It is put up by two men in a couple of hours, including cutting the grass.
Baro presents a peculiar hygienic problem. The mortality formerly associated with Jebba baffled doctors as to its cause. Baro, on the other hand, used to be regarded as possessing peculiarly unhealthy conditions in the marshy land along the river shore. Yet, with the exception of the first year of railway construction, cases of illness have averaged few and are now lower than ever. So much so that the hospital has been closed some time as there were too few cases to keep the staff employed. There are not many of that kind in West Africa. This qualified immunity could probably be traced to personal precautions. The lesson should not be lost by new-comers to the country, not necessarily new-comers to this part, as the same principles apply all through West Africa.
There were other spots at Baro I should have been glad to visit, but, being due at Lokoja—70 miles—the same night, at 11 a.m. I went aboard the small steam-launch the Rattler and commenced the 406 miles’ journey down the Niger.
CHAPTER XXXVII
LOKOJA
First stage down the Niger—Lokoja’s past—The discovery of the brothers Lander—Previous theories—McGregor Laird’s enterprise—Eighty per cent. mortality—The 1841 expedition—Richardson, Barth and Overweg—Laird’s second endeavour—The House of Commons scuttle policy—Its reversal—First Fulani battle—Imperial control—Commerce of Lokoja—Vessels at the beach—Loading boats—Freedom of contract.
“Steam at 10 o’clock, Cappy.” That was the order given by Mr Coleman at Baro in the evening to the skipper of the Rattler launch for the following morning. “Cappy,” of course, was an abbreviation of Captain. This commander was of the Nupé tribe, and the craft in his charge was used by Mr W. H. Hibbert, Divisional Agent of the Company, for inspection tours of the stations in his division. He had kindly sent it up from Lokoja to save me waiting three or four days for a large stern-wheeler coming down the Niger.
The wish, however, of several people that I should see the places in which they were specially concerned made the hour 11 a.m. when the Rattler steamed away on the 70 miles’ run to Lokoja.
The launch, propelled by a screw, was 75 feet long, with a beam of 8½ feet, and 4½ feet deep, drawing 2 feet 9 inches. The boat is used as a habitation by Mr Hibbert for weeks together as he travels up and down the main streams and tributary creeks to visit the many stations of the Company where produce is purchased by the men in charge and European goods sold to the natives.
Just below Baro the Niger is 1,200 feet across, as smooth as the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park. The banks of the river are low, in some cases edged with narrow strips of sand and in others completely grass covered. As one steams down, the crowded trees make a wall to within a quarter of a mile of the bank, whilst in spots this thick wooding comes to the edge of the water and continues along it. Occasionally, in the background, are ranges of hills, giving a higher and less regular sky line. Clear and distinct on the sand beaches crocodiles can be seen at intervals snoozing in the sun.