The Deadly Fire-Water. 
USUALLY we think of fire and water as bitter 
enemies of each other. What puts out a 
fire so quickly as water, and what causes water to 
evaporate like fire ? Then how can fire and water 
come together in liquid form and be contained in 
a black, square-faced bottle, or in a much larger 
vessel called a demi-john ? If I cannot explain how 
it is managed, I can at least give a fearless testi- 
mony that it is done, and the product is labelled 
**gin or rum/* To distinguish it from other 
fiery liquids sold under these names amongst white 
people, it is called trade gin or trade rum. Of all 
the vile stuff, in composition and in effect, 
this fire-water will take a lot of beating. One 
of the best friends the Nigerian natives ever had 
cursed it so much that she spoke of it as the ^^devil's 
soup.'* After seeing the mischief and hp^-oc it 
works, I am not surprised. Poverty, ill-health, 
quarrels, unhappiness, suffering and murder are 
just a few on the black list of charges that can be 
levelled against it. Tve seen so much of its terrible 
ravages that, on one occasion when its horrible 
work roused me to the pitch of fiery and righteous 
indignation, I vowed a vow that, God helping me, 
I would smite the horrible thing with heavy blows 
every time I got the chance. One of the most 
shameless acts of trade was repeatedly practised in 
a trading factory not very far from Oron. What 
do you think ? The trader — not a Britisher by- 
the-by~kept a barrel of fire-water on tap, and 
when people came in from the bush districts bring- 
ing native produce to sell he turned on the tap 
