Africa : slave or free?

Front matter

Division

Section,

DTI5

Foreword

Why does Mary Kingsley say Africa kills all her lovers ” ? What is the seductive element in this continent and in its people which lures men and women on and ever on until at last they gladly lay themselves down in final sacrifice upon the beloved altar of the African Continent ?

Back they go, these men and women who have once been bitten by Africa, back in thought and action from every walk in hfe — the administrator, the traveller, the missionary, and the merchant ; sunburnt men, pale-faced women, some with indifferent nerves, others straight from the surgeon’s operating room, young, middle-aged, and grey-haired, back they go — to what ? To face again the agonies of fever, malodorous swamps, indifferent food, the perils of storm and flood, torments by day and night from myriads of insects, burning heat, chilly mist, and the monotony of a never- varying loneliness. Ask them why they go and they will tell you that neither storm, nor peril, nor sickness, nor death itself, shall separate them from the land and people they love. This burning passion may be incomprehensible, but its real and abiding strength strikes the questioner dumb.

xvii

B xviii AFRICA: SLAVE OR FREE P

Sir Douglas . . . has left his mark as the

Governor of LI land ; bitten by Africa, he

rose to his high position partly through ability, but m.ore because of his intense attachment to his African “work ; his pay v^as a mere pittance, his physique cried out not for Africa’s hot plains and swampy deltas, but for the health-restoring and quiet influence of Davos. A visit to England led to the offer of a lucrative directorship and the comparative rest and comfort which the proffered position would provide. Sir Douglas . . . scorned the thought, back to Africa he went, back to a modest pay, and to the fever which soon took another life for Africa.

Mary Kingsley, traveller and scientist, ordered a period of rest and change, soon fell \ictim to the lure of Africa, and seeking advice was told :

When you have made up your mind to go to West Africa, the very best thing you can do is to get it unmade again and go to Scotland instead ; but if your intelligence is not strong enough to do so, abstain from exposing yourself to the direct rays of the sun, take 4 grains of quinine every day for a fortnight before you reach the Rivers, and get some introductions to the Wesleyans ; they are the only people on the coast who have got a hearse with feathers.”*

Mary Kingsley went, she saw and was completely conquered ; never again a free agent, she became the bondslave of Africa and paid, in her

* Travels in West Africa, Macmillan.

FOREWORD

XIX

38 th year, the final penalty, receiving as one permanent reward the honour of a Society founded in her name — The African Society.

David Livingstone, Africa’s greatest missionary, lured into the heart of the continent, criticized and denounced for hij folly in surrendering mind and body to the seductive task of exploring the secrets of Africa, refused to abandon his quest. Though his physical system had broken down, though his body had become little more than a physical focus for African disease, he refused even the exalted appeal of his beloved Queen to rest, if but for a few months in the homeland. David Livingstone went on until the very natives could only carry the sun-dried remains of his body to the coast, leaving his heart buried in and his soul still hovering over Central Africa.

Thus does Africa capture and enthral her lovers — Administrator, Missionary and Traveller.

Part I

1. Africa and her People.

II. Political Distribution.

III. The Products of Africa — ^\^egetable.

IV. The Products of Africa — Gold and

Precious Stones.

AFRICA AND HER PEOPLE

The great pear-shaped continent, hanging like a colossal pendant from the northern and eastern sister continents of Europe and Asia, measures over 11,900,000 square miles, and is occupied by nearly 120,000,000 of people. The bald statement that Africa covers 11,900,000 square miles of the earth’s surface conveys little to most of us, but when it is remembered that this represents an area seven times the size of India and nearly one hundred times the size of the United Kingdom or sixty times the size of Germany before the war, the mind is impressed with the vastness of the country. Africa’s greatest need is population, for the general density is less than 12 persons per square mile as compared with 360 per square mile of the British Isles and 300 per square mile of Germany.

The African coastal features are minus the Archipelagoes which characterize every other continent, but the interior is probably more capable of varied, lucrative and self-contained industry than either of the other undeveloped continents. South America, Asia or Australia. It is true that Africa embraces the Sahara and Kalahari deserts, but she possesses within conceivable engineering reach the never failing and super-abundant waters of the Nile, the Niger, the Zambesi and the Congo, only waiting the coming day when man will harness waste waters to waste land and thereby increase the productivity of both land and water. Africa also has her inland seas — the great lakes, inside which, from point of size, could be placed the British Isles. She has, too, her lofty mountain ranges of the Atlas stretching from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, the Drakensberg of Basutoland, the towering peaks of Kenia, Kilimanjaro, Ruwenzori in East Africa, and the snow-capped Cameroon mountain in the Vv^est.

The vast Equatorial regions are forest-clad with countless millions of every species of woods, soft and hard, scented and malodorous, intertwined with undergrowth which in one part binds tree trunk to tree trunk, and thereby effectively denies passage to all but the most intrepid and determined, whilst in other parts the spreading vinery binds' the trees top to top in a sort of canopy excluding light and sun from man and beast. North and South of the forests and marshes of the tropics roll vast plains over which man and beast still roam in the solitude and safety of past centuries.

But the people, the 100,000,000 to 120,000,000 of Africans, what of these ? The Bantu tribes of the tropics and the South,the Bushmen and Hottentots of the far South-West, the Fulani and Haussa of West Africa, the Negroid races, the Hamitic and Semitic peoples of the North and the Somalis of

THE JOLLY AFRICAN 5

the North-East ? These millions are ‘‘ Pagan,” Mohammedan, and Christian in religion, and in language are divided by Keane* into the six main groups of :

1. The Semitic family, along the north coast

and in Abyssinia.

2. The Hamitic family, mainly in the Sahara,

Egypt, Galla, and Somali Land.

3. The Fulah and Nuba groups, in western,

central, and eastern Sudan,

4. The Negro systems, in western and central

Sudan, Upper Guinea, and the Upper Nile

regions.

5. The Bantu family, everywhere south of

about 6° N. lat., except in the Hottentot

domain,

6. The Hottentot group, in the extreme south-

western corner, from the tropic of Capricorn to the Cape.

There is also a further group :

7. The Malayo-Polynesian family, in Mada-

gascar.

To the thoughtless European, these millions are but “ Lazy Niggers,” too often the variant ‘‘Damned Nigger”; but to those who are prepared to apply the seeing eye to the native eye, the hearing ear to the native ear, sympathetic mind to African mind, a new world is revealed. All the characteristics of a child race are there ; the jolly laugh, the incisive quip, and the neverfaihng repartee, coupled tvith prodigal hospitality

* Africa. Keirh Johnston (Stanford).

whose denomination is literally All that I have is thined’ Deceit and low cunning of the vicious type are absent, but if you lend the African a hammer or a saw he will teef ” your screws and nails, a tendency arising more from the communal instinct of brotherhood than from deliberate wrong-doing. The African giving a bunch of bananas to his guest would expect to supply the pot for cooking, and he not unnaturally looks to the white to treat him upon a similar principle.

It was Mr. Consul Hopkins who, in a letter to Stanley in 1873, wrote :

I ought to hate Sambo— -I know him well. He has sold me, in the person of my own servants, over and over again ; he has dropped my best tumblers, and smashed my best lookingglass, dropped grease on my best pants, and used my hair-brushes, drank my liqueur, and stolen my money, and I am eternally threatening to have his life, but don’t— because, somehow or other, I like him, and he likes me, and we get along amazingly well.”

But although the buoyancy of youth is everywhere characteristic of the African, none can be more dignified and sagacious than the Chiefs and Elders. Watch them surrounded by Council and tribes, eyes a-twinkle perhaps, but never a word, a gesture, or a movement that would weaken authority or lower the dignity of these primitive but stately chieftain rulers of Africa. But, it may be asked, do they never unbend ? ” They do,

THAT “LAZY NIGGER but that very unbending is with surpassing dignity. The trial of great cases in national ‘‘ palavers ” frequently leads to speeches — more correctly veritable orations delivered with poetic native diction ; the Chief will rise slowly to his feet and commence his speech first in a low cadence and then a rising and falling inflection, soon he warms to his subject and proceeds to illustrate it by historic fact, striking figure, or captivating anecdote ; onward he will sweep with flowing language, period upon period, gesture following gesture, until both Chief and audience rock and sway under the magnetic influence of passionate yet dignified eloquence. What matters time ! — half-hour, an hour, an hour and a half, two hours, and the tribal orator, body now running streams of perspiration, but eye undimmed, gesture unflagging, language rich in idiom and rhythmic to the ear, the peroration is delivered to an audience now intoxicated with delight and breaking into acclamations loud and long as the chieftain orator with dignity gives place to his opponent.

The lazy nigger ” theory, the stock argument of the exploiter, has long been an exploded myth to those who prefer facts to prejudice ; it is true, of course, that African labourers are as capable of malingering as any other section of the world’s labour forces, but to argue from a superficial appearance that the African is any more indolent ^ than the ordinary run of humanity is happily a vanishing absurdity.

One of the most exhaustive Commissions ever held in Africa was the Lagden Commission of

Inquiry into native conditions in South Africa — an inquiry which occupied three years. What was the finding of the Lagden Commission upon this point ?

The theory that the South African natives are hopelessly indolent may be dismissed as being not in accordance with the facts. Even the simple wants of the Native population cannot be supplied without some degree of exertion. The population of 4,652,662 has to derive its sustenance from a soil which is not everywhere fertile, and the Native agriculturist has to contend with the same drawbacks of drought and pestilence that beset the European farmer. The labour of tilling the soil, weeding and reaping is shared, but is by no means exclusively performed by the Native women ; and the representation of the Native living at his own village a lazy and luxurious life, supported by his wife or wives, is misleading.”*

Nearer the Equatorial line a similar inquiry, made in Rhodesia in 1911, produced the following conclusion :

‘‘ It is frequently urged that native males lead an idle life at their kraals. This is not borne out by the evidence which we have received. On the contrary, they appear to do the bulk of the heavy work, and the woman is

^Report of the South African Native Affairs Commission, 1903-5. Par. 573.

AFRICAN ENERGY not the slave which she is so frequently alleged

to be.’’*

It is the same story throughout Africa ; for example, along the West Coast, German white effort, and in British territory, native effort have been for years competing for the premier position in cocoa production. The natives of the British Gold Coast have, economically speaking, smitten the Germ.an white planters hip and thigh, for during the eight years from 1904-12 German industry only increased its output three-and-half times, whilst British West Africans increased their output eight times !

To see the African at the native industries handed down to him by his father is to convince the sympathetic onlooker of his latent energy. That long Hne of carriers, each man with f-cwt. box or bale upon his head, has tramped steadily four hours a day for a fortnight- — up hill, down dale, across fragile swaying bridges, through turbid streams ; that sinuous line of 500 men has transported 250 cwts. of merchandise without ever dropping a single case. Africa without the carrier is even to-day unthinkable”“~civilization has laid down plantations, built span bridges, constructed hundreds of miles of railway, metalled thousands of miles of roadway,, but it is literally true that this stupendous transformation was accomplished primarily upon the woolly pate of the sons of Africa. During the Anglo-Belgian-

* Southern Rhodesia Report of the Native Affairs Committee of Inquiry, 1910-11.

French conquest of the Cameroons, a single body of troops required an auxiliary carrier force of 6,000 men !

One of the delights Of African travel is canoeing. Despite the mosquitos in the evening and the ‘‘ midges ” by the million during the day, insidious but venomous attacks at all hours by the tsetse fly, and miasma all the time, the joy of whirling hour after hour through the rushing waters to the continuous dip, dip ” of forty paddlers, and the rhythmic song of the coach ” and the even beat of the “ tom-tom,’’ is an experience only possible in primitive Africa. This delight to the white man spells for the African an unbroken strain of eight hours’ paddling for days on end, which dwarfs to pigmy proportions the relatively comfortable exercise of the Oxford and Cambridge boat race.

The assumption of laziness ” in the African is generally due to a lofty superiority not unrelated to ignorance. The African, travelling along a forest path, followed by his wife (or wives), children, and other dependents, gives the impression of callous indifference ; the critic sees him striding forward without any share of the family burden, for he seldom carries more than a light spear, bow and arrow, or club, while behind him the women folk are probably heavily weighted with baskets of food on their backs and not infrequently a child in their arms, whilst even tiny tots have to carry household goods. They travel thus for miles — the grown men and sturdy youths never for one moment offering to share the loads !

NATIVE WISDOM

II

For a year or two the writer had watched this custom with growing indignation, until one day he decided to teach ‘‘ my lord and master ” a lesson in honest work if not courtesy ! Whilst tramping the forest of Central Africa on a hot day there appeared a heavily burdened file of women wending their way along. The whole file was ordered to stop, the burdens were lifted from the tired women and girls and placed upon the backs of the sturdy, unencumbered men, but lo ! the w^omen, like a pack of furies, turned gesticulating and loud of voice upon the writer : ‘‘ Who now will protect us from our enemies — man, beast and snake — that lurk in every tuft of grass, every forest bush and every tree ? Our men carrying loads will be surprised, overcome, and destroyed, and then will come the turn of the children. Oh ! what fools are white men ! ’’ In a flash the tvisdom of this native custom was revealed; abashed and ashamed, the author renewed a forgotten vow never to condemn a native custom without first making exhaustive inquiry.

In song and dance, as a carrier or paddler, or even in mortal combat, the African is the embodiment of towering energy. In the dance every rhythmic movement is punctuated by the loud

Ha ! Ha ! ” and a stamping of feet that makes the very earth resound ; forest axes ring loud as - they fall upon the mighty tree trunk to unending and primitive song, whilst through the primeval forest echo calls to echo ; the canoe is driven forward by vigorous dipping of the blades in unison with the rise and fall of the singing “ coach”; the whole line of carriers, each heavily laden, moves with swinging stride and perfect harmony in step to the tune of the file-leader, who occasionally joins in the chorus of song. Thus does Africa give the lie to the lazy nigger theory.

But in sickness, loss of liberty, and in death the African goes all to pieces. It is because loss of personal liberty and sickness walk hand in hand with the dread spectre of death that the African suffers collapse upon the very approach of either. Death is not a release to the African, it is an ever-present terror ; the creaking of a beam, the nightcry of the owl in the forest, the ripple of a stream, the rustle of leaves upon the trees, are but too often the solemn warning of departed spirits summoning the listener to the land without hope, the land in which there are many evil but few angel spirits.

Watch the African in sickness, in vain are appeals and words of encouragement, for he believes himself stricken unto death, and being without hope for this world or the next exhibits a capacity for dying which is the despair of science. Watch the African, too, in the presence of approaching death — relatives and friends crowd around, unwashed, dishevelled, fasting, eyes staring, lips compressed, all awaiting death’s unfailing signal — that last tear drop. Watch them closely, for upon that dread signal the air is instantly pierced with one terrible shriek ; then listen to the cry as it spreads from hut to hut until the whole village is filled with that awesome death wail. Watch

FAITH AND HOPE them again in the Kasai basin, where, at that terrible cry, men rush forward and instantly snatch the body from the bed and carry it forth from the dwelling of man lest death shall smite another.

Faith and Hope in a new and better world, both here and hereafter, means in very truth Life Eternal to the African race.

c

POLITICAL DISTRIBUTION

The administration of Africa falls roughly into three main groups — Self-Governing Territories, Crown Colonies, Protectorates and Spheres of Influence ; and within this threefold category can be placed every territory in the continent.

The three self-governing territories at the present time are the Union of South Africa, Liberia, and Abyssinia.

The Union Government of South Africa was set up in 1909 by virtue of the South Africa Act,* whereby the four Provinces — Cape Colony, Transvaaly Orange River Colony and Natal — were placed under the Executive Government of a free Parliament and a Governor-General representing the British Crown. Parliament is composed of a Senate and a House of Assembly, under which constitution a Senator must be a British subject of European descent, whilst no actual voter in Cape Colony can be disqualified by reason of colour. Thus while the native and coloured people of the Cape of Good Hope possess restricted franchise under this constitution, those of the other provinces possess to-day no effective voice

LIBERIA

IS

in controlling their own destinies. There is some probability that this question will arise in an acute form this year,* when Section lo of the Act of Union seems to imply the intention, and certainly gives the right, of raising the question of amending the constitution. These four provinces of South Africa are under the Union Government of which General Botha is the first Premier and Lord Buxton the Imperial Representative, governing a white or tan-coloured population of 1,276,000 and a coloured population, which, including a large nufnber of British-Indian subjects, totals nearly 6,000,000 !

Liberia can only at the best be described as an

experiment,” and not a very happy experiment either, in a Free Negro Republic. Just a century ago good men in Europe and America conceived the idea of founding in Africa herself a Repubhc where, unmolested, the freed slave should be given an opportunity to work out his own salvation in the land of his origin. In 1822 the first settlement was estabhshed, close to the present capital, Monrovia ; but it was not until 1847 that the constitution was formally approved as the ‘‘ Free and Independent Republic of Liberia.” During the intervening century the immigrant negro population has grown to about 10,000, and a Government has been evolved under a President, a Vice-President, and a Council of six members, responsible to Parhament composed of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Financially the country has never prospered,

*1919.

and to-day Liberia has, figuratively speaking, ‘‘ got the brokers in.” The United States, in 1910, assumed financial and other liabilities, and in 1912 an international loan of ^500,000 was raised and secured by Customs under an American controller, whilst the patronage of appointing certain military and civil officials rests with the President of the United States of America.

Liberia, as large as Ireland and Wales together and inhabited by 2,000,000 of natives, possesses internal resources of enormous potential value, for the virgin forests abound in mahogany and scented woods, gums, wild rubber and vegetable oils ; nevertheless, Liberia to-day is economically the Liberia of twenty-five years ago. Eastward, westward, and southward neighbouring territories have shown healthy economic expansion, whilst Liberia has drifted ever nearer to bankruptcy and chaos, with the inevitable consequence of a truncated civil service, with salaries either overdue or not« paid at all. Other tribes in neighbouring lands have enjoyed educational facilities denied to the Liberians, whilst the perpetual conflict between the 10,000 American negroes and the 2,000,000 indigenous people has gravely shaken the faith of the best friends of the Liberian Republic and involved the unhappy people of the hinterland in a nightmare of oppression and suffering. The great needs of Liberia are— a strong and efficient Government, financial stability resting upon peaceful administration, the open door for commercial activity unfettered by direct or indirect ‘‘ considerations,” and, finally, an educa-

ABYSSINIA 17

tional system which would embrace not merely Liberians but the native races of the territory.

Abyssinia, the ancient Empire of Ethiopia, more than twice the size of Germany, is occupied by, it is estimated, 6,000,000 of people devoted mainly to the pastoral occupations of their forefathers. Industrial effort is expressed in terms of oxen, sheep, goats, horses and donkeys, with a small export of ivory and coffee. If Abyssinia could overcome difficulties of transport the population would contribute to the supply of raw material by landing in Europe large quantities of raw cotton something under is. per lb., and even larger supplies of the purest white fibre in the world at per ton.

The Government of Abyssinia includes the Kingdoms of Tigre, Amharra, Shoa, Haria, and portions both of Galla and Somali, which territories were ruled until 1913 by the picturesque and autocratic Menelik, assisted by a Council composed nominally of the principal Rases. Menehk, during the twenty-four years of his rule as Negus Negust (King of Kings), introduced miany reforms upon the model of civilized governments, including ministers of justice, finance, commerce, war and foreign a&rs, supported by a regular army of 150,000 mounted troops with a small artillery force. This Empire, ruled by the King of Kings,” adheres to the Christian faith accepted by the people over 1,500 years ago. The spiritual welfare of the Abyssinians is entrusted to about 100,000 ecclesiastics under the supreme head— the Abuna, who must always be of Coptic persuasion, appointed and consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria. The Emperor Menelik endeavoured, in 1907, to secure the education of his people and issued a decree enjoining compulsory education for all males over the age of 12, but with other matters in Abyssinia education awaits the inspiring energy of the ‘‘ Reformer.”

Whilst Abyssinia is wholly free and independent, Great Britain, France and Italy are collectively pledged to preserve the integrity of the Empire, and thus may be regarded as coming so near to a Sphere of. Influence ” that, in political affairs, the encroachment of any fourth Power would in all probability be construed as ‘‘ an unfriendly act ” !

Next in order to these Self-Governing territories come the Crown Colonies and Protectorates, of which there are :

French,

Algeria.

Sahara.

Tunis

Senegal and Niger.

Guinea Coast.

Ivory Coast.

Dahomey.

Mauritania.

Congo.

Somaliland.

British,

Bechuanaland.

Basutoland.

East Africa and Uganda.

Egypt and Sudan.

Gambia.

Gold Coast and Ashanti.

Nigeria.

Nyasaland.

Rhodesia.

Sierra Leone.

Somaliland.

Zanzibar.

FRENCH RESPONSIBILITY

Ex-German.

Cameroons.

German South Wes^.

East Africa.

Togoland.

Belgian.

Congo.

Italian.

Eritrea.

Somaliland.

Tripoli.

Portuguese.

Angola.

East Africa.

Guinea.

Cape Verde Islands.

St. Thome and Principe (Islands).

Spanish.

Guinea Coast — Muni.

Islands —

Fernando Po.

Annabon.

Corisco.

Great Elobi.

Little Elobi.

Easily first in territorial responsibility cornes France, for the Republic has assumed responsibility for over 4,000,000 square miles of African territory, apart from the recently acquired control over Morocco. Next to France comes Great Britain, with 2,800,000 square miles of territory under direct Crown control, which, with 473,000 square miles in South Africa, makes a total of over 3,000,000 square miles under the influence of the British flag. Prior to the outbreak of war, Germany, next to France and Great Britain, held sway over the largest area in Africa, namely, 1,130,000 square miles. Belgium followed Germany, with over 900,000 square miles of Congo territory. Portugal came next, with 793,000 square miles, whilst Italy, as a result of her break with Turkey in iqiij increased her control over

Africa from 200,000 to 600,000 square miles. Spain has the smallest measure of territorial responsibility, for apart from her Moroccan interest her total possessions are less than 90,000 square miles.

The approximate populations of these territories in regions under effective administration, known for the most part and estimated in others, is as follows : Under British control, 35,000,000 ; French, 25,000,000 ; ex-German, 12,000,000 ; Belgian, 10,000,000 ; Portuguese, 8,000,000 ; Italian, 1,000,000 ; Spanish, 200,000.

Under British Crown Government „ „ Union of South Africa

„ French Government „ German Government (prior to the outbreak of war)

„ Belgian Government „ Portuguese „

„ Liberian „

Italian „

„ Spanish „

„ Abyssinian „

29.000. 000 6,000,000

25.000. 000

12.000. 000

10.000. 000 8,000,000

6,000,000

It is only under British rule that any part of Africa has attained to self-government, namely, South Africa, whilst it is equally true that in every territory where white executive government obtains, a larger measure of native co-operation is granted in British than in that under the territorial control of any other European Power. There is, however, one quite peculiar feature in French government which is a marked advance

CROWN COLONY GOVERNMENT 21

upon anything which even Great Britain has attained, namely, direct representation from the Colonies and Dependencies in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. Senegal and Guinea each have a deputy, whilst almost every other political division has a representative or representatives on the ‘‘ Conseil Superior des Colonies.” The representative for Senegal is a full-blooded JoUof.

It is universally admitted that the British system of colonial administration is, on the whole, the most highly organized, and yet the most elastic in the African continent, and to a very considerable extent other nations have modelled their forms of administration upon it. The popular theory is that all territory and all peoples under the British flag are British subjects ! But in Africa quite the larger part of such territory is not British, neither are the majority of the inhabitants British subjects.

The broad distinction in Britain’s Colonial Commonwealth is that of (i) Dominions, (2) Dependencies. In the Dominions are included all those territories which have been formally annexed by the British Crown and possess elective legislatures controlled by the Crown in the person of a Governor or Governor-General. In Africa the only Dominion is, of course, that of the Union territories, created a Self-Governing Colony by ' the King in Council in 1909.

Next in order come the Crown Colonies whose administration is under the complete and effective control of the Crown. The Governor has large powers vested in him, and he is supported in his task by a Legislative Council composed of official and nominated members. In every Crown Colony the official element outnumbers the ‘‘ nominated ” members, and thus the Governor can always rely upon a majority for any measure he may place before the Legislative Council. Nigeria is a good illustration of this system of government. The Governor of Nigeria is assisted by an Executive and an advisory and deliberative Council. The Council is composed of (i) the official Executive ;

(2) a member of the local Chamber of Commerce ;

(3) a member of the Chamber of Mines ; (4) four nominated Europeans ; (5) six nominated native members. This Council is only advisory and possesses no legislative or executive authority.

Probably the best definition of the Dependencies is that provided by Lord Halsbury :

“ The expression ‘ dependencies ’ is used to signify places which have not been formally annexed to the British dominions, and are, therefore, strictly speaking, foreign territories, but which are practically governed by Great Britain, and by her represented in any relations that may arise towards the other foreign countries. Most of them are ‘ protectorates,’ that is, territories placed under the protection of the British sovereign generally by treaty with the native rulers or Chiefs.”*