Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo, vol 1 | Page 7

only result that
night.
My trip to Gorilla-land was limited by the cruise upon which H.M.S.S.
"Griffon" had been ordered, namely, to and from the South Coast with
mail-bags. Many of those whom I had wished to see were absent; but
Mr. Hogg set to work in the most business- like style. He borrowed a
boat from the Rev. William Walker, of the Gaboon Mission, who
kindly wrote that I should have something less cranky if I could wait
awhile; he manned it with three of his own Krumen, and he collected
the necessary stores and supplies of cloth, pipes and tobacco, rum,
white wine, and absinthe for the natives.
My private stores cost some 200 francs. They consisted of candles,
sugar, bread, cocoa, desiccated milk, and potatoes; Cognac and Médoc;
ham, sausages, soups, and preserved meats, the latter French and, as
usual, very good and very dear. The total expenditure for twelve days
was 300 francs.
My indispensables were reduced to three loads, and I had four
"pull-a-boys," one a Mpongwe, Mwáká alias Captain Merrick, a model
sluggard; and Messrs. Smoke, Joe Williams, and Tom Whistle-

-Kru-men, called Kru-boys. This is not upon the principle, as some
suppose, of the grey-headed post-boy and drummer-boy: all the Kraoh
tribes end their names in bo, e.g. Worebo, from "wore," to capsize a
canoe; Grebo, from the monkey "gre" or "gle;" and many others. Bo
became "boy," even as Sipahi (Sepoy) became Sea- pie, and Sukhani
(steersman) Sea-Coney.
Gaboon is French, with a purely English trade. Gambia is English, with
a purely French trade; the latter is the result of many causes, but
especially of the large neighbouring establishments at Goree, Saint
Louis de Sénégal, and Saint Joseph de Galam. Exchanging the two was
long held the soundest of policy. The French hoped by it to secure their
darling object,--exclusive possession of the maritime regions, as well as
the interior, leading to the gold mines of the Mandengas (Mandingas),
and allowing overland connection with their Algerine colony. The
English also seemed willing enough to "swop" an effete and dilapidated
settlement, surrounded by more powerful rivals--a hot-bed of dysentery
and yellow fever, a blot upon the fair face of earth, even African
earth--for a new and fresh country, with a comparatively good climate,
in which the thermometer ranges between 65° (Fahr.) and 90°, with a
barometer as high as the heat allows; and where, being at home and
unwatched, they could subject a lingering slave-trade to a regular
British putting- down. But, when matters came to the point in 1870-71,
the proposed bargain excited a storm of sentimental wrath which was as
queer as unexpected. The French object to part with the Gaboon, as the
Germans appear inclined to settle upon the Ogobe River. In England,
cotton, civilization, and even Christianity were thrust forward by
half-a-dozen merchants, and by a few venal colonial prints. The
question assumed the angriest aspect; and, lastly, the Prussian-French
war underwrote the negotiations with a finis pro temp. I hope to see
them renewed; and I hope still more ardently to see the day when we
shall either put our so- called "colonies" on the West Coast of Africa to
their only proper use, convict stations, or when, if we are determined
upon consuming our own crime at home, we shall make up our minds
to restore them to the negro and the hyaena, their "old inhabitants."
At the time of my visit, the Gaboon River had four English traders; viz.

1. Messrs. Laughland and Co., provision-merchants, Fernando Po and
Glasgow. Their resident agent was Mr. Kirkwood.
2. Messrs. Hatton and Cookson, general merchants, Liverpool. Their
chief agent, Mr. R.B.N. Walker, who had known the river for eleven
years (1865), had left a few days before my arrival; his successor, Mr.
R.B. Knight, had also sailed for Cape Palmas, to engage Kru-men, and
Mr. Hogg had been left in charge.
3. Messrs. Wookey and Dyer, general merchants, Liverpool. Agents,
Messrs. Gordon and Bryant.
4. Messrs. Bruford and Townsend, of Bristol. Agent, Captain
Townsend.
The resident agents for the Hamburg houses were Messrs. Henert and
Bremer.
The English traders in the Gaboon are nominally protected by the
Consulate of Sao Paulo de Loanda, but the distance appears too great
for consul or cruizer. They are naturally anxious for some support, and
they agitate for an unpaid Consular Agent: at present they have, in
African parlance, no "back." A Kruman, offended by a ration of
plantains, when he prefers rice, runs to the Plateau, and lays some
fictitious complaint before the Commandant. Monsieur summons the
merchant, condemns him to pay a fine, and dismisses the affair without
even permitting a protest. Hence, impudent robbery occurs every day.
The discontent of the white reacts upon his clients the black men; of
late, les