The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 
to buoy the channel for the ships which were to 
take part in the attack, and accomplished this 
so far as the entrance of the creek—a very deep 
one—to Nimbi. Pinnaces and patrol boats, with 
various launches belonging to the Protectorate, 
were told off, and the twin-screw steamer 
Yoruba, of the Niger Company, was pressed into 
the service for the foray on Sacrifice Island, 
which was to be made on the following day. 
This island lay at the junction of two creeks, 
about two miles from where the Nimbi creek 
joined the Niger River, and across the creek, 
close to the island, the natives had built a very 
strong boom of timber, all fastened together with 
iron bands—an extremely formidable barrier. 
One of the pinnaces exploded a charge of gun- 
cotton in the centre of this defence without 
clearing it away, whereon the officer in charge, 
going back some distance, charged the obstacle 
with the boat, breaking a way through, after 
the place had been weakened by this means. 
Other boats bringing troops followed closely, 
and before long most of the expedition had 
landed. 
In the afternoon the natives of Nimbi appeared 
in force in their war canoes, beating tom-toms. 
Each canoe had a big gun in her bows, with 
which they fired at our men on the island. 
The Yoruba, which was an ocean-going steamer 
of some twelve hundred tons, had been brought 
58 
