FAREWELL TO AFRICA 439 



Lagos, at last I How thankful I was to know that 

 our land journey was ended; that from here onward 

 someone else would be captain of the ship. Lagos is 

 the chief port of Nigeria, situated on an island lying 

 in the large lagoon formed by the Ogun and other 

 small rivers. It does a large export and import trade, 

 the United States furnishing most of the motor vehicles, 

 kerosene and gasoline, soft lumber, flour, cube sugar, 

 lanterns, canned fish, and canned foods. The exports 

 include pahn kernels, palm oil, tin ore, cocoa beans, pea- 

 nuts, hides and skins, mahogany logs, and raw rubber. 



The European section of the city is very beautiful, 

 the more pretentious houses being surrounded by 

 immense grounds containing a great variety of trees 

 and flowering shrubs. The odor from the multitudes 

 of blossoms is something a visitor wiU not soon forget. 

 Government House faces the channel which leads to 

 the sea and the breezes from the Atlantic temper its 

 spacious corridors. Here I was invited to luncheon 

 by His Excellency, Sir Graeme Thomson, Governor of 

 Nigeria, both he and his gracious wife wishing to con- 

 gratulate me on the successful completion of our long 

 journey. 



The native population consists of a conglomeration 

 of races. You meet those who are still primitive and 

 likeable, but, in contrast to these, there is the black 

 man who apes European ways and has convinced 

 himself that he is a superior being to the white man. 

 Between these two extremes is that large and happy 

 class of natives which forms the backbone of Nigeria, 

 and upon whose shoulders rests, in a great measure, 

 the future progress of this, potentially rich country. 

 Most of the natives are supremely happy, having 



