122 



CAMEROON S. 



river, and purchased directly from the third 

 group beyond. The prices of produce are en- 

 hanced sevenfold hy the two classes of inter- 

 mediary traders. Admiral Knorr ascended the 

 Cameroons and the Abo in a steam pinnace in 

 the latter part of January. The people of Abo 

 rightly suspected that the object sought in ex- 

 tending the German protectorate over them 

 was to break down gradually the barriers to 

 direct trade and destroy their commercial privi- 

 leges. Bell's son, who accompanied the Ad- 

 miral, committed the indiscretion of buying 

 some oil. For this the natives barred the riv- 

 er, but, upon the imperative demand of the 

 Admiral, let the steamboat pass. According 

 to a non-official account, they seized the per- 

 son of the Admiral, and did not release him 

 until his men resorted to severe reprisals. To 

 punish them for their audacity, the Admiral 

 declared an embargo on all trade with Abo. 

 The Abo people in return prevented the Ger- 

 mans from entering the interior by the Mungo, 

 where they had a settlement at Mbunjo. The 

 refugees from Joss and Hickory towns were 

 settled here in large numbers, and they kept 

 up the blockade zealously. Others on the 

 Quaqua creek cut off the ordinary means of 

 communication with Malimba, Batanga, and 

 the rest of the southern Cameroon s district. 

 There were about 800 rebels who kept up a 

 chronic disturbance throughout the district 

 while their families remained on the Came- 

 roons river. Admiral Knorr proclaimed mar- 

 tial law and arrested Lock Prisso, wko was 

 held as a hostage. The embargo on the Abo 

 trade was non-effective. A small steamer with 

 twenty men was anchored in the Abo, or Ya- 

 biang, where it enters the Cameroons. The 

 traffic was not stopped, the crew was incapaci- 

 tated by fever, and on the 21st of March the 

 blockade was discontinued. Dr. Nachtigal and 

 Admiral Knorr succeeded in making treaties 

 with some of the kinglets and villages on the 

 Mungo and Wuri rivers. 



Cameroons Mountain. The coast of the Came- 

 roons Mountain district was not included in 

 the German protectorate established in 1884, 

 which extended only to the Birabia district, 

 the eastern spur of the mountain, abutting on 

 the Bimbia river. West of Bimbia on the coast 

 English Baptist missionaries were settled at 

 Victoria, extending to the fine harbor called 

 Man-of- War Bay. West of them the Pole, Ro- 

 gozinski, had acquired proprietary rights in 

 the negro village of Bota, and placed it under 

 English protection. He was instrumental also 

 in enabling the commander of the Forward, 

 Arthur Furlonger, to extend the protection of 

 the British flag over the Rumby river and the 

 whole coast northwestward as far as Calabar. 

 Rogozinski purchased two villages back of Bota, 

 and the Baptists began to extend their author- 

 ity over a row of villages extending far into the 

 interior and cutting off the connection between 

 Bimbia and the attractive mountain region. 



In January, 1885, a struggle for the mountain 



districts took place between Hugo Zoller, a 

 German journalist, agent for the Woermanns, 

 assisted by two Swedish elephant -hunters es- 

 tablished in the mountains, and Rogozinski, 

 aided by the black Christians of Victoria. The 

 English party did not venture to carry out the 

 threats of the Victoria Court of Equity, to stop 

 the goods sent to the German agent for the pur- 

 pose of securing treaties with the local chiefs. 

 In the first two villages beyond those controlled 

 by the Victoria Baptists the Swedes were su- 

 preme. The first was secured for Germany 

 by a treaty with the chief; but before they 

 reached the second village Rogozinski had ar- 

 rived, and, without leave or authority from any 

 one, hoisted the Union Jack. The people would 

 have torn down the flag and assaulted the Pole, 

 yet they refused to sign a protest, having been 

 told by the Victorians that they would die if 

 they touched a German pen. The next village 

 was taken under German protection in due 

 form. The preliminary proceedings for the 

 establishment of a German protectorate were 

 the signing by the chiefs, with the consent of 

 the people, of a petition for the protection of 

 the German flag, and usually the cession to the 

 German' agent of the "unoccupied ground." 

 The villages were politically separate and in- 

 dependent of each other. A bargain was struck 

 with the chiefs of a large district far up in the 

 mountains, but at the last moment messengers 

 from Victoria brought a tale of German witch- 

 craft which caused the negroes to break up the 

 meeting and flee in terror. The German and his 

 Swedish companions were at this point desert- 

 ed by their native porters and forced to return 

 to Bimbia. Mabinga, farther eastward, at the 

 foot of the mountain, had meanwhile been tajsen 

 under German protection. Making another ex- 

 cursion from this point, while the Consul-Gen- 

 eral, Dr. Nacbtigal, with the gunboat Move, 

 was in the harbor, the same agent raised the 

 German flag in Bongandjo, the most important 

 place on the southern slope of the mountain, 

 and made treaties with a number of chiefs 

 beyond ; but when he came to Sopo he found 

 that Rogozinski had raised the English flag, 

 and the authorities of Victoria had announced 

 by proclamation the occupation of this district. 

 Dr. Nachtigal made the tour of the places in 

 which territorial rights had been acquired, 

 and concluded the arrangements by officially 

 proclaiming a German protectorate. The 

 Bismarck sailed to the Cameroons Mountain 

 coast to raise the German flag over several 

 other places. Before Feb. 1 Bokonange, Bo- 

 natanga, Boando, Attome, and Basse were also 

 included in the German protectorate. Rogo- 

 zinski, who had hoisted the English flag at Ma- 

 panja, the first village in the mountains that 

 had accepted German protection, now pulled up 

 one of the boundary-marks set by the German 

 officers and sent it with an insolent note to the 

 Consulate. The English Vice-Consul, who had 

 arrived at Victoria, agreed to the restoration 

 of the boundary-pole and the lowering of the 



