Nigeria

by E. D. Morel

Still less do I make any reflection upon the educated West African as such. Among these Westernized Natives are men to be regarded with the utmost respect, for they have achieved the well-nigh insuperable. They have succeeded, despite all, in remaining African in heart and sentiment; and in retaining their dignity in the midst of difficulties which only the most sympathetic alien mind can appreciate, and, even so, not wholly. To Mary Kingsley alone, perhaps, was it given to probe right down to the painful complexities of their position as only a woman, and a gifted woman, specially endowed, could do. Of such men the great Fanti lawyer, John Mensah Sarbah, whose recent and premature death is a calamity for West Africa, was one of the best types. The venerable Dr. E. Wilmot Blyden, whose race will regard him some day as its misunderstood prophet, is another. One could name others. Perchance their numbers are greater than is usually supposed, and are not confined to men of social distinction and learning. And these men wring their hands. They see, and they feel, the pernicious results of a well-meaning but mistaken policy. They appreciate the depth of the abyss. But they lack the power of combination, and their position is delicate to a degree which Europeans, who do not realize the innumerable undercurrents and intrigues of denationalized West African society are unable to grasp.

Between these two schools of thought, the “damned nigger” school and the denationalizing school (that, without appreciating it, plays into the hands of the first), which threaten the West African in his freedom, his property and his manhood, there is room for a third. One which, taking note to-day that the West African is a land-owner, desires that he shall continue to be one under British rule, not with decreasing but with increasing security of tenure; taking note that to-day the West African is an agriculturist, a farmer, a herdsman, and, above all, to the marrow of his bones, a trader, declines to admit that he should be degraded, whether by direct or indirect means, to the position of a hireling; taking note that customary law it is which holds native society together, calls for its increased study and demands that time shall be allowed for its gradual improvement from within, deprecating its supersession by European formulæ of law in the name of “reform,” for which the country is not ripe and whose application can only dislocate, not raise, West African social life. A school of thought which, while prepared to fight with every available weapon against attempts to impose conditions of helotism upon the West African, earnestly pleads that those controlling the various influences moulding his destinies from without, shall be inspired to direct their energies towards making him a better African, not a hybrid. A school of thought which sees in the preservation of the West African’s land for him and his descendants; in a system of education which shall not anglicize; in technical instruction; in assisting and encouraging agriculture, local industries and scientific forestry; in introducing labour-saving appliances, and in strengthening all that is best, materially and spiritually, in aboriginal institutions, the highest duties of our Imperial rule. A school of thought whose aim it is to see Nigeria, at least, become in time the home of highly-trained African peoples, protected in their property and in their rights by the paramount Power, proud of their institutions, proud of their race, proud of their own fertile and beautiful land.

E. D. Morel.

August, 1911.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER		PAGE
[PART I] THOUGHTS ON TREK
I.	On what Has been and May be	[3]
II.	On the Great White Road	[8]
III.	On the Carrier	[14]
IV.	On African Modesty and African Courtesy	[19]
V.	On the meaning of “Religious”	[24]
VI.	A Ragoût of Things Seen and Felt	[29]
VII.	The Sallah at Zaria	[35]
[PART II] SOUTHERN NIGERIA
I.	Nigeria’s Claim upon Public Attention	[45]
II.	The Niger Delta	[49]
III.	The Forest Belt	[56]
IV.	The Central and Eastern Provinces	[62]
V.	Lagos and its Port—the Future Bombay of West Africa	[71]
VI.	The Yorubas and their Country	[76]
VII.	British Policy in Yorubaland	[82]
[PART III] NORTHERN NIGERIA
I.	The Natural Highway to the Uplands of the North	[91]
II.	Northern Nigeria prior to the British Occupation	[98]
III.	The Indigenous Civilization of the North	[103]
IV.	The Life of the People—The Long-distance Trader	[107]
V.	The Life of the People—The Agriculturist	[111]
VI.	The Life of the People—The Herdsman and the Artisan	[118]
VII.	The City of Kano and its Market	[123]
VIII.	A Visit to the Emir of Kano	[130]
IX.	Governing on Native Lines	[136]
X.	The Foundations of Native Society—The Tenure of Land	[140]
XI.	The Foundations of Native Society—The Administrative Machinery	[145]
XII.	The Preservation of the National Life	[151]
XIII.	A Page of History and its Moral	[155]
XIV.	A Scheme of National Education	[160]
XV.	Commercial Development	[166]
XVI.	Mining Development and the Bauchi Plateau	[175]
XVII.	The necessity of Amalgamating the Two Protectorates	[187]
XVIII.	Railway Policy and Amalgamation	[194]
XIX.	An Unauthorized Scheme of Amalgamation	[201]
[PART IV] ISLAM, COTTON GROWING, AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC
I.	Christianity and Islam in Southern Nigeria	[213]
II.	The Cotton Industry	[222]
III.	The Cotton Industry—continued	[232]
IV.	The Liquor Traffic in Southern Nigeria	[245]
	Index	[263]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

A Borgu Canoe-Man	[Frontispiece]
Photo by Mr. E. Firmin (Copyright)
	FACING PAGE
“Through Plain and Valley and Mountain Side”	[6]
“We have trekked together”	[6]
A Group of Tuaregs	[8]
A Bornu Ox	[8]
“Magnificent Specimens of the Vegetable Kingdom”	[10]
Dug-out on the Kaduna manned by Nupes	[30]
“Silhouetting perchance a Group of Palms”	[30]
The Hoe-dancers (the Hoe-dance is a Hausa Agricultural Dance of Great Antiquity)	[34]
The “Jaffi” or Mounted Salute	[36]
Photo by Captain Mance.
The Emir of Zaria	[38]
The Emir of Katsina	[38]
Ju-ju Island near Jebba	[46]
Photo by Mr. E. Firmin (Copyright)
Shipping Palm Oil on the Niger at High Water	[46]
The Tropical Bush	[56]
One of the Communal Rubber Plantations (Funtumia elastica) Benin City	[66]
Photo by Mr. A. H. Unwin.
A Scene in Yorubaland	[66]
Photo by Mr. A. H. Unwin.
Benin City To-day. Bini Chiefs sitting outside their New Court House	[68]
Photo by Sir Walter Egerton.
One of the Sacred Stone Images at Ife, the Spiritual Centre of Yorubaland	[78]
Photo by Mr. A. H. Unwin.
One of the Sons of the Shehu of Bornu	[78]
Entrance to the “Afin” or Residence of the Alafin of Oyo, showing Typical Yoruba Thatching	[82]
Photo by Mr. A. H. Unwin.
View of Lokoja and Native Town from Mount Pattey looking S.E., the Benue in the Distance	[96]
A Nigerian Hunter stalking Game with the Head of the Ground Hornbill affixed to his Forehead	[108]
Photo by Mr. E. Firmin (Copyright)
A Trading Caravan	[110]
Photo by Mr. Charles Temple.
Fruit Sellers	[112]
Water Carriers	[112]
A Gwarri Girl	[116]
A Hausa Trading Woman	[116]
A Fulani Girl	[118]
Photo by Mr. Charles Temple.
Panning for Iron	[120]
Photo by Mr. A. H. Unwin.
Dye-Pits	[120]
A View of a Part of Kano City (Inside the Wall)	[124]
One of the Gateways to Kano City, showing Outer Wall	[128]
Another of the Entrances to the City	[128]
Inside Kano City	[132]
The Emir of Kano on the March	[134]
Corner of a Native Market	[148]
Photo by Mr. Freer-Hill.
Another Corner	[148]
Photo by Mr. Freer-Hill.
Iron Smelters	[164]
Fulani Cattle	[164]
Photo by Mr. Charles Temple.
Scene in the Bauchi Highlands	[184]
Photo by Mr. Charles Temple.
Scene on the Southern Nigeria (Extension) Railway	[194]
Photo by Mr. Freer-Hill.
Plate-laying on the Northern Nigeria Railway	[194]
Photo by Captain Mance.
Landing Place at Baro	[196]
Group of Railway Labourers—Baro	[196]
Village Head-men	[198]
Women Cotton Spinners	[232]
Men Weaving	[232]
MAPS
Map of Southern Nigeria	[46]
” Northern Nigeria	[92]
” Illustrating an Unauthorized Scheme of Amalgamation	[204]