AS SEEN FROM
THE DECK OF A MAN-OF-WAR.
___
BY THE LATE
COMMANDER HUGH McN. DYER, R.N.,
H.M.S. “TORCH”
[NOTE: Because of the time in which the book was written, it contains some outwardly racist, ethnocentric material. I am posting the book here not only because Hugh was my third great-grandfather, but also because it contains both historical and anthropological data.]
[PAGE 137] At this time, 10th November [1872], we had more fever in the ship than we had at any one time on the coast, but none of the cases were very serious. By taking prompt measures, and moving at once to Kabenda the cases rapidly recovered. The rains were not heavy, but in mid-day the heat was great, for the coast, the thermometer in the shade reaching 88°. But the mornings and evenings were pleasant: and we could always enjoy a walk of four or five miles at these times. European residents seldom take exercise in any part of West Africa, and our proceedings astonished the natives. About Kabenda these short stretches into the country were very interesting. Brighter or more beautiful greens the eye never rested on than in the woods. The orange and lemon trees in blossom filled the air with perfume. The prairie grass was full of wild flowers, and the beautiful plumage of the birds I have already spoken of. The little villages of huts built of split palm stems and thatched with palm leaves, were kept cleanly swept up, surrounded by neat gardens and graceful banana trees. The banana trees are always [PAGE 138] near the villages so that they may be secure from thieves. The Indian corn and cassada bushes are planted in neat rows, the sweet potatoes and pea nuts in regular beds. In the rear of each dwelling is a small house, raised three or four feet from the ground on posts, to protect it from snakes and vermin. This is for the poultry.
The people were always well clothed, in African fashion, and always civil, Sometimes when we got a little further from the town than usual, the women would run into the bush in fright at meeting us, or braver mothers would bring out their naughty children to show them the horrid white man who had come to take them away! If screams of terror were any indication of the black infants’ feelings, I should say they were quite equal to that of any English baby when threatened to be handed over to a wandering Lascar pedlar [sic].
One evening we swat down on a village bench to rest, and asked for palm wine. While it was being brought to us, we delighted the boys, by drawing their likenesses with our walking sticks in the sand. There were roars of laughter as they detected particular features in our rough portraits, and I have seldom seen such enjoyment as our ten minutes artistic performance afforded. The headman of this village took us to his house to show us his treasures. Not his wives! he had four of those he told us, but they lived in little huts by [PAGE 139] themselves within the cane fence which surrounded his whole premises; but his wealth, his money. This was kept in a room, the sides of which were boarded, and had a door fastened with a good strong padlock. It smelt very musty as we entered, for there was no window, or any means of ventilating it. In the corner were piles of cotton cloth, round the sides dozens of empty bottles, powder barrels and gin cases: several pictures hung against the walls, one of them an engraving of the “Black Brunswicker,” well framed; and several guns, flints, brass rods, and coloured bottles and beads were arranged about the room. The old man was very proud of his possessions, and carried the key of his treasure room suspended by an iron chain, of no slight dimension, round his neck.
At the native burial ground are to be seen graves ornamented with wooden crosses, having on them an imitation of our letters: the graves are also covered with pieces of glass and crockery, sometimes broken and sometimes not. I noticed this also near Antonio’s town and elswhere [sic]. The graves are also sometimes railed round. In the centre of the town of Kabenda is a wooden cross painted black, on which is printed the Lord’s prayer in Portuguese. There are no missionaries in the place and have not been for many years, but there was a house called a school house where children were taught something, I was told, but I don’t know what. The schoolmaster was a native. Flags were [PAGE 140] always flown on Sundays, people put on their best clothes, and did very little work; but these were the only outward sign of any other religion than fetishism to be seen. The fetish man had great power. No one would think of robbing an orange or banana tree about which he had hung a few charms, and he could always discover a witch or a wizard. The ordeal by poison was often had recourse to, to discover thieves, and the fetish man administered the dose. It was called Sassa water. If the accused drank the poison and died, he was guilty; if he vomited it, he was innocent. We were told that the fetish man could always be “got at” by a sufficient bribe from a suspected person, and the strength of the mixture would be so reduced as to be innocuous. If one person challenges another to undergo the ordeal, as a proof that he is not guilty of an offence charged against him, that other is bound to accept it; but, if he survives, the challenger has to pay damages and give a feast to the relatives of the accused. A feast of this kind took place during our stay at Kabenda, and some of our officers went to it. There was dancing and horn-blowing, clapping of hands, and such like entertainment, but nothing that could be called by us - amusement.
Francisco Franco, commonly called “Chico Franco,” was Chief of Kabenda. The great King was some mysterious individual, said to live in the far interior, whose “fetish” forbad his looking upon the sea or upon [PAGE 141] a white man. Chico Franco and his brothers had all made a good deal of money in the good old slaving days. They were now old, and very honest!
The Chief’s right hand man, minister, or whatever he might call him, was Capita. He judged Kabenda; and it was amusing to see him at his magisterial work, seated in front of his house, with a circle of litigants before him to whom he meted out justice in the most approved fashion. Offenders, of crimes of a serious nature, were punished by fine or imprisonment; the latter is technically termed “tying up,” and I saw one or two men “tied up” by a chain to a post near his premises. These people are provided with a code of laws of their own; not written, but well understood, and it must not be thought that they are without morals. In certain cases, adultery is punished with death. A man may have as many wives as he likes, but he must pay for them to their parents, and be married according to native customs. A wife costs from £5 to £20 according to her family, for there are many steps in the social scale in this country. As the wife has to provide the family with food, till the ground, and keep the house in order, she helps her husband to get more wives as soon as he can afford it, to help her in her work!
But it is unlawful for one man to take another’s wife.
I heard of a case in Kabenda where high treason [PAGE 142] had been punished by roasting alive. Chico Franco kept some of his wealth in boxes under his bed. His sons bribed a servant to procure the key of the box, and they took doubloons from it occasionally.
Chico Franco discovered their dishonesty, and finding that the sons had obtained the key of the box from his steward he had him roasted on the beach.
At about two miles from Kabenda lives the Baron Punha, a Portuguese nobleman and Colonel in the Angola Militia; but he is a pure native, as black as a coal. He gained his honours in the slave trade, through the influence of some Governor-General of Angola, and he is reported to have gained a nice fortune at the same time.
And now I discovered that the perpetrators of the ivory robbery from Ambrizette were actually living near Kabenda, and that the ivory had been landed close to. I wrote a very strong letter to Chico Franco, demanding that the “Padron” of the boat at least should be handed over to me, with what ivory could be found. After a good deal of pressing the man was sent, with four tusks bearing Mr. Stuart’s private mark. I at at [sic] once took the man to Ambrizette, and assembled a Naval court to try him. The charge was that he had been sent from Maculla, a place a few miles north of Ambrizette, to the latter port, with 50 tusks of ivory. Instead of going to Ambrizette, however, he ran the boat to the north, crossed the Congo stream, beached [PAGE 143] the boat near Kabenda, and made off with the ivory. His story was that his boat was leaky, that he was taking her to the nearest port for repairs, when she sank, and the crew were drowned except for himself and another man. The evidence showed this to be impossible; the man was found guilty, and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. He was kept on board the Torch until an opportunity arose of sending him to the Cape or St. Helena prison. He got quite at home on board the ship, and liked to be allowed to make himself useful, at pumping, or trimming coals; but he said he never could return to his own country again, as he had said at his trial Chico Franco had “told a lie.” One night we were at anchor in the Congo stream, two miles from shore, and the current running out to sea at the rate of four miles an hour, when the prisoner jumped overboard, and was never heard of. Without doubt he was drowned.
Another occurrence took place at this time illustrative of the various matters our naval officers on this coast have to attend to. A Portuguese trader at Chiloango had been brutally murdered by his servants. It was said he was a very cruel man, and his fate did not surprise anyone, but this is not to the matter; he left many debts and some property. His creditors had a meeting and agreed to bring in his goods from the out stations to the main factory, and having ascertained their value and the total amount of his debts, to divide [PAGE 144] them equally among the creditors. A Portuguese creditor at Chiloango offered to convey the goods at that station to Black point, the main factory, in two schooners of his own, and the goods were embarked; but as there was no chance of the deceased debtor’s estate paying twenty shillings in the pound, this cunning Portuguese ordered his vessels to make away as fast as they could for Ambriz in Portuguese territory, where he knew he would be able to manage affairs so as to cover his debt in full. Unfortunately for him, an English creditor had a steamer at Black point, and hearing of the treachery of their Portuguese fellow creditor, the others convened a meeting and commissioned the English steamer to proceed in chase of the schooners and bring them back. The schooners were found, and towed into Kabenda. They had Portuguese colours flying and correct Portuguese papers. The English creditors came to me to ask me to unload the schooners and place the cargo under seal on shore. I pointed out that I had no power to take such a course, and they had no power to seize a foreign ship on the high seas, although it was plain in equity she was committing an illegal act. I offered to go to Loanda at once and place the matter in our Consul’s hands, but the merchants said they should consider their debt entirely lost if the goods ever got within Portuguese jurisdiction; and one of these gentlemen was interested to the extent of £4000. I therefore refused to interfere [PAGE 145] with the schooners at all, unless a charge of piracy, on oath was made against them; and on my telling the merchants that they would have to answer for any charge of illegal capture that the Portuguese might make, and we were then in neutral waters, I told them to follow the custom and law of the country. The schooners subsequently sailed back to Black point, and I have no doubt the goods were unloaded.
A Portuguese man-of-war arrived at Kabenda that evening, and when I told him what had taken place he only expressed surprise that I had’nt [sic] seized the schooners, saying “all these traders are ‘degredados,’ and don’t deserve protection, and anyone can get Portuguese papers, and hoist our colours.”
Considering the large amount of trade being done on the South Coast, and the absence of all constituted authority between Gaboon and Ambriz, it is wonderful how any semblance of law is maintained. Some rough justice does take place now and then as may be imagined.
On the 2nd December [1872] Commodore Commerell arrived in the Rattlesnake, and on the 4th he came on board the Torch for the purpose of ascending the Congo.
The only pilot we could obtain at Banana had not been up the river for three months, and he found that the channel had filled up, which he had been accustomed to use. When we were three miles below Punta de [PAGE 146] Lenha we were obliged to anchor. This was 30 miles above Banana, and the channel had been wide and deep so far. The river was very wide at this point, but shoal places were visible in every direction. We prepared the steam pinnace to go to M’Boma next day. The steam was very rapid. Heavy showers of rain fell and large floating islands passed us. The river banks were still covered with mangrove, the first palm tree being met at Punta de Lenha.
At daylight the next morning we started. In an hour we reached the factories. We found deep water close to the bushes on the northern bank. Everyone and everything looks miserable at Punta de Lenha. The river had risen to within a few inches of the floors of the factories. Alligators had invaded the yards and stolen the pigs. Trade was at a stand still. About the only thing to be noticed at this place besides its misery, was the large bed of dead oyster shells among the mangroves close to. They are used to make a hard wharf for landing stores on, by ramming them down between piles.
A mile above Punta de Lenha the current was so strong our boat could hardly creep round the points, although she was streaming 7 knots an hour. We kept our course as close as possible to the banks. The river widened out into an expanse at least 12 miles wide and covered with low islands. The rain fell in torrents until 2 p.m. when we found ourselves approaching a [PAGE 147] different kind of the country, and the sun bursting out showed us as fine a bit of river scenery as could be wished for. The mangroves had disappeared. Scattered palms had taken their place, Cliffs or red sandstone came down to the river, and in the back-ground were green hills and distant mountains. The dark brown river looked well in this setting. In the centre it was disturbed by small whirlpools, and the sea breeze raised its waves.
We reached M’Boma at 4 p.m. The Delta was passed and the river concentrated into one stream, about a mile wide, and at a little distance from either shore 50 fathoms deep.
We were most hospitably received by Mr. de Jongh of the Dutch house at Banana. All the Banana houses were represented at M’Boma, and small steamers and schooners plied between the two places conveying the goods. This was a dull time of the year. The floods prevented people crossing the streams up country; and the river was running too swiftly for canoes to return against stream without great trouble.
M’Boma used to be the great slave market for slaves on the South Coast, as Lagos was in the “Bights.” Thousands used to be kept on hand in baracoons, for intending shippers to buy, and they used either to be sent in canoes down the river or marched across the country to meet a vessel ready to leave the Coast. We were told it was not uncommon to have [PAGE 148] 30,000 slaves in stock, and the number seldom fell below 10,000.
Of course M’Boma has sunk in importance since the slave trade ceased, but it is rapidly beginning to revive, as trade increases. It is expected that the ivory caravans will soon come here instead of going to Angolo [sic?]. As it is, a large quantity of palm oil, pea nuts, and wax are brought to this market, and small quantities of every commodity known in the African market.
Mr. de Jongh’s board groaned with plenty; and he had most comfortable rooms and beds for us to sleep in. He told us he found M’Boma the healthiest station on the river, but that it would be still pleasanter farther up. The falls of Yellala which interrupt navigation 40 miles from M’Boma had not been visited by any person at that station, and the accounts known of them here were mythical. Some stated them to be mere rapids, others high falls plainly to be heard at five miles distance. The natives from Yellala were said to object to white men going into their country, but there is no doubt that white men will soon go there; already they were establishing factories twenty miles nearer the falls, and these we proposed visiting.
There was no thick bush visible near M’Boma. The country consisted of high prairie land, interspersed with clumps of trees. This may be said to be the general character of the coast between Ambriz and the third [PAGE 149] degree of south latitude except at the mouths of rivers where the mangrove swamps are. The soil is rich and cultivation easy. Some of the trees are of great size, and the wood is both useful and ornamental. Cattle, sheep, and poultry will do well; but the people have not yet learnt either agricultural of pastoral farming.
We learnt something more of Coast justice at M’Boma. We saw five men chained together with iron rings round their necks, as in Angola. We ascertained they were being punished for pilfering. “And” added our informant, “I am very lenient to them, my neighbour there would tie them head and feet together and throw them into the river!”
“But,” we asked, “do not the native Chiefs complain of this?”
“Oh! no” was the reply, “they would if blood was shed, we should then have to pay blood-money.”
I had previously heard many stories from our traders of the manner they punished native offenders, and I knew they were guided by native customs. I had never heard anything so bad as this. I am glad to say in this instance the person spoken of was no countryman of ours. But I heard afterwards that in another place an Englishman had thus punished natives for stealing. The only punishment I ever witnessed natives undergoing from our traders was “tying up” for debt; but I have heard them speak of flogging them, and have heard of worse things from others.
[PAGE 150] Mr. de Jongh told us there was a village over M’Boma, which was a kind of monastery. All males of the tribes in the neighbourhood went there for a short period of their lives, some remaining two years. During this time they never washed, kept apart from their wives, and wore a peculiar dress. As long as they did this they were maintained at the public expense. All males of these tribes were circumcised.
There are seven kings at M’Boma. They used to be powerful men in former days, but their glory has departed with the slave trade.
We saw Captain Burton’s name cut on a cotton tree near the Dutch factory.
After a pleasant night’s rest, and a refreshing breakfast we started at early morning up stream. Some of our M’Boma friends accompanied us. The current was so strong we could make little way, and after we had gone five miles, our coals began to give out and we were obliged to return. This was very disappointing, as at every mile the scenery became more lovely and interesting. We all pronounced it a noble and beautiful river and prophesied a great future for it.
We went down stream fast enough, and after making a short stay at M’Boma and lunching at Punta de Lenha, we reached the Torch early in the afternoon, and the Rattlesnake off Banana before sunset.
Shortly after this we left the South Coast, with the [PAGE 151] Commodore, for the “Bights,” and on the 17th December [1872] anchored off the fairway buoy of the Bonny.
The Bonny is one of the many mouths of the Niger. It is wide and deep within its bar, but shoals run out to seawards for many miles, and the fair-way buoy is nearly ten miles from its entrance. The tides run strongly in and out.
The object of the Commodore’s visit was to arrange a peace between the Bonny and Opobo men. In consequence of a war which these people kept up, without any prospect of a conclusion, trade was nearly ruined.
The position of affairs was this:-
George Pepple is nominally King of Bonny. He is a young man; has been educated in England; speaks excellent English, and is well informed. He receives a large “comey,” or export duty, on oil, and trades as well. His Chiefs, however, have more real power, and more wealth than he has. A few years previous to this, two of the principal ones grew very jealous of each other, and gathering factions round them, fought their quarrel out in Bonny town. These men, Oko Jumbo and Ja-ja, pretty fairly divided Bonny sympathy between them, and the patronage of the foreign merchants. But at this first struggle the fates were against Ja-ja. At last, by the assistance of white traders, he was able to escape from Bonny together with his followers, and he established himself at a river named the Opobo, another branch of the Niger, forty [PAGE 152] miles east of the Bonny. This river has internal communication with the Bonny. By the aid of his white friends, Ja-ja quickly supplied himself with artillery, armed heavy war canoes, and erected batteries in positions where he was able to stop oil going down to Bonny from the inland markets. Ja-ja also declared himself independent of Pepple, and to be King of Opobo. The Bonnymen had their backers also, but they were unable to break Ja-ja’s blockade. However, they discovered another passage higher up the stream, through which light canoes could pass, and here the Bonnymen established batteries, which prevented all trade coming down. Ja-ja was unable to break this blockade, and thus trade came to a standstill.
The war was called Oko Jumbo’s and Ja-Ja’s war as it really was, Pepple being a mere puppet. There is, however, considerable respect paid to family in Bonny, and Pepple’s family was good. Oko Jumbo’s or Ja-Ja’s nothing to speak of.
Oko Jumbo told us he had 80 war canoes armed with cannon, and Ja-Ja said he had 100. Besides, they had a large number of guns in their batteries. The guns in the latter were not mounted on carriages - these were not approved of, - but were laid on the ground with their muzzles resting on fallen trunks of trees at different angles. The cannon were of every possible pattern and description.
No general action ever took place between the [PAGE 153] contending parties. For two or three years they stood their ground, neither party gaining or losing. Skirmishes took place of the outposts. Stragglers were caught on either side, killed or eaten; but the end seemed as far off as ever. At length our Foreign Office determined to interfere, and Commodore Commerell and Consul [Charles] Livingstone were instructed to open the river for trade.
The Consul met the Commodore at the Bonny, and they at once held a preliminary palaver with Pepple and his Chiefs on board the Torch.
King George wore a grey tweed suit and a seal-skin cap; but Oko Jumbo and Ada Alison, his Chiefs, wore the native dress.
The King’s address was very grandiloquent; he talked of referring the question between himself and the rebel Ja-Ja to arbitration of some neutral native King, who understood African customs, in the same manner as he had submitted our difference with America to arbitration.
He refused to meet Ja-Ja at all, and heaped abuse on him, but he was told that neither he nor Ja-Ja would be allowed to ruin a fine trade any more, and if necessary he must meet Ja-Ja.
Bonny Town is in a most unhealthy situation amidst a mangrove swamp. The houses are built of clay and roofed with corrugated iron. Oko Jumbo’s house is a two-storied building of some pretension. [PAGE 154] The white traders live on board large airy hulks in the river. These vessels are roofed over and comfortably fitted up, and are more pleasant to live in than any place on shore would be.
We visited the Ju-Ju house. This is the only religious building, set apart for pagan worship, I have seen in Africa. It is a small building roofed with iron, of one room, containing the skulls and other parts of human victims killed in sacrifice. It has also in it a number of goats’ skulls, and a large stuffed lizard was in a recess of a square pillar of bones and skulls standing in the centre of the apartment. In front of this is a hole in the floor to receive the blood and libations of wine offered to the Gods. I could not learn exactly what ceremonies took place here. The natives did not like talking of them. Human sacrifices and cannibal feasts do occur occasionally, but the victims are killed at the river side.
I was told the bodies were then taken to the Ju-Ju house to be cut up by the “Fetish” men, who reserved the hands and feet for themselves, and served out the other portions to the persons wishing to partake of the feast. The flesh was boiled and eaten with yams.
There is a missionary station close to Bonny Town, and I have no doubt the missionaries are striving hard to stop the savage practices of the natives, but it is more than the Chiefs are able to do to stop these old customs suddenly, and consequently missionaries and [PAGE 155] other Whites must be patient. The practice of cannibalism is less common every year, as is also human sacrifice.
A Bonny canoe is a large-sized boat, sometimes paddled by as many as 24 men, who use very short paddles. The canoes are hollowed out of a single tree, and very well shaped.
The men sing as they paddle and make a great noise. When there is any wind they use a sail.
The trade of the river in peaceful times is very great, it consists almost entirely in palm oil, which is brought from distant native markets in these large canoes. The natives are very jealous of white men going direct to these markets in the interior, and as yet they have seldom been visited.
From the Bonny the Commodore and Consul went to the Opobo with the Rattlesnake and Torch.
Commodore Commerell and Consul [Charles] Livingstone proceeded up to Opobo in the Torch. The country is all mangrove swamp. The town, of the usual native style, in an unhealthy situation. Several trading hulks were moored off it.
Ja-Ja came on board, attended to by his Secretary, a Sierra Leone man, who spoke good English. Ja-Ja’s English was the usual Coast “patter.” The Chief was dressed in native, his Secretary in European style.
Ja-Ja seemed anxious to make peace, but said he had sworn his great oath never to cross the Opobo bar [PAGE 156] again, and therefore would not go to Bonny. He agreed to meet the Bonnymen, on board one of our ships, inside the Opobo bar, and submit the quarrel to the arbitration of the Commodore and Consul, with the Chiefs of New Calabar for assessors.
Before parting we fired a large rocket for Ja-Ja’s entertainment.
The Commodore then returned to Bonny, and sent us to Fernando Po for coal, and to order the Supply to Opobo.
We returned on Christmas morning [1872] with the only bullocks we could obtain for the squadron. But no ships were there, so we had the beef to ourselves.
We had a broiling hot day, and spent it, side by side, with the Supply, seeing which could roll the heaviest.
The day after, orders reached us by the Coquette to go to Bonny and prepare to embark the King and Chiefs for Opobo.
As we were at the point of sailing from Bonny, a fire broke out in the town which quickly destroyed one-third of it. This was Ada Alison’s portion. We went on shore, and found the poor old man in great grief, but bearing up stoically. His women were weeping and screaming near his house, and one of them rushed into the river to drown herself, saying that life was not worth having now he property was all destroyed. Very likely the said property consisted of a few iron [PAGE 157] rings and glass beads worth two shillings. She was saved, and on second thoughts, consented to live. Of course there was no getting the Chiefs on board for that day.
But the next morning King George, with his brother, Prince Charles, Oko-Jumbo, Prime Minister, Ada Alison, and Captain Hart, Councillors Waripoo, Commander-in-Chief, John Jumbo, and several other influential men and chiefs of the Bonny tribe, with some Okreeka Chiefs, who were to act as assessors for the Bonnymen embarked.
With their attendants they numbered 39. They brought as much luggage with them as it they were going to England. Not in mats or bundles, but in Russia leather portmanteaux and japanned tin cases, and French valises.
All the head men were in European costume and some of them well-dressed. George wore an Indian pith helmet, a black frock coat, and London-made nether garments. A heavy gold watch chain ornamented his waistcoat. But some of the Chiefs were evidently uncomfortable, and light leather shoes were soon replaced by carpet slippers. They had to live under the awning on deck as I had no accommodation for them below. The Chiefs did not give much trouble, but King George thought himself deserving extra attention, which I could not give him. They were supplied with a plentiful table, but a limit was obliged [PAGE 158] to be put to the wine and beer. Rum, they did not consider “gentleman’s drink.” Old Waripoo was constantly coming to me to shake hands and say, “Cap’n, my belly cold,” by which I knew he wanted brandy. I must say though I never saw any of them take too much: some of the young fellows gave themselves great airs. I thought John Jumbo, who has recently joined our expedition on the Gold Coast, the best of them.
There was some trouble in getting the Bonny men to cross the Opobo bar. The Pioneer went up to Ja-Ja’s town with the Commodore and the New Calabar Chiefs, who had come in the Rattlesnake with him. These latter were fine specimens of natives. The King wore a long black silk gown, a tall “Lincoln and Bennett” hat, and patent leather boots, with a massive silver collar round his neck. His chiefs wore silk dresses and “gum” boots.
The Bonny men were told they might go in the Pioneer if they liked, but they were not to show themselves on deck when Ja-Ja came on board. Their curiosity overcame their scruples, and they all went.
As soon as the time of the palaver was arranged the Pioneer returned outside the bar.
The next morning, early, the Bonny men made a grand toilet. Oko-Jumbo wore a tall white hat in a jaunty style, and King George had rivals as leaders of fashion. There were no fancy costumes, no uniforms, but none of the chiefs wore the native dress.
[PAGE 159] Ja-Ja came off to meet the Pioneer in a naval uniform, with a military staff-officer’s cocked hat, but when he saw our party he felt rather ashamed of himself and appeared in a plainer, although an equally expensive dress afterwards.
The Palaver lasted for three days. George spoke well for his cause, and his arguments were good. The Assessors listened attentively, and the King of New Calabar expressed his opinion of the case clearly and sensibly. It was only possible to settle such a dispute by a compromise. Both parties had done much harm to each other, but neither was strong enough to conquer the other. An arrangement was then made that the markets should be divided! the Bonny men to trade with certain ones named, and the Opobo with certain others. On this basis peace was at length agreed upon, and a treaty to that effect was made and sworn to by the native oath, which was to the following effect.
“Listen hearts and souls of Bonny, Opobo, Calabar, and Okreeka.
“May the God of the Sun,
May the God of the Moon,
May the God of the Earth,
May the God of the Sea,
May the God of the Sky,
destroy me; may my bones rot in my body before I die; and may slaves eat my flesh, if I, Ja-Ja, fail to keep this ju-ju with thee, Oko Jumbo.”
[PAGE 160] Then a portion of a glass of wine was spilled on the ground, and the rest of it drank.
The Bonny men pretended at first to be ill satisfied with the terms they had obtained, but after a little while they owned that peace, at any price, was a blessing to them, as the trade was leaving the river in consequence of the war.
During the palaver days the weather had fortunately kept fine, but as we were on our return to Bonny the rain fell in torrents. It was night time, and I felt for the poor fellows on deck and their fine clothes. It was pitch dark, so they could not be seen; as day dawned, I found them all reduced to a clout, smoking their pipes, and looking the picture of happiness! The weather got fine enough for them to land in full feather, and we were not at all sorry to be rid of the cumberers of our deck for the previous five days.
We were also glad to receive our orders to proceed to Gibralter. The Supply had been on shore, and we were to convoy her to Cadiz, first going to Ascension with the Coquette, whose crew were suffering severely from fever. She had 37 cases among her crew of 57 men. The Supply and Coquette had been sent to Anno Bom to get fresh stock, and await for us.
We parted company with the Commodore on the 6th January [1873], and on the 8th anchored off Anno Bom, where we found our consorts waiting for us.
Click here to return to the book’s contents page.
Click here to go to Chapter IX (9).
E-mail Val with your comments!
Return to Family Profiles Page
Return to Val's Family Photos Page
This FREE homepage hosted by 