The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 



Nana had to bear the brunt of the whole 

 affair; but the trial was very uninteresting to 

 me, for the simple reason that being new to the 

 country I took in but little of the evidence, which 

 had to be carried on haltingly through inter- 

 preters. Nana was convicted, and sentenced to 

 a term of imprisonment. He was sent to Old 

 Calabar, where he passed the earlier period of his 

 detention, being afterwards transferred to Cape 

 Coast Castle, either of these places being hun- 

 dreds of miles away from his home. 



He was quite a big chief, wealthy too, with 

 many wives, only one of whom stuck to him 

 through his trouble, volunteering to accompany 

 him into exile. A truculent lady this, who gave 

 me a large slice of her mind when I went to see 

 her husband in order to offer to obtain for him 

 any little privileges that lay in my power. 



Before leaving I went to look at the havoc 

 caused by shell fire in New Benin. There were 

 many large holes in the ground where the 4*7 

 shells from the warships had burst ; but very 

 little loss of life was entailed, as the natives took 

 to the thick bush out of harm's way, and the 

 huts were so much scattered that they were not 

 often hit. Even had they been destroyed it 

 would not have taken much time to build them 

 up again they were of mud and wattle merely. 

 The children had a bad time of it two little 

 beggars who had been almost starved to death 



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