j s this way: after being in West Africa some little time,
particularly if you have been away in the bush, your
wardrobe is always in a rarefied state. For example, when in
Cameroons I had one dress, and one only, that I regarded as
fit to support the dignity of a representative of England, so of
•course when going to call on the representative of another
Power I had to put that dress on, and then go out in open
•boats to war-ships or for bush walks in it, and equally of
•course down came tornadoes and rain by the ton. I did not
care for the thunder, lightning, or wind. What worried me
was the conviction that that precious rain would take the
colour out of my costume.
Governor von Puttkarner has a peculiarity not shared by
any other Governor on the Coast. He likes the sea, so during
breakfast the Nachtigal was. ordered to steam about the
bay, which she energetically did. Fortunately, I like the sea
too, or— well! as it was, the only inconvenience we suffered
was getting a heavy shock in the middle of the meal. We
thought we had discovered a new rock, but found we had only
struck a sleeping whale. What the whale thought I do not
know, but it made a considerable fuss and left the bay without
a word of apology to the Governor.
The Nachtigal left Victoria , the next day, it being held,too
unhealthy a place for the Governor to stay in after his
severe illness, and went round to Man-o’-War Bay. And the
day after Herr von Lucke took me round to the plantation in
Man-o’-War Bay, whereat the Governor was staying for a few
days.
Man-o’-War Bay is a very peculiar and charming bay to
the south of Ambas, having a narrower inlet and not quite so
great a depth as the latter, from which it is separated by a
high rocky promontory of hills. I do not think it has been
carefully sounded, but there is deep water close alongside its
shores, which rise very steeply in densely wooded mountains.
The main peculiarity of it is that through a rock wall at its
eastern end there is a natural tunnel in the rock, and you
can row through this in a boat and then find yourself on
another sheet of water which has no other inlet or outlet and
is, if possible, more beautiful than Man-o’-War Bay itself,
though much smaller. ■ It would be an exquisite place for
smuggling.
On the southern shore of Man-o’-War Bay is a beautiful
little quay and landing-place for the grand plantation
colloquially known as Frederickshafen, after its energetic
custodian. This plantation is the property of a syndicate, the
main shareholders being Messrs. Woermann, and its magnificent
condition and grand output ought to do much to heal
that firm’s feelings regarding their great losses over their
Gaboon plantation. The house belonging to it is the finest
house I know in West Africa. It is built of brick and wood
and has the customary deep verandah running round it, but
with this important difference, that this verandah is closed in
with glazed windows, which prevent the inner rooms from
being too dark to work in, and also prevents the verandah
from bein^ draughty. On the West Coast these are two
dreadful faults in the European-built houses. You cannot
imagine what an intolerable gloom and discomfort arises from
the usual English sort of house here. The abominable structure
is made of corrugated iron, roof and all, with just its skeleton
and floors made of wood. Sometimes the under part of the
house is closed in and used for stores and offices ; sometimes it
is left open, but always the living rooms are on the first floor
and open out on to a verandah. The sides of this verandah
are usually closed in by Venetian shutters with windows
at intervals. During the tornado seasons these shutters and
windows have to be closed up on an average twice a day.
During the wet season they are kept closed most of the six
months’ spell. Consequently you have to live on the verandah,
for the inner rooms are then “ as dark as ignorance,” and the
Venetians only keep out a percentage of the rain, and divide the
fierce tornado winds into strips which cut into you and give you
your death of fever, and send all your papers flying; while the
tornado, or the wet season rain plays like fifty thousand
demons on the tom-tom of your corrugated iron roof. Now
these things were avoided in the house at Frederickshafen, for
when the windows round the verandah were shut, they, being
glazed, kept out the wind and let in the light, and the roof
was a roof of tiles and not a horrid tin tom-tom affair.