The White Man in Nigeria

Front matter

00035372

MAmobvu IN GALA Dress,

PASSENGERS LANDING IN SukF Boars,

Chapter I The Grant-in-aid

A plea for more money—The immensity of Northern N igeria—

The Fulani, the ‘ruling race—Their deterioration after Othman Fodio—Slave-raiding revived—Why Great Britain went to Northern Nigeria—The value of Hausaland as a market ‘and for raw material—What must be done? si

CHAPTER II: The trained Hausa—No blank cartridges in Northern Nigeria

The seven-pounder compared with the Maxim and the horse —~The old order and the new—A diplomatic cowg—Personal valour at Bida—How Kontagora was outmarched—The Maxim at work—The.‘Eye of God’—The power of the White Man - + - - ‘- - -

CHAPTER IIt

THE FULANI

The Hausa and the Fulani—An ancient civilization—-How the

Fulani came—First the gipsy—Othman Fodio—A religious war—The Fulani Administration—A prophecy and its fulfilment—Why the people accepted British rule as inevitable— The capture of Sokoto - 7 s xi a PAGE

1-6

19-33 xii CONTENTS

CHAPTER IV EMPIRE- BUILDING The civilian goes Empire-building—The military mess—Rough-and-ready quarters—Lack of equipment—Servants—The new world, and its contrasts—New duties—Lokoja and its companionships—The province, and its labours—The work, and its effects on the man—Civilians ousting military men—

PAGE

The kind of men required—The call for men - 34-45

CHAPTER V THE FEVER

The danger much overrated—The effects on temperament Primary causes—Desirable improvements— The Forest Belt and the Burutu Marsh—The poverty of the Administration —The efforts of the steamship companies—The river service —Lack of exercise and ordinary comfort—Insects—Want of sleep—The anopheles—Quinine—A tornado—The need for +

‘constant care and watchfulness~An attack of malaria 46-72

CHAPTER VI SLAVERY

Musa the interpreter—How he was found—How he learned so many tongues—His place of origin—His mother, his playmates, and his father—The slave raid—His mother’s flight —Kidnapped—The Delta folk—Infanticide and fighting— Flight and recapture—A domestic slave at Lokoja—Raided from Bida—Caravan work—Deserted to die—Delirium and the White Man - - - - - 73-83

CHAPTER VII ENGLAND AND THE BLACK RACES

Protest against belittling of England by Englishmen—Ignorance no excuse—Missionaries unfairly attacked—Should the trader govern ?——False accusations against the Administration—French and English methods compared—Vital circumstances favouring the English and hampering the French—Six lesser matters—English militarism examined

—Actual military operations—Summary - - 84-113

CONTENTS xiii

CHAPTER VIII

THE BLACK LABOURER . . . . PAGE No demand for machinery while labour is so cheap—Engaging

- labourers—The headman—Making the bargain—Nothing but head-carriage—A wheelbarrow story—The head and hoe supreme—Public works—Collecting men from the chiefs— A village built in a day—Rations short at first, but soon plentiful—Returning home—Shipping ‘labourers from the coast—The branch-boat, the surf-boats, and the steamer— Life on board by day and by night—Discharging a living cargo—Government transport work—Soldiers and cargo a good combination— Unloading girders and barrels of cement -~-Stupidity and numbers—Quarrelling and discipline—The mechanical engineer the greatest blessing Africa will get 114-136

CHAPTER IX ‘FRADE ‘PROSPECTS.

An immense possibility—Sentiment and. business—What the Hausa wants—A system of commercial travelling required —Opening for capital—Necessity to study tastes of cus- _tomers—Quality will win—What can be got in exchange:

‘oils, copra, and general produce to-day—Cotton to come— Foodstuffs to follow—Minerals to be picked up—A big thing, which others will take if we don’t -' ‘. 137-146

CHAPTER X PADDY’S BROTHER

Paddy’s value—A short-cut—An angry crowd, and a narrow escape—The explanation, human sacrifice—The story-book and real life—The White Man’s mission—The map— Spreading influence—Strong rule useful—Sokoto, and after —Minerals or cotton and foodstuffs—The British Administration—Robbery by violence and by bluff—Paddy introduces his brother—The man and his grievance—Paddy’s devotion—Off on palaver—How the Lieutenant lost a boy and found one—How Paddy lost his brother—At Zaria—To Kano—Bebeji—Swift retribution and its effect—At Kano’s gates—-The prison — Death and madness—Light — The story 2 - - - - = ~ 2 ©) -147*197 xiv CONTENTS

CHAPTER XI COTTON pace!

A revival of an old market—American mills—A declining industry—The British, Cotton-Growing Association—Supply and demand on the Coast—Ground-nuts—Yorubas as agriculturists—Signs of ancient cultivation—Tropical grass —Fire after fire—A fertile soil—The cotton-fields of the future - - sik - - - 178-190

CHAPTER XII MAMODU AND HIS ‘JU-JU’

The Hausa-Fulani—His abilities—His testimonials—He is particular about his name—His wife and his compound—On duty at the telegraph-office—The native dancing—The national ‘ play’—Mamodu's ‘ju-jus’—The Chief Justice is robbed —Mamodu finds a new master—The thief is captured, but Mamodu is disappointed—Mamodu’s stall in the market—What he learned from the Mallams—The fire at Lokoja—His experiences ‘on palaver’~-The British square at ‘Raha’—The picturesque ravine and the ‘ju-ju’ of the | animals—Many other ‘ju-jus’—A river .picnic—The canoe and the polers—Legends of Othman Fodio—The influence of the Mallams—The prophecy and its fulfilment—Legends about the lost standard an aR - - 191-226

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

A ‘BOY’ IN GALA DRESS .- - - « Frontispiece

PASSENGERS LANDING IN SURF BOATS - - ”

THE NEW MOUNTED INFANTRY: HAUSAS TRAINED

BY BRITISH OFFICERS - - - to face page 8 A FULANI CHIEFTAIN AND HIS SUITE - - » 8 A BRITISH COLUMN ON THE MARCH IN HAUSALAND - 14 SOLDIERS WEARING NATIVE-MADE, STRAW HATS

OVER THE FEZ - - - - ot 14 THE INDUSTRIOUS HAUSA - = - ot 20 FULANI CATTLE AND SHEEP 7 - - ” 20 ‘poYs’ WAITING ON THE NIGER. BANK IN THE

HOPE OF EMPLOYMENT AS SERVANTS - - 4 38 A-WATER-HOLE . - - - - é i 38 A NATIVE-BUILT HUT - - - - ” 46 THE THATCH OF A NATIVE-BUILT HUT - - is 46 A CHILD STRAPPED ON ITS MOTHER’S BACK - ~ 76 A TYPICAL MARKET-PLACE - - - ows 76 CANOES ON THE NIGER - - - - ” 214 JU-JU ROCK, JEBBA. Z - - : ‘i 214 MAP - - sg - 7 at end xv

CHAPTER TI THE GRANT-IN-AID

_A plea for more money—The immensity of Northern Nigeria—The Fulahi, the ruling race—Their deterioration after Othman Fodio —Slave-raiding revived—-Why Great Britain went .to Northern’ Nigeria—The value of Hausaland as a market and for raw material—What must be done ?

It is said that more than half of the Government Grant-inaid of the cost of administering Northern Nigeria goes for the upkeep of the West African Frontier Force, without which the old and profitable West Coast Colonies would not be safe, and that the sum at present allotted to the Civil Administration is absurdly inadequate. If this is. SO, why’ cannot Government do the thing properly? It surely cannot’ be that there is any fear of the British public not willingly finding all the money that may be necessary. If it were only a question of the Coast Colonies, it would be highly advisable to retain control of Northern Nigeria as a buffer State, and that, too, if it were as barren as the Great Desert and as unpopulated as the Poles. Luckily, it is neither one nor the other..

If anyone asks, he is told that the population of Northern Nigeria, or the Hausa States, is ‘10,000,000 to 25,000,000,’ with a frank ignorance as to the mere fives of millions, which should provide food for thought. It is

I not because we have only recently heard.of the country,: and have as yet had no opportunity of estimating its people. We have been in touch with the Hausa States for centuries; and the Hausa traders have for centuries been in evidence throughout the whole ef Northern Africa—from Lagos to Tripoli, from Fez to the Nile. It has been known for centuries that the land was fertile beyond all dreams and teemed with people, swarming in vast cities of anything up to a quarter of a million souls— we suppose black men have souls. It has been known as the great negro preserve for centuries, and therein lies

the reason of our uncertainty as to how many people—to

15,000,000—there are up the Niger. We do not know

how many there are left. We have known for centuries

that the innumerable villages have swarmed with kiddies,

but we do not. know how many have been let live.

We know that about.a hundred years ago the rough and ready intertribal man-catching was stopped by the founding of the, Fulani Dynasty by Othman Fodio, the first Fulani Sultan, which has lasted until now, organizing government, justice,”and revenué, and protecting the people from the outside raiders of the Coast, who found a happy hunting-ground there for ‘black ivory.’ For a hundred years this dynasty has been all-powerful. Even the Londoner heard with interest from time to tithe of the alleged 20,000 breast-plated cavalrymen of .Sokoto,, and of the chain-armour of Kano. For a hundred years all caravans have paid heavy toll on passing in and out ‘of Hausaland; and for a hundred years even white men have paid subsidies to native chiefs for the right not to have their stores unreasonably plundered, or their carriers

‘caught’ for slavés—too often.. Yet for a hundred years the profits on trade with Hausaland hive been so good that the stream of caravans to the M.diterranean has never ceased. It is appalling to think of the skeletons buried in the drifting sands of the Sahara, of the countless

THE GRANT-IN-AID 3 bales of valuable goods ruined in: the rush of the raid, as: the helpless traders fell into the clutches of the thousandand-one robber tribes of the desert. Thirst, lions, storms, ‘thieves, and panic, gathered their doles year by year; but year by year caravans came through, and year by year Kano swarmed with Tripoli Arabs, as Tripoli swarmed with Kano Hausas.”

To an immense extent the Fulani Dynasty was beneficial: it consolidated the innumerable Hausa tribes into one people, and it saved the country from the depopulation of the Coast raiders; but it was based upon a false, economy. Protection was a baby to the monopoly of the Fulani, and it could not last. Othman prophesied on his death-bed: that the dynasty he had founded would last but” a hundred * years, and well before that time it had indeed run its course. The Fulani was a great organizer, a born governor, an astute statesman, and an intrepid soldier; but his government degenerated into a mere collecting of tribute, his justice, excellent in theory, was bought and sold in practice, and his revenue was collected in slaves. The current coin of the realm was a slave; and as the power of Sokoto weakened, and outlying districts—until then protected from outsiders—were depopulated without retribution, the loyal tribes (7.¢., those which were near enough to be terrorized into submission) had to supply as much ‘revenue’ as the whole country had done before. Failure of tribute was the inevitable result, and punitive expeditions, tax-gathering tours, slave raids—slave raids pure and simple, call them what you will—began again.

Then, again, every woman about to become a mother went and hid in the bush like a wild beast until the baby was old enough not to be a fatal encumbrance in case of a hasty flight; then, agairi,.the rumour that the Fulani were coming emptied great villages, and scattered the people over the face of the earth; then, again, the old and .

feeble were put to the sword ; then, again, children became scarce, the fields lay idle, and the land flowed with. blood.

It was to save the country from this that Great Britain stepped in. It was to save this ancient people from extermination that Great Britain undertook before Europe to police 300,000 square miles of fertile land—from the desert to the Coast Colonies, from the old, dry watercourse of the Dallul Mauri to Lake Chad. It was to change the darkest spot in darkest Africa back again into a land flowing with milk and honey that Great Britain took over the tremendous burden of administration from the Niger Company, and sent one of its greatest ‘ Africans’ (Sir F. D. Lugard) with a small body of earnest men into the ‘White Man’s Grave.’ Is it to be thought that the British public will grudge the money for a work like this:? France is doing her share. With Timbuctoo, Dahomey, Zinder, Chad, and the Congo, she has, as the Americans put it, ‘chawed off about as big a lump as she can chew.’ Germany, in the Cameroons and Adamawa, has more than she wants. And are we, muling and puking, to follow the finger ofthe Little Englander, invest all our moneys in electric railways, schools, and scientific experiments, and leave the real work of the world to be done by nations who can breed men like those who made Great Britain the leader in civilization? We are the leading nation amongst the peoples, and it is our clear .duty to take the place of the leading nation.

It is not a question of charity. Those who ask for money for the civilization of Northern Nigeria do not want it for tilting at windmills, and do not consider they are asking a favour. They are advising an investment. They do not promise 10 per cent. interest; they do not hold out hopes of doubling capital; they do not even say the capital will ever be paid back. But they do say that the Hausas, who are sending their goods.to London by

THE GRANT-IN-AID 5 way of the Desert, Tripoli, and Marseilles, will shortly ship them down the Niger direct to Manchester; that Manchester and other goods will go the same way in return; and that the land which now, with no cultivation ' beyond a little scratching, produces several heavy crops a year, may be made to produce abundance for our markets after satisfying-all its own people; that the people who now grow their own cotton, weave their own cloth, and make their own clothes, beads, ornaments, and household _ utensils, will form a long-lasting market for the ‘better stuff we can turn out for comparatively nothing; and that, when our electric railways, schools, and, scientific experiments want renewing, our intercourse with the . great Hausa people will mean to us funds and material for further progress.

This is the picture, and even now some can see ‘its commencement. The great trade routes have been opened “by the Power of the White Man,’ so that they say even @ woman can pass unmolested wherever the White Man has gone; the river was never so full of trading canoes ; the land is burdened with crops, and the villages are swarming with children. This is the beginning. What . will be the end? Are we to stay and reap prosperity, trade, and progress? or are we to back out, and leave the country to the raider and the sword? Are we to leave the Fulani, with shattered power and prestige utterly lost, to fight it out with the feckless Hausa and the cannibal pagan? or are we to stay with him, and nurse his _ undoubted organizing and governing. ability into modern lines, weaning him from the slavery which is, after all, only out of date, and from the corruption which, at the worst, is not much worse than Tammany? If the question is fairly put to the public of Great Britain, what will the answer be? Why, if it were not our bounden duty before God and man to step in to stop the slavery alone, we ought surely to find the money to secure one of the most promising openings the world has to offer-for our inevitable. expansion in the future.- If it were not a solemn duty, it is a capital investment. It is, none the less, an investment, because it is for the future; and that nation will last longest which looks furthest into the future—the inevitable future.

CHAPTER II

The trained Hausa—No blank cartridges in Northern Nigeria—The seven-pounder compared with the Maxim and the horse—The old order and the new—A diplomatic cowp—Personal valour at Bida. -~-How Kontagora was outmarched—The Maxim at work—The ‘ Eye of God’—The Power of the White Man. ;

In Sierra Leone the Hausa soldier lives in magnificent stone barracks on a hill overlooking the harbour, and does a great deal of work—police work. Accra is a lazy place for everyone, especially the soldier, though it is only fair to say there has lately been some excitement over’ selecting escorts for peaceable mining parties. At Lagos and Old Calabar the soldier grows oily, drills, wears fine new uniforms, forms guards of honour, and stands sentry over the Government cactus. It is in Northern Nigeria that the soldier knows nothing about blank cartridge. There he lives in grass huts, and is sometimes missing after a fire. There he is sent off to outpost duty as soon. as he knows enough of his drill. There he travels light, wears rags, and is lucky if he can find a tree to rest or camp under. There he is sometimes hungry and often. tired, but laughs like a schoolboy when suddenly ordered to go ‘on palaver.’ There he gets shot in the stomach, poisoned by arrows and snakes, and shattered by shot from cannon the Frenchman has given to the slave-raiding Emir. 7

It is in Northern Nigeria that -he learhs to worship the White Man—the pale-faced subaltern, whéther from the Guards or from the Militia, who teaches him to fire a small toy of a rifle which kills at a mile; who sets him on | a horse, and with him hunts down the flying Fulani, making him thereby equal to those who have domineered, over,him for: generations; who never lets him touch the yellow machine which the sergeant sits on, and which - goes ‘ brrr-rrrr-rrrr,’ and ‘everyone falls down flat,’ but who makes him the happy priest of the stumpy little god on rattling wheels, which bangs and bounces like the thunder in heaven and wipes out whole villages far away almost out of sight. The horse is kept in the stable, and

.is a companion, a friend, and a kind of: property to boot ; the Maxim is kept in the mess-room, and, with the gramaphone, theodolite, and other wonderful ‘ju-ju’ ‘things beyond the comprehension of the native mind, is’ an unfathomable mystery: but the seven-pounder is a god, a real, understandable, live god of polished steel, which hurls a heavy shell just the same as you throw a stone, only’ much,, much further, and is carried’ on slings in luxury even when the White Man'walks.. The worship of the White Man is one thing—it is like the worship of the Fulani; the worship.of the gun is another—it is ae worship of the thunder and the whirlwind.

The Hausa soldier is about right. The gun is greater than the horse or the Maxim. The Fulani conquered the people with cavalry, hordes of horsemen moving great distances in the night, jangling, shouting, screaming, spreading panic right and left, slashing, riding down, and trampling on the unarmed and industrious Hausa. The Maxim is the quick and painless death in the reckless

, charge through which the Mohammedan, intoxicated with his religion, breaks into Paradise. Between. the two comes the slaughter in cold blood of the seven-pounder.

Slow, calm, and regular, it belches forth death, earth-

THE NEW Mounvrep INFANTRY—-HAUSAS TRAINED BY 3RITISH OFFICERS.

A FULANT CHierraAIN AND HIS SUITE.

quake, and desolation at a distance of 4000 yards. The horsemen can be enticed into pitfalls, the horses can be speared by the strong and hamstrung by the quick; the Maxim can be reached by the bullet, the spear, and the poisoned arrow — often it sulks and, refusing to speak, imperils 4 whole brigade ; but who can hinder the solemn’ ‘seven-pounder, with its ruthless 4-inch mouth and its small band of priest-worshippers hidden behind a clump of trees on the distant hill? The Fulani’s weapon was the sword; the White Man fights with the earthquake and the lightning. . .

Not much more than three years ago native chiefs would stalk into the stores of the Niger Company’s outstations and coolly commandeer presents. They would - bring'a six-shilling sheep belonging, to someone else, and select a pound’s worth of cloth belonging to the Company. The agents were only too pleased to see 'their backs at that, and the fear of being raided and -murdered in their ‘sleep.was worse than the dread of the fever. In those days the rows of firing-slots in the armoured deck-houses of Government ships, now permanent “fixtures choked with paint, used to open and shut and be used in earnest, and: the Government ships, anchored in midstream with double watches set, were fired at front both banks. Now thestorekeeper lets his rifle rust on the nail, the Government ships moor to trees alongside the biggest village convenient, and Government officials are poled along in open canoes, with no protection but an umbrella and a bit of matting, and nothing to fear but the sun.

Only a few years ago slave-raiding Emirs collected their

‘subsidies’ from limited companies, their ‘blackmail’ from small traders, and a revolver was indispensable. Now in a dozen provinces Residents from the Temple, the ‘ Universities,’ and the Schools walk about in civilian _ uniform armed with nothing but foolscap, send an orderly to summon chieftains before them, impose fines, assess

Be) ‘THE WHITE MAN IN NIGERIA tribute, free, slaves, hold provincial courts, and remain ~ seated in the presence of the highest in the land. Just before 1900 the steamers constantly found homeless and hopeless villagers camping in misery on islands and sandbanks, afraid to land.on either side of the river until the raiders had gone home to Bida or Kontagora, and even the White Man never landed but in force. Now the greatest danger to the river fisherman is the wash of the ~ ‘sternwheeler as it pounds up-stream, or swings on the flood towards the delta and the sea. Now the White Man goes into the bush shooting in the evening with none but his boy to carry his gun, and has to fear only the crocodile, the leopard, and the bush fire; when camping for the night.

Quite recently the traveller came across, village after village silent, black, and empty; but now the hum of one hardly dies away behind him before he hears the stir and tinkle of another. He walks through every kind of cultivation—yam-fields, sweet-potato patches, Indian corn, guinea grain, banana-groves, and, without exciting more than a passing interest, he passes greasy old men, tub-bellied bairns—bright-eyed, clinging to their mothers’ knees—painted women grinding corn and making cakes, and lazy fathers growing fat under the power of ,the ‘White Man. Everywhere he comes across the neatlytended praying-ground, the little patch of clean sand marked round with stones in the form of a circle,.a cross, a star, or no shape at all, on which strong men kneel towards Mecca, mumbling their prayers and rubbing their foreheads in the dust.

It is a wonderful change, and it has been wrought in a wonderful way. There has been no sanguinary warfare, no holocaust, no Omdurman, no devastating of districts, no deporting of thousands, nothing but a few well-planned coups, a few marvels of personal dash and valour, a few forced marches, “a few minutes

THE SEVEN-POUNDER II with the Maxim, a few dogged chases, a few quick decisions, a little bluff, and a few shells from the seven-. pounders—greatest of all have been the few shells from the seven-pounders. ’ Once a slave-raiding Emir was attacked by a neighbour, and turned the tables on his enemy by inviting the White -Man to bring his famous red-coated Hausas to help him. The White Man came, the enemy made a discreet retirement, and the White Man stayed. In vain the Emir thanked him for his services and offered to accompany him half-way homé, in vain he ‘dashed’ him horses and carriers, and arranged farewell feasts and festivals. The White Man had had his orders to come, and he must wait for his orders to go. Besides, the enemy had fled, but he was not beaten, and so soon as the White Man left, back he would come with double force, and perpetrate all sorts of iniquities and abominations, such as eating human flesh, burying living people, removing near relatives, catching traders for slaves and taking their goods ‘without payment, all sorts of wicked things which the ‘White Man would not allow to happen—no, not even at the Court of his friend. It was a great coup, and no cartridges were wasted. It was a great coup, but it is forgotten—the shells are not.

In the days of the Niger Company, a British officer, detailed to keep open communication for a force which was going to attack the huge town of Bida, hunted. some marauders for half a day, and, coming in sight of Bida itself, was. so fired with the fever of the dinice that he could not restrain himself, and followed them right up to. the gates. His brother-officer- shrieked to “him to stop; the fatalist black non-commissioned officer at his side told him it was riding into death. Blind and deaf to all reason, he galloped on and disappeared through the clanging gates. The little force under his command hung about; they felt there was no hope, but; not liking to go away, they watched and waited. No sortie came out to wipe them off the face of the earth, no:swift retribution for this insult and folly, but behind the gates, over the wall, the din of battle rose, and, swelling to a mighty uproar, emboldened them to approach, break open the. gates, and burst in. The town was in confusion; crowds of ‘natives were flying in all directions. The devil incarnate had attacked them! Rushing to. the loudest sound, the little force came in the nick of time on the officer: Covered with wounds, bleeding from head to foot, he was fighting like a wild cat with a native spear snatched from one of his. assailants in the middle of an angry crowd of © Bida warriors. -Saved at the last moment, he hung between life and death on the way\down river, He almost bled to death in the’canoe, but lived to do yeoman service in the Transvaal, whither, having disobeyed orders, he was quietly transferred. When the army of the White Man reached Bida next day, lo! the town had been already captured and subdued by the rash impetuosity of a fiery young Hercules from Scotland—Bida, the pride of the Fulani might, the great town of trade and countless people, the impregnable citadel with a fighting wall sixteen miles round. This was a brilliant dash, and the very name of the man makes even an Emir laugh uneasily and glance furtively over his shoulder. The memory of it will last, and the name will be handed down; but not so long as the memory of the shells, not so long as the name,of the gun.

As recently as 1902 Kontagora, the greatest raider of them all, went on the warpath with a following of anything up to 2000 armed warriors. For a week he harried the land, seized the newly-gathered crops, founded a harem, and made great hauls of slaves almost under the nose of the White Man’s Resident. Villagers had come with rumours of the raid; but rumours of raids are rife, and this particular Emir was always being reported to be on the move, so, he got a clear week’s start, and with a week in hand he could afford to laugh from his horse at the slow-moving Hausa on foot. It was a glorious week. Night after night the old man fervently thanked Allah for his regained power, for the comfortable booty, the women, the fat, strong, and healthy slaves, the abundance of corn, the herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. Truly the day of the Fulani was not yet dark! Another such week and ~ ‘his: following numbered close on 12,000, all inclusive. Then disquieting messages came in of the White Man’s force hot on his heels. A hundred riflemen! What was that? A handful! Let them come! Two mornings later, just as the cook-pots were filled for the early meal, just as the favoured of Allah knelt to his prayers, the | rising sun revealed the White Man, red and gleaming, coming down the face of the hill. There wag no time for defence, ho time to strike the tents, no time to eat, no time for anything—but flight. So when the White Man, ' revolver in hand, walked into the deserted camp, to find the rice still bubbling on the fires and the charred meat smoking on the spits, the black mass was all too plain “moving away like an evil cloud to the north. Thitty of the new Mounted Infantry hurried after it, and, approaching the’ huddled, jammed, and frightened swarm, divided into the bush to east and west. Flanking the flying crowd on both sides, this mere handful. emptied their rifles into the air, and the warriors, bewildered by the cross-fire, hungry, half-asleep, refused to fight. Twelve thousand people sent back to their farms, a dozen important malcontents, and the greatest raider of them all under lock and key—a good fortnight’s work this for the ‘ West African Frontier Force. .A good beginning for the new Mounted Infantry, the force which was meeting the .Fulani on equal terms, and beating him at his own game. But Mounted Infantry is nothing new, and, therefore, not so effective for prestige as the high-explosive shell.

In the same year—1g02—a British column was winding its way towards Lake Chad in single file—the single file of‘all African travel—when suddenly an Arab force, under an old raider named Mallam Gibrella, rose out of the very ground, galloping up. from a hollow in the undulating plain. There the Emir had waited, effectually hidden until the advance guard had passed. The ambush was cleverly laid, and all but successful. Apparently the plain: was- empty, so gradual were the sloping sides of the hollow, and the military caravan, trailing its length like a, serpent, seemed to share the horizon with the flying kite ; but within a minute of the scout galloping back helter-skelter with his head down, the earth was aliye with Fulani horsemen, and the air resounded with. their tomtoms, trumpets, and cries, and the jangle of their metal trappings. - Back came the advance guard at the double, and, kneeling among the anthills, added volley after volley to the general din, the growing cries of the carriers, and the shouts of command. Fulani horsemen aré easily checked. They .form a mass which even the. native marksman can hit; but to the consternation of the major, already looking anxiously at the British non-commissioned officer working like a madman at’ the mounting of the Maxim, and to the terror of the carriers,already dropping their loads of stores and ammunition and huddling in groups like. shéep, the horsemen ‘wheeled off to the left and unmasked a- dangerous horde of spearmen—mad fanatics whom nothing but a Maxim would stop.