman and five footmen, with sword and spear, as a guard of

honor, sending us cowries to pay the expenses. The king of Oyo paid us

distinguished honors through his great Arie Kufu, calling me a relative,

and sending the chief to inquire after our health. On my leaving Oyo

finally, he sent with me a very large escort, at the head of whom was

his commander-in-chief Kufu, as a guard of honor, and three native

gentlemen, high in rank, as my special carriers. These gentle men

complained to the missioners, Mr. and Mrs. Hinderer at Ibaddan, that I

was quite mistaken as to their true social position at home. To this I

plead guilty, as they were quite right.

Domestic Animals; Fowls, Chickens, Ducks, Muscovy, Turkeys Swine;

Common, Guinea

Chickens (and eggs plentifully) the sweetest and tenderest, ducks and

turkeys; also Guinea fowls, as well as the fine Muscovy, are abundant.

The swine consist of two distinct classes; the common, descended from

the wild--a long, lean, gaunt, long-eared, long-nosed, sharp-featured,

hungry-looking brute, like the American hog; and the Guinea, a

short-legged, heavy-bodied, short-nosed, short-eared, fat-jawed,

full-headed, jolly-looking animal, closely resembling the Berkshire of

English breeding.

Goats, Sheep

The goats are the most beautiful, shiny, plump, active, saucy creatures,

the mutton being most excellent flesh; and the sheep, though hairy

instead of woolly, in every other particular are like other sheep, and

the mutton frequently equaling English mutton in flavor and sweetness. I

suspect the common sheep of this country to be of another genus, as

there are some very fine woolly sheep in the interior. We intend testing

the woolly sheep when we get settled there.

Cattle--Mandingo and Golah

The cattle are of two classes, and merit particular attention. The

windward or Mandingo, a tall, long-horned, beautiful animal, the type of

the Herefordshire; and the leeward or Golah, a short-legged,

short-horned, heavy-bodied, broad-backed ox, the exact conformation of

the splendid English Durham beeves.

Horses; Aku, Bornou

The horses are of two distinct classes, and not only merit much

attention here, but must be regarded as among the most surprising

evidences (as well as the cattle and improved breed of swine) of the

high degree of intelligence and heathen civilization attained by the

people.

Aku, or Yoruba Horse

The Aku or Yoruba, is a small, well-built, generally sprightly animal,

equal in size to the largest American-Indian pony. They are great

travelers, and very enduring, and when broke to the shafts or traces

will be excellent in harness as family hackneys.

Bornou, or Soudan Horse

The Bornou, a noble horse, from twelve to seventeen hands high, finely

proportioned and symmetrically beautiful, and the type of the

description of the sire of the great first English blood horse,

Godolphin, is exceedingly high-spirited, and fleet in the race or chase.

These noble animals abound in all this part of Africa; are bred in

Bornou, where great attention is paid to the rearing of them, from

whence they are taken by the Ishmaelitish traders, in exchange for their

commodities, to Arabia; from thence they are sent to Europe as their own

production; just as, a few years since, and probably up to the present

day, mules were reared in great numbers in Mexico, purchased by Ohio and

Kentucky muleteers, who sold them in the eastern and northern States of

America, where for years the people supposed and really believed that

they were bred in the western States, from whence they were purported to

come. The fine Bornou, known as the Arabian horse, is a native of

Africa, and raised in great numbers. Denham and Clapperton, as long ago

as thirty-five or forty years, wrote, after visiting that part of

Africa, "It is said that Bornou can muster fifteen thousand Shonaas in

the field mounted. They are the greatest breeders of cattle in the

country, and annually supply Soudan with from two to three thousand

horses." These animals are used for riding, and well exercised, as the

smallest boys are great riders, every day dashing at fearful speed along

the roads and over the plains.

Game; Quadrupeds

Game is also very plentiful. Deer, antelopes, wild hogs, hedge hogs,

porcupines, armadillos, squirrels, hares and rabbits, raccoons and

opossums, are among the most common quadruped game.

Wild Fowl

Wild turkey, wild ducks of various kinds, wild pigeons, ocpara (a very

fine quail, much larger, fatter and plumper than the American pheasant),

and the wild Guinea fowl, are among the most common biped game.

Markets, and Domestic Habits of the People

The markets are also worthy of note, and by their regular establishment

and arrangement indicate to a certain extent the self-governing element

and organized condition of the people. Every town has its regular

market-place or general bazaar, and everything to be had in the town

may be found, in more or less quantities, in these market-places. In

describing the large cities through which Mr. Campbell my colleague, and

I passed, and those through which I passed alone (none of which were

under seventy thousand of a population) there were numerous smaller

places of various sizes, from very small villages of one hundred to two

thousand inhabitants, which were not mentioned in the enumerated towns.

Of these market-places I may mention that Illorin has five, the area of

the largest comprising about ten acres, and the general market of

Abbeokuta comprising more than twelve altogether, whilst that of Ijaye

contains fully twenty acres or more, in which, like the markets

generally, everything may be obtained. These markets are systematically

regulated and orderly arranged, there being parts and places for

everything, and "everything in their places," with officially appointed

and excellent managing market-masters. The cattle department of the

Abbeokuta and Ijaye markets, as well as Illorin are particularly

attractive, there being as many as eight hundred sheep at one time in

either of the two former, and horses and mules, as well as sheep and

goats exhibited in the latter. When approaching the city of Ibaddan, I

saw at a brook, where they had been let out of their cages or coops to

drink and wash themselves, as many as three thousand pigeons and squabs

going to the Ibaddan market.

The following description of the Illorin market, extracted from "Bowen's

Central Africa," is truthful as far as it goes, and will give a general

idea of markets in the great cities of Africa:

The most attractive object next to the curious old town itself--and

it is always old--is the market.... Here the women sit and chat all

day, from early morn till nine o'clock at night, to sell their

various merchandise. Some of the sheds however, are occupied by

barbers, who shave people's heads and faces; and by leather

dressers, who make charms like Jewish phylacteries, and bridle

reins, shoes, sandals, &c.; and by dozens and scores of men, who

earn an honest living by dressing calabashes, and ornamenting them

with various neat engravings.[6] ... The principal market hour, and

proper time to see all the wonders, is in the evening.... As the

shades of evening deepen, if the weather allow the market to

continue and there is no moon, every woman lights her little lamp,

and presently the market presents, to the distant observer, the

beautiful appearance of innumerable stars.

The commodities sold in market are too tedious to mention, even if

all could be remembered. Besides home productions, there are

frequently imported articles from the four quarters of the globe.

Various kinds of meat, fowls, sheep, goats, dogs, rats, tortoises,

eggs, fish, snails, yams, Indian corn, Guinea corn, sweet potatoes,

sugar-cane, ground peas, onions, pepper, various vegetables,

palm-nuts, oil, tree-butter, seeds, fruits, firewood, cotton in the

seeds, spun cotton, domestic cloth, imported cloth, as calico,

shirting, velvets, &c., gun-powder, guns, flints, knives, swords,

paper, raw silk, Turkey-red thread, needles, ready-made clothing,

as trowsers, caps, breeches shirts without sleeves, baskets,

brooms, and no one knows what all.

This description was given by Mr. Bowen in his (in many respects)

admirable work, published in 1857, after a missionary residence and tour

of seven years, from 1850 to the time of writing, among the people of

whom he wrote.

Native Houses and Cities

The houses are built of unburnt clay which hardens in the sun, covered

with a beautiful thatch-long, peculiar grass--exhibiting only the walls

to the streets, the doors all opening inside of these walls, which are

entered by a gate or large doorway; the streets generally irregular and

narrow, but frequently agreeably relieved by wider ones, or large, open

spaces or parks shaded with trees; all presenting a scene so romantic

and antiquated in appearance, that you cannot resist the association

with Babylon, Nineveh, Tyre, and Thebais. The buildings are heavy and

substantial for their kind, many of which are very extensive. These

towns and cities are all entrenched and walled; extending entirely

around them; that of Abbeokuta with the new addition being twenty-seven

miles, though the population is less by forty thousand than Ibaddan,

which embraces about twenty-three miles.

Conjugal and Filial Affection. Activity of Children

Great affection exists between husband and wife, the women being mostly

restricted to household work, trading, and gathering in the fields, and

aiding in carrying, whilst the men principally do the digging, planting,

chopping, and other hard work. The children are also passionately

beloved by their parents, sometimes with too much indulgence. They are

very active, and every day some of them of all sizes may be seen dashing

along a road or over a plain at fearful speed on horseback. They are

great vaulters and ankle-springers, and boys may frequently be seen to

spring from the ground whirling twice--turning _two_ summersets--before

lighting on their feet.

Population of Monrovia and the State

It may not be out of place here to add, that the population of the

capital of Liberia is certainly not above three thousand, though they

claim for it five thousand. And what has been said of the lack and

seeming paucity of public improvement may be much extenuated when it is

considered that the entire population of settlers only number at present

some 15,000 souls; the native population being 250,000, or 300,000, as

now incorporated.

Canine and Feline

As the enquiry has been frequently made of me as to "whether there are

really dogs and cats in Africa," and if so, "whether they are like other

dogs and cats"; and since a very intelligent American clergyman said to

me that he had read it somewhere as a fact in natural history, that dogs

in Africa could not bark; I simply here inform the curious enquirer,

that there are dogs and cats plentifully in Africa, which "look like

other dogs and cats," and assure them that the dogs bark, eat, and

_bite_, just like "other dogs."

Slavery

A word about slavery. It is simply preposterous to talk about slavery,

as that term is understood, either being legalized or existing in this

part of Africa. It is nonsense. The system is a patriarchal one, there

being no actual difference, socially, between the slave (called by their

protector _son or daughter_) and the children of the person with whom

they live. Such persons intermarry, and frequently become the heads of

state: indeed, generally so, as I do not remember at present a king or

chief with whom I became acquainted whose entire members of the

household, from the lowest domestic to the highest official, did not

sustain this relation to him, they calling him _baba_ or "father," and

he treating them as children. And where this is not the case, it either

arises from some innovation among them or those exceptional cases of

despotism to be found in every country. Indeed, the term "slave" is

unknown to them, only as it has been introduced among them by whites

from Europe and America. So far from abject slavery, not even the old

feudal system, as known to exist until comparatively recent in

enlightened and Christian Europe, exists in this part of Africa.

Criminals and prisoners of war are _legally sold_ into slavery among

themselves, just as was the custom in almost every civilized country in

the world till very lately, when nothing but advanced intelligence and

progressive Christianity among the people put a stop to it. There is no

place, however, but Illorin, a _bona fide_ Mohammedan kingdom, where we

ever witnessed any exhibition of these facts.

How Slaves Are Obtained

Slaves are abducted by marauding, kidnapping, depraved natives, who,

like the organized bands and gangs of robbers in Europe and America, go

through the country thieving and stealing helpless women and children,

and men who may be overpowered by numbers. Whole villages in this way

sometimes fall victims to these human monsters, especially when the

strong young men are out in the fields at work, the old of both sexes in

such cases being put to death, whilst the young are hurried through

some private way down to the slave factories usually kept by Europeans

(generally Portuguese and Spaniards) and Americans, on some secluded

part of the coast. And in no instances are the parents and relatives

known to sell their own children or people into slavery, except, indeed,

in cases of base depravity, and except such miserable despots as the

kings of Dahomi and Ashantee; neither are the heads of countries known

to sell their own people; but like the marauding kidnapper, obtain them

by war on others.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] Lagos is an exception to this, the market commencing early in the

day, and closing at night.

IX

DISEASES OF THIS PART OF AFRICA, TREATMENT, HYGIENE, ALIMENT

Diseases, Face of the Country, Spring Water

The diseases in this part of Africa are still more simple than those of

Liberia; and even the _native fever_, for known causes, generally is

much less severe. In Liberia, and all that part of Africa, the entire

country (except the cleared farms in the republic and the limited

rice-fields of the natives) is a dense, heavy-wooded, _primitive_

forest, rank with the growth and putrified vegetation of a thousand

ages. But the entire Aku country, throughout the second plateau,

presents a very different phase. Here, one is struck with the beautiful

clear country which continually spreads out in every direction around;

and (except the thickets or forests left as defences, ambuscades, and

arbors of rest, rugged hilltops, and gullies), there is nothing but

recent timber to be found growing on the lands. Timber in Africa is

reproduced very speedily; hence may be found in some parts designedly

left very heavy timber; but the greatest unbroken forest through which

we passed at any one time, of this description, never exceeded, I think,

ten miles. All the spring (shallow wells generally) and other living

water, as perennial streams, is both good-tasted, and if the constant

use of running stream water be a fair test, I would decide as wholesome.

There are some good springs in Africa, and good water doubtless may

everywhere be obtained by digging suitable wells.

To Keep Water Cool. Kind of Vessels

Drinking water in the tropics should always be kept in large vessels of

crockery ware (usually termed "stone" and "earthen ware") and smaller

bottle or decanter-shaped jugs or vessels for table convenience. If

earthen or crockery ware cannot be obtained for table use, by all means

use glass bottles--the more globular, or balloon-shaped, the better.

Cool Water

To make and keep water cool in any crockery or glass vessel, wrap around

it a cloth or any kind, but especially _woolen_--flannel or blanket

being the best--which keep simply _wet_, and the water in the vessel, by

_evaporation_ from the _cloth_, can be made or kept almost ice cool.

To Keep the Cloth Wet. Apparatus

A most simple method by which the cloth may be kept wet, and evaporation

thereby kept up, is to have a large vessel, with the water in for common

use, so placed that a small vessel with water can be suspended over it

in such a manner that a _drip_ can be kept constantly on the cloth. The

cloth being first saturated, it will readily be seen that a very small

drip is required to keep up the dampness. The drip may be arranged,

where convenient, with a small _faucet_ so as to regulate the drop, or

the more primitive method of a little _spiggot_ or _sharpened stick_ put

into a hole made in the vessel, so regulated as to keep up a sufficient

dripping to keep the cloth of sufficient dampness. Simple as this may

appear to the reader, it is an important sanitary measure, besides

adding greatly to the immediate comfort of the traveler or resident in

those regions.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere in this region of the continent is much purer than that

of Liberia and the region round about; and, although incorporated with

odors, these are pleasant and seem familiar to the sense, and not

obnoxious with the rich rank fragrance so sensibly experienced in that

country. There is little, comparatively, of the decayed vegetation,

which sends up malaria from the surface in Liberia; and the immense

fields and plains of grass not under cultivation at the time, are burnt

down during the dry season, thereby bringing to bear, though probably

unawares to them, a sanitary process throughout that extensive country

at least once every year.

Kinds of Disease

_Intermittent fever_, as described in section VI., page 280 on Liberia,

though generally of a mild type, _diarrhoea_, _dysentery_ (neither of

which is difficult to subdue by a little rational treatment),

_opthalmia_, and _umbilical hernia_, and sometimes, but not frequently,

_inguinal hernia_, are the principal diseases. The opthalmia I suspected

as originating from taint, probably having been primarily carried from

the coast, as it was not so frequently met with as to warrant the idea

of its being either a contagion or the effects of poisonous sands or

winds, as supposed to exist. The hernia is caused by the absence of

proper _umbilical attention_ and _abdominal support_ to the child after

_parturition_. Umbilical hernia is fearfully common all through Africa,

I having frequently seen persons, especially females, with the hernial

tumor as large as their own head, and those of little children fully as

large as the head of an infant a month old.

Guinea Worm

A singular disease affects some persons, though I have never seen this

upon a native, and believe it to be peculiar to the region round about

Liberia. The person whose case I examined had formerly resided in

Liberia, where, doubtless, the disease commenced, but for the last three

years previously had resided at Ijaye, in the capacity of cook, for the

American Baptist Missionaries, Revs. A. D. Phillips and J. R. Stone and

lady, and then resided at Abbeokuta. This is a peculiar ulceration of

the leg, immediately above the ankle-bone, where they say it usually

commences; the edges of the ulcer, and the cuticle quite up to the edge,

and all the surrounding parts, having a healthy appearance, as though a

portion of the flesh had been recently torn out, leaving the cavity as

it then was. The most peculiar feature of this singular disease is a

_white fiber_, which, coming out from the integuments of the muscles of

the leg above, hangs suspended in the cavity (ulcer) the lower end

loose, and somewhat inclined to coil (and when _straightened_ out,

resuming again the serpentine curves, of course from the _elasticity_

with _motion_), is supposed to be a _worm_; hence its name--_Guinea

worm_. The fibre seems in color and texture to be in a normal condition;

indeed, there appear to be little or no pathological symptoms about the

parts at all, except a slight appearance of _vermillion_ inflammation

over the surface of the ulcer, which is more apparent sometimes than

others.

What Is Guinea Worm?

I have examined closely this fibre, and from its appearance, color,

size, and texture, especially as it is sensibly felt high up in the leg

near the tuberosity of the tibia, when pulled by the dangling end, my

own impression is that the so-called "Guinea worm" is nothing more than

the _external saphenus_ or _communis tibiae_ (nerve) exposed in a

peculiar manner, probably by a disease, which, by a curious pathological

process, absorbs away the muscular parts, leaving the bare nerve

detached at its lower extremity, suspended loose in this unnatural

space. I have never seen but this one case of Guinea worm, but had

frequent opportunities of examining it; indeed, the patient consulted me

concerning it, and by the advice and consent of the very clever native

gentleman, Samuel Crowther, Esq., who received his professional

education at the Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln's Inn Fields,

London, insisted on my taking the case, which I declined, partly for the

want of time to do justice to the patient, and aside from courtesy and

equity to the surgeon who had the case in hand, mainly because I _knew

nothing about it_--the best reason of all. The patient was an American

quadroon, black nearly in complexion, of one-fourth white blood, from

North Carolina. This, of course was a black quadroon.

I should add, that the fiber at times entirely _disappears_ from the

cavity (by _contraction_, of course), when again it is seen suspended as

before. This is one reason why it is believed to be a _worm_, and

supposed to _creep_ up and down in the flesh.

Treatment of Diseases--Diarrhoea

The treatment of fever in this part of Africa should be the same as that

in Liberia, given on page 280. The best remedy which I have found for

diarrhoea is:

[TN: symbol: Rx]. Pulv. Rad. Rhei. [TN: symbol: drachm] j.; Syr.

Simp. [TN: symbol: ounce] jv.; Spts. Terebinth, [TN: symbol: dracm] j.;

Tinct. Opii., gtt. x. M. ft.

Pulverized rhubarb, one drachm, (or one-eighth of an ounce); simple

syrup, four ounces (or eight large tablespoonfuls); laudanum, ten drops;

spirits of turpentine, one spoonful. Mix this well together to take.

Dysentery

For dysentery the recipe is:

[TN: symbol: Rx]. Pulv. Rad. Rhei. Pulv. C. Catech. a. a.,

[TN: symbol: drachm] j.; Syr. Simp. f. [TN: symbol: ounce] jv.; Spts.

Terebinth. Spis. Ammon. Arromat., a. a. f.

[TN: symbol: drachm] j.; Tinct. Opii. gtt. x.M.ft.

Pulverized rhubarb and pulverized gum catechu, each, one-eighth of an

ounce; simple syrup, eight large tablespoonfuls; spirits of turpentine

and aromatic spirits of ammonia, of each one teaspoonful; laudanum, ten

drops. Mix this well together to take. Of this take one teaspoonful (if

very bad, a dessert spoonful) every three hours, or four times a day

(always beginning at least one hour before breakfast), till the symptoms

cease.

Fever Antidote

During the presence of febrile symptoms, in the absence of all diarrhoea

and dysenteric symptoms, even when the person is not complaining, an

excellent simple antidote to be taken at discretion, not oftener than

once every hour during the day, is:

[TN: symbol: Rx] Syr. Simp., [TN: symbol: ounce] jv.; Spts. Ammon.

Arromat. [TN: symbol: drachm] jss. M. ft.

Simple syrup, eight large tablespoonfuls; aromatic spirits of ammonia,

one and a-half teaspoonfuls. Mix this well together. Take a teaspoonful

of this preparation in a little cold water, or a glass of lemonade if

preferred, and the condition of the bowels will admit, as often as

thought advisable under the circumstances.

I have thus thought proper to simplify this treatment, that it may be in

the reach of every person going to the tropics, as I am certain that

there has been a great deficiency in the treatment and discovery of

remedies in diseases of that continent especially. These prescriptions,

as compounded, are entirely new, originating with the writer, who has

only to add that he is in hopes that they prove as advantageous and

successful in other hands as they have been in his.

Regimen

Persons laboring under fever should eat moderately of such food as best

agrees with their appetite; but frequently, if required or desired,

that the system may be well supported. When there is _diarrhoea_ or

_dysentery_ present, there should be no solid food taken, but the

patient or ailing person should be confined strictly to a thin milk

porridge of fine Guinea-corn flour, which is always obtainable in

Africa, crumbled crackers or soda biscuits, light (leavened) wheat bread

if to be had, or well-done rice boiled to a pulp. The soda-biscuit as a

porridge with milk rather aggravates the bowels of most persons;

therefore, whenever it is found to have this effect, its use should be

immediately abandoned. In many instances, where there is either

diarrhoea or dysentery present, without other prominent symptoms, I have

found the mere use of cooked milk (merely "scalded," as women usually

term it--being heated to the boiling point without permitting it to

boil), taken as food alone, to be the only remedy required.

Hygiene--Eating

The laws of health should be particularly observed in going to Africa.

In respect to eating, there need be no material change of food, but each

individual observing those nourishments which best agree with him or

her. When there is little inclination to eat, eat but little; and when

there is none, eat nothing. I am certain that a large percentage of the

mortality which occurs may be attributed to too free and too frequent

indulgence in eating, as was the case with the Lewis family of five at

Clay-Ashland, in Liberia--all of whom died from that cause; as well as

others that might be mentioned.

Coffee, Air, Fruits

So soon as you have taken your bath and put your morning wrapper, even

before dressing, you may eat one or more sweet oranges, then take a cup

of coffee, creamed and sweetened, or not, to your taste. Make your

toilet, and walk out and take the cool air, always taking your umbrella

or parasol, because no foreigner, until by a long residence more or less

acclimated, can expose himself with impunity to a tropical sun. If

preferred coffee should always be taken with cream or milk and sugar,

because it is then less irritating to the stomach. One of the symptoms

of native fever is said to be _nervous irritability of the stomach_;

hence, all exciting causes to irritation of that part should be avoided

as much as possible. Such fruits as best agree with each individual

should be most indulged in; indeed, all others for the time should be

dispensed with; and when it can be done without any apparent risk to the

person, a little fruit of some kind might be taken every day by each new

comer. Except oranges, taken as directed above, all fruits should be

eaten _after_, and _not_ before breakfast. The fruits of the country

have been described in another place.

Drinks

Let your habits be strictly temperate, and for human nature's sake,

abstain from the erroneous idea that some sort of malt or spirituous

drink is necessary. This is not the case; and I am certain that much of

the disease and dire mortality charged against Africa, as a "land of

pestilence and death," should be charged against the Christian lands

which produce and _send bad spirits_ to destroy those who go to Africa.

Whenever wine, brandy, whisky, gin, rum, or pure alcohol are required

as a medical remedy, no one will object to its use; but, in all cases in

which they are used as a beverage in Africa, I have no hesitation in

pronouncing them deleterious to the system. The best British porter and

ale may, in convalescence from fever, be used to advantage as a tonic,

because of the bitter and farinaceous substances they contain--not

otherwise is it beneficial to the system in Africa. Water, lemonade,

effervescent drinks--a teaspoonful of super-carbonate of soda, to a

glass of lemonade--all may be drunk in common, when thirsty, with

pleasure to the drinker as well as profit. Pure ginger-beer is very

beneficial.

Bathing

Bathing should be strictly observed by every person at least once every

day. Each family should be provided with a large sponge, or one for each

room if not for each person, and free application of water to the entire

person, from head to foot, should be made every morning.

Early Rising--Breezes

Every person should rise early in Africa, as the air is then coolest,

freshest, and purest; besides the effect upon the senses, the sight and

song of the numerous birds to be seen and heard, produce a healthful

influence upon the mental and physical system. The land and sea-breezes

blow regularly and constantly from half-past three o'clock P.M. till

half-past ten o'clock A.M., when there is a cessation of about five

hours till half-past three again.

Never Sultry

The evenings and mornings are always cool and pleasant, _never sultry_

and oppressive with heat, as frequently in temperate climates during

summer and autumn. This wise and beneficent arrangement of Divine

Providence makes this country beautifully, in fact, delightfully

pleasant; and I have no doubt but in a very few years, so soon as

scientific black men, her own sons, who alone must be more interested in

her development than any other take the matter in hand, and produce

works upon the diseases, remedies, treatment, and sanitary measures of

Africa, there will be no more contingency in going to Africa than any

other known foreign country. I am certain, even now, that the native

fever of Africa is not more trying upon the system, when properly

treated, than the native fever of Canada, the Western and Southern

States and Territories of the United States of America.

Dress, Avoid Getting Wet

Dress should be regulated according to the feeling, with sometimes more

and sometimes less clothing. But I think it advisable that adults should

wear flannel (thin) next to their person always when first going to

Africa. It gradually absorbs the moisture, and retaining a proper degree

of heat, thus prevents any sudden change of temperature from affecting

the system. Avoid getting wet at first, and should this accidentally

happen, take a thoroughly good bath, rub the skin dry, and put on dry

clothes, and for two or three hours that day, keep out of the sun; but

if at night, go to bed. But when it so happens that you are out from

home and cannot change clothing, continue to exercise until the clothes

dry on your person. It is the abstraction of heat from the system by

evaporation of water from the clothing, which does the mischief in such

cases. I have frequently been wet to saturation in Africa, and nothing

ever occurred from it, by pursuing the course here laid down. Always

sleep in clean clothes.

Sanitary Measures

I am sure I need inform no one, however ignorant, that all measures of

cleanliness of person, places, and things about the residences,

contribute largely to health in Africa, as in other countries.

Ventilation of Houses

All dwellings should be _freely ventilated_ during the _night_ as well

as day, and it is a great mistake to suppose, as in Liberia (where every

settler sleeps with every part of his house closely shut--doors,

windows, and all) that it is deletereous to have the house ventilated

during the evening, although they go out to night meetings, visit each

other in the evening, and frequently sit on their porches and piazzas

till a late hour in the night, conversing, without any injurious effects

whatever. Dr. Roberts, and I think Dr. McGill and a few other gentlemen,

informed me that their sleeping apartments were exceptions to the custom

generally in Liberia. This stifling custom to save themselves does not

prevail among the natives of Africa anywhere, nor among the foreigners

anywhere in the Yoruba country, that I am aware of, and I am under the

impression that it was the result of fear or precaution, not against the

night air, but against the imaginary (and sometimes real) creeping

things--as insects and reptiles--which might find their way into the

houses at night.

Test of Night Air

While in Liberia, I have traversed rivers in an open boat at night,

slept beyond the Kavalla Falls in open native houses, and at the

residence of Rev. Alexander Crummel, Mount Vaughan, Cape Palmas, I slept

every evening while there with both window and door as ventilators. The

window was out and the door inside. In Abbeokuta, Ijaye, Oyo, and

Ogbomoso, we slept every night with ventilated doors and windows, when

we slept at all in a house. But in Illorin we always slept out of doors

by preference, and only retired to repose in-doors (which were always

open) when it was too cool to sleep out, as our bedding consisted only

of a native mat on the ground, and a calico sheet spread over us. And I

should here make acknowledgments to my young colleague, Mr. Campbell,

for the use of his large Scotch shawl when I was unwell, and indeed

almost during our entire travel--it being to me a great accommodation, a

comfort and convenience which I did not possess.

Test of Exposure

I have started two and three hours before daybreak, laying on my bed in

an open canoe, ascending the Ogun river, at different times during the

six days' journey up to Abbeokuta; Mr. Campbell and myself have

frequently slept out in open courts and public market-places, without

shed or piazza covering; and when journeying from Oyo to Ibaddan, for

three successive evenings I lay in the midst of a wilderness or forest,

on a single native mat without covering, the entire night; and many

times during our travels we arose at midnight to commence our journey,

and neither of us ever experienced any serious inconvenience from it.

Improved Window and Door Ventilation

That houses in Africa may be properly ventilated during the night

without annoyance, or, what is equally as bad, if not worse, the

continual fear and imagination of the approach of venomous insects,

creeping things, and reptiles, the residents should adapt them to the

place and circumstances, without that rigid imitation of European and

American order of building. Every house should be well ventilated with

windows on opposite sides of the rooms, when and wherever this is

practicable, and the same may be said of doors. And where the room will

not admit of opposite windows, or windows at least on two sides of a

room, whether opposite or otherwise, a chimney or ventilating flue

should be constructed on the opposite side to the window--which window

should always be to the windward, so as to have a continual draught or

current of fresh air. Persons, however, should always avoid sitting in a

_draught_, though a free circulation of air should be allowed in each

room of every house.

Instead of window-sashes with glass, as in common use, I would suggest

that the windows have a sash of four, or but two (if preferred) panels,

to each window (two upper and two lower, or one upper and one lower--or

one lower and two upper, which would make a neat and handsome window),

each panel or space for panes being neatly constructed with a

sieve-work, such as is now used as screens during summer season in the

lower part of parlor windows. To prevent too great oxydization or too

rapid decay of so delicate a structure as the wire must be, it should be

made of brass, copper, or some composition which would not readily

corrode. Inside or outside doors of the same material, made to close and

open like the Venetian jalousies now in use in civilized countries,

would be found very convenient, and add much to the comfort and health

of dwellings as a sanitary measure. The frames of the panels or sashes

should be constructed of maple, cherry, walnut, or mahogany, according

to the means of the builder and elegance of the building--as these

articles seasoned are not only more neat and durable, but, from their

solidity, are less liable to warp or shrink. This would afford such a

beautiful and safe protection to every dwelling against the intrusion of

all and every living thing, even the smallest insect--while a full and

free circulation of fresh air would be allowed--that a residence in

Africa would become attractive and desirable, instead of, as now (from

imagination), objectionable.

Sanitary Effects of Ants--Termites, and Drivers

A word about ants in Africa--so much talked of, and so much

dreaded--will legitimately be in place here, regarding them as a

sanitary means, provided by Divine Providence. The _termites_, bug-a-bug

or white double ant, shaped like two ovals somewhat flattened, joined

together by a cylinder somewhat smaller in the middle, with a head at

one end of one of the ovals, is an herbivorous insect, and much abused

as the reputed destroyers of books, papers, and all linen or muslin

clothing. They feed mainly on such vegetable matter as is most subject

to decay--as soft wood, and many other such, when void of vitality--and

there is living herbage upon which they feed, and thereby prove a

blessing to a country with a superabundance of rank vegetable matter. It

is often asserted that they destroy whole buildings, yet I have never

seen a person who knew of such a disaster by them, although they may

attack and do as much mischief in such cases at times as the wood-worms

of America; and, in regard to clothing, though doubtless there have been

instances of their attack upon and destruction of clothing, yet I will

venture to assert that there is no one piece of clothing attacked and

destroyed by these creatures, to ten thousand by the moths which get

into the factories and houses in civilized countries, where woolen goods

are kept. In all my travels in Africa, I never had anything attacked by

the termite; but during my stay of seven months in Great Britain, I had

a suit of woolen clothes completely eaten up by moths in Liverpool.

Drivers

Drivers, as every person already knows, are black ants, whose reputation

is as bad for attacking living animals, and even human beings, as the

termites' for attacking clothing. This creature, like its white cousin,

is also an instrument in the hands of Providence as a sanitary means,

and to the reverse of the other is carnivorous, feeding upon all flesh

whether fresh or putrified. Like the white, for the purpose of

destroying the superabundance of vegetable, certainly these black ants

were designed by Providence to destroy the excess of animal life which

in the nature of things would be brought forth, with little or no

destruction without them; and although much is said about their

attacking persons, I will venture the opinion that there is not one of

these attacks a person to every ten thousand musquitoes in America, as

it is only by chance, and _not by search after it_, that drivers attack

persons.

How They Travel

They usually go in search of food in narrow rows, say from half an inch

to a hand's breadth, as swiftly as a running stream of water, and may in

their search enter a house in their course--if nothing attract them

around it--when, in such cases, they spread over the floor, walls, and

ceiling; and finding no insect or creeping thing to destroy, they gather

again on the floor, and leave the premises in the regular order in which

they entered. Should they encounter a person when on these excursions,

though in bed, does he but lie still and not disturb them, the

good-hearted negro insects will even pass over the person without harm

or molestation; but, if disturbed, they will retaliate by a sting as

readily as a bee when the hive is disturbed, though their sting, so far

from being either dangerous or severe, is simply like the severe sting

of a musquito. An aged missionary gentleman, of twenty-five years'

experience, informed me that an entire myriad (this term is given to a

multitude of drivers, as their number can never be less than ten

thousand--and I am sure that I have seen as many millions together)

passed over him one night in bed, without one stinging him. Indeed, both

the black and white ants are quite harmless as to personal injury, and

very beneficial in a sanitary point.

How to Drive Them Out of the Houses

There is much more in the imagination than the reality about these

things; and one important fact I must not omit, that, however great the

number of drivers, a simple _light set in the middle of the floor_ will

clear the room of them in ten minutes. In this case they do not form in

column, but go out in hasty confusion, each effecting as quick retreat

and safe escape for himself as possible, forming their line of march

outside of the house, where they meet from all quarters of their points

of escape.

How to Destroy Them

_Chloride of sodium_ or common salt (fine), slightly damped, will

entirely destroy the termites; and _acetum_ or vinegar, or _acetic acid_

either, will destroy or chase off the drivers. These means are simple,

and within the reach of every person, but, aside from this, both classes

or races of these creatures disappear before the approach of

civilization. In a word, moths, mice, roaches, and musquitoes are much

greater domestic annoyances, and certainly much more destructive in

America and Europe than the bug-a-bug or driver is in Africa.

Their Pugnacious and Martial Character

I cannot endorse the statement from personal knowledge of the desperate

hostility which the drivers manifest towards the termites, as given by

Dr. Livingstone, who, calling them "black rascals," says "they stand

deliberately and watch for the whites, which, on coming out of their

holes, they instantly seize, putting them to death." Perhaps the whites

were _kidnappers_, in which case they served the white _rascals_ right.

Though I have never seen an encounter, it is nevertheless true, that the

blacks do subdue the whites whenever they meet. In fact, they go, as do

no other creatures known to natural science, in immense incalculable

numbers--and I do not think that I exaggerate if I say that I have more

than once seen more than six hogsheads of them traveling together, had

they been measured--and along the entire line of march, stationed on

each side of the columns, there are warriors or soldiers to guard them,

who stand sentry, closely packed side by side with their heads towards

the column, which passes on as rapidly as a flowing stream of water. I

have traced a column for more than a mile, whose greatest breadth was

more than a yard, and the least not less than a foot. It is

inconceivable the distance these creatures travel in a short time.

Should anything disturb the lines, the soldiers sally out a few feet in

pursuit of the cause, quickly returning to their post when meeting no

foe. The guards are much larger than the common drivers, being about the

length of a barley-corn, and armed with a pair of curved horns, like

those of the large American black beetle, called "pinching bug." There

are no bed-bugs here.

Cesspools

One important fact, never referred to by travellers as such, is that the

health of large towns in Africa will certainly be improved by the

erection of _cesspools_, whereas now they have none. With the exception

of the residences of missionaries and other civilized people, there is

no such thing in Africa. Every family, as in civilized countries, should

have such conveniences. Our senses are great and good faculties--seeing,

hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling--God has so created them, and

designed them for such purposes; therefore, they should neither be

perverted nor marred when this can be avoided. Hence, we should

beautify, when required and make pleasing to the sight; modify and make

pleasant to the hearing; _cleanse_ and _purify_ to make _agreeable_ to

the smelling; improve and make good to the taste; and never violate the

feelings whenever any or all of these are at our will or control.

Wild Beasts and Reptiles

A single remark about these. The wild beasts are driven back before the

march of civilization, I having seen none, save one leopard; and but

four serpents during my entire travels, one three and a half feet long

(a water snake); one fourteen inches long; and another ten inches long;

the two last being killed by natives--and a tame one around the neck of

a charmer at Oyo. During the time I never saw a centipede, and but two

tarantulas.

X MISSIONARY INFLUENCE

To deny or overlook the fact, the all-important fact, that the

missionary influence had done much good in Africa, would be simply to do

injustice, a gross injustice to a good cause.

Protestant Missionaries

The advent of the Protestant Missionaries into Africa, has doubtless

been effective of much good, though it may reasonably be expected that

many have had their short comings. By Protestant, I mean all other

Christian denominations than the Roman Catholic. I would not be regarded

either a bigot or partialist so far as the rights of humanity are

concerned, but facts are tenable in all cases, and whilst I readily

admit that a Protestant monarch granted the first letters-patent to

steal Africans from their homes to be enslaved by a Protestant people,

and subsequently a _bona-fide_ Protestant nation has been among the most

cruel oppressors of the African race, my numerous friends among whom are

many Roman Catholics--black as well as white--must bear the test of

truth, as I shall apply it in the case of the Missionaries, as my object

in visiting my fatherland, was to enquire into and learn every fact,

which should have a bearing on this, the grandest prospect for the

regeneration of a people, that ever was presented in the history of the

world.

Influence of Roman Catholic Religion in Favor of Slavery

In my entire travels in Africa, either alone or after meeting with Mr.

Campbell at Abbeokuta, I have neither seen nor heard of any Roman

Catholic Missionaries; but the most surprising and startling fact is,

that every slave-trading point on the coast at present (which ports are

mainly situated South and East) where the traffic is carried on, are

either Roman Catholic trading-ports, or native agencies protected by

Roman Catholics; as Canot, formerly at Grand Cape Mount, Pedro Blanco,

and Domingo at Wydah in Dahomi. And still more, it is a remarkable and

very suggestive reality that at all of those places where the Jesuits or

Roman Catholic Missionaries once were stationed, the slave-trade is not

only still carried on in its worst form as far as practicable, but

slaves are held in Africa by these white foreigners at the old

Portuguese settlements along the Southern and Eastern coasts, of Loango

and Mozambique for instance; and although some three years have elapsed

since the King of Portugal proclaimed, or pretended to proclaim "Liberty

to all the people throughout his dominions," yet I will venture an

opinion, that not one in every hundred of native Africans thus held in

bondage on their own soil, are aware of any such "Proclamation." Dr.

Livingstone tells us that he came across many ruins of Roman Catholic

Missionary Stations in his travels--especially those in Loando de St.

Paul, a city of some eighteen or twenty thousand of a population--all

deserted, and the buildings appropriated to other uses, as

store-houses, and the like. Does not this seem as though slavery were

the legitimate successor of Roman Catholicism, or slave-traders and

holders of the Roman Catholic religion and Missionaries? It certainly

has that appearance to me; and a fact still more glaring is, that the

only professing Christian government which in the light of the present

period of human elevation and national reform, has attempted such a

thing, is that of Roman Catholic Spain, (still persisting in holding

Cuba for the wealth accruing from African Slaves stolen from their

native land) which recently expelled every Protestant Missionary from

the African Island of Fernando Po, that they might command it unmolested

by Christian influence, as an export mart for the African Slave-Trade.

To these facts I call the attention of the Christian world, that no one

may murmur when the day of retribution in Africa comes--which come it

must--and is fast hastening, when slave-traders must flee.

Influence of Protestant Religion against Slavery, and in Favor of

Civilization

Wherever the Protestant Missionaries are found, or have been, there are

visible evidences of a purer and higher civilization, by the high

estimate set upon the Christian religion by the natives, the deference

paid to the missionaries themselves, and the idea which generally

obtains among them, that all missionaries are opposed to slavery, and

the faith they have in the moral integrity of these militant ambassadors

of the Living God. Wherever there are missionaries, there are schools

both Sabbath and secular, and the arts and sciences, and manners and

customs, more or less of civilized life, are imparted. I have not as yet

visited a missionary station in any part of Africa, where there were

not some, and frequently many natives, both adult and children, who

could speak, read, and write English, as well as read their own

language; as all of them, whether Episcopalian, Wesleyan, Baptist, or

Presbyterian, in the Yoruba country, have Crowther's editions of

religious and secular books in the schools and churches, and all have

native agents, interpreters, teachers (assistants) and catechists or

readers in the mission. These facts prove indisputably great progress;

and I here take much pleasure in recording them in testimony of those

faithful laborers in that distant vineyard of our heavenly Father in my

fatherland. Both male and female missionaries, all seemed much devoted

to their work, and anxiously desirous of doing more. Indeed, the very

fact of there being as many native missionaries as there are now to be

found holding responsible positions, as elders, deacons, preachers, and

priests, among whom there are many finely educated, and several of them

authors of works, not only in their own but the English language, as

Revs. Crowther, King, Taylor, and Samuel Crowther, Esq., surgeon, all

show that there is an advancement for these people beyond the point to

which missionary duty can carry them.

Kindness of Missionaries and Personal Acknowledgments

I am indebted to the Missionaries generally, wherever met with, whether

in Liberia or Central Africa, for their uniform kindness and

hospitality, among whom may be named: Rev. J. M. Harden and excellent

wife, (a refined highly educated native Ibo lady at Lagos), Revs. H.

Townsend, C. H. Gollmer, J. King, E. Bickersteth and ladies in

Abbeokuta; A. D. Phillips, J. A. Stone and lady, Ijaye; T. A. Reid, and

Mr. Mekin, Oyo; and Rev. D. Hinderer and lady; Ibaddan. I am indebted to

the Baptist Missionaries for the use of their Mission House and

furniture during our residence at Abbeokuta: Rev. John Roberts and lady,

Miss Killpatrick, Reverend Bishop Burns and lady, Rev. Mr. Tyler, Rev.

Mr. Gipson, Rev. Edward W. Blyden and others, Rev. Mr. Hoffman and lady,

and Rev. Mr. Messenger and lady, all of Liberia, I am indebted for marks

of personal kindness and attention when indisposed among them, and my

kind friends, the Reverend Alexander Crumell and lady, whose guest I was

during several weeks near the Cape, and who spared no pains to render my

stay not only a comfortable, but a desirable one.

Hints to Those to Whom They Apply

I would suggest for the benefit of missionaries in general, and those to

whom it applies in particular, that there are other measures and ways by

which civilization may be imparted than preaching and praying--temporal

as well as spiritual means. If all persons who settle among the natives

would, as far as it is in their power and comes within their province

induce, by making it a rule of their house or family, every native

servant to sit on a stool or chair; eat at a table instead of on the

ground; eat with a knife and fork (or _begin_ with a spoon) instead of

with their fingers; eat in the house instead of going out in the yard,

garden, or somewhere else under a tree or shed; and sleep on a bed,

instead of on a bare mat on the ground; and have them to wear some sort

of a garment to cover the entire person above the knees, should it be

but a single shirt or chemise, instead of a loose native cloth thrown

around them, to be dropped at pleasure, at any moment exposing the

entire upper part of the person--or as in Liberia, where that part of

the person is entirely uncovered--I am certain that it would go far

toward impressing them with some of the habits of civilized life, as

being adapted to them as well as the "white man," whom they so

faithfully serve with a will. I know that some may say, this is

difficult to do. It certainly could not have been with those who never

tried it. Let each henceforth resolve for himself like the son of Nun,

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Changing Names

I would also suggest that I cannot see the utility of the custom on the

part of Missionaries in _changing_ the names of native children, and

even adults, so soon as they go into their families to live, as though

their own were not good enough for them. These native names are

generally much more significant, and euphonious than the Saxon, Gaelic,

or Celtic. Thus, Adenigi means, "Crowns have their shadow." This was the

name of a servant boy of ours, whose father was a native cotton trader,

it is to be hoped that this custom among Missionaries and other

Christian settlers, of changing the names of the natives, will be

stopped, thereby relieving them of the impression, that to embrace the

Christian faith, implies a loss of name, and so far loss of identity.

XI

WHAT AFRICA NOW REQUIRES

What Missionary Labor Has Done

From the foregoing, it is very evident that missionary duty has reached

its _ultimatum_. By this, I mean that the native has received all that

the missionary was sent to teach, and is now really ready for more than

he can or may receive. He sees and knows that the white man, who first

carried him the Gospel, which he has learned to a great extent to

believe a reality, is of an entirely different race to himself; and has

learned to look upon everything which he has, knows and does, which has

not yet been imparted to him (especially when he is told by the

missionaries, which frequently must be the case, to relieve themselves

of the endless teasing enquiries which persons in their position are

subject to concerning all and every temporal and secular matter, law,

government, commerce, military, and other matters foreign to the

teachings of the gospel; that these things he is not sent to teach, but

simply the gospel) as peculiarly adapted and belonging to the white man.

Of course, there are exceptions to this. Hence, having reached what he

conceives to be the _maximum_ of the black man's or African's

attainments, there must be a re-action in some direction, and if not

progressive it will be retrogressive.

How It Was Done

The missionary has informed him that the white man's country is great.

He builds and resides in great houses; lives in great towns and cities,

with great churches and palaver-houses (public and legislative halls);

rides in great carriages; manufactures great and beautiful things; has

great ships, which go to sea, to all parts of the world, instead of

little canoes such as he has paddling up and down the rivers and on the

coast; that the wisdom, power, strength, courage, and wealth of the

white man and his country are as much greater than him and his, as the

big ships are larger and stronger than the little frail canoes; all of

which he is made sensible of, either by the exhibition of pictures or

the reality.

The Result, If Not Timely Aided by Legitimate Means

He at once comes to a stand. "Of what use is the white man's religion

and 'book knowledge' to me, since it does not give me the knowledge and

wisdom nor the wealth and power of the white man, as all these things

belong only to him? Our young men and women learn their book, and talk

on paper (write), and talk to God like white man (worship), but God no

hear 'em like He hear white man! Dis religion no use to black man." And

so the African _reasonably_ reasons when he sees that despite his having

yielded up old-established customs, the laws of his fathers, and almost

his entire social authority, and the rule of his household to the care

and guardianship of the missionary, for the sake of acquiring his

knowledge and power--when, after having learned all that his children

can, he is doomed to see them sink right back into their old habits,

the country continue in the same condition, without the beautiful

improvements of the white man--and if a change take place at all, he is

doomed to witness what he never expected to see and dies

regretting--himself and people entangled in the meshes of the government

of a people foreign in kith, kin, and sympathy, when he and his are

entirely shoved aside and compelled to take subordinate and inferior

positions, if not, indeed, reduced to menialism and bondage. I am

justified in asserting that this state of things has brought missionary

efforts to their _maximum_ and native progress to a pause.

Missionary Aid, Christianity and Law or Government Must Harmonize, to Be

Effective of Good