throw obstacles in the way of any one visiting their possessions,
so I merely beg to state this was decidedly not my
experience; although my deplorable ignorance of French
prevented me from explaining my humble intentions to them,
The Rev. Dr. Nassau and Mr. R. E. Dennett have enabled
me, by placing at my disposal the rich funds of their knowledge
of native life and idea, to amplify any deductions from
my own observation. Mr. Dennett’s work I have not dealt
with in this work because it refers to tribes I was not
amongst on this journey, but to a tribe I made the acquaintance
with in my ’93 voyage— the Fjort. Dr. Nassau’s observations
I have referred to. Herr von Lucke, Vice-governor of
Cameroon, I am indebted to for not only allowing me, but
for assisting me by every means in his power, to go up
Cameroons Peak, and to the Governor of Cameroon, Herr
von Puttkamer, for his constant help and kindness. Indeed
so great has been the willingness to help me of all these
gentlemen, that it is a wonder to me, when I think of it, that
their efforts did not project me right across the continent and
out at Zanzibar. That this - brilliant affair did not come off
is owing to my own lack of enterprise ; for I did not want
to go across the continent, and I do not hanker after Zanzibar,
but only to go puddling about obscure districts in West
Africa after raw fetish and fresh-water fishes.
I owe my ability to have profited by the kindness of these
gentlemen on land, to a gentleman of the sea— Captain
Murray. He was captain of the vessel I went out on in 1893,
and he saw then that my mind was full of errors that must
be eradicated if I was going to deal with the Coast successfully
; and so he eradicated those errors and replaced them
with sound knowledge from his own stores collected during
an acquaintance with the West Coast, of over thirty years.
The education he has given me has been of the greatest value
to me, and I sincerely hope to make many more voyages
under him, for I well know he has still much to teach and
I to learn.
Last, but not least, I must chronicle my debts to the ladies.
First to those two courteous Portuguese ladies, Donna Anna
de Sousa Coutinho e Chichorro and her sister Donna Maria
de Sousa Coutinho, who did so much for me in Kacongo in 1893,
and have remained, T am proud to say, my firm friends ever
since. Lady MacDonald and Miss Mary Slessor I speak of
in this book, but only faintly sketch the pleasure and help
they have afforded m e ; nor have I fully expressed my
gratitude for the kindness of Madame Jacot of Lembarene, or
Madame Forget of Talagouga. Then there are a whole list of
nuns belonging to the Roman Catholic Missions on the South-
West Coast, ever cheery and charming companions ; and
Frau Plehn, whom it was ever a pleasure to see in Cameroons,
and discourse with once again on things that seemed so far
off then— art, science, and literature; and Mrs. H. Duggan,
of Cameroons too, who used, whenever I came into that port
to rescue me from fearful states of starvation for toilet
necessaries, and lend a sympathetic and intelligent ear to the
“ awful sufferings” I had gone through, until Cameroons became
to me a thing to look forward to.
When in the Canaries in 1892, I used to smile, I regretfully
own, at the conversation of a gentleman from the Gold Coast
who was up there recruiting after a bad fever. His conversation
consisted largely of anecdotes of friends of his, and nine ■
times in ten he used to say, “ He’s dead now.” A la s ! my
own conversation may be smiled at now for the same cause.
Many of my friends mentioned even in this very recent account
of the Coast “ are dead now.” Most of those I learnt to know
in 1893 ; chief among these is my old friend Captain Boler, of
Bonny, from whom I first learnt a certain power of comprehending
the African and his form of thought.
I have great reason to be grateful to the Africans themselves—
to cultured men and women among them like Charles
Owoo, Mbo, Sanga. Glass, Jane Harrington and her sister at
Gaboon, and to the bush natives ; but of my experience with
them I give further details, so I need not dwell on them here.
I apologise to the general reader for giving so much detail
on matters that really only affect myself, and I know that the
indebtedness which all African travellers have to the white
residents in Africa is a matter usually very lightly touched
on. No doubt my voyage would seem a grander thing if I
omitted mention of the help I received, but-S-well, there was