Chapter 22

CHAPTER XXII IBENO TO OKON EKKPO (JAMES TOWN) One morning, after a short stay at Ibeno, we started to cross a little-known stretch of bush land to the eastward which proved, from the beginning, rich in flowers new to our collection, many new to science also. After a while the country grew wilder. The path degenerated into a mere track, two to three feet deep at times and not more than six inches broad to the tread. This necessitated care in going, as Europeans, unlike natives, find it hard to place the feet one before the other instead of side by side. The difficulties of the way too were greatly heightened by the fascination of the vegetation on either side, which constantly drew our eyes from the snares of the path ; especially when at a turn in the road we came upon a Napoleona not only unknown to us but surely new to science, since this was the first to be found growing upon a liane, while of the eight or so of this interesting family formerly known we could not remember one which, even remotely, resembled the new discovery. After this find it became almost impossible to keep a sufficiently wary eye upon the path, and one or two painful stumbles resulted ; but who, among those who have experienced the fascination of botanising in what is practically new territory, could count the cost of graze or bruise when suddenly entering a forest of Napoleonas of bewildering beauty, fragrance, and diversity of form and tint ? The next new species found was one with a shell-pink pistil, staminal whorl of vivid rose, and second whorl edged with oval spots of white set in crimson. Hardly was this passed, when another creeper met our 298 eyes, some twenty metres long and covered with blooms of apricot and white. Then, after one or two known varieties a fourth new species with winged stems burst into view, and next two more with serrated leaves, though all previously known, had, to the best of our belief, had their edges intact. During the last two tours in the Oban District it had been our good fortune to double the known varieties of this interesting family ; but I doubt if any botanist had ever before the joy of adding during a single walk seven new species to so fascinating and rare a group. Nor was this all. Before leaving England, Dr. Otto Stapf, F.R.S., of the Kew Herbarium, had impressed upon us the importance of investigating the agencies by which the cauliflorous flowers of this region are fertilised. The problem as to why bark-flowering trees, so rare in other places, should exist in such countless varieties in those parts of the west coast where we have been enabled to make a special study of them, forms an attractive riddle. Dr. Stapf suggested that a solution might be found by studying the slugs, snails, and insects most attracted to those singular growths. Ever since our return we had been anxiously looking for anything of the kind ; but had as yet discovered nothing, save the added mystery that one or two species found flowering in the ordinary way at Oban were seen to grow cauliflorously in the Eket marsh-lands. On this walk, however, a slug much like a shell-less snail was discovered on several varieties of Napoleona : a specimen was at once procured and forwarded to Kew. In all, this single bush march of just over ten miles yielded thirty-two specimens new to our collection, a gratifying result when one considers that this is already on its way into the fourth thousand. Had scratches and bruises been the only penalty for so rich a harvest they would have been held cheap enough ; but alas ! we woke from our exciting search to the discovery that a turning which should have been followed was missed long since ; and the guide, who had undertaken responsibility for keeping our feet in the way they should go, protested, with many demands on our sympathy, that, having quite forgotten the name of the town to which he had promised to lead us, he had followed as fancy led and was now as ignorant as ourselves as to our whereabouts ! He suggested hopefully, however, that if we kept on long enough the path must surely lead somewhere in the end, and, for want of better, we felt constrained to follow his advice. At last we discovered our carriers, who had also lost their way and been led, by a merciful dispensation of Providence, along other paths to the same destination. We had the mortification of finding ourselves far from welcome visitors. The arrival of the District Commissioner in this town was as unexpected as unpremeditated, and no precautions had therefore been taken to clean the place or clear the road. The tone of the people was consequently by no means cordial, and our unfortunate cook, a man of irreproachable manners, son of the head chief of an important town, found his inquiries as to where a chicken and some vegetables could be bought met by a burst of fury on the part of the man whom he happened to question. The latter asserted that, though house and home should be burnt in consequence, no information would be given by him. This expression, inexplicable at the time, was later explained, when we learned of the false assertions made by disaffected elements that I was about to carry fire and sword throughout the District. Up till now carriers and attendants had always shown a preference for taking up their quarters in stuffy village compounds, rather than in the clean camp pitched for us some distance away. To-night they all crowded round our temporary abode and began raising little shelters rather than seek lodgings in neighbouring houses. When asked the reason for this sudden change of habit, they answered unanimously that they “ Done fear too much,” since women as well as men threatened to fight them if they approached the town. On starting next morning the roads were found barred by stout fences, ostensibly to keep goats and sheep from eating the young corn and yam shoots in wayside farms, but which would also act as protection in inter-town warfare. These obstacles were crossed by rough stiles ; but the difficulty thus placed in the way of traders, or indeed of all load-bearers, was too great to be allowed to continue. At Adukum, after clambering over one of these annoying impediments, we found ourselves in a large compound which at first sight seemed deserted like all others through which we had passed that morning—a circumstance which we put down to the fact that the owners were probably away at farm work, though we afterwards learned that, owing to the widespread calumnies already referred to, they had fled in terror at our approach. Suddenly we became aware that this compound was not empty. On a log of wood laid across the threshold of the principal door sat a lonely figure robed from head to foot in a long garment of black velvet, immovable and tragic—bringing to mind some hero of old, hopeless, but facing doom with indomitable courage. Just so might a Roman senator have sat, awaiting the onslaught of the barbarians before whom he scorned to flee. Not until we had approached to within a few feet did the quiet form show the least sign of life. Then he silently rose and stood before us, a tall figure, paler than most of his race, though of pure blood, with clear-cut features and steady eyes. So distinctly was the expression of danger, faced unflinchingly, mirrored in their depths, that we involuntarily glanced round to see what peril could be threatening so obviously brave a man. Nothing was to be seen but our carriers, drinking from a great water-pot which they had discovered, and the quaint little khaki-clad figures of my two companions, dressed as usual in marching kit. It was on us that the chief’s eyes rested, as if quietly weighing us according to some standard of his own. Surely presentiments are unreliable things, or we should have been made aware, by some subliminal sense, that this quiet figure had stood, and was still standing, between us and death ; for, as already related,1 ’Ndemm ’Nyenn alone, the chief who now stood before us, had refused to have any hand in the murder of a man who had done his people no wrong. 1 P. 265. The guide now took the opportunity to disclaim further knowledge of the road, and as all the other inhabitants had disappeared, the chief himself offered, with grave courtesy, to lead us to our destination. From now on, broad stretches of farm land alternated with belts of bush, each with some new floral treasure to offer, until Uda was reached. This town stands above a wide stretch of water, and is the home of several powerful Jujus already described.1 Far as the eye could reach along the Uda creek no vegetation but mangrove was to be seen. This stretch of water was negotiated in dug-outs. Then came another march, and another creek ; but this time the tide was out, and we walked for some half-mile along the oozy bed, watching schools of mud-fish scatter in every direction on our approach. These curious little creatures usually swim with the head above water, or skim the surface, almost in the manner of flying-fish. When high and dry, on mud flats or banks, they walk at a great rate by reason of their feet-like fins, which leave queer little herring-bone tracks in the soft mud. Their enormous goggle eyes glance sharply hither and thither, looking like two black beads set close together. After a while, a sudden turn to the right brought us to the edge of the water a few feet deep, where a small dug- out was in waiting to carry us down a narrow channel into a deep creek some three or four hundred yards across. As the town for which we were making was marked on the latest map as many miles from the nearest water, we were agreeably surprised, after landing on a beach into the mud of which the feet sank from one to two feet at every step, to find our destination only a few yards from the bank. Hardly had we settled down in our quarters than, just as daylight was fading, a long file of women came back from their work in the farms. In front walked a sinister figure, her head covered with a piece of cloth which overhung the brows, then fell, cowl-like, on either side. From the shadow beneath two dark eyes shone feverishly, set in an animated skull; for nose and lips had been eaten 1 See p. 33. away by some terrible disease, while the skin, either unusually pale for one of her race or rubbed with white chalk, was tightly drawn across the cheek bones—giving an effect something between “ Der Tod als Freund ” and Sintram’s “Little Master.” My companions were grateful for the waning daylight and the homely aspect of our surroundings ; for to have met so terrible a “ Death in Life ” amid the way- side tombs of a moonlit bush-path would have sent a shudder through stronger nerves than theirs. At dawn we set forth once more, and, after another interesting march, reached the sea again, on the opposite side of the District to that from which we had started. Our destination, Okon Ekkpo (James Town) lies at the point where the river, called by white people after Chief James, a Calabar trader, who had settled there, but known as “ Mbo ” by natives, flows into the Cross River and thence, through a little bay, into the Gulf of Guinea. Here too the land is low-lying, the only piece of high ground being a sandy bluff of curious formation, apparently the delta between long-dead river mouths. Since there was no suitable rest-house a site had to be found, and a magnificent one offered upon the high land just described, which falls sheer to the beach. We landed at a little sandy cove on the right, which gave access to a settlement of fisher-folk, some way to the rear. Here, on the beach in the shelter of the bluff, a small shed was to be seen, built over a collection of Juju pots and posts, together with a perfectly preserved human skull, over which palm-oil and other libations had lately been poured. This was the shrine of Abassi Esuk, the God of the Beach, and was placed there to protect canoes and nets, and ensure plentiful catches to its worshippers. On the plateau above, a great tree spread protecting arms between us and the fierce sunshine ; and amid the dead leaves piled about its roots lay several objects so beautiful in shape and colour that they drew from us an involuntary gasp of longing. They were a torque, crown, anklets, and bracelets of bronze, of fine workmanship, apparently very old, and weathered to the most perfect shades of blue and green, till they looked as if partly hewn from solid turquoise and partly from chrysoprase. Amid them lay a small flat sacrificial stone, rusty-red in tone. Obviously the tree had once been regarded as of more than usual sanctity ; but those who brought the offerings had long ago passed away, for the condition of the undergrowth showed that the place had been undisturbed for many years. It was a great temptation therefore, since they belonged to no one, to take possession of the beautiful objects, especially of the crown, which lay in such a position that, without touching it, we could see it was wrought in a pattern of interlacing snakes. Fear of wounding the susceptibilities of the people, however, kept us from hinting at our desire to purchase all, or any, of the ornaments. It seemed to be a case of virtue rewarded, for the particular tree fell during a tornado, not long after the rest of the ground had been cleared for the new buildings. The owners of the land were then approached on the subject, and the torque is at present in our possession. It transpired that the tree had been a special object of veneration, to which women from all parts of the District came on long pilgrimages. It was supposed to have the power of granting fertility to those who performed the necessary rites, as well as to protect them in childbirth and at all times of danger. Young girls too, before entering and after leaving the “ Fatting House,” came to ask a blessing from the indwelling Dryad, who was thought to confer the power of attracting the hearts of wooers. So famous were the oracles given from this grove that it was named ’Mkpang Utong, i.e. The Place of Listening Ears. To the right of the rest-house lies the open sea, while before it the mouths of the Akwa Yafe and Kwa Rivers may be seen. To the left the Cross River flows down from behind a green promontory, on the shores of which a little colony of friendly fisher-folk have built their palm-leaf huts so close to the water’s edge that the waves at high tide actually lap against the frail walls. On the shores of this promontory, and almost in view of the rest-house, is the shrine of the great Juju Ita Brinyan.1 A quarter of an hour’s paddling in the long canoes brings 1 P. 50. one to Effiatt Island, usually called Tom Shott by white men, against the farther shore of which surge the breakers of the open sea. On the wave-worn beach of the opposite shore stands the remnant of Onossi, once a thriving settlement from Atabong in the Eket District, but now little more than a group of fisher huts left standing when the rest was washed away. The people here believe that, after sunset of the day on which a great chief dies at Calabar, a canoe may be seen slipping through the shadows towards their town. Its coming is heralded by the sound of tom-toms, played by no mortal hand ; and it is driven forward by paddles, the wood of which “ neither grew in syke nor ditch, nor yet in ony sheugh.” “ Up the big mighty creek of Onossi ” passes the phantom canoe, to a ghost town thought to exist near its source. The more sheltered water to landward is peopled, at certain times of the year, by flocks of egrets, skimming the surface, settling amid the trees of the mainland at high tide, or strutting about on the yellow sand left visible at low. On the wing, their long necks are drawn in till they seem quite short and pouched, but on land there is no disguising the grace of the long curves, as they bend hither and thither preening wings and breast or searching for prey. Whether against a background of blue sky or sombre storm cloud, golden sand or green bush, these beautiful birds seem the whitest things on earth. According to local legend, in the dry season, just before flood time, two great serpents swim slowly through the water hereabouts. No one knows whence they come, but, having met, they swim side by side, many yards apart, toward the mouth of the Kwa River. Arrived there, they link tails and, stretched like a great rope almost from side to side, begin to move up stream. “ Before them they force the water, which advances in a great wave, the sound of which is louder and deeper than that driven before the prow of a steamer. ‘ Brr-00-00 ! Brr-00-00 ! Brr-00-00 ! ’ warns the oncoming water. Then those who are out in canoes must ship their paddles and cling to overhanging branches by the bank, while the helmsman steers very carefully or they will all be drowned. “ Right up the river swim the serpents, driving the water before them, till they reach Esuk Atu, where dwells the great fresh-water Juju Idemm. As a sign of respect to this, the snakes untwine their tails and allow the water to fall until the holy spot is left behind. Afterwards they join again, and once more drive the water before them as far as Etunkpe Creek. The tide always follows. Sometimes they come twice in a month. The wave which they drive before them is called Awawa, and people name the day of their coming Awawa day.” Such is the local explanation of the Kwa River Bore.1 The great dug-out canoes which one sees round Jamestown are the most valuable possessions of their owners. Sometimes they are large enough to hold twelve puncheons of palm oil, and may cost anything up to a hundred pounds or more. The price depends not only on size and workmanship, but also upon the character of the indwelling spirit; for no one cares to entrust his own safety, or that of puncheons worth fifteen to twenty pounds apiece, to a canoe of which the presiding sprite is mischievous or malignant. A few months ago, one of the chiefs gave an order for a specially fine dug-out. A huge tree was chosen, felled, halved and hollowed in the usual manner. By some misfortune the rites for inducing a strong but beneficent Djinn to take up abode within seemed to have failed. Whether the tree had been possessed by a malignant spirit which refused to be driven forth, or whether some ill-wisher wrought a charm by which a mischievous sprite was attracted into the new craft, remains a matter of doubt. In any case, the chief who had given the order refused to accept the boat in spite of its fine long lines and unusual spaciousness. “ What is the use of so great a craft to me,” he argued, “ when the canoe-sprite seeks to drown all who set foot within ? I would rather have a small boat the indwelling spirit of which is steady and well disposed, than the greatest canoe ever cut possessed by one of such unreliable character as this ! ” 1 Cf. the Malay belief that bores are “ caused by the passage of some gigantic animal, most probably a sort of dragon” (Skeat, Malay Magic, p. io). At the prows of all the larger craft three small square bosses are usually carved. These are regarded as representations of the spirit, and before them plantains and other small offerings of food are laid, while strips of cloth intended as garments hang from the point.1 When a canoe starts to crack and split, the indwelling Mana also begins to fail in strength, like a man growing weak and frail by reason of advancing years. So soon as the boat has grown too old for safety, it is cut up and serves to mend others. By those who still hold to old customs, however, the prow is never used for such a purpose, but is sawn off about a yard below the square bosses and then placed high and dry on the beach, or beneath some Juju shed. This is done that the Djinn may still have a place of shelter here on earth instead of being driven forth into the spirit world. When this last refuge decays it can no longer linger in the sunshine, but must at length set forth for the realm of ghosts. The bottoms of old canoes are often cut into long strips some foot and a half in width. These serve as floats for small brown urchins who swim upon them, with over-arm action, toward the family fishing-nets, the position of which is marked by posts. As our canoe passed among them, the edge of the board, seen sideways, showed a striking likeness to the strange up-curved, ambach floats used by the Buduma on Lake Chad. There is an odd little superstition here, no trace of which 1 For similar Malay beliefs cf. Skeat, op. cit. p. 279. “ The ship being a living organism, one must, of course, when all is ready, persuade it to make a proper start. To effect this you go on board, and sitting down beside the well (Petak ruang) burn incense and strew the sacrificial rice, and then tapping the inside of the keelson (Jintekkan serempu) and the next plank above it (Apit lempong), beg them to adhere to each other during the voyage ; e.g. : ‘ Peace be with you, O big Medang and low-growing Medang! Be ye not parted, biother from brother. I desire you to speed me to the utmost of your power (To such and such a place). If ye will not, ye shall be rebels against God,’ etc. I need hardly explain, perhaps, that ‘ Big Medang ’ and ‘ Low-growing Medang ’ are the names of two varieties of the same tree which are supposed in the present instance to have furnished the timber from which these different parts are made.” See also Mary Kingsley, op. cit. has been found in other parts of the District, to the effect that local gnats and midges have the power to talk like men. A narrow creek separates Effiatt Island from the mainland, and a short way down this, to the right, lies a stretch of sand just raised above the mangrove swamp. To this, in olden days, all small-pox sufferers were sent, and little heaps of broken pots may still be seen placed there as offerings to the Juju. This scourge was very prevalent in the neighbourhood, and when an epidemic swept through it is said that the crocodiles were quick to hear the news. “ They gathered round the little beach, attracted by the horrible smell of the disease. In the night time they used to creep up to the houses and seize sick people out of their beds, knowing that such were helpless and could not defend themselves. Leopards, on the contrary, appear to avoid towns on which this scourge has fallen, as the smell offends their nostrils.” Right through Effiatt runs another new creek, unmapped before our arrival. This leads to Akwa Obio Effiatt, the home of the great Oboyemi Juju, on which the prosperity of the town depends and which, the inhabitants say, gives them “ life.” A great carved ivory tusk lies in its shrine. Farther south is the mouth of Widenham Creek, named after a former Provincial Commissioner, Mr. Widenham Fosbery, to whom I and mine owe many a kindness. Into this creek flows that of Inua Abassi (God’s Mouth) leading to the town of the same name. In the mud opposite the entrance of this little water-way a strong post is to be seen, to which in the old days a human sacrifice was annually bound, to be drowned by the rising tide, at the beginning of the fishing season. In these degenerate days only a goat may be offered. The town of Inua Abassi is of considerable size and, as no clay is to be found in this part of the world, the houses are built entirely of wood and palm-leaf. Such dwellings are naturally inflammable, and as a result the inhabitants take the curious precaution of keeping all their more valuable property in fenced-in spaces open to the sky, so that it may be more easily saved in case of fire. Little of any value was to be seen amid these treasured belongings, which mostly consisted of cheap crockery and a few brass trays and lamps, all of modern European manufacture. Thrown away amid the yams outside, however, we stumbled across a long spear-head, of a type well known in Northern Nigeria and Central Africa. From the beautiful tint of its weathering, it was plain to see that this was not made of iron or steel. Before touching it, I asked if the owner of the land would be willing to sell it, and was told that, since it had been flung away as old and worthless, I was welcome to take it if I chose. Examination proved it to be of copper and, though cracked and bent, of fine workmanship and great age. The people of Effiatt and the region south of Jamestown are of very mixed race, as, owing to the ease with which supervision can be avoided, the neighbourhood serves as a kind of Alsatia for surrounding tribes, but the majority of them are probably Efik. The inhabitants gain their livelihood by fishing, for which purpose they spend the greater part of the year on the other side of the estuary. From Jamestown we went on up the river until we reached Urua Eye, where anything but a friendly reception awaited us. Here again carriers and boys refused to have any dealings with the townsfolk, but spent the night crowded together as near as possible to our quarters ; because here too they “ done fear too much.” On leaving next morning, we noticed vultures crowding the roofs of one of the compounds and the branches of neighbouring trees. Below, on the ground, was a horrible red stain, nearly six feet across, showing that either a considerable number of goats and sheep or some larger sacrifice had been offered there. Later we learned the reason. The chiefs of the place had for years been amassing large sums of money by holding an illegal court. They were naturally anxious that their ill-deeds should not come to light and so joined in the plot against us. The bloodstain was caused by a sacrifice lately made with the object of ensuring success to the venture. Here, as till a few years ago on the Kwa Ibo, human sacrifices were offered by the fisher-folk to the God of the River in order to bribe him into sending rich hauls. Abassi Esuk, the God of the Beach, received similar offerings should the rainy season be unduly delayed, or if there was unusual dearth of water during the dries. Now that the coming of Government and the teaching of the missionaries has put an end to such things, or at least made them matters of extreme difficulty and danger, a goat is substituted. Its blood is made to flow over the beach, and its head flung far out into the current, as an offering to the deity. On another occasion we went from Ibeno to James- • town by a different path from that taken on our first visit —this time following the banks of Stubbs and Widenham Creeks. It was nearly four months later in the year and the vegetation was quite changed in character. The Napoleonas showed only fruits of gold-like Hesperidean apples, but everywhere giant acacias were to be seen, tossing masses of bloom, the exact tint of “ Princess of Wales ” violets against the blue sky. In places the path was covered with the fallen florets, and once we came to a broad pool the surface of which was so thickly strewn as to form a solid-looking cloth of azure—such an one as Proserpine might have been making on that sad day when Pluto found her, wandering amid Sicilian fields, seeking violets to weave into a sky-robe for her father Zeus. Through swamp after swamp we passed, and over streams the ice-cold water of which reached our shoulders. In places, far as the eye could see, beneath the low undergrowth, the road was carpeted with soft velvety moss. Here and there toad-stools of brilliant scarlet stood out, jewel-like, against this emerald background ; while small frogs, of the exact shade of the fungi, hopped between. Backward and forward over the main creek led the road. Bridges were either broken or non-existent. At one point, while crossing a particularly evil-looking swamp, in single file, by means of a crazy erection of tree-trunks and tie-tie, the rotten wood suddenly gave way beneath the feet of my sister-in-law and she disappeared from sight amid the high reeds below. The procession stopped in horror, gazing down at the place where she had vanished and, with many a shake of the head, declaring sadly that Stubb’s Creek. Base of Sacred Ebiribong Tree, surrounded by Pi.aited Mat, denoting Dry and Rainy Seasons. (Seep. 315.) she was “ quite, quite gone,” meantime effectually blocking the narrow way, so that it was impossible for me to reach the spot. Fortunately, however, with her usual discretion, she had chosen a comparatively solid place on which to fall—a little island in the surrounding morass— whence, after struggling upon her feet, she presently emerged between the parted reeds, much in the attitude of the Egyptian maid watching Moses from amid the bulrushes in the old Bible picture. At our last crossing the creek was broad, reaching to my shoulders, and in many cases up to the carriers’ chins. I walked across as usual, but the interpreter elected to be carried. The result was that the head of his unfortunate bearer disappeared under water, after which there was a catastrophe and both reached the bottom together. A few yards farther the country opened out into a strange narrow belt of grass land, which extended for several miles. The presence of this oasis of herbage amid the surrounding forest forms a problem difficult to solve. So far as could be determined by casual examination, the soil seems to contain nothing different to that of other parts of the District. Chemical analysis might, however, reveal the presence of some mineral prejudicial to luxuriant growth. In this open stretch a Calabar trader named Entete has built a settlement. Round the base of the Juju post before his house various skulls were to be seen, among them that of a rare species of bush-buck. Entete himself acted as our guide next day through the strange narrow belt of grass land, which, save for an occasional clump of thin bush, stretches as far as Esuk Ekkpo Abassi. From thence onward the bush resumes its sway, every other branch garlanded by long trails of sweet-scented orchids, while several new species of flowers were discovered. Yet, for all its desolation, the region has other attractions beside floral ones. Here, it would appear, herds of pigmy elephant, the skull of one of which we first found in a Juju house in the northern part of the District, range at will. Hunter after hunter informed us, quite independently, that sometimes as many as a hundred of these strange, fierce little pachyderms may be seen at one time in the bush hereabouts. The temptation just for once to break Government regulations as to the non-shooting of elephants with tusks under twenty-five pounds weight was almost too strong ; but reflection as to the impropriety of setting so bad an example luckily intervened “ to check the erring and reprove.” Added to this sense of duty was a certain hope that influence might possibly be brought to bear to allow of steps being taken to secure one specimen of the species for the Natural History Museum and, if fortune specially favoured, another for the Zoological Gardens. Unfortunately these dreams were doomed to unfulfilment, first through pressure of work, and secondly by my sudden transfer. Local hunters declare that they dread these pigmies more than their greater brethren, to whom they are said to act as an advance guard. At a distance, at which alone I have caught sight of them, it was impossible to state definitely that they belonged to a distinct species, though it seems improbable that so large a number of young ones should go about independently without so much as a single full-sized elephant in sight. The next place reached was Unyenga, a fair-sized town unvisited by a white Commissioner since the punitive expedition of 1902. The people seemed quite friendly and the roads were cleaned, though signs were not wanting to show that this had only been effected within the last few days, probably not before news of our proposed visit had reached the chiefs. Later it transpired that the friendship was only skin- deep. After we had left, in fact, the head chief sent out and threatened those people of the neighbouring villages who, in obedience to orders, were clearing the road for a new trade route. It afterwards came to light that he had good reason for wishing his territory to escape the attention of the white man. The alacrity with which the people of the neighbourhood, hitherto subject to his dominion, took up the suggestion as to improving the means of communication showed that they at least welcomed the idea of more intimate supervision.