West African Countries and Peoples, British and Native, ... and a vindication of the African race

Front matter

J.WYLD, DEL FT UTH WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES. WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES, BRITISH AND NATIVE. WITH THE REQUIREMENTS NECESSARY FOR ESTABLISHING THAT SELF GOVERNMENT RECOMMENDED BY THE COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 1365 ; AND A VINDICATION OF THE AFRICAN RACE. BY JAMES AFEICANUS B. HORTON, M.D.Ediii.. F.R.G.S., AUTHOR OF " PHYSICAL AND MEDICAL CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY OF THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA," "GUINEA WORM, OR DRACUNCULUS," ETC, ETC, ETC STAFF ASSISTANT-SURGEON OF H.M. FORCES IS WEST AFRICA; ASSOCIATE OF KINC*S COLLEGE, LONDON ', FOREIGN FELLOW OF THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF KINO'S COLLEGE, LONDON; MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE d'afrique OF PARIS, etc., etc., etc. " Africa ought to be allowed to have a fair chance of raising her character in the scale of the civihzed world."— Emperor of Russia.

LONDON: W. J. JOHNSON, 121, FLEET STREET. 18G8. LONDON: W. J. JOHNSON, PKINTER, 121, FLEET STREET. TO THE REY. HENRY YENN, B.D., FREBENDARY OF ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, HONORARY SECRETARY OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY, ETC, ETC, AS A SLIGHT MEMENTO OP APPRECIATION FOR HIS UNTIRING ZEAL TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL, SOCIAL, AND CHRISTIAN ADVANCEMENT OF THE AFRICAN RACE ; AND AS AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MANY PERSONAL KINDNESSES RECEIVED, Cfjts £Etorl> IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS.

Part I. West African Countries And Peoples, And The Negro's Place In

NATURE. Chap. Page I. — Description of the Original and Uncivilized State of the Native Tribes 1 II. —The Origin, Dangers, and Progressive Development of the Liberian Republic III. — Exposition of Erroneous Views respecting the African 20 IV. — False Theories of Modern Anthropologists . . 34 V. — Some Anatomical Accounts of Negro Physique . 44 VI. — The Progressive Advancement of the Negro Race under Civilizing Influence 59

Part II. African Nationality

VII. — General Observations : Self-government of the Gambia 69 VIII. — Self-government of Sierra Leone ; Kingdom of Sierra Leone 87 IX. — Self-government of the Gold Coast 104 X. — Self-government of the Gold Coast : Kingdom of Fantee CONTENTS. Page Chap. Pa_' XI. — Self-government of the Gold Coast : Republic of Accra 130 XII. — Self-government of Lagos and its Interior Countries ; Kingdom of the Akus 152 XIII. — Empire of the Eboes 171

Part III. Requirements Of The Various Colonies And Settlements

XIV. — Requirements of Sierra Leone 199 XV. — Requirements of the Gambia 239 XVI. — Requirements of the Gold Coast 243 XVII.— Requirements of Lagos ; Some Remarks on the Republic of Liberia 209 XVIII. — Concluding Remarks ; Advice to the Rising Generation in West Africa

Preface

. It must appear astounding to those who have carefully and thoughtfully read the history of England in connexion with the subject of the African race, when its greatest statesman, so long ago as 1838, stated in Parliament the endeavours his Government had been making to induce the various continental and transatlantic ones to put down slavery, that the abolition of that institution in the Southern States of America should have produced so much bile amongst a small section in England ; who, although they have had un deniable proofs of the fallacy of their arguments, and incon sistency of their statements with existing facts, have formed themselves into an association (sic Anthropological Society) to rake up old malice and encourage their agents abroad to search out the worst possible characteristics of the African, so to furnish material for venting their animus against him. ' Its object/ as has been stated, ' is to prove him unim provable, therefore unimproved since the beginning, and, consequently, fitted only to remain a hewer of wood and drawer of water for the members of that select society.' It would have been sufficient to treat this with the contempt it deserves, were it not that leading statesmen of the present day have shown themselves easily carried away by the malicious views of these negrophobists, to the great pre judice of that race.

PREFACE.

. It is without doubt an uphill work for those who have always combated that vile crusade of prejudice, especially when considering themselves at the point of putting a crowning stroke to the superstructure which had taken them years to erect, to find the foundation undermined by rats of a somewhat formidable size, and therefore requiring a renewed and a more unassailable structure. One of the anthropological myths is to prove that, up to the age of puberty, the negro can combat successfully, and even show a precocity superior to that of the more enlightened race of a temperate climate, but that after this period, which corre sponds to the closing of the sutures, he is doomed — a limit is set upon his further .progress. But to prove more con vincingly that this malign statement is fallacious, let those who are interested in the subject refer to the Principals of the Church Missionary College, Islington; King's College, London; and Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone; where full blooded Africans, who have had the complete development of their sutures, have been under tuition, and they will then be able to form an opinion from unbiassed testimony.

I do not for a moment attempt here to prove that, as a whole, a race whose past generations have been in utter darkness, the mental faculty of whose ancestors has never received any culture for nearly a thousand years, could attempt to com pete successfully in their present state with one whose ancestors have successively been under mental training and moulding for centuries. To think so would be to expect an ordinary-bred horse to have equal chances in a grand race with a thorough-bred one. But I say that the African race. as exemplified by tho results of enterprises in Western Africa, if put in comparison with any race on the face of the

PREFACE.

. III globe, whether Caucasian, Mongolian, Teutonic, Celtic, or any other just emerging from a state of barbarism, as they are, will never be found a whit behind. But to draw deduc tions by comparing their present state with the civilization of the nineteenth century is not only absurd, but most unphilosophical. Even Captain Burton, the noli me tangere of the African race, the greatest authority in the present school of English anthropologists (their vice-president), who, from his writings, has led everyone to believe that he has a fiendish hatred against the negro, whilst animadverting in all his works on Western Africa, in the most unmistakably mali cious language, on the impossibilty of improving that race he so hates, forgot himself in one place, and exclaimed, as to their intellectual superiority, ' There are about 100 Europeans in the land ; amongst these there are many excellent fellows, but it is an unpleasant confession to malie, the others appear to be inferior to the Africans, native as well as mulatto.

The possibility of such a thing had never yet reached my brain. At last, in colloquy with an old friend upon the Coast, the idea started up, and, after due discussion, we adopted it. I speak of morale. In intellect the black race is palpably superior, and it is fast advancing in the path of civilization.' The first and last italics are ours. But these anthropologists have still worse designs for Africa, since we find them seriously arguing in their meetings and proclaiming in the public press that the Mohammedan religion, in all cases where Western Africa is concerned, should supplant that of Christianity ; that the belief in the False Prophet is substantially better than the belief in Christ

PREFACE.

. for the African. And when we see the chief of them suiting his actions to his words, kneeling in the presence of the native population every morning with his face towards the rising sun, bowing and making signs, in the attitude and after the fashion of a true believer in Mohammedanism ; when, I say, we see such men seriously arguing that polygamy is the natural and more genial institution, and monogamy not, and laying aside and totally ignoring the biblical revelation, what else can the negro expect but a com plete falsification of every circumstance relating to his race ? I believe and firmly hold, that it is not by Mohammedan izing the inhabitants of Western Africa according to the present school of anthropologists, that they can or will be civilized ; and I maintain that no civilization would take root and bear fruit except that based on the principles of the Christian religion ; and that the people had far better re main as they are, than to have any other religious belief ex cept the Christian introduced and propagated amongst them.

I, amongst a great many others, appreciate every European element that enters Western Africa, whether in the capacity of merchants or pioneers of civilization, or in that of missionaries ; and whilst I hail their efforts, respect their talents, and revere the civilization they are capable of imparting, I will never permit any unjust abuse, any unfounded diatribe against the African race, to be ruthlessly lavished on them without repelling or exposing the calumny. I am aware that such explicit and independent statements as are con tained in this work, do not tend to advance a man's worldly interest ; but if they tend to expose the weak and one-sided opinions of those who take every opportunity to advance theories about Africa and the Africans contrary to the truth,

PREFACE.

. V and if they lead to the better appreciation of, and a proper application of means to meet the growing wants and requirements of Her Majesty's West African Settlements, I shall feel sufficiently repaid for my labours. This work has been divided into three parts : — Part I. An endeavour is made to disprove many of the fallacious doctrines and statements of anthropologists (detrimental to the interests of the African race) from exist ing facts. I commenced by giving a detailed account of the various phases of existence found among the uncivilized nations of Western .Africa ; and then proceeded to consider the various forms of Government met with on the Coast, and, among others, that of the Republic of Liberia. In the subse quent chapters I endeavoured, from personal observations and by quotations from the writings of various authors, to disprove those mischievous doctrines which have been pro mulgated to the detriment of the growing races of Western Africa.

As conformation forms the sheet anchor of many of their arguments I have endeavoured to prove that a race of the most perfect Caucasian type would degenerate according to the influences brought to bear on the undeveloped and delicate structure of the infant; and that when once a de formity has become established, the laws of physiology have shown that it has a tendency to perpetuate. Adopting this view, the present conformation of the negro race can be traced to natural causes, depending most materially on the pernicious mode of managing the young, who undergo every degree of compression or distortion. During infancy, when firmly secured on the back of its nurse for several hours daily, the soft, yielding, undeveloped tissues of the infant VI

PREFACE.

. undergo various degrees of distortion, which ultimately form, after some generations, a permanent type; capable, however, of great improvement by careful manipulation of the young. That this is the most fruitful source, may be traced in the number of forms found in typical tribes, having the same origin, but variously brought up; and I will prove my point, by quoting from the writings of the most determined African hater — the Vice-President of the Anthropological Society. Captain Burton, in describing the Egbas of Abeokuta, writes, ' never have I seen such villainous crania and countenances as amongst the seniors of Abeo kuta. Their calvaria, depressed in front and projecting cocoa-nut like behind, the absence of beards, the hideous lines and wrinkles that seamed and furrowed the external parchment, and the cold unrelenting cruelty of their physio gnomies in repose, suggested the idea of the eunuch torturers so common in Asia.' Yet this very same author, whilst describing this same tribe, located only a few miles south of Abeokuta, where they might be expected to be still worse, writes thus : ' The race — the Egbadoes or Lower Egba — is distinctly negroid, without showing the characteristics of the full-blooded negro.

The skin is of a dark dilute copper, sometimes black, whilst several of the chiefs are almost liffht coloured. When the eyelashes and brows are plucked, the eye is fine. . . . The lips are not thick, but the gums are blue, and the teeth are by no means improved by the process of chewing. . . . Their diet is poor, their climate poorer ; calisthenics are unknown ; they are not boxers or runners like the people of Nufie, and even gymnastics, except tumbling, are little practised. What,' he exclaimed, ' can then, account for the beauty of their conformation ? ' If we

PREFACE.

. VII examine closely the doctrines of modern anthropologists, as exhibited by the published works of Hunt, Burton, &c, it will be evident that by a little manipulation of the young we might be able to make two brothers of the same African parentage of two distinct Huntean or Burtonean races, one of the typical Huntean Congo negro, and the other of Bur ton's negroid race. Part II. refers to the Self-government of Western Africa, according to Resolution 3 of the House of Commons Com mittee — viz., ' that the object of the policy of the Govern ment should be to encourage in the natives the exercise of those qualities which may render it possible for it more and more to transfer to them the administration of all the goverments, with a view to our ultimate withdrawal from all, except, perhaps, Sierra Leone.' Taking advantage of this declaration, a stanch friend of African advancement has remarked that the ambition of Great Britain in these days is to see her colonies attain, one by one, to the position of wealth and power, and to form themselves into nations.

It is her desire ' to have independent nations, once her feeble offspring, associated with her in the great work of the world's natural development and the spread of Christian civilization ; ' whilst her whole aim is ' to raise the nations of Africa from the debased and degraded state to which they have fallen, both morally and physically, to free them from the bloody and demoralizing influence of beastly superstition ; from polygamy ; from domestic slavery; from the paralysing effects, as regards productive industry, of customs and institutions which, by the insecurity they create, as well as the licentious and foolish extravagance they prescribe and encourage, prevent

PREFACE.

. the creation of that capital by which alone the works neces sarily attendant on civilization can be executed.' In the chapters included in this part of the work, I have endeavoured to point out the benefit Western Africa has received through British rule ; and the condition of the people — whether or not they are in that position in which they can be left to govern themselves — as well as their relation to the civil authorities. Part III. relates to the requirements of the various colonies. If the Third Resolution, above quoted, meant at all what it seems to indicate, the various subjects considered in Part II. will show the lamentable deficiency, in many material points, in the moral and social condition of the people, and the necessity for speedy and valuable reforms in the institutions of the various colonies.

In Part III. I have endeavoured to lay down a few of the numerous absolute requirements of the colonies, and which Resolution 3 makes imperative. But I have overstepped the ordinary limits of a preface, and, consequently, on leaving my readers, I hope the following pages, although, I fear, full of imperfections, will convince them that the Africans are not incapable of improvement; but that by the assistance of good and able men they are destined to figure in the course of time, and to take a prominent part in the history of the civilized world. AFRICANUS HORTON, M.D., Staff Assist. -Surgeon. (Native of Sierra Leone.) Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley, December, 1867.

Chapter I. Description Of The Original And Uncivilised State Of The Native

TRIBES. Tiie hypothesis based on the ingenious demonstrative analogies of the manners, customs, aud tenets of the inhabitants at present occupying this globe, as compared with those of a few centuries ago, may be safely regarded as a truism — viz., that mankind by the knowledge of metallurgy and other useful arts emerge from a primitive state of barbarism, and have gradually brought to them selves the benefits of a civilised life. Of this primitive state or mythic epoch but little is furnished us in history, and very little is actually known ; but from analogical references we are led to believe the speculative traditions of the ancient Romans,* that ' mankind, as the state of political community now exists, advance from a rude and helpless state to the formation of political society;' and entirely disapprove of the Greek mythological legend, that ' mankind emerge from a state of innocence and bliss.' t Bearing in mind the foregoing, it will be my province to prove * Æschylus Prou. 451—515 ; Diod. i. 8 ; Lucian, Amore, c. 33, 3_. t Hesiod, Op. et Di. 109 ; Ovid, Met. i. 88—112.

U WFST AFRICAN COUNTRIES. the capability of the African for possessing a real political Govern ment and national independence ; and that a more stable and efficient Government might yet be formed in Western Africa, under the supervision of a civilised nation, in conformity with the present Resolution of the Committee of the House of Commons. In viewing the map of West Africa, and tracing out those political communities which are not due to the agency of more civilised politicians, we affirm that there are amongst them fixed and established Governments, although rude and barbarous ; that the obedience to the supreme power in many cases is implicit, the right of property is enforced by adjudicature ; and, although the power of the supreme head has been used with extreme despotism, as in Dahomey and Ashantee, yet still it is as truly a political Govern ment as that of France or England.

By nature the African is a social being, possessing the capacity of commanding and obeying, and that type of improvement which advances as the reason is cultivated, which are the essential elements both of a political Government and a political community ; and therefore Africans bear no relation whatever to those gregarious species of animals — apes, monkeys, &c. — to which some fantastic writers have likened them. Examining Western Africa ia its entirety, we find it to be com posed of a number of political communities, each ruled by a national Government, formed in many cases of distinct nationalities occupy ing determined territory; but some national communities are broken up into innumerable fractional sections, governed by rebel chiefs, or satraps ; others depend upon a political body whose sovereign chief rules over life and property; and others, again, are under well regulated civilised government.

But in order to develop among these different nationalities a true political science, it is necessary that the inhabitants should be made acquainted with the useful arts, and the physical conditions which influence other more civilised ancl refined political Governments. What, it may be asked, are the different forms of government now in existence on the West Coast of Africa . The two principal forms are the monarchical and the republican. In the purely native community we observe the recognition of power, in many cases, vested in a single individual, variously called DIFFERENT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. by the different tribes, but to which we apply the name of basileus, or king ; surrounded by a number of headmen, who pledge them selves to do his will. Some of these basileus, such as those of Ashantee and Dahomey, have implicit power over life and property, ancl therefore are held in dread by their subjects.

Of the tribes who are governed by these autocrats we may well apply the language of Merivale,* when speaking of the Asiatic races, that ' they have acquiesced in their own immemorial despotisms to which they have been abandoned. To them the names of liberty and equality, invoked in turn by their neighbours, are unintelligible; their sympathies are centred always in men, and not in government.' A desperate and successful warrior, such as an Owoosookorkor, a Mahbah, and a Gezo, commanded all their devotions, and for them the ' foundation of laws lay in the bosom of the autocrat.' Among other political native communities we find that in some the form of government resembles very closely a limited monarchy — in others a democracy, in which all the caboceers or head men stand almost on equal terms.

Among those tribes who are goaded with religious tenets and infinitesmal rites and ceremonies, who believe implicitly in the supernatural powers of their fetish and medicine man, whom they suppose to have the power of communicating with the world of spirits, and using their agency in human affairs, the population are subject to a spiritual despotism not easily comprehended by civilised nations. In matters of great interest, in many cases a whole nation _ assemble together for deliberation ; but the counsels of the aged, from their experience, especially when backed by previous sage advice and reputation of wisdom, a sober and thoughtful deportment, and a vigorous and energetic character, generally decide the will of the multitude. The authority of a chief is hereditary, but this hereditary descent differs materially from that in civilised countries ; the individual to whom the succession falls being, not the eldest son of the chief, but the son of his sister ; and this is accounted for by the plurality of wives which each man maintains.

But men who have shown themselves to pos.ess great tact, courage, and strength in time of war, although * History of the Romans under the Empire, Vol. ii. p. 141. B they might have been originally slaves, may in time of peace arrogate to themselves such predominant influence, that they soon create themselves chiefs (such as the present King of Denkera on the Gold Coast). Not being acquainted with letters, they have no history, and are absolutely ignorant of events for any long period beyond the memory of their head men ; successive events once out of sight are for ever lost ; they pass away like the spectres in a phantasmagoria, leaving no other trace behind them than a dreamy recollection of some distant circumstances that had taken place. They satisfy the curiosity of their generation by the aged among them giving the oral narration of legendary tales, heroic myths, vague traditions, &c, descriptive of deeds of wonder at an uncertain and undated antiquity, and which forms the only channel by which their ' thoughts can be transmitted from one country and one age to another.' Not know ing anything of the useful arts, their Governments are feeble and unenterprising, and their military organization impotent and ineffi cient ; amongst the higher classes in some of them the head wives occupy important positions in the domestic circle, whilst all the other women occupy a degraded position.

Proper legislative science is entirely unknown to them; they possess no means by which a continuous and profitable revenue can be brought into their imperial coffers ; no proper determination of political causes, and, consequently, no established principle which might be made to form a guide to the Legislature in the making of new laws or the alteration of old ones, and thus for ages they have shown no improvement in the executive administration ; and possess no proper legal status, and no generalized principle of international law. There is an entire absence of any domestic history amongst them. By them a society is never contemplated, either in its con stituent elements or mutiuil relations ; in its private recesses or habitual intercourses. A fact, an anecdote, a speech, or remark, which would illustrate the condition of the common people, or of any rank subordinate to the highest, is considered too insignificant to intrude upon a relation which concerns only grandees and ministers, thrones and imperial powers.

Some towns there are which are governed entirely by chiefs, who exercise an uncertain rule over the GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE PRIMITIVE TvACE. 5 inhabitants — who are regarded more as a father of the community than a political head ; some of them are nomadic in their nature, but others constitute themselves into a political society of the most primitive order. The Bakalai tribe, for example, are particularly distinguished for their roving character, and this is principally caused by their great fear of death. ' They never stay long in one place. A Bakalai village is scarcely built — often the plantations have not borne fruit the first time — when they feel impelled to move. Then everything is abandoned ; they gather up what few stores of provisions they may have, and start off, often for great distances, to make, with infinite pains, a new settlement, which will be abandoned in turn ; sometimes after a few months, though occasionally they remain a year or two, and even more, in the same place.' In localities where they can carry out commercial speculations they remain for a few years, but yielding at times to their natural propensity they shift from one place to another about one or two miles distant.

With those in this primitive state of ignorance and poverty we observe their chief occupation to consist in the cultivation of a small plot of ground, where they plant various species of cereals, besides squash, casada, pumpkins, yams, sweet potato, and several sorts of edible fruits. Not being in connexion with civilised nations, their agricultural instruments consist of large shells, sharpened sticks, or rude iron hoes, all consequently of a barbarous nature. They make baskets and mats from the fibre and hard outer covering of the bamboo. Their dress is very scanty, ancl in many instances consists of a small piece of plaited straw placed as a frontal covering. They know no intoxicating liquor except the palm wine, the product of nature, after it has been kept for several hours to undergo fermentation; they amuse themselves by rude dances, consisting of severe athletic pantomimic gymnasium, per formed with the hands and feet, accompanied with the clapping of hands, and rude dramatic recitations of the bystanders, or musicians.

They carry on warfare with clubs, bow and arrows, and stones, and their system always is to surprise their enemy. Each warrior and hunter (in some cases) manufactures for himself his weapons and his implements ; his war-clubs of hard and heavy wood, wrought and ornamented with great ingenuity; his bows shaped and polished ; his arrows pointed with flints, shells, or sharp bones, which serve as cutting instruments. They reckon by the number of the ' moon,' and by the occurrence of some remarkable events ; they fell large trees by fire, and in all things exhibit great rudeness and extreme simplicity. Some, such as the Fans, show considerable ingenuity in the manufacture of iron. In their country, interior of the Gaboon, iron ore is found in considerable quantity, cropping out at the surface.

To obtain the iron, they ' build a huge pile of wood, heap on this a considerable quantity of the ore broken up, then come with more wood,' and apply fire to the whole; wood is con tinually being thrown into it until the ore becomes fluid, when it is allowed to cool down, and cast iron is obtained. To temper and make it malleable, ' they put it through a most tedious series of heating and hammerings, till at last they turn out a very superior article of iron and steel,' which is much better than the trade quality brought out from Europe. Of this they make their knives, arrowheads, and swords. They reverence their charms and fetishes, and believe in witchcraft ; some are cannibals, and others make very disagreeable enemies, by being very energetic, warlike, fierce, and possessing great courage and ingenuity.

Among those tribes who have made some onward step in the career of civilization we observe that agriculture is supported by regular labours at the proper season, the produce of which they bring to European markets, to exchange for useful implements, cotton goods, and rude luxuries ; they weave a kind of cotton or fibre cloth, which they employ as wearing apparel and for exportation, and some of it is much prized, even by Europeans, for the dexterity of the workmanship ; and a particular rough kiud (Bandy cloth) forms an important medium of commerce in Western Africa. The inhabitants collect themselves in large and populous towns, with the idea of strengthening their powers of defence, as in Abeokuta. Some, as the Fantees (Cromantees), in whose region gold forms the medium of commerce, are fully aware of its value, and possess a knowledge of the means of working it into various trinkets and articles of domestic importance.

In war they have THEIR WAR TACTICS. some knowledge of pitched battles, but the great point in their tactics in war is to take their enemies by surprise ; each warrior carries his own provisions, consisting of the production of the land; they possess no commissariat, but are allowed by the chieftain to go out foraging in the enemies' country. They employ guns and powder, cutlasses and swords, and are very furious in their first attacks, killing every one before them, women and children not excepted. After this impulsive passion in attack has been satiated, the women are taken prisoners, and if attractive are received in the domestic circles as wives ; the men and children are held in slavery, and in some instances the lives of the former are terminated by a horrible death. They consider war as the most honourable and glorious occupation for men, and they carry it on in the hope of conquest and plunder, or for revenge.