APPENDIX H 261 



and submitted to analysis."— (" Travels in West Africa," by Mary 

 H. Kingsley, pp. 492-5. London : Macmillan & Co.) 



"About the same time, as far as I can remember, I was invited 

 to speak at a meeting of the Good Templars of the town of Cape 

 Coast. One of my native colleagues also gave a temperance 

 address. I shall not soon forget the earnestness with which he 

 exhorted his hearers to fight the gigantic demon strong drink. 

 ' For,' he said, ' unless we put forth our best efforts in this direc- 

 tion, there is a danger of becoming as drunken as the people of 

 England.' This was rather a startling way of putting the case, 

 but it was decidedly refreshing, as I remembered there were so 

 many in England who appear to be under the impression that 

 whole territories are being depopulated by the importation of 

 spirits. 



" The sentiment expressed by my colleague was forceful, but 

 I unhesitatingly repeat and endorse it. Long before this period I 

 had formed a Band of Hope in connection with our day-school, 

 so as to lend a hand in preventing the rising generation from 

 becoming 'as drunken as the people of England.' It should be 

 a comfort to friends of Africa to know that the evils of the drink 

 traffic are much less serious at the Gold Coast than appears to be 

 the case in some parts of the Dark Continent. Concerning the 

 Gold Coast and the drink traffic, I am thankful to be able to say : 

 (First) That the drink traffic does not tend to poverty. This may 

 be due to the fact that poverty is entirely unknown in that highly 

 favoured land. (Second) That it does not bring in its train the 

 untold social misery with which we are so sadly familiar in this 

 country; but then, of course, the conditions of social life are 

 totally different. (Third) That it does not tend to the perpetra- 

 tion of crime. A friend of mine, a most ardent temperance 

 reformer, was appointed District Commissioner of Cape Coast a 

 few months prior to my first year's residence. At the end of his first 

 term of service he took the opportunity to write to a temperance 

 paper in this country to say that the friends of temperance would 

 be glad to know that the ravages of the drink traffic were not as 

 serious at the Gold Coast as was generally supposed. Out of the 



