Notes on Yoruba and the Colony and Protectorate of Lagos, West Africa Author(s): Alfred Moloney Source: Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, New Monthly Series, Vol. 12, No. 10 (Oct., 1890), pp. 596-614 Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1801424 . Accessed: 12/06/2014 15:17

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Notes on Yoruba and the Colony and Protectorate of Lagos, West Africa.

By Sir Alfred Moloney, k.c.m.g., Governor of Lagos.

Geographers have continued the name Slave Coast, originally given by the Portuguese, to that portion of West Africa situated between the Volta and Oil rivers. It was only at tho end of the eighteenth century that we obtained any definite knowledge of the grand Niger river which bounds the north and east of this portion of the continent, and only in 1830 were we satisfied that it had no connection with the Nile, Senegal, Gambia, or Congo, but was an independent river that emptied itself into the Bight of Benin on the western side of Africa. This territorial wedge is linguistically divided between the Ewe (Dahomey) and Yoruba or Yarriba-speaking peoples. On the area occupied by the latter I purpose to dwell in this paper. The population of Yoruba has been estimated as 3,000,000 ; its area may be viewed as from 25,000 to 30,000 square miles, or the size of Belgium and Holland together, of which 1069 square miles compose the Colony and Protectorate of Lagos. To this area have been applied generally the names Nago and Yoruba or Yarriba. According to the information given to the Landers, in 1830-1, the northern boundary of Yarriba (the capital of which was Katanga) was the river Moussa (Mussa) which cuts the right bank of the Niger opposite Babba. We read of the people occupying those parts in the middle of the seventeenth century as the powerful Oyos or I-yos ruling to the sea over Benin and Ewe (Dahomey). About 1830 we find the Felatahs or Fulanis from Sokoto crossing the Niger into Yarriba, which they attacked, when they established Alorie (Ilorin), and, to strengthen their position, made it a centre of freedom for runaway slaves. The attitude of Ilorin towards Yoruba is to-day the same. This area is studded with large populous centres, which owe their origin to community of tongue, tribal interests, and the necessity of self-protection. Of these I may mention, with their respective popula? tions, the following:?Lagos, 86,559, Abeokuta, 100,000, Jebu-ode, 60,000, Oru, 10,000, Ibadan, 150,000, Oyo, 80,000, Ogbomoso, 6000, Ejigbo, 40,000, Ilobu, 60,000, Ikirun, 60,000, Otun, 15,000, Ilesha, 40,000, Ede, 50,000, Oshogbo, 60,000, Iwo, 60,000, Ipetumodu, 40,000, Ode Ondo, 60,000, Igbaga, 15,000, Ilorin, 100,000, Isehin, 20,000. As a consequence of this concentration, the open country is sparsely popu? lated, and its agricultural development far from what it should be. Beginning on its western side, the intersecting rivers of the country are the W7hemi (Okpara), the Ajera (with its tributary the Giddy), the

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Addo (called, for the part above the town of Addo, the Yewa), the Itele, the Ogun, with its main tributaries the Ayan and Opiki, the Odo-ona, the Omi, the Oshun, and the Oni, the Ofara or Ubu river, the Oluva, and the Benin. The Whemi, which is said to originate in the direction of Mehi or Barba, may be viewed as the old geographical boundary between Yoruba and Ewe-speaking peoples; by it Dugba, the landing- place of Abomey, from whence it is distant about 23 miles, can be approached by steamers in the wet season. The area over which the Ewe language is spoken is called Ewemi; hence most probably the name of this river. The Ajera river is important as representing, by the longitude of its mouth, the line of delimitation agreed upon between the French and English territories; it also forms the western boundary of the Pokra district. The Addo or Yewa is a valuable commercial highway through the territories of Okeodan, Haro, Egbado, into the heart of Ketu; it is navigable for steamers of light draught to Addo, some 30 miles from the sea; it could be made navigable to Okeodan and Ajiliti. It is fed from the west near Addo by the Owo. The Ogun, having its source in the highlands beyond Oyo, flows with considerable current by that capital, which is some 150 miles from the coast-line around Abeokuta, and discharges itself into the Kradu water, near Ikoradu, by two mouths, the Ikoradu and Agboyi estuaries. A few miles to the north of Abeokuta it is joined by the Ogon or Ayan from the Sabe country to the north-west. Some 10 miles up the Ayan it is joined by Opeki (or Ofiki). On its right bank, between Abeokuta and the Kradu water, it is fed by the Owiwi, by the Apon, and by the Ilo, via Ota, opposite Isheri. In the dry season the passage of the Ogun is obstructed by banks; in the wet season it is said to be navigable for light draught steamers, even as far as Aro, the landing-place of Abeokuta, which is some 90 miles from Lagos. The Odo-ona, the Omi, the Oshun, and the Oni are rivers of Jebu of which little more than their names is so far known. The opening up of the three first-named would promote much the development of Jebu and the country beyond, whilst the Oni, Ofara, and Oluwa would do likewise for Ondo, Ife, and Ikale. These rivers do not discharge themselves into the sea, but into the channels or lagoons which form an inland waterway accompanying the coast-line. These channels, which form a feature of the Guinea coast, present an interesting study in Physical Geography, and also afford a rich field for the study of their brackish and fresh-water fauna. From their openings into the sea, to a distance of some 30 miles, they are affected by the tide ; beyond, the water is generally deep and fresh; on both sides the land is clothed with rich vegetation, and offers a genial home for tropical growth. The forests which fringe the water-

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.152 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 15:17:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 598 NOTES ON YORUBA AND THE COLONY AND ways are carpeted here and there with the parasitical Thonningia and are rich in orchids, of which I have been fortunate in securing living specimens for the Royal Gardens, Kew, of many rare and beautiful species, some sweetly scented, some probably new, of the genera Angreecum, Lissocliilus, Polystachya, Bolbophyllum, Megaclinium, Sarcanthus, and others. It may be interesting to remark here that I came across in the Niger delta the mistletoe-like C3Lctxis,Bhipsaliscassytha, found also in Madagascar and generally in tropical Africa. The genus Bhipsalis is said to be the only genus of Cactacese found outside of the New World. Amid the rich vegetation of the lagoon banks are many species of palm-trees, inciuding groves, miles in extent, of Baphia vinifera, the pounded pericarp of which is used in the still waters of narrow creeks to stupefy or poison fish. Other common trees are mangroves, the " accompaniments of brackish water, and a willow-like shrub called salt- bush," from which in the vicinity of Benin, as elsewhere, a native salt is manufactured. The inland border of these long lines of channels and lagoons must, I think, have originally been the sea-coast, and the strips of land that now, sandwich-like, intervene between the sea and the mainland, have to all appearance been formed by the continuous action of the surf caused by the current that crosses the Atlantic from the Gulf Stream, in driving back the debris which is carried down, especially in the floods, by the many intersecting streams and rivers. Such lagoons run along parallel to the sea for hundreds of miles, and connect, with two slight and removable interruptions, the Volta and the Oil rivers; the narrow area they embrace represents the malarial belt, so fatal to Europeans; the further inland therefrom one gets, the more healthy, but perhaps the more hot the country becomes. On the occasion of a recent visit which I paid to the eastern district of the colony, I ascertained personally that with the removal of a few grass islets?an easy matter?a passage by inland waters to the Benin river, a distance of some 160 miles, was not only practicable but easy for steam-launches and probably for larger vessels in course of time. When such ways of communication are generally opened up and definitely established, the open surf-tossed roadsteads and dangerous bars for which West Africa is notorious may to a great extent be avoided. The Colony of Lagos, which is the seaboard of Yoruba, was acquired by a treaty between the late King Docemo of Lagos and other chiefs, and Commander Bedingfield of H.M.S. Prometheus and Consul M'Crosky, on behalf of Her Majesty, on the 6th August, 1861, and by another treaty dated 7th July, 1863, between Lieutenant Glover, on behalf of Her Majesty, and Chief Akrah and other chiefs of Badagry. These treaties conveyed to the Queen the whole territories belonging to these chiefs. Later additions were made at the wish of the native authorities and

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.152 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 15:17:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions PROTECTORATEOF LAGOS, WEST AFRICA. 599 peoples concerned, as follow: the kingdom of Katanu in 1879, of Appa in 1883, and of Jakri, Ogbo, and Mahin in 1885. The native name for Lagos is Eko, changed, it is said, from Oko, a farm, for which this island was firstused by the Yorubas who had settled on the island of Iddo : or it may have been called so after the town in Yoruba of the same name Eco, through which the Landers passed en route to Boussang. The name Lagos is Portuguese, possibly from lago, a lake, as it looks like an island situate in a lake, but more probably from the seaport Lagos, in Portugal. In 1871 the population of the Colony and Protectorate was 60,221, made up of 27,863 males and 32,358 females. In 1881 it reached 75,270, composed of 37,665 males and 37,605 females: for 1887 it has been estimated at 86,559. It must be borne in mind that this increase is not entireiy attributable to the excess of births over deaths, as the popula? tion is augmented to no inconsiderable extent by the escaped slaves who succeed from time to time in reaching the colony and in thus securing their natural liberty. The Niger has been and continues to be the high road from the north and east of Mohammedanism, and its active pioneers towards the western coast of Africa have been the Fulanis or Fulatahs, and the Kambaris who have in the past overrun much of the country, and have succeeded in contracting the area of Yoruba-land. Among Lagos Mohammedans, for whom I entertain a great respect, there is found the usual sympathy for their co-religionists, whieh extends with a reverential affection to Ilorin which they view as their local Mecca, and with which they have constant communication, either via Abeokuta, Isehin, Oyo, and Ogbomoso, or by Atijere, Ode-Ondo, Ilesa, and 11a. Ilorin is situated on the Assa, one of the feeders of the Niger ; there it has a width of some 40 yards, but navigation is obstructed by boulders. The difficulties are minimised, they say, in the rains when the water is high. Mohammedanism was introduced into Lagos about 1816, in the reign of Oshiloku, who was the eighth king; there were then many sheikhs of the Ulema. About 1836, when civil war broke out, the Mohammedans fled under one laris Daha to the town of Ibi, where they remained until they were invited back to Lagos by King Akitoye in 1840. Since then they have increased rapidly, and are now a most orderly, intellectual, and respectable class of citizens, composed of all the tribes of Yoruba; prominent men among them are of the Houssa and Bornu peoples. The present Mohammedan population of Lagos may be estimated at ' 15,000. In Sir Eichard Burton's Wanderings in West Africa,' written in 1863, he put the Moslem population at from 700 to 800. The Christian mission bodies have been and are the popular educa- tors. I cannot speak too highly of their labours and self-sacrifice ; they

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deserve all sympathy, encouragement, and respect. The bright spots or oases (of small area so far) of civiiisation and culture to be noticed dotting Yoruba are of their doing. Educational labours are chiefly conducted through native agency. Followers of Islam, although in many instances their children are to be found in Christian educational institutions, have their own Mohammedan schools, their labours being exclusively confined to the teaching of Arabic from its grammar and advancing to the Koran, and Mohammedan history. Generally, more attention is now being directed in the country to the promotion of industrial education, which, although in the past it formed a prominent feature in the missionary curriculum, fell into neglect from want of funds and not receiving the support and encouragement it deserved. I view industrial education, especially in .an agricultural form, as of primary importance to the country. Going westward we find that according to local tradition the first Popo (Ewe) immigrants, headed by their King Agbangra, of Hungi, a town that existed to the westward of Whydah, but since destroyed by Dahomians, got to Appa, the king of which gave to them, as a place of settlement, a farm of one of his slaves, named Bada, on a strip of land between the lagoon and the sea and in front of the present Badagry? celebrated as the starting-point of Clapperton and the Landers. On this site they settled, calling it Bada's gri or farm, hence the name Badagry. They were later followed up via Kotonu, which is on the same land strip, by Dahomians, and, deserting in consequence the original Badagry, crossed the lagoon and established the present town. The capital of the district is Badagry, with a population of 2500 to 3000 ; it is approached by lagoon, and distant from Lagos 45 miles. The aborigines of Katenu, Appa, and Badagry were Yoruba-speaking people, who emigrated from their country within the bend of the lower Niger after it had been overrun from the north by the Fulahs and Kambaris or Houssas; they have been supplanted by, or almost alto? gether absorbed among, the tribes of Ewe-speaking people, known and commonly referred to in English as Popos and Whemians, but known among themselves and the Yorubas as Egun, who have steadily for years migrated, and still migrate, in numbers eastward to escape the atrocities, mainly represented by human sacrifices and slavery, of their fellow- countrymen ordinarily known as Dahomians. The population of the district was returned in 1886 as:?Badagry portion, 12,068; Frah* or Katenu kingdom, 8355; Appa kingdom, 3255. The industries of the district are the manufacture of palm oil from the husks of the ripe fruit of the Elais guineensis,the preparation for the market of the kernel of the same fruit, the cultivation of Indian corn, of leguminous plants of different sorts and sizes, of the sweet potato, of * Katenuans are called Frahs, or fishermen.

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.152 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 15:17:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions PROTECTORATEOF LAGOS, WEST AFRICA. 601 cassava which affords the preparation known as gari, an important staple of food in these parts, of yams, and sugar-cane to a small extent. Fish is caught in large quantities, especially by the Katenuans, and sun- dried or smoked for sale; in either form it represents a considerable coast and inland industry. I may remark that fresh fish is not appre? ciated by the Yoruba; he prefers it in the form which I have ju*t described. The lagoon, as one approaches Badagry from Lagos, presents for some 20 miles a monotonous scene, fringed on both banks, as is usual in such latitudes when the water is salt or brackish, writh mangrove, Avicennia africana and Bhizophora mucronata, which yields largely the firewood in common use. On the sea-strips of land, the line of mangroves gives way, as one nears the sea-shore, to the dwarf trees ofthe Chrysobalanus Lcaco or cocoa- plum, seen in their perfection in July, when they are covered with a blue plum-like fruit of the size of a small peach, reminding me of the Black Hambro grape; they are again succeeded by ground creepers indifferent to salt spray, among which runs handsomely a large-leafed leguminous plant with a most beautiful purple-red flower of considerable size for a pea ; also the Ecastophyllnm Brownei. From the opening into the Igbessa waters westward nothing but the graceful oil-palm presents itself for miles, and the busy improvised villages of the manufacturers who resort there for the season. Here one is much struck with the alluvial deposits topped with rich black vegetable mould, in which anything tropical might be grown. I must not omit to mention the Borassus sethiopium,or fan-palm as it " " " " is generally called?the ronier or run of the Gambia. This tree grows abundantly behind Badagry, and it has indeed surprised me to find that it has not been utilised there as piles for wharves, as it is commonly at the Gambia. Thirdly, there is the Baphia vinifera, or bamboo palm, which here abounds. The leaf for thatch and the poles, or rather mid-rib of the leaf, used for varied purposes, present extensive and important industries. Such poles made up into bundles ready for sale are floated down to Lagos in rafts on the tides. Tbe presence and extent of this growth is at once remarkable in the towns and villages of the districts from the fact that nearly all the houses and fences are constructed from the Baphia vinifera. Open spaces occasionally present themselves, being the sites of deserted farms from which the trees have been recklessly removed in the past by burning to save labour; they are now only remarkable for their isolation, and the scrub that has taken the place of the former rich vegetation. From such sites a double crop of corn could be reaped each year, or groves of plantains and bananas would there thrive luxuriantly. Pistia stratiotcs is commonly found obstructing the waterways.

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Floating islets, torn away pieces of some river bank, covered by a rank grass from four to five feet high, are at times met, especially in the floods, and prove a source of some trouble (to say nothing of the myriads of mosquitoes that seem to inhabit them) if allowed to get entangled with the chain of a steamer at anchor, which has been known to afford to snakes (some poisonous, all surrounded by doubt whether they are or not, and frequently met with in such islets) ready means of getting on board. This rank grass is used by the natives as fodder for pigs, and the islets are frequently staked in shallows as a feeding ground for fish, and later surrounded by a bamboo grating from which, after the islet has been cut to pieces, the fish are removed by circular hand nets. The papyrus grows luxuriantly along the banks of the western main lagoon, marked here and there by manatee traps for the Manatus sengalensis, or by a bamboo pole with a white rag of Manchester cotton on the top, to denote the opening of the creek leading to some village or town. In the Popo language the Manatee is called Yingbinyingbin,and in Yoruba Ese. The animals are harpooned in the traps just referred to in the dry season when the waters of the lagoon are low, and during just half of the year. The flesh is much appreciated by the natives, resembling a combination of veal and pork. Strips of the hide, with the parts used as handles studdecl with brass-headed nails, seem to be viewed as fashionable, and I should say certainly effective,whips by the natives. Pineapple and Sansiviera guineensis and longiflora grow extensively in wild luxuriance in Appa and Pokra ; indeed the latter grows everywhere on the Yoruba seaboard; they are put to little use, though they are products from which might be derived important and valuable industries. In districts where the oil palm becomes scarce, and fresh water is found, the banks are often lined with species of Ficacese, the haunt of the fruit-bat, Epomophorus gambianus, as also of a true bat, the Yesperugo tenuipennis; these abound, and are common articles of food. This leads me to speak of the lake dwellings of certain tribes who surround or live on the sheet of water known as the Denham waters, lying behind the Dahomean sea-board, and the rivers that flow into it. The male portion of these amphibious people are fishermen, or fishermen and farmers combined. These tribes are the Katenus, Esos, and Whemians (all speaking the Ewe or Dahomey language), who live in large native villages and towns built entirely out and over the water. I paid several visits to these waters, and had the opportunity of observing for myself the modes of life of the people. They once formed part of the old kingdom of Dahomey, which was in the past split up by intertribal wars. The weak were not driven to the wall in this case, but literally into the water, where safety was sought from their more powerful fellow-countrymen?viz. from the ancestors of the present occupants of the Dahomean kingdom?the protection being ensured from

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.152 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 15:17:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions PROTECTORATEOF LAGOS, WEST AFRICA. 603 a knowledge of the fact that it has been for some time conveniently contrary to the Dahomean fetish to cross water, at least in canoes. Their towns or villages have each a floating population, varying, I may estimate, from two or three hundred souls to as many thousands. The people are fine and healthy, and, as a rule, free from disease. Their houses are built upon piles or stout straight branches of hard wood, of some 3 to 6 inches diameter, which are secured as supports by being worked under manual labour from canoes into the bottom some 3 or 4 feet. The upper ends are then secured by cross-pieces of like nature, on which is worked a bamboo flooring, two-thirds or a half .of which is covered in by a house, the uprights of which are fixed first, and secured below the platform to the supporting piles. The roof frame is next made on the platform, then covered with grass or bamboo leaves and raised to its position, when it is secured by the tie. The remaining portion of flooring is used as a verandah, or rest loft, and is sometimes covered in or not, according to the wish of the owner. In the con? struction no nails are used. The houses are in shape rectangular, some? times conical, having in the latter case the appearance of floating bee- hives of large proportions. These people are not only fishermen, but are pastoral, especially the Whemians; and their relative wealth, and eonsequent social status, may be guessed by the general appearance of their houses, and by the stand of cattle to be seen in the pens adjoining their houses, built on piles over the water, like the dwellings. The absenee or shallowness of the water at some sites iff the dry season admits of the cattle being allowed to wander on terra firma; but fodder has to be brought by canoe to the less fortunate creatures that have to eke out an existence in such pens as are always surrounded by water, until such time as they are tethered and transported by canoe to the butcher. The length of the piles depends on the depth of water, and on the probable rise in the rainy season. I have seen houses built over water some two or three fathoms deep. Should there happen to be a higher rise than allowed for, which at times happens, when even the platform is covered, a temporary flooring is made in the roof, with a hole in its thatch as a door, over which the people have to reside until the water has subsided. Habit, associated with still-existing dread, leads them to prefer these aquatic residences, although they cultivate farms and make oil on the adjoining lands. The domestic animals among them are pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, dogs, &c. The men fish, farm, and trade, while the women attend to the live stock and attend markets, paddling their own way; they also fish. The fishing-gear is similar to what I have already described. Intertribal fighting, whether for offence or defence, has been con? ducted from canoes capable of holding two or three persons, their

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.152 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 15:17:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 604 NOTES ON YORUBA AND THE COLONY AND weapons being guns, harpoons, spears, and clubs. So uncertain are they of safety, and so apprehensive of danger, that they keep, when tra? velling, secured against the sides of the canoes, guns and a quantity of ammunition. Their beds are similar to those usually adopted on land, viz. a reed or fibre mat, on the bare floor. Polygamy, which is general in Yoruba, exists, but wives and children live in separate houses from husbands. On invitation a par? ticular wife will join her husband, and on such occasion, generally at night, paddle her own canoe to him, and convey his evening meal. To the east of these people the colony of Lagos now extends from a line passing through the meridian of the Ajera river eastward to the river Benin; it is divided into four districts:?Western (Badagry), Central (Lagos), Northern (Ebute Meta), and Eastern (Palma and Lekki). The distance from Lagos roadstead to the anchorage at Lekki, the capital of the eastern district, is 42 miles; the length by lagoon is 72 miles, which can be followed into the Benin river, into which it flows about 7J miles from its mouth. Five feet in the wet and four feet in the dry season, represent the shallowest water by the lagoon passage to Benin; this is found on a narrow ridge of sand on Lekki flats, which can be easily dredged to admit of steamers of seven and eight feet draught plying from Lagos to Benin. Here, I may say, are to be found hippopotami. The northern district of the colony and the kingdom of Jebu are con- terminous; both are situated on the mainland; and the latter extends eastward along the northern bank of the Ossa as far as the branch of the Ofara or Ubu river, that debouches about four miles to the east? ward of the island of Makun. On the same side and next come the Mahins, Ubus, Ijohs or Ioes, the water-pirates of old, and the Jakry people. The eastern district is also a network of lagoons; and the rivers that intersect the mainland and have contributed to build up the strips and islands which form the coast belt between the lagoon waterway and the sea, are?the Ogun, that rises to the north of Abeokuta; the Omi, Oshun, and Oni in Jebu; the Ofara or IJbu, from Ondo; and the unexplored waterways behind Abota in the direction of Igbobini. The littoral to the eastward of Lagos, as far as Ode, may be spoken of linguistically as Jebu. The Lagos people, or their descendants, or the old Kosoko party that was driven from Lagos in 1852, have also settled along this strip. The Mahins have maintained for centuries their hold on so much of the littoral as lies between Ode and their capital, Mahin; the remainder, as far as the Benin, is peopled and commanded, as regards the exercise of influence, by Jakri people, with a small intermixture of Sobos, not Ogbos, as they are at times represented. The distanco by sea from the anchorage, Lagos bar, to Benin bar

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.152 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 15:17:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions PROTECTORATEOF LAGOS, WEST AFRICA. 605 is 100 miles; whilst, by the inland waters, via Aboto and Arogbo, to the mouth of what is known at Benin as the Lagos or Itebu creek, the distance is estimated at 160 miles. In course of time, flat-bottomed steam lighters and barges may be worked through, up to 4 feet draught. Bars could thus be avoided altogether, and one port of entry and exit used, viz. Forcados, as will be explained later. The width of the navigable part of the Benin bar is half a mile. At ordinary tides the depth of water on the bar is, low-water, 10 feet, high-water, 14 feet; at spring tide there is an additional foot. Lagos bar is distant from Forcados river bar about 120 miles. Water at ordinary tides on Forcados bar is 16 feet low-water, and 22 feet high-water. The width of the channel over the bar is one mile. From the Benin river to the Escardos river, by sea, it is 10 miles. From the Escardos river to the Forcados, by sea, 13 miles. From the Forcados to the Eamos river, by sea, 14 miles. The depth of water on the Escardos bar is, low-water, 9 feet; high-water 15 feet. The depth of water on the bar of the Ramos river is, low-water 8 feet; high-water, 14 feet; the navigable channel is half a mile across. The distance from the Forcados to the Escados river by creek, round by Goshawk Point, is estimatedi at 25 miles; and from the Escados river through Daly creek to its union with the Benin about 22 miles; while the distance by Ellagico river and Agaru creek, the route for large steamers, is about 55 miles. The Benin river is connected with the Escardos by two known waterways. The lower is known as Daly creek. The Mahins seem to have remained up to to-day where they have been described as located centuries ago?on that portion of the strip " of false coast" lying east of Ode, and onward to and inclusive of Omahe or Mahin. On the same strip next comes the territory of Iwere (Owere, Owyhere, Ouarre, Awerre, Warre), which extended to the Benin river and included the islands or deltas intermediate between Benin and Forcados rivers. This territory is also recognised as the Ichekre, Shakry, or Jakry, and its capital was Warre. From a hurried comparison of some short vocabularies I have drawn up, I am led to conclude that the Jakry or Warre language is a dialect of the Yoruba; a conclusion opposed to that of Mr. R. N. Cust in his work on the modern languages of Africa, who gives as synonymous Izekiri, Ishekeri, Dsekiri, Benin, Bini, and Iwine; it is also opposed to what the Jakry men say, viz. that they and the Benins are one, and that Warre was peopled from Benin. In Yoruba we find one, eni; two, eji; three eta. In Jakry dialect the difference is merely the prefix m, viz. meni, megi,meta. Again : the word ask is bere in Yoruba, biro in Jakra; soap, ose in Yoruba, oche in Jakry; door, ilekun Yoruba, ekun Jakry.

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" Jakry men have a great veneration for Warre. The corpses of big men" are taken there for burial after death ; while in the case of " small men" only the hair and toe and finger nails are taken. The same custom applies to Jakry women. The bodies of slaves are consigned to the bush or river. Tradition makes the Benins a component part of the Yoruba nation. They speak, however, a distinct language, as I venture to think from a comparison of Yoruba and Benin vocabularies which I formed, to the extent of three or four dozen words. Take the numerals in Yoruba, one eni, two eta, five arun, ten ewa: in Benin we have puhu, geva, ihisin, and ijigbe. Yam in Yoruba is isu, in Benin eyan; man, ohunrin Yoruba, opayah Benin; town, ilu Yoruba, ebaro Benin; welcome, Tcuabo Yoruba, boTcianin Benin. The Benins are reported to be skilful workers in iron, copper, cotton, and grass manufactures. Among themselves and in the interior countries they are known as Eddos; along the coast-line, as Awonrin or Awhawnrin. Oshobo, Shobo, Ihasherri, Ijohmu, Eshawran, and Oshucoosey, are given as the principal towns where Benin chiefs live who attend all general councils of the king. The Benins have been described to me as of the same family as the Tappas, who, they say, are thirteen days' journey distant from them. The following have been named to me as countries or provinces, with separate responsible governments, of the kingdom of Benin, within which the Eddo language, or some dialect thereof, is spoken?Uruwah, Ekumah, Igbedey, Egoro, Oogiami, Ekonogbosheray, Eko-amu, Ehru, Ukun, Uromu, Nrakin, Akekereke (fourteen days' journey inland from Benin) Eborokimi, and Ojala. For each, the king of Benin chooses the king or chief. The burial of any such chief cannot be undertaken unless the king of Benin is informed first. A native salt industry of old standing continues. The salt is made extensively by Jakry men from the leaves of a willow-like tree not unlike the mungrove, which are burnt, the ashes then soaked and washed, and then evaporated; the residue represents native salt, which is even now preferred for many uses to introduced salt. In addition to the Benins, Jakrymen, and Ijohs, we hear much in those parts of the Issobos or Sobos, who are described as people tributary (they have been so for generations) to, and above, Benin, on the same side ; industrious, agricultural, and oil manufacturers. While there seem to be in their language many different words, yet in their numerals and other words, there is a great affinity between Benin and Sobo; whether due to gradual absorption, or not, of the language of a people so long under Benin sway, remains to be proved. We find, for example, in Benin, door ehu, in Sobo ese; man, opayah B., osare S., woman, ohuo B., same S.; town, eboro B., osiotete S. Then, in the numerals, we have one, puho B., ovo S.; two, geva B., igivray S. ; three, geha B., esa S.; ten, igigbe B., igbe S.

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The commercial houses on the Benin have each its own mud-bank, " called a beach," protected by a surrounding swamp, and, as regards river frontage, by a line of coco-posts driven closely together to counter- act washing away. These beaches are thus formed:?A house is to be established; application is made to the particular chief interested, who readily grants a site in the mangrove swamp, which he will probably clear with his slaves, under the guise of helping the trader, really to promote his own interests. The site is then fenced with coco-posts and filled up with black mud, and a coating of sand put on the top. It is then ready to receive a dwelling-house. Although we find in Yoruba large tracts of land without any sign of a habitation, it would seem to be the indigenous view of land tenure that there is no land absolutely unoccupied in the sense of being without an owner. The occupancy, clearing, and cultivation of unoccupied land is considered to vest the ownership in the occupier within the limits which he has originally cleared, as against any subsequent occupier. But possession is dependent first upon asking and receiving permission from the person or persons considered and acknowledged as having seignjorial rights, which is usually the king, some chief or chiefs, or head man. Permission, as regards the asking, is merely a matter of form, as any such landlord has no interest to the contrary, and besides, he naturally desires to have as many persons as possible living within his acknow? ledged area. Squatting without permission is contrary to native custom and feeling. Seigniorial rights are often of so little value that they are not claimed, amounting in most cases only to occasional presents of fruit or vegetables. As between the natives themselves, there is no subject which gives rise to disputes of so much acrimony and pertinacity as disagreements relating to land. The industries in the eastward direction are the manufacture of palm oil, the cultivation of indian corn, of leguminous plants of different sorts, of yams, and of cassava, which affords the preparation known as gari, an important staple of food. The fishing industry proceeds only to a very limited extent on the lagoons, if I except sites opposite to towns and villages peopled by Lagosians. I may add, sea fishermen are not known in the colony; this fact is attributable to the existence of the inland waters, which seems to supply native wants in fish. The many rivers that intersect the country are also said to abound in fresh-water fish. " The fishing craft is represented altogether by the canoe, the dug- out," of varying sizes, regulated by the number of persons carried, viz. from tive to one. They are generally hollowed out, by the adze and burning of the trunk, of the silk cotton tree (Bombax), or of a species of fig-tree. Canoes most frequently used are those for three persons;

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they are propelled by paddles, the shapes of which vary tribally, the occupant (or occupants) resting on his knees, on his haunches, or standing erect, or perched on seats?cross sticks, secured by tie-tie on the gunwale of the canoe. They are sometimes built up at the sides when required for com? mercial transport purposes, for ferry-boats, or as war-canoes. The ordinary sized fishing canoe is propelled by three men, one of whom, occupying the stern, propels and steers, his main duty being the latter; and in their management of the craft they are surprisingly clever. Transport is mainly effected by means of the rivers and lagoons, that is the inland waterways, so far as water can be made use of, and on the heads of natives by land, as was experienced in the Ashantee war of 1873-4. For water transport, canoes abound. The carrying power of canoes is judged by the number of persons or casks of oil each will carry. Their sizes accordingly vary from what can contain from two to eighty persons, or from two to sixteen puncheons of oil. Bar-boats of seven to eight tons have been used at Lagos; only for commercial purposes, as the means for the transfer of Oargoes from ship to shore, and of produce from shore to ship. They have been only used by the mercantile houses, but since the African steamship companies have supplied to Lagos and the rivers their own branch steamers, the number of bar-boats has considerably decreased, and their use is a thing of the past. On the lagoons and rivers fishing is conducted day and night. On moonlight nights fishermen make use of a broken bottle and a piece of iron which they tinkle to attract their prey. Fishing gear consists of fish-traps of various forms and sizes, generally made of the split midrib of the leaf of the Baphia vinifera, and of drag-nets, hand-nets, and lines commonly manufactured from the fibre of the pineapple (Ananassa sativd), ojaiTcofco(Sansiviera guineensis), Agbonius ilusa, or ffonclcenya ficifolia. This is the work of the fisherman, whose sinking-lead, or anchor for his canoe, is usually a piece of brick or stone. For the capture of fish the natives also resort to the use of vegetable poisons, such as Tephrosia Yogelii and Morelia senegalensis. There are many others in use, known so far only by their vernacular names. Edible oysters are found in beds, on the rocks running out into the sea, which are uncovered at low tide, and on trees (mangrove). The trade in oysters is large, but confined to the coast. The trees on which oysters are usually to be found in the tropics are of the mangrove family, the nature of which, with their aerial roots, admits of their growth in the flow of the oyster spat, which is thus at times in part intercepted, adheres, and develops into what is commonly spoken of as the tree-oyster. Mangrove oysters are not as much sought after as bed or rock oysters, although they are collected for the sake of their shells, for the purpose of conversion into lime.

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Bed-oysters are more extensively sought after. A solitary canoe at anchor over oyster-beds may be seen at times with no occupant. He has dived with his basket, and grabs in the mud (so long as his breath will allow him to remain under) for his prey, until by such repeated effortshe succeeds in filiing his canoe. Women are usually the buyers and subsequent retailers of such commodities. Rarely, except for European tastes, oysters are sold open, but in bulk with the shell on. Such as are not disposed of fresh are cured similarly as are shrimps and fish. The oyster season, although the mollusc may be taken at any time, may be considered to extend, as far as the Gold Coast colony goes, over six months or so of each year, during the rainy season. Oyster collectors make yearly presents to the fetish-priests, to invoke and propitiate the god of fish. There is a certain danger associated with this industry, for it has been known that persons concerned in the same have fallen victims to sharks and crocodiles; in the lagoon waters the latter abound. The collection of the raw material can be followed out by any man or woman. Odd to say, among the Yorubas, he who follows the oyster industry is considered as of the lowest grade of society. In the past, such a man would be denied marriage in a family of position above his social estimate. Women go in for the collection of mangrove-oysters. There is commonly found in the western lagoons and those of the Wherni river a large edible prawn commonly used as an article of food?Palsemon vollenhoveni. The Yoruba people, although they have many songs, are com? paratively unacquainted with musical instruments, if we except the drum. In the country are to be generally found itinerant drummers and singers. Their vocal effusions, confined as a rule to the compass of a few notes, and noisy and monotonous as they are sometimes pronounced, are usually accompanied by the drum, or by a set of drums, by the clapping of hands, or by the beating of time on some stick or on their tongueless native bell called agogo. The principal amusement of the youth of Yoruba is to dance to the beat of a drum, which serves as an accompaniment to song on the occasion of festivals, great ceremonies, at births, marriages, and deaths. The public singers are called akonrin, akewi, and onirara. They are classed as beggars, as are drummers and other musicians in West Africa. Their occupations are hereditary. Singers work in couples, sometimes more; they rely on their vocal powers* in the channel of abuse or flattery, for their maintenance. A Yoruba goes so far as to consider that his language is sufficiently musical to be easily imitated instrumentally, and accordingly to allow a player through his instrument to convey his thoughts without having recourse to words. Such a practice is often referred to as the drum language, viz. the No. X.?Oct. 1890.] 2 u

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imitation of the human voice of the drum; and to understand it one has to know the accents of pronunciation in the vernacular, and to be capable of recognising the different and corresponding notes of the drum.

Whilst to the north of Dahomey lies Mehi or Makhie, where a dialect of Ewe is spoken, Yoruba is bounded on the north by Borghu,. the capital of which is Bussah or Bussang, on the Niger, where the ruler of the country resides. As will be acknowledged from the com? parative examples hereafter given, the language of Borgu has an affinity to that of Bornu, which is a dialect of Fulah. At the time of the Landers, the two most powerful kings in that part were?for Northern Africa, the king of Bornu, and for Western the king of Borghu. Sultan Bello, in his geographical account of the country, says that Borghoo (Borgu) was peopled from the Soudan by slaves (the Landers thought conquered inhabitants) of the Fulahs.

Bornu. Borghu(Barba). One . Tiya. Guba. Two . Yiru. Im. Three. Ita. Ita. Pour . Ne. .. .. Neh. Five . Nobu . Nobu. Body .. . Wesu . Wasi. Child . Bi . Biyanku-bu. Dog . Bun. Bunhun. Elephant . Sunu . Sunnum. You weep . Nena-sttmn . Na-su-mu. Bain . Gura ...... , Gura.

The Barba people trade in cattle and poultry with Lagos, through Isehin and Abeokuta. Except what we find scattered in the few works of travel, compara? tively little is known of the geology of Yoruba beyond the generally known fact that its seaboard or malarial belt is alluvial. The island of Lagos and the strips of land that lie sandwich-like along the coast in the lagoons, have been also considered to be originally of coral formation, and subsequently covered with deposits of sand and continental debris of various depths. On the island of Lagos deposits of sand to a depth of 18 feet are to be found. Most part of this alluvial area is below the level of the intersecting and surrounding lagoons in the rainy season; in the dry weather, when the water is comparatively low, it has a slight elevation above the water- level. At Epe, Ikoradu, Ilegbo, and Porto Novo, all situated on the mainland, are noticeable tracts of rising ground of varying elevation up to about 150 feet. This alluvial condition will account for the remark? able absence of stone in the country until the laterite or ironstone region is reached on the mainland, where I found it widely spread,

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.152 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 15:17:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions PROTECTORATEOF LAGOS, WEST AFRICA. 611 having found it cropping up, reddish-brown in colour, over extensive areas to the north of Badagry, in Ebute Meta, and onwards towards Abeokuta, and in Jebu to the eastward. For the lack of information hitherto furnished regarding the interior we can somewhat account when we remember that in the old slave days the hunting down of captives was left to the natives themselves, and that the human barter or sale was confined to the seaboard. The palm- oil industry succeeded this nefarious traffic,and the Elais guineensis which yields this commodity is found confined to a belt of about 100 miles from the coast-line; beyond, the country had little interest or attraction. Again, the rivers have, as a rule, been closed to Europeans, and the sections their banks offerfor geological study have not been available. The geological map of West Africa, published by Dr. Oscar Lenz in 1882, illustrates merely the coast land of Yoruba between 2? and 3? E. long. This illustration represents (1) the alluvial or coast region, and next the laterite or ironstone; beyond, no information appears. The question naturally presents itself, whence came the laterite, whether from gneiss, of which the elevated regions to the north-west of Yoruba, known as the Kong Mountains, are said to be formed, or from the volcanic rocks (basalt ?) of the Cameroons Mountains about 300 miles distant eastward ? Speaking of Kong, Burton said it was the source whence gold was sup? plied to Mandingo to the north and Ashanti to the south. Mungo Park before him brought to notice the gold-yielding country north of Kong; but spurs of this highland are doubtless the ranges that intersect Gaman, Ashanti, the Wassaws, Akmis, and Aquapim of the Gold Coast Colony, Quahon, Crobal, Aguamoo, Dahomey, Northern Yoruba, and Mehi. Laterite presents itself in Addo, Okeodan, Igbessa, Haro, Ketu, Egba, Jebu, and Yoruba generally. Mention is made of the cropping up here and there, but not frequently, of red sandstone, which has been com? pared to what is so noticeable at Accra, Cape Coast, Elmina, Cape Three Points, and Cape Palmas. In and about Abeokuta, the Rev. T. J. Bowen, of the American Baptist Mission, found chiefly coarse granite, masses of which rise up to a height of 200 feet and more. As he went further inland he found it of finer grain and capable of a high polish. The village of Eruwa stands on a naked mass of granite several hundred feet high. The arms Ayan and Ofiki of the Ogun river are obstructed by boulders of what has been described as gneiss. " Abeokuta, the capital of Egba, means, in Yoruba, underneath a rock," and is the name that was given to the granite hill under the boulders of which took shelter refugees of the old Egba kingdom after its breaking up, about the beginning of the present century, by Yorubas (Oyos) and Jebus. The largest boulder is worshipped under the name of Olunio. 2 u 2

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Quartz crystals were found in Yoruba by Mr. Bowen, who thus wrote of the region near and north of Abeokuta:?" The coarse granite at Abeokuta presents fine crystals of felspar. Trap-rock is found in the valley south of the Oke-Efo mountains (situated between the arms of the Ogun river), and a little protogene. In the granite of these mountains I discovered small quantities of schorl, a rare occurrence in Yoruba." Mr. Bowen also saw gold in quartz rocks, of which he satisfied himself with acid and blow-pipe. The vernacular in Yoruba for gold is wara ?query whether it is not a loan word from the interior: we find it is similarly called in Barba and Timbuktu. However, of the natural mineral wealth of the country iron alone is smelted and worked in Yoruba. The Ketus and Dahomians excel in working iron, brass, and in wood-carving; such industries are also pursued generally throughout Yoruba. In 1881 Professor E. Cohen examined specimens supplied by Pro? fessor Fraas from the highest part of the Cameroons Mountains, which he pronounced as plagioclase basalt with olivine, rich in iron. Later, in 1882, Professor C. W. Giimbel examined geological specimens from the auriferous region of the Gold Coast 300 to 400 miles west of Lagos, and found them to consist of crystalline schists, with quartzite and itaberite common. The matrix of the gold was, according to him, in the schistose rocks, and principally in the itaberite (found to a con? siderable extent behind the French and Portuguese possessions further south). None of the quartz-bearing specimens seemed to have come from reefs. Along the edge of the mainland in the Ebute Meta district, as at Porto Novo, to its westward, decomposed laterite conveniently presents itself, and is used by the natives for the manufacture of bricks (now an extensive industry), water-pots, tobacco-pipes, and other interesting and useful articles of pottery. In Ketu the soil has been found sufficiently tenacious (decomposed laterite ?) to admit of the storage of rain-water in dug-out tanks needing no artificial supports. In Okeodan is to be seen a white clay, chiefly used for personai disfigurement on the occasion of the celebration of fetish rites. I found the same on the top of the Aguapean range of hills behind Accra. Waterworn stones are found exposed and at elevated regions in northern Yoruba, sometimes buried in laterite. I noticed the same fact in the champaign country near Accra, where tank and well excavations were proceeding. Since writing this paper it has been suggested to me by Mr. Budkin that the origin of the laterite is probably due to the alteration of basaltic or other basic eruptive rocks rich in ferruginous silicates, the situation of which is not known yet to us: thus, that it has hardly come from the volcanic rocks of the Cameroons, but rather from similar rocks in or nearer to if not it Yoruba; that, may owe its origin to the iron-bearing

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minerals in the schistose series, especially to the itaberite, which is rich in oxide of iron. Beads, called okum, in the form of perforated cylinders of red agate jasper passing into cornelian, have reached me from the Niger, where it is stated this stone is obtainable, and much used in imitation of coral, to which it is prefeired. Nor is Yoruba excluded from the widespread belief that stone imple? ments are thunderbolts. Some rude celts shaped as axes and chisels I have collected: they are called ard oko. The second great Orisa, or object of worship intermediate between man and God (olorun) is Sango, the thunder god, a name sometimes applied to the stone implements which are believed to be the bolts of Sango, who is also named Dzakuta, the stone-thrower. The greatest reverence is extended to these stones, which are used as family fetishes when they are found by ordinaiy persons. On the nature of the stone of these implements it is difficult to get any information without destroying the specimens for microscopic observation, and even then with the prospect of a doubtful result. The character of the rock, fine grained as a rule, is disguised in the polish given in shaping the implement, and from use. Through the courtesy of Mr. F. W. Rudler, of the Museum of Practical Geology, I am enabled to say that one of my specimens is a quartzite, and two others schistose rocks (one of very low density, and the other containing much quartz), brought down by the floods and rivers from schistose hills of the interior. Stone arrow or spear heads I have not come across; on the other hand, I have arrows varying from merely pointed sticks to iron-tipped reeds. In the valley of the Upper Volta, Akropong, Aburi, in Ashanti, in the gold-fields behind Axim, have also been found remains of the stone age of West Africa. Burton describes his specimens from Axim as fine close felsite or greenstone trap (dolerite) found, according to him, every? where along West Africa. Dr. John Evans has remarked upon the strong general resemblance between West African stone implements and those found in Greece and Asia Minor. In their practice, when engaged sacrificially, of daubing these stones with blood, palm-oil, &c, the West Africans resemble the Indians. The most complete information in a comprehensive form regarding ' the Flora of the country is to be found in the work entitled Flora Nigritiana,' by Dr. J. D. Hooker and Mr. G. Bentham, giving the results of the botanical researches of Dr. Theodore Vogel, who was botanist to the expedition sent by Her Majesty to the Niger in 1841, the sequence of the discovery of the course of that river by the Landers. " The total number of species enumerated from the collection made in West Tropical Africa by the officers of the Niger Expedition, and by

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Don and others, amounts to 974, of which Dicotyledons 803, and Monocotyledons 171." Of the former the principal orders were Leguminosae, of which there were 113 species, Bubiaceae 97, Compositae 40, Acanthaceae 37, Euphorbiaceae 37, Convolvulacese 27, Urticacea> inciuding Artocarpeae 27, Malvaceae 23, and Melastomaceae 23. Seventy- nine species under Graminese, 39 under Cyperaceae, and 16 under Commelyneaa make up chiefly the Monocotyledons. Since the publication of this work much has been done by various collectors in adding to our knowledge, particularly of the economic botany of Yoruba. A botanic centre, which gives much promise, was established in 1887 by the Government of Lagos, on the mainland, for the education of the natives in the direction of recognising the botanical wealth of their own country, and to serve as a distributing centre of economic plants of commercial value, for to its indigenous and exotic agricultural development Tropical Africa must look for a long time to come. The Boyal Niger Company has also followed the example set by Lagos. Of the economic plants of the country, I would briefly mention the Elais guineensis, which yields the palm oil of commerce; next Gossypium barbadense and herbaceum, said to give the new cotton exported through Lagos; Gocos nucifera (coco-nut tree), to the extensive growth of which much attention is now being turned; Cola acuminata, cultivated to a limited extent; the fruit is an important article for home consumption and for export to the settlements of negroes in Brazil ; Baphia nitida, bar and camwood; Bixa orellana, famous for its arnatto dye; Arachis hypogsea,the ground-nut, cultivated to a small extent for home consumption; ButyrospermumParTcii, extensively found in northern and north-western Yoruba; several species of rubber vines (Landolphia) and Sansivieras, yielding valuable fibres, as do several Tiliaceous plants. There are many indigo-yielding plants commonly found in Yoruba, of which I may specially mention those chiefly used in the extensive blue-dying industry that prevails, viz. Indigofera anil, Indigofera tinctoria (used so much in India), and Lonchocarpus cyanescens,the Elu of Yoruba; both are to some extent cultivated. ' ' In a monograph written in 1876 by W. P. Hiern, in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, on the genus Coffea, he refers to no less than " 15 African species, and he generally remarks that all the species most valuable for economic or commercial purposes are confined to Africa or are of African origin." It has indeed always surprised me that so little attention has been given in its native country to this indigenous product. In Yoruba, about Abeokuta, the missionaries use commonly the wild coffee, C. rupestris; along the Niger we find C. jasminoides.

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