Nana Alluma 
You give them access to all you possess, hand 
over your keys and your money, and distrust 
only steps in when you are dealing with a boy 
who has graduated in a missionary school. So 
much so that if such a one is really anxious to 
obtain a job he always answers the missionary 
school question in the negative, whether it is 
true or not. 
Everything was strange to me, and I felt the 
climate enervating to a degree. In those days 
the houses and food were very inferior to what 
can be had at present. Not that I had anything 
to worry me, seeing that I had the best we could 
get, and the same as my chief. He was con- 
sideration itself, and my one complaint was that 
he gave me practically nothing to do. 
On our arrival at the Protectorate we were 
met at Forcados River by H.M.S. Widgeon, and. 
going on board, set out for New Benin, which 
was but a day’s steaming through the creeks— 
creeks framed by the mangrove bushes, and in 
many cases deep enough to enable a large ship 
to safely navigate them. 
A war palaver had recently taken place, in 
which Nana Alluma, the King of New Benin, 
was the delinquent, and Sir Claude had come 
out to his duties earlier than he otherwise would 
have done owing to this small disturbance in 
order to try Nana and his chiefs, who had all 
been taken prisoners. 
35 
