Remember, friends, we are but dust,
And die in course of time we must.
To show the seeds have taken root
By yielding up the proper fruit,
Tooralooral! are you willing
To subscribe another shilling?
If you will help to save the nigger
Your crown of glory shall be bigger,
More white your robes, your sandals smarter,
When we shall meet above herear’ter
Tooralooral! Psalms and Hymns,
Cherubs sweet and Seraphims.
Fields of glory, floods of light,
Sweet effulgence, Angels bright,
Sounds symphoneous, jewels rare,
Sheets of gold and perfumed air.
Tooralooral! fellow men,
Hallelujah! and Amen.
By what specious reasoning he succeeded in prevailing upon the authorities at the Foreign Office to countenance his return to Bonny, or what he described as his dominions, I know not. The fact, however, is on record that he did get this permission, and that he found some good friends in London to assist him with sufficient cash to pay £900 down on account of the charter of the Bewley, a small vessel of only about 180 tons register, which was to carry him and his consort, the Queen Eleanor, better known in Bonny as Allaputa, and their royal suite, which consisted of nine English men and two English women; amongst the former he had nominated the following officials, viz., premier, secretary, an assistant secretary, three clerks, and one doctor, a farmer, and a valet for himself. Mrs. Wood, the gardener’s wife, was to be schoolmistress, and the other English woman was to act as a maid of honour to the Queen Eleanor. All these people had agreements for salaries varying from £60 to £600 per annum, some of them with an allowance of £15 for uniform; several of the agreements contained a clause that stipulated that the king was to supply them with suitable apartments in the royal palace. On arriving in the Bonny river, these poor people had a rude awakening, for they found that the king was not wanted by his people, had no royal palace, and no revenues. However, they did not immediately quit the service of the dusky monarch, but held on in the hope of getting sufficient arrears of pay out of him to pay their passages home; they had some reason for their action, for the old king still had a strong party friendly to him in the town. The king funked landing amongst his late subjects, and he remained on board the Bewley, until the 15th of October, landing at last with many misgivings. Strange to relate, the same day the walls of the Bonny Ju-Ju house crumbled to bits, caused, no doubt, by the heavy rains, but the king looked upon it as an omen boding no good to him.
When the king landed, the captain of the Bewley gave the European suite notice that he could not supply them with food any longer, as the king was not able to pay him what he owed the ship.
These poor people now found themselves in a sad plight, but the Liverpool supercargoes in the river gave them quarters in their different sailing vessels and hulks. Those who wished to try their luck in some other place on the coast had their passages paid by the supercargoes of the river; Miss Mary, the queen’s maid of honour, was about the first to be sent home, the gardener and his wife left in November, and by the end of December the last of the king’s white suite left the river. None were ever paid their arrears of wages, the king being with difficulty made to find £10 towards the passage money of the doctor. Strange to relate, though these eleven white people could not be said to have passed their time in Bonny river under the best conditions for health, being cooped up on board a vessel of only 180 tons register, yet only one of them died, that one being the king’s valet. All had remained more than two months in the river, some four months, at a time, when, according to some authorities, the coast climate is most to be dreaded.
King Pepple never regained his ancient sway over the Bonny people, and after lingering in very indifferent health a few years, during which time he was every now and again springing some new intrigue on his people, he passed away at Ju-Ju Town, where he had been living almost ever since his return to his native land, for his health’s sake, he asserted, but rumour had it that he felt himself safer away from the vicinity of his more powerful chiefs.
After his death, the affairs of Bonny went back into the hands of the four regents, as they had been since the death of King Dapho up to the time of King Pepple’s return in 1861, and in a great measure remained during the few years Pepple lived.
These regents had originally been appointed by the late Acting Consul Lynslager on the 1st of September, 1855, and were the heads of the following houses:—
| Name of House. | Native Name of Chief in Possession in 1855. | Name of chief in Possession in 1869. | |
| Annie Pepple | Elolly Pepple | Ja Ja. | |
| Captain Hart | Apho Dappa | Still alive. | |
| Adda Allison | Generally called Addah. | " " | |
| Manilla Pepple | Erinashaboo | Warrabo. | |
|
Oko Jumbo Jim Banago | } |
Advisers to the regents, both wealthy men. |
Still alive. Squeeze Banago. |