790 



WEST AFRICA. 



pean capital, and the operations are being ex- 

 tended. There were 332 companies to work West 

 African gold-mines in 1901, with a nominal capi- 

 tal of 27,000,000. The Colonial Secretary cau- 

 tioned investors against being entrapped by 

 speculators in worthless concessions, The gold- 

 fields of Wassu and Ashanti can not be opened up 

 until the railroads are built, and the Government 

 has been blamed for its slowness in building them. 

 Palm-oil and kernels and rubber are the principal 

 products of the Gold Coast. Fine woods are also 

 exported. In the northern territories Major A. 

 H. Morris is commissioner under the Governor 

 and commander of the forces. 



The boundary between the British Gold Coa.st 

 protectorate and the French Soudan was delimit- 

 ed in 1900 by Capt. Peltier and Capt. A. E. Wath- 

 erston, who 'had to fight with the hostile Fra Fra 

 tribe. French military posts were established at 

 Leo and Tenkrodogo and British posts at Gam- 

 bara and Tumu. The portion of the line round 

 Sapeliga; north of Gambaga, was not fixed and 

 was made the subject of further negotiations be- 

 tween the two governments. 



The soldiers who fought in the Ashanti cam- 

 paign of 1900 were, with the exception of Sikhs, 

 West Indian negro troops, and Askaris from 

 Somaliland and Central Africa, all youthful re- 

 cruits from various West African tribes, including 

 Hausas from Bornu and Lake Chad, Yorubas, 

 Nupes, and Mendis. The admirable courage and 

 discipline they displayed determined the Brit- 

 ish Government to employ black soldiers in West 

 Africa, as the French have done. The three 

 Ashanti wars have cost 900,000. The last one 

 was provoked by Sir Frederick Hodgson, the Gov- 

 ernor, who on hearing a foolish tale that the 

 golden throne and the buried treasure of the de- 

 posed King Prempeh had been found, went to 

 Kumassi and, after telling the chiefs that their 

 King would never be restored, demanded the 

 golden stool and a heavy tribute, 4,000 ounces of 

 gold to be paid every year. The Ashantis in gen- 

 eral had only partially acquiesced in the banish- 

 ment of King Prempeh in 1896, which they re- 

 garded as an act of treachery on the part of the 

 British after obtaining his submission by nego- 

 tiation. His own tribe, the Kumassis, felt most 

 bitter. The fines imposed by the British for every 

 offense and the impressment of carriers and labor- 

 ers were further causes of dissatisfaction. Major 

 Nathan almost precipitated a fresh outbreak in 

 1901 of the Bekwais who aided the British in the 

 Ashanti campaign by demanding the payment of 

 a war indemnity dating from 1874. There were 

 still 500 men of the West African frontier force 

 in the colony. Kumassi was garrisoned by a 

 battalion of the West African regiment. These 

 men should have been relieved in January, and 

 in March 300 of them mutinied and started for 

 Cape Coast Castle to demand passage back to 

 Sierra Leone. Marines and the Central African 

 regiment captured them after some fighting, and 

 some were shot and the rest shipped home. 



The Crown colony of Gambia has also an Execu- 

 tive and a Legislative Council, both composed of 

 nominated members. The Administrator is Sir 

 George C. Denton. The area of the colony proper 

 is 69 square miles, and the population in 1899 was 

 15,000. The number of white residents was 62. 

 Bathurst, the capital, has 6,000 inhabitants. The 

 protected territory lying in the rear of the colony 

 has an area of 2,700 square miles and 200,000 

 population. The principal exports are earthnuts, 

 hides, wax, cotton, and rubber. Rice and corn 

 are raised for food. The revenue in 1899 was 

 46,840, and expenditure 30,410. The value of 



imports was 240,910, and of exports 241,340. 

 The vessels entered and cleared had an aggregate 

 tonnage of 284,635. At the beginning of 1901 

 a punitive expedition set out against two vil- 

 lages where two British commissioners were mur- 

 dered in June, 1900. The troops employed were 

 West Indians and a battalion of a Central African 

 regiment that had arrived too late to take part 

 in the Ashanti campaign. The natives of one of 

 the villages fled into French territory ; those of the 

 other offered resistance, but were easily defeated. 

 The columns marched through the country, seiz- 

 ing live stock and burning many villages. The 

 British have never been able to assert their au- 

 thority over the natives because these can go 

 over into French territory. An arrangement was 

 made with the French Governor-General for the 

 cooperation of French and British troops, espe- 

 cially for the suppression of Fodi Kabba, who 

 after leading a rebellion in Gambia in 1892 had 

 settled on the French side of the border, and since 

 then had made trouble for both the French and 

 the English and was believed to have instigated 

 the murder of the British commissioners. By 

 command of M. Ballay the head chief on the up- 

 per Gambia, Mousa Mollah, whose capital is in 

 French territory, agreed to help capture Fodi 

 Kabba. Col. Brake stationed his troops along 

 the frontier while on March 23 the French troops 

 surrounded Fodi Kabba's town, Mandina. He 

 was killed with 150 of his followers and his strong- 

 hold was destroyed by the French troops, con- 

 sisting of 440 Senegalese tirailleurs and spahis 

 under Commandant Rouvel. Mousa Mollah, whose 

 levies assisted in capturing the stragglers, sub- 

 sequently by direction of the French authorities 

 acknowledged British jurisdiction in respect to 

 his territories on both banks of the Gambia with- 

 in the conventional boundaries of the British pro- 

 tectorate. 



The colony of Lagos has an area of 985 square 

 miles with 85,607 inhabitants. The Lagos Pro- 

 tectorate, bordering on Nigeria, has an area of 

 21,000 square miles and a population of 3,000,000. 

 In the schools of the colony are 3,371 pupils. The 

 exports are palm-oil and kernels, ivory, gum-copal, 

 cotton, rubber, cacao, and coffee. A railroad, 60 

 miles in length, from the town of Lagos to Abeo- 

 kuta has been continued 66 miles farther to Iba- 

 dan. A branch from Abeokuta leads to Aro. A 

 continuation of the railroad to Ilorin and the 

 Niger is planned. The Governor of the colony is 

 Sir William MacGregor. The revenue in 1899 

 was 192,790, and expenditure 223,290. The 

 value of imports was 966,600, and of exports 

 915,940. The tonnage entered and cleared was 

 968,823 tons. Gold has been discovered in the 

 neighborhood of Ibadan and there are indications 

 of diamonds and other precious stones. 



Sierra Leone has an area of 4,000 square miles 

 and 74,840 inhabitants. Freetown, the capital, has 

 30,033. The Governor, Sir Charles Anthony King- 

 Harman, as in the other colonies, has a Legis- 

 lative and an Executive Council. The white popu- 

 lation is 224. Freetown is the headquarters of 

 the British forces in West Africa, consisting of 

 the West India and the West African regiments 

 and engineers and artillery. There is an armed 

 constabulary of 600 men. The revenue in 1899 

 was 168,380, and expenditure 145,090. The 

 value of imports was 689,810; exports, 336,- 

 010. Ships entered and cleared had a total ton- 

 nage of 1,181,748. There are 60 miles of railroad 

 connecting Freetown with Songotown and Roto- 

 funk, which is being extended 80 miles to Bo. 

 The average attendance in 65 schools was 5,583 

 in 1899. The chief products are palm-oil and ker- 



