The great Salla. ([p. 189])
The Prostration. ([p. 190])
Shortly after this festival our little community was reinforced by Mr. and Mrs. Bargery of the C.M.S. They occupied a large compound outside the city, and we all admired the business-like energy with which they settled down and ‘got square,’ turning two unattractive mud houses into a bright pretty home in an incredibly short time. The days slipped away, February drifted into March, and March into April, clouds began to gather in the hard blue sky, and lightning and distant thunder proclaimed the approaching rains; our thoughts turned towards ‘leave,’ and only one event, but that an important one for us, remained before we left Nigeria—the arrival of our new High Commissioner, Sir Percy Girouard, who had succeeded Sir Frederick Lugard. He arrived at Katcha on the Niger on April 13, where my husband was ready with two members of his staff, to receive him. About twenty of the highest officials of the Bida Court and their followers had been despatched also by the Emir as a mark of his fealty and loyalty to the Government. By all these, the High Commissioner was escorted to within ten miles of Bida, where the remainder of the European staff and the police guard of honour had assembled. The Emir, with the rest of his Court and five or six thousand followers, mounted and on foot, was also waiting to receive him, and accompany him triumphantly to the Residency. The cloud of dust raised by the horsemen was visible for three or four miles as they approached, so the High Commissioner must have had a choky time, to say the least of it! We did our best to induce him to remain for the night, but with his characteristic energy he determined to push on the same evening, and camp five or six miles further on, to the north of the town, towards Zungeru.
My husband’s leave had already been sanctioned, and, on mentioning the fact, his dismay can be imagined when Sir Percy Girouard apparently demurred, saying that all the senior officers appeared to be proceeding on leave directly he arrived! I need hardly say, however, that he would not hear of our remaining longer, as we had already completed eighteen months, and we therefore left Bida, as we had arranged on April 20.
It was, in truth, disappointing to have to come away at such an interesting stage in Nigeria’s development; a page was being turned in its history, the old order was changing, and the long projected railway was to become a solid fact, a change that could not fail to prove an immense advantage. Caravan trading, so far, had attracted all the energies of many thousands of the inhabitants, who had employed their time in lengthy journeys from the interior to the coast and back; with the railway in operation this anachronism would lose its raison d’être and gradually cease to exist; much greater numbers would then be available for cultivation, a gain of the highest importance, as the future prosperity of the country must depend greatly on its agricultural success, especially in the direction of cotton. As one who has watched its growth and steady advance during the last five years, I should like to close my book with the heartiest good wishes for the future success and advancement of the country we both love so well.